An easy slope then leads to a subterranean temple hewn out of the solid rock, eighty feet long, and forty feet broad; the roof supported by pillars, of which there are several rows ten feet high. At the farther end are gig-antic fig-ares of the three Hindoo deities, Brahma, Vishna, and Seva, which were mutilated by the zeal of the Portuguese, when this island was in their possession. Elephanta was ceded to the English by the Mahrattas." John Peverally was a good player on the clarionet, and had an excellent one which he took with him, and the effect of these sweet notes, reverberating through these caverns, was delightful There was a large pool of exceedingly cold water, and of sweet taste.
I got into the boat from the ship without my shoes, for which act of carelessness I was well paid, by having to walk barefooted nearly two miles through briars and thorns; but notwithstanding this, we had a fine time. About the middle of May, 1818, we were ready for sea. Our crew had, in consequence of old Franjee's willingness to give them credit, run up tremendous bills; some had bought boxes of tea; others had purchased beautiful India shawls, and Canton crapes, and had lived on the luxuries of the shore, besides a plenty of wild fire. I believe that they had an impression that the bomb boat man could not recover anything from them, in consequence of his being forbidden by the captain to trust them.
But in this they were much mistaken. On the day previous to sailing, the old Parsee made out a general bill of all the items furnished to each man, and taking* his brother with him as a witness in case of an assault, went to the captain's house, and presented his bill, somewhat over a thousand rupees. The captain, on reading the amount of the bill, caught up a chair and was going to strike the fellow over the head; but he lifted his hand in defence, saving;: " No, captain I spose you strike- me, your ship no go" mi Begone, you scoundrel! How dare you bring that bill to me? Bid I not forbid you trusting my men?" " Me merchant.
Me sell anyting to anybody dat buy. You no pay me, your ship no go." This the captain soon found out, that he could not clear his ship with any debts due to natives, unpaid. There was no alternative now but to pay the bill, for which he was obliged to draw on his merchant. When he came on board, he seemed ready to burst with rage, but said nothing to the men until after we had sailed. On coming down the Coast of Malabar, one day, while at dinner, a suspicious looking craft came off from the shore; she was about two hundred tons, lateen rigged, and full of men; they were rowing with all their might, and we could see with the spy-glass that they were all armed, and nearly naked.
They seemed bound to catch us, but what they wanted we could not tell. So we cleared away two of our six pounders, and gave them a few iron pills, which soon made them alter their minds, and they went, with the Scotchman, " bock again." After we were clear of the land, the first thing to be done was to fix up the Bombay matter. Each man's account was made out, and fifty per cent charged against him for the money, and they were called to sign their accounts, which they refused to do. The clerk reported to the captain how the matter stood; this raised him again to boiling heat; he ordered the mates to take a rope's end, and begin at the first, and flos; him into the cabin.
John Ward was the sea lawyer; he recommended resistance, but the rope seemed to alter his mind. The mates were glad of an opportunity to put the licks into these fellows, especially when the responsibility devolved upon the captain. Ward went down and signed his account, and the rest followed; so that their India purchases did not turn out so cheap, after all. Our third mate G d, was a very pompous, disagreeable follow. His connexions were rich. He was a Boston boy, and had been several voyages to Europe. We messed together, but were never on very good terms. He had been well educated, and thus supposed himself superior to all around him. On Ihe outward passage, he began to domineer over me, supposing of course that as he was third mate of an Indiaman, his rank was superior to that of carpenter, although he, the boatswain and myself, lived together in the steerage.