The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 2.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

[345]

Notes

Note 1, page 11. The celebrated Captain Smith, after resigning the government of the Colony in Virginia, in his capacity of ‘Admiral of New England,’ made a careful survey of the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, in the summer of 1614.

Note 2, page 12. Captain Smith gave to the promontory, now called Cape Ann, the name of Tragabizanda, in memory of his young and beautiful mistress of that name, who, while he was a captive at Constantinople, like Desdemona, ‘loved him for the dangers he had passed.’

Note 3, page 142. The African Chief was the title of a poem by Mrs. Sarah Wentworth Morton, wife of the Hon. Perez Morton, a former attorney-general of Massachusetts. Mrs. Morton's nom de plume was Philenia. The school book in which The African Chief was printed was Caleb Bingham's The American Preceptor, and the poem contained fifteen– stanzas, of which the first four were as follows:--

“See how the black ship cleaves the main
     High-bounding o'er the violet wave,
Remurmuring with the groans of pain,
     Deep freighted with the princely slave.

Did all the gods of Afric sleep,
     Forgetful of their guardian love,
When the white traitors of the deep
     Betrayed him in the palmy grove?

A chief of Gambia's golden shore,
     Whose arm the band of warriors led,
Perhaps the lord of boundless power,
     By whom the foodless poor were fed.

Does not the voice of reason cry,
     “Claim the first right which nature gave; From the red scourge of bondage fly,
     Nor deign to live a burdened slave?
” “

[346] Note 4, page 145. Chalkley's own narrative of this incident, as given in his Journal, is as follows: ‘To stop their murmuring, I told them they should not need to cast lots, which was usual in such cases, which of us should die first, for I would freely offer up my life to do them good. One said, “God bless you! I will not eat any of you.” Another said, “ He would die before he would eat any of me;” and so said several. I can truly say, on that occasion, at that time, my life was not dear to me, and that I was serious and ingenuous in my proposition: and as I was leaning over the side of the vessel, thoughtfully considering my proposal to the company, and looking in my mind to Him that made me, a very large dolphin came up towards the top or surface of the water, and looked me in the face; and I called the people to put a hook into the sea, and take him, for here is one come to redeem me (I said to them). And they put a hook into the sea, and the fish readily took it, and they caught him. He was longer than myself. I think he was about six feet long, and the largest that ever I saw. This plainly showed us that we ought not to distrust the providence of the Almighty. The people were quieted by this act of Providence, and murmured no more. We caught enough to eat plentifully of, till we got into the capes of Delaware.’

Note 5, page 153. An interesting account of Lady Hester Stanhope may be found in Kinglake's Eothen, chapter VIII.

Note 6, page 255. ‘Too late I loved Thee, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! And lo! Thou wert within, and I abroad searching for thee. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee.’—August. Soliloq., Book X.

Note 7, page 255. ‘And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death: but an infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness: And in that I saw the infinite Love of God.’—George Fox's Journal.

Note 8, page 256. The story of the origin of this name, El alma perdida is thus related by Lieut. Herndon. ‘An Indian and his wife went out from the village to work their chacra, carrying their infant with them. The woman went to the spring to get water, leaving the man in charge of the child, with many cautions to take good care of it. When she arrived at the spring, she found it dried up, and went [347] further to look for another. The husband, alarmed at her long absence, left the child and went in search. When they returned the child was gone; and to their repeated cries, as they wandered through the woods in search, they could get no response save the wailing cry of this little bird heard for the first time, whose notes their anxious and excited imagination syllabled intopa-pa, ma-ma, (the present Quichua name of the bird). I suppose the Spaniards heard this story, and with that religious poetic turn of thought which seems peculiar to this people, called the bird “The lost soul.” ’—Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon made under direction of the Navy Department. By William Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon, Part I. p. 156.