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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 434 of 815
Words from 117770 to 118041
of 221842
