is a Pond of brackish Water which sometimes Privateers use instead of better there is likewise good riding by it About a league from this are two other Islands not 200 yards distant from each other yet a deep Channel for Ships to pass through They are both overgrown with red Mangrove Trees which Trees above any of the Mangroves do flourish best in wet drowned Land such as these two Islands are only the East point of the Westernmost Island is dry Sand without Tree or Bush On this point we careened lying on the South side of it The other Islands are low and have red Mangroves and other Trees on them Here also Ships may ride but no such place for careening as where we lay because at that place Ships may hale close to the shore and if they have but four Guns on the point may secure the Channel and hinder any Enemy from coming near them I observ'd that within among the Islands was good riding in many places but not without the Islands except to the West-ward or S. West of them For on the East or N. E. of these Islands the common Trade-Wind blows and makes a great Sea and to the South-ward of them there is no ground under 70 80 or 100 fathom close by the Land After we had filled what Water we could from hence we set out again in April 1682. and came to Salt-Tortuga so called to distinguish it from the shoals of Dry Tortugas near Cape Florida and from the Isle of Tortugas by Hispaniola which was called formerly French Tortugas though not having heard any mention of that name a great while I am apt to think it is swallow'd up in that of Petit-Guavres the chief Garrison the French have in those parts This Island we arrived at is pretty large uninhabited and abounds with Salt It is in Lat. 11 degrees North and lyeth West and a little Northerly from Margarita an Island inhabited by the Spaniards strong and wealthy it is distant from it about 14 leagues and 17 or 18 from Cape Blanco on the Main A Ship being within these Islands a little to the South-ward may see at once the Main Margarita and Tortuga when it is clear weather The East end of Tortuga is full of rugged bare broken Rocks which stretch themselves a little way out to Sea At the S. E. part is an indifferent good Road for Ships much frequented in peaceable times by Merchant-ships that come hither to lade Salt in the months of May June July and August For at the East end is a large Salt-pond within 200 paces of the Sea The Salt begins to kern or grain in April except it is a dry season for it is observed that rain makes the Salt kern I have seen above 20 Sail at a time in this road come to lade Salt and these Ships coming from some of the Caribbe Islands are always well stored with Rum Sugar and Lime-juice to make Punch to hearten their Men when they are at work getting and bringing aboard the Salt and they commonly provide the more in hopes to meet with Privateers who resort hither in the aforesaid months purposely to keep a Christmas as they call it being sure to meet with Liquor enough to be merry with and are very liberal to those that treat them Near the West end of the Island on the South side there is a small Harbour and some fresh Water That end of the Island is full of shrubby Trees but the East end is rocky and barren as to Trees producing only course Grass There are some Goats on it but not many and Turtle or Tortise come upon the sandy Bays to lay their Eggs and from them the Island hath its Name There is no riding any where but in the Road where the Salt-Ponds are or in the Harbour At this Isle we thought to have sold our Sugar among the English Ships that come hither for Salt but failing there we design'd for Trinidada an Island near the Main inhabited by the Spaniards tolerably strong and wealthy but the Current and Easterly Winds hindering us we passed through between Margarita and the Main and went to Blanco a pretty large Island almost North of Margarita about 30 leagues from the Main and in 11 d. 50 m. North Lat. It is a flat even low uninhabited Island dry and healthy most Savanah of long Grass and hath some Trees of Lignum Vitae growing in Spots with shrubby Bushes of other Wood about them It is plentifully stored with Guano s which are an Animal like a Lizard but much bigger The body is as big as the small of a mans leg and from the hind quarter the tail grows tapering to the end which is very small If a Man takes hold of the tail except very near the hind quarter it will part and breakoff in one of the joints and the Guano will get away They lay Eggs as most of those amphibious creatures do and are very good to eat Their flesh is much esteemed by Privateers who commonly dress them for their sick men for they make very good Broath They are of divers colours as almost black dark brown light brown dark green light green yellow and speckled They all live as well in the Water as on Land and some of them are constantly in the Water and among Rocks These are commonly black Others that live in swampy wet ground are commonly on Bushes and Trees these are green But such as live in dry ground as here at Blanco are commonly yellow yet these also will live in the Water and are sometimes on Trees The Road is on the N. W. end against a small Cove or little sandy Bay There is no riding any where else for it is deep water and steep close to the Land There is one small Spring on the West side and there are sandy Bays round the Island where Turtle or Tortoise come up in great abundance going ashore in the night These that frequent this Island are called green Turtle and they are the best of that sort both for largeness and sweetness of any in all the West Indies I would here give a particular description of these and other sorts of Turtle in these Seas but because I shall have occasion to mention some other sorts of Turtle when I come again into the South Seas that are very different from all these I shall there give a general account of all these several sorts at once that the difference between them may be the better discerned Some of our modern Descriptions speak of Goats on this Island I know not what there may have been formerly but there are none now to my certain knowledge for my self and many more of our Crew have been all over it Indeed these parts have undergone great changes in this last age as well in places themselves as in their Owners and Commodities of them particularly Nombre de Dios a City once famous and which still retains a considerable name in some late
sandy bearing only a few shrubby Trees These Indians plant no manner of Grain or Root but are supplied from other places and commonly keep a stock of Provision to relieve Ships that want for this is the first Settlement that Ships can touch at which come from Panama bound to Lima or any other Port in Peru. The Land being dry and sandy is not fit to produce Crops of Maize which is the reason they plant none There is a Spring of good Water between the Village and the Seas On the back of the Town a pretty way up in the Country there is a very high Mountain towring up like a Sugar-loaf called Monte-Christo It is a very good Sea-mark for there is none like it on all the Coast. The body of this Mountain bears due South from Manta About a mile and half from the Shore right against the Village there is a Rock which is very dangerous because it never appears above water neither doth the Sea break on it because here is seldom any great Sea yet it is now so well known that all Ships bound to this place do easily avoid it A mile within this Rock there is good Anchoring in 6 8 or 10 fathom Water good hard Sand and clear ground And a mile from the Road on the West side there is a shole running out a mile into the Sea From Manta to Cape St. Lorenzo the Land is plain and even of an indifferent heighth See a further account of these Coasts in the Appendix As soon as ever the day appear'd our men landed and march'd towards the Village which was about a mile and a half from their Landing-place Some of the Indians who were stirring saw them coming and alarmed their Neighbours so that all that were able got away They took only two old Women who both said that it was reported that a great many Enemies were come over land thro the Country of Darien into the South Seas and that they were at present in Canoas and Periagoes and that the Vice-Roy upon this news had set out the fore-mentioned order for burning their own Ships Our men found no sort of provision here the Vice-Roy having likewise sent orders to all Sea-ports to keep no provision but just to supply themselves These Women also said that the Manta Indians were sent over to the Island Plata to destroy all the Goats there which they performed about a month agone With this news our men returned again and arriv'd at Plata the next day We lay still at the Island Plata being not resolved what to do till the 2d day of October and then Captain Swan in the Cygnet of London arriv'd there He was fitted out by very eminent Merchants of that City on a design only to trade with the Spaniards or Indians having a very considerable Cargo well sorted for these parts of the World but meeting with divers disappointments and being out of hopes to obtain a trade in these Seas his men forc'd him to entertain a company of Privateers which he met with near Nicoya a Town whither he was going to seek a Trade and these Privateers were bound thither in Boats to get a Ship These were the men that we had heard of at Manta they came over land under the command of Captain Peter Harris Nephew to that Captain Harris who was kill'd before Panama Captain Swan was still Commander of his own Ship and Captain Harris commanded a small Bark under Captain Swan There was much joy on all sides when they arriv'd and immediately hereupon Captain Davis and Captain Swan consorted wishing for Captain Eaton again Our little Bark which was taken at Santa Hellena was immediately sent out to cruize while the Ships were fitting for Captain Swan's Ship being full of goods was not fit to entertain his new guest till the goods were dispos'd of therefore he by the consent of the Supercargo's got up all his goods on Deck and sold to any one that would buy upon trust the rest was thrown over-board into the Sea except fine goods as Silks Muslins Stockings c. and except the Iron whereof he had a good quantity both wrought and in Bars This was saved for Ballast The third day after our Bark was sent to cruize she brought in a Prize of 400 Tuns laden with Timber They took her in the Bay of Guiaquil she came from a Town of that name and was bound to Lima. The Commander of this Prize said that it was generally reported and believed at Guiaquil that the Vice-Roy was fitting out 10 sail of Frigots to drive us out of the Seas This news made our unsettled Crew wish that they had been perswaded to accept of Captain Eaton's company on reasonable terms Captain Davis and Captain Swan had some discourse concerning Captain Eaton they at last concluded to send our small Bark towards the Coast of Lima as far as the Island Lobos to seek Captain Eaton This being approved by all hands she was cleaned the next day and sent away mann'd with 20 men 10 of Captain Davis and 10 of Swan's men and Captain Swan writ a Letter directed to Captain Eaton desiring his company and the Isle of Plata was appointed for the general Rendezvous When this Bark was gone we turn'd another Bark which we had into a Fire-ship having 6 or 7 Carpenters who soon fixt her and while the Carpenters were at work about the Fire-ship we scrubb'd and clean'd our Men of War as well as time and place would permit The 19th day of October we finish'd our business and the 20th day we sail'd toward the Island Lobos where our Bark was order'd to stay for us or meet us again at Plata We had but little Wind therefore it was the 23d day before we passed by Point St. Hellena The 25th day we crossed over the Bay of Guiaquil The 30th day we doubled Cape Blanco This Cape is in lat 3 d. 45 m. It is counted the worst Cape in all the South Seas to double passing to the Southward for in all other places Ships may stand off to Sea 20 or 30 leagues off if they find they cannot get any thing under the shore but here they dare not do it for by relation of the Spaniards they find a current setting N. W. which will carry a Ship off more in 2 hours than they can run in again in 5. Besides setting to the Northward they lose ground therefore they alway beat it up under the shore which oft-times they find very difficult because the wind commonly blows very strong at S. S. W. or S. by W. without altering for here are never any Land-winds This Cape is of an indifferent heighth It is fenced with white Rocks to the Sea for which reason I believe it hath this name The Land in the Country seems to be full of high steep rugged and barren Rocks The 2d day of November we got as high as Payta We lay about 6 leagues off shore all the day that the
so very populous many of them are extreme poor for want of employment and tho the Country is full of Silk and other materials to work on yet little is done but when strange Ships arrive For 't is the Money and Goods that are brought hither especially by the English and Dutch that puts life into them for the Handicrafts men have not Money to set themselves to work and the Foreign Merchants are therefore forc'd to trust them with advance-money to the value of at least a third or half their goods and this for 2 or 3 months or more before they have made their goods and brought them in So that they having no Goods ready by them till they have Money from the Merchant strangers the Ships that trade hither must of necessity stay here all the time that their Goods are making which are commonly 5 or 6 months The Tonquinese make very good Servants I think the best in India For as they are generally apprehensive and docil so are they faithful when hired diligent and obedient Yet they are low spirited probably by reason of their living under an Arbitrary Government They are patient in labour but in sickness they are mightily dejected They have one great fault extreme common among them which is gaming To this they are so universally addicted Servants and all that neither the awe of their Masters nor any thing else is sufficient to restrain them till they have lost all they have even their very Cloaths This is a reigning Vice amongst the Eastern Nations especially the Chinese as I said in the 15th Chapter of my former Volume And I may add that the Chinese I found settled at Tonqnin were no less given to it than those I met with elsewhere For after they have lost their Money Goods and Cloaths they will stake down their Wives and Children and lastly as the dearest thing they have will play upon tick and mortgage their Hair upon honour And whatever it cost 'em they will be sure to redeem it For a free Chinese as these are who have fled from the Tartars would be as much asham'd of short Hair as a Tonquinese of white Teeth The Cloaths of the Tonquinese are made either of Silk or Cotton The poor people and Soldiers do chiefly wear Cotton cloath died to a dark tawny colour The rich men and Mandarins commonly wear English Broad-cloath the chief colours are red or green When they appear before the King they wear long Gowns which reach down to their heels neither may any man appear in his presence but in such a garb The great men have also long Caps made of the same that their Gowns are made of but the middle sort of men and the poor commonly go bare-headed Yet the Fishermen and such Labourers as are by their employments more exposed to the weather have broad brim'd Hats made of Reeds Straw or Palmeto-leaves These Hats are as stiff as boards and sit not plyant to their heads for which reason they have Bandstrings or Necklaces fastened to their Hats which coming under their chins are there tyed to keep their Hats fast to their heads These Hats are very ordinary things they seldom wear them but in rainy weather Their other Cloaths are very few and mean a ragged pair of Britches commonly sussiceth them Some have bad Jackets but neither Shirt Stockings nor Shooes The Tonquinese buildings are but mean Their Houses are small and low the Walls are either Mud or Watle bedawbed over and the Roofs are thatched and that very ill especially in the Country The Houses are too low to admit of Chambers yet they have here 2 or 3 partitions on the ground floor made with a watling of Canes or Sticks for their several uses In each of which there is a Window to let in the light The Windows are only small square holes in the Walls which they shut up at night with a Board fitted for that purpose The Rooms are but meanly furnished with a poor Bed or two or more according to the bigness of the family in the inner Room The outer Rooms are furnish'd with Stools Benches or Chairs to sit on There is also a Table and on one side a little Altar with two Incense-pots on it nor is any House without its Altar One of these Incense-pots has a small bundle of Rushes in it the ends of which I always took notice had been burnt and the sire put out This outer Room is the place where they commonly dress their food yet in fair weather they do it as frequently in the open air at their doors or in their yards as being thereby the less incommoded by heat or smoak They dwell not in lone houses but together in Villages 't is rare to see a single house by itself The Country Villages commonly consist of 20 30 or 40 houses and are thick seated over all the Country yet hardly to be seen till you come to their very doors by reason of the Trees and Groves they are surrounded with And 't is as rare to see a Grove without a Village in the low Country near the Sea as to see a Village without a Grove but the high Lands are full of Woods and the Villages there stand all as in one great Forest. The Villages and Land about them do most belong to great men and the Inhabitants are Tenants that manure and cultivate the ground The Villages in the low Land are also surrounded with great banks and deep ditches These incompass the whole Grove in which each Village stands The banks are to keep the water from overflowing their gardens and from coming into their houses in the wet time when all the Land about them is under water 2 or 3 foot deep The ditches or trenches are to preserve the water in the dry time with which they water their gardens when need requires Every man lets water at pleasure by little drains that run inward from the Town-ditch into his own garden and usually each mans yard or garden is parted from his neighbours by one of these little drains on each side The houses lie scattering up and down in the Grove no where joyning to one another but each apart and fenced in with a small hedge Every house hath a small gate or stile to enter into the garden first for the house stands in the middle of it and the garden runs also from the backside of the house to the Town-Ditch with its drain and hedge on each side In the gardens every man has his own Fruit-trees as Oranges Limes Betle his Pumpkins Melons Pine-apples and a great many Herbs In the dry season these Grovy dwellings are very pleasant but in the wet season they are altogether uncomfortable for tho fenced in thus with banks yet are they like so many Duck houses all wet and dirty neither can they pass from one Village to another but mid-leg or to their knees in water unless sometimes in Boats which they keep for this purpose but
to these Moors are obliged to joyn Stock with them and they first make an offer of it to them as a kindness and the Moors being generally desirous to Trade frequently accept of it almost on any terms but should they be unwilling yet dare they not refuse for fear of disobliging the Danes who are Lords of the place In this Ship I found Mr Coppenger and he was the first that I had seen of all the Company that left me at the Nicobar Islands The next morning we filled our water and weigh'd again the Dane being gone a little before He was bound to Jihore to load Pepper but intended to touch at Malacca as most Ships do that pass these Streights He also sailed better than we and therefore left us to follow him We stood on yet nearest to the Sumatra shore till we came in sight of Pulo Arii in Lat 3 d 2 m. N. These are several Islands lying S. E. by E. l Easterly from Pulo Verero about 32 leagues distant These Islands are good marks for Ships bound thro the Streights for when they bear S. E. at 3 or 4 leagues distance you may steer away E. by S. for the Malacca Shore from whence you then may be about 20 leagues The first Land you will see is Pulo Parselore which is a high peeked Hill in the Country on the Malacca Coast which standing by it self amidst a low Country it appears like an Island tho I know not whether it is is really one for it stands some miles within the shoar of the Continent of Malacca It is a very remarkable Hill and the only Sea mark for Seamen to guide themselves through certain Sands that lye near the Main and if it is thick hazy Weather and the hill is obscur'd Pilots unless they are very knowing in the Soundings will hardly venture in for the Channel is not above a league wide and there are large shoals on each side These shoals lye ten leagues from Pulo Arii and continue till within 2 or 3 of the Malacca shoar In the Channel there is 12 or 14 fathom water but you may keep in 7 or 8 fathom on either side and sounding all the way you may pass on without danger We had a good gale at West which brought us in sight of Pulo Parsalore and so we kept sounding till we came within the shoar and then we had the Town of Malacca about 18 leagues distant from us to the S. E. and by E. Being shot over to the Malacca shore there is good wide Channel to sail in you having the shoals on one side and the Land on the other to which last you may come as nigh as you see convenient for there is water enough and good anchoring The Tide runs pretty strong here the Flood sets to the Eastward and the Ebb to the West and therefore when there is little wind and Ships cannot stem the Tide they commonly anchor But we being in with the Malacca shoar had a westerly Wind which brought us before Malacca Town about the middle of October and here I first heard that King William and Queen Mary were Crowned King and Queen of England The Dane that left us at Pulo Verero was not yet arrived for as we afterwards understood they could not find the way through the Sands but were forc'd to keep along without them and fetch a great Compass about which retarded their Passage Malacca is a pretty large Town of about 2 or 300 Families of Dutch and Portuguese many of which are a mixt breed between those Nations There are also many of the Native Malayans inhabiting in small Cottages on the skirts of the Town The Dutch Houses are built with Stone and the Streets are wide and straight but not paved At the N. West of the Town there is a Wall and Gate to pass in and out and a small Fort always guarded with Soldiers The Town stands on a level low ground close by the Sea The Land on the backside of the Town seems to be morassy and on the West side without the Wall there are Gardens of Fruits and Herbs and some fair Dutch Houses but that quarter is chiefly the habitation of the Malayans On the East side of the Town there is a small River which at a Spring Tide will admit small Barks to enter About 100 paces from the Sea there is a Draw bridge which leads from the midst of the Town to a strong Fort built on the East side of the River This is the chief Fort and is built on a low level ground close by the Sea at the foot of a little steep Hill Its form is semicircular according to the natural position of the adjacent Hill It fronts chiefly to the Sea and having its foundation on firm Rocks the Walls are carried up to a good heighth and of a considerable thickness The lower part of is washed by the Sea every Tide On the back of the Hill the Land being naturally low there is a very large Moat cut from the Sea to the River which makes the whole an Island and that back part is stockadoed round with great Trees set up an end so that there is no entring when once the Draw-bridge is haled up On the Hill within the Fort stands a small Church big enough to receive all Towns people who come hither on Sundays to hear Divine service and on the Main beyond the Fort the Malayans are also seated close by the Sea The first Europeans who settled here were the Portuguese They also built the great Fort but whether they moted round the Hill and made an Island of that spot of ground I know not nor what charges have been bestowed on it since to make it defenceable nor what other alterations have been made but the whole building seems to be pretty antient and that part of it which fronts to the Sea was in all probability built by the Portuguese for there are still the marks of the Conquerors shot in the Walls It is a place so naturally strong that I even wonder how they could be beaten out but when I consider what other places they then lost and their mismanagements I am the less surprized at it The Portuguese were the first discoverers by Sea of the East Indies and had thereby the Advantage of Trade with these 〈◊〉 Eastern people as also an opportunity thro their weakness to settle themselves where they pleased Therefore they made Settlements and Forts among them in divers places of India as here for one and presuming upon the strength of their Forts they insulted over the Natives and being grown rich with Trade they fell to all manner of looseness and debauchery the usual concomitant of Wealth and as commonly the fore runner of Ruin The Portuguese at this place by report made use of the Native Women at their pleasure whether Virgins or Married Women luch as they liked they took without controle and it is probable they as little restrained their lust in
big as a Turkey wherewith we treated our Guides for we brought no Provision with us This night our last Slave run away The eleventh day we marched 10 mile farther and built Hutts at night but went supperless to bed The twelfth in the morning we crossed a deep River passing over it on a Tree and marched 7 mile in a low swampy ground and came to the side of a great deep River but could not get over We built Hutts upon its Banks and lay there all night upon our Barbecu's or frames of Sticks raised about 3 foot from the ground The thirteenth day when we turned out the River had overflowed its Banks and was 2 foot deep in our Hutts and our Guides went from us not telling us their intent which made us think they were returned home again Now we began to repent our haste in coming from the last settlements for we had no food since we came from thence Indeed we got Macaw-berries in this place wherewith we satisfied our selves this day though coursly The fourteenth day in the morning betimes our Guides came to us again and the Waters being fallen within their bounds they carry'd us to a Tree that stood on the Bank of the River and told us if we could fell that Tree cross it we might pass if not we could pass no further Therefore we set two of the best Ax-men that we had who fell'd it exactly cross the River and the bows just reached over on this we passed very safe We afterwards crossed another River three times with much difficulty and at 3 a Clock in the afternoon we came to an Indian settlement where we met a drove of Monkeys and kill d 4 of them and stayed here all night having marched this day 6 miles Here we got Plantains enough and a kind reception of the Indian that lived here all alone except one boy to wait on him The fifteenth day when we set out the kind Indian and his boy went with us in a Canoa and set us over such places as we could not ford and being past those great Rivers he returned back again having helped us at least 2 mile We marched afterwards 5 mile and came to large Plantain walks where we took up our quarters that night we there fed plentifully on Plantains both ripe and green and had fair weather all the day and night I think these were the largest Plantains walks and the biggest Plantains that ever I saw but no house near them We gathered what we pleased by our Guides orders The sixteenth day we marched 3 mile and came to a large settlement where we abode all day Not a man of us but wisht the Journey at an end our Feet being blistered and our Thighs stript with wading through so many Rivers the way being almost continually through Rivers or pathless Woods In the afternoon five of us went to seek for game and kill'd 3 Monkeys which we drest for Supper Here we first began to have fair Weather which continued with us till we came to the North Seas The eighteenth day we set out at 10 a Clock and the Indians with 5 Canoas carried us a league up a River and when we landed the kind Indians went with us and carried our burthens We marched 3 mile farther and then built our Hutts having travelled from the last settlements 6 miles The nineteenth day our Guides lost their way and we did not march above 2 miles The twentieth day by 12 a Clock we came to Cheapo River The Rivers we crost hitherto run all into the South Seas and this of Cheapo was the last we met with that run that way Here an old man who came from the last settlements distributed his burthen of Plantains amongst us and taking his leave returned home Afterward we forded the River and marched to the foot of a very high Mountain where we lay all night This day we marched about 9 miles The 21st day some of the Indians returned back and we marched up a very high mountain being on the top we went some miles on a ridge and steep on both sides then descended a little and came to a fine Spring where we lay all night having gone this day about 9 miles the weather still very fair and clear The 22d day we marched over another very high Mountain keeping on the ridge 5 miles When we came to the North end we to our great comfort saw the Sea then we descended and parted our selves into 3 Companies and lay by the side of a River which was the first we met that runs into the North Sea The 23d day we came through several large Plantain walks and at 10 a Clock came to an Indians habitation not far from the North Sea Here we got Canoas to carry us down the River Conception to the Sea side having gone this day about 7 miles We found a great many Indians at the mouth of this River They had settled themselves here for the benefit of Trade with the Privateers and their Commodities were Yams Potatoes Plantains Sugar Canes Fowls and Eggs. These Indians told us that there had been a great many English and French Ships here which were all gone but one Barco-longo a French Privateer that lay at La Sound 's Key or Island This Island is about 3 leagues from the mouth of the River Conception and is one of the Samballoes a range of Islands reaching for about 20 leagues from point Samballas to Golden-Island Eastward These Islands or Keys as we call them were first made the Rendezvous of Privateers in the year 1679 being very convenient for careening and had names given to some of them by the Captains of the Privateers as this La-Sound s Key particularly Thus we finished our Journey from the South Sea to the North in 23 days in which time by my account we travelled 110 miles crossing some very high Mountains but our common march was in the Valleys among deep and dangerous Rivers At our first landing in this Country we were told that the Indians were our Enemies we knew the Rivers to be deep the wet season to be coming in yet excepting those we left behind we lost but one man who was drowned as I said Our first landing place on the South Coast was very disadvantageous for we travelled at least 50 miles more than we need to have done could we have gone up Cheapo River or Santa Maria River for at either of these places a man may pass from Sea to Sea in 3 days time with ease The Indians can do it in a day and a half by which you may see how easy it is for a party of men to travel over I must confess the Indians did assist us very much and I question whether ever we had got over without their assistance because they brought us from time to time to their Plantations where we always got Provision which else we should have wanted But if a party of 500 or 600 men or more were
times sought after by the Spaniards who knew he was left on the Island yet they could never find him He was in the Woods hunting for Goats when Captain Watlin drew off his men and the Ship was under sail before he came back to shore He had with him his Gun and a Knife with a small Horn of Powder and a few Shot which being spent he contrived a way by notching his Knife to saw the barrel of his Gun into small pieces wherewith he made Harpoons Lances Hooks and a long Knife heating the pieces first in the fire which he struck with his Gunflint and a piece of the barrel of his Gun which he hardened having learnt to do that among the English The hot pieces of Iron he would hammer out and bend as he pleased with Stones and saw them with his jagged Knife or grind them to an edge by long labour and harden them to a good temper as there was occasion All this may seem strange to those that are not acquainted with the sagacity of the Indians but it is no more than these Moskito men are accustomed to in their own Country where they make their own Fishing and Striking Instruments without either Forge or Anvil tho they spend a great deal of time about them Other Wild Indians who have not the use of Iron which the Moskito men have from the English make Hatchets of a very hard stone with which they will cut down Trees the Cotton Tree especially which is a soft tender Wood to build their Houses or make Canoas and though in working their Canoas hollow they cannot dig them so neat and thin yet they will make them fit for their service This their digging or hatchet-work they help out by fire whether for the felling of the Trees or for the making the inside of their Canoa hollow These contrivances are used particularly by the Savage Indians of Blewfield s River described in the 3d Chapter whose Canoas and Stone-hatchets I have seen These Stone-hatchets are about 10 inches long 4 broad and 3 inches thick in the middle They are grownd away flat and sharp at both ends right in the midst and clear round it they make a notch so wide and deep that a man might place his Finger along it and taking a stick or withe about 4 foot long they bind it round the Hatchet-head in that notch and so twisting it hard use it as an handle or helve the head being held by it very fast Nor are other Wild Indians less ingenious Those of Patagonia particularly head their Arrows with Flint cut or grownd which I have seen and admired But to return to our Moskito man on the Isle of John Fernando With such Instruments as he made in that manner he got such Provision as the Island afforded either Goats or Fish He told us that at first he was forced to eat Seal which is very ordinary meat before he had made Hooks but afterwards he never kill'd any Seals but to make lines cutting their skins into thongs He had a little House or Hut half a mile from the Sea which was lined with Goats skin his Couch or Barbecu of sticks lying along about 2 foot distant from the ground was spread with the same and was all his Bedding He had no Cloaths left having worn out those he brought from Watlin's Ship but only a Skin about his Waste He saw our Ship the day before we came to an Anchor and did believe we were English and therefore kill'd 3 Goats in the morning before we came to an anchor and drest them with Cabbage to treat us when we came ashore He came then to the Sea side to congratulate our safe arrival And when we landed a Moskito Indian named Robin first leapt ashore and running to his brother Moskito man threw himself flat on his face at his feet who helping him up and embracing him fell flat with his face on the ground at Robins feet and was by him taken up also We stood with pleasure to behold the surprize and tenderness and solemnity of this interview which was exceedingly affectionate on both sides and when their ceremonies of civility were over we also that stood gazing at them drew near each of us embracing him we had found here who was overjoyed to see so many of his old friends come hither as he thought purposely to fetch him He was named Will as the other was Robin These were names given them by the English for they have no names among themselves and they take it as a great favour to be named by any of us and will complain for want of it if we do not appoint them some name when they are with us saying of themselves they are poor Men and have no name This Island is in lat 34 d. 15 m. and about 120 leagues from the Main It is about 12 leagues round full of high Hills and small pleasant Valleys which if manured would probably produce any thing proper for the Climate The sides of the Mountains are part Savanahs part Wood-land Savanahs are clear pieces of Land without Woods not because more barren than the Wood-land for they are frequently spots of as good Land as any and often are intermixt with Wood-land In the Bay of Campeachy are very large Savanahs which I have seen full of Cattle but about the River of Plate are the largest that ever I heard of 50 60 or 100 miles in length and Jamaica Cuba and Hispaniola have many Savanahs intermixt with Woods Places cleared of Wood by Art and Labour do not go by this name but those only which are found so in the uninhabited parts of America such as this Isle of John Fernandoes or which were originally clear in other parts The Grass in these Savanahs at John Fernando's is not a long flaggy Grass such as is usually in the Savanahs in the West-Indies but a sort of kindly Grass both thick and flourishing the biggest part of the year The Woods afford divers sorts of Trees some large and good Timber for Building but none fit for Masts The Cabbage Trees of this Isle are but small and low yet afford a good head and the Cabbage very sweet This Tree I shall describe in the Appendix in the Bay of Campeachy The Savanahs are stocked with Goats in great Herds but those that live on the East end of the Island are not so fat as those on the West end for though there is much more Grass and plenty of Water in every Valley nevertheless they thrive not so well here as on the West end where there is less food and yet there are found greater Flocks and those too fatter and sweeter That West end of the Island is all high Champion ground without any Vally and but one place to land there is neither Wood nor any fresh Water and the Grass short and dry Goats were first put on the Island by John Fernando who first discovered it in his Voyage from Lima to Baldivia
difficulty over the Mountains where if 3 men are placed they may keep down as many as come against them on any side This was partly experienced by 5 Englishmen that Captain Davis left here who defended themselves against a great body of Spaniards who landed in the Bays and came here to destroy them and though the second time one of their Consorts deserted and fled to the Spaniards yet the other 4 kept their ground and were afterward taken in from hence by Captain Strong of London We remained at John Fernando's 16 days our sick men were ashore all the time and one of Captain Eaton's Doctors for he had 4 in his Ship tending and feeding them with Goat and several Herbs whereof here is plenty growing in the Brooks and their Diseases were chiefly Scorbutick CHAP. V. The Author departs from John Fernando's Of the Pacifick Sea Of the Andes or high Mountains in Peru and Chili A Prize taken Isle of Lobos Penguins and other Birds there Three Prizes more The Islands Gallapago's The Dildo tree Burton wood Mammet trees Guanoes Land Tortoise their several kind Green Snakes Turtle-Doves Tortoise or Turtle-grass Sea Turtle their several kinds The Air and Weather at the Gallapago's Some of the Islands describ'd their Soil c. The Island Cocos describ'd Cape Blanco and the Bay of Caldera the Sevanahs there Captain Cook dies Of Nicoya and a Red Wood for Dying and other Commodities A narrow Escape of 12 Men. Lance-wood Volean Vejo a burning Mountain on the Coast of Ria Lexa A Tornado The Island and Harbor of Ria Lexa The Gulph of Amapalla and Point Casivina Isles of Mangera and Amapalla The Indian Inhabitants Hog-plumb tree Other Islands in the Gulph of Amapalla Captain Eaton and Captain Davis careen their Ships here and afterwards part THE 8th of April 1684. we sailed from the Isle of John Fernando with the Wind at S. E. We were now 2 Ships in Company Captain Cook 's whose Ship I was in and who here took the Sickness of which he dy'd a while after and Captain Eaton's Our passage lay now along the Pacifick Sea properly so called For though it be usual with our Map-makers to give that Name to this whole Ocean calling it Mare Australe Mar del Zar or Mare Pacificum yet in my opinion the Name of the Pacifick Sea ought not to be extended from South to North farther than from 30 to about 4 degrees South Latitude and from the American Shore Westward indefinitely with respect to my Observation who have been in these parts 250 Leagues or more from Land and still had the Sea very quiet from Winds For in all this Tract of Water of which I have spoken there are no dark rainy Clouds though often a thick Horizon so as to hinder an Observation of the Sun with the Quadrant and in the morning hazy weather frequently and thick Mists but scarce able to wet one Nor are there in this Sea any Winds but the Trade-wind no Tempests no Tornado's or Hurricans though North of the Equator they are met with as well in this Ocean as in the Atlantick yet the Sea it self at the new and full of the Moon runs with high large long Surges but such as never break out at Sea and so are safe enough unless that where they fell in and break upon the shore they make it bad landing In this Sea we made the best of our way toward the Line till in the lat of 24. S. where we fell in with the main Land of the South America All this course of the Land both of Chili and Peru is vastly high therefore we kept 12 or 14 leagues off from shore being unwilling to be seen by the Spaniards dwelling there The Land especially beyond this from 24 deg S. Lat. to 17 and from 14 to 10 is of a most prodigious heighth It lies generally in ridges parallel to the Shore and 3 or 4 ridges one within another each surpassing other in heighth and those that are farthest within Land are much higher than the others They always appear blue when seen at Sea sometimes they are obscured with Clouds but not so often as the high Lands in other parts of the world for here are seldom or never any Rains on these Hills any more than in the Sea near it neither are they subject to Fogs These are the highest Mountains that ever I saw far surpassing the Pike of Tenariffe or Santa Martha and I believe any Mountains in the world I have seen very high Land in the Lat. of 30 South but not so high as in the Latitudes before described In Sir John Narborough's Voyage also to Baldivia a City on this Coast mention is made of very high Land seen near Baldivia and the Spaniard with whom I have discoursed have told me that there is very high Land all the way between Coquimbo which lies in about 30 deg S. Lat. and Baldivia which is in 40 South so that by all likelihood these ridges of Mountains do run in a continued Chain from one end of Peru and Chili to the other all along this South Sea Coast called usually the Andes or Sierra Nuevada des Andes The excessive heighth of these Mountains may possibly be the reason that there are no Rivers of note that fall into these Seas Some small Rivers indeed there are but very few of them for in some places there is not one that comes out into the Sea in 150 or 200 Leagues and where they are thickest they are 30 40 or 50 Leagues asunder and too little and shallow to be navigable Besides some of these do not constantly run but are dry at certain seasons of the year as the River of Ylo runs flush with a quick Current at the latter end of January and so continues till June and then it decreaseth by degrees growing less and running slow till the latter end of September when it fails wholly and runs no more till January again This I have seen at both seasons in two former Voyages I made hither and have been informed by the Spaniards that other Rivers on this Coast are of the like nature being rather Torrents or Land-floods caused by their Rains at certain seasons far within Land than Perennial Streams We kept still along in sight of this Coast but at a good distance from it encountring with nothing of Note till in the lat of 9 deg 40 min. South on the 3d of May we descried a Sail to the Northward of us She was plying to Windward we chaced her and Captain Eaton being a head soon took her she came from Guiaquil about a month before laden with Timber and was bound to Lima. Three days before we took her she came from Santa whither she had gone for Water and where they had news of our being in these Seas by an Express from Baldivia for as we afterwards heard Captain Swan had been at Baldivia to seek a Trade there and he having met Captain
familiar if the Custom of the Country did not debar them from that freedom which seems coveted by them Yet from the highest to the lowest they are allowed liberty to converse with or treat Strangers in the sight of their Husbands There is a kind of begging Custom at Mindanao that I have not met elsewhere with in all my Travels and which I believe is owing to the little Trade they have which is thus When Strangers arrive here the Mindanao Men will come aboard and invite them to their Houses and inquire who has a Comrade which word I believe they have from the Spaniards or a Pagally and who has not A Comrade is a familiar Male-friend a Pagally is an innocent Platonick Friend of the other Sex All Strangers are in a manner oblig'd to accept of this Acquaintance and Familiarity which must be first purchased with a small Present and afterwards confirmed with some Gift or other to continue the Acquaintance and as often as the Stranger goes ashore he is welcome to his Comrade or Pagally s House where he may be entertained for his Money to eat drink or sleep and complimented as often as he comes ashore with Tobacco and Betel-nut which is all the Entertainment he must expect gratis The richest Mens Wives are allowed the freedom to converse with her Pagally in publick and may give or receive Presents from him Even the Sultans and the Generals Wives who are always coopt up will yet look out of their Cages when a Stranger passeth by and demand of him if he wants a Pagally and to invite him to their Friendship will send a Present of Tobacco and Betel-nut to him by their Servants The chiefest City on this Island is called by the same Name of Mindanao It is seated on the South side of the Island in lat 7 d. 20 m. N. on the banks of a small River about 2 mile from the Sea The manner of building is somewhat strange yet generally used in this part of the East Indies Their Houses are all built on Posts about 14 16 18 or 20 foot high These Posts are bigger or less according to the intended Magnificence of the Superstructure They have but one floor but many partitions or rooms and a ladder or stairs to go up out of the streets The roof is large and covered with Palmeto or Palm-leaves So there is a clear passage like a Piazza but a filthy one under the House Some of the poorer People that keep Ducks or Hens have a fence made round the posts of their Houses with a door to go in and out and this under-room serves for no other use Some use this place for the common draught of their Houses but building mostly close by the River in all parts of the Indies they make the River receive all the filth of their Houses and at the time of the Land-floods all is washed very clean The Sultans House is much bigger than any of the rest It stands on about 180 great Posts or Trees a great deal higher than the common Building with great broad stairs made to go up In the first room he hath about 20 Iron Guns all Saker and Minion placed on Field-Carriages The General and other great Men have some Guns also in their Houses About 20 paces from the Sultan's House there is a small low House built purposely for the Reception of Ambassadors or Merchant Strangers This also stands on Posts but the floor is not raised above 3 or 4 foot above the ground and is neatly matted purposely for the Sultan and his Council to sit on for they use no Chairs but sit cross-legg'd like Taylors on the floor The common Food at Mindanao is Rice or Sago and a small Fish or two The better sort eat Buffalo or Fowls ill drest and abundance of Rice with it They use no Spoons to eat their Rice but every Man takes a handful out of the Platter and by wetting his Hand in Water that it may not stick to his Hand squeezes it into a lump as hard as possibly he can make it and then crams it into his mouth They all strive to make these lumps as big as their mouths can receive them and seem to vie with each other and glory in taking in the biggest lump so that sometimes they almost choak themselves They always wash after meals or if they touch any thing that is unclean for which reason they spend abundance of Water in their Houses This Water with the washing of their Dishes and whatother filth they make they pour down near their Fire-place for their Chambers are not boarded but floored with split Bamboos like Laths so that the Water presently falls underneath their dwelling rooms where it breeds Maggots and makes a prodigious stink Besides this filthiness the sick people ease themselves and make water in their Chambers there being a small hole made purposely in the floor to let it drop through But healthy sound people commonly ease themselves and make water in the River For that reason you shall always see abundance of people of both Sexes in the River from morning till night some easing themselves others washing their bodies or cloaths If they come into the River purposely to wash their cloaths they strip and stand naked till they have done then put them on and march out again both men and women take great delight in swimming and washing themselves being bred to it from their Infancy I do believe it is very wholsome to wash mornings and evenings in these hot Countries at least 3 or 4 days in the week for I did use my self to it when I lived afterwards at Ben-cooly and found it very refreshing and comfortable It is very good for those that have Fluxes to wash and stand in the River mornings and evenings I speak it experimentally for I was brought very low with that distemper at Achin but by washing constantly mornings and evenings I found great benefit and was quickly cured by it In the City of Mindanao they spake two Languages indifferently their own Mindanao Language and the Malaya but in other parts of the Island they speak only their proper Language having little Commerce abroad They have Schools and instruct the Children to read and write and bring them up in the Mahometan Religion Therefore many of the words especially their Prayers are in Arabick and many of the words of civility the same as in Turkey and especially when they meet in the morning or take leave of each other they express themselves in that Language Many of the old people both Men and Women can speak Spanish for the Spaniards were formerly settled among them and had several Forts on this Island and then they sent two Friers to this City to convert the Sultan of Mindanao and his people At that time these people began to learn Spanish and the Spaniards incroached on them and endeavoured to bring them into subjection and probably before this time had brought them all under
Head called a Gong which is instead of a Clock This Gong is beaten at 12 a Clock at 3 6 and 9 a man being appointed for that service He has a stick as big as a mans arm with a great knob at the end bigger than a mans fist made with Cotton bound fast with small Cords With this he strikes the Gong as hard as he can about 20 strokes beginning to strike leisurely the first 5 or 6 strokes then he strikes faster and at last strikes as fast as he can and then he strikes again slower and slower so many more strokes thus he rises and falls 3 times and then leaves off till 3 hours after This is done night and day They circumcise the Males at 11 or 12 years of Age or older and many are circumcised at once This Ceremony is performed with a great deal of Solemnity There had been no Circumcision for some years before our being here and then there was one for Raja Laut's Son They chuse to have a general Circumcision when the Sultan or General or some other great a person hath a Son fit to be circumcised for with him great many more are circumcised There is notice given about 8 or 10 days before for all Men to appear in Arms and great preparation is made against the solemn day In the morning before the Boys are circumcised Presents are sent to the Father of the Child that keeps the Feast which as I said before is either the Sultan or some great person and about 10 or 11 a clock the Mahometan Priest does his Office He takes hold of the fore-skin with two sticks and with a pair of Scizzars snips it off After this most of the Men both in City and Country being in Arms before the House begin to act as if they were ingag'd with an Enemy having such Arms as I described Only one acts at a time the rest make a great Ring of 2 or 300 yards round about him He that is to exercise comes into the Ring with a great shriek or two and a horrid look then he fetches 2 or 3 large stately strides and falls to work He holds his broad Sword in one hand and his Lance in the other and traverses his ground leaping from one side of the Ring to the other and in a menacing posture and look bids defiance to the Enemy whom his fancy frames to him for there is nothing but air to oppose him Then he stamps and shakes his Head and grinning with his Teeth makes many ruful faces Then he throws his Lance and nimbly snatches out his Cresset with which he hacks and hews the air like a mad man often shrieking At last being almost tired with motion he flies to the middle of the Ring where he seems to have his Enemy at his mercy and with 2 or 3 blows cuts on the ground as if he was cutt ng off his Enemy's Head By this time he is all of a sweat and withdraws triumphantly out of the Ring and presently another enters with the like shrieks and gestures Thus they continue combating their imaginary Enemy all the rest of the day towards the conclusion of which the richest men act and at last the General and then the Sultan concludes this Ceremony He and the General with some other great Men are in Armour but the rest have none After this the Sultan returns home accompanied with abundance of people who wait on him there till they are dismist But at the time when we were there there was an after-game to be played for the General 's Son being then Circumcised the Sultan intended to give him a second visit in the night so they all waited to attend him thither The General also provided to meet him in the best manner and therefore desired Captain Swan with his men to attend him Accordingly Captain Swan ordered us to get our Guns and wait at the Generals house till further orders So about 40 of us waited till 8 a clock in the evening When the General with Captain Swan and about 1000 men went to meet the Sultan with abundance of Torches that made it as light day The manner of the march was thus First of all there was a Pageant and upon it two dancing Women gorgeously apparelled with Coronets on their Heads full of glistering Spangles and Pendants of the same hanging down over their Breast and Shoulders These are Women bred up purposely for dancing Their Feet and Legs are but little imployed except sometimes to turn round very gently but their Hands Arms Head and Body are in continual motion especially their Arms which they turn and twist so strangely that you would think them to be made without Bones Besides the two dancing Women there were two old Women in the Pageant holding each a lighted Torch in their Hands close by the two dancing Women by which light the glittering Spangles appeared very gloriously This Pageant was carried by six lusty men Then came 6 or 7 Torches lighting the General and Captain Swan who marched side by side next and we that attended Captain Swan followed close after marching in order 6 and 6 abreast with each man his Gun on his Shoulder and Torches on each side After us came 12 of the Generals men with old Spanish Match-locks marching 4 in a row After them about 40 Lances and behind them as many with great Swords marching all in order After them came abundance only with Cressets by their sides who marched up close without any order When we came near the Sultans house the Sultan and his men met us and we wheeled off to let them pass The Sultan had 3 Pageants went before him In the first Pageant were 4 of his Sons who were about 10 or 11 years old They had gotten abundance of small Stones which they roguishly threw about on the peoples heads In the next were 4 young Maidens Nieces to the Sultan being his Sisters Daughters and in the 3d there were 3 of the Sultans Children not above 6 years old The Sultan himself followed next being carried in his Couch which was not like your Indian Palankins but open and very little and ordinary A multitude of people came after without any order but as soon as he was past by the General and Captain Swan and all our men closed in just behind the Sultan and so all marched together to the Generals house We came thither between 10 and 11 a clock where the biggest part of the company were immediately dismist but the Sultan and his Children and his Nieces and some other Persons of Quality entred the Generals house They were met at the head of the Stairs by the Generals women who with a great deal of respect conducted them into the house Captain Swan and we that were with him followed after It was not long before the General caused his dancing Women to enter the Room and divert the company with that pastime I had forgot to tell you that they have none but
of the biggest Island that between both there is formed a very commodious Harbour The entrance of this Harbour is on the North side where the two Islands are near a mile asunder There are 3 or 4 small Keys and a good deep Channel between them and the biggest Island Towards the South end of the Harbour the two Islands do in a manner close up leaving only a small passage for Boats and Canoas There are no more Islands on the North side but 5 or 6 on the South side of the great Island See the Table The Mold of these Islands for the biggest part is blackish and pretty deep only the Hills are somewhat stony The Eastern part of the biggest Island is sandy yet all cloathed with Trees of divers sorts The Trees do not grow so thick as I have seen them in some places but they are generally large and tall and fit for any uses There is one sort of Tree much larger than any other on this Island and which I have not seen any where else It is about 3 or 4 foot diameter in the Body from whence is drawn a sort of clammy juice which being boiled a little becomes perfect Tar and if you boil it much it will become hard as Pitch It may be put to either use we used it both ways and found it to be very serviceable The way that they get this juice is by cutting a great gap horizontally in the body of the Tree half through and about a foot from the ground and then cutting the upper part of the body aslope inwardly downward till in the middle of the Tree it meet with the traverse cutting or plain In this plain horizontal semicircular stump they make a hallow like a Bason that may contain a quart or two Into this hole the juice which drains from the wounded upper part of the Tree falls from whence you must empty it every day It will run thus for some months and then dry away and the Tree will recover again The Fruit-trees that nature hath bestowed on these Isles are Mangoes and Trees bearing a sort of Grape and other Trees bearing a kind of wild or bastard Nutmegs These all grow wild in the Woods and in very great plenty The Mangoes here grow on Trees as big as Apple-trees Those at Fort St. George are not so large The fruit of these is as big as a small Peach but long and smaller towards the top It is of a yellowish colour when ripe it is very juicy and of a pleasant smell and delicate taste When the Mango is young they cut them in two pieces and pickle them with Salt and Vineger in which they put some Cloves of Garlick This is an excellent sawce and much esteemed it is called Mango Achar Achar I presume signifies Sawce They make in the East Indies especially at Siam and Pegu several sorts of Achar as of the young tops of Bamboes c. Bambo Achar and Mango Achar are most used The Mangoes were ripe when we were there as were also the rest of these Fruits and they have then so delicate a fragrancy that we could smell them out in the thick Woods if we had but the wind of them while we were a good way from them and could not see them and we generally found them out this way Mangoes are common in many places of the East Indies but I did never know any grow wild only at this place These though not so big as those I have seen at Achin at Maderas and Fort St. George are yet every whit as pleasant as the best sort of their Garden Mangoes The Grape-tree grows with a strait body of a Diameter about a foot or more and hath but few Limbs or Boughs The Fruit grows in Clusters all about the body of the Tree like the Jack Durian and Cacao Fruits There are of them both red and white They are much like such Grapes as grow on our Vines both in shape and colour and they are of a very pleasant Winy taste I never saw these but on the two biggest of these Islands the rest had no Tar-trees Mango's Grape-trees nor Wild Nutmegs The Wild Nutmeg-tree is as big as a Walnut-tree but it does not spread so much The Boughs are gross and the Fruit grows among the Boughs as the Wallnut and other Fruits This Nutmeg is much smaller than the true Nutmeg and longer also It is inclosed with a thin Shell and a sort of Mace encircling the Nut within the Shell This bastard Nutmeg is so much like the true Nutmeg in shape that at our first arrival here we thought it to be the true one but it has no manner of smell nor taste The Animals of these Islands are some Hogs Lizards and Guanoes and some of those Creatures mentioned in Chap. XI which are like but much bigger than the Guano Here are many sorts of Birds as Parrots Parakites Doves and Pigeons Here are also a sort of wild Cocks and Hens They are much like our tame Fowl of that kind but a great deal less for they are about the bigness of a Crow The Cocks do crow like ours but much more small and shrill and by their crowing we do first find them out in the Woods where we shoot them Their flesh is very white and sweet There are a great many Limpits and Muscles and plenty of green Turtle And upon this mention of Turtle again I think it not amiss to add some reasons to strengthen the opinion that I have given concerning these Creatures removing from place to place I have said in Chapter 5th that they leave their common feeding places and go to places a great way from thence to lay as particularly to the Island Ascention Now I have discoursed with some since that subject was printed who are of opinion that when the laying time is over they never go from thence but lye some where in the Sea about the Island which I think is very improbable for there can be no food for them there as I could soon make appear as particularly from hence that the Sea about the Isle of Ascention is so deep as to admit of no anchoring but at one place where there is no sign of Grass and we never bring up with our sounding Lead any Grass or Weeds out of very deep Seas but Sand or the like only But if this be granted that there is food for them yet I have a great deal of reason to believe that the Turtle go from hence for after the laying time you shall never see them and where ever Turtle are you will see them rise and hold their Head above water to breath once in 7 or 8 minutes or at longest in 10 or 12. And if any man does but consider how Fish take their certain seasons of the year to go from one Sea to another this would not seem strange even Fowls also having their seasons to remove from once place to another These Islands are pretty well watered
in them as we were informed by all the Spaniards that ever we converst with in these parts They told us also that in these wrecks most of the men were drowned and that the Chinese did never go thither to take up any of the Treasure that was lost there for fear of being lost themselves But the danger of the place did not daunt us for we were resolved to try our fortunes there if the Winds would permit and we did beat for it 5 or 6 days but at last were forced to leave that design also for want of Winds for the S. E. Winds continuing forced us on the Coast of China It was the 25th day of June when we made the Land and running in towards the shore we came to an Anchor the same day on the N. E. end of St. John's Island This Island is in Lat. about 2 d. 30 min. North lying on the S. Coast of the Province of Quantung or Canton in China It is of an indifferent heighth and pretty plain and the Soil fertile enough It is partly woody partly Savannahs or Pasturage for Cattle and there is some moist arable Land for Rice The skirts or outer part of the Island especially that part of it which borders on the main Sea is woody The middle part of it is good thick grassy Pasture with some groves of Trees and that which is cultivated Land is low wet Land yielding plentiful Crops of Rice the only grain that I did see here The tame Cattle which this Island affords are China Hogs Goats Buffaloes and some Buslocks The Hogs of this Island are all black they have but small Heads very short thick Necks great Bellies commonly touching the ground and short Legs They eat but little food yet they are most of them very fat probably because they sleep much The tame Fowls are Ducks and Cocks and Hens I saw no wild Fowl but a few small Birds The Natives of this Island are Chinese They are subject to the Crown of China and consequently at this time to the Tartars The Chinese in general are tall strait-bodied raw boned men They are long Visaged and their Foreheads are high but they have little Eyes Their Noses are pretty large with a rising in the middle Their Mouths are of a mean size pretty thin Lips They are of an ashy complexion their Hair is black and their Beards thin and long for they pluck the hair out by the roots suffering only some few very long straggling Hairs to grow about their Chin in which they take great pride ofren combing them and sometimes tying them up in a knot and they have such Hairs too growing down from each side of their upper Lip like Whiskers The ancient Chinese were very proud of the Hair of their Heads letting it grow very long and stroking it back with their Hands curiously and then winding the plats all together round a Bodkin thrust through it at the hinder part of the Head and both Men and Women did thus But when the Tartars conquer'd them they broke them of this custom they were fond of by main force insomuch that they resented this imposition worse than their subjection and rebelled upon it but being still worried were forc'd to acquiesce and to this day they follow the fashion of their Masters the Tartars and shave all their Heads only reserving one Lock which some tye up others let it hang down to a great or small length as they please The Chinese in other Countries still keep their old custom but if any of the Chinese is found wearing long Hair in China he forfeits his Head and many of them have abandoned their Country to preserve their liberty of wearing their Hair as I have been told by themselves The Chinese have no Hats Caps or Turbans but when they walk abroad they carry a small Umbrello in their hands wherewith they fence their heads from the Sun or the Rain by holding it over their heads If they walk but a little way they carry only a large Fan made of Paper or Silk of the same fashion as those our Ladies have and many of them are brought over hither one of these every man carries in his hand if he do but cross the street skreening his head with it if he hath not an Umbrello with him The common apparrel of the men is a loose Frock and Breeches They seldom wear Stockings but they have Shoes or a sort of Slippers rather The mens Shoes are made diversly The women have very small Feet and consequently but little Shoes for from their Infancy their Feet are kept swathed up with bands as hard as they can possibly endure them and from the time they can go till they have done growing they bind them up every night This they do purposely to hinder them from from growing esteeming little Feet to be a great Beauty But by this unreasonable custom they do in a manner lose the use of their Feet and instead of going they only stumble about their Houses and presently squat down on their Breeches again being as it were confined to sitting all days of their lives They seldom stir abroad and one would be apt to think that as some have conjectured their keeping up their fondness for this fashion were a stratagem of the mens to keep them from gadding and gossipping about and confine them at home They are kept constantly to their work being fine Needle-Women and making many curious Embroideries and they make their own Shoes but if any Stranger be desirous to bring away any for Novelty's sake he must be a great Favourite to get a pair of Shoes of them tho he give twice their value The poorer sort of Women trudge about streets and to the Market without Shoes or Stockings and these cannot afford to have little feet being to get their living with them The Chinese both Men and Women are very ingenious as may appear by the many curious things that are brought from thence especially the Porcelaine or China Earthen Ware The Spaniards of Manila that we took on the Coast of Luconia told me that this Commodity is made of Conch-shells the inside of which looks like Mother of Pearl But the Portuguese lately mentioned who had lived in China and spoke that and the neighbouring Languages very well said that it was made of a fine sort of Clay that was dug in the Province of Canton I have often made enquiry about it but cou'd never be well satisfied in it but while I was on the Coast of Canton I forgot to inquire about it They make very fine Lacquer Ware also and good Silks and they are curious at painting and Carving China affords Drugs in great abundance especially China Root but this is not peculiar to that Country alone for there is much of this Root growing in Jamaica particularly at 16 mile walk and in the Bay of Honduras it is very plentiful There is a great store of Sugar made in this Country and
side of which are 4 small Islands close by it which are very well stored with Cloves The two chiefest are Ternate and Tidore and as the Isle of Ceylon is reckoned the only place for Cinnamon and that of Banda for Nutmegs so these are thought by some to be the only Clove Islands in the World but this is a great error as I have already shewn At the South end of the Island Celebes there is a Sea or Gulph of about 7 or 8 leagues wide and 40 or 50 long which runs up the Countrey almost directly to the North and this Gulph hath several small Islands along the middle of it On the West side of the Island almost at the South end of it the Town of Macasser is seated A Town of great Strength and Trade belonging to the Dutch There are great Inlets and Lakes on the East side of the Island as also abundance of small Islands and sholes lying scattered about it We saw a high peeked Hill at the N. end but the Land on the East side is low all along for we cruized almost the length of it The mold on this side is black and deep and extraordinary fat and rich and full of Trees and there are many Brooks of Water run out into the Sea Indeed all this East side of the Island seems to be but one large Grove of extraordinary great high Trees Having with much ado got on this East side coasting along to the Southward and yet having but little Wind and even that little against us at S. S. W. and sometimes Calm we were a long time going about the Island The 22d day we were in Lat. 1 d. 20 m. South and being about 3 leagues from the Island standing to the Southward with a very gentle Land wind about 2 or 3 a clock in the morning we heard a clashing in the Water like Boats rowing and fearing some sudden attack we got up all our Arms and stood ready to defend our selves As soon as it was day we saw a great Proe built like the Mindanayan Proe's with about 60 men in her and 6 smaller Proe's They lay still about a mile to Windward of us to view us and probably design'd to make a prey of us when they first came out but they were now afraid to venture on us At last we shewed them Dutch Colours thinking thereby to allure them to come to us for we could not go to them but they presently rowed in toward the Island and went into a large opening and we saw them no more nor did we ever see any other Boats or Men but only one fishing Canoa while we were about this Island neither did we see any House on all the Coast. About 5 or 6 leagues to the South of this place there is a great Range of both large and small Islands and many shoals also that are not laid down in our Drafts which made it extreamly troublesom for us to get through But we past between them all and the Island Celebes and anchored against a sandy Bay in 8 fathom sandy ground about half a mile from the main Island being then in lat 1 d. 50 m. South Here we stayed several days and sent out our Canoas a striking of Turtle every day for here is great plenty of them but they were very shy as they were generally where-ever we found them in the East India Seas I know not the reason of it unless the Natives go very much a striking here for even in the West Indies they are shy in places that are much disturbed and yet on New Holland we found them shy as I shall relate though the Natives there do not molest them On the sholes without us we went and gathered Shell-fish at low water There were a monstrous sort of Cockles the Meat of one of them would suffice 7 or 8 Men. It was very good wholsom Meat We did also beat about in the Woods on the Island but found no game One of our Men who was always troubled with sore Legs found a certain Vine that supported it self by climbing about other Trees The leaves reach'd 6 or 7 feet high but the strings or branches 11 or 12. It had a very green leaf pretty broad and roundish and of a thick substance These leaves pounded small and boiled with Hogs Lard make an excellent Salve Our Men knowing the vertues of it stockt themselves here there was scarce a Man in the Ship but got a pound or two of it especially such as were troubled with old Ulcers who found great benefit by it This Man that discovered these leaves here had his first knowledge of them in the Isthmus of Darien he having had this Receipt from one of the Indians there and he had been ashore in divers places since purposely to seek these leaves but did never find any but here Among the many vast Trees hereabouts there was one exceeded all the rest This Captain Read caused to be cut down in order to make a Canoa having lost our Boats all but one small one in the late Storms so 6 lusty Men who had been Logwood cutters in the Bays of Campeachy and Honduras as Captain Read himself and many more of us had and so were very expert at this work undertook to fell it taking their turns 3 always cutting together and they were one whole day and half the next before they got it down This Tree though it grew in a Wood was yet 18 foot in circumference and 44 foot of clean body without knot or branch and even there it had no more than one or two branches and then ran clean again 10 foot higher there it spread it self into many great limbs and branches like an Oak very green and flourishing yet it was perisht at the heart which marr'd it for the service intended So leaving it and having no more business here we weighed and went from hence the next day it being the 29th day of November While we lay here we had some Tornadoes one or two every day and pretty fresh Land Winds which were at West The Sea breezes were small and uncertain sometimes out of the N. E. and so veering about to the East and South East We had the Wind at North East when we weighed and we steered off S. S. W. In the afternoon we saw a shole a head of us and altered our course to the S. S. E. In the evening at 4 a clock we were close by another great shole therefore we tackt and stood in for the Island Celebes again for fear of running on some of the sholes in the night By day a Man might avoid them well enough for they had all Beacons on them like Huts built on tall Posts above high-water mark probably set up by the Natives of the Island Celebes or those of some other neighbouring Islands and I never saw any such elsewhere In the night we had a violent Tornado out of the S. W. which lasted about an hour The 30th day
us at last the Captain ordered the Drum to be beaten which was done of a sudden with much vigor purposely to scare the poor Creatures They hearing the noise ran away as fast as they could drive and when they ran away in haste they would cry Gurry Gurry speaking deep in the Throat Those Inhabitants also that live on the Main would always run away from us yet we took several of them For as I have already observed they had such bad Eyes that they could not see us till we came close to them We did always give them victuals and let them go again but the Islanders after our first time of being among them did not stir for us When we had been here about a week we hal'd our Ship into a small sandy Cove at a Spring-tide as far as she would sloat and at low Water she was left dry and the sand dry without us near half a mile for the Sea riseth and falleth here about 5 fathom The Flood runs North by East and the Ebb South by West All the Neep-tides we lay wholly a ground for the Sea did not come near us by about a hundred yards We had therefore time enough to clean our Ships bottom which we did very well Most of our Men lay ashore in a Tent where our Sails were mending and our Strikers brought home Turtle and Manatee every day which was our constant food While we lay here I did endeavour to perswade our men to go to some English Factory but was threatened to be turned ashore and left here for it This made me desist and patiently wait for some more convenient place and opportunity to leave them than here Which I did hope I should accomplish in a short time because they did intend when they went from hence to bear down towards Cape Comorin In their way thither they design'd also to visit the Island Cocos which lyeth in Lat. 12 d. 12 m. North by our Drafts hoping there to find of that Fruit the Island having it name from thence CHAP. XVII Leaving New-Holland they pass by the Island Cocos and touch at another Woody Island near it A Land Animal like large Craw-fish Coco-Nuts floating in the Sea The Island Triste bearing Coco's yet over-flown every Spring-tide They anchor at a small Island near that of Nassaw Hog Island and others A Proe taken belonging to Achin Nicobar Island and the rest called by that Name Ambergrease good and bad The manners of the Inhabitants of these Islands They anchor at Nicobar Isle It s Situation Soil and pleasant Mixture of its Bays Trees c. The Melory tree and Fruit used for bread The Natives of Nicobar Island their Form Habit Language Habitations no form of Religion or Government Their Food and Canoas They clean the Ship The Author projects and gets leave to stay ashore here and with him two Englishmen more the Portuguese and 4 Malayans of Achin Their first Rencounters with the Natives Of the common Traditions concerning Cannibals or Man-Eaters Their Entertainment ashore They buy a Canoa to transport them over to Achin but overset her at first going cut Having recruited and improved her they set out again for the East side of the Island They have a War with the Islanders but Peace being re-established they lay in stores and make Preparations for their Voyage MArch the 12th 1688. we sailed from New Holland with the Wind at N. N. W. and fair weather We directed our course to the Northward intending as I said to touch at the Island Cocos but we met with the Winds at N. W. W. N. W. and N N. W. for several days which obliged us to keep a more Easterly course than was convenient to find that Island We had soon after our setting out very bad weather with much Thunder and Lightning Rain and high blustring Winds It was the 26th day of March before we were in the lat of the Island Cocos which is in 12 d. 12 m. and then by judgment we were 40 or 50 leagues to the East of it and the Wind was now at S. W. Therefore we did rather chuse to bear away towards some Islands on the West side of Sumatra than to beat against the Wind for the Island Cocos I was very glad of this being in hopes to make my escape from them to Sumatra or some other place We met nothing of remark in this Voyage beside the catching two great Sharks till the 28th day Then we fell in with a small woody Island in Lat. 10 d. 30 m. Its Longitude from New Holland from whence we came was by my account 12 d. 6 m. West It was deep water about the Island and therefore no anchoring but we sent 2 Canoas ashore one of them with the Carpenters to cut a Tree to make another Pump the other Canoa went to search for fresh water and found a fine small Brook near the S. W. point of the Island but there the Sea fell in on the ashore so high that they could not get it off At noon both our Canoas returned aboard and the Carpenters brought aboard a good Tree which they afterwards made a Pump with such a one as they made at Mindanao The other Canoa brought aboard as many Boobies and Men of War Birds as sufficed all the Ships Company when they were boiled They got also a sort of Land Animal somewhat resembling a large Craw-fish without its great Claws These creatures lived in holes in the dry sandy ground like Rabbits Sir Francis Drake in his Voyage round the world makes mention of such that he found at Ternate or some other of the Spice Islands or near them They were very good sweet Meat and so large that 2 of them were more than a Man could eat being almost as thick as ones Leg. Their Shells were of a dark brown but red when boiled This Island is of a good heighth with steep Cliffs against the S. and S. W. and a sandy Bay on the North side but very deep water steep to the shore The Mold is blackish the Soil fat producing large Trees of divers sorts About one a clock in the Afternoon we made sail from this Island with the wind at S. W. and we steered N. W. Afterwards the winds came about at N. W. and continued between the W. N. W. and the N. N. W. several days I observed that the winds blew for the most part out of the West or N. W. and then we had always rainy weather with Tornadoes and much Thunder and Lightning but when the wind came any way to the Southward it blew but faint and brought fair weather We met nothing of remark till the 7th day of April and then being in Lat. 7 d. S. we saw thâ—… Land of Sumatra at a great distance bearing North. The 8th day we saw the East end of the Island Sumatra very plainly we being then in Lat. 6 d. S. The 10th day being in Lat. 5 d. 11 m. and about 7
Esperance or of Good Hope finding that they might now proceed Eastward There is good Sounding off this Cape 50 or 60 leagues at Sea to the Southward and therefore our English Seamen standing over as they usually do from the Coast of Brazil content themselves with their Soundings concluding thereby that they are abrest of the Cape they often pass by without seeing it and begin to shape their course Northward They have several other signs whereby to know when they are near it as by the Sea-Fowl they meet at Sea especially the Algatrosses a very large long-winged Bird and the Mangovolucres a smaller Fowl But the greatest dependance of our English Seamen now is upon their observing the variation of the Compass which is very carefully minded when they come near the Cape by taking the Suns Amplitude mornings and evening This they are so exact in that by the help of the Azimuth Compass an Instrument more peculiar to the Seamen of our Nations they know when they are abrest of the Cape or are either to the East or the West of it and for that reason though they should be to Southward of all the Soundings or fathomable ground they can shape their course right without being obliged to make the Land But the Dutch on the contrary having settled themselves on this Promontory do always touch here in their East India Voyages both going and coming The most remarkable Land at Sea is a high Mountain steep to the Sea with a flat even top which is called the Table Land On the West side of the Cape a little to the Northward of it there is a spacious Harbour with a low flat Island lying off it which you may leave on either hand and pass in or out securely at either end Ships that anchor here ride near the Main Land leaving the Island at a farther distance without them The Land by the Sea against the Harbour is low but backt with high Mountains a little way in to the Southward of it The Soil of this Country is of a brown colour not deep yet indifferently productive of Grass Herbs and Trees The Grass is short like that which grows on our Wiltshire or Dorsetshire Downs The Trees hereabouts are but small and few the Country also farther from the Sea does not much abound in Trees as I have been informed The Mould or Soyl also is much like this near the Harbour which though it cannot be said to be very fat or rich Land yet it is very fit for cultivation and yields good Crops to the industrious Husbandman and the Country is pretty well settled with Farms Dutch Families and French Refugees for 20 or 30 leagues up the Country but there are but few Farms near the Harbour Here grows plenty of Wheat Barly Pease c. Here are also Fruits of many kinds as Apples Pears Quinces and the largest Pomgranats that I did ever see The chief Fruits are Grapes These thrive very well and the Country is of late years so well stockt with Vineyards that they make abundance of Wine of which they have enough and to spare and do sell great quantities to Ships that touch here This Wine is like a French High Country White Wine but of a pale yellowish colour it is sweet very pleasant and strong The tame Animals of this Country are Sheep Goats Hogs Cows Horses c. The Sheep are very large and fat for they thrive very well here This being a dry Country and the short pasturage very agreeable to these Creatures but it is not so proper for great Cattle neither is the Beef in its kind so sweet as the Mutton Of wild Beasts 't is said here are several sorts but I saw none However it is very likely there are some wild Beasts that prey on the Sheep because they are commonly brought into the Houses in the night and penn'd up There is a very beautiful sort of wild Al 's in this Country whose body is curiously striped with equal lists of white and black the stripes coming from the ridge of his Back and ending under the Belly which is white These stripes are two or three Fingers broad running parallel with each other and curiously intermixt one white and one black over from the Shoulder to the Rump I saw two of the Skins of these Beasts dried and preserved to be sent to Halland as a rarity They seemed big enough to inclose the Body of a Beast as big as a large Colt of a twelvemonth old Here are a great many Ducks Dunghil Fowls c. and Ostriges are plentifully found in the dry Mountains and Plains I eat of their Eggs here and those of whom I bought them told me that these creatures lay their Eggs in the Sand or at least on dry ground and so leave them to be hatch'd by the Sun The meat of one of their Eggs will suffice two men very well The Inhabitants do preserve the Eggs that they find to sell to strangers They were pretty scarce when I was here it being the beginning of their Winter whereas I was told they lay their Eggs about Christmas which is their Summer The Sea hereabouts affords plenty of Fish of divers sorts especially a small sort of Fish not so big as a Herring whereof they have such great plenty that they pickle great quantities yearly and send them to Europe Seales are also in great numbers about the Cape which as I have still observed is a good sign of the plentifulness of Fish which is their food The Dutch have a strong Fort by the Sea side against the Harbour where the Governour lives At about 2 or 300 paces distance from thence on the West side of the Fort there is a small Dutch Town in which I told about 50 or 60 Houses low but well built with Stone-walls there being plenty of Stone drawn out of a Quarry close by On the backside of the Town as you go towards the Mountains the Dutch East-India Company have a large House and a stately Garden walled in with a high Stone Wall This Garden is full of divers sorts of Herbs Flowers Roots and Fruits with curious spacious Gravel-walks and Arbors and is watered with a Brook that descends out of the Mountains which being cut into many channels is conveyed into all parts of the Garden The Hedges which make the Walks are very thick and 9 or 10 foot high They are kept exceeding neat and even by continual pruning There are lower Hedges within these again which serve to separate the Fruit-trees from each other but without shading them and they keep each sort of Fruit by themselves as Apples Pears abundance of Quinces Pomgranats c. These all prosper very well and bear good Fruit especially the Pomgranat The Roots and Garden-herbs have also their distinct places hedged in apart by themselves and all in such order that it is exceeding pleasant and beautiful There are a great number of Negro Slaves brought from other parts of the
which would thrive here as well as any where were the Natives industrious to propagate them The Land is every where cloath'd with herbage of one kind or other but the dry Land has the same Fate that most dry Lands have between the Tropicks to be over-run with Purslain which growing wild and being pernicious to other tender Herbs and Plants they are at the pains to weed it out of their Fields and Gardens tho t is very sweet and makes a good Sallad for a hot Country There is a sort of Herb very common in this Country which grows wild in stagnant Ponds and floats on the surface of the water It has a narrow long green thick leaf It is much esteemed and eaten by the Natives who commend it for a very wholesom herb and say that 't is good to expel poyson This Country produces many other sorts of wild herbs and their gardens also are well furnish'd with pleasant and wholsome ones especially many Onions of which here are great plenty Plantains and Bonanoes grow and thrive here as well as any where but they are used here only as Fruit and not for Bread as in many places of America Besides these here are divers sorts of excellent fruits both Ground fruit and Tree fruit The ground Fruits are Pumpkins Melons Pine-apples c. the Tree Fruits are Mangoes a few Oranges Limes Coco-nuts Guava's Mulberry's their much esteem'd Betle a Fruit call'd Lichea c. The Oranges are of divers sorts and two of them more excellent than the rest One sort is called Cam-chain the other is called Camquit Cam in the Tonquinese Language signifies an Orange but what the distinguishing words Cam and Quit signifie I know not The Cam-chain is a large Orange of a yellowish colour the rind is pretty thick and rough and the inside is yellow like Amber It has a most fragrant smell and the taste is very delicious This sort of Orange is the best that I did ever taste I believe there are not better in the world A man may eat freely of them for they are so innocent that they are not denied to such as have Fevers and other sick people The Cam quit is a very small round Fruit not above half so big as the former It is of a deep red dolour and the rind is very smooth and thin The inside also is very red the taste is not inferiour to the Cam-chain but it is accounted very unwholesom fruit especially to such as are subject to fluxes for it both creates and heightens that distemper These 2 sorts are very plentiful and cheap and they are in season from October till February but then the Cam-chain becomes redder and the rind is also thinner The other sorts of Oranges are not much esteemed The Limes of Tonquin are the largest I ever saw They are commonly as big as an ordinary Limon but rounder The rind is of a pale yellow colour when ripe very thin and smooth They are extraordinary juicy but not near so sharp of tart in taste as the West Indian Limes Coco nuts and Guava's do thrive here very well but there are not many of the latter The Betle of Tonquin is said to be the best in India there is great plenty of it and 't is most esteemed when it is young green and tender for 't is then very juicy At Mindanao also they like it best green but in other places of the East-Indies it is commonly chew'd when it is hard and dry The Lichea is another delicate fruit 'T is as big as a small Pear somewhat long shaped of a reddish colour the rind pretty thick and rough the inside white inclosing a large black kernel in shape like a Bean. The Country is in some part woody but the low Land in general is either grassy pasture or Rice Fields only thick set with small Groves which stand scattering very pleasantly all over the low-Country The Trees in the Groves are of divers sorts and most unknown to us There is good Timber for building either Ships or Houses and indifferent good Masts may here be had There is a Tree called by the Natives Pone chiefly used for making Cabinets or other wares to be lackered This is a soft sort of wood not much unlike Fir but not so serviceable Another Tree grows in this Country that yields the Lack with which Cabinets and other fine things are overlaid These grow plentifully in some places especially in the Champion Lands Here are also Mulberry Trees in great plenty to feed the Silk worms from whence comes the chief Trade in the Country The Leaves of the old Trees are not so nourishing to the Silk-worms as those of the young Trees and therefore they raise crops of young ones every year to feed the Worms for when the season is over the young Trees are pluckt up by the roots and more planted against the next year so the Natives suffer none of these Trees to grow to bear Fruit. I heard of no Mulberries kept for eating but some few raised by our English Merchants at Hean and these bear but small hungry Fruit. Here is good plenty of Rice especially in the low Land that is fatned by the overflowing Rivers They have two crops every year with great increase if they have seasonable Rains and Floods One crop is in May and the other in November and tho the low Land is sometimes overflown with water in the time of Harvest yet they matter it not but gather the crop and fetch it home wet in their Canoas and making the Rice fast in small bundles hang it up in their Houses to dry This serves them for Bread-corn and as the Country is very kindly for it so their Inhabitants live chiefly of it Of Land Animals in this Country there are Elephants Horses Buffaloes Bullocks Goats Deer a few Sheep for their King Hogs Dogs Cats Lizards Snakes Scorpions Centapees Toads Frogs c. The Country is so very populous that they have but few Deer or wild Game for Hunting unless it be in the remoter parts of the Kingdom But they have abundance of Fowls both tame and wild The tame Fowls are Cocks and Hens and Ducks also in great plenty of the same sort with ours The Inhabitants have little Houses made purposely for the Ducks to lay their Eggs in driving them in every night in laying time and letting them out again in the morning There are also some Geese Parrots Partridges Parakites Turtle Doves c. with many sorts of smaller Birds Of wild Water-fowls they have Ducks Widgeons Teals Herons Pelicans and Crabcatchers which I shall describe in the Bay of Campeachy and other smaller Water-fowls The Duck Widgeon and Teal are innumerable they breed here in the months of May June and July then they fly only in couples but from October to March you will see over all the low watry Lands great companies together and I have no where seen such large flights nor such plenty of Game They are
this means is at least 3 months within 4 degrees of the Zenith so that they have the Sun in a manner over their heads from the beginning of May till the latter end of July Whereas when the Sun comes under the Line in March or September it immediately posts away to the North or the South and is not 20 days in passing from 3 degrees on one side to 3 degrees on the other side the Line So that by his small stay there the heat cannot be answerable to what it is near the Tropick where he so long continues in a manner Vertical at Noon and is so much longer above the Horizon each paaticular day with the intervening of a shorter night But to return to Tonquin During the wet months there 't is excessive hot especially whenever the Sun breaks out of the Clouds and there is then but little Wind stirring And I have been told by a Gentleman who liv'd there many years that he thought it was the hottest place that ever he was in tho he had been in many other parts of India And as to the Rains it has not the least share of them tho neither altogether the greatest of what I have met with in the Torrid Zone and even in the same Latitude and on the same side of the Equator The wet season begins here the latter end of April or the beginning of May and holds till the latter end of August in which time are very violent Rains some of many hours others of 2 or 3 days continuance Yet are not these Rains without some considerable intervals of fair weather especially toward the beginning or end of the season By these Rains are caus'd those Land-floods which never fail in these Countries between the Tropicks at their annual periods all the Rivers then overflowing their Banks This is a thing so well known to all who are any way acquainted with the Torrid Zone that the cause of the overflowing of the Nile to find out which the Ancients set their wits so much upon the rack and fancied melting of Snows and blowing of Etesiae and I know not what is now no longer a secret For these floods must needs discharge themselves upon such low Lands as lie in their way as the Land of Egypt does with respect to the Nile coming a great way from within the Torrid Zone and falling down from the higher Ethiopia And any one who will be at the pains to compare the time of the Land flood in Egypt with that of the Torrid Zone in any of the parts of it along which the Nile runs will find that of Egypt so much later than the other as 't will be thought reasenable to allow for the daily progress of the Waters along so vast a tract of Ground They might have made the same wonderment of any other Rivers which run any long course from out the Torrid Zone but they knowing only the North Temperate Zone and the Nile being the only great River known to come thither a great way from a Country near the Line they made that only the subject of their enquiry but the same effect must also follow from any great River that should run from out of the Torrid Zone into the South Temperate Zone And as to the Torrid Zone the yearly floods and their cause are every where as well known by people there as the Rivers themselves In America particularly in Campeachy Rivers in Rio Grande and others 't is a vast havock is made by these floods bringing down sometimes Trees of an incredible bigness and these floods always come at the stated season of the year In the dry part of Peru along the coasts of Pacifick Sea where it never rains as it seldom does in Egypt they have not only Floods but Rivers themselves made by the annual falling of Rain on the Mountains within Land the Channels of which are dry all the rest of the year This I have observ'd concerning the River Ylo on the Coast of Peru in my former Volume p. 95. But it has this difference from the Floods of Egypt that besides its being a River in the Torrid Zone 't is also in South Latitude and so overflows at a contrary season of the year to wit at such time as the Sun being in Southern Signs causes the Rains and Floods on that side the Line But to return from this digression in August the weather at Tonquin is more moderate as to heat or wet yet not without some showers and September and October are more temperate still yet the worst weather in all the year for Seamen is in one of the 3 months last mentioned for then the violent Storms called Tuffoons Typhones are expected These winds are so very fierce that for fear of them the Chinese that Trade thither will not stir out of Harbour till the end of October after which month there is no more danger of any violent Storms till the next year Tuffoons are a particular kind of violent Storms blowing on the Coast of Tonquin and the neighboring Coasts in the months of July August and September They commonly happen near the full or change of the Moon and are usually preceded by very fair weather small winds and a clear Sky Those small winds veer from the common Trade of that time of the year which is here at S. W. and shuffles about to the N. and N. E. Before the Storm comes there appears a boding Cloud in the N. E. which is very black near the Horizon but towards the upper edge it looks of a dark copper colour and higher still it is brighter and afterwards it fades to a whitish glaring colour at the very edge of the Cloud This appears very amazing and ghastly and is sometimes seen 12 hours before the Storm comes When that Cloud begins to move apace you may expect the Wind presently It comes on fierce and blows very violent at N. E. 12 hours more or less It is also commonly accompanied with terrible claps of Thunder large and frequent flashes of Lightning and excessive hard rain When the Wind begins to abate it dyes away suddenly and falling flat calm it continues so an hour more or less then the wind comes about to the S. W. and it blows and rains as fierce from thence as it did before at N. E. and as long November and December are 2 very dry wholesom warm and pleasant months January February and March are pretty dry but then you have thick fogs in the morning and sometimes drisling cold rains the Air also in these 3 months particularly in January and February is very sharp especially when the wind is at North East or North North East whether because of the Quarter it blows from or the Land it blows over I know not for I have elsewhere observ'd such Winds to be Colder where they have come from over Land April is counted a moderate month either as to heat or cold driness or moisture This is ordinarily the
notwithstanding these they are seldom out of mire and wet even in the midst of the Village or Garden so long as that season lasts The Inhabitants of the higher part of the Kingdom are not troubled with such inconveniencies but live more cleanly and comfortably forasmuch as their Land is never overflown with water and tho they live also in Villages or Towns as the former yet they have no occasion to surround them with banks or trenches but lie open to the Forest. The Capital City Cachao which stands in the high Country about 80 miles from the Sea on the West side of the River and on a pretty level yet rising ground lies open in the same manner without wall bank or ditch There may be in Cachao about 20000 Houses The Houses are generally low the walls of the Houses are of mud and the covering thatch yet some are built with brick and the covering with pantile Most of these Houses have a yard or backside belonging to them In each yard you shall see a small arched building made somewhat like an Oven about 6 foot high with the mouth on the ground It is built from top to bottom with brick all over daub'd thick with mud and dirt If any house wants a yard they have nevertheless such a kind of Oven as this but smaller set up in the middle of the House it self and there is scarce a house in the City without one The use of it is to thrust their chiefest goods into when a Fire happens for these low thatch'd Houses are very subject to take fire especially in the dry times to the destruction of many Houses in an instant that often they have scarce time to secure their goods in the arched Ovens tho so near them As every private person hath this contrivance to secure his own goods when a Fire happens so the Government hath carefully ordered necessary means to be used for the preventing of Fire or extinguishing it before it gets too great a head For in the beginning of the dry season every man must keep a great Jar of water on the top of his House to be ready to pour down as occasion shall serve Besides this he is to keep a long pole with a basket or bowl at the end of it to throw water out of the Kennels upon the houses But if the Fire gets to such a head that both these expedients fail then they cut the straps that hold the Thatch of the Houses and let it drop from the rafters to the ground This is done with little trouble for the Thatch is not laid on as ours neither is it tyed on by single leaves as in the West Indies and many parts of the East Indies where they Thatch with Palmeto or Palm tree leaves but this is made up in Panes of 7 or 8 foot square before it is laid on so that 4 or 6 Panes more or less according to the bigness of the House will cover one side of it and these Panes being only fastned in a few places to the rafters with Rattans they are easily cut and down drops half the covering at once These panes are also better than loose thatch as being more managable in case any of them should fall on or near near the Oven where the Goods are for they are easily dragg'd off to another place The Neighbouring Houses may this way be soon uncovered before the flame comes to them and the Thatch either carried away or at least laid where it may burn by itself And for this purpose every man is ordered to keep a long Pole or Bambo at his door with a Cutting-hook at the end of it purposely for uncovering the houses and if any man is found without his Jar upon the house and his Bucket-pole and long Hook at his door he will be punish'd severely for his neglect They are rigorous in exacting this for even with all this caution they are much and often damaged by Fire The principal streets in this City are very wide tho some are but narrow They are most of them pav'd or pitch'd rather with small Stones but after a very ill manner In the wet season they are very dirty and in the dry time there are many stagnant ponds and some ditches full of black stinking mud in and about the City This makes it unpleasant and a man would think unwholesome too yet it is healthy enough as far as I perceiv'd or could ever learn The Kings of Tonquin who make this City their constant Residence have two or three Palaces in it such as they be Two of them are very mean they are built with timber yet have they many great Guns planted in Houses near them Stables for the Kings Elephants and Horses and pretty large square spots of ground for the Soldiers to draw themselves up regularly before him The third Palace is call'd the Palace Royal It is more magnificently built than the other two yet built also with timber but all open as the Divans in Turky are said to be The wall that incompasseth it is most remarkable It is said to be 3 leagues in circumference The heighth of this Wall is about 15 or 16 foot and almost as many broad or thick It is faced up on both sides with Brick there are several small Gates to go in and out at but the main Gate faceth to the City This they say is never opened but when the Boua or Emperor goes in or comes out There are two smaller Gates adjoyning to it one on each side which are opened on all occasions for any concern'd there to pass in and out but strangers are not permitted this liberty Yet they may ascend to the top of the Wall and walk round it there being stairs at the Gate to go up by and in some places the Walls are fallen down Within this Wall there are large Fish-ponds where also there are Pleasure-Boats for the Emperors diversion I shall defer speaking of him whose Prison this is rather than Court till the next Chapter where I shall discourse of the Government The house of the English Factory who are very few is pleasantly seated on the North end of the City fronting to the River 'T is a pretty handsome low built House the best that I saw in the City There is a handsome Dining-room in the middle and at each end convenient apartments for the Merchants Factors and Servants belonging to the Company to live in with other conveniences This House stands parallel with the River and at each end of it there are smaller Houses for other uses as Kitchin Store-Houses c. runing in a line from the great House towards the River making two Wings and a square Court open to the River In this square space near the banks of the River there stands a Flag-staff purposely for the hoysing up the English Colours on all occasions for it is the custom of our Countrymen aboard to let fly their Colours on Sundays and all other remarkable
days The Dutch Factory joyns to the English Factory on the South side I was never in it and therefore can say nothing of it but what I have heard that their ground is not so large as ours tho they are the longest standers here by many years for the English are but newly removed hither from Hean where they resided altogether before There is nothing more in or about the City worth noting but only a piece of work on the same side up the River This is a massy frame of Timber ingeniously put together and very artificially placed on great piles that are set upright in the River just by its banks The piles are driven firmly into the ground close one by another and all the space between them and the bank is filled up with stones and on them great Trees laid across and pinn'd fast at each end to the piles so that the whole fabrick must be moved before any part of it will yield This piece of work is raised about 16 or 17 foot above the water in the dry time but in the wet season the floods come within 2 or 3 foot of the top It was made to resist the violence of the water in the rainy season for the stream then presseth so hard against this place that before this pile was built it broke down the bank and threatned to carry all before it even to the ruining of the City if this course had not timely been taken to prevent it And so much the rather because there is a large pond just within Land and low ground between it and the City so that had it made but a small breach into the pond it would have come even to the skirts of the City And tho the City stands so high as that the Land floods never reach it yet the Land on which it stands being a sort of yielding Sand could not be thought capable of always resisting such violence For the natural floods do very often make great changes in the River breaking down one point of Land and making another point in the opposite side of the River and that chiefly in this part of the Country where it is bounded with high banks for nearer the Sea where it presently overflows the floods do seldom make any consideable change and move more quietly But to return to the people They are courteous and civil to strangers especially the trading people but the great men are proud haughty and ambitious and the Souldiers very insolent The poorer sort are very Thievish insomuch that the Factors and Strangers that traffick hither are forced to keep good watch in the night to secure their goods notwithstanding thesevere punishments they have against Thieves They have indeed great opportunities of Thieving the Houses being so slightly built but they will work a way under ground rather than fail anduse many subtle stratagems I am a stranger to any ceremonies used by them in Marriage or at the Birth of a Child or the like if they use any Polygamy is allowed of in this Country and they buy their Wives of the Parents The King and and great Men keep several as their inclinations lead them and their ability serves The poor are stinted for want of means more than desire for tho many are not able to buy much less to maintain one Wife yet most of them make a shift to get one for here are some very low prized ones that are glad to take up with poor Husbands But then in hard times the man must sell both Wife and Children to buy Rice to maintain himself Yet this is not so common here as in some places as I before observed of the Malabar and Coromandel Coasts This custom among them of buying Wives easily degenerates into that other of hiring Misses and gives great liberty to the young Women who offer themselves of their own accord to any strangers who will go to their price There are of them of all prizes from 100 Dollars to 5 Dollars and the refuse of all will be caressed by the poor Seamen Such as the Lascars who are Moors of India coming hither in Vessels from Fort St. George and other places who yet have nothing to give them but such fragments of Food as their Commons will afford Even the great men of Tonquin will offer their Daughters to the Merchants and Officers tho their stay is not likely to be above 5 or 6 Months in the Country neither are they affraid to be with Child by White men for the Children will be much fairer than their Mothers and consequently of greater repute when they grow up if they be Girls Nor is it any great charge to breed them here and at the worst if their Mothers are not able to maintain them 't is but selling them when they are young But to return the Women who thus let themselves to hire if they have been so frugal as to save what they have got by these loose amours they soon procure Husbands that will love and esteem them well enough and themselves also will prove afterwards obedient and faithful Wives For 't is said that even while they are with strangers they are very faithful to them especially to such as remain long in the Country or make annual returns hither as the Dutch generally do Many of these have gotten good Estates by their Tonquin Ladies and that chiefly by trusting them with Money and Goods For in this poor Country 't is a great advantage to watch the Market and these female Merchants having stocks will mightily improve them taking their opportunities of buying raw Silk in the dead time of the year With this they will employ the poor people when work is scarce and get it cheaper and better done than when Ships are here for then every man being employed and in a hurry of business he will have his price according to the haste of work And by this means they will get their Goods ready against the Ships arrive and before the ordinary working season to the profit both of the Merchant and the Pagally When a man dyes he is interr'd in his own Land for here are no common Burying-places and within a month afterwards the friends of the deceased especially if he was the master of the family must make a great feast of Flesh and Fruit at the Grave 'T is a thing belonging to the Priests office to assist at this solemnity they are always there and take care to see that the friends of the deceased have it duly performed To make this Feast they are obliged to sell a piece of Land tho they have Money enough otherways which Money they bestow in such things as are necessary for the solemnity which is more or less according to the quality of the deceased If he was a great man there is a Tower of Wood erected over the Grave it may be 7 or 8 foot square and built 20 or 25 foot high About 20 yards from the Tower are little Sheds built
Ladder The sides of it are 2 large Bamboes of about 10 or 12 foot long with several such rounds or sticks as Ladders have to keep the sides asunder but much shorter for the 2 side Bamboes are no farther asunder than to admit of a narrow room for the Neck and the 2 rounds in the middle are much at the same distance from each other on each side the Neck forming a little Square thro which the man looks as if he were carrying a Ladder on his Shoulders with his head through the rounds If either of these Yoke's were to be taken off in a short time as in 6 9 or 12 hours it would be no great matter but to wear one of them a month 2 3 or longer as I have been informed they sometimes do seems to be a very severe punishment Yet 't is some comfort to some that they have the Liberty to walk abroad where they will but others are both yoak'd and imprison'd and the Prisoners in publick Prisons are used worse than a man would use a Dog they being half starved and soundly beaten to boot They have a particular punishment for such as are suspected to fire Houses or who are thought to have occasioned the Fire through their neglect The master of the House where the Fire first breaks out will hardly clear himself from suspicion and the severity of the Law The punishment in this case is to sit in a Chair of 12 or 14 foot high bare-heade d3 whole days successively in the hot scorching Sun this Chair is set for his greater disgrace before the place where his House stood Other smaller Crimes are punished with blows which we call Bambooing The Criminal is laid flat on his belly on the ground with his britches pluckt down over his hams in which posture a lusty fellow bangs his bare britch with a split Bambo about 4 fingers broad and 5 foot long The number of his blows are more or less according to the nature of the crime or the pleasure of the Magistrate yet Money will buy favour of the Executioner who knows how to moderate his strokes for a fee before-hand Otherwise his blows usually fall so heavy that the poor offender may be lamed a month or two After a man has suffered any of these punishments he can never obtain any publick favour or employment They have no Courts of Judicature but any single Magistrate issues out his Warrants for the apprehending of Malefactors and upon taking them immediately tries them and as the Sentence is final and without appeal so 't is no sooner past but 't is executed also without more ado Their punishment in capital crimes is usually beheading The Criminal is carried immediately from the Magistrates house to his own for there is no common place of Execution but the Malefactor suffers near his own house or where the fact was committed There he is placed sitting on the ground with his body upright and his legs stretched out and the Executioner being provided with a large Curtane or Backsword and striking a full back-blow on the neck at one stroke he severs the head from the body the head commonly tumbling down into the owners lap and the trunk falling backward on the ground Theft is not thought worthy of Death but is punished with cutting off some member or part of a member according to the degree of the offence For sometimes only one joynt of a Finger is chopt off for other crimes a whole finger or more and for some the whole hand The Magistrates and other great men of this Kingdom are called Mandarins Most of them in office about the King are Eunuchs and not only gelded but also their members cut quite off quite flat to their Bellies These as I have been informed are all very learned men after their way especially in the Laws of the Country They rise gradually by their merit or favour from one degree to another as well they who are employ'd in Civil as in Military affairs and scarce place of trust or profit goes beside them No man is permitted to walk familiarly about the Kings Palace without the leave of the Eunuch Mandarins and for this reason having such free access to the King themselves and excluding whom they will they engross his favour This is taken so much to heart by some that through envy and discontent they often pine away as is commonly said even to death and I heard of such an one who was called Ungee Thuan Ding Ungee seems a title of honour among them He was a man of great Learning in the Laws extremely politick and mighty high spirited This man sought all the means imaginable to be preferred but could not for want of being an Eunuch He fretted to see his inferiours raised but plainly seeing that there was no rising without removing that objection he one day in a rage took up a sharp Knife and qualify'd himself effectually He had a Wife and 6 or 8 Children who were all in great fear of his life but he was not at all dismayed tho in that condition and the King advanced him He was living when I was there and was a great Mandarin He had the care of the Armory and Artillery being great Master of the King's Ordnance There was another Mandarin also one Vngee Hane who finding himself baffled by the Eunuchs was forced to make himself one to be upon the level with them This Gentleman it seems was Lord of a Village or two where both he and his Tenants were often plagued with the domineering Eunuchs and having born their malice for some time and seeing no end of it he agreed with an expert Gelder to castrate him for here are many in this Country who profess this Art and are so expert at it that they will undertake to cut a man of any Age for so many thousand Cash as the man is years old 'T is reported that they first put the Patient into a Sleep but how long they are curing him after the Operation is over I know not I heard of but 3 Mandarins of any grandeur in the Government who were not Eunuchs One was the Governor of the East Province whose Daughter was married to a Prince of the Royal Family The other two who were Governors of Cachao were also married men and had Children and one of these married the Kings Daughter All the Mandarins rule with absolute power and authority in their several precincts yet in great obedience to the King who is as absolute over them as they are over the Common people These Eunuch Mandarins especially live in great state Many of these have command of the Souldiery and have Guards attending them at their own Houses there being a certain number of Soldiers allowed to attend on each Mandarin according to his Quality They are generally covetous beyond measure and very malicious Some of them are Governors of Provinces but all are raised to places of trust and profit Once every year the Mandarins
her again The Moors Merchants had speedy notice of this action of Captain Thwait and they presently made their Application to the Queen for satisfaction But her affairs at this time being in such posture as I mentioned by reason of their intestine Broyls she said she could do nothing for them It was 11 or 12 a Clock the next day before we who lived ashore heard of Captain Thwaits proceedings but seeing the Moors flock to Court and not knowing what answer they had from the Queen we posted off to the Ships for fear of being imprisoned as some English men had been while I was at Tonquin on the like score Indeed I had at this time great cause to be afraid of a Prison being sick of a flux So that a Prison would have gone near to have killed me yet I think it fared not much better with me for the Ships I fled to afforded me but little comfort For I knew no man aboard the Dorothy and could expect no comfort there So I and the rest went aboard the Nelligree where we could more reasonably expect relief than in a Ship that came from England for these which come so long a Voyage are just victualled for the Service and the Seamen have every one their stinted allowance out of which they have little enough to spare to Strangers But tho there were Victuals enough aboard the Nellegree yet so weak as I then was I had more mind to rest my self than to eat and the Ship was so pestered with Goods that I could not find a place to hang up my Hammock in Therefore it being fair weather I made a shift to lye in the Boat that I came aboard in My Flux was violent and I sleept but little so I had the opportunity of observing the Moon totally Eclipsed had I been in a condition to observe any thing As soon as I perceiv'd the Moon to be Eclipsed I gazed at it indeed as I lay till it was totally obscured which was a pretty while but I was so little curious that I remembred not so much as what day of the Month it was and I kept no Journal of this Voyage as I did of my other but only kept an account of several particular Remarks and Observations as they occurred to me I lay 3 or 4 days thus in this Boat and the people of the Ship were so kind as to provide me with necessaries and by this time the Moors had got a Pass from the Dutch Captain then in the Road for 4 or 500 Dollars as I was then told and Captain Thwait delivered them their Ship again but what terms he made with them I know not Thus that fray was over and we came ashore again recovered of the fright we had been in In a short time also after this the Achinese all agreed to own the new Queen and so the War ended without any Bloodshed I was perswaded to wash in the River Mornings and Evenings for the recovery of my Health and tho it seemed strange to me before I tryed it yet I found so much comfort in the first trial that I constantly applyed my self to it I went into the River till the water was as high as my waste and then I stooped down and sound the water so cool and refreshing to my body that I was always loth to go out again Then I was sensible that my Bowels were very hot for I found a great heat within me which I found refresht by the cool water My food was Salt fish broyled and boyled Rice mixt with Tire Tire is sold about the Streets there 't is thick sower Milk It is very cooling and the Salt-fish and Rice is binding therefore this is thought there the proper food for the common People when they have Fluxes But the Richer sort will have Sago which is brought to Achin from other Countries and Milk of Almonds But to return to the state of Achin before I go off from it I shall add this short account of the Seasons of year there that their weather is much the same as in other Countries North of the Line and their dry Seasons Rains and Land floods come much at the same time as at Tonquin and other places of North Latitude Only as Achin lies within a few Degrees of the Line so upon the Suns crossing the Line in March the Rains begin a little sooner there than in Countries nearer the Tropick of Cancer and when they are once set in they are as violent there as any where I have seen it Rain there for 2 or 3 days without intermission and the River running but a short course its head not lying very far within Land it soon overflows and a great part of the Street of the City shall on a sudden be all under water at which time people row up and down the Streets in Canoas That side of the City towards the River especially where the Fo eign Merchants live and which is lower ground is frequently under water in the Wet Season a Ships Longboat has come up to the very Gate of our English Factory laden with Goods which at other times is ground dry enough at a good distance from the River and moderately raised above it I did not find the heat there any thing different from other places in that Latitude tho I was there both in the wet and dry Season 'T is more supportable than at Tonquin and they have constantly the Refreshment of Sea and Land Breezes every 24 hours CHAP VIII The A. prepares to go for Pegu. Among others a Ship arrives here from Merga in Siam Of the Massacre of the English there His intended Cargo for Pegu. The Arrival of other English men from the City of Siam The A. sets out for Malacca instead of Pegu. They are becalmed and soon after in great danger of running aground The Coast of Sumatra from Diamond point to the R. Dilly They water there and at Pulo Verero where they meet a Ship of Danes and Moors from Trangambar Pulo Arii and Pulo Parselore a useful Sea-mark to avoid Sholes near Malacca Shore The A. arrives at Malacca Town The Town and its Forts described the Conquest of it by the Dutch from the Portuguese Chinese and other Merchants residing here The Sale of Flesh and Fish the Fruits and Animals The Shabander State of the Trade and Guardships Opium a good Commodity among the Malayans Rattan Cables They prepare for their Return back to Achin AS soon as I was pretty well recovered I was Shipt Mate of the Sloop that came from Malacca with us which Mr Wells had sold to Captain Tyler who lately come from Siam and I was sent aboard to take possession of her about the beginning of May 1689. He who was designed to mand her came to Achin Mate of the Nellegree and we were now to go to Pegu but before the middle of June he left the employ being sick and loth to go at this dead time of the year to
we saw two sail about 3 Leagues to Wind-ward coming directly towards us the Captain supposing that they had been Jamaica Vessels would have layn by to hear some News and to get some Liquor from them for we had now none on Board but a few Bottles in a small Case that the Captain reserved for his own drinking But Wooders withstood the Captains Proposal and told him that when he came from Campeachy there were two small Vessells ready to sail for Tobasco River which is not above 11 or 12 Leagues to Leeward of Trist and that it was more probable these were those two Vessells than any from Jamaica Upon this we edged off more to Sea and they also altered their Course steering away still directly with us so that we were now assured they were Spaniards and therefore we put away Quartering and steering N. W. and though they still fetch'd on us a-pace yet to make the more speed they turned a Boat loose that was Tow at one of their Sterns and she being a good Sailer came within Gun-shot of us when as it pleased God the Land-Wind dyed away of a sudden and the Sea-Breez did not yet spring up While the Wind lasted we thought our selves but a degree from Prisoners neither had we yet great hopes of escaping for our Ketch even when light was but a dull Sailer worse being deep loaden However we had now time to unbend the Foresail and make a studding Sail of it to put right before the Sea-Breez when it should spring up This was accordingly done in a trice and in less than an hour after the Breez sprung up fresh and we put right before the Wind. We had this advantage in it that all the Sail we had did us Service While on the contrary those who chased us being three Mast Vessels could not bring all theirs to draw for their after Sails becalmed their Head-sails and we held them tack for two or three Hours neither gaining nor loosing ground At last the Wind freshing on by the coming of a Tornado we gained considerably of them so they fired a Gun and left their Chace but we kept on crouding till Night and then clap'd on a Wind again and saw no more of them In about a Fortnight after this we were got as far to the East as Rio de la Gartos and there overtook us a small Barmudoes Boat belonging to Jamaica which had not been above 10 Days come from Trist but sailed much better than we did Therefore our Merchant went on Board of Her for he saw we were like to have a long Passage and Provision began to be scarce already which he could not so well brook as we Our Course lay all along against the Trade-Wind All the hopes that we had was a good North this being the only time of the Year for it and soon after we saw a black Cloud in the N. W. which is a sign of a North but of this more in my Discourse of Winds for two Days Morning and Evening The third day it rose a-pace and came away very swiftly We presently provided to receive it by furling all but our Main-sail intending with that to take the advantage of it Yet this did us but little Service for after an Hours time in which it blew fresh at N. W. the Cloud went away and the Wind came about again at E. N. E. the usual Trade in these Parts We therefore made use of the Sea and Land-Breezes as we had done before and being now as high as the before-mentioned Fishing Banks on the North of Jucatan we so ordered our Business that with the Land-Winds we run over to the Banks and while it was calm between the Land-Winds and Sea-Breez we put out our Hooks and Lines and fished and got plenty every Morning One time our Captain after he had hal'd in a good fish being eager at his sport and throwing out his Line too hastily the Hook hitched in the Palm of his Hand and the weight of the Lead that was thrown with a jerk and hung about 6 Foot from the Hook forced the beard quite through that it appear'd at the back of his Hand Soon after this we got as high as the Mount and then stood off about 30 Leagues from Land in hopes to get better to Wind-ward there than near the shore because the Wind was at E. S. E. and S. E. by E. a fresh gale continuing so 2 or 3 days We steered off to the North expecting a Sea-Breez at E. N. E. and the third Day had our desire Then we tack'd and steered in again S. E. for the shore of Jucatan Our Ketch as I said was a heavy Sailer especially on a Wind for she was very short and having great round Bows when we met a Head-Sea as now she plunged and laboured not going a Head but tumbling like an Egg-shell in the Sea It was my fortune to be at the Helm from 6 a Clock in the Evening till 8. The first 2 Glasses she steered very ill for every Sea would strike her dead like a Log then she would fall off 2 or 3 Points from the Wind though the Helm was a-Lee and as she recovered and made a little way she would come again to the Wind till another Sea struck her off again By that time 3 Glasses were out the Sea became more smooth and then she steered very well and made pretty fresh way through the Water I was somewhat surprized at the sudden Change from a rough Sea to a smooth and therefore look'd over Board 2 or 3 times for she steered open on the Deck and it being very fair Weather all our Men were layn down on the Deck and fallen asleep My Captain was just behind me on the Quarter Deck fast asleep too for neither he nor they dreaded any danger we being about 30 Leagues from the Main-Land at Noon and as we thought not near any Island But while I was musing on the sudden alteration of the Sea our Vessel struck on a Rock with such force that the Whipstaff threw me down on my back This frighted me so much that I cryed out and bad them all turn out for the Ship struck The surge that the Ship made on the Rock awakened most of our Men and made them ask What the matter was But her striking a second time soon answered the Question and set us all to work for our Lives By good fortune she did not stick but kept on her way still and to our great comfort the Water was very smooth otherwise we must certainly have been lost for we very plainly saw the ground under us so we let go our Anchor in 2 Fathom Water clean White Sand When our Sails were furled and a sufficient scope of Cable veered out our Captain being yet in amaze went into his Cabin and most of us with him to view his draught and we soon found we were fallen foul of the Alcranes The Alcranes are 5 or 6 low sandy
the Sea or the Lagunes is Mangrovy and always wet but at a little distance from it it is fast and firm and never over-flowed but in the wet Season The Soil is a strong yellowish Clay But yet the upper Coat or surface is a black mould tho' not deep Here grow divers sorts of Trees of no great bulk nor height Among these the Logwood-Trees thrive best and are very plentiful this being the most proper Soil for them for they do not thrive in dry Ground neither shall you see any growing in rich black mould They are much like our white Thorns in England but generally a great deal bigger the Rind of the young growing Branches is white and smooth with some prickles shooting forth here and there So that an English-man not knowing the difference would take them for White-Thorns but the Body and the old Branches are blackish the Rind rougher with few or no prickles The Leaves are small and shaped like the Common White-Thorn-Leaf of a palish Green We always chuse to cut the old black-rinded Trees for these have less sap and require but little pains to chip or cut it The sap is white and the heart red The heart is used much for dying therefore we chip off all the white sap till we come to the heart and then it is fit to be transported to Europe After it has been chip'd a little while it turns black and if it lyes in the VVater it dyes it like Ink and sometimes it has been used to write with Some Trees are 5 or 6 Foot in Circumference and these we can scarce cut into Logs small enough for a Man's Burthen without great Labour and therefore are forced to blow them up It is a very ponderous sort of wood and burns very well making a clear strong fire and very lasting VVe always harden the Steels of our Fire-Arms when they are faulty in a Logwood-fire if we can get it but otherways as I said before with Burton-wood or the Grape-tree The true Logwood I think grows only in this Country of Jucatan and even there but only in some Places near the Sea The chiefest places for it are either here or at Cape Catoch and on the South side of Jucatan in the Bay of Honduras There are other sorts of VVood much like it in colour and used for dying also Some more esteemed others of lesser value Of these sorts Bloodwood and Stock-fish-wood are of the natural growth of America The Gulph of Nicaragua which opens against the Isle of Providence is the only Place that I know in the North Seas that produces the Blood-wood And the Land on the other side of the Country against it in the South Seas produceth the same sorts This Wood is of a brighter red than the Logwood It was sold for 30 l. per Tun when Logwood was but at 14 or 15 and at the same time Stock-Fish-Wood went at 7 or 8. This last sort grows in the Country near Rio la Hacha to the East of St. Martha by the sides of Rivers in the Low-Land It is a smaller sort of Wood than the former I have seen a Tree much like the Logwood in the River of Conception in the Sambaloes and I know it will dye but whether it be either of these two sorts I know not Besides here and in the places before-mentioned I have not met with any such Wood in America At Cherburg near Sierra-Leone in Africa there is Camwood which is much like Blood-wood if not the same And at Tunqueen in the East Indies there is also such another sort I have not heard of any more in any part of the World But to proceed The Land as you go farther from the Sea riseth still somewhat higher and becomes of a more plantable Mould There the Trees are generally of another sort growing higher and taller than the Logwood-trees or any near them Beyond this you still enter into large Savannahs of long Grass two or three Miles wide in some Places much more The Mould of the Savannahs is generally black and deep producing a course sort of sedgy Grass In the latter end of the dry time we set fire to it which runs like Wild-fire and keeps burning as long as there is any Fewel unless some good shower of Rain puts it out Then presently springs up a new green Crop which thrives beyond all belief The Savannahs are bounded on each side with Ridges of higher Land of a light-brown Colour deep and very fruitful producing extraordinary great high Trees The Land for 10 or 20 Miles from the Sea is generally compos'd of many Ridges of delicate Wood-land and large Furrows of pleasant grassy Savannahs alternately intermixed with each other The Animals of this Country are Horses Bullocks Deer Warree Pecary Squashes Possums Monkies Ant-Bears Sloths Armadilloes Porcupines Land-turtle Guanoes and Lizards of all kinds The Squash is a four-footed Beast bigger than a Cat It 's Head is much like a Foxes with short Ears and a long Nose It has pretty short Legs and sharp Claws by which it will run up Trees like a Cat. The Skin is coverd with short fine yellowish Hair The flesh of it is good sweet wholesom Meat We commonly skin and roast it and then we call it Pig and I think it eats as well It feeds on nothing but good Fruit therefore we find them most among the Sapadillo-Trees This Creature never rambles very far and being taken young will become as tame as a Dog and be as roguish as a Monkey The Monkies that are in these Parts are the ugliest I ever saw They are much bigger than a Hare and have great Tails about two foot and half long The under-side of their Tails is all bare with a black hard skin but the upper side and all the Body is covered with course long black staring Hair These Creatures keep together 20 or 30 in a Company and ramble over the Woods leaping from Tree to Tree If they meet with a single Person they will threaten to devour him When I have been alone I have been afraid to shoot them especially the first time I met them They were a great Company dancing from Tree to Tree over my Head chattering and making a terrible Noise and a great many grim Faces and shewing Antick Gestures Some broke down dry Sticks and threw at me others scattered their Urine and Dung about my Ears at last one bigger than the rest came to a small Limb just over my Head and leaping directly at me made me start back but the Monkey caught hold of the Bough with the tip of his Tail and there continued swinging to and fro and making Mouths at me At last I past on they still keeping me Company with the like menacing Postures till I came to our Huts The Tails of these Monkies are as good to them as one of their Hands and they will hold as fast by them If two or more of us were together they would hasten from us
great goggle Eyes and is very quick sighted It has a thick Neck and strong Legs but weak Footlocks The Hoofs of his Feet are Cloven in the middle And it has two small Hoofs above the Footlock which bending to the Ground when it goes make an Impression on the Sand like four Claws His Tail is short and tapering like a Swines without any Bob at the end This Beast is commonly fat and very good Meat It graseth ashore in wet swampy Ground near Rivers or Ponds but retires to the Water if pursued When they are in the Water they will sink down to the bottom and there walk as on dry Ground They will run almost as fast as a Man but if chased hard they will turn about and look very fierce like a Boar and fight if put to it The Natives of the Country have no Wars with these Creatures but we had many Conflicts with them both on Shore and in the Rivers and though we commonly got the better by killing some and routing the rest yet in the Water we durst not molest them after one Bout which had like to have proved fatal to 3 Men that went in a small Canoa to kill a single Sea-Horse in a River where was 8 or 10 Foot Water The Horse according to his Custom was marching in the bottom of the River and being espied by these Men they wounded him with a long Lance which so enraged the Beast that he rose up immediately and giving a fierce look he opened his Jaws and bit a great piece of the Gunnal or upper edge of the Canoa and was like to over-set it but presently sunk down again to the bottom and the Men made away as fast as they could for fear he should come again The West Branch of the River St. Peter St. Paul after it has run 8 or 9 Leagues N. W loseth it self in Tobasco River about 4 Leagues from the Sea and so makes the Island Tobasco which is 12 Leagues long and 4 broad at the North end for from the River St. Peter St. Paul to the mouth of Tobasco River is accounted 4 Leagues and the Shore lies East and West The first League on the East is Mangrove-Land with some Sandy Bay where Turtle come ashore to lay their Eggs. The West part of it is Sandy Bay quite to the River Tobasco But because here is constantly a great Sea you have no good Landing till within the River The N. W. part of it is full of Guaver Trees of the greatest variety and their fruit the largest and best tasted I have met with and 't is really a very delicious place There are also some Coco-Plums and Grapes but not many The Savannahs here are naturally fenced with Groves of Guavers and produce good Grass for Pasture and are pretty well stock'd with fat Bullocks and I do believe it is from their eating the Guaver Fruit that these Trees are so thick For this fruit is full of small seeds which being swallowed whole by the Cattle are voided whole by them again and then taking root in their Dung spring up abundantly Here are also Deer in great numbers these we constantly find feeding in the Savannahs Mornings and Evenings And I remember an unlucky Accident whilst I was there Two or three Men went out one Evening purposely to hunt when they were in the spots of Savannahs they separated to find their Game and at last it so happened that one of them fired at a Deer and killed it and while he was skinning it he was shot stark dead by one of his Consorts who fired at him mistaking him for a Deer The poor Man was very sorry for so sad a mischance and for fear of the dead Man's Friends durst never go back again to Jamaica The River of Tobasco is the most noted in all the Bay of Campeachy and springs also from the high Mountains of Chiapo but much more to the Westward than that of St. Peter St. Paul From thence it runs N. E. till within 4 Leagues of the Sea where it receives the fore-mentioned Branch of St. Peter St. Paul and then runs North till it falls into the Sea Its Mouth is about two Miles wide and there is a Bar of Sand lying off it with not above 11 or 12 foot Water but a Mile or two within the Mouth at a nook or bending of the River on the East-side there is three Fathom and good Riding without any danger from the strength of the Current The Tide flows up about four Leagues in the dry Season but in the Rains not so far for then the Freshes make the Ebb run very strong During the Norths it over-flows all the low Land for 14 or 15 Leagues up the River and you may then take up fresh Water without the Bar. This River near its Mouth abounds with Cat-fish with some Snooks and Manatee in great plenty there being good feeding for them in many of its Creeks especially in one place on the Starbord side about 2 Leagues from the Sea which runs into the Land 2 or 300 paces and then opens very wide and is so shoal that you may see their backs above Water as they feed a thing so rare that I have heard our Musketo-men say they never saw it any where else On the least noise they will all scamper out into the River yet the Musketo-men seldom miss of striking them These are a sort of Fresh-water Manatee not altogether so big as the Sea kind but otherwise exactly alike in shape and tast and I think rather fatter The Land by the Rivers especially on tne Starbord side is swampy and over-grown with Trees Here are also abundance of Land-Turtle the largest that I ever saw till I came to the Gallapagos Islands in the S. Seas viz. Mangroves Macaws and other sorts that I know not In some places near the River side further up the Country are Ridges of dry Land full of lofty Cabbage and Cotton Trees which make a very pleasant Landskip There is no Settlement within 8 Leagues of the River's Mouth and then you come to a small Breast-work where there is commonly a Spaniard with 8 or 9 Indians posted on each side the River to watch for Boats coming that way And because there are divers Greeks running in from the Savannahs some of these Sentinels are so placed in the Woods that they may look into the Savannahs for fear of being surprized on the back side Yet for all their caution these Sentinels were snap'd by Captain Nevil Commander of a small Brigantine in a second Expedition that he made to take the Town called Villa de Mose His first Attempt miscarried by his being discovered But the second time he got into a Creek a League below these Sentinels and there dragging his Canoas over some Trees that were laid cross it purposely to hinder his passage he came in the night upon their backs in their several Posts so that the Town having no notice of his coming