always exposed to the rigours of bad seasons The natural inclination which I always had to know the wonders of Nature gave me a very sensible pleasure at the relation of them and as I sometimes desired of our Merchants to go abroad into the Country and examin the truth of these things which were told us so I shall give this Abridgement of them as follows This Country has not half the Inhabitants in it that Portugal has I know not whether it may happen from the little Inclination and the great difficulty there is to engender The Men there are entirely naked only within these few years there are some that begin to imitate the Europeans and cover what we call Shameful 'T is certain that the abundance of their Countrey renders them negligent slothful simple and stupid after having considered them sometimes I was forced to acknowledge that Man naturally becomes slothful when he has nothing to do and that Idleness transforms him to a Beast The Soil of these Regions which is watered throughout with the Rivers of Zair and Cariza produces Fruits in Abundance without any Labour and these Fruits are so delicate and nourishing that they fully satisfie those which eat of them even the very Water of certain Fountains has I know not what delicacy and juice which satisfies those that drink thereof We staid there a considerable time but without any expense because the People despise Gain the Countrey furnishing in abundance all that one can wish There 's so little need of Houses in this Countrey that no body goes into them and as the Nights have all the sweetness that one can desire so 't is better to sleep abroad than under a covering they know not how to make use of Beds yet they have their Reserves of some Mattresses for the weaker sort to lye upon tho there is no body that sleeps not upon the Ground All these Considerations gave me an Idea of a People who being not obliged to Labour lived with some justice in the midst of Idleness which rendred them dull negligent sleeping disdainful without Exercise and without Action Our Captain gave Liberty to me and three more of our Company to go by the River Zair to a Lake of the same Name we had all the Pleasure and Satisfaction possible in this Voyage Take one part of the most considerable Remarks which I then made as far as my Memory will assist me We arrived in twenty four days at the mouth of the Lake we went about it in ten and we came back again to the Fleet in twenty more the River Zair is not rapid and as we had four good Oars we could easily make fifteen and eighteen Leagues a day nevertheless 't is certain we never made above eight in going whence we may easily see how much our Geographers are deceived that place the Lake of Zair three hundred Leagues from the Sea that which obliged us to such little Journeys was the number of Curiosities which continually presented themselves to our Eyes in Fruits Flowers Fishes and tame Animals we could scarce remark a place in the vast Meadows of sixty and eighty Leagues long which was not enriched with a Marvellous Tapestry of Flowers which would pass for rare in the finest Cardens in Europe I could scarce see my Feet tread upon so many Miracles of Nature without Indignation but the vast quantity of them was the cause that they were no more esteemed then our Field Dazies there is scarce a Tree which does not bear some precious Fruits and such as are incomparably better than all that we know and Nature hath so accommodated them to the Constitution of the Inhabitants that they might be gathered without incommodety and danger we lived not upon any other Nourishment nor did we desire any more Our Master Pilot Sebastiano Deles a Man of great Experience seeing that we were admiring why we should go to the East-Indies for their Delicates and Curiosities and never brought back none of those things that we saw in this Countrey said That 't was with these Fruits as with Viands well baked and seasoned which could not be preserved four days with their ordinary Gust this obliged me to make the Experiment and I saw that indeed they would not be kept long without Corruption 't is true that in eating them we find 'em perfectly digesting nourishing and conformable to the Stomach very different from our Fruit and which brings at last as much Indisposition to the Body as Pleasure to the Taste For this Cause they may be preserved since their Crudity strives with their natural heat whereas those at Manicongo being perfectly ripe are spoiled in a little time and as nature has provided that some are always dying so the Trees are always laden with Flowers Buds and Fruits some green some rotten and others proper to Eat Amongst the great quantity of Fishes which I remarkt in the River Zair I saw two sorts which surprized me I may call the one Amphibious since they are something like our Water Spaniels and come as easily out of the Water they leap almost like Foxes with this difference that their Paws are as large as the Feet of our Drakes and those before are twice or thrice as short as those behind they have so great an Inclination for a Man that they will seek him out and offer them selves to him as so much Sacrifice it happens sometimes that they will even leap into Boats and come to the Feet of the Watermen to fawn upon them like Dogs this I saw with my Eyes and I wish not over well to a Water man that struck one of 'em down at my Feet the Natives of the Countrey call them Cadzeick and their Flesh resembles that of our Spanish Otters The other that I admired were slying Fâ—shes and we might well call them Sea Peacocks but much more fine and of a brighter Colour than those at Land 't is rarely that they swim at the bottom of the Water but they are almost always seen at the top their Feathers appear just like the Scales of Fishes but with a diversity of Green Blew Yellow and speckled with Red which ravishes the Eyes of such as behold them these which I saw out of the Water appeared like great Eagles with two Wings every one with five or six Feet one would believe that they affected to be seen and admired sometimes did they gather together in a Circle round the Boat sometimes they placed themselves right against those who lookt upon them turning and returning after all manners with Trains which dazelled our Eyes The Shores were full of many sorts of Animals but the most common and the most charming resembled our Sheep at Leira excepting that we saw some of almost all Colours I mean Red Green Yellow and a Blew so shining that our Purple and best prepared Silks come not near them I askt why no one traffickt in such glistering rarities and 't was answered that these Natural
can have a certain knowledge of as to that side of Australia which is towards the Line it is limited towards the Pole by prodigious Mountains much higher and more in accessible than the Pirhenean which separate France from Spain they call them Ivas and they begin towards the fiftieth degree falling insensibly for sixty five Meridians unto the sixtieth degree and then rising again unto the forty eighth and returning afterwards unto the fifty fifth degree after which it rises to the forty third and then ends in the Sea At the foot of these Mountains they distinguish these following Countrys Curf which extends it self from the Mountains unto Huff afterwards Curd then Gurf Durf Jurf and Surf which last ends in the Sea In the middle of the Countrys between the Mountains and the Australian Coasts lies Trum Sum Burd Purd Burf Turf and Pulg which joyns to the Sea Thus the Australian Territories contain twenty seven different Countries which are all very considerable and are altogether about three thousand Legues in length and four or five hundred in breadth The Vally which is on the other side of the Mountains is sometimes twenty degrees broad and sometimes but six only it is parted by two Rivers which are very broad at the mouth one of which runs to the West and is called Sulm and the other to the East named Hulm The length of this Country is about eight hundred Leagues and its breadth six hundred in some places but in most but three All this vast Land is called Fund and is under two or three Governors which very often make cruel Wars one against the other But what is most surprizing in the Australian Dominions is that there is not one Mountain to be seen the Natives having levelled them all To this prodigy may by added the admirable uniformity of Languages Customs Buildings and other things which are to be met with in this Country 'T is sufficient to know one Quarter to make a certain judgment of all the rest all which without doubt proceeds from the nature of the people who are all born with an inclination of willing nothing contrary to one another and if it should happen that any one of them had any thing that was not Common 't would be impossible for him to make use of it There are fifteen thousand Sezains in this prodigious Country Each Sezain contains sixteen quarters without counting the Hub and the four Hebs there is twenty five houses in each quarter and every house has four apartments which lodge four men each so that there is four hundred houses in each Sezain and six thousand four hundred persons which being multiplied by fifteen thousand Sezains will shew the number of the Inhabitants of the whole Land to be about fourscore and 16 Millions withcounting all the Youth and Masters lodged in the Hebs in each of which there is at least eight hundred persons and as in the fifteen thousand Sezains there is sixty thousand Hebs so the young men and the Masters that teach them will be found to amount to near forty eight millions The great House of the Sezain which they call the Hab that is the House of elevation is built only with diaphonous and transparent Stones like to our finest Crystal only these Stones are diversify'd with a prodigious quantity of Figures of all forts of colours very fine and lively which by their infinite variety form sometimes Images of Mankind sometimes represent the Fields in all their Beauty and sometimes Suns and other Figures of such a vivacity as can never be too much admired The whole Building is without any Artifice except the curious cut of this Stone with Seats all round it and sixteen great Tables of a much more lively red than that of our scarlet There is four very considerable Entrances that answer to the four great ways upon which it is situate All without is filled with very rare Inventions They ascend unto the top of it by a thousand steps upon which there is a kind of Platform that will easily contain forty persons The Pavement of this stately House is much like our Jasper but the colours thereof are much more lively and are also full of Veins of a very rich blew and a yellow which surpasses the brightness of Gold No one for a constancy lives in it but each Quarter take their turns to supply the Tables for the refreshment of Passengers This great House built in the middle of the Sezain and is about an hundred paces daimeter and three hundred and thirty in circumference The House of the four Quarters by them called Heb which is the House of Education is built of the same Stone that the Hab is paved with except the Roof of it which is made of a transparent Stone through which the Light enters into it The Pavement of it something resembles our white Marble but is intermixed with a most lively red and green This fine Building is divided into four quarters by twelve great Crossings which are made like four Semi-diameters It is about fifty paces diameter and about an hundred and fifty three paces in circuit Each Division is allotted to the Youth of that Quarter it belongs to and there is at least two hundred Children whose Mothers as soon as they have conceived of them enter there and depart not till the Children are two years of age and then they go out leaving them to the Care of certain young men who are there on purpose to instruct them These young men whereof there is a very great number are divided into five Companies The first are employed in teaching First-Principles of which there are six Masters The second make it their business to give the common Reasons for Natural things among which there are four Masters The third are such as are remitted to dispute of whom there is two Masters The fourth are such as can compose and they have but one Master The fifth and last are those that expect to be chose for Lieutenants that is to fill the place of the Brethren that retire from the World of whom I shall give a particular account afterwards These are the peculiar Officers of each Quarter which contribute to the maintenance and educating part of the World and they carry very regularly every day what is necessary for their subsistence when they go to the Conference held in the House The common Houses which they call Hebs that is the Habitation of Men are in number twenty five in each Quarter each House twenty five paces diameter and fourscore paces in circumference They are divided like the Hebs by two great Walls which make four distinct separations and end each at an Apartment They are built with white Marble like the Pavement of the Hebs except the cross Bars of the Windows which are of the same Crystal with the Habs for the conveniency of giving Light to them Each Apartment is inhabited by four persons whom they call the Cle that is
My Bird who perceived them before me set upon them with great impetuosity and fury and taking up one and carrying it up into the Air he let it fall upon another and knockt it on the Head upon which all the rest immediately fled but before they could get to their Holes he catched a third of which he eat half and brought the rest to me The night following I slept with him six or seven hours but my Bird did not sleep till after me and awaked very near as soon as I He no sooner had his Eyes open but he fell upon one of the Beasts that he had slain and made his breakfast of it I eat also some of my fruits and presently got upon a little Rock and mounted his Back as before we advanced with a surprizing swiftness and had made a great deal of way when two Birds of the same bigness came to encounter us and launching themselves against us began to attack us with great blows of their Beaks and Talons It was impossible for this poor Creature to make his part good as well because his burden put him out of a state of defence as that the two Birds were each of them as strong as himself I had received already some blows which made me all bloody and also seeing that we were both of us in equal danger and that in hindering him to save his life I could not secure mine own I leaped off from his back and cast my self into the Water where I lay some time to look upon the Combat My Bird held himself upon the defensive and contented himself to present his Talons and his Beak to guard off the blows as much as he could But at last a mist which begun to spread it self insensibly quite deprived me of the sight of this spectacle I fell then into a deep grief and made many reflections upon my unhappy Estate and I was reduced to it by mine own fault Australia represented it self to me with all its advantages and the Island which I had newly left seemed to me extremely Commodious and I thought I might have past the rest of my Days there without fear or danger because my Bird would have guarded me against all that durst attacque me I then remembred that I was the cause of mine own unhappiness That which compleated my misfortune was that I knew not what to do not being able to see thirty yards before me These sad thoughts perplexed my mind when I heard a great noise like a Ship that spread all its Sails I begun to cry out when I was perceived by the Marriners who shot at me and I was wounded in many places but slightly In the mean time the Vessel approaching they knew by my voice and my actions that I was a man they took me on board and used me with great compassion they looked upon my wounds and washed them with Oil and Wine and having poured upon them a precious Balm they bound them up very neatly Because they appeared to be Europeans I spoke Latine to them I understood that they were French and that their Vessel parted a little while ago from the Isle of Madagascar with design to cruise for a booty The Captain who was a man of quality having understood that I was an European came to see me and spoke to me with a great deal of kindness gave me a suit of his apparel took me into his Company and made me eat at his Table The first entertainment I had with him lasted for three hours I recounted to him the History of my Birth of my Education of my Shipwracks and of my Arrival in Australia He heard me with a great deal of attention was astonish'd that I could survive so many evils that I had suffered I heard that he spoke in French to the Company all that I had said in Latin and all of them admired that I should escape so many dangers He had afterwards the discretion to let me eat without asking me any more questions But since I had lost the use of the European meats I found no taste in them and my stomach would scarce endure them I took then of my Fruits which begun to wax old and my little Bottles which began to dry I offered one to the Captain who tasted it and protested that he had never drank any thing so delicious He desired a second of me and drank to the Mr. Pilot he would have a third and afterwards a fourth and never ceased till my Girdle was quite empty There was no body but admired both the colour and delicacy of the Fruits and they could scarce believe they were natural Our Repast being over I was obliged to begin my History again and recount as well as I could possibly the particulars of the Australian Countrey the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants and the rest The Captain was at a great loss to believe me but I reported so many circumstances of the things which I advanced that he could no longer doubt of it He oftentimes protested that he would willingly run the danger of his Life to see those things which I had seen And upon what I said to him concerning the Situation and Bounds of the Countrey he declared that he saw plainly that his Friends who were gone thither would infallibly perish In the mean time having resolved to return to Madagascar we set Sail and after eight days sailing we arrived at the Port of Tombolo which is something Southerly to the Isle of Madagascar that is to say South-west The Captain had a great kindness for me and would have let me leave him to gratifie the Governour of Tombolo who had a mind to see me CHAP. XIV Of Sadeurs Stay in the Isle of Madagascar TOmbolo is a Port that hath a little City indifferently strong in which there is about five or six thousand Inhabitants of which the greater part are French some Portugals others English and a very few Hollanders the rest are the Natives of the Countrey who are very hard to be civiliz'd It is under the Tropick of Capricorn in the 65th Meridian according to Ptolomy This Countrey is not only barren but unhealthful so far as I am able to judge They have no provision but what is brought from other places and the natural Inhabitants of the Countrey are not yet subjected nor have any fixed abode Here again I recounted my History at length to the Governour and had many Conferences with him yet being tired with staying so long for a Ship to return into Europe I prayed the Governour to give me some Men to conduct me up the River which they call Sildem to enter higher into the Countrey to make some discoveries The Governour assured me that he had had the same curiosity formerly himself but that he was diverted from it by the certain information he had that the Inhabitants of the Countrey were such Salvages that they spared no person and he added that about three months
A New Discovery OF Terra Incognita Australis OR THE Southern World BY James Sadeur a French-man WHO Being Cast there by a Shipwrack lived 35 years in that Country and gives a particular Description of the Manners Customs Religion Laws Studies and Wars of those Southern People and of some Animals peculiar to that Place with several other Rarities These Memoirs were thought so curious that they were kept Secret in the Closet of a late Great Minister of State and never Published till now since his Death Translated from the French Copy Printed at Paris by Publick Authority April 8. 1693. Imprimatur Charles Hein London Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry 1693. THE PREFACE OF THE French Publisher THO the surprising Adventures of Mr. Sadeur and the Discovery of the Country of which you are going to read the particulars be things very Extraordinary yet 't is supposed the Reader will not much scruple to believe them when he shall be informed that a Southern unknown Land has been talkt of these 200 Years He will only wonder that since the world is now so well furnished with numbers of such skillful and curious Travellers how it should have continued so long undiscover'd and he will judge not without sufficient Grounds that they which have attempted this discovery have either been Lost in their Voyage or been Killed by the Inhabitants of the Country after they had entred it as Sadeur had been himself had it not been for the signal he gave of a prodigious Bravery and Courage before the eyes of the Australians by fighting against animals of a monstrous strength and bigness which so charmed those people who are naturally very brave themselves that they granted him the priviledge to live among them contrary to the most solemn Laws of their Country The Birth of Sadeur and his Education his Misfortunes and Shipwracks will appear to all the World as effects of a Destiny that designed him to be born for no other purpose but to be conducted afterward into that unknown Country of which we had no true Relation before his time It is true that Magellan attributed to himself the honour of having discovered this Country in the year 1520 under the name of Terra de Fugo or the Land of Five But the Hollanders have clearly convinced us that he discovered certain Islands that depend rather upon America than Australia Mark Paul the Venetian has likewise enjoyed for a considerable time the Glory of this Discovery because that being driven by a Tempest a great way beyond the Island of Java he discovered the Kingdom of Maletur the Province of Beach the Isle of Petau and another Isle which he named the Lesser Java But the Hollanders which have since settled themselves in the Greater Java and who drive all the Commerce there assure us by all their Relations that all the Countries that Pilot saw are nothing but a great cluster of many Islands that no where joyn to the Southern Continent and that is so much the more probable because Ferdinando Galego having Roved all about that Great Sea from the Strait of Magellan to the Molucca Islands reports that it is stowed with such a multitude of Islands that he counted above a thousand It is likewise true that upon comparing the Description that Ferdinando de Quir a Portugal gives of the Southern Continent with that which is contained in this Book it must needs be allowed that he hath made some Discovery of that Country For we read in his eighth Request to the King of Spain that in the Discoveries which he made in the year 1610 of the Southern Country called here Australia he found a Country much more Fertile and Populous than any in Europe that the inhabitants were much Biger and Taller than the Europeans and that they lived much longer than they And Lewis Paes de Morres who was Admiral of the Fleet of the said Ferdinando confirmed to the Councel of Spain the truth of Doaduir's Relation adding that the Air was so healthy in that Country and so conformable to the Temper of Man that people there as freely slept by Moon-light as by Day-light on the bare Earth and that not only without any incommodity but with pleasure That the Fruits there were so excellent and nourishing that the inhabitants sought no other food that they drank a much more pleastant Liquor than Wine that they knew not the use of Cloaths and that the study of Natural Knowledge was there very much Cultivated But notwithstanding all that we must needs grant on the other hand that they had but a very superficial knowledge of that Country and that what they have said of it might serve indeed to stir up the Curiosity that many had already to know it but could no way satisfie the Appetite it had raised in them with any solid and particular Account 'T is therefore to our Sadeur whose Relation here follows that we are wholly obliged for the Discovery of this before Unknown Country And I doubt not but many persons will be surprized that the name of a man to whom the World is so much beholding should lye so long concealed in obscurity as well as the particulars of his Rare Discovery But their surprize will undoubtedly cease when they shall know that the Memoirs from which this Relation was composed were long kept private in the Cabinet of a Late Great Minister of State from whence they could not be had till after his Death A Table of the Chapters CHap. 1. Of Sadeur's Birth and Education Chap. 2. Of Sadeur's Voyage to Congo Chap. 3. Of the accidents which brought Sadeur into Australia Chap. 4. A Description of Australia with a Geographical Map of the said-Country Chap. 5. Of the Constitution of the Australians and of their Customs Chap. 6. Of the Religion of the Australians Chap. 7. Of the Opinion of the Australians concerning this Life Chap. 8. Of the Exercises of the Australians Chap. 9. Of the Australian Tongue and of their Studies Chap. 10. Of the Animals or living Creatures peculiar to Australia Chap. 11. Of Australian Commodities and Rarities that might be useful to Europe Chap. 12. Of the ordinary Wars of the Australians Chap. 13. Of the Return of Sadeur to the Island of Madagascar Chap. 14. Of the stay that Sadeur made in Madagascar and the occurrences that happened in that time A New Discovery OF THE Southern World CHAP. I. Of the Birth and Education of Sadeur AS 't is impossible to reflect upon all the adventures of my Life without admiring the prodigious variety of Events which have accompanied it so I believed I ought to make a Collection and from thence remark all the most considerable Instances for altho I have yet no opportunities to send them into my own Countrey nor see any probability of returning thither yet I believe I cannot do better than commit them to writing for the frequent assistance of my Memory and
Colours fail with the Lives of the Animals Being arrived at the Lake we employed ten days in going round it and we found its length about sixty Leagues and its breadth about forty we saw the head of the River Niger which is pretty spacious and deep enough to carry a Vessel but it soon lost it self in the Mountains of Benin we rested our selves upon the Nile which is not at all inferiour in its rise to the Niger and it continues in its first state for about three Leagues there is no difficulty to go down into the Mediteranean Sea and the Communication betwixt the two Seas is also very Commondious by means of this place I carefully endeavoured to inform my self where the Crocodiles were which Historians place in such great Numbers in these Quarters but the Inhabitants could not even divine what I talkt of which made me believe they were only Fables if we may truly say that those who make long Voyages may enlarge upon them to others who only know the place of their Birth 't is yet more true to Assertion that this liberty is stretcht too far and often runs out into Fictions the reason is it often happens that Men travail a great way without seeing any thing besides Ports or never rest themselves a Moment and all the Mischievous incommodities which they saffer give so much trouble and weariress that they never think of taking any Recreation Nevertheless as Travellers are perswaded that they ought to tell something new when they come from far the more cunning they are the more capable they are of Invention and as there is no on which cannot contradict them they are pleasantly received and there is as certain a debt to the labour of their Inventions as to truth it self We went afterwards into a small Island which is in the middle of the Lake which belongs to the King of Jassalâ—er who also calls himself the King of the Lake the Natives of this Country call him Zassa and the King keeps a Fortress which is lookt upon as very famous in this Country tho in truth 't is very small in comparison of our Forts in Europe we were Charmed as soon as we set foot upon Land for there was nothing wanting for the general pleasure of all the Senses besides the order of the Aromatick Herbs which was a little too strong there were Fruits so fine so delicate and in so great quantities that the Beauty of them joyned to the abundance cloyed us but which was more surprizing than the rest and which I had never heard of was a Fountain which was as sweet as our Hipocras and which rejoyced and pleased us more than our Spanish Wine we reasoned loing enough upon the cause which should produce so agreeable a Liquor and we concluded that as all over head was embalmed in this Country so the Earth within must be of the same Nature and if there were Fountains of a very ill tast there must by consequence be those that are very sweet and agreeable we drank with an inexpressible pleasure and every one wisht to live in that place There came one of the Natives to us and with a great concern told us that drinking of that water was mortal to all such as drank to excess of it we were nâ—t long in proving the truth of what he had told us But so great a drowsiness fell upon us that we could not forbear lying down in the place where we slept above 15 hours how ever this sleep had no ill effect upon us for we rose as brisk and healthful as we were before some attributed this sleep to the great quantity of Odours which hanged over our heads and others believed this that this delicious drink we had taken was the cause of it From this Isle we were willing to go to the Source of the River Cuama which we found narrow and incapable of receiving a Boat a little time after we discoverâ—d the Fountain of the Lake it self and we reckoned above 200 Brooks which came down from the Mountain which are over against the middle of it and which the Spaniards call Mountains of the Moon because that Vasco de Gama who first doubled the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1497 to discover the Oriental Isles seeing the Moon on these Mountains appear as if it had toucht the top of them gave them this name The Natives of this Country call them the Mountains of the Ors that is of the Water because of the abundance of Water which continually runs down from them These who confound the Lake of Zembre with that of Zair speak upon very defective relations for we were assured that it was on the other side these Mountains about 50. Leagues from Zair Most Historians place a great number of Monsters in these Quartecs but upon no other foundation than the recital of those who first invented it all our enquiries could not serve us to discover the Original of a neighbouring Nation which the Europians call Caffres and the Natives the Country of Fordi We were informed that a Native having taken a small She Tigres became so familiar with the Beast that he loved her Carnally and committed that infamous Crime with her whence came an Animal half Man and half Beast which gave the original to these Savages which cannot be humanized a very probable proof of this relation is that their Heads and Feet are very like those of Tigers and even their Body is in some places markt with spots like those of these Animals We returned by the River of Cariâ—â— and staid 20 days upon the Road with the same divertisements which we had upon the River Zair except that whatever we saw as we came back was become common to us and excited a less admiration than at first CHAP. III. Of the Accidents which brought Sadeur into the Southern World SO soon as we were returned we set sail with a Wind and Sea as favourable as we could wish them we arrived in 8 days to the Cape of Good Hope where we would not stay for fear of losing the opportunity of so fair a season which is very rare in this place we were got within sight of Port Dananbolo in the Isle of Madacascar where we were wind bound for more than forty six hours afterwards an East Wind so furiously tost the Sea and drove us with that impetuosity that it broke our Cordage and drove us above a thousand Leagues to the West Many saw some Isles on the right hand and took them for those which are called the Trinity 't was there that a Rock at the top of the water broke our Vessel into two parts and where we found our selves exposed to the mercy of the most inexorable of all the Elements I could never tell what became of the other Ships nor what was the fortune of my Companions in this wreck because 't was in the night and very dark for I was only busied how to save my self my
the Sea saw part of this Combat and that four were come in a little Shalop to see if they could know who I was they believed me to be without Life and drew me into their Boat as a dead man who had expired in his Victory as soon as they perceiv'd any motion in my heart they put into my Mouth Nose and Ears a Liquor which soon made me open my Eyes and see my Benefactors they made me drink of a sort of Water which gave me new strength and recovered my Spirits they washt my Body with an odoriferous Water they anointed my Wounds and bound them up very Commodiously having thus brought me out of danger they pursued my Enemies and having drawn the last into the Boat they laid him at my feet the other had still some motion but explaining to them by signs that I had pluckt out his Eyes they pursued him took him and laid him upon the other with great marks of rejoycing they returned to Land from which they were distant about three hours rowing and having brought me to shoar they bore the two Fowls at my feet with acclamations like to those they are used to make in their greatest Victories CHAP. IV. A Discription of the Australian World IF there was any thing in the World which could perswade me of the inevitable fatallity of humane things and the infalible accomplishments of those events the Chain of which composes the destiny of Mankind it would certainly be this History that I am writing there is not on single accident of my Life which has not been serviceable either to direct or support me in this new Country where it was decreed I should one day be driven My often Shipwracks taught me to bear them both Sexes were necessary for me under pain of being destroyed at my arrival as I shall show in the sequel of my Story It was my good fortune to be found naked otherwise I had been known to be a Stranger in a Land where no one wears any covering without that terrible combat that I was obliged to maintain against the monstrous Fowls I have before mention'd and which brought me into great reputation amongst those that were wittnesses of it I should have been forced to have submitted to an examination that would have been infallibly followed with my death Infine the more all the Circumstances of my Voyages and perils shall be considered the more clearly it will appear that there is a certain order of things in the fate of man and such a chain of effects that nothing can prevent and which brings us by a thousand imperceptible turnings to the end to which we are destined The custom of the Inhabitants of this Country is never to receive any person amongst them whose Humour Birth and Country they know not before But the extraordinary Courge with which they had seen me fight and the great admiration they conceiv'd at my reviving after it made me without any inquest be admitted into the neighbouring quarter where every one came to Kiss my Hands They would also have carryed me upon their Heads the greatest mark of high esteem that they show to any person but as they perceived it could not be without incomoding me so they omitted this ceremony My reception being made those that had brought and comforted me carryed me to the House of the Heb which signifies a House of Education they had provided me a lodging and all things necessary with such a diligence as surpassed the Civility of the most polished Europeans I was scarcely arrived when two Hundred young Australians came and saluted me in a very friendly manner the desire I had to speak to them made me call to mind some words that I had heard at Congo and among others that of Rimlen which I made use of it signifies I am your Servant at this word they believed me to be of their own Country and cryed out with great signs of joy Le cle le cle that is our Brother our Brother and at the same time presented me with two fruits of a red colour intermixt with blew I had no sooner eat them but they refreshed and strengthend me very much they gave me afterwards a kind of a yellow bottle of Liquor that held about a good glass which I drank with such a pleasure as I had never before felt I was in this Country and amongst these New faces like a man fallen from the Clouds and I found it difficult to believe I truly saw what I did I imagin'd to my self sometimes that perhaps I might be dead or at least in a Trance and when I convinced my self by many reasons that I was certainly alive and in my perfect sences and yet I could not perswade my self that I was in the same Country or with men of the same Nature of our Europeans I was entirely cured in fifteen days and in five Months learnt enough of the Language to understand others and to explain my self to them I have here therefore set down the best account of the Australian Territories that I could get either by the relations of others or cou'd describe according to the Meridan of Ptolemy It begins in the three hundred and fortieth Meridian towards the fifty second degree of Southern Elevation it advances on the side of the Line in forty Meridians until it comes to the fortieth degree The whole Land is called Hust The Land continues in this elevation about 15 degrees and they call it Hube from the fifteenth Meridian the Sea gains and sinks by little and little into twenty five Meridians until it comes to the fifty first degree And all on the western side is called Hump The Sea makes a very considerable Gulph there which they call Ilab The Earth afterwards falls back towards the Line and in four Meridians advances unto the two and fortieth degree and a half and this Eastern side is called Hue The Earth continues in this elevation about thirty six Meridians which they call Huod after this long extent of Earth the Sea regains and advances unto the forty-ninth degree in three Meridians and having made a kind of semicircle in five Meridians the Earth returns and goes â—n unto the thirtieth degree in six Meridians and this Western side is called Huge The bottom of the Gulph Pug â—nd the other side Pur the Land conâ—inues about 34 Meridians almost in â—he same elevation and that is call'd the Land of Sub after which the Sea rises and seems to become higher than ordinary wholly overflowing the Earth and falls again by little and little towards the Pole that Earth by degrees giving way unto the sixtyieth Meridian on this side are the Countries of Hulg Pulg and Mulg towards the fifty fourth degree of elevation appears the mouth of the River Sulm which makes a very considerable Gulph Upon the borders of this River live a people which are very like the Europians who are under the Obedience of many Kings This is all that I
Country People he was ready to assist her in her return as he had done in bringing her where she was now Upon this the Woman threw her self into the Water more out of design to try the good will of the Serpent than out of any other motive at the same instant the Serpent leapt after and holding her fast imbraced under him carried her back in a few hours into her own Country after which he returnâ—d back to his two young Children who when they were grown up coupled together and multiplied to a great number living only by Hunting and Fishing like Beasts of Prâ—y And when the Island hy this means grew over-stock'd with People they found out a way to transport themselves into other Countries and to fill them with their Productions together with all those disorderly qualities and their pernicious effects that are experienced in all Countries peopled by that Serpentine Race And this is the goodly Pedigree the Australians are pleased to give us but to return to them When they come to the Age of thirty years they are priviledged to argue upon all sorts of Subjects excepting that of Haab that is GOD When they are thirty five years old they are capable of being made Lieutenants in their Hebs and to make a body of a Family with their Brethren in a separate Apartment after twenty five years more they may return to the Heb to assist in the instruction of the Youth but in that they commonly observe the Rank of Eldership except some old Man that has a mind to die be pleased voluntarily to yield them his place CHAP. X. Of the living Creatures or Animals of the Southern World THere is none that are but never so little versed in the knowledge of Foreign Countries but knows there are some peculiar Animals in them as different from those of other Regions as the Lands that bear them As for Example England breeds no Wolves nor can any Serpents live in Ireland let them be transported from what other place soever The Woods and Forests of the same Country are infested neither with Worms nor Spiders The Isles of the Orcades have no Flies Candia has no venemous Creatures and Poison it self when transported into the Isles of the Trinity loses its venome and is no longer mortal when in those Countries It is certain that the biggest Animals are not always the most hurtful and those small Vermine which the Australians can hardly tell how to conceive though they have nothing rare in them but their life yet do so much mischief in divers parts of Europe that they often cause Famine Plague and other considerable Calamities as might be proved by infinite number of experiences for which reason I must needs reckon it to be one of the greatest happinesses of the Australians that they are exempted from all manner of Insects There is not to be found any venomous Beast in all their Countrey and therefore they often lie down and sleep on the bare ground not only without any danger but with great pleasure And 't is from thence they likewise gather a great part of those fair and delicious Fruits that there abound They used for a long time to keep three sorts of four-footed Beasts and they still keep so many sorts in several parts The least of them may be compared to our Apes but their Faces are not hairy their Eyes are even with their Head their Ears are pretty long and their Mouth and Nose are like a Man's They have longer Claws than other Apes with five Fingers each with which they hold and carry what they will with as much ease and dexterity as Men. They are very active and turn their bodies into a great many postures that require as much dexterity as agility The love they have to Men is so great that they will starve themselves and die for grief if they be separated from them When they are in the presence of any Man they never cease giving him all the divertisement they can by their various Motions and Postures They are now banisht out of a great many Sezains because they were too troublesome and particularly in their Religious Assembly in the HAB for as they could not keep them from going thither without locking them up and running the risk of finding them dead with pining when they came home so on the other side they could not let them go thither without exposing themselves to be continually disturbed at their devout Contemplations and without a visible Profanation of so venerable a place The Animals of the second sort are something like our Hogs save only that their Hair is as soft as Silk and their Snouts are longer by half than those of Swine They call them Hums they have the instinct to work and turn up the Earth in right lines with as much or more dexterity than our best Husbandmen and have no need of any Leader to guide them in beginning continuing and ending their furrows yet they have destroyed them in most of the Sezains because of the nastiness they fill all places with and because they are useful but seven or eight days in a year and that they must be kept shut up all the rest of the year to prevent the dammages and distastful annoyances they will otherwise cause The third sort of Animals are like our Dromedaries save only that their Heads are more like those of Horses their Back-bones are sunk inwards their whole length and the Birds that are raised above it form a kind of Heart whose point is turned downwards in the upper hollow of which two Men may easily lie down these Beasts are called Suefs and will carry with ease eight Men of that Country that weigh at least as much as twelve Europeans and they are used likewise for the carriage of heavy Burdens and of such things as are most necessary in the Commerce of Life Besides these Animals there are four sorts of Birds which well deserve our Reflection the first are called Effs who flutter about like tame Hens and are about their bigness they are of a charming Carnation Colour however they begin now to banish them out of the Sezains because they do a great deal of mischief in the Flower-pots and Gardens The second and third sorts are like our Tom-Tits and Yellow-Hammers but a little bigger and so tame that they are often fain to drive them away forcibly off from Peoples bodies and their Voices are so sweet that they are preferred before the sweetest Consorts of Musick they flutter about the Brethren and follow them every where they go into the very Hab where they cause a certain chearfulness and calmness of Spirit by their chirping which they call Pacd that is to say Divertisement of Blessedness They never eat but with the Brethren nor take any rest but when they are perched somewhere upon them And they have this property that they smell the Birds of Prey at a great distance and peck the Brethren to give them
all the Violence I used to my natural Inclination in order to conform my self to the cruel and pittiless Customs and Proceedings of the Australians not able to forbear shewing some Marks of Compassion when I saw the Throats of so many fair and charming Creatures so miserably and unmercilesly cut which much scandalized those Brethren that observed my tenderness but the matter was much aggravated when breaking into a House that seemed more considerable than the rest I found in it a venerable Matron with two Daughters of between 25 or 26 Years of Age of a most Accomplish'd Beauty that threw themselves down at my Feet for their Charms so strongly Transported me that being almost bereft of my Reason and my Judgment I inconsiderately advanced towards one of those young Ladies whom I grasped Affectionately in my Arms to lift her up when two Australians came in just at that moment and surprized me in the Action I saw by the Fire that flasht in their Eyes and by the Indignation which appeared in their Faces that I was a lost Man nevertheless they contented themselves only with cutting the Throats of those Ladies in my Presence I knew not afterwards neither what to resolve upon nor what would become of me nor durst I look an Australian in the Face and as soon as any one came near me I held down my Eyes and Confusion shewed it self in my Face In this Perplexity I returned on Board to the Vessel where I feined my self wounded that they might not take it ill that I had quitted the Army and I remained with a Spirit so dejected and sad that I could scarce support my self In the mean time the plain Country and all the Towns being scattered they resolved to Attack the strong places of which they invested three at once and all the works of a Siege among these People being to dig the Earth round about the place which they Attack 300 Men were employed in that Work for three days at the end of which they came to the Walls notwithstanding the Sallies of the Fondins then they undermined them and dismantled those Cities in a trice to the great Astonishment of all the Inhabitants they gave at the same time a general Assault and all the valour of the Fondins who defended themselves very Couragiously did not hinder them from taking the strong places in four days time The slaughter was there general and they spared neither Women old People nor Children all were enveloped in one common Massacre those that were in the other Fortresses did not stay to be Besieged they went out the Night before they were to be invested and the next day were to be seen on the Banks of the Sea more than 200000 People of all Ages and Sexes some of which threw themselves head-long into the Water others cast themselves upon the Mercy of their Enemies others with Hands lifted up to Heaven expected Death which they saw inevitable Thus this fine Island was dispeopled the Australians collected into many heaps the Bodies of the Fondins and left them upon the Banks of the Sea without burying exposing them to the Birds who devoured them Besides these Australians who were killed at the first Assault of the Isle of which we have spoken there was found 18000 more which were transported out of the Country upon many Vessels they carried back the Wounded in the same manner which were to the number of 30000 Men. As the Australians are very dilligent at the Assemblies of Hab and of Heb as well at home as abroad so soon as the Isle was taken they met together to praise God and to consider of several other Affairs of which the principal were how to dispose of me and how to destroy the Island I was accused upon Five Articles every one of which deserved death and having had my hearing I was sent back into my Sezain After that they came to a resolution to demolish the Island with two Armies of fifty Thousand Men each and this prodigious masse of Earth was destroyed and covered with Water in ten of their Months A Work which the Europeans could never have finished in ten Years and which is more would never have dared to undertaken This is what I have seen of the War between the Australians and the Fondins Besides these Enemies the Australians have those to fight withal which they call Sea-Monsters this is the Name they give the Europeans because they are ignorant of their Country and they never see them come but by Sea in Ships They never call them any thing else but Sea-Monsters or Half-men The old Philosopher who was so much my Friend and who took such delight a little before he died to hear me talk of my Country told me That he had seen some People approach their Coasts who were made just after the proportion that I spoke of that he admired the Fabrick of their Ships and that he was always desirous to know more of the Country of these Half-men and that he found a great deal of pleasure in what I had told him and what he believed before He told me among other Disputes which they had had with these Half-men they had at one time met with so resolute Men that they were three whole Days before they could take Seven of their Ships I saw these Vessels upon the Shoar for the Australians keep all their Prizes as Trophies of their Glory and Valour When I came thither about six Months before they had defeated a whole Fleet of them and I saw a great many Bodies hung upon the Masts whom by their Cloaths I know to be French Spaniards and Portuguese My old Man who saw the Battle told me he never saw the like of it except what I did against the wild Birds The Pilot having observed some little Rivolets of Water deep enough came up within half a Mile of the Shoar but not finding there but two Foot of Water he was forced to stop he immediately caused a Thousand Men to Land to view the Country They came with a great deal of bravery and easily forced the Sea-Guards who presently gave the Signal the Enemy were come But the Enemy having boarded a Sezain which they met and falling a plundering the Sea-Guards did so redouble their Signals that before the Europeans could have done plundering there appeared eight Thousand Australians upon the Shoar The Europeans fired a great many pieces of Cannon but few did Execution In the mean time the Australians surrounded those-few that had landed in a little House which they had before forced open and in which they defended themselves for some time but at last they were forced to submit to Number and not one Man escaped to carry the News to the Fleet. After that the Australians made a considerable turn to secure the passage of the River in which they are admirable by filling dextrously the Mouth of the River with such heaps of Earth as it was impossible for the Enemy of pass
before they entrapped two Souldiers and that he had heard by a Salvage that they had tied them by the Feet and hanged them in Trees at five or six paces distance then knocked them one against the other that by hurting and beating one against another they might be bruised to death and that round about them there was a great number of Children who expected when the blood and brains of those miserable people should fall to the ground on purpose to gather them up and eat them And that these barbarous people having seen them render up their last gasp in these cruel Torments had taken down their bruised Bodies beaten all black and devoured them without any other dressing These cruelties hindred me from desiring to know more particularly either the Countrey or the Inhabitants I began then to be extreamly troubled when there arrived at the Port a French Vessel which brought a kind of a Chaloop along with him which they had seized upon in a Ferry-place as it was passing into an Island of the Southern Countrey There was no body on Board but a Venerable old man accompained with the six Rowers which served him in the room of Valetts This man looked very much like an Australian his Forehead and Chin were squarer than they were long his Hair and all his Beard black and his Body of a brown Colour As soon as I saw him I was touched with compassion for him and had an extream desire to know who he was The Governour made no difficulty to give me leave to see him being desirous that I should draw out by his means some knowledge of the Countrey which yet he hardly believed could be done I came then to the old man and having testified to him by many signs that I was in the same Captivity with himself he began to shew some signs of comfort After three or four Enterviews I found a way to make my mind known to him after this manner We agreed by signs to frame certain words to explain our thoughts I formed two hundred in one night which he comprehended easily Having formed in two months time a kind of Language sufficiently capable to make us understand one another I told him all my History my Shipwracks my Arrival in Australia the stay I had made there and the manner of my escape Having engaged him by all this freedom and openness to put confidence in me he made no difficulty to discover several considerable circumstances of his Countrey to me He told me that he lived in the middle of an Island that the Climate was very Healthful the Land very Fertile and the People well Accomplished That they had two strong Barricadoes that separated them on the East and West from two barbarous People to wit two prodigious Mountains that of the East was called Harnor that of the West Canor And that on the Sea-side Nature had walled them in with such banks of Sand that they could not get over them without the experience of many years he added that their Countrey was about six thousand Miles about that the Government was Aristocratical and that they chose every three years six Governours the first for the North-Sea the second for the South-Sea the third for Mount Harnor the fourth for Mount Canor and two others for the rest of the Countrey that these Governours had power of Life and Death over all People within their district of what condition soever they were For the rest that they cultivated the Earth and sowed and reaped as they did in Europe that the beasts which served them for Labour were of the bigness of Elephants That in General the People of this Countrey loved their Liberties more than their Lives that he was one of the Governours of which he had told me whose unhappy loss was caused by a Tempest that rose against all appearance as he was going to visit some banks of Sand which encreased extraordinarily that the Tempest having carried him a great way off he fell into the hands of Pirates who delivered him to the Governour of Tombolo We passed whole days in this agreeable conversation when there arrived two Ships from the Mogul that were to depart in a few days for Leghorn I was a little troubled to be deprived of the conversation of a man so agreeable and reasonable nevertheless not being willing to lose so fair an occasion I told him that I was resolved to take this opportunity to return into my own Countrey This news did sensibly afflict him yet he declared that my design was too reasonable to be opposed and some days after going to take my leave of him he answered me coldly that he should leave me first and prayed me that I would preserve that Friendship for him in my heart of which I had given him so many testimonies of since our acquaintance A little while after he cast himself at my feet to signifie the esteem which he had for me and having cryed out five or six times in his Language two of his Valletts ran to him and strangled him and afterwards ran with their heads so forcibly one against the other that they beat out their brains and both fell dead upon the place The four others though they were at a distance did the same in a moment so that they were all found dead together which extreamly surprized the Governour and all that were with him These are the contents of Sadeurs Memoirs written with his own hand His History ends here and in all appearance being Embarqued presently after the Death of the old man of which we have spoken he had no leisure to write the Adventures of his return in Europe BOOKS lately Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey THE Second Volume of the Athenian Mercury with a general Title Preface and Index to it is now publisht stictht up in Marble Paper Price 2s 6d The Tigurine Liturgy publisht with the Approbation of several Bishops SADEURS New Discovery of Terra Incognita Australis Translated from the French Copy Printed at Paris by Publick Authority Proposals for Printing of a Book of William Leybourn's Author of the late Cursus Mathematicus and of divers other Mathematical Tractates who hath now by him a Miscellaneous Manuscript ready for the Press which he intends to title Pleasure with Profit it consisting of Recreations Numerical Geometrical Mechanical Optical Astronomical Horometrical Crytographical Siatical Magnetical Automatical Chymical Historical published for the Ingenious to make further Scrutiny into these and the like sublime Sciences This Book when Printed will contain above 100 Sheets with near 200 Cuts And to the end that this Work may come to publick view in the Author's Life-time he presents the following Overture for the promotion of it to all Masters Heads Provosts Fellows Scholars c. of both Universities to all publick and private School-masters Ushers and Scholars under them to all Gentlemen of Inns of Court or Chancery and to all other private