Chapter M (12)

In Mindanao there is only one mosque, or place of worship, and that but little frequented by the meaner people. In this mosque they have a contrivance for striking the time. A drum of vast dimensions, shaped in form of a bell, is placed over a large hollow cavity, the head of which drum is covered with brass, and called a gong. A certain number of men are appointed to attend this gong, who relieve each other alternately night and day, and with a stick as large as a man’s arm, with a ball at the end of it, at certain intervals, they strike the gong, the sound of which is heard from one extremity of the town to the other, and supplies the place of a clock.

The Mindaneians use circumcision, and that operation is performed with great ceremony. The usual time among the common people is about the age of twelve; but the Princes of the blood are circumcised, like the Jews, at the end of eight days. On this occasion, the warriors all appear in arms, and, like Europeans at a review, make a sham-fight, for the diversion of the spectators, in which both the Sultan and his General are principal performers.

When the waters were subsided, and the Ramadam over, Raja Laut, the Sultan’s brother, and General of his forces, to entertain Captain Swan, assembled the dancers, who are women bred from their infancy, like those in Europe, to that art. On this occasion, more than 50 of them were assembled, who, being ranged in a ring, danced to their own music. In these dances their feet and legs are but little employed. Having no other than vocal music, they sing at first solo parts in slow time; but their chorusses are brisk; and then their hands, arms, heads, and bodies, are all employed in such contortions, that one would think they were made without bones.

Dancing and processions were the favourite diversions among the Chiefs of this island; and, Captain Swan, in conformity to the prevailing taste, resolving to give an English entertainment, ordered his music ashore, and such of his men as could dance were likewise ordered to attend. Accordingly, having hired a convenient house, he invited the Sultan, and Chiefs of the place, with their women, to be spectators of the splendor of the European dances. He had caused the house to be hung round with the richest silks, of which he had store on board and decorated it with gold and silver-lace, which, when illuminated with a profusion of wax-candles, made a most brilliant appearance. When the company assembled, they were struck with amazement, and thought all they beheld was the effect of enchantment. Among the dancers, there was one Jack Thacker, a common sailor, who at the music-houses at Wapping had learned to dance a horn-pipe. This man attracted the notice of the Mindaneians more than all the rest, because more in the antic manner to which they were accustomed. Him, therefore, they fixed their eyes upon, and considered as a man of consequence. When they had spent the best part of the night in feasting their eyes and their appetites (for Captain Swan had ordered his cook to prepare a cold collation of sweet-meats, and other savoury dishes), they were still unwilling to retire; and it was almost day-break before the Sultan retired, and, very unwillingly, was accompanied by his female train. Raja Laut and his women staid longer; and, it is said, notwithstanding his devotion to his prophet, drank plentifully of wine.

Nothing was talked of so much among the Mindaneians, during the stay of the ships, as the comic English dancer, of whom Raja Laut was willing to know the history; and, having enquired, was told by one of his companions, that he was an English nobleman who travelled for his diversion, and that all those who wore fine cloaths were gentlemen of inferior quality, who left their own country out of curiosity to see the countries abroad.

This harmless imposition, being told by the General to Captain Swan, who was of a morose unsociable disposition, cost the poor fellow a hearty drubbing, though he was wholly ignorant of what had been told. He was first stript of his fine cloaths, in the presence of the Raja, by his Captain’s orders, and then stript of his nobility by flogging his back. It was not long, however, before the man was revenged.

About the middle of November they began to prepare for their departure, and for that purpose their first business was to examine the ships bottoms, the sheathing of which they found eaten by the worm like a honey-comb; and the bottom of the bark not being sheathed, was eaten to the timbers, and the vessel thereby rendered unserviceable: application was therefore made to the Raja for planks to new sheathe the ship. The Raja’s sincerity was never suspected, till this incident gave reason for jealousy. When he came down to the river, and saw the carpenters ripping off the sheathing, he shook his head, and seemed much disconcerted, declaring he had never before seen a ship with two bottoms. His hope was, that the ship, like the bark, would have been eaten through, and that he should have had all her guns. A like accident had formerly entitled him to a like advantage, when a Dutch ship, by anchoring in the same river during the westerly monsoon, was entirely disabled, and never again put to sea. He was sensible enough of the mischief that would infallibly ensue to the ships by lying so long among those destructive vermin; for, whenever the natives disuse their vessels, they haul them up on the dry beach, burn their bottoms, and there let them lie, till they want again to use them.

While some were employed in ripping off the old worm-eaten planks, others were busy in preparing new and, by the beginning of December, the sheathing was repaired and tallowed. The latter part of the month was taken up in putting the ballast, stores, and guns aboard: this was a work of the greater labour, as it was first necessary to carry the ship out to sea before it was undertaken. About the beginning of January they began to fill water, and to take in rice; and application was made to Raja Laut to furnish buffaloes, as he had all along promised to do. He now began to form excuses, and pretended to take men out every day a-hunting (for those creatures always run wild); but always came home empty, and pleaded ill success. The Captain too began to act very mysteriously. By the help of the government on shore, he had got the absolute ascendancy over his men, and was as implicitly obeyed as if he had been Captain of a king’s ship. When he was importuned to declare when he intended to sail, he chose to be silent; and when the men wanted to know upon what enterprize they were next to be employed, he reproached them with their eagerness for piracy. He had sold Raja Laut some tons of iron and lead, and was to have had in return rice and beef; as to the first, the Raja had failed in furnishing the stipulated quantity, and the latter he had hitherto in no shape fulfilled. The Raja had besides borrowed of him 20 ounces of gold; and, when he required payment, the Raja demanded a much larger sum for his own board, and the board of his men. This treatment, and these disappointments, served to discompose a mind naturally sour, and to put him out of humour with every body about him.

All this while the westerly monsoon was wasting that was to carry them on to India. The men began again to murmur, and grow unruly: some, weary of rambling about, and who had formed connections with the natives, were for staying at Mindanao: some, who had husbanded their money, of whom indeed there were but few, were eager to get home; and others, who were poor (by far the majority), were for continuing their ravages, and were impatient to be in action.

While matters were in this situation, strong representations were made to the Captain to come on board, and to declare himself; and, after many delays, a day was at length fixed for a determination.

In the mean time, those who were bent on returning home, foreseeing that continued extravagancies would necessarily create new wants, and that new wants would require new means of supply, took occasion secretly to purchase a canoe, and formed a design to depart in the night for Borneo, where, by a letter just received from thence by a Mindaneian vessel, they hoped to meet with an English factory, and from thence find a passage home; but Captain Swan getting intelligence of their design, seized their canoe, and threatened to punish for deserters all those concerned in the plot.

Another party about the same time, hearing that the ship was about to sail, retired into the country, to conceal themselves till after her departure.

The party on board, who had nothing but the ship’s allowance to subsist on, became unruly, and sent ashore to the merchants iron to sell for arrack and honey, with which they made themselves drunk, and grew quarrelsome. All these disorders, Dampier says, might easily have been redressed, had Captain Swan exerted his authority in time, and established proper discipline on board the ship; but he living with his merchants constantly on shore, and leaving every one to do as he pleased on board, they encouraged one another in their villainies, and at length grew mutinous.

When these things were come to extremity, he gave orders that the whole crew should attend him on board the ship, on the 13th of January [1687]; but, unluckily for him, two days before this meeting was to take place, Captain Swan sent his gunner to fetch something he had occasion for out of the locker of his cabin. This man, in rummaging for what he wanted, among other things happened to take out the Captain’s journal, which, being laid carelesly by, was taken up by one John Read, (an ingenious young man, who likewise kept a journal) out of mere curiosity to peep in it, to see how nearly his and the other agreed.

At the first opening of the book he cast his eye on a part in which the Captain had made a memorandum of the mutinous behaviour of his men in their passage from Cape Corientes to Guam, and had particularly noted that of one John Read, a Jamaica-man, a namesake of the Read who took the journal, but no relation. This naturally excited his curiosity to look farther, and he found means, while the gunner was busy, to convey the journal away to examine it at his leisure. As soon as the gunner was gone ashore, John Read, the artist, shewed the book to John Read, the Jamaica-man, and both of them held a consultation with their comrades on the contents. These men, who were before ripe for mischief, now grew outrageous, and it was unanimously agreed to consult Captain Teat, who, as has been before noted, had received unworthy treatment from Captain Swan on shore, which, they knew, he only wanted an opportunity to resent. Teat left nothing unsaid to aggravate the failings of his superior, and to incense the company against him. He represented him as proud, ignorant, avaricious, cruel, and vindictive, and withal cowardly and unfit to command upon any bold and manly enterprize; called to their minds the opposition he made to the attacking the Manilla ship off Guam, by the conquest of which they would all have been enriched; and which, he said, Swan did not oppose out of a principle of honesty or gratitude, but from the fear of engaging a ship so much superior to his own in weight of metal and in numbers, though he, Teat, would have pawned his head to have been master of her in a few hours close attack. Men whose expectations have been raised to an unreasonable pitch, give easy credit to unfavourable suggestions against the authors of their disappointment. The crew took fire, and instantly bound themselves by an oath to deprive Captain Swan of the command, without naming any officer to substitute in his room; nay, so precipitate was their resolution, that the majority were for setting sail immediately, and leaving all that were on shore behind: and this hasty resolve would certainly have taken place, had either of the surgeons been on board; but, as their cry was for war, it was judged too desperate to go to sea without one skilful person on board to assist the wounded.

As all this passed in the night, it was agreed to stay till morning, and then to send a trusty messenger on shore, speedily to request the surgeons to come to the assistance of a man who had broken his leg. The chief surgeon said he should see the man the next day, and in the mean time sent his mate, Mr. Herman Coppinger, to his immediate relief. This man, a few days before, was sleeping at his mistress’s, when a snake twisted itself round his neck, but quietly went away upon his waking without hurting him. Coppinger, supposing the accident real, made haste to pack up his moveables to go on board; and, as the Captain was to have his general rendezvous the next day, Dampier took the opportunity of going with him. They scarce had mounted the ship’s side before they discovered the trick. But when the mutineers were thus in possession of the surgeon, they presently dispatched the canoe to shore again to invite all the men who chose it to come on board, but with a strict caution not to tell the reason, lest their design should reach the ears of their captain.

The 13th in the morning they weighed, and fired a gun. The Captain, much alarmed, immediately dispatched Mr. Nelly, his mate, to know the cause. To him they told their grievances, and shewed the journal; he persuaded them to stay till next day to hear what the Captain and merchants had to say. They did so, and Mr. Harthop came on board in the morning. He advised them to a reconciliation, and to take more rice on board. They were deaf to his persuasion; yet at his entreaty they staid till two in the afternoon to wait for the Captain and such gentlemen or seamen as chose to accompany them, but suffered none to go ashore, except Mr. Harthop and a man with a wooden leg. Dampier remarks, that, if Captain Swan had then come on board, as a man of sense and spirit ought to have done, he might at the very last have crusht their designs, and reduced the mutineers to order and discipline; but being of a sullen, suspicious, vindictive temper himself, he dreaded the resentment of those he had marked for vengeance; and therefore suffered the time to elapse, and was with 36 others left behind in the town. Besides these, six or eight had deserted and were up the country; and sixteen had died of poison, given them, as was supposed, by the husbands of those women whom they had seduced; and there were others on board, who had received the poison, and died of it some months after. In this manner their numbers were considerably diminished, and of 150 who sailed from Cape Corientes, not above 80 were now on board.

It has been more than once hinted, that Captain Swan sailed from London with no design of privateering, but of carrying on trade with the Spaniards on the western coasts of America. He had therefore a great quantity of heavy goods, such as iron and lead, not yet disposed of, some of which he had sold to Raja Laut, and no doubt was willing to have received the payment before he departed. This may, in some measure, account for his delay. His crew was composed of men, who, most of them, had forced themselves upon him for purposes which he abhorred; and, perhaps, he wanted to have rid himself of the greatest part of them, if he could have found a proper opportunity. Those marked in his journal were, no doubt, the men most obnoxious to him, and the most averse to trade, which he was determined to follow in his way home, having already 5000l. of his owners money, which he had received for the goods put up by auction at his first commencing buccaneer; with this he purposed to have purchased a cargo to take with him from the East-Indies. Hence arose his mysterious conduct, and his want of resolution. The loss of his bark was his embarrassment. Could that have been rendered serviceable, his design could more easily have been carried into execution. The suspicious part of the crew might have been shipped on board the bark; and by giving them a wrong track, they might have been deserted in the night, and left to their own course. But a discovery being made before the Captain’s designs were ripe for execution, he was entangled in his own net.

But to return: On the 14th of January, 1687, at three o’clock in the afternoon, they set sail from the river Mindanao, and next day came a-breast of Chambango, where formerly the Spaniards had a settlement, and where, it is said, there were plenty of swine and buffaloes. On the 17th, they anchored in a good bay on the west side of a small island, where they chose their Officers, constituting John Read the Jamaica-man Captain, Thomas Teat Master, and Henry More Quarter-master; and, having cut some curious short-jointed canes, and plentifully supplied the ship with water from a clear spring, they pursued their course; but on their passage they struck on a rock, where after lying two hours, they were heaved off by the rising of the tide, and escaped with the loss only of a large piece of their rudder, though in more danger than ever they had experienced in the whole voyage.

On the 18th, they anchored at the north-west end of the island of Mindera, in 10 fathom water. While they lay there a canoe with four Indians from Manilla came along side, who informed them, that at Manilla there was seldom less than 20 or 30 sail of ships of different nations, who came to traffic with the Spanish merchants; and that, if they meant to trade, they might for a trifle have a letter of recommendation from a friar to whom they were carrying dispatches, and would in a few days return with his answer. Trade, however, was no part of their employment; and the Indians were suffered to pass without molestation.

On the 23d, they reached Luconia, the island so ardently wished for by this piratical crew, and presently descried a sail, which they instantly pursued and took. She proved a Spanish bark from Pangassanam, laden with rice and cotton-cloth, and bound for Manilla. The master of this prize was boatswain to the Acapulco ship that passed by Guam; this man gave Dampier an account of all that happened on that occasion. The time of the year being too far spent to effect any thing of consequence on this coast, they concluded to sail for Pulo Condore, and there wait till the latter end of May, about which time the Acapulco ship generally arrives at Manilla. With this resolution they quitted Luconia on the 26th of February; and, on the 14th of March, cast anchor at the island of Condore, on the coast of Cambodia. Among the productions of these islands (for there is a cluster of them), there is a lofty tree, the body of which is in diameter three or four feet, from which the inhabitants extract a clammy juice, which being boiled becomes a perfect tar, and answers all the purposes of that balsam. On the 16th, they entered a convenient harbour, and employed themselves in careening their ships, in which they were assisted by the natives of the island, who brought them hogs and turtle in exchange for rice, of which they had now great plenty.

While they lay in this harbour, two of the men died who had been poisoned in Mindanao; they were opened by the surgeon, and their livers were found black, light, and dry, like pieces of cork.

Before they departed, they engaged an old native who could speak the Malayan language, to pilot them to Siam, where they expected to purchase dried fish, having nothing now but rice to eat at sea.

On the 21st of April they sailed from Condore, and, on the 24th, anchored in the bay of Siam, where, however, they could get no fish. On the 21st of May they left Siam and, in their return to Pulo Condore, overtook a Chinese junk, laden with pepper, who told them that the English were settled on the island of Sumatra, at a place called Sillebar, which was the first intelligence they received of that factory. This junk accompanied them to Pulo Condore, where Captain Read, observing a Malayan vessel at anchor within shore, sent a canoe to learn from whence they came; but, knowing the Malayans to be desperate fellows, cautioned his men not to trust themselves on board, but to hail them from the boat: but the men, not regarding the Captain’s instructions, went on board armed; which the Malayans observing, fell upon them unawares with their short daggers, and stabbed five or six of them dead upon the spot; the rest jumped into the sea, and saved themselves by swimming, among whom was one Daniel Wallis, who never could swim before or since, but in his fright made shift to reach the boat, and made his escape with the rest. Here Herman Coppinger, the surgeon, went on shore, on purpose to leave this diabolical company; but Read sent an armed force, and pressed him on board again. Dampier intended following his example, but waited a more convenient place.

They were now confined at this island by stormy weather till the 4th of June; and in the mean time a Malayan Portuguese from the junk entered on board, whom they entertained as an interpreter, to facilitate an intercourse with the natives. When they weighed anchor, the wind was contrary; yet they kept plying to the westward in hopes of its shifting to carry them to Manilla, before their much longed-for prize should arrive. In this hope they continued labouring incessantly for 10 days; when, being almost worn out with fatigue, and finding no probability of accomplishing their desires, they relinquished that project in despair, and, instead of it, stood away for Prata, in lat. 20 deg. 40 min. N. where they flattered themselves with fishing up much treasure from the China ships that had been cast away on that island, some of which were said to contain immense riches. But in this too they were disappointed by adverse winds; and, notwithstanding the utmost exertion of their skill in seamanship, they were driven by the violence of the gale to the island of St. John, on the coast of China. While they lay at this island they visited the shore every day, and purchased hogs, fowls, and buffaloes. Some of the men visited the continent, but found nothing there that answered their purpose.

On the 3d of July they weighed anchor with a gentle breeze, but on the 4th there came on a violent gale from the north-east, which increased till the dead of the night, when the rain began to pour down in such torrents that the fountains of heaven seemed to be opened, and a second deluge threatened; at the same time the thunder began to crack, and the flashes of lightning that pierced through the torrents of rain, appeared upon the face of the deep as if the sea was overspread with a blue flame. The darkness that succeeded between the flashes presented the most horrid gloom that ever covered the deep. The sea was raised to an astonishing height, and the waves broke short upon the ship with such violence, that it was thought every succeeding billow must have dashed her to the bottom. One sea struck away the rails of the head, and at the same time dislodged the sheet-anchor that was lashed with its fluke over the bend of the ship in the strongest manner, and it was every moment expected to beat a hole through the ship, by striking against her bows. It then became necessary to steer right before the wind, to endeavour to secure the anchor; and it was impossible afterwards to change the course till the storm abated. The fury of the storm abated about four in the morning, about which time they observed what the sailors call a _Corpus Sant_ at the mast-head. This meteor is seen at sea, sometimes at the mast-head, sometimes at the yard-arm, and sometimes upon the deck. When it appears aloft it is like a star, and is taken for a good omen; but when below, it resembles a glow-worm, and always dreaded as a bad sign. The crew was overjoyed on seeing it at the very pinnacle of the ship’s fane.

From two in the morning till seven they kept scudding before the wind; but the wind gradually dying away, and the sea subsiding, they set their mizzen, brought the ship up upon a wind, and lay to under their mizzen till eleven, when for two hours there ensued a perfect calm, yet the sky looked black and lowring. About one the wind shifted to the south-west, and began again to blow hard, with violent rain. They furled up their mizzen, wore ship, and suffered her to scud before the wind, as before, till ten at night, when the wind ceased, and before morning the sea was calm, and the sky perfectly serene. This storm, however, dispirited the crew, who were now driven out of their knowledge, and were anxious for nothing but a place of shelter to preserve them from the fury of a second hurricane, which they had reason to expect towards the full of the moon.

They consulted their sea-charts, and concluded to steer for the Piscadores, islands situated in lat. 23 deg. N. of which, however, they knew nothing but the name. On the 20th of July they came in sight of them; and when they arrived were astonished to see so many junks passing and re-passing as were continually in sight. They followed some of the largest into a spacious harbour, which brought them to a considerable town, such as they did not expect to have found among islands so little known. On their attempting to land, they were met by a Tartarian Officer, who demanded, whence they came, of what nation they were, and whither they were bound? And being told they were English, and driven there in distress, they were kindly entertained; but were told, they must not come on shore; but whatever necessaries they wanted should be sent them on board without delay. Mutual civilities were exchanged. The ship was supplied with the best provisions they had ever tasted and the Captain in return sent a curious Spanish silver-hilted rapier, an English carbine, and a gold chain, as a present to the Governor. They staid till the 29th, and then directed their course to a cluster of islands that lie between Formosa and Luconia, the place they still set their hearts upon. On the 6th of August they came in sight of the islands they were in pursuit of, and, contrary to expectation, found them well inhabited.

On these islands were plenty of goats and swine, but very few birds or poultry. It is an observation of Dampier, founded on reason and confirmed by experience, that, in countries abounding in corn and maize, birds and all manner of fowls are bred in abundance; but in those islands where the inhabitants subsist chiefly on fruits, roots, and fish, birds wild and tame are more rare.

As these islands were without names in the sea-charts, Captain Read called them all by one general name of Bashee Islands. The situation of their towns was remarkable. They were built on precipices inaccessible on every side, except by ladders placed at the ends of the streets, which all ran in lines parallel to each other, and on which the houses rise in ranges one above another, till they terminate in a single row. The inhabitants of these islands were acquainted with the use of iron, and they had amongst them a yellow metal that very much resembled gold, for some of which Captain Read exchanged iron; and Dampier laments that he could purchase none of it, because he had nothing to bestow in return. They were very ingenious, had large fishing-boats, and lived in a peculiar manner different from any people they had yet visited. They were not very delicate in their food; for they would gather up the goats-skins and goats-paunches which the men threw away; and would singe, broil, and eat the former; the latter they would stew (not over nicely cleansed), and, mincing raw fish very small, would mix the mess together, and with a little salt over it, make a very savoury meal. The paunches of the swine they never touched. They appeared to be very cleanly in their persons, and withal so honest and good natured, that they would take nothing but what was given them; nor were they ever out of humour with the strangers, though they had often cause enough, nor with one another. No provocation could incense them to anger; nor any opportunity induce them to theft. They brought constantly every morning goats, hogs, potatoes, and fruits, to the ship, which they exchanged for iron, nails, old hoops, or bullets. Thus the crew of the ship fared sumptuously every day, and salted 70 or 80 hogs for future use. These islands lie in lat. 20 deg. 21 min. N.

Being now sufficiently stored with provisions, and having filled their casks with water, after staying from the 13th of August till the 24th of September, and after having mended their sails, and scrubbed the ships bottom, they were preparing to sail, when a violent storm came on, which forced them to cut their cables and put to sea, leaving six of their best men on shore.

They put before the wind with their bare poles; but it was the 1st of October before they could recover to their former station. On the following day their six men were brought on board by the natives, whom they rewarded with three bars of iron, a present to them more valuable than so many bars of solid gold. The men reported, that, as soon as the ship was out of sight, the natives were more kind to them than ever; that they endeavoured to prevail upon them to cut their hair short, like theirs; and that they offered to each the choice of a wife, with a small hatchet, a set of planter’s tools, and a portion of land for each of them to cultivate by way of dowry; and, when the ship came in sight again, they then importuned them for iron, which was the only recompense they required.

This second storm quite disconcerted all their measures. They began to think that the winds and the waves were employed against them, and were terrified with the thoughts of their unhappy situation. Most of them were heartily weary of being tost to and fro to no manner of purpose, and were very desirous of getting home: only Read and Teat were determined to make their fortunes at whatever risque; they therefore, finding the crew resolute to leave this dangerous coast, persuaded them to accompany them to Cape Comorin, where, if they disapproved of their proceedings, every one should be at liberty to follow his own course. To this they all agreed; but these freebooters, fearing to meet English or Dutch ships in the direct road, proposed to coast along the east side of the Philippines, and so, keeping south towards the spice islands, to pass into the Indian ocean near the island of Timor. With this view they let sail on the 3d of October, 1687; and leaving the island of Luconia on the west, “with all our golden projects,” says Dampier, “along with it, we stood to the southward till we came in sight of the island St. John on the coast of Mindanao, and on the 16th came to an anchor on the south-east side of that island.” While they lay in this bay, the young prince of Meangis, formerly mentioned, came on board, and importuned Captain Read to transport him and his men back to his own island, promising to reward him handsomely for his trouble. He said, that a few days before he had seen Captain Swan and some of his people all well at the city of Mindanao; that they had accompanied Raja Laut in a military expedition against his enemies, and had acquired great honour and were in high favour with the Sultan; that Captain Swan was preparing to leave the island; and that he had offered 40 ounces of gold for a ship to carry him off, but did not think the Raja would suffer him to depart. Captain Read promised to stay for the prince three days, and in that time he engaged to return with his men. In the mean time Dampier took occasion to sound how the crew stood affected towards their old Captain, and found one party, who happened to be filling water ashore, very well inclined; and he desired them to be silent till he had consulted the other party whose turn it was next day to fill water at the same place; but one of the company, who appeared to be the most zealous in Swan’s favour, as soon as he got aboard discovered the secret; on which Read and Teat ordered all hands on board and weighed directly.

Dampier says he was afterwards informed, that Captain Swan and his men continued long at Mindanao; that Messieurs Harthop and Smith, merchants, both died there; that Rofy and Nelly, his mates, got passage in a Dutch ship to Batavia, and from thence, after various adventures, to Europe; and that Swan himself, with his surgeon, endeavouring to get on board another Dutch ship, were run down and drowned by the natives by order of Raja Laut, who seized their gold. Among other reasons assigned for this treachery, Dampier mentions Swan’s threatening, on some provocation, to raise a band of men to destroy the town, and seize upon the country. Be this as it may, the poor Captain lost his life, and the Raja kept his money. Part of his journal, as far as Cape Corientes, was recovered and preserved by a Mr. Moody, of whom mention will be made hereafter.

On November the 2d, the day the prince was to have come on board, Captain Read set sail, and stood to the west, till on the 9th, the wind changing, they came up with the north-east end of the island of Celebes, in lat. 3 deg. N. 30 leagues to the southward of Gilolo, on the western side of which lie the clove islands of Tidore and Ternate, the finest in the world. At the southermost end of Celebes the town of Macasser is seated, the chief place of trade in those parts belonging to the Dutch.

They anchored in a sandy bay on the south-east side of Celebes, where they found a creeping kind of vine, the leaves of which pounded and boiled with hog’s-lard is an infallible cure for old ulcers. The men, knowing its virtues, crammed their chests with it; and one man, whose legs were ulcerated, was perfectly cured by the use of it.

Here they cut down a tree 18 feet in circumference, and 44 feet in clean body. It proved unsound, and therefore unfit for the purpose they intended it, which was that of a canoe; they therefore left it, and set sail.

On the 30th, they sailed south; and in the afternoon they had a violent tornado, and saw a spout. This phenomenon appears at first like a small ragged cloud, hanging sloping from a black heavy cloud above, small at the bottom, seemingly no bigger than a man’s arm. Underneath this the sea begins to be in gentle agitation, and gradually proceeds to foam and froth till a violent whirling ensues, and then it flies upwards in a pillar, the base of which may be about one hundred paces in compass, but lessening gradually till it decreases to the size of the spout, with which it meets, and through which the rising sea-water seems to be conveyed to increase the cloud. As soon as the water reaches the spout, you then see the cloud, that was at rest before, drive along with incredible swiftness, sucking up the water in its course, and causing a furious wind to fly before it. Thus it will continue sometimes half an hour, sometimes longer, till breaking off, all the water that remains below the spout falls down again into the sea, with a dreadful noise and violent agitation of the waves. Dampier relates, that one Captain Records, of London, being on the coast of Guinea, in the year 1674, in a ship of 300 tons, was overtaken by one of these spouts, which broke before he could well furl his sails to receive it. On its breaking, it made the same kind of noise as if a castle or some immense building had been plunged from a great height into the sea, and raised the billows in proportion to its height. The fury of the wind, at the same time, took the ship on the starboard bow, and snapt off the boltsprit and foremast both at once like rotten sticks, and drove the ship along ready to overset her; but the ship presently righting, and the wind whirling round, took her again on the opposite quarter, and snapt the mizzen-mast as the fore-mast and boltsprit had been snapt before. Three men were in the fore-top when the fore-mast broke, and one on the boltsprit, when they fell into the sea; but all were saved, and the ship with difficulty carried into port.

December 1st, they continued to move slowly along, and on the 4th they came up with the north-west end of the island of Bouton, where their strikers killed some turtle, and brought with them an Indian who conducted them to a harbour, where they had an interview with the Sultan, and where they were permitted to purchase whatever they wanted, and where Captain Read was presented by the Sovereign with a little boy who had a double set of teeth, one set within another, on each jaw.

On the 12th, they took leave of the Sultan, and were about weighing anchor; but when they expected it to rise, being hooked to a rock, the cable came home without it. As soon as they were loose, finding the anchor irrecoverable, they steered to the south-east, and fell in with some islands five or six leagues from Callasusung harbour. They appeared very green; and as they passed them in the night they heard drums beating, but whether for mirth, or spreading an alarm, they knew not.

On the 20th, they passed the island of Omba, and saw in it many smoaks by day, and fires by night, but observed no inhabitants. From Omba they passed by Timor, where, meeting with tornados and strong gales of wind, they endeavoured to get clear of the shoals, and stood off south, intending to touch at New Holland to try what that country would afford.

On the 4th of January, 1688, they fell in with the coast of New Holland in lat. 16 deg. 50 min. S. and, steering close in, came to a point from whence the land trends east and southerly for 10 or 12 leagues, but how far southerly Dampier says he does not know. That able navigator, however, pronounced, that, if it was not a continent, it neither joined to Asia, Africa, nor America. They fell in upon the west side, and examined but a small part of this vast tract of land, of which Captain Cook, in his late voyage round the world in the Endeavour, traversed the eastern coast for near 2000 miles, and has left it still doubtful whether it is island or continent. There is a remarkable difference between Dampier’s description of the part he visited on the west, and that described by Captain Cook in the same latitude on the east side. “The land,” says Dampier, “is of a dry sandy soil, destitute of water, except you make wells. There are divers sorts of trees; but the woods are not thick, nor the trees large. Most of them were dragon-trees, of the size of apple-trees--we compared the gum with the gum-dragon we had aboard, and found it the same--we saw no trees that bore fruit. We saw no animal, nor any track of animal but one, and that was of a beast of the size of a mastiff-dog--few land-birds, and none bigger than a blackbird--few sea-fowls--few fish, turtle and manatee excepted. The inhabitants are the most miserable people in the world--without houses--without cloathing--without conveniences of any kind--and, setting aside their human shape, very little different from brutes. They are tall, straight bodied, thin, and small limbs; they have great heads, round fore-heads, and large brows. Their eyelids are always half-closed; they have great bottle-noses, full lips, wide mouths, and the two fore-teeth in the upper jaw wanting in all of them; but whether they draw them out or not, I know not. [Captain Cook says, those on the opposite side have their teeth entire.] They are long-visaged--without beards--of an unpleasing aspect, with no one graceful feature in their faces--their hair black, short, and curled like negroes--and their colour coal-black. They live in companies, 20 or 30 men, women, and children, together--their food is fish, and their manner of catching them is in weirs across little inlets of the sea, in which every tide leaves some--they have no instruments to take great fish--in other places they fish for cockles, muscles, periwinkles, but of these there are but few--of what they catch all partake alike--all watch the tides--for all depend upon the sea for their support; the earth producing neither herb, root, pulse, or any sort of grain. These poor creatures, adds Dampier, have a sort of weapons, consisting of a piece of wood shaped somewhat like a cutlass, and a long straight pole with a sharp end hardened in the fire: with these they made a shew of frightening us; but on firing one gun, they all ran away frighted.”

Such is the description given by Dampier of the people of the north part of New Holland; and it is not a little astonishing, that a man, by once touching upon their coast, could so minutely describe a people with whom he could no otherwise converse but by signs and gestures. The crew made an acquaintance with some of them, and gave them meat, which they readily devoured, but paid no regard to the ship, nor did they seem to admire any thing that was shewn or offered to them. While the ship remained here, where nothing was to be gotten, Dampier endeavoured to persuade the men to carry her to some English factory; but that too being told the Commanders, he was threatened to be set ashore, and left among these miserable beings.

On the 12th of March they quitted New Holland, with a view to sail to the isle of Cocos, in lat. 12 deg. 12 min. S. but the wind being contrary, they chose to bear away to the islands on the west of Sumatra, with which Dampier says he was well pleased, as he then might have an opportunity of making his escape from them. They met with nothing worth notice till the 28th, when they fell in with a woody island, where they killed boobies and men-of-war birds as many as the ship’s company could eat, and where they found a land animal resembling a large crab without its great claws, such as Sir Francis Drake met with in the island of Ternate, and which being dressed was excellent meat. These creatures burrow in the ground like rabbits, and two of them were as much as a man could eat.

They made but a short stay at this island; and, proceeding on their course, on the 7th of April they came in sight of the high land of Sumatra; and on the 13th they came to a small island called Triste, 14 or 15 leagues to the west of Sumatra, where they loaded their boats with cocoa-nuts, and struck some turtle to supply their table, having now nothing but rice to live upon.

They continued cruising among the islands to the west of Sumatra; and, on the 29th, they came in sight of a sail, to which they gave chace, and on the 30th they took her. She proved a proa, with four men belonging to Achin, laden with cocoa-nuts and cocoa-nut oil. They took out of her as much as they thought fit, bored a hole in her bottom, and sunk her, keeping the four men prisoners. All this coast is known to the English by the name of the West-coast, without adding the name of Sumatra; and the prisoners shewed the channels and openings to the island of Achin, where the English had a factory, to which many on board wished to find a passage.

The 4th of May they came in sight of one of the Nicobar islands, the southernmost of which lies about 40 leagues to the N. N. W. of Sumatra. The inhabitants of these islands are independent of every other people, and trade with the ships of every nation indifferently that happen to touch upon their coast. Their chief commodities are ambergrease and fruits, the former of which they adulterate abominably; and Captain Welden, who touched at these islands a few weeks before their arrival, purchased some at a low price that was worth nothing.

On the 5th of May they anchored at the N. W. end of the island of Nicobar, properly so called, in lat. 7 deg. 30 min. N. Here Dampier quitted the free-booters, but not without some difficulty. He knew it was impossible to do it by stealth; and therefore asked Captain Read, as soon as he learned that the ship was about to sail, to set him on shore on this island. He says, he had another motive for staying at this particular place, besides that of leaving Captain Read, which he always intended, and that was, that he had here a prospect of commencing a profitable trade for ambergrease with these people, and of gaining a considerable fortune to himself; for, by rowing with the natives, and conforming to their customs and manner of living, he imagined he should be able to learn how they got their ambergrease, and likewise the whole secret of preparing it. Captain Read, thinking this as obscure a place as any, and being willing, no doubt, to be rid of a man who was for ever exciting the company to oppose him, very readily consented; and Dampier as readily took him at his word. In an instant he got all his moveables together, and stowing them in the ship’s canoe, he prevailed upon some of the people to row him ashore, and to land him on a sandy bay, near to which were two houses, but without inhabitants. He had not been landed an hour before Captain Teat and three or four armed men came to fetch him on board again. He tells us, that if a cabbin-boy had been sent for him he should have returned; but he no sooner entered the ship than he found the whole crew in an uproar, several others, encouraged by his example, insisting to be set ashore likewise, among whom was Herman Coppinger, the surgeon, who having jumped into the boat with a gun in his hand, swore he would shoot dead the first man that opposed him; yet John Oliver, the quarter-master, leapt into the canoe to him, and wrenched the gun from him: he was presently followed by others, who forced Coppinger again on board. When this tumult was appeased, and the surgeon again in their possession, they suffered Dampier, with two other malcontents (a Mr. Hall, and a sailor named Ambrose), to depart quietly; and the man who rowed them on shore, having concealed an ax, gave it them at parting, well knowing what a valuable present it would be to conciliate them to the Indians. These three Englishmen were soon joined by the four prisoners taken from the Achinese proa, and the mongrel Portuguese, formerly taken from the Chinese junk, all of whom Captain Read set on shore before he departed. They were now eight in number; and, having concluded to leave the island, and row to Sumatra, at 40 leagues distance, they purchased a canoe of the natives for an ax; and, having provided a sufficient quantity of provisions for their subsistence, they all embarked on the 20th of May, in order to proceed; but they had no sooner put to sea than the canoe overset, and turned bottom upwards. Being near the shore they preserved their lives by swimming; but, though the English recovered their chests and fire-arms, yet their books and papers were miserably defaced by the sea-water; their powder escaped without injury, being sealed up. Though this accident seemed an unfortunate outset, yet it proved the means of their future safety; for while the English were drying their books, and cleaning their arms, the Achinese employed themselves in fitting up their boat with out-leaguers, which are beams placed across the body of the boat, projecting a yard or two over the sides, and united at the extremities by transverse boards jointed to the ends; while these remain entire, the vessel can never over-set. Besides the out-leaguers the Achinesemen had provided a good stout mast, and had contrived a sail. And thus fitted out, on the 15th of May they again embarked; but their provisions being exhausted, it was necessary for them to repair to a distant part of the island, to procure a supply. Here a misunderstanding arose between them and the natives, which by the prudent management of Dampier was soon accommodated. He observes, that there is not a people upon earth that he should be afraid to approach unarmed and alone, provided no previous injury had been done them by any of his company unprovoked. An European has it always in his power to insinuate himself into the favour of the most savage people by some slight, by shewing them some toy, by smiles and submission, and even by shewing them the simple knack of lighting a match with a flint and steel. The only danger, he adds, is from their first onset, because their way is to abscond, and kill by surprize; if therefore their first fury can be avoided, the fiercest of them becomes gentle as a lamb.

The natives being again brought to good humour, they were presently furnished with such provisions as they wanted; and they again embarked on their former project. At their first setting out, the wind was fair, and the weather hot; and they proceeded rowing and sailing as occasion required, Mr. Hall and Dampier taking it by turns to manage the helm. However, after two days labour, they found that they had steered a wrong course; and, instead of approaching Sumatra, they were but eight leagues from Nicobar. They then changed their course, but were still so violently opposed by a contrary current, that on the third day they had made but little way.