St. George's Flag it bore from us one League West low-Low-Land St. Thomas one League and an half south-South-West high-High-Land behind it North Lat. 12 deg 30 min. Long. from the Lizard 96 deg East CHAP. V. Gives a true Narrative of the English Chap. V. French and Dutch on the Coast of Coromandel continuing till we double the Cape for the Coast of Malabar I Went ashore in a Mussoola a Boat wherein ten Men paddle the two aftermost of whom are the Steers-men using their Paddles instead of a Rudder The Boat is not strengthned with Knee-Timber as ours are the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe and calked with Dammar a sort of Rosin taken out of the Sea so artificially that it yields to every Ambitious Surf otherwise we could not get ashore the Bar knocking in pieces all that are inflexible Moving towards the Shore we left St. Thomas which lies but Three Miles to the South of Maderas Went ashore in a Boat called a Mussoola and Fort St. George in the midway Maderas River in great Rains opens its Mouth into the Sea having first saluted the Banks of Fort St. George on the West Towards the Sea the Sand is cast up into a Rampire from whence the fluid Artillery discharges it self upon us and we on the Shoulders of the Blacks must force our way through it Though we landed wet the Sand was scalding hot which made me recollect my steps Rowed by St. Thomas and hasten to the Fort. As it looked on the Water it appeared a Place of good force The Outwork is walled with Stone a good heighth thick enough to blunt a Cannon-bullet kept by half a dozen Ordnance at each side the Water-gate besides an Halfmoon of Fire-Guns At both Points are mounted twelve Guns eying the Sea Maderas and St. Thomas under these in a Line stand Pallisadoes reaching from the Wall to the Sea and hedge in at least a Mile of ground Landed are well wetted at Fort St. George On the South side they have cut a Ditch a sufficient depth and breadth to prevent scaling the Wall which is a quarter of a Mile in length afore it meets with a third Point or Bastion facing St. Thomas and the adjacent Fields who suffer a Deluge when the Rains descend the Hills From this Point to the Fourth where are lodged a Dozen Guns more that grin upon Maderas runs no Wall but what the Inhabitants compile for their Gardens and Houses planted all along the River parallel with that that braces the Sea From the first Point a Curtain is drawn with a Parapet beneath it are two Gates and Sally Ports to each for to enter Maderas over the Gates five Guns run out their Muzzels and two more within them on the Ground Over all these the Fort it self lifts up its Four Turrets The Fort described every Point of which is loaded with Ten Guns alike On the South-East Point is fixed the Standard the Forms of the Bastions are Square sending forth Curtains fringed with Battlements from one to the other in whose Interstitiums whole Culverin are traversed The Governor's House in the middle overlooks all slanting diagonally with the Court. Entring the Garrison at the Out-gate towards the Sea a Path of broad polished Stones spreads the way to pass the Second Guard into the Fort at an humble Gate opposite to this one more stately fronts the High-street on both sides thereof is a Court of Guard from whence for every day's Duty are taken Two hundred Men There being in pay for the Honourable East India Company of English and Portuguez 700. reckoning the Montrosses and Gunners The Streets are sweet and clean Neat Dwellings ranked with fine Mansions of no extraordininary Height because a Garrison-Town though Beauty which they conciliate by the Battlements and Tarras Walks on every House and Rows of Trees before their Doors whose Italian Porticos make no ordinary conveyance into their Houses built with Brick and Stone Edifices of common note are none The Portugals have a Chappel except a small Chappel the Portugals are admitted to say Mass in Take the Town in its exact proportion and it is Oblong The true Possessors of it are the English The English Masters of that Place instated therein by one of their Naiks or Prince of the Gentues 90 years ago 40 years before their total subjection to the Moors who likewise have since ratified it by a Patent from Gulconda only paying 7000 Pagods yearly for Royalties and Customs that raises the Mony fourfold to the Company Sir William Langham Agent whose Agent here is Sir William Langham a Gentleman of Indefatigable Industry and Worth He is Superintendent over all the Factories on the Coast of Coromandel as far as the Bay of Bengala and up Huygly River which is one of the Falls of Ganges Viz. Fort St. George alias Maderas Pettipolee Mechlapatan Gundore Medapâ—llon Balisore Bengala Huygly Castle Buzzar Pattanaw He has his Mint and Privilege of Coining the Country Stamp is only a Fanam which is 3 d. of Gold and their Cash twenty of which go to a Fanam Moreover he has his Justiciaries to give Sentence but not on Life and Death to the King's Liege People of England though over the rest they may His Personal Guard consists of 3 or 400 Blacks besides a Band of 1500 Men ready on Summons He never goes abroad without Fifes Drums Trumpets and a Flag with two Balls in a Red Field accompanied with his Council and Factors on Horseback with their Ladies in Palenkeens The English here are Protestants Diligence of the Fryers the Portugals Papists who have their several Orders of Fryers who to give them their due compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes many of the Natives being brought in by them The number of English here may amount to Three hundred Number of English and Portugals of Portuguez as many Thousand who made Fort St. George their Refuge when they were routed from St. Thomas by the Moors about ten years past and have ever since lived under protection of the English Thus have you the Limits and Condition of the English Town Let us now pass the Pale to the Heathen Town only parted by a wide Parrade which is used for a Buzzar or Mercate-place Maderas THEN divides it self into divers Long Streets City of Maderas and they are checquered by as many transverse It enjoys some Choultries for Places of Justice Visited a Pagod or Heathen Temple one Exchange one Pagod contained in a square Stone-wall wherein are a number of Chappels if they may be comprehended under that Classis most of them resembling rather Monuments for the Dead than Places of Devotion for the Living one for every Tribe not under one Roof but distinctly separate though altogether they bear the name of one intire Pagoda The Work is inimitably durable the biggest closed up with Arches continually shut as where is supposed to
cleared up again as also the Madness of the People was allay'd All September the Mornings and Evenings were sharp The Suburbs and the North-West Winds began to bring the Winter's Cold though the Day-time was Hot and Serene wherein we made another Excursion through the Suburbs on the farther side of the Court to Jelfa through new Buzzars finer and better Arch'd than those in the City terminating in the Squares of divers Noblemen who had reared them at their own Charge and Advantage whereby they were more Costly and Neat broad enough for two Coaches to pass abreast though this City is unacquainted with those Carriages nor indeed would they be convenient by reason of the Narrow Streets within and Mountains without These brought us a long way to the River-side A Third Bridge adorned with Dwellings of their Great Men over which to the Christian Town lay another Bridge inferior neither for Length or Elegancy of Structure to either of the former two but much later built At the Foot of it is a large Coppice of Willows reaching a great way by the Water-side here the Jelfalines met us with their usual Noise of loud Musick and led us directly up to a Mountain where the Emperors have digged a Grotto overlooking all the City at their Retirements hither shading them from the Sun's Violence This is fabled to be also Solomon's Throne as we remarked before in Duccan others pretend it was projected by Darius but for what end unless for a Prospect of this large place hid in a Wood I cannot guess Hence in two days we compassed the two Cities of Ispahaun and Jelfa We were two days encompassing Spahaun taking more Ground by far than London and Southwark with their Suburbs but then the most part is filled with Gardens however I believe them not to be so populous Yet the Frenchmen here avouch That more Melons Cucumbers and other Horary Fruits are consumed in this Place in a Month than in Italy France and Spain in half a Year estimating by Balance of Six thousand Ass or Mules Loads of them expended every day For though they have good Butchers Meat and Poultry their chiefest Diet is on Fruit and if such vast Quantities be brought out of the Country daily besides what may be planted within their own Walls it may be concluded some Thousands of Inhabitants contribute to the devouring of them though it must not be credited what is spoken hyperbolically by these Citizens That it is the biggest City in the World and therefore by way of Excellency called The World It is not fenced by Walls nor has it more than one strong Tower with Mud Walls fitter for Butts for Bows and Arrows than to repulse a Cannon-Bullet only serviceble at present to be the Exchequer of the Emperor where are laid up great Treasures the present Sophi being an intolerable Hoarder beneath the Majesty of so mighty a Prince repining even at mean Expences But leaving him to his Covetous Humour Changes of the Weather it remains only to take notice of the Season at the end of this Month inasmuch as Bodies undergo herein the Autumnal Changes which afflicts them with Pleurisies Catarrhs Hoarseness Consumptions Coughs Malignant Putrid Intermitting as also continued Fevers under this Fifth Climate To which the Aphorism of the Medical Divine has regard when it says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dispicere oportet regionem tempus c. The Regions and Seasons of the Year ought to be enquired into for the Alterations and Deviations from the usual Seasons are chiefly productive of Diseases for from Hot and Dry the Air now passes into Cold and Dry and at last into Moist for which reason the Persians begin now to put on their Furrs and the Sky which hitherto had been clear except a little at the Change of the Moons near the middle of October wears a frowning Countenance and at the end of November sends some Showers according to the Wish of Virgil's Husbandman to fatten the Earth Humida solstitia atque hiemes optare serenas The Solstice of the Year let them be moist The Winter clear and curdled o're with Frost But before that Barren Time approaches take a small Catalogue of what the other Seasons produce FRUITS Apples A Catalogue of Plants growing at Spahaun Cherries Jujubies Mulberries White and Red On the first of which only the Silk-Worms are fed despising the Leafs of the other Pears Prunellaes Sebastans All those we call Wall-Fruit without that help HERBS Balm Burdock Betes White and Black Borrage Cabbage Coleworts Colliflowers Cichory Clary Hyssop Lactise Mustard Marjoran Mallows Minth Nettles Alive and Dead Parsley Plantain Purslain Pennyroyal Pimpernel Savory Spinach Thyme FLOWERS Clovegilli flowers Blewbottles Jasmins of all sorts Lillies of all sorts Holyoak Marigolds Roses Poppies White and Red. Primroses Saffron Violet ROOTS or Bulbu's Asparagus Artichokes not in the Leaf as ours but from the Root and Stalk Carrots Eringoes Garlick Hermodactyls Liquorice Madder Onions Parsnips Rhadish Wild and Garden Rhubarb Turnips SHRUBS Berberies Cotton Coriander Faenicle Fenigraece Sena Rosebriar TREES Sycamore Ivy. Maple the Lesser Poplar Vlmes Willows Which I mention only to see what relation it has to what grows in England and have set down thus to avoid Tautology To shut up therefore this Discourse I shall borrow an Indication from the Tall Trees growing in a free Air for from their bending towards any Point of the Compass thence is collected from what Quarter of the Heavens the most forcible and frequent Winds do come in what Region soever they blow so Trees growing near the Sea-shore incline towards the Land but up-land in Persia they grow upright which shews no constant Winds to have any such Influence though from the Autumnal Equinox the north-North-West ushers in the Wet Weather to make way for the Frost and Snow till December yet it is often variable and veres to the East when it is pinching Cold from January to the middle of February The first New Moon in October brings the Musslemens Lent of Ramazan which hapned on the 10th this Year and was the same day our Agent set forth for Bunder leaving me sick behind The 16th of November put an end to their Fast and began a Day of Jubilee when the Leafs were all dropped off and the Earth and Trees were naked after which Bodies indisposed sue for a Writ of Ease and as the Winter is more piercing they recover Health December locks up all in Ice and Snow Sharp Winter here and constipates the Pores of the Earth that it cannot be tilled the Tops of Mountains are all capped and the Sharp Winds and Serene Air make it less tolerable than in Great Britain it being ready to cut you through though then in the Sun it is so warm that the Poor are beholden to it for their Stores It seldom snows above three or four days together but that is sufficient to load the Mountains and to fill the Valleys for
I. Treats of Embarking and Passage 'till past St. Iago SIR FOR your singular Favour The Proem in seeing me Aboard-ship which might reasonably be supposed the last kind Office to a departing Friend considering the various Chances of so long a Voyage as well as the Uncertainty of my Return I must keep to that Promise whereby you obliged me to give you an account not only of my Being but of what Occurrences were worth my Animadversion You may remember Taking Ship at Gravesend and falling down to the Buoy in the Nore It was the 9th of December in the Year of our Lord 1672. when by virtue of an Order from the Honourable East-India Company I being received on Board the Vnity we took of each other a long Farewel the Ship then breaking Ground from Graves-End to fall down to the Buoy in the Nore The London Number of Ships with Letters of Mart. War with the Hollanders our Admiral lay expecting our whole East-India Fleet there which were Ten in Number to whom his Majesty Charles II. was pleased to grant Letters of Mart Which impowered them to wear the King 's Jack Ancient and Pennant and to act as Men of War the English and French at this time being at open Defiance against the Dutch When they were altogether Letter I. their Commands were to go over the Flats The reason of going over the Fâ—ats which notwithstanding the Hazard to Ships of their Burthen was thought securer now than to venture about the King's Channel where they might be exposed to the Attempts of the Hollanders By which means together with the unsteadiness of the Weather it was the day after Christmas before we arrived at the Downs where rode a rich and numerous Fleet of Merchants with their respective Convoys designed for their several Places of Traffick when the Wind should present Here Stay at the Downs as we ended the Old Year so we began the New with a desire of prosecuting our intended Voyage But a South-West Wind prevented our Course and held us there Three Weeks when an East Wind made a general delivery and a clear Downs Being at Sea we made easy Sail that our Ships might have the liberty that Night to single themselves from the Crowd of the other Ships notwithstanding which Proviso we had a shrewd Suspicion for Night hastening on and in such a swarm of Vessels of greater bulk not so readily manageable as smaller we beheld three Lights out of the Poop of a goodly Ship the same unfortunate signs our Directions bound us to take notice of which made us conclude the Damage on our side as indeed it proved by the next Morning-song for having cast our Eyes abroad to look what Ships we had in company running over a great many that had shrowded themselves under our Protection and of Six Men of War more Captain Munday Commander in chief whereof Two were Fireships sent for to meet the East India Fleet at Sancta Helena for their better Defence homeward-bound and to prevent their falling into the Enemies Hands who had lately possessed themselves of that Island we at length missed the Massenberg The Massenberg disabled on whom it seems a small Pink falling foul had carried away her Head and Boltsprit and 't is to be feared has disabled her this Voyage we saw her afterwards make for Portsmouth Off the Land's End we met with Four English Merchant Ships Leaving the Lizzard we met with Ships from Cales Two French Men of War their Convoys laden from Cales bound for London In Four â—â—ys from the Downs we were losing England on our Backs reckoning the Lizzard the most extreme part South to bear North and By East 14 Leagues from whence hereafter we were to fetch our Meridian Distance It lies in the Latitude of 50 deg 10 min. North. Thus relinquishing the British Seas We cross the Bay of Biscay to the Main Atlantick we make our selves Possessors of the Western Ocean for a while 'Till following our Compass more South we contend with the troublous Wind and tempestuous Waves for some part of the Bay of Biscay whose Mountain Seas we are to cut through to the Main Atlantick Why this Sea is always troubled What makes these Seas in such a constant Turmoil is imputed to the falling in of the whole Force of the Western Ocean into this Sinus without any Impediment 'till it recoil against its Shores so that in the calmest Season here are always high swelling Billows About the Latitude of 41 the Men of War The St. Helens Fleet stand for the Madera that came out with us determining to make the Madera Island went away more Easterly and the next day were out of sight Two days after we espied one Sail to the Leeward under a main Course Chap. I. steering very doubtfully after she had had her full view of us she made from us too nimble for us to follow we supposed her to be either an Algerine Pirate or a Dutch Privateer We still directed our Course South and in Twenty four Hours ran One hundred and seventeen Miles by our Log-board for some days together Little credit to be given to the Log board in respect of the Ships way the Weather not allowing us to observe with the Quadrant but as soon as we could take the Sun's Altitude we found our selves to be in the Latitude of 36 deg 2 min. North Longitude 7 deg 26 min. West an hundred Mâ—les in four Days more than we judged our selves to be which sufficiently proves the little credit to be given to the former way of reckoning The following day maintaining the same Course we past by the Mouth of the Streights of Gibraltar Hercules's Pillar one of Hercules's Pillars the farthest Point South of all Europe Here we began to drop the rest of our Company We lost our Companions by degrees some striking East for the Streights others West for the Canaries Virginia c. At Noon our Admiral fired a Gun and hoisted his Ancient whereby we understood he saw Land which we thought to be Porto Porto bearing off us East An hour more being hardly run we in like manner made the Madera Island The Island of Madera the largest in the Atlantick Ocean the largest of the whole Atlantick being South-East some twelve Leagues too great a distance to take a perfect Landschap it being only discernible to be Land and confirmed to be so by this days Observation which was 33 deg 17 min. to the Northward of the Equator in Latitude and Longitude from the Lizzard as before we having neither raised nor depressed it Where the Trade-winds begin to offer themselves the Mariner relaxes his anxious care of Sailing and is at more leisure to Repose he not being so often called upon to shift his Course or hand his Sails which has yet this inconvenience giving him leave now to fall into those Distempers Idleness contracts viz.
War thinking to birth themselves before us at St. Iago where our Ships were permitted to refresh The Men of War out-sail us being otherwise tied up by Charter-party not to put in any where unless for absolute necessity made all the Sail on head they could Our Commanders were well enough content with their proffer knowing the danger of a many Ships going in there together The day ensuing plying to the West The Island Beunavista we discovered Beunovista bearing full West ten Leagues but at Noon were within two Leagues of it It is one of the Islands of the Gorgades or Cape Verde One of the Cape Verde Islands They are Nine in all because situate over against that Promontory on the Land of Negros They are said to be Nine in Number Beunovista quasi good sight it deserving that Appellation from four Hills which raising themselves to an Eminency above their Fellows yield a fair Prospect at a distance but approaching nigher it is not unlike the crawling of a Snake it 's various Hills and Vallies fluctuating as it were seem to borrow that riggling Shape the two remotest Mountains figuring her Crown and Head The View of Beunovista The View of Beunovista The succeeding day The Isle of Maijo South-East of us we saw the Isle of Maijo another of the Gorgades plentiful in nothing more than Salt whither our Traders in that Commodity often send Ships to fetch it which is brought down to them in Barrows blowed by the Wind they having Sails fitted for that purpose The View of the Isle of Maijo In two and twenty days from the Lizzard The View of Isle of Maijo early in the Morning we were close under St. Iago another Island of the same Knot whose interwoven barren Mountains are as impossibly exprest as Stonehing numbred Arriving at St. Iago we mist the Men of War Towards the South-West they are very high and burnt but steering to loof about the Bay we found it empty and the Men of War missing for all that we came to an Anchor about ten a Clock in the Forenoon in the Bay of St. Iago The View of the Bay of St. Iago The Ground was covered with Corral of all sorts The View of the Bay of St. Iago under which it was Sandy of a duskish Colour Having discovered three Buoys our Commander sent his Boat to seize on one Found three great Anchors slipped in the Bay which proved to be the Mark to a special good Anchor of 2400 weight with a Cable seven Inches Diameter the rest of the Fleet shared the other two The Bay the Ships rode in was smooth Water the Wind coming from the Shore in Figure a Semicircle in which it might contain four Miles the weathermost Point bearing South-West and half a Point West the other Point to which was an Islet East and by South and South a. Represents the young Plant as it appears firstabove ground Spring-ing from the Nut under ground b. Shews the shape of the Tree w th that of its branches new the tâ—p the under more ripe being fallen off leaving the Signes of their rects n the bark of the Stock c. The shape of the Branchâ—s w th their stemms feet as they grow from the Tree extending sometimes from the foot to the tip to near 5 ½ yards in length fringed or feathered on both sides with long narrow leaves d. The Purse or Sheath containing the branch of flowers e. The branch of Flowers which when fallen leaves the young nutts f. One of the branches grown more ripe g. One of those Nutts full ripe h. The Coco Nutt shell intire the outward Pill or husk being fallen off i. The Roots blade peircing through the holes of the Shell k. The Kernell of the Nut half the Shell being taken off l. Represents the intire tree of an older longer standing m. Represents the manner how they fasten a gourd to collect the liquor Of the Island of St. Iago one of the Cape Verde Islands IN the Afternoon I went ashore which was near two Miles from the Ship where was a convenient watering place which emptied its fresh Current into the Salt Sea the Beach was sandy and easy going ashore The Natives accost us with their Wares Here met us whole Troops of the Natives with their several Wares some offering us Cocoes others Oranges and Limes some brought Jackanaps's such green Ones as are commonly seen in England to be sold and all at the price of a cleanly Rag or a Bunch of Ribbons Before us in a Valley was a most stately Grove of Cocoes and A stately Grove Oranges through which ran the Stream our Men filled their Casks with Water surrounded with a Wall The first of which Trees so much celebrated for its usefulness deserves as much for the pleasure it affords the Sight It grows with an upright tall and slender Body the Bark of an Ash colour loricated not sending any Branches forth till it come to its chiefest Summit where it spreads its shady Branches with some resemblance to our Osmond Royal Fern Of the Cocoe Tree its beauty and usefulness but more like the Palm and under these protects its weighty Fruit which hang very thick round about the Tree to which it yields but one Stalk but that fit to support its ponderousness every Moon produces a fresh Harvest both of Fruit and Boughs the first being gathered the others being thrust off when sapless by the young ones If the Juicy ones be wounded there distills an heady Liquor which they preserve in Earthen Pots fitted to receive it but that spoils their bearing Nuts Next to the Stalk it bestows a Calix not differing only in bigness and that it is smoother from that of our Acorn from which proceeds the Rind of a lighter Green under which a fibrous substance presents its self which might supply them with Utensils for Roaps and Sails beneath which appears a spacious brown Shell proper for many Necessaries big enough for a Drinking Cup a Ladle and many more serving them for the chief part of their Housholdstuff Enclosed in this is a delicious Meat white in Colour cloathed with a pithy matter as our Hasle-nuts and not inferiour to them in Taste this they chuse for their ordinary Nourishment Nor does it afford them a less grateful emulsion contained in the Nut to the quantity of a Pint or Pint and half in colour like Whey and of that consistency but in relish far excelling When the Meat of the Nut grows rancid they express an Oyl serviceable for their Lamps Thus abundantly has Providence furnished them from this one Root The figure of the Fruit take it intire is oval and as big as the largest Melons On the other Fruits it's needless to insist Other Fruits less common as Oranges and the like being planted nearer home and therefore not such strangers Having observed enough here we entred a Door which gave us
thought they had seen a Rock with which these Seas abound whereupon they cried out A Breach a Breach which made the Mates leap out of their Cabins with the same grisly Look as if going to give up their last Accounts Here was Doomsday in its right Colours Distraction Horror and Amazement had seized on all one commanding this another acting quite contrary the Breach surrounding us every one expected the fatal stroke when the Ship should be dashed in pieces In this Panick Fear had any had so much heart as to have ventured a Composition for his empty Noddle by looking over-board he might have discovered the Jig For at length it was evident that only a Chorus of Porpoises had taken the Sea in their Dance which Morris once over the Seas were quiet and our Men left to repose themselves with a shorter Nap than they thought themselves like to have Five days after our Summer Solstice we had soundings 14 Fathom and at break of day had sight of Ceilon when we altered our Course to East North-East it bore from us North by West 12 Leagues the out-out-Land low but rarely enriched with Woods of Cinamon from whence only it is brought The View of Ceilon This is the Island where if true the Elephants are bred Ceilon has the best Breed of Elephants who transported exact Homage from all Elephants of other places and they withal by prostrating as it were their Necks between their Feet submissively acknowledge it At Nights we stood off to Sea to escape the insidious Rocks The Terrhenoes a-days we made for the Land to gain the Land Breizes which are not felt far off at Sea by reason of the Constancy of the Trade-Winds They begin about Midnight and hold till Noon and are by the Portugals named Terrhenoes more North they are more strong and hardly give way to the Sea-Breizes which sometimes succeed the others twelve hours but not always on this Coast Two Days passed after we made Land we discovered three Country Junks a-head and coming up with them we commanded their Skippers on board Three Country Junks examining their Cockets they produced English Passes the Masters of two of them being Portugals the other a Moor from whom was taken a Packet of Dutch Letters Their Crew were all Moors by which Word hereafter must be meant those of the Mahometan Faith apparell'd all in white on their Heads white Scull-caps their Complexions tawny Their Junks had three Masts wearing an East-India strip'd Ancient and might contain an 100 Tuns apiece They managed their Sails but aukwardly and are unskilful in Maritime Affairs wherefore in any long Voyage they employ Europeans to navigate their Vessels Coasting along Cattamarans are Logs tied together to waft off their Goods some Cattamarans Logs lashed to that advantage that they waft off all their Goods only having a Sail in the midst and Paddles to guide them made after us but our Ships having fresh way we were unwilling to tarry for them besides at that instant we espied under the Shore a mighty Vessel with her Yards and Top-masts lower'd but they continuing to follow us the Anne lay by for one of them who affirmed that a Fleet of 24 Sail of Batavians were passed to retake St. Thomas from the French The East-India Merchant and Antelope by this were up with Vessel under shore who proved to be a great Junk of the Moors Overagainst where she rode a fair Pagod or Temple of the Gentus beleaguer'd with a Grove of Trees excepting that it was open towards the Sea cast a Lustre bright and splendid the Sun reverberating against its refulgent Spire which was crowned with a Globe white as Alabaster of the same tincture with the whole Nearer the Point we descried a Town Sandraslapatan on the Main in which a Castle over-awing it and upon the highest Pinacle Dutch Colours which high Noon gave us to be Sandraslapatan a Factory of theirs our Staff having as much as together with the Sun's declination made 11 deg 50 min. North Latitude but 10 Leagues to the South of Fort St. George where our Commanders were to touch first according to their Charter-Party Whereupon we put abroad our Jacks Resolved to fight the Flemings Ancients and Penants and running out all our Guns it was unanimously consented to fight our way through the Flemish East-Indians had we not seen a Mussoola hailing our Admiral which came off with Advice from the Agent This Afternoon therefore we lay by the Admiral calling a Council aboard him and at night our Mercury was waited on towards the Shore by the Bombaim All this while we lay in sight of Sandraslapatan whose Soil is Fat and Opulent like their Netherlands The View of Sandraslapatan The next day we saw a French Man of War and he us but would not trust us Saw a French Man of War We knew him to be French by our Intelligencer who laid us out his Station where he had encountred five Batavians and discomfited them This Day 's observation made 30 m. Dismissed the Junks to the North of Fort St. George We were beating now against the Wind which blows fiercely from the Shore and a strong Current which had set us 14 deg 20 min. North in three days time when the Junks we compelled with us hither had the liberty to make the best of their way for the Bay of Bengala for which the Winds served them well enough though full in our Teeth who laboured for the Land However Met the Freshes caused by the Rains in four days time we met with the Freshes off the Shore caused by the Upland Rains The Sea despising to defile its purer Azure with their Muddy Green The same Antipathy was held betwixt the lively Fishes and their slimy Brood they intermixing with such unfriendly Concord for playing in whole Shoals about the Edges they would not exceed the Limits the jarring Torrents had won upon each other So the fierce Tigris in his swift Career neglects the scorned Arethusa and she with the like disdain retaliates his unkindness neither Stream mixing either Fish or Water Thus quartering this Sublunary Globe Having quartered the World we Anchor at Mechlapatan out of Europe into Africa from thence cruising on the Coast of Brasil upon the American Seas till joining with the Ethiopick we double the Cape of good Hope into Africa again at last we came in sight of the Asian Shores and the latter end of June we cast Anchor in Mechlapatan Road which was composed of Shoals and Deeps where we found three Portugal Ships riding Our Fleet expressed their joy by the roaring of the wide-mouth'd Cannon and the sounding of the shriller Trumpets which the English Factory welcomed by displaying their Flag being allowed no Ordnance but what they privily plant for their own security as being under the Tutelage of the Natives as also are the Portugals and Flemmings who each have here their Staples so in
's meer depression of Air should be ascribed to her Monthly Revolutions And here one thing may be worthy our Curiosity That after the Seasons of the Heats and Rains the Rivers Indus and Ganges are said to swell their Banks and thereby abundantly to encrease the Bordering Countries where these Rains are less frequent Whence it may be some insight may be had for the Overflows of Egypt which has set so many Wits on the Tenterhooks where it is reported it never rains But in the Countreys near the supposed Sourse of Nile it does to Excess But you who have greater Reading and Leisure to digest these Metaphysical Notions will mightily oblige me to furnish me with your solider Arguments Among which I would intreat you to consider the Variety of the Loadstone in the common Chart For what the incomparably Ingenuous Des Cartes has wrote on that Subject acquiesces only in modest Hypotheticks not any ways informing the Understanding to a clear Apprehension but after he has brought it through the Maze of Probabilities he parts with it at the same Predicament it entred Not to deviate any longer The Tail of the Elephant we are now winding about the South-West part of Ceilon where we have the Tail of the Elephant full in our mouths a Constellation by the Portugals called Rabo del Elephanto known for the breaking up of the Munsoons which is the last Flory this Season makes generally concluding with September which goes out with dismal Storms Yet so good is Providence Water-Snakes as to warn us here when all is obscured by Water-Snakes of our too near approach to the Land which are as sure Presages on the Indian Coasts as the Cape-Birds are there Here the Mountains running East and West The difference on the Malabar Coast the Winds are to the East of the South and to the West of the North else quadrating with those on Coromandel only here in April and May the Winds are variable and then they hasten to leave these Coasts for Persia the Red-Sea and South-Seas or those make in that are to return hither otherwise they run an hazard of losing their Voyage when the South to the South-East Wind is fixed which continues to the latter end of September or beginning of October Then from the North to the North-West sets in again and this Course is observed mostly on all the Indian Shores only some few days different in the beginning and ending which happen to the South and in Lands commonly earlier than to the North and break up later when they are more severe but the Intervals are milder the middle Months clearing up in the day time but from the first setting to the going out towards the North the Sun hardly shews his Face unless a Fortnight after the Full Moon in May and a Fortnight before the Elephanto On the Coast of Surat from Gemini to Libra A Rejoinder of the Seasons This happens in the Sun 's Ecliptick Road. On the Coast of Coromandel from Taurus to Scorpio And thus much may be said in general only the Land and Sea-Breezes in particular on this Coast of Surat and Malabar when the Rains are over keep exactly Land-Breezes from Midnight to Mid-day and Sea-Breezes from the Noon of Day to the Noon of Night Making Land we beheld it all a Flame they burning their Stubble for Soilage Small Birds drove to Sea the Forerunner of the ensuing Rain notwithstanding a King fisher flew aboard us with the flattering Coaks's of Halcyon days but like an unskilful Augur was deservedly reproached with the Ignorance of her own Destiny to dye in Captivity which fatal Necessity made her elect rather than suffer with whole Flocks of little Birds blown from the Main who not able to stem the boisterousness of the Winds were hurried thence to perish in the Sea And now we were begirt with Land the Maldivae Islands lying South Cape Comerin North and by West the Malabar Islands West whose Inhabitants have no relation with those on the Coast whence is brought great quantities of Ambergreece Ceilon c. The Land our Master took for a Malabar Island proved a mistake Land-lock'd betwixt Ceilon and the Cape for by a strong Current we were lock'd in between the Island Ceilon and the North East side of the Cape within that desperate Canal we before described Our Error was first corrected by some Fishermen busy at their Nets Strange colour'd Fishes who brought aboard plenty of Fishes all new to us who never had seen such coloured ones some gilded like Gold others with Vermilion varied by several Intermixtures Whilst we were lost in admiration our Mates found themselves no less at a loss in their accounts when they understood they were drove 30 Leagues to Leeward of the Cape by the broken Portugueze spoken by these Men and that we could not sail much farther than Tutticaree a Portugal Town in time of Yore where they had a Citadel and two famous Churches and before us which was the Lure a Ketch of the Dutch's which we chased for hopes of Prize was sailing to that Port and presently after anchored We were then in seven Fathom Water This is the place where they drag Pearl All along here the Top of Gates is seen above the Clouds The Mountain Gates the Ground beneath it Fair Low and Sandy Tutticaree is now in the hands of the Dutch Tutticarce our danger here running the same Risco with Columbo over-against which it lies we being now in the very Jaws of our Enemies might have here concluded our Voyage had their Fleet been nigh us The next day we were becalmed and thereby carried into the midst of the Stream and although in the Afternoon we had an humming Frisco it ran with such Violence that we lost more than we gained This Mistake cost us a Fortnights time before we could compass the Cape besides Fears and Jealousies both of our falling into the Torrent and our Enemies hands The Cape lanches into the Sea with Three Points running into a Campaign several Miles together till it grows big with Mountains procreating their prodigious Race 400 Leagues severing the Coast of Coromandel and Malabar East and West Latitude 8 deg 50 min. North Longit. 96 deg Eost Cape Comeri The Taprobanum of Pliny over-against the Prâ—montorium Celliacum Cape Comeri CHAP. VI. Views the Malabar and Canatick Coasts up to Bombaim TO prevent the mischief of ingulphing again by the Current A dark Night enlighten'd by Fish we anchored a-nights when a Pitchy Blackness was interposed betwixt us and the Skies and not a Star to be seen The Plebs Squammosa beneath the Surface of the Salt Ocean gathering their little Fry which proved to be Pilchards either by the Repercussion of the Saline Bodies of the Waves which is frequent or by the more apt Position of their Glittering Scales through that Medium to refract the hovering Light benighted in the Atmosphere
the George a Ship our Agent had built in this Port I was rowed in one of their Boats till the Wind grew strong enough to Sail These Boats have been in use time out of mind the Keel is made of one piece of Timber and the Planks are sewed together with an high Prow and a low Poop The next Morning we had brought Loft on the left hand of the Island Kismash leaving a Woody Island uninhabited between Kismash and the Main At Noon we came to Bassatu an old ruined Town of the Portugals fronting Congo where we touched till the Turning of the Tide and the Sea-Breeze were forcible enough to deliver us to that Port where were Five Merchant Ships and Two Trading to Mocha for Religion Congo is something better built than Gombroon Come to Congo and has some small Adâ—antage of the Air and is about Twenty Leagues nearer the Mouth of the River Euphrates As upon Land we have observed the Fruit and all things flag for want of Rain A Dearth in the Water as well as on Land so we found the same Cry to respect the Sea for want of frequent Showers the Oysters neither bringing forth nor are any Pearls produced such Influence does common Fame allow the Heavenly Moisture to have in their Generation insomuch that little Choice is to be had and whatever is of any Value is very dear Here is great Plenty of what they call Ketchery a Mixture of all together or Refuse of Rough Yellow and Unequal which they sell by Bushels to the Russians who carry them over Land to Archangelo and disperse them through the Northern Coasts for Ornaments to their Furr Caps which being no Purchase I returned Sailing abreast of Kismash Come again to Bunder Abassee I put in at Loft the chief Place of the Island and loaded with Oysters which were the nearest our English I had yet tasted here are Creyfish Crabs Shrimps Place Soles and Smelts besides Mountains of Salt-fish for Sale From hence Gombroon is furnished with Wood where arriving we saw the Phaenix another English Ship on which before I embark I shall premise somewhat material according to my Promise of Pearls in general The Pearl is a Jewel supposed to be the Geniture of a Shell-fish called Margaritifer The Pearl congealed into a very fair transparent Diaphanous beautiful Stone which is the Partus or Birth of this Fish As concerning their Original and Conception there is some difference among Authors as betwixt Pliny and Anselmus Boetius and between them and Cardanus Pliny saith that they are conceived in Oysters by a certain Maritime Dew which these Fish and so likewise Scollops do at a Set Time of the Year most thirst after and according as the Heavens are more Cloudy or Clear in the time of the taking in of this Dew so they are generated more Fair or Obscure as may be seen in his Book where he speaks of those Pearls called Vnions and of the Shell-fish in which they are found lib. 9. c. 28. But this Opinion of Pliny concerning their Conception is not by Anselmus Boetius thought consentaneous to Truth For saith he I have taken out of these Shell-fish many Margarites and they are generated in the Body of the Creature of the same Humour of which the Shell is formed which Viscous Humour is expelled sometimes not always for the Fabrick of another Shell for whenever this little Creature is ill and hath not strength enough to belch up or expel this Humour which sticketh in the Body it becometh the Rudiments or beginning of the Pearls to which new Humour being added and assimulated into the same Nature by concreting and congealing begets a new Skin or Film for the former Rudiments the continual Addition of which Humour generates an Vnion or Pearl even as Stones are generated in the Gall or Bladder of a Man and after the same manner the Bezoar is generated in the Persian Goat Cardanus lib. 7. de Lapidibus saith It is a Fabulous thing that the Pearl should be generated by the Dew of Heaven seeing the Shell-fishes in which they are conceived have their Residence in the very bottom of the Deep That which is reported of them That they are soft in the Water and grow hard like Coral as soon as they are taken out is not true saith Boetius p. 84. For the first not only common Fame but common Experience avouches for the latter I know not why it may not be as probable as for an Egg newly laid to have the Shell harden'd as soon as dropped into the Air when before in the Ovarium it participated of a Slippery Tough Glewy Substance not otherwise to be supposed to come forth than by endangering the Foetus Vnions are so much the more esteemed It s Adulteration because they cannot easily be adulterated There are fictitious Jewels made of double Glass which being set in Gold Jewellers cannot discern from Pearl except they take them out Some will adulterate them with the Powder of the Shell of the Margarite and others with Chalk covered with Leafs of Silver and then anointed with the White of an Egg. Some adulterate them with the Powder of Pearl mix'd with the White of an Egg and dried and then polished but these will easily be discovered from the True by their Weight and Colour The Vnion is in Hebrew called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its Names as Job 28. 20. And so the Word Gabish is interpreted by Rabbi Sevi Gerson It is also taken for Margarita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in the Proverbs it is interpreted by Junius Carbunculi Prov. 11. If they be great they are called Vnions because then they are found single in a Shell If they be small they are called Margaritae many of which may be found in one Shell together In Greek they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latin the great Pearls are called Vniones Margaritae simplicitèr Lucian calleth the Pearl Lapis Erithreus Arrianus Lapis Indicus Statius Erithreus Lapillus Virgil Bacca Bacca Conchea Pliny Vnio Câ—cero Margarita St. Jerom Granum maris rubri and others call it Perla The Germans call it Perlin In Italian Perle In Arabick Indostan Phursistan Sulu The Indians call them Moti in Malabar Mutu Letter V. The Lusitanians call it Aljofar which in Arabic sounds as much as Julfar the Port in Sinu Persico where the most excellent Pearls are caught The kinds of Pearl are no otherwise distinguished The kinds of Pearl but either first from their Greatness or Littleness that is either as they are Vnions or Margarites or Seed-Pearl and secondly as they are of transcendent Purity Beauty and Glory or Cloudy Reddish and so less beautiful The best are found in the Persian Gulph The Places where caught shared between the Persian and Arab they farming the Fishery yearly to those that bid most between the Island Ormus and Byran and were heretofore
Staves and overspreading it a Scarlet Coverlet of London Cloath A Set of these Rascals who are eight in a Week's time with this Load shall run down their choicest Horses and bait them generously shall stage it a Month together For War Beasts for War and Food Elephants For to eat Sheep poor fleeced rather with Hair than Wool their Aspect bewraying as much Goat as Sheep Goats Hogs low and black unclean to the Mahometans Cows sacred to the Gentues as Serapis to the Egyptians Conies Hares Reptiles Reptiles Snakes Serpents the Amphisbena and other kinds all which they pretend to charm carrying them up and down in Baskets to get Money of the People as well as Strangers when they strike up on a Reed run through a Cocoa-Shell which makes a noise something like our Bag-Pipes and the subtle Creatures will listen to the Musick and observe a Motion correspondent to the Tune a Generation of Vipers that well deserve to be stiled so knowing when the Charmer charms wisely Fowls of all sort belonging to India are plenty Fowls but chiefly tame Geese Fishes in abundance Fishes from whence the Town derives its Etymology Mechlapatan signifying the Fish-Town For Corn Corn. they have Rice the Staff of the Land some Wheat Fruits to variety Fruits The Water they drink they dig for The Water and Air bad not that they are without Rivers but they are brackish It lies in 15 deg North Lat. 40 min. From the Lizzard 96 deg East By reason of the Multitude of People and ill Site it is unhealthy though it agree with the Natives who live to a good Old Age. The English for that cause only at the time of shipping remove to Medapollon where they have a wholsome Seat Forty Miles more North. Rain they have none from November to May Rain when it comes causes Insects all which time the Land Breezes which blow one half the day off the Sea but faintly the other torment them with a suffocating Heat so that the Birds of the Air as they fly often drop down dead the Wind coming as hot as the Steam from an Oven by the reflecting of the Sun upon the Sands which are huried about the Marshes When they feel themselves freest from Sickness though all Perspiration through the Pores by Sweat is dried up From the beginning of May they are refreshed with cooling Showers which at length with the overflowing Sea cause an Inu dation in which space the Air growing foggy Empyema's and Fluxes are rifest and Swarms of Ants Muskeetoes Flies and stinking Chints Cimices c. breed and infest them This Season we experimented which though moderately warm yet our Bodies broke out into small fiery Pimples a sign of a prevailing Crasis augmented by Muskeetoe-Bites and Chinces raising Blisters on us To arm themselves against this Plague those that live here have fine Calicut-Lawn thrown over their Beds which though white as Snow when put on shall be in an hour besmear'd all over which might be tolerable did not their daring Buzzes continually alarm and sometimes more sensibly provoke though cloath'd with long Breeches to their Toes and Mufflers on their Hands and Face and a Servant to keep them from them with a Fan without which there is no sleeping Notwithstanding these provisions yet there is another Insect more disturbing than these and not to be escaped but by this Device and that is the Ant which creeps up to all their Quarters and between their Beds if the Bed-Posts were not set in Pans of Water to hinder their Progress Chinces stick among the Cotton and in rotten Posts whose bitings wheal most sadly and if they strive to take a Revenge for that abuse and chance to squeeze them they leave a stink enough to choak them The Air so bad here The Air better up in the Countrey that it agrees with few new Comers removing Three Miles up the Countrey it is an infallible Cure for the Diseases of this place provided it be done in time Where the English have a Garden for Divertisement where also is a Burial-place graced with Monuments both of Antique and Modern Workmanship Half a Mile beyond Twelve of the King's Elephants a Dozen of the King's Elephants are stabled When we came they were feeding out of their Houses on Sugar-Canes fresh gathered and administred by their Keepers Alighting from our Palenkeens they loosed one which was Fourteen Feet high and the Black clawing his Poll with an Iron Engine he stooped down for him to get up and being upon his Back guided him as he listed His Body is a Symetrical Deformity if I may so say the Hanches and Quarters clapt together seem so many heaps his Neck short flapping Ears like Scates little-Eye'd a broad Face from which drops his Proboscis or Trunk thrusting it out or shriveling it in as he chuses through its Hollow he sucks his Liquor and with two Fingers as it were reaches the Fodder shaking off the dirt against his Thigh or Vermin such as Mice which he abhors he brings it under to his Mouth from whence proceed two huge Tusks of Ivory for Defence not Mastication for which he is supplied within with others his Tail is curt He shuffles an end a great Pace moving all the Joints of his Legs though the Motion of his Hinder-Legs imitate Human Progression having a Patella or Knee-Pan afore not articulated behind as other four-footed Beasts are When he stands his Legs appear so many Columns scollop'd at bottom being flat-hoof'd The She 's have their Paps under their Bowels afore as Laurentius truly relates Their Modesty in ingendring has given matter for dispute though doubtless they perform it after the manner of other Beasts They are of a Mouse-Colour With their Trunks they strike a violent Blow and are taught to sling Iron Links to the destruction of their Enemies That they draw their weighty Cannon is certain but that they engage with smaller on their Back I am no Eye-Witness After a Month's Stay here Our Repair aboard Ship and coming to Fort St. George a Patamar a Foot-Post from Fort St. George made us sensible of the Dutch being gone from thence to Ceilon The Treasure was reshipped and we in less than a Week through contrary Monsoons and Ill Weather the Sun being in his Zenith and encountring the Dog-Star over our heads arrived there When sliding by four French Men of War at Anchor under St. Thomas of whom the Admiral the Brittoon was a Ship of 1200 Tuns 68 Brass Guns the second had 50 Brass Guns the other two were less and the Platform of the City mounted with Brass Pieces that slung their Shot an incredible way we against all probability found the Massenberg there The Massenberg given over for lost we found here having ventured alone and but the day before us came into the Road under our Fort there also rode two Portugal Junks The Colours the Fort shewed us was