YULETIDE MISCELLANY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 18 (Supplement)

YULETIDE MISCELLANY

'THIS land that he had called Van Diemeh's he

had been forced away from by contrary winds. Was it island, was it part of the Australian continent? ; Who knew?, At that very moment he saw land.. It was near noon. Above him the clouds ran into wrinkles like the skin on cream when the skimmer runs a finger round the crock. It would be.'pleasant to. get fair weather. But what a coastline! The hills, blunt-headed, mastodonic, - glowered back at him, and their bared tusks running at the water seemed to dare him to advance: There ran through the ship a thrill, like a sigh exhaled. Even the cook left his pipkins and came out into the air. Land! There was the smell of it. the aromatic smell of fern in midsummer and their noses saluted it. What if it was a land o£ spices and nutmegs and cloves! They had had enough trouble, lately, thought Tasman. hii-i eyes' sombre at. the memory of. the Imperial rescript which had commanded the destruction of their great factory! How slowly they had cqinplied, but those Orientals had been implacable. They had even, in their, heavy-lidded way, spoken of; the Dutch as .living like "frogs in a well}" Frogs,,: in a well! They would see! His eyes grew brilliant and his lips thinned. Visscher drew up

at one side of him and>the Captain, Ide Tjercxszoon, on the other. "Land-fall', eh?" said Visscher, soft and guttural in his ear.

"It stands tall!" said Ide, with a seaman's easyaccess to i wonder. "Yes! And a top-gallant gale! We must go warily." "We need to turn south-east," said Visscher, eyeing the high, averted jhoulder of the land. The south-south-westerly blew upon them as they turned and in the afternoon the officers of the Zeehaen ,carae. aboard the Heemskerck . and the men on the fiuit were as strongly excited as the men on the jag't. , "It means fresh water and perhaps fruit," Said one of the officers from the Zeehaen. "Yes! God save us from the scurvy!" said another and the word stank in their very nostrils. "If the land is inhabited, the natives will see your white flag," said Gerrit Janszoon to Tasman. "But will they know the meaning of it?" "They may be rendered hostile by the gun," said Ide. They held a council and decided .to land where they could. ■ T ATER Tasman looked at the log. "Latitude • observed ' 42deg lOmin, Longitude 188deg 28min." Would those be lucky figures? Would he be able to say casually to Van Diemen: "We found that land?" He met Ide like a man to whom discovery is all in the day's work. . "I wonder if we will found a factory here," he said, thinking of the value Europe set on condiments. "Damned if I want to find anything but water," growled Ide. "I could do with a good fresh swill." . . "Not even gold!" said Tasman slyly, Ide looked at him sidelong. They came of a silent race and neither opened out much; but into Ides mind there came a .story he had heard that Tasman's second wife, Jannetjie Tjaers, the daughter of the powder-maker, had, when sick* made her will and mentioned v neither him nor his daughter. But perhaps she felt he might not return and blood is thicker than water. There could not' have been much in it for he took her with him on his next voyage—by the complaisance of the Dutch East India Company.

Seeing him silent, Tasman said seriously: "A ship sails on its gullet. We could do with water." And again the words evoked strange thoughts in Ide. for one of Tasman's crews had rebelled, accusing him of stinting their rations. Still, Ides

ABEL JANSZOON TASMAN looked across the ocean-floor with a light twitch of his bold nostril and asked himself, as another was to ask him later—was he

on a fool's errand? The Japanese said there was a rich land to the east, but did they know, or was it just one of their legends? Visscher lamented that the Council of Seventeen had not taken his plan, but, after all, they were business men, and caution was in these times a virtue. Pool's expedition in '36 had brought home only sick ships and sick men.

Those fellows, those brawny giants, had killed good sailors.

It was an irritant. But even had he landed he did not feel that he could have used with success the subtle diplomacy which had trans-

broad, shoulders shrugged imperceptibly, he was exonerated and Van Diemen was a shrewd Governor. Even seamen knew how Dutch power had increased under Coen; Van Diemen was continuing his policy and Tasman was his choice. He turned to a grievance of his own. "That cabinboy, Hans, needs the rope-end," he said. "Hans? He seems a good boy, but tonguetied." said Tasman. "He's too fond of the cat-gut," .said the captain gloomily. "A bit of music, good, yes, but songs too frequent, no! And strange music, not songs that keep- the men bright. I myself, I like songs— so they are not so sad. When he plays it is always a black thing to bring tears. Life is hard enough in mid-ocean when we don't even know where we're going without his howling."

rpASMAN remembered suddenly his first wife, Claesjie Heyndricks, and the daughter she had left hini. Song, he. reflected, did too much to a sailor. He thought of his home in Tarkettle Lane in Amsterdam and then less lingeringly of Palm Street. As he grew older, sentiment swayed him less and now at thirty-nine his mind had hardened with his thews. His heroes, the Beggars

of the Sea, those Dutch daredevils, were,not likely to weaken at a song. > > "Why did he come to, sea at all?" he said. "The ocean's not the village for a clog-dance." "Anyway," said Ide grimly, "homesickness is neatly as bad as.scurvy and I've taken away his fiddle. It's in my own locker under key." Tasman dismissed it from his mind, having other things to think of for they were forging ahead in favourable weather. Later he was leaning on the rail and Ide pointed out the errant lad. He was standing with his pail empty after coming from the cabin. A shower passed over .and the drops hissed as they struck the sea. The boy leant forward and there was such a curious look on his face that the Commander crossed to him. "What are you watching?" he said sharply. In the youth's pale eyes there was no fear. "The rain on the sea," he said simply. "Of all the slack loafers! You are not paid to moon!" ' "Salt water doesn't like fresh!" said the boy, and Tasman thought that Visscher's impatience with the landsmen who had balked his plans had something of the contempt.of the brine. "I'm for landing as soon as possible," he said to Visscher, "but I've learned to hold back. The English go at things bull-headed." "England's got her hands full at present," said Visscher with some satisfaction. "Enough to keep her out of our way. Heaven gives nuts to those who have no teeth." "They have teeth enough," said Tasman rather glumly. . ■ ■ Afterwards, as he lay in his bunk, he wondered, not miserably, but calmly, could the disaster have been averted. So they had brandished not blandished. With natives, who could tell? But in the chill of brain that accompanies reaction, he thought that perhaps he might take home, not a continent, that Khans might envy, not gold or ivory or furs, but a death-roll of simple men, who had died for what?. Aye, for what? He had not had much time for introspection in his life so far and he put the Question away as resolutely as Ide had lockered the fiddle, but he felt it there, shelved not expelled.

muted the rage of the Sultan of Palembangl The only logic for such savages was the cannonade.

He dalled the Bay Moordenaars in his mind because of the massacre that had prevented his landing. Ah, well, if he had escaped censure when the Portuguese junk got by him, he was not likely to be blamed for lack of judgment here. Ides sole - comment was: "And I did think we'd have got fresh water." Tasman had nothing to answer. They had need of it certainly, but men were men and he would not hasten to lose more.' It was Visscher who told him of the ghost. "There's an odd sound, like someone blubbering or squealing round the ship in the early hours. You know i what sailors are. They say it is the ghost of'one of the men who were killed by the natives in Massacre Bay." Tasman thought *of the lockered fiddle, but Visscher said the boy was asleep in his bunk at the time; he himself had seen him. He found later that it was all over the jagt like wildfire and Ide was. plainly troubled. A haunted ship was no joke, he muttered, with —and he reverted to his need—not' enough fresh water. Tasman, himself, felt his nerves taut as the tension on the vessel tightened. One sailor said he had seen St. Elmo's fire round a figure at the masthead in the dead of night. Tasman and his pilot-major, Visscher, had no faith in the visitant. Visscher, in fact, scoffed openly at the notion. "The dead," he grinned, "don't get loose." But Ide was still gloomy. "I don't like your Statenland. It's uncanny." "I may have miscalled it," said Tasman thoughtfully. "The other Statenland by the Horn may be not joined to it at all. That big bay we found —I have a feeling in my bones it may be a strait. That south-east current makes me wonder."

AND to Visscher, who knew more about it, whose plans for his expedition had been;' greater than the itinerary they had followed, he spoke yet more plainly. "The Governor will

say we have not succeeded much better than Le Maire or Quasi."

"Their fault for not giving me my head," growled Visscher. "If we'd followed instructions accurately we'd not have found Van Diemen's Land."

"We are leaving his name in the Pacific, anyway," thought Tasman, chafing a little at inaction, but he wanted to find a good landing place and to avoid a repetition of the disaster at Moordenaars Bay. Three days after Christmas they passed on the west coast a great lonely mountain, solitary and superb, with low-lying land about it.

Behind the mountain the sky was red and red-gold, not • a lacquered brightness like . that of bullion melted but dull and deep like that of smoke coloured by flame. Even as he watched, great mounds appeared all over it as if by the impress of a mighty mould; he had left marks like that as a child when he pressed a bowl into dug loam. Ide came up behind and watched the patterned air. "That means another blow," he said.

"Ah! 1! said Tasman on a deep breath. He thought of Luytegast, the village where he was born with its rich, grassy polders barely holding their own against the ravening sea. Let a dyke crumble and the tide was in. His little low-lying country faced the great Atlantic as David faced Goliath with only a' stone in its sling. If he could set down this mountain among the Groningen fields, it would give his land a quality that it lacked. Its eyes were always bent on the sea or the polders. The Doeseberg beside that was not even a dune. Into his clever, bold mind came the thought that the Frisian in the Dutch was like that mountain rising from the plain. Both meant adventure.

*pHROUGH his musing a voice broke: "I heard A the ghost last night." It was Visscher, half humorous, half chap-fallen. "Only in snatches because of the gale. It was like a woman at a funeral." "Ghost! Balderdash! The natives in Amboyna wailed sometimes like wind in a rigging," said Tasman, his brilliant eyes amused in his swarthy face.

"It went round in the air, but it was not wind."

"What then?" Tasman's tone was still idle.

"I don't, know," said Visscher humbly, and now Tasman was astonished: "Well, between Ide deaving me for water and you seeing spirits, it is, by Hell, a cheerful ship!" he said. Visscher turned away without a word and was silent for days, answering only when addressed.

(")NE of the Royal ghosts is that of Queen Elizabeth, who died in the old Palace of Richmond in 1603. For days she had lain therp in a stupour, and death came at 3 o'clock in the morning of March 24. It is said that a ghostly shape of the great Queen has been seen pacing the rooms of the Palace; in which she lay unconscious but still alive.

Among more plebeian London ghosts there is the one which inhabits the "Haunted House of Berkeley Square." This is No. 50 and for many years there was quite a heated discurfson as to whether it was haunted or not. It was quite a famous sight, even being included in the "Notes and Queries," and recommended to all visitors to London from the country or from abroad.

The legend originated in the sixteenth century, when the house belonged to a Mr. Dupre, of Wilton. He shut his lunatic brother in one of the attics, and the captive was so violent that he could only be fed through a hole, and he spent days screaming to be let looss. It is not known when he died, but for years his groans and cries could be heard in. the neighbouring houses.

The controversy about the house being haunted arose in the early part of the seventeenth century. One young man was very sceptical, and for a bet he went to spend a night in the attic which was said to be haunted. Before retiring he told the tenant not to take any notice if he rang once, but to come immediately if he rang twice. He thought he might be a little nervous. It was all right until midnight. Just after midnight came one faint rin« followed by a tremendous peal. They dashed up to the attic. The young man was on the floor in a fit. He died without regaining consciousness and so what he had seen or done remains unrevealed.

Another reputedly haunted house in London is the well-known seventeenth century Walpole House in Chiswick Mall, immortalised in "Vanity Fair" as Becky Sharp's school. It was here that Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, died, in 1709. She was mistress of Charles II and had five children by him. Then she was afflicted with the dropsy and swelled to a monstrous size, .and Charles deserted her.- Every night fhat there is a full moon shining in a clear sky it is/said that she can be seen at the window of the house pleading for the return of her beauty.

A DUCHESS who lived in the time of Charles II haunts the Ham House which stands near the Thames between Richmond and Kingston. The spirit is said to be that of the Duchess of Lauderdale, and it is said that often at midnight her ebony stick can be heard rapping on the floor of her former boudoir.

In the 1850's a niece of the butler of the old house was visiting her uncle, and she spent the night in the old dame's room. Just as dawn was breaking the child was awakened by a scratching noise, and she saw a little old woman scratching the wall close to the fireplace with her finger.

The child was not frightened, merely interested. She sat up in- bed to watch-the old woman. Catching sight of her, the old woman came over to the bed and stared fixedly at the child. So horrible was her stare that the child was terrified and screamed for help. The butler rushed in, and the child told what she had seen. The wall was examined where the child had seen the old woman scratching, and a secret chamber was found containing papers proving that in that > very room Elizabeth Countess of Dysart had murdered her husband to marry the Duke of Lauderdale.

qiRADITION declares that /within the stone manger there was another one of wood, and that the stone cradle in the Chapel of the Nativity is, indeed, the outer manger. Splendid is that humble stone trough now with white marblet softly rich with costly draperies, and radiant) with a silver star, which is surrounded with sixteen lamps ever a-lit. But yet more glorious is the wooden manger

(T)NE industry which England has captured from yj the Continent and in which she reigns supreme throughout the world is that of bell-cast-ing. All the best modern carillons have been cast in Britain and are now in the United States, the most notable 'being the seventy-two bell carillon in the Riverside Church at Manhattan, endowed by Rockefeller. It has the largest tuned bell, a twenty-ton bass casting, though the largest bell in the world is "Tsar Kolokol," in Russia, which weighs 440,0001b (196.4 tons), and stands 19ft high. This, however, was cracked in casting and has never been tuned. .

Bell-founding, which reached its height in the Low Countries of Europe at the end of the seventeenth century, gradually died out and was, a lost art until British bell-makers rediscovered it forty years ago. Today Birmingham, Kidderminster, Loughborough, and Ipswich are important centres of the British bell industry.

Bell-ringing in Britain differs from that on the Continent, where tunes are popular. In this coun- ; try bell-ringers attempt peals of bells that are rung in continually changing order without re-J peating themselves, and *'■. Christmas certain peal* such as Kent Treble Bob Majors' or Stedman Cinques are rung. '; ' »

"pHRISTMAS," wrote Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol," "is a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time."

Last year, as the season's spirit settled over the United States of America, incidents in scattered sections of the nation indicated, that some wert