work, we tried the effect of his ingenuity; and, having another meeting
with the natives, were surprised to see the folly of the poor people.
For a little bit of silver cut in the shape of a bird, we had two cows,
and, which was our loss, if it had been in brass, it had been still of
more value. For one of the bracelets made of chain-work, we had as much
provision of several sorts, as would fairly have been worth, in England,
fifteen or sixteen pounds; and so of all the rest. Thus, that which when
it was in coin was not worth sixpence to us, when thus converted
into toys and trifles, was worth a hundred times its real value, and
purchased for us anything we had occasion for.
In this condition we lived upwards of a year, but all of us began to be
very much tired of it, and, whatever came of it, resolved to attempt
an escape. We had furnished ourselves with no less than three very
good canoes; and as the monsoons, or trade-winds, generally affect that
country, blowing in most parts of this island one six months of a year
one way, and the other six months another way, we concluded we might be
able to bear the sea well enough. But always, when we came to look into
it, the want of fresh water was the thing that put us off from such an
adventure, for it is a prodigious length, and what no man on earth could
be able to perform without water to drink.
Being thus prevailed upon by our own reason to set the thoughts of that
voyage aside, we had then but two things before us; one was, to put to
sea the other way; viz., west, and go away for the Cape of Good Hope,
where, first or last, we should meet with some of our own country ships,
or else to put for the mainland of Africa, and either travel by land,
or sail along the coast towards the Red Sea, where we should, first or
last, find a ship of some nation or other, that would take us up; or
perhaps we might take them up, which, by-the-bye, was the thing that
always ran in my head.
It was our ingenious cutler, whom ever after we called silversmith, that
proposed this; but the gunner told him, that he had been in the Red Sea
in a Malabar sloop, and he knew this, that if we went into the Red Sea,
we should either be killed by the wild Arabs, or taken and made slaves
of by the Turks; and therefore he was not for going that way.
Upon this I took occasion to put in my vote again. "Why," said I, "do we
talk of being killed by the Arabs, or made slaves of by the Turks? Are
we not able to board almost any vessel we shall meet with in those seas;
and, instead of their taking us, we to take them?" "Well done, pirate,"
said the gunner (he that had looked in my hand, and told me I should
come to the gallows), "I'll say that for him," says he, "he always looks
the same way. But I think, of my conscience, it is our only way now."
"Don't tell me," says I, "of being a pirate; we must be pirates, or
anything, to get fairly out of this cursed place."
In a word, they concluded all, by my advice, that our business was to
cruise for anything we could see. "Why then," said I to them, "our first
business is to see if the people upon this island have no navigation,
and what boats they use; and, if they have any better or bigger than
ours, let us take one of them." First, indeed, all our aim was to get,
if possible, a boat with a deck and a sail; for then we might have saved
our provisions, which otherwise we could not.
We had, to our great good fortune, one sailor among us, who had been
assistant to the cook; he told us, that he would find a way how to
preserve our beef without cask or pickle; and this he did effectually
by curing it in the sun, with the help of saltpetre, of which there was
great plenty in the island; so that, before we found any method for our
escape, we had dried the flesh of six or seven cows and bullocks,
and ten or twelve goats, and it relished so well, that we never gave
ourselves the trouble to boil it when we ate it, but either broiled it
or ate it dry. But our main difficulty about fresh water still remained;
for we had no vessel to put any into, much less to keep any for our
going to sea.
But our first voyage being only to coast the island, we resolved to
venture, whatever the hazard or consequence of it might be, and in order
to preserve as much fresh water as we could, our carpenter made a well
athwart the middle of one of our canoes, which he separated from the
other parts of the canoe, so as to make it tight to hold the water and
covered so as we might step upon it; and this was so large that it held
near a hogshead of water very well. I cannot better describe this well
than by the same kind which the small fishing-boats in England have to
preserve their fish alive in; only that this, instead of having holes to
let the salt water in, was made sound every way to keep it out; and it
was the first invention, I believe, of its kind for such an use; but
necessity is a spur to ingenuity and the mother of invention.
It wanted but a little consultation to resolve now upon our voyage. The
first design was only to coast it round the island, as well to see if we
could seize upon any vessel fit to embark ourselves in, as also to take
hold of any opportunity which might present for our passing over to the
main; and therefore our resolution was to go on the inside or west shore
of the island, where, at least at one point, the land stretching a great
way to the north-west, the distance is not extraordinary great from the
island to the coast of Africa.
Such a voyage, and with such a desperate crew, I believe was never made,
for it is certain we took the worst side of the island to look for any
shipping, especially for shipping of other nations, this being quite out
of the way; however, we put to sea, after taking all our provisions and
ammunition, bag and baggage, on board; we had made both mast and sail
for our two large periaguas, and the other we paddled along as well as
we could; but when a gale sprung up, we took her in tow.
We sailed merrily forward for several days, meeting with nothing to
interrupt us. We saw several of the natives in small canoes catching
fish, and sometimes we endeavoured to come near enough to speak with
them, but they were always shy and afraid of us, making in for the
shore as soon as we attempted it; till one of our company remembered the
signal of friendship which the natives made us from the south part of
the island, viz., of setting up a long pole, and put us in mind that
perhaps it was the same thing to them as a flag of truce to us. So we
resolved to try it; and accordingly the next time we saw any of their
fishing-boats at sea we put up a pole in our canoe that had no sail, and
rowed towards them. As soon as they saw the pole they stayed for us, and
as we came nearer paddled towards us; when they came to us they showed
themselves very much pleased, and gave us some large fish, of which we
did not know the names, but they were very good. It was our misfortune
still that we had nothing to give them in return; but our artist, of
whom I spoke before, gave them two little thin plates of silver, beaten,
as I said before, out of a piece of eight; they were cut in a diamond
square, longer one way than the other, and a hole punched at one of the
longest corners. This they were so fond of that they made us stay till
they had cast their lines and nets again, and gave us as many fish as we
cared to have.
All this while we had our eyes upon their boats, viewed them very
narrowly, and examined whether any of them were fit for our turn, but
they were poor, sorry things; their sail was made of a large mat, only
one that was of a piece of cotton stuff fit for little, and their ropes
were twisted flags of no strength; so we concluded we were better as
we were, and let them alone. We went forward to the north, keeping the
coast close on board for twelve days together, and having the wind at
east and E.S.E., we made very fresh way. We saw no towns on the shore,
but often saw some huts by the water-side upon the rocks, and always
abundance of people about them, who we could perceive run together to
stare at us.
It was as odd a voyage as ever man went; we were a little fleet of three
ships, and an army of between twenty and thirty as dangerous fellows as
ever they had amongst them; and had they known what we were, they would
have compounded to give us everything we desired to be rid of us.
On the other hand, we were as miserable as nature could well make us to
be, for we were upon a voyage and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and
nowhere; for though we knew what we intended to do, we did really not
know what we were doing. We went forward and forward by a northerly
course, and as we advanced the heat increased, which began to be
intolerable to us, who were on the water, without any covering from heat
or wet; besides, we were now in the month of October, or thereabouts,
in a southern latitude; and as we went every day nearer the sun, the sun
came also every day nearer to us, till at last we found ourselves in the
latitude of 20 degrees; and having passed the tropic about five or six
days before that, in a few days more the sun would be in the zenith,
just over our heads.
Upon these considerations we resolved to seek for a good place to go on
shore again, and pitch our tents, till the heat of the weather abated.
We had by this time measured half the length of the island, and were
come to that part where the shore tending away to the north-west,
promised fair to make our passage over to the mainland of Africa much
shorter than we expected. But, notwithstanding that, we had good reason
to believe it was about 120 leagues.
So, the heats considered, we resolved to take harbour; besides, our
provisions were exhausted, and we had not many days' store left.
Accordingly, putting in for the shore early in the morning, as we
usually did once in three or four days for fresh water, we sat down and
considered whether we would go on or take up our standing there; but
upon several considerations, too long to repeat here, we did not like
the place, so we resolved to go on a few days longer.
After sailing on N.W. by N. with a fresh gale at S.E., about six days,
we found, at a great distance, a large promontory or cape of land,
pushing out a long way into the sea, and as we were exceeding fond of
seeing what was beyond the cape, we resolved to double it before we took
into harbour, so we kept on our way, the gale continuing, and yet it
was four days more before we reached the cape. But it is not possible
to express the discouragement and melancholy that seized us all when
we came thither; for when we made the headland of the cape, we were
surprised to see the shore fall away on the other side as much as it had
advanced on this side, and a great deal more; and that, in short, if we
would venture over to the shore of Africa, it must be from hence, for
that if we went further, the breadth of the sea still increased, and to
what breadth it might increase we knew not.
While we mused upon this discovery, we were surprised with very bad
weather, and especially violent rains, with thunder and lightning,
most unusually terrible to us. In this pickle we run for the shore, and
getting under the lee of the cape, run our frigates into a little creek,
where we saw the land overgrown with trees, and made all the haste
possible to get on shore, being exceeding wet, and fatigued with the
heat, the thunder, lightning, and rain.
Here we thought our case was very deplorable indeed, and therefore our
artist, of whom I have spoken so often, set up a great cross of wood on
the hill which was within a mile of the headland, with these words, but
in the Portuguese language:--
"Point Desperation. Jesus have mercy."
We set to work immediately to build us some huts, and to get our clothes
dried; and though I was young and had no skill in such things, yet I
shall never forget the little city we built, for it was no less, and we
fortified it accordingly; and the idea is so fresh in my thought, that I
cannot but give a short description of it.
Our camp was on the south side of a little creek on the sea, and under
the shelter of a steep hill, which lay, though on the other side of
the creek, yet within a quarter of a mile of us, N.W. by N., and very
happily intercepted the heat of the sun all the after part of the day.
The spot we pitched on had a little fresh water brook, or a stream
running into the creek by us; and we saw cattle feeding in the plains
and low ground east and to the south of us a great way.
Here we set up twelve little huts like soldiers' tents, but made of the
boughs of trees stuck in the ground, and bound together on the top
with withies, and such other things as we could get; the creek was our
defence on the north, a little brook on the west, and the south and east
sides were fortified with a bank, which entirely covered our huts; and
being drawn oblique from the north-west to the south-east, made our city
a triangle. Behind the bank or line our huts stood, having three other
huts behind them at a good distance. In one of these, which was a little
one, and stood further off, we put our gunpowder, and nothing else, for
fear of danger; in the other, which was bigger, we dressed our victuals,
and put all our necessaries; and in the third, which was biggest of all,
we ate our dinners, called our councils, and sat and diverted ourselves
with such conversation as we had one with another, which was but
indifferent truly at that time.
Our correspondence with the natives was absolutely necessary, and our
artist the cutler having made abundance of those little diamond-cut
squares of silver, with these we made shift to traffic with the black
people for what we wanted; for indeed they were pleased wonderfully with
them, and thus we got plenty of provisions. At first, and in particular,
we got about fifty head of black cattle and goats, and our cook's mate
took care to cure them and dry them, salt and preserve them for our
grand supply; nor was this hard to do, the salt and saltpetre being very
good, and the sun excessively hot; and here we lived about four months.
The southern solstice was over, and the sun gone back towards the
equinoctial, when we considered of our next adventure, which was to go
over the sea of Zanguebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to land, if
possible, upon the continent of Africa.
We talked with many of the natives about it, such as we could make
ourselves intelligible to, but all that we could learn from them was,
that there was a great land of lions beyond the sea, but that it was a
great way off. We knew as well as they that it was a long way, but our
people differed mightily about it; some said it was 150 leagues, others
not above 100. One of our men, that had a map of the world, showed us
by his scale that it was not above eighty leagues. Some said there were
islands all the way to touch at, some that there were no islands at all.
For my own part, I knew nothing of this matter one way or another, but
heard it all without concern, whether it was near or far off; however,
this we learned from an old man who was blind and led about by a boy,
that if we stayed till the end of August, we should be sure of the wind
to be fair and the sea smooth all the voyage.
This was some encouragement; but staying again was very unwelcome news
to us, because that then the sun would be returning again to the south,
which was what our men were very unwilling to. At last we called a
council of our whole body; their debates were too tedious to take notice
of, only to note, that when it came to Captain Bob (for so they called
me ever since I had taken state upon me before one of their great
princes), truly I was on no side; it was not one farthing matter to me,
I told them, whether we went or stayed; I had no home, and all the world
was alike to me; so I left it entirely to them to determine.
In a word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be done where we were
without shipping; that if our business indeed was only to eat and drink,
we could not find a better place in the world; but if our business was
to get away, and get home into our country, we could not find a worse.
I confess I liked the country wonderfully, and even then had strange
notions of coming again to live there; and I used to say to them very
often that if I had but a ship of twenty guns, and a sloop, and both
well manned, I would not desire a better place in the world to make
myself as rich as a king.
But to return to the consultations they were in about going. Upon the
whole, it was resolved to venture over for the main; and venture we did,
madly enough, indeed, for it was the wrong time of the year to undertake
such a voyage in that country; for, as the winds hang easterly all the
months from September to March, so they generally hang westerly all the
rest of the year, and blew right in our teeth; so that, as soon as
we had, with a kind of a land-breeze, stretched over about fifteen or
twenty leagues, and, as I may say, just enough to lose ourselves, we
found the wind set in a steady fresh gale or breeze from the sea, at
west, W.S.W., or S.W. by W., and never further from the west; so that,
in a word, we could make nothing of it.
On the other hand, the vessel, such as we had, would not lie close upon
a wind; if so, we might have stretched away N.N.W., and have met with a
great many islands in our way, as we found afterwards; but we could make
nothing of it, though we tried, and by the trying had almost undone us
all; for, stretching away to the north, as near the wind as we could, we
had forgotten the shape and position of the island of Madagascar itself;
how that we came off at the head of a promontory or point of land, that
lies about the middle of the island, and that stretches out west a great
way into the sea; and that now, being run a matter of forty leagues to
the north, the shore of the island fell off again above 200 miles to the
east, so that we were by this time in the wide ocean, between the island
and the main, and almost 100 leagues from both.
Indeed, as the winds blew fresh at west, as before, we had a smooth sea,
and we found it pretty good going before it, and so, taking our smallest
canoe in tow, we stood in for the shore with all the sail we could make.
This was a terrible adventure, for, if the least gust of wind had come,
we had been all lost, our canoes being deep and in no condition to make
way in a high sea.
This voyage, however, held us eleven days in all; and at length, having
spent most of our provisions, and every drop of water we had, we spied
land, to our great joy, though at the distance of ten or eleven leagues;
and as, under the land, the wind came off like a land-breeze, and blew
hard against us, we were two days more before we reached the shore,
having all that while excessive hot weather, and not a drop of water or
any other liquor, except some cordial waters, which one of our company
had a little of left in a case of bottles.
This gave us a taste of what we should have done if we had ventured
forward with a scant wind and uncertain weather, and gave us a surfeit
of our design for the main, at least until we might have some better
vessels under us; so we went on shore again, and pitched our camp
as before, in as convenient manner as we could, fortifying ourselves
against any surprise; but the natives here were exceeding courteous,
and much more civil than on the south part of the island; and though we
could not understand what they said, or they us, yet we found means to
make them understand that we were seafaring men and strangers, and that
we were in distress for want of provisions.
The first proof we had of their kindness was, that as soon as they saw
us come on shore and begin to make our habitation, one of their captains
or kings, for we knew not what to call them, came down with five or six
men and some women, and brought us five goats and two young fat
steers, and gave them to us for nothing; and when we went to offer them
anything, the captain or the king would not let any of them touch it,
or take anything of us. About two hours after came another king, or
captain, with forty or fifty men after him. We began to be afraid of
him, and laid hands upon our weapons; but he perceiving it, caused two
men to go before him, carrying two long poles in their hands, which they
held upright, as high as they could, which we presently perceived was
a signal of peace; and these two poles they set up afterwards, sticking
them up in the ground; and when the king and his men came to these
two poles, they struck all their lances up in the ground, and came on
unarmed, leaving their lances, as also their bows and arrows, behind
them.
This was to satisfy us that they were come as friends, and we were glad
to see it, for we had no mind to quarrel with them if we could help it.
The captain of this gang seeing some of our men making up their huts,
and that they did it but bunglingly, he beckoned to some of his men to
go and help us. Immediately fifteen or sixteen of them came and mingled
among us, and went to work for us; and indeed, they were better workmen
than we were, for they run up three or four huts for us in a moment, and
much handsomer done than ours.
After this they sent us milk, plantains, pumpkins, and abundance of
roots and greens that were very good, and then took their leave, and
would not take anything from us that we had. One of our men offered the
king or captain of these men a dram, which he drank and was mightily
pleased with it, and held out his hand for another, which we gave him;
and in a word, after this, he hardly failed coming to us two or three
times a week, always bringing us something or other; and one time sent
us seven head of black cattle, some of which we cured and dried as
before.
And here I cannot but remember one thing, which afterwards stood us in
great stead, viz., that the flesh of their goats, and their beef also,
but especially the former, when we had dried and cured it, looked red,
and ate hard and firm, as dried beef in Holland; they were so pleased
with it, and it was such a dainty to them, that at any time after they
would trade with us for it, not knowing, or so much as imagining what it
was; so that for ten or twelve pounds' weight of smoke-dried beef, they
would give us a whole bullock, or cow, or anything else we could desire.
Here we observed two things that were very material to us, even
essentially so; first, we found they had a great deal of earthenware
here, which they made use of many ways as we did; particularly they had
long, deep earthen pots, which they used to sink into the ground, to
keep the water which they drunk cool and pleasant; and the other was,
that they had larger canoes than their neighbours had.
By this we were prompted to inquire if they had no larger vessels than
those we saw there, or if any other of the inhabitants had not such.
They signified presently that they had no larger boats than that they
showed us; but that on the other side of the island they had larger
boats, and that with decks upon them, and large sails; and this made us
resolve to coast round the whole island to see them; so we prepared and
victualled our canoe for the voyage, and, in a word, went to sea for the
third time.
It cost us a month or six weeks' time to perform this voyage, in which
time we went on shore several times for water and provisions, and found
the natives always very free and courteous; but we were surprised one
morning early, being at the extremity of the northernmost part of the
island, when one of our men cried out, "A sail! a sail!" We presently
saw a vessel a great way out at sea; but after we had looked at it with
our perspective glasses, and endeavoured all we could to make out what
it was, we could not tell what to think of it; for it was neither ship,
ketch, galley, galliot, or like anything that we had ever seen before;
all that we could make of it was, that it went from us, standing out to
sea. In a word, we soon lost sight of it, for we were in no condition
to chase anything, and we never saw it again; but, by all that we could
perceive of it, from what we saw of such things afterwards, it was some
Arabian vessel, which had been trading to the coast of Mozambique, or
Zanzibar, the same place where we afterwards went, as you shall hear.
I kept no journal of this voyage, nor indeed did I all this while
understand anything of navigation, more than the common business of a
foremast-man; so I can say nothing to the latitudes or distances of any
places we were at, how long we were going, or how far we sailed in
a day; but this I remember, that being now come round the island, we
sailed up the eastern shore due south, as we had done down the western
shore due north before.