John Howell

“ One evening, during my journey, having refreshed myself with some of the fruit that grew near me—for I always found food enough in South America, even in the forests—I took a fancy to explore a cavern that I saw in the rock, near which a cascade tumbled. Resolving to be well prepared for any enemy I might meet with, I took my gun with me.
I ought to tell you, by the way, that after I lost my mule, I was obliged for some time to content myself with a horse. I left him grazing at the foot of a bark tree. You have heard of the Peruvian bark, which is used so much in medicine, I dare say. ”

“ I came down from my roosting place, almost in an instant, and went towards it, hoping there was a village near; for I was sadly in want of a better rope to fasten myself with; and the Indians of these villages make some very ingenious ones, by twisting together the long fibres of the leaves of the cocoa-tree.
Well, as I said, I followed the light, but where, do you think? Why out of the forest, to be sure, but into something worse than a forest. ”

“ At night I would find a tree, and lace a rope in and out of two boughs, so as to form a kind of cradle; thus supported, I slept in peace, excepting that sometimes the vampire bat would annoy me by sucking my blood; he did it though so quietly, that I suffered no pain; and perhaps it was serviceable to me to lose a little blood; it is not improbable that these flying surgeons kept me in health by their gentle bleedings. The vampire bat does not subsist entirely by sucking the blood of living animals; it feeds also on insects and young fruits. ”

“ He appeared to them as wild as the first owners of the skins which he wore. At length they began to converse, and he invited them to his hut: but its access was so very intricate, that only Captain Fry went with him over the rocks which led to it. When Alexander had entertained him in the best manner he could, they returned to the boat, our hero bearing a quantity of his roasted goat’s-flesh, for the refreshment of the crew. During their repast, he gave them an account of his adventures and stay upon the island, at which they were much surprised. ”

“ But I found creatures in South America, more terrible than serpents, jaguars, or crocodiles. You will wonder, perhaps, what they could be. Then I’ll tell you. They were musquetoes, white flies, and ants.
Musquetoes are indeed troublesome every where; but nowhere that I have been—and I have been in all parts of the world—so much so as in South America. Why, we seemed to breathe them, almost, instead of air. We were never free from them except at midnight; and then other insects, huge bats, and jaguars, kept us in continual alarm. ”

“ Selkirk amusing himself with his Cats.
These very protectors became a source of great uneasiness to him: for the idea haunted his mind, and made him at times melancholy, that, after his death there would be no one to bury his remains, or to supply the cats with food, his body must be devoured by the very animals which he at present nourished for his convenience.
The island abounds in goats, which he shot while his powder lasted, and afterwards caught by speed of foot. ”

“ Woodbridge, too, in his geography says that “the finest fruits, the most beautiful vegetables, and the largest and loftiest trees, are found in the Torrid Zone,” and much of South America lies, you know, in this zone. He says also,—and he says right,—that it produces not only the fiercest and most dangerous animals, and the largest and most venomous serpents and insects, but some animals which are among the “most beautiful” in the world.
I think one or two of the monkey race which I saw, are among the most beautiful of the animal kingdom. One species, called the Titi, pleased me particularly. ”

“ You would wonder how there could be any turtles remaining in South America, if you were to see the thousands and thousands that are destroyed by the Indians every year, at the Harvest of Eggs, as they call it. ”

“ If several of them are confined in a cage, and a cooling shower comes on, they crowd together, and twine their legs and tails round one another, to keep themselves warm! One that was tamed used to run after a person that wore large sleeves to get into them! The Indians say that they sometimes meet groups of ten or twelve of them in the forests, crying terribly, because those on the outside want to get in the middle to be warmer.
There is another beautiful animal of the same race called the Widow Monkey. ”

“ He never moves upon, but under the branches; he hangs there to rest, to eat, and to sleep. The color of his fur is so nearly that of the moss on the bark, that it is not easy to discover him, except when he is moving. ”

“ Now electricity, (or lightning, for it is the same thing) which is a subtle or penetrating fluid, always exists in the atmosphere, and has at all times power to ignite (set on fire) a vapor so inflammable as hydrogen, if it happens to come in contact with it. Now, again, as this hydrogen gas is most readily produced by the decomposition of water, and combines or mixes with various other matters arising from decaying vegetation, putrifying animal substances, in low and marshy swamps, a tiny spark is sufficient to ignite these combined gases, and thus set off the Will-o’-the-Wisps. ”

“ By this time I fear you will begin to think that there is nothing to be found in all South America, but dangerous passes, savage men, ferocious beasts, venomous serpents and reptiles, and troublesome insects. ”

“ Sailing Master, in a vessel called the Cinque Ports—a small sailor which went in company with captain Dampier to the South Sea.
Having quarrelled with his captain, and having had a dream that his ship would be wrecked, he resolved to quit it, and was set on shore at the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez. He had scarcely left the boat, when he sorely repented, and he “never heard a sound more dismal than their parting oars.” ”

“ As the northern part of the island where Alexander lived, is composed of high craggy precipices, many of which are almost too hilly to climb, though generally covered with wood, the soil is loose and shallow, so that on the hills the largest trees soon perish for want of nourishment, and are then very easily overturned. This was the cause of the death of a seaman belonging to the Dutchess, who being on the high ground in search of goats, caught hold of a tree to aid his ascent, [Pg 27] when it gave way and he rolled down the hill. ”

“ The atmosphere or air which we breathe is composed of two ingredients, or gases, as the chemists call them. One is oxygen. This is the supporter of life and flame, for if it could be taken out of the air we could not breathe again, and every candle and lamp would be extinguished in a moment. The other is nitrogen or azote, which destroys life.
I told you the air we breathe was made up of these two airs or gases; and it is. But many other gases sometimes float in it. One of these is hydrogen. It is produced in various ways, and is one of the most inflammable substances in the world. ”

“ In short, instead of being an object of disgust, or even of pity, I do not know a creature that appears more happy, as long as man and other animals will let him alone. It is man, by his “meddling” that makes a great many of the woes that his fellow animals feel. It is guns and snares, and traps, and aviaries, and cages, that make birds and beasts most unhappy. ”

“ Yet happy and contented as he became, there were cares that broke in upon his pleasing thoughts, as it were to place his situation on a level with that of other human beings; for it is the lot of man to care while he dwells on earth. During the early part of his residence, he was much annoyed by multitudes of rats, which gnawed his feet and other parts of his body, as he slept during the night. To remedy this evil, he caught and tamed after much exertion and patient toil, some of the cats that ran wild on the island. ”

“ Think what an immense force of pressure it must take to send up a huge stone from one of our volcanoes, quite beyond the sphere of the earth’s attraction, so as to be met by the attraction of the moon and be carried to it! ”

“ Numbers of Indians were there, from all the neighboring shores, and immense numbers of eggs were collected. They make a kind of oil of the yolk, which is used in cooking, as well as for burning in their houses.
It is supposed that not fewer than a million of turtles lay their eggs at the mouth of the great river Orinoco. More than three millions of eggs were taken the year I was there. Each turtle lays, on an average, seventy eggs. You may be surprised that out of seventy millions of eggs laid, only three millions were taken. ”

“ But there is another species of ant which devours juicy green leaves, such as salads; so that when the inhabitants wish for a few dishes of pleasant cooling herbs, they make a garden in the air.
[Pg 105]
You will smile, but I assure you that I state nothing but what I have seen. They procure an old boat, or some frame of that description, raise it on dry poles, then fill it with earth, and sow their seeds. The destructive ants, travelling as they do in bands, not knowing there is any thing growing above, pass by these bare poles or supporters, and the plants are saved. ”

“ I was soon fortunate enough to find a purchaser, so I pursued the plan for several days, always taking the same boat, which no one appeared to claim. Perhaps the owner, poor fellow, had been destroyed by the earthquake.
“I slept every night in a hut close to the sea; and on the fifth morning, I found a French vessel in the harbor, which was proceeding on her voyage to Bonaventura and to Acapulco, in Mexico. I immediately went to the captain, and offered to work my way to the port of Bonaventura, if he would give me my passage. ”

“ The eggs are larger than pigeons’ eggs, and when well preserved, by slightly boiling or by drying in the sun, are very pleasant food.
We saw some large shells of turtles which the jaguars had emptied as neatly as if the flesh had been cut away with a sharp knife. Those animals hunt the poor creatures, catch them, turn them on their backs—you know they cannot turn back again—and then devour them at their leisure. ”

“ In some parts of the country the Indians bury themselves, [Pg 104] all but their heads, in the sand while they sleep; in others, they assemble all the cows in the village, and pass their nights among them, for it is found that they are not so troublesome in the neighborhood of cattle.
Sometimes they build a kind of oven, without doors or windows, having only a little hole, through which they creep on their hands and knees. They then light a fire in it of wet brushwood, which makes a great smoke and drives off the insects ”

“ This circumstance ought to lead young people to prize their social and religious privileges, as they know not but that some day, like Selkirk, their lot may be cast far from home, and from pious family opportunities, the absence of which were then so much regretted by this lonely man. ”

“ I threw it down instantly; but soon recollecting that a paste mixed with ants, is represented by Humboldt as a very common food among some of these tribes of Indians, and feeling impelled by hunger to eat something, I at last eat a small quantity of it.
[Pg 90]
These were the laziest sort of people I ever met with. They seemed to have no wants, beyond mere eating and drinking; [2] they have no clothes to mend, or domestic cares to attend to; no fishing, no hunting to prepare for.
I quitted them as soon as I could, I assure you, for they were almost too lazy to furnish me with food ”

“ The chest and cup which Selkirk had with him on the island, are in the possession of a family in Nether Largo, in Fifeshire, who reside in the house in which he was born. The former is in excellent preservation although at least 123 years old. It is made of cedar, strongly built, and very massy. The initials A. S. are rudely carved on the lid. The cup is the shell of some kind of nut which probably grew on the island. ”

“ But so many are broken, so many hunted out and devoured by the jaguars and other animals that feed upon them, that the wonder is, rather, that we find the vast number that we do. Many escape and are hatched however, for I saw in one instance, the whole shore of the Orinoco, [Pg 101] swarming with little turtles, just hatched, and scrambling towards the water to escape from the Indian children who were catching them.
The turtles lay their eggs during the night, in large holes, which they scratch in the sand. They then cover them up, and leave them to be warmed into life by the sun. ”

“ TRAVELS AMONG THE INDIANS. The Steppes—New troubles—Bad water—Eating clay and ants.
I came at last to the dreary plains of South America, called Steppes, and here my troubles were unusually severe. All kinds of stinging insects, serpents, and loathesome reptiles annoyed me; besides I could hardly get food and drink. Sometimes, though rarely, I was so fortunate as to find a plant resembling the aloe, containing a quantity of pure water in its stem ”

“ When urged by hunger, he fed upon seals and such shell-fish as he could pick up along the shore. The reason of this was the aversion he felt to leave the beach, [Pg 14] and the care he took to save his powder. Though seals, and shell-fish were but sorry fare, his greatest cross was the want of salt and bread, which made him loathe his food until he got used to it.
It was in the beginning of October (1704,) which in those southern latitudes is the middle of spring, when nature appears in a thousand varieties of form and fragrance, quite unknown in northern climates ”

“ Selkirk running to the boat.
When the day at length opened, he still saw them, but at a distance from the shore. His fire had caused great wonder on board, for they knew the island to be uninhabited, and supposed the light to have proceeded from some French ships at anchor, with which nation, England was then at war. In this conclusion they prepared for action, as they must either fight or want water and other refreshments, and stood to their quarters all night ready to engage; but, not perceiving any vessel, they next day, about noon, sent a boat on shore, with Capt. ”