watched closely by gen d' armes—experience when at prayer—take dinner with rev. mr. howe—dining with a catholic bishop—impatience of the governor—leave tahiti on the abyssinia—curiosity of passengers and sailors—difficulty in getting out of the harbor—hear of more trouble at anaa—captain's comment on mormon books—a waterspout—crossing the equator—encounter a terrible storm—a tidal wave—ship springs a leak—panic on board—all bands to the pumps—stopping a leak—fair weather again.
so far as my own conduct was concerned, now that i was again on the island of tahiti, i continued with mr. hill. two gen d' armes followed us or hung around where we were at work all day, and at night tramped about the house where we lived. at daylight the night guards disappeared in the brush. one morning i stepped three or four rods into the brush, for my morning devotions, and as i was engaged with my eyes closed i heard a rustling in the leaves. supposing it was the hogs that ran around there, i paid no attention until i was through, when i saw two officers standing within fifteen feet of and in front of me, gazing straight into my face. they were heavily armed, but did not interfere with me, so i returned to the house, while they mounted the fence and sat there till we went to work, when they followed us up as usual.
during this time i met with mr. howe, the presiding official of the protestant mission on the islands. he appeared to feel very sympathetic toward me, and invited me to take dinner with him and his good old lady. i accepted the invitation, and he made me a present of a tahitian bible, also of a tahitian and english dictionary. he is the same mr. howe spoken of before, when he was so radically opposed to me, but now he seemed charitable and kind. after i left his house, and was passing along in sight of the catholic bishop's office, the bishop sent a servant after me, inviting me in to dine and wine. accordingly, i called, finding him a very polite gentleman. he met me at the door of his library, took me by the hand and courteously led me to a seat, then set out some wine, saying he was very sorry that he had but one glass of wine in the room, though he set out two glasses, but poured all the wine into one, which he presented to me. at that moment the saying of the lord jesus came to my mind, to be harmless as doves but wise as serpents. i adopted as much french politeness as i was capable of, divided the wine into the two glasses, presented him the one with the most wine in, telling him that i could not think of drinking alone—that he must join me or i should decline his very kind offer. i thought that if he could stand to drink the largest half of the wine, i could afford to try the least half, and as i preferred him to drink his first, i delayed until he had swallowed it, when i drank to his health. we had a sociable chat, and he insisted on my stopping to supper, when he would have plenty of wine. i told him i could not, as my attendants, the gen d' armes, were waiting patiently for me. he next presented me two books, telling me that they would show how the priesthood had descended from peter down to the present pope. the books being in the french language, were of no use to me, so i bade him good-bye.
i learned from mr. kelly that the governor was impatient at my stay on the island, so i disposed of everything that i could spare, raised sixty dollars thereby, and prepared to sail on the english ship abyssinia, from sydney, australia, and commanded by captain george gordon.
november 24, 1852, i boarded the abyssinia, paying sixty dollars steerage passage to san francisco, california. when i got on the deck, the seamen and some of the passengers crowded around me, and stared at me as if i had been a wild beast. when i saluted them with, "gentlemen, how are you?" they looked at each other as much as to say, "shall we return the compliment?" at last one of the sailors took off his hat, made a bow, and said, "please sir, can you speak english?" i answered, "yes, sir, a little." the next question was, "and are you a mormon elder?" my reply was, "yes," and was followed with, "well, pardon me, but i thought a mormon elder had a cloven foot and a shell on his back, and i expected that you would be brought aboard in a case, as i have been told that the mormons were a kind of half beast, fierce, and wild."
some of the others said that they had had the same ideas. a third party exclaimed, "what d—d lies they have told us! we have been anxious to see this elder ever since we heard there was one coming on board, and we thought to see you brought in a big cage. we cannot see any difference in you and common men." so much for wild and slanderous stories afloat in those days and in that part of the world.
shortly the vessel was got under way, but just as we entered the passage the wind slackened so that we came very near being crushed against the reef. five boats from a french warship came to our aid, as we had cast anchor to save ourselves, and the frenchmen towed us back to a safe location, where we lay until the 26th.
we tried it again on the 27th, and as we passed out of the harbor we went close to the french warship, which was weighing anchor. on the deck stood the catholic bishop, who held up his cross and made signs. he said there was trouble in anaa again, and he was going there.
after we sailed, the captain of the abyssinia asked me to lend him some books on mormonism. i let him take the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants. he returned them on the 29th, saying, "i believe the books and your prayers have made me sick." he did not trouble me any more about mormonism, yet treated me with proper respect, as a rule.
there were several male and female passengers on board, a portion of the latter being of the lewd class, judging from their actions; and the former were not much better. i loaned all the books that i had to passengers and seamen. nearly all on board treated me in a courteous manner.
on november 30th a waterspout passed close to our ship, causing much excitement. its roar was frightful, as it carried a very great column of water up into the air, and spread it out into the clouds like a whirlwind on land, but on so much larger scale as to be a dread to seamen.
december 1st we sighted what the captain called flint's island. it was large and high, and appeared to be inhabited. on the 10th we crossed the equator, where the seamen had some sport at the expense of several of the passengers who had not crossed it before. they made preparations for neptune, and told many stories of his pranks with those who dared cross his path without paying penance, or treating the ship's crew.
on the 20th we encountered a terrific storm, which carried away most of our sail, and left us badly damaged. on christmas day we had something like a tidal wave in a calm sea. the wave was so great that it swept away the main topgallant sail and the jib boom. two seamen were carried below for dead. the ship sprung a leak in the bow, and the peril became so great that all the seamen and the male passengers were called to lend a hand. it being in the night, the consternation was so intense that passengers were on the deck in their night clothes, screaming. some shouted to pray, and others did pray with all the fervor at their command, especially when the carpenter, reporting that the vessel was parting in her beams, called for men to turn the windlass, and for kettles of hot tar, blankets, caulking, chisels, and anything to make repairs. as the wind began to freshen, the boat headed before it, without any regard to course. the next order was, "down with the hatches!"
"aye, aye, sir."
"then sound her."
"aye, sir."
"how is she?"
"gaining water, sir."
it was hurry to the pumps, and the carpenter was asked, "how is she?"
"all right, sir."
"heave away at the windlass! keep the pumps going!"
the carpenter had been pinning timber across the breach, and with windlass power preventing if possible the seam from spreading any more until he could make it safe. blankets were dipped in hot tar and driven into the parting. with these efforts and by keeping the pumps going steadily for eight hours, the boat was partly freed from the rolling sea, and at length was patched up and put on her course. the captain then said that his greatest fear had been that, as his cargo was coal, the friction of the fuel and the water coming in below would cause the cargo to take fire. when we got righted and on our course, we had light winds, and cold and wet weather until the voyage was ended.
