Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	east_n	league_n	south_n	4,845	5	9.7533	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64545	A relation of the voyage to Siam performed by six Jesuits, sent by the French King, to the Indies and China, in the year, 1685 : with their astrological observations, and their remarks of natural philosophy, geography, hydrography, and history / published in the original, by the express orders of His Most Christian Majesty ; and now made English, and illustrated with sculptures.; Voyage de Siam des pères jésuites. English	Tachard, Guy, 1651-1712.	1688 (1688)	Wing T96; ESTC R16161	188,717	400

and weeds with great greenish Rushes ten or twelve foot long which they call Trunks because their stalk which grows and tapers insensibly to the top where it ends in leaves of the same colour represents pretty well the shape of an Elephants Trunk The Sea-weeds are a kind of herb inclining to green not unlike to Hay whereof the sprigs are very long and interwoven one within another Some think that these weeds come from the bottom of the Sea being by the Waves forced from thence and raised to the surface of the water Others will have them to grow in the water because they see them far out at Sea and they cannot believe that the Sea can be so agitated as to carry its waves to the bottom and so beat off the weeds from thence Besides that they are found in so great plenty upon the surface of the Sea that it looks like a great Meadow Lastly others maintain and that is the Opinion which seems to me most plausible and consonant to truth that these weeds come from the neighbouring Coasts from whence the waves force them so that they are carried put into the open Sea but not very far from Land either by the Tydes Currents or the prevailing winds Upon that perswasion it was that Christopher Columbus so famous for his Discoveries in America seeing one night the Sea about his Ship all covered over with these weeds encouraged his Men who thought themselves lost taking those weeds for Flats and promised to make them suddenly see Land which accordingly he did two days after These extraordinary Birds Marks to know the nearness of the Cape of good hope Trunks and Weeds are the surest signs of ones approaching the Cape This shows that Men have intimations of it at a pretty good distance seeing the first time that we saw of them we were in the ninteenth degree of Longitude and the thirty third of South Latitude that is to say that we were near three hundred Leagues from the Cape of Good Hope They said that if instead of keeping along the Coast of Africa as we did we had stood out to Sea to the West-ward we had met with those Signs farther off at Sea. This made me judge that the Currents that carry them along with them run stronger towards the West than North. We found the same things two days after we set out from the Cape of Good Hope steering away East South-East but in far greater quantity That continued all the third day though we had a good wind and made a great deal of way The days following we saw the same Birds in a greater number Divers Birds to be seen at Sea in approaching to the Cape of Good Hope which forsook us not till we were got a great way beyond the Cape Some of them were black on the back and white on the belly the back of their wings being speckled with those two colours much like to a chequer and therefore the French call them Damiers they are somewhat bigger than a Pigeon There are others bigger than these blackish above and all white below except the tip of their wings which appears to be of a Velveted-black and therefore the Portuguese call them Mangas de veludo Velvet sleeves After these we saw Flocks of others somewhat less than the former The Portuguese call them Boralhos because they are of an Ash-coloured-grey I shall not speak of certain big Fowls which because of their whiteness may be called Sea-Swans nor of the Ravens and Rooks which are to be found in these places nor yet of a kind of Birds which they call Boobies because they are so little upon their guards that they suffer themselves to be taken with the hand The North-wind blowing much stronger on the twenty eighth we were obliged to lye under a Main Course for fear of running ashore which we did not think to be far off Indeed next day about noon a Sea-man that was aloft to look out with all his force cried Land Land and presently came down to ask of my Lord Ambassador the reward which he had promised to him who should first make Land. He confidently affirmed that he had made it before in the Morning not daring to say so because he was not very sure of it but that at present it was past all doubt Nevertheless hardly any body could discern the Mountain which he show'd and it was a long while before they would believe him But at length three or four hours after we easily saw the Mountains of the Cape of Good Hope which might be fifteen or twenty Leagues a head of us Next day the one and twentieth the day of our Lords Ascension after we had said our usual Prayers and sung Mass to thank God for the good success of our Voyage we viewed the Land with our Glasses and saw it distinctly not being above three Leagues off How Barbarous and Barren soever it seemed to be to us it was nevertheless a delightful sight for Men who had seen no Land from the Canary Islands which we sailed by the thirteenth of March. A VOYAGE TO SIAM The Second BOOK The Voyage from the Cape of Good-Hope to the Isle of Java THE Cape of Good-Hope as those that come from Europe make it is a long Ridge of Mountains reaching from North to South and ending in a Point in the Sea. The first two which we made at ten Leagues distance from that Point are the Mountains of the Table and of the Lyon. We made the Table Land first and it is called by that Name because the Top of it is very flat and much resembles a Table The Lyon-Land or Mountain is so called because it hath a great deal of the Shape of a Lyon couchant upon the Belly Though it run farther out into the Sea than the other yet we did not see it till after at a distance it would seem that they were but one single Mountain and indeed they are not very remote At the Foot of these Mountains a great Bay of an Oval Figure runs up towards the East two or three Leagues within Land it is almost two Leagues over at the Mouth and about nine in compass On the South side towards the Mountains it is all a safe Coast every where else it is dangerous near Shoar The Commissary General of the East India Company of whom we have much to say in the Sequel told us one day that he was many times afraid seeing us stand in so near to Shoar upon the Tacks we made insomuch that he was thinking to fire a Gun with a Bullet to give us warning by that Signal that we should keep off and wait for a fairer Wind. Towards the Middle of this Bay the Dutch have built a Pentagone Fort below the table-Table-land which covers it to the South and behind the Lyon-Mountain that secures it to the West a League from Land or thereabouts In entering the Bay you leave a pretty low Island on the

the South and South-East Wind that reigns there constantly in that Season But we came to know afterward that it was Mony when we saw exacter Charts at Batavia which placed that Isle just in ten Degrees eleven Minutes South Latitude The Treasurer General show'd us that the first Day we went ashoar when we acquainted him with the Danger we had been in he called an old Pilot who shew'd us in a great Chart that Isle placed exactly as we found it The Signs of being near the Land of Mony are three sorts of Birds which the Sea-men call Boobies Frigats and Tropick Birds or Straw in Tails according to the French. The first suffer themselves to be catcht with the Hand when in the Fore-part of the Night they come and perch upon the Yards of the Ship and the Last have Feathers in the Tail about twenty inches long which one would take for Straws seeing them at a distance and that 's the reason the French call them by that Name In all that long Passage we saw nothing remarkable unless it were some Porposes pretty different from those we formerly spoke of as to Bigness Shape and Colour for they are bigger and whiter by one half and have the Snout shorter and almost round as you may see by the Figure of them in the following Map of the Road of Bantam Seeing they are fairer than the others and that many took them at first for the Dorado's we thought they were the Fish known to the Antients by the Name of Dolphins We caught no Fish from the Time we put out from the Cape the Seas being too rough for Fishing We saw Grampusses which are like little Whales and some others bigger that spouted the Water up in the Air above fifteen or sixteen foot high by what we could judge at the distance we saw them at A VOYAGE TO SIAM The Third BOOK The Voyage from the Isle of Java to the Kingdom of Siam AVgust 5. We Discovered a great Coast of Land and standing in with it Arrival at the Isle of Java found it to be the Isle of Java when we thought our selves to be far from it This made us observe that that Island lies much more to the West A considerable mistake in the Hydrographical and Geographical Charts and by consequent is nearer by threescore Leagues to the Cape of Good-hope than it is marked in the Geographical Maps Therefore it was that we came in with the Land above threescore Leagues farther up than the most Western point of that Isle which we lookt for An error to be imputed to the Charts and not to the inability of the Pilots who all along Sailed very exactly and always kept reckoning that we should make the Land the same day that we saw it both at the Isle of Java and the Cape of Good-hope as we have already observed The sight of these Lands seemed somewhat rare to us they are covered with Trees of a most lovely verdure which yield a pleasant smell to the Ships that Sail along the Coast at two or three Leagues distance We Coasted along that Isle with so good a wind that in a day and a halfs time we made the sixty Leagues which we had run too far to the East and Monday evening the sixth of August were got to the entry into the Streight of the Sound which is made by the Isles of Java and Sumatra But what surprised us more and was a sign of Gods particular Providence upon our Voyage the same evening that we saw the entry into the Streight of the Sound we made the Maligne which was separated from us by the bad weather I mentioned June 24. in the night time and which we had never seen since Though my Lord Ambassador and several others took it to be the Frigat yet we could not be sure of that because it was already late and the weather dark We were not certain it was she till eight days after in the Road of Bantam where we joyned her again The Pilots who were aboard of her having made the Streight in good time put into it and having a fair wind came to the place of Anchoring But it being usual to shoot the Streight of the Sound betwixt the Princes Isle and Sumatra keeping as near as may be to the Princes Isle which we could not make plainly because of the night we were forced to tack and stand off to Sea all the night long So that since we could not make the best of the fair weather which then we had which would have easily carried us beyond the Princes Isle we fell too low and spent the rest of the week in the Streight which is not above thirty Leagues in length strugling and beating against the Currents and contrary winds One of our Pilots assured us that the Sun of the East of which he was aboard in an East-India Voyage was three full weeks stopped there and could not get to Bantam but as she was towed with Boats. We entred then the Streight of the Sound three days after we made the Land of Java but the Princes Island lying at the mouth of the streight betwixt Java and Sumatra and dividing it into two we entred by the more Northern Passage which is the larger and safer betwixt the Princes Isle and Sumatra We made many Tacks to double the Isle of Cacatoua so called because of the white Parrots that are upon that Isle which incessantly repeat that name we did I say all that lay in our power to double the Isle or Cacatoüa which lyes pretty near to Sumatra that so we might stand in with the Land of Java but all our attempts were unsuccessful because the wind was too weak and Currents too strong in the middle of the Channel That which causes the Currents is because the water that for several Months has been forced into the Streights by the South and South-west-winds which reign commonly from the Month of March to September set our again impetuously during the other six Months of the year being bent back by the East and North East winds We had the wind so cross and the Currents so contrary that it was thought best to keep as close in as we could by the Shore of the Princes Isle Breezes rise on Sumatra at certain hours of the day by the help of some Breezes that came from Sumatra and which for some hours interrupted the great heats and dead calms that are common in that season in the Streights of the Sound By the help of those little Breezes we were in hopes by little and little to come up with the Land of Java but it behoved us first to double the Princes Isle which is pretty big and lies in the mouth of the Streight After all the view which we had of the Land and of several small Islands all decked in verdure comforted us a little for the time which we lost in that Streight The danger the Ship was in in the

Month in the Night-time we re-passed the Tropick of Capricorn and from that day forward we sailed as near as we could upon a Wind until we came in sight of the Isle of Java For we were afraid of falling too much to the Northward A Caution not to be neglected in that course and by consequence to the Leeward of the Streight of the Sound which would have mightily perplexed us because the Trade-winds and Currents that are in those Parts not suffering us to enter it we would have been obliged to put into the Isle of Ceilon or Sumatra Therefore we desired Winds that might suffer us to bear away more to the East to the end we might come up with the Land of Java However perceiving that the contrary Winds still continued on Wednesday the five and twentieth of July we held Counsel to determine whether or not we should bear away still North-east that we might pass betwixt the Isles of Cocos and the Trial or if we should go and make New-Holland Two of our Pilots were of this last Opinion trusting to particular Instructions that set off the Course so and they alledged that the Winds changed not and that if we went and made these Lands they would be fair for us for entering into the Streight of the Sound The other three were against it because of the Dangers that are to be met with along that Coast and the many Shipwracks that happen there besides they made it appear that it was very difficult to pass betwixt the Trial and the Land The Trial are three pretty low Islands and that so it was better to make up to the Isle of Java They said that in a short time the Winds would change or that at worst we might put in to Sumatra that this Course though irksome enough was nevertheless safe and that it was better to resolve upon it than to run the risk of being cast away This last advice was followed and it proved to be the best as may be seen in the Sequel The truth is the Winds became no fairer afterwards than they had been before but seeing the Isles of Java was not so far from us as our Pilots relying upon their Carts imagined in a short time we found our selves a good deal higher than the Streight of the Sound and we entered it as you shall hear We would not trust to the Experience and good advice of Monsieur de St. Martin who assured us that the Isle of Java was ill placed in the common Maps and that it was about an hundred Leagues nearer the Cape and much more to the Leeward than was believed We hold on that course then steering North East in hopes of a fairer Wind The W●●●ing contr●● we be took our selves to Prayers again but seeing after long Sailing the wind changed not we vowed another Novenary which we began with fresh Zeal and Devotion About me half of the Shi● Company were dangerously dark and 〈◊〉 were so feeble and spent that they cold ●●t work the Ship. The Sea-men of St. Malo show a particular Devotion The Seamen who be●●ed ●o St. Malo resolved to give s●ne Token of their Devotion towards St. Saviour ●heir Pat●●n They sent two or three of their Number to one of our Fathers to pray him that he would assist them in their good Desires and prescribe to them what was to be done for rendring their Vow acceptable to their Holy Patron This Custom they have amongst them which they inviolably observe that when they are in any Danger at Sea they promise to St. Saviour to go and visit his Church in Linnen that 's to say in their Shirt to communicate there and to have a solemn Mass sung They had already agreed among themselves to make this Vow many of their Townsmen who were sick of the Scurvey put that Thought into their Minds and egg'd on to the Performance of it When they had proposed their Design they were told that they must begin by Confession and Communicating that so they might be in a Condition to have their Prayers heard They prepared themselves accordingly during the rest of the Week and on Sunday all of them confessed and communicated When they had done so the Father to whom they had applied themselves went up upon-the Fore-castle and having made them to kneel published aloud the Promise which they made to God if by the Intercession of St. Saviour they obtained a fair Wind and a happy Return into their own Country Providence without doubt is in all places wonderful but I dare be bold to say and I have often found it by Experience that it shows it self in a particular manner at Sea. We had never begged fair Weather with greater Confidence and we never thought we stood more in need of it during all our Voyage Nevertheless God would not hear our Prayers and we were asto●●●d to find our selves already at the end of our M●●enary without any the least sign of the change of Weather Gods special Protection of our Ship. But we were soon happily undeceived and we found that after all our Vow● and Prayers we must resign our selves to the Providence of God. For had our Prayers been heard and had God granted us the Wind which we so earnestly begged on the Twelfth of August in the Night-time we had infallibly run foul of a little low Island and been in great danger of being cast away We did not make that Isle before next Morning at break of Day when we had already past almost one half of it being no more but about two Leagues off on 't So that if that Night we had had a fair Wind to carry us streight North-East as our Pilots thought best for us we could not have avoided being lost because that Isle lies almost in the tenth Degree of Latitude for some time we took it to be the Isle of Cocos which we thought we had already past and the rather because it is marked in the Sea-charts to lye in the twelfth Degree of South Latitude We could not imagine that it should be the Isle of Mony the most Southern The Perplexity we were in before we came to the Isle of Java and most Eastern of the two Isles which lye near the Coast of Java either because Mony is set down in the common Charts to be in eight Degrees of Latitude or else because we did not all that Day nor next see the other little Isle which is very near to it And so our sick Men who were in very great number having turned out to see Land were much dejected when they found it was not that which they expected but they had far sadder Hearts when they came to understand that we did not know where we were In this Doubt we took the surest Course and steered away East for fear of falling to the Leeward of the Streight of the Sound into which it would have been difficult to enter by reason of

come up with us sooner several others were to have embarked with us but the Season already far spent suffered us not to stay for them so that we put under Sail. Departure from the Bar of Siam And parted from the Bar of Siam with a good Wind the two and twentieth of December The Lord Constance had sent us on board all sorts of fresh Provisions in so great abundance that we were fain to pray him to send no more and even to leave some of them We came to Bantam the Tenth of January after we had run aground in the Streight of Banca through the Fault of the Dutch Pilot whom we took in at Batavia No Body can well tell what whimsy made him cast Anchor which put us in danger of being cast away for had not the Ground been so owzy as it was the Anchor we dropt would have bulged the Ship that ran foul of it and it was some trouble to get her off A Dutch Ship that came after had more Wit than to follow us and so was not stranded as we were So soon as we came to an Anchor before Bantam the Ambassador sent M. de Cibois Lieutenant of the Ship to make a Complement to the Governor not doubting but that he would come off with better Grace than he did the time before and the rather that he was not ignorant of the Civilities that the General of Batavia had shewn the Ambassador but we were mistaken Monsieur Cibois could not speak to the Governor who they said was sick and bid the Governor of the Fort tell him that they would send on board fresh Provisions This Promise amounted to no more but the sending of two or three Bullocks with an Excuse that there was no more to be had In the Evening came a Man who pretended to be sent from the Governor and demanded Money for the Bullocks which it was thought the Governor had presented to my Lord Ambassador That Messenger was used as he deserved and had an Answer given him to carry to the Governor sutable to such a clownish and uncivil Behaviour So next day we made Sail towards the Cape of Good-hope We had the best Luck imaginable in passing the Streight of the Sound which is a very difficult Passage to shoot because of contrary Winds that commonly reign there in that Season But God was graciously pleased to send us most excellent Weather which in a few Hours put us out of all Danger We had a more particular Instance of his Divine Providence three days after Our Pilots had a mind to keep thirty or forty Leagues to the Southward of the Isle Mony and thought they had steered their Course accordingly when about break of day Monsieur de Vaud●●court made Land at three or four Leagues distance from us we had certainly run foul of it had it blown a little fresher in the Night-time This Land is so low that it is not to be known but by the Breaks We were obliged to bear away to the Leeward and leave it to the South contrary to our first Design During the whole Voyage we had as fair Weather as Heart could wish untill we were off of the Isle of Bourbon February the Thirteenth where we met with one of the most violent Gusts of Wind that the old Officers as they said had ever seen It lasted three days and having carried away the Frigats main Sail separated her from us much about the same place that we lost her when we were outward bound and we had no more sight of her till that Day we came to an Anchor at the Cape of Good-Hope whither she had got two Days before us News from an English Ship outward bound March the Tenth we made a Sail bound towards the Indies As we drew nearer we knew her to be an English Ship by her Colours My Lord Ambassador being willing to hear News from Europe sent Monsieur Cibois and his Secretary who spoke very good English to the Captain They brought back word that that Ship had been five Months out of England and that she was bound streight for Tunquin without touching any where that all was quiet in Europe that the King of England had defeated the Rebels and made the Duke of Monmouth who commanded them Prisoner who was shortly after beheaded that many of his Followers had suffered Death and other tasted of his Britannick Majesties Mercy These were very acceptable News to us and especially when they told us that the English Ship had made the Cape the Day before about seven Leagues off We then found that we were much nearer it than we imagined and next day casting out the Lead we found our selves about seven a Clock in the Morning upon the Bank of the Needles in ninety Fadom Water and about Noon we made the Cape of the Needles The Wind was then fair and we made the best use of it all Night long so that next day we made the Cape of Good-Hope about eight Leagues off About three in the Afternoon we came to the Mouth of the Bay but the Wind blowing too high for putting in we came to an Anchor betwixt Isle Robin and the main Land near the Frigat The Day following March the Thirteenth the Wind being abated we came to an Anchor in the Bay amongst seven great Dutch Ships that made up the East-India Fleet that was to return to Europe so soon as three or four Ships more which they daily expected were come to the Cape The Ambassador sent a Compliment to the Governour of the Fort who received it as kindly as the time before when we past that way We saluted the Fort with seven Guns and they returned us Gun for Gun. Whilst we were taking in Water and providing other necessary Provisions I went to pay a Visit to the Governour who had asked News of the six Jesuits whom he had seen the Year before He made me many Offers of Services offering me a Friends House if I would stay ashoar because the Observatory which was pulled down to be built again with greater Magnificence was not yet finished Being informed that I was to return to the Indies with several other Jesuits he added very obligingly that all should be ready against our Arrival and invited me and all my Companions before hand to come and refresh our selves there After all these Civilities he made me a Present of four lovely Tygers Skins and of a little tame Beast which he had taken in his last Expedition by the Hair and Size of it it resembles a Squirril and had much the Shape of one when he gave it me he told me it was the implacable Enemy of Serpents and was at cruel Wars with them It was then Vintage time which was very far advanced we eat of the Grapes of Africa that are plentiful and have a rare good Taste The White-wine is very delicate and if the Dutch knew as well how to cultivate Vines as to make Colonies and