came into the latitude of 18 deg. north, and then stood away east, and
east-by-north, for the English factories of Surat, and the coast of
Malabar; not that we had any business there, or designed any, only that
we had a mind to take on board a quantity of rice, if we could come at
it; which at last, we effected by a Portuguese vessel, which we met with
at sea, bound to Goa, from the Gulf of Persia. We chased her, and
brought her too, indeed, as if we resolved to attack and take the ship;
but, finding a quantity of rice on board, which was what we wanted, with
a parcel of coffee, we took all the rice, but paid the supercargo, who
was a Persian or Armenian merchant, very honestly for the whole parcel,
his full price, and to his satisfaction; as for the coffee, we had no
occasion for it. We put in at several ports on the Indian coast for
fresh water and fresh provisions, but came near none of the factories,
because we had no mind to discover ourselves; for though we were to sail
through the very centre of the India trade, yet it was perfectly without
any business among them. We met indeed on this coast with some pearl
fishers, who had been in the mouth of the Arabian Gulf, and had a large
quantity of pearl on board. I would have traded with them for goods, but
they understood nothing but money, and I refused to part with it; upon
which the fellows gave our supercargo some scornful language, which
though he did not well understand what they said, yet he pretended to
take it as a great affront, and threatened to make prize of their barks,
and slaves of the men; upon which they grew very humble; and one of
them, a Malabar Indian, who spoke a little English, spoke for them, that
they would willingly trade with us for such goods as we had; whereupon I
produced three bales of English cloth, which I showed them, and said
they would be of good merchandise at Gombaroon in the Gulf, for that the
Persians made their long vests of such cloths.
In short, for this cloth, and some money, we bought a box of choice
pearls, which the chief of them had picked out from the rest for the
Portuguese merchants at Goa; and which, when I came to London, was
valued at two thousand two hundred pounds sterling.
We were near two months on our voyage from Madagascar to the coast of
India, and from thence to Ceylon, where we put in on the south-west part
of the island, to see what provisions we could get, and to take in a
large supply of water.
The people here we found willing to supply us with provisions; but
withal so sharp, imposing upon us their own rates for everything, and
withal, so false, that we were often provoked to treat them very rudely.
However, I gave strict orders that they should not be hurt upon any
occasion, at least till we had filled all our water-casks and taken in
what fresh provisions we could get, and especially rice, which we valued
very much. But they provoked us at last beyond all patience; for they
were such thieves when they were on board, and such treacherous rogues
when we were on shore, that there was no bearing with them; and two
accidents fell out upon this occasion which fully broke the peace
between us; one was on board, and the other on shore, and both happened
the same day.
The case on board was this. There came on board us a small boat, in
which were eleven men and three boys, to sell us roots, yams, mangoes,
and such other articles as was frequent for them to do every day; but
this boat having more goods of that kind than usual, they were longer
than ordinary in making their market. While they were thus chaffering on
board, one of them having wandered about the ship, and pretending to
admire everything he saw, and being gotten between decks, was taken
stealing a pair of shoes which belonged to one of the seamen. The fellow
being stopped for his theft, appeared angry, raised a hideous screaming
noise to alarm his fellows; and, at the same time, having stolen a long
pair of scissors, pulled them out, and stabbed the man who had laid hold
of him into the shoulder, and was going to repeat his blow, when the
poor fellow who had been wounded, having struck up his heels and fallen
upon him, had killed him if I had not called to take him off, and bring
the thief up to me.
Upon this order, they laid hold of the barbarian, and brought him up
with the shoes and the scissors that he had stolen, and as the fact was
plain, and needed no witnesses, I caused all the rest of them to be
brought up also; and, as well as we could, made them understand what he
had done.
They made pitiful signs of fear, lest they should all be punished for
his crime, and particularly when they saw the man whom he had wounded
brought in; then they expected nothing but death, and they made a sad
lamentation and howling, as if they were all to die immediately.
It was not without a great deal of difficulty that I found ways to
satisfy them, that nobody was to be punished but the man that had
committed the fact; and then I caused him to be brought to the gears,
with a halter about his neck, and be soundly whipped; and indeed, our
people did scourge him severely from head to foot; and, I believe, if I
had not run myself to put an end to it, they would have whipped him to
death.
When this punishment was over, they put him into their boat, and let
them all go on shore. But no sooner were they on shore, but they raised
a terrible outcry in all the villages and towns near them, and they were
not a few, the country being very populous; and great numbers came down
to the shore, staring at us, and making confused ugly noises, and
abundance of arrows they shot at the ship, but we rode too far from the
shore for them to do us any hurt.
While this was doing, another fray happened on shore, where two of our
men, bargaining with an islander and his wife for some fowls, they took
their money and gave them part of the fowls, and pretended the woman
should go and fetch the rest. While the woman was gone, three or four
fellows came to the man who was left; when talking a while together, and
seeing our men were but two, they began to take hold of the fowls which
had been sold, and would take them away again; when one of our men
stepped up to the fellow who had taken them, and went to lay hold of
him, but he was too nimble for him, and ran away, and carried off the
fowls and the money too. The seamen were so enraged to be so served,
that they took up their pieces, for they had both fire-arms with them,
and fired immediately after him, and aimed their shot so well, that
though the fellow flew like the wind, he shot him through the head, and
he dropped down dead upon the spot.
The rest of them, though terribly frightened, yet, seeing our men were
but two, and the noise bringing twenty or thirty more immediately to
them, attacked our men with their lances, and bows and arrows; and in a
moment there was a pitched battle of two men only against twenty or
thirty, and their number increasing too.
In short, our men spent their shot freely among them as long as it
lasted, and killed six or seven, besides wounding ten or eleven more,
and this cooled their courage, and they seemed to give over the battle;
and our men, whose ammunition was almost spent, began to think of
retreating to their boat, which was near a mile off, for they were very
unhappily gotten from their boat so far up the country.
They made their retreat pretty well for about half the way, when, on a
sudden, they saw they were not pursued only, but surrounded, and that
some of their enemies were before them. This made them double their
pace, and, seeing no remedy, they resolved to break through those that
were before them, who were about eleven or twelve. Accordingly, as soon
as they came within pistol shot of them, one of our men having, for want
of shot, put almost a handful of gravel and small stones into his piece,
fired among them, and the gravel and stones scattering, wounded almost
all of them; for they being naked from the waist upwards, the least
grain of sand scratched and hurt them, and made them bleed if it only
entered the skin.
Being thus completely scared, and indeed more afraid than hurt, they all
ran away, except two, who were really wounded with the shot or stones,
and lay upon the ground. Our men let them lie, and made the best of
their way to their boat; where, at last, they got safe, but with a great
number of the people at their heels. Our men did not stay to fire from
the boat, but put off with all the speed they could, for fear of
poisoned arrows, and the country people poured so many of their arrows
into the boat after them, and aimed them also so truly, that two of our
men were hurt with them; but, whether they were poisoned or not, our
surgeons cured them both.
We had enough of Ceylon; and having no business to make such a kind of
war as this must have been, in which we might have lost but could get
nothing, we weighed, and stood away to the East. What became of the
fellow that was lashed we knew not; but, as he had but little flesh
left on his back, which was not mangled and torn with our whipping him,
and we supposed they were but indifferent surgeons, our people said the
fellow could not live; and the reason they gave for it was, because they
did not pickle him after it. Truly, they said, that they would not be so
kind to him as to pickle him: for though pickling, that is to say,
throwing salt and vinegar on the back after the whipping, is cruel
enough as to the pain it is to the patient, yet it is certainly the way
to prevent mortification, and causes it to heal again with more ease.
We stood over from Ceylon east-south-east cross the great Bay of Bengal,
leaving all the coast of Coromandel, and standing directly for Achen, on
the north point of the great island of Sumatra, and in the latitude of
6 deg. 81' north.
Here we spread our French colours, and, coming to an anchor, suffered
none of our men to go on shore but Captain Merlotte and his Frenchmen;
and, having nothing to do there, or anywhere else in the Indian seas,
but to take in provisions and fresh water, we stayed but five days; in
which time we supplied ourselves with what the place would afford; and,
pretending to be bound for China, we went on to the south through the
straits of Malacca, between the island of Sumatra and the main or
isthmus of Malacca.
We had here a very difficult passage, though we took two pilots on board
at Achen, who pretended to know the straits perfectly well; twice we
were in very great danger of being lost, and once our Madagascar ship
was so entangled among rocks and currents, that we gave her up for lost,
and twice she struck upon the rocks, but she did but touch, and went
clear.
We went several times on shore among the Malayans, as well on the shore
of Malacca itself, as on the side of Sumatra. They are as fierce, cruel,
treacherous, and merciless a crew of human devils as any I have met with
on the face of the whole earth; and we had some skirmishes with them,
but not of any consequence. We made no stay anywhere in this strait but
just for fresh water, and what other fresh provisions we could get, such
as roots, greens, hogs, and fowls, of which they have plenty and a great
variety: but nothing to be had but for ready money; which our men took
so unkindly, and especially their offering two or three times to cheat
them, and once to murder them, that afterwards they made no scruple to
go on shore a hundred or more at a time, and plunder and burn what they
could not carry off; till at last we began to be such a terror to them,
that they fled from us wherever we came.
On the 5th of March we made the southernmost part of the Isthmus of
Malacca, and the island and straits of Sincapora, famous for its being
the great outlet into the Chinese sea, and lying in the latitude of 1 deg.
15' north latitude.
We had good weather through these straits, which was very much to our
comfort; the different currents and number of little islands making it
otherwise very dangerous, especially to strangers. We got, by very good
luck, a Dutch pilot to carry us through this strait, who was a very
useful, skilful fellow, but withal so impertinent and inquisitive, that
we knew not what to say to him nor what to do with him; at last he grew
saucy and insolent, and told our chief mate that he did not know but we
might be pirates, or at least enemies to his countrymen the Dutch; and
if we would not tell him who we were and whither we were bound, he would
not pilot us any farther.
This I thought very insolent, to a degree beyond what was sufferable;
and bade the boatswain put a halter about the fellow's neck, and tell
him that, the moment he omitted to direct the steerage as a pilot, or
the moment the ship come to any misfortune, or struck upon any rock, he
should be hung up.
The boatswain, a rugged fellow, provided himself with a halter, and
coming up to the pilot, asked him what it was he wanted to be satisfied
in?
The pilot said he desired to have a true account whither we were going.
Why, says the boatswain, we are agoing to the devil, and I shall send
you before to tell him we are coming; and with that he pulled the halter
out of his pocket and put it over his head, and taking the other end in
his hand, Come, says the boatswain, come along with me; do you think we
can't go through the strait of Sincapora without your help? I warrant
you, says he, we will do without you.
By this time it may be supposed the Dutchman was in a mortal fright, and
half choked too with being dragged by the throat with the halter, and,
full heartily he begged for his life: at length the boatswain, who had
pulled him along a good way, stopped and the Dutchman fell down on his
knees; but the boatswain said, he had the captain's orders to hang him,
and hang him he would, unless the captain recalled his orders; but that
he would stay so long, if anybody would go up to the captain and tell
him what the Dutchman said, and bring back an answer.
I had no design to hang the poor fellow, it is true, and the boatswain
knew that well enough. However, I was resolved to humble him
effectually, so I sent back two men to the boatswain, the first was to
tell the boatswain aloud that the captain was resolved to have the
fellow hanged, for having been so impudent to threaten to run the ship
aground; but then the second, who was to stay a little behind, was to
call out, as if he came since the first from me, and that I had been
prevailed with to pardon him, on his promises of better behaviour. This
was all acted to admiration; for the first messenger called aloud to the
boatswain, that the captain said he would have the Dutchman hanged for a
warning to all pilots, and to teach them not to insult men when they are
in difficulties, as the midwives do whores in labour, and will not
deliver them till they confess who is the father.
The boatswain had the end of the halter in his hand all the while; I
told you so, says he, before. Come, come along Mynheer, I shall quickly
do your work, and put you out of your pain; and then he dragged the poor
fellow along to the main-mast. By this time the second messenger came
in, and delivered his part of the errand, and so the poor Dutchman was
put out of his fright, and they gave him a dram to restore him a little,
and he did his business very honestly afterwards.
And now we were at liberty again, being in the open sea, which was what
we were very impatient for before. We made a long run over that part
which we call the sea of Borneo, and the upper part of the Indian
Arches, called so from its being full of islands, like the Archipelago
of the Levant. It was a long run, but, as we were to the north of the
islands, we had the more sea-room; so we steered east half a point, one
way or other, for the Manillas, or Philippine Islands, which was the
true design of our voyage; and, perhaps, we were the first ship that
ever came to those islands, freighted from Europe, since the Portuguese
lost their footing there.
We put in on the north coast of Borneo for fresh water, and were
civilly used by the inhabitants of the place, who brought us roots and
fruits of several kinds, and some goats, which we were glad of: we paid
them in trifles, such as knives, scissors, toys, and several sorts of
wrought iron, hatchets, hammers, glass-work, looking-glasses, and
drinking-glasses; and from hence we went away, as I said, for the
Philippine Islands.
We saw several islands in our way, but made no stop, except once for
water, and arrived at Manilla the 22nd of May, all our vessels in very
good condition, our men healthy, and our ships sound; having met with
very few contrary winds, and not one storm in the whole voyage from
Madagascar. We had now been seventeen months and two days on our voyage
from England.
When we arrived, we saluted the Spanish flag, and came to an anchor,
carrying French colours. Captain Merlotte, who now acted as commander,
sent his boat on shore the next day to the governor, with a respectful
letter in French; telling him that, having the King of France's
commission, and being come into those seas, he hoped that, for the
friendship which was between their most Christian and catholic
majesties, he should be allowed the freedom of commerce and the use of
the port; the like having been granted to his most Christian majesty's
subjects in all the ports of new Spain, as well in the southern as in
the northern seas.
The Spanish governor returned a very civil and obliging answer, and
immediately permitted us to buy what provisions we pleased for our
supply, or anything else for our use; but added, that, as for allowing
any exchange of merchandises, or giving leave for European goods to be
brought on shore there, he was not empowered to grant.
We made it appear as if this answer was satisfactory; and the next
morning Captain Merlotte sent his boat on shore with all French sailors
and a French midshipman, with a handsome present to the governor,
consisting of some bottles of French wines, some brandy, two pieces of
fine Holland, two pieces of English black baize, one piece of fine
French drugget, and five yards of scarlet woollen-cloth.
This was too considerable a present for a Spaniard to refuse; and yet
these were all European goods, which he seemed not to allow to come on
shore. The governor let the captain know that he accepted his present;
and the men who brought it were very handsomely entertained by the
governor's order, and had every one a small piece of gold; and the
officer who went at their head had five pieces of gold given him: what
coin it was I could not tell, but I think it was a Japan coin, and the
value something less than a pistole.
The next day the governor sent a gentleman with a large boat, and in it
a present to our captain, consisting of two cows, ten sheep, or goats,
for they were between both; a number of fowls of several sorts, and
twelve great boxes of sweetmeats and conserves; all of which were indeed
very acceptable; and invited the captain and any of his attendants on
shore, offering to send hostages on board for our safe return; and
concluding with his word of honour for our safety, and free going back
to our ships.
The captain received the present with very great respect, and indeed it
was a very noble present; for at the same time a boat was sent to both
the other ships with provisions and sweetmeats, in proportion to the
size of the vessels. Our captain caused the gentleman who came with this
present, to have a fine piece of crimson English cloth given him,
sufficient to make a waistcoat and breeches of their fashion, with a
very good hat, two pair of silk stockings, and two pair of gloves: and
all his people had a piece of drugget given them sufficient to make the
like suit of clothes; the persons who went to the other ship, and to the
brigantine, had presents in proportion.
This, in short, was neither more nor less than trading and bartering,
though, from supercilious punctilio, we had in a manner been denied it.
The next day the captain went on shore to visit the governor, and with
him several of our officers; and the captain of the Madagascar ship,
formerly my second mate, and the captain of the brigantine. I did not go
myself for that time, nor the supercargo, because, whatever might
happen, I would be reserved on board; besides, I did not care to appear
in this part of the business.
The captain went on shore like a captain, attended with his two
trumpeters, and the ship firing eleven guns at his going off. The
governor received him like himself, with prodigious state and formality;
sending five gentlemen and a guard of soldiers to receive him and his
men at their landing, and to conduct them to his palace.
When they came there they were entertained with the utmost profusion and
magnificence, after the Spanish manner; and they all had the honour to
dine with his excellence; that is to say, all the officers. At the same
time the men were entertained very handsomely in another house, and had
very good cheer; but it was observed that they had but very little wine,
except such as we had sent them, which the governor apologised for, by
saying his store, which he had yearly from New Spain, was nearly spent.
This deficiency we supplied the next day by sending him a quarter cask
of very good Canary, and half a hogshead of Madeira; which was a present
so acceptable, that, in short, after this, we might do just as we
pleased with him and all his men.
While they were thus conversing together after dinner, Captain Merlotte
was made to understand, that though the governor could not admit an open
avowed trade, yet that the merchants would not be forbid coming on board
our ship, and trading with us in such manner as we should be very well
satisfied with; after which, we should be at no hazard of getting the
goods we should sell put on shore; and we had an experiment of this made
in a few days, as follows:
When Captain Merlotte took his leave of the governor, he invited his
excellence to come on board our ship, with such of his attendants as he
pleased to bring with him, and in like manner offered hostages for his
return. The governor accepted the invitation, and with the same
generosity, said he would take his parole of honour given, as he was the
King of France's captain, and would come on board.
The governor did not come to the shore side with our people; but stood
in the window of the palace, and gave them the compliment of his hat and
leg at their going into their boats, and made a signal to the platform,
to fire eleven guns at their boats putting off.
These were unusual and unexpected honours to us, who, but for this
stratagem of the French commission, had been declared enemies. It was
suggested to me here, that I might with great ease surprise the whole
island, nay, all the islands, the governor putting such confidence in
us, that we might go on shore in the very fort unsuspected. But though
this was true, and that we did play them a trick at the Rio de la
Plata, I could not bear the thoughts of it here; besides, I had quite
another game to play, which would turn out more advantageous to us and
to our voyage, than an enterprise of so much treachery could be to
England, which also we might not be able to support from thence, before
the Spaniards might beat us out again from Acapulco, and then we might
pass our time ill enough.
Upon the whole, I resolved to keep every punctilio with the governor
very justly, and we found our account in it presently.
About three days afterwards we had notice that the governor would pay us
a visit, and we prepared to entertain his excellence with as much state
as possible. By the way, we had private notice that the governor would
bring with him some merchants, who, perhaps, might lay out some money,
and buy some of our cargo; nor was it without a secret intimation that
even the governor himself was concerned in the market that should be
made.
Upon this intelligence, our supercargo caused several bales of English
and French goods to be brought up and opened, and laid so in the
steerage and upon the quarter-deck of the ship, that the governor and
his attendants should see them of course as they passed by.
When the boats came off from the shore, which we knew by their fort
firing eleven guns, our ship appeared as fine as we could make her,
having the French flag at the main-top, as admiral, and streamers and
pendants at the yard-arms, waste cloths out, and a very fine awning over
the quarter-deck. When his excellency entered the ship, we fired
one-and-twenty guns, the Madagascar ship fired the like number, and the
brigantine fifteen, having loaded her guns nimbly enough to fire twice.
As the governor's entertainment to us was more meat than liquor, so we
gave him more liquor than meat; for, as we had several sorts of very
good wines on board, we spared nothing to let him see he was very
welcome. After dinner we brought a large bowl of punch upon the table, a
liquor he was a stranger to: however, to do him justice, he drank very
moderately, and so did most of those that were with him. As to the men
that belonged to his retinue, I mean servants and attendants, and the
crews of the boats, we made some of them drunk enough.
While this was doing, two gentlemen of the governor's company took
occasion to leave the rest and walk about the ship; and, in so doing,
they seemed, as it were by chance, to cast their eyes upon our bales of
cloth and stuffs, baize, linen, silks, &c, and our supercargo and they
began to make bargains apace, for he found they had not only money
enough, but had abundance of other things which we were as willing to
take as money, and of which they had brought specimens with them; as
particularly spices, such as cloves and nutmegs; also China ware, tea,
japanned ware, wrought silks, raw silk, and the like.