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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the
+Famous Captain Singleton, by Daniel Defoe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton
+
+Author: Daniel Defoe
+
+Commentator: Edward Garnett
+
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6422]
+This file was first posted on December 10, 2002
+Last Updated: June 20, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SINGLETON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CAPTAIN SINGLETON
+
+
+By Daniel Defoe
+
+
+
+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
+
+
+
+
+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
+fuzees, 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 fuzees 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 not 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 that 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 loath 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 Great
+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 and Piracies of
+the Famous Captain Singleton, by Daniel Defoe
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