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diff --git a/75806-h/75806-h.htm b/75806-h/75806-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ed7247 --- /dev/null +++ b/75806-h/75806-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9887 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Colonial Memories | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} +hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +.large {font-size: large} + +.xlarge {font-size: x-large} + +.small {font-size: small} + +abbr {text-decoration: none;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp41 {width: 41%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp41 {width: 100%;} + + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75806 ***</div> + +<h1>COLONIAL MEMORIES</h1> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp41" id="i_frontis" style="max-width: 27.4375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p class="center"><i>Sir Frederick and Lady Broome + with Monsieur Puppy</i></p></figcaption> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + + + + +<p class="center xlarge">COLONIAL +MEMORIES</p> + +<p class="center large p2">BY +LADY BROOME</p> + +<p class="center p4">LONDON<br> +SMITH, ELDER, & CO.<br> +15 WATERLOO PLACE<br> +1904</p> + +<p class="center p2">[All rights reserved] +</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<p class="center">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br> +At the Ballantyne Press +</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTE">NOTE</h2> +</div> + + +<p>My cordial thanks are due—and given—to the +Editor of the <cite>Cornhill Magazine</cite>, within whose +pages some of these “Memories” have from +time to time appeared, for permission to republish +them in this form. Also to the Editor +of the <cite>Boudoir</cite>, where my “Girls—Old and +New” made their <i lang="fr">début</i> last season.</p> + +<p class="right"> +M. A. B.</p> + + +<p class="small"><i>October 1904</i></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + + + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td colspan="3" class="tdr">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> </td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Personal Story</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="1">I.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Old New Zealand</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Old New Zealand</span>—<i>Continued</i></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Old New Zealand</span>—<i>Continued</i></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Modern New Zealand</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Natal Memories</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl">“<span class="smcap">Stella Clavisque Maris Indici</span>”</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">General Charles Gordon</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Western Australia</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Western Australia</span>—<i>Continued</i></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Enrolled Guard</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Trinidad</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Trinidad</span>—<i>Continued</i></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Rodrigues</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_184">184</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Colonial Servants</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Interviews</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Cooking Memory</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bird Notes</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Humours of Bird Life</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Girls—Old and New</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_PERSONAL_STORY">A PERSONAL STORY</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Almost the first thing I can remember is listening +with fascinated interest to an old gipsy woman, +who insisted on telling my fortune one summer +afternoon on Cannock Chase long, long ago. I was +very reluctant to undergo what seemed to me a +terrible ordeal, but I was encouraged to do so by +my nurse, to whom she had just promised “a +knight riding over a plain.” However, my Sibyl +only touched on two points. First, she looked at +my little hand and said: “I see a stream of gold +flowing through your palm. Sometimes it runs +full and free, sometimes scant and slow, but it is +<em>never</em> quite dry.” Then she doubled up my childish +fingers and went on, “But this hand cannot close +on money: you’ll never be rich”—an utterance +which has come exactly and literally true, and +the remembrance of which has often been a comfort +to me in hard times. Then she insisted on looking +at the sole of my foot, and pronounced that it +would “wander up and down the earth; north +and south, east and west, to countries not yet +discovered.” She concluded by crying dramatically: +“Earth holds no home for you, earth holds +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span>no grave; you’ll be drowned.” Now, as I must +have made something like forty ocean voyages in +the course of my life, I may be said to have spent +it in tempting my Fate. However that may be, +the old woman’s prophecy was written down at +the time, and, so far as the wandering part of it +goes, no one who reads these pages can question +its truth.</p> + +<p>Born in Jamaica, where my father was the last +“Island Secretary,”—a Patent Office, held in conjunction +with the late Mr. Charles Greville of +Memoir fame, and long since divided into four +parts—I began to wander to and from England +before I was two years old, and had crossed the +Atlantic five times by 1852 when I married Captain +(afterwards Sir George) Barker, K.C.B. I lived in +England for the next eight years, whilst he served +all through the Crimean War and the Indian +Mutiny. I joined him at the first possible moment +after the Mutiny, and arrived in India at the close +of 1860. He was then commanding the Royal +Artillery in Bengal, with the rank of Brigadier-General, +a position held at this moment by our +eldest son.</p> + +<p>The tragic events of that terrible time were +fresh in our minds, the struggle having just closed; +and as I was brought in contact immediately with +many of the principal actors, I naturally wished to +hear details of the thrilling scenes through which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span>they had just passed, but I found that no one +wanted to talk about them. We started directly +after I arrived in Calcutta on a sort of Military +Promenade with the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh +Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn), and joined his +camp at Lucknow. We stayed with friends there +whilst our tents, &c., were being procured, and I +remember that the walls of my vast bedroom were +riddled with shot! There I also met ladies who +had behaved in the most heroic and splendid way +all through the siege; but I found to my amazement +that they wanted to hear any little English +chit-chat I might have to tell, instead of saying +one word about those historic days or their share +in them. If this reticence had arisen from any +dread of re-awakening sleeping memories, I could +have understood and respected it, but it really +seemed to me at the time as if they had positively +forgotten all they had just passed through, or +did not deem it of sufficient interest to talk about, +wanting only to hear what was going on “at +home.” It must be remembered how far away +England was in those days—forty odd years ago. +Few newspapers, no telegraph, hardly an illustrated +paper even—so it was perhaps no wonder +that they were all suffering from what Aytoun +calls—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“The deep, unutterable woe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which none save exiles feel,”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</span></p> +<p>and always wanted to talk of the dear distant +land of their birth.</p> + +<p>My own stay in India hardly lasted eight months, +but I saw a great deal of the country in our four +months marching through it. The camp broke +up in March at the foot of the Himalayas just as +the hot winds were beginning to make tent-life +disagreeable. We then went up to Simla, and +“Peterhof”—afterwards greatly enlarged and made +into the Vice-regal residence—was taken as the +headquarters of the R.A. staff.</p> + +<p>In that beautiful spot the first great sorrow of +my life came to me. I lost my kind, good husband +there; and returned to England after less +than a year’s absence.</p> + +<p>For the next four years I lived quietly with my +two little sons among my own people, but in 1865 +I met Mr. Napier Broome, a young and very good-looking +New Zealand sheep farmer, who persuaded +me to change the whole course of my life and go +back to New Zealand with him! Certainly the +influence of that old gipsy woman must have +been very strong just then; and I often wonder +how I could have had the courage to take +such a step, for it entailed leaving my boys +behind as well as all my friends and most of +the comforts and conveniences of life. But at +the time it seemed the most natural thing in +the world to do, and we sailed merrily away +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</span>directly after our marriage in the summer of +that year.</p> + +<p>I tell elsewhere,<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> as well as in the following pages, +the story of the three supremely happy years +which followed this wild and really almost wicked +step on our parts. The life was full of charm and +novelty, though so venturesome; but at first it +seemed as if love was not to be allowed to “be +lord of all,” for a crisis in the affairs of the Colony +came just after the great snowstorm, and from +one cause and another the value of real estate +as well as of wool sank terribly. It was, therefore, +with sadly diminished means we returned to England +early in 1869, to be met by a chorus of “we +told you so” from all our friends! However, we +felt full of hope and courage, and set about at +once seeking for some other means of livelihood.</p> + +<p>My husband had always been very fond of +literature, and had tried his hand more or less +successfully at poetry. Still it was with great +diffidence that he walked into Messrs. Macmillan’s +office one fine June morning in 1869 and asked +to see the editor of <cite>Macmillan’s Magazine</cite>. Mr. +(afterwards Sir George) Grove received him at +once and was both kind and encouraging, promising +to look at a little poem called “Sunset off +the Azores.” This interview, which resulted in the +immediate acceptance of the verses, three of which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</span>are given below,<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> led to a life-long friendship, not +only with dear Mr. Grove, whom to know was to +love, but also with Mr. Alexander Macmillan, who +was always kindness itself to both of us, and was +responsible for putting the idea of writing into +my head. At his suggestion I inflicted “Station +Life in New Zealand,” as well as several story-books +for children, on a patient and long-suffering +public.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same time an introduction to +Mr. Delane of the <cite>Times</cite> led to Mr. Napier Broome’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</span>being taken on the staff of that paper as special +correspondent and reviewer, in fact, a sort of general +utility man. How well I remember the anxiety +and care with which my husband wrote his first +review, and the pride and joy with which he showed +me a charming little note from Mr. Delane, in +which, referring to a hope on Mr. Broome’s part +of getting a clerkship in the House of Commons, +he said: “Do not take any definite post at present, +for you have an estate in your inkstand.” And +indeed so it proved, for work flowed in only too +fast. As <cite>Times</cite> Special Correspondent he had +many interesting experiences, amongst them being +a visit to Petersburg to describe the late Duke of +Edinburgh’s marriage.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the episode which stands out most +clearly before me is a certain <i lang="fr">tour-de-force</i>, as Mr. +Delane himself called it, springing out of the Commune +riots at the close of the siege of Paris. We +had been paying a visit in Staffordshire in the +early autumn of that tragic year, and reached +home one Saturday evening just in time for dinner, +and to find the well-known <cite>Times</cite> messenger seated +in the hall with three or four large blue bags +around him. He handed my husband a note from +Mr. Delane, explaining that these bags contained a +heap of miscellaneous printed matter taken from +the “Cabinet Noir” at the sack of the Tuilleries, and +requiring a series of articles to be made out of them.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</span></p> +<p>Well, it was already late, and the papers had +to be sorted, translated, and the first article +written by Monday morning. So we set to work +directly after dinner. It took all that night +merely to sort the papers and reduce them to an +orderly sequence. Much of the material before us +had to be rejected as being either uninteresting +or of a private and personal nature below the +dignity of the <cite>Times</cite> to notice. The whole of the +next day—with only pauses for our meals and +hasty toilets—was devoted to arranging the papers +into separate parts for three consecutive articles +of three columns each which Mr. Delane had asked +for. Then came the work of translation, which I +undertook, supplying my husband with hastily +scribbled sheets from which he wrote his article. +The printer’s boy appeared about midnight and +dozed in the hall, occasionally tapping at the door +for the large envelope full of MSS. which he sent +off by cab. All Monday and Monday night as +well as all Tuesday did the work go on. It +was too interesting and exciting to think of +sleep, and it was something like two o’clock +on Tuesday night, or rather Wednesday morning, +when, the third and last article being finished, +my husband took it himself down to Printing +House Square for the sake of the drive, and +I crawled up to bed! It was literally crawling, +for I remember I sat down on the stairs and had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</span>a good cry, which I found most refreshing and +comforting.</p> + +<p>I too was asked to write many of the <cite>Times</cite> +reviews of novels, and as I was invited the next +year to be the first Lady Superintendent of the +National School of Cookery, and I became also +the Editor of a Magazine, we both had plenty of +agreeable and congenial work, as well as the +satisfaction of earning between us a comfortable +income.</p> + +<p>This busy but very pleasant London life went +smoothly on until 1875, when the gipsy took us +once more in hand I suppose, for, quite unexpectedly, +my husband received an offer from the +then Secretary of State for the Colonies, the late +Lord Carnarvon, to go out with Sir Garnet Wolseley<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +to Natal as his Colonial Secretary. It required a +good deal of courage to again suddenly and violently +alter our mode of life, especially as only a few +hours could be allowed for decision, but both +Mr. Delane and the late Duke of Somerset<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> strongly +advised my husband to accept the offer. The +Duke had been the Chairman of the Royal Commission +on Unseaworthy Ships, of which my husband +was the Secretary, and ever since they had +been thus brought into contact the Duke had +honoured the clever young <cite>Times</cite> writer with a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</span>steady and delightful friendship, and had always +shown the keenest interest in his career.</p> + +<p>So once more our pretty and pleasant home in +Thurloe Square was broken up, and my husband +started before the week was out for Natal, with +Sir Garnet Wolseley and his brilliant staff. I +could not break off the threads of my own work +so rapidly as all that, and I did not go out to +Natal until six months later. My stay there only +lasted a little over a year, and I brought my two +small boys back again early in 1877, settled them +in England, and then joined my husband in +Mauritius, where he was Lieutenant-Governor, in +1880. My own happiness as well as usefulness +there was sadly marred by ill-health, which finally +drove me home in 1881, and I had to remain in +England until Mr. Napier Broome was appointed +Governor of Western Australia in 1882. By that +time I had recovered sufficiently to go round by +Mauritius in one of the fine boats of the <span lang="fr">Messageries +Maritimes</span>, which then ran between Marseilles and +Australia, and pick him up and go on to South +Australia, from whence we had to retrace our +steps across the Great Australian Bight to King +George Sound. That was in the first days of +June 1883. The next year he was made a K.C.M.G., +and came to England in 1885, when he gave a +lecture at the Royal Colonial Institute on “Western +Australia,” at which H.R.H. the Prince of Wales +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</span>graciously took, for the first time in the history +of the Institute, the chair. It is impossible to +estimate the good effect that lecture had in attracting +attention to the Cinderella of the Australian +colonies, or the deep gratification of the colonists +themselves at His Royal Highness’ kindly interest. +It was quite the first step on Western Australia’s +road to progress and prosperity, and I do not +believe that at least this generation will ever cease +to be grateful to their Sovereign for helping them +by his presence and patronage when they were +indeed “poor and of no account.”</p> + +<p>In 1890 we left Western Australia amid heart-breaking +farewells, in order to enable the Governor +to see the Bill for giving Responsible Government +to the Colony (which had been thrown out the +Session before) through the House of Commons. +That proved a most interesting and exciting +summer, necessitating Sir Frederick’s constant +attendance before the Select Committee. But his +efforts, aided by those of two other delegates,<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> were +successful, and the Bill was triumphantly carried +through to the great advantage of the Colony.</p> + +<p>I have often thought since, that those seven +years were perhaps the happiest part of my very +happy life. The climate, except when a hot wind +was blowing in summer, was delightful, the Government +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</span>House, an excellent and comfortable one, +stood in beautiful gardens, and the life was simple +and primitive, for no one was rich in those days, +and the society was small and friendly. Sir +Frederick worked hard for the development of the +vast Colony, which held a million square but sandy +miles within its borders, finding his task congenial +as well as deeply interesting. I worked too in +various little ways, and amongst other plans I +collected all the girls in Perth on Monday afternoons +and read aloud to them for a couple of hours +whilst they worked. We began with Green’s +“Short History of the English People,” and went +on to Justin M‘Carthy’s “History of our own +Times,” and then Motley’s “Dutch Republic,” and +“Thirty Years’ War.” It was only an experiment +at first, but it succeeded splendidly, thanks to +the thirst for knowledge which all these pretty +and charming girls displayed. No weather ever +prevented their coming, and it would have been +hard to decide who enjoyed those afternoons most, +the reader or her very attentive and intelligent +audience.</p> + +<p>I can answer for myself that it was a terrible +wrench to leave that dear home to which we had +both become so truly attached; however, the +gipsy’s weird utterances had to be carried out, +and a fresh home was soon started in Trinidad, +to which part of the “Bow of Ulysses” my husband +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</span>was appointed Governor in 1891. There the +life was, of course, very different, and so was the +climate and the surroundings. Still the interesting +work went on, but there had to be a brief visit +to England—often only lasting three weeks—every +year. Unlike most other Governments there +was no rest or change of air possible in the Colony +itself, so the English visit became a necessity for +health besides affording an opportunity for settling +many questions of local importance.</p> + +<p>Our time there was drawing to a close in 1896, +and already a movement was on foot (as had been +the case in Western Australia) to petition the +Secretary of State for an extension of Sir Frederick’s +term of office, when, like a bolt out of the blue, +came an illness full of suffering which speedily +put an end to a career of great promise, and to +his life three months later.</p> + +<p>Since 1896 I have therefore ceased wandering +up and down the face of the globe, and, except for +short trips abroad and a long and delightful visit +to America last summer, I may be said to have +settled down to a less roving life; but I feel the +gipsy prophecy still holds good, and that no doubt +my present little home will one day change its +ground.</p> + +<p>As it is, I often wonder which is the dream—the +shifting scenes of former days, so full of interest +as well as of everything which could make life +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</span>dear and precious, or these monotonous years +when I feel like a shipwrecked swimmer, cast up +by a wave, out of reach of immediate peril it is +true, but far removed from all except the commonplace +of existence. Still it is much to have known +the best and highest of earthly happiness; to +have “loved and been beloved,” and to have +found faithful friends who stood fast even in the +darkest days. Among these friends I would fain +believe there are some unknown ones, who have +perhaps read my little books in their childhood, +and to whom I venture to address these lines explaining +as it were my personal story, with an entreaty +for forgiveness if I have made it <em>too</em> personal.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> +<p class="center xlarge">COLONIAL MEMORIES</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="I"><abbr title="1">I</abbr><br> + +<small>OLD NEW ZEALAND</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>It has so chanced that quite lately I have heard a +good deal of this beautiful and flourishing portion +of our “Britain-over-sea,” and these reports have +stirred the old memories of days gone by when +it was almost a <i lang="la" >terra incognita</i>—as indeed were +many of our splendid Colonial possessions—to the +home-dweller. But the home-dweller proper hardly +exists in this twentieth century, and the globe-trotter +has taken his place. Even the latter +sobriquet was unknown in my day, and I was regarded +as quite going into exile when, some eight-and-thirty +years ago, I sailed with my husband +for his sheep-station on the Canterbury Plains. As +far as I was concerned, the life there afforded the +sharpest of all sharp contrasts, but it was none +the less happy and delightful for that.</p> + +<p>The direct line of passenger-ships only took us +as far as Melbourne, and then came a dismal ten or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>twelve days in a wretched little steamer, struggling +along a stormy coast before the flourishing Port +Lyttelton of the present day (a shabby village in +1865) was reached. Yet the great tunnel through +the Port Hills was well on its way even then, and +the railway to connect the port and the young town +of Christchurch was confidently talked of. Even +in those early days, the new-comer was struck by +the familiar air of everything; and, so far as my +own experience goes, New Zealand is certainly the +most English colony I have seen. It never seems +to have attracted the heterogeneous races of which +the population of other colonies is so largely composed. +For example, in Mauritius the Chinese +and Arab element is almost as numerous as the +French and English. In Trinidad there are large +colonies of Spanish and German settlers, without +counting in both these islands the enormous Indian +population which we have brought there to cultivate +the sugar-cane; and in all the principal +towns of Australia the “foreigner” thrives and +flourishes. But New Zealand has always been +beautifully and distinctly English, and the grand +Imperial idea has there fallen on congenial soil +and taken deep root.</p> + +<p>Even in the days I speak of, Christchurch, though +an infant town, looked pretty on account of its +picturesque situation on the banks of the Avon. +The surrounding country was a sort of rolling +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>prairie, ideally suitable for sheep, with the magnificent +Southern Alps for a background. And +what a climate, and what a sky, and what an air! +The only fault I had to find with the atmospheric +conditions was the hot wind. But hot winds were +new to me in those days, and I rebelled against +them accordingly. Now I begin to think hot +winds blow everywhere out of England. In South +Africa, in Mauritius, in all parts of Australia, one +suffers from them, to say nothing of India, where +they are on the largest possible scale.</p> + +<p>The first six months of my New Zealand life +was spent in Christchurch, waiting for the little +wooden house to be cut out and sent up country +to our sheep-station in the Malvern Hills. How +absurdly primitive it all was, and yet how one +delighted in it! I well remember the “happy +thought”—when the question arose of the size of +drawing and dining-rooms—of spreading our +carpets out on the grass and planning the house +round them. And the joy of settling in, when the +various portions of the little dwelling had been +conveyed some seventy-five miles inland to our +happy valley and fitted together. The doors and +window-frames had all come from America ready-made, +but the rest of the house was cut out of +the kauri pine from the forests in the North Island.</p> + +<p>The first thing I had to learn was that New +Zealand meant really <em>three</em> islands—two big ones +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>and a little one. Everybody knows about the +North and the Middle Islands, which are the big +ones, but the little Stewart Island often confused +me by sometimes being called the South Island, +which it really is. A number of groups of small +islets have been added to the colony since then, +such as the Cook and Kermadec Islands, but I +do not fancy they are inhabited. The colony was +really not a quarter of a century old when I knew +it, as it had been a dependency of New South +Wales up to 1842, and it owes its separation and +rapid development to the New Zealand Company, +which started with a Royal charter. The Canterbury +Association sent out four ships which took +four months to reach Port Cooper in the Middle +Island (now the flourishing seaport of Lyttelton), +only sixteen years before I landed there.</p> + +<p>The cathedral had not risen above its foundations +in 1865, but I was struck with the well-paved +streets, good “side-walks,” gas-lamps, drinking-fountains, +and even red pillar-boxes exactly like +the one round the corner to-day. And it seemed +all the more marvellous to me, who had just gone +through the lengthy and costly experience of +dragging my own little possessions across those +stormy seas round the Cape of Good Hope, to think +of all these aids to civilisation having come +by the same route. Now I am assured you can +get anything and everything you might possibly +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>want, on the spot, but in those days one eagerly +watched a <i lang="fr">déménagement</i> as a good opportunity for +furnishing.</p> + +<p>We had brought all our goods and chattels out +with us, and the wooden house was soon turned into +a very pretty comfortable little homestead. The +great trouble was getting the garden started. +The soil was magnificent, and everything in that +Malvern Valley grew splendidly if the north-west +winds would only allow it. Hedges of cytisus were +always planted a month or so before sowing the +dwarf green peas, in order that they might have +some shelter, and this plan answered very well. I +could not, however, start a hedge of cytisus all round +my little lawn, and the consequence was that the +blades of grass on that spot could easily be counted, +and that I discovered a luxuriant patch of “English +grass” about a mile down the flat, where a little +dip in the ground had made a shelter for the flying +seed. And the melancholy part of the story was +that English grass-seed cost a guinea a pound! I +was quite able to appreciate, three years later, +the ecstasy of delight of a little New Zealand girl, +who, beholding the Isle of Wight for the first time, +exclaimed to me: “How rich they must be! +Why, it’s all laid down in English grass!”</p> + +<p>Other flower-seeds, of course, shared the same +fate, and it was indeed gardening under difficulties. +But in the vegetable-garden consolation could be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>found in the potatoes, strawberries, and green +peas, which were huge in size and abundant in +quantity.</p> + +<p>Indoors all soon looked bright and cheery; and +besides the books we brought out, I started a +magazine and book club in connection with a +London library, which answered very well, and gave +great delight to our neighbours, chiefly shepherds. +These men were often of Scotch or north of England +birth, and of a very good type. Their lives, however, +were necessarily monotonous and lonely, and +they were very glad of books. We had a short +Church service every Sunday afternoon, to which +they gladly came, and then they took new books +back with them.</p> + +<p>The only grudge I ever had against these men +was that they all tried to provide themselves with +wives among my maids, and by so doing greatly +added to my difficulties with these damsels. Far +from accepting Strephon’s honourable proposals, +Chloe would make these offers—which apparently +bored her—an excuse for giving up her place and +returning to the gay metropolis.</p> + +<p>I honestly think those maids (I had but two of +them at a time) were the chief, if not the only, +real worry of my happy New Zealand life. Nothing +would ever induce them to remain more than four +months at the station. In spite of the suitors, they +found it “lonely,” and away they went. Changing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>was such a troublesome business and always meant +a week without any servants at all, for the dray—their +sole means of conveyance—took two days on +the road each way, and then there were always +stores to buy and bring back, and the driver declared +his horses needed a couple of days’ rest in +town. Some of the various reasons the maids +gave for leaving were truly absurd. Once I came +into the kitchen on a bright winter’s morning to +find them seated on a sort of sofa (made of chintz-covered +boxes), clasped in each other’s arms, and +weeping bitterly. With difficulty I got out of +them that their sole grievance was the sound of +the bleating of the sheep, a “mob” of which were +feeding on the nearest hillside. It was “lonesome +like,” and they must return to town immediately.</p> + +<p>These girls, as well as their predecessors and +successors, were a continual mystery to me, and +I never could understand why they became servants +at all. Not one of them ever had the faintest +idea of what duties she had to perform or how to +perform them. A cook had never, apparently, been +in a kitchen before, nor had the housemaid ever +seen, or at least handled, a broom or a duster. I +was only an ignorant beginner in those days, and yet +found myself obliged to teach the most elementary +duties. They were nearly all factory-girls; and +when I asked “Who did these things for you at +home?” always answered “Mother.” They had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>never held a needle until I taught them how to +do so; and as for mending or darning, that was +regarded as sheer waste of time. The first thing +they had to learn was to bake bread, and as, unfortunately, +the best teacher was our head shepherd—a +good-looking, well-to-do young man—the +“courting” began very soon, though it never +seemed successful, and poor Ridge’s heart must +have been torn to pieces during those three years +of obdurate pupils.</p> + +<p>I must, however, say here that, ignorant to an +incredible degree as my various “helps” were, I +found them perfectly honest and perfectly respectable. +I never had the slightest fault to find +on either of these counts. Sobriety went without +saying, for it was compulsory, as the nearest public-house +was a dozen miles away across trackless +hills.</p> + +<p>It was a real tragic time, for me at least, that +constantly recurring week between the departure +and arrival of my maids; but I am inclined to +think, on mature reflection, that my worst troubles +arose from the volunteers who insisted on helping +me. These kindly A.D.C.’s,—owners or pupils on +neighbouring stations,—all professed to be quite +familiar with domestic matters. But I found a +sad falling-off when it came to putting their theories +into practice in my kitchen. It generally turned out +that they had made a hasty study of various paragraphs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>in that useful work “Inquire Within, &c.,” +and then started forth to carry out the directions +they had mastered. For instance, one stalwart +neighbour presented a smiling face at our hall-door +one morning and said:—</p> + +<p>“I’ve come to wash up.”</p> + +<p>“That is very kind of you,” I replied; “but +are you sure you know how?”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes—just try me, and you’ll see. Very +hot water, you know: boiling, in fact.”</p> + +<p>Well, there was no difficulty about the hot +water, which was poured into a tub in which a +good many of my pretty china plates and dishes +were standing. The next moment I heard a yell +and a crash—and I am very much afraid “a big, +big D——”—and my “help” was jumping about +the kitchen wringing his hands and shouting for +cotton-wool and salad-oil and what not. It seemed +a mere detail after this calamity to discover that +half-a-dozen plates were broken and as many +more cracked. “The beastly thing was so hot” +being the excuse.</p> + +<p>The first time the maids left I thought I would, +so to speak, victual the garrison beforehand, and +I had quantities of bread baked and butter churned +and meat-pies made and joints roasted; but at +the end of a couple of days the larder was nearly +empty, partly on account of the gigantic appetites +we all had, and partly because of the addition +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>to our home party of all these volunteers who +always seized the excuse of helping. As a +matter of fact, my “helps” generally betook +themselves to a rifle-range F. had set up down the +valley, or else they organised athletic sports. I +should not have minded their doing so, if it had +not, apparently, increased their appetites.</p> + +<p>Never can I forget an awful experience I went +through with one of my earliest attempts at bread-making. +I felt it was a serious matter, and not +to be lightly taken in hand, so I turned my helps, +one and all, out of the kitchen, and proceeded +to carry out the directions as written down. First +the dough was to be “set.” That was an anxious +business. The prescribed quantity of flour had to +be put in a milk-pan, the orthodox hole in the +centre of the white heap was duly made, and then +came the critical moment of adding the yeast. +There was only one bottle of this precious ingredient +left, and it was evidently very much +“up,” as yeast ought to be. Under these circumstances, +to take out the cork of that bottle +was exactly like firing a pistol, and I do not like +firing pistols. So I was obliged to call for an +assistant. All rushed in gleefully, declaring that +opening yeast-bottles was their show accomplishment, +but F. was the first to seize it. He gave +it a great shake. Out flew the cork right up to +the rafters, and after it flew <em>all</em> my beautiful yeast, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>leaving only dregs of hops and potatoes, which +F., turning the bottle upside down, emptied into +the flour. Of course it was all spoiled, though I +tried hard to produce something of the nature of +bread out of it. But certainly it was horribly +heavy and damp.</p> + +<p>One thing my New Zealand experiences taught +me, and that was the skill and patience and variety +of knowledge required to produce the simple +things of our daily life—things which we accept as +much as a matter of course as the air we breathe. +But if you have to attempt them yourself, you +end by having a great respect for those who do +them apparently without effort.</p> + +<p>I have often been asked how we amused ourselves +in that lonely valley. There was not very +much time for amusement, for we were all very +busy. There was mustering and drafting to be +done, besides the annual business of shearing, +which was a tremendous affair. It is true I developed +quite a talent for grafting pleasure upon +business; and when a long boundary ride had +to be taken, or a new length of fencing inspected +(in those days wire fences could not be put up +even at that comparatively short distance from a +town under £100 a mile), I contrived to make it +a sort of picnic, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The +one drawback to my happiness was the dreadful +track—it were gross flattery to call it a road—over +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>which our way generally led us. No English horse +would have attempted the break-neck places our +nags took us safely over. Up and down slippery +steep stairs, where all four feet had to be collected +carefully on each step, before an attempt to reach +the next could be made; across swamps where +there was no foothold except on an occasional +tussock; over creeks with crumbling banks. At +first I really could not believe that I was expected +to follow over such places, but I was only adjured +to “sit tight and leave it all to my horse,” and +certainly I survived to tell the tale! The only +fall I had during all those three years of real +rough-riding was cantering over a perfectly smooth +plain, when a little bag strapped to my saddle +slipped down and struck my very spirited mare +beneath her body. She bucked frantically, and I +flew into space, alighting on the point of my +shoulder, which I broke. On that occasion I was +the victim of a good deal of amateur surgery, +but it all came right eventually, though I could +not use my arm for a long time.</p> + +<p>But to return to our amusements. Boar-hunting +was perhaps the most exciting; though I was not +allowed to call that an amusement, for it was +absolutely necessary to keep down the wild pigs, +which we owe to Captain Cook. A sow will follow +very young lambs until they drop, separating them +from their mothers and giving them no rest. When +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>the poor little things fall exhausted the sow then +devours them, but it is almost impossible to track +and shoot these same sows, for they hide themselves +and their litters in the most marvellous way. +The shepherds occasionally come across them, and +then have a great orgy of sucking-pig. But +the big boar whose shoulder-scales are like plated +armour and quite bullet-proof, and whose tusks +are as sharp as razors, gives really very good +sport, and must be warily stalked. These expeditions +had always to be undertaken on foot, and +I insisted on going because I had heard gruesome +stories of accidents to sportsmen, who had perished +of cold and hunger on desolate hillsides when out +after boars. So I always begged to be taken out +stalking, and as I carried a basket with sandwiches +and cake and a bottle of cold tea, my company +was graciously accepted.</p> + +<p>These expeditions always took place in the winter, +for the affairs of the sheep seemed to occupy most +of the summer, and besides it would have been +too hot for climbing steep hillsides and exploring +long winding gullies in anything but cold May +and June weather. The boars gave excellent +sport, and I well remember, after a long day’s +stalk up the gorge of the Selwyn River, our pride +and triumph when F., who had taken a careful +aim at what looked exactly like one of the grey +boulders strewn about on the opposite hillside, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>fired his rifle, and a huge boar leapt into the air, +only to fall dead and come crashing down the +steep slope.</p> + +<p>Then there were some glorious days after wild +cattle, but that was a long way off in the great +Kowai Bush, and we had to camp out for nearly +a week. It was difficult work getting through the +forest, as, although there was a sort of track, it +was often impassable by reason of fallen trees. +Of course we were on foot; but it greatly adds +to one’s work to have constantly to climb or +scramble over a barrier of branches. All the +gentlemen carried compasses as the only means +of steering through the curious green gloom. +Though it was the height of summer, we never +saw a ray of sunshine, and it was always delightfully +cool. Every now and then we came to a +clearing, and so could see where we were. One of +these openings showed us the great Waimakariri +River swirling beneath its high wooded banks, and +it was, just there, literally covered with wild duck—grey, +blue, and “Paradise”—all excellent eating, +but I am thankful to say that the sportsmen forbore +to shoot, as it would have been impossible +to retrieve the birds. Some fine young bullocks +fell every day to their rifles; but although I heard +the shots and the ensuing shouts of joy, the thickness +of the “bush” always prevented (happily!) +my seeing the victims.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p> +<p>The undergrowth of that “bush”—<i lang="fr">Anglicè</i>, +forest—was the most beautiful thing imaginable, +and the familiar stag’s-head and hart’s-tongue grew +side by side with exquisite forms quite unknown +to me. Besides the profusion of ferns, there was a +wealth of delicate fairy-like foliage, but never a +flower to be seen on account of the want of sun.</p> + +<p>In summer we sometimes went down to the +nearest creek, about a mile away, for eel-fishing, +but I did not care much for that form of sport. +It meant sitting in star-light and solitude for many +hours, and one got drenched with dew into the +bargain. The preparations were the most amusing +part, especially the making of balls of worsted-ends +with lumps of mutton tied craftily in the +middle; the idea being that when the eel snapped +at the meat his teeth ought to stick in the worsted, +and so he would become an easy prey to the +angler. This came off according to the programme, +and even I caught some; but they were far too +heavy to lift out of the water, as there was no +“playing” an eel, and the dead weight had to +be raised by the flax-stick which was my only +fishing-rod. However, quite enough of the horrid +slimy things were secured to make succulent pies +for those who liked them.</p> + +<p>We once invented an amusement for ourselves +by going up a mountain on our station three +thousand feet high, and sleeping there in order +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>to see the sunrise next morning. I ought, perhaps, +to explain that these Malvern Hills among +which our sheep-station lay are really the lowest +spurs of the great Southern Alps, so that even +on our run the hills attained quite a respectable +height. I had heard from those who had gone +up this hill—quite near our little house—how wide +and beautiful was the outlook from its summit, +so I never rested until the expedition was arranged. +Of course, it was only possible in the height of +summer, and we chose an ideally beautiful afternoon +for our start directly after an early dinner. +It was possible to ride a good way up the hill, +and then we dismounted (there were five of us), +and took the saddles and bridles off the horses, +tied them to flax-bushes within easy reach of +good feed, and commenced the climb of the last +and steepest bit of the ascent.</p> + +<p>It was rather amusing to find, as soon as it +came to carrying them up ourselves, how many +things were suddenly pronounced to be quite unnecessary. +Food and drink had to be carried (the +drink consisting of water for tea) and a pair of +red blankets for shelter, and just one little extra +blanket for me. My share of the porterage was +only a bottle of milk strapped to my back—for it +took both hands to scramble up, holding on to the +long tussocks of grass—but I felt that I was laden +to the extent of my carrying capacity! The four +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>gentlemen had really heavy loads (“swags,” as +they called all parcels or bundles), under which, +however, they gallantly struggled up. There was +no time to admire any view when at last we stood, +breathless and panting, on the little plateau at +the very top, for the twilight was fast fading, and +there was the tent to be put up and wood to collect +for the fire.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, all those hillsides were more or less +strewn with charred logs of a splendid hard red +wood, called “totara,” the last traces of the forest +or bush with which they were once covered. +The shepherds always pick up and bring down +any of these logs which they come across when +mustering or boundary-keeping, for they find them +a great prize for their fires, burning slowly, and +giving out a fine heat.</p> + +<p>When we came to pitch the tent, there seemed +such a draught through it that I gave up my own +particular blanket to block up one end, and contented +myself with a little jacket. But oh, how +cold it was! We did not find it out just at first, +for we were all too busy settling ourselves, lighting +the fire, unpacking, and so forth. But after +we had eaten the pies and provisions, and drunk +a quantity of tea, there did not seem much to do +except to turn in so as to be ready for the sunrise. +Some tussocks of coarse grass had been cut to +make a sort of bed for me, after the fashion of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>the wild-pigs, who, the shepherds declare, “have +clean sheets every night,” for they never use +their lair more than once, and always sleep on fresh +bitten-off grass. In spite of this luxury, however, +I must say I found the ground <em>very</em> hard, and the +wind, against which the blankets seemed absolutely +no protection, <em>very</em> cold. Also the length +of that night was something marvellous; and +when we looked down into the valley and saw +the lights twinkling in our own little homestead, +and reflected that it could not be yet ten o’clock, +a sense of foolishness took possession of us. Every +one looked, as seen by the firelight, cold and +miserable, but happily no one was cross or reproachful. +Three of the gentlemen sat round the +fire smoking all night, with occasional very weak +“grogs” to cheer them. F. shared the tent with +me and Nettle, my little fox-terrier; but Nettle +showed himself a selfish doggie that night. I +wanted him to sleep curled up at my back for +warmth, but he would insist on so arranging himself +that I was at <em>his</em> back, which was not the +same thing for me at all.</p> + +<p>We certainly verified the proverb of its being +darkest before dawn, for the stars seemed to fade +quite out, and an inky blackness stole over earth +and sky an hour or so before a pale streak grew +luminous in the east. I fear I must confess to +having by that time quite forgotten my ardent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>desire to see the sunrise. All I thought of was +the joy of getting home, and being warm once +more; and, as soon as it was light enough to see +anything, we began to strike the little tent and +pack up the empty dishes and pannikins. But +long before we could have thought it possible, +and long before it could be seen from the deep +valley below us, the sun uprose, and one felt as +if one was looking at the majestic sight for the +first time since the Creation. Nothing could have +been more magnificent than the sudden flood of +light bursting over the wide expanse. Fifty miles +away, the glistening waves of the Pacific showed +quite clearly; below us spread the vast Canterbury +Plains, with the great Waimakariri River +flowing through them like a tangle of silver ribbons. +To the west rose steep, forest-covered hills, still +dark and gloomy, with the eerie-looking outline +of the snow-ranges rising behind. A light mist +marked where the great Ellesmere Lake lay, the +strange thing about which is that, although only +a slight bar of sand separates it from the sea, its +waters are quite fresh. All we could see of the +River Rakaia were its steep banks, but beyond +them again shone the gleam of the Rangitata’s +waters, whilst close under our feet the Selwyn +ran darkly through its narrow gorge. The little +green patches of cultivation—so few and far between +in those days—each with its tiny cottage, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>gave a little homelike touch which was delightful, +as did also the strings of sheep going noisily down +from their high camping-grounds to feed in the +sheltered valleys or on the sunny slopes. It was +certainly a most beautiful panorama, and we all +agreed that it was well worth our long, cold night +of waiting. Still, we got home as quickly as we +could, and I remember the day proved a very +quiet one. I suspect there were many surreptitious +naps indulged in by us poor “Watchers of the +Night.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="II"><abbr title="2">II</abbr><br> + +<small>OLD NEW ZEALAND—<i>Continued</i></small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>No wandering reminiscence of these distant days +would be complete without a brief mention of the +famous snowstorm of 1867, at which I assisted.</p> + +<p>I must say a prefatory word or two about the +climate—so far as my three years’ experience went—in +order to explain the full force of the disaster +that fall of snow wrought. The winters were +short and delicious, except for an occasional week +of wet weather, which, however, was always regarded +by the sheep-farmer as excellent for filling +up the creeks, making the grass grow, and being +everything that was natural and desirable. When +it did not rain, the winter weather was simply +enchanting, although one had to be prepared for +its sudden caprices, for weather is weather even +at the antipodes, and consequently unreliable. +Sometimes we started on an ideally exquisite +morning for a long ride on some station business. +The air would be still and delicious, fresh and +exhilarating to a degree hardly to be understood; +the sun brilliant and just sufficiently warming. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>All would go well for four or five hours, until, +perhaps, we had crossed a low saddle in the mountains +and were coming home by the gorge of a +river. In ten minutes everything might have +changed. A sou’-wester would have sprung up +as though let out of a bag, heavy drops of rain +would be succeeded by a snow-flurry, in which it +was not always easy to find one’s way home across +swamps and over creeks, and the riders who set +forth so gaily at ten of the clock that same morning +would return in the fast-gathering darkness wet +to the skin, or rather frozen to the bone. I have +often found it difficult to get out of my habit, so +stiff with frozen snow was its bodice.</p> + +<p>No one ever dreamed of catching cold, however, +from the meteorological changes and chances, an +immunity which no doubt we owed to the fact +that we led, whether we liked it or not, an open-air +life. The little weather-boarded house, with +its canvas-papered lining, did not offer much protection +from a hard frost, and I have often found a +heap of feathery snow on a chair near my closed +bedroom window; the snow having drifted in +through the ill-fitting frame.</p> + +<p>Still these snow-showers, and even hard frosts +(which usually melted by midday), did no harm +to man or beast, and found us totally unprepared +for the fall in August 1867. Of course there were +no meteorological records kept in those days, for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>they had not long been started even in England, +and we had nothing to go by except the +Maori traditions, which held no record of anything +the least like that snowstorm. Indeed, I +had seldom seen snow lie on the ground for more +than an hour after the sun rose, and it never +was thought of as a danger in our comparatively +low hills.</p> + +<p>I well remember that Monday morning and the +strange restlessness which seemed to extend to the +sheep, for they must have felt the coming trouble +long before we thought of calamity. The weather +during the last week of July had been quite beautiful, +our regular winter weather, and we had taken +advantage of it to send the dray down to Christchurch +for supplies. My store-room was all but +empty, and the tea-chest, flour and sugar bags, +held hardly half-a-week’s consumption, so the +drayman was charged not to linger, but to turn +round and come back directly he got his load. +When speaking of supplies it must be borne in +mind that tinned provisions were almost unknown +in those days, and certainly never found their +way to a New Zealand sheep station. F. had also +taken advantage of the beautiful open weather +to ride down to Christchurch about wool matters, +so I expected to be quite alone with a youth who +was learning sheep-farming under F.’s auspices, +and my two servants.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> +<p>But F. had hardly started before a cousin rode +up the track and, hearing I was feeling somewhat +depressed and lonely, very kindly volunteered to +stay, and before the afternoon was over a neighbouring +young squatter also appeared, and asked +(as was quite a common thing in that hotel-less +district) for shelter for the night. Nothing could +have been more unexpected—except that one’s +station guests always were unexpected—than these +two visitors, but it proved a fortunate chance for +me that they appeared just then.</p> + +<p>The weather was certainly curious, and we all +noticed that the sound of the sheep’s bleat never +ceased. Now the odd thing at a sheep station +used to be that you hardly ever saw a sheep, and +still more seldom heard one, except perhaps in +the early morning, when they were coming down +from their high camping-grounds. And sheep +always “travel” head to wind, but the sheep that +afternoon kept moving in exactly the contrary +direction. Still I was not in the least uneasy +about the weather, except as it might affect the +comfort of F.’s seventy-five mile ride to town, +and I knew he would be under comfortable shelter +at a friend’s half-way house that night. So we +gaily and lavishly partook of our supper-dinner, +had an absurd game of whist, and went to bed +as usual.</p> + +<p>It was no surprise to see snow falling steadily +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>next morning, but it was disagreeable to find there +was very little mutton in the house, and that it +was quite likely the shepherd would wait for the +weather to clear before starting across the hills +and swamps between us and the little homestead +where the woolshed stood, and from whence the +business of the station was carried on.</p> + +<p>The three gentlemen lounged about all day and +smoked a good deal. They told me afterwards +how bitterly they regretted not having made some +preparation in the way of at least bringing in +fuel, or putting extra food for the fowls, &c. But +each said to the other every five minutes, “Oh, +you know snow in New Zealand <em>never</em> lasts,” though +their experience was only a very few years old. +It was short commons that second day, and I +thought sadly that the dray would have only +reached Christchurch that evening! We all felt +depressed, and, as no one had any use for depression +up that valley, the sensation was quite new +to us.</p> + +<p>It was not until we met on the third morning, +however, that we at all acknowledged our fears. +By this time the snow was at least four feet deep +in the shallowest places, and still continued to +fall steadily. It was impossible to see even where +the fowl-house and pig-sties stood, on the weather +side of the house. All the great logs of wood +lying about waiting to be cut up were hidden, so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>was the little shed full of coal. A smooth high +slope, like a hillock, stretched from the outer +kitchen door, which could not be opened that +morning, out into the floating whiteness. All our +windows were nearly blocked up and became quite +so by the evening, and no door except one, which +opened inwards, could be used. And we had +literally no food in the house. The tea at breakfast +was merely coloured hot water, and we each +had a couple of picnic biscuits. For dinner there +was a little rice and salt. Imagine six people to +be fed every day, and an empty larder and store-room!</p> + +<p>The day after that my maids declined to get up, +declaring they preferred to “die warm”; so I +took them in a sardine each, a few ratafia biscuits, +and a spoonful of apricot jam. Those were our +own rations for that day. We had by that time +broken up every box for fuel, and only lighted +a fire in the kitchen, where also a solitary candle +burned.</p> + +<p>“Be very careful of the dips,” said one of my +guests, “for I’ve read of people eating them.”</p> + +<p>“I hear the cat mewing under the house,” said +another; “we’ll try to get hold of her.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder if those are the cows?” asked a +third, pointing to three formless heaps high above +the stockyard rails, but within them.</p> + +<p>By Friday morning the maids, still in bed, were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>asking tearfully, “And oh! when do you think +we’ll be found, mum?” Whereas my anxiety was +to find something to feed them with! We shook +out a heap of discarded flour-bags and got, to our +joy, quite a plateful of flour, and a careful smoothing +out of the lead lining of old tea-chests yielded +a few leaves, so we had girdle-cakes and tea that +day. I was very unhappy about the dogs: the +horses were out on the run as usual, so it was no +use thinking of them.</p> + +<p>On Saturday there was literally nothing at all +in the house (which was quite dark, remember), +and my three starving men roped themselves together +and struggled out, tunnelling through the +snow, in the direction where they thought the +fowl-house must lie. After a couple of hours’ hard +work they hit upon its roof, tore off some of the +wooden shingles, and captured a few bundles of +feathers, which were what my poor dear hens were +reduced to. However, there was a joyful struggle +back, and after some hasty preparation the fowls +were put into a saucepan with a lump of snow, +for there was no water to be got anywhere, and a +sort of stew resulted, of which we thankfully partook. +This heartened up the gentlemen to make +another sally to the stockyard in search of the +cows. The clever creatures had kept moving round +and round as the snow fell, so as to make a sort +of wider tomb for themselves, and they were alive, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>though mere bundles of skin and bone. They +were dragged by ropes to the stable and there fed +with oaten hay. It was no question of milking +the poor things, for they were quite dry.</p> + +<p>Next day the dogs were dug out, but only one +young and strong one survived. Two more were +alive, but died soon after.</p> + +<p>On Sunday it had ceased snowing and the wind +showed signs of changing. I struggled a yard or +two out of the house, as it was such a blessing +to get into daylight again. My view was of course +much circumscribed, as I could only see up and +down the “flat,” as the valley was called. But +it all looked quite different; not a fence or familiar +landmark to be seen on any side. If I could have +been wafted to the top of the mountain from which +we saw the sun rise the summer before, what a +white world should I have beheld! And if I could +have soared still higher and looked over the whole +of the vast Canterbury Plains, I should have been +gazing at the smooth winding-sheet of half a million +of sheep, for that was found, later, to be the loss +in that Province alone.</p> + +<p>Yet, as we afterwards came to know, it was +not really the fall of snow, tremendous as it had +been, which cost the Province nearly all its stock. +As I have said, the wind changed to the north-west—the +warm quarter—on Sunday night, and it +rained heavily as well as blowing half a gale. On +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>Monday morning the snow was off the roof and it +was possible to clear some of the windows. An +early excursion was also made to the styes and a +very thin pig was killed, and, as a bag of Indian +meal for fattening poultry had also been found +in the stable loft, a sort of cake could be made. +So we were no longer starving, and the maids +got up!</p> + +<p>Twenty-four hours of this warm rain and wind +was what did all the mischief to the poor sheep. +By Monday night every creek within sight had +overflowed its banks, and was running—a dirty +yellow stream—over the fast-melting snowfields. +The rapid thaw and the flooded creeks made locomotion +more difficult than ever, but the three +gentlemen set to work at once to try to release +the imprisoned sheep. There was but one dog +to work with, and he was so weak he could hardly +move, but the poor sheep were still weaker. Contrary +to their custom they had mostly sought +refuge beneath the projecting banks of the creeks, +and would have been safe enough there had not +the sudden thaw let the water in on them before +they could struggle up, so they were nearly all +drowned. It was most pathetic to discover how +in some places the mothers had tried to save the +lambs by standing over them in a leaning attitude +so as to make a shelter. The lambing season had +just begun, and on our own run, which was but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>a small one, we lost three thousand lambs. Several +were brought in to me to try to save, but I had +no cow’s milk to give them, and warm meal and +water did not prove enough to keep the poor little +starving creatures alive. It was heart-breaking +work, and when F. returned it was to find the +fences tapestried with the skins of a thousand +sheep.</p> + +<p>As soon as we could move about on horseback +we rode all over the run and found that the sheep +had evidently fared better when they had kept +on higher ground. It was curious to see the +tops of the little Ti-ti palms, some ten or twelve +feet high, entirely nibbled off where the sheep +had clustered round them, and, as the snow fell, +mounted higher and higher until they could reach +the green leaves. In those days all the flocks +were pure or half-bred merino; active, hardy little +black-faced sheep, tasting like Welsh mutton, and +delicious eating. On these excursions we often +came upon dead wild-pigs, boars cased in hides an +inch thick, which had perished through sheer stress +of weather. It was wonderful to think that thin-skinned +animals, with only a few months’ growth +of fine merino wool on their backs, could have +survived.</p> + +<p>During the long bright summer which followed, +we used often to ask each other if it could be true +that hills had apparently been levelled and valleys +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>filled up by the heaviest snowstorm ever known. +But when we looked at the Ti-ti palms with their +topmost leaves gnawed to the stump, we realised +that the sheep must have been standing on eight +or nine feet of snow to reach them. When the +survivors came to be shorn, it was plainly to be seen +by the sort of “nick” in the fleece, where their +three weeks’ imprisonment had evidently checked +the growth of the wool. Many of the hardiest +wethers must have been without food for that +time, as the pasturage was either under snow or +flooded.</p> + +<p>In looking back on that tragic time, its only +bright memory is connected with tobogganing on +a rough but giant scale, and I greatly wonder +any of us survived that form of amusement. By +the time every possible thing had been done for +the surviving sheep, the snow had disappeared +from all but the steep weather-side of the encircling +hills, so our slides had to be arranged on +very dangerous slopes.</p> + +<p>The sledges on which these perilous journeys +were made consisted of a couple of short planks +nailed together, with a batten across for one’s +feet to rest on, and half a shears for a brake. If +the gentlemen would only have made these rapid +descents alone! But they insisted on my being +a constant passenger. No one who has not gone +through it can imagine the sensation of being +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>launched on a bit of board down a mountain side! +And yet there must have been a fearful joy in it, +because after turning round and round many times +as one flew over the hard snow surface, and arriving +in a heap, head foremost, in a snowdrift, one was +quite ready to try again. Luckily another north-west +gale set in, and when it had blown itself +out there were too many sharp-pointed rocks sticking +up out of the remaining snow to make our mad +descents practicable.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="III"><abbr title="3">III</abbr><br> + +<small>OLD NEW ZEALAND—<i>Continued</i></small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>I wonder if “swaggers” have been improved off +the face of the country districts of New Zealand? +Tramps one would perhaps have called them in England, +and yet they were hardly tramps so much as +men of a roving disposition, who wandered about +asking for work, and they really could and did work +if wanted. They nearly always appeared, with their +“swag” (a roll of red blankets) on their backs, +about sunset, and it was etiquette for them to offer +to chop wood before shelter was suggested. A good +meal of tea, mutton, and bread followed as a matter +of course, and a shakedown in some shed. In the +early morning, if there was no employment forthcoming, +the “swagger” would fetch water, chop +more wood, or do anything he was asked, before +he got some more food and left. They always +seemed very quiet, decent men, and perfectly +honest. Indeed, a missing pair of boots (afterwards +found to have only been mislaid) raised a +great commotion in the whole country-side until +they were found, and I suspect the owner had to +apologise abjectly to all the “swaggers”!</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> +<p>The invariable custom of the “swagger” only +appearing at sunset made it all the more wonderful +when I found one crouched in a corner of the +verandah at dawn one bitter winter’s morning. +Now I was not at all in the habit of getting up +at daylight in winter, but it was a glorious morning +after nearly a week of wretched wet and cold +weather. Some demon of restlessness must have +induced me to jump up, huddle on a warm dressing-gown +and start on a window-opening expedition, +which led me shortly to the little hall-door. +This I also opened to let in the fast-coming sunshine, +and I nearly tumbled over the most forlorn object +it is possible to imagine. At first I thought that +a heap of wet and dirty clothes lay at my feet, +but a shaggy head uprose and a feeble voice +muttered, “I’m fair clemmed.” Such wistful eyes, +like a lost, starving dog, glanced at me, and then +the head dropped back. I thought the man was +dead or dying, and I flew to wake up F. and to +fetch my medicine bottle of brandy. But I could +not get any down his throat until F. arrived on +the scene and turned the poor creature over on +his back. By this time I had roused up the +“cadet,” and also got my maids hurriedly out of +bed. My tale was so pitiful that the warm-hearted +Irish cook—in the scantiest toilet—was lighting +the kitchen fire by the time F. and Mr. U. brought +the poor man in. Water was literally streaming +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>from him, and the first thing to be done was to +get him out of his sodden clothes. Contributions +from the two gentlemen were soon forthcoming, +and after a brief retirement into my store-room, +the wretched “swagger” emerged, dry indeed, but +the image of exhaustion and starvation. Warm +bread and milk every two hours was all we dared +give him that day, and he slept and slept as if +he never meant to wake again.</p> + +<p>I forget how many days passed before he had +at all recovered, and by that time my maids had +cleaned and mended his clothes in a surprising +manner, and he had, himself, cobbled up his boots. +A hat had to be provided and a pipe, but we could +not spare any blankets for the “swag.” However, +though he hardly spoke to any one, he told +Mr. U. he felt quite able to start next day, and +F. elicited from him with some difficulty—for it +was against “swagger” etiquette ever to complain +of the treatment of one station-holder to +another—that at the very beginning of that bad +weather he had found himself at sundown at a +station about a dozen miles further back in the +hills, and had been refused shelter. The man +pointed out that he did not know the track over +a difficult saddle, that very bad weather was evidently +coming on, and that he had no food, but +he was ruthlessly turned off and seemed soon to +have lost his way. He wandered some days—he +did not know how many—without food or shelter, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>pelted by the merciless and continuous storm; +his pipe and blankets soon got lost in one of +the numerous bog-holes, and he really did not +know how he found his way to our verandah, +or how long before dawn he had been lying there. +I must say it was the only instance I heard of +brutality to a “swagger” whilst I was in New +Zealand.</p> + +<p>Well, by the next morning I had ceased to think +about the “swagger,” and when I looked out of my +window to enjoy the delicious crisp air and the +sunshine, I saw my friend coming round the corner +of the house, evidently prepared to start. He +looked round, but I had slipped behind the window +curtain, so he saw no one. To my deep surprise, +the man dropped on his knees upon the little gravel +path, took off his hat, and poured forth the most +impassioned prayer for all the dwellers beneath +the roof which had given him shelter. Not a soul +was stirring, so he could not have been doing it for +effect, and he certainly had not seen me. I felt +as if I had no right to listen, for it was as though +he were laying bare his soul. First, there was his +deep thankfulness for his own preservation most +touchingly expressed, and then he prayed for +every blessing on each and all of us, and, finally, +as he rose from his knees, he signed the Cross over +the little roof-tree which had sheltered him in +his hour of need. And we had all thought him a +silent and somewhat ungracious man!</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> +<p>I really <em>cannot</em> believe that I often rode fifty +miles to a ball, or rather two balls, danced all night +for two successive nights, and rode back again the +next day! The railway was even then creeping +up the plains and saved us the last twenty-five +miles of the road. These same balls were almost +the only form of society in those days, for dinner-parties +were impossible for want of anything but +the most elementary service. Certainly there were +bazaars sometimes, but I do not remember riding +fifty miles for any of them! Such amusing things +used to happen at these balls, which, no doubt, +were very primitive, but we all enjoyed them too +much to be critical.</p> + +<p>On one occasion the Governor had come to +Christchurch for some political reason, and of +course there were balls to welcome him. He had +brought down some Maori chieftains with him; +rumour said he was afraid to leave them behind +in the North Island, where the seat of Government +used to be and still is. Now I was very curious to +see these chieftains, and it was somewhat of a +shock to behold tall, well-built, dark-hued men +faultlessly clad in correct evening-dress, but with +tattooed faces. Presently one of the stewards of +the ball came to me and said:—</p> + +<p>“Te Henare wants very much to dance these +Lancers; I should be so grateful if you would +dance with him.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” I answered; “but can he dance?”</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> +<p>“Oh, he will soon pick it up, and you’d have an +interpreter.”</p> + +<p>Te Henare, who had been watching the result +of the mission, now approached, made me a beautiful +bow, offered his arm most correctly, and +we took our places at the side, closely followed +by the interpreter. I discovered through this +gentleman that my dusky partner had never seen +a ball or social gathering of any sort before, and +that he had learned his bow and how to claim +his partner since he entered the room. Of course, +we danced in silence, and indeed I was fully occupied +in admiring the extraordinary rapidity with +which Te Henare mastered the intricacies of the +dance. He never made a single mistake in any +part which he had seen the top couples do first, +and when I had to guide him he understood +directly. It was a wonderful set of Lancers, and +when it was over I told the interpreter that I was +quite astonished to see how well Te Henare danced. +This little compliment was duly repeated, and I +could not imagine why the interpreter laughed at +the answer. Te Henare seemed very anxious that +it should be passed on to me and was most serious +about it, so I insisted on being told. It seems the +poor chieftain had said with a deep sigh, “Ah, +if I might only dance without my clothes! No +one could really dance in these horrid things!”</p> + +<p>Te Henare apologised through the interpreter +for his tattooed face. His cheeks were decorated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>with spiral dark-blue curves, and his forehead +bore an excellent copy of a sea-shell. The poor +man was deeply ashamed of his tattoo, and said +he would give anything to get rid of the disfiguring +marks, and so would the other chieftains, adding +pathetically, “Until we came here we were proud +of them.”</p> + +<p>I must confess I got rather tired of poor Te +Henare, and indeed of all the chieftains, for they +insisted on coming to call on me next day for the +purpose of letting me hear some Maori music. I +cannot truthfully say I enjoyed it. Every song +seemed to have at least fifty verses as well as a +refrain. Fortunately, they did not sing loudly, +but there was no tune beyond a bar or two, and +the monotony was maddening. The interpreter +and I tried in vain to stop them, and at last I +went away, leaving them still singing, quite happily, +what I was informed was “a love-song.” It seemed +more in the nature of a lullaby.</p> + +<p>I fear it is an unusual confession for a staid +elderly woman to make, but I certainly enjoyed +those unconventional—what might almost be called +rough—days more than the long years of official +routine and luxury which followed them. But +then one looks back on those days through the +softening haze of time and distance, of youth and +health; and one realises that after all “the greatest +of these is Love.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV"><abbr title="4">IV</abbr><br> + +<small>A MODERN NEW ZEALAND</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>The passage of over a quarter of a century has +of course made a great change all over the world +in the matter of education, but probably nowhere +would that change be more apparent than in New +Zealand. Even in less than ten years after I +had left the Colony, two thousand schools had +been started under a new law, with a roll of two +hundred thousand scholars. What must they +number now? There are Schools for natives and +Schools for the deaf and dumb and for the blind, +Schools of Mines and Schools of Science, Technical +Schools, and a fine Agricultural College in +Canterbury.</p> + +<p>But in my day very few of the working men I +came across, as our shepherds, shearers, and so +forth, could read at all. One can hardly realise +it, but so it was, and one of the first things I did +was to start a sort of night school for these stalwart +Empire-builders, in which, alas! I was the only +teacher. The population was so thin and so +scattered in those distant days that these men’s +lives were necessarily very lonely, and those who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>could read at all eagerly joined a little lending +library, or rather a Book and Magazine Club, +which I set going. At first I had only thought +of providing literature for our neighbours—any +one within fifty miles was a neighbour—but the +shepherds begged to join, and of course I was +delighted to enrol them.</p> + +<p>Looking back on those days, I fear the comic +side of that educational attempt chiefly asserts +itself. My pupils—only four or five at a time—were +so big and so desperately shy. One gigantic +Yorkshireman would only read, or rather attempt +to read, with his broad back turned to me. Others +almost wept over their difficulties. It really involved +far more trouble on their part than on +mine, for they had often some distance to ride, +and over such trackless hills and swamps. It was +found almost impracticable to have any set evening +for the lessons, as sometimes weather, and sometimes +their duties interfered; so at last it was +settled that they should come any evening they +could spare, and I would be ready for them by +eight o’clock (so primitive was our dinner-hour!) +in the little dining-room. Certainly the seeds of +knowledge are <em>very</em> difficult to plant in later life, +for intelligent as these men evidently were, and +most eager to learn to read and write, they made +but little progress under my tuition. Perhaps I +was a bad teacher, for I had only the experience +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>of my own little boys’ very first lessons to +guide me.</p> + +<p>Some of the incidental difficulties were very +absurd. Two men lived in a hut up a lonely and +distant river-gorge, who were among my earliest +pupils, and they also came regularly on Sunday +to the little afternoon service. But they never +came together, and their brand-new suit of +shepherd’s plaid had always a strange effect. First +they tried my gravity by invariably stepping up +to me with their prayer-books to find their places +for them, and saying loudly each time, “Thank +you kindly, Mum.” I dared not say a word for +fear of frightening them away. But one day I +ventured to ask why they could not come together, +either to the lessons or the service, and was informed +that the clothes were the difficulty.</p> + +<p>“You see, it’s this way, Mum. We’ve only got +one suit, and we got it a between-size on purpose. +Joe, he’s too tall, and I’m too short, so I turns it +up, and Joe he wears leggin’s and such like, and +so we makes it do till after shearin’.”</p> + +<p>But I do not want to laugh when I think of the +last time I met my bearded pupils. My own face +was set towards England then, and I had to say +good-bye to the happy valley and to my scholars. +They were made shyer than ever by my shaking +hands with them, and only one said a farewell +word. “To England, home and beauty, of course, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>Mum, you’d be glad to go, but it’s rough on us.” +This cryptic utterance seemed quite to express +his and his “mate’s” meaning, though it still +remains dark to me.</p> + +<p>The Canterbury Plains are now covered with +fields of wheat and all kinds of agricultural produce. +The rare “English grass” of my day is +almost universal. Except in the very back-country +stations, the little hardy merino sheep has given +way to the more substantial Southdown, whose +frozen carcase comes back to us in the shape of +excellent mutton. Comfortable homesteads are +within hailing distance of each other. Railways, +telegraphs, telephones, and all the latest scientific +annihilators of time and space are thickly planted +everywhere. I used to look down the valley on +to certain white cliffs which seemed to bound my +view in that direction, and, speaking of it the +other day, some one said, “Oh, the terminus of +the nearest railway to your old ‘run’ stands +there now.” I cannot realise that the whistle of +an engine has taken the place of the shrill scream +of a huge hawk—more like an eagle than a hawk—which +haunted that lonely spot.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the greatest difference of all would +be found in the sport.</p> + +<p>In my day there was absolutely nothing except +the wild boars, and the difficulties of introducing +game seemed at first insurmountable. Mr. Frank +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>Buckland sent out quantities of salmon ova packed +in ice, of which hardly a single specimen survived +the long voyage. Then people told me that the +New Zealand rivers were impossible to stock, +owing to a bad habit they had of constantly +changing their beds without warning. It is true +that I saw that happen at those very white cliffs +I have just spoken of, where, after an unusually +violent hot north-west gale which melted the +snows in the mountains, the river running beneath +those cliffs changed its course entirely during one +night, cutting another wide and deep channel for +itself over very good grazing ground, and leaving +the owner of that particular spot with a vast +extent of shingle-covered river-bed in exchange, +on which, as he pathetically said, “a grasshopper +could not find enough green meat.”</p> + +<p>One can easily understand that respectable stay-at-home +English fish would not be able to shift +their quarters at such short notice, but yet I am +now assured that a good basket of trout can +be landed from almost any New Zealand stream. +They must have become very “mobile”! I +wonder if any of these same fish are the descendants +of what I always regarded as <em>my</em> trout!</p> + +<p>This was the way of it. Not long before we +left New Zealand, one of our squatter neighbours, +who was anxious to stock a fine stream running +through his property, offered to give a home and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>a chance to some of the newly-imported trout ova. +I happened to meet him on one of my rare visits +to Christchurch, and inquired as to the progress +of his trout plans. I suppose that put the idea +into his head, for he first asked when we were +returning to our station, and then earnestly entreated +to be allowed to drive me back in a sort of +buggy or gig he possessed. I greatly preferred +riding, and told him so, but he seemed most anxious +for my company, and finally said he would speak +to F. about it. I felt quite willing to abide by +<em>his</em> decision, which I flattered myself would be +that I must certainly ride back with him. But +to my dismay F. said, “I think you had better +drive with ——.” So there was no help for it, and +at the appointed early hour Mr. —— drove up, +I was packed into the buggy, and then the whole +villainous scheme revealed itself! I was wanted +to carry a small pail full of trout ova, carefully, +so that it should not be jolted or spill. My whole +attention and my every thought were to be devoted +to that sole object. I must not move or +talk; I must think of nothing but that pail. +Mr. —— assured me later that his mind would +be entirely fixed on avoiding every stone or even +inequality on the road, so that the precious freight +might not be jeopardised. And I had seventy-five +miles before me! If we came to a really rough +bit of road, I had to hold that pail out, on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>principle of a swinging cot at sea. Fortunately, +there was a halt in the middle of the day, but only +for the benefit of the ova; however, my aching +arms got just a little rest. To make my sense +of hardship more acute, F. rode near us most of +the way, and constantly added his entreaties to +me to “be very careful.” Later, I arrived at +feeling a certain sense of pride in having conveyed +those ova so carefully that they all survived the +journey, but at the time I well remember my +suppressed indignation and burning sense of injury +at having been entrapped as a trout-carrier. But +that only lasted so long as did the fatigue of my +cramped position.</p> + +<p>There has always been very good sea-fishing +almost everywhere on the coast, but we lived too +far off to enjoy it. When, however, we went to +Christchurch it was always a great treat to have +at every meal the whitebait the Maoris sold in +pretty little baskets of woven flax-leaves.</p> + +<p>I see in the latest accounts that our own familiar +“Selwyn” is quite a favourite trout stream, but +in the more distant big lakes, where the fish attain +quite a large size, the water is so clear that a rod +is useless, and netting is the only chance.</p> + +<p>Some means must have been found of keeping +down the “weeka,” tamest and most impudent +of apteryx. Very like a stout hen pheasant itself, +only without the tail feathers, it used to be the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>sworn foe of pheasants in my day. It ate their +eggs or killed the young birds. Many and doleful +were the tales told of the wholesale massacre of +the pioneer pheasant broods by the weekas, who +seemed numerous as the sands of the sea-shore. +Dogs hunted them, men shot them, but in both +cases they were as elusive as the Boers, gliding +from tussock to tussock, and when forced into +the open, running almost faster than the eye could +follow. To all my “bush” picnics the weekas +invited themselves and cleared up every crumb. +It would have needed a pack of terriers to keep +them off, and although “Nettle” did his best he +made no impression on the marauders. They were +not good to eat, but the shepherds extracted an +oil from the fat, which they declared made boots +and leggings waterproof. Still, weekas had it very +much their own way at that date. I see that +hares and also Californian quail and plover flourish +nowadays, and I know the wild-duck were always +plentiful and delicious eating.</p> + +<p>There was a talk of importing deer even thirty-five +years ago, but the idea did not find favour +in the eyes of the run-holders. The fences were +only three or four wires high, and would of course +be no protection to the sheep, whose feed would +be at the mercy of the new-comer. It was known +that two hinds and a stag had been turned out in +some well-grassed and forested low ranges in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>North Island as early as 1862, but one did not +hear anything of them as either a danger or a +pleasure. They were the only survivors of a batch +sent from Windsor Forest by the late Prince +Consort. The conditions must have been ideally +favourable, for they have now spread all over +the place, and afford excellent sport. Red deer +seem to do well in our island (the Middle), though +I do not fancy they have come at all near the part +I knew. A few moose have been turned out on +the West Coast of the same Island, and there is +even a talk of importing wapiti and cariboo. But +any one who wishes to know all about New Zealand—fur, +fin, and feathers—cannot do better than +study, as I have done with the greatest pleasure +and profit, a delightful booklet by Mr. R. A. +Loughman, of the Lands and Survey Department +in Wellington, which no doubt can be procured +at the Agent General for New Zealand’s Office. It +makes one wish to set off directly for that favoured +though distant shore, and Mr. Loughman asserts +that numbers of sportsmen arrive there every year.</p> + +<p>I heard a great deal of modern New Zealand +when the Imperial Representative Corps came back +from their wonderful tour round Australia and +New Zealand three years ago. It was most interesting +and delightful to listen to the accounts of the +progress everywhere; but as I had been so very +much longer away from New Zealand, the marvellous +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>changes there took more hold of my +imagination, and I was delighted to be told by all +that it was still the most English place they visited.</p> + +<p>There was much to occupy the public mind at +home just then, and I have often felt that we +rather missed the value and significance of that +tour, especially as it was somewhat overshadowed +and crowded out by the rapture and magnificence +of the welcome extended to their Royal Highnesses +the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York almost +directly afterwards.</p> + +<p>We were still in the midst of the war in South +Africa, and then, just after the Imperial Contingent +left Sydney, to which it first went to take part in +the ceremonies marking the Inauguration of the +Australian Commonwealth, the Empire had to +mourn the loss of its beloved Queen, and nowhere +was the grief more personal and profound than +on those distant shores. As the Commandant<a id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +told me, although the sad news spoiled in a way +the gaiety and <i lang="fr">éclat</i> of the greeting provided for +the troops, still it was far more impressive to see +the genuine grief and regret which the width of the +world could not weaken. Memorial services everywhere +took the place of balls, and the “Soldiers +of the Queen” shared, with the splendid Colonial +forces who were just then springing to arms at the +Empire’s call, in honouring her dear memory.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> + +<p>But by the time Invercargill, the most southern +point of New Zealand, had been reached, the first +dark days of sorrow had passed, and the people +could better give free scope to their hospitable +instincts, and they greeted the Contingent with +the heartiest welcome. The last time British +troops had touched New Zealand shores it was to +fight the Maoris, who now stood first and foremost +in the cheering crowd, and delivered addresses of +welcome with the best.</p> + +<p>The straight run down from the extreme south +of Middle Island brought them in due time, through +those great Canterbury Plains where harvesting +was in full swing, down to Christchurch, and so +on to Lyttelton. But there was always time, +apparently, for delightful little picturesque episodes, +such as stopping the train to let the detachment +of Seaforth Highlanders march, with pipes playing, +to visit one of the most prominent Scotch +settlers, a man who had given his life’s work to +the beautiful new land. Fancy what a dramatic +moment! To hear the war-pipes skirl, and the +old tunes played, all in one’s own honour and in +recognition of splendid service!</p> + +<p>Then the thousand troops were taken on by sea +to Wellington and shown everything in the length +and breadth of all the fair land; up to the wonderful +hot springs at Rotarua, down to the deer-stocked +islands off Auckland. Everywhere, not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>only did they receive a rapturous welcome from +the cheering crowds, but there were many historic +and picturesque moments in which the Maoris +formed the central figures. I should like to have +seen the old Maori chieftain, after the “haka” +or native dance, fling his tasselled spear at the +Commandant’s feet, saying, “For four hundred +years this taiaha has been handed down from father +to son, from son to grandson. But you and I +alike are sons of our King, who rules in the place +of the Queen we have lost. Take it, and let it +descend to your children’s children.”</p> + +<p>Thrilling also must have been the sight of the +veterans of former wars, now peaceful citizens, ending +their days in comfort in these distant lands, +yet, like the war-horse of Bible story, pricking up +their ears and joining their new comrades. At all +the reviews there the veteran sailors and soldiers +were, marshalled in the old form and given prominent +places; they themselves, with their medal-covered +breasts, being objects of honour to the +gorgeous visitors. And quite as thrilling must have +been the ranks of cadets who lined the streets here +and there. My own heart has often gone out to +these chubby boy-soldiers when I have seen them—first +at Adelaide in 1883, later in Western +Australia, where the youthful corps bore my name, +and was known as my “Own”—so it was with a +peculiar interest that I read part of a speech of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>Commandant’s when he was leaving Brisbane, but +it applies equally well to the cadet corps of all the +large New Zealand towns.</p> + +<p>“What pleased me most in the march through +your streets to-day, more than even the enthusiastic +greetings of the Queenslanders, was nearly +a mile of boys lining the road by the railway +station. Hundreds of sturdy youngsters, every one +of them devouring our men with his eyes and doing +his best to look like a soldier himself. I thought +as I looked at their bright, keen young faces, +‘<em>there</em> are our future Australian contingents.’”</p> + +<p>At Auckland there was one newly-raised detachment +which had not yet got its uniform, but turned +out in white shirts with black arm-bands and +Panama hats. These sinewy, workmanlike “bushmen” +had ridden in from the country district on +their own horses—as workmanlike as themselves—not +to take part in the big parade which every one +was talking about, and which would be remembered +for years, but in order to lend the Contingent their +horses. Such stories—stories which I know to be +true—show me that after all the lapse of years +New Zealand still remains in heart the Old New +Zealand of my day.</p> + +<p>But, speaking of medals, I was much amused at +hearing that the youthful volunteers turned out +sometimes quite covered with medals, extending as +far back as the first Cape war and going on to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>Crimea and the Mutiny. On its being remarked +that they looked very young to have taken part +in such distant campaigns, they admitted that the +medals had belonged to their grandfathers and +fathers, but that they conceived themselves entitled—as +did many others who were not even +volunteers—to wear them, and could see nothing +at all laughable in doing so. It seemed to me a +very wise concession on the part of the Colonial +authorities to permit this, as a recognition of the +natural pride of the sons of such men in their ancestors +having fought for the Empire in bygone +days, for they evidently regarded the medals as a +link binding them to the dear old Mother-land. +However, the present generation will proudly wear +medals of their own winning, even if they do so +side by side with those gained by their forefathers. +Yes, those thousand picked men of that fine Imperial +Contingent will have been so many Peace missionaries +bringing back news of the loyalty as well as +of the wealth and beauty of that fair England +beyond the sea.</p> + +<p>Not less emphatically will these tidings be endorsed +by the welcome extended to their King’s +son and his gracious young wife when they too +landed on those smiling shores a few months later. +The message their Royal Highnesses brought was +to the same effect, and received in the same spirit +of love and gratitude. At all events it will not be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>our fault if our kinsmen beyond the sea, especially +in the Islands of New Zealand, do not understand +how we valued the splendid help they gave the +Empire in its hour of need, and how grateful we +are for it. I was reading a little while ago some of +the evidence taken before the War Commission +last year, and saw that one of the Generals was +asked if he had, at any time, any of the many +New Zealand Contingents under his command. “I +am sorry to say I had not,” was the reply, and I +felt just as personally proud of the answer as though +I were a New Zealander myself, and all for the sake +of those dear distant days and the good friends +who helped to make them so happy.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="V"><abbr title="5">V</abbr><br> + +<small>NATAL MEMORIES</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>As I sit, sad and alone in my empty home, dreading +the cries of the newspaper-boys in the streets, my +thoughts often fly back to the “Fair Natal” I knew +long ago. More than twenty-eight years have passed +since I last saw it. Then, as now, it was early +summer-time. The wide, well-watered stretches of +veldt were brilliantly green and covered with +blossom, chiefly lilies and cinerarias; the spruits +were running like Scotch burns, and the dreadful +red dust of the winter months no longer obscured +everything. I have often, between April and +November, not known what was within an approaching +bank of solid red cloud, until the shouts +of the unseen little “Voor-looper” warned me +that a huge waggon and its span of perhaps twenty +or thirty oxen had to be avoided.</p> + +<p>But after November, dust gives place to mud on +the roads—mud of a singularly tenacious quality, +formed from the fertile red clay soil. I don’t +believe it rains anywhere so hard as it does in Natal, +and during the summer months it is never safe to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>part for a single hour from the very best waterproof +cloak which you can procure, or from a substantial +umbrella. Round Maritzburg a thunderstorm +raged nearly every summer afternoon, coming up +about three o’clock. But when, by any chance, +that thunderstorm passed us by, we regretted it +bitterly, for the oppressive, suffocating heat was +then ever so much worse. Even the poor fowls +used to go about with their beaks open and their +wings held well away from their sides, literally +gasping for breath. One was prepared for thunderstorms, +even on the largest scale, when they came +up with the usual accompaniments of massed +clouds, rumbling or crashing thunder, and were +followed by a deluge of rain; but I could not get +used to what I have never seen anywhere else, and +which could only be described as a “bolt from the +blue.”</p> + +<p>A very few days after my arrival at Maritzburg +at the end of 1875, I was standing one afternoon +in the shade of my little house on a hill, anxiously +watching the picturesque arrival of an ox-waggon +laden with my boxes. It was in the very early +summer, and the exigencies of settling in left me +no time to worry about the thunderstorms, of +which, of course, I had often heard. A more +serene and brilliant afternoon could not be imagined, +and it was not even hot—at all events, out of the +sun. My two small boys, as usual, trotted after me +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>like dogs, and clamoured to assist at the arrival of +the waggon; so I lifted the little one up in my arms +and stood there, with an elder boy clinging to my +skirts. Suddenly, out of the blue unclouded sky, +out of the blaze of golden sunshine, came a flash +and a crash which seemed as if it must be the crack +of doom. No words at my command can give any +idea of the intolerable blinding glare of the light +which seemed to wrap us round, or of the rending +sound, as if the universe were being torn asunder. +I suppose I flung myself on the ground, because I +was crouching there, holding the little boys beneath +me with some sort of protective instinct, when in +a second or two of time it had all passed, for I +heard only a slight and distant rumble. I do not +believe the sun had ceased shining for an instant, +though its light had seemed to be extinguished by +that blaze of fire. Never can I forget my amazement, +an amazement which even preceded my deep +thankfulness at finding we were absolutely unhurt, +the fearless little boys only inquiring, “What was +that, Mummy?” There had been no time for their +rosy cheeks even to pale. I wonder what colour +<em>I</em> was. I looked at the little stone house with +astonishment to find it still there, for I had expected +to see nothing but a heap of ruins. Nay, it seemed +miraculous that the hills all round should still be +standing.</p> + +<p>I only saw one more flash equally bad during my +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>two summers in Natal, and that was whilst a +thunderstorm was raging, accompanied by terrific +hail. Of course, I was then in a house and trying +to distract my thoughts from the weather, which I +knew must be annihilating my lovely garden, by +dispensing afternoon tea. I am certain <em>that</em> flash +came down upon the tea-tray, for when I lifted up +my head (I defy any one not to cower before a +stream of electricity which seems poured upon you +out of a jug), I felt the same surprise at seeing my +cups and saucers unshattered. I am sure they had +jumped about, for I heard them, but they had recovered +their equanimity by the time I had. +Almost every day one saw in the newspapers an +account of some death by lightning, and I know +of one only too true story, in which our Kaffir +washerman was the victim. He had left our house +one fine Monday morning with a huge bag of clothes +on his back, which he intended to wash in the river +at the foot of the hill, when he observed one of +these thunderstorms coming up unusually early, +and so took shelter in the verandah of a small +cottage by the roadside. After the worst of the +storm had passed he was preparing to step outside, +when a violent flash and a deafening thunderclap +passed over the little house. The lightning must +have been attracted by a nail carelessly sticking up +in its shingled roof. The poor Kaffir chanced to be +standing exactly beneath this nail and was struck +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>down dead at once. I was told that he was in the +act of speaking, promising some one that he would +return the same way that very afternoon.</p> + +<p>The streets of Maritzburg used, in my day, to be +mended or hardened with a sort of ironstone which +abounds in the district, and in one of these daily +thunderstorms it was not uncommon to see the electricity +rising up as it were from the ground to meet +the descending fluid. Of course, the rivers soon become +impassable, and I have a vivid recollection of +four guests, who had ridden out rather earlier than +usual one afternoon to have tea with me, being +kept in our tiny house all night. More than one +attempt was made before dark to find and use the +little wooden bridge over the stream, which could +hardly be called a river, but its whereabouts could +not even be perceived, and the horses steadily +refused to go out of their depth. So there was +nothing for it except to return, drenched to the +skin, and bivouac under our very small roof for +the night.</p> + +<p>And yet one is glad of these same rains after +the long dry winter, when all vegetation seems to +disappear off the baked earth and the cattle become +so thin that it is a wonder the gaunt skeletons +of the poor trek-oxen can support the weight of +their enormous spreading horns. The changes of +temperature in winter were certainly very trying. +The day began fresh and cold and bracing, but the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>brilliant sunshine soon changed that into what +might be called a very hot English summer’s day. +About four o’clock, when the sun sloped towards the +western hills, it began to grow cold again, and no +wrap or greatcoat seemed too warm to put on then. +By night one was only too glad of as big a fire on +the open hearth as could be provided, for fuel was +scarce and very expensive in those days. Doubtless, +the railway has improved all those conditions; +but Natal, as far as I saw it, is not a well-wooded +country, except on the Native Reserves, and the +only forest—“bush,” as they call it in Australia—which +I saw, cost me a fifty-mile ride to get to it!</p> + +<p>Our poor Kaffir servants used to get violent and +prostrating colds in winter, in spite of each being +supplied with an old greatcoat which had once belonged +to a soldier. This the master provides; +but if the man himself can raise an aged and +dilapidated tunic besides, he is supremely happy. +Anything so grotesque as this attire cannot well be +imagined, for the red garment (it was almost unrecognisable +as ever having been a tunic by that +time) is worn with perfectly bare legs, a feather +or two stuck jauntily on the head or with a crownless +hat, and the true dandy adds a cartridge-case +passed through a wide hole in the lobe of his ear +and filled with snuff! Nor will any Kaffir stir out +of doors without a long stick, on account of the +snakes: but only the police used to be allowed to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>carry the knobkerry, which is a sort of South +African shillelagh and a very formidable weapon.</p> + +<p>It always seemed strange to me that a climate +which was, on the whole, so healthy for human +beings should not be favourable to animal life. +Dogs do not thrive there at all, and soon become +infested with ticks. One heard constantly of the +native cattle being decimated by strange and weird +diseases, and horses, especially imported horses, +certainly require the greatest care. They must +never be turned out whilst the dew is on the grass, +unless with a sort of muzzling nosebag on, and +the snakes are a perpetual danger to them, though +the bite is not always fatal, for there are many +varieties of snakes which are not venomous. Still, +a native horse is always on the look-out for snakes +and dreads them exceedingly. One night I was +cantering down the main street of Maritzburg on +a quiet old pony on my way to the Legislative +Council, where I wanted to hear a very interesting +debate on the native question (which was the burning +one of that day), and my pony suddenly leaped +off the ground like an antelope and then shied right +across the road. This panic arose from his having +stepped on a thin strip of zinc cut from a packing-case +which must have been opened, as usual, outside +the store or large shop which we were passing. As +soon as the pony put his foot on one end of the +long curled-up shaving, it must have risen up and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>struck him sharply, waking unpleasant memories of +former encounters with snakes.</p> + +<p>Railways were but a dream of the near future +in my day. Indeed, the first sod of the first railway—that +between Durban and Pietermaritzburg—was +only turned on January 1, 1876, amid great enthusiasm. +A mail-cart made a tri-weekly trip between +the two towns—fifty-two miles apart—and +that was horsed, but on anything like a journey +either oxen or mules were used.</p> + +<p>I have seen an ox-wagon arriving at a ball, with +pretty young ladies inside its sheltering hood, who +had been seated there all day long, having started +in their ball-dresses directly after breakfast! +Mules were in great request for draught purposes, +and up to a point they answered admirably, jogging +along without distress over bad roads which would +soon have knocked up even the staunchest horses. +But a mule is such an unreliable animal, and his +character for obstinacy is thoroughly well deserved. +When a mule, or a team of mules, stops on a particularly +sticky bit of road, no power on earth will +move him, and there is nothing for it but to await +his good pleasure. I have, two or three times, +journeyed behind a team of sixteen mules, and I +always suffered great anxiety lest they should +cease to respond to the incessant cries of their +“Cape-boy” driver, or the still more persuasive +arguments of his assistant, who bore quite a collection +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>of whips of different lengths for emergencies. +Happily the roads were then in fairly good order, +and beyond a tendency to drop into a slow walk +at the slightest hill the mules behaved irreproachably.</p> + +<p>Locomotion was the great difficulty in those +days, and we island-dwellers cannot easily realise +the vast and trackless spaces which lie between the +specks of townships on a huge continent. Natal +is magnificently watered and grassed in the summer, +but the big rivers are not only a hindrance to +journeying, but from a sanitary point of view +they are as undrinkable as the Nile, and probably +for the same reasons. Still, they are there, and +future generations will doubtless use them for +irrigation and canals and all the needs of advancing +civilisation.</p> + +<p>In my day the Boer was quite an unconsidered +factor, and we felt we were performing a Quixotically +generous action when, at his own earnest +entreaty, we took him and his debts and his native +troubles on our own shoulders in 1876. He was +always extremely dirty, and about a thousand +years behind the rest of the civilised world in his +ideas. His religion was a superstition worthy of the +Middle Ages, and his notions of morality went a +good deal further back than even those primitive +times.</p> + +<p>I confess the only Boer I ever was personally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>brought into contact with seemed to me a delightful +person! This is how it happened. Soon after my +arrival in Maritzburg, a bazaar was held in aid of +some local literary undertaking. Bazaars were +happily of very rare occurrence in those parts, and +this one created quite an excitement and realised +an astonishingly large sum of money. The race-week +had been chosen for the purpose of catching +customers among the numerous visitors to Pietermaritzburg +in that gay time, and the wiles employed +seemed very successful. I never heard how or why +he got there, but I only know that a stout, comfortable, +well-to-do Dutch farmer suddenly appeared +at the door of the bazaar. He was, of course, at +once assailed by pretty flower-girls and lucky-bag +bearers, and cigars and kittens were promptly +pressed on him. But the old gentleman had a plan +and a method of his own, on which he proceeded +to act. He had not one single syllable of English, +so it was a case of deeds not words. He began +at the very first stall and worked his way all round. +At each stall he pointed to the biggest thing on it, +and held out a handful of coins in payment. He +then shouldered his purchase as far as the next +stall, where he deposited it as a gift to the lady selling, +bought her biggest object, and went on round +the hall on the same principle. When it came to +my turn he held out to me the largest wax-doll I +ever beheld, and carried off a huge and unwieldy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>doll’s house which entirely eclipsed even his burly +figure. My next door (or rather stall) neighbour +had a table full of glass and china, and she consequently +viewed the approach of this article of bazaar +commerce with natural misgiving, but as our ideal +customer relieved her of a very large ugly breakfast +set, she managed to make room for the miniature +house until she could arrange a raffle and so get +rid of it. The last I saw of that Boer, who must +have contributed largely to our receipts, was his +leading a very small donkey, which he had just +bought at the last stall, away by a blue ribbon +halter. I believe it was the only “object” in the +whole bazaar which could have possibly been of the +slightest practical use to him, but the contrast +between the weak-kneed and frivolously attired +donkey and its sturdy purchaser was irresistibly +comic. No one seemed to know in the least who he +was, but we supposed he must have come down for +the races and backed the winners very successfully.</p> + +<p>Our little house stood on a hill about a mile from +Maritzburg, and, remembering the formation of +the surrounding country, one realises how badly +the towns in Natal, and probably all over South +Africa, are placed for purposes of defence. Every +town, or even little hamlet or township, which I +ever saw, stood in the middle of a wide plain with +low hills all round it, so it is easy for me to realise +how soon cannon planted on those hills would wreck +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>buildings. There was a great and agreeable difference +in the temperature, however, up on that little +hill, but towards the close of the dry winter season +the water-supply became an anxiety. In spite of +the extremely cold nights up there, any plant for +which I could spare a daily pail of water blossomed +beautifully all through the winter. I was advised +to select my favourite rose-bushes before the summer +rains had ceased, and to have the baths of the +family emptied over them every day, which I did +with perfect success, and was even able to include +some azaleas and camellias in the list of the favoured +shrubs.</p> + +<p>I was much struck with the rapid growth of trees +in Natal, and it was astonishing to see the height +and solidity of trees planted only ten years before, +especially the eucalyptus. But grass walks or +lawns are much discouraged in a garden on account +of the facility they afford as cover for snakes, and +red paths and open spaces are to be seen everywhere +instead. Even the lawn-tennis of that day was +played on smooth courts of firmly stamped and +rolled red clay. I wonder how the golf-players +manage, for play they do I am certain, as nothing +ever induces either a golfer or a cricketer to forego +his game.</p> + +<p>One morning, very early, I was taken to the +market, and it certainly was an extraordinary +sight. The market-place is always one of the most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>salient features of a South African town, and is +the centre of local gossip, just as is the “bazaar” +of the East. It was an immense open space +thronged with buyers and sellers; whites, Kaffirs, +coolies, emigrants from <abbr style="text-decoration: none;" title="Saint">St.</abbr> Helena, and many onlookers +like myself. It was all under Government +control and seemed very well managed. There +were official inspectors of the meat offered for sale, +and duly authorised weights and scales, round +which surged a vociferous crowd. I was specially +invited to view the butter sent down from the +Boer farms up country, and I cannot say it was +an appetising sight. A huge hide, very indifferently +tanned, was unrolled for my edification, and it +certainly contained a substance distantly resembling +butter, packed into it, but apparently at +widely differing intervals of time. The condiment +was of various colours, and—how shall I put it?—strengths; +milk-sieves appeared also to have been +unknown at that farm, for cows’ hair formed a +noticeable component part of that mass of butter. +However, I was assured that it found ready and +willing purchasers, even at four shillings a pound, +and that it was quite possible to remake it, as it +were, and subject it to a purifying process. I confess +I felt thankful that the butter my small family +consumed was made under my own eyes.</p> + +<p>Waggons laden with firewood were very conspicuous, +and their loads disappeared rapidly, as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>did also piles of lucerne and other green forage. +There was but little poultry for sale, and very few +vegetables. I remember noticing in all the little +excursions I made, within some twenty miles of +Maritzburg, how different the Natal colonist, at +least of those days, was from the Australian or +New Zealand pioneer. At various farmhouses +where there was plenty of evidence of a kind of +rough and ready prosperity, and much open-handed +hospitality and friendliness, there would be only +preserved milk and tinned butter available. Now +these two items must have indeed been costly by +the time they reached the farms I speak of. Yet +there were herds of cattle grazing around. Nor +would there be poultry of any sort forthcoming, +nor a sign of a garden. Of course, it was not my +place to criticise; but if I ventured on a question, +I was always told, “Oh, labour is so difficult to +get. You know, the Kaffirs won’t work.” I longed +to suggest that the young people I saw lounging +about might very well turn to and lend a hand, +at all events to start a poultry yard, or dairy, +or vegetable garden.</p> + +<p>Now, at Fort Napier—the only fortified hill near +Maritzburg—every little hollow and ravine was +utilised by the soldiers stationed there as a garden. +The men, of course, work in these little plots themselves +and grow beautiful vegetables. Potatoes +and pumpkins, cabbages and onions, only need to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>be planted to grow luxuriantly. Why cannot this +be done in the little farms around? I am afraid +I took a selfish interest in the question, as it was +so difficult, and often impossible, to procure even +potatoes. Such things grow much more easily, I +was told, at Durban, so probably those difficulties +have disappeared with the opening of the railway—that +very railway of which I saw the first sod +turned. My own attempt at a vegetable garden +suffered from its being perched on the top of a hill, +where water was difficult to get; but I was +very successful with some poultry, in spite of having +to wage constant war against hawks and snakes.</p> + +<p>How fortunate it is that one remembers the +laughs of one’s past life better than its tears! That +morning visit to the Pietermaritzburg market +stands out distinctly in my memory chiefly on +account of an absurd incident I witnessed. I had +been much interested and amused looking round, +not only at the strange and characteristic crowd, +but at my many acquaintances marketing for +themselves. I had listened to the shouts of the +various auctioneers who were selling all manner of +heterogeneous wares, when I noticed some stalwart +Kaffirs bearing on their heads large open baskets +filled entirely with coffee-pots of every size and +kind. Roughly speaking, there must have been +something like a hundred coffee-pots in those +baskets. They were just leaving an improvised +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>auction-stand, and following them closely, with an +air of proud possession on his genial countenance, +was a specially beloved friend of my own, who I +may mention, was also the beloved friend of all +who knew him. “Are <em>all</em> those coffee-pots yours?” +I inquired. “Yes, indeed; I have just bought +them,” he answered. “You must know I am a collector +of coffee-pots and have a great many already; +but how lucky I have been to pick up some one +else’s collection as well, and so cheap too!”</p> + +<p>The Kaffirs were grinning, and there seemed a +general air of amusement about, which I could not +at all understand until it was explained to me later +that my friend had just bought his own collection +of coffee-pots. His wife thought that the space +they occupied in her store-room could be better +employed, and, believing that their owner would +not attend the market that day, had sent the whole +lot down to be sold. She told me afterwards that +her dismay was indeed great when her Kaffirs +brought them back in triumph, announcing that +the “Inkose” (chieftain) had just bought them, +so the poor lady had to pay the auctioneer’s fees, +and replace the coffee-pots on their shelves with +what resignation she could command.</p> + +<p>One of my pleasantest memories of Natal, especially +as seen by the light of recent events, is of a +visit I paid to the annual joint encampment of the +Natal Carabineers and the Durban Mounted Rifles. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>It was only what would be called, I suppose, a +flying camp, and the ground chosen that year +(August 1876) was on “Botha’s Flat,” halfway +between Maritzburg and Durban. I well remember +how beautiful was the drive from Maritzburg over +the Inchanga Pass, and how workmanlike the little +encampment looked as I came upon it (after some +break-neck driving), with its small tents dotted on +a green down.</p> + +<p>Although one little knew it, that same encampment +was the school where were trained the men +who have so lately shown the worth of the lessons +they were then learning. The whole training seemed +practical and admirable in the highest degree. It +had to be carried out amid every sort of difficulty, +and, indeed, one might almost say discouragement. +In those distant days such bodies of volunteers +were struggling on with very little money, very +little public interest or sympathy, and with great +difficulty on the part of the members of these +plucky little forces in obtaining leave for even this +short annual drill. I was told that both the corps +were much stronger on paper, but that the absentees +could not be spared from the stores, or sugar +estates, or offices to which they belonged.</p> + +<p>I had, much earlier in the year, at our midsummer, +in fact, seen some excellent swimming drill at +certain athletic sports held in the little park at +Maritzburg, through which a river runs. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>keenest competition on that occasion lay between +these same Natal Carabineers and a smart body of +Mounted Police. The most difficult part of the +stream, with crumbling banks and mud-holes, was +chosen, and at a given signal they all plunged in +on horseback, holding their carbines high above +their heads. In some cases the riders slipped off +their horses and swam by their side, mounting +again directly the opposite bank was gained; and +I noticed how well trained were the horses, and how +at their master’s whistle they stood still to allow +them to remount instantly. How well this training +has stood the test of practical warfare let the late +campaign tell. And we must also bear in mind +that all this training was going on nearly thirty +years ago!</p> + +<p>It was partly to show my own sympathy and +interest in this same movement that I accepted +the invitation of the commandant to spend a couple +of nights at the camp and see what they were doing. +A lonely little inn hard by, where a tiny room could +be secured for me, made this excursion possible, +and I can never forget some of the impressions of +that visit. When I read in the papers how splendidly +the Natal colonist came forward in the late +campaign, even from the purely military point of +view, I remember that camp, and I understand that +I was then watching the forging of those links in our +long imperial chain. The men who came out so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>grandly as “soldiers of the Queen,” no matter by +what local names they might have been called, are +probably the sons of the stalwart volunteers I saw, +but the teaching of that and succeeding encampments +has evidently borne good fruit.</p> + +<p>It was indeed serious work they were all engaged +on during those bright winter days, and my visit +was not allowed to interrupt for a moment the drill +which seemed to go on all through the daylight +hours. What helped to make the lesson so valuable +to the earnest learners was, that all went precisely +as though a state of war existed. There were +no servants, no luxuries—all was exactly as it probably +was in the late campaign.</p> + +<p>I dined at the officers’ mess that evening. Our +table-cloth was of canvas, our candles were tied to +cross pieces of wood, and the food was served in +the tins in which it was cooked. Tea was our only +beverage, but the open air had made us all so hungry +that everything seemed delicious. It was, I remember, +bitterly cold, and the slight tent did not +afford much shelter from the icy wind. How well +I recollect my great longing to wrap myself up in +the one luxury of the camp—a large and beautiful +goatskin karosse on which I was seated! But that +would have been to betray my chilliness, which +would never have done. We separated somewhere +about half-past eight—for we had dined as soon as +ever it got too dark to go on drilling—but not before +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>the whole encampment had assembled to sing “God +save the Queen,” with all their heart as well as with +all their lungs,—a fitting finish to the day’s work.</p> + +<p>I had some other delightful rides in Natal, one +especially on the peaceful errand of a visit to a +Wesleyan Mission station about a dozen miles off +at Edendale. It was a perfect winter’s day, and +the road was fairly good.</p> + +<p>I have often wondered why our own beloved +Mother Church employs such slow and cumbrous +machinery in dealing with native races. She is +apparently considering the subject in the time it +takes for the Baptists or Wesleyans to start a +settlement. So long ago as 1851 a certain James +Allison, a Wesleyan missionary who had worked +among the Basuto and Amaswasi tribes, bought +some six thousand acres hereabout from old +Pretorius, the Dutch President of Natal, and +set to work to teach the Kaffirs not only Christianity +but citizenship. Now-a-days there are +two chapels and four schools, all built by the +natives themselves, as well as several Sunday +Schools. In former days there had also been an +industrial school which had turned out capital +artisans, but the yearly grant of £100 from Government +had been withdrawn before my visit, and +the school was in consequence closed. The +existing schools only receive fifty pounds a year +from outside, and all the other expenses of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>flourishing little Mission are borne by the people +themselves. Such neat, comfortable brick houses +and such gay gardens, to say nothing of “provision +grounds” full of potatoes, pumpkins, and even +green peas. Lots of poultry everywhere, and an +air of neat prosperity over everything. I was told +there were many excellent Norwegian Missions on +the borders of Zululand, and I hope they still +flourish, for it is difficult to overrate the value of +such settlements as a factor in the spread of civilisation +as well as in that of Christianity.</p> + +<p>But I had really only one long ride during my +thirteen months in Natal, and that was later in the +same winter season, in fact, quite at the end—in +September. Five cruel months of absolutely dry +weather had reduced the roads to fine red powder, +and the vegetation to sun-dried hay, but still the +air was beautiful and exhilarating as we set forth—a +little party of four, including a Kaffir guide—very +early one lovely morning. At first we headed +for Edendale, but soon left it on our right, and +pushed on, before the sun got too hot, and whilst +our somewhat sorry steeds were fresh, for “Taylor’s”—a +roadside shanty twenty miles off. Our destination +was a fine forest called “Seven-mile Bush,” +only fifty miles away but with several hill-ranges +to be crossed. Two hours’ bait started us again +at 2 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> in good fettle, and it was fairly easy going +to Eland’s River, which we reached at 4 o’clock, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>and where we off-saddled for half-an-hour. The +rough waggon-track which had been our only road +had been steadily rising ever since our first halt, and +we were now amid beautiful undulating downs with +distant ranges ever in front of us. No sooner had +we climbed painfully over one saddle than another +seemed to block our way, and I confess my courage +rather sank when, with twilight fast coming on +and the path getting steeper with every mile, I +inquired of the guide how far off we still were. Of +course, my question had to be in pantomime, and +his answer—<em>five</em> dips of his hand towards the hills—told +me we had yet five low ranges to cross.</p> + +<p>The last few miles seemed a nightmare of stumbling +up and down break-neck places on tired +horses in the dark, and the contrast of a charming +little house at last, with lights and blazing fires, +was all the more delightful. Indeed, it seemed to +us, stumbling out of the darkness and a chilling +mist, that nothing short of Aladdin’s lamp could +at all account for the transport of all the nice +furniture, pictures, glass and china along such +impassable tracks. However, they were all there, +and everything which goes to make up a pretty +and refined home besides, including a charming +hostess and two rosy children. We were waited +on by Kaffir boys in long white garments, looking +for all the world like black-faced choristers. +But after gallons of tea and a capital supper, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>bed seemed the most attractive suggestion, and +many hours of dreamless sleep wiped away all +fatigue and started us off early next morning in +splendid health and spirits to explore the magnificent +forest close by.</p> + +<p>I have often thought that the three most distinct +memories of beautiful scenes, which must ever remain +vividly before me, are, my first view of the +Himalayas, early one morning from the Grand +Trunk Road, when I complained that I could +not see them, and discovered it was because I +had not looked half high enough. That was indeed +a revelation of solemn mountain grandeur. Next +to it ranks the mighty sweep of the Niagara river +as you see it from the railway, and a few moments +later behold it thundering over the edge. And the +third is that long, lonely morning in the magnificent +forest in the heart of Natal, the recollection of +which dwarfs all other trees to insignificance. The +growth not only of giant timber but of exquisite +under-growth of ferns and delicate foliage was +indeed superb. Of flowers there were none, because +the sun could not enter those cathedral glades +except at the very edge and outskirt where the +big trees had been felled.</p> + +<p>I confess I should greatly have preferred to +wander as far as I dared, and looked longer into the +old Elephant pits, and heard more stories of the +comparatively recent dates at which tigers, panthers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>and leopards could be met with. And I also +wanted to go deep enough among the overhanging +<i>lianes</i>, or monkey-ropes as they call them, to see, +perchance, the great baboons swinging on them. +But our host evidently regarded his new saw-mill as +the greatest point of interest, and thither we betook +ourselves—all too soon for my enjoyment. There, +indeed, one beheld a marvellous chaos of wheels +and chains and saws, which took hold of these same +giant trunks and tossed them out and passed them +from one to the other, until they emerged, shaven +and shorn into the planks of every-day commerce. +Very wonderful, no doubt, and one asked one’s-self +every moment, “how did these huge masses of +machinery get over that last range?” But still I +feel that it was the forest I came to see and I was +only peeping into it.</p> + +<p>However, next day I had a fine long ramble in +it, and explored to my heart’s content, but it was +damp and drizzling, and so it remained the day +after that again, when we started very early for +home. The horses were quite fresh and rested, and +carried us well, in spite of the extreme slipperiness +of the mountain tracks. Curiously enough as soon +as we got clear of the ranges we rode into the thickest +fog I have ever seen. We could only go at a slow +walk in Indian file, with the Kaffir leading, and +every few minutes he got off his rough little pony +and patted the ground to <em>feel</em> where we were. They +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>said it was a sea fog, but it wrapped us up as +thoroughly as if it had been the thickest of blankets, +and one felt quite helpless. Certainly nothing is so +demoralising as a fog, and I never wish to repeat +that morning’s experience. We should have +tumbled over “Taylor’s,” or rather passed it, though +it stood quite close to the track, if a cock had not +fortunately crowed, and the leading pony neighed +in reply, calling forth a chorus of barks from quite +unseen dogs, who dared not venture an inch from +the sheltering porch.</p> + +<p>Although my stay in Natal lasted very little over +a year, I made many friends there, and it is with +sympathising regret I often saw in the roll-call of +her local defenders the familiar names of those whom +I remember as bright-eyed children. They have +all sprung to arms in defence of the fair land of +their fathers’ adoption, and when the tale of this +crisis in the history of Natal comes to be written, +the names of her gallant young defenders will stand +out on its pages in letters of light, and the record +of their noble deeds will serve as an example for +ever and for ever. So will they not have laid down +their lives in vain.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI"><abbr title="6">VI</abbr><br> + +<small>“<span lang="la">STELLA CLAVISQUE MARIS INDICI</span>”</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>“The Star and the Key of the Indian Ocean” lay +smiling before me on Easter Sunday, April 1878.</p> + +<p>The little schooner in which I had come across +from Natal had just dropped her anchor in the +harbour of Port Louis after seventeen days of light +and baffling winds. The tedium of that past time +slipped quickly out of my mind, however, as the +fast-growing daylight revealed the beauties of +Mauritius, a little island which I had so often read +of and yet so little expected ever to behold. The +interest of the tragic tale of “Paul and Virginia” +had riveted my wandering attention during the +French reading-lessons of my youth, though I +always secretly wondered why Virginia had been +such a goose as to decline help from a sailor, apparently +only because he was somewhat insufficiently +clad. But I should not have dared to +give utterance to this opinion, so prudish was the +domestic atmosphere of those early days.</p> + +<p>The first real interest I felt in Mauritius arose +from the frequent mention of the little island as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>a health-resort, in some charming letters of Miss +Eden’s published about five-and-twenty years ago, +but written long before that date, when she was +keeping house for her brother, Lord Auckland, +then Governor-General of India. Miss Eden speaks +of many friends as well as of Indian tourists (for +“Paget, M.P.’s” existed apparently even in those +distant times) having gone for change of air to +“the Mauritius” and coming back quite strong +and robust. She mentions one instance of a whole +opera company, whose health gave way in Calcutta, +and who made the excursion, returning in +time for their next season with restored health, +and she often longs in vain for such a change for +her hard-worked brother.</p> + +<p>But all this must have been many years before +the first mysterious outbreak of fever which ravaged +the place in 1867. I was assured that before that +date the reputation of the pretty little island had +stood very high as a sanatorium, but no doctor +could give me any reason for the sudden appearance +of this virulent fever. There were, of course, +many theories, each of which had earnest supporters. +Some said the great hurricane which had just before +swept over the island brought the malaria on its +wings. Others declared the <i lang="fr">déboisement</i> which had +been carried on to a devastating extent in order +to increase the area available for sugar-cane planting +was to blame; whilst a third faction put all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>the trouble down to the great influx of coolie +immigrants introduced about that date to work in +the cane-fields. Perhaps the truth lies in a blending +of these three principal theories. Anyway, I +felt it sad and hard that so really lovely an island +should have such dark and trying days behind as +well as before it.</p> + +<p>But, after seventeen days of glaring lonely seas +and dark monotonous nights, one is not apt to +think of anything beyond the immediate “blessings +of the land,” and I gazed with profound content +on the chain of volcanic hills, down whose rugged +sides many <i lang="fr">cascades</i> tumbled their gleaming silver. +Coral reefs, with white foam tossing over them, +in spite of the calm sapphire sea on which we were +gently floating into harbour, seemed spread all +around us, and indeed I believe these <i lang="fr">récifs</i> circle +the whole island with a dangerous though protecting +girdle. Sloping ground, covered with growth +of differing greens, some showing the bluish hue of +the sugar-cane, others the more vivid colouring of +a coarse tall grass, led the eye gently down to the +flowering trees and foliage round the clustering +houses of Port Louis, whose steep high-pitched +roofs looked so suggestive of tropic rains. Port +Louis was once evidently a stately capital, and +large handsome houses still remain. These have, +however, nearly all been turned into offices or +banks, and the fine large Government House, or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span><i lang="fr">Hôtel du Gouvernement</i>, is always empty as to its +numerous bedrooms. Hardly a white person sleeps +with impunity in Port Louis, though all the business—official +and private—is carried on there, and +it contains many excellent shops.</p> + +<p>You must climb up, however, some few miles by +the steep little railway before you realise how +really lovely the scenery of Mauritius can be. All +in miniature, it is true, but very ambitious in character. +Except for the glowing tints of the volcanic +rocks and the tropic vegetation, one might be looking +at a bit of Switzerland through the wrong end +of a telescope; but nowhere else have I ever seen +such tints as the bare mountain sides take at sunset. +The tufa rocks glow like wet porphyry, and so +magical are the hues that one half expects to see +the grand recumbent figure of the old warrior of +the <span lang="fr">Corps de Garde</span> hill outlined against the +purple sky, rise up and salute the island which +once was his.</p> + +<p>Mauritius is in many ways an object-lesson +which is not without its significance just now. +Here we have a little island thoroughly French in +its history and people, and inhabited by many +of the <i lang="fr">vieille roche</i> who fled there in the Terror days. +Battles between French and English by land and +sea raged round its sunny shores in the first few +years of the just-ended century. Dauntless attacks +and valiant resistance have left heroic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span>memories behind them. We took it by <i lang="fr">force +majeure</i> in 1811, but it was not until the great +settling up at the Restoration in 1814 that the +hatchet may be said to have been finally buried, +and the two nationalities began to pull together +comfortably. I was rather surprised to see how +thoroughly French Mauritius still is in language +and in characteristics; but the result is indeed +satisfactory. I found it quite the most highly +civilised of the colonies I then knew, and from the +social point of view there was nothing left to be +desired. The early class of French settler had +evidently been of a much higher type than our +own rough-and-ready colonist, and the refinement +so introduced had influenced the whole place. Did +I find any race-hatred, oppression, or heart-burnings? +No, indeed; of all the dependencies of our +Empire not one has come forward more generously +or more splendidly with substantial offers of help +than that little lonely isle, “the Star and Key of +the Indian Ocean.” I venture to say, speaking +from my experience of those days, that the King +has no more loyal subjects than the Mauritians.</p> + +<p>It may be that the trials and troubles we have +all borne there side by side in the past half-century +have knitted and bound us together. We have +had hurricane, pestilence, and fire to contend with, +besides the chronic hard times of the sugar industry. +In these fast-following calamities French and English +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>have stood shoulder to shoulder, and the only race +or religious rivalry has been in good and noble +deeds. In the Zulu War of 1881, when Sir Bartle +Frere sent a ship down with despatches to my dear +husband, then the Lieutenant-Governor of Mauritius, +urgently asking for help to “hold the fort” until +the English reinforcements could arrive, Mauritius +sprang to her feet then as now, and gave willing and +substantial help. Every soldier who was able to +stand up started at twenty-four hours’ notice for +Durban. The same day the mayor of Port Louis +held a meeting, at which a volunteer corps of +doctors and nurses was at once raised, with plenty +of money to equip them, and they, as well as cooks +and cows—both much needed—were on their way +to Durban before another sun had set. It was +indeed gratifying to hear afterwards that not only +had our little military effort been of great service, +but that the abundance of fresh milk supplied had +helped many a case of dysentery among the garrison +at Durban to turn the corner on the road to +recovery.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be much more beautiful than the +view from the back verandah at “<span lang="fr">Réduit</span>,” as the +fine country Government House, built by the +<span lang="fr">Chevalier de la Brillane</span> for the Governors of Mauritius +more than a century ago, is called. Before +you spreads an expanse of English lawn only broken +by clumps of gay foliaged shrubs or beds of flowers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span>and behind that again is the wooded edge of the +steep ravine, where the mischievous “jackos” hide, +who come up at night to play havoc with the sugar-canes +on its opposite side. The only day of the +week on which they ventured up was Sunday afternoon, +when all the world was silent and sleepy.</p> + +<p>It used to be my delight to watch from an upper +bedroom window the stealthy appearance of the old +sentinel monkeys, who first peered cautiously up +and evidently reconnoitred the ground thoroughly. +After a few moments of careful scouting a sort of +chirrup would be heard, which seemed the signal +for the rest of the colony to scramble tumultuously +up the bank. Such games as then started among +the young ones, such antics and tumblings and +rompings! But all the time the sentinels never relaxed +their vigilance. They spread like a cordon +round the gambolling young ones, and kept turning +their horribly wise human-looking heads from side +to side incessantly, only picking and chewing a +blade of grass now and then. The mothers seemed +to keep together, and doubtless gossiped; but let +my old and perfectly harmless Skye terrier toddle +round the corner of the verandah, and each female +would dart into the group of playing monkeys, +seize her property by its nearest leg, toss it over her +shoulder, and quicker than the eye could follow +she would have disappeared down the ravine. The +sentinels had uttered their warning cry directly, but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span>they always remained until the very last, and retreated +in good order; though there was no cause +for alarm, as “Boxer’s” thoughts were fixed on +the peacocks—apt to trespass at those silent and +unguarded hours—and not on the monkeys at all!</p> + +<p>This is a sad digression, but yet it has not led +us far from that halcyon scene, which is so often +before the eyes of my memory. The beautiful +changing hues of the Indian Ocean binds the +horizon in this and every other extensive island +view, but between us and it there arises in the +distance a very forest of tall green masts, the spikes +of countless aloe blossoms. I have heard Mauritius +described as “an island with a barque always to +windward,” and there is much truth in the saying; +though one could easily mistake the glancing wing +of a huge seagull or the long white floating tail-feathers +of the “boatswain bird” for the shimmer +of a distant sail.</p> + +<p>I fear it is a very prosaic confession to make, but +one fact which added considerably to my comfort +in Mauritius was the excellence of the cook of +that day. I hear that education and Board schools +have now improved him off the face of the island, +but he used to be a very clever mixture of the best +of French and Indian cookery traditions. The food +supply was poor. We got our beef from Madagascar, +and our mutton came from Aden. We +found it answer to import half-a-dozen little sheep +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span>at a time; they cost about £1 apiece for purchase +and carriage, but could be allowed only a month’s +run in the beautiful park of five hundred acres +which surrounded <span lang="fr">Réduit</span>. More than that made +them ill, so rich and luscious was the grass; for +sheep, like human beings, seem to need a good deal +of exercise, and, as Abernethy advised the rich +gourmet to do, ought to “live on a shilling a day +and earn it.”</p> + +<p>These same sheep, however, or rather one of the +servants, gave me one of the worst frights of my +life. We were at luncheon one day when an under +servant, who never appeared in the dining-room, +rushed in calling out, “Oh, Excellence, <i lang="fr">quel malheur</i>!” +then he lapsed into Hindustani mixed with +patois, declaring there had been a terrible railway +accident and that <em>all</em> were injured and two killed +outright! As this same line, which had a private +station in the Park about a mile away, constantly +brought us up friends at that hour, I nearly +fainted with horror; and yet I remember how +angry, though relieved, I felt when the same +agitated individual wailed out, “and they were +all so fat!” One is apt to be indignant at having +been tricked into emotion before one is grateful +for the relief to one’s mind.</p> + +<p>Almost the first thing which struck me in +Mauritius was the absence of cows as well as sheep. +I never saw a cow grazing, and yet there seemed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>plenty of good milk, and even a pallid pat of fresh +butter appeared at breakfast. But there were really +plenty of cows, only the coolies kept them in their +houses, to the despair of the sanitary inspectors, +who insisted on proper cowsheds being built at an +orthodox distance from the little <em>case</em> or native +house, only to find that the family moved down +and lived with the cow as before. One year there +was an outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia among the +poor cows, and I heard many pathetic stories of the +despair of the owners when sentence of death had +to be pronounced in the infected districts against +their beloved cows. It was impossible to make the +coolies understand that this was a precautionary +measure, and the large and liberal compensation +which they received seemed to bring no consolation +whatever with it. I was assured that in many +instances the owner of the doomed animal would +fling himself at the inspector’s feet, beseeching him +to spare the life of the cow, and to kill him (the +coolie) instead!</p> + +<p>The roads in Mauritius were admirably kept, but +very hard and very hilly. The big horse, usually +imported from Australia, soon knocked his legs to +pieces if much used up and down these hills; but +an excellent class of hardy, handsome, little pony +came to us from Pégou and other parts of Burma, +as well as from Timor and Java. These animals +were very expensive to buy, but excellent for work, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>and I should think would have made splendid polo +ponies; but polo did not seem to be much played +in Mauritius at that date.</p> + +<p>Since my day another frightful hurricane has +devastated the poor little island, but I heard many +stories of former ones. During the summer season—that +is, from about November until March or +April—the local Meteorological Office keeps a sharp +eye on the barometer, and every arrangement is +cut and dry, ready to be acted upon at a moment’s +warning, for a <i lang="fr">coup de vent</i> is a rapid traveller and +does not dawdle on its way.</p> + +<p>We had many false alarms during my stay, for +it sometimes happens that the hurrying winds are +diverted from the track they started on, and so we +escaped, <i lang="fr">quitte pour la peur</i>. When the first warning +gun fired all the ships in harbour began to get ready +to go outside, for the greatest mischief done in the +big hurricane of 1868 was from the crowded vessels +in the comparatively small harbour of Port Louis +grinding against each other; to say nothing of +those ships which, as Kipling sings, were</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Flung to roost with the startled crows.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>At the second signal gun, which meant that the +force of the wind was increasing and travelling +towards us, the ships got themselves out of harbour, +and every business man who lived in the country +betook himself to the railway station, as after the +third gun, which might be heard within even half-an-hour, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span>the trains would cease to run. I chanced +to be returning from Port Louis on one of these +occasions, and certainly the railway station presented +a curious sight. All my acquaintances +seemed to be there, hurrying home with anxious +and pre-occupied faces. Each man grasped a ham +firmly in one hand and his despatch-box in the +other, whilst his <i lang="fr">pion</i>, or messenger, was following, +closely laden with baskets of bread and groceries, +and attended by coolies with live fowls and bottles +of lamp oil! My own head servant, “Monsieur +Jorge,” always made the least sign of a “blow” +an excuse for demanding sundry extra rupees in +hand for carriole money, and started directly in one +of these queer little vehicles for a round of marketing +in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>At the first gun heard at <span lang="fr">Réduit</span> an army of +gardeners used to set to work to move the hundreds +of large plants out of the verandahs into a big +empty room close by. They were followed by the +house-carpenter and his mates, armed with enormous +iron wedges and sledge-hammers. These worthies +proceeded to close the great clumsy hurricane +shutters, which so spoil the outer effect of all +Mauritian houses, and besides putting the heavy +iron bars in their places, wedged them firmly down. +It really looked as if the house was being prepared +for a siege. Happily, my own experience did not +extend beyond a couple of days of this state of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>affairs, nor was any storm I assisted at dignified +by the name of a hurricane, but I could form from +these little experiences only too good an idea of +what the real thing must be like. Personally, my +greatest inconvenience arose from the pervading +smell of the lamps, which were, of course, burning +all day as well as all night, and from our never +being able to get rid of the smell of food. One was +so accustomed to the fresh-air life, with doors and +windows always open, that these odours were very +trying.</p> + +<p>But the noise is, I think, what is least understood. +Even in a “blow” it is truly deafening, +and never ceases for an instant. At <span lang="fr">Réduit</span> there +was a long well-defended corridor upstairs, and I +thought I would try and walk along its length. +Not a breath of wind really got in, or the roof would +soon have been whisked off the house; but although +I flatter myself I am tolerably brave, I could not +walk down that corridor! Every yard or so a resounding +blow, as if from a cannon-ball, would +come thundering against the outer side, whilst the +noise of many waters descending in solid sheets on +the roof, and the screams of the shrieking, whistling +winds outside, were literally deafening. It was +impossible to believe that any structure made by +human hands could stand; and yet that was not +a hurricane! Never shall I forget my last outdoor +glimpse, which I was invited to take just before +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span>the big hall-door on the leeward side was finally +shut and barricaded. I could not have believed that +the sky could be of such an inky blackness, except +at one corner, where a triangle of the curtain of +darkness, with sharply defined outlines, had apparently +just been turned back to show the deep +blood-red colouring behind. It was awful beyond +all words to describe; but “Monsieur Jorge,” who +held the door open for me, said: “Dat not real +bad sky.” He seemed hard to please, I thought.</p> + +<p>However, a couple of days’ imprisonment was +all we suffered that time, and the instant the gale +dropped, at sunrise on the second day, the rain +ceased and the sun shone out. It was a curious +scene the rapidly-opened shutters revealed. Every +leaf was stripped off the trees, which were bare as +mid-winter. A few of the smaller ones had been +uprooted bodily and whisked away down the ravine. +Some were found later literally standing on their +heads a good way off. It was quite a new idea to +me that roots could be snowy white, but they had +been so completely washed bare of soil by the +down-pouring rain that they were absolutely clean +and white. A few hours later I was taken for a +drive round some neighbouring cane-fields. Of +course, the road was like the bed of a mountain +torrent, and how the pony managed to steer himself +and the gig among the boulders must ever +remain a mystery. Already over three hundred +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>Malagashes (coolies) were at work covering up the +exposed roots of the canes, for each plant stood in +a large hole partly filled with water, which was +rapidly draining away. The force of the wind +seemed to have whirled the cane round and round +until it stood, quite bare of its crown of waving +leaves, in the middle of a hole. Had the sun +reached these exposed roots nothing could have +saved the plant.</p> + +<p>But my memories must not be all meteorological. +Rather let me return in thought to the merry and +happy intercourse with pleasant friends, of which +so many hours stand brightly out. In all the +colonies I know hospitality is one of the cardinal +virtues, and nowhere more so than in pretty little +Mauritius. I heard many lamentations that in +these altered times the gracious will far outran the +restricted possibilities, but still there used to be +pleasant dances, without end and number, most +amusing cameron-fishing <i lang="fr">déjeuners</i>, and <i lang="fr">chasses +au cerf</i> in the winter months. It so chanced +that we had a guest hailing from Exmoor, who was +bidden to one of these popular forms of <i lang="fr">le sport</i>, +and never shall I forget his horror at finding he was +required to carry a gun and shoot a stag if he could! +No fox-hunter invited to assist at a battue of foxes +in the Midlands could have been more shocked and +disgusted, and it was quite in vain that we cited +Scotch deer-stalking in excuse. This was <em>not</em> deer-stalking +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>he vowed, for you sat on a camp-stool in +a thick forest and took pot shots at the poor +animals as they were driven past certain spots! An +excellent luncheon was served in the middle of the +<i lang="fr">chasse</i>, so it was always a favourite diversion, but +the hospitable owner of one of the best deer districts +told me that he had to inflict fines on these sportsmen +who only wounded the poor deer. Some very +handsome “heads” could be got among them however. +But, indeed, I am constrained to say that +the idea of sport, as we understand it, seemed +rather undeveloped in that fairy island, and it was +difficult to keep one’s countenance when, in answer +to the Governor’s inquiry as to the success of a +morning among the cane-fields in pursuit of red-legged +partridges and quail, the sportsman rose in +his place, bowed low, and answered, “<span lang="fr">Excéllence, +j’ai tué un, mais j’ai blessé deux</span>.”</p> + +<p>The annual race-meeting, held on the Champ-de-Mars +outside Port Louis, was remarkable for the +crowds of coolies it attracted from all parts of the +island. The horses were the least important or +interesting part of the performance, and the betting +on even the principal races appeared to be confined +to a few Arab merchants, who certainly did not +look at all “horsey” in their gay and flowing +robes. It so chanced that I was being driven +home very late the night before the third principal +day of one of these race-meetings, and I thought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span>the shuffling, sheeted crowds with which the roads +were thronged by far the most curious and suggestive +part of the proceedings. No cemetery +giving up its silent sleepers could have furnished +a more ghostly crew. Young and old, babes +astride on their mothers’ hips, older children +carried by their fathers, aged men and girls in +their shrouding veils, all gliding, barefooted, in +absolute silence along the dusty roads in such a +dense and never-ending crowd that my carriage +could only move, and that with difficulty, at a +foot’s pace. It was a lovely starlight, cold night, +and I had the hood of the victoria lowered so as +to better take in the weird scene, to which the +dangling cooking-pots carried by all, added a grotesque +touch. At various parts of the road the wily +Chinaman had hastily set up a little booth of palm +branches, from which he dispensed refreshments of +sorts doubtless at a high price. These moving +masses were perfectly orderly, nor did they seem +to require any restraining or even guiding force.</p> + +<p>Next day I naturally looked out from my beautiful +rose-wreathed stand on the Champ-de-Mars for +these white-clad crowds, and there they were, sure +enough, covering the slopes of the encircling natural +amphitheatre, but to my astonishment, though it +was barely noon and the principal race was yet to be +run, the massed mob was rapidly dispersing. As a +matter of fact, none of these fifty thousand coolie +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span>spectators cared in the least about the races. That +final Saturday of the race week had come to be +regarded as a public holiday. Work was suspended +at the sugar estates all over the Island, and the race +meeting was just an occasion on which all expected +to meet their friends. Every coolie had +washed his garment to a snowy whiteness, and +this, taken in conjunction with the vivid touches +of colour dear to the Oriental eye, furnished by +the babies’ little scarlet caps and the red edging +of the women’s veils, made up an enchanting +picture set against the vivid green and glowing +blue of earth and sky.</p> + +<p>It was always great fun when the flagship of the +East Indian squadron paid us an all too brief visit; +and, indeed, the arrival of any man-of-war used +to be made an excuse for a little extra gaiety. It +was my special delight to get the midshipmen +to come in batches and stay at <span lang="fr">Réduit</span>, although +I often found myself at my wits’ end to provide +them with game to shoot at, for that was +what their hearts were most fixed on. They all +brought up weird and obsolete fowling-pieces, which +the moment they had finished breakfast they +wanted to go and let off in the park. What fun +those boys were, and what dears! One chubby +youth, being questioned as to whether midshipmen +were permitted to marry, answered, “No, but +sometimes there was a <em>candlestick</em> marriage.”</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span></p> +<p>“A <em>what</em>?”</p> + +<p>“A candlestick marriage, sir,—not allowed, you +know.”</p> + +<p>“Clandestine” was the proper word, but the +mistake had great success as a joke.</p> + +<p>My young soldier guests were quite as gallant +and susceptible to the charms of the bright eyes +and pretty, gentle manners of my pet French girls, +but I often felt disconcerted to find that at my +numerous <i lang="fr">bals privés</i> there was a difficulty in getting +them to dance with each other, because the red-coated +youths would not or could not speak one +word of French, whereas that difficulty never +seemed to weigh with the middy for a moment.</p> + +<p>I dare say things are now different, and that +improved mail and cable services have changed +the loneliness of my day, when there was no cable +beyond Aden and only a mail steamer once a month. +I always felt as though we ourselves were on a ship +anchored in the midst of a lonely ocean, and that +once in four weeks another ship sped past us, casting +on board mail bags and cablegrams. But even +as we stood with stretched-out hands, craving for +more news or more details of what news was flung +to us, the passing steamer had sunk below the +horizon, and we were left to possess our souls in +what patience we might until the next mail day +came round.</p> + +<p>The consequence of this comparative isolation +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>was that few visitors came our way, so that it +aroused quite a little excitement in our small community +to hear that the Government of Madagascar—a +curious mixture in that day of power vested in +the hands of a Queen, who was always expected to +marry her prime minister—intended to send three +delegates to Europe <i lang="fr">viâ</i> Mauritius to protest +against the proposed French protectorate. These +delegates were dignified by the name of Ambassadors, +and their mission was to seek the intervention +of Great Britain and other European powers. +We were instructed to receive them with all official +courtesy, including salutes from big guns and +guards of honour and so forth; the worst of all +this ceremonial being that the idea became firmly +impressed on their minds that England was quite +prepared to take up their quarrel, or, at least, to +remonstrate with France. So it was a very happy +and hopeful trio of “Ambassadors” who presented +themselves, with a number of attendants, including +several interpreters, at <span lang="fr">Réduit</span> one evening to go +through the ordeal of a formal banquet.</p> + +<p>I confess to a certain amount of curiosity when +I heard that the ambassadors were not only as +black as jet, but they were quite unused to the +forms of society, and that, in fact, their only experience +of the ways of English folk was gathered +from Wesleyan missionaries near their chief towns. +Indeed, the only English entertainment they had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>ever seen was a school-feast to little native children, +at which they had been onlookers, and which, as +one of the interpreters informed me, had seemed +to them a strange and puzzling performance.</p> + +<p>However, when the dinner-hour arrived I beheld +three fine, dignified and stately gentlemen, quite +as black nevertheless as their faultless evening +dress, the only false note being a massive gold +watch chain, from which dangled rather an +aggressive bunch of lockets and other ornaments, +and with which each ambassador was decorated. +Beautiful bows were exchanged, and nothing could +be more correct than the fashion in which the +senior dignitary offered me his arm. With an interpreter +on my left hand we got on famously all +through dinner, with absolutely no mistakes in +essentials, though I often observed some anxiety +in the interpreter’s face. I suppose he felt responsible +for their manners. But the false hopes +were there all the time, and I felt myself to be +quite a cruel monster when I had to whisper to +the interpreter to explain to his black Excellency, +that it was only the usual custom for the Governor +to propose after the toast of our own Queen the +health of the sovereign of any foreign guests at table. +Poor ambassadors! they thought this commonplace +courtesy meant a public announcement of +England’s intention of ranging herself on their side +of the question at issue. One did not realise at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>the time what a deadly importance they attached +to all these trifles, nor would we perhaps have +wondered at it so much had we known that they +felt their own lives depended on the success of +the mission. They considered it a most hopeful +sign when I asked them after dinner to write +their names in my little birthday-book; and most +astonishing names they were, each name occupying +three lines, but all apparently forming one syllable! +They seemed quite familiar with a pen, and each +letter was beautifully formed, only they were all +joined together.</p> + +<p>There is an excellent and most comfortable rule +in the Colonial Service which forbids a Governor +to receive any gifts. I suppose it would also apply +to a Governor’s wife if the said gifts were of any +intrinsic value; but I did not see my way to wounding +the feelings of my poor guests that evening by +sheltering myself behind official etiquette when +they tendered a hideous little glass biscuit-box +and a sort of native quilt (spoiled by vivid aniline +dyes) for my acceptance. Yet I had terrible misgivings +all the time that they thought they were +securing my interest and co-operation in their +affairs, and I even edged in a word or two in my +thanks through the interpreter to imply that acceptance +of their gifts must be taken “without +prejudice.” I do not believe, however, that he +had the heart to pass my remark on, for the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span>ambassadors beamed joyously on me and the rest +of the company all the time.</p> + +<p>I heard afterwards that they had made desperate +efforts at all the European Courts, beginning with +that of <abbr style="text-decoration: none;" title="Saint">St.</abbr> James’s to secure intervention, and that +it was impossible to make them understand that +no one was able or willing to take up their quarrel. +So in the fulness of time, their money being all +spent, they had to return to their own land, where +failure meant death, which I believe they welcomed +rather than the new order of things.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VII"><abbr title="7">VII</abbr><br> + +<small>GENERAL CHARLES GORDON</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>I feel as if no sketch, however slight, of my short +stay in beautiful Mauritius would be complete +without a reference to General Gordon. Soon +after our own arrival Colonel Charles Gordon came +in command of the small body of Royal Engineers +stationed there. From the very first his delightful +personality made itself felt, and although I suspect +that very few of the island-dwellers had the least +idea of what a name to conjure with “Chinese +Gordon” was, still he at once assumed that amazing +sway over men’s hearts of which he possessed the +secret. Looking back on it through all these years +I think the wonderful humility of the man is the +first thing one realises. He took up his duties and +his position in that obscure little corner of the +Empire with just as much interest and simplicity +as though he had never led armies to victory or +changed the fate of nations. I am proud to say +we saw a great deal of him, though it had to be on +his own terms and in his own way. Of course, he +was asked to the large and formal entertainments +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>at <span lang="fr">Réduit</span>, but he always excused himself, and only +came to dine with us when we were quite alone. He +would change into the mess uniform, which it was +the custom always to wear at Government House, +in the carriole which brought him up, and he once +gave this as an excuse for the extreme crookedness +of his black neck-tie.</p> + +<p>On these occasions, which I am happy to say +were very frequent, the dinner had to be of the +most simple character and compressed into the +shortest possible space. I do not remember whether +he took wine or not, but he consumed an immense +amount of black coffee, not at dinner, but directly +after, when we adjourned to the verandah and +cigarettes were lighted. Every half-hour a servant +brought a fresh cup of fragrant coffee, and noiselessly +put it on the little table at Colonel Gordon’s +elbow, and this went on for hours! It is impossible +to convey in words any idea of the singular +charm of Gordon’s conversation. With so appreciative +and sympathetic a listener as my dear husband +was, he gave of his best and that was very good. +Not in the least egotistical, his vivid narratives +were the most thrillingly interesting it has ever +been my good fortune to listen to. Every word +he said, for all its picturesqueness, bore the +stamp of reality, and the scenes he described at +once stood out before your eyes. A question now +and then was all that was needed to sustain the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>delightful flow of talk. He never uttered a word +which could be called “cant,” nor did he bring +his religious opinions into prominence. One +gathered from his utterances that he was more +deeply imbued with the “enthusiasm of humanity” +than with any dogma.</p> + +<p>His eyes were the most remarkable part of his +face, and I cannot imagine any one who has ever +seen them forgetting their wonderful beauty. It +was not merely that they were of a crystal clearness +and as blue as a summer sky, but the expression +was different to that of any other human +eye I have ever seen. In the first place, +instead of the trained, conventional glance with +which we habitually regard each other and which, +certainly at first, tells you nothing whatever +of your new acquaintance’s character or inner +nature, Gordon’s beautiful, noble soul looked +straight at you, directly from out of these clear +eyes. They revealed him at once, as he was, and +I am sure the secret of his extraordinary and almost +instantaneous influence over his fellow-creatures +lay in that glance. There was a sort of wistful +tenderness in it for all its penetration, an extraordinary +magnetic sympathy, and yet you felt its +authority. The rest of his face was rugged, and, +I suppose, what would be called plain, but one never +thought of anything beyond the soul shining out +of those wonderful windows. To look at any other +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>face after his was like looking at a lifeless mask. +A few months after he arrived the General commanding +the troops in Mauritius left, and Colonel +Gordon was promoted and succeeded him. He +had been very active among the Chinese mercantile +class (a very numerous one) and had done much +good, not merely of a missionary but of a social +nature, explaining the duties of citizenship to them, +and enforcing local laws and rules which they +probably had not understood. That part of the +community became much easier to manage after +he took them in hand.</p> + +<p>But there was a strangely unpractical side to +General Gordon’s nature, apart from his utter +disregard of what might be called his own interests. +Those he never thought of for one moment, and +I honestly believe that his feelings about the value +or importance of money—<em>as</em> money—were on a +par with the ideas of a nice child of five years old! +Coins of the realm remained but a short time in +his pocket, and were only welcome to him as a +means of helping others. Still his charity was +not at all indiscriminate, and in the numerous +instances of which I knew his help was always +judiciously given.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, the scheme of defence for +Mauritius, which General Gordon was requested +officially to draw up, was found to be absolutely +impossible. He bestowed much pains and care +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>on it, but his plans involved many alterations +and changes not one of which were found practicable. +I have in my possession some charming +letters of his to my husband, who had written +privately to the General to state that in forwarding +this scheme of defence to the War Office, he, +as Lieutenant-Governor, had felt obliged to disagree +entirely with it, and to point out the utter +impossibility on every ground of carrying it out. +Now my husband was one of General Gordon’s +warmest and most discriminating admirers, and he +showed me the private correspondence on the +subject as illustrating the noble and beautiful +nature of the man. There was not the slightest +trace of annoyance or even pique at the uncompromising +terms in which a civilian Governor had +felt it his duty to differ from so eminent a military +authority. The General just recognised that it +was a plain expression of an honest opinion and +respected it accordingly, nor was there the slightest +friction between them nor the least check upon +their friendly intercourse.</p> + +<p>I remember particularly one merry evening in +the verandah after dinner, when the General had +just returned from an official visit to the Seychelles, +a little group of islands nearly 1000 miles from +Mauritius, but in those days one of its <i lang="fr">dépendences</i>. +He was full of a brand new theory, based on the +coco-de-mer, a gigantic palm which he saw for the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span>first time, and which convinced him that he had +discovered the site of the Garden of Eden. He +explained with great eagerness how he felt sure of +the existence of the four encircling rivers of that +favoured spot (only they now ran underground), but +his strong point was the strange weird fruit which +hung, some eighty feet or so above the ground, +from those splendid palms which are peculiar to +the Seychelles group. In vain the Governor pointed +out, with much laughter, that our first parents +must have been of a goodly height to reach this +fruit, and in the next, that it was not good to eat!</p> + +<p>The dear General bore all our chaff with the +sweetest good-humour, but remained as firmly +fixed as ever in his idea. He was most eager and +earnest about it all, and, though he found our +laughter infectious and joined heartily in it, nothing +made the least impression on him, and I believe +he always thought the Garden of Eden had once +united that little group of islets in one exquisite +whole—for Mahé is certainly a lovely spot and as +fertile as it is fair.</p> + +<p>We always felt we could not expect to keep him +long with us in Mauritius though he never chafed +nor repined in any way, and just did his duty from +day to day, and whatever other work for his fellow-men +his hand found to do, with all his might. But +all too soon he was summoned home, and quite the +next thing we heard of him was that he was going +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span>out to India with the new Governor-General, Lord +Ripon, as his Private Secretary. We all exclaimed +at once, “Think of the dinner-parties!” and were +not at all surprised to hear how short a time that +arrangement had lasted, though the dreaded form +of entertainment had really nothing whatever to +do with Gordon’s resignation of his post long before +India was reached. From time to time he wrote +to my husband, and we followed every step of his +subsequent career with the deepest interest. I +have since heard, I do not know with what truth, +that it was a mistake in a telegram which prevented +his going to the Congo on King Leopold’s +business instead of to Egypt on ours. However +that may be, the rest of the story was quite in +harmony with what one had known of him, but +of all those who sorrowed for his tragic fate—and +it was a nation that grieved—no one lamented him +more than his official chief of the Mauritian days.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII"><abbr title="8">VIII</abbr><br> + +<small>WESTERN AUSTRALIA</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>Few people can realise how rapid is the growth +of a colony when once it begins to grow. Like a +young tree, after reaching a certain stage, it may +seem to have almost attained its limit, and one +often feels disappointed that more visible progress +has not been made. But come again a little later, +and you will find your sapling shooting rapidly +up into a splendid tree. It was really growing, +as it were, <em>under</em> ground; searching with its roots +for the most favourable conditions. Perhaps there +was a piece of rock to be got round before the good +soil could be reached, but the little tree was covering +that rock all the time with a network of roots +so that it ceased to be an obstacle and was gathered +up and assimilated with its growth. In the decade +between 1880 and 1890 Western Australia was +just in that stage, and the splendid young giant of +to-day must have been growing underground then, +though it did not seem to be making much progress +as a colony. In those days we sadly called ourselves +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span>“Cinderella,” but the Fairy Prince—Responsible +Government—was not far off, and I am +proud to remember that my dear husband, then +Governor of the colony, was one of those who +helped to open the door and let Prince Charming in.</p> + +<p>They tell me the colony is quite different now, +and that Perth is unrecognisable. I try to be +glad to hear it, and keep repeating to myself that +the revenue of a month now is what we thought +good for a year, fifteen years ago. But no one can +be more than happy, and I question very much if +the rich people there to-day are any happier or +even better off, in the true sense of the words, +than we were. Of course, enormous progress has +been made, and many of the works and wants +which we only dreamed of and longed for, have +suddenly become accomplished facts. Our Cinderella’s +shoes have turned out to be made of gold, +but they pinch her now and then, and have to +be eased here and there. Still they are, no doubt, +true fairy shoes, and will grow conveniently with +the growth of her feet.</p> + +<p>In our day—which began in May 1883—the +colony was as quiet and primitive as possible, but +none the less delightful and essentially homelike. +I must confess that one of its greatest attractions +in my eyes was what more youthful and enterprising +spirits used to call the dulness of Perth. +But it never was really dull. To me there always +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>appeared to be what I see American newspapers +describe as “happenings” going on.</p> + +<p>For instance, one morning I was called into the +Governor’s office to look at a tin collar just sent +up from the port of Freemantle for the Governor’s +inspection. It appeared that the two little children +of a respectable tradesman in Freemantle had that +morning been playing on a lonely part of the beach, +and had observed a large strange bird, half floating, +half borne in by the incoming tide. It was a very +flat bit of shore just there, and the sea was as +smooth as glass, so the boy—bold and brave, as +colonial boys are—fearing to lose the curious +creature, waded in a little way, and, seizing it +by the tip of the outstretched wing, dragged it +safely to land. There, after a few convulsive +movements and struggles, the poor bird died, +and the little ones wisely set off at once to fetch +their father to look at what they thought was an +enormous seagull. When Mr. —— arrived at the +spot, he at once saw that the bird was an albatross, +and furthermore that a large fish was sticking in +its throat. A closer inspection revealed that a +sort of tin collar round the neck, large enough to +allow of its feeding under ordinary circumstances, +but not wide enough to let so big a fish pass down +its gullet, had strangled it. The collar had evidently +formed part of a preserved meat tin of +rather a large size, with the top and bottom knocked +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>out, and around it were these words, punched +quite distinctly in the tin, probably by the point +of a nail:—</p> + +<p>“<i lang="fr">Treize naufragés sont refugiés sur les Iles Crozets, +ce</i>”—then followed a date of about twelve days +before. “<i lang="fr">Au secours, pour l’amour de Dieu!</i>”</p> + +<p>In those days everything used to be referred +to the Governor, so Mr. —— at once went to the +police station, got an Inspector to come and look +at the bird, hear the children’s story, take the +collar off—a work of some difficulty, in fact the +head had to be cut off—and bring it up by next +train to Perth.</p> + +<p>It was an intensely interesting story, and aroused +all our sympathy. A telegram was at once sent +off to the Admiral commanding on the Australian +station, telling the tale, and asking for help to be +sent to the Crozets; but the swiftly returned answer +stated, with great regret, that it was impossible to +do this, and that the Cape Squadron was the one +to communicate with. Now unfortunately this was +impossible in those days, so another message was +despatched directly to the Minister for Marine +Affairs in Paris, and next day we heard that the +Department had discovered—through an apparently +admirable system of ship registry—that a small +vessel had sailed from Bordeaux some months before +and that the way to her destined port would certainly +take her past the Iles Crozets. No news of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>her arrival at that port had ever been received, so a +message was even then on its way to the nearest +French naval station ordering immediate relief to +be sent to the Crozets. This reply, most courteously +worded, added that there were <i lang="fr">caches</i> of food +on these islands, which statement was borne out by +the fresh look of the tin collar. A curious confirmation +of the story was elicited by the volunteered +statement of the captain of a newly-arrived sailing +wool-ship, who said that in a certain latitude, which +turned out to be within quite measurable distance +of the Crozets, an albatross had suddenly appeared +in the wake of the ship, feeding greedily on the +scraps and refuse thrown overboard, and the crew +observed with surprise that the bird followed them +right into the open roadstead which then represented +Freemantle harbour. The date coincided exactly +with the figures on the tin. The bird must have +found the collar inconvenient for fishing, and had +joined the ship to feed on these softer scraps, until, +with the conclusion of the little vessel’s voyage, the +supplies also ceased.</p> + +<p>Stories should always end well, but alas! this +one does not. We heard nothing more for several +weeks, and then came an official document, full of +gratitude for the prompt action taken, but stating +that when the French gunboat reached the Crozets +it was found quite deserted. A similar tin, with +the same sort of punched letters on it, had been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>left behind saying that the contents of the <i lang="fr">cache</i> +had all been used, and that, supplies being exhausted, +the <i lang="fr">naufragés</i> were going to attempt to +construct some sort of a raft on which to try to +reach another of the islets where a fresh supply +of food might possibly be found hidden. This +message had briefly added that the poor shipwrecked +sailors were literally starving.</p> + +<p>The most diligent and careful search failed, however, +to discover the slightest trace of the unfortunate +men or their raft. Probably they were already +so weak and exhausted when they started that they +could not navigate their cumbrous craft in the +broken water and currents between the Islands. We +felt very sad at this tragic end to the wonderful +message brought by the albatross, and only wished +we had possessed any sort of steamer which could +have been despatched that same day to the Iles +Crozets.</p> + +<p>Another morning—and such a beautiful morning +too!—F. looked in at the drawing-room window, +and asked if I would like to come with him to the +Central Telegraph Office—a very little way off—and +hear the first messages over a line stretching +many hundreds of miles away to the far North-west +of the colony. Of course, I was only too +delighted, especially as I had “assisted” at +the driving in of the very first pole of that +same telegraph line two or three years before +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>at Geraldton, some three hundred miles up the +coast.</p> + +<p>I was much amazed at the wonderful familiarity +of the operator with his machine. How he seemed +hardly to pause in what he was himself saying, to +remark, “They are very pleased to hear your Excellency +is here, and wish me to say,” and then would +come a message glibly disentangled from a rapid +succession of incoherent little clicks and taps. +Presently came a longer and more consecutive series +of pecks and clicks, to which the operator condescended +to listen carefully, and even to jot down a +pencilled word now and then. This turned out +to be a communication from the sergeant of police +in charge of the little group of white men up in that +distant spot, where no European foot had ever +trodden before, to the effect that he had lately +come across a native tribe who had an Englishwoman +with them. The sergeant went on to say +that this woman had been wrecked twenty years +before, somewhere on that North-west coast, and +that she and her baby-boy—the only survivors of +the disaster—had ever since lived with this tribe. +She could still speak English, and had told the +sergeant that these natives had always treated her +with the utmost kindness, and had in fact regarded +her as a supernatural and sacred guest. Her son +was, of course, a grown-up man by this time, and +had quite thrown in his lot with the tribe. She +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>declared she had enjoyed excellent health all those +years, and had never suffered from anything worse +than tender feet. She hastened to add that whenever +her feet became sore from travelling barefoot, +the tribe halted until they had healed.</p> + +<p>Naturally, we were deeply thrilled by this unexpected +romance clicked out in such a commonplace +way, and the Governor at once authorised +the sergeant—all by telegraph—to tell the poor +exile that, if she chose, she and her son should be +brought down to Perth at once, cared for, and sent +to any place she wished, free of all expense.</p> + +<p>Of course we had to wait a few moments whilst +the sergeant explained this message, though he had +wisely taken the precaution of getting the tribe +to “come in” to the little station as soon as he +knew the line would be open. I spent the interval +in making plans for the poor soul’s reception and +comfort, promising myself to do all I could to make +up to her for those years of wandering about with +savages. But my schemes vanished into thin air +as soon as the clicks began again, for the woman +steadily refused to leave the friendly tribe—who, +I may mention, were listening, the sergeant said, +with the most breathless anxiety for her decision. +She declared that nothing would induce her son +to come away, and that she had not the least desire +to do so either. The Governor tried hard, in his +own kind and eloquent words, to persuade her to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>accept his offer, or, failing that, to say what she +would like done for her own comfort, and to reward +the tribe who had been so hospitable and good to +her. She would accept nothing for herself, but +hesitatingly asked for more blankets and a little +extra flour and “baccy” for the tribe. This was +promised willingly, and some tea was to be added.</p> + +<p>My contribution to the conversation was to demand +a personal description of the woman from the +sergeant, but I cannot say that I gathered much +idea of her appearance from his halting and somewhat +laboured word-portrait. Apparently she was +not beautiful; no wonder, poor soul!—tanned as +to skin, and bleached as to hair, by exposure to +weather. Only her blue eyes and differing features +showed her English origin. She had kept no count +of time, nothing but the boy’s growth told that +many years must have passed.</p> + +<p>“They look upon her as a sort of Queen,” the +sergeant declared, “and don’t want her to leave +them.” It was very tantalising, and I felt quite +injured and hurt at the collapse of all my plans +for restoring such an involuntary prodigal daughter +to her relatives.</p> + +<p>I fear I became rather troublesome after this +episode, and got into a way of continually demanding +if there were nothing else interesting going on +up in that distant region; but, except the sad and +too frequent report of interrupted communication, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>which was nearly always found to mean a burned-down +telegraph pole, there was nothing more heard +of the tribe or its guest whilst we remained in the +colony. But these burned telegraph poles held a +tragedy of their own; for they were always caused +by a fire lighted at their base as the very last resource +of a starved and dying traveller to attract +attention. I fear I was just as grieved when, as +sometimes happened, it turned out to be a convict, +who was making a desperate and fruitless effort to +escape, as when it was an explorer who perished. +The routine followed was that, as soon as the line +became interrupted, two workmen with tools and +two native police officers would set out from the +hut, one of each going along the line in opposite +directions until the “fault” was found. As the +huts or stations were at least a hundred and fifty +miles apart, and the dry burning desert heat made +travelling slow work, this was often an affair of +days, and I was assured that the relieving party +never yet found the unhappy traveller alive. All +this is now quite a thing of the dark and distant +ages, for a railway probably now runs over those +very same sand plains, and no doubt Pullman +cars will be a luxury of the near future.</p> + +<p>I wonder, however, if the natives of those North-west +districts still contrive, from time to time, to +possess themselves of the insulators, which they +fashion with their flint tools into admirable spear-heads. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span>Also if they have at all grasped the meaning +of those same telegraph poles. In the days I +speak of, they considered the white man “too much +fool-um,” as the kangaroos could easily get under +this high fence, which was supposed to have been +put up to keep them from trespassing!</p> + +<p>It must have been towards the end of 1889 that +men began to hope the statement of an eminent +geologist, made years before, was going to prove +true, and that “the root of the great gold-bearing +tree would be found in Western Australia.” Reports +of gold, more or less wild, came in from distant +quarters, and although it was most desirable to +help and encourage explorers, there was great danger +of anything like a “rush” towards those arid and +waterless districts from which the best and most +reliable news came.</p> + +<p>One of the many “gold” stories which reached +us just then amused me much at the time, though +doubtless it has settled into being regarded as a +very old joke by now. Still it is none the less +true.</p> + +<p>A man came in to a very outlying and distant +station with a small nugget, which he said he had +picked up, thinking it was a stone, to throw at a +crow, and finding it unusually heavy, examined it, +and lo! it was pure gold. Naturally there was +great excitement at this news, and the official in +charge of the district rushed to the telegraph office +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span>and wired to the head of his department, some +five hundred miles away in Perth: “Man here +picked up stone to throw at crow.” He thought +this would tell the whole story, but apparently it +did not, for the answer returned was: “And what +became of the crow?”</p> + +<p>Diggers used to go up the coast, as far as they +could, in the small mail steamers, and then strike +across the desert, often on foot, pushing their tools +and food before them in a wheelbarrow. Naturally, +they could neither travel far nor fast in this fashion, +and there was always the water difficulty to be dealt +with. Still a man will do and bear a great deal +when golden nuggets dangle before his eyes, and +some sturdy bushmen actually did manage to reach +the outskirts of the great gold region. The worst +of it was that under these circumstances no one +could remain long, even if he struck gold; for there +was no food to be had except what they took with +them. As is generally the case in everything, one +did not hear much of the failures; but every now +and then a lucky man with a few ounces of gold in +his possession found his way back to Perth. Nearly +all who returned brought fragments of quartz to +be assayed, and every day the hope grew which +has since been so abundantly justified.</p> + +<p>It happened now and then that a little party of +diggers who had been helped to make a start would +ask to see me before they set out, not wanting anything +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span>except to say good-bye, and to receive my +good wishes for their success. Poor fellows! I +often asked about them, but could seldom trace +their career after a short while. Once I received, +months after one of those farewell visits, a little +packet of tiny gold nuggets, about an ounce in all, +wrapped in very dirty newspaper, with a few words +to say they were the first my poor friends had +found. I could not even make out how the package +had reached me, and although I tried to get a letter +of thanks returned to the sender, I very much doubt +if he ever received it.</p> + +<p>However, one day a message came out to me +from the Governor’s office to say H. E. had been +hearing a very interesting story, and would I like +to hear it too? Nothing would please me better, +and in a few minutes the teller of the story was +standing in my morning room, with a large and +heavy lump, looking like a dirty stone, held out +for my inspection. I wish I could give the whole +story in his own simple and picturesque words, but +alas! I cannot remember them all accurately. Too +many waves and storms of sorrow have gone over +my head since those bright and happy days, and +time and tears have dimmed many details. However, +I distinctly remember having been much struck +by the grave simplicity of my visitor’s manner, and +I also noticed that, although it was one of our +scorching summer days, with a hot wind blowing, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>he was arrayed in a brand-new suit of thick cloth, +which he could well have worn at the North Pole! +He seemed quite awed by his good fortune, and +continually said how undeserved it was. But I +suppose this must have been his modesty, for he +certainly appeared to have gone through his fair +share of hardships. He had been one of what the +diggers called “the barrow men,” and had held on +almost too long after his scanty supplies had run +short.</p> + +<p>The little party to which he belonged had been +singularly unfortunate; for, although they found +here and there a promise of gold, nothing payable +had been struck. At last the end came. This man +had reached the very last of his resources without +finding a speck of gold, and although men in such +extremity are always kind and helpful to each +other, he could not expect any one to share such +fast dwindling stores with him. There was nothing +for it, therefore, but to turn back on the morrow, +whilst a mouthful of food was still left, and to retrace +his steps, as best he might, to the nearest +port. He dwelt, with a good deal of rough pathos, +on the despair of that last day’s fruitless work +which left him too weak and exhausted to carry +his heavy tools back to the spot they called “camp.” +So he just flung them down, and as he said +“staggered” over the two or three miles of scrub-covered +desert, guided by the smoke of the camp-fire. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span>Next morning early, after a great deal of +sleep and very little food, he braced himself up to +go back and fetch his tools, though he carefully +explained that he would not have taken the trouble +to do this if he had not felt that his pick and barrow +were about his only possessions, and might fetch +the price of a meal or two when it came to the last.</p> + +<p>I have often wondered since if the impression of +the Divine mercy and goodness, which was so +strong in that man’s mind just then, has ever worn +off. He dwelt with self-accusing horror on how he +had railed at his luck, at Fate, at everything, +as he stumbled back that hot morning over his +tracks of the day before. The way seemed twice +as long, for, as he said, “his heart was too heavy +to carry.” At last he saw his barrow and pick +standing up on the flat plain a little way off, and +was wearily dragging on towards them, when he +caught his toe against a stone deeply imbedded in +the sand, and fell down. His voice sank to a sort +of awestruck whisper, as if he were almost at Confession, +as he said, “Well, ma’am, if you’d believe +me, I cursed awful, I felt as if it was too hard +altogether to bear. To think that I should go and +nearly break my toe against the only stone in the +district, and with all those miles to travel back. +So I lay there like Job’s friend and cursed God +and wanted to die. After a bit I felt like a passionate +child who kicks and breaks the thing which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span>has hurt him, and I had to beat that stone before +I could be at all quiet. But it was too firm in +the sand for my hands to get it up, so in my rage +I set off quite briskly for the pick to break up that +stone, if it took all my strength. It was pretty +deep-set in the ground, I assure you, ma’am; but +at last I got it up, and here it is—solid gold and +nearly as big as a baby’s head. Now, ma’am, +I ask you, did I deserve this?”</p> + +<p>He almost banged the rather dirty-looking lump +down on the table before me as he spoke, and it +certainly was a wonderful sight, and a still more +wonderful weight. He told me he had searched +about the neighbourhood of that nugget all day, +but there was not the faintest trace of any more +gold. So, as he had no time to lose on account of +the shortness of the food and water-supply, he +just started back to the coast, which he reached +quite safely, and came straight down to Perth in +the first steamer. The principal bank had advanced +him £800 on his nugget, but it would +probably prove to be worth twice as much. I +asked him what he was going to do, and was rather +sorry to hear that he intended to go back to England +at once, and set up a shop or a farm—I forget +which—among his own people. Of course, it was +not for me to dissuade him, but I felt it was a +pity to lose such a good sort of man out of the +colony, for he was not spending his money in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span>champagne and card-playing, as all the very few +successful gold-finders did in those first early days. +I believe the purchase of that one suit of winter +clothing in which to come and see the Governor had +been his only extravagance.</p> + +<p>That was the delightful part of those patriarchal +times—only fifteen or twenty years ago, remember—that +all the joys and sorrows used to find their +way to Government House. I always tried to divide +the work, telling our dear colonial friends that +when they were prosperous and happy they were +the Governor’s business, but when they were sick +or sorrowful or in trouble they belonged to my +department; and thus we both found plenty to do, +and were able to get very much inside, as it were, +the lives of those among whom our lot was cast +for more than seven busy, happy years.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IX"><abbr title="9">IX</abbr><br> + +<small>WESTERN AUSTRALIA—<i>Continued</i></small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>There had never been a bushranger in Western +Australia before Bill (I forget his “outside” name) +appeared on the scene, and I don’t suppose there +will ever be another. If any one may be said to +have drifted—indeed, almost to have been forced—by +circumstances into a path of crime and peril, +it was this same unlucky Bill. Until his troubles +came he was always regarded as rather a fine +specimen of a colonial youth. Tall, strong, and +good-looking, apt at all manly sports and exercises, +he was adored by the extremely respectable family +to which he belonged, and who brought him up +as well as they could. For Master Bill must always +have been a difficult youth to manage, and from +his tenderest years had invariably been a law unto +himself.</p> + +<p>At school he had formed a strong friendship +with another lad of his own age, who was exactly +opposite to him in character, tastes, and pursuits, +but nevertheless they were inseparable “mates,” +and all Bill’s people hoped that the influence of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>this very quiet, sedate youth would in time tame +Bill’s wild and lawless nature. As the boys grew +into their teens it became a question of choosing +a career, and the quiet boy always said he wanted +to get into the police. That was his great ambition, +and a more promising recruit could not be desired. +It came out afterwards that when the lads discussed +this subject the embryo policeman often observed: +“If you don’t look out, Bill, and alter your ways, +I’ll be always having to arrest you.” Bill laughed +this suggestion to scorn, not that he had any intention +of amending his ways, but he could not +believe that any one who knew his great physical +strength and utter recklessness would dare to lay +a hand on him. The ways he was advised to amend +consisted chiefly in worrying the neighbours, with +whom he lived in constant feud and Border warfare. +No old lady’s cat within a radius of five +miles was safe from him, and he chased the goats +and harried the poultry, and generally made himself +a first-class nuisance all round.</p> + +<p>The strange thing was that, in spite of this strong +instinct of tormenting, Bill was universally acknowledged +to be a splendid “bushman”—that is, one +familiar with all the signs and common objects of +the forests. He would have made an ideal explorer, +and could have lived in the Bush in plenty and +comfort under conditions in which any one else +would have starved or died of thirst. It seemed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>odd to find in the same youth this passionate love +of Nature and familiarity with her every wild bird +or beast, and a certain amount of cruelty and +callousness.</p> + +<p>Time passed on, and one of the boys at least got +his heart’s desire and was enrolled in the very fine +police force of Freemantle. Bill could not be induced +to settle to any profession, though his knowledge +of bush-craft and his superb powers of +endurance would have insured him plenty of well-paid +employment as an explorer or pioneer in the +unknown parts which were just beginning to be +opened up in our day, for the first faint whispers +of the magic word “gold” were being brought to +the ears of the Government.</p> + +<p>Just about this time one of the neighbours imported +a special breed of fowls, which Bill forthwith +proceeded to torment in his leisure moments. The +owner of the unhappy poultry bore Bill’s worrying +with patience and good nature for some little time, +but at last assured him that he would take out a +summons against him if he persisted in harrying +his sitting hens. Bill’s answer to this was buying +a revolver and announcing that he would certainly +shoot any one who attempted to arrest him. Of +course, no one believed this threat, and in due time +the summons was taken out, and the task of making +the arrest devolved upon his friend and school-mate, +who warned him privately that he would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span>certainly do his duty and that he need not hope +to escape. Bill fled a few miles off and kept out of +the way for a little while. No one wanted to be +hard on the youth for the sake of his very respectable +family, and a good deal of sympathy was +expressed for them; also, every one hoped and believed +that this little fracas would sober Master Bill +down, and that he might yet become a valuable +member of the community.</p> + +<p>However, one Sunday evening, just at dusk, Bill +was hanging about the poultry yard with evil intent, +when he suddenly perceived his friend in +uniform and on duty the other side of a low hedge. +The owner of the fowls had asked for a constable +to watch his place, and, as ill luck would have it, +Bill’s friend was sent. The two boys looked at each +other for a moment across the hedge, and then the +policeman said:—</p> + +<p>“Now, Bill, you had better come along quietly +with me; there’s a warrant out against you, and +I’ve got to take you to the police station.”</p> + +<p>“If you come one step nearer, I’ll shoot you +dead,” answered Bill.</p> + +<p>“That’s all nonsense, you know,” the poor young +constable replied, and began pushing the hedge +aside to get through it. Bill drew his revolver and +shot the friend and playmate of his whole life dead +on the spot. He then rushed back to his own place, +and, hastily collecting some food and cartridges, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span>was off and away into the heart of the nearest +“bush” or forest, the fringe of which almost +touched even the principal towns in those days.</p> + +<p>It is hardly possible to imagine the state of excitement +into which this crime threw the primitive +little community. Murders were comparatively rare, +and I was told that they were almost always committed +by old “lags,” men who had begun as convicts +perhaps thirty-five or forty years before, and +had generally only been let out a short time before +on a ticket-of-leave. But this catastrophe was +quite a fresh departure, and called forth almost as +much sympathy for the relatives of the wretched +Bill as for those of his victim. The native trackers +set to work at once and picked up Bill’s trail without +any difficulty, but the thing was to catch him. +No Will-o’-the-wisp could have been more elusive, +and he led the best trackers and the most wary +constables a regular dance over hills and valleys, +through dense bush and scrub-covered sand, day +after day. News would come of the police being +hot on his tracks thirty miles off, and that same +night a store in Freemantle would be broken into, +and two or three of its best guns, with suitable +cartridges, would be missing. As time went on the +various larders in Perth were visited in the same +unexpected manner, and emptied of their contents. +Bill never took anything except ammunition, food, +and tobacco, but whenever the police came up with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>his camping-ground—often to find the fire still +smouldering—they always found several newspapers +of the latest dates giving particulars of where he +was supposed to be.</p> + +<p>In the course of the many weeks—nine I think—that +this chase went on, the police often got near +enough to be shot at. One poor constable was +badly wounded in the throat, so that he could never +speak above a whisper again, and another was shot +dead. But Bill was never to be seen. Sometimes +they came on his “billy” or pannikin of tea, standing +by the fire, and another time he must just have +flung away his pipe lest its smell should betray him. +One is lost in amazement at his powers of endurance, +for he could have had no actual sleep all that +weary while. The general plan of campaign was +to keep him always moving, so as to tire him out. +What strength must he have possessed to do without +sleep all that time, and to cover such fabulous distances +day after day. The police themselves, or +rather their horses, and even the trackers, got quite +knocked up, in spite of a regularly organised system +of relief; so what must it have been for the hunted +boy, who could never have had any rest at all?</p> + +<p>It was the year of the first Jubilee, and numerous +loyal festivities were taking place during all the +time of Bill’s chase. Of course, June is the Antipodean +midwinter, and cold and wet had to be +reckoned with, as well as very bad going for both +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span>horse and man, and great fatigue for the pursuers. +Bill apparently thought the Jubilee ought in some +way to do him good, and he used to stick notices +up on trees with his terms fully set forth. One +proposition was that he should be let off entirely +because of the Jubilee. Another notice stated +that he would give himself up to <em>me</em>, if he was +guaranteed a free pardon. The grim silence with +which all these tempting offers were received must +have exasperated the young ruffian, for after a +time these bulletins breathed nothing but melodramatic +threats of vengeance, especially against +the Governor, and he began to attempt to carry +them out in many ways.</p> + +<p>But the wickedest idea to my mind was the +plan he evidently formed of wrecking the special +trains which were to convey almost all the +Perth people down to Freemantle, some thirteen +miles away, in the middle of the Jubilee week. +The citizens of the Port were determined to show +themselves every bit as loyal and exultant as +we were in Perth, and had bidden the Governor +and the officials, as well as the rest of the little +society, to a fine ball at their grand new Town +Hall. The railway authorities and the police +were quite alive to the risks we should all run; +every precaution was taken, and especially not a +whisper was allowed to creep out as to Mr. Bill’s +murderous intentions. A pilot engine went first +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span>the night of the ball, and the best native trackers +were “laid on” the line. Next morning’s daylight +showed how much all this vigilance and care +had been needed, for in numerous places Bill’s +footsteps could be tracked down to the rails, and +large branches of trees, rocks, and other handy +impediments lay within a foot of the line, and he +must have been hunted off when quite close many +times during that cold wet night. I believe I was +the only woman in the long special train who knew +of Mr. Bill’s intentions, and I confess I found it +somewhat difficult to conceal a tendency to preoccupation +and to start at slight sounds. However, +it would have quite spoiled the Freemantle +ball if the least breath of the risk to the guests +from Perth had got abroad, so all the men bore +themselves as Englishmen do—quietly and serenely—and +I had to hide my nervousness for very +shame’s sake. Especially when we were coming +back, quite late, and I saw how tired and sleepy +every one was, the thought would cross my mind +of wonder if the poor watchers on the outside +were as tired as we were, and so, perhaps, not +quite so much on the alert. My private fears +proved groundless, happily, but I can never forget +the relief of finding myself (and my far dearer self) +safe in our beautiful home again that night. I +had felt so wretched at the ball when I looked at +my numerous pet girl friends dancing blithely away, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span>and thought of the dangers which might easily +beset their homeward road.</p> + +<p>By this time every one, especially those whose +larders had been raided, took the keenest interest +in Master Bill’s capture, and the local papers were +full of his hairbreadth escapes. I remember a +paragraph which interested me very much stated +that once, when, “from information received,” +the police had drawn quite a <i lang="fr">cordon</i> round his lair +and were creeping stealthily towards it, a bird +suddenly uttered a piercing shrill note; and one +of the trackers, learned in bush-lore, remarked +that their chance of catching him then was gone, +for that bird would have warned him, as it never +uttered its cry except when it saw a stranger +suddenly. I may mention here that I never rested +until I heard that bird’s note myself, and I spent +the next summer in organising bush picnics, and +then wandering away as far as I dared in order to +alarm the bird by a sudden appearance. At last +one day, when I had very nearly succeeded in +losing myself in the bush, a sudden shrill note +terrified me out of my life. If the bird was +frightened so was I, for it was a most piercing cry.</p> + +<p>At last the end came; at earliest dawn one +morning Bill, resting on a log in the bush without +even a fire to betray him, opened his eyes to the +sound of a command to “put up his hands,” and +saw half-a-dozen carbines levelled straight at him +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span>a few yards off. He showed fight to the last, and +managed before holding up his hands to fire a shot +at the approaching constables, wounding one of +them in the leg. The men rushed in, however, +and he was soon overcome and handcuffed and +brought into Perth. But the most curious part +of the story lies in the universal sympathy and, +indeed, admiration immediately shown by the +whole of our very peaceable and orderly little +community for this youth. Of course, the officials +did not share this strange sentimentality, for they +regarded Master Bill and his exploits from a very +different point of view, and I used really to feel +quite angry, especially with my female friends, +who often asked me if I was not “very sorry” for +the culprit? My sympathies, I confessed, were +more with the families of his victims, especially +the poor policeman with his mangled throat, whom +I had often seen in my weekly visits to the hospital. +When I expressed surprise at the interest all the +girls in the place took in the young ruffian, the +answer always was: “Oh, but he is so brave.” +It appeared to me the bravery lay with his +captors!</p> + +<p>He was duly tried, but the jury did not convict +him of premeditated murder, and in face of the +verdict he could only be sentenced to imprisonment +for some years. Master Bill’s captivity did not +last very long on that occasion, for he watched his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>opportunity, sprang upon the warder one day +knocking him senseless, scrambled over the wall +of the exercise ground, near which chanced to be +a pile of stones for breaking, and so got away. Then +the pendulum of Public Opinion—that strange and +unreliable factor in human affairs—swung to the +other side, and a violent outcry arose, and Bill’s +immediate death was the least of its demands. +He was caught without much difficulty that time, +however, and it was curious to find no one taking +the least interest in his second trial, which resulted +in a lengthy and rigorous imprisonment. Poor +wretch! I believe even I ended by being “sorry” +for him and his wasted life, with all its splendid +possibilities.</p> + +<p>Another tragedy was enacted in the North-west +not long after Bill’s adventures had ended; and +yet, terrible as this incident was, one could hardly +help an ill-regulated smile.</p> + +<p>I wonder how many people realise that Western +Australia holds a million square miles within its +borders. True, most of it is, as Anthony Trollope +said, only fit to run through an hour-glass, being +of the sandiest sort of sand. But then, again, all +that that sand requires to make it “blossom like +a rose” is water. Given an abundant supply of +water, and all those miles of desert will grow anything. +You have only got to see the sand-plains +as they are called, <em>before</em> the winter rains and <em>after</em> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>them. These sand-plains are just a sort of tongue +or strip of the great Sahara in the middle of the +Island Continent which runs down—some seventy +miles wide—towards the sea-shore three or four +hundred miles to the north-west of Perth.</p> + +<p>The rumours of gold which had begun to fill the +air during our day, necessitated first, telegraph +stations, and then the establishment of outlying +posts of civilisation; the nucleus of what are +already turned or turning into flourishing towns. +I have always declared that when there were three +white men in any of these distant spots, the first +thing they started was a race-meeting, with a +Governor’s Cup or Purse (value about £5), and +then next would come a Rifle Association, with a +Literary Institute to follow, to all of which H.E. +would be invited to subscribe. However, the outlying +settlement I speak of had not attained to +these luxuries, for it consisted of only one white +man. He combined the offices of Warden and +Magistrate and Doctor, and several other duties +as well; but he must have led a truly Robinson +Crusoe sort of life, poor man. I should mention +that these settlements had always to be close to +the sea-shore in order to keep in touch, by means +of the little coasting steamers, with a base of supply. +This gentleman—for he was a man of unblemished +character as well as of education and refinement—had +not a creature to speak to beyond a few half-tamed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span>natives, except when the steamer touched—once +a month, I believe—at his little port. He was +a splendid shot and a keen sportsman, but there was +not much scope for his “gunning” talents, and seagull +shooting formed one of his few amusements.</p> + +<p>One fine evening he was lazily floating in a light +canoe about the bay, with a native to paddle, +whilst he looked out for a difficult shot, when the +man suddenly pointed to an object on a rock some +fifty yards from the shore which he announced +was a “big-fellow” gull. It did look rather large +for a gull, but the sportsman thought it might be +some other sort of strange sea-bird, and, after carefully +adjusting the sight of the rifle and taking +most accurate aim, he fired. To his horror the +crouching object gave a sort of upward leap and +then fell flat. Poor Mr. —— seized the oar and +paddled with all speed to the spot, to find a white +man lying dead with his bullet through his heart.</p> + +<p>One can hardly realise the dismay of the involuntary +murderer, for anything so unexpected as +the presence of any human being in that lonely +spot with darkness coming on, and a difficult +path, from rock to rock, to be retraced to the +shore, cannot be imagined. There was nothing +for it but to take the body into the boat and return +home. The most careful inquiries carried on for +months failed to elicit the slightest information +as to that lonely victim’s identity. He had not a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span>mark of any sort on his clothing, nor a scrap of +paper about him, which could throw the least +light on his name or history. No one knew that +another white man was in the district at all. If +he had dropped from the sky on to that rock he +could not have been more untraceable. It was +all tragic enough, but what made me smile in the +midst of my horror at the details of the story—of +which I first saw the outline in a local newspaper—was +to hear that Mr. —— had sat as +coroner on the body, also fulfilled the duties of +the jury, then became police magistrate, and +finally brought himself down to Perth as the author +of the “misadventure.” Of course, there was no +question of a trial, for it was the purest and most +unlucky accident, regretted by Mr. —— more than +by any one else. No advertisements or amount +of publicity given to the story ever threw the least +light on the poor man’s name or antecedents. Of +course, here and there letters came from individuals +who thought they saw their way to <i lang="fr">exploiter</i> the +Government and extract some sort of money +compensation for the death of their hastily adopted +relative, but as their story invariably broke down +at the very outset—in which case they generally +lowered their demands by next post from £1000 +to 10s.—no ray of light was ever thrown on the +mystery of how that white man came to be sitting +quietly on those rocks at sunset that evening.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span></p> +<p>I fear these two stories have been rather of +what an Irish servant of mine once called “a +blood-curling” nature, so I must end with a +less tragic note.</p> + +<p>During one of the many war scares in which we +have indulged any time these twenty years, a +couple of her Majesty’s gunboats were watching the +Australian coast, or rather watching any suspicious +craft in those waters. As is often the case along +that coast, they had met with dreadful weather, +and had been buffeted about and their progress +greatly delayed, so by the date the harbour I speak +of was reached ample time had elapsed for war +to be declared, and it had seemed imminent enough +a week before, when the ships had left their last +port of call. Now this great bay held a sort of inner +harbour which would have been very convenient +to an enemy for coaling, and where in fact large +stores of coal were kept on board hulks. So it +was quite on the cards that if war had broken out +during those few blank days, the enemy might have +made a pounce for the coal, more especially as in +those days the harbour was absolutely undefended. +Now, I am told, it bristles with big guns!</p> + +<p>It was late of a full-moon night when these +vessels crept quietly into the outer harbour. All +looked peaceful enough, and the lamp in the +lighthouse shone out as usual. It did not take +long to decide that a small armed party had better +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span>pay a surprise visit to that lighthouse and learn +what had taken place during the last week or so +in its neighbourhood. The young officer who told +me the story described most amusingly the precautions +taken to avoid any noise, and to surround +the lighthouse whilst he and some others went in +to see what was to be found inside. Only one +solitary man met them, however, who stood up +and saluted stolidly, but offered no shadow of resistance, +and all seemed <i lang="fr">en règle</i>. The next thing, +naturally, was to question this lighthouse-keeper, +but to every demand he only shook his head. The +stock of foreign languages which had accompanied +that expedition was but small, however, and a +shake of the head was the only answer to the same +questions repeated in French and German. It was +therefore decided to take the silent man back to +the gunboat (leaving a couple of men in charge of +the light), and see whether, as my informant said, +they could “raise any other lingo” on board. +But by the time the ship was reached the doctor +and not the schoolmaster was required, for the +poor man was found to be in an epileptic fit. Daylight +brought a little shore-boat alongside with his +wife in it, who gave them all a very disagreeable +quarter of an hour, for the lighthouse-keeper was +deaf and dumb, and could not imagine what crime +he had committed to be taken prisoner in that +summary fashion. He knew nothing of wars or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>rumours of wars, but tended his lamps carefully, +and his wife had been allowed, under the circumstances, +to share his solitude. She had only left +him for a few hours, and when she returned at +earliest dawn, and found her husband gone and a +couple of sailors in charge of the lighthouse, it did +not take her long to rush down the hill, get into +her boat, and so on board H.M.S. ——. I believe +she expected to find her spouse loaded with irons, +and on the eve of execution, instead of being comfortably +asleep in a bunk, with a good breakfast +awaiting him.</p> + +<p>When the story was finished I remarked to the +teller: “Quite an illustration of Talleyrand’s ‘<span lang="fr">Surtout, +point de zèle</span>,’ isn’t it?” And the young +officer shook his head sadly, as much as to say that +it was indeed a wicked world. I fancy that +“wiggings” had followed.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="X"><abbr title="10">X</abbr><br> + +<small>THE ENROLLED GUARD</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>The wheel of Time brought round many changes +during our eight years stay in Western Australia, +all making for progress and improvement. Under +the latter head the disbandment of the old Enrolled +Guard must be classed; but it was really a sad day +for the poor old veterans, and the Governor determined +to try and make the parting as little painful +as possible. So, on the thirty-first anniversary of the +battle of Alma, he invited all the non-commissioned +officers and men to a mid-day dinner at Government +House in Perth. Our best efforts could only collect +fifty-three, and many of these were very decrepit, +poor old dears. They were nearly all that were +left of the soldiers who had been brought out to +guard the convicts fifty years before, and who, +when convicts were no longer sent out to Western +Australia, were induced to remain, in what was then +a very distant and unknown colony, by gifts of land +and a small pension. Some were enrolled as a Guard +for Government House and other public buildings, +and it was the remains of this little force, gradually +grown too infirm and decrepit for even their light +duties, who had, on that bright spring morning, to +give way to the smart up-to-date young policemen.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span></p> +<p>The step had been contemplated for some little +time, and we had just returned in 1885 from a short +visit to England, during which there had been an +opportunity for my husband to mention the subject +to his Royal Highness the late Duke of Cambridge, +then Commander-in-Chief. It will not surprise +those who remember the deep interest in the British +soldier always shown by H.R.H. to hear that the +Duke listened with great attention to all that was +told him, asked many questions, and ended by +saying, “Well, give them all my best wishes, and +tell them how glad I was to hear about them.” It +is needless to say that these kind and gracious +words formed the text as it were of the little parting +address made by the Governor after the parade +which preceded the dinner, and it was touching +to see how gratified the veterans were. In spite of +the old habits of discipline which they were all +doing their very best to remember and act upon, +there was a movement and a murmur all down +the ranks, and I strongly suspect there was something +very like a tear.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a pathetic sight, as all <em>last</em> things +must always be, to see these old men in their quaint, +antiquated uniforms, shouldering their obsolete +rifles, and to realise this was the very last time they +would ever stand in rank as soldiers. On every +breast gleamed medals, and there were two Victoria +Crosses. Men stood there who had fought both +in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny, as well as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span>in China, Burmah and New Zealand, and now it +was all over and done with, and they would never +step out to the dear old familiar tunes any more.</p> + +<p>Still we did our best to keep up their spirits, +and not to allow the occasion to become at all a +mournful one. Both the Governor and their own +Commandant said kind and cheering words to +them, and they were soon marching off to the big +ball-room which had been given as military a character +as possible.</p> + +<p>If I had at all realised what the united ages of +my guests would have amounted to, I think I +should have had all the roast beef and turkey +passed through a mincing-machine, for I soon +foresaw difficulties in that way. We, <i>i.e.</i> my large +band of girl-friends and I, waited on them, and the +gentlemen carved. It was difficult to get the men +to choose what they wanted to eat, for the general +answer to their young waitresses was, “Bless your +pretty heart, I’ll have just whatever you likes, and +thinks I can bite!”</p> + +<p>Of course, the repast ended with the one toast +of the “Health of her Majesty the Queen,” with +musical honours and equally, of course, it was cheered +and shouted at to the echo, and one felt it was by +no means a perfunctory and empty ceremony, for +every man there had fought and bled for her. +Then we gave them each a pipe (they called it +either a “straw” or a “dhudeen” according to +their nationality) and a stick of tobacco, and left +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span>them in charge of our house steward, who gave a +most amusing account afterwards of how they had +at once begun to fight their battles over again, for +many of them had been brought from other parts +of the Colony for this occasion and had not met +for a long time. Their reminiscences were somewhat +grisly it seems, for Pat would relate how he +had “bayoneted a nagar” in Africa or New Zealand, +capped by Mike’s announcement that he “took +the shilling fifty years ago, served in six general +engagements, was twice wounded, and three times +nearly kilt.” Whereas Dick would only regret +that he had served twenty years, eleven months +and thirty days, and claimed sympathy on the +ground that if he had served “tin days more, bad +luck to me if I wouldn’t have had another pinny +a day on me pintion.” But why he did not put in +that ten days extra service never seems to have +come into the story.</p> + +<p>I do not know whether, unlike his comrades, +Mickey’s teeth were still serviceable, but he boasted +that, although he was sixty-six years old, he “hadn’t +a grey hair in me head, and I can run, jump or +leap with ’ere a man in barracks! There boys, +hurroo!” Paddy was only a soldier for two +years, but he had been badly wounded at Sebastopol +and spent a long time in hospital; an experience +which he would not have missed for the world +however, for the Queen visited him there and gave +him a silk handkerchief hemmed by herself. “D’ye +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span>hear what I say, boys? The Queen hemmed it +with her own fingers and I’ve got it still, and it’s +to be buried with me, so it is.”</p> + +<p>Then there were reminiscences of the dinner on +the Alma day. “We had raw pork served out +with biscuit, and divil a stick of wood to cook the +meat with.” The V.C. man who had ridden in +the Charge of the Light Brigade could only remember +a raw onion as having formed his rations +on that day, but he spoke fondly of it.</p> + +<p>If I had felt any doubts as to whether the entertainment +had been a success they would have been +dissipated by the question put to me whenever +I came across an old Enrolled Guardsman afterwards. +No matter what I spoke of he invariably +brought the subject round to that dinner and +ended it with, “I suppose you’d hardly be thinking +of giving us another party like that, would you +now, mum?” It rather went to my heart to say +I was afraid not, but I really believe it was the +meeting each other and talking over old times +which they had so enjoyed. That is all nearly +twenty years ago, and I sadly fear there are but +few of our guests of that day still alive, and when +I think of how many dear ones who stood by my +side that day, not old and decrepit like the soldiers, +but in the full flush of youth and health and +strength, have, like them, gone into the Silent Land, +I wonder at my own courage in writing at all of +those happy days.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XI"><abbr title="11">XI</abbr><br> + +<small>TRINIDAD</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>Trinidad had nearly completed its first century of +British rule when we went there in 1891, for it was +in February 1797 that the British Fleet, eighteen +vessels in all, under Admiral Harvey came through +the Bocas, carrying a land force of nearly 8000 +men under General Sir Ralph Abercromby. The +Spanish Governor, Chacon, felt that no defence +was possible, for he only had at his command a +small, passing squadron of five ships and about +700 soldiers. So, with an amount of practical +common-sense and humanity which might be +borne in mind with advantage at the Hague Conference, +he surrendered to the tremendous odds +brought against him. Not a single life was lost in +this change of flags; but the Spanish Admiral, +Apodoca, burned his ships sooner than give them +up. Chacon seems to have been an excellent +Governor, and to have done much for his colony +before he had to yield to <i lang="fr">force majeure</i>. Indeed, +it always struck me in looking over the history of +Trinidad that it had been exceptionally fortunate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span>in its Governors. Colonel Thomas Picton was +its first English proconsul, and though, as might +be expected, somewhat high-handed and hasty in +his dealings, especially with the natives, the colony +made great progress under his rule; but it only +lasted six years, which was considered a short time +to manage the affairs of a colony in those days. +It is a fact, however, that when Sir Thomas Picton +fell at Waterloo, he was practically under trial for +the alleged murder of two slaves in Trinidad. The +case was only standing over for further evidence. +Certainly, things—justice among other things—seem +to have been done in a loose and free-and-easy +way in the early days of the last century!</p> + +<p>The Governor <i lang="fr">par excellence</i> of Trinidad, however, +is, and always will be, Sir Ralph Woodford, +although Lord Harris and Sir Arthur Gordon run +him very close in enduring popularity of the best +sort. But Sir Ralph was truly a born empire-maker. +He was so young, too—only twenty-nine—when +he began (in 1813) his fifteen years of +hard work in a tropical climate. It must have +been extremely difficult to change the whole state +of affairs, even the language—for it was not until +his day that English was used in the Law Courts +and that the minutes of the “Cabildo”—the +precursor of our Legislative Council—were kept +in the new tongue. Poor Sir Ralph died at sea +on his way to England in 1828, and it is sad to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span>think how completely his valuable life seems to +have been thus early sacrificed to the ignorance +of the commonest rules of health. But he would +not leave his work in time, and so died in harness +very shortly after he had been persuaded to leave +his beautiful and beloved colony.</p> + +<p>Lord Harris did not take up the reins of government +until 1846, only eight years after slavery had +been abolished, so he had to deal with as complex +a state of affairs as Picton or Woodford. But he +ruled splendidly and successfully until 1854, and +it was delightful to hear, nearly half a century +afterwards, how well the numerous reforms and +systems he had started still worked.</p> + +<p>All this time the various Governors had dwelt +in many and different Government Houses, all +more or less near the site of the present one. Don +José Maria Chacon, captain in the Spanish Navy, +and his predecessors seem to have lived on the +side of a neighbouring hill, but it is difficult to trace +even the foundations of that house, for when once +“the jungle is let in” it soon covers up and does +away with bricks and mortar. Then came a +strange and ugly little dwelling where the pastures +of the Government farm now spread, and that was +succeeded by a house of sorts (of which I could +find no pictured record) in the Botanical Gardens. +That must have been near where the present beautiful +dwelling stands, for whenever I said what a pity +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span>it was that the stables should be so near the house, +I was always told that they were a survival of a +former Government House in the same spot. But +the jungle also seemed to have been let in on the +minds of my informants, for I never could elicit any +accurate information about that house. Sir Ralph +Woodford lived in a large Government House in +Port of Spain, used as Government Offices and +burned in the late riots, but the really historical +Government House in Trinidad will always be the +Government Cottage about a quarter of a mile +away, still in the Botanical Gardens, where Sir +Arthur Gordon lived and Kingsley wrote his “At +Last.” Nothing now remains of what must have +been a picturesque and romantically pretty little +dwelling but the swimming-bath and an outbuilding +used as a cottage for the house carpenter. But I +often used to go and look up the valley with “At +Last” in my hand, and try to identify the trees +described. The ravine or dell immortalised by +Kingsley has, however, suffered many changes +from the woodman’s axe and forest fires, for the +only tree I could ever recognise is the big Saman +outside the ballroom windows.</p> + +<p><i lang="fr">A propos</i> of the existing building, “I call this a +tropical palace,” was the remark made to me +several times a day by one of our numerous—shall +I say globe-trotting?—guests, who certainly ought +to have been a judge of palaces. And there was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span>some truth in the criticism as applied to the present +Government House at Trinidad. Because the +popular idea of a palace is that it is not a very +comfortable dwelling, and chiefly constructed with +a view to first impressions. This “palace,” however, +is really a beautiful house, and stands in the +large Botanical Gardens of Port of Spain. It has +a charming view over the wide savannah in front, +and is sheltered from the cold north winds by the +low, beautifully wooded hills behind. The natives +say of this same wind, which is so alluringly fresh +and cool, “vent de nord, vent de mort,” and the +chill it brings to the unwary, especially at night, +is doubtless accountable for many of the local colds +and fevers. Nothing can be much more beautiful +than the first effect of the entrance hall to this +Government House, and the long vista through +the large saloon and ballroom beyond ends with a +glimpse of that magnificent Saman tree on whose +wide-spreading branches grows what Kingsley so +aptly calls—speaking of this same tree—“an air-garden.”</p> + +<p>To my mind that tree was quite one of the sights +of those beautiful gardens. Beneath it flourishes +a small grove of nutmeg-trees, and tall, spreading +palms, all of which seem mere shrubs and bushes +compared to its lofty splendour. When it is loaded +with its pink feathery blossoms, it attracts every +bird and insect in the island, but our winter visitors +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span>never really saw that tree in its full beauty, for the +wondrous air-garden growth did not develop until +after the first heavy rains. Then it is indeed +wonderful to see the sudden spikes of brilliant +blossom, the fantastic orchid growth, and the marvellous +wealth of ferns clustering and drooping all +along the massive branches. I endured great +anxiety lest the weight of the wet verdure should +break down these giant limbs, for the wood is +rather soft and unsubstantial. However, no such +calamity has yet occurred.</p> + +<p>But to come back to the tropical palace. It was +certainly an ideal house for entertaining. I always +declared that the balls gave themselves, and there +never was the slightest trouble in arranging any +sort of party in the large rooms, which were always +as cool as possible after sunset. The ballroom was +lofty, open “to all the airts that blow,” and possessed +a perfect floor. Then when you have Kew +Gardens for decorative purposes growing outside +your windows, there is not much difficulty in producing +a pretty effect. Indeed, the entire house was +arranged for coolness, from the great hall which +went up the whole height of the building, to the +wide verandahs which surrounded it on three sides. +But in the bedroom accommodation there is a woeful +falling-off, and I was often at my wits’ end to +know how to house the numerous guests who flock +to these “Summer Isles of Eden” every winter. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span>There is no place in the house for English servants, +and your own and your visitors’ servants can only +be put up in some of the guest-rooms. There is one +magnificent bedroom which is called “the Prince’s +Room,” as H.R.H. the present Prince of Wales +inhabited it during his last visit, in 1891. But it +is a very hot room, and if you are to coax any cool +air into it you must resign yourself to keeping +your doors wide open. The suite of rooms generally +used by the Governor are at the end of another long +corridor, and, though good, comfortable, and certainly +the coolest in the house, are so close to the +stables that one hears the horses stamping and +fidgetting all night, especially when the vampire +bats are tormenting them. The only back staircase +in the house also passes close to these rooms, +so they can hardly be described as quiet or private. +Still, it was a very pretty house, and I took great +pride and delight in hearing it admired.</p> + +<p>It is not until one lives in a place oneself that +one realises in what degree it is accessible. Certainly +I never thought I should welcome many +English friends coming out to Trinidad just for a +little change after influenza! But that constantly +happened, and beautiful yachts often looked in +there for a few days, to say nothing of training +ships of all nationalities. The attraction to them +was the placid nature of the Gulf of Paria, which +made it an ideal playground, or rather schoolroom, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span>for them, and many intricate evolutions on +its smooth surface have I been invited to witness. +There I beheld with interest as well as amusement +the young idea being taught how to shoot +torpedoes as well as to lay or find mines and other +fiendish contrivances.</p> + +<p>It always amused me, especially with the foreign +vessels, to watch the degree of ardour with which +the naval cadets pursued their deep-sea studies. +But the most ardent and promising pupil who ever +visited our shores was a young Japanese prince, +who, if his proficiency of those ten-year-old days is +any guide, ought certainly to have played a very +distinguished part in the present struggle with +Russia. Anything like that boy’s thirst for knowledge +and anxiety to do every other cadet’s work +I never beheld. He was studying at that time on +board a German training ship, but he told me he +hoped to go for a second course of instruction to +an English one. His captain said he had never +seen any cadet work so hard or so conscientiously, +and his one waking thought was to make himself +acquainted with every detail of his profession.</p> + +<p>The naval cadets of every nation were always +free to spend their shore leave at Government +House, and play tennis or amuse themselves in +the beautiful gardens in any way they liked, for +the thought of my own boys made me anxious to +provide a safe and pleasant play-place for them, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span>and it delighted me to see how much they liked +coming up to us. The huge fresh-water swimming-bath +in the grounds counted for a great deal in their +simple amusements, as did the iced “lime-squash” +afterwards. The little prince came but seldom, and +if I asked after him, I was always told, “Oh, he is +doing so and so’s work.”</p> + +<p>One beautiful evening we were going to take tea +on board this same German man-of-war, and I +noticed in the launch which was sent to tow our +own barge a grimy little figure working away at +the miniature stoke-hole. “Who is that?” I +asked. “That? oh, that’s the Prince, of course. +He begged to be allowed to come and stoke for you. +He wanted to learn just how that furnace went.”</p> + +<p>Prince K. did not seem to know how to play +tennis, nor could he dance, and I do not believe +his idea of amusement extended beyond his ship’s +side. At his Captain’s request we gave him a +formal dinner-party, receiving and treating him +just as we would our own royalty. Poor boy, he +went through it all courageously, but it must have +been a terrible infliction, for he could not speak +one word of English, and even his knowledge of +German was scanty. He brought two gentlemen +of his suite with him, and depended on them for +translation. They both spoke French as well as +English tolerably well, but as far as appearance +went the little Prince had decidedly the advantage, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span>and looked very high-bred in his plain and correct +evening dress, but it was the only time I ever saw +him out of uniform. He maintained a true Oriental +gravity all through dinner, and it was quite a +revelation of his real expression of face when the +Governor, after the usual toast of the Queen’s +health, proposed that of the Emperor of Japan, +and one of his gentlemen, whom I had taken the +precaution of putting near him, told him of the +terms of the toast. The lad sprang to his feet at +once, and with really a beaming countenance bowed +low, first to the Governor and then to the rest of +the company. He looked absolutely delighted, and +it did not need his Secretary’s whispered comment +of “His Highness ver much please” to tell me +how gratified he was.</p> + +<p>But after dinner things became terribly dull for +him, poor boy. He did not dance, nor seem to care +about music or anything else which was going on, +so it fell to my share to walk him about the large +<i lang="fr">salon</i>, and show him whatever I thought might +possibly interest him. Of course, his two gentlemen +were in close attendance, or we should indeed +have suffered conversational shipwreck. When I +arrived at an enormous elephant’s foot, I thought +we had now certainly reached a turning-point in +the tide of boredom which had evidently set in +for the poor youth. But in spite of my explanation +of how the big beast had fallen to my eldest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span>son’s rifle and various exciting details of the said +fall, all duly passed on by the other gentlemen, +I could not see the faintest trace of interest or +even of comprehension in that immovable ivory +countenance. At last the Secretary murmured: +“Highness not know elephant ver well.” This +was indeed despairing, but my eye was caught by +a clumsy little ebony model of an elephant, which +I seized as an object-lesson, handing it to the Secretary, +and saying, “Please explain to his Highness +that <em>this</em> is an elephant.” The Prince murmured +some words in reply which were translated to me +as: “Ah, I see! a large sort of pig.”</p> + +<p>After this I felt I must let things take their course, +and I have no doubt the polite adieux which soon +followed were as great a relief to the guest as they +were to me.</p> + +<p>The greatest daytime treat I could ever give +my guests was to send them round the Botanical +Gardens under the escort of the gifted superintendent. +They always returned hot and thirsty, +but with their hands full of treasures. I think a +freshly-gathered nutmeg, with its camellia-green +leaves and its apricot-like fruit, enlaced with the +crimson network we know later as mace, procured +them the greatest joy of all. Then came breathless +accounts of the soap-nut with which they had +washed their hands, of the ink galls with which they +had written their names, of orchids growing beneath +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>long arcades—“Out of doors you know!”—of palms +of every size and sort and description, each more +lovely than its neighbour, of strange <i>lianes</i> which, +dropping down from lofty trees and swinging in +the breeze, are caught and twisted by Nature’s +charming caprice into the most fantastic shapes +imaginable.</p> + +<p>There are many advantages connected with the +Government House standing in these beautiful +gardens, but it cannot be said to conduce to its +privacy. I always pined for “three acres and a +cow” to myself, but I never got it! A tiny iron +fence, six inches from the ground, marked out the +tennis-courts, and certain narrow limits beyond, +which were supposed to be private, and little iron +notice-plates repeated the idea. But if any enterprising +tourist wished to enlarge his sphere of +observation, none of these trifles stood in his or her +way, and I have sometimes been awakened at daylight +by vociferous demands, just outside my bedroom +window, to know “where the electric eel +lived.” Poor thing, it did not live anywhere latterly, +for it had died; but there was no persuading the +energetic visitor, who only had a couple of hours +in which to “do” the Botanical Gardens, that I +had not secreted it in my bathroom.</p> + +<p>I must hasten to add, however, that it was only +the tourist who sometimes harried us, for it seemed +well understood by the people of the island that a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span>certain small space round Government House was +private ground, and we never had the least difficulty +with even the numerous nurses and babies +who flocked, for whatever fresh air was going, to +these charming gardens where the capital police +band plays twice a week. We often strolled about +this public part of the gardens on Sunday afternoons, +when many people were about, and I enjoyed +it thoroughly, until it came to the final “God save +the Queen,” and then I confess I always felt surprised +and indignant to see how few hats were +taken off. Every white man, from the Governor +downwards, stood bare-headed of course, from the +first note to the last, so did the ever-courteous +foreign visitor; but hardly a well-clad, well-fed +young coloured man followed their example. I was +always deeply ashamed at visitors seeing this lack +of loyalty or manners (I don’t know which). I observed +the elder black men nearly always uncovered, +but the dark, gilded youth of Port of Spain certainly +did not.</p> + +<p>One does not realise how close Trinidad is to +Venezuela until one goes there. My very first +drive showed me a fine mountain range blending +beautifully with the fair and extensive landscape.</p> + +<p>“I thought there were no really high mountains +in Trinidad!” I exclaimed in surprise.</p> + +<p>“But those are not in Trinidad,” was the crushing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>answer; “they are on the mainland, which is +only twenty miles off, just there.”</p> + +<p>I little thought, that day, how anxiously I should +watch the political horizon of Venezuela! But as +the supply of beef depended on the numerous revolutions +or threatenings of revolutions, I grew to +take the liveliest interest in those social convulsions, +and I became an ardent advocate of peace +at almost any price—of beef.</p> + +<p>I always longed yet never made time, I am sorry +to say, to go up one of the numerous mouths of the +Orinoco which run into <em>our</em> Gulf, the Gulf of Paria; +many of our guests made the excursion, getting up +as far as Bolivar in one of the comfortable, almost +flat-bottomed river steamers which provide an excellent +service. The accounts brought back were +always so glowing that I longed to go, but home +duties and home ties pinned me firmly down.</p> + +<p>Venezuela seems to be a perfect land of Goshen +compared to even our tropical luxuriance, and the +cocoa-pods, bananas, and plantains brought back +from the mainland were, without the least exaggeration, +quite twice as large as those grown on the +island. “But, then, what would you have?” I +was asked. “Trinidad is only a little bit of South +America which the Orinoco has washed off from the +mainland.” If this be so, then the mighty stream +dropped several of the pieces on the way, for there +are many islets, some five miles or more away from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span>Trinidad, and towards the Bocas or mouths of the +great river. These little islands are a great feature +of Trinidad, and splendid places for change of air +or excursions. They all have houses on them, and +one tiny islet may, I think, claim to be the smallest +spot of earth which holds a dwelling. It is just a +rock, on the top of which is perched a small but +comfortable and compact house. Beyond its outer +wall is, on one side, a minute plateau about ten or +twelve feet in length, and that is all the exercise-ground +on the island. I was assured it was the +favourite honeymoon resort, which certainly seemed +putting the capabilities of companionship of the +newly-married couple to a rather severe test! +Fishing, boating, and bathing are the resources at +the command of the islet visitors, and the air is +wonderfully fresh and cool on these little fragments +of the earth’s surface. Whenever I could make +time it was my great delight to take the Government +launch with tea and a party of young friends +to one of these islets, and it was certainly a delightful +way of spending a hot afternoon.</p> + +<p>Trinidad is a great place for cricket, and boasts +a beautiful ground belonging to a private club. +First-class teams often go out there to play matches, +and I used to see incessant cricket practice going +on on the savannah in front of Government House. +Certainly that savannah is a splendid “lung” +to the low-lying town, and the people of Trinidad +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span>may well be proud of it. On its south-western side +is a small walled enclosure; it is the graveyard of +the original Spanish owners of the soil, and a large +sugar estate once stood where races are run and +cricket played nowadays. The living owners have +all, long ago, disappeared; only the dead remain +in their peaceful little resting-place under the shade +of the spreading trees which grow inside the low +wall.</p> + +<p>To return for a moment to the Botanical Gardens. +Within the limits of the so-called private part is +a small plot of ground planted with vegetables for +the Governor’s use. In my eyes it was chiefly +remarkable for the three large, coarse sort of bean-vines +which grew at its entrance, and which were +further decorated at the top of the stick round +which they clung (in very tipsy fashion) by an +empty bottle and some tufts of shabby feathers. +These aids to horticulture being quite new to me, +I inquired their use, and was assured they constituted +the Obeah police of the garden, and that +so long as those vines grew there, no young lettuce +or tomato or yam would be stolen from that garden; +and certainly theft was never assigned as the reason +for the scanty contents of the gardener’s daily +basket. It was always the time of year or the +weather.</p> + +<p>I used to feel very envious when some of the older +residents would speak of these gardens as having +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span>been the home of the humming-bird. Alas! the +lovely little creatures are seldom to be seen there +now, in spite of the protective legislation of many +years past. But the ruthless tourist will always +buy a humming-bird’s nest, especially with its two +sugar-plum-like eggs in it, so the enterprising black +boy keeps a sharp look-out for these articles of +commerce. Soon after we first went there, I found +a wee nest on a low branch of a tree close to Government +House, with a darling little bird sitting in it. +I peeped cautiously very often during the next few +days, and the young mother grew so accustomed to +my visits that she would let me stand within a +yard of the bough. At last some microscopic fragments +of eggshell appeared on the moss beneath, +and on my next visit, when the little hen was away +getting food, I beheld a thing very like a bee with +a beak. This object seemed to grow amazingly +every few hours, so that in a week it looked quite +like a respectable bird. Imagine my rage and +despair when I found one morning the branch +broken off and the baby bird dead on the ground. +My sweet little nest had been taken for the sake +of the sixpence it would fetch next time a tourist-laden +yacht came in!</p> + +<p>A much happier fate attended a humming-bird +which built its nest in a small palm growing in a +friend’s drawing-room. I paid many visits to that +drawing-room during the bird’s occupancy, and anything +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span>so interesting as its manners and customs +cannot be imagined. Instead of bringing material +from outside for the nest, the tiny builder requisitioned +the floss silk from an embroidered cushion +and the wool from a ball-fringe. The nest, unusually +gay in colour, hung down a couple of inches +from one of the serrated points of the palm leaf; +but when I was first invited to come and look on, +it was not quite completed to the feathered lady’s +satisfaction, for she still darted in and out of the +open windows and about the room.</p> + +<p>The master of the house, at my request, seated +himself in his usual arm-chair and opened his newspaper, +and I made myself as small as I could in +a distant corner. Our patience was soon rewarded, +for there was the little bird balancing itself with +its vibrating wings just above the newspaper. However, +as no building material was forthcoming from +that source, she flashed over to my corner, and, +quicker than the eye could follow, had snatched +a thread of silk from a work-table and was off to +her work again. The little creature got quite tame, +and her confidence was well placed, for nothing +could exceed the charming kindness of her host and +hostess. The eggs were laid and hatched in due +time, and the master of the house told me he used +to get up at the day-dawn and open his drawing-room +window to let the little mother out to get +food for her babies. This necessitated his remaining +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span>the rest of the morning in the drawing-room, as he +said it would not have been safe to have left it. I +naturally thought he feared for the safety of his +wife’s pretty things, but oh, no—what he guarded +was the nest, lest it should meet the fate of mine +and be stolen.</p> + +<p>It was on this occasion I found out what humming-birds +feed on. The popular idea is that they live on +honey, and attempts have often been made to keep +them in captivity on honey, or sugar and water, +with the result that the poor little birds died of +starvation in a day or two. The honey theory has +sprung from seeing the birds darting their long bills +and still longer tongues into the cups of honey-bearing +flowers. What they are getting, however, +is not honey, but the minute insect which is +attracted and caught by the honey.</p> + +<p>I never saw any but the commonest sort of +humming-bird during my stay in Trinidad, and +very few of those, and I was told that even in the +high woods it was rare now to behold them. In +spite of the stringent ordinance against killing +<i>colibris</i>, I fear many skins are taken away every +year by the tourist, especially by the scientific +tourist. Never can I forget my feelings when, on +bidding adieu to a delightful foreign <i lang="fr">savant</i>, he informed +me that he had enjoyed his trips into the +interior of the island immensely, and had collected +many interesting specimens of flora and fauna, including +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span>a <em>hundred humming-bird skins</em>! I nearly +fainted with horror, but my one effort then was to +prevent this dreadful boast reaching the Governor’s +ears, for I felt sure that international complications +of a very grave character would have followed.</p> + +<p>Pages might be written on the scientific value of +the beautiful gardens which surround this tropical +palace, as well as of the opportunity they afford of +studying insect life. At first it is disappointing to +see so few flowers in them, but in the summer the +large trees are covered with blossom, and, in fact, +the flowers may be said to have taken refuge up +the trees from the all-devouring ants. But the +serious business of the gardens is really to make +experiments in the growth and cultivation of the +various economic products of the island—raising +seedling canes, coffee, and cocoa, and determining +which variety would most successfully repay culture. +It is a mistake to regard them only from the ornamental +point of view, though their beauty is very +striking, for they are chiefly valuable for their +practical results.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XII"><abbr title="12">XII</abbr><br> + +<small>TRINIDAD—<i>Continued</i></small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>Besides the humming-birds there were many less +welcome denizens of the Gardens. There were +ants of every species known to even Sir John +Lubbock. Parasol ants, who occasionally took a +fancy to my dinner-table decorations, especially +if the beautiful and brilliant <i>Amherstia</i> were +used. I have often been requested to say what +was to be done with long lines of myriad ants +ascending by one leg of the dinner-table and descending +by another, each carrying a good-sized +bit of scarlet petal tossed airily over his shoulder! +Anything so quaint as these processions of gay +colour marching across the white cloth cannot be +imagined. It was a case of “Tiger in station, +please arrange,” and there was just as little to be +done except to give up the <i>Amherstia</i>. These ants +occasionally took a fancy to the flowers on my +writing-table also, but we never seriously interfered +with each other. I naturally thought that +the ants ate these leaves and petals, but they only +chew them up and spread them out like manure +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span>on the feeding-grounds near the nests. From this +sort of cultivation a minute fungus-like growth +springs, and on <em>that</em> they feed. So destructive are +their operations that a functionary is specially +retained in the Botanical Gardens to follow them +up and discover and destroy the nests, which are +generally at a very great distance from the scene +of their labours, and I often watched with interest +a lantern apparently creeping along the ground of +a dark night.</p> + +<p>What I really wanted to see was a raid of Hunter +ants. I had read a fascinating description in a +book of early days in Trinidad, of a domiciliary +visit paid to the author’s house in the country, +which she and her children had hastily to vacate +at earliest dawn, taking with them their pet birds +and a kitten, which the slave-women, who warned +them to “turn out sharp,” declared would be +devoured if left behind. The Hunter ants spent +the whole of that day inside the house, clearing +it of every lizard, mouse, cockroach, beetle, and +such small deer. The writer describes the ants as +having wings when they first appeared; but when +their day of gorging was over they emerged wingless, +and rested in vast dark masses in her garden. They +had not touched anything except the small reptile +and insect colonies, which, we must remember, +were likely to flourish under the deep thatched +roof of those days, long before galvanised iron +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span>or shingles from America were known. The writer +goes on to say that at dawn next day she heard +strange and weird screams from numerous small +sea-gulls, who, in their turn, were making an excellent +breakfast off the fat Hunter ants. Such +scenes as this are hardly ever to be met with in +these days, for the houses are so different, and +more of the high woods are cleared every year.</p> + +<p>On these hillsides cocoa is grown very successfully +by the small cultivator. I have often, during our +excursions up the lovely lonely valleys within an +easy drive of Port of Spain, watched the process, +which seemed very primitive. The clearing appeared +to entail far the most labour, in spite of as +much burning as was compatible with the lush-green +foliage. Banana-suckers were the first things +planted round the hole which held the young cocoa +plant, to shade it; next came small trees of the +<i lang="fr">madre di cocoa</i>, or <i lang="fr">bois immortel</i>, which are +indispensable to a cocoa plantation. This tree +is at all stages of its growth a very straggling one, +and can give but little shade. I suspect it is chiefly +valuable from its draining properties, for the fact +remains that cocoa steadily declines to flourish anywhere +without its <i lang="fr">madre</i>.</p> + +<p>Anything so beautiful as the hills towards San +Fernando in the very earliest spring when the +dense woods of <i lang="fr">bois immortel</i> are in full blossom +cannot be imagined. At sunset the whole country-side +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span>glows with a radiance which looks like enchantment, +and the green effect of this beautiful tropic +island then merges over those low hills into a vivid +scarlet, melting away into the indigo shadows of +the quick-falling dusk. Cocoa is a most beautiful +crop, for the broad glossy leaves do not at all conceal +the large brilliant pod, which grows in an independent +manner, in twos and threes, right out of +the stem or the thickest branches. At no time of +year are the trees quite bare of pods, which are of +various colours. I have often seen a pale green +pod, a scarlet one, and a rich dark crimson or +brilliant yellow pod growing quite happily side by +side; of course they were all in different stages +of ripeness, but that did not seem to matter at +all, and cocoa-picking appeared always going on.</p> + +<p>Those drives up the valleys were always delightful, +and we found that different patois seemed to be +spoken in places half a mile apart and with only a +low ridge between. Up one valley a sort of spurious +Spanish would be heard, up another Creole French, +whilst a hybrid Hindustani was the language of a +third cleft in the hills. We made great friends, +however, with the different races, and the children +always rushed out to greet us.</p> + +<p>An especial beauty of those valleys were the +fire-flies and what are locally called the fire-beetles—large +hard-backed creatures with eyes like gig +lamps and a third light beneath, which only shows +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span>when they fly. My ardent desire all the time I +was in Trinidad was to get a specimen of a rare +fire-beetle, which is said to have a luminous proboscis. +I did want that beetle dreadfully, and +offered frantic rewards all up the valleys for a +specimen. Needless to say I was regarded more +or less as a lunatic, and the carriage was often +stopped either by children waving an ordinary +beetle snapping violently in its efforts to escape, or +by a grinning policeman who saluted and tendered +me a common fire-beetle tied up in a corner of +his blue pocket-handkerchief. I once tracked with +infinite pains and trouble a specimen to its owner, +but, alas! it was dead and half-eaten by ants.</p> + +<p>By the first week in January the fire-flies disappear, +and are not to be seen again before the +heavy May rains have fallen. Then they come +forth in full beauty, and it certainly is a wonderful +sight as one drives home in the short gloaming, +for every blade of grass holds many tiny sparkles, +winking in and out with a bewildering effect. The +fire-beetles chiefly haunt the lower branches of +the cocoa groves, where they look like small lamps +swinging among the trees. Indeed the magnifying +effect of the damp atmosphere beneath these +bushes is so powerful that I often found it difficult +to believe that some one carrying a lantern was +not stepping down the bank towards us. I once +kept some of these beetles, fed them with sugar-cane, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span>and sprinkled them with water every day; +but they soon lost their brilliancy, and I felt it +so cruel to retain them in a dark prison, that I +emptied them on the <i>Thunbergia</i> outside the +verandah railing. One of my prettiest girl-guests +used often to wear a dagger in her hair made of +these fire-beetles, ingeniously harnessed together with +black thread, and they showed brilliantly amid her +dark braids, even beneath the ballroom chandeliers.</p> + +<p>Nor did any winter visitor ever see the wonderful +mass and succession of flowering trees, for they +do not cover themselves with sheets of brilliant +blossom until after the rainy season begins. I was +disappointed in the actual flowers to be found in +the Gardens. Even the imported ones do not +manage much of a blossom, and bulbs, &c., have +to wage an incessant warfare against the all-devouring +ant. It is for this reason I suspect that the +flowers confine themselves to high trees, where they +are safe from the ants, for they certainly make +but a languid attempt to grow in the ground. In +vain I steeped the seeds of my particular favourites +in a strong solution of quassia. That was all very +well for the actual seed, but the ants only deferred +their meal until my poor little plants were a couple +of inches high.</p> + +<p>I will not dwell here on my private sentiments +regarding the cockroaches, for I feel that I should +pass the grounds of permissible invective if I +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span>attempted to describe my feelings towards the +creatures who devoured or defaced the bindings +of all my favourite books. Nothing daunts them +or keeps them away; they seem to thrive and +fatten on all the destructive powders of which I +used to lay in large stores for their undoing. They +would take the poison and the cover of my book +as well, and ask for more! How can you deal +with creatures who fly in at the window and run, +literally, like “greased lightning”? Their fiendish +cleverness must be seen to be believed; how they +will dart to a knot of exactly their own colour +in the polished wooden floor, and lie still as death +under your eyes!</p> + +<p>Next to the cockroaches might be ranked as +irrepressible torments the mole-crickets, who would +not allow of a lawn anywhere. There were some +beautiful grass tennis courts in these Botanical +Gardens, costing an appalling sum to keep in +tolerable order—thanks to the crickets which +burrow like moles and devour like locusts and +hatch out in myriads. I used often to see a small +army-corps of little black boys on the tennis grounds +headed by tall coolies with watering-pots of strong +soapsuds which they poured on the ground. This +<i lang="fr">douche</i> brought the mole-cricket out of his hall +door in a great hurry, to be snapped up and flung +into a bucket of water by the attendant imp. But +it was very difficult to keep them down, even by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span>these means, and the lawns had to be dug up and +replanted constantly. It is impossible to keep +the rapacious insect-world in order in a climate +which, for certainly half the year, resembles an +orchid-house watered and shut up for the night.</p> + +<p>The Harlequin beetle is, no doubt, quite as +destructive as his less gaudy brethren, but one +forgives him a good deal, partly because of his +brilliant beauty, and partly because his depredations +are carried on chiefly underground. Then +the shady places are always made glorious by +large slow-moving butterflies of gorgeous colouring +and quaint conceit, such as transparent round +windows let in, as it were, amid their brilliant +markings.</p> + +<p>Any one who fears bats should not visit “Iëre, +or the home of the humming-bird” (as the Indians +told Sir Walter Raleigh Trinidad was called), for +all sorts and conditions of bats abound. The +fruit-eating variety is greatly attracted to the +Botanical Gardens by the star-apple trees growing +there. I always feared lest sentence should be +passed against these beautiful trees with their +copper-beech-like foliage, on account of the bats, +who, by the way, don’t seem ever to eat the fruit +where it grows, but always carry it off and devour +it in another tree. The Vampire bat is a great deal +bigger than the ordinary bat, but mosquito netting +is quite sufficient protection in a house, and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span>stables are generally guarded by galvanised wire +netting, and if ordinary care is taken about not +leaving stable-doors open after sundown, the horses +do not suffer; but when did a negro groom ever +think of a detail of that sort?</p> + +<p>It was very amusing to watch the native bees +going back to their hive at dusk. I don’t know +how they had been persuaded to take up their +abode in a box fastened against the wall of the +Superintendent’s office in the Botanical Gardens; +but the colony was in a very flourishing condition +when I was taken to view it at sundown, and it had +evidently established Responsible Government. The +bees themselves were small and shabby, regarded +<em>as</em> bees, and did not trouble to make more honey +than enough for their daily needs; they scouted +the idea of storing it, for there were lots of flowers +all the year round, and no wintry weather to provide +against. Their chief anxiety seemed to be to keep +their hall-door shut, and they were very particular +on that point. When I was watching them, the +great mass of the bees had already gone into the +hive, and only an occasional loiterer was to be seen +creeping in at a very small hole.</p> + +<p>“Now here comes the last bee,” said my companion. +“Look carefully at him.” So I did, +and saw that the little creature was carrying a +pellet of mud nearly as big as himself. It was +too big to go in at the hole, so he had to break bits +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span>off; but he twice picked up some of the fragments +which had fallen down, and stuffed them also into +the hole. Then he went in himself, and the Superintendent +opened a sliding panel commanding a +view of this hall-door, at which three or four bees +were busily working, blocking it up with the mud +pellets.</p> + +<p>“They do that every night,” I was told, “and +open it the first thing in the morning.” I wanted +very much to know what would happen if any +belated bee turned up afterwards, but the story +did not say.</p> + +<p>English bees were introduced into the island +many years ago, but they have lost most of their +thrifty ways, and become demoralised by the +flower wealth all the year round. They also decline +to be confined in hives, which I dare say they find +too hot, and so they build wherever they like. +An enormous colony had settled years and years +before, evidently, under the flooring of one of the +cool north verandahs of Government House. As +long as they went in and out from outside it did +not matter, but latterly they took to pervading +the verandah inside and violently assaulting the +passers-by. This was too much to bear often, so +the house-carpenter and his assistants were set +to work to prise up the boards of the verandah. +They chose a cloudy day when the bees would be +out, taking advantage of the comparative coolness, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>but they soon found that many boards had to +come up, for the comb was thickly formed everywhere. +At last all the verandah floor was up, and +I certainly never saw such a sight. Yards and +yards of comb! Most of it black and useless, +nearly all quite empty of honey (that was for fear +of the ants), and hardly any bee-bread even. When +the men went away to their breakfast the orioles, +who must have been watching the proceedings +with deep interest, came down from the <i>Flamboyant</i> +outside the window, and had a sumptuous breakfast +off the immature bees. There was a terrible +revenge, however, when the bees returned later, +and the workmen had to retreat hastily. I found +upon that occasion that silver quarter-dollars made +the best salve for bee-stings.</p> + +<p>When we first went to Trinidad our evening +drives often led us past fields of sugar-cane, which +seemed even then fast falling out of cultivation, +and long before we left—in 1896—they had been +replaced by plantations of Guinea grass, which +appeared to thrive extremely well, and for which +there was an excellent market in and near Port +of Spain. The land was evidently worn out for +sugar-cane, but answered capitally for this tall grass, +on which all four-footed beasts seem to thrive.</p> + +<p>Much has been written and preached about the +terrible fondness of the West Indian negro for +smart clothes; but if he had not that passion—with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span>which surely the modern fine lady can well +sympathise—it would be extremely difficult to get +him or her to work. Why should he, in a climate +where bodily exertion is very undesirable, and +where food and shelter grow, so to speak, by the +roadside?</p> + +<p>They expend vast sums on their wedding festivities, +at which the guests are expected to appear +in perfectly new garments. I once offered a comely +young black housemaid leave of absence to go +to her brother’s marriage, but she declined on the +score of expense. Now I had seen this girl, a week +or two before, very smartly dressed for a friend’s +wedding, so I said:—</p> + +<p>“But surely you have still got that beautiful +hat and frock you wore at Florinda’s marriage the +other day?”</p> + +<p>Aurelia gave me a shocked glance as she +answered:—</p> + +<p>“Oh, lady, me can’t wear <em>that</em>!”</p> + +<p>“Why not?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“All peoples very much offended if I wear same +dress to their wedding; must be quite new every +things.”</p> + +<p>And nothing I could urge had the least effect +in shaking her resolution not to disgrace her family +by appearing in garments which had done duty +before on a similar occasion. I always noticed at +the cathedral that every female member of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span>very large and devout coloured congregation had +on her head a hat which must have cost a good +deal more than my own bonnet. From a picturesque +point of view the effect of the coloured women’s +spotlessly clean white dresses and brilliantly flowered +and ribboned hats was excellent, though doubtless +the political economist would have sighed. I once +asked a friend where and how these smart damsels +obtained their patterns, for nothing could be more +correct or up-to-date than their skirts and their +sleeves.</p> + +<p>“Oh, the washerwomen set the fashions here, +especially yours. It is very simple: when you +send a blouse or a muslin or cotton dress to the +wash—and these women wash beautifully—the +laundress calls in her friends and neighbours, and +they carefully study and copy that garment before +you see it again; and the same thing happens with +the gentlemen’s tennis flannels, and other garments.”</p> + +<p>But the most amusing, and absolutely true, story +I heard was this one:—</p> + +<p>Our house steward told me that, when he was +superintending the moving of our numerous boxes +and packages on the return from our short annual +visit to England, he noticed on the wharf one of +the young black men employed who was unusually +active in dealing with the luggage. Nothing could +be a greater contrast to the ordinary sleepy loafer, +who used to smoke and talk a good deal more than +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span>he worked. This youth was strong and smiling, +and made nothing of handling any big boxes which +came in his way, so most travellers rewarded his +good-humoured exertions by an extra sixpence for +himself.</p> + +<p>A couple of years later Mark was missing from +the landing jetty. No one knew what had become +of him, nor could the most anxious inquiries elicit +any information. At last one day, when my informant +was in one of the principal “Stores,” as +the excellent and comprehensive shops of Port of +Spain are called, there suddenly entered his friend +Mark, smiling as ever, and still dressed in his +primitive working garments of three old sacks—two +for his “divided skirts,” and one with a hole +cut in it for his head to go through, and worn as a +sleeveless smock-frock. Before any questions could +be asked, Mark took one of the assistants aside, +and began to choose, very carefully and deliberately, +an entire outfit of black cloth clothes. He evidently +knew exactly what he wanted, and paid for +each article, as he selected it, from a roll of five-dollar +notes, which, for want of a pocket, he carried +in his hand. The broad-cloth suit was followed +by other indispensable garments, and finally a pair +of lavender gloves, shining boots, a tall hat, a +slender umbrella, and even a showy gilt watch-chain +were purchased, and the happy possessor +of a complete rig-out of “Europe clothes” left the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span>store with only a few cents to put in his new and +numerous pockets. He was often seen afterwards +in this fine suit of clothes walking about the Gardens +when the band was playing, but, so far as any one +knows, he has never done a stroke of work since!</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XIII"><abbr title="13">XIII</abbr><br> + +<small>RODRIGUES</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>“The deaf, cold official Ear” used to be a favourite +phrase in the Crown Colonies in my day, and referred, +of course, to the Ear of Downing Street; +but even then it seemed to me a very undeserved +reproach, for, so far as my own experience went, +or rather the experience of my dear husband, it +was only necessary to bring a grievance—small or +large—before that much-abused department for +at least an attempt to be made to remedy it +directly.</p> + +<p>Take the case of Rodrigues as an example. It +had been for many years a “most distressful” +<i lang="fr">dépendance</i> of Mauritius. Once upon a time—early +in the nineteenth century—it was a favourite +sanatorium of the East Indian squadron, and +ships were constantly calling there to leave sick or +wounded sailors and take away the convalescents. +For, until 1814 brought peace and the Treaty of +Paris, a good deal of fighting went on in that part +of the Indian Ocean, Bourbon and L’Ile de France +being the prizes of the victor.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span></p> +<p>Apropos of those same prizes, I have always +heard that <span lang="fr">L’Ile de France</span>, as Mauritius used to +be called in those days, was only captured by +stratagem, and that its protecting circle of reefs, +quite as effectual as a chain of torpedoes, had kept +the British frigates cruising outside for many a +weary day. There was no reliable chart, and, +naturally, no pilot was forthcoming. At last, +very early one morning, a pirogue was sighted, and +a smart man-of-war’s boat intercepted it before +the shelter of the coral girdle could be gained. +Its solitary occupant was a young fisherman, who +was directly taken to the admiral’s ship, and, with +great difficulty and with the aid of what was to +him an enormous bribe, persuaded to guide the +landing-party’s boats through difficult passages +to a suitable and unexpected landing-place. The +choice lay between that and death, and the lad +chose life and wealth. But I was assured that from +that day to this the poor man and his descendants +had been regarded as outcasts, with whom no one +in the conquered island would have any dealings.</p> + +<p>Then, as to Bourbon, the story goes that it was +given back to the French by that same Treaty +of Paris owing to a mistaken idea at our own +Colonial Office that it was a West Indian island, +instead of lying only a hundred miles south of +Mauritius. So ever since 1814 poor little Rodrigues +has been deserted by her naval visitors, and Port +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span>Mathurin had welcomed only two men-of-war in the +sixty-five years which had passed before our visit.</p> + +<p>The real bad times, however, set in with the +abolition of slavery, for it is the sort of climate +where one need not work, or only work very little, +to live. The sugar and coffee estates soon fell +out of cultivation, as did the cotton and even the +vanilla bean, which grows so easily, and the island +seems to have come in for more than its fair share +of hurricanes. Then the want of communication +and a market for exports completed the tale of its +trouble; and when an unusually dry season killed +the rice crops, something very like a famine set in. +This had happened several times before our day, +and relief for the moment had, of course, been sent.</p> + +<p>But when, one day in the middle of the hurricane +season of 1881, a wretched little open boat +struggled across the 350 miles of Indian Ocean, +bringing the island pilot and another sailor with +a piteous tale sent by the magistrate in charge, +of the hunger and distress which prevailed in +Rodrigues, the Lieutenant-Governor of Mauritius +felt that nothing but a personal visit and inquiry +into the cause of the constantly recurring evil +would satisfy his Government. So an application +was made at once through the Colonial Office for +the loan of a man-of-war to visit the afflicted little +island. There was no telegraph nearer than Aden +twenty-three years ago, so, although the matter +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>was taken in hand at once in Downing Street, it +was early in June of the same year before it could +be finally arranged. A small gunboat was all that +had been asked for, and lo! the flagship herself—the +stately <i>Euryalus</i>—was put at the Lieutenant-Governor’s +disposal through the courtesy of the +admiral of the East Indian station, who made +an official visit of his own to Madagascar fit in +with the date of the proposed trip to Rodrigues.</p> + +<p>I have felt this little explanation to be necessary +of how we came to be standing on the poop of +H.M.S. <i>Euryalus</i> that lovely afternoon of June—the +best mid-winter month. Our party had been kept +as small as possible, for there was only the accommodation +reserved for the admiral and his flag-lieutenant +vacant, and our good bishop had begged +to come to look after the spiritual needs of his +small flock in that distant part of his diocese.</p> + +<p>The scene is still vividly before me; the profound +calm of everything after the noise and bustle +of our reception on board were over, of which the +only trace was the smoke of the saluting cannon +still curling over the calm water. <em>We</em> seemed to +be stationary, and the lovely hills, with their deep +purple shadows, their glistening waterfalls, and +the vivid green of the fields of sugar-cane in the +valleys, appeared to be slowly gliding away under +the most exquisite sunset sky. But all too soon +the <i>Euryalus</i> had made her way through the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span>crowded harbour of Port Louis to what seemed +a gate in the wall of coral reef, and headed, a few +moments later, out to sea. A sea beautiful to +behold, indeed, but of so rough-and-tumble a nature +that the dinner-party that evening was but small. +In fact few of our party showed up much during +the three days of alternate rolling and pitching +across that rough bit of water, with a strong head-wind +from south-east. We had really been making +the best of our way all the time because the captain +was very anxious to get in early on the 28th to +celebrate her Majesty’s coronation. No sooner, +therefore, had we dropped anchor in the open +roadstead opposite Port Mathurin than the royal +standard flew out from our main, and the gallant +old ship was, in a moment, dressed from stern to +bow in gay flags. At noon a royal salute pealed +out over the water—but this is anticipating a +little, for long before noon every available boat +was crowding round the <i>Euryalus</i>. The magistrate +had come on board directly; so had two very +agreeable Roman Catholic priests. Every one concerned +in the matter was soon deep in the arrangement +of details connected with our official landing.</p> + +<p>As I had nothing to do except to put on my best +bonnet at the proper time, I had plenty of leisure +to admire the tiny island, which, with no other +land to dwarf it, looked quite imposing from the +deck of the <i>Euryalus</i>. It was difficult to believe +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span>that the highest hill I could see was only 1800 feet +above the sea-level, for the beautiful clear atmosphere +seemed to magnify everything, as if one were +looking at it through water. And there were +ravines plainly marked, each with its little tumbling +cascade, and a great deal of bright green foreground, +which we afterwards found was not the inevitable +sugar-cane, but a coarse, rather rank grass, affording +excellent grazing for cattle. Indeed, Rodrigues +could supply Mauritius entirely with beef if only +there were proper communication, but as matters +then stood our supply used to come chiefly from +Madagascar by weekly steamer.</p> + +<p>It was really like an English April day, even to +the bite in the air whenever the sun was absent +during the constant scudding squalls—squalls which +kept the poor reception committee in a state of +anguish and anxiety not to be described. Most of +them had come on board to arrange details, and +were condemned to watch their beautiful arches +and masts and flags being most roughly handled +by the sou’-wester. I did my best to comfort any +one who came my way by predictions of a fine +afternoon, and to assure them that business—stern, +serious business—was the real object of the visit. +The heart-breaking part of it all, however, was to +find that the entire population of Rodrigues insisted +on regarding the gaily-dressed ship, the +royal salute, even the royal standard, as all being +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span>part and parcel of the show, and in the Lieutenant-Governor’s +honour. I never can forget the horrified +faces both of poor dear F. and the flag-captain of +the <i>Euryalus</i> when this fact dawned on them. +They were quite tragic over it, and thought me +most heartless for laughing at the mistake.</p> + +<p>The alternations of sun and shower showed up +with curious clearness the water-path which a boat +would need to follow between the ship and the +shore. It was traced quite distinctly, as if in a +very devious track of indigo, through the bright +blue water and the white tips breaking on the +coral reefs, whilst every here and there a wee islet, +on which earth and grass-seed were quickly finding +their way, had pushed its head up. It seemed +an object-lesson on the very beginning of things. +The worst of all this was that the big ship could not +come at all near the shore, and, as we were always +to sleep on board, the little voyage twice a day +entailed a good deal of forethought on account of +the tide.</p> + +<p>However, both weather and tide were highly +favourable by three o’clock that same afternoon, +when the official landing took place with perfect +success. I could not help glancing triumphantly +at the now radiant reception committee as, with +hardly a breath of air stirring and not a cloud in +the sky, we stepped out of the admiral’s barge. +Needless to say, the entire population of Rodrigues +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span>were crowded on the little wharf, which was gaily +carpeted with red and roofed with palm branches. +Even the two <i lang="fr">condamnés</i>, representing the evil-doers +of the community, stood in the background +in friendly converse with their gaoler, who would +not on any account miss the show. Our friend +the pilot was there also in great form, and it seemed +he had been taking to himself the credit of having +arranged the visit. He was not in carpet slippers +this time, however, which was a pity; for, if he +had only known it, the carpet slippers in which he +had been forced to present himself before the +Lieutenant-Governor, after his terrible voyage in +February, had, as he called it, <i>abîméd</i> his feet, and, +adding a certain dramatic touch of reality to the +tale of suffering—counted for something in the end.</p> + +<p>A resplendent guard of honour of Marines had +preceded us, and so had the ship’s band. “<span lang="fr">Ces +Messieurs avec les trompettes</span>” became at once first +favourites, and remained so to the end. Primitive +and friendly as it all was, there yet was no escaping +the inevitable addresses, which had to be in French, +as that is really the language of the little island, +though I fear it was not of the purest Parisian type. +Happily, I could perceive no traces of famine or +even of hard times in the crowds which surrounded +us. All seemed fat, and buxom, and beaming. I +looked anxiously at the children, for I remember +the heart-breaking sight the poor little ones had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span>presented when I had passed through an Indian +famine district long years before the Rodrigues +visit. These babies were as plump as ortolans, +and as merry as crickets.</p> + +<p>Friendly and almost universal handshaking +brought the affair to an end—“<span lang="fr">une vraie fête de +famille</span>,” as I heard it called—and we were free +to adjourn to the magistrate’s pretty house for a +welcome cup of tea. The moment it had been +hastily swallowed and F. had got out of his gold-laced +coat, he and the magistrate adjourned to +the little court-house close by and plunged at once +into business, being with difficulty hailed forth in +time to return on board for a very late dinner. +Nothing had any effect on their movements except +threats of the falling tide. In fact, the state of the +tide governed—not to say tyrannised over—our +arrangements that whole week. “Pray be punctual +to-morrow morning, on account of the tide,” was +the last thing I heard at night, and no engagement +on shore could be made until the state of the water +at a given hour was ascertained. In spite, however, +of punctuality and care, we had to make some +ridiculous <i lang="fr">trajets</i>, beginning in great pomp in the +admiral’s barge, changing half-way into smaller +boats, then into canoes, and finally being piloted +through the shallows standing on a tiny plank laid +across a stout leaf and propelled by a swimmer; yet +one always arrived dry-shod though much agitated.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span></p> +<p>We had only a very few days to stay in Rodrigues, +for the <i>Euryalus</i> had to return to Madagascar to +pick up her admiral; but there were two things +which must absolutely be accomplished during our +visit. One was an expedition to “The Mountain” +to visit the good priests and make a closer acquaintance +with the needs of that particular district, +and the other was to have a day’s sport. This, I +must add, was chiefly in the interests of our kind +naval hosts, for I honestly believe that both F. +and the magistrate would have greatly preferred +a long and happy day in the court-house, hard +at work.</p> + +<p>The mountain excursion entailed our leaving the +ship at eight o’clock of a lovely morning. In fact, +the bad weather seemed to have ceased with our +landing, and it proved ideally calm and beautiful +all that week. As no wheeled vehicle, or horse +to draw it, exists on Rodrigues, <i lang="fr">chaises à porteurs</i> +were provided for the two ladies of the party, +and all the gentlemen walked. For the first five +miles the road was excellent, having, indeed, been +a “relief work” during one of the famines. It +zigzagged up the steep hill-sides very easily, and +wound through natural groves of oranges and +lemons, plantains and palms, which afforded a +welcome shade. The small houses—<i lang="fr">cases</i>, as they +are called—looked trim and pretty, each with its +“provision ground” of yams and sweet potatoes, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span>and one soon got high enough to look over them +on to the little town nestling among trees, with +large patches of bright green grass between it and +the sea. The <i>Euryalus</i> made a stately object in +the foreground, and dwarfed the little fishing-boats +and pirogues which swarmed around her +to the size of toys. I noticed that the sails of +these tiny craft were stained with much the same +vivid colours one sees at Chioggia, and the colouring +of both sky and sea was truly Italian, as were +the “soft airs of Paradise,” which made walking +a pleasure.</p> + +<p>Still, many halts were called, ostensibly to +admire the charming panorama, but also to pick +wild oranges and other juicy fruits. Flowers, more +or less wild, grew in profusion all round us, and +I was soon laden with beautiful blossoms.</p> + +<p>We were already a large party when we started, +and our enormous “tail” increased as we passed +through each hamlet. The last part of the road +proved merely a mountain track over rough +boulders, and all felt glad when the hill-top was +reached and we were once more on a tolerably +level track. The village of Gabrielle appeared +to have availed itself of every inch of cover from +the summer hurricanes, and each ravine or dip +in the ground was occupied by a little <i lang="fr">case</i> and +garden. A fine triumphal arch awaited us here, +beneath which stood the two <span lang="fr">abbés</span>, with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span>whole population of the district as a background. +Such a smiling crowd, and such a cordial welcome!</p> + +<p>After the inevitable address, an attempt was +made to raise “le God-save” (as it is always called +in Mauritius), but its tones were wavering and +uncertain, and the tune showed a tendency to +turn into the “Old Hundredth,” so it was somewhat +of a relief when it was succeeded by a +local hymn of welcome, which they all knew, and +which was given with great heartiness and lung +power. The refrain “<span lang="fr">Et vivat! et vivat!</span>” was +most spirited, and went really well.</p> + +<p>By this time, however, we all felt very hungry, +and were glad to be taken to the presbytery, close +to the little chapel, where <i lang="fr">déjeuner</i> awaited us. +Wild kid, poultry, eggs, and fruit made up an +excellent meal, followed by perfect coffee; and +then the serious business of the day began.</p> + +<p>I betook myself to the sheltered side of a <i lang="fr">case</i>, +where I could view the sort of open-air meeting +which was going on to leeward of the chapel, and +of which F. and the priests formed the central +figures. An interpreter had to be found, for the +island has a patois of its own, different even from +that of Mauritius. This interpreter was an Irishman, +and his gestures were so dramatic that I +could really make a good guess at the story which +was being unfolded; but I felt somewhat puzzled +when, towards the end, he flung his old hat on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span>the ground and danced on it. I wondered if he +was asking for Home Rule! All the men in the +settlement had crowded round F. and the priests, +so I found myself the centre of a large gathering +of the women of Gabrielle. Children were there +in numbers, but had no chance of getting near me, +and there was always the difficulty of the language. +What my smiling jet-black friends seemed most +curious about was my “civil status,” and that of +the other lady. “<span lang="fr">Madame ou Ma’amzelle?</span>” was +the incessant question to both of us. I singled +out one extraordinarily ugly but beaming and +big, fat girl to put the same question to, and I can +never forget the droll air of coquetry with which +she laid one black finger against an equally black +cheek, turned her head aside, and murmured bashfully, +“<span lang="fr">Moi, je suis Modeste</span>.”</p> + +<p>This out-of-door parliament lasted a couple of +hours, and by that time all the burning questions +and even the grievances had been laid before the +Lieutenant-Governor, and it was necessary to +make a start if we were to catch the tyrant tide. +So the procession re-formed, only with the <i lang="fr">chaises +à porteurs</i> left out, for we ladies preferred to walk +down, especially at first; and off we set, the priests +leading, our little party next, and a dense crowd +everywhere. They all sang hymns, winding up +with the first we had heard, and lusty shouts of +“<span lang="fr">Et vivat! et vivat!</span>” pursued us almost to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span>bottom of the hill. Never was a more affectionate +leave-taking, and the expressions of gratitude to +F. for the trouble he had taken were really most +touching. We carried the dear <span lang="fr">abbés</span> back to dine +on board with us, as there was yet much to be +discussed.</p> + +<p>The next day was supposed to be one of rest as +far as exercise went, and whilst F. was busy indoors +with work, I was taken by the magistrate’s wife +round the little town of Port Mathurin to visit +the school and the tiny hospital, as well as to return +the calls of some of the leading ladies. It is a +very healthy island apparently, much more so than +Mauritius, but then it is not so desperately overcrowded +as its big sister. The chief complaint I +heard was of the idleness and inertia of the people +themselves, and of how difficult it was to induce +them to do anything except dawdle—good-humouredly +enough—through their lives. Of course, +this partly accounts for the famine and distress. +They just live from day to day, and make no sort +of provision for even the morrow, still less the +rainy or hurricane day.</p> + +<p>There certainly was no inertia, however, on the +part of the children at a christening service the +bishop held in the schoolroom that afternoon. +Such vigorous protests against the sacred rite +could not be imagined, and it was difficult to get +through it on account of the noise of the children’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span>shrieks. The mothers did not seem in the least +distressed or alarmed at the outcries of their offspring; +indeed, one black lady remarked to me—I +was the universal godmother—“<span lang="fr">C’est peut-être +M. le Diable qui s’en va?</span>” I can’t think +why the children were so terrified, because the +bishop christened the babies first, and all was calm +and holy peace until I attempted to lead up a +small boy of about four years old. He started +a wild yell and frantic struggles, in which all +the others joined, till at last I felt inclined to +take part in the chorus of sobs myself. The +bishop’s tact and gentle patience were marvellous, +but did not avail to allay the fears of the +neophytes.</p> + +<p>Our last day at Rodrigues held, indeed, hard +work, for we spent it from an early hour <i lang="fr">en chasse</i>, +the paraphernalia of which might have served for +at least a small punitive expedition. Such munitions +of war, in the shape of guns and cartridges! +and the commissariat was on an equally liberal +scale. This excursion took us quite to the other +side of the island, and we crossed a little bay to +get to it, so a small fleet of fishing-boats had been +commandeered for the occasion. This brought us +in touch with most of the fisherfolk, and F. seized +the opportunity of thoroughly investigating their +needs and wants.</p> + +<p>There is really a good deal of game on the island; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span>deer, partridges, and wild guinea-fowl were promised +us; but, alas! we had reckoned without +the first lieutenant of the <i>Euryalus</i>, who availed +himself of our absence to have a thoroughly happy +day with his big guns, the noise of which drove +every beast and bird as far away as possible. However, +there was still the long delightful day in the +open air, and it was always possible to get shade +beneath the vacoas, a sort of palm, common also +in Mauritius, of whose fibre sacks, baskets, and +lots of useful things are made. But the <i>Latanier</i> +is the maid-of-all-work among palms. All the +little <i lang="fr">cases</i> are built and thatched with it, its fibre +makes excellent rope, and doubtless it could be +turned to many other uses.</p> + +<p>In spite of our really enormous luncheon, we +were bidden to a banquet on our return to Port +Mathurin, and that day actually ended with a +ball! We had made ourselves independent of the +tyranny of the tide for once, and had brought our +evening things on shore with us, so a very sunburnt +and sleepy group in uniforms and ball dresses +made the best of their way on foot to the court-house +somewhere about nine o’clock, and absolutely +danced with spirit and vigour until the coxswain +put his head in at the door and murmured, “Tide’s +falling, sir.” It was just about midnight, and we +all fled like so many Cinderellas. No need to +wrap up, for a lace scarf was sufficient on such +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span>a balmy night, and the moonlight felt quite +warm.</p> + +<p>We certainly would not have been allowed to +take so hurried a departure had it not been settled +that we were to breakfast on shore next morning +and make our real farewells then. The guard of +honour and the <i lang="fr">trompettes</i> preceded us once more, +and there was a sort of attempt at an official +“send-off.” But the islanders took the matter +into their own hands this time, and I really believe +every human being in Rodrigues came to see us +off, and to thank and bless “<em>Excellence</em>” for having +paid them so long a visit. The <i lang="fr">condamnés</i> +were there too, and solemnly promised me to be +models of good behaviour for the future. My +numerous god-children were now (scantily) clothed, +but in their right minds, and their mothers tried +hard to get them to express their regret for having +been <i lang="fr">si méchant</i>; but that part of the performance +did not come off. However, they got their +bags of sugar plums all the same.</p> + +<p>The inevitable address was got through in dumb +show, and we were followed not only to the water’s +edge but into the water itself by the affectionate +farewells of all the poor people. It was so touching, +the way they brought gifts. Modeste was there +with oranges and eggs in each hand. Indeed, I +may mention here that eggs, however fresh, are +very embarrassing tokens of affection when given +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span>in dozens. I presented all mine to the fo’castle, +as well as sundry sacks of oranges; and as for +my bouquets, they would have stocked a flower-shop. +It was quite with difficulty we pushed off +at last. Fortunately, the tide allowed the admiral’s +barge to come up to the little jetty, for I am sure +if we had started on a palm leaf, as we sometimes +did, there would have been disasters and wet feet, +to say the least of it.</p> + +<p>By the time the <i>Euryalus</i> was reached, she was +found to be ringed round by boats of all sorts and +sizes, and it was quite difficult to get, first on board +and then off. “<span lang="fr">Et vivat!</span>” rang out in great +force on every side, and even a tremulous “God-save”; +but the hearty thanks and benedictions +were the pleasantest sounds. At last the screw +turned, and the fine old ship headed once more +for the wide ocean. The boats and waving kerchiefs +were soon dwarfed into so many dots on the dancing +waves, and in an hour or two we had looked our +last on Rodrigues.</p> + +<p>The wind was fair for going back, and the voyage +proved quite smooth as well as very pleasant. +“<span lang="fr">Ces Messieurs avec les trompettes</span>” discoursed +delightful music to us after dinner, and the soft +moonlight lasted all the way back. The dear old +<i>Euryalus</i> has gone the way of old ships, but has +happily left a smart successor to her name and +fame. Regular communication (that is to say, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span>as regular as the hurricanes will allow) has been +established with Rodrigues, and it must be more +prosperous, for I see by the latest returns that +the population has doubled itself since that delightful +visit.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XIV"><abbr title="14">XIV</abbr><br> + +<small>COLONIAL SERVANTS</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>My very first experience of the eccentricities of +colonial servants dates a good deal more than half a +century ago, and the scene was laid in Jamaica, where +my father then held the office of “Island Secretary” +under Sir Charles—afterwards Lord Metcalfe—the +Governor. It was Christmas day, and I had been +promised as a great treat that my little sister and +I should sit up to late dinner. But the morning +began with an alarm, for just at breakfast-time an +orderly from one of the West Indian regiments, +then stationed in Spanish Town, had brought a +letter to my father which had been sent upstairs +to him. I was curled up in a deep window-seat +in the shady breakfast-room, enjoying a brand-new +story-book and the first puffs of the daily sea-breeze, +when I heard a guttural voice close to my ear +whispering, “Kiss, missy, kiss.” There stood what +seemed a real black giant compared with my childish +stature, clad in gorgeous Turkish-looking uniform +with a big white turban and a most benignant +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span>expression of face, holding his hand out, palm +upwards.</p> + +<p>I gazed at this apparition—for I had only just +returned to Jamaica—with paralysed terror, while +the smiling ogre came a step nearer and repeated +his formula in still more persuasive tones. At +this moment, however, my father appeared and +said, “Oh yes, all right; he wants you to give him +a Christmas-box. Here is something for him.” It +required even then a certain amount of faith as well +as courage to put the silver dollar into the outstretched +palm, but the man’s joy and gratitude +showed the interpretation had been quite right. +I did not dare to say what my alarm had conjured +up as the meaning of his request, for fear of being +laughed at.</p> + +<p>As well as I remember, at that Christmas dinner-party—and +it was a large one—the food was distinctly +eccentric, edibles usually boiled appearing +as roasts and <i>vice versâ</i>. The service also was of a +jerky and spasmodic character, and the authorities +wore an air of anxiety, which, however, only added +to the deep interest I took in the situation. But +things came to a climax when the plum-pudding, +which was to have been the great feature of the +entertainment, did not appear at its proper time +and place, and a tragic whisper from the butler +suggested complications in the background. My +father said laughingly, “I am sorry to say the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span>cook is drunk and will not part with the plum-pudding,” +so we went on with the dinner without +it. But just as the dessert was being put on the +table there was a sound as of ineffectual scrimmaging +outside, and the cook—a huge black man clad in spotless +white—rushed in bearing triumphantly a large +dish, which he banged down in front of my father, +saying, “Dere, my good massa, dere your pudding,” +and immediately flung himself into the butler’s arms +with a burst of weeping. I shall always see that +pudding as long as I live. It was about the size of +an orange and as black as coal. Every attempt to +cut it resulted in its bounding off the dish, for it +was as hard as a stone. Though not exactly an +object of mirth in itself, it certainly was “a cause +that mirth was in others,” and so achieved a success +denied to many a better pudding.</p> + +<p>Several years passed before I again came across +black servants, and the next time was in India. I +was not there long enough, nor did I lead a sufficiently +settled life, to be able to judge of the Indian +servant of that day. Half my stay in Bengal was +spent under canvas, and certainly the way in which +the servants arranged for one’s comfort under those +conditions was marvellous. The camp was a very +large one, for we were making a sort of military +promenade from Lucknow up to Lahore—my +husband being the Commanding Officer of Royal +Artillery in Bengal—but I only went as far as the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span>foot of the Hills and then up to Simla. It was +amazing the way in which nothing was ever forgotten +or left behind during four months’ continuous +camp-life. All my possessions had to be divided, +and, where necessary, duplicated, for what one used +on Monday would not be get-at-able until Wednesday, +and so on all through the week. No matter +how interesting my book was, I could not go on +with it for thirty-six hours—<i>i.e.</i> from, say Monday +night till breakfast-time on Wednesday morning. +I could have a new volume for Tuesday, but the +interest of that had also to remain in abeyance +until Thursday. Still, I would find the book precisely +where I laid it down, and if I had put a mark, +even a flower, it would be found exactly in the +right place.</p> + +<p>I always wondered when and how the servants +rested, for they seemed to me to be packing and +starting all night long, and yet when the new +camping-ground was reached the head-servants +would always be there in snowy garments, as fresh +and trim as if they came out of a box. There were +two sets of under-servants, but the head ones never +seemed to be off duty.</p> + +<p>We started with the first streak of daylight, and +there was no choice about the matter, for if you +did not get up when the first bugle blew, your plight +would be a sorry one when the canvas walls of the +large double tent fell flat at the sound of the second +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>bugle, half-an-hour later. The roof of the tent was +left a few moments longer, so one had time for +hot fragrant coffee and bread and butter before +starting either on horse or elephant back. I generally +rode on a pad on the <i>hathi’s</i> back for the first +few miles while it was still dark, and mounted my +little Arab some six or eight miles further on. The +marches were as near twenty-five miles daily, as +could be arranged to suit the Commander-in-Chief’s +convenience as to inspections, &c.</p> + +<p>Everything was fresh and amusing, but I think +I most delighted in seeing the modes of progression +adopted by the various cooks. Our head-cook +generally requisitioned a sort of gig, in which he +sat in state and dignity, with many bundles heaped +around him. Part of his cavalcade consisted of +two or three very small ponies laden with paniers, +on top of which invariably stood a chicken or two, +apparently without any fastenings, who balanced +themselves in a precarious manner according to the +pony’s gait. No one seemed to walk except those +who led the animals, and as the camp numbered +some 5000 soldiers and quite as many camp-followers +the supply-train appeared endless.</p> + +<p>Just as we neared the foot of the Himalayan +range, where the camp was to divide, some of us +going up to Simla, leaving a greatly lessened force +to proceed to Lahore, smallpox appeared among +our servants. I wonder it did not spread much +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span>more, but it was vigorously dealt with at the outset. +I had as narrow an escape as anybody, for one +morning, while I was drinking my early coffee and +standing quite ready to start on our daily march, +one of the servants, a very clever, useful Madras +“boy” whom I had missed from his duties for +several days, suddenly appeared and cast himself +at my feet, clutching my riding-habit and begging +for some tea. He was quite unrecognisable, so +swollen and disfigured was his poor face, and I +had no idea what was the matter with him. He +was delirious and apparently half-mad with thirst. +The doctor had to be fetched to induce him to let +me go, and as more than once the poor lad had +seized my hands and kissed them in gratitude for +the tea I at once gave him, I suppose I really ran +some risks, for it turned out to be a very bad case +of confluent smallpox. However, all the same, he +had to be carried along with us in a dhooly until +we reached a station where he could be put into +a hospital.</p> + +<p>But certainly the strangest phase of colonial +domestics within my experience were the New +Zealand maid-servants of some thirty-five years +ago. Perhaps by this time they are “home-made,” +and consequently less eccentric; but in my day +they were all immigrants, and seemed drawn almost +entirely from the ranks of factory girls. They were +respectable girls apparently, but with very free and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>easy manners. However, that did not matter. +What seriously inconvenienced me at the far up-country +station where my husband and I had made +ourselves a very pretty and comfortable home was the +absolute and profound ignorance of these damsels. +They took any sort of place which they fancied, +at enormous wages, and when they had at great +cost and trouble been fetched up to their new home +I invariably discovered that the cook, who demanded +and received the wages of a <i lang="fr">chef</i>, knew nothing +whatever of any sort of cooking and the housemaid, +had never seen a broom. They did not know how +to thread a needle or wash a pocket-handkerchief, +and, as I thought, must have been waited on all +their lives. Indeed, one of my great difficulties was +to get them away from the rapt admiration with +which they regarded the most ordinary helps to +labour. One day I heard peals of laughter from +the wash-house, and found the fun consisted in the +magical way in which the little cottage-mangle +smoothed the aprons of the last couple of damsels. +So I—who was extremely ignorant myself, and had +no idea how the very beginnings of things should +be taught—had to impart my slender store of +knowledge as best I could. The little establishment +would have collapsed entirely had it not been for +my Scotch shepherd’s wife, a dear woman with the +manners of a lady and the knowledge of a thorough +practical housewife. What broke our hearts was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span>that we had to begin this elementary course of instruction +over and over again, as my damsels could +not endure the monotony of their country life longer +than three or four months, in spite of the many +suitors who came a-wooing with strictly honourable +intentions. But the young ladies had no idea of +giving up their liberty, and turned a deaf ear to +all matrimonial suggestions, even when one athletic +suitor put another into the water-barrel to get him +out of the way, and urged that this step must be +taken as a proof of his devotion.</p> + +<p>After the New Zealand experiences came a period +of English life, and I felt much more experienced +in domestic matters by the time my wandering star +led me forth once more and landed me in Natal. +In spite, however, of this experience, I fell into the +mistake of taking out three English servants, whom +I had to get rid of as soon as possible after my +arrival. They had all been with me some time in +England, and I thought I knew them perfectly; +but the voyage evidently “wrought a sea change” +on them, for they were quite different people by +the time Durban was reached. Two developed +tempers for which the little Maritzburg house was +much too small, and when it came to carving-knives +hurtling through the air I felt it was more than my +nerves could stand. The third only broke out in +folly, and showed an amount of personal vanity +which seemed almost to border on insanity. However, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span>I gradually replaced them with Zulu servants, +in whom I was really very fortunate. They learned +so easily, and were so good-tempered and docile, +their only serious fault being the ineradicable +tendency to return for a while—after a very few +“moons” of service—to their kraals. At first I +thought it was family affection which impelled this +constant homing, but it was really the desire to +get back to the savage life, with its gorges of half-raw +meat and native beer, and its freedom from +clothes. It is true I had an occasional very bad +quarter of an hour with some of my experiments, +as, for instance, when I found an embryo valet +blacking his master’s socks as well as his boots, or +detected the nurse-boy who was trusted to wheel +the perambulator about the garden stuffing a half-fledged +little bird into the baby’s mouth, assuring +me it was a diet calculated to make “the little +chieftain brave and strong.”</p> + +<p>I think, however, quite the most curious instance +of the thinness of surface civilisation among these +people came to me in the case of a young Zulu girl +who had been early left an orphan and had been +carefully trained in a clergyman’s family. She +was about sixteen years old when she came as my +nursemaid, and was very plump and comely, with +a beaming countenance, and the sweetest voice and +prettiest manners possible. She had a great love +of music, and performed harmoniously enough on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span>an accordion as well as on several queer little pipes +and reeds. She could speak, read, and write Dutch +perfectly, as well as Zulu, and was nearly as proficient +in English. She carried a little Bible always +in her pocket, and often tried my gravity by dropping +on one knee by my side whenever she caught me +sitting down and alone, and beginning to read aloud +from it. It was quite a new possession, and she +had not got beyond the opening chapters of Genesis +and delighted in the story of “Dam and Eva,” as +she called our first parents. She proved an excellent +nurse and thoroughly trustworthy; the +children were devoted to her, especially the baby, +who learned to speak Zulu before English, and to +throw a reed assegai as soon as he could stand +firmly on his little fat legs. I brought her to +England after she had been about a year with me, +and she adapted herself marvellously and unhesitatingly +to the conditions of a civilisation far +beyond what she had ever dreamed of. After she +had got over her surprise at the ship knowing its +way across the ocean, she proved a capital sailor. +She took to London life and London ways as if she +had never known anything else. The only serious +mistake she made was once in yielding to the +blandishments of a persuasive Italian image-man +and promising to buy his whole tray of statues. +I found the hall filled with these works of art, +and “Malia” tendering, with sweetest smiles, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span>few pence in exchange for them. It was a disagreeable +job to have to persuade the man to +depart in peace with all his images, even with a +little money to console him. A friend of mine +chanced to be returning to Natal, and proposed +that I should spare my Zulu nurse to her. Her +husband’s magistracy being close to where Maria’s +tribe dwelt, it seemed a good opportunity for +“Malia” to return to her own country; so of +course I let her go, begging my friend to tell me +how the girl got on. The parting from the little +boys was a heart-breaking scene, nor was Malia +at all comforted by the fine clothes all my friends +insisted on giving her. Not even a huge Gainsborough +hat garnished with giant poppies could +console her for leaving her “little chieftain”; +but it was at all events something to send her off +so comfortably provided for, and with two large +boxes of good clothes.</p> + +<p>In the course of a few months I received a letter +from my friend, who was then settled in her up-country +home, but her story of Maria’s doings seemed +well-nigh incredible, though perfectly true.</p> + +<p>All had gone well on the voyage and so long +as they remained at Durban and Maritzburg; +but as soon as the distant settlement was reached, +Maria’s kinsmen came around her and began to +claim some share in her prosperity. Free fights +were of constant occurrence, and in one of them +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span>Maria, using the skull of an ox as a weapon, broke +her sister’s leg. Soon after that she returned to +the savage life she had not known since her infancy, +and took to it with delight. I don’t know what +became of her clothes, but she had presented herself +before my friend clad in an old sack and with +necklaces of wild animals’ teeth, and proudly announced +she had just been married “with cows”—thus +showing how completely her Christianity +had fallen away from her, and she had practically +returned, on the first opportunity, to the depth +of that savagery from which she had been taken +before she could even remember it. I soon lost +all trace of her, but Malia’s story has always remained +in my mind as an amazing instance of +the strength of race-instinct.</p> + +<p>My next colonial home was in Mauritius, and +certainly the servants of that day—twenty years +ago, alas!—were the best I have ever come across +out of England. I am told that this is no longer +the case, and that that type of domestic has been +improved and educated into half-starved little +clerks. The cooks were excellent, so were the +butlers. Of course, they had all preserved the +Indian custom of “dustoor” (I am not at all sure +of the spelling) or perquisite. In fact, a sort of +little duty was levied on every article of consumption +in a household.</p> + +<p>I never shall forget the agony of mind of one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>of my butlers at having handed me a wrong statement +of the previous day’s “bazaar.” I had +really not yet looked at it, but he implored me +with such dreadful agitation to let him have it +back again to “correct” that I read it aloud before +him, to his utter confusion and abasement. The +vendor had first put down the price paid him for +each article, and then the “dustoor” to be added; +needless to say, I was to pay the difference, and +the tax had been amply allowed for in the price +charged. As “Gyp” would say, Tableau!</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, it was the dhoby or washerman +class which gave the most or rather the only +trouble. They—<i>i.e.</i> the washerman and his numerous +wives—fought so dreadfully. Once I received +a petition requesting me in most pompous language +to give the youngest or “last-joined” wife a good +talking to, for in spite of all corrections—that is, +beatings—she declined entirely to iron her share +of the clothes, and had the effrontery to say she +had not married an ugly old man to have to work +hard. The dhoby on his side declared he had +only incurred the extra expense and bother of a +fourth and much younger wife in order that the +“Grande Madame’s” white gowns might be beautifully +ironed, fresh every day.</p> + +<p>I handed the letter—almost undecipherable on +account of its ornate penmanship and flourishes—to +the A.D.C. who was good enough to help me +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span>with my domestic affairs, and he must have arranged +it satisfactorily, for when he left us hurriedly to +rejoin his regiment, which had been ordered on +active service, he received a joint letter of adieu +from all the dhobies, wishing him every sort of +good fortune in the campaign, and expressing a +hope that he might soon return with “<span lang="fr">le +croix de la reine Victoria flottant de sa casaque</span>.” +Rather a confusion of ideas, but doubtless well +meant.</p> + +<p>In spite, however, of the general excellence of +Mauritius servants, my very dignified butler at +Réduit cost me the most trying experience of my +party-giving career. Once upon a time I had an +archery meeting at <span lang="fr">Réduit</span>, and a dance afterwards +for the young people. This programme—combining, +as it did, afternoon and evening amusements—required +a certain amount of organisation +as to food. The shooting was to go on as long as +the light lasted, and it was thought better to have +the usual refreshments in the tents during that +time, and then an early and very substantial supper +indoors so soon after the dancing began as the +guests liked to have it.</p> + +<p>There used in those days to be an excellent +restaurant in Port Louis which furnished all the +ball suppers. The cost was high, but all trouble +was saved, and the food provided left nothing to +be desired. The manager of the “<span lang="fr">Flore Mauricienne</span>” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span>never made a mistake, and only needed +to be told how many guests to provide for; everything +was then sure to be beautifully arranged. +So I had no anxieties on the score of ample supplies +of every obtainable dainty being forthcoming. +Great, therefore, was my surprise, when, after the +first batch of guests had been in to the supper-room, +I was informed in a tragic whisper that +everything looked very nice in there, but that +there was no second supply of food to replenish the +tables. This seemed impossible, and I sent for +the butler and demanded to know what had become +of the supper. “Monsieur Jorge” smiled blandly +and, waving his hands in despair, ejaculated “<span lang="fr">Rien, +rien, Madame</span>,” repeatedly. So, although I had +not intended to go in to supper myself just then, +I hastened to the scene. There were the lovely +tables as usual, a mass of flowers and silver, but +with empty dishes. I felt as if it must be a bad +dream from which I should presently awake, but +that did not make it less terrible at the moment. +Of course the A.D.C.s were active and energetic, +but they could not perform miracles and produce +a supper which they had themselves ordered and +knew had arrived, but which seemed to have +vanished into thin air. Tins of biscuits were found +and sandwiches were hastily cut, and every one +was most kind and good-natured and full of sympathy +for me.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span></p> +<p>If “Monsieur Jorge” and his myrmidons had +appeared in the least tipsy, the situation would +have been less perplexing, but except a profound +and impenetrable gravity of demeanour every +servant seemed quite right. My guests danced +merrily away, and hunger had no effect on their +gay humour, but the staff and I (who had had no +supper) were plunged in melancholy.</p> + +<p>The moment our telegraph clerk came on duty +next morning a message was sent to Port Louis +(eight miles off) asking the manager of the “Flore” +what had become of his supper, and by the time +I came down to breakfast that worthy had appeared +on the scene, and, more versed in the ways of +Mauritian servants than any of us were, had elicited +from Monsieur Jorge that he remembered putting +the numerous boxes of supper away carefully, +but where, he could not imagine. The night before +he had insisted that he had placed all the supper +there was, on the tables. So a search was instituted, +and very soon the melancholy remains of the supper +were discovered hidden away in an unused room. +All the packing ice had, of course, melted, and +jellies, &c., were reduced to liquid. There was +about fifty pounds’ worth of food quite spoiled +and useless, most of it only fit to be thrown away. +The manager’s wrath really exceeded mine, and +he stipulated that not one of the crowd of servants +should have a crumb of the remains of that supper, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span>which I heard afterwards had been given to the +garden coolies. As a matter of fact, I believe +Monsieur Jorge <em>was</em> somewhat tipsy, and it took +the form of complete loss of memory. But it was +a dreadful experience.</p> + +<p>From the “<span lang="fr">belle isle de Maurice</span>” we went to Western +Australia, where we arrived in the middle of +winter, and the contrast seemed great in every way, +especially in the domestic arrangements, for servants +were few and far between and of a very elementary +stamp of knowledge. I tried to remedy that +defect by importing maid-servants, but succeeded +only in acquiring some very strange specimens. +In those days Western Australia was such an unknown +and distant land that the friends at home +who kindly tried to help me found great difficulty +in inducing any good servant to venture so far, +and although the wages offered must have seemed +enormous, the good class I wanted could not at +first be induced to leave England. Later, things +improved considerably and we got very good +servants, but the first importations were very disheartening. +I used to be so amazed at their love +of finery. To see one’s housemaid at church absolutely +covered with sham diamonds, large rings +outside her gloves, huge <i lang="fr">solitaire</i> earrings, and at +least a dozen brooches stuck about her, was, to say +the least of it, startling; so was the apparition of +my head-cook, whom I sent for hurriedly once, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>after dinner, and who appeared in an evening +dress of black net and silver. I also recognised +the kitchen-maid at a concert in a magnificent +pale green satin evening dress, which, taken in +conjunction with her scarlet hair, was rather conspicuous. +Of one gentle and timid little housemaid, +who did not dazzle me with her toilettes, +I inquired what she found most strange and unexpected +in her new home—which, by the way, +she professed to like very much.</p> + +<p>“The lemons, my lady, if you please.”</p> + +<p>“Lemons!” I said; “why?”</p> + +<p>“Well, it’s their growin’ on trees as is so puzzlin’ +like, if you please.”</p> + +<p>“Where else did you expect them to grow?” +I inquired.</p> + +<p>“I thought they belonged to the nets. I’d +always seen them in nets in shops, you know; +and lemons looks strange without nets.”</p> + +<p>My next and last experience of colonial servants +was in Trinidad. By this time I had gained so +much and such varied experience that there was +no excuse for things not working smoothly, and as +I was fortunate in possessing an excellent head-servant +who acted as house-steward I had practically +no trouble at all, beyond a little anxiety at +any time of extra pressure about the head-cook, +who had not only heart disease, but when drunk +flew into violent rages. Our doctor had warned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span>the house-steward that this man—who was a half-caste +Portuguese from Goa—might drop dead at +any moment if he gave way to temper and drink +combined. So it was always an anxious time when +balls and banquets and luncheons followed each +other in quick succession. On these occasions, +besides his two permanent assistants, G. was +allowed a free hand as to engaging outside help. +But he seemed to take that opportunity to bring +in his bitterest foes, to judge by the incessant +quarrels, all of long standing, which poor Mr. V. +(the house-steward) had to arrange. I only did +the complimenting, and after each ball supper or +big dinner sent for the cook and paid him extravagant +compliments on his efforts. That was the only +way to keep him going, and things went well on +the surface; but there were tragic moments to be +lived through when the said cook had refreshed +himself a little too often, and about midday would +declare he had no idea what all these people were +doing in his kitchens, and, arming himself with a +rolling-pin, would drive them forth with much +obloquy. I chanced to be looking out of my +dressing-room window one day when he started +a raid on the <i lang="fr">corps d’armée</i> of black girls who +were busily picking turkeys and fowls for the +next night’s ball supper. I never saw anything +so absurd as the way the girls fled into the +neighbouring nutmeg-grove, each clasping her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span>half-picked fowls and scattering the feathers +out of her apron as she ran with many “hi! +hi’s!”</p> + +<p>I really began to think it would be necessary +to summon the police sentries to protect them, for +G. was flinging all sorts of fruit and vegetables at +them, and had quite got their range. However, +as Mr. V. emerged from his office and began to +inquire of the cook if he was anxious to die on the +spot, I only looked on. At first there was nothing +but rage and fury on the cook’s part, to which +Mr. V. opposed an imperturbable calm and the +emphatic repetition of the doctor’s warning. Then +came a burst of weeping, caused, G. declared, by +his sense of the wickedness of the human race in +general and “dem girls” in particular. After that +a deep peace seemed to suddenly descend on the +scene, and the cook returned to his large and airy +kitchens, still weeping bitterly. Mr. V. vanished, +the picking girls reappeared one by one, and, cautiously +looking round to see if it was safe to do so, +took up their former positions under shady trees. +Presently I saw other forms stealing back into the +kitchens, from which they too had been forcibly +ejected; and then I heard the cook’s voice start +one of Moody and Sankey’s hymns, with apparently +fifty verses and a rousing chorus. After that I +had no misgivings as to the success of the supper.</p> + +<p>We succeeded, as it were, to most of our servants, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span>for they had nearly all been at Government House +for some years, and at all events knew their duties. +I met one functionary, whose face I did not seem +to know, on the staircase one day, and inquired +who he was. “Me second butlare, please,” was the +answer. The first “butlare” was an intensely respectable +middle-aged man, of apparently deeply +religious convictions, and I always saw him at +church every Sunday, and he was a regular and +most devout communicant. Judge, then, of my +surprise and dismay, when, poor Jacob having died +rather suddenly of heart disease, I was assured that +four separate and distinct Mrs. Jacobs had appeared, +each clad in deepest widow’s weeds, and each +armed with orthodox “lines” to claim the small +arrears of his monthly pay. But I am afraid that +similar inconsistencies between theory and practice +are by no means uncommon in those “Summer +Isles of Eden.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XV"><abbr title="15">XV</abbr><br> + +<small>INTERVIEWS</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>My experience of being interviewed began many +years before the invention of the present fashion +of demanding from perfect strangers answers to +questions which one’s most intimate friend would +hesitate to ask. My interviewers had not the +smallest desire to be informed as to what I liked +to eat or drink, or at what hour I got up of a morning. +The conversation on these occasions used to be +strictly confined to my visitor’s own affairs. Perhaps +“strictly” is not the word I want, for I well +remember that my greatest difficulty at these interviews +was to keep the information showered on +me at all to the subject in hand, and to avoid +incessant parenthetical reminiscences of bygone +events.</p> + +<p>Both in Natal and Mauritius we lived so far +away from the town that it was too much trouble +for the interviewer to seek me out, nor indeed do +I remember hearing of cases which needed help and +advice there so often as at other places.</p> + +<p>My real <i lang="fr">début</i> in being interviewed was made in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span>Western Australia some twenty years ago in the +dear old primitive days, when I felt that I was the +squire’s wife and the rector’s wife rolled into one, +and most of the troubles used to be brought straight +to me. Indeed, so numerous were my visitors of +this class that a special room had to be set aside +in which to receive them; and certainly, if its walls +had tongues as well as ears, some droll confidences +might be betrayed by them.</p> + +<p>But I must confess I began badly. Almost my +first visitor in that room was a “pensioner’s” +widow. There can be very few “pensioners” left +now, for fifteen years ago, when we left dear Western +Australia, hardly thirty of the old “Enrolled +Guard” survived. The colloquial name by which +they were known in those latter days was Pensioner, +though it does not really express their status.</p> + +<p>Fifty years ago a large military force had been +sent out to the Swan River Settlement—all that +was then known of a colony now a million square +miles in extent—to guard the convicts asked for +by the first settlers to help them to make roads +and bridges and public buildings. After twenty +years the deportation of convicts to Western +Australia ceased, and the troops were withdrawn.</p> + +<p>As, however, it was desirable to induce respectable +settlers to make the colony their home, special +advantages had been offered to soldiers to remain +and take up free grants of land. Many of those +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span>who had wives and families accepted the offer, and, +whenever they proved to be sober and industrious +men, did extremely well. In addition to the liberal +grants of land, each man was given a small pension, +and ever since the convicts left his military functions +had been confined to mounting guard at Government +House. Even that slight duty came to an +end, however, during our stay, and smart young +policemen replaced the old veterans in out-of-date +uniforms, their breasts covered with numerous +medals for active service in all parts of the globe.</p> + +<p>But to return to my first interviewer—an old +Irishwoman, very feeble and very poor, her man +long since dead, and the children apparently scattered +to the four winds of heaven; the grant of +land sold, the money spent, the pension always +forestalled, and the inevitable objection to entering +the colonial equivalent for “the House.” To more +practised ears it would no doubt have sounded a +suspicious story, but it went to my heart, and I +gave the poor old body some tea and sugar, an +order for a little meat, and—fatal mistake—a few +shillings. Next day there was a coroner’s inquest +on the charred remains of my unfortunate friend, +who had got, as it seems she usually did, very +drunk, and had tumbled into her own fireplace. +Every one seemed to know how weak and foolish +I had been in the matter of even that small gift +of money, and the newspapers hinted that I must +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>be a Political Economist of the lowest type! So +pensioners’ widows tried in vain to “put the com-mether” +on me after that experience.</p> + +<p>“If you please, my lady, an ’Indoo wants to +speak to you,” ushered in a little later my next +interviewer. I beheld a small, trim, and cleanly +clad little man entering at the door. His request +was for a pedlar’s licence. I timidly pointed out +that I did not deal in such things, and that he must +have been wrongly advised to apply to me for the +document. This brought on a rambling story, very +difficult to comprehend until I furbished up the +scanty remains of my own knowledge of Hindustani. +I then gathered that my friend was somewhat of +a black sheep in character as well as complexion, +and had so indifferent a record in the police sheets +that he could not get a licence to start a hawker’s +cart unless some one would become security for his +good behaviour. He explained very carefully how +he could manage to raise sufficient money to stock +his cart, but no one would go security for him. I +knew that hawkers made quite a good living in the +thinly populated parts of the colony, and he seemed +desperately in earnest in his desire to make a fresh +start and gain his bread honestly. I told him that +I would consult the Commissioner of Police and see +him again; which I did, with the result that I +went security for his good conduct myself! No +doubt it was a rash thing to do, but I wanted him +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span>to have another chance, and I impressed on him +how keenly I should feel the disgrace if he did not +run straight. “Very good, lady Sahib; I won’t +disgrace you,” were his last words in his own +language; and he never did. It all turned out like +a story in a book, and two or three times a year +my “Indoo” turned up, bringing a smiling little +wife and an ever-increasing series of babies, to +report himself as being on the high road to fortune, +if not actually at her temple gate. It was one of +the most satisfactory interviews that little back +room witnessed.</p> + +<p>Sometimes I had a very bad quarter of an hour +trying to explain to the relatives of prisoners that +I did not habitually carry the key of the big Jail +in my pocket, and so was unable to go up that +very moment, unlock its door, and let out their, of +course, quite wrongfully tried and convicted friends. +I have often been asked, “Why did you see these +weeping women at all?” but at the time it was +very hard to refuse, for, in so small a community +as it then was, one knew something of the circumstances, +and how hardly the trouble or disgrace +pressed on the innocent members of the family. +Sympathy was all there was to give, and it was +impossible to withhold that.</p> + +<p>Looking back on those interviews one sees how +comedy treads all through life on the heels of +tragedy, and I am sure to a listener the comic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>element, even in the most pathetic tales, would +have been supplied by my legal axioms. I used to +invent them on the spot in the wildest manner, +and I observed they always brought great comfort, +which is perhaps more than can be claimed for the +real thing. For instance, when I was very hard +put to it once to persuade a weeping girl who had +flung herself on her knees at my feet, and was +entreating me to at once release her brother, who +was in prison for manslaughter, that I had no power +to give the order she begged for, I cried, “Why, +my poor girl, the Queen of England could not do +such a thing, how much less the wife of a Governor? +I dare not even speak to my husband on the subject.” +I have often wondered since if the first part +of that assertion was true. The second certainly +was.</p> + +<p>Although I could not promise to overthrow the +action of the Supreme Court in the high-handed +manner demanded of me, still I have never regretted +my habit of seeing these poor women and listening +to their sad stories. It really seemed to comfort +them a little to know how truly sorry I felt for +them, and I always tried to keep up their own self-respect, +and so help them over the dark days. I +had very few demands on me for money, which was +seldom needed for such cases; only when illness—rare +in the beautiful climate—supervened, was that +sort of aid at all necessary.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span></p> +<p>But my interviewers did not invariably consist +of supplicants against the course of justice. When +it was found that a visit to me did not affect in +any way the carrying out of the just-passed sentence, +my petitioners fell off in numbers, for which I was +very thankful. Sometimes I received visits of the +gratitude which is so emphatically a sense of favours +to come, but I very soon learned the futility of +attempting to deal with those daughters of the +horse-leech, and cut their visits as short as I could.</p> + +<p>Once, however, after a brief interview with a fluent +and very red-faced lady, leading a demure little +boy by the hand, a great and bitter cry was raised +in my establishment, and I was implored by my +housemaids not to “see any more of them hussies.” +The lady in question said she came to thank me +for letting her dear, innocent, good little boy out +of the reformatory. In vain I protested that I +knew nothing whatever about the matter. The +boy had been one of six or seven little waifs who +had been sent to the reformatory on Rottnest +Island, where we always spent our summers. These +children used to come down to me every Sunday +afternoon for a sort of Bible lesson, which I tried +to make as interesting as I could; but beyond +their names I knew nothing about them. I found +that they were well taught and cared for, and, as +they could not possibly escape from the island (I +never heard that they had ever tried to do so), +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span>were allowed a good deal of liberty after the hours +spent in school or the carpenter’s shop. I presume +this boy’s sentence had expired in due course, +and that he had returned to his loving mother; +hence the wail from my distracted handmaidens, +who found empty clothes-lines in the back-yard, +through which these visitors had departed, taking +with them all the socks, stockings, and pocket-handkerchiefs +of the whole household. As a feat +of legerdemain it certainly deserves credit for the +rapidity with which it was done, as well as the +way the articles had been hidden so as to escape +the sentries’ eyes. I don’t know what happened +to the lady, who I heard was quickly caught, but +I saw the little boy, looking as cherubic as ever, +the next summer when we went over to Rottnest. +The subject was, however, never alluded to between +us, and he used to get his stick of barley sugar as +did the others after the Bible lesson was ended.</p> + +<p>Once I had a visit from a delightful old gentleman +who certainly possessed the nicest “derangement +of epitaphs” I have ever met with in real +life. And he was so proud of his choice language, +and repeated his distorted expressions so constantly, +that I don’t know how I preserved the +smallest show of gravity. He was an office-keeper +of some sort, and was threatened with the loss +of his post for neglect of duty. “You know, my +lady, it’s with regard to that there orfice fire. I +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span>never did know fires was my special providence, +never. No one could be more partikler than me +about my dooty. Why, when we was over at +Rottnest last year, I was always a prevaricating +with the shore for orders. There was never no +inadvartences about me, never;” and so on. I +wish I could remember half his flowers of rhetoric.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one class of interviewer of +whom I saw far too many specimens during the last +year or two of my stay in Western Australia. The +colony had been making great progress in every +direction. The first indications of its splendid +gold-fields were passing from vague rumours to +hopeful facts. Railways were being rapidly pushed +on to every point of the compass, work at high +wages was plentiful, and every week brought shiploads +of men for the railways and all other public +works. As a rule, I believe, the immigrants were +fairly satisfactory, and I heard of the various contractors +gladly absorbing large numbers of workmen. +In many instances these men brought their +wives and families with them, and it was with the +modern colonist’s wife that my troubles began.</p> + +<p>I had heard wonderful stories of the struggles +and hardships of the early settlers, and admired +the splendid spirit in which the older sons and +daughters started empire-building. One dear old +lady showed me the packing-case of a grand piano, +which she declared she should always treasure, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span>as she had brought up a large and healthy family +in it.</p> + +<p>“You see, my dear, my piano was not much use +to me in those days, and I don’t know what became +of it, but the case made a splendid crêche for the +babies.” And on every side I saw instances of +difficulties overcome and hardships borne with the +same indomitable pluck and cheerfulness. But +the modern colonist’s wife is a very different +lady. We seem to have educated the original +woman off the face of the earth, and we have got +instead a discontented, helpless sort of person, +who is wretched without all the latest forms of +civilisation, who wants “a little ’ome” where she +can put her fans and yellow vases on the walls, +and sit indoors and do crewel work.</p> + +<p>One woman wept scalding tears over the cruel +fate which brought her to a country as yet innocent +of Kindergartens. She had two sweet little girl-babies, +certainly under three years old, who looked +the picture of rosy health. I tried to comfort her +by saying that surely there was no hurry about +their education.</p> + +<p>“Oh no, it’s not the schooling I mind, ma’am,” +she sobbed; “it’s the getting ’em out of the way. +They do mess about so, and I want ’em kept safe +and quiet out of the house.” This elegant lady’s +hardships consisted in being required to go a +hundred miles or so up the railway line to live in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span>a little township, where her husband had highly +paid work. She wished me to tell him that she +could not possibly go away from Perth, though +she despised our little capital very heartily. I +declined to interfere, and told her she ought to +be ashamed of herself, so she ended the interview +by sobbing out that “she did think a lady as was +a lady might feel for her.”</p> + +<p>“And what can I do for you?” was my question +to a neat, rather nervous young woman, who said +she was Mrs. Jakes.</p> + +<p>“Well, mum, would you be so good as to ask his +Excellency to order Mr. ——” (the great contractor +of that day) “to send my ’usband back to me.”</p> + +<p>“Why?” I inquired.</p> + +<p>“Well, mum, Jakes, he wants me to go up the +line ever so far and live in a bush, leastways in a +tent, and I never can do it.”</p> + +<p>“Dear me, why not?” I inquired. “Many of +my friends camp out in the bush, and like it very +much. Why don’t you go?”</p> + +<p>With a deeply disgusted glance at my cheerful +aspect Mrs. Jakes answered with dignity, “I don’t +’old with living among wild beasts, mum, and Jakes +ought to be ashamed of ’isself asking a decent +woman to go and live in bushes with lions and +tigers.”</p> + +<p>As soon as I could speak for laughing, I assured +Mrs. Jakes that the forests of Western Australia +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span>were absolutely innocent of such denizens, but she +did not seem to willingly believe my assertions, +and left me much disappointed at my advice to +go up and join her husband, who was perfectly +well and happy, and working for excellent wages.</p> + +<p>I stopped at that very same road-side station +later, in one of my spring excursions after wild +flowers, and I inquired if Jakes was still working +there. “Yes; he is a capital man, and is now +foreman, getting over two pounds a week.” So +then I asked to be conducted to his tent, which I +found pitched in a lovely sylvan glade, and there, +to my great satisfaction, I saw Mrs. Jakes preparing +his tea. She was fain to confess that bush-life +was very different from her alarming anticipations +of it. She looked ever so much better herself, +and the children, whom I carried off to tea +with me—only on account of the buns—were as +rosy as the dawn.</p> + +<p>Some of my interviews were too sad to be spoken +of here: interviews in which I had often to helplessly +witness the awful creeping back to the +capacity for suffering which is the worst stage in +that long <i lang="fr">viâ dolorosa</i>.</p> + +<p>One terrible night, spent in walking up and down +the shore at Rottnest with a distracted lighthouse-keeper, +who had just heard that his young wife +had been wrecked and lost on her way out to him, +can never be forgotten. The poor man was literally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span>beside himself. His mates brought him down to +me, declaring that they could not manage him, +and felt sure he meant to jump into the sea. There +was not much to be said, so we paced the shore +in the moonlight outside my house in silence. I +did not dare to leave him for a moment, and it was +not until I saw the smoke of the kitchen fire very +early in the morning that I took him indoors, gave +him some hot tea, and made him go and lie down. +He promised me, like a child, “to be good,” and +kept his word bravely—poor, heart-broken mourner.</p> + +<p>And then there was my “loving boy Corny,” a +red-headed imp of mischief, whose mother used, +when he “drove her past her patience,” to bring +him to me to scold. Poor Corny’s mischief was +only animal spirits unemployed, and we became +great friends. The difficulty was to induce Corny +to go to school or to learn anything, but it chanced +that I was going to England for a few months, +and Corny declared himself grieved, so I promised +to write to him regularly, if he would learn to write +to me, which he did with ease, clever little monkey +that he was, and signed himself as above. From +what I knew of Corny I strongly suspect he would +be one of the very first to volunteer for service +in South Africa. Our troublesome boys generally +make splendid “soldiers of the Queen,” and bestow +their troublesomeness on her enemies.</p> + +<p>Instead of interviews, which were seldom or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span>never asked for in the next colonies we went to, +I was assailed by letters, which, however, were +chiefly directed to the Governor, who passed on +some to me to inquire into, though the Inspector-General +of Police made short work of those submitted +to him. A visit from a constable to the +suppliant’s address would generally discover the +existence of a very different state of affairs from +what was represented in the piteous application. +A youthful and starving family, afflicted by +divers strange maladies, would resolve itself into +a comfortable old couple, who could not even be +made the least ashamed of their barefaced imposture.</p> + +<p>The language employed in these begging letters +was of the finest, if not always the most intelligible. +I sometimes wondered in what dictionary they +found the words they used. For instance, here is +a literal copy of what I imagine was meant for a +sort of appeal from a decision on a very barefaced +case of imposture. “We rectitudely beg to recognise +our hesitation of his Excy<sup>s</sup> dogma thereon.”</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most wonderful of these epistles +purported to come from an old woman who begged +for money, and detailed her ill-success in obtaining +an order for a coffin for her daughter, who, she +declared, was “in a ridiculous condition on the +roof of her cottage.” This statement seemed to +open up such a vista of horrors that a mounted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span>policeman was at once despatched to inquire into +the case. It was then found that the young lady +was in rude health and wanted the money for +toilette purposes.</p> + +<p>One of the most unsatisfactory interviews I ever +had was in one of those languid sunny isles. My +interviewer was a nice, pretty young widow, slightly +coloured, who had lost her excellent husband under +very sad and sudden circumstances. Of course, +help was forthcoming for the moment, but it was +suggested that I should try to find out from her +how she could be helped to earn her own living. +She appeared at the stated hour, most beautifully +and expensively dressed, and had charming, gentle +manners. But any one so helpless I never came +across. She seemed to have received a fairly good +education, but to be quite incapable of using it. +I asked if she would undertake the care of little +children. “Oh, no!” she “did not like children.” +Could she set up as a dressmaker? “Oh, no!” +she “did not like dressmaking,” and so on through +every sort of occupation. There were plenty of +openings for any talent of any sort which she might +possess. At last, in despair, I asked if she had +a plan of her own, and it seems she had, but the +plan consisted in my making her a handsome +weekly allowance out of a large fund which she +had been told I had at my disposal. This I energetically +denied, so at last she wound up by asking +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span>if I would order a certain insurance office to pay +her a small sum for which her husband’s life had +been insured. I suggested that no doubt she would +receive the money in due time without my interference. +But she thought not, “Because the +premiums had not been paid lately, as she always +wanted the money for something else.” Dress, I +should think.</p> + +<p>I often wish I had kept any of the wonderful +letters we received upon every sort of subject. +One was addressed to “<span lang="fr">Sa Majesté le Roi de +Trinidad</span>,” and contained a request for a decoration +or order of some unknown kind. Another, +with a similar address, only asked for stamps. +It appeared later that both these epistles were +intended for the other Trinidad, which at present +is only inhabited by hermit-crabs, and certainly +could not be expected to furnish either commodity.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XVI"><abbr title="16">XVI</abbr><br> + +<small>A COOKING MEMORY</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>I often think, as I pass the handsome and substantial +building in Buckingham Palace Road, +known as the National School of Cookery, how +much it has grown and developed since my day, +nearly thirty years ago.</p> + +<p>That was indeed the “day of small things,” +for we started work in a series of sheds, lent by +the trustees of the South Kensington Museum, +in Exhibition Road, near what used to be the +temporary site of the Royal School of Art Needlework. +The idea originated with the late Sir Henry +Cole, and was one of the many excellent plans +he conceived and started. As often happens, the +first outcome of Sir Henry’s scheme proved widely +different from his original intention; but on the +whole there is no doubt that the teaching of the +National School of Cookery has worked a great +improvement in our culinary ideas and knowledge.</p> + +<p>Sir Henry at once gathered a strong working +committee together, including the late Duke of +Westminster, the late Lord Granville, Mr. Hans +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span>Busk, Sir Daniel Cooper, Mr. (Rob Roy) McGregor +and many other experts. I was asked to be the +first Lady Superintendent, to my deep amazement, +for I have never cared in the least what I +ate, provided it was “neat and clean.” I was a +very busy woman in those days, and it seemed +difficult to give the necessary time to the school, +from 10 <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> to 4.30 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> every day except Saturday +afternoon. I have, however, never regretted the +extra work my acceptance entailed, for it was of +incalculable benefit to me to learn Sir Henry Cole’s +method of dealing with subjects, and to watch his +habits of patient attention and care of even the +minutest details.</p> + +<p>We started with very little money to our credit—as +well as I remember, less than two hundred +pounds; but Sir Henry had thorough confidence +in the depth of the purse of the British public. +This confidence was abundantly justified, for want +of money was never one of the difficulties besetting +our earliest efforts towards teaching a +better kind of cooking. We at once set to work +to provide ourselves with really good cooks, and +in this respect we were exceptionally fortunate, +for three out of the five young women we selected +remained with us many years, and indeed they +were all very satisfactory. The only thing I +had to teach them was how to impart their knowledge, +for they jibbed, as it were, at the idea of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span>having to speak aloud, especially to ladies. There +were dreadful moments when I feared I should +never be able to induce them to accompany their +lessons by a few explanatory words, loud enough +to be heard, at every stage of the dish. I acted +a whole benchful of pupils of every grade of ignorance +before them, without eliciting anything beyond +painfully deep blushes or an occasional laugh. +So long as I was the only imaginary pupil we did +not make much progress; but at last I left them +alone, to get on their own way, with just two or +three clever girls as their first pupils, whom I +had previously begged to ask every sort of question +about the very beginning of things.</p> + +<p>It is pleasant to think that my successor—who +is still the lady superintendent of the school—was +one of those same pupils, and so took an +early part in removing one of the greatest difficulties. +In spite of much impatience on the part +of the public, who were, as usual, possessed by +an erroneous idea of what the work of the school +aimed at, we had to devote some weeks to this +same teaching of the teachers, and organisation +of what was to be taught.</p> + +<p>There was no difficulty about providing ranges +and stoves of every sort and kind, for the makers +of such wares offered us numerous samples. It was, +however, necessary for the five cooks to sit in judgment +on each novelty, and decide whether it was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span>worth accepting, for of course we wanted to use +the best sort of cooking apparatus, but yet not +to depart too much from familiar paths. We felt +sure it would be of no use teaching beginners to +cook on a stove or range which, from its costliness +or some other reason, would be rarely met with. +Every sort of cooking utensil was also offered to +us free of expense, besides many and various +kinds of patent fuel; but this latter gift was invariably +declined with thanks by the cooks, who +would have none of it.</p> + +<p>Sir Henry Cole had foreseen that we ought to +begin at the very beginning, so the first thing +taught was how to clean a stove with all its flues, +puzzling little doors, &c. Then it was ordained +that the practical pupil was to be shown how +to clean, quickly and thoroughly, saucepans, fryingpans, +and in short all kitchen utensils. This +was followed by a course of scrubbing tables and +hearths. The morning lessons were devoted generally +to the acquisition of this useful knowledge, +supplemented by little lectures on choosing provisions, +and how to tell good from bad, fresh +from stale, and so forth. In the afternoons—for +the poor cooks had to be given an interval of +rest and refreshment—the lessons were given in +two ways: by demonstration, where the instructor +prepared the dish before her class from the beginning, +and the pupils watched the process and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span>took notes; or else by practical experience, where +they prepared and cooked the dish themselves +under the cook’s superintendence.</p> + +<p>In those early days we attempted the cooking +only of simple food; such as soups and broths, +plain joints, simple entrées, pastry, puddings, +jellies, salads, and such like. One day was set +apart entirely for learning “sick-room cookery,” +and this was found to be very popular, only the +pupils invariably began by asking to be shown +how to make poultices! I soon observed that +each of these very nice cooks of ours excelled in +just <em>one</em> thing, and so they had to fall into line, +as it were, and the soup-lesson would be given +by the expert in soups, and so all through. Fortunately +one dear, nice little woman had a perfect +genius for sick-room cookery, and that day’s +lessons were confided entirely to her. Not one +of them, however, could make really good pastry, +for we aimed at producing the very best of everything +we attempted. I tried in vain to get it right, +until I mentioned my difficulty to Lord Granville, +who at once sent his <i lang="fr">chef</i> down to give private +lessons to the cook whose ideas on pastry were +most nearly what we wanted. This was a great +help and of immense benefit; but I was much +amused when, a week or two after, as I was sitting +in my little office—all very shabby and inconvenient, +but we were too deeply interested to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span>mind trifles—a most elegant young gentleman +appeared, faultlessly attired, and carrying a large +envelope, which, with a beautiful bow, he tendered +to me.</p> + +<p>“What is this?” I inquired.</p> + +<p>“A State Paper on Pastry, Madam,” was the +answer, and the bearer of the important document +proved to be the <i lang="fr">chef</i> himself, who had taken the +trouble to commit his lesson to paper.</p> + +<p>At last everything was ready, and one fine +Monday morning the school opened its doors to a +perfect rush of pupils. We ought to have been +happy, but Sir Henry certainly was not, for these +same pupils were by no means the class he wanted +to get at. Fine ladies of every rank, rich women, +gay Americans in beautiful clothes, all thronged +our kitchens, and the waiting carriages looked as +if a smart party were going on within our dingy +sheds. It was certainly a very curious craze, and +I can answer for its lasting the two years I was +superintendent. I asked many of the ladies why +they insisted on coming to learn how to clean +kitchen ranges and scrub wooden tables, as nothing +short of a revolution could possibly make such +knowledge useful to them, and I received very +curious answers. One friend said it was because of +their Scotch shooting-box, where such knowledge +would come in very handy; but this statement +has never been borne out by any subsequent experience +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span>of my own. Others said they wanted to +set an example. Some stated that their husbands +wished it; but I cannot imagine why, as they +were all people who could afford excellent cooks.</p> + +<p>For a long time we could not get one of the class +we wanted, nor did a single servant come to learn, +though the fees were purposely made as low as +possible—in fact, almost nominal for servants. +We also wished to get hold of the class of young +matron who is represented in <cite>Punch</cite> as timidly +imploring her cook “not to put lumps in the +melted butter,” but even they were very shy of +coming. Sometimes, I think, they were really +ashamed of their stupendous and amazing ignorance, +for it was in that rank we found, when we +did catch one or two, that the most absolute want +of knowledge of the simplest domestic details +existed. Whether or no it is due to the many +schools of cookery which now happily exist all +over Great Britain, I will not venture to say; but +surely it would be impossible nowadays for any +young woman to give me the answer one of our +earliest pupils gave. She was very young and +very pretty, and we all consequently took the +greatest interest in her progress; but alas! she +was privately reported to me as being a most unpromising +subject. One day, when her lesson +was just over, I chanced to meet her and inquired +how she was getting on. She took the most hopeful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span>view, and declared she “knew a lot.” I next +asked her to tell me what she had learned that day.</p> + +<p>“Oh, let me see; we’ve been doing breakfast +dishes, I think.”</p> + +<p>“And what did you learn about them?”</p> + +<p>“I learned”—this with an air of triumph—“that +they are all the same eggs which you poach +or boil. I always thought they were a different +sort of egg, a different <em>shape</em>, you know!”</p> + +<p>I think one of my greatest worries was the way +in which the British middle-class matron regarded +the National School of Cookery as an institution +for supplying her with an excellent cook, possessing +all the virtues as well as all the talents, at very +low wages. Every post brought me sheaves and +piles of letters entering into the minutest details +of the writers’ domestic affairs, and requesting—I +might almost say ordering—me to send them +down next day one of the treasures I was supposed +to manufacture and turn out by the score. In vain +I published notices that the school was not a +registry office, and that no cooks could be “sent +from it.” Sometimes I tried to cope with any +particularly beseeching matron by writing to +explain the nature of the undertaking, and suggesting +that she should send her cook, or <em>a</em> cook, to +learn; but this always made her very indignant. +At last I found the only way to get rid of the +intolerable nuisance of such correspondents was to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span>answer by a lithographed post-card, stating that +the school did not undertake to supply cooks. +This missive appeared to act as a bombshell in +the establishment; for apparently the existing +cook immediately gave warning, eliciting one more +despairing shriek of “See what you have done,” +to me, from the persevering mistress. I was not, +however, so inhuman as to launch this missile until +I had many times said the same thing, either by +letter or by enclosing printed notices of the work +and plan of the school.</p> + +<p>I often wonder we had not more accidents, considering +the crass ignorance of our ladies. Oddly +enough, the only alarming episode came to us +from a girl of the people, one of four who had begged +to be allowed to act as kitchen-maids. Their idea +was a good one, for of course they got their food +all day, and were at least in the way of picking up +a good deal of useful knowledge. These girls also +cleaned up after the class was over, so saving the +poor weary cooks, who early in the undertaking +remarked, with a sigh, “The young ladies do make +such a mess, to be sure!” Well, this girl, who +was very steady and hard-working, but abnormally +stupid, saw fit one morning to turn on the gas in +certain stoves some little time beforehand. The +sheds were so airy—to say the least of it—that +there was not sufficient smell to attract any one’s +attention, and the gas accumulated comfortably +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span>in the stoves until the class started work. It +chanced to be a lesson in cooking vegetables, and +potatoes were the “object.” About twenty-five +small saucepans had been filled with water and +potatoes, and the next step was to put them on to +boil. I was not in that kitchen at the moment, +or I hope I should have perceived the escape, and +have had the common-sense to forbid a match +being struck to light the gas in certain stoves. +But I was near enough to hear a loud “pouf,” +followed by cries of alarm and dismay, and I rushed +in while the potatoes were still in the air, for they +went up as high as ever they could get. Happily +no one was hurt, though a good deal of damage +was done to some of the stoves; but it was a very +narrow escape, owing doubtless to the space and +involuntary ventilation of these same sheds. In +the midst of my alarm I well remember the ridiculous +effect of that rain of potatoes. Every one had +forgotten all about them, and their re-appearance +created as much surprise as though such things +had never existed.</p> + +<p>I am afraid the object of much of the severity +of cleanliness taught in the morning lessons was +to discourage the numerous fine and smart ladies +who beset our doors, though Sir Henry had always +declared it was only to test their intentions. I +always made a round of the kitchens after work +had been started, and it was really touching to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span>see beautiful gowns pinned back and covered by +large coarse aprons, and jewelled hands wielding +scrubbing brushes. Once, as I came round the +corner, I heard one of the cook teachers say to +a fair pupil who was kneeling amid a great slop +of soapy water, and calling upon her to admire the +scrubbing of a kitchen table, “No, my lady, I’m +afraid that won’t do at all. You see her ladyship” +(that was I, <i lang="fr">bien entendu</i>) “is a tiger about +the legs!” I certainly had no idea such was my +character.</p> + +<p>I wonder what has become of all the certificates +gained, with a great deal of trouble and fatigue, +by strict and lengthy examinations, which used +to be so proudly exhibited, framed and glazed, +in stately mansions thirty years ago.</p> + +<p>Of course there were absurd proposals made to +us of all sorts and kinds. It was suggested by +some wiseacres that we should instruct both the +army and navy, to say nothing of the merchant +service. I entreated to be allowed first to teach +the ordinary middle-class cook of the British +Empire, before I soared to the instruction of its +gallant defenders. True, that same cook was a +very shy bird to catch, and I really never caught +her in the two short years of my management; +but I am glad to know that my successor has +since managed to attract and teach the exact +class we always wanted to reach. The odd thing is, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span>that the cooks generally did not want to be taught, +and I have constantly known of lessons being +declined, even when they were offered at the expense +of the mistress. No reason whatever against +the method of the school was given, and the refusal +seemed to spring merely from a dislike to be taught: +“Thank you, ma’am; I had rather not,” being +the general formula. I know of one or two instances +where an excellent teacher had been sent +down from the school by special request to a small +town some thirty miles from London, but when +the various mistresses in the neighbourhood +attempted to form a class of pupils from their own +servants and at their own expense, they were +met on all sides by flat refusals, and assurances +that the cooks would rather give up their situations +than join a cooking class. Those were among +the early and the most disheartening difficulties +of the school. If we could only have infused the +desire for culinary knowledge, which seemed suddenly +to take possession of the ladies, into the +minds of their humbler sisters, how glad we should +have been!</p> + +<p>I cannot conclude this paper without telling of +one of my own most confusing experiences, the +problem of which has never been solved. One +day I received a letter stating that the writer +was most anxious to become a pupil of the school. +It was from a young curate in a distant and out-of-the-way +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span>part of the north (I think) of England. +I never read a more clever and amusing letter, +describing his sufferings in the food line at the +hands of the good woman who “did” for him in +his modest lodging. He was evidently desperate, +and professed himself determined to learn how +to cook, so as to be independent of this dame. +But although I assured him of my profound +sympathy and pity, I had at the same time to +decline him as a pupil, alleging that we did not +teach men at all. Letter after letter followed +this pronouncement of mine, each one droller +than the last, though the poor man was evidently +in deadly earnest all the time. He pleaded and +besought in the most eloquent words, assuring +me of his harmless nature and wishes, offering +to send testimonials as to character, &c., from +his bishop, or his rector’s wife, anything, in short, +that I required to convince me of his worthiness. +I had no time, however, to waste on so fruitless, +though so amusing, a correspondence, and I had +to cut it short, by merely repeating the rule, and +declining peremptorily to go on with the subject. +I had nearly forgotten all about it, when, one +morning, some weeks later, my deputy-superintendent +came into my office and said:—</p> + +<p>“There is such a queer girl among the new +pupils this morning.”</p> + +<p>“Is there? What is she like?” I asked rather +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span>indifferently, for a “queer girl” was by no means +unknown in the crowded classes.</p> + +<p>“Well, she is so big and so awkward, as if she +had never worn petticoats before, and has such +huge hands and feet, and quite short hair with a +cap, and, oh! such a deep voice. But she works +very hard, and is rushing through her lesson at +a great rate.”</p> + +<p>“What is her name?” I asked, as a light seemed +suddenly to dawn on me.</p> + +<p>“Miss—Miss—oh, here it is,” said the deputy-lady, +holding out the counterfoil of her book of +receipts for fees. “She sent me up a post-office +order for the fees some little time ago, but there +was no room for her in any class until to-day.”</p> + +<p>I looked at the name, rather a remarkable one, +though I have quite forgotten it, turned to the +letter-book, and, lo, it was the same as the curate’s! +I did not say anything to my second in command, +but made an opportunity for going into the kitchen +where the “queer girl” would be at work. No +need to ask for her to be pointed out, for a more +singular-looking being I never beheld, working away +with feverish energy. The cook who was giving +the lesson told me afterwards that the dismay of +that pupil was great at being first set to clean +stoves and scrub tables, and that “she” had +piteously entreated, in a deep bass voice, to be +shown at once how to cook a mutton chop. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span>set of lessons were also much curtailed in that +instance, for the queer girl did not appear after +the end of that week, instead of going on for +another fortnight.</p> + +<p>There is every reason to believe that the National +School of Cookery—in which I must always take +a deep interest—is much nearer now to fulfilling +its original design of constant and careful instruction +in the difficult art of cooking than it was +in those early but amusing days, and its many +constant friends and supporters must rejoice to +see how it has emerged from that chrysalis stage +and become a self-supporting concern, doing steady +excellent work in the most unobtrusive manner.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XVII"><abbr title="17">XVII</abbr><br> + +<small>BIRD NOTES</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>A great reaction of feeling in favour of the mongoose +has set in since Mr. Rudyard Kipling’s delightful +story of “Rikki-tikki,” in the “First +Jungle Book,” presenting that small animal in +an heroic and loveable aspect. But to the true +bird-lover the mongoose still appears a dreaded +and dangerous foe. It is well known that its +introduction into Jamaica has resulted in nearly +the extermination of bird life in that island, and +the consequent increase of insects, notably the +diminutive tick, that mere speck of a vicious little +torment.</p> + +<p>There are, I believe, only a very few mongooses +in Barbados, and strong measures will doubtless +be adopted to still further reduce their number; +for no possible advantage in destroying the large +brown rat which gnaws the sugar-cane can make +up for the havoc the mongoose creates in the +poultry yard, and, indeed, among all feathered +creatures. It has also been found by experience +that the mongoose prefers eggs to rats, and will +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span>neglect his proper prey for any sort or size of egg. +He was brought into Jamaica to eat up the large +rat introduced a century ago by a certain Sir +Charles Price (after whom those same brown rats +are still called), instead of which the mongoose +has taken to egg and bird eating, and has thriven +on this diet beyond all calculation. Sir Charles +Price introduced his rat to eat up the snakes with +which Jamaica was then infested, and now that +the mongoose has failed to clear out the rats, +some other creature will have to be introduced +to cope with the swarming and ravenous mongoose.</p> + +<p>It was therefore with the greatest satisfaction I +once beheld in the garden at Government House, +Barbados, the clever manner the birds circumvented +the wiles of a half-tame mongoose which +haunted the grounds.</p> + +<p>Short as is the twilight in those Lesser Antilles, +there was still, at midsummer, light enough left +in the western sky to make it delightful to linger +in the garden after our evening drive. The wonder +and beauty of the hues of the sunset sky seemed +ever fresh, and every evening one gazed with +admiration, which was almost awe, at the marvellous +undreamed of colours glowing on that +gorgeous palette. Crimsons, yellows, mauves, +palest blues, chrysoprase greens, pearly greys, all +blent together as if by enchantment, but changing +as you looked and melting into that deep, indescribable, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span>tropic purple, which forms the glorious +background of the “meaner beauties of the +night.”</p> + +<p>In this same garden there chanced to be a couple +of low swinging seats just opposite a large tree, +which I soon observed was the favourite roosting +place of countless numbers of birds. Indeed, +all the fowls of the air seemed to assemble in its +branches, and I was filled with curiosity to know +why the other trees were deserted. At roosting +time the chattering and chirruping were deafening, +and quarrels raged fiercely all along the branches. +I noticed that the centre of the tree was left empty, +and that the birds edged and sidled out as far +as ever they could get on to its slenderest branches. +All the squabbles arose from the ardent desire with +which each bird was apparently filled to be the +very last on the branch and so the nearest to its +extreme tip. It can easily be understood that +such thin twigs could not stand the weight of +these crowding little creatures, and would therefore +bend until they could no longer cling to it, and so +had to fly off and return to search for another +foothold. I had watched this unusual mode of +roosting for several evenings, without getting any +nearer to the truth than a guess that the struggle +was perhaps to secure a cool and airy bed-place.</p> + +<p>One hot evening, however, we lingered longer +in what the negro gardener called the “swinggers,” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span>tempted by the cool darkness, and putting off +as long as possible the time of lights and added +heat, and swarming winged ants, and moths, and +mosquitoes. We had begun to think how delightful +it would be to have no dinner at all, but +just to stay there, gently swaying to and fro all +night, when we saw a shadow—for at first it seemed +nothing more—dart from among the shadows +around us, and move swiftly up the trunk of the +tree. At first I thought it must be a huge rat, +but my dear companion whispered, “Look at +the mongoose!” So we sat still, watching it +with closest attention. Soon it was lost in the +dense central foliage, and we wondered at the +profound stillness of that swarming mass of birds, +who had not long settled into quiet. Our poor +human, inadequate eyes had, however, become +so accustomed to the gloom by its gradual growth, +that presently we could plainly observe a flattened-out +object stealthily creeping along an out-lying +bough. It was quite a breathless moment, for +no shadow could have moved more noiselessly +than that crawling creature. Even as we watched, +the bough softly and gradually bent beneath the +added weight, but still the mongoose stole onwards. +No little sleeping ball of feathers was +quite within reach, so yet another step must needs +be taken along the slender branch. To my joy +that step was fatal to the hopes of the brigand +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span>beast, for the bough dipped suddenly, and the +mongoose had to cling to it for dear life, whilst +every bird flew off with sharp cries of alarm which +effectually roused the whole population of the +ærial city, and the air was quite darkened round +the tree by fluttering, half-awakened birds.</p> + +<p>It was plain now to see the reason of the proceedings +which had so puzzled me, and once more +I felt inclined to—as the Psalmist phrases it—“lay +my hand on my mouth and be still,” in +wonder and admiration of the adaptable instincts +of birds. How long had it taken these little helpless +creatures to discover that their only safety +lay in just such tactics, and what sense guided +them in choosing exactly the one tree which possessed +slender and yielding branch-tips which +were yet strong enough to support their weight? +They were just settling down again when horrid +clamorous bells insisted on our going back into +a hot, lighted-up house, and facing the additional +miseries of dressing and dinner. Though we +carefully watched that same tree and its roosting +crowds for many weeks, we never again saw the +mongoose attempt to get his supper there, so I +suppose he must also be credited with sufficient +cleverness to know when he was beaten.</p> + +<p>A Toucan does not often figure in a list of tame +birds, and I cannot conscientiously recommend +it as a pet. Mine came from Venezuela and was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</span>given to me soon after our arrival in Trinidad. It +must have been caught very young, for it was +perfectly tame, and, if you did not object to its +sharp claws, would sit contentedly on your hand. +The body was about as big as that of a crow, but +it may be described as a short, stout bird, with a +beak as large as its body. Upon the shining surface +of this proboscis was crowded all the colours +certainly of the rainbow, blended in a prismatic +scale. The toucan’s plumage would be dingy if +it were not so glossy, and it was of a blue-black +hue with white feathers in the wings and just a +little orange under the throat to shade off the +bill, as it were. Some toucans have large fleshy +excrescences at the root of the bill, but this one and +those I saw in Trinidad had not.</p> + +<p>The toucan was, however, an amiable and, at +first, a silent bird. He lived in a very large cage, +chiefly on fruit, and tubbed constantly. But the +curious and amusing thing was to see him preparing +to roost, and he began quite early, whilst +other birds were still wide awake. The first thing +was to carefully cock up—for it was a slow and +cautious proceeding—his absurd little scut of a +tail which was only about three or four inches +long. This must in some way have affected his +balance, for he never moved on the perch after +the tail had been laid carefully back. Then, later +in the evening, he gently turned the huge unwieldy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</span>bill round by degrees, until it too was laid along +his back and buried in feathers in the usual bird +fashion. By the way, I have always wondered +how and why the myth arose that birds sleep +with their heads <em>under</em> their wings? A moment’s +thought or observation would show that it is quite +as impossible a feat for a bird as for a human being. +However, the toucan’s sleeping arrangements resulted +in producing an oval mass of feathers supported +on one leg, looking as unlike a bird as it +is possible to imagine. When he was ruthlessly +awakened by a sudden poke or noise, which I +grieve to state was often done—in my absence, +needless to say—I heard that he invariably tumbled +down in a sprawling heap, being unable to adjust +the balance required by that ponderous bill all +in a moment.</p> + +<p>For many months after his arrival the toucan +was at least an unobjectionable pet and very +affectionate. He used to gently take my fingers +in his large gaudy bill and nibble them softly +without hurting me, but I never could help thinking +what a pinch he might give if he liked. His inoffensive +ways, however, only lasted while he was +very young, for in due course of time he began to +utter discordant yells and shrieks, especially during +the luncheon hour. This could not be borne, and +the house-steward—a most dignified functionary—used +to advance towards the cage in a stately manner +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</span>with a tumbler of water concealed behind his +back which he would suddenly fling over the +screaming bird. The toucan soon learned what +Mr. V.’s appearance before his cage meant, and +always ceased his screaming at the mere sight of +an empty tumbler. These sudden douches, or else +his adolescence, must have had a bad effect on +his temper, for he could no longer be petted and +played with, and any finger put within reach of +his bill suffered severely. Then he got ill, poor +bird, and the Portuguese cook was called in to +doctor him. But the remedies seemed so heroic +that I determined to send the toucan away. I +could not turn him loose in the garden on account +of his piercing screams, so he was caught when +asleep, packed in a basket, and conveyed to the +nearest high woods, where he was set at liberty, +and I can only hope he lived happy ever after, +as a less gaudy and beauteous variety of toucan +is to be found in those virgin forests.</p> + +<p>As might naturally be expected, there are many +beautiful birds in the large botanical gardens of +Trinidad in the midst of which Government House +stands. It used to be a great delight to me to +watch the darting orioles flash past in all their +golden beauty, and some lovely, brilliantly blue, +birds were also occasionally to be seen among +the trees. I was given some of these, but alas! +they never lived in captivity, and after one or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</span>two unsuccessful efforts I always let them out of +the cage. The ubiquitous sparrow was there of +course, and so was a rather larger black and yellow +bird called the “qu’est-ce que dit?” from its +incessant cry.</p> + +<p>In these gardens the orioles built their large +clumsy nests of dried grass without any precaution +against surprises; but I was told that in the interior +of the island, where snakes abound, the “corn-bird”—as +he is called up-country—has found it +expedient to hang his nest at the end of a sort +of grass rope some six feet long. This forms a +complete protection against snakes, as the rope +is so slightly put together that no wise serpent +would trust himself on it. Sometimes the oriole +finds he has woven too large a nest, so he half fills +it with leaves, but after heavy rains these make +the structure so heavy that it often falls to the +ground, and from this cause I became possessed +of one or two of these nests with their six or eight +feet of dangling rope. Anything so quaint as +these numerous nests swinging from the topmost +branches of lofty trees cannot well be imagined. +It is impossible to reach them by climbing or +in any other way except shooting away the slender +straw rope, which rifle-feat might surely rank +with winning the Queen’s Prize at Bisley!</p> + +<p>It has always interested me to examine birds’ +nests in the different colonies to which the wandering +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</span>star of my fate has led me, and I have observed +a curious similarity between the houses made +with and without hands. For instance, take a +bird’s nest in England, where human habitations +are solid and carefully finished, and you will see +an equal finish and solidity in the neatly constructed +nest with its warm lining and lichen-decorated +exterior. Then look at a bird’s nest in a colony +with its hastily constructed houses made of any +slight and portable material. You will find the +majority of birds’ nests equally makeshift in character +and style, just loosely put together anyhow +with dried grass, and evidently only meant for +temporary use. I saw one such nest of which the +back must have tumbled out, for a fresh leaf had +been neatly sewn over the large hole with fibre. +In strong contrast, however, to such hastily constructed +bird-dwellings was a nest of the “schneevögel” +which came to me from the foot of the +Drakenberg Mountains in Natal. Beautifully made +of sheep’s wool, it had all the consistency of fine felt. +It was a small hanging nest, but what I delighted +in was the little outside pocket in which the father +of the family must have been wont to sit. The +mouth of that nest was so exceedingly small that +at first I thought that no bird bigger than a bee +could possibly have fitted into it, but I found that +it expanded quite easily, so elastic was the material. +One could quite picture the domestic comfort, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</span>especially in so cold and inhospitable a region, +of that tiny <i lang="fr">ménage</i>.</p> + +<p>I always longed to make a journey to the north-west +of Western Australia expressly to see the +so-called “bower-bird” at play. This would have +necessitated very early rising on my part, however, +for only at dawn does this bird—not the +true bower-bird, by any means—come out of his +nest proper, and lie on his back near the heap +of snail shells, &c. which he has collected in front +of his hastily thrown-up wind-shelter, to play with +his toys. It is marvellous the distance those +birds will carry anything of a bright colour to +add to their heap, and active quarrels over a +brilliant leaf or berry have been observed. A +shred of red flannel from some explorer’s shirt +or blanket is a priceless treasure to the bower-bird +and eagerly annexed. But the wind-shelter of +coarse grass always seemed to me quite as curious +as the heap of playthings. The photographs +show me these shelters as being somewhat pointed +in shape, very large in proportion to the bird, and +with an opening something like the side-door in +a little old-fashioned English country church. +This habit of hastily throwing up wind-shelters +is not confined to this bird only. I was given +some smaller birds from the interior of Western +Australia, and at the season of the strong north-west +gales—such a horrible, hot wind as that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</span>was—I found my little birds loved to have a lot +of hay thrown into their big cage with which in +a single morning they would build a large construction +resembling a huge nest, out of all proportion +to their size. At first I thought it was +an effort at nest-building, but as they constantly +pulled it to pieces, and never used it except in a +high wind, it was plain to see that their object +was only to obtain a temporary shelter.</p> + +<p>Next to the brilliant Gouldian finches, which, +by the way, were called “painted finches” locally, +I loved the small blue-eyed doves from the north-west +of Australia better than any other of my +feathered pets. These little darlings lived by +themselves, and from the original pair given to +me I reared a large and numerous family. They +were gentle and sweet as doves should be, of a +lovely pearl-grey plumage, with not only blue +eyes, but large turquoise-blue wattles round them, +so that the effect they made was indeed blue-eyed. +They met with a tragic fate, for I turned some +eight or ten pair loose in the large garden grounds +of the Perth Government House. Alas! within +a week of their being set at liberty not one was +left. They were much too confidingly tame to +fend for themselves in this cold and cruel world. +Half-wild cats ate some, hawks pounced on others, +but the saddest of all the sudden deaths arose +from their love of me. Whenever I was to be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</span>seen, even inside the house, a dove would fly to +me and dash itself against the plate-glass windows, +falling dead in the verandah. They did not seem +able to judge distance at all, and it was grievous +to know they met their death through their devotion +to their mistress and friend.</p> + +<p>A dozen miles to windward, opposite the flourishing +port of Freemantle, Western Australia, lies +a little island with a lighthouse on it, known on +charts and maps as Rottnest. It is astonishing +what a difference of temperature those few miles +out to sea make, and on this tiny islet was our +delightful summer home, for one of the earliest +governors had built, years before, a little stone +house on a charming site looking across the +bay.</p> + +<p>I was comparatively petless over there, for I +could not well drag large cages of birds about +after me, when it was difficult enough to convey +chickens and ducks across the somewhat stormy +channel, so I hailed with delight the offer, made +by a little island boy, of a half-fledged hawk, as +tame as it is in a hawk’s nature to be. There +was no question of a cage, and I am sure “Alonzo” +would not have submitted to such an indignity +for a moment, so he was established on a perch +in a sheltered corner of the upstair verandah outside +my bedroom door. I fed him at short intervals—for +he was very voracious—with raw meat, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</span>and he took rapid gulps from a saucer of water; +but he sat motionless on his perch all day, only +coming on my hand for his meals. This went on +for two or three weeks, when one morning at +earliest daylight I heard an unusual noise in the +verandah, and just got out in time to see my little +hawk spreading his wings and sailing off into +space. He had, however, been wise enough to +devour all the meat left in readiness for his breakfast. +Of course I gave him up for lost and went +back to bed thinking sadly of the ingratitude +and heartlessness of hawk nature. I certainly +never expected to see my bird again, but a few +hours later, as I was standing in the verandah, +I stretched out my hand as far as I could reach, +when lo! the little hawk dropped like a stone +from the cloudless blue and sat on my arm as +composedly as if he had never left the shelter of +his home. It is needless to say that the return +of the prodigal called forth the same rapturous +greeting and good dinner as of yore. After that +it became an established custom that I should every +evening put a saucer of chopped-up raw meat +on a table in the verandah just outside my window, +and a pannikin of water to serve for the hawk’s +early breakfast, but he foraged for himself all +day, coming back at dusk to roost in the verandah. +It was curious to watch his return, for he generally +made many attempts before he could hit off the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</span>exact slope of the roof so as to get beneath it. +After each failure he would soar away out of sight, +but only to return and circle round the house +until he had determined how low to stoop, and +then like a flash he darted beneath the projecting +eaves. Apparently it was necessary to make but +the one effort, for there was no popping in and +out or uncertainty, just one majestic swoop, and +he would be on his perch, as rigid and unruffled +as though he had never left it.</p> + +<p>When our delicious summer holiday was over, +and the day of return to the mainland fixed, it +became an anxious question what to do with the +hawk. To take him with us was of course out of +the question, but to leave him behind was heart-rending. +Not only should I miss the accustomed +clatter of saucer and pannikin at earliest streak +of dawn, but not once did I ever hold my hand +out during the day that he did not drop on it at +once. He never could have been far off, although +no eye could follow him into the deep blue dome +where he seemed to live, poised in the dazzling +sunshiny air. But “Alonzo” settled the question +for himself a couple of days before we left, by +suddenly deserting his old home and leaving his +breakfast untouched. We watched in vain for +his return on two successive evenings, nor did he +drop on my hand for the last two days of our +stay. I then remembered that on the last evening +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</span>he had come home to roost I had noticed another +hawk with him, and rather wondered if he intended +to set up an establishment in the verandah. But +I suppose the bride-elect found fault with the +situation, and probably said that, though well +enough for a bachelor, it was not suitable for +the upbringing of a family, and so the new +home had to be started in a more secluded +spot, and the sheltering roof knew its wild guest +no more.</p> + +<p>I am afflicted with a cockatoo! I can’t “curse +him and cast him out,” for in the first place I +love him dearly, and in the next he is a sort of +orphan grandchild towards whom I have serious +duties and responsibilities. And then he arrived +at such a moment, when every heart was softened +by the thought of the Soudan Campaign with +its frightful risks and dangers. How could one +turn away a suppliant cockatoo who suddenly +and unexpectedly presented himself on the eve +of the Battle of Omdurman, with a ticket to say +his owner had gone up to the front and he was +left homeless in Cairo? It would have been +positively brutal, and then he was the friendliest +of birds! No shyness or false pride about <em>him</em>. +He had already invited my pretty little cook to +“kiss him and love him,” and was paying the +housemaid extravagant compliments when I appeared +on the scene. To say he flew into his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</span>grandmother’s arms is but feebly to express the +dutiful warmth of his greeting. In less than ten +minutes that artful bird had taken complete possession +of the small household, and assumed his +place as its head and master. Ever since that +moment he has reigned supreme, and I foresee that +he will always so reign.</p> + +<p>But he certainly is the most mischievous and +destructive of his mischievous species. Nothing +is safe from his sudden and unexpected fits of +energy. I first put him in a little conservatory +where he had light and air, and the cheerful society +of other birds. This plan, however, only worked +for two or three days. One Sunday morning I +was awakened by ear-piercing shrieks and yells +from Master Cockie, only slightly softened by +distance. These went on for some time until I +perceived a gradual increase of their jubilant note, +which I felt sure betokened mischief, so I hastily +got myself into a dressing-gown and slippers and +started off to investigate what trouble was “toward.” +It was so early that the glass doors were still shut, +and I was able to contemplate Master Cockie’s +manœuvres unseen. The floor of the little greenhouse +was strewn with fern-leaves, for gardening, +or rather pruning, had evidently been his first +idea. The door of his travelling cage—which I +had left overnight securely fastened—lay flat on +the pavement, and Cockie with extended wings +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</span>was solemnly executing a sort of <i lang="fr">pas seul</i> in front +of another cage divided by partitions, in which +dwelt a goldfinch and a bullfinch side by side. Both +doors were wide open and the bullfinch’s compartment +was empty, but the goldfinch was crouched, +paralysed with terror, on the floor of his abode. +He evidently wanted to get out very badly, but +did not dare to pass the yelling doorkeeper, who +apparently was inviting the trembling little bird +to come forth. The instant the artful villain +perceived me, he affected perfect innocence and +harmlessness, returning instantly to his cage, +and commencing his best performance of a flock +of sheep passing, doubtless in order to distract +my attention. How could one scold with deserved +severity a mimic who took off not only the barking +dogs and bleating sheep, but the very shuffle of +their feet, and the despairing cry of a lost lamb. +And he pretended great joy when the bullfinch—more +dead than alive—at last emerged from the +shelter of a thick creeper where he had found +sanctuary, asking repeatedly after his health in +persuasive tones.</p> + +<p>I gave up the cage after that and established +him on a smart stand in the dining-room window; +for I found that the birds in the conservatory +literally could not bear the sight of him. A light +chain securely fastened on his leg promised safety, +but he contrived to get within reach of my new +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</span>curtains and rapidly devoured some half-yard or +so of a hand-painted border which was the pride +of my heart. Then came an interval of calm and +exemplary behaviour which lulled me into a false +security. Cockie seemed to have but one object +in life, which was to pull out all his own feathers, +and by evening the dining-room often looked as +though a white fowl had been plucked in it. I +consulted a bird doctor, but as Cockie’s health +was perfectly good, and his diet all that could be +recommended, it was supposed he only plucked +himself for want of occupation, and firewood was +recommended as a substitute. This answered very +well, and he spent his leisure in gnawing sticks of +deal; only when no one chanced to be in the room +he used to unfasten the swivel of his chain, leave +it dangling on the stand, and descend in search +of his playthings. When the fire had not been +lighted I often found half the coals pulled out of +the grate, and the firewood in splinters. At last, +with warmer weather, both coals and wood were +removed, so the next time Master Cockie found +himself short of a job he set to work on the dining-room +chairs, first pulled out all their bright nails, +and next tore holes in the leather, through which +he triumphantly dragged the stuffing!</p> + +<p>At one time he went on a visit for some weeks +and ate up everything within his reach in that +friendly establishment. His “bag” for one afternoon +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</span>consisted of a venerable fern and a large +palm, some library books, newspapers, a pack +of cards, and an armchair. And yet every one +adores him, and he is the spoiled child of more +than one family.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XVIII"><abbr title="18">XVIII</abbr><br> + +<small>HUMOURS OF BIRD LIFE</small></h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Birds in their little nests agree.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Dr. Watts, though doubtless an excellent and +estimable divine, must have had but little experience +of the ways and manners of birds when he +wrote this oft-quoted line. Birds are really the +most quarrelsome and pugnacious creatures amongst +themselves, though they are capable of great affection +and amiability towards the human beings +who befriend them.</p> + +<p>I have always been a passionate bird-lover, +and have had opportunities of keeping, in what I +hope and believe has been a comfortable captivity, +many and various kinds of birds in different lands. +My first experience of an aviary on a large and +luxurious scale was in Mauritius, many years ago, +and was brought about by the gift of a magnificent +and enormous cage, elaborately carved by Arab +workmen. It was more like a small temple than +anything else. But the first steps to be taken +were to make it, so to speak, bird-proof, for the +ambitious architect had left many openings in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</span>his various minarets and turrets, through which +birds could easily have escaped.</p> + +<p>Regarded as a cage it was not a success, for +it was really difficult to see the birds through the +profuse ornamentation of the panelled sides. However, +I stood it in a wide and sunny verandah, +and proceeded to instal the birds I already possessed +in this splendid dwelling. I had brought +some beautiful little blue and fawn-coloured finches +from Madeira, and I had a few canaries. Gifts +of other birds soon arrived from all quarters; a +sort of half-bred canary from Aden—there were a +dozen of those—and many pretty little local birds. +I made them as happy as I could with endless +baths, and gave them, besides the ordinary bird +seed, bunches of native grasses, and even weeds +in blossom, which they greedily ate. The little +Aden birds would not look at water for bathing +purposes. They came from a “dry and thirsty +land, where no water is,” and evidently regarded +it as a precious beverage to be kept for drinking. +They had to be accommodated with little heaps +of finely powdered earth, in which they disported +themselves bath-fashion, to the deep amazement +of the other birds.</p> + +<p>But how those birds quarrelled! At roosting-time +they all seemed to want one particular spot +on one particular perch, and nothing else would +do. All day long they quarrelled over their baths +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</span>and their food, and the only advantage of the +ample space they enjoyed was to give them more +room to chase each other about. They all insisted +on using one especial bath at the same moment, +and would not look at any other, though all the +baths were exactly alike. One fine day a batch +of tiny parrakeets from a neighbouring island +arrived, and I congratulated myself on having at +last acquired some amiable members of my bird +community. Such gentle creatures were never seen. +With their pale-green plumage and the little grey-hooded +heads which easily explained their name +of “capuchin,” they made themselves quite happy +in one of the many domes or cupolas of the Arab +cage. In a few days, however, a mysterious ailment +broke out among all the other birds. Nearly +every bird seemed suddenly to prefer going about +on one leg. This did not surprise me very much +at first, as the mosquitoes used to bite their little +legs cruelly, and I was always contriving net +curtains, &c., to keep these pests out. At last +it dawned on me that many of the canaries had +actually only one leg. An hour’s careful watching +showed me a parrakeet sidling up to a canary, +and after feigning to be deeply absorbed in its +own toilet, preening each gay wing-feather most +carefully, the little wretch would give a sudden +swift nip at the slender leg of its neighbour, and +absolutely bite it off then and there. Of course +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</span>I immediately turned the capuchins out of the +cage with much obloquy, but too late to save +several of my poor little pets from a one-legged +existence.</p> + +<p>I had also several parrots and cockatoos, but +they had to be kept as much as possible out of +earshot, for their eldritch yells and shrieks were +too great an addition to the burden of daily life +in a tropic land.</p> + +<p>There was one small grey and red parrot, however, +from the West Coast of Africa, which was different +from the ordinary screaming green and yellow +bird. This was certainly the cleverest little +creature of its kind I have ever seen. Dingy and +shabby as to plumage, and with a twisted leg, +its powers of mimicry were unsurpassed. It picked +up everything it heard directly, and my only +regret was that it appeared to forget its phrases +very quickly. Before it had been two days in +the house it took me in half-a-dozen times by +imitating exactly the impatient peck at a glass +door of some tame peacocks, who always invited +themselves to “five o’clock-er.” I used to go +to the door and open it; of course to find no +peacocks there, for they were punctuality itself, +and never came near the house at any other time. +After the pecks—exactly reproduced as if on +glass—came an impatient note, followed by the +exact cry of an indignant peacock. I believe +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</span>that grey parrot had the utmost contempt for +my mental powers, and delighted in victimising me.</p> + +<p>I was a constant sufferer in those days from +malarial fever, and when convalescent and comfortably +settled on my sofa in the drawing-room, +the parrot would first gently cough once or twice, +then sigh, and finally, in a weak voice, call “<span lang="fr">Garde, +Garde</span>.” This was to a functionary who lived in +the deep verandahs, and whose mission in life +seemed to be the regulating of the heavy outside +blinds made of split bamboo. The next sound +would be the awkward shuffling of heavy boots +(for the “<span lang="fr">Garde</span>” usually went barefoot, except +when in uniform and on duty), followed by +“Madame.” Then my voice again, “<span lang="fr">Levez le +rideau</span>.” “<span lang="fr">Bien, Grande Madame</span>.” Then you +heard the creak of the pulleys as the curtain was +raised, followed by the <span lang="fr">Garde’s</span> tramping away +again, all exactly imitated.</p> + +<p>The A.D.C.’s way of calling his “boy” (generally +a middle-aged man) was also faithfully rendered, +beginning in a very mild and amiable voice, rising +louder as no “boy” answered, and finally a stentorian +“boy” produced a very frightened and +hurried “<span lang="fr">’Ci, Monsieur le Capitaine, ’ci.</span>” I grieve +to say this performance generally ended with a +confused and shuffling sound as of a scrimmage.</p> + +<p>There used also to be an orderly on duty outside +the Governor’s office, who, once upon a time, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</span>was afflicted with a violent cold in his head. This +malady, and his primitive methods of dealing with +it, made him a very unpleasant neighbour, so +his Excellency requested the Private Secretary +to ask for another orderly <em>without</em> a cold in his +head. Of course this was immediately done, and +the desired change made, but not before Miss +Polly had taken notes. Next day I was startled +by the most violent outburst of sneezing and +coughing in the verandah, followed by other trying +sounds. I next heard a plaintive and deeply +injured voice from the Governor’s office—it must +be remembered that every door and window is +always wide open in a tropic house.</p> + +<p>“I thought I asked for that man to be changed.”</p> + +<p>This brought the Private Secretary hurriedly +out of his room, to be confronted by a small grey +parrot, who wound up the performance by a sort +of sob of exhaustion, and “<span lang="fr">Ah! mon Dieu!</span>” the +real orderly standing by, looking as if he was +considering whether or no he ought to arrest the +culprit.</p> + +<p>One likes to have parrots walking about quite +tame, free and unfettered, but it is an impossibility +if a garden or any plants are within reach, for the +temptation to go round and nip off every leaf +and blossom, and even stem, seems irresistible to +a parrot or a cockatoo.</p> + +<p>Soon after I went to Western Australia, in 1883, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</span>I was given a pair of beautiful cockatoos called +by the natives “Jokolokals.” They did not talk +at all, but were lovely to look at, and as they had +never been kept in a cage and were reared from +the nest, they were perfectly tame and their +plumage most beautiful, of a soft creamy white, +with crest and wing-lining of an indescribable +flame tint. I never saw such exquisite colouring, +and they looked charming on the grass terraces +during the day, and for a while roosted peaceably +in a low tree at night.</p> + +<p>But one morning, early, I was told the head-gardener +wished to speak to me, and he was with +difficulty induced to postpone the interview until +after breakfast. I tremble to think what the +expression of that grim Scotch countenance would +have been at first! It was quite severe enough +when I had to confront him a couple of hours +later. The Jokolokals had employed a long bright +moonlight night in gardening among the plants +with which the many angles and corners of the +wide verandahs were filled, and such utter ruin as +they had wrought, especially among the camellias! +Not only had every blossom been nipped off, but +they had actually gnawed the stems through, +and few pots presented more than an inch or two +of stalk to my horrified eyes. After that—on +the principle of the steed and the stable-door—the +beautiful villains were put in a large aviary +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</span>out of doors, and revenged themselves by awaking +me every morning at daylight by fiendish yells. +The gardener’s cottage was out of earshot.</p> + +<p>I had also a very large cage of canaries, in which +they lived and multiplied exceedingly. In a country +where there are no song-birds a canary is much +prized, and every year I gave away a great many +young birds. There was also another large cage +with small (and very quarrelsome) finches, including +many brilliant Gouldian finches from the +North-west (they call them Painted finches there), +a tiny zebra-marked finch, and many different +little birds kindly brought to me from Singapore +and other places.</p> + +<p>However, to return for a moment to the cockatoos. +The large white Albany cockatoo, which has a very +curved beak and wide pale-blue wattles round the +eye, talks admirably, and is easily tamed if taken +young. In spite of its ferocious beak it is really +quite gentle, and mine—for I had several—were +only too affectionate, insisting on more petting +and notice than I always had time to bestow.</p> + +<p>There were often garden-parties in the lovely +grounds of the Government House at Perth, and +at one of the later ones some of my guests came to +me complaining, as it were, of the weird utterances +of the Albany cockatoo, who lived with other +parrots in a kind of wire pagoda among the vines. +“What does he say?” I asked laughingly. “He +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</span>wants to know if we like birds,” was the answer. +So I immediately went down to the cage, and +was at once asked by the cockatoo in a very earnest +voice, “Do you like birds?” Alas for the want +of originality in the human race! He had heard +exactly that remark made by <em>every</em> couple who +came up to the cage, and had adopted it. My +little son taught that bird to call me “Mother,” +and it never used the word to any one else. If +I ever passed the cage without stopping to play +with or pet the cockatoos, I was greeted with +indignant cries of “Mother,” which generally +brought me back, and the moment I opened the +door the big cockatoo would throw himself on his +back on the gravel floor, that I might put the +point of my shoe on his breast and rub his back +up and down the gravel. I never could understand +why they all loved that mode of petting.</p> + +<p>But the Australian magpie is one of the most +delightful pets, and can be trusted to walk about +loose, as he does not garden. “Break-of-day-boys” +is their local name, and it fits them admirably. +At earliest dawn only do you hear the +sweet clear whistle which is their native note. +They learn to whistle tunes easily and correctly, +but nothing can be compared to their own note. +They are exactly like the English magpie in appearance, +only a little larger. I had a very tame +one, which had been taught to lie on its back on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</span>a plate with its legs held stiffly up as if it were +dead. I have a photograph of it in that attitude, +and no one will believe me when I assure them +the bird was alive; not even its open and roguish +eye will convince them. I only wish the sceptics +had been by when I clapped my hands to signify +that the performance was over, and Mag jumped +up like a flash of lightning and made for the nearest +human foot, into the instep of which she would +dig her bill viciously. It must have been her idea +of revenge, for she never did so at any other time; +and she scattered the spectators pretty swiftly, I +assure you.</p> + +<p>Dear, clever Mag was lost or stolen just before +we left Perth. I intended to have brought her to +England, but one morning I was informed by the +sentry that he could not see her anywhere, and +she always kept near him. Further and anxious +inquiries elicited that she had been observed following +a newspaper boy near the back-gate. The +police were communicated with, and the result +was my being confronted at all hours of the day +and night by an indignant and rumpled magpie +tied up in a pocket-handkerchief, who loudly protested +that we were absolute strangers to each +other. And so we were, for among the numerous +arrests made of suspicious characters among magpies, +not one turned out to be my poor Maggie.</p> + +<p>But I must not loiter too long over my West +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</span>Australian aviary, in spite of the great temptation +to dwell on those dear distant days. I brought +a small travelling-cage of Gouldian and other lovely +finches from the neighbourhood of Cambridge Gulf +home with me. What I suffered with that cage +during a storm in the Bay of Biscay no tongue can +tell. However, they all reached London in safety, +and in due time were taken out—also with great +personal trouble and difficulty—to Trinidad. Here +they were luxuriously established in four large +wired compartments over the great porch of +Government House. No birds could have been +happier. The finches had one compartment all +to themselves, so had the canaries; whilst the +laughing jackass, another Australian magpie, and +a beautiful Indian hill mynah occupied a third +compartment, the fourth being brilliantly filled +by troupials, morichés, and sewing crows from +Venezuela, besides many lovely local birds of +exquisite plumage.</p> + +<p>In each compartment stood large boxes and +tubs filled with growing shrubs, whilst creepers, +brought up from the luxuriant growth at the +pillars below, were twined in the fine meshes of +the netting. Of course there were perches and +nests, all sizes and at differing heights. It was +really one man’s business to attend to them, but +they were beautifully kept. Every morning the +grasscutter brought in a large bunch of the waving +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</span>plume-like seed of the tall guinea grass; and they +had plenty of fresh fruit, in which they greatly +delighted. Of course they quarrelled over it all, +and a fierce battle would rage over half an orange, +of which the other half was utterly neglected.</p> + +<p>The canaries led a commonplace existence and +had only one adventure. I had noticed that for +some few weeks past the numbers of these little +birds seemed rather to diminish than increase at +their usual rapid rate. But I saw so many hens +sitting on nests very high up that I accounted +for the small number in that way. However, one +day a perch fell down, and the black attendant +went into the cage with a tall ladder to replace it. +Presently I heard a great scrimmage and many +“Hi! my king!” and other agitated ejaculations, +which soon brought me to the spot. It was indeed +no wonder that my poor little birds had been +disappearing mysteriously, for there was a large, +well-fed, but harmless snake. It must have got +in through the mesh when quite young and small, +but had now grown to such stout proportions +that escape through the wire netting—which would +only admit the very tip of my fourth finger—was +impossible, and it was easily slain. The snake +was found coiled on a ledge too high up to be +easily perceived from below.</p> + +<p>Soon after that episode the little finches underwent +a sad and startling experience. One morning +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</span>the coachman brought me in a beautiful little bird +of brilliant plumage which I had never seen before. +It had been caught in the saddle-room, and was +certainly a lovely creature, though unusually +wild and terrified. However, I was so accustomed +to new arrivals soon making themselves perfectly +at home and becoming quite tame, that I turned +the splendid stranger into the finches’ compartment +with no misgivings, and went away, leaving +them to make friends, as I hoped. About half-an-hour +later I passed the tall French window, +carefully netted in, which opened on the corridor, +and through which I could always watch my little +pets unperceived. My attention was attracted +by two or three curious little feathered lumps on +the gravelled floor. On closer examination these +proved to be the heads of some of my especial +favourites, which the new arrival (a member of +the Shrike family, as I discovered too late) had +hastily twisted off. Besides these murders he had +found time to go round the nests and turn out all +the eggs and young birds. My dismay and horror +may be imagined, but I could not stop, for luncheon +and guests were waiting. I hastily begged a tall +Irish orderly who was on duty in the hall to catch +the new-comer and let him go. Now this man loved +my birds quite as much as I did, and seemed to +spend all his leisure-time in foraging for them. +They owed him many tit-bits in the shape of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</span>wasps’ larvæ or the nursery of an ants’ nest nicely +stocked, or some delicacy of that sort. There was +only time for a hurried order, received in grim +silence, but when I was once more free and able +to inquire how matters had been settled, all I +could get out of O’Callaghan was: “I’ve larned +him to wring little birds’ necks.”</p> + +<p>“Did you catch him easily?” I inquired.</p> + +<p>“Quite easily, my lady, and <em>I</em> larned him.” +This in a voice trembling with rage.</p> + +<p>“What have you done to him?” No answer +at first, only a murmur.</p> + +<p>“But I want to know what has happened to +that bird,” I persisted.</p> + +<p>“Well, my lady, I’ve larned him;”—a pause; +“I’ve wrunged <em>his</em> neck.”</p> + +<p>So in this way rough and ready justice had been +meted out to the wrong-doer very speedily.</p> + +<p>Perhaps of all my birds the one I called the +Sewing Crow was the most amusing. It was a +glossy black bird about the size of a thrush, with +pale yellow tail and wing-feathers, and curious +light blue eyes with very blue rims. It was brought +from Venezuela, and its local Spanish name means +“The Rice-bird,” but it never specially affected +rice as food, preferring fruit and mealworms. I +had several of these crows, but one was particularly +tame, and rambled about the house seeking for +sewing materials. I found it once or twice <em>inside</em> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</span>a large workbag full of crewels, where it had gone +in search of gay threads, with which it used to +decorate the wire walls of an empty cage kept +in the verandah outside my own sitting-room. +The extraordinary patience and ingenuity of that +bird in passing the wool through the meshes of +the wire can hardly be described. I suppose it +was a reminiscence of nest-building, because it +always worked harder in the springtime. It had +a great friend in a little “moriché,” black and +yellow also, but of a more slender build, and with +a very sweet whistle. The “moriché,” too, was +perfectly tame and flew all about the house, and +it was very comic to watch its efforts at learning +embroidery from its friend. It arrived at last at +some sort of cage decoration, but quite different +from that of the crow, who evidently disapproved +of it, and often ruthlessly pulled the work of a +laborious morning on the “moriché’s” part to +pieces. Now the “moriché” knew better than +to touch the crow’s work, though he often appeared +to carefully examine it.</p> + +<p>One day the crow must have persuaded the +moriché to help him to roll and drag a reel of +coarse white cotton from the corridor of the work-room, +across the floor of my sitting-room, into the +verandah. I saw them doing this more than +once, and had unintentionally interfered with the +crow’s plans by picking up the reel and returning +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</span>it to the maids’ work-basket. However, one afternoon +the crow got rid of me entirely, and on my +return from a long expedition I found both the crow +and moriché just going to roost in the empty cage, +which was really only kept there for them to play +in. I then perceived what the reel of cotton, +which was again lying on the verandah floor, had +been wanted for. The crow had sewn a straw +armchair with an open-patterned seat securely +to the cage by nine very long strands, and was +sleepily contemplating the work with great satisfaction. +It was quite easy to see how it had been +managed once a start was made with the cotton; +but it must have entailed a great deal of flying +in and out with the end of the cotton, for it had +not been broken off. Of course I left the chair +in its place, and it remained untouched for some +months; but I always had to use it myself, lest +any one should move it too roughly, and so break +the connecting strands which had cost my little +bird so much labour and trouble.</p> + +<p>The most popular of my birds, however, was +certainly the laughing jackass, who dwelt in company +with the magpie and the mynah. Unhappily +a misunderstanding arose, when I was away in +England, between these two birds, once such great +friends. If I had only been there to adjust the +quarrel, all might have gone well; but the magpie, +after many days of incessant battle, I was told, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</span>fell upon the mynah and killed it. It was curious +that they should have lived together for a couple +of years without more than the ordinary share of +bird-quarrels. I do not know what active share +the jackass took in this affair. I always doubted +his intentions towards that mynah, and he always +regarded it with a bad expression of eye, but as he +was very slow and cumbrous of movement I thought +the mynah could well take care of himself. The +only time the laughing jackass ever showed agility +was when a mouse-trap with a live mouse in it +was taken into his cage. With every feather +bristling he would watch for the door of the trap +to be opened, when he pounced on the darting +mouse quicker than the eye could follow, and +killed and swallowed it with the greatest rapidity. +Once a mouse escaped him, and the magpie caught +it instead, and a more absurd sight could not be +imagined than the magpie flitting from perch to +perch, holding the mouse securely in his beak, +through which he was at the same time trying +hard to whistle; whilst the jackass lumbered +heavily after him, remonstrating loudly, for the +magpie did not want to eat the mouse, and he did.</p> + +<p>It always amused me to see the jackass take his +bath, though it was rather a rare performance, +whereas all the other birds tubbed incessantly. I +had a large tin basin full of water placed just +beneath one of the lowest perches, and when the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</span>jackass intended to bathe he descended cautiously +to this perch and eyed the water for some time, +uttering—with head well thrown back—his melancholy +laugh. As soon as his courage was equal +to it he suddenly flopped into the water, as if by +accident, and then scrambled hastily out again. +After repeating these dips many times he seemed +to think he had done all that was necessary in +the washing line, and scrambled up to a sunny +corner where he could dry and preen his beautiful +plumage.</p> + +<p>Yes, my birds were the greatest delight and +amusement to me for many years, and I had nearly +a hundred of them when my happy life in that +beautiful tropical home came to a sad and abrupt +end. Many of my friends have often asked me +if I did not regret leaving my birds; but as I left +everything that the world could hold for me in +the way of happiness and interest and work behind +me at the same time, the loss of the birds did not +make itself felt just then. I miss them more now +than I did at first, but I believe they have nearly +all found kind and happy homes, where they +are cherished a little for my sake as well as for +their own, the dear things!</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XIX"><abbr title="19">XIX</abbr><br> + +<small>GIRLS—OLD AND NEW</small></h2> +</div> + + +<p>“Comparisons are odious” we know, but yet +when one gets past middle age one is constantly +invited to make them.</p> + +<p>My life is brightened and cheered by many girl +friends, and there is nothing about which they +show a more insatiable curiosity than my own +girlhood.</p> + +<p>I think it is the going back so constantly to +that distant time, and being forced by my imperious +pets to drag every detail out of the pigeon-holes +of memory, which has impressed so forcibly on +me the superiority of the modern girl.</p> + +<p>I began to answer their questions with the full +intention of proving to the contrary, but alas, in +the course of the talks, I often felt how heavily +handicapped we had been. I am afraid the first +point upon which I had to dilate was our clothes, +the description of which always provoked peals of +laughter. It is to be presumed that pretty women +set the fashions and that they suited them, but +the rigour of the fashion laws prescribed that every +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</span>one should wear exactly and precisely the same +gown or bonnet, with, of course, disastrous results +as to appearance. Then we all had to dress our +hair in precisely the same way. The ears especially +were treated as though they were monstrous deformities, +and had to be carefully concealed. What +the modern girls find most difficult to believe is +that these same fashions lasted for three or four +years without the slightest change, so there was +no escape from an unbecoming garment. Of +course I impressed upon my laughing audience, +with all the dignity at my command, that we +looked extremely nice, and at all events were quite +contented with our appearance.</p> + +<p>If I could not defend the colours and cut of the +material provided for our bodies, still less could I +champion the diet prescribed for our minds. Looking +back on it all I see there was the same cardinal +error; the want of recognition of any individuality. +As in our frocks so in our studies, no allowance +whatever used to be made for our different +natures. In fact, the great aim of every mother +and teacher was to make her girl exactly and precisely +like every other girl. No matter in what +direction your tastes and talents lay, you had to +plod through the same list of what was called +“accomplishments.” The very word was a misnomer, +for nothing was really accomplished. A +girl’s education was supposed to be quite “finished” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</span>(Heaven save the mark!) at about sixteen or seventeen, +but if she were studiously inclined, or even +dimly suspected that she had not exhausted all +the treasures of knowledge, she would have found +it difficult to pursue any course of study. And +the idleness of that stage of girlhood was one of +its greatest dangers. A reaction from the practical +days of our own grandmothers had set in, and +there was no still-room, or work-room, or any +branch of domestic education to which we could +turn to find an outlet for our energies.</p> + +<p>A girl with any musical talent could of course +go on practising, and had a chance of achieving +something, but art education must have been at +its lowest ebb half a century ago. It is difficult +to believe that a “drawing class” of that day +generally consisted of a dozen girls or so meeting +at the house of some rising or even well-known +artist. The great point seemed to be his <em>name</em>. +Drawing materials and every other facility, except +instruction, used to be provided by our “master.” +Perhaps the poor man recognised the hopelessness +of his task, but he certainly let us severely alone +even in our choice of subjects. We were only +asked to copy other drawings, and I well remember +selecting, as my first attempt at painting, a most +ambitious sketch of a pretty Irish colleen with a +pitcher on her head emerging from a ruined archway. +I dashed in her red petticoat and blue +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</span>cloak with great vigour, but took little pains with +her uplifted arm or bare legs. They must indeed +have been curious anatomical studies, for I recollect +the master heaving a deep sigh, if not a groan, +as I presented my drawing for his criticism. But +he made no attempt whatever to teach me how to +do better, only took possession of my picture, kept +it a few days and returned it—what was called “corrected,” +though we never knew where our faults lay.</p> + +<p>Our “fancy work” was truly hideous also, and +as useless as it was ugly. It makes one’s heart +ache to think of the terrible waste of time and +eyesight which our awful performances in wool +work and crotchet entailed. Hardly any girl was +taught to do plain sewing, and I really think one +of my keenest pangs of regret for my misspent +youth in the way of needlework was caused the +other day, by my youngest girl friend telling me +that at her school she was taught to cut out and +make a whole set of baby clothes, as well as +garments for older children.</p> + +<p>Our amusements were few and far between, but +we took to them a freshness and keenness of enjoyment +which I suspect is often lacking in the +much amused damsel of the present day. But +then, on the other hand, “vapours” had gone +out of fashion, and “nerves” had not yet been +invented, so one never heard of rest cures being +prescribed for young matrons!</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</span></p> +<p>I am thankful to say that the day of tight lacing +and small appetites was over before I became +aware of the dangers I had escaped, but I remember +the pity with which I listened to my poor +young mother’s stories of how she was required +to hold on to the bedpost while her maid laced +her stays, and how she often fainted after she was +dressed.</p> + +<p>I am often asked what exercise we were allowed +to take. We rode a great deal, though girls were +hardly ever seen in the hunting field, and I wonder +we survived a ride on a country road, +considering that our habits almost swept the +ground. We had no out-door game except croquet, +which was just coming into fashion, and was pursued +with a frenzy quite equal to that evoked by +ping-pong or any other modern craze. Of course, +there was always walking and dancing, though +over the latter there still hung a faint trace of the +stately movements of the generation before us. +We all did elaborate steps in the quadrille, and +although the waltz was firmly established in the +ball-rooms of my youth, it was a slow measure +compared to the modern rush across the room. +The polka woke us all up, and we hailed its pretty +and picturesque figures with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>I often hear of the iniquities of girls of the +present day, but I don’t come across those specimens, +and I confess that I honestly believe the modern +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</span>girl, as I know her, to be a very great improvement +on the early Victorian maiden. To begin +with, she is much nicer and prettier to look at, +because she can suit her dress and her <i lang="fr">coiffure</i> to +her individuality. Then she is not so dreadfully +shy—not to say <i lang="fr">gauche</i>, as we were, because she is +not kept in the school-room until the hour before +she is launched into society, as ignorant of its ways +as if she had dropped from the moon.</p> + +<p>I distinctly remember being reproached for my +want of “knowledge of the world,” when I had +not even the faintest idea what the phrase meant. +When I came to understand it, it seemed a rather +unreasonable criticism, for I certainly should have +been regarded with horror had I made any +attempt to acquire such knowledge on my own +account.</p> + +<p>Now—so far as my experience goes—the up-to-date +girl has pretty and pleasant manners, and is not +secretly terrified if a new acquaintance speaks to +her. She is more sure of herself, and has the +confidence of custom, for she has probably been +her mother’s companion out of school hours. I +fear girls are not quite as respectful and obedient +to their elders as we used to be, although the days +of “Honoured Madam” and “Sir” had passed +away with the generation before mine. Still the +modern mother seems quite content with her +pretty girl, and it is often difficult to distinguish +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</span>between them, but I always observe the daughter +is the most proud and delighted if “Mummie” +is taken for her elder sister.</p> + +<p>Then the New Girl is so companionable. Her +education has been conducted on very different +lines to ours, and she does not dream of giving up +her studies because she is no longer obliged to +pursue them. Her individual tastes have been +given a chance of asserting themselves, and I am +often told of “work” gone on with at home. In +fact her education has really taught her how to +go on educating herself. Of course I am speaking +of intelligent girls, and I am happy to think they +are far more numerous than they were even one +generation ago. There will always be frivolous, +empty-headed girls, but with even them I confess +I find it very difficult to be properly angry, as +they are generally so pretty and coaxing.</p> + +<p>The delightful classes and lectures on all subjects +and in all languages now so common were unknown +in my day, to say nothing of the numerous aids +to difficult branches of knowledge. Even history +was offered to us in so unattractive a form that +although we swallowed, so to speak, a good deal +of it, we digested little or none. Poetry was +generally regarded as dangerous mental food, and, +perhaps to our starved natures, it may have been. +Our reading was most circumscribed, and everything +was Bowdlerised as much as possible. I am +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</span>not sure, however, that miscellaneous reading +does not begin too soon now, and certainly I +am often astonished at the books very, very +young girls are allowed to read. In this respect +I confess I think the old way safer, to say the +least of it.</p> + +<p>In considering the subject of the new ways of +girls, however, one must bear in mind how many +more girls there now are, and that marriage is not +the invariable destiny of every pretty or charming +girl one meets. The consequence is girls certainly +do not talk and think of future or possible +husbands as much as they used to a couple of +generations ago. Such talk was quite natural and +harmless under the old conditions, but I must say +it seems healthier and nicer that now it should +be the merits of the favourite “bike,” or the last +“ripping” run, or the varying fortunes of golf +or hockey, or even croquet, which claims their +attention when they get together. I often wonder +how a man could have encumbered himself with +any of us as his life’s companion! It is true that +he had not any option, but still we must have been +rather trying. I know of one girl who amazed +her husband by appearing before him the first +Sunday morning after their marriage, with her +Prayer Book, which she handed to him with the +utmost gravity, and standing up with her hands +clasped behind her back, in true school-girl fashion, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</span>proceeded to rattle off the collect, epistle, and +gospel for the day, having no idea she was doing +anything the least unusual!</p> + +<p>The only comfort I have in looking back on our +crudeness and ignorance is that we were really +good girls. That is to say we were trained to be +unselfish, and certainly we were obedient and +docile, though in many ways what would now be +called silly. Still, we were as pure minded and +innocent as babes, and quite as unworldly. No +doubt this white-souled state sprang from crass +ignorance, but who shall say that it was not good +to keep us from tasting the fruit of that terrible +Tree of Knowledge as long as possible?</p> + +<p>“You must have been dears,” is the verdict +with which a talk of these distant days is often +ended by my laughing critics. And I feel inclined +to say, “Well, and you are dears, too,” so +I suppose that is the real solution of the question.</p> + + +<p class="center p2 large">THE END</p> + + +<p class="center p2"> +Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br> +Edinburgh & London</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> “Station Life in New Zealand,” Macmillan.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Now under heaven all winds abated,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The sea a settling and foamless floor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sunset city is open-gated,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Unfastened flashes a golden door.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cloud-walls asunder burst and brighten</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Like melted metal in furnace blaze;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lava rivers run through and lighten,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The glory gathers before my gaze.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Eastward an isle, half sunken, sleeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Crowns the sea with a bluer crest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vine-clad Terceira!—but I am keeping</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A tryst to-night with the wondrous west.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What there is wanting of purple islands,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lo! golden archipelagoes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Coasts silver shining, and inner highlands,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Long ranges rosy with sunny snows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All glowing golds, all scarlets burning,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">All palest, tenderest, vanishing hues,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All clouded colour and tinges turning,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Enrich, divide, the double blues;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’erleaning cliffs and crags gigantic</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And in the heart of light one shore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as, alas! no sea Atlantic</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To bless the voyager ever bore.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> Now F. M. Viscount Wolseley.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> 12th Duke of Somerset.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> The late Sir Thomas Cockburn Campbell, Bart., and the Hon. +H. Parker, K.C.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6" class="label">[6]</a> Lieut.-Colonel Crole-Wyndham, C.B., 21st Lancers.</p> + +</div> +</div> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="center large">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.</p> + +<p>Perceived typographical errors have been changed.</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75806 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75806-h/images/cover.jpg b/75806-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9f3145 --- /dev/null +++ b/75806-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75806-h/images/i_frontis.jpg b/75806-h/images/i_frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d81b2fb --- /dev/null +++ b/75806-h/images/i_frontis.jpg |
