A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume X Part 27

WE weighed anchor on the 10th January, 1710, from Porta Leguro, on the coast of California, but were becalmed under the sh.o.r.e till the afternoon of the 12th, when a breeze sprang up which soon carried us out of sight of land. Being very slenderly provided, we were forced to allow only a pound and a half of flour, and one small piece of beef, to five men in a mess, together with three pints of water a man, for twenty-four hours, to serve both as drink and for dressing their victuals. We also lowered ten of our guns into the hold, to ease our ship. On the 16th the Bachelor made a signal that she could spare us some additional bread, having discovered a considerable store of bread and sweet-meats, though very little flesh meat. Accordingly, we in the Duke had a thousand weight of bread for our share, the d.u.c.h.ess had as much, and the Marquis five hundred weight; and in return we sent them two casks of flour, one of English beef; and one of pork, as they had only left forty-five days provisions of flesh. We now agreed to proceed in a W.S.W. course till we reached the lat.i.tude of 13 N. and to keep in that parallel till we should make the island of Guam, being informed by our Spanish pilot that the parallel of 14 was dangerous, by reason of certain islands and shoals, on which a Spanish ship had been lost some time ago.

On the 11th March we had sight both of _Guam_ and _Serpana,_ the former bearing W.S.W. five leagues off, and the latter N.N.W. seven leagues.

The Spaniards say there is a great shoal between these islands, but nearest to Serpana. While running along the sh.o.r.e of Guam there came several flying proas to look at us, but run past with great swiftness, and none of the people would venture on board. The necessity of our stopping at this island for a supply of provisions was very great, our sea store being almost exhausted, and what remained being in a very ordinary condition, especially our bread and flour, of which we had not enough for fourteen days, even at the shortest allowance. In order to procure provisions readily, we endeavoured to get some of the natives on board from the proas, that we might detain them as hostages, in case of having to send any of our men to the governor. While turning into the harbour under Spanish colours, one of the proas came under our stern, in which were two Spaniards, who came on board in consequence of being a.s.sured that we were friends. Soon after we sent a respectful letter to the governor, to which we next day received a civil answer, and a generous offer of any thing we needed that the island could supply.

Several of our officers went ash.o.r.e to wait upon the governor on the 16th, and were well received and elegantly entertained; making the governor a present of two negro boys dressed in rich liveries, twenty yards of scarlet cloth, and six pieces of cambric, with which he seemed to be much pleased, and promised in return to give us every a.s.sistance in his power.

Next day, accordingly, we had a large supply of provisions, our share in the Duke being about sixty hogs, ninety-nine fowls, twenty-four baskets of maize, fourteen bags of rice, forty-two baskets of yams, and 800 cocoa-nuts. We afterwards got some bullocks, fourteen to each ship, being small lean cattle, yet gladly accepted, to which were afterwards added two cows and two calves to each ship; and we made a handsome present to the deputy governor, who was very active in getting our provisions collected. Leaving Guam, we proposed to go for some way directly west, to clear some islands that were in the way, and then to steer for the S.E. part of Min-danao, and from thence the nearest way to Ternate. In the afternoon of the 14th April we made land, which bore from us W.N.W. ten leagues, and which we supposed to be the N.E. part of Celebes. This day we saw three water-spouts, one of which had like to have fallen on board the Marquis, but the d.u.c.h.ess broke it before it reached her by firing two guns. On the 18th May, we pa.s.sed through between the high land of New Guinea and the island of Gilolo, and on the 20th we made another high island which we took to be Ceram, yet, notwithstanding the skill and experience of Captain Dampier, we were at a loss to know whether it were Ceram or Bouro. On the 24th, at noon, we made our lat.i.tude 4 30' S. and estimated our longitude at 237 29' W.

from London, and being in the lat.i.tude of the southern part of Bouro,[229] we imputed our not seeing it to the currents setting us to the westwards. We designed to have touched at Amboina for refreshments, but the S.E. monsoon was already set in, and we were out of hope of being able to reach that place. In a consultation on the 25th, we resolved not to spend time in searching for Bouro, and also to desist from attempting to go to Amboina, and to make the best of our way for the Straits of Bouton, where we hoped to get sufficient provisions to carry us to Batavia. We got into a fine large bay in Bouton, where we sent our pinnace on sh.o.r.e, which brought off some cocoa nuts, reporting there were plenty to be had, and that the Malay inhabitants seemed friendly.

[Footnote 229: The south part of Bouro is only in lat. 3 50' S. and about 283 W. from Greenwich, or London.--E.]

Up this bay we saw several houses and boats, and many of the Malay natives walking about on the beach. We here sent our boats for provisions and pilots while the ships turned up the bay nearer to the town. On sounding frequently we could find no ground, but the natives told us of a bank opposite the town on which we might anchor. In the meantime abundance of people came off to us, bringing wheat, cocoa-nuts, yams, potatoes, papaws, hens, and several other kinds of birds, to truck for cloths, knives, scissars, and toys. These people were to appearance very civil, being Mahometans of middle stature and dark tawny complexions, but their women somewhat clearer than the men. The men that came off were all naked, except a cloth round their middles, but some of the better sort had a sort of loose waistcoat, and a piece of linen rolled round their heads, with a cap of palm leaves to keep off the scorching rays of the sun. Along the sh.o.r.e we saw several weirs for catching fish. In turning up, the prize lost ground considerably, as the current was strong against us, wherefore the d.u.c.h.ess fired a gun in the evening to recall us and the Marquis, and which we ran out and drove all night. The names of these two islands forming this bay are _Cambava_ and _Waushut_, being in lat. 5 13' S. and long 238 W. from London.[230]

Being much in want of water and provisions, we made another effort to get back to this bay; and on the 30th, a proa came to us from the king of Bouton, having a n.o.ble on board without either shoes or stockings, and a pilot to carry us up to the town. He brought each commander a piece of striped Bouton cloth, a bottle of arrack, some baskets of rice, and other articles, as presents from the king; yet the first thing he said on coming aboard, was to ask us how we durst venture to come here to anchor, without first having leave from the great king of Bouton?

[Footnote 230: Cambaya, a considerable island to the W. of Bouton, is in lat. 5 20' S. and long. 237 40' W. from Greenwich, nearly in the situation pointed out in the text.--E.]

This proa brought us letters from our officers that had been sent to wait upon the king, and to endeavour to procure provisions, which stated that they had been well received, and that the town in which the king resided was large and fortified, and had several great guns. We sent back a present to the king by his messenger, and five guns were fired by each of our ships at his departure, with which he seemed well pleased.

We wooded and watered at the island of _Sampo,_ and several proas came off to us with fowls, maize, pompions, papaws, lemons, Guinea corn, and other articles, which they trucked for knives, scissars, old clothes, and the like. The people were civil, but sold every thing very dear; and as our officers staid longer at the town than was intended, we began to suspect they were detained, as the Mahometans are very treacherous. We heard from them, however, every day; and on the 5th Mr Connely came down, and told us there were four lasts of rice coming down from the king, for which it had been agreed to pay 600 dollars, and that Mr Vanburgh had been detained in security of payment. The rice came next morning, and was distributed equally among our four ships, some great men coming along with it to receive the money. At this time also we in our turn detained a Portuguese who came from the king, till our boat should be allowed to return; and after this, provisions became more plentiful and cheaper.

The town of _Bouton_ is built on the acclivity of a hill, and on the top of the hill is a fort surrounded by an old stone wall, on which some guns and pattereroes are placed. The king and a considerable number of people dwell in this fort, in which a market is held every day for the sale of provisions. The king has five wives, besides several concubines, being attended by four men carrying great canes with silver heads, who are called _pury ba.s.sas,_ and who seem to manage all his affairs. His majesty goes always bare-footed and bare-legged, being for the most part clad like a Dutch skipper, with a sort of green gauze covering strewed with spangles over his long black hair; but when he appears in state, he wears a long calico gown over his jacket, and sits on a chair covered with red cloth. He is always attended by a sergeant and six men armed with match-locks; besides three others, one of whom wears a head-piece and carries a large drawn scymitar, another has a shield, and a third a large fan. Four slaves sit at his feet, one holding his betel box, another a lighted match, the third his box of tobacco for smoking, and the fourth a spitting bason. The petty kings and other great men sit on his left hand and before him, every one attended by a slave, and they chew betel or tobacco in his presence, sitting cross-legged, and when they speak to him they lift their hands joined to their foreheads.

The town of Bouton is very populous, and beside it runs a fine river, said to come from ten miles up the country. The tide ebbs and flows a considerable way up this river, which has a bar at its mouth, so that boats cannot go in or come out at low water. At least 1500 boats belong to this river, fifty of which are war proas, armed with pattereroes, and carrying forty or fifty men each. Fifty islands are said to be tributary to this king, who sends his proas once a year to gather their stated tribute, which consists in slaves, every island giving him ten inhabitants out of every hundred. There is one mosque, in Boutan, which is supplied with priests from Mocha, the people being Mahometans. They are great admirers of music, their houses are built on posts, and their current money is Dutch coins and Spanish dollars. On the 7th our pinnace returned with Mr Vanburgh and all our people, having parted from his majesty on friendly terms, but could not procure a pilot. We resolved, however, not to stay any longer, but to trust to Providence for our future preservation: wherefore we began to unmoor our ships, and dismissed our Portuguese linguist.

Next day, the 8th June, we made three islands to the north of _Salayer._ On the 10th our pinnace came up with a small vessel, the people on board of which said they were bound for the Dutch factory of Maca.s.ser on the S.W. coast of Celebes. The pinnace brought away the master of this vessel, who engaged to pilot us through the Straits of Salayer and all the way to Batavia, if we would keep it secret from the Dutch, and he sent his vessel to lie in the narrowest part of the pa.s.sage between the islands, till such time as our ships came up. On the 14th we pa.s.sed the island of Madura, and on the 17th we made the high land of Cheribon, which bore S.W. from us. This morning we saw a great ship right ahead, to which I sent our pinnace for news. She was a ship of Batavia of 600 tons and fifty guns, plying to some of the Dutch factories for timber. Her people told us that we were still thirty Dutch leagues from Batavia, but there was no danger by the way, and they even supplied us with a large chart, which proved of great use to us. Towards noon we made the land, which was very low, but had regular soundings, by which we knew how to sail in the night by means of the lead; in the afternoon we saw the ships in the road of Batavia, being between thirty and forty sail great and small; and at six in the evening we came to anchor, in between six and seven fathoms, in the long-desired port of Batavia, in lat 6 10' S. and long. 252 51' W. from London.[231] We had here to alter our account of time, having lost almost a day in going round the world so far in a western course.

[Footnote 231: The lat.i.tude in the text is sufficiently accurate, but the longitude is about a degree short. It ought to have been 253 54' W.

from Greenwich--E.]

After coming in sight of Batavia, and more especially after some sloops or small vessels had been aboard of us, I found that I was quite a stranger to the dispositions and humours of our people, though I had sailed so long with them. A few days before they were perpetually quarrelling, and a disputed lump of sugar was quite sufficient to have occasioned a dispute. But now, there was-nothing but hugging and shaking of hands, blessing their good stars, and questioning if such a paradise existed on earth; and all because they had arrack for eight-pence a gallon, and sugar for a penny a pound. Yet next minute they were all by the ears, disputing about who should put the ingredients together; for the weather was so hot, and the ingredients so excessively cheap, that a little labour was now a matter of great importance among them.

Soon after our arrival at Batavia we proceeded to refit our ships, beginning with the Marquis; but on coming down to her bends, we found both these and the stern and stern-port so rotten and worm-eaten, that on a survey of carpenters she was found incapable of being rendered fit for proceeding round the Cape of Good Hope, on which we had to hire a vessel to take in her loading. We then applied ourselves to refit the other ships, which we did at the island of Horn, not being allowed to do so at _Onrust_, where the Dutch clean and careen all their ships. We hove down the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess and Bachelor, the sheathing of which ships were very much worm-eaten in several places. In heaving down, the d.u.c.h.ess sprung her fore-mast, which we replaced by a new one. When the ships were refitted, we returned to Batavia road, where we rigged three of them, and sold the Marquis, after taking out all her goods and stores, and distributing her officers and men into the others. During our stay at Batavia, the weather was exceedingly hot, and many of our officers and men fell sick, among whom I was one, the prevalent disease being the flux, of which the master of the Duke and gunner of the d.u.c.h.ess died, and several of our men. A young man belonging to the d.u.c.h.ess, having ventured into the sea to swim, had both his legs snapped off by a shark, and while endeavouring to take him on board, the shark bit off the lower part of his belly. We were allowed free access to the town and markets, yet found it difficult to procure salt-meat, so that we had to kill bullocks for ourselves, and pickled the flesh, taking out all the bones. Arrack, rice, and fowls were very cheap, and we bought beef for two _stivers_, or two-pence a pound.

There are various descriptions of this famous city, yet, as what I have to say may serve to exhibit a state of things as they were when we were there, I flatter myself that the following succinct account may neither be found useless nor disagreeable. The city of Batavia is situated on the N.W. side of the famous island of Java, in lat. 5 50' S.[232]

During the whole year the east and west monsoons, or trade-winds, blow along sh.o.r.e; besides which it is refreshed by the ordinary land and sea breezes, which greatly cool the air, otherwise it would be intolerably hot. The summer begins here in May, and continues till the end of October, or beginning of November, during all which period there is a constant breeze from the east, with a clear serene sky. The winter commences in the end of October, or beginning of November, with excessive rains, which sometimes continue for three or four days without intermission. In December the west-wind blows with such violence as to stop all navigation on the coast of Java. In February the weather is changeable, with frequent sudden thunder-gusts. They begin to sow in March; June is the pleasantest month; and in September they gather in their rice, and cut the sugar-canes. In October they have abundance of fruits and flowers, together with plants and herbs in great variety.

Around the city there is an extensive fenny plain, which has been greatly improved and cultivated by the Dutch; but to the east it still remains enc.u.mbered by woods and marshes. The city of Batavia is of a square form, surrounded by a strong wall, on which are twenty-two bastions, and has a river running through it into the sea. About the year 1700 there was a great earthquake in Java, which overturned some part of the mountains in the interior of the island, by which the course of the river was altered; and since then the ca.n.a.ls in Batavia and the neighbourhood have not been nearly so commodious as formerly, nor has the entrance of the river been so deep; and for want of a strong current to keep it open, the Dutch have been obliged to employ a great machine to preserve the navigation of the mouth of the river, so as to admit small vessels into the ca.n.a.ls which pervade the city. Batavia lies in a bay in which there are seventeen or eighteen islands, which so effectually protect it from the sea, that though large, the road is very safe. The banks of the ca.n.a.ls are raced on both sides with stone quays, as far as the boom, which is shut up every night, and guarded by soldiers. All the streets are in straight lines, most of them being, above thirty feet broad on both sides, besides the ca.n.a.ls, and they are all paved with bricks next the houses. All the streets are well-built and fully inhabited, fifteen of them having ca.n.a.ls for small vessels, communicating with the main river, and shut up by booms, at which they pay certain tolls for admission; and these ca.n.a.ls are crossed by fifty-six bridges, mostly of stone. There are numerous country-seats around the city, most of them neat and well contrived, with handsome fruit and flower gardens, ornamented with fountains and statues; and vast quant.i.ties of cocoa-nut trees planted in numerous groves, every where afford delightful shade. Batavia has many fine buildings, particularly the Cross-church, which is handsomely built of stone, and very neatly fitted up within. There are two or three other churches for the Dutch presbyterians, and two for the Portuguese catholics, who are a mixed race, besides one church for the Malay protestants. In the centre of the city is the town-house, handsomely built of brick in form of a square, and two stories high. In this all the courts are held, and all matters respecting the civil government of the city are determined.

There are also hospitals, speir-houses, and rasp-houses, as in Amsterdam, with many other public buildings, not inferior to those of most European cities.

[Footnote 232: The lat.i.tude of Batavia is 6 15' S. and its longitude 106 7' E. from Greenwich.--E.]

The Chinese are very numerous, and carry on the greatest trade here, farming most of the excise and customs, being allowed to live according to their own laws, and to exercise their idolatrous worship. They have a chief of their own nation, who manages their affairs with the company, by which they are allowed great privileges, having even a representative in the council, who has a vote when any of their nation is tried for his life. These high privileges are only allowed to such of the Chinese as are domicilled here, all others being only permitted to remain six months in the city, or on the island of Java. The Chinese have also a large hospital for their sick and aged, and manage its funds so well, that a dest.i.tute person of that nation is never to be seen on the streets.

The Dutch women have here much greater privileges than in Holland, or any where else; as on even slight occasions they can procure divorces from their husbands, sharing the estate between them. A lawyer at this place told me, that he has known, out of fifty-eight causes depending at one time before the council-chamber, fifty-two of them for divorces.

Great numbers of native criminals are chained in pairs, and kept to hard labour under a guard, in cleaning the ca.n.a.ls and ditches of the city, or in other public works. The castle of Batavia is quadrangular, having four bastions connected by curtains, all faced with white stone, and provided with watch-houses. Here the Dutch governor-general of India, and most of the members of the council of the Indies reside, the governor's palace being large, and well-built of brick. In this palace is the council-chamber, with the secretary's office, and chamber of accounts. The garrison usually consists of 1000 men; but the soldiers are generally but poorly appointed, except the governor's guards, who have large privileges, and make a fine appearance.

The governor-general lives in as great splendour as if he were a king, being attended by a troop of horse-guards, and a company of halberdeers, in uniforms of yellow sattin, richly adorned with silver-lace and fringes, which attend his coach when he appears abroad. His lady also is attended by guards and a splendid retinue. The governor is chosen only for three years, from the twenty-four counsellors, called the _Radts_ of India, twelve of whom must always reside in Batavia. Their soldiers are well trained, and a company is always on duty at each of the gates of the city and citadel; and there are between seven and eight thousand disciplined Europeans in and about the city, who can be a.s.sembled in readiness for action on a short warning.

Besides Europeans and Chinese, there are many Malays in Batavia, and other strangers from almost every country in, India. The Javanese, or ancient natives, are very numerous, and are said to be a proud barbarous people. They are of dark complexions, with flat faces, thin, short, black hair, large eyebrows, and prominent cheeks. The men are strong-limbed, but the women small. The men wear a calico wrapper, three or four times folded round their bodies; and the women are clothed from their arm-pits to their knees. They usually have two or three wives, besides concubines; and the Dutch say that they are much addicted to lying and stealing. The Javans who inhabit the coast are mostly Mahometans; but those living in the interior are still pagans. The women are not so tawny as the men, and many of them are handsome; but they are generally amorous, and unfaithful to their husbands, and are apt to deal in poisoning, which they manage with much art.

Batavia is very populous, but not above a sixth part of the inhabitants are Dutch. The Chinese here are very numerous; and the Dutch acknowledge that they are more industrious and acute traders than themselves. They are much, encouraged, because of the great trade carried on by them, and the great rents they pay for their shops, besides large taxes, and from sixteen to thirty per cent. interest for money, which they frequently borrow from the Dutch. I was told, that there were about 80,000 Chinese in and about Batavia, who pay a capitation-tax of a dollar each per month for liberty to wear their hair, which is not permitted in their own country ever since the Tartar conquest. There generally come here every year from China, fourteen or sixteen large flat-bottomed junks, of from three to five hundred tons burden. The merchants come along with their goods, which are lodged in different part.i.tions in the vessels, as in separate warehouses, for each of which they pay a certain price, and not for the weight or measure of the cargo, as with us, so that each merchant fills up his own division as they please. They come here with the easterly monsoon, usually arriving in November or December, and go away again for China in the beginning of June. By means of these junks the Dutch have all kinds of Chinese commodities brought to them, and at a cheaper rate than they could bring them in their own vessels.

Batavia is the metropolis of the Dutch trade and settlements in India, and is well situated for the spice trade, which they have entirely in their own hands. There are seldom less than twenty sail of Dutch ships at Batavia, carrying from thirty to fifty and sixty guns each. Abraham van Ribeck was governor-general when we were there. His predecessor, as I was informed, had war with the natives of the island, who had like to have ruined the settlement; but, by sowing divisions among the native princes, he at length procured peace upon advantageous conditions. This is one of the pleasantest cities I ever saw, being more populous than Bristol, but not so large. They have schools for teaching all necessary education, even for Latin and Greek, and have a printing-house. There are many pleasant villas, or country seats, about the city; and the adjacent country abounds in rice, sugar-plantations, gardens, and orchards, with corn and sugar-mills, and mills for making gunpowder.

They have also begun to plant coffee, which thrives well, so that they will shortly be able to load a ship or two; but I was told it is not so good as what comes from Arabia.

We sailed from Batavia on the 11th October, 1710, and on the 19th came to anchor in a bay about a league W. from Java head, and remained till the 28th, laying in wood and water. The 15th December we made the land of southern Africa, in lat 34 2' S. And on the 18th we anch.o.r.ed in Table Bay in six fathoms, about a mile from sh.o.r.e. We remained here till the 5th April, waiting to go home with the Dutch fleet, and on that day fell down to Penguin Island, whence we sailed on the 5th for Europe.

On the 14th July we spoke a Dane bound for Ireland, who informed us that a Dutch fleet of ten sail was cruizing for us off Shetland, which squadron we joined next day. On the 28d we got sight of the coast of Holland, and about eight p. m. came all safe to anchor in the Texel, in six fathoms, about two miles off sh.o.r.e. In the afternoon of the 24th I went up to Amsterdam, where I found letters from our owners, directing us how to act as to our pa.s.sage from thence home. On the 30th we got some provisions from Amsterdam. On the 22d August we weighed from the Texel, but the wind being contrary, had to return next morning. We weighed again on the 30th, and on the 1st October came to anchor in the Downs, and on the 14th of that month got safe to _Eriff_, where we ended our long and fatiguing voyage.

It appears, by incidental information in Harris, I. 198, That the outfit of this voyage did not exceed 14,000 or 15,000, and that its gross profits amounted to 170,000, half of which belonged to the owners; so that they had 85,000 to divide, or a clear profit of 466 13s. 4d. _per centum,_ besides the value of the ships and stores.--E.

CHAPTER XI.

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN JOHN CLIPPERTON, IN 1719-1722.[233]

INTRODUCTION.

About the beginning of 1718, some English merchants resolved to fit out two ships for a cruizing voyage to the South Sea, in hopes of having equal success with the expedition under Woods Rogers, and provided two fine ships, the Speedwell and Success, every way fit for the purpose.

But as the war which was expected between Great Britain and Spain did not take place so soon as was expected, they applied for commissions from the Emperor Charles VI. who was then at war with Philip V. King of Spain. Captain George Shelvocke, who had served as a lieutenant in the royal navy, was accordingly sent with the Speedwell to Ostend, there to wait for the imperial commissions, and to receive certain Flemish officers and seamen, together with as much wine and brandy as might serve both ships during their long voyage, being cheaper there than in England. This was in November 1718, and both to shew respect to the imperial court, and to have the appearance of a German expedition, the names of the ships were changed to the Prince Eugene and the Staremberg.

[Footnote 233: Harris, I. 184.]

Having taken on board six Flemish officers and ninety men, Captain Shelvocke sailed from Ostend for the Downs, where the other ship had waited for him some time. War having begun between Great Britain and Spain, and finding that the Flemings and Englishmen did not agree, the owners laid aside all thoughts of using the imperial commission, and to send back all their Flemish officers and men to Flanders, with an allowance of two months wages, and procured a commission from George I.

restoring the original names of their ships. The Speedwell carried twenty-four guns and 106 men, and the Success thirty-six guns and 180 men; the former commanded by Captain George Shelvocke, who was to have had the chief command in the expedition, and the other by Captain John Clipperton, who had formerly sailed with Dampier as mate, and of whose adventures after his separation from Dampier, an account has been already given.

In consequence of some change of circ.u.mstances, perhaps owing to some improper conduct when in Flanders, the proprietors now took the chief command from Shelvocke, and conferred it upon Clipperton, a man of a blunt, rough, and free-speaking disposition, but of a strict regard to his duty and rigid honesty. Though somewhat pa.s.sionate, he was soon appeased, and ever ready to repair any injury he had done when heated with anger, and had much justice and humanity in his nature. Under Captain Shelvocke in the Speedwell, Simon Hately was appointed second captain; he who had formerly lost company with Woods Rogers among the Gallapagos islands, and had remained a considerable time prisoner among the Spaniards.

The instructions for this voyage from the owners were, that they were to proceed in the first place for Plymouth, whence they were to sail with the first fair wind for Cape Horn or the Straits of Magellan, as was found most convenient for their pa.s.sage into the South Sea. They were then to cruize on the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, and to endeavour, if possible, to meet and capture the Manilla ship. To prevent all disputes and disorders, they were enjoined to be careful above all things not to separate from each other, and to undertake nothing of importance without holding a council of officers, stating the question to be debated in writing, and drawing up the resolution in writing, with the reasons on which they were grounded, which were to be signed by all the officers. All these precautions proved in a great measure useless, as the expedition wore an unfortunate aspect from the very beginning.

The ships were forced to remain three months at Plymouth, waiting for a wind; in which time every thing fell into confusion, and factions were formed, in which the crews of both ships were involved, from the captains down to the cabin boys. Captain Shelvocke highly resented the affront offered him in being deprived of the chief command; and Captain Clipperton, knowing the other's resentment, and being a boisterous man of strong pa.s.sions which he could not conceal, there was nothing but debates and disputes. Every post carried complaints to the proprietors, and brought down instructions, reproofs, and exhortations to concord. It had been fortunate for the proprietors, if they had removed one or both of the commanders; but every one had too much concern to retain his friend in post, so that private views proved the cause of public ruin.--_Harris_.

SECTION I.

_Narrative of the Voyage, from England to Juan Fernandez_.

Having at length a fair wind, the two ships sailed in company from Plymouth on the 13th February, 1719. It singularly happened that the Speedwell had still on board the whole stock of wine, brandy, and other liquors, designed for the supply of both ships. On the 19th at night, there arose a violent storm, and on the 20th the storm abated about two in the afternoon, when Captain Clipperton in the Success made sail, steering S. by E. while Captain Shelvocke in the Speedwell bore away N.W. So that they never again saw each other, till they afterwards met by mere accident in the South Sea.

Being now at sea without his consort, and very indifferently provided, Captain Clipperton found himself under the necessity of using a discretionary power of dispensing in some respect from his instructions; but which freedom he rarely exercised, and then with the utmost caution.

In all essential points he carefully complied with the instructions, constantly consulting with his officers, and doing his utmost to prosecute his voyage with effect. The first place of rendezvous appointed in case of separation was the Canaries, for which he sailed with such expedition that he arrived there on the 6th of March. Having taken in refreshments there, for which he had much occasion, as all his liquors were in the Speedwell, Clipperton cruized on that station for ten days, as directed by his instructions, but not meeting his consort, he resolved to proceed to the next place appointed for that purpose, the Cape de Verd islands.

The Canary Islands, or _Islands of Dogs_, so named by the Spaniards when discovered by them in 1402, because they found here a great number of these animals, were known to the ancients by the name of the Fortunate Islands, because of their fertility and the excellent temperature of their air. They are seven in number, Lancerota, Fuerteventura, Grand Canary, Teneriffe, Geomero, Hiero or Ferro, and Palma. _Grand Canary_ is far distant from the others, and contains 9000 inhabitants, being the seat of the bishop, the inquisition, and the royal council which governs all the seven islands. In Teneriffe is the famous mountain called _Terraira,_ or the Peak of Teneriff, supposed to be the highest in the world, and which may be distinctly seen at the distance of sixty leagues. There is no reaching the top of this mountain except in July and August, because covered at all other times with snow, which is never to be seen at other places of that island, nor in the other six, at any season of the year. It requires three days journey to reach the summit of the peak, whence all the Canary islands may be seen, though some of them are sixty leagues distant. _Hiero_ or _Ferro_ is one of the largest islands in this group, but is very barren, and so dry that no fresh water is to be found in it, except in some few places by the sea, very troublesome and even dangerous to get it from. "But, to remedy this inconvenience, Providence as supplied a most extraordinary subst.i.tute, as there grows almost in every place a sort of tree of considerable size, incomparably thick of branches and leaves, the latter being long and narrow, always green and lively. This tree is always covered by a little cloud hanging over it, which wets the leaves as if by a perpetual dew, so that fine clear water continually trickles down from them into little pails set below to catch it as it falls, and which is in such abundant quant.i.ty as amply to supply the inhabitants and their cattle."[234]

[Footnote 234: This strange story seems entirely fabulous.--E.]

These islands are generally fertile, and abound with all kinds of provisions, as cattle, grain, honey, wax, sugar, cheese, and skins. The wine of this country is strong and well-flavoured, and is exported to most parts of the world; and the Spanish ships bound for America usually stop at these islands to lay in a stock of provisions. About 100 leagues to the west of these islands, mariners are said to have frequently seen an island named _St Baranura,_ which they allege is all over green and very pleasant, full of trees, and abounding in provisions, as also that it is inhabited by Christians; but no person can tell what sect or denomination they are of, nor what language they speak. The Spanish inhabitants of the Canaries have often attempted to go there, but could never find the way; whence some believe that it is only an illusion or enchanted island, seen only at certain times. Others allege a better reason, saying that it is small and almost always concealed by clouds, and that ships are prevented from coming near it by the strength of the currents. It is certain however, that there is such an island, and at the distance from the Canaries already mentioned.[235]