The Sandy Beach Was Covered With People Who Came To
Pillage Her, And I Advised The Two Englishmen To Fire A Shot Now And
Then, Which Scared Them From Coming Nearer.
On coming to the town, Mr
Herniman was gone by land to our ship.
I offered money to the governor
to help to save the bark, when he said he would raise the country in two
or three days for that purpose; but I told him, if it came to blow she
would be lost in an hour. One of the Pulo-way people being there,
plainly told me that the governor only waited to have her bilged, that
he might have the planks to build a praw for himself.
[Footnote 312: This afterwards appears to have been the praw, formerly
mentioned, so named after being raised upon for carrying spice from
Pulo-way to Ceram; but this circumstance is left here unexplained,
possibly by the negligence of Purchas in abbreviating, by which he
leaves matters often obscure, sometimes unintelligible. - E.]
Finding no help could be had except from the ship, which was twelve
miles off by land, I hired guides to follow Mr Herniman, taking one of
my own men to bear me company. Half-way we came to a large river, which
it was necessary to swim across, and as my man could not swim, I sent
him back with my clothes, except a scarlet mandilion,[313] which one
of my guides engaged to carry over for me. He told me the river was full
of alligators, and if I saw any I must fight with him, or he would kill
me, and for that purpose my guide carried a knife in his mouth. Being
very weary, as I had not slept for two nights, I took the water before
the Indians, knowing they would be over before me. The river being very
broad, and the stream swift, occasioned by late great rains, the Indians
would have had me return when half way, to which I would not consent.
While swimming, the Indian who carried my mandilion touched my side with
a cane he carried in his hand; suspecting this had been an alligator, I
immediately dived, when the current got such hold of me that I was
carried out to sea, which threw me on the beach, and bruised me so on
the back and shoulder that I could not get a-land, till the Indian came
and gave me hold of one end of his cane, and pulled me out almost
drowned, as every surf drove me against the beach and washed me out
again. I praised God, and got on board, where my company was amazed to
see me. So that night I sent all that were able to crawl to save the
bark, which they did with much toil and small help of the natives; the
country not permitting any one to assist in saving her,[314] expecting
us to forsake her, that they might enjoy the spoil.
[Footnote 313: This word is explained by lexicographers as a loose
garment, a sleeveless jacket, or a soldiers coat. - E.]
[Footnote 314: It will be seen in other voyages, that the Malays, who
are widely diffused over the Indian archipelago, often live under a kind
of aristocratical republican government; even where they are subjected
to kings, partaking much of the feudal semblance. This observation
seemed necessary as an attempt to explain the meaning in the text of
the country not permitting, &c. - E.]
The Hopewell arrived next morning laden with spice, having been
a-missing, as mentioned before. She had been driven thirty leagues to
the east of Banda in a cruel storm, which gave them much ado to get
again to windward. I returned to Pulo-way in the pinnace, which I again
loaded without delay; and Mr Davis was taking in his loading in the
junk, and making all the dispatch he could with his poor lame crew, the
best part of my crew being long absent in the Diligence. We presently
unladed her, and I that night set sail in her myself,[315] to see if I
could come before Mr Davis came from thence, for I was told the junk was
very leaky, and I wished to have her accompanied by the Hopewell,
whatsoever might befall; as she had not a nail in her, but such as we
had driven, and as we had none of ourselves, we caused the simple native
smiths to make some iron pins, for they can make no nails,[316] and
bestowed these in the most needful places. While striving in the
Hopewell to reach Pulo-way, I was put past it in a mighty storm by the
current; for the more the wind, the current is always the stronger:
being put to leeward, and long before we could fetch the ship, and fain
to take shelter on the Ceram shore, or else be blown away. After many
trips, and still falling to leeward of the ship, I desired Mr Davis to
look out for some harbour for our ship, to which we might come over
direct from Pulo-way, without being obliged to ply to windward with our
craft when deeply laden, which was effected.
[Footnote 315: This paragraph is utterly inexplicable, at least with any
certainty, the abbreviation by Purchas having reduced it almost to
absolute nonsense. Conjectural amendment being inadmissible, the subject
is of so little moment as not to warrant any commentary. - E.]
[Footnote 316: Even to the present times, the boasted empire of China is
unable to make a head to a nail. All their smiths can do for a
substitute, is to bend the head of a small piece of iron like the letter
z, which flattened, but not welded, serves as a substitute for the
nail-head. Every chest of tea affords numerous examples of this clumsy
qui pro quo. - E.]
In my long stay from Pulo-way and Banda on this occasion, the islanders
had intelligence that our ship had weighed; and they were persuaded I
had gone away for fear of the Hollanders.
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