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Title: The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton

Author: Daniel Defoe

Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6422]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on December 10, 2002]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SINGLETON ***




Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.





CAPTAIN SINGLETON

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY EDWARD GARNETT




[Transcriber's Note: In the print copy, the following words and those of
the title page are written in intricate, illuminated calligraphy.]

A TALE WHICH HOLDETH CHILDREN FROM PLAY
AND OLD MEN FROM THE CHIMNEY CORNER

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY





THE LIFE ADVENTURES AND PIRACIES
OF THE FAMOUS CAPTAIN SINGLETON

BY DANIEL DEFOE




PREFACE

That all Defoe's novels, with the exception of "Robinson Crusoe," should
have been covered with the dust of neglect for many generations, is a plain
proof of how much fashions in taste affect the popularity of the British
classics. It is true that three generations or so ago, Defoe's works were
edited by both Sir Walter Scott and Hazlitt, and that this masterly piece
of realism, "Captain Singleton," was reprinted a few years back in "The
Camelot Classics," but it is safe to say that out of every thousand readers
of "Robinson Crusoe" only one or two will have even heard of the "Memoirs
of a Cavalier," "Colonel Jack," "Moll Flanders," or "Captain Singleton." It
is indeed distressing to think that while many scores of thousands of
copies of Lord Lytton's flashy romance, "Paul Clifford," have been devoured
by the public, "Captain Singleton" has remained unread and almost
forgotten. But the explanation is simple. Defoe's plain and homely realism
soon grew to be thought vulgar by people who themselves aspired to be
refined and genteel. The rapid spread of popular education, in the middle
of last century, was responsible for a great many aberrations of taste, and
the works of the two most English of Englishmen, Defoe and Hogarth, were
judged to be hardly fitting for polite society, as we may see from Lamb's
Essay on Hogarth, and from an early edition of Chambers's "Cyclopaedia of
English Literature" (1843), where we are told: "Nor is it needful to show
how elegant and reflective literature, especially, tends to moralise, to
soften, and to adorn the soul and life of man." "Unfortunately the taste or
_circumstances of Defoe led him mostly into low life_, and his characters
are such _as we cannot sympathise with_. The whole arcana of roguery
and villany seems to have been open to him.... It might be thought that the
good taste which led Defoe to write in a style of such pure and
unpretending English, instead of the inflated manner of vulgar writers,
_would have dictated a more careful selection of his subjects_, and
kept him from wandering so frequently into the low and disgusting purlieus
of vice. But this moral and tasteful discrimination seems to have been
wholly wanting," &c. The 'forties were the days when critics still talked
learnedly of the "noble style," &c., "the vulgar," of "sinking" or "rising"
with "the subject," the days when Books of Beauty were in fashion, and
Rembrandt's choice of beggars, wrinkled faces and grey hairs, for his
favourite subjects seemed a low and reprehensible taste in "high art."
Though critics to-day still ingenuously confound an artist's subject with
his treatment of it, and prefer scenes of life to be idealised rather than
realised by writers, we have advanced a little since the days of the poet
Montgomery, and it would be difficult now to find anybody writing so
confidently--"Unfortunately the taste or circumstances of Defoe led him
mostly into low life," however much the critic might believe it. But let us
glance at a few passages in "Captain Singleton," which may show us why
Defoe excels as a realist, and why his descriptions of "low life" are
artistically as perfect as any descriptions of "higher life" in the works
of the English novelists. Take the following description of kidnapping:--

  "The woman pretending to take me up in her arms and kiss me, and
  play with me, draws the girl a good way from the house, till at
  last she makes a fine story to the girl, and bids her go back to
  the maid, and tell her where she was with the child; that a
  gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child and was kissing it, but
  she should not be frightened, or to that purpose; for they were
  but just there; and so while the girl went, she carried me quite
  away.--Page 2.

Now here, in a single sentence, Defoe catches for us the whole soul and
character of the situation. It _seems_ very simple, but it sums up
marvellously an exact observation and knowledge of the arts of the gipsy
child-stealer, of her cunning flattery and brassy boldness, and we can
see the simple little girl running back to the house to tell the nurse
that a fine lady was kissing the child, and had told her to tell where
they were and she should not be frightened, &c.; and this picture again
calls up the hue and cry after the kidnappers and the fruitless hopes of
the parents. In a word, Defoe has condensed in the eight simple lines of
his little scene all that is essential to its living truth; and let the
young writer note that it is ever the sign of the master to do in three
words, or with three strokes, what the ordinary artist does in thirty.
Defoe's imagination is so extraordinarily comprehensive in picking out
just those little matter-of-fact details that suggest all the other
aspects, and that emphasise the character of the scene or situation,
that he makes us believe in the actuality of whatever he is describing.
So real, so living in every detail is this apocryphal narrative, in
"Captain Singleton," of the crossing of Africa by a body of marooned
sailors from the coast of Mozambique to the Gold Coast, that one would
firmly believe Defoe was committing to writing the verbal narrative of
some adventurer in the flesh, if it were not for certain passages--such
as the description of the impossible desert on page 90, which proves
that Defoe was piecing together his description of an imaginary journey
from the geographical records and travellers' tales of his contemporaries,
aided perhaps by the confused yarns of some sailor friends. How
substantially truthful in spirit and in detail is Defoe's account of
Madagascar is proved by the narrative of Robert Drury's "Captivity in
Madagascar," published in 1729. The natives themselves, as described
intimately by Drury, who lived amongst them for many years, would produce
just such an effect as Defoe describes on rough sailors in their perilous
position. The method by which Defoe compels us to accept improbabilities,
and lulls our critical sense asleep, is well shown in the following
passages:--

  "Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the most
  abominable lewdness, was the stated practice of the ship's crew;
  adding to it, that with the most unsufferable boasts of their own
  courage, they were, generally speaking, the most complete cowards
  that I ever met with."--Page 7.

  "All the seamen in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck,
  where the captain was walking with some of his officers, and
  appointing the boatswain to speak for them, he went up, and falling
  on his knees to the captain, begged of him in the humblest manner
  possible, to receive the four men on board again, offering to answer
  for their fidelity, or to have them kept in chains, till they came
  to Lisbon, and there to be delivered up to justice, rather than, as
  they said, to have them left, to be murdered by savages, or devoured
  by wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took any notice
  of them, but when he did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and
  threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking for them....
  Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than the rest, but
  still with all possible respect to the captain, besought his honour,
  as he called him, that he would give leave to some more of them to
  go on shore, and die with their companions, or, if possible, to
  assist them to resist the barbarians."--Page 18.

Now the first passage we have quoted about the cowardice, &c., of the
Portuguese crew is not in keeping with the second passage, which shows the
men as "wishing to die with their companions"; but so actual is the scene
of the seamen "in a body coming up to the rail of the quarter-deck," that
we cannot but believe the thing happened so, just as we believe in all the
thousand little details of the imaginary narrative of "Robinson Crusoe."
This feat of the imagination Defoe strengthens in the most artful manner,
by putting in the mouths of his characters various reflections to
substantiate the narrative. For example, in the description, on page 263,
of the savages who lined the perilous channel in a half-moon, where the
European ship lay, we find the afterthoughts are added so naturally, that
they would carry conviction to any judge or jury:--

  "They little thought what service they had done us, and how
  unwittingly, and by the greatest ignorance, they had made
  themselves pilots to us, while we, having not sounded the place,
  might have been lost before we were aware. _It is true we might
  have sounded our new harbour, before we had ventured out; but I
  cannot say for certain, whether we should or not; for I, for my
  part, had not the least suspicion of what our real case was;
  however, I say, perhaps, before we had weighed, we should have
  looked about us a little._"

Turning to the other literary qualities that make Defoe's novels great,
if little read, classics, how delightful are the little satiric touches
that add grave weight to the story. Consider the following: "My good
gipsy mother, for some of her worthy actions, no doubt, happened in
process of time to be hanged, and as this fell out something too soon
for me to be perfected in the strolling trade," &c.(p. 3). Every other
word here is dryly satiric, and the large free callousness and careless
brutality of Defoe's days with regard to the life of criminals is
conveyed in half a sentence. And what an amount of shrewd observation is
summed up in this one saying: "Upon these foundations, William said he
was satisfied we might trust them; for, says William, I would as soon
trust a man whose interest binds him to be just to me, as a man whose
principle binds himself" (p. 227). Extremely subtle is also this remark:
"_Why, says I, did you ever know a pirate repent?_ At this he
started a little and returned, _At the gallows_ I have known
_one_ repent, and I _hope_ thou wilt be the second." The
character of William the Quaker pirate is a masterpiece of shrewd
humour. He is the first Quaker brought into English fiction, and we
know of no other Friend in latter-day fiction to equal him. Defoe in
his inimitable manner has defined surely and deftly the peculiar
characteristics of the sect in this portrait. On three separate occasions
we find William saving unfortunate natives or defenceless prisoners from
the cruel and wicked barbarity of the sailors. At page 183, for example,
the reader will find a most penetrating analysis of the dense stupidity
which so often accompanies man's love of bloodshed. The sketch of the
second lieutenant, who was for "murdering the negroes to make them tell,"
when he could not make them even understand what he wanted, is worthy of
Tolstoy. We have not space here to dwell upon the scores of passages of
similar deep insight which make "Captain Singleton" a most true and vivid
commentary on the life of Defoe's times, but we may call special attention
to the passage on page 189 which describe the sale of the negroes to the
planters; to the description of the awakening of the conscience of Captain
Singleton through terror at the fire-cloud (page 222); and to the
extraordinarily picturesque conversation between William and the captive
Dutchman (page 264). Finally, if the reader wishes to taste Defoe's flavour
in its perfection let him examine carefully those passages in the
concluding twenty pages of the book, wherein Captain Singleton is shown
as awakening to the wickedness of his past life, and the admirable dry
reasoning of William by which the Quaker prevents him from committing
suicide and persuades him to keep his ill-gotten wealth, "with a resolution
to do what right with it we are able; and who knows what opportunity
Providence may put into our hands.... As it is without doubt, our present
business is to go to some place of safety, where we may wait His will."
How admirable is the passage about William's sister, the widow with four
children who kept a little shop in the Minories, and that in which the
penitent ex-pirates are shown us as hesitating in Venice for two years
before they durst venture to England for fear of the gallows.

"Captain Singleton" was published in 1720, a year after "Robinson Crusoe,"
when Defoe was fifty-nine. Twenty years before had seen "The True-Born
Englishman" and "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters"; and we are told
that from "June 1687 to almost the very week of his death in 1731 a stream
of controversial books and pamphlets poured from his pen commenting upon
and marking every important passing event." The fecundity of Defoe as a
journalist alone surpasses that of any great journalist we can name,
William Cobbett not excepted, and we may add that the style of "Captain
Singleton," like that of "Robinson Crusoe," is so perfect that there is not
a single ineffective passage, or indeed a weak sentence, to be found in the
book.

EDWARD GARNETT.




The following is a list of Defoe's works: "New Discovery of Old Intrigue"
(verse), 1691. "Character of Dr. Samuel Annesley" (verse), 1697. "The
Pacificator" (verse), 1700. "True-Born Englishman" (verse), 1701. "The Mock
Mourners" (verse), 1702. "Reformation of Manners" (verse), 1702. "New Test
of Church of England's Loyalty," 1702. "Shortest Way with the Dissenters,"
1702. "Ode to the Athenian Society," 1703. "Enquiry into Acgill's General
Translation," 1703. "More Reformation" (verse), 1703. "Hymn to the
Pillory," 1703. "The Storm" (Tale), 1704. "Layman's Sermon on the Late
Storm," 1704. "The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from
the World in the Moon," 1704. "Elegy on Author of 'True-Born Englishman,'"
1704. "Hymn to Victory," 1704. "Giving Alms no Charity," 1704. "The Dyet of
Poland" (verse), 1705. "Apparition of Mrs. Veal," 1706. "Sermon on the
Filling-up of Dr. Burgess's Meeting-house," 1706. "Jure Divino" (verse),
1706. "Caledonia" (verse), 1706. "History of the Union of Great Britain,"
1709. "Short Enquiry into a Late Duel," 1713. "A General History of Trade,"
1713. "Wars of Charles III.," 1715. "The Family Instruction" (two eds.),
1715. "Hymn to the Mob," 1715. "Memoirs of the Church of Scotland," 1717.
"Life and Death of Count Patkul," 1717. "Memoirs of Duke of Shrewsbury,"
1718. "Memoirs of Daniel Williams," 1718. "The Life and Strange Surprising
Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner," 1719. "The Farther
Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," 1719. "The Dumb Philosopher: or, Great
Britain's Wonder," 1719. "The King of Pirates" (Capt. Avery), 1719. "Life
of Baron de Goertz," 1719. "Life and Adventures of Duncan Campbell," 1720.
"Mr. Campbell's Pacquet," 1720. "Memoirs of a Cavalier," 1720. "Life of
Captain Singleton," 1720. "Serious Reflections during the Life and
Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," 1720. "The Supernatural
Philosopher; or, The Mysteries of Magick," 1720. Translation of Du
Fresnoy's "Compleat Art of Painting" (verse), 1720. "Moll Flanders," 1722,
"Journal of the Plague Year," 1722. "Due Preparations for the Plague,"
1722. "Life of Cartouche," 1722. "History of Colonel Jacque," 1722.
"Religious Courtship," 1722. "History of Peter the Great," 1723. "The
Highland Rogue" (Rob Roy), 1723. "The Fortunate Mistress" (Roxana), 1724.
"Narrative of Murders at Calais," 1724. "Life of John Sheppard," 1724.
"Robberies, Escapes, &c., of John Sheppard," 1724. "The Great Law of
Subordination; or, The Insolence and Insufferable Behaviour of Servants in
England," 1724. "A Tour through Great Britain," 1724-6. "New Voyage Round
the World," 1725. "Account of Jonathan Wild," 1725. "Account of John Gow,"
1725. "Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business" (on Servants), 1725. "The
Complete English Tradesman," 1725; vol. ii., 1727. "The Friendly Demon,"
1726. "Mere Nature Delineated" (Peter the Wild Boy), 1726. "Political
History of the Devil," 1726. "Essay upon Literature and the Original of
Letters," 1726. "History of Discoveries," 1726-7. "The Protestant
Monastery," 1726. "A System of Magic," 1726. "Parochial Tyranny," 1727.
"Treatise concerning Use and Abuse of Marriage," 1727. "Secrets of
Invisible World Discovered; or, History and Reality of Apparitions," 1727,
1728. "A New Family Instructor," 1728. "Augusta Triumphans," 1728. "Plan of
English Commerce," 1728. "Second Thoughts are Best" (on Street Robberies),
1728. "Street Robberies Considered," 1728. "Humble Proposal to People of
England for Increase of Trade, &c.," 1729. "Preface to R. Dodsley's Poem
'Servitude'" 1729. "Effectual Scheme for Preventing Street Robberies,"
1731.

Besides the above-named publications a large number of further tracts by
Defoe are extant, on matters of Politics and Church.




THE LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES
OF CAPTAIN SINGLETON


As it is usual for great persons, whose lives have been remarkable, and
whose actions deserve recording to posterity, to insist much upon their
originals, give full accounts of their families, and the histories of their
ancestors, so, that I may be methodical, I shall do the same, though I can
look but a very little way into my pedigree, as you will see presently.

If I may believe the woman whom I was taught to call mother, I was a little
boy, of about two years old, very well dressed, had a nursery-maid to
attend me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into the fields
towards Islington, as she pretended, to give the child some air; a little
girl being with her, of twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in the
neighbourhood. The maid, whether by appointment or otherwise, meets with a
fellow, her sweetheart, as I suppose; he carries her into a public-house,
to give her a pot and a cake; and while they were toying in the house the
girl plays about, with me in her hand, in the garden and at the door,
sometimes in sight, sometimes out of sight, thinking no harm.

At this juncture comes by one of those sort of people who, it seems, made
it their business to spirit away little children. This was a hellish trade
in those days, and chiefly practised where they found little children very
well dressed, or for bigger children, to sell them to the plantations.

The woman, pretending to take me up in her arms and kiss me, and play with
me, draws the girl a good way from the house, till at last she makes a fine
story to the girl, and bids her go back to the maid, and tell her where she
was with the child; that a gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child, and
was kissing of it, but she should not be frighted, or to that purpose; for
they were but just there; and so, while the girl went, she carries me quite
away.

From this time, it seems, I was disposed of to a beggar woman that wanted a
pretty little child to set out her case; and after that, to a gipsy, under
whose government I continued till I was about six years old. And this
woman, though I was continually dragged about with her from one part of the
country to another, yet never let me want for anything; and I called her
mother; though she told me at last she was not my mother, but that she
bought me for twelve shillings of another woman, who told her how she came
by me, and told her that my name was Bob Singleton, not Robert, but plain
Bob; for it seems they never knew by what name I was christened.

It is in vain to reflect here, what a terrible fright the careless hussy
was in that lost me; what treatment she received from my justly enraged
father and mother, and the horror these must be in at the thoughts of their
child being thus carried away; for as I never knew anything of the matter,
but just what I have related, nor who my father and mother were, so it
would make but a needless digression to talk of it here.

My good gipsy mother, for some of her worthy actions no doubt, happened in
process of time to be hanged; and as this fell out something too soon for
me to be perfected in the strolling trade, the parish where I was left,
which for my life I can't remember, took some care of me, to be sure; for
the first thing I can remember of myself afterwards, was, that I went to a
parish school, and the minister of the parish used to talk to me to be a
good boy; and that, though I was but a poor boy, if I minded my book, and
served God, I might make a good man.

I believe I was frequently removed from one town to another, perhaps as the
parishes disputed my supposed mother's last settlement. Whether I was so
shifted by passes, or otherwise, I know not; but the town where I last was
kept, whatever its name was, must be not far off from the seaside; for a
master of a ship who took a fancy to me, was the first that brought me to a
place not far from Southampton, which I afterwards knew to be Bussleton;
and there I attended the carpenters, and such people as were employed in
building a ship for him; and when it was done, though I was not above
twelve years old, he carried me to sea with him on a voyage to
Newfoundland.

I lived well enough, and pleased my master so well that he called me his
own boy; and I would have called him father, but he would not allow it, for
he had children of his own. I went three or four voyages with him, and grew
a great sturdy boy, when, coming home again from the banks of Newfoundland,
we were taken by an Algerine rover, or man-of-war; which, if my account
stands right, was about the year 1695, for you may be sure I kept no
journal.

I was not much concerned at the disaster, though I saw my master, after
having been wounded by a splinter in the head during the engagement, very
barbarously used by the Turks; I say, I was not much concerned, till, upon
some unlucky thing I said, which, as I remember, was about abusing my
master, they took me and beat me most unmercifully with a flat stick on the
soles of my feet, so that I could neither go or stand for several days
together.

But my good fortune was my friend upon this occasion; for, as they were
sailing away with our ship in tow as a prize, steering for the Straits, and
in sight of the bay of Cadiz, the Turkish rover was attacked by two great
Portuguese men-of-war, and taken and carried into Lisbon.

As I was not much concerned at my captivity, not indeed understanding the
consequences of it, if it had continued, so I was not suitably sensible of
my deliverance; nor, indeed, was it so much a deliverance to me as it would
otherwise have been, for my master, who was the only friend I had in the
world, died at Lisbon of his wounds; and I being then almost reduced to my
primitive state, viz., of starving, had this addition to it, that it was in
a foreign country too, where I knew nobody and could not speak a word of
their language. However, I fared better here than I had reason to expect;
for when all the rest of our men had their liberty to go where they would,
I, that knew not whither to go, stayed in the ship for several days, till
at length one of the lieutenants seeing me, inquired what that young
English dog did there, and why they did not turn him on shore.

I heard him, and partly understood what he meant, though not what he said,
and began then to be in a terrible fright; for I knew not where to get a
bit of bread; when the pilot of the ship, an old seaman, seeing me look
very dull, came to me, and speaking broken English to me, told me I must be
gone. "Whither must I go?" said I. "Where you will," said he, "home to your
own country, if you will." "How must I go thither?" said I. "Why, have you
no friend?" said he. "No," said I, "not in the world, but that dog,"
pointing to the ship's dog (who, having stolen a piece of meat just before,
had brought it close by me, and I had taken it from him, and ate it), "for
he has been a good friend, and brought me my dinner."

"Well, well," says he, "you must have your dinner. Will you go with me?"
"Yes," says I, "with all my heart." In short, the old pilot took me home
with him, and used me tolerably well, though I fared hard enough; and I
lived with him about two years, during which time he was soliciting his
business, and at length got to be master or pilot under Don Garcia de
Pimentesia de Carravallas, captain of a Portuguese galleon or carrack,
which was bound to Goa, in the East Indies; and immediately having gotten
his commission, put me on board to look after his cabin, in which he had
stored himself with abundance of liquors, succades, sugar, spices, and
other things, for his accommodation in the voyage, and laid in afterwards a
considerable quantity of European goods, fine lace and linen; and also
baize, woollen cloth, stuffs, &c., under the pretence of his clothes.

I was too young in the trade to keep any journal of this voyage, though my
master, who was, for a Portuguese, a pretty good artist, prompted me to it;
but my not understanding the language was one hindrance; at least it served
me for an excuse. However, after some time, I began to look into his charts
and books; and, as I could write a tolerable hand, understood some Latin,
and began to have a little smattering of the Portuguese tongue, so I began
to get a superficial knowledge of navigation, but not such as was likely to
be sufficient to carry me through a life of adventure, as mine was to be.
In short, I learned several material things in this voyage among the
Portuguese; I learned particularly to be an arrant thief and a bad sailor;
and I think I may say they are the best masters for teaching both these of
any nation in the world.

We made our way for the East Indies, by the coast of Brazil; not that it is
in the course of sailing the way thither, but our captain, either on his
own account, or by the direction of the merchants, went thither first,
where at All Saints' Bay, or, as they call it in Portugal, the Rio de Todos
los Santos, we delivered near a hundred tons of goods, and took in a
considerable quantity of gold, with some chests of sugar, and seventy or
eighty great rolls of tobacco, every roll weighing at least a
hundredweight.

Here, being lodged on shore by my master's order, I had the charge of the
captain's business, he having seen me very diligent for my own master; and
in requital for his mistaken confidence, I found means to secure, that is
to say, to steal, about twenty moidores out of the gold that was shipped on
board by the merchants, and this was my first adventure.

We had a tolerable voyage from hence to the Cape de Bona Speranza; and I
was reputed as a mighty diligent servant to my master, and very faithful. I
was diligent indeed, but I was very far from honest; however, they thought
me honest, which, by the way, was their very great mistake. Upon this very
mistake the captain took a particular liking to me, and employed me
frequently on his own occasion; and, on the other hand, in recompense for
my officious diligence, I received several particular favours from him;
particularly, I was, by the captain's command, made a kind of a steward
under the ship's steward, for such provisions as the captain demanded for
his own table. He had another steward for his private stores besides, but
my office concerned only what the captain called for of the ship's stores
for his private use.

However, by this means I had opportunity particularly to take care of my
master's man, and to furnish myself with sufficient provisions to make me
live much better than the other people in the ship; for the captain seldom
ordered anything out of the ship's stores, as above, but I snipt some of it
for my own share. We arrived at Goa, in the East Indies, in about seven
months from Lisbon, and remained there eight more; during which time I had
indeed nothing to do, my master being generally on shore, but to learn
everything that is wicked among the Portuguese, a nation the most
perfidious and the most debauched, the most insolent and cruel, of any that
pretend to call themselves Christians, in the world.

Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the most abominable
lewdness, was the stated practice of the ship's crew; adding to it, that,
with the most insufferable boasts of their own courage, they were,
generally speaking, the most complete cowards that I ever met with; and the
consequence of their cowardice was evident upon many occasions. However,
there was here and there one among them that was not so bad as the rest;
and, as my lot fell among them, it made me have the most contemptible
thoughts of the rest, as indeed they deserved.

I was exactly fitted for their society indeed; for I had no sense of virtue
or religion upon me. I had never heard much of either, except what a good
old parson had said to me when I was a child of about eight or nine years
old; nay, I was preparing and growing up apace to be as wicked as anybody
could be, or perhaps ever was. Fate certainly thus directed my beginning,
knowing that I had work which I had to do in the world, which nothing but
one hardened against all sense of honesty or religion could go through; and
yet, even in this state of original wickedness, I entertained such a
settled abhorrence of the abandoned vileness of the Portuguese, that I
could not but hate them most heartily from the beginning, and all my life
afterwards. They were so brutishly wicked, so base and perfidious, not only
to strangers but to one another, so meanly submissive when subjected, so
insolent, or barbarous and tyrannical, when superior, that I thought there
was something in them that shocked my very nature. Add to this that it is
natural to an Englishman to hate a coward, it all joined together to make
the devil and a Portuguese equally my aversion.

However, according to the English proverb, he that is shipped with the
devil must sail with the devil; I was among them, and I managed myself as
well as I could. My master had consented that I should assist the captain
in the office, as above; but, as I understood afterwards that the captain
allowed my master half a moidore a month for my service, and that he had my
name upon the ship's books also, I expected that when the ship came to be
paid four months' wages at the Indies, as they, it seems, always do, my
master would let me have something for myself.

But I was wrong in my man, for he was none of that kind; he had taken me up
as in distress, and his business was to keep me so, and make his market of
me as well as he could, which I began to think of after a different manner
than I did at first, for at first I thought he had entertained me in mere
charity, upon seeing my distressed circumstances, but did not doubt but
when he put me on board the ship, I should have some wages for my service.

But he thought, it seems, quite otherwise; and when I procured one to
speak to him about it, when the ship was paid at Goa, he flew into the
greatest rage imaginable, and called me English dog, young heretic, and
threatened to put me into the Inquisition. Indeed, of all the names the
four-and-twenty letters could make up, he should not have called me
heretic; for as I knew nothing about religion, neither Protestant from
Papist, or either of them from a Mahometan, I could never be a heretic.
However, it passed but a little, but, as young as I was, I had been
carried into the Inquisition, and there, if they had asked me if I was a
Protestant or a Catholic, I should have said yes to that which came
first. If it had been the Protestant they had asked first, it had
certainly made a martyr of me for I did not know what.

But the very priest they carried with them, or chaplain of the ship, as we
called him, saved me; for seeing me a boy entirely ignorant of religion,
and ready to do or say anything they bid me, he asked me some questions
about it, which he found I answered so very simply, that he took it upon
him to tell them he would answer for my being a good Catholic, and he hoped
he should be the means of saving my soul, and he pleased himself that it
was to be a work of merit to him; so he made me as good a Papist as any of
them in about a week's time.

I then told him my case about my master; how, it is true, he had taken me
up in a miserable case on board a man-of-war at Lisbon; and I was indebted
to him for bringing me on board this ship; that if I had been left at
Lisbon, I might have starved, and the like; and therefore I was willing to
serve him, but that I hoped he would give me some little consideration for
my service, or let me know how long he expected I should serve him for
nothing.

It was all one; neither the priest nor any one else could prevail with him,
but that I was not his servant but his slave, that he took me in the
Algerine, and that I was a Turk, only pretended to be an English boy to get
my liberty, and he would carry me to the Inquisition as a Turk.

This frighted me out of my wits, for I had nobody to vouch for me what I
was, or from whence I came; but the good Padre Antonio, for that was his
name, cleared me of that part by a way I did not understand; for he came to
me one morning with two sailors, and told me they must search me, to bear
witness that I was not a Turk. I was amazed at them, and frighted, and did
not understand them, nor could I imagine what they intended to do to me.
However, stripping me, they were soon satisfied, and Father Antony bade me
be easy, for they could all witness that I was no Turk. So I escaped that
part of my master's cruelty.

And now I resolved from that time to run away from him if I could, but
there was no doing of it there, for there were not ships of any nation in
the world in that port, except two or three Persian vessels from Ormus, so
that if I had offered to go away from him, he would have had me seized on
shore, and brought on board by force; so that I had no remedy but patience.
And this he brought to an end too as soon as he could, for after this he
began to use me ill, and not only to straiten my provisions, but to beat
and torture me in a barbarous manner for every trifle, so that, in a word,
my life began to be very miserable.

The violence of this usage of me, and the impossibility of my escape from
his hands, set my head a-working upon all sorts of mischief, and in
particular I resolved, after studying all other ways to deliver myself, and
finding all ineffectual, I say, I resolved to murder him. With this hellish
resolution in my head, I spent whole nights and days contriving how to put
it in execution, the devil prompting me very warmly to the fact. I was
indeed entirely at a loss for the means, for I had neither gun or sword,
nor any weapon to assault him with; poison I had my thoughts much upon, but
knew not where to get any; or, if I might have got it, I did not know the
country word for it, or by what name to ask for it.

In this manner I quitted the fact, intentionally, a hundred and a hundred
times; but Providence, either for his sake or for mine, always frustrated
my designs, and I could never bring it to pass; so I was obliged to
continue in his chains till the ship, having taken in her loading, set sail
for Portugal.

I can say nothing here to the manner of our voyage, for, as I said, I kept
no journal; but this I can give an account of, that having been once as
high as the Cape of Good Hope, as we call it, or Cabo de Bona Speranza, as
they call it, we were driven back again by a violent storm from the W.S.W.,
which held us six days and nights a great way to the eastward, and after
that, standing afore the wind for several days more, we at last came to an
anchor on the coast of Madagascar.

The storm had been so violent that the ship had received a great deal of
damage, and it required some time to repair her; so, standing in nearer the
shore, the pilot, my master, brought the ship into a very good harbour,
where we rid in twenty-six fathoms water, about half a mile from the shore.

While the ship rode here there happened a most desperate mutiny among the
men, upon account of some deficiency in their allowance, which came to that
height that they threatened the captain to set him on shore, and go back
with the ship to Goa. I wished they would with all my heart, for I was full
of mischief in my head, and ready enough to do any. So, though I was but a
boy, as they called me, yet I prompted the mischief all I could, and
embarked in it so openly, that I escaped very little being hanged in the
first and most early part of my life; for the captain had some notice that
there was a design laid by some of the company to murder him; and having,
partly by money and promises, and partly by threatening and torture,
brought two fellows to confess the particulars, and the names of the
persons concerned, they were presently apprehended, till, one accusing
another, no less than sixteen men were seized and put into irons, whereof I
was one.

The captain, who was made desperate by his danger, resolving to clear the
ship of his enemies, tried us all, and we were all condemned to die. The
manner of his process I was too young to take notice of; but the purser and
one of the gunners were hanged immediately, and I expected it with the
rest. I do not remember any great concern I was under about it, only that I
cried very much, for I knew little then of this world, and nothing at all
of the next.

However, the captain contented himself with executing these two, and some
of the rest, upon their humble submission and promise of future good
behaviour, were pardoned; but five were ordered to be set on shore on the
island and left there, of which I was one. My master used all his interest
with the captain to have me excused, but could not obtain it; for somebody
having told him that I was one of them who was singled out to have killed
him, when my master desired I might not be set on shore, the captain told
him I should stay on board if he desired it, but then I should be hanged,
so he might choose for me which he thought best. The captain, it seems, was
particularly provoked at my being concerned in the treachery, because of
his having been so kind to me, and of his having singled me out to serve
him, as I have said above; and this, perhaps, obliged him to give my master
such a rough choice, either to set me on shore or to have me hanged on
board. And had my master, indeed, known what good-will I had for him, he
would not have been long in choosing for me; for I had certainly determined
to do him a mischief the first opportunity I had for it. This was,
therefore, a good providence for me to keep me from dipping my hands in
blood, and it made me more tender afterwards in matters of blood than I
believe I should otherwise have been. But as to my being one of them that
was to kill the captain, that I was wronged in, for I was not the person,
but it was really one of them that were pardoned, he having the good luck
not to have that part discovered.

I was now to enter upon a part of independent life, a thing I was indeed
very ill prepared to manage, for I was perfectly loose and dissolute in my
behaviour, bold and wicked while I was under government, and now perfectly
unfit to be trusted with liberty, for I was as ripe for any villainy as a
young fellow that had no solid thought ever placed in his mind could be
supposed to be. Education, as you have heard, I had none; and all the
little scenes of life I had passed through had been full of dangers and
desperate circumstances; but I was either so young or so stupid, that I
escaped the grief and anxiety of them, for want of having a sense of their
tendency and consequences.

This thoughtless, unconcerned temper had one felicity indeed in it, that it
made me daring and ready for doing any mischief, and kept off the sorrow
which otherwise ought to have attended me when I fell into any mischief;
that this stupidity was instead of a happiness to me, for it left my
thoughts free to act upon means of escape and deliverance in my distress,
however great it might be; whereas my companions in the misery were so sunk
by their fear and grief, that they abandoned themselves to the misery of
their condition, and gave over all thought but of their perishing and
starving, being devoured by wild beasts, murdered, and perhaps eaten by
cannibals, and the like.

I was but a young fellow, about seventeen or eighteen; but hearing what was
to be my fate, I received it with no appearance of discouragement; but I
asked what my master said to it, and being told that he had used his utmost
interest to save me, but the captain had answered I should either go on
shore or be hanged on board, which he pleased, I then gave over all hope of
being received again. I was not very thankful in my thoughts to my master
for his soliciting the captain for me, because I knew that what he did was
not in kindness to me so much as in kindness to himself; I mean, to
preserve the wages which he got for me, which amounted to above six dollars
a month, including what the captain allowed him for my particular service
to him.

When I understood that my master was so apparently kind, I asked if I might
not be admitted to speak with him, and they told me I might, if my master
would come down to me, but I could not be allowed to come up to him; so
then I desired my master might be spoke to to come to me, and he
accordingly came to me. I fell on my knees to him, and begged he would
forgive me what I had done to displease him; and indeed the resolution I
had taken to murder him lay with some horror upon my mind just at that
time, so that I was once just a-going to confess it, and beg him to forgive
me, but I kept it in. He told me he had done all he could to obtain my
pardon of the captain, but could not and he knew no way for me but to have
patience, and submit to my fate; and if they came to speak with any ship of
their nation at the Cape, he would endeavour to have them stand in, and
fetch us off again, if we might be found.

Then I begged I might have my clothes on shore with me. He told me he was
afraid I should have little need of clothes, for he did not see how we
could long subsist on the island, and that he had been told that the
inhabitants were cannibals or men-eaters (though he had no reason for that
suggestion), and we should not be able to live among them. I told him I was
not so afraid of that as I was of starving for want of victuals; and as for
the inhabitants being cannibals, I believed we should be more likely to eat
them than they us, if we could but get at them. But I was mightily
concerned, I said, we should have no weapons with us to defend ourselves,
and I begged nothing now, but that he would give me a gun and a sword, with
a little powder and shot.

He smiled, and said they would signify nothing to us, for it was impossible
for us to pretend to preserve our lives among such a populous and desperate
nation as the people of this island were. I told him that, however, it
would do us this good, for we should not be devoured or destroyed
immediately; so I begged hard for the gun. At last he told me he did not
know whether the captain would give him leave to give me a gun, and if not,
he durst not do it; but he promised to use his interest to obtain it for
me, which he did, and the next day he sent me a gun, with some ammunition,
but told me the captain would not suffer the ammunition to be given us till
we were set all on shore, and till he was just going to set sail. He also
sent me the few clothes I had in the ship, which indeed were not many.

Two days after this, we were all carried on shore together; the rest of my
fellow-criminals hearing I had a gun, and some powder and shot, solicited
for liberty to carry the like with them, which was also granted them; and
thus we were set on shore to shift for ourselves.

At our first coming into the island we were terrified exceedingly with the
sight of the barbarous people, whose figure was made more terrible to us
than it really was by the report we had of them from the seamen; but when
we came to converse with them awhile, we found they were not cannibals, as
was reported, or such as would fall immediately upon us and eat us up; but
they came and sat down by us, and wondered much at our clothes and arms,
and made signs to give us some victuals, such as they had, which was only
roots and plants dug out of the ground for the present, but they brought us
fowls and flesh afterwards in good plenty.

This encouraged the other four men that were with me very much, for they
were quite dejected before; but now they began to be very familiar with
them, and made signs, that if they would use us kindly, we would stay and
live with them; which they seemed glad of, though they knew little of the
necessity we were under to do so, or how much we were afraid of them.

However, upon second thoughts we resolved that we would only stay in that
part so long as the ship rid in the bay, and then making them believe we
were gone with the ship, we would go and place ourselves, if possible,
where there were no inhabitants to be seen, and so live as we could, or
perhaps watch for a ship that might be driven upon the coast as we were.

The ship continued a fortnight in the roads, repairing some damage which
had been done her in the late storm, and taking in wood and water; and
during this time, the boat coming often on shore, the men brought us
several refreshments, and the natives believing we only belonged to the
ship, were civil enough. We lived in a kind of a tent on the shore, or
rather a hut, which we made with the boughs of trees, and sometimes in the
night retired to a wood a little out of their way, to let them think we
were gone on board the ship. However, we found them barbarous, treacherous,
and villainous enough in their nature, only civil from fear, and therefore
concluded we should soon fall into their hands when the ship was gone.

The sense of this wrought upon my fellow-sufferers even to distraction; and
one of them, being a carpenter, in his mad fit, swam off to the ship in the
night, though she lay then a league to sea, and made such pitiful moan to
be taken in, that the captain was prevailed with at last to take him in,
though they let him lie swimming three hours in the water before he
consented to it.

Upon this, and his humble submission, the captain received him, and, in a
word, the importunity of this man (who for some time petitioned to be taken
in, though they hanged him as soon as they had him) was such as could not
be resisted; for, after he had swam so long about the ship, he was not able
to reach the shore again; and the captain saw evidently that the man must
be taken on board or suffered to drown, and the whole ship's company
offering to be bound for him for his good behaviour, the captain at last
yielded, and he was taken up, but almost dead with his being so long in the
water.

When this man was got in, he never left importuning the captain, and all
the rest of the officers, in behalf of us that were behind, but to the very
last day the captain was inexorable; when, at the time their preparations
were making to sail, and orders given to hoist the boats into the ship, all
the seamen in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck, where the
captain was walking with some of his officers, and appointing the boatswain
to speak for them, he went up, and falling on his knees to the captain,
begged of him, in the humblest manner possible, to receive the four men on
board again, offering to answer for their fidelity, or to have them kept in
chains till they came to Lisbon, and there to be delivered up to justice,
rather than, as they said, to have them left to be murdered by savages, or
devoured by wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took any
notice of them, but when he did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and
threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking for them.

Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than the rest, but still with
all possible respect to the captain, besought his honour, as he called him,
that he would give leave to some more of them to go on shore, and die with
their companions, or, if possible, to assist them to resist the barbarians.
The captain, rather provoked than cowed with this, came to the barricade of
the quarter-deck, and speaking very prudently to the men (for had he spoken
roughly, two-thirds of them would have left the ship, if not all of them),
he told them, it was for their safety as well as his own that he had been
obliged to that severity; that mutiny on board a ship was the same thing as
treason in a king's palace, and he could not answer it to his owners and
employers to trust the ship and goods committed to his charge with men who
had entertained thoughts of the worst and blackest nature; that he wished
heartily that it had been anywhere else that they had been set on shore,
where they might have been in less hazard from the savages; that, if he had
designed they should be destroyed, he could as well have executed them on
board as the other two; that he wished it had been in some other part of
the world, where he might have delivered them up to the civil justice, or
might have left them among Christians; but it was better their lives were
put in hazard than his life, and the safety of the ship; and that though he
did not know that he had deserved so ill of any of them as that they should
leave the ship rather than do their duty, yet if any of them were resolved
to do so unless he would consent to take a gang of traitors on board, who,
as he had proved before them all, had conspired to murder him, he would not
hinder them, nor for the present would he resent their importunity; but, if
there was nobody left in the ship but himself, he would never consent to
take them on board.

This discourse was delivered so well, was in itself so reasonable, was
managed with so much temper, yet so boldly concluded with a negative, that
the greatest part of the men were satisfied for the present. However, as it
put the men into juntos and cabals, they were not composed for some hours;
the wind also slackening towards night, the captain ordered not to weigh
till next morning.

The same night twenty-three of the men, among whom was the gunner's mate,
the surgeon's assistant, and two carpenters, applying to the chief mate
told him, that as the captain had given them leave to go on shore to their
comrades, they begged that he would speak to the captain not to take it ill
that they were desirous to go and die with their companions; and that they
thought they could do no less in such an extremity than go to them;
because, if there was any way to save their lives, it was by adding to
their numbers, and making them strong enough to assist one another in
defending themselves against the savages, till perhaps they might one time
or other find means to make their escape, and get to their own country
again.

The mate told them, in so many words, that he durst not speak to the
captain upon any such design, and was very sorry they had no more respect
for him than to desire him to go upon such an errand; but, if they were
resolved upon such an enterprise, he would advise them to take the
long-boat in the morning betimes, and go off, seeing the captain had given
them leave, and leave a civil letter behind them to the captain, and to
desire him to send his men on shore for the boat, which should be delivered
very honestly, and he promised to keep their counsel so long.

Accordingly, an hour before day, those twenty-three men, with every man a
firelock and a cutlass, with some pistols, three halberds or half-pikes,
and good store of powder and ball, without any provision but about half a
hundred of bread, but with all their chests and clothes, tools,
instruments, books, &c., embarked themselves so silently, that the captain
got no notice of it till they were gotten half the way on shore.

As soon as the captain heard of it he called for the gunner's mate, the
chief gunner being at the time sick in his cabin, and ordered to fire at
them; but, to his great mortification, the gunner's mate was one of the
number, and was gone with them; and indeed it was by this means they got so
many arms and so much ammunition. When the captain found how it was, and
that there was no help for it, he began to be a little appeased, and made
light of it, and called up the men, and spoke kindly to them, and told them
he was very well satisfied in the fidelity and ability of those that were
now left, and that he would give to them, for their encouragement, to be
divided among them, the wages which were due to the men that were gone, and
that it was a great satisfaction to him that the ship was free from such a
mutinous rabble, who had not the least reason for their discontent.

The men seemed very well satisfied, and particularly the promise of the
wages of those who were gone went a great way with them. After this, the
letter which was left by the men was given to the captain by his boy, with
whom, it seems, the men had left it. The letter was much to the same
purpose of what they had said to the mate, and which he declined to say for
them, only that at the end of their letter they told the captain that, as
they had no dishonest design, so they had taken nothing away with them
which was not their own, except some arms and ammunition, such as were
absolutely necessary to them, as well for their defence against the savages
as to kill fowls or beasts for their food, that they might not perish; and
as there were considerable sums due to them for wages, they hoped he would
allow the arms and ammunition upon their accounts. They told him that, as
to the ship's longboat, which they had taken to bring them on shore, they
knew it was necessary to him, and they were very willing to restore it to
him, and if he pleased to send for it, it should be very honestly delivered
to his men, and not the least injury offered to any of those who came for
it, nor the least persuasion or invitation made use of to any of them to
stay with them; and, at the bottom of the letter, they very humbly besought
him that, for their defence, and for the safety of their lives, he would be
pleased to send them a barrel of powder and some ammunition, and give them
leave to keep the mast and sail of the boat, that if it was possible for
them to make themselves a boat of any kind, they might shift off to sea, to
save themselves in such part of the world as their fate should direct them
to.

Upon this the captain, who had won much upon the rest of his men by what he
had said to them, and was very easy as to the general peace (for it was
very true that the most mutinous of the men were gone), came out to the
quarter-deck, and, calling the men together, let them know the substance of
the letter, and told the men that, however they had not deserved such
civility from him, yet he was not willing to expose them more than they
were willing to expose themselves; he was inclined to send them some
ammunition, and as they had desired but one barrel of powder, he would send
them two barrels, and shot, or lead and moulds to make shot, in proportion;
and, to let them see that he was civiller to them than they deserved, he
ordered a cask of arrack and a great bag of bread to be sent them for
subsistence till they should be able to furnish themselves.

The rest of the men applauded the captain's generosity, and every one of
them sent us something or other, and about three in the afternoon the
pinnace came on shore, and brought us all these things, which we were very
glad of, and returned the long-boat accordingly; and as to the men that
came with the pinnace, as the captain had singled out such men as he knew
would not come over to us, so they had positive orders not to bring any one
of us on board again, upon pain of death; and indeed both were so true to
our points, that we neither asked them to stay, nor they us to go.

We were now a good troop, being in all twenty-seven men, very well armed,
and provided with everything but victuals; we had two carpenters among us,
a gunner, and, which was worth all the rest, a surgeon or doctor; that is
to say, he was an assistant to a surgeon at Goa, and was entertained as a
supernumerary with us. The carpenters had brought all their tools, the
doctor all his instruments and medicines, and indeed we had a great deal of
baggage, that is to say, on the whole, for some of us had little more than
the clothes on our backs, of whom I was one; but I had one thing which none
of them had, viz., I had the twenty-two moidores of gold which I had stole
at the Brazils, and two pieces of eight. The two pieces of eight I showed,
and one moidore, and none of them ever suspected that I had any more money
in the world, having been known to be only a poor boy taken up in charity,
as you have heard, and used like a slave, and in the worst manner of a
slave, by my cruel master the pilot.

It will be easy to imagine we four that were left at first were joyful,
nay, even surprised with joy at the coming of the rest, though at first we
were frighted, and thought they came to fetch us back to hang us; but they
took ways quickly to satisfy us that they were in the same condition with
us, only with this additional circumstance, theirs was voluntary, and ours
by force.

The first piece of news they told us after the short history of their
coming away was, that our companion was on board, but how he got thither we
could not imagine, for he had given us the slip, and we never imagined he
could swim so well as to venture off to the ship, which lay at so great a
distance; nay, we did not so much as know that he could swim at all, and
not thinking anything of what really happened, we thought he must have
wandered into the woods and was devoured, or was fallen into the hands of
the natives, and was murdered; and these thoughts filled us with fears
enough, and of several kinds, about its being some time or other our lot to
fall into their hands also. But hearing how he had with much difficulty
been received on board the ship again and pardoned, we were much better
satisfied than before.

Being now, as I have said, a considerable number of us, and in condition to
defend ourselves, the first thing we did was to give every one his hand
that we would not separate from one another upon any occasion whatsoever,
but that we would live and die together; that we would kill no food, but
that we would distribute it in public; and that we would be in all things
guided by the majority, and not insist upon our own resolutions in anything
if the majority were against it; that we would appoint a captain among us
to be our governor or leader during pleasure; that while he was in office
we would obey him without reserve, on pain of death; and that every one
should take turn, but the captain was not to act in any particular thing
without advice of the rest, and by the majority.

Having established these rules, we resolved to enter into some measures for
our food, and for conversing with the inhabitants or natives of the island
for our supply. As for food, they were at first very useful to us, but we
soon grew weary of them, being an ignorant, ravenous, brutish sort of
people, even worse than the natives of any other country that we had seen;
and we soon found that the principal part of our subsistence was to be had
by our guns, shooting of deer and other creatures, and fowls of all other
sorts, of which there is abundance.

We found the natives did not disturb or concern themselves much about us;
nor did they inquire, or perhaps know, whether we stayed among them or not,
much less that our ship was gone quite away, and had cast us off, as was
our case; for the next morning, after we had sent back the long-boat, the
ship stood away to the south-east, and in four hours' time was out of our
sight.

The next day two of us went out into the country one way, and two another,
to see what kind of a land we were in; and we soon found the country was
very pleasant and fruitful, and a convenient place enough to live in; but,
as before, inhabited by a parcel of creatures scarce human, or capable of
being made social on any account whatsoever.

We found the place full of cattle and provisions; but whether we might
venture to take them where we could find them or not, we did not know; and
though we were under a necessity to get provisions, yet we were loth to
bring down a whole nation of devils upon us at once, and therefore some of
our company agreed to try to speak with some of the country, if we could,
that we might see what course was to be taken with them. Eleven of our men
went on this errand, well armed and furnished for defence. They brought
word that they had seen some of the natives, who appeared very civil to
them, but very shy and afraid, seeing their guns, for it was easy to
perceive that the natives knew what their guns were, and what use they were
of.

They made signs to the natives for some food, and they went and fetched
several herbs and roots, and some milk; but it was evident they did not
design to give it away, but to sell it, making signs to know what our men
would give them.

Our men were perplexed at this, for they had nothing to barter; however,
one of the men pulled out a knife and showed them, and they were so fond of
it that they were ready to go together by the ears for the knife. The
seaman seeing that, was willing to make a good market of his knife, and
keeping them chaffering about it a good while, some offered him roots, and
others milk; at last one offered him a goat for it, which he took. Then
another of our men showed them another knife, but they had nothing good
enough for that, whereupon one of them made signs that he would go and
fetch something; so our men stayed three hours for their return, when they
came back and brought him a small-sized, thick, short cow, very fat and
good meat, and gave him for his knife.

This was a good market, but our misfortune was we had no merchandise; for
our knives were as needful to us as to them, and but that we were in
distress for food, and must of necessity have some, these men would not
have parted with their knives.

However, in a little time more we found that the woods were full of living
creatures, which we might kill for our food, and that without giving
offence to them; so that our men went daily out a-hunting, and never failed
in killing something or other; for, as to the natives, we had no goods to
barter; and for money, all the stock among us would not have subsisted us
long. However, we called a general council to see what money we had, and to
bring it all together, that it might go as far as possible; and when it
came to my turn, I pulled out a moidore and the two dollars I spoke of
before.

This moidore I ventured to show, that they might not despise me too much
for adding too little to the store, and that they might not pretend to
search me; and they were very civil to me, upon the presumption that I had
been so faithful to them as not to conceal anything from them.

But our money did us little service, for the people neither knew the value
or the use of it, nor could they justly rate the gold in proportion with
the silver; so that all our money, which was not much when it was all put
together, would go but a little way with us, that is to say, to buy us
provisions.

Our next consideration was to get away from this cursed place, and whither
to go. When my opinion came to be asked, I told them I would leave that all
to them, and I told them I had rather they would let me go into the woods
to get them some provisions, than consult with me, for I would agree to
whatever they did; but they would not agree to that, for they would not
consent that any of us should go into the woods alone; for though we had
yet seen no lions or tigers in the woods, we were assured there were many
in the island, besides other creatures as dangerous, and perhaps worse, as
we afterwards found by our own experience.

We had many adventures in the woods, for our provisions, and often met with
wild and terrible beasts, which we could not call by their names; but as
they were, like us, seeking their prey, but were themselves good for
nothing, so we disturbed them as little as possible.

Our consultations concerning our escape from this place, which, as I have
said, we were now upon, ended in this only, that as we had two carpenters
among us, and that they had tools almost of all sorts with them, we should
try to build us a boat to go off to sea with, and that then, perhaps, we
might find our way back to Goa, or land on some more proper place to make
our escape. The counsels of this assembly were not of great moment, yet as
they seem to be introductory of many more remarkable adventures which
happened under my conduct hereabouts many years after, I think this
miniature of my future enterprises may not be unpleasant to relate.

To the building of a boat I made no objection, and away they went to work
immediately; but as they went on, great difficulties occurred, such as the
want of saws to cut our plank; nails, bolts, and spikes, to fasten the
timbers; hemp, pitch, and tar, to caulk and pay her seams, and the like. At
length, one of the company proposed that, instead of building a bark or
sloop, or shallop, or whatever they would call it, which they found was so
difficult, they would rather make a large periagua, or canoe, which might
be done with great ease.

It was presently objected, that we could never make a canoe large enough to
pass the great ocean, which we were to go over to get to the coast of
Malabar; that it not only would not bear the sea, but it would never bear
the burden, for we were not only twenty-seven men of us, but had a great
deal of luggage with us, and must, for our provision, take in a great deal
more.

I never proposed to speak in their general consultations before, but
finding they were at some loss about what kind of vessel they should make,
and how to make it, and what would be fit for our use, and what not, I told
them I found they were at a full stop in their counsels of every kind; that
it was true we could never pretend to go over to Goa on the coast of
Malabar in a canoe, which though we could all get into it, and that it
would bear the sea well enough, yet would not hold our provisions, and
especially we could not put fresh water enough into it for the voyage; and
to make such an adventure would be nothing but mere running into certain
destruction, and yet that nevertheless I was for making a canoe.

They answered, that they understood all I had said before well enough, but
what I meant by telling them first how dangerous and impossible it was to
make our escape in a canoe, and yet then to advise making a canoe, that
they could not understand.

To this I answered, that I conceived our business was not to attempt our
escape in a canoe, but that, as there were other vessels at sea besides our
ship, and that there were few nations that lived on the sea-shore that were
so barbarous, but that they went to sea in some boats or other, our
business was to cruise along the coast of the island, which was very long,
and to seize upon the first we could get that was better than our own, and
so from that to another, till perhaps we might at last get a good ship to
carry us wherever we pleased to go.

"Excellent advice," says one of them. "Admirable advice," says another.
"Yes, yes," says the third (which was the gunner), "the English dog has
given excellent advice; but it is just the way to bring us all to the
gallows. The rogue has given us devilish advice, indeed, to go a-thieving,
till from a little vessel we came to a great ship, and so we shall turn
downright pirates, the end of which is to be hanged."

"You may call us pirates," says another, "if you will, and if we fall into
bad hands, we may be used like pirates; but I care not for that, I'll be a
pirate, or anything, nay, I'll be hanged for a pirate rather than starve
here, therefore I think the advice is very good." And so they cried all,
"Let us have a canoe." The gunner, over-ruled by the rest, submitted; but
as we broke up the council, he came to me, takes me by the hand, and,
looking into the palm of my hand, and into my face too, very gravely, "My
lad," says he, "thou art born to do a world of mischief; thou hast
commenced pirate very young; but have a care of the gallows, young man;
have a care, I say, for thou wilt be an eminent thief."

I laughed at him, and told him I did not know what I might come to
hereafter, but as our case was now, I should make no scruple to take the
first ship I came at to get our liberty; I only wished we could see one,
and come at her. Just while we were talking, one of our men that was at the
door of our hut, told us that the carpenter, who it seems was upon a hill
at a distance, cried out, "A sail! a sail!"

We all turned out immediately; but, though it was very clear weather, we
could see nothing; but the carpenter continuing to halloo to us, "A sail! a
sail!" away we run up the hill, and there we saw a ship plainly; but it was
at a very great distance, too far for us to make any signal to her.
However, we made a fire upon the hill, with all the wood we could get
together, and made as much smoke as possible. The wind was down, and it was
almost calm; but as we thought, by a perspective glass which the gunner had
in his pocket, her sails were full, and she stood away large with the wind
at E.N.E., taking no notice of our signal, but making for the Cape de Bona
Speranza; so we had no comfort from her.

We went, therefore, immediately to work about our intended canoe; and,
having singled out a very large tree to our minds, we fell to work with
her; and having three good axes among us, we got it down, but it was four
days' time first, though we worked very hard too. I do not remember what
wood it was, or exactly what dimensions, but I remember that it was a very
large one, and we were as much encouraged when we launched it, and found it
swam upright and steady, as we would have been at another time if we had
had a good man-of-war at our command.

She was so very large, that she carried us all very, very easily, and would
have carried two or three tons of baggage with us; so that we began to
consult about going to sea directly to Goa; but many other considerations
checked that thought, especially when we came to look nearer into it; such
as want of provisions, and no casks for fresh water; no compass to steer
by; no shelter from the breach of the high sea, which would certainly
founder us; no defence from the heat of the weather, and the like; so that
they all came readily into my project, to cruise about where we were, and
see what might offer.

Accordingly, to gratify our fancy, we went one day all out to sea in her
together, and we were in a very fair way to have had enough of it; for when
she had us all on board, and that we were gotten about half a league to
sea, there happening to be a pretty high swell of the sea, though little or
no wind, yet she wallowed so in the sea, that we all of us thought she
would at last wallow herself bottom up; so we set all to work to get her in
nearer the shore, and giving her fresh way in the sea, she swam more
steady, and with some hard work we got her under the land again.

We were now at a great loss; the natives were civil enough to us, and came
often to discourse with us; one time they brought one whom they showed
respect to as a king with them, and they set up a long pole between them
and us, with a great tassel of hair hanging, not on the top, but something
above the middle of it, adorned with little chains, shells, bits of brass,
and the like; and this, we understood afterwards, was a token of amity and
friendship; and they brought down to us victuals in abundance, cattle,
fowls, herbs, and roots; but we were in the utmost confusion on our side;
for we had nothing to buy with, or exchange for; and as to giving us things
for nothing they had no notion of that again. As to our money, it was mere
trash to them, they had no value for it; so that we were in a fair way to
be starved. Had we had but some toys and trinkets, brass chains, baubles,
glass beads, or, in a word, the veriest trifles that a shipload of would
not have been worth the freight, we might have bought cattle and provisions
enough for an army, or to victual a fleet of men-of-war; but for gold or
silver we could get nothing.

Upon this we were in a strange consternation. I was but a young fellow, but
I was for falling upon them with our firearms, and taking all the cattle
from them, and send them to the devil to stop their hunger, rather than be
starved ourselves; but I did not consider that this might have brought ten
thousand of them down upon us the next day; and though we might have killed
a vast number of them, and perhaps have frighted the rest, yet their own
desperation, and our small number, would have animated them so that, one
time or other, they would have destroyed us all.

In the middle of our consultation, one of our men who had been a kind of a
cutler, or worker in iron, started up and asked the carpenter if, among all
his tools, he could not help him to a file. "Yes," says the carpenter, "I
can, but it is a small one." "The smaller the better," says the other. Upon
this he goes to work, and first by heating a piece of an old broken chisel
in the fire, and then with the help of his file, he made himself several
kinds of tools for his work. Then he takes three or four pieces of eight,
and beats them out with a hammer upon a stone, till they were very broad
and thin; then he cuts them out into the shape of birds and beasts; he made
little chains of them for bracelets and necklaces, and turned them into so
many devices of his own head, that it is hardly to be expressed.

When he had for about a fortnight exercised his head and hands at this
work, we tried the effect of his ingenuity; and, having another meeting
with the natives, were surprised to see the folly of the poor people. For a
little bit of silver cut in the shape of a bird, we had two cows, and,
which was our loss, if it had been in brass, it had been still of more
value. For one of the bracelets made of chain-work, we had as much
provision of several sorts, as would fairly have been worth, in England,
fifteen or sixteen pounds; and so of all the rest. Thus, that which when it
was in coin was not worth sixpence to us, when thus converted into toys and
trifles, was worth a hundred times its real value, and purchased for us
anything we had occasion for.

In this condition we lived upwards of a year, but all of us began to be
very much tired of it, and, whatever came of it, resolved to attempt an
escape. We had furnished ourselves with no less than three very good
canoes; and as the monsoons, or trade-winds, generally affect that country,
blowing in most parts of this island one six months of a year one way, and
the other six months another way, we concluded we might be able to bear the
sea well enough. But always, when we came to look into it, the want of
fresh water was the thing that put us off from such an adventure, for it is
a prodigious length, and what no man on earth could be able to perform
without water to drink.

Being thus prevailed upon by our own reason to set the thoughts of that
voyage aside, we had then but two things before us; one was, to put to sea
the other way; viz., west, and go away for the Cape of Good Hope, where,
first or last, we should meet with some of our own country ships, or else
to put for the mainland of Africa, and either travel by land, or sail along
the coast towards the Red Sea, where we should, first or last, find a ship
of some nation or other, that would take us up; or perhaps we might take
them up, which, by-the-bye, was the thing that always ran in my head.

It was our ingenious cutler, whom ever after we called silversmith, that
proposed this; but the gunner told him, that he had been in the Red Sea in
a Malabar sloop, and he knew this, that if we went into the Red Sea, we
should either be killed by the wild Arabs, or taken and made slaves of by
the Turks; and therefore he was not for going that way.

Upon this I took occasion to put in my vote again. "Why," said I, "do we
talk of being killed by the Arabs, or made slaves of by the Turks? Are we
not able to board almost any vessel we shall meet with in those seas; and,
instead of their taking us, we to take them?" "Well done, pirate," said the
gunner (he that had looked in my hand, and told me I should come to the
gallows), "I'll say that for him," says he, "he always looks the same way.
But I think, of my conscience, it is our only way now." "Don't tell me,"
says I, "of being a pirate; we must be pirates, or anything, to get fairly
out of this cursed place."

In a word, they concluded all, by my advice, that our business was to
cruise for anything we could see. "Why then," said I to them, "our first
business is to see if the people upon this island have no navigation, and
what boats they use; and, if they have any better or bigger than ours, let
us take one of them." First, indeed, all our aim was to get, if possible, a
boat with a deck and a sail; for then we might have saved our provisions,
which otherwise we could not.

We had, to our great good fortune, one sailor among us, who had been
assistant to the cook; he told us, that he would find a way how to preserve
our beef without cask or pickle; and this he did effectually by curing it
in the sun, with the help of saltpetre, of which there was great plenty in
the island; so that, before we found any method for our escape, we had
dried the flesh of six or seven cows and bullocks, and ten or twelve goats,
and it relished so well, that we never gave ourselves the trouble to boil
it when we ate it, but either broiled it or ate it dry. But our main
difficulty about fresh water still remained; for we had no vessel to put
any into, much less to keep any for our going to sea.

But our first voyage being only to coast the island, we resolved to
venture, whatever the hazard or consequence of it might be, and in order to
preserve as much fresh water as we could, our carpenter made a well athwart
the middle of one of our canoes, which he separated from the other parts of
the canoe, so as to make it tight to hold the water and covered so as we
might step upon it; and this was so large that it held near a hogshead of
water very well. I cannot better describe this well than by the same kind
which the small fishing-boats in England have to preserve their fish alive
in; only that this, instead of having holes to let the salt water in, was
made sound every way to keep it out; and it was the first invention, I
believe, of its kind for such an use; but necessity is a spur to ingenuity
and the mother of invention.

It wanted but a little consultation to resolve now upon our voyage. The
first design was only to coast it round the island, as well to see if we
could seize upon any vessel fit to embark ourselves in, as also to take
hold of any opportunity which might present for our passing over to the
main; and therefore our resolution was to go on the inside or west shore of
the island, where, at least at one point, the land stretching a great way
to the north-west, the distance is not extraordinary great from the island
to the coast of Africa.

Such a voyage, and with such a desperate crew, I believe was never made,
for it is certain we took the worst side of the island to look for any
shipping, especially for shipping of other nations, this being quite out of
the way; however, we put to sea, after taking all our provisions and
ammunition, bag and baggage, on board; we had made both mast and sail for
our two large periaguas, and the other we paddled along as well as we
could; but when a gale sprung up, we took her in tow.

We sailed merrily forward for several days, meeting with nothing to
interrupt us. We saw several of the natives in small canoes catching fish,
and sometimes we endeavoured to come near enough to speak with them, but
they were always shy and afraid of us, making in for the shore as soon as
we attempted it; till one of our company remembered the signal of
friendship which the natives made us from the south part of the island,
viz., of setting up a long pole, and put us in mind that perhaps it was the
same thing to them as a flag of truce to us. So we resolved to try it; and
accordingly the next time we saw any of their fishing-boats at sea we put
up a pole in our canoe that had no sail, and rowed towards them. As soon as
they saw the pole they stayed for us, and as we came nearer paddled towards
us; when they came to us they showed themselves very much pleased, and gave
us some large fish, of which we did not know the names, but they were very
good. It was our misfortune still that we had nothing to give them in
return; but our artist, of whom I spoke before, gave them two little thin
plates of silver, beaten, as I said before, out of a piece of eight; they
were cut in a diamond square, longer one way than the other, and a hole
punched at one of the longest corners. This they were so fond of that they
made us stay till they had cast their lines and nets again, and gave us as
many fish as we cared to have.

All this while we had our eyes upon their boats, viewed them very narrowly,
and examined whether any of them were fit for our turn, but they were poor,
sorry things; their sail was made of a large mat, only one that was of a
piece of cotton stuff fit for little, and their ropes were twisted flags of
no strength; so we concluded we were better as we were, and let them alone.
We went forward to the north, keeping the coast close on board for twelve
days together, and having the wind at east and E.S.E., we made very fresh
way. We saw no towns on the shore, but often saw some huts by the
water-side upon the rocks, and always abundance of people about them, who
we could perceive run together to stare at us.

It was as odd a voyage as ever man went; we were a little fleet of three
ships, and an army of between twenty and thirty as dangerous fellows as
ever they had amongst them; and had they known what we were, they would
have compounded to give us everything we desired to be rid of us.

On the other hand, we were as miserable as nature could well make us to be,
for we were upon a voyage and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and
nowhere; for though we knew what we intended to do, we did really not know
what we were doing. We went forward and forward by a northerly course, and
as we advanced the heat increased, which began to be intolerable to us, who
were on the water, without any covering from heat or wet; besides, we were
now in the month of October, or thereabouts, in a southern latitude; and as
we went every day nearer the sun, the sun came also every day nearer to us,
till at last we found ourselves in the latitude of 20 degrees; and having
passed the tropic about five or six days before that, in a few days more
the sun would be in the zenith, just over our heads.

Upon these considerations we resolved to seek for a good place to go on
shore again, and pitch our tents, till the heat of the weather abated. We
had by this time measured half the length of the island, and were come to
that part where the shore tending away to the north-west, promised fair to
make our passage over to the mainland of Africa much shorter than we
expected. But, notwithstanding that, we had good reason to believe it was
about 120 leagues.

So, the heats considered, we resolved to take harbour; besides, our
provisions were exhausted, and we had not many days' store left.
Accordingly, putting in for the shore early in the morning, as we usually
did once in three or four days for fresh water, we sat down and considered
whether we would go on or take up our standing there; but upon several
considerations, too long to repeat here, we did not like the place, so we
resolved to go on a few days longer.

After sailing on N.W. by N. with a fresh gale at S.E., about six days, we
found, at a great distance, a large promontory or cape of land, pushing out
a long way into the sea, and as we were exceeding fond of seeing what was
beyond the cape, we resolved to double it before we took into harbour, so
we kept on our way, the gale continuing, and yet it was four days more
before we reached the cape. But it is not possible to express the
discouragement and melancholy that seized us all when we came thither; for
when we made the headland of the cape, we were surprised to see the shore
fall away on the other side as much as it had advanced on this side, and a
great deal more; and that, in short, if we would venture over to the shore
of Africa, it must be from hence, for that if we went further, the breadth
of the sea still increased, and to what breadth it might increase we knew
not.

While we mused upon this discovery, we were surprised with very bad
weather, and especially violent rains, with thunder and lightning, most
unusually terrible to us. In this pickle we run for the shore, and getting
under the lee of the cape, run our frigates into a little creek, where we
saw the land overgrown with trees, and made all the haste possible to get
on shore, being exceeding wet, and fatigued with the heat, the thunder,
lightning, and rain.

Here we thought our case was very deplorable indeed, and therefore our
artist, of whom I have spoken so often, set up a great cross of wood on the
hill which was within a mile of the headland, with these words, but in the
Portuguese language:--

"Point Desperation. Jesus have mercy."

We set to work immediately to build us some huts, and to get our clothes
dried; and though I was young and had no skill in such things, yet I shall
never forget the little city we built, for it was no less, and we fortified
it accordingly; and the idea is so fresh in my thought, that I cannot but
give a short description of it.

Our camp was on the south side of a little creek on the sea, and under the
shelter of a steep hill, which lay, though on the other side of the creek,
yet within a quarter of a mile of us, N.W. by N., and very happily
intercepted the heat of the sun all the after part of the day. The spot we
pitched on had a little fresh water brook, or a stream running into the
creek by us; and we saw cattle feeding in the plains and low ground east
and to the south of us a great way.

Here we set up twelve little huts like soldiers' tents, but made of the
boughs of trees stuck in the ground, and bound together on the top with
withies, and such other things as we could get; the creek was our defence
on the north, a little brook on the west, and the south and east sides were
fortified with a bank, which entirely covered our huts; and being drawn
oblique from the north-west to the south-east, made our city a triangle.
Behind the bank or line our huts stood, having three other huts behind them
at a good distance. In one of these, which was a little one, and stood
further off, we put our gunpowder, and nothing else, for fear of danger; in
the other, which was bigger, we dressed our victuals, and put all our
necessaries; and in the third, which was biggest of all, we ate our
dinners, called our councils, and sat and diverted ourselves with such
conversation as we had one with another, which was but indifferent truly at
that time.

Our correspondence with the natives was absolutely necessary, and our
artist the cutler having made abundance of those little diamond-cut squares
of silver, with these we made shift to traffic with the black people for
what we wanted; for indeed they were pleased wonderfully with them, and
thus we got plenty of provisions. At first, and in particular, we got about
fifty head of black cattle and goats, and our cook's mate took care to cure
them and dry them, salt and preserve them for our grand supply; nor was
this hard to do, the salt and saltpetre being very good, and the sun
excessively hot; and here we lived about four months.

The southern solstice was over, and the sun gone back towards the
equinoctial, when we considered of our next adventure, which was to go over
the sea of Zanguebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to land, if possible,
upon the continent of Africa.

We talked with many of the natives about it, such as we could make
ourselves intelligible to, but all that we could learn from them was, that
there was a great land of lions beyond the sea, but that it was a great way
off. We knew as well as they that it was a long way, but our people
differed mightily about it; some said it was 150 leagues, others not above
100. One of our men, that had a map of the world, showed us by his scale
that it was not above eighty leagues. Some said there were islands all the
way to touch at, some that there were no islands at all. For my own part, I
knew nothing of this matter one way or another, but heard it all without
concern, whether it was near or far off; however, this we learned from an
old man who was blind and led about by a boy, that if we stayed till the
end of August, we should be sure of the wind to be fair and the sea smooth
all the voyage.

This was some encouragement; but staying again was very unwelcome news to
us, because that then the sun would be returning again to the south, which
was what our men were very unwilling to. At last we called a council of our
whole body; their debates were too tedious to take notice of, only to note,
that when it came to Captain Bob (for so they called me ever since I had
taken state upon me before one of their great princes), truly I was on no
side; it was not one farthing matter to me, I told them, whether we went or
stayed; I had no home, and all the world was alike to me; so I left it
entirely to them to determine.

In a word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be done where we were
without shipping; that if our business indeed was only to eat and drink, we
could not find a better place in the world; but if our business was to get
away, and get home into our country, we could not find a worse.

I confess I liked the country wonderfully, and even then had strange
notions of coming again to live there; and I used to say to them very often
that if I had but a ship of twenty guns, and a sloop, and both well manned,
I would not desire a better place in the world to make myself as rich as a
king.

But to return to the consultations they were in about going. Upon the
whole, it was resolved to venture over for the main; and venture we did,
madly enough, indeed, for it was the wrong time of the year to undertake
such a voyage in that country; for, as the winds hang easterly all the
months from September to March, so they generally hang westerly all the
rest of the year, and blew right in our teeth; so that, as soon as we had,
with a kind of a land-breeze, stretched over about fifteen or twenty
leagues, and, as I may say, just enough to lose ourselves, we found the
wind set in a steady fresh gale or breeze from the sea, at west, W.S.W., or
S.W. by W., and never further from the west; so that, in a word, we could
make nothing of it.

On the other hand, the vessel, such as we had, would not lie close upon a
wind; if so, we might have stretched away N.N.W., and have met with a great
many islands in our way, as we found afterwards; but we could make nothing
of it, though we tried, and by the trying had almost undone us all; for,
stretching away to the north, as near the wind as we could, we had
forgotten the shape and position of the island of Madagascar itself; how
that we came off at the head of a promontory or point of land, that lies
about the middle of the island, and that stretches out west a great way
into the sea; and that now, being run a matter of forty leagues to the
north, the shore of the island fell off again above 200 miles to the east,
so that we were by this time in the wide ocean, between the island and the
main, and almost 100 leagues from both.

Indeed, as the winds blew fresh at west, as before, we had a smooth sea,
and we found it pretty good going before it, and so, taking our smallest
canoe in tow, we stood in for the shore with all the sail we could make.
This was a terrible adventure, for, if the least gust of wind had come, we
had been all lost, our canoes being deep and in no condition to make way in
a high sea.

This voyage, however, held us eleven days in all; and at length, having
spent most of our provisions, and every drop of water we had, we spied
land, to our great joy, though at the distance of ten or eleven leagues;
and as, under the land, the wind came off like a land-breeze, and blew hard
against us, we were two days more before we reached the shore, having all
that while excessive hot weather, and not a drop of water or any other
liquor, except some cordial waters, which one of our company had a little
of left in a case of bottles.

This gave us a taste of what we should have done if we had ventured forward
with a scant wind and uncertain weather, and gave us a surfeit of our
design for the main, at least until we might have some better vessels under
us; so we went on shore again, and pitched our camp as before, in as
convenient manner as we could, fortifying ourselves against any surprise;
but the natives here were exceeding courteous, and much more civil than on
the south part of the island; and though we could not understand what they
said, or they us, yet we found means to make them understand that we were
seafaring men and strangers, and that we were in distress for want of
provisions.

The first proof we had of their kindness was, that as soon as they saw us
come on shore and begin to make our habitation, one of their captains or
kings, for we knew not what to call them, came down with five or six men
and some women, and brought us five goats and two young fat steers, and
gave them to us for nothing; and when we went to offer them anything, the
captain or the king would not let any of them touch it, or take anything of
us. About two hours after came another king, or captain, with forty or
fifty men after him. We began to be afraid of him, and laid hands upon our
weapons; but he perceiving it, caused two men to go before him, carrying
two long poles in their hands, which they held upright, as high as they
could, which we presently perceived was a signal of peace; and these two
poles they set up afterwards, sticking them up in the ground; and when the
king and his men came to these two poles, they struck all their lances up
in the ground, and came on unarmed, leaving their lances, as also their
bows and arrows, behind them.

This was to satisfy us that they were come as friends, and we were glad to
see it, for we had no mind to quarrel with them if we could help it. The
captain of this gang seeing some of our men making up their huts, and that
they did it but bunglingly, he beckoned to some of his men to go and help
us. Immediately fifteen or sixteen of them came and mingled among us, and
went to work for us; and indeed, they were better workmen than we were, for
they run up three or four huts for us in a moment, and much handsomer done
than ours.

After this they sent us milk, plantains, pumpkins, and abundance of roots
and greens that were very good, and then took their leave, and would not
take anything from us that we had. One of our men offered the king or
captain of these men a dram, which he drank and was mightily pleased with
it, and held out his hand for another, which we gave him; and in a word,
after this, he hardly failed coming to us two or three times a week, always
bringing us something or other; and one time sent us seven head of black
cattle, some of which we cured and dried as before.

And here I cannot but remember one thing, which afterwards stood us in
great stead, viz., that the flesh of their goats, and their beef also, but
especially the former, when we had dried and cured it, looked red, and ate
hard and firm, as dried beef in Holland; they were so pleased with it, and
it was such a dainty to them, that at any time after they would trade with
us for it, not knowing, or so much as imagining what it was; so that for
ten or twelve pounds' weight of smoke-dried beef, they would give us a
whole bullock, or cow, or anything else we could desire.

Here we observed two things that were very material to us, even essentially
so; first, we found they had a great deal of earthenware here, which they
made use of many ways as we did; particularly they had long, deep earthen
pots, which they used to sink into the ground, to keep the water which they
drunk cool and pleasant; and the other was, that they had larger canoes
than their neighbours had.

By this we were prompted to inquire if they had no larger vessels than
those we saw there, or if any other of the inhabitants had not such. They
signified presently that they had no larger boats than that they showed us;
but that on the other side of the island they had larger boats, and that
with decks upon them, and large sails; and this made us resolve to coast
round the whole island to see them; so we prepared and victualled our canoe
for the voyage, and, in a word, went to sea for the third time.

It cost us a month or six weeks' time to perform this voyage, in which time
we went on shore several times for water and provisions, and found the
natives always very free and courteous; but we were surprised one morning
early, being at the extremity of the northernmost part of the island, when
one of our men cried out, "A sail! a sail!" We presently saw a vessel a
great way out at sea; but after we had looked at it with our perspective
glasses, and endeavoured all we could to make out what it was, we could not
tell what to think of it; for it was neither ship, ketch, galley, galliot,
or like anything that we had ever seen before; all that we could make of it
was, that it went from us, standing out to sea. In a word, we soon lost
sight of it, for we were in no condition to chase anything, and we never
saw it again; but, by all that we could perceive of it, from what we saw of
such things afterwards, it was some Arabian vessel, which had been trading
to the coast of Mozambique, or Zanzibar, the same place where we afterwards
went, as you shall hear.

I kept no journal of this voyage, nor indeed did I all this while
understand anything of navigation, more than the common business of a
foremast-man; so I can say nothing to the latitudes or distances of any
places we were at, how long we were going, or how far we sailed in a day;
but this I remember, that being now come round the island, we sailed up the
eastern shore due south, as we had done down the western shore due north
before.

Nor do I remember that the natives differed much from one another, either
in stature or complexion, or in their manners, their habits, their weapons,
or indeed in anything; and yet we could not perceive that they had any
intelligence one with another; but they were extremely kind and civil to us
on this side, as well as on the other.

We continued our voyage south for many weeks, though with several intervals
of going on shore to get provisions and water. At length, coming round a
point of land which lay about a league further than ordinary into the sea,
we were agreeably surprised with a sight which, no doubt, had been as
disagreeable to those concerned, as it was pleasant to us. This was the
wreck of an European ship, which had been cast away upon the rocks, which
in that place run a great way into the sea.

We could see plainly, at low water, a great deal of the ship lay dry; even
at high water, she was not entirely covered; and that at most she did not
lie above a league from the shore. It will easily be believed that our
curiosity led us, the wind and weather also permitting, to go directly to
her, which we did without any difficulty, and presently found that it was a
Dutch-built ship, and that she could not have been very long in that
condition, a great deal of the upper work of her stern remaining firm, with
the mizzen-mast standing. Her stern seemed to be jammed in between two
ridges of the rock, and so remained fast, all the fore part of the ship
having been beaten to pieces.

We could see nothing to be gotten out of the wreck that was worth our
while; but we resolved to go on shore, and stay some time thereabouts, to
see if perhaps we might get any light into the story of her; and we were
not without hopes that we might hear something more particular about her
men, and perhaps find some of them on shore there, in the same condition
that we were in, and so might increase our company.

It was a very pleasant sight to us when, coming on shore, we saw all the
marks and tokens of a ship-carpenter's yard; as a launch-block and cradles,
scaffolds and planks, and pieces of planks, the remains of the building a
ship or vessel; and, in a word, a great many things that fairly invited us
to go about the same work; and we soon came to understand that the men
belonging to the ship that was lost had saved themselves on shore, perhaps
in their boat, and had built themselves a barque or sloop, and so were gone
to sea again; and, inquiring of the natives which way they went, they
pointed to the south and south-west, by which we could easily understand
they were gone away to the Cape of Good Hope.

Nobody will imagine we could be so dull as not to gather from hence that we
might take the same method for our escape; so we resolved first, in
general, that we would try if possible to build us a boat of one kind or
other, and go to sea as our fate should direct.

In order to this our first work was to have the two carpenters search about
to see what materials the Dutchmen had left behind them that might be of
use; and, in particular, they found one that was very useful, and which I
was much employed about, and that was a pitch-kettle, and a little pitch in
it.

When we came to set close to this work we found it very laborious and
difficult, having but few tools, no ironwork, no cordage, no sails; so
that, in short, whatever we built, we were obliged to be our own smiths,
rope-makers, sail-makers, and indeed to practise twenty trades that we knew
little or nothing of. However, necessity was the spur to invention, and we
did many things which before we thought impracticable, that is to say, in
our circumstances.

After our two carpenters had resolved upon the dimensions of what they
would build, they set us all to work, to go off in our boats and split up
the wreck of the old ship, and to bring away everything we could; and
particularly that, if possible, we should bring away the mizzen-mast, which
was left standing, which with much difficulty we effected, after above
twenty days' labour of fourteen of our men.

At the same time we got out a great deal of ironwork, as bolts, spikes,
nails, &c., all of which our artist, of whom I have spoken already, who was
now grown a very dexterous smith, made us nails and hinges for our rudder,
and spikes such as we wanted.

But we wanted an anchor, and if we had had an anchor, we could not have
made a cable; so we contented ourselves with making some ropes with the
help of the natives, of such stuff as they made their mats of, and with
these we made such a kind of cable or tow-line as was sufficient to fasten
our vessel to the shore, which we contented ourselves with for that time.

To be short, we spent four months here, and worked very hard too; at the
end of which time we launched our frigate, which, in a few words, had many
defects, but yet, all things considered, it was as well as we could expect
it to be.

In short, it was a kind of sloop, of the burthen of near eighteen or twenty
tons; and had we had masts and sails, standing and running rigging, as is
usual in such cases, and other conveniences, the vessel might have carried
us wherever we could have had a mind to go; but of all the materials we
wanted, this was the worst, viz., that we had no tar or pitch to pay the
seams and secure the bottom; and though we did what we could, with tallow
and oil, to make a mixture to supply that part, yet we could not bring it
to answer our end fully; and when we launched her into the water, she was
so leaky, and took in the water so fast, that we thought all our labour had
been lost, for we had much ado to make her swim; and as for pumps, we had
none, nor had we any means to make one.

But at length one of the natives, a black negro-man, showed us a tree, the
wood of which being put into the fire, sends forth a liquid that is as
glutinous and almost as strong as tar, and of which, by boiling, we made a
sort of stuff which served us for pitch, and this answered our end
effectually; for we perfectly made our vessel sound and tight, so that we
wanted no pitch or tar at all. This secret has stood me in stead upon many
occasions since that time in the same place.

Our vessel being thus finished, out of the mizzen-mast of the ship we made
a very good mast to her, and fitted our sails to it as well as we could;
then we made a rudder and tiller, and, in a word, everything that our
present necessity called upon us for; and having victualled her, and put as
much fresh water on board as we thought we wanted, or as we knew how to
stow (for we were yet without casks), we put to sea with a fair wind.

We had spent near another year in these rambles, and in this piece of work;
for it was now, as our men said, about the beginning of our February, and
the sun went from us apace, which was much to our satisfaction, for the
heats were exceedingly violent. The wind, as I said, was fair; for, as I
have since learned, the winds generally spring up to the eastward, as the
sun goes from them to the north.

Our debate now was, which way we should go, and never were men so
irresolute; some were for going to the east, and stretching away directly
for the coast of Malabar; but others, who considered more seriously the
length of that voyage, shook their heads at the proposal, knowing very well
that neither our provisions, especially of water, or our vessel, were equal
to such a run as that is, of near 2000 miles without any land to touch at
in the way.

These men, too, had all along had a great mind to a voyage for the mainland
of Africa, where they said we should have a fair cast for our lives, and
might be sure to make ourselves rich, which way soever we went, if we were
but able to make our way through, whether by sea or by land.

Besides, as the case stood with us, we had not much choice for our way;
for, if we had resolved for the east, we were at the wrong season of the
year, and must have stayed till April or May before we had gone to sea. At
length, as we had the wind at S.E. and E.S.E., and fine promising weather,
we came all into the first proposal, and resolved for the coast of Africa;
nor were we long in disputing as to our coasting the island which we were
upon, for we were now upon the wrong side of the island for the voyage we
intended; so we stood away to the north, and, having rounded the cape, we
hauled away southward, under the lee of the island, thinking to reach the
west point of land, which, as I observed before, runs out so far towards
the coast of Africa, as would have shortened our run almost 100 leagues.
But when we had sailed about thirty leagues, we found the winds variable
under the shore, and right against us, so we concluded to stand over
directly, for then we had the wind fair, and our vessel was but very ill
fated to lie near the wind, or any way indeed but just before it.

Having resolved upon it, therefore, we put into the shore to furnish
ourselves again with fresh water and other provisions, and about the latter
end of March, with more courage than discretion, more resolution than
judgment, we launched for the main coast of Africa.

As for me, I had no anxieties about it, so that we had but a view of
reaching some land or other, I cared not what or where it was to be, having
at this time no views of what was before me, nor much thought of what might
or might not befall me; but with as little consideration as any one can be
supposed to have at my age, I consented to everything that was proposed,
however hazardous the thing itself, however improbable the success.

The voyage, as it was undertaken with a great deal of ignorance and
desperation, so really it was not carried on with much resolution or
judgment; for we knew no more of the course we were to steer than this,
that it was anywhere about the west, within two or three points N. or S.,
and as we had no compass with us but a little brass pocket compass, which
one of our men had more by accident than otherwise, so we could not be very
exact in our course.

However, as it pleased God that the wind continued fair at S.E. and by E.,
we found that N.W. by W., which was right afore it, was as good a course
for us as any we could go, and thus we went on.

The voyage was much longer than we expected; our vessel also, which had no
sail that was proportioned to her, made but very little way in the sea, and
sailed heavily. We had, indeed, no great adventures happened in this
voyage, being out of the way of everything that could offer to divert us;
and as for seeing any vessel, we had not the least occasion to hail
anything in all the voyage; for we saw not one vessel, small or great, the
sea we were upon being entirely out of the way of all commerce; for the
people of Madagascar knew no more of the shores of Africa than we did, only
that there was a country of lions, as they call it, that way.

We had been eight or nine days under sail, with a fair wind, when, to our
great joy, one of our men cried out "Land!" We had great reason to be glad
of the discovery, for we had not water enough left for above two or three
days more, though at a short allowance. However, though it was early in the
morning when we discovered it, we made it near night before we reached it,
the wind slackening almost to a calm, and our ship being, as I said, a very
dull sailer.

We were sadly baulked upon our coming to the land, when we found that,
instead of the mainland of Africa, it was only a little island, with no
inhabitants upon it, at least none that we could find; nor any cattle,
except a few goats, of which we killed three only. However, they served us
for fresh meat, and we found very good water; and it was fifteen days more
before we reached the main, which, however, at last we arrived at, and
which was most essential to us, as we came to it just as all our provisions
were spent. Indeed, we may say they were spent first, for we had but a pint
of water a day to each man for the last two days. But, to our great joy, we
saw the land, though at a great distance, the evening before, and by a
pleasant gale in the night were by morning within two leagues of the shore.

We never scrupled going ashore at the first place we came at, though, had
we had patience, we might have found a very fine river a little farther
north. However, we kept our frigate on float by the help of two great
poles, which we fastened into the ground to moor her, like poles; and the
little weak ropes, which, as I said, we had made of matting, served us well
enough to make the vessel fast.

As soon as we had viewed the country a little, got fresh water, and
furnished ourselves with some victuals, which we found very scarce here, we
went on board again with our stores. All we got for provision was some
fowls that we killed, and a kind of wild buffalo or bull, very small, but
good meat; I say, having got these things on board, we resolved to sail
along the coast, which lay N.N.E., till we found some creek or river, that
we might run up into the country, or some town or people; for we had reason
enough to know the place was inhabited, because we several times saw fires
in the night, and smoke in the day, every way at a distance from us.

At length we came to a very large bay, and in it several little creeks or
rivers emptying themselves into the sea, and we ran boldly into the first
creek we came at; where, seeing some huts and wild people about them on the
shore, we ran our vessel into a little cove on the north side of the creek,
and held up a long pole, with a white bit of cloth on it, for a signal of
peace to them. We found they understood us presently, for they came
flocking to us, men, women, and children, most of them, of both sexes,
stark naked. At first they stood wondering and staring at us, as if we had
been monsters, and as if they had been frighted; but we found they inclined
to be familiar with us afterwards. The first thing we did to try them, was,
we held up our hands to our mouths, as if we were to drink, signifying that
we wanted water. This they understood presently, and three of their women
and two boys ran away up the land, and came back in about half a quarter of
an hour, with several pots, made of earth, pretty enough, and baked, I
suppose, in the sun; these they brought us full of water, and set them down
near the sea-shore, and there left them, going back a little, that we might
fetch them, which we did.

Some time after this, they brought us roots and herbs, and some fruits
which I cannot remember, and gave us; but as we had nothing to give them,
we found them not so free as the people in Madagascar were. However, our
cutler went to work, and, as he had saved some iron out of the wreck of the
ship, he made abundance of toys, birds, dogs, pins, hooks, and rings; and
we helped to file them, and make them bright for him, and when we gave them
some of these, they brought us all sorts of provisions they had, such as
goats, hogs, and cows, and we got victuals enough.

We were now landed upon the continent of Africa, the most desolate, desert,
and inhospitable country in the world, even Greenland and Nova Zembla
itself not excepted, with this difference only, that even the worst part of
it we found inhabited, though, taking the nature and quality of some of the
inhabitants, it might have been much better to us if there had been none.

And, to add to the exclamation I am making on the nature of the place, it
was here that we took one of the rashest, and wildest, and most desperate
resolutions that ever was taken by man, or any number of men, in the world;
this was, to travel overland through the heart of the country, from the
coast of Mozambique, on the east ocean, to the coast of Angola or Guinea,
on the western or Atlantic Ocean, a continent of land of at least 1800
miles, in which journey we had excessive heats to support, unpassable
deserts to go over, no carriages, camels, or beasts of any kind to carry
our baggage, innumerable numbers of wild and ravenous beasts to encounter
with, such as lions, leopards, tigers, lizards, and elephants; we had the
equinoctial line to pass under, and, consequently, were in the very centre
of the torrid zone; we had nations of savages to encounter with, barbarous
and brutish to the last degree; hunger and thirst to struggle with, and, in
one word, terrors enough to have daunted the stoutest hearts that ever were
placed in cases of flesh and blood.

Yet, fearless of all these, we resolved to adventure, and accordingly made
such preparations for our journey as the place we were in would allow us,
and such as our little experience of the country seemed to dictate to us.

It had been some time already that we had been used to tread barefooted
upon the rocks, the gravel, the grass, and the sand on the shore; but as we
found the worst thing for our feet was the walking or travelling on the dry
burning sands, within the country, so we provided ourselves with a sort of
shoes, made of the skins of wild beasts, with the hair inward, and being
dried in the sun, the outsides were thick and hard, and would last a great
while. In short, as I called them, so I think the term very proper still,
we made us gloves for our feet, and we found them very convenient and very
comfortable.

We conversed with some of the natives of the country, who were friendly
enough. What tongue they spoke I do not yet pretend to know. We talked as
far as we could make them understand us, not only about our provisions, but
also about our undertaking, and asked them what country lay that way,
pointing west with our hands. They told us but little to our purpose, only
we thought, by all their discourse, that there were people to be found, of
one sort or other, everywhere; that there were many great rivers, many
lions and tigers, elephants, and furious wild cats (which in the end we
found to be civet cats), and the like.

When we asked them if any one had ever travelled that way, they told us
yes, some had gone to where the sun sleeps, meaning to the west, but they
could not tell us who they were. When we asked for some to guide us, they
shrunk up their shoulders as Frenchmen do when they are afraid to undertake
a thing. When we asked them about the lions and wild creatures, they
laughed, and let us know that they would do us no hurt, and directed us to
a good way indeed to deal with them, and that was to make some fire, which
would always fright them away; and so indeed we found it.

Upon these encouragements we resolved upon our journey, and many
considerations put us upon it, which, had the thing itself been
practicable, we were not so much to blame for as it might otherwise be
supposed; I will name some of them, not to make the account too tedious.

First, we were perfectly destitute of means to work about our own
deliverance any other way; we were on shore in a place perfectly remote
from all European navigation; so that we could never think of being
relieved, and fetched off by any of our own countrymen in that part of the
world. Secondly, if we had adventured to have sailed on along the coast of
Mozambique, and the desolate shores of Africa to the north, till we came to
the Red Sea, all we could hope for there was to be taken by the Arabs, and
be sold for slaves to the Turks, which to all of us was little better than
death. We could not build anything of a vessel that would carry us over the
great Arabian Sea to India, nor could we reach the Cape de Bona Speranza,
the winds being too variable, and the sea in that latitude too tempestuous;
but we all knew, if we could cross this continent of land, we might reach
some of the great rivers that run into the Atlantic Ocean; and that, on the
banks of any of those rivers, we might there build us canoes which would
carry us down, if it were thousands of miles, so that we could want nothing
but food, of which we were assured we might kill sufficient with our guns;
and to add to the satisfaction of our deliverance, we concluded we might,
every one of us, get a quantity of gold, which, if we came safe, would
infinitely recompense us for our toil.

I cannot say that in all our consultations I ever began to enter into the
weight and merit of any enterprise we went upon till now. My view before
was, as I thought, very good, viz., that we should get into the Arabian
Gulf, or the mouth of the Red Sea; and waiting for some vessel passing or
repassing there, of which there is plenty, have seized upon the first we
came at by force, and not only have enriched ourselves with her cargo, but
have carried ourselves to what part of the world we had pleased; but when
they came to talk to me of a march of 2000 or 3000 miles on foot, of
wandering in deserts among lions and tigers, I confess my blood ran chill,
and I used all the arguments I could to persuade them against it.

But they were all positive, and I might as well have held my tongue; so I
submitted, and told them I would keep to our first law, to be governed by
the majority, and we resolved upon our journey. The first thing we did was
to take an observation, and see whereabouts in the world we were, which we
did, and found we were in the latitude of 12 degrees 35 minutes south of
the line. The next thing was to look on the charts, and see the coast of
the country we aimed at, which we found to be from 8 to 11 degrees south
latitude, if we went for the coast of Angola, or in 12 to 29 degrees north
latitude, if we made for the river Niger, and the coast of Guinea.

Our aim was for the coast of Angola, which, by the charts we had, lying
very near the same latitude we were then in, our course thither was due
west; and as we were assured we should meet with rivers, we doubted not but
that by their help we might ease our journey, especially if we could find
means to cross the great lake, or inland sea, which the natives call
Coalmucoa, out of which it is said the river Nile has its source or
beginning; but we reckoned without our host, as you will see in the sequel
of our story.

The next thing we had to consider was, how to carry our baggage, which we
were first of all determined not to travel without; neither indeed was it
possible for us to do so, for even our ammunition, which was absolutely
necessary to us, and on which our subsistence, I mean for food, as well as
our safety, and particularly our defence against wild beasts and wild men,
depended,--I say, even our ammunition was a load too heavy for us to carry
in a country where the heat was such that we should be load enough for
ourselves.

We inquired in the country, and found there was no beast of burthen known
among them, that is to say, neither horses or mules, or asses, camels, or
dromedaries; the only creature they had was a kind of buffalo, or tame
bull, such a one as we had killed; and that some of these they had brought
so to their hand, that they taught them to go and come with their voices,
as they called them to them, or sent them from them; that they made them
carry burthens; and particularly that they would swim over rivers and lakes
upon them, the creatures swimming very high and strong in the water.

But we understood nothing of the management of guiding such a creature, or
how to bind a burthen upon them; and this last part of our consultation
puzzled us extremely. At last I proposed a method for them, which, after
some consideration, they found very convenient; and this was, to quarrel
with some of the negro natives, take ten or twelve of them prisoners, and
binding them as slaves, cause them to travel with us, and make them carry
our baggage; which I alleged would be convenient and useful many ways as
well to show us the way, as to converse with other natives for us.

This counsel was not accepted at first, but the natives soon gave them
reason to approve it, and also gave them an opportunity to put it in
practice; for, as our little traffic with the natives was hitherto upon the
faith of their first kindness, we found some knavery among them at last;
for having bought some cattle of them for our toys, which, as I said, our
cutler had contrived, one of our men differing with his chapman, truly they
huffed him in their manner, and, keeping the things he had offered them for
the cattle, made their fellows drive away the cattle before his face, and
laugh at him. Our man crying out loud of this violence, and calling to some
of us who were not far off, the negro he was dealing with threw a lance at
him, which came so true, that, if he had not with great agility jumped
aside, and held up his hand also to turn the lance as it came, it had
struck through his body; and, as it was, it wounded him in the arm; at
which the man, enraged, took up his fuzee, and shot the negro through the
heart.

The others that were near him, and all those that were with us at a
distance, were so terribly frighted, first, at the flash of fire; secondly,
at the noise; and thirdly, at seeing their countryman killed, that they
stood like men stupid and amazed, at first, for some time; but after they
were a little recovered from their fright, one of them, at a good distance
from us, set up a sudden screaming noise, which, it seems, is the noise
they make when they go to fight; and all the rest understanding what he
meant, answered him, and ran together to the place where he was, and we not
knowing what it meant, stood still, looking upon one another like a parcel
of fools.

But we were presently undeceived; for, in two or three minutes more, we
heard the screaming roaring noise go on from one place to another, through
all their little towns; nay, even over the creek to the other side; and, on
a sudden, we saw a naked multitude running from all parts to the place
where the first man began it, as to a rendezvous; and, in less than an
hour, I believe there was near 500 of them gotten together, armed some with
bows and arrows, but most with lances, which they throw at a good distance,
so nicely that they will strike a bird flying.

We had but a very little time for consultation, for the multitude was
increasing every moment; and I verily believe, if we had stayed long, they
would have been 10,000 together in a little time. We had nothing to do,
therefore, but to fly to our ship or bark, where indeed we could have
defended ourselves very well, or to advance and try what a volley or two of
small shot would do for us.

We resolved immediately upon the latter, depending upon it that the fire
and terror of our shot would soon put them to flight; so we drew up all in
a line, and marched boldly up to them. They stood ready to meet us,
depending, I suppose, to destroy us all with their lances; but before we
came near enough for them to throw their lances, we halted, and, standing
at a good distance from one another, to stretch our line as far as we
could, we gave them a salute with our shot, which, besides what we wounded
that we knew not of, knocked sixteen of them down upon the spot, and three
more were so lamed, that they fell about twenty or thirty yards from them.

As soon as we had fired, they set up the horridest yell, or howling, partly
raised by those that were wounded, and partly by those that pitied and
condoled the bodies they saw lie dead, that I never heard anything like it
before or since.

We stood stock still after we had fired, to load our guns again, and
finding they did not stir from the place we fired among them again; we
killed about nine of them at the second fire; but as they did not stand so
thick as before, all our men did not fire, seven of us being ordered to
reserve our charge, and to advance as soon as the other had fired, while
the rest loaded again; of which I shall speak again presently.

As soon as we had fired the second volley, we shouted as loud as we could,
and the seven men advanced upon them, and, coming about twenty yards
nearer, fired again, and those that were behind having loaded again with
all expedition, followed; but when they saw us advance, they ran screaming
away as if they were bewitched.

When we came up to the field of battle, we saw a great number of bodies
lying upon the ground, many more than we could suppose were killed or
wounded; nay, more than we had bullets in our pieces when we fired; and we
could not tell what to make of it; but at length we found how it was, viz.,
that they were frighted out of all manner of sense; nay, I do believe
several of those that were really dead, were frighted to death, and had no
wound about them.

Of those that were thus frighted, as I have said, several of them, as they
recovered themselves, came and worshipped us (taking us for gods or devils,
I know not which, nor did it much matter to us): some kneeling, some
throwing themselves flat on the ground, made a thousand antic gestures, but
all with tokens of the most profound submission. It presently came into my
head, that we might now, by the law of arms, take as many prisoners as we
would, and make them travel with us, and carry our baggage. As soon as I
proposed it, our men were all of my mind; and accordingly we secured about
sixty lusty young fellows, and let them know they must go with us; which
they seemed very willing to do. But the next question we had among
ourselves, was, how we should do to trust them, for we found the people not
like those of Madagascar, but fierce, revengeful, and treacherous; for
which reason we were sure that we should have no service from them but that
of mere slaves; no subjection that would continue any longer than the fear
of us was upon them, nor any labour but by violence.

Before I go any farther, I must hint to the reader, that from this time
forward I began to enter a little more seriously into the circumstance I
was in, and concerned myself more in the conduct of our affairs; for though
my comrades were all older men, yet I began to find them void of counsel,
or, as I now call it, presence of mind, when they came to the execution of
a thing. The first occasion I took to observe this, was in their late
engagement with the natives, when, though they had taken a good resolution
to attack them and fire upon them, yet, when they had fired the first time,
and found that the negroes did not run as they expected, their hearts began
to fail, and I am persuaded, if their bark had been near hand, they would
every man have run away.

Upon this occasion I began to take upon me a little to hearten them up, and
to call upon them to load again, and give them another volley, telling them
that I would engage, if they would be ruled by me, I'd make the negroes run
fast enough. I found this heartened them, and therefore, when they fired a
second time, I desired them to reserve some of their shot for an attempt by
itself, as I mentioned above.

Having fired a second time, I was indeed forced to command, as I may call
it. "Now, seigniors," said I, "let us give them a cheer." So I opened my
throat, and shouted three times, as our English sailors do on like
occasions. "And now follow me," said I to the seven that had not fired,
"and I'll warrant you we will make work with them," and so it proved
indeed; for, as soon as they saw us coming, away they ran, as above.

From this day forward they would call me nothing but Seignior Capitanio;
but I told them I would not be called seignior. "Well, then," said the
gunner, who spoke good English, "you shall be called Captain Bob;" and so
they gave me my title ever after.

Nothing is more certain of the Portuguese than this, take them nationally
or personally, if they are animated and heartened up by anybody to go
before, and encourage them by example, they will behave well enough; but if
they have nothing but their own measures to follow, they sink immediately:
these men had certainly fled from a parcel of naked savages, though even by
flying they could not have saved their lives, if I had not shouted and
hallooed, and rather made sport with the thing than a fight, to keep up
their courage.

Nor was there less need of it upon several occasions hereafter; and I do
confess I have often wondered how a number of men, who, when they came to
the extremity, were so ill supported by their own spirits, had at first
courage to propose and to undertake the most desperate and impracticable
attempt that ever men went about in the world.

There were indeed two or three indefatigable men among them, by whose
courage and industry all the rest were upheld; and indeed those two or
three were the managers of them from the beginning; that was the gunner,
and that cutler whom I call the artist; and the third, who was pretty well,
though not like either of them, was one of the carpenters. These indeed
were the life and soul of all the rest, and it was to their courage that
all the rest owed the resolution they showed upon any occasion. But when
those saw me take a little upon me, as above, they embraced me, and treated
me with particular affection ever after.

This gunner was an excellent mathematician, a good scholar, and a complete
sailor; and it was in conversing intimately with him that I learned
afterwards the grounds of what knowledge I have since had in all the
sciences useful for navigation, and particularly in the geographical part
of knowledge.

Even in our conversation, finding me eager to understand and learn, he laid
the foundation of a general knowledge of things in my mind, gave me just
ideas of the form of the earth and of the sea, the situation of countries,
the course of rivers, the doctrine of the spheres, the motion of the stars;
and, in a word, taught me a kind of system of astronomy, which I afterwards
improved.

In an especial manner, he filled my head with aspiring thoughts, and with
an earnest desire after learning everything that could be taught me;
convincing me, that nothing could qualify me for great undertakings, but a
degree of learning superior to what was usual in the race of seamen; he
told me, that to be ignorant was to be certain of a mean station in the
world, but that knowledge was the first step to preferment. He was always
flattering me with my capacity to learn; and though that fed my pride, yet,
on the other hand, as I had a secret ambition, which just at that time fed
itself in my mind, it prompted in me an insatiable thirst after learning in
general, and I resolved, if ever I came back to Europe, and had anything
left to purchase it, I would make myself master of all the parts of
learning needful to the making of me a complete sailor; but I was not so
just to myself afterwards as to do it when I had an opportunity.

But to return to our business; the gunner, when he saw the service I had
done in the fight, and heard my proposal for keeping a number of prisoners
for our march, and for carrying our baggage, turns to me before them all.
"Captain Bob," says he, "I think you must be our leader, for all the
success of this enterprise is owing to you." "No, no," said I, "do not
compliment me; you shall be our Seignior Capitanio, you shall be general; I
am too young for it." So, in short, we all agreed he should be our leader;
but he would not accept of it alone, but would have me joined with him; and
all the rest agreeing, I was obliged to comply.

The first piece of service they put me upon in this new command was as
difficult as any they could think of, and that was to manage the prisoners;
which, however, I cheerfully undertook, as you shall hear presently. But
the immediate consultation was yet of more consequence; and that was,
first, which way we should go; and secondly, how to furnish ourselves for
the voyage with provisions.

There was among the prisoners one tall, well-shaped, handsome fellow, to
whom the rest seemed to pay great respect, and who, as we understood
afterwards, was the son of one of their kings; his father was, it seems,
killed at our first volley, and he wounded with a shot in his arm, and with
another just on one of his hips or haunches. The shot in his haunch being
in a fleshy part, bled much, and he was half dead with the loss of blood.
As to the shot in his arm, it had broke his wrist, and he was by both these
wounds quite disabled, so that we were once going to turn him away, and let
him die; and, if we had, he would have died indeed in a few days more: but,
as I found the man had some respect showed him, it presently occurred to my
thoughts that we might bring him to be useful to us, and perhaps make him a
kind of commander over them. So I caused our surgeon to take him in hand,
and gave the poor wretch good words, that is to say, I spoke to him as well
as I could by signs, to make him understand that we would make him well
again.

This created a new awe in their minds of us, believing that, as we could
kill at a distance by something invisible to them (for so our shot was, to
be sure), so we could make them well again too. Upon this the young prince
(for so we called him afterwards) called six or seven of the savages to
him, and said something to them; what it was we know not, but immediately
all the seven came to me, and kneeled down to me, holding up their hands,
and making signs of entreaty, pointing to the place where one of those lay
whom we had killed.

It was a long time before I or any of us could understand them; but one of
them ran and lifted up a dead man, pointing to his wound, which was in his
eyes, for he was shot into the head at one of his eyes. Then another
pointed to the surgeon, and at last we found it out, that the meaning was,
that he should heal the prince's father too, who was dead, being shot
through the head, as above.

We presently took the hint, and would not say we could not do it, but let
them know, the men that were killed were those that had first fallen upon
us, and provoked us, and we would by no means make them alive again; and
that, if any others did so, we would kill them too, and never let them live
any more: but that, if he (the prince) would be willing to go with us, and
do as we should direct him, we would not let him die, and would make his
arm well. Upon this he bid his men go and fetch a long stick or staff, and
lay on the ground. When they brought it, we saw it was an arrow; he took it
with his left hand (for his other was lame with the wound), and, pointing
up at the sun, broke the arrow in two, and set the point against his
breast, and then gave it to me. This was, as I understood afterwards,
wishing the sun, whom they worship, might shoot him into the breast with an
arrow, if ever he failed to be my friend; and giving the point of the arrow
to me was to be a testimony that I was the man he had sworn to: and never
was Christian more punctual to an oath than he was to this, for he was a
sworn servant to us for many a weary month after that.

When I brought him to the surgeon, he immediately dressed the wound in his
haunch or buttock, and found the bullet had only grazed upon the flesh, and
passed, as it were, by it, but it was not lodged in the part, so that it
was soon healed and well again; but, as to his arm, he found one of the
bones broken, which are in the fore-part from the wrist to the elbow; and
this he set, and splintered it up, and bound his arm in a sling, hanging it
about his neck, and making signs to him that he should not stir it; which
he was so strict an observer of, that he set him down, and never moved one
way or other but as the surgeon gave him leave.

I took a great deal of pains to acquaint this negro what we intended to do,
and what use we intended to make of his men; and particularly to teach him
the meaning of what we said, especially to teach him some words, such as
yes and no, and what they meant, and to inure him to our way of talking;
and he was very willing and apt to learn anything I taught him.

It was easy to let him see that we intended to carry our provision with us
from the first day; but he made signs to us to tell us we need not, for we
should find provision enough everywhere for forty days. It was very
difficult for us to understand how he expressed forty; for he knew no
figures, but some words that they used to one another that they understood
it by. At last one of the negroes, by his order, laid forty little stones
one by another, to show us how many days we should travel, and find
provisions sufficient.

Then I showed him our baggage, which was very heavy, particularly our
powder, shot, lead, iron, carpenters' tools, seamen's instruments, cases of
bottles, and other lumber. He took some of the things up in his hand to
feel the weight, and shook his head at them; so I told our people they must
resolve to divide their things into small parcels, and make them portable;
and accordingly they did so, by which means we were fain to leave all our
chests behind us, which were eleven in number.

Then he made signs to us that he would procure some buffaloes, or young
bulls, as I called them, to carry things for us, and made signs, too, that
if we were weary, we might be carried too; but that we slighted, only were
willing to have the creatures, because, at last, when they could serve us
no farther for carriage, we might eat them all up if we had any occasion
for them.

I then carried him to our bark, and showed him what things we had here. He
seemed amazed at the sight of our bark, having never seen anything of that
kind before, for their boats are most wretched things, such as I never saw
before, having no head or stern, and being made only of the skins of goats,
sewed together with dried guts of goats and sheep, and done over with a
kind of slimy stuff like rosin and oil, but of a most nauseous, odious
smell; and they are poor miserable things for boats, the worst that any
part of the world ever saw; a canoe is an excellent contrivance compared to
them.

But to return to our boat. We carried our new prince into it, and helped
him over the side, because of his lameness. We made signs to him that his
men must carry our goods for us, and showed him what we had; he answered,
"Si, Seignior," or, "Yes, sir" (for we had taught him that word and the
meaning of it), and taking up a bundle, he made signs to us, that when his
arm was well he would carry some for us.

I made signs again to tell him, that if he would make his men carry them,
we would not let him carry anything. We had secured all the prisoners in a
narrow place, where we had bound them with mat cords, and set up stakes
like a palisado round them; so, when we carried the prince on shore, we
went with him to them, and made signs to him to ask them if they were
willing to go with us to the country of lions. Accordingly he made a long
speech to them, and we could understand by it that he told them, if they
were willing, they must say, "Si, Seignior," telling them what it
signified. They immediately answered, "Si, Seignior," and clapped their
hands, looking up to the sun, which, the prince signified to us, was
swearing to be faithful. But as soon as they had said so, one of them made
a long speech to the prince; and in it we perceived, by his gestures, which
were very antic, that they desired something from us, and that they were in
great concern about it. So I asked him, as well as I could, what it was
they desired of us; he told us by signs that they desired we should clap
our hands to the sun (that was, to swear) that we would not kill them, that
we would give them chiaruck, that is to say, bread, would not starve them,
and would not let the lions eat them. I told him we would promise all that;
then he pointed to the sun, and clapped his hands, signing to me that I
should do so too, which I did; at which all the prisoners fell flat on the
ground, and rising up again, made the oddest, wildest cries that ever I
heard.

I think it was the first time in my life that ever any religious thought
affected me; but I could not refrain some reflections, and almost tears, in
considering how happy it was that I was not born among such creatures as
these, and was not so stupidly ignorant and barbarous; but this soon went
off again, and I was not troubled again with any qualms of that sort for a
long time after.

When this ceremony was over, our concern was to get some provisions, as
well for the present subsistence of our prisoners as ourselves; and making
signs to our prince that we were thinking upon that subject, he made signs
to me that, if I would let one of the prisoners go to his town, he should
bring provisions, and should bring some beasts to carry our baggage. I
seemed loth to trust him, and supposing that he would run away, he made
great signs of fidelity, and with his own hands tied a rope about his neck,
offering me one end of it, intimating that I should hang him if the man did
not come again. So I consented, and he gave him abundance of instructions,
and sent him away, pointing to the light of the sun, which it seems was to
tell him at what time he must be back.

The fellow ran as if he was mad, and held it till he was quite out of
sight, by which I supposed he had a great way to go. The next morning,
about two hours before the time appointed, the black prince, for so I
always called him, beckoning with his hand to me, and hallooing after his
manner, desired me to come to him, which I did, when, pointing to a little
hill about two miles off, I saw plainly a little drove of cattle, and
several people with them; those, he told me by signs, were the man he had
sent, and several more with him, and cattle for us.

Accordingly, by the time appointed, he came quite to our huts, and brought
with him a great many cows, young runts, about sixteen goats, and four
young bulls, taught to carry burthens.

This was a supply of provisions sufficient; as for bread, we were obliged
to shift with some roots which we had made use of before. We then began to
consider of making some large bags like the soldiers' knapsacks, for their
men to carry our baggage in, and to make it easy to them; and the goats
being killed, I ordered the skins to be spread in the sun, and they were as
dry in two days as could be desired; so we found means to make such little
bags as we wanted, and began to divide our baggage into them. When the
black prince found what they were for, and how easy they were of carriage
when we put them on, he smiled a little, and sent away the man again to
fetch skins, and he brought two natives more with him, all loaded with
skins better cured than ours, and of other kinds, such as we could not tell
what names to give them.

These two men brought the black prince two lances, of the sort they use in
their fights, but finer than ordinary, being made of black smooth wood, as
fine as ebony, and headed at the point with the end of a long tooth of some
creature--we could not tell of what creature; the head was so firm put on,
and the tooth so strong, though no bigger than my thumb, and sharp at the
end, that I never saw anything like it in any place in the world.

The prince would not take them till I gave him leave, but made signs that
they should give them to me; however, I gave him leave to take them
himself, for I saw evident signs of an honourable just principle in him.

We now prepared for our march, when the prince coming to me, and pointing
towards the several quarters of the world, made signs to know which way we
intended to go; and when I showed him, pointing to the west, he presently
let me know there was a great river a little further to the north, which
was able to carry our bark many leagues into the country due west. I
presently took the hint, and inquired for the mouth of the river, which I
understood by him was above a day's march, and, by our estimation, we found
it about seven leagues further. I take this to be the great river marked by
our chart-makers at the northmost part of the coast of Mozambique, and
called there Quilloa.

Consulting thus with ourselves, we resolved to take the prince, and as many
of the prisoners as we could stow in our frigate, and go about by the bay
into the river; and that eight of us, with our arms, should march by land
to meet them on the river side; for the prince, carrying us to a rising
ground, had showed us the river very plain, a great way up the country, and
in one place it was not above six miles to it.

It was my lot to march by land, and be captain of the whole caravan. I had
eight of our men with me, and seven-and-thirty of our prisoners, without
any baggage, for all our luggage was yet on board. We drove the young bulls
with us; nothing was ever so tame, so willing to work, or carry anything.
The negroes would ride upon them four at a time, and they would go very
willingly. They would eat out of our hand, lick our feet, and were as
tractable as a dog.

We drove with us six or seven cows for food; but our negroes knew nothing
of curing the flesh by salting and drying it till we showed them the way,
and then they were mighty willing to do so as long as we had any salt to do
it with, and to carry salt a great way too, after we found we should have
no more.

It was an easy march to the river side for us that went by land, and we
came thither in a piece of a day, being, as above, no more than six English
miles; whereas it was no less than five days before they came to us by
water, the wind in the bay having failed them, and the way, by reason of a
great turn or reach in the river, being about fifty miles about.

We spent this time in a thing which the two strangers, which brought the
prince the two lances, put into the head of the prisoners, viz., to make
bottles of the goats' skins to carry fresh water in, which it seems they
knew we should come to want; and the men did it so dexterously, having
dried skins fetched them by those two men, that before our vessel came up,
they had every man a pouch like a bladder, to carry fresh water in, hanging
over their shoulders by a thong made of other skins, about three inches
broad, like the sling of a fuzee.

Our prince, to assure us of the fidelity of the men in this march, had
ordered them to be tied two and two by the wrist, as we handcuff prisoners
in England; and made them so sensible of the reasonableness of it, that he
made them do it themselves, appointing four of them to bind the rest; but
we found them so honest, and particularly so obedient to him, that after we
were gotten a little further off of their own country, we set them at
liberty, though, when he came to us, he would have them tied again, and
they continued so a good while.

All the country on the bank of the river was a high land, no marshy swampy
ground in it; the verdure good, and abundance of cattle feeding upon it
wherever we went, or which way soever we looked; there was not much wood
indeed, at least not near us; but further up we saw oak, cedar, and
pine-trees, some of which were very large.

The river was a fair open channel, about as broad as the Thames below
Gravesend, and a strong tide of flood, which we found held us about sixty
miles; the channel deep, nor did we find any want of water for a great way.
In short, we went merrily up the river with the flood and the wind blowing
still fresh at E. and E.N.E. We stemmed the ebb easily also, especially
while the river continued broad and deep; but when we came past the
swelling of the tide, and had the natural current of the river to go
against, we found it too strong for us, and began to think of quitting our
bark; but the prince would by no means agree to that, for, finding we had
on board pretty good store of roping made of mats and flags, which I
described before, he ordered all the prisoners which were on shore to come
and take hold of those ropes, and tow us along by the shore side; and as we
hoisted our sail too, to ease them, the men ran along with us at a very
great rate.

In this manner the river carried us up, by our computation, near 200 miles,
and then it narrowed apace, and was not above as broad as the Thames is at
Windsor, or thereabouts; and, after another day, we came to a great
waterfall or cataract, enough to fright us, for I believe the whole body of
water fell at once perpendicularly down a precipice above sixty foot high,
which made noise enough to deprive men of their hearing, and we heard it
above ten miles before we came to it.

Here we were at a full stop, and now our prisoners went first on shore;
they had worked very hard and very cheerfully, relieving one another, those
that were weary being taken into the bark. Had we had canoes or any boats
which might have been carried by men's strength we might have gone two
hundred miles more up this river in small boats, but our great boat could
go no farther.

All this way the country looked green and pleasant, and was full of cattle,
and some people we saw, though not many; but this we observed now, that the
people did no more understand our prisoners here than we could understand
them; being, it seems, of different nations and of different speech. We had
yet seen no wild beasts, or, at least, none that came very near us, except
two days before we came to the waterfall, when we saw three of the most
beautiful leopards that ever were seen, standing upon the bank of the river
on the north side, our prisoners being all on the other side of the water.
Our gunner espied them first, and ran to fetch his gun, putting a ball
extraordinary in it; and coming to me, "Now, Captain Bob," says he, "where
is your prince?" So I called him out. "Now," says he, "tell your men not to
be afraid; tell them they shall see that thing in his hand speak in fire to
one of those beasts, and make it kill itself."

The poor negroes looked as if they had been all going to be killed,
notwithstanding what their prince said to them, and stood staring to expect
the issue, when on a sudden the gunner fired; and as he was a very good
marksman, he shot the creature with two slugs, just in the head. As soon as
the leopard felt herself struck, she reared up on her two hind-legs, bolt
upright, and throwing her forepaws about in the air, fell backward,
growling and struggling, and immediately died; the other two, frighted with
the fire and the noise, fled, and were out of sight in an instant.

But the two frighted leopards were not in half the consternation that our
prisoners were; four or five of them fell down as if they had been shot;
several others fell on their knees, and lifted up their hands to us;
whether to worship us, or pray us not to kill them, we did not know; but we
made signs to their prince to encourage them, which he did, but it was with
much ado that he brought them to their senses. Nay, the prince,
notwithstanding all that was said to prepare him for it, yet when the piece
went off, he gave a start as if he would have leaped into the river.

When we saw the creature killed, I had a great mind to have the skin of
her, and made signs to the prince that he should send some of his men over
to take the skin off. As soon as he spoke but a word, four of them, that
offered themselves, were untied, and immediately they jumped into the
river, and swam over, and went to work with him. The prince having a knife
that we gave him, made four wooden knives so clever, that I never saw
anything like them in my life; and in less than an hour's time they brought
me the skin of the leopard, which was a monstrous great one, for it was
from the ears to the tale about seven foot, and near five foot broad on the
back, and most admirably spotted all over. The skin of this leopard I
brought to London many years after.

We were now all upon a level as to our travelling, being unshipped, for our
bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our backs;
but as we found the course of the river went a great way farther, we
consulted our carpenters whether we could not pull the bark in pieces, and
make us three or four small boats to go on with. They told us we might do
so, but it would be very long a-doing; and that, when we had done, we had
neither pitch or tar to make them sound to keep the water out, or nails to
fasten the plank. But one of them told us that as soon as he could come at
any large tree near the river, he would make us a canoe or two in a quarter
of the time, and which would serve us as well for all the uses we could
have any occasion for as a boat; and such, that if we came to any
waterfalls, we might take them up, and carry them for a mile or two by land
upon our shoulders.

Upon this we gave over the thoughts of our frigate, and hauling her into a
little cove or inlet, where a small brook came into the main river, we laid
her up for those that came next, and marched forward. We spent indeed two
days dividing our baggage, and loading our tame buffaloes and our negroes.
Our powder and shot, which was the thing we were most careful of, we
ordered thus:--First, the powder we divided into little leather bags, that
is to say, bags of dried skins, with the hair inward, that the powder might
not grow damp; and then we put those bags into other bags, made of
bullocks' skins, very thick and hard, with the hair outward, that no wet
might come in; and this succeeded so well, that in the greatest rains we
had, whereof some were very violent and very long, we always kept our
powder dry. Besides these bags, which held our chief magazine, we divided
to every one a quarter of a pound of powder, and half a pound of shot, to
carry always about us; which, as it was enough for our present use, so we
were willing to have no weight to carry more than was absolutely necessary,
because of the heat.

We kept still on the bank of the river, and for that reason had but very
little communication with the people of the country; for, having also our
bark stored with plenty of provisions, we had no occasion to look abroad
for a supply; but now, when we came to march on foot, we were obliged often
to seek out for food. The first place we came to on the river, that gave us
any stop, was a little negro town, containing about fifty huts, and there
appeared about 400 people, for they all came out to see us, and wonder at
us. When our negroes appeared the inhabitants began to fly to arms,
thinking there had been enemies coming upon them; but our negroes, though
they could not speak their language, made signs to them that they had no
weapons, and were tied two and two together as captives, and that there
were people behind who came from the sun, and that could kill them all, and
make them alive again, if they pleased; but that they would do them no
hurt, and came with peace. As soon as they understood this they laid down
their lances, and bows and arrows, and came and stuck twelve large stakes
in the ground as a token of peace, bowing themselves to us in token of
submission. But as soon as they saw white men with beards, that is to say,
with mustachios, they ran screaming away, as in a fright.

We kept at a distance from them, not to be too familiar; and when we did
appear it was but two or three of us at a time. But our prisoners made them
understand that we required some provisions of them; so they brought us
some black cattle, for they have abundance of cows and buffaloes all over
that side of the country, as also great numbers of deer. Our cutler, who
had now a great stock of things of his handiwork, gave them some little
knick-knacks, as plates of silver and of iron, cut diamond fashion, and cut
into hearts and into rings, and they were mightily pleased. They also
brought several fruits and roots, which we did not understand, but our
negroes fed heartily on them, and after we had seen them eat them, we did
so too.

Having stocked ourselves here with flesh and root as much as we could well
carry, we divided the burthens among our negroes, appointing about thirty
to forty pounds weight to a man, which we thought indeed was load enough in
a hot country; and the negroes did not at all repine at it, but would
sometimes help one another when they began to be weary, which did happen
now and then, though not often; besides, as most of their luggage was our
provision, it lightened every day, like Aesop's basket of bread, till we
came to get a recruit.--Note, when we loaded them we untied their hands,
and tied them two and two together by one foot.

The third day of our march from this place our chief carpenter desired us
to halt, and set up some huts, for he had found out some trees that he
liked, and resolved to make us some canoes; for, as he told me, he knew we
should have marching enough on foot after we left the river, and he was
resolved to go no farther by land than needs must.

We had no sooner given orders for our little camp, and given leave to our
negroes to lay down their loads, but they fell to work to build our huts;
and though they were tied as above, yet they did it so nimbly as surprised
us. Here we set some of the negroes quite at liberty, that is to say,
without tying them, having the prince's word passed for their fidelity; and
some of these were ordered to help the carpenters, which they did very
handily, with a little direction, and others were sent to see whether they
could get any provisions near hand; but instead of provisions, three of
them came in with two bows and arrows, and five lances. They could not
easily make us understand how they came by them, only that they had
surprised some negro women, who were in some huts, the men being from home,
and they had found the lances and bows in the huts, or houses, the women
and children flying away at the sight of them, as from robbers. We seemed
very angry at them, and made the prince ask them if they had not killed any
of the women or children, making them believe that, if they had killed
anybody, we would make them kill themselves too; but they protested their
innocence, so we excused them. Then they brought us the bows and arrows and
lances; but, at a motion of their black prince, we gave them back the bows
and arrows, and gave them leave to go out to see what they could kill for
food; and here we gave them the laws of arms, viz., that if any man
appeared to assault them, or shoot at them to offer any violence to them,
they might kill them; but that they should not offer to kill or hurt any
that offered them peace, or laid down their weapons, nor any women or
children, upon any occasion whatsoever. These were our articles of war.

These two fellows had not been gone out above three or four hours, but one
of them came running to us without his bow and arrows, hallooing and
whooping a great while before he came at us, "Okoamo, okoamo!" which, it
seems, was, "Help, help!" The rest of the negroes rose up in a hurry, and
by twos, as they could, ran forward towards their fellows, to know what the
matter was. As for me, I did not understand it, nor any of our people; the
prince looked as if something unlucky had fallen out, and some of our men
took up their arms to be ready on occasion. But the negroes soon discovered
the thing, for we saw four of them presently after coming along with a
great load of meat upon their backs. The case was, that the two who went
out with their bows and arrows, meeting with a great herd of deer in the
plain, had been so nimble as to shoot three of them, and then one of them
came running to us for help to fetch them away. This was the first venison
we had met with in all our march, and we feasted upon it very plentifully;
and this was the first time we began to prevail with our prince to eat his
meat dressed our way; after which his men were prevailed with by his
example, but before that, they ate most of the flesh they had quite raw.

We wished now we had brought some bows and arrows out with us, which we
might have done; and we began to have so much confidence in our negroes,
and to be so familiar with them, that we oftentimes let them go, or the
greatest part of them, untied, being well assured they would not leave us,
and that they did not know what course to take without us; but one thing we
resolved not to trust them with, and that was the charging our guns: but
they always believed our guns had some heavenly power in them, that would
send forth fire and smoke, and speak with a dreadful noise, and kill at a
distance whenever we bid them.

In about eight days we finished three canoes, and in them we embarked our
white men and our baggage, with our prince, and some of the prisoners. We
also found it needful to keep some of ourselves always on shore, not only
to manage the negroes, but to defend them from enemies and wild beasts.
Abundance of little incidents happened upon this march, which it is
impossible to crowd into this account; particularly, we saw more wild
beasts now than we did before, some elephants, and two or three lions, none
of which kinds we had seen any of before; and we found our negroes were
more afraid of them a great deal than we were; principally, because they
had no bows and arrows, or lances, which were the particular weapons they
were bred up to the exercise of.

But we cured them of their fears by being always ready with our firearms.
However, as we were willing to be sparing of our powder, and the killing of
any of the creatures now was no advantage to us, seeing their skins were
too heavy for us to carry, and their flesh not good to eat, we resolved
therefore to keep some of our pieces uncharged and only primed; and causing
them to flash in the pan, the beasts, even the lions themselves, would
always start and fly back when they saw it, and immediately march off.

We passed abundance of inhabitants upon this upper part of the river, and
with this observation, that almost every ten miles we came to a separate
nation, and every separate nation had a different speech, or else their
speech had differing dialects, so that they did not understand one another.
They all abounded in cattle, especially on the river-side; and the eighth
day of this second navigation we met with a little negro town, where they
had growing a sort of corn like rice, which ate very sweet; and, as we got
some of it of the people, we made very good cakes of bread of it, and,
making a fire, baked them on the ground, after the fire was swept away,
very well; so that hitherto we had no want of provisions of any kind that
we could desire.

Our negroes towing our canoes, we travelled at a considerable rate, and by
our own account could not go less than twenty or twenty-five English miles
a day, and the river continuing to be much of the same breadth and very
deep all the way, till on the tenth day we came to another cataract; for a
ridge of high hills crossing the whole channel of the river, the water came
tumbling down the rocks from one stage to another in a strange manner, so
that it was a continued link of cataracts from one to another, in the
manner of a cascade, only that the falls were sometimes a quarter of a mile
from one another, and the noise confused and frightful.

We thought our voyaging was at a full stop now; but three of us, with a
couple of our negroes, mounting the hills another way, to view the course
of the river, we found a fair channel again after about half a mile's
march, and that it was like to hold us a good way further. So we set all
hands to work, unloaded our cargo, and hauled our canoes on shore, to see
if we could carry them.

Upon examination we found that they were very heavy; but our carpenters,
spending but one day's work upon them, hewed away so much of the timber
from their outsides as reduced them very much, and yet they were as fit to
swim as before. When this was done, ten men with poles took up one of the
canoes and made nothing to carry it. So we ordered twenty men to each
canoe, that one ten might relieve the other; and thus we carried all our
canoes, and launched them into the water again, and then fetched our
luggage and loaded it all again into the canoes, and all in an afternoon;
and the next morning early we moved forward again. When we had towed about
four days more, our gunner, who was our pilot, began to observe that we did
not keep our right course so exactly as we ought, the river winding away a
little towards the north, and gave us notice of it accordingly. However, we
were not willing to lose the advantage of water-carriage, at least not till
we were forced to it; so we jogged on, and the river served us for about
threescore miles further; but then we found it grew very small and shallow,
having passed the mouths of several little brooks or rivulets which came
into it; and at length it became but a brook itself.

We towed up as far as ever our boats would swim, and we went two days the
farther--having been about twelve days in this last part of the river--by
lightening the boats and taking our luggage out, which we made the negroes
carry, being willing to ease ourselves as long as we could; but at the end
of these two days, in short, there was not water enough to swim a London
wherry.

We now set forward wholly by land, and without any expectation of more
water-carriage. All our concern for more water was to be sure to have a
supply for our drinking; and therefore upon every hill that we came near we
clambered up to the highest part to see the country before us, and to make
the best judgment we could which way to go to keep the lowest grounds, and
as near some stream of water as we could.

The country held verdant, well grown with trees, and spread with rivers and
brooks, and tolerably well with inhabitants, for about thirty days' march
after our leaving the canoes, during which time things went pretty well
with us; we did not tie ourselves down when to march and when to halt, but
ordered those things as our convenience and the health and ease of our
people, as well our servants as ourselves, required.

About the middle of this march we came into a low and plain country, in
which we perceived a greater number of inhabitants than in any other
country we had gone through; but that which was worse for us, we found them
a fierce, barbarous, treacherous people, and who at first looked upon us as
robbers, and gathered themselves in numbers to attack us.

Our men were terrified at them at first, and began to discover an unusual
fear, and even our black prince seemed in a great deal of confusion; but I
smiled at him, and showing him some of our guns, I asked him if he thought
that which killed the spotted cat (for so they called the leopard in their
language) could not make a thousand of those naked creatures die at one
blow? Then he laughed, and said, yes, he believed it would. "Well, then,"
said I, "tell your men not to be afraid of these people, for we shall soon
give them a taste of what we can do if they pretend to meddle with us."
However, we considered we were in the middle of a vast country, and we knew
not what numbers of people and nations we might be surrounded with, and,
above all, we knew not how much we might stand in need of the friendship of
these that we were now among, so that we ordered the negroes to try all the
methods they could to make them friends.

Accordingly the two men who had gotten bows and arrows, and two more to
whom we gave the prince's two fine lances, went foremost, with five more,
having long poles in their hands; and after them ten of our men advanced
toward the negro town that was next to us, and we all stood ready to
succour them if there should be occasion.

When they came pretty near their houses our negroes hallooed in their
screaming way, and called to them as loud as they could. Upon their
calling, some of the men came out and answered, and immediately after the
whole town, men, women, and children, appeared; our negroes, with their
long poles, went forward a little, and stuck them all in the ground, and
left them, which in their country was a signal of peace, but the other did
not understand the meaning of that. Then the two men with bows laid down
their bows and arrows, went forward unarmed, and made signs of peace to
them, which at last the other began to understand; so two of their men laid
down their bows and arrows, and came towards them. Our men made all the
signs of friendship to them that they could think of, putting their hands
up to their mouths as a sign that they wanted provisions to eat; and the
other pretended to be pleased and friendly, and went back to their fellows
and talked with them a while, and they came forward again, and made signs
that they would bring some provisions to them before the sun set; and so
our men came back again very well satisfied for that time.

But an hour before sunset our men went to them again, just in the same
posture as before, and they came according to their appointment, and
brought deer's flesh, roots, and the same kind of corn, like rice, which I
mentioned above; and our negroes, being furnished with such toys as our
cutler had contrived, gave them some of them, which they seemed infinitely
pleased with, and promised to bring more provisions the next day.

Accordingly the next day they came again, but our men perceived they were
more in number by a great many than before. However, having sent out ten
men with firearms to stand ready, and our whole army being in view also, we
were not much surprised; nor was the treachery of the enemy so cunningly
ordered as in other cases, for they might have surrounded our negroes,
which were but nine, under a show of peace; but when they saw our men
advance almost as far as the place where they were the day before, the
rogues snatched up their bows and arrows and came running upon our men like
so many furies, at which our ten men called to the negroes to come back to
them, which they did with speed enough at the first word, and stood all
behind our men. As they fled, the other advanced, and let fly near a
hundred of their arrows at them, by which two of our negroes were wounded,
and one we thought had been killed. When they came to the five poles that
our men had stuck in the ground, they stood still awhile, and gathering
about the poles, looked at them, and handled them, as wondering what they
meant. We then, who were drawn up behind all, sent one of our number to our
ten men to bid them fire among them while they stood so thick, and to put
some small shot into their guns besides the ordinary charge, and to tell
them that we would be up with them immediately.

Accordingly they made ready; but by the time they were ready to fire, the
black army had left their wandering about the poles, and began to stir as
if they would come on, though seeing more men stand at some distance behind
our negroes, they could not tell what to make of us; but if they did not
understand us before, they understood us less afterwards, for as soon as
ever our men found them to begin to move forward they fired among the
thickest of them, being about the distance of 120 yards, as near as we
could guess.

It is impossible to express the fright, the screaming and yelling of those
wretches upon this first volley. We killed six of them, and wounded eleven
or twelve, I mean as we knew of; for, as they stood thick, and the small
shot, as we called it, scattered among them, we had reason to believe we
wounded more that stood farther off, for our small shot was made of bits of
lead and bits of iron, heads of nails, and such things as our diligent
artificer, the cutler, helped us to.

As to those that were killed and wounded, the other frighted creatures were
under the greatest amazement in the world, to think what should hurt them,
for they could see nothing but holes made in their bodies they knew not
how. Then the fire and noise amazed all their women and children, and
frighted them out of their wits, so that they ran staring and howling about
like mad creatures.

However, all this did not make them fly, which was what we wanted, nor did
we find any of them die as it were with fear, as at first; so we resolved
upon a second volley, and then to advance as we did before. Whereupon our
reserved men advancing, we resolved to fire only three men at a time, and
move forward like an army firing in platoon; so, being all in a line, we
fired, first three on the right, then three on the left, and so on; and
every time we killed or wounded some of them, but still they did not fly,
and yet they were so frighted that they used none of their bows and arrows,
or of their lances; and we thought their numbers increased upon our hands,
particularly we thought so by the noise. So I called to our men to halt,
and bid them pour in one whole volley and then shout, as we did in our
first fight, and so run in upon them and knock them down with our muskets.

But they were too wise for that too, for as soon as we had fired a whole
volley and shouted, they all ran away, men, women, and children, so fast
that in a few moments we could not see one creature of them except some
that were wounded and lame, who lay wallowing and screaming here and there
upon the ground as they happened to fall.

Upon this we came up to the field of battle, where we found we had killed
thirty-seven of them, among which were three women, and had wounded about
sixty-four, among which were two women; by wounded I mean such as were so
maimed as not to be able to go away, and those our negroes killed
afterwards in a cowardly manner in cold blood, for which we were very
angry, and threatened to make them go to them if they did so again.

There was no great spoil to be got, for they were all stark naked as they
came into the world, men and women together, some of them having feathers
stuck in their hair, and others a kind of bracelet about their necks, but
nothing else; but our negroes got a booty here, which we were very glad of,
and this was the bows and arrows of the vanquished, of which they found
more than they knew what to do with, belonging to the killed and wounded
men; these we ordered them to pick up, and they were very useful to us
afterwards. After the fight, and our negroes had gotten bows and arrows, we
sent them out in parties to see what they could get, and they got some
provisions; but, which was better than all the rest, they brought us four
more young bulls, or buffaloes, that had been brought up to labour and to
carry burthens. They knew them, it seems, by the burthens they had carried
having galled their backs, for they have no saddles to cover them with in
that country.

Those creatures not only eased our negroes, but gave us an opportunity to
carry more provisions; and our negroes loaded them very hard at this place
with flesh and roots, such as we wanted very much afterwards.

In this town we found a very little young leopard, about two spans high; it
was exceeding tame, and purred like a cat when we stroked it with our
hands, being, as I suppose, bred up among the negroes like a house-dog. It
was our black prince, it seems, who, making his tour among the abandoned
houses or huts, found this creature there, and making much of him, and
giving a bit or two of flesh to him, the creature followed him like a dog;
of which more hereafter.

Among the negroes that were killed in this battle there was one who had a
little thin bit or plate of gold, about as big as a sixpence, which hung by
a little bit of a twisted gut upon his forehead, by which we supposed he
was a man of some eminence among them; but that was not all, for this bit
of gold put us upon searching very narrowly if there was not more of it to
be had thereabouts, but we found none at all.

From this part of the country we went on for about fifteen days, and then
found ourselves obliged to march up a high ridge of mountains, frightful to
behold, and the first of the kind that we met with; and having no guide but
our little pocket-compass, we had no advantage of information as to which
was the best or the worst way, but was obliged to choose by what we saw,
and shift as well as we could. We met with several nations of wild and
naked people in the plain country before we came to those hills, and we
found them much more tractable and friendly than those devils we had been
forced to fight with; and though we could learn little from these people,
yet we understood by the signs they made that there was a vast desert
beyond these hills, and, as our negroes called them, much lion, much
spotted cat (so they called the leopard); and they signed to us also that
we must carry water with us. At the last of these nations we furnished
ourselves with as much provisions as we could possibly carry, not knowing
what we had to suffer, or what length we had to go; and, to make our way as
familiar to us as possible, I proposed that of the last inhabitants we
could find we should make some prisoners and carry them with us for guides
over the desert, and to assist us in carrying provision, and, perhaps, in
getting it too. The advice was too necessary to be slighted; so finding, by
our dumb signs to the inhabitants, that there were some people that dwelt
at the foot of the mountains on the other side before we came to the desert
itself, we resolved to furnish ourselves with guides by fair means or foul.

Here, by a moderate computation, we concluded ourselves 700 miles from the
sea-coast where we began. Our black prince was this day set free from the
sling his arm hung in, our surgeon having perfectly restored it, and he
showed it to his own countrymen quite well, which made them greatly wonder.
Also our two negroes began to recover, and their wounds to heal apace, for
our surgeon was very skilful in managing their cure.

Having with infinite labour mounted these hills, and coming to a view of
the country beyond them, it was indeed enough to astonish as stout a heart
as ever was created. It was a vast howling wilderness--not a tree, a river,
or a green thing to be seen; for, as far as the eye could look, nothing but
a scalding sand, which, as the wind blew, drove about in clouds enough to
overwhelm man and beast. Nor could we see any end of it either before us,
which was our way, or to the right hand or left; so that truly our men
began to be discouraged, and talk of going back again. Nor could we indeed
think of venturing over such a horrid place as that before us, in which we
saw nothing but present death.

I was as much affected at the sight as any of them; but, for all that, I
could not bear the thoughts of going back again. I told them we had marched
700 miles of our way, and it would be worse than death to think of going
back again; and that, if they thought the desert was not passable, I
thought we should rather change our course, and travel south till we came
to the Cape of Good Hope, or north to the country that lay along the Nile,
where, perhaps, we might find some way or other over to the west sea; for
sure all Africa was not a desert.

Our gunner, who, as I said before, was our guide as to the situation of
places, told us that he could not tell what to say to going for the Cape,
for it was a monstrous length, being from the place where we now were not
less than 1500 miles; and, by his account, we were now come a third part of
the way to the coast of Angola, where we should meet the western ocean, and
find ways enough for our escape home. On the other hand, he assured us, and
showed us a map of it, that, if we went northward, the western shore of
Africa went out into the sea above 1000 miles west, so that we should have
so much and more land to travel afterwards; which land might, for aught we
knew, be as wild, barren, and desert as this. And therefore, upon the
whole, he proposed that we should attempt this desert, and perhaps we
should not find it so long as we feared; and however, he proposed that we
should see how far our provisions would carry us, and, in particular, our
water; and we should venture no further than half so far as our water would
last; and if we found no end of the desert, we might come safely back
again.

This advice was so reasonable that we all approved of it; and accordingly
we calculated that we were able to carry provisions for forty-two days, but
that we could not carry water for above twenty days, though we were to
suppose it to stink, too, before that time expired. So that we concluded
that, if we did not come at some water in ten days' time, we would return;
but if we found a supply of water, we could then travel twenty-one days;
and, if we saw no end of the wilderness in that time, we would return also.

With this regulation of our measures, we descended the mountains, and it
was the second day before we quite reached the plain; where, however, to
make us amends, we found a fine little rivulet of very good water,
abundance of deer, a sort of creature like a hare, but not so nimble, but
whose flesh we found very agreeable. But we were deceived in our
intelligence, for we found no people; so we got no more prisoners to assist
us in carrying our baggage.

The infinite number of deer and other creatures which we saw here, we found
was occasioned by the neighbourhood of the waste or desert, from whence
they retired hither for food and refreshment. We stored ourselves here with
flesh and roots of divers kinds, which our negroes understood better than
we, and which served us for bread; and with as much water as (by the
allowance of a quart a day to a man for our negroes, and three pints a day
a man for ourselves, and three quarts a day each for our buffaloes) would
serve us twenty days; and thus loaded for a long miserable march, we set
forwards, being all sound in health and very cheerful, but not alike strong
for so great a fatigue; and, which was our grievance, were without a guide.

In the very first entrance of the waste we were exceedingly discouraged,
for we found the sand so deep, and it scalded our feet so much with the
heat, that after we had, as I may call it, waded rather than walked through
it about seven or eight miles, we were all heartily tired and faint; even
the very negroes laid down and panted like creatures that had been pushed
beyond their strength.

Here we found the difference of lodging greatly injurious to us; for, as
before, we always made us huts to sleep under, which covered us from the
night air, which is particularly unwholesome in those hot countries. But we
had here no shelter, no lodging, after so hard a march; for here were no
trees, no, not a shrub near us; and, which was still more frightful,
towards night we began to hear the wolves howl, the lions bellow, and a
great many wild asses braying, and other ugly noises which we did not
understand.

Upon this we reflected upon our indiscretion, that we had not, at least,
brought poles or stakes in our hands, with which we might have, as it were,
palisadoed ourselves in for the night, and so we might have slept secure,
whatever other inconveniences we suffered. However, we found a way at last
to relieve ourselves a little; for first we set up the lances and bows we
had, and endeavoured to bring the tops of them as near to one another as we
could, and so hung our coats on the top of them, which made us a kind of
sorry tent. The leopard's skin, and a few other skins we had put together,
made us a tolerable covering, and thus we laid down to sleep, and slept
very heartily too, for the first night; setting, however, a good watch,
being two of our own men with their fuzes, whom we relieved in an hour at
first, and two hours afterwards. And it was very well we did this, for they
found the wilderness swarmed with raging creatures of all kinds, some of
which came directly up to the very enclosure of our tent. But our sentinels
were ordered not to alarm us with firing in the night, but to flash in the
pan at them, which they did, and found it effectual, for the creatures went
off always as soon as they saw it, perhaps with some noise or howling, and
pursued such other game as they were upon.

If we were tired with the day's travel, we were all as much tired with the
night's lodging. But our black prince told us in the morning he would give
us some counsel, and indeed it was very good counsel. He told us we should
be all killed if we went on this journey, and through this desert, without
some covering for us at night; so he advised us to march back again to a
little river-side where we lay the night before, and stay there till we
could make us houses, as he called them, to carry with us to lodge in every
night. As he began a little to understand our speech, and we very well to
understand his signs, we easily knew what he meant, and that we should
there make mats (for we remembered that we saw a great deal of matting or
bass there, that the natives make mats of)--I say, that we should make
large mats there for covering our huts or tents to lodge in at night.

We all approved this advice, and immediately resolved to go back that one
day's journey, resolving, though we carried less provisions, we would carry
mats with us to cover us in the night. Some of the nimblest of us got back
to the river with more ease than we had travelled it the day before; but,
as we were not in haste, the rest made a halt, encamped another night, and
came to us the next day.

In our return of this day's journey, our men that made two days of it met
with a very surprising thing, that gave them some reason to be careful how
they parted company again. The case was this:--The second day in the
morning, before they had gone half a mile, looking behind them they saw a
vast cloud of sand or dust rise in the air, as we see sometimes in the
roads in summer when it is very dusty and a large drove of cattle are
coming, only very much greater; and they could easily perceive that it came
after them; and it came on faster as they went from it. The cloud of sand
was so great that they could not see what it was that raised it, and
concluded that it was some army of enemies that pursued them; but then
considering that they came from the vast uninhabited wilderness, they knew
it was impossible any nation or people that way should have intelligence of
them or the way of their march; and therefore, if it was an army, it must
be of such as they were, travelling that way by accident. On the other
hand, as they knew that there were no horses in the country, and that they
came on so fast, they concluded that it must be some vast collection of
wild beasts, perhaps making to the hill country for food or water, and that
they should be all devoured or trampled under foot by their multitude.

Upon this thought, they very prudently observed which way the cloud seemed
to point, and they turned a little out of their way to the north, supposing
it might pass by them. When they were about a quarter of a mile, they
halted to see what it might be. One of the negroes, a nimbler fellow than
the rest, went back a little, and came in a few minutes running as fast as
the heavy sands would allow, and by signs gave them to know that it was a
great herd, or drove, or whatever it might be called, of vast monstrous
elephants.

As it was a sight our men had never seen, they were desirous to see it, and
yet a little uneasy at the danger too; for though an elephant is a heavy
unwieldy creature, yet in the deep sand, which is nothing at all to them,
they marched at a great rate, and would soon have tired our people, if they
had had far to go, and had been pursued by them.

Our gunner was with them, and had a great mind to have gone close up to one
of the outermost of them, and to have clapped his piece to his ear, and to
have fired into him, because he had been told no shot would penetrate them;
but they all dissuaded him, lest upon the noise they should all turn upon
and pursue us; so he was reasoned out of it, and let them pass, which, in
our people's circumstances, was certainly the right way.

They were between twenty and thirty in number, but prodigious great ones;
and though they often showed our men that they saw them, yet they did not
turn out of their way, or take any other notice of them than, as we might
say, just to look at them. We that were before saw the cloud of dust they
raised, but we had thought it had been our own caravan, and so took no
notice; but as they bent their course one point of the compass, or
thereabouts, to the southward of the east, and we went due east [? west],
they passed by us at some little distance; so that we did not see them, or
know anything of them, till evening, when our men came to us and gave us
this account of them. However, this was a useful experiment for our future
conduct in passing the desert, as you shall hear in its place.

We were now upon our work, and our black prince was head surveyor, for he
was an excellent mat-maker himself, and all his men understood it, so that
they soon made us near a hundred mats; and as every man, I mean of the
negroes, carried one, it was no manner of load, and we did not carry an
ounce of provisions the less. The greatest burthen was to carry six long
poles, besides some shorter stakes; but the negroes made an advantage of
that, for carrying them between two, they made the luggage of provisions
which they had to carry so much the lighter, binding it upon two poles, and
so made three couple of them. As soon as we saw this, we made a little
advantage of it too; for having three or four bags, called bottles (I mean
skins to carry water), more than the men could carry, we got them filled,
and carried them this way, which was a day's water and more, for our
journey.

Having now ended our work, made our mats, and fully recruited our stores of
all things necessary, and having made us abundance of small ropes of
matting for ordinary use, as we might have occasion, we set forward again,
having interrupted our journey eight days in all, upon this affair. To our
great comfort, the night before we set out there fell a very violent shower
of rain, the effects of which we found in the sand; though the heat of one
day dried the surface as much as before, yet it was harder at bottom, not
so heavy, and was cooler to our feet, by which means we marched, as we
reckoned, about fourteen miles instead of seven, and with much more ease.

When we came to encamp, we had all things ready, for we had fitted our
tent, and set it up for trial, where we made it; so that, in less than an
hour, we had a large tent raised, with an inner and outer apartment, and
two entrances. In one we lay ourselves, in the other our negroes, having
light pleasant mats over us, and others at the same time under us. Also we
had a little place without all for our buffaloes, for they deserved our
care, being very useful to us, besides carrying forage and water for
themselves. Their forage was a root, which our black prince directed us to
find, not much unlike a parsnip, very moist and nourishing, of which there
was plenty wherever we came, this horrid desert excepted.

When we came the next morning to decamp, our negroes took down the tent,
and pulled up the stakes; and all was in motion in as little time as it was
set up. In this posture we marched eight days, and yet could see no end, no
change of our prospect, but all looking as wild and dismal as at the
beginning. If there was any alteration, it was that the sand was nowhere so
deep and heavy as it was the first three days. This we thought might be
because, for six months of the year the winds blowing west (as for the
other six they blow constantly east), the sand was driven violently to the
side of the desert where we set out, where the mountains lying very high,
the easterly monsoons, when they blew, had not the same power to drive it
back again; and this was confirmed by our finding the like depth of sand on
the farthest extent of the desert to the west.

It was the ninth day of our travel in this wilderness, when we came to the
view of a great lake of water; and you may be sure this was a particular
satisfaction to us, because we had not water left for above two or three
days more, at our shortest allowance; I mean allowing water for our return,
if we had been driven to the necessity of it. Our water had served us two
days longer than expected, our buffaloes having found, for two or three
days, a kind of herb like a broad flat thistle, though without any prickle,
spreading on the ground, and growing in the sand, which they ate freely of,
and which supplied them for drink as well as forage.

The next day, which was the tenth from our setting out, we came to the edge
of this lake, and, very happily for us, we came to it at the south point of
it, for to the north we could see no end of it; so we passed by it and
travelled three days by the side of it, which was a great comfort to us,
because it lightened our burthen, there being no need to carry water when
we had it in view. And yet, though here was so much water, we found but
very little alteration in the desert; no trees, no grass or herbage, except
that thistle, as I called it, and two or three more plants, which we did
not understand, of which the desert began to be pretty full.

But as we were refreshed with the neighbourhood of this lake of water, so
we were now gotten among a prodigious number of ravenous inhabitants, the
like whereof, it is most certain, the eye of man never saw; for as I firmly
believe that never man nor body of men passed this desert since the flood,
so I believe there is not the like collection of fierce, ravenous, and
devouring creatures in the world; I mean not in any particular place.

For a day's journey before we came to this lake, and all the three days we
were passing by it, and. for six or seven days' march after it, the ground
was scattered with elephants' teeth in such a number as is incredible; and
as some of them have lain there for some hundreds of years, so, seeing the
substance of them scarce ever decays, they may lie there, for aught I know,
to the end of time. The size of some of them is, it seems, to those to whom
I have reported it, as incredible as the number; and I can assure you there
were several so heavy as the strongest man among us could not lift. As to
number, I question not but there are enough to load a thousand sail of the
biggest ships in the world, by which I may be understood to mean that the
quantity is not to be conceived of; seeing that as they lasted in view for
above eighty miles' travelling, so they might continue as far to the right
hand, and to the left as far, and many times as far, for aught we knew; for
it seems the number of elephants hereabouts is prodigiously great. In one
place in particular we saw the head of an elephant, with several teeth in
it, but one of the biggest that ever I saw; the flesh was consumed, to be
sure, many hundred years before, and all the other bones; but three of our
strongest men could not lift this skull and teeth; the great tooth, I
believe, weighed at least three hundredweight; and this was particularly
remarkable to me, that I observed the whole skull was as good ivory as the
teeth, and, I believe, altogether weighed at least six hundredweight; and
though I do not know but, by the same rule, all the bones of the elephant
may be ivory, yet I think there is this just objection against it from the
example before me, that then all the other bones of this elephant would
have been there as well as the head.

I proposed to our gunner, that, seeing we had travelled now fourteen days
without intermission, and that we had water here for our refreshment, and
no want of food yet, nor any fear of it, we should rest our people a
little, and see, at the same time, if perhaps we might kill some creatures
that were proper for food. The gunner, who had more forecast of that kind
than I had, agreed to the proposal, and added, why might we not try to
catch some fish out of the lake? The first thing we had before us was to
try if we could make any hooks, and this indeed put our artificer to his
trumps; however, with some labour and difficulty, he did it, and we catched
fresh fish of several kinds. How they came there, none but He that made the
lake and all the world knows; for, to be sure, no human hands ever put any
in there, or pulled any out before.

We not only catched enough for our present refreshment, but we dried
several large fishes, of kinds which I cannot describe, in the sun, by
which we lengthened out our provision considerably; for the heat of the sun
dried them so effectually without salt that they were perfectly cured, dry,
and hard, in one day's time.

We rested ourselves here five days; during which time we had abundance of
pleasant adventures with the wild creatures, too many to relate. One of
them was very particular, which was a chase between a she-lion, or lioness,
and a large deer; and though the deer is naturally a very nimble creature,
and she flew by us like the wind, having, perhaps, about 300 yards the
start of the lion, yet we found the lion, by her strength, and the goodness
of her lungs, got ground of her. They passed by us within about a quarter
of a mile, and we had a view of them a great way, when, having given them
over, we were surprised, about an hour after, to see them come thundering
back again on the other side of us, and then the lion was within thirty or
forty yards of her; and both straining to the extremity of their speed,
when the deer, coming to the lake, plunged into the water, and swam for her
life, as she had before run for it.

The lioness plunged in after her, and swam a little way, but came back
again; and when she was got upon the land she set up the most hideous roar
that ever I heard in my life, as if done in the rage of having lost her
prey.

We walked out morning and evening constantly; the middle of the day we
refreshed ourselves under our tent. But one morning early we saw another
chase, which more nearly concerned us than the other; for our black prince,
walking by the side of the lake, was set upon by a vast, great crocodile,
which came out of the lake upon him; and though he was very light of foot,
yet it was as much as he could do to get away. He fled amain to us, and the
truth is, we did not know what to do, for we were told no bullet would
enter her; and we found it so at first, for though three of our men fired
at her, yet she did not mind them; but my friend the gunner, a venturous
fellow, of a bold heart, and great presence of mind, went up so near as to
thrust the muzzle of his piece into her mouth, and fired, but let his piece
fall, and ran for it the very moment he had fired it. The creature raged a
great while, and spent its fury upon the gun, making marks upon the very
iron with its teeth, but after some time fainted and died.

Our negroes spread the banks of the lake all this while for game, and at
length killed us three deer, one of them very large, the other two very
small. There was water-fowl also in the lake, but we never came near enough
to them to shoot any; and as for the desert, we saw no fowls anywhere in it
but at the lake.

We likewise killed two or three civet cats; but their flesh is the worst of
carrion. We saw abundance of elephants at a distance, and observed they
always go in very good company, that is to say, abundance of them together,
and always extended in a fair line of battle; and this, they say, is the
way they defend themselves from their enemies; for if lions or tigers,
wolves or any creatures, attack them, they being drawn in a line, sometimes
reaching five or six miles in length, whatever comes in their way is sure
to be trod under foot, or beaten in pieces with their trunks, or lifted up
in the air with their trunks; so that if a hundred lions or tigers were
coming along, if they meet a line of elephants, they will always fly back
till they see room to pass by the right hand or the left; and if they did
not, it would be impossible for one of them to escape; for the elephant,
though a heavy creature, is yet so dexterous and nimble with his trunk,
that he will not fail to lift up the heaviest lion, or any other wild
creature, and throw him up in the air quite over his back, and then trample
him to death with his feet. We saw several lines of battle thus; we saw one
so long that indeed there was no end of it to be seen, and I believe there
might be 2000 elephants in row or line. They are not beasts of prey, but
live upon the herbage of the field, as an ox does; and it is said, that
though they are so great a creature, yet that a smaller quantity of forage
supplies one of them than will suffice a horse.

The numbers of this kind of creature that are in those parts are
inconceivable, as may be gathered from the prodigious quantity of teeth
which, as I said, we saw in this vast desert; and indeed we saw a hundred
of them to one of any other kind.

One evening we were very much surprised. We were most of us laid down on
our mats to sleep, when our watch came running in among us, being frighted
with the sudden roaring of some lions just by them, which, it seems, they
had not seen, the night being dark, till they were just upon them. There
was, as it proved, an old lion and his whole family, for there was the
lioness and three young lions, besides the old king, who was a monstrous
great one. One of the young ones--who were good, large, well-grown ones
too--leaped up upon one of our negroes, who stood sentinel, before he saw
him, at which he was heartily frighted, cried out, and ran into the tent.
Our other man, who had a gun, had not presence of mind at first to shoot
him, but struck him with the butt-end of his piece, which made him whine a
little, and then growl at him fearfully; but the fellow retired, and, we
being all alarmed, three of our men snatched up their guns, ran to the tent
door, where they saw the great old lion by the fire of his eyes, and first
fired at him, but, we supposed, missed him, or at least did not kill him;
for they went all off, but raised a most hideous roar, which, as if they
had called for help, brought down a prodigious number of lions, and other
furious creatures, we know not what, about them, for we could not see them;
but there was a noise, and yelling and howling, and all sorts of such
wilderness music on every side of us, as if all the beasts of the desert
were assembled to devour us.

We asked our black prince what we should do with them. "Me go," says he,
"and fright them all." So he snatches up two or three of the worst of our
mats, and getting one of our men to strike some fire, he hangs the mat up
at the end of a pole, and set it on fire, and it blazed abroad a good
while; at which the creatures all moved off, for we heard them roar, and
make their bellowing noise at a great distance. "Well," says our gunner,
"if that will do, we need not burn our mats, which are our beds to lay
under us, and our tilting to cover us. Let me alone," says he. So he comes
back into our tent, and falls to making some artificial fireworks and the
like; and he gave our sentinels some to be ready at hand upon occasion, and
particularly he placed a great piece of wild-fire upon the same pole that
the mat had been tied to, and set it on fire, and that burnt there so long
that all the wild creatures left us for that time.

However, we began to be weary of such company; and, to be rid of them, we
set forward again two days sooner than we intended. We found now, that
though the desert did not end, nor could we see any appearance of it, yet
that the earth was pretty full of green stuff of one sort or another, so
that our cattle had no want; and secondly, that there were several little
rivers which ran into the lake, and so long as the country continued low,
we found water sufficient, which eased us very much in our carriage, and we
went on still sixteen days more without yet coming to any appearance of
better soil. After this we found the country rise a little, and by that we
perceived that the water would fail us; so, for fear of the worst, we
filled our bladder-bottles with water. We found the country rising
gradually thus for three days continually, when, on the sudden, we
perceived that, though we had mounted up insensibly, yet that we were on
the top of a very high ridge of hills, though not such as at first.

When we came to look down on the other side of the hills, we saw, to the
great joy of all our hearts, that the desert was at an end; that the
country was clothed with green, abundance of trees, and a large river; and
we made no doubt but that we should find people and cattle also; and here,
by our gunner's account, who kept our computations, we had marched about
400 miles over this dismal place of horror, having been four-and-thirty
days a-doing of it, and consequently were come about 1100 miles of our
journey.

We would willingly have descended the hills that night, but it was too
late. The next morning we saw everything more plain, and rested ourselves
under the shade of some trees, which were now the most refreshing things
imaginable to us, who had been scorched above a month without a tree to
cover us. We found the country here very pleasant, especially considering
that we came from; and we killed some deer here also, which we found very
frequent under the cover of the woods. Also we killed a creature like a
goat, whose flesh was very good to eat, but it was no goat; we found also a
great number of fowls like partridge, but something smaller, and were very
tame; so that we lived here very well, but found no people, at least none
that would be seen, no, not for several days' journey; and to allay our
joy, we were almost every night disturbed with lions and tigers; elephants,
indeed, we saw none here.

In three days' march we came to a river, which we saw from the hills, and
which we called the Golden River; and we found it ran northward, which was
the first stream we had met with that did so. It ran with a very rapid
current, and our gunner, pulling out his map, assured me that this was
either the river Nile, or run into the great lake out of which the river
Nile was said to take its beginning; and he brought out his charts and
maps, which, by his instruction, I began to understand very well, and told
me he would convince me of it, and indeed he seemed to make it so plain to
me that I was of the same opinion.

But I did not enter into the gunner's reason for this inquiry, not in the
least, till he went on with it farther, and stated it thus:--"If this is
the river Nile, why should not we build some more canoes, and go down this
stream, rather than expose ourselves to any more deserts and scorching
sands in quest of the sea, which when we are come to, we shall be as much
at a loss how to get home as we were at Madagascar?"

The argument was good, had there been no objections in the way of a kind
which none of us were capable of answering; but, upon the whole, it was an
undertaking of such a nature that every one of us thought it impracticable,
and that upon several accounts; and our surgeon, who was himself a good
scholar and a man of reading, though not acquainted with the business of
sailing, opposed it, and some of his reasons, I remember, were such as
these:--First, the length of the way, which both he and the gunner allowed,
by the course of the water, and turnings of the river, would be at least
4000 miles. Secondly, the innumerable crocodiles in the river, which we
should never be able to escape. Thirdly, the dreadful deserts in the way;
and lastly, the approaching rainy season, in which the streams of the Nile
would be so furious, and rise so high--spreading far and wide over all the
plain country--that we should never be able to know when we were in the
channel of the river and when not, and should certainly be cast away,
overset, or run aground so often that it would be impossible to proceed by
a river so excessively dangerous.

This last reason he made so plain to us that we began to be sensible of it
ourselves, so that we agreed to lay that thought aside, and proceed in our
first course, westwards towards the sea; but, as if we had been loth to
depart, we continued, by way of refreshing ourselves, to loiter two days
upon this river, in which time our black prince, who delighted much in
wandering up and down, came one evening and brought us several little bits
of something, he knew not what, but he found it felt heavy and looked well,
and showed it to me as what he thought was some rarity. I took not much
notice of it to him, but stepping out and calling the gunner to me I showed
it to him, and told him what I thought, viz., that it was certainly gold.
He agreed with me in that, and also in what followed, that we would take
the black prince out with us the next day, and make him show us where he
found it; that if there was any quantity to be found we would tell our
company of it, but if there was but little we would keep counsel, and have
it to ourselves.

But we forgot to engage the prince in the secret, who innocently told so
much to all the rest, as that they guessed what it was, and came to us to
see. When we found it was public, we were more concerned to prevent their
suspecting that we had any design to conceal it, and openly telling our
thoughts of it, we called our artificer, who agreed presently that it was
gold; so I proposed that we should all go with the prince to the place
where he found it, and if any quantity was to be had, we would lie here
some time and see what we could make of it.

Accordingly we went every man of us, for no man was willing to be left
behind in a discovery of such a nature. When we came to the place we found
it was on the west side of the river, not in the main river, but in another
small river or stream which came from the west, and ran into the other at
that place. We fell to raking in the sand, and washing it in our hands; and
we seldom took up a handful of sand but we washed some little round lumps
as big as a pin's head, or sometimes as big as a grape stone, into our
hands; and we found, in two or three hours' time, that every one had got
some, so we agreed to leave off, and go to dinner.

While we were eating, it came into my thoughts that while we worked at this
rate in a thing of such nicety and consequence, it was ten to one if the
gold, which was the make-bait of the world, did not, first or last, set us
together by the ears, to break our good articles and our understanding one
among another, and perhaps cause us to part companies, or worse; I
therefore told them that I was indeed the youngest man in the company, but
as they had always allowed me to give my opinion in things, and had
sometimes been pleased to follow my advice, so I had something to propose
now, which I thought would be for all our advantages, and I believed they
would all like it very well. I told them we were in a country where we all
knew there was a great deal of gold, and that all the world sent ships
thither to get it; that we did not indeed know where it was, and so we
might get a great deal, or a little, we did not know whether; but I offered
it to them to consider whether it would not be the best way for us, and to
preserve the good harmony and friendship that had been always kept among
us, and which was so absolutely necessary to our safety, that what we found
should be brought together to one common stock, and be equally divided at
last, rather than to run the hazard of any difference which might happen
among us from any one's having found more or less than another. I told
them, that if we were all upon one bottom we should all apply ourselves
heartily to the work; and, besides that, we might then set our negroes all
to work for us, and receive equally the fruit of their labour and of our
own, and being all exactly alike sharers, there could be no just cause of
quarrel or disgust among us.

They all approved the proposal, and every one jointly swore, and gave their
hands to one another, that they would not conceal the least grain of gold
from the rest; and consented that if any one or more should be found to
conceal any, all that he had should be taken from him and divided among the
rest; and one thing more was added to it by our gunner, from considerations
equally good and just, that if any one of us, by any play, bet, game, or
wager, won any money or gold, or the value of any, from another, during our
whole voyage, till our return quite to Portugal, he should be obliged by us
all to restore it again on the penalty of being disarmed and turned out of
the company, and of having no relief from us on any account whatever. This
was to prevent wagering and playing for money, which our men were apt to do
by several means and at several games, though they had neither cards nor
dice.

Having made this wholesome agreement, we went cheerfully to work, and
showed our negroes how to work for us; and working up the stream on both
sides, and in the bottom of the river, we spent about three weeks' time
dabbling in the water; by which time, as it lay all in our way, we had gone
about six miles, and not more; and still the higher we went, the more gold
we found; till at last, having passed by the side of a hill, we perceived
on a sudden that the gold stopped, and that there was not a bit taken up
beyond that place. It presently occurred to my mind, that it must then be
from the side of that little hill that all the gold we found was worked
down.

Upon this, we went back to the hill, and fell to work with that. We found
the earth loose, and of a yellowish loamy colour, and in some places a
white hard kind of stone, which, in describing since to some of our
artists, they tell me was the spar which is found by ore, and surrounds it
in the mine. However, if it had been all gold, we had no instrument to
force it out; so we passed that. But scratching into the loose earth with
our fingers, we came to a surprising place, where the earth, for the
quantity of two bushels, I believe, or thereabouts, crumbled down with
little more than touching it, and apparently showed us that there was a
great deal of gold in it. We took it all carefully up, and washing it in
the water, the loamy earth washed away, and left the gold dust free in our
hands; and that which was more remarkable was, that, when this loose earth
was all taken away, and we came to the rock or hard stone, there was not
one grain of gold more to be found.

At night we all came together to see what we had got; and it appeared we
had found, in that day's heap of earth, about fifty pounds' weight of gold
dust, and about thirty-four pounds' weight more in all the rest of our
works in the river.

It was a happy kind of disappointment to us, that we found a full stop put
to our work; for, had the quantity of gold been ever so small, yet, had any
at all come, I do not know when we should have given over; for, having
rummaged this place, and not finding the least grain of gold in any other
place, or in any of the earth there, except in that loose parcel, we went
quite back down the small river again, working it over and over again, as
long as we could find anything, how small soever; and we did get six or
seven pounds more the second time. Then we went into the first river, and
tried it up the stream and down the stream, on the one side and on the
other. Up the stream we found nothing, no, not a grain; down the stream we
found very little, not above the quantity of half an ounce in two miles'
working; so back we came again to the Golden River, as we justly called it,
and worked it up the stream and down the stream twice more apiece, and
every time we found some gold, and perhaps might have done so if we had
stayed there till this time; but the quantity was at last so small, and the
work so much the harder, that we agreed by consent to give it over, lest we
should fatigue ourselves and our negroes so as to be quite unfit for our
journey.

When we had brought all our purchase together, we had in the whole three
pounds and a half of gold to a man, share and share alike, according to
such a weight and scale as our ingenious cutler made for us to weigh it by,
which indeed he did by guess, but which, as he said, he was sure was rather
more than less, and so it proved at last; for it was near two ounces more
than weight in a pound. Besides this, there was seven or eight pounds'
weight left, which we agreed to leave in his hands, to work it into such
shapes as we thought fit, to give away to such people as we might yet meet
with, from whom we might have occasion to buy provisions, or even to buy
friendship, or the like; and particularly we gave about a pound to our
black prince, which he hammered and worked by his own indefatigable hand,
and some tools our artificer lent him, into little round bits, as round
almost as beads, though not exact in shape, and drilling holes through
them, put them all upon a string, and wore them about his black neck, and
they looked very well there, I assure you; but he was many months a-doing
it. And thus ended our first golden adventure.

We now began to discover what we had not troubled our heads much about
before, and that was, that, let the country be good or bad that we were in,
we could not travel much further for a considerable time. We had been now
five months and upwards in our journey, and the seasons began to change;
and nature told us, that, being in a climate that had a winter as well as a
summer, though of a different kind from what our country produced, we were
to expect a wet season, and such as we should not be able to travel in, as
well by reason of the rain itself, as of the floods which it would occasion
wherever we should come; and though we had been no strangers to those wet
seasons in the island of Madagascar, yet we had not thought much of them
since we began our travels; for, setting out when the sun was about the
solstice, that is, when it was at the greatest northern distance from us,
we had found the benefit of it in our travels. But now it drew near us
apace, and we found it began to rain; upon which we called another general
council, in which we debated our present circumstances, and, in particular,
whether we should go forward, or seek for a proper place upon the bank of
our Golden River, which had been so lucky to us, to fix our camp for the
winter.

Upon the whole, it was resolved to abide where we were; and it was not the
least part of our happiness that we did so, as shall appear in its place.

Having resolved upon this, our first measures were to set our negroes to
work, to make huts or houses for our habitation, and this they did very
dexterously; only that we changed the ground where we at first intended it,
thinking, as indeed it happened, that the river might reach it upon any
sudden rain. Our camp was like a little town, in which our huts were in the
centre, having one large one in the centre of them also, into which all our
particular lodgings opened; so that none of us went into our apartments but
through a public tent, where we all ate and drank together, and kept our
councils and society; and our carpenters made us tables, benches, and
stools in abundance, as many as we could make use of.

We had no need of chimneys, it was hot enough without fire; but yet we
found ourselves at last obliged to keep a fire every night upon a
particular occasion. For though we had in all other respects a very
pleasant and agreeable situation, yet we were rather worse troubled with
the unwelcome visits of wild beasts here than in the wilderness itself; for
as the deer and other gentle creatures came hither for shelter and food, so
the lions and tigers and leopards haunted these places continually for
prey.

When first we discovered this we were so uneasy at it that we thought of
removing our situation; but after many debates about it we resolved to
fortify ourselves in such a manner as not to be in any danger from it; and
this our carpenters undertook, who first palisaded our camp quite round
with long stakes, for we had wood enough, which stakes were not stuck in
one by another like pales, but in an irregular manner; a great multitude of
them so placed that they took up near two yards in thickness, some higher,
some lower, all sharpened at the top, and about a foot asunder: so that had
any creature jumped at them, unless he had gone clean over, which it was
very hard to do, he would be hung upon twenty or thirty spikes.

The entrance into this had larger stakes than the rest, so placed before
one another as to make three or four short turnings which no four-footed
beast bigger than a dog could possibly come in at; and that we might not be
attacked by any multitude together, and consequently be alarmed in our
sleep, as we had been, or be obliged to waste our ammunition, which we were
very chary of, we kept a great fire every night without the entrance of our
palisade, having a hut for our two sentinels to stand in free from the
rain, just within the entrance, and right against the fire.

To maintain this fire we cut a prodigious deal of wood, and piled it up in
a heap to dry, and with the green boughs made a second covering over our
huts, so high and thick that it might cast the rain from the first, and
keep us effectually dry.

We had scarcely finished all these works but the rain came on so fierce and
so continued that we had little time to stir abroad for food, except indeed
that our negroes, who wore no clothes, seemed to make nothing of the rain;
though to us Europeans, in those hot climates, nothing is more dangerous.

We continued in this posture for four months, that is to say, from the
middle of June to the middle of October; for though the rains went off, at
least the greatest violence of them, about the equinox, yet, as the sun was
then just over our heads, we resolved to stay awhile till it passed a
little to the southward.

During our encampment here we had several adventures with the ravenous
creatures of that country; and had not our fire been always kept burning, I
question much whether all our fence, though we strengthened it afterwards
with twelve or fourteen rows of stakes or more, would have kept us secure.
It was always in the night that we had the disturbance of them, and
sometimes they came in such multitudes that we thought all the lions and
tigers, and leopards and wolves of Africa were come together to attack us.
One night, being clear moonshine, one of our men being upon the watch, told
us that he verily believed he saw ten thousand wild creatures of one sort
or another pass by our little camp, and ever as they saw the fire they
sheered off, but were sure to howl or roar, or whatever it was, when they
were past.

The music of their voices was very far from being pleasant to us, and
sometimes would be so very disturbing that we could not sleep for it; and
often our sentinels would call us that were awake to come and look at them.
It was one windy, tempestuous night, after a rainy day, that we were indeed
called up; for such innumerable numbers of devilish creatures came about us
that our watch really thought they would attack us. They would not come on
the side where the fire was; and though we thought ourselves secure
everywhere else, yet we all got up and took to our arms. The moon was near
the full, but the air full of flying clouds, and a strange hurricane of
wind to add to the terror of the night; when, looking on the back part of
our camp, I thought I saw a creature within our fortification, and so
indeed he was, except his haunches, for he had taken a running leap, I
suppose, and with all his might had thrown himself clear over our
palisades, except one strong pile, which stood higher than the rest, and
which had caught hold of him, and by his weight he had hanged himself upon
it, the spike of the pile running into his hinder haunch or thigh, on the
inside; and by that he hung, growling and biting the wood for rage. I
snatched up a lance from one of the negroes that stood just by me, and
running to him, struck it three or four times into him, and despatched him,
being unwilling to shoot, because I had a mind to have a volley fired among
the rest, whom I could see standing without, as thick as a drove of
bullocks going to a fair. I immediately called our people out, and showed
them the object of terror which I had seen, and, without any further
consultation, fired a full volley among them, most of our pieces being
loaded with two or three slugs or bullets apiece. It made a horrible
clutter among them, and in general they all took to their heels, only that
we could observe that some walked off with more gravity and majesty than
others, being not so much frighted at the noise and fire; and we could
perceive that some were left upon the ground struggling as for life, but we
durst not stir out to see what they were.

Indeed they stood so thick, and were so near us, that we could not well
miss killing or wounding some of them, and we believed they had certainly
the smell of us, and our victuals we had been killing; for we had killed a
deer, and three or four of those creatures like goats the day before; and
some of the offal had been thrown out behind our camp, and this, we
suppose, drew them so much about us; but we avoided it for the future.

Though the creatures fled, yet we heard a frightful roaring all night at
the place where they stood, which we supposed was from some that were
wounded, and as soon as day came we went out to see what execution we had
done. And indeed it was a strange sight; there were three tigers and two
wolves quite killed, besides the creature I had killed within our palisade,
which seemed to be of an ill-gendered kind, between a tiger and a leopard.
Besides this there was a noble old lion alive, but with both his fore-legs
broke, so that he could not stir away, and he had almost beat himself to
death with struggling all night, and we found that this was the wounded
soldier that had roared so loud and given us so much disturbance. Our
surgeon, looking at him, smiled. "Now," says he, "if I could be sure this
lion would be as grateful to me as one of his majesty's ancestors was to
Androcles, the Roman slave, I would certainly set both his legs again and
cure him." I had not heard the story of Androcles, so he told it me at
large; but as to the surgeon, we told him he had no way to know whether the
lion would do so or not, but to cure him first and trust to his honour; but
he had no faith, so to despatch him and put him out of his torment, he shot
him in the head and killed him, for which we called him the king-killer
ever after.

Our negroes found no less than five of these ravenous creatures wounded and
dropped at a distance from our quarters; whereof, one was a wolf, one a
fine spotted young leopard, and the other were creatures that we knew not
what to call them.

We had several more of these gentlefolks about after that, but no such
general rendezvous of them as that was any more; but this ill effect it had
to us, that it frighted the deer and other creatures from our
neighbourhood, of whose company we were much more desirous, and which were
necessary for our subsistence. However, our negroes went out every day
a-hunting, as they called it, with bow and arrow, and they scarce ever
failed of bringing us home something or other; and particularly we found in
this part of the country, after the rains had fallen some time, abundance
of wild fowl, such as we have in England, duck, teal, widgeon, etc.; some
geese, and some kinds that we had never seen before; and we frequently
killed them. Also we catched a great deal of fresh fish out of the river,
so that we wanted no provision. If we wanted anything, it was salt to eat
with our fresh meat; but we had a little left, and we used it sparingly;
for as to our negroes, they could not taste it, nor did they care to eat
any meat that was seasoned with it.

The weather began now to clear up, the rains were down, and the floods
abated, and the sun, which had passed our zenith, was gone to the southward
a good way; so we prepared to go on our way.

It was the 12th of October, or thereabouts, that we began to set forward;
and having an easy country to travel in, as well as to supply us with
provisions, though still without inhabitants, we made more despatch,
travelling sometimes, as we calculated it, twenty or twenty-five miles a
day; nor did we halt anywhere in eleven days' march, one day excepted,
which was to make a raft to carry us over a small river, which, having
swelled with the rains, was not yet quite down.

When we were past this river, which, by the way, ran to the northward too,
we found a great row of hills in our way. We saw, indeed, the country open
to the right at a great distance; but, as we kept true to our course, due
west, we were not willing to go a great way out of our way, only to shun a,
few hills. So we advanced; but we were surprised when, being not quite come
to the top, one of our company, who, with two negroes, was got up before
us, cried out, "The sea! the sea!" and fell a-dancing and jumping, as signs
of joy.

The gunner and I were most surprised at it, because we had but that morning
been calculating that we must have yet above 1000 miles on the sea side,
and that we could not expect to reach it till another rainy season would be
upon us; so that when our man cried out, "The sea," the gunner was angry,
and said he was mad.

But we were both in the greatest surprise imaginable, when, coming to the
top of the hill, and though it was very high, we saw nothing but water,
either before us or to the right hand or the left, being a vast sea,
without any bounds but the horizon.

We went down the hill full of confusion of thought, not being able to
conceive whereabouts we were or what it must be, seeing by all our charts
the sea was yet a vast way off.

It was not above three miles from the hills before we came to the shore, or
water-edge of this sea, and there, to our further surprise, we found the
water fresh and pleasant to drink; so that, in short, we knew not what
course to take. The sea, as we thought it to be, put a full stop to our
journey (I mean westward), for it lay just in the way. Our next question
was, which hand to turn to, to the right hand or the left, but this was
soon resolved; for, as we knew not the extent of it, we considered that our
way, if it had been the sea really, must be on the north, and therefore, if
we went to the south now, it must be just so much out of our way at last.
So, having spent a good part of the day in our surprise at the thing, and
consulting what to do, we set forward to the north.

We travelled upon the shore of this sea full twenty-three days before we
could come to any resolution about what it was; at the end of which, early
one morning, one of our seamen cried out, "Land!" and it was no false
alarm, for we saw plainly the tops of some hills at a very great distance,
on the further side of the water, due west; but though this satisfied us
that it was not the ocean, but an inland sea or lake, yet we saw no land to
the northward, that is to say, no end of it, but were obliged to travel
eight days more, and near 100 miles farther, before we came to the end of
it, and then we found this lake or sea ended in a very great river which
ran N. or N. by E., as the other river had done which I mentioned before.

My friend the gunner, upon examining, said that he believed that he was
mistaken before, and that this was the river Nile, but was still of the
mind that we were of before, that we should not think of a voyage into
Egypt that way; so we resolved upon crossing this river, which, however,
was not so easy as before, the river being very rapid and the channel very
broad.

It cost us, therefore, a week here to get materials to waft ourselves and
cattle over this river; for though here were stores of trees, yet there was
none of any considerable growth sufficient to make a canoe.

During our march on the edge of this bank we met with great fatigue, and
therefore travelled a fewer miles in a day than before, there being such a
prodigious number of little rivers that came down from the hills on the
east side, emptying themselves into this gulf, all which waters were pretty
high, the rains having been but newly over.

In the last three days of our travel we met with some inhabitants, but we
found they lived upon the little hills and not by the water-side; nor were
we a little put to it for food in this march, having killed nothing for
four or five days but some fish we caught out of the lake, and that not in
such plenty as we found before.

But, to make us some amends, we had no disturbance upon all the shores of
this lake from any wild beasts; the only inconveniency of that kind was,
that we met an ugly, venomous, deformed kind of a snake or serpent in the
wet grounds near the lake, that several times pursued us as if it would
attack us; and if we struck or threw anything at it, it would raise itself
up and hiss so loud that it might be heard a great way. It had a hellish
ugly deformed look and voice, and our men would not be persuaded but it was
the devil, only that we did not know what business Satan could have there,
where there were no people.

It was very remarkable that we had now travelled 1000 miles without meeting
with any people in the heart of the whole continent of Africa, where, to be
sure, never man set his foot since the sons of Noah spread themselves over
the face of the whole earth. Here also our gunner took an observation with
his forestaff, to determine our latitude, and he found now, that having
marched about thirty-three days northward, we were in 6 degrees 22 minutes
south latitude.

After having with great difficulty got over this river, we came into a
strange wild country that began a little to affright us; for though the
country was not a desert of dry scalding sand as that was we had passed
before, yet it was mountainous, barren, and infinitely full of most furious
wild beasts, more than any place we had passed yet. There was indeed a kind
of coarse herbage on the surface, and now and then a few trees, or rather
shrubs. But people we could see none, and we began to be in great suspense
about victuals, for we had not killed a deer a great while, but had lived
chiefly upon fish and fowl, always by the water-side, both which seemed to
fail us now; and we were in the more consternation, because we could not
lay in a stock here to proceed upon, as we did before, but were obliged to
set out with scarcity, and without any certainty of a supply.

We had, however, no remedy but patience; and having killed some fowls and
dried some fish, as much as, with short allowance, we reckoned would last
us five days, we resolved to venture, and venture we did; nor was it
without cause that we were apprehensive of the danger, for we travelled the
five days and met neither with fish nor fowl, nor four-footed beast, whose
flesh was fit to eat, and we were in a most dreadful apprehension of being
famished to death. On the sixth day we almost fasted, or, as we may say, we
ate up all the scraps of what we had left, and at night lay down supperless
upon our mats, with heavy hearts, being obliged the eighth day to kill one
of our poor faithful servants, the buffaloes that carried our baggage. The
flesh of this creature was very good, and so sparingly did we eat of it
that it lasted us all three days and a half, and was just spent; and we
were on the point of killing another when we saw before us a country that
promised better, having high trees and a large river in the middle of it.

This encouraged us, and we quickened our march for the river-side, though
with empty stomachs, and very faint and weak; but before we came to this
river we had the good hap to meet with some young deer, a thing we had long
wished for. In a word, having shot three of them, we came to a full stop to
fill our bellies, and never gave the flesh time to cool before we ate it;
nay, it was much we could stay to kill it and had not eaten it alive, for
we were, in short, almost famished.

Through all that inhospitable country we saw continually lions, tigers,
leopards, civet cats, and abundance of kinds of creatures that we did not
understand; we saw no elephants, but every now and then we met with an
elephant's tooth lying on the ground, and some of them lying, as it were,
half buried by the length of time that they had lain there.

When we came to the shore of this river, we found it ran northerly still,
as all the rest had done, but with this difference, that as the course of
the other rivers were N. by E. or N.N.E., the course of this lay N.W.N.

On the farther bank of this river we saw some sign of inhabitants, but met
with none for the first day; but the next day we came into an inhabited
country, the people all negroes, and stark naked, without shame, both men
and women.

We made signs of friendship to them, and found them a very frank, civil,
and friendly sort of people. They came to our negroes without any
suspicion, nor did they give us any reason to suspect them of any villainy,
as the others had done; we made signs to them that we were hungry, and
immediately some naked women ran and fetched us great quantities of roots,
and of things like pumpkins, which we made no scruple to eat; and our
artificer showed them some of his trinkets that he had made, some of iron,
some of silver, but none of gold. They had so much judgment as to choose
that of silver before the iron; but when we showed them some gold, we found
they did not value it so much as either of the other.

For some of these things they brought us more provisions, and three living
creatures as big as calves, but not of that kind; neither did we ever see
any of them before; their flesh was very good; and after that they brought
us twelve more, and some smaller creatures like hares; all which were very
welcome to us, who were indeed at a very great loss for provisions.

We grew very intimate with these people, and indeed they were the civillest
and most friendly people that we met with at all, and mightily pleased with
us; and, which was very particular, they were much easier to be made to
understand our meaning than any we had met with before.

At last we began to inquire our way, pointing to the west. They made us
understand easily that we could not go that way, but they pointed to us
that we might go north-west, so that we presently understood that there was
another lake in our way, which proved to be true; for in two days more we
saw it plain, and it held us till we passed the equinoctial line, lying all
the way on our left hand, though at a great distance.

Travelling thus northward, our gunner seemed very anxious about our
proceedings; for he assured us, and made me sensible of it by the maps
which he had been teaching me out of, that when we came into the latitude
of six degrees, or thereabouts, north of the line, the land trended away to
the west to such a length that we should not come at the sea under a march
of above 1500 miles farther westward than the country we desired to go to.
I asked him if there were no navigable rivers that we might meet with,
which, running into the west ocean, might perhaps carry us down their
stream, and then, if it were 1500 miles, or twice 1500 miles, we might do
well enough if we could but get provisions.

Here he showed me the maps again, and that there appeared no river whose
stream was of any such a length as to do any kindness, till we came perhaps
within 200 or 300 miles of the shore, except the Rio Grande, as they call
it, which lay farther northward from us, at least 700 miles; and that then
he knew not what kind of country it might carry us through; for he said it
was his opinion that the heats on the north of the line, even in the same
latitude, were violent, and the country more desolate, barren, and
barbarous, than those of the south; and that when we came among the negroes
in the north part of Africa, next the sea, especially those who had seen
and trafficked with the Europeans, such as Dutch, English, Portuguese,
Spaniards, etc., they had most of them been so ill-used at some time or
other that they would certainly put all the spite they could upon us in
mere revenge.

Upon these considerations he advised us that, as soon as we had passed this
lake, we should proceed W.S.W., that is to say, a little inclining to the
south, and that in time we should meet with the great river Congo, from
whence the coast is called Congo, being a little north of Angola, where we
intended at first to go.

I asked him if ever he had been on the coast of Congo. He said, yes, he
had, but was never on shore there. Then I asked him how we should get from
thence to the coast where the European ships came, seeing, if the land
trended away west for 1500 miles, we must have all that shore to traverse
before we could double the west point of it.

He told me it was ten to one but we should hear of some European ships to
take us in, for that they often visited the coast of Congo and Angola, in
trade with the negroes; and that if we could not, yet, if we could but find
provisions, we should make our way as well along the sea-shore as along the
river, till we came to the Gold Coast, which, he said, was not above 400 or
500 miles north of Congo, besides the turning of the coast west about 300
more; that shore being in the latitude of six or seven degrees; and that
there the English, or Dutch, or French had settlements or factories,
perhaps all of them.

I confess I had more mind, all the while he argued, to have gone northward,
and shipped ourselves in the Rio Grande, or, as the traders call it, the
river Negro or Niger, for I knew that at last it would bring us down to the
Cape de Verd, where we were sure of relief; whereas, at the coast we were
going to now, we had a prodigious way still to go, either by sea or land,
and no certainty which way to get provisions but by force; but for the
present I held my tongue, because it was my tutor's opinion.

But when, according to his desire, we came to turn southward, having passed
beyond the second great lake, our men began all to be uneasy, and said we
were now out of our way for certain, for that we were going farther from
home, and that we were indeed far enough off already.

But we had not marched above twelve days more, eight whereof were taken up
in rounding the lake, and four more south-west, in order to make for the
river Congo, but we were put to another full stop, by entering a country so
desolate, so frightful, and so wild, that we knew not what to think or do;
for, besides that it appeared as a terrible and boundless desert, having
neither woods, trees, rivers, or inhabitants, so even the place where we
were was desolate of inhabitants, nor had we any way to gather in a stock
of provisions for the passing of this desert, as we did before at our
entering the first, unless we had marched back four days to the place where
we turned the head of the lake.

Well, notwithstanding this, we ventured; for, to men that had passed such
wild places as we had done, nothing could seem too desperate to undertake.
We ventured, I say, and the rather because we saw very high mountains in
our way at a great distance, and we imagined, wherever there were mountains
there would be springs and rivers; where rivers there would be trees and
grass; where trees and grass there would be cattle; and where cattle, some
kind of inhabitants. At last, in consequence of this speculative
philosophy, we entered this waste, having a great heap of roots and plants
for our bread, such as the Indians gave us, a very little flesh or salt,
and but a little water.

We travelled two days towards those hills, and still they seemed as far off
as they did at first, and it was the fifth day before we got to them;
indeed, we travelled but softly, for it was excessively hot; and we were
much about the very equinoctial line, we hardly knew whether to the south
or the north of it.

As we had concluded, that where there were hills there would be springs, so
it happened; but we were not only surprised, but really frighted, to find
the first spring we came to, and which looked admirably clear and
beautiful, to be salt as brine. It was a terrible disappointment to us, and
put us under melancholy apprehensions at first; but the gunner, who was of
a spirit never discouraged, told us we should not be disturbed at that, but
be very thankful, for salt was a bait we stood in as much need of as
anything, and there was no question but we should find fresh water as well
as salt; and here our surgeon stepped in to encourage us, and told us that
if we did not know he would show us a way how to make that salt water
fresh, which indeed made us all more cheerful, though we wondered what he
meant.

Meantime our men, without bidding, had been seeking about for other
springs, and found several; but still they were all salt; from whence we
concluded that there was a salt rock or mineral stone in those mountains,
and perhaps they might be all of such a substance; but still I wondered by
what witchcraft it was that our artist the surgeon would make this salt
water turn fresh, and I longed to see the experiment, which was indeed a
very odd one; but he went to work with as much assurance as if he had tried
it on the very spot before.

He took two of our large mats and sewed them together, and they made a kind
of a bag four feet broad, three feet and a half high, and about a foot and
a half thick when it was full.

He caused us to fill this bag with dry sand and tread it down as close as
we could, not to burst the mats. When thus the bag was full within a foot,
he sought some other earth and filled up the rest with it, and still trod
all in as hard as he could. When he had done, he made a hole in the upper
earth about as broad as the crown of a large hat, or something bigger
about, but not so deep, and bade a negro fill it with water, and still as
it shrunk away to fill it again, and keep it full. The bag he had placed at
first across two pieces of wood, about a foot from the ground; and under it
he ordered some of our skins to be spread that would hold water. In about
an hour, and not sooner, the water began to come dropping through the
bottom of the bag, and, to our great surprise, was perfectly fresh and
sweet, and this continued for several hours; but in the end the water began
to be a little brackish. When we told him that, "Well, then," said he,
"turn the sand out, and fill it again." Whether he did this by way of
experiment from his own fancy, or whether he had seen it done before, I do
not remember.

The next day we mounted the tops of the hills, where the prospect was
indeed astonishing, for as far as the eye could look, south, or west, or
northwest, there was nothing to be seen but a vast howling wilderness, with
neither tree nor river, nor any green thing. The surface we found, as the
part we passed the day before, had a kind of thick moss upon it, of a
blackish dead colour, but nothing in it that looked like food, either for
man or beast.

Had we been stored with provisions to have entered for ten or twenty days
upon this wilderness, as we were formerly, and with fresh water, we had
hearts good enough to have ventured, though we had been obliged to come
back again, for if we went north we did not know but we might meet with the
same; but we neither had provisions, neither were we in any place where it
was possible to get them. We killed some wild ferine creatures at the foot
of these hills; but, except two things, like to nothing that we ever saw
before, we met with nothing that was fit to eat. These were creatures that
seemed to be between the kind of a buffalo and a deer, but indeed resembled
neither; for they had no horns, and had great legs like a cow, with a fine
head, and the neck like a deer. We killed also, at several times, a tiger,
two young lions, and a wolf; but, God be thanked, we were not so reduced as
to eat carrion.

Upon this terrible prospect I renewed my motion of turning northward, and
making towards the river Niger or Rio Grande, then to turn west towards the
English settlements on the Gold Coast; to which every one most readily
consented, only our gunner, who was indeed our best guide, though he
happened to be mistaken at this time. He moved that, as our coast was now
northward, so we might slant away north-west, that so, by crossing the
country, we might perhaps meet with some other river that run into the Rio
Grande northward, or down to the Gold Coast southward, and so both direct
our way and shorten the labour; as also because, if any of the country was
inhabited and fruitful, we should probably find it upon the shore of the
rivers, where alone we could be furnished with provisions.

This was good advice, and too rational not to be taken; but our present
business was, what to do to get out of this dreadful place we were in.
Behind us was a waste, which had already cost us five days' march, and we
had not provisions for five days left to go back again the same way. Before
us was nothing but horror, as above; so we resolved, seeing the ridge of
the hills we were upon had some appearance of fruitfulness, and that they
seemed to lead away to the northward a great way, to keep under the foot of
them on the east side, to go on as far as we could, and in the meantime to
look diligently out for food.

Accordingly we moved on the next morning; for we had no time to lose, and,
to our great comfort, we came in our first morning's march to very good
springs of fresh water; and lest we should have a scarcity again, we filled
all our bladder bottles and carried it with us. I should also have observed
that our surgeon, who made the salt water fresh, took the opportunity of
those salt springs, and made us the quantity of three or four pecks of very
good salt.

In our third march we found an unexpected supply of food, the hills being
full of hares. They were of a kind something different from ours in
England, larger and not as swift of foot, but very good meat. We shot
several of them, and the little tame leopard, which I told you we took at
the negro town that we plundered, hunted them like a dog, and killed us
several every day; but she would eat nothing of them unless we gave it her,
which, indeed, in our circumstance, was very obliging. We salted them a
little and dried them in the sun whole, and carried a strange parcel along
with us. I think it was almost three hundred, for we did not know when we
might find any more, either of these or any other food. We continued our
course under these hills very comfortably for eight or nine days, when we
found, to our great satisfaction, the country beyond us began to look with
something of a better countenance. As for the west side of the hills, we
never examined it till this day, when three of our company, the rest
halting for refreshment, mounted the hills again to satisfy their
curiosity, but found it all the same, nor could they see any end of it, no,
not to the north, the way we were going; so the tenth day, finding the
hills made a turn, and led as it were into the vast desert, we left them
and continued our course north, the country being very tolerably full of
woods, some waste, but not tediously long, till we came, by our gunner's
observation, into the latitude of eight degrees five minutes, which we were
nineteen days more in performing.

All this way we found no inhabitants, but abundance of wild ravenous
creatures, with which we became so well acquainted now that really we did
not much mind them. We saw lions and tigers and leopards every night and
morning in abundance; but as they seldom came near us, we let them go about
their business: if they offered to come near us, we made false fire with
any gun that was uncharged, and they would walk off as soon as they saw the
flash.

We made pretty good shift for food all this way; for sometimes we killed
hares, sometimes some fowls, but for my life I cannot give names to any of
them, except a kind of partridge, and another that was like our turtle. Now
and then we began to meet with elephants again in great numbers; those
creatures delighted chiefly in the woody part of the country.

This long-continued march fatigued us very much, and two of our men fell
sick, indeed, so very sick that we thought they would have died; and one of
our negroes died suddenly. Our surgeon said it was an apoplexy, but he
wondered at it, he said, for he could never complain of his high feeding.
Another of them was very ill; but our surgeon with much ado persuading him,
indeed it was almost forcing him to be let blood, he recovered.

We halted here twelve days for the sake of our sick men, and our surgeon
persuaded me and three or four more of us to be let blood during the time
of rest, which, with other things he gave us, contributed very much to our
continued health in so tedious a march and in so hot a climate.

In this march we pitched our matted tents every night, and they were very
comfortable to us, though we had trees and woods to shelter us in most
places. We thought it very strange that in all this part of the country we
yet met with no inhabitants; but the principal reason, as we found
afterwards, was, that we, having kept a western course first, and then a
northern course, were gotten too much into the middle of the country and
among the deserts; whereas the inhabitants are principally found among the
rivers, lakes, and lowlands, as well to the south-west as to the north.

What little rivulets we found here were so empty of water, that except some
pits, and little more than ordinary pools, there was scarcely any water to
be seen in them; and they rather showed that during the rainy months they
had a channel, than that they had really running water in them at that
time, by which it was easy for us to judge that we had a great way to go;
but this was no discouragement so long as we had but provisions, and some
seasonable shelter from the violent heat, which indeed I thought was much
greater now than when the sun was just over our heads.

Our men being recovered, we set forward again, very well stored with
provisions, and water sufficient, and bending our course a little to the
westward of the north, travelled in hopes of some favourable stream which
might bear a canoe; but we found none till after twenty days' travel,
including eight days' rest; for our men being weak, we rested very often,
especially when we came to places which were proper for our purpose, where
we found cattle, fowl, or anything to kill for our food. In those twenty
days' march we advanced four degrees to the northward, besides some
meridian distance westward, and we met with abundance of elephants, and
with a good number of elephants' teeth scattered up and down, here and
there, in the woody grounds especially, some of which were very large. But
they were no booty to us; our business was provisions, and a good passage
out of the country; and it had been much more to our purpose to have found
a good fat deer, and to have killed it for our food, than a hundred ton of
elephants' teeth; and yet, as you shall presently hear, when we came to
begin our passage by water, we once thought to have built a large canoe, on
purpose to have loaded it with ivory; but this was when we knew nothing of
the rivers, nor knew anything how dangerous and how difficult a passage it
was we were likely to have in them, nor had considered the weight of
carriage to lug them to the rivers where we might embark.

At the end of twenty days' travel, as above, in the latitude of three
degrees sixteen minutes, we discovered in a valley, at some distance from
us, a pretty tolerable stream, which we thought deserved the name of a
river, and which ran its course N.N.W., which was just what we wanted. As
we had fixed our thoughts upon our passage by water, we took this for the
place to make the experiment, and bent our march directly to the valley.

There was a small thicket of trees just in our way, which we went by,
thinking no harm, when on a sudden one of our negroes was dangerously
wounded with an arrow shot into his back, slanting between his shoulders.
This put us to a full stop; and three of our men, with two negroes,
spreading the wood, for it was but a small one, found a negro with a bow,
but no arrow, who would have escaped, but our men that discovered him shot
him in revenge of the mischief he had done; so we lost the opportunity of
taking him prisoner, which, if we had done, and sent him home with good
usage, it might have brought others to us in a friendly manner.

Going a little farther, we came to five negro huts or houses, built after a
different manner from any we had seen yet; and at the door of one of them
lay seven elephants' teeth, piled up against the wall or side of the hut,
as if they had been provided against a market. Here were no men, but seven
or eight women, and near twenty children. We offered them no incivility of
any kind, but gave them every one a bit of silver beaten out thin, as I
observed before, and cut diamond fashion, or in the shape of a bird, at
which the women were overjoyed, and brought out to us several sorts of
food, which we did not understand, being cakes of a meal made of roots,
which they bake in the sun, and which ate very well. We went a little way
farther and pitched our camp for that night, not doubting but our civility
to the women would produce some good effect when their husbands might come
home.

Accordingly, the next morning the women, with eleven men, five young boys,
and two good big girls, came to our camp. Before they came quite to us, the
women called aloud, and made an odd screaming noise to bring us out; and
accordingly we came out, when two of the women, showing us what we had
given them, and pointing to the company behind, made such signs as we could
easily understand signified friendship. When the men advanced, having bows
and arrows, they laid them down on the ground, scraped and threw sand over
their heads, and turned round three times with their hands laid up upon the
tops of their heads. This, it seems, was a solemn vow of friendship. Upon
this we beckoned them with our hands to come nearer; then they sent the
boys and girls to us first, which, it seems, was to bring us more cakes of
bread and some green herbs to eat, which we received, and took the boys up
and kissed them, and the little girls too; then the men came up close to
us, and sat them down on the ground, making signs that we should sit down
by them, which we did. They said much to one another, but we could not
understand them, nor could we find any way to make them understand us, much
less whither we were going, or what we wanted, only that we easily made
them understand we wanted victuals; whereupon one of the men, casting his
eyes about him towards a rising ground that was about half a mile off,
started up as if he was frighted, flew to the place where they had laid
down their bows and arrows, snatched up a bow and two arrows, and ran like
a racehorse to the place. When he came there, he let fly both his arrows,
and comes back again to us with the same speed. We, seeing he came with the
bow, but without the arrows, were the more inquisitive; but the fellow,
saying nothing to us, beckons to one of our negroes to come to him, and we
bid him go; so he led him back to the place, where lay a kind of deer, shot
with two arrows, but not quite dead, and between them they brought it down
to us. This was for a gift to us, and was very welcome, I assure you, for
our stock was low. These people were all stark naked.

The next day there came about a hundred men to us, and women making the
same awkward signals of friendship, and dancing, and showing themselves
very well pleased, and anything they had they gave us. How the man in the
wood came to be so butcherly and rude as to shoot at our men, without
making any breach first, we could not imagine; for the people were simple,
plain, and inoffensive in all our other conversation with them.

From hence we went down the banks of the little river I mentioned, and
where, I found, we should see the whole nation of negroes, but whether
friendly to us or not, that we could make no judgment of yet.

The river was no use to us, as to the design of making canoes, a great
while; and we traversed the country on the edge of it about five days more,
when our carpenters, finding the stream increased, proposed to pitch our
tents, and fall to work to make canoes; but after we had begun the work,
and cut down two or three trees, and spent five days in the labour, some of
our men, wandering further down the river, brought us word that the stream
rather decreased than increased, sinking away into the sands, or drying up
by the heat of the sun, so that the river appeared not able to carry the
least canoe that could be any way useful to us; so we were obliged to give
over our enterprise and move on.

In our further prospect this way, we marched three days full west, the
country on the north side being extraordinary mountainous, and more parched
and dry than any we had seen yet; whereas, in the part which looks due
west, we found a pleasant valley running a great way between two great
ridges of mountains. The hills looked frightful, being entirely bare of
trees or grass, and even white with the dryness of the sand; but in the
valley we had trees, grass, and some creatures that were fit for food, and
some inhabitants.

We passed by some of their huts or houses, and saw people about them, but
they ran up into the hills as soon as they saw us. At the end of this
valley we met with a peopled country, and at first it put us to some doubt
whether we should go among them, or keep up towards the hills northerly;
and as our aim was principally as before, to make our way to the river
Niger, we inclined to the latter, pursuing our course by the compass to the
N.W. We marched thus without interruption seven days more, when we met with
a surprising circumstance much more desolate and disconsolate than our own,
and which, in time to come, will scarce seem credible.

We did not much seek the conversing, or acquainting ourselves with the
natives of the country, except where we found the want of them for our
provision, or their direction for our way; so that, whereas we found the
country here begin to be very populous, especially towards our left hand,
that is, to the south, we kept at the more distance northerly, still
stretching towards the west.

In this tract we found something or other to kill and eat, which always
supplied our necessity, though not so well as we were provided in our first
setting out; being thus, as it were, pushing to avoid a peopled country, we
at last came to a very pleasant, agreeable stream of water, not big enough
to be called a river, but running to the N.N.W., which was the very course
we desired to go.

On the farthest bank of this brook, we perceived some huts of negroes, not
many, and in a little low spot of ground, some maize, or Indian corn,
growing, which intimated presently to us, that there were some inhabitants
on that side less barbarous than what we had met with in other places where
we had been.

As we went forward, our whole caravan being in a body, our negroes, who
were in the front, cried out, that they saw a white man! We were not much
surprised at first, it being, as we thought, a mistake of the fellows, and
asked them what they meant; when one of them stepped to me, and pointing to
a hut on the other side of the hill, I was astonished to see a white man
indeed, but stark naked, very busy near the door of his hut, and stooping
down to the ground with something in his hand, as if he had been at some
work; and his back being towards us, he did not see us.

I gave notice to our negroes to make no noise, and waited till some more of
our men were come up, to show the sight to them, that they might be sure I
was not mistaken; and we were soon satisfied of the truth, for the man,
having heard some noise, started up, and looked full at us, as much
surprised, to be sure, as we were, but whether with fear or hope, we then
knew not.

As he discovered us, so did the rest of the inhabitants belonging to the
huts about him, and all crowded together, looking at us at a distance, a
little bottom, in which the brook ran, lying between us; the white man, and
all the rest, as he told us afterwards, not knowing well whether they
should stay or run away. However, it presently came into my thoughts, that
if there were white men among them, it would be much easier to make them
understand what we meant as to peace or war, than we found it with others;
so tying a piece of white rag to the end of a stick, we sent two negroes
with it to the bank of the water, carrying the pole up as high as they
could; it was presently understood, and two of their men and the white man
came to the shore on the other side.

However, as the white man spoke no Portuguese, they could understand
nothing of one another but by signs; but our men made the white man
understand that they had white men with them too, at which they said the
white man laughed. However, to be short, our men came back, and told us
they were all good friends, and in about an hour four of our men, two
negroes, and the black prince, went to the river-side, where the white man
came to them.

They had not been half a quarter of an hour, but a negro came running to
me, and told me the white man was Inglese, as he called him; upon which I
ran back, eagerly enough, you may be sure, with him, and found, as he said,
that he was an Englishman; upon which he embraced me very passionately, the
tears running down his face. The first surprise of his seeing us was over
before we came, but any one may conceive it by the brief account he gave us
afterwards of his very unhappy circumstances, and of so unexpected a
deliverance, such as perhaps never happened to any man in the world, for it
was a million to one odds that ever he could have been relieved; nothing
but an adventure that never was heard or read of before could have suited
his case, unless Heaven, by some miracle that never was to be expected, had
acted for him.

He appeared to be a gentleman, not an ordinary-bred fellow, seaman, or
labouring man; this showed itself in his behaviour in the first moment of
our conversing with him, and in spite of all the disadvantages of his
miserable circumstances.

He was a middle-aged man, not above thirty-seven or thirty-eight, though
his beard was grown exceedingly long, and the hair of his head and face
strangely covered him to the middle of his back and breast; he was white,
and his skin very fine, though discoloured, and in some places blistered,
and covered with a brown blackish substance, scurfy, scaly, and hard, which
was the effect of the scorching heat of the sun; he was stark naked, and
had been so, as he told us, upwards of two years.

He was so exceedingly transported at our meeting with him, that he could
scarce enter into any discourse at all with us that day; and when he could
get away from us for a little, we saw him walking alone, and showing all
the most extravagant tokens of an ungovernable joy; and even afterwards he
was never without tears in his eyes for several days, upon the least word
spoken by us of his circumstances, or by him of his deliverance.

We found his behaviour the most courteous and endearing I ever saw in any
man whatever, and most evident tokens of a mannerly, well-bred person
appeared in all things he did or said, and our people were exceedingly
taken with him. He was a scholar and a mathematician; he could not speak
Portuguese indeed, but he spoke Latin to our surgeon, French to another of
our men, and Italian to a third.

He had no leisure in his thoughts to ask us whence we came, whither we were
going, or who we were; but would have it always as an answer to himself,
that to be sure, wherever we were a-going, we came from Heaven, and were
sent on purpose to save him from the most wretched condition that ever man
was reduced to.

Our men pitching their camp on the bank of a little river opposite to him,
he began to inquire what store of provisions we had, and how we proposed to
be supplied. When he found that our store was but small, he said he would
talk with the natives, and we should have provisions enough; for he said
they were the most courteous, good-natured part of the inhabitants in all
that part of the country, as we might suppose by his living so safe among
them.

The first things this gentleman did for us were indeed of the greatest
consequence to us; for, first, he perfectly informed us where we were, and
which was the properest course for us to steer; secondly, he put us in the
way how to furnish ourselves effectually with provisions; and thirdly, he
was our complete interpreter and peacemaker with all the natives, who now
began to be very numerous about us, and who were a more fierce and politic
people than those we had met with before; not so easily terrified with our
arms as those, and not so ignorant as to give their provisions and corn for
our little toys, such as, I said before, our artificer made; but as they
had frequently traded and conversed with the Europeans on the coast, or
with other negro nations that had traded and been concerned with them, they
were the less ignorant and the less fearful, and consequently nothing was
to be had from them but by exchange for such things as they liked.

This I say of the negro natives, which we soon came among; but as to these
poor people that he lived among, they were not much acquainted with things,
being at the distance of above 300 miles from the coast; only that they
found elephants' teeth upon the hills to the north, which they took and
carried about sixty or seventy miles south, where other trading negroes
usually met them, and gave them beads, glass, shells, and cowries, for
them, such as the English and Dutch and other traders furnish them with
from Europe.

We now began to be more familiar with our new acquaintance; and first,
though we made but a sorry figure as to clothes ourselves, having neither
shoe, or stocking, or glove, or hat among us, and but very few shirts, yet
as well as we could we clothed him; and first, our surgeon having scissors
and razors, shaved him, and cut his hair; a hat, as I say, we had not in
all our stores, but he supplied himself by making himself a cap of a piece
of a leopard-skin, most artificially. As for shoes or stockings, he had
gone so long without them that he cared not even for the buskins and
foot-gloves we wore, which I described above.

As he had been curious to hear the whole story of our travels, and was
exceedingly delighted with the relation, so we were no less to know, and
pleased with, the account of his circumstances, and the history of his
coming to that strange place alone, and in that condition which we found
him in, as above. This account of his would indeed be in itself the subject
of an agreeable history, and would be as long and diverting as our own,
having in it many strange and extraordinary incidents; but we cannot have
room here to launch out into so long a digression: the sum of his history
was this:--

He had been a factor for the English Guinea Company at Sierra Leone, or
some other of their settlements which had been taken by the French, where
he had been plundered of all his own effects, as well as of what was
entrusted to him by the company. Whether it was that the company did not do
him justice in restoring his circumstances, or in further employing him, he
quitted their service, and was employed by those called separate traders,
and being afterwards out of employ there also, traded on his own account;
when, passing unwarily into one of the company's settlements, he was either
betrayed into the hands of some of the natives, or, somehow or other, was
surprised by them. However, as they did not kill him, he found means to
escape from them at that time, and fled to another nation of the natives,
who, being enemies to the other, entertained him friendly, and with them he
lived some time; but not liking his quarters or his company, he fled again,
and several times changed his landlords: sometimes was carried by force,
sometimes hurried by fear, as circumstances altered with him (the variety
of which deserves a history by itself), till at last he had wandered beyond
all possibility of return, and had taken up his abode where we found him,
where he was well received by the petty king of the tribe he lived with;
and he, in return, instructed them how to value the product of their
labour, and on what terms to trade with those negroes who came up to them
for teeth.

As he was naked, and had no clothes, so he was naked of arms for his
defence, having neither gun, sword, staff, or any instrument of war about
him, no, not to guard himself against the attacks of a wild beast, of which
the country was very full. We asked him how he came to be so entirely
abandoned of all concern for his safety? He answered, that to him, that had
so often wished for death, life was not worth defending; and that, as he
was entirely at the mercy of the negroes, they had much the more confidence
in him, seeing he had no weapons to hurt them. As for wild beasts, he was
not much concerned about that, for he scarce ever went from his hut; but if
he did, the negro king and his men went all with him, and they were all
armed with bows and arrows, and lances, with which they would kill any of
the ravenous creatures, lions as well as others; but that they seldom came
abroad in the day; and if the negroes wander anywhere in the night, they
always build a hut for themselves, and make a fire at the door of it, which
is guard enough.

We inquired of him what we should next do towards getting to the seaside.
He told us we were about one hundred and twenty English leagues from the
coast, where almost all the European settlements and factories were, and
which is called the Gold Coast; but that there were so many different
nations of negroes in the way, that it was ten to one if we were not either
fought with continually, or starved for want of provisions; but that there
were two other ways to go, which, if he had had any company to go with him,
he had often contrived to make his escape by. The one was to travel full
west, which, though it was farther to go, yet was not so full of people,
and the people we should find would be so much the civiller to us, or be so
much the easier to fight with; or that the other way was, if possible, to
get to the Rio Grande, and go down the stream in canoes. We told him, that
was the way we had resolved on before we met with him; but then he told us
there was a prodigious desert to go over, and as prodigious woods to go
through, before we came to it, and that both together were at least twenty
days' march for us, travel as hard as we could.

We asked him if there were no horses in the country, or asses, or even
bullocks or buffaloes, to make use of in such a journey, and we showed him
ours, of which we had but three left. He said no, all the country did not
afford anything of that kind.

He told us that in this great wood there were immense numbers of elephants;
and upon the desert, great multitudes of lions, lynxes, tigers, leopards,
&c.; and that it was to that wood and that desert that the negroes went to
get elephants' teeth, where they never failed to find a great number.

We inquired still more, and particularly the way to the Gold Coast, and if
there were no rivers to ease us in our carriage; and told him, as to the
negroes fighting with us, we were not much concerned at that; nor were we
afraid of starving, for if they had any victuals among them, we would have
our share of it; and, therefore, if he would venture to show us the way, we
would venture to go; and as for himself, we told him we would live and die
together--there should not a man of us stir from him.

He told us, with all his heart, if we resolved it, and would venture, we
might be assured he would take his fate with us, and he would endeavour to
guide us in such a way as we should meet with some friendly savages who
would use us well, and perhaps stand by us against some others, who were
less tractable; so, in a word, we all resolved to go full south for the
Gold Coast.

The next morning he came to us again, and being all met in council, as we
may call it, he began to talk very seriously with us, that since we were
now come, after a long journey, to a view of the end of our troubles, and
had been so obliging to him as to offer to carry him with us, he had been
all night revolving in his mind what he and we all might do to make
ourselves some amends for all our sorrows; and first, he said, he was to
let me know that we were just then in one of the richest parts of the
world, though it was really otherwise but a desolate, disconsolate
wilderness; "for," says he, "there is not a river but runs gold--not a
desert but without ploughing bears a crop of ivory. What mines of gold,
what immense stores of gold, those mountains may contain, from whence these
rivers come, or the shores which these waters run by, we know not, but may
imagine that they must be inconceivably rich, seeing so much is washed down
the stream by the water washing the sides of the land, that the quantity
suffices all the traders which the European world send thither." We asked
him how far they went for it, seeing the ships only trade upon the coast.
He told us that the negroes on the coast search the rivers up for the
length of 150 or 200 miles, and would be out a month, or two, or three at a
time, and always come home sufficiently rewarded; "but," says he, "they
never come thus far, and yet hereabouts is as much gold as there." Upon
this he told us that he believed he might have gotten a hundred pounds'
weight of gold since he came thither, if he had employed himself to look
and work for it; but as he knew not what to do with it, and had long since
despaired of being ever delivered from the misery he was in, he had
entirely omitted it. "For what advantage had it been to me," said he, "or
what richer had I been, if I had a ton of gold dust, and lay and wallowed
in it? The richness of it," said he, "would not give me one moment's
felicity, nor relieve me in the present exigency. Nay," says he, "as you
all see, it would not buy me clothes to cover me, or a drop of drink to
save me from perishing. It is of no value here," says he; "there are
several people among these huts that would weigh gold against a few glass
beads or a cockle-shell, and give you a handful of gold-dust for a handful
of cowries." N.B.--These are little shells which our children call
blackamoors' teeth.

When he had said thus he pulled out a piece of an earthen pot baked hard in
the sun. "Here," says he, "is some of the dirt of this country, and if I
would I could have got a great deal more;" and, showing it to us, I believe
there was in it between two and three pounds weight of gold-dust, of the
same kind and colour with that we had gotten already, as before. After we
had looked at it a while, he told us, smiling, we were his deliverers, and
all he had, as well as his life, was ours; and therefore, as this would be
of value to us when we came to our own country, so he desired we would
accept of it among us; and that was the only time that he had repented that
he had picked up no more of it.

I spoke for him, as his interpreter, to my comrades, and in their names
thanked him; but, speaking to them in Portuguese, I desired them to defer
the acceptance of his kindness to the next morning; and so I did, telling
him we would further talk of this part in the morning; so we parted for
that time.

When he was gone I found they were all wonderfully affected with his
discourse, and with the generosity of his temper, as well as the
magnificence of his present, which in another place had been extraordinary.
Upon the whole, not to detain you with circumstances, we agreed that,
seeing he was now one of our number, and that as we were a relief to him in
carrying him out of the dismal condition he was in, so he was equally a
relief to us, in being our guide through the rest of the country, our
interpreter with the natives, and our director how to manage with the
savages, and how to enrich ourselves with the wealth of the country; that,
therefore, we would put his gold among our common stock, and every one
should give him as much as would make his up just as much as any single
share of our own, and for the future we would take our lot together, taking
his solemn engagement to us, as we had before one to another, that we would
not conceal the least grain of gold we found one from another.

In the next conference we acquainted him with the adventures of the Golden
River, and how we had shared what we got there, so that every man had a
larger stock than he for his share; that, therefore, instead of taking any
from him, we had resolved every one to add a little to him. He appeared
very glad that we had met with such good success, but would not take a
grain from us, till at last, pressing him very hard, he told us, that then
he would take it thus:--that, when we came to get any more, he would have
so much out of the first as should make him even, and then we would go on
as equal adventurers; and thus we agreed.

He then told us he thought it would not be an unprofitable adventure if,
before we set forward, and after we had got a stock of provisions, we
should make a journey north to the edge of the desert he had told us of,
from whence our negroes might bring every one a large elephant's tooth, and
that he would get some more to assist; and that, after a certain length of
carriage, they might be conveyed by canoes to the coast, where they would
yield a very great profit.

I objected against this on account of our other design we had of getting
gold-dust; and that our negroes, who we knew would be faithful to us, would
get much more by searching the rivers for gold for us than by lugging a
great tooth of a hundred and fifty pounds weight a hundred miles or more,
which would be an insufferable labour to them after so hard a journey, and
would certainly kill them.

He acquiesced in the justice of this answer, but fain would have had us
gone to see the woody part of the hill and the edge of the desert, that we
might see how the elephants' teeth lay scattered up and down there; but
when we told him the story of what we had seen before, as is said above, he
said no more.

We stayed here twelve days, during which time the natives were very
obliging to us, and brought us fruits, pompions, and a root like carrots,
though of quite another taste, but not unpleasant neither, and some
guinea-fowls, whose names we did not know. In short, they brought us plenty
of what they had, and we lived very well, and we gave them all such little
things as our cutler had made, for he had now a whole bag full of them.

On the thirteenth day we set forward, taking our new gentleman with us. At
parting, the negro king sent two savages with a present to him of some
dried flesh, but I do not remember what it was, and he gave him again three
silver birds which our cutler helped him to, which I assure you was a
present for a king.

We travelled now south, a little west, and here we found the first river
for above 2000 miles' march, whose waters run south, all the rest running
north or west. We followed this river, which was no bigger than a good
large brook in England, till it began to increase its water. Every now and
then we found our Englishman went down as it were privately to the water,
which was to try the land; at length, after a day's march upon this river,
he came running up to us with his hands full of sand, and saying, "Look
here." Upon looking we found that a good deal of gold lay spangled among
the sand of the river. "Now," says he, "I think we may begin to work;" so
he divided our negroes into couples and set them to work, to search and
wash the sand and ooze in the bottom of the water where it was not deep.

In the first day and a quarter our men all together had gathered a pound
and two ounces of gold or thereabouts, and as we found the quantity
increased the farther we went, we followed it about three days, till
another small rivulet joined the first, and then searching up the stream,
we found gold there too; so we pitched our camp in the angle where the
rivers joined, and we diverted ourselves, as I may call it, in washing the
gold out of the sand of the river, and in getting provisions.

Here we stayed thirteen days more, in which time we had many pleasant
adventures with the savages, too long to mention here, and some of them too
homely to tell of, for some of our men had made something free with their
women, which, had not our new guide made peace for us with one of their men
at the price of seven fine bits of silver, which our artificer had cut out
into the shapes of lions, and fishes, and birds, and had punched holes to
hang them up by (an inestimable treasure), we must have gone to war with
them and all their people.

All the while we were busy washing gold-dust out of the rivers, and our
negroes the like, our ingenious cutler was hammering and cutting, and he
was grown so dexterous by use that he formed all manner of images. He cut
out elephants, tigers, civet cats, ostriches, eagles, cranes, fowls,
fishes, and indeed whatever he pleased, in thin plates of hammered gold,
for his silver and iron were almost all gone.

At one of the towns of these savage nations we were very friendly received
by their king, and as he was very much taken with our workman's toys, he
sold him an elephant cut out of a gold plate as thin as a sixpence at an
extravagant rate. He was so much taken with it that he would not be quiet
till he had given him almost a handful of gold-dust, as they call it; I
suppose it might weigh three-quarters of a pound; the piece of gold that
the elephant was made of might be about the weight of a pistole, rather
less than more. Our artist was so honest, though the labour and art were
all his own, that he brought all the gold and put it into our common stock;
but we had, indeed, no manner of reason in the least to be covetous, for,
as our new guide told us, we that were strong enough to defend ourselves,
and had time enough to stay (for we were none of us in haste), might in
time get together what quantity of gold we pleased, even to an hundred
pounds weight each man if we thought fit; and therefore he told us, though
he had as much reason to be sick of the country as any of us, yet if we
thought to turn our march a little to the south-east, and pitch upon a
place proper for our headquarters, we might find provisions plenty enough,
and extend ourselves over the country among the rivers for two or three
years to the right and left, and we should soon find the advantage of it.

The proposal, however good as to the profitable part of it, suited none of
us, for we were all more desirous to get home than to be rich, being tired
of the excessive fatigue of above a year's continual wandering among
deserts and wild beasts.

However, the tongue of our new acquaintance had a kind of charm in it, and
used such arguments, and had so much the power of persuasion, that there
was no resisting him. He told us it was preposterous not to take the fruit
of all our labours now we were come to the harvest; that we might see the
hazard the Europeans run with ships and men, and at great expense, to fetch
a little gold, and that we, that were in the centre of it, to go away
empty-handed was unaccountable; that we were strong enough to fight our way
through whole nations, and might make our journey afterward to what part of
the coast we pleased, and we should never forgive ourselves when we came to
our own country to see we had 500 pistoles in gold, and might as easily
have had 5000 or 10,000, or what we pleased; that he was no more covetous
than we, but seeing it was in all our powers to retrieve our misfortunes at
once, and to make ourselves easy for all our lives, he could not be
faithful to us, or grateful for the good we had done him, if he did not let
us see the advantage we had in our hands; and he assured us he would make
it clear to our own understanding, that we might in two years' time, by
good management and by the help of our negroes, gather every man a hundred
pounds weight of gold, and get together perhaps two hundred ton of teeth;
whereas, if once we pushed on to the coast and separated, we should never
be able to see that place again with our eyes, or do any more than sinners
did with heaven,--wish themselves there, but know they can never come at
it.

Our surgeon was the first man that yielded to his reasoning, and after him
the gunner; and they too, indeed, had a great influence over us, but none
of the rest had any mind to stay, nor I neither, I must confess; for I had
no notion of a great deal of money, or what to do with myself, or what to
do with it if I had it. I thought I had enough already, and all the
thoughts I had about disposing of it, if I came to Europe, was only how to
spend it as fast as I could, buy me some clothes, and go to sea again to be
a drudge for more.

However, he prevailed with us by his good words at last to stay but for six
months in the country, and then, if we did resolve to go, he would submit;
so at length we yielded to that, and he carried us about fifty English
miles south-east, where we found several rivulets of water, which seemed to
come all from a great ridge of mountains, which lay to the north-east, and
which, by our calculation, must be the beginning that way of the great
waste, which we had been forced northward to avoid.

Here we found the country barren enough, but yet we had by his direction
plenty of food; for the savages round us, upon giving them some of our
toys, as I have so often mentioned, brought us in whatever they had; and
here we found some maize, or Indian wheat, which the negro women planted,
as we sow seeds in a garden, and immediately our new provider ordered some
of our negroes to plant it, and it grew up presently, and by watering it
often, we had a crop in less than three months' growth.

As soon as we were settled, and our camp fixed, we fell to the old trade of
fishing for gold in the rivers mentioned above, and our English gentleman
so well knew how to direct our search, that we scarce ever lost our labour.

One time, having set us to work, he asked if we would give him leave, with
four or five negroes, to go out for six or seven days to seek his fortune,
and see what he could discover in the country, assuring us whatever he got
should be for the public stock. We all gave him our consent, and lent him a
gun; and two of our men desiring to go with him, they took then six negroes
with them, and two of our buffaloes that came with us the whole journey;
they took about eight days' provision of bread with them, but no flesh,
except about as much dried flesh as would serve them two days.

They travelled up to the top of the mountains I mentioned just now, where
they saw (as our men afterwards vouched it to be) the same desert which we
were so justly terrified at when we were on the farther side, and which, by
our calculation, could not be less than 300 miles broad and above 600 miles
in length, without knowing where it ended.

The journal of their travels is too long to enter upon here. They stayed
out two-and-fifty days, when they brought us seventeen pound and something
more (for we had no exact weight) of gold-dust, some of it in much larger
pieces than any we had found before, besides about fifteen ton of
elephants' teeth, which he had, partly by good usage and partly by bad,
obliged the savages of the country to fetch, and bring down to him from the
mountains, and which he made others bring with him quite down to our camp.
Indeed, we wondered what was coming to us when we saw him attended with
above 200 negroes; but he soon undeceived us, when he made them all throw
down their burdens on a heap at the entrance of our camp.

Besides this, they brought two lions' skins, and five leopards' skins, very
large and very fine. He asked our pardon for his long stay, and that he had
made no greater a booty, but told us he had one excursion more to make,
which he hoped should turn to a better account.

So, having rested himself and rewarded the savages that brought the teeth
for him with some bits of silver and iron cut out diamond fashion, and with
two shaped like little dogs, he sent them away mightily pleased.

The second journey he went, some more of our men desired to go with him,
and they made a troop of ten white men and ten savages, and the two
buffaloes to carry their provisions and ammunition. They took the same
course, only not exactly the same track, and they stayed thirty-two days
only, in which time they killed no less than fifteen leopards, three lions,
and several other creatures, and brought us home four-and-twenty pound some
ounces of gold-dust, and only six elephants' teeth, but they were very
great ones.

Our friend the Englishman showed us that now our time was well bestowed,
for in five months which we had stayed here, we had gathered so much
gold-dust that, when we came to share it, we had five pound and a quarter
to a man, besides what we had before, and besides six or seven pound weight
which we had at several times given our artificer to make baubles with. And
now we talked of going forward to the coast to put an end to our journey;
but our guide laughed at us then. "Nay, you can't go now," says he, "for
the rainy season begins next month, and there will be no stirring then."
This we found, indeed, reasonable, so we resolved to furnish ourselves with
provisions, that we might not be obliged to go abroad too much in the rain,
and we spread ourselves some one way and some another, as far as we cared
to venture, to get provisions; and our negroes killed us some deer, which
we cured as well as we could in the sun, for we had now no salt.

By this time the rainy months were set in, and we could scarce, for above
two months, look out of our huts. But that was not all, for the rivers were
so swelled with the land-floods, that we scarce knew the little brooks and
rivulets from the great navigable rivers. This had been a very good
opportunity to have conveyed by water, upon rafts, our elephants' teeth, of
which we had a very great pile; for, as we always gave the savages some
reward for their labour, the very women would bring us teeth upon every
opportunity, and sometimes a great tooth carried between two; so that our
quantity was increased to about two-and-twenty ton of teeth.

As soon as the weather proved fair again, he told us he would not press us
to any further stay, since we did not care whether we got any more gold or
no; that we were indeed the first men he ever met with in his life that
said they had gold enough, and of whom it might be truly said, that, when
it lay under our feet, we would not stoop to take it up. But, since he had
made us a promise, he would not break it, nor press us to make any further
stay; only he thought he ought to tell us that now was the time, after the
land-flood, when the greatest quantity of gold was found; and that, if we
stayed but one month, we should see thousands of savages spread themselves
over the whole country to wash the gold out of the sand, for the European
ships which would come on the coast; that they do it then, because the rage
of the floods always works down a great deal of gold out of the hills; and,
if we took the advantage to be there before them, we did not know what
extraordinary things we might find.

This was so forcible, and so well argued, that it appeared in all our faces
we were prevailed upon; so we told him we would all stay: for though it was
true we were all eager to be gone, yet the evident prospect of so much
advantage could not well be resisted; that he was greatly mistaken, when he
suggested that we did not desire to increase our store of gold, and in that
we were resolved to make the utmost use of the advantage that was in our
hands, and would stay as long as any gold was to be had, if it was another
year.

He could hardly express the joy he was in on this occasion; and the fair
weather coming on, we began, just as he directed, to search about the
rivers for more gold. At first we had but little encouragement, and began
to be doubtful; but it was very plain that the reason was, the water was
not fully fallen, or the rivers reduced to their usual channel; but in a
few days we were fully requited, and found much more gold than at first,
and in bigger lumps; and one of our men washed out of the sand a piece of
gold as big as a small nut, which weighed, by our estimation--for we had no
small weights--almost an ounce and a half.

This success made us extremely diligent; and in little more than a month we
had altogether gotten near sixty pound weight of gold; but after this, as
he told us, we found abundance of the savages, men, women, and children,
hunting every river and brook, and even the dry land of the hills for gold;
so that we could do nothing like then, compared to what we had done before.

But our artificer found a way to make other people find us in gold without
our own labour; for, when these people began to appear, he had a
considerable quantity of his toys, birds, beasts, &c., such as before,
ready for them; and the English gentleman being the interpreter, he brought
the savages to admire them; so our cutler had trade enough, and, to be
sure, sold his goods at a monstrous rate; for he would get an ounce of
gold, sometimes two, for a bit of silver, perhaps of the value of a groat;
nay, if it were iron and if it was of gold, they would not give the more
for it; and it was incredible almost to think what a quantity of gold he
got that way.

In a word, to bring this happy journey to a conclusion, we increased our
stock of gold here, in three months' stay more, to such a degree that,
bringing it all to a common stock, in order to share it, we divided almost
four pound weight again to every man; and then we set forward for the Gold
Coast, to see what method we could find out for our passage into Europe.

There happened several remarkable incidents in this part of our journey, as
to how we were, or were not, received friendly by the several nations of
savages through which we passed; how we delivered one negro king from
captivity, who had been a benefactor to our new guide; and now our guide,
in gratitude, by our assistance, restored him to his kingdom, which,
perhaps, might contain about 300 subjects; how he entertained us; and how
he made his subjects go with our Englishmen, and fetch all our elephants'
teeth which we had been obliged to leave behind us, and to carry them for
us to the river, the name of which I forgot, where we made rafts, and in
eleven days more came down to one of the Dutch settlements on the Gold
Coast, where we arrived in perfect health, and to our great satisfaction.
As for our cargo of teeth, we sold it to the Dutch factory, and received
clothes and other necessaries for ourselves, and such of our negroes as we
thought fit to keep with us; and it is to be observed, that we had four
pound of gunpowder left when we ended our journey. The negro prince we made
perfectly free, clothed him out of our common stock, and gave him a pound
and a half of gold for himself, which he knew very well how to manage; and
here we all parted after the most friendly manner possible. Our Englishman
remained in the Dutch factory some time, and, as I heard afterwards, died
there of grief; for he having sent a thousand pounds sterling over to
England, by the way of Holland, for his refuge at his return to his
friends, the ship was taken by the French and the effects all lost.

The rest of my comrades went away, in a small bark, to the two Portuguese
factories, near Gambia, in the latitude of fourteen; and I, with two
negroes which I kept with me, went away to Cape Coast Castle, where I got
passage for England, and arrived there in September; and thus ended my
first harvest of wild oats; the rest were not sowed to so much advantage.

I had neither friend, relation, nor acquaintance in England, though it was
my native country; I had consequently no person to trust with what I had,
or to counsel me to secure or save it; but, falling into ill company, and
trusting the keeper of a public-house in Rotherhithe with a great part of
my money, and hastily squandering away the rest, all that great sum, which
I got with so much pains and hazard, was gone in little more than two
years' time; and, as I even rage in my own thoughts to reflect upon the
manner how it was wasted, so I need record no more; the rest merits to be
concealed with blushes, for that it was spent in all kinds of folly and
wickedness. So this scene of my life may be said to have begun in theft,
and ended in luxury; a sad setting-out, and a worse coming home.

About the year ---- I began to see the bottom of my stock, and that it was
time to think of further adventures; for my spoilers, as I call them, began
to let me know, that as my money declined, their respect would ebb with it,
and that I had nothing to expect of them further than as I might command it
by the force of my money, which, in short, would not go an inch the further
for all that had been spent in their favour before.

This shocked me very much, and I conceived a just abhorrence of their
ingratitude; but it wore off; nor had I met with any regret at the wasting
so glorious a sum of money as I brought to England with me.

I next shipped myself, in an evil hour to be sure, on a voyage to Cadiz, in
a ship called the ----, and in the course of our voyage, being on the coast
of Spain, was obliged to put into the Groyn, by a strong southwest wind.

Here I fell into company with some masters of mischief; and, among them,
one, forwarder than the rest, began an intimate confidence with me, so that
we called one another brothers, and communicated all our circumstances to
one another. His name was Harris. This fellow came to me one morning,
asking me if I would go on shore, and I agreed; so we got the captain's
leave for the boat, and went together. When we were together, he asked me
if I had a mind for an adventure that might make amends for all past
misfortunes. I told him, yes, with all my heart; for I did not care where I
went, having nothing to lose, and no one to leave behind me.

He then asked me if I would swear to be secret, and that, if I did not
agree to what he proposed, I would nevertheless never betray him. I readily
bound myself to that, upon the most solemn imprecations and curses that the
devil and both of us could invent.

He told me, then, there was a brave fellow in the other ship, pointing to
another English ship which rode in the harbour, who, in concert with some
of the men, had resolved to mutiny the next morning, and run away with the
ship; and that, if we could get strength enough among our ship's company,
we might do the same. I liked the proposal very well, and he got eight of
us to join with him, and he told us, that as soon as his friend had begun
the work, and was master of the ship, we should be ready to do the like.
This was his plot; and I, without the least hesitation, either at the
villainy of the fact or the difficulty of performing it, came immediately
into the wicked conspiracy, and so it went on among us; but we could not
bring our part to perfection.

Accordingly, on the day appointed, his correspondent in the other ship,
whose name was Wilmot, began the work, and, having seized the captain's
mate and other officers, secured the ship, and gave the signal to us. We
were but eleven in our ship, who were in the conspiracy, nor could we get
any more that we could trust; so that, leaving the ship, we all took the
boat, and went off to join the other.

Having thus left the ship I was in, we were entertained with a great deal
of joy by Captain Wilmot and his new gang; and, being well prepared for all
manner of roguery, bold, desperate (I mean myself), without the least
checks of conscience for what I was entered upon, or for anything I might
do, much less with any apprehension of what might be the consequence of it;
I say, having thus embarked with this crew, which at last brought me to
consort with the most famous pirates of the age, some of whom have ended
their journals at the gallows, I think the giving an account of some of my
other adventures may be an agreeable piece of story; and this I may venture
to say beforehand, upon the word of a pirate, that I shall not be able to
recollect the full, no, not by far, of the great variety which has formed
one of the most reprobate schemes that ever man was capable to present to
the world.

I that was, as I have hinted before, an original thief, and a pirate, even
by inclination before, was now in my element, and never undertook anything
in my life with more particular satisfaction.

Captain Wilmot (for so we are now to call him) being thus possessed of a
ship, and in the manner as you have heard, it may be easily concluded he
had nothing to do to stay in the port, or to wait either the attempts
that might be made from the shore, or any change that might happen among
his men. On the contrary, we weighed anchor the same tide, and stood out
to sea, steering away for the Canaries. Our ship had twenty-two guns,
but was able to carry thirty; and besides, as she was fitted out for a
merchant-ship only, she was not furnished either with ammunition or
small-arms sufficient for our design, or for the occasion we might have
in case of a fight. So we put into Cadiz, that is to say, we came to an
anchor in the bay; and the captain, and one whom we called young Captain
Kidd, who was the gunner, [landed,] and some of the men who could best
be trusted, among whom was my comrade Harris, who was made second mate,
and myself, who was made a lieutenant. Some bales of English goods were
proposed to be carried on shore with us for sale, but my comrade, who
was a complete fellow at his business, proposed a better way for it; and
having been in the town before, told us, in short, that he would buy
what powder and bullet, small-arms, or anything else we wanted, on his
own word, to be paid for when they came on board, in such English goods
as we had there. This was much the best way, and accordingly he and the
captain went on shore by themselves, and having made such a bargain as
they found for their turn, came away again in two hours' time, and
bringing only a butt of wine and five casks of brandy with them, we all
went on board again.

The next morning two _barcos longos_ came off to us, deeply laden, with
five Spaniards on board them, for traffic. Our captain sold them good
pennyworths, and they delivered us sixteen barrels of powder, twelve small
rundlets of fine powder for our small-arms, sixty muskets, and twelve
fusees for the officers; seventeen ton of cannon-ball, fifteen barrels of
musket-bullets, with some swords and twenty good pair of pistols. Besides
this, they brought thirteen butts of wine (for we, that were now all become
gentlemen, scorned to drink the ship's beer), also sixteen puncheons of
brandy, with twelve barrels of raisins and twenty chests of lemons; all
which we paid for in English goods; and, over and above, the captain
received six hundred pieces of eight in money. They would have come again,
but we would stay no longer.

From hence we sailed to the Canaries, and from thence onward to the West
Indies, where we committed some depredation upon the Spaniards for
provisions, and took some prizes, but none of any great value, while I
remained with them, which was not long at that time; for, having taken a
Spanish sloop on the coast of Carthagena, my friend made a motion to me,
that we should desire Captain Wilmot to put us into the sloop, with a
proportion of arms and ammunition, and let us try what we could do; she
being much fitter for our business than the great ship, and a better
sailer. This he consented to, and we appointed our rendezvous at Tobago,
making an agreement, that whatever was taken by either of our ships should
be shared among the ship's company of both; all which we very punctually
observed, and joined our ships again, about fifteen months after, at the
island of Tobago, as above.

We cruised near two years in those seas, chiefly upon the Spaniards; not
that we made any difficulty of taking English ships, or Dutch, or French,
if they came in our way; and particularly, Captain Wilmot attacked a New
England ship bound from the Madeiras to Jamaica, and another bound from New
York to Barbados, with provisions; which last was a very happy supply to
us. But the reason why we meddled as little with English vessels as we
could, was, first, because, if they were ships of any force, we were sure
of more resistance from them; and, secondly, because we found the English
ships had less booty when taken, for the Spaniards generally had money on
board, and that was what we best knew what to do with. Captain Wilmot was,
indeed, more particularly cruel when he took any English vessel, that they
might not too soon have advice of him in England; and so the men-of-war
have orders to look out for him. But this part I bury in silence for the
present.

We increased our stock in these two years considerably, having taken 60,000
pieces of eight in one vessel, and 100,000 in another; and being thus first
grown rich, we resolved to be strong too, for we had taken a brigantine
built at Virginia, an excellent sea-boat, and a good sailer, and able to
carry twelve guns; and a large Spanish frigate-built ship, that sailed
incomparably well also, and which afterwards, by the help of good
carpenters, we fitted up to carry twenty-eight guns. And now we wanted more
hands, so we put away for the Bay of Campeachy, not doubting we should ship
as many men there as we pleased; and so we did.

Here we sold the sloop that I was in; and Captain Wilmot keeping his own
ship, I took the command of the Spanish frigate as captain, and my comrade
Harris as eldest lieutenant, and a bold enterprising fellow he was, as any
the world afforded. One culverdine was put into the brigantine, so that we
were now three stout ships, well manned, and victualled for twelve months;
for we had taken two or three sloops from New England and New York, laden
with flour, peas, and barrelled beef and pork, going for Jamaica and
Barbados; and for more beef we went on shore on the island of Cuba, where
we killed as many black cattle as we pleased, though we had very little
salt to cure them.

Out of all the prizes we took here we took their powder and bullet, their
small-arms and cutlasses; and as for their men, we always took the surgeon
and the carpenter, as persons who were of particular use to us upon many
occasions; nor were they always unwilling to go with us, though for their
own security, in case of accidents, they might easily pretend they were
carried away by force; of which I shall give a pleasant account in the
course of my other expeditions.

We had one very merry fellow here, a Quaker, whose name was William
Walters, whom we took out of a sloop bound from Pennsylvania to Barbados.
He was a surgeon, and they called him doctor; but he was not employed in
the sloop as a surgeon, but was going to Barbados to get a berth, as the
sailors call it. However, he had all his surgeon's chests on board, and we
made him go with us, and take all his implements with him. He was a comic
fellow indeed, a man of very good solid sense, and an excellent surgeon;
but, what was worth all, very good-humoured and pleasant in his
conversation, and a bold, stout, brave fellow too, as any we had among us.

I found William, as I thought, not very averse to go along with us, and yet
resolved to do it so that it might be apparent he was taken away by force,
and to this purpose he comes to me. "Friend," says he, "thou sayest I must
go with thee, and it is not in my power to resist thee if I would; but I
desire thou wilt oblige the master of the sloop which I am on board to
certify under his hand, that I was taken away by force and against my
will." And this he said with so much satisfaction in his face, that I could
not but understand him. "Ay, ay," says I, "whether it be against your will
or no, I'll make him and all the men give you a certificate of it, or I'll
take them all along with us, and keep them till they do." So I drew up a
certificate myself, wherein I wrote that he was taken away by main force,
as a prisoner, by a pirate ship; that they carried away his chest and
instruments first, and then bound his hands behind him and forced him into
their boat; and this was signed by the master and all his men.

Accordingly I fell a-swearing at him, and called to my men to tie his hands
behind him, and so we put him into our boat and carried him away. When I
had him on board, I called him to me. "Now, friend," says I, "I have
brought you away by force, it is true, but I am not of the opinion I have
brought you away so much against your will as they imagine. Come," says I,
"you will be a useful man to us, and you shall have very good usage among
us." So I unbound his hands, and first ordered all things that belonged to
him to be restored to him, and our captain gave him a dram.

"Thou hast dealt friendly by me," says he, "and I will be plain with thee,
whether I came willingly to thee or not. I shall make myself as useful to
thee as I can, but thou knowest it is not my business to meddle when thou
art to fight." "No, no," says the captain, "but you may meddle a little
when we share the money." "Those things are useful to furnish a surgeon's
chest," says William, and smiled, "but I shall be moderate."

In short, William was a most agreeable companion; but he had the better of
us in this part, that if we were taken we were sure to be hanged, and he
was sure to escape; and he knew it well enough. But, in short, he was a
sprightly fellow, and fitter to be captain than any of us. I shall have
often an occasion to speak of him in the rest of the story.

Our cruising so long in these seas began now to be so well known, that not
in England only, but in France and Spain, accounts had been made public of
our adventures, and many stories told how we murdered the people in cold
blood, tying them back to back, and throwing them into the sea; one half of
which, however, was not true, though more was done than is fit to speak of
here.

The consequence of this, however, was, that several English men-of-war were
sent to the West Indies, and were particularly instructed to cruise in the
Bay of Mexico, and the Gulf of Florida, and among the Bahama islands, if
possible, to attack us. We were not so ignorant of things as not to expect
this, after so long a stay in that part of the world; but the first certain
account we had of them was at Honduras, when a vessel coming in from
Jamaica told us that two English men-of-war were coming directly from
Jamaica thither in quest of us. We were indeed as it were embayed, and
could not have made the least shift to have got off, if they had come
directly to us; but, as it happened, somebody had informed them that we
were in the Bay of Campeachy, and they went directly thither, by which we
were not only free of them, but were so much to the windward of them, that
they could not make any attempt upon us, though they had known we were
there.

We took this advantage, and stood away for Carthagena, and from thence with
great difficulty beat it up at a distance from under the shore for St.
Martha, till we came to the Dutch island of Curacoa, and from thence to the
island of Tobago, which, as before, was our rendezvous; which, being a
deserted, uninhabited island, we at the same time made use of for a
retreat. Here the captain of the brigantine died, and Captain Harris, at
that time my lieutenant, took the command of the brigantine.

Here we came to a resolution to go away to the coast of Brazil, and from
thence to the Cape of Good Hope, and so for the East Indies; but Captain
Harris, as I have said, being now captain of the brigantine, alleged that
his ship was too small for so long a voyage, but that, if Captain Wilmot
would consent, he would take the hazard of another cruise, and he would
follow us in the first ship he could take. So we appointed our rendezvous
to be at Madagascar, which was done by my recommendation of the place, and
the plenty of provisions to be had there.

Accordingly, he went away from us in an evil hour; for, instead of taking a
ship to follow us, he was taken, as I heard afterwards, by an English
man-of-war, and being laid in irons, died of mere grief and anger before he
came to England. His lieutenant, I have heard, was afterwards executed in
England for a pirate; and this was the end of the man who first brought me
into this unhappy trade.

We parted from Tobago three days after, bending our course for the coast of
Brazil, but had not been at sea above twenty-four hours, when we were
separated by a terrible storm, which held three days, with very little
abatement or intermission. In this juncture Captain Wilmot happened,
unluckily, to be on board my ship, to his great mortification; for we not
only lost sight of his ship, but never saw her more till we came to
Madagascar, where she was cast away. In short, after having in this tempest
lost our fore-topmast, we were forced to put back to the isle of Tobago for
shelter, and to repair our damage, which brought us all very near our
destruction.

We were no sooner on shore here, and all very busy looking out for a piece
of timber for a topmast, but we perceived standing in for the shore an
English man-of-war of thirty-six guns. It was a great surprise to us
indeed, because we were disabled so much; but, to our great good fortune,
we lay pretty snug and close among the high rocks, and the man-of-war did
not see us, but stood off again upon his cruise. So we only observed which
way she went, and at night, leaving our work, resolved to stand off to sea,
steering the contrary way from that which we observed she went; and this,
we found, had the desired success, for we saw him no more. We had gotten an
old mizzen-topmast on board, which made us a jury fore-topmast for the
present; and so we stood away for the isle of Trinidad, where, though there
were Spaniards on shore, yet we landed some men with our boat, and cut a
very good piece of fir to make us a new topmast, which we got fitted up
effectually; and also we got some cattle here to eke out our provisions;
and calling a council of war among ourselves, we resolved to quit those
seas for the present, and steer away for the coast of Brazil.

The first thing we attempted here was only getting fresh water, but we
learnt that there lay the Portuguese fleet at the bay of All Saints, bound
for Lisbon, ready to sail, and only waited for a fair wind. This made us
lie by, wishing to see them put to sea, and, accordingly as they were with
or without convoy, to attack or avoid them.

It sprung up a fresh gale in the evening at S.W. by W., which, being fair
for the Portugal fleet, and the weather pleasant and agreeable, we heard
the signal given to unmoor, and running in under the island of Si---, we
hauled our mainsail and foresail up in the brails, lowered the topsails
upon the cap, and clewed them up, that we might lie as snug as we could,
expecting their coming out, and the next morning saw the whole fleet come
out accordingly, but not at all to our satisfaction, for they consisted of
twenty-six sail, and most of them ships of force, as well as burthen, both
merchantmen and men-of-war; so, seeing there was no meddling, we lay still
where we were also, till the fleet was out of sight, and then stood off and
on, in hopes of meeting with further purchase.

It was not long before we saw a sail, and immediately gave her chase; but
she proved an excellent sailer, and, standing out to sea, we saw plainly
she trusted to her heels--that is to say, to her sails. However, as we were
a clean ship, we gained upon her, though slowly, and had we had a day
before us, we should certainly have come up with her; but it grew dark
apace, and in that case we knew we should lose sight of her.

Our merry Quaker, perceiving us to crowd still after her in the dark,
wherein we could not see which way she went, came very dryly to me. "Friend
Singleton," says he, "dost thee know what we are a-doing?" Says I, "Yes;
why, we are chasing yon ship, are we not?" "And how dost thou know that?"
says he, very gravely still. "Nay, that's true," says I again; "we cannot
be sure." "Yes, friend," says he, "I think we may be sure that we are
running away from her, not chasing her. I am afraid," adds he, "thou art
turned Quaker, and hast resolved not to use the hand of power, or art a
coward, and art flying from thy enemy."

"What do you mean?" says I (I think I swore at him). "What do you sneer at
now? You have always one dry rub or another to give us."

"Nay," says he, "it is plain enough the ship stood off to sea due east, on
purpose to lose us, and thou mayest be sure her business does not lie that
way; for what should she do at the coast of Africa in this latitude, which
should be as far south as Congo or Angola? But as soon as it is dark, that
we would lose sight of her, she will tack and stand away west again for the
Brazil coast and for the bay, where thou knowest she was going before; and
are we not, then, running away from her? I am greatly in hopes, friend,"
says the dry, gibing creature, "thou wilt turn Quaker, for I see thou art
not for fighting."

"Very well, William," says I; "then I shall make an excellent pirate."
However, William was in the right, and I apprehended what he meant
immediately; and Captain Wilmot, who lay very sick in his cabin,
overhearing us, understood him as well as I, and called out to me that
William was right, and it was our best way to change our course, and stand
away for the bay, where it was ten to one but we should snap her in the
morning.

Accordingly we went about-ship, got our larboard tacks on board, set the
top-gallant sails, and crowded for the bay of All Saints, where we came to
an anchor early in the morning, just out of gunshot of the forts; we furled
our sails with rope-yarns, that we might haul home the sheets without going
up to loose them, and, lowering our main and fore-yards, looked just as if
we had lain there a good while.

In two hours afterwards we saw our game standing in for the bay with all
the sail she could make, and she came innocently into our very mouths, for
we lay still till we saw her almost within gunshot, when, our foremost
gears being stretched fore and aft, we first ran up our yards, and then
hauled home the topsail sheets, the rope-yarns that furled them giving way
of themselves; the sails were set in a few minutes; at the same time
slipping our cable, we came upon her before she could get under way upon
the other tack. They were so surprised that they made little or no
resistance, but struck after the first broadside.

We were considering what to do with her, when William came to me. "Hark
thee, friend," says he, "thou hast made a fine piece of work of it now,
hast thou not, to borrow thy neighbour's ship here just at thy neighbour's
door, and never ask him leave? Now, dost thou not think there are some
men-of-war in the port? Thou hast given them the alarm sufficiently; thou
wilt have them upon thy back before night, depend upon it, to ask thee
wherefore thou didst so."

"Truly, William," said I, "for aught I know, that may be true; what, then,
shall we do next?" Says he, "Thou hast but two things to do: either to go
in and take all the rest, or else get thee gone before they come out and
take thee; for I see they are hoisting a topmast to yon great ship, in
order to put to sea immediately, and they won't be long before they come to
talk with thee, and what wilt thou say to them when they ask thee why thou
borrowedst their ship without leave?"

As William said, so it was. We could see by our glasses they were all in a
hurry, manning and fitting some sloops they had there, and a large
man-of-war, and it was plain they would soon be with us. But we were not at
a loss what to do; we found the ship we had taken was laden with nothing
considerable for our purpose, except some cocoa, some sugar, and twenty
barrels of flour; the rest of her cargo was hides; so we took out all we
thought fit for our turn, and, among the rest, all her ammunition, great
shot, and small-arms, and turned her off. We also took a cable and three
anchors she had, which were for our purpose, and some of her sails. She had
enough left just to carry her into port, and that was all.

Having done this, we stood on upon the Brazil coast, southward, till we
came to the mouth of the river Janeiro. But as we had two days the wind
blowing hard at S.E. and S.S.E., we were obliged to come to an anchor under
a little island, and wait for a wind. In this time the Portuguese had, it
seems, given notice over land to the governor there, that a pirate was upon
the coast; so that, when we came in view of the port, we saw two men-of-war
riding just without the bar, whereof one, we found, was getting under sail
with all possible speed, having slipped her cable on purpose to speak with
us; the other was not so forward, but was preparing to follow. In less than
an hour they stood both fair after us, with all the sail they could make.

Had not the night come on, William's words had been made good; they would
certainly have asked us the question what we did there, for we found the
foremost ship gained upon us, especially upon one tack, for we plied away
from them to windward; but in the dark losing sight of them, we resolved to
change our course and stand away directly for sea, not doubting that we
should lose them in the night.

Whether the Portuguese commander guessed we would do so or no, I know not;
but in the morning, when the daylight appeared, instead of having lost him,
we found him in chase of us about a league astern; only, to our great good
fortune, we could see but one of the two. However, this one was a great
ship, carried six-and-forty guns, and an admirable sailer, as appeared by
her outsailing us; for our ship was an excellent sailer too, as I have said
before.

When I found this, I easily saw there was no remedy, but we must engage;
and as we knew we could expect no quarter from those scoundrels the
Portuguese, a nation I had an original aversion to, I let Captain Wilmot
know how it was. The captain, sick as he was, jumped up in the cabin, and
would be led out upon the deck (for he was very weak) to see how it was.
"Well," says he, "we'll fight them!"

Our men were all in good heart before, but to see the captain so brisk, who
had lain ill of a calenture ten or eleven days, gave them double courage,
and they went all hands to work to make a clear ship and be ready. William,
the Quaker, comes to me with a kind of a smile. "Friend," says he, "what
does yon ship follow us for?" "Why," says I, "to fight us, you may be
sure." "Well," says he, "and will he come up with us, dost thou think?"
"Yes," said I, "you see she will." "Why, then, friend," says the dry
wretch, "why dost thou run from her still, when thou seest she will
overtake thee? Will it be better for us to be overtaken farther off than
here?" "Much as one for that," says I; "why, what would you have us do?"
"Do!" says he; "let us not give the poor man more trouble than needs must;
let us stay for him and hear what he has to say to us." "He will talk to us
in powder and ball," said I. "Very well, then," says he, "if that be his
country language, we must talk to him in the same, must we not? or else how
shall he understand us?" "Very well, William," says I, "we understand you."
And the captain, as ill as he was, called to me, "William's right again,"
says he; "as good here as a league farther." So he gives a word of command,
"Haul up the main-sail; we'll shorten sail for him."

Accordingly we shortened sail, and as we expected her upon our lee-side, we
being then upon our starboard tack, brought eighteen of our guns to the
larboard side, resolving to give him a broadside that should warm him. It
was about half-an-hour before he came up with us, all which time we luffed
up, that we might keep the wind of him, by which he was obliged to run up
under our lee, as we designed him; when we got him upon our quarter, we
edged down, and received the fire of five or six of his guns. By this time
you may be sure all our hands were at their quarters, so we clapped our
helm hard a-weather, let go the lee-braces of the maintop sail, and laid it
a-back, and so our ship fell athwart the Portuguese ship's hawse; then we
immediately poured in our broadside, raking them fore and aft, and killed
them a great many men.

The Portuguese, we could see, were in the utmost confusion; and not being
aware of our design, their ship having fresh way, ran their bowsprit into
the fore part of our main shrouds, as that they could not easily get clear
of us, and so we lay locked after that manner. The enemy could not bring
above five or six guns, besides their small-arms, to bear upon us, while we
played our whole broadside upon him.

In the middle of the heat of this fight, as I was very busy upon the
quarter-deck, the captain calls to me, for he never stirred from us, "What
the devil is friend William a-doing yonder?" says the captain; "has he any
business upon, deck?" I stepped forward, and there was friend William, with
two or three stout fellows, lashing the ship's bowsprit fast to our
mainmast, for fear they should get away from us; and every now and then he
pulled a bottle out of his pocket, and gave the men a dram to encourage
them. The shot flew about his ears as thick as may be supposed in such an
action, where the Portuguese, to give them their due, fought very briskly,
believing at first they were sure of their game, and trusting to their
superiority; but there was William, as composed, and in as perfect
tranquillity as to danger, as if he had been over a bowl of punch, only
very busy securing the matter, that a ship of forty-six guns should not run
away from a ship of eight-and-twenty.

This work was too hot to hold long; our men behaved bravely: our gunner, a
gallant man, shouted below, pouring in his shot at such a rate, that the
Portuguese began to slacken their fire; we had dismounted several of their
guns by firing in at their forecastle, and raking them, as I said, fore and
aft. Presently comes William up to me. "Friend," says he, very calmly,
"what dost thou mean? Why dost thou not visit thy neighbour in the ship,
the door being open for thee?" I understood him immediately, for our guns
had so torn their hull, that we had beat two port-holes into one, and the
bulk-head of their steerage was split to pieces, so that they could not
retire to their close quarters; so I gave the word immediately to board
them. Our second lieutenant, with about thirty men, entered in an instant
over the forecastle, followed by some more with the boatswain, and cutting
in pieces about twenty-five men that they found upon the deck, and then
throwing some grenadoes into the steerage, they entered there also; upon
which the Portuguese cried quarter presently, and we mastered the ship,
contrary indeed to our own expectation; for we would have compounded with
them if they would have sheered off: but laying them athwart the hawse at
first, and following our fire furiously, without giving them any time to
get clear of us and work their ship; by this means, though they had
six-and-forty guns, they were not able to fight above five or six, as I
said above, for we beat them immediately from their guns in the forecastle,
and killed them abundance of men between decks, so that when we entered
they had hardly found men enough to fight us hand to hand upon their deck.

The surprise of joy to hear the Portuguese cry quarter, and see their
ancient struck, was so great to our captain, who, as I have said, was
reduced very weak with a high fever, that it gave him new life. Nature
conquered the distemper, and the fever abated that very night; so that in
two or three days he was sensibly better, his strength began to come, and
he was able to give his orders effectually in everything that was material,
and in about ten days was entirely well and about the ship.

In the meantime I took possession of the Portuguese man-of-war; and Captain
Wilmot made me, or rather I made myself, captain of her for the present.
About thirty of their seamen took service with us, some of which were
French, some Genoese; and we set the rest on shore the next day on a little
island on the coast of Brazil, except some wounded men, who were not in a
condition to be removed, and whom we were bound to keep on board; but we
had an occasion afterwards to dispose of them at the Cape, where, at their
own request, we set them on shore.

Captain Wilmot, as soon as the ship was taken, and the prisoners stowed,
was for standing in for the river Janeiro again, not doubting but we should
meet with the other man-of-war, who, not having been able to find us, and
having lost the company of her comrade, would certainly be returned, and
might be surprised by the ship we had taken, if we carried Portuguese
colours; and our men were all for it.

But our friend William gave us better counsel, for he came to me, "Friend,"
says he, "I understand the captain is for sailing back to the Rio Janeiro,
in hopes to meet with the other ship that was in chase of thee yesterday.
Is it true, dost thou intend it?" "Why, yes," says I, "William, pray why
not?" "Nay," says he, "thou mayest do so if thou wilt." "Well, I know that
too, William," said I, "but the captain is a man will be ruled by reason;
what have you to say to it?" "Why," says William gravely, "I only ask what
is thy business, and the business of all the people thou hast with thee? Is
it not to get money?" "Yes, William, it is so, in our honest way." "And
wouldest thou," says he, "rather have money without fighting, or fighting
without money? I mean which wouldest thou have by choice, suppose it to be
left to thee?" "O William," says I, "the first of the two, to be sure."
"Why, then," says he, "what great gain hast thou made of the prize thou
hast taken now, though it has cost the lives of thirteen of thy men,
besides some hurt? It is true thou hast got the ship and some prisoners;
but thou wouldest have had twice the booty in a merchant-ship, with not one
quarter of the fighting; and how dost thou know either what force or what
number of men may be in the other ship, and what loss thou mayest suffer,
and what gain it shall be to thee if thou take her? I think, indeed, thou
mayest much better let her alone."

"Why, William, it is true," said I, "and I'll go tell the captain what your
opinion is, and bring you word what he says." Accordingly in I went to the
captain and told him William's reasons; and the captain was of his mind,
that our business was indeed fighting when we could not help it, but that
our main affair was money, and that with as few blows as we could. So that
adventure was laid aside, and we stood along shore again south for the
river De la Plata, expecting some purchase thereabouts; especially we had
our eyes upon some of the Spanish ships from Buenos Ayres, which are
generally very rich in silver, and one such prize would have done our
business. We plied about here, in the latitude of ---- south, for near a
month, and nothing offered; and here we began to consult what we should do
next, for we had come to no resolution yet. Indeed, my design was always
for the Cape de Bona Speranza, and so to the East Indies. I had heard some
flaming stories of Captain Avery, and the fine things he had done in the
Indies, which were doubled and doubled, even ten thousand fold; and from
taking a great prize in the Bay of Bengal, where he took a lady, said to be
the Great Mogul's daughter, with a great quantity of jewels about her, we
had a story told us, that he took a Mogul ship, so the foolish sailors
called it, laden with diamonds.

I would fain have had friend William's advice whither we should go, but he
always put it off with some quaking quibble or other. In short, he did not
care for directing us neither; whether he made a piece of conscience of it,
or whether he did not care to venture having it come against him afterwards
or no, this I know not; but we concluded at last without him.

We were, however, pretty long in resolving, and hankered about the Rio de
la Plata a long time. At last we spied a sail to windward, and it was such
a sail as I believe had not been seen in that part of the world a great
while. It wanted not that we should give it chase, for it stood directly
towards us, as well as they that steered could make it; and even that was
more accident of weather than anything else, for if the wind had chopped
about anywhere they must have gone with it. I leave any man that is a
sailor, or understands anything of a ship, to judge what a figure this ship
made when we first saw her, and what we could imagine was the matter with
her. Her maintop-mast was come by the board about six foot above the cap,
and fell forward, the head of the topgallant-mast hanging in the
fore-shrouds by the stay; at the same time the parrel of the
mizzen-topsail-yard by some accident giving way, the mizzen-topsail-braces
(the standing part of which being fast to the main-topsail shrouds) brought
the mizzen-topsail, yard and all, down with it, which spread over part of
the quarter-deck like an awning; the fore-topsail was hoisted up two-thirds
of the mast, but the sheets were flown; the fore-yard was lowered down upon
the forecastle, the sail loose, and part of it hanging overboard. In this
manner she came down upon us with the wind quartering. In a word, the
figure the whole ship made was the most confounding to men that understood
the sea that ever was seen. She had no boat, neither had she any colours
out.

When we came near to her, we fired a gun to bring her to. She took no
notice of it, nor of us, but came on just as she did before. We fired
again, but it was all one. At length we came within pistol-shot of one
another, but nobody answered nor appeared; so we began to think that it was
a ship gone ashore somewhere in distress, and the men having forsaken her,
the high tide had floated her off to sea. Coming nearer to her, we ran up
alongside of her so close that we could hear a noise within her, and see
the motion of several people through her ports.

Upon this we manned out two boats full of men, and very well armed, and
ordered them to board her at the same minute, as near as they could, and to
enter one at her fore-chains on the one side, and the other amidships on
the other side. As soon as they came to the ship's side, a surprising
multitude of black sailors, such as they were, appeared upon deck, and, in
short, terrified our men so much that the boat which was to enter her men
in the waist stood off again, and durst not board her; and the men that
entered out of the other boat, finding the first boat, as they thought,
beaten off, and seeing the ship full of men, jumped all back again into
their boat, and put off, not knowing what the matter was. Upon this we
prepared to pour in a broadside upon her; but our friend William set us to
rights again here; for it seems he guessed how it was sooner than we did,
and coming up to me (for it was our ship that came up with her), "Friend,"
says he, "I am of opinion that thou art wrong in this matter, and thy men
have been wrong also in their conduct. I'll tell thee how thou shalt take
this ship, without making use of those things called guns." "How can that
be, William?" said I. "Why," said he, "thou mayest take her with thy helm;
thou seest they keep no steerage, and thou seest the condition they are in;
board her with thy ship upon her lee quarter, and so enter her from the
ship. I am persuaded thou wilt take her without fighting, for there is some
mischief has befallen the ship, which we know nothing of."

In a word, it being a smooth sea, and little wind, I took his advice, and
laid her aboard. Immediately our men entered the ship, where we found a
large ship, with upwards of 600 negroes, men and women, boys and girls, and
not one Christian or white man on board.

I was struck with horror at the sight; for immediately I concluded, as was
partly the case, that these black devils had got loose, had murdered all
the white men, and thrown them into the sea; and I had no sooner told my
mind to the men, but the thought so enraged them that I had much ado to
keep my men from cutting them all in pieces. But William, with many
persuasions, prevailed upon them, by telling them that it was nothing but
what, if they were in the negroes' condition, they would do if they could;
and that the negroes had really the highest injustice done them, to be sold
for slaves without their consent; and that the law of nature dictated it to
them; that they ought not to kill them, and that it would be wilful murder
to do it.

This prevailed with them, and cooled their first heat; so they only knocked
down twenty or thirty of them, and the rest ran all down between decks to
their first places, believing, as we fancied, that we were their first
masters come again.

It was a most unaccountable difficulty we had next; for we could not make
them understand one word we said, nor could we understand one word
ourselves that they said. We endeavoured by signs to ask them whence they
came; but they could make nothing of it. We pointed to the great cabin, to
the round-house, to the cook-room, then to our faces, to ask if they had no
white men on board, and where they were gone; but they could not understand
what we meant. On the other hand, they pointed to our boat and to their
ship, asking questions as well as they could, and said a thousand things,
and expressed themselves with great earnestness; but we could not
understand a word of it all, or know what they meant by any of their signs.

We knew very well they must have been taken on board the ship as slaves,
and that it must be by some European people too. We could easily see that
the ship was a Dutch-built ship, but very much altered, having been built
upon, and, as we supposed, in France; for we found two or three French
books on board, and afterwards we found clothes, linen, lace, some old
shoes, and several other things. We found among the provisions some barrels
of Irish beef, some Newfoundland fish, and several other evidences that
there had been Christians on board, but saw no remains of them. We found
not a sword, gun, pistol, or weapon of any kind, except some cutlasses; and
the negroes had hid them below where they lay. We asked them what was
become of all the small-arms, pointing to our own and to the places where
those belonging to the ship had hung. One of the negroes understood me
presently, and beckoned to me to come upon the deck, where, taking my
fuzee, which I never let go out of my hand for some time after we had
mastered the ship--I say, offering to take hold of it, he made the proper
motion of throwing it into the sea; by which I understood, as I did
afterwards, that they had thrown all the small-arms, powder, shot, swords,
&c., into the sea, believing, as I supposed, those things would kill them,
though the men were gone.

After we understood this we made no question but that the ship's crew,
having been surprised by these desperate rogues, had gone the same way, and
had been thrown overboard also. We looked all over the ship to see if we
could find any blood, and we thought we did perceive some in several
places; but the heat of the sun, melting the pitch and tar upon the decks,
made it impossible for us to discern it exactly, except in the round-house,
where we plainly saw that there had been much blood. We found the scuttle
open, by which we supposed that the captain and those that were with him
had made their retreat into the great cabin, or those in the cabin had made
their escape up into the round-house.

But that which confirmed us most of all in what had happened was that, upon
further inquiry, we found that there were seven or eight of the negroes
very much wounded, two or three of them with shot, whereof one had his leg
broken and lay in a miserable condition, the flesh being mortified, and, as
our friend William said, in two days more he would have died. William was a
most dexterous surgeon, and he showed it in this cure; for though all the
surgeons we had on board both our ships (and we had no less than five that
called themselves bred surgeons, besides two or three who were pretenders
or assistants)--though all these gave their opinions that the negro's leg
must be cut off, and that his life could not be saved without it; that the
mortification had touched the marrow in the bone, that the tendons were
mortified, and that he could never have the use of his leg if it should be
cured, William said nothing in general, but that his opinion was otherwise,
and that he desired the wound might be searched, and that he would then
tell them further. Accordingly he went to work with the leg; and, as he
desired that he might have some of the surgeons to assist him, we appointed
him two of the ablest of them to help, and all of them to look on, if they
thought fit.

William went to work his own way, and some of them pretended to find fault
at first. However, he proceeded and searched every part of the leg where he
suspected the mortification had touched it; in a word, he cut off a great
deal of mortified flesh, in all which the poor fellow felt no pain. William
proceeded till he brought the vessels which he had cut to bleed, and the
man to cry out; then he reduced the splinters of the bone, and, calling for
help, set it, as we call it, and bound it up, and laid the man to rest, who
found himself much easier than before.

At the first opening the surgeons began to triumph; the mortification
seemed to spread, and a long red streak of blood appeared from the wound
upwards to the middle of the man's thigh, and the surgeons told me the man
would die in a few hours. I went to look at it, and found William himself
under some surprise; but when I asked him how long he thought the poor
fellow could live, he looked gravely at me, and said, "As long as thou
canst; I am not at all apprehensive of his life," said he, "but I would
cure him, if I could, without making a cripple of him." I found he was not
just then upon the operation as to his leg, but was mixing up something to
give the poor creature, to repel, as I thought, the spreading contagion,
and to abate or prevent any feverish temper that might happen in the blood;
after which he went to work again, and opened the leg in two places above
the wound, cutting out a great deal of mortified flesh, which it seemed was
occasioned by the bandage, which had pressed the parts too much; and
withal, the blood being at the time in a more than common disposition to
mortify, might assist to spread it.

Well, our friend William conquered all this, cleared the spreading
mortification, and the red streak went off again, the flesh began to heal,
and matter to run; and in a few days the man's spirits began to recover,
his pulse beat regular, he had no fever, and gathered strength daily; and,
in a word, he was a perfect sound man in about ten weeks, and we kept him
amongst us, and made him an able seaman. But to return to the ship: we
never could come at a certain information about it, till some of the
negroes which we kept on board, and whom we taught to speak English, gave
the account of it afterwards, and this maimed man in particular.

We inquired, by all the signs and motions we could imagine, what was become
of the people, and yet we could get nothing from them. Our lieutenant was
for torturing some of them to make them confess, but William opposed that
vehemently; and when he heard it was under consideration he came to me.
"Friend," says he, "I make a request to thee not to put any of these poor
wretches to torment." "Why, William," said I, "why not? You see they will
not give any account of what is become of the white men." "Nay," says
William, "do not say so; I suppose they have given thee a full account of
every particular of it." "How so?" says I; "pray what are we the wiser for
all their jabbering?" "Nay," says William, "that may be thy fault, for
aught I know; thou wilt not punish the poor men because they cannot speak
English; and perhaps they never heard a word of English before. Now, I may
very well suppose that they have given thee a large account of everything;
for thou seest with what earnestness, and how long, some of them have
talked to thee; and if thou canst not understand their language, nor they
thine, how can they help that? At the best, thou dost but suppose that they
have not told thee the whole truth of the story; and, on the contrary, I
suppose they have; and how wilt thou decide the question, whether thou art
right or whether I am right? Besides, what can they say to thee when thou
askest them a question upon the torture, and at the same time they do not
understand the question, and thou dost not know whether they say ay or no?"

It is no compliment to my moderation to say I was convinced by these
reasons; and yet we had all much ado to keep our second lieutenant from
murdering some of them, to make them tell. What if they had told? He did
not understand one word of it; but he would not be persuaded but that the
negroes must needs understand him when he asked them whether the ship had
any boat or no, like ours, and what was become of it.

But there was no remedy but to wait till we made these people understand
English, and to adjourn the story till that time. The case was thus: where
they were taken on board the ship, that we could never understand, because
they never knew the English names which we give to those coasts, or what
nation they were who belonged to the ship, because they knew not one tongue
from another; but thus far the negro I examined, who was the same whose leg
William had cured, told us, that they did not speak the same language as we
spoke, nor the same our Portuguese spoke; so that in all probability they
must be French or Dutch.

Then he told us that the white men used them barbarously; that they beat
them unmercifully; that one of the negro men had a wife and two negro
children, one a daughter, about sixteen years old; that a white man abused
the negro man's wife, and afterwards his daughter, which, as he said, made
all the negro men mad; and that the woman's husband was in a great rage; at
which the white man was so provoked that he threatened to kill him; but, in
the night, the negro man, being loose, got a great club, by which he made
us understand he meant a handspike, and that when the same Frenchman (if it
was a Frenchman) came among them again, he began again to abuse the negro
man's wife, at which the negro, taking up the handspike, knocked his brains
out at one blow; and then taking the key from him with which he usually
unlocked the handcuffs which the negroes were fettered with, he set about a
hundred of them at liberty, who, getting up upon the deck by the same
scuttle that the white men came down, and taking the man's cutlass who was
killed, and laying hold of what came next them, they fell upon the men that
were upon the deck, and killed them all, and afterwards those they found
upon the forecastle; that the captain and his other men, who were in the
cabin and the round-house, defended themselves with great courage, and shot
out at the loopholes at them, by which he and several other men were
wounded, and some killed; but that they broke into the round-house after a
long dispute, where they killed two of the white men, but owned that the
two white men killed eleven of their men before they could break in; and
then the rest, having got down the scuttle into the great cabin, wounded
three more of them.

That, after this, the gunner of the ship having secured himself in the
gun-room, one of his men hauled up the long-boat close under the stern, and
putting into her all the arms and ammunition they could come at, got all
into the boat, and afterwards took in the captain, and those that were with
him, out of the great cabin. When they were all thus embarked, they
resolved to lay the ship aboard again, and try to recover it. That they
boarded the ship in a desperate manner, and killed at first all that stood
in their way; but the negroes being by this time all loose, and having
gotten some arms, though they understood nothing of powder and bullet, or
guns, yet the men could never master them. However, they lay under the
ship's bow, and got out all the men they had left in the cook-room, who had
maintained themselves there, notwithstanding all the negroes could do, and
with their small-arms killed between thirty and forty of the negroes, but
were at last forced to leave them.

They could give me no account whereabouts this was, whether near the coast
of Africa, or far off, or how long it was before the ship fell into our
hands; only, in general, it was a great while ago, as they called it; and,
by all we could learn, it was within two or three days after they had set
sail from the coast. They told us that they had killed about thirty of the
white men, having knocked them on the head with crows and handspikes, and
such things as they could get; and one strong negro killed three of them
with an iron crow, after he was shot twice through the body; and that he
was afterwards shot through the head by the captain himself at the door of
the round-house, which he had split open with the crow; and this we
supposed was the occasion of the great quantity of blood which we saw at
the round-house door.

The same negro told us that they threw all the powder and shot they could
find into the sea, and they would have thrown the great guns into the sea
if they could have lifted them. Being asked how they came to have their
sails in such a condition, his answer was, "They no understand; they no
know what the sails do;" that was, they did not so much as know that it was
the sails that made the ship go, or understand what they meant, or what to
do with them. When we asked him whither they were going, he said they did
not know, but believed they should go home to their own country again. I
asked him, in particular, what he thought we were when we first came up
with them? He said they were terribly frighted, believing we were the same
white men that had gone away in their boats, and were come again in a great
ship, with the two boats with them, and expected they would kill them all.

This was the account we got out of them, after we had taught them to speak
English, and to understand the names and use of the things belonging to the
ship which they had occasion to speak of; and we observed that the fellows
were too innocent to dissemble in their relation, and that they all agreed
in the particulars, and were always in the same story, which confirmed very
much the truth of what they said.

Having taken this ship, our next difficulty was, what to do with the
negroes. The Portuguese in the Brazils would have bought them all of us,
and been glad of the purchase, if we had not showed ourselves enemies
there, and been known for pirates; but, as it was, we durst not go ashore
anywhere thereabouts, or treat with any of the planters, because we should
raise the whole country upon us; and, if there were any such things as
men-of-war in any of their ports, we should be as sure to be attacked by
them, and by all the force they had by land or sea.

Nor could we think of any better success if we went northward to our own
plantations. One while we determined to carry them all away to Buenos
Ayres, and sell them there to the Spaniards; but they were really too many
for them to make use of; and to carry them round to the South Seas, which
was the only remedy that was left, was so far that we should be no way able
to subsist them for so long a voyage.

At last, our old, never-failing friend, William, helped us out again, as he
had often done at a dead lift. His proposal was this, that he should go as
master of the ship, and about twenty men, such as we could best trust, and
attempt to trade privately, upon the coast of Brazil, with the planters,
not at the principal ports, because that would not be admitted.

We all agreed to this, and appointed to go away ourselves towards the Rio
de la Plata, where we had thought of going before, and to wait for him, not
there, but at Port St Pedro, as the Spaniards call it, lying at the mouth
of the river which they call Rio Grande, and where the Spaniards had a
small fort and a few people, but we believe there was nobody in it.

Here we took up our station, cruising off and on, to see if we could meet
any ships going to or coming from the Buenos Ayres or the Rio de la Plata;
but we met with nothing worth notice. However, we employed ourselves in
things necessary for our going off to sea; for we filled all our
water-casks, and got some fish for our present use, to spare as much as
possible our ship's stores.

William, in the meantime, went away to the north, and made the land about
the Cape de St Thomas; and betwixt that and the isles De Tuberon he found
means to trade with the planters for all his negroes, as well the women as
the men, and at a very good price too; for William, who spoke Portuguese
pretty well, told them a fair story enough, that the ship was in scarcity
of provisions, that they were driven a great way out of their way, and
indeed, as we say, out of their knowledge, and that they must go up to the
northward as far as Jamaica, or sell there upon the coast. This was a very
plausible tale, and was easily believed; and, if you observe the manner of
the negroes' sailing, and what happened in their voyage, was every word of
it true.

By this method, and being true to one another, William passed for what he
was--I mean, for a very honest fellow; and by the assistance of one
planter, who sent to some of his neighbour planters, and managed the trade
among themselves, he got a quick market; for in less than five weeks
William sold all his negroes, and at last sold the ship itself, and shipped
himself and his twenty men, with two negro boys whom he had left, in a
sloop, one of those which the planters used to send on board for the
negroes. With this sloop Captain William, as we then called him, came away,
and found us at Port St Pedro, in the latitude of 32 degrees 30 minutes
south.

Nothing was more surprising to us than to see a sloop come along the coast,
carrying Portuguese colours, and come in directly to us, after we were
assured he had discovered both our ships. We fired a gun, upon her nearer
approach, to bring her to an anchor, but immediately she fired five guns by
way of salute, and spread her English ancient. Then we began to guess it
was friend William, but wondered what was the meaning of his being in a
sloop, whereas we sent him away in a ship of near 300 tons; but he soon let
us into the whole history of his management, with which we had a great deal
of reason to be very well satisfied. As soon as he had brought the sloop to
an anchor, he came aboard of my ship, and there he gave us an account how
he began to trade by the help of a Portuguese planter, who lived near the
seaside; how he went on shore and went up to the first house he could see,
and asked the man of the house to sell him some hogs, pretending at first
he only stood in upon the coast to take in fresh water and buy some
provisions; and the man not only sold him seven fat hogs, but invited him
in, and gave him, and five men he had with him, a very good dinner; and he
invited the planter on board his ship, and, in return for his kindness,
gave him a negro girl for his wife.

This so obliged the planter that the next morning he sent him on board, in
a great luggage-boat, a cow and two sheep, with a chest of sweetmeats and
some sugar, and a great bag of tobacco, and invited Captain William on
shore again; that, after this, they grew from one kindness to another; that
they began to talk about trading for some negroes; and William, pretending
it was to do him service, consented to sell him thirty negroes for his
private use in his plantation, for which he gave William ready money in
gold, at the rate of five-and-thirty moidores per head; but the planter was
obliged to use great caution in the bringing them on shore; for which
purpose he made William weigh and stand out to sea, and put in again, about
fifty miles farther north, where at a little creek he took the negroes on
shore at another plantation, being a friend's of his, whom, it seems, he
could trust.

This remove brought William into a further intimacy, not only with the
first planter, but also with his friends, who desired to have some of the
negroes also; so that, from one to another, they bought so many, till one
overgrown planter took 100 negroes, which was all William had left, and
sharing them with another planter, that other planter chaffered with
William for ship and all, giving him in exchange a very clean, large,
well-built sloop of near sixty tons, very well furnished, carrying six
guns; but we made her afterwards carry twelve guns. William had 300
moidores of gold, besides the sloop, in payment for the ship; and with this
money he stored the sloop as full as she could hold with provisions,
especially bread, some pork, and about sixty hogs alive; among the rest,
William got eighty barrels of good gunpowder, which was very much for our
purpose; and all the provisions which were in the French ship he took out
also.

This was a very agreeable account to us, especially when we saw that
William had received in gold coined, or by weight, and some Spanish silver,
60,000 pieces of eight, besides a new sloop, and a vast quantity of
provisions.

We were very glad of the sloop in particular, and began to consult what we
should do, whether we had not best turn off our great Portuguese ship, and
stick to our first ship and the sloop, seeing we had scarce men enough for
all three, and that the biggest ship was thought too big for our business.
However, another dispute, which was now decided, brought the first to a
conclusion. The first dispute was, whither we should go. My comrade, as I
called him now, that is to say, he that was my captain before we took this
Portuguese man-of-war, was for going to the South Seas, and coasting up the
west side of America, where we could not fail of making several good prizes
upon the Spaniards; and that then, if occasion required it, we might come
home by the South Seas to the East Indies, and so go round the globe, as
others had done before us.

But my head lay another way. I had been in the East Indies, and had
entertained a notion ever since that, if we went thither, we could not fail
of making good work of it, and that we might have a safe retreat, and good
beef to victual our ship, among my old friends the natives of Zanzibar, on
the coast of Mozambique, or the island of St Lawrence. I say, my thoughts
lay this way; and I read so many lectures to them all of the advantages
they would certainly make of their strength by the prizes they would take
in the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red Sea, and on the coast of Malabar, or the
Bay of Bengal, that I amazed them.

With these arguments I prevailed on them, and we all resolved to steer away
S.E. for the Cape of Good Hope; and, in consequence of this resolution, we
concluded to keep the sloop, and sail with all three, not doubting, as I
assured them, but we should find men there to make up the number wanting,
and if not, we might cast any of them off when we pleased.

We could do no less than make our friend William captain of the sloop
which, with such good management, he had brought us. He told us, though
with much good manners, he would not command her as a frigate; but, if we
would give her to him for his share of the Guinea ship, which we came very
honestly by, he would keep us company as a victualler, if we commanded him,
as long as he was under the same force that took him away.

We understood him, so gave him the sloop, but upon condition that he should
not go from us, and should be entirely under our command. However, William
was not so easy as before; and, indeed, as we afterwards wanted the sloop
to cruise for purchase, and a right thorough-paced pirate in her, so I was
in such pain for William that I could not be without him, for he was my
privy counsellor and companion upon all occasions; so I put a Scotsman, a
bold, enterprising, gallant fellow, into her, named Gordon, and made her
carry twelve guns and four petereroes, though, indeed, we wanted men, for
we were none of us manned in proportion to our force.

We sailed away for the Cape of Good Hope the beginning of October 1706, and
passed by, in sight of the Cape, the 12th of November following, having met
with a great deal of bad weather. We saw several merchant-ships in the
roads there, as well English as Dutch, whether outward bound or homeward we
could not tell; be it what it would, we did not think fit to come to an
anchor, not knowing what they might be, or what they might attempt against
us, when they knew what we were. However, as we wanted fresh water, we sent
the two boats belonging to the Portuguese man-of-war, with all Portuguese
seamen or negroes in them, to the watering-place, to take in water; and in
the meantime we hung out a Portuguese ancient at sea, and lay by all that
night. They knew not what we were, but it seems we passed for anything but
really what we was.

Our boats returning the third time loaden, about five o'clock next morning,
we thought ourselves sufficiently watered, and stood away to the eastward;
but, before our men returned the last time, the wind blowing an easy gale
at west, we perceived a boat in the grey of the morning under sail,
crowding to come up with us, as if they were afraid we should be gone. We
soon found it was an English long-boat, and that it was pretty full of men.
We could not imagine what the meaning of it should be; but, as it was but a
boat, we thought there could be no great harm in it to let them come on
board; and if it appeared they came only to inquire who we were, we would
give them a full account of our business, by taking them along with us,
seeing we wanted men as much as anything. But they saved us the labour of
being in doubt how to dispose of them; for it seems our Portuguese seamen,
who went for water, had not been so silent at the watering-places as we
thought they would have been. But the case, in short, was this: Captain
---- (I forbear his name at present, for a particular reason), captain of
an East India merchant-ship, bound afterwards for China, had found some
reason to be very severe with his men, and had handled some of them very
roughly at St Helena; insomuch, that they threatened among themselves to
leave the ship the first opportunity, and had long wished for that
opportunity. Some of these men, it seems, had met with our boat at the
watering-place, and inquiring of one another who we were, and upon what
account, whether the Portuguese seamen, by faltering in their account, made
them suspect that we were out upon the cruise, or whether they told it in
plain English or no (for they all spoke English enough to be understood),
but so it was, that as soon as ever the men carried the news on board, that
the ships which lay by to the eastward were English, and that they were
going upon the _account_, which, by they way, was a sea term for a pirate;
I say, as soon as ever they heard it, they went to work, and getting all
things ready in the night, their chests and clothes, and whatever else they
could, they came away before it was day, and came up with us about seven
o'clock.

When they came by the ship's side which I commanded we hailed them in the
usual manner, to know what and who they were, and what their business. They
answered they were Englishmen, and desired to come on board. We told them
they might lay the ship on board, but ordered they should let only one man
enter the ship till the captain knew their business, and that he should
come without any arms. They said, Ay, with all their hearts.

We presently found their business, and that they desired to go with us; and
as for their arms, they desired we would send men on board the boat, and
that they would deliver them all to us, which was done. The fellow that
came up to me told me how they had been used by their captain, how he had
starved the men, and used them like dogs, and that, if the rest of the men
knew they should be admitted, he was satisfied two-thirds of them would
leave the ship. We found the fellows were very hearty in their resolution,
and jolly brisk sailors they were; so I told them I would do nothing
without our admiral, that was the captain of the other ship; so I sent my
pinnace on board Captain Wilmot, to desire him to come on board. But he was
indisposed, and being to leeward, excused his coming, but left it all to
me; but before my boat was returned, Captain Wilmot called to me by his
speaking-trumpet, which all the men might hear as well as I; thus, calling
me by my name, "I hear they are honest fellows; pray tell them they are all
welcome, and make them a bowl of punch."

As the men heard it as well as I, there was no need to tell them what the
captain said; and, as soon as the trumpet had done, they set up a huzza,
that showed us they were very hearty in their coming to us; but we bound
them to us by a stronger obligation still after this, for when we came to
Madagascar, Captain Wilmot, with consent of all the ship's company, ordered
that these men should have as much money given them out of the stock as was
due to them for their pay in the ship they had left; and after that we
allowed them twenty pieces of eight a man bounty money; and thus we entered
them upon shares, as we were all, and brave stout fellows they were, being
eighteen in number, whereof two were midshipmen, and one a carpenter.

It was the 28th of November, when, having had some bad weather, we came to
an anchor in the road off St Augustine Bay, at the south-west end of my old
acquaintance the isle of Madagascar. We lay here awhile and trafficked with
the natives for some good beef; though the weather was so hot that we could
not promise ourselves to salt any of it up to keep; but I showed them the
way which we practised before, to salt it first with saltpetre, then cure
it by drying it in the sun, which made it eat very agreeably, though not so
wholesome for our men, that not agreeing with our way of cooking, viz.,
boiling with pudding, brewis, &c., and particularly this way, would be too
salt, and the fat of the meat be rusty, or dried away so as not to be
eaten.

This, however, we could not help, and made ourselves amends by feeding
heartily on the fresh beef while we were there, which was excellent, good
and fat, every way as tender and as well relished as in England, and
thought to be much better to us who had not tasted any in England for so
long a time.

Having now for some time remained here, we began to consider that this was
not a place for our business; and I, that had some views a particular way
of my own, told them that this was not a station for those who looked for
purchase; that there were two parts of the island which were particularly
proper for our purposes; first, the bay on the east side of the island, and
from thence to the island Mauritius, which was the usual way which ships
that came from the Malabar coast, or the coast of Coromandel, Fort St
George, &c., used to take, and where, if we waited for them, we ought to
take our station.

But, on the other hand, as we did not resolve to fall upon the European
traders, who were generally ships of force and well manned, and where blows
must be looked for; so I had another prospect, which I promised myself
would yield equal profit, or perhaps greater, without any of the hazard and
difficulty of the former; and this was the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red Sea.

I told them that the trade here was great, the ships rich, and the Strait
of Babelmandel narrow; so that there was no doubt but we might cruise so as
to let nothing slip our hands, having the seas open from the Red Sea, along
the coast of Arabia, to the Persian Gulf, and the Malabar side of the
Indies.

I told them what I had observed when I sailed round the island in my former
progress; how that, on the northernmost point of the island, there were
several very good harbours and roads for our ships; that the natives were
even more civil and tractable, if possible, than those where we were, not
having been so often ill-treated by European sailors as those had in the
south and east sides; and that we might always be sure of a retreat, if we
were driven to put in by any necessity, either of enemies or weather.

They were easily convinced of the reasonableness of my scheme; and Captain
Wilmot, whom I now called our admiral, though he was at first of the mind
to go and lie at the island Mauritius, and wait for some of the European
merchant-ships from the road of Coromandel, or the Bay of Bengal, was now
of my mind. It is true we were strong enough to have attacked an English
East India ship of the greatest force, though some of them were said to
carry fifty guns; but I represented to him that we were sure to have blows
and blood if we took them; and, after we had done, their loading was not of
equal value to us, because we had no room to dispose of their merchandise;
and, as our circumstances stood, we had rather have taken one outward-bound
East India ship, with her ready cash on board, perhaps to the value of
forty or fifty thousand pounds, than three homeward-bound, though their
loading would at London be worth three times the money, because we knew not
whither to go to dispose of the cargo; whereas the ships from London had
abundance of things we knew how to make use of besides their money, such as
their stores of provisions and liquors, and great quantities of the like
sent to the governors and factories at the English settlements for their
use; so that, if we resolved to look for our own country ships, it should
be those that were outward-bound, not the London ships homeward.

All these things considered, brought the admiral to be of my mind entirely;
so, after taking in water and some fresh provisions where we lay, which was
near Cape St Mary, on the south-west corner of the island, we weighed and
stood away south, and afterwards S.S.E., to round the island, and in about
six days' sail got out of the wake of the island, and steered away north,
till we came off Port Dauphin, and then north by east, to the latitude of
13 degrees 40 minutes, which was, in short, just at the farthest part of
the island; and the admiral, keeping ahead, made the open sea fair to the
west, clear of the whole island; upon which he brought to, and we sent a
sloop to stand in round the farthest point north, and coast along the
shore, and see for a harbour to put into, which they did, and soon brought
us an account that there was a deep bay, with a very good road, and several
little islands, under which they found good riding, in ten to seventeen
fathom water, and accordingly there we put in.

However, we afterwards found occasion to remove our station, as you shall
hear presently. We had now nothing to do but go on shore, and acquaint
ourselves a little with the natives, take in fresh water and some fresh
provisions, and then to sea again. We found the people very easy to deal
with, and some cattle they had; but it being at the extremity of the
island, they had not such quantities of cattle here. However, for the
present we resolved to appoint this for our place of rendezvous, and go and
look out. This was about the latter end of April.

Accordingly we put to sea, and cruised away to the northward, for the
Arabian coast. It was a long run, but as the winds generally blow trade
from the S. and S.S.E. from May to September, we had good weather; and in
about twenty days we made the island of Socotra, lying south from the
Arabian coast, and E.S.E. from the mouth of the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red
Sea.

Here we took in water, and stood off and on upon the Arabian shore. We had
not cruised here above three days, or thereabouts, but I spied a sail, and
gave her chase; but when we came up with her, never was such a poor prize
chased by pirates that looked for booty, for we found nothing in her but
poor, half-naked Turks, going a pilgrimage to Mecca, to the tomb of their
prophet Mahomet. The junk that carried them had no one thing worth taking
away but a little rice and some coffee, which was all the poor wretches had
for their subsistence; so we let them go, for indeed we knew not what to do
with them.

The same evening we chased another junk with two masts, and in something
better plight to look at than the former. When we came on board we found
them upon the same errand, but only that they were people of some better
fashion than the other; and here we got some plunder, some Turkish stores,
a few diamonds in the ear-drops of five or six persons, some fine Persian
carpets, of which they made their saffras to lie upon, and some money; so
we let them go also.

We continued here eleven days longer, and saw nothing but now and then a
fishing-boat; but the twelfth day of our cruise we spied a ship: indeed I
thought at first it had been an English ship, but it appeared to be an
European freighted for a voyage from Goa, on the coast of Malabar, to the
Red Sea, and was very rich. We chased her, and took her without any fight,
though they had some guns on board too, but not many. We found her manned
with Portuguese seamen, but under the direction of five merchant Turks, who
had hired her on the coast of Malabar of some Portugal merchants, and had
laden her with pepper, saltpetre, some spices, and the rest of the loading
was chiefly calicoes and wrought silks, some of them very rich.

We took her and carried her to Socotra; but we really knew not what to do
with her, for the same reasons as before; for all their goods were of
little or no value to us. After some days we found means to let one of the
Turkish merchants know, that if he would ransom the ship we would take a
sum of money and let them go. He told me that if I would let one of them go
on shore for the money they would do it; so we adjusted the value of the
cargo at 30,000 ducats. Upon this agreement, we allowed the sloop to carry
him on shore, at Dofar, in Arabia, where a rich merchant laid down the
money for them, and came off with our sloop; and on payment of the money we
very fairly and honestly let them go.

Some days after this we took an Arabian junk, going from the Gulf of Persia
to Mocha, with a good quantity of pearl on board. We gutted him of the
pearl, which it seems was belonging to some merchants at Mocha, and let him
go, for there was nothing else worth our taking.

We continued cruising up and down here till we began to find our provisions
grow low, when Captain Wilmot, our admiral, told us it was time to think of
going back to the rendezvous; and the rest of the men said the same, being
a little weary of beating about for above three months together, and
meeting with little or nothing compared to our great expectations; but I
was very loth to part with the Red Sea at so cheap a rate, and pressed them
to tarry a little longer, which at my instance they did; but three days
afterwards, to our great misfortune, understood that, by landing the
Turkish merchants at Dofar, we had alarmed the coast as far as the Gulf of
Persia, so that no vessel would stir that way, and consequently nothing was
to be expected on that side.

I was greatly mortified at this news, and could no longer withstand the
importunities of the men to return to Madagascar. However, as the wind
continued still to blow at S.S.E. by S., we were obliged to stand away
towards the coast of Africa and the Cape Guardafui, the winds being more
variable under the shore than in the open sea.

Here we chopped upon a booty which we did not look for, and which made
amends for all our waiting; for the very same hour that we made land we
spied a large vessel sailing along the shore to the southward. The ship was
of Bengal, belonging to the Great Mogul's country, but had on board a Dutch
pilot, whose name, if I remember right, was Vandergest, and several
European seamen, whereof three were English. She was in no condition to
resist us. The rest of her seamen were Indians of the Mogul's subjects,
some Malabars and some others. There were five Indian merchants on board,
and some Armenians. It seems they had been at Mocha with spices, silks,
diamonds, pearls, calico, &c., such goods as the country afforded, and had
little on board now but money in pieces of eight, which, by the way, was
just what we wanted; and the three English seamen came along with us, and
the Dutch pilot would have done so too, but the two Armenian merchants
entreated us not to take him, for that he being their pilot, there was none
of the men knew how to guide the ship; so, at their request, we refused
him; but we made them promise he should not be used ill for being willing
to go with us.

We got near 200,000 pieces of eight in this vessel; and, if they said true,
there was a Jew of Goa, who intended to have embarked with them, who had
200,000 pieces of eight with him, all his own; but his good fortune,
springing out of his ill fortune, hindered him, or he fell sick at Mocha,
and could not be ready to travel, which was the saving of his money.

There was none with me at the taking this prize but the sloop, for Captain
Wilmot's ship proving leaky, he went away for the rendezvous before us, and
arrived there the middle of December; but not liking the port, he left a
great cross on shore, with directions written on a plate of lead fixed to
it, for us to come after him to the great bays at Mangahelly, where he
found a very good harbour; but we learned a piece of news here that kept us
from him a great while, which the admiral took offence at; but we stopped
his mouth with his share of 200,000 pieces of eight to him and his ship's
crew. But the story which interrupted our coming to him was this. Between
Mangahelly and another point, called Cape St Sebastian, there came on shore
in the night an European ship, and whether by stress of weather or want of
a pilot I know not, but the ship stranded and could not be got off.

We lay in the cove or harbour, where, as I have said, our rendezvous was
appointed, and had not yet been on shore, so we had not seen the directions
our admiral had left for us.

Our friend William, of whom I have said nothing a great while, had a great
mind one day to go on shore, and importuned me to let him have a little
troop to go with him, for safety, that they might see the country. I was
mightily against it for many reasons; but particularly I told him he knew
the natives were but savages, and they were very treacherous, and I desired
him that he would not go; and, had he gone on much farther, I believe I
should have downright refused him, and commanded him not to go.

But, in order to persuade me to let him go, he told me he would give me an
account of the reason why he was so importunate. He told me, the last night
he had a dream, which was so forcible, and made such an impression upon his
mind, that he could not be quiet till he had made the proposal to me to go;
and if I refused him, then he thought his dream was significant; and if
not, then his dream was at an end.

His dream was, he said, that he went on shore with thirty men, of which the
cockswain, he said, was one, upon the island; and that they found a mine of
gold, and enriched them all. But this was not the main thing, he said, but
that the same morning he had dreamed so, the cockswain came to him just
then, and told him that he dreamed he went on shore on the island of
Madagascar, and that some men came to him and told him they would show him
where he should get a prize which would make them all rich.

These two things put together began to weigh with me a little, though I was
never inclined to give any heed to dreams; but William's importunity turned
me effectually, for I always put a great deal of stress upon his judgment;
so that, in short, I gave them leave to go, but I charged them not to go
far off from the sea-coast; that, if they were forced down to the seaside
upon any occasion, we might perhaps see them, and fetch them off with our
boats.

They went away early in the morning, one-and-thirty men of them in number,
very well armed, and very stout fellows; they travelled all the day, and at
night made us a signal that all was well, from the top of a hill, which we
had agreed on, by making a great fire.

Next day they marched down the hill on the other side, inclining towards
the seaside, as they had promised, and saw a very pleasant valley before
them, with a river in the middle of it, which, a little farther below them,
seemed to be big enough to bear small ships; they marched apace towards
this river, and were surprised with the noise of a piece going off, which,
by the sound, could not be far off. They listened long, but could hear no
more; so they went on to the river-side, which was a very fine fresh
stream, but widened apace, and they kept on by the banks of it, till,
almost at once, it opened or widened into a good large creek or harbour,
about five miles from the sea; and that which was still more surprising, as
they marched forward, they plainly saw in the mouth of the harbour, or
creek, the wreck of a ship.

The tide was up, as we call it, so that it did net appear very much above
the water, but, as they made downwards, they found it grow bigger and
bigger; and the tide soon after ebbing out, they found it lay dry upon the
sands, and appeared to be the wreck of a considerable vessel, larger than
could be expected in that country.

After some time, William, taking out his glass to look at it more nearly,
was surprised with hearing a musket-shot whistle by him, and immediately
after that he heard the gun, and saw the smoke from the other side; upon
which our men immediately fired three muskets, to discover, if possible,
what or who they were. Upon the noise of these guns, abundance of men came
running down to the shore from among the trees; and our men could easily
perceive that they were Europeans, though they knew not of what nation;
however, our men hallooed to them as loud as they could, and by-and-by they
got a long pole, and set it up, and hung a white shirt upon it for a flag
of truce. They on the other side saw it, by the help of their glasses, too,
and quickly after our men see a boat launch off from the shore, as they
thought, but it was from another creek, it seems; and immediately they came
rowing over the creek to our men, carrying also a white flag as a token of
truce.

It is not easy to describe the surprise, or joy and satisfaction, that
appeared on both sides, to see not only white men, but Englishmen, in a
place so remote; but what then must it be when they came to know one
another, and to find that they were not only countrymen but comrades, and
that this was the very ship that Captain Wilmot, our admiral, commanded,
and whose company we had lost in the storm at Tobago, after making an
agreement to rendezvous at Madagascar!

They had, it seems, got intelligence of us when they came to the south part
of the island, and had been a-roving as far as the Gulf of Bengal, when
they met Captain Avery, with whom they joined, took several rich prizes,
and, amongst the rest, one ship with the Great Mogul's daughter, and an
immense treasure in money and jewels; and from thence they came about the
coast of Coromandel, and afterwards that of Malabar, into the Gulf of
Persia, where they also took some prize, and then designed for the south
part of Madagascar; but the winds blowing hard at S.E. and S.E. by E., they
came to the northward of the isle, and being after that separated by a
furious tempest from the N.W., they were forced into the mouth of that
creek, where they lost their ship. And they told us, also, that they heard
that Captain Avery himself had lost his ship also not far off.

When they had thus acquainted one another with their fortunes, the poor
overjoyed men were in haste to go back to communicate their joy to their
comrades; and, leaving some of their men with ours, the rest went back, and
William was so earnest to see them that he and two more went back with
them, and there he came to their little camp where they lived. There were
about a hundred and sixty men of them in all; they had got their guns on
shore, and some ammunition, but a good deal of their powder was spoiled;
however, they had raised a fair platform, and mounted twelve pieces of
cannon upon it, which was a sufficient defence to them on that side of the
sea; and just at the end of the platform they had made a launch and a
little yard, and were all hard at work, building another little ship, as I
may call it, to go to sea in; but they put a stop to this work upon the
news they had of our being come in.

When our men went into their huts, it was surprising, indeed, to see the
vast stock of wealth they had got, in gold and silver and jewels, which,
however, they told us was a trifle to what Captain Avery had, wherever he
was gone.

It was five days we had waited for our men, and no news of them; and indeed
I gave them over for lost, but was surprised, after five days' waiting, to
see a ship's boat come rowing towards us along shore. What to make of it I
could not tell, but was at least better satisfied when our men told me they
heard them halloo and saw them wave their caps to us.

In a little time they came quite up to us; and I saw friend William stand
up in the boat and make signs to us; so they came on board; but when I saw
there were but fifteen of our one-and-thirty men, I asked him what had
become of their fellows. "Oh," says William, "they are all very well; and
my dream is fully made good, and the cockswain's too."

This made me very impatient to know how the case stood; so he told us the
whole story, which indeed surprised us all. The next day we weighed, and
stood away southerly to join Captain Wilmot and ship at Mangahelly, where
we found him, as I said, a little chagrined at our stay; but we pacified
him afterwards with telling him the history of William's dream, and the
consequence of it.

In the meantime the camp of our comrades was so near Mangahelly, that our
admiral and I, friend William, and some of the men, resolved to take the
sloop and go and see them, and fetch them all, and their goods, bag and
baggage, on board our ship, which accordingly we did, and found their camp,
their fortifications, the battery of guns they had erected, their treasure,
and all the men, just as William had related it; so, after some stay, we
took all the men into the sloop, and brought them away with us.

It was some time before we knew what was become of Captain Avery; but after
about a month, by the direction of the men who had lost their ship, we sent
the sloop to cruise along the shore, to find out, if possible, where they
were; and in about a week's cruise our men found them, and particularly
that they had lost their ship, as well as our men had lost theirs, and that
they were every way in as bad a condition as ours.

It was about ten days before the sloop returned, and Captain Avery with
them; and this was the whole force that, as I remember, Captain Avery ever
had with him; for now we joined all our companies together, and it stood
thus:--We had two ships and a sloop, in which we had 320 men, but much too
few to man them as they ought to be, the great Portuguese ship requiring of
herself near 400 men to man her completely. As for our lost, but now found
comrade, her complement of men was 180, or thereabouts; and Captain Avery
had about 300 men with him, whereof he had ten carpenters with him, most of
which were taken aboard the prize they had taken; so that, in a word, all
the force Avery had at Madagascar, in the year 1699, or thereabouts,
amounted to our three ships, for his own was lost, as you have heard; and
never had any more than about 1200 men in all.

It was about a month after this that all our crews got together, and as
Avery was unshipped, we all agreed to bring our own company into the
Portuguese man-of-war and the sloop, and give Captain Avery the Spanish
frigate, with all the tackles and furniture, guns and ammunition, for his
crew by themselves; for which they, being full of wealth, agreed to give us
40,000 pieces of eight.

It was next considered what course we should take. Captain Avery, to give
him his due, proposed our building a little city here, establishing
ourselves on shore, with a good fortification and works proper to defend
ourselves; and that, as we had wealth enough, and could increase it to what
degree we pleased, we should content ourselves to retire here, and bid
defiance to the world. But I soon convinced him that this place would be no
security to us, if we pretended to carry on our cruising trade; for that
then all the nations of Europe, and indeed of that part of the world, would
be engaged to root us out; but if we resolved to live there as in
retirement, and plant in the country as private men, and give over our
trade of pirating, then, indeed, we might plant and settle ourselves where
we pleased. But then, I told him, the best way would be to treat with the
natives, and buy a tract of land of them farther up the country, seated
upon some navigable river, where boats might go up and down for pleasure,
but not ships to endanger us; that thus planting the high ground with
cattle, such as cows and goats, of which the country also was full, to be
sure we might live here as well as any men in the world; and I owned to him
I thought it was a good retreat for those that were willing to leave off
and lay down, and yet did not care to venture home and be hanged; that is
to say, to run the risk of it.

Captain Avery, however he made no positive discovery of his intentions,
seemed to me to decline my notion of going up into the country to plant; on
the contrary, it was apparent he was of Captain Wilmot's opinion, that they
might maintain themselves on shore, and yet carry on their cruising trade
too; and upon this they resolved. But, as I afterwards understood, about
fifty of their men went up the country, and settled themselves in an inland
place as a colony. Whether they are there still or not, I cannot tell, or
how many of them are left alive; but it is my opinion they are there still,
and that they are considerably increased, for, as I hear, they have got
some women among them, though not many; for it seems five Dutch women and
three or four little girls were taken by them in a Dutch ship, which they
afterwards took going to Mocha; and three of those women, marrying some of
these men, went with them to live in their new plantation. But of this I
speak only by hearsay.

As we lay here some time, I found our people mightily divided in their
notions; some were for going this way, and some that, till at last I began
to foresee they would part company, and perhaps we should not have men
enough to keep together to man the great ship; so I took Captain Wilmot
aside, and began to talk to him about it, but soon perceived that he
inclined himself to stay at Madagascar, and having got a vast wealth for
his own share, had secret designs of getting home some way or other.

I argued the impossibility of it, and the hazard he would run, either of
falling into the hands of thieves and murderers in the Red Sea, who would
never let such a treasure as his pass their hands, or of his falling into
the hands of the English, Dutch, or French, who would certainly hang him
for a pirate. I gave him an account of the voyage I had made from this very
place to the continent of Africa, and what a journey it was to travel on
foot.

In short, nothing could persuade him, but he would go into the Red Sea with
the sloop, and where the children of Israel passed through the sea
dry-shod, and, landing there, would travel to Grand Cairo by land, which is
not above eighty miles, and from thence he said he could ship himself, by
the way of Alexandria, to any part of the world.

I represented the hazard, and indeed the impossibility, of his passing by
Mocha and Jiddah without being attacked, if he offered it by force, or
plundered, if he went to get leave; and explained the reasons of it so much
and so effectually, that, though at last he would not hearken to it
himself, none of his men would go with him. They told him they would go
anywhere with him to serve him, but that this was running himself and them
into certain destruction, without any possibility of avoiding it, or
probability of answering his end. The captain took what I said to him quite
wrong, and pretended to resent it, and gave me some buccaneer words upon
it; but I gave him no return to it but this: that I advised him for his
advantage; that if he did not understand it so, it was his fault, not mine;
that I did not forbid him to go, nor had I offered to persuade any of the
men not to go with him, though it was to their apparent destruction.

However, warm heads are not easily cooled. The captain was so eager that he
quitted our company, and, with most part of his crew, went over to Captain
Avery, and sorted with his people, taking all the treasure with him, which,
by the way, was not very fair in him, we having agreed to share all our
gains, whether more or less, whether absent or present.

Our men muttered a little at it, but I pacified them as well as I could,
and told them it was easy for us to get as much, if we minded our hits; and
Captain Wilmot had set us a very good example; for, by the same rule, the
agreement of any further sharing of profits with them was at an end. I took
this occasion to put into their heads some part of my further designs,
which were, to range over the eastern sea, and see if we could not make
ourselves as rich as Mr Avery, who, it was true, had gotten a prodigious
deal of money, though not one-half of what was said of it in Europe.

Our men were so pleased with my forward, enterprising temper, that they
assured me that they would go with me, one and all, over the whole globe,
wherever I would carry them; and as for Captain Wilmot, they would have
nothing more to do with him. This came to his ears, and put him into a
great rage, so that he threatened, if I came on shore, he would cut my
throat.

I had information of it privately, but took no notice of it at all; only I
took care not to go unprovided for him, and seldom walked about but in very
good company. However, at last Captain Wilmot and I met, and talked over
the matter very seriously, and I offered him the sloop to go where he
pleased, or, if he was not satisfied with that, I offered to take the sloop
and leave him the great ship; but he declined both, and only desired that I
would leave him six carpenters, which I had in our ship more than I had
need of, to help his men to finish the sloop that was begun before we came
thither, by the men that lost their ship. This I consented readily to, and
lent him several other hands that were useful to them; and in a little time
they built a stout brigantine, able to carry fourteen guns and 200 men.

What measures they took, and how Captain Avery managed afterwards, is too
long a story to meddle with here; nor is it any of my business, having my
own story still upon my hands.

We lay here, about these several simple disputes, almost five months, when,
about the latter end of March, I set sail with the great ship, having in
her forty-four guns and 400 men, and the sloop, carrying eighty men. We did
not steer to the Malabar coast, and so to the Gulf of Persia, as was first
intended, the east monsoons blowing yet too strong, but we kept more under
the African coast, where we had the wind variable till we passed the line,
and made the Cape Bassa, in the latitude of four degrees ten minutes; from
thence, the monsoons beginning to change to the N.E. and N.N.E., we led it
away, with the wind large, to the Maldives, a famous ledge of islands, well
known by all the sailors who have gone into those parts of the world; and,
leaving these islands a little to the south, we made Cape Comorin, the
southernmost land of the coast of Malabar, and went round the isle of
Ceylon. Here we lay by a while to wait for purchase; and here we saw three
large English East India ships going from Bengal, or from Fort St George,
homeward for England, or rather for Bombay and Surat, till the trade set
in.

We brought to, and hoisting an English ancient and pendant, lay by for
them, as if we intended to attack them. They could not tell what to make of
us a good while, though they saw our colours; and I believe at first they
thought us to be French; but as they came nearer to us, we let them soon
see what we were, for we hoisted a black flag, with two cross daggers in
it, on our main-top-mast head, which let them see what they were to expect.

We soon found the effects of this; for at first they spread their ancients,
and made up to us in a line, as if they would fight us, having the wind off
shore, fair enough to have brought them on board us; but when they saw what
force we were of, and found we were cruisers of another kind, they stood
away from us again, with all the sail they could make. If they had come up,
we should have given them an unexpected welcome, but as it was, we had no
mind to follow them; so we let them go, for the same reasons which I
mentioned before.

But though we let them pass, we did not design to let others go at so easy
a price. It was but the next morning that we saw a sail standing round Cape
Comorin, and steering, as we thought, the same course with us. We knew not
at first what to do with her, because she had the shore on her larboard
quarter, and if we offered to chase her, she might put into any port or
creek, and escape us; but, to prevent this, we sent the sloop to get in
between her and the land. As soon as she saw that, she hauled in to keep
the land aboard, and when the sloop stood towards her she made right
ashore, with all the canvas she could spread.

The sloop, however, came up with her and engaged her, and found she was a
vessel of ten guns, Portuguese built, but in the Dutch traders' hands, and
manned by Dutchmen, who were bound from the Gulf of Persia to Batavia, to
fetch spices and other goods from thence. The sloop's men took her, and had
the rummaging of her before we came up. She had in her some European goods,
and a good round sum of money, and some pearl; so that, though we did not
go to the gulf for the pearl, the pearl came to us out of the gulf, and we
had our share of it. This was a rich ship, and the goods were of very
considerable value, besides the money and the pearl.

We had a long consultation here what we should do with the men, for to give
them the ship, and let them pursue their voyage to Java, would be to alarm
the Dutch factory there, who are by far the strongest in the Indies, and to
make our passage that way impracticable; whereas we resolved to visit that
part of the world in our way, but were not willing to pass the great Bay of
Bengal, where we hoped for a great deal of purchase; and therefore it
behoved us not to be waylaid before we came there, because they knew we
must pass by the Straits of Malacca, or those of Sunda; and either way it
was very easy to prevent us.

While we were consulting this in the great cabin, the men had had the same
debate before the mast; and it seems the majority there were for pickling
up the poor Dutchmen among the herrings; in a word, they were for throwing
them all into the sea. Poor William, the Quaker, was in great concern about
this, and comes directly to me to talk about it. "Hark thee," says William,
"what wilt thou do with these Dutchmen that thou hast on board? Thou wilt
not let them go, I suppose," says he. "Why," says I, "William, would you
advise me to let them go?" "No," says William, "I cannot say it is fit for
thee to let them go; that is to say, to go on with their voyage to Batavia,
because it is not for thy turn that the Dutch at Batavia should have any
knowledge of thy being in these seas." "Well, then," says I to him, "I know
no remedy but to throw them overboard. You know, William," says I, "a
Dutchman swims like a fish; and all our people here are of the same opinion
as well as I." At the same time I resolved it should not be done, but
wanted to hear what William would say. He gravely replied, "If all the men
in the ship were of that mind, I will never believe that thou wilt be of
that mind thyself, for I have heard thee protest against cruelty in all
other cases." "Well, William," says I, "that is true; but what then shall
we do with them?" "Why," says William, "is there no way but to murder them?
I am persuaded thou canst not be in earnest." "No, indeed, William," says
I, "I am not in earnest; but they shall not go to Java, no, nor to Ceylon,
that is certain." "But," says William, "the men have done thee no injury at
all; thou hast taken a great treasure from them; what canst thou pretend to
hurt them for?" "Nay, William," says I, "do not talk of that; I have
pretence enough, if that be all; my pretence is, to prevent doing me hurt,
and that is as necessary a piece of the law of self-preservation as any you
can name; but the main thing is, I know not what to do with them, to
prevent their prating."

While William and I were talking, the poor Dutchmen were openly condemned
to die, as it may be called, by the whole ship's company; and so warm were
the men upon it, that they grew very clamorous; and when they heard that
William was against it, some of them swore they should die, and if William
opposed it, he should drown along with them.

But, as I was resolved to put an end to their cruel project, so I found it
was time to take upon me a little, or the bloody humour might grow too
strong; so I called the Dutchmen up, and talked a little with them. First,
I asked them if they were willing to go with us. Two of them offered it
presently; but the rest, which were fourteen, declined it. "Well, then,"
said I, "where would you go?" They desired they should go to Ceylon. No, I
told them I could not allow them to go to any Dutch factory, and told them
very plainly the reasons of it, which they could not deny to be just. I let
them know also the cruel, bloody measures of our men, but that I had
resolved to save them, if possible; and therefore I told them I would set
them on shore at some English factory in the Bay of Bengal, or put them on
board any English ship I met, after I was past the Straits of Sunda or of
Malacca, but not before; for, as to my coming back again, I told them I
would run the venture of their Dutch power from Batavia, but I would not
have the news come there before me, because it would make all their
merchant-ships lay up, and keep out of our way.

It came next into our consideration what we should do with their ship; but
this was not long resolving; for there were but two ways, either to set her
on fire, or to run her on shore, and we chose the last. So we set her
foresail with the tack at the cat-head, and lashed her helm a little to
starboard, to answer her head-sail, and so set her agoing, with neither cat
or dog in her; and it was not above two hours before we saw her run right
ashore upon the coast, a little beyond the Cape Comorin; and away we went
round about Ceylon, for the coast of Coromandel.

We sailed along there, not in sight of the shore only, but so near as to
see the ships in the road at Fort St David, Fort St George, and at the
other factories along that shore, as well as along the coast of Golconda,
carrying our English ancient when we came near the Dutch factories, and
Dutch colours when we passed by the English factories. We met with little
purchase upon this coast, except two small vessels of Golconda, bound
across the bay with bales of calicoes and muslins and wrought silks, and
fifteen bales of romals, from the bottom of the bay, which were going, on
whose account we knew not, to Acheen, and to other ports on the coast of
Malacca. We did not inquire to what place in particular; but we let the
vessels go, having none but Indians on board.

In the bottom of the bay we met with a great junk belonging to the Mogul's
court, with a great many people, passengers as we supposed them to be: it
seems they were bound for the river Hooghly or Ganges, and came from
Sumatra. This was a prize worth taking indeed; and we got so much gold in
her, besides other goods which we did not meddle with--pepper in
particular--that it had like to have put an end to our cruise; for almost
all my men said we were rich enough, and desired to go back again to
Madagascar. But I had other things in my head still, and when I came to
talk with them, and set friend William to talk with them, we put such
further golden hopes into their heads that we soon prevailed with them to
let us go on.

My next design was to leave all the dangerous straits of Malacca,
Singapore, and Sunda, where we could expect no great booty, but what we
might light on in European ships, which we must fight for; and though we
were able to fight, and wanted no courage, even to desperation, yet we were
rich too, and resolved to be richer, and took this for our maxim, that
while we were sure the wealth we sought was to be had without fighting, we
had no occasion to put ourselves to the necessity of fighting for that
which would come upon easy terms.

We left, therefore, the Bay of Bengal, and coming to the coast of Sumatra,
we put in at a small port, where there was a town, inhabited only by
Malays; and here we took in fresh water, and a large quantity of good pork,
pickled up and well salted, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, being
in the very middle of the torrid zone, viz., in three degrees fifteen
minutes north latitude. We also took on board both our vessels forty hogs
alive, which served us for fresh provisions, having abundance of food for
them, such as the country produced, such as guams, potatoes, and a sort of
coarse rice, good for nothing else but to feed the swine. We killed one of
these hogs every day, and found them to be excellent meat. We took in also
a monstrous quantity of ducks, and cocks and hens, the same kind as we have
in England, which we kept for change of provisions; and if I remember
right, we had no less than two thousand of them; so that at first we were
pestered with them very much, but we soon lessened them by boiling,
roasting, stewing, &c., for we never wanted while we had them.

My long-projected design now lay open to me, which was to fall in amongst
the Dutch Spice Islands, and see what mischief I could do there.
Accordingly, we put out to sea the 12th of August, and passing the line on
the 17th, we stood away due south, leaving the Straits of Sunda and the
isle of Java on the east, till we came to the latitude of eleven degrees
twenty minutes, when we steered east and E.N.E., having easy gales from the
W.S.W. till we came among the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.

We passed those seas with less difficulty than in other places, the winds
to the south of Java being more variable, and the weather good, though
sometimes we met with squally weather and short storms; but when we came in
among the Spice Islands themselves we had a share of the monsoons, or
trade-winds, and made use of them accordingly.

The infinite number of islands which lie in these seas embarrassed us
strangely, and it was with great difficulty that we worked our way through
them; then we steered for the north side of the Philippines, when we had a
double chance for purchase, viz., either to meet with the Spanish ships
from Acapulco, on the coast of New Spain, or we were certain not to fail of
finding some ships or junks of China, who, if they came from China, would
have a great quantity of goods of value on board, as well as money; or if
we took them going back, we should find them laden with nutmegs and cloves
from Banda and Ternate, or from some of the other islands.

We were right in our guesses here to a tittle, and we steered directly
through a large outlet, which they call a strait, though it be fifteen
miles broad, and to an island they call Dammer, and from thence N.N.E. to
Banda. Between these islands we met with a Dutch junk, or vessel, going to
Amboyna: we took her without much trouble, and I had much ado to prevent
our men murdering all the men, as soon as they heard them say they belonged
to Amboyna: the reasons I suppose any one will guess.

We took out of her about sixteen ton of nutmegs, some provisions, and their
small-arms, for they had no great guns, and let the ship go: from thence we
sailed directly to the Banda Island, or Islands, where we were sure to get
more nutmegs if we thought fit. For my part, I would willingly have got
more nutmegs, though I had paid for them, but our people abhorred paying
for anything; so we got about twelve ton more at several times, most of
them from shore, and only a few in a small boat of the natives, which was
going to Gilolo. We would have traded openly, but the Dutch, who have made
themselves masters of all those islands, forbade the people dealing with
us, or any strangers whatever, and kept them so in awe that they durst not
do it; so we could indeed have made nothing of it if we had stayed longer,
and therefore resolved to be gone for Ternate, and see if we could make up
our loading with cloves.

Accordingly we stood away north, but found ourselves so entangled among
innumerable islands, and without any pilot that understood the channel and
races between them, that we were obliged to give it over, and resolved to
go back again to Banda, and see what we could get among the other islands
thereabouts.

The first adventure we made here had like to have been fatal to us all, for
the sloop, being ahead, made the signal to us for seeing a sail, and
afterwards another, and a third, by which we understood she saw three sail;
whereupon we made more sail to come up with her, but on a sudden were
gotten among some rocks, falling foul upon them in such a manner as
frighted us all very heartily; for having, it seems, but just water enough,
as it were to an inch, our rudder struck upon the top of a rock, which gave
us a terrible shock, and split a great piece off the rudder, and indeed
disabled it so that our ship would not steer at all, at least not so as to
be depended upon; and we were glad to hand all our sails, except our
fore-sail and main-topsail, and with them we stood away to the east, to see
if we could find any creek or harbour where we might lay the ship on shore,
and repair our rudder; besides, we found the ship herself had received some
damage, for she had some little leak near her stern-post, but a great way
under water.

By this mischance we lost the advantages, whatever they were, of the three
sail of ships, which we afterwards came to hear were small Dutch ships from
Batavia, going to Banda and Amboyna, to load spice, and, no doubt, had a
good quantity of money on board.

Upon the disaster I have been speaking of you may very well suppose that we
came to an anchor as soon as we could, which was upon a small island not
far from Banda, where, though the Dutch keep no factory, yet they come at
the season to buy nutmegs and mace. We stayed there thirteen days; but
there being no place where we could lay the ship on shore, we sent the
sloop to cruise among the islands, to look out for a place fit for us. In
the meantime we got very good water here, some provisions, roots, and
fruits, and a good quantity of nutmegs and mace, which we found ways to
trade with the natives for, without the knowledge of their masters, the
Dutch.

At length our sloop returned; having found another island where there was a
very good harbour, we ran in, and came to an anchor. We immediately unbent
all our sails, sent them ashore upon the island, and set up seven or eight
tents with them; then we unrigged our top-masts, and cut them down, hoisted
all our guns out, our provisions and loading, and put them ashore in the
tents. With the guns we made two small batteries, for fear of a surprise,
and kept a look-out upon the hill. When we were all ready, we laid the ship
aground upon a hard sand, the upper end of the harbour, and shored her up
on each side. At low water she lay almost dry, so we mended her bottom, and
stopped the leak, which was occasioned by straining some of the rudder
irons with the shock which the ship had against the rock.

Having done this, we also took occasion to clean her bottom, which, having
been at sea so long, was very foul. The sloop washed and tallowed also, but
was ready before us, and cruised eight or ten days among the islands, but
met with no purchase; so that we began to be tired of the place, having
little to divert us but the most furious claps of thunder that ever were
heard or read of in the world.

We were in hopes to have met with some purchase here among the Chinese,
who, we had been told, came to Ternate to trade for cloves, and to the
Banda Isles for nutmegs; and we would have been very glad to have loaded
our galleon, or great ship, with these two sorts of spice, and have thought
it a glorious voyage; but we found nothing stirring more than what I have
said, except Dutchmen, who, by what means we could not imagine, had either
a jealousy of us or intelligence of us, and kept themselves close in their
ports.

I was once resolved to have made a descent at the island of Dumas, the
place most famous for the best nutmegs; but friend William, who was always
for doing our business without fighting, dissuaded me from it, and gave
such reasons for it that we could not resist; particularly the great heats
of the season, and of the place, for we were now in the latitude of just
half a degree south. But while we were disputing this point we were soon
determined by the following accident:--We had a strong gale of wind at S.W.
by W., and the ship had fresh way, but a great sea rolling in upon us from
the N.E., which we afterwards found was the pouring in of the great ocean
east of New Guinea. However, as I said, we stood away large, and made fresh
way, when, on the sudden, from a dark cloud which hovered over our heads,
came a flash, or rather blast, of lightning, which was so terrible, and
quivered so long among us, that not I only, but all our men, thought the
ship was on fire. The heat of the flash, or fire, was so sensibly felt in
our faces, that some of our men had blisters raised by it on their skins,
not immediately, perhaps, by the heat, but by the poisonous or noxious
particles which mixed themselves with the matter inflamed. But this was not
all; the shock of the air, which the fracture in the clouds made, was such
that our ship shook as when a broadside is fired; and her motion being
checked, as it were at once, by a repulse superior to the force that gave
her way before, the sails all flew back in a moment, and the ship lay, as
we might truly say, thunder-struck. As the blast from the cloud was so very
near us, it was but a few moments after the flash that the terriblest clap
of thunder followed that was ever heard by mortals. I firmly believe a
blast of a hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder could not have been
greater to our hearing; nay, indeed, to some of our men it took away their
hearing.

It is not possible for me to describe, or any one to conceive, the terror
of that minute. Our men were in such a consternation, that not a man on
board the ship had presence of mind to apply to the proper duty of a
sailor, except friend William; and had he not run very nimbly, and with a
composure that I am sure I was not master of, to let go the fore-sheet, set
in the weather-brace of the fore-yard, and haul down the top-sails, we had
certainly brought all our masts by the board, and perhaps have been
overwhelmed in the sea.

As for myself, I must confess my eyes were open to my danger, though not
the least to anything of application for remedy. I was all amazement and
confusion, and this was the first time that I can say I began to feel the
effects of that horror which I know since much more of, upon the just
reflection on my former life. I thought myself doomed by Heaven to sink
that moment into eternal destruction; and with this peculiar mark of
terror, viz., that the vengeance was not executed in the ordinary way of
human justice, but that God had taken me into His immediate disposing, and
had resolved to be the executer of His own vengeance.

Let them alone describe the confusion I was in who know what was the case
of [John] Child, of Shadwell, or Francis Spira. It is impossible to
describe it. My soul was all amazement and surprise. I thought myself just
sinking into eternity, owning the divine justice of my punishment, but not
at all feeling any of the moving, softening tokens of a sincere penitent;
afflicted at the punishment, but not at the crime; alarmed at the
vengeance, but not terrified at the guilt; having the same gust to the
crime, though terrified to the last degree at the thought of the
punishment, which I concluded I was just now going to receive.

But perhaps many that read this will be sensible of the thunder and
lightning, that may think nothing of the rest, or rather may make a jest of
it all; so I say no more of it at this time, but proceed to the story of
the voyage. When the amazement was over, and the men began to come to
themselves, they fell a-calling for one another, every one for his friend,
or for those he had most respect for; and it was a singular satisfaction to
find that nobody was hurt. The next thing was to inquire if the ship had
received no damage, when the boatswain, stepping forward, found that part
of the head was gone, but not so as to endanger the bowsprit; so we hoisted
our top-sails again, hauled aft the fore-sheet, braced the yards, and went
our course as before. Nor can I deny but that we were all somewhat like the
ship; our first astonishment being a little over, and that we found the
ship swim again, we were soon the same irreligious, hardened crew that we
were before, and I among the rest.

As we now steered, our course lay N.N.E., and we passed thus, with a fair
wind, through the strait or channel between the island of Gilolo and the
land of Nova Guinea, when we were soon in the open sea or ocean, on the
south-east of the Philippines, being the great Pacific, or South Sea, where
it may be said to join itself with the vast Indian Ocean.

As we passed into these seas, steering due north, so we soon crossed the
line to the north side, and so sailed on towards Mindanao and Manilla, the
chief of the Philippine Islands, without meeting with any purchase till we
came to the northward of Manilla, and then our trade began; for here we
took three Japanese vessels, though at some distance from Manilla. Two of
them had made their market, and were going home with nutmegs, cinnamon,
cloves, &c., besides all sorts of European goods, brought with the Spanish
ships from Acapulco. They had together eight-and-thirty ton of cloves, and
five or six ton of nutmegs, and as much cinnamon. We took the spice, but
meddled with very little of the European goods, they being, as we thought,
not worth our while; but we were very sorry for it soon after, and
therefore grew wiser upon the next occasion.

The third Japanese was the best prize to us; for he came with money, and a
great deal of gold uncoined, to buy such goods as we mentioned above. We
eased him of his gold, and did him no other harm, and having no intention
to stay long here, we stood away for China.

We were at sea above two months upon this voyage, beating it up against the
wind, which blew steadily from the N.E., and within a point or two one way
or other; and this indeed was the reason why we met with the more prizes in
our voyage.

We were just gotten clear of the Philippines, and we purposed to go to the
isle of Formosa, but the wind blew so fresh at N.N.E. that there was no
making anything of it, and we were forced to put back to Laconia, the most
northerly of those islands. We rode here very secure, and shifted our
situation, not in view of any danger, for there was none, but for a better
supply of provisions, which we found the people very willing to supply us
with.

There lay, while we remained here, three very great galleons, or Spanish
ships, from the south seas; whether newly come in or ready to sail we could
not understand at first; but as we found the China traders began to load
and set forward to the north, we concluded the Spanish ships had newly
unloaded their cargo, and these had been buying; so we doubted not but we
should meet with purchase in the rest of the voyage, neither, indeed, could
we well miss of it.

We stayed here till the beginning of May, when we were told the Chinese
traders would set forward; for the northern monsoons end about the latter
end of March or beginning of April; so that they are sure of fair winds
home. Accordingly we hired some of the country boats, which are very swift
sailers, to go and bring us word how affairs stood at Manilla, and when the
China junks would sail; and by this intelligence we ordered our matters so
well, that three days after we set sail we fell in with no less than eleven
of them; out of which, however, having by misfortune of discovering
ourselves, taken but three, we contented ourselves and pursued our voyage
to Formosa. In these three vessels we took, in short, such a quantity of
cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, and mace, besides silver, that our men began to
be of my opinion,--that we were rich enough; and, in short, we had nothing
to do now but to consider by what methods to secure the immense treasure we
had got.

I was secretly glad to hear that they were of this opinion, for I had long
before resolved, if it were possible, to persuade them to think of
returning, having fully perfected my first projected design of rummaging
among the Spice Islands; and all those prizes, which were exceeding rich at
Manilla, was quite beyond my design.

But now I had heard what the men said, and how they thought we were very
well, I let them know by friend William, that I intended only to sail to
the island of Formosa, where I should find opportunity to turn our spices
and Europe goods into ready money, and that then I would tack about for the
south, the northern monsoons being perhaps by that time also ready to set
in. They all approved of my design, and willingly went forward; because,
besides the winds, which would not permit until October to go to the south,
I say, besides this, we were now a very deep ship, having near two hundred
ton of goods on board, and particularly, some very valuable; the sloop also
had a proportion.

With this resolution we went on cheerfully, when, within about twelve days'
sail more, we made the island Formosa, at a great distance, but were
ourselves shot beyond the southernmost part of the island, being to
leeward, and almost upon the coast of China. Here we were a little at a
loss, for the English factories were not far off, and we might be obliged
to fight some of their ships, if we met with them; which, though we were
able enough to do, yet we did not desire it on many accounts, and
particularly because we did not think it was our business to have it known
who we were, or that such a kind of people as we had been seen on the
coast. However, we were obliged to keep to the northward, keeping as good
an offing as we could with respect to the coast of China.

We had not sailed long but we chased a small Chinese junk, and having taken
her, we found she was bound to the island of Formosa, having no goods on
board but some rice and a small quantity of tea; but she had three Chinese
merchants in her; and they told us that they were going to meet a large
vessel of their country, which came from Tonquin, and lay in a river in
Formosa, whose name I forgot; and they were going to the Philippine
Islands, with silks, muslins, calicoes, and such goods as are the product
of China, and some gold; that their business was to sell their cargo, and
buy spices and European goods.

This suited very well with our purpose; so I resolved now that we would
leave off being pirates and turn merchants; so we told them what goods we
had on board, and that if they would bring their supercargoes or merchants
on board, we would trade with them. They were very willing to trade with
us, but terribly afraid to trust us; nor was it an unjust fear, for we had
plundered them already of what they had. On the other hand, we were as
diffident as they, and very uncertain what to do; but William the Quaker
put this matter into a way of barter. He came to me and told me he really
thought the merchants looked like fair men, that meant honestly. "And
besides," says William, "it is their interest to be honest now, for, as
they know upon what terms we got the goods we are to truck with them, so
they know we can afford good pennyworths; and in the next place, it saves
them going the whole voyage, so that the southerly monsoons yet holding, if
they traded with us, they could immediately return with their cargo to
China;" though, by the way, we afterwards found they intended for Japan;
but that was all one, for by this means they saved at least eight months'
voyage. Upon these foundations, William said he was satisfied we might
trust them; "for," says William, "I would as soon trust a man whose
interest binds him to be just to me as a man whose principle binds
himself." Upon the whole, William proposed that two of the merchants should
be left on board our ship as hostages, and that part of our goods should be
loaded in their vessel, and let the third go with it into the port where
their ship lay; and when he had delivered the spices, he should bring back
such things as it was agreed should be exchanged. This was concluded on,
and William the Quaker ventured to go along with them, which, upon my word,
I should not have cared to have done, nor was I willing that he should, but
he went still upon the notion that it was their interest to treat him
friendly.

In the meantime, we came to an anchor under a little island in the latitude
of 23 degrees 28 minutes, being just under the northern tropic, and about
twenty leagues from the island. Here we lay thirteen days, and began to be
very uneasy for my friend William, for they had promised to be back again
in four days, which they might very easily have done. However, at the end
of thirteen days, we saw three sail coming directly to us, which a little
surprised us all at first, not knowing what might be the case; and we began
to put ourselves in a posture of defence; but as they came nearer us, we
were soon satisfied, for the first vessel was that which William went in,
who carried a flag of truce; and in a few hours they all came to an anchor,
and William came on board us with a little boat, with the Chinese merchant
in his company, and two other merchants, who seemed to be a kind of brokers
for the rest.

Here he gave us an account how civilly he had been used; how they had
treated him with all imaginable frankness and openness; that they had not
only given him the full value of his spices and other goods which he
carried, in gold, by good weight, but had loaded the vessel again with such
goods as he knew we were willing to trade for; and that afterwards they had
resolved to bring the great ship out of the harbour, to lie where we were,
that so we might make what bargain we thought fit; only William said he had
promised, in our name, that we should use no violence with them, nor detain
any of the vessels after we had done trading with them. I told him we would
strive to outdo them in civility, and that we would make good every part of
his agreement; in token whereof, I caused a white flag likewise to be
spread at the poop of our great ship, which was the signal agreed on.

As to the third vessel which came with them, it was a kind of bark of the
country, who, having intelligence of our design to traffic, came off to
deal with us, bringing a great deal of gold and some provisions, which at
that time we were very glad of.

In short, we traded upon the high seas with these men, and indeed we made a
very good market, and yet sold thieves' pennyworths too. We sold here about
sixty ton of spice, chiefly cloves and nutmegs, and above two hundred bales
of European goods, such as linen and woollen manufactures. We considered we
should have occasion for some such things ourselves, and so we kept a good
quantity of English stuffs, cloth, baize, &c., for ourselves. I shall not
take up any of the little room I have left here with the further
particulars of our trade; it is enough to mention, that, except a parcel of
tea, and twelve bales of fine China wrought silks, we took nothing in
exchange for our goods but gold; so that the sum we took here in that
glittering commodity amounted to above fifty thousand ounces good weight.

When we had finished our barter, we restored the hostages, and gave the
three merchants about the quantity of twelve hundredweight of nutmegs, and
as many of cloves, with a handsome present of European linen and stuff for
themselves, as a recompense for what we had taken from them; so we sent
them away exceedingly well satisfied.

Here it was that William gave me an account, that while he was on board the
Japanese vessel, he met with a kind of religious, or Japan priest, who
spoke some words of English to him; and, being very inquisitive to know how
he came to learn any of those words, he told him that there was in his
country thirteen Englishmen; he called them Englishmen very articulately
and distinctly, for he had conversed with them very frequently and freely.
He said that they were all that were left of two-and-thirty men, who came
on shore on the north side of Japan, being driven upon a great rock in a
stormy night, where they lost their ship, and the rest of their men were
drowned; that he had persuaded the king of his country to send boats off to
the rock or island where the ship was lost, to save the rest of the men,
and to bring them on shore, which was done, and they were used very kindly,
and had houses built for them, and land given them to plant for provision;
and that they lived by themselves.

He said he went frequently among them, to persuade them to worship their
god (an idol, I suppose, of their own making), which, he said, they
ungratefully refused; and that therefore the king had once or twice ordered
them all to be put to death; but that, as he said, he had prevailed upon
the king to spare them, and let them live their own way, as long as they
were quiet and peaceable, and did not go about to withdraw others from the
worship of the country.

I asked William why he did not inquire from whence they came. "I did," said
William; "for how could I but think it strange," said he, "to hear him talk
of Englishmen on the north side of Japan?" "Well," said I, "what account
did he give of it?" "An account," said William, "that will surprise thee,
and all the world after thee, that shall hear of it, and which makes me
wish thou wouldst go up to Japan and find them out." "What do you mean?"
said I. "Whence could they come?" "Why," says William, "he pulled out a
little book, and in it a piece of paper, where it was written, in an
Englishman's hand, and in plain English words, thus; and," says William, "I
read it myself:--'We came from Greenland, and from the North Pole.'" This,
indeed, was amazing to us all, and more so to those seamen among us who
knew anything of the infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as
well by the English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those
parts of the world; and as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the
north to rescue those poor men, so the ship's company began to incline to
it; and, in a word, we all came to this, that we would stand in to the
shore of Formosa, to find this priest again, and have a further account of
it all from him. Accordingly, the sloop went over; but when they came
there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put an end to our
inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed mankind of one of the
most noble discoveries that ever was made, or will again be made, in the
world, for the good of mankind in general; but so much for that.

William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, that he pressed us
earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if it
was nothing but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a kind of
captivity, which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and where,
perhaps, they might, some time or other, be murdered by the barbarous
people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very well worth our while,
and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the mischiefs we had
done in the world; but we, that had no concern upon us for the mischiefs we
had done, had much less about any satisfactions to be made for it, so he
found that kind of discourse would weigh very little with us. Then he
pressed us very earnestly to let him have the sloop to go by himself, and I
told him I would not oppose it; but when he came to the sloop none of the
men would go with him; for the case was plain, they had all a share in the
cargo of the great ship, as well as in thae of the sloop, and the richness
of the cargo was such that they would not leave it by any means; so poor
William, much to his mortification, was obliged to give it over. What
became of those thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can
give no account of.

We are now at the end of our cruise; what we had taken was indeed so
considerable, that it was not only enough to satisfy the most covetous and
the most ambitious minds in the world, but it did indeed satisfy us, and
our men declared they did not desire any more. The next motion, therefore,
was about going back, and the way by which we should perform the voyage, so
as not to be attacked by the Dutch in the Straits of Sunda.

We had pretty well stored ourselves here with provisions, and it being now
near the return of the monsoons, we resolved to stand away to the
southward; and not only to keep without the Philippine Islands, that is to
say, to the eastward of them, but to keep on to the southward, and see if
we could not leave not only the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, behind us, but
even Nova Guinea and Nova Hollandia also; and so getting into the variable
winds, to the south of the tropic of Capricorn, steer away to the west,
over the great Indian Ocean.

This was indeed at first a monstrous voyage in its appearance, and the want
of provisions threatened us. William told us in so many words, that it was
impossible we could carry provisions enough to subsist us for such a
voyage, and especially fresh water; and that, as there would be no land for
us to touch at where we could get any supply, it was a madness to undertake
it.

But I undertook to remedy this evil, and therefore desired them not to be
uneasy at that, for I knew that we might supply ourselves at Mindanao, the
most southerly island of the Philippines.

Accordingly, we set sail, having taken all the provisions here that we
could get, the 28th of September, the wind veering a little at first from
the N.N.W. to the N.E. by E., but afterwards settled about the N.E. and the
E.N.E. We were nine weeks in this voyage, having met with several
interruptions by the weather, and put in under the lee of a small island in
the latitude of 16 degrees 12 minutes, of which we never knew the name,
none of our charts having given any account of it: I say, we put in here by
reason of a strange tornado or hurricane, which brought us into a great
deal of danger. Here we rode about sixteen days, the winds being very
tempestuous and the weather uncertain. However, we got some provisions on
shore, such as plants and roots, and a few hogs. We believed there were
inhabitants on the island, but we saw none of them.

From hence, the weather settling again, we went on and came to the
southernmost part of Mindanao, where we took in fresh water and some cows,
but the climate was so hot that we did not attempt to salt up any more than
so as to keep a fortnight or three weeks; and away we stood southward,
crossing the line, and, leaving Gillolo on the starboard side, we coasted
the country they call New Guinea, where, in the latitude of eight degrees
south, we put in again for provisions and water, and where we found
inhabitants; but they fled from us, and were altogether inconversable. From
thence, sailing still southward, we left all behind us that any of our
charts and maps took any notice of, and went on till we came to the
latitude of seventeen degrees, the wind continuing still north-east.

Here we made land to the westward, which, when we had kept in sight for
three days, coasting along the shore for the distance of about four
leagues, we began to fear we should find no outlet west, and so should be
obliged to go back again, and put in among the Moluccas at last; but at
length we found the land break off, and go trending away to the west sea,
seeming to be all open to the south and south-west, and a great sea came
rolling out of the south, which gave us to understand that there was no
land for a great way.

In a word, we kept on our course to the south, a little westerly, till we
passed the south tropic, where we found the winds variable; and now we
stood away fair west, and held it out for about twenty days, when we
discovered land right ahead, and on our larboard bow; we made directly to
the shore, being willing to take all advantages now for supplying ourselves
with fresh provisions and water, knowing we were now entering on that vast
unknown Indian Ocean, perhaps the greatest sea on the globe, having, with
very little interruption of islands, a continued sea quite round the globe.

We found a good road here, and some people on shore; but when we landed,
they fled up the country, nor would they hold any correspondence with us,
nor come near us, but shot at us several times with arrows as long as
lances. We set up white flags for a truce, but they either did not or would
not understand it; on the contrary, they shot our flag of truce through
several times with their arrows, so that, in a word, we never came near any
of them.

We found good water here, though it was something difficult to get at it,
but for living creatures we could see none; for the people, if they had any
cattle, drove them all away, and showed us nothing but themselves, and that
sometimes in a threatening posture, and in number so great, that made us
suppose the island to be greater than we first imagined. It is true, they
would not come near enough for us to engage with them, at least not openly;
but they came near enough for us to see them, and, by the help of our
glasses, to see that they were clothed and armed, but their clothes were
only about their lower and middle parts; that they had long lances, half
pikes, in their hands, besides bows and arrows; that they had great high
things on their heads, made, as we believed, of feathers, and which looked
something like our grenadiers' caps in England.

When we saw them so shy that they would not come near us, our men began to
range over the island, if it was such (for we never surrounded it), to
search for cattle, and for any of the Indian plantations, for fruits or
plants; but they soon found, to their cost, that they were to use more
caution than that came to, and that they were to discover perfectly every
bush and every tree before they ventured abroad in the country; for about
fourteen of our men going farther than the rest, into a part of the country
which seemed to be planted, as they thought, for it did but seem so, only I
think it was overgrown with canes, such as we make our cane chairs with--I
say, venturing too far, they were suddenly attacked with a shower of arrows
from almost every side of them, as they thought, out of the tops of the
trees.

They had nothing to do but to fly for it, which, however, they could not
resolve on, till five of them were wounded; nor had they escaped so, if one
of them had not been so much wiser or thoughtfuller than the rest, as to
consider, that though they could not see the enemy, so as to shoot at them,
yet perhaps the noise of their shot might terrify them, and that they
should rather fire at a venture. Accordingly, ten of them faced about, and
fired at random anywhere among the canes.

The noise and the fire not only terrified the enemy, but, as they believed,
their shot had luckily hit some of them; for they found not only that the
arrows, which came thick among them before, ceased, but they heard the
Indians halloo, after their way, to one another, and make a strange noise,
more uncouth and inimitably strange than any they had ever heard, more like
the howling and barking of wild creatures in the woods than like the voice
of men, only that sometimes they seemed to speak words.

They observed also, that this noise of the Indians went farther and farther
off, so that they were satisfied the Indians fled away, except on one side,
where they heard a doleful groaning and howling, and where it continued a
good while, which they supposed was from some or other of them being
wounded, and howling by reason of their wounds; or killed, and others
howling over them: but our men had enough of making discoveries; so they
did not trouble themselves to look farther, but resolved to take this
opportunity to retreat. But the worst of their adventure was to come; for
as they came back, they passed by a prodigious great trunk of an old tree;
what tree it was, they said, they did not know, but it stood like an old
decayed oak in a park, where the keepers in England take a stand, as they
call it, to shoot a deer; and it stood just under the steep side of a great
rock, or hill, that our people could not see what was beyond it.

As they came by this tree, they were of a sudden shot at, from the top of
the tree, with seven arrows and three lances, which, to our great grief,
killed two of our men, and wounded three more. This was the more
surprising, because, being without any defence, and so near the trees, they
expected more lances and arrows every moment; nor would flying do them any
service, the Indians being, as appeared, very good marksmen. In this
extremity, they had happily this presence of mind, viz., to run close to
the tree, and stand, as it were, under it; so that those above could not
come at, or see them, to throw their lances at them. This succeeded, and
gave them time to consider what to do; they knew their enemies and
murderers were above; they heard them talk, and those above knew those were
below; but they below were obliged to keep close for fear of their lances
from above. At length, one of our men, looking a little more strictly than
the rest, thought he saw the head of one of the Indians just over a dead
limb of the tree, which, it seems, the creature sat upon. One man
immediately fired, and levelled his piece so true that the shot went
through the fellow's head; and down he fell out of the tree immediately,
and came upon the ground with such force, with the height of his fall, that
if he had not been killed with the shot, he would certainly have been
killed with dashing his body against the ground.

This so frightened them, that, besides the howling noise they made in the
tree, our men heard a strange clutter of them in the body of the tree, from
whence they concluded they had made the tree hollow, and were got to hide
themselves there. Now, had this been the case, they were secure enough from
our men, for it was impossible any of our men could get up the tree on the
outside, there being no branches to climb by; and, to shoot at the tree,
that they tried several times to no purpose, for the tree was so thick that
no shot would enter it. They made no doubt, however, but that they had
their enemies in a trap, and that a small siege would either bring them
down, tree and all, or starve them out; so they resolved to keep their
post, and send to us for help. Accordingly, two of them came away to us for
more hands, and particularly desired that some of our carpenters might come
with tools, to help to cut down the tree, or at least to cut down other
wood and set fire to it; and that, they concluded, would not fail to bring
them out.

Accordingly, our men went like a little army, and with mighty preparations
for an enterprise, the like of which has scarce been ever heard, to form
the siege of a great tree. However, when they came there, they found the
task difficult enough, for the old trunk was indeed a very great one, and
very tall, being at least two-and-twenty feet high, with seven old limbs
standing out every way from the top, but decayed, and very few leaves, if
any, left on it.

William the Quaker, whose curiosity led him to go among the rest, proposed
that they should make a ladder, and get upon the top, and then throw
wild-fire into the tree, and smoke them out. Others proposed going back,
and getting a great gun out of the ship, which would split the tree in
pieces with the iron bullets; others, that they should cut down a great
deal of wood, and pile it up round the tree, and set it on fire, and burn
the tree, and the Indians in it.

These consultations took up our people no less than two or three days, in
all which time they heard nothing of the supposed garrison within this
wooden castle, nor any noise within. William's project was first gone
about, and a large strong ladder was made, to scale this wooden tower; and
in two or three hours' time it would have been ready to mount, when, on a
sudden, they heard the noise of the Indians in the body of the tree again,
and a little after, several of them appeared at the top of the tree, and
threw some lances down at our men; one of which struck one of our seamen
a-top of the shoulder, and gave him such a desperate wound, that the
surgeons not only had a great deal of difficulty to cure him, but the poor
man endured such horrible torture, that we all said they had better have
killed him outright. However, he was cured at last, though he never
recovered the perfect use of his arm, the lance having cut some of the
tendons on the top of the arm, near the shoulder, which, as I supposed,
performed the office of motion to the limb before; so that the poor man was
a cripple all the days of his life. But to return to the desperate rogues
in the tree; our men shot at them, but did not find they had hit them, or
any of them; but as soon as ever they shot at them, they could hear them
huddle down into the trunk of the tree again, and there, to be sure, they
were safe.

Well, however, it was this which put by the project of William's ladder;
for when it was done, who would venture up among such a troop of bold
creatures as were there, and who, they supposed, were desperate by their
circumstances? And as but one man at a time could go up, they began to
think it would not do; and, indeed, I was of the opinion (for about this
time I was come to their assistance) that going up the ladder would not do,
unless it was thus, that a man should, as it were, run just up to the top,
and throw some fireworks into the tree, and come down again; and this we
did two or three times, but found no effect of it. At last, one of our
gunners made a stink-pot, as we called it, being a composition which only
smokes, but does not flame or burn; but withal the smoke of it is so thick,
and the smell of it so intolerably nauseous, that it is not to be suffered.
This he threw into the tree himself, and we waited for the effect of it,
but heard or saw nothing all that night or the next day; so we concluded
the men within were all smothered; when, on a sudden, the next night we
heard them upon the top of the tree again shouting and hallooing like
madmen.

We concluded, as anybody would, that this was to call for help, and we
resolved to continue our siege; for we were all enraged to see ourselves so
baulked by a few wild people, whom we thought we had safe in our clutches;
and, indeed, never were there so many concurring circumstances to delude
men in any case we had met with. We resolved, however, to try another
stink-pot the next night, and our engineer and gunner had got it ready,
when, hearing a noise of the enemy on the top of the tree, and in the body
of the tree, I was not willing to let the gunner go up the ladder, which, I
said, would be but to be certain of being murdered. However, he found a
medium for it, and that was to go up a few steps, and, with a long pole in
his hand, to throw it in upon the top of the tree, the ladder being
standing all this while against the top of the tree; but when the gunner,
with his machine at the top of his pole, came to the tree, with three other
men to help him, behold the ladder was gone.

This perfectly confounded us; and we now concluded the Indians in the tree
had, by this piece of negligence, taken the opportunity, and come all down
the ladder, made their escape, and had carried away the ladder with them. I
laughed most heartily at my friend William, who, as I said, had the
direction of the siege, and had set up a ladder for the garrison, as we
called them, to get down upon, and run away. But when daylight came, we
were all set to rights again; for there stood our ladder, hauled up on the
top of the tree, with about half of it in the hollow of the tree, and the
other half upright in the air. Then we began to laugh at the Indians for
fools, that they could not as well have found their way down by the ladder,
and have made their escape, as to have pulled it up by main strength into
the tree.

We then resolved upon fire, and so to put an end to the work at once, and
burn the tree and its inhabitants together; and accordingly we went to work
to cut wood, and in a few hours' time we got enough, as we thought,
together; and, piling it up round the bottom of the tree, we set it on
fire, waiting at a distance to see when, the gentlemen's quarters being too
hot for them, they would come flying out at the top. But we were quite
confounded when, on a sudden, we found the fire all put out by a great
quantity of water thrown upon it. We then thought the devil must be in
them, to be sure. Says William, "This is certainly the cunningest piece of
Indian engineering that ever was heard of; and there can be but one thing
more to guess at, besides witchcraft and dealing with the devil, which I
believe not one word of," says he; "and that must be, that this is an
artificial tree, or a natural tree artificially made hollow down into the
earth, through root and all; and that these creatures have an artificial
cavity underneath it, quite into the hill, or a way to go through, and
under the hill, to some other place; and where that other place is, we know
not; but if it be not our own fault, I'll find the place, and follow them
into it, before I am two days older." He then called the carpenters, to
know of them if they had any large saws that would cut through the body;
and they told him they had no saws that were long enough, nor could men
work into such a monstrous old stump in a great while; but that they would
go to work with it with their axes, and undertake to cut it down in two
days, and stock up the root of it in two more. But William was for another
way, which proved much better than all this; for he was for silent work,
that, if possible, he might catch some of the fellows in it. So he sets
twelve men to it with large augers, to bore great holes into the side of
the tree, to go almost through, but not quite through; which holes were
bored without noise, and when they were done he filled them all with
gunpowder, stopping strong plugs, bolted crossways, into the holes, and
then boring a slanting hole, of a less size, down into the greater hole,
all of which were filled with powder, and at once blown up. When they took
fire, they made such a noise, and tore and split up the tree in so many
places, and in such a manner, that we could see plainly such another blast
would demolish it; and so it did. Thus at the second time we could, at two
or three places, put our hands in them, and discovered a cheat, namely,
that there was a cave or hole dug into the earth, from or through the
bottom of the hollow, and that it had communication with another cave
farther in, where we heard the voices of several of the wild folks, calling
and talking to one another.

When we came thus far we had a great mind to get at them; and William
desired that three men might be given him with hand-grenadoes; and he
promised to go down first, and boldly he did so; for William, to give him
his due, had the heart of a lion.

They had pistols in their hands, and swords by their sides; but, as they
had taught the Indians before by their stink-pots, the Indians returned
them in their own kind; for they made such a smoke come up out of the
entrance into the cave or hollow, that William and his three men were glad
to come running out of the cave, and out of the tree too, for mere want of
breath; and indeed they were almost stifled.

Never was a fortification so well defended, or assailants so many ways
defeated. We were now for giving it over, and particularly I called
William, and told him I could not but laugh to see us spinning out our time
here for nothing; that I could not imagine what we were doing; that it was
certain that the rogues that were in it were cunning to the last degree,
and it would vex anybody to be so baulked by a few naked ignorant fellows;
but still it was not worth our while to push it any further, nor was there
anything that I knew of to be got by the conquest when it was made, so that
I thought it high time to give it over.

William acknowledged what I said was just, and that there was nothing but
our curiosity to be gratified in this attempt; and though, as he said, he
was very desirous to have searched into the thing, yet he would not insist
upon it; so we resolved to quit it and come away, which we did. However,
William said before we went he would have this satisfaction of them, viz.,
to burn down the tree and stop up the entrance into the cave. And while
doing this the gunner told him he would have one satisfaction of the
rogues; and this was, that he would make a mine of it, and see which way it
had vent. Upon this he fetched two barrels of powder out of the ships, and
placed them in the inside of the hollow of the cave, as far in as he durst
go to carry them, and then filling up the mouth of the cave where the tree
stood, and ramming it sufficiently hard, leaving only a pipe or touch-hole,
he gave fire to it, and stood at a distance to see which way it would
operate, when on a sudden he found the force of the powder burst its way
out among some bushes on the other side the little hill I mentioned, and
that it came roaring out there as out of the mouth of a cannon. Immediately
running thither, we saw the effects of the powder.

First, we saw that there was the other mouth of the cave, which the powder
had so torn and opened, that the loose earth was so fallen in again that
nothing of shape could be discerned; but there we saw what was become of
the garrison of the Indians, too, who had given us all this trouble, for
some of them had no arms, some no legs, some no head; some lay half buried
in the rubbish of the mine--that is to say, in the loose earth that fell
in; and, in short, there was a miserable havoc made in them all; for we had
good reason to believe not one of them that were in the inside could
escape, but rather were shot out of the mouth of the cave, like a bullet
out of a gun.

We had now our full satisfaction of the Indians; but, in short, this was a
losing voyage, for we had two men killed, one quite crippled, and five more
wounded; we spent two barrels of powder, and eleven days' time, and all to
get the understanding how to make an Indian mine, or how to keep garrison
in a hollow tree; and with this wit, bought at this dear price, we came
away, having taken in some fresh water, but got no fresh provisions.

We then considered what we should do to get back again to Madagascar. We
were much about the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, but had such a very
long run, and were neither sure of meeting with fair winds nor with any
land in the way, that we knew not what to think of it. William was our last
resort in this case again, and he was very plain with us. "Friend," says he
to Captain Wilmot, "what occasion hast thou to run the venture of starving,
merely for the pleasure of saying thou hast been where nobody has been
before? There are a great many places nearer home, of which thou mayest say
the same thing at less expense. I see no occasion thou hast of keeping thus
far south any longer than till you are sure you are to the west end of Java
and Sumatra; and then thou mayest stand away north towards Ceylon, and the
coast of Coromandel and Madras, where thou mayest get both fresh water and
fresh provisions; and to that part it is likely we may hold out well enough
with the stores we have already."

This was wholesome advice, and such as was not to be slighted; so we stood
away to the west, keeping between the latitude of 31 and 35, and had very
good weather and fair winds for about ten days' sail; by which time, by our
reckoning, we were clear of the isles, and might run away to the north; and
if we did not fall in with Ceylon, we should at least go into the great
deep Bay of Bengal.

But we were out in our reckoning a great deal; for, when we had stood due
north for about fifteen or sixteen degrees, we met with land again on our
starboard bow, about three leagues' distance; so we came to an anchor about
half a league from it, and manned out our boats to see what sort of a
country it was. We found it a very good one; fresh water easy to come at,
but no cattle that we could see, or inhabitants; and we were very shy of
searching too far after them, lest we should make such another journey as
we did last; so that we let rambling alone, and chose rather to take what
we could find, which was only a few wild mangoes, and some plants of
several kinds, which we knew not the names of.

We made no stay here, but put to sea again, N.W. by N., but had little wind
for a fortnight more, when we made land again; and standing in with the
shore, we were surprised to find ourselves on the south shore of Java; and
just as we were coming to an anchor we saw a boat, carrying Dutch colours,
sailing along-shore. We were not solicitous to speak with them, or any
other of their nation, but left it indifferent to our people, when they
went on shore, to see the Dutchmen or not to see them; our business was to
get provisions, which, indeed, by this time were very short with us.

We resolved to go on shore with our boats in the most convenient place we
could find, and to look out a proper harbour to bring the ship into,
leaving it to our fate whether we should meet with friends or enemies;
resolving, however, not to stay any considerable time, at least not long
enough to have expresses sent across the island to Batavia, and for ships
to come round from thence to attack us.

We found, according to our desire, a very good harbour, where we rode in
seven fathom water, well defended from the weather, whatever might happen;
and here we got fresh provisions, such as good hogs and some cows; and that
we might lay in a little store, we killed sixteen cows, and pickled and
barrelled up the flesh as well as we could be supposed to do in the
latitude of eight degrees from the line.

We did all this in about five days, and filled our casks with water; and
the last boat was coming off with herbs and roots, we being unmoored, and
our fore-topsail loose for sailing, when we spied a large ship to the
northward, bearing down directly upon us. We knew not what she might be,
but concluded the worst, and made all possible haste to get our anchor up,
and get under sail, that we might be in a readiness to see what she had to
say to us, for we were under no great concern for one ship, but our notion
was, that we should be attacked by three or four together.

By the time we had got up our anchor and the boat was stowed, the ship was
within a league of us, and, as we thought, bore down to engage us; so we
spread our black flag, or ancient, on the poop, and the bloody flag at the
top-mast-head, and having made a clear ship, we stretched away to the
westward, to get the wind of him.

They had, it seems, quite mistaken us before, expecting nothing of an enemy
or a pirate in those seas; and, not doubting but we had been one of their
own ships, they seemed to be in some confusion when they found their
mistake, so they immediately hauled upon a wind on the other tack, and
stood edging in for the shore, towards the easternmost part of the island.
Upon this we tacked, and stood after him with all the sail we could, and in
two hours came almost within gunshot. Though they crowded all the sail they
could lay on, there was no remedy but to engage us, and they soon saw their
inequality of force. We fired a gun for them to bring to; so they manned
out their boat, and sent to us with a flag of truce. We sent back the boat,
but with this answer to the captain, that he had nothing to do but to
strike and bring his ship to an anchor under our stern, and come on board
us himself, when he should know our demands; but that, however, since he
had not yet put us to the trouble of forcing him, which we saw we were able
to do, we assured them that the captain should return again in safety, and
all his men, and that, supplying us with such things as we should demand,
his ship should not be plundered. They went back with this message, and it
was some time after they were on board before they struck, which made us
begin to think they refused it; so we fired a shot, and in a few minutes
more we perceived their boat put off; and as soon as the boat put off the
ship struck and came to an anchor, as was directed.

When the captain came on board, we demanded an account of their cargo,
which was chiefly bales of goods from Bengal for Bantam. We told them our
present want was provisions, which they had no need of, being just at the
end of their voyage; and that, if they would send their boat on shore with
ours, and procure us six-and-twenty head of black cattle, threescore hogs,
a quantity of brandy and arrack, and three hundred bushels of rice, we
would let them go free.

As to the rice, they gave us six hundred bushels, which they had actually
on board, together with a parcel shipped upon freight. Also, they gave us
thirty middling casks of very good arrack, but beef and pork they had none.
However, they went on shore with our men, and bought eleven bullocks and
fifty hogs, which were pickled up for our occasion; and upon the supplies
of provision from shore, we dismissed them and their ship.

We lay here several days before we could furnish ourselves with the
provisions agreed for, and some of the men fancied the Dutchmen were
contriving our destruction; but they were very honest, and did what they
could to furnish the black cattle, but found it impossible to supply so
many. So they came and told us ingenuously, that, unless we could stay a
while longer, they could get no more oxen or cows than those eleven, with
which we were obliged to be satisfied, taking the value of them in other
things, rather than stay longer there. On our side, we were punctual with
them in observing the conditions we had agreed on; nor would we let any of
our men so much as go on board them, or suffer any of their men to come on
board us; for, had any of our men gone on board, nobody could have answered
for their behaviour, any more than if they had been on shore in an enemy's
country.

We were now victualled for our voyage; and, as we mattered not purchase, we
went merrily on for the coast of Ceylon, where we intended to touch, to get
fresh water again, and more provisions; and we had nothing material offered
in this part of the voyage, only that we met with contrary winds, and were
above a month in the passage.

We put in upon the south coast of the island, desiring to have as little to
do with the Dutch as we could; and as the Dutch were lords of the country
as to commerce, so they are more so of the sea-coast, where they have
several forts, and, in particular, have all the cinnamon, which is the
trade of that island.

We took in fresh water here, and some provisions, but did not much trouble
ourselves about laying in any stores, our beef and hogs, which we got at
Java, being not yet all gone by a good deal. We had a little skirmish on
shore here with some of the people of the island, some of our men having
been a little too familiar with the homely ladies of the country; for
homely, indeed, they were, to such a degree, that if our men had not had
good stomachs that way, they would scarce have touched any of them.

I could never fully get it out of our men what they did, they were so true
to one another in their wickedness, but I understood in the main, that it
was some barbarous thing they had done, and that they had like to have paid
dear for it, for the men resented it to the last degree, and gathered in
such numbers about them, that, had not sixteen more of our men, in another
boat, come all in the nick of time, just to rescue our first men, who were
but eleven, and so fetch them off by main force, they had been all cut off,
the inhabitants being no less than two or three hundred, armed with darts
and lances, the usual weapons of the country, and which they are very
dexterous at the throwing, even so dexterous that it was scarce credible;
and had our men stood to fight them, as some of them were bold enough to
talk of, they had been all overwhelmed and killed. As it was, seventeen of
our men were wounded, and some of them very dangerously. But they were more
frighted than hurt too, for every one of them gave themselves over for dead
men, believing the lances were poisoned. But William was our comfort here
too; for, when two of our surgeons were of the same opinion, and told the
men foolishly enough that they would die, William cheerfully went to work
with them, and cured them all but one, who rather died by drinking some
arrack punch than of his wound; the excess of drinking throwing him into a
fever.

We had enough of Ceylon, though some of our people were for going ashore
again, sixty or seventy men together, to be revenged; but William persuaded
them against it; and his reputation was so great among the men, as well as
with us that were commanders, that he could influence them more than any of
us.

They were mighty warm upon their revenge, and they would go on shore, and
destroy five hundred of them. "Well," says William, "and suppose you do,
what are you the better?" "Why, then," says one of them, speaking for the
rest, "we shall have our satisfaction." "Well, and what will you be the
better for that?" says William. They could then say nothing to that.
"Then," says William, "if I mistake not, your business is money; now, I
desire to know, if you conquer and kill two or three thousand of these poor
creatures, they have no money, pray what will you get? They are poor naked
wretches; what shall you gain by them? But then," says William, "perhaps,
in doing this, you may chance to lose half-a-score of your own company, as
it is very probable you may. Pray, what gain is in it? and what account can
you give the captain for his lost men?" In short, William argued so
effectually, that he convinced them that it was mere murder to do so; and
that the men had a right to their own, and that they had no right to take
them away; that it was destroying innocent men, who had acted no otherwise
than as the laws of nature dictated; and that it would be as much murder to
do so, as to meet a man on the highway, and kill him, for the mere sake of
it, in cold blood, not regarding whether he had done any wrong to us or no.

These reasons prevailed with them at last, and they were content to go
away, and leave them as they found them. In the first skirmish they killed
between sixty and seventy men, and wounded a great many more; but they had
nothing, and our people got nothing by it, but the loss of one man's life,
and the wounding sixteen more, as above.

But another accident brought us to a necessity of further business with
these people, and indeed we had like to have put an end to our lives and
adventures all at once among them; for, about three days after our putting
out to sea from the place where we had that skirmish, we were attacked by a
violent storm of wind from the south, or rather a hurricane of wind from
all the points southward, for it blew in a most desperate and furious
manner from the S.E. to the S.W., one minute at one point, and then
instantly turning about again to another point, but with the same violence;
nor were we able to work the ship in that condition, so that the ship I was
in split three top-sails, and at last brought the main-top-mast by the
board; and, in a word, we were once or twice driven right ashore; and one
time, had not the wind shifted the very moment it did, we had been dashed
in a thousand pieces upon a great ledge of rocks which lay off about
half-a-league from the shore; but, as I have said, the wind shifting very
often, and at that time coming to the E.S.E., we stretched off, and got
above a league more sea-room in half-an-hour. After that, it blew with some
fury S.W. by S., then S.W. by W., and put us back again a great way to the
eastward of the ledge of rocks, where we found a great opening between the
rocks and the land, and endeavoured to come to an anchor there, but we
found there was no ground fit to anchor in, and that we should lose our
anchors, there being nothing but rocks. We stood through the opening, which
held about four leagues. The storm continued, and now we found a dreadful
foul shore, and knew not what course to take. We looked out very narrowly
for some river or creek or bay, where we might run in, and come to an
anchor, but found none a great while. At length we saw a great headland lie
out far south into the sea, and that to such a length, that, in short, we
saw plainly that, if the wind held where it was, we could not weather it,
so we ran in as much under the lee of the point as we could, and came to an
anchor in about twelve fathom water.

But the wind veering again in the night, and blowing exceedingly hard, our
anchors came home, and the ship drove till the rudder struck against the
ground; and had the ship gone half her length farther she had been lost,
and every one of us with her. But our sheet-anchor held its own, and we
heaved in some of the cable, to get clear of the ground we had struck upon.
It was by this only cable that we rode it out all night; and towards
morning we thought the wind abated a little; and it was well for us that it
was so, for, in spite of what our sheet-anchor did for us, we found the
ship fast aground in the morning, to our very great surprise and amazement.

When the tide was out, though the water here ebbed away, the ship lay
almost dry upon a bank of hard sand, which never, I suppose, had any ship
upon it before. The people of the country came down in great numbers to
look at us and gaze, not knowing what we were, but gaping at us as at a
great sight or wonder at which they were surprised, and knew not what to
do.

I have reason to believe that upon the sight they immediately sent an
account of a ship being there, and of the condition we were in, for the
next day there appeared a great man; whether it was their king or no I know
not, but he had abundance of men with him, and some with long javelins in
their hands as long as half-pikes; and these came all down to the water's
edge, and drew up in a very good order, just in our view. They stood near
an hour without making any motion; and then there came near twenty of them,
with a man before them carrying a white flag. They came forward into the
water as high as their waists, the sea not going so high as before, for the
wind was abated, and blew off the shore.

The man made a long oration to us, as we could see by his gestures; and we
sometimes heard his voice, but knew not one word he said. William, who was
always useful to us, I believe was here again the saving of all our lives.
The case was this: The fellow, or what I might call him, when his speech
was done, gave three great screams (for I know not what else to say they
were), then lowered his white flag three times, and then made three motions
to us with his arm to come to him.

I acknowledge that I was for manning out the boat and going to them, but
William would by no means allow me. He told me we ought to trust nobody;
that, if they were barbarians, and under their own government, we might be
sure to be all murdered; and, if they were Christians, we should not fare
much better, if they knew who we were; that it was the custom of the
Malabars to betray all people that they could get into their hands, and
that these were some of the same people; and that, if we had any regard to
our own safety, we should not go to them by any means. I opposed him a
great while, and told him I thought he used to be always right, but that
now I thought he was not; that I was no more for running needless risks
than he or any one else; but I thought all nations in the world, even the
most savage people, when they held out a flag of peace, kept the offer of
peace made by that signal very sacredly; and I gave him several examples of
it in the history of my African travels, which I have here gone through in
the beginning of this work, and that I could not think these people worse
than some of them. And, besides, I told him our case seemed to be such that
we must fall into somebody's hands or other, and that we had better fall
into their hands by a friendly treaty than by a forced submission, nay,
though they had indeed a treacherous design; and therefore I was for a
parley with them.

"Well, friend," says William very gravely, "if thou wilt go I cannot help
it; I shall only desire to take my last leave of thee at parting, for,
depend upon it, thou wilt never see us again. Whether we in the ship may
come off any better at last I cannot resolve thee; but this I will answer
for, that we will not give up our lives idly, and in cool blood, as thou
art going to do; we will at least preserve ourselves as long as we can, and
die at last like men, not like fools, trepanned by the wiles of a few
barbarians."

William spoke this with so much warmth, and yet with so much assurance of
our fate, that I began to think a little of the risk I was going to run. I
had no more mind to be murdered than he; and yet I could not for my life be
so faint-hearted in the thing as he. Upon which I asked him if he had any
knowledge of the place, or had ever been there. He said, No. Then I asked
him if he had heard or read anything about the people of this island, and
of their way of treating any Christians that had fallen into their hands;
and he told me he had heard of one, and he would tell me the story
afterward. His name, he said, was Knox, commander of an East India ship,
who was driven on shore, just as we were, upon this island of Ceylon,
though he could not say it was at the same place, or whereabouts; that he
was beguiled by the barbarians, and enticed to come on shore, just as we
were invited to do at that time; and that, when they had him, they
surrounded him, and eighteen or twenty of his men, and never suffered them
to return, but kept them prisoners, or murdered them, he could not tell
which; but they were carried away up into the country, separated from one
another, and never heard of afterwards, except the captain's son, who
miraculously made his escape, after twenty years' slavery.

I had no time then to ask him to give the full story of this Knox, much
less to hear him tell it me; but, as it is usual in such cases, when one
begins to be a little touched, I turned short with him. "Why then, friend
William," said I, "what would you have us do? You see what condition we are
in, and what is before us; something must be done, and that immediately."
"Why," says William, "I'll tell thee what thou shalt do; first, cause a
white flag to be hanged out, as they do to us, and man out the longboat and
pinnace with as many men as they can well stow, to handle their arms, and
let me go with them, and thou shalt see what we will do. If I miscarry,
thou mayest be safe; and I will also tell thee, that if I do miscarry, it
shall be my own fault, and thou shalt learn wit by my folly."

I knew not what to reply to him at first; but, after some pause, I said,
"William, William, I am as both you should be lost as you are that I
should; and if there be any danger, I desire you may no more fall into it
than I. Therefore, if you will, let us all keep in the ship, fare alike,
and take our fate together."

"No, no," says William, "there's no danger in the method I propose; thou
shalt go with me, if thou thinkest fit. If thou pleasest but to follow the
measures that I shall resolve on, depend upon it, though we will go off
from the ships, we will not a man of us go any nearer them than within call
to talk with them. Thou seest they have no boats to come off to us; but,"
says he, "I rather desire thou wouldst take my advice, and manage the ships
as I shall give the signal from the boat, and let us concert that matter
together before we go off."

Well, I found William had his measures in his head all laid beforehand, and
was not at a loss what to do at all; so I told him he should be captain for
this voyage, and we would be all of us under his orders, which I would see
observed to a tittle.

Upon this conclusion of our debates, he ordered four-and-twenty men into
the long-boat, and twelve men into the pinnace, and the sea being now
pretty smooth, they went off, being all very well armed. Also he ordered
that all the guns of the great ship, on the side which lay next the shore,
should be loaded with musket-balls, old nails, stubs, and such-like pieces
of old iron, lead, and anything that came to hand; and that we should
prepare to fire as soon as ever we saw them lower the white flag and hoist
up a red one in the pinnace.

With these measures fixed between us, they went off towards the shore,
William in the pinnace with twelve men, and the long-boat coming after him
with four-and-twenty more, all stout resolute fellows, and very well armed.
They rowed so near the shore as that they might speak to one another,
carrying a white flag, as the other did, and offering a parley. The brutes,
for such they were, showed themselves very courteous; but finding we could
not understand them, they fetched an old Dutchman, who had been their
prisoner many years, and set him to speak to us. The sum and substance of
his speech was, that the king of the country had sent his general down to
know who we were, and what our business was. William stood up in the stern
of the pinnace, and told him, that as to that, he, that was an European, by
his language and voice, might easily know what we were, and our condition;
the ship being aground upon the sand would also tell him that our business
there was that of a ship in distress; so William desired to know what they
came down for with such a multitude, and with arms and weapons, as if they
came to war with us.

He answered, they might have good reason to come down to the shore, the
country being alarmed with the appearance of ships of strangers upon the
coast; and as our vessels were full of men, and as we had guns and weapons,
the king had sent part of his military men, that, in case of any invasion
upon the country, they might be ready to defend themselves, whatsoever
might be the occasion.

"But," says he, "as you are men in distress, the king has ordered his
general, who is here also, to give you all the assistance he can, and to
invite you on shore, and receive you with all possible courtesy." Says
William, very quick upon him, "Before I give thee an answer to that, I
desire thee to tell me what thou art, for by thy speech thou art an
European." He answered presently, he was a Dutchman. "That I know well,"
says William, "by thy speech; but art thou a native Dutchman of Holland, or
a native of this country, that has learned Dutch by conversing among the
Hollanders, who we know are settled upon this island?"

"No," says the old man, "I am a native of Delft, in the province of
Holland, in Europe."

"Well," says William, immediately, "but art thou a Christian or a heathen,
or what we call a renegado?"

"I am," says he, "a Christian." And so they went on, in a short dialogue,
as follows:--

_William_. Thou art a Dutchman, and a Christian, thou sayest; pray,
art thou a freeman or a servant?

_Dutchman_. I am a servant to the king here, and in his army.

_W_. But art thou a volunteer, or a prisoner?

_D_. Indeed I was a prisoner at first, but am at liberty now, and so
am a volunteer.

_W_. That is to say, being first a prisoner, thou hast liberty to
serve them; but art thou so at liberty that thou mayest go away, if thou
pleasest, to thine own countrymen?

_D_. No, I do not say so; my countrymen live a great way off, on the
north and east parts of the island, and there is no going to them without
the king's express license.

_W_. Well, and why dost thou not get a license to go away?

_D_. I have never asked for it.

_W_. And, I suppose, if thou didst, thou knowest thou couldst not
obtain it.

_D_. I cannot say much as to that; but why do you ask me all these
questions?

_W_. Why, my reason is good; if thou art a Christian and a prisoner,
how canst thou consent to be made an instrument to these barbarians, to
betray us into their hands, who are thy countrymen and fellow-Christians?
Is it not a barbarous thing in thee to do so?

_D_. How do I go about to betray you? Do I not give you an account how
the king invites you to come on shore, and has ordered you to be treated
courteously and assisted?

_W_. As thou art a Christian, though I doubt it much, dost thou
believe the king or the general, as thou callest it, means one word of what
he says?

_D_. He promises you by the mouth of his great general.

_W_. I don't ask thee what he promises, or by whom; but I ask thee
this: Canst thou say that thou believest he intends to perform it?

_D_. How can I answer that? How can I tell what he intends?

_W_. Thou canst tell what thou believest.

_D_. I cannot say but he will perform it; I believe he may.

_W_. Thou art but a double-tongued Christian, I doubt. Come, I'll ask
thee another question: Wilt thou say that thou believest it, and that thou
wouldst advise me to believe it, and put our lives into their hands upon
these promises?

_D_. I am not to be your adviser.

_W_. Thou art perhaps afraid to speak thy mind, because thou art in
their power. Pray, do any of them understand what thou and I say? Can they
speak Dutch?

_D_. No, not one of them; I have no apprehensions upon that account at
all.

_W_. Why, then, answer me plainly, if thou art a Christian: Is it safe
for us to venture upon their words, to put ourselves into their hands, and
come on shore?

_D_. You put it very home to me. Pray let me ask you another question:
Are you in any likelihood of getting your ship off, if you refuse it?

_W_. Yes, yes, we shall get off the ship; now the storm is over we
don't fear it.

_D_. Then I cannot say it is best for you to trust them.

_W_. Well, it is honestly said.

_D_. But what shall I say to them?

_W_. Give them good words, as they give us.

_D_. What good words?

_W_. Why, let them tell the king that we are strangers, who were
driven on his coast by a great storm; that we thank him very kindly for his
offer of civility to us, which, if we are further distressed, we will
accept thankfully; but that at present we have no occasion to come on
shore; and besides, that we cannot safely leave the ship in the present
condition she is in; but that we are obliged to take care of her, in order
to get her off; and expect, in a tide or two more, to get her quite clear,
and at an anchor.

_D_. But he will expect you to come on shore, then, to visit him, and
make him some present for his civility.

_W_. When we have got our ship clear, and stopped the leaks, we will
pay our respects to him.

_D_. Nay, you may as well come to him now as then.

_W_. Nay, hold, friend; I did not say we would come to him then: you
talked of making him a present, that is to pay our respects to him, is it
not?

_D_. Well, but I will tell him that you will come on shore to him when
your ship is got off.

_W_. I have nothing to say to that; you may tell him what you think
fit.

_D_. But he will be in a great rage if I do not.

_W_. Who will he be in a great rage at?

_D_. At you.

_W_. What occasion have we to value that?

_D_. Why, he will send all his army down against you.

_W_. And what if they were all here just now? What dost thou suppose
they could do to us?

_D_. He would expect they should burn your ships and bring you all to
him.

_W_. Tell him, if he should try, he may catch a Tartar.

_D_. He has a world of men.

_W_. Has he any ships?

_D_. No, he has no ships.

_W_. Nor boats?

_D_. No, nor boats.

_W_. Why, what then do you think we care for his men? What canst thou
do now to us, if thou hadst a hundred thousand with thee?

_D_. Oh! they might set you on fire.

_W_. Set us a-firing, thou meanest; that they might indeed; but set us
on fire they shall not; they may try, at their peril, and we shall make mad
work with your hundred thousand men, if they come within reach of our guns,
I assure thee.

_D_. But what if the king gives you hostages for your safety?

_W_. Whom can he give but mere slaves and servants like thyself, whose
lives he no more values than we an English hound?

_D_. Whom do you demand for hostages?

_W_. Himself and your worship.

_D_. What would you do with him?

_W_. Do with him as he would do with us--cut his head off.

_D_. And what would you do with me?

_W_. Do with thee? We would carry thee home into thine own country;
and, though thou deservest the gallows, we would make a man and a Christian
of thee again, and not do by thee as thou wouldst have done by us--betray
thee to a parcel of merciless, savage pagans, that know no God, nor how to
show mercy to man.

_D_. You put a thought in my head that I will speak to you about
to-morrow.

Thus they went away, and William came on board, and gave us a full account
of his parley with the old Dutchman, which was very diverting, and to me
instructing; for I had abundance of reason to acknowledge William had made
a better judgment of things than I.

It was our good fortune to get our ship off that very night, and to bring
her to an anchor at about a mile and a half farther out, and in deep water,
to our great satisfaction; so that we had no need to fear the Dutchman's
king, with his hundred thousand men; and indeed we had some sport with them
the next day, when they came down, a vast prodigious multitude of them,
very few less in number, in our imagination, than a hundred thousand, with
some elephants; though, if it had been an army of elephants, they could
have done us no harm; for we were fairly at our anchor now, and out of
their reach. And indeed we thought ourselves more out of their reach than
we really were; and it was ten thousand to one that we had not been fast
aground again, for the wind blowing off shore, though it made the water
smooth where we lay, yet it blew the ebb farther out than usual, and we
could easily perceive the sand, which we touched upon before, lay in the
shape of a half-moon, and surrounded us with two horns of it, so that we
lay in the middle or centre of it, as in a round bay, safe just as we were,
and in deep water, but present death, as it were, on the right hand and on
the left, for the two horns or points of the sand reached out beyond where
our ship lay near two miles.

On that part of the sand which lay on our east side, this misguided
multitude extended themselves; and being, most of them, not above their
knees, or most of them not above ankle-deep in the water, they as it were
surrounded us on that side, and on the side of the mainland, and a little
way on the other side of the sand, standing in a half-circle, or rather
three-fifths of a circle, for about six miles in length. The other horn, or
point of the sand, which lay on our west side, being not quite so shallow,
they could not extend themselves upon it so far.

They little thought what service they had done us, and how unwittingly, and
by the greatest ignorance, they had made themselves pilots to us, while we,
having not sounded the place, might have been lost before we were aware. It
is true we might have sounded our new harbour before we had ventured out,
but I cannot say for certain whether we should or not; for I, for my part,
had not the least suspicion of what our real case was; however, I say,
perhaps, before we had weighed, we should have looked about us a little. I
am sure we ought to have done it; for, besides these armies of human
furies, we had a very leaky ship, and all our pumps could hardly keep the
water from growing upon us, and our carpenters were overboard, working to
find out and stop the wounds we had received, heeling her first on the one
side, and then on the other; and it was very diverting to see how, when our
men heeled the ship over to the side next the wild army that stood on the
east horn of the sand, they were so amazed, between fright and joy, that it
put them into a kind of confusion, calling to one another, hallooing and
skreeking, in a manner that it is impossible to describe.

While we were doing this, for we were in a great hurry you may be sure, and
all hands at work, as well at the stopping our leaks as repairing our
rigging and sails, which had received a great deal of damage, and also in
rigging a new main-top-mast and the like;--I say, while we were doing all
this, we perceived a body of men, of near a thousand, move from that part
of the army of the barbarians that lay at the bottom of the sandy bay, and
came all along the water's edge, round the sand, till they stood just on
our broadside east, and were within about half-a-mile of us. Then we saw
the Dutchman come forward nearer to us, and all alone, with his white flag
and all his motions, just as before, and there he stood.

Our men had but just brought the ship to rights again as they came up to
our broadside, and we had very happily found out and stopped the worst and
most dangerous leak that we had, to our very great satisfaction; so I
ordered the boats to be hauled up and manned as they were the day before,
and William to go as plenipotentiary. I would have gone myself if I had
understood Dutch, but as I did not, it was to no purpose, for I should be
able to know nothing of what was said but from him at second-hand, which
might be done as well afterwards. All the instructions I pretended to give
William was, if possible, to get the old Dutchman away, and, if he could,
to make him come on board.

Well, William went just as before, and when he came within about sixty or
seventy yards of the shore, he held up his white flag as the Dutchman did,
and turning the boat's broadside to the shore, and his men lying upon their
oars, the parley or dialogue began again thus:--

_William_. Well, friend, what dost thou say to us now?

_Dutchman_. I come of the same mild errand as I did yesterday.

_W_. What! dost thou pretend to come of a mild errand with all these
people at thy back, and all the foolish weapons of war they bring with
them? Prithee, what dost thou mean?

_D_. The king hastens us to invite the captain and all his men to come
on shore, and has ordered all his men to show them all the civility they
can.

_W_. Well, and are all those men come to invite us ashore?

D. They will do you no hurt, if you will come on shore peaceably.

W. Well, and what dost thou think they can do to us, if we will not?

D. I would not have them do you any hurt then, neither.

W. But prithee, friend, do not make thyself fool and knave too. Dost not
thou know that we are out of fear of all thy army, and out of danger of all
that they can do? What makes thee act so simply as well as so knavishly?

D. Why, you may think yourselves safer than you are; you do not know what
they may do to you. I can assure you they are able to do you a great deal
of harm, and perhaps burn your ship.

W. Suppose that were true, as I am sure it is false; you see we have more
ships to carry us off (pointing to the sloop).

[N.B.--Just at this time we discovered the sloop standing towards us from
the east, along the shore, at about the distance of two leagues, which was
to our particular satisfaction, she having been missing thirteen days.]

D. We do not value that; if you had ten ships, you dare not come on shore,
with all the men you have, in a hostile way; we are too many for you.

W. Thou dost not, even in that, speak as thou meanest; and we may give thee
a trial of our hands when our friends come up to us, for thou hearest they
have discovered us.

[Just then the sloop fired five guns, which was to get news of us, for they
did not see us.]

D. Yes, I hear they fire; but I hope your ship will not fire again; for, if
they do, our general will take it for breaking the truce, and will make the
army let fly a shower of arrows at you in the boat.

W. Thou mayest be sure the ship will fire that the other ship may hear
them, but not with ball. If thy general knows no better, he may begin when
he will; but thou mayest be sure we will return it to his cost.

D. What must I do, then?

W. Do! Why, go to him, and tell him of it beforehand, then; and let him
know that the ship firing is not at him nor his men; and then come again,
and tell us what he says.

D. No; I will send to him, which will do as well.

W. Do as thou wilt, but I believe thou hadst better go thyself; for if our
men fire first, I suppose he will be in a great wrath, and it may be at
thee; for, as to his wrath at us, we tell thee beforehand we value it not.

D. You slight them too much; you know not what they may do.

W. Thou makest as if these poor savage wretches could do mighty things:
prithee, let us see what you can all do, we value it not; thou mayest set
down thy flag of truce when thou pleasest, and begin.

D. I had rather make a truce, and have you all part friends.

W. Thou art a deceitful rogue thyself, for it is plain thou knowest these
people would only persuade us on shore to entrap and surprise us; and yet
thou that art a Christian, as thou callest thyself, would have us come on
shore and put our lives into their hands who know nothing that belongs to
compassion, good usage, or good manners. How canst thou be such a villain?

D. How can you call me so? What have I done to you, and what would you have
me do?

W. Not act like a traitor, but like one that was once a Christian, and
would have been so still, if you had not been a Dutchman.

D. I know not what to do, not I. I wish I were from them; they are a bloody
people.

W. Prithee, make no difficulty of what thou shouldst do. Canst thou swim?

D. Yes, I can swim; but if I should attempt to swim off to you, I should
have a thousand arrows and javelins sticking in me before I should get to
your boat.

W. I'll bring the boat close to thee, and take thee on board in spite of
them all. We will give them but one volley, and I'll engage they will all
run away from thee.

D. You are mistaken in them, I assure you; they would immediately come all
running down to the shore, and shoot fire-arrows at you, and set your boat
and ship and all on fire about your ears.

W. We will venture that if thou wilt come off.

D. Will you use me honourably when I am among you?

W. I'll give thee my word for it, if thou provest honest.

D. Will you not make me a prisoner?

W. I will be thy surety, body for body, that thou shalt be a free man, and
go whither thou wilt, though I own to thee thou dost not deserve it.

Just at this time our ship fired three guns to answer the sloop and let her
know we saw her, who immediately, we perceived, understood it, and stood
directly for the place. But it is impossible to express the confusion and
filthy vile noise, the hurry and universal disorder, that was among that
vast multitude of people upon our firing off three guns. They immediately
all repaired to their arms, as I may call it; for to say they put
themselves into order would be saying nothing.

Upon the word of command, then, they advanced all in a body to the seaside,
and resolving to give us one volley of their fire-arms (for such they
were), immediately they saluted us with a hundred thousand of their
fire-arrows, every one carrying a little bag of cloth dipped in brimstone,
or some such thing, which, flying through the air, had nothing to hinder it
taking fire as it flew, and it generally did so.

I cannot say but this method of attacking us, by a way we had no notion of,
might give us at first some little surprise, for the number was so great at
first, that we were not altogether without apprehensions that they might
unluckily set our ship on fire, so that William resolved immediately to row
on board, and persuade us all to weigh and stand out to sea; but there was
no time for it, for they immediately let fly a volley at the boat, and at
the ship, from all parts of the vast crowd of people which stood near the
shore. Nor did they fire, as I may call it, all at once, and so leave off;
but their arrows being soon notched upon their bows, they kept continually
shooting, so that the air was full of flame.

I could not say whether they set their cotton rag on fire before they shot
the arrow, for I did not perceive they had fire with them, which, however,
it seems they had. The arrow, besides the fire it carried with it, had a
head, or a peg, as we call it, of bone; and some of sharp flint stone; and
some few of a metal, too soft in itself for metal, but hard enough to cause
it to enter, if it were a plank, so as to stick where it fell.

William and his men had notice sufficient to lie close behind their
waste-boards, which, for this very purpose, they had made so high that they
could easily sink themselves behind them, so as to defend themselves from
anything that came point-blank (as we call it) or upon a line; but for what
might fall perpendicularly out of the air they had no guard, but took the
hazard of that. At first they made as if they would row away, but before
they went they gave a volley of their fire-arms, firing at those which
stood with the Dutchman; but William ordered them to be sure to take their
aim at others, so as to miss him, and they did so.

There was no calling to them now, for the noise was so great among them
that they could hear nobody, but our men boldly rowed in nearer to them,
for they were at first driven a little off, and when they came nearer, they
fired a second volley, which put the fellows into great confusion, and we
could see from the ship that several of them were killed or wounded.

We thought this was a very unequal fight, and therefore we made a signal to
our men to row away, that we might have a little of the sport as well as
they; but the arrows flew so thick upon them, being so near the shore, that
they could not sit to their oars, so they spread a little of their sail,
thinking they might sail along the shore, and lie behind their waste-board;
but the sail had not been spread six minutes till it had five hundred
fire-arrows shot into it and through it, and at length set it fairly on
fire; nor were our men quite out of the danger of its setting the boat on
fire, and this made them paddle and shove the boat away as well as they
could, as they lay, to get farther off.

By this time they had left us a fair mark at the whole savage army; and as
we had sheered the ship as near to them as we could, we fired among the
thickest of them six or seven times, five guns at a time, with shot, old
iron, musket-bullets, &c.

We could easily see that we made havoc among them, and killed and wounded
abundance of them, and that they were in a great surprise at it; but yet
they never offered to stir, and all this while their fire-arrows flew as
thick as before.

At last, on a sudden their arrows stopped, and the old Dutchman came
running down to the water-side all alone, with his white flag, as before,
waving it as high as he could, and making signals to our boat to come to
him again.

William did not care at first to go near him, but the man continuing to
make signals to him to come, at last William went; and the Dutchman told
him that he had been with the general, who was much mollified by the
slaughter of his men, and that now he could have anything of him.

"Anything!" says William; "what have we to do with him? Let him go about
his business, and carry his men out of gunshot, can't he?"

"Why," says the Dutchman, "but he dares not stir, nor see the king's face;
unless some of your men come on shore, he will certainly put him to death."

"Why, then," says William, "he is a dead man; for if it were to save his
life, and the lives of all the crowd that is with him, he shall never have
one of us in his power. But I'll tell thee," said William, "how thou shalt
cheat him, and gain thy own liberty too, if thou hast any mind to see thy
own country again, and art not turned savage, and grown fond of living all
thy days among heathens and savages."

"I would be glad to do it with all my heart," says he; "but if I should
offer to swim off to you now, though they are so far from me, they shoot so
true that they would kill me before I got half-way."

"But," says William, "I'll tell thee how thou shalt come with his consent.
Go to him, and tell him I have offered to carry you on board, to try if you
could persuade the captain to come on shore, and that I would not hinder
him if he was willing to venture."

The Dutchman seemed in a rapture at the very first word. "I'll do it," says
he; "I am persuaded he will give me leave to come."

Away he runs, as if he had a glad message to carry, and tells the general
that William had promised, if he would go on board the ship with him, he
would persuade the captain to return with him. The general was fool enough
to give him orders to go, and charged him not to come back without the
captain; which he readily promised, and very honestly might.

So they took him in, and brought him on board, and he was as good as his
word to them, for he never went back to them any more; and the sloop being
come to the mouth of the inlet where we lay, we weighed and set sail; but,
as we went out, being pretty near the shore, we fired three guns, as it
were among them, but without any shot, for it was of no use to us to hurt
any more of them. After we had fired, we gave them a cheer, as the seamen
call it; that is to say, we hallooed, at them, by way of triumph, and so
carried off their ambassador. How it fared with their general, we know
nothing of that.

This passage, when I related it to a friend of mine, after my return from
those rambles, agreed so well with his relation of what happened to one Mr
Knox, an English captain, who some time ago was decoyed on shore by these
people, that it could not but be very much to my satisfaction to think what
mischief we had all escaped; and I think it cannot but be very profitable
to record the other story (which is but short) with my own, to show whoever
reads this what it was I avoided, and prevent their falling into the like,
if they have to do with the perfidious people of Ceylon. The relation is as
follows:--

The island of Ceylon being inhabited for the greatest part by barbarians,
which will not allow any trade or commerce with any European nation, and
inaccessible by any travellers, it will be convenient to relate the
occasion how the author of this story happened to go into this island, and
what opportunities he had of being fully acquainted with the people, their
laws and customs, that so we may the better depend upon the account, and
value it as it deserves, for the rarity as well as the truth of it; and
both these the author gives us a brief relation of in this manner. His
words are as follows:

In the year 1657, the _Anne_ frigate, of London, Captain Robert Knox,
commander, on the 21st day of January, set sail out of the Downs, in the
service of the honourable East India Company of England, bound for Fort St
George, upon the coast of Coromandel, to trade for one year from port to
port in India; which having performed, as he was lading his goods to return
for England, being in the road of Masulipatam, on the 19th of November
1659, there happened such a mighty storm, that in it several ships were
cast away, and he was forced to cut his mainmast by the board, which so
disabled the ship, that he could not proceed in his voyage; whereupon
Cottiar, in the island of Ceylon, being a very commodious bay, fit for her
present distress, Thomas Chambers, Esq., since Sir Thomas Chambers, the
agent at Fort St George, ordered that the ship should take in some cloth
and India merchants belonging to Porto Novo, who might trade there while
she lay to set her mast, and repair the other damages sustained by the
storm. At her first coming thither, after the Indian merchants were set
ashore, the captain and his men were very jealous of the people of that
place, by reason the English never had any commerce or dealing with them;
but after they had been there twenty days, going ashore and returning again
at pleasure, without any molestation, they began to lay aside all
suspicious thoughts of the people that dwelt thereabouts, who had kindly
entertained them for their money.

By this time the king of the country had notice of their arrival, and, not
being acquainted with their intents, he sent down a dissauva, or general,
with an army, to them, who immediately sent a messenger to the captain on
board, to desire him to come ashore to him, pretending a letter from the
king. The captain saluted the message with firing of guns, and ordered his
son, Robert Knox, and Mr John Loveland, merchant of the ship, to go ashore,
and wait on him. When they were come before him, he demanded who they were,
and how long they should stay. They told him they were Englishmen, and not
to stay above twenty or thirty days, and desired permission to trade in his
Majesty's port. His answer was, that the king was glad to hear the English
were come into his country, and had commanded him to assist them as they
should desire, and had sent a letter to be delivered to none but the
captain himself. They were then twelve miles from the seaside, and
therefore replied, that the captain could not leave his ship to come so
far; but if he pleased to go down to the seaside, the captain would wait on
him to receive the letter; whereupon the dissauva desired them to stay that
day, and on the morrow he would go with them; which, rather than displease
him in so small a matter, they consented to. In the evening the dissauva
sent a present to the captain of cattle and fruits, &c., which, being
carried all night by the messengers, was delivered to him in the morning,
who told him withal that his men were coming down with the dissauva, and
desired his company on shore against his coming, having a letter from the
king to deliver into his own hand. The captain, mistrusting nothing, came
on shore with his boat, and, sitting under a tamarind tree, waited for the
dissauva. In the meantime the native soldiers privately surrounded him and
the seven men he had with him, and seizing them, carried them to meet the
dissauva, bearing the captain on a hammock on their shoulders.

The next day the long-boat's crew, not knowing what had happened, came on
shore to cut down a tree to make cheeks for the mainmast, and were made
prisoners after the same manner, though with more violence, because they
were more rough with them, and made resistance; yet they were not brought
to the captain and his company, but quartered in another house in the same
town.

The dissauva having thus gotten two boats and eighteen men, his next care
was to gain the ship; and to that end, telling the captain that he and his
men were only detained because the king intended to send letters and a
present to the English nation by him, desired he would send some men on
board his ship to order her to stay; and because the ship was in danger of
being fired by the Dutch if she stayed long in the bay, to bring her up the
river. The captain did not approve of the advice, but did not dare to own
his dislike; so he sent his son with the order, but with a solemn
conjuration to return again, which he accordingly did, bringing a letter
from the company in the ship, that they would not obey the captain, nor any
other, in this matter, but were resolved to stand on their own defence.
This letter satisfied the dissauva, who thereupon gave the captain leave to
write for what he would have brought from the ship, pretending that he had
not the king's order to release them, though it would suddenly come.

The captain seeing he was held in suspense, and the season of the year
spending for the ship to proceed on her voyage to some place, sent order to
Mr John Burford, the chief mate, to take charge of the ship, and set sail
to Porto Novo, from whence they came, and there to follow the agent's
order.

And now began that long and sad captivity they all along feared. The ship
being gone, the dissauva was called up to the king, and they were kept
under guards a while, till a special order came from the king to part them,
and put one in a town, for the conveniency of their maintenance, which the
king ordered to be at the charge of the country. On September 16, 1660, the
captain and his son were placed in a town called Bonder Coswat, in the
country of Hotcurly [? Hewarrisse Korle], distant from the city of Kandy
northward thirty miles, and from the rest of the English a full day's
journey. Here they had their provisions brought them twice a day, without
money, as much as they could eat, and as good as the country yielded. The
situation of the place was very pleasant and commodious; but that year that
part of the land was very sickly by agues and fevers, of which many died.
The captain and his son after some time were visited with the common
distemper, and the captain, being also loaded with grief for his deplorable
condition, languished more than three months, and then died, February 9,
1661.

Robert Knox, his son, was now left desolate, sick, and in captivity, having
none to comfort him but God, who is the Father of the fatherless, and hears
the groans of such as are in captivity; being alone to enter upon a long
scene of misery and calamity; oppressed with weakness of body and grief of
soul for the loss of his father, and the remediless trouble that he was
like to endure; and the first instance of it was in the burial of his
father, for he sent his black boy to the people of the town, to desire
their assistance, because they understood not their language; but they sent
him only a rope, to drag him by the neck into the woods, and told him that
they would offer him no other help, unless he would pay for it. This
barbarous answer increased his trouble for his father's death, that now he
was like to lie unburied, and be made a prey to the wild beasts in the
woods; for the ground was very hard, and they had not tools to dig with,
and so it was impossible for them to bury him; and having a small matter of
money left him, viz., a pagoda and a gold ring, he hired a man, and so
buried him in as decent a manner as their condition would permit.

His dead father being thus removed out of his sight, but his ague
continuing, he was reduced very low, partly by sorrow and partly by his
disease. All the comfort he had was to go into the wood and fields with a
book, either the "Practice of Piety" or Mr Rogers's "Seven Treatises,"
which were the only two books he had, and meditate and read, and sometimes
pray; in which his anguish made him often invert Elijah's petition,--that
he might die, because his life was a burden to him. God, though He was
pleased to prolong his life, yet He found a way to lighten his grief, by
removing his ague, and granting him a desire which above all things was
acceptable to him. He had read his two books over so often that he had both
almost by heart; and though they were both pious and good writings, yet he
longed for the truth from the original fountain, and thought it his
greatest unhappiness that he had not a Bible, and did believe that he
should never see one again; but, contrary to his expectation, God brought
him one after this manner. As he was fishing one day with his black boy, to
catch some fish to relieve his hunger, an old man passed by them, and asked
his boy whether his master could read; and when the boy had answered yes,
he told him that he had gotten a book from the Portuguese, when they left
Colombo; and, if his master pleased, he would sell it him. The boy told his
master, who bade him go and see what book it was. The boy having served the
English some time, knew the book, and as soon as he got it into his hand,
came running to him, calling out before he came to him, "It is the Bible!"
The words startled him, and he flung down his angle to meet him, and,
finding it was true, was mightily rejoiced to see it; but he was afraid he
should not have enough to purchase it, though he was resolved to part with
all the money he had, which was but one pagoda, to buy it; but his black
boy persuading him to slight it, and leave it to him to buy it, he at
length obtained it for a knit cap.

This accident he could not but look upon as a great miracle, that God
should bestow upon him such an extraordinary blessing, and bring him a
Bible in his own native language, in such a remote part of the world, where
His name was not known, and where it was never heard of that an Englishman
had ever been before. The enjoyment of this mercy was a great comfort to
him in captivity, and though he wanted no bodily convenience that the
country did afford; for the king, immediately after his father's death, had
sent an express order to the people of the towns, that they should be kind
to him, and give him good victuals; and after he had been some time in the
country, and understood the language, he got him good conveniences, as a
house and gardens; and falling to husbandry, God so prospered him, that he
had plenty, not only for himself, but to lend others; which being,
according to the custom of the country, at 50 per cent. a year, much
enriched him: he had also goats, which served him for mutton, and hogs and
hens. Notwithstanding this, I say, for he lived as fine as any of their
noblemen, he could not so far forget his native country as to be contented
to dwell in a strange land, where there was to him a famine of God's word
and sacraments, the want of which made all other things to be of little
value to him; therefore, as he made it his daily and fervent prayer to God,
in His good time, to restore him to both, so, at length, he, with one
Stephen Rutland, who had lived with him two years before, resolved to make
their escape, and, about the year 1673, meditated all secret ways to
compass it. They had before taken up a way of peddling about the country,
and buying tobacco, pepper, garlic, combs, and all sorts of iron ware, and
carried them into those parts of the country where they wanted them; and
now, to promote their design, as they went with their commodities from
place to place, they discoursed with the country people (for they could now
speak their language well) concerning the ways and inhabitants, where the
isle was thinnest and fullest inhabited, where and how the watches lay from
one country to another, and what commodities were proper for them to carry
into all parts; pretending that they would furnish themselves with such
wares as the respective places wanted. None doubted but what they did was
upon the account of trade, because Mr Knox was so well seated, and could
not be supposed to leave such an estate, by travelling northward, because
that part of the land was least inhabited; and so, furnishing themselves
with such wares as were vendible in those parts, they set forth, and
steered their course towards the north part of the islands, knowing very
little of the ways, which were generally intricate and perplexed, because
they have no public roads, but a multitude of little paths from one town to
another, and those often changing; and for white men to inquire about the
ways was very dangerous, because the people would presently suspect their
design.

At this time they travelled from Conde Uda as far as the country of
Nuwarakalawiya, which is the furthermost part of the king's dominions, and
about three days' journey from their dwelling. They were very thankful to
Providence that they had passed all difficulties so far, but yet they durst
not go any farther, because they had no wares left to traffic with; and it
being the first time they had been absent so long from home, they feared
the townsmen would come after them to seek for them; and so they returned
home, and went eight or ten times into those parts with their wares, till
they became well acquainted both with the people and the paths.

In these parts Mr Knox met his black boy, whom he had turned away divers
years before. He had now got a wife and children, and was very poor; but
being acquainted with these quarters, he not only took directions of him,
but agreed with him, for a good reward, to conduct him and his companions
to the Dutch. He gladly undertook it, and a time was appointed between
them; but Mr Knox being disabled by a grievous pain, which seized him on
his right side, and held him five days that he could not travel, this
appointment proved in vain; for though he went as soon as he was well, his
guide was gone into another country about his business, and they durst not
at that time venture to run away without him.

These attempts took up eight or nine years, various accidents hindering
their designs, but most commonly the dry weather, because they feared in
the woods they should be starved with thirst, all the country being in such
a condition almost four or five years together for lack of rain.

On September 22, 1679, they set forth again, furnished with knives and
small axes for their defence, because they could carry them privately and
send all sorts of wares to sell as formerly, and all necessary provisions,
the moon being twenty-seven days old, that they might have light to run
away by, to try what success God Almighty would now give them in seeking
their liberty. Their first stage was to Anuradhapoora, in the way to which
lay a wilderness, called Parraoth Mocolane, full of wild elephants, tigers,
and bears; and because it is the utmost confines of the king's dominions,
there is always a watch kept.

In the middle of the way they heard that the governor's officers of these
parts were out to gather up the king's revenues and duties, to send them up
to the city; which put them into no small fear, lest, finding them, they
should send them back again; whereupon they withdrew to the western parts
of Ecpoulpot, and sat down to knitting till they heard the officers were
gone. As soon as they were departed, they went onwards of their journey,
having got a good parcel of cotton-yarn to knit caps with, and having kept
their wares, as they pretended, to exchange for dried flesh, which was sold
only in those lower parts. Their way lay necessarily through the governor's
yard at Kalluvilla, who dwells there on purpose to examine all that go and
come. This greatly distressed them, because he would easily suspect they
were out of their bounds, being captives; however, they went resolutely to
his house, and meeting him, presented him with a small parcel of tobacco
and betel; and, showing him their wares, told him they came to get dried
flesh to carry back with them. The governor did not suspect them, but told
them he was sorry they came in so dry a time, when no deer were to be
catched, but if some rain fell, he would soon supply them. This answer
pleased them, and they seemed contented to stay; and accordingly, abiding
with him two or three days, and no rain falling, they presented the
governor with five or six charges of gunpowder, which is a rarity among
them; and leaving a bundle at his house, they desired him to shoot them
some deer, while they made a step to Anuradhapoora. Here also they were put
in a great fright by the coming of certain soldiers from the king to the
governor, to give him orders to set a secure guard at the watches, that no
suspicious persons might pass, which, though it was only intended to
prevent the flight of the relations of certain nobles whom the king had
clapped up, yet they feared they might wonder to see white men here, and so
send them back again; but God so ordered it that they were very kind to
them and left them to their business, and so they got safe to
Anuradhapoora. Their pretence was dried flesh, though they knew there was
none to be had; but their real business was to search the way down to the
Dutch, which they stayed three days to do; but finding that in the way to
Jaffnapatam, which is one of the Dutch ports, there was a watch which could
hardly be passed, and other inconveniences not surmountable, they resolved
to go back, and take the river Malwatta Oya, which they had before judged
would be a probable guide to lead them to the sea; and, that they might not
be pursued, left Anuradhapoora just at night, when the people never travel
for fear of wild beasts, on Sunday, October 12, being stored with all
things needful for their journey, viz., ten days' provision, a basin to
boil their provision in, two calabashes to fetch water in, and two great
tallipat leaves for tents, with jaggery, sweetmeats, tobacco, betel,
tinder-boxes, and a deerskin for shoes, to keep their feet from thorns,
because to them they chiefly trusted. Being come to the river, they struck
into the woods, and kept by the side of it; yet not going on the sand (lest
their footsteps should be discerned), unless forced, and then going
backwards.

Being gotten a good way into the wood, it began to rain; wherefore they
erected their tents, made a fire, and refreshed themselves against the
rising of the moon, which was then eighteen days old; and having tied
deerskins about their feet, and eased themselves of their wares, they
proceeded on their journey. When they had travelled three or four hours
with difficulty, because the moon gave but little light among the thick
trees, they found an elephant in their way before them, and because they
could not scare him away, they were forced to stay till morning; and so
they kindled a fire, and took a pipe of tobacco. By the light they could
not discern that ever anybody had been there, nothing being to be seen but
woods; and so they were in great hopes that they were past all danger,
being beyond all inhabitants; but they were mistaken, for the river winding
northward, brought them into the midst of a parcel of towns, called Tissea
Wava, where, being in danger of being seen, they were under a mighty
terror; for had the people found them, they would have beat them, and sent
them up to the king; and, to avoid it, they crept into a hollow tree, and
sat there in mud and wet till it began to grow dark, and then betaking
themselves to their legs, travelled till the darkness of night stopped
them. They heard voices behind them, and feared it was somebody in pursuit
of them; but at length, discerning it was only an hallooing to keep the
wild beasts out of the corn, they pitched their tents by the river, and
having boiled rice and roasted meat for their suppers, and satisfied their
hunger, they committed themselves to God's keeping, and laid them down to
sleep.

The next morning, to prevent the worst, they got up early and hastened on
their journey; and though they were now got out of all danger of the tame
Chiangulays, they were in great danger of the wild ones, of whom those
woods were full; and though they saw their tents, yet they were all gone,
since the rains had fallen, from the river into the woods; and so God kept
them from that danger, for, had they met the wild men, they had been shot.

Thus they travelled from morning till night several days, through bushes
and thorns, which made their arms and shoulders, which were naked, all of a
gore blood. They often met with bears, hogs, deer, and wild buffaloes; but
they all ran away as soon as they saw them. The river was exceedingly full
of alligators; in the evening they used to pitch their tents, and make
great fires both before and behind them, to affright the wild beasts; and
though they heard the voices of all sorts, they saw none.

On Thursday, at noon, they crossed the river Coronda [? Kannadera Oya],
which parts the country of the Malabars from the king's, and on Friday,
about nine or ten in the morning, came among the inhabitants, of whom they
were as much afraid as of the Chiangulays before; for, though the
Wanniounay, or prince of this people, payeth tribute to the Dutch out of
fear, yet he is better affected to the King of Kandy, and, if he had took
them, would have sent them up to their old master; but not knowing any way
to escape, they kept on their journey by the river-side by day, because the
woods were not to be travelled by night for thorns and wild beasts, who
came down then to the river to drink. In all the Malabar country they met
with only two Brahmins, who treated them very civilly; and for their money,
one of them conducted them till they came into the territories of the
Dutch, and out of all danger of the King of Kandy, which did not a little
rejoice them; but yet they were in no small trouble how to find the way out
of the woods, till a Malabar, for the lucre of a knife, conducted them to a
Dutch town, where they found guides to conduct them from town to town, till
they came to the fort called Aripo, where they arrived Saturday, October
18, 1679, and there thankfully adored God's wonderful providence, in thus
completing their deliverance from a long captivity of nineteen years and
six months.

I come now back to my own history, which grows near a conclusion, as to the
travels I took in this part of the world. We were now at sea, and we stood
away to the north for a while, to try if we could get a market for our
spice, for we were very rich in nutmegs, but we ill knew what to do with
them; we durst not go upon the English coast, or, to speak more properly,
among the English factories to trade; not that we were afraid to fight any
two ships they had, and, besides that, we knew that, as they had no letters
of marque, or of reprisals from the government, so it was none of their
business to act offensively, no, not though we were pirates. Indeed, if we
had made any attempt upon them, they might have justified themselves in
joining together to resist, and assisting one another to defend themselves;
but to go out of their business to attack a pirate ship of almost fifty
guns, as we were, it was plain that it was none of their business, and
consequently it was none of our concern, so we did not trouble ourselves
about it; but, on the other hand, it was none of our business to be seen
among them, and to have the news of us carried from one factory to another,
so that whatever design we might be upon at another time, we should be sure
to be prevented and discovered. Much less had we any occasion to be seen
among any of the Dutch factories upon the coast of Malabar; for, being
fully laden with the spices which we had, in the sense of their trade,
plundered them of, it would have told them what we were, and all that we
had been doing; and they would, no doubt, have concerned themselves all
manner of ways to have fallen upon us.

The only way we had for it was to stand away for Goa, and trade, if we
could, for our spices, with the Portuguese factory there. Accordingly, we
sailed almost thither, for we had made land two days before, and being in
the latitude of Goa, were standing in fair for Margaon, on the head of
Salsat, at the going up to Goa, when I called to the men at the helm to
bring the ship to, and bid the pilot go away N.N.W., till we came out of
sight of the shore, when William and I called a council, as we used to do
upon emergencies, what course we should take to trade there and not be
discovered; and we concluded at length that we would not go thither at all,
but that William, with such trusty fellows only as could be depended upon,
should go in the sloop to Surat, which was still farther northward, and
trade there as merchants with such of the English factory as they could
find to be for their turn.

To carry this with the more caution, and so as not to be suspected, we
agreed to take out all her guns, and put such men into her, and no other,
as would promise us not to desire or offer to go on shore, or to enter into
any talk or conversation with any that might come on board; and, to finish
the disguise to our mind, William documented two of our men, one a surgeon,
as he himself was, and the other, a ready-witted fellow, an old sailor,
that had been a pilot upon the coast of New England, and was an excellent
mimic; these two William dressed up like two Quakers, and made them talk
like such. The old pilot he made go captain of the sloop, and the surgeon
for doctor, as he was, and himself supercargo. In this figure, and the
sloop all plain, no curled work upon her (indeed she had not much before),
and no guns to be seen, away he went for Surat.

I should, indeed, have observed, that we went, some days before we parted,
to a small sandy island close under the shore, where there was a good cove
of deep water, like a road, and out of sight of any of the factories, which
are here very thick upon the coast. Here we shifted the loading of the
sloop, and put into her such things only as we had a mind to dispose of
there, which was indeed little but nutmegs and cloves, but chiefly the
former; and from thence William and his two Quakers, with about eighteen
men in the sloop, went away to Surat, and came to an anchor at a distance
from the factory.

William used such caution that he found means to go on shore himself, and
the doctor, as he called him, in a boat which came on board them to sell
fish, rowed with only Indians of the country, which boat he afterwards
hired to carry him on board again. It was not long that they were on shore,
but that they found means to get acquaintance with some Englishmen, who,
though they lived there, and perhaps were the company's servants at first,
yet appeared then to be traders for themselves, in whatever coast business
especially came in their way; and the doctor was made the first to pick
acquaintance; so he recommended his friend, the supercargo, till, by
degrees, the merchants were as fond of the bargain as our men were of the
merchants, only that the cargo was a little too much for them.

However, this did not prove a difficulty long with them, for the next day
they brought two more merchants, English also, into their bargain, and, as
William could perceive by their discourse, they resolved, if they bought
them, to carry them to the Gulf of Persia upon their own accounts. William
took the hint, and, as he told me afterwards, concluded we might carry them
there as well as they. But this was not William's present business; he had
here no less than three-and-thirty ton of nuts and eighteen ton of cloves.
There was a good quantity of mace among the nutmegs, but we did not stand
to make much allowance. In short, they bargained, and the merchants, who
would gladly have bought sloop and all, gave William directions, and two
men for pilots, to go to a creek about six leagues from the factory, where
they brought boats, and unloaded the whole cargo, and paid William very
honestly for it; the whole parcel amounting, in money, to about thirty-five
thousand pieces of eight, besides some goods of value, which William was
content to take, and two large diamonds, worth about three hundred pounds
sterling.

When they paid the money, William invited them on board the sloop, where
they came; and the merry old Quaker diverted them exceedingly with his
talk, and "thee'd" them and "thou'd" them till he made them so drunk that
they could not go on shore for that night.

They would fain have known who our people were, and whence they came; but
not a man in the sloop would answer them to any question they asked, but in
such a manner as let them think themselves bantered and jested with.
However, in discourse, William said they were able men for any cargo we
could have brought them, and that they would have bought twice as much
spice if we had had it. He ordered the merry captain to tell them that they
had another sloop that lay at Margaon, and that had a great quantity of
spice on board also; and that, if it was not sold when he went back (for
that thither he was bound), he would bring her up.

Their new chaps were so eager, that they would have bargained with the old
captain beforehand. "Nay, friend," said he, "I will not trade with thee
unsight and unseen; neither do I know whether the master of the sloop may
not have sold his loading already to some merchants of Salsat; but if he
has not when I come to him, I think to bring him up to thee."

The doctor had his employment all this while, as well as William and the
old captain, for he went on shore several times a day in the Indian boat,
and brought fresh provisions for the sloop, which the men had need enough
of. He brought, in particular, seventeen large casks of arrack, as big as
butts, besides smaller quantities, a quantity of rice, and abundance of
fruits, mangoes, pompions, and such things, with fowls and fish. He never
came on board but he was deep laden; for, in short, he bought for the ship
as well as for themselves; and, particularly, they half-loaded the ship
with rice and arrack, with some hogs, and six or seven cows, alive; and
thus, being well victualled, and having directions for coming again, they
returned to us.

William was always the lucky welcome messenger to us, but never more
welcome to us than now; for where we had thrust in the ship, we could get
nothing, except a few mangoes and roots, being not willing to make any
steps into the country, or make ourselves known till we had news of our
sloop; and indeed our men's patience was almost tired, for it was seventeen
days that William spent upon this enterprise, and well bestowed too.

When he came back we had another conference upon the subject of trade,
namely, whether we should send the best of our spices, and other goods we
had in the ship, to Surat, or whether we should go up to the Gulf of Persia
ourselves, where it was probable we might sell them as well as the English
merchants of Surat. William was for going ourselves, which, by the way, was
from the good, frugal, merchant-like temper of the man, who was for the
best of everything; but here I overruled William, which I very seldom took
upon me to do; but I told him, that, considering our circumstances, it was
much better for us to sell all our cargoes here, though we made but
half-price of them, than to go with them to the Gulf of Persia, where we
should run a greater risk, and where people would be much more curious and
inquisitive into things than they were here, and where it would not be so
easy to manage them, seeing they traded freely and openly there, not by
stealth, as those men seemed to do; and, besides, if they suspected
anything, it would be much more difficult for us to retreat, except by mere
force, than here, where we were upon the high sea as it were, and could be
gone whenever we pleased, without any disguise, or, indeed, without the
least appearance of being pursued, none knowing where to look for us.

My apprehensions prevailed with William, whether my reasons did or no, and
he submitted; and we resolved to try another ship's loading to the same
merchants. The main business was to consider how to get off that
circumstance that had exposed them to the English merchants, namely that it
was our other sloop; but this the old Quaker pilot undertook; for being, as
I said, an excellent mimic himself, it was the easier for him to dress up
the sloop in new clothes; and first, he put on all the carved work he had
taken off before; her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun
colour before, all flat, was now all lacquered and blue, and I know not how
many gay figures in it; as to her quarter, the carpenters made her a neat
little gallery on either side; she had twelve guns put into her, and some
petereroes upon her gunnel, none of which were there before; and to finish
her new habit or appearance, and make her change complete, he ordered her
sails to be altered; and as she sailed before with a half-sprit, like a
yacht, she sailed now with square-sail and mizzen-mast, like a ketch; so
that, in a word, she was a perfect cheat, disguised in everything that a
stranger could be supposed to take any notice of that had never had but one
view, for they had been but once on board.

In this mean figure the sloop returned; she had a new man put into her for
captain, one we knew how to trust; and the old pilot appearing only as a
passenger, the doctor and William acting as the supercargoes, by a formal
procuration from one Captain Singleton, and all things ordered in form.

We had a complete loading for the sloop; for, besides a very great quantity
of nutmegs and cloves, mace, and some cinnamon, she had on board some goods
which we took in as we lay about the Philippine Islands, while we waited as
looking for purchase.

William made no difficulty of selling this cargo also, and in about twenty
days returned again, freighted with all necessary provisions for our
voyage, and for a long time; and, as I say, we had a great deal of other
goods: he brought us back about three-and-thirty thousand pieces of eight,
and some diamonds, which, though William did not pretend to much skill in,
yet he made shift to act so as not to be imposed upon, the merchants he had
to deal with, too, being very fair men.

They had no difficulty at all with these merchants, for the prospect they
had of gain made them not at all inquisitive, nor did they make the least
discovery of the sloop; and as to the selling them spices which were
fetched so far from thence, it seems it was not so much a novelty there as
we believed, for the Portuguese had frequently vessels which came from
Macao in China, who brought spices, which they bought of the Chinese
traders, who again frequently dealt among the Dutch Spice Islands, and
received spices in exchange for such goods as they carried from China.

This might be called, indeed, the only trading voyage we had made; and now
we were really very rich, and it came now naturally before us to consider
whither we should go next. Our proper delivery port, as we ought to have
called it, was at Madagascar, in the Bay of Mangahelly; but William took me
by myself into the cabin of the sloop one day, and told me he wanted to
talk seriously with me a little; so we shut ourselves in, and William began
with me.

"Wilt thou give me leave," says William, "to talk plainly with thee upon
thy present circumstances, and thy future prospect of living? and wilt thou
promise, on thy word, to take nothing ill of me?"

"With all my heart," said I. "William, I have always found your advice
good, and your designs have not only been well laid, but your counsel has
been very lucky to us; and, therefore, say what you will, I promise you I
will not take it ill."

"But that is not all my demand," says William; "if thou dost not like what
I am going to propose to thee, thou shalt promise me not to make it public
among the men."

"I will not, William," says I, "upon my word;" and swore to him, too, very
heartily.

"Why, then," says William, "I have but one thing more to article with thee
about, and that is, that thou wilt consent that if thou dost not approve of
it for thyself, thou wilt yet consent that I shall put so much of it in
practice as relates to myself and my new comrade doctor, so that it be
nothing to thy detriment and loss."

"In anything," says I, "William, but leaving me, I will; but I cannot part
with you upon any terms whatever."

"Well," says William, "I am not designing to part from thee, unless it is
thy own doing. But assure me in all these points, and I will tell my mind
freely."

So I promised him everything he desired of me in the solemnest manner
possible, and so seriously and frankly withal, that William made no scruple
to open his mind to me.

"Why, then, in the first place," says William, "shall I ask thee if thou
dost not think thou and all thy men are rich enough, and have really gotten
as much wealth together (by whatsoever way it has been gotten, that is not
the question) as we all know what to do with?"

"Why, truly, William," said I, "thou art pretty right; I think we have had
pretty good luck."

"Well, then," says William, "I would ask whether, if thou hast gotten
enough, thou hast any thought of leaving off this trade; for most people
leave off trading when they are satisfied of getting, and are rich enough;
for nobody trades for the sake of trading; much less do men rob for the
sake of thieving."

"Well, William," says I, "now I perceive what it is thou art driving at. I
warrant you," says I, "you begin to hanker after home."

"Why, truly," says William, "thou hast said it, and so I hope thou dost
too. It is natural for most men that are abroad to desire to come home
again at last, especially when they are grown rich, and when they are (as
thou ownest thyself to be) rich enough, and so rich as they know not what
to do with more if they had it."

"Well, William," said I, "but now you think you have laid your preliminary
at first so home that I should have nothing to say; that is, that when I
had got money enough, it would be natural to think of going home. But you
have not explained what you mean by home, and there you and I shall differ.
Why, man, I am at home; here is my habitation; I never had any other in my
lifetime; I was a kind of charity school boy; so that I can have no desire
of going anywhere for being rich or poor, for I have nowhere to go."

"Why," says William, looking a little confused, "art not thou an
Englishman?"

"Yes," says I, "I think so: you see I speak English; but I came out of
England a child, and never was in it but once since I was a man; and then I
was cheated and imposed upon, and used so ill that I care not if I never
see it more."

"Why, hast thou no relations or friends there?" says he; "no acquaintance--
none that thou hast any kindness or any remains of respect for?"

"Not I, William," said I; "no more than I have in the court of the Geat
Mogul."

"Nor any kindness for the country where thou wast born?" says William.

"Not I, any more than for the island of Madagascar, nor so much neither;
for that has been a fortunate island to me more than once, as thou knowest,
William," said I.

William was quite stunned at my discourse, and held his peace; and I said
to him, "Go on, William; what hast thou to say farther? for I hear you have
some project in your head," says I; "come, let's have it out."

"Nay," says William, "thou hast put me to silence, and all I had to say is
overthrown; all my projects are come to nothing, and gone."

"Well, but, William," said I, "let me hear what they were; for though it is
so that what I have to aim at does not look your way, and though I have no
relation, no friend, no acquaintance in England, yet I do not say I like
this roving, cruising life so well as never to give it over. Let me hear if
thou canst propose to me anything beyond it."

"Certainly, friend," says William, very gravely, "there is something beyond
it;" and lifting up his hands, he seemed very much affected, and I thought
I saw tears stand in his eyes; but I, that was too hardened a wretch to be
moved with these things, laughed at him. "What!" says I, "you mean death, I
warrant you: don't you? That is beyond this trade. Why, when it comes, it
comes; then we are all provided for."

"Ay," says William, "that is true; but it would be better that some things
were thought on before that came."

"Thought on!" says I; "what signifies thinking of it? To think of death is
to die, and to be always thinking of it is to be all one's life long
a-dying. It is time enough to think of it when it comes."

You will easily believe I was well qualified for a pirate that could talk
thus. But let me leave it upon record, for the remark of other hardened
rogues like myself,--my conscience gave me a pang that I never felt before
when I said, "What signifies thinking of it?" and told me I should one day
think of these words with a sad heart; but the time of my reflection was
not yet come; so I went on.

Says William very seriously, "I must tell thee, friend, I am sorry to hear
thee talk so. They that never think of dying, often die without thinking of
it."

I carried on the jesting way a while farther, and said, "Prithee, do not
talk of dying; how do we know we shall ever die?" and began to laugh.

"I need not answer thee to that," says William; "it is not my place to
reprove thee, who art commander over me here; but I would rather thou
wouldst talk otherwise of death; it is a coarse thing."

"Say anything to me, William," said I; "I will take it kindly." I began now
to be very much moved at his discourse.

Says William (tears running down his face), "It is because men live as if
they were never to die, that so many die before they know how to live. But
it was not death that I meant when I said that there was something to be
thought of beyond this way of living."

"Why, William," said I, "what was that?"

"It was repentance," says he.

"Why," says I, "did you ever know a pirate repent?"

At this he startled a little, and returned, "At the gallows I have [known]
one before, and I hope thou wilt be the second."

He spoke this very affectionately, with an appearance of concern for me.

"Well, William," says I, "I thank you; and I am not so senseless of these
things, perhaps, as I make myself seem to be. But come, let me hear your
proposal."

"My proposal," says William, "is for thy good as well as my own. We may put
an end to this kind of life, and repent; and I think the fairest occasion
offers for both, at this very time, that ever did, or ever will, or,
indeed, can happen again."

"Look you, William," says I; "let me have your proposal for putting an end
to our present way of living first, for that is the case before us, and you
and I will talk of the other afterwards. I am not so insensible," said I,
"as you may think me to be. But let us get out of this hellish condition we
are in first."

"Nay," says William, "thou art in the right there; we must never talk of
repenting while we continue pirates."

"Well," says I, "William, that's what I meant; for if we must not reform,
as well as be sorry for what is done, I have no notion what repentance
means; indeed, at best I know little of the matter; but the nature of the
thing seems to tell me that the first step we have to take is to break off
this wretched course; and I'll begin there with you, with all my heart."

I could see by his countenance that William was thoroughly pleased with the
offer; and if he had tears in-his eyes before, he had more now; but it was
from quite a different passion; for he was so swallowed up with joy he
could not speak.

"Come, William," says I, "thou showest me plain enough thou hast an honest
meaning; dost thou think it practicable for us to put an end to our unhappy
way of living here, and get off?"

"Yes," says he, "I think it very practicable for me; whether it is for thee
or no, that will depend upon thyself."

"Well," says I, "I give you my word, that as I have commanded you all
along, from the time I first took you on board, so you shall command me
from this hour, and everything you direct me I'll do."

"Wilt thou leave it all to me? Dost thou say this freely?"

"Yes, William," said I, "freely; and I'll perform it faithfully."

"Why, then," says William, "my scheme is this: We are now at the mouth of
the Gulf of Persia; we have sold so much of our cargo here at Surat, that
we have money enough; send me away for Bassorah with the sloop, laden with
the China goods we have on board, which will make another good cargo, and
I'll warrant thee I'll find means, among the English and Dutch merchants
there, to lodge a quantity of goods and money also as a merchant, so as we
will be able to have recourse to it again upon any occasion, and when I
come home we will contrive the rest; and, in the meantime, do you bring the
ship's crew to take a resolution to go to Madagascar as soon as I return."

I told him I thought he need not go so far as Bassorah, but might run into
Gombroon, or to Ormuz, and pretend the same business.

"No," says he, "I cannot act with the same freedom there, because the
Company's factories are there, and I may be laid hold of there on pretence
of interloping."

"Well, but," said I, "you may go to Ormuz, then; for I am loth to part with
you so long as to go to the bottom of the Persian Gulf." He returned, that
I should leave it to him to do as he should see cause.

We had taken a large sum of money at Surat, so that we had near a hundred
thousand pounds in money at our command, but on board the great ship we had
still a great deal more.

I ordered him publicly to keep the money on board which he had, and to buy
up with it a quantity of ammunition, if he could get it, and so to furnish
us for new exploits; and, in the meantime, I resolved to get a quantity of
gold and some jewels, which I had on board the great ship, and place them
so that I might carry them off without notice as soon as he came back; and
so, according to William's directions, I left him to go the voyage, and I
went on board the great ship, in which we had indeed an immense treasure.

We waited no less than two months for William's return, and indeed I began
to be very uneasy about William, sometimes thinking he had abandoned me,
and that he might have used the same artifice to have engaged the other men
to comply with him, and so they were gone away together; and it was but
three days before his return that I was just upon the point of resolving to
go away to Madagascar, and give him over; but the old surgeon, who mimicked
the Quaker and passed for the master of the sloop at Surat, persuaded me
against that, for which good advice and apparent faithfulness in what he
had been trusted with, I made him a party to my design, and he proved very
honest.

At length William came back, to our inexpressible joy, and brought a great
many necessary things with him; as, particularly, he brought sixty barrels
of powder, some iron shot, and about thirty ton of lead; also he brought a
great deal of provisions; and, in a word, William gave me a public account
of his voyage, in the hearing of whoever happened to be upon the
quarter-deck, that no suspicions might be found about us.

After all was done, William moved that he might go up again, and that I
would go with him; named several things which we had on board that he could
not sell there; and, particularly, told us he had been obliged to leave
several things there, the caravans being not come in; and that he had
engaged to come back again with goods.

This was what I wanted. The men were eager for his going, and particularly
because he told them they might load the sloop back with rice and
provisions; but I seemed backward to going, when the old surgeon stood up
and persuaded me to go, and with many arguments pressed me to it; as,
particularly, if I did not go, there would be no order, and several of the
men might drop away, and perhaps betray all the rest; and that they should
not think it safe for the sloop to go again if I did not go; and to urge me
to it, he offered himself to go with me.

Upon these considerations I seemed to be over-persuaded to go, and all the
company seemed to be better satisfied when I had consented; and,
accordingly, we took all the powder, lead, and iron out of the sloop into
the great ship, and all the other things that were for the ship's use, and
put in some bales of spices and casks or frails of cloves, in all about
seven ton, and some other goods, among the bales of which I had conveyed
all my private treasure, which, I assure you, was of no small value, and
away I went.

At going off I called a council of all the officers in the ship to consider
in what place they should wait for me, and how long, and we appointed the
ship to stay eight-and-twenty days at a little island on the Arabian side
of the Gulf, and that, if the sloop did not come in that time, they should
sail to another island to the west of that place, and wait there fifteen
days more, and that then, if the sloop did not come, they should conclude
some accident must have happened, and the rendezvous should be at
Madagascar.

Being thus resolved, we left the ship, which both William and I, and the
surgeon, never intended to see any more. We steered directly for the Gulf,
and through to Bassorah, or Balsara. This city of Balsara lies at some
distance from the place where our sloop lay, and the river not being very
safe, and we but ill acquainted with it, having but an ordinary pilot, we
went on shore at a village where some merchants live, and which is very
populous, for the sake of small vessels riding there.

Here we stayed and traded three or four days, landing all our bales and
spices, and indeed the whole cargo that was of any considerable value,
which we chose to do rather than go up immediately to Balsara till the
project we had laid was put in execution.

After we had bought several goods, and were preparing to buy several
others, the boat being on shore with twelve men, myself, William, the
surgeon, and one fourth man, whom we had singled out, we contrived to send
a Turk just at the dusk of the evening with a letter to the boatswain, and
giving the fellow a charge to run with all possible speed, we stood at a
small distance to observe the event. The contents of the letter were thus
written by the old doctor:--

"BOATSWAIN THOMAS,--We are all betrayed. For God's sake make off with the
boat, and get on board, or you are all lost. The captain, William the
Quaker, and George the reformade are seized and carried away: I am escaped
and hid, but cannot stir out; if I do I am a dead man. As soon as you are
on board cut or slip, and make sail for your lives. Adieu.--R.S."

We stood undiscovered, as above, it being the dusk of the evening, and saw
the Turk deliver the letter, and in three minutes we saw all the men hurry
into the boat and put off, and no sooner were they on board than they took
the hint, as we supposed, for the next morning they were out of sight, and
we never heard tale or tidings of them since.

We were now in a good place, and in very good circumstances, for we passed
for merchants of Persia.

It is not material to record here what a mass of ill-gotten wealth we had
got together: it will be more to the purpose to tell you that I began to be
sensible of the crime of getting of it in such a manner as I had done; that
I had very little satisfaction in the possession of it; and, as I told
William, I had no expectation of keeping it, nor much desire; but, as I
said to him one day walking out into the fields near the town of Bassorah,
so I depended upon it that it would be the case, which you will hear
presently.

We were perfectly secured at Bassorah, by having frighted away the rogues,
our comrades; and we had nothing to do but to consider how to convert our
treasure into things proper to make us look like merchants, as we were now
to be, and not like freebooters, as we really had been.

We happened very opportunely here upon a Dutchman, who had travelled from
Bengal to Agra, the capital city of the Great Mogul, and from thence was
come to the coast of Malabar by land, and got shipping, somehow or other,
up the Gulf; and we found his design was to go up the great river to Bagdad
or Babylon, and so, by the caravan, to Aleppo and Scanderoon. As William
spoke Dutch, and was of an agreeable, insinuating behaviour, he soon got
acquainted with this Dutchman, and discovering our circumstances to one
another, we found he had considerable effects with him; and that he had
traded long in that country, and was making homeward to his own country;
and that he had servants with him; one an Armenian, whom he had taught to
speak Dutch, and who had something of his own, but had a mind to travel
into Europe; and the other a Dutch sailor, whom he had picked up by his
fancy, and reposed a great trust in him, and a very honest fellow he was.

This Dutchman was very glad of an acquaintance, because he soon found that
we directed our thoughts to Europe also; and as he found we were encumbered
with goods only (for we let him know nothing of our money), he readily
offered us his assistance to dispose of as many of them as the place we
were in would put off, and his advice what to do with the rest.

While this was doing, William and I consulted what to do with ourselves and
what we had; and first, we resolved we would never talk seriously of our
measures but in the open fields, where we were sure nobody could hear; so
every evening, when the sun began to decline and the air to be moderate we
walked out, sometimes this way, sometimes that, to consult of our affairs.

I should have observed that we had new clothed ourselves here, after the
Persian manner, with long vests of silk, a gown or robe of English crimson
cloth, very fine and handsome, and had let our beards grow so after the
Persian manner that we passed for Persian merchants, in view only, though,
by the way, we could not understand or speak one word of the language of
Persia, or indeed of any other but English and Dutch; and of the latter I
understood very little.

However, the Dutchman supplied all this for us; and as we had resolved to
keep ourselves as retired as we could, though there were several English
merchants upon the place, yet we never acquainted ourselves with one of
them, or exchanged a word with them; by which means we prevented their
inquiry of us now, or their giving any intelligence of us, if any news of
our landing here should happen to come, which, it was easy for us to know,
was possible enough, if any of our comrades fell into bad hands, or by many
accidents which we could not foresee.

It was during my being here, for here we stayed near two months, that I
grew very thoughtful about my circumstances; not as to the danger, neither
indeed were we in any, but were entirely concealed and unsuspected; but I
really began to have other thoughts of myself, and of the world, than ever
I had before.

William had struck so deep into my unthinking temper with hinting to me
that there was something beyond all this; that the present time was the
time of enjoyment, but that the time of account approached; that the work
that remained was gentler than the labour past, viz., repentance, and that
it was high time to think of it;--I say these, and such thoughts as these,
engrossed my hours, and, in a word, I grew very sad.

As to the wealth I had, which was immensely great, it was all like dirt
under my feet; I had no value for it, no peace in the possession of it, no
great concern about me for the leaving of it.

William had perceived my thoughts to be troubled and my mind heavy and
oppressed for some time; and one evening, in one of our cool walks, I began
with him about the leaving our effects. William was a wise and wary man,
and indeed all the prudentials of my conduct had for a long time been owing
to his advice, and so now all the methods for preserving our effects, and
even ourselves, lay upon him; and he had been telling me of some of the
measures he had been taking for our making homeward, and for the security
of our wealth, when I took him very short. "Why, William," says I, "dost
thou think we shall ever be able to reach Europe with all this cargo that
we have about us?"

"Ay," says William, "without doubt, as well as other merchants with theirs,
as long as it is not publicly known what quantity or of what value our
cargo consists."

"Why, William," says I, smiling, "do you think that if there is a God
above, as you have so long been telling me there is, and that we must give
an account to Him,--I say, do you think, if He be a righteous Judge, He
will let us escape thus with the plunder, as we may call it, of so many
innocent people, nay, I might say nations, and not call us to an account
for it before we can get to Europe, where we pretend to enjoy it?"

William appeared struck and surprised at the question, and made no answer
for a great while; and I repeated the question, adding that it was not to
be expected.

After a little pause, says William, "Thou hast started a very weighty
question, and I can make no positive answer to it; but I will state it
thus: first, it is true that, if we consider the justice of God, we have no
reason to expect any protection; but as the ordinary ways of Providence are
out of the common road of human affairs, so we may hope for mercy still
upon our repentance, and we know not how good He may be to us; so we are to
act as if we rather depended upon the last, I mean the merciful part, than
claimed the first, which must produce nothing but judgment and vengeance."

"But hark ye, William," says I, "the nature of repentance, as you have
hinted once to me, included reformation; and we can never reform; how,
then, can we repent?"

"Why can we never reform?" says William.

"Because," said I, "we cannot restore what we have taken away by rapine and
spoil."

"It is true," says William, "we never can do that, for we can never come to
the knowledge of the owners."

"But what, then, must be done with our wealth," said I, "the effects of
plunder and rapine? If we keep it, we continue to be robbers and thieves;
and if we quit it we cannot do justice with it, for we cannot restore it to
the right owners."

"Nay," says William, "the answer to it is short. To quit what we have, and
do it here, is to throw it away to those who have no claim to it, and to
divest ourselves of it, but to do no right with it; whereas we ought to
keep it carefully together, with a resolution to do what right with it we
are able; and who knows what opportunity Providence may put into our hands
to do justice, at least, to some of those we have injured? So we ought, at
least, to leave it to Him and go on. As it is, without doubt our present
business is to go to some place of safety, where we may wait His will."

This resolution of William was very satisfying to me indeed, as, the truth
is, all he said, and at all times, was solid and good; and had not William
thus, as it were, quieted my mind, I think, verily, I was so alarmed at the
just reason I had to expect vengeance from Heaven upon me for my ill-gotten
wealth, that I should have run away from it as the devil's goods, that I
had nothing to do with, that did not belong to me, and that I had no right
to keep, and was in certain danger of being destroyed for.

However, William settled my mind to more prudent steps than these, and I
concluded that I ought, however, to proceed to a place of safety, and leave
the event to God Almighty's mercy. But this I must leave upon record, that
I had from this time no joy of the wealth I had got. I looked upon it all
as stolen, and so indeed the greatest part of it was. I looked upon it as a
hoard of other men's goods, which I had robbed the innocent owners of, and
which I ought, in a word, to be hanged for here, and damned for hereafter.
And now, indeed, I began sincerely to hate myself for a dog; a wretch that
had been a thief and a murderer; a wretch that was in a condition which
nobody was ever in; for I had robbed, and though I had the wealth by me,
yet it was impossible I should ever make any restitution; and upon this
account it ran in my head that I could never repent, for that repentance
could not be sincere without restitution, and therefore must of necessity
be damned. There was no room for me to escape. I went about with my heart
full of these thoughts, little better than a distracted fellow; in short,
running headlong into the dreadfullest despair, and premeditating nothing
but how to rid myself out of the world; and, indeed, the devil, if such
things are of the devil's immediate doing, followed his work very close
with me, and nothing lay upon my mind for several days but to shoot myself
into the head with my pistol.

I was all this while in a vagrant life, among infidels, Turks, pagans, and
such sort of people. I had no minister, no Christian to converse with but
poor William. He was my ghostly father or confessor, and he was all the
comfort I had. As for my knowledge of religion, you have heard my history.
You may suppose I had not much; and as for the Word of God, I do not
remember that I ever read a chapter in the Bible in my lifetime. I was
little Bob at Bussleton, and went to school to learn my Testament.

However, it pleased God to make William the Quaker everything to me. Upon
this occasion, I took him out one evening, as usual, and hurried him away
into the fields with me, in more haste than ordinary; and there, in short,
I told him the perplexity of my mind, and under what terrible temptations
of the devil I had been; that I must shoot myself, for I could not support
the weight and terror that was upon me.

"Shoot yourself!" says William; "why, what will that do for you?"

"Why," says I, "it will put an end to a miserable life."

"Well," says William, "are you satisfied the next will be better?"

"No, no," says I; "much worse, to be sure."

"Why, then," says he, "shooting yourself is the devil's motion, no doubt;
for it is the devil of a reason, that, because thou art in an ill case,
therefore thou must put thyself into a worse."

This shocked my reason indeed. "Well, but," says I, "there is no bearing
the miserable condition I am in."

"Very well," says William; "but it seems there is some bearing a worse
condition; and so you will shoot yourself, that you may be past remedy?"

"I am past remedy already," says I.

"How do you know that?" says he.

"I am satisfied of it," said I.

"Well," says he, "but you are not sure; so you will shoot yourself to make
it certain; for though on this side death you cannot be sure you will be
damned at all, yet the moment you step on the other side of time you are
sure of it; for when it is done, it is not to be said then that you will
be, but that you are damned."

"Well, but," says William, as if he had been between jest and earnest,
"pray, what didst thou dream of last night?"

"Why," said I, "I had frightful dreams all night; and, particularly, I
dreamed that the devil came for me, and asked me what my name was; and I
told him. Then he asked me what trade I was. 'Trade?' says I; 'I am a
thief, a rogue, by my calling: I am a pirate and a murderer, and ought to
be hanged.' 'Ay, ay,' says the devil, 'so you do; and you are the man I
looked for, and therefore come along with me.' At which I was most horribly
frighted, and cried out so that it waked me; and I have been in horrible
agony ever since."

"Very well," says William; "come, give me the pistol thou talkedst of just
now."

"Why," says I, "what will you do with it?"

"Do with it!" says William. "Why, thou needest not shoot thyself; I shall
be obliged to do it for thee. Why, thou wilt destroy us all."

"What do you mean, William?" said I.

"Mean!" said he; "nay, what didst thou mean, to cry out aloud in thy sleep,
'I am a thief, a pirate, a murderer, and ought to be hanged'? Why, thou
wilt ruin us all. 'Twas well the Dutchman did not understand English. In
short, I must shoot thee, to save my own life. Come, come," says he, "give
me thy pistol."

I confess this terrified me again another way, and I began to be sensible
that, if anybody had been near me to understand English, I had been undone.
The thought of shooting myself forsook me from that time; and I turned to
William, "You disorder me extremely, William," said I; "why, I am never
safe, nor is it safe to keep me company. What shall I do? I shall betray
you all."

"Come, come, friend Bob," says he, "I'll put an end to it all, if you will
take my advice."

"How's that?" said I.

"Why, only," says he, "that the next time thou talkest with the devil, thou
wilt talk a little softlier, or we shall be all undone, and you too."

This frighted me, I must confess, and allayed a great deal of the trouble
of mind I was in. But William, after he had done jesting with me, entered
upon a very long and serious discourse with me about the nature of my
circumstances, and about repentance; that it ought to be attended, indeed,
with a deep abhorrence of the crime that I had to charge myself with; but
that to despair of God's mercy was no part of repentance, but putting
myself into the condition of the devil; indeed, that I must apply myself
with a sincere, humble confession of my crime, to ask pardon of God, whom I
had offended, and cast myself upon His mercy, resolving to be willing to
make restitution, if ever it should please God to put it in my power, even
to the utmost of what I had in the world. And this, he told me, was the
method which he had resolved upon himself; and in this, he told me, he had
found comfort.

I had a great deal of satisfaction in William's discourse, and it quieted
me very much; but William was very anxious ever after about my talking in
my sleep, and took care to lie with me always himself, and to keep me from
lodging in any house where so much as a word of English was understood.

However, there was not the like occasion afterward; for I was much more
composed in my mind, and resolved for the future to live a quite different
life from what I had done. As to the wealth I had, I looked upon it as
nothing; I resolved to set it apart to any such opportunity of doing
justice as God should put into my hand; and the miraculous opportunity I
had afterwards of applying some parts of it to preserve a ruined family,
whom I had plundered, may be worth reading, if I have room for it in this
account.

With these resolutions I began to be restored to some degree of quiet in my
mind; and having, after almost three months' stay at Bassorah, disposed of
some goods, but having a great quantity left, we hired boats according to
the Dutchman's direction, and went up to Bagdad, or Babylon, on the river
Tigris, or rather Euphrates. We had a very considerable cargo of goods with
us, and therefore made a great figure there, and were received with
respect. We had, in particular, two-and-forty bales of Indian stuffs of
sundry sorts, silks, muslins, and fine chintz; we had fifteen bales of very
fine China silks, and seventy packs or bales of spices, particularly cloves
and nutmegs, with other goods. We were bid money here for our cloves, but
the Dutchman advised us not to part with them, and told us we should get a
better price at Aleppo, or in the Levant; so we prepared for the caravan.

We concealed our having any gold or pearls as much as we could, and
therefore sold three or four bales of China silks and Indian calicoes, to
raise money to buy camels and to pay the customs which are taken at several
places, and for our provisions over the deserts.

I travelled this journey, careless to the last degree of my goods or
wealth, believing that, as I came by it all by rapine and violence, God
would direct that it should be taken from me again in the same manner; and,
indeed, I think I might say I was very willing it should be so. But, as I
had a merciful Protector above me, so I had a most faithful steward,
counsellor, partner, or whatever I might call him, who was my guide, my
pilot, my governor, my everything, and took care both of me and of all we
had; and though he had never been in any of these parts of the world, yet
he took the care of all upon him; and in about nine-and-fifty days we
arrived from Bassorah, at the mouth of the river Tigris or Euphrates,
through the desert, and through Aleppo to Alexandria, or, as we call it,
Scanderoon, in the Levant.

Here William and I, and the other two, our faithful comrades, debated what
we should do; and here William and I resolved to separate from the other
two, they resolving to go with the Dutchman into Holland, by the means of
some Dutch ship which lay then in the road. William and I told them we
resolved to go and settle in the Morea, which then belonged to the
Venetians.

It is true we acted wisely in it not to let them know whither we went,
seeing we had resolved to separate; but we took our old doctor's directions
how to write to him in Holland, and in England, that we might have
intelligence from him on occasion, and promised to give him an account how
to write to us, which we afterwards did, as may in time be made out.

We stayed here some time after they were gone, till at length, not being
thoroughly resolved whither to go till then, a Venetian ship touched at
Cyprus, and put in at Scanderoon to look for freight home. We took the
hint, and bargaining for our passage, and the freight of our goods, we
embarked for Venice, where, in two-and-twenty days, we arrived safe, with
all our treasure, and with such a cargo, take our goods and our money and
our jewels together, as, I believed, was never brought into the city by two
single men, since the state of Venice had a being.

We kept ourselves here _incognito_ for a great while, passing for two
Armenian merchants still, as we had done before; and by this time we had
gotten so much of the Persian and Armenian jargon, which they talked at
Bassorah and Bagdad, and everywhere that we came in the country, as was
sufficient to make us able to talk to one another, so as not to be
understood by anybody, though sometimes hardly by ourselves.

Here we converted all our effects into money, settled our abode as for a
considerable time, and William and I, maintaining an inviolable friendship
and fidelity to one another, lived like two brothers; we neither had or
sought any separate interest; we conversed seriously and gravely, and upon
the subject of our repentance continually; we never changed, that is to
say, so as to leave off our Armenian garbs; and we were called, at Venice,
the two Grecians.

I had been two or three times going to give a detail of our wealth, but it
will appear incredible, and we had the greatest difficulty in the world how
to conceal it, being justly apprehensive lest we might be assassinated in
that country for our treasure. At length William told me he began to think
now that he must never see England any more, and that indeed he did not
much concern himself about it; but seeing we had gained so great wealth,
and he had some poor relations in England, if I was willing, he would write
to know if they were living, and to know what condition they were in, and
if he found such of them were alive as he had some thoughts about, he
would, with my consent, send them something to better their condition.

I consented most willingly; and accordingly William wrote to a sister and
an uncle, and in about five weeks' time received an answer from them both,
directed to himself, under cover of a hard Armenian name that he had given
himself, viz., Signore Constantine Alexion of Ispahan, at Venice.

It was a very moving letter he received from his sister, who, after the
most passionate expressions of joy to hear he was alive, seeing she had
long ago had an account that he was murdered by the pirates in the West
Indies, entreats him to let her know what circumstances he was in; tells
him she was not in any capacity to do anything considerable for him, but
that he should be welcome to her with all her heart; that she was left a
widow, with four children, but kept a little shop in the Minories, by which
she made shift to maintain her family; and that she had sent him five
pounds, lest he should want money, in a strange country, to bring him home.

I could see the letter brought tears out of his eyes as he read it; and,
indeed, when he showed it to me, and the little bill for five pounds, upon
an English merchant in Venice, it brought tears out of my eyes too.

After we had been both affected sufficiently with the tenderness and
kindness of this letter, he turns to me; says he, "What shall I do for this
poor woman?" I mused a while; at last says I, "I will tell you what you
shall do for her. She has sent you five pounds, and she has four children,
and herself, that is five; such a sum, from a poor woman in her
circumstances, is as much as five thousand pounds is to us; you shall send
her a bill of exchange for five thousand pounds English money, and bid her
conceal her surprise at it till she hears from you again; but bid her leave
off her shop, and go and take a house somewhere in the country, not far off
from London, and stay there, in a moderate figure, till she hears from you
again."

"Now," says William, "I perceive by it that you have some thoughts of
venturing into England."

"Indeed, William," said I, "you mistake me; but it presently occurred to me
that you should venture, for what have you done that you may not be seen
there? Why should I desire to keep you from your relations, purely to keep
me company?"

William looked very affectionately upon me. "Nay," says he, "we have
embarked together so long, and come together so far, I am resolved I will
never part with thee as long as I live, go where thou wilt, or stay where
thou wilt; and as for my sister," said William, "I cannot send her such a
sum of money, for whose is all this money we have? It is most of it thine."

"No, William," said I, "there is not a penny of it mine but what is yours
too, and I won't have anything but an equal share with you, and therefore
you shall send it to her; if not, I will send it."

"Why," says William, "it will make the poor woman distracted; she will be
so surprised she will go out of her wits."

"Well," said I, "William, you may do it prudently; send her a bill backed
of a hundred pounds, and bid her expect more in a post or two, and that you
will send her enough to live on without keeping shop, and then send her
more."

Accordingly William sent her a very kind letter, with a bill upon a
merchant in London for a hundred and sixty pounds, and bid her comfort
herself with the hope that he should be able in a little time to send her
more. About ten days after, he sent her another bill of five hundred and
forty pounds; and a post or two after, another for three hundred pounds,
making in all a thousand pounds; and told her he would send her sufficient
to leave off her shop, and directed her to take a house as above.

He waited then till he received an answer to all the three letters, with an
account that she had received the money, and, which I did not expect, that
she had not let any other acquaintance know that she had received a
shilling from anybody, or so much as that he was alive, and would not till
she had heard again.

When he showed me this letter, "Well, William," said I, "this woman is fit
to be trusted with life or anything; send her the rest of the five thousand
pounds, and I'll venture to England with you, to this woman's house,
whenever you will."

In a word, we sent her five thousand pounds in good bills; and she received
them very punctually, and in a little time sent her brother word that she
had pretended to her uncle that she was sickly and could not carry on the
trade any longer, and that she had taken a large house about four miles
from London, under pretence of letting lodgings for her livelihood; and, in
short, intimated as if she understood that he intended to come over to be
_incognito_, assuring him he should be as retired as he pleased.

This was opening the very door for us that we thought had been effectually
shut for this life; and, in a word, we resolved to venture, but to keep
ourselves entirely concealed, both as to name and every other circumstance;
and accordingly William sent his sister word how kindly he took her prudent
steps, and that she had guessed right that he desired to be retired, and
that he obliged her not to increase her figure, but live private, till she
might perhaps see him.

He was going to send the letter away. "Come, William," said I, "you shan't
send her an empty letter; tell her you have a friend coming with you that
must be as retired as yourself, and I'll send her five thousand pounds
more."

So, in short, we made this poor woman's family rich; and yet, when it came
to the point, my heart failed me, and I durst not venture; and for William,
he would not stir without me; and so we stayed about two years after this,
considering what we should do.

You may think, perhaps, that I was very prodigal of my ill-gotten goods,
thus to load a stranger with my bounty, and give a gift like a prince to
one that had been able to merit nothing of me, or indeed know me; but my
condition ought to be considered in this case; though I had money to
profusion, yet I was perfectly destitute of a friend in the world, to have
the least obligation or assistance from, or knew not either where to
dispose or trust anything I had while I lived, or whom to give it to if I
died.

When I had reflected upon the manner of my getting of it, I was sometimes
for giving it all to charitable uses, as a debt due to mankind, though I
was no Roman Catholic, and not at all of the opinion that it would purchase
me any repose to my soul; but I thought, as it was got by a general
plunder, and which I could make no satisfaction for, it was due to the
community, and I ought to distribute it for the general good. But still I
was at a loss how, and where, and by whom to settle this charity, not
daring to go home to my own country, lest some of my comrades, strolled
home, should see and detect me, and for the very spoil of my money, or the
purchase of his own pardon, betray and expose me to an untimely end.

Being thus destitute, I say, of a friend, I pitched thus upon William's
sister; the kind step of hers to her brother, whom she thought to be in
distress, signifying a generous mind and a charitable disposition; and
having resolved to make her the object of my first bounty, I did not doubt
but I should purchase something of a refuge for myself, and a kind of a
centre, to which I should tend in my future actions; for really a man that
has a subsistence, and no residence, no place that has a magnetic influence
upon his affections, is in one of the most odd, uneasy conditions in the
world, nor is it in the power of all his money to make it up to him.

It was, as I told you, two years and upwards that we remained at Venice and
thereabout, in the greatest hesitation imaginable, irresolute and unfixed
to the last degree. William's sister importuned us daily to come to
England, and wondered we should not dare to trust her, whom we had to such
a degree obliged to be faithful; and in a manner lamented her being
suspected by us.

At last I began to incline; and I said to William, "Come, brother William,"
said I (for ever since our discourse at Bassorah I called him brother), "if
you will agree to two or three things with me, I'll go home to England with
all my heart."

Says William, "Let me know what they are."

"Why, first," says I, "you shall not disclose yourself to any of your
relations in England but your sister--no, not one; secondly, we will not
shave off our mustachios or beards" (for we had all along worn our beards
after the Grecian manner), "nor leave off our long vests, that we may pass
for Grecians and foreigners; thirdly, that we shall never speak English in
public before anybody, your sister excepted; fourthly, that we will always
live together and pass for brothers."

William said he would agree to them all with all his heart, but that the
not speaking English would be the hardest, but he would do his best for
that too; so, in a word, we agreed to go from Venice to Naples, where we
converted a large sum of money into bales of silk, left a large sum in a
merchant's hands at Venice, and another considerable sum at Naples, and
took bills of exchange for a great deal too; and yet we came with such a
cargo to London as few American merchants had done for some years, for we
loaded in two ships seventy-three bales of thrown silk, besides thirteen
bales of wrought silks, from the duchy of Milan, shipped at Genoa, with all
which I arrived safely; and some time after I married my faithful
protectress, William's sister, with whom I am much more happy than I
deserve.

And now, having so plainly told you that I am come to England, after I have
so boldly owned what life I have led abroad, it is time to leave off, and
say no more for the present, lest some should be willing to inquire too
nicely after your old friend CAPTAIN BOB.




[Transcriber's Note: The words "thae" (Scottish dialect for "those") and
"Geat Mogul" ("Great" may be meant) do occur as such in the print copy.]










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