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A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS,
ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER:
FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY ROBERT KERR, F.R.S. & F.A.S. EDIN.
ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.
VOL. VIII.
MDCCCXXIV. CONTENTS
OF
VOL. VIII.
* * * * *
PART II. BOOK III. CONTINUED.
CHAP. IX. Continued.—Early Voyages of the English to the East Indies before the Establishment of an Exclusive Company.
SECT. IV. Voyage of Mr John Eldred, by Sea, to Tripoli in Syria, and thence by Land and River to Bagdat and Basora, in 1583.
V. Of the Monsoons, or periodical Winds, with which Ships depart from Place to Place in India. By William Barret.
VI. First Voyage of the English to India in 1591; begun by Captain George Raymond, and completed by Captain James Lancaster.
VII. Supplementary Account of the former Voyage, by John May.
VIII. The unfortunate Voyage of Captain Benjamin Wood, towards the East Indies, in 1596.
IX. Voyage of Captain John Davis to the East Indies, in 1598, as Pilot to a Dutch Ship.
X. Voyage of William Adams to Japan, in 1598, and long residence in that Island.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Brief Relation of the Voyage of Sebalt de Wert to the Straits of Magellan.
Sec. 2. First Letter of William Adams.
Sec. 3. Letter of William Adams to his Wife.
SECT. XI. Voyage of Sir Edward Michelburne to India, in 1604.
CHAP. X. Early Voyages of the English to India, after the Establishment, of the East India Company.
Introduction.
SECT. I. First Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1601, under the Command of Captain James Lancaster.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Preparation for the Voyage, and its Incidents till the Departure of the Fleet from Saldanha Bay.
Sec. 2. Continuation of the Voyage, to the Nicobar and Sombrero Islands.
Sec. 3. Their Reception and Trade at Acheen.
Sec. 4. Portuguese Wiles discovered, and a Prize taken near Malacca.
Sec. 5. Presents to and from the King of Acheen, and his Letters to Queen Elizabeth. Their Departure to Priaman and Bantam, and Settlement of Trade at these Places.
Sec. 6. Departure for England, and Occurrences in the Voyage.
SECT. II. Account of Java, and of the first Factory of the English at Bantam; with Occurrences there from the 11th February, 1603, to the 6th October, 1605.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Description of Java, with the Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants, both Javanese and Chinese.
Sec. 2. Brief Discourse of many Dangers by Fire, and other Treacheries of the Javanese.
Sec. 3. Differences between the Hollanders, styling themselves English, and the Javans, and of other memorable Things.
Sec. 4. Treacherous Underminings, and other Occurrences.
Sec. 5. Arrival of General Middleton, and other Events.
Sec. 6. Account of Quarrels between the English and Dutch at Bantam, and other Occurrences.
Sec. 7. Observations by Mr John Saris of Occurrences during his Abode at Bantam, from October, 1605, to October, 1609
Sec. 8. Rules for the Choice of sundry Drugs, with an Account of the Places where they are procured.
Sec. 9. Of the principal Places of Trade in India, and the Commodities they afford.
SECT. III. Second Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1604, under the Command of Captain Henry Middleton.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Voyage of General Henry Middleton, afterwards Sir Henry, to Bantam and the Moluccas, in 1604.
Sec. 2. Voyage of Captain Colthurst, in the Ascension, to Banda.
SECT. IV. Third Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1607, by Captain William Keeling.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Disasters in the Outset of the Voyage, with Occurrences till leaving Saldanha Bay.
Sec. 2. Departure from Saldanha Bay, and Occurrences till the Ships parted Company.
Sec. 3. Instruction learnt at Delisa respecting the Monsoon; with the Arrival of the Dragon at Bantam.
Sec. 4. Voyage of the Hector to Banda, with Occurrences there.
SECT. V. Narrative by William Hawkins of Occurrences during his Residence in the Dominions of the Great Mogul.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Barbarous Usage at Surat by Mucrob Khan; and the treacherous Procedure of the Portuguese and Jesuits.
Sec. 2. Journey of the Author to Agra, and his Entertainment at the Court of the Great Mogul.
Sec. 3. The Inconstancy of the King, and the Departure of Captain Hawkins to the Red Sea, Bantam, and England.
SECT. VI. Observations of William Finch, Merchant, who accompanied Captain Hawkins to Surat, and returned over Land to England.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Remembrances respecting Sierra Leona, in 1607.
Sec. 2. Observations made at St Augustine in Madagascar, and at the Island of Socotora.
Sec. 3. Occurrences in India, respecting the English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Moguls.
Sec. 4. Journey to Agra, and Observations by the Way; with some Notices of the Deccan Wars.
Sec. 5. Description of Futtipoor, Biana, &c. of Nill, or Indigo; and of other Matters.
Sec. 6. Description of Lahore, with other Observations.
SECT. VII. Voyage of Captain David Middleton, in 1607, to Bantam and the Moluccas.
Introduction.
SECT. VIII. Fourth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1608, by Captain Alexander Sharpey.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Relation of this Voyage, as written by Robert Coverte.
Sec. 2. Supplement to the foregoing Narrative, from the Account of the same unfortunate Voyage, by Thomas Jones.
Sec. 3. Additional Supplement, from the Report of William Nichols.
SECT. IX. Voyage of Captain Richard Rowles in the Union, the Consort of the Ascension.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Of the Voyage of the Union, after her Separation from the Ascension, to Acheen and Priaman.
Sec. 2. Return of the Union from Priaman towards England.
SECT. X. Fifth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1609, under the Command of Captain David Middleton.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Occurrences at Bantam, Booton, and Banda.
Sec. 2. Occurrences at Banda; Contests with the Hollanders; Trade at Pulo-way, and many Perils.
Sec. 3. Departure for Bantam, Escape from the Hollanders, and Voyage Home.
SECT. XI. Sixth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1610, under the Command of Sir Henry Middleton.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Incidents of the Voyage till the Arrival of the Squadron at Mokha.
Sec. 2. Transactions at Mokha, and Treachery of the Turks there, and at Aden.
Sec. 3. Journey of Sir Henry Middleton to Zenan, in the Interior of Yemen, or Arabia Felix, with some Description of the Country, and Occurrences till his Return to Mokha.
Sec. 4. Sir Henry Middleton makes his Escape from the Turks, and forces them to make Satisfaction.
Sec. 5. Voyage from the Red Sea to Surat, and Transactions there.
Sec. 6. Voyage from Surat to Dabul, and thence to the Red Sea, and Proceedings there.
SECT. XII. Journal of the preceding Voyage by Nicholas Downton, Captain of the Pepper-corn.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Notices of the Voyage between Saldanha Bay and Socotora, both inclusive.
Sec. 2. Of Abdal Kuria, Arabia Felix, Aden, and Mokha, and the treacherous Proceedings of both Places.
Sec. 3. Account of Proceedings in the Red Sea on the second Visit.
Sec. 4. Voyage from Mokha to Sumatra, and Proceedings there.
Sec. 5. Voyage of the Pepper-corn Home to England.
SECT. XIII. The Seventh Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1611, commanded by Captain Anthony Hippon.
Introduction.
SECT. XIV. Notices of the preceding Voyage, by Peter Williamson Floris.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. The Voyage to Pullicatt, Patapilly, Bantam, Patane, and Siam.
Sec. 2. Narrative of strange Occurrences in Pegu, Siam, Johor, Patane, and the adjacent Kingdoms.
Sec. 3. Voyage to Masulipatam, and Incidents during a long Stay at that Place.
Sec. 4. Voyage to Bantam, and thence to England.
SECT. XV. Eighth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1611, by Captain John Saris.
Introduction.
Sec. 1. Incidents of the Voyage from England to Socotora.
Sec. 2. Occurrences at Socotora and in the Red Sea.
Sec. 3. Adventures along with Sir Henry Middleton in the Red Sea, and other Observations in those Parts, with our Arrival at Bantam.
Sec. 4. The Voyage of Captain Saris, in the Clove, towards Japan, with Observations respecting the Dutch and Spaniards at the Molucca Islands.
A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
* * * * *
PART II. BOOK III.
(CONTINUED.)
* * * * *
CHAPTER IX.—Continued.
EARLY VOYAGES OF THE ENGLISH. TO THE EAST INDIES, BEFORE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EXCLUSIVE COMPANY.
SECTION IV.
Voyage of Mr John Eldred, by Sea, to Tripoli, in Syria, and thence, by Land and River, to Bagdat and Basora, in 1583.[1]
I departed from London in the Tiger on Shrove-Tuesday, 1583, in company with Mr John Newberry, Mr Ralph Fitch, and six or seven other honest merchants, and arrived at Tripoli in Syria on the next ensuing 1st of May. On our arrival, we went a Maying on the Island of St George, where the Christians who die here on ship board are wont to be buried. In this city of Tripoli our English merchants have a consul, and all of the English nation who come here reside along with him, in a house or factory, called Fondeghi Ingles, which is a square stone building, resembling a cloister, where every person has his separate chamber, as is likewise the custom of all the other Christian nations at this place.
[Footnote 1: Hakluyt, II. 402. As Eldred accompanied Newberry and Fitch from England to Basora, this article is, in a great degree, connected with our present purpose: It may likewise be mentioned, that Eldred is one of the persons with whom Newberry corresponded.—E.]
Tripolis stands under a part of Mount Lebanon, at the distance of two English miles from the port. On one side of this port, in the form of a half-moon, there are five block-houses, or small forts, in which there are some good pieces of artillery, and they are occupied by about an hundred janisaries. Right before the town there is a hill of shifting sand, which gathers and increases with a west wind, insomuch, that they have an old prophecy among them, that this sand hill will one day swallow up and overwhelm the town, as it every year increases and destroys many gardens, though they employ every possible device to diminish this sand-bank, and to render it firm ground. The city is walled round, though of no great strength, and is about the size of Bristol: Its chief defence is the citadel or castle, which stands on the south side of the town, and within the walls, overlooking the whole town, being armed with some good artillery, and garrisoned by two hundred janisaries. A river passes through the middle of the city, by means of which they water their gardens and plantations of mulberry trees, on which they rear great numbers of silk-worms, which produce great quantities of white silk, being the principal commodity of this place, which is much frequented by many Christian merchants, as Venetians, Florentines, Genoese, Marsilians, Sicilians, and Ragusans, and, of late, by the English, who trade more here than in any other port of the Turkish dominions.
I departed from Tripolis with a caravan, on the 14th May, passing, in three days, over the ridge of Mount Libanus; and at the end of that time came to the city of Hammah, which stands in a goodly plain, abounding in corn and cotton-wool. On these mountains grow great quantities of gall-trees, which are somewhat like our oaks, but less, and more crooked; and, on the best trees, a man shall not find above a pound of galls on each. This town of Hammah is fallen into decay, and continues to decay more and more, so that at this day scarcely is the half of the wall standing, which has once been strong and handsome; but, because it cost many lives to win it, the Turks will not have it repaired, and have caused to be inscribed in Arabic, over one of the gates, "Cursed be the father and the son of him who shall lay hands to the repairing of this place."
Refreshing ourselves one day here, we went forwards three days more, with our camels, and came to Aleppo, where we arrived on the 21st of May. This has the greatest trade, for an inland town, of any in all those parts, being resorted to by Jews, Tartars, Persians, Armenians, Egyptians, Indians, and many different kinds of Christians, all of whom enjoy liberty of conscience, and bring here many different kinds of merchandise. In the middle of the city there is a goodly castle, raised on high, having a garrison of four or five hundred janisaries. Within four miles round about there are many goodly gardens and vineyards, with many trees, which bear excellent fruit, near the side of the river, which is very small. The walls of the city are about three miles in circuit, but the suburbs are nearly as large as the city, the whole being very populous.
We departed from Aleppo on the 31st of May, with a caravan of camels, along with Mr John Newberry, and his company, and came to Birrah, [Bir] in three days, being a small town on the Euphrates, where that river first assumes the name, being here collected into one channel, whereas before it comes down in numerous branches, and is therefore called by the people of the country by a name which signifies a thousand heads. We here found abundance of provisions, and furnished ourselves for a long journey down the river; and, according to the custom of those who travel on this river, we provided a small bark for the conveyance of ourselves and our goods. These boats are flat-bottomed, because the river is shallow in many places; and when people travel in the months of July, August, and September, the water being then at the lowest, they have to carry a spare boat or two along with them, to lighten their own boats in case of grounding on the shoals. We were twenty-eight days upon the river in going between Bir and Feluchia, at which last place we disembarked ourselves and our goods.
During our passage down the Euphrates, we tied our boat to a stake every night at sun-set, when we went on land and gathered some sticks to make a fire, on which we set our pot, with rice or bruised wheat; and when we had supped, the merchants went on board to sleep, while the mariners lay down for the night on the shore, as near the boats as they could. At many places on the river side we met with troops of Arabs, of whom we bought milk, butter, eggs, and lambs, giving them in barter, for they care not for money, glasses, combs, coral, amber, to hang about their necks; and for churned milk we gave them bread and pomegranate peels, with which they tan their goat skins which they use for churns. The complexion, hair, and apparel of these Arabs, are entirely like to those vagabond Egyptians who heretofore used to go about in England. All their women, without one exception, wear a great round ring of gold, silver, or iron, according to their abilities, in one of their nostrils, and about their legs they have hoops of gold, silver, or iron. All of them, men, women, and children, are excellent swimmers, and they often brought off in this manner vessels with milk on their heads to our barks. They are very thievish, as I proved to my cost, for they stole a casket belonging to me, containing things of good value, from under my man's head as he lay asleep.
At Bir the Euphrates is about as broad as the Thames at Lambeth, in some places broader, and in others narrower, and it runs very swiftly, almost as fast as the Trent. It has various kinds of fish, all having scales, some like our barbels, as large as salmon. We landed at Feluchia on the 28th of June, and had to remain there seven days for want of camels to carry our goods to Babylon, [Bagdat,] the heat at that season being so violent that the people were averse from hiring their camels to travel. Feluchia is a village of some hundred houses, and is the place appointed for discharging such goods as come down the river, the inhabitants being all Arabs. Not being able to procure camels, we had to unlade our goods, and hired an hundred asses to carry our English merchandize to New Babylon, or Bagdat, across a short desert, which took us eighteen hours of travelling, mostly in the night and morning, to avoid the great heat of the day.
In this short desert, between the Euphrates and Tigris, formerly stood the great and mighty city of ancient Babylon, many of the old ruins of which are easily to be seen by day-light, as I, John Eldred, have often beheld at my good leisure, having made three several journeys between Aleppo and New Babylon. Here also are still to be seen the ruins of the ancient Tower of Babel, which, being upon plain ground, seems very large from afar; but the nearer you come towards it, it seems to grow less and less. I have gone sundry times to see it, and found the remnants still standing above a quarter of a mile in circuit, and almost as high as the stone-work of St Paul's steeple in London, but much bigger.[2] The bricks remaining in this most ancient monument are half a yard thick, and three quarters long, having been dried in the sun only; and between every course of bricks there is a course of matts made of canes, which still remain as sound as if they had only lain one year.
[Footnote 2: It is hardly necessary to observe, that this refers to the old St Paul's before the great fire, and has no reference to the present magnificent structure, built long after the date of this journey.—E.]
The new city of Babylon, or Bagdat, joins to the before-mentioned small desert, in which was the old city, the river Tigris running close under the walls, so that they might easily open a ditch, and make the waters of the river, encompass the city.[3] Bagdat is above two English miles in circumference. The inhabitants, who generally speak three languages, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish, are much of the same complexion with the Spaniards. The women mostly wear, in the gristle of the nose, a ring like a wedding-ring, but rather larger, having a pearl and a turquoise stone set in it; and this however poor they may be. This is a place of great trade, being the thoroughfare from the East Indies to Aleppo. The town is well supplied with provisions, which are brought down the river Tigris from Mosul, in Diarbekir, or Mesopotamia, where stood the ancient city of Nineveh. These provisions, and various other kinds of goods, are brought down the river Tigris on rafts of wood, borne up by a great number of goat-skin bags, blown up with wind like bladders. When the goods are discharged, the rafts are sold for fuel, and letting the wind out of the goat skins, they carry them home again upon asses, to serve for other voyages down the river.
[Footnote 3: It may be proper to remark, as not very distinctly marked here, though expressed afterwards in the text, that Bagdat is on the east side of the Tigris, whereas the plain, or desert of ancient Babylon, is on the west, between that river and the Euphrates.—E.]
The buildings here are mostly of brick, dried in the sun, as little or no stone is to be found, and their houses are all low and flat-roofed. They have no rain for eight months together, and hardly any clouds in the sky by day or night. Their winter is in November, December, January, and February, which is almost as warm as our summer in England. I know this well by experience, having resided, at different times, in this city for at least the space of two years. On coming into the city from Feluchia, we have to pass across the river Tigris on a great bridge of boats, which are held together by two mighty chains of iron.
From this place we departed in flat-bottomed boats, which were larger and more strongly built than those on the Euphrates. We were twenty-eight days also in going down this river to Basora, though we might have gone in eighteen days, or less, if the water had been higher. By the side of the river there stand several towns, the names of which resemble those of the prophets of the Old Testament. The first of these towns is called Ozeah, and another Zecchiah. One day's journey before we came to Basora, the two rivers unite, and there stands, at the junction, a castle belonging to the Turks, called Curna, where all merchants have to pay a small custom. Where the two rivers join, their united waters are eight or nine miles broad; and here also the river begins to ebb and flow, the overflowing of the water rendering all the country round about very fertile in corn, rice, pulse, and dates.
The town of Basora is a mile and a half in circuit; all the houses, with the castle and the walls, being of brick dried in the sun. The Grand Turk has here five hundred janisaries always in garrison, besides other soldiers; but his chief force consists in twenty-five or thirty fine gallies, well furnished with good ordnance. To this port of Basora there come every month divers ships from Ormus, laden with all sorts of Indian goods, as spices, drugs, indigo, and calico cloth. These ships are from forty to sixty tons burden, having their planks sewed together with twine made of the bark of the date-palm; and, instead of oakum, their seams are filled with slips of the same bark, of which also their tackle is made. In these vessels they have no kind of iron-work whatever, except their anchors. In six days sail down the Gulf of Persia, they go to an island called. Bahrein, midway to Ormus, where they fish for pearls during the four months of June, July, August, and September.
I remained six months at Basora, in which time I received several letters from Mr John Newberry, then at Ormus, who, as he passed that way, proceeded with letters, from her majesty to Zelabdim Echebar, king of Cambaia,[4] and to the mighty Emperor of China, was treacherously there arrested, with all his company, by the Portuguese, and afterwards sent prisoner to Goa, where, after a long and cruel imprisonment, he and his companions were released, upon giving surety not to depart from thence without leave, at the instance of one Father Thomas Stevens, an English priest, whom they found there. Shortly afterwards three of them made their escape, of whom Mr Ralph Fitch is since come to England. The fourth, who was Mr John Story, painter, became a religious in the college of St Paul, at Goa, as we were informed by letters from that place.
[Footnote 4: Akbar Shah, padishah or emperor of the Moguls in India.—E.]
Having completed all our business at Basora, I and my companion, William Shales, embarked in company with seventy barks, all laden with merchandize; every bark having fourteen men to drag it up the river, like our west country barges on the river Thames; and we were forty-four days in going up against the stream to Bagdat. We there, after paying our custom, joined with other merchants, to form a caravan, bought camels, and hired men to load and drive them, furnished ourselves with rice, butter, dates, honey made of dates, and onions; besides which, every merchant bought a certain number of live sheep, and hired certain shepherds to drive them along with us. We also bought tents to lie in, and to put our goods under; and in this caravan of ours there were four thousand camels laden with spices and other rich goods. These camels can subsist very well for two or three days without water, feeding on thistles, wormwood, magdalene, and other coarse weeds they find by the way. The government of the caravans, the deciding of all quarrels that occur, and the apportionment of all duties to be paid, are committed to the care of some one rich and experienced merchant in the company, whose honour and honesty can best be confided in. We spent forty days in our journey from Bagdat to Aleppo, travelling at the rate of from twenty to twenty-four miles a-day, resting ourselves commonly from two in the afternoon till three next morning, at which time we usually began our journey.
Eight days journey from Bagdat, near to a town called Heit, where we cross the Euphrates in boats, and about three miles from that place, there is a valley in which are many mouths, or holes, continually throwing out, in great abundance, a black kind of substance like tar, which serves all this country for paying their boats and barks. Every one of these springs makes a noise like a smith's forge, continually puffing and blowing; and the noise is so loud, that it may be heard a mile off. This vale swalloweth up all heavy things that are thrown into it. The people of the country call it Bab-el-gehenam, or the gate of hell. In passing through these deserts we saw certain wild beasts, such as asses, all white, roebucks, leopards, foxes, and many hares, a considerable number of which last we chaced and killed. Aborise, the king of the wandering Arabs in these deserts, receives a duty of 40 shillings value for every loaded camel, which he sends his officers to receive from the caravans; and, in consideration of this, he engages to convoy the caravans in safety, if need be, and to defend them against the prowling thieves.
I and my companion, William Shales, came to Aleppo on the 11th June, 1584, being joyfully welcomed at twenty miles distance by Mr William Barret, our consul, accompanied by his people and janisaries. He fell sick immediately after, and departed this life in eight days illness, having nominated, before he died, Mr Anthony Bate to succeed him as consul for the English nation, who laudably executed the office for three years. In the mean time, I made two other journeys to Bagdat and Basora, returning in the same manner through the desert. Being afterwards desirous to see other parts of the country, I went from Aleppo to Antioch, which is 60 miles, and from thence to Tripoli, where, going on board a small vessel, I arrived at Joppa, and travelled by land to Rama, Lycia, Gaza, Jerusalem, Bethlem, the river Jordan, and the sea of Sodom, and returned to Joppa, from whence I went back to Tripoli; but as many others have published large discourses of these places, I think it unnecessary to write of them here. Within a few days after my return to Tripoli, I embarked in the Hercules of London, on the 22d December, 1587, and arrived safe, by the blessing of God, in the Thames, with divers other English merchants, on the 26th March, 1588; our ship being the richest in merchant goods that ever was known to arrive in this realm.
SECTION V.
Of the Monsoons, or Periodical Winds, with which Ships depart from Place to Place in India. By William Barret.[5]
It is to be noted, that the city of Goa is the principal place of all the oriental India, and that the winter begins there on the 15th of May, with very great rain, and so continues till the 1st of August; during which time no ship can pass the bar of Goa, as, by these continual rains, all the sands join together hear a mountain called Oghane, and run into the shoals of the bar and port of Goa, having no other issue, and remain there, so that the port is shut up till the 1st of August; but it opens again on the 10th of August, as the rains are then ceased, and the sea thus scours away the sand.
[Footnote 5: Hakluyt, II. 413.
It appears, from the journal of John Eldred, in the preceding section, that William Barret was English consul at Aleppo, and died in 1584.
In the immediately preceding article in Hakluyt, vol. II. p. 406, et seq., is a curious account of the money weights and measures of Bagdat, Basora, Ormus, Goa, Cochin, and Malacca, which we wished to have inserted, but found no sufficient data by which to institute a comparison with the money weights and measures of England, without which they would have been entirely useless.
In the present article, the dates are certainly of the old stile, and, to accommodate these to the present new stile, it may be perhaps right to add nine days to each for the sixteenth century, or twelve days to reduce them to corresponding dates of the present nineteenth century.—E.]
To the northward, as Chaul, Diu, Cambay, Damaun, Basseen, and other places, the ships depart from Goa between the 10th and 24th of August; and ships may sail to these places at all times of the year, except in winter, as already described.
Ships depart for Goa from Chaul, Diu, Cambay, and other parts to the northward, betwixt the 8th and 15th of January, and come to Goa about the end of February.
From Diu ships depart for the straits of Mecca, or the Red-Sea, about the 15th of January, and return from thence to Diu in the month of August. They likewise depart from Din for the Red-Sea in the second monsoon, betwixt the 25th of August and 25th of September, and return to Diu between the 1st and 15th of May following.
From Socotora, which hath only few ships, they depart for Ormus about the 10th of August.
About the 15th of September the Moors of the firm land begin to come to Goa from all parts, as from Balagnete, Bezenegar, Sudalcan, and other places; and they depart from Goa betwixt the 10th and 15th of November.
It is to be understood, that, by going to the north, is meant departing from Goa for Chaul, Diu, Cambay, Damaun, Basseen, and other places as far as Sinde; and, by the south, is meant departing from Goa for Cochin, and all that coast, as far as Cape Comorin.
In the first monsoon for Ormus, ships depart from Goa in the month of October, passing with easterly winds along the coast of Persia. In the second monsoon, the ships depart from Goa about the 20th of January, passing by a like course, and with a similar wind; this second monsoon being called by the Portuguese the entremonson. There is likewise a third monsoon for going from Goa to Ormus, when ships set out from Goa betwixt the 25th March and 6th April, having easterly winds, when they set their course for the coast of Arabia, which they fell in with at Cape Rasalgate and the Straits of Ormus. This monsoon is the most troublesome of all, for they make two navigations in the latitude of Ceylon, somewhat lower than six degrees.[6]
[Footnote 6: This is by no means obvious; but means, perhaps, that they are obliged to bear away so far south, owing to the wind not allowing a direct passage.—E.]
The first monsoon from Ormus for Chaul and Goa is in the month of September, with the wind at north or north-east. The second is between the 25th and 30th of December, with like winds. In the third, ships leave Ormus between the 1st and 15th of April, with the wind at south-east, east, or north-east, when they coast along Arabia from Cape Mosandon to Cape Rasalgate; and after losing sight of Rasalgate, they have westerly winds which carry them to Chaul and Goa. But if they do not leave Ormus on or before the 25th of April, they must winter at Ormus, and wait the first monsoon in September.
The first monsoon from Ormus to Sinde is between the 15th and 20th of April; the second between the 10th and 20th of October. From Ormus ships depart for the Red Sea in all January.
From Goa for Calicut, Cochin, Ceylon, and other places to the southward, the ships depart from the 1st to the 15th of August, and find these seas navigable all the year, except in winter, that is, from the 15th May to the 10th August. In like manner, ships can go from these places to Goa every time of the year except in winter; but the best time is in the months of December, January, and February.
In the first monsoon from Goa for Pegu, the ships depart from Goa between the 15th and 20th of April, and winter at San Thome, whence they sail for Pegu after the 5th of August. In the second, they leave Goa between the 8th and 24th of August, going direct for Pegu; but, if they pass the 24th of August, they cannot make out their voyage that monsoon, and must wait till next April. It may be noticed, that the best trade for Pegu is to take ryals and patechoni to San Thome, and there purchase Tellami, which is fine cotton cloth, of which great quantities are made in Coromandel. Other merchandize is not good in Pegu, except a few dozens of very fair oriental emeralds. Gold, silver, and rubies are in Pegu sufficiently abundant. In coming from Pegu for Western India, ships sail between the 15th and 25th of January, and come to Goa about the 25th of March, or beginning of April. If it pass the 10th of May before reaching Goa, ships cannot reach Goa that monsoon; and if they have not then made the coast of India, they will with much peril fetch San Thome.
In the first monsoon for Malacca, the ships leave Goa between the 15th and 30th of September, and reach Malacca about the end of October. In the second, they leave Goa about the 5th of May, and arrive at Malacca about the 15th of June. In the first monsoon from Malacca for Goa, they leave Malacca about the 10th September, and come to Goa about the end of October. In the second, they leave Malacca about the 10th February, and reach Goa about the end of March. If any ship is detained on this voyage till the 10th May, they cannot enter the harbour of Goa; and, if they have not then got to Cochin, they must return to Malacca, as the winter and the contrary winds then come on.
Ships sail from Goa for China in the month of April; and they must sail in such time from China as to reach Goa before the 10th of May. If not then arrived, they must put back to Cochin; and if not able to get in there, must go to Malacca to winter.
Ships going from Goa for the Moluccas must sail on or before the 10th or 15th May; after which period they cannot pass the bar of Goa: and the ships returning from the Moluccas usually reach Goa about the 15th of April.
The ships from Portugal for India usually depart between the 10th and 15th of March, going direct for the coast of Melinda and Mozambique, which they reach in July, whence they proceed to Goa. If they do not reach the coast of Melinda in July, they cannot fetch Melinda that year, but must return to the island of St Helena. If they are unable to make that island, then they run as lost on the coast of Guinea. If they reach the coast of Melinda in time, and set forwards for Goa, but are unable to make that port by the 15th September, they then go to Cochin; but, if unable to get into Cochin, they must return and winter on the coast of Mozambique. Yet, in the year 1580, the ship San Lorenzo arrived there on the 8th of October, sore tempest-beaten, to the great admiration of every one, as the like had not been seen before.
The ships bound for Portugal leave Cochin between the 15th and 31st January, steering for Cabo de buona Speranza, and the isle of St Helena, which island is about midway, being in lat. 16 deg. S. It is a small island, but fruitful of all things, with great store of fruit, and gives great succour to the ships homeward-bound from India to Portugal. It is not long since that island was discovered, by a ship that came from the Indies in a great storm. They found in it such abundance of wild beasts and boars, and all sorts of fruit, that, by these means, this ship, which had been four months at sea, was wonderfully refreshed both with food and water. It received its name because discovered on the day of St Helen. This island is so great a succour to the Portuguese ships, that many of them would surely perish if it were not for the aid they get here. For this reason, the King of Portugal caused a church to be built here to the honour of St Helena, where only two hermits reside, all others being forbidden to inhabit there, that the ships may be the better supplied with victuals, as on coming from India they are usually but slenderly provided, because no corn grows there, nor do they make any wine. The ships which go from Portugal for India do not touch there, because, on leaving Portugal, they are fully provided with bread and water for eight months. No other person can inhabit St Helena except the two hermits, or perchance some sick person who may be left there on shore under the care of the hermits, for his help and recovery.
Ships depart from Goa for Mozambique between the 10th and 15th of January; and from Mozambique for Goa between the 8th and 31st August, arriving at Chaul or Goa any time in October, or till the 15th of November.
From Ormus ships bound for Bengal depart between the 15th and 20th of June, going to winter at Teve? whence they resume their voyage for Bengal about the 15th of August.
SECTION VI.
First Voyage of the English to India in 1591; begun by Captain George Raymond, and completed by Captain James Lancaster.[7]
INTRODUCTION.
We have at length arrived at the period when the English began to visit the East Indies in their own ships; this voyage of Captain Raymond, or, if you will, Lancaster, being the first of the kind ever performed by them. From this year, therefore, 1591, the oriental navigations of the English are to be dated; they did not push them with any vigour till the beginning of the next century, when they began to pursue the commerce of India with unwearied diligence and success, as will appear from the narratives in the next succeeding chapter.
[Footnote 7: Hakluyt, II. 286. Astley, I. 235.]
"As for Captain Raymond, his ship was separated near Cape Corientes, on the eastern coast of Africa, from the other two,[8] and was never heard of more during the voyage, so that, whether he performed the voyage, or was lost by the way, does not appear from Hakluyt; from whose silence, however, nothing can be certainly concluded either way, for reasons that will appear in the sequel[9]."—Astley.
[Footnote 8: This is a singular oversight in the editor of Astley's Collection, as by that time there were only two ships, the Royal Merchant having been sent home from Saldanha bay.—E.]
[Footnote 9: These promised reasons no where appear.—E.]
The full title of this voyage in Hakluyt's Collection is thus: "A Voyage with three tall ships, the Penelope, Admiral; the Merchant-Royal, Vice-Admiral; and the Edward Bonadventure, Rear-Admiral, to the East Indies, by way of the Cape of Buona Speranza, to Quitangone, near Mozambique, to the isles of Comoro and Zanzibar, on the backside of Africa, and beyond Cape Comorin, in India, to the isles of Nicobar, and of Gomes Palo, within two leagues of Sumatra, to the Islands of Pulo Pinaom, and thence to the Mainland of Malacca; begun by Mr George Raymond in the year 1591, and performed by Mr James Lancaster, and written from the mouth of Edmund Barker of Ipswich, his Lieutenant in the said Voyage, by Mr Richard Hakluyt."
This voyage is chiefly remarkable as being the first ever attempted by the English to India, though not with any view of trade, as its only object seems to have been to commit privateering depredations upon the Portuguese trading ships in India, or, as we would now call them, the country ships, which were employed in trading between Goa and the settlements to the eastwards. It is unnecessary here to point out the entire disappointment of the adventurers, or the disastrous conclusion of the expedition, as these are clearly related by Mr Edmund Barker. This article is followed by a supplementary account of the same voyage, by John May, one of the people belonging to the Edward Bonadventure, who relates some of the occurrences rather differently from Edmund Barker, or rather gives some information that Mr Barker seems to have wished to conceal. For these reasons, and because of some farther adventures in a French ship in which May embarked, it has been thought proper to insert that narrative in our collection—E.
* * * * *
Our fleet, consisting of three tall ships, the Penelope, Merchant-Royal, and Edward Bonadventure, sailed from Plymouth the 10th April, 1591, and arrived at the Canary Islands on 25th of that month, whence we again took our departure on the 29th. The 2d May we were in the latitude of Cape Blanco, and passed the tropic of Cancer on the 5th. All this time we had a fair wind at north-east, sailing always before the wind, till the 13th May, when we came within eight degrees of the line, where we met a contrary wind. We lay off and on from that time till the 6th June, when we crossed the equinoctial line. While thus laying off and on, we captured a Portuguese caravel, laden by some merchants of Lisbon for Brasil, in which vessel we got about 60 tons of wine, 1200 jars of oil, 100 jars of olives, some barrels of capers, three vats of pease, and various other necessaries fit for our voyage; the wine, oil, olives, and capers, being more valuable to us than gold.
We had two men died before passing the line, and several sick, who first became unwell in these hot climates, as it is wonderfully unwholsome from 8 deg. N. lat. to the equator at that season of the year; for we had nothing but tornadoes,[10] with such thunder, lightning, and rain, that we could not keep our men dry three hours together; which, with scanty cloathing to shift them, and living entirely on salt provisions, occasioned an infection among them. After passing the line, we had the wind continually at east-south-east, which carried us along the coast of Brasil, at 100 leagues from the land, till we were in lat. 26 deg. S. when we had the wind from the north; at which time we estimated the Cape of Good Hope to bear E. by S. 900 or 1000 leagues distant.
[Footnote 10: Tornado signifies a storm, during which the wind shifts about, or turns to all points of the compass.—E.]
In passing this great gulf from the coast of Brasil to the Cape of Good Hope, we had the wind often variable, as it is on our own coast, but, for the most part, so as that we could hold our course. The 28th of July we had sight of the Cape; and till the 31st we plied off and on, with a contrary wind, always in hopes to double the Cape, meaning to have gone 70 leagues farther, to a place called Aguada de San Bras, before seeking to put in at any harbour. But as our men were sick in all our ships, we thought it good to seek some place of refreshment for them; wherefore we bore up with the land to the northward of the Cape, on the west coast of Africa; and going along shore, we espied a goodly bay, having an island to leeward of its mouth, into which we entered, and found it very commodious to ride in at anchor. This bay is called Aguada de Saldanha, being in lat. 33 deg. S. 15 leagues northward on this side from the Cape;[11] and in it we anchored on Sunday the 1st August, and immediately sent our sick men on shore.
[Footnote 11: It will appear distinctly in the sequel of these early voyages, that this Aguada de Saldanha, called likewise Saldanha or Saldania bay, was that now named Table bay, on which stands Cape Town, and not that which is now called Saldanha bay, which is ten or twelve leagues farther north, and on the same western coast of Africa.—E.]
Certain very brutish black savages came to them, but would not stay, and immediately retired. For the space of 15 or 20 days, we could procure no fresh provisions, except some cranes and geese which we shot; and we could get no fish but mussels and other shell-fish, which we gathered on the rocks. At the end of this time, our admiral went one day with his pinnace to the island off the mouth of the bay, where he found great numbers of penguins and seals, of which he brought plenty with him to the ships, and twice afterwards some of our people brought their boats loaded with these animals. Alter we had been here some time, we got hold of a negro, whom we compelled to go along with us into the country, making signs to him to procure us some cattle; but not being able at this time to come in sight of any, we let the negro go, giving him some trifling presents.[12] Within eight days after, he and 30 or 40 other negroes brought us down about 40 oxen and as many sheep, at which time we only bought a few of them; but, about eight days afterwards, they brought down as many more, when we bought 24 oxen and as many sheep. The oxen were large and well-fleshed, but not fat; and we bought an ox for two knives, and a stirk, or young beast, for one knife. The sheep are very large, and excellent mutton, having hair instead of wool, and great tails like those of Syria. We gave a knife for a sheep, and even got some for less value. We saw various wild beasts, as antilopes, red and fallow deer, and other large beasts, which we knew not, with a great number of overgrown monkies or baboons. Mr Lancaster killed an antilope as large as a young colt.
[Footnote 12: This negro must, of course, have been a Hotentot.—E.]
Holding a consultation in respect to the prosecution of our, voyage, it was thought best to proceed rather with two ships well manned, than with two weakly manned, having only 198 men in sound health, of whom 100 went in the Penelope with our admiral, and 98 in the Edward, with the worshipful Captain Lancaster. We left behind 50 men in the Royal Merchant, Captain Abraham Kendal, of whom a good many were well recovered, thinking proper, for many reasons, to send home that ship. The disease that consumed our men was the scurvy. Our soldiers, who had not been used to the sea, held out best, while our mariners dropt away, which, in my judgment, proceeded from their evil diet at home.
Six days after sending home the Royal Merchant from Saldanha bay, our admiral, Captain Raymond, in the Penelope, and Captain James Lancaster in the Edward Bonadventure, set forward to double the Cape of Good Hope, which they now did very readily. When we had passed as far as Cape Corientes, on the east coast of Africa, at the entry into the channel of Mozambique, we encountered a dreadful storm, with excessive gusts of wind, during which we lost sight of our admiral, and could never hear of him nor his ship more, though we used our best endeavours to seek him, by plying up and down a long while, and afterwards staid for him several days at the island of Comoro, which we had appointed our rendezvous in case of separation. Four days after this unfortunate separation, we had a tremendous clap of thunder at ten o'clock one morning, which slew four of our men outright, without speaking one word, their necks being wrung asunder. Of 94 other men, not one remained untouched, some being struck blind, some bruised in their arms and legs, others in their breasts, so that they voided blood for two days: some were as it were drawn out in length, as if racked. But, God be praised, they all recovered, except the four men who were struck dead. With the same flash of lightning our mainmast was terribly split from the head to the deck, some of the spikes that went ten inches into the wood being melted by the fervent heat.
From thence[13] we shaped our course north-east, and not long afterwards fell in with the north-west point[14] of the island of St Lawrence, or Madagascar, which, by God's blessing, one of our men espied late in the evening by moonlight.
[Footnote 13: The place of shaping this course is by no means obvious. It could not be from Comoro, which is farther north than the north end of Madagascar, and was therefore probably from near Cape Corientes.—E.]
[Footnote 14: From the sequel, the text is certainly not accurate in this place, as they were not so far as this cape by 100 leagues. It probably was Cape St Andrews.—E.]
Seeing from afar the breaking of the sea, he called to some of his comrades, asking what it meant, when they told him it was the sea breaking upon shoals or rocks, upon which we put about ship in good time, to avoid the danger we were like to have incurred. Continuing our voyage, it was our lot to overshoot Mozambique, and to fall in with Quitangone, two leagues farther north, where we took three or four barks belonging to the Moors, laden with millet, hens, and ducks, going as provisions for Mozambique, and having one Portuguese boy on board. These barks are called pangaias in their language.
Within a few days after, we came to an island called Comoro, which we found exceedingly populous, the inhabitants being tawny Moors, of good stature, but very treacherous, and requiring to be sharply looked after. Being desirous of procuring fresh water, of which we stood in great need, we sent sixteen of our men, well armed, on shore, whom the natives allowed very quietly to land and take the water. A good many of them came on board, along with their king, who was dressed in a gown of crimson satin, reaching to the knee, pinked after the Moorish fashion. We entertained him in the best manner we could, and had some conference with him as to the state of the place and merchandise, using the Portuguese boy we had taken as our interpreter. We then dismissed the king and his company courteously, and sent our boat on shore again for water, when also they dispatched their business quietly, and returned. A third time the boat went for the same purpose, and returned unmolested. We now thought ourselves sufficiently provided; but our master, William Mace, of Ratcliff, pretending that it might be long before we should find any good watering-place, would needs go again on shore, much against the will of our captain. He went accordingly with sixteen men in a boat, which were all we had, other sixteen of our men being on shore with our other boat, washing their clothes, directly over against our ship. The perfidious Moors attacked all these men, who were mostly slain in our sight, while we could not yield them the smallest aid, as we had now no boat.
Going from thence with heavy hearts on the 7th November, we shaped our course for the island of Zanzibar, where we arrived shortly after, and there made ourselves a new boat, of such boards as we had in our ship. We continued here till the 15th of February, 1591, during which time we saw several pangaias, or boats, of the Moors, which are pinned with wooden pins, and sewed together with cords made of the palmito, and caulked with the husks of the cocoa-nut, beaten into a substance like oakum. At length a Portuguese pangaia came out of the harbour of Zanzibar, where they have a small factory, and sent a Moor to us who had been christened, bringing with him a letter in a canoe, in which they desired to know what we were, and what was our business. We sent them back word that we were Englishmen, who had come from Don Antonio, upon business to his friends in the East Indies. They returned with this answer to their factory, and would never more look near us. Not long after this we manned our boat, and took a pangaia belonging to the Moors, in which was one of their priests, called in their language a sherife,[15] whom we used very courteously. The king took this in very good part, having his priests in high estimation, and furnished us with two months' provisions for his ransom, during all which time we detained him on board. From these Moors we were informed of the false and spiteful dealing of the Portuguese towards us, as they had given out we were barbarous people, and canibals, desiring the Moors, as they loved their safety, not to come near us; using these contrivances to cut us off from all knowledge of the state and commerce of the country.
[Footnote 15: Sherif, sharif, in Arabic, more properly denotes one of the descendants of Mahomet.—Astl. 1. 287. b.]
While we rode from the end of November till the middle of February in this harbour, which has sufficient water for a ship of 500 tons, we one day attempted to take a Portuguese pangaia; but as our boat was so small that our men had not room to move, and as they were armed with ten good guns, like fowling-pieces, we were not able to take them. For the excellence of its harbour and watering-place; its plenty of fish, of which we took great store with our nets; for sundry sorts of fruits, as cocoa-nuts and others, which were brought to us in abundance by the Moors; and for oxen and poultry, this place is well worth being carefully sought after by such of our ships as shall hereafter pass this way; but our people had good need to beware of the Portuguese. While we lay here their admiral of the coast, from Melinda to Mozambique, came to view us, and would have taken our boat, if he had found an opportunity. He was in a galley frigate, or armed pinnace, with eight or nine oars of a side. We were advertised of the strength of this galley, and their treacherous intentions, by an Arabian Moor, who came frequently to us from the King of Zanzibar, about the delivery of the priest, and afterwards by another Moor, whom we carried from thence along with us: for, wheresoever we came, we took care to get one or two of the natives into our hands, to learn the languages and conditions of the parts at which we touched.
We had at this place another thunder clap, which shivered our foremast very much, which we fished and repaired with timber from the shore, of which there is abundance, the trees being about forty feet high, the wood red and tough, and, as I suppose, a kind of cedar. At this place our surgeon, Mr Arnold, negligently caught a great heat, or stroke of the sun, in his head, while on land with the master in search of oxen, owing to which he fell sick, and shortly died, though he might have been cured by letting blood before the disease had settled. Before leaving this place we procured some thousand weight of pitch, or rather a grey and white gum, like frankincense, as clammy as turpentine, which grows black when melted, and very brittle; but we mixed it with oil, of which we had 300 jars from the prize taken to the north of the equator, not far from Guinea. Six days before leaving Zanzibar, the head merchant of the factory sent a letter to our captain, in friendship, as he pretended, requesting a jar of wine, a jar of oil, and two or three pounds of gunpowder. This letter he sent by a negro servant and a Moor, in a canoe. Our captain sent him all he asked by the Moor, but took the negro along with us, as we understood he had been formerly in the Indies, and knew something of the country. By this negro we were advertised of a small bark of some thirty tons, called junco by the Moors, which was come hither from Goa, laden with pepper for the factory, and for sale in that kingdom.
Having put our ship into as good order as we could, while we lay in the road of Zanzibar, we set sail for India on the 15th of February, 1592, as said before, intending, if we could, to have reached Cape Comorin, the head-land, or promontory, of the main-land of Malabar, and there to have lain off and on for such ships as should pass from Ceylon, San Thome. Bengal, Pegu, Malacca, the Moluccas, China, or Japan, which ships are full of wealth and riches. But in our course we were much deceived by the currents, which set into the gulf of Arabia, all along the coast of Melinda; and the winds so scanted upon us from the east and north-east, that we could not get off, and set us to the northward, within fourscore leagues of Socotoro, far from our destined course. During all this time we never wanted dolphins, bonitos, and flying fishes. Finding ourselves thus far to the northward, and the season being far spent, we determined upon going to the Red Sea, or the island of Socotoro, both for refreshment and to look out for some purchase, (prize). But, while in this mind, the wind fortunately sprung up at north-west, and carried us direct for Cape Comorin.
Before doubling that cape, it was our intention to touch at the islands of Mamale[16] in 12 deg. of N. lat. at one of which we were informed we might procure provisions. But it was not our luck to find it, partly by the obstinacy of our master; for the day before we should have fallen in with part of these islands, the wind shifted to the south-west, and we missed finding it. As the wind now became more southerly, we feared not being able to double the cape, which would have greatly hazarded our being cast away upon the coast of Malabar, the winter season and western monsoon being already come in, which monsoon continues on that coast till August. But it pleased God that the wind came about more westerly, so that in May, 1592, we happily doubled Cape Comorin, without being in sight of the coast of India. Having thus doubled the cape, we directed our course for the islands of Nicobar, which lie north and south with the western part of Sumatra, and in lat. 7 deg. N.[17] We ran from Cape Comorin to the meridian of these islands in six days, having a very large wind, though with foul weather, excessive rain, and gusts of wind.
[Footnote 16: Perhaps the Maldives are here meant; but the northern extremity of that group is in lat. 7 deg. N., and the latitude of 10 deg., which reaches to the southernmost of the Lakedives, is very far out of the way for doubling Cape Comorin.—E.]
[Footnote 17: The Nicobar Islands are in 8 deg. N.; but Great Sambelong is in the latitude mentioned in the text, and may have been considered as belonging to the Nicobar group.—E.]
Through the negligence of our master, by not taking due observation of the south star, we missed these islands, falling to the southward of them, within sight of the islands of Gomes Polo,[18] immediately off the great island of Sumatra, it being then the 1st of June; and we lay two or three days becalmed at the north-east side of these islands, hoping to have procured a pilot from the island of Sumatra, which was in sight, within two leagues of us. Winter now coming on, with much tempestuous weather, we directed our course for the islands of Pulo Pinao:[19] it is to be noted that Pulo, in the Malayan language, signifies island. We arrived there early in June, and came to anchor in a very good harbour between three islands. At this time our men were very sick, and many of them fallen; and we determined to remain here till the winter were well over. This place is in lat. 5 deg. 15' N. and about five leagues from the main land, between Malacca and Tanaserim, belonging to Pegu.
[Footnote 18: Probably the islands now called Pulo Brasse, and Pulo Way.—E.]
[Footnote 19: Most probably the same with Pulo Pinang, now called Prince of Wales's Island: the Portuguese orthography being used in the text, in which language ao, or rather aom, as in the next section, has oar sound of ang.—E.]
We remained at this place till the end of August, our refreshments being very small, consisting only of oysters, growing on the rocks, great wilks, or conchs, and a few fish, which we took with hooks and lines. We landed our sick upon one of these uninhabited islands, for the sake of their health, yet twenty-six of them died here, among whom was John Hall, our master, and Rainald Golding, a merchant of much honesty and discretion. There are abundance of trees in these islands of white wood, so tall and straight as to be well fitted for masts, being often an hundred feet long. When winter was past, and our ship fitted for going to sea, we had only now remaining thirty-three men and one boy, twenty-two only of whom were sound and fit for labour, and not above a third even of these were mariners. Being under the necessity of seeking some place for refreshments, we went over to the main-land of Malacca, and came next day to anchor in a bay two leagues from the shore. Then our captain, Mr James Lancaster, with his lieutenant, Mr Edmund Barker, the author of this narrative, having manned the boat, went on shore, to see if we could fall in with any inhabitants. On landing, we could see the tracks of some barefooted people, who had been there not long before, for their foe was still burning; yet we could see no people, nor any living creature, except a fowl called oxbird, being a grey sea-bird, in colour like a snipe, but different in the beak. Being by no means shy, we killed about eight dozen of them with small shot, and having spent the day fruitlessly, we went on board in the evening.
About two o'clock next day we saw a canoe, in which were about sixteen naked Indians, who came near us, but would not come on board; yet, going afterwards on shore, we had some friendly converse with them, and they promised to bring us victuals. Next morning we espied three ships, all of them about sixty or seventy tons burden, one of which surrendered even to our boat; and understanding that they were of the city of Martaban, a chief sea-port of the great city of Pegu, and that the goods belonged to some Portuguese jesuits, and a biscuit-baker of that nation, we took that ship; but as the other two were laden on account of merchants of Pegu, we let them go. Having this other along with us, we came to anchor together at night; and in the night time all her men, being mostly natives of Pegu, fled away in their boat, except twelve, whom we had taken on board our ship. Next day we weighed anchor, and went to leeward of an island hard by, where we took out her lading of pepper, which they had taken on board at Pera, a place on the main-land, thirty leagues to the south. We likewise stopt another ship of Pegu, laden with pepper; but finding her cargo to belong to native merchants of Pegu, we dismissed her untouched.
Having employed about ten days in removing the goods from the prize into our own ship, and our sick men being greatly refreshed, and strengthened by the relief we had found in the prize, we weighed anchor about the beginning of September, determining to run into the straits of Malacca, to the islands called Pulo Sambilam, about forty-five leagues north from the city of Molucca, past which islands the Portuguese ships must necessarily pass on their voyages from Goa, or San Thome, for the Moluccas, China, or Japan. After cruizing off and on here for about five-days, we one Sunday espied a Portuguese ship of 250 tons, from Negapatnam, a town on the main-land of India, opposite the northern end of Ceylon, laden with rice for Malacca, and took her that night. Captain Lancaster ordered her captain and master on board our ship, and sent me, Edmund Barker, his lieutenant, with seven men, to take charge of the prize. We came to anchor in thirty fathoms, as in all that channel there is good anchorage three or four leagues from shore.
While thus at anchor, and keeping out a light for the Edward, another Portuguese ship of 400 tons, belonging to San Thome, came to anchor hard by us. The Edward had fallen to leeward, for want of a sufficient number of men to handle her sails, and was not able next morning to fetch up to this other ship, until we who were in the prize went in our boat to help her. We then made sail towards the ship of San Thome: but our ship was so foul that she escaped us. We then took out of our prize what we thought might be useful to us, after which we liberated her with all her men, except a pilot and four Moors, whom we detained to assist in navigating the Edward. We continued to cruize here till the 6th of October, at which time we met the galeon of the captain of Malacca, a ship of 700 tons, coming from Goa. After shooting at her many times, we at length shot through her main-yard, on which she came to anchor and surrendered. We then commanded the captain, master, pilot, and purser to come on board our ship; but only the captain came, accompanied by one soldier, saying that the others would not come, unless sent for; but having got to some distance from us in the evening, all the people of the ship, to the number of about 300, men, women, and children, got on shore in two great boats, and we saw no more of them.
When we came on board, we found she was armed with sixteen brass cannon. She had 300 butts of wine, Canary, Nipar wine, which is made of the palm-trees, and raisin-wine, which is very strong. She had likewise an assortment of all kind of haberdashery wares; as hats, red caps, knit of Spanish wool, knit worsted stockings, shoes, velvets, camblets, and silks; abundance of surkets, (sweet-meats,) rice, Venice glasses, papers full of false and counterfeit stones, brought from Venice by an Italian, wherewith to deceive the rude Indians, abundance of playing cards, two or three bales of French paper, and sundry other things. What became of the treasure usually brought in this vessel, in ryals of plate, we could not learn. After the mariners had pillaged this rich ship in a disorderly manner, as they refused to unlade the excellent wines into the Edward, Captain Lancaster abandoned the prize, letting her drive at sea, after taking out of her the choicest of her goods.
Being afraid that we might be attacked by a greatly superior force from Malacca, we now departed from the neighbourhood of the Sambilam islands, and went to a bay in the kingdom of Junkseylon, between Malacca and Pegu, in the lat. of 8 deg. N. We here sent on shore the soldier who had been left on board our ship by the captain of the galeon, because he could speak the Malay language, to deal with the people for pitch, of which we were in much need, which he did very faithfully, procuring two or three quintals, with promise of more, and several of the natives came off along with him to our ship. We sent commodities to their king, to barter for ambergris and the horns of the abath, the trade in both of which articles is monopolized by the king of this country. This abath is a beast having only one horn in her forehead, thought to be the female unicorn, and the horn is highly prized by all the Moors in those parts, as a most sovereign remedy against poison.[20] We got two or three of these horns, and a reasonable quantity of ambergris. At length the king was disposed to detain the Portuguese soldier and our merchandise treacherously; but he told the king that we had gilt armour, shirts of mail, and halberts, which things they prize greatly, and in hope of procuring some of these he was allowed to return on board.[21]
[Footnote 20: This Abath, or Abadia, is the Rhinoceros Monoceros, or One-horned Rhinoceros. The virtue of the horn, mentioned in the text, is altogether imaginary.—E.]
[Footnote 21: At this place Hakluyt makes the following remark on the margin:—"Some small quantity of these things might be carried out to pleasure those kings."]
Leaving this coast, we returned in sight of Sumatra, and went thence to the islands of Nicobar, which we found inhabited by Moors. After we came to anchor, the people came daily on board in their canoes, bringing fowls, cocoas, plantains, and other fruits; and within two days they brought ryals of plate, which they gave us in exchange for calicut cloth. They find these ryals by diving for them in the sea, having been there lost in two Portuguese ships not long before, that were cast away when bound for China. In their language the cocoa-nut is called calambo; the plantain, pison; a hen, jam; a fish, iccan; and a hog, babee. Departing from the Nicobar Islands on the 21st November, we made sail for the island of Ceylon, where we arrived about the 3d December, 1592, and anchored on its south side, in six fathoms water, but lost our anchor, as the ground was foul and rocky. We then ran along the south-west side of the island, and anchored at a place called Punta del Galle, meaning to remain there in waiting for the Bengal fleet of seven or eight ships, the Pegu fleet of two or three, and the ships from Tanaserim, a great bay to the south of Martaban, in the kingdom of Siam, which ships, according to different informations we had got, were expected to come this way within fourteen days, with commodities for the caraks, which usually depart from Cochin, on the homeward voyage, about the middle of January.
The commodities of the ships which come from Bengal are, fine pavilions for beds, wrought quilts, fine cotton cloth, pintados, (painted chintz,) and other fine goods, together with rice; and they usually make this voyage twice a year. The ships from Pegu bring the most precious jewels, as rubies and diamonds; but their principal lading is rice and certain cloths. Those from Tanaserim are chiefly freighted with rice and Nipar wine, which is very strong, and as colourless as rock water, with a somewhat whitish tinge, and very hot in taste, like aqua vitae.[22] We came to anchor at Punta Galle, in foul ground, so that we lay all that night a-drift, having only two anchors left, which were in the hold, and had no stocks. Upon this our men took occasion to insist upon going home, our captain at that time being very sick, and more likely to die than recover. In the morning we set our foresail, meaning to bear up to the northward, standing off and on to keep away from the current, which otherwise would have set us to the south, away from, all known land. When the foresail was set, and we were about to hand our other sails, to accomplish our before-mentioned purpose, our men unanimously declared that they would stay no longer in this country, and insisted upon directing our course for England; and as they would listen to no persuasions, the captain was under the necessity of giving way to their demand, leaving all hope of the great possibility we had of making some rich prizes.
[Footnote 22: Most probably what we now call arrack is here meant.—E.]
Accordingly, on the 8th of December, 1592, we made sail for the Cape of Good Hope, passing the Maldive Islands, and leaving the great island of St Lawrence to starboard, or on our right hand; we passed its southern end in lat. 26 deg. S. In our passage from the island of St Lawrence, or Madagascar, to the main-land of Africa, we found immense quantities of bonitos and albicores, which, are large fishes, and of which our captain, who was now recovered from his sickness, took as many with a hook in two or three hours as would have served forty persons a whole day. This skole of fish continued with us for five or six weeks, in all which time we took every day as many as sufficed our whole company, which was no small refreshment to us.
In February, 1593, we fell in with the eastern coast of Africa, at a place called Baia de Agoa, something more than 100 leagues to the north-east of the Cape of Good Hope; and having contrary winds, we spent a month before we could double the cape. After doubling that cape in March, we steered for the island of St Helena, where we arrived on the 3d of April, and remained there to our great comfort nineteen days, in which time several individuals amongst us caught thirty sizeable congers in a day, with other rock fish, and some bonitos. I, Edmund Barker, went one day on shore, with four or five Peguers and our surgeon, where I found an Englishman in a house near the chapel, one John Segar, of Bury, in Suffolk, who was left there eighteen months before by Abraham Kendal; who put in there with the Royal Merchant, and who left him there to refresh on the island, being like to perish on shipboard. At our coming he was fresh in colour, and seemed in perfect health of body; but he was crazed in mind, and half out of his wits, as appeared afterwards. Whether it was that he was terrified at our arrival, not knowing at first whether we were friends or foes, or if sudden joy so affected him on finding again his countrymen and old comrades, I know not, but he became quite light headed, and during eight days and nights he could not get any natural rest, so that he died for lack of sleep. At this place two of our men recovered their health in a short time, one of whom was diseased with the scurvy, and the other had been nine months sick of the flux. We found abundance of green figs, fine oranges and lemons, plenty of goats and hogs, and numbers of partridges, pintados, and other wild fowls. Having now supplied the ship with fresh water, and having some store of fish, our discontented mariners insisted upon resuming the voyage home; and our captain, being inclined to go for Fernambuco, in Brasil, agreed to their request. We departed therefore from St Helena about the 12th April, 1593, directing our course for the Brasils; and next day, on calling the sailors to finish a foresail they had then in hand, some of them declared they would not put their hands to any thing, unless the ship's course was directed for England; so that he was obliged to follow their humour, henceforwards directing our course towards our own country, which we continued to do till we came to lat. 8 deg. N. between the equator and which latitude we spent about six weeks, with perpetual calms or contrary winds from the north, sometimes north-east and north-west; owing to which loss of time, and our small store of provisions, we were very doubtful of being able to keep our course. At this time some of our men became very mutinous, threatening to break up other people's chests, to the entire consumption of our provisions and ourselves; for every man had now his share of provisions in his own custody, that they might know what they had to trust to, and husband that the more thriftily.
Anxious to prevent the occurrence of absolute famine, and being informed by one of the ship's company who had been at the island of Trinidada, in a voyage with Mr Chudlei, and that we might be sure of having provisions there, our captain directed the course for that island; but not knowing the currents, we overshot it in the night, getting into the gulf of Paria, in which we were for eight days, unable to get out again, as the current constantly set in, and our ship was often in three fathoms water. At length the current put us over to the western side of the gully under the main-land, so that by keeping close in shore, and having the wind off the land in the night, we got out to the northward. Being now clear, we came in four or five days to the isle of Mona, where we anchored and remained about eighteen days, during which time the Indians of Mona gave us some victuals. In the mean time there arrived a French ship of Caen, in Normandy, of which one Monsieur de Barbaterre was captain, from whom we bought two butts of wine, with some bread, and other provisions. We then watered and repaired our ship, stopping a great leak that sprung upon us while beating out of the gulf of Paria; and being thus in readiness for sea, we determined upon going to the island of Newfoundland: but, before we could put this in execution, there arose a great storm from the north, which drove us from our anchor, and forced us to the southwards of San Domingo. We were that night in great danger of shipwreck upon an island called Savona, which is environed with flats for four or five miles all round; yet it pleased God to enable us to clear them, when we directed our course westwards, along the southern shore of St Domingo, and having doubled Cape Tiberoon, we passed through the old channel between St Domingo and Cuba, shaping our course for Cape Florida.
In this part of our course we again met with the Caen ship, which could now spare us no more victuals; but having some hides, which he had taken in traffic among the islands, we were glad to procure them, and gave him for them to his contentment. After this we passed Cape Florida, and clearing the Bahama channel, we directed our course for Newfoundland. Running to the lat. of 36 deg. N. and as far east as the isle of Bermuda, we found the winds, on the 17th September, very variable, contrary to expectation and all men's writings, so that we lay there a day or two with a north wind, which continually increased, till it blew a storm, which continued twenty-four hours with such violence that it carried away our sails, though furled, and occasioned the ship to take in much water, so that we had six feet water in our hold. Having freed our ship by baling, the wind shifted to the north-west, and somewhat dulled; but presently after the storm renewed with such violence, and our ship laboured so hard, that we lost our foremast, and our ship became as full of water as before.
When the storm ceased, the wind remained as much contrary as ever, on which we consulted together how we might best save our lives. Our victuals were now utterly spent; and as we had subsisted for the last six or seven days entirely on hides, we thought it best to bear away back again for Dominica and the adjoining islands, as we might there have some relief. Upon this we turned back for these islands; but before we could get there the wind scanted upon us, so that we were in the utmost extremity for want of water and provisions; wherefore we were forced to bear away to the westwards, to the islands called Las Nueblas, or the Cloudy Islands, towards the isle of San Juan de Porto Rico. At these islands we found land-crabs and fresh water, and sea-tortoises, or turtle, which come mostly on land about full noon. Having refreshed ourselves there for seventeen or eighteen days, and having supplied our ship with fresh water and some provision of turtle, we resolved to return again for Mona, upon which determination five of our men left us, remaining on the isles of Nueblas, in spite of every thing we could say to the contrary. These men came afterwards home in an English ship.
Departing from the Nueblas, we arrived again at Mona about the 20th December, 1593, and came to anchor there towards two or three in the morning. The captain and I, with a few others, went on shore to the dwelling of an old Indian and his three sons, thinking to procure some food, our victuals being all expended, so that we could not possibly proceed without a supply. We spent two or three days on shore, seeking provisions to carry on board for the relief of our people; and on going to the shore, for the purpose of returning with these to the ship, the wind being somewhat northerly and the sea rough, our people could not come near the shore with the boat, which was small and feeble, and unable to row in a rough sea. We remained therefore till the next morning, in hopes there might then be less wind and smoother sea. But about twelve o'clock that night our ship drove away to sea, having only five men and a boy, our carpenter having secretly cut the cable, leaving nineteen of us on shore, to our great distress, having no boat or any thing else.
In this miserable situation we reposed our trust in God, who had many times before succoured us in our greatest extremity, and contenting ourselves with our poor estate, sought for the means of preserving our lives. As one place was unable to sustain us, we divided ourselves into several companies, six of us remaining with our captain. The greatest relief that we could find during twenty-nine days was the stalks of purselin, boiled in water, with now and then a pompion, or gourd, which we found in the garden of the old Indian, who, on this our second arrival, fled with his three sons, and kept himself continually aloft on the mountains. At the end of these twenty-nine days we espied a French ship, which we afterwards learnt was the Louisa, of Dieppe, commanded by a Monsieur Felix. As a signal to this ship we made a fire, at sight of which he took in his top-sails, and bore up for the land, shewing his French colours. Then coming to anchor at the Western end of the island, we came down with all speed towards him; and the old Indian, with his three sons, now joined us, and accompanied us towards the ship. This night Captain Lancaster went on board the ship, where he received good entertainment; and next morning they fetched other eleven of us on board, and used us all very courteously.
This day came another French ship belonging to Dieppe, which remained till night, expecting our other seven men to come down; but though several shots were fired to call them, none of them came. Next morning, therefore, we departed thence for the north side of St Domingo, where we remained till April, 1594, spending two months in traffic, upon permission, with the inhabitants, for hides and other articles, six of us being in one of the ships and six in the other. In this time we were joined by a third French ship of Newhaven, by which we had intelligence of the seven men who were left by us at the island of Mona. Two of them had broken their necks by clambering on the cliffs to catch fowls; other three were slain by the Spaniards, who came over from St Domingo, having received information of our being on Mona, from our people who went away in the Edward; the other two were in this ship of Newhaven, which had relieved them from the bloody hands of the Spaniards.
From this place Captain Lancaster and I shipped ourselves in another ship belonging to Dieppe, of which one Monsieur Jean la Noe was captain, being the first that was ready to come away, leaving the rest of our men in the other ships, where they were all well treated. We sailed for Europe on Sunday the 7th April, 1594; and passing through the Caycos, we arrived safe in Dieppe in forty-two days after, on the 19th of May. After staying two days to refresh ourselves, giving thanks to God and to our friendly preservers, we took our passage for Rye, where we landed on Friday the 24th May, 1594, having spent in this voyage three years, six weeks, and two days, which the Portuguese perform in half the time, chiefly because we lost the fit time and season to begin our voyage.
We understood, in the East Indies, from certain Portuguese, that they have lately discovered the coast of China as high as the latitude of 59 deg. N. finding the sea still open to the northwards, by which great hopes are entertained of finding the north-east or north-west passage.
Witness, JAMES LANCASTER.
SECTION VII.
Supplementary Account of the former Voyage, by John May.[23]
We departed from Plymouth on the 10th April, 1591, with three tall ships; the Penelope, Captain Raimond admiral; the Merchant Royal, Captain Samuel Foxcroft[24] vice-admiral; and the Edward Bonadventure, Captain James Lancaster rear-admiral; on board of which I sailed, together with a small pinnace. In May following we arrived at Gran Canaria, one of the Fortunate Islands; and towards the end of that month, being within three degrees of the equator on the north side, we took a Portuguese ship, bound for Brasil, which tended much to our refreshment. The 29th July we came to Saldanha Bay. (Aguada Saldania,) a good harbour, near the Cape of Good Hope, where we staid about a month, and whence we sent home the Merchant Royal for England, because of great sickness among our people, with a considerable number of our weak men. We here bought an ox for a knife worth three-pence, a sheep for a broken knife, or any other odd trifle, from the natives, who are negroes, clad in cloaks of raw-hides, both men and women.
[Footnote 23: Hakluyt, III. 52.]
[Footnote 24: In the account of this voyage, penned from the relation of Edmund Barker, forming the immediately preceding section, the captain of the Merchant Royal is named Abraham Kendal.—E.]
The 8th of September the Penelope and Edward Bonadventure weighed anchor, and that day we doubled the cape. The 12th following we were assailed by a fierce tempest, or hurricane; and in the evening we saw a great sea break over our admiral, the Penelope, which struck out their light, and we never saw them any more. In October we in the Edward fell in with the westernmost part of the island of St Lawrence about midnight, not knowing where we were. Next day we came to anchor at Quitangone, a place on the main-land of Africa, two or three leagues north of Mozambique, which is supplied from hence with fresh water. We here took a pangaia, in which was a Portuguese boy, being a vessel like a barge, with one mat-sail of cocoa-nut leaves. The hull of this barge is pinned with wooden pins, and sewed with cord made of the bark of trees. In this pangaia we found a kind of corn called millio, or millet, a considerable number of hens, and some bales of blue calicut cloth. We took the Portuguese boy with us, and dismissed the rest. From this place we went to an island called Comoro, off the coast of Melinda, in about 11 deg. S., where we staid all November, finding the people black and comely, but very treacherous; for the day before we left that island they killed thirty of our men on shore, among whom was William Mace our master, and two of his mates, one of them being in the boat along with him to fetch water, and the other on shore, over against the ship. They first took possession of our boat, and then slaughtered our men. From thence we went to the island of Zanzibar, on the coast of Melinda, where we staid to winter, till the beginning of February, 1592.
The 2d February, 1592, we weighed anchor, and set sail for the East Indies; but, having calms and contrary winds, we were not able to fetch the coast of India, near Calicut, till the month of June, by which long delay many of our men died for want of refreshments. In this month of June we came to anchor at the islands of Pulo Pinaom, where we staid till the 1st September, our men being very sick, and dying fast. We set sail that day, directing our course for Malacca, and had not gone far at sea when we took a ship of the kingdom of Pegu, of about eighty tons, having wooden anchors, a crew of about fifty men, and a pinnace of some eighteen tons at her stern, laden with pepper; but the pinnace stole from us in the morning in a gust of wind. We might likewise have taken two other Pegu vessels, laden with pepper and rice. In this month also we took a great Portuguese ship of six or seven hundred tons, chiefly laden with victuals, but having chests of hats, pintados, and calicut cloths.[25] We took likewise another Portuguese ship, of some hundred tons, laden with victuals, rice, white and painted cotton cloth, (or calicoes and chintzes,) and other commodities. These ships were bound for Malacca, mostly laden with victuals, as that place is victualled from Goa, San Thome, and other places in India, provisions being very scarce in its own neighbourhood.
[Footnote 25: Painted and white calicoes or cotton cloths.—E.]
In November, 1592, we steered for the Nicobar Islands, some degrees to the north-west of the famous island of Sumatra, at which islands we found good refreshment, as the inhabitants, who are Mahometans, came on board of us in their canoes, with hens, cocoas, plantains, and other fruits; and within two days brought ryals of plate, which they gave us for cotton cloth, which ryals they procured by diving in the sea, having been lost not long before in two Portuguese ships bound for China, that had been there cast away. Our ship's company was now so much wasted by sickness, that we resolved to turn back to Ceylon, for which purpose we weighed anchor in November, and arrived off Ceylon about the end of that month. In this island grows excellent cinnamon; and the best diamonds in the world are found there. Our captain proposed to have staid at this island to make up our voyage, of which he had great hope, in consequence of certain intelligence we had received; but our company, now reduced to thirty-three men and boys, mutinied, and would not stay, insisting upon going home, and our captain was very sick, and like to die.
We accordingly set sail, homeward bound, on the 8th December, 1592; but some days before our arrival within sight of the Cape of Good Hope, we were forced to divide our bread, to each man his portion, in his own keeping, as certain flies had devoured most of it before we were aware. We had now only thirty-one pounds of bread a man to carry us to England, with a small quantity of rice daily. We doubled the Cape of Good Hope on the 31st March, 1593, and came next month to anchor at the island of St Helena, where we found an Englishman, a tailor, who had been there fourteen months. Having sent ten men on shore in the boat, they found this man in the chapel, into which he had gone to avoid the heat; and hearing some one sing in the chapel, whom our people supposed to have been a Portuguese, they thrust open the door, and went in upon him: but the poor man, on seeing so many men of a sudden, and believing them to be Portuguese, was at first in great fear, not having seen a human being for fourteen months, and afterwards knowing them to be English, and some of them his acquaintance, he became exceeding joyful, insomuch that between sudden and excessive fear and joy, he became distracted in his wits, to our great sorrow. We here found the carcasses of forty goats, which he had dried. The party which left him had made for him two suits of goats'-skins, with the hairy side outmost, like the dresses worn by the savages of Canada. This man lived till we came to the West Indies, and then died.
We remained at St Helena all the month of April, and arrived at the island of Trinidada, in the West Indies, in June, 1593, hoping to procure some refreshments there, but could not, as the Spaniards had taken possession. We got here embayed between the island and the main; and, for want of victuals, our company would have forsaken the ship, on which our captain had to swear every man not to forsake her till the most urgent necessity. It pleased God to deliver us from this bay, called Boca del Dragone, from whence we directed our course for the island of San Juan de Puerto Rico, but fell in with the small island of Mona, between Porto Rico and Hispaniola, where we remained about fifteen days, procuring some small refreshment. There arrived here a ship of Caen, in Normandy, of which Monsieur Charles de la Barbotiere was captain, who greatly comforted us by a supply of bread and other provisions, of which we were greatly in need, after which we parted. |
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