A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume X - By Robert Kerr


















































































































 -  The Spaniards, who are lords here,
make the Indians pay an annual capitation tax, to the value of ten
single - Page 102
A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume X - By Robert Kerr - Page 102 of 431 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

The Spaniards, Who Are Lords Here, Make The Indians Pay An Annual Capitation Tax, To The Value Of Ten Single Rials For Every One Above Twenty Years Of Age.

The natives of these islands are mostly naked, having their skins marked with figures so deeply impressed, [tatooed] that they never wear out.

Being discovered to be Dutch, but not till they had gained their ends, they sailed for the Straits of Manilla, all the coasts near which appeared waste, barren, and rocky. Here a sudden squall of wind from the S.E. carried away some of their masts and sails, being more furious than any they had hitherto experienced during the voyage. The 23d some of the people went ashore, where they eat palmitoes and drank water so greedily, that they were afterwards seized with the dysentery. The 24th they entered the straits, sailing past an island in the middle, and came in the evening past the island of Capul, seven miles within the straits, near which they found whirlpools, where the sea was of an unfathomable depth, so far as they could discover.

[Footnote 78: This surely is an error for 18 deg., Guam being in lat. 18 deg. 20' N. yet even here, the fact of meeting ice so far within the tropic is sufficiently singular. - E.]

They now crowded sail for Manilla, which is eighty miles from Capul, but wanted both a good wind to carry them, and good maps and a skilful pilot to direct them to that place. The 7th November they took a junk from China, laden with provisions for Manilla. The master of this junk told them there were then at Manilla two great ships, that come every year from New Spain, and a Dutch ship also which had been brought from Malacca. He said also that the town of Manilla was walled round, having two forts for protecting the ships, as there was a vast trade to that place from China, not less than 400 junks coming every year from Chincheo, with silk and other valuable commodities, between Easter and December. There were also two ships expected shortly from Japan, laden with iron and other metals, and provisions. The 15th they took two barks, laden with hens and hogs, being part of the tribute to the Spaniards, but became food to the Dutch, who gave them a few bolts of linen in return.

They passed the islands of Bankingle and Mindoro, right over against which is the island of Lou-bou. at the distance of two miles, and between both is another small island, beside which there is a safe passage for ships. The island of Luzon is larger than England and Scotland,[79] and has a numerous cluster of small islands round about it; yet is more beholden to trade for its riches, than to the goodness of its soil. While at anchor, in 15 deg. N. waiting for the ships said to be coming from Japan, Van Noort took one of them on the 1st December, being a vessel of fifty tons, which had been twenty-five days on her voyage. Her form was very strange, her forepart being like a chimney, and her furniture corresponding to her shape; as her sails were made of reeds, her anchors of wood, and her cables of straw.

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 102 of 431
Words from 52776 to 53330 of 224764


Previous 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400
 410 420 430 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online