The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827.Poe, Edgar Allan
General
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827.
Poe, Edgar Allan
Sea stories; Stowaways -- Fiction; Whaling ships -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
Upon getting alongside the chief evinced symptoms of extreme surprise
and delight, clapping his hands, slapping his thighs and breast, and
laughing obstreperously. His followers behind joined in his merriment,
and for some minutes the din was so excessive as to be absolutely
deafening. Quiet being at length restored, Captain Guy ordered the
boats to be hoisted up, as a necessary precaution, and gave the chief
(whose name we soon found to be _Too-wit_) to understand that we could
admit no more than twenty of his men on deck at one time. With this
arrangement he appeared perfectly satisfied, and gave some directions
to the canoes, when one of them approached, the rest remaining about
fifty yards off. Twenty of the savages now got on board, and proceeded
to ramble over every part of the deck, and scramble about among the
rigging, making themselves much at home, and examining every article
with great inquisitiveness.
It was quite evident that they had never before seen any of the white
race--from whose complexion, indeed, they appeared to recoil. They
believed the Jane to be a living creature, and seemed to be afraid of
hurting it with the points of their spears, carefully turning them up.
Our crew were much amused with the conduct of Too-wit in one instance.
The cook was splitting some wood near the galley, and, by accident,
struck his axe into the deck, making a gash of considerable depth. The
chief immediately ran up, and pushing the cook on one side rather
roughly, commenced a half whine, half howl, strongly indicative of
sympathy in what he considered the sufferings of the schooner, patting
and smoothing the gash with his hand, and washing it from a bucket of
seawater which stood by. This was a degree of ignorance for which we
were not prepared, and for my part I could not help thinking some of it
affected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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