Chapter III

_The West Indies continued.--Columbus discovers the Antilles.--
Cannibalism reported.--Appearance of the people.--Their
origin.--Arts.--Customs.--Character.--Their extermination._

Columbus discovered the islands of the Caribs during his second voyage to America, in 1493. The first island he saw he named Dominico, because he discovered it on Sunday. As the ships gently moved onward, other islands rose to sight, one after another, covered with forests, and enlivened with flights of parrots and other tropical birds, while the whole air was sweetened by the fragrance of the breezes which passed over them.

This beautiful cluster of islands is called the Antilles. They extend from the eastern end of Porto Rico to the coast of Paria on the southern continent, forming a kind of barrier between the main ocean and the Caribbean sea;--here was the country of the Caribs. Columbus had heard of the Caribs during his stay at Hayti and Cuba, at the time of his first voyage. The timid and indolent race of Indians in those pleasant islands were mortally afraid of the Caribs, and had repeatedly besought Columbus to assist them in overcoming these their ferocious enemies. The Caribs were represented as terrible warriors, and cruel cannibals, who roasted and eat their captives. This the gentle Haytians thought, truly enough, was a good pretext for warning the Christians against such foes. Columbus did not at first imagine the beautiful paradise he saw, as he sailed onward among these green and spicy islands, could be the residence of cruel men; but on landing at Guadaloupe he soon became convinced he was truly in a Golgotha, a place of skulls. He there saw human limbs hanging in the houses as if curing for provisions, and some even roasting at the fire for food. He knew then that he was in the country of the Caribs.

On touching at the island of Montserrat, Columbus was informed that the Caribs had eaten up all the inhabitants. If that had been true, it seems strange how he obtained his information.

It is probable many of these stories were exaggerations. The Caribs were a warlike people, in many respects essentially differing in character from the natives of the other West India Islands. They were enterprising as well as ferocious, and frequently made roving expeditions in their canoes to the distance of one hundred and fifty leagues, invading the islands, ravaging the villages, making slaves of the youngest and handsomest females, and carrying off the men to be killed and eaten.

These things were bad enough, and it is not strange report should make them more terrible than the reality. The Caribs also gave the Spaniards more trouble than did the effeminate natives of the other islands. They fought their invaders desperately. In some cases the women showed as much bravery as the men. At Santa Cruz the females plied their bows with such vigor, that one of them sent an arrow through a Spanish buckler, and wounded the soldier who bore it.

There have been many speculations respecting the origin of the Caribs. That they were a different race from the inhabitants of the other islands, is generally acknowledged. They also differed from the Indians of Mexico and Peru; though some writers think they were culprits banished either from the continent or the large islands, and thus a difference of situation might have produced a difference of manners. Others think they were descended from some civilized people of Europe or Africa. There is no difficulty attending the belief that a Carthaginian or Ph[oe]nician vessel might have been overtaken by a storm, and blown about by the gales, till it entered the current of the trade-winds, when it would have been easily carried to the West Indies. If they had no women with them, they might have discovered the large islands or the continent, and procured wives from them. In process of time, their numbers might have increased so as to form the scanty population of St. Vincent, Martinico, Guadaloupe, Dominica, and other small islands where the Caribs were settled.

The Caribs had as many of the arts as were necessary to live at ease in that luxurious climate. They knew how to build their _carbets_ or houses; how to make their boats, baskets, arms, hammocks, and to prepare their provisions.

The hammocks of the Caribs strengthens the supposition that they were descended from some maritime adventurers. They were made of coarse cotton cloth, six or seven feet long, and twelve or fourteen wide; each end was ornamented with cords, which they called ribands; these were more than two feet long, twisted, and well made. All the cords at each end were joined together, and formed loops, through which a long rope was inserted, in order to fasten the hammocks to the posts at the side of the house, and to support the persons within them. These hammocks were woven by the women, entirely by hand labor, as they had no looms, and was a very tedious process. But when completed, and painted red, as was the usual fashion, they were very strong, and quite ornamental in their carbets.

The carbet is thus described by a French missionary: “The Carib dwelling I entered was about sixty feet long and twenty-four wide. The posts on which it was erected were rough and forked, and the shortest of them about nine feet above the ground; the others were proportioned to the height of the roof. The windward end was enclosed with a kind of wicker-work of split flags; the roof was covered with the leaves of the wild plantain, which here grows very large; the laths were made of reeds. The end of the carbet which was covered had a doorway for a passage to the kitchen; the other end was nearly all open. Ten paces from the great carbet was another building, about half the size of the large one, which was divided by a reed partition. The first room was the kitchen; here six or eight females were employed in making cassada. The second room was for a sleeping apartment for such of the women and children as were not accommodated in the great carbet.

“All the rooms were furnished with hammocks and baskets. The men had their weapons in the great carbet. Some of the men were making baskets--two women were making a hammock. There were many bows, arrows, and clubs attached to the rafters. The floor was smooth and clean; it was made of well-beaten earth, and sloped towards the side. There was a good fire, about one third the length of the carbet, round which a number of Caribs were squatted on their haunches. They were smoking and waiting till some fish were roasted, and made their salutations to me without rising.”

The Caribs were hunters and fishermen. Their food was much better cooked than that of the Indians of the northern continent, who lived by the chase and fishing, though to us it would not appear very refined. Their meat and small birds they stuck on a kind of wooden spit, which was fixed in the ground before the fire, and they turned it, till all the slices of meat or the birds were roasted.

This was quite a civilized method of management compared with their treatment of the large birds, such as parrots, pigeons, &c. These they threw on the fire, without picking or dressing them, and when the feathers were burnt, they raked the bird up in the cinders till it was done. On taking it from the ashes, the crust formed by the burnt feathers peeled off, and the bird was perfectly clean and delicate. It is said this manner of roasting was much approved by the Europeans who had an opportunity of trying it.

The Caribs usually spread two tables at their meals; on one was placed their bread, (cassada,) on the other the fish, fowls, crabs and pimentado. This pimentado was made of the juice of manioc, boiled, a quantity of pimento, and the juice of lemon or some other acid. It was their favorite sauce; they used it with all their meats, but they made it so hot that nobody but themselves could eat it. A favorite dish with them was stewed crabs. None of their food was eaten raw; in general their taste seemed inclined to overdone and high-seasoned dishes.

The manioc, from which the cassada is made, was a great article of food among the Caribs. The ordinary size of the roots is equal to that of the beet; they are of the consistency of parsnips, and commonly ripen in about eight months.

The manioc was planted in trenches, about two feet and a half apart, and six inches deep. It was necessary to keep the plant free from weeds. When ripe, the shrub and roots were all dug up together, like potatoes. When the roots were taken up, the bark or skin was scraped off, just as parsnips are scraped; then they were washed clean and grated fine, something like horseradish. Then the grated mass was put into a strainer of split flags, or the bark of a tree.

The strainer was six or seven feet long, and four or five inches in diameter. It was woven something like a cotton stocking, in order that it might be expanded to receive the manioc, and contract for the purpose of expressing the juice. When filled, it was hung on the limb of a tree, with a basket of stones fastened to the bottom, which gradually forced out the juice of the manioc, which is of a poisonous quality unless it is boiled.

When the manioc was sufficiently dry, they took daily what they wanted, and having passed the flour through a sieve made of reeds, they then made it into paste, and baked it upon flat stones. It is a very nourishing kind of bread, and is to this day used in many parts of tropical America.

The Caribs had discovered the art of making intoxicating beverages, so that they really needed a temperance society,--not quite so much, perhaps, as their civilized invaders. In this respect the Caribs had far outstripped the inventions of the northern barbarians.

No people in the world were more expert than the Caribs in the management of a boat. They had two sorts of vessels--_becassas_, with three masts and square sails, and _piroques_, with only two masts. The last were about thirty feet long by four and a half feet wide in the middle. The _becassa_ was about forty-two feet long and seven feet wide in the middle. They had sometimes figures of monkeys painted red at the stern of their vessels. These vessels were built of the West India cedar tree, which there grows to a prodigious size. One tree made the keel of the vessel. It was felled with immense labor, hewed to a proper degree of thickness, made very smooth, and if any addition to the height was necessary, planks were added to the sides. This work was all performed with sharp hatchets made of flint.

Some of these vessels had topmasts, and the Caribs could rig out fleets of thirty sail at a time. After the French had been some years settled at Martinico, they were surprised one foggy morning by the appearance of a fleet on their coast. The whole island was instantly in alarm and commotion; every man seized his arms, thinking a large squadron from Europe was come to attack the island. But the fog cleared away, and there, close-hauled in shore, were twenty sail of becassas and piroques, filled with Caribs, who had come for a friendly trading visit.

The Caribs were usually rather above the middle stature, well proportioned, and their countenances were rather agreeable. Their foreheads had an extraordinary appearance, as they were flattened by having a board bound tight on the forehead when they were infants, and kept there till the head had taken the fashionable form. The forehead then continued flat, so that they could see perpendicularly when standing erect, and over their heads when lying down. These were the objects aimed at, and so they, at least, had a reason for their ridiculous custom; which is more than can be said of all the customs of modern refined society.

They had small black eyes, beautiful teeth, white and even, and long, glossy, black hair. The hair was always kept well anointed with oil of palmachristi. It was difficult to judge of the color of their skin, because they were always painted with rouco, which gave them the appearance of boiled lobsters. The coat of paint preserved their skins from the hot rays of the sun, and from the stings of the musquito and gnat. It was thus far a useful invention, but they also considered it highly ornamental. When they wished to appear exceedingly grand, they added black mustaches, and other black strokes on their red-painted faces, with the juice of the geripa apple.

The men wore ornaments, called caracolis, in their ears, noses, and the under lip. The metal of which these ornaments were formed came from the South American continent, but no one but an Indian could ever find it. It is exceedingly brilliant, and does not tarnish. A full-dressed Carib wore a caracolis in each ear. The ornament was in the form of a crescent, suspended by chains about two and a half inches long, which were fastened in the ear by a hook. Another caracoli of the same size was attached to the gristle which separates the nostrils, and hung over the mouth. The under part of the lower lip was pierced, and thence hung another caracoli, which reached to the neck; and in the last place, they had one six or seven inches long, enchased in a small board of black wood, and suspended from the neck by a small cord.

When they did not wear the caracolis, they inserted little pieces of wood in their ears, &c., that the holes might not grow up; sometimes they stuck the feathers of parrots in these holes, and thus looked very queerly. They had a habit of sticking the hair of their children full of feathers of different colors, which was done very prettily, and looked quite appropriate with their round, red faces, and bright, laughing eyes.

The women were smaller than the men, but equally well-formed. They had black hair and eyes, round faces, their mouths were small, and teeth beautiful. They had a gay and lively air, and their countenances were smiling and very agreeable; but they were in their behaviour perfectly modest.

Their hair was tied at the back of their heads, with a cotton fillet. They wore belts and a little apron called a _camisa_. It was made of cotton cloth, embroidered with beads, and had a bead fringe. They wore scarfs of cotton cloth, about half a yard wide, called a _pagn_. It was wrapped twice round the body under the armpits, and then was tied, and the ends hung down to the knee. They wore necklaces, composed of several strings of beads, and bracelets of the same. They had buskins also, which were ornaments for the legs, very tasteful, and in high fashion. The females performed most of the cooking, and made the hammocks; and they had likewise to carry all the burdens which were borne in baskets. A man would have been dishonored forever if he had spun or woven cotton, or painted a hammock, or carried a market-basket. But all the hard labor was performed by the men, and they were very kind to their wives and children.

They had some singular customs respecting deceased persons. When a Carib died, he was immediately painted all over with the red paint, and had his mustaches, and the black streaks on his face, made very deep and shining. He was next put into a hole surrounded with mats, and kept till all his relations could see and examine the body. No matter how distant they lived, if on another island, they must be summoned and appear, before the dead body could be buried. But the thick coat of paint preserved it from decay for a long time.

In their wars, I have told you, the Caribs were murderous and cruel. They often poisoned their arrows, and probably often eat their captives. They fought with bows and arrows, and clubs. But when their angry passions became cool, they treated their prisoners with humanity, and never tortured them like the northern savages.

In some instances these islanders were faithless and treacherous. In 1708 the English entered into an agreement with the Caribs in St. Vincents, to attack the French colonies in Martinico. The French governor heard of the treaty, and sent Major Coullet, who was a great favorite with the savages, to persuade them to break the treaty. Coullet took with him a number of officers and servants, and a good store of provisions and liquors. He reached St. Vincents, gave a grand entertainment to the principal Caribs, and after circulating the brandy freely, he got himself painted red, and made them a flaming speech. He urged them to break their connection with the English. How could they refuse a man who gave them brandy, and who was red as themselves? They abandoned their English friends, and burnt all the timber the English had cut on the island, and butchered the first Englishman who arrived. But their crimes were no worse than those of their christian advisers, who, on either side, were inciting these savages to war.

But the Caribs are all gone, perished from the earth. Their race is no more, and their name is only a remembrance. The English and the French, chiefly the latter, have destroyed them.

There is, however, one pleasant reflection attending their fate. Though destroyed, they were never enslaved. None of their conquerers could compel them to labor. Even those who have attempted to hire Caribs for servants, have found it impossible to derive any benefit or profit from them; they would not be commanded or reprimanded.

This independence was called pride, indolence, and stubbornness by their conquerors;--if the Caribs had had historians to record their wrongs, and their resistance to an overwhelming tyranny, they would have set the matter in a very different light. They would have expressed the sentiment which the conduct of their countrymen so steadily exemplified--that it was better to die free than to live slaves.

So determined was their resistance to all kinds of authority, that it became a proverb among the Europeans, that to show displeasure to a Carib was the same as beating him, and to beat him was the same as to kill him. If they did anything it was only what they chose, how they chose, and when they chose; and when they were most wanted, it often happened that they would not do what was required, nor anything else.

The French missionaries made many attempts to convert the Caribs to Christianity, but without success. It is true that some were apparently converted; they learned the catechism, and prayers, and were baptized; but they always returned to their old habits.

A man of family and fortune, named Chateau Dubois, settled in Guadaloupe, and devoted great part of his life to the conversion of the Caribs, particularly those of Dominica. He constantly entertained a number of them, and taught them himself. He died in the exercise of these pious and charitable offices, without the consolation of having made one single convert.

As we have said, several had been baptized, and, as he hoped, they were well instructed, and apparently well grounded in the christian religion; but after they returned to their own people, they soon resumed all the Indian customs, and their natural indifference to all religion.

Some years after the death of Dubois, one of these Carib apostates was at Martinico. He spoke French correctly, could read and write; he had been baptized, and was then upwards of fifty years old. When reminded of the truths he had been taught, and reproached for his apostasy, he replied, “that if he had been born of christian parents, or if he had continued to live among the French, he would still have professed Christianity--but that, having returned to his own country and his own people, he could not resolve to live in a manner differing from their way of life, and by so doing expose himself to the hatred and contempt of his relations.” Alas, it is small matter of wonder that the Carib thought the christian religion was only a _profession_. Had those who bore that name always been Christians in reality, and treated the poor ignorant savages with the justice, truth and mercy which the Gospel enjoins, what a different tale the settlement of the New World would have furnished!

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A GOOD REPLY.--A countryman drove up his cart to a grocer’s door, and asked him what he gave for eggs. “Only seventeen cents,” he replied, “for the grocers have had a meeting and voted not to give any more.” Again the countryman came to market, and asked the grocer what he gave for eggs. “Only twelve cents,” said the grocer, “for the grocers have had another meeting and voted not to give any more.” A third time the countryman came and made the same inquiry, and the grocer replied, that “the grocers had held a meeting and voted to give only ten cents. Have you any for sale?” continued the grocer. “No,” says the countryman; “the hens have had a meeting too, and voted not to trouble themselves to lay eggs for ten cents a dozen.”

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PET OYSTER.--There is a gentleman at Christ Church, Salisbury, England, who keeps a pet oyster of the largest and finest breed. It is fed on oatmeal, for which it regularly opens its shell, and is occasionally treated with a dip in its native element; but the most extraordinary trait in the history of this amphibious pet is, that it has proved itself an excellent mouser, having already killed five mice, by crushing the heads of such as, tempted by odoriferous meal, had the temerity to intrude their noses within its bivalvular clutches. Twice have two of these little intruders suffered together.--_Eng. Journal_, 1840.

The Shetland Pony.

This diminutive breed of horses, many of which are not larger than a Newfoundland dog, is common in Shetland, and all the islands on the north and west of Scotland; also in the mountainous districts of the mainland along the coast. They are beautifully formed, and possess prodigious strength in proportion to their size. The heads are small, with a flowing mane and long tail, reaching to the ground.

They are high-spirited and courageous little animals, but extremely tractable in their nature. Some of them run wild about the mountains, and there are various methods of catching them, according to the local situation of the district which they inhabit.

The shelties, as they are called, are generally so small, that a middling-sized man must ride with his knees raised to the animal’s shoulders, to prevent his toes from touching the ground. It is surprising to see with what speed they will carry a heavy man over broken and zigzag roads in their native mountains.

When grazing, they will clamber up steep ascents, and to the extreme edge of precipices which overhang the most frightful abysses, and there they will gaze round with as much complacency as if on a plain.

These horses, small as they may be, are not to be considered a degenerate breed, for they are possessed of much greater physical strength in proportion to their size than larger horses. They are called garrons in the highlands of Scotland.

Many years ago, when turnpikes were first established in Scotland, a countryman was employed by the laird of Coll to go to Glasgow and Edinburgh on certain business, and furnished with a small shelty to ride upon. Being stopped at the gate near Dunbarton, the messenger good-humoredly asked the keeper if he would be required to pay toll, should he pass through carrying a burthen; and upon the man answering “Certainly not,” he took up the horse in his arms, and carried him through the toll-bar, to the great amusement of the gate-keeper.

A gentleman, some time ago, was presented with one of these handsome little animals, which was no less docile than elegant, and measured only seven hands or twenty-eight inches in height. He was anxious to convey his present home as speedily as possible, but, being at a considerable distance, was at a loss how to do so most easily. The friend said, “Can you not carry him in your chaise?” He made the experiment, and the shelty was lifted into it, covered up with the apron, and some bits of bread given him to keep him quiet. He lay quite peaceable till he reached his destination; thus exhibiting the novel spectacle of a horse riding in a gig.

A little girl, the daughter of a gentleman in Warwickshire, England, playing on the banks of a canal which runs through his grounds, had the misfortune to fall in, and would in all probability have been drowned, had not a little pony, which had long been kept in the family, plunged into the stream and brought the child safely ashore, without the slightest injury. The engraving at the head of this article exhibits this interesting scene.

A gentleman had a white pony, which became extremely attached to a little dog that lived with him in the stable, and whenever the horse was rode out, the dog always ran by his side. One day, when the groom took out the pony for exercise, and accompanied as usual by his canine friend, they met a large dog, who attacked the diminutive cur, upon which the horse reared, and, to the astonishment of the bystanders, so effectually fought his friend’s battle with his fore feet, that the aggressor found it his interest to scamper off at full speed, and never again ventured to assail the small dog.

Shelties sometimes attain a great age. There was in the small village of Haddington, Eng., a very small black pony, not exceeding eleven hands high, of the Shetland breed, which in the year 1745, at only two years of age, was rode at the battle of Preston Pans, by a young gentleman, who afterwards sold it to a farmer near Dunbar. This pony, at forty-seven years of age, looked remarkably fresh; trotted eight miles an hour for several miles together; had a very good set of teeth; eat corn and hay well; was able to go a long journey; and had not, to appearance, undergone the least alteration, either in galloping, trotting, or walking, for twenty years preceding.

* * * * *

CURIOUS.--In a book of accounts, belonging to a small dealer, who had become bankrupt, in the west of England, were found the following names of customers to whom credit had been given: “Woman on the Key; Jew Woman; Coal Woman; Old Coal Woman; Fat Coal Woman; Market Woman; Pale Woman; A Man; Old Woman; Little Milk Girl; Candle Man; Stable Man; Coachman; Big Woman; Lame Woman; Quiet Woman; Egg Man; Littel Black Girl; Old Watchman; Shoemaker; Littel Shoemaker; Short Shoemaker; Old Shoemaker; Littel Girl; Jew Man; Jew Woman; Mrs. in the Cart; Old Irish Woman; Woman in Cow street; A Lad; Man in the country; Long Sal; Woman with Long Sal; Mrs. Irish Woman; Mrs. Feather Bonnet; Blue Bonnet; Green Bonnet; Green Coat; Blue Britches; Big Britches; The woman that was married; The woman that told me of the man.”

* * * * *

“I hope I don’t intrude,” as the knife said to the oyster.

Instinct.

As M. Moreau de Johnes was riding through a wood in Martinique some years since, his horse reared and exhibited the greatest degree of alarm, trembling in every limb with fear. On looking around to discover the cause of the animal’s terror, he observed a serpent, called _fer de lance_, standing erect in a bush of bamboo, and he heard it hiss several times.

He would have fired at it with his pistol, but his horse became quite unmanageable, and drew back as quickly as possible, keeping his eyes fixed on the snake. M. de Johnes, on looking around for some person to hold his horse so that he might destroy the viper, beheld a negro, streaming with blood, cutting with a blunt knife the flesh from a wound which the serpent had just inflicted.

The negro entreated M. de Johnes not to destroy it, as he wished to take the animal alive, to effect a cure on himself, according to a superstitious belief; and this M. de Johnes allowed him to do.

Varieties.

LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER.--About three o’clock, one cold, dark, damp day, at the end of December, I met a little chimney-sweeper in England, who had come with his father that morning from a town eight miles off, to sweep the various chimneys about. He was nearly ten years old.

“Do you go home to-night, my little fellow? Where is your father?” “He went forward to the village of D----, and I am to follow.” “Are you afraid to go?” “No, I don’t feel afraid.” “I hope you are a good boy and don’t swear--do you say your prayers?” “Yes, always, every night and morning.” “Do you like sweeping chimneys?” “As to that, I don’t think any one could like it much; but there are nine children of us, and we two eldest boys must help father; and mother is good, and gets us breakfast early; and father is good to us, and we do pretty well.” “Do you go to Sunday school?” “Some of us always go.” Here ended our conversation.

About four o’clock a message came, “May the chimney-sweeper’s boy sleep here?--he cries, and says it is so wet and dark.” After a minute’s thought, we replied, “Yes, if he is willing to be locked up in the stable till morning.” With this he was well content; and after a clean bed of straw was made, he seemed delighted with his new quarters.

After the key had been turned a few minutes, an old servant coming by heard a voice--a steady, pleading voice; and on listening, she heard the child distinctly repeating collect after collect, and various church prayers. She went round, and looking in, saw our poor boy, kneeling by his bed of straw, with his hands clasped, and praying very earnestly. She said, “The tears came in my eyes as I watched the little fellow, and to see him rise from his knees, and so happily lay himself down to sleep.”

In the morning, they watched the child, when he repeated just the same before he left the stable. Upon coming out, the servants asked him, “Who taught you to say your prayers as you do?” “Mother,” he replied. “Then your mother’s a good scholar?” “No, she can’t read a word--none in our house can read.” “How then did she learn all these prayers?”

“Mother goes to church every Sunday, and says them after the parson, and so she learns them; and every night we all kneel round her that are old enough to speak, before she puts us to bed, and she says them first, bit by bit, and we all say them after her; and sometimes she learns a new one, and then she teaches us that. She tells us always to say our prayers when we are away from her, and so I do.”

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A SHOWER OF ASHES.--A late number of Silliman’s Journal contains the following memorandum, handed in by Rev. Peter Parker, M. D., who was a passenger in the ship Niantic, from Canton for New York:

“Ship Niantic, L. F. Doty, master, April 5th, 1840, being in lat. 7 deg. 5 min. north, lon. 121 deg. 10 min. east, at 2 h. A. M., sixty miles west from Mindanuo, one of the Philippine islands, came up a fine breeze from the northeast, which was attended with a shower of dust, resembling that of ashes. It came so thick that it obscured the moon and stars, which were all out very clear before. It filled the sailors’ eyes so full that they were obliged to retreat from the deck below. It lasted about one hour, and cleared away. At daylight the Niantic looked like an old furnace, completely covered, from the royal-masthead down to the water’s edge. The decks I should judge were one quarter of an inch thick with the ashes. We took up one half bushel, and might have saved three or four. It fell in small quantities, at different times, for two or three days after. On the 14th of April, spoke the English barque Margaret, whaler; reported likewise on the 5th of April had a similar shower of ashes, being at the time three hundred miles north-northeast of us. He informed me that on the 12th of April he visited several villages on the island of Madura, entirely deserted by the people, from one of which he had taken two brass cannon and several other articles. This led us to think that some volcanic eruption had lately happened in that neighborhood. After the 9th, perceived no more ashes in proceeding northward.”

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CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.--“Is Mr. Bluster within?” “No; he is out of town,” remarked the servant. “When can I see him?” “I don’t know;--have you any especial business with him?” “Yes, there is a small bill which I wish to settle.” “Well,” said the servant, “I don’t know whether he will return this week or not.” “But I wish to pay the bill, as I am to leave the town immediately.” “Oh! you wish to pay him some money--he is up stairs, I’m thinking; I will call him. Take a seat, sir; Mr. Bluster will be with you in a moment!”

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FATAL ATTACK OF A SERPENT.--A letter from Martinique, in the Journal of Guadaloupe, states, that M. De Pickery, merchant, was met while on a hunting excursion by an enormous serpent, which attacked him, and inflicted several severe wounds in his legs. He defended himself with great courage; but, although timely succor was administered to him, he died four hours after. The serpent was nearly seven feet in length, and when opened there were found in it one hundred and sixty-two little ones. (1840.)

TEARS.

THE WORDS AND MUSIC COMPOSED FOR MERRY’S MUSEUM.

_Slow & Pathetic._

Tears, tears may speak of grief,
More deep than words e’er spake,
And yet tears bring relief,
When else the heart would break.

Tears, tears may tell of pleasure,
Too sweet for words to show;
For the heart is like a measure--
Too full, ’twill overflow.

Then give, oh give me tears!--
For sorrow’s load they lighten--
And rainbow joy appears,
Amid their showers to brighten.

ROBERT MERRY’S

MUSEUM.

EDITED BY
S. G. GOODRICH,
AUTHOR OF PETER PARLEY’S TALES.

VOLUME II.

BOSTON:
BRADBURY & SODEN,
10 School Street.

1841.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

AUGUST TO DECEMBER, 1841.

The Siberian Sable-hunter, 1, 33, 69, 103, 156
The Wolf that pretended to be robbed, 7
Beware of Impatience, 8
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences
of Thomas Trotter, 8, 44, 74, 144
Sketches of the Manners, Customs,
and History of the Indians
of America, 14, 54, 121, 135, 161
Lion Hunting, 16
Merry’s Life
and Adventures, 17, 39, 65, 97, 149, 178
Toucan, 19
The Newfoundland Dog, 21
The Mysterious Artist, 24, 51
Peter Pilgrim’s Account of his
Schoolmates, Nos. 2 & 3, 27, 140
Egyptian Schools, 30
Varieties, 31
The Boy and the Lark,--a Song, 32
Origin of Words and Phrases, 43
Hymn, 50
Anecdote, 50
The Sparrow and Robin, 51
The Alligator, 60
Braham’s Parrot, 61
Mungo Park and the Frogs, 62
A Child lost in the Woods, 63
The Sun, 63
Autumn,--a Song, 64
Habit, 73
The Oak and the Reed, 80
Sincerity, 81
The Hyena, 84
Jewish Women, 84
Story of Philip Brusque, 85, 100, 130
An Incident from Ancient History, 89
Effects of Prohibition, 89
Saturday Night, 90
Oliver Cromwell, 92
Musings, 93
Anecdote of an Atheist, 94
Who made this? 94
Wisdom of the Creator, 94
Yankee Energy, 95
Who made Man? 95
Power of God, 95
The Bird’s Adieu,--a Song, 96
Wisdom of the Creator, 106
Washington, a Teacher to the Young, 107
The Poet and the Child, 111
The Ostrich, 112
What do we mean by Nature? 112
A Vision, 114
The Sun and Wind, 116
The Kamskatka Lily, 116
Habits which concern Ourselves, 117
Anecdotes of Haydn, 118
The Fox and Raven,--a Fable, 119
I don’t see why, 120
Charles and his Mother, 124
John Doree, 127
Letter to the Publishers, 127
Bees, 128
Up in the Morning early,--a Song, 128
London, 133
Aurelian and the Spider, 133
Exotic Fruit and Flowers in England, 134
Benevolence of the Deity, 134
The Rhinoceros, 137
Briers and Berries, 138
The Crows’ Court of Law, 138
The Story of the Supposed Miser, 139
The Mouth, 139
The Pilot, 148
A Little Child’s Joy, 151
The Mammoth, 152
Geordie and the Sick Dog, 152
The Tongue, 158
What is Selfishness? 159
A Thought, 159
Winter,--a Song, 160
A Long Nap, 171
Lord Bacon, 172
Habits which concern Others, 173
The Black Skimmer of the Seas, 175
The Squirrel, 176
Gothic Architecture, 177
The Apple,--a German Fable, 181
The Pretender and his Sister, 182
Winter, 183
The Hand, 184
Nuts to Crack, 185
To the Black-eyed and Blue-eyed
Friends of Robert Merry, 186
Winter,--a Song, 188

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841,
by S. G. GOODRICH, in the Clerk’s Office of the
District Court of Massachusetts.

MERRY’S MUSEUM.

VOLUME II.

The Siberian Sable-Hunter.