The 3d September We Arrived At
Socotora In Delisha Road; When We Understood The Thomas Had Been Here
Three Months Before, But Made No Stay, As They Could Not Agree For The
Aloes.
The 4th the merchant and linguist went ashore, and were kindly
treated by the king, but could not agree in the price, as he asked 40
dollars the quintal of 104 pounds, saying he had only 25 quintals, and
was much solicited for it by the Portuguese.
At length we agreed to give
30 dollars for one parcel, and 38 for another, and he delivered us 4067
pounds, which cost 1418-1/2 rials of eight, or dollars. On this occasion
we found the king false both in his weights and word, yet we treated him
well for the good of future voyages. We sailed for Bantam on the 8th
September.
[Footnote 421: Perhaps turmeric is here meant - E.]
The 22d, in lat. 8 deg. 12' N. by the stars, steering E. by S. with the
wind W.S.W. we fell at midnight into the strangest and most terrifying
shining water that any of us had ever seen, the water throwing so great
a glare about the ship that we could discern the letters in a book
perfectly, whereas it had been so dark only half an hour before, that we
could not see half the length of our ship any way. We doubted it had
been the breach of some sunken ground, and thought to have cast about;
but after sailing in it half an hour without any alteration, we held on
our course, and at length it proved to be cuttle-fish that made this
fearful show.
We got sight of the island of Ceylon on the 27th in the morning, bearing
N.E. by E. about 7 leagues off, being very high land up the country, but
very low near the sea. The 29th we saw Cape Comorin about 14 leagues
off, being very high land. This cape is in the latitude of 7 deg. 42' [more
accurately 7 deg. 57' N.] whereas our charts lay it down in 6 deg. 10'. During
our course we did not fall in with any of the islands laid down in our
charts, neither did we see any of the Maldive islands, which are said to
be so numerous.
The 15th October, when in lat. 4 deg. 49' S. we got sight of Sumatra, where
we found a strong current setting us from the land. Such as are bound
for the straits of Sunda, must keep the coast of Sumatra on board after
they get into lat. 1 deg. 30' S. as the current begins there. It is proper
to keep thirty leagues off the coast of that island and with a good
look-out, as there are many cayos[422] fifteen or twenty leagues out
at sea, but which we did not see, as we were kept farther out by the
current. The 24th we came to anchor in the road of Bantam, all our
people being in as good health, or better, than when we left England.
Contrary to our expectation, we here found the Hector, which had arrived
only the day before, in company with the James and several Dutch ships.
The arrival of all these ships, and the daily expectation of the
Trades-increase, Pepper-corn, Darling, and Thomas, occasioned a great
and sudden alteration in the prices of commodities.
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