The World of Adventure. (Cassell and Co.)—In this handsome volume,
which, by-the-way, is copiously and excellently illustrated, we find various acquaintances, more or less familiar, and some strangers, or what to us at least are strangers. One of the best. known to readers who number not less than forty years will be the story that is here entitled "A Night in the Workhouse," but which many of us remember as the " Experiences of an Amateur Casual." We do not know whether the sensation that its appear- ance in the Pall Mall Gazette produced has ever been surpassed. The loss of the ' Kent,' East Indiaman, we have, of course, and other stories of shipwreck and sundry disasters at sea. An interesting paper gives an account of some actual Crusoes. William, a Mosquito Indian, and five of the sailors of Captain Davis, a noted buccaneer, were occupants of Juan Fernandez before Alexander Selkirk was put on shore there by Captain Stradling, one of Dampier's associates. Another Crusoe was Peter Serrano, who seems to have been uncommonly badly off, having nothing but what he could pick up from the shore. He had fire, however. He lived for four years on a perfectly barren rock. A strange story is told of a marooned Dutchman. The crew that put him on shore, at the same time buried an officer. As soon as they had gone, the man dug up the coffin, tumbled the corpse out, launched the coffin as a boat, and using the lid as a paddle, overtook the ship, which was becalmed. He was pardoned. One of the most interesting of the papers is entitled "The Sufferings of Charles Jackson." Jackson belonged to the Wexford Militia, and fell into the hands of the Irish rebels of 1798. The story of what he and his fellow-prisoners went through is well worthy of attention. Here is a specimen :—" When we arrived at the fatal spot on the bridge, I and my sixteen fellow-prisoners knelt down in a row. The blood of those who had been executed on this spot (eighty-one in number) had more than stained, it streamed upon the ground about us." Out of the seventeen, all but three were piked or shot,—the three were only saved by the arrival of news that the camp at Vinegar Hill was besieged. Irish Pro- testants have not forgotten, and are not likely to forget, these things. It would take many volumes of fiction to equal the extraordinary interest of this World of Adventure.
Previous page
