He
Likewise Observed That There Was So Copious A Discharge Of Fresh
Water, That It Altered The Colour And The Taste Of The Sea.
He
likewise says that the burning island is extremely well peopled, and
also well cultivated.
He afterwards anchored on the coast of the
continent, and endeavoured to trade with the natives, who made him
pay very dear for hogs and cocoa-nuts, and likewise showed him some
ginger. It appears from Captain Tasman's account that he was now in
haste to return to Batavia, and did not give himself so much trouble
as at the beginning about discoveries, and to say the truth, there
was no great occasion, if, as I observed, his commission was no more
than to sail round the new discovered coasts, in order to lay them
down with greater certainty in the Dutch charts.
CHAPTER XVII: COMES TO THE ISLANDS OF JAMA AND MOA.
On the 27th, being in the latitude of 2 degrees 10 minutes south,
and in the longitude of 146 degrees 57 minutes, we fancied that we
had a sight of the island of Moa, but it proved to be that of Jama,
which lies a little to the east of Moa. We found here great plenty
of cocoa-nuts and other refreshments. The inhabitants were
absolutely black, and could easily repeat the words that they heard
others speak, which shows their own to be a very copious language.
It is, however, exceedingly difficult to pronounce, because they
make frequent use of the letter R, and sometimes to such a degree
that it occurs twice or thrice in the same word. The next day we
anchored on the coast of the island of Moa, where we likewise found
abundance of refreshments, and where we were obliged by bad weather
to stay till May 9th. We purchased there, by way of exchange, six
thousand cocoa-nuts, and a hundred bags of pysanghs or Indian figs.
When we first began to trade with these people, one of our seamen
was wounded by an arrow that one of the natives let fly, either
through malice or inadvertency. We were at that very juncture
endeavouring to bring our ships close to the shore, which so
terrified these islanders, that they brought of their own accord on
board us, the man who had shot the arrow and left him at our mercy.
We found them after this accident much more tractable than before in
every respect. Our sailors, therefore, pulled off the iron hoops
from some of the old water-casks, stuck them into wooden handles,
and filing them to an edge, sold these awkward knives to the
inhabitants for their fruits.
In all probability they had not forgot what happened to our people
on July 16th, 1616, in the days of William Schovten: these people,
it seems, treated him very ill; upon which James le Maire brought
his ship close to the shore, and fired a broadside through the
woods; the bullets, flying through the trees, struck the negroes
with such a panic, that they fled in an instant up into the country,
and durst not show their heads again till they had made full
satisfaction for what was past, and thereby secured their safety for
the time to come; and he traded with them afterwards very peaceably,
and with mutual satisfaction.
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