- E.]

[Footnote 216:

This Coho of Finch is evidently coffee. - E.]

At our first landing in Socotora, the people all fled from us for fear into the mountains, having formerly received injurious treatment from the Portuguese, who they said had carried off some of them forcibly. Their town which they left, is all built of stone covered with spars and palm branches, with wooden doors, and very ingenious wooden locks. Near the sea-side stands their church, enclosed by a wall like that of a church-yard, having within a couple of crosses and an altar, on which lay frankincense, with sweet wood and gums. When we first got speech of them, they pretended this was Abba del Curia, and not Socotora, which we afterwards found to be false. We walked up two or three miles into the country, not seeing a single pile of green grass, but many date trees. We saw one other very strange tree or plant, something more than the height of a man, very thick at the root, and tapering upwards almost to a point. The trunk was very smooth and without bark, and near the top some long branches without leaves, bearing reddish flowers, which change afterwards to a fruit not unlike the date in form and size, which is at first green. It contains many small whitish kernels, which as well as the branches are very bitter, and full of a resinous substance. We also saw another church having a cross on its top.[217]

[Footnote 217: Of this church and the whole island, see the voyage of Juan de Castro. For, in times past, the natives were Christians; which, as all others not of their faith, the Mahometans call cafrs. Being rude and brutish, they were the easier prey to the Arabs. - Purch.]

Sec. 3. Occurrences in India, respecting the English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Moguls.

The 28th August, 1608, Captain Hawkins with the merchants and some others landed at Surat. He was received into a coach and carried before the dawne, [or dewan.] We had very poor lodgings allotted to us, being only the porter's lodge of the custom-house; where next morning the customers came and tumbled about our trunks to our great displeasure, though we had only brought our necessaries on shore. We were invited to dinner by a merchant, who gave us good chear, but we had sour sauce to our banquet, for he was the person who had sustained almost the whole loss in the ship taken by Sir Edward Michelburne. The captain also of that ship dined with us. When that affair was told us, our captain said he had never heard of any such matter, and supposed it must have been done by a Hollander; but they affirmed it was to their certain knowledge an English ship, and deplored their hard fortunes, affirming there were thieves of all nations, yet they were not disposed to impute that fault to honest merchants. This liberal sentiment somewhat revived us; and we were invited the day after to supper by Mede Colee, the captain of that ship.

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