They Even Got Sight Of Her, And Chased
Her A Whole Day To No Purpose, As She Was Quite Clean, And The Nicholas
Was As Foul As Could Well Be.
They then stood for a small island, to the
north of Luconia, to wait for a fair wind to
Carry them to Bantam.
Instead of one island, they found several, where they procured
refreshments.[158] Learning from an Indian that in one of these islands
there were plenty of beeves, they sent a boat thither with thirty men,
who took what they wanted by force, though the island was well
inhabited.
[Footnote 158: The indications in the text are too vague to point out
the particular islands at which the Nicholas refreshed. Immediately
north from Luconia are the Babuvanes Isles, in lat 19 deg. 30', and still
farther, the Bashee Islands, in 20 deg. 30', both N.]
Leaving these islands about the middle of September, 1685, they were for
three days in great danger on the banks of Peragoa, in lat. 10 deg. N.
after which they came to a convenient bay in an island not far from the
northern coast of Borneo, where they set up a tent on shore and landed
every thing from the ship, fortifying themselves with ten small guns, in
case of being attacked by the natives, and hauled their ship on shore to
clean her bottom. At first the natives of the island avoided all
intercourse with the English; but one day the boat of the Nicholas came
up with a canoe in which was the queen of the country with her retinue,
who all leaped into the sea to get away from the English. They took up
these people with much difficulty, and entertained them with so much
kindness that they became good friends during two months which they
continued afterwards at this island. At this time the Spaniards were at
peace with the sovereign of Borneo, and carried on an advantageous trade
there from Manilla; of which circumstance Captain Eaton and his people
got intimation, and passed themselves for Spaniards during their
residence.
This great island is plentifully stored with provisions of all kinds,
and many rich commodities, as diamonds, pepper, camphor, &c. and several
kinds of fine woods, as specklewood and ebony. Cloves also were there to
be had at a reasonable price, being brought there from the neighbouring
islands by stealth. The animals of Borneo, as reported by Cowley, are
elephants, tigers, panthers, leopards, antelopes, and wild swine. The
king of Borneo being in league with the Spanish governor of the
Philippines, the English passed themselves here as Spaniards, and were
amply supplied by the natives during their stay with fish, oranges,
lemons, mangoes, plantains, and pine-apples.
The Nicholas sailed from this place in December, 1685, proceeding to a
chain of islands in lat. 4 deg. N. called the Naturah islands,[159] whence
they went to Timor, where the crew became exceedingly mutinous; on which
Captain Cowley and others resolved to quit the Nicholas, in order to
endeavour to get a passage home from Batavia. Accordingly, Cowley and
one Mr Hill, with eighteen more of the men, purchased a large boat, in
which they meant to have gone to Batavia, but, owing to contrary winds,
were obliged to put in at Cheribon, another factory belonging to the
Dutch in Java, where they found they had lost a day in their reckoning
during their voyage by the west. They here learnt the death of Charles
II. and that the Dutch had driven the English from Bantam, which was
then the second place of trade we possessed in India. The Dutch were
forming other schemes to the prejudice of our trade, wherefore Cowley,
with Hill and another of the Englishmen, resolved to make all the haste
they could to Batavia, to avoid being involved in the subsisting
disputes. They were kindly received by the governor of Batavia, who
promised them a passage to Holland.
[Footnote 159: The Natuna Islands, in long. 108 deg. E. from Greenwich. - E.]
Cowley and his remaining companions embarked at Batavia in a Dutch ship
in March, 1686. They arrived in Table bay at the Cape of Good Hope on
the 1st June, where they landed next day, and of which settlement, as it
then existed in 1686, Cowley gives the following account: -
"Cape Town does not contain above an hundred houses, which are all built
low, because exposed to violent gales of wind in the months of December,
January, and February. The castle is very strong, having about eighty
large cannon for its defence. There is also a very spacious garden,
maintained by the Dutch East India Company, planted with all kinds of
fruit-trees, and many excellent herbs, and laid out in numerous pleasant
walks. This garden is near a mile in length and a furlong wide, being
the greatest rarity at the Cape, and far exceeding the public garden at
Batavia. This country had abundance of very good sheep, but cattle and
fowls are rather scarce. We walked out of town to a village inhabited by
the Hodmandods, or Hottentots. Their houses are round, having the
fire-places in the middle, almost like the huts of the wild Irish, and
the people lay upon the ashes, having nothing under them but
sheep-skins. The men seemed all to be Monorchides, and the whole of
these people were so nasty that we could hardly endure the stench of
their bodies and habitations. Their women are singularly conformed,
having a natural skin apron, and are all so ignorant and brutish that
they do not hesitate to prostitute themselves publicly for the smallest
imaginable recompense, of which I was an eye witness. Their apparel is a
sheep-skin flung over their shoulders, with a leather cap on their
heads, as full of grease as it can hold. Their legs are wound about,
from the ankle to the knees, with the guts of beasts well greased.
"These people, called Hodmandods by the Dutch, are born white, but
they make themselves black by smearing their bodies all over with soot
and grease, so that by frequent repetition they become as black as
negroes.
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