But to return to the disposition of things among my people, I did not
take any notice to them of the sloop that I had framed, neither would I
leave them the two pieces of brass cannon, or the two quarter-deck guns
that I had on board, lest, upon any disgust, they should have separated,
or turned pirates, and so made the island a den of thieves, instead of
a plantation of sober pious people: but leaving them in a flourishing
condition, with a promise to send them further relief, from Brazil, as
sheep, hogs, and cows (being obliged to kill the latter at sea, having
no hay to feed them) I went on board the ship again, the first of May,
1695, after having been twenty days among them: and next morning, giving
them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail for the Brazils. The
third day, towards evening, there happening a calm, and the current
being very strong, we were drove to the N.N.E. towards the land. Some
hours after, we perceived the sea covered as it were with something very
black, not easily at first to be discovered: upon which our chief mate
ascending the shrouds a little way, and taking a view with a perspective
glass, he cries out, _An army! An army! You fool_, said I, _what do you
mean? Nay, Sir_, said he, _don't be angry. I assure you, it is not only
an army, but a fleet, too, for I believe there are a thousand canoes
paddling along, and making with great haste towards us_.
Indeed every one of us were surprised at this relation; and my nephew
the captain could not tell what to think of it, but thought we should
all be devoured. Nor was I free from concern, when I considered how much
we were becalmed, and what a strong current set towards the shore;
however, I encouraged him not to be afraid, but bring the ship to an
anchor as soon as we were certain that we must engage them. Accordingly
we did so, and furled all our sails, as to the savages we feared
nothing, but only that they might se the ship on fire; to prevent which,
I ordered them to get their boats out, and fasten them, one close by the
head, and the other by the stern, well manned, with skeets and buckets
to extinguish the flames, should it so happen. The savages soon came up
with us, but there were not so many as the mate had said, for instead of
a thousand canoes there were only one hundred and twenty; too many
indeed for us, several of their canoes containing about sixteen or
seventeen men.
As they approached us, they seemed to be in the greatest amazement, not
knowing what to make of us. They rowed round the ship, which occasioned
us to call to the men in the boats, not to suffer them to come near
them. Hereupon they beckoned to the savages to keep back, which they
accordingly did; but at their retreat they let fly about fifty arrows
among us, and very much wounded one of our men in the long-boat. I
called to them not to fire upon any account, but handing them down some
deal boards, the carpenters made them a kind of fence to shield them
from the arrows. In half an hour after they came so near astern of us,
that we had a perfect sight of them; then they rowed a little farther
out, till they came directly along-side of us, and then approached so
near, that they could hear us speak; this made me order all our men to
keep close, and get their guns ready. In the mean time I ordered Friday
to go out upon deck, and ask them in his language what they meant. No
sooner did he do so, but six of the savages, who were in the foremost
canoes, stooping down, showed us their naked backsides, as much as to
say in English, _Kiss our_----: but Friday quickly knew what this meant,
by immediately crying out they were going to shoot; unfortunately for
him, poor creature, who fell under the cloud of three hundred arrows, no
less than seven piercing through his body, killing one of the best
servants, and faithfullest of companions in all my solitudes and
afflictions.
So enraged was I at the death of poor Friday, that the guns, which
before were charged only with powder, to frighten them, I ordered to be
loaded with small shot; nor did the gunners fail in their aim, but at
this broadside split and overset thirteen or fourteen of their canoes,
which killed numbers of them, and set the rest a swimming, the others,
frightened out of their wits, little regarding their fellows drowning,
scoured away as fast as they could. One poor wretch our people took up,
swimming for his life, an hour after. He was very sullen at first, to
that he would neither eat nor speak; but I took a way to cure him, by
ordering them to throw him into the sea, which they did, and then he
came swimming back like a cork, calling in his tongue, as I suppose, to
save him. So we took him on board, but it was a long time before we
could make him speak or understand English; yet when we had taught him,
he told us, 'they were going with their kings to fight a great battle;'
and when we asked him, what made them come up to us? he said, _to makee
de great wonder look_; where it is to be noted, that those natives, and
those of Africa, always add to _e_'s at the end of English words, as
_makee, takee_, and the like, from which it is very difficult thing to
make them break off.
Being now under sail, we took our last farewell of poor honest Friday,
and interred him with all possible decency and solemnity, putting him in
a coffin, and committing him to the deep, at the same time cauling
eleven guns to be fired at him. Thus ended the life of one of the most
grateful, faithful, honest, and affectionate servants, that ever any man
was blessed with in the world.
Having now a fair wind for Brazil, in about twelve days time we made
land in the latitude of five degrees south of the line. Four days we
kept on S. by E. in sight of shore, when we made Cape St. Augustin, and
in three days we came up to an anchor off the Bay of all Saints. I had
great difficulty here to get leave to hold correspondence on shore; for
neither the figure of my partner, my two merchant trustees, nor the fame
of my wonderful preservation in the island, could procure me the favour,
till such time as the prior of the monastery of the Augustines (to
whom I had given 500 moidores) obtained leave from the Governor, for me
personally, with the Captain & one more, together with eight sailors, to
come on shore; upon this condition, that we should not land any goods
out of the ship, nor carry any person away without licence; I found
means, however, to get on shore three bales of English goods, such as
fine broad cloths, stuffs, and some linen, which I brought as a present
for my partner, who had sent me on board a present of fresh provisions,
wine and sweetmeats, worth about thirty moidores, including some
tobacco, and three or four fine gold medals.
[Illustration: Revenging the death of Friday.]
Here I delivered my partner in goods to the value of 100£ sterling, and
obliged him to fit up the sloop I bought for the use of my island, in
order to send them refreshments; and so active was he in this matter,
that he had the vessel finished in a few days, to the master of which I
gave particular instructions to find the place. I soon loaded him with a
small cargo; and one of our sailors offered to settle there, upon my
letter to the Spanish governor, if I would allot him tools and a
plantation. This I willingly granted, and gave him the savage we had
taken prisoner to be his slave. All things being ready for the voyage,
my old partner told me there was an acquaintance of his, a Brazil
planter, who having fallen under the displeasure of the church, & in
fear of the Inquisition which obliged him to be concealed, would be glad
of such an opportunity to make his escape, with his wife & two
daughters; & if I would allot them a plantation in my island, he would
give them a small stock to begin with, for that the officers had already
seized his effects and estate, and left him nothing but a little
household stuff and two slaves. This request I presently granted,
concealing him and his family on board our ship, till such time as the
sloop (where all the effects were) was gone out of the bay, and then we
put them on board, who carried some materials, and plants for planting
sugar-canes, along with them. By this sloop, among other things, I sent
my subjects three milch cows and five calves, about 22 hogs, three sows
big with pig, two mares and a stone horse. I also engaged three Portugal
women to go for sake of the Spaniards, which, with the persecuted man's
two daughters, were sufficient, since the rest had wives of their own,
though in another country; all which cargo arrived safe, no doubt to
their exceeding comfort, who, with this addition, were about sixty or
seventy people, besides children.
At this place, my truly honest and pious clergyman left me; for a ship
being ready to set sail for Lisbon, he asked me leave to go thither, but
I assure you it was with the greatest reluctance I parted from a person,
whose virtue and piety merited the greatest esteem.
From the Brazils, we made directly over the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape
of Good Hope, having a tolerable good voyage, steering for the most part
S.E. We were on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who
was to direct all the ship's motions after she arrived at the Cape, only
being limited to a certain number of days, for stay, by charter party,
at the several ports she was to go to. At the Cape we only took in fresh
water, and then sailed for the coast of Coromandel; we were there
informed, that a French man of war of 50 guns, and two large merchant
ships were sailed for the Indies, but we heard no more of them.
In our passage, we touched at the island of Madagascar, where, though
the inhabitants are naturally fierce and treacherous, & go constantly
armed with bows & lances, yet for some time they treated us civily
enough; and, in exchange for knives, scisors, and other trifles, they
brought us eleven good fat bullocks, which we took partly for present
victuals, and the remainder to salt for the ship's use.
So curious was I to view every corner of the world where I came to, that
I went on shore as often as I could. One evening when on shore, we
observed numbers of the people stand gazing at us at a distance. We
thought ourselves in no danger, as they had hitherto used us kindly.
However, we cut three boughs cut of a tree, sticking them at a distance
from us, which it seems, in that country, is not only a token of truce
and amity, but when poles or boughs are set up on the other side, it is
a sign the truce is accepted. In these treaties, however, there is one
principal thing to be regarded, that neither party come beyond one
another's three poles or boughs; so that the middle space is not only
secure, but is also allowed as a market for traffic and commerce. When
the truce is thus accepted, they stick up their javelins and lances at
the first poles, and come on unarmed; but if any violence is offered,
away they run to their poles, take up their weapons, and then the truce
is at an end. This evening it happened that a greater number of people
than usual, both men and women, traded among us for such toys as we had,
with such great civility, that we made us a little tent, of large boughs
of trees, some of the men resolving to lie on shore all night; but, for
my part, I and some others took our lodging in the boat, with boughs of
trees spread over it, having a sail spread at the bottom to lie upon.
About two o'clock in the morning we were awakened by the firing of
muskets, and our men crying out for help, or else they would all be
murdered. Scarce had we time to get the boat ashore, when our men came
plunging themselves into the water, with about four hundred of the
islanders at their heels. We took up seven of the men, three of them
very much wounded, and one left behind killed, while the enemy poured
their arrows so thick among us, that we were forced to make a barricade,
with boards lying at the side of the boat, to shield us from danger:
and, having got ready our fire-arms, we returned them a volley, which
wounded several of them, as we could hear by their cries. In this
condition we lay till break of day, and then making signals of distress
to the ship, which my nephew the captain heard and understood, he
weighed anchor, & stood as near the shore as possible, and then sent
another boat with ten hands in her to assist us; but we called to them
not to come near, informing them of our unhappy condition. However they
ventured; when one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in one hand,
and keeping our boat between him and our adversaries, swam to us, and
slipping our cables, they towed us, out of reach of their arrows, and
quickly after a broadside was given them from the ship, which made a
most dreadful havoc among them. When we got on board, we examined into
the occasion of this fray. The men who fled informed us that an old
woman who sold milk within the poles, had brought a young woman with
her, who carried roots or herbs, the sight of whom so much tempted our
men, that they offered rudeness to the maid, at which the old woman set
up a great cry: nor would the sailors part with the prize, but carried
her among the trees, while the old woman went, and brought a whole army
down upon them. At the beginning of the attack, one of our men was
killed with a lance, and the fellow who began the mischief, paid dear
enough for his mistress, though as yet we did not know what had become
of him; the rest luckily escaped. The third night after the action,
being curious to understand how affairs stood, I took the supercargo and
twenty stout fellows with me, and landed about two hours before
midnight, at the same place where those Indians stood the night before,
and there we divided our men into two bodies, the boatswain commanding
one, and I another. It was so dark, that we could see nobody, neither
did we hear any voice near us: but by & bye the boatswain falling over a
dead body, we agreed to halt till the moon should rise, which he knew
would be in an hour after. We perceived here no fewer than two and
thirty bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead.
Satisfied with this discovery I was for going on board again; but the
boatswain and the rest told me, they would make a visit to the Indian
town, where these dogs (so they called them) resided, asking me at the
same time to go along with them; for they did not doubt, besides getting
a good booty, but they should find Tom Jeffery there, for that was the
unhappy man we missed. But I utterly refused to go, and commanded them
back, being unwilling to hazard their lives, as the safety of the ship
wholly depended upon them. Notwithstanding all I could say to them, they
all left me but one, and the supercargo; so we three returned to the
boat, where a boy was left, resolving to stay till they returned. At
parting I told them I supposed most of them would run the same fate with
Tom Jeffery. To this they replied, _Come boys, come along, we'll warrant
we'll come off safe enough_; and so away they went, notwithstanding all
my admonitions, either concerning their own safety or the preservation
of the ship. Indeed they were gallantly armed, every man having a
musket, bayonet, and a pistol, besides cutlasses, hangers, pole-axes,
and hand granades. They came to a few Indian houses at first, which not
being the town they expected they went farther, & finding a cow tied to
a tree, they concluded that she would be a sufficient guide, and so it
proved; for, after they untied her, she led them directly to the town,
which consisted of above two hundred houses, several families living in
some of the huts together. At their arrival, all being in a profound
sleep, the sailors agreed to divide themselves into three bodies, and
set three parts of the town on fire at once, to kill those that were
escaping, and plunder the rest of the houses. Thus desperately resolved,
they went to work; but the first party had not gone far, before they
called out to the rest, that they had found Tom Jeffery; whereupon they
all ran up to the place, and found the poor fellow indeed hanging up
naked by one arm, and his throat almost cut from ear to ear. In a house
that was hard by the tree, they found sixteen or seventeen Indians, who
had been concerned in the fray, two or three of them being wounded, were
not gone to sleep: this house they set on fire first, and in a few
minutes after, five or six places more in the town appeared in flames.
The conflagration spread like wild-fire, their housing being all of
wood, and covered with flags or rushes. The poor affrighted inhabitants
endeavoured to run out to save their lives, but they were driven back
into the flames by the sailors, and killed without mercy. At the first
house above mentioned, after the boatswain had slain two with his
pole-ax, he threw a hand-granade into the house, which bursting, made a
terrible havoc, killing and wounding most of them; and their king and
most of his train, who were then in that house, fell victims to their
fury, every creature of them being either smothered or burnt. All this
while they never fired a gun, lest the people should awaken faster than
they could overpower them. But the fire awakened them fast enough, which
obliged our fellows to keep together in bodies. By this time the whole
town was in a flame, yet their fury rather increased, calling out to one
another to remember Tom Jeffery. The terrible light of this
conflagration made me very uneasy, and roused my nephew the captain, and
the rest of his men, who knew nothing of the matter. When he perceived
the dreadful smoke, and heard the guns go off, he readily concluded his
men were in danger; he therefore takes another boat, and comes ashore
himself, with thirteen men well armed. He was greatly surprised to see
me and only two men in the boat, but more so when I told him the story:
but though I argued with him, as I did with the men, about the danger
of the voyage, the interests of the merchants and owners, and the
safety of the ship, yet my nephew, like the rest, declared, that he
would rather lose the ship, his voyage, his life and all, than his men
should be lost for want of help; and so away he went. For my part,
seeing him resolved to go, I had not power to stay behind. He ordered
the pinnace back again for twelve men more, and then we marched directly
as the flame guided us. But surely never was such a scene of horror
beheld, or more dismal cries heard, except when Oliver Cromwell took
Drogheda in Ireland, where he neither spared man, woman, nor child.
The first object, I think, we met with, was the ruins of one of their
habitations, before which lay four men and three woman killed, and two
more burnt to death among the fire, which was now decaying. Nothing
could appear more barbarous than this revenge; none more cruel than the
authors of it. As we went on, the fire increased, and the cry proceeded
in proportion. We had not gone much farther, when we beheld three naked
women, followed by sixteen or seventeen men, flying with the greatest
swiftness from our men, who shot one of them in our sight. When they
perceived us, whom they supposed also their murderers, they set up a
most dreadful shriek, and both of them swooned away in the fright. This
was a sight which might have softened the hardest heart; and in pity we
took some ways to let them know we would not hurt them, while the poor
creatures with bended knees, and lifted up hands, made piteous
lamentations to us to save their lives. I ordered our men not to hunt
any of the poor creatures whatsoever; but being willing to understand
the occasion of all this, I went among these unhappy wretches, who
neither understood me, nor the good I meant them. However being resolved
to put an end to this barbarity, I ordered the men to follow me. We had
not gone fifty yards before we came up with the boatswain, with four of
our men at his heels, all of them covered with blood and dust, and in
search of more people to satiate their vengeance. As soon as we saw
them, we called out, and made them understand who we were; upon which
they came up to us, setting up a holloo of triumph, in token that more
help was come. _Noble Captain_, said he to my nephew, _I'm glad your
come: we have not half done with these villainous hell-hound dogs;
wee'll root out the very nation of them from the earth, and kill more
than poor Tom has hairs upon his head:_ and thus he went on till I
interrupted him.--"Blood-thirsty dog," said I, "will your cruelty never
end? I charge you touch not one creature more; stop your hands and stand
still, or you're a dead man this moment." _Why Sir_, said he, _you
neither know whom you are protecting, nor what they have done: but pray
come hither, and behold an instance of compassion, if such can merit
your clemency_; and with that he shewed me the poor fellow with his
throat cut, hanging upon the tree.
Indeed, here was enough to fill their breasts with rage, which, however,
I thought had gone too far, agreeable to these words of Jacob to his
sons Simeon and Levi: _Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and
their wrath; for it was cruel._ But this sight made my nephew and the
rest as bad as they: nay, my nephew declared, his concern was only for
his men; as for the people, not a soul of them ought to live. Upon this,
the boatswain and eight more directly turned about, and went to finish
the intended tragedy; which being out of my power to prevent, I returned
back from the dismal sight, & the piteous cries of those unfortunate
creatures, who were made victims to their fury. Indeed, it was an
egregious piece of folly in me to return to the boat with but one
attendant; and I had very near paid for it, having narrowly escaped
forty armed Indians, who had been alarmed by the conflagration; but
having passed the place where they stood, I got to the boat accompanied
with the supercargo, and so went on board, sending the pinnace back
again, to assist the men in what might happen. When I had got to the
boat, the fire was almost extinguished, and the noise abated; but I had
scarce been half an hour on board the ship, when I heard another volley
given by our sailors, and a great smoke, which, as I afterwards found,
was our men falling upon those houses and persons that stood between
them and the sea; but here they spared the wives and children, and
killed only the men, to the number of about sixteen or seventeen. By the
time they got to the shore, the pinnace and the ship's boat were ready
to receive them, and they all got safe on board, not a man of them
having received the least hurt, except two, one of whom strained his
foot, and the other burnt his hand a little; for they met with no
resistance, the poor Indians being unprepared, amazed, and confounded.
I was extremely angry with every one of them, but particularly with the
captain, who instead of cooling the rage of the men, had prompted them
on to further mischief: nor could he make me any other excuse, but that
as he was a man, he could not master his passions at the sight of one of
his men so cruelly murdered. As for the rest, knowing they were not
under my command, they took no notice of any anger, but rather boasted
of their revenge. According to all their accounts, they killed or
destroyed about 150 men, women, and children, besides burning the town
to ashes. They took their companion Tom Jeffery from the tree, covered
him with some of the ruins, and so left him. But however this action of
our men might seem to them justifiable, yet I always openly condemned it
with the appellation, of the Massacre of Madagascar. For tho' the
natives had slain this Jeffery, yet certainly he was the first
aggressor, by attempting to violate the chastity of a young innocent
woman, who ventured down to them, on the faith of the public
capitulation, which was so treacherously broken.
While we were under sail, the boatswain would often defend this bloody
action, by saying, that the Indians had broke the truce the night
before, by shooting one of our men without just provocation: and what if
the poor fellow had taken a little liberty with the wench, he ought not
to have been murdered in so villainous a manner: and that they had acted
nothing but what the divine laws commissioned to be done to such
homicides. However I was in the same mind as before, telling them that
they were murderers, and bid them depend upon it that God would blast
their voyage, for such an unparalleled piece of barbarity.
When we came to the Gulph of Persia, five of our men, who ventured on
shore, were either killed or made slaves by the Arabians, the rest of
them having scarce time to escape to their boat. This made me upbraid
them afresh with the just retribution of Heaven for such actions; upon
which the boatswain very warmly asked me, _Whether those men on whom the
tower of Siloam fell, were greater sinners than the rest of the
Galileans? and besides, Sir_, said he, _none of these five poor men that
are lost, were with us at the Massacre of Madagascar, as you call it,
and therefore your representation is very unjust, and your application
improper. Besides_, added he, _you are continually using the men very
ill upon this account, and, being but a passenger yourself, we are not
obliged to bear it; nor can we tell what evil designs you may have to
bring us to judgment for it in England: and, therefore, if you do not
leave this discourse, as also not concern yourself with any of our
affairs, I will leave the ship, and not sail among such
dangerous company._