A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Viii Part 23

The 30th was calm all day, till three in the afternoon, when we had a fresh gale at S.W. with which we pa.s.sed the Cape of Good Hope by ten at night. The 1st August we were off Cape Aguillas; and on the 27th we saw the island of Madagascar, some six leagues off. In the afternoon of the 30th we anch.o.r.ed in the bay of St Augustine, in six and a half fathoms on coa.r.s.e gravel. In consequence of a great ledge of rocks off the mouth of the bay, we fell to _room-wards_, [leeward,] of the road, and had to get in upon a tack, having seven, six and a half, and five fathoms all the way, and on coming to anchor had the ledge and two islands to windward of us.

The 31st, our captain and Mr Davis went in the longboat to view the islands, and I myself as we went sounded close by the ledge, and had six fathoms. One of the islands is very small, as it were a mere bank of sand with nothing on it. The other is about a mile long, and half a mile broad, and has nothing upon it but some small store of wood. The 1st September, we weighed from our first anchorage, the ground being foul, so that our cable broke, and we lost an anchor in weighing, and came within two miles of the mouth of the river, where we anch.o.r.ed in five and a half fathoms fast ground, about three leagues from oar former anchorage. We got here plenty of sheep and beeves for little money, and having taken in wood and water, we weighed anchor on the 7th, taking to sea with us four goats, three sheep, and a heifer. We had an observation three miles from the island, before the bay of St Augustine, which we made to be in lat. 23 48' S.[265]

[Footnote 265: The tropic of Capricorn runs through the bay of St Augustine, being 23 30' S. rather nearer the south point of the bay; so that the lat.i.tude in the text must err at least 16' in excess.--E.]

The 12th November in the morning we saw an island, which we found to be _Engano_, or the Isle of Deceit, and came to its north side. This island is about five leagues in length, trending E. by S. and W. by N. the easter end is the highest, and the wester is full of trees. It is in lat. 5 30' S. and the variation is 4 13'. Having the wind at W.N.W. we steered away for the main of Sumatra E. by S. and E.S.E. with a pleasant gale but much rain, and next day had sight of Sumatra about four leagues from us. We anch.o.r.ed on the 14th in Bantam roads about four p.m. when we found all the merchants in good health, and all things in good order.

Next day our captain went on sh.o.r.e to speak with Mr Towerson, respecting the business of the ship, and it was agreed to send ash.o.r.e the lead and iron we brought with us. This being effected, and having fitted our ship in good order, and taken in our merchants and goods for the Moluccas, we took leave of the factory, and set sail for these islands on the 6th December.

"In the beginning of January, 1608, they arrived at the Moluccas. The rest of that month and the whole of February, was spent in compliments between them and the Spaniards and the Moluccan princes: the Spaniards not daring to allow them to trade without leave from their camp-master; and as he was embroiled with the Hollanders, he refused, unless they would aid him, or at least accompany their ships for shew of service against the Hollanders; which Captain Middleton refused, as contrary to his commission and instructions. In the mean time, they traded privately with the natives by night, and were jovial with the Spaniards by day, who both gave and received hearty welcome. In the beginning of March they had leave to trade, but this licence was revoked again in a few days, and they were commanded to be gone. Thus they spent their time till the 14th March, when they weighed anchor and set sail, having some little trade by the way. This part of the journal is long, and I have omitted it, as also in some other parts where I thought it might be tedious."[266]

[Footnote 266: This paragraph is by Purchas, by whom it is placed as here in the text.--E.]

The 23d March, we entered the Straits of _Bangaya_,[267] where the captain proposed to seek for water. While uncertain where to seek it, there came off a praw from the island, by which we learnt that good water might be had on the east sh.o.r.e, where we anch.o.r.ed in 60 fathoms in a most cruel current. Our long-boat was then sent for water, conducted by the Indian who came in the praw, from whom our people procured some fresh fish at a cheap rate in exchange for china dishes. In the morning of the 24th we went for another boat-load of water; and this morning by daybreak the natives came off to us in above 100 praws, carrying men, women, and children, and brought us great quant.i.ties of fish, both dried and fresh, which they sold very cheap. They brought us also hogs, both great and small, with plenty of poultry, which they sold very reasonably for coa.r.s.e white cloth and china dishes; likewise plantains, _ca.s.sathoe_ roots, and various kinds of fruit. The natives remained on board the whole day in such numbers, that we could sometimes hardly get from one part of the deck to another for them. In the afternoon the King of _Bottone_, or Booton, sent some plantains to our captain, and a kind of liquor for drinking called _Irea-pote_, in return for which the captain sent back a rich painted calico. About ten at night we weighed anchor, in doing which we broke the flukes of both our starboard anchors, for which reason we had to man our long-boat, and tow the ship all night against the current, which otherwise would have carried us farther to leewards than we could have made up again in three days, unless we had got a fresh gale of wind, so strong is the current at this place.

[Footnote 267: From circ.u.mstances in the sequel, these Straits of Bangaya appear to have been between the island of Booton, in about lat.

5 S. and long. 123 20' E., and the south-east leg or peninsula of the island of Celebes.--E.]

The 19th April the King of Booton sent one of his brothers again on board,[268] to know if he might come to see the ship, of which he was very desirous, having often heard of Englishmen, but had never seen any; on which our captain sent him word that he should think himself much honoured by a visit. The king came immediately off in his _caracol_, rowed by at least an hundred oars or paddles, having in her besides about 400 armed men, and six pieces of bra.s.s cannon; being attended by five other caracols, which had at the least 1000 armed men in them. On coming up, our captain sent our surgeon, Francis Kelly, as an hostage for the king's safety; when he came on board, and was kindly welcomed by our captain, who invited him to partake of a banquet of sweetmeats, which he readily accepted. Captain Middleton then made enquiry as to what commodities the king had for sale in his dominions. He made answer, that they had pearls, tortoise-sh.e.l.l, and some cloth of their own manufacture, which we supposed might be of striped cotton. The king said farther, as we were unacquainted with the place, he would send a pilot to conduct us. Captain Middleton then requested to see some of the pearls; but he said he had not brought any with him, meaning only a jaunt of pleasure, but if we would come to Booton, which was only a day and night's sail from thence, we should see great store of pearls, and such other things as he had for sale. The captain and factor, considering that this was very little out of the way to Bantam, thought best to agree to this offer, and presented the king with a musket, a sword, and a pintado, thanking him for his kindness. The king replied, that he had not now any thing worth giving, but promised to repay these civilities before we left Booton, giving at the same time two pieces of their country cloth.

[Footnote 268: Something has probably been here omitted by Purchas, as we hear nothing of their transactions between the 24th March and 19th April.--E.]

About three p.m. the king took his leave, promising to send a pilot in all speed to carry us to the town of Booton, and by the time we weighed anchor the pilot came on board. At night the king sent one of his caracols to us, to see if we wanted any thing, and to accompany us to Booton; sending at the same time a goat to the captain. We stood for Booton with a small gale, which at night died away, so that we had to drop anchor in 22 fathoms, not willing to drift to leeward with the current; and next morning we again weighed and stood for Booton.

The 22d, about ten a.m. our purser came on board, having been sent on sh.o.r.e the night before, and brought with him some c.o.c.ks and hens. He told us that the Indians had carried him to a king, who was glad to see him, having never before seen any Englishmen.[269] At his first coming to the king's house, he was carousing and drinking with his n.o.bles, all round where he sat being hung with human heads, whom he had recently slain in war. After some little stay, the purser took his leave, and lay all night on board the caracol. This night we anch.o.r.ed in 20 fathoms, in a strait or pa.s.sage not half a mile wide. The 23d, in the morning, we again weighed, and, having very little wind, our long-boat towed us through the straits, and as the tide was with us we went a-head a-main; so that by eleven o'clock a.m. we were in sight of the town of Booton, and came to anchor in 25 fathoms, about a mile and a half from the town, where we waited for the king to come on board, but he came not that night. We sent, however, our boat on sh.o.r.e, and bought fresh fish for our company.

[Footnote 269: There is some strange obscurity in the text about this new king, called in the margin by Purchas the king of _Cobina_.--E.]

The king came up under our stern about one p.m. of the 24th, having with him some forty caracols, and rowed round us very gallantly, hoisting his colours and pendants; after which they rowed back to the town, and our captain saluted them with a volley of small arms and all his great guns.

He then caused man our long-boat, and went ash.o.r.e to the town of Booton, accompanied by Mr Siddal and others. The king saluted our captain on landing, both with small arms and ordnance, saying that his heart was now contented, as he had seen the English nation, promising to shew our captain all the kindness in his power. The captain humbly thanked him, and took his leave for the present, coming again on board.

Next morning, the 25th April, we weighed anchor and stood farther into the road, anchoring again in 27 fathoms within half a mile of the sh.o.r.e.

This morning there came on board a Javan _nakhada,_ or ship-master, who had a junk in the roads laden with cloves, which he had brought from Amboina, with whom Mr Siddal our factor talked, as the Javan offered to sell all his cloves to our captain.

This day the king invited our captain to dine with him, begging him to excuse the homely fashion of their country. The meat was served up in great wooden chargers, closely covered up with cloths, and the king with our captain and Mr Siddal dined together, where we had great cheer, our drink being _Irea-pote_, which was sweet-tasted and very pleasant, the king being very merry. After dinner we had some talk about the cloves which we proposed to purchase; and the king promised to come next day on board himself or to send some of his attendants, to examine our cloth.

The captain then gave the king great thanks for his kindness, and went on board.

The 26th, the king's uncle came off to see our ship, and was kindly entertained by the captain. The king's brother came afterwards on board, and remained to dinner with the captain, and after took leave. We expected the king, but he came not that day, sending his son and the pilot to view our cloth, which they liked very well. The king and his son came on board on the 27th, and dined with the captain, who gave them good cheer; and the king being very merry, wished to see some of our people dance, which several of them did before him, when he was much pleased both with our dancing and music. At night the king's uncle sent our captain four fat hogs.

The 28th, the king of another island near Booton came in his caracol, accompanied by his wife, to view our ship, but could not be prevailed on to come aboard. Our ship being now laden with cloves bought of the Javans, our captain bought some slaves from the king; and while we were very busy this night, one of them stole out from the cabin and leapt into the sea to swim ash.o.r.e, so that we never heard of him more. Next morning the captain sent Augustine Spalding, our _Jurabossa,_ to inform the king of the slave having made his escape, who presently gave him another.

May 3d, we proceeded for Bantam, saluting the town of Booton at our departure with three guns. The 3d, we had sight of the Straits of Celebes, for which we made all sail, but could not get into them that night. The 23d May, we anch.o.r.ed in the road of Bantam, where we did not find a single Christian ship, and only four junks from China, having taffaties, damasks, satins, and various other commodities. Having finished all our business here, the captain and merchants took leave on the 15th July, 1608, when we presently made sail from the road of Bantam, bound home for our native England.

_Note_.--At this place Purchas observes, "To avoid tiring the readers, the rest of this voyage homewards is omitted; instead of which we have set down a table of the journal of this ship from the Lizard to Bantam, as set forth by John Davis."--On this paragraph of Purchas, the editor of Astley's Collection remarks, I. 335. c. "But we meet with no such table in Purchas, neither is any reason a.s.signed why it is omitted, so that many may believe these copies of Purchas imperfect. This Davis was probably the same who went with Sir Edward Michelburne, and who published some nautical directions, as already observed."

It is singular that the editor of Astley's Collection, with Purchas his Pilgrims before him, and perfectly aware of the Directions by John Davis "For ready sailing to the East Indies, digested into a plain Method, upon Experience of Five Voyages thither and Home again," should not have discovered or conjectured, that the promised table is actually published by Purchas in the first volume of his Pilgrims, p. 444--455.--E.

SECTION VIII.

_Fourth Voyage of the English East India Company, in_ 1608, _by Captain Alexander Sharpey_.[270]

INTRODUCTION.

The relation of this fourth voyage fitted out by the English East India Company, and of various circ.u.mstances arising out of it, as given by Purchas, consists of four different narratives, to which the editor of Astley's Collection adds a fifth, here adopted from him. The following are the remarks in Astley, respecting this voyage and its several narratives.

[Footnote 270: Purch. Pilgr. I. 228, Astley, I. 336.]

In this voyage there were employed two good ships; the Ascension admiral, commanded by Captain Alexander Sharpey, general of the adventure; and the Union vice-admiral, under the command of Captain Richard Rowles, lieutenant-general. As these vessels separated at the Cape of Good Hope, and the Ascension was cast away in the bay of Cambaya, they may be considered as separate voyages, of which we have distinct relations.

There are two accounts extant of the voyage of the Ascension; one written by Captain Robert Coverte, and the other by Thomas Jones. There was a third, written by Henry Moris at Bantam, from the mouth of William Nichols, one of the sailors belonging to the Ascension; but as the voyage part was the same in substance as that given by Jones, Purchas omitted that part, and only inserted the journey of Nichols by land from Surat to Masulipatam; which requires to be inserted, although his remarks on the road to Masulipatam, and his voyage from thence to Bantam, are comprised in very few words.

The relation of Captain Coverte is not inserted in the Pilgrims of Purchas, who omitted it, because, as he tells us, it was already in print. Its t.i.tle runs thus: A true and almost incredible Report of an Englishman, that, being cast away in the good Ship called the Ascension, in Cambaya, the furthest Part of the East Indies, travelled by Land through many unknown Kingdoms and great Cities. With a particular Description of all these Kingdoms, Cities, and People. As also a Relation of their Commodities and Manner of Traffic, &c. With the Discovery of a great Empire, called the _Great Mogul_, a Prince not till now known to the English Nation. By Captain Coverte. London, printed by William Hall, for Thomas Archer and Richard Redmer, 1612.

The circ.u.mstance of this narrative having been before printed, is a very insufficient reason for its omission, since Purchas inserted many others which were before in print, and few tracts had a better t.i.tle for insertion, than this of Coverte. _De Bry_, however, knew its value, and gave a translation of it with cuts, in his _Ind. Orient._ part xi. p.

11. but divided into chapters, the original being in one continued narrative. It is true that Purchas has given an extract from it in his _Pilgrimage_, book V. chap. vii. sect. 5. a work on general geography entirely different from his _Pilgrims_, or Collection of Voyages and Travels; but this is very imperfect, and only refers to his land journey.

This voyage of Coverte contains sixty-eight pages in quarto, black letter, besides the dedication and t.i.tle, which occupy four pages more.

It is dedicated to Robert Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer of England; but there is nothing in the dedication worth notice, except that he says, after the wreck of the Ascension, and getting on sh.o.r.e with seventy-four others, he was the only one among them who would venture upon so _desperate an undertaking_ as to travel home by land. He likewise a.s.serts that every thing he relates is true, protesting that he speaks of nothing but what he had seen and suffered.

In this place, we shall only abstract the author's voyage to Cambaya; and, instead of his journey home through India, Persia, and Turkey, [which will be inserted among the Travels,[271]] shall give the account of Jones of his own return from Cambaya by sea to England. This voyage lays claim to two discoveries, that of the Moguls country, as appears in the tide, though Captain Hawkins had got the start of him there; and the discovery of the Bed Sea by the Ascension, as mentioned in the t.i.tle of the relation by Jones in Purchas.--_Astley_.

[Footnote 271: This promise is not however performed in Astley's Collection. In the Pilgrims, I. 235, Purchas has inserted the peregrination of Mr Joseph Salbank through India, Persia, part of Turkey, the Persian Gulf, and Arabia, in 1609, written to Sir Thomas Smith; and tells us in a sidenote, that Robert Coverte was his companion in the journey all the way through India and Persia, to Bagdat. We meant to have inserted these peregrinations as a subst.i.tute for those of Coverte, but found the names of places so inexplicably corrupted, as to render the whole entirely useless.--E.]

In Astley's Collection, copying from Purchas, a brief account of the same voyage is given, as written by Thomas Jones, who seems to have been carpenter or boatswain of the Ascension, and whose narrative differs in some particulars from that of Coverte, though they agree in general.

Instead of augmenting our pages by the insertion of this additional narrative, we have only remarked in notes the material circ.u.mstances in which they differ. Neither can be supposed very accurate in dates, as both would probably lose their journals when shipwrecked near Surat.

We have likewise added, in supplement to the narrative of Coverte, such additional circ.u.mstances as are supplied by Jones, after the loss of the ship.--E.

-- 1. _Relation of this Voyage, as written by Robert Coverte_.[272]

We weighed anchor from Woolwich on the 14th of March, 1608, and came to the Downs over against Deal, three miles from Sandwich, where we remained till the 25th, when we sailed for Plymouth. Leaving that place with a fair gale on the 31st, we arrived at the _Salvages_, 500 leagues from thence, on the 10th of April, and came next morning in sight of the Grand Canary. Casting anchor there at midnight, we fired a gun for a boat to come off: But the Spaniards, fearing we were part of a squadron of twelve Hollanders, expected in these seas, instead of sending any one on board, sent into the country for a body of 150 horse and foot to defend the town; neither were their fears abated till two of our factors went ash.o.r.e, and acquainted them that we were two English ships in want of some necessaries. Next morning we fired another gun, when the governor sent off a boat to know what we wanted. Having acquainted him, he made answer, that it was not in his power to relieve our wants, unless we came into the roads. Yet, having examined our factors upon oath, they had a warrant for a boat at their pleasure, to go between the sh.o.r.e and the ships with whatever was wanted. What we most wondered at, was the behaviour of two ships then in the roads, known by their colours to be English, the people of which had not the kindness to apprize us of the customs of the _subtile currish_ Spaniards. It is the custom here, when any foreign ship comes into the roads, that no person of the same nation even, or any other, must go on board without leave from the governor and council.

[Footnote 272: Astley, I. 336.--In Astley's Collection, this person is named captain; but it does not appear wherefore he had this t.i.tle.--E.]

During five days that we remained here, some of the Spaniards came on board every day, and eat and drank with us in an insatiable manner. The general also made a present to the governor of two cheeses, a gammon of bacon, and five or six barrels of pickled oysters, which he accepted very thankfully, and sent in return two or three goats and sheep, and plenty of onions. We there took in fresh water, Canary wine, marmalade of quinces at twelve-pence a pound, little barrels of _suckets_, or sweetmeats, at three shillings a barrel, oranges, lemons, _pame citrons_, and excellent white bread baked with aniseeds, called _nuns-bread_.

We set sail on the 18th April in the morning, with a fair wind, which fell calm in three hours, which obliged us to hover till the 21st, when a brisk gale sprung up, with which we reached Mayo, one of the Cape Verd islands, in the afternoon of the 27th, 300 leagues from the Canaries, where we came to anchor, determining to take in water at Bonavista; but finding the water not clear, and two or three miles inland, we took the less, but had other good commodities. At our arrival we were told by two negroes, that we might have as many goats as we pleased for nothing; and accordingly we got about 200 for both ships. They told us also, that there were only twelve men on the island, and that there was plenty of white salt _growing out of the ground_,[273] so that we might have loaded both ships. It was excellent white salt, as clear as any that I ever saw in England. Eight leagues from Mayo is the island of St Jago.

[Footnote 273: This must be understood as formed naturally by evaporation, owing to the heat of the sun, in some places where the sea-water stagnates after storms or high tide.--E.]

We left Mayo on the 4th May at six in the morning, and pa.s.sed the equinoctial line at the same hour on the 20th.[274] The 14th July, we came to Saldanha bay, having all our men in health except two, who were a little touched, with the scurvy, but soon recovered on sh.o.r.e. That day we had sight of the Cape of Good Hope, 15 or 16 leagues from hence. We refreshed ourselves excellently at Saldanha bay, where we took in about 400 cattle, as oxen, steers, sheep, and lambs; with fowls, plenty of fish of various kinds, and fresh water. At Penguin island, five or six leagues from the land, there are abundance of the birds of that name, and infinite numbers of seals. With these latter animals we filled our boat twice, and made train-oil for our lamps. From this island we took off six fat sheep, left there by the Hollanders for a pinnace which we met 200 leagues from the Cape, and left six bullocks in their stead. On our first arrival at Saldanha bay, we set up our pinnace, which we launched on the 5th September, and in six or eight days after she was rigged and fit for sea.

[Footnote 274: Jones observes, that after pa.s.sing the line, they fell in with the _trade-wind_, which blows continually between S.E. and S.E. by E. the farther one goes to the southwards, finding it still more easterly, all the way between the line and the tropic of Capricorn. This almost intolerable obstacle to the outward-bound India voyage, was afterwards found easy to be avoided, by keeping a course to the westward, near the coast of Brazil.