He Added, That He Supposed The English Merchants Were All Asleep,
Or Too Rich, As They Did Not Come Near Them:
And, although their ports
were not so open as in other parts of the world, they yet know how
To
manage matters tolerably well; and that their governors, being generally
Europeans, who seldom remained above three years in the country, used
any means to improve their time, and could easily be gained so as to act
very obligingly. He said much more as to the blindness of the English,
in suffering the French pedlars to carry on, uninterruptedly, the most
considerable branch of traffic in the world. Before leaving me, he
desired me to carry his ship two or three leagues out to sea, and then
to turn her adrift, on purpose to deceive the governor and the king's
officers; and, if I would meet him at Hilo (Ilo,) about twenty-five
leagues to the north-westwards, he would purchase from me any coarse
goods I had to dispose of, which might be done there with all imaginable
secrecy. At this time also, the master of the small bark came off in a
balsa. This is an odd sort of an embarkation, consisting of two large
seal skins, separately blown up, like bladders, and made fast to pieces
of wood. On this he brought off two jars of brandy and forty dollars;
which, considering his mean appearance, was as much as I could expect.
One part of his cargo was valuable, being a considerable quantity of
excellent dried fish.
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