Chapter: SKETCH SEVENTH. CHARLES'S ISLE AND THE DOG-KING. 

  --So with outragious cry,
  A thousand villeins round about him swarmed
  Out of the rocks and caves adjoining nye;
  Vile caitive wretches, ragged, rude, deformed;
  All threatning death, all in straunge manner armed;
  Some with unweldy clubs, some with long speares.
  Some rusty knives, some staves in fier warmd.

         *       *       *       *       *

  We will not be of any occupation,
  Let such vile vassals, born to base vocation,
  Drudge in the world, and for their living droyle,
  Which have no wit to live withouten toyle.


Southwest of Barrington lies Charles's Isle. And hereby hangs a history
which I gathered long ago from a shipmate learned in all the lore of
outlandish life.

During the successful revolt of the Spanish provinces from Old Spain,
there fought on behalf of Peru a certain Creole adventurer from Cuba,
who, by his bravery and good fortune, at length advanced himself to high
rank in the patriot army. The war being ended, Peru found itself like
many valorous gentlemen, free and independent enough, but with few shot
in the locker. In other words, Peru had not wherewithal to pay off its
troops. But the Creole--I forget his name--volunteered to take his pay
in lands. So they told him he might have his pick of the Enchanted
Isles, which were then, as they still remain, the nominal appanage of
Peru. The soldier straightway embarks thither, explores the group,
returns to Callao, and says he will take a deed of Charles's Isle.
Moreover, this deed must stipulate that thenceforth Charles's Isle is
not only the sole property of the Creole, but is forever free of Peru,
even as Peru of Spain. To be short, this adventurer procures himself to
be made in effect Supreme Lord of the Island, one of the princes of the
powers of the earth.[A]

[Footnote A: The American Spaniards have long been in the habit of
making presents of islands to deserving individuals. The pilot Juan
Fernandez procured a deed of the isle named after him, and for some
years resided there before Selkirk came. It is supposed, however, that
he eventually contracted the blues upon his princely property, for after
a time he returned to the main, and as report goes, became a very
garrulous barber in the city of Lima.]

He now sends forth a proclamation inviting subjects to his as yet
unpopulated kingdom. Some eighty souls, men and women, respond; and
being provided by their leader with necessaries, and tools of various
sorts, together with a few cattle and goats, take ship for the promised
land; the last arrival on board, prior to sailing, being the Creole
himself, accompanied, strange to say, by a disciplined cavalry company
of large grim dogs. These, it was observed on the passage, refusing to
consort with the emigrants, remained aristocratically grouped around
their master on the elevated quarter-deck, casting disdainful glances
forward upon the inferior rabble there; much as, from the ramparts, the
soldiers of a garrison, thrown into a conquered town, eye the inglorious
citizen-mob over which they are set to watch.

Now Charles's Isle not only resembles Barrington Isle in being much more
inhabitable than other parts of the group, but it is double the size of
Barrington, say forty or fifty miles in circuit.

Safely debarked at last, the company, under direction of their lord and
patron, forthwith proceeded to build their capital city. They make
considerable advance in the way of walls of clinkers, and lava floors,
nicely sanded with cinders. On the least barren hills they pasture
their cattle, while the goats, adventurers by nature, explore the far
inland solitudes for a scanty livelihood of lofty herbage. Meantime,
abundance of fish and tortoises supply their other wants.

The disorders incident to settling all primitive regions, in the present
case were heightened by the peculiarly untoward character of many of the
pilgrims. His Majesty was forced at last to proclaim martial law, and
actually hunted and shot with his own hand several of his rebellious
subjects, who, with most questionable intentions, had clandestinely
encamped in the interior, whence they stole by night, to prowl
barefooted on tiptoe round the precincts of the lava-palace. It is to be
remarked, however, that prior to such stern proceedings, the more
reliable men had been judiciously picked out for an infantry body-guard,
subordinate to the cavalry body-guard of dogs. But the state of politics
in this unhappy nation may be somewhat imagined, from the circumstance
that all who were not of the body-guard were downright plotters and
malignant traitors. At length the death penalty was tacitly abolished,
owing to the timely thought, that were strict sportsman's justice to be
dispensed among such subjects, ere long the Nimrod King would have
little or no remaining game to shoot. The human part of the life-guard
was now disbanded, and set to work cultivating the soil, and raising
potatoes; the regular army now solely consisting of the dog-regiment.
These, as I have heard, were of a singularly ferocious character, though
by severe training rendered docile to their master. Armed to the teeth,
the Creole now goes in state, surrounded by his canine janizaries, whose
terrific bayings prove quite as serviceable as bayonets in keeping down
the surgings of revolt.

But the census of the isle, sadly lessened by the dispensation of
justice, and not materially recruited by matrimony, began to fill his
mind with sad mistrust. Some way the population must be increased. Now,
from its possessing a little water, and its comparative pleasantness of
aspect, Charles's Isle at this period was occasionally visited by
foreign whalers. These His Majesty had always levied upon for port
charges, thereby contributing to his revenue. But now he had additional
designs. By insidious arts he, from time to time, cajoles certain
sailors to desert their ships, and enlist beneath his banner. Soon as
missed, their captains crave permission to go and hunt them up.
Whereupon His Majesty first hides them very carefully away, and then
freely permits the search. In consequence, the delinquents are never
found, and the ships retire without them.

Thus, by a two-edged policy of this crafty monarch, foreign nations were
crippled in the number of their subjects, and his own were greatly
multiplied. He particularly petted these renegado strangers. But alas
for the deep-laid schemes of ambitious princes, and alas for the vanity
of glory. As the foreign-born Pretorians, unwisely introduced into the
Roman state, and still more unwisely made favorites of the Emperors, at
last insulted and overturned the throne, even so these lawless mariners,
with all the rest of the body-guard and all the populace, broke out into
a terrible mutiny, and defied their master. He marched against them with
all his dogs. A deadly battle ensued upon the beach. It raged for three
hours, the dogs fighting with determined valor, and the sailors reckless
of everything but victory. Three men and thirteen dogs were left dead
upon the field, many on both sides were wounded, and the king was forced
to fly with the remainder of his canine regiment. The enemy pursued,
stoning the dogs with their master into the wilderness of the interior.
Discontinuing the pursuit, the victors returned to the village on the
shore, stove the spirit casks, and proclaimed a Republic. The dead men
were interred with the honors of war, and the dead dogs ignominiously
thrown into the sea. At last, forced by stress of suffering, the
fugitive Creole came down from the hills and offered to treat for peace.
But the rebels refused it on any other terms than his unconditional
banishment. Accordingly, the next ship that arrived carried away the
ex-king to Peru.

The history of the king of Charles's Island furnishes another
illustration of the difficulty of colonizing barren islands with
unprincipled pilgrims.

Doubtless for a long time the exiled monarch, pensively ruralizing in
Peru, which afforded him a safe asylum in his calamity, watched every
arrival from the Encantadas, to hear news of the failure of the
Republic, the consequent penitence of the rebels, and his own recall to
royalty. Doubtless he deemed the Republic but a miserable experiment
which would soon explode. But no, the insurgents had confederated
themselves into a democracy neither Grecian, Roman, nor American. Nay,
it was no democracy at all, but a permanent _Riotocracy_, which gloried
in having no law but lawlessness. Great inducements being offered to
deserters, their ranks were swelled by accessions of scamps from every
ship which touched their shores. Charles's Island was proclaimed the
asylum of the oppressed of all navies. Each runaway tar was hailed as a
martyr in the cause of freedom, and became immediately installed a
ragged citizen of this universal nation. In vain the captains of
absconding seamen strove to regain them. Their new compatriots were
ready to give any number of ornamental eyes in their behalf. They had
few cannon, but their fists were not to be trifled with. So at last it
came to pass that no vessels acquainted with the character of that
country durst touch there, however sorely in want of refreshment. It
became Anathema--a sea Alsatia--the unassailed lurking-place of all
sorts of desperadoes, who in the name of liberty did just what they
pleased. They continually fluctuated in their numbers. Sailors,
deserting ships at other islands, or in boats at sea anywhere in that
vicinity, steered for Charles's Isle, as to their sure home of refuge;
while, sated with the life of the isle, numbers from time to time
crossed the water to the neighboring ones, and there presenting
themselves to strange captains as shipwrecked seamen, often succeeded in
getting on board vessels bound to the Spanish coast, and having a
compassionate purse made up for them on landing there.

One warm night during my first visit to the group, our ship was floating
along in languid stillness, when some one on the forecastle shouted
"Light ho!" We looked and saw a beacon burning on some obscure land off
the beam. Our third mate was not intimate with this part of the world.
Going to the captain he said, "Sir, shall I put off in a boat? These
must be shipwrecked men."

The captain laughed rather grimly, as, shaking his fist towards the
beacon, he rapped out an oath, and said--"No, no, you precious rascals,
you don't juggle one of my boats ashore this blessed night. You do well,
you thieves--you do benevolently to hoist a light yonder as on a
dangerous shoal. It tempts no wise man to pull off and see what's the
matter, but bids him steer small and keep off shore--that is Charles's
Island; brace up, Mr. Mate, and keep the light astern."

       *       *       *       *       *

 And hey, here's another quote from Spenser. The comparison with the Faerie Queene just never gets old for Melville. Charles's Isle is near Barrington Isle. And for once, Melville has an actual story to tell, sort of. Three cheers for an actual story! Hip, hip, hooray! It's not that much of a story, but Shmoop is desperate, and will take what Shmoop can get. During Peru's independence struggle from Spain, there was one Creole guy who fought with Peru. A Creole is someone who has both European and Indian ancestry, by the by. Anyway, the Creole guy fought for Peru for money, but at the end of the revolution, they didn't have money to pay him, so they gave him Charles's Island, which was relatively inhabitable, and quite large. The Creole guy determined to rule the island, and brought some settlers over to be his subjects. To keep order he brought some large dogs with him. Things quickly went to pot, though; the subjects weren't keen on being ruled by the Creole and his dogs, so the Creole guy shot some of them What with the shooting people and the not being many there to begin with, the population wasn't very great. So the Creole guy replenished it by inducing people from whalers to abandon their posts, and join his not so very merry band. He's sneaky, our hero. But the folks who leave the whalers are sneaky too, and eventually there's a revolt and the Creole is driven away, back to Peru in exile. He presumably hoped to hear that his island was falling apart without him, and it sort of was. The place was completely lawless, and would encourage sailors to leave their ships for freedom when whalers landed. So whalers wouldn't land there any more, though deserters in the Encantadas still made their way there. That's it. Like Shmoop says, not much of a story, really, but you take what you can get.

