In trouble to be troubled, Is to have your trouble doubled.

Nor did his remarks end here, for, making observations upon my improvement, and on my condition at first, infinitely worse than theirs, he told me that Englishmen had, in their distress, greater presence of mind than those of any other country that he had met with; and that they and the Portuguese were the worst men in the world to struggle under misfortunes. When they landed among the savages, they found but little provision except they would turn cannibals, there being but a few roots and herbs, with little substance in them, and of which the natives gave them but very sparingly. Many were the ways they took to civilize and teach the savages, but in vain; for they would not own them to be their instructors, whose lives were owing to their bounty. Their extremities were very great and many days being entirely without food, the savages there being more indolent and less devouring than those who had better supplies. When they went out to battle they were obliged to assist these people, in one of which my faithful Spaniard being taken, had like to have been devoured. They had lost their ammunition, which rendered their fire-arms useless; nor could they use the bows and arrows that were given them, so that while the armies were at a distance, they had no chance but when close, then they could be of service with halberts, & sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of their muskets. They made themselves targets of wood covered with the skins of wild beasts; and when one happened to be knocked down, the rest of the company fought over him till he recovered; and then standing close in a line, they would make their way through a thousand savages. At the return of their friend, who they thought had been entombed in the bowels of their enemies, their joy was inconceivable. Nor were they less surprised at the sight of the loaves of bread I had sent them, things that they had not seen for several years, at the same time crossing and blessing it, as though it was manna sent from Heaven: but when they knew the errand, and perceived the boat which was to carry them back to the person and place from whence such relief came, this struck them with such a surprise of joy as made some of them faint away, and others burst out into tears.

This was the summary account that I had from them. I shall now inform the reader what I next did for them, and in what condition I left them. As we were all of opinion that the savages would scarce trouble them any more, so we had no apprehensions on the score. I told them I was come purely to establish, and not to remove them; and upon that occasion, had not only brought them necessaries for convenience and defence, but also artificers, and other persons, both for their necessary employments, and to add to their number. They were altogether when I thus talked to them; and before I delivered to them the stores I brought, I asked them, one by one, if they had entirely forgot their first animosities, would engage in the strictest friendship; and shake hands with one another? On this Will Atkins, with abundance of good humour, said, they had afflictions enough to make them all sober, and enemies enough to make them all friends: as for himself, he would live and die among them, owning that what the Spaniards had done to him, his own mad humour had made necessary for them to do. Nor had the Spaniards occasion to justify their proceeding to me; but they told me, that since Will Atkins had behaved himself so valiantly in fight, and at other times showed such a regard to the common interest of them all, they had not only forgotten all that was past, but thought he ought as much to be trusted with arms and necessaries as any of them, which they testified by making him next in command to the governor: and they most heartily embraced the occasion of giving me this solemn assurance, that they would never separate their interest again, as long as they lived.

After these kind declarations of friendship, we appointed all of us to dine together the next day; upon this I caused the ship's cook and his mate to come on shore for that purpose, to assist in dressing our dinner. We brought from the ship six pieces of beef, and four of pork, together with our punch bowl, and materials to fill it; and in particular I gave them ten bottles of French claret, and ten of English beer, which was very acceptable to them. The Spaniards added to our feast, five whose kids, which being roasted, three of them were sent as fresh meat to the sailors on board, and the other two we ate ourselves. After our merry and innocent feast was over, I began to distribute my cargo among them. First, I gave them linen sufficient to make every one four shirts, and at the Spaniard's request made them up six. The thin English stuffs I allotted to make every one a light coat like a frock, agreeable to the climate, and left them such a quantity as to make more upon their decay; as also pumps, shoes, hats, and stockings. It is not to be expressed the pleasing satisfaction which sat upon the countenances of these poor men, when they perceived what care I took of them, as if I had been a common father to them all; and they all engaged never to leave the island, till I gave my consent for their departure. I then presented to them the people I brought, viz. the tailor, smith, and the two carpenters; but my Jack-of-all-trades was the most acceptable present I could make them. My tailor fell immediately to work, and made every one of them a shirt; after which, he learned the women how to sew and stitch, thereby to become the more helpful to their husbands. Neither were the carpenters less useful, taking in pieces their clumsy things; instead of which they made convenient and handsome tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, and shelves. But when I carried them to see Will Atkins's basket-house, they owned they never saw such a piece of natural ingenuity before: I am sure, said one of the carpenters, the man that built this has no need of us; you need, Sir, do nothing but give him tools.

I divided the tools among them in this manner: to every man I gave a digging spade, a shovel, and a rake, as having no harrows or ploughs; and to every separate place a pickax, a crow, a broad ax, and a saw, with a store for a general supply, should any be broken or worn out. I left them also nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and all sorts of tools and iron work; & for the use of the smith, gave them three tons of unwrought iron, for a supply; and as to arms and ammunition, I stored them even to profusion; or at least to equip a sufficient little army against all opposers whatsoever.

The young man (whose mother was unfortunately starved to death) together with the maid, a pious and well educated young woman, seeing things so well ordered on shore (for I made them accompany me) and considering they had no occasion to go so far a voyage as to the East Indies, they both desired of me, that I would leave them there, and enter them among my subjects. This I readily agreed to, ordering them a plat of ground, on which were three little houses erected, environed with basket-work, pallisadoed like Atkins's and adjoining to his plantation. So contrived were their tents that each of them had a room apart to lodge in, while the middle tent was not only their store-house, but their place for eating and drinking. At this time the two Englishmen removed their habitation to their former place; in that now the island was divided into three colonies: first, Those I have just now mentioned; secondly That of Will Atkins, where there were four families of Englishmen, with their wives and children, the widow and her children; the young man and the maid, who, by the way, we made a wife of before our departure; three savages, who were slaves; the tailor, smith, (who served also as a gunsmith) and my other celebrated person called Jack-of-all-trades. Thirdly, my chief colony, which consisted of the Spaniards, with Old Friday, who still remained at my old habitation, which was my capital city, and surely never was there such a metropolis, it now being hid in so obscure a grove, that a thousand men might have ranged the island a month, and looked purposely for it, without being able to find it, though the Spaniards had enlarged its boundaries, both without and within, in a most surprising manner.

But now I think it high time to speak of the young French priest of the order of St. Benedict, whose judicious and pious discourses, upon sundry occasions, merit an extraordinary observation; nor can his being a French Papist priest, I presume, give offence to any of my readers, when they have this assurance from me, that he was a person of the most courteous disposition, extensive charity, and exalted piety. His arguments were always agreeable to reason, and his conversation the most acceptable of any person that I had ever yet met with in my life.

Sir, said he, to me, one day, since, under God, at the same time crossing his breast, you have not only saved my life; but, by permitting me to go this voyage, have granted me the happiness of free conversation, I think is my duty as my profession obliges me, to save what souls I can, by bringing them to the knowledge of some Catholic doctrine, necessary to salvation; and since these people are under your immediate government, in gratitude, justice, and decency, for what you have done for me, I shall offer no farther points in religion, that what shall merit your approbation. Being a-pleased with the modesty of his carriage, I told him he should not be worse used for being of a different persuasion, if upon that very account, we did not differ in points of faith, not decent in a part of the country where the poor Indians ought to be instructed in the knowledge of the true God, and his Son Jesus Christ. To this he replied, that conversation might easily be separated from disputes; that he would discourse with me rather as a gentleman than a religious: but that, if we did enter upon religious argument, upon my desiring the same, I would give him liberty to defend his own principles. He farther added, that he would do all that became him in his office, as a priest as well as a Christian, to procure the happiness of all that were in the ship: that though he could not pray with, he would pray for us on all occasions; and then he told me several extraordinary events of his life, within a few years past; but particularly in this last, which was the most remarkable: that, in this voyage, he had the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped: his first design was to have gone to Martinico; for which, taking ship at St. Malos, he was forced into Lisbon by bad weather, the vessel running aground in the mouth of the Tagus; that from thence he went on board a Portuguese ship, bound to the Madeiras, whose master being but an indifferent mariner, and out of his reckoning, they were drove to Fial, where selling their commodity, which was corn, they resolved to take in their loading at the Isle of May, and to sail to Newfoundland; at the banks of which, meeting a French ship bound to Quebec, in the river of Canada, and from thence to Martinico, in this ship he embarked; the master of which dying at Quebec, that voyage was suspended; and lastly, shipping himself for France, this last ship was destroyed by fire, as before has been related.

At this time we talked no further; but another morning he comes to me, just as I was going to visit the Englishman's colony, and tells me, that as he knew; the prosperity of the island, was my principal desire, he had something to communicate agreeable to my design, by which perhaps he might put it, more than he yet thought it was, in the way of the benediction of heaven. How, Sir, said I, in a surprise, are we not yet in the way of God's blessings, after all these signal providences and deliverances, of which you have had such an ample relation? He replied, Nope, Sir, you are in the way, and that your good design will prosper: but still there are some among you that are not equally right in their actions; and remember, I beseech you, Sir, that Achan, by his crime, removed God's blessing from the camp of the children of Israel; that though six and thirty where entirely innocent, yet they became the object of divine vengeance, and bore the weight of his punishment accordingly.

So sensibly was I touched with this discourse, and so satisfied with that ardent piety that inflamed his soul, that I desired him to accompany me to the Englishman's plantations, which he was very glad of, by reason they were the subject of what he designed to discourse with me about: and while we walked on together, he began in the following manner:

"Sir, said he, I must confess it as a great unhappiness that we disagree in several doctrinal articles of religion; but surely both of us acknowledge this, that there is a God, who having given us some stated rules for our service and obedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to offend him; either by neglecting what he has commanded, or by doing what he has forbidden. This truth every Christian owns, that when any one presumptuously sins against God's command, the Almighty then withdraws his blessing from him; every good man therefore ought certainly to prevent such neglect of, or sin against, God and his commands." I thanked the young priest for expressing so great a concern for us, and desired him to explain the particulars of what he had observed, that according to the parable of Achan, I might remove the accursed thing from among us "Why then, Sir, said he, in the first place, you have four Englishmen, who have taken savage women to their wives, by whom they have several children, though none of them are legally married, as the law of God and man requires; they, I say, Sir, are no less than adulterers, and as they still live in adultery, are liable to the curse of God. I know, Sir, you may object the want of a priest or clergyman of any kind; as also, pen, ink and paper, to write down a contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. But neither this, nor what the Spanish governor has told you of their choosing by consent, can be reckoned a marriage, nor any more than an agreement to keep them from quarrelling among themselves; for, Sir, the essence or sacrament of matrimony (so he called it) not only consists in mutual consent, but in the legal obligation, which compels them to own and acknowledge one another, to abstain from other persons, the men to provide for their wives and children, and the woman to the same and like conditions, nutatis mutandis, on their side: whereas, Sir, these men, upon their own pleasure, on any occasion, may forsake those women and marry others, and by disowning their children, suffer them utterly to perish. Now, Sir, 'added he, 'can God be honoured in such an unlawful liberty as this; how can a blessing succeed to the best endeavours, if men are allowed to live in so licentious a way?" I was indeed struck with the thing myself, and thought that they were much to blame, that no formal contract had been made, though it had been but breaking a stick between them, to engage them to live as man and wife, never to separate, but love, cherish, and comfort one another all their lives; yet Sir, said I, when they took these wommen, I was not here, and if it is adultery, it is past my remedy, and I cannot help it. "True, Sir,' answered the young priest, you cannot be charged with that part of the crime which was done in your absence: but I beseech you, don't flatter yourself, that you are under no obligation now to put a period to it: which if you neglect to do, the guilt will be entirely on you alone, since it is certainly in nobody's power but yours, to alter their condition." I must confess, I was so dull, that I thought he meant, I should part them, and knowing that this would put the whole island in confusion, I told him, I could not consent to it upon any account whatsoever. "Sir,' said he, in a great surprise, 'I do not mean that you should separate, but marry them, by a written contract, signed by both man and woman, and by all the witnesses present, which all the European laws decree to be of sufficient efficacy." Amazed with such true piety and sincerity, and considering the validity of a written contract, I acknowledged all that he said to be very just and kind, and that I would discourse with the man about it; neither could I see what reason they could have not to let him marry them, whose authority in that affair is owned to be as authentic as if they were married by any of our clergymen in England.

The next complaint he had to make to me was this, that though these English subjects of mine have lived with these women seven years, and though they were of good understanding, and capable of instruction, having learned not only to speak, but to read English, yet all this while they had never taught them any thing of the Christian religion, or the knowledge of God, much less in what manner he ought to be served. "And is not this an unaccountable neglect:' said he warmly. 'Depend upon it, God Almighty will call them to account for such contempt. And though I am not of your religion, yet I should be glad to see these people released from the devil's power, and be saved by the principles of the Christian religion, the knowledge of God, of a Redeemer, the resurrection, and of a future state. But as it is not too late, if you please to give me leave to instruct them, I doubt not but I shall supply this great defect, by bringing them into the great circle of Christianity, even while you continue in the island."

I could hold no longer, but embracing him, told him, with a thousand thanks, I would grant whatever he requested, and desired him to proceed in the third article, which he did in the following manner;

"Sir,' said he, 'it should be a maxim among all Christians, that Christian knowledge ought to be propagated by all possible means, and on all occasion. Upon this account our church sends missionaries into Persia, India, and China, men who are willing to die for the sake of God & the Christian faith, in order to bring poor infidels into the way of salvation. Now, Sir, as here is an opportunity to convert seven & thirty poor savages, I wonder how you can pass by such an occasion of doing good, which is really worth the expence of a man's whole life."

I must confess I was so confounded at this discourse, that I could not tell how to answer him. "Sir,' said he, feeling me in disorder, 'I shall be very sorry if I have given you offence." No Sir, said I, I am rather confounded; and you know my circumstances, that being bound to the East Indies in a merchant ship, I cannot wrong the owners so much, as to detain the ship here, the men lying at victuals and savages on their account. If I stay aboard several days, I must pay 3l. sterling per diem demurage, nor must the ship stop above eight days more; so that I am unable to engage in this work, unless I would leave the ship, and be reduced to my former condition. The priest, though he owned this was hard upon me, yet laid it to my conscience, whether the blessing of saving seven and thirty souls was not worth venturing all that I had in the world? Sir, said I, it is very true; but as you are an ecclesiastic, it naturally falls into your profession: why, therefore, don't you rather offer to undertake it yourself than press me to it? upon this he turned about, making a very low bow, "I most humbly thank God and you, Sir, (said he) for so blessed a call; and most willingly undertake so glorious an office, which will sufficiently compensate all the hazards and difficulties I have gone through in a long and uncomfortable voyage."

While he was thus speaking, I could discover a rapture in his face, by his colour going and coming; at the same time his eyes sparkled like fire, and all the signs of the most zealous transports. And when I asked whether he was in earnest? Sir, said he, it was to preach to the Indians I consented to come along with you; these infidels, even in this little island, are infinitely of more worth than my poor life: if so that I should prove the happy instrument of saving these poor creatures' souls, I care not if I never see my native country again. One thing I only beg of you more is, that you would leave Friday with me, to be my interpreter, without whose assistance neither of us will understand each other.

This request very sensibly troubled me; first, upon Friday's being bred a Protestant; and secondly, for the affection I bore to him for his fidelity: But, immediately the remembrance of Friday's father coming into my head, I recommended him to him as having learned Spanish, which the priest also understood; and so was thoroughly satisfied with him.

When we came to the Englishmen, after I had told them what necessary things I had done for them, I talked to them of the scandalous life they led, told them what notice the clergyman had taken of it, and asked them if they were married men or bachelors? They answered, two of them were widowers, and the other three single men. But, said I, with what conscience can you call these your wives, by whom you have so many children, and yet are not lawfully married? They all said that they took them before the governor as such, having nobody else to marry them, which they thought as legal, as if they had had a parson. No doubt, said I, but in the eye of God it is so: but unless I am assured of your honest intent, never to desert these poor creatures, I can do nothing more for you, neither can you expect God's blessing while you live in such an open course of adultery. Hereupon, Will Atkins, who spoke for the rest, told me 'That they believed their wives the most innocent and virtuous creatures in the world; that they would never forsake them while they had breath; and that, if there was a clergyman in the ship, they would be married to them with all their hearts.' I told you before, said I, that I have a minister with me, who shall marry you to-morrow morning, if you are willing; so I would have you consult to-night with the rest about it. I told him the clergyman was a Frenchman, and knew not a word of English, but that I would act as clerk between them. And indeed this business met with such speedy success, that they all told me, in a few minutes after, 'that they were ready to be formally married as soon as I pleased;' with which informing the priest, he was exceedingly rejoiced.

Nothing now remained, but that the women should be made sensible of the meaning of the thing; with which being well satisfied, they with their husbands attended at my apartment the next morning; there was my priest, habited in a black vest, something like a cassock, with a sash round it; much resembling a minister, and I was his interpreter. But the seriousness of his behaviour, and the scruples he made of marrying the women, who were not baptized, gave them, an exceeding reverence for his person: nor indeed would he marry them at all, till he obtained my liberty to discourse both with the men and women, and then he told them, 'That in the sight of all indifferent men, and in the sense of the laws of society, they had lived in open adultery, which nothing new, but their consent to marry, or final separation, could put an end to; and even here was a difficulty with respect to the laws of Christian matrimony, in marrying a professed Christian to a heathen idolater, unbaptized; but yet there was time enough to make them profess the name of Christ, without which nothing could be done; that, besides, he believed themselves very indifferent Christians; and consequently had not discoursed with their wives upon that subject; and that unless they promised him to do so, he could not marry them, as being expressly forbidden by the laws of God.'

All this they heard attentively, and owned readily.

But, Lord, Sir, said Will Atkins to me how could we teach them religion, who know nothing of it ourselves? How can we talk to our wives of God, Jesus Christ, heaven, and hell? Why they would only laugh at us, who never yet have practiced religion, but on the contrary all manner of wickedness. Will Atkins, said I, cannot you tell your wife she is in the wrong, and that her gods are idols, which can neither speak nor understand; but that our God, who has made, can destroy all things; that he rewards the good and punishes the wicked; and at last will bring us to judgment; cannot you tell her these things? That's true, said Atkins, but then she'll tell me it is utterly false, since I am not punished and sent to the devil, who hath been such a wicked creature. These words I interpreted to the priest. "Oh!" said he, "tell him, his repentance will make him a very good minister to his spouse, and qualify him to preach on the mercy and long suffering of a merciful Being, who desires not the death of a sinner, and even defers damnation to the last judgment; this will lead him to the doctrine of the resurrection and will make him an excellent preacher to his wife." I repeated this to Atkins, who being more than ordinary affected with it, replied, I know all this, Sir, and a great deal more; but how can I have the impudence to talk thus to my wife, given my conscience witnesses against me? Alas! said he (with tears in his eye, and giving a great sigh) as for repenting, that is for ever past me. Past you! Atkins, said I, what do you mean? You know well enough, said he, what I mean, I mean it is too late.

When I told the priest what he said, the poor affectionate man could not refrain from weeping; but recovering himself "Pray, Sir," said he, "ask him if he is contented that it is too late; or is he concerned, and wishes it were not so?" This question I put fairly to Atkins, who replied in a passion, How can I be easy in a state which I know must terminate in my ruin? for I really believe, some time or other, I shall cut my threat, to put a period both to my life, and to the terrors of my conscience.

At this, the clergyman shook his head, "Sir," said he, "pray tell him it is not too late; Christ will give him repentance, if he has recourse to the merit of his passion. Does he think he is beyond the power of Divine mercy? There may indeed be a time when provoked mercy will no longer strive, but never too late for men to repent in this world." I told Atkins every word the priest had said, who then parted from us to walk with his wife, while we discoursed with the rest. But these were very stupid in religious matters; yet all of them promised to do their endeavours to make their wives turn Christians; and upon which promises the priest married the three couple. But as Atkins was the only sincere convert and of more sense than the rest, my clergyman was earnestly inquiring after him: "Sir," said he, "let us walk out of this labyrinth, & I dare say we shall find this poor man preaching to his wife already." And indeed we found it true; for coming to the edge of the wood, we perceived Atkins and his savage wife sitting under the shade of a bush, in very earnest discourse; he pointed to the sun, to the quarters of the earth, to himself, to her, the woods, and the trees. Immediately we could perceive him start upon his feet, fall down upon his knees, and lift up both his hands; at which the tears ran down my clergyman's cheeks; but our great misfortune was, we could not hear one word that passed between them. Another time he would embrace her, wiping the tears from her eyes, kissing her with the greatest transports, and then both kneel down for some minutes together. Such raptures of joy did this confirm in my young priest, that he could scarcely contain himself: And a little after this, we observed by her motion, as frequently lifting up her hands, and laying them on her breast, that she was mightily affected with his discourse, and so they withdrew from our sight.

When we came back, we found them both waiting to be called in; upon which he agreed to examine him alone, and so I began thus to discourse him. "Prithee, Will Atkins," said I, "what education have you? What was your father?"

W.A. A better man than ever I shall be; he was, Sir, a clergyman, who gave me good instruction, or correction, which I despised like a brute as I was, and murdered my poor father.

Pr. Ha! a murderer!

[Here the priest started and looked pale, as thinking he had really killed his father.]

R.C. What, did you kill him with your hands?

W.A. No, Sir, I cut not his throat, but broke his heart by the most unnatural turn of disobedience to the tenderest and best of fathers.

R.C. Well, I pray God grant you repentance: I did not ask you to exhort a confession; but I asked you because I see you have more knowledge of what is good than your companions.

W.A. O Sir, whenever I look back upon my past life, conscience upbraids me with my father: the sins against our parents make the deepest wounds, and their weight lies the heaviest upon the mind.

R.C. You talk, Will, too feelingly and sensibly for me; I am not able to bear it.

W.A. You bear it, Sir! you know nothing of it.

R.C. But yes, Atkins, I do; and every shore, valley, and tree in this island, witness the anguish of my soul for my undutifulness to my kind father, whom I have murdered likewise; yet my repentance falls infinitely short of yours. But, Will, how comes the sense of this matter to touch you just now?

W.A. Sir, the work you have set me about, has occasioned it; for talking to my wife about God and religion, she has preached me such a sermon, that I shall retain it in lasting remembrance.

R.C. No, no, it is your own moving pious arguments to her, has made conscience fling them back upon you. But pray, Atkins, inform us what passed between you and your wife, and in what manner you did begin.

W.A. I talked to her of the laws of marriage, the reason of such compacts, whereby order and justice is maintained; without which men would run from their wives and children, to the dissolution of families or inheritances.

R.C. Well, and what did she say to all this?

W.A. Sir, we began our discourse in the following manner, which I shall exactly repeat according to my mean capacity, if you think it worth you while to honour it with your attention.

* * * * *

The DIALOGUE between WILL ATKINS and his Wife in the wood.

Wife. You tell me marriage God appoint, have you God in your country?

W.A. Yes, child, God is in every nation.

Wife. No; great old Benamuckee God is in my country, not yours.

A. My dear, God is in heaven, which he made; he also made the earth, the sea and all that is therein.

Wife. Why you no tell me much long ago?

A. My dear I have been a wicked wretch, having a long time lived without the knowledge of God in the world.

Wife. What, not know great God in own nation? No do good ting? No say O to him? that's strange!

A. But, my dear, many live as if there was no God in heaven for all that.

Wife. Why God suffer them? why makee not live well?

A. It is our own faults, child.

Wife. But if he is much great, can makee kill, why no makee kill when no serve him? No be good mans, no cry O to him?

A. That's true, my dear, he may strike us dead, but his abundant mercy spareth us.

Wife. Did not you tell God thanked for that?

A. No, I have neither thanked him for his mercy, nor feared him for his power.

Wife. Then me not believe your God be good, nor makee kill, when you makee him angry.

A. Alas! must my wicked life hinder you from believing in him?

Wife. How can me tink your God lives there? (pointing to heaven.) Sure he no ken what you do here.

A. Yes, my dear, he hears us speak, sees what we do, and knows what we even think.

Wife. Where then makee power strong, when he hears you curse, swear de great damn?

A. My dear, this shows indeed he is a God and not a man who has such tender mercy.

Wife. Mercy I what you call mercy?

A. He pities and spares us: as he is our great Creator, so he is also our tender Father.

Wife. So God never angry, never kill wicked, then he no good, no great mighty.

A. O my dear, don't say so, he is both; and many times he shows terrible examples of his judgment and vengeance.

Wife. Then you makee de bargain with him; you do bad ting, he no hurt you, he hurt other mans.

A. No, indeed, my lips are all presumptions upon his goodness.

Wife. Well, and yet no makee you dead; and you give him no tankee neither?

A. It is true, I an ungrateful, unthankful dog, that I am.

Wife. Why, you say, he makee you, why makee you no much better then?

A. It is I alone that have deformed myself, and abused his goodness.

Wife. Pray makee God know me, me no makee him angry, no do bad ting.

A. You mean, my dear, that you desire I would teach you to know God: alas! poor dear creature, he must teach thee, and not I. But I'll pray earnestly to him to direct thee, and to forgive me, a miserable sinner. (Hereupon he went a little distance, and kneeling down, prayed earnestly to God to enlighten her mind, and to pardon his sins; when this was done, they continued their discourse thus.)

Wife. What you put down knee for? For what hold up hand? Who you speak to?

A. My dear, I bowed in token of submission to him that made me, and prayed that he would open your eyes and understanding.

Wife. And can he do that too? And will he hear what you say?

A. Yes, my dear, he bids us pray, and has given us promise that he will hear us.

Wife. When did he bid you pray? What I do you hear him speak?

A. No, my dear, but God has spoken formerly to good men from heaven; and by divine revelation they have written all his laws down in a book.

Wife. O where dat good book?

A. I have it not now by me; but one time or other I shall get it for you to read. Then he embraced her with great affection.

Wife. Pray tell a mee, did God, teachee them write that book?

A. Yes, and by that rule we know him to be God.

Wife. What way, what rule you know him?

A. Because he teaches what is good, just, and holy; and forbids all wicked and abominable actions that incur his displeasure.

Wife. O me fain understand that, and if he do all things you say he do, surely he hear me say O to him; he makee me good if I wish to be good, he no kill me if I love him; me tink, believe him great God; me say O to him, along with you, my dear.

Here the poor man fell upon his knees, and made her kneel down by him praying with the greatest fervency, that God would instruct her by his Holy Spirit; and that God by his providence would send them a Bible for both their instructions. And such was the early piety of this new convert, that she made him promise never to forsake God any more, lest being made dead, as she called it; she should not only want her instructor, but himself be miserable in a long eternity.

Such a surprising account as this was, proved very affecting to us both, but particularly to the young clergyman, who was mightily concerned he could not talk to her himself. "Sir," said he, "there, is something more to be done to this woman then to marry her; I mean that she ought to be baptized." To this, I presently agreed: "Pray," said he, "ask her husband, whether he has ever talked to her of Jesus Christ, the salvation of sinners, the nature of faith, and redemption in and by him, of the Holy Spirit, the resurection, last judgment, and a future state;" but the poor fellow melted into tears at this question, saying, that he had said something to her of these things, but his inability to talk of them, made him afraid, lest her knowledge of them should rather make her contemn religion, than be benefited by it; but that if I would discourse with her, it would be very evident my labour would not be in vain. Accordingly I called her in, and placing myself as interpreter between the religious priest and the woman, I entreated him to go on; but surely never was such a sermon preached by any clergyman in these latter days, with so much zeal, knowledge, and sincerity; in short, he brought the woman to embrace the knowledge of Christ, and of redemption by him, with so surprising a degree of understanding, that she made it her own request to be baptized.

He than performed his office in the sacrament of baptism, first, by saying some words over to himself in Latin, and then asking me to give her a name, as being her godfather, and pouring a whole dish-full of water upon the woman's head, he said, "Mary, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" so that none could know of what religion he was. After this he pronounced the benediction in Latin. Thus the woman being made a Christian, he married her to Will Atkins; which being finished, he affectionately exhorted him to lead a holy life for the future; and since the Almighty, for the convictions of his conscience, had honoured him to be the instrument or his wife's conversion, he should not dishonor the grace of God, that while the savage was converted, the instrument should be cast away. Thus ended a ceremony, to me the most pleasant and agreeable I ever passed in my life.

The affairs of the island being settled, I was preparing to go on board, when the young man (whose mother was starved) came to me, saying, that as he understood I had a clergyman with me, who had married the Englishmen with savages, he had a match to make between two Christians, which he desired might be finished before I departed. Thinking that it was he himself that had courted his mother's maid, I persuaded him not to do any thing rashly upon the account of his solitary circumstances; that the maid was an unequal match for him, both in respect to substance and years; and that it was very probable he would live to return to his own country, where he might have a far better choice. At these words, smiling, he interrupted me, thanking me for my good-advice; that as he had nothing to beg of me but a small settlement, with a servant or two, or some new necessaries, so he hoped I would not be unmindful of him when I returned to England, but give his letter to his friends; and that when he was redeemed, the plantation, and all its improvements, however valuable, should be returned to me again. But as for the marriage he proposed, that it was not himself, but that it was between my Jack-of-all-trades and the maid Susan.

I was indeed agreeably surprised at the mentioning this match, which seemed very suitable, the one being a very ingenious fellow, and the other an excellent, dexterous, and sensible housewife, fit to be governess of the whole island; so we married them the same day; and as I was her father, and gave her away, so I gave her a handsome portion, appointing her and her husband a convenient large space of ground for their plantation. The sharing out of the land I left to Will Atkins, who really divided if very justly, to every person's satisfaction; they only desired one general writing under my hand for the whole, which I caused to be drawn up, signed, and sealed to them, setting out their bounds, and giving them a right to the whole possession of their respective plantations, with their improvements, to them and their heirs, reserving all the rest of the island as my own property, and a certain rent for every particular plantation, after eleven years. As to their laws and government, I exhorted them to love one another; and as to the Indians who lived in a nook by themselves, I allotted three or four of them plantations, and the rest willingly chose to become servants to the other families, by which means they were employed in useful labour, and fared much better than they did before. Besides the savages thus mixed with the Christians, the work of their conversion might be set on foot by the latter, in the clergyman's absence, to our equal satisfaction. The young priest, however, was a little anxious lest the Christians should not be willing to do their parts in instructing these poor Indians; I therefore told him we should call them all together; that he should speak to the Spaniards who were Papists, and I to the English, who were Protestants, and make them promise that they would never make any distinction in religion, but teach the general true knowledge of God, and his son Jesus Christ, in order to convert the poor savages. And this, indeed, they all promised us accordingly.

When I came to Will Atkins's house, I found his baptized wife, and the young woman newly married to my Jack-of-all-trades, were become great intimates, and discoursing of religion together. O, Sir, says Will Atkins, when God has sinners to reconcile to himself, he never wants an instructor; I knew I was unworthy of so good a work, and therefore this young woman has been sent hither as it were from heaven, who is sufficient to convert a whole nation of savages. The young woman blushed, and was going to rise; but I desired her to sit still, and hoped that God would bless her in so good a work; and then pulling out a Bible (which I brought on purpose in my pocket for him.) Here Atkins, said I, here is an assistant that perhaps you had not before. So confounded was the poor man, that is was some time before he could speak; at last turning to his wife, My dear, he said, did I not tell you that God could hear what we said? Here's the book I prayed for, when you and I kneeled under the bush: God then heard us, and now has sent it. The woman was surprised, and thought really God had sent that individual book from heaven; but I turned to the young woman, and desired her to explain to the young convert, that God may properly be said to answer our petitions, when, in the course of his providence, such particular things came to pass as we petitioned for. This the young woman did effectually; but surely Will Atkins's joy cannot be expressed; no man being more thankful for any thing in the world, than he was for his Bible, nor desired it from a better principle.

After several religious discourses, I desired the young woman to give me an account of the anguish she felt when she was starving to death with hunger; to which she readily consented, and began in the following manner:

"Sir," said she, "all our victuals being gone, after I had fasted one day, my stomach was very sickly, and, at the approach, of night, I was inclined to yawning and sleepy. When I slept upon the couch three hours, I awaked a little refreshed: three hours after, my stomach being more and more sickly, I lay down again, but could not sleep, being very faint and ill. Thus I passed the second day with a strange variety, first hungry, then sick again, with reachings to vomit: that night I dreamed I was at Barbadoes, buying plenty of provisions; and dined heartily. But when I awaked, my spirits were exceedingly sunk, to find myself in the extremity of famine. There was but one glass of wine, which being mixed with sugar, I drank up; but for want of substance to digest upon, the fumes of it got into my head, & made me senseless for some time. The third day I was so ravenous and furious, that I could have eaten a little child if it had come in my way; during which time, I was as mad as any creature in Bedlam. In one of these fits I fell down, and struck my face against the corner of a pallet bed, where my mistress lay; the blood gushed out of my nose, but by my excessive bleeding, both the violence of the fever, and the ravenous part of the hunger abated. After this, I grew sick again, strove to vomit, but could not; then bleeding a second time, I swooned away as dead; when I came to myself, I had a dreadful gnawing pain in my stomach, which went of towards night, with a longing desire for food. I took a draught of water and sugar, but it came up again; then I drank water without sugar, and that staid with me. I laid me down on the bed, praying God would take me away: after I had slumbered, I thought myself a-dying, therefore recommended my soul to God, and wished somebody would throw me into the sea. All this while my departing mistress lay by me: the last bit of bread she had, she gave to her dear child my young master. The morning after, I fell into a violent passion of crying, and after that into hunger. I espied the blood that came from my nose in a bison, which I immediately swallowed up. At night I had the usual variations, as the pain in the stomach, sick, sleepy, and ravenous: and I had no thought but that I should die before morning. In the morning came on terrible gripings in my bowels. At this time I heard my young master's lamentations, by which I understood his mother was dead. Soon after this, the sailors cried, A sail! A sail! hallooing as if they were distracted for joy of that relief, which afterwards we received from your hands."

Surely never was a more distinct account of starving to death than this. But to return to the disposition of things among my people, I did not take any notice to them of the sloop that I had framed, neither would I leave them the two pieces of brass cannon, or the two quarter-deck guns that I had on board, lest, upon any disgust, they should have separated, or turned pirates, and so made the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober pious people: but leaving them in a flourishing condition, with a promise to send them further relief, from Brazil, as sheep, hogs, and cows (being obliged to kill the latter at sea, having no hay to feed them) I went on board the ship again, the first of May, 1695, after having been twenty days among them: and next morning, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail for the Brazils. The third day, towards evening, there happening a calm, and the current being very strong, we were drove to the N.N.E. towards the land. Some hours after, we perceived the sea covered as it were with something very black, not easily at first to be discovered: upon which our chief mate ascending the shrouds a little way, and taking a view with a perspective glass, he cries out, An army! An army! You fool, said I, what do you mean? Nay, Sir, said he, don't be angry. I assure you, it is not only an army, but a fleet, too, for I believe there are a thousand canoes paddling along, and making with great haste towards us.

Indeed every one of us were surprised at this relation; and my nephew the captain could not tell what to think of it, but thought we should all be devoured. Nor was I free from concern, when I considered how much we were becalmed, and what a strong current set towards the shore; however, I encouraged him not to be afraid, but bring the ship to an anchor as soon as we were certain that we must engage them. Accordingly we did so, and furled all our sails, as to the savages we feared nothing, but only that they might se the ship on fire; to prevent which, I ordered them to get their boats out, and fasten them, one close by the head, and the other by the stern, well manned, with skeets and buckets to extinguish the flames, should it so happen. The savages soon came up with us, but there were not so many as the mate had said, for instead of a thousand canoes there were only one hundred and twenty; too many indeed for us, several of their canoes containing about sixteen or seventeen men.

As they approached us, they seemed to be in the greatest amazement, not knowing what to make of us. They rowed round the ship, which occasioned us to call to the men in the boats, not to suffer them to come near them. Hereupon they beckoned to the savages to keep back, which they accordingly did; but at their retreat they let fly about fifty arrows among us, and very much wounded one of our men in the long-boat. I called to them not to fire upon any account, but handing them down some deal boards, the carpenters made them a kind of fence to shield them from the arrows. In half an hour after they came so near astern of us, that we had a perfect sight of them; then they rowed a little farther out, till they came directly along-side of us, and then approached so near, that they could hear us speak; this made me order all our men to keep close, and get their guns ready. In the mean time I ordered Friday to go out upon deck, and ask them in his language what they meant. No sooner did he do so, but six of the savages, who were in the foremost canoes, stooping down, showed us their naked backsides, as much as to say in English, Kiss our——: but Friday quickly knew what this meant, by immediately crying out they were going to shoot; unfortunately for him, poor creature, who fell under the cloud of three hundred arrows, no less than seven piercing through his body, killing one of the best servants, and faithfullest of companions in all my solitudes and afflictions.

So enraged was I at the death of poor Friday, that the guns, which before were charged only with powder, to frighten them, I ordered to be loaded with small shot; nor did the gunners fail in their aim, but at this broadside split and overset thirteen or fourteen of their canoes, which killed numbers of them, and set the rest a swimming, the others, frightened out of their wits, little regarding their fellows drowning, scoured away as fast as they could. One poor wretch our people took up, swimming for his life, an hour after. He was very sullen at first, to that he would neither eat nor speak; but I took a way to cure him, by ordering them to throw him into the sea, which they did, and then he came swimming back like a cork, calling in his tongue, as I suppose, to save him. So we took him on board, but it was a long time before we could make him speak or understand English; yet when we had taught him, he told us, 'they were going with their kings to fight a great battle;' and when we asked him, what made them come up to us? he said, to makee de great wonder look; where it is to be noted, that those natives, and those of Africa, always add to e's at the end of English words, as makee, takee, and the like, from which it is very difficult thing to make them break off.

Being now under sail, we took our last farewell of poor honest Friday, and interred him with all possible decency and solemnity, putting him in a coffin, and committing him to the deep, at the same time cauling eleven guns to be fired at him. Thus ended the life of one of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and affectionate servants, that ever any man was blessed with in the world.

Having now a fair wind for Brazil, in about twelve days time we made land in the latitude of five degrees south of the line. Four days we kept on S. by E. in sight of shore, when we made Cape St. Augustin, and in three days we came up to an anchor off the Bay of all Saints. I had great difficulty here to get leave to hold correspondence on shore; for neither the figure of my partner, my two merchant trustees, nor the fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could procure me the favour, till such time as the prior of the monastery of the Augustines (to whom I had given 500 moidores) obtained leave from the Governor, for me personally, with the Captain & one more, together with eight sailors, to come on shore; upon this condition, that we should not land any goods out of the ship, nor carry any person away without licence; I found means, however, to get on shore three bales of English goods, such as fine broad cloths, stuffs, and some linen, which I brought as a present for my partner, who had sent me on board a present of fresh provisions, wine and sweetmeats, worth about thirty moidores, including some tobacco, and three or four fine gold medals.



Here I delivered my partner in goods to the value of 100L sterling, and obliged him to fit up the sloop I bought for the use of my island, in order to send them refreshments; and so active was he in this matter, that he had the vessel finished in a few days, to the master of which I gave particular instructions to find the place. I soon loaded him with a small cargo; and one of our sailors offered to settle there, upon my letter to the Spanish governor, if I would allot him tools and a plantation. This I willingly granted, and gave him the savage we had taken prisoner to be his slave. All things being ready for the voyage, my old partner told me there was an acquaintance of his, a Brazil planter, who having fallen under the displeasure of the church, & in fear of the Inquisition which obliged him to be concealed, would be glad of such an opportunity to make his escape, with his wife & two daughters; & if I would allot them a plantation in my island, he would give them a small stock to begin with, for that the officers had already seized his effects and estate, and left him nothing but a little household stuff and two slaves. This request I presently granted, concealing him and his family on board our ship, till such time as the sloop (where all the effects were) was gone out of the bay, and then we put them on board, who carried some materials, and plants for planting sugar-canes, along with them. By this sloop, among other things, I sent my subjects three milch cows and five calves, about 22 hogs, three sows big with pig, two mares and a stone horse. I also engaged three Portugal women to go for sake of the Spaniards, which, with the persecuted man's two daughters, were sufficient, since the rest had wives of their own, though in another country; all which cargo arrived safe, no doubt to their exceeding comfort, who, with this addition, were about sixty or seventy people, besides children.

At this place, my truly honest and pious clergyman left me; for a ship being ready to set sail for Lisbon, he asked me leave to go thither, but I assure you it was with the greatest reluctance I parted from a person, whose virtue and piety merited the greatest esteem.

From the Brazils, we made directly over the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, having a tolerable good voyage, steering for the most part S.E. We were on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who was to direct all the ship's motions after she arrived at the Cape, only being limited to a certain number of days, for stay, by charter party, at the several ports she was to go to. At the Cape we only took in fresh water, and then sailed for the coast of Coromandel; we were there informed, that a French man of war of 50 guns, and two large merchant ships were sailed for the Indies, but we heard no more of them.

In our passage, we touched at the island of Madagascar, where, though the inhabitants are naturally fierce and treacherous, & go constantly armed with bows & lances, yet for some time they treated us civily enough; and, in exchange for knives, scisors, and other trifles, they brought us eleven good fat bullocks, which we took partly for present victuals, and the remainder to salt for the ship's use.

So curious was I to view every corner of the world where I came to, that I went on shore as often as I could. One evening when on shore, we observed numbers of the people stand gazing at us at a distance. We thought ourselves in no danger, as they had hitherto used us kindly. However, we cut three boughs cut of a tree, sticking them at a distance from us, which it seems, in that country, is not only a token of truce and amity, but when poles or boughs are set up on the other side, it is a sign the truce is accepted. In these treaties, however, there is one principal thing to be regarded, that neither party come beyond one another's three poles or boughs; so that the middle space is not only secure, but is also allowed as a market for traffic and commerce. When the truce is thus accepted, they stick up their javelins and lances at the first poles, and come on unarmed; but if any violence is offered, away they run to their poles, take up their weapons, and then the truce is at an end. This evening it happened that a greater number of people than usual, both men and women, traded among us for such toys as we had, with such great civility, that we made us a little tent, of large boughs of trees, some of the men resolving to lie on shore all night; but, for my part, I and some others took our lodging in the boat, with boughs of trees spread over it, having a sail spread at the bottom to lie upon. About two o'clock in the morning we were awakened by the firing of muskets, and our men crying out for help, or else they would all be murdered. Scarce had we time to get the boat ashore, when our men came plunging themselves into the water, with about four hundred of the islanders at their heels. We took up seven of the men, three of them very much wounded, and one left behind killed, while the enemy poured their arrows so thick among us, that we were forced to make a barricade, with boards lying at the side of the boat, to shield us from danger: and, having got ready our fire-arms, we returned them a volley, which wounded several of them, as we could hear by their cries. In this condition we lay till break of day, and then making signals of distress to the ship, which my nephew the captain heard and understood, he weighed anchor, & stood as near the shore as possible, and then sent another boat with ten hands in her to assist us; but we called to them not to come near, informing them of our unhappy condition. However they ventured; when one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in one hand, and keeping our boat between him and our adversaries, swam to us, and slipping our cables, they towed us, out of reach of their arrows, and quickly after a broadside was given them from the ship, which made a most dreadful havoc among them. When we got on board, we examined into the occasion of this fray. The men who fled informed us that an old woman who sold milk within the poles, had brought a young woman with her, who carried roots or herbs, the sight of whom so much tempted our men, that they offered rudeness to the maid, at which the old woman set up a great cry: nor would the sailors part with the prize, but carried her among the trees, while the old woman went, and brought a whole army down upon them. At the beginning of the attack, one of our men was killed with a lance, and the fellow who began the mischief, paid dear enough for his mistress, though as yet we did not know what had become of him; the rest luckily escaped. The third night after the action, being curious to understand how affairs stood, I took the supercargo and twenty stout fellows with me, and landed about two hours before midnight, at the same place where those Indians stood the night before, and there we divided our men into two bodies, the boatswain commanding one, and I another. It was so dark, that we could see nobody, neither did we hear any voice near us: but by & bye the boatswain falling over a dead body, we agreed to halt till the moon should rise, which he knew would be in an hour after. We perceived here no fewer than two and thirty bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead. Satisfied with this discovery I was for going on board again; but the boatswain and the rest told me, they would make a visit to the Indian town, where these dogs (so they called them) resided, asking me at the same time to go along with them; for they did not doubt, besides getting a good booty, but they should find Tom Jeffery there, for that was the unhappy man we missed. But I utterly refused to go, and commanded them back, being unwilling to hazard their lives, as the safety of the ship wholly depended upon them. Notwithstanding all I could say to them, they all left me but one, and the supercargo; so we three returned to the boat, where a boy was left, resolving to stay till they returned. At parting I told them I supposed most of them would run the same fate with Tom Jeffery. To this they replied, Come boys, come along, we'll warrant we'll come off safe enough; and so away they went, notwithstanding all my admonitions, either concerning their own safety or the preservation of the ship. Indeed they were gallantly armed, every man having a musket, bayonet, and a pistol, besides cutlasses, hangers, pole-axes, and hand granades. They came to a few Indian houses at first, which not being the town they expected they went farther, & finding a cow tied to a tree, they concluded that she would be a sufficient guide, and so it proved; for, after they untied her, she led them directly to the town, which consisted of above two hundred houses, several families living in some of the huts together. At their arrival, all being in a profound sleep, the sailors agreed to divide themselves into three bodies, and set three parts of the town on fire at once, to kill those that were escaping, and plunder the rest of the houses. Thus desperately resolved, they went to work; but the first party had not gone far, before they called out to the rest, that they had found Tom Jeffery; whereupon they all ran up to the place, and found the poor fellow indeed hanging up naked by one arm, and his throat almost cut from ear to ear. In a house that was hard by the tree, they found sixteen or seventeen Indians, who had been concerned in the fray, two or three of them being wounded, were not gone to sleep: this house they set on fire first, and in a few minutes after, five or six places more in the town appeared in flames. The conflagration spread like wild-fire, their housing being all of wood, and covered with flags or rushes. The poor affrighted inhabitants endeavoured to run out to save their lives, but they were driven back into the flames by the sailors, and killed without mercy. At the first house above mentioned, after the boatswain had slain two with his pole-ax, he threw a hand-granade into the house, which bursting, made a terrible havoc, killing and wounding most of them; and their king and most of his train, who were then in that house, fell victims to their fury, every creature of them being either smothered or burnt. All this while they never fired a gun, lest the people should awaken faster than they could overpower them. But the fire awakened them fast enough, which obliged our fellows to keep together in bodies. By this time the whole town was in a flame, yet their fury rather increased, calling out to one another to remember Tom Jeffery. The terrible light of this conflagration made me very uneasy, and roused my nephew the captain, and the rest of his men, who knew nothing of the matter. When he perceived the dreadful smoke, and heard the guns go off, he readily concluded his men were in danger; he therefore takes another boat, and comes ashore himself, with thirteen men well armed. He was greatly surprised to see me and only two men in the boat, but more so when I told him the story: but though I argued with him, as I did with the men, about the danger of the voyage, the interests of the merchants and owners, and the safety of the ship, yet my nephew, like the rest, declared, that he would rather lose the ship, his voyage, his life and all, than his men should be lost for want of help; and so away he went. For my part, seeing him resolved to go, I had not power to stay behind. He ordered the pinnace back again for twelve men more, and then we marched directly as the flame guided us. But surely never was such a scene of horror beheld, or more dismal cries heard, except when Oliver Cromwell took Drogheda in Ireland, where he neither spared man, woman, nor child.

The first object, I think, we met with, was the ruins of one of their habitations, before which lay four men and three woman killed, and two more burnt to death among the fire, which was now decaying. Nothing could appear more barbarous than this revenge; none more cruel than the authors of it. As we went on, the fire increased, and the cry proceeded in proportion. We had not gone much farther, when we beheld three naked women, followed by sixteen or seventeen men, flying with the greatest swiftness from our men, who shot one of them in our sight. When they perceived us, whom they supposed also their murderers, they set up a most dreadful shriek, and both of them swooned away in the fright. This was a sight which might have softened the hardest heart; and in pity we took some ways to let them know we would not hurt them, while the poor creatures with bended knees, and lifted up hands, made piteous lamentations to us to save their lives. I ordered our men not to hunt any of the poor creatures whatsoever; but being willing to understand the occasion of all this, I went among these unhappy wretches, who neither understood me, nor the good I meant them. However being resolved to put an end to this barbarity, I ordered the men to follow me. We had not gone fifty yards before we came up with the boatswain, with four of our men at his heels, all of them covered with blood and dust, and in search of more people to satiate their vengeance. As soon as we saw them, we called out, and made them understand who we were; upon which they came up to us, setting up a holloo of triumph, in token that more help was come. Noble Captain, said he to my nephew, I'm glad your come: we have not half done with these villainous hell-hound dogs; wee'll root out the very nation of them from the earth, and kill more than poor Tom has hairs upon his head: and thus he went on till I interrupted him.—"Blood-thirsty dog," said I, "will your cruelty never end? I charge you touch not one creature more; stop your hands and stand still, or you're a dead man this moment." Why Sir, said he, you neither know whom you are protecting, nor what they have done: but pray come hither, and behold an instance of compassion, if such can merit your clemency; and with that he shewed me the poor fellow with his throat cut, hanging upon the tree.

Indeed, here was enough to fill their breasts with rage, which, however, I thought had gone too far, agreeable to these words of Jacob to his sons Simeon and Levi: Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and their wrath; for it was cruel. But this sight made my nephew and the rest as bad as they: nay, my nephew declared, his concern was only for his men; as for the people, not a soul of them ought to live. Upon this, the boatswain and eight more directly turned about, and went to finish the intended tragedy; which being out of my power to prevent, I returned back from the dismal sight, & the piteous cries of those unfortunate creatures, who were made victims to their fury. Indeed, it was an egregious piece of folly in me to return to the boat with but one attendant; and I had very near paid for it, having narrowly escaped forty armed Indians, who had been alarmed by the conflagration; but having passed the place where they stood, I got to the boat accompanied with the supercargo, and so went on board, sending the pinnace back again, to assist the men in what might happen. When I had got to the boat, the fire was almost extinguished, and the noise abated; but I had scarce been half an hour on board the ship, when I heard another volley given by our sailors, and a great smoke, which, as I afterwards found, was our men falling upon those houses and persons that stood between them and the sea; but here they spared the wives and children, and killed only the men, to the number of about sixteen or seventeen. By the time they got to the shore, the pinnace and the ship's boat were ready to receive them, and they all got safe on board, not a man of them having received the least hurt, except two, one of whom strained his foot, and the other burnt his hand a little; for they met with no resistance, the poor Indians being unprepared, amazed, and confounded.

I was extremely angry with every one of them, but particularly with the captain, who instead of cooling the rage of the men, had prompted them on to further mischief: nor could he make me any other excuse, but that as he was a man, he could not master his passions at the sight of one of his men so cruelly murdered. As for the rest, knowing they were not under my command, they took no notice of any anger, but rather boasted of their revenge. According to all their accounts, they killed or destroyed about 150 men, women, and children, besides burning the town to ashes. They took their companion Tom Jeffery from the tree, covered him with some of the ruins, and so left him. But however this action of our men might seem to them justifiable, yet I always openly condemned it with the appellation, of the Massacre of Madagascar. For tho' the natives had slain this Jeffery, yet certainly he was the first aggressor, by attempting to violate the chastity of a young innocent woman, who ventured down to them, on the faith of the public capitulation, which was so treacherously broken.

While we were under sail, the boatswain would often defend this bloody action, by saying, that the Indians had broke the truce the night before, by shooting one of our men without just provocation: and what if the poor fellow had taken a little liberty with the wench, he ought not to have been murdered in so villainous a manner: and that they had acted nothing but what the divine laws commissioned to be done to such homicides. However I was in the same mind as before, telling them that they were murderers, and bid them depend upon it that God would blast their voyage, for such an unparalleled piece of barbarity.

When we came to the Gulph of Persia, five of our men, who ventured on shore, were either killed or made slaves by the Arabians, the rest of them having scarce time to escape to their boat. This made me upbraid them afresh with the just retribution of Heaven for such actions; upon which the boatswain very warmly asked me, Whether those men on whom the tower of Siloam fell, were greater sinners than the rest of the Galileans? and besides, Sir, said he, none of these five poor men that are lost, were with us at the Massacre of Madagascar, as you call it, and therefore your representation is very unjust, and your application improper. Besides, added he, you are continually using the men very ill upon this account, and, being but a passenger yourself, we are not obliged to bear it; nor can we tell what evil designs you may have to bring us to judgment for it in England: and, therefore, if you do not leave this discourse, as also not concern yourself with any of our affairs, I will leave the ship, and not sail among such dangerous company.

All this I heard very patiently; but, it being often repeated, I at length told him, the concern I had on board was none of his business; that I was a considerable owner in the ship, and therefore had a right to speak in common, and that I was no way accountable to him, nor to any body else. As no more passed for some time after, I thought all had been over. At this time we were in the road of Bengal, where, going on shore with the supercargo one day, in the evening, as I was preparing to go on board, one of the men came to me, and told me, I need not trouble myself to come to the boat, for that the cockswain and others had ordered him not to carry me on board any more. This insulent message much surprised me; yet I gave him no answer to it, but went directly and acquainted the supercargo, entreating him to go on board, and, by acquainting the Captain with it, prevent the mutiny which I perceived would happen. But before I had spoken this, the matter was effected on board; for no sooner was he gone off in the boat, but the boatswain, gunner, carpenter, and all the inferior officers, came to the quarter-deck, desiring to speak with the Captain; & there the boatswain made a long harangue, exclaiming against me, as before mentioned, that, if I had not gone on shore peaceably, for my own diversion, they, by violence would have compelled me, for their satisfaction: that as they had shipped with the Captain, so they would faithfully serve him; but if I did not quit the ship, or the Captain oblige me to it, they would leave the ship immediately: hereupon, turning his face about by way of signal, they all cried out, "ONE and ALL! ONE and ALL!"

You may be sure, that though my nephew was a man of great courage, yet he could not but be surprised at their sudden and unexpected behaviour; and though he talked stoutly to them, and afterwards expostulated with them, that in common justice to me, who was a considerable owner in the ship, they could not turn me as it were out of mine own house, which might bring their lives in danger should they ever be taken in England; nay, though he invited the boatswain on shore to accomodate matters with me, yet all this I say, signified nothing; they would have nothing to do with me; and they were resolved to go on shore if I came on board. Well, said my nephew, if you are so resolved, permit me to talk with him, and then I have done; and so he came to me, giving me an account of their resolution, how one and all designed to forsake the ship when I came on board, for which he was mightily concerned. "I am glad to see you, nephew," said I, "and rejoice it is no worse, since they have not rebelled against you; I only desire you to send my necessary things on shore, with a sufficient sum of money, and I will find my way to England as well as I can." Though this grieved my nephew to the heart, yet there was no remedy but complience; in short, all my necessaries were sent me, and so this matter was over in a few hours.

I think I was now near a thousand leagues farther off England by sea, than at my little kingdom, except this difference, that I might travel by land over the Great Mogul's country to Surat, from thence to Baffora, by sea up the Persian Gulph, then take the way of the caravans over the Arabian desert to Alleppo and Scanderoon, there take shipping to Italy, and so travel by land into France, and from thence cross the sea to England.

My nephew left me two persons to attend me; one of them was his servant, and the other clerk to the purser, who engaged to be mine. I took lodging in an English woman's house, where several French, one English, and two Italian merchants resided. The handsome entertainment I met with here, occasioned me to stay nine months, considering what course I should take. Some English goods I had with me of great value, besides a thousand pieces of eight, and a letter for more, if there was such necessity. The goods I soon disposed of to advantage, and bought here several good diamonds, which I could easily carry about with me. One morning the English merchant came to me, as being very intimate together, countryman, said he, I have a project to communicate to you, which I hope will suit to both our advantage. To be short, Sir, we are both in a remote part of the world from our country; but yet in a place where men of business may get a great deal of money. Now, if you will put a thousand pounds to my thousand pounds, we will hire a ship to our satisfaction; you shall be Captain, I will be merchant: and we'll go a trading voyage to China, for why should we lie still like drones, while the whole world is in a continual motion.

This proposal soon got my consent, being very agreeable to my rambling genius; and the more so, because I looked upon my countryman to be a very sincere person; it required some time before we could get a vessel to our mind, and sailors to man it accordingly; at length we bought a ship, and got an English mate, boatswain, and gunner, a Dutch carpenter, and three Portuguese foremast men; and, for want of others, made shift with Indian seamen. We first sailed to Achin, in the island of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for some arrack and opium, the last of which bore a great price among the Chinese; in a word, we went up to Suskan, making a very great voyage; &, after eight months time, I returned to Bengal, very well satisfied with this adventure, having not only got a sufficient quantity of money, but an insight of getting a great deal more.

The next voyage my friend proposed to me, was to go among the spice islands, and bring home a load of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts; islands belonging partly to Spain, but where the Dutch trade very considerably. We were not long in preparing for this voyage, which we made no less successful than the last, touching at Borneo, and several other places which I do not perfectly remember, and returning home in about five months time. We soon sold our spices, which were chiefly cloves and some nutmegs, to the Persian merchants, who carried them away to the gulph; and, in short, making five to one advantage, we were loaded with money.

Not long after my friend and I had made up our accounts, to our entire satisfaction, there came in a Dutch coaster from Batavia of about two hundred tons. The crew of this vessel pretended themselves so sickly, that there were not hands sufficient to undertake a voyage; and the Captain having given out that he intended to go to Europe, public notice was given that the ship was to be sold. No sooner did this come to our ears, but we bought the ship, paid the master, and took possession. We would also have very willingly entertained some of the men; but they having received their share of booty, were not to be found, being altogether fled to Agra, the great city of the Mogul's residence; and from thence went to travel to Surat, and so by the sea to the Persian Gulph. And indeed they had reason to fly in this manner; for the truth of it was the pretended Captain was the gunner only, and not the commander; that having been on a trading voyage, they were attacked on shore by the Malayans, who killed three men and the Captain; after whose death the other eleven men ran away with the ship to the Bay of Bengal, and left the mate and five men more on shore: but of this affair we shall have occasion to speak more at length hereafter.

However they came by the ship, we thought we bought it honestly; neither did we suspect any thing of the matter, when the man showed us a bill of sale for the ship (undoubtedly forged) to one Emanuel Clostershoven, which name he went by. And so without any more to do, we picked up some Dutch and English seamen, resolving for another voyage for cloves among the Phillippine and Molucca Islands: in short, we continued thus five or six years, trading from port to port with extraordinary success. In the seventh year, we undertook a voyage to China, designing to touch at Siam, and buy some rice by the way. In this voyage, contrary winds beat us up and down for a considerable time among the islands in the Straits of Molucca. No sooner were we clear of those rugged seas, but we perceived our ship had sprung a leak, which obliged us to put into the river Cambodia, which lies northward of the Gulph, and goes up to Siam.

One day, as I was on shore refreshing myself, there comes to me an Englishman, who was gunner's mate on board an English East India ship, riding up the river near the city of Cambodia. Sir, said he, you may wonder at my business, having never seen me in your life; but tho' I am a stranger, I have something to tell you that very nearly concerns you: & indeed it is the imminent danger you are in has moved me to give you this timely notice. "Danger!" said I, "what danger? I know of none, except my ship being leaky, for which I design to have her run aground to-morrow morning" I hope you will be better employed when you shall hear what I have to say to you. You know the town of Cambodia is about fifteen leagues up this river; about three leagues on this side of it, there lie two Dutch and three English ships. And would you venture here without considering what strength you have to engage them? I knew not what he meant by this discourse, and turning short upon him, "Sir," said I, "I know no reason I have to be afraid either of any Dutch or English ships. I am no interloper, and what business have they with me?" Well, Sir, said the man, if you do think yourselves secure, all as I can say, you must take your chance; however, I am very sorry you are so deaf to good advice; but I assure you; if you do not put to sea immediately, you will be attacked by five long-boats full of men, hanged yourself for a pirate, if you are taken, and the particulars examined afterwards. I thought, Sir, added he, I might have met a better reception for such a singular piece of service. "Sir," said I, "I was never ungrateful to any man; but pray explain yourself and I'll go on board this minute, whether the leak be stopped or no." Why, Sir, said he, to be short, because time is precious, the matter is this: You know well enough that you was with the ship at Sumatra, when your Captain was murdered by the Malayans, with three of his sailors; and that either you, or some who were on board you, ran away with the ship, and are since turned pirates at sea. Now, Sir, this is the sum of what I had to say: and I can positively assure you, that if you are taken, you will be executed without much ceremony, for undoubtedly you cannot but be sensible what little law merchant ships show to pirates, whenever they fall into their hands.

"Sir,' said I, 'I thank you for your kind information; and though I am sure no man could come more honestly by the ship than I have done, yet knowing their enterprize, and being satisfied of your honest intention, I'll be upon my defence. Pr'ythee, Sir, said the man, don't talk of being upon your defence, the best that you can make is to be out of danger; and therefore, if you have any regard for your life, & the lives of your men, take the advantage, without fail, of putting out to sea at high-water: by which means, as you have a whole tide before you, you will be gone too far out of their reach before they can come down.

"I am mighty well satisfied," said I, "in this particular, and for your kindness, which merits my great esteem; pray, Sir, what amends shall I make you?" He replied, "I know not what amends you are willing to make, because you may have some doubts of its certainty: but, to convince you of the truth of what I say, I have one offer to make to you. On board one of the English ships, I have nineteen months pay due to me, and this Dutchman that is with me has seven months pay due to him, which if you will make good to us, we will go along with you. If you shall find that there is nothing in what we have said, then we shall desire nothing; but when you are convinced that we have saved the ship, your life, and the lives of the men, we will leave the whole to your generosity."

So reasonable did this every way appear, that I immediately consented, and we went directly on board. As soon as we came on board, my partner calls joyfully out, That they had stopped the leak? "Well, thank God," said I, "but pray let us weigh anchor forthwith."—Weigh, said he, what is the meaning of this hurry? "Pray ask no questions," said I, "but all hands to work, without losing a moment's time." Upon which, in great surprise, the Captain was called, who immediately ordered the anchor to be got up; and though the tide was not quite down, yet being assisted with a little land breeze, we stood to sea. I then called my partner into the cabin, and related the story at large, which was confirmed and more amplified by the two men I had brought on board. Scarce had we finished our discourse upon this head, but a sailor came to the cabin door, with a message from the Captain, that we were chased by five sloops full of armed men. "Very well," said I, "it is plain now there is something in it." And so, going upon deck, I told all the men there was a design for seizing the ship, and of executing us for pirates; and asked them whether they would faithfully stand by us, and by one another? To which they unanimously replied, "That they would fight to their last drop of blood." I then asked the Captain, which way he thought best for us to manage the battle? Sir, said he, the only method is to keep them off with our great shot as long as we are able, and then have recourse to our small arms: and when both these fail us, then retire to close quarters, when perhaps the enemy wanting materials, can neither break open our bulk heads, nor get in upon us. Meantime, the gunner was ordered to bring two guns to bear fore and aft out of the steerage, and so load them with musket-bullets and small pieces of old iron; and the deck being cleared, we prepared for the engagement, still, however, keeping out at sea. The boats followed us, with all the sail they could make, and we could perceive the two foremost were English, which out-sailed the rest by two leagues, and which we found would come up with us: hereupon, we fired a gun without a ball, intimating that they should bring to, and we put out a flag of truce, as a signal for parley; but finding them crowding after us, till they came within shot, we took in our white, and hanging out the red flap, immediately fired at them with ball: we then called to them with a speaking trumpet, bidding them at their peril keep off.

But all this signified nothing; for depending upon the strength that followed them, they were resolutely bent for mischief: hereupon I ordered them to bring the ship to, by which means, they lying upon our broadside, we let fly at them at once, one of whom carried away the stern of the hindermost boat, and obliged them not only to take down their sail, but made them all run to the head of the boat, to keep them from sinking, and so she lay by, having enough of it. In the meantime, we prepared to welcome the foremost boat in the same manner. While we were doing this, one of the three hindermost boats came up to the relief of that which was disabled, and took the men out of her. We again called to parley with them; but, instead of an answer, one of the boats came close under our stern; whereupon our gunner let fly his two chase guns, but missing, the men in the boat shouted, and, waving their caps, came on with greater fury. To repair this seeming disgrace, the gunner soon got ready, and firing a second time, did a great deal of mischief among the enemy. We waved again, and, bringing our quarter to bear upon them, fired three guns more, when we found the boat a sinking, and several men already in the sea; hereupon, manning our pinnace, I gave orders to save as many as they could, and instantly to come on board, because the rest of their boats were approaching: accordingly they did so, and took up three of them, one of whom was almost past recovery; and then crowding all the sail we could, after our men came on board, we stood out farther to sea, so that the other three boats gave over the chase, when they came up to the first two. Thus delivered from imminent danger, we changed our course to the eastward, quite out of the course of all European ships.

Being now at sea, and inquiring more particularly of the two seamen, the meaning of all this, the Dutchman at once let us into the secret. He told us, that the fellow who sold us the ship was an errant thief, who had run away with her; that the Captain was treacherously murdered on the coast of Molucca by the natives there, with three of his men; that he, the Dutchman, and four more, being obliged to have recourse to the woods for their safety, at length escaped by means of a Dutch ship in its way to China, which had sent their boat on shore for fresh water: That, after this, he went to Batavia, where two of the seamen belonging to the ship (who had deserted the rest in their travels) arrived, and there gave an account that the fellow who ran away with the ship had sold her at Bengal to a set of pirates, who went a cruising, and had already taken one English and two Dutch ship, richly laden.

Now, tho' this was absolutely false, my partner truly said, that our deliverance was to be esteemed so much the more, by reason, had we fallen into their hands, we could have expected nothing from them but immediate death, considering our accusers would have been our judges; and, therefore, his opinion was to return directly to Bengal, where, being known, we could prove how honestly we came by the ship, of whom we bought her, and the like, and where we were sure of some justice; at least would not be hanged first, and judged afterwards. I was at first of my partner's opinion, but when I had more seriously considered of the matter, I told him, we ran a great hazard in attempting to return, being on the wrong side of the Straits of Molucca and that, if, upon alarm given, we should be taken by the Dutch at Batavia, or English elsewhere, our turning away would be a sufficient evidence to condemn us. This danger indeed startled not only my partner, but likewise all the ship's company; so we changed our former resolution, and resolved to go to the coast of Tonquin, and so to that of China, where, pursuing our first design as to trade, we might likewise have an opportunity to dispose of the ship some way or other, and to return to Bengal in any country vessel we could procure. This being agreed to, we steered away N.N.E. about 50 leagues off the usual course to the east; which put us to some inconveniences. As the wind blew steadily against us, our voyage became more tedious, and we began to be afraid of want of provision; and what was still worse, we apprehended, that as those ships from whose boat we had escaped, were bound to China, they might get before us, and have given fresh information, which might create another vigorous pursuit. Indeed, I could not help being grieved, when I considered that I who had never wronged or defrauded any person in my life, was now pursued like a common thief, and if taken to run the greatest danger of being executed as such; and, though innocent, I found myself under the necessity of flying for my safety; and thereby escape being brought to shame, of which I was even more afraid than death itself. It was easy to read my dejection in my countenance. My mind was oppressed, like those unhappy innocent persons, who being overpowered by blasphemous and perjured evidences, wickedly resolved to take away their lives, or ruin their reputation, have no other recourse in this world to ease their sorrow, but sighs, prayers, and tears. My partner seeing me so concerned, encouraged me as well as he could; and, after describing to me the several ports of that coast, he told me, he would either put me in on the coast of Cochinchina, or else in the bay of Tonquin, from whence we might go to Macao, a town once possessed by the Portuguese, and where still many European families resided.

To this place we steered, and, early next morning, came in sight of the coast; but thought it advisable to put into a small river where we could, either over land, or by the ship's pinnace, know what vessels were in any ports thereabouts. This happy step proved our deliverance; for, next morning, there came to the bay of Tonquin two Dutch ships, and a third without any colours; and in the evening, two English ships steered the same course. The river where we were was but small, and ran but a few leagues up the country northward; the country was wild and barbarous, and the people thieves, having no correspondence with any other nation; dealing only in fish, oil, and such gross commodities: and one barbarous custom they still retained, that when any vessel was unhappily shipwrecked upon their coast, they make the men prisoners or slaves, so that now we might fairly say we were surrounded by enemies both by sea and land.

As the ship had been leaky, we took the opportunity, in this place to search her, and to stop up the places which let in the water. We accordingly lightened her, and bringing our guns and other moveable things to one side, we essayed to bring her down, that we might come to her bottom: but, upon second consideration, we did not think it safe to let her lie on dry ground, neither indeed was the place convenient for it. The inhabitants not used to such a sight as to see a ship lie down on one side; and heel in towards the shore, and not perceiving her men, who were at work on her bottom, with stages and boats on the off side, presently imagined the ship had been cast away, and lay fast on the ground. Agreeable to this supposition, they surrounded us with ten or twelve large boats, with a resolution, undoubtedly to plunder the ship, and to carry away those they found alive for slaves to their king. But when they perceived our men hard at work on the ship's bottom and side, washing, graving, and stopping her, it filled them all with such surprise, that they stood gazing as though they were confounded. Nor could we imagine what their design was; however, for fear of danger, we handed down arms and ammunition to those at work, in order to defend themselves; and, indeed, this precaution was absolutely necessary; for, in a quarter of an hour after, the natives, concluding it was really a shipwreck, and that we were saving our lives and goods, which they thought belonged to them, came down upon our men as though it had been in line of battle. We lay at present but in a very unfit posture to fight; and before the stages could be got down, or the men in the boat come on board as they were ordered, the Cochinchinese were upon them, and two of their boats boarding our long boat, they began to lay hold of our men as prisoners. The first they seized was a stout English sailor, who never fired his musket, like a fool, as I imagined, but laid it down in the boat: but he knew what he was doing; for, by main force, he dragged the Pagan out of the boat into ours by the two ears, and knocked his brains out against the boat's gunnel; a Dutchman that was next him, snatched up the musket, and knocked down five more with the but-end of it; however, this was doing very little to their number; but a strange unexpected accident, which rather merits laughter than any thing else, gave our men a complete victory over them.