A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII
by
Robert Kerr

Part 5 out of 11



Pegu, he who has no knowledge or experience is sure to get as good and
as cheap articles as the most experienced in the trade. There are four
men at Pegu called _tareghe_ or jewel-brokers, who have all the jewels
or rubies in their hands; and when any person wants to make a purchase
he goes to one of these brokers, and tells him that he wants to lay out
so much money on rubies; for these brokers have such prodigious
quantities always on hand, that they know not what to do with them, and
therefore sell them at a very low price. Then the broker carries the
merchant along with him to one of their shops, where he may have what
jewels he wants according to the sum of money he is disposed to lay out.
According to the custom of the city, when the merchant has bargained for
a quantity of jewels, whatever may be the amount of their value, he is
allowed to carry them home to his house, where he may consider them for
two or three days; and if he have not himself sufficient knowledge or
experience in such things, he may always find other merchants who are
experienced, with whom he may confer and take counsel, as he is at
liberty to shew them to any person be pleases; and if he find that he
has not laid out his money to advantage, he may return them back to the
person from whom he had them without loss or deduction. It is reckoned
so great a shame to the _tareghe_ or jewel-broker to have his jewels
returned, that he would rather have a blow on the face than have it
believed that he had sold his jewels too dear and have them returned on
his hands; for which reason they are sure to give good bargains,
especially to those who have no experience, that they may not lose their
credit. When such merchants as are experienced in jewels purchase too
dear it is their own fault, and is not laid to the charge of the
brokers; yet it is good to have knowledge in jewels, as it may sometimes
enable one to procure them at a lower price. On the occasions of making
these bargains, as there are generally many other merchants present at
the bargain, the broker and the purchaser have their hands under a
cloth, and by certain signals, made by touching the fingers and nipping
the different joints, they know what is bidden, what is asked, and what
is settled, without the lookers-on knowing any thing of the matter,
although the bargain may be for a thousand or ten thousand ducats. This
is an admirable institution, as, if the lookers-on should understand
what is going on, it might occasion contention.


SECTION XIX.

_Voyages of the Author to different parts of India._


When I was at Pegu in August 1569, having got a considerable profit by
my endeavours, I was desirous to return to my own country by way of St
Thome, but in that case I should have been obliged to wait till next
March; I was therefore advised to go by way of Bengal, for which country
there was a ship ready to sail to the great harbour of Chittagong,
whence there go small ships to Cochin in sufficient time to arrive there
before the departure of the Portuguese ships for Lisbon, in which I was
determined to return to Europe. I went accordingly on board the Bengal
ship; but this happened to be the year of the _Tyffon_, which will
require some explanation. It is therefore to be understood that in India
they have, once every ten or twelve years, such prodigious storms and
tempests as are almost incredible, except to such as have seen them,
neither do they know with any certainty on what years they may be
expected, but unfortunate are they who happen to be at sea when this
tempest or _tyffon_ takes place, as few escape the dreadful danger. In
this year it was our evil fortune to be at sea in one of these terrible
storms; and well it was for us that our ship was newly _over-planked_,
and had no loading save victuals and ballast, with some gold and silver
for Bengal, as no other merchandise is carried to Bengal from Pegu. The
tyffon accordingly assailed us and lasted three days, carrying away our
sails, yards, and rudder; and as the ship laboured excessively, we
cut away our mast, yet she continued to labour more heavily than before,
so that the sea broke over her every moment, and almost filled her with
water. For the space of three days and three nights, sixty men who were
on board did nothing else than bale out the water continually, twenty at
one place, twenty in another, and twenty at a third place; yet during
all this storm so good was the hull of our ship that she took not in a
single drop of water at her sides or bottom, all coming in at the
hatches. Thus driving about at the mercy of the winds and waves, we were
during the darkness of the third night at about four o'clock after
sunset cast upon a shoal. When day appeared next morning we could see no
land on any side of us, so that we knew not where we were. It pleased
the divine goodness that a great wave of the sea came and floated us off
from the shoal into deep water, upon which we all felt as men reprieved
from immediate death, as the sea was calm and the water smooth. Casting
the lead we found twelve fathoms water, and bye and bye we had only six
fathoms, when we let go a small anchor which still hung at the stern,
all the others having been lost during the storm. Our anchor parted next
night, and our ship again grounded, when we shored her up the best we
could, to prevent her from over-setting at the side of ebb.

When it was day, we found our ship high and dry on a sand-bank, a full
mile from the sea. When the _tyffon_ entirely ceased, we discovered an
island not far from us, to which we walked on the sand, that we might
learn where we were. We found it inhabited, and in my opinion the most
fertile island I had ever seen. It is divided into two parts by a
channel or water-course, which is full at high tides. With much ado we
brought our ship into that channel; and when the people of the island
saw our ship, and that we were coming to land, they immediately erected
a bazar or market-place with shops right over-against the ship, to which
they brought every kind of provisions for our supply, and sold them at
wonderfully reasonable rates. I bought many salted kine as provision for
the ship at half a _larine_ each, being all excellent meat and very fat,
and four wild hogs ready dressed for a larine. The larine is worth about
twelve shillings and sixpence. Good fat hens were bought for a _byza_
each, which does not exceed a penny; and yet some of our people said
that we were imposed upon, as we ought to have got every thing for half
the money. We got excellent rice at an excessively low price, and indeed
every article of food was at this place in the most wonderful abundance.
The name of this island is _Sondiva_ or Sundeep, and belongs to the
kingdom of Bengal, being 120 miles from Chittagong, to which place we
were bound. The people are Moors or Mahometans, and the king or chief
was a very good kind of man for a Mahometan; for if he had been a tyrant
like others, he might have robbed us of all we had, as the Portuguese
captain at Chittagong was in arms against the native chief of that
place, and every day there were some persons slain. On receiving this
intelligence, we were in no small fear for our safety, keeping good
watch and ward every night, according to the custom of the sea; but the
governor of the town gave us assurance that we had nothing to fear, for
although the Portuguese had slain the governor or chief at Chittagong,
we were not to blame, and indeed he every day did us every service and
civility in his power, which we had no reason to expect, considering
that the people of Sundeep and those of Chittagong were subjects of the
same sovereign.

Departing from Sundeep we came to Chittagong, by which time a peace or
truce had been agreed upon between the Portuguese and the chiefs of the
city, under condition that the Portuguese captain should depart with his
ship without any lading. At this time there were 18 Portuguese ships of
different sizes at that port, and the captain being a gentleman and a
brave man, was contented to depart in this manner, to his material
injury, rather than hinder so many of his friends and countrymen who
were there, and likewise because, the season for going to Western India
was now past. During the night before his departure, every ship that was
in the port, and had any part of their lading on board, transshipped it
to this captain to help to lessen his loss and bear his charges, in
reward for his courteous behaviour on this occasion. At this time there
came a messenger from the king of _Rachim_ or Aracan to this Portuguese
captain, saying that his master had heard tidings of his great valour
and prowess, and requesting him to bring his ship to the port of Aracan
where he would be well received. The captain went thither accordingly,
and was exceedingly well satisfied with his reception.

The kingdom of Aracan is in the mid-way between Bengal and Pegu, and the
king of Pegu is continually devising means of reducing the king of
Aracan under subjection, which hitherto he has not been able to effect,
as he has no maritime force, whereas the king of Aracan can arm two
hundred galleys or foists; besides which he has the command of certain
sluices or flood-gates in his country, by which he can drown a great
part of his country when he thinks proper, when at any time the king of
Pegu endeavours to invade his dominions, by which be cuts off the way
by which alone the king of Pegu can have access.

From the great port of Chittagong they export for India great quantities
of rice, large assortments of cotton cloth of all sorts, with sugar,
corn, money, and other articles of merchandise. In consequence of the
war in Chittagong, the Portuguese ships were so long detained there,
that they were unable to arrive at Cochin at the usual time; for which
reason the fleet from Cochin was departed for Portugal before their
arrival. Being in one of the smaller ships, which was somewhat in
advance of our fleet from Chittagong, I came in sight of Cochin just as
the very last of the homeward-bound fleet was under sail. This gave me
much dissatisfaction, as there would be no opportunity of going to
Portugal for a whole year; wherefore, on my arrival at Cochin, I was
fully determined to go for Venice by way of Ormuz. At that time Goa was
besieged by the troops of _Dialcan_ [Adel-khan,] but the citizens made
light of this attack, as they believed it would not continue long. In
the prosecution of my design, I embarked at Cochin in a galley bound for
Goa; but on my arrival there the viceroy would not permit any Portuguese
ship to sail for Ormuz on account of the war then subsisting, so that I
was constrained to remain there.

Soon after my arrival at Goa I fell into a severe sickness, which held
me four months; and as my physic and diet in that time cost me 800
ducats, I was under the necessity to sell some part of my rubies, for
which I only got 500 ducats, though well worth 1000. When I began to
recover my health and strength, very little of my money remained, every
thing was so scarce and dear. Every chicken, and these not good, cost me
seven or eight livres, or from six shillings to six and eightpence, and
all other things in proportion; besides which the apothecaries, with
their medicines, were a heavy charge upon me. At the end of six months
the siege of Goa was raised, and as jewels rose materially in their
price, _I began to work_[168]; and as before I had only sold a small
quantity of inferior rubies to serve my necessities, I now determined to
sell all the jewels I had, and to make another voyage to Pegu; and as
opium was in great request at Pegu when I was there before, I went from
Goa to Cambay, where I laid out 2100 ducats in the purchase of 60
parcels of opium, the ducat being worth 4s. 2d. I likewise bought three
bales of cotton cloth, which cost me 800 ducats, that commodity selling
well in Pegu. When I had bought these things, I understood the viceroy
had issued orders that the custom on opium should be paid at Goa, after
which it might be carried anywhere else. I shipped therefore my three
bales of cotton cloth at Chaul, in a vessel bound for Cochin, and went
myself to Goa to pay the duty for my opium.

[Footnote 168: From this expression it may be inferred, that besides his
mercantile speculations in jewels, Cesar Frederick was a lapidary.--E.]

From Goa I went to Cochin, in a ship that was bound for Pegu, and
intended to winter at San Thome; but on my arrival at Cochin I learnt
that the ship with my three bales of cotton cloth was cast away, so that
I lost my 800 seraphins or ducats. On our voyage from Cochin to San
Thome, while endeavouring to weather the south point of Ceylon, which
lies far out to sea, the pilot was out in his reckoning, and laying-to
in the night, thinking that he had passed hard by the Cape of Ceylon;
when morning came we were far within the Cape, and fallen to leeward, by
which it became now impossible to weather the island, as the wind was
strong and contrary. Thus we lost our voyage for the season, and we were
constrained to go to Manaar to winter there, the ship having lost all
her masts, and being saved from entire wreck with great difficulty.
Besides the delay and disappointment to the passengers, this was a heavy
loss to the captain of the ship, as he was under the necessity of hiring
another vessel at San Thome at a heavy charge, to carry us and our goods
to Pegu. My companions and I, with all the rest of the merchants, hired
a bark at Manaar to carry us to San Thome, where I received intelligence
by way of Bengal, that opium was very scarce and dear in Pegu; and as
there was no other opium but mine then at San Thome, for the Pegu
market, all the merchants considered me as a very fortunate man, as I
would make great profit, which indeed I certainly should have done, if
my adverse fortune had not thwarted my well-grounded expectations, in
the following manner: A large ship from Cambaya, bound for _Assi_
[Acheen?] with a large quantity of opium, and to lade pepper in return,
being forced to lay-to in crossing the mouth of the bay of Bengal, was
obliged to go _roomer_[169] for 800 miles, by which means it went to
Pegu, and arrived there one day before me. Owing to this circumstance,
opium, which had been very dear in Pegu, fell to a very low price, the
quantity which had sold before for 50 _bizze_ having fallen to 2-1/2, so
large was the quantity brought by this ship. Owing to this unfortunate
circumstance, I was forced to remain two years in Pegu, otherwise I must
have given away my opium for much less than it cost me, and even at the
end of that time I only made 1000 ducats by what had cost me 2100 in
Cambaya.

[Footnote 169: The meaning of this ancient nautical term is here clearly
expressed, as drifting to leeward while laying-to.--E.]

After this I went from Pegu to the Indies[170] and Ormuz, with a
quantity of _lac_. From Ormuz I returned to Chaul, and thence to Cochin,
from which place I went again to Pegu. Once more I lost the opportunity
of becoming rich, as on this voyage I only took a small quantity of
opium, while I might have sold a large quantity to great advantage,
being afraid of meeting a similar disappointment with that which
happened to me before. Being now again resolved to return into my native
country, I went from Pegu to Cochin, where I wintered, and then sailed
for Ormuz.

[Footnote 170: Here, and in various other parts of these early voyages,
India and the Indies seem confined to the western coast of the
peninsula, as it is called, or the Malabar coast.--E.]


SECTION XX.

_Some Account of the Commodities of India_.


Before concluding this relation of my peregrinations, it seems proper
that I should give some account of the productions of India.

In all parts of India, both of the western and eastern regions, there is
pepper and ginger, and in some parts the greatest quantity of pepper is
found wild in the woods, where it grows without any care or cultivation,
except the trouble of gathering it when ripe. The tree on which the
pepper grows is not unlike our ivy, and runs in the same manner up to
the top of such trees as grow in its neighbourhood, for if it were not
to get hold of some tree it would lie flat on the ground and perish. Its
flower and berry in all things resemble the ivy, and its berries or
grains are the pepper, which are green when gathered, but by drying in
the sun they become black. Ginger requires cultivation, and its seeds
are sown on land previously tilled. The herb resembles that called
_panizzo_, and the root is the spice we call ginger. Cloves all come
from the Moluccas, where they grow in two small islands, Ternate and
Tidore, on a tree resembling the laurel. Nutmegs and mace come from the
island of Banda, where they grow together on one tree, which resembles
our walnut tree, but not so large. Long pepper grows in Bengal, Pegu,
and Java.

All the good sandal-wood comes from the island of Timor. Camphor, being
compounded, or having to undergo a preparation, comes all from China.
That which grows in canes[171] comes from Borneo, and I think none of
that kind is brought to Europe, as they consume large quantities of it
in India, and it is there very dear. Good aloes wood comes from
Cochin-China; and benjamin from the kingdoms of _Assi_, Acheen? and
Siam. Musk is brought from Tartary, where it is made, as I have been
told, in the following manner. There is in Tartary a beast as large and
fierce as a wolf, which they catch alive, and beat to death with small
staves, that his blood may spread through his whole body. This they then
cut in pieces, taking out all the bones, and having pounded the flesh
and blood very fine in a mortar, they dry it and put it into purses made
of the skin, and these purses with their contents are the cods of
musk[172].

[Footnote 171: This is an error, as camphor is a species of essential
oil, grossly sublimed at first from a tree of the laurel family, and
afterwards purified by farther processes.--E.]

[Footnote 172: The whole of this story is a gross fabrication imposed by
ignorance on credulity. The cods of musk are natural bags or
emunctories, found near the genitals on the males of an animal named
_Moschus Moschiferus_, or Thibet Musk. It is found through the whole of
Central Asia, except its most northern parts, but the best musk comes
from Thibet.--E.

"The Jewes doe counterfeit and take out the halfe of the goode muske,
beating it up with an equal quantity of the flesh of an asse, and put
this mixture in the bag or purse, which they sell for true
muske."--_Hackluyt_.]

I know not whereof amber is made[173], and there are divers opinions
respecting it; but this much is certain, that it is cast out from the
sea, and is found on the shores and banks left dry by the recess of the
tides. Rubies, sapphires, and spinells are got in Pegu. Diamonds come
from different places, and I know but three kinds of them. The kind
which is called _Chiappe_ comes from _Bezeneger_, Bijanagur? Those that
are naturally pointed come from the land of Delly and the island of
Java, but those of Java are heavier than the others. I could never learn
whence the precious stones called _Balassi_ are procured. Pearls are
fished for in different places, as has been already mentioned. The
substance called Spodium, which is found concreted in certain canes, is
procured in _Cambaza_, Cambaya? Of this concrete I found many pieces in
Pegu, when building myself a house there, as in that country they
construct their houses of canes woven together like mats or basket-work,
as formerly related.

[Footnote 173: Ambergris is probably meant in the text under the name of
Amber, as the former came formerly from India, while the latter is
principally found in the maritime parts of Prussia.--E.]

The Portuguese trade all the way from Chaul along the coast of India,
and to Melinda in Ethiopia, in the land of Cafraria, on which coast are
many good ports belonging to the Moors. To these the Portuguese carry a
very low-priced cotton cloth, and many _paternosters_, or beads made of
paultry glass, which are manufactured at Chaul; and from thence they
carry back to India many elephants teeth, slaves, called Kafrs or
Caffers, with some _amber_ and gold. On this coast the king of Portugal
has a castle at Mozambique, which is of as great importance as any of
his fortresses, in the Indies. The captain or governor of this castle
has certain privileged voyages assigned to him, where only his agents
may trade. In their dealings with the Kafrs along this coast, to which
they go in small vessels, their purchases and sales are singularly
conducted without any conversation or words on either side. While
sailing along the coast, the Portuguese stop in many places, and going
on shore they lay down a small quantity of their goods, which they
leave, going back to the ship. Then the Kafr merchant comes to look at
the goods, and having estimated them in his own way, he puts down as
much gold as he thinks the goods are worth, leaving both the gold and
the goods, and then withdraws. If on the return of the Portuguese trader
he thinks the quantity of gold sufficient, he taketh it away and goes
back to his ship, after which the Kafr takes away the goods, and the
transaction is finished. But if he find the gold still left, it
indicates that the Portuguese merchant is not contented with the
quantity, and if he thinks proper he adds a little more. The Portuguese
must not, however, be too strict with them, as they are apt to be
affronted and to give over traffic, being a peevish people. By means of
this trade, the Portuguese exchange their commodities for gold, which
they carry to the castle of Mozambique, standing in an island near the
Continental coast of Cafraria, on the coast of Ethiopia, 2800 miles
distant from India.


SECTION XXI.

_Return of the Author to Europe_.


To return to my voyage. On my arrival at Ormuz, I found there M. Francis
Berettin of Venice, and we freighted a bark in conjunction to carry us
to Bussora, for which we paid 70 ducats; but as other merchants went
along with us, they eased our freight. We arrived safely at Bussora,
where we tarried 40 days, to provide a caravan of boats to go up the
river to _Babylon_ [Bagdat], as it is very unsafe to go this voyage with
only two or three barks together, because they cannot proceed during the
night, and have to make fast to the sides of the river, when it is
necessary to be vigilant and well provided with weapons, both for
personal safety and the protection of the goods, as there are numerous
thieves who lie in wait to rob the merchants: Wherefore it is customary
and proper always to go in fleets of not less than 25 or 30 boats, for
mutual protection. In going up the river the voyage is generally 38 or
40 days, according as the wind happens to be favourable or otherwise,
but we took 50 days. We remained four months at Babylon, until the
caravan was ready to pass the desert to Aleppo. In this city six
European merchants of us consorted together to pass the desert, five of
whom were Venetians and one a Portuguese. The Venetians were _Messer
Florinasca_, and one of his kinsmen, _Messer Andrea de Polo, Messer
Francis Berettin_, and I. So we bought horses and mules for our own use,
which are very cheap there, insomuch that I bought a horse for myself
for eleven _akens_, and sold him afterwards in Aleppo for 30 ducats. We
bought likewise a tent, which was of very great convenience and comfort
to us, and we furnished ourselves with sufficient provisions, and beans
for the horses, to serve 40 days. We had also among us 33 camels laden
with merchandise, paying two ducats for every camels load, and,
according to the custom of the country, they furnish 11 camels for every
10 bargained and paid for. We likewise had with us three men to serve
us during the journey, _which are used to go for five Dd._[174] a man,
and are bound to serve for that sum all the way to Aleppo.

[Footnote 174: Such is the manner in which the hire of these servants is
expressed in Hakluyt. Perhaps meaning 500 pence; and as the Venetian
_sol_ is about a halfpenny, this will amount to about a guinea, but it
does not appear whether this is the sum for each person, or for all
three.--E.]

By these precautions we made the journey over the desert without any
trouble, as, whenever the camels stopt for rest, our tent was always the
first erected. The caravan makes but small journeys of about 20 miles
a-day, setting out every morning two hours before day, and stopping
about two hours after noon. We had good fortune on our journey as it
rained, so that we were never in want of water; yet we always carried
one camel load of water for our party for whatever might happen in the
desert, so that we were in no want of any thing whatever that this
country affords. Among other things we had fresh mutton every day, as we
had many shepherds along with us taking care of the sheep we had bought
at Babylon, each merchant having his own marked with a distinguishing
mark. We gave each shepherd a _medin_, which is twopence of our money,
for keeping and feeding our sheep by the way, and for killing them;
besides which the shepherds got the heads, skins, and entrails of all
the sheep for themselves. We six bought 20 sheep, and 7 of them remained
alive when we came to Aleppo. While on our journey through the desert,
we used to lend flesh to each other, so as never to carry any from
station to station, being repaid next day by those to whom we lent the
day before.

From Babylon to Aleppo is 40 days journey, of which 36 days are through
the desert or wilderness, in which neither trees, houses, nor
inhabitants are anywhere to be seen, being all an uniform extended plain
or dreary waste, with no object whatever to relieve the eye. On the
journey, the pilots or guides go always in front, followed by the
caravan in regular order. When the guides stop, all the caravan does the
same, and unloads the camels, as the guides know where wells are to be
found. I have said that the caravan takes 36 days to travel across the
wilderness; besides these, for the two first days after leaving Babylon
we go past inhabited villages, till such time as we cross the Euphrates;
and then we have two days journey through among inhabited villages
before reaching Aleppo. Along with each caravan there is a captain, who
dispenses justice to all men, and every night there is a guard
appointed to keep watch for the security of the whole. From Aleppo we
went to Tripoli, in Syria, where M. Florinasca, M. Andrea Polo, and I,
with a friar in company, hired a bark to carry us towards Jerusalem. We
accordingly sailed from Tripoli to Jaffa, from which place we travelled
in a day and a half to Jerusalem, leaving orders that the bark should
wait for our return. We remained 14 days at Jerusalem visiting the holy
places, whence we returned to Jaffa, and thence back to Tripoli, and
there we embarked in a ship belonging to Venice, called the Bajazzana;
and, by the aid of the divine goodness, we safely arrived in Venice on
the 5th of November 1581.

Should any one incline to travel into those parts of India to which I
went, let him not be astonished or deterred by the troubles,
entanglements, and long delays which I underwent, owing to my poverty.
On leaving Venice, I had 1200 ducats invested in merchandise; but while
at Tripoli in my way out I fell sick in the house of M. Regaly Oratio,
who sent away my goods with a small caravan to Aleppo. This caravan was
robbed, and all my goods lost, except four chests of glasses, which cost
me 200 ducats. Even of my glasses many were broken, as the thieves had
broken up the boxes in hopes of getting goods more suitable for their
purpose. Even with this small remaining stock I adventured to proceed
for the Indies, where, by exchange and re-exchange, with much patient
diligence, and with the blessing of God, I at length acquired a
respectable stock.

It may be proper to mention, for the sake of others who may follow my
example, by what means they may secure their goods and effects to their
heirs, in case of their death. In all the cities belonging to the
Portuguese in India, there is a house or establishment called the school
of the _Santa Misericordia comissaria_, the governors of which, on
payment of a certain fee, take a copy of your testament, which you ought
always to carry along with you when travelling in the Indies. There
always goes into the different countries of the Gentiles and Mahometans
a captain or consul, to administer justice to the Portuguese, and other
Christians connected with them, and this captain has authority to
recover the goods of all merchants who chance to die on these voyages.
Should any of these not have their wills along with them, or not have
them registered in one of the before-mentioned schools, these captains
are sure to consume their goods in such a way that little or nothing
will remain for their heirs. There are always also on such voyages some
merchants who are commissaries of the _Sancta Misericardia_, who take
charge of the goods of those who have registered their wills in that
office, and having sold them the money is remitted to the head office of
the Misericordia at Lisbon, whence intelligence is sent to any part of
Christendom whence the deceased may have come, so that on the heirs of
such persons going to Lisbon with satisfactory testimonials, they will
receive the full value of what was left by their relation. It is to be
noted, however, that when any merchant happens to die in the kingdom of
Pegu, one-third of all that belongs to him goes, by ancient law and
custom, to the king and his officers, but the other two-thirds are
honourably restored to those having authority to receive them. On this
account, I have known many rich men who dwelt in Pegu, who have desired
to go thence into their own country in their old age to die there, that
they might save the third of their property to their heirs, and these
have always been allowed freely to depart without trouble or
molestation.

In Pegu the fashion in dress is uniformly the same for the high and low,
the rich and the poor, the only difference being in the quality or
fineness, of the materials, which is cloth of cotton, of various
qualities. In the first place, they have an inner garment of white
cotton cloth which serves for a shirt, over which they gird another
garment of painted cotton cloth of fourteen _brasses_ or yards, which is
bound or tucked up between the legs. On their heads they wear a _tuck_
or turban of three yards long, bound round the head somewhat like a
mitre; but some, instead of this, have a kind of cap like a bee-hive,
which does not fall below the bottom of the ear. They are all
barefooted; but the nobles never walk a-foot, being carried by men on a
seat of some elegance, having a hat made of leaves to keep-off the rain
and sun; or else they ride on horseback, having their bare feet in the
stirrups. All women, of whatever degree, wear a shift or smock down to
the girdle, and from thence down to their feet a cloth of three yards
long, forming a kind of petticoat which is open before, and so strait
that at every step they shew their legs and more, so that in walking
they have to hide themselves as it were very imperfectly with their
hand. It is reported that this was contrived by one of the queens of
this country, as a means of winning the men from certain unnatural
practices to which they were unhappily addicted. The women go all
barefooted like the men, and have their arms loaded with hoops of gold
adorned with jewels, and their fingers all filled with precious rings.
They wear their long hair rolled up and fastened on the crown of their
heads, and a cloth thrown over their shoulders, by way of a cloak.

By way of concluding this long account of my peregrinations, I have this
to say, that those parts of the Indies in which I have been are very
good for a man who has little, and wishes by diligent industry to make
rich: _providing always that he conducts himself so as to preserve the
reputation of honesty_. Such, persons will never fail to receive
assistance to advance their fortunes. But, for those who are vicious,
dishonest, or indolent, they had better stay at home; for they shall
always remain poor, and die beggars.

_End of the Peregrinations of Cesar Frederick_.

* * * * *




CHAPTER VII.

EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO GUINEA, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WEST COAST OF
AFRICA.


INTRODUCTION.

On the present occasion we are principally guided in our selection by
chronological order, owing to which this _Chapter_ may have an anomalous
appearance, as containing the early voyages of the English to the
Western or Atlantic coast of Africa, while the title of the _Book_ to
which it belongs was confined to the Discoveries and Conquests of the
Portuguese, and other European Nations, in India; yet the arrangement
has been formed on what we have considered as sufficient grounds, more
especially as resembling the steps by which the Portuguese were led to
their grand discovery of the route by sea to India. Our collection
forms a periodical work, in the conduct of which it would be obviously
improper to tie ourselves too rigidly, in these introductory discourses,
to any absolute rules of minute arrangement, which might prevent us from
availing ourselves of such valuable sources of information as may occur
in the course of our researches. We have derived the principal materials
of this and the next succeeding chapter, from Hakluyt's Collection of
the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries of the English Nation, using
the late edition published at London in 1810, and availing ourselves of
the previous labours of the Editor of Astleys Collection, published in
1745. Mr John Green, the intelligent editor of that former collection,
has combined the substance of the present and succeeding chapters of our
work in the second book of his first volume, under the title of The
First Voyages of the English to Guinea and the East Indies; and as our
present views are almost solely confined to the period which he
embraces, we have thought it right to insert his introduction to that
book, as containing a clear historical view of the subject[175]. It is
proper to mention, however, that, while we follow his steps, we have
uniformly had recourse to the originals from which he drew his
materials; and, for reasons formerly assigned, wherever any difference
may occur between our collection and that of Astley, we shall subjoin
our remarks and references, at the place or places to which they
belong.--E.

[Footnote 175: Astley's Collection, Vol. I. p. 138, 140.]

"Although the Portuguese were the first who set on foot discoveries by
sea, and carried them on for many years before any other European nation
attempted to follow their example; yet, as soon as these voyages
appeared to be attended with commercial gain, the English were ready to
put in for a share. The Portuguese discovered Guinea about the year
1471; and only ten years afterwards we find the English making
preparations to visit the newly discovered coast[176]. In the year 1481,
John Tintam and William Fabian were busy in fitting out a fleet for the
coast of Guinea; but whether on their own account in whole or in part,
or solely for the Duke of _Medina Sidonia_ in Spain, by whose command
they are said to have done this, cannot be now determined. It is
possible, as the Spaniards were excluded by the Papal grant in favour
of the Portuguese from trading to the East Indies, that they might
endeavour to elude this authority by employing Englishmen in that
navigation. However this may have been, _Joam_ or John II. king of
Portugal, sent two persons on an embassy to Edward king of England, to
renew the ancient league of friendship between the crowns, and to move
him to hinder that fleet from putting to sea. The Portuguese ambassadors
had orders to acquaint the king of England with the title which the king
of Portugal derived from the Pope, to the exclusive sovereignty and
navigation of Guinea, and to demand that Edward should prohibit his
subjects from sending any ships to that country. This was accordingly
done, and the purposes of that intended voyage were frustrated. This is
an authentic testimony of the early attempts of the English, which is
related at length by _Garcia de Resende_, in the life of Joam II. Ch.
33[177]. To this, or some similar circumstance, it may have been owing
that the English desisted so long from sailing to the southwards, and
turned their endeavours to the discovery of a passage to India by some
other way.

[Footnote 176: The French pretend to have traded with Guinea from 1364
till 1413, being 107 years before it was discovered by the
Portuguese.--Astl. I. 138, a.]

[Footnote 177: Cited by Hakluyt, Vol. II. Part 2. p. 2]

"It appears by a memorandum or letter of _Nicholas Thorn_, senior, a
considerable merchant in Bristol, of which Hakluyt gives the
contents[178], that in 1526, and from circumstances for a long time
previous, certain English merchants, among whom were _Nicholas Thorn_
and _Thomas Spacheford_, had frequently traded to the Canary islands. In
that letter or memorandum, notice was given to _Thomas Midnal_ his
factor and _William Ballard_ his servant; residing in St Lucar in
Andalusia, that the Christopher of Cadiz bound for the West Indies, had
taken on board several packs of cloth of different fineness and colours,
together with packthread, soap, and other goods, to be landed at Santa
Cruz in Teneriffe. They are directed to sell these goods, and to send
back returns in Orchil[179], sugar, and kid skins.

[Footnote 178: Id. ib. p. 3.]

[Footnote 179: A species of moss growing on high rocks, much used in
these days in dying.--Astl. I. 138. d.]

"At length, about the middle of the _sixteenth_ century, the English
spirit of trade, meeting with favourable circumstances, began to exert
itself, and to extend its adventures to the south as well as the north.
About the year 1551, Captain Thomas Windham sailed in the ship Lion for
Morocco, whither he carried two Moors of the blood-royal. This was the
first voyage to the western coast of Africa of which we have any
account, and these are all the particulars to be found respecting it;
except that one Thomas Alday, a servant to Sebastian Cabot, in a letter
inserted in Hakluyt's Collection[180], represents himself as the first
promoter of this trade to Barbary, and observes that he would have
performed this voyage himself, with the sole command of the ship and
goods, had it not been that Sir John Lutterel, John Fletcher, Henry
Ostrich, and others with whom he was connected, died of the sweating
sickness, and he himself, after escaping that disease, was seized by a
violent fever, so that Thomas Windham sailed from Portsmouth before he
recovered, by which he lost eighty pounds.

[Footnote 180: Vol. II. p. 7.]

"In the next year, 1552, Windham made a second voyage to _Zafin_ or
_Saffi_ and Santa Cruz without the straits, which gave so much offence
to the Portuguese, that they threatened to treat the English as enemies
if found in these seas. Yet in the year following, the same Thomas
Windham, with a Portuguese named Antonio Yanez Pinteado, who appears to
have been the chief promoter of the attempt, undertook a voyage to
Guinea, with three ships having an hundred and forty men; and having
traded for some time on the coast for gold, they went to Benin to load
pepper: But both the commanders and most of the men dying of sickness,
occasioned by the climate, the rest returned to Plymouth with one ship
only, having burnt the other two for want of hands, and brought back no
great riches. In 1554, Mr John Lok made a voyage with three ships to the
coast of Guinea, whence he brought back a considerable quantity of gold
and ivory. These voyages appear to have been succeeded by others almost
every year. At length, upon application to Queen Elizabeth, two patents
were granted to certain merchants. One in 1585, for the Barbary or
Morocco trade, and the other in 1588, for the trade to Guinea between
the rivers Senegal and Gambia[181]. In 1592, a third patent was granted
to other persons, taking in the coast from the river _Nonnia_ to the
south of Sierra Leona, for the space of 100 leagues, which patents gave
rise to the African company. In all their voyages to the coast of Africa
they had disputes with the Portuguese. Several of these voyages have
been preserved by Hakluyt, and will be found inserted in this chapter,
as forerunners to the English voyages to the East Indies.

[Footnote 181: The former for twelve years, was granted to the Earls of
Leicester and Warwick, and certain merchants of London, to the number of
32 in all. The other for ten years to eight persons of Exeter, London,
and other places. By this latter patent, it appears that this trade was
advised by the Portuguese residing in London, and one voyage had been
made before the grant. See Hakluyt, II. part 2. pp. 114 and 123.--Astl.
I. 139. a.]

"The views of the English extending with experience and success, and
finding the long attempted north-east and north-west passages to India
impracticable, they at length determined to proceed for that distant
region round Africa by the same course with the Portuguese. In 1591,
that voyage was undertaken for the first time by three large ships under
the command of Captain Raymond; and in 1596, another fleet of three
ships set out on the same design under Captain Wood, but with bad
success. In the mean time several navigators were employed to discover
this course to the East Indies. At length in 1600, a charter was
obtained from Queen Elizabeth by a body of merchants, to the number of
216, having George Earl of Cumberland at their head, under the name of
the _Company of Merchant Adventurers_, for carrying on a trade to the
East Indies. From this period ships were sent there regularly every two
or three years; and thus were laid the foundations of the English East
India commerce, which has subsisted ever since under exclusive chartered
companies.

"Long before the English sailed to India in their own ships, several
English merchants and others had gone to India from time to time in the
Portuguese ships, and some overland; from a desire to pry into and to
participate in the advantages of that gainful commerce. Of those who
went by land, several letters and relations remain which will be found
in the sequel: But of all who performed the voyage as passengers in the
Portuguese vessels, we know of only one who left any account of his
adventures, or at least whose account has been published; viz. Thomas
Stephens. To this may be added the account by _Captain Davis_ of a
voyage in the Dutch ship called the _Middleburgh Merchants_ in 1598, of
which he served as pilot, for the purpose of making himself acquainted
with the maritime route to India, and the posture of the Portuguese
affairs in that country. Both of these journals contain very useful
remarks for the time in which they were made, and both will be found in
our collection.

"Although the first voyages of the English to the East Indies are full
of variety, yet the reader is not to expect such a continued series of
new discoveries, great actions, battles, sieges, and conquests, as are
to be met with in the history of the Portuguese expeditions: For it must
be considered that we made few or no discoveries, as these had been
already made before; that our voyages were for the most part strictly
commercial; that our settlements were generally made by the consent of
the natives; that we made no conquests; and that the undertakings were
set on foot and carried on entirely by our merchants[182]. On this
account it is, probably, that we have no regular history extant of the
English Voyages, Discoveries, and Transactions in the East Indies, as we
find there are many such of the Portuguese and Spanish. It may be
presumed, however, that as the East India Company has kept regular
journals of their affairs, and is furnished with letters and other
memorials from their agents, that a satisfactory account of all the
English Transactions in India might be collected, if the Company thought
proper to give orders for its execution[183]."--_Astley_.

[Footnote 182: These observations are to be considered as applying
entirely to the earlier connection of the English with India. In more
modern days there has been a sufficiently copious series of great
actions, battles, sieges, and conquests; but these belong to a different
and more modern period than that now under review, and are more
connected with the province of political military and naval history,
than with a Collection of Voyages and Travels. Yet these likewise will
require to be noticed in an after division of this work.--E.]

[Footnote 183: A commencement towards this great desideratum in English
History has been lately made, by the publication of the early History of
the English East India Company, by John Bruce, Esquire, Historiographer
to the Company.--E.]


SECTION I.

_Second Voyage of the English to Barbary, in the year 1552, by Captain
Thomas Windham_[184].


Of the first voyage to Barbary without the straits, made by the same
Captain Thomas Wyndham, the only remaining record is in a letter from
James Aldaie to Michael Locke, already mentioned in the Introduction to
this Chapter, and preserved in Hakluyt's Collection, II. 462. According
to Hakluyt, the account of this second voyage was written by James
Thomas, then page to Captain Thomas Windham, chief captain of the
voyage, which was set forth by Sir John Yorke, Sir William Gerard, Sir
Thomas Wroth, Messieurs Frances Lambert, Cole, and others.--E.

[Footnote 184: Hakluyt, II. 463. Astley, I. 140.]

* * * * *

The ships employed on this voyage were three, of which two belonged to
the River Thames. These were the Lion of London of about 150 tons, of
which Thomas Windham was captain and part owner; and the Buttolfe of
about 80 tons. The third was a Portuguese caravel of about 60 tons,
bought from some Portuguese at Newport in Wales, and freighted for the
voyage. The number of men in the three ships was 120. The master of the
Lion was John Kerry of Minehead in Somersetshire, and his mate was David
Landman. Thomas Windham, the chief captain of the Adventure, was a
gentleman, born in the county of Norfolk, but resident at Marshfield
Park in Somersetshire.

The fleet set sail from King-road near Bristol about the beginning of
May 1552, being on a Monday morning; and on the evening of the Monday
fortnight we came to anchor in the port of Zafia or Asafi on the coast
of Barbary, in 32 deg. N. where we landed part of our cargo to be conveyed
by land to the city of Marocco. Having refreshed at this port, we went
thence to the port of Santa-Cruz, where we landed the rest of our goods,
being a considerable quantity of linen and woollen cloth, with coral,
amber, jet, and divers other goods esteemed by the Moors. We found a
French ship in the road of Santa-Cruz, the people on board which being
uncertain whether France and England were then at peace or engaged in
war, drew her as near as possible to the walls of the town, from which
they demanded assistance for their defence in case of need; and on
seeing our vessels draw near, they shot off a piece of ordnance from the
walls, the ball passing through between the main and fore masts of the
Lion. We came immediately to anchor, and presently a pinnace came off to
inquire who we were; and on learning that we had been there the year
before, and had the licence of their king for trade, they were fully
satisfied, giving us leave to bring our goods peaceably on shore, where
the viceroy, Sibill Manache came shortly to visit us, and treated us
with all civility. Owing to various delays, we were nearly three months
at this place before we could get our lading, which consisted of sugar,
dates, almonds, and molasses, or the syrup of sugar. Although we were at
this place for so long a time during the heat of summer, yet none of our
company perished of sickness.

When our ships were all loaded, we drew out to sea in waiting for a
western wind to carry us to England. But while at sea a great leak broke
out in the Lion, on which we bore away for the island of Lancerota,
between which and Fuertaventura we came to anchor in a safe road-stead,
whence we landed 70 chests of sugar upon the island of Lancerota, with a
dozen or sixteen of our men. Conceiving that we had come wrongfully by
the caraval, the inhabitants came by surprise upon us and took all who
were on shore prisoners, among whom I was one, and destroyed our sugars.
On this transaction being perceived from our ships, they sent on shore
three boats filled with armed men to our rescue; and our people landing,
put the Spaniards to flight, of whom they slew eighteen, and made the
governor of the island prisoner, who was an old gentleman about 70 years
of age. Our party continued to chase the Spaniards so far for our
rescue, that they exhausted all their powder and arrows, on which the
Spaniards rallied and returned upon them, and slew six of our men in the
retreat. After this our people and the Spaniards came to a parley, in
which it was agreed that we the prisoners should be restored in exchange
for the old governor, who gave us a certificate under his hand of the
damages we had sustained by the spoil of our sugars, that we might be
compensated upon our return to England, by the merchants belonging to
the king of Spain.

Having found and repaired the leak, and all our people being returned on
board, we made sail; and while passing one side of the island, the
Cacafuego and other ships of the Portuguese navy entered by the other
side to the same roadstead whence we had just departed, and shot off
their ordnance in our hearing. It is proper to mention that the
Portuguese were greatly offended at this our new trade to Barbary, and
both this year and the former, they gave out through their merchants in
England, with great threats and menaces, that they would treat us as
mortal enemies, if they found us in these seas: But by the good
providence of God we escaped their hands. We were seven or eight weeks
in making our passage from Lancerota for the coast of England, where the
first port we made was Plymouth; and from thence sailed for the Thames,
where we landed our merchandise at London about the end of October 1552.


SECTION II.

_A Voyage from England to Guinea and Benin in 1553, by Captain Windham
and Antonio Anes Pinteado_[185].


PREVIOUS REMARKS.

This and the following voyage to Africa were first published by Richard
Eden in a small collection, which was afterwards reprinted in 4to, by
Richard Willes in 1577[186]. Hakluyt has inserted both these in his
Collection, with Eden's preamble as if it were his own; only that he
ascribes the account of Africa to the right owner[187].

[Footnote 185: Astley, I. 141. Hakluyt, II. 464.--The editor of Astley's
Collection says _Thomas_ Windham; but we have no evidence in Hakluyt,
copying from Eden, that such was his Christian name, or that he was the
same person who had gone twice before to the coast of Morocco. In
Hakluyt, the Voyage is said to have been at the charge of certain
merchant adventurers of London.--E.]

[Footnote 186: Hist. of Travayle in the West and East Indies, &c. by
Eden and Willes, 4to, p. 336.--Astl. I. 141. b.]

[Footnote 187: So far the editor of Astley's Collection: The remainder
of these previous remarks contains the preamble by Eden, as reprinted by
Hakluyt, II. 464.--E.]

"I was desired by certain friends to make some mention of this voyage,
that some memory of it might remain to posterity, being the first
enterprised by the English to parts that may become of great consequence
to our merchants, if not hindered by the ambition of such as conceive
themselves lords of half the world, by having conquered some forty or
fifty miles here and there, erecting certain fortresses, envying that
others should enjoy the commodities which they themselves cannot wholly
possess. And, although such as have been at charges in the discovering
and conquering of such lands, ought in good reason to have certain
privileges, pre-eminences and tributes for the same; yet, under
correction, it may seem somewhat rigorous and unreasonable, or rather
contrary to the charity that ought to subsist among Christians, that
such as invade the dominions of others, should not allow other friendly
nations to trade in places nearer and seldom frequented by themselves,
by which their own trade is not hindered in such other places as they
have chosen for themselves as staples or marts of their trade[188]. But
as I do not propose either to accuse or defend, I shall cease to speak
any farther on this subject, and proceed to the account of the first
voyage to those parts, as briefly and faithfully as I was advertised of
the same, by information of such credible persons as made diligent
inquiry respecting it, omitting many minute particulars, not greatly
necessary to be known; but which, with the exact course of the
navigation, shall be more fully related in the second voyage. If some
may think that certain persons have been rather sharply reflected on, I
have this to say, that favour and friendship ought always to give way
before truth, that honest men may receive the praise of well-doing, and
bad men be justly reproved; that the good may be encouraged to proceed
in honest enterprizes, and the bad deterred from following evil example.

[Footnote 188: Richard Eden here obviously endeavours to combat the
monopoly of trade to the Portuguese discoveries, arrogated by that
nation; although the entire colonial system of all the European nations
has always been conducted upon the same exclusive principles, down to
the present day.--E.]

That these voyages may be the better understood, I have thought proper
to premise a brief description of Africa, on the west coast of which
great division of the world, the coast of Guinea begins at Cape Verd in
about lat. 12 deg. N. and about two degrees in longitude _from the measuring
line_[189]; whence running from north to south, and in some places by
east, within 5, 4, and 3-1/2 degrees into the equinoctial, and so forth
in manner directly east and north, for the space of about 36 degrees in
longitude from west to east, as shall more plainly appear in the second
voyage[190].

[Footnote 189: Evidently meaning the first meridian passing through the
island of Ferro, one of the Canaries, from which Cape Verd is about 2 deg.
W.--E.]

[Footnote 190: These geographical indications respecting the coast of
Guinea, are extremely obscure, so as to be almost unintelligible.--E.]

* * * * *

_Brief Description of Africa, by Richard Eden_[191].

In the lesser Africa are the kingdoms of Tunis and Constantina, which
latter is at this day subject to Tunis, and also the regions of Bugia,
Tripoli, and Ezzah. This part of Africa is very barren, by reason of the
great deserts of Numidia and Barca. The principal ports of the kingdom
of Tunis are, Goletta, Bizerta, Potofarnia, Bona, and Stora. Tunis and
Constantina are the chief cities, with several others. To this kingdom
belong the following islands, Zerbi, Lampadola, Pantalarea, Limoso,
Beit, Gamelaro, and Malta; in which the grand-master of the knights of
Rhodes now resides. To the south of this kingdom are the great deserts
of Lybia. All the nations of this lesser Africa are of the sect of
Mahomet, a rustical people living scattered in villages.

[Footnote 191: This brief description of Africa is preserved, rather for
the purpose of shewing what were the ideas of the English on this
subject towards the end of the sixteenth century, than for any
excellence.--E.]

The best of this part of Africa is Mauritania, now called Barbary, on
the coast of the Mediterranean. Mauritania is divided into two parts,
Tingitana and Cesariensis. Mauritania Tingitana is now called the
kingdoms of Fez and Marocco, of which the capitals bear the same names.
Mauritania, Cesariensis is now called the kingdom of Tremessan, the
capital of which is named Tremessan or Telensin. This region is full of
deserts, and reaches to the Mediterranean, to the city of Oran with the
port of Mersalquiber. The kingdom of Fez reaches to the ocean, from the
west to the city of Arzilla, and Sala or Salee is the port of this
kingdom. The kingdom of Marocco also extends to the ocean, on which it
has the cities of Azamor and Azafi. Near to Fez and Marocco in the ocean
are the Canary islands, anciently called the Fortunate islands.

To the south is the kingdom of Guinea, with Senega, Jalofo, Gambra, and
many other regions of _the black Moors_, called Ethiopians or Negroes,
all of which regions are watered by the river Negro, called anciently
the Niger[192]. In these regions there are no cities, but only villages
of low cottages made of boughs of trees, plastered over with chalk and
covered with straw; and in these regions there are great deserts.

[Footnote 192: In the text the Senegal river is to be understood by the
Negro, or river of the Blacks. But the ancient Niger is now well known
to run eastwards in the interior of Nigritia, having no connection
whatever with the Senegal or with the sea.--E.]

The kingdom of Marocco includes seven subordinate kingdoms, named Hea,
Sus, Guzula, Marocco proper, Duccula, Hazchora, and Tedle. Fez has an
equal number, as Fez, Temesne, Azgar, Elabath, Errif, Garet, and Elcair.
Tremessan has only three, being Tremessan, Tenez, and Elgazair; all the
inhabitants of all these regions being Mahometans. But all the regions
of Guinea are peopled by Gentiles and idolaters, having no religion or
knowledge of God except from the law of nature.

Africa, one of the three great divisions of the world known to the
ancients, is separated from Asia on the east by the river Nile, and on
the west from Europe by the Pillars of Hercules or the Straits of
Gibraltar. The entire northern coast along the Mediterranean is now
called Barbary, and is inhabited by the Moors. The inner part is called
Lybia and Ethiopia. Lesser Africa, in which stood the noble city of
Carthage, has Numidia on the west and Cyrenaica on the east.

On the east side of Africa, to the west of the Red Sea, are the
dominions of the great and mighty Christian king or emperor Prester
John, well known to the Portuguese in their voyages to Calicut. His
dominions reach very far on every side, and he has many other kings
under his authority who pay him tribute, both Christian and Pagan. This
mighty prince is named David emperor of Ethiopia, and it is said that
the Portuguese send him every year eight ships laden with merchandise.
His dominions are bounded on one side by the Red Sea, and stretch far
into Africa towards Egypt and Barbary. To the southwards they adjoin
with the great sea or ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope, and to the
north are bounded by the great and dangerous _Sea of Sand_, lying
between the great city of Cairo in Egypt and the country of Ethiopia; in
which are many uninhabitable deserts continuing for the space of five
days journey. It is affirmed, if the Christian emperor were not hindered
by the deserts, in which there is great want of provisions and
especially of water, that he would ere now have invaded Egypt. The chief
city of Ethiopia, in which this great emperor resides, is called
_Amacaiz_, being a city of some importance, the inhabitants of which are
of an olive complexion. There are many other cities, such as the city of
_Sava_ on the Nile, where the emperor ordinarily resides during the
summer. There is likewise a great city named _Barbaregaf_ and _Ascon_,
whence the queen of Saba is supposed to have gone for Jerusalem to hear
the wisdom of Solomon[193]. This last city though little is very fair,
and one of the principal cities of Ethiopia. In this province there are
many very high mountains, on which the terrestrial paradise is supposed
to have been situated; and some say that the trees of the sun and moon
which are mentioned by the ancients, are to be found there, but no one
has ever been able to go to them, on account of great deserts extending
to an hundred days journey. Also beyond these mountains is the Cape of
Good Hope.

[Footnote 193: The names of places are so corruptly given as hardly even
to be guessed at. Amacaiz may possibly be meant for Amba Keshem, Sava
for Shoa, Barbaregaf for the Baharnagash, and Ascon for Assab.--E.]

_Journal of the Voyage_.

On the 12th of August 1553, there sailed from Portsmouth two goodly
ships, the Primrose and the Lion, with a pinnace called the Moon, all
well furnished with 140 able bodied men, and with ordnance and victuals
fitting for the voyage. They were commanded by two captains; one of whom
was a foreigner named Antonio Anes Pinteado, a native of Oporto in
Portugal, a wise, discreet, and sober man, who, for his skill in
navigation both as an experienced pilot and prudent commander, was at
one time in such favour with the king of Portugal, that the coasts of
Brazil and Guinea were committed to his care against the French, to whom
he was a terror in these seas. He had been likewise a gentleman of the
household to the king. But as fortune ever flatters when it favours,
ever deceives when it promises, and ever casts down whom it raises, so
great wealth and high favour are always accompanied by emulation and
envy; in like manner was he, after many adversities and malicious
accusations, forced to take refuge in England. In this golden voyage
Pinteado was ill-matched with an evil companion, his own various good
qualities being coupled with one who had few or no virtues. Thus did
these noble ships depart on their voyage; but previously captain Windham
put out of his ship at Portsmouth a kinsman of one of the head
merchants, shewing in this a sample of the bad intention of his mind,
which grew from this small beginning to a monstrous enormity; yet happy
was that young man for being left behind.

Arriving at the island of Madeira, they took in some wine for the use of
the ships. At this island was a great galleon belonging to the king of
Portugal, full of men and ordnance, which had been expressly fitted out
to interrupt our ships in their intended voyage, or any others that
might intend a similar expedition; for the king of Portugal had been
secretly informed that our ships were armed to attack his castle of
Mina, though no such thing was intended; yet did not that galleon
attempt to stay our ships, nor could she have been able to withstand
them if that had been tried.

After their departure from Madeira the worthy captain Pinteado began to
experience affliction from Captain Windham, who had hitherto carried a
fair appearance of good will, but now assumed to himself the sole
command, setting both captain Pinteado and the merchants factors at
nought, giving them opprobrious words and sometimes abusing them most
shamefully with threats of personal ill-treatment. He even proceeded to
deprive captain Pinteado of the service of the boys and others who had
been assigned him by order of the merchant adventurers, reducing him to
the rank of a common mariner, which is the greatest affront that can be
put upon a Portuguese or Spaniard, who prize their honour above all
things. Passing the Canaries, they came to the island of St Nicholas,
one of the Cape Verds, where they procured abundance of the flesh of
wild goats, being almost its only produce. Following their voyage from
thence, they tarried by the way at certain desert islands, not willing
to arrive too early on the coast of Guinea on account of the heat. But
being under an arbitrary rule, they tarried too long, and came at length
to the first land of Guinea at the river _Cesto_[194], where they might
have exchanged their merchandise for a full lading of the _grains_, or
spice of that country, which is a very hot fruit and much like figs; the
fruit being full of grains which are loose within the pod[195]. This
kind of spice is much used in cold countries, and may be sold there to
great advantage in exchange for other commodities. But, by the
persuasion or command rather of our tyrannical captain, our people made
light of this commodity in comparison with the fine gold for which they
thirsted, wherefore they made sail an hundred leagues farther till they
came to the golden land or gold coast.

[Footnote 194: Or Sestre, a river on the Grain coast or Malaguette.--E.]

[Footnote 195: This is the Guinea pepper, called grains of Paradise by
the Italians, whence this part of Guinea was named the grain coast. The
text describes the pods as having a hole on each side, which, it was
afterwards learnt, were for putting thongs, strings or twigs on which to
dry the pods. These pods grow on a humble plant, not above a foot and a
half or two feet from the ground, and are bright red when first
gathered,--Astl.]

At this part of the coast, not venturing to come near the castle of St
George del Mina belonging to the king of Portugal, they made sale of
their goods only on this side and beyond that place, receiving the gold
of the country in exchange to the extent of 150 pounds weight[196], and
they might have bartered all their merchandise for gold at that place,
if the pride of Windham had allowed him to listen to the counsel and
experience of Pinteado: but not satisfied with what he had got or might
still have procured, if he had remained in the neighbourhood of Mina, he
commanded Pinteado to navigate the ships to Benin under the equinoctial,
150 leagues beyond the Mina, where he expected to have laden the ships
with pepper. When Pinteado urged the lateness of the season, and advised
that instead of going farther they should continue to dispose of their
wares for gold, by which great profit would have been gained, Windham
flew into a passion, called Pinteado a Jew, and gave him much
opprobrious language, saying, "This rascally Jew promised to conduct us
to places that either do not exist or to which he knows not the way, but
if he does not I will cut off his ears and nail them to the mast." The
advice given by Pinteado, not to go farther, was for the safety of the
mens lives, which would have been in great danger at that late season,
during their winter or _rossia_, not so called on account of cold, but
from the heat accompanied with close and cloudy air, alternating with
great tempests, during which the air was of so putrifying a quality as
to rot the clothes on their backs. He had formerly lingered by the way,
to prevent them arriving too soon on the coast, when the heat of the sun
is scorching and unbearable.

Thus constrained contrary to his wish, he brought the ships to anchor
off the mouth of the river Benin, whence the pinnace was sent 50 or 60
leagues up the river. They then landed, and Pinteado, with Francisco
another Portuguese, Nicholas Lambert a gentleman, and other merchants
were conducted to the kings court, ten leagues from the river, where
they were brought into the kings presence by a great company. The king
was a _black Moor_ or negro, though not quite so black as the rest, and
sat in a long wide hall having earthen walls without windows, roofed
with thin planks open in many parts to let in air. These people give
wonderful reverence to their king, even the highest of his officers
when in his presence never daring to look him in the face, but sit
cowering on their buttocks with their elbows on their knees, and their
hands on their faces, never looking up till the king commands them. When
coming towards the king they shew him the utmost reverence from as far
off as they can see him; and when they depart they never turn their
backs towards him. In the communication of our men with the king, he
used the Portuguese language, which he had learnt when a child.
Commanding our men to stand up, he inquired the reason of their coming
into his country; on which he was answered by Pinteado, that we were
merchants who had come from a distant country into his dominions, to
procure the commodities of the country in exchange for wares which we
had brought from our own country, to the mutual convenience of both
countries. The king had then 30 or 40 quintals or hundred weights of
pepper, which had long lain in a store-house, which he desired our
people to look at, and that they should exhibit to him such commodities
as they had brought for sale. He likewise sent some of his officers to
conduct our people to the water-side, and to carry our wares from the
pinnace to his residence. These things being done, the king engaged to
our merchants that in 30 days he would provide a sufficiency of pepper
to load all our ships, and in case our merchandise might not amount to
the whole value of the pepper, he promised to give credit till next
season, and immediately sent orders over all the country to gather
pepper, so that in 30 days 80 tons of pepper were procured.

[Footnote 196: Or 1800 ounces, which at L.3, 17s. 6d. per ounce, is
equal to L.6975 sterling, a large sum in those days.--E.]

In the meantime our men lived without any rule, eating without measure
of the fruit of the country, drinking the palm wine which runs in the
night from the cut branches of that tree, and continually running into
the water to assuage the extreme heat of the season; and not being used
to these sudden transitions, which are excessively dangerous, they fell
into swellings and agues, by which about the end of the year they were
dying sometimes 3, 4, or 5 in a day. When the 30 days were expired, and
Windham saw his men dying so fast, he sent orders to Pinteado and the
rest to come away without any more delay. Pinteado and the others wrote
back to inform him of the large quantity of pepper already gathered, and
that they looked daily for more, desiring him to consider the great
praise they would all get on their return if the voyage turned out
profitable, and the shame that must attend returning without a full
loading. Not satisfied with this answer, more especially as the men
continued to die in great numbers, Windham sent a second message
ordering them to return immediately, or that he would go away and leave
them. Thinking to prevail upon him by reasonable means, Pinteado
returned to the ships under an escort provided by the negro king.

In the mean time Windham, enraged at Pinteado, broke open his cabin and
all his chests, spoiled all the cordials and sweetmeats he had provided
for his health, and left him nothing either of his cloaths or nautical
instruments; after which strange procedure he fell sick and died. When
he came on board, Pinteado lamented as much for the death of Windham as
if he had been his dearest friend; but several of the mariners and
officers spit in his face, calling him Jew, and asserted that he had
brought them to this place on purpose that they should die; and some
even drew their swords, threatening to slay him. They insisted that he
should leave the coast immediately, and though he only requested them to
wait till those who were left at the court of the king of Benin could be
sent for, they would by no means consent. He then prayed them to give
him a boat, and as much of an old sail as might serve to fit her out, in
which he proposed to bring Nicholas Lambert[197] and the rest to
England, but even this they would not consent to. Finding all his
representations in vain, he wrote a letter to the merchants at court,
informing them of all that had happened at the ships, promising, if God
spared his life, that he would return as soon as possible for them.

[Footnote 197: This Lambert was a Londoner born, his father having been
Lord Mayor of London.--Hakluyt.]

Pinteado, thus kept on board against his will, was thrust among the
cabin-boys, and worse used than any of them, insomuch that he was forced
to depend on the favour of the cook for subsistence. Having sunk one of
their ships for want of hands to navigate her, the people departed from
the coast with the other. Within six or seven days, Pinteado died
broken-hearted, from the cruel and undeserved usage he had met with,--a
man worthy to have served any prince, and most vilely used. Of 140 men
who had sailed originally from Portsmouth on this unfortunate and
ill-conducted voyage, scarcely 40 got back to Plymouth, and many even
of those died soon afterwards.

That no one may suspect that I have written in commendation of Pinteado
from partiality or favour, otherwise than as warranted by truth, I have
thought good to add copies of the letters which the king of Portugal and
the infant his brother wrote to induce him to return to Portugal, at the
time when, by the king's displeasure, and not owing to any crime or
offence, he was enforced by poverty to come to England, where he first
induced our merchants to engage in voyages to Guinea. All these writings
I saw under seal in the house of my friend Nicholas Lieze, with whom
Pinteado left them when he departed on his unfortunate voyage to Guinea.
But, notwithstanding these friendly letters and fair promises, Pinteado
durst not venture to return to Portugal, neither indeed durst he trust
himself in company with any of his own countrymen, unless in the
presence of other persons, as he had secret intimation that they meant
to have assassinated him, when time and place might serve their wicked
purpose.

* * * * *

The papers alluded to in this concluding paragraph by Richard Eden, do
not seem necessary to be inserted. They consist of, a commission or
patent dated 22d September 1551, appointing Pinteado one of the knights
of the royal household, with 700 _rees_, or ten shillings a month, and
half a bushel of barley every day so long as he should keep a horse; but
with an injunction not to marry for six years, lest he might have
children to succeed in this allowance. The second document is merely a
certificate of registration of the first. The third is a letter from the
infant, Don Luis, brother to the king of Portugal, dated 8th December
1552, urging Pinteado to return to Lisbon, and intimating that Peter
Gonzalvo, the bearer of the letter, had a safe conduct for him in due
form. From the introduction to these papers, it appears that Pinteado
had suffered long disgrace and imprisonment, proceeding upon false
charges, and had been at last set free by means of the king's confessor,
a grey friar, who had manifested his innocence.--E.


SECTION III.

_Voyage to Guinea, in 1554, by Captain John Lok_[198].


As in the first voyage of the English to Guinea, I have given rather the
order of the history than the course of navigation, of which I had then
no perfect information; so in this second voyage my chief purpose has
been to shew the course pursued, according to the ordinary custom and
observation of mariners, and as I received it from the hands of an
expert pilot, who was one of the chiefest in this voyage[199], who with
his own hand wrote a brief journal of the whole, as he had found and
tried in all things, not conjecturally, but by the art of navigation,
and by means of instruments fitted for nautical use[200]. Not assuming
therefore to myself the commendations due to another, neither having
presumed in any part to change the substance or order of this journal,
so well observed by art and experience, I have thought fit to publish it
in the language commonly used by mariners, exactly as I received it from
that pilot[201].

[Footnote 198: Hakluyt, II. 470. Astl 1.114. In the first edition of
Hakluyt's collection, this voyage is given under the name of Robert
Gainsh, who was master of the John Evangelist, as we learn by a marginal
note at the beginning of the voyage in both editions.--Astl. I. 144. a.]

[Footnote 199: Perhaps this might be Robert Gainsh, in whose name the
voyage was first published.--Astl. I. 144. b.]

[Footnote 200: Yet the latitudes he gives, if observed, are by no means
exact.--Astl.

In this version we have added the true latitudes and longitudes in the
text between brackets; the longitude from Greenwich always
understood.--E.]

[Footnote 201: This is the exordium, written by Richard Eden, from whose
work it was adopted by Hakluyt, yet without acknowledgement. In the
title, it appears that this expedition was fitted out as the joint
adventure of Sir George Barne, Sir John York, Thomas Lok, Anthony
Hickman, and Edward Castelin.--E.]

* * * * *

On the 11th October 1554, we departed from the river Thames with three
good ships. One of these named the Trinity, was of 140 tons burden; the
second, called the Bartholomew, was 90 tons; and the third, called the
John Evangelist, was 140 tons. With these three ships and two pinnaces,
one of which was lost on the coast of England, we staid fourteen days at
Dover, and three or four days at Rye, and lastly we touched at
Dartmouth. Departing on the 1st November, at 9 o'clock at night, from
the coast of England, off the Start point, and steering due south-west
all that night, all next day, and the next night after, till noon of the
3d, we made our way good, running 60 leagues. The morning of the 17th we
had sight of the island of Madeira, which to those who approach from
N.N.E. seems to rise very high, and almost perpendicular in the west. To
the S.S.E. is a long low land, and a long point with a saddle through
the midst of it, standing in 32 deg. N. [lat. 32 deg. 30' N. long. 16 deg. 12' W.]
And in the west part are many springs of water running down from the
mountain, with many white fields like fields of corn, and some white
houses in the S.E. part. Also in this part is a rock at a small distance
from the shore, over which a great gap or opening is seen in the
mountain.

The 19th at noon we had sight of the isles of Palma, Teneriffe, and
Grand Canarea. The isle of Palma rises round, and stretches from S.E. to
N.W. the north-west part being lowest. In the south is a round hill over
the head-land, with another round hill behind and farther inland.
Between the S.E. end of Madeira and the N.W. part of the island of
Palma, the distance is 57 leagues[202], Palma being in 28 deg.. [lat. 28 deg.
45' N. long 17 deg. 45' W.] Our course between the S.E. end of Madeira and
the N.W. part of Palma was S. and S. by W. so that we had sight of
Teneriffe and the Grand Canary. The S.E. part of Palma and N.N.E. of
Teneriffe lie S.E. and N.W. [rather E. and W.] distance 20 leagues [33
leagues.] Teneriffe and Grand Canarea, with the west part of
Fuertaventura, stand in 27 deg. 30'[203]. Gomera is a fair island, but very
rugged, W.S.W. from Teneriffe, the passage between running from N. by W.
to S. by E. In the south part of Gomera is a town and good road-stead,
in lat. 28 deg. N. Teneriffe is a mountainous island, with a great high peak
like a sugar-loaf, on which there is snow all the year, and by that peak
it may be known from all other islands. On the 20th November we were
there becalmed from six in the morning till four in the afternoon. On
the 22d November, being then under the tropic of Cancer, the sun set W.
and by S. On the coast of Barbary, 25 leagues N. of Cape Blanco, at 3
leagues from shore, we had 15 fathoms water on a good shelly bottom
mixed with sand, and no currents, having two small islands in lat. 22 deg.
20' N.[7] From Gomera to Cape de las Barbas is 100 leagues, [116] the
course being S. by E. That cape is in lat. 22 deg. 30, [22 deg. 15'] all the
coast thereabout being flat, and having 16 and 17 fathoms off shore. All
the way from the river del Oro to Cape Barbas, at 7 or 8 leagues off
shore, many Spaniards and Portuguese employ themselves in fishing during
the month of November, the whole of that coast consisting of very low
lands. From Cape Barbas we held a course S.S.W. and S.W. by S. till we
came into lat. 20 deg. 30', reckoning ourselves 7 leagues off shore, and we
there came to the least shoals of Cape Blanco. We then sailed to the
lat. of 13 deg. N. reckoning ourselves 20 leagues off; and in 15 deg. _we did
rear the crossiers_, or cross stars, and might have done so sooner if we
had looked for them. They are not right across in the month of November,
as the nights are short there, but we had sight of them on the 29th of
that month at night. The 1st of December, being in lat. 13 deg. N. we set
our course S. by E. till the 4th at noon, when we were in 9 deg. 20'
reckoning ourselves 30 leagues W.S.W. from the shoals of the Rio Grande,
which extend for 30 leagues. On the 4th, being in 6 deg. 30', we set our
course S.E. The 9th we changed our course E.S.E. The 14th, being in lat.
5 deg. 30' and reckoning ourselves 36 leagues from the coast of Guinea, we
set our course due E. The 19th, reckoning ourselves 17 leagues from Cape
Mensurado, we set our course E. by N. the said cape being E.N.E. of us,
and the river Sesto E. The 20th we fell in with Cape Mensurado or
Mesurado, which bore S.E. 2 leagues distant. This cape may be easily
known, as it rises into a hummock like the head of a porpoise. Also
towards the S.E. there are three trees, the eastmost being the highest,
the middle one resembling a hay-stack, and that to the southward like a
gibbet. Likewise on the main there are four or five high hills, one
after the other, like round hummocks. The south-east of the three trees
is _brandiernaure?_ and all the coast is a white sand. The said cape
stands within a little of six degrees [lat. 6 deg. 20' N. long. 10 deg. 30' W.]
The 22d we came to the river Sesto or Sesters, where we remained till
the 29th, and we thought it best to send our pinnace before us to the
Rio Dulce, that they might begin the market before the arrival of the
John Evangelist. At the river Sesto, which is in six degrees less one
terce, or 5 deg. 40', we got a ton of grains[205]. From Rio Sesto to Rio
Dulce the distance is 25 leagues, Rio Dulce being in 5 deg. 30' N. The Rio
Sesto is easily known by a ledge of rocks to the S.E. of the road[206],
and at the mouth of the river are five or six trees without leaves. It
is a good harbour, but the entrance of the river is very narrow, and has
a rock right in the mouth. All that coast, between Cape Mount and Cape
Palmas, lies S.E. by E. and N.W. by N. being three leagues
offshore[207], and there are rocks in some places two leagues off,
especially between the river Sesto and Cape Palmas.

[Footnote 202: The real distance is 84 marine leagues, 20 to the
degree.--E.]

[Footnote 203: The parallel of lat. 28 deg. N. goes through the centre of
Grand Canarea, touching the southern point of Teneriffe, and just
keeping free of the S.W. point of Fuertaventura.--E.]

[204][Footnote 204: 7 Cape Blanco is in lat. 20 deg. 50' N. 25 leagues to
the north, would only reach to lat. 22 deg. 5'; exactly almost in 22 deg. is the
small island of Pedro de Agale.--E.]

[Footnote 205: In the preceding voyage grains have been explained as
Guinea pepper, a species of capsicum.--E.]

[Footnote 206: Rock Sesters is in long. 9 deg. 20' W.]

[Footnote 207: This is not intelligible, unless meant that ships may
anchor for three leagues from the shore.--E.]

Between the river Sesto and the river Dulce are 25 leagues. Between them
and 8 leagues from Sesto river is a high land called _Cakeado_, and S.E.
from it a place called _Shawgro_, and another called _Shyawe_ or
_Shavo_, where fresh water may be had. Off Shyawe lies a ledge of rocks,
and to the S.E. is a headland named _Croke_, which is 9 or 10 leagues
from Cakeado. To the S.E. is a harbour called St Vincent, right over
against which is a rock under water, two and a half leagues from shore.
To the S.E. of this rock is an island 3 or 4 leagues off, and not above
a league from shore, and to the S.E. of the island is a rock above
water, and past that rock is the entrance of the river Dulce, which may
be known by that rock. The N.W. side of the haven is flat sand, and the
S.E. side is like an island, being a bare spot without any trees, which
is not the case in any other place. In the road ships ride in 13 or 14
fathoms, the bottom good ouse and sand. The marks for entering this road
are to bring the island and the north-east land in one. We anchored
there on the last day of December 1554, and on the 3d of January 1555 we
came from the Rio Dulce. _Cape Palmas_ is a fair high land, some low
parts of which by the waterside seem red cliffs, with white streaks like
highways, a cables length each, which is on the east side of the Cape.
This is the most southerly land on the coast of Guinea, and is in lat.
4 deg. 25' N. From Cape Palmas to Cape _Three-points_ or _Tres puntas_, the
whole coast is perfectly safe and clear, without rock or other danger.
About 25 leagues to the eastward of Cape Palmas the land is higher than
in any other place till we come to Cape Three-points, and about ten
leagues westward from that Cape the land begins to rise, and grows
higher all the way to the point. Also about 5 leagues west from that
Cape there is some broken ground with two great rocks, within which, in
the bight of a bay, there is a castle called _Arra_ belonging to the
king of Portugal, which is readily known by these rocks, as there are
none other between Cape Palmas and Cape Three-points. The coast trends
E. by N. and W. by S. From Cape Palmas to Arra castle is 95 leagues, and
from thence to the western point of Cape Three-points it is S.E. by S.
and N.W. by N. This western point of Cape Three-points is low land,
stretching half a mile out to sea, and on the neck nearest the land is a
tuft of trees.

We arrived at Cape Three-points on the 11th January, and came next day
to a town called _Samma_ or _Samua_, 8 leagues beyond, towards E.N.E.
there being a great ledge of rocks a great way out to sea between Cape
Three-points and that town. We remained four days off that town, the
captain of which desired to have a pledge on shore, but on receiving one
he kept him, and refused to continue trade, even shooting his ordnance
at us, of which he only had two or three pieces[208]. On the 16th of the
month we came to a place called Cape _Corea_[209], where dwelt Don John,
and where we were well received by his people. This Cape Corea is 4
leagues eastward from the castle of _Mina_. We arrived there on the 18th
of the month, making sale of all our cloth except two or three packs. On
the 26th we weighed anchor and went to join the Trinity, which was 7
leagues to the eastwards of us, and had sold most of her wares. Then the
people of the Trinity willed us to go 8 or 9 leagues farther to the
east, to sell part of their wares at a place called _Perecow_, and
another called _Perecow-grande_, still farther east, which is known by a
great hill near it called _Monte Rodondo_ lying to the westwards, and
many palm trees by the water side. From thence we began our voyage
homewards on the 13th of February, and plied along the coast till we
came within 7 or 8 leagues of Cape Three-points. About 8 in the
afternoon of the 15th we cast about to seawards. Whoever shall come from
the coast of Mina homewards, ought to beware of the currents, and should
be sure of making his way good as far west as Cape Palmas, where the
current sets always to the eastwards. About 20 leagues east of Cape
Palmas is a river called _De los Potos_, where abundance of fresh water
and ballast may be had, and plenty of ivory or elephants teeth, which
river is in four degrees and almost two terces, or 4 deg. 40' N. When you
reckon to be as far west as Cape Palmas, being in lat. 1 deg. or 1 deg. 30' N.
you may then stand W. or W. by N. till in lat. 3 deg. N. Then you may go W.
or N.W. by W. till in lat. 5 deg. N. and then N.W. In lat. 6 deg. N. we met
northerly winds and great ruffling tides, and as far as we could judge
the current set N.N.W. Likewise between Cape Mount and Cape Verd there
are great currents, which are very apt to deceive.

[Footnote 208: The pledge was nephew to Sir John Yorke.--_Eden_.]

[Footnote 209: From the context, this seems to have been the place now
called Cape Coast.--E.]

On the 22d of April we were in lat. 8 deg. 40' N. and continued our course
to the north-west, having the wind at N.E. and E.N.E. sometimes at E.
till the first of May, when we were in lat. 18 deg. 20' N. Thence we had the
wind at E. and E.N.E. sometimes E.S.E. when we reckoned the Cape Verd
islands E.S.E. from us, and by estimation 48 leagues distant. In 20 deg. and
21 deg. N. we had the wind more to the east and south than before; and so we
ran N.W. and N.N.W. sometimes N. by W. and N. till we came into lat. 31 deg.
N. when we reckoned ourselves 180 leagues S.W. by S. of the island of
Flores. Here we had the wind S.S.E. and shaped our course N.E. In 23 deg. we
had the wind at S. and S.W. and made our course N.N.E. in which
direction we went to 40 deg., and then set our course N.E. having the wind
at S.W. and the isle of Flores E. of us, 17 leagues distant. In 41 deg. we
had the wind N.E. and lay a course N.W. Then we met the wind at W.N.W.
and at W. within 6 leagues, when we went N.W. We then altered to N.E.
till in 42 deg. where we shaped our course E.N.E. judging the isle of
_Corvo_ to be W. of us, 36 leagues distant. On the 21st of May we
communed with John Rafe who judged us to be in lat. 39 deg. 30' N. 25
leagues E. of Flora, and recommended to steer N.E.

It is to be noted that in lat. 9 deg. N. on the 4th of September, we lost
sight of the north star. In lat. 45 deg. N. the compass varied 8 deg. to the W.
of N. In 40 deg. N. it varied 15 deg.. And in 30 deg. 30' N. its variation was 5 deg. W.

It is also to be noted that two or three days before we came to Cape
Three-points, the pinnace went along shore endeavouring to sell some of
our wares, and then we came to anchor three or four leagues west by
south of that cape, where we left the Trinity. Then our pinnace came on
board and took in more wares, telling us that they would go to a place
where the Primrose[210] was, and had received much gold in the first
voyage to these parts; but being in fear of a brigantine that was then
on the coast, we weighed anchor and followed them, leaving the Trinity
about four leagues from us. We accordingly rode at anchor opposite that
town, where Martine, by his own desire and with the assent of some of
the commissioners in the pinnace, went on shore to the town, and thence
John Berin went to trade at another town three miles father on. The town
is called Samma or Samua, which and Sammaterra are the two first towns
to the N.E. of Cape Three-points, where we traded for gold.

[Footnote 210: This was one of the ships in the former voyage under
Windham.--E.]

Having continued the course of the voyage as described by the
before-mentioned pilot, I will now say something of the country and
people, and of such things as are brought from thence[211].

[Footnote 211: These subsequent notices seem subjoined by Richard Eden,
the original publisher.--E.]

They brought home in this voyage, 400 pounds weight and odd of
gold[212], twenty-two carats and one grain fine. Also 36 buts of
_grains_, or Guinea pepper, and about 250 elephants teeth of different
sizes. Some of these I saw and measured, which were nine spans in length
measured along the crook, and some were as thick as a mans thigh above
the knee, weighing 90 pounds each, though some are said to have been
seen weighing 125 pounds. There were some called the teeth of calves, of
one, two, or three years old, measuring one and a-half, two, or three
feet, according to the age of the beast. These great teeth or tusks
grow in the upper jaw downwards, and not upwards from the lower jaw, as
erroneously represented by some painters and _arras_ workers. In this
voyage they brought home the head of an elephant of such huge bigness
that the bones or cranium only, without the tusks or lower jaw, weighed
about two hundred pounds, and was as much as I could well lift from the
ground. So that, considering also the weight of the two great tusks and
the under jaw, with the lesser teeth, the tongue, the great hanging
ears, the long big snout or trunk, with all the flesh, brains, and skin,
and other parts belonging to the head, it could not in my opinion weigh
less than five hundred weight. This head has been seen by many in the
house of the worthy merchant Sir Andrew Judde, where I saw it with my
bodily eyes, and contemplated with those of my mind, admiring the
cunning and wisdom of the work-master, without which consideration such
strange and wonderful things are only curiosities, not profitable
subjects of contemplation.

[Footnote 212: Or 4800 ounces, worth, L.18,600 sterling at the old price
of L.3 17s. 6d. per ounce; and perhaps worth in those days as much as
ninety or an hundred thousand pounds in the present day.--E.]

The elephant, by some called oliphant, is the largest of all four-footed
beasts. The fore-legs are longer than those behind; in the lower part or
ancles of which he has joints. The feet have each five toes, but
undivided. The trunk or snout is so long and of such form that it serves
him as a hand, for he both eats and drinks by bringing his food and
drink to his mouth by its means, and by it he helps up his master or
keeper, and also overturns trees by its strength. Besides his two great
tusks, he has four teeth on each side of his mouth, by which he eats or
grinds his food, each of these teeth being almost a span long, as they
lie along the jaw, by two inches high and about as much in breadth. The
tusks of the male are larger than those of the female. The tongue is
very small, and so far within the mouth that it cannot be seen. This is
the gentlest and most tractable of all beasts, and understands and is
taught many things, so that it is even taught to do reverence to kings,
being of acute sense and great judgment. When the female is once
seasoned, the male never touches her afterwards. The male lives two
hundred years, or at least 120, and the female almost as long; but the
flower of their age is reckoned 60 years. They cannot endure our winter
or cold weather; but they love to go into rivers, in which they will
often wade up to their trunk, snuffing and blowing the water about in
sport; but they cannot swim, owing to the weight of their bodies. If
they happen to meet a man wandering in the wilderness, they will go
gently before him and lead him into the right way. In battle they pay
much respect to those who are wounded, bringing such as are hurt or
weary into the middle of the army where they may be defended. They are
made tame by drinking the juice of barley[213].

[Footnote 213: The meaning of this expression is by no means obvious. It
is known that in India, arrack, or a spirituous liquor distilled from
rice, is given regularly to elephants, which may be here alluded
to.--E.]

They have continual war with dragons, which desire their blood because
it is very cold; wherefore the dragon lies in wait for the passing of an
elephant, winding its tail of vast length round the hind legs of the
elephant, then thrusts his head into his trunk and sucks out his breath,
or bites him in the ears where he cannot reach with his trunk. When the
elephant becomes faint with the loss of blood, he falls down upon the
serpent, now gorged with blood, and with the weight of his body crushes
the dragon to death. Thus his own blood and that of the elephant run out
of the serpent now mingled together, which cooling is congealed into
that substance which the apothecaries call _sanguis draconis_ or
cinnabar[214]. But there are other kinds of cinnabar, commonly called
_cinoper_ or vermillion, which the painters use in certain colours.

[Footnote 214: It is surely needless to say that this is a mere
fable.--E.]

There are three kinds of elephants, as of the marshes, the plains, and
the mountains, differing essentially from each other. Philostratus
writes, that by how much the elephants of Lybia exceed in bigness the
horses of Nysea, so much do the elephants of India exceed those of
Lybia, for some of the elephants of India have been seen nine cubits
high; and these are so greatly feared by the others, that they dare not
abide to look upon them. Only the males among the Indian elephants have
tusks; but in Ethiopia and Lybia, both males and females are provided
with them. They are of divers heights, as of 12, 13, or 14 _dodrants_,
the dodrant being a measure of 9 inches; and some say that an elephant
is bigger than three wild oxen or buffaloes. Those of India are black,
or mouse-coloured; but those of Ethiopia or Guinea are brown. The hide
or skin of them all is very hard, and without hair or bristles. Their
ears are two dodrants, or 18 inches in breadth, and their eyes are very
small. Our men saw one drinking at a river in Guinea as they sailed
along the coast. Those who wish to know more of the properties of the
elephant, as of their wonderful docility, of their use in war, of their
chastity and generation, when they were first seen in the triumphs and
amphitheatres of the Romans, how they are taken and tamed, when they
cast their tusks, and of their use in medicine, and many other
particulars, will find all these things described in the eighth book of
Natural History, as written by Pliny. He also says in his twelfth book,
that the ancients made many goodly works of ivory or elephants teeth;
such as tables, tressels or couches, posts of houses, rails, lattices
for windows, idols of their gods, and many other things of ivory, either
coloured or uncoloured, and intermixed with various kinds of precious
woods; in which manner at this day are made chairs, lutes, virginals,
and the like. They had such plenty of it in ancient times, that one of
the gates of Jerusalem was called the ivory gate, as Josephus reports.
The whiteness of ivory was so much admired, that it was anciently
thought to represent the fairness of the human skin; insomuch that those
who endeavoured to improve, or rather to corrupt, the natural beauty by
painting, were said reproachfully, _ebur atramento candefacere_, to
whiten ivory with ink. Poets also, in describing the fair necks of
beautiful virgins, call them _eburnea colla_, or ivory necks. Thus much
may suffice of elephants and ivory, and I shall now say somewhat of the
people, and their manners, and mode of living, with another brief
description of Africa.

The people who now inhabit the regions of the coast of Guinea and the
middle parts of Africa, as inner Lybia, Nubia, and various other
extensive regions in that quarter, were anciently called Ethiopians and
_Nigritae_, which we now call Moors, Moorens, or Negroes; a beastly
living people, without God, law, religion, or government, and so
scorched by the heat of the sun, that in many places they curse it when
it rises. Of the people about Lybia interior, Gemma Phrysius thus
writes: Libia interior is large and desolate, containing many horrible
wildernesses, replenished with various kinds of monstrous beasts and
serpents. To the south of Mauritania or Barbary is Getulia, a rough and
savage region, inhabited by a wild and wandering people. After these
follow the _Melanogetuli_, or black Getulians, and Phransii, who wander
in the wilderness, carrying with them great gourds filled with water.
Then the Ethiopians, called Nigritae, occupy a great part of Africa,
extending to the western ocean or Atlantic. Southwards also they reach
to the river Nigritis or Niger, which agrees in its nature with the
Nile, as it increases and diminishes like the Nile, and contains
crocodiles. Therefore, I believe this to be the river called the Senegal
by the Portuguese. It is farther said of the Niger, that the inhabitants
on one side were all black and of goodly stature, while on the other
side they were brown or tawny and of low stature, which also is the case
with the Senegal.[215] There are other people of Lybia, called
_Garamantes_, whose women are in common, having no marriages or any
respect to chastity. After these are the nations called _Pyrei,
Sathiodaphintae, Odrangi, Mimaces, Lynxamator, Dolones, Agangince, Leuci
Ethiopes, Xilicei Ethiopes, Calcei Ethiopes_, and _Nubi_. These last
have the same situation in Ptolemy, which is now given to the kingdom of
Nubia, where there are certain Christians under the dominion of the
great emperor of Ethiopia, called Prester John. From these towards the
west was a great nation called _Aphricerones_, inhabiting, as far as we
can conjecture, what is now called the _Regnum Orguene_, bordering on
the eastern or interior parts of Guinea. From hence westwards and
towards the north, are the kingdoms of _Gambra_ and _Budamel_, not far
from the river Senegal; and from thence toward the inland region and
along the coast are the regions of _Ginoia_ or Guinea. On the west side
of this region is Cabo Verde, _caput viride_, Cap Verd, or the Green
Cape, to which the Portuguese first direct their course when they sail
to the land of Brazil in America, on which occasion they turn to the
right hand towards the quarter of the wind called _Garbino_, which is
between the west and south.

[Footnote 215: It may be proper to mention in this place, that the Niger
and the Senegal, though agreeing in these particulars, are totally
different rivers in the same parallel. The Senegal runs into the sea
from the east; while the Niger running to the east, loses itself in an
interior lake, as the Wolga does in the Caspian, having no connection
whatever with the ocean. According to some accounts, this lake only
exists as such during the rainy season, drying up in the other part of
the year, probably however leaving an extensive marsh, called the
_Wangara_. If so, the environs of that lake and marsh must be unhealthy
in the utmost extreme.--E.]

To speak somewhat more of Ethiopia, although there are many nations
called Ethiopians, yet is Ethiopia chiefly divided into two parts, one
of which being a great and rich region, is called _Ethiopia sub Egypto_,
or Ethiopia to the south of Egypt. To this belongs the island of Meroe,
which is environed by the streams of the Nile. In this island women
reigned in ancient times, and, according to Josephus, it was some time
called _Sabea_, whence the queen of Saba went to Jerusalem to listen to
the wisdom of Solomon. From thence, towards the east and south, reigneth
the Christian emperor called Prester John, by some named Papa Johannes,
or as others say _Pean Juan_, signifying Great John, whose empire
reaches far beyond the Nile, and extends to the coasts of the Red Sea
and of the Indian ocean. The middle of this region is almost in 66
degrees of E. longitude, and 12 degrees of N. lat.[216] About this
region dwell the people called _Clodi, Risophagi, Axiuntiae, Babylonii,
Molili_, and _Molibae_. After these is the region called _Trogloditica_,
the inhabitants of which dwell in caves and dens, instead of houses, and
feed upon the flesh of serpents, as is reported by Pliny and Diodorus
Siculus, who allege, that instead of language, they have only a kind of
grinning and chattering. There are also people without heads, called
_Blemines_, having their eyes and mouths in their breast. Likewise
_Strucophagi_, and naked _Gamphasantes_; _satyrs_ also, who have nothing
of human nature except the shape. _Oripei_ likewise, who are great
hunters, and _Mennones_. Here also is _Smyrnophora_, or the region of
myrrh; after which is _Azania_, producing many elephants.[217] A great
portion of the eastern part of Africa beyond the equinoctial line is in
the kingdom of _Melinda_, the inhabitants of which have long been in use
to trade with the nations of Arabia, and whose king is now allied to the
king of Portugal, and pays tribute to Prester John.

[Footnote 216: Reckoning the longitude from the island of Ferro, the
middle of Abyssinia is only in about 52 deg. 30' E. and as Ferro is 18 deg. W.
from Greenwich, that coincides with 34 deg. 30' E. as the longitude is now
reckoned by British geographers.--E.]

[Footnote 217: It is impossible, in the compass of a note, to enter into
any commentary on this slight sketch of the ancient geography of eastern
Africa.--E.]

The other, or interior Ethiopia, being a region of vast extent, is now
only somewhat known upon the sea-coast, but may be described as follows.
In the first place, towards the south of the equator, is a great region
of Ethiopians, in which are white elephants, _tigers_, (lions) and
rhinoceroses. Also a region producing plenty of cinnamon, which lies
between the branches of the Nile. Also the kingdom of Habesch or
Habasia,[218] a region inhabited by Christians, on both sides of the
Nile. Likewise those Ethiopians called _Ichthyophagi_, or who live only
on fish, who were subdued in the wars of Alexander the Great[219]. Also
the Ethiopians called _Rapsii_ and _Anthropophagi_, who are in use to
eat human flesh, and inhabit the regions near the mountains of the moon.
_Gazatia_ is under the tropic of Capricorn; after which comes the
_front_ of Africa, and the Cape of Good Hope, past which they sail from
Lisbon to Calicut: But as the capes and gulfs, with their names, are to
be found on every globe and chart, it were superfluous to enumerate them
here.

[Footnote 218: It is strange that Habasia or Abyssinia, inhabited by
Christians, should thus be divided from the empire of Prester John.--E.]

[Footnote 219: The Icthyophagi of Alexander dwelt on the oceanic coast
of Persia, now Mekran, between the river Indus and the Persian gulf, not
in Ethiopia.--E.]

Some allege that Africa was so named by the Greeks, as being without
cold; the Greek letter _alpha_ signifying privation, void of, or
without, and _phrice_ signifying cold; as, although it has a cloudy and
tempestuous season instead of winter, it is yet never cold, but rather
smothering hot, with hot showers, and such scorching winds, that at
certain times the inhabitants seem as if living in furnaces, and in a
manner half ready for purgatory or hell. According to Gemma Phrisius, in
certain parts of Africa, as in the greater Atlas, the air in the night
is seen shining with many strange fires and flames, rising as it were as
high as the moon, and strange noises are heard in the air, as of pipes,
trumpets, and drums, which are caused perhaps by the vehement motions of
these fiery exhalations, as we see in many experiments wrought by fire,
air, and wind. The hollowness also, and various reflections and
breakings of the clouds, may be great causes thereof, besides the great
coldness of the middle region of the air, by which these fiery
exhalations, when they ascend there, are suddenly driven back with great
force. Daily experience teaches us, by the whizzing of a burning torch,
what a noise fire occasions in the air, and much more so when it strives
and is inclosed with air, as seen in guns; and even when air alone is
inclosed, as in organ pipes and other wind instruments: For wind,
according to philosophers, is nothing but air vehemently moved, as when
propelled by a pair of bellows, and the like.

Some credible persons affirm that, in this voyage to Guinea, they felt a
sensible heat in the night from the beams of the moon; which, though it
seem strange to us who inhabit a cold region, may yet reasonably have
been the case, as Pliny writes that the nature of stars and planets
consists of fire, containing a spirit of life, and cannot therefore be
without heat. That the moon gives heat to the earth seems confirmed by
David, in the 121st psalm, where, speaking of such men as are defended
from evils by the protection of God, he says, "The sun shall not burn
thee by day, neither the moon by night[220]." They said likewise, that
in some parts of the sea they saw streams of water, which they call
_spouts_, falling out of the air into the sea, some of them being as
large as the pillars of churches; insomuch that, when these fall into
ships, they are in great danger of being sunk. Some allege these to be
the cataracts of heaven, which were all opened at Noah's flood: But I
rather consider them to be those fluxions and eruptions said by
Aristotle, in his book de Mundo, to happen in the sea. For, speaking of
such strange things as are often seen in the sea, he writes thus:
"Oftentimes also, even in the sea are seen evaporations of fire, and
such eruptions and breaking forth of springs, that the mouths of rivers
are opened. Whirlpools and fluxions are caused of such other vehement
motions, not only in the midst of the sea, but also in creeks and
straits. At certain times also, a great quantity of water is suddenly
lifted up and carried about by the moon," &c. From these words of
Aristotle it appears, that such waters are lifted up at one time in one
place, and suddenly fall down again in another place at another time. To
this also may be referred what Richard Chancellor told me, as having
heard from Sebastian Cabot, as far as I remember, either on the coast of
Brazil or of the Rio de la Plata, that his ship or pinnace was suddenly
lifted from the sea and cast upon the land, I know not how far. Which,
and other strange and wonderful works of nature considered, and calling
to remembrance the narrowness of human knowledge and understanding,
compared with her mighty power, I can never cease to wonder, and to
confess with Pliny, that nothing is impossible to nature, whose smallest
power is still unknown to man.

[Footnote 220: In our present version the word _smite_ is used instead
of burn. But the quotation in the text is a literal translation from the
Latin vulgate, and agrees with the older English version, still used in
the Book of Common Prayer.--E.]

Our people saw and considered many things in this voyage that are
worthy of notice, and some of which I have thought fit to record, that
the reader may take pleasure, both in the variety of these things, and
in the narrative of the voyage. Among other matters respecting the
manners and customs of these people, this may seem strange, that their
princes and nobles are in use to pierce and wound their skins in such
way as to form curious figures upon it, like flowered damask, which they
consider as very ornamental[221]. Although they go in a manner naked,
yet many of them, and the women especially, are almost loaded with
collars, bracelets, rings, and chains, of gold, copper, or ivory. I have
seen one of their ivory armlets weighing 38 ounces, which was worn by
one of their women on her arm. It was made of one piece of the largest
part of an elephant's tooth, turned and somewhat carved, having a hole
through which to pass the hand. Some have one on each arm and one on
each leg, and though often so galled by them as to be almost lame, they
still persist to use them. Some wear great shackles on their legs of
bright copper, and they wear collars, bracelets, garlands, and girdles
of certain blue stones, resembling beads. Some also of their women wear
upon their arms a kind of _fore-sleeves_[222], made of plates of beaten
gold. They wear likewise rings on their fingers made of gold wire,
having a knot or wreath, like those which children make on rush rings.
Among other golden articles bought by our men, were some dog-collars and
chains.

[Footnote 221: Now well known under the name of tatooing.--E.]

[Footnote 222: Sleeves for the fore-arms, or from the elbow to the
wrist.--E.]

These natives of Guinea are very wary in driving bargains, and will not
willingly lose the smallest particle of their gold, using weights and
measures for the same with great circumspection. In dealing with them,
it is necessary to behave with civility and gentleness, as they will not
trade with any who use them ill. During the first voyage of our people
to that country, on departing from the place where they had first
traded, one of them either stole a musk-cat or took her away by force,
not suspecting that this could have any effect to prevent trading at the
next station: But although they went there in full sail, the news had
got there before them, and the people refused to deal with them until
the cat were either restored or paid for at a fixed price. Their houses
are made of four posts or trees set in the ground, and are covered with
boughs; and their ordinary food is roots, with such fish as they take,
which are in great plenty. Among these are flying fishes, similar to
those seen in the West India seas. Our people endeavoured to salt some
of the fish which they caught on the coast of Africa, but some said that
they would not take salt, and must therefore be eaten immediately; while
others alleged that, if salted immediately when taken, they would keep
good for ten or twelve days. Part of the salt meat taken by our people
from England became putrid while on the coast of Africa, yet turned
sweet again after their return to a temperate region. They have a
strange method of making bread, which is as follows: They grind, with
their hands, between two stones, as much corn into meal as they think
may suffice the family, and making this flour into a paste with water,
they knead it into thin cakes, which are stuck upon the posts of their
houses and baked or dried by the heat of the sun; so that when the
master of the house or any of the family are in want of bread, they take
it down from the post and eat.

They have very fair wheat, the ear of which is two hand-breadths long
and as big as a great bulrush, the stem or straw being almost as thick
as a man's little finger. The grains are white and round, shining like
pearls that have lost their lustre, and about the size of our pease.
Almost their whole substance turns to flour, leaving very little bran.
The ear is inclosed in three blades, each about two inches broad, and
longer than the ear; and in one of them I counted 260 grains of corn. By
this fruitfulness, the sun seems in some measure to compensate for the
trouble and distress produced by its excessive heat. Their drink is
either water, or the juice which drops from cut branches of the palmito,
a barren palm or date tree; to collect which they hang great gourds to
the cut branches every evening, or set them on the ground under the
trees, to receive the juice which issues during the night. Our people
said that this juice tasted like whey, but sweeter and more pleasant.
The branches of the palmito are cut every evening to obtain this juice,
as the heat of the sun during the day dries up and sears over the wound.
They have likewise large beans, as big as chesnuts, and very hard,
having shells instead of husks or pods. While formerly describing the
fruit containing the _grains_ or Guinea pepper, called by the physicians
_grana paradisi_, I remarked that they have holes through them, as in
effect they have when brought to us; but I have been since informed,
that these holes are made on purpose to put strings or twigs through,
for hanging up the fruit to dry in the sun. This fruit grows on a plant
which does not rise above eighteen inches or two feet above the ground.

At their coming home, the keels and bottoms of the ships were strangely
overgrown with certain shells, two inches or more in length, as thick as
they could stand, and so large that a man might put his thumb into their
mouths. It is affirmed that a certain slimy substance grows in these
shells, which falls afterwards into the sea, and is changed into the
bird called barnacles[223]. Similar shells have been seen on ships
coming from Ireland, but these Irish barnacles do not exceed half an
inch long. I saw the Primrose in dock, after her return from Guinea,
having her bottom entirely covered over with these shells, which in my
judgment must have greatly impeded her sailing. Their ships also were in
many places eaten into by the worms called _Bromas_ or _Bissas_, which
are mentioned in the Decades[224]. These worms creep between the planks,
which they eat through in many places.

[Footnote 223: This is an old fable not worth confuting. The Barnacle
goose or clakis of Willoughby, anas erythropus of Linnaeus, called
likewise tree-goose, anciently supposed to be generated from drift wood,
or rather from the _lepas anatifera_ or multivalve shell, called
barnacle, which is often found on the bottoms of ships.--See Pennant's
Brit. Zool. 4to. 1776. V. II. 488, and Vol. IV. 64.--E.]

[Footnote 224: Meaning the Decades of Peter Martyr, part of which book
was translated and published by Richard Eden.--Astl I. 149. b.]

In this voyage, though they sailed to Guinea in seven weeks, they took
twenty to return; owing to this cause, as they reported, that about the
coast at Cape Verd the wind was continually east, so that they were
obliged to stand far out into the ocean, in search of a western wind to
bring them home. In this last voyage about twenty-four of the men died,
many of them between the Azores and England, after their return into the
cold or temperate region. They brought with them several black
slaves[225], some of whom were tall strong men, who could well agree
with our meats and drinks. The cold and moist air of England somewhat
offended them; yet men who are born in hot regions can much better
endure cold, than those of cold regions can bear heat; because violent
heat dissolves the radical moisture of the human body, while cold
concentrates and preserves it. It is to be considered as among the
secrets of nature, that while all parts of Africa under the equator, and
for some way on both sides, are excessively hot, and inhabited by black
people, such regions in the West Indies [America], under the same
parallels, are very temperate, and the natives are neither black, nor
have they short curled wool on their heads like the Africans; but are of
an olive colour, with long black hair. The cause of this difference is
explained in various places of the _Decades_. Some of those who were
upon this voyage told me that on the 14th of March they had the sun to
the north of them at noon.

[Footnote 225: In a side note, _five blacke moors_.--E.]


SECTION IV.

_Voyage to Guinea in 1555, by William Towerson, Merchant of
London_[226].


On Monday the 30th of September 1555, we sailed from the harbour of
Newport, in the Isle of Wight, with two good ships, the Hart and the
Hind, both belonging to London, of which John Ralph and William Carters
were masters, bound on a voyage for the river Sestos, in Guinea, and
other harbours in that neighbourhood. Owing to variable winds, we could
not reach Dartmouth before the 14th of October; and having continued
there till the 20th of that month, we warpt out of the harbour, and set
sail to the S.W. and by next morning had run 30 leagues. On the 1st
November, by the reckoning of our master, we were in lat. 31 deg. N. and
that day we ran 40 leagues. The 2d we ran 36 leagues; and on the 3d we
had sight of Porto Santo, a small island about three leagues long and
one and a-half broad, belonging to the Portuguese, and lying in the
ocean. As we came towards it from the N.N.W. it seemed like two small
hills near each other. The east end of the island is a high land like a
saddle, having a valley which gives it that appearance; while the west
end is lower, with several small round hillocks[227]. Porto Santo is in
about lat. 33 deg. N. The same day at 11 o'clock A.M. we raised the island
of Madeira, which is 12 leagues S.W. from Porto Santo. Madeira is a fine
and fertile island belonging to the Portuguese, and rises from afar like
one great high mountain. By 3 P.M. being athwart of Porto Santo, we set
our course to the S.W. leaving both Madeira and Porto Santo to the
eastwards, being the first land we had seen after leaving England. About
three next morning we were abreast of Madeira, within three leagues of
its west end, and were becalmed under its high land. We estimated having
run 30 leagues in the past day and night. The 4th we remained becalmed
under the west end of Madeira till 1 P.M. when the wind sprung up at
east, and we continued our course S.W. making in the rest of that day 15
leagues. The 5th we ran 15 leagues.

[Footnote 226: Hakluyt, II. 480, Astl. I. 150.--From several passages in
this journal it appears that Towerson had been on the former voyage to
Guinea with Captain Lock; but in the present voyage he appears to have
acted as captain or chief director, and seems to have been the author of
the journal here adopted from Hakluyt.--Astl. I. 150, 2.]

[Footnote 227: The saddle-backed hills of old navigators, are to be
considered in reference to the old demipique or war-saddle, having high
abrupt peaks, or hummocks, at each end, with a flattish hollow
between.--E.]

The 6th in the morning we got sight of _Teneriffe_, otherwise called the
Peak, being very high land, with a peak on the top like a sugar loaf;
and the same night we got sight of _Palma_, which also is high land and
W. from Teneriffe [W.N.W.] The 7th we saw _Gomera_, an island about 12
leagues S.E. from Palma, and eight W.S.W. from Teneriffe; and lest we
might have been becalmed under Teneriffe, we left both it and Gomera to
the east, and passed between Palma and Gomera. This day and night our
course was 30 leagues. These islands, called the Canaries, are 60
leagues from Madeira, and there are other three islands in the group to
the eastward of Teneriffe, named _Gran Canarea_, _Fuertaventura_, and
_Lancerota_, none of which we saw. All these islands are inhabited by
Spaniards. On this day likewise we got sight of the Isle of _Ferro_,
which is 13 leagues south from Gomera, and belongs to the Spaniards like
the others. We were unable all this day or the following night to get
beyond Ferro, unless we had chosen to go to the westwards, which had
been much out of our proper course; wherefore we put about, and stood
back five hours E.N.E. in hope of being able to clear it next tack, the
wind keeping always S.E. which is not often met with in that latitude by
navigators, as it generally keeps in the N.E. and E.N.E. Next morning,
being on the other tack, we were nearly close in with the island, but
had room enough to get clear past.

The 8th, our due course to fetch the Barbary coast being S.E. by E. we
were unable to keep it by reason of the wind being scant, but lay as
near it as we could, running that day and night 25 leagues. The 9th we


 


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