The 10th And 11th We Stood Close Along The Shore Of Sumatra, Where
We Espied Eight Praws Riding At Anchor Over Against A Place Called
Ticoo.
Being in great hope of finding our pinnace, the Tiger's Whelp,
among them, we stood on; and although she was not there, they put us in
good hope, by telling us there was an English ship at Priaman, not above
six leagues from this town of Ticoo.
Then standing out to sea to rejoin
our admiral, we got soon on board, and told the news to our general. We
had not sailed a league farther, when our ship grounded on a rock of
white coral: But, God be praised, having a strong breeze, we got her
soon off again without any hurt. On approaching the road of Priaman, we
had the great satisfaction to see our pinnace there, which we had lost
sight of so long before in the storm at the Cape of Good Hope. The
captain and master of the pinnace came to meet us in their skiff, half a
league from the road, and on coming aboard, our general welcomed them,
with a peal of cannon. After many discourses, recounting what had
happened to each during our separation, we came to anchor in the road of
Priaman in good ground and five fathoms water.
The 14th August, the general sent me on shore with a present to the
governor and others, to enquire the price of pepper, to buy fresh
provisions, and to know if our people might land in safety. But on
coming on shore, the governor durst not speak with us in private, on
account of wars then subsisting among them, owing to which they were
jealous of each other. The cause of these wars was this: The old King of
Acheen had two sons, the elder of whom he kept with himself intending
him as his successor, and made the younger King of Pedier; upon which
the elder made his father a prisoner, pretending that he was too old to
govern any longer, and afterwards made war on his younger brother.
Seeing that little good could be done here, and having refreshed with
fresh provisions, we weighed anchor on the 21st, and stood for Bantam.
That same day we took two praws, in which there was nothing but a little
rice. In one of these praws two of our men were sore wounded. Thinking
that all the people had leapt overboard, they boarded the praw; but two
of the natives had hidden themselves behind the sail, and as soon as
the two foremost of our men had entered, they came suddenly from their
concealment, wounded our men very severely, and then leapt into the
water, where they swam like water spaniels. Taking such things as we
liked from the praws, we left them without any farther harm.
We took a fishing boat on the 23d, and let her go again, as she had
nothing of value; only that one of her men was shot through the thigh,
as they resisted us at the first.
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