Chapter V: Part 5

These considerations put an end to all my thoughts of going northward; some of our secret council, (for, by the way, we consulted our foremast men no more, but had a secret council among ourselves, the resolutions of which we solemnly engaged not to disclose); some of these, I say, were for steering the usual course, from the Philippines to New Spain, viz., keeping in the latitudes of 11 or 13 deg. north the line, and so making directly for California; in which latitude they proposed that we might, perhaps, by cruising thereabout, meet with the Manilla ships, going from New Spain to Manilla, which we might take as prizes, and then stand directly for the coast of Peru. But I opposed this, principally because it would effectually overthrow all my meditated discoveries to the southward; and, secondly, because I had observed, that, on the north of the line, there are no islands to be met with, in all the long run of near two thousand leagues, from Guam, one of the Ladrones, to the land of California; and that we did not find we were able to subsist during so long a run, especially for want of water; whereas, on the south of the line, as well within the tropic as without, we were sure to meet with islands innumerable, and that even all the way; so that we were sure of frequent relief of fresh water, of plants, fowl, and fish, if not of bread and flesh, almost all the way.

This was a main consideration to our men, and so we soon resolved to take the southern course; yet, as I said, we stood away for the Ladrones first. These are a cluster of islands, which lie in about 11 to 13 deg. north latitude, north-east from the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, and east and by north from that part of the Philippines where we were, and at the distance of about four hundred leagues, and all the ships which go or come between the Philippines and New Spain touch at them, for the convenience of provisions, water, &c.; those that go to Spain put in there, in order to recruit and furnish for, and those that come from Spain, to relieve themselves after so long a run as that of six thousand miles, for so much it is at least from Guam to Acapulco; on these accounts, and with these reasonings, we came to the isles of the Ladrones.

During our run between the Philippine and Ladrone islands, we lived wholly upon our fresh provisions, of which we laid in a great stock at Manilla, such as hogs, fowls, calves, and six or seven cows, all alive, so that our English beef and pork, which lay well stored, was not touched for a long time.

At the Ladrones we recruited, and particularly took on board, as well alive as pickled up, near two hundred hogs, with a vast store of roots, and such things as are their usual food in that country. We took in also above three thousand cocoa-nuts and cabbages; yams, potatoes, and other roots, for our own use; and, in particular, we got a large quantity of maize, or Indian wheat, for bread, and some rice.

We stored ourselves likewise with oranges and lemons; and, buying a great quantity of very good limes, we made three or four hogsheads of lime-juice, which was a great relief to our men in the hot season, to mix with their water; as for making punch, we had some arrack and some sugar, but neither of them in such quantity as to have much punch made afore the mast.

We were eighteen days on our passage from the Strait of Mindora to Guam, and stayed six days at the latter, furnishing ourselves with provisions, appearing all this while with French colours, and Captain Merlotte as commander. However we made no great ceremony here with the Spanish governor, as I have said already, only that Captain Merlotte, after we had been here two days, sent a letter to him by a French officer, who, showing his commission from the king of France, the governor presently gave us product, as we call it, and leave to buy what provisions we wanted.

In compliment for this civility, we sent the governor a small present of fine scarlet camlet and two pieces of baize; and he made a very handsome return, in such refreshments as he thought we most wanted.

There was another reason for our keeping in this latitude till we came to the Ladrones; namely, that all the southern side of that part of the way, between the Philippines and the Ladrones, is so full of islands, that, unless we had been provided with very good pilots, it would have been extremely hazardous; and, add to this, that, beyond these islands south, is no passage; the land, which they call Nova Guinea, lying away east and east-south-east, farther than has yet been discovered; so that it is not yet known whether that country be an island or the continent.

Having for all these reasons gone to the Ladrones, and being sufficiently satisfied in our reasons for going away from thence to the southward, and having stored ourselves, as above, with whatever those islands produced, we left the Ladrones the 10th day of September in the evening, and stood away east-south-east, with the wind north-north-west, a fresh gale; after this, I think it was about five days, when, having stretched, by our account, about a hundred and fifty leagues, we steered away more to the southward, our course south-east-by-south.

And now, if ever, I expected to do something by way of discovery. I knew very well there were few, if any, had ever steered that course; or that, if they had, they had given very little account of their travels. The only persons who leave anything worth notice being Cornelius Vanschouten and Francis Le Mare, who, though they sailed very much to the south, yet say little to the purpose, as I shall presently show.

The sixteenth day after we parted from the Ladrones, being, by observation, in the latitude of 17 deg. south of the line, one of our men cried, A sail! a sail! which put us into some fit of wonder, knowing nothing of a ship of any bulk could be met with in those seas; but our fit of wonder was soon turned to a fit of laughter, when one of our men from the foretop, cried out, Land! which, indeed, was the case; and the first sailor was sufficiently laughed at for his mistake, though, giving him his due, it looked at first as like a sail as ever any land at a distance could look.

Towards evening we made the land very plain, distance about seven leagues south-by-east, and found that it was not an island, but a vast tract of land, extended, as we had reason to believe, from the side of Gilolo, and the Spice Islands, or that which we call Nova Guinea, and never yet fully discovered. The land lying away from the west-north-west to the south-east-by-south, still southerly.

I, that was for making all possible discovery, was willing, besides the convenience of water, and perhaps fresh provisions, to put in here, and see what kind of country it was; so I ordered the brigantine to stand in for the shore. They sounded, but found no ground within half a league of the shore; so they hoisted out their boat, and went close in with the shore, where they found good anchor-hold in about thirty-six fathom, and a large creek, or mouth of a river; here they found eleven to thirteen fathom soft oozy sand, and the water half fresh at the mouth of the creek.

Upon notice of this, we stood in, and came all to an anchor in the very creek; and, sending our boats up the creek, found the water perfectly fresh and very good upon the ebb, about a league up the river.

Among all the islands in this part of the world, that is to say, from the Philippines eastward, of which there are an infinite number, we never came near any but we found ourselves surrounded with canoes and a variety of boats, bringing off to us cocoa-nuts, plantains, roots, and greens, to traffic for such things as they could get; and that in such numbers, we were tired with them, and sometimes alarmed, and obliged to fire at them. But here, though we saw great numbers of people at a distance from the shore, yet we saw not one boat or bark, nor anything else upon the water.

We stayed two or three days taking in fresh water, but it was impossible to restrain our men from going on shore, to see what sort of a country it was; and I was very willing they should do so. Accordingly, two of our boats, with about thirty men in both of them, went on shore on the east side of the creek or harbour where our ship lay.

They found the country looked wild and savage; but, though they could find no houses, or speak with the inhabitants, they saw their footsteps and their seats where they had sat down under some trees; and after wandering about a little, they saw people, both men and women, at a distance; but they ran away from our men, at first sight, like frightened deer; nor could they make any signal to them to be understood; for when our men hallooed and called after them, they ran again as if they had been bewitched.

Our men gathered a great variety of green stuff, though they knew not of what kind, and brought it all on board, and we eat a great deal of it; some we boiled and made broth of, and some of our men, who had the scurvy, found it did them a great deal of good; for the herbs were of a spicy kind, and had a most pleasant agreeable taste: but none of us could tell what to call them, though we had several men on board who had been among the Spice Islands before in Dutch ships.

We were very uneasy that we could get nothing here but a little grass and potherbs, as our men called it, and the men importuned me to let them have two boats, and go up the river as high as the tide would carry them; this I consented to, being as willing to make the discovery as they; so I ordered the captain of the Madagascar ship, who had, as I have said, been formerly my second mate, to go along with them.

But in the morning, a little before the flood was made, I was called out of my cabin to see an army, as they told me, coming to attack us. I turned out hastily enough, as may be easily conjectured, and such an army appeared as no ship was ever attacked with; for we spied three or four hundred black creatures, come playing and tumbling down the stream towards us, like so many porpoises in the water. I was not satisfied at first that they were human creatures, but would have persuaded our men, that they were sea-monsters, or fishes of some strange kind.

But they quickly undeceived us, for they came swimming about our ships, staring and wondering and calling to one another, but said not one word to us, at least, if they did, we could not understand them.

Some of them came very near our ships, and we made signs to them to come on board, but they would not venture. We tossed one of them a rope, and he took hold of it boldly; but as soon as we offered to pull, he let go, and laughed at us; another of them did the like, and when he let go, turned up his black buttocks, as in sport at us; the language of which, in our country, we all knew, but whether it had the same meaning here, we were at a loss to know.

However, this dumb manner of conversing with them we did not like, neither was it to any purpose to us; and I was resolved, if possible, to know something more of them than we could get thus; so I ordered out our pinnace with six oars, and as many other men well armed, to row among them; and, if possible, to take some of them and bring them on board. They went off, but the six-oar pinnace, though a very nimble boat, could not row so fast as they could swim; for, if pulling with all their might, they came near one of them, immediately, like dog and duck, they would dive, and come up again thirty or forty yards off; so that our men did not know which way to row after them; however, at last getting among the thickest of them, they got hold of two, and with some difficulty dragged them in; but think of our surprise, to find they were not men, but both young women. However, they were brought on board naked as they were.

When they came on board, I ordered they should have two pieces of linen wrapped round their waists to cover them, which they seemed well pleased with. We gave them also several strings of beads, and our men tied them about their necks, and about their arms like bracelets, and they were wonderfully delighted with their ornaments. Others of our men gave each of them a pair of scissors, with needles and some thread, and threading the needles, showed them how to sew with them; we also gave them food, and each of them a dram of arrack, and made signs to know of them where they lived; they pointed up to the river, but we could by no means understand them.

When we had dressed them up thus with necklaces, and bracelets, and linen, we brought them up upon the deck, and made them call to their country folk, and let them see how well they were used, and the girls beckoned them to come on board, but they would not venture.

However, as I thought the discovery we were to make, would be something the easier on account of the usage of these two young women; for they were not, as we guessed, above twenty or two-and-twenty years of age; we resolved that the boat should go on, as we intended, up the river; and that, as the two women pointed that way, we should carry them along with us.

Accordingly we sent two shallops, or large boats, which carried together sixty men, all well armed. We gave them store of beads and knives and scissors, and such baubles with them, with hatchets and nails, and hooks, looking-glasses, and the like; and we built up the sides and sterns of the boats, and covered them with boards, to keep off arrows and darts, if they should find occasion, so that they looked like London barges. In this posture, as soon as the tide or flood was made up, our men went away, carrying a drum and a trumpet in each boat; and each boat had also two patereroes, or small cannon, fixed on the gunnel near the bow.

Thus furnished, they went off about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and to my very great uneasiness, I heard no more of them for four days. The whole ship's company were indeed surprised at their stay, and the captain of the sloop would fain have had me let him have sailed up the river with the sloop, as far as the channel would serve; which really we found was deep enough. Indeed, as I was unwilling to run any more risks, I could not persuade myself, but that the force I had already sent was sufficient to fight five thousand naked creatures, such as the natives seemed to be, and therefore, I was very unwilling to send. However, I consented at last to have our long-boat and two smaller boats manned with fifty-four men more, very well armed, and covered from arrows and darts as the other had been, to go up the river, upon their solemn promise, and with express order, to return the next day, at farthest; ordering them to fire guns as they went up the river, to give notice to their fellows, if they could be heard, that they were coming; and that, in the mean time, if I fired three guns they should immediately return.

They went away with the tide of flood, a little before noon, and went up the river about five leagues, the tide running but slowly, and a strong fresh of land-water that checked the current coming down; so that when the tide was spent they came to an anchor. They found the river, contrary to their expectation, continued both deep enough, and was wider in breadth than where the ships were at anchor; and that it had another mouth or outlet into the sea some leagues farther east, so that the land to the east of us, where our men went on shore, was but an island, and had not many inhabitants, if any; the people they had seen there having possibly swam over the other arm or branch of the river, to observe our ships the nearer. As our men found they could go no farther for want of the tide, they resolved to come to an anchor; but, just as they were sounding, to see what ground they had, and what depth, a small breeze at north-east sprang up, by which they stemmed the current and reached up about two leagues farther, when they hove over their grappling in five fathom water, soft ground; so that all this way, and much farther, every one of our ships might have gone up the channel, being as broad as the Thames is about Vauxhall.

It must be observed, that all along this river they found the land, after they came past the place where the other branch of the river broke off, eastward, was full of inhabitants on both sides, who frequently came down to the water-side in haste to look at our boats; but always when our men called to them, as if they thought our men inquired after their fellows, they pointed up the river, which was as much as to say, they were gone farther that way.

However, our men not being able to go any farther against the tide, took no notice of that; but, after a little while some of them, in one of the smaller boats, rowed towards the shore, holding up a white flag to the people in token of friendship; but it was all one, and would have been all one for aught we knew, if they had held up a red flag, for they all ran away, men, women, and children; nor could our men by any persuasions, by gestures and signs of any kind, prevail on them to stay, or hardly so much as to look at them.

The night coming on, our men knew not well what course to take; they saw several of the Indians' dwellings and habitations, but they were all at a distance from the river, occasioned, as our men supposed, by the river's overflowing the flat grounds near its banks, so as to render those lands not habitable.

Our men had a great inclination to have gone up to one of the towns they saw, but he that commanded would not permit it; but told them, if they could find a good landing-place, that they might all go on shore, except a few to keep the boats, if they chose to venture; upon which the smallest boat rowed up about a mile, and found a small river running into the greater, and here they all resolved to land; but first they fired two muskets, to give notice, if possible, to their comrades, that they were at hand; however, they heard nothing of them.

What impression the noise of the two muskets made among the Indians they could not tell, for they were all run away before.

They were no sooner on shore, but, considering they had not above two hours day, and that the Indian villages were at least two miles off, they called a council, and resolved not to march so far into a country they knew so little of, and be left to come back in the dark; so they went on board again, and waited till morning. However, they viewed the country, found it was a fertile soil, and a great herbage on the ground; there were few trees near the river; but farther up where the Indian dwellings were, the little hills seemed to be covered with woods, but of what kind they knew not.

In the morning, before break of day, some of our men fancied they heard a gun fired up the river; upon which the officer ordered two muskets to be fired again, as had been done the evening before; and in about a quarter of an hour they were answered by the like firing, by which our men knew that their comrades heard them; so, without pursuing their intended landing, the tide being then running upwards, they weighed, and set to their oars, having little or no wind, and that which they had blowing down the stream.

After they had gone about a league, they heard a confused noise at a great distance, which surprised them a little at first; but, as they perceived it drew nearer and nearer, they waited awhile, when they discovered first here and there some people, then more, and then about two or three hundred men and women together, running, and every one carrying something.

Where it was they were going to, or what it was they carried, our men could not tell till they came nearer, when they found that they were all loaded with provisions, cocoa-nuts, roots, cabbages, and a great variety of things which the men knew little of; and all these were carrying down to our ships, as we understood afterwards, in gratitude for our kind usage of the two young women.

When these people saw our men and their three boats, they were at a full stop, and once or twice they were ready to lay down all their loads, and run for it; but ours made signs of peace, and held up a white flag to them.

Some of them, it seems, having, as we found, conversed with our men, had a little more courage than the rest, and came to the shore side, and looked at the boats. One of our men thought of a stratagem to make known our desire of peace with them. Taking a string of beads and some toys, he held them up at the end of the boat-hook staff, and showed them to the Indians, pointing to them with his hand, and then pointing with the other hand to what the Indians carried, and to his mouth, intimating that we wanted such things to eat, and would give him the beads for them.

One of the Indians presently understood him, and threw himself into the water, holding a bundle of plants, such as he had trussed up together, upon his head, and swimming with the other hand, came so near the boat, where our men held out the staff, as to reach the end of the staff, take off the string of beads and toys, and hang his bunch of trash, for it was not better, upon the hook, and then went back again, for he would come no nearer.

When he was gotten on shore again, all his comrades came about him to see what he had got; he hung the string of beads round his neck, and ran dancing about with the other things in his hand, as if he had been mad.

What our men got was a trifle of less worth than a good bunch of carrots in England, but yet it was useful, as it brought the people to converse with us; for after this they brought us roots and fruits innumerable, and began to be very well acquainted with us.

By that time our men had chaffered thus four or five times they first heard, and in a little while after saw, their two great boats, with their fellows, coming down the river, at about two miles' distance, with their drums and trumpets, and making noise enough.

They had been, it seems, about three leagues higher up, where they had been on shore among the Indians, and had set at liberty the two maidens, for such they understood they were; who, letting their friends see how fine they were dressed, and how well they were used, the Indians were so exceedingly obliged, and showed themselves so grateful, that they thought nothing too much for them, but brought out all the sorts of provisions which their country produced, which, it seem, amounted to nothing but fruits, such as plantains, cocoa-nuts, oranges and lemons, and such things, and roots, which we could give no name to; but that which was most for our use, was a very good sort of maize, or Indian corn, which made us excellent bread.

They had, it seems, some hogs and some goats; but our men got only six of the latter, which were at hand, and were very good. But that which was most remarkable was, that whereas in all the islands within the tropics the people are thievish, treacherous, fierce, and mischievous, and are armed with lances, or darts, or bows and arrows; these appeared to be a peaceable, quiet, inoffensive people; nor did our men see any weapon among them except a long staff, which most of the men carried in their hands, being made of a cane, about eight foot long, and an inch and a half in diameter, much like a quarter-staff, with which they would leap over small brooks of water with admirable dexterity.

The people were black, or rather of a tawny dark brown; their hair long, but curling in very handsome ringlets: they went generally quite naked, both men and women; except that in two places, our men said, they found some of the women covered from the middle downward. They seemed to have been strangers to the sea; nor did we find so much as any one boat among them: nor did any of the inhabitants dwell near the sea; but cultivated their lands very well, in their way; having abundance of greens and fruits growing about their houses; and upon which we found they chiefly lived. The climate seemed to be very hot, and yet the country very fruitful.

These people, by all we could perceive, had never had any converse with the rest of the world by sea; what they might have by land we know not; but, as they lie quite out of the way of all commerce, so it might be probable they never had seen a ship or boat, whether any European ship, or so much as a periagua of the islands. We have mentioned their nearest distance to the Ladrones, being at least four hundred leagues; and from the Spice Islands, and the country of New Guinea, much more; but as to the European shipping, I never heard of any that ever went that way, nor do I believe any ever did.

I take the more notice of these people's not having conversed, as I say, with the world, because of the innocence of their behaviour, their peaceable disposition, and their way of living upon the fruits and produce of the earth; also their cultivation, and the manner of their habitations; no signs of rapine or violence appearing among them. Our stay here was so little, that we could make no inquiry into their religion, manner of government, and other customs; nor have I room to crowd many of these things into this account. They went, indeed, as I have said, naked, some of them stark naked, both men and women, but I thought they differed in their countenances from all the wild people I ever saw; that they had something singularly honest and sincere in their faces, nor did we find anything of falsehood or treachery among them.

The gratitude they expressed for our kindly using the two young women I have mentioned, was a token of generous principles; and our men told us, that they would have given them whatever they could have asked, that was in their power to bestow.

In a word, it was on their account they sent that little army of people to us loaden with provisions, which our men met before the two shallops came down. But all the provisions they had consisted chiefly in fruits of the earth, cocoa-nuts, plantains, oranges, lemons, &c., and maize, or Indian corn. We were not a sufficient time with them to inquire after what traffick they had, or whether anything fit for us. They had several fragrant plants, and some spices, particularly cinnamon, which we found, but what else the country produced we knew not.

We came away from hence after seven days' stay, having observed little of the country, more than that it seemed to be very pleasant, but very hot; the woods were all flourishing and green and the soil rich, but containing little that could be the subject of trade; but an excellent place to be a baitland, or port of refreshment, in any voyage that might afterwards be undertaken that way.

We set sail, I say, from hence in seven days, and, finding the coast lie fairly on our starboard side, kept the land on board all the way, distance about three leagues; and it held us thus, about a hundred and twenty leagues due east, when on a sudden we lost sight of the land; whether it broke off, or whether it only drew off farther south, we could not tell.

We went on two or three days more, our course south-east, when we made land again; but found it only to be two small islands, lying south and by east, distance nine leagues. We stood on to them, and two of our boats went on shore, but found nothing for our purpose; no inhabitants, nor any living creatures, except sea fowls, and some large snakes; neither was there any fresh water. So we called that land Cape Dismal.

The same evening we stood away full south, to see if we could find out the continuance of the former land; but as we found no land, so a great sea coming from the south we concluded we should find no land that way. And, varying our course easterly, we ran with a fair fresh gale at north-west and by west, for seven days more; in all which time, we saw nothing but the open sea every way; and making an observation found we had passed the southern tropic; and that we were in the latitude of 26 deg. 13', after which we continued our course still southerly for several days more, until we found, by another observation, that we were in 32 deg. 20'.

This evening we made land over our starboard bow, distance six leagues, and stood away south and by east: but the wind slackening we lay by in the night; and in the morning found the land bearing east and by south, distance one league and a half; a good shore, and on sounding, about five-and-thirty fathom, stony ground. We now hoisted our boat out, and sent it on shore for discoveries, to sound the depth of the water, and see for a good harbour to put in at.

Our people went quite in with the shore, where they found several men and women crowded together to look at us. When our men came close to the land they hung out a white flag, but the wild people understood nothing of the meaning of it, but stood looking and amazed, and we have great reason to believe that they never had seen any ship or bark of any nation before. We found on our landing, no boats or sails, or anything they had to make use of on the water; but some days after we saw several small canoes, with three or four men in each.

Our men not being able to speak a word for them to understand, or to know what was said to them, the first thing they did, was to make signs to them for something to eat; upon which three of them seemed to go away, and coming again in a few minutes, brought with them several bundles or bunches of roots, some plantains, and some green lemons, or limes, and laid down all upon the coast. Our men took courage then to go on shore, and, taking up what they brought, set up a stick, and upon the end of it hung five bunches or strings of blue and white beads, and went on board again.

Never was such joy among a wild people discovered, as these natives showed, when they took the beads off the stick; they danced and capered, and made a thousand antic gestures, and, inviting our men on shore, laid their hands upon their breasts across, and then looked up, intimating a solemn oath not to hurt us.

Our men made signs, by which they made them understand, that they would come again next morning, and also that they should bring us more eatables; accordingly, we sent three boats the next morning, and our men carried knives, scissors, beads, looking-glasses, combs, and any toys they had, not forgetting glass beads and glass ear-rings in abundance.

The Indians were very ready to meet us, and brought us fruits and herbs as before; but three of them, who stood at a distance, held each of them a creature exactly like a goat, but without horns or beard; and these were brought to traffick with us.

We brought out our goods, and offered every one something; but the variety was surprising to them who had never seen such things before. But that which was most valuable of all our things, was a hatchet, which one of their principal men took up and looked at it, felt the edge, and laid it down; then took it up again, and wanted to know the use of it: upon which one of our men took it, and stepping to a tree that stood near, cut off a small bough of it at one blow. The man was surprised, and ran to the tree with it, to see if he could do the same, and finding he could, he laid it down, ran with all his might into the country, and by-and-by returning, came with two men more with him, to show them this wonderful thing, a hatchet.

But if they were surprised with the novelty of a hatchet, our men were as much surprised to see hanging round the ears of both the men that he brought with him, large flat pieces of pure gold. The thread which they hung by was made of the hair of the goats, twisted very prettily together and very strong.

Our men offering to handle them, to see if they were gold, one of the men took off his two gold bobs, and offered them to our men for the hatchet. Our men seemed to make much difficulty of it, as if the hatchet was of much greater value than those trifles; upon which he, being as we found, superior, made the other, who came with him, pull off his two ear-jewels also; and so our unreasonable people took them all four, being of pure gold, and weighing together some grains above two ounces, in exchange for an old rusty hatchet. However unreasonable the price was, the purchaser did not think it so; and so over-fond was he of the hatchet, that as soon as he had it for his own, he ran to the tree, and in a few minutes had so laid about him with the hatchet, that there was not a twig left on it that was within his reach.

This exchange was a particular hint to me; and I presently directly my chief mate, and Captain Merlotte, to go on shore the next day, and acquaint themselves as much as they could with the natives, and, if possible, to find out where they had this gold, and if any quantity was to be found.

Captain Merlotte and my chief mate bestowed their time so well, and obliged the natives so much, by the toys and trifles they gave them, that they presently told them that the gold, which they called Aarah, was picked up in the rivers that came down from a mountain which they pointed to, a great way off. Our men prevailed with three of them, to go with them to one of these rivers, and gave them beads and such things to encourage them, but no hatchet; that was kept up at a high rate, and as a rarity fit only for a king, or some great man who wore Aarah on his ears.

In a word, they came to the river where they said they found this Aarah; and the first thing our men observed there, was an Indian sitting on the ground, and beating something upon a great stone, with another stone in his hand for his hammer: they went to see what he was doing, and found he had got a lump of gold from the sand, as big as a swan-shot, of no regular shape, but full of corners, neither round nor square; and the man was beating it flat as well as he could.

One of our men, who had a hatchet in his hand, made signs to him to let him flatten it for him; and so turning the back part of the hatchet, which served the purpose of a hammer, he beat the piece of gold flat in an instant; and then turning it upon the edge, beat it that way until he brought it to be round also.

This was so surprising to the man who had been beating, that he stood looking on with all the tokens of joy and amazement; and, desiring to see the hatchet, looked this way and that way, upon those of his countrymen who came with us, as if asking them if ever they saw the like.

When our man had done, he made signs to know if he had any more Aarah; the man said nothing, but went down to the brink of the river, and, putting his hand into a hole, he brought out three little lumps of gold, and a great many smaller, some of them about as big as a large pin's head; all which he had laid up there, in the hollow of a stone. Our man thought it was too much, to take all that for the hatchet; and therefore pulled out some beads, and pieces of glass, and such toys; and, in short, bought all this cargo of gold, which in the whole weighed near five ounces, for about the value of two shillings.

Though these bargains were very agreeable to us, yet the discovery of such a place, and of such a fund of treasure, in a part of the world, which it is very probable, was never before seen by any European eyes, nor so much as inquired after, was the greatest satisfaction imaginable to me; knowing the adventurous temper of the gentleman who was our principal employer. Upon this account, while my men busied themselves in their daily search after gold, and in finding out the rivers from whence it came, or rather where it was found, I employed myself to be fully informed where this place was; whether it was an island or a continent; and having found a tolerable good road for our ships to ride in, I caused my two shallops, well manned, to run along the coast, both east and west, to find which way it lay, and whether they could find any end of it; as also to see what rivers, what people, and what provisions they could meet with.

By my observation, I found that we were in the latitude of 27 deg. 13' south meridian; distance from the Ladrones about 16 deg. east. While my shallops were gone, I went on shore, and some of my men set up tents, as well for the convenience of their traffick, as for their resting on shore all night; keeping, however, a good guard, and having two of our ship's dogs with them, who never failed giving them notice, whenever any of the natives came near them; for what ailed the dogs I know not, but neither of them could bear the sight of the Indians, and we had much to do to keep them from flying at them.

While we rode here, we had the most violent storm of wind with rain, and with great claps of thunder, that we had yet sustained since we came out of England. It was our comfort that the wind came off shore, for it blew at south, and shifting between the south, south-east, and south-west, with such excessive gusts, and so furious, and withal, not only by squalls and sudden flaws, but a settled terrible tempest, that had it been from off sea, as it was off shore, we must have perished, there had been no remedy, and even as it was, we rode in great danger. My boatswain called out twice to me to cut my masts by the board, protesting we should either bring our anchors home, or founder as we rode; and indeed the sea broke over us many times in a terrible manner. As I said before, we had an indifferent good road, and so we had, but not a very good one, for the land was low; and on the east we lay a little open. However, our ground-tackle was good, and our ship very tight, and I told the boatswain I would rather slip the cable and go off to sea than cut the masts. However, in about four hours' time more we found the wind abate, though it blew very hard for three days after.

I was in great pain for my two shallops in this tempest, but they had both the good luck to lie close under the shore; and one indeed had hauled quite upon the land, where the men lay on shore under their sail, so that they got no damage; and about three days after, one of them returned, and brought me word they had been to the west, where they had made very little discovery, as to the situation of the country, or whether it was an island or a continent, but they had conversed with the natives very often, and found several who had pieces of gold hanging, some in their hair, some about their necks; and they made a shift to bring as many with them as weighed, all put together, seventeen or eighteen ounces, for which they had bartered toys and trifles, as we did; but they found no rivers, where they could discover any gold in the sands, as We had done, so that they believed it all came from the side where we were.

But our other shallop had much better luck; she went away to the east, and by the time she had gone about sixteen leagues she found the shore break off a little, and soon after a little more, until at length they came as it were to the land's end; when, the shore running due south, they followed, according to their account, near thirteen leagues more.

In this interval they went several times on shore, entered three rivers, indifferently large, and one of them very large at the mouth, but grew narrow again in three or four leagues; but a deep channel, with two-and-twenty to eight-and-twenty fathom water in it all the way, as far as they went.

Here they went on shore and trafficked with the natives, whom they found rude and unpolished, but a very mild inoffensive people; nor did they find them anything thievish, much less treacherous, as in some countries is the case. They had the good luck to find out the place where, as they supposed, the king of the country resided; which was a kind of a city, encompassed all round, the river making a kind of double horse-shoe. The manner of their living is too long to describe; neither could our men give any account of their government, or of the customs of the place; but what they sought for was gold and provisions, and of those they got pretty considerable quantities.

They found the Indians terribly surprised at the first sight of them; but after some time they found means to let them know they desired a truce, and to make them understand what they meant by it.

At length a truce being established, the king came, and with him near three hundred men; and soon after the queen, with half as many women. They were not stark naked, neither men nor women, but wearing a loose piece of cloth about their middles; what it was made of we could not imagine, for it was neither linen or woollen, cotton or silk; nor was it woven, but twisted and braided by hand, as our women make bone lace with bobbins. It seems it was the stalk of an herb, which this was made with; and was so strong that I doubt not it would have made cables for our ships, if we had wanted to make such an experiment.

When the king first came to our men they were a little shy of his company, he had so many with him, and they began to retire; which the king perceiving, he caused all his men to stop, and keep at a distance; and advanced himself with about ten or twelve of his men, and no more.

When he was come quite up, our men, to show their breeding, pulled off their hats, but that he did not understand, for his men had no hats on. But the officer making a bow to him, he understood that presently, and bowed again; at which all his men fell down flat upon their faces, as flat to the ground as if they had been shot to death with a volley of our shot; and they did not fall so quick but they were up again as nimbly, and then down flat on the ground again; and this they did three times, their king bowing himself to our men at the same time.

This ceremony being over, our men made signs to them that they wanted victuals to eat, and something to drink: and pulled out several things, to let the people see they would give something for what they might bring them.

The king understood them presently, and turning to some of his men he talked awhile to them; and our men observed, that while he spoke they seemed to be terrified, as if he had been threatening them with death. However, as soon as he had done, three of them went away, and our men supposed they went to fetch something that the king would give them; upon which, that they might be beforehand with them, our men presented his majesty with two pair of bracelets of fine glass beads of several colours, and put them upon his arms, which he took most kindly; and then they gave him a knife, with a good plain ivory handle, and some other odd things. Upon receiving these _noble_ presents, he sends away another of his men, and a little after two more.

Our men observed that two of the men went a great way off toward the hill, but the other man that he sent away first went to his queen, who, with her retinue of tawny ladies, stood but a little way off, and soon after her majesty came with four women only attending her.

The officer who commanded our men, finding he should have another kind of compliment to pay the ladies, retired a little; and, being an ingenious handy sort of a man, in less than half-an-hour, he and another of his men made a nice garland, or rather a coronet, of sundry strings of beads, and with glass bobs and pendants, all hanging about it, most wonderful gay; and when the queen was come, he went up to the king, and showing it to him, made signs that he would give it to the queen.

The king took it, and was so pleased with the present, that truly he desired our officer to put it upon his own head, which he did; but, when he had got it so placed, he let our men see he was king over his wife, as well as over the rest of the country, and that he would wear it himself.

Our men then pulled out a little pocket looking-glass, and, holding it up, let his majesty see his own face, which we might reasonably suppose he had never seen before, especially with a crown on his head too. Before he saw his own face in the glass he was grave and majestic, and carried it something like a king; but he was so delighted with the novelty that he was quite beside himself, and jumped and capered and danced about like a madman.

All this while our men saw nothing coming, but that all was given on their side; whereupon they made signs again, that they wanted provisions.

The king then made signs, pointing to a hill a good way off, as if it would come from thence very quickly; and then looked to see if his people were coming, as if he was impatient till they came, as well as our men.

During this time, one of our men observed that the queen had several pieces of gold, as they thought them to be, hanging about her, particularly in her hair, and large flat plates of gold upon the hinder part of her head, something in the place of a roll, such as our women wear; that her hair was wound about it in rolls, braided together very curiously; and having informed our officer, he made signs to the king for leave to give the queen something, which he consented to. So he went to her majesty, making a bow as before; but this complaisance surprised her, for, upon his bowing, on a sudden falls the queen and all her four ladies flat on the ground, but were up again in a moment; and our people wondered how they could throw themselves so flat on their faces, and not hurt themselves; nor was it less to be wondered at, how they could so suddenly jump up again, for they did not rise up gradually as we must do, with the help of our hands and knees, if we were extended so flat on our faces, but they, with a spring, whether with their hands or their whole bodies, we knew not, sprang up at once, and were upon their feet immediately.

This compliment over, our officer stepped up to the queen, and tied about her neck a most delicate necklace of pearl; that is to say, of large handsome white glass beads, which might in England cost about fourpence halfpenny, and to every one of her ladies he gave another of smaller beads, differing in colour from those which he gave the queen. Then he presented her majesty with a long string of glass beads, which, being put over her head, reached down to her waist before, and joined in a kind of tassel, with a little knot of blue riband, which she was also extremely pleased with; and very fine she was.

The queen made, it seems, the first return; for, stepping to one of her women, our men observed that her attendant took something out of her hair, and then the queen let her tie her hair up again; after which her majesty brought it and gave it to our officer, making signs to know if it was acceptable. It was a piece of gold that weighed about two ounces and a half; it had been beaten as flat as they knew how to beat it. But the metal was of much more beauty to our men than the shape.

Our officer soon let the queen and people see that he accepted the present, by laying it to his mouth and to his breast, which he found was the way when they liked anything. In short, our officer went to work again, and in a little while he made a little coronet for the queen, as he had done before for the king, though less; and, without asking leave of his majesty, went up to her and put it upon her head; and then gave her a little looking-glass, as he had done to the king, that she might view her face in it.