Preface

MARTIN RATTLER

BY R M BALLANTYNE

1858

EDITOR'S NOTE

"MARTIN RATTLER"was one of, Robert Michael Ballantyne's early books. Born at Edinburgh in 1825,[1] he was sent to Rupert's Land as a trading-clerk in the Hudson Bay Fur Company's service when he left school, a boy of sixteen. The re, to relieve his home-sickness, he first practised his pen in long letters home to his mother. Soon after his return to Scotland in 1848 he published a first book on Hudson's Bay. Then he passed some years in a Scottish publisher's office; and in 1855 a chance suggestion from another publisher led to his writing his first book for boys—"Snowflakes and Sunbeams, or The You ng Fur Traders."That story showed he had found his vocation, and he poured forth its successors to the tune in all of some fourscore volumes."Martin Rattler"appeared in 1858. In his"Personal Reminiscences"Ballantyne wrote:"How many thousands of lads have an intense liking for the idea of a sailor's life!"and he pointed out there the other side of the romantic picture: the long watches"in dirty unromantic weather,"and the hard work of holystoning the decks, scraping down the masts and cleaning out the coal-hole. But though his books show something of this reverse side too, there is no doubt they have helped to set many boys dreaming of

"Wrecks, buccaneers, black flags, and desert lands

On which, alone, the second Crusoe stands."

[Footnote 1: See Note to"The Coral Island"in this series.]

Among these persuasions to the life of adventure"Martin Rattler"is still one of the favourite among all his books. Ballantyne himself was fated to die on foreign soil in 1894, at Rome, where he lies buried in the English Protestant cemetery.

The following is a list of Ballantyne's chief romances, tales of adventure, and descriptive works:—

"Hudson's Bay, or Every-day Life in the Wilds of North America,"etc., 1848;"Snowflakes and Sunbeams, or the You ng Fur Traders,"1856. In 1857 and 1858 appeared, under the pseudonym of"Comus":"The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast"(in verse by Roscoe), ed. with music, coloured illustrations, and a prose version;"Mister Fox";"My Mother";"The Robber Kitten"(by the author of"Three Little Kittens")."The Coral Island, a Tale of the Pacific Ocean"(with a preface subscribed"Ralph Rover"), 1858 (1857);"Ungava, a Tale of Esquimaux Land,"1858 (1857);"Martin Rattler, or a Boy's Adventures in the Forests of Brazil,"1858;"Ships, the Great Eastern and lesser Craft"(with illustrations), 1859;"Mee-a-ow! or Good Advice to Cats and Kittens,"1859;"The World of Ice, or Adventures in the Polar Regions,"1860 (1859);"The Dog Crusoe, a Tale of the We stern Prairies,"1861 (1860);"The Golden Dream, or Adventures in the Far We st,"1861 (1860);"The Gorilla Hunters, a Tale of the Wilds of Africa,"1861;"The Red Eric, or the Whaler's Last Cruise,"1861;"Man on the Ocean, a Book for Boys,"1863 (1862);"The Wild Man of the We st, a Tale of the Rocky Mountains,"1863 (1862);"Gascoyne, the Sandal-wood Trader, a Tale of the Pacific,"1864 (1863);"The Lifeboat, a Tale of our Coast Her oes,"1864;"Freaks on the Fells, or Three Months'Rustication,"and"Why I did not become a Sailor,"etc., 1865 (1861);"The Lighthouse, being the Story of a Great Fight between Man and the Sea,"etc., 1865;"Shifting Winds, a Tough Yarn,"etc., 1866;"Silver Lake, or Lost in the Snow,"1867;"A Rescue in the Rocky Mountains,"1867;"Fighting the Flames, a Tale of the London Fire Brigade,"1868;"Away in the Wilderness, or Life among the Red Indians and Fur Traders of North America,"1869;"Erling the Bold, a Tale of the Norse Sea-kings,"with illustrations by the author, 1869;"Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines,"1869;"The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands,"with illustrations by the author, 1870;"The Iron Horse, or Life on the Line, a Tale of the Grand National Trunk Railway,"1871;"The Norsemen in the We st, or America before Columbus,"1872;"The Pioneers, a Tale of the We stern Wilderness, illustrative of the Adventures and Discoveries of Sir A. Mackenzie,"1872;"Black Ivory, a Tale of Adventure among the Slaves of East Africa,"1873;"Life in the Red Brigade, a Story for Boys,"1873;"The Ocean and its Wonders,"1874;"The Pirate City, an Algerine Tale,"1875;"Under the Waves, or Diving in Deep Waters,"1876;"Rivers of Ice, a Tale illustrative of Alpine Adventure and Glacier Action,"1876;"The Settler and the Savage, a Tale of Peace and War in South Africa,"1877;"Jarwin and Cuffy"(Incident and Adventure Library), 1878;"In the Track of the Troops, a Tale of Modern War,"1878;"Six Months at the Cape, or Letters to Periwinkle from South Africa,"1879 (1878);"Post Haste, a Tale of Her Majesty's Mails,"1880 (1879);"The Red Man's Revenge, a Tale of the Red River Flood,"1880;"Philosopher Jack, a Tale of the Southern Seas,"1880;"The Lonely Island, or the Refuge of the Mutineers,"1880;"The Robber Kitten"(in volume of tales by two or three authors), 1880;"The Collected Works of Ensign Sopht, late of the Volunteers, illustrated by himself,"1881;"My Doggie and I,"etc., 1881;"The Giant of the North, or Pokings round the Pole,"1882 (1881);"The Kitten Pilgrims, or Great Battles and Grand Victories,"1882;"The Madman and the Pirate,"1883;"The Battery and the Boiler, or Adventures in the Laying of Submarine Cables,"etc., 1883;"Battles with the Sea, or Her oes of the Lifeboat and Rocket,"1883;"Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished, a Tale of City-arab Life and Adventure,"1884 (1862);"Twice Bought, a Tale of the Oregon Gold-fields,"1885 (1863);"The Island Queen, a Tale of the Southern Hemisphere,"etc., 1885;"The Rover of the Andes, a Tale of Adventure in South America,"1885;"Red Rooney, or the Last of the Crew,"1886;"The Big Otter, a Tale of the Great Nor'-We st,"1887 (1864);"The Middy of the Moors, an Algerine Story,"1888;"Blue Lights, or Hot Work in the Soudan, a Tale of Soldier Life,"1888;"The Crew of the Water Wagtail, a Story of Newfoundland,"1889;"A Gallant Rescue"(stories jolly, stories new, etc.), 1889;"The Fight on the Green"(Miles'Fifty-two Stories for Boys), 1889;"Charlie to the Rescue, a Tale of the Sea and the Rockies,"with illustrations by the author, 1890;"The Garret and the Garden…, or the You ng Coast-guardsman,"1890;"The Coxswain's Bride, or the Rising Tide, and other Tales,"with illustrations by the author, 1891;"The Hot Swamp, a Romance of Old Albion,"1892;"Hunted and Harried, a Tale of the Scottish Covenanters,"1892;"The Walrus Hunters, a Romance of the Realms of Ice,"1893.

Ballantyne's Miscellany was started in 1863.

MY DEAR YOUNG READERS,

In presenting this book to you I have only to repeat what I have said in the prefaces of my former works,—namely, that all the important points and anecdotes are true; only the minor and unimportant ones being mingled with fiction. With this single remark I commit my work to your hands, and wish you a pleasant ramble, in spirit, through the romantic forests of Brazil.

You rs affectionately,

R.M. BALLANTYNE.

[October, 1858.]

MARTIN RATTLER