days without intermission, and that we had water here for our
refreshment, and no want of food yet, nor any fear of it, we should rest
our people a little, and see, at the same time, if perhaps we might
kill some creatures that were proper for food. The gunner, who had more
forecast of that kind than I had, agreed to the proposal, and added, why
might we not try to catch some fish out of the lake? The first thing we
had before us was to try if we could make any hooks, and this indeed put
our artificer to his trumps; however, with some labour and difficulty,
he did it, and we catched fresh fish of several kinds. How they came
there, none but He that made the lake and all the world knows; for, to
be sure, no human hands ever put any in there, or pulled any out before.
We not only catched enough for our present refreshment, but we dried
several large fishes, of kinds which I cannot describe, in the sun, by
which we lengthened out our provision considerably; for the heat of
the sun dried them so effectually without salt that they were perfectly
cured, dry, and hard, in one day's time.
We rested ourselves here five days; during which time we had abundance
of pleasant adventures with the wild creatures, too many to relate. One
of them was very particular, which was a chase between a she-lion,
or lioness, and a large deer; and though the deer is naturally a very
nimble creature, and she flew by us like the wind, having, perhaps,
about 300 yards the start of the lion, yet we found the lion, by her
strength, and the goodness of her lungs, got ground of her. They passed
by us within about a quarter of a mile, and we had a view of them a
great way, when, having given them over, we were surprised, about an
hour after, to see them come thundering back again on the other side of
us, and then the lion was within thirty or forty yards of her; and both
straining to the extremity of their speed, when the deer, coming to the
lake, plunged into the water, and swam for her life, as she had before
run for it.
The lioness plunged in after her, and swam a little way, but came back
again; and when she was got upon the land she set up the most hideous
roar that ever I heard in my life, as if done in the rage of having lost
her prey.
We walked out morning and evening constantly; the middle of the day we
refreshed ourselves under our tent. But one morning early we saw another
chase, which more nearly concerned us than the other; for our black
prince, walking by the side of the lake, was set upon by a vast, great
crocodile, which came out of the lake upon him; and though he was very
light of foot, yet it was as much as he could do to get away. He fled
amain to us, and the truth is, we did not know what to do, for we were
told no bullet would enter her; and we found it so at first, for though
three of our men fired at her, yet she did not mind them; but my friend
the gunner, a venturous fellow, of a bold heart, and great presence
of mind, went up so near as to thrust the muzzle of his piece into her
mouth, and fired, but let his piece fall, and ran for it the very moment
he had fired it. The creature raged a great while, and spent its fury
upon the gun, making marks upon the very iron with its teeth, but after
some time fainted and died.
Our negroes spread the banks of the lake all this while for game, and at
length killed us three deer, one of them very large, the other two very
small. There was water-fowl also in the lake, but we never came near
enough to them to shoot any; and as for the desert, we saw no fowls
anywhere in it but at the lake.
We likewise killed two or three civet cats; but their flesh is the worst
of carrion. We saw abundance of elephants at a distance, and observed
they always go in very good company, that is to say, abundance of them
together, and always extended in a fair line of battle; and this, they
say, is the way they defend themselves from their enemies; for if lions
or tigers, wolves or any creatures, attack them, they being drawn in a
line, sometimes reaching five or six miles in length, whatever comes in
their way is sure to be trod under foot, or beaten in pieces with their
trunks, or lifted up in the air with their trunks; so that if a hundred
lions or tigers were coming along, if they meet a line of elephants,
they will always fly back till they see room to pass by the right hand
or the left; and if they did not, it would be impossible for one of
them to escape; for the elephant, though a heavy creature, is yet so
dexterous and nimble with his trunk, that he will not fail to lift up
the heaviest lion, or any other wild creature, and throw him up in the
air quite over his back, and then trample him to death with his feet. We
saw several lines of battle thus; we saw one so long that indeed there
was no end of it to be seen, and I believe there might be 2000 elephants
in row or line. They are not beasts of prey, but live upon the herbage
of the field, as an ox does; and it is said, that though they are so
great a creature, yet that a smaller quantity of forage supplies one of
them than will suffice a horse.
The numbers of this kind of creature that are in those parts are
inconceivable, as may be gathered from the prodigious quantity of
teeth which, as I said, we saw in this vast desert; and indeed we saw a
hundred of them to one of any other kind.
One evening we were very much surprised. We were most of us laid down
on our mats to sleep, when our watch came running in among us, being
frighted with the sudden roaring of some lions just by them, which, it
seems, they had not seen, the night being dark, till they were just upon
them. There was, as it proved, an old lion and his whole family, for
there was the lioness and three young lions, besides the old king, who
was a monstrous great one. One of the young ones--who were good, large,
well-grown ones too--leaped up upon one of our negroes, who stood
sentinel, before he saw him, at which he was heartily frighted, cried
out, and ran into the tent. Our other man, who had a gun, had not
presence of mind at first to shoot him, but struck him with the butt-end
of his piece, which made him whine a little, and then growl at him
fearfully; but the fellow retired, and, we being all alarmed, three of
our men snatched up their guns, ran to the tent door, where they saw the
great old lion by the fire of his eyes, and first fired at him, but, we
supposed, missed him, or at least did not kill him; for they went all
off, but raised a most hideous roar, which, as if they had called for
help, brought down a prodigious number of lions, and other furious
creatures, we know not what, about them, for we could not see them;
but there was a noise, and yelling and howling, and all sorts of such
wilderness music on every side of us, as if all the beasts of the desert
were assembled to devour us.
We asked our black prince what we should do with them. "Me go," says he,
"and fright them all." So he snatches up two or three of the worst of
our mats, and getting one of our men to strike some fire, he hangs the
mat up at the end of a pole, and set it on fire, and it blazed abroad
a good while; at which the creatures all moved off, for we heard them
roar, and make their bellowing noise at a great distance. "Well," says
our gunner, "if that will do, we need not burn our mats, which are our
beds to lay under us, and our tilting to cover us. Let me alone," says
he. So he comes back into our tent, and falls to making some artificial
fireworks and the like; and he gave our sentinels some to be ready
at hand upon occasion, and particularly he placed a great piece of
wild-fire upon the same pole that the mat had been tied to, and set it
on fire, and that burnt there so long that all the wild creatures left
us for that time.
However, we began to be weary of such company; and, to be rid of them,
we set forward again two days sooner than we intended. We found now,
that though the desert did not end, nor could we see any appearance of
it, yet that the earth was pretty full of green stuff of one sort or
another, so that our cattle had no want; and secondly, that there
were several little rivers which ran into the lake, and so long as the
country continued low, we found water sufficient, which eased us very
much in our carriage, and we went on still sixteen days more without yet
coming to any appearance of better soil. After this we found the country
rise a little, and by that we perceived that the water would fail us;
so, for fear of the worst, we filled our bladder-bottles with water.
We found the country rising gradually thus for three days continually,
when, on the sudden, we perceived that, though we had mounted up
insensibly, yet that we were on the top of a very high ridge of hills,
though not such as at first.
When we came to look down on the other side of the hills, we saw, to
the great joy of all our hearts, that the desert was at an end; that the
country was clothed with green, abundance of trees, and a large river;
and we made no doubt but that we should find people and cattle also; and
here, by our gunner's account, who kept our computations, we had
marched about 400 miles over this dismal place of horror, having been
four-and-thirty days a-doing of it, and consequently were come about
1100 miles of our journey.
We would willingly have descended the hills that night, but it was
too late. The next morning we saw everything more plain, and rested
ourselves under the shade of some trees, which were now the most
refreshing things imaginable to us, who had been scorched above a month
without a tree to cover us. We found the country here very pleasant,
especially considering that we came from; and we killed some deer here
also, which we found very frequent under the cover of the woods. Also we
killed a creature like a goat, whose flesh was very good to eat, but it
was no goat; we found also a great number of fowls like partridge, but
something smaller, and were very tame; so that we lived here very well,
but found no people, at least none that would be seen, no, not for
several days' journey; and to allay our joy, we were almost every night
disturbed with lions and tigers; elephants, indeed, we saw none here.
In three days' march we came to a river, which we saw from the hills,
and which we called the Golden River; and we found it ran northward,
which was the first stream we had met with that did so. It ran with a
very rapid current, and our gunner, pulling out his map, assured me that
this was either the river Nile, or run into the great lake out of which
the river Nile was said to take its beginning; and he brought out his
charts and maps, which, by his instruction, I began to understand very
well, and told me he would convince me of it, and indeed he seemed to
make it so plain to me that I was of the same opinion.
But I did not enter into the gunner's reason for this inquiry, not in
the least, till he went on with it farther, and stated it thus:--"If
this is the river Nile, why should not we build some more canoes, and go
down this stream, rather than expose ourselves to any more deserts and
scorching sands in quest of the sea, which when we are come to, we shall
be as much at a loss how to get home as we were at Madagascar?"
The argument was good, had there been no objections in the way of a kind
which none of us were capable of answering; but, upon the whole, it
was an undertaking of such a nature that every one of us thought it
impracticable, and that upon several accounts; and our surgeon, who was
himself a good scholar and a man of reading, though not acquainted
with the business of sailing, opposed it, and some of his reasons, I
remember, were such as these:--First, the length of the way, which both
he and the gunner allowed, by the course of the water, and turnings
of the river, would be at least 4000 miles. Secondly, the innumerable
crocodiles in the river, which we should never be able to escape.
Thirdly, the dreadful deserts in the way; and lastly, the approaching
rainy season, in which the streams of the Nile would be so furious, and
rise so high--spreading far and wide over all the plain country--that
we should never be able to know when we were in the channel of the river
and when not, and should certainly be cast away, overset, or run
aground so often that it would be impossible to proceed by a river so
excessively dangerous.
This last reason he made so plain to us that we began to be sensible of
it ourselves, so that we agreed to lay that thought aside, and proceed
in our first course, westwards towards the sea; but, as if we had been
loth to depart, we continued, by way of refreshing ourselves, to loiter
two days upon this river, in which time our black prince, who delighted
much in wandering up and down, came one evening and brought us several
little bits of something, he knew not what, but he found it felt heavy
and looked well, and showed it to me as what he thought was some rarity.
I took not much notice of it to him, but stepping out and calling the
gunner to me I showed it to him, and told him what I thought, viz.,
that it was certainly gold. He agreed with me in that, and also in what
followed, that we would take the black prince out with us the next day,
and make him show us where he found it; that if there was any quantity
to be found we would tell our company of it, but if there was but little
we would keep counsel, and have it to ourselves.
But we forgot to engage the prince in the secret, who innocently told so
much to all the rest, as that they guessed what it was, and came to us
to see. When we found it was public, we were more concerned to prevent
their suspecting that we had any design to conceal it, and openly
telling our thoughts of it, we called our artificer, who agreed
presently that it was gold; so I proposed that we should all go with
the prince to the place where he found it, and if any quantity was to be
had, we would lie here some time and see what we could make of it.
Accordingly we went every man of us, for no man was willing to be left
behind in a discovery of such a nature. When we came to the place we
found it was on the west side of the river, not in the main river, but
in another small river or stream which came from the west, and ran into
the other at that place. We fell to raking in the sand, and washing it
in our hands; and we seldom took up a handful of sand but we washed
some little round lumps as big as a pin's head, or sometimes as big as a
grape stone, into our hands; and we found, in two or three hours'
time, that every one had got some, so we agreed to leave off, and go to
dinner.
While we were eating, it came into my thoughts that while we worked at
this rate in a thing of such nicety and consequence, it was ten to one
if the gold, which was the make-bait of the world, did not, first or
last, set us together by the ears, to break our good articles and our
understanding one among another, and perhaps cause us to part companies,
or worse; I therefore told them that I was indeed the youngest man in
the company, but as they had always allowed me to give my opinion in
things, and had sometimes been pleased to follow my advice, so I
had something to propose now, which I thought would be for all our
advantages, and I believed they would all like it very well. I told them
we were in a country where we all knew there was a great deal of gold,
and that all the world sent ships thither to get it; that we did not
indeed know where it was, and so we might get a great deal, or a little,
we did not know whether; but I offered it to them to consider whether it
would not be the best way for us, and to preserve the good harmony
and friendship that had been always kept among us, and which was so
absolutely necessary to our safety, that what we found should be brought
together to one common stock, and be equally divided at last, rather
than to run the hazard of any difference which might happen among us
from any one's having found more or less than another. I told them, that
if we were all upon one bottom we should all apply ourselves heartily to
the work; and, besides that, we might then set our negroes all to work
for us, and receive equally the fruit of their labour and of our own,
and being all exactly alike sharers, there could be no just cause of
quarrel or disgust among us.
They all approved the proposal, and every one jointly swore, and gave
their hands to one another, that they would not conceal the least grain
of gold from the rest; and consented that if any one or more should
be found to conceal any, all that he had should be taken from him
and divided among the rest; and one thing more was added to it by our
gunner, from considerations equally good and just, that if any one of
us, by any play, bet, game, or wager, won any money or gold, or the
value of any, from another, during our whole voyage, till our return
quite to Portugal, he should be obliged by us all to restore it again
on the penalty of being disarmed and turned out of the company, and of
having no relief from us on any account whatever. This was to prevent
wagering and playing for money, which our men were apt to do by several
means and at several games, though they had neither cards nor dice.
Having made this wholesome agreement, we went cheerfully to work, and
showed our negroes how to work for us; and working up the stream on both
sides, and in the bottom of the river, we spent about three weeks' time
dabbling in the water; by which time, as it lay all in our way, we had
gone about six miles, and not more; and still the higher we went, the
more gold we found; till at last, having passed by the side of a hill,
we perceived on a sudden that the gold stopped, and that there was not
a bit taken up beyond that place. It presently occurred to my mind, that
it must then be from the side of that little hill that all the gold we
found was worked down.
Upon this, we went back to the hill, and fell to work with that. We
found the earth loose, and of a yellowish loamy colour, and in some
places a white hard kind of stone, which, in describing since to some
of our artists, they tell me was the spar which is found by ore, and
surrounds it in the mine. However, if it had been all gold, we had no
instrument to force it out; so we passed that. But scratching into the
loose earth with our fingers, we came to a surprising place, where
the earth, for the quantity of two bushels, I believe, or thereabouts,
crumbled down with little more than touching it, and apparently showed
us that there was a great deal of gold in it. We took it all carefully
up, and washing it in the water, the loamy earth washed away, and left
the gold dust free in our hands; and that which was more remarkable was,
that, when this loose earth was all taken away, and we came to the rock
or hard stone, there was not one grain of gold more to be found.
At night we all came together to see what we had got; and it appeared
we had found, in that day's heap of earth, about fifty pounds' weight of
gold dust, and about thirty-four pounds' weight more in all the rest of
our works in the river.
It was a happy kind of disappointment to us, that we found a full stop
put to our work; for, had the quantity of gold been ever so small, yet,
had any at all come, I do not know when we should have given over; for,
having rummaged this place, and not finding the least grain of gold
in any other place, or in any of the earth there, except in that loose
parcel, we went quite back down the small river again, working it over
and over again, as long as we could find anything, how small soever; and
we did get six or seven pounds more the second time. Then we went into
the first river, and tried it up the stream and down the stream, on the
one side and on the other. Up the stream we found nothing, no, not a
grain; down the stream we found very little, not above the quantity of
half an ounce in two miles' working; so back we came again to the Golden
River, as we justly called it, and worked it up the stream and down the
stream twice more apiece, and every time we found some gold, and perhaps
might have done so if we had stayed there till this time; but the
quantity was at last so small, and the work so much the harder, that we
agreed by consent to give it over, lest we should fatigue ourselves and
our negroes so as to be quite unfit for our journey.
When we had brought all our purchase together, we had in the whole three
pounds and a half of gold to a man, share and share alike, according to
such a weight and scale as our ingenious cutler made for us to weigh it
by, which indeed he did by guess, but which, as he said, he was sure
was rather more than less, and so it proved at last; for it was near
two ounces more than weight in a pound. Besides this, there was seven
or eight pounds' weight left, which we agreed to leave in his hands, to
work it into such shapes as we thought fit, to give away to such people
as we might yet meet with, from whom we might have occasion to buy
provisions, or even to buy friendship, or the like; and particularly we
gave about a pound to our black prince, which he hammered and worked by
his own indefatigable hand, and some tools our artificer lent him, into
little round bits, as round almost as beads, though not exact in shape,
and drilling holes through them, put them all upon a string, and wore
them about his black neck, and they looked very well there, I assure
you; but he was many months a-doing it. And thus ended our first golden
adventure.
We now began to discover what we had not troubled our heads much about
before, and that was, that, let the country be good or bad that we were
in, we could not travel much further for a considerable time. We had
been now five months and upwards in our journey, and the seasons began
to change; and nature told us, that, being in a climate that had a
winter as well as a summer, though of a different kind from what our
country produced, we were to expect a wet season, and such as we should
not be able to travel in, as well by reason of the rain itself, as of
the floods which it would occasion wherever we should come; and
though we had been no strangers to those wet seasons in the island
of Madagascar, yet we had not thought much of them since we began our
travels; for, setting out when the sun was about the solstice, that is,
when it was at the greatest northern distance from us, we had found
the benefit of it in our travels. But now it drew near us apace, and we
found it began to rain; upon which we called another general council, in
which we debated our present circumstances, and, in particular, whether
we should go forward, or seek for a proper place upon the bank of our
Golden River, which had been so lucky to us, to fix our camp for the
winter.
Upon the whole, it was resolved to abide where we were; and it was not
the least part of our happiness that we did so, as shall appear in its
place.
Having resolved upon this, our first measures were to set our negroes to
work, to make huts or houses for our habitation, and this they did very
dexterously; only that we changed the ground where we at first intended
it, thinking, as indeed it happened, that the river might reach it upon
any sudden rain. Our camp was like a little town, in which our huts were
in the centre, having one large one in the centre of them also, into
which all our particular lodgings opened; so that none of us went into
our apartments but through a public tent, where we all ate and drank
together, and kept our councils and society; and our carpenters made us
tables, benches, and stools in abundance, as many as we could make use
of.
We had no need of chimneys, it was hot enough without fire; but yet
we found ourselves at last obliged to keep a fire every night upon a
particular occasion. For though we had in all other respects a very
pleasant and agreeable situation, yet we were rather worse troubled with
the unwelcome visits of wild beasts here than in the wilderness itself;
for as the deer and other gentle creatures came hither for shelter
and food, so the lions and tigers and leopards haunted these places
continually for prey.
When first we discovered this we were so uneasy at it that we thought of
removing our situation; but after many debates about it we resolved to
fortify ourselves in such a manner as not to be in any danger from it;
and this our carpenters undertook, who first palisaded our camp quite
round with long stakes, for we had wood enough, which stakes were not
stuck in one by another like pales, but in an irregular manner; a
great multitude of them so placed that they took up near two yards in
thickness, some higher, some lower, all sharpened at the top, and about
a foot asunder: so that had any creature jumped at them, unless he had
gone clean over, which it was very hard to do, he would be hung upon
twenty or thirty spikes.