old Philosopher made an hundred Harangues in my Defence while he was alive and to stop the Designs that their Brothers had formed against me he set out my fighting as an unheard of Prodigy and which alone rendered me worthy of their Protection notwithstanding all my faults He maintained that since they had taken me into their Protection though I was a Stranger they could not now take away my Life without manifest Injustice since what I did amiss proceeded from my Nature he added after all that since I was a Stranger they ought not to condemn me till they could hear what I could say in my own defence When he died he redoubled his Entreaties and Reasons to oblidge them to preserve me and named me to be his Lieutenant after an Exhortation truly paternal which he made to me and all the Brothers accepted it with their common Consent In fine he supported me till the War of the Fondins of which I have spoke where my ruin was fixed and resolved on The Accusation that was formed against me may be reduced to five principal heads The first was that I had not fought with the others since I could not produce an Ear of the Fondins Secondly That I had testified a great Grief in seeing the Destruction of their Enemies Thirdly That I had embraced a Fundine Fourthly That I had eaten the Meat of the Fundines and lastly That I had made Questions full of Malice to the Brothers To understand these Accusations you must know that it is a Custom of the Australians to cut off the Ears of those that they kill in fight and make a Girdle of them he that brings most is esteemed most Couragious and there was some that in the taking of the Island that brought off 200. As for my part I was so far from having killed any of them that I testified an extream regret to see the bloody Butchery of those unhappy People I have told you already of the tenderness which I shewed to a pretty Fondin Lady whom I found in an House with her Mother The Australians looked upon this as the greatest crime I could commit and there was none of them afterwards but abhorred me They charged me besides that I had the boldness ro propose the Preservation of some of the Fundines Women to be made use of as Slaves and that I had openly declared that I preferred the Life of one Fondin Woman before all the Booty I could pretend to in the Island So soon as they had heard these Accusations against me they proposed to Death to me but with so imperious an Air that I had nothing else to do but to accept of it And for as much as they kept a great silence when I came to the Table to eat according to the Custom I began to speak and told the Brothers assembled that I had such essential Obligations to them that I could not leave them without communicating to them a grand Secret which I had for the easie Destruction of the Urges I added that I was really guilty of the Crimes of which I was accused but since all those crimes came from my nature which all People knew to be like that of the Fundins I appeal to their Consciences if being resolved to suffer me to live among them knowing me for a Fundine they ought not also to pardon those faults which were inseparable from those of my Species It s true said I that I have testified a great deal of kindness to those People that were like me it is true that I could cut their Throats 't is true that I shew'd a compassion for those who are even as my self And if I had not done this I must have renounced my nature and their own Reason which Judges so well of things would have justly condemned me of cruelty If an Australian should happen to be amongst the Fundines would not he be inexcusable if in a War against his own Nation he shew'd not some kindness to them But after all do not believe that I am so desirous to preserve my life I am glad to retire I only demand a delay of a few days to have time to shew you that this poor Stranger whom you have protected is not ungrateful for the benefits received of you They went out of the Hab according to the accustomed manner without giving any Answer so that I saw I had no other way left but industriously to study out some way of returning into my own Country In this cogitation all the Adventures of my former Voyage which brought me to the place where I now was ran in my mind I had always before my Eyes the opportunity which was so favourable to me and I imagined that if I could after any fashion shift away from the sight of these Australians my return would be secured and after I had revovled in my mind a great many several methods and designs this was the Resolution which I took and executed I made a Cord of the bark of a Tree which is named S chuch I rubbed it with the juice of the Fruit Repose mingled with a little Sea-Water which render'd it as hard as Iron I afterward rubbed it with another Juice which made it flexible and at last made a kind of Rope which I tied fast to a Tree where the Urgs used to perch I never ceased to go and come expecting with impatience the success which I had promised my self from this design At last my little Birds having advertised me to retire I saw two Urgs very high in the Air which lighted exactly upon the Tree where I had stretched my Cord and one of them was taken by the end of the Foot The Brothers who saw that he was taken ran presently to knock him down but I entreated them to let me alone with him assuring them that they should in a little while see something more surprising than what they now beheld My Beast seeing himself taken continued two days in a very ill humour when I approached him but at last when he saw no appearance of escaping and that hunger and famine pressed him he begun to be more gentle and to suffer me to approach to give him meat I fed him all alone and he began to know me I made much of him and he suffered it I lift up his huge Feet I looked upon his Talons I opened his Beak and mounted upon his Back In fine I did whatsoever I would with him I said then to my self since I was first driven into this Countrey by the persecution of these Beasts why may I not depart hence too by their Assistance I had great hope of my Bird and my hope increased as his kindness increased towards me In the mean time they spoke of my Conduct at the HAB with praise and seeing that they admired it I made a speech and told them that I begun now to look upon my self as one whose being was in a manner ceas'd that since it was the
Ancestors were so strongly perswaded of this Truth that they sought Death with the greatest passion in the World But because by that means our Country begun to grow desolate and dispeopled reasons were found out to perswade those which remained to spare themselves for some time for it was represented to them that so very fine and spacious a Country ought not to be left useless that we are an Ornament of the Universe and therefore ought to endure Life tho' it were but to please that Soveraign Master that gave it us Upon which some time after in order to Re-implace those that had sought for Rest in a voluntary Death all that remained alive obliged themselves to present no less than three Children to the Hebs by which means all the Country being well Repeopled an order was published that no Person should have permission to go to his Long Rest but such a one who should present another Man to the Heb either his own Son or another who was willing to be his Lieutenant and to supply his place and it was oreered at the same time that none should have the priviledge neither to demand such a Permission till he had lived at least 100 Years or could shew some Wound that extreamly incommoded him Just as he had finished those words we were joyned by two Brethren for which I was very sorry because I never found my Old Man in so good a humour to discover to me the Mysteries of all those things of which I demanded of him some Explication And now to proceed with our Narration there never is held any Assembly at the Heb at which there is not twenty or thirty Persons that demand the Liberty to return to their rest and they never refuse any be they who they will that produce just Reasons for it And when any one has obtained Permission to go out of this Life he presents his Lieutenant who must be at least 36 years of age The Company receives him with Joy and gives him the Name of the old Man that has a Mind to die which done they represent to him the brave actions of his Predecessors and tell him they are confident he will not degenerate from the vertue of him whose place he is going to supply When that Ceremony is over the old Man goes merrily to the Table furnished for that effect with the Fruit of Rest where he eats to the number of eight of them with a smiling and calm Countenance when he has eaten Four of them his Heart begins to dilate and his Spleen to enlarge it self so that the extraordinary joy he feels within him makes him commit several extravagancies as dancing leaping and talking all manner of idle foolish things which the Brethren take no notice of as coming from a Man that has lost his reason then they present him two more that quite distract his Brain after which his Lieutenant and another Person conduct him to the place he before-hand chose for a Sepulchre where they give him two more of the aforesaid Fruits which plunge him into an Eternal Sleep Then they close up his Tomb and return back beseeching the Soveraign Being to advance those happy Moments in which they may have the Priviledge to enjoy the like Rest with their departed Brother In this manner are the Australians born and thus they live and die CHAP. VIII Of the Exercises of the Australians THE Australians reckon their Years from the first point of the Solstice of Capricorn to the revolution of the same Point and they judge of it exactly by the shadow of a Point fastned to a Wall and opposed directly to the South And when that Shadow is come to the lowest Point in all their Appartments then they know the Year is finished From that Point to the Equinox in March they count a Sueb or Month from that Equinox again to the Solstice of Cancer they count another Month from that time to the other Equinox they count a third Month and their fourth Month extends from that Equinox to the Solstice of Capricorn so that they have but four Months in the Year They call Suew what we call Weeks and reckon them by Moons they divide the Day which they call Suec into three parts The beginning of the Day they call Mure the middle part they call Dure and the latter part they call Spure They make no division of the Night because they pass it wholly in profound Sleep which they procure by eating some Râ—sting Fruits before they go to Sleep which lay them so fast that nothing is able to wake them so long as their Senses remain benummed by the vertue of those Fruits Their Mure begins at Five in the Morning and lasts 'till Ten their Dure follows next and ends at Three in the Afternoon and then succeeds their Spure which lasts 'till Eight at Night The first part of the Day is employed for the Heb and the Sciences the second for Work and the third for publick Exercise They go the Heb every five Days and this is the order they observe in it The first Quarter passes the Mure there the second the Dure and the third the Spure The second day the fourth Quarter spends the Mure there the fifth the Dure and the sixth the Spure The third day succeeds in the said three parts of the day the seventh the eighth and the ninth and the two following days the rest of the Quarters in the same order so that the sixth day the first Quarter begins again not in the Mure or Morning but in the Dure By this means it comes to pass That there are always 400 Persons at the Hab besides those of the Hebs that follow their respective Quarters Thus they pass one third part of the Day in the Hab without speaking one Word observing a steps distance between person and person and are all the while so attentive upon what they are then thinking upon that nothing is able in the least to distract their thoughts I was told They formerly used to make some outward signs accompanied with wry Faces and odd postures of Body but now they have wholly abolish'd them as unworthy of reasonable men to do Those days in which they go not to the Hab they are obliged to be at the Heb to treat of the Sciences which they do with an order and method most admirably plain and perfectly agreeing in all its parts They propose every one in their turn all their difficulties which they maintain with powerful Reasons after which they answer all the objections which their Antagonists oppose against them When the Dispute is ended they if any thing of Importance happen to have been proposed they write it into the publick Book and every one carefully sets it down too in private If any of them know any thing that displeases him or that he thinks may be advantagious to his Country he proposes it to the Brethren who take such resolutions thereupon as they judge most reasonable
my more particular Satisfaction I receiv'd a Memoir from a Father Jesuit of Lisbon in Portugal when I was at Villa Franca which contains an Account of my Birth and the Adventures of my younger Years as I am about to relate My Father was called James Sadeur and my Mother Willemetta Ilin both of them were of Chatillon upon Bar of the jurisdiction of Rochel in Campagne a Province of France My Father knew many Secrets in Mathematicks which were owing more to his own Genius than the Precepts of a Master particularly he excelled in the inventions of facilitating the removal of great Bodies or Burthens Monsieur de Vare who had then some Intendance over Sea Affairs being acquainted with him brought him to Bordeaux and from thence to the West-Indies with promises which he never perform'd to him altho he knew him to be so necessary for his Service My Mother who had followed him prest him to return after 9 or 10 Months aboed at Port-Royal and being imbark't April 25. 1603. she brought me into the World 15 days after they had been on Shipboard Monsieur de Sarre who was Captain of the Vessel was pleased to be my God-father I was Conceived in America and brought forth upon the Ocean an infallible presage of the miseries which were to attend me during my whole Life The Voyage was happy enough in all the places which were esteemed dangerous even to the Coasts of Aquitain where an unexpected Tempest so furiously engaged the Vessel that it was cast upon the Coasts of Spain and Shipwreckt near the Cape of Finisterre in the Province of Galicia in Spain with the loss of my Father and Mother The same Memoir says that my Mother seeing the Ship let in the Water on every side lifted me out of my Cradle and embracing me with an extream tenderness and abundance of Tears said Ah my dear Child have I brought thee forth upon the Waters to see thee so soon swallowed up by them at least I shall have this consolation of perishing with thee She had hardly finish'd this complaint when a more impetuous Wave than any of the former breaking into the Vessel bore her away from my Father In this extremity every one was sensible that nothing was more dear than the preservation of his own Life only my Parents who preferring me to themselves did expose themselves to the evident danger of perishing to preserve me alive the love that my Mother had for me made her not forsake me for in the lifting me up continually with her arms above the Waters she her self was at last choak-with them the Courage which my Father shewed on this occasion was also very particular for forgetting himself instead of making to the Shore as did the rest he came to us by the Mercy of the Waves and imbracing my Mother who yet lift me up he drew us just to the Bankside and set us upon the Sand but either having wholly spent himself upon this occasion or believing that we were Dead he fell down in a Swound holding me in his Arms altho every one was sufficiently perplext yet there was none that did not consider this spectacle and was not amazed at it many themselves running to relieve us when it was perceived that I had yet any motion they took me from the Arms of my Father and held me before a fire which the Inhabitants had kindled out of compassion to us There was no sign of life in my Mother and having laid her for some time before the fire they were perswaded that she had more need of a Burial Those who had more particularly known my Father deplored his fate with Cries that drew Tears from the Inhabitants of the Countrey O Man of eternal memory said some O too generous soul must thou dye for being willing to save the life of thy Family Ah said others never was there such a Tragedy the Mother to expose her self for the Child the Father for the Mother and yet those generous efforts to terminate in the death of each other I know not whether so much lamentation made my Father sensible but he open'd his Eyes and with a feeble and languishing voice said Where art thou my Dear this unexpected speech surprized the Company and when they answered him not readily enough he added Then let us all three dye together these were his last words and then he clos'd his eyes and dyed 'T is said that he signalized himself on many occasions in this Voyage but he drew the admiration of every one in this extremity All those who saw him thus expire could not look upon me without being moved with pitty Poor destitute said they what can become of thee can any good fortune attend thee in this world thou being the cause of their death who gave thee thy life Some believed that I could not long survive them after the violent struglings which I had undergone in the Shipwrick But alas this was but the beginning of a Tragedy which I have now continued for about fifty five Years with so great and strange Catastiophes that they can never be represented in their whole extent altho I my self should relate them all the heat of the fire soon impower'd me to weep and lament with such a noise as gave them to understand that I was out of danger An Inhabitant of the Countrey who knew French enough to understand what had past remembred that he had an only Son who dyed not long before and resembled me this mov'd him to use his interest to get me they represented to Monsieur de Sacre that this was a very favourable opportunity and that he could not easily refuse it without putting me in evident danger he thereupon consented being rather constrain'd by necessity than any other consideration this man soon adapted me into the place of his Son and his Wife having heard the whole relation embrac'd and entertain'd me with great Caresses Monsieur de Sarre and some others of the most skilful in the Vessel knowing that they were near to St. James's took a resolution of visiting the Church which is consecrated to God under the name of this Saint and there by good fortune they found Merchants of their own acquaintance who equip'd and gave them opportunity of returning creditably to Oleron Monsieur de Sarre after his arrival began to particularize his adventures to his Wife and describe the Shipwreck which he had escap'd but it was some time before she could attend to it for the joy of having received her Husband safe from the danger of so long and tedious a Voyage this wholly took her thoughts in the first moments of his return But some time after she prayed her Husband to give her the History of the Shipwreck and then she could not forbear admiring the Conjugal and paternal Love of my Parents who for my sake underwent a voluntary death and instead of conceiving an indignation for me she took such an affection to me especially when
she understood that her Husband was my Godfather that she continually importuned him to find some means of regaining me whereupon he re-imbarkt 22 Months after his return and in 15 days arrived at Camarinas where he found me very well and about 30 Months old equally cherish'd by a Father and Mother whom I believed to be my Parents as soon as he had declared to them the reasons of his coming and the design he had to pay for my entertainment proportionable to the time that they had kept me these good People were mightily offended and determined not to part from me Monsieur de Sarre alledged his right of Godfather and the Spaniard insisted upon the Donation and Possession this Cause was brought before the Judges of Camarinas who having decided in favour of my Foster Parents Monsieur de Sarre for fear of having made a Voyage to his shame resolv'd to steal me away and fly under favour of the Wind which then stood for him and entring roughly into the house with a Valet where I was and seeing only one Servant-Maid which held me he snatcht me into his arms and gain'd the Bark which was ready to Sail the fear that I was in and the Cries that I uttered threw me into a kind of Convulsive Swound as soon as I came to my self they found me in a great Fevor My foster Father being advertized and justly provokt with this attempt ran with other people towards the Forts and perceiving that we were out of attack they made a discharge which gave occasion to a Portugueze Vessel who lay to the South to discharge a volly of Canon upon us with such misfortune that a Bullet broke a Plank out of our Vessel just at the top of the water and sunk her down to rights tho not without some respect of being the cause of the death of persons they knew not those in the Road seeing this accident made what haste they could away and the Portugueze sent two Shalops to endeavour to save those which perished they only preserv'd a Valet who knew how to swim better than the rest and as I floated upon the Waters by means of the Straw in my Cradle it happened that I was also taken up I am troubled to write that which no body can read without looking upon me as a kind of Viper which lived by the death of those who took pains to preserve my life the Portuguzes fearing a just reproof for their Crime put out speedily to the main Sea and finding that I was yet alive they committed me to the care of a Portuguze Matron who was in their Vessel she profest a great desire of serving me till she found that I was of two Sexes I would say an Hermaphrodite for afterward she conceiv'd such an aversion for me that it was a trouble to her to look upon me and as my Fevor encreas'd my death had been inevitable without the particular care of Monsieur de Sarre's Valet One might believe that God only preserv'd him to cherish me if I had been any way useful to his service Being arrived at Leira he brought me from Port to Port and us'd me with that tenderness as if I had been his own Child the Portugueze being very willing to be discharg'd of us for many reasons departed thence unknown to him and he being inform'd that he would find more assistance in the great Hospital of Lisbon than in Leira resolv'd to carry me thither He was received there with as much humanity as if he had been in his own Countrey but he was scarce arrived when he found himself seized with a mortal Fevor which carry'd him the seventh day dying in the arms of a Jesuit to whom he communicated all the particulars which I have related and as I learn'd by means of a Memoir which this Jesuite gave me 15 years after as I said before The poor wretch dying instead of regretting his misfortune and hating me as the cause of it ceast not to recommend me to those who assisted him as if I had belonged to him The Father Jesuits being advertized of the Evils which I had been the cause of till then very seriously deliberated what I should come to and the result was that they should take a particular Cognizance of my Inclinations so that they might know how to distinguish my Sex I had hardly attained to the age 5 years but they were satisfied that I ought to be reckoned in the Masouline Party They saw that I had an inclination to Devotion and judged that if my mind was cultivated it would promise no mean thing they presented me to the Countess of Villa Franca at eight years of age after having given her the Story of my sad adventures This Lady who might justly be compared to her Illustrious Predecessors received me with so much tenderness that she was pleased that I should be treated and educated as the Count her Son who was about 9 years old altho I wore a Livery I had no other obligation than that of keeping him company in his Studies and I learn'd with him the Latin Greek French and Italian Tongues the Principles of Astronomy Geography Philosophy and the History of Spain with Chronology The Countess who shewed the same affections to me as if I had been of her own blood being inform'd that I was very serviceable to the progress of the Count in his Studies was willing that I should lay by the Livery and Study Philosophy and having accomplisht that 't was thought fit to dispose the Count to the publick Theses at the University of Conimbria where I was oblig'd to harrangue and begin the Dispute Above 15 days before our departure I had my mind so agitated that I visibly dryed away so that my blood congealed as if I had been about to endure the utmost punishment and my heart beat as if I had been upon the point of being Precipitated they saw my Colour come and go but that which was most afflicting in this Chain of accidents was that every body believed that 't was only caus'd by the fear of which I had of appearing in Publick I shall say nothing of the Dreams Spectres and a thousand such things which threatened me with extream Desolation So soon as I had learnt that the Count was resolv'd to go by Sea all the story of my misfortunes which had happened there before pierc'd my mind after so feeling a manner that I believed there was no mean betwixt embarking and perishing I entreated then that I might travel by Land with part of his Train But how little do precautions serve to combat against Destiny That what I sought most eagerly to shun the Evil wherewith I was threatned did justly render it inevitable I made so many adieus for some hours before my departure that I appeared ridiculous and the Countess seeing me weep at her Feet lookt upon me as Weak and Effeminate The Count with whom I was familiar as with my Brother said
other Shipwrack had given me Experience and Faith I had sought for a light Plauck during the dangers of the Tempest and I will say it to my shame that being far enough removed from the approaches of death I always appeared very indifferent as to my Life but in this evident danger I could think of nothing else but how to save my self I floated for many hours by the means of my Plank with such a tossing and turning over and over that I can't now think of it without horror The Waves did so often plunge me under and overturn me that tho I held out as long as I could yet at last I lost both knowledge and thinking and truly I knew not what became of me nor by what means I was preserved from death I only remember that coming to my self I opened my eyes and found a calm Sea I perceived an Isle very near and I felt my hands so clencht to the Plank that I could hardly loose them and my singers were so crooked that I could not by any means bring them to themselves the sight of this Island encouraged me very much and infine being come on shore I drag'd my self under a Tree without thinking of any thing but languishing and expecting death in a little time I found under this Tree two fruits about the bigness and like in Colour to our Pomegranets with this difference that their tast appeared to me much more delicate substantial and nourishing having eaten the first my spirits recovered and my heat grew light and having eaten the second I sound my self sufficiently satisfied but I was so bruised that I was in great pain to bear my self up so I lay down and fell into so deep a sleep that I was at least 24 hours before I awakt after this sleep I found that I was not in the least a weary I saw that my Cloaths were dry and the Sun shone and inspired me with a courage and hope I found two other fruits which I did eat and having applyed my self to find out the Elevation of the Sun I judged that I was 33 deg Lat. South but I knew not the Longitude having rested my self again I resolved to advance into the Isle to discover if there were any Inhabitants I plainly saw the appearance of some ways but they led into very thick Bushes where I could not pass without stooping which gave me very strange thoughts having found a tree much higher than the rest I thought that if I climbed to the top of it I might discover some place or other but as I got up I heard a great noise and I saw two prodigious flying Beasts which came to the top of the tree obliged me to get down a little faster than I got up Be not surprized at the name of Beast which I here gave to the Birds for they were so very large that I was frighted at them and speak then as I thought I got down with all the speed imaginable but I was no sooner down but heard so frightful a Cry that I expected every moment to be devoured In fine coming to my self I reflected upon the misery I saw my self reduc'd to I concluded that it were better to dye forthwith than to seek to languish any longer after all I said there 's a necessity that I dye by some means or other and I cannot shun one danger but run into a greater I then made a resolute preparation for death and remembring that my Father and Mother expir'd upon the Sea shore I made thither where I had left my Plank I had scarce left my place but I was followed by a great number of Animals which I could not distinguish from one another nevertheless I had my judgment as ready as could possibly be expected upon such an occasion I thought I saw certain kinds of Horses but with pointed Heads and claw-footed I can't tell whether these were not of those Beasts which came to light upon the tree where I was but they had Wings and Feathers I saw certain kinds of great Dogs and many other sorts of Animals which don 't at all resemble any that we have in Europe they made great Crys so soon as they perceiv'd me and as they approacht nearer and nearer they redoubled the Noise I resolved to defend my life and took my Plank and began to exercise it in turning and returning it which made 'em very attentive till two of the largest Beasts approacht to come in with me I turned to one of them and struck it so roughly that it ran back to the other Animals which set 'em all on howling I was seized with an extreme fear at the redoubling of these terrible cries and in great hast took three fruits of the Tree which I have spoken of and cast my self into the Water with my Plank after having swam such a distance as it was reasonable enough for me to believe I was out of all danger I turned my eyes toward the Isle and I saw upon the shoar all that great number of Animals which I fled from part of them put themselves readily to swim and pursued me with that vigour and hast that they were not long before they came up to me when I saw that I could not escape I turned towards them and presented the end of my Plank to them with success happy enough for as they prest on to take and bite the end they made me advance as fast as themselves this management continued till I arrived at a small kind of a little Isle which floated upon the Water and which carried me away swift enough to remove the means of my Enemies joyning me they followed me nevertheless with a Courage or rather with an encreased Rage till they dispaired of being able to come at me again but at last my Isle happening to stoop on a sudden they had time of coming up to me again I scarce knew what to think and began to make unprofitable reflections in devising the cause of the Immobility of the Isle whose motion had been so favourable to me I saw four of those great flying Animals which I have spoken of which came to the assistance of the others when they were ready to fall upon me I covered my self with my plank to avoid their first attacks which were so rude that with a stroak with their Beak they pierc'd it thro' 't was then that my Isle raising it self suddenly with an extreme impetuosity shakt me and threw me more than 50 Paces from it I believed that it was a kind of Whale which Naturalists mention For one of these monstrous Birds placing her self upon its back thrust her Talons into its flesh it lifted it self up as I thought above one hundred Cubits out of the Water with a noise as terrible as that of Thunder This toss wholly conquer'd my spirits so that I knew not what became of me then but my crooked fingers were the cause that I quitted not my Plank being a little come
to my self I saw the Creature which bounded and it cast water out of its Nostrils with horrible hissings and afterwards sunk down again clear under the water The Birds which pursued me were retired so that I found my self alone in the midst of the water without any other assistance than my piece of Wood and without any other thought than that of death which I well saw could not be avoided I was so spent with the Fatigues which I had undergone and so incommoded with the water which I had swallowed down that no one would think humanity capable of resisting so great Evils in this Estate I remembred my fruits and eat two of them after which I found it impossible to avoid sleeping so that I was oblig'd to turn me upon my plank with my face upwards to be in some manner without danger of being strangled by the waters I closed my eyes and knew not how long I tarried in this posture but I wakned at last by the rays of the Sun which darted very bright upon my face and I found that I was driven by the Wind North-East with great swiftness altho the Sea was pretty smooth I thought my heart and mind in a very calm posture and a little after I found my self very near a Country whither the Wind had driven me my crooked fingers were so clinched to my plank that I had much ado to disentangle them to get upon shore my Cloaths were so heavy with the water which they had drunk up that I could scarce carry them the tossing of the Sea and salt water which I had drank had so distemper'd my head that I found much ado to endure it I was like a man whom the excess of Wine or many turnings had made giddy and rendred incapable of doing any thing to the purpose all that I could do was to trail my plank at a certain distance where I layed me down and soon fell a sleep my sleep in some measure setled my Brain and dryed my cloaths which I rubâ—d to make 'em less incommodious I remembred I had yet one of these fruits which I have spoken of and having eaten it I perceived that want of nourishment was the principal cause of my extreme weakness I then advanced to seek out something else and after having marched about 200 Paces I found many Trees but I perceived no fruit which made me fall into a profound raving tho I forbore not all the time to march on and as I went I lookt downwards and saw two fruits upon the Earth which were covered with leaves I took 'em as a present from Heaven and after I had eaten one of them I perceiv'd my strength to encrease which encouraged me to advance on my way and to examine the place where I might be which I found to be about 35 deg South I saw many signs which perswaded me that the firm Land was not far off the water was very fresh The Winds blew South and I remarkt that they were very much interrupted I even perceived certain extraordinary Vapours in a word I flattered my self that I saw some appearence of a Country and endeavouring much to get forward I found a Tree laden with great fruit whose branches were bowed down to the Earth the place was all tapistred with Flowers of divers colours and perfumed with very agreeable Odours as soon as I had eaten of this fruit I fell into a great benumness and I was so affected that in looking upon all things about me I could see nothing distinctly A little time after I heard many howlings of Beasts which seemed to be very near me and I soon perceived Seven which were of the bigness and colour of our great Bears besides that every Paw appeared as bigg as their whole Head they approacht me and retired many times without touching me but at last they came up all together on purpose to devour me and I was all bloody when two great Birds of the form of those which I have mentioned above came to light upon these Animals and obliged them to retire and to hide themselves in the next Caverns they could meet with The Birds persued them but catching none of them they came back to me and after having given me some wounds with their Talons one of them seized me between her two feet and lifted me up very high in the Air The Girdle that I had went many times about me and sav'd my life by keeping me from being pierced into the Entrails however I was in continual fear after a long way these animals rested themselves upon a Rock where that which carried me set me down and the other seiz'd me after the same manner that the first did In fine the pain that they put me to became in supportable and having cast me into a kind of dispair I threw my self vigorously upon his neck and found strength enough to tear out his eyes with my Teeth he fell at the same time into the water and having let me go I soon mounted upon his back his Companion who flew before to divide the Air perceiving that the other followed not and having seen us upon the Water turned back and fell upon me with a dreadful impetuosity he pitcht upon my shoulders and struck such blows at me as would have been mortal if they had hit me I always kept a little Poniard at my Girdle which I thrust into his Belly with much ado for these Birds are almost impenitrable as we shall see afterwards having two great Scales which environ them and which defend 'em like those of Tortoises whilst I fought against this second Enemy the first slipt from under my Thighs and got from me which made me lay hold on one of the Claws of the last by which he lift me up very high and I held fast for fear of falling he cry'd terribly and after having raised himself pretty high he threw himself into the Sea again and by the favour of this Element I had the liberty to cast my self upon his neck and so got upon his back He howled at the loss of his blood tumbled and turned himself after a thousand ways to shake me off and constrain me to leave him I thought then of nothing else but of holding him fast to hinder the effect of his effort because that my Plank which was my only assistance being lost I saw no mean betwixt quitting him and perishing at last he staied upon the Water without any other motion than an Ox whose throat is cut confessing by his stilness that I had overcome him having then some leisure to take breath and to think of my Wounds I could not distinguish any part in all my body which was not torn and bloody my Cloaths were all rent not one part escaping whole the water of the Sea altho 't was very fresh in that place yet was salt enough to cause such pain as made me lose my Senses I apprehended sometime afterwards that some Guards from
me had it not been for the particular assistance of this good Old man Nevertheless in about thirty two years that I have lived with them I cou'd never learn their way of Generation yet be it as it will their Children have neither the Meazles nor Small Pox nor other the like accidents which the Europeans are subject unto As soon as an Australian had conceived he quits his Apartment and is carryed to the Hab where he is received with Testimonys of an extraordinary Bounty and is nourished without being oblig'd to work They have a certain high place upon which they go to bring forth their Child which is received upon certain Balsamick Leaves after which the Mother or person that bore it takes it and rubs it with these Leaves and gives it suck without any appearance of having suffer'd any pain They make no use of Swadling Cloaths or Cradles The Milk it receives from the Mother gives it so good nourishment that it suffices it without any other food for two years And the Excrements it voids are in so small a quantity that it may almost be said it makes none They generally speak at eight months they walk at a years end and at two they wean them They begin to reason at three and as soon as the Mother quits them the first Master of the first Company teaches them to read and at the same time instructs them in the first Elements of a more advanced knowledge They usually are three years under the Conduct of the first Master and after pass under the Discipline of the second who teaches them to write with whom they continue four years and so with the others in proportion till they are thirty years of Age at which time they are perfect in all sorts of Sciences without observing any difference amongst them either for Capacity Genius or Learning When they have thus accomplish'd the course of all their Studies they may be chose for Lieutenants that is to supply the place of those that wou'd leave this Life I have in the fifth Chapter spoken of their humour which is mixt with a certain sweetness full of Gravity that forms the temperament of the most reasonable men and such as are the fittest for Society They are strong robust and vigorous and their Health is never interrupted by the least sickness This admirable Constitution comes without doubt from their Birth and excellent Nourishment which they always take with moderation for our Sicknesses are always the consequences of the corruption of that Blood whereof we are form'd and the excess of the ill Food which we are nourished with In fine our Parents generally communicate to us all the defects that they have contracted by their irregular Lives their Intemperance fills us with such an abundance of superfluous Humours which destroy us how strong soever we may be if we purge not our selves often It is the excessive Heats that they kindle in their Blood by their Debauches which cause in us such Risings in the Flesh and all those scorbutick Distempers which spread throughout the whole Body Their Choller gives us a disposition to the same Vice their Wantonness augments our Concupiscence in a word they make us just what we are because they give us what they have The Australians are exempted from all these Passions for their Parents never being subject to them cannot communicate 'em and as they have no principle of alteration so they live in a kind of indifference which they never forsake except it be to follow the motions that their reason impresses on them We may very near make the same consequences touching the nourishment of the Australians for if the Europeans have the misfortune only to have such Viands for their subsistence as are unhealthful it commonly happens that they eat more than nature requires and 't is these excesses that cause in them such weak Stomachs Feavers and other the like Infirmities which are wholly unknown to the Australians Their admirable Temperance and the goodness of their Fruits upon which they live maintains them in such a frame of health as is never interrupted by any Sickness They are likewise so far from placing any glory in Eating or making sumptuous Feasts as we do that they hide themselves and only eat in secret they sleep very little because they are persuaded that Sleep is too Animal an Action from which man ought if it was possible wholly to abstain They all agree that this Life is only a motion full of trouble and agitation they are persuaded that what we call Death is their Happiness and that the greatest good of Mankind is to arrive to this term which puts an end to all his pains from whence they are indifferent for life and passionately wish for Death The more I seem'd to apprehend Death the more they were confirm'd in the thought that I cou'd be no man since according to their Ideas I sinned against the first Principles of Reason My Old man often times spoke to me of it and these are very near the same reasons he gave me We differ from Beasts said he in that their Vnderstandings penetrate not into the bottom of things they judge of them only by Appearance and Coulour 'T is from thence they fly their destruction as the greatest evil and endeavour to preserve themselves as the greatest Good not considering that since 't is an absolute necessity that they perish all the pains they take to prevent it becomes vain and useless Even to argue continued he upon what regards us it is necessary that we should consider Life as an Estate of Misery altho it consist in the union of a spiritual Soul with a material Body whereof the Inclinations are perfectly opposite the one to the other So that to desire to live is to desire to be always enduring the violent Shock of these oppositions and to desire Death is but to aspire to that Rest which each of those parts enjoys when they are both in their Center And as we have nothing Dearer to us than our selves added he nor can look upon our selves to be any thing else but so many Compounds whose Dissolution is certain and infallible we more properly languish than live and the case being so with us would it not be better for us not to be at all than to be to no other purpose than to know that shortly we shall be no more The care we take to preserve our selves is to no purpose since after all we must die at last The consideration of our Rarest Talents and most exquisite improvements in Knowledge gives us a second torment since we can look upon them as no other than Transitory Enjoyments whose acquisition has cost us a Thousand pains and yet whose loss it is no way in our power to prevent In fine all that we reflect upon both within and without us contributes to render our Life so much the more odious and insupportable to us I answered to all that That in my
opinion these Arguments proved too much and that to give them their full force it weuld follow that I must needs be sorry for knowing any thing that surpasses my Understanding which yet is false because the goodness of Judgment consists in being able to rest content with our condition and to put away those troublesome Thoughts that serve only to afflict us especially when we know not how by any means to remedy them There is something of Solidity in thy answer replyed he but yet it is weak in two particulars The one is in supposing we are able to suspend our Judgment and the other in thinking it possible we should love our selves without detesting our Dissolution To be able to do the first is to be able with open Eyes not to see what is continually before us and to be able to do the second is to love to be something without hating to be nothing 'T is a great weakness to imagine we can possibly live without being deeply affected with the Sense of our own Destruction and 't is still a greater to torment our selves with the fear of what we know will infallibly come upon us But it is the utmost degree of folly to seek after preservatives in order to avoid what we know to be absolutely inavoidable To be able to live without the Sense of Death is to be able to live without knowing any thing of our selves since Death is inseparable from our Nature and that to consider our selves in all our several parts is to see we have nothing but what is mortal in us To be capable of fearing Death supposes us able to reconcile two Contradictions since to fear supposes some doubt in us whether what we fear will happen or no and that we certainly know we shall infallibly die and it is still more absurd to go about to take any Preservatives to prevent it when we know that to be impossible I replied That we might justly fear not Death it self but its Approaches and that Preservatives were useful because they might at least stave it off from us for a while Very good replied he again but dost thou not see that since the necessity of dying is indispensible and the putting it off for a while can be of no other service to us than to keep us the longer under continual pain grief and anguish I answered him that these Reasons would be of much more weight among our Europeans than among them who know not what it is to suffer whereas the Life of the Europeans was nothing else but a continued Chain of Miseries and Sufferings How says he have you any other Infirmities than those of being Mortal and knowing your selves to be daily advancing towards Death Yes I assured him that our People commonly died many Deaths before they came to die for good and all and that Death came not upon our Europeans but by the Violence of those Diseases that knockt them down and made them at last faint away under them This answer was to him a Mystery And as I was endeavouring to make him comprehend our Gouts our Head-aches and our Colicks I found he understood me not and therefore to make him apprehend my meaning I was forced particularly to explain to him the Nature of some of those Diseases we suffer which assoon as he understood Is it possible cried he that any one should be in love with such a Life as that I answered that our People did not only love it but used all manner of means to prolong it from whence he took a fresh occasion to condemn us either for insensibility or extravagance not being able as he said to conceive how a reasonable Man that was assured of his Death and that saw himself daily dying by several sorts of Sufferings and that could not protract his Life but in continual Languishment could possibly forbear desiring Death as his greatest happiness Our opinions in this matter are vastly different says he from yours For we assoon as we come to understand our selves because we think our selves obliged to love our own selves and look upon our selves but as so many Victims of a superiour Cause that is able every moment to destroy us we therefore make very small account of our Life and esteem it but as a Happiness which we can enjoy but as a Passenger whilst it is fleeting and passing from us The time in which we enjoy it is burthensome to us because it serves for nothing but to raise in us a grief for the loss of that happiness which it more lightly takes from us than at first it gave it us In fine We are weary of living because we durst not fix our Affection upon our selves with all that tenderness we might otherwise have for fear of enduring too great violences of Reluctance when we shall be forced to part from a being we have so much doated on To that I answered him That Reason teaches us that it was always better to be than not to be and that 't was better to live tho' but for a day than never to live at all To which he replyed that we were to distinguish two things in our Being one was our general existence that perishes not and the other our particular Existence or Individuality that perishes The first is indeed better than privation and that 't is in that sense 't is true that being is preferable before not being but that the second viz. the being of our Individuality or particular being is oftentimes worse than not being especially when t is accompanied with a Knowledge that renders us unhappy I answered again that if being in general were better than not being it must needs follow That being likewise in particular was better than its Privation But he satisfied me by proposing to me the very State in which I had lately been Tell me I prithee says he when thou consideredst thy condition in the place of which thou toldst us environned on all sides by Death could thou possibly esteem thy Life at that time a Happiness and could thou value it better than nothing Is it not true that the Knowledge thou hadst served then only to augment thy misery It is then to no purpose to maintain that Knowledge that afflicts me is not only no Happiness to me but an unhappiness so much the more sensible as I know it the more perfectly It is from that principle that flows our true Misery that we know what we are and what we must be we know that we are noble and excellent beings In a word worthy of an eternal Duration and yet we see that for all our Nobleness and Excellence we depend of a Thousand other Creatures that are inferiour to us which is the cause we look upon our selves as bweings that were brought up only to be rendered so much the more unhappy and that it is which makes us chuse rather not to be at all than to be at the same time so excellent and so miserable Our
have no place in our Northern Countries whither none would be transported but tame ones and where there would be no wild ones at all These are the most considerable Remarks I have made upon the Animals of the Southern Countries Next as for the Fruits it bears they surpass all imagination in beauty and deliciousness The Fruit which they call the Fruit of Rest or Repose is indued with some properties that to us would appear miraculous It s faculty in procuring Rest when we please and the vertue of its Juice in healing in very little time all manner of wounds induce me to believe there 's no Ail or Distemper in Europe for which it would not prove a soveraign Remedy I was informed afterward that it was with that all my wounds were cured I had received at my coming and though I afterward received in several Fights many sore blows more some whereof made great wounds in my body and some broke and shattered my bones yet by vertue of that only Juice I was always cured in three days which if known and used in Europe would cut short that numherless number of Drugs and Remedies that cost so dear among us and which yet after all kill more Patients than they cure While I lived in Portugal I was subject to several Infirmities and the terrible shocks I had suffered by my disasters upon the Sea had very much weakned me and yet when I came into Australia and began to live upon the Fruits of the Earth that are the only Food there I can boldly affirm That I felt not the least Indisposition nor Infirmity and tho' my absence at such a dreadful distance from my own Country and the extraordinary odd and strange Customs of the People I conversed with and which I was obliged to conform to gave me no small cause to be Melancholick and tormented me with many a bitter reflection yet as soon as I tasted but one of the Fruits of Repose all my Resentments were calmed and my Courage and usual briskness came to me again my Blood danced in my Veins and I found my self in such a disposition both of body and mind that there was nothing I could desire to render my Contentment more compleat than it was Of what inestimable price would such Fruits be in Europe where grief and vexation kill the greatest part of mankind and troubles cause languishments far worse and far more formidable than Death But can there be any thing imagined more desirable than to live splendidly and fare very delicately without being at any charge since for that end one need not have any greater Provision than three or four of those Fruits which are incomparably more delicate and of a much richer Relish and Nourishment than our most succulent Meats and most artfully seasoned Dishes nor any other Drink than a sort of natural Nectar that is found running in streams in that Country where every one may eat and drink his fill with the greatest Pleasure in the World without being obliged either to Till the Earth or cultivate any Trees I have admired an hundred times how Nature comes to be so partially liberal to that Country to give away as 't were in sporting and with a careless prodigality those things she is so nigardly of in our Regions But among other things I cannot pass in silence that abundance of fine Crystal that is there to be found and which the Australians know how with such admirable Skill and Symmetry to cut and put together that it is very hard to find where the Stones joyn so exactly they seem to be all of a piece This Crystal is so transparent that 't were impossible to distinguish any Poâ—es in it if the rich Figures Nature forms in it of divers colours did not convince us it had some But that which in my Opinion surpasses all the most prodigious Rarities in the World is a Hab which is to be seen in the Seizain or district of Haf which is made all out of one entire piece of Crystal which could not be done but by cutting it out of a great Rock of the same matter This wonderful Hab or Temple surpasses all the rest in height and breadth for it is 200 Foot high and 150 Foot wide the Figures with which this Crystal is interspersed are bigger than those observed in the other and it is visible that they are all entire without being patched up with any inlaid pieces They assured me that it had been oftentimes debated among them whether it would not be better to destroy it than to keep it standing because it tempts the curiosity of those that dwell afar off and causes distraction of Thoughts in them that assemble in it However it is yet standing and I can hardly believe that ever they can find in their Hearts ' to vote the demolition of so rich and rare a piece as that The greatest difficulty I find in procuring a Traffick in these Commodities between Europe and Australia consists in finding out some way either to force or otherwise to dispose of such a Communication for after having well considered the whole matter there appear to me unsurmountable difficulties in such an enterprise for the Australians being a People that neither cover any thing there is no likelihood of bringing them to a Compliance by the allurements of Gain of Rewards or of Pleasure nor any practicable means left for us to overcome that strange aversion they have for us which is so great that they cannot endure to hear us mentioned without declaring the passion they have to destroy us And then besides all those things that we usually carry into the new discovered Countries and which procures us access to their Inhabitants pass in the esteem of the Australians for Childrens Play-things and meer trifles and bawbles they look upon our Gawdy Stuffs and richest Silks as Spiders Webs they know not so much as what the names of Gold or Silver signifie and in a word all that we count precious appear in their esteem to be but ridiculous and therefore there remains no other way to introduce our selves among them but by open force and in that matter they have a great advantage over us which would frustrate all our attempts that way for the Sea in those parts is so very shallow that it will hardly carry a Boat at two or three Leagues distance from their Shoars unless it be in certain particular Creeks where there are some Veins of Water which cannot be known but by long experience Besides all which obstacles they keep so exact a Guard upon all their Coasts that it is impossible to surprise them nor yet to attack them with any hopes of Success as will appear by the following Relation of some of their Wars CHAP. XII Of the ordinary Wars of the Australians IT is by a constant Decree establish'd in the World that we should possess no happiness without some pains nor be able to keep it without some difficulty
Custom of our Nation that when any one was at the point of Death to live with great Reservedness and that my spirit would not permit me to be the same that I had been and that knowing that I should cease to be in a little time I would employ the Moments that remained to study out some last action which should edifie them much more than my first These Reasons did very much satisfie the Assembly and they were resolved to let me finish my Life as I pleased without speaking any more either of my words or actions And since I ought to be reckoned in the number of the dead they themselves named me Lieutenant and regarded me no more but as a dying person who was at Liberty to finish his Life as himself thought fit This Order gave me so much consolation that I then looked upon my deliverance for most assured I passed almost the whole day with my Bird and I omitted no way to shew him all the kindness I possibly could I perceived one day that he had a great pain and I found that the Cord which setter'd him had cut the skin of his Foot and was entred a good way into his flesh the wound was very considerable and I used all means possible to cure him I poured in the Juice of a Fruit to consolidate the wound I bound it up handsomly and in eight days he became perfectly well His kindness upon this augmented so much towards me that he would not suffer me to go from him And I on the other side was never content but when I was with him I let him by little and little go loose alone and he was so far from flying away that he made continual Efforts to follow me every where I was desirous to try whether he could carry me flying and I found that he did it with pleasure and a surprizing swiftness After this I made a Girdle of many Leaves which I rubbed with the Juice of the Fruit of Repose to make it of proof against Water I made afterward a kind of Bag and having filled it with the most nourishing Fruits of the Countrey and some Bottles of the Liquor which they drink there with which I put also the Manuscript of this History I put them all up very neatly and girded them round about me Besides this I made a little Wallet which I filled with Fruit for the nourishment of my Beast and have tied it neatly upon his back I resolved to depart the night following which was the 15th of the Solstice of Capricorn 35 years and some months after my first arrival into the Australian Countrey and in the Fifty seventh year of mine Age. That my Bird then might the more easily take his flight I made him get up upon a Tree and seating my self under his wings I made him begin his flight very high in the Air for fear of being perceived by those that guarded the Sea but the great Cold of the middle Region of the Air quickly obliged me to descend a little lower In the mean time we had been above six mile already on our way whether my Beast became again sensible of his wound or whether too long a rest had rendred him more heavy I perceived he was extreamly fatigued and could hold out no longer I then so ordered him to light down upon the Water and as he sunk a little too deep I leaped off to ease him well knowing that my Girdle would support me and keep me out of danger This poor Animal fearing then that I would be lost or would quit him began to cry and turn towards me with an agitation that shewed his pain and uneasiness but being my self more weary than he I leaned my head upon his Feathers and having given him some of the Fruits in the Wallet I fell into a sound sleep I found the day very fine and clear at my awaking and made my Bird eat again and took a Repast my self I mounted again upon him nimbly enough with design to advance the more swiftly on our way But whatsoever Efforts he made he was never able to take his flight because the strange heaviness of my body made him sink too low in the Water we were forced then whether we would or no to remain in the place where we now were and any one may judge what pain and trouble I was then in Nevertheless having considered that my Beast went very well and swiftly in the Water I tied my self to his Tail and he drew me far enough to discover a little Island which appeared almost out of sight As the night approached and my Bird being very weary I staid to feed him and eat my self also with him but I was very much astonished to see him stop short for whether it was that he regretted his former condition or whether he could not live in a different Air from that of his own Climate or whether he was only concerned at the trouble he saw me in he would not stir a bit further Night came upon us a little after and he slept soundly but I could not so much as shut mine Eyes I deliberated a long time upon what I should do and after a great many thoughts I judged it most convenient to slip the Wallet from off his back and to separate my self entirely from him though with a great deal of regret After I had done this seeing my Girdle and my Bag supported me perfectly well I began to go away from my Beast and to go forward by the favour of a South-wind which assisted me insomuch that at Day-break I found my self arrived without any inconvenience in the Island which I discovered the night before Then I went out of the Water and sat me down upon the Land and I eat some of my fruit with such a sensible pleasure tempered with that consolation that I never yet enjoy'd the like Sleep seized me afterwards and I slept about six hours and waking I resolved to continue my Voyage and to advance always bearing towards the North for fear of being in danger to be lost in the Great Sea which separates the Old World from the New But I was scarce got into the Water when I heard the noise of the flying of the Great Birds which I have spoken of My very Heart trembled at this noise and I thought my self lost at first but my fear was presently turned into joy when I found that it was my own Beast that was looking for me and who came to cast himself at my Feet with so many caresses and so many marks of sorrow because I had left him I was touched with the most tender compassion that ever I had in my life and because I knew he had tired himself very much in seeking me I staid in the Island a Day and a Night to rest and gave him some fruits out of my Wallet he had scarce begun to Eat when ten great Beasts almost of the colour of our Wolves came up towards us
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