Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat. Edmund Roberts

I am about to undertake another voyage to exchange the ratifications of the treaties alluded to in the Embassy, to form others in places not yet visited, and to extend, if possible, our commerce on advantageous terms, still farther east than India or Cochin-China, I beg my readers will consider the present volume as a prelude to much further and varied information to be derived under more favourable auspices—more intimate knowledge of eastern forms—and that caution which should ever be the child of experience.

      In concluding my introductory remarks, I would freely acknowledge my obligation to the works of those authors who have preceded me in visiting the nations to which the Embassy was directed. I deemed it important that no useful information, from whatever source derived, should be withheld from my countrymen. Wherever ocular or audible demonstration could be had, I have recorded the facts as they were presented, in the most simple and unadorned manner; I had not in view the flights of rhetorical composition, but the detail of useful intelligence.

      My country claimed at my hands, the faithful fulfilment of arduous and responsible duties. If, in the information furnished in the Embassy, her requirements have been accomplished, my ambition is satisfied.

      E. R.

CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      SAILING FROM BOSTON—ARRIVAL AT ST. JAGO—DESCRIPTION—EXPORTS—GREAT DROUGHT—FOGO—FORTIFICATIONS—SAILING FOR BRAZIL—DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST—HARBOUR OF RIO AND DISTANT VIEWS—THE CITY—PUBLIC GARDEN—BOTO FOGO—BOTANIC GARDEN—POPULATION—PUBLIC BUILDINGS—SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

      The Executive having, in the year 1832, resolved on an attempt to place our commercial relations, with some of the native powers of Asia, on a sure and advantageous basis, orders were issued to prepare the United States’ ship Peacock, and the schooner Boxer, for that special object.

      The commanders of these vessels were required to visit certain ports on the southeastern coast of Asia, and to make a general report on the condition of our commerce, in relation to its security from piratical, or other hostile acts in the Indian seas. I was honoured by the President of the United States with the station of special agent or envoy to the courts of Cochin China, Siam, and Muscat, for the purpose of effecting treaties which should place our commerce in those countries on an equality with that enjoyed by the most favoured nations.

      The Boxer, having orders to proceed on a voyage to Liberia and from thence to join the Peacock off the coast of Brazil, left Boston harbour about the middle of February, 1832; and on the following March we sailed from the same port, in the latter-named vessel, for Rio Janeiro; having on board F. Baylies, Esq., whom we were carrying to that place on his way to Buenos Ayres, to which Republic he had received the appointment of chargé d’affaires from the government of the United States. No circumstance, worthy of record, occurred until the eighth day of April, when at daybreak we discovered the isle of Sal, one of the Cape de Verds, and ere evening closed, St. Nicholas and Bonavista appeared in sight. We lay to on that night under the lee of Mayo and on the following morning cast anchor in the roadstead of Porto Prayo, in the island of St. Jago.

      The customary salute of thirteen guns, given to the town, was immediately returned with a corresponding number. Of the weather, considering the season, we had no reason to complain. The thermometer ranged between 40° and 72°, rarely exceeding the one or falling below the other; the lowest point, when we passed St. George’s Bank, being 37°, and the highest, at the time the northeast tradewind first met us, being 71°, in latitude 19°, and longitude 26°. The barometer ranged from 29°, 97′, to 30°, 45′.

      The most perfect order and regularity prevailed on board the ship, in every department of duty; each individual having his duties so defined as to prevent confusion among the crew, should any of the seamen be called suddenly to quarters, or to make, take in, or reef sails. Among the acquisitions most useful and instructive, were an excellent library, presented by the government to the officers, and a second selection of books, purchased by the officers and crew, jointly. It was a gratifying sight to behold men who might, otherwise, have been occupied in relating idle stories, singing immoral songs, quarrelling, or creating a mutinous spirit among their fellows, drawing useful information from the great sources of knowledge, and extracting from the page of history, at the same time, a fund of information and a code of morals.

      The Cape de Verd islands belong to the kingdom of Portugal, and are ten in number. They were discovered by Noel, in the year 1440, and contain a population, as follows: Sal, four hundred; Mayo, two thousand five hundred; St. Vincent, three hundred and fifty-six; St. Nicholas, five thousand; St. Jago, thirty thousand; Fogo, ten thousand; St. Antonio, twenty-four thousand; Brava, eight thousand; Bonavista, four thousand; St. Lucia, uninhabited; total, eighty-four thousand.

      CAPE DE VERDS—EXPORTS.

      Among the principal articles of export from the abovementioned islands is orchilla, a species of lichen. It is used for dying any shade of purple or crimson, and is superior to the same kind of moss found in Italy or the Canaries. This vegetable product glitters, as a sparkling gem, in the royal diadem of Portugal, having been monopolized by the crown, to which it yields an annual revenue of $200,000. The right of purchase claimed by the crown, allows only five cents per pound. Were it not for this unjust monopoly, orchilla would readily sell at twenty-five cents the pound. It is exported to Lisbon, and there sold, by the agents of the royal trader, to foreign merchants, who re-export it to their respective countries. Salt is produced at these islands, in large quantities, and furnishes a considerable article of export for the United States’ markets; being used for the salting of beef, butter, &c. Heavy cargoes of it are exported, principally by Americans, to Rio Grande and La Plata, for the curing of jerked or dried beef, which finds a ready sale in the market of Havana. It is also purchased by American sealers to salt the skins. In the list of fruits on this cluster of islands, the red and black grape are conspicuous. They furnish, converted into wine, a considerable article of internal commerce. St. Antonio alone, says Mr. Masters, of Sal, produces, annually, from fifteen hundred to two thousand pipes of wine. Owing to the ignorance of the inhabitants in the process of fermentation, it is of ordinary quality, generally unfit for transportation, and may be purchased at the rate of ten or twelve dollars per pipe.

      If there be truth in the often-repeated assertion, that volcanic countries produce the best wines, Fogo will export, at a future day, a very superior article. Since the year 1827, coffee, nearly equal in flavour to that of Mocha, has been cultivated with success. Previously to that period, the crown had laid an almost prohibitory duty on the importation of this article from its empoverished islanders, in order to encourage the agricultural produce of its more extensive southern possessions, in the vast territory of Brazil. Every planter, now, looks on his plantation as a source of increasing profit, and within five or six years, coffee will become the leading article of commerce from the Cape de Verd islands. It now realizes ten cents per pound. The remaining articles for export, are hides, skins, goats, and asses.

      We found the inhabitants, on several of these islands, suffering extreme distress from a want of provisions, occasioned by a failure in the periodical rains, for two successive years. At Fogo, many died from starvation. The inhabitants of this island have, long since, annually exported ten or twelve small cargoes of corn to Madeira, and in this, their day of suffering, the inhabitants of that sister-island received them by hundreds with every mark of kindness and attention. Some small relief was likewise administered from the Peacock.

      The whole appearance of the Cape de Verds, in consequence of this long-continued drought, was exceedingly arid; the grass assumed a dark brown colour, similar to that which may be seen on our western prairies, when a fire has passed over them. Nothing green was visible in the vicinity of Porto Praya, save in the deep valleys, lying on the outskirts of the town, where some moisture yet remained, and where water was obtained for the suffering population.

      PORTO PRAYA—FOGO.

      The town of Porto Praya, is situated on an eminence of considerable height, and may be approached, in front of the harbour, by two roads; the one being