Shavings & Scrapes - free ebook by Jules Joubert

Shavings & Scrapes

FROM MANY PARTS BY Jules Joubert DUNEDIN J. WILKIE AND CO. Princes Street 1890 Dedicated to The Members of the Savage Club , Dunedin, N. Z. , 1889 , BY The Author ....

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I. A STRAY SHOT.

WHAT is life? A perpetual see-saw with fortune—man at one end, the fickle jade at the other. A feather at times turns the balance. In my case, an ounce of lead has disturbed the equilibrium of the fortunes of many lives. Descended from men of war, I have become most essentially a man of peace. Still, when that most popular of all toasts, “The Army and Navy,” is proposed, it stirs up the old leaven which still permeates the blood that came to me with the name I inherited from my sires. My paterna

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II. PEEP OF DAY.

HAVING so far established the genealogy of the author, it might be as well to bring him to the fore, and to state that on the 31st day of July, 1824, I made my entrée at Angoulême, one of the prettiest towns in France—a town now seldom visited by tourists, owing to its peculiar position on the summit of a sugar-loaf-shaped hill, almost surrounded by the river Charente—too steep for a railway. The engineers who planned the iron road in that locality avoided Angoulême, so that even in this age of

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III. CHIPS FROM AN OLD LOG

ON the 1st of May, 1839, before daybreak—having only been a few hours on board the Heroine—an unusual noise and turmoil gave me the first idea of the life of a “ passager civil ” on board a man-of-war. My hammock was hung close to the gun-room in the gun-deck, where 32 caronades and 250 Jack-tars shared with me that rather close and murky dormitory, which at a given signal from the boatswain’s whistle had to be cleared of hammocks, washed, holystoned, and mopped—all before 5 A.M. This, I may say

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IV. FIRST LESSON IN FINANCE.

WE sailed into port together, simultaneously fired our royal salute, and cast anchor among several scores of ships of war of all nationalities, with whom visits of naval etiquette were exchanged for several days, keeping our poor gunners busy from daylight till dark. As I often thought at the time, if our chronometers could not withstand 21 guns on the Saint Philippe’s day two months before, their condition after our firing at Rio must have been sadly affected. But I suppose, like myself, they h

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V. ROBINSON CRUSOE REALISED.

ONE of the principal articles of food for the black and mulatto population of these islands being salt fish, which has to be imported at great expense from Europe and Newfoundland—principally the latter—Mons. Jules de Rontaunay, a wealthy planter and shipowner in Bourbon, originated the idea of establishing on two small islands in the Indian Ocean (St. Paul and Amsterdam) a fishing and curing station; and at his instigation the Governor of Bourbon requested our captain to make a thorough hydrogr

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VI. MAORILAND.

LEAVING These two solitary islands, we had to settle down to the more protracted part of our journey, and I may also add, the most uncomfortable one. We were bound for New Zealand, therefore had to go south of Van Dieman’s Land. A merchant-man would naturally have shaped her course for the latitude of Cape Lewin. Not so, however, a man-of-war, whose sailing directions are based on “bureaucratic” prudence, so that we had to go well into the S.W. wind, and heavy seas of the low south. These instru

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I. SYDNEY IN 1839.

EVEN amongst Australians the Sydney people are daily “chaffed” for the pride they on all occasions evince about what they call “Our Harbour.” I must say that after Brest, Cork, Rio Janeiro, and the Bay of Islands—even the far-famed Bay of Naples, all of which I have visited, and in turn admired—I did not anticipate any very great surprise at the first glimpse of Port Jackson. But when, at daybreak, on that beautiful summer morning, I came on the poop of the brig Martha, and, for the first time,

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II. THE GOLD FEVER.

THIS copper fever, which in a few months’ time aged South Australia, and brought it from its almost infantile condition to maturity, was, however, very soon eclipsed by the gold discovery in California, almost immediately followed by the fabulous reports from the Turon River in New South Wales, and the break out of the gold fever at Forest Creek, in Victoria, at the end of 1851. These reports spread like wild-fire throughout the length and breadth of Australia. Adelaide became a deserted city. I

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III. SOME BUSHRANGERS I HAVE KNOWN.

THIS adventurous life, however, had its charm, and I often think that in spite of hardships and privations, I enjoyed it thoroughly. For eight months I was hardly ever out of the saddle. During that time I experienced many adventures with men who since have either forfeited their life at the hands of the public hangman, or have served long sentences in H.M.’s gaols. Black Douglas, Thunderbolt, Donoghue, Gilbert, Ben Hall, and many other such celebrities, have often been my fellow-travellers. Man

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III. HOW MONEY USED TO BE MADE.

OUR contracts were nearly finished, when the contractor—Mr. Mather—failed, leaving us all in the lurch. Unfortunately, I was hit harder than anyone else. After eight months of hard life, I found myself in my slab hut at Sawpit Gully, with a very limited stock of provisions, and—a claim on the estate! It is not in my nature to despond or stick in the mud long. I called together a meeting of my men, explained to them the position of affairs, left the assets of the estate in their charge, and went

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I. TAKING POSSESSION: “TIT FOR TAT.”

A FEW weeks after my return to Sydney, private news came to hand that the French Government contemplated taking possession of New Caledonia. Admiral Février Despointes made an appointment with us to meet him at Port St. Vincent at a given date, with a supply of coals, stores, live stock, &amp;c. I chartered the Athenian, an old East Indiaman, and the Pocklington, a Newcastle collier, and sailed for the rendezvous—a fine harbour on the east coast of New Caledonia—where our arrival excited som

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II. HE WHO FIGHTS AND RUNS AWAY.”

DURING supper, which we took outside the hut, we were surrounded by a gaping and chattering crowd of natives of both sexes and all ages. The number increasing every moment, we began to feel that even armed as we were, fourteen men would be but a small force as compared to the hundreds around us. However, up to the time when we crept in to our hut the behaviour of the Natives was as friendly as could be. Our barter for spears, shells, necklaces, and other curios was carried on fairly, and evident

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III. ANOTHER NARROW SQUEAK.”

HAVING discharged cargo, and parted from the Athenian and our gallant friend, Captain Case, I removed my belongings to the Pocklington and sailed for Sydney, intending to shorten the sail by trying a short cut through a group of islands at the north-west end of New Caledonia. Captain Oliver, who had often traded for sandal-wood in this part of the world, assured me that this route was quite safe, and that he had often sailed through the channel with vessels of deeper draught. Our first two days’

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IV. A SOUTH SEA TRIP.”

A ROLLING stone gathers no moss.” I am afraid I have proved the truth of the old adage. A fortnight in Sydney proved quite as much as I could stand. I always had a great desire to see Torres Straits and the islands on the northern side of it. There happened to be in Port Jackson a small French barque—Le Juste, from Havre—the captain being the owner of the vessel. I made an offer to him of a charter by the month for six months, giving him a share of the venture, my route being Torres Straits, New

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I. A FEW OLD IDENTITIES.”

THIS last trip had given me a surfeit of the sea, and I made up my mind to settle down. In order to do so I looked about for some land having a prospective value, and at last fixed on a spot on one of the estuaries of Port Jackson, between the Parramatta and the Lane Cove rivers, a narrow peninsula known as Hunter’s Hill. A good deal of this land had been mixed up in some of the early “land booms.” The principal portion belonged to Mrs. Reiby, better known in olden times as “Margaret Catchpole.”

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II. A LAND SPECULATION.”

ALL All these, and many other stories of the kind, certainly did not improve the market value of this land for suburban villa sites. It had, however, the effect of keeping the price low—there laid the speculation. I bought the place with a perfect and thorough knowledge of its foul reputation, and set to work in real good earnest to redeem it—the position being good, the proximity to town an advantage, and above all the fact that this peninsula, with a main thoroughfare on the top of the hill, r

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III. A HARD KNOCK.”

HAD I kept at such works, and left mercantile pursuits to those who were better able to cope with such risky ventures, things might have prospered better; but, however, fate would have its way, and the consequence, hastened by the failure of the Agra Bank, led me into a loss of £54,000, which swallowed up all my hard-earned savings, properties, &amp;c. Once more I had the world before me. It is not in my nature to throw up the sponge, nor am I given to moping over pecuniary losses. My credit

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IV. HOME, SWEET HOME.”

IT was during my secretaryship of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales that we originated the notion of holding an International Exhibition in Sydney and Melbourne, as a sequel to the Exposition Universelle of 1878 (Paris). In order to work up this scheme I was deputed to go to France, and whilst there acted as secretary to the New South Wales Commission. This trip to Europe, after an absence of forty years, I look upon as one of the brightest events in my long career. I had never felt ho

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V. ANTIPODEAN GRATITUDE.”

DURING the period of the Exhibition, and owing to my having to deal officially on behalf of the colonies for the international shows to be held in Sydney and Melbourne in the following year, I had naturally to come in close contact with many of the leading men of that period. For a time it was very doubtful whether we could get the assistance of the European Powers. They all kept aloof; and, in spite of the willingness of my friend, Leon Say, the Parliament positively vetoed the proposal made to

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I. GRAINS OF SINGALESE SAND.”

I HAD to make two voyages to India before I took up my quarters there. In each of these, owing to the exchange of boats at Ceylon, I had to stay in that delightful island a fortnight on each trip. This delay anywhere else would be an abominable nuisance, but there is so much to see in Ceylon, and the people there are so graciously hospitable, that one does not mind the delay—at least, I did not; far from it. My first visit was on my way to the Paris Exhibition in 1878. At that time Galle was the

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II. THE PARAHERRA.”

WHILST at Kandy I had an opportunity to witness the Parraherra, which is the greatest Buddhist religious ceremony. One of the greatest “lions” of Kandy is the great Buddhist temple, Delada Maligawa, where the great relics of the god are kept, enshrined in a richly-jewelled casket, and are made an object of special veneration by the votaries of Buddha. This festival is the more attractive by reason of its being made the occasion of a large traffic in precious stones, with which the island of Ceyl

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III. “HAMLET” UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

ON the following day, at the table d’hôte of the Queen’s Hotel, I was not a little surprised to meet Herr Bandman and Miss Beaudet. My surprise became still greater when he informed me that he had come expressly to Kandy to give the good people of that city a “Shakespearian treat”—Hamlet!!—in the large room of the Town Hall, under the most distinguished patronage of His Excellency the Governor, and the noble guests of His Excellency, who were His Highness the Duke of Mecklemburgh, his Grace the

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IV. AN ELEPHANT HUNT.

IN order to give his distinguished guests a taste of the sports of Ceylon, the Governor ordered that preparations be made for an elephant hunt. When the fact became known the whole district became alive with excitement. Nothing was talked of except the approaching kraal; half the town would be there. All arrangements having been made, a large number of servants, gaily dressed and turbanned, accompanied by a swarm of coolies bearing provisions, bedding, tents, and other comforts, were sent ahead

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V. A MATRIMONIAL “SCRAPE.”

IN some parts of the East, and especially in the island of Ceylon, there are many old customs which the progress of civilisation has not as yet effaced; and happily so, for they serve to keep up a kind of friendly feeling between the different classes and races of the country. One of these time-honoured customs is the presence of European or burgher employers at the weddings or family festivals of their native servants, who seldom omit inviting their masters and families on such occasions. Being

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VI. THE TREE OF LIFE.

TO dwellers in Ceylon, the cocoanut palm calls up a wide range of ideas. It associates itself with nearly every want and convenience of native life. It might tempt a Singalese villager to assert that if he were placed upon the earth with nothing else whatever to minister to his necessities than the cocoa-nut tree, he could pass his existence in happiness and contentment. When he has felled one of those trees after it has ceased bearing (say in its seventieth year), with its trunk he builds his h

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VII. A WATER PARTY IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

ONE more word on Ceylon, and I will leave it for the present; but in concluding I cannot well omit reference to our trip to the sapphire mines, up the Kaluganga river. The trip was an exceedingly pleasant and interesting one; and as it is easily accomplished, I would strongly urge on any one having a few days to spare at Colombo not to fail to go there. It is time and money well spent. In chatting under the verandah of the Grand Oriental Hotel with the dealers in precious stones, I was informed

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I. MADRAS.

THIS city, though of some interest in many ways, is not one likely to prepossess a visitor in favour of the great Indian Empire. The anchorage is an open roadstead, and the process of landing is most abominable, though worthy of notice. As soon as the steamer drops anchor she is surrounded by hundreds of huge, unwieldy-looking boats—or rather barges—each manned by a dozen or more naked Indians, who swarm the decks, deafen one with their screams, and pester passengers to take the brass token bear

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II. THE GANGES.

STEAMING up the Hooghly—perhaps the most intricate of all navigations—the ship is handed over to a pilot—not such as one is used to in other places. The pilots of the Hooghly are “swell” officers, highly salaried, clad in gorgeous naval uniforms. They come on board with bag and baggage, a retinue of black servants, and while on board—more like admiral than pilot—take full command of the ship. The intricacies of this navigation may be readily gathered from the fact that the channels of the river

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III. CALCUTTA.

I MUST now close the interesting book, “Hunter’s Indian Empire,” which I was perusing. We are nearing our destination. Steamers, tugs, sailing ships, native crafts of various sizes and design, all give evidence that we are drawing near a great emporium of trade, and a metropolitan city. As we turn the next bend a glorious panorama develops itself before us. The last rays of a tropical sun illuminate the distant city—the gilded domes, the church spires, the forest of masts, framed in gorgeous gre

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IV. THE DENIZENS OF THE JUNGLE.

SALIGOORI—the lowermost station at the foot of the Himalayas—gives one the first insight into the real Indian jungle, the habitat of the far-famed Bengal tigers and still more dreadful cobra, besides leopards, cheetahs, hyænas, wolves, foxes, and jackals, which, with the wild hog, are reckoned the “big game,” which both natives and Europeans chase for pastime. The tiger, being the noblest, has the first claim—being the characteristic beast of prey in India. The Bengal tiger is certainly the fine

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V. SANCTIMONIOUS.

&gt;THE foregoing pages are, I am afraid, rather dry and tiresome, but still, one cannot travel through a country like India with one’s eyes and ears closed; and when it is taken into consideration that we are accustomed to look upon the Indian population with contempt—entirely losing sight of the undeniable fact that when the Gaul and the Saxon were savages, clad in sheep and goat-skins, the Brahmins of India were almost as highly advanced in civilisation as the French and English of the pr

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VI. THE CALCUTTA EXHIBITION.

WHILST in Calcutta—being there for the sole object of initiating an International Exhibition, it became urgent to disseminate amongst the native population the purpose of such a venture. H.E. the Viceroy (Lord Ripon) and the Governor of Bengal, Mr. (now Sir Rivers) Thompson, were very doubtful as to the success of this Exhibition, owing to the prejudices of the Indian population, and the erroneous impression they would have of a thing quite beyond their comprehension, and, moreover, in direct co

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VII. A TRAMP THROUGH INDIA.

BEING delayed at the close of the Exhibition in settling accounts with the Government, facilities were given us to visit the interior of the country. A train was placed at our disposal, with instructions sent to the various lines to take it wherever we wished to go. Our farewell from Calcutta was such as to leave an ever-lasting impression. The kindness and hospitality of the many friends we made during our stay in that great city will never be forgotten. Our first stop was at the great sacred c

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VIII. BENARES—THE SACRED CITY.

IF one wished to describe all the temples or places of worship in Benares it would fill a volume. Like picture galleries in the Italian cities, so are temples here—one day at them is quite enough. There seems to be a place of worship dedicated to every whim or fancy of the worshippers. Amongst the many, I will quote the temple of Kameshwar, the “God of Desires,” whose duty is to grant all the wishes of the worshippers. The wishes of mankind being innumerable, it is not surprising that Kameshwar

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IX. THROUGH THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.

OUR next stage was Allahabad, on the delta formed by the junction of the two greatest rivers in the world, the Jumna and the Ganges. The bridge over the former, which carries the train over the mighty stream, is a wonderful feat of engineering. To look over and see the speed at which the current carries this immense sheet of water under the bridge gives one a shudder, and unwittingly one grasps the iron railing with a force which cramps one’s hands. It seems as if the bridge was receding under o

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X. PRINCELY HOSPITALITY.

ON the third day after our arrival our movements had been made known in the neighbourhood. A telegram came from Dholpore, sent by Colonel Deniehy, the Resident, who, on behalf of the Maharajah, wished us to make a stay at His Highness’s palace. Having no further reason to prolong our stay at Agra, we “hooked on” to the train, and in three hours reached the Dholpore station, where the genial face of Colonel Deniehy greeted our landing in the young prince’s dominions. Carriages, and an escort of m

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XI. INDIAN SPORTS.

THE present territory of the Ulwur State is 3024 square miles in extent, and contains a population of 800,000. These are all what are known in India as Rajputs, a warlike tribe, of handsome physique, great power of endurance, and a remarkably intelligent race. The city of Ulwur is in the very centre of the State. That city, as well as the whole State, have, under the able management of the present Maharajah, assisted by his Council, but, above all, by the great wisdom and statesmanship of Sri-Ra

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“HOME, ‘DEAR’ HOME.”

AFTER nearly two years in India one is glad to be once more amongst kindred people. Half a century in Australasia leads me very naturally to look upon it as “home.” All my belongings are Australians; to them, therefore, it is “home.” Besides—be it in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, or even in Perth—everyone I meet is a friend, and it is a comfort to meet friendly faces. What a change had taken place in Melbourne in two years! Since I had left it the silver-mining had been brought to light

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EPILOGUE.

My brother “Savages” have induced me to look up my diaries and publish this book. If it proves an infliction, the blame is theirs. It has afforded me an opportunity to record gratefully the many kindnesses I have received during my travels—more especially the genial hospitality of the “Savage Club.” One of the infirmities of age is garrulity. I have endeavoured to avoid it. One word more to my reader—ADIEU! J.J. PRINTED BY J. WILKIE AND CO., DUNEDIN....

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