SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS,

Btehing5 of a Whaling Cruise ; with Notes of a Sojourn on the Island of Zanzibar ; and a brief History of the Whale-fishery, in its past and present condition. By

J. Ross Browne. With numerous Engravings and Wood-cuts Murray. BISTOILY,

Ceylon : a general Description of the Island and its inhabitants; with an historical Sketch of the Conquest of the Colony by the English. By Henry Marshall, F.R.S.E., Deputy Inspector of Army Hospitals, Author of "Rotes on the medical.

Topography of the Interior of Ceylon," &c. &c dtlen and Co. BIOGRAPHY, Memoir of the Life and Services of Tice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, Baronet, R.C.B. Edited by the Reverend Henry Ratites, Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester.

POETRY, Halchard. The Minstrelsy of the English Border : being a Collection of Ballads, ancient, re- modelled, and original. founded on well-known Bonier Legends. With Illustrative Notes. By Frederick Sheldon Longman and Co.

MR. Boss BROWNE'S WHALING cnursz.

Ma. BROWNE is a young American of the fir West, who, partaking of the incredibilia, nimis alta " of his countrymen' contemplated the grand tour of Europe without a dollar in his pocket. To acquire the needful, he went ti Washington and became reporter ; but found, at the end of the session, that the surplus of his salary was very little after de- fraying his expenses. However, he and an official aspirant determined to start with what money they had, work their passage to Europe,, and then get on as they could. The first touch of reality dissipated their lofty dreams. The condition of the treasury, which has checked so many monarchs- and states, pulled up Mr. J. Ross Browne and his friend at New York. Ashamed to return or write home for a supply, they sought commercial. employment, which was not to be had : no respectable vessel would re- ceive them, and they were at last fain to offer themselves to the agent of a whaler, in happy ignorance of the nature of the service. Their adven- ture turned out as bad as could be. The vessel was ill-provisioned, the captain brutal and tyrannical, the crew for the most part a set of consummate blackguards—Portuguese from the Western Islands, or the offscourings of New York; and the duty very hard in capturing the whale, and very dirty in cutting him up,—which last facts the Western heroes might have learned without experiment. The station of the ves- sel was not the South Seas, but the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and a very short time sufficed to sicken the reporter of "life on the ocean. wave.' It was not, however till they reached Zanzibar, an island off the South-east coast of Africa, that an opportunity of escape offered. Here, by the assistance of the Consul, and by vying up all his property and claims, J. Ross Browne was permitted to find a sub- stitute. He subsequently reached home in an American vessel, as a sort of passenger doing ship's duty ; and has published his narrative,. chiefly to call attention to the tyranny of whaling captains and the sufferings of whaling crews. In short, he aims at procuring the same attention to this branch of the trading marine as Dana excited for the general merchant-service. If Mr. Browne has the same success in his practical object, we are afraid the Whaling Cruise will not acquire for him the same literary reputation as Two Years before the Mast. The subject of this book has not the extent, variety, and information of Dana's. The places Browne visited were the Western and Cape de Verd Islands, Madagascar, Zanzibar, and St. Helena on his return home ; and, except at Zanzibar, his oppor- tunities of observation were very limited. The sea topics are continual stories of chasing whales one of which serves as a specimen for all ; ac- counts of the tyranny Of the captain, the suffering of Browne and some others, with the blackguard characters and doings of the majority of the crew. But the work of Dana differs from the book before us less in subject than in treatment. The mind of Browne is as dif- ferent from that of Dana "as chalk from cheese." Browne wants the sense, the calmness, the strength, and the almost poetical feeling which enabled Dana to give sustained attraction to the incidents of life at sea, and to the descriptions of nautical economy, as well as of the shore-going adventures. Browne is not a man of genius' scarcely of ability, but a fair enough specimen of the fluent, obtrusive, self-confident, half-educated American, such as one continually encounters in their books of travel& The reflections are in a high-flown sentimental manner the descriptions of the actual are lengthy and literal. Like some other of his countrymen, Mr. Browne falls into the habit of reporting conversations or dialogues at full length : a very good practice when the persons and topics are of im- portance, but scarcely needed in the case of whalers with their mere "chaffing," or pointless jokes, or the quarrels of the captain with his mate and crew. The author is also deficient in art and delicacy. An artist catches and presents the spirit of the lowest scenes, but sinks their material ot physical coarseness. Mr. Browne gives them literally as they are ; that he produces much the same unpleasant effect upon the mind as if the reader were actually present—bating the life. The slender interest the book possesses is entirely owing to its nautical subjects—the hard= ships and excitement of the service, and the characters of the crew, un- pleasant as some of the latter are. The philosophy of Browne is as inferior to Dana's as his literature. After a calm exposition of his subject, Dana came to the conclusion that nothing could be done directly ; improvement must be effected by the operation of opinion, and by raising the character of the seamen. Be- yond improving the character of the American Consuls, (whom he stig- matizes as supporting the captains through thick and thin, though with- out evidence,) Browne has nothing directly to propose, although he de- votes a whole chapter to general declamation upon the tyranny of his captain, the state of the law, and of public opinion. It must also be borne in mind, that some of Mr. Browne's troubles are beyond remedy : they are part and parcel of maritime life, felt by him more acutely front his age and previous habits. The Washington reporter had embarked in, a trade which he had not learned. The sufferings of his second day and night were, no doubt, terrible; but they were part of the "sea change."

THE REPORTER'S FIRST GALE.

Night closed upon us with rough and cloudy. weather. By morning we had a heavy, chopping sea, and began to experience all the horrors of sea-sickness. The mate, a stout, -bluff-looking Englishman, with a bull neck, kept us in continual motion, and gave us plenty of hard work to do, clearing up the decks, bracing the yards, stowing down the loose rubbish, and otherwise making the vessel tidy and ship-shape. He bellowed forth his orders to the men in the rigging like a roaring lion yelled and swore at the "green hands" in the most alarming manner, and pulled at the ropes as if determined to tear the whole vessel to pieces. The loungers or " sogers " had no chance at all with him: he actually made them jump as if suddenly galvanized. For the sea-sick he had no sympathy whatever. "Stir yourselves; jump about; pull, haul, work like vengeance!" ." he would say, in the bluff, hearty voice of a man who appeared to think sickness all folly; "that's the way to cure it. You'll never get well if you give up to it. Tumble about there ! Work it off, rns I do." To the haggard,wo-begone landsmen, who staggered about groaning under their afflictions, this sounded very much like mockery. For my part, I thought the mate a great monster to talk about sickness, with a face as red ass turkey-cock's snout.

After a day of horrors such as I had never lent before, we were permitted to go below for the night. • Sea-sick and harassed after a bard day's work, we had gladly availed our- selves of a few hours' respite from duties so laborious. The mate came to the scuttle, and, with half-a-dozen tremendous raps, roared at us to bear a hand. "Tumble up, every mother's son of you, and take in sail. Out with you, green hands and all. We won't have any sick aboard here. You didn't come to sea to lay up. No groaning there, or I'll be down after you. D'ye hear the news down below? Tumble up, tumble up, my lively hearties!"

There was no refusing so peremptory a command as this, little as we liked it. Without exactly tumbling up, we contrived with some difficulty to gain the deck; for the vessel pitched so violently that few of the green hands could keep their feet under them. I shall never forget the bewilderment with which I looked around me. We were in the Gulf stream, enshrouded in darkness and spray. The sea broke over our bows' and swept the decks with a tremendous roar. Mo- mentary flashes of lightning added to the sublimity of the scene. When I looked over the bulwarks, it seemed to me that the horizon was flying up in the clouds Ind whirling round the vessel by tarns; and the clouds, as if astonished at such wild pranks, appeared to be shaking their dark beads backward and forward over the horizon. I looked aloft, and there the sky was sweeping to and fro in a most unaccountable manner. The vessel went staggering along, creaking, groaning, and thumping its way through the heavy seas. I grasped the first rope I could get bold of, and held on with the tenacity of a drowning man. For a few moments I could do nothing but gasp for breath, and wipe the salt-water out of my eyes with one hand while I held on with the other, The confusion of voices and objects around me, the tremendous seas sweeping over the decks, and the flapping of the sails, impressed me with the belief that we were all about to be lost. I kept my grasp on the rope, thinking it must be fast to something, and, if the ship foundered, I should at least be sure of a piece of the wreck. As for my comrade, W—, I supposed he was still on board, and called for him with all my might; but the wind drove my voice back in my throat. While standing in this unpleasant predicament, the mate came rushing by, shouting to the green bands to tumble up aloft, and lay out on the yards !" Aloft such a night, and for the first time! Was the man mad? The very idea seemed preposterous. Presently he came dashing back, thundering forth his orders with the ferocity of a Bengal tiger. "Up with you! Every man

tumble up ! Don't stand gaping like a parcel of boobies ! Aloft there, before the sails are blown to Halifax!" Knowing how useless it would be to remonstrate,

and believing I might as well die one way as another, I sprang up on the weather bulwark and commenced the terrible ascent. The darkness was so dense that I could scarcely see the ratline, and it was only by groping my way in the wake of those before me that I could at all make out where I was going. A few acci- dental kicks in the face from an awkward fellow who was above me, and a punch or two from another below me, convinced me that I was in company at all events. How I contrived to drag myself over the foretop, I do not well remember. By a desperate exertion, however, I succeeded; and, holding on to every rope I could get hold of with extraordinary tenacity, I at length found myself on the foot- rope, leaning over the yard, and clinging to one of the reef-points, fully deter- mined not to part company with that, in spite of the captain, mate, or whole ship's company. lcHaul out to leeward !" roared somebody to my right; "knot away ! " This was all Greek to me. A sailor close by goodnaturedly showed me what I was to do; and having knotted my reef-point, I looked down to see what was the prospect of getting on deck again. The barque was keeled over at an angle of forty-five degrees, plunging madly through the foam, and I could form no idea of the bearings of the deck. All I could see was a long dark object below, half bidden in the raging brine. My right-hand neighbour gave me a hint to get in out of the way, which required no repetition; but I found my situation anything but pleasant. By the time I reached the foretop, my head was pretty well battered, and my bands were wofully skinned and bruised, the sailors having made free use of me to accelerate their downward progress.

As a contrast to the eloquence of a "green hand" on the common incidents of nautical service, let us take the silence of a veteran on an escape from real danger while the crew were cutting up a whale.

"One of the boat-steerers, whose tarn it was to fasten the blubber-hook, went down over the side on the whale's back, and, after several unsuccessful attempts, and rather an uncomfortable ducking, performed his task. While yet on the whale's back, a large, hungry-looking shark, which had been eyeing him for some time very anxiously, was washed up behind him by a heavy sea; and, apparently loath to lose so good an opportunity of making a meal, began to work his way along the slimy surface till within a foot or two of the boat-steerer's heels. The officers happened at the moment to be looking up at the pendant-block; and in all proba- bility the man would have been seriously injured, if not carried off bodily, but for the timely alarm of one of the crew. The mate immediately turned to see what was the matter; and, perceiving the critical position of the boat-sh3erer, brought his spade to bear upon the shark, and at a single dart chopped off his tail. Strange to say, the greedy, monster did not appear to be particularly concerned at this indignity; but, sliding back into his native element, very leisurely swam off, to the great apparent amusement of his comrades, who pursued him with every variety of gyrations. It surprised me to see with what cool indifference the boat-steerer witnessed the whole transaction. I do not remember that he said

Word about it." NAUTICAL REPUDIATION.

Rajapoot, a Native who had agreed to furnish us with wood, brought a large canoe alongside in the evening, containing about a whale-boat load, which was what he contracted to furnish. After we got it on board, the captain refused to pay the sum agreed upon. Rajapoot argued, that he had fulfilled his contract, and was entitled to be honestly paid for his wood; but if the captain wished he should take it back again, he would do so. The captain would neither give it up WE pay for it. Rajapoot went off in high dudgeon, swearing he would raise men enough ashore to take the vessel. As soon as he was gone, we were set to work clearing away the casks in the blubber-room, and stowing away the wood under hatches, it being the design to pay all dues "with the foretop-sail." We were ordered to go to work very silently, in order that we might not alarm the Natives by any symptoms of preparation to put to sea. That they might suspect nothing unusual, I was told to go out on the jib-boom and " blase away" en my flute. I thought it rather a hard cue to be obliged to participate in cheating poor Rajar poet, light as the duty assigned to me was: but this was not a matter of taste. The American portion of the crew all grumbled at the meanness of this trickery; and the mate said, ' if lie could raise three dollars he'd pay for the wood himself sooner than such an act of low, stealthy., contemptible meanness should be attri- buted to a vessel bearing the flag of the United States." We held a private con- sultation about raising a subscription to pay the bill; but, upon mmininp our effects, we were not able to scrape up even two dollars' worth of property; all our clothing consisting of a few miserable rags, for which we felt much indebted to the outfitter.

It is treatment like this that renders the Natives treacherous and hostile. There has been more done to destroy the friendly feelings of the inhabitants of islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans toward Americans, by the meanness and rascality of whaling captains, than all the missionaries and embassiea from the United States can ever atone for.

"Pay them with the foretop-sail!" is a mode of cheating the Natives as com- mon in practice as in theory.