At Acheen our general was denominated
Arancaya Pattee by the king, who showed him extraordinary favour,
sending for him to be present at all sports and pastimes; and all our
men were very kindly used by the people at this place, more so than any
strangers who had ever been there before.
Sec.3. Extracts from a Treatise, written by Mr Nicholas Whittington, who
was left as Factor in the Mogul Country by Captain Best, containing some
of his Travels and Adventures.
The sheep at the Cape of Good Hope are covered with hair instead of
wool. The beeves are large, but mostly lean. The natives of that
southern extremity of Africa are negroes, having woolly heads, flat
noses, and straight well-made bodies. The men have only one testicle,
the other being cut out when very young.[96] Their apparel consists of a
skin hung from their shoulders, reaching to their waist, and two small
rat-skins, one before and the other behind, and all the rest of their
body naked, except a kind of skin or leather-cap on their heads, and
soles tied to their feet, considerably longer and broader than the foot.
Their arms are very scanty, consisting of bows and arrows of very little
force, and lances or darts very artificially made, in the use of which
they are very expert, and even with them kill many fish. They are in use
to wear the guts of sheep and oxen hanging from their necks, smelling
most abominably, which they eat when hungry, and would scramble for our
garbage like so many dogs, devouring it quite raw and foul.
[Footnote 96: Captain Saris told me that some have two; but these are of
the baser sort and slaves, as he was told by one of these marked by this
note of gentility. - Purch.]
At Surat, although Sir Henry Middleton had taken their ships in the Red
Sea, they promised to deal fairly with us, considering that otherwise
they might burn their ships and give over all trade by sea, as Mill
Jaffed, one of the chief merchants of Surat, acknowledged to us. While
at Surat, every one of us that remained any time ashore was afflicted
with the flux, of which Mr Aldworth was ill for forty days. The custom
here is, that all strangers make presents on visiting any persons of
condition, and they give other presents in return.
Finding it impossible to have any trade at Surat, as the Portuguese
craft infested the mouth of the river, our general removed with the
ships to Swally roads, whence we might go and come by land without
danger, between that place and Surat.
