LINES ON RE-VISITING THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, AFTER AN INTERVAL OF THIRTY-THREE YEARS. MOUNTAINS Sublime, do I again behold, Piled o'er the gusty bay, your rugged forms; The Table of the genii of the storms? Do I again behold each well-known scene, Each mountain-path, where once my careless feet Each rocky crevice and each bushy glade? Yes! I behold you all, and all the same: In you no trace of waste and none of change; The prospect comes, familiar and yet strange. The same your flowers in honied fragrance blow; The same in gold your countless insects glow. The same your wave-struck rocks, your ridgy sands; All perfect, all unchanged;-but what am I? With me how different! ah, how changed in me Is all since first your airy peaks I viewed? Where is my rosy boyhood's laughing glee, And all the joys by youth's fresh powers pursued? Where are the fairy-winged visions flown, Bright with the splendid tints of joys to come? Where the fair vista by gay Fancy drawn, Where young Imagination loved to roam? Alas, how perished! fled are all the joys, Quench'd is each hope, each vision disappears; And sad and weary in my prospect lies The darkening view of life's declining years. Meanwhile, Time's harsh-traced lines my brow deform; My glossy hair is lost in wither'd gray, And fast and faster o'er this mouldering form Mountains sublime! in all your pride ye tower; Sinks my faint heart, and fades my darkening brain. And soon by dreary dissolution's blow My ruined limbs in kindred dust may lie ; "Erroneous murmurer!" thus, with brow severe Against Eternal Providence to rise? "Think'st thou that He, the All-Perfect and All-Good, "These monstrous rocks, these precipices vast, "These are the transient, those th' eternal; based "And as a vesture shall He fold them up, And they shall change: but 'tis not thus with thee; Thy heaven-born spirit of immortal hope, Safe from decay, from dissolution free, "O'er all the mighty ruin shall survive; And when the stars, through yon vast concave ranged, Have from existence perished, thou shalt live, From fading mortal to immortal changed. "Raise, then, thy humble voice in praise to heaven, "Have faith in God! so live, that when thy years "There is thy real home, thy true repose; There look for strength, there hope for endless peace; There fix thy wishes, there thy heart dispose, And bid thy beating breast's vain tumults cease." Asiat.Jour.N.S.VOL.21.No.84. 2 M INCIDENTS AT SEA. PREVIOUS to our embarkation at Calcutta, we had heard very frightful accounts of the atrocities committed by pirates infesting certain latitudes, and only those who undertook the voyage to Europe in vessels of large burthen, adequately manned, were devoid of apprehensions upon this score. The dread of pirates had been considerably increased by the conviction and execution of a band of these miscreants, upon the evidence of the passengers of a ship, which they had boarded and plundered, and had left, as they thought, in a sinking condition. After wounding and driving the men into the hold, they took every article of value which was portable out of the vessel, and having locked all the females into one of the cabins, scuttled the vessel, and went away, confidently expecting that she would fill and go down in a very short time. These wretches, however, had not duly calculated female resolution. Instead of giving way to despair, the women succeeded in breaking the cabin open; they then raised the hatches, and released the male prisoners. The damages sustained by the ship were hastily repaired, and it reached the nearest port. At a subsequent period, the pirates, who in fancied security ventured on shore at Gibraltar, were identified by the sufferers, and several were condemned and executed upon evidence which they never dreamed could have been brought against them. These details were published at Calcutta, and inspired those who were still engaged in the same lawless occupation, with a determination to avoid a similar doom, by securing the fate of their prisoners. Not content with the old method of fastening the hatches down upon them, they cut their throats, tied them back to back, and flung them overboard. An instance of this was brought to light a few months afterwards. One passenger was on board, who, with the captain, and, as these outlaws supposed, the whole of the crew, was deprived of every chance of escaping with life. The ship was then, according to custom, plundered, scuttled, and abandoned to its fate. One individual had, however, been overlooked in the general search; he had succeeded in the first instance in concealing himself, and when the pirates had sailed, he emerged from his lurking place, and, stopping the leak, contrived by his unassisted efforts to keep the vessel above water until he was espied by another ship, and taken into St. Helena. There is every reason to suppose that many small vessels, reported to have foundered at sea, have owed their destruction to the work of pirates. Rife as these stories were, there was some degree of hardihood in venturing on board a four-hundred-tons ship, with a crew of not more than thirty persons. One gentleman, after having engaged a cabin, retracted, unwilling to risk an encounter with pirates without the proper means of defence; the apprehensions of the other passengers, which were not so sensitive, were allayed by believing they should be joined by some other ship at St. Helena, the point from which fears might reasonably be entertained of these scourges of the sea. We reached this island in safety, but, while there, the sight of a pirate vessel lately captured, and the tales we heard of the dreadful outrages still committing, alarmed us a little, and rendered us anxious to obtain the protection of some other vessel. Our ship was not the swiftest sailer, and though the captain of a British merchant-man of nearly the same burthen, as little able to cope with an experienced enemy, at first appeared desirous to bear us com pany, the hope of gain in running for a market prevailed, and, after we passed Ascension, we lost sight of him altogether. As we approached the line, upon which region of perpetual summer, it is the usual lot of ships to be becalmed, none but the lightest breezes, and those of the shortest duration, impelling the impatient vessel on her course, the conversation frequently turned upon the subject of piracies. The captain stated that the vessels, usually schooners, which were fitted out by outlaws and renegades from all countries, congregating in the western islands, were ostensibly slavers, and whenever they could procure a valuable cargo from the African coast, to smuggle into the Spanish settlements in the new world, their object was to keep out of the way of every other ship. An instance, to all appearance in point, fell under our immediate observation shortly afterwards. A very superior-looking vessel hove in sight, but the moment she perceived us, she put her helm about, and was off before the wind as fast as every inch of her canvas could take her. At length, we came upon the line, and, according to custom, were becalined. The sea was as smooth as glass, and if we made any progress at all, it was scarcely perceptible, our ship appearing like a painted ship upon a painted ocean. However unwilling to use an objectionable pronoun, it is now necessary to take up the narrative in the first person, as, in the circumstances which occurred, I cannot pretend to describe more than my own sensations. I had been ill the greater part of the voyage, and was still in too delicate a state of health to rise early and join the party in the cuddy at breakfast. One Sunday morning, while putting the last touches to a toilette suited to the weather, a white muslin dress, I remember, of that splendid hue imparted by an Indian sun, my brother knocked at my cabin-door, and asked to be admitted. Imagining that he came to tell me some trifling circumstance, I gave him entrance, with the expectation of hearing that a bird, or a fish, had been caught; but soon found his message to be of a less agreeable nature. As my cabin was one of the largest in the ship, I had accommodated him by taking charge of his books and various other articles of property; amongst these were a case of pistols, and in his anxiety to see that the weapons were in an efficient state, he had hurried down before the usual hour for his visit. During the few minutes of his stay, he told me that it was in vain to disguise our situation; a very suspicious-looking vessel was in sight, and as she had all the appearance of a pirate, it was deemed advisable to prepare for the worst. I experienced a little shock at this intelligence, but determining not to give way to fears which might have no foundation, employed myself as usual about my cabin, when, suddenly, I was startled by the report of a gun on board our own ship. Looking about, to make some inquiry, I espied a little boy, a fellowpassenger, who immediately came into my cabin, and told me that, as the schooner had not answered the captain's signals, he had ordered a gun to be fired to oblige her to shew her colours. She replied by displaying the stars and stripes of the United States, and immediately afterwards hoisted a commodore's pennant. As pirates possess the flags of all nations, we were not at all satisfied that the American colours were not assumed, and the commodore's pennant increased our suspicion, since it did not appear probable that an officer of rank would be found on board so small a vessel. All were unanimous in believing that it had been displayed to deceive us, especially as the movements of the vessel had hitherto been of so sinister a nature, and she had so long delayed to declare herself. In the early part of our interview my young friend seemed exceedingly frightened; he had never experienced a sense of danger before, and the accounts he had heard of the barbarities committed by pirates, were enough to daunt an older heart. The tears stood in his eyes; he was evidently endeavouring to suppress his emotions, but would have abandoned himself to his terrors had he seen any other person similarly affected. I endeavoured to cheer and re-assure him, exhorting him to act like a man, and giving him hope that all would yet end well. My composure tranquillized his mind, and he began to enter with alacrity into the preparations which were going forward, turning up his shirt sleeves over his elbows, and asking if he could not act as a powder-monkey. At first, he recommended me not to go upon deck, as the ship was clearing for action, but afterwards reporting that I should not be in the way, I accompanied him up to the cuddy. A novel scene presented itself upon our usually quiet deck. Heaps of cutlasses and muskets were piled in every direction; all the men were at the guns, and the captain was giving orders on the poop, and surveying the enemy through a telescope. The supposed enemy, though out of gunshot, was plainly visible to the naked eye, a black, wicked-looking vessel, with all her sails crowded, certainly answering the description of a slaver given in the Red Rover, a work which, by the way, I had lately been reading, to beguile the tedium of our detention upon the line. I contrasted the conduct of this ship with that of an honest Bremener, whom we had fallen in with the preceding Sunday, and with whom we parted after a brief interchange of civilities, there being no motive on either side for mystery or avoidance. Repairing to the cabin of the only lady passenger besides myself, I found her so far overcome by the sense of our peril, as to be unable to converse upon it; she preserved her outward composure, and excepting the loss of her usual animation, exhibited no sign of terror. Though feeling equally unwilling to worry my companions with questions and fears, I was anxious to discover whether we had any very serious cause of alarm, and waiting patiently until the captain came down, inquired of him what he thought of our situation. It may be necessary to state that our commandant was the least pompous or ostentatious person I ever met with, the last man to exaggerate danger, or to play upon the feelings of his passengers. We all placed the utmost confidence, not only in his good seamanship but in his good sense, and it can seldom fall to the lot of a party so situated, to meet with a man of such universal information, and so unaffected in the display of mental powers of a very superior order. His reply was any thing but consolatory. He said that, in the absence of all recent intelligence from England, it was impossible to say what might have taken place between the European or American powers, and that, should the Brazilian government be at variance with the United States, there would be no difficulty in accounting for the appearance of armed vessels, belonging to the latter country, in these seas; but should peace have continued, he did not think it likely that we should meet with American vessels of war cruizing in a direction in which they had apparently no business, and the conduct of the ship was so suspicious, that he could scarcely believe her to be anything but a pirate. She had now been two hours in sight, and instead of coming boldly down, which she might have done in an eighth part of that time, she continued hovering about out of gunshot, as if she desired to wait until nightfall, in order to take us at a still greater disadvantage. It was preposterous to attempt to get away, since she would have outsailed us; in fact, she had every circumstance in her favour. I remained a little while upon the deck, watching the arrangements making for our defence, and had at least the satisfaction to see that all |