A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before Part 9

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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s beads, which, being put over her head, reached down to her waist before, and joined in a kind of ta.s.sel, 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-gla.s.s, as he had done to the king, that she might view her face in it.

She was so surprised at the sight, that she knew not how to contain herself; but, to show her grat.i.tude, she pulled out another plate of gold out of her own hair, and gave it to our officer; and, not content with that, she sent one of her women to the crowd of females who first attended her, and whether she stripped them of all the gold they had, or only a part, she brought so many pieces, that, when together, they weighed almost two pounds.

When she was thus dressed she stepped forward very nimbly and gracefully towards the king, to show him what she had got; and, finding he was dressed as fine as herself, they had work enough for near two hours to look at one another, and admire their new ornaments.

Our men reported, that the king was a tall, well-shaped man, of a very majestic deportment, only that when he laughed he showed his teeth too much, which, however, were as white as ivory: as for the queen, saving that her skin was of a tawny colour, she was a very pretty woman; very tall, a sweet countenance, admirable features, and, in a word, a complete handsome lady.

She was very oddly dressed; she was quite naked from her head to below her b.r.e.a.s.t.s; her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were plump and round, not flaggy and hanging down, as it generally is with the Indian women, some of whose b.r.e.a.s.t.s hang as low as their bellies, but projecting as beautifully as if they had been laced up with stays round her body; and below her breast she had a broad piece of a skin of some curious creature, spotted like a leopard, probably of some fine spotted deer. This was wrapped round her very tight, like a body-girt to a horse; and under this she had a kind of petticoat, as before described, hanging down to her ankles. As for shoes or stockings, they were only such as nature had furnished. Her hair was black, and, as supposed, very long, being wreathed up and twisted in long locks about the plate of gold she wore; for when she pulled off the plate above mentioned, it hung down her back and upon her shoulders very gracefully; but it seems she did not think so, for, as soon as she found it so fallen down, she caused one of her women to roll it up, and tie it in a great knot which hung down in her neck, and did not look so well as when it was loose.

While the king and the queen were conversing together about their fine things, as above, our men went back to the boat, where they left the purchase they had got, and furnished themselves with other things fit to traffick with as they saw occasion; and they were not quite come up to the king again, when they perceived that the men the king had sent up into the country were returned, and that they brought with them a great quant.i.ty of such provisions as they had, which chiefly consisted of roots and maize, or Indian corn, and several fruits which we had never seen before. Some of them resembled the large European figs, but were not really figs; with some great jars of water, having herbs steeped in it, and roots, that made it look as white as milk, and drank like milk sweetened with sugar, but more delicious, and exceeding cool and refres.h.i.+ng. They brought also a great quant.i.ty of oranges, but they were neither sweet nor sour, and our men believed they were not ripe; but when they were dressed after the manner of the country, which they showed our men, and which was to roast them before the fire, they had an admirable flavour, and our men brought a great many away to us, and when we roasted them they exceeded anything of the kind I had ever tasted.

After our men had received what was brought, and shown that the whole was very acceptable, the king made signs that he would be gone, but would come again to them the next morning; and, pointing to the queen's head, where the plate of gold had been that she had given to our men, intimated that he would bring some of the same with him the next day.

But while he was making these signs, one of his other messengers came back, and gave the king something into his hand wrapped up, which our men could not see. As soon as the king had it, as if he had been proud to show our men that he could make himself and his queen as fine as they could make him, he undid the parcel, and decked out his queen with a short thing like a robe, which reached from her neck down to the spotted skin which she wore before, and so it covered her shoulders and breast.

It was made of an infinite number and variety of feathers, oddly, and yet very curiously put together; and was spangled all over with little drops or lumps of gold; some no bigger than a pin's head, which had holes made through them, and were strung six or seven together, and so tied on to the feathers; some as big as a large pea, hanging single, some as big as a horse-bean, and beaten flat, and all hanging promiscuously among the feathers, without any order or shape, which, notwithstanding, were very beautiful in the whole, and made the thing look rich and handsome enough.

As soon as he had thus equipped his queen, he put another upon himself, which was larger, and had this particular in its shape, that it covered his arms almost to his elbows, and was so made that it came round under the arm, and being fastened there with a string, made a kind of sleeve.

As the king's robe, or whatever it may be called, was longer, for it came down to his waist, so it had a great deal more gold about it, and larger pieces than that the queen wore. When their majesties had thus put on their robes, it may be guessed how glorious they looked, but especially the queen, who being a most charming beautiful creature, as said before, was much more so when glistening thus with gold. Our men looked very narrowly to observe whether there were any diamonds or pearls among their finery, but they could not perceive any.

The king and queen now withdrew for that evening, but their people did not leave our men so, for they thronged about them; and some brought them jars of the white liquor, some brought them roots, others fruits, some one thing, some another; and our men gave every one of them some small matter or other in proportion to what they brought. At last, there came four particular tall l.u.s.ty men, with bows and arrows; but before they came close up to our men, they laid down their bows and arrows on the ground, and came forward with all the tokens of friends.h.i.+p they were able to make.

They had two youths with them, each of whom led a tame fawn of pretty large growth, and when the men came up, they gave the two fawns to our men; who, in return, gave each of them a knife, and some strings of beads, and such toys as they had.

Our men observed, that all these men had little bits of gold, some of one shape, and some of another, hanging at their ears; and when our men came to be familiar, they asked them as well as they could, where they found that stuff? and they made signs to the sand in the river, and then pointed towards that part of the country where our s.h.i.+ps lay, which signified to our men that the gold was, most of it, where we lay, not there where the king and queen resided. Nay, when our men pointed again to the river where they were, and went and took up some of the sand, as if they would look for gold in it, they made signs of laughing at it, and that there was nothing to be found there, but that it lay all the other way.

And yet two or three of the men, who, when the tide was out, went up the bank of the river, two or three miles upon the sands, peeping and trying the sands as they went, they found three or four little bits of pure gold, though not bigger than pins heads; but no doubt farther up the country they might have found more.

These four men seeing how fond our people were of the gold, made signs they could fetch gold to them if they would give them such things as they liked; and ours again told them they should have anything they pleased; and, as earnest, gave them some pieces of iron and bits of gla.s.s of small value, both which they were much delighted with.

Early in the morning their four customers came again, and brought several men, who seemed to be servants, along with them, loaden with refreshments, such as the white water, mentioned above, which they brought in earthen pots, very hard, made so by the heat of the sun. They brought also three small deer with them, and a kind of coney or rabbit, but larger, which our men were very glad of. But that which was above all the rest, they brought a good quant.i.ty of gold-dust, that is to say, some in small lumps, some in bigger; and one of them had near a pound weight wrapped up in a piece of coney-skin, which was all so very small that it was like dust; which, as our men understood afterwards, was reckoned little worth, because all the lumps had been picked out of it.

Our men, to be sure, were very willing to trade for this commodity, and therefore they brought out great variety of things to truck with them, making signs to them to pick out what they liked; but still keeping a reserve for the king and queen, whom they expected. Above all they had made a reserve for the king of some extraordinary hatchets, which they had not yet suffered to be seen, with a hammer or two, and some drinking-gla.s.ses, and the like, with some particular toys for the queen.

But they had variety enough left besides for the four men: who, in short, bought so many trinkets and trifles, that our men not only got all the gold they brought, but the very pieces of gold out of their ears; in return for which our men gave them every one a pair of ear-rings, to hang about their ears, with a fine drop; some of green gla.s.s, some red, some blue; and they were wonderfully pleased with the exchange, and went back, we may venture to say, much richer in opinion than they came.

As soon as these people had done their market, and indeed a little before, they perceived at a distance the king and queen coming with a great retinue; so they made signs to our men that they must be gone, and that they would not have the king know that they had been there.

I must confess, the relation of all this made me very much repent that I had not happened to have put in there with the s.h.i.+ps; though indeed, as the road lay open to the east and south winds, it might have been worse another way; I mean, when the storm blew. However, as it is, I must report this part, from the account given us by my men.

When the king and queen came the second time, they were together, and dressed up, as our men supposed, with the utmost magnificence, having the fine feathered spangled things about their shoulders; and the king had over all his habit, a fine spotted robe of deer skins, neatly joined together; and which, as he managed it, covered him from head to foot; and, in short, it was so very beautiful that he really looked like a king with it.

When he came to our men, and the ceremony of their meeting was over, the king, turning round, showed them, that he had brought them stores of provisions; and indeed, so he had; for he had at least fifty men attending him, loaden with roots, and oranges, and maize, and such things; in short, he brought them above twenty thousand oranges; a great parcel of that fruit like a fig, which I mentioned above, and other fruits. After which another party followed, and brought twenty live deer, and as many of their rabbits, dead; the latter are as big as our hares.

As they came up, the king made signs to our men to take them; and our officer making signs to thank his majesty, he ordered one of the queen's attendants to give him one of the feathered robes, such an one as the king himself had on; and made mighty fine with lumps and ta.s.sels of gold, as the other. And a tawny la.s.s advancing to him offered to put it over his head, but he took it in his hand and put it on himself, and looked as like a jack pudding in it, as any one could desire; for it made no figure at all upon him, compared to what it did upon the Indians.

When they had received all this, they could not but make a suitable return; and therefore our officer caused his reserve to be brought out; and first he gave his majesty a dozen of very handsome drinking-gla.s.ses of several sizes; with half a dozen of gla.s.s beakers, or cups, to the queen, for the same use. Then he gave the king a little hanger, and a belt to wear it by his side; and showed him how to buckle it on and take it off, and how to draw it out, and put it in again.

This was such a present, and the king was so delighted with it, that our officer said he believed the king did nothing but draw it and put it up again, put it on and pull it off, for near two hours together.

Besides this he gave the king three hatchets, and showed him the uses of them; also two large hammers, and a pair of very strong large shears, particularly showing him, that with those hammers they might beat out the gold lumps which they found in the rivers, and with the shears might cut the edges round, or into what shape they pleased, when they were beaten thin.

To the queen he gave six little knives, and a dozen small looking-gla.s.ses for her ladies; six pairs of scissors, and a small box full of large needles; then he gave her some coa.r.s.e brown thread, and showed her how to thread the needle, and sew anything together with the thread; all which she admired exceedingly, and called her tawny maids of honour about her, that they might learn also. And whilst they were standing all together, our officer, to divert the king, sewed two of her women one to another by the lap of their waistcoats, or what else it might be called; and when they were a little surprised at it, and began, as he thought, to be a little uneasy, he took the scissors, and at one snap set them at liberty again, which pa.s.sed for such an extraordinary piece of dexterity, that the king would needs have two of them sewed together again, on purpose to see it cut again. And then the king desired he might have a needle and thread himself, and a pair of scissors; then he would sew some things together, and cut them asunder again several times, and laugh most heartily at the ingenuity of it.

Besides the above things, they gave her majesty a pair of ear-rings to hang on her ears, the gla.s.s in them looking green like an emerald; a ring of silver, with false stones in it, like a rose diamond ring, the middle stone red like a ruby, which she went presently and gave to the king; but our officer made signs that he had one that was bigger for the king, and accordingly gave the king one much larger; and now they had done giving presents, as they thought, when the king made a sign to the queen, which she understood, and, calling one of her women, she brought a small parcel, which the queen gave our officer into his hand, wherein was about eleven pounds weight of gold-dust, but, as before, no lumps in it.

Our men having thus finished their traffick, and being about to come away, they made signs to the king, that they would come again and bring him more fine things; at which the king smiled, and pointing to the gold, as if telling them he would have more of that for them when they came again.

Our men had now their expectations fully answered; and, as I said, had ended their traffick; and, taking leave of the king and all his retinue, retired to their shallop, the king and queen going away to their city as above. The wind blowing northerly, they were seven days before they got down to us in the s.h.i.+p; during which time they had almost famished the deer they had left, five of which they had kept to bring us alive, and yet they went two or three times on sh.o.r.e to get food for them by the way.

We were all glad to see them again, and I had a great deal of reason to be very well satisfied with the account of their traffick, though not much with their discovery, for they were not able to give us the least account whether the land was a continent or an island.

But let that be how it will, it is certainly a country yet unfrequented by any of the Christian part of mankind, and perhaps, may ever be so, and yet may be as rich as any other part of the world yet discovered.

The mountains in most of the islands, as well as of the mainland in those parts, abounding in gold or silver, and, no question, as well worth searching after as the coast of Guinea; where, though the quant.i.ty they find is considerable, yet it is at this time sought after by so many, and the negroes taught so well how to value it, that but a little is brought away at a time, and so much given for it, that, computing the charge of the voyage, is oftentimes more than it is worth.

But though it is true that what gold is found here is a great way off, yet, I am persuaded such quant.i.ties are to be had, and the price given for it so very trifling, that it would be well worth searching for.

I reckon, that, including the gold our shallop brought, and what we got on sh.o.r.e where we lay, we brought away about twenty-four pounds weight of gold; the expense of which we could not value at above ten or eleven pounds in England, put it all together; and reckoning for all the provisions we got there, which supplied us for twenty days after we came away.

For while our shallop was making her visit thus to the royal family, &c., as is related, our men were not idle on sh.o.r.e, but, partly by trade with the natives, and by was.h.i.+ng the sands in the small rivers, we got such a quant.i.ty of gold as well satisfied us for the stay we made.

We had been about eighteen days here when our shallop returned, and we stayed a week more trafficking with the people; and I am persuaded, if we had been in the mind to have settled there and stayed till now, we should have been very welcome to the people. We saw neither horse or cow, mule, a.s.s, dog, or cat, or any of our European animals, excepting that our men shot some wild ducks and widgeons, exactly the same which we see in England, and very fat and good, but much easier to shoot than in England, having never been acquainted with the flash and noise of guns as ours have been; we also found a sort of partridges in the country not much unlike our own, and a great many of the whistling plover, the same with ours.

Though this month's stay was unexpected, yet we had no reason to think our time ill spent. However, we did not think we ought to lie here too long whatever we got; so we weighed and stood off to sea, steering still south-east, keeping the sh.o.r.e of this golden country in sight, till our men told us they found the land fall off to the south. Then we steered away more southerly for six or eight days, not losing sight of, land all the time, till by an observation we found we were in the lat.i.tude of 34 30' south of the line, our meridian distance from the Ladrones 22 30'

east, when a fresh gale of wind springing up at south and by east, obliged us to haul close for that evening. At night it blew such a storm that we were obliged to yield to the force of it, and go away afore it to the north, or north-by-west, till we came to the point of that land we pa.s.sed before. Here, the land tending to the west, we ran in under the lee of a steep sh.o.r.e, and came to an anchor in twenty-five fathoms water, being the same country we were in before. Here we rode very safe for five days, the wind continuing to blow very hard all the time from the south-east.

My men would fain have had me gone ash.o.r.e again and trafficked with the people for more gold; but I, who was still in quest of further discoveries, thought I knew enough of this place to tempt my friend the merchant, whose favourite design was that of making new discoveries, to another voyage there, and that was enough for me. So I declined going on sh.o.r.e again, except that we sent our boats for a recruit of fresh water; and our men, while they were filling it, shot a brace of deer, as they were feeding by the side of a swamp or moist ground, and also some wild ducks. Here we set up a great wooden cross, and wrote on it the names of our s.h.i.+ps and commanders, and the time that we came to an anchor there.

But we were obliged to a farther discovery of this country than we intended, by the following accident. We had unmoored early in the morning, and by eight o'clock were under sail; by ten we had doubled the point I mentioned above, and stood away south keeping the sh.o.r.e on board, at the distance of about two leagues west.

The next day, the officer who had been with the shallop, showed us the opening or mouth where he had put in, and where he had made his traffick with the king of the country, as said before.

We went on still for two days, and still we found the land extending itself south, till the third day in the morning, when we were a little surprised to find ourselves, as it were, embayed, being in the bottom of a deep gulf, and the land appearing right ahead, distance about three leagues; the coast having turned away to the east and by south, very high land and mountainous, and the tops of some of the hills covered with snow.

Our second mate and the boatswain, upon this discovery, were for coming about, and sent to me for orders to make signals to the other s.h.i.+p and our brigantine, who were both ahead, to do the like; but I, who was willing to acquaint myself as fully as I could with the coast of the country, which I made no question I should have occasion to come to again, said, No, no, I will see a little farther first. So I ran on, having an easy gale at north-east and good weather, till I came within about a league and a half of the sh.o.r.e, when I found, that in the very bite or nook of the bay, there was a great inlet of water, which either must be a pa.s.sage or strait between the land we had been on sh.o.r.e upon; which, in that case, must be a great island, or that it must be the mouth of some extraordinary great river.

This was a discovery too great to be omitted, so I ordered the brigantine to stand in with an easy sail, and see what account could be had of the place; accordingly they stood in, and we followed about a league, and then lay by, waiting their signals. I had particularly ordered them to keep two boats ahead to sound the depth all the way, and they did so; and how it happened we knew not, but on a sudden we heard the sloop fire two guns first, and then one gun; the first was a signal to us to bring to, and come no farther: the next was a signal of distress. We immediately tacked to stand off, but found a strong current setting directly into the bite, and there not being wind enough for us to stem the current, we let go our anchors in twenty fathoms water.

Immediately we manned out all the boats we had, great and small, to go and a.s.sist our brigantine, not knowing what distress she might be in; and they found that she had driven up, as we were like to have done, too far into the channel of a large river, the mouth of which, being very broad, had several shoals in it: and though she had dropped her anchor just upon notice, which the boats who were sounding gave her, yet she tailed aground upon a sand-bank, and stuck fast; our men made no doubt but she would be lost, and began to think of saving the provisions and ammunition out of her. The two long boats accordingly began to lighten her; and first they took in her guns, and let out all her casks of water: then they began to take in her great shot and the heavy goods.

But by this time they found their mistake, for the current, which I mentioned, was nothing but a strong tide of flood, which, the indraught of the river being considerable, ran up with a very great force, and in something less than an hour the brigantine floated again.

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

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