The Log School-House on the Columbia
Page 12
CHAPTER XI.
MARLOWE MANN'S NEW ROBINSON CRUSOE.
Besides the Narrative of Lewis and Clarke, which was used in the school asa reader, Mr. Mann made use of another book in his teaching which greatlydelighted his pupils and often awakened their sympathies. It was called"John E. Jewett and Thompson." It presented a picture of life on the coastearly in the century. The strange story was much as follows:
_THE ROBINSON CRUSOE OF VANCOUVER._
About the year 1802 the ship Boston, from Boston, Mass., went to Hull,England, to secure a cargo of goods to carry to the Indians on theNorthwest coast of America to trade for furs. She was a generaltrading-vessel, such as roamed the seas of the world adventurously at thattime, and often made fortunes for the merchants of New York, Boston, andother Atlantic port cities.
She was commanded by Captain John Salter, a clever man and a naturalstory-teller, whose engaging pictures of travel were sure to fascinate theyoung.
While in England this man met a lad by the name of John Rogers Jewett, wholistened eagerly to his romantic adventures, and who desired to embarkwith him for America, and was allowed by his parents to make the voyage.The ship sailed around Cape Horn to Nootka Island, one of the islands onthe west coast of Vancouver Island between the forty-ninth and fiftiethparallel. Here the whole crew, with the exception of young Jewett and aman by the name of Thompson, were massacred by the Indians, and thestrange and tragic narrative of the survivors was an American and Englishwonder-tale seventy years ago. Mr. Jewett published the account of hiscapture and sufferings, under the title of "John R. Jewett and Thompson,"or, to copy the title of the quaint old book before me, "A Narrative ofthe Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewett, only Survivor of the Crewof the Ship Boston, during a Captivity of nearly Three Years among theSavages of Nootka Sound." The book was issued from London, England, andfrom Middletown, Conn. After Robinson Crusoe, perhaps no book was moreeagerly read by our grandfathers in their boyhood than this.
The Indian king of Nootka was Maquina. He used to visit the ship,sometimes wearing a wooden mask over his face representing some wildbeast. Such masks are still to be found among the Indians of Vancouver.
Maquina was at first very friendly to Captain Salter, but one day thelatter offended him, and he resolved to have his revenge by killing himand the crew, and destroying the ship. Accordingly, one morning, after hehad been capering on deck and blowing a rude whistle, he said to thecaptain:
"When do you intend to sail?"
"To-morrow," replied the captain.
"You love salmon--much in Friendly Cove; go, then, and catch some," saidthe chief.
The captain thought it very desirable to have a large supply of fish onboard, so he assented to the chief's proposal, and, after dinner with thelatter, he sent away a jolly-boat or yawl with nine men to fish inFriendly Cove.
A series of tragedies followed. "I went down to my vise-bench in thesteerage," says Mr. Jewett, in his Narrative, "where I was employed incleaning muskets. I had not been there more than an hour, when I heard agreat bustle and confusion on deck. I ran up the steerage stairs, butscarcely was my head above deck when I was caught by the hair by one ofthe savages. My hair was short, and I fell from his hold into thesteerage. As I was falling, he struck me with an axe and cut a deep gashin my forehead. I remained in a state of suspense for some time, whenMaquina himself appeared at the hatch and ordered me to come up. What aterrific spectacle met my eyes! Six naked savages stood in a circle aroundme, covered with the blood of my murdered comrades! I thought that my lastmoment had come, and commended my soul to my Maker.
"'John,' said the chief, 'I speak--you no say no; you say no--daggerscome. Will you become my slave and fight for me?' I answered, 'Yes.' Thenhe told me that he would spare my life.
"Taking me by the hand, he led me to the quarter-deck, where the mosthorrid sight presented itself; the heads of our unfortunate captain andhis crew, to the number of twenty-five, were arranged in a line.
"Maquina then ordered me to get the ship under way for Friendly Cove. Wewere there received by the inhabitants of the village with loud shouts ofjoy and a horrible drumming of sticks upon the roofs and sides of theirhouses. Maquina took me on shore to his house."
Young Jewett became a favorite of the chief's son, and was made a memberof the tribe. He was compelled to marry an Indian princess, and his searchfor his wife is a wonderful romance, and really very poetic, as themarriage customs of the tribes are associated with a rustic festivalworthy of a painter and poet. The young princess chosen was beautiful, andserved him with the most affectionate devotion, but he could not love her,because he had been compelled to marry her.
The most remarkable incidents of this strange narrative are associatedwith the fate of those who were engaged in the massacre of the officersand crew of the Boston, and which show that the experience of retributionis a law common to all peoples and lands.
The principal chief or sub-chief among the warriors was Tootooch. He hadmarried Maquina's sister. He ranked next to Maquina in all thingspertaining to war, and he had been the foremost leader and the mostmerciless of conquerors in the destruction of the Boston. He killed twomen on shore, presumably with his own hand.
Insanity is not common among the Indians. But a terrible mania tookpossession of this ambitious warrior. "While in the enjoyment of thehighest health," says Mr. Jewett, "he was suddenly seized with delirium,in which he fancied that he saw the ghosts of the two men that he hadmurdered." The avenging vision followed him wherever he went. He wasfilled with terror at all times, and at last refused to eat to sustain hislife. The Indians forced food into his mouth.
Maquina was informed of the terrible state of the warrior's mind by hissister, Tootooch's wife. He went to the haunted man's house, taking Mr.Thompson and Mr. Jewett with him. "We found him raving about the twomurdered men, Hall and Wood," says Jewett. "Maquina placed provisionsbefore him, but he would not eat."
At last the distressed _tyee_, induced by hunger, put forth his hand totouch the food. But he suddenly drew it back, saying that Hall and Woodwere there.
"They will not let me eat," said he, with a look of despair and terror.
Maquina pointed to Thompson and Jewett.
"Is it they who have bewitched you?" he asked.
"_Wik_ (no); John _klashish_ (is good), Thompson _klashish_ (is good)."
He arose and piteously put his hand on Jewett's shoulder, and, pointing tothe food offered him, he said, "Eat."
"Eat it yourself," replied Mr. Jewett. "Hall and Wood are not there."
"You can not see them," he answered; "I can. I know that you can not seethem."
"What do you do in your own country in such cases as this?" asked Maquina.
"We confine the person and whip him," said Jewett.
The chief ordered that the haunted warrior should be confined and whipped;but the pain did not relieve the warrior's mind of the terrible vision ofthe two men that he had killed. He grew more wild. He would torture hisslaves for diversion. His wife fled from him. The vision continued untilhe became completely exhausted, and Death came with a merciful face.
"Early in June," says Mr. Jewett, "Tootooch, the crazy chief, died. Thewhole village set up a loud cry. The body was laid on a plank, and thehead bound with a red fillet. It was then wrapped in an otter-skin robeand placed in a large coffin, which was ornamented with rows of whiteshells. It was buried by night in a cavern."
The _tyees_ or chiefs had discussed often the policy of putting Mr. Jewettand Mr. Thompson to death, and so end all evidence of the destruction ofthe Boston in the event of new ships appearing on the coast. But thespectacle of Tootooch staring at the ghosts of the men that he had killed,and wasting away amid days and nights of horror, made them fear that theother warriors engaged in the massacre would become affected in the likeway, and deterred them from any further violence. Jewett was at lastrescued by a trading-ship, and was taken to the Columbia River, where hearrived shortly after the visit of Lewis and
Clarke, of the famousexpedition that bears these names. He finally came to New England andsettled in Middletown, Conn. His history gives a very picturesque view ofthe habits and customs of the Indians on the Northwest coast nearly acentury ago. The book can be found in antiquarian libraries, and should berepublished in the interest of American folk-lore. The truth of theincidents gives the whole narrative a vivid and intense interest; it readslike De Foe.