CHAPTER IX. FOR THE EMIGRANT.
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CHAPTER IX.
FOR THE EMIGRANT.
HAVING exerted myself to prevent my countrymen injudiciously supplying the deficiencies of New Zealand, by adding to the number of her flats; I now approach my final labours in behalf of the intending emigrant, hoping he may create fertile lands out of my wastes of ink and paper, which I do most earnestly trust may prove to him, in this work, the fluid of intelligence and carrier of information.
The emigrant, having conned over page 173, satisfied as to his prospects, and determined to invest his capital, should land as free of goods, and full of cash, as his circumstances permit; to avoid expenses, which bring no profit, and entail embarrassment; I advise the month of April or May to be selected for sailing. In New Zealand, and the other colonies, the markets are glutted with English goods; you can purchase out there most articles necessary for your comfort, and even luxury, at a less cost than yours taken from England would amount to, considering the trouble, and risk of purchasing here,
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the expenses and nuisances arising from carriage, porterage, clearing the customs, freight, insurance or risk by sea, bad stowage, salt water (even when insured), and the landing; above all, carriage and warehousing in the new country--a long list of evils.
Particular books, or instruments, and machines, as wheat-mill, &c. which, with all the necessary sieves, is indispensable, and machines for winnowing and thrashing, are best procured in London; if seeds are taken out, the rarer kinds alone should be sought, properly packed, and hermetically sealed.
The outfit should consist only of clothes needed for the voyage--let females take one half to make up on board; dress will be, of course, according to the notions of the settler, to whose advantage it will be to confine those notions.
The next point is the ship, and its comforts; space and height are desiderata at sea; a moral and intelligent captain and officers should be sought for; they dispel the discomforts of voyaging, especially where young females are taken or sent; great depravities are chargeable to seamen afloat, not properly controlled and looked after. In ships you will meet with men among the crew as bad, and as practised in deception, as any errant females; and their propensities are hidden by exterior observances, not easily penetrated by those unused to the ways of the ocean. Correctness in the officers is the only corrective.
It would be an improvement to passengers if they
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could agree with the owners of their vessel, in the same manner as charters are effected, stipulating for the payment to be made, one half on embarking, and the remainder on dropping anchor in the harbour they are bound to, on the contract having been duly observed; being careful to contract for the safe landing of self and family and goods in the ship's boats. That contract should be minute, and clearly written out, and signed by the owners and captain before the money is paid; fully understanding what diet you are to expect, and inserting that in your specification.
I will briefly hint as to diet at sea:-- The inactive life which passengers generally lead on board a ship is hurtful to the body; owing to the difference in the air, to its extreme purity, what is commonly termed its bracing qualities, that inactivity is not followed by the same bad effects which would result on shore from a similar neglect of exercise. The air we breathe is also, in small quantities, imbibed into the stomach, pregnant with salutary or other influences, according to its state of purity. At sea, the air renovates; acting, at times, adversely, on irritable temperaments, as the effect of vinous or other stimulants on the stomach of a child unaccustomed to their use. When, in pure air, we are not able to take our accustomed exercise, we should endeavour to adapt our diet, so as not to induce that state of body requiring much exercise in aid of the function of
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digestion. Sea air disposes to scurvy, requiring impure or salt provisions to develope that disease; the tendency increasing in an equal ratio with the impurity of the articles of diet. When the meat is sound, and recently salted; when any other food, used at the same time, is free from mould, or taint of any kind, it is possible, in a well aired ship, free from continued damp, to remain afloat for a long period, without producing bad effects; hence we perceive a general necessity of consuming at sea provisions of a sound, good quality, and not aged; further, we may observe the need, in every way possible, of substituting artificial exercise, and of being cautious not to overload digestion.
Immoderate use of spirituous, and fermented drinks, will be likely to land a person in bad health; most probably produce the germs of disease, under which his frame will wither to the grave.
The first inconvenience you experience on embarking, is occasioned by the confined space assigned to you, which you will do well to guard against, in the selection of your ship, and stowage of your chests and packages. I always recommend that a narrow space should be left between the ship's side and the berth, where a berth is used to sleep in, instead of a cot; to many greatly preferable. The boards on which your mattress is laid, should be adjusted as to admit of being removed; also at the sides, the top boards should slide, so as to be elevated
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when needed, to guard you against excessive rolling of the vessel. Your packages should be well and strongly cleeted, in such positions as that they do not crowd you, while they are easy of access; all packages not needed to be referred to during the voyage, should be passed to the mate, for stowage in the-hold; pointing out to him the most perishable. It is as well, to keep your things free from wet, to have them raised a little off the deck, so that you may avoid having your things wetted on any accidental sloppings, or entrance of water in your cabin. A small tarpaulin, suspended by three hooks to the deck, above your berth, with its ends fastened to the four uprights of your berth-place, inclining downwards from its centre, as a roof, would save your bed-clothing being damped by any accidental leakage in the deck. In attending on the sick at sea, I have often been embarrassed in my treatment by a damp state of the bed-clothing.
The less glass and crockeryware used in the cabin, the better; articles of metal are to be preferred.
The discomfort which, next waits upon you, is the sea-sickness; the method the ocean adopts with those taking their first sail to search the stomach; until you have cleared her customs, you are miserable. You must always strive against it as much as possible; sleeping in the air when you are able, and the weather permits. When the vomiting is excessive, and you feel weakened, repair to your berth, lie on your right
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side, and covering your eyes, remain quiet. While the least movement continues the vomiting, you should stay there; but against mere nausea you should manfully contend. You must by no means refrain from food, yet avoid to overload the stomach; the stomach, indisposed to all food, should not be allowed to remain more than the first twelve hours without it; nourishment should then be taken, even if it returns; the regular action of the system is on no account to be neglected; vinegar and cologne applied moderately to the temples and lips relieve faintness, especially the former. Brandy and porter judiciously given will also restore the system; green tea, strong coffee, salt meats, butter, cheese, pies and puddings, are best avoided; farinaceous foods cooked as solids, and liquids, with a slight admixture of sugar, egg, and brandy, should be substituted. If after much vomiting the stomach craves for any one particular thing, it may be taken.
The nostrums used are all of no avail--do more harm than good. I have not myself tried the remedy proposed so publicly by the late Mr. Mathews (comedian), that of attaching a mass of pork-fat to a long string, by means of which, the patient is enabled to fathom the troubled deeps within him. I would, however, recommend any one inclining to its use, to apply to one of the crew, who will be ready enough to assist in such a case with a humane alacrity.
Salt meat, excepting bacon, at breakfast, is also in
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my opinion objectionable; the food containing the largest quantum of nourishment in the smallest bulk is to be preferred;---potatoes, rice, arrow-root, are necessary diet; eggs, packed in oil, orange-marmalade milk, recently preserved, in small tins; biscuits, also in small tins; sago, or tapioca, and chocolate-paste; should be taken with families as private stores: the use of marmalade, especially where there are children, is extremely salutary, and butter the reverse. Much wheaten flower in the diet, I deem bad for the younger ones. It is not safe for families at sea to be without castor oil.
The occasional use of lime-juice when salt provisions are consumed, is beneficial and not to be omitted; and I recommend cider if it can be conveniently stowed. Half a pint per diem will do good; and to children it may be occasionally given mixed with water. You will of course assure yourself as to what may be put on board for ship's stock; supplying, for your own use of the above, such as are not likely to be furnished by the ship. I need not enjoin frequent ablutions, but I may the frequent airing of your bedding, and removing soiled linen from your cabin.
The next discomfort will be the state of the water; prefer ships having iron tanks. If you have a family, take with you a filter, and be anxious as to the number of filters for the ship's use. Keep in your cabin a keg of a size to hold water for your wants; frequently scalding it on the voyage.
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Water is the frequent cause of diarrhoea and dysentery, the latter often fatal to children at sea. When the water is tainted, let it be boiled before you, or at least before children drink it.
After crossing the line, and steering to the southward, you may expect a decrease of temperature, accompanied perhaps with rain; mind the decrease be not very rapid upon you before you clothe with flannel, particularly children; and if you can, next the skin.
Prefer calico to linen next the skin for sea stock. Clothes in the Colony are as at home, except that you should provide, what at home would be, an excess of summer apparel.
Oil is to be preferred to tallow, wax to both, to give light in your cabin. Early hours essential. There is a general tendency to irritability in voyagers. The monotony, confined space, and sea-air, all tend to this; if you do not keep a guard upon yourself, a trifle blazes into contention and strife, and your comforts may be utterly destroyed. At once check improprieties in others, by quietly calling the captain's attentions to them. All officers should have a deference paid to them. You must make up your mind to many discomforts; and the less you grumble, the less the evil. Having satisfied yourself about the ship's and the officers' qualities, never apprehend danger until they, or rather the captain, tells you of it, avoiding to put troublesome questions at a time when attention may
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be required by their duties. There are more dangers of sea made than met with, comparing casualties with the numbers afloat; persons new to the sea, when they are surrounded with "the blue above and the blue below," should trust to Providence.
If he possess opportunities, the settler should take out letters, requesting for him disinterested advice. On landing, let him either seek to hire rooms, or for a day or two lodge bis family at an inn; being careful to keep the weather-eye open, as now he will be surrounded by squalls, particularly if carrying too much sail on the purse; his means should not appear; if he has references, and can depend on those who may have given them to him, let him not credit any tales they do not confirm. As it may be possible to detain his family on board until he has found rooms, which he can hire per week, that plan would be the best; if not, seek an inn; in any case, let him be careful to have written contracts for the supplies and accommodation to be furnished to him, and the amount he is to pay for them, before he ventures to sit down.
Having lodged his family, let him inquire the news of the place, reflecting well on what he hears; then seek his location, and that not too hastily. When determined, if natives are in his neighbourhood, let him contract with them through the medium of an old resident, to construct securely fences and buildings, by piece-work, for lodging his family, goods, tools, and
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stock; making the buildings as small as he can possibly away with, on account of the expense; he will then return to his family, and proceed to buy his provisions, stock, seed, and implements; the quantity to be regulated by the price, facilities of conveyance, and proximity to a settlement. He must contract for the conveyance; and all proceed in company with the goods to his location, not forgetting to carry with him tobacco and pipes for the natives. Then to work; and may speedy profits attend upon his spade!
It would be a great desideratum for settlers to emigrate together to locations, in numbers of not less than six families; they could purchase a location more cheaply together; have the purchase surveyed and laid out, so that their residences might be fixed within easy distances of one another. The additional expense might be £5: this should be ascertained. They would not need to proceed with joint-stock operations, but might, the land divided, go on with each his own speculation. They would preserve to themselves the comforts of society, not being too near, so as to be exposed to contentions about trifles. They would feel less of the change from home to the wilderness, and could act in concert when evil might be threatened, as did the first and more recent settlers in America; nor would they be obliged to consort with those whose ways and principles they might object to. A concerted scheme would diminish many expenses, perhaps save many miseries.
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Settlers frequently fail from having too many irons in the fire, or useless expenses, or impatience, clutching immediately at the products of time. If a small capitalist, at the end of five years, is able to clothe and feed his family, has kept out of debt at the onset, and at the end of that period calls everything around him his own, he may then begin to lay by, steadily keeping on one course, avoiding companies which are generally speculations of a gambling nature. Confining himself to the increase of his cultivations and stock, or of his trade and its stock; without looking to direct companies for facilitating communications with the moon, hunting whales on icebergs, or building bridges across to South America. Let him avoid land-jobbing as he would the grog-shop; or the ways of that Shade whose presence he fears not, but whose principles he abhors.-- Vale!
J. BRIGHT.
