Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

of kindness and attention you make to him? how grateful he will be, how studious of your will, how anxious to understand you, how happy to please and satisfy you!

4. We have possessed two horses at different times, which, with only the treatment that they would experience from a master fond of the animals under his protection, would follow us with the attention of dogs; sometimes stopping to graze on the banks of the road till we had advanced many hundred yards, and then, of their own accord, and apparently with delight, cantering forward and rejoining us. In fact, they were gentle, intelligent, and pleasing companions; and this was produced rather by total abstinence from harsh treatment, than by any positive solicitation/ or great attention on our part.

5. The great gentleness, sagacity, and serviceableness, which mark the horse in the East, particularly in Arabia, are qualities which seem to depend entirely on the better treatment which he there receives. The Arabs make the horse a domestic companion.EI He sleeps in the same tent with the family. Children repose upon his neck, and hug and kiss him, without the least Zanger. He steps amongst their sleeping forms by night, without ever injuring them. When his master mounts him, he manifests the greatest pleasure; and if that master by any chance falls off, the horse instantly stands still till he is again mounted. An Arabian horse has even been known to pick up his wounded master and carry him in his teeth to a place of safety.

6. Unquestionably these beautiful traits of character have been developed in the animal by a proper course of treatment. The same law holds good here as amongst men. Treat these in a rational, humane, and confiding manner, and you bring forth their best natural qualities; but, on the contrary, visit them with oppression and cruelty, and you either harden and stupefy them, or rouse them to the manifestation of wrathful feelings, which may prove extremely uncomfortable to yourself. It is probable, then, that, from the way in which we use most animals, we never have experienced nearly so much advantage from their subserviency as we might.

Distinguished much by reason, and still more
By our capacity of grace divine,

From creatures that exist but for our sake,
Which, having served us, perish, we are held
Accountable; and God, some future day,
Will reckon with us roundly for the abuse
Of what he deems no mean or trival trust.

I would not enter on my list of friends

(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm, 118

LXXXVIII. RECIPROCAL KINDNESS.

1. ANDROC LES, from his injured lord in dread
Of instant death, to Libya's desert fled :
Tired of his toilsome flight, and parched with heat,
He spied, at length, a cavern's cool retreat;
But scarce had given to rest his weary frame,
When, hugest of his kind, a lion came:
He roared, approaching; but the savage din
To plaintive murmurs changed, arrived within;
And, with expressive looks, his lifted paw
Presenting, aid implored from whom he saw.

2. The fugitive, through terror at a stand,

Dared not a while afford his trembling hand;.
But, bolder grown, at length inherent found
A pointed thorn, and drew it from the wound.EI
The cure was wrought; he wiped the sanious blood,
And firm and free from pain the lion stood.
Again he seeks the wilds, and day by day
Regales his inmate with the parted prey.
Nor he disdains the dole, though unprepared,
Spread on the ground, and with a lion shared.

3. But thus to live, still lost, sequestered still,
Scarce seemed his lord's revenge a heavier ill!-
Home! native home! O, might he but repair!
He must-he will-though death attends him there.
He goes, and, doomed to perish, on the sands
Of the full theatre unpitied stands;
When, lo! the self-same lion from his cage
Flies to devour him, famished into rage.

He flies, but, viewing in his purposed prey
The man his healer, pauses on his way,
And softened by remembrance into sweet
And kind composure, crouches at his feet.
Mute with astonishment the assembly gaze:
But why, ye Romans? Whence your mute amaze?
All this is natural: Nature bade him rend
An enemy, she bids him spare a friend.

118

COWPER.

LXXXIX. -THE RESOLUTE WHALE.

1. THE ship Ann Alexander, Captain John S. Deblois, sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, the first of June, 1850, for a cruise in the South Pacific, in search of sperm-whales. After

eruising some months in the Atlantic, and capturing several whales,103 the vessel proceeded to the South Pacific; and finally, on the twentieth of August, 1851, reached a favorable spot, in latitude five degrees fifty minutes south, longitude one hundred and two degrees west. On the morning of that day, at about nine o'clock, whales were discovered in the neighborhood, and about noon the crew succeeded in making fast to one. Two boats had gone after the whales the larboard and the starboard; the former commanded by the first mate, and the latter by Captain Deblois. The whale which they had struck was harpooned by the larboard-boat.

2. After running some time, the whale turned upon the boat, and, rushing at it with tremendous violence, opened its enormous jaws, and taking the boat in, actually crushed it into fragments as small as a common-sized chair! Captain Deblois immediately struck for the scene of the disaster with the starboard-boat, and succeeded, against all expectation, in rescuing the whole of the crew of the demolished boat, nine in number! How they escaped from instant death, when the whale rushed upon them with such violence and seized the boat in its ponderous jaws, it is impossible to say.

93

138

3. There were now eighteen men in the starboard-boat, consisting of the captain, the first-mate, and the crews of both boats. The frightful disaster had been witnessed from the ship, and the waist-boat was got in readiness and sent to their relief. The distance from the ship was about six miles. As soon as the waist-boat arrived, the crews were divided, and it was determined to pursue the same whale and make another attack upon him. Accordingly they separated, and proceeded at some distance from each other, as is usual on such occasions, after the whale. In a short time they came up to him, and prepared to give him battle. 4. The waist-boat, commanded by the first-mate, was in advance. As soon as the whale perceived the demonstration being made upon him, he turned his course suddenly, and making a tremendous dash at this boat, seized it, also, with his wide-spread jaws, and crushed it into atoms, allowing the men barely time to escape his vengeance by throwing themselves into the ocean. Captain Deblois again seeing the perilous condition of his men, at the risk of meeting the same fate, directed his boat to hasten to their rescue, and in a short time succeeded in saving them all from a death little less horrible than that from which they had already so miraculously escaped.

5. He then ordered the boat to put for the ship as speedily as possible; and no sooner had the order been given, than they discovered the monster of the deep making towards them with his

jaws widely extended. Escape from death now seemed totally out of the question. They were six or seven miles from the ship; relief from that quarter was not to be expected; and the whale, maddened by the wounds of the harpoon and lances which had been thrown into him, and seemingly animated with the prospect of speedy revenge, was within a few cables' length Fortunately, the monster came up and passed them at a short distance. The boat then made her way to the ship, and they all got on board in safety.

6. After reaching the ship, a boat was despatched for the oars of the demolished boats. As soon as the boat returned with the oars, sail was set, and the ship proceeded after the whale. In a short time she overtook him, and a lance was thrown into his head. She passed on by him, and immediately after it was discovered that the whale was rushing towards her. As he came up, they hauled to the wind, and suffered the monster to pass her. After he had fairly passed, they kept on to attack him again. When the ship had reached within about fifty rods of him, they discovered that the whale had settled down deep below the surface of the water, and, as it was near sundown, they concluded to give up the pursuit. Subsequent events proved, however, that the whale had formed a deadly resolution to destroy the ship.

7. While Captain Deblois was waiting on deck for the reappearance of the whale, he suddenly saw it approaching at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. In an instant the determined monster struck the ship with tremendous violence, shaking her from stem to stern. She quivered under the impetuosity of the shock as if she had struck upon a rock. Captain Deblois immediately descended into the forecastle, and there, to his horror, discovered that the whale had struck the ship about two feet from the keel, abreast the foremast, knocking a great hole entirely through her bottom, through which the water roared and rushed in with great force. Springing to the deck, he ordered the mate to cut away the anchors and get the cables overboard to keep the ship from sinking.

ΕΙ

8. In doing this, the mate succeeded in relieving only one anchor and getting one cable clear, the other having been fastened around the foremast. The ship was then sinking very rapidly. The captain went into the cabin, where he found three feet of water; he, however, succeeded in procuring a chronometer, sex tant, and chart. Reaching the decks, he ordered the men tc clear away the boats, and to get water and provisions, as the ship was heeling over. He again descended to the cabin, but the water was rushing in so rapidly that he could procure nothing

ΕΙ

ΕΙ

5. The clouds around the setting sun assumed a new appear. ance; the air was milder and warmer; and during night the wind became unequal and variable. From all these symptoms, Columbus was so confident of being near land, that on the evening of the eleventh of October, after public prayers for success, he ordered the sails to be furled, and the ships to lie to, keeping strict watch lest they should be driven ashore in the night. During this interval of suspense and expectation, no man shut his eyes; all kept upon deck, gazing intently towards that quarter where they expected to discover the land which had been so long the object of their wishes.

ΕΙ

6. About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing on the Forecastle, observed a light at a distance, and privately pointed it out to Pedro Guttierez, a page of the queen's wardrobe. Guttierez perceived it, and calling to Salcedo, comptroller of the fleet, all three saw it in motion, as if it were carried from place to place. A little after midnight the joyful sound of "Land! land!" was heard from the Pinta, which kept always ahead of the other ships. But, having been so often deceived by fallacious appearances, every man was now become slow of beliet, and waited in all the anguish of uncertainty and impatience for the return of day.

ΕΙ

7. As soon as morning dawned (October 12, 1492), all doubts and fears were dispelled. From every ship an island was seen about two leagues to the north, whose flat and verdant fields, weil stored with wood, and watered with many rivulets, presented the aspect of a delightful country. The crew of the Pinta instantly began the Te Deum, as a hymn of thanksgiving to God, and were joined by those of the other ships, with tears of joy and transports of congratulation. This office of gratitude to Heaven. was followed by an act of justice to their commander. They threw themselves at the feet of Columbus, with feelings of selfcondemnation mingled with reverence.

8. They implored him to pardon their ignorance, incredulity, and insolence, which had created him so much unnecessary disquiet, and had so often obstructed the prosecution of his wellconcerted plan; and passing, in the warmth of their admiration, from one extreme to another, they now pronounced the man whom they had so lately reviled and threatened to be a person inspired by Heaven with sagacity and fortitude more than human, in order to accomplish a design so far beyond the ideas and conceptions of all former ages.

*The mark of quantity over the u always indicates that it should have the long, diphthongal sound, as in cube, &c. In many words not marked, the same sound should be given. See ¶ 73.

« ПредишнаНапред »