Narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Henderick Portenger, a private soldier of the late Swiss regiment de Mueron, who was wrecked on the shores of Abyssinia, in the Red Sea / by R. De May.

  • Portenger, Hendrick.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Henderick Portenger, a private soldier of the late Swiss regiment de Mueron, who was wrecked on the shores of Abyssinia, in the Red Sea / by R. De May. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    commanded by Captain Kummel, belonging to the British fleet then stationed in the Red Sea, and cruising, fortunately for us, on the coast of Abyssinia. Captain Kummel, to whom we were presented on our arrival on-board, did not, at first, know what to make of us; however, hearing that we were Germans, and could speak a little English, he questioned] us. We told him our story, and had the good fortune to convince him that we spoke the truth, upon which he made us heartily welcome, and said he was happy to deliver us from our cruel situation. He then ordered us some clothes ; for ever since we were first robbed by the savages, we had remained per¬ fectly naked, the natives themselves wearing nothing but a turban on their head, and a skin round their middle, falling to the middle of their legs. After we were dressed, he ordered us each a glass of brandy, which did us much good : he then ordered each of us a good portion of salt beef and bis¬ cuit, which we seized with avidity, and tore with our hands and teeth, and devoured like ravenous beasts rather than men, from the dreadful hunger we had so long suffered under. The captain and every one looked on with astonishment, and be¬ ing afraid we might over-eat and hurt ourselves, told us not to eat too much salt-provision, which would occasion great thirst, and that he had very little water to spare, being very short: we, therefore, refrained from the salt-meat, but could not eat sufficiently of biscuits, so,' when we were sent down to repose during the night, we took a bag full of them with us, and the whole night, instead of sleeping, we did nothing but eat. It is astonishing how our weak stomachs could contain and digest this load of nourishment, and that we did not die with overloading them, or, at least, suffer se¬ verely from it; however, it did us no harm. Early next morning the captain ordered a boat, with a lieu¬ tenant of the ship, and a lieutenant of marines, some marines, seven sailors, and St. Julien and myself, to go on shore, to fetch water; we took the liberty to represent to him that it was dangerous to send any body on shore in this country, the inhabitants being half savages and very cruel, particularly to Europeans and Christians, and told him what had happened lately on account of the conduct of the mate of our ship; we represented further, that at all events it would be better to leave us behind, as the natives seeing us come back, would suppose we came to be revenged on them for their cruel con¬ duct tous, and that therefore they would make every possible exertion to destroy whatever party might be sent to their shore, and moreover, that all the water to be got there was bad and brackish; the captain answered us, that as to the enmity of