We Continued To Cruize Here Till The 6th Of
October, At Which Time We Met The Galeon Of The Captain Of Malacca, A
Ship Of 700 Tons, Coming From Goa.
After shooting at her many times, we
at length shot through her main-yard, on which she came to anchor and
surrendered.
We then commanded the captain, master, pilot, and purser to
come on board our ship; but only the captain came, accompanied by one
soldier, saying that the others would not come, unless sent for; but
having got to some distance from us in the evening, all the people of
the ship, to the number of about 300, men, women, and children, got on
shore in two great boats, and we saw no more of them.
When we came on board, we found she was armed with sixteen brass cannon.
She had 300 butts of wine, Canary, Nipar wine, which is made of the
palm-trees, and raisin-wine, which is very strong. She had likewise an
assortment of all kind of haberdashery wares; as hats, red caps, knit of
Spanish wool, knit worsted stockings, shoes, velvets, camblets, and
silks; abundance of surkets, (sweet-meats,) rice, Venice glasses,
papers full of false and counterfeit stones, brought from Venice by an
Italian, wherewith to deceive the rude Indians, abundance of playing
cards, two or three bales of French paper, and sundry other things. What
became of the treasure usually brought in this vessel, in ryals of
plate, we could not learn. After the mariners had pillaged this rich
ship in a disorderly manner, as they refused to unlade the excellent
wines into the Edward, Captain Lancaster abandoned the prize, letting
her drive at sea, after taking out of her the choicest of her goods.
Being afraid that we might be attacked by a greatly superior force from
Malacca, we now departed from the neighbourhood of the Sambilam islands,
and went to a bay in the kingdom of Junkseylon, between Malacca and
Pegu, in the lat. of 8 deg. N. We here sent on shore the soldier who had
been left on board our ship by the captain of the galeon, because he
could speak the Malay language, to deal with the people for pitch, of
which we were in much need, which he did very faithfully, procuring two
or three quintals, with promise of more, and several of the natives came
off along with him to our ship. We sent commodities to their king, to
barter for ambergris and the horns of the abath, the trade in both of
which articles is monopolized by the king of this country. This abath
is a beast having only one horn in her forehead, thought to be the
female unicorn, and the horn is highly prized by all the Moors in
those parts, as a most sovereign remedy against poison.[20] We got two
or three of these horns, and a reasonable quantity of ambergris. At
length the king was disposed to detain the Portuguese soldier and our
merchandise treacherously; but he told the king that we had gilt armour,
shirts of mail, and halberts, which things they prize greatly, and in
hope of procuring some of these he was allowed to return on board.[21]
[Footnote 20: This Abath, or Abadia, is the Rhinoceros Monoceros, or
One-horned Rhinoceros. The virtue of the horn, mentioned in the text, is
altogether imaginary. - E.]
[Footnote 21: At this place Hakluyt makes the following remark on the
margin: - "Some small quantity of these things might be carried out to
pleasure those kings."]
Leaving this coast, we returned in sight of Sumatra, and went thence to
the islands of Nicobar, which we found inhabited by Moors. After we came
to anchor, the people came daily on board in their canoes, bringing
fowls, cocoas, plantains, and other fruits; and within two days they
brought ryals of plate, which they gave us in exchange for calicut
cloth. They find these ryals by diving for them in the sea, having been
there lost in two Portuguese ships not long before, that were cast away
when bound for China. In their language the cocoa-nut is called
calambo; the plantain, pison; a hen, jam; a fish, iccan; and a
hog, babee. Departing from the Nicobar Islands on the 21st November,
we made sail for the island of Ceylon, where we arrived about the 3d
December, 1592, and anchored on its south side, in six fathoms water,
but lost our anchor, as the ground was foul and rocky. We then ran along
the south-west side of the island, and anchored at a place called Punta
del Galle, meaning to remain there in waiting for the Bengal fleet of
seven or eight ships, the Pegu fleet of two or three, and the ships from
Tanaserim, a great bay to the south of Martaban, in the kingdom of Siam,
which ships, according to different informations we had got, were
expected to come this way within fourteen days, with commodities for the
caraks, which usually depart from Cochin, on the homeward voyage, about
the middle of January.
The commodities of the ships which come from Bengal are, fine pavilions
for beds, wrought quilts, fine cotton cloth, pintados, (painted
chintz,) and other fine goods, together with rice; and they usually make
this voyage twice a year. The ships from Pegu bring the most precious
jewels, as rubies and diamonds; but their principal lading is rice and
certain cloths. Those from Tanaserim are chiefly freighted with rice and
Nipar wine, which is very strong, and as colourless as rock water, with
a somewhat whitish tinge, and very hot in taste, like aqua vitae.[22]
We came to anchor at Punta Galle, in foul ground, so that we lay all
that night a-drift, having only two anchors left, which were in the
hold, and had no stocks. Upon this our men took occasion to insist upon
going home, our captain at that time being very sick, and more likely to
die than recover.
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