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17 - Captivity of Nearly Three Years Among the Savages of Nootka Sound by John R. Jewitt · Captivity of Nearly Three Years Among the Savages of Nootka Sound

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  Speaker 1: Section seventeen of a Captivity of nearly three years among
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  Speaker 1: the Savages of Nutka sound by John R. Jewett. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Notwithstanding my joy
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  Speaker 1: at my deliverance and the pleasing anticipation I felt of
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  Speaker 1: once more beholding a civilized country and again being permitted
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  Speaker 1: to offer up my devotions in a Christian church, I
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  Speaker 1: could not avoid experiencing a painful sensation on parting with
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  Speaker 1: the savage chief who had preserved my life and in
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  Speaker 1: general treated me with kindness and considering their ideas and
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  Speaker 1: manners much better than could have been expected. My pleasure
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  Speaker 1: was also greatly damped by an unfortunate accident that occurred
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  Speaker 1: to Tuwickaninnish. That interesting young chief had come on board
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  Speaker 1: in the first canoe in the morning, anxious to see
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  Speaker 1: and comfort his king. He was received with much kindness
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  Speaker 1: by Captain Hill from the favorable account I gave of him,
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  Speaker 1: and invited to remain on board. As the muskets were delivered.
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  Speaker 1: He was in the cabin with Makina, where it was
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  Speaker 1: also the captain who, on receiving them, snapped a number
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  Speaker 1: in order to try the locks. Unluckily, one of them
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  Speaker 1: happened to be loaded with swan shot, and going off,
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  Speaker 1: discharged its contents into the body of poor to Wickaninish,
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  Speaker 1: who was sitting opposite. On hearing the report, I instantly
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  Speaker 1: ran into the cabin, where I found him weltering in
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  Speaker 1: his blood, with the captain, who was greatly shocked at
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  Speaker 1: the accident, endeavoring to assist him. We raised him up
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  Speaker 1: and did everything in our power to aid and comfort him,
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  Speaker 1: telling him that we felt much grieved at his misfortune,
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  Speaker 1: and that it was wholly unintentional. This, he told me
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  Speaker 1: he was perfectly satisfied of, and while we dressed and
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  Speaker 1: bound up his wounds in the best manner we could,
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  Speaker 1: he bore the pain with great calmness, and, bidding me farewell,
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  Speaker 1: was put on board one of the canoes and taken
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  Speaker 1: on shore, where, after languishing a few days, he expired
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  Speaker 1: to me his misfortune was a source of much affliction,
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  Speaker 1: as he had no share in the massacre of our crew,
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  Speaker 1: was of a most amiable character, and had always treated
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  Speaker 1: me with the greatest kindness and hospitality. The brig being
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  Speaker 1: under weigh immediately on machine's quitting us, we proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: the northward constantly keeping the shore in sight, and touching
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  Speaker 1: at various places for the purpose of trading. Having exceeded
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  Speaker 1: the bounds I had prescribed myself, I shall not attempt
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  Speaker 1: any account of our voyage upon the coast, or a
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  Speaker 1: description of the various nations we met with in the
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  Speaker 1: course of it, among whom were a people of a
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  Speaker 1: very singular appearance, called by the sailors the wooden Lips.
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  Speaker 1: They have many skins, and the trade is principally managed
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  Speaker 1: by their women, who are not only expert in making
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  Speaker 1: a bargain, but are as dexterous in the management of
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  Speaker 1: their canoes as the men are elsewhere. After a period
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  Speaker 1: of nearly four months from our leaving Nootka, we returned
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  Speaker 1: from the northward to Columbia River for the purpose of
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  Speaker 1: procuring masts, et cetera for our brig which had suffered
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  Speaker 1: considerably in her spars during a gale of wind. We
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  Speaker 1: proceeded about ten miles up the river to a small
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  Speaker 1: Indian village, where we heard from the inhabitants that Captains
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  Speaker 1: Clark and Lewis from the United States of America had
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  Speaker 1: been there a body fortnight before on their journey overland.
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  Speaker 1: And had left several medals with them, which they showed us.
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  Speaker 1: The river at this place is of considerable breadth, and
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  Speaker 1: both sides of it from its entrance covered with forests
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  Speaker 1: of the very finest pine, timber, fir and spruce, interspersed
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  Speaker 1: with Indian settlements. From this place, after providing ourselves with spars,
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  Speaker 1: we sailed for Nootka, where we arrived in the latter
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  Speaker 1: part of November, the tribe being absent. The agreed signal
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  Speaker 1: was given by firing a cannon, and in a few
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  Speaker 1: hours after a canoe appeared, which landed at the village, and,
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  Speaker 1: putting the king on shore, came off to the brig.
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  Speaker 1: Enquiry was immediately made by Kinney Clemits, who was one
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  Speaker 1: of the three men in the canoe if John was there,
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  Speaker 1: as the king had some skins to sell them if
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  Speaker 1: he was, I then went forward forward and invited them
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  Speaker 1: on board, with which they readily complied, telling me that
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  Speaker 1: Makina had a number of skins with him, but that
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  Speaker 1: he would not come on board unless I would go
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  Speaker 1: on shore for him. This I agreed to, provided they
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  Speaker 1: would remain in the brig in the meantime. To this
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  Speaker 1: they consented and the captain, taking them into the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: treated them with bread and molasses. I then went on
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  Speaker 1: shore in the canoe, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Thompson and
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  Speaker 1: the captain, who, though he wanted the skins, advised me
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  Speaker 1: by no means to put myself in Makina's power. But
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  Speaker 1: I assured him that I had no fear as long
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  Speaker 1: as those men were on board. As I landed, Makina
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  Speaker 1: came up and welcomed me with much joy. On inquiring
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  Speaker 1: for the men, I told him that they were to
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  Speaker 1: remain till my return. Ah John said he, I see
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  Speaker 1: you are afraid to trust me, But if they had
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  Speaker 1: come with you, I should not have hurt you, though
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  Speaker 1: I should have taken good care not to let you
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  Speaker 1: go on board of another vessel. He then took his
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  Speaker 1: chest of skins, and stepping into the canoe, I paddled
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  Speaker 1: him alongside the brig where he was received and treated
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  Speaker 1: by Captain Hill with the greatest cordiality, who bought of
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  Speaker 1: him his skins. He left us much pleased with his reception,
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  Speaker 1: inquiring of me how many moons it would be before
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  Speaker 1: I should come back again to see him and his son,
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  Speaker 1: saying that he would keep all his furs for me,
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  Speaker 1: and that as soon as my son, who was then
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  Speaker 1: about five months old, was of a suitable age to
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  Speaker 1: take from his mother, he would send for him and
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  Speaker 1: take care of him as his own. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: Makina had quitted us, we got under way and stood
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  Speaker 1: again to the northward. We continued on the coast until
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  Speaker 1: the eleventh of August eighteen o six, when, having completed
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  Speaker 1: our trade, we sailed for China, to the great joy
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  Speaker 1: of all our crew, and particularly so to me, with
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  Speaker 1: a degree of satisfaction that I can ill express. Did
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  Speaker 1: I quit a coast to which I was resolved nothing
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  Speaker 1: should again tempt me to return. And as the tops
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  Speaker 1: of the mountains sunk into the blue waves of the ocean,
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  Speaker 1: I seemed to feel my heart lightened of an oppressive load.
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  Speaker 1: We had a prosperous passage to China, arriving at Macau
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  Speaker 1: in December, from whence the brig proceeded to Canton. There
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  Speaker 1: I had the good fortune to meet a townsman and
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  Speaker 1: an old acquaintance, in the mate of an English East
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  Speaker 1: Indiaman named John Hill, whose father a wealthy merchant in
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  Speaker 1: Hull in the Baltic trade was a next door neighbor
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  Speaker 1: to mine. Shortly after our arrival, the captain being on
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  Speaker 1: board of an English ship, and mentioning his having had
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  Speaker 1: the good fortune to liberate two men of the Boston's
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  Speaker 1: crew from the savages, and that one of them was
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  Speaker 1: named Jewet, my former acquaintance, immediately came on board the
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  Speaker 1: brig to see me. Words can ill express my feelings
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  Speaker 1: on seeing him, Circumstanced as I was among persons who
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  Speaker 1: were entire strangers to me. To meet thus in a
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  Speaker 1: foreign land, with one between whom and myself a considerable
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  Speaker 1: intimacy had subsisted, was a pleasure that those alone who
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  Speaker 1: have been in a similar situation can properly estimate. He appeared,
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  Speaker 1: on his part, no less happy to see me, whom
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  Speaker 1: he supposed to be dead, as the account of our
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  Speaker 1: capture had been received in England some time before his
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  Speaker 1: and all my friends supposed me to have been murdered.
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  Speaker 1: From this young man, I received every attention and aid
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  Speaker 1: that a feeling heart interested in the fate of another
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  Speaker 1: could confer. He supplied me with a new suit of
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  Speaker 1: clothes and a hat, a small sum of money for
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  Speaker 1: my necessary expenses, and a number of little articles for
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  Speaker 1: sea stores. On my voyage to America, I also gave
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  Speaker 1: him a letter from my father, in which I mentioned
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  Speaker 1: my wonderful preservation and escape through the humanity of Captain Hill,
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  Speaker 1: with whom I should return to Boston. This letter he
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  Speaker 1: enclosed to his father by a ship that was just sailing,
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  Speaker 1: in consequence of which it was received much earlier than
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  Speaker 1: it otherwise would have been. We left China in February
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  Speaker 1: eighteen o seven, and, after a pleasant voyage of one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and five fourteen days, arrived at Boston. My feelings
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  Speaker 1: on once more finding myself in a Christian country among
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  Speaker 1: a people speaking the same language with myself, may be
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  Speaker 1: more readily conceived than expressed in the post office. In
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  Speaker 1: that place I found a letter for me from my mother,
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  Speaker 1: acknowledging the receipt of mine from China, expressing the great
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  Speaker 1: joy of my family on hearing of my being alive
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  Speaker 1: and well, whom they had for a long time given
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  Speaker 1: up for dead, and requesting me to write to them
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  Speaker 1: on receiving her letter, which I accordingly did. While in
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  Speaker 1: Boston I was treated with much kindness and hospitality by
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  Speaker 1: the owners of the ship Boston Messrs Francis and Thomas Amory,
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  Speaker 1: of that place, to whom I feel myself under great
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  Speaker 1: obligations for their goodness to me and the assistance which
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  Speaker 1: they so readily afforded a stranger in distress. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section seventeen. End of A captivity of nearly three years
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  Speaker 1: among the savages of Nootka Sound by John R. Jewett,
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  Speaker 1: read for LibriVox by Sue Anderson,