New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-01
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A BOOK OF YARNS"

PERIENCES BY SEA AND LAND: Now first
compiled from PrVa syo pp sos Mac
milan Co.
This volume is The weakest that has appeared
In the Adventure Series" but 1t possesses points
Of interest which certainly undersigned either
by the writers the editor. The adventures oil ne
men whose letters and diaries have supplied the
material are not remar kable for hair-breadth es-
capes, thrilling situations, deeds of heroism or
impressive accidents by food field They
afford examples of such common everyday hard
ships and privatons as happen and long have
happeped to many thousands Of young English
men who, reared to no trade or useful handl-
craft of any kind, 60 out to the colonies to ilnd
themselves as helpless and useless as so many
crpples, and pass through rough ais
illusionizing before they find vocation The
first story in obviously miscalled. The title Is
"Shanghaied, or Round the Horn" Now the
writer was not Shsnghaed"-a term which
signifies forc.be fraudulent deportation IN
the contrary he shipped voluntarily ana dehper-
ateIy, and in rating himself as an ordinary sea-
man when he was really landsman, he COM
mitted q questionable act, and laid himself open
TO the harsh treatment commonly visited upon
men in that position, who are OF course regarded
as impostors by captains and mates. The trials
tbis green hand experienced were neither more
nor less than fall 10 the lot Of the average ships
bow all over the world, and the most vivid spec
tacle he witnessed the wreck of ship on the
Welsh coast.
Il is evident that the lady who edited she letters
was in no way qualified for her task, for the book
literally swarms with misspelled words, names OF
places etc, and it is hardly credible that any
p1 pfreading at all done the compilation
Thus we find the mangosteen changed into the
"mungastine"; the duckbied Platypus figures
lie
riied into "Marhattan"; a tout appears as
"Looter": the Barbary Coast of San Francisco is
turned into the "Barbary Court; San Rafael is
called San Rafeel"; and forth. ad libtum
Eut such plumbers by no means represent the most
serious defects of the various narratives Inc
fact seems to be that these mostly young scape-
qraces undertook to interest the relatives 70 whom
they wrote by drawing the long-bow very Freely
The author of "A Voyage to China is especially
irresponsible as to his descriptions, anu IL we en-
anime his account of New-York in 1868 or 1866
we may on the principle ex uno disco omnes'
form a shrewd Judgment concerning the Ver"ci'S
of his stories of pirates in the CHINA seas ohe VI
these Young navigators by the way tells of his ship
being exposed to hurricane" which lasted Juso
one hour, and another states that his vessel en-
countered "a monsoon" as he might have sald
"a white souall" But let examine little the
interesting picture of New-York at the time when
"tbe American war had just ended, and the whoic
country was in a most unsettled state.
Old citizens may be surprised to be informed
that during the period referred to Ihere was
literally no law at all, except the law that Might
is Right, by which the weakest of course went 10
the wall II was not safe lin New-lork, that Is
10 sayO to 20 out with decent coat on-any man
doing SO ran a good chance OF being assaulted ana
robbed of it, and might think himself lucky If he
<h h;s 40 hay
men shot down in the open streets in broad day
lipht by the free negroes and Irish roughs, and no
notice taken Of it, the dead bodies simply carried
away and double number of men put In their
l place. ] have seen a whole cargo OF splendid
wines from France broken into by gang Of these
roughs who would tap various barrels, and IL they
were NOT to their taste would let the wine run
away while they tapped another cask. And the
policemen dared not interfere-indeed they look
rood care to be out of the way. for pollcemans
life was not worth breath. l have seen car
center. for refusing to lend some of his tools to
some negroes for the purpose Of opening brandy
sask seized by four Of these fends, who tied rope
under his armpits threw him overheard, and
dragged him up and down in the water until ne
was dead. No one interfered, the negroes had 1t
all their own way in those days" There is much
more illustrative of the impunity with which the
NEGROES stole cotton from the wharves, and the
writer continues: Every vessel had well-srmed
watchman but they were frequently overpowered
and murdered, and it was an every evenings
occurrence to have an interchange of pistol and
rife shots going IN the harbor and on the
wharf" Clearly here was a pretty bad state Of
things; no law; chronic mobs and murders and
plunderings; sort of perennial fdsillade going
on the streets strewed with dead policemen, who,
since they did nothing, might surely have been
spared.
But the spinner of this yarn has not done He
tells us that In the city things were not much
better; every gentlemsns residence was guarded
by ten or twelve watchmen. and no one ventured
put unarmed. Murders were as common as paving
stones, and although in many cases the criminals
were caught red handed, the magistrates darel
not hang them or their own lives would not have
been worth hours purchase. 1t was terrible
state Of things, so much misery and crime in the
midst Of SO much magnificence and grandeur.
Truly il was, and no doubt the reason why 1t has
been ignored altogether by American historians
must be that they have been too much terrorized
BY the mob to venture upon any narrative
X the dreadful events graphically described by
our Munchausen Of the fOrecastle, who himself
witnessed many Of the shocking incidents he
counts with such wealth Of imagination Ii need
not however, he supposed that this chrsncler is less
strict in his adherence fact than his collsbora-
tors in thu volume before US. There is almost AN
emulation among them 10 who should tell the
I" tallest' stories. Thus a gallant youth who Wis
tied Calcutta relates that In cyclone which hal
occurred shortly before his arrival there "a very
fine ship. three master, had been taken up by
the cyclone, whirled through the air like dead
leaf, and thrown on shore with such nice aim that
the jib-boom and bowsprt were driven clean
through one Of the native huts7
1t must be admitted that playful divagations of
the kind cited constitute the main interest of this
really surprising book. Surprising. because it is
difficult to understand how the publishers reader
could have passed a compilation so Astounding in
absurdities such a. Nseaulay's school6oy would
have pounced upon instantly or how the most care