This evening we made land over our starboard bow, distance six leagues, and stood away south and by east: but the wind slackening we lay by in the night; and in the morning found the land bearing east and by south, distance one league and a half; a good shore, and on sounding, about five-and-thirty fathom, stony ground. We now hoisted our boat out, and sent it on shore for discoveries, to sound the depth of the water, and see for a good harbour to put in at.
Our people went quite in with the shore, where they found several men and women crowded together to look at us. When our men came close to the land they hung out a white flag, but the wild people understood nothing of the meaning of it, but stood looking and amazed, and we have great reason to believe that they never had seen any ship or bark of any nation before. We found on our landing, no boats or sails, or anything they had to make use of on the water; but some days after we saw several small canoes, with three or four men in each.
Our men not being able to speak a word for them to understand, or to know what was said to them, the first thingthey did, was to make signs to them for something to eat; upon which three of them seemed to go away, and coming again in a few minutes, brought with them several bundles or bunches of roots, some plantains, and some green lemons, or limes, and laid down all upon the coast. Our men took courage then to go on shore, and, taking up what they brought, set up a stick, and upon the end of it hung five bunches or strings of blue and white beads, and went on board again.
Never was such joy among a wild people discovered, as these natives showed, when they took the beads off the stick; they danced and capered, and made a thousand antic gestures, and, inviting our men on shore, laid their hands upon their breasts across, and then looked up, intimating a solemn oath not to hurt us.
Our men made signs, by which they made them understand, that they would come again next morning, and also that they should bring us more eatables; accordingly, we sent three boats the next morning, and our men carried knives, scissors, beads, looking-glasses, combs, and any toys they had, not forgetting glass beads and glass ear-rings in abundance.
The Indians were very ready to meet us, and brought us fruits and herbs as before; but three of them, who stood at a distance, held each of them a creature exactly like a goat, but without horns or beard; and these were brought to traffick with us.
We brought out our goods, and offered every one something; but the variety was surprising to them who had never seen such things before. But that which was most valuable of all our things, was a hatchet, which one of their principal men took up and looked at it, felt the edge, and laid it down; then took it up again, and wanted to know the use of it: upon which one of our men took it, and stepping to a tree that stood near, cut off a small bough of it at one blow. The man was surprised, and ran to the tree with it, to see if he could do the same, and finding he could, he laid it down, ran with all his might into the country, and by-and-by returning, came with two men more with him, to show them this wonderful thing, a hatchet.
But if they were surprised with the novelty of a hatchet, our men were as much surprised to see hanging round the ears of both the men that he brought with him, large flatpieces of pure gold. The thread which they hung by was made of the hair of the goats, twisted very prettily together and very strong.
Our men offering to handle them, to see if they were gold, one of the men took off his two gold bobs, and offered them to our men for the hatchet. Our men seemed to make much difficulty of it, as if the hatchet was of much greater value than those trifles; upon which he, being as we found, superior, made the other, who came with him, pull off his two ear-jewels also; and so our unreasonable people took them all four, being of pure gold, and weighing together some grains above two ounces, in exchange for an old rusty hatchet. However unreasonable the price was, the purchaser did not think it so; and so over-fond was he of the hatchet, that as soon as he had it for his own, he ran to the tree, and in a few minutes had so laid about him with the hatchet, that there was not a twig left on it that was within his reach.
This exchange was a particular hint to me; and I presently directly my chief mate, and Captain Merlotte, to go on shore the next day, and acquaint themselves as much as they could with the natives, and, if possible, to find out where they had this gold, and if any quantity was to be found.
Captain Merlotte and my chief mate bestowed their time so well, and obliged the natives so much, by the toys and trifles they gave them, that they presently told them that the gold, which they called Aarah, was picked up in the rivers that came down from a mountain which they pointed to, a great way off. Our men prevailed with three of them, to go with them to one of these rivers, and gave them beads and such things to encourage them, but no hatchet; that was kept up at a high rate, and as a rarity fit only for a king, or some great man who wore Aarah on his ears.
In a word, they came to the river where they said they found this Aarah; and the first thing our men observed there, was an Indian sitting on the ground, and beating something upon a great stone, with another stone in his hand for his hammer: they went to see what he was doing, and found he had got a lump of gold from the sand, as big as a swan-shot, of no regular shape, but full of corners, neither round nor square; and the man was beating it flat as well as he could.
One of our men, who had a hatchet in his hand, made signs to him to let him flatten it for him; and so turning the back part of the hatchet, which served the purpose of a hammer, he beat the piece of gold flat in an instant; and then turning it upon the edge, beat it that way until he brought it to be round also.
This was so surprising to the man who had been beating, that he stood looking on with all the tokens of joy and amazement; and, desiring to see the hatchet, looked this way and that way, upon those of his countrymen who came with us, as if asking them if ever they saw the like.
When our man had done, he made signs to know if he had any more Aarah; the man said nothing, but went down to the brink of the river, and, putting his hand into a hole, he brought out three little lumps of gold, and a great many smaller, some of them about as big as a large pin's head; all which he had laid up there, in the hollow of a stone. Our man thought it was too much, to take all that for the hatchet; and therefore pulled out some beads, and pieces of glass, and such toys; and, in short, bought all this cargo of gold, which in the whole weighed near five ounces, for about the value of two shillings.
Though these bargains were very agreeable to us, yet the discovery of such a place, and of such a fund of treasure, in a part of the world, which it is very probable, was never before seen by any European eyes, nor so much as inquired after, was the greatest satisfaction imaginable to me; knowing the adventurous temper of the gentleman who was our principal employer. Upon this account, while my men busied themselves in their daily search after gold, and in finding out the rivers from whence it came, or rather where it was found, I employed myself to be fully informed where this place was; whether it was an island or a continent; and having found a tolerable good road for our ships to ride in, I caused my two shallops, well manned, to run along the coast, both east and west, to find which way it lay, and whether they could find any end of it; as also to see what rivers, what people, and what provisions they could meet with.
By my observation, I found that we were in the latitude of 27° 13' south meridian; distance from the Ladrones about 16° east. While my shallops were gone, I went on shore, and some of my men set up tents, as well for the convenienceof their traffick, as for their resting on shore all night; keeping, however, a good guard, and having two of our ship's dogs with them, who never failed giving them notice, whenever any of the natives came near them; for what ailed the dogs I know not, but neither of them could bear the sight of the Indians, and we had much to do to keep them from flying at them.
While we rode here, we had the most violent storm of wind with rain, and with great claps of thunder, that we had yet sustained since we came out of England. It was our comfort that the wind came off shore, for it blew at south, and shifting between the south, south-east, and south-west, with such excessive gusts, and so furious, and withal, not only by squalls and sudden flaws, but a settled terrible tempest, that had it been from off sea, as it was off shore, we must have perished, there had been no remedy, and even as it was, we rode in great danger. My boatswain called out twice to me to cut my masts by the board, protesting we should either bring our anchors home, or founder as we rode; and indeed the sea broke over us many times in a terrible manner. As I said before, we had an indifferent good road, and so we had, but not a very good one, for the land was low; and on the east we lay a little open. However, our ground-tackle was good, and our ship very tight, and I told the boatswain I would rather slip the cable and go off to sea than cut the masts. However, in about four hours' time more we found the wind abate, though it blew very hard for three days after.
I was in great pain for my two shallops in this tempest, but they had both the good luck to lie close under the shore; and one indeed had hauled quite upon the land, where the men lay on shore under their sail, so that they got no damage; and about three days after, one of them returned, and brought me word they had been to the west, where they had made very little discovery, as to the situation of the country, or whether it was an island or a continent, but they had conversed with the natives very often, and found several who had pieces of gold hanging, some in their hair, some about their necks; and they made a shift to bring as many with them as weighed, all put together, seventeen or eighteen ounces, for which they had bartered toys and trifles, as we did; but they found no rivers, where they could discover any gold inthe sands, as We had done, so that they believed it all came from the side where we were.
But our other shallop had much better luck; she went away to the east, and by the time she had gone about sixteen leagues she found the shore break off a little, and soon after a little more, until at length they came as it were to the land's end; when, the shore running due south, they followed, according to their account, near thirteen leagues more.
In this interval they went several times on shore, entered three rivers, indifferently large, and one of them very large at the mouth, but grew narrow again in three or four leagues; but a deep channel, with two-and-twenty to eight-and-twenty fathom water in it all the way, as far as they went.
Here they went on shore and trafficked with the natives, whom they found rude and unpolished, but a very mild inoffensive people; nor did they find them anything thievish, much less treacherous, as in some countries is the case. They had the good luck to find out the place where, as they supposed, the king of the country resided; which was a kind of a city, encompassed all round, the river making a kind of double horse-shoe. The manner of their living is too long to describe; neither could our men give any account of their government, or of the customs of the place; but what they sought for was gold and provisions, and of those they got pretty considerable quantities.
They found the Indians terribly surprised at the first sight of them; but after some time they found means to let them know they desired a truce, and to make them understand what they meant by it.
At length a truce being established, the king came, and with him near three hundred men; and soon after the queen, with half as many women. They were not stark naked, neither men nor women, but wearing a loose piece of cloth about their middles; what it was made of we could not imagine, for it was neither linen or woollen, cotton or silk; nor was it woven, but twisted and braided by hand, as our women make bone lace with bobbins. It seems it was the stalk of an herb, which this was made with; and was so strong that I doubt not it would have made cables for our ships, if we had wanted to make such an experiment.
When the king first came to our men they were a little shy of his company, he had so many with him, and theybegan to retire; which the king perceiving, he caused all his men to stop, and keep at a distance; and advanced himself with about ten or twelve of his men, and no more.
When he was come quite up, our men, to show their breeding, pulled off their hats, but that he did not understand, for his men had no hats on. But the officer making a bow to him, he understood that presently, and bowed again; at which all his men fell down flat upon their faces, as flat to the ground as if they had been shot to death with a volley of our shot; and they did not fall so quick but they were up again as nimbly, and then down flat on the ground again; and this they did three times, their king bowing himself to our men at the same time.
This ceremony being over, our men made signs to them that they wanted victuals to eat, and something to drink: and pulled out several things, to let the people see they would give something for what they might bring them.
The king understood them presently, and turning to some of his men he talked awhile to them; and our men observed, that while he spoke they seemed to be terrified, as if he had been threatening them with death. However, as soon as he had done, three of them went away, and our men supposed they went to fetch something that the king would give them; upon which, that they might be beforehand with them, our men presented his majesty with two pair of bracelets of fine glass beads of several colours, and put them upon his arms, which he took most kindly; and then they gave him a knife, with a good plain ivory handle, and some other odd things. Upon receiving thesenoblepresents, he sends away another of his men, and a little after two more.
Our men observed that two of the men went a great way off toward the hill, but the other man that he sent away first went to his queen, who, with her retinue of tawny ladies, stood but a little way off, and soon after her majesty came with four women only attending her.
The officer who commanded our men, finding he should have another kind of compliment to pay the ladies, retired a little; and, being an ingenious handy sort of a man, in less than half-an-hour, he and another of his men made a nice garland, or rather a coronet, of sundry strings of beads, and with glass bobs and pendants, all hanging about it, most wonderful gay; and when the queen was come, he went upto the king, and showing it to him, made signs that he would give it to the queen.
The king took it, and was so pleased with the present, that truly he desired our officer to put it upon his own head, which he did; but, when he had got it so placed, he let our men see he was king over his wife, as well as over the rest of the country, and that he would wear it himself.
Our men then pulled out a little pocket looking-glass, and, holding it up, let his majesty see his own face, which we might reasonably suppose he had never seen before, especially with a crown on his head too. Before he saw his own face in the glass he was grave and majestic, and carried it something like a king; but he was so delighted with the novelty that he was quite beside himself, and jumped and capered and danced about like a madman.
All this while our men saw nothing coming, but that all was given on their side; whereupon they made signs again, that they wanted provisions.
The king then made signs, pointing to a hill a good way off, as if it would come from thence very quickly; and then looked to see if his people were coming, as if he was impatient till they came, as well as our men.
During this time, one of our men observed that the queen had several pieces of gold, as they thought them to be, hanging about her, particularly in her hair, and large flat plates of gold upon the hinder part of her head, something in the place of a roll, such as our women wear; that her hair was wound about it in rolls, braided together very curiously; and having informed our officer, he made signs to the king for leave to give the queen something, which he consented to. So he went to her majesty, making a bow as before; but this complaisance surprised her, for, upon his bowing, on a sudden falls the queen and all her four ladies flat on the ground, but were up again in a moment; and our people wondered how they could throw themselves so flat on their faces, and not hurt themselves; nor was it less to be wondered at, how they could so suddenly jump up again, for they did not rise up gradually as we must do, with the help of our hands and knees, if we were extended so flat on our faces, but they, with a spring, whether with their hands or their whole bodies, we knew not, sprang up at once, and were upon their feet immediately.
This compliment over, our officer stepped up to the queen, and tied about her neck a most delicate necklace of pearl; that is to say, of large handsome white glass beads, which might in England cost about fourpence halfpenny, and to every one of her ladies he gave another of smaller beads, differing in colour from those which he gave the queen. Then he presented her majesty with a long string of glass beads, which, being put over her head, reached down to her waist before, and joined in a kind of tassel, with a little knot of blue riband, which she was also extremely pleased with; and very fine she was.
The queen made, it seems, the first return; for, stepping to one of her women, our men observed that her attendant took something out of her hair, and then the queen let her tie her hair up again; after which her majesty brought it and gave it to our officer, making signs to know if it was acceptable. It was a piece of gold that weighed about two ounces and a half; it had been beaten as flat as they knew how to beat it. But the metal was of much more beauty to our men than the shape.
Our officer soon let the queen and people see that he accepted the present, by laying it to his mouth and to his breast, which he found was the way when they liked anything. In short, our officer went to work again, and in a little while he made a little coronet for the queen, as he had done before for the king, though less; and, without asking leave of his majesty, went up to her and put it upon her head; and then gave her a little looking-glass, as he had done to the king, that she might view her face in it.
She was so surprised at the sight, that she knew not how to contain herself; but, to show her gratitude, she pulled out another plate of gold out of her own hair, and gave it to our officer; and, not content with that, she sent one of her women to the crowd of females who first attended her, and whether she stripped them of all the gold they had, or only a part, she brought so many pieces, that, when together, they weighed almost two pounds.
When she was thus dressed she stepped forward very nimbly and gracefully towards the king, to show him what she had got; and, finding he was dressed as fine as herself, they had work enough for near two hours to look at one another, and admire their new ornaments.
Our men reported, that the king was a tall, well-shaped man, of a very majestic deportment, only that when he laughed he showed his teeth too much, which, however, were as white as ivory: as for the queen, saving that her skin was of a tawny colour, she was a very pretty woman; very tall, a sweet countenance, admirable features, and, in a word, a complete handsome lady.
She was very oddly dressed; she was quite naked from her head to below her breasts; her breasts were plump and round, not flaggy and hanging down, as it generally is with the Indian women, some of whose breasts hang as low as their bellies, but projecting as beautifully as if they had been laced up with stays round her body; and below her breast she had a broad piece of a skin of some curious creature, spotted like a leopard, probably of some fine spotted deer. This was wrapped round her very tight, like a body-girt to a horse; and under this she had a kind of petticoat, as before described, hanging down to her ankles. As for shoes or stockings, they were only such as nature had furnished. Her hair was black, and, as supposed, very long, being wreathed up and twisted in long locks about the plate of gold she wore; for when she pulled off the plate above mentioned, it hung down her back and upon her shoulders very gracefully; but it seems she did not think so, for, as soon as she found it so fallen down, she caused one of her women to roll it up, and tie it in a great knot which hung down in her neck, and did not look so well as when it was loose.
While the king and the queen were conversing together about their fine things, as above, our men went back to the boat, where they left the purchase they had got, and furnished themselves with other things fit to traffick with as they saw occasion; and they were not quite come up to the king again, when they perceived that the men the king had sent up into the country were returned, and that they brought with them a great quantity of such provisions as they had, which chiefly consisted of roots and maize, or Indian corn, and several fruits which we had never seen before. Some of them resembled the large European figs, but were not really figs; with some great jars of water, having herbs steeped in it, and roots, that made it look as white as milk, and drank like milk sweetened with sugar, but more delicious, and exceeding cool and refreshing. They brought also agreat quantity of oranges, but they were neither sweet nor sour, and our men believed they were not ripe; but when they were dressed after the manner of the country, which they showed our men, and which was to roast them before the fire, they had an admirable flavour, and our men brought a great many away to us, and when we roasted them they exceeded anything of the kind I had ever tasted.
After our men had received what was brought, and shown that the whole was very acceptable, the king made signs that he would be gone, but would come again to them the next morning; and, pointing to the queen's head, where the plate of gold had been that she had given to our men, intimated that he would bring some of the same with him the next day. But while he was making these signs, one of his other messengers came back, and gave the king something into his hand wrapped up, which our men could not see. As soon as the king had it, as if he had been proud to show our men that he could make himself and his queen as fine as they could make him, he undid the parcel, and decked out his queen with a short thing like a robe, which reached from her neck down to the spotted skin which she wore before, and so it covered her shoulders and breast. It was made of an infinite number and variety of feathers, oddly, and yet very curiously put together; and was spangled all over with little drops or lumps of gold; some no bigger than a pin's head, which had holes made through them, and were strung six or seven together, and so tied on to the feathers; some as big as a large pea, hanging single, some as big as a horse-bean, and beaten flat, and all hanging promiscuously among the feathers, without any order or shape, which, notwithstanding, were very beautiful in the whole, and made the thing look rich and handsome enough.
As soon as he had thus equipped his queen, he put another upon himself, which was larger, and had this particular in its shape, that it covered his arms almost to his elbows, and was so made that it came round under the arm, and being fastened there with a string, made a kind of sleeve.
As the king's robe, or whatever it may be called, was longer, for it came down to his waist, so it had a great deal more gold about it, and larger pieces than that the queen wore. When their majesties had thus put on their robes, itmay be guessed how glorious they looked, but especially the queen, who being a most charming beautiful creature, as said before, was much more so when glistening thus with gold. Our men looked very narrowly to observe whether there were any diamonds or pearls among their finery, but they could not perceive any.
The king and queen now withdrew for that evening, but their people did not leave our men so, for they thronged about them; and some brought them jars of the white liquor, some brought them roots, others fruits, some one thing, some another; and our men gave every one of them some small matter or other in proportion to what they brought. At last, there came four particular tall lusty men, with bows and arrows; but before they came close up to our men, they laid down their bows and arrows on the ground, and came forward with all the tokens of friendship they were able to make.
They had two youths with them, each of whom led a tame fawn of pretty large growth, and when the men came up, they gave the two fawns to our men; who, in return, gave each of them a knife, and some strings of beads, and such toys as they had.
Our men observed, that all these men had little bits of gold, some of one shape, and some of another, hanging at their ears; and when our men came to be familiar, they asked them as well as they could, where they found that stuff? and they made signs to the sand in the river, and then pointed towards that part of the country where our ships lay, which signified to our men that the gold was, most of it, where we lay, not there where the king and queen resided. Nay, when our men pointed again to the river where they were, and went and took up some of the sand, as if they would look for gold in it, they made signs of laughing at it, and that there was nothing to be found there, but that it lay all the other way.
And yet two or three of the men, who, when the tide was out, went up the bank of the river, two or three miles upon the sands, peeping and trying the sands as they went, they found three or four little bits of pure gold, though not bigger than pins heads; but no doubt farther up the country they might have found more.
These four men seeing how fond our people were of thegold, made signs they could fetch gold to them if they would give them such things as they liked; and ours again told them they should have anything they pleased; and, as earnest, gave them some pieces of iron and bits of glass of small value, both which they were much delighted with.
Early in the morning their four customers came again, and brought several men, who seemed to be servants, along with them, loaden with refreshments, such as the white water, mentioned above, which they brought in earthen pots, very hard, made so by the heat of the sun. They brought also three small deer with them, and a kind of coney or rabbit, but larger, which our men were very glad of. But that which was above all the rest, they brought a good quantity of gold-dust, that is to say, some in small lumps, some in bigger; and one of them had near a pound weight wrapped up in a piece of coney-skin, which was all so very small that it was like dust; which, as our men understood afterwards, was reckoned little worth, because all the lumps had been picked out of it.
Our men, to be sure, were very willing to trade for this commodity, and therefore they brought out great variety of things to truck with them, making signs to them to pick out what they liked; but still keeping a reserve for the king and queen, whom they expected. Above all they had made a reserve for the king of some extraordinary hatchets, which they had not yet suffered to be seen, with a hammer or two, and some drinking-glasses, and the like, with some particular toys for the queen.
But they had variety enough left besides for the four men: who, in short, bought so many trinkets and trifles, that our men not only got all the gold they brought, but the very pieces of gold out of their ears; in return for which our men gave them every one a pair of ear-rings, to hang about their ears, with a fine drop; some of green glass, some red, some blue; and they were wonderfully pleased with the exchange, and went back, we may venture to say, much richer in opinion than they came.
As soon as these people had done their market, and indeed a little before, they perceived at a distance the king and queen coming with a great retinue; so they made signs to our men that they must be gone, and that they would not have the king know that they had been there.
I must confess, the relation of all this made me very much repent that I had not happened to have put in there with the ships; though indeed, as the road lay open to the east and south winds, it might have been worse another way; I mean, when the storm blew. However, as it is, I must report this part, from the account given us by my men.
When the king and queen came the second time, they were together, and dressed up, as our men supposed, with the utmost magnificence, having the fine feathered spangled things about their shoulders; and the king had over all his habit, a fine spotted robe of deer skins, neatly joined together; and which, as he managed it, covered him from head to foot; and, in short, it was so very beautiful that he really looked like a king with it.
When he came to our men, and the ceremony of their meeting was over, the king, turning round, showed them, that he had brought them stores of provisions; and indeed, so he had; for he had at least fifty men attending him, loaden with roots, and oranges, and maize, and such things; in short, he brought them above twenty thousand oranges; a great parcel of that fruit like a fig, which I mentioned above, and other fruits. After which another party followed, and brought twenty live deer, and as many of their rabbits, dead; the latter are as big as our hares.
As they came up, the king made signs to our men to take them; and our officer making signs to thank his majesty, he ordered one of the queen's attendants to give him one of the feathered robes, such an one as the king himself had on; and made mighty fine with lumps and tassels of gold, as the other. And a tawny lass advancing to him offered to put it over his head, but he took it in his hand and put it on himself, and looked as like a jack pudding in it, as any one could desire; for it made no figure at all upon him, compared to what it did upon the Indians.
When they had received all this, they could not but make a suitable return; and therefore our officer caused his reserve to be brought out; and first he gave his majesty a dozen of very handsome drinking-glasses of several sizes; with half a dozen of glass beakers, or cups, to the queen, for the same use. Then he gave the king a little hanger, and a belt to wear it by his side; and showed him how to buckle it on and take it off, and how to draw it out, and put it in again.
This was such a present, and the king was so delighted with it, that our officer said he believed the king did nothing but draw it and put it up again, put it on and pull it off, for near two hours together.
Besides this he gave the king three hatchets, and showed him the uses of them; also two large hammers, and a pair of very strong large shears, particularly showing him, that with those hammers they might beat out the gold lumps which they found in the rivers, and with the shears might cut the edges round, or into what shape they pleased, when they were beaten thin.
To the queen he gave six little knives, and a dozen small looking-glasses for her ladies; six pairs of scissors, and a small box full of large needles; then he gave her some coarse brown thread, and showed her how to thread the needle, and sew anything together with the thread; all which she admired exceedingly, and called her tawny maids of honour about her, that they might learn also. And whilst they were standing all together, our officer, to divert the king, sewed two of her women one to another by the lap of their waistcoats, or what else it might be called; and when they were a little surprised at it, and began, as he thought, to be a little uneasy, he took the scissors, and at one snap set them at liberty again, which passed for such an extraordinary piece of dexterity, that the king would needs have two of them sewed together again, on purpose to see it cut again. And then the king desired he might have a needle and thread himself, and a pair of scissors; then he would sew some things together, and cut them asunder again several times, and laugh most heartily at the ingenuity of it.
Besides the above things, they gave her majesty a pair of ear-rings to hang on her ears, the glass in them looking green like an emerald; a ring of silver, with false stones in it, like a rose diamond ring, the middle stone red like a ruby, which she went presently and gave to the king; but our officer made signs that he had one that was bigger for the king, and accordingly gave the king one much larger; and now they had done giving presents, as they thought, when the king made a sign to the queen, which she understood, and, calling one of her women, she brought a small parcel, which the queen gave our officer into his hand, wherein was about eleven pounds weight of gold-dust, but, as before, no lumps in it.
Our men having thus finished their traffick, and being about to come away, they made signs to the king, that they would come again and bring him more fine things; at which the king smiled, and pointing to the gold, as if telling them he would have more of that for them when they came again.
Our men had now their expectations fully answered; and, as I said, had ended their traffick; and, taking leave of the king and all his retinue, retired to their shallop, the king and queen going away to their city as above. The wind blowing northerly, they were seven days before they got down to us in the ship; during which time they had almost famished the deer they had left, five of which they had kept to bring us alive, and yet they went two or three times on shore to get food for them by the way.
We were all glad to see them again, and I had a great deal of reason to be very well satisfied with the account of their traffick, though not much with their discovery, for they were not able to give us the least account whether the land was a continent or an island.
But let that be how it will, it is certainly a country yet unfrequented by any of the Christian part of mankind, and perhaps, may ever be so, and yet may be as rich as any other part of the world yet discovered. The mountains in most of the islands, as well as of the mainland in those parts, abounding in gold or silver, and, no question, as well worth searching after as the coast of Guinea; where, though the quantity they find is considerable, yet it is at this time sought after by so many, and the negroes taught so well how to value it, that but a little is brought away at a time, and so much given for it, that, computing the charge of the voyage, is oftentimes more than it is worth.
But though it is true that what gold is found here is a great way off, yet, I am persuaded such quantities are to be had, and the price given for it so very trifling, that it would be well worth searching for.
I reckon, that, including the gold our shallop brought, and what we got on shore where we lay, we brought away about twenty-four pounds weight of gold; the expense of which we could not value at above ten or eleven pounds in England, put it all together; and reckoning for all the provisions we got there, which supplied us for twenty days after we came away.
For while our shallop was making her visit thus to theroyal family, &c., as is related, our men were not idle on shore, but, partly by trade with the natives, and by washing the sands in the small rivers, we got such a quantity of gold as well satisfied us for the stay we made.
We had been about eighteen days here when our shallop returned, and we stayed a week more trafficking with the people; and I am persuaded, if we had been in the mind to have settled there and stayed till now, we should have been very welcome to the people. We saw neither horse or cow, mule, ass, dog, or cat, or any of our European animals, excepting that our men shot some wild ducks and widgeons, exactly the same which we see in England, and very fat and good, but much easier to shoot than in England, having never been acquainted with the flash and noise of guns as ours have been; we also found a sort of partridges in the country not much unlike our own, and a great many of the whistling plover, the same with ours.
Though this month's stay was unexpected, yet we had no reason to think our time ill spent. However, we did not think we ought to lie here too long whatever we got; so we weighed and stood off to sea, steering still south-east, keeping the shore of this golden country in sight, till our men told us they found the land fall off to the south. Then we steered away more southerly for six or eight days, not losing sight of, land all the time, till by an observation we found we were in the latitude of 34° 30' south of the line, our meridian distance from the Ladrones 22° 30' east, when a fresh gale of wind springing up at south and by east, obliged us to haul close for that evening. At night it blew such a storm that we were obliged to yield to the force of it, and go away afore it to the north, or north-by-west, till we came to the point of that land we passed before. Here, the land tending to the west, we ran in under the lee of a steep shore, and came to an anchor in twenty-five fathoms water, being the same country we were in before. Here we rode very safe for five days, the wind continuing to blow very hard all the time from the south-east.
My men would fain have had me gone ashore again and trafficked with the people for more gold; but I, who was still in quest of further discoveries, thought I knew enough of this place to tempt my friend the merchant, whose favourite design was that of making new discoveries, to anothervoyage there, and that was enough for me. So I declined going on shore again, except that we sent our boats for a recruit of fresh water; and our men, while they were filling it, shot a brace of deer, as they were feeding by the side of a swamp or moist ground, and also some wild ducks. Here we set up a great wooden cross, and wrote on it the names of our ships and commanders, and the time that we came to an anchor there.
But we were obliged to a farther discovery of this country than we intended, by the following accident. We had unmoored early in the morning, and by eight o'clock were under sail; by ten we had doubled the point I mentioned above, and stood away south keeping the shore on board, at the distance of about two leagues west.
The next day, the officer who had been with the shallop, showed us the opening or mouth where he had put in, and where he had made his traffick with the king of the country, as said before.
We went on still for two days, and still we found the land extending itself south, till the third day in the morning, when we were a little surprised to find ourselves, as it were, embayed, being in the bottom of a deep gulf, and the land appearing right ahead, distance about three leagues; the coast having turned away to the east and by south, very high land and mountainous, and the tops of some of the hills covered with snow.
Our second mate and the boatswain, upon this discovery, were for coming about, and sent to me for orders to make signals to the other ship and our brigantine, who were both ahead, to do the like; but I, who was willing to acquaint myself as fully as I could with the coast of the country, which I made no question I should have occasion to come to again, said, No, no, I will see a little farther first. So I ran on, having an easy gale at north-east and good weather, till I came within about a league and a half of the shore, when I found, that in the very bite or nook of the bay, there was a great inlet of water, which either must be a passage or strait between the land we had been on shore upon; which, in that case, must be a great island, or that it must be the mouth of some extraordinary great river.
This was a discovery too great to be omitted, so I ordered the brigantine to stand in with an easy sail, and see whataccount could be had of the place; accordingly they stood in, and we followed about a league, and then lay by, waiting their signals. I had particularly ordered them to keep two boats ahead to sound the depth all the way, and they did so; and how it happened we knew not, but on a sudden we heard the sloop fire two guns first, and then one gun; the first was a signal to us to bring to, and come no farther: the next was a signal of distress. We immediately tacked to stand off, but found a strong current setting directly into the bite, and there not being wind enough for us to stem the current, we let go our anchors in twenty fathoms water.
Immediately we manned out all the boats we had, great and small, to go and assist our brigantine, not knowing what distress she might be in; and they found that she had driven up, as we were like to have done, too far into the channel of a large river, the mouth of which, being very broad, had several shoals in it: and though she had dropped her anchor just upon notice, which the boats who were sounding gave her, yet she tailed aground upon a sand-bank, and stuck fast; our men made no doubt but she would be lost, and began to think of saving the provisions and ammunition out of her. The two long boats accordingly began to lighten her; and first they took in her guns, and let out all her casks of water: then they began to take in her great shot and the heavy goods. But by this time they found their mistake, for the current, which I mentioned, was nothing but a strong tide of flood, which, the indraught of the river being considerable, ran up with a very great force, and in something less than an hour the brigantine floated again.
However, she had stuck so long upon the sand, and the force of the current or tide had been so great, that she received considerable damage; and had a great deal of water in her hold. I immediately ordered out boats to row to the land, on both sides, to see if they could find a good place to lay her on shore in; they obeyed the order, and found a very convenient harbour in the mouth of a small river, which emptied itself into the great river about two leagues within the foreland of it, on the north side, as the river Medway runs into the Thames, within the mouth of it, on the south, side, only this was not so far up.
Here they ran in the sloop immediately, and the next day we came thither also; our boats having sounded the wholebreadth, of the main river, and found a very good channel, half a league broad, having from seventeen to four-and-twenty fathoms water all the way, and very good riding.
Here we found it absolutely necessary to take everything out of the brigantine to search her bottom, for her lying on shore had strained her seams, and broke one of her floor timbers; and having hands enough, our men unloaded her in a very little time, and making a little dock for her, mended all the damage in about ten days' time. But seeing her in so good a condition, and the place so convenient, I resolved to have her whole bottom new calked and cleaned, that we made her as tight as she was when she first came off the stocks.
This I took for a good opportunity to careen and clean our other ships too; for we had done little to them since we came from Madagascar. We found our Madagascar ship much worm-eaten in her sheathing, which we helped as well as we could by new nailing and by taking out some pieces of her sheathing, and putting new ones in. But as to our great ship, she was sheathed with lead, and had received no damage at all; only that she was very foul, which we remedied by scraping and cleaning, and new graving her quite over.
We were not all employed in this work, and therefore we had leisure to make the best of our time for the main work of new discoveries. And now I resolved to leave it no more to under officers, as I had done before, viz., when I gave the command of the shallop that traded with the king and queen, as above, to a midshipman, which I was very sorry for, though the fellow did his business very well too; but, I say, I resolved not to trust any one now but myself.
In the first place, I took the two shallops and went across the mouth of the great river to the south shore, to see what kind of a country was to be found there. For, as to the north side, where we were, we found it to be much the same with that part where we had been before; with this difference only, whereas, in the other place gold was to be had in plenty, but here was none we could find; nor did we perceive that the people had any.
I found the mouth of this river, or inlet, to be about four leagues over where I crossed it, which was about three leagues and a half within the inlet itself. But the weather being very calm, and the flood-tide running sharp, we let our boatdrive up, in our crossing, about two leagues more; and we found the channel grew narrow so fast, that, where we came to land, it was not full a league over; that about three leagues farther we found it a mere river, not above as broad as the Thames at Blackwall.
We found it a steep shore, and, observing a little creek very convenient for our purpose, we ran in our boats among some flags or rushes, and laid them as soft and as safe as if they had been in a dock; we went all on shore immediately, except two men in each boat left to guard our provisions.
We had for arms, every man a musket, a pistol, and a cutlass; and in each boat we had six half pikes, to use as we might have occasion. We had also every man a hatchet, hung in a little frog at his belt; and in each boat a broad axe and a saw.
We were furnished with strings of beads, bits of glass, glass rings, ear-rings, pearl necklaces, and suchlike jewellery ware innumerable; besides knives, scissors, needles, pins, looking-glasses, drinking-glasses, and toys in great plenty.
We were no sooner on shore but we found people in abundance; for there were two or three, small towns within a little way of the shore; and I suppose we might have the more people about us, because, as we understood afterwards, they had seen us before, though we had not seen them.
We made signs to them, by putting our fingers to our mouths, and moving our chaps as if we were eating, that we wanted provisions; and we hung up a white flag for a truce. They presently understood the first signal, but knew nothing of the last; and as to provisions, just as had been the case before, they brought us out roots and fruits, such as they ate themselves, but such as we had never seen before. Some of them, however, were very sweet and good, and when we boiled them they tasted much like an English parsnip; and we gave them strings of beads, pieces of glass, and such things as we remarked they were fond of.
We found the people, as I observed of the other, very inoffensive and sincere; not quarrelsome, nor treacherous, nor mischievous in the least. And we took care not so much as to let them know the use or manner of our fire-arms for a great while; neither was there one piece fired all the time we were among the other people, where we had so much gold. If there had, it had been very probable that theywould have fled the country, in spite of all the good usage we could have been able to have shown them.
The people where we were now were not so rich in gold as those where we were before, but we found them much better stored with provisions; for besides deer, of which they had great plenty and variety, for they had some of a sort which I had never seen before, and besides an infinite number of those rabbits I have mentioned, which were as big as our hares, and which do not burrow in the ground as our rabbits do, they had also a kind of sheep, large, (like those of Peru, where they are used to carry burdens), and very good. They have no wool nor horns, but are rather hairy like a goat; nor should I call them sheep, but that their flesh eats like mutton, and I knew not what else to call them. The natives called them huttash; but what breed, or from what part of the world, or whether peculiar to this division alone, I know not.
However, their flesh was very agreeable, and they were fat and good; and as the Indians were mightily pleased with the price we paid them, and the goods we paid them in, they brought us more of these huttashes than we knew what to do with; and as I can calculate the rate, I suppose we might have them for about eight-pence, or sometimes not above sixpence cost each; for they would give us one very thankfully for a string or two of small beads, and think themselves mighty well paid.
I found them so plentiful, and so easy to come at, that in short I sent fifty of them alive, tied neck and heels, in one of the shallops back to our ships, and ordered them to send their long-boats over for more; for though it was so little a way over, we did not find they had any of them on that side the river.
We did the Indians another piece of service, for, if they gave us meat, we taught them to be cooks, for we showed them how to roast it upon a stick or spit before the fire; whereas they ate all their meat before, either stewed in earthen pots over the fire, with herbs, such as we did not understand, or thrown on burning fuel of green wood, which always made it taste and stink of the smoke most intolerably.
We had a great deal of opportunity now to converse with the people on both sides the river; and we found them to benot only different nations, but of different speech and different customs. These on the south side, where I now was, seemed to be the best furnished with provisions, and to live in the greatest plenty. But those on the north side appeared better clothed, and a more civilized sort of people; and of the two, seemed to have in their countenances something more agreeable.
However, as they were near neighbours, for the river only parted them, they were not very much unlike each other. That which seemed most strange to me was, that we found they had little knowledge or communication one with another. They had indeed some boats in the river, but they were very small, and rather served to just waft them over, or to fish in them, than for any other use; for we found none that could carry above four men, and those very oddly made, partly as a canoe, by hollowing a tree, and partly by skins of beasts, dried and stuck on in such a manner that they would paddle along at a great rate with them.
For want of understanding their language I could come at no knowledge of their religion or worship; nor did I see any idols among them, or any adoration paid to the sun or moon. But yet, as a confirmation that all nations, however barbarous, have some notion of a God, and some awe of a superior power, I observed here, that, in making a bargain with one of the principal men, (such I perceived him to be by the respect the rest showed him), I say, being making a bargain with him, as well as could be done between two people who understood not one word of what either said, he had made signs to bring me twelve sheep the next morning, for some things that I was to deliver him of mine. I am sure the goods were not all of them of value sufficient to give me the least distrust; but when I gave him the goods without the sheep, being, as I said, to trust him till the next day, he called two men to him, and pointing to the goods that I had put into his hands, he tells upon his fingers twelve, letting them know, as I supposed, that he was to give me twelve sheep the next day in return, and so far it appeared they were to be witnesses of the agreement. He then placed his two hands, one upon each breast, with the fingers turned up towards his face, and holding them thus he looked towards heaven, with his face turned upward also, and with the utmost gravity, seriousness, and solemnity in his countenancethat ever I saw in any man's face in my life, he moved his lips in the action of speaking. When he had continued in this posture about a quarter of a minute, he took the two men, and put them in the same attitude, and then pointed to me, and next to himself; by which I understood, first, that he solemnly swore to me that he would bring the sheep punctually and faithfully to me, and then brought the two men to be bail or security for the performance; that is to say, to oblige themselves to perform it if he did not.
Doubtless those people who have any notion of a God must represent him to themselves as something superior, and something that sees, and hears, and knows what they say or do. Whether these people meant the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or other visible object, or whatever else, I do not pretend to determine, but it is certain they understood it to be something to swear by; something that could bear witness of their engagement, and that being called to witness it would resent their breach of promise if they made it. As to those whose gods are monsters, and hideous shapes, frightful images, and terrible figures, the motive of their adoration being that of mere terror, they have certainly gross ideas; but these people seem to act upon a more solid foundation, paying their reverence in a manner much more rational, and to something which it was much more reasonable to worship, as appeared in the solemnity of their countenances, and their behaviour in making a solemn promise.
We found those people clothed, generally speaking, over their whole bodies, their heads, arms, legs and feet excepted, but not so agreeably as those we mentioned above; and we found that the clothing of these were generally made of the skins of beasts, but very artfully put together, so that though they had neither needle nor thread, yet they had the same plant as I mentioned before, the stalk of which would so strongly tie like a thread, that they peeled it off thicker or finer as they had occasion, and made use of it abundance of ways to tie and twist, and make their clothes with it, as well for their occasion as if it had been woven in a loom.
We found several of these people had little bits of gold about them; but when we made signs to them to know where they got it, and where it might be had, they made signs to us, pointing to the country on the north side of the river; so that we had, it seems, fallen upon the right goldcoast in our first coming. They pointed indeed likewise to some very high mountains, which we saw at a great distance south-west, so that it seems as if there was gold found that way also; but it appeared the people here had not much of it for their share.
The men here had bows and arrows, and they used them so dexterously, that a wild goose flying over our heads, one of the Indians shot it quite through with an arrow. One of our men was so provoked to see them, as it were, to outdo him, that, some time after, seeing a couple of ducks flying fair for a mark, he presented his piece, and shot them both flying.
I was very angry when I heard the gun; had I been there he had never got leave to fire; however, when it was done, I was pleased well enough to see the effect it had upon these poor innocent well-meaning people. At first it frightened them to the last degree, and I may truly say it frightened them out of their senses, for they that were near it started so violently, that they fell down and lay speechless for some time; those that were farther off ran away, as if it had been some new kind of lightning and thunder, and came out of the earth instead of out of the clouds; but when they saw the two creatures fall down dead from above, and could see nothing that flew upward to kill them, they were perfectly astonished, and laid their two hands on their breasts and looked up to heaven, as if they were saying their prayers, in the most solemn manner imaginable.
However, this accident gave them terrible ideas of us, and I was afraid at first they would run all away from us through fear. I therefore used them after it with all the kindness and tenderness imaginable, gave them every day some trifle or other, which, though of no value to me, they were exceedingly fond of; and we asked nothing of them in return but provisions, of which they had great plenty, and gave us enough every day to satisfy us. As for drink, they had none of the milky liquor which we had in the other part of the country, but they had a root which they steeped in water, and made it taste hot, as if pepper had been in it, which made it so strong, that though it would not make our men drunk, it was worse, for it made them nearly mad.
I was so pleased with these people that I came over to them every other day, and some of our men lay on shore, under a sail pitched for a tent; and they were so safe, thatat last they kept no watch, for the poor people neither thought any harm, nor did any; and we never gave them the least occasion to apprehend anything from us, at least not till our man fired the gun, and that only let them know we were able to hurt them, without giving them the least suspicion that we intended it; on the contrary, one of our men played an odd prank with a child, and fully satisfied them that we would do them no harm. This man having seen one of their children, a little laughing speechless creature, of about two years old, the mother having gone from it a little way, on some particular occasion, the fellow took it and led it home to the tent, and kept it there all night.
The next morning, he dressed it up with beads and jewels wondrous fine, a necklace about its neck, and bracelets of beads about its wrists, and several strings of beads wrapped up and tied in its hair, having fed it and laid it to sleep, and made much of it.
In this figure he carried it up in his arms to the Indian's hut where he had found it, and where there had been a lamentable outcry for the child all the night, the mother crying and raising her neighbours, and in a most strange concern.
But when some of the women, her neighbours, saw the child brought back, there was a contrary extreme of joy; and the mother of it being fetched, she fell a-jumping and dancing to see her child, but also making so many odd gestures, as that our men could not well know for awhile whether she was pleased or not: the reason it seems was, she did not know whether to hope or fear, for she did not know whether the man would give back her child or take it away again.
But when the man who had the child in his arms had been told by signs that this was the mother, he beckoned to have her come to him, and she came, but trembling for fear. Then he took the child, and kissing it two or three times, gave it her into her arms. But it is impossible to express by words the agony the poor woman was in; she took the child, and holding it in her arms fixed her eyes upon it without motion, or, as it were, without life, for a good while; then she took it and embraced it in the most passionate manner imaginable; when this was over, she fell a-crying so vehemently till she sobbed; and all this while spoke not one word. When the crying had given sufficient vent to her passion, then she fell a-dancing and making a strange odd noise, that cannot bedescribed, and at last she left the child, and came back to the place where our men were, and to the man that brought her child, and, as soon as she came up to him, she fell flat on the ground, as I have described above the queen and her women did, and up again immediately; and thus she did three times, which it seems was her acknowledgment to him for bringing it back.
The next day, for her gratitude did not end here, she came down to our tent, and brought with her two sheep, with a great back-burden of roots of the kind which I said the natives steep in the water, and several fruits of the country, as much as two men who came with her could carry, and these she gave all to the man who had brought back her child. Our men were so moved at the affectionate carriage of this poor woman to her infant, that they told me it brought tears from their eyes.
The man who received the present took the woman and dressed her up almost as fine as he had done the child, and she went home like a kind of a queen among them.
We observed while we stayed here that this was a most incomparable soil; that the earth was a fat loamy mould; that the herbage was strong; that the grass in some places was very flourishing and good, being as high as our mid-thigh; and that the air was neither very hot, nor, as we believed, very cold. We made an experiment of the fruitfulness of the soil, for we took some white peas, and digging the ground up with a spade, we sowed some, and before we went away we saw them come out of the ground again, which was in about nine days.
We made signs to the people that they should let them grow, and that if they gathered them they were good to eat; we also sowed some English wheat, and let them know, as well as we could, what the use of them both was. But I make no doubt but they have been better acquainted with, both by this time, by an occasion which followed.
Our men were so fond of this place, and so pleased with the temper of the people, the fruitfulness of the soil, and agreeableness of the climate, that about twenty of them offered me, if I would give them my word to come again, or send to them to relieve and supply them with necessaries, they would go on shore and begin a colony, and live all their days there. Nay, after this, their number came up to three-and-thirty;or they offered, that, if I would give them the sloop, and leave them a quantity of goods, especially of such toys as they knew would oblige the people to use them well, they would stay at all hazards, not doubting, as they told me, but they should come to England again at last, with the sloop full of gold.
I was not very willing to encourage either of these proposals, because, as I told them, I might perhaps find a place as fit to settle a colony in before we came home, which was not at such an excessive distance from England, so that it was scarce possible ever to relieve them. This satisfied them pretty well, and they were content to give over the project; and yet, at last, which was more preposterous than all the rest, five of our men and a boy ran away from us and went on shore, and what sort of life they led, or how they managed, we could not tell, for they were too far off us to inquire after them again. They took a small yawl with them, and it seems had furnished themselves privately with some necessary things, especially, tools, a grindstone, a barrel of powder, some peas, some wheat, and some barley; so that it seems they are resolved to plant there. I confess I pitied them, and when I had searched for them, and could not find them, I caused a letter to be written to them, and fixed it upon a post at the place where our ship careened; and another letter on the south side, to tell them that in such a certain place I had left other necessaries for them, which I did, made up in a large case of boards or planks, and covered with boards like a shed.
Here I left them hammocks for lodging, all sorts of tools for building them a house, spades, shovels, pickaxes, an axe, and two saws, with clothes, shoes, stockings, hats, shirts, and, in a word, every thing that I could think of for their use; and a large box of toys, beads, &c., to invite the natives to trade with them.
One of our men, whom they had made privy to their design, but made him promise not to reveal it until they were gone, had told them that he would persuade me, if he could, to leave them a farther supply; and bade them come to the place after the ships were gone, and that they should find directions left for them on a piece of a board, or a letter from him set up upon a post. Thus they were well furnished with all things for immediate living.
I make no doubt but they came to find these things; and, since they had a mind to make trial of a wild retired life, they might shift very well; nor would they want anything but English women to raise a new nation of English people, in a part of the world that belongs neither to Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. I also left them every man another gun, a cutlass, and a horn for powder; and I left two barrels of fine powder, and two pigs of lead for shot, in another chest by itself.
I doubt not but the natives will bestow wives upon them, but what sort of a posterity they will make, I cannot foresee, for I do not find by inquiry that the fellows had any great store of knowledge or religion in them, being all Madagascar men, as we called them, that is to say, pirates and rogues; so that, for aught I know, there may be a generation of English heathens in an age or two more; though I left them five Bibles, and six or seven Prayer-books, and good books of several sorts, that they might not want instruction, if they thought fit to make use of it for themselves or their progeny.
It is true, that this is a country that is remote from us of any in the yet discovered world, and consequently it would be suggested as unprofitable to our commerce; but I have something to allege in its defence, which will prove it to be infinitely more advantageous to England than any of our East India trade can be, or that can be pretended for it. The reason is plain in a few words; our East India trade is all carried on, or most part of it, by an exportation of bullion in specie, and a return of foreign manufactures or produce; and most of these manufactures also, either trifling and unnecessary in themselves, or such as are injurious to our own manufactures. The solid goods brought from India, which may be said to be necessary to us, and worth sending our money for, are but few; for example,
1. The returns which I reckon trifling and unnecessary, are such as China ware, coffee, tea, Japan work, pictures, fans, screens, &c.
2. The returns that are injurious to our manufactures, or growth of our own country, are printed calicoes, chintz, wrought silks, stuffs, of herbs and barks, block-tin, sugar, cotton, arrack, copper, and indigo.
3. The necessary or useful things are, pepper, saltpetre, dying-woods and dying-earths, drugs, lacs, such as shell-lac, stick-lac, &c., diamonds, some pearl, and raw-silk.
For all these we carry nothing or very little but money, the innumerable nations of the Indies, China, &c., despising our manufactures, and filling us with their own.
On the contrary, the people in the southern unknown countries, being first of all very numerous, and living in a temperate climate, which requires clothing, and having no manufactures, or materials for manufactures, of their own, would consequently take off a very great quantity of English woollen manufactures, especially when civilized by our dwelling among them, and taught the manner of clothing themselves for their ease and convenience; and, in return for these manufactures, it is evident we should have gold in specie, and perhaps spices, the best merchandise and return in the world.
I need say no more to excite adventurous heads to search out a country by which such an improvement might be made, and which would be such an increase of, or addition to, the wealth and commerce of our country.
Nor can it be objected here, that this nook of the country may not easily be found by any one but by us, who have been there before, and perhaps not by us again exactly; for, not to enter into our journal of observations for their direction, I lay it down as a foundation, that whoever sailing over the South Seas keeps a stated distance from the tropic, to the latitude of 56 to 60°, and steers eastward towards the Straits of Magellan, shall never fail to discover new worlds, new nations, and new inexhaustible funds of wealth and commerce, such as never were yet known to the merchants of Europe.
This is the true ocean called the South Sea; that part which we corruptly call so can be so in no geographical account, or by any rule, but by the mere imposition of custom, it being only originally called so, because they that sailed to it were obliged to go round the southernmost part of America to come into it; whereas it ought indeed to be called the West Sea, as it lies on the west side of America, and washes the western shore of that great continent for near eight thousand miles in length; to wit, from 56° south of the line to 70° north, and how much farther we know not; on this account I think it ought to be called the American Ocean, rather than with such impropriety the South Sea.
But this part of the world where we were may rightly be called the South Sea, by way of distinction, as it extendsfrom India round the globe, to India again, and lies all south of the line even, for aught we know, to the very South Pole, and which, except some interposition of land, whether islands or continent, really surrounds the South Pole.
We were now in the very centre or middle of this South Sea, being, as I have said, in the latitude of 34° 20'; but having had such good success in our inquiry or search after new continents, I resolved to steer to the south and south-east, as far as till we should be interrupted by land or ice, determining to search this unknown part of the globe as far as nature would permit, that I might be able to give some account to my employers, and some light to other people that might come that way, whether by accident or by design.
We had spent six-and-twenty days in this place, as well in repairing our brigantine and careening, as trimming our ship; we had not been so long, but, that we did not resolve to careen our ships till we had spent ten days about the brigantine, and then we found more work to do to the sheathing of the Madagascar ship than we expected.
We stored ourselves here with fresh provisions and water, but got nothing that we could properly call a store, except the flesh of about thirty deer, which we dried in the sun, and which proved indifferently good afterwards, but not extraordinary.
We sailed again the six-and-twentieth day after we came in, having a fair wind at north and north-north-west, and a fresh gale which held us five days without intermission; in which time, running away south and south-south-east, we reached the former latitude, where we had been, and meeting with nothing remarkable, we steered a little farther to the eastward; but keeping a southerly course still, till we came into the latitude of 41°, and then going due east, with the wind at north and by west, we reckoned our meridian distance from the Ladrones, to be 50° 30'.
In all this run we saw no land, so we hauled two points more southerly, and went on for six or seven days more; when one of our men on the round top, cried Land! It was a clear fine morning, and the land he espied being very high, it was found to be sixteen leagues distance; and the wind slackening, we could not get in that night, so we lay by till morning, when being fair with the land, we hoisted ourboat to go and sound the shore, as usual. The men rowed in close with the shore and found a little cove, where there was good riding, but very deep water, being no less than sixty fathoms within cable's length of the shore.