Salt-Petre being very good, and the Sun excessively hot; and here we lived about
four Months.
The Southern Solstice was over, and the Sun gone back towards the Equinoctial,
when we considered of our next Adventure, which was to go over the Sea of
Zanquebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to land, if possible, upon the
Continent of Africa.
We talked with many of the Natives about it, such as we could make our selves
intelligible to; but all that we could learn from them was, that there was a
great Land of Lions beyond the Sea, but that it was a great Way off; we knew as
well as they that it was a long Way, but our People differed mightily about it:
Some said it was 150 Leagues, others not above 100. One of our Men that had a
Map of the World shewed us by his Scale, that it was not above 80 Leagues. Some
said there were Islands all the Way to touch at; some that there were no Islands
at all: For my Part, I knew nothing of this Matter one way or another, but heard
it all without Concern, whether it was near or far off; however, this we learned
from an old Man who was blind, and led about by a Boy, that if we stay'd till
the End of August, we should be sure of the Wind to be fair, and the Sea smooth
all the Voyage.
This was some Encouragement, but staying again was very unwelcome News to us,
because that then the Sun would be returning again to the South, which was what
our Men were very unwilling to. At last we called a Council of our whole Body;
their Debates were too tedious to take Notice of, only to note, that when it
came to Captain Bob, (for so they called me ever since I had taken State upon me
before one of their great Princes) truly I was on no Side, it was not one
Farthing Matter to me, I told them, whether we went or stayed, I had no home,
and all the World was alike to me; so I left it entirely to them to determine.
In a Word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be done where we were, without
Shipping; that if our Business indeed was only to eat and drink, we could not
find a better Place in the World; but if our Business was to get away, and get
home into our own Country, we could not find a Worse.
I confess, I liked the Country wonderfully, and even then had strange Notions of
coming again to live there; and I used to say to them very often, that if I had
but a Ship of 20 Guns, and a Sloop, and both well Manned, I would not desire a
better Place in the World to make my self as rich as a King.
But to return to the Consultations they were in about going: Upon the whole, it
was resolved to venture over for the Main; and venture we did, madly enough,
indeed; for it was the wrong time of the Year to undertake such a Voyage in that
Country; for, as the Winds hang Easterly all the Months from September to March,
so they generally hang Westerly all the rest of the Year, and blew right in our
Teeth, so that as soon as we had, with a kind of a Land Breeze, stretched over
about 15 or 20 Leagues, and, as I may say, just enough to lose our selves, we
found the Wind set in a steady fresh Gale or Breeze from the Sea, at West W. S.
W. or S. W. by W. and never further from the West; so that, in a Word we could
make nothing of it.
On the other Hand, the Vessel, such as we had would not lye close upon a Wind;
if so, we might have stretched away N. N. W. and have met with a great many
Islands in our Way, as we found afterwards; but we could make nothing of it,
tho' we tried, and by the trying had almost undone us all; for, stretching away
to the North, as near the Wind as we could, we had forgotten the Shape and
Position of the Island of Madagascar it self; how that we came off at the Head
of a Promontory or Point of Land that lies about the Middle of the Island, and
that stretches out West a great way into the Sea; and that now being run a
Matter of 40 Leagues to the North, the Shore of the Island fell off again above
200 Miles to the East, so that we were by this Time in the wide Ocean, between
the Island and the Main, and almost 100 Leagues from both.
Indeed as the Winds blew fresh at West, as before, we had a smooth Sea, and we
found it pretty good going before it, and so taking our smallest Canoe in Tow,
we stood in for the Shore with all the Sail we could make. This was a terrible
Adventure; for if the least Gust of Wind had come, we had been all lost, our
Canoes being deep, and in no Condition to make Way in a high Sea.
This Voyage, however, held us eleven Days in all, and at length having spent
most of our Provisions, and every Drop of Water we had, we spied Land, to our
great Joy, tho' at the Distance of ten or eleven Leagues, and as under the Land,
more before we reached the Shore, having all that while excessive hot Weather,
and not a Drop of Water, or any other Liquor, except some Cordial Waters, which
one of our Company had a little of left in a Case of Bottles.
This gave us a Taste of what we should have done, if we had ventured forward
with a scant Wind and uncertain Weather, and gave us a Surfeit of our Design for
the Main, at least 'till we might have some better Vessels under us; so we went
on Shore again, and pitched our Camp, as before, in as convenient Manner as we
could, fortifying our selves against any Surprize; but the Natives here were
exceeding courteous, and much civiller than on the South Part of the Island; and
tho' we could not understand what they said, or they us, yet we found Means to
make them understand that we were Sea-faring Men, and Strangers; and that we
were in Distress for want of Provisions.
The first Proof we had of their Kindness was, that, as soon as they saw us come
on Shore, and begin to make our Habitation, one of their Captains or Kings, for
we knew not what to call them, came down with five or six Men and some Women,
and brought us five Goats and two young fat Steers, and gave them to us for
nothing; and when we went to offer them any thing, the Captain, or the King,
would not let any of them touch it, or take my thing of us. About two Hours
after came another King or Captain, with forty or fifty Men after him; we began
to be afraid of him, and laid Hands upon our Weapons; but he perceiving it,
caused two Men to go before him carrying two long Poles in their Hands, which
they held upright, as high as they could, which we presently perceiv'd was a
Signal of Peace, and these two Poles they set up afterwards sticking them up in
the Ground; and when the King and his Men came to these two Poles, they stuck
all their Lances up in the Ground, and came on unarmed, leaving their Lances, as
also their Bows and Arrows behind them.
This was to satisfy us, that they were come as Friends, and we were very glad to
see it; for we had no Mind to quarrel with them, if we could help it. The
Captain of this Gang seeing some of our Men making up their Hutts, and that they
did it but bunglingly, he becken'd to some of his Men to go and help us.
Immediately 15 or 16 of them came and mingled among us, and went to Work for us;
and, indeed, they were better Workmen tha
n we were, for they run up three or
four Hutts for us in a Moment, and much handsomer done than ours.
After this they sent us Milk, Plantanes, Pumpkins, and Abundance of Roots and
Greens that were very good, and then took their Leave, and would not take any
thing from us that we had. One of our Men offer'd the King or Captain of these
Men a Dram, which he drank, and was mightily pleased with it, and held out his
Hand for another, which we gave him; and, in a Word, after this, he hardly
failed coming to us two or three times a Week, always bringing us something or
other, and one time sent us seven Head of Black Cattle, some of which we cured
and dried as before.
And here I cannot but remember one thing' which afterwards stood us in great
stead, viz. that the Flesh of their Goats and their Beef also, but especially
the former, when we had dried and cured it, looked red, and eat hard and firm,
as dry'd Beef in Holland; they were so pleased with it, and it was such a Dainty
to them, that at any time after they would Trade with us for it, not knowing, or
so much as imagining, what it was; so that for Ten or Twelve Pound Weight of
smoked dry'd Beef, they would give us a whole Bullock, or Cow, or any thing else
we could desire.
Here we observed two Things that were very material to us, even essentially so;
first, we found they had a great deal of Earthen-Ware here, which they make use
of many ways, as we did: Particularly they had long deep Earthen Pots, which
they used to sink into the Ground to keep the Water which they drank cool and
pleasant; and the other was, that they had larger Canoes than their Neighbours
had.
By this we were prompted to enquire if they had no larger Vessels than those we
saw there; or if any other of the Inhabitants has not such. They signified
presently, that they had no larger Boats than that they shewed us; but that on
the other Side of the Island they had larger Boats, and that with Decks upon
them, and large Sails; and this made us resolve to Coast round the whole Island
to see them; so we prepared and victualled our Canoe for the Voyage, and, in a
It cost us a Month or six Weeks time to perform this Voyage, in which time we
went on Shore several times for Water and Provisions, and found the Natives
always very free and courteous; but we were surprized one Morning early, being
at the Extremity of the Northermost Part of the Island, when one of our Men
cried out a Sail, a Sail : We presently saw a Vessel a great Way out at Sea; but
after we had looked at it with our Perspective Glasses, and endeavoured all we
could to make out what it was, we could not tell what to think of it; for it was
neither Ship, Ketch, Gally, Galliot, or like any thing that we had ever seen
before: All that we could make of it was, that it went from us standing out to
Sea. In a Word, we soon lost Sight of it, for we were in no Condition to chase
any thing, and we never saw it again, but by all we could perceive of it, from
what we saw of such things afterwards, it was some Arabian Vessel which had been
trading to the Coast of Mosambique, or Zanguebar, the same Place where we
afterwards went, as you shall hear.
I kept no Journal of this Voyage, nor indeed did I all this while understand any
thing of Navigation, more than the common Business of a Fore-mast Man; so I can
say nothing to the Latitudes or Distances of any Places we were at, how long we
were going, or how far we failed in a Day; but this I remember, that being now
come round the Island, we sailed up the Eastern Shore due South, as we had done
down the Western Shore due North before.
Nor do I remember that the Natives differed much from one another, either in
Stature or Complexion, or in their Manners, their Habits their Weapons, or
indeed in any thing; and yet we could not perceive that they had any
Intelligence one with another; but they were extremely kind and civil to us on
this Side, as well as on the other.
We continued our Voyage South for many Weeks, tho' with several Intervals of
going on Shore to get Provisions and Water. At length, coming round a Point of
Land which lay about a League farther than ordinary into the Sea, we were
agreeably surprized with a Sight, which, no doubt, had been as disagreeable to
those concern'd, as it was pleasant to us. This was the Wreck of an European
Ship, which had been cast away upon the Rocks, which in that Place run a great
Way into the Sea.
We could see plainly at Low Water, a great deal of the Ship lay dry; even at
High Water, she was not entirely covered; and that at most she did not lye above
a League from the Shore. It will easily be believ'd, that our Curiosity led us,
the Wind and Weather also permitting, to go directly to her, which we did
without any Difficulty, and presently found that it was a Dutch-built Ship, and
that she could not have been very long in that Condition, a great deal of the
upper Work of her Stern remaining firm, with the Mizen Mast standing. Her Stern
seem'd to be jaum'd in between two Ridges of the Rock, and so remained fast, all
the Fore-part of the Ship having been beaten to Pieces.
We could see nothing to be gotten out of the Wreck that was worth our while; but
we resolv'd to go on Shore, and stay sometime thereabouts, to see if perhaps we
might get any Light into the Story of her, and we were not without Hopes that we
might hear something more particular about her Men, and perhaps find some of
them on Shore there, in the same Condition that we were in, and so might
encrease our Company.
It was a very pleasant Sight to us, when coming on Shore, we saw all the Marks
and Tokens of a Ship-Carpenter's Yard; as a Launch Block and Craddles, Scaffolds
and Planks, and Pieces of Planks, the Remains of the Building a Ship or Vessel;
and, in a Word, a great many things that fairly invited us to go about the same
Work, and we soon came to understand, that the Men belonging to the Ship that
was lost, had saved themselves on Shore, perhaps in their Boat, and had built
themselves a Bark or Sloop, and so were gone to Sea again; and enquiring of the
Natives which Way they went, they pointed to the South and South-West, by which
we could easily understand that they were gone away to the Cape of Good Hope.
No body will imagine we could be so dull as not to gather from hence, that we
might take the same Method for our Escapes; so we resolved first in general,
that we would try, if possible, to build us a Boat of one Kind or other, and go
to Sea as our Fate should direct.
In order to this, our first Work was to have the two Carpenters search about to
see what Materials the Dutchmen had left behind them that might be of Use; and
in particular, they found one that was very useful, and which I was much
employ'd about, and that was a Pitch-Kettle, and a little Pitch in it.
When we came to set close to this Work, we found it very laborious and
difficult, having but few Tools, no Iron Work, no Cordage, no Sails; so that, in
short, whatever we built, we were oblig'd to be our own Sm
iths, Rope-Makers,
Sail-Makers, and indeed to practice twenty Trades that we knew little or nothing
of: However, Necessity was the Spur to Invention, and we did many things which
before we thought impracticable, that is to say, in our Circumstances.
After our two Carpenters had resolved upon the Dimensions of what they would
build, they set us all to Work, to go off in our Boats, and split up the Wreck
of the old Ship, and to bring away every thing we could; and particularly, that,
if possible, we should bring away the Mizen Mast, which was left standing, which
with much Difficulty we effected, after above twenty Days Labour of fourteen of
our Men.
At the same time we got out a great deal of Iron-Work; as Bolts, Spikes, Nails,
&c. all which our Artist, of whom I have spoken already, who was now grown a
very dexterous Smith, made us Nails and Hinges for our Rudder, and Spikes such
as we wanted.
But we wanted an Anchor, and if we had had an Anchor, we could not have made a
Cable; so we contented our selves with making some Ropes with the Help of the
Natives, of such Stuff as they made their Matts of, and with these we made such
a kind of cable or Tow Line, as was sufficient to fasten our Vessel to the
Shore, which we contented our selves with for that time.
To be short, we spent four Months here, and work'd very hard too; at the End of
which time we launch'd our Frigate, which, in a few Words, had many Defects, but
yet, all things considered, it was as well as we could expect it to be.
In short, it was a kind of a Sloop, of the Burthen of near 18 or 20 Ton, and had
we had Masts and Sails; standing, and running Rigging, as is usual in such
Cases, and other Conveniences, the Vessel might have carry'd us wherever we
could have had a Mind to go; but of all the Materials we wanted, this was the
worst, viz. that we had no Tar or Pitch to pay the Seams, and secure the Bottom;
and tho' we did what we could with Tallow and Oil, to make a Mixture to supply
that Part, yet we could not bring it to answer our End fully; and when we
launch'd her into the Water, she was so leaky, and took in the Water so fast,
that we thought all our Labour had been lost, for we had much ado to make her
swim; and as for Pumps, we had none, nor had we any Means to make one.
But at length one of the Natives, a black Negro-man, shewed us a Tree, the Wood
of which being put into the Fire, sends forth a Liquid that is as glutinous, and
almost as strong as Tar, and of which, by boiling, we made a Sort of Stuff which
serv'd us for Pitch, and this answered our End effectually; for we perfectly
made our Vessel sound and tight, so that we wanted no Pitch or Tar at all. This
Secret has stood me in stead upon many Occasions since that time, in the same
Place.
Our Vessel being thus finished, out of the Mizen Mast of the Ship, we made a
very good Mast to her, and fitted our Sails to it as well as we could; then we
made a Rudder and Tiller; and, in a Word, every thing that our present Necessity
called upon us for; and having victualled her, and put as much fresh Water on
Board as we thought we wanted, or as we knew how to stow (for we were yet
without Casks) we put to Sea with a fair Wind.
We had spent near another Year in these Rambles, and in this Piece of Work; for
it was now, as our Men said, about the Beginning of our February, and the Sun
went from us apace, which was much to our Satisfaction, for the Heats were
exceeding violent. The Wind, as I said, was fair, for as I have since learnt,
the Winds generally spring up to the Eastward, as the Sun goes from them to the
North.
Our Debate now was, which Way we should go, and never were Men so irresolute;
some were for going to the East, and stretching away directly for the Coast of
Malabar; but others who considered more seriously the Length of that Voyage,
shook their Heads at the Proposal, knowing very well, that neither out