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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the
+Famous Captain Singleton, by Daniel Defoe
+#10 in our series by Daniel Defoe
+
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+Title: The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton
+
+Author: Daniel Defoe
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6422]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 10, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SINGLETON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+CAPTAIN SINGLETON
+
+WITH AN INTRODUCTION
+BY EDWARD GARNETT
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: In the print copy, the following words and those of
+the title page are written in intricate, illuminated calligraphy.]
+
+A TALE WHICH HOLDETH CHILDREN FROM PLAY
+AND OLD MEN FROM THE CHIMNEY CORNER
+
+SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE ADVENTURES AND PIRACIES
+OF THE FAMOUS CAPTAIN SINGLETON
+
+BY DANIEL DEFOE
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+That all Defoe's novels, with the exception of "Robinson Crusoe," should
+have been covered with the dust of neglect for many generations, is a plain
+proof of how much fashions in taste affect the popularity of the British
+classics. It is true that three generations or so ago, Defoe's works were
+edited by both Sir Walter Scott and Hazlitt, and that this masterly piece
+of realism, "Captain Singleton," was reprinted a few years back in "The
+Camelot Classics," but it is safe to say that out of every thousand readers
+of "Robinson Crusoe" only one or two will have even heard of the "Memoirs
+of a Cavalier," "Colonel Jack," "Moll Flanders," or "Captain Singleton." It
+is indeed distressing to think that while many scores of thousands of
+copies of Lord Lytton's flashy romance, "Paul Clifford," have been devoured
+by the public, "Captain Singleton" has remained unread and almost
+forgotten. But the explanation is simple. Defoe's plain and homely realism
+soon grew to be thought vulgar by people who themselves aspired to be
+refined and genteel. The rapid spread of popular education, in the middle
+of last century, was responsible for a great many aberrations of taste, and
+the works of the two most English of Englishmen, Defoe and Hogarth, were
+judged to be hardly fitting for polite society, as we may see from Lamb's
+Essay on Hogarth, and from an early edition of Chambers's "Cyclopaedia of
+English Literature" (1843), where we are told: "Nor is it needful to show
+how elegant and reflective literature, especially, tends to moralise, to
+soften, and to adorn the soul and life of man." "Unfortunately the taste or
+_circumstances of Defoe led him mostly into low life_, and his characters
+are such _as we cannot sympathise with_. The whole arcana of roguery
+and villany seems to have been open to him.... It might be thought that the
+good taste which led Defoe to write in a style of such pure and
+unpretending English, instead of the inflated manner of vulgar writers,
+_would have dictated a more careful selection of his subjects_, and
+kept him from wandering so frequently into the low and disgusting purlieus
+of vice. But this moral and tasteful discrimination seems to have been
+wholly wanting," &c. The 'forties were the days when critics still talked
+learnedly of the "noble style," &c., "the vulgar," of "sinking" or "rising"
+with "the subject," the days when Books of Beauty were in fashion, and
+Rembrandt's choice of beggars, wrinkled faces and grey hairs, for his
+favourite subjects seemed a low and reprehensible taste in "high art."
+Though critics to-day still ingenuously confound an artist's subject with
+his treatment of it, and prefer scenes of life to be idealised rather than
+realised by writers, we have advanced a little since the days of the poet
+Montgomery, and it would be difficult now to find anybody writing so
+confidently--"Unfortunately the taste or circumstances of Defoe led him
+mostly into low life," however much the critic might believe it. But let us
+glance at a few passages in "Captain Singleton," which may show us why
+Defoe excels as a realist, and why his descriptions of "low life" are
+artistically as perfect as any descriptions of "higher life" in the works
+of the English novelists. Take the following description of kidnapping:--
+
+  "The woman pretending to take me up in her arms and kiss me, and
+  play with me, draws the girl a good way from the house, till at
+  last she makes a fine story to the girl, and bids her go back to
+  the maid, and tell her where she was with the child; that a
+  gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child and was kissing it, but
+  she should not be frightened, or to that purpose; for they were
+  but just there; and so while the girl went, she carried me quite
+  away.--Page 2.
+
+Now here, in a single sentence, Defoe catches for us the whole soul and
+character of the situation. It _seems_ very simple, but it sums up
+marvellously an exact observation and knowledge of the arts of the gipsy
+child-stealer, of her cunning flattery and brassy boldness, and we can
+see the simple little girl running back to the house to tell the nurse
+that a fine lady was kissing the child, and had told her to tell where
+they were and she should not be frightened, &c.; and this picture again
+calls up the hue and cry after the kidnappers and the fruitless hopes of
+the parents. In a word, Defoe has condensed in the eight simple lines of
+his little scene all that is essential to its living truth; and let the
+young writer note that it is ever the sign of the master to do in three
+words, or with three strokes, what the ordinary artist does in thirty.
+Defoe's imagination is so extraordinarily comprehensive in picking out
+just those little matter-of-fact details that suggest all the other
+aspects, and that emphasise the character of the scene or situation,
+that he makes us believe in the actuality of whatever he is describing.
+So real, so living in every detail is this apocryphal narrative, in
+"Captain Singleton," of the crossing of Africa by a body of marooned
+sailors from the coast of Mozambique to the Gold Coast, that one would
+firmly believe Defoe was committing to writing the verbal narrative of
+some adventurer in the flesh, if it were not for certain passages--such
+as the description of the impossible desert on page 90, which proves
+that Defoe was piecing together his description of an imaginary journey
+from the geographical records and travellers' tales of his contemporaries,
+aided perhaps by the confused yarns of some sailor friends. How
+substantially truthful in spirit and in detail is Defoe's account of
+Madagascar is proved by the narrative of Robert Drury's "Captivity in
+Madagascar," published in 1729. The natives themselves, as described
+intimately by Drury, who lived amongst them for many years, would produce
+just such an effect as Defoe describes on rough sailors in their perilous
+position. The method by which Defoe compels us to accept improbabilities,
+and lulls our critical sense asleep, is well shown in the following
+passages:--
+
+  "Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the most
+  abominable lewdness, was the stated practice of the ship's crew;
+  adding to it, that with the most unsufferable boasts of their own
+  courage, they were, generally speaking, the most complete cowards
+  that I ever met with."--Page 7.
+
+  "All the seamen in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck,
+  where the captain was walking with some of his officers, and
+  appointing the boatswain to speak for them, he went up, and falling
+  on his knees to the captain, begged of him in the humblest manner
+  possible, to receive the four men on board again, offering to answer
+  for their fidelity, or to have them kept in chains, till they came
+  to Lisbon, and there to be delivered up to justice, rather than, as
+  they said, to have them left, to be murdered by savages, or devoured
+  by wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took any notice
+  of them, but when he did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and
+  threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking for them....
+  Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than the rest, but
+  still with all possible respect to the captain, besought his honour,
+  as he called him, that he would give leave to some more of them to
+  go on shore, and die with their companions, or, if possible, to
+  assist them to resist the barbarians."--Page 18.
+
+Now the first passage we have quoted about the cowardice, &c., of the
+Portuguese crew is not in keeping with the second passage, which shows the
+men as "wishing to die with their companions"; but so actual is the scene
+of the seamen "in a body coming up to the rail of the quarter-deck," that
+we cannot but believe the thing happened so, just as we believe in all the
+thousand little details of the imaginary narrative of "Robinson Crusoe."
+This feat of the imagination Defoe strengthens in the most artful manner,
+by putting in the mouths of his characters various reflections to
+substantiate the narrative. For example, in the description, on page 263,
+of the savages who lined the perilous channel in a half-moon, where the
+European ship lay, we find the afterthoughts are added so naturally, that
+they would carry conviction to any judge or jury:--
+
+  "They little thought what service they had done us, and how
+  unwittingly, and by the greatest ignorance, they had made
+  themselves pilots to us, while we, having not sounded the place,
+  might have been lost before we were aware. _It is true we might
+  have sounded our new harbour, before we had ventured out; but I
+  cannot say for certain, whether we should or not; for I, for my
+  part, had not the least suspicion of what our real case was;
+  however, I say, perhaps, before we had weighed, we should have
+  looked about us a little._"
+
+Turning to the other literary qualities that make Defoe's novels great,
+if little read, classics, how delightful are the little satiric touches
+that add grave weight to the story. Consider the following: "My good
+gipsy mother, for some of her worthy actions, no doubt, happened in
+process of time to be hanged, and as this fell out something too soon
+for me to be perfected in the strolling trade," &c.(p. 3). Every other
+word here is dryly satiric, and the large free callousness and careless
+brutality of Defoe's days with regard to the life of criminals is
+conveyed in half a sentence. And what an amount of shrewd observation is
+summed up in this one saying: "Upon these foundations, William said he
+was satisfied we might trust them; for, says William, I would as soon
+trust a man whose interest binds him to be just to me, as a man whose
+principle binds himself" (p. 227). Extremely subtle is also this remark:
+"_Why, says I, did you ever know a pirate repent?_ At this he
+started a little and returned, _At the gallows_ I have known
+_one_ repent, and I _hope_ thou wilt be the second." The
+character of William the Quaker pirate is a masterpiece of shrewd
+humour. He is the first Quaker brought into English fiction, and we
+know of no other Friend in latter-day fiction to equal him. Defoe in
+his inimitable manner has defined surely and deftly the peculiar
+characteristics of the sect in this portrait. On three separate occasions
+we find William saving unfortunate natives or defenceless prisoners from
+the cruel and wicked barbarity of the sailors. At page 183, for example,
+the reader will find a most penetrating analysis of the dense stupidity
+which so often accompanies man's love of bloodshed. The sketch of the
+second lieutenant, who was for "murdering the negroes to make them tell,"
+when he could not make them even understand what he wanted, is worthy of
+Tolstoy. We have not space here to dwell upon the scores of passages of
+similar deep insight which make "Captain Singleton" a most true and vivid
+commentary on the life of Defoe's times, but we may call special attention
+to the passage on page 189 which describe the sale of the negroes to the
+planters; to the description of the awakening of the conscience of Captain
+Singleton through terror at the fire-cloud (page 222); and to the
+extraordinarily picturesque conversation between William and the captive
+Dutchman (page 264). Finally, if the reader wishes to taste Defoe's flavour
+in its perfection let him examine carefully those passages in the
+concluding twenty pages of the book, wherein Captain Singleton is shown
+as awakening to the wickedness of his past life, and the admirable dry
+reasoning of William by which the Quaker prevents him from committing
+suicide and persuades him to keep his ill-gotten wealth, "with a resolution
+to do what right with it we are able; and who knows what opportunity
+Providence may put into our hands.... As it is without doubt, our present
+business is to go to some place of safety, where we may wait His will."
+How admirable is the passage about William's sister, the widow with four
+children who kept a little shop in the Minories, and that in which the
+penitent ex-pirates are shown us as hesitating in Venice for two years
+before they durst venture to England for fear of the gallows.
+
+"Captain Singleton" was published in 1720, a year after "Robinson Crusoe,"
+when Defoe was fifty-nine. Twenty years before had seen "The True-Born
+Englishman" and "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters"; and we are told
+that from "June 1687 to almost the very week of his death in 1731 a stream
+of controversial books and pamphlets poured from his pen commenting upon
+and marking every important passing event." The fecundity of Defoe as a
+journalist alone surpasses that of any great journalist we can name,
+William Cobbett not excepted, and we may add that the style of "Captain
+Singleton," like that of "Robinson Crusoe," is so perfect that there is not
+a single ineffective passage, or indeed a weak sentence, to be found in the
+book.
+
+EDWARD GARNETT.
+
+
+
+
+The following is a list of Defoe's works: "New Discovery of Old Intrigue"
+(verse), 1691. "Character of Dr. Samuel Annesley" (verse), 1697. "The
+Pacificator" (verse), 1700. "True-Born Englishman" (verse), 1701. "The Mock
+Mourners" (verse), 1702. "Reformation of Manners" (verse), 1702. "New Test
+of Church of England's Loyalty," 1702. "Shortest Way with the Dissenters,"
+1702. "Ode to the Athenian Society," 1703. "Enquiry into Acgill's General
+Translation," 1703. "More Reformation" (verse), 1703. "Hymn to the
+Pillory," 1703. "The Storm" (Tale), 1704. "Layman's Sermon on the Late
+Storm," 1704. "The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from
+the World in the Moon," 1704. "Elegy on Author of 'True-Born Englishman,'"
+1704. "Hymn to Victory," 1704. "Giving Alms no Charity," 1704. "The Dyet of
+Poland" (verse), 1705. "Apparition of Mrs. Veal," 1706. "Sermon on the
+Filling-up of Dr. Burgess's Meeting-house," 1706. "Jure Divino" (verse),
+1706. "Caledonia" (verse), 1706. "History of the Union of Great Britain,"
+1709. "Short Enquiry into a Late Duel," 1713. "A General History of Trade,"
+1713. "Wars of Charles III.," 1715. "The Family Instruction" (two eds.),
+1715. "Hymn to the Mob," 1715. "Memoirs of the Church of Scotland," 1717.
+"Life and Death of Count Patkul," 1717. "Memoirs of Duke of Shrewsbury,"
+1718. "Memoirs of Daniel Williams," 1718. "The Life and Strange Surprising
+Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner," 1719. "The Farther
+Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," 1719. "The Dumb Philosopher: or, Great
+Britain's Wonder," 1719. "The King of Pirates" (Capt. Avery), 1719. "Life
+of Baron de Goertz," 1719. "Life and Adventures of Duncan Campbell," 1720.
+"Mr. Campbell's Pacquet," 1720. "Memoirs of a Cavalier," 1720. "Life of
+Captain Singleton," 1720. "Serious Reflections during the Life and
+Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," 1720. "The Supernatural
+Philosopher; or, The Mysteries of Magick," 1720. Translation of Du
+Fresnoy's "Compleat Art of Painting" (verse), 1720. "Moll Flanders," 1722,
+"Journal of the Plague Year," 1722. "Due Preparations for the Plague,"
+1722. "Life of Cartouche," 1722. "History of Colonel Jacque," 1722.
+"Religious Courtship," 1722. "History of Peter the Great," 1723. "The
+Highland Rogue" (Rob Roy), 1723. "The Fortunate Mistress" (Roxana), 1724.
+"Narrative of Murders at Calais," 1724. "Life of John Sheppard," 1724.
+"Robberies, Escapes, &c., of John Sheppard," 1724. "The Great Law of
+Subordination; or, The Insolence and Insufferable Behaviour of Servants in
+England," 1724. "A Tour through Great Britain," 1724-6. "New Voyage Round
+the World," 1725. "Account of Jonathan Wild," 1725. "Account of John Gow,"
+1725. "Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business" (on Servants), 1725. "The
+Complete English Tradesman," 1725; vol. ii., 1727. "The Friendly Demon,"
+1726. "Mere Nature Delineated" (Peter the Wild Boy), 1726. "Political
+History of the Devil," 1726. "Essay upon Literature and the Original of
+Letters," 1726. "History of Discoveries," 1726-7. "The Protestant
+Monastery," 1726. "A System of Magic," 1726. "Parochial Tyranny," 1727.
+"Treatise concerning Use and Abuse of Marriage," 1727. "Secrets of
+Invisible World Discovered; or, History and Reality of Apparitions," 1727,
+1728. "A New Family Instructor," 1728. "Augusta Triumphans," 1728. "Plan of
+English Commerce," 1728. "Second Thoughts are Best" (on Street Robberies),
+1728. "Street Robberies Considered," 1728. "Humble Proposal to People of
+England for Increase of Trade, &c.," 1729. "Preface to R. Dodsley's Poem
+'Servitude'" 1729. "Effectual Scheme for Preventing Street Robberies,"
+1731.
+
+Besides the above-named publications a large number of further tracts by
+Defoe are extant, on matters of Politics and Church.
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES
+OF CAPTAIN SINGLETON
+
+
+As it is usual for great persons, whose lives have been remarkable, and
+whose actions deserve recording to posterity, to insist much upon their
+originals, give full accounts of their families, and the histories of their
+ancestors, so, that I may be methodical, I shall do the same, though I can
+look but a very little way into my pedigree, as you will see presently.
+
+If I may believe the woman whom I was taught to call mother, I was a little
+boy, of about two years old, very well dressed, had a nursery-maid to
+attend me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into the fields
+towards Islington, as she pretended, to give the child some air; a little
+girl being with her, of twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in the
+neighbourhood. The maid, whether by appointment or otherwise, meets with a
+fellow, her sweetheart, as I suppose; he carries her into a public-house,
+to give her a pot and a cake; and while they were toying in the house the
+girl plays about, with me in her hand, in the garden and at the door,
+sometimes in sight, sometimes out of sight, thinking no harm.
+
+At this juncture comes by one of those sort of people who, it seems, made
+it their business to spirit away little children. This was a hellish trade
+in those days, and chiefly practised where they found little children very
+well dressed, or for bigger children, to sell them to the plantations.
+
+The woman, pretending to take me up in her arms and kiss me, and play with
+me, draws the girl a good way from the house, till at last she makes a fine
+story to the girl, and bids her go back to the maid, and tell her where she
+was with the child; that a gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child, and
+was kissing of it, but she should not be frighted, or to that purpose; for
+they were but just there; and so, while the girl went, she carries me quite
+away.
+
+From this time, it seems, I was disposed of to a beggar woman that wanted a
+pretty little child to set out her case; and after that, to a gipsy, under
+whose government I continued till I was about six years old. And this
+woman, though I was continually dragged about with her from one part of the
+country to another, yet never let me want for anything; and I called her
+mother; though she told me at last she was not my mother, but that she
+bought me for twelve shillings of another woman, who told her how she came
+by me, and told her that my name was Bob Singleton, not Robert, but plain
+Bob; for it seems they never knew by what name I was christened.
+
+It is in vain to reflect here, what a terrible fright the careless hussy
+was in that lost me; what treatment she received from my justly enraged
+father and mother, and the horror these must be in at the thoughts of their
+child being thus carried away; for as I never knew anything of the matter,
+but just what I have related, nor who my father and mother were, so it
+would make but a needless digression to talk of it here.
+
+My good gipsy mother, for some of her worthy actions no doubt, happened in
+process of time to be hanged; and as this fell out something too soon for
+me to be perfected in the strolling trade, the parish where I was left,
+which for my life I can't remember, took some care of me, to be sure; for
+the first thing I can remember of myself afterwards, was, that I went to a
+parish school, and the minister of the parish used to talk to me to be a
+good boy; and that, though I was but a poor boy, if I minded my book, and
+served God, I might make a good man.
+
+I believe I was frequently removed from one town to another, perhaps as the
+parishes disputed my supposed mother's last settlement. Whether I was so
+shifted by passes, or otherwise, I know not; but the town where I last was
+kept, whatever its name was, must be not far off from the seaside; for a
+master of a ship who took a fancy to me, was the first that brought me to a
+place not far from Southampton, which I afterwards knew to be Bussleton;
+and there I attended the carpenters, and such people as were employed in
+building a ship for him; and when it was done, though I was not above
+twelve years old, he carried me to sea with him on a voyage to
+Newfoundland.
+
+I lived well enough, and pleased my master so well that he called me his
+own boy; and I would have called him father, but he would not allow it, for
+he had children of his own. I went three or four voyages with him, and grew
+a great sturdy boy, when, coming home again from the banks of Newfoundland,
+we were taken by an Algerine rover, or man-of-war; which, if my account
+stands right, was about the year 1695, for you may be sure I kept no
+journal.
+
+I was not much concerned at the disaster, though I saw my master, after
+having been wounded by a splinter in the head during the engagement, very
+barbarously used by the Turks; I say, I was not much concerned, till, upon
+some unlucky thing I said, which, as I remember, was about abusing my
+master, they took me and beat me most unmercifully with a flat stick on the
+soles of my feet, so that I could neither go or stand for several days
+together.
+
+But my good fortune was my friend upon this occasion; for, as they were
+sailing away with our ship in tow as a prize, steering for the Straits, and
+in sight of the bay of Cadiz, the Turkish rover was attacked by two great
+Portuguese men-of-war, and taken and carried into Lisbon.
+
+As I was not much concerned at my captivity, not indeed understanding the
+consequences of it, if it had continued, so I was not suitably sensible of
+my deliverance; nor, indeed, was it so much a deliverance to me as it would
+otherwise have been, for my master, who was the only friend I had in the
+world, died at Lisbon of his wounds; and I being then almost reduced to my
+primitive state, viz., of starving, had this addition to it, that it was in
+a foreign country too, where I knew nobody and could not speak a word of
+their language. However, I fared better here than I had reason to expect;
+for when all the rest of our men had their liberty to go where they would,
+I, that knew not whither to go, stayed in the ship for several days, till
+at length one of the lieutenants seeing me, inquired what that young
+English dog did there, and why they did not turn him on shore.
+
+I heard him, and partly understood what he meant, though not what he said,
+and began then to be in a terrible fright; for I knew not where to get a
+bit of bread; when the pilot of the ship, an old seaman, seeing me look
+very dull, came to me, and speaking broken English to me, told me I must be
+gone. "Whither must I go?" said I. "Where you will," said he, "home to your
+own country, if you will." "How must I go thither?" said I. "Why, have you
+no friend?" said he. "No," said I, "not in the world, but that dog,"
+pointing to the ship's dog (who, having stolen a piece of meat just before,
+had brought it close by me, and I had taken it from him, and ate it), "for
+he has been a good friend, and brought me my dinner."
+
+"Well, well," says he, "you must have your dinner. Will you go with me?"
+"Yes," says I, "with all my heart." In short, the old pilot took me home
+with him, and used me tolerably well, though I fared hard enough; and I
+lived with him about two years, during which time he was soliciting his
+business, and at length got to be master or pilot under Don Garcia de
+Pimentesia de Carravallas, captain of a Portuguese galleon or carrack,
+which was bound to Goa, in the East Indies; and immediately having gotten
+his commission, put me on board to look after his cabin, in which he had
+stored himself with abundance of liquors, succades, sugar, spices, and
+other things, for his accommodation in the voyage, and laid in afterwards a
+considerable quantity of European goods, fine lace and linen; and also
+baize, woollen cloth, stuffs, &c., under the pretence of his clothes.
+
+I was too young in the trade to keep any journal of this voyage, though my
+master, who was, for a Portuguese, a pretty good artist, prompted me to it;
+but my not understanding the language was one hindrance; at least it served
+me for an excuse. However, after some time, I began to look into his charts
+and books; and, as I could write a tolerable hand, understood some Latin,
+and began to have a little smattering of the Portuguese tongue, so I began
+to get a superficial knowledge of navigation, but not such as was likely to
+be sufficient to carry me through a life of adventure, as mine was to be.
+In short, I learned several material things in this voyage among the
+Portuguese; I learned particularly to be an arrant thief and a bad sailor;
+and I think I may say they are the best masters for teaching both these of
+any nation in the world.
+
+We made our way for the East Indies, by the coast of Brazil; not that it is
+in the course of sailing the way thither, but our captain, either on his
+own account, or by the direction of the merchants, went thither first,
+where at All Saints' Bay, or, as they call it in Portugal, the Rio de Todos
+los Santos, we delivered near a hundred tons of goods, and took in a
+considerable quantity of gold, with some chests of sugar, and seventy or
+eighty great rolls of tobacco, every roll weighing at least a
+hundredweight.
+
+Here, being lodged on shore by my master's order, I had the charge of the
+captain's business, he having seen me very diligent for my own master; and
+in requital for his mistaken confidence, I found means to secure, that is
+to say, to steal, about twenty moidores out of the gold that was shipped on
+board by the merchants, and this was my first adventure.
+
+We had a tolerable voyage from hence to the Cape de Bona Speranza; and I
+was reputed as a mighty diligent servant to my master, and very faithful. I
+was diligent indeed, but I was very far from honest; however, they thought
+me honest, which, by the way, was their very great mistake. Upon this very
+mistake the captain took a particular liking to me, and employed me
+frequently on his own occasion; and, on the other hand, in recompense for
+my officious diligence, I received several particular favours from him;
+particularly, I was, by the captain's command, made a kind of a steward
+under the ship's steward, for such provisions as the captain demanded for
+his own table. He had another steward for his private stores besides, but
+my office concerned only what the captain called for of the ship's stores
+for his private use.
+
+However, by this means I had opportunity particularly to take care of my
+master's man, and to furnish myself with sufficient provisions to make me
+live much better than the other people in the ship; for the captain seldom
+ordered anything out of the ship's stores, as above, but I snipt some of it
+for my own share. We arrived at Goa, in the East Indies, in about seven
+months from Lisbon, and remained there eight more; during which time I had
+indeed nothing to do, my master being generally on shore, but to learn
+everything that is wicked among the Portuguese, a nation the most
+perfidious and the most debauched, the most insolent and cruel, of any that
+pretend to call themselves Christians, in the world.
+
+Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the most abominable
+lewdness, was the stated practice of the ship's crew; adding to it, that,
+with the most insufferable boasts of their own courage, they were,
+generally speaking, the most complete cowards that I ever met with; and the
+consequence of their cowardice was evident upon many occasions. However,
+there was here and there one among them that was not so bad as the rest;
+and, as my lot fell among them, it made me have the most contemptible
+thoughts of the rest, as indeed they deserved.
+
+I was exactly fitted for their society indeed; for I had no sense of virtue
+or religion upon me. I had never heard much of either, except what a good
+old parson had said to me when I was a child of about eight or nine years
+old; nay, I was preparing and growing up apace to be as wicked as anybody
+could be, or perhaps ever was. Fate certainly thus directed my beginning,
+knowing that I had work which I had to do in the world, which nothing but
+one hardened against all sense of honesty or religion could go through; and
+yet, even in this state of original wickedness, I entertained such a
+settled abhorrence of the abandoned vileness of the Portuguese, that I
+could not but hate them most heartily from the beginning, and all my life
+afterwards. They were so brutishly wicked, so base and perfidious, not only
+to strangers but to one another, so meanly submissive when subjected, so
+insolent, or barbarous and tyrannical, when superior, that I thought there
+was something in them that shocked my very nature. Add to this that it is
+natural to an Englishman to hate a coward, it all joined together to make
+the devil and a Portuguese equally my aversion.
+
+However, according to the English proverb, he that is shipped with the
+devil must sail with the devil; I was among them, and I managed myself as
+well as I could. My master had consented that I should assist the captain
+in the office, as above; but, as I understood afterwards that the captain
+allowed my master half a moidore a month for my service, and that he had my
+name upon the ship's books also, I expected that when the ship came to be
+paid four months' wages at the Indies, as they, it seems, always do, my
+master would let me have something for myself.
+
+But I was wrong in my man, for he was none of that kind; he had taken me up
+as in distress, and his business was to keep me so, and make his market of
+me as well as he could, which I began to think of after a different manner
+than I did at first, for at first I thought he had entertained me in mere
+charity, upon seeing my distressed circumstances, but did not doubt but
+when he put me on board the ship, I should have some wages for my service.
+
+But he thought, it seems, quite otherwise; and when I procured one to
+speak to him about it, when the ship was paid at Goa, he flew into the
+greatest rage imaginable, and called me English dog, young heretic, and
+threatened to put me into the Inquisition. Indeed, of all the names the
+four-and-twenty letters could make up, he should not have called me
+heretic; for as I knew nothing about religion, neither Protestant from
+Papist, or either of them from a Mahometan, I could never be a heretic.
+However, it passed but a little, but, as young as I was, I had been
+carried into the Inquisition, and there, if they had asked me if I was a
+Protestant or a Catholic, I should have said yes to that which came
+first. If it had been the Protestant they had asked first, it had
+certainly made a martyr of me for I did not know what.
+
+But the very priest they carried with them, or chaplain of the ship, as we
+called him, saved me; for seeing me a boy entirely ignorant of religion,
+and ready to do or say anything they bid me, he asked me some questions
+about it, which he found I answered so very simply, that he took it upon
+him to tell them he would answer for my being a good Catholic, and he hoped
+he should be the means of saving my soul, and he pleased himself that it
+was to be a work of merit to him; so he made me as good a Papist as any of
+them in about a week's time.
+
+I then told him my case about my master; how, it is true, he had taken me
+up in a miserable case on board a man-of-war at Lisbon; and I was indebted
+to him for bringing me on board this ship; that if I had been left at
+Lisbon, I might have starved, and the like; and therefore I was willing to
+serve him, but that I hoped he would give me some little consideration for
+my service, or let me know how long he expected I should serve him for
+nothing.
+
+It was all one; neither the priest nor any one else could prevail with him,
+but that I was not his servant but his slave, that he took me in the
+Algerine, and that I was a Turk, only pretended to be an English boy to get
+my liberty, and he would carry me to the Inquisition as a Turk.
+
+This frighted me out of my wits, for I had nobody to vouch for me what I
+was, or from whence I came; but the good Padre Antonio, for that was his
+name, cleared me of that part by a way I did not understand; for he came to
+me one morning with two sailors, and told me they must search me, to bear
+witness that I was not a Turk. I was amazed at them, and frighted, and did
+not understand them, nor could I imagine what they intended to do to me.
+However, stripping me, they were soon satisfied, and Father Antony bade me
+be easy, for they could all witness that I was no Turk. So I escaped that
+part of my master's cruelty.
+
+And now I resolved from that time to run away from him if I could, but
+there was no doing of it there, for there were not ships of any nation in
+the world in that port, except two or three Persian vessels from Ormus, so
+that if I had offered to go away from him, he would have had me seized on
+shore, and brought on board by force; so that I had no remedy but patience.
+And this he brought to an end too as soon as he could, for after this he
+began to use me ill, and not only to straiten my provisions, but to beat
+and torture me in a barbarous manner for every trifle, so that, in a word,
+my life began to be very miserable.
+
+The violence of this usage of me, and the impossibility of my escape from
+his hands, set my head a-working upon all sorts of mischief, and in
+particular I resolved, after studying all other ways to deliver myself, and
+finding all ineffectual, I say, I resolved to murder him. With this hellish
+resolution in my head, I spent whole nights and days contriving how to put
+it in execution, the devil prompting me very warmly to the fact. I was
+indeed entirely at a loss for the means, for I had neither gun or sword,
+nor any weapon to assault him with; poison I had my thoughts much upon, but
+knew not where to get any; or, if I might have got it, I did not know the
+country word for it, or by what name to ask for it.
+
+In this manner I quitted the fact, intentionally, a hundred and a hundred
+times; but Providence, either for his sake or for mine, always frustrated
+my designs, and I could never bring it to pass; so I was obliged to
+continue in his chains till the ship, having taken in her loading, set sail
+for Portugal.
+
+I can say nothing here to the manner of our voyage, for, as I said, I kept
+no journal; but this I can give an account of, that having been once as
+high as the Cape of Good Hope, as we call it, or Cabo de Bona Speranza, as
+they call it, we were driven back again by a violent storm from the W.S.W.,
+which held us six days and nights a great way to the eastward, and after
+that, standing afore the wind for several days more, we at last came to an
+anchor on the coast of Madagascar.
+
+The storm had been so violent that the ship had received a great deal of
+damage, and it required some time to repair her; so, standing in nearer the
+shore, the pilot, my master, brought the ship into a very good harbour,
+where we rid in twenty-six fathoms water, about half a mile from the shore.
+
+While the ship rode here there happened a most desperate mutiny among the
+men, upon account of some deficiency in their allowance, which came to that
+height that they threatened the captain to set him on shore, and go back
+with the ship to Goa. I wished they would with all my heart, for I was full
+of mischief in my head, and ready enough to do any. So, though I was but a
+boy, as they called me, yet I prompted the mischief all I could, and
+embarked in it so openly, that I escaped very little being hanged in the
+first and most early part of my life; for the captain had some notice that
+there was a design laid by some of the company to murder him; and having,
+partly by money and promises, and partly by threatening and torture,
+brought two fellows to confess the particulars, and the names of the
+persons concerned, they were presently apprehended, till, one accusing
+another, no less than sixteen men were seized and put into irons, whereof I
+was one.
+
+The captain, who was made desperate by his danger, resolving to clear the
+ship of his enemies, tried us all, and we were all condemned to die. The
+manner of his process I was too young to take notice of; but the purser and
+one of the gunners were hanged immediately, and I expected it with the
+rest. I do not remember any great concern I was under about it, only that I
+cried very much, for I knew little then of this world, and nothing at all
+of the next.
+
+However, the captain contented himself with executing these two, and some
+of the rest, upon their humble submission and promise of future good
+behaviour, were pardoned; but five were ordered to be set on shore on the
+island and left there, of which I was one. My master used all his interest
+with the captain to have me excused, but could not obtain it; for somebody
+having told him that I was one of them who was singled out to have killed
+him, when my master desired I might not be set on shore, the captain told
+him I should stay on board if he desired it, but then I should be hanged,
+so he might choose for me which he thought best. The captain, it seems, was
+particularly provoked at my being concerned in the treachery, because of
+his having been so kind to me, and of his having singled me out to serve
+him, as I have said above; and this, perhaps, obliged him to give my master
+such a rough choice, either to set me on shore or to have me hanged on
+board. And had my master, indeed, known what good-will I had for him, he
+would not have been long in choosing for me; for I had certainly determined
+to do him a mischief the first opportunity I had for it. This was,
+therefore, a good providence for me to keep me from dipping my hands in
+blood, and it made me more tender afterwards in matters of blood than I
+believe I should otherwise have been. But as to my being one of them that
+was to kill the captain, that I was wronged in, for I was not the person,
+but it was really one of them that were pardoned, he having the good luck
+not to have that part discovered.
+
+I was now to enter upon a part of independent life, a thing I was indeed
+very ill prepared to manage, for I was perfectly loose and dissolute in my
+behaviour, bold and wicked while I was under government, and now perfectly
+unfit to be trusted with liberty, for I was as ripe for any villainy as a
+young fellow that had no solid thought ever placed in his mind could be
+supposed to be. Education, as you have heard, I had none; and all the
+little scenes of life I had passed through had been full of dangers and
+desperate circumstances; but I was either so young or so stupid, that I
+escaped the grief and anxiety of them, for want of having a sense of their
+tendency and consequences.
+
+This thoughtless, unconcerned temper had one felicity indeed in it, that it
+made me daring and ready for doing any mischief, and kept off the sorrow
+which otherwise ought to have attended me when I fell into any mischief;
+that this stupidity was instead of a happiness to me, for it left my
+thoughts free to act upon means of escape and deliverance in my distress,
+however great it might be; whereas my companions in the misery were so sunk
+by their fear and grief, that they abandoned themselves to the misery of
+their condition, and gave over all thought but of their perishing and
+starving, being devoured by wild beasts, murdered, and perhaps eaten by
+cannibals, and the like.
+
+I was but a young fellow, about seventeen or eighteen; but hearing what was
+to be my fate, I received it with no appearance of discouragement; but I
+asked what my master said to it, and being told that he had used his utmost
+interest to save me, but the captain had answered I should either go on
+shore or be hanged on board, which he pleased, I then gave over all hope of
+being received again. I was not very thankful in my thoughts to my master
+for his soliciting the captain for me, because I knew that what he did was
+not in kindness to me so much as in kindness to himself; I mean, to
+preserve the wages which he got for me, which amounted to above six dollars
+a month, including what the captain allowed him for my particular service
+to him.
+
+When I understood that my master was so apparently kind, I asked if I might
+not be admitted to speak with him, and they told me I might, if my master
+would come down to me, but I could not be allowed to come up to him; so
+then I desired my master might be spoke to to come to me, and he
+accordingly came to me. I fell on my knees to him, and begged he would
+forgive me what I had done to displease him; and indeed the resolution I
+had taken to murder him lay with some horror upon my mind just at that
+time, so that I was once just a-going to confess it, and beg him to forgive
+me, but I kept it in. He told me he had done all he could to obtain my
+pardon of the captain, but could not and he knew no way for me but to have
+patience, and submit to my fate; and if they came to speak with any ship of
+their nation at the Cape, he would endeavour to have them stand in, and
+fetch us off again, if we might be found.
+
+Then I begged I might have my clothes on shore with me. He told me he was
+afraid I should have little need of clothes, for he did not see how we
+could long subsist on the island, and that he had been told that the
+inhabitants were cannibals or men-eaters (though he had no reason for that
+suggestion), and we should not be able to live among them. I told him I was
+not so afraid of that as I was of starving for want of victuals; and as for
+the inhabitants being cannibals, I believed we should be more likely to eat
+them than they us, if we could but get at them. But I was mightily
+concerned, I said, we should have no weapons with us to defend ourselves,
+and I begged nothing now, but that he would give me a gun and a sword, with
+a little powder and shot.
+
+He smiled, and said they would signify nothing to us, for it was impossible
+for us to pretend to preserve our lives among such a populous and desperate
+nation as the people of this island were. I told him that, however, it
+would do us this good, for we should not be devoured or destroyed
+immediately; so I begged hard for the gun. At last he told me he did not
+know whether the captain would give him leave to give me a gun, and if not,
+he durst not do it; but he promised to use his interest to obtain it for
+me, which he did, and the next day he sent me a gun, with some ammunition,
+but told me the captain would not suffer the ammunition to be given us till
+we were set all on shore, and till he was just going to set sail. He also
+sent me the few clothes I had in the ship, which indeed were not many.
+
+Two days after this, we were all carried on shore together; the rest of my
+fellow-criminals hearing I had a gun, and some powder and shot, solicited
+for liberty to carry the like with them, which was also granted them; and
+thus we were set on shore to shift for ourselves.
+
+At our first coming into the island we were terrified exceedingly with the
+sight of the barbarous people, whose figure was made more terrible to us
+than it really was by the report we had of them from the seamen; but when
+we came to converse with them awhile, we found they were not cannibals, as
+was reported, or such as would fall immediately upon us and eat us up; but
+they came and sat down by us, and wondered much at our clothes and arms,
+and made signs to give us some victuals, such as they had, which was only
+roots and plants dug out of the ground for the present, but they brought us
+fowls and flesh afterwards in good plenty.
+
+This encouraged the other four men that were with me very much, for they
+were quite dejected before; but now they began to be very familiar with
+them, and made signs, that if they would use us kindly, we would stay and
+live with them; which they seemed glad of, though they knew little of the
+necessity we were under to do so, or how much we were afraid of them.
+
+However, upon second thoughts we resolved that we would only stay in that
+part so long as the ship rid in the bay, and then making them believe we
+were gone with the ship, we would go and place ourselves, if possible,
+where there were no inhabitants to be seen, and so live as we could, or
+perhaps watch for a ship that might be driven upon the coast as we were.
+
+The ship continued a fortnight in the roads, repairing some damage which
+had been done her in the late storm, and taking in wood and water; and
+during this time, the boat coming often on shore, the men brought us
+several refreshments, and the natives believing we only belonged to the
+ship, were civil enough. We lived in a kind of a tent on the shore, or
+rather a hut, which we made with the boughs of trees, and sometimes in the
+night retired to a wood a little out of their way, to let them think we
+were gone on board the ship. However, we found them barbarous, treacherous,
+and villainous enough in their nature, only civil from fear, and therefore
+concluded we should soon fall into their hands when the ship was gone.
+
+The sense of this wrought upon my fellow-sufferers even to distraction; and
+one of them, being a carpenter, in his mad fit, swam off to the ship in the
+night, though she lay then a league to sea, and made such pitiful moan to
+be taken in, that the captain was prevailed with at last to take him in,
+though they let him lie swimming three hours in the water before he
+consented to it.
+
+Upon this, and his humble submission, the captain received him, and, in a
+word, the importunity of this man (who for some time petitioned to be taken
+in, though they hanged him as soon as they had him) was such as could not
+be resisted; for, after he had swam so long about the ship, he was not able
+to reach the shore again; and the captain saw evidently that the man must
+be taken on board or suffered to drown, and the whole ship's company
+offering to be bound for him for his good behaviour, the captain at last
+yielded, and he was taken up, but almost dead with his being so long in the
+water.
+
+When this man was got in, he never left importuning the captain, and all
+the rest of the officers, in behalf of us that were behind, but to the very
+last day the captain was inexorable; when, at the time their preparations
+were making to sail, and orders given to hoist the boats into the ship, all
+the seamen in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck, where the
+captain was walking with some of his officers, and appointing the boatswain
+to speak for them, he went up, and falling on his knees to the captain,
+begged of him, in the humblest manner possible, to receive the four men on
+board again, offering to answer for their fidelity, or to have them kept in
+chains till they came to Lisbon, and there to be delivered up to justice,
+rather than, as they said, to have them left to be murdered by savages, or
+devoured by wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took any
+notice of them, but when he did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and
+threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking for them.
+
+Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than the rest, but still with
+all possible respect to the captain, besought his honour, as he called him,
+that he would give leave to some more of them to go on shore, and die with
+their companions, or, if possible, to assist them to resist the barbarians.
+The captain, rather provoked than cowed with this, came to the barricade of
+the quarter-deck, and speaking very prudently to the men (for had he spoken
+roughly, two-thirds of them would have left the ship, if not all of them),
+he told them, it was for their safety as well as his own that he had been
+obliged to that severity; that mutiny on board a ship was the same thing as
+treason in a king's palace, and he could not answer it to his owners and
+employers to trust the ship and goods committed to his charge with men who
+had entertained thoughts of the worst and blackest nature; that he wished
+heartily that it had been anywhere else that they had been set on shore,
+where they might have been in less hazard from the savages; that, if he had
+designed they should be destroyed, he could as well have executed them on
+board as the other two; that he wished it had been in some other part of
+the world, where he might have delivered them up to the civil justice, or
+might have left them among Christians; but it was better their lives were
+put in hazard than his life, and the safety of the ship; and that though he
+did not know that he had deserved so ill of any of them as that they should
+leave the ship rather than do their duty, yet if any of them were resolved
+to do so unless he would consent to take a gang of traitors on board, who,
+as he had proved before them all, had conspired to murder him, he would not
+hinder them, nor for the present would he resent their importunity; but, if
+there was nobody left in the ship but himself, he would never consent to
+take them on board.
+
+This discourse was delivered so well, was in itself so reasonable, was
+managed with so much temper, yet so boldly concluded with a negative, that
+the greatest part of the men were satisfied for the present. However, as it
+put the men into juntos and cabals, they were not composed for some hours;
+the wind also slackening towards night, the captain ordered not to weigh
+till next morning.
+
+The same night twenty-three of the men, among whom was the gunner's mate,
+the surgeon's assistant, and two carpenters, applying to the chief mate
+told him, that as the captain had given them leave to go on shore to their
+comrades, they begged that he would speak to the captain not to take it ill
+that they were desirous to go and die with their companions; and that they
+thought they could do no less in such an extremity than go to them;
+because, if there was any way to save their lives, it was by adding to
+their numbers, and making them strong enough to assist one another in
+defending themselves against the savages, till perhaps they might one time
+or other find means to make their escape, and get to their own country
+again.
+
+The mate told them, in so many words, that he durst not speak to the
+captain upon any such design, and was very sorry they had no more respect
+for him than to desire him to go upon such an errand; but, if they were
+resolved upon such an enterprise, he would advise them to take the
+long-boat in the morning betimes, and go off, seeing the captain had given
+them leave, and leave a civil letter behind them to the captain, and to
+desire him to send his men on shore for the boat, which should be delivered
+very honestly, and he promised to keep their counsel so long.
+
+Accordingly, an hour before day, those twenty-three men, with every man a
+firelock and a cutlass, with some pistols, three halberds or half-pikes,
+and good store of powder and ball, without any provision but about half a
+hundred of bread, but with all their chests and clothes, tools,
+instruments, books, &c., embarked themselves so silently, that the captain
+got no notice of it till they were gotten half the way on shore.
+
+As soon as the captain heard of it he called for the gunner's mate, the
+chief gunner being at the time sick in his cabin, and ordered to fire at
+them; but, to his great mortification, the gunner's mate was one of the
+number, and was gone with them; and indeed it was by this means they got so
+many arms and so much ammunition. When the captain found how it was, and
+that there was no help for it, he began to be a little appeased, and made
+light of it, and called up the men, and spoke kindly to them, and told them
+he was very well satisfied in the fidelity and ability of those that were
+now left, and that he would give to them, for their encouragement, to be
+divided among them, the wages which were due to the men that were gone, and
+that it was a great satisfaction to him that the ship was free from such a
+mutinous rabble, who had not the least reason for their discontent.
+
+The men seemed very well satisfied, and particularly the promise of the
+wages of those who were gone went a great way with them. After this, the
+letter which was left by the men was given to the captain by his boy, with
+whom, it seems, the men had left it. The letter was much to the same
+purpose of what they had said to the mate, and which he declined to say for
+them, only that at the end of their letter they told the captain that, as
+they had no dishonest design, so they had taken nothing away with them
+which was not their own, except some arms and ammunition, such as were
+absolutely necessary to them, as well for their defence against the savages
+as to kill fowls or beasts for their food, that they might not perish; and
+as there were considerable sums due to them for wages, they hoped he would
+allow the arms and ammunition upon their accounts. They told him that, as
+to the ship's longboat, which they had taken to bring them on shore, they
+knew it was necessary to him, and they were very willing to restore it to
+him, and if he pleased to send for it, it should be very honestly delivered
+to his men, and not the least injury offered to any of those who came for
+it, nor the least persuasion or invitation made use of to any of them to
+stay with them; and, at the bottom of the letter, they very humbly besought
+him that, for their defence, and for the safety of their lives, he would be
+pleased to send them a barrel of powder and some ammunition, and give them
+leave to keep the mast and sail of the boat, that if it was possible for
+them to make themselves a boat of any kind, they might shift off to sea, to
+save themselves in such part of the world as their fate should direct them
+to.
+
+Upon this the captain, who had won much upon the rest of his men by what he
+had said to them, and was very easy as to the general peace (for it was
+very true that the most mutinous of the men were gone), came out to the
+quarter-deck, and, calling the men together, let them know the substance of
+the letter, and told the men that, however they had not deserved such
+civility from him, yet he was not willing to expose them more than they
+were willing to expose themselves; he was inclined to send them some
+ammunition, and as they had desired but one barrel of powder, he would send
+them two barrels, and shot, or lead and moulds to make shot, in proportion;
+and, to let them see that he was civiller to them than they deserved, he
+ordered a cask of arrack and a great bag of bread to be sent them for
+subsistence till they should be able to furnish themselves.
+
+The rest of the men applauded the captain's generosity, and every one of
+them sent us something or other, and about three in the afternoon the
+pinnace came on shore, and brought us all these things, which we were very
+glad of, and returned the long-boat accordingly; and as to the men that
+came with the pinnace, as the captain had singled out such men as he knew
+would not come over to us, so they had positive orders not to bring any one
+of us on board again, upon pain of death; and indeed both were so true to
+our points, that we neither asked them to stay, nor they us to go.
+
+We were now a good troop, being in all twenty-seven men, very well armed,
+and provided with everything but victuals; we had two carpenters among us,
+a gunner, and, which was worth all the rest, a surgeon or doctor; that is
+to say, he was an assistant to a surgeon at Goa, and was entertained as a
+supernumerary with us. The carpenters had brought all their tools, the
+doctor all his instruments and medicines, and indeed we had a great deal of
+baggage, that is to say, on the whole, for some of us had little more than
+the clothes on our backs, of whom I was one; but I had one thing which none
+of them had, viz., I had the twenty-two moidores of gold which I had stole
+at the Brazils, and two pieces of eight. The two pieces of eight I showed,
+and one moidore, and none of them ever suspected that I had any more money
+in the world, having been known to be only a poor boy taken up in charity,
+as you have heard, and used like a slave, and in the worst manner of a
+slave, by my cruel master the pilot.
+
+It will be easy to imagine we four that were left at first were joyful,
+nay, even surprised with joy at the coming of the rest, though at first we
+were frighted, and thought they came to fetch us back to hang us; but they
+took ways quickly to satisfy us that they were in the same condition with
+us, only with this additional circumstance, theirs was voluntary, and ours
+by force.
+
+The first piece of news they told us after the short history of their
+coming away was, that our companion was on board, but how he got thither we
+could not imagine, for he had given us the slip, and we never imagined he
+could swim so well as to venture off to the ship, which lay at so great a
+distance; nay, we did not so much as know that he could swim at all, and
+not thinking anything of what really happened, we thought he must have
+wandered into the woods and was devoured, or was fallen into the hands of
+the natives, and was murdered; and these thoughts filled us with fears
+enough, and of several kinds, about its being some time or other our lot to
+fall into their hands also. But hearing how he had with much difficulty
+been received on board the ship again and pardoned, we were much better
+satisfied than before.
+
+Being now, as I have said, a considerable number of us, and in condition to
+defend ourselves, the first thing we did was to give every one his hand
+that we would not separate from one another upon any occasion whatsoever,
+but that we would live and die together; that we would kill no food, but
+that we would distribute it in public; and that we would be in all things
+guided by the majority, and not insist upon our own resolutions in anything
+if the majority were against it; that we would appoint a captain among us
+to be our governor or leader during pleasure; that while he was in office
+we would obey him without reserve, on pain of death; and that every one
+should take turn, but the captain was not to act in any particular thing
+without advice of the rest, and by the majority.
+
+Having established these rules, we resolved to enter into some measures for
+our food, and for conversing with the inhabitants or natives of the island
+for our supply. As for food, they were at first very useful to us, but we
+soon grew weary of them, being an ignorant, ravenous, brutish sort of
+people, even worse than the natives of any other country that we had seen;
+and we soon found that the principal part of our subsistence was to be had
+by our guns, shooting of deer and other creatures, and fowls of all other
+sorts, of which there is abundance.
+
+We found the natives did not disturb or concern themselves much about us;
+nor did they inquire, or perhaps know, whether we stayed among them or not,
+much less that our ship was gone quite away, and had cast us off, as was
+our case; for the next morning, after we had sent back the long-boat, the
+ship stood away to the south-east, and in four hours' time was out of our
+sight.
+
+The next day two of us went out into the country one way, and two another,
+to see what kind of a land we were in; and we soon found the country was
+very pleasant and fruitful, and a convenient place enough to live in; but,
+as before, inhabited by a parcel of creatures scarce human, or capable of
+being made social on any account whatsoever.
+
+We found the place full of cattle and provisions; but whether we might
+venture to take them where we could find them or not, we did not know; and
+though we were under a necessity to get provisions, yet we were loth to
+bring down a whole nation of devils upon us at once, and therefore some of
+our company agreed to try to speak with some of the country, if we could,
+that we might see what course was to be taken with them. Eleven of our men
+went on this errand, well armed and furnished for defence. They brought
+word that they had seen some of the natives, who appeared very civil to
+them, but very shy and afraid, seeing their guns, for it was easy to
+perceive that the natives knew what their guns were, and what use they were
+of.
+
+They made signs to the natives for some food, and they went and fetched
+several herbs and roots, and some milk; but it was evident they did not
+design to give it away, but to sell it, making signs to know what our men
+would give them.
+
+Our men were perplexed at this, for they had nothing to barter; however,
+one of the men pulled out a knife and showed them, and they were so fond of
+it that they were ready to go together by the ears for the knife. The
+seaman seeing that, was willing to make a good market of his knife, and
+keeping them chaffering about it a good while, some offered him roots, and
+others milk; at last one offered him a goat for it, which he took. Then
+another of our men showed them another knife, but they had nothing good
+enough for that, whereupon one of them made signs that he would go and
+fetch something; so our men stayed three hours for their return, when they
+came back and brought him a small-sized, thick, short cow, very fat and
+good meat, and gave him for his knife.
+
+This was a good market, but our misfortune was we had no merchandise; for
+our knives were as needful to us as to them, and but that we were in
+distress for food, and must of necessity have some, these men would not
+have parted with their knives.
+
+However, in a little time more we found that the woods were full of living
+creatures, which we might kill for our food, and that without giving
+offence to them; so that our men went daily out a-hunting, and never failed
+in killing something or other; for, as to the natives, we had no goods to
+barter; and for money, all the stock among us would not have subsisted us
+long. However, we called a general council to see what money we had, and to
+bring it all together, that it might go as far as possible; and when it
+came to my turn, I pulled out a moidore and the two dollars I spoke of
+before.
+
+This moidore I ventured to show, that they might not despise me too much
+for adding too little to the store, and that they might not pretend to
+search me; and they were very civil to me, upon the presumption that I had
+been so faithful to them as not to conceal anything from them.
+
+But our money did us little service, for the people neither knew the value
+or the use of it, nor could they justly rate the gold in proportion with
+the silver; so that all our money, which was not much when it was all put
+together, would go but a little way with us, that is to say, to buy us
+provisions.
+
+Our next consideration was to get away from this cursed place, and whither
+to go. When my opinion came to be asked, I told them I would leave that all
+to them, and I told them I had rather they would let me go into the woods
+to get them some provisions, than consult with me, for I would agree to
+whatever they did; but they would not agree to that, for they would not
+consent that any of us should go into the woods alone; for though we had
+yet seen no lions or tigers in the woods, we were assured there were many
+in the island, besides other creatures as dangerous, and perhaps worse, as
+we afterwards found by our own experience.
+
+We had many adventures in the woods, for our provisions, and often met with
+wild and terrible beasts, which we could not call by their names; but as
+they were, like us, seeking their prey, but were themselves good for
+nothing, so we disturbed them as little as possible.
+
+Our consultations concerning our escape from this place, which, as I have
+said, we were now upon, ended in this only, that as we had two carpenters
+among us, and that they had tools almost of all sorts with them, we should
+try to build us a boat to go off to sea with, and that then, perhaps, we
+might find our way back to Goa, or land on some more proper place to make
+our escape. The counsels of this assembly were not of great moment, yet as
+they seem to be introductory of many more remarkable adventures which
+happened under my conduct hereabouts many years after, I think this
+miniature of my future enterprises may not be unpleasant to relate.
+
+To the building of a boat I made no objection, and away they went to work
+immediately; but as they went on, great difficulties occurred, such as the
+want of saws to cut our plank; nails, bolts, and spikes, to fasten the
+timbers; hemp, pitch, and tar, to caulk and pay her seams, and the like. At
+length, one of the company proposed that, instead of building a bark or
+sloop, or shallop, or whatever they would call it, which they found was so
+difficult, they would rather make a large periagua, or canoe, which might
+be done with great ease.
+
+It was presently objected, that we could never make a canoe large enough to
+pass the great ocean, which we were to go over to get to the coast of
+Malabar; that it not only would not bear the sea, but it would never bear
+the burden, for we were not only twenty-seven men of us, but had a great
+deal of luggage with us, and must, for our provision, take in a great deal
+more.
+
+I never proposed to speak in their general consultations before, but
+finding they were at some loss about what kind of vessel they should make,
+and how to make it, and what would be fit for our use, and what not, I told
+them I found they were at a full stop in their counsels of every kind; that
+it was true we could never pretend to go over to Goa on the coast of
+Malabar in a canoe, which though we could all get into it, and that it
+would bear the sea well enough, yet would not hold our provisions, and
+especially we could not put fresh water enough into it for the voyage; and
+to make such an adventure would be nothing but mere running into certain
+destruction, and yet that nevertheless I was for making a canoe.
+
+They answered, that they understood all I had said before well enough, but
+what I meant by telling them first how dangerous and impossible it was to
+make our escape in a canoe, and yet then to advise making a canoe, that
+they could not understand.
+
+To this I answered, that I conceived our business was not to attempt our
+escape in a canoe, but that, as there were other vessels at sea besides our
+ship, and that there were few nations that lived on the sea-shore that were
+so barbarous, but that they went to sea in some boats or other, our
+business was to cruise along the coast of the island, which was very long,
+and to seize upon the first we could get that was better than our own, and
+so from that to another, till perhaps we might at last get a good ship to
+carry us wherever we pleased to go.
+
+"Excellent advice," says one of them. "Admirable advice," says another.
+"Yes, yes," says the third (which was the gunner), "the English dog has
+given excellent advice; but it is just the way to bring us all to the
+gallows. The rogue has given us devilish advice, indeed, to go a-thieving,
+till from a little vessel we came to a great ship, and so we shall turn
+downright pirates, the end of which is to be hanged."
+
+"You may call us pirates," says another, "if you will, and if we fall into
+bad hands, we may be used like pirates; but I care not for that, I'll be a
+pirate, or anything, nay, I'll be hanged for a pirate rather than starve
+here, therefore I think the advice is very good." And so they cried all,
+"Let us have a canoe." The gunner, over-ruled by the rest, submitted; but
+as we broke up the council, he came to me, takes me by the hand, and,
+looking into the palm of my hand, and into my face too, very gravely, "My
+lad," says he, "thou art born to do a world of mischief; thou hast
+commenced pirate very young; but have a care of the gallows, young man;
+have a care, I say, for thou wilt be an eminent thief."
+
+I laughed at him, and told him I did not know what I might come to
+hereafter, but as our case was now, I should make no scruple to take the
+first ship I came at to get our liberty; I only wished we could see one,
+and come at her. Just while we were talking, one of our men that was at the
+door of our hut, told us that the carpenter, who it seems was upon a hill
+at a distance, cried out, "A sail! a sail!"
+
+We all turned out immediately; but, though it was very clear weather, we
+could see nothing; but the carpenter continuing to halloo to us, "A sail! a
+sail!" away we run up the hill, and there we saw a ship plainly; but it was
+at a very great distance, too far for us to make any signal to her.
+However, we made a fire upon the hill, with all the wood we could get
+together, and made as much smoke as possible. The wind was down, and it was
+almost calm; but as we thought, by a perspective glass which the gunner had
+in his pocket, her sails were full, and she stood away large with the wind
+at E.N.E., taking no notice of our signal, but making for the Cape de Bona
+Speranza; so we had no comfort from her.
+
+We went, therefore, immediately to work about our intended canoe; and,
+having singled out a very large tree to our minds, we fell to work with
+her; and having three good axes among us, we got it down, but it was four
+days' time first, though we worked very hard too. I do not remember what
+wood it was, or exactly what dimensions, but I remember that it was a very
+large one, and we were as much encouraged when we launched it, and found it
+swam upright and steady, as we would have been at another time if we had
+had a good man-of-war at our command.
+
+She was so very large, that she carried us all very, very easily, and would
+have carried two or three tons of baggage with us; so that we began to
+consult about going to sea directly to Goa; but many other considerations
+checked that thought, especially when we came to look nearer into it; such
+as want of provisions, and no casks for fresh water; no compass to steer
+by; no shelter from the breach of the high sea, which would certainly
+founder us; no defence from the heat of the weather, and the like; so that
+they all came readily into my project, to cruise about where we were, and
+see what might offer.
+
+Accordingly, to gratify our fancy, we went one day all out to sea in her
+together, and we were in a very fair way to have had enough of it; for when
+she had us all on board, and that we were gotten about half a league to
+sea, there happening to be a pretty high swell of the sea, though little or
+no wind, yet she wallowed so in the sea, that we all of us thought she
+would at last wallow herself bottom up; so we set all to work to get her in
+nearer the shore, and giving her fresh way in the sea, she swam more
+steady, and with some hard work we got her under the land again.
+
+We were now at a great loss; the natives were civil enough to us, and came
+often to discourse with us; one time they brought one whom they showed
+respect to as a king with them, and they set up a long pole between them
+and us, with a great tassel of hair hanging, not on the top, but something
+above the middle of it, adorned with little chains, shells, bits of brass,
+and the like; and this, we understood afterwards, was a token of amity and
+friendship; and they brought down to us victuals in abundance, cattle,
+fowls, herbs, and roots; but we were in the utmost confusion on our side;
+for we had nothing to buy with, or exchange for; and as to giving us things
+for nothing they had no notion of that again. As to our money, it was mere
+trash to them, they had no value for it; so that we were in a fair way to
+be starved. Had we had but some toys and trinkets, brass chains, baubles,
+glass beads, or, in a word, the veriest trifles that a shipload of would
+not have been worth the freight, we might have bought cattle and provisions
+enough for an army, or to victual a fleet of men-of-war; but for gold or
+silver we could get nothing.
+
+Upon this we were in a strange consternation. I was but a young fellow, but
+I was for falling upon them with our firearms, and taking all the cattle
+from them, and send them to the devil to stop their hunger, rather than be
+starved ourselves; but I did not consider that this might have brought ten
+thousand of them down upon us the next day; and though we might have killed
+a vast number of them, and perhaps have frighted the rest, yet their own
+desperation, and our small number, would have animated them so that, one
+time or other, they would have destroyed us all.
+
+In the middle of our consultation, one of our men who had been a kind of a
+cutler, or worker in iron, started up and asked the carpenter if, among all
+his tools, he could not help him to a file. "Yes," says the carpenter, "I
+can, but it is a small one." "The smaller the better," says the other. Upon
+this he goes to work, and first by heating a piece of an old broken chisel
+in the fire, and then with the help of his file, he made himself several
+kinds of tools for his work. Then he takes three or four pieces of eight,
+and beats them out with a hammer upon a stone, till they were very broad
+and thin; then he cuts them out into the shape of birds and beasts; he made
+little chains of them for bracelets and necklaces, and turned them into so
+many devices of his own head, that it is hardly to be expressed.
+
+When he had for about a fortnight exercised his head and hands at this
+work, we tried the effect of his ingenuity; and, having another meeting
+with the natives, were surprised to see the folly of the poor people. For a
+little bit of silver cut in the shape of a bird, we had two cows, and,
+which was our loss, if it had been in brass, it had been still of more
+value. For one of the bracelets made of chain-work, we had as much
+provision of several sorts, as would fairly have been worth, in England,
+fifteen or sixteen pounds; and so of all the rest. Thus, that which when it
+was in coin was not worth sixpence to us, when thus converted into toys and
+trifles, was worth a hundred times its real value, and purchased for us
+anything we had occasion for.
+
+In this condition we lived upwards of a year, but all of us began to be
+very much tired of it, and, whatever came of it, resolved to attempt an
+escape. We had furnished ourselves with no less than three very good
+canoes; and as the monsoons, or trade-winds, generally affect that country,
+blowing in most parts of this island one six months of a year one way, and
+the other six months another way, we concluded we might be able to bear the
+sea well enough. But always, when we came to look into it, the want of
+fresh water was the thing that put us off from such an adventure, for it is
+a prodigious length, and what no man on earth could be able to perform
+without water to drink.
+
+Being thus prevailed upon by our own reason to set the thoughts of that
+voyage aside, we had then but two things before us; one was, to put to sea
+the other way; viz., west, and go away for the Cape of Good Hope, where,
+first or last, we should meet with some of our own country ships, or else
+to put for the mainland of Africa, and either travel by land, or sail along
+the coast towards the Red Sea, where we should, first or last, find a ship
+of some nation or other, that would take us up; or perhaps we might take
+them up, which, by-the-bye, was the thing that always ran in my head.
+
+It was our ingenious cutler, whom ever after we called silversmith, that
+proposed this; but the gunner told him, that he had been in the Red Sea in
+a Malabar sloop, and he knew this, that if we went into the Red Sea, we
+should either be killed by the wild Arabs, or taken and made slaves of by
+the Turks; and therefore he was not for going that way.
+
+Upon this I took occasion to put in my vote again. "Why," said I, "do we
+talk of being killed by the Arabs, or made slaves of by the Turks? Are we
+not able to board almost any vessel we shall meet with in those seas; and,
+instead of their taking us, we to take them?" "Well done, pirate," said the
+gunner (he that had looked in my hand, and told me I should come to the
+gallows), "I'll say that for him," says he, "he always looks the same way.
+But I think, of my conscience, it is our only way now." "Don't tell me,"
+says I, "of being a pirate; we must be pirates, or anything, to get fairly
+out of this cursed place."
+
+In a word, they concluded all, by my advice, that our business was to
+cruise for anything we could see. "Why then," said I to them, "our first
+business is to see if the people upon this island have no navigation, and
+what boats they use; and, if they have any better or bigger than ours, let
+us take one of them." First, indeed, all our aim was to get, if possible, a
+boat with a deck and a sail; for then we might have saved our provisions,
+which otherwise we could not.
+
+We had, to our great good fortune, one sailor among us, who had been
+assistant to the cook; he told us, that he would find a way how to preserve
+our beef without cask or pickle; and this he did effectually by curing it
+in the sun, with the help of saltpetre, of which there was great plenty in
+the island; so that, before we found any method for our escape, we had
+dried the flesh of six or seven cows and bullocks, and ten or twelve goats,
+and it relished so well, that we never gave ourselves the trouble to boil
+it when we ate it, but either broiled it or ate it dry. But our main
+difficulty about fresh water still remained; for we had no vessel to put
+any into, much less to keep any for our going to sea.
+
+But our first voyage being only to coast the island, we resolved to
+venture, whatever the hazard or consequence of it might be, and in order to
+preserve as much fresh water as we could, our carpenter made a well athwart
+the middle of one of our canoes, which he separated from the other parts of
+the canoe, so as to make it tight to hold the water and covered so as we
+might step upon it; and this was so large that it held near a hogshead of
+water very well. I cannot better describe this well than by the same kind
+which the small fishing-boats in England have to preserve their fish alive
+in; only that this, instead of having holes to let the salt water in, was
+made sound every way to keep it out; and it was the first invention, I
+believe, of its kind for such an use; but necessity is a spur to ingenuity
+and the mother of invention.
+
+It wanted but a little consultation to resolve now upon our voyage. The
+first design was only to coast it round the island, as well to see if we
+could seize upon any vessel fit to embark ourselves in, as also to take
+hold of any opportunity which might present for our passing over to the
+main; and therefore our resolution was to go on the inside or west shore of
+the island, where, at least at one point, the land stretching a great way
+to the north-west, the distance is not extraordinary great from the island
+to the coast of Africa.
+
+Such a voyage, and with such a desperate crew, I believe was never made,
+for it is certain we took the worst side of the island to look for any
+shipping, especially for shipping of other nations, this being quite out of
+the way; however, we put to sea, after taking all our provisions and
+ammunition, bag and baggage, on board; we had made both mast and sail for
+our two large periaguas, and the other we paddled along as well as we
+could; but when a gale sprung up, we took her in tow.
+
+We sailed merrily forward for several days, meeting with nothing to
+interrupt us. We saw several of the natives in small canoes catching fish,
+and sometimes we endeavoured to come near enough to speak with them, but
+they were always shy and afraid of us, making in for the shore as soon as
+we attempted it; till one of our company remembered the signal of
+friendship which the natives made us from the south part of the island,
+viz., of setting up a long pole, and put us in mind that perhaps it was the
+same thing to them as a flag of truce to us. So we resolved to try it; and
+accordingly the next time we saw any of their fishing-boats at sea we put
+up a pole in our canoe that had no sail, and rowed towards them. As soon as
+they saw the pole they stayed for us, and as we came nearer paddled towards
+us; when they came to us they showed themselves very much pleased, and gave
+us some large fish, of which we did not know the names, but they were very
+good. It was our misfortune still that we had nothing to give them in
+return; but our artist, of whom I spoke before, gave them two little thin
+plates of silver, beaten, as I said before, out of a piece of eight; they
+were cut in a diamond square, longer one way than the other, and a hole
+punched at one of the longest corners. This they were so fond of that they
+made us stay till they had cast their lines and nets again, and gave us as
+many fish as we cared to have.
+
+All this while we had our eyes upon their boats, viewed them very narrowly,
+and examined whether any of them were fit for our turn, but they were poor,
+sorry things; their sail was made of a large mat, only one that was of a
+piece of cotton stuff fit for little, and their ropes were twisted flags of
+no strength; so we concluded we were better as we were, and let them alone.
+We went forward to the north, keeping the coast close on board for twelve
+days together, and having the wind at east and E.S.E., we made very fresh
+way. We saw no towns on the shore, but often saw some huts by the
+water-side upon the rocks, and always abundance of people about them, who
+we could perceive run together to stare at us.
+
+It was as odd a voyage as ever man went; we were a little fleet of three
+ships, and an army of between twenty and thirty as dangerous fellows as
+ever they had amongst them; and had they known what we were, they would
+have compounded to give us everything we desired to be rid of us.
+
+On the other hand, we were as miserable as nature could well make us to be,
+for we were upon a voyage and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and
+nowhere; for though we knew what we intended to do, we did really not know
+what we were doing. We went forward and forward by a northerly course, and
+as we advanced the heat increased, which began to be intolerable to us, who
+were on the water, without any covering from heat or wet; besides, we were
+now in the month of October, or thereabouts, in a southern latitude; and as
+we went every day nearer the sun, the sun came also every day nearer to us,
+till at last we found ourselves in the latitude of 20 degrees; and having
+passed the tropic about five or six days before that, in a few days more
+the sun would be in the zenith, just over our heads.
+
+Upon these considerations we resolved to seek for a good place to go on
+shore again, and pitch our tents, till the heat of the weather abated. We
+had by this time measured half the length of the island, and were come to
+that part where the shore tending away to the north-west, promised fair to
+make our passage over to the mainland of Africa much shorter than we
+expected. But, notwithstanding that, we had good reason to believe it was
+about 120 leagues.
+
+So, the heats considered, we resolved to take harbour; besides, our
+provisions were exhausted, and we had not many days' store left.
+Accordingly, putting in for the shore early in the morning, as we usually
+did once in three or four days for fresh water, we sat down and considered
+whether we would go on or take up our standing there; but upon several
+considerations, too long to repeat here, we did not like the place, so we
+resolved to go on a few days longer.
+
+After sailing on N.W. by N. with a fresh gale at S.E., about six days, we
+found, at a great distance, a large promontory or cape of land, pushing out
+a long way into the sea, and as we were exceeding fond of seeing what was
+beyond the cape, we resolved to double it before we took into harbour, so
+we kept on our way, the gale continuing, and yet it was four days more
+before we reached the cape. But it is not possible to express the
+discouragement and melancholy that seized us all when we came thither; for
+when we made the headland of the cape, we were surprised to see the shore
+fall away on the other side as much as it had advanced on this side, and a
+great deal more; and that, in short, if we would venture over to the shore
+of Africa, it must be from hence, for that if we went further, the breadth
+of the sea still increased, and to what breadth it might increase we knew
+not.
+
+While we mused upon this discovery, we were surprised with very bad
+weather, and especially violent rains, with thunder and lightning, most
+unusually terrible to us. In this pickle we run for the shore, and getting
+under the lee of the cape, run our frigates into a little creek, where we
+saw the land overgrown with trees, and made all the haste possible to get
+on shore, being exceeding wet, and fatigued with the heat, the thunder,
+lightning, and rain.
+
+Here we thought our case was very deplorable indeed, and therefore our
+artist, of whom I have spoken so often, set up a great cross of wood on the
+hill which was within a mile of the headland, with these words, but in the
+Portuguese language:--
+
+"Point Desperation. Jesus have mercy."
+
+We set to work immediately to build us some huts, and to get our clothes
+dried; and though I was young and had no skill in such things, yet I shall
+never forget the little city we built, for it was no less, and we fortified
+it accordingly; and the idea is so fresh in my thought, that I cannot but
+give a short description of it.
+
+Our camp was on the south side of a little creek on the sea, and under the
+shelter of a steep hill, which lay, though on the other side of the creek,
+yet within a quarter of a mile of us, N.W. by N., and very happily
+intercepted the heat of the sun all the after part of the day. The spot we
+pitched on had a little fresh water brook, or a stream running into the
+creek by us; and we saw cattle feeding in the plains and low ground east
+and to the south of us a great way.
+
+Here we set up twelve little huts like soldiers' tents, but made of the
+boughs of trees stuck in the ground, and bound together on the top with
+withies, and such other things as we could get; the creek was our defence
+on the north, a little brook on the west, and the south and east sides were
+fortified with a bank, which entirely covered our huts; and being drawn
+oblique from the north-west to the south-east, made our city a triangle.
+Behind the bank or line our huts stood, having three other huts behind them
+at a good distance. In one of these, which was a little one, and stood
+further off, we put our gunpowder, and nothing else, for fear of danger; in
+the other, which was bigger, we dressed our victuals, and put all our
+necessaries; and in the third, which was biggest of all, we ate our
+dinners, called our councils, and sat and diverted ourselves with such
+conversation as we had one with another, which was but indifferent truly at
+that time.
+
+Our correspondence with the natives was absolutely necessary, and our
+artist the cutler having made abundance of those little diamond-cut squares
+of silver, with these we made shift to traffic with the black people for
+what we wanted; for indeed they were pleased wonderfully with them, and
+thus we got plenty of provisions. At first, and in particular, we got about
+fifty head of black cattle and goats, and our cook's mate took care to cure
+them and dry them, salt and preserve them for our grand supply; nor was
+this hard to do, the salt and saltpetre being very good, and the sun
+excessively hot; and here we lived about four months.
+
+The southern solstice was over, and the sun gone back towards the
+equinoctial, when we considered of our next adventure, which was to go over
+the sea of Zanguebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to land, if possible,
+upon the continent of Africa.
+
+We talked with many of the natives about it, such as we could make
+ourselves intelligible to, but all that we could learn from them was, that
+there was a great land of lions beyond the sea, but that it was a great way
+off. We knew as well as they that it was a long way, but our people
+differed mightily about it; some said it was 150 leagues, others not above
+100. One of our men, that had a map of the world, showed us by his scale
+that it was not above eighty leagues. Some said there were islands all the
+way to touch at, some that there were no islands at all. For my own part, I
+knew nothing of this matter one way or another, but heard it all without
+concern, whether it was near or far off; however, this we learned from an
+old man who was blind and led about by a boy, that if we stayed till the
+end of August, we should be sure of the wind to be fair and the sea smooth
+all the voyage.
+
+This was some encouragement; but staying again was very unwelcome news to
+us, because that then the sun would be returning again to the south, which
+was what our men were very unwilling to. At last we called a council of our
+whole body; their debates were too tedious to take notice of, only to note,
+that when it came to Captain Bob (for so they called me ever since I had
+taken state upon me before one of their great princes), truly I was on no
+side; it was not one farthing matter to me, I told them, whether we went or
+stayed; I had no home, and all the world was alike to me; so I left it
+entirely to them to determine.
+
+In a word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be done where we were
+without shipping; that if our business indeed was only to eat and drink, we
+could not find a better place in the world; but if our business was to get
+away, and get home into our country, we could not find a worse.
+
+I confess I liked the country wonderfully, and even then had strange
+notions of coming again to live there; and I used to say to them very often
+that if I had but a ship of twenty guns, and a sloop, and both well manned,
+I would not desire a better place in the world to make myself as rich as a
+king.
+
+But to return to the consultations they were in about going. Upon the
+whole, it was resolved to venture over for the main; and venture we did,
+madly enough, indeed, for it was the wrong time of the year to undertake
+such a voyage in that country; for, as the winds hang easterly all the
+months from September to March, so they generally hang westerly all the
+rest of the year, and blew right in our teeth; so that, as soon as we had,
+with a kind of a land-breeze, stretched over about fifteen or twenty
+leagues, and, as I may say, just enough to lose ourselves, we found the
+wind set in a steady fresh gale or breeze from the sea, at west, W.S.W., or
+S.W. by W., and never further from the west; so that, in a word, we could
+make nothing of it.
+
+On the other hand, the vessel, such as we had, would not lie close upon a
+wind; if so, we might have stretched away N.N.W., and have met with a great
+many islands in our way, as we found afterwards; but we could make nothing
+of it, though we tried, and by the trying had almost undone us all; for,
+stretching away to the north, as near the wind as we could, we had
+forgotten the shape and position of the island of Madagascar itself; how
+that we came off at the head of a promontory or point of land, that lies
+about the middle of the island, and that stretches out west a great way
+into the sea; and that now, being run a matter of forty leagues to the
+north, the shore of the island fell off again above 200 miles to the east,
+so that we were by this time in the wide ocean, between the island and the
+main, and almost 100 leagues from both.
+
+Indeed, as the winds blew fresh at west, as before, we had a smooth sea,
+and we found it pretty good going before it, and so, taking our smallest
+canoe in tow, we stood in for the shore with all the sail we could make.
+This was a terrible adventure, for, if the least gust of wind had come, we
+had been all lost, our canoes being deep and in no condition to make way in
+a high sea.
+
+This voyage, however, held us eleven days in all; and at length, having
+spent most of our provisions, and every drop of water we had, we spied
+land, to our great joy, though at the distance of ten or eleven leagues;
+and as, under the land, the wind came off like a land-breeze, and blew hard
+against us, we were two days more before we reached the shore, having all
+that while excessive hot weather, and not a drop of water or any other
+liquor, except some cordial waters, which one of our company had a little
+of left in a case of bottles.
+
+This gave us a taste of what we should have done if we had ventured forward
+with a scant wind and uncertain weather, and gave us a surfeit of our
+design for the main, at least until we might have some better vessels under
+us; so we went on shore again, and pitched our camp as before, in as
+convenient manner as we could, fortifying ourselves against any surprise;
+but the natives here were exceeding courteous, and much more civil than on
+the south part of the island; and though we could not understand what they
+said, or they us, yet we found means to make them understand that we were
+seafaring men and strangers, and that we were in distress for want of
+provisions.
+
+The first proof we had of their kindness was, that as soon as they saw us
+come on shore and begin to make our habitation, one of their captains or
+kings, for we knew not what to call them, came down with five or six men
+and some women, and brought us five goats and two young fat steers, and
+gave them to us for nothing; and when we went to offer them anything, the
+captain or the king would not let any of them touch it, or take anything of
+us. About two hours after came another king, or captain, with forty or
+fifty men after him. We began to be afraid of him, and laid hands upon our
+weapons; but he perceiving it, caused two men to go before him, carrying
+two long poles in their hands, which they held upright, as high as they
+could, which we presently perceived was a signal of peace; and these two
+poles they set up afterwards, sticking them up in the ground; and when the
+king and his men came to these two poles, they struck all their lances up
+in the ground, and came on unarmed, leaving their lances, as also their
+bows and arrows, behind them.
+
+This was to satisfy us that they were come as friends, and we were glad to
+see it, for we had no mind to quarrel with them if we could help it. The
+captain of this gang seeing some of our men making up their huts, and that
+they did it but bunglingly, he beckoned to some of his men to go and help
+us. Immediately fifteen or sixteen of them came and mingled among us, and
+went to work for us; and indeed, they were better workmen than we were, for
+they run up three or four huts for us in a moment, and much handsomer done
+than ours.
+
+After this they sent us milk, plantains, pumpkins, and abundance of roots
+and greens that were very good, and then took their leave, and would not
+take anything from us that we had. One of our men offered the king or
+captain of these men a dram, which he drank and was mightily pleased with
+it, and held out his hand for another, which we gave him; and in a word,
+after this, he hardly failed coming to us two or three times a week, always
+bringing us something or other; and one time sent us seven head of black
+cattle, some of which we cured and dried as before.
+
+And here I cannot but remember one thing, which afterwards stood us in
+great stead, viz., that the flesh of their goats, and their beef also, but
+especially the former, when we had dried and cured it, looked red, and ate
+hard and firm, as dried beef in Holland; they were so pleased with it, and
+it was such a dainty to them, that at any time after they would trade with
+us for it, not knowing, or so much as imagining what it was; so that for
+ten or twelve pounds' weight of smoke-dried beef, they would give us a
+whole bullock, or cow, or anything else we could desire.
+
+Here we observed two things that were very material to us, even essentially
+so; first, we found they had a great deal of earthenware here, which they
+made use of many ways as we did; particularly they had long, deep earthen
+pots, which they used to sink into the ground, to keep the water which they
+drunk cool and pleasant; and the other was, that they had larger canoes
+than their neighbours had.
+
+By this we were prompted to inquire if they had no larger vessels than
+those we saw there, or if any other of the inhabitants had not such. They
+signified presently that they had no larger boats than that they showed us;
+but that on the other side of the island they had larger boats, and that
+with decks upon them, and large sails; and this made us resolve to coast
+round the whole island to see them; so we prepared and victualled our canoe
+for the voyage, and, in a word, went to sea for the third time.
+
+It cost us a month or six weeks' time to perform this voyage, in which time
+we went on shore several times for water and provisions, and found the
+natives always very free and courteous; but we were surprised one morning
+early, being at the extremity of the northernmost part of the island, when
+one of our men cried out, "A sail! a sail!" We presently saw a vessel a
+great way out at sea; but after we had looked at it with our perspective
+glasses, and endeavoured all we could to make out what it was, we could not
+tell what to think of it; for it was neither ship, ketch, galley, galliot,
+or like anything that we had ever seen before; all that we could make of it
+was, that it went from us, standing out to sea. In a word, we soon lost
+sight of it, for we were in no condition to chase anything, and we never
+saw it again; but, by all that we could perceive of it, from what we saw of
+such things afterwards, it was some Arabian vessel, which had been trading
+to the coast of Mozambique, or Zanzibar, the same place where we afterwards
+went, as you shall hear.
+
+I kept no journal of this voyage, nor indeed did I all this while
+understand anything of navigation, more than the common business of a
+foremast-man; so I can say nothing to the latitudes or distances of any
+places we were at, how long we were going, or how far we sailed in a day;
+but this I remember, that being now come round the island, we sailed up the
+eastern shore due south, as we had done down the western shore due north
+before.
+
+Nor do I remember that the natives differed much from one another, either
+in stature or complexion, or in their manners, their habits, their weapons,
+or indeed in anything; and yet we could not perceive that they had any
+intelligence one with another; but they were extremely kind and civil to us
+on this side, as well as on the other.
+
+We continued our voyage south for many weeks, though with several intervals
+of going on shore to get provisions and water. At length, coming round a
+point of land which lay about a league further than ordinary into the sea,
+we were agreeably surprised with a sight which, no doubt, had been as
+disagreeable to those concerned, as it was pleasant to us. This was the
+wreck of an European ship, which had been cast away upon the rocks, which
+in that place run a great way into the sea.
+
+We could see plainly, at low water, a great deal of the ship lay dry; even
+at high water, she was not entirely covered; and that at most she did not
+lie above a league from the shore. It will easily be believed that our
+curiosity led us, the wind and weather also permitting, to go directly to
+her, which we did without any difficulty, and presently found that it was a
+Dutch-built ship, and that she could not have been very long in that
+condition, a great deal of the upper work of her stern remaining firm, with
+the mizzen-mast standing. Her stern seemed to be jammed in between two
+ridges of the rock, and so remained fast, all the fore part of the ship
+having been beaten to pieces.
+
+We could see nothing to be gotten out of the wreck that was worth our
+while; but we resolved to go on shore, and stay some time thereabouts, to
+see if perhaps we might get any light into the story of her; and we were
+not without hopes that we might hear something more particular about her
+men, and perhaps find some of them on shore there, in the same condition
+that we were in, and so might increase our company.
+
+It was a very pleasant sight to us when, coming on shore, we saw all the
+marks and tokens of a ship-carpenter's yard; as a launch-block and cradles,
+scaffolds and planks, and pieces of planks, the remains of the building a
+ship or vessel; and, in a word, a great many things that fairly invited us
+to go about the same work; and we soon came to understand that the men
+belonging to the ship that was lost had saved themselves on shore, perhaps
+in their boat, and had built themselves a barque or sloop, and so were gone
+to sea again; and, inquiring of the natives which way they went, they
+pointed to the south and south-west, by which we could easily understand
+they were gone away to the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+Nobody will imagine we could be so dull as not to gather from hence that we
+might take the same method for our escape; so we resolved first, in
+general, that we would try if possible to build us a boat of one kind or
+other, and go to sea as our fate should direct.
+
+In order to this our first work was to have the two carpenters search about
+to see what materials the Dutchmen had left behind them that might be of
+use; and, in particular, they found one that was very useful, and which I
+was much employed about, and that was a pitch-kettle, and a little pitch in
+it.
+
+When we came to set close to this work we found it very laborious and
+difficult, having but few tools, no ironwork, no cordage, no sails; so
+that, in short, whatever we built, we were obliged to be our own smiths,
+rope-makers, sail-makers, and indeed to practise twenty trades that we knew
+little or nothing of. However, necessity was the spur to invention, and we
+did many things which before we thought impracticable, that is to say, in
+our circumstances.
+
+After our two carpenters had resolved upon the dimensions of what they
+would build, they set us all to work, to go off in our boats and split up
+the wreck of the old ship, and to bring away everything we could; and
+particularly that, if possible, we should bring away the mizzen-mast, which
+was left standing, which with much difficulty we effected, after above
+twenty days' labour of fourteen of our men.
+
+At the same time we got out a great deal of ironwork, as bolts, spikes,
+nails, &c., all of which our artist, of whom I have spoken already, who was
+now grown a very dexterous smith, made us nails and hinges for our rudder,
+and spikes such as we wanted.
+
+But we wanted an anchor, and if we had had an anchor, we could not have
+made a cable; so we contented ourselves with making some ropes with the
+help of the natives, of such stuff as they made their mats of, and with
+these we made such a kind of cable or tow-line as was sufficient to fasten
+our vessel to the shore, which we contented ourselves with for that time.
+
+To be short, we spent four months here, and worked very hard too; at the
+end of which time we launched our frigate, which, in a few words, had many
+defects, but yet, all things considered, it was as well as we could expect
+it to be.
+
+In short, it was a kind of sloop, of the burthen of near eighteen or twenty
+tons; and had we had masts and sails, standing and running rigging, as is
+usual in such cases, and other conveniences, the vessel might have carried
+us wherever we could have had a mind to go; but of all the materials we
+wanted, this was the worst, viz., that we had no tar or pitch to pay the
+seams and secure the bottom; and though we did what we could, with tallow
+and oil, to make a mixture to supply that part, yet we could not bring it
+to answer our end fully; and when we launched her into the water, she was
+so leaky, and took in the water so fast, that we thought all our labour had
+been lost, for we had much ado to make her swim; and as for pumps, we had
+none, nor had we any means to make one.
+
+But at length one of the natives, a black negro-man, showed us a tree, the
+wood of which being put into the fire, sends forth a liquid that is as
+glutinous and almost as strong as tar, and of which, by boiling, we made a
+sort of stuff which served us for pitch, and this answered our end
+effectually; for we perfectly made our vessel sound and tight, so that we
+wanted no pitch or tar at all. This secret has stood me in stead upon many
+occasions since that time in the same place.
+
+Our vessel being thus finished, out of the mizzen-mast of the ship we made
+a very good mast to her, and fitted our sails to it as well as we could;
+then we made a rudder and tiller, and, in a word, everything that our
+present necessity called upon us for; and having victualled her, and put as
+much fresh water on board as we thought we wanted, or as we knew how to
+stow (for we were yet without casks), we put to sea with a fair wind.
+
+We had spent near another year in these rambles, and in this piece of work;
+for it was now, as our men said, about the beginning of our February, and
+the sun went from us apace, which was much to our satisfaction, for the
+heats were exceedingly violent. The wind, as I said, was fair; for, as I
+have since learned, the winds generally spring up to the eastward, as the
+sun goes from them to the north.
+
+Our debate now was, which way we should go, and never were men so
+irresolute; some were for going to the east, and stretching away directly
+for the coast of Malabar; but others, who considered more seriously the
+length of that voyage, shook their heads at the proposal, knowing very well
+that neither our provisions, especially of water, or our vessel, were equal
+to such a run as that is, of near 2000 miles without any land to touch at
+in the way.
+
+These men, too, had all along had a great mind to a voyage for the mainland
+of Africa, where they said we should have a fair cast for our lives, and
+might be sure to make ourselves rich, which way soever we went, if we were
+but able to make our way through, whether by sea or by land.
+
+Besides, as the case stood with us, we had not much choice for our way;
+for, if we had resolved for the east, we were at the wrong season of the
+year, and must have stayed till April or May before we had gone to sea. At
+length, as we had the wind at S.E. and E.S.E., and fine promising weather,
+we came all into the first proposal, and resolved for the coast of Africa;
+nor were we long in disputing as to our coasting the island which we were
+upon, for we were now upon the wrong side of the island for the voyage we
+intended; so we stood away to the north, and, having rounded the cape, we
+hauled away southward, under the lee of the island, thinking to reach the
+west point of land, which, as I observed before, runs out so far towards
+the coast of Africa, as would have shortened our run almost 100 leagues.
+But when we had sailed about thirty leagues, we found the winds variable
+under the shore, and right against us, so we concluded to stand over
+directly, for then we had the wind fair, and our vessel was but very ill
+fated to lie near the wind, or any way indeed but just before it.
+
+Having resolved upon it, therefore, we put into the shore to furnish
+ourselves again with fresh water and other provisions, and about the latter
+end of March, with more courage than discretion, more resolution than
+judgment, we launched for the main coast of Africa.
+
+As for me, I had no anxieties about it, so that we had but a view of
+reaching some land or other, I cared not what or where it was to be, having
+at this time no views of what was before me, nor much thought of what might
+or might not befall me; but with as little consideration as any one can be
+supposed to have at my age, I consented to everything that was proposed,
+however hazardous the thing itself, however improbable the success.
+
+The voyage, as it was undertaken with a great deal of ignorance and
+desperation, so really it was not carried on with much resolution or
+judgment; for we knew no more of the course we were to steer than this,
+that it was anywhere about the west, within two or three points N. or S.,
+and as we had no compass with us but a little brass pocket compass, which
+one of our men had more by accident than otherwise, so we could not be very
+exact in our course.
+
+However, as it pleased God that the wind continued fair at S.E. and by E.,
+we found that N.W. by W., which was right afore it, was as good a course
+for us as any we could go, and thus we went on.
+
+The voyage was much longer than we expected; our vessel also, which had no
+sail that was proportioned to her, made but very little way in the sea, and
+sailed heavily. We had, indeed, no great adventures happened in this
+voyage, being out of the way of everything that could offer to divert us;
+and as for seeing any vessel, we had not the least occasion to hail
+anything in all the voyage; for we saw not one vessel, small or great, the
+sea we were upon being entirely out of the way of all commerce; for the
+people of Madagascar knew no more of the shores of Africa than we did, only
+that there was a country of lions, as they call it, that way.
+
+We had been eight or nine days under sail, with a fair wind, when, to our
+great joy, one of our men cried out "Land!" We had great reason to be glad
+of the discovery, for we had not water enough left for above two or three
+days more, though at a short allowance. However, though it was early in the
+morning when we discovered it, we made it near night before we reached it,
+the wind slackening almost to a calm, and our ship being, as I said, a very
+dull sailer.
+
+We were sadly baulked upon our coming to the land, when we found that,
+instead of the mainland of Africa, it was only a little island, with no
+inhabitants upon it, at least none that we could find; nor any cattle,
+except a few goats, of which we killed three only. However, they served us
+for fresh meat, and we found very good water; and it was fifteen days more
+before we reached the main, which, however, at last we arrived at, and
+which was most essential to us, as we came to it just as all our provisions
+were spent. Indeed, we may say they were spent first, for we had but a pint
+of water a day to each man for the last two days. But, to our great joy, we
+saw the land, though at a great distance, the evening before, and by a
+pleasant gale in the night were by morning within two leagues of the shore.
+
+We never scrupled going ashore at the first place we came at, though, had
+we had patience, we might have found a very fine river a little farther
+north. However, we kept our frigate on float by the help of two great
+poles, which we fastened into the ground to moor her, like poles; and the
+little weak ropes, which, as I said, we had made of matting, served us well
+enough to make the vessel fast.
+
+As soon as we had viewed the country a little, got fresh water, and
+furnished ourselves with some victuals, which we found very scarce here, we
+went on board again with our stores. All we got for provision was some
+fowls that we killed, and a kind of wild buffalo or bull, very small, but
+good meat; I say, having got these things on board, we resolved to sail
+along the coast, which lay N.N.E., till we found some creek or river, that
+we might run up into the country, or some town or people; for we had reason
+enough to know the place was inhabited, because we several times saw fires
+in the night, and smoke in the day, every way at a distance from us.
+
+At length we came to a very large bay, and in it several little creeks or
+rivers emptying themselves into the sea, and we ran boldly into the first
+creek we came at; where, seeing some huts and wild people about them on the
+shore, we ran our vessel into a little cove on the north side of the creek,
+and held up a long pole, with a white bit of cloth on it, for a signal of
+peace to them. We found they understood us presently, for they came
+flocking to us, men, women, and children, most of them, of both sexes,
+stark naked. At first they stood wondering and staring at us, as if we had
+been monsters, and as if they had been frighted; but we found they inclined
+to be familiar with us afterwards. The first thing we did to try them, was,
+we held up our hands to our mouths, as if we were to drink, signifying that
+we wanted water. This they understood presently, and three of their women
+and two boys ran away up the land, and came back in about half a quarter of
+an hour, with several pots, made of earth, pretty enough, and baked, I
+suppose, in the sun; these they brought us full of water, and set them down
+near the sea-shore, and there left them, going back a little, that we might
+fetch them, which we did.
+
+Some time after this, they brought us roots and herbs, and some fruits
+which I cannot remember, and gave us; but as we had nothing to give them,
+we found them not so free as the people in Madagascar were. However, our
+cutler went to work, and, as he had saved some iron out of the wreck of the
+ship, he made abundance of toys, birds, dogs, pins, hooks, and rings; and
+we helped to file them, and make them bright for him, and when we gave them
+some of these, they brought us all sorts of provisions they had, such as
+goats, hogs, and cows, and we got victuals enough.
+
+We were now landed upon the continent of Africa, the most desolate, desert,
+and inhospitable country in the world, even Greenland and Nova Zembla
+itself not excepted, with this difference only, that even the worst part of
+it we found inhabited, though, taking the nature and quality of some of the
+inhabitants, it might have been much better to us if there had been none.
+
+And, to add to the exclamation I am making on the nature of the place, it
+was here that we took one of the rashest, and wildest, and most desperate
+resolutions that ever was taken by man, or any number of men, in the world;
+this was, to travel overland through the heart of the country, from the
+coast of Mozambique, on the east ocean, to the coast of Angola or Guinea,
+on the western or Atlantic Ocean, a continent of land of at least 1800
+miles, in which journey we had excessive heats to support, unpassable
+deserts to go over, no carriages, camels, or beasts of any kind to carry
+our baggage, innumerable numbers of wild and ravenous beasts to encounter
+with, such as lions, leopards, tigers, lizards, and elephants; we had the
+equinoctial line to pass under, and, consequently, were in the very centre
+of the torrid zone; we had nations of savages to encounter with, barbarous
+and brutish to the last degree; hunger and thirst to struggle with, and, in
+one word, terrors enough to have daunted the stoutest hearts that ever were
+placed in cases of flesh and blood.
+
+Yet, fearless of all these, we resolved to adventure, and accordingly made
+such preparations for our journey as the place we were in would allow us,
+and such as our little experience of the country seemed to dictate to us.
+
+It had been some time already that we had been used to tread barefooted
+upon the rocks, the gravel, the grass, and the sand on the shore; but as we
+found the worst thing for our feet was the walking or travelling on the dry
+burning sands, within the country, so we provided ourselves with a sort of
+shoes, made of the skins of wild beasts, with the hair inward, and being
+dried in the sun, the outsides were thick and hard, and would last a great
+while. In short, as I called them, so I think the term very proper still,
+we made us gloves for our feet, and we found them very convenient and very
+comfortable.
+
+We conversed with some of the natives of the country, who were friendly
+enough. What tongue they spoke I do not yet pretend to know. We talked as
+far as we could make them understand us, not only about our provisions, but
+also about our undertaking, and asked them what country lay that way,
+pointing west with our hands. They told us but little to our purpose, only
+we thought, by all their discourse, that there were people to be found, of
+one sort or other, everywhere; that there were many great rivers, many
+lions and tigers, elephants, and furious wild cats (which in the end we
+found to be civet cats), and the like.
+
+When we asked them if any one had ever travelled that way, they told us
+yes, some had gone to where the sun sleeps, meaning to the west, but they
+could not tell us who they were. When we asked for some to guide us, they
+shrunk up their shoulders as Frenchmen do when they are afraid to undertake
+a thing. When we asked them about the lions and wild creatures, they
+laughed, and let us know that they would do us no hurt, and directed us to
+a good way indeed to deal with them, and that was to make some fire, which
+would always fright them away; and so indeed we found it.
+
+Upon these encouragements we resolved upon our journey, and many
+considerations put us upon it, which, had the thing itself been
+practicable, we were not so much to blame for as it might otherwise be
+supposed; I will name some of them, not to make the account too tedious.
+
+First, we were perfectly destitute of means to work about our own
+deliverance any other way; we were on shore in a place perfectly remote
+from all European navigation; so that we could never think of being
+relieved, and fetched off by any of our own countrymen in that part of the
+world. Secondly, if we had adventured to have sailed on along the coast of
+Mozambique, and the desolate shores of Africa to the north, till we came to
+the Red Sea, all we could hope for there was to be taken by the Arabs, and
+be sold for slaves to the Turks, which to all of us was little better than
+death. We could not build anything of a vessel that would carry us over the
+great Arabian Sea to India, nor could we reach the Cape de Bona Speranza,
+the winds being too variable, and the sea in that latitude too tempestuous;
+but we all knew, if we could cross this continent of land, we might reach
+some of the great rivers that run into the Atlantic Ocean; and that, on the
+banks of any of those rivers, we might there build us canoes which would
+carry us down, if it were thousands of miles, so that we could want nothing
+but food, of which we were assured we might kill sufficient with our guns;
+and to add to the satisfaction of our deliverance, we concluded we might,
+every one of us, get a quantity of gold, which, if we came safe, would
+infinitely recompense us for our toil.
+
+I cannot say that in all our consultations I ever began to enter into the
+weight and merit of any enterprise we went upon till now. My view before
+was, as I thought, very good, viz., that we should get into the Arabian
+Gulf, or the mouth of the Red Sea; and waiting for some vessel passing or
+repassing there, of which there is plenty, have seized upon the first we
+came at by force, and not only have enriched ourselves with her cargo, but
+have carried ourselves to what part of the world we had pleased; but when
+they came to talk to me of a march of 2000 or 3000 miles on foot, of
+wandering in deserts among lions and tigers, I confess my blood ran chill,
+and I used all the arguments I could to persuade them against it.
+
+But they were all positive, and I might as well have held my tongue; so I
+submitted, and told them I would keep to our first law, to be governed by
+the majority, and we resolved upon our journey. The first thing we did was
+to take an observation, and see whereabouts in the world we were, which we
+did, and found we were in the latitude of 12 degrees 35 minutes south of
+the line. The next thing was to look on the charts, and see the coast of
+the country we aimed at, which we found to be from 8 to 11 degrees south
+latitude, if we went for the coast of Angola, or in 12 to 29 degrees north
+latitude, if we made for the river Niger, and the coast of Guinea.
+
+Our aim was for the coast of Angola, which, by the charts we had, lying
+very near the same latitude we were then in, our course thither was due
+west; and as we were assured we should meet with rivers, we doubted not but
+that by their help we might ease our journey, especially if we could find
+means to cross the great lake, or inland sea, which the natives call
+Coalmucoa, out of which it is said the river Nile has its source or
+beginning; but we reckoned without our host, as you will see in the sequel
+of our story.
+
+The next thing we had to consider was, how to carry our baggage, which we
+were first of all determined not to travel without; neither indeed was it
+possible for us to do so, for even our ammunition, which was absolutely
+necessary to us, and on which our subsistence, I mean for food, as well as
+our safety, and particularly our defence against wild beasts and wild men,
+depended,--I say, even our ammunition was a load too heavy for us to carry
+in a country where the heat was such that we should be load enough for
+ourselves.
+
+We inquired in the country, and found there was no beast of burthen known
+among them, that is to say, neither horses or mules, or asses, camels, or
+dromedaries; the only creature they had was a kind of buffalo, or tame
+bull, such a one as we had killed; and that some of these they had brought
+so to their hand, that they taught them to go and come with their voices,
+as they called them to them, or sent them from them; that they made them
+carry burthens; and particularly that they would swim over rivers and lakes
+upon them, the creatures swimming very high and strong in the water.
+
+But we understood nothing of the management of guiding such a creature, or
+how to bind a burthen upon them; and this last part of our consultation
+puzzled us extremely. At last I proposed a method for them, which, after
+some consideration, they found very convenient; and this was, to quarrel
+with some of the negro natives, take ten or twelve of them prisoners, and
+binding them as slaves, cause them to travel with us, and make them carry
+our baggage; which I alleged would be convenient and useful many ways as
+well to show us the way, as to converse with other natives for us.
+
+This counsel was not accepted at first, but the natives soon gave them
+reason to approve it, and also gave them an opportunity to put it in
+practice; for, as our little traffic with the natives was hitherto upon the
+faith of their first kindness, we found some knavery among them at last;
+for having bought some cattle of them for our toys, which, as I said, our
+cutler had contrived, one of our men differing with his chapman, truly they
+huffed him in their manner, and, keeping the things he had offered them for
+the cattle, made their fellows drive away the cattle before his face, and
+laugh at him. Our man crying out loud of this violence, and calling to some
+of us who were not far off, the negro he was dealing with threw a lance at
+him, which came so true, that, if he had not with great agility jumped
+aside, and held up his hand also to turn the lance as it came, it had
+struck through his body; and, as it was, it wounded him in the arm; at
+which the man, enraged, took up his fuzee, and shot the negro through the
+heart.
+
+The others that were near him, and all those that were with us at a
+distance, were so terribly frighted, first, at the flash of fire; secondly,
+at the noise; and thirdly, at seeing their countryman killed, that they
+stood like men stupid and amazed, at first, for some time; but after they
+were a little recovered from their fright, one of them, at a good distance
+from us, set up a sudden screaming noise, which, it seems, is the noise
+they make when they go to fight; and all the rest understanding what he
+meant, answered him, and ran together to the place where he was, and we not
+knowing what it meant, stood still, looking upon one another like a parcel
+of fools.
+
+But we were presently undeceived; for, in two or three minutes more, we
+heard the screaming roaring noise go on from one place to another, through
+all their little towns; nay, even over the creek to the other side; and, on
+a sudden, we saw a naked multitude running from all parts to the place
+where the first man began it, as to a rendezvous; and, in less than an
+hour, I believe there was near 500 of them gotten together, armed some with
+bows and arrows, but most with lances, which they throw at a good distance,
+so nicely that they will strike a bird flying.
+
+We had but a very little time for consultation, for the multitude was
+increasing every moment; and I verily believe, if we had stayed long, they
+would have been 10,000 together in a little time. We had nothing to do,
+therefore, but to fly to our ship or bark, where indeed we could have
+defended ourselves very well, or to advance and try what a volley or two of
+small shot would do for us.
+
+We resolved immediately upon the latter, depending upon it that the fire
+and terror of our shot would soon put them to flight; so we drew up all in
+a line, and marched boldly up to them. They stood ready to meet us,
+depending, I suppose, to destroy us all with their lances; but before we
+came near enough for them to throw their lances, we halted, and, standing
+at a good distance from one another, to stretch our line as far as we
+could, we gave them a salute with our shot, which, besides what we wounded
+that we knew not of, knocked sixteen of them down upon the spot, and three
+more were so lamed, that they fell about twenty or thirty yards from them.
+
+As soon as we had fired, they set up the horridest yell, or howling, partly
+raised by those that were wounded, and partly by those that pitied and
+condoled the bodies they saw lie dead, that I never heard anything like it
+before or since.
+
+We stood stock still after we had fired, to load our guns again, and
+finding they did not stir from the place we fired among them again; we
+killed about nine of them at the second fire; but as they did not stand so
+thick as before, all our men did not fire, seven of us being ordered to
+reserve our charge, and to advance as soon as the other had fired, while
+the rest loaded again; of which I shall speak again presently.
+
+As soon as we had fired the second volley, we shouted as loud as we could,
+and the seven men advanced upon them, and, coming about twenty yards
+nearer, fired again, and those that were behind having loaded again with
+all expedition, followed; but when they saw us advance, they ran screaming
+away as if they were bewitched.
+
+When we came up to the field of battle, we saw a great number of bodies
+lying upon the ground, many more than we could suppose were killed or
+wounded; nay, more than we had bullets in our pieces when we fired; and we
+could not tell what to make of it; but at length we found how it was, viz.,
+that they were frighted out of all manner of sense; nay, I do believe
+several of those that were really dead, were frighted to death, and had no
+wound about them.
+
+Of those that were thus frighted, as I have said, several of them, as they
+recovered themselves, came and worshipped us (taking us for gods or devils,
+I know not which, nor did it much matter to us): some kneeling, some
+throwing themselves flat on the ground, made a thousand antic gestures, but
+all with tokens of the most profound submission. It presently came into my
+head, that we might now, by the law of arms, take as many prisoners as we
+would, and make them travel with us, and carry our baggage. As soon as I
+proposed it, our men were all of my mind; and accordingly we secured about
+sixty lusty young fellows, and let them know they must go with us; which
+they seemed very willing to do. But the next question we had among
+ourselves, was, how we should do to trust them, for we found the people not
+like those of Madagascar, but fierce, revengeful, and treacherous; for
+which reason we were sure that we should have no service from them but that
+of mere slaves; no subjection that would continue any longer than the fear
+of us was upon them, nor any labour but by violence.
+
+Before I go any farther, I must hint to the reader, that from this time
+forward I began to enter a little more seriously into the circumstance I
+was in, and concerned myself more in the conduct of our affairs; for though
+my comrades were all older men, yet I began to find them void of counsel,
+or, as I now call it, presence of mind, when they came to the execution of
+a thing. The first occasion I took to observe this, was in their late
+engagement with the natives, when, though they had taken a good resolution
+to attack them and fire upon them, yet, when they had fired the first time,
+and found that the negroes did not run as they expected, their hearts began
+to fail, and I am persuaded, if their bark had been near hand, they would
+every man have run away.
+
+Upon this occasion I began to take upon me a little to hearten them up, and
+to call upon them to load again, and give them another volley, telling them
+that I would engage, if they would be ruled by me, I'd make the negroes run
+fast enough. I found this heartened them, and therefore, when they fired a
+second time, I desired them to reserve some of their shot for an attempt by
+itself, as I mentioned above.
+
+Having fired a second time, I was indeed forced to command, as I may call
+it. "Now, seigniors," said I, "let us give them a cheer." So I opened my
+throat, and shouted three times, as our English sailors do on like
+occasions. "And now follow me," said I to the seven that had not fired,
+"and I'll warrant you we will make work with them," and so it proved
+indeed; for, as soon as they saw us coming, away they ran, as above.
+
+From this day forward they would call me nothing but Seignior Capitanio;
+but I told them I would not be called seignior. "Well, then," said the
+gunner, who spoke good English, "you shall be called Captain Bob;" and so
+they gave me my title ever after.
+
+Nothing is more certain of the Portuguese than this, take them nationally
+or personally, if they are animated and heartened up by anybody to go
+before, and encourage them by example, they will behave well enough; but if
+they have nothing but their own measures to follow, they sink immediately:
+these men had certainly fled from a parcel of naked savages, though even by
+flying they could not have saved their lives, if I had not shouted and
+hallooed, and rather made sport with the thing than a fight, to keep up
+their courage.
+
+Nor was there less need of it upon several occasions hereafter; and I do
+confess I have often wondered how a number of men, who, when they came to
+the extremity, were so ill supported by their own spirits, had at first
+courage to propose and to undertake the most desperate and impracticable
+attempt that ever men went about in the world.
+
+There were indeed two or three indefatigable men among them, by whose
+courage and industry all the rest were upheld; and indeed those two or
+three were the managers of them from the beginning; that was the gunner,
+and that cutler whom I call the artist; and the third, who was pretty well,
+though not like either of them, was one of the carpenters. These indeed
+were the life and soul of all the rest, and it was to their courage that
+all the rest owed the resolution they showed upon any occasion. But when
+those saw me take a little upon me, as above, they embraced me, and treated
+me with particular affection ever after.
+
+This gunner was an excellent mathematician, a good scholar, and a complete
+sailor; and it was in conversing intimately with him that I learned
+afterwards the grounds of what knowledge I have since had in all the
+sciences useful for navigation, and particularly in the geographical part
+of knowledge.
+
+Even in our conversation, finding me eager to understand and learn, he laid
+the foundation of a general knowledge of things in my mind, gave me just
+ideas of the form of the earth and of the sea, the situation of countries,
+the course of rivers, the doctrine of the spheres, the motion of the stars;
+and, in a word, taught me a kind of system of astronomy, which I afterwards
+improved.
+
+In an especial manner, he filled my head with aspiring thoughts, and with
+an earnest desire after learning everything that could be taught me;
+convincing me, that nothing could qualify me for great undertakings, but a
+degree of learning superior to what was usual in the race of seamen; he
+told me, that to be ignorant was to be certain of a mean station in the
+world, but that knowledge was the first step to preferment. He was always
+flattering me with my capacity to learn; and though that fed my pride, yet,
+on the other hand, as I had a secret ambition, which just at that time fed
+itself in my mind, it prompted in me an insatiable thirst after learning in
+general, and I resolved, if ever I came back to Europe, and had anything
+left to purchase it, I would make myself master of all the parts of
+learning needful to the making of me a complete sailor; but I was not so
+just to myself afterwards as to do it when I had an opportunity.
+
+But to return to our business; the gunner, when he saw the service I had
+done in the fight, and heard my proposal for keeping a number of prisoners
+for our march, and for carrying our baggage, turns to me before them all.
+"Captain Bob," says he, "I think you must be our leader, for all the
+success of this enterprise is owing to you." "No, no," said I, "do not
+compliment me; you shall be our Seignior Capitanio, you shall be general; I
+am too young for it." So, in short, we all agreed he should be our leader;
+but he would not accept of it alone, but would have me joined with him; and
+all the rest agreeing, I was obliged to comply.
+
+The first piece of service they put me upon in this new command was as
+difficult as any they could think of, and that was to manage the prisoners;
+which, however, I cheerfully undertook, as you shall hear presently. But
+the immediate consultation was yet of more consequence; and that was,
+first, which way we should go; and secondly, how to furnish ourselves for
+the voyage with provisions.
+
+There was among the prisoners one tall, well-shaped, handsome fellow, to
+whom the rest seemed to pay great respect, and who, as we understood
+afterwards, was the son of one of their kings; his father was, it seems,
+killed at our first volley, and he wounded with a shot in his arm, and with
+another just on one of his hips or haunches. The shot in his haunch being
+in a fleshy part, bled much, and he was half dead with the loss of blood.
+As to the shot in his arm, it had broke his wrist, and he was by both these
+wounds quite disabled, so that we were once going to turn him away, and let
+him die; and, if we had, he would have died indeed in a few days more: but,
+as I found the man had some respect showed him, it presently occurred to my
+thoughts that we might bring him to be useful to us, and perhaps make him a
+kind of commander over them. So I caused our surgeon to take him in hand,
+and gave the poor wretch good words, that is to say, I spoke to him as well
+as I could by signs, to make him understand that we would make him well
+again.
+
+This created a new awe in their minds of us, believing that, as we could
+kill at a distance by something invisible to them (for so our shot was, to
+be sure), so we could make them well again too. Upon this the young prince
+(for so we called him afterwards) called six or seven of the savages to
+him, and said something to them; what it was we know not, but immediately
+all the seven came to me, and kneeled down to me, holding up their hands,
+and making signs of entreaty, pointing to the place where one of those lay
+whom we had killed.
+
+It was a long time before I or any of us could understand them; but one of
+them ran and lifted up a dead man, pointing to his wound, which was in his
+eyes, for he was shot into the head at one of his eyes. Then another
+pointed to the surgeon, and at last we found it out, that the meaning was,
+that he should heal the prince's father too, who was dead, being shot
+through the head, as above.
+
+We presently took the hint, and would not say we could not do it, but let
+them know, the men that were killed were those that had first fallen upon
+us, and provoked us, and we would by no means make them alive again; and
+that, if any others did so, we would kill them too, and never let them live
+any more: but that, if he (the prince) would be willing to go with us, and
+do as we should direct him, we would not let him die, and would make his
+arm well. Upon this he bid his men go and fetch a long stick or staff, and
+lay on the ground. When they brought it, we saw it was an arrow; he took it
+with his left hand (for his other was lame with the wound), and, pointing
+up at the sun, broke the arrow in two, and set the point against his
+breast, and then gave it to me. This was, as I understood afterwards,
+wishing the sun, whom they worship, might shoot him into the breast with an
+arrow, if ever he failed to be my friend; and giving the point of the arrow
+to me was to be a testimony that I was the man he had sworn to: and never
+was Christian more punctual to an oath than he was to this, for he was a
+sworn servant to us for many a weary month after that.
+
+When I brought him to the surgeon, he immediately dressed the wound in his
+haunch or buttock, and found the bullet had only grazed upon the flesh, and
+passed, as it were, by it, but it was not lodged in the part, so that it
+was soon healed and well again; but, as to his arm, he found one of the
+bones broken, which are in the fore-part from the wrist to the elbow; and
+this he set, and splintered it up, and bound his arm in a sling, hanging it
+about his neck, and making signs to him that he should not stir it; which
+he was so strict an observer of, that he set him down, and never moved one
+way or other but as the surgeon gave him leave.
+
+I took a great deal of pains to acquaint this negro what we intended to do,
+and what use we intended to make of his men; and particularly to teach him
+the meaning of what we said, especially to teach him some words, such as
+yes and no, and what they meant, and to inure him to our way of talking;
+and he was very willing and apt to learn anything I taught him.
+
+It was easy to let him see that we intended to carry our provision with us
+from the first day; but he made signs to us to tell us we need not, for we
+should find provision enough everywhere for forty days. It was very
+difficult for us to understand how he expressed forty; for he knew no
+figures, but some words that they used to one another that they understood
+it by. At last one of the negroes, by his order, laid forty little stones
+one by another, to show us how many days we should travel, and find
+provisions sufficient.
+
+Then I showed him our baggage, which was very heavy, particularly our
+powder, shot, lead, iron, carpenters' tools, seamen's instruments, cases of
+bottles, and other lumber. He took some of the things up in his hand to
+feel the weight, and shook his head at them; so I told our people they must
+resolve to divide their things into small parcels, and make them portable;
+and accordingly they did so, by which means we were fain to leave all our
+chests behind us, which were eleven in number.
+
+Then he made signs to us that he would procure some buffaloes, or young
+bulls, as I called them, to carry things for us, and made signs, too, that
+if we were weary, we might be carried too; but that we slighted, only were
+willing to have the creatures, because, at last, when they could serve us
+no farther for carriage, we might eat them all up if we had any occasion
+for them.
+
+I then carried him to our bark, and showed him what things we had here. He
+seemed amazed at the sight of our bark, having never seen anything of that
+kind before, for their boats are most wretched things, such as I never saw
+before, having no head or stern, and being made only of the skins of goats,
+sewed together with dried guts of goats and sheep, and done over with a
+kind of slimy stuff like rosin and oil, but of a most nauseous, odious
+smell; and they are poor miserable things for boats, the worst that any
+part of the world ever saw; a canoe is an excellent contrivance compared to
+them.
+
+But to return to our boat. We carried our new prince into it, and helped
+him over the side, because of his lameness. We made signs to him that his
+men must carry our goods for us, and showed him what we had; he answered,
+"Si, Seignior," or, "Yes, sir" (for we had taught him that word and the
+meaning of it), and taking up a bundle, he made signs to us, that when his
+arm was well he would carry some for us.
+
+I made signs again to tell him, that if he would make his men carry them,
+we would not let him carry anything. We had secured all the prisoners in a
+narrow place, where we had bound them with mat cords, and set up stakes
+like a palisado round them; so, when we carried the prince on shore, we
+went with him to them, and made signs to him to ask them if they were
+willing to go with us to the country of lions. Accordingly he made a long
+speech to them, and we could understand by it that he told them, if they
+were willing, they must say, "Si, Seignior," telling them what it
+signified. They immediately answered, "Si, Seignior," and clapped their
+hands, looking up to the sun, which, the prince signified to us, was
+swearing to be faithful. But as soon as they had said so, one of them made
+a long speech to the prince; and in it we perceived, by his gestures, which
+were very antic, that they desired something from us, and that they were in
+great concern about it. So I asked him, as well as I could, what it was
+they desired of us; he told us by signs that they desired we should clap
+our hands to the sun (that was, to swear) that we would not kill them, that
+we would give them chiaruck, that is to say, bread, would not starve them,
+and would not let the lions eat them. I told him we would promise all that;
+then he pointed to the sun, and clapped his hands, signing to me that I
+should do so too, which I did; at which all the prisoners fell flat on the
+ground, and rising up again, made the oddest, wildest cries that ever I
+heard.
+
+I think it was the first time in my life that ever any religious thought
+affected me; but I could not refrain some reflections, and almost tears, in
+considering how happy it was that I was not born among such creatures as
+these, and was not so stupidly ignorant and barbarous; but this soon went
+off again, and I was not troubled again with any qualms of that sort for a
+long time after.
+
+When this ceremony was over, our concern was to get some provisions, as
+well for the present subsistence of our prisoners as ourselves; and making
+signs to our prince that we were thinking upon that subject, he made signs
+to me that, if I would let one of the prisoners go to his town, he should
+bring provisions, and should bring some beasts to carry our baggage. I
+seemed loth to trust him, and supposing that he would run away, he made
+great signs of fidelity, and with his own hands tied a rope about his neck,
+offering me one end of it, intimating that I should hang him if the man did
+not come again. So I consented, and he gave him abundance of instructions,
+and sent him away, pointing to the light of the sun, which it seems was to
+tell him at what time he must be back.
+
+The fellow ran as if he was mad, and held it till he was quite out of
+sight, by which I supposed he had a great way to go. The next morning,
+about two hours before the time appointed, the black prince, for so I
+always called him, beckoning with his hand to me, and hallooing after his
+manner, desired me to come to him, which I did, when, pointing to a little
+hill about two miles off, I saw plainly a little drove of cattle, and
+several people with them; those, he told me by signs, were the man he had
+sent, and several more with him, and cattle for us.
+
+Accordingly, by the time appointed, he came quite to our huts, and brought
+with him a great many cows, young runts, about sixteen goats, and four
+young bulls, taught to carry burthens.
+
+This was a supply of provisions sufficient; as for bread, we were obliged
+to shift with some roots which we had made use of before. We then began to
+consider of making some large bags like the soldiers' knapsacks, for their
+men to carry our baggage in, and to make it easy to them; and the goats
+being killed, I ordered the skins to be spread in the sun, and they were as
+dry in two days as could be desired; so we found means to make such little
+bags as we wanted, and began to divide our baggage into them. When the
+black prince found what they were for, and how easy they were of carriage
+when we put them on, he smiled a little, and sent away the man again to
+fetch skins, and he brought two natives more with him, all loaded with
+skins better cured than ours, and of other kinds, such as we could not tell
+what names to give them.
+
+These two men brought the black prince two lances, of the sort they use in
+their fights, but finer than ordinary, being made of black smooth wood, as
+fine as ebony, and headed at the point with the end of a long tooth of some
+creature--we could not tell of what creature; the head was so firm put on,
+and the tooth so strong, though no bigger than my thumb, and sharp at the
+end, that I never saw anything like it in any place in the world.
+
+The prince would not take them till I gave him leave, but made signs that
+they should give them to me; however, I gave him leave to take them
+himself, for I saw evident signs of an honourable just principle in him.
+
+We now prepared for our march, when the prince coming to me, and pointing
+towards the several quarters of the world, made signs to know which way we
+intended to go; and when I showed him, pointing to the west, he presently
+let me know there was a great river a little further to the north, which
+was able to carry our bark many leagues into the country due west. I
+presently took the hint, and inquired for the mouth of the river, which I
+understood by him was above a day's march, and, by our estimation, we found
+it about seven leagues further. I take this to be the great river marked by
+our chart-makers at the northmost part of the coast of Mozambique, and
+called there Quilloa.
+
+Consulting thus with ourselves, we resolved to take the prince, and as many
+of the prisoners as we could stow in our frigate, and go about by the bay
+into the river; and that eight of us, with our arms, should march by land
+to meet them on the river side; for the prince, carrying us to a rising
+ground, had showed us the river very plain, a great way up the country, and
+in one place it was not above six miles to it.
+
+It was my lot to march by land, and be captain of the whole caravan. I had
+eight of our men with me, and seven-and-thirty of our prisoners, without
+any baggage, for all our luggage was yet on board. We drove the young bulls
+with us; nothing was ever so tame, so willing to work, or carry anything.
+The negroes would ride upon them four at a time, and they would go very
+willingly. They would eat out of our hand, lick our feet, and were as
+tractable as a dog.
+
+We drove with us six or seven cows for food; but our negroes knew nothing
+of curing the flesh by salting and drying it till we showed them the way,
+and then they were mighty willing to do so as long as we had any salt to do
+it with, and to carry salt a great way too, after we found we should have
+no more.
+
+It was an easy march to the river side for us that went by land, and we
+came thither in a piece of a day, being, as above, no more than six English
+miles; whereas it was no less than five days before they came to us by
+water, the wind in the bay having failed them, and the way, by reason of a
+great turn or reach in the river, being about fifty miles about.
+
+We spent this time in a thing which the two strangers, which brought the
+prince the two lances, put into the head of the prisoners, viz., to make
+bottles of the goats' skins to carry fresh water in, which it seems they
+knew we should come to want; and the men did it so dexterously, having
+dried skins fetched them by those two men, that before our vessel came up,
+they had every man a pouch like a bladder, to carry fresh water in, hanging
+over their shoulders by a thong made of other skins, about three inches
+broad, like the sling of a fuzee.
+
+Our prince, to assure us of the fidelity of the men in this march, had
+ordered them to be tied two and two by the wrist, as we handcuff prisoners
+in England; and made them so sensible of the reasonableness of it, that he
+made them do it themselves, appointing four of them to bind the rest; but
+we found them so honest, and particularly so obedient to him, that after we
+were gotten a little further off of their own country, we set them at
+liberty, though, when he came to us, he would have them tied again, and
+they continued so a good while.
+
+All the country on the bank of the river was a high land, no marshy swampy
+ground in it; the verdure good, and abundance of cattle feeding upon it
+wherever we went, or which way soever we looked; there was not much wood
+indeed, at least not near us; but further up we saw oak, cedar, and
+pine-trees, some of which were very large.
+
+The river was a fair open channel, about as broad as the Thames below
+Gravesend, and a strong tide of flood, which we found held us about sixty
+miles; the channel deep, nor did we find any want of water for a great way.
+In short, we went merrily up the river with the flood and the wind blowing
+still fresh at E. and E.N.E. We stemmed the ebb easily also, especially
+while the river continued broad and deep; but when we came past the
+swelling of the tide, and had the natural current of the river to go
+against, we found it too strong for us, and began to think of quitting our
+bark; but the prince would by no means agree to that, for, finding we had
+on board pretty good store of roping made of mats and flags, which I
+described before, he ordered all the prisoners which were on shore to come
+and take hold of those ropes, and tow us along by the shore side; and as we
+hoisted our sail too, to ease them, the men ran along with us at a very
+great rate.
+
+In this manner the river carried us up, by our computation, near 200 miles,
+and then it narrowed apace, and was not above as broad as the Thames is at
+Windsor, or thereabouts; and, after another day, we came to a great
+waterfall or cataract, enough to fright us, for I believe the whole body of
+water fell at once perpendicularly down a precipice above sixty foot high,
+which made noise enough to deprive men of their hearing, and we heard it
+above ten miles before we came to it.
+
+Here we were at a full stop, and now our prisoners went first on shore;
+they had worked very hard and very cheerfully, relieving one another, those
+that were weary being taken into the bark. Had we had canoes or any boats
+which might have been carried by men's strength we might have gone two
+hundred miles more up this river in small boats, but our great boat could
+go no farther.
+
+All this way the country looked green and pleasant, and was full of cattle,
+and some people we saw, though not many; but this we observed now, that the
+people did no more understand our prisoners here than we could understand
+them; being, it seems, of different nations and of different speech. We had
+yet seen no wild beasts, or, at least, none that came very near us, except
+two days before we came to the waterfall, when we saw three of the most
+beautiful leopards that ever were seen, standing upon the bank of the river
+on the north side, our prisoners being all on the other side of the water.
+Our gunner espied them first, and ran to fetch his gun, putting a ball
+extraordinary in it; and coming to me, "Now, Captain Bob," says he, "where
+is your prince?" So I called him out. "Now," says he, "tell your men not to
+be afraid; tell them they shall see that thing in his hand speak in fire to
+one of those beasts, and make it kill itself."
+
+The poor negroes looked as if they had been all going to be killed,
+notwithstanding what their prince said to them, and stood staring to expect
+the issue, when on a sudden the gunner fired; and as he was a very good
+marksman, he shot the creature with two slugs, just in the head. As soon as
+the leopard felt herself struck, she reared up on her two hind-legs, bolt
+upright, and throwing her forepaws about in the air, fell backward,
+growling and struggling, and immediately died; the other two, frighted with
+the fire and the noise, fled, and were out of sight in an instant.
+
+But the two frighted leopards were not in half the consternation that our
+prisoners were; four or five of them fell down as if they had been shot;
+several others fell on their knees, and lifted up their hands to us;
+whether to worship us, or pray us not to kill them, we did not know; but we
+made signs to their prince to encourage them, which he did, but it was with
+much ado that he brought them to their senses. Nay, the prince,
+notwithstanding all that was said to prepare him for it, yet when the piece
+went off, he gave a start as if he would have leaped into the river.
+
+When we saw the creature killed, I had a great mind to have the skin of
+her, and made signs to the prince that he should send some of his men over
+to take the skin off. As soon as he spoke but a word, four of them, that
+offered themselves, were untied, and immediately they jumped into the
+river, and swam over, and went to work with him. The prince having a knife
+that we gave him, made four wooden knives so clever, that I never saw
+anything like them in my life; and in less than an hour's time they brought
+me the skin of the leopard, which was a monstrous great one, for it was
+from the ears to the tale about seven foot, and near five foot broad on the
+back, and most admirably spotted all over. The skin of this leopard I
+brought to London many years after.
+
+We were now all upon a level as to our travelling, being unshipped, for our
+bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our backs;
+but as we found the course of the river went a great way farther, we
+consulted our carpenters whether we could not pull the bark in pieces, and
+make us three or four small boats to go on with. They told us we might do
+so, but it would be very long a-doing; and that, when we had done, we had
+neither pitch or tar to make them sound to keep the water out, or nails to
+fasten the plank. But one of them told us that as soon as he could come at
+any large tree near the river, he would make us a canoe or two in a quarter
+of the time, and which would serve us as well for all the uses we could
+have any occasion for as a boat; and such, that if we came to any
+waterfalls, we might take them up, and carry them for a mile or two by land
+upon our shoulders.
+
+Upon this we gave over the thoughts of our frigate, and hauling her into a
+little cove or inlet, where a small brook came into the main river, we laid
+her up for those that came next, and marched forward. We spent indeed two
+days dividing our baggage, and loading our tame buffaloes and our negroes.
+Our powder and shot, which was the thing we were most careful of, we
+ordered thus:--First, the powder we divided into little leather bags, that
+is to say, bags of dried skins, with the hair inward, that the powder might
+not grow damp; and then we put those bags into other bags, made of
+bullocks' skins, very thick and hard, with the hair outward, that no wet
+might come in; and this succeeded so well, that in the greatest rains we
+had, whereof some were very violent and very long, we always kept our
+powder dry. Besides these bags, which held our chief magazine, we divided
+to every one a quarter of a pound of powder, and half a pound of shot, to
+carry always about us; which, as it was enough for our present use, so we
+were willing to have no weight to carry more than was absolutely necessary,
+because of the heat.
+
+We kept still on the bank of the river, and for that reason had but very
+little communication with the people of the country; for, having also our
+bark stored with plenty of provisions, we had no occasion to look abroad
+for a supply; but now, when we came to march on foot, we were obliged often
+to seek out for food. The first place we came to on the river, that gave us
+any stop, was a little negro town, containing about fifty huts, and there
+appeared about 400 people, for they all came out to see us, and wonder at
+us. When our negroes appeared the inhabitants began to fly to arms,
+thinking there had been enemies coming upon them; but our negroes, though
+they could not speak their language, made signs to them that they had no
+weapons, and were tied two and two together as captives, and that there
+were people behind who came from the sun, and that could kill them all, and
+make them alive again, if they pleased; but that they would do them no
+hurt, and came with peace. As soon as they understood this they laid down
+their lances, and bows and arrows, and came and stuck twelve large stakes
+in the ground as a token of peace, bowing themselves to us in token of
+submission. But as soon as they saw white men with beards, that is to say,
+with mustachios, they ran screaming away, as in a fright.
+
+We kept at a distance from them, not to be too familiar; and when we did
+appear it was but two or three of us at a time. But our prisoners made them
+understand that we required some provisions of them; so they brought us
+some black cattle, for they have abundance of cows and buffaloes all over
+that side of the country, as also great numbers of deer. Our cutler, who
+had now a great stock of things of his handiwork, gave them some little
+knick-knacks, as plates of silver and of iron, cut diamond fashion, and cut
+into hearts and into rings, and they were mightily pleased. They also
+brought several fruits and roots, which we did not understand, but our
+negroes fed heartily on them, and after we had seen them eat them, we did
+so too.
+
+Having stocked ourselves here with flesh and root as much as we could well
+carry, we divided the burthens among our negroes, appointing about thirty
+to forty pounds weight to a man, which we thought indeed was load enough in
+a hot country; and the negroes did not at all repine at it, but would
+sometimes help one another when they began to be weary, which did happen
+now and then, though not often; besides, as most of their luggage was our
+provision, it lightened every day, like Aesop's basket of bread, till we
+came to get a recruit.--Note, when we loaded them we untied their hands,
+and tied them two and two together by one foot.
+
+The third day of our march from this place our chief carpenter desired us
+to halt, and set up some huts, for he had found out some trees that he
+liked, and resolved to make us some canoes; for, as he told me, he knew we
+should have marching enough on foot after we left the river, and he was
+resolved to go no farther by land than needs must.
+
+We had no sooner given orders for our little camp, and given leave to our
+negroes to lay down their loads, but they fell to work to build our huts;
+and though they were tied as above, yet they did it so nimbly as surprised
+us. Here we set some of the negroes quite at liberty, that is to say,
+without tying them, having the prince's word passed for their fidelity; and
+some of these were ordered to help the carpenters, which they did very
+handily, with a little direction, and others were sent to see whether they
+could get any provisions near hand; but instead of provisions, three of
+them came in with two bows and arrows, and five lances. They could not
+easily make us understand how they came by them, only that they had
+surprised some negro women, who were in some huts, the men being from home,
+and they had found the lances and bows in the huts, or houses, the women
+and children flying away at the sight of them, as from robbers. We seemed
+very angry at them, and made the prince ask them if they had not killed any
+of the women or children, making them believe that, if they had killed
+anybody, we would make them kill themselves too; but they protested their
+innocence, so we excused them. Then they brought us the bows and arrows and
+lances; but, at a motion of their black prince, we gave them back the bows
+and arrows, and gave them leave to go out to see what they could kill for
+food; and here we gave them the laws of arms, viz., that if any man
+appeared to assault them, or shoot at them to offer any violence to them,
+they might kill them; but that they should not offer to kill or hurt any
+that offered them peace, or laid down their weapons, nor any women or
+children, upon any occasion whatsoever. These were our articles of war.
+
+These two fellows had not been gone out above three or four hours, but one
+of them came running to us without his bow and arrows, hallooing and
+whooping a great while before he came at us, "Okoamo, okoamo!" which, it
+seems, was, "Help, help!" The rest of the negroes rose up in a hurry, and
+by twos, as they could, ran forward towards their fellows, to know what the
+matter was. As for me, I did not understand it, nor any of our people; the
+prince looked as if something unlucky had fallen out, and some of our men
+took up their arms to be ready on occasion. But the negroes soon discovered
+the thing, for we saw four of them presently after coming along with a
+great load of meat upon their backs. The case was, that the two who went
+out with their bows and arrows, meeting with a great herd of deer in the
+plain, had been so nimble as to shoot three of them, and then one of them
+came running to us for help to fetch them away. This was the first venison
+we had met with in all our march, and we feasted upon it very plentifully;
+and this was the first time we began to prevail with our prince to eat his
+meat dressed our way; after which his men were prevailed with by his
+example, but before that, they ate most of the flesh they had quite raw.
+
+We wished now we had brought some bows and arrows out with us, which we
+might have done; and we began to have so much confidence in our negroes,
+and to be so familiar with them, that we oftentimes let them go, or the
+greatest part of them, untied, being well assured they would not leave us,
+and that they did not know what course to take without us; but one thing we
+resolved not to trust them with, and that was the charging our guns: but
+they always believed our guns had some heavenly power in them, that would
+send forth fire and smoke, and speak with a dreadful noise, and kill at a
+distance whenever we bid them.
+
+In about eight days we finished three canoes, and in them we embarked our
+white men and our baggage, with our prince, and some of the prisoners. We
+also found it needful to keep some of ourselves always on shore, not only
+to manage the negroes, but to defend them from enemies and wild beasts.
+Abundance of little incidents happened upon this march, which it is
+impossible to crowd into this account; particularly, we saw more wild
+beasts now than we did before, some elephants, and two or three lions, none
+of which kinds we had seen any of before; and we found our negroes were
+more afraid of them a great deal than we were; principally, because they
+had no bows and arrows, or lances, which were the particular weapons they
+were bred up to the exercise of.
+
+But we cured them of their fears by being always ready with our firearms.
+However, as we were willing to be sparing of our powder, and the killing of
+any of the creatures now was no advantage to us, seeing their skins were
+too heavy for us to carry, and their flesh not good to eat, we resolved
+therefore to keep some of our pieces uncharged and only primed; and causing
+them to flash in the pan, the beasts, even the lions themselves, would
+always start and fly back when they saw it, and immediately march off.
+
+We passed abundance of inhabitants upon this upper part of the river, and
+with this observation, that almost every ten miles we came to a separate
+nation, and every separate nation had a different speech, or else their
+speech had differing dialects, so that they did not understand one another.
+They all abounded in cattle, especially on the river-side; and the eighth
+day of this second navigation we met with a little negro town, where they
+had growing a sort of corn like rice, which ate very sweet; and, as we got
+some of it of the people, we made very good cakes of bread of it, and,
+making a fire, baked them on the ground, after the fire was swept away,
+very well; so that hitherto we had no want of provisions of any kind that
+we could desire.
+
+Our negroes towing our canoes, we travelled at a considerable rate, and by
+our own account could not go less than twenty or twenty-five English miles
+a day, and the river continuing to be much of the same breadth and very
+deep all the way, till on the tenth day we came to another cataract; for a
+ridge of high hills crossing the whole channel of the river, the water came
+tumbling down the rocks from one stage to another in a strange manner, so
+that it was a continued link of cataracts from one to another, in the
+manner of a cascade, only that the falls were sometimes a quarter of a mile
+from one another, and the noise confused and frightful.
+
+We thought our voyaging was at a full stop now; but three of us, with a
+couple of our negroes, mounting the hills another way, to view the course
+of the river, we found a fair channel again after about half a mile's
+march, and that it was like to hold us a good way further. So we set all
+hands to work, unloaded our cargo, and hauled our canoes on shore, to see
+if we could carry them.
+
+Upon examination we found that they were very heavy; but our carpenters,
+spending but one day's work upon them, hewed away so much of the timber
+from their outsides as reduced them very much, and yet they were as fit to
+swim as before. When this was done, ten men with poles took up one of the
+canoes and made nothing to carry it. So we ordered twenty men to each
+canoe, that one ten might relieve the other; and thus we carried all our
+canoes, and launched them into the water again, and then fetched our
+luggage and loaded it all again into the canoes, and all in an afternoon;
+and the next morning early we moved forward again. When we had towed about
+four days more, our gunner, who was our pilot, began to observe that we did
+not keep our right course so exactly as we ought, the river winding away a
+little towards the north, and gave us notice of it accordingly. However, we
+were not willing to lose the advantage of water-carriage, at least not till
+we were forced to it; so we jogged on, and the river served us for about
+threescore miles further; but then we found it grew very small and shallow,
+having passed the mouths of several little brooks or rivulets which came
+into it; and at length it became but a brook itself.
+
+We towed up as far as ever our boats would swim, and we went two days the
+farther--having been about twelve days in this last part of the river--by
+lightening the boats and taking our luggage out, which we made the negroes
+carry, being willing to ease ourselves as long as we could; but at the end
+of these two days, in short, there was not water enough to swim a London
+wherry.
+
+We now set forward wholly by land, and without any expectation of more
+water-carriage. All our concern for more water was to be sure to have a
+supply for our drinking; and therefore upon every hill that we came near we
+clambered up to the highest part to see the country before us, and to make
+the best judgment we could which way to go to keep the lowest grounds, and
+as near some stream of water as we could.
+
+The country held verdant, well grown with trees, and spread with rivers and
+brooks, and tolerably well with inhabitants, for about thirty days' march
+after our leaving the canoes, during which time things went pretty well
+with us; we did not tie ourselves down when to march and when to halt, but
+ordered those things as our convenience and the health and ease of our
+people, as well our servants as ourselves, required.
+
+About the middle of this march we came into a low and plain country, in
+which we perceived a greater number of inhabitants than in any other
+country we had gone through; but that which was worse for us, we found them
+a fierce, barbarous, treacherous people, and who at first looked upon us as
+robbers, and gathered themselves in numbers to attack us.
+
+Our men were terrified at them at first, and began to discover an unusual
+fear, and even our black prince seemed in a great deal of confusion; but I
+smiled at him, and showing him some of our guns, I asked him if he thought
+that which killed the spotted cat (for so they called the leopard in their
+language) could not make a thousand of those naked creatures die at one
+blow? Then he laughed, and said, yes, he believed it would. "Well, then,"
+said I, "tell your men not to be afraid of these people, for we shall soon
+give them a taste of what we can do if they pretend to meddle with us."
+However, we considered we were in the middle of a vast country, and we knew
+not what numbers of people and nations we might be surrounded with, and,
+above all, we knew not how much we might stand in need of the friendship of
+these that we were now among, so that we ordered the negroes to try all the
+methods they could to make them friends.
+
+Accordingly the two men who had gotten bows and arrows, and two more to
+whom we gave the prince's two fine lances, went foremost, with five more,
+having long poles in their hands; and after them ten of our men advanced
+toward the negro town that was next to us, and we all stood ready to
+succour them if there should be occasion.
+
+When they came pretty near their houses our negroes hallooed in their
+screaming way, and called to them as loud as they could. Upon their
+calling, some of the men came out and answered, and immediately after the
+whole town, men, women, and children, appeared; our negroes, with their
+long poles, went forward a little, and stuck them all in the ground, and
+left them, which in their country was a signal of peace, but the other did
+not understand the meaning of that. Then the two men with bows laid down
+their bows and arrows, went forward unarmed, and made signs of peace to
+them, which at last the other began to understand; so two of their men laid
+down their bows and arrows, and came towards them. Our men made all the
+signs of friendship to them that they could think of, putting their hands
+up to their mouths as a sign that they wanted provisions to eat; and the
+other pretended to be pleased and friendly, and went back to their fellows
+and talked with them a while, and they came forward again, and made signs
+that they would bring some provisions to them before the sun set; and so
+our men came back again very well satisfied for that time.
+
+But an hour before sunset our men went to them again, just in the same
+posture as before, and they came according to their appointment, and
+brought deer's flesh, roots, and the same kind of corn, like rice, which I
+mentioned above; and our negroes, being furnished with such toys as our
+cutler had contrived, gave them some of them, which they seemed infinitely
+pleased with, and promised to bring more provisions the next day.
+
+Accordingly the next day they came again, but our men perceived they were
+more in number by a great many than before. However, having sent out ten
+men with firearms to stand ready, and our whole army being in view also, we
+were not much surprised; nor was the treachery of the enemy so cunningly
+ordered as in other cases, for they might have surrounded our negroes,
+which were but nine, under a show of peace; but when they saw our men
+advance almost as far as the place where they were the day before, the
+rogues snatched up their bows and arrows and came running upon our men like
+so many furies, at which our ten men called to the negroes to come back to
+them, which they did with speed enough at the first word, and stood all
+behind our men. As they fled, the other advanced, and let fly near a
+hundred of their arrows at them, by which two of our negroes were wounded,
+and one we thought had been killed. When they came to the five poles that
+our men had stuck in the ground, they stood still awhile, and gathering
+about the poles, looked at them, and handled them, as wondering what they
+meant. We then, who were drawn up behind all, sent one of our number to our
+ten men to bid them fire among them while they stood so thick, and to put
+some small shot into their guns besides the ordinary charge, and to tell
+them that we would be up with them immediately.
+
+Accordingly they made ready; but by the time they were ready to fire, the
+black army had left their wandering about the poles, and began to stir as
+if they would come on, though seeing more men stand at some distance behind
+our negroes, they could not tell what to make of us; but if they did not
+understand us before, they understood us less afterwards, for as soon as
+ever our men found them to begin to move forward they fired among the
+thickest of them, being about the distance of 120 yards, as near as we
+could guess.
+
+It is impossible to express the fright, the screaming and yelling of those
+wretches upon this first volley. We killed six of them, and wounded eleven
+or twelve, I mean as we knew of; for, as they stood thick, and the small
+shot, as we called it, scattered among them, we had reason to believe we
+wounded more that stood farther off, for our small shot was made of bits of
+lead and bits of iron, heads of nails, and such things as our diligent
+artificer, the cutler, helped us to.
+
+As to those that were killed and wounded, the other frighted creatures were
+under the greatest amazement in the world, to think what should hurt them,
+for they could see nothing but holes made in their bodies they knew not
+how. Then the fire and noise amazed all their women and children, and
+frighted them out of their wits, so that they ran staring and howling about
+like mad creatures.
+
+However, all this did not make them fly, which was what we wanted, nor did
+we find any of them die as it were with fear, as at first; so we resolved
+upon a second volley, and then to advance as we did before. Whereupon our
+reserved men advancing, we resolved to fire only three men at a time, and
+move forward like an army firing in platoon; so, being all in a line, we
+fired, first three on the right, then three on the left, and so on; and
+every time we killed or wounded some of them, but still they did not fly,
+and yet they were so frighted that they used none of their bows and arrows,
+or of their lances; and we thought their numbers increased upon our hands,
+particularly we thought so by the noise. So I called to our men to halt,
+and bid them pour in one whole volley and then shout, as we did in our
+first fight, and so run in upon them and knock them down with our muskets.
+
+But they were too wise for that too, for as soon as we had fired a whole
+volley and shouted, they all ran away, men, women, and children, so fast
+that in a few moments we could not see one creature of them except some
+that were wounded and lame, who lay wallowing and screaming here and there
+upon the ground as they happened to fall.
+
+Upon this we came up to the field of battle, where we found we had killed
+thirty-seven of them, among which were three women, and had wounded about
+sixty-four, among which were two women; by wounded I mean such as were so
+maimed as not to be able to go away, and those our negroes killed
+afterwards in a cowardly manner in cold blood, for which we were very
+angry, and threatened to make them go to them if they did so again.
+
+There was no great spoil to be got, for they were all stark naked as they
+came into the world, men and women together, some of them having feathers
+stuck in their hair, and others a kind of bracelet about their necks, but
+nothing else; but our negroes got a booty here, which we were very glad of,
+and this was the bows and arrows of the vanquished, of which they found
+more than they knew what to do with, belonging to the killed and wounded
+men; these we ordered them to pick up, and they were very useful to us
+afterwards. After the fight, and our negroes had gotten bows and arrows, we
+sent them out in parties to see what they could get, and they got some
+provisions; but, which was better than all the rest, they brought us four
+more young bulls, or buffaloes, that had been brought up to labour and to
+carry burthens. They knew them, it seems, by the burthens they had carried
+having galled their backs, for they have no saddles to cover them with in
+that country.
+
+Those creatures not only eased our negroes, but gave us an opportunity to
+carry more provisions; and our negroes loaded them very hard at this place
+with flesh and roots, such as we wanted very much afterwards.
+
+In this town we found a very little young leopard, about two spans high; it
+was exceeding tame, and purred like a cat when we stroked it with our
+hands, being, as I suppose, bred up among the negroes like a house-dog. It
+was our black prince, it seems, who, making his tour among the abandoned
+houses or huts, found this creature there, and making much of him, and
+giving a bit or two of flesh to him, the creature followed him like a dog;
+of which more hereafter.
+
+Among the negroes that were killed in this battle there was one who had a
+little thin bit or plate of gold, about as big as a sixpence, which hung by
+a little bit of a twisted gut upon his forehead, by which we supposed he
+was a man of some eminence among them; but that was not all, for this bit
+of gold put us upon searching very narrowly if there was not more of it to
+be had thereabouts, but we found none at all.
+
+From this part of the country we went on for about fifteen days, and then
+found ourselves obliged to march up a high ridge of mountains, frightful to
+behold, and the first of the kind that we met with; and having no guide but
+our little pocket-compass, we had no advantage of information as to which
+was the best or the worst way, but was obliged to choose by what we saw,
+and shift as well as we could. We met with several nations of wild and
+naked people in the plain country before we came to those hills, and we
+found them much more tractable and friendly than those devils we had been
+forced to fight with; and though we could learn little from these people,
+yet we understood by the signs they made that there was a vast desert
+beyond these hills, and, as our negroes called them, much lion, much
+spotted cat (so they called the leopard); and they signed to us also that
+we must carry water with us. At the last of these nations we furnished
+ourselves with as much provisions as we could possibly carry, not knowing
+what we had to suffer, or what length we had to go; and, to make our way as
+familiar to us as possible, I proposed that of the last inhabitants we
+could find we should make some prisoners and carry them with us for guides
+over the desert, and to assist us in carrying provision, and, perhaps, in
+getting it too. The advice was too necessary to be slighted; so finding, by
+our dumb signs to the inhabitants, that there were some people that dwelt
+at the foot of the mountains on the other side before we came to the desert
+itself, we resolved to furnish ourselves with guides by fair means or foul.
+
+Here, by a moderate computation, we concluded ourselves 700 miles from the
+sea-coast where we began. Our black prince was this day set free from the
+sling his arm hung in, our surgeon having perfectly restored it, and he
+showed it to his own countrymen quite well, which made them greatly wonder.
+Also our two negroes began to recover, and their wounds to heal apace, for
+our surgeon was very skilful in managing their cure.
+
+Having with infinite labour mounted these hills, and coming to a view of
+the country beyond them, it was indeed enough to astonish as stout a heart
+as ever was created. It was a vast howling wilderness--not a tree, a river,
+or a green thing to be seen; for, as far as the eye could look, nothing but
+a scalding sand, which, as the wind blew, drove about in clouds enough to
+overwhelm man and beast. Nor could we see any end of it either before us,
+which was our way, or to the right hand or left; so that truly our men
+began to be discouraged, and talk of going back again. Nor could we indeed
+think of venturing over such a horrid place as that before us, in which we
+saw nothing but present death.
+
+I was as much affected at the sight as any of them; but, for all that, I
+could not bear the thoughts of going back again. I told them we had marched
+700 miles of our way, and it would be worse than death to think of going
+back again; and that, if they thought the desert was not passable, I
+thought we should rather change our course, and travel south till we came
+to the Cape of Good Hope, or north to the country that lay along the Nile,
+where, perhaps, we might find some way or other over to the west sea; for
+sure all Africa was not a desert.
+
+Our gunner, who, as I said before, was our guide as to the situation of
+places, told us that he could not tell what to say to going for the Cape,
+for it was a monstrous length, being from the place where we now were not
+less than 1500 miles; and, by his account, we were now come a third part of
+the way to the coast of Angola, where we should meet the western ocean, and
+find ways enough for our escape home. On the other hand, he assured us, and
+showed us a map of it, that, if we went northward, the western shore of
+Africa went out into the sea above 1000 miles west, so that we should have
+so much and more land to travel afterwards; which land might, for aught we
+knew, be as wild, barren, and desert as this. And therefore, upon the
+whole, he proposed that we should attempt this desert, and perhaps we
+should not find it so long as we feared; and however, he proposed that we
+should see how far our provisions would carry us, and, in particular, our
+water; and we should venture no further than half so far as our water would
+last; and if we found no end of the desert, we might come safely back
+again.
+
+This advice was so reasonable that we all approved of it; and accordingly
+we calculated that we were able to carry provisions for forty-two days, but
+that we could not carry water for above twenty days, though we were to
+suppose it to stink, too, before that time expired. So that we concluded
+that, if we did not come at some water in ten days' time, we would return;
+but if we found a supply of water, we could then travel twenty-one days;
+and, if we saw no end of the wilderness in that time, we would return also.
+
+With this regulation of our measures, we descended the mountains, and it
+was the second day before we quite reached the plain; where, however, to
+make us amends, we found a fine little rivulet of very good water,
+abundance of deer, a sort of creature like a hare, but not so nimble, but
+whose flesh we found very agreeable. But we were deceived in our
+intelligence, for we found no people; so we got no more prisoners to assist
+us in carrying our baggage.
+
+The infinite number of deer and other creatures which we saw here, we found
+was occasioned by the neighbourhood of the waste or desert, from whence
+they retired hither for food and refreshment. We stored ourselves here with
+flesh and roots of divers kinds, which our negroes understood better than
+we, and which served us for bread; and with as much water as (by the
+allowance of a quart a day to a man for our negroes, and three pints a day
+a man for ourselves, and three quarts a day each for our buffaloes) would
+serve us twenty days; and thus loaded for a long miserable march, we set
+forwards, being all sound in health and very cheerful, but not alike strong
+for so great a fatigue; and, which was our grievance, were without a guide.
+
+In the very first entrance of the waste we were exceedingly discouraged,
+for we found the sand so deep, and it scalded our feet so much with the
+heat, that after we had, as I may call it, waded rather than walked through
+it about seven or eight miles, we were all heartily tired and faint; even
+the very negroes laid down and panted like creatures that had been pushed
+beyond their strength.
+
+Here we found the difference of lodging greatly injurious to us; for, as
+before, we always made us huts to sleep under, which covered us from the
+night air, which is particularly unwholesome in those hot countries. But we
+had here no shelter, no lodging, after so hard a march; for here were no
+trees, no, not a shrub near us; and, which was still more frightful,
+towards night we began to hear the wolves howl, the lions bellow, and a
+great many wild asses braying, and other ugly noises which we did not
+understand.
+
+Upon this we reflected upon our indiscretion, that we had not, at least,
+brought poles or stakes in our hands, with which we might have, as it were,
+palisadoed ourselves in for the night, and so we might have slept secure,
+whatever other inconveniences we suffered. However, we found a way at last
+to relieve ourselves a little; for first we set up the lances and bows we
+had, and endeavoured to bring the tops of them as near to one another as we
+could, and so hung our coats on the top of them, which made us a kind of
+sorry tent. The leopard's skin, and a few other skins we had put together,
+made us a tolerable covering, and thus we laid down to sleep, and slept
+very heartily too, for the first night; setting, however, a good watch,
+being two of our own men with their fuzes, whom we relieved in an hour at
+first, and two hours afterwards. And it was very well we did this, for they
+found the wilderness swarmed with raging creatures of all kinds, some of
+which came directly up to the very enclosure of our tent. But our sentinels
+were ordered not to alarm us with firing in the night, but to flash in the
+pan at them, which they did, and found it effectual, for the creatures went
+off always as soon as they saw it, perhaps with some noise or howling, and
+pursued such other game as they were upon.
+
+If we were tired with the day's travel, we were all as much tired with the
+night's lodging. But our black prince told us in the morning he would give
+us some counsel, and indeed it was very good counsel. He told us we should
+be all killed if we went on this journey, and through this desert, without
+some covering for us at night; so he advised us to march back again to a
+little river-side where we lay the night before, and stay there till we
+could make us houses, as he called them, to carry with us to lodge in every
+night. As he began a little to understand our speech, and we very well to
+understand his signs, we easily knew what he meant, and that we should
+there make mats (for we remembered that we saw a great deal of matting or
+bass there, that the natives make mats of)--I say, that we should make
+large mats there for covering our huts or tents to lodge in at night.
+
+We all approved this advice, and immediately resolved to go back that one
+day's journey, resolving, though we carried less provisions, we would carry
+mats with us to cover us in the night. Some of the nimblest of us got back
+to the river with more ease than we had travelled it the day before; but,
+as we were not in haste, the rest made a halt, encamped another night, and
+came to us the next day.
+
+In our return of this day's journey, our men that made two days of it met
+with a very surprising thing, that gave them some reason to be careful how
+they parted company again. The case was this:--The second day in the
+morning, before they had gone half a mile, looking behind them they saw a
+vast cloud of sand or dust rise in the air, as we see sometimes in the
+roads in summer when it is very dusty and a large drove of cattle are
+coming, only very much greater; and they could easily perceive that it came
+after them; and it came on faster as they went from it. The cloud of sand
+was so great that they could not see what it was that raised it, and
+concluded that it was some army of enemies that pursued them; but then
+considering that they came from the vast uninhabited wilderness, they knew
+it was impossible any nation or people that way should have intelligence of
+them or the way of their march; and therefore, if it was an army, it must
+be of such as they were, travelling that way by accident. On the other
+hand, as they knew that there were no horses in the country, and that they
+came on so fast, they concluded that it must be some vast collection of
+wild beasts, perhaps making to the hill country for food or water, and that
+they should be all devoured or trampled under foot by their multitude.
+
+Upon this thought, they very prudently observed which way the cloud seemed
+to point, and they turned a little out of their way to the north, supposing
+it might pass by them. When they were about a quarter of a mile, they
+halted to see what it might be. One of the negroes, a nimbler fellow than
+the rest, went back a little, and came in a few minutes running as fast as
+the heavy sands would allow, and by signs gave them to know that it was a
+great herd, or drove, or whatever it might be called, of vast monstrous
+elephants.
+
+As it was a sight our men had never seen, they were desirous to see it, and
+yet a little uneasy at the danger too; for though an elephant is a heavy
+unwieldy creature, yet in the deep sand, which is nothing at all to them,
+they marched at a great rate, and would soon have tired our people, if they
+had had far to go, and had been pursued by them.
+
+Our gunner was with them, and had a great mind to have gone close up to one
+of the outermost of them, and to have clapped his piece to his ear, and to
+have fired into him, because he had been told no shot would penetrate them;
+but they all dissuaded him, lest upon the noise they should all turn upon
+and pursue us; so he was reasoned out of it, and let them pass, which, in
+our people's circumstances, was certainly the right way.
+
+They were between twenty and thirty in number, but prodigious great ones;
+and though they often showed our men that they saw them, yet they did not
+turn out of their way, or take any other notice of them than, as we might
+say, just to look at them. We that were before saw the cloud of dust they
+raised, but we had thought it had been our own caravan, and so took no
+notice; but as they bent their course one point of the compass, or
+thereabouts, to the southward of the east, and we went due east [? west],
+they passed by us at some little distance; so that we did not see them, or
+know anything of them, till evening, when our men came to us and gave us
+this account of them. However, this was a useful experiment for our future
+conduct in passing the desert, as you shall hear in its place.
+
+We were now upon our work, and our black prince was head surveyor, for he
+was an excellent mat-maker himself, and all his men understood it, so that
+they soon made us near a hundred mats; and as every man, I mean of the
+negroes, carried one, it was no manner of load, and we did not carry an
+ounce of provisions the less. The greatest burthen was to carry six long
+poles, besides some shorter stakes; but the negroes made an advantage of
+that, for carrying them between two, they made the luggage of provisions
+which they had to carry so much the lighter, binding it upon two poles, and
+so made three couple of them. As soon as we saw this, we made a little
+advantage of it too; for having three or four bags, called bottles (I mean
+skins to carry water), more than the men could carry, we got them filled,
+and carried them this way, which was a day's water and more, for our
+journey.
+
+Having now ended our work, made our mats, and fully recruited our stores of
+all things necessary, and having made us abundance of small ropes of
+matting for ordinary use, as we might have occasion, we set forward again,
+having interrupted our journey eight days in all, upon this affair. To our
+great comfort, the night before we set out there fell a very violent shower
+of rain, the effects of which we found in the sand; though the heat of one
+day dried the surface as much as before, yet it was harder at bottom, not
+so heavy, and was cooler to our feet, by which means we marched, as we
+reckoned, about fourteen miles instead of seven, and with much more ease.
+
+When we came to encamp, we had all things ready, for we had fitted our
+tent, and set it up for trial, where we made it; so that, in less than an
+hour, we had a large tent raised, with an inner and outer apartment, and
+two entrances. In one we lay ourselves, in the other our negroes, having
+light pleasant mats over us, and others at the same time under us. Also we
+had a little place without all for our buffaloes, for they deserved our
+care, being very useful to us, besides carrying forage and water for
+themselves. Their forage was a root, which our black prince directed us to
+find, not much unlike a parsnip, very moist and nourishing, of which there
+was plenty wherever we came, this horrid desert excepted.
+
+When we came the next morning to decamp, our negroes took down the tent,
+and pulled up the stakes; and all was in motion in as little time as it was
+set up. In this posture we marched eight days, and yet could see no end, no
+change of our prospect, but all looking as wild and dismal as at the
+beginning. If there was any alteration, it was that the sand was nowhere so
+deep and heavy as it was the first three days. This we thought might be
+because, for six months of the year the winds blowing west (as for the
+other six they blow constantly east), the sand was driven violently to the
+side of the desert where we set out, where the mountains lying very high,
+the easterly monsoons, when they blew, had not the same power to drive it
+back again; and this was confirmed by our finding the like depth of sand on
+the farthest extent of the desert to the west.
+
+It was the ninth day of our travel in this wilderness, when we came to the
+view of a great lake of water; and you may be sure this was a particular
+satisfaction to us, because we had not water left for above two or three
+days more, at our shortest allowance; I mean allowing water for our return,
+if we had been driven to the necessity of it. Our water had served us two
+days longer than expected, our buffaloes having found, for two or three
+days, a kind of herb like a broad flat thistle, though without any prickle,
+spreading on the ground, and growing in the sand, which they ate freely of,
+and which supplied them for drink as well as forage.
+
+The next day, which was the tenth from our setting out, we came to the edge
+of this lake, and, very happily for us, we came to it at the south point of
+it, for to the north we could see no end of it; so we passed by it and
+travelled three days by the side of it, which was a great comfort to us,
+because it lightened our burthen, there being no need to carry water when
+we had it in view. And yet, though here was so much water, we found but
+very little alteration in the desert; no trees, no grass or herbage, except
+that thistle, as I called it, and two or three more plants, which we did
+not understand, of which the desert began to be pretty full.
+
+But as we were refreshed with the neighbourhood of this lake of water, so
+we were now gotten among a prodigious number of ravenous inhabitants, the
+like whereof, it is most certain, the eye of man never saw; for as I firmly
+believe that never man nor body of men passed this desert since the flood,
+so I believe there is not the like collection of fierce, ravenous, and
+devouring creatures in the world; I mean not in any particular place.
+
+For a day's journey before we came to this lake, and all the three days we
+were passing by it, and. for six or seven days' march after it, the ground
+was scattered with elephants' teeth in such a number as is incredible; and
+as some of them have lain there for some hundreds of years, so, seeing the
+substance of them scarce ever decays, they may lie there, for aught I know,
+to the end of time. The size of some of them is, it seems, to those to whom
+I have reported it, as incredible as the number; and I can assure you there
+were several so heavy as the strongest man among us could not lift. As to
+number, I question not but there are enough to load a thousand sail of the
+biggest ships in the world, by which I may be understood to mean that the
+quantity is not to be conceived of; seeing that as they lasted in view for
+above eighty miles' travelling, so they might continue as far to the right
+hand, and to the left as far, and many times as far, for aught we knew; for
+it seems the number of elephants hereabouts is prodigiously great. In one
+place in particular we saw the head of an elephant, with several teeth in
+it, but one of the biggest that ever I saw; the flesh was consumed, to be
+sure, many hundred years before, and all the other bones; but three of our
+strongest men could not lift this skull and teeth; the great tooth, I
+believe, weighed at least three hundredweight; and this was particularly
+remarkable to me, that I observed the whole skull was as good ivory as the
+teeth, and, I believe, altogether weighed at least six hundredweight; and
+though I do not know but, by the same rule, all the bones of the elephant
+may be ivory, yet I think there is this just objection against it from the
+example before me, that then all the other bones of this elephant would
+have been there as well as the head.
+
+I proposed to our gunner, that, seeing we had travelled now fourteen days
+without intermission, and that we had water here for our refreshment, and
+no want of food yet, nor any fear of it, we should rest our people a
+little, and see, at the same time, if perhaps we might kill some creatures
+that were proper for food. The gunner, who had more forecast of that kind
+than I had, agreed to the proposal, and added, why might we not try to
+catch some fish out of the lake? The first thing we had before us was to
+try if we could make any hooks, and this indeed put our artificer to his
+trumps; however, with some labour and difficulty, he did it, and we catched
+fresh fish of several kinds. How they came there, none but He that made the
+lake and all the world knows; for, to be sure, no human hands ever put any
+in there, or pulled any out before.
+
+We not only catched enough for our present refreshment, but we dried
+several large fishes, of kinds which I cannot describe, in the sun, by
+which we lengthened out our provision considerably; for the heat of the sun
+dried them so effectually without salt that they were perfectly cured, dry,
+and hard, in one day's time.
+
+We rested ourselves here five days; during which time we had abundance of
+pleasant adventures with the wild creatures, too many to relate. One of
+them was very particular, which was a chase between a she-lion, or lioness,
+and a large deer; and though the deer is naturally a very nimble creature,
+and she flew by us like the wind, having, perhaps, about 300 yards the
+start of the lion, yet we found the lion, by her strength, and the goodness
+of her lungs, got ground of her. They passed by us within about a quarter
+of a mile, and we had a view of them a great way, when, having given them
+over, we were surprised, about an hour after, to see them come thundering
+back again on the other side of us, and then the lion was within thirty or
+forty yards of her; and both straining to the extremity of their speed,
+when the deer, coming to the lake, plunged into the water, and swam for her
+life, as she had before run for it.
+
+The lioness plunged in after her, and swam a little way, but came back
+again; and when she was got upon the land she set up the most hideous roar
+that ever I heard in my life, as if done in the rage of having lost her
+prey.
+
+We walked out morning and evening constantly; the middle of the day we
+refreshed ourselves under our tent. But one morning early we saw another
+chase, which more nearly concerned us than the other; for our black prince,
+walking by the side of the lake, was set upon by a vast, great crocodile,
+which came out of the lake upon him; and though he was very light of foot,
+yet it was as much as he could do to get away. He fled amain to us, and the
+truth is, we did not know what to do, for we were told no bullet would
+enter her; and we found it so at first, for though three of our men fired
+at her, yet she did not mind them; but my friend the gunner, a venturous
+fellow, of a bold heart, and great presence of mind, went up so near as to
+thrust the muzzle of his piece into her mouth, and fired, but let his piece
+fall, and ran for it the very moment he had fired it. The creature raged a
+great while, and spent its fury upon the gun, making marks upon the very
+iron with its teeth, but after some time fainted and died.
+
+Our negroes spread the banks of the lake all this while for game, and at
+length killed us three deer, one of them very large, the other two very
+small. There was water-fowl also in the lake, but we never came near enough
+to them to shoot any; and as for the desert, we saw no fowls anywhere in it
+but at the lake.
+
+We likewise killed two or three civet cats; but their flesh is the worst of
+carrion. We saw abundance of elephants at a distance, and observed they
+always go in very good company, that is to say, abundance of them together,
+and always extended in a fair line of battle; and this, they say, is the
+way they defend themselves from their enemies; for if lions or tigers,
+wolves or any creatures, attack them, they being drawn in a line, sometimes
+reaching five or six miles in length, whatever comes in their way is sure
+to be trod under foot, or beaten in pieces with their trunks, or lifted up
+in the air with their trunks; so that if a hundred lions or tigers were
+coming along, if they meet a line of elephants, they will always fly back
+till they see room to pass by the right hand or the left; and if they did
+not, it would be impossible for one of them to escape; for the elephant,
+though a heavy creature, is yet so dexterous and nimble with his trunk,
+that he will not fail to lift up the heaviest lion, or any other wild
+creature, and throw him up in the air quite over his back, and then trample
+him to death with his feet. We saw several lines of battle thus; we saw one
+so long that indeed there was no end of it to be seen, and I believe there
+might be 2000 elephants in row or line. They are not beasts of prey, but
+live upon the herbage of the field, as an ox does; and it is said, that
+though they are so great a creature, yet that a smaller quantity of forage
+supplies one of them than will suffice a horse.
+
+The numbers of this kind of creature that are in those parts are
+inconceivable, as may be gathered from the prodigious quantity of teeth
+which, as I said, we saw in this vast desert; and indeed we saw a hundred
+of them to one of any other kind.
+
+One evening we were very much surprised. We were most of us laid down on
+our mats to sleep, when our watch came running in among us, being frighted
+with the sudden roaring of some lions just by them, which, it seems, they
+had not seen, the night being dark, till they were just upon them. There
+was, as it proved, an old lion and his whole family, for there was the
+lioness and three young lions, besides the old king, who was a monstrous
+great one. One of the young ones--who were good, large, well-grown ones
+too--leaped up upon one of our negroes, who stood sentinel, before he saw
+him, at which he was heartily frighted, cried out, and ran into the tent.
+Our other man, who had a gun, had not presence of mind at first to shoot
+him, but struck him with the butt-end of his piece, which made him whine a
+little, and then growl at him fearfully; but the fellow retired, and, we
+being all alarmed, three of our men snatched up their guns, ran to the tent
+door, where they saw the great old lion by the fire of his eyes, and first
+fired at him, but, we supposed, missed him, or at least did not kill him;
+for they went all off, but raised a most hideous roar, which, as if they
+had called for help, brought down a prodigious number of lions, and other
+furious creatures, we know not what, about them, for we could not see them;
+but there was a noise, and yelling and howling, and all sorts of such
+wilderness music on every side of us, as if all the beasts of the desert
+were assembled to devour us.
+
+We asked our black prince what we should do with them. "Me go," says he,
+"and fright them all." So he snatches up two or three of the worst of our
+mats, and getting one of our men to strike some fire, he hangs the mat up
+at the end of a pole, and set it on fire, and it blazed abroad a good
+while; at which the creatures all moved off, for we heard them roar, and
+make their bellowing noise at a great distance. "Well," says our gunner,
+"if that will do, we need not burn our mats, which are our beds to lay
+under us, and our tilting to cover us. Let me alone," says he. So he comes
+back into our tent, and falls to making some artificial fireworks and the
+like; and he gave our sentinels some to be ready at hand upon occasion, and
+particularly he placed a great piece of wild-fire upon the same pole that
+the mat had been tied to, and set it on fire, and that burnt there so long
+that all the wild creatures left us for that time.
+
+However, we began to be weary of such company; and, to be rid of them, we
+set forward again two days sooner than we intended. We found now, that
+though the desert did not end, nor could we see any appearance of it, yet
+that the earth was pretty full of green stuff of one sort or another, so
+that our cattle had no want; and secondly, that there were several little
+rivers which ran into the lake, and so long as the country continued low,
+we found water sufficient, which eased us very much in our carriage, and we
+went on still sixteen days more without yet coming to any appearance of
+better soil. After this we found the country rise a little, and by that we
+perceived that the water would fail us; so, for fear of the worst, we
+filled our bladder-bottles with water. We found the country rising
+gradually thus for three days continually, when, on the sudden, we
+perceived that, though we had mounted up insensibly, yet that we were on
+the top of a very high ridge of hills, though not such as at first.
+
+When we came to look down on the other side of the hills, we saw, to the
+great joy of all our hearts, that the desert was at an end; that the
+country was clothed with green, abundance of trees, and a large river; and
+we made no doubt but that we should find people and cattle also; and here,
+by our gunner's account, who kept our computations, we had marched about
+400 miles over this dismal place of horror, having been four-and-thirty
+days a-doing of it, and consequently were come about 1100 miles of our
+journey.
+
+We would willingly have descended the hills that night, but it was too
+late. The next morning we saw everything more plain, and rested ourselves
+under the shade of some trees, which were now the most refreshing things
+imaginable to us, who had been scorched above a month without a tree to
+cover us. We found the country here very pleasant, especially considering
+that we came from; and we killed some deer here also, which we found very
+frequent under the cover of the woods. Also we killed a creature like a
+goat, whose flesh was very good to eat, but it was no goat; we found also a
+great number of fowls like partridge, but something smaller, and were very
+tame; so that we lived here very well, but found no people, at least none
+that would be seen, no, not for several days' journey; and to allay our
+joy, we were almost every night disturbed with lions and tigers; elephants,
+indeed, we saw none here.
+
+In three days' march we came to a river, which we saw from the hills, and
+which we called the Golden River; and we found it ran northward, which was
+the first stream we had met with that did so. It ran with a very rapid
+current, and our gunner, pulling out his map, assured me that this was
+either the river Nile, or run into the great lake out of which the river
+Nile was said to take its beginning; and he brought out his charts and
+maps, which, by his instruction, I began to understand very well, and told
+me he would convince me of it, and indeed he seemed to make it so plain to
+me that I was of the same opinion.
+
+But I did not enter into the gunner's reason for this inquiry, not in the
+least, till he went on with it farther, and stated it thus:--"If this is
+the river Nile, why should not we build some more canoes, and go down this
+stream, rather than expose ourselves to any more deserts and scorching
+sands in quest of the sea, which when we are come to, we shall be as much
+at a loss how to get home as we were at Madagascar?"
+
+The argument was good, had there been no objections in the way of a kind
+which none of us were capable of answering; but, upon the whole, it was an
+undertaking of such a nature that every one of us thought it impracticable,
+and that upon several accounts; and our surgeon, who was himself a good
+scholar and a man of reading, though not acquainted with the business of
+sailing, opposed it, and some of his reasons, I remember, were such as
+these:--First, the length of the way, which both he and the gunner allowed,
+by the course of the water, and turnings of the river, would be at least
+4000 miles. Secondly, the innumerable crocodiles in the river, which we
+should never be able to escape. Thirdly, the dreadful deserts in the way;
+and lastly, the approaching rainy season, in which the streams of the Nile
+would be so furious, and rise so high--spreading far and wide over all the
+plain country--that we should never be able to know when we were in the
+channel of the river and when not, and should certainly be cast away,
+overset, or run aground so often that it would be impossible to proceed by
+a river so excessively dangerous.
+
+This last reason he made so plain to us that we began to be sensible of it
+ourselves, so that we agreed to lay that thought aside, and proceed in our
+first course, westwards towards the sea; but, as if we had been loth to
+depart, we continued, by way of refreshing ourselves, to loiter two days
+upon this river, in which time our black prince, who delighted much in
+wandering up and down, came one evening and brought us several little bits
+of something, he knew not what, but he found it felt heavy and looked well,
+and showed it to me as what he thought was some rarity. I took not much
+notice of it to him, but stepping out and calling the gunner to me I showed
+it to him, and told him what I thought, viz., that it was certainly gold.
+He agreed with me in that, and also in what followed, that we would take
+the black prince out with us the next day, and make him show us where he
+found it; that if there was any quantity to be found we would tell our
+company of it, but if there was but little we would keep counsel, and have
+it to ourselves.
+
+But we forgot to engage the prince in the secret, who innocently told so
+much to all the rest, as that they guessed what it was, and came to us to
+see. When we found it was public, we were more concerned to prevent their
+suspecting that we had any design to conceal it, and openly telling our
+thoughts of it, we called our artificer, who agreed presently that it was
+gold; so I proposed that we should all go with the prince to the place
+where he found it, and if any quantity was to be had, we would lie here
+some time and see what we could make of it.
+
+Accordingly we went every man of us, for no man was willing to be left
+behind in a discovery of such a nature. When we came to the place we found
+it was on the west side of the river, not in the main river, but in another
+small river or stream which came from the west, and ran into the other at
+that place. We fell to raking in the sand, and washing it in our hands; and
+we seldom took up a handful of sand but we washed some little round lumps
+as big as a pin's head, or sometimes as big as a grape stone, into our
+hands; and we found, in two or three hours' time, that every one had got
+some, so we agreed to leave off, and go to dinner.
+
+While we were eating, it came into my thoughts that while we worked at this
+rate in a thing of such nicety and consequence, it was ten to one if the
+gold, which was the make-bait of the world, did not, first or last, set us
+together by the ears, to break our good articles and our understanding one
+among another, and perhaps cause us to part companies, or worse; I
+therefore told them that I was indeed the youngest man in the company, but
+as they had always allowed me to give my opinion in things, and had
+sometimes been pleased to follow my advice, so I had something to propose
+now, which I thought would be for all our advantages, and I believed they
+would all like it very well. I told them we were in a country where we all
+knew there was a great deal of gold, and that all the world sent ships
+thither to get it; that we did not indeed know where it was, and so we
+might get a great deal, or a little, we did not know whether; but I offered
+it to them to consider whether it would not be the best way for us, and to
+preserve the good harmony and friendship that had been always kept among
+us, and which was so absolutely necessary to our safety, that what we found
+should be brought together to one common stock, and be equally divided at
+last, rather than to run the hazard of any difference which might happen
+among us from any one's having found more or less than another. I told
+them, that if we were all upon one bottom we should all apply ourselves
+heartily to the work; and, besides that, we might then set our negroes all
+to work for us, and receive equally the fruit of their labour and of our
+own, and being all exactly alike sharers, there could be no just cause of
+quarrel or disgust among us.
+
+They all approved the proposal, and every one jointly swore, and gave their
+hands to one another, that they would not conceal the least grain of gold
+from the rest; and consented that if any one or more should be found to
+conceal any, all that he had should be taken from him and divided among the
+rest; and one thing more was added to it by our gunner, from considerations
+equally good and just, that if any one of us, by any play, bet, game, or
+wager, won any money or gold, or the value of any, from another, during our
+whole voyage, till our return quite to Portugal, he should be obliged by us
+all to restore it again on the penalty of being disarmed and turned out of
+the company, and of having no relief from us on any account whatever. This
+was to prevent wagering and playing for money, which our men were apt to do
+by several means and at several games, though they had neither cards nor
+dice.
+
+Having made this wholesome agreement, we went cheerfully to work, and
+showed our negroes how to work for us; and working up the stream on both
+sides, and in the bottom of the river, we spent about three weeks' time
+dabbling in the water; by which time, as it lay all in our way, we had gone
+about six miles, and not more; and still the higher we went, the more gold
+we found; till at last, having passed by the side of a hill, we perceived
+on a sudden that the gold stopped, and that there was not a bit taken up
+beyond that place. It presently occurred to my mind, that it must then be
+from the side of that little hill that all the gold we found was worked
+down.
+
+Upon this, we went back to the hill, and fell to work with that. We found
+the earth loose, and of a yellowish loamy colour, and in some places a
+white hard kind of stone, which, in describing since to some of our
+artists, they tell me was the spar which is found by ore, and surrounds it
+in the mine. However, if it had been all gold, we had no instrument to
+force it out; so we passed that. But scratching into the loose earth with
+our fingers, we came to a surprising place, where the earth, for the
+quantity of two bushels, I believe, or thereabouts, crumbled down with
+little more than touching it, and apparently showed us that there was a
+great deal of gold in it. We took it all carefully up, and washing it in
+the water, the loamy earth washed away, and left the gold dust free in our
+hands; and that which was more remarkable was, that, when this loose earth
+was all taken away, and we came to the rock or hard stone, there was not
+one grain of gold more to be found.
+
+At night we all came together to see what we had got; and it appeared we
+had found, in that day's heap of earth, about fifty pounds' weight of gold
+dust, and about thirty-four pounds' weight more in all the rest of our
+works in the river.
+
+It was a happy kind of disappointment to us, that we found a full stop put
+to our work; for, had the quantity of gold been ever so small, yet, had any
+at all come, I do not know when we should have given over; for, having
+rummaged this place, and not finding the least grain of gold in any other
+place, or in any of the earth there, except in that loose parcel, we went
+quite back down the small river again, working it over and over again, as
+long as we could find anything, how small soever; and we did get six or
+seven pounds more the second time. Then we went into the first river, and
+tried it up the stream and down the stream, on the one side and on the
+other. Up the stream we found nothing, no, not a grain; down the stream we
+found very little, not above the quantity of half an ounce in two miles'
+working; so back we came again to the Golden River, as we justly called it,
+and worked it up the stream and down the stream twice more apiece, and
+every time we found some gold, and perhaps might have done so if we had
+stayed there till this time; but the quantity was at last so small, and the
+work so much the harder, that we agreed by consent to give it over, lest we
+should fatigue ourselves and our negroes so as to be quite unfit for our
+journey.
+
+When we had brought all our purchase together, we had in the whole three
+pounds and a half of gold to a man, share and share alike, according to
+such a weight and scale as our ingenious cutler made for us to weigh it by,
+which indeed he did by guess, but which, as he said, he was sure was rather
+more than less, and so it proved at last; for it was near two ounces more
+than weight in a pound. Besides this, there was seven or eight pounds'
+weight left, which we agreed to leave in his hands, to work it into such
+shapes as we thought fit, to give away to such people as we might yet meet
+with, from whom we might have occasion to buy provisions, or even to buy
+friendship, or the like; and particularly we gave about a pound to our
+black prince, which he hammered and worked by his own indefatigable hand,
+and some tools our artificer lent him, into little round bits, as round
+almost as beads, though not exact in shape, and drilling holes through
+them, put them all upon a string, and wore them about his black neck, and
+they looked very well there, I assure you; but he was many months a-doing
+it. And thus ended our first golden adventure.
+
+We now began to discover what we had not troubled our heads much about
+before, and that was, that, let the country be good or bad that we were in,
+we could not travel much further for a considerable time. We had been now
+five months and upwards in our journey, and the seasons began to change;
+and nature told us, that, being in a climate that had a winter as well as a
+summer, though of a different kind from what our country produced, we were
+to expect a wet season, and such as we should not be able to travel in, as
+well by reason of the rain itself, as of the floods which it would occasion
+wherever we should come; and though we had been no strangers to those wet
+seasons in the island of Madagascar, yet we had not thought much of them
+since we began our travels; for, setting out when the sun was about the
+solstice, that is, when it was at the greatest northern distance from us,
+we had found the benefit of it in our travels. But now it drew near us
+apace, and we found it began to rain; upon which we called another general
+council, in which we debated our present circumstances, and, in particular,
+whether we should go forward, or seek for a proper place upon the bank of
+our Golden River, which had been so lucky to us, to fix our camp for the
+winter.
+
+Upon the whole, it was resolved to abide where we were; and it was not the
+least part of our happiness that we did so, as shall appear in its place.
+
+Having resolved upon this, our first measures were to set our negroes to
+work, to make huts or houses for our habitation, and this they did very
+dexterously; only that we changed the ground where we at first intended it,
+thinking, as indeed it happened, that the river might reach it upon any
+sudden rain. Our camp was like a little town, in which our huts were in the
+centre, having one large one in the centre of them also, into which all our
+particular lodgings opened; so that none of us went into our apartments but
+through a public tent, where we all ate and drank together, and kept our
+councils and society; and our carpenters made us tables, benches, and
+stools in abundance, as many as we could make use of.
+
+We had no need of chimneys, it was hot enough without fire; but yet we
+found ourselves at last obliged to keep a fire every night upon a
+particular occasion. For though we had in all other respects a very
+pleasant and agreeable situation, yet we were rather worse troubled with
+the unwelcome visits of wild beasts here than in the wilderness itself; for
+as the deer and other gentle creatures came hither for shelter and food, so
+the lions and tigers and leopards haunted these places continually for
+prey.
+
+When first we discovered this we were so uneasy at it that we thought of
+removing our situation; but after many debates about it we resolved to
+fortify ourselves in such a manner as not to be in any danger from it; and
+this our carpenters undertook, who first palisaded our camp quite round
+with long stakes, for we had wood enough, which stakes were not stuck in
+one by another like pales, but in an irregular manner; a great multitude of
+them so placed that they took up near two yards in thickness, some higher,
+some lower, all sharpened at the top, and about a foot asunder: so that had
+any creature jumped at them, unless he had gone clean over, which it was
+very hard to do, he would be hung upon twenty or thirty spikes.
+
+The entrance into this had larger stakes than the rest, so placed before
+one another as to make three or four short turnings which no four-footed
+beast bigger than a dog could possibly come in at; and that we might not be
+attacked by any multitude together, and consequently be alarmed in our
+sleep, as we had been, or be obliged to waste our ammunition, which we were
+very chary of, we kept a great fire every night without the entrance of our
+palisade, having a hut for our two sentinels to stand in free from the
+rain, just within the entrance, and right against the fire.
+
+To maintain this fire we cut a prodigious deal of wood, and piled it up in
+a heap to dry, and with the green boughs made a second covering over our
+huts, so high and thick that it might cast the rain from the first, and
+keep us effectually dry.
+
+We had scarcely finished all these works but the rain came on so fierce and
+so continued that we had little time to stir abroad for food, except indeed
+that our negroes, who wore no clothes, seemed to make nothing of the rain;
+though to us Europeans, in those hot climates, nothing is more dangerous.
+
+We continued in this posture for four months, that is to say, from the
+middle of June to the middle of October; for though the rains went off, at
+least the greatest violence of them, about the equinox, yet, as the sun was
+then just over our heads, we resolved to stay awhile till it passed a
+little to the southward.
+
+During our encampment here we had several adventures with the ravenous
+creatures of that country; and had not our fire been always kept burning, I
+question much whether all our fence, though we strengthened it afterwards
+with twelve or fourteen rows of stakes or more, would have kept us secure.
+It was always in the night that we had the disturbance of them, and
+sometimes they came in such multitudes that we thought all the lions and
+tigers, and leopards and wolves of Africa were come together to attack us.
+One night, being clear moonshine, one of our men being upon the watch, told
+us that he verily believed he saw ten thousand wild creatures of one sort
+or another pass by our little camp, and ever as they saw the fire they
+sheered off, but were sure to howl or roar, or whatever it was, when they
+were past.
+
+The music of their voices was very far from being pleasant to us, and
+sometimes would be so very disturbing that we could not sleep for it; and
+often our sentinels would call us that were awake to come and look at them.
+It was one windy, tempestuous night, after a rainy day, that we were indeed
+called up; for such innumerable numbers of devilish creatures came about us
+that our watch really thought they would attack us. They would not come on
+the side where the fire was; and though we thought ourselves secure
+everywhere else, yet we all got up and took to our arms. The moon was near
+the full, but the air full of flying clouds, and a strange hurricane of
+wind to add to the terror of the night; when, looking on the back part of
+our camp, I thought I saw a creature within our fortification, and so
+indeed he was, except his haunches, for he had taken a running leap, I
+suppose, and with all his might had thrown himself clear over our
+palisades, except one strong pile, which stood higher than the rest, and
+which had caught hold of him, and by his weight he had hanged himself upon
+it, the spike of the pile running into his hinder haunch or thigh, on the
+inside; and by that he hung, growling and biting the wood for rage. I
+snatched up a lance from one of the negroes that stood just by me, and
+running to him, struck it three or four times into him, and despatched him,
+being unwilling to shoot, because I had a mind to have a volley fired among
+the rest, whom I could see standing without, as thick as a drove of
+bullocks going to a fair. I immediately called our people out, and showed
+them the object of terror which I had seen, and, without any further
+consultation, fired a full volley among them, most of our pieces being
+loaded with two or three slugs or bullets apiece. It made a horrible
+clutter among them, and in general they all took to their heels, only that
+we could observe that some walked off with more gravity and majesty than
+others, being not so much frighted at the noise and fire; and we could
+perceive that some were left upon the ground struggling as for life, but we
+durst not stir out to see what they were.
+
+Indeed they stood so thick, and were so near us, that we could not well
+miss killing or wounding some of them, and we believed they had certainly
+the smell of us, and our victuals we had been killing; for we had killed a
+deer, and three or four of those creatures like goats the day before; and
+some of the offal had been thrown out behind our camp, and this, we
+suppose, drew them so much about us; but we avoided it for the future.
+
+Though the creatures fled, yet we heard a frightful roaring all night at
+the place where they stood, which we supposed was from some that were
+wounded, and as soon as day came we went out to see what execution we had
+done. And indeed it was a strange sight; there were three tigers and two
+wolves quite killed, besides the creature I had killed within our palisade,
+which seemed to be of an ill-gendered kind, between a tiger and a leopard.
+Besides this there was a noble old lion alive, but with both his fore-legs
+broke, so that he could not stir away, and he had almost beat himself to
+death with struggling all night, and we found that this was the wounded
+soldier that had roared so loud and given us so much disturbance. Our
+surgeon, looking at him, smiled. "Now," says he, "if I could be sure this
+lion would be as grateful to me as one of his majesty's ancestors was to
+Androcles, the Roman slave, I would certainly set both his legs again and
+cure him." I had not heard the story of Androcles, so he told it me at
+large; but as to the surgeon, we told him he had no way to know whether the
+lion would do so or not, but to cure him first and trust to his honour; but
+he had no faith, so to despatch him and put him out of his torment, he shot
+him in the head and killed him, for which we called him the king-killer
+ever after.
+
+Our negroes found no less than five of these ravenous creatures wounded and
+dropped at a distance from our quarters; whereof, one was a wolf, one a
+fine spotted young leopard, and the other were creatures that we knew not
+what to call them.
+
+We had several more of these gentlefolks about after that, but no such
+general rendezvous of them as that was any more; but this ill effect it had
+to us, that it frighted the deer and other creatures from our
+neighbourhood, of whose company we were much more desirous, and which were
+necessary for our subsistence. However, our negroes went out every day
+a-hunting, as they called it, with bow and arrow, and they scarce ever
+failed of bringing us home something or other; and particularly we found in
+this part of the country, after the rains had fallen some time, abundance
+of wild fowl, such as we have in England, duck, teal, widgeon, etc.; some
+geese, and some kinds that we had never seen before; and we frequently
+killed them. Also we catched a great deal of fresh fish out of the river,
+so that we wanted no provision. If we wanted anything, it was salt to eat
+with our fresh meat; but we had a little left, and we used it sparingly;
+for as to our negroes, they could not taste it, nor did they care to eat
+any meat that was seasoned with it.
+
+The weather began now to clear up, the rains were down, and the floods
+abated, and the sun, which had passed our zenith, was gone to the southward
+a good way; so we prepared to go on our way.
+
+It was the 12th of October, or thereabouts, that we began to set forward;
+and having an easy country to travel in, as well as to supply us with
+provisions, though still without inhabitants, we made more despatch,
+travelling sometimes, as we calculated it, twenty or twenty-five miles a
+day; nor did we halt anywhere in eleven days' march, one day excepted,
+which was to make a raft to carry us over a small river, which, having
+swelled with the rains, was not yet quite down.
+
+When we were past this river, which, by the way, ran to the northward too,
+we found a great row of hills in our way. We saw, indeed, the country open
+to the right at a great distance; but, as we kept true to our course, due
+west, we were not willing to go a great way out of our way, only to shun a,
+few hills. So we advanced; but we were surprised when, being not quite come
+to the top, one of our company, who, with two negroes, was got up before
+us, cried out, "The sea! the sea!" and fell a-dancing and jumping, as signs
+of joy.
+
+The gunner and I were most surprised at it, because we had but that morning
+been calculating that we must have yet above 1000 miles on the sea side,
+and that we could not expect to reach it till another rainy season would be
+upon us; so that when our man cried out, "The sea," the gunner was angry,
+and said he was mad.
+
+But we were both in the greatest surprise imaginable, when, coming to the
+top of the hill, and though it was very high, we saw nothing but water,
+either before us or to the right hand or the left, being a vast sea,
+without any bounds but the horizon.
+
+We went down the hill full of confusion of thought, not being able to
+conceive whereabouts we were or what it must be, seeing by all our charts
+the sea was yet a vast way off.
+
+It was not above three miles from the hills before we came to the shore, or
+water-edge of this sea, and there, to our further surprise, we found the
+water fresh and pleasant to drink; so that, in short, we knew not what
+course to take. The sea, as we thought it to be, put a full stop to our
+journey (I mean westward), for it lay just in the way. Our next question
+was, which hand to turn to, to the right hand or the left, but this was
+soon resolved; for, as we knew not the extent of it, we considered that our
+way, if it had been the sea really, must be on the north, and therefore, if
+we went to the south now, it must be just so much out of our way at last.
+So, having spent a good part of the day in our surprise at the thing, and
+consulting what to do, we set forward to the north.
+
+We travelled upon the shore of this sea full twenty-three days before we
+could come to any resolution about what it was; at the end of which, early
+one morning, one of our seamen cried out, "Land!" and it was no false
+alarm, for we saw plainly the tops of some hills at a very great distance,
+on the further side of the water, due west; but though this satisfied us
+that it was not the ocean, but an inland sea or lake, yet we saw no land to
+the northward, that is to say, no end of it, but were obliged to travel
+eight days more, and near 100 miles farther, before we came to the end of
+it, and then we found this lake or sea ended in a very great river which
+ran N. or N. by E., as the other river had done which I mentioned before.
+
+My friend the gunner, upon examining, said that he believed that he was
+mistaken before, and that this was the river Nile, but was still of the
+mind that we were of before, that we should not think of a voyage into
+Egypt that way; so we resolved upon crossing this river, which, however,
+was not so easy as before, the river being very rapid and the channel very
+broad.
+
+It cost us, therefore, a week here to get materials to waft ourselves and
+cattle over this river; for though here were stores of trees, yet there was
+none of any considerable growth sufficient to make a canoe.
+
+During our march on the edge of this bank we met with great fatigue, and
+therefore travelled a fewer miles in a day than before, there being such a
+prodigious number of little rivers that came down from the hills on the
+east side, emptying themselves into this gulf, all which waters were pretty
+high, the rains having been but newly over.
+
+In the last three days of our travel we met with some inhabitants, but we
+found they lived upon the little hills and not by the water-side; nor were
+we a little put to it for food in this march, having killed nothing for
+four or five days but some fish we caught out of the lake, and that not in
+such plenty as we found before.
+
+But, to make us some amends, we had no disturbance upon all the shores of
+this lake from any wild beasts; the only inconveniency of that kind was,
+that we met an ugly, venomous, deformed kind of a snake or serpent in the
+wet grounds near the lake, that several times pursued us as if it would
+attack us; and if we struck or threw anything at it, it would raise itself
+up and hiss so loud that it might be heard a great way. It had a hellish
+ugly deformed look and voice, and our men would not be persuaded but it was
+the devil, only that we did not know what business Satan could have there,
+where there were no people.
+
+It was very remarkable that we had now travelled 1000 miles without meeting
+with any people in the heart of the whole continent of Africa, where, to be
+sure, never man set his foot since the sons of Noah spread themselves over
+the face of the whole earth. Here also our gunner took an observation with
+his forestaff, to determine our latitude, and he found now, that having
+marched about thirty-three days northward, we were in 6 degrees 22 minutes
+south latitude.
+
+After having with great difficulty got over this river, we came into a
+strange wild country that began a little to affright us; for though the
+country was not a desert of dry scalding sand as that was we had passed
+before, yet it was mountainous, barren, and infinitely full of most furious
+wild beasts, more than any place we had passed yet. There was indeed a kind
+of coarse herbage on the surface, and now and then a few trees, or rather
+shrubs. But people we could see none, and we began to be in great suspense
+about victuals, for we had not killed a deer a great while, but had lived
+chiefly upon fish and fowl, always by the water-side, both which seemed to
+fail us now; and we were in the more consternation, because we could not
+lay in a stock here to proceed upon, as we did before, but were obliged to
+set out with scarcity, and without any certainty of a supply.
+
+We had, however, no remedy but patience; and having killed some fowls and
+dried some fish, as much as, with short allowance, we reckoned would last
+us five days, we resolved to venture, and venture we did; nor was it
+without cause that we were apprehensive of the danger, for we travelled the
+five days and met neither with fish nor fowl, nor four-footed beast, whose
+flesh was fit to eat, and we were in a most dreadful apprehension of being
+famished to death. On the sixth day we almost fasted, or, as we may say, we
+ate up all the scraps of what we had left, and at night lay down supperless
+upon our mats, with heavy hearts, being obliged the eighth day to kill one
+of our poor faithful servants, the buffaloes that carried our baggage. The
+flesh of this creature was very good, and so sparingly did we eat of it
+that it lasted us all three days and a half, and was just spent; and we
+were on the point of killing another when we saw before us a country that
+promised better, having high trees and a large river in the middle of it.
+
+This encouraged us, and we quickened our march for the river-side, though
+with empty stomachs, and very faint and weak; but before we came to this
+river we had the good hap to meet with some young deer, a thing we had long
+wished for. In a word, having shot three of them, we came to a full stop to
+fill our bellies, and never gave the flesh time to cool before we ate it;
+nay, it was much we could stay to kill it and had not eaten it alive, for
+we were, in short, almost famished.
+
+Through all that inhospitable country we saw continually lions, tigers,
+leopards, civet cats, and abundance of kinds of creatures that we did not
+understand; we saw no elephants, but every now and then we met with an
+elephant's tooth lying on the ground, and some of them lying, as it were,
+half buried by the length of time that they had lain there.
+
+When we came to the shore of this river, we found it ran northerly still,
+as all the rest had done, but with this difference, that as the course of
+the other rivers were N. by E. or N.N.E., the course of this lay N.W.N.
+
+On the farther bank of this river we saw some sign of inhabitants, but met
+with none for the first day; but the next day we came into an inhabited
+country, the people all negroes, and stark naked, without shame, both men
+and women.
+
+We made signs of friendship to them, and found them a very frank, civil,
+and friendly sort of people. They came to our negroes without any
+suspicion, nor did they give us any reason to suspect them of any villainy,
+as the others had done; we made signs to them that we were hungry, and
+immediately some naked women ran and fetched us great quantities of roots,
+and of things like pumpkins, which we made no scruple to eat; and our
+artificer showed them some of his trinkets that he had made, some of iron,
+some of silver, but none of gold. They had so much judgment as to choose
+that of silver before the iron; but when we showed them some gold, we found
+they did not value it so much as either of the other.
+
+For some of these things they brought us more provisions, and three living
+creatures as big as calves, but not of that kind; neither did we ever see
+any of them before; their flesh was very good; and after that they brought
+us twelve more, and some smaller creatures like hares; all which were very
+welcome to us, who were indeed at a very great loss for provisions.
+
+We grew very intimate with these people, and indeed they were the civillest
+and most friendly people that we met with at all, and mightily pleased with
+us; and, which was very particular, they were much easier to be made to
+understand our meaning than any we had met with before.
+
+At last we began to inquire our way, pointing to the west. They made us
+understand easily that we could not go that way, but they pointed to us
+that we might go north-west, so that we presently understood that there was
+another lake in our way, which proved to be true; for in two days more we
+saw it plain, and it held us till we passed the equinoctial line, lying all
+the way on our left hand, though at a great distance.
+
+Travelling thus northward, our gunner seemed very anxious about our
+proceedings; for he assured us, and made me sensible of it by the maps
+which he had been teaching me out of, that when we came into the latitude
+of six degrees, or thereabouts, north of the line, the land trended away to
+the west to such a length that we should not come at the sea under a march
+of above 1500 miles farther westward than the country we desired to go to.
+I asked him if there were no navigable rivers that we might meet with,
+which, running into the west ocean, might perhaps carry us down their
+stream, and then, if it were 1500 miles, or twice 1500 miles, we might do
+well enough if we could but get provisions.
+
+Here he showed me the maps again, and that there appeared no river whose
+stream was of any such a length as to do any kindness, till we came perhaps
+within 200 or 300 miles of the shore, except the Rio Grande, as they call
+it, which lay farther northward from us, at least 700 miles; and that then
+he knew not what kind of country it might carry us through; for he said it
+was his opinion that the heats on the north of the line, even in the same
+latitude, were violent, and the country more desolate, barren, and
+barbarous, than those of the south; and that when we came among the negroes
+in the north part of Africa, next the sea, especially those who had seen
+and trafficked with the Europeans, such as Dutch, English, Portuguese,
+Spaniards, etc., they had most of them been so ill-used at some time or
+other that they would certainly put all the spite they could upon us in
+mere revenge.
+
+Upon these considerations he advised us that, as soon as we had passed this
+lake, we should proceed W.S.W., that is to say, a little inclining to the
+south, and that in time we should meet with the great river Congo, from
+whence the coast is called Congo, being a little north of Angola, where we
+intended at first to go.
+
+I asked him if ever he had been on the coast of Congo. He said, yes, he
+had, but was never on shore there. Then I asked him how we should get from
+thence to the coast where the European ships came, seeing, if the land
+trended away west for 1500 miles, we must have all that shore to traverse
+before we could double the west point of it.
+
+He told me it was ten to one but we should hear of some European ships to
+take us in, for that they often visited the coast of Congo and Angola, in
+trade with the negroes; and that if we could not, yet, if we could but find
+provisions, we should make our way as well along the sea-shore as along the
+river, till we came to the Gold Coast, which, he said, was not above 400 or
+500 miles north of Congo, besides the turning of the coast west about 300
+more; that shore being in the latitude of six or seven degrees; and that
+there the English, or Dutch, or French had settlements or factories,
+perhaps all of them.
+
+I confess I had more mind, all the while he argued, to have gone northward,
+and shipped ourselves in the Rio Grande, or, as the traders call it, the
+river Negro or Niger, for I knew that at last it would bring us down to the
+Cape de Verd, where we were sure of relief; whereas, at the coast we were
+going to now, we had a prodigious way still to go, either by sea or land,
+and no certainty which way to get provisions but by force; but for the
+present I held my tongue, because it was my tutor's opinion.
+
+But when, according to his desire, we came to turn southward, having passed
+beyond the second great lake, our men began all to be uneasy, and said we
+were now out of our way for certain, for that we were going farther from
+home, and that we were indeed far enough off already.
+
+But we had not marched above twelve days more, eight whereof were taken up
+in rounding the lake, and four more south-west, in order to make for the
+river Congo, but we were put to another full stop, by entering a country so
+desolate, so frightful, and so wild, that we knew not what to think or do;
+for, besides that it appeared as a terrible and boundless desert, having
+neither woods, trees, rivers, or inhabitants, so even the place where we
+were was desolate of inhabitants, nor had we any way to gather in a stock
+of provisions for the passing of this desert, as we did before at our
+entering the first, unless we had marched back four days to the place where
+we turned the head of the lake.
+
+Well, notwithstanding this, we ventured; for, to men that had passed such
+wild places as we had done, nothing could seem too desperate to undertake.
+We ventured, I say, and the rather because we saw very high mountains in
+our way at a great distance, and we imagined, wherever there were mountains
+there would be springs and rivers; where rivers there would be trees and
+grass; where trees and grass there would be cattle; and where cattle, some
+kind of inhabitants. At last, in consequence of this speculative
+philosophy, we entered this waste, having a great heap of roots and plants
+for our bread, such as the Indians gave us, a very little flesh or salt,
+and but a little water.
+
+We travelled two days towards those hills, and still they seemed as far off
+as they did at first, and it was the fifth day before we got to them;
+indeed, we travelled but softly, for it was excessively hot; and we were
+much about the very equinoctial line, we hardly knew whether to the south
+or the north of it.
+
+As we had concluded, that where there were hills there would be springs, so
+it happened; but we were not only surprised, but really frighted, to find
+the first spring we came to, and which looked admirably clear and
+beautiful, to be salt as brine. It was a terrible disappointment to us, and
+put us under melancholy apprehensions at first; but the gunner, who was of
+a spirit never discouraged, told us we should not be disturbed at that, but
+be very thankful, for salt was a bait we stood in as much need of as
+anything, and there was no question but we should find fresh water as well
+as salt; and here our surgeon stepped in to encourage us, and told us that
+if we did not know he would show us a way how to make that salt water
+fresh, which indeed made us all more cheerful, though we wondered what he
+meant.
+
+Meantime our men, without bidding, had been seeking about for other
+springs, and found several; but still they were all salt; from whence we
+concluded that there was a salt rock or mineral stone in those mountains,
+and perhaps they might be all of such a substance; but still I wondered by
+what witchcraft it was that our artist the surgeon would make this salt
+water turn fresh, and I longed to see the experiment, which was indeed a
+very odd one; but he went to work with as much assurance as if he had tried
+it on the very spot before.
+
+He took two of our large mats and sewed them together, and they made a kind
+of a bag four feet broad, three feet and a half high, and about a foot and
+a half thick when it was full.
+
+He caused us to fill this bag with dry sand and tread it down as close as
+we could, not to burst the mats. When thus the bag was full within a foot,
+he sought some other earth and filled up the rest with it, and still trod
+all in as hard as he could. When he had done, he made a hole in the upper
+earth about as broad as the crown of a large hat, or something bigger
+about, but not so deep, and bade a negro fill it with water, and still as
+it shrunk away to fill it again, and keep it full. The bag he had placed at
+first across two pieces of wood, about a foot from the ground; and under it
+he ordered some of our skins to be spread that would hold water. In about
+an hour, and not sooner, the water began to come dropping through the
+bottom of the bag, and, to our great surprise, was perfectly fresh and
+sweet, and this continued for several hours; but in the end the water began
+to be a little brackish. When we told him that, "Well, then," said he,
+"turn the sand out, and fill it again." Whether he did this by way of
+experiment from his own fancy, or whether he had seen it done before, I do
+not remember.
+
+The next day we mounted the tops of the hills, where the prospect was
+indeed astonishing, for as far as the eye could look, south, or west, or
+northwest, there was nothing to be seen but a vast howling wilderness, with
+neither tree nor river, nor any green thing. The surface we found, as the
+part we passed the day before, had a kind of thick moss upon it, of a
+blackish dead colour, but nothing in it that looked like food, either for
+man or beast.
+
+Had we been stored with provisions to have entered for ten or twenty days
+upon this wilderness, as we were formerly, and with fresh water, we had
+hearts good enough to have ventured, though we had been obliged to come
+back again, for if we went north we did not know but we might meet with the
+same; but we neither had provisions, neither were we in any place where it
+was possible to get them. We killed some wild ferine creatures at the foot
+of these hills; but, except two things, like to nothing that we ever saw
+before, we met with nothing that was fit to eat. These were creatures that
+seemed to be between the kind of a buffalo and a deer, but indeed resembled
+neither; for they had no horns, and had great legs like a cow, with a fine
+head, and the neck like a deer. We killed also, at several times, a tiger,
+two young lions, and a wolf; but, God be thanked, we were not so reduced as
+to eat carrion.
+
+Upon this terrible prospect I renewed my motion of turning northward, and
+making towards the river Niger or Rio Grande, then to turn west towards the
+English settlements on the Gold Coast; to which every one most readily
+consented, only our gunner, who was indeed our best guide, though he
+happened to be mistaken at this time. He moved that, as our coast was now
+northward, so we might slant away north-west, that so, by crossing the
+country, we might perhaps meet with some other river that run into the Rio
+Grande northward, or down to the Gold Coast southward, and so both direct
+our way and shorten the labour; as also because, if any of the country was
+inhabited and fruitful, we should probably find it upon the shore of the
+rivers, where alone we could be furnished with provisions.
+
+This was good advice, and too rational not to be taken; but our present
+business was, what to do to get out of this dreadful place we were in.
+Behind us was a waste, which had already cost us five days' march, and we
+had not provisions for five days left to go back again the same way. Before
+us was nothing but horror, as above; so we resolved, seeing the ridge of
+the hills we were upon had some appearance of fruitfulness, and that they
+seemed to lead away to the northward a great way, to keep under the foot of
+them on the east side, to go on as far as we could, and in the meantime to
+look diligently out for food.
+
+Accordingly we moved on the next morning; for we had no time to lose, and,
+to our great comfort, we came in our first morning's march to very good
+springs of fresh water; and lest we should have a scarcity again, we filled
+all our bladder bottles and carried it with us. I should also have observed
+that our surgeon, who made the salt water fresh, took the opportunity of
+those salt springs, and made us the quantity of three or four pecks of very
+good salt.
+
+In our third march we found an unexpected supply of food, the hills being
+full of hares. They were of a kind something different from ours in
+England, larger and not as swift of foot, but very good meat. We shot
+several of them, and the little tame leopard, which I told you we took at
+the negro town that we plundered, hunted them like a dog, and killed us
+several every day; but she would eat nothing of them unless we gave it her,
+which, indeed, in our circumstance, was very obliging. We salted them a
+little and dried them in the sun whole, and carried a strange parcel along
+with us. I think it was almost three hundred, for we did not know when we
+might find any more, either of these or any other food. We continued our
+course under these hills very comfortably for eight or nine days, when we
+found, to our great satisfaction, the country beyond us began to look with
+something of a better countenance. As for the west side of the hills, we
+never examined it till this day, when three of our company, the rest
+halting for refreshment, mounted the hills again to satisfy their
+curiosity, but found it all the same, nor could they see any end of it, no,
+not to the north, the way we were going; so the tenth day, finding the
+hills made a turn, and led as it were into the vast desert, we left them
+and continued our course north, the country being very tolerably full of
+woods, some waste, but not tediously long, till we came, by our gunner's
+observation, into the latitude of eight degrees five minutes, which we were
+nineteen days more in performing.
+
+All this way we found no inhabitants, but abundance of wild ravenous
+creatures, with which we became so well acquainted now that really we did
+not much mind them. We saw lions and tigers and leopards every night and
+morning in abundance; but as they seldom came near us, we let them go about
+their business: if they offered to come near us, we made false fire with
+any gun that was uncharged, and they would walk off as soon as they saw the
+flash.
+
+We made pretty good shift for food all this way; for sometimes we killed
+hares, sometimes some fowls, but for my life I cannot give names to any of
+them, except a kind of partridge, and another that was like our turtle. Now
+and then we began to meet with elephants again in great numbers; those
+creatures delighted chiefly in the woody part of the country.
+
+This long-continued march fatigued us very much, and two of our men fell
+sick, indeed, so very sick that we thought they would have died; and one of
+our negroes died suddenly. Our surgeon said it was an apoplexy, but he
+wondered at it, he said, for he could never complain of his high feeding.
+Another of them was very ill; but our surgeon with much ado persuading him,
+indeed it was almost forcing him to be let blood, he recovered.
+
+We halted here twelve days for the sake of our sick men, and our surgeon
+persuaded me and three or four more of us to be let blood during the time
+of rest, which, with other things he gave us, contributed very much to our
+continued health in so tedious a march and in so hot a climate.
+
+In this march we pitched our matted tents every night, and they were very
+comfortable to us, though we had trees and woods to shelter us in most
+places. We thought it very strange that in all this part of the country we
+yet met with no inhabitants; but the principal reason, as we found
+afterwards, was, that we, having kept a western course first, and then a
+northern course, were gotten too much into the middle of the country and
+among the deserts; whereas the inhabitants are principally found among the
+rivers, lakes, and lowlands, as well to the south-west as to the north.
+
+What little rivulets we found here were so empty of water, that except some
+pits, and little more than ordinary pools, there was scarcely any water to
+be seen in them; and they rather showed that during the rainy months they
+had a channel, than that they had really running water in them at that
+time, by which it was easy for us to judge that we had a great way to go;
+but this was no discouragement so long as we had but provisions, and some
+seasonable shelter from the violent heat, which indeed I thought was much
+greater now than when the sun was just over our heads.
+
+Our men being recovered, we set forward again, very well stored with
+provisions, and water sufficient, and bending our course a little to the
+westward of the north, travelled in hopes of some favourable stream which
+might bear a canoe; but we found none till after twenty days' travel,
+including eight days' rest; for our men being weak, we rested very often,
+especially when we came to places which were proper for our purpose, where
+we found cattle, fowl, or anything to kill for our food. In those twenty
+days' march we advanced four degrees to the northward, besides some
+meridian distance westward, and we met with abundance of elephants, and
+with a good number of elephants' teeth scattered up and down, here and
+there, in the woody grounds especially, some of which were very large. But
+they were no booty to us; our business was provisions, and a good passage
+out of the country; and it had been much more to our purpose to have found
+a good fat deer, and to have killed it for our food, than a hundred ton of
+elephants' teeth; and yet, as you shall presently hear, when we came to
+begin our passage by water, we once thought to have built a large canoe, on
+purpose to have loaded it with ivory; but this was when we knew nothing of
+the rivers, nor knew anything how dangerous and how difficult a passage it
+was we were likely to have in them, nor had considered the weight of
+carriage to lug them to the rivers where we might embark.
+
+At the end of twenty days' travel, as above, in the latitude of three
+degrees sixteen minutes, we discovered in a valley, at some distance from
+us, a pretty tolerable stream, which we thought deserved the name of a
+river, and which ran its course N.N.W., which was just what we wanted. As
+we had fixed our thoughts upon our passage by water, we took this for the
+place to make the experiment, and bent our march directly to the valley.
+
+There was a small thicket of trees just in our way, which we went by,
+thinking no harm, when on a sudden one of our negroes was dangerously
+wounded with an arrow shot into his back, slanting between his shoulders.
+This put us to a full stop; and three of our men, with two negroes,
+spreading the wood, for it was but a small one, found a negro with a bow,
+but no arrow, who would have escaped, but our men that discovered him shot
+him in revenge of the mischief he had done; so we lost the opportunity of
+taking him prisoner, which, if we had done, and sent him home with good
+usage, it might have brought others to us in a friendly manner.
+
+Going a little farther, we came to five negro huts or houses, built after a
+different manner from any we had seen yet; and at the door of one of them
+lay seven elephants' teeth, piled up against the wall or side of the hut,
+as if they had been provided against a market. Here were no men, but seven
+or eight women, and near twenty children. We offered them no incivility of
+any kind, but gave them every one a bit of silver beaten out thin, as I
+observed before, and cut diamond fashion, or in the shape of a bird, at
+which the women were overjoyed, and brought out to us several sorts of
+food, which we did not understand, being cakes of a meal made of roots,
+which they bake in the sun, and which ate very well. We went a little way
+farther and pitched our camp for that night, not doubting but our civility
+to the women would produce some good effect when their husbands might come
+home.
+
+Accordingly, the next morning the women, with eleven men, five young boys,
+and two good big girls, came to our camp. Before they came quite to us, the
+women called aloud, and made an odd screaming noise to bring us out; and
+accordingly we came out, when two of the women, showing us what we had
+given them, and pointing to the company behind, made such signs as we could
+easily understand signified friendship. When the men advanced, having bows
+and arrows, they laid them down on the ground, scraped and threw sand over
+their heads, and turned round three times with their hands laid up upon the
+tops of their heads. This, it seems, was a solemn vow of friendship. Upon
+this we beckoned them with our hands to come nearer; then they sent the
+boys and girls to us first, which, it seems, was to bring us more cakes of
+bread and some green herbs to eat, which we received, and took the boys up
+and kissed them, and the little girls too; then the men came up close to
+us, and sat them down on the ground, making signs that we should sit down
+by them, which we did. They said much to one another, but we could not
+understand them, nor could we find any way to make them understand us, much
+less whither we were going, or what we wanted, only that we easily made
+them understand we wanted victuals; whereupon one of the men, casting his
+eyes about him towards a rising ground that was about half a mile off,
+started up as if he was frighted, flew to the place where they had laid
+down their bows and arrows, snatched up a bow and two arrows, and ran like
+a racehorse to the place. When he came there, he let fly both his arrows,
+and comes back again to us with the same speed. We, seeing he came with the
+bow, but without the arrows, were the more inquisitive; but the fellow,
+saying nothing to us, beckons to one of our negroes to come to him, and we
+bid him go; so he led him back to the place, where lay a kind of deer, shot
+with two arrows, but not quite dead, and between them they brought it down
+to us. This was for a gift to us, and was very welcome, I assure you, for
+our stock was low. These people were all stark naked.
+
+The next day there came about a hundred men to us, and women making the
+same awkward signals of friendship, and dancing, and showing themselves
+very well pleased, and anything they had they gave us. How the man in the
+wood came to be so butcherly and rude as to shoot at our men, without
+making any breach first, we could not imagine; for the people were simple,
+plain, and inoffensive in all our other conversation with them.
+
+From hence we went down the banks of the little river I mentioned, and
+where, I found, we should see the whole nation of negroes, but whether
+friendly to us or not, that we could make no judgment of yet.
+
+The river was no use to us, as to the design of making canoes, a great
+while; and we traversed the country on the edge of it about five days more,
+when our carpenters, finding the stream increased, proposed to pitch our
+tents, and fall to work to make canoes; but after we had begun the work,
+and cut down two or three trees, and spent five days in the labour, some of
+our men, wandering further down the river, brought us word that the stream
+rather decreased than increased, sinking away into the sands, or drying up
+by the heat of the sun, so that the river appeared not able to carry the
+least canoe that could be any way useful to us; so we were obliged to give
+over our enterprise and move on.
+
+In our further prospect this way, we marched three days full west, the
+country on the north side being extraordinary mountainous, and more parched
+and dry than any we had seen yet; whereas, in the part which looks due
+west, we found a pleasant valley running a great way between two great
+ridges of mountains. The hills looked frightful, being entirely bare of
+trees or grass, and even white with the dryness of the sand; but in the
+valley we had trees, grass, and some creatures that were fit for food, and
+some inhabitants.
+
+We passed by some of their huts or houses, and saw people about them, but
+they ran up into the hills as soon as they saw us. At the end of this
+valley we met with a peopled country, and at first it put us to some doubt
+whether we should go among them, or keep up towards the hills northerly;
+and as our aim was principally as before, to make our way to the river
+Niger, we inclined to the latter, pursuing our course by the compass to the
+N.W. We marched thus without interruption seven days more, when we met with
+a surprising circumstance much more desolate and disconsolate than our own,
+and which, in time to come, will scarce seem credible.
+
+We did not much seek the conversing, or acquainting ourselves with the
+natives of the country, except where we found the want of them for our
+provision, or their direction for our way; so that, whereas we found the
+country here begin to be very populous, especially towards our left hand,
+that is, to the south, we kept at the more distance northerly, still
+stretching towards the west.
+
+In this tract we found something or other to kill and eat, which always
+supplied our necessity, though not so well as we were provided in our first
+setting out; being thus, as it were, pushing to avoid a peopled country, we
+at last came to a very pleasant, agreeable stream of water, not big enough
+to be called a river, but running to the N.N.W., which was the very course
+we desired to go.
+
+On the farthest bank of this brook, we perceived some huts of negroes, not
+many, and in a little low spot of ground, some maize, or Indian corn,
+growing, which intimated presently to us, that there were some inhabitants
+on that side less barbarous than what we had met with in other places where
+we had been.
+
+As we went forward, our whole caravan being in a body, our negroes, who
+were in the front, cried out, that they saw a white man! We were not much
+surprised at first, it being, as we thought, a mistake of the fellows, and
+asked them what they meant; when one of them stepped to me, and pointing to
+a hut on the other side of the hill, I was astonished to see a white man
+indeed, but stark naked, very busy near the door of his hut, and stooping
+down to the ground with something in his hand, as if he had been at some
+work; and his back being towards us, he did not see us.
+
+I gave notice to our negroes to make no noise, and waited till some more of
+our men were come up, to show the sight to them, that they might be sure I
+was not mistaken; and we were soon satisfied of the truth, for the man,
+having heard some noise, started up, and looked full at us, as much
+surprised, to be sure, as we were, but whether with fear or hope, we then
+knew not.
+
+As he discovered us, so did the rest of the inhabitants belonging to the
+huts about him, and all crowded together, looking at us at a distance, a
+little bottom, in which the brook ran, lying between us; the white man, and
+all the rest, as he told us afterwards, not knowing well whether they
+should stay or run away. However, it presently came into my thoughts, that
+if there were white men among them, it would be much easier to make them
+understand what we meant as to peace or war, than we found it with others;
+so tying a piece of white rag to the end of a stick, we sent two negroes
+with it to the bank of the water, carrying the pole up as high as they
+could; it was presently understood, and two of their men and the white man
+came to the shore on the other side.
+
+However, as the white man spoke no Portuguese, they could understand
+nothing of one another but by signs; but our men made the white man
+understand that they had white men with them too, at which they said the
+white man laughed. However, to be short, our men came back, and told us
+they were all good friends, and in about an hour four of our men, two
+negroes, and the black prince, went to the river-side, where the white man
+came to them.
+
+They had not been half a quarter of an hour, but a negro came running to
+me, and told me the white man was Inglese, as he called him; upon which I
+ran back, eagerly enough, you may be sure, with him, and found, as he said,
+that he was an Englishman; upon which he embraced me very passionately, the
+tears running down his face. The first surprise of his seeing us was over
+before we came, but any one may conceive it by the brief account he gave us
+afterwards of his very unhappy circumstances, and of so unexpected a
+deliverance, such as perhaps never happened to any man in the world, for it
+was a million to one odds that ever he could have been relieved; nothing
+but an adventure that never was heard or read of before could have suited
+his case, unless Heaven, by some miracle that never was to be expected, had
+acted for him.
+
+He appeared to be a gentleman, not an ordinary-bred fellow, seaman, or
+labouring man; this showed itself in his behaviour in the first moment of
+our conversing with him, and in spite of all the disadvantages of his
+miserable circumstances.
+
+He was a middle-aged man, not above thirty-seven or thirty-eight, though
+his beard was grown exceedingly long, and the hair of his head and face
+strangely covered him to the middle of his back and breast; he was white,
+and his skin very fine, though discoloured, and in some places blistered,
+and covered with a brown blackish substance, scurfy, scaly, and hard, which
+was the effect of the scorching heat of the sun; he was stark naked, and
+had been so, as he told us, upwards of two years.
+
+He was so exceedingly transported at our meeting with him, that he could
+scarce enter into any discourse at all with us that day; and when he could
+get away from us for a little, we saw him walking alone, and showing all
+the most extravagant tokens of an ungovernable joy; and even afterwards he
+was never without tears in his eyes for several days, upon the least word
+spoken by us of his circumstances, or by him of his deliverance.
+
+We found his behaviour the most courteous and endearing I ever saw in any
+man whatever, and most evident tokens of a mannerly, well-bred person
+appeared in all things he did or said, and our people were exceedingly
+taken with him. He was a scholar and a mathematician; he could not speak
+Portuguese indeed, but he spoke Latin to our surgeon, French to another of
+our men, and Italian to a third.
+
+He had no leisure in his thoughts to ask us whence we came, whither we were
+going, or who we were; but would have it always as an answer to himself,
+that to be sure, wherever we were a-going, we came from Heaven, and were
+sent on purpose to save him from the most wretched condition that ever man
+was reduced to.
+
+Our men pitching their camp on the bank of a little river opposite to him,
+he began to inquire what store of provisions we had, and how we proposed to
+be supplied. When he found that our store was but small, he said he would
+talk with the natives, and we should have provisions enough; for he said
+they were the most courteous, good-natured part of the inhabitants in all
+that part of the country, as we might suppose by his living so safe among
+them.
+
+The first things this gentleman did for us were indeed of the greatest
+consequence to us; for, first, he perfectly informed us where we were, and
+which was the properest course for us to steer; secondly, he put us in the
+way how to furnish ourselves effectually with provisions; and thirdly, he
+was our complete interpreter and peacemaker with all the natives, who now
+began to be very numerous about us, and who were a more fierce and politic
+people than those we had met with before; not so easily terrified with our
+arms as those, and not so ignorant as to give their provisions and corn for
+our little toys, such as, I said before, our artificer made; but as they
+had frequently traded and conversed with the Europeans on the coast, or
+with other negro nations that had traded and been concerned with them, they
+were the less ignorant and the less fearful, and consequently nothing was
+to be had from them but by exchange for such things as they liked.
+
+This I say of the negro natives, which we soon came among; but as to these
+poor people that he lived among, they were not much acquainted with things,
+being at the distance of above 300 miles from the coast; only that they
+found elephants' teeth upon the hills to the north, which they took and
+carried about sixty or seventy miles south, where other trading negroes
+usually met them, and gave them beads, glass, shells, and cowries, for
+them, such as the English and Dutch and other traders furnish them with
+from Europe.
+
+We now began to be more familiar with our new acquaintance; and first,
+though we made but a sorry figure as to clothes ourselves, having neither
+shoe, or stocking, or glove, or hat among us, and but very few shirts, yet
+as well as we could we clothed him; and first, our surgeon having scissors
+and razors, shaved him, and cut his hair; a hat, as I say, we had not in
+all our stores, but he supplied himself by making himself a cap of a piece
+of a leopard-skin, most artificially. As for shoes or stockings, he had
+gone so long without them that he cared not even for the buskins and
+foot-gloves we wore, which I described above.
+
+As he had been curious to hear the whole story of our travels, and was
+exceedingly delighted with the relation, so we were no less to know, and
+pleased with, the account of his circumstances, and the history of his
+coming to that strange place alone, and in that condition which we found
+him in, as above. This account of his would indeed be in itself the subject
+of an agreeable history, and would be as long and diverting as our own,
+having in it many strange and extraordinary incidents; but we cannot have
+room here to launch out into so long a digression: the sum of his history
+was this:--
+
+He had been a factor for the English Guinea Company at Sierra Leone, or
+some other of their settlements which had been taken by the French, where
+he had been plundered of all his own effects, as well as of what was
+entrusted to him by the company. Whether it was that the company did not do
+him justice in restoring his circumstances, or in further employing him, he
+quitted their service, and was employed by those called separate traders,
+and being afterwards out of employ there also, traded on his own account;
+when, passing unwarily into one of the company's settlements, he was either
+betrayed into the hands of some of the natives, or, somehow or other, was
+surprised by them. However, as they did not kill him, he found means to
+escape from them at that time, and fled to another nation of the natives,
+who, being enemies to the other, entertained him friendly, and with them he
+lived some time; but not liking his quarters or his company, he fled again,
+and several times changed his landlords: sometimes was carried by force,
+sometimes hurried by fear, as circumstances altered with him (the variety
+of which deserves a history by itself), till at last he had wandered beyond
+all possibility of return, and had taken up his abode where we found him,
+where he was well received by the petty king of the tribe he lived with;
+and he, in return, instructed them how to value the product of their
+labour, and on what terms to trade with those negroes who came up to them
+for teeth.
+
+As he was naked, and had no clothes, so he was naked of arms for his
+defence, having neither gun, sword, staff, or any instrument of war about
+him, no, not to guard himself against the attacks of a wild beast, of which
+the country was very full. We asked him how he came to be so entirely
+abandoned of all concern for his safety? He answered, that to him, that had
+so often wished for death, life was not worth defending; and that, as he
+was entirely at the mercy of the negroes, they had much the more confidence
+in him, seeing he had no weapons to hurt them. As for wild beasts, he was
+not much concerned about that, for he scarce ever went from his hut; but if
+he did, the negro king and his men went all with him, and they were all
+armed with bows and arrows, and lances, with which they would kill any of
+the ravenous creatures, lions as well as others; but that they seldom came
+abroad in the day; and if the negroes wander anywhere in the night, they
+always build a hut for themselves, and make a fire at the door of it, which
+is guard enough.
+
+We inquired of him what we should next do towards getting to the seaside.
+He told us we were about one hundred and twenty English leagues from the
+coast, where almost all the European settlements and factories were, and
+which is called the Gold Coast; but that there were so many different
+nations of negroes in the way, that it was ten to one if we were not either
+fought with continually, or starved for want of provisions; but that there
+were two other ways to go, which, if he had had any company to go with him,
+he had often contrived to make his escape by. The one was to travel full
+west, which, though it was farther to go, yet was not so full of people,
+and the people we should find would be so much the civiller to us, or be so
+much the easier to fight with; or that the other way was, if possible, to
+get to the Rio Grande, and go down the stream in canoes. We told him, that
+was the way we had resolved on before we met with him; but then he told us
+there was a prodigious desert to go over, and as prodigious woods to go
+through, before we came to it, and that both together were at least twenty
+days' march for us, travel as hard as we could.
+
+We asked him if there were no horses in the country, or asses, or even
+bullocks or buffaloes, to make use of in such a journey, and we showed him
+ours, of which we had but three left. He said no, all the country did not
+afford anything of that kind.
+
+He told us that in this great wood there were immense numbers of elephants;
+and upon the desert, great multitudes of lions, lynxes, tigers, leopards,
+&c.; and that it was to that wood and that desert that the negroes went to
+get elephants' teeth, where they never failed to find a great number.
+
+We inquired still more, and particularly the way to the Gold Coast, and if
+there were no rivers to ease us in our carriage; and told him, as to the
+negroes fighting with us, we were not much concerned at that; nor were we
+afraid of starving, for if they had any victuals among them, we would have
+our share of it; and, therefore, if he would venture to show us the way, we
+would venture to go; and as for himself, we told him we would live and die
+together--there should not a man of us stir from him.
+
+He told us, with all his heart, if we resolved it, and would venture, we
+might be assured he would take his fate with us, and he would endeavour to
+guide us in such a way as we should meet with some friendly savages who
+would use us well, and perhaps stand by us against some others, who were
+less tractable; so, in a word, we all resolved to go full south for the
+Gold Coast.
+
+The next morning he came to us again, and being all met in council, as we
+may call it, he began to talk very seriously with us, that since we were
+now come, after a long journey, to a view of the end of our troubles, and
+had been so obliging to him as to offer to carry him with us, he had been
+all night revolving in his mind what he and we all might do to make
+ourselves some amends for all our sorrows; and first, he said, he was to
+let me know that we were just then in one of the richest parts of the
+world, though it was really otherwise but a desolate, disconsolate
+wilderness; "for," says he, "there is not a river but runs gold--not a
+desert but without ploughing bears a crop of ivory. What mines of gold,
+what immense stores of gold, those mountains may contain, from whence these
+rivers come, or the shores which these waters run by, we know not, but may
+imagine that they must be inconceivably rich, seeing so much is washed down
+the stream by the water washing the sides of the land, that the quantity
+suffices all the traders which the European world send thither." We asked
+him how far they went for it, seeing the ships only trade upon the coast.
+He told us that the negroes on the coast search the rivers up for the
+length of 150 or 200 miles, and would be out a month, or two, or three at a
+time, and always come home sufficiently rewarded; "but," says he, "they
+never come thus far, and yet hereabouts is as much gold as there." Upon
+this he told us that he believed he might have gotten a hundred pounds'
+weight of gold since he came thither, if he had employed himself to look
+and work for it; but as he knew not what to do with it, and had long since
+despaired of being ever delivered from the misery he was in, he had
+entirely omitted it. "For what advantage had it been to me," said he, "or
+what richer had I been, if I had a ton of gold dust, and lay and wallowed
+in it? The richness of it," said he, "would not give me one moment's
+felicity, nor relieve me in the present exigency. Nay," says he, "as you
+all see, it would not buy me clothes to cover me, or a drop of drink to
+save me from perishing. It is of no value here," says he; "there are
+several people among these huts that would weigh gold against a few glass
+beads or a cockle-shell, and give you a handful of gold-dust for a handful
+of cowries." N.B.--These are little shells which our children call
+blackamoors' teeth.
+
+When he had said thus he pulled out a piece of an earthen pot baked hard in
+the sun. "Here," says he, "is some of the dirt of this country, and if I
+would I could have got a great deal more;" and, showing it to us, I believe
+there was in it between two and three pounds weight of gold-dust, of the
+same kind and colour with that we had gotten already, as before. After we
+had looked at it a while, he told us, smiling, we were his deliverers, and
+all he had, as well as his life, was ours; and therefore, as this would be
+of value to us when we came to our own country, so he desired we would
+accept of it among us; and that was the only time that he had repented that
+he had picked up no more of it.
+
+I spoke for him, as his interpreter, to my comrades, and in their names
+thanked him; but, speaking to them in Portuguese, I desired them to defer
+the acceptance of his kindness to the next morning; and so I did, telling
+him we would further talk of this part in the morning; so we parted for
+that time.
+
+When he was gone I found they were all wonderfully affected with his
+discourse, and with the generosity of his temper, as well as the
+magnificence of his present, which in another place had been extraordinary.
+Upon the whole, not to detain you with circumstances, we agreed that,
+seeing he was now one of our number, and that as we were a relief to him in
+carrying him out of the dismal condition he was in, so he was equally a
+relief to us, in being our guide through the rest of the country, our
+interpreter with the natives, and our director how to manage with the
+savages, and how to enrich ourselves with the wealth of the country; that,
+therefore, we would put his gold among our common stock, and every one
+should give him as much as would make his up just as much as any single
+share of our own, and for the future we would take our lot together, taking
+his solemn engagement to us, as we had before one to another, that we would
+not conceal the least grain of gold we found one from another.
+
+In the next conference we acquainted him with the adventures of the Golden
+River, and how we had shared what we got there, so that every man had a
+larger stock than he for his share; that, therefore, instead of taking any
+from him, we had resolved every one to add a little to him. He appeared
+very glad that we had met with such good success, but would not take a
+grain from us, till at last, pressing him very hard, he told us, that then
+he would take it thus:--that, when we came to get any more, he would have
+so much out of the first as should make him even, and then we would go on
+as equal adventurers; and thus we agreed.
+
+He then told us he thought it would not be an unprofitable adventure if,
+before we set forward, and after we had got a stock of provisions, we
+should make a journey north to the edge of the desert he had told us of,
+from whence our negroes might bring every one a large elephant's tooth, and
+that he would get some more to assist; and that, after a certain length of
+carriage, they might be conveyed by canoes to the coast, where they would
+yield a very great profit.
+
+I objected against this on account of our other design we had of getting
+gold-dust; and that our negroes, who we knew would be faithful to us, would
+get much more by searching the rivers for gold for us than by lugging a
+great tooth of a hundred and fifty pounds weight a hundred miles or more,
+which would be an insufferable labour to them after so hard a journey, and
+would certainly kill them.
+
+He acquiesced in the justice of this answer, but fain would have had us
+gone to see the woody part of the hill and the edge of the desert, that we
+might see how the elephants' teeth lay scattered up and down there; but
+when we told him the story of what we had seen before, as is said above, he
+said no more.
+
+We stayed here twelve days, during which time the natives were very
+obliging to us, and brought us fruits, pompions, and a root like carrots,
+though of quite another taste, but not unpleasant neither, and some
+guinea-fowls, whose names we did not know. In short, they brought us plenty
+of what they had, and we lived very well, and we gave them all such little
+things as our cutler had made, for he had now a whole bag full of them.
+
+On the thirteenth day we set forward, taking our new gentleman with us. At
+parting, the negro king sent two savages with a present to him of some
+dried flesh, but I do not remember what it was, and he gave him again three
+silver birds which our cutler helped him to, which I assure you was a
+present for a king.
+
+We travelled now south, a little west, and here we found the first river
+for above 2000 miles' march, whose waters run south, all the rest running
+north or west. We followed this river, which was no bigger than a good
+large brook in England, till it began to increase its water. Every now and
+then we found our Englishman went down as it were privately to the water,
+which was to try the land; at length, after a day's march upon this river,
+he came running up to us with his hands full of sand, and saying, "Look
+here." Upon looking we found that a good deal of gold lay spangled among
+the sand of the river. "Now," says he, "I think we may begin to work;" so
+he divided our negroes into couples and set them to work, to search and
+wash the sand and ooze in the bottom of the water where it was not deep.
+
+In the first day and a quarter our men all together had gathered a pound
+and two ounces of gold or thereabouts, and as we found the quantity
+increased the farther we went, we followed it about three days, till
+another small rivulet joined the first, and then searching up the stream,
+we found gold there too; so we pitched our camp in the angle where the
+rivers joined, and we diverted ourselves, as I may call it, in washing the
+gold out of the sand of the river, and in getting provisions.
+
+Here we stayed thirteen days more, in which time we had many pleasant
+adventures with the savages, too long to mention here, and some of them too
+homely to tell of, for some of our men had made something free with their
+women, which, had not our new guide made peace for us with one of their men
+at the price of seven fine bits of silver, which our artificer had cut out
+into the shapes of lions, and fishes, and birds, and had punched holes to
+hang them up by (an inestimable treasure), we must have gone to war with
+them and all their people.
+
+All the while we were busy washing gold-dust out of the rivers, and our
+negroes the like, our ingenious cutler was hammering and cutting, and he
+was grown so dexterous by use that he formed all manner of images. He cut
+out elephants, tigers, civet cats, ostriches, eagles, cranes, fowls,
+fishes, and indeed whatever he pleased, in thin plates of hammered gold,
+for his silver and iron were almost all gone.
+
+At one of the towns of these savage nations we were very friendly received
+by their king, and as he was very much taken with our workman's toys, he
+sold him an elephant cut out of a gold plate as thin as a sixpence at an
+extravagant rate. He was so much taken with it that he would not be quiet
+till he had given him almost a handful of gold-dust, as they call it; I
+suppose it might weigh three-quarters of a pound; the piece of gold that
+the elephant was made of might be about the weight of a pistole, rather
+less than more. Our artist was so honest, though the labour and art were
+all his own, that he brought all the gold and put it into our common stock;
+but we had, indeed, no manner of reason in the least to be covetous, for,
+as our new guide told us, we that were strong enough to defend ourselves,
+and had time enough to stay (for we were none of us in haste), might in
+time get together what quantity of gold we pleased, even to an hundred
+pounds weight each man if we thought fit; and therefore he told us, though
+he had as much reason to be sick of the country as any of us, yet if we
+thought to turn our march a little to the south-east, and pitch upon a
+place proper for our headquarters, we might find provisions plenty enough,
+and extend ourselves over the country among the rivers for two or three
+years to the right and left, and we should soon find the advantage of it.
+
+The proposal, however good as to the profitable part of it, suited none of
+us, for we were all more desirous to get home than to be rich, being tired
+of the excessive fatigue of above a year's continual wandering among
+deserts and wild beasts.
+
+However, the tongue of our new acquaintance had a kind of charm in it, and
+used such arguments, and had so much the power of persuasion, that there
+was no resisting him. He told us it was preposterous not to take the fruit
+of all our labours now we were come to the harvest; that we might see the
+hazard the Europeans run with ships and men, and at great expense, to fetch
+a little gold, and that we, that were in the centre of it, to go away
+empty-handed was unaccountable; that we were strong enough to fight our way
+through whole nations, and might make our journey afterward to what part of
+the coast we pleased, and we should never forgive ourselves when we came to
+our own country to see we had 500 pistoles in gold, and might as easily
+have had 5000 or 10,000, or what we pleased; that he was no more covetous
+than we, but seeing it was in all our powers to retrieve our misfortunes at
+once, and to make ourselves easy for all our lives, he could not be
+faithful to us, or grateful for the good we had done him, if he did not let
+us see the advantage we had in our hands; and he assured us he would make
+it clear to our own understanding, that we might in two years' time, by
+good management and by the help of our negroes, gather every man a hundred
+pounds weight of gold, and get together perhaps two hundred ton of teeth;
+whereas, if once we pushed on to the coast and separated, we should never
+be able to see that place again with our eyes, or do any more than sinners
+did with heaven,--wish themselves there, but know they can never come at
+it.
+
+Our surgeon was the first man that yielded to his reasoning, and after him
+the gunner; and they too, indeed, had a great influence over us, but none
+of the rest had any mind to stay, nor I neither, I must confess; for I had
+no notion of a great deal of money, or what to do with myself, or what to
+do with it if I had it. I thought I had enough already, and all the
+thoughts I had about disposing of it, if I came to Europe, was only how to
+spend it as fast as I could, buy me some clothes, and go to sea again to be
+a drudge for more.
+
+However, he prevailed with us by his good words at last to stay but for six
+months in the country, and then, if we did resolve to go, he would submit;
+so at length we yielded to that, and he carried us about fifty English
+miles south-east, where we found several rivulets of water, which seemed to
+come all from a great ridge of mountains, which lay to the north-east, and
+which, by our calculation, must be the beginning that way of the great
+waste, which we had been forced northward to avoid.
+
+Here we found the country barren enough, but yet we had by his direction
+plenty of food; for the savages round us, upon giving them some of our
+toys, as I have so often mentioned, brought us in whatever they had; and
+here we found some maize, or Indian wheat, which the negro women planted,
+as we sow seeds in a garden, and immediately our new provider ordered some
+of our negroes to plant it, and it grew up presently, and by watering it
+often, we had a crop in less than three months' growth.
+
+As soon as we were settled, and our camp fixed, we fell to the old trade of
+fishing for gold in the rivers mentioned above, and our English gentleman
+so well knew how to direct our search, that we scarce ever lost our labour.
+
+One time, having set us to work, he asked if we would give him leave, with
+four or five negroes, to go out for six or seven days to seek his fortune,
+and see what he could discover in the country, assuring us whatever he got
+should be for the public stock. We all gave him our consent, and lent him a
+gun; and two of our men desiring to go with him, they took then six negroes
+with them, and two of our buffaloes that came with us the whole journey;
+they took about eight days' provision of bread with them, but no flesh,
+except about as much dried flesh as would serve them two days.
+
+They travelled up to the top of the mountains I mentioned just now, where
+they saw (as our men afterwards vouched it to be) the same desert which we
+were so justly terrified at when we were on the farther side, and which, by
+our calculation, could not be less than 300 miles broad and above 600 miles
+in length, without knowing where it ended.
+
+The journal of their travels is too long to enter upon here. They stayed
+out two-and-fifty days, when they brought us seventeen pound and something
+more (for we had no exact weight) of gold-dust, some of it in much larger
+pieces than any we had found before, besides about fifteen ton of
+elephants' teeth, which he had, partly by good usage and partly by bad,
+obliged the savages of the country to fetch, and bring down to him from the
+mountains, and which he made others bring with him quite down to our camp.
+Indeed, we wondered what was coming to us when we saw him attended with
+above 200 negroes; but he soon undeceived us, when he made them all throw
+down their burdens on a heap at the entrance of our camp.
+
+Besides this, they brought two lions' skins, and five leopards' skins, very
+large and very fine. He asked our pardon for his long stay, and that he had
+made no greater a booty, but told us he had one excursion more to make,
+which he hoped should turn to a better account.
+
+So, having rested himself and rewarded the savages that brought the teeth
+for him with some bits of silver and iron cut out diamond fashion, and with
+two shaped like little dogs, he sent them away mightily pleased.
+
+The second journey he went, some more of our men desired to go with him,
+and they made a troop of ten white men and ten savages, and the two
+buffaloes to carry their provisions and ammunition. They took the same
+course, only not exactly the same track, and they stayed thirty-two days
+only, in which time they killed no less than fifteen leopards, three lions,
+and several other creatures, and brought us home four-and-twenty pound some
+ounces of gold-dust, and only six elephants' teeth, but they were very
+great ones.
+
+Our friend the Englishman showed us that now our time was well bestowed,
+for in five months which we had stayed here, we had gathered so much
+gold-dust that, when we came to share it, we had five pound and a quarter
+to a man, besides what we had before, and besides six or seven pound weight
+which we had at several times given our artificer to make baubles with. And
+now we talked of going forward to the coast to put an end to our journey;
+but our guide laughed at us then. "Nay, you can't go now," says he, "for
+the rainy season begins next month, and there will be no stirring then."
+This we found, indeed, reasonable, so we resolved to furnish ourselves with
+provisions, that we might not be obliged to go abroad too much in the rain,
+and we spread ourselves some one way and some another, as far as we cared
+to venture, to get provisions; and our negroes killed us some deer, which
+we cured as well as we could in the sun, for we had now no salt.
+
+By this time the rainy months were set in, and we could scarce, for above
+two months, look out of our huts. But that was not all, for the rivers were
+so swelled with the land-floods, that we scarce knew the little brooks and
+rivulets from the great navigable rivers. This had been a very good
+opportunity to have conveyed by water, upon rafts, our elephants' teeth, of
+which we had a very great pile; for, as we always gave the savages some
+reward for their labour, the very women would bring us teeth upon every
+opportunity, and sometimes a great tooth carried between two; so that our
+quantity was increased to about two-and-twenty ton of teeth.
+
+As soon as the weather proved fair again, he told us he would not press us
+to any further stay, since we did not care whether we got any more gold or
+no; that we were indeed the first men he ever met with in his life that
+said they had gold enough, and of whom it might be truly said, that, when
+it lay under our feet, we would not stoop to take it up. But, since he had
+made us a promise, he would not break it, nor press us to make any further
+stay; only he thought he ought to tell us that now was the time, after the
+land-flood, when the greatest quantity of gold was found; and that, if we
+stayed but one month, we should see thousands of savages spread themselves
+over the whole country to wash the gold out of the sand, for the European
+ships which would come on the coast; that they do it then, because the rage
+of the floods always works down a great deal of gold out of the hills; and,
+if we took the advantage to be there before them, we did not know what
+extraordinary things we might find.
+
+This was so forcible, and so well argued, that it appeared in all our faces
+we were prevailed upon; so we told him we would all stay: for though it was
+true we were all eager to be gone, yet the evident prospect of so much
+advantage could not well be resisted; that he was greatly mistaken, when he
+suggested that we did not desire to increase our store of gold, and in that
+we were resolved to make the utmost use of the advantage that was in our
+hands, and would stay as long as any gold was to be had, if it was another
+year.
+
+He could hardly express the joy he was in on this occasion; and the fair
+weather coming on, we began, just as he directed, to search about the
+rivers for more gold. At first we had but little encouragement, and began
+to be doubtful; but it was very plain that the reason was, the water was
+not fully fallen, or the rivers reduced to their usual channel; but in a
+few days we were fully requited, and found much more gold than at first,
+and in bigger lumps; and one of our men washed out of the sand a piece of
+gold as big as a small nut, which weighed, by our estimation--for we had no
+small weights--almost an ounce and a half.
+
+This success made us extremely diligent; and in little more than a month we
+had altogether gotten near sixty pound weight of gold; but after this, as
+he told us, we found abundance of the savages, men, women, and children,
+hunting every river and brook, and even the dry land of the hills for gold;
+so that we could do nothing like then, compared to what we had done before.
+
+But our artificer found a way to make other people find us in gold without
+our own labour; for, when these people began to appear, he had a
+considerable quantity of his toys, birds, beasts, &c., such as before,
+ready for them; and the English gentleman being the interpreter, he brought
+the savages to admire them; so our cutler had trade enough, and, to be
+sure, sold his goods at a monstrous rate; for he would get an ounce of
+gold, sometimes two, for a bit of silver, perhaps of the value of a groat;
+nay, if it were iron and if it was of gold, they would not give the more
+for it; and it was incredible almost to think what a quantity of gold he
+got that way.
+
+In a word, to bring this happy journey to a conclusion, we increased our
+stock of gold here, in three months' stay more, to such a degree that,
+bringing it all to a common stock, in order to share it, we divided almost
+four pound weight again to every man; and then we set forward for the Gold
+Coast, to see what method we could find out for our passage into Europe.
+
+There happened several remarkable incidents in this part of our journey, as
+to how we were, or were not, received friendly by the several nations of
+savages through which we passed; how we delivered one negro king from
+captivity, who had been a benefactor to our new guide; and now our guide,
+in gratitude, by our assistance, restored him to his kingdom, which,
+perhaps, might contain about 300 subjects; how he entertained us; and how
+he made his subjects go with our Englishmen, and fetch all our elephants'
+teeth which we had been obliged to leave behind us, and to carry them for
+us to the river, the name of which I forgot, where we made rafts, and in
+eleven days more came down to one of the Dutch settlements on the Gold
+Coast, where we arrived in perfect health, and to our great satisfaction.
+As for our cargo of teeth, we sold it to the Dutch factory, and received
+clothes and other necessaries for ourselves, and such of our negroes as we
+thought fit to keep with us; and it is to be observed, that we had four
+pound of gunpowder left when we ended our journey. The negro prince we made
+perfectly free, clothed him out of our common stock, and gave him a pound
+and a half of gold for himself, which he knew very well how to manage; and
+here we all parted after the most friendly manner possible. Our Englishman
+remained in the Dutch factory some time, and, as I heard afterwards, died
+there of grief; for he having sent a thousand pounds sterling over to
+England, by the way of Holland, for his refuge at his return to his
+friends, the ship was taken by the French and the effects all lost.
+
+The rest of my comrades went away, in a small bark, to the two Portuguese
+factories, near Gambia, in the latitude of fourteen; and I, with two
+negroes which I kept with me, went away to Cape Coast Castle, where I got
+passage for England, and arrived there in September; and thus ended my
+first harvest of wild oats; the rest were not sowed to so much advantage.
+
+I had neither friend, relation, nor acquaintance in England, though it was
+my native country; I had consequently no person to trust with what I had,
+or to counsel me to secure or save it; but, falling into ill company, and
+trusting the keeper of a public-house in Rotherhithe with a great part of
+my money, and hastily squandering away the rest, all that great sum, which
+I got with so much pains and hazard, was gone in little more than two
+years' time; and, as I even rage in my own thoughts to reflect upon the
+manner how it was wasted, so I need record no more; the rest merits to be
+concealed with blushes, for that it was spent in all kinds of folly and
+wickedness. So this scene of my life may be said to have begun in theft,
+and ended in luxury; a sad setting-out, and a worse coming home.
+
+About the year ---- I began to see the bottom of my stock, and that it was
+time to think of further adventures; for my spoilers, as I call them, began
+to let me know, that as my money declined, their respect would ebb with it,
+and that I had nothing to expect of them further than as I might command it
+by the force of my money, which, in short, would not go an inch the further
+for all that had been spent in their favour before.
+
+This shocked me very much, and I conceived a just abhorrence of their
+ingratitude; but it wore off; nor had I met with any regret at the wasting
+so glorious a sum of money as I brought to England with me.
+
+I next shipped myself, in an evil hour to be sure, on a voyage to Cadiz, in
+a ship called the ----, and in the course of our voyage, being on the coast
+of Spain, was obliged to put into the Groyn, by a strong southwest wind.
+
+Here I fell into company with some masters of mischief; and, among them,
+one, forwarder than the rest, began an intimate confidence with me, so that
+we called one another brothers, and communicated all our circumstances to
+one another. His name was Harris. This fellow came to me one morning,
+asking me if I would go on shore, and I agreed; so we got the captain's
+leave for the boat, and went together. When we were together, he asked me
+if I had a mind for an adventure that might make amends for all past
+misfortunes. I told him, yes, with all my heart; for I did not care where I
+went, having nothing to lose, and no one to leave behind me.
+
+He then asked me if I would swear to be secret, and that, if I did not
+agree to what he proposed, I would nevertheless never betray him. I readily
+bound myself to that, upon the most solemn imprecations and curses that the
+devil and both of us could invent.
+
+He told me, then, there was a brave fellow in the other ship, pointing to
+another English ship which rode in the harbour, who, in concert with some
+of the men, had resolved to mutiny the next morning, and run away with the
+ship; and that, if we could get strength enough among our ship's company,
+we might do the same. I liked the proposal very well, and he got eight of
+us to join with him, and he told us, that as soon as his friend had begun
+the work, and was master of the ship, we should be ready to do the like.
+This was his plot; and I, without the least hesitation, either at the
+villainy of the fact or the difficulty of performing it, came immediately
+into the wicked conspiracy, and so it went on among us; but we could not
+bring our part to perfection.
+
+Accordingly, on the day appointed, his correspondent in the other ship,
+whose name was Wilmot, began the work, and, having seized the captain's
+mate and other officers, secured the ship, and gave the signal to us. We
+were but eleven in our ship, who were in the conspiracy, nor could we get
+any more that we could trust; so that, leaving the ship, we all took the
+boat, and went off to join the other.
+
+Having thus left the ship I was in, we were entertained with a great deal
+of joy by Captain Wilmot and his new gang; and, being well prepared for all
+manner of roguery, bold, desperate (I mean myself), without the least
+checks of conscience for what I was entered upon, or for anything I might
+do, much less with any apprehension of what might be the consequence of it;
+I say, having thus embarked with this crew, which at last brought me to
+consort with the most famous pirates of the age, some of whom have ended
+their journals at the gallows, I think the giving an account of some of my
+other adventures may be an agreeable piece of story; and this I may venture
+to say beforehand, upon the word of a pirate, that I shall not be able to
+recollect the full, no, not by far, of the great variety which has formed
+one of the most reprobate schemes that ever man was capable to present to
+the world.
+
+I that was, as I have hinted before, an original thief, and a pirate, even
+by inclination before, was now in my element, and never undertook anything
+in my life with more particular satisfaction.
+
+Captain Wilmot (for so we are now to call him) being thus possessed of a
+ship, and in the manner as you have heard, it may be easily concluded he
+had nothing to do to stay in the port, or to wait either the attempts
+that might be made from the shore, or any change that might happen among
+his men. On the contrary, we weighed anchor the same tide, and stood out
+to sea, steering away for the Canaries. Our ship had twenty-two guns,
+but was able to carry thirty; and besides, as she was fitted out for a
+merchant-ship only, she was not furnished either with ammunition or
+small-arms sufficient for our design, or for the occasion we might have
+in case of a fight. So we put into Cadiz, that is to say, we came to an
+anchor in the bay; and the captain, and one whom we called young Captain
+Kidd, who was the gunner, [landed,] and some of the men who could best
+be trusted, among whom was my comrade Harris, who was made second mate,
+and myself, who was made a lieutenant. Some bales of English goods were
+proposed to be carried on shore with us for sale, but my comrade, who
+was a complete fellow at his business, proposed a better way for it; and
+having been in the town before, told us, in short, that he would buy
+what powder and bullet, small-arms, or anything else we wanted, on his
+own word, to be paid for when they came on board, in such English goods
+as we had there. This was much the best way, and accordingly he and the
+captain went on shore by themselves, and having made such a bargain as
+they found for their turn, came away again in two hours' time, and
+bringing only a butt of wine and five casks of brandy with them, we all
+went on board again.
+
+The next morning two _barcos longos_ came off to us, deeply laden, with
+five Spaniards on board them, for traffic. Our captain sold them good
+pennyworths, and they delivered us sixteen barrels of powder, twelve small
+rundlets of fine powder for our small-arms, sixty muskets, and twelve
+fusees for the officers; seventeen ton of cannon-ball, fifteen barrels of
+musket-bullets, with some swords and twenty good pair of pistols. Besides
+this, they brought thirteen butts of wine (for we, that were now all become
+gentlemen, scorned to drink the ship's beer), also sixteen puncheons of
+brandy, with twelve barrels of raisins and twenty chests of lemons; all
+which we paid for in English goods; and, over and above, the captain
+received six hundred pieces of eight in money. They would have come again,
+but we would stay no longer.
+
+From hence we sailed to the Canaries, and from thence onward to the West
+Indies, where we committed some depredation upon the Spaniards for
+provisions, and took some prizes, but none of any great value, while I
+remained with them, which was not long at that time; for, having taken a
+Spanish sloop on the coast of Carthagena, my friend made a motion to me,
+that we should desire Captain Wilmot to put us into the sloop, with a
+proportion of arms and ammunition, and let us try what we could do; she
+being much fitter for our business than the great ship, and a better
+sailer. This he consented to, and we appointed our rendezvous at Tobago,
+making an agreement, that whatever was taken by either of our ships should
+be shared among the ship's company of both; all which we very punctually
+observed, and joined our ships again, about fifteen months after, at the
+island of Tobago, as above.
+
+We cruised near two years in those seas, chiefly upon the Spaniards; not
+that we made any difficulty of taking English ships, or Dutch, or French,
+if they came in our way; and particularly, Captain Wilmot attacked a New
+England ship bound from the Madeiras to Jamaica, and another bound from New
+York to Barbados, with provisions; which last was a very happy supply to
+us. But the reason why we meddled as little with English vessels as we
+could, was, first, because, if they were ships of any force, we were sure
+of more resistance from them; and, secondly, because we found the English
+ships had less booty when taken, for the Spaniards generally had money on
+board, and that was what we best knew what to do with. Captain Wilmot was,
+indeed, more particularly cruel when he took any English vessel, that they
+might not too soon have advice of him in England; and so the men-of-war
+have orders to look out for him. But this part I bury in silence for the
+present.
+
+We increased our stock in these two years considerably, having taken 60,000
+pieces of eight in one vessel, and 100,000 in another; and being thus first
+grown rich, we resolved to be strong too, for we had taken a brigantine
+built at Virginia, an excellent sea-boat, and a good sailer, and able to
+carry twelve guns; and a large Spanish frigate-built ship, that sailed
+incomparably well also, and which afterwards, by the help of good
+carpenters, we fitted up to carry twenty-eight guns. And now we wanted more
+hands, so we put away for the Bay of Campeachy, not doubting we should ship
+as many men there as we pleased; and so we did.
+
+Here we sold the sloop that I was in; and Captain Wilmot keeping his own
+ship, I took the command of the Spanish frigate as captain, and my comrade
+Harris as eldest lieutenant, and a bold enterprising fellow he was, as any
+the world afforded. One culverdine was put into the brigantine, so that we
+were now three stout ships, well manned, and victualled for twelve months;
+for we had taken two or three sloops from New England and New York, laden
+with flour, peas, and barrelled beef and pork, going for Jamaica and
+Barbados; and for more beef we went on shore on the island of Cuba, where
+we killed as many black cattle as we pleased, though we had very little
+salt to cure them.
+
+Out of all the prizes we took here we took their powder and bullet, their
+small-arms and cutlasses; and as for their men, we always took the surgeon
+and the carpenter, as persons who were of particular use to us upon many
+occasions; nor were they always unwilling to go with us, though for their
+own security, in case of accidents, they might easily pretend they were
+carried away by force; of which I shall give a pleasant account in the
+course of my other expeditions.
+
+We had one very merry fellow here, a Quaker, whose name was William
+Walters, whom we took out of a sloop bound from Pennsylvania to Barbados.
+He was a surgeon, and they called him doctor; but he was not employed in
+the sloop as a surgeon, but was going to Barbados to get a berth, as the
+sailors call it. However, he had all his surgeon's chests on board, and we
+made him go with us, and take all his implements with him. He was a comic
+fellow indeed, a man of very good solid sense, and an excellent surgeon;
+but, what was worth all, very good-humoured and pleasant in his
+conversation, and a bold, stout, brave fellow too, as any we had among us.
+
+I found William, as I thought, not very averse to go along with us, and yet
+resolved to do it so that it might be apparent he was taken away by force,
+and to this purpose he comes to me. "Friend," says he, "thou sayest I must
+go with thee, and it is not in my power to resist thee if I would; but I
+desire thou wilt oblige the master of the sloop which I am on board to
+certify under his hand, that I was taken away by force and against my
+will." And this he said with so much satisfaction in his face, that I could
+not but understand him. "Ay, ay," says I, "whether it be against your will
+or no, I'll make him and all the men give you a certificate of it, or I'll
+take them all along with us, and keep them till they do." So I drew up a
+certificate myself, wherein I wrote that he was taken away by main force,
+as a prisoner, by a pirate ship; that they carried away his chest and
+instruments first, and then bound his hands behind him and forced him into
+their boat; and this was signed by the master and all his men.
+
+Accordingly I fell a-swearing at him, and called to my men to tie his hands
+behind him, and so we put him into our boat and carried him away. When I
+had him on board, I called him to me. "Now, friend," says I, "I have
+brought you away by force, it is true, but I am not of the opinion I have
+brought you away so much against your will as they imagine. Come," says I,
+"you will be a useful man to us, and you shall have very good usage among
+us." So I unbound his hands, and first ordered all things that belonged to
+him to be restored to him, and our captain gave him a dram.
+
+"Thou hast dealt friendly by me," says he, "and I will be plain with thee,
+whether I came willingly to thee or not. I shall make myself as useful to
+thee as I can, but thou knowest it is not my business to meddle when thou
+art to fight." "No, no," says the captain, "but you may meddle a little
+when we share the money." "Those things are useful to furnish a surgeon's
+chest," says William, and smiled, "but I shall be moderate."
+
+In short, William was a most agreeable companion; but he had the better of
+us in this part, that if we were taken we were sure to be hanged, and he
+was sure to escape; and he knew it well enough. But, in short, he was a
+sprightly fellow, and fitter to be captain than any of us. I shall have
+often an occasion to speak of him in the rest of the story.
+
+Our cruising so long in these seas began now to be so well known, that not
+in England only, but in France and Spain, accounts had been made public of
+our adventures, and many stories told how we murdered the people in cold
+blood, tying them back to back, and throwing them into the sea; one half of
+which, however, was not true, though more was done than is fit to speak of
+here.
+
+The consequence of this, however, was, that several English men-of-war were
+sent to the West Indies, and were particularly instructed to cruise in the
+Bay of Mexico, and the Gulf of Florida, and among the Bahama islands, if
+possible, to attack us. We were not so ignorant of things as not to expect
+this, after so long a stay in that part of the world; but the first certain
+account we had of them was at Honduras, when a vessel coming in from
+Jamaica told us that two English men-of-war were coming directly from
+Jamaica thither in quest of us. We were indeed as it were embayed, and
+could not have made the least shift to have got off, if they had come
+directly to us; but, as it happened, somebody had informed them that we
+were in the Bay of Campeachy, and they went directly thither, by which we
+were not only free of them, but were so much to the windward of them, that
+they could not make any attempt upon us, though they had known we were
+there.
+
+We took this advantage, and stood away for Carthagena, and from thence with
+great difficulty beat it up at a distance from under the shore for St.
+Martha, till we came to the Dutch island of Curacoa, and from thence to the
+island of Tobago, which, as before, was our rendezvous; which, being a
+deserted, uninhabited island, we at the same time made use of for a
+retreat. Here the captain of the brigantine died, and Captain Harris, at
+that time my lieutenant, took the command of the brigantine.
+
+Here we came to a resolution to go away to the coast of Brazil, and from
+thence to the Cape of Good Hope, and so for the East Indies; but Captain
+Harris, as I have said, being now captain of the brigantine, alleged that
+his ship was too small for so long a voyage, but that, if Captain Wilmot
+would consent, he would take the hazard of another cruise, and he would
+follow us in the first ship he could take. So we appointed our rendezvous
+to be at Madagascar, which was done by my recommendation of the place, and
+the plenty of provisions to be had there.
+
+Accordingly, he went away from us in an evil hour; for, instead of taking a
+ship to follow us, he was taken, as I heard afterwards, by an English
+man-of-war, and being laid in irons, died of mere grief and anger before he
+came to England. His lieutenant, I have heard, was afterwards executed in
+England for a pirate; and this was the end of the man who first brought me
+into this unhappy trade.
+
+We parted from Tobago three days after, bending our course for the coast of
+Brazil, but had not been at sea above twenty-four hours, when we were
+separated by a terrible storm, which held three days, with very little
+abatement or intermission. In this juncture Captain Wilmot happened,
+unluckily, to be on board my ship, to his great mortification; for we not
+only lost sight of his ship, but never saw her more till we came to
+Madagascar, where she was cast away. In short, after having in this tempest
+lost our fore-topmast, we were forced to put back to the isle of Tobago for
+shelter, and to repair our damage, which brought us all very near our
+destruction.
+
+We were no sooner on shore here, and all very busy looking out for a piece
+of timber for a topmast, but we perceived standing in for the shore an
+English man-of-war of thirty-six guns. It was a great surprise to us
+indeed, because we were disabled so much; but, to our great good fortune,
+we lay pretty snug and close among the high rocks, and the man-of-war did
+not see us, but stood off again upon his cruise. So we only observed which
+way she went, and at night, leaving our work, resolved to stand off to sea,
+steering the contrary way from that which we observed she went; and this,
+we found, had the desired success, for we saw him no more. We had gotten an
+old mizzen-topmast on board, which made us a jury fore-topmast for the
+present; and so we stood away for the isle of Trinidad, where, though there
+were Spaniards on shore, yet we landed some men with our boat, and cut a
+very good piece of fir to make us a new topmast, which we got fitted up
+effectually; and also we got some cattle here to eke out our provisions;
+and calling a council of war among ourselves, we resolved to quit those
+seas for the present, and steer away for the coast of Brazil.
+
+The first thing we attempted here was only getting fresh water, but we
+learnt that there lay the Portuguese fleet at the bay of All Saints, bound
+for Lisbon, ready to sail, and only waited for a fair wind. This made us
+lie by, wishing to see them put to sea, and, accordingly as they were with
+or without convoy, to attack or avoid them.
+
+It sprung up a fresh gale in the evening at S.W. by W., which, being fair
+for the Portugal fleet, and the weather pleasant and agreeable, we heard
+the signal given to unmoor, and running in under the island of Si---, we
+hauled our mainsail and foresail up in the brails, lowered the topsails
+upon the cap, and clewed them up, that we might lie as snug as we could,
+expecting their coming out, and the next morning saw the whole fleet come
+out accordingly, but not at all to our satisfaction, for they consisted of
+twenty-six sail, and most of them ships of force, as well as burthen, both
+merchantmen and men-of-war; so, seeing there was no meddling, we lay still
+where we were also, till the fleet was out of sight, and then stood off and
+on, in hopes of meeting with further purchase.
+
+It was not long before we saw a sail, and immediately gave her chase; but
+she proved an excellent sailer, and, standing out to sea, we saw plainly
+she trusted to her heels--that is to say, to her sails. However, as we were
+a clean ship, we gained upon her, though slowly, and had we had a day
+before us, we should certainly have come up with her; but it grew dark
+apace, and in that case we knew we should lose sight of her.
+
+Our merry Quaker, perceiving us to crowd still after her in the dark,
+wherein we could not see which way she went, came very dryly to me. "Friend
+Singleton," says he, "dost thee know what we are a-doing?" Says I, "Yes;
+why, we are chasing yon ship, are we not?" "And how dost thou know that?"
+says he, very gravely still. "Nay, that's true," says I again; "we cannot
+be sure." "Yes, friend," says he, "I think we may be sure that we are
+running away from her, not chasing her. I am afraid," adds he, "thou art
+turned Quaker, and hast resolved not to use the hand of power, or art a
+coward, and art flying from thy enemy."
+
+"What do you mean?" says I (I think I swore at him). "What do you sneer at
+now? You have always one dry rub or another to give us."
+
+"Nay," says he, "it is plain enough the ship stood off to sea due east, on
+purpose to lose us, and thou mayest be sure her business does not lie that
+way; for what should she do at the coast of Africa in this latitude, which
+should be as far south as Congo or Angola? But as soon as it is dark, that
+we would lose sight of her, she will tack and stand away west again for the
+Brazil coast and for the bay, where thou knowest she was going before; and
+are we not, then, running away from her? I am greatly in hopes, friend,"
+says the dry, gibing creature, "thou wilt turn Quaker, for I see thou art
+not for fighting."
+
+"Very well, William," says I; "then I shall make an excellent pirate."
+However, William was in the right, and I apprehended what he meant
+immediately; and Captain Wilmot, who lay very sick in his cabin,
+overhearing us, understood him as well as I, and called out to me that
+William was right, and it was our best way to change our course, and stand
+away for the bay, where it was ten to one but we should snap her in the
+morning.
+
+Accordingly we went about-ship, got our larboard tacks on board, set the
+top-gallant sails, and crowded for the bay of All Saints, where we came to
+an anchor early in the morning, just out of gunshot of the forts; we furled
+our sails with rope-yarns, that we might haul home the sheets without going
+up to loose them, and, lowering our main and fore-yards, looked just as if
+we had lain there a good while.
+
+In two hours afterwards we saw our game standing in for the bay with all
+the sail she could make, and she came innocently into our very mouths, for
+we lay still till we saw her almost within gunshot, when, our foremost
+gears being stretched fore and aft, we first ran up our yards, and then
+hauled home the topsail sheets, the rope-yarns that furled them giving way
+of themselves; the sails were set in a few minutes; at the same time
+slipping our cable, we came upon her before she could get under way upon
+the other tack. They were so surprised that they made little or no
+resistance, but struck after the first broadside.
+
+We were considering what to do with her, when William came to me. "Hark
+thee, friend," says he, "thou hast made a fine piece of work of it now,
+hast thou not, to borrow thy neighbour's ship here just at thy neighbour's
+door, and never ask him leave? Now, dost thou not think there are some
+men-of-war in the port? Thou hast given them the alarm sufficiently; thou
+wilt have them upon thy back before night, depend upon it, to ask thee
+wherefore thou didst so."
+
+"Truly, William," said I, "for aught I know, that may be true; what, then,
+shall we do next?" Says he, "Thou hast but two things to do: either to go
+in and take all the rest, or else get thee gone before they come out and
+take thee; for I see they are hoisting a topmast to yon great ship, in
+order to put to sea immediately, and they won't be long before they come to
+talk with thee, and what wilt thou say to them when they ask thee why thou
+borrowedst their ship without leave?"
+
+As William said, so it was. We could see by our glasses they were all in a
+hurry, manning and fitting some sloops they had there, and a large
+man-of-war, and it was plain they would soon be with us. But we were not at
+a loss what to do; we found the ship we had taken was laden with nothing
+considerable for our purpose, except some cocoa, some sugar, and twenty
+barrels of flour; the rest of her cargo was hides; so we took out all we
+thought fit for our turn, and, among the rest, all her ammunition, great
+shot, and small-arms, and turned her off. We also took a cable and three
+anchors she had, which were for our purpose, and some of her sails. She had
+enough left just to carry her into port, and that was all.
+
+Having done this, we stood on upon the Brazil coast, southward, till we
+came to the mouth of the river Janeiro. But as we had two days the wind
+blowing hard at S.E. and S.S.E., we were obliged to come to an anchor under
+a little island, and wait for a wind. In this time the Portuguese had, it
+seems, given notice over land to the governor there, that a pirate was upon
+the coast; so that, when we came in view of the port, we saw two men-of-war
+riding just without the bar, whereof one, we found, was getting under sail
+with all possible speed, having slipped her cable on purpose to speak with
+us; the other was not so forward, but was preparing to follow. In less than
+an hour they stood both fair after us, with all the sail they could make.
+
+Had not the night come on, William's words had been made good; they would
+certainly have asked us the question what we did there, for we found the
+foremost ship gained upon us, especially upon one tack, for we plied away
+from them to windward; but in the dark losing sight of them, we resolved to
+change our course and stand away directly for sea, not doubting that we
+should lose them in the night.
+
+Whether the Portuguese commander guessed we would do so or no, I know not;
+but in the morning, when the daylight appeared, instead of having lost him,
+we found him in chase of us about a league astern; only, to our great good
+fortune, we could see but one of the two. However, this one was a great
+ship, carried six-and-forty guns, and an admirable sailer, as appeared by
+her outsailing us; for our ship was an excellent sailer too, as I have said
+before.
+
+When I found this, I easily saw there was no remedy, but we must engage;
+and as we knew we could expect no quarter from those scoundrels the
+Portuguese, a nation I had an original aversion to, I let Captain Wilmot
+know how it was. The captain, sick as he was, jumped up in the cabin, and
+would be led out upon the deck (for he was very weak) to see how it was.
+"Well," says he, "we'll fight them!"
+
+Our men were all in good heart before, but to see the captain so brisk, who
+had lain ill of a calenture ten or eleven days, gave them double courage,
+and they went all hands to work to make a clear ship and be ready. William,
+the Quaker, comes to me with a kind of a smile. "Friend," says he, "what
+does yon ship follow us for?" "Why," says I, "to fight us, you may be
+sure." "Well," says he, "and will he come up with us, dost thou think?"
+"Yes," said I, "you see she will." "Why, then, friend," says the dry
+wretch, "why dost thou run from her still, when thou seest she will
+overtake thee? Will it be better for us to be overtaken farther off than
+here?" "Much as one for that," says I; "why, what would you have us do?"
+"Do!" says he; "let us not give the poor man more trouble than needs must;
+let us stay for him and hear what he has to say to us." "He will talk to us
+in powder and ball," said I. "Very well, then," says he, "if that be his
+country language, we must talk to him in the same, must we not? or else how
+shall he understand us?" "Very well, William," says I, "we understand you."
+And the captain, as ill as he was, called to me, "William's right again,"
+says he; "as good here as a league farther." So he gives a word of command,
+"Haul up the main-sail; we'll shorten sail for him."
+
+Accordingly we shortened sail, and as we expected her upon our lee-side, we
+being then upon our starboard tack, brought eighteen of our guns to the
+larboard side, resolving to give him a broadside that should warm him. It
+was about half-an-hour before he came up with us, all which time we luffed
+up, that we might keep the wind of him, by which he was obliged to run up
+under our lee, as we designed him; when we got him upon our quarter, we
+edged down, and received the fire of five or six of his guns. By this time
+you may be sure all our hands were at their quarters, so we clapped our
+helm hard a-weather, let go the lee-braces of the maintop sail, and laid it
+a-back, and so our ship fell athwart the Portuguese ship's hawse; then we
+immediately poured in our broadside, raking them fore and aft, and killed
+them a great many men.
+
+The Portuguese, we could see, were in the utmost confusion; and not being
+aware of our design, their ship having fresh way, ran their bowsprit into
+the fore part of our main shrouds, as that they could not easily get clear
+of us, and so we lay locked after that manner. The enemy could not bring
+above five or six guns, besides their small-arms, to bear upon us, while we
+played our whole broadside upon him.
+
+In the middle of the heat of this fight, as I was very busy upon the
+quarter-deck, the captain calls to me, for he never stirred from us, "What
+the devil is friend William a-doing yonder?" says the captain; "has he any
+business upon, deck?" I stepped forward, and there was friend William, with
+two or three stout fellows, lashing the ship's bowsprit fast to our
+mainmast, for fear they should get away from us; and every now and then he
+pulled a bottle out of his pocket, and gave the men a dram to encourage
+them. The shot flew about his ears as thick as may be supposed in such an
+action, where the Portuguese, to give them their due, fought very briskly,
+believing at first they were sure of their game, and trusting to their
+superiority; but there was William, as composed, and in as perfect
+tranquillity as to danger, as if he had been over a bowl of punch, only
+very busy securing the matter, that a ship of forty-six guns should not run
+away from a ship of eight-and-twenty.
+
+This work was too hot to hold long; our men behaved bravely: our gunner, a
+gallant man, shouted below, pouring in his shot at such a rate, that the
+Portuguese began to slacken their fire; we had dismounted several of their
+guns by firing in at their forecastle, and raking them, as I said, fore and
+aft. Presently comes William up to me. "Friend," says he, very calmly,
+"what dost thou mean? Why dost thou not visit thy neighbour in the ship,
+the door being open for thee?" I understood him immediately, for our guns
+had so torn their hull, that we had beat two port-holes into one, and the
+bulk-head of their steerage was split to pieces, so that they could not
+retire to their close quarters; so I gave the word immediately to board
+them. Our second lieutenant, with about thirty men, entered in an instant
+over the forecastle, followed by some more with the boatswain, and cutting
+in pieces about twenty-five men that they found upon the deck, and then
+throwing some grenadoes into the steerage, they entered there also; upon
+which the Portuguese cried quarter presently, and we mastered the ship,
+contrary indeed to our own expectation; for we would have compounded with
+them if they would have sheered off: but laying them athwart the hawse at
+first, and following our fire furiously, without giving them any time to
+get clear of us and work their ship; by this means, though they had
+six-and-forty guns, they were not able to fight above five or six, as I
+said above, for we beat them immediately from their guns in the forecastle,
+and killed them abundance of men between decks, so that when we entered
+they had hardly found men enough to fight us hand to hand upon their deck.
+
+The surprise of joy to hear the Portuguese cry quarter, and see their
+ancient struck, was so great to our captain, who, as I have said, was
+reduced very weak with a high fever, that it gave him new life. Nature
+conquered the distemper, and the fever abated that very night; so that in
+two or three days he was sensibly better, his strength began to come, and
+he was able to give his orders effectually in everything that was material,
+and in about ten days was entirely well and about the ship.
+
+In the meantime I took possession of the Portuguese man-of-war; and Captain
+Wilmot made me, or rather I made myself, captain of her for the present.
+About thirty of their seamen took service with us, some of which were
+French, some Genoese; and we set the rest on shore the next day on a little
+island on the coast of Brazil, except some wounded men, who were not in a
+condition to be removed, and whom we were bound to keep on board; but we
+had an occasion afterwards to dispose of them at the Cape, where, at their
+own request, we set them on shore.
+
+Captain Wilmot, as soon as the ship was taken, and the prisoners stowed,
+was for standing in for the river Janeiro again, not doubting but we should
+meet with the other man-of-war, who, not having been able to find us, and
+having lost the company of her comrade, would certainly be returned, and
+might be surprised by the ship we had taken, if we carried Portuguese
+colours; and our men were all for it.
+
+But our friend William gave us better counsel, for he came to me, "Friend,"
+says he, "I understand the captain is for sailing back to the Rio Janeiro,
+in hopes to meet with the other ship that was in chase of thee yesterday.
+Is it true, dost thou intend it?" "Why, yes," says I, "William, pray why
+not?" "Nay," says he, "thou mayest do so if thou wilt." "Well, I know that
+too, William," said I, "but the captain is a man will be ruled by reason;
+what have you to say to it?" "Why," says William gravely, "I only ask what
+is thy business, and the business of all the people thou hast with thee? Is
+it not to get money?" "Yes, William, it is so, in our honest way." "And
+wouldest thou," says he, "rather have money without fighting, or fighting
+without money? I mean which wouldest thou have by choice, suppose it to be
+left to thee?" "O William," says I, "the first of the two, to be sure."
+"Why, then," says he, "what great gain hast thou made of the prize thou
+hast taken now, though it has cost the lives of thirteen of thy men,
+besides some hurt? It is true thou hast got the ship and some prisoners;
+but thou wouldest have had twice the booty in a merchant-ship, with not one
+quarter of the fighting; and how dost thou know either what force or what
+number of men may be in the other ship, and what loss thou mayest suffer,
+and what gain it shall be to thee if thou take her? I think, indeed, thou
+mayest much better let her alone."
+
+"Why, William, it is true," said I, "and I'll go tell the captain what your
+opinion is, and bring you word what he says." Accordingly in I went to the
+captain and told him William's reasons; and the captain was of his mind,
+that our business was indeed fighting when we could not help it, but that
+our main affair was money, and that with as few blows as we could. So that
+adventure was laid aside, and we stood along shore again south for the
+river De la Plata, expecting some purchase thereabouts; especially we had
+our eyes upon some of the Spanish ships from Buenos Ayres, which are
+generally very rich in silver, and one such prize would have done our
+business. We plied about here, in the latitude of ---- south, for near a
+month, and nothing offered; and here we began to consult what we should do
+next, for we had come to no resolution yet. Indeed, my design was always
+for the Cape de Bona Speranza, and so to the East Indies. I had heard some
+flaming stories of Captain Avery, and the fine things he had done in the
+Indies, which were doubled and doubled, even ten thousand fold; and from
+taking a great prize in the Bay of Bengal, where he took a lady, said to be
+the Great Mogul's daughter, with a great quantity of jewels about her, we
+had a story told us, that he took a Mogul ship, so the foolish sailors
+called it, laden with diamonds.
+
+I would fain have had friend William's advice whither we should go, but he
+always put it off with some quaking quibble or other. In short, he did not
+care for directing us neither; whether he made a piece of conscience of it,
+or whether he did not care to venture having it come against him afterwards
+or no, this I know not; but we concluded at last without him.
+
+We were, however, pretty long in resolving, and hankered about the Rio de
+la Plata a long time. At last we spied a sail to windward, and it was such
+a sail as I believe had not been seen in that part of the world a great
+while. It wanted not that we should give it chase, for it stood directly
+towards us, as well as they that steered could make it; and even that was
+more accident of weather than anything else, for if the wind had chopped
+about anywhere they must have gone with it. I leave any man that is a
+sailor, or understands anything of a ship, to judge what a figure this ship
+made when we first saw her, and what we could imagine was the matter with
+her. Her maintop-mast was come by the board about six foot above the cap,
+and fell forward, the head of the topgallant-mast hanging in the
+fore-shrouds by the stay; at the same time the parrel of the
+mizzen-topsail-yard by some accident giving way, the mizzen-topsail-braces
+(the standing part of which being fast to the main-topsail shrouds) brought
+the mizzen-topsail, yard and all, down with it, which spread over part of
+the quarter-deck like an awning; the fore-topsail was hoisted up two-thirds
+of the mast, but the sheets were flown; the fore-yard was lowered down upon
+the forecastle, the sail loose, and part of it hanging overboard. In this
+manner she came down upon us with the wind quartering. In a word, the
+figure the whole ship made was the most confounding to men that understood
+the sea that ever was seen. She had no boat, neither had she any colours
+out.
+
+When we came near to her, we fired a gun to bring her to. She took no
+notice of it, nor of us, but came on just as she did before. We fired
+again, but it was all one. At length we came within pistol-shot of one
+another, but nobody answered nor appeared; so we began to think that it was
+a ship gone ashore somewhere in distress, and the men having forsaken her,
+the high tide had floated her off to sea. Coming nearer to her, we ran up
+alongside of her so close that we could hear a noise within her, and see
+the motion of several people through her ports.
+
+Upon this we manned out two boats full of men, and very well armed, and
+ordered them to board her at the same minute, as near as they could, and to
+enter one at her fore-chains on the one side, and the other amidships on
+the other side. As soon as they came to the ship's side, a surprising
+multitude of black sailors, such as they were, appeared upon deck, and, in
+short, terrified our men so much that the boat which was to enter her men
+in the waist stood off again, and durst not board her; and the men that
+entered out of the other boat, finding the first boat, as they thought,
+beaten off, and seeing the ship full of men, jumped all back again into
+their boat, and put off, not knowing what the matter was. Upon this we
+prepared to pour in a broadside upon her; but our friend William set us to
+rights again here; for it seems he guessed how it was sooner than we did,
+and coming up to me (for it was our ship that came up with her), "Friend,"
+says he, "I am of opinion that thou art wrong in this matter, and thy men
+have been wrong also in their conduct. I'll tell thee how thou shalt take
+this ship, without making use of those things called guns." "How can that
+be, William?" said I. "Why," said he, "thou mayest take her with thy helm;
+thou seest they keep no steerage, and thou seest the condition they are in;
+board her with thy ship upon her lee quarter, and so enter her from the
+ship. I am persuaded thou wilt take her without fighting, for there is some
+mischief has befallen the ship, which we know nothing of."
+
+In a word, it being a smooth sea, and little wind, I took his advice, and
+laid her aboard. Immediately our men entered the ship, where we found a
+large ship, with upwards of 600 negroes, men and women, boys and girls, and
+not one Christian or white man on board.
+
+I was struck with horror at the sight; for immediately I concluded, as was
+partly the case, that these black devils had got loose, had murdered all
+the white men, and thrown them into the sea; and I had no sooner told my
+mind to the men, but the thought so enraged them that I had much ado to
+keep my men from cutting them all in pieces. But William, with many
+persuasions, prevailed upon them, by telling them that it was nothing but
+what, if they were in the negroes' condition, they would do if they could;
+and that the negroes had really the highest injustice done them, to be sold
+for slaves without their consent; and that the law of nature dictated it to
+them; that they ought not to kill them, and that it would be wilful murder
+to do it.
+
+This prevailed with them, and cooled their first heat; so they only knocked
+down twenty or thirty of them, and the rest ran all down between decks to
+their first places, believing, as we fancied, that we were their first
+masters come again.
+
+It was a most unaccountable difficulty we had next; for we could not make
+them understand one word we said, nor could we understand one word
+ourselves that they said. We endeavoured by signs to ask them whence they
+came; but they could make nothing of it. We pointed to the great cabin, to
+the round-house, to the cook-room, then to our faces, to ask if they had no
+white men on board, and where they were gone; but they could not understand
+what we meant. On the other hand, they pointed to our boat and to their
+ship, asking questions as well as they could, and said a thousand things,
+and expressed themselves with great earnestness; but we could not
+understand a word of it all, or know what they meant by any of their signs.
+
+We knew very well they must have been taken on board the ship as slaves,
+and that it must be by some European people too. We could easily see that
+the ship was a Dutch-built ship, but very much altered, having been built
+upon, and, as we supposed, in France; for we found two or three French
+books on board, and afterwards we found clothes, linen, lace, some old
+shoes, and several other things. We found among the provisions some barrels
+of Irish beef, some Newfoundland fish, and several other evidences that
+there had been Christians on board, but saw no remains of them. We found
+not a sword, gun, pistol, or weapon of any kind, except some cutlasses; and
+the negroes had hid them below where they lay. We asked them what was
+become of all the small-arms, pointing to our own and to the places where
+those belonging to the ship had hung. One of the negroes understood me
+presently, and beckoned to me to come upon the deck, where, taking my
+fuzee, which I never let go out of my hand for some time after we had
+mastered the ship--I say, offering to take hold of it, he made the proper
+motion of throwing it into the sea; by which I understood, as I did
+afterwards, that they had thrown all the small-arms, powder, shot, swords,
+&c., into the sea, believing, as I supposed, those things would kill them,
+though the men were gone.
+
+After we understood this we made no question but that the ship's crew,
+having been surprised by these desperate rogues, had gone the same way, and
+had been thrown overboard also. We looked all over the ship to see if we
+could find any blood, and we thought we did perceive some in several
+places; but the heat of the sun, melting the pitch and tar upon the decks,
+made it impossible for us to discern it exactly, except in the round-house,
+where we plainly saw that there had been much blood. We found the scuttle
+open, by which we supposed that the captain and those that were with him
+had made their retreat into the great cabin, or those in the cabin had made
+their escape up into the round-house.
+
+But that which confirmed us most of all in what had happened was that, upon
+further inquiry, we found that there were seven or eight of the negroes
+very much wounded, two or three of them with shot, whereof one had his leg
+broken and lay in a miserable condition, the flesh being mortified, and, as
+our friend William said, in two days more he would have died. William was a
+most dexterous surgeon, and he showed it in this cure; for though all the
+surgeons we had on board both our ships (and we had no less than five that
+called themselves bred surgeons, besides two or three who were pretenders
+or assistants)--though all these gave their opinions that the negro's leg
+must be cut off, and that his life could not be saved without it; that the
+mortification had touched the marrow in the bone, that the tendons were
+mortified, and that he could never have the use of his leg if it should be
+cured, William said nothing in general, but that his opinion was otherwise,
+and that he desired the wound might be searched, and that he would then
+tell them further. Accordingly he went to work with the leg; and, as he
+desired that he might have some of the surgeons to assist him, we appointed
+him two of the ablest of them to help, and all of them to look on, if they
+thought fit.
+
+William went to work his own way, and some of them pretended to find fault
+at first. However, he proceeded and searched every part of the leg where he
+suspected the mortification had touched it; in a word, he cut off a great
+deal of mortified flesh, in all which the poor fellow felt no pain. William
+proceeded till he brought the vessels which he had cut to bleed, and the
+man to cry out; then he reduced the splinters of the bone, and, calling for
+help, set it, as we call it, and bound it up, and laid the man to rest, who
+found himself much easier than before.
+
+At the first opening the surgeons began to triumph; the mortification
+seemed to spread, and a long red streak of blood appeared from the wound
+upwards to the middle of the man's thigh, and the surgeons told me the man
+would die in a few hours. I went to look at it, and found William himself
+under some surprise; but when I asked him how long he thought the poor
+fellow could live, he looked gravely at me, and said, "As long as thou
+canst; I am not at all apprehensive of his life," said he, "but I would
+cure him, if I could, without making a cripple of him." I found he was not
+just then upon the operation as to his leg, but was mixing up something to
+give the poor creature, to repel, as I thought, the spreading contagion,
+and to abate or prevent any feverish temper that might happen in the blood;
+after which he went to work again, and opened the leg in two places above
+the wound, cutting out a great deal of mortified flesh, which it seemed was
+occasioned by the bandage, which had pressed the parts too much; and
+withal, the blood being at the time in a more than common disposition to
+mortify, might assist to spread it.
+
+Well, our friend William conquered all this, cleared the spreading
+mortification, and the red streak went off again, the flesh began to heal,
+and matter to run; and in a few days the man's spirits began to recover,
+his pulse beat regular, he had no fever, and gathered strength daily; and,
+in a word, he was a perfect sound man in about ten weeks, and we kept him
+amongst us, and made him an able seaman. But to return to the ship: we
+never could come at a certain information about it, till some of the
+negroes which we kept on board, and whom we taught to speak English, gave
+the account of it afterwards, and this maimed man in particular.
+
+We inquired, by all the signs and motions we could imagine, what was become
+of the people, and yet we could get nothing from them. Our lieutenant was
+for torturing some of them to make them confess, but William opposed that
+vehemently; and when he heard it was under consideration he came to me.
+"Friend," says he, "I make a request to thee not to put any of these poor
+wretches to torment." "Why, William," said I, "why not? You see they will
+not give any account of what is become of the white men." "Nay," says
+William, "do not say so; I suppose they have given thee a full account of
+every particular of it." "How so?" says I; "pray what are we the wiser for
+all their jabbering?" "Nay," says William, "that may be thy fault, for
+aught I know; thou wilt not punish the poor men because they cannot speak
+English; and perhaps they never heard a word of English before. Now, I may
+very well suppose that they have given thee a large account of everything;
+for thou seest with what earnestness, and how long, some of them have
+talked to thee; and if thou canst not understand their language, nor they
+thine, how can they help that? At the best, thou dost but suppose that they
+have not told thee the whole truth of the story; and, on the contrary, I
+suppose they have; and how wilt thou decide the question, whether thou art
+right or whether I am right? Besides, what can they say to thee when thou
+askest them a question upon the torture, and at the same time they do not
+understand the question, and thou dost not know whether they say ay or no?"
+
+It is no compliment to my moderation to say I was convinced by these
+reasons; and yet we had all much ado to keep our second lieutenant from
+murdering some of them, to make them tell. What if they had told? He did
+not understand one word of it; but he would not be persuaded but that the
+negroes must needs understand him when he asked them whether the ship had
+any boat or no, like ours, and what was become of it.
+
+But there was no remedy but to wait till we made these people understand
+English, and to adjourn the story till that time. The case was thus: where
+they were taken on board the ship, that we could never understand, because
+they never knew the English names which we give to those coasts, or what
+nation they were who belonged to the ship, because they knew not one tongue
+from another; but thus far the negro I examined, who was the same whose leg
+William had cured, told us, that they did not speak the same language as we
+spoke, nor the same our Portuguese spoke; so that in all probability they
+must be French or Dutch.
+
+Then he told us that the white men used them barbarously; that they beat
+them unmercifully; that one of the negro men had a wife and two negro
+children, one a daughter, about sixteen years old; that a white man abused
+the negro man's wife, and afterwards his daughter, which, as he said, made
+all the negro men mad; and that the woman's husband was in a great rage; at
+which the white man was so provoked that he threatened to kill him; but, in
+the night, the negro man, being loose, got a great club, by which he made
+us understand he meant a handspike, and that when the same Frenchman (if it
+was a Frenchman) came among them again, he began again to abuse the negro
+man's wife, at which the negro, taking up the handspike, knocked his brains
+out at one blow; and then taking the key from him with which he usually
+unlocked the handcuffs which the negroes were fettered with, he set about a
+hundred of them at liberty, who, getting up upon the deck by the same
+scuttle that the white men came down, and taking the man's cutlass who was
+killed, and laying hold of what came next them, they fell upon the men that
+were upon the deck, and killed them all, and afterwards those they found
+upon the forecastle; that the captain and his other men, who were in the
+cabin and the round-house, defended themselves with great courage, and shot
+out at the loopholes at them, by which he and several other men were
+wounded, and some killed; but that they broke into the round-house after a
+long dispute, where they killed two of the white men, but owned that the
+two white men killed eleven of their men before they could break in; and
+then the rest, having got down the scuttle into the great cabin, wounded
+three more of them.
+
+That, after this, the gunner of the ship having secured himself in the
+gun-room, one of his men hauled up the long-boat close under the stern, and
+putting into her all the arms and ammunition they could come at, got all
+into the boat, and afterwards took in the captain, and those that were with
+him, out of the great cabin. When they were all thus embarked, they
+resolved to lay the ship aboard again, and try to recover it. That they
+boarded the ship in a desperate manner, and killed at first all that stood
+in their way; but the negroes being by this time all loose, and having
+gotten some arms, though they understood nothing of powder and bullet, or
+guns, yet the men could never master them. However, they lay under the
+ship's bow, and got out all the men they had left in the cook-room, who had
+maintained themselves there, notwithstanding all the negroes could do, and
+with their small-arms killed between thirty and forty of the negroes, but
+were at last forced to leave them.
+
+They could give me no account whereabouts this was, whether near the coast
+of Africa, or far off, or how long it was before the ship fell into our
+hands; only, in general, it was a great while ago, as they called it; and,
+by all we could learn, it was within two or three days after they had set
+sail from the coast. They told us that they had killed about thirty of the
+white men, having knocked them on the head with crows and handspikes, and
+such things as they could get; and one strong negro killed three of them
+with an iron crow, after he was shot twice through the body; and that he
+was afterwards shot through the head by the captain himself at the door of
+the round-house, which he had split open with the crow; and this we
+supposed was the occasion of the great quantity of blood which we saw at
+the round-house door.
+
+The same negro told us that they threw all the powder and shot they could
+find into the sea, and they would have thrown the great guns into the sea
+if they could have lifted them. Being asked how they came to have their
+sails in such a condition, his answer was, "They no understand; they no
+know what the sails do;" that was, they did not so much as know that it was
+the sails that made the ship go, or understand what they meant, or what to
+do with them. When we asked him whither they were going, he said they did
+not know, but believed they should go home to their own country again. I
+asked him, in particular, what he thought we were when we first came up
+with them? He said they were terribly frighted, believing we were the same
+white men that had gone away in their boats, and were come again in a great
+ship, with the two boats with them, and expected they would kill them all.
+
+This was the account we got out of them, after we had taught them to speak
+English, and to understand the names and use of the things belonging to the
+ship which they had occasion to speak of; and we observed that the fellows
+were too innocent to dissemble in their relation, and that they all agreed
+in the particulars, and were always in the same story, which confirmed very
+much the truth of what they said.
+
+Having taken this ship, our next difficulty was, what to do with the
+negroes. The Portuguese in the Brazils would have bought them all of us,
+and been glad of the purchase, if we had not showed ourselves enemies
+there, and been known for pirates; but, as it was, we durst not go ashore
+anywhere thereabouts, or treat with any of the planters, because we should
+raise the whole country upon us; and, if there were any such things as
+men-of-war in any of their ports, we should be as sure to be attacked by
+them, and by all the force they had by land or sea.
+
+Nor could we think of any better success if we went northward to our own
+plantations. One while we determined to carry them all away to Buenos
+Ayres, and sell them there to the Spaniards; but they were really too many
+for them to make use of; and to carry them round to the South Seas, which
+was the only remedy that was left, was so far that we should be no way able
+to subsist them for so long a voyage.
+
+At last, our old, never-failing friend, William, helped us out again, as he
+had often done at a dead lift. His proposal was this, that he should go as
+master of the ship, and about twenty men, such as we could best trust, and
+attempt to trade privately, upon the coast of Brazil, with the planters,
+not at the principal ports, because that would not be admitted.
+
+We all agreed to this, and appointed to go away ourselves towards the Rio
+de la Plata, where we had thought of going before, and to wait for him, not
+there, but at Port St Pedro, as the Spaniards call it, lying at the mouth
+of the river which they call Rio Grande, and where the Spaniards had a
+small fort and a few people, but we believe there was nobody in it.
+
+Here we took up our station, cruising off and on, to see if we could meet
+any ships going to or coming from the Buenos Ayres or the Rio de la Plata;
+but we met with nothing worth notice. However, we employed ourselves in
+things necessary for our going off to sea; for we filled all our
+water-casks, and got some fish for our present use, to spare as much as
+possible our ship's stores.
+
+William, in the meantime, went away to the north, and made the land about
+the Cape de St Thomas; and betwixt that and the isles De Tuberon he found
+means to trade with the planters for all his negroes, as well the women as
+the men, and at a very good price too; for William, who spoke Portuguese
+pretty well, told them a fair story enough, that the ship was in scarcity
+of provisions, that they were driven a great way out of their way, and
+indeed, as we say, out of their knowledge, and that they must go up to the
+northward as far as Jamaica, or sell there upon the coast. This was a very
+plausible tale, and was easily believed; and, if you observe the manner of
+the negroes' sailing, and what happened in their voyage, was every word of
+it true.
+
+By this method, and being true to one another, William passed for what he
+was--I mean, for a very honest fellow; and by the assistance of one
+planter, who sent to some of his neighbour planters, and managed the trade
+among themselves, he got a quick market; for in less than five weeks
+William sold all his negroes, and at last sold the ship itself, and shipped
+himself and his twenty men, with two negro boys whom he had left, in a
+sloop, one of those which the planters used to send on board for the
+negroes. With this sloop Captain William, as we then called him, came away,
+and found us at Port St Pedro, in the latitude of 32 degrees 30 minutes
+south.
+
+Nothing was more surprising to us than to see a sloop come along the coast,
+carrying Portuguese colours, and come in directly to us, after we were
+assured he had discovered both our ships. We fired a gun, upon her nearer
+approach, to bring her to an anchor, but immediately she fired five guns by
+way of salute, and spread her English ancient. Then we began to guess it
+was friend William, but wondered what was the meaning of his being in a
+sloop, whereas we sent him away in a ship of near 300 tons; but he soon let
+us into the whole history of his management, with which we had a great deal
+of reason to be very well satisfied. As soon as he had brought the sloop to
+an anchor, he came aboard of my ship, and there he gave us an account how
+he began to trade by the help of a Portuguese planter, who lived near the
+seaside; how he went on shore and went up to the first house he could see,
+and asked the man of the house to sell him some hogs, pretending at first
+he only stood in upon the coast to take in fresh water and buy some
+provisions; and the man not only sold him seven fat hogs, but invited him
+in, and gave him, and five men he had with him, a very good dinner; and he
+invited the planter on board his ship, and, in return for his kindness,
+gave him a negro girl for his wife.
+
+This so obliged the planter that the next morning he sent him on board, in
+a great luggage-boat, a cow and two sheep, with a chest of sweetmeats and
+some sugar, and a great bag of tobacco, and invited Captain William on
+shore again; that, after this, they grew from one kindness to another; that
+they began to talk about trading for some negroes; and William, pretending
+it was to do him service, consented to sell him thirty negroes for his
+private use in his plantation, for which he gave William ready money in
+gold, at the rate of five-and-thirty moidores per head; but the planter was
+obliged to use great caution in the bringing them on shore; for which
+purpose he made William weigh and stand out to sea, and put in again, about
+fifty miles farther north, where at a little creek he took the negroes on
+shore at another plantation, being a friend's of his, whom, it seems, he
+could trust.
+
+This remove brought William into a further intimacy, not only with the
+first planter, but also with his friends, who desired to have some of the
+negroes also; so that, from one to another, they bought so many, till one
+overgrown planter took 100 negroes, which was all William had left, and
+sharing them with another planter, that other planter chaffered with
+William for ship and all, giving him in exchange a very clean, large,
+well-built sloop of near sixty tons, very well furnished, carrying six
+guns; but we made her afterwards carry twelve guns. William had 300
+moidores of gold, besides the sloop, in payment for the ship; and with this
+money he stored the sloop as full as she could hold with provisions,
+especially bread, some pork, and about sixty hogs alive; among the rest,
+William got eighty barrels of good gunpowder, which was very much for our
+purpose; and all the provisions which were in the French ship he took out
+also.
+
+This was a very agreeable account to us, especially when we saw that
+William had received in gold coined, or by weight, and some Spanish silver,
+60,000 pieces of eight, besides a new sloop, and a vast quantity of
+provisions.
+
+We were very glad of the sloop in particular, and began to consult what we
+should do, whether we had not best turn off our great Portuguese ship, and
+stick to our first ship and the sloop, seeing we had scarce men enough for
+all three, and that the biggest ship was thought too big for our business.
+However, another dispute, which was now decided, brought the first to a
+conclusion. The first dispute was, whither we should go. My comrade, as I
+called him now, that is to say, he that was my captain before we took this
+Portuguese man-of-war, was for going to the South Seas, and coasting up the
+west side of America, where we could not fail of making several good prizes
+upon the Spaniards; and that then, if occasion required it, we might come
+home by the South Seas to the East Indies, and so go round the globe, as
+others had done before us.
+
+But my head lay another way. I had been in the East Indies, and had
+entertained a notion ever since that, if we went thither, we could not fail
+of making good work of it, and that we might have a safe retreat, and good
+beef to victual our ship, among my old friends the natives of Zanzibar, on
+the coast of Mozambique, or the island of St Lawrence. I say, my thoughts
+lay this way; and I read so many lectures to them all of the advantages
+they would certainly make of their strength by the prizes they would take
+in the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red Sea, and on the coast of Malabar, or the
+Bay of Bengal, that I amazed them.
+
+With these arguments I prevailed on them, and we all resolved to steer away
+S.E. for the Cape of Good Hope; and, in consequence of this resolution, we
+concluded to keep the sloop, and sail with all three, not doubting, as I
+assured them, but we should find men there to make up the number wanting,
+and if not, we might cast any of them off when we pleased.
+
+We could do no less than make our friend William captain of the sloop
+which, with such good management, he had brought us. He told us, though
+with much good manners, he would not command her as a frigate; but, if we
+would give her to him for his share of the Guinea ship, which we came very
+honestly by, he would keep us company as a victualler, if we commanded him,
+as long as he was under the same force that took him away.
+
+We understood him, so gave him the sloop, but upon condition that he should
+not go from us, and should be entirely under our command. However, William
+was not so easy as before; and, indeed, as we afterwards wanted the sloop
+to cruise for purchase, and a right thorough-paced pirate in her, so I was
+in such pain for William that I could not be without him, for he was my
+privy counsellor and companion upon all occasions; so I put a Scotsman, a
+bold, enterprising, gallant fellow, into her, named Gordon, and made her
+carry twelve guns and four petereroes, though, indeed, we wanted men, for
+we were none of us manned in proportion to our force.
+
+We sailed away for the Cape of Good Hope the beginning of October 1706, and
+passed by, in sight of the Cape, the 12th of November following, having met
+with a great deal of bad weather. We saw several merchant-ships in the
+roads there, as well English as Dutch, whether outward bound or homeward we
+could not tell; be it what it would, we did not think fit to come to an
+anchor, not knowing what they might be, or what they might attempt against
+us, when they knew what we were. However, as we wanted fresh water, we sent
+the two boats belonging to the Portuguese man-of-war, with all Portuguese
+seamen or negroes in them, to the watering-place, to take in water; and in
+the meantime we hung out a Portuguese ancient at sea, and lay by all that
+night. They knew not what we were, but it seems we passed for anything but
+really what we was.
+
+Our boats returning the third time loaden, about five o'clock next morning,
+we thought ourselves sufficiently watered, and stood away to the eastward;
+but, before our men returned the last time, the wind blowing an easy gale
+at west, we perceived a boat in the grey of the morning under sail,
+crowding to come up with us, as if they were afraid we should be gone. We
+soon found it was an English long-boat, and that it was pretty full of men.
+We could not imagine what the meaning of it should be; but, as it was but a
+boat, we thought there could be no great harm in it to let them come on
+board; and if it appeared they came only to inquire who we were, we would
+give them a full account of our business, by taking them along with us,
+seeing we wanted men as much as anything. But they saved us the labour of
+being in doubt how to dispose of them; for it seems our Portuguese seamen,
+who went for water, had not been so silent at the watering-places as we
+thought they would have been. But the case, in short, was this: Captain
+---- (I forbear his name at present, for a particular reason), captain of
+an East India merchant-ship, bound afterwards for China, had found some
+reason to be very severe with his men, and had handled some of them very
+roughly at St Helena; insomuch, that they threatened among themselves to
+leave the ship the first opportunity, and had long wished for that
+opportunity. Some of these men, it seems, had met with our boat at the
+watering-place, and inquiring of one another who we were, and upon what
+account, whether the Portuguese seamen, by faltering in their account, made
+them suspect that we were out upon the cruise, or whether they told it in
+plain English or no (for they all spoke English enough to be understood),
+but so it was, that as soon as ever the men carried the news on board, that
+the ships which lay by to the eastward were English, and that they were
+going upon the _account_, which, by they way, was a sea term for a pirate;
+I say, as soon as ever they heard it, they went to work, and getting all
+things ready in the night, their chests and clothes, and whatever else they
+could, they came away before it was day, and came up with us about seven
+o'clock.
+
+When they came by the ship's side which I commanded we hailed them in the
+usual manner, to know what and who they were, and what their business. They
+answered they were Englishmen, and desired to come on board. We told them
+they might lay the ship on board, but ordered they should let only one man
+enter the ship till the captain knew their business, and that he should
+come without any arms. They said, Ay, with all their hearts.
+
+We presently found their business, and that they desired to go with us; and
+as for their arms, they desired we would send men on board the boat, and
+that they would deliver them all to us, which was done. The fellow that
+came up to me told me how they had been used by their captain, how he had
+starved the men, and used them like dogs, and that, if the rest of the men
+knew they should be admitted, he was satisfied two-thirds of them would
+leave the ship. We found the fellows were very hearty in their resolution,
+and jolly brisk sailors they were; so I told them I would do nothing
+without our admiral, that was the captain of the other ship; so I sent my
+pinnace on board Captain Wilmot, to desire him to come on board. But he was
+indisposed, and being to leeward, excused his coming, but left it all to
+me; but before my boat was returned, Captain Wilmot called to me by his
+speaking-trumpet, which all the men might hear as well as I; thus, calling
+me by my name, "I hear they are honest fellows; pray tell them they are all
+welcome, and make them a bowl of punch."
+
+As the men heard it as well as I, there was no need to tell them what the
+captain said; and, as soon as the trumpet had done, they set up a huzza,
+that showed us they were very hearty in their coming to us; but we bound
+them to us by a stronger obligation still after this, for when we came to
+Madagascar, Captain Wilmot, with consent of all the ship's company, ordered
+that these men should have as much money given them out of the stock as was
+due to them for their pay in the ship they had left; and after that we
+allowed them twenty pieces of eight a man bounty money; and thus we entered
+them upon shares, as we were all, and brave stout fellows they were, being
+eighteen in number, whereof two were midshipmen, and one a carpenter.
+
+It was the 28th of November, when, having had some bad weather, we came to
+an anchor in the road off St Augustine Bay, at the south-west end of my old
+acquaintance the isle of Madagascar. We lay here awhile and trafficked with
+the natives for some good beef; though the weather was so hot that we could
+not promise ourselves to salt any of it up to keep; but I showed them the
+way which we practised before, to salt it first with saltpetre, then cure
+it by drying it in the sun, which made it eat very agreeably, though not so
+wholesome for our men, that not agreeing with our way of cooking, viz.,
+boiling with pudding, brewis, &c., and particularly this way, would be too
+salt, and the fat of the meat be rusty, or dried away so as not to be
+eaten.
+
+This, however, we could not help, and made ourselves amends by feeding
+heartily on the fresh beef while we were there, which was excellent, good
+and fat, every way as tender and as well relished as in England, and
+thought to be much better to us who had not tasted any in England for so
+long a time.
+
+Having now for some time remained here, we began to consider that this was
+not a place for our business; and I, that had some views a particular way
+of my own, told them that this was not a station for those who looked for
+purchase; that there were two parts of the island which were particularly
+proper for our purposes; first, the bay on the east side of the island, and
+from thence to the island Mauritius, which was the usual way which ships
+that came from the Malabar coast, or the coast of Coromandel, Fort St
+George, &c., used to take, and where, if we waited for them, we ought to
+take our station.
+
+But, on the other hand, as we did not resolve to fall upon the European
+traders, who were generally ships of force and well manned, and where blows
+must be looked for; so I had another prospect, which I promised myself
+would yield equal profit, or perhaps greater, without any of the hazard and
+difficulty of the former; and this was the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red Sea.
+
+I told them that the trade here was great, the ships rich, and the Strait
+of Babelmandel narrow; so that there was no doubt but we might cruise so as
+to let nothing slip our hands, having the seas open from the Red Sea, along
+the coast of Arabia, to the Persian Gulf, and the Malabar side of the
+Indies.
+
+I told them what I had observed when I sailed round the island in my former
+progress; how that, on the northernmost point of the island, there were
+several very good harbours and roads for our ships; that the natives were
+even more civil and tractable, if possible, than those where we were, not
+having been so often ill-treated by European sailors as those had in the
+south and east sides; and that we might always be sure of a retreat, if we
+were driven to put in by any necessity, either of enemies or weather.
+
+They were easily convinced of the reasonableness of my scheme; and Captain
+Wilmot, whom I now called our admiral, though he was at first of the mind
+to go and lie at the island Mauritius, and wait for some of the European
+merchant-ships from the road of Coromandel, or the Bay of Bengal, was now
+of my mind. It is true we were strong enough to have attacked an English
+East India ship of the greatest force, though some of them were said to
+carry fifty guns; but I represented to him that we were sure to have blows
+and blood if we took them; and, after we had done, their loading was not of
+equal value to us, because we had no room to dispose of their merchandise;
+and, as our circumstances stood, we had rather have taken one outward-bound
+East India ship, with her ready cash on board, perhaps to the value of
+forty or fifty thousand pounds, than three homeward-bound, though their
+loading would at London be worth three times the money, because we knew not
+whither to go to dispose of the cargo; whereas the ships from London had
+abundance of things we knew how to make use of besides their money, such as
+their stores of provisions and liquors, and great quantities of the like
+sent to the governors and factories at the English settlements for their
+use; so that, if we resolved to look for our own country ships, it should
+be those that were outward-bound, not the London ships homeward.
+
+All these things considered, brought the admiral to be of my mind entirely;
+so, after taking in water and some fresh provisions where we lay, which was
+near Cape St Mary, on the south-west corner of the island, we weighed and
+stood away south, and afterwards S.S.E., to round the island, and in about
+six days' sail got out of the wake of the island, and steered away north,
+till we came off Port Dauphin, and then north by east, to the latitude of
+13 degrees 40 minutes, which was, in short, just at the farthest part of
+the island; and the admiral, keeping ahead, made the open sea fair to the
+west, clear of the whole island; upon which he brought to, and we sent a
+sloop to stand in round the farthest point north, and coast along the
+shore, and see for a harbour to put into, which they did, and soon brought
+us an account that there was a deep bay, with a very good road, and several
+little islands, under which they found good riding, in ten to seventeen
+fathom water, and accordingly there we put in.
+
+However, we afterwards found occasion to remove our station, as you shall
+hear presently. We had now nothing to do but go on shore, and acquaint
+ourselves a little with the natives, take in fresh water and some fresh
+provisions, and then to sea again. We found the people very easy to deal
+with, and some cattle they had; but it being at the extremity of the
+island, they had not such quantities of cattle here. However, for the
+present we resolved to appoint this for our place of rendezvous, and go and
+look out. This was about the latter end of April.
+
+Accordingly we put to sea, and cruised away to the northward, for the
+Arabian coast. It was a long run, but as the winds generally blow trade
+from the S. and S.S.E. from May to September, we had good weather; and in
+about twenty days we made the island of Socotra, lying south from the
+Arabian coast, and E.S.E. from the mouth of the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red
+Sea.
+
+Here we took in water, and stood off and on upon the Arabian shore. We had
+not cruised here above three days, or thereabouts, but I spied a sail, and
+gave her chase; but when we came up with her, never was such a poor prize
+chased by pirates that looked for booty, for we found nothing in her but
+poor, half-naked Turks, going a pilgrimage to Mecca, to the tomb of their
+prophet Mahomet. The junk that carried them had no one thing worth taking
+away but a little rice and some coffee, which was all the poor wretches had
+for their subsistence; so we let them go, for indeed we knew not what to do
+with them.
+
+The same evening we chased another junk with two masts, and in something
+better plight to look at than the former. When we came on board we found
+them upon the same errand, but only that they were people of some better
+fashion than the other; and here we got some plunder, some Turkish stores,
+a few diamonds in the ear-drops of five or six persons, some fine Persian
+carpets, of which they made their saffras to lie upon, and some money; so
+we let them go also.
+
+We continued here eleven days longer, and saw nothing but now and then a
+fishing-boat; but the twelfth day of our cruise we spied a ship: indeed I
+thought at first it had been an English ship, but it appeared to be an
+European freighted for a voyage from Goa, on the coast of Malabar, to the
+Red Sea, and was very rich. We chased her, and took her without any fight,
+though they had some guns on board too, but not many. We found her manned
+with Portuguese seamen, but under the direction of five merchant Turks, who
+had hired her on the coast of Malabar of some Portugal merchants, and had
+laden her with pepper, saltpetre, some spices, and the rest of the loading
+was chiefly calicoes and wrought silks, some of them very rich.
+
+We took her and carried her to Socotra; but we really knew not what to do
+with her, for the same reasons as before; for all their goods were of
+little or no value to us. After some days we found means to let one of the
+Turkish merchants know, that if he would ransom the ship we would take a
+sum of money and let them go. He told me that if I would let one of them go
+on shore for the money they would do it; so we adjusted the value of the
+cargo at 30,000 ducats. Upon this agreement, we allowed the sloop to carry
+him on shore, at Dofar, in Arabia, where a rich merchant laid down the
+money for them, and came off with our sloop; and on payment of the money we
+very fairly and honestly let them go.
+
+Some days after this we took an Arabian junk, going from the Gulf of Persia
+to Mocha, with a good quantity of pearl on board. We gutted him of the
+pearl, which it seems was belonging to some merchants at Mocha, and let him
+go, for there was nothing else worth our taking.
+
+We continued cruising up and down here till we began to find our provisions
+grow low, when Captain Wilmot, our admiral, told us it was time to think of
+going back to the rendezvous; and the rest of the men said the same, being
+a little weary of beating about for above three months together, and
+meeting with little or nothing compared to our great expectations; but I
+was very loth to part with the Red Sea at so cheap a rate, and pressed them
+to tarry a little longer, which at my instance they did; but three days
+afterwards, to our great misfortune, understood that, by landing the
+Turkish merchants at Dofar, we had alarmed the coast as far as the Gulf of
+Persia, so that no vessel would stir that way, and consequently nothing was
+to be expected on that side.
+
+I was greatly mortified at this news, and could no longer withstand the
+importunities of the men to return to Madagascar. However, as the wind
+continued still to blow at S.S.E. by S., we were obliged to stand away
+towards the coast of Africa and the Cape Guardafui, the winds being more
+variable under the shore than in the open sea.
+
+Here we chopped upon a booty which we did not look for, and which made
+amends for all our waiting; for the very same hour that we made land we
+spied a large vessel sailing along the shore to the southward. The ship was
+of Bengal, belonging to the Great Mogul's country, but had on board a Dutch
+pilot, whose name, if I remember right, was Vandergest, and several
+European seamen, whereof three were English. She was in no condition to
+resist us. The rest of her seamen were Indians of the Mogul's subjects,
+some Malabars and some others. There were five Indian merchants on board,
+and some Armenians. It seems they had been at Mocha with spices, silks,
+diamonds, pearls, calico, &c., such goods as the country afforded, and had
+little on board now but money in pieces of eight, which, by the way, was
+just what we wanted; and the three English seamen came along with us, and
+the Dutch pilot would have done so too, but the two Armenian merchants
+entreated us not to take him, for that he being their pilot, there was none
+of the men knew how to guide the ship; so, at their request, we refused
+him; but we made them promise he should not be used ill for being willing
+to go with us.
+
+We got near 200,000 pieces of eight in this vessel; and, if they said true,
+there was a Jew of Goa, who intended to have embarked with them, who had
+200,000 pieces of eight with him, all his own; but his good fortune,
+springing out of his ill fortune, hindered him, or he fell sick at Mocha,
+and could not be ready to travel, which was the saving of his money.
+
+There was none with me at the taking this prize but the sloop, for Captain
+Wilmot's ship proving leaky, he went away for the rendezvous before us, and
+arrived there the middle of December; but not liking the port, he left a
+great cross on shore, with directions written on a plate of lead fixed to
+it, for us to come after him to the great bays at Mangahelly, where he
+found a very good harbour; but we learned a piece of news here that kept us
+from him a great while, which the admiral took offence at; but we stopped
+his mouth with his share of 200,000 pieces of eight to him and his ship's
+crew. But the story which interrupted our coming to him was this. Between
+Mangahelly and another point, called Cape St Sebastian, there came on shore
+in the night an European ship, and whether by stress of weather or want of
+a pilot I know not, but the ship stranded and could not be got off.
+
+We lay in the cove or harbour, where, as I have said, our rendezvous was
+appointed, and had not yet been on shore, so we had not seen the directions
+our admiral had left for us.
+
+Our friend William, of whom I have said nothing a great while, had a great
+mind one day to go on shore, and importuned me to let him have a little
+troop to go with him, for safety, that they might see the country. I was
+mightily against it for many reasons; but particularly I told him he knew
+the natives were but savages, and they were very treacherous, and I desired
+him that he would not go; and, had he gone on much farther, I believe I
+should have downright refused him, and commanded him not to go.
+
+But, in order to persuade me to let him go, he told me he would give me an
+account of the reason why he was so importunate. He told me, the last night
+he had a dream, which was so forcible, and made such an impression upon his
+mind, that he could not be quiet till he had made the proposal to me to go;
+and if I refused him, then he thought his dream was significant; and if
+not, then his dream was at an end.
+
+His dream was, he said, that he went on shore with thirty men, of which the
+cockswain, he said, was one, upon the island; and that they found a mine of
+gold, and enriched them all. But this was not the main thing, he said, but
+that the same morning he had dreamed so, the cockswain came to him just
+then, and told him that he dreamed he went on shore on the island of
+Madagascar, and that some men came to him and told him they would show him
+where he should get a prize which would make them all rich.
+
+These two things put together began to weigh with me a little, though I was
+never inclined to give any heed to dreams; but William's importunity turned
+me effectually, for I always put a great deal of stress upon his judgment;
+so that, in short, I gave them leave to go, but I charged them not to go
+far off from the sea-coast; that, if they were forced down to the seaside
+upon any occasion, we might perhaps see them, and fetch them off with our
+boats.
+
+They went away early in the morning, one-and-thirty men of them in number,
+very well armed, and very stout fellows; they travelled all the day, and at
+night made us a signal that all was well, from the top of a hill, which we
+had agreed on, by making a great fire.
+
+Next day they marched down the hill on the other side, inclining towards
+the seaside, as they had promised, and saw a very pleasant valley before
+them, with a river in the middle of it, which, a little farther below them,
+seemed to be big enough to bear small ships; they marched apace towards
+this river, and were surprised with the noise of a piece going off, which,
+by the sound, could not be far off. They listened long, but could hear no
+more; so they went on to the river-side, which was a very fine fresh
+stream, but widened apace, and they kept on by the banks of it, till,
+almost at once, it opened or widened into a good large creek or harbour,
+about five miles from the sea; and that which was still more surprising, as
+they marched forward, they plainly saw in the mouth of the harbour, or
+creek, the wreck of a ship.
+
+The tide was up, as we call it, so that it did net appear very much above
+the water, but, as they made downwards, they found it grow bigger and
+bigger; and the tide soon after ebbing out, they found it lay dry upon the
+sands, and appeared to be the wreck of a considerable vessel, larger than
+could be expected in that country.
+
+After some time, William, taking out his glass to look at it more nearly,
+was surprised with hearing a musket-shot whistle by him, and immediately
+after that he heard the gun, and saw the smoke from the other side; upon
+which our men immediately fired three muskets, to discover, if possible,
+what or who they were. Upon the noise of these guns, abundance of men came
+running down to the shore from among the trees; and our men could easily
+perceive that they were Europeans, though they knew not of what nation;
+however, our men hallooed to them as loud as they could, and by-and-by they
+got a long pole, and set it up, and hung a white shirt upon it for a flag
+of truce. They on the other side saw it, by the help of their glasses, too,
+and quickly after our men see a boat launch off from the shore, as they
+thought, but it was from another creek, it seems; and immediately they came
+rowing over the creek to our men, carrying also a white flag as a token of
+truce.
+
+It is not easy to describe the surprise, or joy and satisfaction, that
+appeared on both sides, to see not only white men, but Englishmen, in a
+place so remote; but what then must it be when they came to know one
+another, and to find that they were not only countrymen but comrades, and
+that this was the very ship that Captain Wilmot, our admiral, commanded,
+and whose company we had lost in the storm at Tobago, after making an
+agreement to rendezvous at Madagascar!
+
+They had, it seems, got intelligence of us when they came to the south part
+of the island, and had been a-roving as far as the Gulf of Bengal, when
+they met Captain Avery, with whom they joined, took several rich prizes,
+and, amongst the rest, one ship with the Great Mogul's daughter, and an
+immense treasure in money and jewels; and from thence they came about the
+coast of Coromandel, and afterwards that of Malabar, into the Gulf of
+Persia, where they also took some prize, and then designed for the south
+part of Madagascar; but the winds blowing hard at S.E. and S.E. by E., they
+came to the northward of the isle, and being after that separated by a
+furious tempest from the N.W., they were forced into the mouth of that
+creek, where they lost their ship. And they told us, also, that they heard
+that Captain Avery himself had lost his ship also not far off.
+
+When they had thus acquainted one another with their fortunes, the poor
+overjoyed men were in haste to go back to communicate their joy to their
+comrades; and, leaving some of their men with ours, the rest went back, and
+William was so earnest to see them that he and two more went back with
+them, and there he came to their little camp where they lived. There were
+about a hundred and sixty men of them in all; they had got their guns on
+shore, and some ammunition, but a good deal of their powder was spoiled;
+however, they had raised a fair platform, and mounted twelve pieces of
+cannon upon it, which was a sufficient defence to them on that side of the
+sea; and just at the end of the platform they had made a launch and a
+little yard, and were all hard at work, building another little ship, as I
+may call it, to go to sea in; but they put a stop to this work upon the
+news they had of our being come in.
+
+When our men went into their huts, it was surprising, indeed, to see the
+vast stock of wealth they had got, in gold and silver and jewels, which,
+however, they told us was a trifle to what Captain Avery had, wherever he
+was gone.
+
+It was five days we had waited for our men, and no news of them; and indeed
+I gave them over for lost, but was surprised, after five days' waiting, to
+see a ship's boat come rowing towards us along shore. What to make of it I
+could not tell, but was at least better satisfied when our men told me they
+heard them halloo and saw them wave their caps to us.
+
+In a little time they came quite up to us; and I saw friend William stand
+up in the boat and make signs to us; so they came on board; but when I saw
+there were but fifteen of our one-and-thirty men, I asked him what had
+become of their fellows. "Oh," says William, "they are all very well; and
+my dream is fully made good, and the cockswain's too."
+
+This made me very impatient to know how the case stood; so he told us the
+whole story, which indeed surprised us all. The next day we weighed, and
+stood away southerly to join Captain Wilmot and ship at Mangahelly, where
+we found him, as I said, a little chagrined at our stay; but we pacified
+him afterwards with telling him the history of William's dream, and the
+consequence of it.
+
+In the meantime the camp of our comrades was so near Mangahelly, that our
+admiral and I, friend William, and some of the men, resolved to take the
+sloop and go and see them, and fetch them all, and their goods, bag and
+baggage, on board our ship, which accordingly we did, and found their camp,
+their fortifications, the battery of guns they had erected, their treasure,
+and all the men, just as William had related it; so, after some stay, we
+took all the men into the sloop, and brought them away with us.
+
+It was some time before we knew what was become of Captain Avery; but after
+about a month, by the direction of the men who had lost their ship, we sent
+the sloop to cruise along the shore, to find out, if possible, where they
+were; and in about a week's cruise our men found them, and particularly
+that they had lost their ship, as well as our men had lost theirs, and that
+they were every way in as bad a condition as ours.
+
+It was about ten days before the sloop returned, and Captain Avery with
+them; and this was the whole force that, as I remember, Captain Avery ever
+had with him; for now we joined all our companies together, and it stood
+thus:--We had two ships and a sloop, in which we had 320 men, but much too
+few to man them as they ought to be, the great Portuguese ship requiring of
+herself near 400 men to man her completely. As for our lost, but now found
+comrade, her complement of men was 180, or thereabouts; and Captain Avery
+had about 300 men with him, whereof he had ten carpenters with him, most of
+which were taken aboard the prize they had taken; so that, in a word, all
+the force Avery had at Madagascar, in the year 1699, or thereabouts,
+amounted to our three ships, for his own was lost, as you have heard; and
+never had any more than about 1200 men in all.
+
+It was about a month after this that all our crews got together, and as
+Avery was unshipped, we all agreed to bring our own company into the
+Portuguese man-of-war and the sloop, and give Captain Avery the Spanish
+frigate, with all the tackles and furniture, guns and ammunition, for his
+crew by themselves; for which they, being full of wealth, agreed to give us
+40,000 pieces of eight.
+
+It was next considered what course we should take. Captain Avery, to give
+him his due, proposed our building a little city here, establishing
+ourselves on shore, with a good fortification and works proper to defend
+ourselves; and that, as we had wealth enough, and could increase it to what
+degree we pleased, we should content ourselves to retire here, and bid
+defiance to the world. But I soon convinced him that this place would be no
+security to us, if we pretended to carry on our cruising trade; for that
+then all the nations of Europe, and indeed of that part of the world, would
+be engaged to root us out; but if we resolved to live there as in
+retirement, and plant in the country as private men, and give over our
+trade of pirating, then, indeed, we might plant and settle ourselves where
+we pleased. But then, I told him, the best way would be to treat with the
+natives, and buy a tract of land of them farther up the country, seated
+upon some navigable river, where boats might go up and down for pleasure,
+but not ships to endanger us; that thus planting the high ground with
+cattle, such as cows and goats, of which the country also was full, to be
+sure we might live here as well as any men in the world; and I owned to him
+I thought it was a good retreat for those that were willing to leave off
+and lay down, and yet did not care to venture home and be hanged; that is
+to say, to run the risk of it.
+
+Captain Avery, however he made no positive discovery of his intentions,
+seemed to me to decline my notion of going up into the country to plant; on
+the contrary, it was apparent he was of Captain Wilmot's opinion, that they
+might maintain themselves on shore, and yet carry on their cruising trade
+too; and upon this they resolved. But, as I afterwards understood, about
+fifty of their men went up the country, and settled themselves in an inland
+place as a colony. Whether they are there still or not, I cannot tell, or
+how many of them are left alive; but it is my opinion they are there still,
+and that they are considerably increased, for, as I hear, they have got
+some women among them, though not many; for it seems five Dutch women and
+three or four little girls were taken by them in a Dutch ship, which they
+afterwards took going to Mocha; and three of those women, marrying some of
+these men, went with them to live in their new plantation. But of this I
+speak only by hearsay.
+
+As we lay here some time, I found our people mightily divided in their
+notions; some were for going this way, and some that, till at last I began
+to foresee they would part company, and perhaps we should not have men
+enough to keep together to man the great ship; so I took Captain Wilmot
+aside, and began to talk to him about it, but soon perceived that he
+inclined himself to stay at Madagascar, and having got a vast wealth for
+his own share, had secret designs of getting home some way or other.
+
+I argued the impossibility of it, and the hazard he would run, either of
+falling into the hands of thieves and murderers in the Red Sea, who would
+never let such a treasure as his pass their hands, or of his falling into
+the hands of the English, Dutch, or French, who would certainly hang him
+for a pirate. I gave him an account of the voyage I had made from this very
+place to the continent of Africa, and what a journey it was to travel on
+foot.
+
+In short, nothing could persuade him, but he would go into the Red Sea with
+the sloop, and where the children of Israel passed through the sea
+dry-shod, and, landing there, would travel to Grand Cairo by land, which is
+not above eighty miles, and from thence he said he could ship himself, by
+the way of Alexandria, to any part of the world.
+
+I represented the hazard, and indeed the impossibility, of his passing by
+Mocha and Jiddah without being attacked, if he offered it by force, or
+plundered, if he went to get leave; and explained the reasons of it so much
+and so effectually, that, though at last he would not hearken to it
+himself, none of his men would go with him. They told him they would go
+anywhere with him to serve him, but that this was running himself and them
+into certain destruction, without any possibility of avoiding it, or
+probability of answering his end. The captain took what I said to him quite
+wrong, and pretended to resent it, and gave me some buccaneer words upon
+it; but I gave him no return to it but this: that I advised him for his
+advantage; that if he did not understand it so, it was his fault, not mine;
+that I did not forbid him to go, nor had I offered to persuade any of the
+men not to go with him, though it was to their apparent destruction.
+
+However, warm heads are not easily cooled. The captain was so eager that he
+quitted our company, and, with most part of his crew, went over to Captain
+Avery, and sorted with his people, taking all the treasure with him, which,
+by the way, was not very fair in him, we having agreed to share all our
+gains, whether more or less, whether absent or present.
+
+Our men muttered a little at it, but I pacified them as well as I could,
+and told them it was easy for us to get as much, if we minded our hits; and
+Captain Wilmot had set us a very good example; for, by the same rule, the
+agreement of any further sharing of profits with them was at an end. I took
+this occasion to put into their heads some part of my further designs,
+which were, to range over the eastern sea, and see if we could not make
+ourselves as rich as Mr Avery, who, it was true, had gotten a prodigious
+deal of money, though not one-half of what was said of it in Europe.
+
+Our men were so pleased with my forward, enterprising temper, that they
+assured me that they would go with me, one and all, over the whole globe,
+wherever I would carry them; and as for Captain Wilmot, they would have
+nothing more to do with him. This came to his ears, and put him into a
+great rage, so that he threatened, if I came on shore, he would cut my
+throat.
+
+I had information of it privately, but took no notice of it at all; only I
+took care not to go unprovided for him, and seldom walked about but in very
+good company. However, at last Captain Wilmot and I met, and talked over
+the matter very seriously, and I offered him the sloop to go where he
+pleased, or, if he was not satisfied with that, I offered to take the sloop
+and leave him the great ship; but he declined both, and only desired that I
+would leave him six carpenters, which I had in our ship more than I had
+need of, to help his men to finish the sloop that was begun before we came
+thither, by the men that lost their ship. This I consented readily to, and
+lent him several other hands that were useful to them; and in a little time
+they built a stout brigantine, able to carry fourteen guns and 200 men.
+
+What measures they took, and how Captain Avery managed afterwards, is too
+long a story to meddle with here; nor is it any of my business, having my
+own story still upon my hands.
+
+We lay here, about these several simple disputes, almost five months, when,
+about the latter end of March, I set sail with the great ship, having in
+her forty-four guns and 400 men, and the sloop, carrying eighty men. We did
+not steer to the Malabar coast, and so to the Gulf of Persia, as was first
+intended, the east monsoons blowing yet too strong, but we kept more under
+the African coast, where we had the wind variable till we passed the line,
+and made the Cape Bassa, in the latitude of four degrees ten minutes; from
+thence, the monsoons beginning to change to the N.E. and N.N.E., we led it
+away, with the wind large, to the Maldives, a famous ledge of islands, well
+known by all the sailors who have gone into those parts of the world; and,
+leaving these islands a little to the south, we made Cape Comorin, the
+southernmost land of the coast of Malabar, and went round the isle of
+Ceylon. Here we lay by a while to wait for purchase; and here we saw three
+large English East India ships going from Bengal, or from Fort St George,
+homeward for England, or rather for Bombay and Surat, till the trade set
+in.
+
+We brought to, and hoisting an English ancient and pendant, lay by for
+them, as if we intended to attack them. They could not tell what to make of
+us a good while, though they saw our colours; and I believe at first they
+thought us to be French; but as they came nearer to us, we let them soon
+see what we were, for we hoisted a black flag, with two cross daggers in
+it, on our main-top-mast head, which let them see what they were to expect.
+
+We soon found the effects of this; for at first they spread their ancients,
+and made up to us in a line, as if they would fight us, having the wind off
+shore, fair enough to have brought them on board us; but when they saw what
+force we were of, and found we were cruisers of another kind, they stood
+away from us again, with all the sail they could make. If they had come up,
+we should have given them an unexpected welcome, but as it was, we had no
+mind to follow them; so we let them go, for the same reasons which I
+mentioned before.
+
+But though we let them pass, we did not design to let others go at so easy
+a price. It was but the next morning that we saw a sail standing round Cape
+Comorin, and steering, as we thought, the same course with us. We knew not
+at first what to do with her, because she had the shore on her larboard
+quarter, and if we offered to chase her, she might put into any port or
+creek, and escape us; but, to prevent this, we sent the sloop to get in
+between her and the land. As soon as she saw that, she hauled in to keep
+the land aboard, and when the sloop stood towards her she made right
+ashore, with all the canvas she could spread.
+
+The sloop, however, came up with her and engaged her, and found she was a
+vessel of ten guns, Portuguese built, but in the Dutch traders' hands, and
+manned by Dutchmen, who were bound from the Gulf of Persia to Batavia, to
+fetch spices and other goods from thence. The sloop's men took her, and had
+the rummaging of her before we came up. She had in her some European goods,
+and a good round sum of money, and some pearl; so that, though we did not
+go to the gulf for the pearl, the pearl came to us out of the gulf, and we
+had our share of it. This was a rich ship, and the goods were of very
+considerable value, besides the money and the pearl.
+
+We had a long consultation here what we should do with the men, for to give
+them the ship, and let them pursue their voyage to Java, would be to alarm
+the Dutch factory there, who are by far the strongest in the Indies, and to
+make our passage that way impracticable; whereas we resolved to visit that
+part of the world in our way, but were not willing to pass the great Bay of
+Bengal, where we hoped for a great deal of purchase; and therefore it
+behoved us not to be waylaid before we came there, because they knew we
+must pass by the Straits of Malacca, or those of Sunda; and either way it
+was very easy to prevent us.
+
+While we were consulting this in the great cabin, the men had had the same
+debate before the mast; and it seems the majority there were for pickling
+up the poor Dutchmen among the herrings; in a word, they were for throwing
+them all into the sea. Poor William, the Quaker, was in great concern about
+this, and comes directly to me to talk about it. "Hark thee," says William,
+"what wilt thou do with these Dutchmen that thou hast on board? Thou wilt
+not let them go, I suppose," says he. "Why," says I, "William, would you
+advise me to let them go?" "No," says William, "I cannot say it is fit for
+thee to let them go; that is to say, to go on with their voyage to Batavia,
+because it is not for thy turn that the Dutch at Batavia should have any
+knowledge of thy being in these seas." "Well, then," says I to him, "I know
+no remedy but to throw them overboard. You know, William," says I, "a
+Dutchman swims like a fish; and all our people here are of the same opinion
+as well as I." At the same time I resolved it should not be done, but
+wanted to hear what William would say. He gravely replied, "If all the men
+in the ship were of that mind, I will never believe that thou wilt be of
+that mind thyself, for I have heard thee protest against cruelty in all
+other cases." "Well, William," says I, "that is true; but what then shall
+we do with them?" "Why," says William, "is there no way but to murder them?
+I am persuaded thou canst not be in earnest." "No, indeed, William," says
+I, "I am not in earnest; but they shall not go to Java, no, nor to Ceylon,
+that is certain." "But," says William, "the men have done thee no injury at
+all; thou hast taken a great treasure from them; what canst thou pretend to
+hurt them for?" "Nay, William," says I, "do not talk of that; I have
+pretence enough, if that be all; my pretence is, to prevent doing me hurt,
+and that is as necessary a piece of the law of self-preservation as any you
+can name; but the main thing is, I know not what to do with them, to
+prevent their prating."
+
+While William and I were talking, the poor Dutchmen were openly condemned
+to die, as it may be called, by the whole ship's company; and so warm were
+the men upon it, that they grew very clamorous; and when they heard that
+William was against it, some of them swore they should die, and if William
+opposed it, he should drown along with them.
+
+But, as I was resolved to put an end to their cruel project, so I found it
+was time to take upon me a little, or the bloody humour might grow too
+strong; so I called the Dutchmen up, and talked a little with them. First,
+I asked them if they were willing to go with us. Two of them offered it
+presently; but the rest, which were fourteen, declined it. "Well, then,"
+said I, "where would you go?" They desired they should go to Ceylon. No, I
+told them I could not allow them to go to any Dutch factory, and told them
+very plainly the reasons of it, which they could not deny to be just. I let
+them know also the cruel, bloody measures of our men, but that I had
+resolved to save them, if possible; and therefore I told them I would set
+them on shore at some English factory in the Bay of Bengal, or put them on
+board any English ship I met, after I was past the Straits of Sunda or of
+Malacca, but not before; for, as to my coming back again, I told them I
+would run the venture of their Dutch power from Batavia, but I would not
+have the news come there before me, because it would make all their
+merchant-ships lay up, and keep out of our way.
+
+It came next into our consideration what we should do with their ship; but
+this was not long resolving; for there were but two ways, either to set her
+on fire, or to run her on shore, and we chose the last. So we set her
+foresail with the tack at the cat-head, and lashed her helm a little to
+starboard, to answer her head-sail, and so set her agoing, with neither cat
+or dog in her; and it was not above two hours before we saw her run right
+ashore upon the coast, a little beyond the Cape Comorin; and away we went
+round about Ceylon, for the coast of Coromandel.
+
+We sailed along there, not in sight of the shore only, but so near as to
+see the ships in the road at Fort St David, Fort St George, and at the
+other factories along that shore, as well as along the coast of Golconda,
+carrying our English ancient when we came near the Dutch factories, and
+Dutch colours when we passed by the English factories. We met with little
+purchase upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda, bound
+across the bay with bales of calicoes and muslins and wrought silks, and
+fifteen bales of romals, from the bottom of the bay, which were going, on
+whose account we knew not, to Acheen, and to other ports on the coast of
+Malacca. We did not inquire to what place in particular; but we let the
+vessels go, having none but Indians on board.
+
+In the bottom of the bay we met with a great junk belonging to the Mogul's
+court, with a great many people, passengers as we supposed them to be: it
+seems they were bound for the river Hooghly or Ganges, and came from
+Sumatra. This was a prize worth taking indeed; and we got so much gold in
+her, besides other goods which we did not meddle with--pepper in
+particular--that it had like to have put an end to our cruise; for almost
+all my men said we were rich enough, and desired to go back again to
+Madagascar. But I had other things in my head still, and when I came to
+talk with them, and set friend William to talk with them, we put such
+further golden hopes into their heads that we soon prevailed with them to
+let us go on.
+
+My next design was to leave all the dangerous straits of Malacca,
+Singapore, and Sunda, where we could expect no great booty, but what we
+might light on in European ships, which we must fight for; and though we
+were able to fight, and wanted no courage, even to desperation, yet we were
+rich too, and resolved to be richer, and took this for our maxim, that
+while we were sure the wealth we sought was to be had without fighting, we
+had no occasion to put ourselves to the necessity of fighting for that
+which would come upon easy terms.
+
+We left, therefore, the Bay of Bengal, and coming to the coast of Sumatra,
+we put in at a small port, where there was a town, inhabited only by
+Malays; and here we took in fresh water, and a large quantity of good pork,
+pickled up and well salted, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, being
+in the very middle of the torrid zone, viz., in three degrees fifteen
+minutes north latitude. We also took on board both our vessels forty hogs
+alive, which served us for fresh provisions, having abundance of food for
+them, such as the country produced, such as guams, potatoes, and a sort of
+coarse rice, good for nothing else but to feed the swine. We killed one of
+these hogs every day, and found them to be excellent meat. We took in also
+a monstrous quantity of ducks, and cocks and hens, the same kind as we have
+in England, which we kept for change of provisions; and if I remember
+right, we had no less than two thousand of them; so that at first we were
+pestered with them very much, but we soon lessened them by boiling,
+roasting, stewing, &c., for we never wanted while we had them.
+
+My long-projected design now lay open to me, which was to fall in amongst
+the Dutch Spice Islands, and see what mischief I could do there.
+Accordingly, we put out to sea the 12th of August, and passing the line on
+the 17th, we stood away due south, leaving the Straits of Sunda and the
+isle of Java on the east, till we came to the latitude of eleven degrees
+twenty minutes, when we steered east and E.N.E., having easy gales from the
+W.S.W. till we came among the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.
+
+We passed those seas with less difficulty than in other places, the winds
+to the south of Java being more variable, and the weather good, though
+sometimes we met with squally weather and short storms; but when we came in
+among the Spice Islands themselves we had a share of the monsoons, or
+trade-winds, and made use of them accordingly.
+
+The infinite number of islands which lie in these seas embarrassed us
+strangely, and it was with great difficulty that we worked our way through
+them; then we steered for the north side of the Philippines, when we had a
+double chance for purchase, viz., either to meet with the Spanish ships
+from Acapulco, on the coast of New Spain, or we were certain not to fail of
+finding some ships or junks of China, who, if they came from China, would
+have a great quantity of goods of value on board, as well as money; or if
+we took them going back, we should find them laden with nutmegs and cloves
+from Banda and Ternate, or from some of the other islands.
+
+We were right in our guesses here to a tittle, and we steered directly
+through a large outlet, which they call a strait, though it be fifteen
+miles broad, and to an island they call Dammer, and from thence N.N.E. to
+Banda. Between these islands we met with a Dutch junk, or vessel, going to
+Amboyna: we took her without much trouble, and I had much ado to prevent
+our men murdering all the men, as soon as they heard them say they belonged
+to Amboyna: the reasons I suppose any one will guess.
+
+We took out of her about sixteen ton of nutmegs, some provisions, and their
+small-arms, for they had no great guns, and let the ship go: from thence we
+sailed directly to the Banda Island, or Islands, where we were sure to get
+more nutmegs if we thought fit. For my part, I would willingly have got
+more nutmegs, though I had paid for them, but our people abhorred paying
+for anything; so we got about twelve ton more at several times, most of
+them from shore, and only a few in a small boat of the natives, which was
+going to Gilolo. We would have traded openly, but the Dutch, who have made
+themselves masters of all those islands, forbade the people dealing with
+us, or any strangers whatever, and kept them so in awe that they durst not
+do it; so we could indeed have made nothing of it if we had stayed longer,
+and therefore resolved to be gone for Ternate, and see if we could make up
+our loading with cloves.
+
+Accordingly we stood away north, but found ourselves so entangled among
+innumerable islands, and without any pilot that understood the channel and
+races between them, that we were obliged to give it over, and resolved to
+go back again to Banda, and see what we could get among the other islands
+thereabouts.
+
+The first adventure we made here had like to have been fatal to us all, for
+the sloop, being ahead, made the signal to us for seeing a sail, and
+afterwards another, and a third, by which we understood she saw three sail;
+whereupon we made more sail to come up with her, but on a sudden were
+gotten among some rocks, falling foul upon them in such a manner as
+frighted us all very heartily; for having, it seems, but just water enough,
+as it were to an inch, our rudder struck upon the top of a rock, which gave
+us a terrible shock, and split a great piece off the rudder, and indeed
+disabled it so that our ship would not steer at all, at least not so as to
+be depended upon; and we were glad to hand all our sails, except our
+fore-sail and main-topsail, and with them we stood away to the east, to see
+if we could find any creek or harbour where we might lay the ship on shore,
+and repair our rudder; besides, we found the ship herself had received some
+damage, for she had some little leak near her stern-post, but a great way
+under water.
+
+By this mischance we lost the advantages, whatever they were, of the three
+sail of ships, which we afterwards came to hear were small Dutch ships from
+Batavia, going to Banda and Amboyna, to load spice, and, no doubt, had a
+good quantity of money on board.
+
+Upon the disaster I have been speaking of you may very well suppose that we
+came to an anchor as soon as we could, which was upon a small island not
+far from Banda, where, though the Dutch keep no factory, yet they come at
+the season to buy nutmegs and mace. We stayed there thirteen days; but
+there being no place where we could lay the ship on shore, we sent the
+sloop to cruise among the islands, to look out for a place fit for us. In
+the meantime we got very good water here, some provisions, roots, and
+fruits, and a good quantity of nutmegs and mace, which we found ways to
+trade with the natives for, without the knowledge of their masters, the
+Dutch.
+
+At length our sloop returned; having found another island where there was a
+very good harbour, we ran in, and came to an anchor. We immediately unbent
+all our sails, sent them ashore upon the island, and set up seven or eight
+tents with them; then we unrigged our top-masts, and cut them down, hoisted
+all our guns out, our provisions and loading, and put them ashore in the
+tents. With the guns we made two small batteries, for fear of a surprise,
+and kept a look-out upon the hill. When we were all ready, we laid the ship
+aground upon a hard sand, the upper end of the harbour, and shored her up
+on each side. At low water she lay almost dry, so we mended her bottom, and
+stopped the leak, which was occasioned by straining some of the rudder
+irons with the shock which the ship had against the rock.
+
+Having done this, we also took occasion to clean her bottom, which, having
+been at sea so long, was very foul. The sloop washed and tallowed also, but
+was ready before us, and cruised eight or ten days among the islands, but
+met with no purchase; so that we began to be tired of the place, having
+little to divert us but the most furious claps of thunder that ever were
+heard or read of in the world.
+
+We were in hopes to have met with some purchase here among the Chinese,
+who, we had been told, came to Ternate to trade for cloves, and to the
+Banda Isles for nutmegs; and we would have been very glad to have loaded
+our galleon, or great ship, with these two sorts of spice, and have thought
+it a glorious voyage; but we found nothing stirring more than what I have
+said, except Dutchmen, who, by what means we could not imagine, had either
+a jealousy of us or intelligence of us, and kept themselves close in their
+ports.
+
+I was once resolved to have made a descent at the island of Dumas, the
+place most famous for the best nutmegs; but friend William, who was always
+for doing our business without fighting, dissuaded me from it, and gave
+such reasons for it that we could not resist; particularly the great heats
+of the season, and of the place, for we were now in the latitude of just
+half a degree south. But while we were disputing this point we were soon
+determined by the following accident:--We had a strong gale of wind at S.W.
+by W., and the ship had fresh way, but a great sea rolling in upon us from
+the N.E., which we afterwards found was the pouring in of the great ocean
+east of New Guinea. However, as I said, we stood away large, and made fresh
+way, when, on the sudden, from a dark cloud which hovered over our heads,
+came a flash, or rather blast, of lightning, which was so terrible, and
+quivered so long among us, that not I only, but all our men, thought the
+ship was on fire. The heat of the flash, or fire, was so sensibly felt in
+our faces, that some of our men had blisters raised by it on their skins,
+not immediately, perhaps, by the heat, but by the poisonous or noxious
+particles which mixed themselves with the matter inflamed. But this was not
+all; the shock of the air, which the fracture in the clouds made, was such
+that our ship shook as when a broadside is fired; and her motion being
+checked, as it were at once, by a repulse superior to the force that gave
+her way before, the sails all flew back in a moment, and the ship lay, as
+we might truly say, thunder-struck. As the blast from the cloud was so very
+near us, it was but a few moments after the flash that the terriblest clap
+of thunder followed that was ever heard by mortals. I firmly believe a
+blast of a hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder could not have been
+greater to our hearing; nay, indeed, to some of our men it took away their
+hearing.
+
+It is not possible for me to describe, or any one to conceive, the terror
+of that minute. Our men were in such a consternation, that not a man on
+board the ship had presence of mind to apply to the proper duty of a
+sailor, except friend William; and had he not run very nimbly, and with a
+composure that I am sure I was not master of, to let go the fore-sheet, set
+in the weather-brace of the fore-yard, and haul down the top-sails, we had
+certainly brought all our masts by the board, and perhaps have been
+overwhelmed in the sea.
+
+As for myself, I must confess my eyes were open to my danger, though not
+the least to anything of application for remedy. I was all amazement and
+confusion, and this was the first time that I can say I began to feel the
+effects of that horror which I know since much more of, upon the just
+reflection on my former life. I thought myself doomed by Heaven to sink
+that moment into eternal destruction; and with this peculiar mark of
+terror, viz., that the vengeance was not executed in the ordinary way of
+human justice, but that God had taken me into His immediate disposing, and
+had resolved to be the executer of His own vengeance.
+
+Let them alone describe the confusion I was in who know what was the case
+of [John] Child, of Shadwell, or Francis Spira. It is impossible to
+describe it. My soul was all amazement and surprise. I thought myself just
+sinking into eternity, owning the divine justice of my punishment, but not
+at all feeling any of the moving, softening tokens of a sincere penitent;
+afflicted at the punishment, but not at the crime; alarmed at the
+vengeance, but not terrified at the guilt; having the same gust to the
+crime, though terrified to the last degree at the thought of the
+punishment, which I concluded I was just now going to receive.
+
+But perhaps many that read this will be sensible of the thunder and
+lightning, that may think nothing of the rest, or rather may make a jest of
+it all; so I say no more of it at this time, but proceed to the story of
+the voyage. When the amazement was over, and the men began to come to
+themselves, they fell a-calling for one another, every one for his friend,
+or for those he had most respect for; and it was a singular satisfaction to
+find that nobody was hurt. The next thing was to inquire if the ship had
+received no damage, when the boatswain, stepping forward, found that part
+of the head was gone, but not so as to endanger the bowsprit; so we hoisted
+our top-sails again, hauled aft the fore-sheet, braced the yards, and went
+our course as before. Nor can I deny but that we were all somewhat like the
+ship; our first astonishment being a little over, and that we found the
+ship swim again, we were soon the same irreligious, hardened crew that we
+were before, and I among the rest.
+
+As we now steered, our course lay N.N.E., and we passed thus, with a fair
+wind, through the strait or channel between the island of Gilolo and the
+land of Nova Guinea, when we were soon in the open sea or ocean, on the
+south-east of the Philippines, being the great Pacific, or South Sea, where
+it may be said to join itself with the vast Indian Ocean.
+
+As we passed into these seas, steering due north, so we soon crossed the
+line to the north side, and so sailed on towards Mindanao and Manilla, the
+chief of the Philippine Islands, without meeting with any purchase till we
+came to the northward of Manilla, and then our trade began; for here we
+took three Japanese vessels, though at some distance from Manilla. Two of
+them had made their market, and were going home with nutmegs, cinnamon,
+cloves, &c., besides all sorts of European goods, brought with the Spanish
+ships from Acapulco. They had together eight-and-thirty ton of cloves, and
+five or six ton of nutmegs, and as much cinnamon. We took the spice, but
+meddled with very little of the European goods, they being, as we thought,
+not worth our while; but we were very sorry for it soon after, and
+therefore grew wiser upon the next occasion.
+
+The third Japanese was the best prize to us; for he came with money, and a
+great deal of gold uncoined, to buy such goods as we mentioned above. We
+eased him of his gold, and did him no other harm, and having no intention
+to stay long here, we stood away for China.
+
+We were at sea above two months upon this voyage, beating it up against the
+wind, which blew steadily from the N.E., and within a point or two one way
+or other; and this indeed was the reason why we met with the more prizes in
+our voyage.
+
+We were just gotten clear of the Philippines, and we purposed to go to the
+isle of Formosa, but the wind blew so fresh at N.N.E. that there was no
+making anything of it, and we were forced to put back to Laconia, the most
+northerly of those islands. We rode here very secure, and shifted our
+situation, not in view of any danger, for there was none, but for a better
+supply of provisions, which we found the people very willing to supply us
+with.
+
+There lay, while we remained here, three very great galleons, or Spanish
+ships, from the south seas; whether newly come in or ready to sail we could
+not understand at first; but as we found the China traders began to load
+and set forward to the north, we concluded the Spanish ships had newly
+unloaded their cargo, and these had been buying; so we doubted not but we
+should meet with purchase in the rest of the voyage, neither, indeed, could
+we well miss of it.
+
+We stayed here till the beginning of May, when we were told the Chinese
+traders would set forward; for the northern monsoons end about the latter
+end of March or beginning of April; so that they are sure of fair winds
+home. Accordingly we hired some of the country boats, which are very swift
+sailers, to go and bring us word how affairs stood at Manilla, and when the
+China junks would sail; and by this intelligence we ordered our matters so
+well, that three days after we set sail we fell in with no less than eleven
+of them; out of which, however, having by misfortune of discovering
+ourselves, taken but three, we contented ourselves and pursued our voyage
+to Formosa. In these three vessels we took, in short, such a quantity of
+cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, and mace, besides silver, that our men began to
+be of my opinion,--that we were rich enough; and, in short, we had nothing
+to do now but to consider by what methods to secure the immense treasure we
+had got.
+
+I was secretly glad to hear that they were of this opinion, for I had long
+before resolved, if it were possible, to persuade them to think of
+returning, having fully perfected my first projected design of rummaging
+among the Spice Islands; and all those prizes, which were exceeding rich at
+Manilla, was quite beyond my design.
+
+But now I had heard what the men said, and how they thought we were very
+well, I let them know by friend William, that I intended only to sail to
+the island of Formosa, where I should find opportunity to turn our spices
+and Europe goods into ready money, and that then I would tack about for the
+south, the northern monsoons being perhaps by that time also ready to set
+in. They all approved of my design, and willingly went forward; because,
+besides the winds, which would not permit until October to go to the south,
+I say, besides this, we were now a very deep ship, having near two hundred
+ton of goods on board, and particularly, some very valuable; the sloop also
+had a proportion.
+
+With this resolution we went on cheerfully, when, within about twelve days'
+sail more, we made the island Formosa, at a great distance, but were
+ourselves shot beyond the southernmost part of the island, being to
+leeward, and almost upon the coast of China. Here we were a little at a
+loss, for the English factories were not far off, and we might be obliged
+to fight some of their ships, if we met with them; which, though we were
+able enough to do, yet we did not desire it on many accounts, and
+particularly because we did not think it was our business to have it known
+who we were, or that such a kind of people as we had been seen on the
+coast. However, we were obliged to keep to the northward, keeping as good
+an offing as we could with respect to the coast of China.
+
+We had not sailed long but we chased a small Chinese junk, and having taken
+her, we found she was bound to the island of Formosa, having no goods on
+board but some rice and a small quantity of tea; but she had three Chinese
+merchants in her; and they told us that they were going to meet a large
+vessel of their country, which came from Tonquin, and lay in a river in
+Formosa, whose name I forgot; and they were going to the Philippine
+Islands, with silks, muslins, calicoes, and such goods as are the product
+of China, and some gold; that their business was to sell their cargo, and
+buy spices and European goods.
+
+This suited very well with our purpose; so I resolved now that we would
+leave off being pirates and turn merchants; so we told them what goods we
+had on board, and that if they would bring their supercargoes or merchants
+on board, we would trade with them. They were very willing to trade with
+us, but terribly afraid to trust us; nor was it an unjust fear, for we had
+plundered them already of what they had. On the other hand, we were as
+diffident as they, and very uncertain what to do; but William the Quaker
+put this matter into a way of barter. He came to me and told me he really
+thought the merchants looked like fair men, that meant honestly. "And
+besides," says William, "it is their interest to be honest now, for, as
+they know upon what terms we got the goods we are to truck with them, so
+they know we can afford good pennyworths; and in the next place, it saves
+them going the whole voyage, so that the southerly monsoons yet holding, if
+they traded with us, they could immediately return with their cargo to
+China;" though, by the way, we afterwards found they intended for Japan;
+but that was all one, for by this means they saved at least eight months'
+voyage. Upon these foundations, William said he was satisfied we might
+trust them; "for," says William, "I would as soon trust a man whose
+interest binds him to be just to me as a man whose principle binds
+himself." Upon the whole, William proposed that two of the merchants should
+be left on board our ship as hostages, and that part of our goods should be
+loaded in their vessel, and let the third go with it into the port where
+their ship lay; and when he had delivered the spices, he should bring back
+such things as it was agreed should be exchanged. This was concluded on,
+and William the Quaker ventured to go along with them, which, upon my word,
+I should not have cared to have done, nor was I willing that he should, but
+he went still upon the notion that it was their interest to treat him
+friendly.
+
+In the meantime, we came to an anchor under a little island in the latitude
+of 23 degrees 28 minutes, being just under the northern tropic, and about
+twenty leagues from the island. Here we lay thirteen days, and began to be
+very uneasy for my friend William, for they had promised to be back again
+in four days, which they might very easily have done. However, at the end
+of thirteen days, we saw three sail coming directly to us, which a little
+surprised us all at first, not knowing what might be the case; and we began
+to put ourselves in a posture of defence; but as they came nearer us, we
+were soon satisfied, for the first vessel was that which William went in,
+who carried a flag of truce; and in a few hours they all came to an anchor,
+and William came on board us with a little boat, with the Chinese merchant
+in his company, and two other merchants, who seemed to be a kind of brokers
+for the rest.
+
+Here he gave us an account how civilly he had been used; how they had
+treated him with all imaginable frankness and openness; that they had not
+only given him the full value of his spices and other goods which he
+carried, in gold, by good weight, but had loaded the vessel again with such
+goods as he knew we were willing to trade for; and that afterwards they had
+resolved to bring the great ship out of the harbour, to lie where we were,
+that so we might make what bargain we thought fit; only William said he had
+promised, in our name, that we should use no violence with them, nor detain
+any of the vessels after we had done trading with them. I told him we would
+strive to outdo them in civility, and that we would make good every part of
+his agreement; in token whereof, I caused a white flag likewise to be
+spread at the poop of our great ship, which was the signal agreed on.
+
+As to the third vessel which came with them, it was a kind of bark of the
+country, who, having intelligence of our design to traffic, came off to
+deal with us, bringing a great deal of gold and some provisions, which at
+that time we were very glad of.
+
+In short, we traded upon the high seas with these men, and indeed we made a
+very good market, and yet sold thieves' pennyworths too. We sold here about
+sixty ton of spice, chiefly cloves and nutmegs, and above two hundred bales
+of European goods, such as linen and woollen manufactures. We considered we
+should have occasion for some such things ourselves, and so we kept a good
+quantity of English stuffs, cloth, baize, &c., for ourselves. I shall not
+take up any of the little room I have left here with the further
+particulars of our trade; it is enough to mention, that, except a parcel of
+tea, and twelve bales of fine China wrought silks, we took nothing in
+exchange for our goods but gold; so that the sum we took here in that
+glittering commodity amounted to above fifty thousand ounces good weight.
+
+When we had finished our barter, we restored the hostages, and gave the
+three merchants about the quantity of twelve hundredweight of nutmegs, and
+as many of cloves, with a handsome present of European linen and stuff for
+themselves, as a recompense for what we had taken from them; so we sent
+them away exceedingly well satisfied.
+
+Here it was that William gave me an account, that while he was on board the
+Japanese vessel, he met with a kind of religious, or Japan priest, who
+spoke some words of English to him; and, being very inquisitive to know how
+he came to learn any of those words, he told him that there was in his
+country thirteen Englishmen; he called them Englishmen very articulately
+and distinctly, for he had conversed with them very frequently and freely.
+He said that they were all that were left of two-and-thirty men, who came
+on shore on the north side of Japan, being driven upon a great rock in a
+stormy night, where they lost their ship, and the rest of their men were
+drowned; that he had persuaded the king of his country to send boats off to
+the rock or island where the ship was lost, to save the rest of the men,
+and to bring them on shore, which was done, and they were used very kindly,
+and had houses built for them, and land given them to plant for provision;
+and that they lived by themselves.
+
+He said he went frequently among them, to persuade them to worship their
+god (an idol, I suppose, of their own making), which, he said, they
+ungratefully refused; and that therefore the king had once or twice ordered
+them all to be put to death; but that, as he said, he had prevailed upon
+the king to spare them, and let them live their own way, as long as they
+were quiet and peaceable, and did not go about to withdraw others from the
+worship of the country.
+
+I asked William why he did not inquire from whence they came. "I did," said
+William; "for how could I but think it strange," said he, "to hear him talk
+of Englishmen on the north side of Japan?" "Well," said I, "what account
+did he give of it?" "An account," said William, "that will surprise thee,
+and all the world after thee, that shall hear of it, and which makes me
+wish thou wouldst go up to Japan and find them out." "What do you mean?"
+said I. "Whence could they come?" "Why," says William, "he pulled out a
+little book, and in it a piece of paper, where it was written, in an
+Englishman's hand, and in plain English words, thus; and," says William, "I
+read it myself:--'We came from Greenland, and from the North Pole.'" This,
+indeed, was amazing to us all, and more so to those seamen among us who
+knew anything of the infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as
+well by the English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those
+parts of the world; and as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the
+north to rescue those poor men, so the ship's company began to incline to
+it; and, in a word, we all came to this, that we would stand in to the
+shore of Formosa, to find this priest again, and have a further account of
+it all from him. Accordingly, the sloop went over; but when they came
+there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put an end to our
+inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed mankind of one of the
+most noble discoveries that ever was made, or will again be made, in the
+world, for the good of mankind in general; but so much for that.
+
+William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, that he pressed us
+earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if it
+was nothing but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a kind of
+captivity, which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and where,
+perhaps, they might, some time or other, be murdered by the barbarous
+people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very well worth our while,
+and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the mischiefs we had
+done in the world; but we, that had no concern upon us for the mischiefs we
+had done, had much less about any satisfactions to be made for it, so he
+found that kind of discourse would weigh very little with us. Then he
+pressed us very earnestly to let him have the sloop to go by himself, and I
+told him I would not oppose it; but when he came to the sloop none of the
+men would go with him; for the case was plain, they had all a share in the
+cargo of the great ship, as well as in thae of the sloop, and the richness
+of the cargo was such that they would not leave it by any means; so poor
+William, much to his mortification, was obliged to give it over. What
+became of those thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can
+give no account of.
+
+We are now at the end of our cruise; what we had taken was indeed so
+considerable, that it was not only enough to satisfy the most covetous and
+the most ambitious minds in the world, but it did indeed satisfy us, and
+our men declared they did not desire any more. The next motion, therefore,
+was about going back, and the way by which we should perform the voyage, so
+as not to be attacked by the Dutch in the Straits of Sunda.
+
+We had pretty well stored ourselves here with provisions, and it being now
+near the return of the monsoons, we resolved to stand away to the
+southward; and not only to keep without the Philippine Islands, that is to
+say, to the eastward of them, but to keep on to the southward, and see if
+we could not leave not only the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, behind us, but
+even Nova Guinea and Nova Hollandia also; and so getting into the variable
+winds, to the south of the tropic of Capricorn, steer away to the west,
+over the great Indian Ocean.
+
+This was indeed at first a monstrous voyage in its appearance, and the want
+of provisions threatened us. William told us in so many words, that it was
+impossible we could carry provisions enough to subsist us for such a
+voyage, and especially fresh water; and that, as there would be no land for
+us to touch at where we could get any supply, it was a madness to undertake
+it.
+
+But I undertook to remedy this evil, and therefore desired them not to be
+uneasy at that, for I knew that we might supply ourselves at Mindanao, the
+most southerly island of the Philippines.
+
+Accordingly, we set sail, having taken all the provisions here that we
+could get, the 28th of September, the wind veering a little at first from
+the N.N.W. to the N.E. by E., but afterwards settled about the N.E. and the
+E.N.E. We were nine weeks in this voyage, having met with several
+interruptions by the weather, and put in under the lee of a small island in
+the latitude of 16 degrees 12 minutes, of which we never knew the name,
+none of our charts having given any account of it: I say, we put in here by
+reason of a strange tornado or hurricane, which brought us into a great
+deal of danger. Here we rode about sixteen days, the winds being very
+tempestuous and the weather uncertain. However, we got some provisions on
+shore, such as plants and roots, and a few hogs. We believed there were
+inhabitants on the island, but we saw none of them.
+
+From hence, the weather settling again, we went on and came to the
+southernmost part of Mindanao, where we took in fresh water and some cows,
+but the climate was so hot that we did not attempt to salt up any more than
+so as to keep a fortnight or three weeks; and away we stood southward,
+crossing the line, and, leaving Gillolo on the starboard side, we coasted
+the country they call New Guinea, where, in the latitude of eight degrees
+south, we put in again for provisions and water, and where we found
+inhabitants; but they fled from us, and were altogether inconversable. From
+thence, sailing still southward, we left all behind us that any of our
+charts and maps took any notice of, and went on till we came to the
+latitude of seventeen degrees, the wind continuing still north-east.
+
+Here we made land to the westward, which, when we had kept in sight for
+three days, coasting along the shore for the distance of about four
+leagues, we began to fear we should find no outlet west, and so should be
+obliged to go back again, and put in among the Moluccas at last; but at
+length we found the land break off, and go trending away to the west sea,
+seeming to be all open to the south and south-west, and a great sea came
+rolling out of the south, which gave us to understand that there was no
+land for a great way.
+
+In a word, we kept on our course to the south, a little westerly, till we
+passed the south tropic, where we found the winds variable; and now we
+stood away fair west, and held it out for about twenty days, when we
+discovered land right ahead, and on our larboard bow; we made directly to
+the shore, being willing to take all advantages now for supplying ourselves
+with fresh provisions and water, knowing we were now entering on that vast
+unknown Indian Ocean, perhaps the greatest sea on the globe, having, with
+very little interruption of islands, a continued sea quite round the globe.
+
+We found a good road here, and some people on shore; but when we landed,
+they fled up the country, nor would they hold any correspondence with us,
+nor come near us, but shot at us several times with arrows as long as
+lances. We set up white flags for a truce, but they either did not or would
+not understand it; on the contrary, they shot our flag of truce through
+several times with their arrows, so that, in a word, we never came near any
+of them.
+
+We found good water here, though it was something difficult to get at it,
+but for living creatures we could see none; for the people, if they had any
+cattle, drove them all away, and showed us nothing but themselves, and that
+sometimes in a threatening posture, and in number so great, that made us
+suppose the island to be greater than we first imagined. It is true, they
+would not come near enough for us to engage with them, at least not openly;
+but they came near enough for us to see them, and, by the help of our
+glasses, to see that they were clothed and armed, but their clothes were
+only about their lower and middle parts; that they had long lances, half
+pikes, in their hands, besides bows and arrows; that they had great high
+things on their heads, made, as we believed, of feathers, and which looked
+something like our grenadiers' caps in England.
+
+When we saw them so shy that they would not come near us, our men began to
+range over the island, if it was such (for we never surrounded it), to
+search for cattle, and for any of the Indian plantations, for fruits or
+plants; but they soon found, to their cost, that they were to use more
+caution than that came to, and that they were to discover perfectly every
+bush and every tree before they ventured abroad in the country; for about
+fourteen of our men going farther than the rest, into a part of the country
+which seemed to be planted, as they thought, for it did but seem so, only I
+think it was overgrown with canes, such as we make our cane chairs with--I
+say, venturing too far, they were suddenly attacked with a shower of arrows
+from almost every side of them, as they thought, out of the tops of the
+trees.
+
+They had nothing to do but to fly for it, which, however, they could not
+resolve on, till five of them were wounded; nor had they escaped so, if one
+of them had not been so much wiser or thoughtfuller than the rest, as to
+consider, that though they could not see the enemy, so as to shoot at them,
+yet perhaps the noise of their shot might terrify them, and that they
+should rather fire at a venture. Accordingly, ten of them faced about, and
+fired at random anywhere among the canes.
+
+The noise and the fire not only terrified the enemy, but, as they believed,
+their shot had luckily hit some of them; for they found not only that the
+arrows, which came thick among them before, ceased, but they heard the
+Indians halloo, after their way, to one another, and make a strange noise,
+more uncouth and inimitably strange than any they had ever heard, more like
+the howling and barking of wild creatures in the woods than like the voice
+of men, only that sometimes they seemed to speak words.
+
+They observed also, that this noise of the Indians went farther and farther
+off, so that they were satisfied the Indians fled away, except on one side,
+where they heard a doleful groaning and howling, and where it continued a
+good while, which they supposed was from some or other of them being
+wounded, and howling by reason of their wounds; or killed, and others
+howling over them: but our men had enough of making discoveries; so they
+did not trouble themselves to look farther, but resolved to take this
+opportunity to retreat. But the worst of their adventure was to come; for
+as they came back, they passed by a prodigious great trunk of an old tree;
+what tree it was, they said, they did not know, but it stood like an old
+decayed oak in a park, where the keepers in England take a stand, as they
+call it, to shoot a deer; and it stood just under the steep side of a great
+rock, or hill, that our people could not see what was beyond it.
+
+As they came by this tree, they were of a sudden shot at, from the top of
+the tree, with seven arrows and three lances, which, to our great grief,
+killed two of our men, and wounded three more. This was the more
+surprising, because, being without any defence, and so near the trees, they
+expected more lances and arrows every moment; nor would flying do them any
+service, the Indians being, as appeared, very good marksmen. In this
+extremity, they had happily this presence of mind, viz., to run close to
+the tree, and stand, as it were, under it; so that those above could not
+come at, or see them, to throw their lances at them. This succeeded, and
+gave them time to consider what to do; they knew their enemies and
+murderers were above; they heard them talk, and those above knew those were
+below; but they below were obliged to keep close for fear of their lances
+from above. At length, one of our men, looking a little more strictly than
+the rest, thought he saw the head of one of the Indians just over a dead
+limb of the tree, which, it seems, the creature sat upon. One man
+immediately fired, and levelled his piece so true that the shot went
+through the fellow's head; and down he fell out of the tree immediately,
+and came upon the ground with such force, with the height of his fall, that
+if he had not been killed with the shot, he would certainly have been
+killed with dashing his body against the ground.
+
+This so frightened them, that, besides the howling noise they made in the
+tree, our men heard a strange clutter of them in the body of the tree, from
+whence they concluded they had made the tree hollow, and were got to hide
+themselves there. Now, had this been the case, they were secure enough from
+our men, for it was impossible any of our men could get up the tree on the
+outside, there being no branches to climb by; and, to shoot at the tree,
+that they tried several times to no purpose, for the tree was so thick that
+no shot would enter it. They made no doubt, however, but that they had
+their enemies in a trap, and that a small siege would either bring them
+down, tree and all, or starve them out; so they resolved to keep their
+post, and send to us for help. Accordingly, two of them came away to us for
+more hands, and particularly desired that some of our carpenters might come
+with tools, to help to cut down the tree, or at least to cut down other
+wood and set fire to it; and that, they concluded, would not fail to bring
+them out.
+
+Accordingly, our men went like a little army, and with mighty preparations
+for an enterprise, the like of which has scarce been ever heard, to form
+the siege of a great tree. However, when they came there, they found the
+task difficult enough, for the old trunk was indeed a very great one, and
+very tall, being at least two-and-twenty feet high, with seven old limbs
+standing out every way from the top, but decayed, and very few leaves, if
+any, left on it.
+
+William the Quaker, whose curiosity led him to go among the rest, proposed
+that they should make a ladder, and get upon the top, and then throw
+wild-fire into the tree, and smoke them out. Others proposed going back,
+and getting a great gun out of the ship, which would split the tree in
+pieces with the iron bullets; others, that they should cut down a great
+deal of wood, and pile it up round the tree, and set it on fire, and burn
+the tree, and the Indians in it.
+
+These consultations took up our people no less than two or three days, in
+all which time they heard nothing of the supposed garrison within this
+wooden castle, nor any noise within. William's project was first gone
+about, and a large strong ladder was made, to scale this wooden tower; and
+in two or three hours' time it would have been ready to mount, when, on a
+sudden, they heard the noise of the Indians in the body of the tree again,
+and a little after, several of them appeared at the top of the tree, and
+threw some lances down at our men; one of which struck one of our seamen
+a-top of the shoulder, and gave him such a desperate wound, that the
+surgeons not only had a great deal of difficulty to cure him, but the poor
+man endured such horrible torture, that we all said they had better have
+killed him outright. However, he was cured at last, though he never
+recovered the perfect use of his arm, the lance having cut some of the
+tendons on the top of the arm, near the shoulder, which, as I supposed,
+performed the office of motion to the limb before; so that the poor man was
+a cripple all the days of his life. But to return to the desperate rogues
+in the tree; our men shot at them, but did not find they had hit them, or
+any of them; but as soon as ever they shot at them, they could hear them
+huddle down into the trunk of the tree again, and there, to be sure, they
+were safe.
+
+Well, however, it was this which put by the project of William's ladder;
+for when it was done, who would venture up among such a troop of bold
+creatures as were there, and who, they supposed, were desperate by their
+circumstances? And as but one man at a time could go up, they began to
+think it would not do; and, indeed, I was of the opinion (for about this
+time I was come to their assistance) that going up the ladder would not do,
+unless it was thus, that a man should, as it were, run just up to the top,
+and throw some fireworks into the tree, and come down again; and this we
+did two or three times, but found no effect of it. At last, one of our
+gunners made a stink-pot, as we called it, being a composition which only
+smokes, but does not flame or burn; but withal the smoke of it is so thick,
+and the smell of it so intolerably nauseous, that it is not to be suffered.
+This he threw into the tree himself, and we waited for the effect of it,
+but heard or saw nothing all that night or the next day; so we concluded
+the men within were all smothered; when, on a sudden, the next night we
+heard them upon the top of the tree again shouting and hallooing like
+madmen.
+
+We concluded, as anybody would, that this was to call for help, and we
+resolved to continue our siege; for we were all enraged to see ourselves so
+baulked by a few wild people, whom we thought we had safe in our clutches;
+and, indeed, never were there so many concurring circumstances to delude
+men in any case we had met with. We resolved, however, to try another
+stink-pot the next night, and our engineer and gunner had got it ready,
+when, hearing a noise of the enemy on the top of the tree, and in the body
+of the tree, I was not willing to let the gunner go up the ladder, which, I
+said, would be but to be certain of being murdered. However, he found a
+medium for it, and that was to go up a few steps, and, with a long pole in
+his hand, to throw it in upon the top of the tree, the ladder being
+standing all this while against the top of the tree; but when the gunner,
+with his machine at the top of his pole, came to the tree, with three other
+men to help him, behold the ladder was gone.
+
+This perfectly confounded us; and we now concluded the Indians in the tree
+had, by this piece of negligence, taken the opportunity, and come all down
+the ladder, made their escape, and had carried away the ladder with them. I
+laughed most heartily at my friend William, who, as I said, had the
+direction of the siege, and had set up a ladder for the garrison, as we
+called them, to get down upon, and run away. But when daylight came, we
+were all set to rights again; for there stood our ladder, hauled up on the
+top of the tree, with about half of it in the hollow of the tree, and the
+other half upright in the air. Then we began to laugh at the Indians for
+fools, that they could not as well have found their way down by the ladder,
+and have made their escape, as to have pulled it up by main strength into
+the tree.
+
+We then resolved upon fire, and so to put an end to the work at once, and
+burn the tree and its inhabitants together; and accordingly we went to work
+to cut wood, and in a few hours' time we got enough, as we thought,
+together; and, piling it up round the bottom of the tree, we set it on
+fire, waiting at a distance to see when, the gentlemen's quarters being too
+hot for them, they would come flying out at the top. But we were quite
+confounded when, on a sudden, we found the fire all put out by a great
+quantity of water thrown upon it. We then thought the devil must be in
+them, to be sure. Says William, "This is certainly the cunningest piece of
+Indian engineering that ever was heard of; and there can be but one thing
+more to guess at, besides witchcraft and dealing with the devil, which I
+believe not one word of," says he; "and that must be, that this is an
+artificial tree, or a natural tree artificially made hollow down into the
+earth, through root and all; and that these creatures have an artificial
+cavity underneath it, quite into the hill, or a way to go through, and
+under the hill, to some other place; and where that other place is, we know
+not; but if it be not our own fault, I'll find the place, and follow them
+into it, before I am two days older." He then called the carpenters, to
+know of them if they had any large saws that would cut through the body;
+and they told him they had no saws that were long enough, nor could men
+work into such a monstrous old stump in a great while; but that they would
+go to work with it with their axes, and undertake to cut it down in two
+days, and stock up the root of it in two more. But William was for another
+way, which proved much better than all this; for he was for silent work,
+that, if possible, he might catch some of the fellows in it. So he sets
+twelve men to it with large augers, to bore great holes into the side of
+the tree, to go almost through, but not quite through; which holes were
+bored without noise, and when they were done he filled them all with
+gunpowder, stopping strong plugs, bolted crossways, into the holes, and
+then boring a slanting hole, of a less size, down into the greater hole,
+all of which were filled with powder, and at once blown up. When they took
+fire, they made such a noise, and tore and split up the tree in so many
+places, and in such a manner, that we could see plainly such another blast
+would demolish it; and so it did. Thus at the second time we could, at two
+or three places, put our hands in them, and discovered a cheat, namely,
+that there was a cave or hole dug into the earth, from or through the
+bottom of the hollow, and that it had communication with another cave
+farther in, where we heard the voices of several of the wild folks, calling
+and talking to one another.
+
+When we came thus far we had a great mind to get at them; and William
+desired that three men might be given him with hand-grenadoes; and he
+promised to go down first, and boldly he did so; for William, to give him
+his due, had the heart of a lion.
+
+They had pistols in their hands, and swords by their sides; but, as they
+had taught the Indians before by their stink-pots, the Indians returned
+them in their own kind; for they made such a smoke come up out of the
+entrance into the cave or hollow, that William and his three men were glad
+to come running out of the cave, and out of the tree too, for mere want of
+breath; and indeed they were almost stifled.
+
+Never was a fortification so well defended, or assailants so many ways
+defeated. We were now for giving it over, and particularly I called
+William, and told him I could not but laugh to see us spinning out our time
+here for nothing; that I could not imagine what we were doing; that it was
+certain that the rogues that were in it were cunning to the last degree,
+and it would vex anybody to be so baulked by a few naked ignorant fellows;
+but still it was not worth our while to push it any further, nor was there
+anything that I knew of to be got by the conquest when it was made, so that
+I thought it high time to give it over.
+
+William acknowledged what I said was just, and that there was nothing but
+our curiosity to be gratified in this attempt; and though, as he said, he
+was very desirous to have searched into the thing, yet he would not insist
+upon it; so we resolved to quit it and come away, which we did. However,
+William said before we went he would have this satisfaction of them, viz.,
+to burn down the tree and stop up the entrance into the cave. And while
+doing this the gunner told him he would have one satisfaction of the
+rogues; and this was, that he would make a mine of it, and see which way it
+had vent. Upon this he fetched two barrels of powder out of the ships, and
+placed them in the inside of the hollow of the cave, as far in as he durst
+go to carry them, and then filling up the mouth of the cave where the tree
+stood, and ramming it sufficiently hard, leaving only a pipe or touch-hole,
+he gave fire to it, and stood at a distance to see which way it would
+operate, when on a sudden he found the force of the powder burst its way
+out among some bushes on the other side the little hill I mentioned, and
+that it came roaring out there as out of the mouth of a cannon. Immediately
+running thither, we saw the effects of the powder.
+
+First, we saw that there was the other mouth of the cave, which the powder
+had so torn and opened, that the loose earth was so fallen in again that
+nothing of shape could be discerned; but there we saw what was become of
+the garrison of the Indians, too, who had given us all this trouble, for
+some of them had no arms, some no legs, some no head; some lay half buried
+in the rubbish of the mine--that is to say, in the loose earth that fell
+in; and, in short, there was a miserable havoc made in them all; for we had
+good reason to believe not one of them that were in the inside could
+escape, but rather were shot out of the mouth of the cave, like a bullet
+out of a gun.
+
+We had now our full satisfaction of the Indians; but, in short, this was a
+losing voyage, for we had two men killed, one quite crippled, and five more
+wounded; we spent two barrels of powder, and eleven days' time, and all to
+get the understanding how to make an Indian mine, or how to keep garrison
+in a hollow tree; and with this wit, bought at this dear price, we came
+away, having taken in some fresh water, but got no fresh provisions.
+
+We then considered what we should do to get back again to Madagascar. We
+were much about the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, but had such a very
+long run, and were neither sure of meeting with fair winds nor with any
+land in the way, that we knew not what to think of it. William was our last
+resort in this case again, and he was very plain with us. "Friend," says he
+to Captain Wilmot, "what occasion hast thou to run the venture of starving,
+merely for the pleasure of saying thou hast been where nobody has been
+before? There are a great many places nearer home, of which thou mayest say
+the same thing at less expense. I see no occasion thou hast of keeping thus
+far south any longer than till you are sure you are to the west end of Java
+and Sumatra; and then thou mayest stand away north towards Ceylon, and the
+coast of Coromandel and Madras, where thou mayest get both fresh water and
+fresh provisions; and to that part it is likely we may hold out well enough
+with the stores we have already."
+
+This was wholesome advice, and such as was not to be slighted; so we stood
+away to the west, keeping between the latitude of 31 and 35, and had very
+good weather and fair winds for about ten days' sail; by which time, by our
+reckoning, we were clear of the isles, and might run away to the north; and
+if we did not fall in with Ceylon, we should at least go into the great
+deep Bay of Bengal.
+
+But we were out in our reckoning a great deal; for, when we had stood due
+north for about fifteen or sixteen degrees, we met with land again on our
+starboard bow, about three leagues' distance; so we came to an anchor about
+half a league from it, and manned out our boats to see what sort of a
+country it was. We found it a very good one; fresh water easy to come at,
+but no cattle that we could see, or inhabitants; and we were very shy of
+searching too far after them, lest we should make such another journey as
+we did last; so that we let rambling alone, and chose rather to take what
+we could find, which was only a few wild mangoes, and some plants of
+several kinds, which we knew not the names of.
+
+We made no stay here, but put to sea again, N.W. by N., but had little wind
+for a fortnight more, when we made land again; and standing in with the
+shore, we were surprised to find ourselves on the south shore of Java; and
+just as we were coming to an anchor we saw a boat, carrying Dutch colours,
+sailing along-shore. We were not solicitous to speak with them, or any
+other of their nation, but left it indifferent to our people, when they
+went on shore, to see the Dutchmen or not to see them; our business was to
+get provisions, which, indeed, by this time were very short with us.
+
+We resolved to go on shore with our boats in the most convenient place we
+could find, and to look out a proper harbour to bring the ship into,
+leaving it to our fate whether we should meet with friends or enemies;
+resolving, however, not to stay any considerable time, at least not long
+enough to have expresses sent across the island to Batavia, and for ships
+to come round from thence to attack us.
+
+We found, according to our desire, a very good harbour, where we rode in
+seven fathom water, well defended from the weather, whatever might happen;
+and here we got fresh provisions, such as good hogs and some cows; and that
+we might lay in a little store, we killed sixteen cows, and pickled and
+barrelled up the flesh as well as we could be supposed to do in the
+latitude of eight degrees from the line.
+
+We did all this in about five days, and filled our casks with water; and
+the last boat was coming off with herbs and roots, we being unmoored, and
+our fore-topsail loose for sailing, when we spied a large ship to the
+northward, bearing down directly upon us. We knew not what she might be,
+but concluded the worst, and made all possible haste to get our anchor up,
+and get under sail, that we might be in a readiness to see what she had to
+say to us, for we were under no great concern for one ship, but our notion
+was, that we should be attacked by three or four together.
+
+By the time we had got up our anchor and the boat was stowed, the ship was
+within a league of us, and, as we thought, bore down to engage us; so we
+spread our black flag, or ancient, on the poop, and the bloody flag at the
+top-mast-head, and having made a clear ship, we stretched away to the
+westward, to get the wind of him.
+
+They had, it seems, quite mistaken us before, expecting nothing of an enemy
+or a pirate in those seas; and, not doubting but we had been one of their
+own ships, they seemed to be in some confusion when they found their
+mistake, so they immediately hauled upon a wind on the other tack, and
+stood edging in for the shore, towards the easternmost part of the island.
+Upon this we tacked, and stood after him with all the sail we could, and in
+two hours came almost within gunshot. Though they crowded all the sail they
+could lay on, there was no remedy but to engage us, and they soon saw their
+inequality of force. We fired a gun for them to bring to; so they manned
+out their boat, and sent to us with a flag of truce. We sent back the boat,
+but with this answer to the captain, that he had nothing to do but to
+strike and bring his ship to an anchor under our stern, and come on board
+us himself, when he should know our demands; but that, however, since he
+had not yet put us to the trouble of forcing him, which we saw we were able
+to do, we assured them that the captain should return again in safety, and
+all his men, and that, supplying us with such things as we should demand,
+his ship should not be plundered. They went back with this message, and it
+was some time after they were on board before they struck, which made us
+begin to think they refused it; so we fired a shot, and in a few minutes
+more we perceived their boat put off; and as soon as the boat put off the
+ship struck and came to an anchor, as was directed.
+
+When the captain came on board, we demanded an account of their cargo,
+which was chiefly bales of goods from Bengal for Bantam. We told them our
+present want was provisions, which they had no need of, being just at the
+end of their voyage; and that, if they would send their boat on shore with
+ours, and procure us six-and-twenty head of black cattle, threescore hogs,
+a quantity of brandy and arrack, and three hundred bushels of rice, we
+would let them go free.
+
+As to the rice, they gave us six hundred bushels, which they had actually
+on board, together with a parcel shipped upon freight. Also, they gave us
+thirty middling casks of very good arrack, but beef and pork they had none.
+However, they went on shore with our men, and bought eleven bullocks and
+fifty hogs, which were pickled up for our occasion; and upon the supplies
+of provision from shore, we dismissed them and their ship.
+
+We lay here several days before we could furnish ourselves with the
+provisions agreed for, and some of the men fancied the Dutchmen were
+contriving our destruction; but they were very honest, and did what they
+could to furnish the black cattle, but found it impossible to supply so
+many. So they came and told us ingenuously, that, unless we could stay a
+while longer, they could get no more oxen or cows than those eleven, with
+which we were obliged to be satisfied, taking the value of them in other
+things, rather than stay longer there. On our side, we were punctual with
+them in observing the conditions we had agreed on; nor would we let any of
+our men so much as go on board them, or suffer any of their men to come on
+board us; for, had any of our men gone on board, nobody could have answered
+for their behaviour, any more than if they had been on shore in an enemy's
+country.
+
+We were now victualled for our voyage; and, as we mattered not purchase, we
+went merrily on for the coast of Ceylon, where we intended to touch, to get
+fresh water again, and more provisions; and we had nothing material offered
+in this part of the voyage, only that we met with contrary winds, and were
+above a month in the passage.
+
+We put in upon the south coast of the island, desiring to have as little to
+do with the Dutch as we could; and as the Dutch were lords of the country
+as to commerce, so they are more so of the sea-coast, where they have
+several forts, and, in particular, have all the cinnamon, which is the
+trade of that island.
+
+We took in fresh water here, and some provisions, but did not much trouble
+ourselves about laying in any stores, our beef and hogs, which we got at
+Java, being not yet all gone by a good deal. We had a little skirmish on
+shore here with some of the people of the island, some of our men having
+been a little too familiar with the homely ladies of the country; for
+homely, indeed, they were, to such a degree, that if our men had not had
+good stomachs that way, they would scarce have touched any of them.
+
+I could never fully get it out of our men what they did, they were so true
+to one another in their wickedness, but I understood in the main, that it
+was some barbarous thing they had done, and that they had like to have paid
+dear for it, for the men resented it to the last degree, and gathered in
+such numbers about them, that, had not sixteen more of our men, in another
+boat, come all in the nick of time, just to rescue our first men, who were
+but eleven, and so fetch them off by main force, they had been all cut off,
+the inhabitants being no less than two or three hundred, armed with darts
+and lances, the usual weapons of the country, and which they are very
+dexterous at the throwing, even so dexterous that it was scarce credible;
+and had our men stood to fight them, as some of them were bold enough to
+talk of, they had been all overwhelmed and killed. As it was, seventeen of
+our men were wounded, and some of them very dangerously. But they were more
+frighted than hurt too, for every one of them gave themselves over for dead
+men, believing the lances were poisoned. But William was our comfort here
+too; for, when two of our surgeons were of the same opinion, and told the
+men foolishly enough that they would die, William cheerfully went to work
+with them, and cured them all but one, who rather died by drinking some
+arrack punch than of his wound; the excess of drinking throwing him into a
+fever.
+
+We had enough of Ceylon, though some of our people were for going ashore
+again, sixty or seventy men together, to be revenged; but William persuaded
+them against it; and his reputation was so great among the men, as well as
+with us that were commanders, that he could influence them more than any of
+us.
+
+They were mighty warm upon their revenge, and they would go on shore, and
+destroy five hundred of them. "Well," says William, "and suppose you do,
+what are you the better?" "Why, then," says one of them, speaking for the
+rest, "we shall have our satisfaction." "Well, and what will you be the
+better for that?" says William. They could then say nothing to that.
+"Then," says William, "if I mistake not, your business is money; now, I
+desire to know, if you conquer and kill two or three thousand of these poor
+creatures, they have no money, pray what will you get? They are poor naked
+wretches; what shall you gain by them? But then," says William, "perhaps,
+in doing this, you may chance to lose half-a-score of your own company, as
+it is very probable you may. Pray, what gain is in it? and what account can
+you give the captain for his lost men?" In short, William argued so
+effectually, that he convinced them that it was mere murder to do so; and
+that the men had a right to their own, and that they had no right to take
+them away; that it was destroying innocent men, who had acted no otherwise
+than as the laws of nature dictated; and that it would be as much murder to
+do so, as to meet a man on the highway, and kill him, for the mere sake of
+it, in cold blood, not regarding whether he had done any wrong to us or no.
+
+These reasons prevailed with them at last, and they were content to go
+away, and leave them as they found them. In the first skirmish they killed
+between sixty and seventy men, and wounded a great many more; but they had
+nothing, and our people got nothing by it, but the loss of one man's life,
+and the wounding sixteen more, as above.
+
+But another accident brought us to a necessity of further business with
+these people, and indeed we had like to have put an end to our lives and
+adventures all at once among them; for, about three days after our putting
+out to sea from the place where we had that skirmish, we were attacked by a
+violent storm of wind from the south, or rather a hurricane of wind from
+all the points southward, for it blew in a most desperate and furious
+manner from the S.E. to the S.W., one minute at one point, and then
+instantly turning about again to another point, but with the same violence;
+nor were we able to work the ship in that condition, so that the ship I was
+in split three top-sails, and at last brought the main-top-mast by the
+board; and, in a word, we were once or twice driven right ashore; and one
+time, had not the wind shifted the very moment it did, we had been dashed
+in a thousand pieces upon a great ledge of rocks which lay off about
+half-a-league from the shore; but, as I have said, the wind shifting very
+often, and at that time coming to the E.S.E., we stretched off, and got
+above a league more sea-room in half-an-hour. After that, it blew with some
+fury S.W. by S., then S.W. by W., and put us back again a great way to the
+eastward of the ledge of rocks, where we found a great opening between the
+rocks and the land, and endeavoured to come to an anchor there, but we
+found there was no ground fit to anchor in, and that we should lose our
+anchors, there being nothing but rocks. We stood through the opening, which
+held about four leagues. The storm continued, and now we found a dreadful
+foul shore, and knew not what course to take. We looked out very narrowly
+for some river or creek or bay, where we might run in, and come to an
+anchor, but found none a great while. At length we saw a great headland lie
+out far south into the sea, and that to such a length, that, in short, we
+saw plainly that, if the wind held where it was, we could not weather it,
+so we ran in as much under the lee of the point as we could, and came to an
+anchor in about twelve fathom water.
+
+But the wind veering again in the night, and blowing exceedingly hard, our
+anchors came home, and the ship drove till the rudder struck against the
+ground; and had the ship gone half her length farther she had been lost,
+and every one of us with her. But our sheet-anchor held its own, and we
+heaved in some of the cable, to get clear of the ground we had struck upon.
+It was by this only cable that we rode it out all night; and towards
+morning we thought the wind abated a little; and it was well for us that it
+was so, for, in spite of what our sheet-anchor did for us, we found the
+ship fast aground in the morning, to our very great surprise and amazement.
+
+When the tide was out, though the water here ebbed away, the ship lay
+almost dry upon a bank of hard sand, which never, I suppose, had any ship
+upon it before. The people of the country came down in great numbers to
+look at us and gaze, not knowing what we were, but gaping at us as at a
+great sight or wonder at which they were surprised, and knew not what to
+do.
+
+I have reason to believe that upon the sight they immediately sent an
+account of a ship being there, and of the condition we were in, for the
+next day there appeared a great man; whether it was their king or no I know
+not, but he had abundance of men with him, and some with long javelins in
+their hands as long as half-pikes; and these came all down to the water's
+edge, and drew up in a very good order, just in our view. They stood near
+an hour without making any motion; and then there came near twenty of them,
+with a man before them carrying a white flag. They came forward into the
+water as high as their waists, the sea not going so high as before, for the
+wind was abated, and blew off the shore.
+
+The man made a long oration to us, as we could see by his gestures; and we
+sometimes heard his voice, but knew not one word he said. William, who was
+always useful to us, I believe was here again the saving of all our lives.
+The case was this: The fellow, or what I might call him, when his speech
+was done, gave three great screams (for I know not what else to say they
+were), then lowered his white flag three times, and then made three motions
+to us with his arm to come to him.
+
+I acknowledge that I was for manning out the boat and going to them, but
+William would by no means allow me. He told me we ought to trust nobody;
+that, if they were barbarians, and under their own government, we might be
+sure to be all murdered; and, if they were Christians, we should not fare
+much better, if they knew who we were; that it was the custom of the
+Malabars to betray all people that they could get into their hands, and
+that these were some of the same people; and that, if we had any regard to
+our own safety, we should not go to them by any means. I opposed him a
+great while, and told him I thought he used to be always right, but that
+now I thought he was not; that I was no more for running needless risks
+than he or any one else; but I thought all nations in the world, even the
+most savage people, when they held out a flag of peace, kept the offer of
+peace made by that signal very sacredly; and I gave him several examples of
+it in the history of my African travels, which I have here gone through in
+the beginning of this work, and that I could not think these people worse
+than some of them. And, besides, I told him our case seemed to be such that
+we must fall into somebody's hands or other, and that we had better fall
+into their hands by a friendly treaty than by a forced submission, nay,
+though they had indeed a treacherous design; and therefore I was for a
+parley with them.
+
+"Well, friend," says William very gravely, "if thou wilt go I cannot help
+it; I shall only desire to take my last leave of thee at parting, for,
+depend upon it, thou wilt never see us again. Whether we in the ship may
+come off any better at last I cannot resolve thee; but this I will answer
+for, that we will not give up our lives idly, and in cool blood, as thou
+art going to do; we will at least preserve ourselves as long as we can, and
+die at last like men, not like fools, trepanned by the wiles of a few
+barbarians."
+
+William spoke this with so much warmth, and yet with so much assurance of
+our fate, that I began to think a little of the risk I was going to run. I
+had no more mind to be murdered than he; and yet I could not for my life be
+so faint-hearted in the thing as he. Upon which I asked him if he had any
+knowledge of the place, or had ever been there. He said, No. Then I asked
+him if he had heard or read anything about the people of this island, and
+of their way of treating any Christians that had fallen into their hands;
+and he told me he had heard of one, and he would tell me the story
+afterward. His name, he said, was Knox, commander of an East India ship,
+who was driven on shore, just as we were, upon this island of Ceylon,
+though he could not say it was at the same place, or whereabouts; that he
+was beguiled by the barbarians, and enticed to come on shore, just as we
+were invited to do at that time; and that, when they had him, they
+surrounded him, and eighteen or twenty of his men, and never suffered them
+to return, but kept them prisoners, or murdered them, he could not tell
+which; but they were carried away up into the country, separated from one
+another, and never heard of afterwards, except the captain's son, who
+miraculously made his escape, after twenty years' slavery.
+
+I had no time then to ask him to give the full story of this Knox, much
+less to hear him tell it me; but, as it is usual in such cases, when one
+begins to be a little touched, I turned short with him. "Why then, friend
+William," said I, "what would you have us do? You see what condition we are
+in, and what is before us; something must be done, and that immediately."
+"Why," says William, "I'll tell thee what thou shalt do; first, cause a
+white flag to be hanged out, as they do to us, and man out the longboat and
+pinnace with as many men as they can well stow, to handle their arms, and
+let me go with them, and thou shalt see what we will do. If I miscarry,
+thou mayest be safe; and I will also tell thee, that if I do miscarry, it
+shall be my own fault, and thou shalt learn wit by my folly."
+
+I knew not what to reply to him at first; but, after some pause, I said,
+"William, William, I am as both you should be lost as you are that I
+should; and if there be any danger, I desire you may no more fall into it
+than I. Therefore, if you will, let us all keep in the ship, fare alike,
+and take our fate together."
+
+"No, no," says William, "there's no danger in the method I propose; thou
+shalt go with me, if thou thinkest fit. If thou pleasest but to follow the
+measures that I shall resolve on, depend upon it, though we will go off
+from the ships, we will not a man of us go any nearer them than within call
+to talk with them. Thou seest they have no boats to come off to us; but,"
+says he, "I rather desire thou wouldst take my advice, and manage the ships
+as I shall give the signal from the boat, and let us concert that matter
+together before we go off."
+
+Well, I found William had his measures in his head all laid beforehand, and
+was not at a loss what to do at all; so I told him he should be captain for
+this voyage, and we would be all of us under his orders, which I would see
+observed to a tittle.
+
+Upon this conclusion of our debates, he ordered four-and-twenty men into
+the long-boat, and twelve men into the pinnace, and the sea being now
+pretty smooth, they went off, being all very well armed. Also he ordered
+that all the guns of the great ship, on the side which lay next the shore,
+should be loaded with musket-balls, old nails, stubs, and such-like pieces
+of old iron, lead, and anything that came to hand; and that we should
+prepare to fire as soon as ever we saw them lower the white flag and hoist
+up a red one in the pinnace.
+
+With these measures fixed between us, they went off towards the shore,
+William in the pinnace with twelve men, and the long-boat coming after him
+with four-and-twenty more, all stout resolute fellows, and very well armed.
+They rowed so near the shore as that they might speak to one another,
+carrying a white flag, as the other did, and offering a parley. The brutes,
+for such they were, showed themselves very courteous; but finding we could
+not understand them, they fetched an old Dutchman, who had been their
+prisoner many years, and set him to speak to us. The sum and substance of
+his speech was, that the king of the country had sent his general down to
+know who we were, and what our business was. William stood up in the stern
+of the pinnace, and told him, that as to that, he, that was an European, by
+his language and voice, might easily know what we were, and our condition;
+the ship being aground upon the sand would also tell him that our business
+there was that of a ship in distress; so William desired to know what they
+came down for with such a multitude, and with arms and weapons, as if they
+came to war with us.
+
+He answered, they might have good reason to come down to the shore, the
+country being alarmed with the appearance of ships of strangers upon the
+coast; and as our vessels were full of men, and as we had guns and weapons,
+the king had sent part of his military men, that, in case of any invasion
+upon the country, they might be ready to defend themselves, whatsoever
+might be the occasion.
+
+"But," says he, "as you are men in distress, the king has ordered his
+general, who is here also, to give you all the assistance he can, and to
+invite you on shore, and receive you with all possible courtesy." Says
+William, very quick upon him, "Before I give thee an answer to that, I
+desire thee to tell me what thou art, for by thy speech thou art an
+European." He answered presently, he was a Dutchman. "That I know well,"
+says William, "by thy speech; but art thou a native Dutchman of Holland, or
+a native of this country, that has learned Dutch by conversing among the
+Hollanders, who we know are settled upon this island?"
+
+"No," says the old man, "I am a native of Delft, in the province of
+Holland, in Europe."
+
+"Well," says William, immediately, "but art thou a Christian or a heathen,
+or what we call a renegado?"
+
+"I am," says he, "a Christian." And so they went on, in a short dialogue,
+as follows:--
+
+_William_. Thou art a Dutchman, and a Christian, thou sayest; pray,
+art thou a freeman or a servant?
+
+_Dutchman_. I am a servant to the king here, and in his army.
+
+_W_. But art thou a volunteer, or a prisoner?
+
+_D_. Indeed I was a prisoner at first, but am at liberty now, and so
+am a volunteer.
+
+_W_. That is to say, being first a prisoner, thou hast liberty to
+serve them; but art thou so at liberty that thou mayest go away, if thou
+pleasest, to thine own countrymen?
+
+_D_. No, I do not say so; my countrymen live a great way off, on the
+north and east parts of the island, and there is no going to them without
+the king's express license.
+
+_W_. Well, and why dost thou not get a license to go away?
+
+_D_. I have never asked for it.
+
+_W_. And, I suppose, if thou didst, thou knowest thou couldst not
+obtain it.
+
+_D_. I cannot say much as to that; but why do you ask me all these
+questions?
+
+_W_. Why, my reason is good; if thou art a Christian and a prisoner,
+how canst thou consent to be made an instrument to these barbarians, to
+betray us into their hands, who are thy countrymen and fellow-Christians?
+Is it not a barbarous thing in thee to do so?
+
+_D_. How do I go about to betray you? Do I not give you an account how
+the king invites you to come on shore, and has ordered you to be treated
+courteously and assisted?
+
+_W_. As thou art a Christian, though I doubt it much, dost thou
+believe the king or the general, as thou callest it, means one word of what
+he says?
+
+_D_. He promises you by the mouth of his great general.
+
+_W_. I don't ask thee what he promises, or by whom; but I ask thee
+this: Canst thou say that thou believest he intends to perform it?
+
+_D_. How can I answer that? How can I tell what he intends?
+
+_W_. Thou canst tell what thou believest.
+
+_D_. I cannot say but he will perform it; I believe he may.
+
+_W_. Thou art but a double-tongued Christian, I doubt. Come, I'll ask
+thee another question: Wilt thou say that thou believest it, and that thou
+wouldst advise me to believe it, and put our lives into their hands upon
+these promises?
+
+_D_. I am not to be your adviser.
+
+_W_. Thou art perhaps afraid to speak thy mind, because thou art in
+their power. Pray, do any of them understand what thou and I say? Can they
+speak Dutch?
+
+_D_. No, not one of them; I have no apprehensions upon that account at
+all.
+
+_W_. Why, then, answer me plainly, if thou art a Christian: Is it safe
+for us to venture upon their words, to put ourselves into their hands, and
+come on shore?
+
+_D_. You put it very home to me. Pray let me ask you another question:
+Are you in any likelihood of getting your ship off, if you refuse it?
+
+_W_. Yes, yes, we shall get off the ship; now the storm is over we
+don't fear it.
+
+_D_. Then I cannot say it is best for you to trust them.
+
+_W_. Well, it is honestly said.
+
+_D_. But what shall I say to them?
+
+_W_. Give them good words, as they give us.
+
+_D_. What good words?
+
+_W_. Why, let them tell the king that we are strangers, who were
+driven on his coast by a great storm; that we thank him very kindly for his
+offer of civility to us, which, if we are further distressed, we will
+accept thankfully; but that at present we have no occasion to come on
+shore; and besides, that we cannot safely leave the ship in the present
+condition she is in; but that we are obliged to take care of her, in order
+to get her off; and expect, in a tide or two more, to get her quite clear,
+and at an anchor.
+
+_D_. But he will expect you to come on shore, then, to visit him, and
+make him some present for his civility.
+
+_W_. When we have got our ship clear, and stopped the leaks, we will
+pay our respects to him.
+
+_D_. Nay, you may as well come to him now as then.
+
+_W_. Nay, hold, friend; I did not say we would come to him then: you
+talked of making him a present, that is to pay our respects to him, is it
+not?
+
+_D_. Well, but I will tell him that you will come on shore to him when
+your ship is got off.
+
+_W_. I have nothing to say to that; you may tell him what you think
+fit.
+
+_D_. But he will be in a great rage if I do not.
+
+_W_. Who will he be in a great rage at?
+
+_D_. At you.
+
+_W_. What occasion have we to value that?
+
+_D_. Why, he will send all his army down against you.
+
+_W_. And what if they were all here just now? What dost thou suppose
+they could do to us?
+
+_D_. He would expect they should burn your ships and bring you all to
+him.
+
+_W_. Tell him, if he should try, he may catch a Tartar.
+
+_D_. He has a world of men.
+
+_W_. Has he any ships?
+
+_D_. No, he has no ships.
+
+_W_. Nor boats?
+
+_D_. No, nor boats.
+
+_W_. Why, what then do you think we care for his men? What canst thou
+do now to us, if thou hadst a hundred thousand with thee?
+
+_D_. Oh! they might set you on fire.
+
+_W_. Set us a-firing, thou meanest; that they might indeed; but set us
+on fire they shall not; they may try, at their peril, and we shall make mad
+work with your hundred thousand men, if they come within reach of our guns,
+I assure thee.
+
+_D_. But what if the king gives you hostages for your safety?
+
+_W_. Whom can he give but mere slaves and servants like thyself, whose
+lives he no more values than we an English hound?
+
+_D_. Whom do you demand for hostages?
+
+_W_. Himself and your worship.
+
+_D_. What would you do with him?
+
+_W_. Do with him as he would do with us--cut his head off.
+
+_D_. And what would you do with me?
+
+_W_. Do with thee? We would carry thee home into thine own country;
+and, though thou deservest the gallows, we would make a man and a Christian
+of thee again, and not do by thee as thou wouldst have done by us--betray
+thee to a parcel of merciless, savage pagans, that know no God, nor how to
+show mercy to man.
+
+_D_. You put a thought in my head that I will speak to you about
+to-morrow.
+
+Thus they went away, and William came on board, and gave us a full account
+of his parley with the old Dutchman, which was very diverting, and to me
+instructing; for I had abundance of reason to acknowledge William had made
+a better judgment of things than I.
+
+It was our good fortune to get our ship off that very night, and to bring
+her to an anchor at about a mile and a half farther out, and in deep water,
+to our great satisfaction; so that we had no need to fear the Dutchman's
+king, with his hundred thousand men; and indeed we had some sport with them
+the next day, when they came down, a vast prodigious multitude of them,
+very few less in number, in our imagination, than a hundred thousand, with
+some elephants; though, if it had been an army of elephants, they could
+have done us no harm; for we were fairly at our anchor now, and out of
+their reach. And indeed we thought ourselves more out of their reach than
+we really were; and it was ten thousand to one that we had not been fast
+aground again, for the wind blowing off shore, though it made the water
+smooth where we lay, yet it blew the ebb farther out than usual, and we
+could easily perceive the sand, which we touched upon before, lay in the
+shape of a half-moon, and surrounded us with two horns of it, so that we
+lay in the middle or centre of it, as in a round bay, safe just as we were,
+and in deep water, but present death, as it were, on the right hand and on
+the left, for the two horns or points of the sand reached out beyond where
+our ship lay near two miles.
+
+On that part of the sand which lay on our east side, this misguided
+multitude extended themselves; and being, most of them, not above their
+knees, or most of them not above ankle-deep in the water, they as it were
+surrounded us on that side, and on the side of the mainland, and a little
+way on the other side of the sand, standing in a half-circle, or rather
+three-fifths of a circle, for about six miles in length. The other horn, or
+point of the sand, which lay on our west side, being not quite so shallow,
+they could not extend themselves upon it so far.
+
+They little thought what service they had done us, and how unwittingly, and
+by the greatest ignorance, they had made themselves pilots to us, while we,
+having not sounded the place, might have been lost before we were aware. It
+is true we might have sounded our new harbour before we had ventured out,
+but I cannot say for certain whether we should or not; for I, for my part,
+had not the least suspicion of what our real case was; however, I say,
+perhaps, before we had weighed, we should have looked about us a little. I
+am sure we ought to have done it; for, besides these armies of human
+furies, we had a very leaky ship, and all our pumps could hardly keep the
+water from growing upon us, and our carpenters were overboard, working to
+find out and stop the wounds we had received, heeling her first on the one
+side, and then on the other; and it was very diverting to see how, when our
+men heeled the ship over to the side next the wild army that stood on the
+east horn of the sand, they were so amazed, between fright and joy, that it
+put them into a kind of confusion, calling to one another, hallooing and
+skreeking, in a manner that it is impossible to describe.
+
+While we were doing this, for we were in a great hurry you may be sure, and
+all hands at work, as well at the stopping our leaks as repairing our
+rigging and sails, which had received a great deal of damage, and also in
+rigging a new main-top-mast and the like;--I say, while we were doing all
+this, we perceived a body of men, of near a thousand, move from that part
+of the army of the barbarians that lay at the bottom of the sandy bay, and
+came all along the water's edge, round the sand, till they stood just on
+our broadside east, and were within about half-a-mile of us. Then we saw
+the Dutchman come forward nearer to us, and all alone, with his white flag
+and all his motions, just as before, and there he stood.
+
+Our men had but just brought the ship to rights again as they came up to
+our broadside, and we had very happily found out and stopped the worst and
+most dangerous leak that we had, to our very great satisfaction; so I
+ordered the boats to be hauled up and manned as they were the day before,
+and William to go as plenipotentiary. I would have gone myself if I had
+understood Dutch, but as I did not, it was to no purpose, for I should be
+able to know nothing of what was said but from him at second-hand, which
+might be done as well afterwards. All the instructions I pretended to give
+William was, if possible, to get the old Dutchman away, and, if he could,
+to make him come on board.
+
+Well, William went just as before, and when he came within about sixty or
+seventy yards of the shore, he held up his white flag as the Dutchman did,
+and turning the boat's broadside to the shore, and his men lying upon their
+oars, the parley or dialogue began again thus:--
+
+_William_. Well, friend, what dost thou say to us now?
+
+_Dutchman_. I come of the same mild errand as I did yesterday.
+
+_W_. What! dost thou pretend to come of a mild errand with all these
+people at thy back, and all the foolish weapons of war they bring with
+them? Prithee, what dost thou mean?
+
+_D_. The king hastens us to invite the captain and all his men to come
+on shore, and has ordered all his men to show them all the civility they
+can.
+
+_W_. Well, and are all those men come to invite us ashore?
+
+D. They will do you no hurt, if you will come on shore peaceably.
+
+W. Well, and what dost thou think they can do to us, if we will not?
+
+D. I would not have them do you any hurt then, neither.
+
+W. But prithee, friend, do not make thyself fool and knave too. Dost not
+thou know that we are out of fear of all thy army, and out of danger of all
+that they can do? What makes thee act so simply as well as so knavishly?
+
+D. Why, you may think yourselves safer than you are; you do not know what
+they may do to you. I can assure you they are able to do you a great deal
+of harm, and perhaps burn your ship.
+
+W. Suppose that were true, as I am sure it is false; you see we have more
+ships to carry us off (pointing to the sloop).
+
+[N.B.--Just at this time we discovered the sloop standing towards us from
+the east, along the shore, at about the distance of two leagues, which was
+to our particular satisfaction, she having been missing thirteen days.]
+
+D. We do not value that; if you had ten ships, you dare not come on shore,
+with all the men you have, in a hostile way; we are too many for you.
+
+W. Thou dost not, even in that, speak as thou meanest; and we may give thee
+a trial of our hands when our friends come up to us, for thou hearest they
+have discovered us.
+
+[Just then the sloop fired five guns, which was to get news of us, for they
+did not see us.]
+
+D. Yes, I hear they fire; but I hope your ship will not fire again; for, if
+they do, our general will take it for breaking the truce, and will make the
+army let fly a shower of arrows at you in the boat.
+
+W. Thou mayest be sure the ship will fire that the other ship may hear
+them, but not with ball. If thy general knows no better, he may begin when
+he will; but thou mayest be sure we will return it to his cost.
+
+D. What must I do, then?
+
+W. Do! Why, go to him, and tell him of it beforehand, then; and let him
+know that the ship firing is not at him nor his men; and then come again,
+and tell us what he says.
+
+D. No; I will send to him, which will do as well.
+
+W. Do as thou wilt, but I believe thou hadst better go thyself; for if our
+men fire first, I suppose he will be in a great wrath, and it may be at
+thee; for, as to his wrath at us, we tell thee beforehand we value it not.
+
+D. You slight them too much; you know not what they may do.
+
+W. Thou makest as if these poor savage wretches could do mighty things:
+prithee, let us see what you can all do, we value it not; thou mayest set
+down thy flag of truce when thou pleasest, and begin.
+
+D. I had rather make a truce, and have you all part friends.
+
+W. Thou art a deceitful rogue thyself, for it is plain thou knowest these
+people would only persuade us on shore to entrap and surprise us; and yet
+thou that art a Christian, as thou callest thyself, would have us come on
+shore and put our lives into their hands who know nothing that belongs to
+compassion, good usage, or good manners. How canst thou be such a villain?
+
+D. How can you call me so? What have I done to you, and what would you have
+me do?
+
+W. Not act like a traitor, but like one that was once a Christian, and
+would have been so still, if you had not been a Dutchman.
+
+D. I know not what to do, not I. I wish I were from them; they are a bloody
+people.
+
+W. Prithee, make no difficulty of what thou shouldst do. Canst thou swim?
+
+D. Yes, I can swim; but if I should attempt to swim off to you, I should
+have a thousand arrows and javelins sticking in me before I should get to
+your boat.
+
+W. I'll bring the boat close to thee, and take thee on board in spite of
+them all. We will give them but one volley, and I'll engage they will all
+run away from thee.
+
+D. You are mistaken in them, I assure you; they would immediately come all
+running down to the shore, and shoot fire-arrows at you, and set your boat
+and ship and all on fire about your ears.
+
+W. We will venture that if thou wilt come off.
+
+D. Will you use me honourably when I am among you?
+
+W. I'll give thee my word for it, if thou provest honest.
+
+D. Will you not make me a prisoner?
+
+W. I will be thy surety, body for body, that thou shalt be a free man, and
+go whither thou wilt, though I own to thee thou dost not deserve it.
+
+Just at this time our ship fired three guns to answer the sloop and let her
+know we saw her, who immediately, we perceived, understood it, and stood
+directly for the place. But it is impossible to express the confusion and
+filthy vile noise, the hurry and universal disorder, that was among that
+vast multitude of people upon our firing off three guns. They immediately
+all repaired to their arms, as I may call it; for to say they put
+themselves into order would be saying nothing.
+
+Upon the word of command, then, they advanced all in a body to the seaside,
+and resolving to give us one volley of their fire-arms (for such they
+were), immediately they saluted us with a hundred thousand of their
+fire-arrows, every one carrying a little bag of cloth dipped in brimstone,
+or some such thing, which, flying through the air, had nothing to hinder it
+taking fire as it flew, and it generally did so.
+
+I cannot say but this method of attacking us, by a way we had no notion of,
+might give us at first some little surprise, for the number was so great at
+first, that we were not altogether without apprehensions that they might
+unluckily set our ship on fire, so that William resolved immediately to row
+on board, and persuade us all to weigh and stand out to sea; but there was
+no time for it, for they immediately let fly a volley at the boat, and at
+the ship, from all parts of the vast crowd of people which stood near the
+shore. Nor did they fire, as I may call it, all at once, and so leave off;
+but their arrows being soon notched upon their bows, they kept continually
+shooting, so that the air was full of flame.
+
+I could not say whether they set their cotton rag on fire before they shot
+the arrow, for I did not perceive they had fire with them, which, however,
+it seems they had. The arrow, besides the fire it carried with it, had a
+head, or a peg, as we call it, of bone; and some of sharp flint stone; and
+some few of a metal, too soft in itself for metal, but hard enough to cause
+it to enter, if it were a plank, so as to stick where it fell.
+
+William and his men had notice sufficient to lie close behind their
+waste-boards, which, for this very purpose, they had made so high that they
+could easily sink themselves behind them, so as to defend themselves from
+anything that came point-blank (as we call it) or upon a line; but for what
+might fall perpendicularly out of the air they had no guard, but took the
+hazard of that. At first they made as if they would row away, but before
+they went they gave a volley of their fire-arms, firing at those which
+stood with the Dutchman; but William ordered them to be sure to take their
+aim at others, so as to miss him, and they did so.
+
+There was no calling to them now, for the noise was so great among them
+that they could hear nobody, but our men boldly rowed in nearer to them,
+for they were at first driven a little off, and when they came nearer, they
+fired a second volley, which put the fellows into great confusion, and we
+could see from the ship that several of them were killed or wounded.
+
+We thought this was a very unequal fight, and therefore we made a signal to
+our men to row away, that we might have a little of the sport as well as
+they; but the arrows flew so thick upon them, being so near the shore, that
+they could not sit to their oars, so they spread a little of their sail,
+thinking they might sail along the shore, and lie behind their waste-board;
+but the sail had not been spread six minutes till it had five hundred
+fire-arrows shot into it and through it, and at length set it fairly on
+fire; nor were our men quite out of the danger of its setting the boat on
+fire, and this made them paddle and shove the boat away as well as they
+could, as they lay, to get farther off.
+
+By this time they had left us a fair mark at the whole savage army; and as
+we had sheered the ship as near to them as we could, we fired among the
+thickest of them six or seven times, five guns at a time, with shot, old
+iron, musket-bullets, &c.
+
+We could easily see that we made havoc among them, and killed and wounded
+abundance of them, and that they were in a great surprise at it; but yet
+they never offered to stir, and all this while their fire-arrows flew as
+thick as before.
+
+At last, on a sudden their arrows stopped, and the old Dutchman came
+running down to the water-side all alone, with his white flag, as before,
+waving it as high as he could, and making signals to our boat to come to
+him again.
+
+William did not care at first to go near him, but the man continuing to
+make signals to him to come, at last William went; and the Dutchman told
+him that he had been with the general, who was much mollified by the
+slaughter of his men, and that now he could have anything of him.
+
+"Anything!" says William; "what have we to do with him? Let him go about
+his business, and carry his men out of gunshot, can't he?"
+
+"Why," says the Dutchman, "but he dares not stir, nor see the king's face;
+unless some of your men come on shore, he will certainly put him to death."
+
+"Why, then," says William, "he is a dead man; for if it were to save his
+life, and the lives of all the crowd that is with him, he shall never have
+one of us in his power. But I'll tell thee," said William, "how thou shalt
+cheat him, and gain thy own liberty too, if thou hast any mind to see thy
+own country again, and art not turned savage, and grown fond of living all
+thy days among heathens and savages."
+
+"I would be glad to do it with all my heart," says he; "but if I should
+offer to swim off to you now, though they are so far from me, they shoot so
+true that they would kill me before I got half-way."
+
+"But," says William, "I'll tell thee how thou shalt come with his consent.
+Go to him, and tell him I have offered to carry you on board, to try if you
+could persuade the captain to come on shore, and that I would not hinder
+him if he was willing to venture."
+
+The Dutchman seemed in a rapture at the very first word. "I'll do it," says
+he; "I am persuaded he will give me leave to come."
+
+Away he runs, as if he had a glad message to carry, and tells the general
+that William had promised, if he would go on board the ship with him, he
+would persuade the captain to return with him. The general was fool enough
+to give him orders to go, and charged him not to come back without the
+captain; which he readily promised, and very honestly might.
+
+So they took him in, and brought him on board, and he was as good as his
+word to them, for he never went back to them any more; and the sloop being
+come to the mouth of the inlet where we lay, we weighed and set sail; but,
+as we went out, being pretty near the shore, we fired three guns, as it
+were among them, but without any shot, for it was of no use to us to hurt
+any more of them. After we had fired, we gave them a cheer, as the seamen
+call it; that is to say, we hallooed, at them, by way of triumph, and so
+carried off their ambassador. How it fared with their general, we know
+nothing of that.
+
+This passage, when I related it to a friend of mine, after my return from
+those rambles, agreed so well with his relation of what happened to one Mr
+Knox, an English captain, who some time ago was decoyed on shore by these
+people, that it could not but be very much to my satisfaction to think what
+mischief we had all escaped; and I think it cannot but be very profitable
+to record the other story (which is but short) with my own, to show whoever
+reads this what it was I avoided, and prevent their falling into the like,
+if they have to do with the perfidious people of Ceylon. The relation is as
+follows:--
+
+The island of Ceylon being inhabited for the greatest part by barbarians,
+which will not allow any trade or commerce with any European nation, and
+inaccessible by any travellers, it will be convenient to relate the
+occasion how the author of this story happened to go into this island, and
+what opportunities he had of being fully acquainted with the people, their
+laws and customs, that so we may the better depend upon the account, and
+value it as it deserves, for the rarity as well as the truth of it; and
+both these the author gives us a brief relation of in this manner. His
+words are as follows:
+
+In the year 1657, the _Anne_ frigate, of London, Captain Robert Knox,
+commander, on the 21st day of January, set sail out of the Downs, in the
+service of the honourable East India Company of England, bound for Fort St
+George, upon the coast of Coromandel, to trade for one year from port to
+port in India; which having performed, as he was lading his goods to return
+for England, being in the road of Masulipatam, on the 19th of November
+1659, there happened such a mighty storm, that in it several ships were
+cast away, and he was forced to cut his mainmast by the board, which so
+disabled the ship, that he could not proceed in his voyage; whereupon
+Cottiar, in the island of Ceylon, being a very commodious bay, fit for her
+present distress, Thomas Chambers, Esq., since Sir Thomas Chambers, the
+agent at Fort St George, ordered that the ship should take in some cloth
+and India merchants belonging to Porto Novo, who might trade there while
+she lay to set her mast, and repair the other damages sustained by the
+storm. At her first coming thither, after the Indian merchants were set
+ashore, the captain and his men were very jealous of the people of that
+place, by reason the English never had any commerce or dealing with them;
+but after they had been there twenty days, going ashore and returning again
+at pleasure, without any molestation, they began to lay aside all
+suspicious thoughts of the people that dwelt thereabouts, who had kindly
+entertained them for their money.
+
+By this time the king of the country had notice of their arrival, and, not
+being acquainted with their intents, he sent down a dissauva, or general,
+with an army, to them, who immediately sent a messenger to the captain on
+board, to desire him to come ashore to him, pretending a letter from the
+king. The captain saluted the message with firing of guns, and ordered his
+son, Robert Knox, and Mr John Loveland, merchant of the ship, to go ashore,
+and wait on him. When they were come before him, he demanded who they were,
+and how long they should stay. They told him they were Englishmen, and not
+to stay above twenty or thirty days, and desired permission to trade in his
+Majesty's port. His answer was, that the king was glad to hear the English
+were come into his country, and had commanded him to assist them as they
+should desire, and had sent a letter to be delivered to none but the
+captain himself. They were then twelve miles from the seaside, and
+therefore replied, that the captain could not leave his ship to come so
+far; but if he pleased to go down to the seaside, the captain would wait on
+him to receive the letter; whereupon the dissauva desired them to stay that
+day, and on the morrow he would go with them; which, rather than displease
+him in so small a matter, they consented to. In the evening the dissauva
+sent a present to the captain of cattle and fruits, &c., which, being
+carried all night by the messengers, was delivered to him in the morning,
+who told him withal that his men were coming down with the dissauva, and
+desired his company on shore against his coming, having a letter from the
+king to deliver into his own hand. The captain, mistrusting nothing, came
+on shore with his boat, and, sitting under a tamarind tree, waited for the
+dissauva. In the meantime the native soldiers privately surrounded him and
+the seven men he had with him, and seizing them, carried them to meet the
+dissauva, bearing the captain on a hammock on their shoulders.
+
+The next day the long-boat's crew, not knowing what had happened, came on
+shore to cut down a tree to make cheeks for the mainmast, and were made
+prisoners after the same manner, though with more violence, because they
+were more rough with them, and made resistance; yet they were not brought
+to the captain and his company, but quartered in another house in the same
+town.
+
+The dissauva having thus gotten two boats and eighteen men, his next care
+was to gain the ship; and to that end, telling the captain that he and his
+men were only detained because the king intended to send letters and a
+present to the English nation by him, desired he would send some men on
+board his ship to order her to stay; and because the ship was in danger of
+being fired by the Dutch if she stayed long in the bay, to bring her up the
+river. The captain did not approve of the advice, but did not dare to own
+his dislike; so he sent his son with the order, but with a solemn
+conjuration to return again, which he accordingly did, bringing a letter
+from the company in the ship, that they would not obey the captain, nor any
+other, in this matter, but were resolved to stand on their own defence.
+This letter satisfied the dissauva, who thereupon gave the captain leave to
+write for what he would have brought from the ship, pretending that he had
+not the king's order to release them, though it would suddenly come.
+
+The captain seeing he was held in suspense, and the season of the year
+spending for the ship to proceed on her voyage to some place, sent order to
+Mr John Burford, the chief mate, to take charge of the ship, and set sail
+to Porto Novo, from whence they came, and there to follow the agent's
+order.
+
+And now began that long and sad captivity they all along feared. The ship
+being gone, the dissauva was called up to the king, and they were kept
+under guards a while, till a special order came from the king to part them,
+and put one in a town, for the conveniency of their maintenance, which the
+king ordered to be at the charge of the country. On September 16, 1660, the
+captain and his son were placed in a town called Bonder Coswat, in the
+country of Hotcurly [? Hewarrisse Korle], distant from the city of Kandy
+northward thirty miles, and from the rest of the English a full day's
+journey. Here they had their provisions brought them twice a day, without
+money, as much as they could eat, and as good as the country yielded. The
+situation of the place was very pleasant and commodious; but that year that
+part of the land was very sickly by agues and fevers, of which many died.
+The captain and his son after some time were visited with the common
+distemper, and the captain, being also loaded with grief for his deplorable
+condition, languished more than three months, and then died, February 9,
+1661.
+
+Robert Knox, his son, was now left desolate, sick, and in captivity, having
+none to comfort him but God, who is the Father of the fatherless, and hears
+the groans of such as are in captivity; being alone to enter upon a long
+scene of misery and calamity; oppressed with weakness of body and grief of
+soul for the loss of his father, and the remediless trouble that he was
+like to endure; and the first instance of it was in the burial of his
+father, for he sent his black boy to the people of the town, to desire
+their assistance, because they understood not their language; but they sent
+him only a rope, to drag him by the neck into the woods, and told him that
+they would offer him no other help, unless he would pay for it. This
+barbarous answer increased his trouble for his father's death, that now he
+was like to lie unburied, and be made a prey to the wild beasts in the
+woods; for the ground was very hard, and they had not tools to dig with,
+and so it was impossible for them to bury him; and having a small matter of
+money left him, viz., a pagoda and a gold ring, he hired a man, and so
+buried him in as decent a manner as their condition would permit.
+
+His dead father being thus removed out of his sight, but his ague
+continuing, he was reduced very low, partly by sorrow and partly by his
+disease. All the comfort he had was to go into the wood and fields with a
+book, either the "Practice of Piety" or Mr Rogers's "Seven Treatises,"
+which were the only two books he had, and meditate and read, and sometimes
+pray; in which his anguish made him often invert Elijah's petition,--that
+he might die, because his life was a burden to him. God, though He was
+pleased to prolong his life, yet He found a way to lighten his grief, by
+removing his ague, and granting him a desire which above all things was
+acceptable to him. He had read his two books over so often that he had both
+almost by heart; and though they were both pious and good writings, yet he
+longed for the truth from the original fountain, and thought it his
+greatest unhappiness that he had not a Bible, and did believe that he
+should never see one again; but, contrary to his expectation, God brought
+him one after this manner. As he was fishing one day with his black boy, to
+catch some fish to relieve his hunger, an old man passed by them, and asked
+his boy whether his master could read; and when the boy had answered yes,
+he told him that he had gotten a book from the Portuguese, when they left
+Colombo; and, if his master pleased, he would sell it him. The boy told his
+master, who bade him go and see what book it was. The boy having served the
+English some time, knew the book, and as soon as he got it into his hand,
+came running to him, calling out before he came to him, "It is the Bible!"
+The words startled him, and he flung down his angle to meet him, and,
+finding it was true, was mightily rejoiced to see it; but he was afraid he
+should not have enough to purchase it, though he was resolved to part with
+all the money he had, which was but one pagoda, to buy it; but his black
+boy persuading him to slight it, and leave it to him to buy it, he at
+length obtained it for a knit cap.
+
+This accident he could not but look upon as a great miracle, that God
+should bestow upon him such an extraordinary blessing, and bring him a
+Bible in his own native language, in such a remote part of the world, where
+His name was not known, and where it was never heard of that an Englishman
+had ever been before. The enjoyment of this mercy was a great comfort to
+him in captivity, and though he wanted no bodily convenience that the
+country did afford; for the king, immediately after his father's death, had
+sent an express order to the people of the towns, that they should be kind
+to him, and give him good victuals; and after he had been some time in the
+country, and understood the language, he got him good conveniences, as a
+house and gardens; and falling to husbandry, God so prospered him, that he
+had plenty, not only for himself, but to lend others; which being,
+according to the custom of the country, at 50 per cent. a year, much
+enriched him: he had also goats, which served him for mutton, and hogs and
+hens. Notwithstanding this, I say, for he lived as fine as any of their
+noblemen, he could not so far forget his native country as to be contented
+to dwell in a strange land, where there was to him a famine of God's word
+and sacraments, the want of which made all other things to be of little
+value to him; therefore, as he made it his daily and fervent prayer to God,
+in His good time, to restore him to both, so, at length, he, with one
+Stephen Rutland, who had lived with him two years before, resolved to make
+their escape, and, about the year 1673, meditated all secret ways to
+compass it. They had before taken up a way of peddling about the country,
+and buying tobacco, pepper, garlic, combs, and all sorts of iron ware, and
+carried them into those parts of the country where they wanted them; and
+now, to promote their design, as they went with their commodities from
+place to place, they discoursed with the country people (for they could now
+speak their language well) concerning the ways and inhabitants, where the
+isle was thinnest and fullest inhabited, where and how the watches lay from
+one country to another, and what commodities were proper for them to carry
+into all parts; pretending that they would furnish themselves with such
+wares as the respective places wanted. None doubted but what they did was
+upon the account of trade, because Mr Knox was so well seated, and could
+not be supposed to leave such an estate, by travelling northward, because
+that part of the land was least inhabited; and so, furnishing themselves
+with such wares as were vendible in those parts, they set forth, and
+steered their course towards the north part of the islands, knowing very
+little of the ways, which were generally intricate and perplexed, because
+they have no public roads, but a multitude of little paths from one town to
+another, and those often changing; and for white men to inquire about the
+ways was very dangerous, because the people would presently suspect their
+design.
+
+At this time they travelled from Conde Uda as far as the country of
+Nuwarakalawiya, which is the furthermost part of the king's dominions, and
+about three days' journey from their dwelling. They were very thankful to
+Providence that they had passed all difficulties so far, but yet they durst
+not go any farther, because they had no wares left to traffic with; and it
+being the first time they had been absent so long from home, they feared
+the townsmen would come after them to seek for them; and so they returned
+home, and went eight or ten times into those parts with their wares, till
+they became well acquainted both with the people and the paths.
+
+In these parts Mr Knox met his black boy, whom he had turned away divers
+years before. He had now got a wife and children, and was very poor; but
+being acquainted with these quarters, he not only took directions of him,
+but agreed with him, for a good reward, to conduct him and his companions
+to the Dutch. He gladly undertook it, and a time was appointed between
+them; but Mr Knox being disabled by a grievous pain, which seized him on
+his right side, and held him five days that he could not travel, this
+appointment proved in vain; for though he went as soon as he was well, his
+guide was gone into another country about his business, and they durst not
+at that time venture to run away without him.
+
+These attempts took up eight or nine years, various accidents hindering
+their designs, but most commonly the dry weather, because they feared in
+the woods they should be starved with thirst, all the country being in such
+a condition almost four or five years together for lack of rain.
+
+On September 22, 1679, they set forth again, furnished with knives and
+small axes for their defence, because they could carry them privately and
+send all sorts of wares to sell as formerly, and all necessary provisions,
+the moon being twenty-seven days old, that they might have light to run
+away by, to try what success God Almighty would now give them in seeking
+their liberty. Their first stage was to Anuradhapoora, in the way to which
+lay a wilderness, called Parraoth Mocolane, full of wild elephants, tigers,
+and bears; and because it is the utmost confines of the king's dominions,
+there is always a watch kept.
+
+In the middle of the way they heard that the governor's officers of these
+parts were out to gather up the king's revenues and duties, to send them up
+to the city; which put them into no small fear, lest, finding them, they
+should send them back again; whereupon they withdrew to the western parts
+of Ecpoulpot, and sat down to knitting till they heard the officers were
+gone. As soon as they were departed, they went onwards of their journey,
+having got a good parcel of cotton-yarn to knit caps with, and having kept
+their wares, as they pretended, to exchange for dried flesh, which was sold
+only in those lower parts. Their way lay necessarily through the governor's
+yard at Kalluvilla, who dwells there on purpose to examine all that go and
+come. This greatly distressed them, because he would easily suspect they
+were out of their bounds, being captives; however, they went resolutely to
+his house, and meeting him, presented him with a small parcel of tobacco
+and betel; and, showing him their wares, told him they came to get dried
+flesh to carry back with them. The governor did not suspect them, but told
+them he was sorry they came in so dry a time, when no deer were to be
+catched, but if some rain fell, he would soon supply them. This answer
+pleased them, and they seemed contented to stay; and accordingly, abiding
+with him two or three days, and no rain falling, they presented the
+governor with five or six charges of gunpowder, which is a rarity among
+them; and leaving a bundle at his house, they desired him to shoot them
+some deer, while they made a step to Anuradhapoora. Here also they were put
+in a great fright by the coming of certain soldiers from the king to the
+governor, to give him orders to set a secure guard at the watches, that no
+suspicious persons might pass, which, though it was only intended to
+prevent the flight of the relations of certain nobles whom the king had
+clapped up, yet they feared they might wonder to see white men here, and so
+send them back again; but God so ordered it that they were very kind to
+them and left them to their business, and so they got safe to
+Anuradhapoora. Their pretence was dried flesh, though they knew there was
+none to be had; but their real business was to search the way down to the
+Dutch, which they stayed three days to do; but finding that in the way to
+Jaffnapatam, which is one of the Dutch ports, there was a watch which could
+hardly be passed, and other inconveniences not surmountable, they resolved
+to go back, and take the river Malwatta Oya, which they had before judged
+would be a probable guide to lead them to the sea; and, that they might not
+be pursued, left Anuradhapoora just at night, when the people never travel
+for fear of wild beasts, on Sunday, October 12, being stored with all
+things needful for their journey, viz., ten days' provision, a basin to
+boil their provision in, two calabashes to fetch water in, and two great
+tallipat leaves for tents, with jaggery, sweetmeats, tobacco, betel,
+tinder-boxes, and a deerskin for shoes, to keep their feet from thorns,
+because to them they chiefly trusted. Being come to the river, they struck
+into the woods, and kept by the side of it; yet not going on the sand (lest
+their footsteps should be discerned), unless forced, and then going
+backwards.
+
+Being gotten a good way into the wood, it began to rain; wherefore they
+erected their tents, made a fire, and refreshed themselves against the
+rising of the moon, which was then eighteen days old; and having tied
+deerskins about their feet, and eased themselves of their wares, they
+proceeded on their journey. When they had travelled three or four hours
+with difficulty, because the moon gave but little light among the thick
+trees, they found an elephant in their way before them, and because they
+could not scare him away, they were forced to stay till morning; and so
+they kindled a fire, and took a pipe of tobacco. By the light they could
+not discern that ever anybody had been there, nothing being to be seen but
+woods; and so they were in great hopes that they were past all danger,
+being beyond all inhabitants; but they were mistaken, for the river winding
+northward, brought them into the midst of a parcel of towns, called Tissea
+Wava, where, being in danger of being seen, they were under a mighty
+terror; for had the people found them, they would have beat them, and sent
+them up to the king; and, to avoid it, they crept into a hollow tree, and
+sat there in mud and wet till it began to grow dark, and then betaking
+themselves to their legs, travelled till the darkness of night stopped
+them. They heard voices behind them, and feared it was somebody in pursuit
+of them; but at length, discerning it was only an hallooing to keep the
+wild beasts out of the corn, they pitched their tents by the river, and
+having boiled rice and roasted meat for their suppers, and satisfied their
+hunger, they committed themselves to God's keeping, and laid them down to
+sleep.
+
+The next morning, to prevent the worst, they got up early and hastened on
+their journey; and though they were now got out of all danger of the tame
+Chiangulays, they were in great danger of the wild ones, of whom those
+woods were full; and though they saw their tents, yet they were all gone,
+since the rains had fallen, from the river into the woods; and so God kept
+them from that danger, for, had they met the wild men, they had been shot.
+
+Thus they travelled from morning till night several days, through bushes
+and thorns, which made their arms and shoulders, which were naked, all of a
+gore blood. They often met with bears, hogs, deer, and wild buffaloes; but
+they all ran away as soon as they saw them. The river was exceedingly full
+of alligators; in the evening they used to pitch their tents, and make
+great fires both before and behind them, to affright the wild beasts; and
+though they heard the voices of all sorts, they saw none.
+
+On Thursday, at noon, they crossed the river Coronda [? Kannadera Oya],
+which parts the country of the Malabars from the king's, and on Friday,
+about nine or ten in the morning, came among the inhabitants, of whom they
+were as much afraid as of the Chiangulays before; for, though the
+Wanniounay, or prince of this people, payeth tribute to the Dutch out of
+fear, yet he is better affected to the King of Kandy, and, if he had took
+them, would have sent them up to their old master; but not knowing any way
+to escape, they kept on their journey by the river-side by day, because the
+woods were not to be travelled by night for thorns and wild beasts, who
+came down then to the river to drink. In all the Malabar country they met
+with only two Brahmins, who treated them very civilly; and for their money,
+one of them conducted them till they came into the territories of the
+Dutch, and out of all danger of the King of Kandy, which did not a little
+rejoice them; but yet they were in no small trouble how to find the way out
+of the woods, till a Malabar, for the lucre of a knife, conducted them to a
+Dutch town, where they found guides to conduct them from town to town, till
+they came to the fort called Aripo, where they arrived Saturday, October
+18, 1679, and there thankfully adored God's wonderful providence, in thus
+completing their deliverance from a long captivity of nineteen years and
+six months.
+
+I come now back to my own history, which grows near a conclusion, as to the
+travels I took in this part of the world. We were now at sea, and we stood
+away to the north for a while, to try if we could get a market for our
+spice, for we were very rich in nutmegs, but we ill knew what to do with
+them; we durst not go upon the English coast, or, to speak more properly,
+among the English factories to trade; not that we were afraid to fight any
+two ships they had, and, besides that, we knew that, as they had no letters
+of marque, or of reprisals from the government, so it was none of their
+business to act offensively, no, not though we were pirates. Indeed, if we
+had made any attempt upon them, they might have justified themselves in
+joining together to resist, and assisting one another to defend themselves;
+but to go out of their business to attack a pirate ship of almost fifty
+guns, as we were, it was plain that it was none of their business, and
+consequently it was none of our concern, so we did not trouble ourselves
+about it; but, on the other hand, it was none of our business to be seen
+among them, and to have the news of us carried from one factory to another,
+so that whatever design we might be upon at another time, we should be sure
+to be prevented and discovered. Much less had we any occasion to be seen
+among any of the Dutch factories upon the coast of Malabar; for, being
+fully laden with the spices which we had, in the sense of their trade,
+plundered them of, it would have told them what we were, and all that we
+had been doing; and they would, no doubt, have concerned themselves all
+manner of ways to have fallen upon us.
+
+The only way we had for it was to stand away for Goa, and trade, if we
+could, for our spices, with the Portuguese factory there. Accordingly, we
+sailed almost thither, for we had made land two days before, and being in
+the latitude of Goa, were standing in fair for Margaon, on the head of
+Salsat, at the going up to Goa, when I called to the men at the helm to
+bring the ship to, and bid the pilot go away N.N.W., till we came out of
+sight of the shore, when William and I called a council, as we used to do
+upon emergencies, what course we should take to trade there and not be
+discovered; and we concluded at length that we would not go thither at all,
+but that William, with such trusty fellows only as could be depended upon,
+should go in the sloop to Surat, which was still farther northward, and
+trade there as merchants with such of the English factory as they could
+find to be for their turn.
+
+To carry this with the more caution, and so as not to be suspected, we
+agreed to take out all her guns, and put such men into her, and no other,
+as would promise us not to desire or offer to go on shore, or to enter into
+any talk or conversation with any that might come on board; and, to finish
+the disguise to our mind, William documented two of our men, one a surgeon,
+as he himself was, and the other, a ready-witted fellow, an old sailor,
+that had been a pilot upon the coast of New England, and was an excellent
+mimic; these two William dressed up like two Quakers, and made them talk
+like such. The old pilot he made go captain of the sloop, and the surgeon
+for doctor, as he was, and himself supercargo. In this figure, and the
+sloop all plain, no curled work upon her (indeed she had not much before),
+and no guns to be seen, away he went for Surat.
+
+I should, indeed, have observed, that we went, some days before we parted,
+to a small sandy island close under the shore, where there was a good cove
+of deep water, like a road, and out of sight of any of the factories, which
+are here very thick upon the coast. Here we shifted the loading of the
+sloop, and put into her such things only as we had a mind to dispose of
+there, which was indeed little but nutmegs and cloves, but chiefly the
+former; and from thence William and his two Quakers, with about eighteen
+men in the sloop, went away to Surat, and came to an anchor at a distance
+from the factory.
+
+William used such caution that he found means to go on shore himself, and
+the doctor, as he called him, in a boat which came on board them to sell
+fish, rowed with only Indians of the country, which boat he afterwards
+hired to carry him on board again. It was not long that they were on shore,
+but that they found means to get acquaintance with some Englishmen, who,
+though they lived there, and perhaps were the company's servants at first,
+yet appeared then to be traders for themselves, in whatever coast business
+especially came in their way; and the doctor was made the first to pick
+acquaintance; so he recommended his friend, the supercargo, till, by
+degrees, the merchants were as fond of the bargain as our men were of the
+merchants, only that the cargo was a little too much for them.
+
+However, this did not prove a difficulty long with them, for the next day
+they brought two more merchants, English also, into their bargain, and, as
+William could perceive by their discourse, they resolved, if they bought
+them, to carry them to the Gulf of Persia upon their own accounts. William
+took the hint, and, as he told me afterwards, concluded we might carry them
+there as well as they. But this was not William's present business; he had
+here no less than three-and-thirty ton of nuts and eighteen ton of cloves.
+There was a good quantity of mace among the nutmegs, but we did not stand
+to make much allowance. In short, they bargained, and the merchants, who
+would gladly have bought sloop and all, gave William directions, and two
+men for pilots, to go to a creek about six leagues from the factory, where
+they brought boats, and unloaded the whole cargo, and paid William very
+honestly for it; the whole parcel amounting, in money, to about thirty-five
+thousand pieces of eight, besides some goods of value, which William was
+content to take, and two large diamonds, worth about three hundred pounds
+sterling.
+
+When they paid the money, William invited them on board the sloop, where
+they came; and the merry old Quaker diverted them exceedingly with his
+talk, and "thee'd" them and "thou'd" them till he made them so drunk that
+they could not go on shore for that night.
+
+They would fain have known who our people were, and whence they came; but
+not a man in the sloop would answer them to any question they asked, but in
+such a manner as let them think themselves bantered and jested with.
+However, in discourse, William said they were able men for any cargo we
+could have brought them, and that they would have bought twice as much
+spice if we had had it. He ordered the merry captain to tell them that they
+had another sloop that lay at Margaon, and that had a great quantity of
+spice on board also; and that, if it was not sold when he went back (for
+that thither he was bound), he would bring her up.
+
+Their new chaps were so eager, that they would have bargained with the old
+captain beforehand. "Nay, friend," said he, "I will not trade with thee
+unsight and unseen; neither do I know whether the master of the sloop may
+not have sold his loading already to some merchants of Salsat; but if he
+has not when I come to him, I think to bring him up to thee."
+
+The doctor had his employment all this while, as well as William and the
+old captain, for he went on shore several times a day in the Indian boat,
+and brought fresh provisions for the sloop, which the men had need enough
+of. He brought, in particular, seventeen large casks of arrack, as big as
+butts, besides smaller quantities, a quantity of rice, and abundance of
+fruits, mangoes, pompions, and such things, with fowls and fish. He never
+came on board but he was deep laden; for, in short, he bought for the ship
+as well as for themselves; and, particularly, they half-loaded the ship
+with rice and arrack, with some hogs, and six or seven cows, alive; and
+thus, being well victualled, and having directions for coming again, they
+returned to us.
+
+William was always the lucky welcome messenger to us, but never more
+welcome to us than now; for where we had thrust in the ship, we could get
+nothing, except a few mangoes and roots, being not willing to make any
+steps into the country, or make ourselves known till we had news of our
+sloop; and indeed our men's patience was almost tired, for it was seventeen
+days that William spent upon this enterprise, and well bestowed too.
+
+When he came back we had another conference upon the subject of trade,
+namely, whether we should send the best of our spices, and other goods we
+had in the ship, to Surat, or whether we should go up to the Gulf of Persia
+ourselves, where it was probable we might sell them as well as the English
+merchants of Surat. William was for going ourselves, which, by the way, was
+from the good, frugal, merchant-like temper of the man, who was for the
+best of everything; but here I overruled William, which I very seldom took
+upon me to do; but I told him, that, considering our circumstances, it was
+much better for us to sell all our cargoes here, though we made but
+half-price of them, than to go with them to the Gulf of Persia, where we
+should run a greater risk, and where people would be much more curious and
+inquisitive into things than they were here, and where it would not be so
+easy to manage them, seeing they traded freely and openly there, not by
+stealth, as those men seemed to do; and, besides, if they suspected
+anything, it would be much more difficult for us to retreat, except by mere
+force, than here, where we were upon the high sea as it were, and could be
+gone whenever we pleased, without any disguise, or, indeed, without the
+least appearance of being pursued, none knowing where to look for us.
+
+My apprehensions prevailed with William, whether my reasons did or no, and
+he submitted; and we resolved to try another ship's loading to the same
+merchants. The main business was to consider how to get off that
+circumstance that had exposed them to the English merchants, namely that it
+was our other sloop; but this the old Quaker pilot undertook; for being, as
+I said, an excellent mimic himself, it was the easier for him to dress up
+the sloop in new clothes; and first, he put on all the carved work he had
+taken off before; her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun
+colour before, all flat, was now all lacquered and blue, and I know not how
+many gay figures in it; as to her quarter, the carpenters made her a neat
+little gallery on either side; she had twelve guns put into her, and some
+petereroes upon her gunnel, none of which were there before; and to finish
+her new habit or appearance, and make her change complete, he ordered her
+sails to be altered; and as she sailed before with a half-sprit, like a
+yacht, she sailed now with square-sail and mizzen-mast, like a ketch; so
+that, in a word, she was a perfect cheat, disguised in everything that a
+stranger could be supposed to take any notice of that had never had but one
+view, for they had been but once on board.
+
+In this mean figure the sloop returned; she had a new man put into her for
+captain, one we knew how to trust; and the old pilot appearing only as a
+passenger, the doctor and William acting as the supercargoes, by a formal
+procuration from one Captain Singleton, and all things ordered in form.
+
+We had a complete loading for the sloop; for, besides a very great quantity
+of nutmegs and cloves, mace, and some cinnamon, she had on board some goods
+which we took in as we lay about the Philippine Islands, while we waited as
+looking for purchase.
+
+William made no difficulty of selling this cargo also, and in about twenty
+days returned again, freighted with all necessary provisions for our
+voyage, and for a long time; and, as I say, we had a great deal of other
+goods: he brought us back about three-and-thirty thousand pieces of eight,
+and some diamonds, which, though William did not pretend to much skill in,
+yet he made shift to act so as not to be imposed upon, the merchants he had
+to deal with, too, being very fair men.
+
+They had no difficulty at all with these merchants, for the prospect they
+had of gain made them not at all inquisitive, nor did they make the least
+discovery of the sloop; and as to the selling them spices which were
+fetched so far from thence, it seems it was not so much a novelty there as
+we believed, for the Portuguese had frequently vessels which came from
+Macao in China, who brought spices, which they bought of the Chinese
+traders, who again frequently dealt among the Dutch Spice Islands, and
+received spices in exchange for such goods as they carried from China.
+
+This might be called, indeed, the only trading voyage we had made; and now
+we were really very rich, and it came now naturally before us to consider
+whither we should go next. Our proper delivery port, as we ought to have
+called it, was at Madagascar, in the Bay of Mangahelly; but William took me
+by myself into the cabin of the sloop one day, and told me he wanted to
+talk seriously with me a little; so we shut ourselves in, and William began
+with me.
+
+"Wilt thou give me leave," says William, "to talk plainly with thee upon
+thy present circumstances, and thy future prospect of living? and wilt thou
+promise, on thy word, to take nothing ill of me?"
+
+"With all my heart," said I. "William, I have always found your advice
+good, and your designs have not only been well laid, but your counsel has
+been very lucky to us; and, therefore, say what you will, I promise you I
+will not take it ill."
+
+"But that is not all my demand," says William; "if thou dost not like what
+I am going to propose to thee, thou shalt promise me not to make it public
+among the men."
+
+"I will not, William," says I, "upon my word;" and swore to him, too, very
+heartily.
+
+"Why, then," says William, "I have but one thing more to article with thee
+about, and that is, that thou wilt consent that if thou dost not approve of
+it for thyself, thou wilt yet consent that I shall put so much of it in
+practice as relates to myself and my new comrade doctor, so that it be
+nothing to thy detriment and loss."
+
+"In anything," says I, "William, but leaving me, I will; but I cannot part
+with you upon any terms whatever."
+
+"Well," says William, "I am not designing to part from thee, unless it is
+thy own doing. But assure me in all these points, and I will tell my mind
+freely."
+
+So I promised him everything he desired of me in the solemnest manner
+possible, and so seriously and frankly withal, that William made no scruple
+to open his mind to me.
+
+"Why, then, in the first place," says William, "shall I ask thee if thou
+dost not think thou and all thy men are rich enough, and have really gotten
+as much wealth together (by whatsoever way it has been gotten, that is not
+the question) as we all know what to do with?"
+
+"Why, truly, William," said I, "thou art pretty right; I think we have had
+pretty good luck."
+
+"Well, then," says William, "I would ask whether, if thou hast gotten
+enough, thou hast any thought of leaving off this trade; for most people
+leave off trading when they are satisfied of getting, and are rich enough;
+for nobody trades for the sake of trading; much less do men rob for the
+sake of thieving."
+
+"Well, William," says I, "now I perceive what it is thou art driving at. I
+warrant you," says I, "you begin to hanker after home."
+
+"Why, truly," says William, "thou hast said it, and so I hope thou dost
+too. It is natural for most men that are abroad to desire to come home
+again at last, especially when they are grown rich, and when they are (as
+thou ownest thyself to be) rich enough, and so rich as they know not what
+to do with more if they had it."
+
+"Well, William," said I, "but now you think you have laid your preliminary
+at first so home that I should have nothing to say; that is, that when I
+had got money enough, it would be natural to think of going home. But you
+have not explained what you mean by home, and there you and I shall differ.
+Why, man, I am at home; here is my habitation; I never had any other in my
+lifetime; I was a kind of charity school boy; so that I can have no desire
+of going anywhere for being rich or poor, for I have nowhere to go."
+
+"Why," says William, looking a little confused, "art not thou an
+Englishman?"
+
+"Yes," says I, "I think so: you see I speak English; but I came out of
+England a child, and never was in it but once since I was a man; and then I
+was cheated and imposed upon, and used so ill that I care not if I never
+see it more."
+
+"Why, hast thou no relations or friends there?" says he; "no acquaintance--
+none that thou hast any kindness or any remains of respect for?"
+
+"Not I, William," said I; "no more than I have in the court of the Geat
+Mogul."
+
+"Nor any kindness for the country where thou wast born?" says William.
+
+"Not I, any more than for the island of Madagascar, nor so much neither;
+for that has been a fortunate island to me more than once, as thou knowest,
+William," said I.
+
+William was quite stunned at my discourse, and held his peace; and I said
+to him, "Go on, William; what hast thou to say farther? for I hear you have
+some project in your head," says I; "come, let's have it out."
+
+"Nay," says William, "thou hast put me to silence, and all I had to say is
+overthrown; all my projects are come to nothing, and gone."
+
+"Well, but, William," said I, "let me hear what they were; for though it is
+so that what I have to aim at does not look your way, and though I have no
+relation, no friend, no acquaintance in England, yet I do not say I like
+this roving, cruising life so well as never to give it over. Let me hear if
+thou canst propose to me anything beyond it."
+
+"Certainly, friend," says William, very gravely, "there is something beyond
+it;" and lifting up his hands, he seemed very much affected, and I thought
+I saw tears stand in his eyes; but I, that was too hardened a wretch to be
+moved with these things, laughed at him. "What!" says I, "you mean death, I
+warrant you: don't you? That is beyond this trade. Why, when it comes, it
+comes; then we are all provided for."
+
+"Ay," says William, "that is true; but it would be better that some things
+were thought on before that came."
+
+"Thought on!" says I; "what signifies thinking of it? To think of death is
+to die, and to be always thinking of it is to be all one's life long
+a-dying. It is time enough to think of it when it comes."
+
+You will easily believe I was well qualified for a pirate that could talk
+thus. But let me leave it upon record, for the remark of other hardened
+rogues like myself,--my conscience gave me a pang that I never felt before
+when I said, "What signifies thinking of it?" and told me I should one day
+think of these words with a sad heart; but the time of my reflection was
+not yet come; so I went on.
+
+Says William very seriously, "I must tell thee, friend, I am sorry to hear
+thee talk so. They that never think of dying, often die without thinking of
+it."
+
+I carried on the jesting way a while farther, and said, "Prithee, do not
+talk of dying; how do we know we shall ever die?" and began to laugh.
+
+"I need not answer thee to that," says William; "it is not my place to
+reprove thee, who art commander over me here; but I would rather thou
+wouldst talk otherwise of death; it is a coarse thing."
+
+"Say anything to me, William," said I; "I will take it kindly." I began now
+to be very much moved at his discourse.
+
+Says William (tears running down his face), "It is because men live as if
+they were never to die, that so many die before they know how to live. But
+it was not death that I meant when I said that there was something to be
+thought of beyond this way of living."
+
+"Why, William," said I, "what was that?"
+
+"It was repentance," says he.
+
+"Why," says I, "did you ever know a pirate repent?"
+
+At this he startled a little, and returned, "At the gallows I have [known]
+one before, and I hope thou wilt be the second."
+
+He spoke this very affectionately, with an appearance of concern for me.
+
+"Well, William," says I, "I thank you; and I am not so senseless of these
+things, perhaps, as I make myself seem to be. But come, let me hear your
+proposal."
+
+"My proposal," says William, "is for thy good as well as my own. We may put
+an end to this kind of life, and repent; and I think the fairest occasion
+offers for both, at this very time, that ever did, or ever will, or,
+indeed, can happen again."
+
+"Look you, William," says I; "let me have your proposal for putting an end
+to our present way of living first, for that is the case before us, and you
+and I will talk of the other afterwards. I am not so insensible," said I,
+"as you may think me to be. But let us get out of this hellish condition we
+are in first."
+
+"Nay," says William, "thou art in the right there; we must never talk of
+repenting while we continue pirates."
+
+"Well," says I, "William, that's what I meant; for if we must not reform,
+as well as be sorry for what is done, I have no notion what repentance
+means; indeed, at best I know little of the matter; but the nature of the
+thing seems to tell me that the first step we have to take is to break off
+this wretched course; and I'll begin there with you, with all my heart."
+
+I could see by his countenance that William was thoroughly pleased with the
+offer; and if he had tears in-his eyes before, he had more now; but it was
+from quite a different passion; for he was so swallowed up with joy he
+could not speak.
+
+"Come, William," says I, "thou showest me plain enough thou hast an honest
+meaning; dost thou think it practicable for us to put an end to our unhappy
+way of living here, and get off?"
+
+"Yes," says he, "I think it very practicable for me; whether it is for thee
+or no, that will depend upon thyself."
+
+"Well," says I, "I give you my word, that as I have commanded you all
+along, from the time I first took you on board, so you shall command me
+from this hour, and everything you direct me I'll do."
+
+"Wilt thou leave it all to me? Dost thou say this freely?"
+
+"Yes, William," said I, "freely; and I'll perform it faithfully."
+
+"Why, then," says William, "my scheme is this: We are now at the mouth of
+the Gulf of Persia; we have sold so much of our cargo here at Surat, that
+we have money enough; send me away for Bassorah with the sloop, laden with
+the China goods we have on board, which will make another good cargo, and
+I'll warrant thee I'll find means, among the English and Dutch merchants
+there, to lodge a quantity of goods and money also as a merchant, so as we
+will be able to have recourse to it again upon any occasion, and when I
+come home we will contrive the rest; and, in the meantime, do you bring the
+ship's crew to take a resolution to go to Madagascar as soon as I return."
+
+I told him I thought he need not go so far as Bassorah, but might run into
+Gombroon, or to Ormuz, and pretend the same business.
+
+"No," says he, "I cannot act with the same freedom there, because the
+Company's factories are there, and I may be laid hold of there on pretence
+of interloping."
+
+"Well, but," said I, "you may go to Ormuz, then; for I am loth to part with
+you so long as to go to the bottom of the Persian Gulf." He returned, that
+I should leave it to him to do as he should see cause.
+
+We had taken a large sum of money at Surat, so that we had near a hundred
+thousand pounds in money at our command, but on board the great ship we had
+still a great deal more.
+
+I ordered him publicly to keep the money on board which he had, and to buy
+up with it a quantity of ammunition, if he could get it, and so to furnish
+us for new exploits; and, in the meantime, I resolved to get a quantity of
+gold and some jewels, which I had on board the great ship, and place them
+so that I might carry them off without notice as soon as he came back; and
+so, according to William's directions, I left him to go the voyage, and I
+went on board the great ship, in which we had indeed an immense treasure.
+
+We waited no less than two months for William's return, and indeed I began
+to be very uneasy about William, sometimes thinking he had abandoned me,
+and that he might have used the same artifice to have engaged the other men
+to comply with him, and so they were gone away together; and it was but
+three days before his return that I was just upon the point of resolving to
+go away to Madagascar, and give him over; but the old surgeon, who mimicked
+the Quaker and passed for the master of the sloop at Surat, persuaded me
+against that, for which good advice and apparent faithfulness in what he
+had been trusted with, I made him a party to my design, and he proved very
+honest.
+
+At length William came back, to our inexpressible joy, and brought a great
+many necessary things with him; as, particularly, he brought sixty barrels
+of powder, some iron shot, and about thirty ton of lead; also he brought a
+great deal of provisions; and, in a word, William gave me a public account
+of his voyage, in the hearing of whoever happened to be upon the
+quarter-deck, that no suspicions might be found about us.
+
+After all was done, William moved that he might go up again, and that I
+would go with him; named several things which we had on board that he could
+not sell there; and, particularly, told us he had been obliged to leave
+several things there, the caravans being not come in; and that he had
+engaged to come back again with goods.
+
+This was what I wanted. The men were eager for his going, and particularly
+because he told them they might load the sloop back with rice and
+provisions; but I seemed backward to going, when the old surgeon stood up
+and persuaded me to go, and with many arguments pressed me to it; as,
+particularly, if I did not go, there would be no order, and several of the
+men might drop away, and perhaps betray all the rest; and that they should
+not think it safe for the sloop to go again if I did not go; and to urge me
+to it, he offered himself to go with me.
+
+Upon these considerations I seemed to be over-persuaded to go, and all the
+company seemed to be better satisfied when I had consented; and,
+accordingly, we took all the powder, lead, and iron out of the sloop into
+the great ship, and all the other things that were for the ship's use, and
+put in some bales of spices and casks or frails of cloves, in all about
+seven ton, and some other goods, among the bales of which I had conveyed
+all my private treasure, which, I assure you, was of no small value, and
+away I went.
+
+At going off I called a council of all the officers in the ship to consider
+in what place they should wait for me, and how long, and we appointed the
+ship to stay eight-and-twenty days at a little island on the Arabian side
+of the Gulf, and that, if the sloop did not come in that time, they should
+sail to another island to the west of that place, and wait there fifteen
+days more, and that then, if the sloop did not come, they should conclude
+some accident must have happened, and the rendezvous should be at
+Madagascar.
+
+Being thus resolved, we left the ship, which both William and I, and the
+surgeon, never intended to see any more. We steered directly for the Gulf,
+and through to Bassorah, or Balsara. This city of Balsara lies at some
+distance from the place where our sloop lay, and the river not being very
+safe, and we but ill acquainted with it, having but an ordinary pilot, we
+went on shore at a village where some merchants live, and which is very
+populous, for the sake of small vessels riding there.
+
+Here we stayed and traded three or four days, landing all our bales and
+spices, and indeed the whole cargo that was of any considerable value,
+which we chose to do rather than go up immediately to Balsara till the
+project we had laid was put in execution.
+
+After we had bought several goods, and were preparing to buy several
+others, the boat being on shore with twelve men, myself, William, the
+surgeon, and one fourth man, whom we had singled out, we contrived to send
+a Turk just at the dusk of the evening with a letter to the boatswain, and
+giving the fellow a charge to run with all possible speed, we stood at a
+small distance to observe the event. The contents of the letter were thus
+written by the old doctor:--
+
+"BOATSWAIN THOMAS,--We are all betrayed. For God's sake make off with the
+boat, and get on board, or you are all lost. The captain, William the
+Quaker, and George the reformade are seized and carried away: I am escaped
+and hid, but cannot stir out; if I do I am a dead man. As soon as you are
+on board cut or slip, and make sail for your lives. Adieu.--R.S."
+
+We stood undiscovered, as above, it being the dusk of the evening, and saw
+the Turk deliver the letter, and in three minutes we saw all the men hurry
+into the boat and put off, and no sooner were they on board than they took
+the hint, as we supposed, for the next morning they were out of sight, and
+we never heard tale or tidings of them since.
+
+We were now in a good place, and in very good circumstances, for we passed
+for merchants of Persia.
+
+It is not material to record here what a mass of ill-gotten wealth we had
+got together: it will be more to the purpose to tell you that I began to be
+sensible of the crime of getting of it in such a manner as I had done; that
+I had very little satisfaction in the possession of it; and, as I told
+William, I had no expectation of keeping it, nor much desire; but, as I
+said to him one day walking out into the fields near the town of Bassorah,
+so I depended upon it that it would be the case, which you will hear
+presently.
+
+We were perfectly secured at Bassorah, by having frighted away the rogues,
+our comrades; and we had nothing to do but to consider how to convert our
+treasure into things proper to make us look like merchants, as we were now
+to be, and not like freebooters, as we really had been.
+
+We happened very opportunely here upon a Dutchman, who had travelled from
+Bengal to Agra, the capital city of the Great Mogul, and from thence was
+come to the coast of Malabar by land, and got shipping, somehow or other,
+up the Gulf; and we found his design was to go up the great river to Bagdad
+or Babylon, and so, by the caravan, to Aleppo and Scanderoon. As William
+spoke Dutch, and was of an agreeable, insinuating behaviour, he soon got
+acquainted with this Dutchman, and discovering our circumstances to one
+another, we found he had considerable effects with him; and that he had
+traded long in that country, and was making homeward to his own country;
+and that he had servants with him; one an Armenian, whom he had taught to
+speak Dutch, and who had something of his own, but had a mind to travel
+into Europe; and the other a Dutch sailor, whom he had picked up by his
+fancy, and reposed a great trust in him, and a very honest fellow he was.
+
+This Dutchman was very glad of an acquaintance, because he soon found that
+we directed our thoughts to Europe also; and as he found we were encumbered
+with goods only (for we let him know nothing of our money), he readily
+offered us his assistance to dispose of as many of them as the place we
+were in would put off, and his advice what to do with the rest.
+
+While this was doing, William and I consulted what to do with ourselves and
+what we had; and first, we resolved we would never talk seriously of our
+measures but in the open fields, where we were sure nobody could hear; so
+every evening, when the sun began to decline and the air to be moderate we
+walked out, sometimes this way, sometimes that, to consult of our affairs.
+
+I should have observed that we had new clothed ourselves here, after the
+Persian manner, with long vests of silk, a gown or robe of English crimson
+cloth, very fine and handsome, and had let our beards grow so after the
+Persian manner that we passed for Persian merchants, in view only, though,
+by the way, we could not understand or speak one word of the language of
+Persia, or indeed of any other but English and Dutch; and of the latter I
+understood very little.
+
+However, the Dutchman supplied all this for us; and as we had resolved to
+keep ourselves as retired as we could, though there were several English
+merchants upon the place, yet we never acquainted ourselves with one of
+them, or exchanged a word with them; by which means we prevented their
+inquiry of us now, or their giving any intelligence of us, if any news of
+our landing here should happen to come, which, it was easy for us to know,
+was possible enough, if any of our comrades fell into bad hands, or by many
+accidents which we could not foresee.
+
+It was during my being here, for here we stayed near two months, that I
+grew very thoughtful about my circumstances; not as to the danger, neither
+indeed were we in any, but were entirely concealed and unsuspected; but I
+really began to have other thoughts of myself, and of the world, than ever
+I had before.
+
+William had struck so deep into my unthinking temper with hinting to me
+that there was something beyond all this; that the present time was the
+time of enjoyment, but that the time of account approached; that the work
+that remained was gentler than the labour past, viz., repentance, and that
+it was high time to think of it;--I say these, and such thoughts as these,
+engrossed my hours, and, in a word, I grew very sad.
+
+As to the wealth I had, which was immensely great, it was all like dirt
+under my feet; I had no value for it, no peace in the possession of it, no
+great concern about me for the leaving of it.
+
+William had perceived my thoughts to be troubled and my mind heavy and
+oppressed for some time; and one evening, in one of our cool walks, I began
+with him about the leaving our effects. William was a wise and wary man,
+and indeed all the prudentials of my conduct had for a long time been owing
+to his advice, and so now all the methods for preserving our effects, and
+even ourselves, lay upon him; and he had been telling me of some of the
+measures he had been taking for our making homeward, and for the security
+of our wealth, when I took him very short. "Why, William," says I, "dost
+thou think we shall ever be able to reach Europe with all this cargo that
+we have about us?"
+
+"Ay," says William, "without doubt, as well as other merchants with theirs,
+as long as it is not publicly known what quantity or of what value our
+cargo consists."
+
+"Why, William," says I, smiling, "do you think that if there is a God
+above, as you have so long been telling me there is, and that we must give
+an account to Him,--I say, do you think, if He be a righteous Judge, He
+will let us escape thus with the plunder, as we may call it, of so many
+innocent people, nay, I might say nations, and not call us to an account
+for it before we can get to Europe, where we pretend to enjoy it?"
+
+William appeared struck and surprised at the question, and made no answer
+for a great while; and I repeated the question, adding that it was not to
+be expected.
+
+After a little pause, says William, "Thou hast started a very weighty
+question, and I can make no positive answer to it; but I will state it
+thus: first, it is true that, if we consider the justice of God, we have no
+reason to expect any protection; but as the ordinary ways of Providence are
+out of the common road of human affairs, so we may hope for mercy still
+upon our repentance, and we know not how good He may be to us; so we are to
+act as if we rather depended upon the last, I mean the merciful part, than
+claimed the first, which must produce nothing but judgment and vengeance."
+
+"But hark ye, William," says I, "the nature of repentance, as you have
+hinted once to me, included reformation; and we can never reform; how,
+then, can we repent?"
+
+"Why can we never reform?" says William.
+
+"Because," said I, "we cannot restore what we have taken away by rapine and
+spoil."
+
+"It is true," says William, "we never can do that, for we can never come to
+the knowledge of the owners."
+
+"But what, then, must be done with our wealth," said I, "the effects of
+plunder and rapine? If we keep it, we continue to be robbers and thieves;
+and if we quit it we cannot do justice with it, for we cannot restore it to
+the right owners."
+
+"Nay," says William, "the answer to it is short. To quit what we have, and
+do it here, is to throw it away to those who have no claim to it, and to
+divest ourselves of it, but to do no right with it; whereas we ought to
+keep it carefully together, with a resolution to do what right with it we
+are able; and who knows what opportunity Providence may put into our hands
+to do justice, at least, to some of those we have injured? So we ought, at
+least, to leave it to Him and go on. As it is, without doubt our present
+business is to go to some place of safety, where we may wait His will."
+
+This resolution of William was very satisfying to me indeed, as, the truth
+is, all he said, and at all times, was solid and good; and had not William
+thus, as it were, quieted my mind, I think, verily, I was so alarmed at the
+just reason I had to expect vengeance from Heaven upon me for my ill-gotten
+wealth, that I should have run away from it as the devil's goods, that I
+had nothing to do with, that did not belong to me, and that I had no right
+to keep, and was in certain danger of being destroyed for.
+
+However, William settled my mind to more prudent steps than these, and I
+concluded that I ought, however, to proceed to a place of safety, and leave
+the event to God Almighty's mercy. But this I must leave upon record, that
+I had from this time no joy of the wealth I had got. I looked upon it all
+as stolen, and so indeed the greatest part of it was. I looked upon it as a
+hoard of other men's goods, which I had robbed the innocent owners of, and
+which I ought, in a word, to be hanged for here, and damned for hereafter.
+And now, indeed, I began sincerely to hate myself for a dog; a wretch that
+had been a thief and a murderer; a wretch that was in a condition which
+nobody was ever in; for I had robbed, and though I had the wealth by me,
+yet it was impossible I should ever make any restitution; and upon this
+account it ran in my head that I could never repent, for that repentance
+could not be sincere without restitution, and therefore must of necessity
+be damned. There was no room for me to escape. I went about with my heart
+full of these thoughts, little better than a distracted fellow; in short,
+running headlong into the dreadfullest despair, and premeditating nothing
+but how to rid myself out of the world; and, indeed, the devil, if such
+things are of the devil's immediate doing, followed his work very close
+with me, and nothing lay upon my mind for several days but to shoot myself
+into the head with my pistol.
+
+I was all this while in a vagrant life, among infidels, Turks, pagans, and
+such sort of people. I had no minister, no Christian to converse with but
+poor William. He was my ghostly father or confessor, and he was all the
+comfort I had. As for my knowledge of religion, you have heard my history.
+You may suppose I had not much; and as for the Word of God, I do not
+remember that I ever read a chapter in the Bible in my lifetime. I was
+little Bob at Bussleton, and went to school to learn my Testament.
+
+However, it pleased God to make William the Quaker everything to me. Upon
+this occasion, I took him out one evening, as usual, and hurried him away
+into the fields with me, in more haste than ordinary; and there, in short,
+I told him the perplexity of my mind, and under what terrible temptations
+of the devil I had been; that I must shoot myself, for I could not support
+the weight and terror that was upon me.
+
+"Shoot yourself!" says William; "why, what will that do for you?"
+
+"Why," says I, "it will put an end to a miserable life."
+
+"Well," says William, "are you satisfied the next will be better?"
+
+"No, no," says I; "much worse, to be sure."
+
+"Why, then," says he, "shooting yourself is the devil's motion, no doubt;
+for it is the devil of a reason, that, because thou art in an ill case,
+therefore thou must put thyself into a worse."
+
+This shocked my reason indeed. "Well, but," says I, "there is no bearing
+the miserable condition I am in."
+
+"Very well," says William; "but it seems there is some bearing a worse
+condition; and so you will shoot yourself, that you may be past remedy?"
+
+"I am past remedy already," says I.
+
+"How do you know that?" says he.
+
+"I am satisfied of it," said I.
+
+"Well," says he, "but you are not sure; so you will shoot yourself to make
+it certain; for though on this side death you cannot be sure you will be
+damned at all, yet the moment you step on the other side of time you are
+sure of it; for when it is done, it is not to be said then that you will
+be, but that you are damned."
+
+"Well, but," says William, as if he had been between jest and earnest,
+"pray, what didst thou dream of last night?"
+
+"Why," said I, "I had frightful dreams all night; and, particularly, I
+dreamed that the devil came for me, and asked me what my name was; and I
+told him. Then he asked me what trade I was. 'Trade?' says I; 'I am a
+thief, a rogue, by my calling: I am a pirate and a murderer, and ought to
+be hanged.' 'Ay, ay,' says the devil, 'so you do; and you are the man I
+looked for, and therefore come along with me.' At which I was most horribly
+frighted, and cried out so that it waked me; and I have been in horrible
+agony ever since."
+
+"Very well," says William; "come, give me the pistol thou talkedst of just
+now."
+
+"Why," says I, "what will you do with it?"
+
+"Do with it!" says William. "Why, thou needest not shoot thyself; I shall
+be obliged to do it for thee. Why, thou wilt destroy us all."
+
+"What do you mean, William?" said I.
+
+"Mean!" said he; "nay, what didst thou mean, to cry out aloud in thy sleep,
+'I am a thief, a pirate, a murderer, and ought to be hanged'? Why, thou
+wilt ruin us all. 'Twas well the Dutchman did not understand English. In
+short, I must shoot thee, to save my own life. Come, come," says he, "give
+me thy pistol."
+
+I confess this terrified me again another way, and I began to be sensible
+that, if anybody had been near me to understand English, I had been undone.
+The thought of shooting myself forsook me from that time; and I turned to
+William, "You disorder me extremely, William," said I; "why, I am never
+safe, nor is it safe to keep me company. What shall I do? I shall betray
+you all."
+
+"Come, come, friend Bob," says he, "I'll put an end to it all, if you will
+take my advice."
+
+"How's that?" said I.
+
+"Why, only," says he, "that the next time thou talkest with the devil, thou
+wilt talk a little softlier, or we shall be all undone, and you too."
+
+This frighted me, I must confess, and allayed a great deal of the trouble
+of mind I was in. But William, after he had done jesting with me, entered
+upon a very long and serious discourse with me about the nature of my
+circumstances, and about repentance; that it ought to be attended, indeed,
+with a deep abhorrence of the crime that I had to charge myself with; but
+that to despair of God's mercy was no part of repentance, but putting
+myself into the condition of the devil; indeed, that I must apply myself
+with a sincere, humble confession of my crime, to ask pardon of God, whom I
+had offended, and cast myself upon His mercy, resolving to be willing to
+make restitution, if ever it should please God to put it in my power, even
+to the utmost of what I had in the world. And this, he told me, was the
+method which he had resolved upon himself; and in this, he told me, he had
+found comfort.
+
+I had a great deal of satisfaction in William's discourse, and it quieted
+me very much; but William was very anxious ever after about my talking in
+my sleep, and took care to lie with me always himself, and to keep me from
+lodging in any house where so much as a word of English was understood.
+
+However, there was not the like occasion afterward; for I was much more
+composed in my mind, and resolved for the future to live a quite different
+life from what I had done. As to the wealth I had, I looked upon it as
+nothing; I resolved to set it apart to any such opportunity of doing
+justice as God should put into my hand; and the miraculous opportunity I
+had afterwards of applying some parts of it to preserve a ruined family,
+whom I had plundered, may be worth reading, if I have room for it in this
+account.
+
+With these resolutions I began to be restored to some degree of quiet in my
+mind; and having, after almost three months' stay at Bassorah, disposed of
+some goods, but having a great quantity left, we hired boats according to
+the Dutchman's direction, and went up to Bagdad, or Babylon, on the river
+Tigris, or rather Euphrates. We had a very considerable cargo of goods with
+us, and therefore made a great figure there, and were received with
+respect. We had, in particular, two-and-forty bales of Indian stuffs of
+sundry sorts, silks, muslins, and fine chintz; we had fifteen bales of very
+fine China silks, and seventy packs or bales of spices, particularly cloves
+and nutmegs, with other goods. We were bid money here for our cloves, but
+the Dutchman advised us not to part with them, and told us we should get a
+better price at Aleppo, or in the Levant; so we prepared for the caravan.
+
+We concealed our having any gold or pearls as much as we could, and
+therefore sold three or four bales of China silks and Indian calicoes, to
+raise money to buy camels and to pay the customs which are taken at several
+places, and for our provisions over the deserts.
+
+I travelled this journey, careless to the last degree of my goods or
+wealth, believing that, as I came by it all by rapine and violence, God
+would direct that it should be taken from me again in the same manner; and,
+indeed, I think I might say I was very willing it should be so. But, as I
+had a merciful Protector above me, so I had a most faithful steward,
+counsellor, partner, or whatever I might call him, who was my guide, my
+pilot, my governor, my everything, and took care both of me and of all we
+had; and though he had never been in any of these parts of the world, yet
+he took the care of all upon him; and in about nine-and-fifty days we
+arrived from Bassorah, at the mouth of the river Tigris or Euphrates,
+through the desert, and through Aleppo to Alexandria, or, as we call it,
+Scanderoon, in the Levant.
+
+Here William and I, and the other two, our faithful comrades, debated what
+we should do; and here William and I resolved to separate from the other
+two, they resolving to go with the Dutchman into Holland, by the means of
+some Dutch ship which lay then in the road. William and I told them we
+resolved to go and settle in the Morea, which then belonged to the
+Venetians.
+
+It is true we acted wisely in it not to let them know whither we went,
+seeing we had resolved to separate; but we took our old doctor's directions
+how to write to him in Holland, and in England, that we might have
+intelligence from him on occasion, and promised to give him an account how
+to write to us, which we afterwards did, as may in time be made out.
+
+We stayed here some time after they were gone, till at length, not being
+thoroughly resolved whither to go till then, a Venetian ship touched at
+Cyprus, and put in at Scanderoon to look for freight home. We took the
+hint, and bargaining for our passage, and the freight of our goods, we
+embarked for Venice, where, in two-and-twenty days, we arrived safe, with
+all our treasure, and with such a cargo, take our goods and our money and
+our jewels together, as, I believed, was never brought into the city by two
+single men, since the state of Venice had a being.
+
+We kept ourselves here _incognito_ for a great while, passing for two
+Armenian merchants still, as we had done before; and by this time we had
+gotten so much of the Persian and Armenian jargon, which they talked at
+Bassorah and Bagdad, and everywhere that we came in the country, as was
+sufficient to make us able to talk to one another, so as not to be
+understood by anybody, though sometimes hardly by ourselves.
+
+Here we converted all our effects into money, settled our abode as for a
+considerable time, and William and I, maintaining an inviolable friendship
+and fidelity to one another, lived like two brothers; we neither had or
+sought any separate interest; we conversed seriously and gravely, and upon
+the subject of our repentance continually; we never changed, that is to
+say, so as to leave off our Armenian garbs; and we were called, at Venice,
+the two Grecians.
+
+I had been two or three times going to give a detail of our wealth, but it
+will appear incredible, and we had the greatest difficulty in the world how
+to conceal it, being justly apprehensive lest we might be assassinated in
+that country for our treasure. At length William told me he began to think
+now that he must never see England any more, and that indeed he did not
+much concern himself about it; but seeing we had gained so great wealth,
+and he had some poor relations in England, if I was willing, he would write
+to know if they were living, and to know what condition they were in, and
+if he found such of them were alive as he had some thoughts about, he
+would, with my consent, send them something to better their condition.
+
+I consented most willingly; and accordingly William wrote to a sister and
+an uncle, and in about five weeks' time received an answer from them both,
+directed to himself, under cover of a hard Armenian name that he had given
+himself, viz., Signore Constantine Alexion of Ispahan, at Venice.
+
+It was a very moving letter he received from his sister, who, after the
+most passionate expressions of joy to hear he was alive, seeing she had
+long ago had an account that he was murdered by the pirates in the West
+Indies, entreats him to let her know what circumstances he was in; tells
+him she was not in any capacity to do anything considerable for him, but
+that he should be welcome to her with all her heart; that she was left a
+widow, with four children, but kept a little shop in the Minories, by which
+she made shift to maintain her family; and that she had sent him five
+pounds, lest he should want money, in a strange country, to bring him home.
+
+I could see the letter brought tears out of his eyes as he read it; and,
+indeed, when he showed it to me, and the little bill for five pounds, upon
+an English merchant in Venice, it brought tears out of my eyes too.
+
+After we had been both affected sufficiently with the tenderness and
+kindness of this letter, he turns to me; says he, "What shall I do for this
+poor woman?" I mused a while; at last says I, "I will tell you what you
+shall do for her. She has sent you five pounds, and she has four children,
+and herself, that is five; such a sum, from a poor woman in her
+circumstances, is as much as five thousand pounds is to us; you shall send
+her a bill of exchange for five thousand pounds English money, and bid her
+conceal her surprise at it till she hears from you again; but bid her leave
+off her shop, and go and take a house somewhere in the country, not far off
+from London, and stay there, in a moderate figure, till she hears from you
+again."
+
+"Now," says William, "I perceive by it that you have some thoughts of
+venturing into England."
+
+"Indeed, William," said I, "you mistake me; but it presently occurred to me
+that you should venture, for what have you done that you may not be seen
+there? Why should I desire to keep you from your relations, purely to keep
+me company?"
+
+William looked very affectionately upon me. "Nay," says he, "we have
+embarked together so long, and come together so far, I am resolved I will
+never part with thee as long as I live, go where thou wilt, or stay where
+thou wilt; and as for my sister," said William, "I cannot send her such a
+sum of money, for whose is all this money we have? It is most of it thine."
+
+"No, William," said I, "there is not a penny of it mine but what is yours
+too, and I won't have anything but an equal share with you, and therefore
+you shall send it to her; if not, I will send it."
+
+"Why," says William, "it will make the poor woman distracted; she will be
+so surprised she will go out of her wits."
+
+"Well," said I, "William, you may do it prudently; send her a bill backed
+of a hundred pounds, and bid her expect more in a post or two, and that you
+will send her enough to live on without keeping shop, and then send her
+more."
+
+Accordingly William sent her a very kind letter, with a bill upon a
+merchant in London for a hundred and sixty pounds, and bid her comfort
+herself with the hope that he should be able in a little time to send her
+more. About ten days after, he sent her another bill of five hundred and
+forty pounds; and a post or two after, another for three hundred pounds,
+making in all a thousand pounds; and told her he would send her sufficient
+to leave off her shop, and directed her to take a house as above.
+
+He waited then till he received an answer to all the three letters, with an
+account that she had received the money, and, which I did not expect, that
+she had not let any other acquaintance know that she had received a
+shilling from anybody, or so much as that he was alive, and would not till
+she had heard again.
+
+When he showed me this letter, "Well, William," said I, "this woman is fit
+to be trusted with life or anything; send her the rest of the five thousand
+pounds, and I'll venture to England with you, to this woman's house,
+whenever you will."
+
+In a word, we sent her five thousand pounds in good bills; and she received
+them very punctually, and in a little time sent her brother word that she
+had pretended to her uncle that she was sickly and could not carry on the
+trade any longer, and that she had taken a large house about four miles
+from London, under pretence of letting lodgings for her livelihood; and, in
+short, intimated as if she understood that he intended to come over to be
+_incognito_, assuring him he should be as retired as he pleased.
+
+This was opening the very door for us that we thought had been effectually
+shut for this life; and, in a word, we resolved to venture, but to keep
+ourselves entirely concealed, both as to name and every other circumstance;
+and accordingly William sent his sister word how kindly he took her prudent
+steps, and that she had guessed right that he desired to be retired, and
+that he obliged her not to increase her figure, but live private, till she
+might perhaps see him.
+
+He was going to send the letter away. "Come, William," said I, "you shan't
+send her an empty letter; tell her you have a friend coming with you that
+must be as retired as yourself, and I'll send her five thousand pounds
+more."
+
+So, in short, we made this poor woman's family rich; and yet, when it came
+to the point, my heart failed me, and I durst not venture; and for William,
+he would not stir without me; and so we stayed about two years after this,
+considering what we should do.
+
+You may think, perhaps, that I was very prodigal of my ill-gotten goods,
+thus to load a stranger with my bounty, and give a gift like a prince to
+one that had been able to merit nothing of me, or indeed know me; but my
+condition ought to be considered in this case; though I had money to
+profusion, yet I was perfectly destitute of a friend in the world, to have
+the least obligation or assistance from, or knew not either where to
+dispose or trust anything I had while I lived, or whom to give it to if I
+died.
+
+When I had reflected upon the manner of my getting of it, I was sometimes
+for giving it all to charitable uses, as a debt due to mankind, though I
+was no Roman Catholic, and not at all of the opinion that it would purchase
+me any repose to my soul; but I thought, as it was got by a general
+plunder, and which I could make no satisfaction for, it was due to the
+community, and I ought to distribute it for the general good. But still I
+was at a loss how, and where, and by whom to settle this charity, not
+daring to go home to my own country, lest some of my comrades, strolled
+home, should see and detect me, and for the very spoil of my money, or the
+purchase of his own pardon, betray and expose me to an untimely end.
+
+Being thus destitute, I say, of a friend, I pitched thus upon William's
+sister; the kind step of hers to her brother, whom she thought to be in
+distress, signifying a generous mind and a charitable disposition; and
+having resolved to make her the object of my first bounty, I did not doubt
+but I should purchase something of a refuge for myself, and a kind of a
+centre, to which I should tend in my future actions; for really a man that
+has a subsistence, and no residence, no place that has a magnetic influence
+upon his affections, is in one of the most odd, uneasy conditions in the
+world, nor is it in the power of all his money to make it up to him.
+
+It was, as I told you, two years and upwards that we remained at Venice and
+thereabout, in the greatest hesitation imaginable, irresolute and unfixed
+to the last degree. William's sister importuned us daily to come to
+England, and wondered we should not dare to trust her, whom we had to such
+a degree obliged to be faithful; and in a manner lamented her being
+suspected by us.
+
+At last I began to incline; and I said to William, "Come, brother William,"
+said I (for ever since our discourse at Bassorah I called him brother), "if
+you will agree to two or three things with me, I'll go home to England with
+all my heart."
+
+Says William, "Let me know what they are."
+
+"Why, first," says I, "you shall not disclose yourself to any of your
+relations in England but your sister--no, not one; secondly, we will not
+shave off our mustachios or beards" (for we had all along worn our beards
+after the Grecian manner), "nor leave off our long vests, that we may pass
+for Grecians and foreigners; thirdly, that we shall never speak English in
+public before anybody, your sister excepted; fourthly, that we will always
+live together and pass for brothers."
+
+William said he would agree to them all with all his heart, but that the
+not speaking English would be the hardest, but he would do his best for
+that too; so, in a word, we agreed to go from Venice to Naples, where we
+converted a large sum of money into bales of silk, left a large sum in a
+merchant's hands at Venice, and another considerable sum at Naples, and
+took bills of exchange for a great deal too; and yet we came with such a
+cargo to London as few American merchants had done for some years, for we
+loaded in two ships seventy-three bales of thrown silk, besides thirteen
+bales of wrought silks, from the duchy of Milan, shipped at Genoa, with all
+which I arrived safely; and some time after I married my faithful
+protectress, William's sister, with whom I am much more happy than I
+deserve.
+
+And now, having so plainly told you that I am come to England, after I have
+so boldly owned what life I have led abroad, it is time to leave off, and
+say no more for the present, lest some should be willing to inquire too
+nicely after your old friend CAPTAIN BOB.
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: The words "thae" (Scottish dialect for "those") and
+"Geat Mogul" ("Great" may be meant) do occur as such in the print copy.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the
+Famous Captain Singleton, by Daniel Defoe
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SINGLETON ***
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