At Night The King's Uncle Sent
Our Captain Four Fat Hogs.
The 28th, the king of another island near Booton came in his caracol,
accompanied by his wife, to view our ship, but could not be prevailed on
to come aboard.
Our ship being now laden with cloves bought of the
Javans, our captain bought some slaves from the king; and while we were
very busy this night, one of them stole out from the cabin and leapt
into the sea to swim ashore, so that we never heard of him more. Next
morning the captain sent Augustine Spalding, our Jurabossa, to inform
the king of the slave having made his escape, who presently gave him
another.
May 3d, we proceeded for Bantam, saluting the town of Booton at our
departure with three guns. The 3d, we had sight of the Straits of
Celebes, for which we made all sail, but could not get into them that
night. The 23d May, we anchored in the road of Bantam, where we did not
find a single Christian ship, and only four junks from China, having
taffaties, damasks, satins, and various other commodities. Having
finished all our business here, the captain and merchants took leave on
the 15th July, 1608, when we presently made sail from the road of
Bantam, bound home for our native England.
* * * * *
Note. - At this place Purchas observes, "To avoid tiring the readers,
the rest of this voyage homewards is omitted; instead of which we have
set down a table of the journal of this ship from the Lizard to Bantam,
as set forth by John Davis." - On this paragraph of Purchas, the editor
of Astley's Collection remarks, I. 335. c. "But we meet with no such
table in Purchas, neither is any reason assigned why it is omitted, so
that many may believe these copies of Purchas imperfect. This Davis was
probably the same who went with Sir Edward Michelburne, and who
published some nautical directions, as already observed."
It is singular that the editor of Astley's Collection, with Purchas his
Pilgrims before him, and perfectly aware of the Directions by John Davis
"For ready sailing to the East Indies, digested into a plain Method,
upon Experience of Five Voyages thither and Home again," should not have
discovered or conjectured, that the promised table is actually published
by Purchas in the first volume of his Pilgrims, p. 444 - 455. - E.
SECTION VIII.
Fourth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1608, by Captain
Alexander Sharpey.[270]
INTRODUCTION.
The relation of this fourth voyage fitted out by the English East India
Company, and of various circumstances arising out of it, as given by
Purchas, consists of four different narratives, to which the editor of
Astley's Collection adds a fifth, here adopted from him. The following
are the remarks in Astley, respecting this voyage and its several
narratives.
[Footnote 270: Purch. Pilgr. I. 228, Astley, I. 336.]
In this voyage there were employed two good ships; the Ascension
admiral, commanded by Captain Alexander Sharpey, general of the
adventure; and the Union vice-admiral, under the command of Captain
Richard Rowles, lieutenant-general. As these vessels separated at the
Cape of Good Hope, and the Ascension was cast away in the bay of
Cambaya, they may be considered as separate voyages, of which we have
distinct relations.
There are two accounts extant of the voyage of the Ascension; one
written by Captain Robert Coverte, and the other by Thomas Jones. There
was a third, written by Henry Moris at Bantam, from the mouth of William
Nichols, one of the sailors belonging to the Ascension; but as the
voyage part was the same in substance as that given by Jones, Purchas
omitted that part, and only inserted the journey of Nichols by land
from Surat to Masulipatam; which requires to be inserted, although his
remarks on the road to Masulipatam, and his voyage from thence to
Bantam, are comprised in very few words.
The relation of Captain Coverte is not inserted in the Pilgrims of
Purchas, who omitted it, because, as he tells us, it was already in
print. Its title runs thus: A true and almost incredible Report of an
Englishman, that, being cast away in the good Ship called the Ascension,
in Cambaya, the furthest Part of the East Indies, travelled by Land
through many unknown Kingdoms and great Cities. With a particular
Description of all these Kingdoms, Cities, and People. As also a
Relation of their Commodities and Manner of Traffic, &c. With the
Discovery of a great Empire, called the Great Mogul, a Prince not till
now known to the English Nation. By Captain Coverte. London, printed by
William Hall, for Thomas Archer and Richard Redmer, 1612.
The circumstance of this narrative having been before printed, is a
very insufficient reason for its omission, since Purchas inserted many
others which were before in print, and few tracts had a better title for
insertion, than this of Coverte. De Bry, however, knew its value, and
gave a translation of it with cuts, in his Ind. Orient. part xi. p.
11. but divided into chapters, the original being in one continued
narrative. It is true that Purchas has given an extract from it in his
Pilgrimage, book V. chap. vii. sect. 5. a work on general geography
entirely different from his Pilgrims, or Collection of Voyages and
Travels; but this is very imperfect, and only refers to his land
journey.
This voyage of Coverte contains sixty-eight pages in quarto, black
letter, besides the dedication and title, which occupy four pages more.
It is dedicated to Robert Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer of
England; but there is nothing in the dedication worth notice, except
that he says, after the wreck of the Ascension, and getting on shore
with seventy-four others, he was the only one among them who would
venture upon so desperate an undertaking as to travel home by land. He
likewise asserts that every thing he relates is true, protesting that he
speaks of nothing but what he had seen and suffered.
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