The Adventures of John Jewitt. John Rodgers Jewitt
Mittheilungen, 1869.
[23] Or Berkeley—for the name is spelt both ways.
[24] Destruction Island, in lat. 47° 35'. This was almost the same spot as that in which the Spaniards of Bodega's crew were massacred in 1775, and for this reason they named it Isla de Dolores—the "Island of Sorrows." It is in what is now the State of Washington, U.S.A.
[25] Green Low will even blame Wikananish, who figures in Jewitt's narrative, as the instigator of the outrage.
[26] The Nahwitti Indians. Compare the Tlā-tlī-sī—Kwela and Nekum-ke-līsla septs of the Kwakiool people. They now inhabit a village named Meloopa, on the south-east side of Hope Island. But their original hamlet was situated on a small rocky peninsula on the east side of Cape Commerell, which forms the north point of Vancouver Island. Here remains of old houses are still to be seen, at a place known to the Indians as Nahwitti. It was close to this place that the Tonquin was blown up.—Science, vol. ix. p. 341.
[27] "Maccay" (Meares); "M'Key" (Dixon).
[28] There is a portrait of him, apparently authentic, in Meares's Voyages, vol. ii. (1791). That in the original edition of Jewitt's Narrative, like the plate of the capture of the Boston, appears to have been drawn from description, though there is a certain resemblance in it to Meares's sketch made fourteen or fifteen years earlier. But the scenery, the canoes, the people, and, above all, the palm trees in Nootka Sound, are purely imaginary.
JOHN JEWITT'S NARRATIVE
CHAPTER I
BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE OF THE AUTHOR
I was born in Boston, a considerable borough town in Lincolnshire, in Great Britain, on the 21st of May, 1783. My father, Edward Jewitt, was by trade a blacksmith, and esteemed among the first in his line of business in that place. At the age of three years I had the misfortune to lose my mother, a most excellent woman, who died in childbed, leaving an infant daughter, who, with myself, and an elder brother by a former marriage of my father, constituted the whole of our family. My father, who considered a good education as the greatest blessing he could bestow on his children, was very particular in paying every attention to us in that respect, always exhorting us to behave well, and endeavouring to impress on our minds the principles of virtue and morality, and no expense in his power was spared to have us instructed in whatever might render us useful and respectable in society. My brother, who was four years older than myself and of a more hardy constitution, he destined for his own trade, but to me he had resolved to give an education superior to that which is to be obtained in a common school, it being his intention that I should adopt one of the learned professions. Accordingly, at the age of twelve he took me from the school in which I had been taught the first rudiments of learning, and placed me under the care of Mr. Moses, a celebrated teacher of an academy at Donnington, about eleven miles from Boston, in order to be instructed in the Latin language, and in some of the higher branches of the mathematics. I there made considerable proficiency in writing, reading, and arithmetic, and obtained a pretty good knowledge of navigation and of surveying; but my progress in Latin was slow, not only owing to the little inclination I felt for learning that language, but to a natural impediment in my speech, which rendered it extremely difficult for me to pronounce it, so that in a short time, with my father's consent, I wholly relinquished the study.
The period of my stay at this place was the most happy of my life. My preceptor, Mr. Moses, was not only a learned, but a virtuous, benevolent, and amiable man, universally beloved by his pupils, who took delight in his instruction, and to whom he allowed every proper amusement that consisted with attention to their studies.
One of the principal pleasures I enjoyed was in attending the fair, which is regularly held twice a year at Donnington, in the spring and in the fall,[29] the second day being wholly devoted to selling horses, a prodigious number of which are brought thither for that purpose. As the scholars on these occasions were always indulged with a holiday, I cannot express with what eagerness of youthful expectation I used to anticipate these fairs, nor what delight I felt at the various shows, exhibitions of wild beasts, and other entertainments that they presented; I was frequently visited by my father, who always discovered much joy on seeing me, praised me for my acquirements, and usually left me a small sum for my pocket expenses.
Among the scholars at this academy, there was one named Charles Rice, with whom I formed a particular intimacy, which continued during the whole of my stay. He was my class and room mate, and as the town he came from, Ashby, was more than sixty miles off, instead of returning home, he used frequently during the vacation to go with me to Boston, where he always met with a cordial welcome from my father, who received me on these occasions with the greatest affection, apparently taking much pride in me. My friend in return used to take me with him to an uncle of his in Donnington, a very wealthy man, who, having no children of his own, was very fond of his nephew, and on his account I was always a welcome visitor at the house. I had a good voice, and an ear for music, to which I was always passionately attached, though my father endeavoured to discourage this propensity, considering it (as is too frequently the case) but an introduction to a life of idleness and dissipation; and, having been remarked for my singing at church, which was regularly attended on Sundays and festival days by the scholars, Mr. Morthrop, my friend Rice's uncle, used frequently to request me to sing; he was always pleased with my exhibitions of this kind, and it was no doubt one of the means that secured me so gracious a reception at his house. A number of other gentlemen in the place would sometimes send for me to sing at their houses, and as I was not a little vain of my vocal powers, I was much gratified on receiving these invitations, and accepted them with the greatest pleasure.
Thus passed away the two happiest years of my life, when my father, thinking that I had received a sufficient education for the profession he intended me for, took me from school at Donnington in order to apprentice me to Doctor Mason, a surgeon of eminence at Reasby, in the neighbourhood of the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks.[30] With regret did I part from my school acquaintance, particularly my friend Rice, and returned home with my father, on a short visit to my family, preparatory to my intended apprenticeship. The disinclination I ever had felt for the profession my father wished me to pursue, was still further increased on my return. When a child I was always fond of being in the shop, among the workmen, endeavouring to imitate what I saw them do; this disposition so far increased after my leaving the academy, that I could not bear to hear the least mention made of my being apprenticed to a surgeon, and I used so many entreaties with my father to persuade him to give up this plan and learn me his own trade, that he at last consented.
More fortunate would it probably have been for me, had I gratified the wishes of this affectionate parent, in adopting the profession he had chosen for me, than thus to have induced him to sacrifice them to mine. However it might have been, I was at length introduced into the shop, and my natural turn of mind corresponding with the employment, I became in a short time uncommonly expert at the work to which I was set. I now felt myself well contented, pleased with my occupation, and treated with much affection by my father, and kindness by my step-mother, my father having once more entered the state of matrimony, with a widow much younger than himself, who had been brought