Part 14

That night it froze extremely hard, and the wind veering to the south-west, it was the severest cold that ever I felt in my life; a barrel or cask of water, which stood on the deck, froze entirely in one night into one lump, and our cooper, knocking off the hoops from the cask, took it to pieces, and the barrel of ice stood by itself, in the true shape of the vessel it had been in. This wind was, however, favourable to our deliverance, for we stood away now north-east and north-east-by-north, making fresh way with a fair wind.

We made no more land till we came into the latitude of 62 deg., when we saw some islands at a great distance, on both sides of us; we believed them to be islands, because we saw many of them with large openings between. But we were all so willing to get into a warmer climate, that we did not incline to put in anywhere, till, having run thus fifteen days and the wind still holding southerly, with small alteration and clear weather, we could easily perceive the climate to change, and the weather grow milder. And here taking an observation, I found we were in the latitude of 50 deg. 30', and that our meridian distance from the Ladrones west was 87 deg., being almost one semi-diameter of the globe, so that we could not be far from the coast of America, which was my next design, and indeed the chief design of the whole voyage.

On this expectation I changed my course a little, and went away north-by-east, till by an observation I found myself in 47 deg. 7', and then standing away east for about eleven days more, we made the tops of the Andes, the great mountains of Chili, in South America, to our great joy and satisfaction, though at a very great distance.

We found our distance from the shore not less than twenty leagues, the mountains being so very high; and our next business was to consider what part of the Andes it must be, and to what port we should direct ourselves first. Upon the whole, we found we were too much to the south still, and resolved to make directly for the river or port of Valdivia, or Baldivia, as it is sometimes called, in the latitude of 40 deg.; so we stood away to the north. The next day the pacific, quiet sea, as it is termed, showed us a very frowning rough countenance, and proved the very extreme of a contrary disposition; for it blew a storm of wind at east-by-south, and drove us off the coast again, but it abated again for a day or two; and then for six days together it blew excessive hard, almost all at east, so that I found no possibility of getting into the shore; and besides, I found that the winds came off that mountainous country in squalls, and that the nearer we came to the hills the gusts were the more violent. So I resolved to run for the island of Juan Fernandez, to refresh ourselves there until the weather was settled; and besides, we wanted fresh water very much.

The little that the wind stood southerly helped me in this run, and we came in five days more, fair with the island, to our great joy, and brought all our ships to an anchor as near the watering-place as is usual, where we rode easy, though, the wind continued to blow very hard; and being, I say, now about the middle of our voyage, I shall break off my account here, as of the first part of my work, and begin again at our departure from hence.

It is true, we had got over much the greater run, as to length of way; but the most important part of our voyage was yet to come, and we had no inconsiderable length to run neither, for as we purposed to sail north, the height of Panama, in the latitude of 9 deg. north, and back again by Cape Horn, in the latitude of, perhaps, 60 deg. south, and that we were now in 40 deg. south; those three added to the run, from Cape Horn home to England made a prodigious length, as will be seen by this following account, in which also the meridian distances are not all reckoned, though those also are very great.

From Juan Fernandez to the Line 30

From the Line to Panama 9

From Panama to Cape Horn, including the distance we take in going round 60

From Cape Horn to the Line again in the North Seas 60

From the Line to England 51 --- 210 Deg. ---

N.B. There must be deducted from this account the distance from Lima to Panama, because we did not go up to Panama, as we intended to do.

By this account we had almost 30 deg. to run more than a diameter of the globe, besides our distance west, where we then were, from the meridian of England, whither we were to go; which, if exactly calculated, is above 70 deg., take it from the island of Juan Fernandez.

But to return a little to our stay in this place, for that belongs to this part of my account, and of which I must make a few short observations.

It was scarce possible to restrain Englishmen, after so long beating the sea, from going on shore when they came to such a place of refreshment as this; nor indeed was it reasonable to restrain them, considering how we all might be supposed to stand in need of refreshment, and considering that here was no length of ground for the men to wander in, no liquors to come at to distract them with their excess, and, which was still more, no women to disorder or debauch them. We all knew their chief exercise would be hunting goats for their subsistence, and we knew also, that, however they wanted the benefit of fresh provision, they must work hard to catch it before they could taste the sweet of it. Upon these considerations, I say, our ships being well moored, and riding safe, we restrained none of them, except a proper number to take care of each ship; and those were taken out by lot, and then had their turn also to go on shore some days afterwards, and in the mean time had both fresh water and fresh meat sent them immediately, and that in sufficient quantity to their satisfaction. As soon as we were on shore, and had looked about us, we began first with getting some fresh water, for we greatly wanted it. Then carrying a small cask of arrack on shore, I made a quantity of it be put into a whole butt of water before I let our men drink a drop; so correcting a little the chilness of the water, because I knew they would drink an immoderate quantity, and endanger their healths, and the effect answered my care; for, those who drank at the spring where they took in the water, before I got this butt filled, and before the arrack was put into it, fell into swoonings and faint sweats, having gorged themselves too much with the cool water; and two or three I thought would have died, but our surgeons took such care of them, that they recovered.

While this was doing, others cut down branches of trees and built us two large booths, and five or six smaller, and we made two tents with some old sails; and thus we encamped, as if we had been to take up our dwelling, and intended to people the island.

At the same time, others of our men began to look out for goats, for it may be believed we all longed for a meal of fresh meat. They were a little too hasty at their work at first, for firing among the first goats they came at, when there were but a few men together, they frighted all the creatures, and they ran all away into holes, and among the rocks and places where we could not find them; so that for that day they made little of it. However, sending for more firemen, they made a shift to bring in seventeen goats the same day, whereof we sent five on board the ships, and feasted with the rest on shore. But the next day the men went to work in another manner, and with better conduct; for as we had hands enough, and fire-arms enough, they spread themselves so far, that they, as it were, surrounded the creatures; and so driving them out of their fastnesses and retreats, they had no occasion to shoot, for the goats could not get from them, and they took them everywhere with their hands, except some of the old he-goats, which were so surly, that they would stand at bay and rise at them, and would not be taken; and these, as being old also, and as they thought, good for nothing, they let go.

In short, so many of our men went on shore, and these divided themselves into so many little parties, and plyed their work so hard, and had such good luck, that I told them it looked as if they had made a general massacre of the goats, rather than a hunting.

Our men also might be said not to refresh themselves, but to feast themselves here with fresh provisions; for though we stayed but thirteen days, yet we killed three hundred and seventy goats, and our men who were on board were very merrily employed, most assuredly, for they might be said to do very little but roast and stew, and broil and fry, from morning to night. It was indeed an exceeding good supply to them, for they had been extremely fatigued with the last part of their voyage, and had tasted of no fresh provisions for six weeks before.

This made them hunt the goats with the more eagerness, and indeed, they surrounded them so dexterously, and followed them so nimbly, that notwithstanding the difficulties of the rocks, yet the goats could hardly ever escape them. Here our men found also very good fish, and some few tortoises, or turtles, as the seamen call them, but they valued them not, when they had such plenty of venison; also they found some very good herbs in the island, which they boiled with the goats' flesh, and which made their broth very savoury and comfortable, and withal very healing, and good against the scurvy, which in those climates Englishmen are very subject to.

We were now come to the month of April, 1715, having spent almost eight months in this trafficking wandering voyage from Manilla hither. And whoever shall follow the same, or a like track, if ever such a thing shall happen, will do well to make a year of it, and may find it very well worth while.

I doubt not but there are many undiscovered parts of land to the west, and to the south also, of the first shore, of which I mentioned, that we stayed trafficking for little bits of gold. And though it is true that such traffick, as I have given an account of, is very advantageous in itself, and worth while to look for, especially after having had a good market for an out-ward-bound European cargo, according to the pattern of ours, at the Philippines, and which, by the way, they need not miss, I say, as this trade for gold would be well worth while, so had we gone the best way, and taken a course more to the south from Manilla, not going away east to the Ladrones, we should certainly have fallen in with a country, from the coast of New Guinea, where we might have found plenty of spices, as well as of gold.

For why may we not be allowed to suppose that the country on the same continent, and in the same latitude, should produce the same growth? Especially considering them situated, as it may be called, in the neighbourhood of one another.

Had we then proceeded this way, no question but we might have fixed on some place for a settlement, either English or French, whence a correspondence being established with Europe, either by Cape Horn east, or the Cape De Bona Esperance west, as we had thought fit, they might have found as great a production of the nutmegs and the cloves as at Banda and Ternate, or have made those productions have been planted there for the future, where no doubt they would grow and thrive as well as they do now in the Moluccas.

But we spun out too much time for the business we did; and though we might, as above, discover new places, and get very well too, yet we did nothing in comparison of what we might be supposed to have done, had we made the discovery more our business.

I cannot doubt, also, but that when we stood away south it was too late; for had we stood into the latitude of 67 deg. at first, as we did afterwards, I have good reason to believe that those islands which we call the Moluccas, and which lie so thick and for so great an extent, go on yet farther, and it is scarce to be imagined that they break off just with Gilloto.

This I call a mistake in me, namely, that I stood away east from the Philippines to the Ladrones, before I had gone any length to the south.

But to come to the course set down in this work, namely, south-east and by east from the Ladrones, the places I have taken notice of, as these do not, in my opinion, appear to be inconsiderable and of no value, so had we searched farther into them, I doubt not but there are greater things to be discovered, and perhaps a much greater extent of land also. For as I have but just, as it were, described the shell, having made no search for the kernel, it is more than probable, that within the country there might be greater discoveries made, of immense value too. For even, as I observed several times, whenever we found any people who had gold, and asked them, as well as by signs we could make them understand, they always pointed to the rivers and the mountains which lay farther up the country, and which we never made any discovery of, having little in our view but the getting what little share of gold the poor people had about them. Whereas had we taken possession of the place, and left a number of men sufficient to support themselves, in making a farther search, I cannot doubt but there must be a great deal of that of which the inactive Indians had gotten but a little.

Nor had we one skilful man among us to view the face of the earth, and see what treasure of choice vegetables might be there. We had indeed six very good surgeons, and one of them, whom we took in among the Madagascar men, was a man of great reading and judgment; but he acknowledged he had no skill in botanics, having never made it his study.

But to say the truth, our doctors themselves (so we call the surgeons at sea) were so taken up in their traffick for gold, that they had no leisure to think of anything else. They did indeed pick up some shells, and some strange figured skeletons of fishes and small beasts, and other things, which they esteemed as rarities; but they never went a simpling, as we call it, or to inquire what the earth brought forth that was rare, and not to be found anywhere else.

I think, likewise, it is worth observing, how the people we met with, where it is probable no ships, much less European ships, had ever been, and where they had never conversed with enemies, or with nations accustomed to steal and plunder; I say, the people who lived thus, had no fire, no rage in their looks, no jealous fears of strangers doing them harm, and consequently no desire to do harm to others. They had bows and arrows indeed, but it was rather to kill the deer and fowls, and to provide themselves with food, than to offend their enemies, for they had none.

When, therefore, removing from thence, we came to other and different nations, who were ravenous and mischievous, treacherous and fierce, we concluded they had conversed with other nations, either by going to them, or their vessels coming there. And to confirm me in this opinion, I found these fierce false Indians had canoes and boats, some of one kind, and some of another, by which perhaps, they conversed with the islands or other nations near them, and that they also received ships and vessels from other nations, by which they had several occasions to be upon their guard, and learned the treacherous and cruel parts from others which nature gave them no ideas of before.

As the natives of these places were tractable and courteous, so they would be made easily subservient and assistant to any European nation that would come to make settlements among them, especially if those European nations treated them with humanity and courtesy; for I have made it a general observation, concerning the natural disposition of all the savage nations that ever I met with, that if they are once but really obliged they will always be very faithful.

But it is our people, I mean the Europeans, who, by breaking faith with them, teach them ingratitude, and inure them to treat their new comers with breach of faith, and with cruelty and barbarity. If you once win them by kindness, and doing them good, I mean at first, before they are taught to be rogues by example, they will generally be honest, and be kind also, to the uttermost of their power.

It is to be observed, that it has been the opinion of all the sailors who have navigated those parts of the world, that farther south there are great tracts of undiscovered land; and some have told us they have seen them, and have called them by such and such name, as, particularly, the Isles of Solomon, of which yet we can read of nobody that ever went on shore on them, or that could give any account of them, except such as are romantic, and not to be depended upon.

But what has been the reason why we have hitherto had nothing but guesses made at those things, and that all that has been said of such lands has been imperfect? The reason, if I may speak my opinion, has been, because it is such a prodigious run from the coast of America to the islands of the Ladrones, that the few people who have performed it never durst venture to go out of the way of the trade-winds, lest they should not be able to subsist for want of water and provisions; and this is particularly the case in the voyage from the coast of America only.

Whereas, to go the way which I have marked out, had we seen a necessity, and that there was no land to be found to the south of the tropic for a supply of provisions and fresh water, it is evident we could have gone back again, from one place to another, and have been constantly supplied; and this makes it certain also, that it cannot be reasonably undertaken by a ship going from the east, I mean the coast of America, to the west; but, from the west, viz., the Spice Islands to America west, it may be adventured with ease, as I have shown.

It is true, that William Cornelius Van Schouten and Francis le Maire, who first found the passage into the South Sea by Cape Horn, and not to pass the Straits of Magellan, I say, they did keep to the southward of the tropic, and pass in part the same way I have here given an account of, as by their journals, which I have by me at this time, is apparent.

And it is as true also, that they did meet with many islands and unknown shores in those seas, where they got refreshment, especially fresh water: perhaps some of the places were the same I have described in this voyage, but why they never pursued that discovery, or marked those islands and places they got refreshments at, so that others in quest of business might have touched at them and have received the like benefit, that I can give no account of.

I cannot help being of opinion, let our map makers place them where they will, that those islands where we so successfully fished for oysters, or rather for pearl, are the same which the ancient geographers have called Solomon's Islands; and though they are so far south, the riches of them may not be the less, nor are they more out of the way. On the contrary, they lie directly in the track which our navigators would take, if they thought fit, either to go or come between Europe and the East Indies, seeing they that come about Cape Horn seldom go less south than the latitude of 63 or 64 deg.; and these islands, as I have said, lie in the latitude of 40 to 48 deg. south, and extend themselves near one hundred and sixty leagues in breadth from north to south.

Without doubt those islands would make a very noble settlement, in order to victual and relieve the European merchants in so long a run as they have to make; and when this trade came to be more frequented, the calling of those ships there would enrich the islands, as the English at St. Helena are enriched by the refreshing which the East India ships find that meet there.

But to return to our present situation at Juan Fernandez. The refreshment which our men found here greatly encouraged and revived them; and the broths and stewings which we made of the goats' flesh which we killed there, than which nothing could be wholesomer, restored all our sick men, so that we lost but two men in our whole passage from the East Indies, and had lost but eight men in our whole voyage from England, except I should reckon those five men and a boy to be lost which run away from us in the country among the Indians, as I have already related.

I should have added, that we careened and cleaned our ships here, and put ourselves into a posture for whatever adventures might happen; for as I resolved upon a trading voyage upon the coast of Chili and Peru, and a cruising voyage also, as it might happen, so I resolved also to put our ships into a condition for both, as occasion should present.

Our men were nimble at this work, especially having been so well refreshed and heartened up by their extraordinary supply of fresh meats, and the additions of good broths and soups which they fed on every day in the island, and with which they were supplied without any manner of limitation all the time they were at work.

This I say being their case, they got the Madagascar ship hauled down, and her bottom washed and tallowed, and she was as clean as when she first came off the stocks in five days' time: and she was rigged, and all set to rights, and fit for sailing in two more.

The great ship was not so soon fitted, nor was I in so much haste, for I had a design in my head which I had not yet communicated to anybody, and that was to send the Madagascar ship a-cruising as soon as she was fitted up; accordingly, I say, the fifth day she was ready, and I managed it so that the captain of the Madagascar ship openly, before all the men, made the motion, as if it had been his own project, and desired I would let him go and try his fortune, as he called it.

I seemed unwilling at first, but he added to his importunity, that he and all his crew were desirous, if they made any purchase, it should be divided among all the crews in shares, according as they were shipped; that if it was provisions, the captain should buy it at half price, for the use of the whole, and the money to be shared.

Upon hearing his proposals, which were esteemed very just, and the men all agreeing, I gave consent, and so he had my orders and instructions, and leave to be out twelve days on his cruise, and away he went. His ship was an excellent sailer, as has been said, and being now a very clean vessel, I thought he might speak with any other, or get away from her if he pleased; by the way, I ordered him to put out none but French colours.

He cruised a week without seeing a sail, and stood in quite to the Spanish shore in one place, but in that he was wrong. The eighth day, giving over all expectations, he stood off again to sea, and the next morning he spied a sail, which proved to be a large Spanish ship, and that seemed to stand down directly upon him, which a little checked his forwardness; however, he kept on his course, when the Spaniard seeing him plainer than probably he had done at first, tacked, and crowding all the sail he could carry, stood in for the shore.

The Spaniard was a good sailer, but our ship plainly gained upon her, and in the evening came almost up with her; when he saw the land, though at a great distance, he was loath to be seen chasing her from the shore; however, he followed, and night coming on, the Spaniard changed his course, thinking to get away, but as the moon was just rising, our men, who resolved to keep her in sight, if possible, perceived her, and stretched after her with all the canvass they could lay on.