This is not a thorough study on measuring cups during the 19th century. However there are a few tidbits to be aware of.
For example in the 1810 The New Family Receipt Book they don't have a measurement of one cup. They refer to a common tea cup, ordinary tea cup, one coffee cup.
I have found images of (Victorian) pewter measuring cups on the Internet. I've also found tin measuring cups dating back around 1840.
The earliest cookbook that I found any measurements for was in the 1830 Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry Cakes and the measurements were in pounds, ounces and quarts, pints. However there do have "A tea-spoonful of salt." The only cup measurement was again a tea-cup. 1/2 pint I started to referenced around this time as well, but never referred to as one cup.
By the end of the century I found glass measuring cups available as well as some high end copper and brass measuring cups.
Showing posts with label 1840. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1840. Show all posts
Friday, May 19, 2017
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
19th Century Photography
Wikipedia has a great overview of the history of the camera. There are a few dates that should be noted for those of us who write historical fiction.
In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.
1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made
Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.
The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.
In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.
1859 a panoramic camera was invented.
1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.
Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868
Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880
In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.
1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.
1889 first Kodak camera containing film
1900 Brownie camera introduced.
And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where. Wikipedia has a great overview of the history of the camera. There are a few dates that should be noted for those of us who write historical fiction.
In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.
1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made
Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.
The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.
In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.
1859 a panoramic camera was invented.
1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.
Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868
Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880
In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.
1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.
1889 first Kodak camera containing film
1900 Brownie camera introduced.
And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where.
In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.
1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made
Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.
The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.
In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.
1859 a panoramic camera was invented.
1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.
Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868
Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880
In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.
1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.
1889 first Kodak camera containing film
1900 Brownie camera introduced.
And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where. Wikipedia has a great overview of the history of the camera. There are a few dates that should be noted for those of us who write historical fiction.
In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.
1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made
Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.
The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.
In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.
1859 a panoramic camera was invented.
1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.
Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868
Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880
In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.
1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.
1889 first Kodak camera containing film
1900 Brownie camera introduced.
And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Clipper Ships England
Below are the opening paragraphs to an article written in "The English Illustrated Magazine" ©1893
CLIPPER SHIPS.
By HERBERT RUSSELL.
With Illustrations drawn by H. R. MILLAR.
THERE was a period, between the years 1840 and 1850, when it lookedvery much indeed as though we were going to yield our long enjoyed sovereignty of the seas to the Americans. The Baltimore clippers bade fair to outrival the ships of this country, and the Stripes and Stars were fast growing familiar colours in lands which heretofore had been accustomed to behold nothing but British bunting. Our Yankee neighbours were introducing a new form of building into their yards, and the ships which they despatched from Boston to China in 1845 were quite unlike anything that had ever gone to sea before: low hulled ; bold of beam ; lines sharp as a yacht's ; loftily sparred, and of heavy tonnage as the average burthen then went. To these vessels they gave the term of clippers. As this article deals exclusively with clipper ships, it may not be out of place to say a few words concerning the difference between this class of craft and the frigate-built ships of our own country which preceded them. Terms change their signification, and in its original meaning a frigate-built vessel was merely a ship whose decks were arranged similarly to those of a man-of-war of that rating. But latterly the definition was applied to vessels
built very full in their lines, and bluff about the bows, and run, and bilge. The old Blackwall Liners were all frigate-built ships, and although they could never come up to the clippers of their day in point of sailing qualities, they were very much more weatherly and drier in a gale of wind. The word clipper, on the other hand, to a very great extent explains itself. Young, in his dictionary of marine terms, tells us that it is " a term applied to a sharp built vessel, whereof the stern and stern-post, especially the former, have a great rake, the planking of the bow or forehoods (the timber ends) being carried forward to step in a rabbet in the cutwater. This kind of bow is termed a clipper-bow, and a vessel so built a clipper, or a clipper-built vessel. The fine lines of this vessel, in conjunction with the large quantity of canvas carried upon her, whether rigged as a ship, barque, or schooner, are united to command speed in sailing." This, then, was the type of craft which the Baltimore builders were turning out in great perfection. Their experiments—for experiments they then were—resulted in the attainment of high speed. The Mincing Lane merchants, ever eager to get the first consignments of the season's teas, were not long before they began to cast their eyes towards vessels which were delivering their freights weeks ahead of our own ships. Free trade had begun, and the result was that very soon the Thames and the Mersey were crowded with the graceful craft of the Chesapeake. Our own shipping was about this time suffering from the long
depression which followed the repeal of the Navigation Laws, and owners in this country viewed with a good deal of apprehension the steady ascendency which the Yankees were gaining over them. It was in the year 1850, however, that Mr. Richard Green, the founder of the famous Blackwall Line before alluded to, came to
triumph of the Challenge gave just the impetus which was needed to set the ship-wrights' yards ringing again to the blows
of the hammer. To the memory of Mr. Green will always belong the honour of upholding our maritime supremacy during
a very critical period. He it was who set the example, and then there were plenty ready to follow suit.
The well-known firm of Jardine, Materson and Skinner, gave an order to Messrs. Hall of Aberdeen, to construct a vessel which
should combine all the American notions of fine lines and heavy rig, with our own qualities of superior strength. As a result
the first of the famous Aberdeen clippers was launched. She was named the Stornoway, and when she sailed upon her first voyage, the patriotic determination to maintain as far as he could the prestige of our Merchant Service. At a great dinner given by one of the London Guilds, he first announced his intention in characteristic language. "We have heard," said he, "a great deal this night about the dismal prospects of British shipping ; and we have heard too from other quarters a great deal about the British Lion and the American Eagle, and the way in which the two are going to lie down together. Now I don't know anything about all that, but this I do know : that we, the British shipowners, have at last sat down to play at a fair and open game with the Americans, and by Jove ! we will trump them."
You can find the rest of the article at Google Books, here's a link.
CLIPPER SHIPS.
By HERBERT RUSSELL.
With Illustrations drawn by H. R. MILLAR.
THERE was a period, between the years 1840 and 1850, when it lookedvery much indeed as though we were going to yield our long enjoyed sovereignty of the seas to the Americans. The Baltimore clippers bade fair to outrival the ships of this country, and the Stripes and Stars were fast growing familiar colours in lands which heretofore had been accustomed to behold nothing but British bunting. Our Yankee neighbours were introducing a new form of building into their yards, and the ships which they despatched from Boston to China in 1845 were quite unlike anything that had ever gone to sea before: low hulled ; bold of beam ; lines sharp as a yacht's ; loftily sparred, and of heavy tonnage as the average burthen then went. To these vessels they gave the term of clippers. As this article deals exclusively with clipper ships, it may not be out of place to say a few words concerning the difference between this class of craft and the frigate-built ships of our own country which preceded them. Terms change their signification, and in its original meaning a frigate-built vessel was merely a ship whose decks were arranged similarly to those of a man-of-war of that rating. But latterly the definition was applied to vessels
built very full in their lines, and bluff about the bows, and run, and bilge. The old Blackwall Liners were all frigate-built ships, and although they could never come up to the clippers of their day in point of sailing qualities, they were very much more weatherly and drier in a gale of wind. The word clipper, on the other hand, to a very great extent explains itself. Young, in his dictionary of marine terms, tells us that it is " a term applied to a sharp built vessel, whereof the stern and stern-post, especially the former, have a great rake, the planking of the bow or forehoods (the timber ends) being carried forward to step in a rabbet in the cutwater. This kind of bow is termed a clipper-bow, and a vessel so built a clipper, or a clipper-built vessel. The fine lines of this vessel, in conjunction with the large quantity of canvas carried upon her, whether rigged as a ship, barque, or schooner, are united to command speed in sailing." This, then, was the type of craft which the Baltimore builders were turning out in great perfection. Their experiments—for experiments they then were—resulted in the attainment of high speed. The Mincing Lane merchants, ever eager to get the first consignments of the season's teas, were not long before they began to cast their eyes towards vessels which were delivering their freights weeks ahead of our own ships. Free trade had begun, and the result was that very soon the Thames and the Mersey were crowded with the graceful craft of the Chesapeake. Our own shipping was about this time suffering from the long
depression which followed the repeal of the Navigation Laws, and owners in this country viewed with a good deal of apprehension the steady ascendency which the Yankees were gaining over them. It was in the year 1850, however, that Mr. Richard Green, the founder of the famous Blackwall Line before alluded to, came to
triumph of the Challenge gave just the impetus which was needed to set the ship-wrights' yards ringing again to the blows
of the hammer. To the memory of Mr. Green will always belong the honour of upholding our maritime supremacy during
a very critical period. He it was who set the example, and then there were plenty ready to follow suit.
The well-known firm of Jardine, Materson and Skinner, gave an order to Messrs. Hall of Aberdeen, to construct a vessel which
should combine all the American notions of fine lines and heavy rig, with our own qualities of superior strength. As a result
the first of the famous Aberdeen clippers was launched. She was named the Stornoway, and when she sailed upon her first voyage, the patriotic determination to maintain as far as he could the prestige of our Merchant Service. At a great dinner given by one of the London Guilds, he first announced his intention in characteristic language. "We have heard," said he, "a great deal this night about the dismal prospects of British shipping ; and we have heard too from other quarters a great deal about the British Lion and the American Eagle, and the way in which the two are going to lie down together. Now I don't know anything about all that, but this I do know : that we, the British shipowners, have at last sat down to play at a fair and open game with the Americans, and by Jove ! we will trump them."
You can find the rest of the article at Google Books, here's a link.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Steamboat Disasters
Below are a couple of excerpts from Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents ©1840. The first one I'm sharing with you regards the Steam packet HOME and it's sinking off of Cape Hatteras, NC. Hatteras is one of the locations where a tremendous amount of ships have sank over the years. Near Hatteras just south of it is another Island called Ocracoke. Not only was it the setting for one of my stories but it was also the location of where my husband's great grandfather's ship went down. Capt. Coleman was the last captain to run a four-masted schooner on the East Coast. Capt. Coleman survived his shipwreck, along with all hands. He died 5 days later in a car accident.
Ocracoke, N. C. Oct. 10, 1837. Mr. James P. Allaire, New York,
Dear Sir : I have now the painful duty of informing you of the total loss of the steam packet Home, and the lives of most of the passengers and crew : The following passengers are saved : H. Vanderzee, New York. Capt. John Salter, Portsmouth, N. H. Capt. Alfred Hill, do. do,
I. S. Cohen, of Columbia, S. C.
Andrew A. Lovegreen, Charleston.
Charles Drayton, do.
B. B. Hussey, do.
Thomas J. Smith, do.
Mrs. Lacoste, Charleston.
Mrs. Schroeder, do.
Mr. C. C. Cady, Montgomery, Ala.
J. D. Rowland, New York.
James Johnson, Jr., Boston.
John Bishop, New York,
Darnis Clock, Athens, Geo.
William S. Read, New Haven, Conn.
Jabez Holmes, New York.
John Mather, do.
Conrad Quinn, Jersey City.
Hiram Anderson, New York.
Twenty passengers saved, is all we can find.
The following persons of the crew :
Firemen.
Levi Miller, Stamford, Conn.
William Bloom, New York.
Thomas Smith, do.
Timothy Stone, do.
Deck Hands.
Michael Burns, James DufTee, John Trust, James
Jackson, Samuel , Calvin Marvin, (boy) New
York, David Milne, steward.
And six waiters, (names not given,) making 19 belonging to the boat.
20 passengers, 19 hands, 1 captain,—40 souls saved. There can be very little saved from the wreck. We had a heavy gale of wind after leaving New York, from N. E. The boat sprung a leak a little to the Northward of Hatteras ; at first we were able to pump the water out as fast as it came in, but the leak soon increased, so that it gained very fast on us. We scuttled the cabin floor, and all hands, passengers, gentlemen and ladies, commenced bailing with buckets, kettles, &c but the water soon came up to the furnaces, and put the fires out, and we were obliged to run under sails only. By the time we came to the shore, the water was over the cabin floors ; we run her head on, but owing to her having so much water in, she stopped in the outward breakers. The first sea that came after she struck, stove the weather quarter boat, and all the houses on the deck were stove in, and 25 minutes after she struck, she was all to pieces, and I suppose about 80 souls were drowned. Both mates, all three of the engineers, and James B. Allaire are lost. Most of the passengers saved have lost nearlyall their baggage. I have lost every thing; having nothing but one pair of pantaloons, and a shirt that I had on when I washed ashore.
In haste, yours respectfully.
(Signed) CARLETON WHITE.
And below is part of the account from one of the survivors, Mr. John D. Roland.
At 6 P. M. the water reached the engine, to the alarm of all, and extinguished the fires, when of course the machinery stopped. The boat was still out of sight of land, but was running with sails, the gale severe, and she laboring dreadfully. The greatest efforts were all the time made, by bailing, &c, and all were actively engaged, until 10 P. M., when the boat struck about a quarter of a mile from, but in sight of the outer breakers.
In an instant alter the strike all was utter confusion and alarm; men, women, and children screaming in the most agonizing manner. The scene was most heart-rending; women clinging to their husbands, children to their mothers, and death, almost certain death before them. It was apparent that the boat could hold together but a very few moments, and that few, very few could under any circumstances be saved. The wind blew a gale—the sea was high, and there were only three boats, and one of them had been staved.
All were engaged in efforts to save their lives,— some lashing themselves to spars on board, and others making what struggle they could. Our informant made his calculations, that his only chance was in swimming ashore, and he accordingly threw off all his clothes but his shirt and pantaloons ; and before any had left the wreck, threw himself into the water. He found the sea so- high that he could with difficulty encounter it, and on reaching the surf, he came near perishing. He, however, landed in safety, though the current took him about a mile and a half to the southward of the wreck.
On reaching the shore, Mr. Rowland found all mariner of pieces thrown up, from which it was evident that the boat had broken up. One man he pulled out of the surf. Only two persons on board had life preservers, both of whom were saved ; one of them however, had no use for his, as he went ashore on the forecastle ; the other person (although he could not swim,) was saved by means of his life preserver.
The boat fortunately had a high forecastle, on which a number of the crew and passengers had collected. This parted entire, and all or nearly all on it, some eight or ten persons at least, went ashore and were saved—Capt. White among the number.
The boat, almost immediately on striking, Went to pieces. Her keel and kelson both drifted ashore about a mile from the wreck. About twenty bodies were found men, and women—among them an infant and the chief mate. The shore, for some miles to the southward, was covered with fragments. The boilers of the boat were to be seen, but every vestige of the vessel had parted from them.
Of the three small boats belonging to the Home, one was staved by the violence of the gale as she hung in the davits, one other filled alongside, and the other was cast off with a number of passengers in her, but she upset in the surf, and only one person was saved. One of the stewards swam safe ashore naked, but he nearly perished afterward with cold.
The scene the next morning was too horrid to describe, the boiler being the only unbroken relic of what was the beautiful packet Home. The shore was lined with bodies constantly coming up. All hands were engaged in collecting them together. The survivors in groups, were nearly naked, and famished and exhausted. The few inhabitants appeared friendly, but many of the trunks that came on shore were empty.
Mrs. Lacoste, the aged lady that was saved, is about 70. She is very fleshy, and almost helpless. She was found in the surf, but how she got there neither herself nor any other person could give any account. Mr. Hussey, who was saved, lashed his wife to a spar, but she was forced off by a sea and lost.
Mr. H. afterward lashed himself to a spar and reached the shore. It is the opinion of our informant that a large portion of the passengers were lost together, soon after she struck, when the boat separated. All the children on board were lost except one lad about 12 years old.
Ocracoke Island, to which place the survivors were washed or swam, is principally inhabited by pilots. Mr. Littlejohn, a Southern planter who was spending the summer there, Mr. Howard, who resides also on the Island, Capt. Pike, and other gentlemen paid every attention to the survivors, and to the interment of those bodies which were washed on shore. Within two days after the fatal occurrence, which time Messrs. Rowland and Holmes were obliged to wait for a conveyance, about twenty bodies, among which were those of two or three of the ladies, were washed on shore and buried.
After the survivors reached the shore, they separated in various directions—some to Raleigh, N. C. others to Newbern—two as before stated, came to New York, and the remainder made their way towards Charleston, by the best conveyances they could find.
Ocracoke, N. C. Oct. 10, 1837. Mr. James P. Allaire, New York,
Dear Sir : I have now the painful duty of informing you of the total loss of the steam packet Home, and the lives of most of the passengers and crew : The following passengers are saved : H. Vanderzee, New York. Capt. John Salter, Portsmouth, N. H. Capt. Alfred Hill, do. do,
I. S. Cohen, of Columbia, S. C.
Andrew A. Lovegreen, Charleston.
Charles Drayton, do.
B. B. Hussey, do.
Thomas J. Smith, do.
Mrs. Lacoste, Charleston.
Mrs. Schroeder, do.
Mr. C. C. Cady, Montgomery, Ala.
J. D. Rowland, New York.
James Johnson, Jr., Boston.
John Bishop, New York,
Darnis Clock, Athens, Geo.
William S. Read, New Haven, Conn.
Jabez Holmes, New York.
John Mather, do.
Conrad Quinn, Jersey City.
Hiram Anderson, New York.
Twenty passengers saved, is all we can find.
The following persons of the crew :
Firemen.
Levi Miller, Stamford, Conn.
William Bloom, New York.
Thomas Smith, do.
Timothy Stone, do.
Deck Hands.
Michael Burns, James DufTee, John Trust, James
Jackson, Samuel , Calvin Marvin, (boy) New
York, David Milne, steward.
And six waiters, (names not given,) making 19 belonging to the boat.
20 passengers, 19 hands, 1 captain,—40 souls saved. There can be very little saved from the wreck. We had a heavy gale of wind after leaving New York, from N. E. The boat sprung a leak a little to the Northward of Hatteras ; at first we were able to pump the water out as fast as it came in, but the leak soon increased, so that it gained very fast on us. We scuttled the cabin floor, and all hands, passengers, gentlemen and ladies, commenced bailing with buckets, kettles, &c but the water soon came up to the furnaces, and put the fires out, and we were obliged to run under sails only. By the time we came to the shore, the water was over the cabin floors ; we run her head on, but owing to her having so much water in, she stopped in the outward breakers. The first sea that came after she struck, stove the weather quarter boat, and all the houses on the deck were stove in, and 25 minutes after she struck, she was all to pieces, and I suppose about 80 souls were drowned. Both mates, all three of the engineers, and James B. Allaire are lost. Most of the passengers saved have lost nearlyall their baggage. I have lost every thing; having nothing but one pair of pantaloons, and a shirt that I had on when I washed ashore.
In haste, yours respectfully.
(Signed) CARLETON WHITE.
And below is part of the account from one of the survivors, Mr. John D. Roland.
At 6 P. M. the water reached the engine, to the alarm of all, and extinguished the fires, when of course the machinery stopped. The boat was still out of sight of land, but was running with sails, the gale severe, and she laboring dreadfully. The greatest efforts were all the time made, by bailing, &c, and all were actively engaged, until 10 P. M., when the boat struck about a quarter of a mile from, but in sight of the outer breakers.
In an instant alter the strike all was utter confusion and alarm; men, women, and children screaming in the most agonizing manner. The scene was most heart-rending; women clinging to their husbands, children to their mothers, and death, almost certain death before them. It was apparent that the boat could hold together but a very few moments, and that few, very few could under any circumstances be saved. The wind blew a gale—the sea was high, and there were only three boats, and one of them had been staved.
All were engaged in efforts to save their lives,— some lashing themselves to spars on board, and others making what struggle they could. Our informant made his calculations, that his only chance was in swimming ashore, and he accordingly threw off all his clothes but his shirt and pantaloons ; and before any had left the wreck, threw himself into the water. He found the sea so- high that he could with difficulty encounter it, and on reaching the surf, he came near perishing. He, however, landed in safety, though the current took him about a mile and a half to the southward of the wreck.
On reaching the shore, Mr. Rowland found all mariner of pieces thrown up, from which it was evident that the boat had broken up. One man he pulled out of the surf. Only two persons on board had life preservers, both of whom were saved ; one of them however, had no use for his, as he went ashore on the forecastle ; the other person (although he could not swim,) was saved by means of his life preserver.
The boat fortunately had a high forecastle, on which a number of the crew and passengers had collected. This parted entire, and all or nearly all on it, some eight or ten persons at least, went ashore and were saved—Capt. White among the number.
The boat, almost immediately on striking, Went to pieces. Her keel and kelson both drifted ashore about a mile from the wreck. About twenty bodies were found men, and women—among them an infant and the chief mate. The shore, for some miles to the southward, was covered with fragments. The boilers of the boat were to be seen, but every vestige of the vessel had parted from them.
Of the three small boats belonging to the Home, one was staved by the violence of the gale as she hung in the davits, one other filled alongside, and the other was cast off with a number of passengers in her, but she upset in the surf, and only one person was saved. One of the stewards swam safe ashore naked, but he nearly perished afterward with cold.
The scene the next morning was too horrid to describe, the boiler being the only unbroken relic of what was the beautiful packet Home. The shore was lined with bodies constantly coming up. All hands were engaged in collecting them together. The survivors in groups, were nearly naked, and famished and exhausted. The few inhabitants appeared friendly, but many of the trunks that came on shore were empty.
Mrs. Lacoste, the aged lady that was saved, is about 70. She is very fleshy, and almost helpless. She was found in the surf, but how she got there neither herself nor any other person could give any account. Mr. Hussey, who was saved, lashed his wife to a spar, but she was forced off by a sea and lost.
Mr. H. afterward lashed himself to a spar and reached the shore. It is the opinion of our informant that a large portion of the passengers were lost together, soon after she struck, when the boat separated. All the children on board were lost except one lad about 12 years old.
Ocracoke Island, to which place the survivors were washed or swam, is principally inhabited by pilots. Mr. Littlejohn, a Southern planter who was spending the summer there, Mr. Howard, who resides also on the Island, Capt. Pike, and other gentlemen paid every attention to the survivors, and to the interment of those bodies which were washed on shore. Within two days after the fatal occurrence, which time Messrs. Rowland and Holmes were obliged to wait for a conveyance, about twenty bodies, among which were those of two or three of the ladies, were washed on shore and buried.
After the survivors reached the shore, they separated in various directions—some to Raleigh, N. C. others to Newbern—two as before stated, came to New York, and the remainder made their way towards Charleston, by the best conveyances they could find.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Bounty Bay
We've all read the accounts or seen the movies about mutany of the Bounty. Bounty Bay is where several of the mutineers settled. This is an account, a fairly lengthy one, from "Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the globe, from the year 1833 to 1836 by Frederick Bennett ©1840 of his visit to Bounty Bay.
At daylight on the 7th of March, the dark and elevated form of Pitcairn Island was seen from the mast-head, bearing W. £ S. by compass, and distant about thirty-five miles. Calms, or light airs, did not permit us to approach the land closely until after sun-set; when the ship was hove-to for the night, and a gun fired and a blue light burned, in answer to the signalfire kindled by the inhabitants on the hills.
On the succeeding morning we made sail to within five miles of the northern coast, (where some houses on the heights denoted the situation of the settlement,) and lowered a boat, in which Mr. Stolworthy and myself accompanied Captain Stavers to the shore. Guided by the gestures of a native, who stood upon an eminence waving a cloth, we proceeded for an indentation of the coast, where several of the islanders were collected on the rocks; but here so heavy a surf broke upon every visible part of the shore that some reluctance was felt to expose the boat to its fury.
While we were considering the best mode of effecting a landing, one of the islanders plunged into the sea and swam towards us. He approached with the salutation, " Good morning, brethren," and, entering the boat, commenced a familiar conversation in very good English. Upon his volunteering to pilot us to the landing-place, and, in his own words, " to be responsible for the safety of the boat," the crew again took to their oars; when passing through a line of heavy rollers, and doubling a projecting ledge of rocks, we almost immediately entered comparatively tranquil water, and ran the boat's bow upon the small beach of " Bounty Bay," where some pigs of iron ballast, and shreds of corroded copper, yet remain as mementos of the fate of the vessel which has given her name to the spot. The principal male inhabitants received us on the beach with a cordial and English welcome to their shores, and conducted us by a steep and winding path to the settlement. Several of the heads of families we had not before seen, and groups of women and children, met us on our way, their countenances beaming with pleasure at the appearance of their visitors, and all of them desirous to shake hands with their " countrymen," as they term the British. They had seen the ship since the previous morning, and had been anxiously awaiting our arrival.
This island is lofty, though of limited extent; its circumference does not exceed seven miles ; while its extreme height, as determined by Captain Beechey, is 1046 feet above the sea. The coast is abrupt and rocky, beaten by a heavy surf, and closely surrounded by blue water of unfathomable depth. No harbour obtains; but small vessels may find anchorage in twenty-five, and twelve fathoms water, with sandy bottom, close to the western shore. A difficult, but practicable landingplace, corresponding to this anchorage; a second at Bounty Bay; and one (more questionable) on the S. E. coast, are the only points where the island is accessible from the sea. Coral grows on the coast, and its debris are found on the coves ; but there are no distinct reefs of this material.
The northern side of the island, or that occupied by the settlement, offers a very picturesque appearance; rising from the sea as a steep amphitheatre, luxuriantly wooded to its summit, and bounded on either side by precipitous cliffs, and naked and rugged rocks, of many fantastic forms. The simple habitations of the people are scattered over this verdant declivity, and are half concealed by its abundant vegetation. They are neatly constructed of plank, thatched with leaves of the screw-pine, (Pandanus fascicularls,) and provided with windows, to which shutters are affixed. The greater number have but a single apartment, occupying the entire interior of the building, and floored with boards; while some few (called double-cottages) possess an upper-room, which communicates by a ladder with the one beneath. The furniture they contain is scanty and of the rudest description; nevertheless, every thing about them denotes great attention to cleanliness and order.
The dwelling formerly occupied by old John Adams is a neat cottage, containing two apartments, both of which are on the ground. It is situated in a pleasant and elevated part of the village, and opens with pretty effect upon a smooth and verdant lawn. The largest and best building the settlement can boast is that named the school-house, and applied to the purposes of a church, school, and teacher's residence.
To each cottage is attached a plot of gardenground, fenced round with roughly-hewn stakes, and planted with water-melons, sweet potatoes, and gourds ; while cattle-sheds, pigsties, and other outhouses, herds of swine and goats, and many European implements of agriculture, (including some wheelbarrows,) afford a rural picture that forcibly reminds the Englishman of similar scenes in his native land. Many good paths, conducting to the habitations and cultivated lands of the natives, intersect the settlement, and often pass through dense and solemn groves of majestic banian trees. (Flcus indica.)
The fabric of this island is chiefly a dark volcanic stone, but on the northern coast I observed some cliffs of a yellow and friable sandstone. The whole of the fertile soil (which is rich, and composed of a red clay mingled with sand) was originally shared, in nearly equal proportions, by the settlers from the Bounty, and is now retained in like manner by their descendants; each family possessing a small estate and subsisting upon its produce.
A comparative scarcity of water exists, since there are no natural streams, and the volcanic structure of the land precludes the formation of wells; but rain-water is largely received in ponds or tanks, and it is not until rain has been absent seven or eight successive months that the residents experience any material inconvenience from this cause. The greatest supply of water is still obtained from a natural excavation which was discovered by William Brown, the assistant botanist of the Bounty, and thence named " Brown's Pond." It is supposed to possess a spring.
At this time the population consisted of eighty persons,* of which the majority were children, and the proportion of females greater than that of males. The entire race, with the exception of the offspring of three English men, resident on the island and married to native women, are the issue of the mutineers of the Bounty, whose surnames they bear, and from whom they have not as yet descended heyond the third generation. So strong a personal resemblance obtains between the members of a family that it is no difficult task to distinguish brothers and sisters. I was particuarly led to notice a predominance of Irish features in many among them, and more especially in the fair and expressive countenances of some of the children; nor had I any reason to be dissatisfied with my skill in national physiognomy, when I was afterwards informed that these individuals bore the name of M'Coy, and were the issue of one of the Bounty's crew who was an Irishman.
The only survivors of the first settlers are two aged Tahitian females, who possess some interest, in association with the history of these islanders. The eldest, Isabella, is the widow of the notorious Fletcher Christian, and the mother of the first-born on the island. Her hair is very white, and she bears, generally, an appearance of extreme age, but her mental and bodily powers are yet active. She appeared to have some knowledge of Capt. Cook, and relates, with the tenacious retrospect of age, many minute particulars connected with the visits of that great navigator to Tahiti. The second, Susan Christian, is some years younger than her countrywoman Isabella. She is short and stout, of a very cheerful disposition, and proved particularly kind to us; indeed, I flattered myself that I had found favour in the sight of " old Susan," as she not only presented to me a native cloth of brilliant colours, which she had herself manufactured, but, bringing a pair of scissors, insisted upon my taking a lock of her dark and curling hair, flowing profusely over her shoulders, and as yet but little frosted by the winter of life. This woman arrived on the island as the wife of one of the Tahitian settlers, and bears the reputation of having played a conspicuous part when the latter were massacred by their own countrywomen. She subsequently married Thursday October, the eldest son of Fletcher Christian, and who died at Tahiti in 1831. Her daughter, Mary, a young and interesting female, is the only spinster on the island; she perseveres in refusing the ofFers of her countrymen, to whom she expresses great aversion, but, unfortunately, her antipathy has not extended to Europeans, and a very fair infant claims her maternal attentions.
In person, intellect, and habits, these islanders form an interesting link between the civilized European, and unsophisticated Polynesian, nations. They are a tall and robust people, and then* features, though far from handsome, display many European traits. With the exception of George Adams, who is much fairer than any of his countrymen, the complexion of the adults does not differ, in shade, from that of the Society Islanders. Their hair, also, is invariably black and glossy, and either straight or gracefully waved, as with the last-named people. Their disposition is frank, honest, and hospitable to an extreme; and, as is common to races claiming a mixture of European with Asiatic blood, they possess a proud and susceptible tone of mind. In conducting the most trivial affairs they are guided by the Scriptures, which they have read diligently, and from which they quote with a freedom and frequency that rather impair the effect.
A modest demeanour, a large share of good humour, and an artless and retiring grace, render the females peculiarly prepossessing. Some of the younger women have also pleasing countenances ; but, on the whole, little can be said in favour of their beauty. They bear an influential sway both in domestic and public politics ; and this they are the better calculated to do, since they are intelligent, active, and obust, partake in the labours of their husbands with cheerfulness, and, with but few and recent exceptions, live virtuous in ah1 stations of life.
Their children are stout and shrewd little urchins, familiar and confident, but at the same time well behaved. They are early inured to aquatic exercises; and it amused us not a little to see small creatures, two or three years old, sprawling in the surf which broke upon the beach; their mothers sitting upon the rocks, watching their anticks, and coolly telling them to " come out, or they would be drowned;" whilst the older children, amusing themselves with their surf-boards, would dive out beneath the lofty breakers, and, availing themselves of a succeeding series, approach the coast, borne on the crest of a wave, with a velocity which threatened their instant destruction against the rocks; but, skilfully evading any contact with the shore, they again dived forth to meet and mount another of their foaming steeds.
The ordinary clothing of the men is little more than the maro, or girdle of cloth, worn by the most primitive Polynesian islanders. On occasions of ceremony, as to attend at church, or receive the visits of strangers, they assume a complete English costume; their hats being constructed of pandanus-leaf cinnet, and decorated with coloured ribbons, which give them a pretty rustic-holy day effect.
The females commonly employ for their dress the native material they prepare from the bark of the paper-mulberry tree, stained with vegetable dyes; but, as opportunities offer, they substitute for this rude cloth the handkerchiefs and cotton prints of Europe. They wear the petticoat and scarf in the Tahitian style, and complete their toilette after the manner of the same nation, by passing a girdle of the seared and yellow leaves of the Ti plant around their waist; placing flowers in then* ears ; and encircling their tresses with a floral wreath. Some few wear then* hair short; but the majority permit it to flow over their shoulders in luxuriant ringlets.
These people subsist chiefly on vegetable food. Yams, which are abundant and of excellent quality, form their principal dependence; and next to these the roots of the mountain-taro (Arum costatum), for the cultivation of which the dry and elevated character of the land is so well adapted. Cocoa-nuts, bananas, sweet-potatoes, pumpkins, and water-melons, are also included among their edible vegetables; but of bread-fruit they obtain only a scanty crop, of very indifferent quality. They prepare a common and favourite food with grated cocoa-nuts and yams, pounded, with bananas, to a thick paste; which, when enveloped in leaves and baked, furnishes a very nutritious and palatable cake, called pilai. On two days in the week they permit themselves the indulgence of animal food, either goat's flesh, pork, or poultry; while the waters around the coast afford them a sufficient supply of fish. They cook in the Tahitian manner, by baking in excavations in the earth, filled with heated stones; the fuel they employ is usually the dried husks of the cocoa-nut.
The elder members of the Pitcairn Island family are but indifferently educated; scarcely any of them being able to write then* own name, though most can read. For some years past, an Englishman, named George Nobbs, has resided on the island, and officiated as schoolmaster to the children, who, in consequence, exhibit a proficiency in the elements of education highly creditable both to their own intelligence and to the exertions of their teacher. George Adams had commenced instructing himself in writing but a few months before our arrival, and a journal which he had kept for that length of time, and which he put into my possession, displays much progress in the art.
The few books they possess have been obtained from sailors visiting their shores, and are chiefly of a religious tenor. Some volumes, also, which were removed from the Bounty are still preserved in the house formerly occupied by the patriarch John Adams.
The English and Tahitian languages are spoken with equal fluency by all the islanders, excepting the two Tahitian females, who speak little else than their native dialect, and are, perhaps, in the sad predicament of having partly forgotten that. They converse in English with some of the imperfections peculiar to foreigners; andthis may be partly attributed to their usually discoursing in Tahitian with one another; as well as to a practice among their British visitors of addressing them in broken English, the better to be understood—a delusion into which most fall upon their first intercourse with this people. They, nevertheless, pride themselves upon an accurate knowledge of the language of their fathers; and not only aim at its niceties, but also indulge in the more common French interpolations, as faux pas, fracas, sang froid, etc.
They were early and well instructed in the pure doctrine of the Christian religion by their revered forefather John Adams; and it is to be sincerely hoped that no fanaticism may ever intrude upon their present simple and sensible worship of the Creator, nor the intemperate zeal of enthusiasts give them a bane in exchange for that religion,
" Whose function is to heal and to restore,
To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute."
Their sabbath is now observed upon the correct day, or that according with the meridian of the island; which was not the case in 1814, when Sir T. Staines visited the spot, and found John Adams and his small community preserving Saturday as the day of rest; an error which had arisen from the circumstance of the Bounty having made the passage from England to Tahiti by the eastern route, without any correction of time having been made to allow for the day apparently gained by this course.
The canoes the natives possess are but few, and of very simple construction. They are hollowed out from one piece of wood, and each is adapted to carry two persons. When afloat, they appear as mere wooden troughs, or little better than butcher's trays; nevertheless they can brave a very rough sea, or go safely through a heavy surf, and, when managed by their island owners, cleave the water with incredible velocity. The young men of the island are excellent divers. They occasionally engage themselves to pearling vessels, to dive for pearl-shell among the adjacent islands; with an understanding that they are to he restored to their home at the expiration of their engagement.
At the period of our visit the climate of Pitcairn was serene and delightful, and, though the thermometer marked 82° in the shade, the sensible temperature was kept agreeably low by the moderate and refreshing trade-winds, which almost incessantly blow over the land. Winds from N. W., with wet and squally weather, are occasionally experienced ; but no season is considered remarkable for rains. The land has generally a very salubrious aspect, and the inhabitants a very healthy appearance; nor are there, apparently, any diseases endemic amongst them. Elephantiasis, or fefe, so prevalent in many of the islands of the Pacific, is here unknown.
The natural productions are principally those common also to the Society Islands. The quadrupeds we noticed were all exotic, as goats and swine, which were brought hither by the first settlers from the Bounty; and a bull and cow, a donkey, a dog, and several cats, which the people had recently brought with them from Tahiti; but, as the island affords but little pasturage, the oxen had destroyed some fruit-trees, and it was determined that they should be killed. The domestic fowls are of the breed introduced here by the Bounty. Some Moscovy ducks had been lately left on the island by the Hon. Capt. Waldegrave, of H. B. M. S, Seringapatam. The only wild birds we observed, beyond the amphibious denizens of the coast, was a small and noisy species inhabiting the woodlands ; in size and plumage it resembles our common sparrow, and it bears the same name amongst the islanders. Small and active lizards, of many gaudy hues, are numerous on the vegetated lands. Among the insects, mosquitoes have but lately made their appearance, and are supposed to have accompanied the islanders upon their return from Tahiti.
The breadfruit, it is said, was found on this island by the Bounty's people, who also introduced many plants of it from Tahiti; it was formerly plentiful, but the trees are now few in number and bear but a small and annual crop of fruit. This degeneracy is believed by the natives to attend upon the clearance of the land ; and such may probably be the fact; but, at the same tune, the dry, elevated, and exposed character of the soil, is so opposed to the natural habitude of this tree in other parts of Polynesia that I am only surprised to find it ranking with the indigenous vegetation.
The candle-nut tree, and Indian mulberry, are conspicuous in the wooded lands. The roots of the former are used by the people to give a brown, and those of the latter a yellow stain to their bark cloth. The lime tree (Citrus medicaj has been introduced, but is not prolific; nor has the mountain-plantain, (Musafei,) recently imported from Tahiti, as yet succeeded.
The cotton shrub, (Gossypium vitifolium,) loaded with large and globular pods containing much excellent wool j capsicum, or bird-pepper, (Capsicum frutescens,) sugar cane, tobacco, and turmeric, grow wild in great abundance, but are applied to no useful purpose. The residents say that the cultivation of the sugar-cane is opposed by rats, which infest the soil in great numbers, and destroy the young plantations.
Yams (Dioscorea sativa and aculeata) are indigenous to the island, and cultivated with much care. They are grown in fields, or " yam patches," on the exposed and sunny declivities of the hills, their vines wandering procumbent over a great extent of ground. They produce an annual crop of roots ; the season for planting them commencing in October, and that for digging between July and August. One large root, when cut for seed, is estimated to produce twenty plants. The labours of hoeing and preparing the earth, sowing the seed, transplanting the seedlings, and digging for the mature roots, are the greatest these islanders have to contend with, and furnish as many data for the events of their lives.
The mountain taro (Arum costatum) is also indigenous, and is very generally cultivated on the dry and elevated lands, where it occurs as verdant plots of tall, erect, and arrow-shaped leaves, bearing in their centre the flowers peculiar to the " wake robin" family. Unlike its aquatic congener, A. esculentum, or common taro, this species prefers a dry and mountain soil, or is, at least, conveniently amphibious. The cultivated root attains a large size and bears some resemblance to the yam, and, although when in the raw state it is so acrid as to excoriate the skin, when cooked it affords a very agreeable and nutritious food. The Irish potatoe is occasionally grown ; but the natives give the preference to the cultivation and use of the sweet potatoe (Convolvulus batatas).
Amongst the miscellaneous vegetation, we observed the scurvy-grass of navigators (Carda mine antiscorbuticaj; and the ferns Asplenium obtusatum, Acrostichum aureum, an undescribed species of Hymenophyllum, and a species of Cyathea, a tree-fern attaining the height of from twelve to fourteen feet. The most abundant pasture-grass is a species of Eleusine.
It is probable, that Pitcairn Island was seen as early as January, 1606, by the Spanish commander, Louis Paz de Torres ; although the date of its discovery may with more certainty be referred to 1767, when its existence was ascertained by Captain Philip Carteret, of the British discovery-sloop Swallow. Captain Carteret did not land upon its shores, (which he had reason to believe were uninhabited,) and named the island after a young gentleman on board his ship, by whom it was first seen.
In the year 1773, Captain Cook, then engaged on his second voyage, cruised in diligent search of this land, but failed to find it; Captain Carteret having laid it down more than three degrees to the westward of its true position.
The second recorded visit to Pitcairn Island is that of the British armed-ship Bounty and her mutinous crew, in 1790. The events which occurred on board this vessel, while under the command of Lieut. Bligh, and employed in conveying plants of the breadfruit from Tahiti to our West India colonies, are well known; nevertheless, I may be permitted to relate, briefly, the ultimate fate of both the vessel and her crew, in connexion with some facts that came under our notice, and with others communicated to me by the Pitcairn islanders, or by the English residents who had for many years lived in social intercourse with John Adams, the late patriarch of the colony.
At daylight on the 7th of March, the dark and elevated form of Pitcairn Island was seen from the mast-head, bearing W. £ S. by compass, and distant about thirty-five miles. Calms, or light airs, did not permit us to approach the land closely until after sun-set; when the ship was hove-to for the night, and a gun fired and a blue light burned, in answer to the signalfire kindled by the inhabitants on the hills.
On the succeeding morning we made sail to within five miles of the northern coast, (where some houses on the heights denoted the situation of the settlement,) and lowered a boat, in which Mr. Stolworthy and myself accompanied Captain Stavers to the shore. Guided by the gestures of a native, who stood upon an eminence waving a cloth, we proceeded for an indentation of the coast, where several of the islanders were collected on the rocks; but here so heavy a surf broke upon every visible part of the shore that some reluctance was felt to expose the boat to its fury.
While we were considering the best mode of effecting a landing, one of the islanders plunged into the sea and swam towards us. He approached with the salutation, " Good morning, brethren," and, entering the boat, commenced a familiar conversation in very good English. Upon his volunteering to pilot us to the landing-place, and, in his own words, " to be responsible for the safety of the boat," the crew again took to their oars; when passing through a line of heavy rollers, and doubling a projecting ledge of rocks, we almost immediately entered comparatively tranquil water, and ran the boat's bow upon the small beach of " Bounty Bay," where some pigs of iron ballast, and shreds of corroded copper, yet remain as mementos of the fate of the vessel which has given her name to the spot. The principal male inhabitants received us on the beach with a cordial and English welcome to their shores, and conducted us by a steep and winding path to the settlement. Several of the heads of families we had not before seen, and groups of women and children, met us on our way, their countenances beaming with pleasure at the appearance of their visitors, and all of them desirous to shake hands with their " countrymen," as they term the British. They had seen the ship since the previous morning, and had been anxiously awaiting our arrival.
This island is lofty, though of limited extent; its circumference does not exceed seven miles ; while its extreme height, as determined by Captain Beechey, is 1046 feet above the sea. The coast is abrupt and rocky, beaten by a heavy surf, and closely surrounded by blue water of unfathomable depth. No harbour obtains; but small vessels may find anchorage in twenty-five, and twelve fathoms water, with sandy bottom, close to the western shore. A difficult, but practicable landingplace, corresponding to this anchorage; a second at Bounty Bay; and one (more questionable) on the S. E. coast, are the only points where the island is accessible from the sea. Coral grows on the coast, and its debris are found on the coves ; but there are no distinct reefs of this material.
The northern side of the island, or that occupied by the settlement, offers a very picturesque appearance; rising from the sea as a steep amphitheatre, luxuriantly wooded to its summit, and bounded on either side by precipitous cliffs, and naked and rugged rocks, of many fantastic forms. The simple habitations of the people are scattered over this verdant declivity, and are half concealed by its abundant vegetation. They are neatly constructed of plank, thatched with leaves of the screw-pine, (Pandanus fascicularls,) and provided with windows, to which shutters are affixed. The greater number have but a single apartment, occupying the entire interior of the building, and floored with boards; while some few (called double-cottages) possess an upper-room, which communicates by a ladder with the one beneath. The furniture they contain is scanty and of the rudest description; nevertheless, every thing about them denotes great attention to cleanliness and order.
The dwelling formerly occupied by old John Adams is a neat cottage, containing two apartments, both of which are on the ground. It is situated in a pleasant and elevated part of the village, and opens with pretty effect upon a smooth and verdant lawn. The largest and best building the settlement can boast is that named the school-house, and applied to the purposes of a church, school, and teacher's residence.
To each cottage is attached a plot of gardenground, fenced round with roughly-hewn stakes, and planted with water-melons, sweet potatoes, and gourds ; while cattle-sheds, pigsties, and other outhouses, herds of swine and goats, and many European implements of agriculture, (including some wheelbarrows,) afford a rural picture that forcibly reminds the Englishman of similar scenes in his native land. Many good paths, conducting to the habitations and cultivated lands of the natives, intersect the settlement, and often pass through dense and solemn groves of majestic banian trees. (Flcus indica.)
The fabric of this island is chiefly a dark volcanic stone, but on the northern coast I observed some cliffs of a yellow and friable sandstone. The whole of the fertile soil (which is rich, and composed of a red clay mingled with sand) was originally shared, in nearly equal proportions, by the settlers from the Bounty, and is now retained in like manner by their descendants; each family possessing a small estate and subsisting upon its produce.
A comparative scarcity of water exists, since there are no natural streams, and the volcanic structure of the land precludes the formation of wells; but rain-water is largely received in ponds or tanks, and it is not until rain has been absent seven or eight successive months that the residents experience any material inconvenience from this cause. The greatest supply of water is still obtained from a natural excavation which was discovered by William Brown, the assistant botanist of the Bounty, and thence named " Brown's Pond." It is supposed to possess a spring.
At this time the population consisted of eighty persons,* of which the majority were children, and the proportion of females greater than that of males. The entire race, with the exception of the offspring of three English men, resident on the island and married to native women, are the issue of the mutineers of the Bounty, whose surnames they bear, and from whom they have not as yet descended heyond the third generation. So strong a personal resemblance obtains between the members of a family that it is no difficult task to distinguish brothers and sisters. I was particuarly led to notice a predominance of Irish features in many among them, and more especially in the fair and expressive countenances of some of the children; nor had I any reason to be dissatisfied with my skill in national physiognomy, when I was afterwards informed that these individuals bore the name of M'Coy, and were the issue of one of the Bounty's crew who was an Irishman.
The only survivors of the first settlers are two aged Tahitian females, who possess some interest, in association with the history of these islanders. The eldest, Isabella, is the widow of the notorious Fletcher Christian, and the mother of the first-born on the island. Her hair is very white, and she bears, generally, an appearance of extreme age, but her mental and bodily powers are yet active. She appeared to have some knowledge of Capt. Cook, and relates, with the tenacious retrospect of age, many minute particulars connected with the visits of that great navigator to Tahiti. The second, Susan Christian, is some years younger than her countrywoman Isabella. She is short and stout, of a very cheerful disposition, and proved particularly kind to us; indeed, I flattered myself that I had found favour in the sight of " old Susan," as she not only presented to me a native cloth of brilliant colours, which she had herself manufactured, but, bringing a pair of scissors, insisted upon my taking a lock of her dark and curling hair, flowing profusely over her shoulders, and as yet but little frosted by the winter of life. This woman arrived on the island as the wife of one of the Tahitian settlers, and bears the reputation of having played a conspicuous part when the latter were massacred by their own countrywomen. She subsequently married Thursday October, the eldest son of Fletcher Christian, and who died at Tahiti in 1831. Her daughter, Mary, a young and interesting female, is the only spinster on the island; she perseveres in refusing the ofFers of her countrymen, to whom she expresses great aversion, but, unfortunately, her antipathy has not extended to Europeans, and a very fair infant claims her maternal attentions.
In person, intellect, and habits, these islanders form an interesting link between the civilized European, and unsophisticated Polynesian, nations. They are a tall and robust people, and then* features, though far from handsome, display many European traits. With the exception of George Adams, who is much fairer than any of his countrymen, the complexion of the adults does not differ, in shade, from that of the Society Islanders. Their hair, also, is invariably black and glossy, and either straight or gracefully waved, as with the last-named people. Their disposition is frank, honest, and hospitable to an extreme; and, as is common to races claiming a mixture of European with Asiatic blood, they possess a proud and susceptible tone of mind. In conducting the most trivial affairs they are guided by the Scriptures, which they have read diligently, and from which they quote with a freedom and frequency that rather impair the effect.
A modest demeanour, a large share of good humour, and an artless and retiring grace, render the females peculiarly prepossessing. Some of the younger women have also pleasing countenances ; but, on the whole, little can be said in favour of their beauty. They bear an influential sway both in domestic and public politics ; and this they are the better calculated to do, since they are intelligent, active, and obust, partake in the labours of their husbands with cheerfulness, and, with but few and recent exceptions, live virtuous in ah1 stations of life.
Their children are stout and shrewd little urchins, familiar and confident, but at the same time well behaved. They are early inured to aquatic exercises; and it amused us not a little to see small creatures, two or three years old, sprawling in the surf which broke upon the beach; their mothers sitting upon the rocks, watching their anticks, and coolly telling them to " come out, or they would be drowned;" whilst the older children, amusing themselves with their surf-boards, would dive out beneath the lofty breakers, and, availing themselves of a succeeding series, approach the coast, borne on the crest of a wave, with a velocity which threatened their instant destruction against the rocks; but, skilfully evading any contact with the shore, they again dived forth to meet and mount another of their foaming steeds.
The ordinary clothing of the men is little more than the maro, or girdle of cloth, worn by the most primitive Polynesian islanders. On occasions of ceremony, as to attend at church, or receive the visits of strangers, they assume a complete English costume; their hats being constructed of pandanus-leaf cinnet, and decorated with coloured ribbons, which give them a pretty rustic-holy day effect.
The females commonly employ for their dress the native material they prepare from the bark of the paper-mulberry tree, stained with vegetable dyes; but, as opportunities offer, they substitute for this rude cloth the handkerchiefs and cotton prints of Europe. They wear the petticoat and scarf in the Tahitian style, and complete their toilette after the manner of the same nation, by passing a girdle of the seared and yellow leaves of the Ti plant around their waist; placing flowers in then* ears ; and encircling their tresses with a floral wreath. Some few wear then* hair short; but the majority permit it to flow over their shoulders in luxuriant ringlets.
These people subsist chiefly on vegetable food. Yams, which are abundant and of excellent quality, form their principal dependence; and next to these the roots of the mountain-taro (Arum costatum), for the cultivation of which the dry and elevated character of the land is so well adapted. Cocoa-nuts, bananas, sweet-potatoes, pumpkins, and water-melons, are also included among their edible vegetables; but of bread-fruit they obtain only a scanty crop, of very indifferent quality. They prepare a common and favourite food with grated cocoa-nuts and yams, pounded, with bananas, to a thick paste; which, when enveloped in leaves and baked, furnishes a very nutritious and palatable cake, called pilai. On two days in the week they permit themselves the indulgence of animal food, either goat's flesh, pork, or poultry; while the waters around the coast afford them a sufficient supply of fish. They cook in the Tahitian manner, by baking in excavations in the earth, filled with heated stones; the fuel they employ is usually the dried husks of the cocoa-nut.
The elder members of the Pitcairn Island family are but indifferently educated; scarcely any of them being able to write then* own name, though most can read. For some years past, an Englishman, named George Nobbs, has resided on the island, and officiated as schoolmaster to the children, who, in consequence, exhibit a proficiency in the elements of education highly creditable both to their own intelligence and to the exertions of their teacher. George Adams had commenced instructing himself in writing but a few months before our arrival, and a journal which he had kept for that length of time, and which he put into my possession, displays much progress in the art.
The few books they possess have been obtained from sailors visiting their shores, and are chiefly of a religious tenor. Some volumes, also, which were removed from the Bounty are still preserved in the house formerly occupied by the patriarch John Adams.
The English and Tahitian languages are spoken with equal fluency by all the islanders, excepting the two Tahitian females, who speak little else than their native dialect, and are, perhaps, in the sad predicament of having partly forgotten that. They converse in English with some of the imperfections peculiar to foreigners; andthis may be partly attributed to their usually discoursing in Tahitian with one another; as well as to a practice among their British visitors of addressing them in broken English, the better to be understood—a delusion into which most fall upon their first intercourse with this people. They, nevertheless, pride themselves upon an accurate knowledge of the language of their fathers; and not only aim at its niceties, but also indulge in the more common French interpolations, as faux pas, fracas, sang froid, etc.
They were early and well instructed in the pure doctrine of the Christian religion by their revered forefather John Adams; and it is to be sincerely hoped that no fanaticism may ever intrude upon their present simple and sensible worship of the Creator, nor the intemperate zeal of enthusiasts give them a bane in exchange for that religion,
" Whose function is to heal and to restore,
To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute."
Their sabbath is now observed upon the correct day, or that according with the meridian of the island; which was not the case in 1814, when Sir T. Staines visited the spot, and found John Adams and his small community preserving Saturday as the day of rest; an error which had arisen from the circumstance of the Bounty having made the passage from England to Tahiti by the eastern route, without any correction of time having been made to allow for the day apparently gained by this course.
The canoes the natives possess are but few, and of very simple construction. They are hollowed out from one piece of wood, and each is adapted to carry two persons. When afloat, they appear as mere wooden troughs, or little better than butcher's trays; nevertheless they can brave a very rough sea, or go safely through a heavy surf, and, when managed by their island owners, cleave the water with incredible velocity. The young men of the island are excellent divers. They occasionally engage themselves to pearling vessels, to dive for pearl-shell among the adjacent islands; with an understanding that they are to he restored to their home at the expiration of their engagement.
At the period of our visit the climate of Pitcairn was serene and delightful, and, though the thermometer marked 82° in the shade, the sensible temperature was kept agreeably low by the moderate and refreshing trade-winds, which almost incessantly blow over the land. Winds from N. W., with wet and squally weather, are occasionally experienced ; but no season is considered remarkable for rains. The land has generally a very salubrious aspect, and the inhabitants a very healthy appearance; nor are there, apparently, any diseases endemic amongst them. Elephantiasis, or fefe, so prevalent in many of the islands of the Pacific, is here unknown.
The natural productions are principally those common also to the Society Islands. The quadrupeds we noticed were all exotic, as goats and swine, which were brought hither by the first settlers from the Bounty; and a bull and cow, a donkey, a dog, and several cats, which the people had recently brought with them from Tahiti; but, as the island affords but little pasturage, the oxen had destroyed some fruit-trees, and it was determined that they should be killed. The domestic fowls are of the breed introduced here by the Bounty. Some Moscovy ducks had been lately left on the island by the Hon. Capt. Waldegrave, of H. B. M. S, Seringapatam. The only wild birds we observed, beyond the amphibious denizens of the coast, was a small and noisy species inhabiting the woodlands ; in size and plumage it resembles our common sparrow, and it bears the same name amongst the islanders. Small and active lizards, of many gaudy hues, are numerous on the vegetated lands. Among the insects, mosquitoes have but lately made their appearance, and are supposed to have accompanied the islanders upon their return from Tahiti.
The breadfruit, it is said, was found on this island by the Bounty's people, who also introduced many plants of it from Tahiti; it was formerly plentiful, but the trees are now few in number and bear but a small and annual crop of fruit. This degeneracy is believed by the natives to attend upon the clearance of the land ; and such may probably be the fact; but, at the same tune, the dry, elevated, and exposed character of the soil, is so opposed to the natural habitude of this tree in other parts of Polynesia that I am only surprised to find it ranking with the indigenous vegetation.
The candle-nut tree, and Indian mulberry, are conspicuous in the wooded lands. The roots of the former are used by the people to give a brown, and those of the latter a yellow stain to their bark cloth. The lime tree (Citrus medicaj has been introduced, but is not prolific; nor has the mountain-plantain, (Musafei,) recently imported from Tahiti, as yet succeeded.
The cotton shrub, (Gossypium vitifolium,) loaded with large and globular pods containing much excellent wool j capsicum, or bird-pepper, (Capsicum frutescens,) sugar cane, tobacco, and turmeric, grow wild in great abundance, but are applied to no useful purpose. The residents say that the cultivation of the sugar-cane is opposed by rats, which infest the soil in great numbers, and destroy the young plantations.
Yams (Dioscorea sativa and aculeata) are indigenous to the island, and cultivated with much care. They are grown in fields, or " yam patches," on the exposed and sunny declivities of the hills, their vines wandering procumbent over a great extent of ground. They produce an annual crop of roots ; the season for planting them commencing in October, and that for digging between July and August. One large root, when cut for seed, is estimated to produce twenty plants. The labours of hoeing and preparing the earth, sowing the seed, transplanting the seedlings, and digging for the mature roots, are the greatest these islanders have to contend with, and furnish as many data for the events of their lives.
The mountain taro (Arum costatum) is also indigenous, and is very generally cultivated on the dry and elevated lands, where it occurs as verdant plots of tall, erect, and arrow-shaped leaves, bearing in their centre the flowers peculiar to the " wake robin" family. Unlike its aquatic congener, A. esculentum, or common taro, this species prefers a dry and mountain soil, or is, at least, conveniently amphibious. The cultivated root attains a large size and bears some resemblance to the yam, and, although when in the raw state it is so acrid as to excoriate the skin, when cooked it affords a very agreeable and nutritious food. The Irish potatoe is occasionally grown ; but the natives give the preference to the cultivation and use of the sweet potatoe (Convolvulus batatas).
Amongst the miscellaneous vegetation, we observed the scurvy-grass of navigators (Carda mine antiscorbuticaj; and the ferns Asplenium obtusatum, Acrostichum aureum, an undescribed species of Hymenophyllum, and a species of Cyathea, a tree-fern attaining the height of from twelve to fourteen feet. The most abundant pasture-grass is a species of Eleusine.
It is probable, that Pitcairn Island was seen as early as January, 1606, by the Spanish commander, Louis Paz de Torres ; although the date of its discovery may with more certainty be referred to 1767, when its existence was ascertained by Captain Philip Carteret, of the British discovery-sloop Swallow. Captain Carteret did not land upon its shores, (which he had reason to believe were uninhabited,) and named the island after a young gentleman on board his ship, by whom it was first seen.
In the year 1773, Captain Cook, then engaged on his second voyage, cruised in diligent search of this land, but failed to find it; Captain Carteret having laid it down more than three degrees to the westward of its true position.
The second recorded visit to Pitcairn Island is that of the British armed-ship Bounty and her mutinous crew, in 1790. The events which occurred on board this vessel, while under the command of Lieut. Bligh, and employed in conveying plants of the breadfruit from Tahiti to our West India colonies, are well known; nevertheless, I may be permitted to relate, briefly, the ultimate fate of both the vessel and her crew, in connexion with some facts that came under our notice, and with others communicated to me by the Pitcairn islanders, or by the English residents who had for many years lived in social intercourse with John Adams, the late patriarch of the colony.
Icebergs 1834
As I continued reading "Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the globe, from the year 1833 to 1836 by Frederick Bennett ©1840 I found another interesting tidbit to pass along. Icebergs had long been and continue to be something that sailors need to watch for.
On the 4th of January, 1834, the ship passed within six miles of an iceberg floating on the sea, in lat. 4/° S., long. 57£° W. It was of square form, and had a small conical hummock attached to its base. The summit was level; but in some points of view the effects of refraction caused it to appear as an inclined plane. It had a dazzling whiteness, and seemed to be covered with snow. The circumference of the berg was estimated at between three and four hundred feet, and its height at fifty; but, to judge from its shape, it is probable that little more than a sixth of its actual bulk was visible above the surface of the ocean.
Floating ice-islands are not unfrequently seen in this latitude, and the uncertainty of their situation requires that ships should keep a strict night-watch to avoid them. During the winter season they remain consolidated with the frozen lands whence they originate; and it is not until the summer of the south that they drift into the lower latitudes, and intrude upon the ordinary tracks of shipping. Many penguins, and divers, were at the same time observed swimming on the water; their home being either the iceberg, or, with more probability, the Falkland Islands, from which we were now distant about a day's sail.
On the 4th of January, 1834, the ship passed within six miles of an iceberg floating on the sea, in lat. 4/° S., long. 57£° W. It was of square form, and had a small conical hummock attached to its base. The summit was level; but in some points of view the effects of refraction caused it to appear as an inclined plane. It had a dazzling whiteness, and seemed to be covered with snow. The circumference of the berg was estimated at between three and four hundred feet, and its height at fifty; but, to judge from its shape, it is probable that little more than a sixth of its actual bulk was visible above the surface of the ocean.
Floating ice-islands are not unfrequently seen in this latitude, and the uncertainty of their situation requires that ships should keep a strict night-watch to avoid them. During the winter season they remain consolidated with the frozen lands whence they originate; and it is not until the summer of the south that they drift into the lower latitudes, and intrude upon the ordinary tracks of shipping. Many penguins, and divers, were at the same time observed swimming on the water; their home being either the iceberg, or, with more probability, the Falkland Islands, from which we were now distant about a day's sail.
Wind Gale or Sun Dog
I ran across this interesting term while reading "Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the globe, from the year 1833 to 1836 by Frederick Bennett ©1840 The observation below was dated Nov. 6, 1833 off the coast of the Portuguese Island Madeira.
While thus detained, we noticed the phenomenon named by nautical men a " wind-gall," (query, "wind-gale?") or "sun-dog;"—abroad and perpendicular streak of iridescent colours, placed opposite the sun, and extending from a dark cloud to the verge of the horizon. It may be considered to be a fragment of a rainbow ; though its colours are much less delicate and diversified than those of the ordinary meteor of that name, and chiefly consist of a lurid-red, or copper-colour, and a bright olive-green, dividing the column vertically and in nearly equal proportions. Sailors consider its appearance a precursor of foul weather; nor had we, in this instance, any reason to doubt the correctness of their conclusion; since the succeeding night brought a heavy gale of wind, attended with thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain; and the presence of an ignis fatuus * on the summit of each mast-head, gleaming with its peculiar sickly and supernatural light.
* These mysterious meteors, so frequently observed during a thunder-storm at sea, have invariably a globular form, are about the size of a tennis-ball, and emit a paleblue light. They occasionally appear to pass rapidly from one part of the ship to another, or to drop from the mast-head to the yards beneath, remaining stationary on each for a few moments. Many names have been given to them. When one only is visible it is called Corpo Santo, or St. Helena; -when two, Castor and Pollux; and more, Tyndaridae, or St. Elmo's fire. It is probable that their origin is to be found in the effects of evaporation ; for, however much the atmosphere may have been surcharged with electricity, during tempests at sea, I have never observed them but as attendants upon rain.
I added this link Sun dog where you can see a picture of this as well.
While thus detained, we noticed the phenomenon named by nautical men a " wind-gall," (query, "wind-gale?") or "sun-dog;"—abroad and perpendicular streak of iridescent colours, placed opposite the sun, and extending from a dark cloud to the verge of the horizon. It may be considered to be a fragment of a rainbow ; though its colours are much less delicate and diversified than those of the ordinary meteor of that name, and chiefly consist of a lurid-red, or copper-colour, and a bright olive-green, dividing the column vertically and in nearly equal proportions. Sailors consider its appearance a precursor of foul weather; nor had we, in this instance, any reason to doubt the correctness of their conclusion; since the succeeding night brought a heavy gale of wind, attended with thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain; and the presence of an ignis fatuus * on the summit of each mast-head, gleaming with its peculiar sickly and supernatural light.
* These mysterious meteors, so frequently observed during a thunder-storm at sea, have invariably a globular form, are about the size of a tennis-ball, and emit a paleblue light. They occasionally appear to pass rapidly from one part of the ship to another, or to drop from the mast-head to the yards beneath, remaining stationary on each for a few moments. Many names have been given to them. When one only is visible it is called Corpo Santo, or St. Helena; -when two, Castor and Pollux; and more, Tyndaridae, or St. Elmo's fire. It is probable that their origin is to be found in the effects of evaporation ; for, however much the atmosphere may have been surcharged with electricity, during tempests at sea, I have never observed them but as attendants upon rain.
I added this link Sun dog where you can see a picture of this as well.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
A Boy's Town
I've been reading from A Boy's Town by W. D. Howells ©1890. In this story he's recounting the days of his youth, the games he played, the things he and his friends did to occupy their time and the innocence of youth with the belief that the world totally revolved around themselves. It's a great read and I would encourage you to read over it if you're interested in writing during 1840's, and setting a story by a river.
Below is a brief description of the river the author writes in his story "A Boy's Town" for Harpers Young People
But the spring, short as it was, had its great attractions, and chief of these was the freshnet which it brought to the river. They would hear somehow that the river was rising, and then the boys, who had never connected its rise with the rains they must have been having, would all go down to its banks and watch the swelling waters. These would be yellow and thick and the boiling current would have smooth, oily eddies, where pieces of drift would whirl round and round, and then escape and slip down the stream. There were saw-logs and whole trees with their branching tops, lengths of fence and hen-coops and pig-pens; once there was a stable; and if the flood continued, there began to come swollen bodies of horses and cattle. This must have meant serious loss to the people living on the river-bottoms above, but the boys counted it all gain. They cheered the objects as they floated by, and they were breathless with the excitement of seeing the men who caught fence-rails and cord-wood, and even saw-logs, with iron prongs at the points of long poles, as they stood on some jutting point of the shore and stretched far out over the flood. The boys exulted in the turbid spread of the stream, which filled its low western banks and stole over their tops, and washed into all the hollow places along its shores, and shone among the trunks of the sycamores on Delorac's Island, which was almost of geographical importance of The Island in Old River.
Below is a brief description of the river the author writes in his story "A Boy's Town" for Harpers Young People
But the spring, short as it was, had its great attractions, and chief of these was the freshnet which it brought to the river. They would hear somehow that the river was rising, and then the boys, who had never connected its rise with the rains they must have been having, would all go down to its banks and watch the swelling waters. These would be yellow and thick and the boiling current would have smooth, oily eddies, where pieces of drift would whirl round and round, and then escape and slip down the stream. There were saw-logs and whole trees with their branching tops, lengths of fence and hen-coops and pig-pens; once there was a stable; and if the flood continued, there began to come swollen bodies of horses and cattle. This must have meant serious loss to the people living on the river-bottoms above, but the boys counted it all gain. They cheered the objects as they floated by, and they were breathless with the excitement of seeing the men who caught fence-rails and cord-wood, and even saw-logs, with iron prongs at the points of long poles, as they stood on some jutting point of the shore and stretched far out over the flood. The boys exulted in the turbid spread of the stream, which filled its low western banks and stole over their tops, and washed into all the hollow places along its shores, and shone among the trunks of the sycamores on Delorac's Island, which was almost of geographical importance of The Island in Old River.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Census
In researching family genealogies I've discovered the valuable uses of censuses. But in the 19th century there were very new. The first census in the U.S. was in 1790.
2nd 1800 It counted Men under 10, M10 & Under 16, M 16 & under 26, M 26 & Under 45, M 45 & up as well as the same for Females. It also listed the Names of Heads of families
3rd 1810
4th 1820
5th 1830
6th 1840
7th 1850 This census marked a change they attempted to count every member of the household including women, children & slaves.
8th 1860 This census counted American Indians
9th 1870
10th 1880 This census allowed women to be enumerators.
11th 1890 Announced that the frontier region of the U.S. no longer existed. So, it was no longer needed to track westward migration. This census was also notable for the use of the tabulating machine, reducing the time to tabulate the census from 7 years to 2.5.
2nd 1800 It counted Men under 10, M10 & Under 16, M 16 & under 26, M 26 & Under 45, M 45 & up as well as the same for Females. It also listed the Names of Heads of families
3rd 1810
4th 1820
5th 1830
6th 1840
7th 1850 This census marked a change they attempted to count every member of the household including women, children & slaves.
8th 1860 This census counted American Indians
9th 1870
10th 1880 This census allowed women to be enumerators.
11th 1890 Announced that the frontier region of the U.S. no longer existed. So, it was no longer needed to track westward migration. This census was also notable for the use of the tabulating machine, reducing the time to tabulate the census from 7 years to 2.5.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Acknowledge the Corn
One of the slang sayings that I've run across from the 19th century is "acknowledge the corn" which means to admit the truth, to acknowledge one's own shortcoming or obvious lies, one's mistakes, one's faults or in other words to confess.
A couple of cited sources are:
1840: David Johnson acknowledged the corn, and said that he was drunk. Daily Pennant, St. Louis, July 14
1846: I hope he will give up the argument, or, to use a familiar phrase, acknowledge the corn. Mr. Speight, Mississippi, U.S. Senate, Congressional Globe, January 28
1850: He has not confessed the corn, as the saying is, that he did preach disunion? Mr. Staniy, North Carolina, House of Reps., Congressional Globe
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Opera Dresses throughout the 19th Century
The richest full dress should be worn at the opera. This must be governed by the prevailing fashion. The head should be bare, and dressed in the most becoming style. Jewelry may be worn, according to taste, as there is no place where it shows to better advantage. A light or brilliant colored opera cloak will add greatly to the lady’s appearance and comfort. Gloves of white, or delicately tinted kid only are to be worn.
1829
1840
1857 Opera Bonnett
1859 Opera Cloaks
1877 Men's Opera Hat
1889 Russian Opera Hood Lower left image
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Dinner Dresses thru the 19th Century
Today's tidbit are a few dinner dresses down through the 19th Century. First I'm sharing some tidbits from "The College of Life Or Practical Self" a description regarding dressing for Dinner.
How Ladies Should Dress.
Dressing for dinner only presents points of difficulty to the ladies; the rule to be followed by gentlemen is simple enough.
Several considerations serve to embarrass the gentler sex. For a “great” dinner, a lady dresses in a style which would be extravagant and out of keeping with a “small” dinner; yet the invitation is in both cases couched in the same terms. Moreover, a dinner is often the prelude to an evening party, or a visit to the opera, or some other form of amusement; and the style of dress must be suited to these contingencies also. One or two general rules may be laid down.
Full dinner dress means a low dress; the hair arranged with flowers or other ornaments; and a display of jewelry, according to taste. For a grand dinner, a lady dresses as elaborately as for a ball; but there is a great distinction between a ball dress and a dinner dress. Let no misguided young belle who is invited to a great house rush to the conclusion that it will be right for her to appear in a dress that she has worn in a ballroom. The style of thing required is wholly different. In the ball-room everything should be light, floating, diaphanous, ethereal, and calculated to produce a good general effect.
A dinner dress must be good in quality; it should be of silk of the latest make, with an ample train. By way of setting the dress olf, rich lace may be worn—Brussels, Mechlin, Honiton, Maltese or Cluny; but such light materials as blonde, tulle, areophane, tarlatane, etc., are quite out of place as trimmings.
Jewelry of almost any value may be worn at a great dinner—diamonds, pearls, emeralds, rubies, any kind ; but it is not in good taste to wear too much jewelry at any time.
As accessories, an opera-cloak, a fan, and a pair of perfectly white and perfectly fitting gloves must not be forgotten.
In dressing for an ordinary dinner—say a dinner of six or eight, or a dinner at a country house—the demi-toilette is sufficient. The dress should be made with a low body; is in good taste, and the shirt-studs may be choice, but should be in proportion to the means of the wearer.
It may be as well to remark that dinner~ parties are not supposed to be given on Sundays, and, therefore, when an invitation is accepted for that day—or when, on a visit, host and guests dine together—it is not necessary to dress; the ladies appearing in high dresses, or the demi-toilette at most; gentlemm in walking-dress.
1829
1832
1840
Unfortunately in my files I don't have an "Dinner Dress" between these two dates.
1864
1865
1871
1876
1880
1889
How Ladies Should Dress.
Dressing for dinner only presents points of difficulty to the ladies; the rule to be followed by gentlemen is simple enough.
Several considerations serve to embarrass the gentler sex. For a “great” dinner, a lady dresses in a style which would be extravagant and out of keeping with a “small” dinner; yet the invitation is in both cases couched in the same terms. Moreover, a dinner is often the prelude to an evening party, or a visit to the opera, or some other form of amusement; and the style of dress must be suited to these contingencies also. One or two general rules may be laid down.
Full dinner dress means a low dress; the hair arranged with flowers or other ornaments; and a display of jewelry, according to taste. For a grand dinner, a lady dresses as elaborately as for a ball; but there is a great distinction between a ball dress and a dinner dress. Let no misguided young belle who is invited to a great house rush to the conclusion that it will be right for her to appear in a dress that she has worn in a ballroom. The style of thing required is wholly different. In the ball-room everything should be light, floating, diaphanous, ethereal, and calculated to produce a good general effect.
A dinner dress must be good in quality; it should be of silk of the latest make, with an ample train. By way of setting the dress olf, rich lace may be worn—Brussels, Mechlin, Honiton, Maltese or Cluny; but such light materials as blonde, tulle, areophane, tarlatane, etc., are quite out of place as trimmings.
Jewelry of almost any value may be worn at a great dinner—diamonds, pearls, emeralds, rubies, any kind ; but it is not in good taste to wear too much jewelry at any time.
As accessories, an opera-cloak, a fan, and a pair of perfectly white and perfectly fitting gloves must not be forgotten.
In dressing for an ordinary dinner—say a dinner of six or eight, or a dinner at a country house—the demi-toilette is sufficient. The dress should be made with a low body; is in good taste, and the shirt-studs may be choice, but should be in proportion to the means of the wearer.
It may be as well to remark that dinner~ parties are not supposed to be given on Sundays, and, therefore, when an invitation is accepted for that day—or when, on a visit, host and guests dine together—it is not necessary to dress; the ladies appearing in high dresses, or the demi-toilette at most; gentlemm in walking-dress.
1829
1832
1840
Unfortunately in my files I don't have an "Dinner Dress" between these two dates.
1864
1865
1871
1876
1880
1889
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Bridal Attire
Earlier this week I shared some Wedding dresses from the 19th Century on Heroes, Heroines & History. There's a link at the bottom of this post. However, I have a couple other Wedding Attire Tidbits to share with all of you.
1840
1860 Hair Style For Bride
1866 Bridal Head Dress
1867
1870
Bridal Veils & Bodices
Bride & Bridesmaids Toilets
1871 Bridal Veils
1876 Bridal Head Dress
The post I mentioned about was simply wedding gowns. Here's a link Tidbits of 19th Century Wedding Gowns Get them out, if you haven't already.
1840
1860 Hair Style For Bride
1866 Bridal Head Dress
1867
1870
Bridal Veils & Bodices
Bride & Bridesmaids Toilets
1871 Bridal Veils
1876 Bridal Head Dress
The post I mentioned about was simply wedding gowns. Here's a link Tidbits of 19th Century Wedding Gowns Get them out, if you haven't already.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Cows
If you lived in the 19th Century and worked outside of a city more than likely you knew and had experience with cows. Below are some pictures and brief info to help the writer identify the type of cow that might be in their books.
Short Horned Cows
It has heen frequently asserted, that short-horn cows are had milkers, indeed that no kind of cattle are so deficient in milk. Those who say so do not know the still greater deficiencies of the Herefords, a species of cattle quite unknown in Scotland. The higher hred stocks of the Messrs. Collings, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Rohertson, yielded little milk. Indeed, Mr. Rohertson's cows could not supply milk sufficient for their own calves, at least not in the quantity which it was desired hy him they should receive. Cows were kept for the purpose of supplying the deficiency of milk of the high-hred cows. But this deficiency of milk did not altogether proceed from the circumstance of the cows heing of the short-horn hreed : hecause those eminent hreeders devoted their whole attention to the developement of flesh, and not at all to the developement of milk. Had the flesh heen neglected as much as the milk, and the property of giving milk as much cherished as the developement of flesh, their short-horn Coats would have heen deep milkers. As it is, the generality of shorthorn cows are not had milkers.
Source: The Farmers' Magazine Click link for the rest of the article.
Sussex Cow "Elsa"
Winner of the Champion Prize given by the Sussex Herd Book Society for the best female in the Sussex classes, and of the Gold Medal presented by Her Majesty the Queen for the best animal in the Sussex classes, at the Jubilee Show of the Royal Agricultural Siicicty of England, Windsor, 1889. Bred and exhibited by Mr. W. B. Waterlow, of High Trees, Redhill, Surrey.
Source: The Complete Grazier and Farmers' and Cattle=Breeders Assistant Click link for the entire book.
Ayrshire Cow
The Ayrshire cow, removed to England, is said not to maintain her dairy qualities at the best; there is tendency to flesh. The American-bred Jersey shows more horn, larger bone, and a less deer-like form than the Jersey-born.
The Ayrshire is exceptionally hardy. Though you may not expect to freeze her blood in the yard, and at the succeeding thaw find her milk flow unimpaired, her coat sleek, and her back straight, yet she will be as profitable with those who expect all this from a cow as any other.
Source: The Dairy Cow Click link for the entire book.
Jersey Cow
Though it is rapidly being proved that cows of the Jersey and Guernsey breeds rank as first-rate for richness of milk and cream, for quantity and high quality of butter, for easy keeping qualities and for delicacy of meat, there yet seemed a want of a work which proves all these excellent qualities to be possessed by these breeds, and, by bringing them more prominently into notice, to advance the interests of the agricultural community, particularly that portion of it residing in the vicinity of large cities and towns; though by the constantly increasing advantages offered by most of the railways distant portions of the country are brought more nearly and advantageously together.
Source: The Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey Cow Click the link for the entire book.
Short Horned Cows
Source: The Farmers' Magazine Click link for the rest of the article.
Sussex Cow "Elsa"
Source: The Complete Grazier and Farmers' and Cattle=Breeders Assistant Click link for the entire book.
Ayrshire Cow
The Ayrshire is exceptionally hardy. Though you may not expect to freeze her blood in the yard, and at the succeeding thaw find her milk flow unimpaired, her coat sleek, and her back straight, yet she will be as profitable with those who expect all this from a cow as any other.
Source: The Dairy Cow Click link for the entire book.
Jersey Cow
Source: The Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey Cow Click the link for the entire book.
Monday, July 21, 2014
The turpentine and tar business.
One of my most visited posts is on the making of turpentine. So I thought I'd add a few more tidbits about this industry.
The turpentine and tar business.
The making of turpentine and tar is the almost sole business of the thinly settled population of the pine lands. They are generally poor and indolent; yet this business allords good profits even at the present low prices, and enormous profits were made when naval stores were tuore than double their present prices. Turpentine now sells at 81.80 the barrel at Wilmington, and it has sold for upwards of $4. Mr. Lazarus told me that he had paid to a poor white man, who worked singly and unassisted in making turpentine, 81000 lbr the fruits of his labor of one year. It is understood that a good hand can attend to 9000 trees, and can secure 200 barrels of turpentine in a year.
In commencing the operation on trees untouched, a receptacle (or “box”) is cut by the axe on one side of the tree, and about six inches above the ground, which is large enough to hold a quart of the fluid turpentine which exudes from the cut sap-wood, and which flows into this hollow from the upper part and sides. The flowing of the sap begins of course in the spring. At the end of a few days, (according to the time and state of the season,) the laborer visits all his trees, collects turpentine and puts it in barrels. He then cuts from each side of the tree a shallow groove, inclining downward to the box, through the bark and a little into the wood. Into these new cuts the turpentine exudes, and flows down them into the box. The tool by which this operation is performed is called a “shave.” It is a circular piece of iron like the eye of a weeding hoe, with the lower edge sharp, and which is attached to a shaft or handle, so as to cut its groove like a gouge, but by being pulled to, instead ol'being pushed from. the operator.
Every time the box is emptied of its turpentine, the “shaving” is extended upward, and thus gradually making the tree bare of bark and ofthe outer surface of the sap-wood as high sscan be conveniently reached, or 15 feet and upwards.' This shaving rises about two feet in a year, and thus it takes about seven years to finish one side of a tree. The side edges of the bored surface are carefully kept perpendicular and straight, and not quite to embrace the balt'ofthe trunk of the tree. Next, the opposite side is “boxed,” and treated in the same way, taking care to leave a strip of an inch or two of bark on each side between the old and the newer work. Without other cause ol'decay or destruction. the trees will live and yield well until the sides or, be shaved no higher. But the spreading ot'accidental fires selgom fails to kill the tree earlier. For the entire face of the cutting being encrusted with turpentine, and the wood below being converted to solid lightwood, no trees can be more inflammable ; and the fire burns so deeply in, as to kill the strips of living bark by heat, or to weaken the trunk so much that it yields to, and is prostrated by, the next storm. The trees, or parts that escape being burnt, are finally cut up into billets, and the tar extracted from them, by burning them slowly in a close kiln, made by covering the lightwood with earth in the mode well known in every pine country.
It is only the turpentine that retains its fluidity, and is collected in the box, that is considered firstrate. The part that sticks to and hardens above has lost its most valuable part, the oil or spirits of turpentine,) by evaporation, an when scraped off, which is the last part ofthe process, is sold at half the price of the fluid turpentine. Of course the expense of land-carriage is a suificient bar to the production of so heavy and low-priced products, where the distance is considerable.
The turpentine getters are careful every spring to rake away the leaves from the foot of every tree, and to burn the collected trash when it can be done slowly and stately. But they cannot always command the progress of the fires; and from that, or other less carelhlly made fires, great havock is olien mode among the boxed trees.
Where vicinity to market, or cheapness of carriage, permits this business to be in full operation, it cannot last long, as the long leaf pines will be destroyed and will not be renewed. The other kinds of pines are not worth working for this purpose.
Source: The Farmers' Register ©1840
The turpentine and tar business.
The making of turpentine and tar is the almost sole business of the thinly settled population of the pine lands. They are generally poor and indolent; yet this business allords good profits even at the present low prices, and enormous profits were made when naval stores were tuore than double their present prices. Turpentine now sells at 81.80 the barrel at Wilmington, and it has sold for upwards of $4. Mr. Lazarus told me that he had paid to a poor white man, who worked singly and unassisted in making turpentine, 81000 lbr the fruits of his labor of one year. It is understood that a good hand can attend to 9000 trees, and can secure 200 barrels of turpentine in a year.
In commencing the operation on trees untouched, a receptacle (or “box”) is cut by the axe on one side of the tree, and about six inches above the ground, which is large enough to hold a quart of the fluid turpentine which exudes from the cut sap-wood, and which flows into this hollow from the upper part and sides. The flowing of the sap begins of course in the spring. At the end of a few days, (according to the time and state of the season,) the laborer visits all his trees, collects turpentine and puts it in barrels. He then cuts from each side of the tree a shallow groove, inclining downward to the box, through the bark and a little into the wood. Into these new cuts the turpentine exudes, and flows down them into the box. The tool by which this operation is performed is called a “shave.” It is a circular piece of iron like the eye of a weeding hoe, with the lower edge sharp, and which is attached to a shaft or handle, so as to cut its groove like a gouge, but by being pulled to, instead ol'being pushed from. the operator.
Every time the box is emptied of its turpentine, the “shaving” is extended upward, and thus gradually making the tree bare of bark and ofthe outer surface of the sap-wood as high sscan be conveniently reached, or 15 feet and upwards.' This shaving rises about two feet in a year, and thus it takes about seven years to finish one side of a tree. The side edges of the bored surface are carefully kept perpendicular and straight, and not quite to embrace the balt'ofthe trunk of the tree. Next, the opposite side is “boxed,” and treated in the same way, taking care to leave a strip of an inch or two of bark on each side between the old and the newer work. Without other cause ol'decay or destruction. the trees will live and yield well until the sides or, be shaved no higher. But the spreading ot'accidental fires selgom fails to kill the tree earlier. For the entire face of the cutting being encrusted with turpentine, and the wood below being converted to solid lightwood, no trees can be more inflammable ; and the fire burns so deeply in, as to kill the strips of living bark by heat, or to weaken the trunk so much that it yields to, and is prostrated by, the next storm. The trees, or parts that escape being burnt, are finally cut up into billets, and the tar extracted from them, by burning them slowly in a close kiln, made by covering the lightwood with earth in the mode well known in every pine country.
It is only the turpentine that retains its fluidity, and is collected in the box, that is considered firstrate. The part that sticks to and hardens above has lost its most valuable part, the oil or spirits of turpentine,) by evaporation, an when scraped off, which is the last part ofthe process, is sold at half the price of the fluid turpentine. Of course the expense of land-carriage is a suificient bar to the production of so heavy and low-priced products, where the distance is considerable.
The turpentine getters are careful every spring to rake away the leaves from the foot of every tree, and to burn the collected trash when it can be done slowly and stately. But they cannot always command the progress of the fires; and from that, or other less carelhlly made fires, great havock is olien mode among the boxed trees.
Where vicinity to market, or cheapness of carriage, permits this business to be in full operation, it cannot last long, as the long leaf pines will be destroyed and will not be renewed. The other kinds of pines are not worth working for this purpose.
Source: The Farmers' Register ©1840
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Historical Fashions Review of Posts
Hi all,
Below is a list with links of Historical Fashions from the 19th Century. I'm putting them all together in one location to help make it easier for others to search.
1832
1832 Fashion Descriptions
1834
1834 Fashions
1835
1835 Fashions
1840
1840 Ladies Fashions
1840 Ladies Fashions Part 2
1850
1850 Ladies Fashions
1855
1855 Fashions
1856
1856 Fashions
1860
1860 Fashions Part 1
1860 Fashions Part 2
1862
1862 Fashion Accessories
1862 Fashions
1863
1863 Fashions
1864
1864 Fashions
1864 Bonnets
1865
1865 Fashions
1865 Fashions Part 2
1866
1866 Part 1
1866 Part 2
1867
1867 Fashions Part 1
1867 Fashions Part 2
1868
1868 Fashions Part 1
1868 Fashions Part 2
1868 Fashions Part 3
1868 Fashions Part 4
1868 Fashions Part 5
1868 Fashions Part 6
1869
1869 Hair Combs
1869 Fashionable Hair and Headdresses
1869 Everyday Fashion
1870
1870 Winter Fashions for Men
1870 Ladies Fashions
1870 Riding Habit with Trousers for Women
1870 Gentlemen's Hats
1871
!871 Fashion Accessories
1871 Fashions
1871 Fashions Part 2
1872
1872 Fashions
1873
1873 Fashion Accessories
1874
1874 Fashions Part 1
1874 Fashions Part 2
1876
1876 Fashion Accessories
1876 Fashions
1877
1877 Ladies Hat & Bonnet Fashions
1878
1878 Ladies & Children's Fashions
1880
1880 Fashion Accessories
1880 Fashions
1881
1881 Winter Fashions
1881 Fashion Accessories
1881 Fashion Overcoats
1881 Men's Fashions
1881 Hats
1881 Ladies Fashions
1882
1882 Winter Fashions
1887
1887 Gentlemen's Hats
1890
1890 Ladies Hats
1890 Fashions
1891 & 1896
1891 & 1896 Winter Fashions
1894
Bustles & Dress Forms
1896
1896 Spring Gown Womens Fashions
Below is a list with links of Historical Fashions from the 19th Century. I'm putting them all together in one location to help make it easier for others to search.
1832
1832 Fashion Descriptions
1834
1834 Fashions
1835
1835 Fashions
1840
1840 Ladies Fashions
1840 Ladies Fashions Part 2
1850
1850 Ladies Fashions
1855
1855 Fashions
1856
1856 Fashions
1860
1860 Fashions Part 1
1860 Fashions Part 2
1862
1862 Fashion Accessories
1862 Fashions
1863
1863 Fashions
1864
1864 Fashions
1864 Bonnets
1865
1865 Fashions
1865 Fashions Part 2
1866
1866 Part 1
1866 Part 2
1867
1867 Fashions Part 1
1867 Fashions Part 2
1868
1868 Fashions Part 1
1868 Fashions Part 2
1868 Fashions Part 3
1868 Fashions Part 4
1868 Fashions Part 5
1868 Fashions Part 6
1869
1869 Hair Combs
1869 Fashionable Hair and Headdresses
1869 Everyday Fashion
1870
1870 Winter Fashions for Men
1870 Ladies Fashions
1870 Riding Habit with Trousers for Women
1870 Gentlemen's Hats
1871
!871 Fashion Accessories
1871 Fashions
1871 Fashions Part 2
1872
1872 Fashions
1873
1873 Fashion Accessories
1874
1874 Fashions Part 1
1874 Fashions Part 2
1876
1876 Fashion Accessories
1876 Fashions
1877
1877 Ladies Hat & Bonnet Fashions
1878
1878 Ladies & Children's Fashions
1880
1880 Fashion Accessories
1880 Fashions
1881
1881 Winter Fashions
1881 Fashion Accessories
1881 Fashion Overcoats
1881 Men's Fashions
1881 Hats
1881 Ladies Fashions
1882
1882 Winter Fashions
1887
1887 Gentlemen's Hats
1890
1890 Ladies Hats
1890 Fashions
1891 & 1896
1891 & 1896 Winter Fashions
1894
Bustles & Dress Forms
1896
1896 Spring Gown Womens Fashions
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