On Their Arrival They Went Ashore,
And Were At First Kindly Received; But When They Went Ashore Again, The
Natives
Lay in ambush, and sallied out upon them as soon as they landed,
killed presently the purser and one mariner,
And took one of the
merchants prisoner; yet the rest had the good fortune to get off the
boat and came on board. The names of those who were slain, were Richard
Kenu, purser; I have forgotten the mariner's name, but the merchant, who
was taken prisoner, was Richard Wickham.
The Union put now to sea about the month of February, 1609, having the
wind at N.E. and north, which was directly contrary for their intended
voyage to Socotora. After having been long at sea, and made little or
nothing of their way, the men being very much troubled with the scurvy,
the captain thought proper to bear up for the north part of the island
of Madagascar, meaning to go into the Bay of Antongil; but they came
upon the western side of the island, where they proposed to endeavour
the recovery of their almost lost men, and to spend the adverse monsoon.
On this side of the island, they came into an exceedingly extensive bay,
which they afterwards understood was called by the natives,
Canquomorra,[300] the country round being very fertile and beautiful.
The first view of this place gave much pleasure to all their men, and
they soon had conference with the natives, who at the first proffered
great kindness, but afterwards treated them very ill.
[Footnote 300: In the margin Purchas gives Boamora as a synonimous name
of this bay. Vohemaro, or Boamora, is a province or district at the
northern end of Madagascar, in which there are several large bays, but
none having any name resembling that in the text. The Bay of Vohemaro is
on the east side of the island, in lat. 13 deg. 30' S. - E.]
As all the merchants had been sundry times on shore visiting the king,
who treated them kindly, and came aboard again as safe as if they had
been in England, the captain, attended by Mr Richard Reve, chief
merchant, Jeffrey Castel, and three others, adventured to go ashore to
the king. Samuel Bradshaw had been often before employed about business
with the king; but it pleased God at this time that the captain had
other business for him, and so made him remain on board, which was a
happy turn for him: For no sooner was the captain and his attendants on
shore, than they were betrayed and made prisoners by the natives; but by
the kind providence of the Almighty, the boats escaped, and came
presently off to the ship, informing us of all that had happened.
No sooner was this doleful news communicated, than we saw such
prodigious numbers of praws and large boats coming out of the river, as
were quite wonderful. The master gave immediate orders to the gunner to
get the ordnance in readiness, which was done with all speed. The vast
fleet of the infidels came rowing up to our ship, as if they would have
immediately boarded her; but by the diligence and skill of the gunner
and his mates, sinking some half dozen of the boats, they were soon
forced to retire like sheep chased by the wolf, faster than they had
come on. But before our ordnance made such slaughter among them, they
came up with so bold and determined a countenance, and were in such
numbers, that we verily thought they would have carried us, for the
fight continued at the least two hours, before the effect of our
ordnance made them retire, and then he was the happiest fellow that
could get fastest off, and we continued to send our shot after them as
far as our guns could reach.
We remained after this in the bay for fourteen days, being in hopes of
recovering our lost captain and men, in which time we lost seven more
men by a sudden disease, which daunted us more than the malice of the
infidels; those who died were among those who fought most lustily with
the cannon against the savages, yet in two days were they all thrown
overboard. These crosses coming upon us, and having no hopes to recover
our captain and the others, we thought it folly to remain any longer at
this place, and therefore we made haste away. Not being thoroughly
supplied with water, we thought good to stop a little time at another
place not far off; but before we could dispatch this business, the
savages made another attempt with a great multitude of boats, some of
them even large vessels, and so thick of men that it was wonderful; but
they liked their former reception so ill, that they did not care for
coming near a second time, and went all ashore, and placed themselves so
as to have a view of the ship. Perceiving their intended purpose, and
fearing some mischief in the night, we weighed, and stood in towards the
shore where the savages sat, and gave them a whole broadside as a
farewell, which fell thick among them, making visibly several lanes
through the crowd, on which they all ran out of sight as fast as
possible.
We then stood out to sea, leaving fourteen of our men behind us, seven
treacherously taken prisoners by the savages, and seven that died of
sickness. We then directed our course for Socotora; but by some
negligence, by not luffing up in time, the wind took us short, so that
we could not fetch that island, but fell over upon the coast of Arabia.
This was about the 4th June, and as the winter monsoon was come, we
durst not attempt going to Cambaya, neither could we find any place upon
that coast to winter in. Wherefore, after being in sight of the coast
four days, and several times in danger of getting on shore, we thought
it improper to waste time any longer, and determined to consult how we
might best promote the advantage of the voyage.
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