We struck up, then, towards the inland; and at first we followed the channel of this stream, which led us up a ground that sloped away towards the base of the mountain. Here was a kind of mossy lane, over-arched and shaded by groves of various trees, as bananas, plantains, pepul, banians, cocoa-nuts, and palm trees of several kinds, some very tall and feathery, others with a broad spreading leaf, such as they use to thatch their houses in the Havannahs and Philippine Islands. It was, indeed, a sort of alley that any rich owner in those plantations would give a good deal to have near his house; with a swift brook leaping, now to this side, now to that, through all its length; which gathered itself up in little pools of still water, or fell over the stones with a noise that sounded refreshing in the great heat of the day.
We determined not to part company with this stream, so long as it did not take us out of our course; for though at times we had to climb over rough uneven ground, and swing ourselves round the roots of such trees as came too near the brink, as many times, indeed, they did quite overhang it, yet we considered that this way of traveling was easier than to force ourselves through the close thicket on either side, where we might be torn by the prickly shrubs for our pains, and less able for defense against a sudden enemy.
For my own part, I was on the look-out for an occasion of getting up to the higher ground, that so we might be better judges of the whole extent of the island, I believe it was not laid down on any of the ship’s charts: and this, I remark by the way, appeared afterwards to be the reason why Hopkins, the captain, determined with the mate to leave us on it: that he might escape being tried for our murder, yet have us safe where we had little chance of being picked off again, to give evidence against him for his villainy.
Now, however, suspecting no evil, and all in the gayest mood, we judged ourselves to be the first discoverers of the place; and Hilton, taking off his handkerchief and tying it to the top of his pike, struck that into the soil, and took possession (he said) of the island in King George’s name. This made us laugh; as, indeed, a little thing would have made us laugh on that holiday of ours. So, following it up, we fell into some kindly contention how to name our new-discovered island.
I proposed it should be called Manuel’s Island, out of compliment to the priest, whom, as being of another nation, we might consider a sort of guest, claiming hospitality on our ground. But I found at once, by the men’s looks, this was a notion they disliked altogether, though none spoke, except Don Manuel himself. And he at once thanked me, with that courtesy which belongs to his nation, wherein they are rivalled by few, I believe, among all people in the world. “Senor”, says he, (that was his Spanish way of expressing Sir,) with a manner between jest and earnest, “you are too good to think of me on such an occasion. A poor priest has no claim or title to give his name to any spot on this great earth: he is called to spend his strength, or shed his blood, wherever his Master sends him; “tis quite enough”, added he, raising his looks, “if his name be written in heaven”.
“ But”, continued the priest, and his manner as he spoke made us all attend; it was so earnest and natural, withal so courteous to each, that the rough seamen listened to him as if he had dropped among them from the trees, or the skies: — “whether,” says he, “we are really the first who have set foot on this place or not, it must be acknowledged on all hands that we have been led hither by the good providence of God”. ‘And here he bowed his head, lifting his hat as he spoke. “So I propose, gentlemen, that in honor of Him who created all, and has preserved us safe to this moment, we call the island after some of the great truths of that religion He has revealed. And surely”, said he, looking round on us with a cheerful smile, “ we may find something sacred in which we can all agree, whereby to christen the place?”
When he had thus expressed himself, I must candidly own, the men looked at one another as if they had never heard such a proposal before, and what the priest said was the very last thing in their thoughts. I was taken aback, indeed, at the idea of it; for at that time I must confess myself to have been without any serious thought of religion at all: and did not feel to like the priest more for having proposed this.
“Well, Senores”, said he, observing our looks, as we all moved onward again, “ among my countrymen, as you have known in the course of your voyages, a discovery like this would be marked by some title borrowed from the gospel, and the history of the Catholic Church. We should call the island after the Incarnation of the Son of God, that is, the Annunciation; or in honour of the Conception of His most holy Mother; or after all the saints; or the True Cross, or some special saint, Saint Francis, Saint Dominic, Saint Thomas; and these names, with many like them, are familiar to those of you who have touched at the Spanish settlements. Some of those titles could not be expected in this case, since you, Senores, do not admit the thoughts which they express: but why should we not call the place the Isle of the Resurrection?”
“And I propose”, quoth Prodgers, breaking in roughly, “ that we call it No Mans Land; for it belongs to us all equally, and ’t is our property, until the ship fires the evening gun”.
“Or Gill’s Country”, said Harry Gill, “for I first jumped ashore, and set my foot on the island”.
“Aye, and measured it too”, remarked Hilton, “ for I saw you sprawling at full length among the sea-weed”.
So, with one discourse or another, but all good-humoured, we accomplished our ramble for the two hours we had allowed ourselves. We saw game in plenty; chiefly of the hare kind, and a species of peccary or wild hog, with here and there an antelope, rushing through the thicket as we drew near. But we would not load ourselves with them at that time, trusting to a shot or two on our return to the boat. Of birds we saw not many, except some flights of macaws and parrots, very brilliant in colour, and noisy, that flew over our heads.
The wood now grew so thick and pathless, that we nearly lost our reckoning; and quite lost our companion, the stream, though we had tasted of it several times to slake our thirst on this hot, weary march, for so it now became to us. Struggling hard, we scrambled by main force out of this wood; and found, by the rise, we were on the slope of the mountain, turning to our left hand from the direction of our first entrance.
At this point we cried a halt; and sitting down, took out what few provisions we had brought with us, which we divided equally among our number, and made a meal that was too scanty to be a long one.
This done, “Now, my friends”, said I, “a short climb will take us high enough to afford a clear view on both sides; and we shall see out to the leeward of this island: then we must push on smartly for the boat, lest we lose our way in the dark. Remember how suddenly night comes on in these latitudes”. I also told them, though we had hitherto reserved our fire, yet (as we had seen no sign of savages, but plenty of game), when once our faces were turned homewards, or shipwards rather, we would let fly at anything living that came in our way.
This being agreed to, we began the ascent; and disentangling ourselves from the last of the brushwood, soon found we were on the mountain indeed: for it cost us some hard climbing, this side being the steepest, as we afterwards found. The trees here were almost as close as the thicket below, so that we partly lost our way; and bending too much back towards the shore, we had, not a view of the further side of the island, but a sight that did not leave our eyes (our mind’s eye , I mean) for months, and decided our fate for years.
For we came at once on a spot of clearer ground, with an opening left in the trees, that looked straight out to seaward. Whether it had been so cleared by some violent gust of wind, or other natural cause, I know not; but we now saw, in the very middle of the view, the long-boat, using both oars and sail, just within a few strokes of the ship; then the men we left in her, clambering up the vessel’s sides, and at once all sails set for standing out to sea.
We determined not to part company with this stream, so long as it did not take us out of our course; for though at times we had to climb over rough uneven ground, and swing ourselves round the roots of such trees as came too near the brink, as many times, indeed, they did quite overhang it, yet we considered that this way of traveling was easier than to force ourselves through the close thicket on either side, where we might be torn by the prickly shrubs for our pains, and less able for defense against a sudden enemy.
For my own part, I was on the look-out for an occasion of getting up to the higher ground, that so we might be better judges of the whole extent of the island, I believe it was not laid down on any of the ship’s charts: and this, I remark by the way, appeared afterwards to be the reason why Hopkins, the captain, determined with the mate to leave us on it: that he might escape being tried for our murder, yet have us safe where we had little chance of being picked off again, to give evidence against him for his villainy.
Now, however, suspecting no evil, and all in the gayest mood, we judged ourselves to be the first discoverers of the place; and Hilton, taking off his handkerchief and tying it to the top of his pike, struck that into the soil, and took possession (he said) of the island in King George’s name. This made us laugh; as, indeed, a little thing would have made us laugh on that holiday of ours. So, following it up, we fell into some kindly contention how to name our new-discovered island.
I proposed it should be called Manuel’s Island, out of compliment to the priest, whom, as being of another nation, we might consider a sort of guest, claiming hospitality on our ground. But I found at once, by the men’s looks, this was a notion they disliked altogether, though none spoke, except Don Manuel himself. And he at once thanked me, with that courtesy which belongs to his nation, wherein they are rivalled by few, I believe, among all people in the world. “Senor”, says he, (that was his Spanish way of expressing Sir,) with a manner between jest and earnest, “you are too good to think of me on such an occasion. A poor priest has no claim or title to give his name to any spot on this great earth: he is called to spend his strength, or shed his blood, wherever his Master sends him; “tis quite enough”, added he, raising his looks, “if his name be written in heaven”.
“ But”, continued the priest, and his manner as he spoke made us all attend; it was so earnest and natural, withal so courteous to each, that the rough seamen listened to him as if he had dropped among them from the trees, or the skies: — “whether,” says he, “we are really the first who have set foot on this place or not, it must be acknowledged on all hands that we have been led hither by the good providence of God”. ‘And here he bowed his head, lifting his hat as he spoke. “So I propose, gentlemen, that in honor of Him who created all, and has preserved us safe to this moment, we call the island after some of the great truths of that religion He has revealed. And surely”, said he, looking round on us with a cheerful smile, “ we may find something sacred in which we can all agree, whereby to christen the place?”
When he had thus expressed himself, I must candidly own, the men looked at one another as if they had never heard such a proposal before, and what the priest said was the very last thing in their thoughts. I was taken aback, indeed, at the idea of it; for at that time I must confess myself to have been without any serious thought of religion at all: and did not feel to like the priest more for having proposed this.
“Well, Senores”, said he, observing our looks, as we all moved onward again, “ among my countrymen, as you have known in the course of your voyages, a discovery like this would be marked by some title borrowed from the gospel, and the history of the Catholic Church. We should call the island after the Incarnation of the Son of God, that is, the Annunciation; or in honour of the Conception of His most holy Mother; or after all the saints; or the True Cross, or some special saint, Saint Francis, Saint Dominic, Saint Thomas; and these names, with many like them, are familiar to those of you who have touched at the Spanish settlements. Some of those titles could not be expected in this case, since you, Senores, do not admit the thoughts which they express: but why should we not call the place the Isle of the Resurrection?”
“And I propose”, quoth Prodgers, breaking in roughly, “ that we call it No Mans Land; for it belongs to us all equally, and ’t is our property, until the ship fires the evening gun”.
“Or Gill’s Country”, said Harry Gill, “for I first jumped ashore, and set my foot on the island”.
“Aye, and measured it too”, remarked Hilton, “ for I saw you sprawling at full length among the sea-weed”.
So, with one discourse or another, but all good-humoured, we accomplished our ramble for the two hours we had allowed ourselves. We saw game in plenty; chiefly of the hare kind, and a species of peccary or wild hog, with here and there an antelope, rushing through the thicket as we drew near. But we would not load ourselves with them at that time, trusting to a shot or two on our return to the boat. Of birds we saw not many, except some flights of macaws and parrots, very brilliant in colour, and noisy, that flew over our heads.
The wood now grew so thick and pathless, that we nearly lost our reckoning; and quite lost our companion, the stream, though we had tasted of it several times to slake our thirst on this hot, weary march, for so it now became to us. Struggling hard, we scrambled by main force out of this wood; and found, by the rise, we were on the slope of the mountain, turning to our left hand from the direction of our first entrance.
At this point we cried a halt; and sitting down, took out what few provisions we had brought with us, which we divided equally among our number, and made a meal that was too scanty to be a long one.
This done, “Now, my friends”, said I, “a short climb will take us high enough to afford a clear view on both sides; and we shall see out to the leeward of this island: then we must push on smartly for the boat, lest we lose our way in the dark. Remember how suddenly night comes on in these latitudes”. I also told them, though we had hitherto reserved our fire, yet (as we had seen no sign of savages, but plenty of game), when once our faces were turned homewards, or shipwards rather, we would let fly at anything living that came in our way.
This being agreed to, we began the ascent; and disentangling ourselves from the last of the brushwood, soon found we were on the mountain indeed: for it cost us some hard climbing, this side being the steepest, as we afterwards found. The trees here were almost as close as the thicket below, so that we partly lost our way; and bending too much back towards the shore, we had, not a view of the further side of the island, but a sight that did not leave our eyes (our mind’s eye , I mean) for months, and decided our fate for years.
For we came at once on a spot of clearer ground, with an opening left in the trees, that looked straight out to seaward. Whether it had been so cleared by some violent gust of wind, or other natural cause, I know not; but we now saw, in the very middle of the view, the long-boat, using both oars and sail, just within a few strokes of the ship; then the men we left in her, clambering up the vessel’s sides, and at once all sails set for standing out to sea.
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