CHAPTER XXIV
_The Baron secures his chariot, &c., at the Cape and takes his passagefor England in a homeward-bound Indiaman--Wrecked upon an island of ice,near the coast of Guinea--Escapes from the wreck, and rears a variety ofvegetables upon the island--Meets some vessels belonging to the negroesbringing white slaves from Europe, in retaliation, to work upon theirplantations in a cold climate near the South Pole--Arrives in England,and lays an account of his expedition before the Privy Council--Greatpreparations for a new expedition--The Sphinx, Gog and Magog, and agreat company attend him--The ideas of Hilaro Frosticos respecting theinterior parts of Africa._
I perceived with grief and consternation the miscarriage of all myapparatus; yet I was not absolutely dejected: a great mind is neverknown but in adversity. With permission of the Dutch governor thechariot was properly laid up in a great storehouse, erected at thewater's edge, and the bulls received every refreshment possible after soterrible a voyage. Well, you may be sure they deserved it, and thereforeevery attendance was engaged for them, until I should return.
As it was not possible to do anything more I took my passage in ahomeward-bound Indiaman, to return to London, and lay the matter beforethe Privy Council.
We met with nothing particular until we arrived upon the coast ofGuinea, where, to our utter astonishment, we perceived a great hill,seemingly of glass, advancing against us in the open sea; the raysof the sun were reflected upon it with such splendour, that it wasextremely difficult to gaze at the phenomenon. I immediately knew it tobe an island of ice, and though in so very warm a latitude, determinedto make all possible sail from such horrible danger. We did so, but allin vain, for about eleven o'clock at night, blowing a very hard gale,and exceedingly dark, we struck upon the island. Nothing could equalthe distraction, the shrieks, and despair of the whole crew, until I,knowing there was not a moment to be lost, cheered up their spirits, andbade them not despond, but do as I should request them. In a few minutesthe vessel was half full of water, and the enormous castle of ice thatseemed to hem us in on every side, in some places falling in hideousfragments upon the deck, killed one half of the crew; upon which,getting upon the summit of the mast, I contrived to make it fast to agreat promontory of the ice, and calling to the remainder of the crew tofollow me, we all escaped from the wreck, and got upon the summit of theisland.
The rising sun soon gave us a dreadful prospect of our situation, andthe loss, or rather iceification, of the vessel; for being closed inon every side with castles of ice during the night, she was absolutelyfrozen over and buried in such a manner that we could behold her underour feet, even in the central solidity of the island. Having debatedwhat was best to be done, we immediately cut down through the ice, andgot up some of the cables of the vessel, and the boats, which, makingfast to the island, we towed it with all our might, determined to bringhome island and all, or perish in the attempt. On the summit of theisland we placed what oakum and dregs of every kind of matter we couldget from the vessel, which, in the space of a very few hours, onaccount of the liquefying of the ice, and the warmth of the sun, weretransformed into a very fine manure; and as I had some seeds of exoticvegetables in my pocket, we shortly had a sufficiency of fruits androots growing upon the island to supply the whole crew, especially thebread-fruit tree, a few plants of which had been in the vessel; andanother tree, which bore plum-puddings so very hot, and with suchexquisite proportion of sugar, fruit, &c., that we all acknowledgedit was not possible to taste anything of the kind more delicious inEngland: in short, though the scurvy had made such dreadful progressamong the crew before our striking upon the ice, the supply ofvegetables, and especially the bread-fruit and pudding-fruit, put analmost immediate stop to the distemper.
We had not proceeded thus many weeks, advancing with incredible fatigueby continual towing, when we fell in with a fleet of Negro-men, as theycall them. These wretches, I must inform you, my dear friends, had foundmeans to make prizes of those vessels from some Europeans upon the coastof Guinea, and tasting the sweets of luxury, had formed colonies inseveral new discovered islands near the South Pole, where they had avariety of plantations of such matters as would only grow in the coldestclimates. As the black inhabitants of Guinea were unsuited to theclimate and excessive cold of the country, they formed the diabolicalproject of getting Christian slaves to work for them. For this purposethey sent vessels every year to the coast of Scotland, the northernparts of Ireland, and Wales, and were even sometimes seen off the coastof Cornwall. And having purchased, or entrapped by fraud or violence,a great number of men, women, and children, they proceeded with theircargoes of human flesh to the other end of the world, and sold them totheir planters, where they were flogged into obedience, and made to worklike horses all the rest of their lives.
My blood ran cold at the idea, while every one on the island alsoexpressed his horror that such an iniquitous traffic should be sufferedto exist. But, except by open violence, it was found impossible todestroy the trade, on account of a barbarous prejudice, entertained oflate by the negroes, that the white people have no souls! However, wewere determined to attack them, and steering down our island upon them,soon overwhelmed them: we saved as many of the white people as possible,but pushed all the blacks into the water again. The poor creatureswe saved from slavery were so overjoyed, that they wept aloud throughgratitude, and we experienced every delightful sensation to thinkwhat happiness we should shower upon their parents, their brothers andsisters and children, by bringing them home safe, redeemed from slavery,to the bosom of their native country.
Having happily arrived in England, I immediately laid a statement ofmy voyage, &c., before the Privy Council, and entreated an immediateassistance to travel into Africa, and, if possible, refit my formermachine, and take it along with the rest. Everything was instantlygranted to my satisfaction, and I received orders to get myself readyfor departure as soon as possible.
As the Emperor of China had sent a most curious animal as a presentto Europe, which was kept in the Tower, and it being of an enormousstature, and capable of performing the voyage with _eclat_, she wasordered to attend me. She was called Sphinx, and was one of the mosttremendous though magnificent figures I ever beheld. She was harnessedwith superb trappings to a large flat-bottomed boat, in which was placedan edifice of wood, exactly resembling Westminster Hall. Two balloonswere placed over it, tackled by a number of ropes to the boat, to keepup a proper equilibrium, and prevent it from overturning, or filling,from the prodigious weight of the fabric.
The interior of the edifice was decorated with seats, in the form ofan amphitheatre, and crammed as full as it could hold with ladies andlords, as a council and retinue for your humble servant. Nearly in thecentre was a seat elegantly decorated for myself, and on either side ofme were placed the famous Gog and Magog in all their pomp.
The Lord Viscount Gosamer being our postillion, we floated gallantlydown the river, the noble Sphinx gambolling like the huge leviathan, andtowing after her the boat and balloons.
Thus we advanced, sailing gently, into the open sea; being calm weather,we could scarcely feel the motion of the vehicle, and passed our timein grand debate upon the glorious intention of our voyage, and thediscoveries that would result.
"I am of opinion," said my noble friend, Hilaro Frosticos, "that Africawas originally inhabited for the greater part, or, I may say, subjugatedby lions which, next to man, seem to be the most dreaded of all mortaltyrants. The country in general--at least, what we have been hithertoable to discover, seems rather inimical to human life; the intolerabledryness of the place, the burning sands that overwhelm whole armiesand cities in general ruin, and the hideous life many roving hordes arecompelled to lead, incline me to think, that if ever we form any greatsettlements therein, it will become the grave of our countrymen. Yet itis nearer to us than the East Indies, and I cannot but imagine, that inmany places every production of China, and of the East and West Indies,would flourish, if properly attended to. And as the country is soprod
igiously extensive and unknown, what a source of discovery must notit contain! In fact, we know less about the interior of Africa than wedo of the moon; for in this latter we measure the very prominences,and observe the varieties and inequalities of the surface through ourglasses--
"Forests and mountains on her spotted orb.
"But we see nothing in the interior of Africa, but what some compilersof maps or geographers are fanciful enough to imagine. What a happyevent, therefore, should we not expect from a voyage of discovery andcolonisation undertaken in so magnificent a style as the present! what apride--what an acquisition to philosophy!"
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen Page 28