A Voyage to the Moon | Page 5

over the heavens, as well as the increasing swell of the ocean before we
felt the wind, soon convinced us he was right. No time was lost in lowering our topmasts,
taking double reefs, and making every thing snug, to meet the fury of the tempest. I
thought I had already witnessed all that was terrific on the ocean; but what I had formerly
seen, had been mere child's play compared with this. Never can I forget the impression
that was made upon me by the wild uproar of the elements. The smooth, long swell of the
waves gradually changed into an agitated frothy surface, which constant flashes of
lightning presented to us in all its horror; and in the mean time the wind whistled through
the rigging, and the ship creaked as if she was every minute going to pieces.
About midnight the storm was at its height, and I gave up all for lost. The wind, which
first blew from the south-west, was then due south, and the sailors said it began to abate a
little before day: but I saw no great difference until about three in the afternoon; soon
after which the clouds broke away, and showed us the sun setting in cloudless majesty,
while the billows still continued their stupendous rolling, but with a heavy movement, as
if, after such mighty efforts, they were seeking repose in the bosom of their parent ocean.
It soon became almost calm; a light western breeze barely swelled our sails, and gently
wafted us to the land, which we could faintly discern to the north-east. Our ship had been
so shaken in the tempest, and was so leaky, that captain Thomas thought it prudent to
make for the first port we could reach.
At dawn we found ourselves in full view of a coast, which, though not personally known

to the captain, he pronounced by his charts to be a part of the Burmese Empire, and in the
neighbourhood of Mergui, on the Martaban coast. The leak had now increased to an
alarming extent, so that we found it would be impossible to carry the ship safe into port.
We therefore hastily threw our clothes, papers, and eight casks of silver, into the
long-boat; and before we were fifty yards from the ship, we saw her go down. Some of
the underwriters in New York, as I have since learnt, had the conscience to contend that
we left the ship sooner than was necessary, and have suffered themselves to be sued for
the sums they had severally insured. It was a little after midday when we reached the
town, which is perched on a high bluff, overlooking the coasts, and contains about a
thousand houses, built of bamboo, and covered with palm leaves. Our dress, appearance,
language, and the manner of our arrival, excited great surprise among the natives, and the
liveliest curiosity; but with these sentiments some evidently mingled no very friendly
feelings. The Burmese were then on the eve of a rupture with the East India Company, a
fact which we had not before known; and mistaking us for English, they supposed, or
affected to suppose, that we belonged to a fleet which was about to invade them, and that
our ship had been sunk before their eyes, by the tutelar divinity of the country. We were
immediately carried before their governor, or chief magistrate, who ordered our baggage
to be searched, and finding that it consisted principally of silver, he had no doubt of our
hostile intentions. He therefore sent all of us, twenty-two in number, to prison, separating,
however, each one from the rest. My companions were released the following spring, as I
have since learnt, by the invading army of Great Britain; but it was my ill fortune (if,
indeed, after what has since happened, I can so regard it) to be taken for an officer of high
rank, and to be sent, the third day afterwards, far into the interior, that I might be more
safely kept, and either used as a hostage or offered for ransom, as circumstances should
render advantageous.
The reader is, no doubt, aware that the Burman Empire lies beyond the Ganges, between
the British possessions and the kingdom of Siam; and that the natives nearly assimilate
with those of Hindostan, in language, manners, religion, and character, except that they
are more hardy and warlike.
I was transported very rapidly in a palanquin, (a sort of decorated litter,) carried on the
shoulders of four men, who, for greater despatch, were changed every three hours. In this
way I travelled thirteen days, in which time we reached a little village in the mountainous
district between the Irawaddi and Saloon rivers, where I was placed under the care of an
inferior magistrate,