The 16th, I Landed Anthony Starkey,
With Orders To Travel Over Land For England, Carrying Letters To Give
Notice Of Our Good Success.[87]
[Footnote 87:
Mr Starkey and his Indian companion or guide were poisoned
on the way by two friars. - Purch.]
The 17th, having received all my goods from Surat, I set sail at night,
leaving these coasts. The 18th we passed the four galleons, which all
weighed and followed us for two or three hours; but we finally separated
without exchanging shots. The 19th, when abreast of Basseen, we stopt
three Malabar barks, which had nothing in them, and from one of which we
took a boat. The 20th at night we were abreast of Chaul, both town and
castle being full in sight. In the afternoon of the 21st we were abreast
of Dabul, where we boarded three junks belonging to Calicut, laden with
cocoanuts. The 22d in the morning, the Hosiander sent her boat aboard
two junks, and at noon we were at the rocks, which are ten or eleven
leagues N. of Goa, and six or eight miles from the main. Two or three of
these rocks are higher than the hull of a large ship. At six p.m. we
were abreast of Goa, which is easily known by the island at the month of
the river, on which island there is a castle. All the way from Damann to
Goa, the coast trends nearly N. and S. with a slight inclination to N.W.
and S.E. the whole being very fair and without danger, having fair
shoaling and sixteen or seventeen fathoms some three or four leagues off
shore, with good-anchorage every where.
The 24th we saw a fleet of sixty or eighty frigates or barks bound to
the southwards, being in lat. 13 deg. 00' 30". The high land by the sea now
left us, and the shore became very low, yet with fair shoaling of
sixteen and seventeen fathoms some three or four leagues off. In the
afternoon we went into a bay, where all the before-mentioned frigates
were at anchor, together with three or four gallies. We brought out a
ship with us, whence all the Portuguese fled in their boats, and as two
frigates lay close aboard of her, they had carried away every thing
valuable. Next day we examined our prize, and found nothing in her
except rice and coarse sugar, with which we amply supplied both ships;
and having taken out her masts, and what firing she could afford, we
scuttled and sunk her, taking out likewise all her people, being twenty
or twenty-five Moors. The 26th we met a boat belonging to the Maldives
laden with cocoa-nuts and bound for Cananor, into which I put all the
people of the prize, except eight, whom I kept to assist in labour, one
of them being a pilot for this coast.
The 27th we were a little past Calicut, abreast of Paniany, our lat. at
noon being 10 deg. 30' N. In the morning of the 28th, we saw Cochin, which
is known by the towers and castle, being in lat 9 deg. 40' N. or thereby.
All the way from Goa to Cochin we never had above twenty fathoms,
though, sometimes four or five leagues from the land; and when only
three, four, or six miles off, the depths were from ten to twelve
fathoms. From lat 11 deg. 30' N. to Cochin, the land was all very low by the
water side; but up the country it was very high all along. Four or five
leagues to the north of Cochin, there is a high land within the country,
somewhat like a table mountain, yet rounded on the top, having long high
mountains to the north of this hill. All this day, the 28th, we sailed
within six or eight miles of the land, in nine, ten, and twelve fathoms.
We anchored on the 30th in fifteen fathoms, about twenty-six leagues to
the north of Cape Comorin right over against a little village, whence
presently came off six or eight canoes with water and all kinds of
provisions; the name of this place is Beringar, which our mariners
usually call Bring-John, being in the kingdom of Travancor. The 1st
February, the king sent me a message, offering to load my ship with
pepper and cinnamon, if I would remain and trade with him. The 5th we
were abreast of Cape Comorin, where we had a fresh gale of wind at E. by
N. which split our fore-top-sail and main bonnet, yet a canoe with eight
men came off to us three or four leagues from the land. We were here
troubled with calms and great heat, and many of our men fell sick, of
which number I was one. On the 8th we were forced back to the roads of
Beringar. This place has good refreshments for ships, and the people
are very harmless, and not friends to the Portuguese. From this place to
Cape Comorin, all the inhabitants of the sea coast are Christians, and
have a Portuguese priest or friar residing among them. It is to be
remarked, that the whole coast, even from Damaun to Cape Comorin, is
free from danger, and there is fair shoaling all the way from Cochin to
that cape, having sixteen, eighteen, and twenty fathoms close to the
land, and no ground five or six leagues off, after you come within
twenty-five or thirty leagues of the Cape. The variation at Damaun was
16 deg. 30'; halfway to the Cape about 15 deg., and 14 deg. at the cape, the
latitude of which is 7 deg. 30' N. [exactly 7 deg. 57'].
In the afternoon we were fair off the Cape, and found much wind at
E.S.E. giving small hope of being able to go eastwards till the end of
the monsoon, which our Indians reported would be about the end of April.
So I bore up, and came to anchor, four or five leagues within the Cape,
in twenty fathoms close by two rocks.
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