The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-01-25

ton of ..curios" for his wife, who was
particular -admirer of things from for
eign parts. a was only youngster, as
l have said before, but if the captaii- had
only known how madly 1 was in love
with his wife he would doubtless have
kicked me around the decks. think
was fifteen years old at the time, and
was as foolish as was young. 1t is as
tonishing what influence kindly word
from a pretty woman has upon a sailor
boy accustomed to fewer halfpence than
kicks! Besides, my love was akin to
spiritual worship
However, made up my mind that if
curios would make Mrs. Crowninshield
happy | would do my best to afford her
pleasure. So when we were bowling
along through the northeast trades and
the flying fish came aboard i used to
pick out the finest and largest and pre-
serve them for keeping, after the recipe
of an old sailor, who was something of
taxidermist. These fish would mount
on panels of wood given to me by the
carpenter, and with their wings extended
with ingenious skill Though say it who
shouldn't) they looked quite ornamental
The captain did his best to make a
smart passage. The Coromandel was in
her best trim and was kept moving all
the time. When we got down to about
35 degs. south latitude, and were in hopes
of getting piping westerly breeze with
which to run down, we were hampered
by dead calm. 1t was quite lucky for
me, but the skipper fretted and fumed
like newly caught bear in a pit He
wanted to make the smartest passage on
record. The ship was surrounded by
fiocks of Cape pigeons, Cape hens and an
occasional albatross. The pigeons, which
are birds of beautiful plumage, were
caught easily with hook and line. All
you had to do was to throw over your
line baited with a lnorsel of salt pork
and haul them in hand over fist. 1
caught several hundred and grew quite
expert in skinning them and curing the
skins They were all intended for Mrs
Crowninshield.
1t was triumphant hour for me when
1 captured an albatross. l am an old,
broken down man now, having been a
sailor boy and man for more than fifty
years. and chiefly in the southern trade.
For voyage after voyage have tried to
catch an albatross with bait. but failed
always. Cape hens-the vultures of the
sea-you can ca pture at will. They will
bite at any garbage. But the albatross
is a cleanly bird and never knew one
to be taken with hook and line
This morning, however, l was on the
forecastle head, hanging out a shirt to
dry. when the albatross blundered on
board. He was magnificent bird, one
of the finest ever saw. He settled down
on the deck and looked like sailor that
had lost his bearings. In moment en-
sued battle that beat hollow the tilt of
the Knight of the Sorrowful Figure in
his duel with the windmills. l grabbed
him by the neck and he thrashed at me
with bill and wing. The watch below,
hearing the Iroise, came running OH deck
and rescued me, all covered with blood.
For the next two days l was engaged OH
his skin. 1t used up all my arsenical
soap. and l had to get a bottle of red
pepper from the steward to complete the
task. 1t was all for Mrs. Crowninshield.
Did any misfortune happen the ship
after the killing of the albatross? Not a
misfortune.
The ancient mariner was an adept in
romantic fiction. You can kill alba
trosses without any weather breeding
results. have no superstition, but
will tell you something CLEANED from
ripe experience. Fish, flesh and fowl
may be sacrificed at sea without any su-
pernatural results. But | have never
known pig to be stuck aboard a ship
but that either II gale of wind followed
or something disastrous happened. This
will swear to.
We got to Colombo on the hundredth
day out from Salem-a capital passage
in those days. Every rupee could scrape
up was spent i'll gathering together curios
for Mrs. Crowninshield. Ny father, a
well to do Salem merchant, had thought
fully placed in the captains hands a
couple of hundred dollars to be doled
out to me during our stay on the Indian
coast. bought a big cedar wood trunk
with quaint silver handles, and in this
moth proof receptacle slowed away all
my precious bird skins and mounted fiy-
ing fish. My love grew madder than ever.
had u letter of introduction to a
charming English family living near Ka-
duwella, Singhalese village on the
southern bank of the Kaiany river, about
a days journey in bullock wagon from
Colombo. easily obtained leave of alb
sence while the ship was discharging her
cargo. and spent d week there thoroughly
enjoying myself. My host made things
very pleasant for me, and we took many
excursions in the neighborhood that
pleased me much.
One of the famous resorts thereabout
was Buddhist temple, irreverently
called a joss house by heathens and bar
barians. Cut out of the natural rock, it
was shaded by banyan trees, whose big
leaves, shaped like heart. quivered con-
tinually in aspen fashion
Inside the temple, which was guarded
by a fat, good natured priest clad in a
yellow rola rec1inal fha i1naoa Of R,,d