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
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
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
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
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
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
Brethren There is nothing to be seen in these Buildings but four kinds of Benches which serve them to rest themselves on and some Seats for the same use The Partitions that they call Huids are near three hundred paces in circumference and sixty five in diameter The Figure of them is perfectly square and they are divided into twelve curious Allies each of which goes round the Apartments with a square place in the middle that is six paces diameter The three first and greatest Rows are beautified with Trees which bear such Fruits as are in great esteem amongst them These Fruits are as big as the Callebashes of Portugal which are seven or eight inches diameter The inside of them is red and of a more exquisite taste than any of our most delicate Meats one of which Fruits is sufficient to satisfie four men though never so hungry The next five are also planted with Trees that bear Fruits of a charming yellow full of a most substantial Juice which is very refreshing The Liquor of one of these Fruits will quench any ones thirst and their custom is to drink three of them at a Meal The four last rows are filled with little Trees which bear a Fruit about as large as a Pappin of a bright purple its smell is very fine and so extraordinary the taste that I can compare nothing to it that we eat in Europe This Fruit hath a Propriety of causing Sleep according to the proportion they eat thereof some of which they are accustom'd to eat every night and if they eat but one they are sure of sleeping three hours In each Alley they dig two Furrows of an indifferent depth in which there grows Roots that bring forth three sorts of Fruits one of which is not unlike our Melons the second are as big as Boonchretins but of a lovely blue and the third much resemble the Spanish Gourd but the colour and taste are very different These Fruits are equally in use throughout all parts of this vast Country for their nourishment They have no Ovens nor any way to bake any Meat for them They neither know what Kitchin or Cook means their Fruits fully satisfie their Appetite without ever the least offending their Stomachs they also make them strong and vigorous and do not overcharge them or cause any digestion because they are perfectly ripe and have nothing green or crude remains in them There is a Tree in the middle of the Square which is higher than the rest that bears a Fruit as big as our Olives but the colour red they call it Balf or Tree of Beauty whereof if they eat four they become excessively gay and sprightly if they eat six they fall into a Sleep for twenty four hours but if they exceed that number they sleep eternally which mortal sleep is preceded with all the signs of the greatest Joy and Pleasure in the World 'T is very seldom that the Australians sing throughout their whole lives and never dance but they have no sooner eat this Fruit in such quantity as I before spoke of but they sing and dance until Death puts a period to their excessive Mirth I ought not to forget that all the Trees which I have spoken of are at all times full of ripe Fruits Flowers and Buds we have an Image of this marvellous Fruitfulness in out Oranges but with this difference that the severity of our Winters and heats of our Summers very much injure them whereas in this Country it is a very difficult thing to be able to observe any alteration From what I have said it is easie to imagin that this great Country is plain without Forests Marshes or Desarts and equally inhabited throughout nevertheless it descends somewhat towards the Line and there is an insensible ascention on the side of the Pole but in four or five hundred leagues it gains at least three in height There is a great quantity of Water that runs from the Mountains Juads and the Australians know how to conduct them so exactly that they have brought them round all their Sezains Quarters and Apartments which contribute much to the fruitfulness of their Grounds The Descent which I spoke of is not only in respect to the Continent but the Sea also which is so shallow for three league that it is troublesome to go with a Boat thereon it is not upon the side of the shore a Fingers depth and after a league it is not above a foot deep and so on in proportion from whence it is easie to conceive that 't is impossible to come to this Land from the Sea side without the assistance of some few Rivers which are only known to the Inhabitants of this Country This same Descent is the cause also that this whole Land is turn'd directly towards the Sun to receive its Rays and with so much advantage that it is almost every where alike fertile after such a manner that we may say the Mountains which are over against its Pole are so raised by Nature and placed there only to preserve this happy Country from the Rigours of the Sun Besides these terrible Bulwarks serve to stop the Rays of the Sun and reflect them back to the farthest parts of this Country and 't is upon this account that its Inhabitants rejoyce in the possession of a Happiness which all the Northern People are destitute of which is to have neither ther excess of Heat in Summer nor Cold in Winter or rather to have properly neither Winter nor Summer This Proposition ought not to surprize the Geographers who having divided the Earth into two equal parts by the Equinoxial Line place as much heat and cold on one side as on the other â—ounded upon this Principle that the proximity or distance of the Sun causes Summer or Winter throughout the whole Earth But there are also Geographers which have corrected this Error and without any knowledge of the Australian Land have observed that if his Principle was true it muâ—t of necessity be always hotter in Guinea and in the Moluâ—coes than in Portugal and Italy because the Sun is never so far distant Which is contrary to the Experience of all those that have made a Voyage into that Country who assure us the greatest heats there are always in the Dog-days and the greatest Colds when the Sun is in the Signs of Aquaries and Pisces altho' it is farther from them when it is in Capricorn It is therefore most certain that Winter and Summer happen universally throughout all the Earth in the same time altho' with great difference according to the different situations of the Countries I say moreover the nearness of the Sun contributes so little to the heat of the Earth that if we do but narrowly observe it we shall find when it is nearest 't is then that the least heat is seâ—t for 't is well known in Europe that the Months of May and June are not so hot as July and August and there is
should oppose this Truth I harkned to the discourse of this Man with all the attention that I was capable of the Grace with which he spoke and the weight which he gave to his words perswaded me no less than his reasons but as I saw he was about to ask me a new Question I prevented him and said That altho one shou'd grant the Eternity of these little Bodies we have spoken of yet they could never frame this World and diversify it as we now see it according to this indisputable principle things continuing in the same State cannot produce other things different from them Thus these Atoms having no difference amongst themselves but Number and plurality could only make formless Heaps and of that same Quality with themselves That which is most difficult to certain mind said he is the great Obstruction of this Being of Beings which is no more discoverable than if he was not at all but I found this reason of little weight because we have many others which oblige us to believe that he is too far above us to manifest himself to us otherwise than by his works If his Condust was particular I should be at a loss to perswade my self that it was his since an universal Being ought to act after an universal manner But if it be true replyed I that you cannot doubt of a first and Sovereign Origine of all things why have you not establisht a Religion for to adore him The Europeans who have such a knowledge of him as you have have Set hours for his Worship they have Prayers to call upon him and Praises to Glorify him with and his Commandments to keep you speak very freely of that Hab said he interrupting me yes without doubt answered I t is a Subject most agreeable and entertaining to us for we ought to find nothing more delightful than to speak of him on whom we absolutely depend for Life and Death nothing is more just and necessary since 't is by this only that we can Execute our remembrance of him and our reverence towards him There is nothing more reasonable than that reply'd he but are your opinions the same touching this incomprehensible There 's a few answered I which think not the same in relation to Sovereign perfections Tell me possitively and clearly said he with eagerness what do your reasonings upon this Divine Being liken him to I confest sincerely that our opinions were divided in the conclusions which every one often drew from the same principles this causes many sharp contestations from whence there often arises the most envenom'd Hatreds and sometimes even bloody Wars and at other times Consequences no less fatal This good Old Man replyed very briskly that if I had made any other Answer he would have had no further Conference with me but should have had the greatest Contempt for me for said he 't is most certain that Men cannot speak of any thing that 's incomprehensible without having divers Opinions of it nay even such as are even contrary one to another One must be blind added he to be ignorant of a first Principle but one must be Infinite like him to be able to speak exactly of it for since we know it is Incomprehensible it naturally follows that we can only speak of it by conjecture and that all that may be said on the Subject may perhaps content the Curious but can never satisfy the Reasonable Man And we better approve of an absolute silence in the Matter than to expose our selves by putting off a many false Notions concerning the Nature of a Being which is elevated so very much above our Understandings We Assemble therefore together in the Hab only to acknowledge his Supream greatness and adore his Soveraign Power and leave each Person to their liberty of thinking what they please But we have made an Inviolable Law never to speak of him for fear of engaging our selves by discourse in such Errors as might offend him I leave it to the Learned to judge of a Conduct so extraordinary as this is never to speak in any manner of God All that I can say of it is it impresses on the Mind an admirable respect for Divine things and produces amongst us such an Union of which we meet with no Example any where else As I perceived the hour of Hab would soon oblige us to part so I prest him the more earnestly to tell me what were the Opinions of the Australians concerning the Nature of the Soul wherefore he explain'd to me their Notions upon this Subject but he did it in so elevated a manner that I could retain but little that he said to me of it altho' whilst he was speaking I after some manner or other apprehended all his Idea's The most essential of their Opinions touching Matter as near as I can remember runs upon the Doctrine of an Vniversal Genius which communicates it self in part to each particular person and which has the Vertue when any one dies of preserving it self until it be communicated to another So that this Genius is extinguished by the death of any person without being destroy'd since it only waits for New Organs and the disposition of a new Machine to rekindle it self as I shall explain more at large when I shall speak of their Philosophy CHAP. VII Of the Opinion of the Australians touching this Life I Have only three things to remark upon the Sentiments of the Australians concerning the present Life The first is in respect to the beginning the second the continuation thereof and the third the end Their manner of receiving Life preserving and ending it I have already declared in what manner the Australians come into the world but as it is one of the principal points of this History so I believe my self obliged yet to say something more of it They have so great an aversion for whatsoever regards the first beginning of their Lives that in a year or thereabouts after my arrival amongst them two of the Brethren having heard me speak something of it with-drew from me with as many signs of horrour as if I had committed some great Crime One day when I had discovered my self to my Old Philosopher after having censured me a little upon this Subject he entred into a long Discourse and brought many Proofs to oblige me to believe that Children grew within them like Fruits upon the Trees but when he saw all his reasons made no impression on my mind and that I cou'd not forbear smiling he left me without accomplishing it reproaching me that my incredulity proceeded from the corruption of my manners It happen'd another time about six months after my arrival that the extraordinary Caresses of the Brethren caused some unruly moâ—ions in me which some of them perceiving were so very much scandaliz'd at it that they left me with great indignation Wherefore I soon became odious to them all as I have already said and they had infallibly destroy'd
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