MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗

Him Who

Goes Within The Reach Of This Tremendous Thrashing Instrument; For, No

Matter How Strong Or Muscular, If Human, He Must Suffer Greatly, If He

Escape With Life. The Monster, As He Strikes With This, Forces All

Objects Within The Circle Towards His Jaws, Which, As The Tail Makes A

Motion, Are Opened to Their Full Stretch, Thrown A Little Sideways To

Receive The Object, And, Like Battering-Rams, To Bruise It Shockingly In

A Moment."

 

 

 

Yet, As I Have Said, The Alligator Is But Little Formidable To Man. In

Western Louisiana And Eastern Texas, Where The Animal Is Much Hunted for

The Sake Of His Grease, With Which The Planters Generally Oil The

Machinery Of Their Mills, Little Negroes Are Generally Sent Into The

Woods, During The Fall, "Grease-Making," As At That Season The Men Are

Better Employed in cotton-Picking Or Storing The Maize. No Danger Ever

Happens To The Urchins During These Expeditions, As, Keeping Within The

Sweep Of The Tail, They Contrive To Chop It Off With An Axe.

 

 

 

M. Audubon Says:--

 

 

 

"When Autumn Has Heightened the Colouring Of The Foliage Of Our Woods,

And The Air Feels More Rarified during The Nights And The Early Part Of

The Day, The Alligators Leave The Lakes To Seek For Winter-Quarters, By

Burrowing Under The Roots Of Trees, Or Covering Themselves Simply With

Earth Along Their Edges. They Become Then Very Languid And Inactive,

And, At This Period, To Sit Or Ride On One Would Not Be More Difficult

Than For A Child To Mount His Wooden Rocking-Horse. The Negroes, Who Now

Kill Them, Put All Danger Aside By Separating at One Blow With An Axe,

The Tail From The Body. They Are Afterwards Cut Up In large Pieces, And

Boiled whole In a Good Quantity Of Water, From The Surface Of Which The

Fat Is Collected with Large Ladles. One Single Man Kills Oftentimes A

Dozen Or More Of Large Alligators In the Evening, Prepares His Fire In

The Woods, Where He Has Erected a Camp For The Purpose, And By Morning

Has The Oil Extracted."

 

 

 

As Soon As The Rider Feels His Horse Sinking, The First Movement, If An

Inexperienced traveller, Is To Throw Himself From The Saddle, And

Endeavour To Wade Or To Swim To The Cane-Brakes, The Roots Of Which Give

To The Ground A Certain Degree Of Stability. In that Case, His Fate Is

Probably Sealed, As He Is In immediate Danger Of The "Cawana." This Is A

Terrible And Hideous Monster, With Which, Strange To Say, The

Naturalists Of Europe Are Not Yet Acquainted, Though It Is Too Well

Known To All The Inhabitants Of The Streams And Lagoons Tributary To The

Red river. It Is An Enormous Turtle Or Tortoise, With The Head And Tail

Of The Alligator, Not Retractile, As Is Usual Among The Different

Species Of This Reptile: The Shell Is One Inch And A Half Thick, And As

Impenetrable As Steel. It Lies In holes In the Bottom Of Muddy Rivers Or

In The Swampy Cane-Brakes, And Measures Often Ten Feet In length And Six

In Breadth Over The Shell, Independent Of The Head And Tail, Which Must

Give Often To This Dreadful Monster The Length Of Twenty Feet. Such An

Unwieldy Mass Is Not, Of Course, Capable Of Any Rapid Motion; But In the

Swamps I Mention They Are Very Numerous, And The Unfortunate Man Or

Beast Going astray, And Leaving For A Moment The Small Patches Of Solid

Ground, Formed by The Thicker Clusters Of The Canes, Must Of A Necessity

Come Within The Reach Of One Of These Powerful Creature'S Jaws, Always

Extended and Ready For Prey.

 

 

 

Cawanas Of A Large Size Have Never Been Taken Alive, Though Often, In

Draining The Lagoons, Shells Have Been Found Measuring Twelve Feet In

Length. The Planters Of Upper Western Louisiana Have Often Fished to

Procure Them For Scientific Acquaintances, But, Although They Take

Hundreds Of The Smaller Ones, They Could Never Succeed to Drag On Shore

Any Of The Large Ones After They Have Been Hooked, As These Monsters

Bury Their Claws, Head, And Tail So Deep In the Mud, That No Power Short

Of Steam Can Make Them Relinquish Their Hold.

 

 

 

Some Officers Of The United states Army And Land Surveyors, Sent On The

Red river By The Government At Washington For A Month, Took Up Their

Residence At Captain Finn'S. One Day, When The Conversation Had Fallen

Upon The Cawana, It Was Resolved that A Trial Should Be Made To

Ascertain The Strength Of The Animal. A Heavy Iron Hand-Pike Was

Transformed by A Blacksmith Into A Large Hook, Which Was Fixed to An

Iron Chain Belonging To The Anchor Of A Small-Boat, And As That

Extraordinary Fishing-Tackle Was Not Of A Sufficient Length, They Added

To It A Hawser, Forty Fathoms In length And Of The Size Of A Woman'S

Wrist. The Hook Was Baited with A Lamb A Few Days Old, And Thrown Into A

Deep Hole Ten Yards From The Shore, Where Captain Finn Knew That One Of

The Monsters Was Located; The Extremity Of The Hawser Was Made Fast To

An Old Cotton-Tree.

 

 

 

Late In the Evening Of The Second Day, And As The Rain Poured down In

Torrents, A Negro Slave Ran To The House To Announce That The Bait Had

Been Taken, And Every One Rushed to The River Side. They Saw That, In

Fact, The Hawser Was In a State Of Tension, But The Weather Being Too

Bad To Do Anything That Evening, They Put It Off Till The Next Morning.

 

 

 

A Stout Horse Was Procured, Who Soon Dragged the Hawser From The Water

Till The Chain Became Visible, But All Further Attempts Of The Animal

Were In vain; After The Most Strenuous Exertion, The Horse Could Not

Conquer The Resistance Or Gain A Single Inch. The Visitors Were Puzzled,

And Finn Then Ordered one Of The Negroes To Bring a Couple Of Powerful

Oxen, Yoked to A Gill, Employed to Drag Out The Stumps Of Old Trees. For

Many Minutes The Oxen Were Lashed and Goaded in vain; Every Yarn Of The

Hawser Was Strained to The Utmost, Till, At Last, The Two Brutes,

Uniting all Their Strength In one Vigorous And Final Pull, It Was

Dragged from The Water, But The Monster Had Escaped. The Hook Had

Straightened, And To Its Barb Were Attached pieces Of Thick Bones And

Cartilages, Which Must Have Belonged to The Palate Of The Monster.

 

 

 

The Unfortunate Traveller Has But Little Chance Of Escaping With Life,

If, From Want Of Experience, He Is Foundered in the Swampy Canebrakes.

When The Horse Sinks And The Rider Leaves The Saddle, The Only Thing He

Can Do Is To Return Back Upon His Track; But Let Him Beware Of These

Solitary Small Patches Of Briars, Generally Three Or Four Yards In

Circumference, Which Are Spread Here And There On The Edges Of The

Canebrakes, For There He Will Meet With Deadly Reptiles And Snakes

Unknown In the Prairies; Such As The Grey-Ringed water Mocassin, The

Brown Viper, The Black Congo With Red head And The Copper Head, All Of

Whom Congregate And It May Be Said Make Their Nests In these Little Dry

Oases, And Their Bite Is Followed by Instantaneous Death.

 

 

 

These Are The Dangers Attending Travellers In the Swamps, But There Are

Many Others To Be Undergone In crossing Lagoons, Rivers, Or Small Lakes.

All The Streams, Tributaries Of The Sabine And Of The Red river Below

The Great Bend (Which Is Twenty Miles North Of The Lost Prairie), Have

Swampy Banks And Muddy Bottoms, And Are Impassable When The Water Is Too

Low To Permit The Horses To Swim. Some Of These Streams Have Ferries,

And Some Lagoons Have Floating Bridges In the Neighbourhood Of The

Plantations; But As It Is A New Country, Where Government Has As Yet

Done Nothing, These Conveniences Are Private Property, And The Owner Of

A Ferry, Not Being Bound By A Contract, Ferries Only When He Chooses And

At The Price He Wishes To Command.

 

 

 

I Will Relate A Circumstance Which Will Enable The Reader To Understand

The Nature Of The Country, And The Difficulties Of Overland Travelling

In Texas. The Great Sulphur Fork Is A Tributary Of The Red river, And It

Is One Of The Most Dangerous. Its Approach Can Only Be Made On Both

Sides Through Belts Of Swampy Canebrakes, Ten Miles In breadth, And So

Difficult To Travel Over, That The Length Of The Two Swamps, Short As It

Is, Cannot Be Passed by A Fresh And Strong Horse In less Than Fourteen

Hours. At Just Half-Way Of This Painful Journey The River Is To Be

Passed, And This Cannot Be Done Without A Ferry, For The Moment You

Leave The Canes, The Shallow Water Begins, And The Bottom Is So Soft,

That Any Object Touching It Must Sink To A Depth Of Several Fathoms.

Till 1834, No White Man Lived in that District, And The Indians Resorted

To It Only During The Shooting Season, Always On Foot And Invariably

Provided with Half-A-Dozen Of Canoes On Each Side Of The Stream For

Their Own Use Or For The Benefit Of Travellers. The Texans Are Not So

Provident Nor So Hospitable.

 

 

 

As The White Population Increased in that Part Of The Country, A Man Of

The Name Of Gibson Erected a Hut On The Southern Bank Of The Stream,

Constructed a Flat-Boat, And Began Ferrying Over At The Rate Of Three

Dollars A Head. As The Immigration Was Very Extensive, Gibson Soon Grew

Independent, And He Entered into A Kind Of Partnership With The Free

Bands Which Were Already Organized. One Day, About Noon, A Land

Speculator Presented himself On The Other Side Of The River, And Called

For The Ferry. At That Moment The Sky Was Covered with Dark And Heavy

Clouds, And Flashes Of Lightning Succeeded each Other In every

Direction; In fact, Everything Proved that The Evening Would Not Pass

Without One Of Those Dreadful Storms So Common In that Country During

The Months Of April And May. Gibson Soon Appeared in his Boat, But

Instead Of Casting It Loose, He Entered into A Conversation.

 

 

 

"Where Do You Come From, Eh?"

 

 

 

"From The Settlements," Answered the Stranger.

 

 

 

"You'Ve A Ticklish, Muddish Kind Of River To Pass."

 

 

 

"Aye," Replied the Other, Who Was Fully Aware Of It.

 

 

 

"And A Blackish, Thunderish, Damned storm Behind You, I Say."

 

 

 

The Traveller Knew That Too, And As He Believed that The Conversation

Could As Well Be Carried on While Crossing Over, He Added:

 

 

 

"Make Haste, I Pray, My Good Man; I Am In a Hurry, And I Should Not Like

To Pass The Night Here In these Canes For A Hundred dollars."

 

 

 

"Nor I, For A Thousand," Answered gibson. "Well, Stranger, What Will You

Give Me To Ferry You Over?"

 

 

 

"The Usual Fare, I Suppose--Two Or Three Dollars."

 

 

 

"Why, That May Do For A Poor Man In fine Weather, And Having Plenty Of

Time To Spare, But I Be Blessed if I Take You For Ten Times That Money

Now That You Are In so Great A Hurry And Have Such A Storm Behind."

 

 

 

The Traveller Knew At Once He Had To Deal With A Blackguard, But As He

Was Himself An Arkansas Man Of The Genuine Breed, He Resolved to Give

Him A "Roland For An Oliver."

 

 

 

"It Is A Shameful Imposition," He Cried; "How Much Do You Want After

All?"

 

 

 

"Why, Not A Cent Less Than Fifty Dollars."

 

 

 

The Stranger Turned his Horse Round, As If He Would Go Back; But, After

A Few Moments, He Returned again.

 

 

 

"Oh," He Cried, "You Are A Rogue, And Take The Opportunity Of My Being

In So Great A Hurry. I'Ll Give You What You Want, But Mind I Never Will

Pass This Road Again, And Shall Undoubtedly Publish Your Conduct In the

Arkansas Newspapers."

 

 

 

Gibson Chuckled with Delight; He Had Humbugged a Stranger, And Did Not

Care A Fig For All The Newspapers In the World; So He Answered, "Welcome

To Do What You Please;" And, Untying The Boat, He Soon Crossed the

Stream. Before Allowing The Stranger To Enter The Ferry, Gibson Demanded

The Money, Which Was Given To Him Under The Shape Of Five Ten-Dollar

Notes, Which He Secured in his Pocket, And Then Rowed with All

His Might.

 

 

 

On Arriving On The Other Side, The Stranger Led his Horse Out Of The

Boat, And While Gibson Was Stooping Down To Fix The Chain, He Gave Him A

Kick On The Temple, Which Sent Him Reeling and Senseless In his Boat;

Then Taking Back His Own Money, He Sprung Upon His Saddle, And Passing

Before The Cabin, He Gently Advised gibson'S Wife To "Go And See, For

Her Husband Had Hurt Himself A Little In rowing."

 

 

 

These Extortions Are So Very Frequent, And Now So Well Known, That The

Poorer Classes Of Emigrants Never Apply For The Ferries, But Attempt The

Passage Just As They Can, And When We Call To Mind That The Hundreds