Part 12

However, she had stuck so long upon the sand, and the force of the current or tide had been so great, that she received considerable damage; and had a great deal of water in her hold. I immediately ordered out boats to row to the land, on both sides, to see if they could find a good place to lay her on shore in; they obeyed the order, and found a very convenient harbour in the mouth of a small river, which emptied itself into the great river about two leagues within the foreland of it, on the north side, as the river Medway runs into the Thames, within the mouth of it, on the south, side, only this was not so far up.

Here they ran in the sloop immediately, and the next day we came thither also; our boats having sounded the whole breadth, of the main river, and found a very good channel, half a league broad, having from seventeen to four-and-twenty fathoms water all the way, and very good riding.

Here we found it absolutely necessary to take everything out of the brigantine to search her bottom, for her lying on shore had strained her seams, and broke one of her floor timbers; and having hands enough, our men unloaded her in a very little time, and making a little dock for her, mended all the damage in about ten days' time. But seeing her in so good a condition, and the place so convenient, I resolved to have her whole bottom new calked and cleaned, that we made her as tight as she was when she first came off the stocks.

This I took for a good opportunity to careen and clean our other ships too; for we had done little to them since we came from Madagascar. We found our Madagascar ship much worm-eaten in her sheathing, which we helped as well as we could by new nailing and by taking out some pieces of her sheathing, and putting new ones in. But as to our great ship, she was sheathed with lead, and had received no damage at all; only that she was very foul, which we remedied by scraping and cleaning, and new graving her quite over.

We were not all employed in this work, and therefore we had leisure to make the best of our time for the main work of new discoveries. And now I resolved to leave it no more to under officers, as I had done before, viz., when I gave the command of the shallop that traded with the king and queen, as above, to a midshipman, which I was very sorry for, though the fellow did his business very well too; but, I say, I resolved not to trust any one now but myself.

In the first place, I took the two shallops and went across the mouth of the great river to the south shore, to see what kind of a country was to be found there. For, as to the north side, where we were, we found it to be much the same with that part where we had been before; with this difference only, whereas, in the other place gold was to be had in plenty, but here was none we could find; nor did we perceive that the people had any.

I found the mouth of this river, or inlet, to be about four leagues over where I crossed it, which was about three leagues and a half within the inlet itself. But the weather being very calm, and the flood-tide running sharp, we let our boat drive up, in our crossing, about two leagues more; and we found the channel grew narrow so fast, that, where we came to land, it was not full a league over; that about three leagues farther we found it a mere river, not above as broad as the Thames at Blackwall.

We found it a steep shore, and, observing a little creek very convenient for our purpose, we ran in our boats among some flags or rushes, and laid them as soft and as safe as if they had been in a dock; we went all on shore immediately, except two men in each boat left to guard our provisions.

We had for arms, every man a musket, a pistol, and a cutlass; and in each boat we had six half pikes, to use as we might have occasion. We had also every man a hatchet, hung in a little frog at his belt; and in each boat a broad axe and a saw.

We were furnished with strings of beads, bits of glass, glass rings, ear-rings, pearl necklaces, and suchlike jewellery ware innumerable; besides knives, scissors, needles, pins, looking-glasses, drinking-glasses, and toys in great plenty.

We were no sooner on shore but we found people in abundance; for there were two or three, small towns within a little way of the shore; and I suppose we might have the more people about us, because, as we understood afterwards, they had seen us before, though we had not seen them.

We made signs to them, by putting our fingers to our mouths, and moving our chaps as if we were eating, that we wanted provisions; and we hung up a white flag for a truce. They presently understood the first signal, but knew nothing of the last; and as to provisions, just as had been the case before, they brought us out roots and fruits, such as they ate themselves, but such as we had never seen before. Some of them, however, were very sweet and good, and when we boiled them they tasted much like an English parsnip; and we gave them strings of beads, pieces of glass, and such things as we remarked they were fond of.

We found the people, as I observed of the other, very inoffensive and sincere; not quarrelsome, nor treacherous, nor mischievous in the least. And we took care not so much as to let them know the use or manner of our fire-arms for a great while; neither was there one piece fired all the time we were among the other people, where we had so much gold. If there had, it had been very probable that they would have fled the country, in spite of all the good usage we could have been able to have shown them.

The people where we were now were not so rich in gold as those where we were before, but we found them much better stored with provisions; for besides deer, of which they had great plenty and variety, for they had some of a sort which I had never seen before, and besides an infinite number of those rabbits I have mentioned, which were as big as our hares, and which do not burrow in the ground as our rabbits do, they had also a kind of sheep, large, (like those of Peru, where they are used to carry burdens), and very good. They have no wool nor horns, but are rather hairy like a goat; nor should I call them sheep, but that their flesh eats like mutton, and I knew not what else to call them. The natives called them huttash; but what breed, or from what part of the world, or whether peculiar to this division alone, I know not.

However, their flesh was very agreeable, and they were fat and good; and as the Indians were mightily pleased with the price we paid them, and the goods we paid them in, they brought us more of these huttashes than we knew what to do with; and as I can calculate the rate, I suppose we might have them for about eight-pence, or sometimes not above sixpence cost each; for they would give us one very thankfully for a string or two of small beads, and think themselves mighty well paid.

I found them so plentiful, and so easy to come at, that in short I sent fifty of them alive, tied neck and heels, in one of the shallops back to our ships, and ordered them to send their long-boats over for more; for though it was so little a way over, we did not find they had any of them on that side the river.

We did the Indians another piece of service, for, if they gave us meat, we taught them to be cooks, for we showed them how to roast it upon a stick or spit before the fire; whereas they ate all their meat before, either stewed in earthen pots over the fire, with herbs, such as we did not understand, or thrown on burning fuel of green wood, which always made it taste and stink of the smoke most intolerably.

We had a great deal of opportunity now to converse with the people on both sides the river; and we found them to be not only different nations, but of different speech and different customs. These on the south side, where I now was, seemed to be the best furnished with provisions, and to live in the greatest plenty. But those on the north side appeared better clothed, and a more civilized sort of people; and of the two, seemed to have in their countenances something more agreeable.

However, as they were near neighbours, for the river only parted them, they were not very much unlike each other. That which seemed most strange to me was, that we found they had little knowledge or communication one with another. They had indeed some boats in the river, but they were very small, and rather served to just waft them over, or to fish in them, than for any other use; for we found none that could carry above four men, and those very oddly made, partly as a canoe, by hollowing a tree, and partly by skins of beasts, dried and stuck on in such a manner that they would paddle along at a great rate with them.

For want of understanding their language I could come at no knowledge of their religion or worship; nor did I see any idols among them, or any adoration paid to the sun or moon. But yet, as a confirmation that all nations, however barbarous, have some notion of a God, and some awe of a superior power, I observed here, that, in making a bargain with one of the principal men, (such I perceived him to be by the respect the rest showed him), I say, being making a bargain with him, as well as could be done between two people who understood not one word of what either said, he had made signs to bring me twelve sheep the next morning, for some things that I was to deliver him of mine. I am sure the goods were not all of them of value sufficient to give me the least distrust; but when I gave him the goods without the sheep, being, as I said, to trust him till the next day, he called two men to him, and pointing to the goods that I had put into his hands, he tells upon his fingers twelve, letting them know, as I supposed, that he was to give me twelve sheep the next day in return, and so far it appeared they were to be witnesses of the agreement. He then placed his two hands, one upon each breast, with the fingers turned up towards his face, and holding them thus he looked towards heaven, with his face turned upward also, and with the utmost gravity, seriousness, and solemnity in his countenance that ever I saw in any man's face in my life, he moved his lips in the action of speaking. When he had continued in this posture about a quarter of a minute, he took the two men, and put them in the same attitude, and then pointed to me, and next to himself; by which I understood, first, that he solemnly swore to me that he would bring the sheep punctually and faithfully to me, and then brought the two men to be bail or security for the performance; that is to say, to oblige themselves to perform it if he did not.

Doubtless those people who have any notion of a God must represent him to themselves as something superior, and something that sees, and hears, and knows what they say or do. Whether these people meant the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or other visible object, or whatever else, I do not pretend to determine, but it is certain they understood it to be something to swear by; something that could bear witness of their engagement, and that being called to witness it would resent their breach of promise if they made it. As to those whose gods are monsters, and hideous shapes, frightful images, and terrible figures, the motive of their adoration being that of mere terror, they have certainly gross ideas; but these people seem to act upon a more solid foundation, paying their reverence in a manner much more rational, and to something which it was much more reasonable to worship, as appeared in the solemnity of their countenances, and their behaviour in making a solemn promise.

We found those people clothed, generally speaking, over their whole bodies, their heads, arms, legs and feet excepted, but not so agreeably as those we mentioned above; and we found that the clothing of these were generally made of the skins of beasts, but very artfully put together, so that though they had neither needle nor thread, yet they had the same plant as I mentioned before, the stalk of which would so strongly tie like a thread, that they peeled it off thicker or finer as they had occasion, and made use of it abundance of ways to tie and twist, and make their clothes with it, as well for their occasion as if it had been woven in a loom.

We found several of these people had little bits of gold about them; but when we made signs to them to know where they got it, and where it might be had, they made signs to us, pointing to the country on the north side of the river; so that we had, it seems, fallen upon the right gold coast in our first coming. They pointed indeed likewise to some very high mountains, which we saw at a great distance south-west, so that it seems as if there was gold found that way also; but it appeared the people here had not much of it for their share.

The men here had bows and arrows, and they used them so dexterously, that a wild goose flying over our heads, one of the Indians shot it quite through with an arrow. One of our men was so provoked to see them, as it were, to outdo him, that, some time after, seeing a couple of ducks flying fair for a mark, he presented his piece, and shot them both flying.

I was very angry when I heard the gun; had I been there he had never got leave to fire; however, when it was done, I was pleased well enough to see the effect it had upon these poor innocent well-meaning people. At first it frightened them to the last degree, and I may truly say it frightened them out of their senses, for they that were near it started so violently, that they fell down and lay speechless for some time; those that were farther off ran away, as if it had been some new kind of lightning and thunder, and came out of the earth instead of out of the clouds; but when they saw the two creatures fall down dead from above, and could see nothing that flew upward to kill them, they were perfectly astonished, and laid their two hands on their breasts and looked up to heaven, as if they were saying their prayers, in the most solemn manner imaginable.

However, this accident gave them terrible ideas of us, and I was afraid at first they would run all away from us through fear. I therefore used them after it with all the kindness and tenderness imaginable, gave them every day some trifle or other, which, though of no value to me, they were exceedingly fond of; and we asked nothing of them in return but provisions, of which they had great plenty, and gave us enough every day to satisfy us. As for drink, they had none of the milky liquor which we had in the other part of the country, but they had a root which they steeped in water, and made it taste hot, as if pepper had been in it, which made it so strong, that though it would not make our men drunk, it was worse, for it made them nearly mad.

I was so pleased with these people that I came over to them every other day, and some of our men lay on shore, under a sail pitched for a tent; and they were so safe, that at last they kept no watch, for the poor people neither thought any harm, nor did any; and we never gave them the least occasion to apprehend anything from us, at least not till our man fired the gun, and that only let them know we were able to hurt them, without giving them the least suspicion that we intended it; on the contrary, one of our men played an odd prank with a child, and fully satisfied them that we would do them no harm. This man having seen one of their children, a little laughing speechless creature, of about two years old, the mother having gone from it a little way, on some particular occasion, the fellow took it and led it home to the tent, and kept it there all night.

The next morning, he dressed it up with beads and jewels wondrous fine, a necklace about its neck, and bracelets of beads about its wrists, and several strings of beads wrapped up and tied in its hair, having fed it and laid it to sleep, and made much of it.

In this figure he carried it up in his arms to the Indian's hut where he had found it, and where there had been a lamentable outcry for the child all the night, the mother crying and raising her neighbours, and in a most strange concern.

But when some of the women, her neighbours, saw the child brought back, there was a contrary extreme of joy; and the mother of it being fetched, she fell a-jumping and dancing to see her child, but also making so many odd gestures, as that our men could not well know for awhile whether she was pleased or not: the reason it seems was, she did not know whether to hope or fear, for she did not know whether the man would give back her child or take it away again.

But when the man who had the child in his arms had been told by signs that this was the mother, he beckoned to have her come to him, and she came, but trembling for fear. Then he took the child, and kissing it two or three times, gave it her into her arms. But it is impossible to express by words the agony the poor woman was in; she took the child, and holding it in her arms fixed her eyes upon it without motion, or, as it were, without life, for a good while; then she took it and embraced it in the most passionate manner imaginable; when this was over, she fell a-crying so vehemently till she sobbed; and all this while spoke not one word. When the crying had given sufficient vent to her passion, then she fell a-dancing and making a strange odd noise, that cannot be described, and at last she left the child, and came back to the place where our men were, and to the man that brought her child, and, as soon as she came up to him, she fell flat on the ground, as I have described above the queen and her women did, and up again immediately; and thus she did three times, which it seems was her acknowledgment to him for bringing it back.

The next day, for her gratitude did not end here, she came down to our tent, and brought with her two sheep, with a great back-burden of roots of the kind which I said the natives steep in the water, and several fruits of the country, as much as two men who came with her could carry, and these she gave all to the man who had brought back her child. Our men were so moved at the affectionate carriage of this poor woman to her infant, that they told me it brought tears from their eyes.

The man who received the present took the woman and dressed her up almost as fine as he had done the child, and she went home like a kind of a queen among them.

We observed while we stayed here that this was a most incomparable soil; that the earth was a fat loamy mould; that the herbage was strong; that the grass in some places was very flourishing and good, being as high as our mid-thigh; and that the air was neither very hot, nor, as we believed, very cold. We made an experiment of the fruitfulness of the soil, for we took some white peas, and digging the ground up with a spade, we sowed some, and before we went away we saw them come out of the ground again, which was in about nine days.

We made signs to the people that they should let them grow, and that if they gathered them they were good to eat; we also sowed some English wheat, and let them know, as well as we could, what the use of them both was. But I make no doubt but they have been better acquainted with, both by this time, by an occasion which followed.

Our men were so fond of this place, and so pleased with the temper of the people, the fruitfulness of the soil, and agreeableness of the climate, that about twenty of them offered me, if I would give them my word to come again, or send to them to relieve and supply them with necessaries, they would go on shore and begin a colony, and live all their days there. Nay, after this, their number came up to three-and-thirty; or they offered, that, if I would give them the sloop, and leave them a quantity of goods, especially of such toys as they knew would oblige the people to use them well, they would stay at all hazards, not doubting, as they told me, but they should come to England again at last, with the sloop full of gold.

I was not very willing to encourage either of these proposals, because, as I told them, I might perhaps find a place as fit to settle a colony in before we came home, which was not at such an excessive distance from England, so that it was scarce possible ever to relieve them. This satisfied them pretty well, and they were content to give over the project; and yet, at last, which was more preposterous than all the rest, five of our men and a boy ran away from us and went on shore, and what sort of life they led, or how they managed, we could not tell, for they were too far off us to inquire after them again. They took a small yawl with them, and it seems had furnished themselves privately with some necessary things, especially, tools, a grindstone, a barrel of powder, some peas, some wheat, and some barley; so that it seems they are resolved to plant there. I confess I pitied them, and when I had searched for them, and could not find them, I caused a letter to be written to them, and fixed it upon a post at the place where our ship careened; and another letter on the south side, to tell them that in such a certain place I had left other necessaries for them, which I did, made up in a large case of boards or planks, and covered with boards like a shed.

Here I left them hammocks for lodging, all sorts of tools for building them a house, spades, shovels, pickaxes, an axe, and two saws, with clothes, shoes, stockings, hats, shirts, and, in a word, every thing that I could think of for their use; and a large box of toys, beads, &c., to invite the natives to trade with them.

One of our men, whom they had made privy to their design, but made him promise not to reveal it until they were gone, had told them that he would persuade me, if he could, to leave them a farther supply; and bade them come to the place after the ships were gone, and that they should find directions left for them on a piece of a board, or a letter from him set up upon a post. Thus they were well furnished with all things for immediate living.

I make no doubt but they came to find these things; and, since they had a mind to make trial of a wild retired life, they might shift very well; nor would they want anything but English women to raise a new nation of English people, in a part of the world that belongs neither to Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. I also left them every man another gun, a cutlass, and a horn for powder; and I left two barrels of fine powder, and two pigs of lead for shot, in another chest by itself.

I doubt not but the natives will bestow wives upon them, but what sort of a posterity they will make, I cannot foresee, for I do not find by inquiry that the fellows had any great store of knowledge or religion in them, being all Madagascar men, as we called them, that is to say, pirates and rogues; so that, for aught I know, there may be a generation of English heathens in an age or two more; though I left them five Bibles, and six or seven Prayer-books, and good books of several sorts, that they might not want instruction, if they thought fit to make use of it for themselves or their progeny.