A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before

I was in great pain for my two shallops in this tempest, but they had both the good luck to lie close under the shore; and one indeed had hauled quite upon the land, where the men lay on shore under their sail, so that they got no damage; and about three days after, one of them returned, and brought me word they had been to the west, where they had made very little discovery, as to the situation of the country, or whether it was an island or a continent, but they had conversed with the natives very often, and found several who had pieces of gold hanging, some in their hair, some about their necks; and they made a shift to bring as many with them as weighed, all put together, seventeen or eighteen ounces, for which they had bartered toys and trifles, as we did; but they found no rivers, where they could discover any gold in the sands, as We had done, so that they believed it all came from the side where we were.

But our other shallop had much better luck; she went away to the east, and by the time she had gone about sixteen leagues she found the shore break off a little, and soon after a little more, until at length they came as it were to the land's end; when, the shore running due south, they followed, according to their account, near thirteen leagues more.

In this interval they went several times on shore, entered three rivers, indifferently large, and one of them very large at the mouth, but grew narrow again in three or four leagues; but a deep channel, with two-and-twenty to eight-and-twenty fathom water in it all the way, as far as they went.

Here they went on shore and trafficked with the natives, whom they found rude and unpolished, but a very mild inoffensive people; nor did they find them anything thievish, much less treacherous, as in some countries is the case. They had the good luck to find out the place where, as they supposed, the king of the country resided; which was a kind of a city, encompassed all round, the river making a kind of double horse-shoe. The manner of their living is too long to describe; neither could our men give any account of their government, or of the customs of the place; but what they sought for was gold and provisions, and of those they got pretty considerable quantities.

They found the Indians terribly surprised at the first sight of them; but after some time they found means to let them know they desired a truce, and to make them understand what they meant by it.

At length a truce being established, the king came, and with him near three hundred men; and soon after the queen, with half as many women. They were not stark naked, neither men nor women, but wearing a loose piece of cloth about their middles; what it was made of we could not imagine, for it was neither linen or woollen, cotton or silk; nor was it woven, but twisted and braided by hand, as our women make bone lace with bobbins. It seems it was the stalk of an herb, which this was made with; and was so strong that I doubt not it would have made cables for our ships, if we had wanted to make such an experiment.

When the king first came to our men they were a little shy of his company, he had so many with him, and they began to retire; which the king perceiving, he caused all his men to stop, and keep at a distance; and advanced himself with about ten or twelve of his men, and no more.

When he was come quite up, our men, to show their breeding, pulled off their hats, but that he did not understand, for his men had no hats on. But the officer making a bow to him, he understood that presently, and bowed again; at which all his men fell down flat upon their faces, as flat to the ground as if they had been shot to death with a volley of our shot; and they did not fall so quick but they were up again as nimbly, and then down flat on the ground again; and this they did three times, their king bowing himself to our men at the same time.

This ceremony being over, our men made signs to them that they wanted victuals to eat, and something to drink: and pulled out several things, to let the people see they would give something for what they might bring them.

The king understood them presently, and turning to some of his men he talked awhile to them; and our men observed, that while he spoke they seemed to be terrified, as if he had been threatening them with death. However, as soon as he had done, three of them went away, and our men supposed they went to fetch something that the king would give them; upon which, that they might be beforehand with them, our men presented his majesty with two pair of bracelets of fine glass beads of several colours, and put them upon his arms, which he took most kindly; and then they gave him a knife, with a good plain ivory handle, and some other odd things. Upon receiving these noble presents, he sends away another of his men, and a little after two more.

Our men observed that two of the men went a great way off toward the hill, but the other man that he sent away first went to his queen, who, with her retinue of tawny ladies, stood but a little way off, and soon after her majesty came with four women only attending her.

The officer who commanded our men, finding he should have another kind of compliment to pay the ladies, retired a little; and, being an ingenious handy sort of a man, in less than half-an-hour, he and another of his men made a nice garland, or rather a coronet, of sundry strings of beads, and with glass bobs and pendants, all hanging about it, most wonderful gay; and when the queen was come, he went up to the king, and showing it to him, made signs that he would give it to the queen.

The king took it, and was so pleased with the present, that truly he desired our officer to put it upon his own head, which he did; but, when he had got it so placed, he let our men see he was king over his wife, as well as over the rest of the country, and that he would wear it himself.

Our men then pulled out a little pocket looking-glass, and, holding it up, let his majesty see his own face, which we might reasonably suppose he had never seen before, especially with a crown on his head too. Before he saw his own face in the glass he was grave and majestic, and carried it something like a king; but he was so delighted with the novelty that he was quite beside himself, and jumped and capered and danced about like a madman.

All this while our men saw nothing coming, but that all was given on their side; whereupon they made signs again, that they wanted provisions.

The king then made signs, pointing to a hill a good way off, as if it would come from thence very quickly; and then looked to see if his people were coming, as if he was impatient till they came, as well as our men.

During this time, one of our men observed that the queen had several pieces of gold, as they thought them to be, hanging about her, particularly in her hair, and large flat plates of gold upon the hinder part of her head, something in the place of a roll, such as our women wear; that her hair was wound about it in rolls, braided together very curiously; and having informed our officer, he made signs to the king for leave to give the queen something, which he consented to. So he went to her majesty, making a bow as before; but this complaisance surprised her, for, upon his bowing, on a sudden falls the queen and all her four ladies flat on the ground, but were up again in a moment; and our people wondered how they could throw themselves so flat on their faces, and not hurt themselves; nor was it less to be wondered at, how they could so suddenly jump up again, for they did not rise up gradually as we must do, with the help of our hands and knees, if we were extended so flat on our faces, but they, with a spring, whether with their hands or their whole bodies, we knew not, sprang up at once, and were upon their feet immediately.

This compliment over, our officer stepped up to the queen, and tied about her neck a most delicate necklace of pearl; that is to say, of large handsome white glass beads, which might in England cost about fourpence halfpenny, and to every one of her ladies he gave another of smaller beads, differing in colour from those which he gave the queen. Then he presented her majesty with a long string of glass beads, which, being put over her head, reached down to her waist before, and joined in a kind of tassel, with a little knot of blue riband, which she was also extremely pleased with; and very fine she was.

The queen made, it seems, the first return; for, stepping to one of her women, our men observed that her attendant took something out of her hair, and then the queen let her tie her hair up again; after which her majesty brought it and gave it to our officer, making signs to know if it was acceptable. It was a piece of gold that weighed about two ounces and a half; it had been beaten as flat as they knew how to beat it. But the metal was of much more beauty to our men than the shape.

Our officer soon let the queen and people see that he accepted the present, by laying it to his mouth and to his breast, which he found was the way when they liked anything. In short, our officer went to work again, and in a little while he made a little coronet for the queen, as he had done before for the king, though less; and, without asking leave of his majesty, went up to her and put it upon her head; and then gave her a little looking-glass, as he had done to the king, that she might view her face in it.

She was so surprised at the sight, that she knew not how to contain herself; but, to show her gratitude, she pulled out another plate of gold out of her own hair, and gave it to our officer; and, not content with that, she sent one of her women to the crowd of females who first attended her, and whether she stripped them of all the gold they had, or only a part, she brought so many pieces, that, when together, they weighed almost two pounds.

When she was thus dressed she stepped forward very nimbly and gracefully towards the king, to show him what she had got; and, finding he was dressed as fine as herself, they had work enough for near two hours to look at one another, and admire their new ornaments.

Our men reported, that the king was a tall, well-shaped man, of a very majestic deportment, only that when he laughed he showed his teeth too much, which, however, were as white as ivory: as for the queen, saving that her skin was of a tawny colour, she was a very pretty woman; very tall, a sweet countenance, admirable features, and, in a word, a complete handsome lady.

She was very oddly dressed; she was quite naked from her head to below her breasts; her breasts were plump and round, not flaggy and hanging down, as it generally is with the Indian women, some of whose breasts hang as low as their bellies, but projecting as beautifully as if they had been laced up with stays round her body; and below her breast she had a broad piece of a skin of some curious creature, spotted like a leopard, probably of some fine spotted deer. This was wrapped round her very tight, like a body-girt to a horse; and under this she had a kind of petticoat, as before described, hanging down to her ankles. As for shoes or stockings, they were only such as nature had furnished. Her hair was black, and, as supposed, very long, being wreathed up and twisted in long locks about the plate of gold she wore; for when she pulled off the plate above mentioned, it hung down her back and upon her shoulders very gracefully; but it seems she did not think so, for, as soon as she found it so fallen down, she caused one of her women to roll it up, and tie it in a great knot which hung down in her neck, and did not look so well as when it was loose.

While the king and the queen were conversing together about their fine things, as above, our men went back to the boat, where they left the purchase they had got, and furnished themselves with other things fit to traffick with as they saw occasion; and they were not quite come up to the king again, when they perceived that the men the king had sent up into the country were returned, and that they brought with them a great quantity of such provisions as they had, which chiefly consisted of roots and maize, or Indian corn, and several fruits which we had never seen before. Some of them resembled the large European figs, but were not really figs; with some great jars of water, having herbs steeped in it, and roots, that made it look as white as milk, and drank like milk sweetened with sugar, but more delicious, and exceeding cool and refreshing. They brought also a great quantity of oranges, but they were neither sweet nor sour, and our men believed they were not ripe; but when they were dressed after the manner of the country, which they showed our men, and which was to roast them before the fire, they had an admirable flavour, and our men brought a great many away to us, and when we roasted them they exceeded anything of the kind I had ever tasted.

After our men had received what was brought, and shown that the whole was very acceptable, the king made signs that he would be gone, but would come again to them the next morning; and, pointing to the queen's head, where the plate of gold had been that she had given to our men, intimated that he would bring some of the same with him the next day. But while he was making these signs, one of his other messengers came back, and gave the king something into his hand wrapped up, which our men could not see. As soon as the king had it, as if he had been proud to show our men that he could make himself and his queen as fine as they could make him, he undid the parcel, and decked out his queen with a short thing like a robe, which reached from her neck down to the spotted skin which she wore before, and so it covered her shoulders and breast. It was made of an infinite number and variety of feathers, oddly, and yet very curiously put together; and was spangled all over with little drops or lumps of gold; some no bigger than a pin's head, which had holes made through them, and were strung six or seven together, and so tied on to the feathers; some as big as a large pea, hanging single, some as big as a horse-bean, and beaten flat, and all hanging promiscuously among the feathers, without any order or shape, which, notwithstanding, were very beautiful in the whole, and made the thing look rich and handsome enough.

As soon as he had thus equipped his queen, he put another upon himself, which was larger, and had this particular in its shape, that it covered his arms almost to his elbows, and was so made that it came round under the arm, and being fastened there with a string, made a kind of sleeve.

As the king's robe, or whatever it may be called, was longer, for it came down to his waist, so it had a great deal more gold about it, and larger pieces than that the queen wore. When their majesties had thus put on their robes, it may be guessed how glorious they looked, but especially the queen, who being a most charming beautiful creature, as said before, was much more so when glistening thus with gold. Our men looked very narrowly to observe whether there were any diamonds or pearls among their finery, but they could not perceive any.

The king and queen now withdrew for that evening, but their people did not leave our men so, for they thronged about them; and some brought them jars of the white liquor, some brought them roots, others fruits, some one thing, some another; and our men gave every one of them some small matter or other in proportion to what they brought. At last, there came four particular tall lusty men, with bows and arrows; but before they came close up to our men, they laid down their bows and arrows on the ground, and came forward with all the tokens of friendship they were able to make.

They had two youths with them, each of whom led a tame fawn of pretty large growth, and when the men came up, they gave the two fawns to our men; who, in return, gave each of them a knife, and some strings of beads, and such toys as they had.

Our men observed, that all these men had little bits of gold, some of one shape, and some of another, hanging at their ears; and when our men came to be familiar, they asked them as well as they could, where they found that stuff? and they made signs to the sand in the river, and then pointed towards that part of the country where our ships lay, which signified to our men that the gold was, most of it, where we lay, not there where the king and queen resided. Nay, when our men pointed again to the river where they were, and went and took up some of the sand, as if they would look for gold in it, they made signs of laughing at it, and that there was nothing to be found there, but that it lay all the other way.

And yet two or three of the men, who, when the tide was out, went up the bank of the river, two or three miles upon the sands, peeping and trying the sands as they went, they found three or four little bits of pure gold, though not bigger than pins heads; but no doubt farther up the country they might have found more.

These four men seeing how fond our people were of the gold, made signs they could fetch gold to them if they would give them such things as they liked; and ours again told them they should have anything they pleased; and, as earnest, gave them some pieces of iron and bits of glass of small value, both which they were much delighted with.

Early in the morning their four customers came again, and brought several men, who seemed to be servants, along with them, loaden with refreshments, such as the white water, mentioned above, which they brought in earthen pots, very hard, made so by the heat of the sun. They brought also three small deer with them, and a kind of coney or rabbit, but larger, which our men were very glad of. But that which was above all the rest, they brought a good quantity of gold-dust, that is to say, some in small lumps, some in bigger; and one of them had near a pound weight wrapped up in a piece of coney-skin, which was all so very small that it was like dust; which, as our men understood afterwards, was reckoned little worth, because all the lumps had been picked out of it.

Our men, to be sure, were very willing to trade for this commodity, and therefore they brought out great variety of things to truck with them, making signs to them to pick out what they liked; but still keeping a reserve for the king and queen, whom they expected. Above all they had made a reserve for the king of some extraordinary hatchets, which they had not yet suffered to be seen, with a hammer or two, and some drinking-glasses, and the like, with some particular toys for the queen.

But they had variety enough left besides for the four men: who, in short, bought so many trinkets and trifles, that our men not only got all the gold they brought, but the very pieces of gold out of their ears; in return for which our men gave them every one a pair of ear-rings, to hang about their ears, with a fine drop; some of green glass, some red, some blue; and they were wonderfully pleased with the exchange, and went back, we may venture to say, much richer in opinion than they came.

As soon as these people had done their market, and indeed a little before, they perceived at a distance the king and queen coming with a great retinue; so they made signs to our men that they must be gone, and that they would not have the king know that they had been there.

I must confess, the relation of all this made me very much repent that I had not happened to have put in there with the ships; though indeed, as the road lay open to the east and south winds, it might have been worse another way; I mean, when the storm blew. However, as it is, I must report this part, from the account given us by my men.

When the king and queen came the second time, they were together, and dressed up, as our men supposed, with the utmost magnificence, having the fine feathered spangled things about their shoulders; and the king had over all his habit, a fine spotted robe of deer skins, neatly joined together; and which, as he managed it, covered him from head to foot; and, in short, it was so very beautiful that he really looked like a king with it.

When he came to our men, and the ceremony of their meeting was over, the king, turning round, showed them, that he had brought them stores of provisions; and indeed, so he had; for he had at least fifty men attending him, loaden with roots, and oranges, and maize, and such things; in short, he brought them above twenty thousand oranges; a great parcel of that fruit like a fig, which I mentioned above, and other fruits. After which another party followed, and brought twenty live deer, and as many of their rabbits, dead; the latter are as big as our hares.

As they came up, the king made signs to our men to take them; and our officer making signs to thank his majesty, he ordered one of the queen's attendants to give him one of the feathered robes, such an one as the king himself had on; and made mighty fine with lumps and tassels of gold, as the other. And a tawny lass advancing to him offered to put it over his head, but he took it in his hand and put it on himself, and looked as like a jack pudding in it, as any one could desire; for it made no figure at all upon him, compared to what it did upon the Indians.

When they had received all this, they could not but make a suitable return; and therefore our officer caused his reserve to be brought out; and first he gave his majesty a dozen of very handsome drinking-glasses of several sizes; with half a dozen of glass beakers, or cups, to the queen, for the same use. Then he gave the king a little hanger, and a belt to wear it by his side; and showed him how to buckle it on and take it off, and how to draw it out, and put it in again.

This was such a present, and the king was so delighted with it, that our officer said he believed the king did nothing but draw it and put it up again, put it on and pull it off, for near two hours together.

Besides this he gave the king three hatchets, and showed him the uses of them; also two large hammers, and a pair of very strong large shears, particularly showing him, that with those hammers they might beat out the gold lumps which they found in the rivers, and with the shears might cut the edges round, or into what shape they pleased, when they were beaten thin.

To the queen he gave six little knives, and a dozen small looking-glasses for her ladies; six pairs of scissors, and a small box full of large needles; then he gave her some coarse brown thread, and showed her how to thread the needle, and sew anything together with the thread; all which she admired exceedingly, and called her tawny maids of honour about her, that they might learn also. And whilst they were standing all together, our officer, to divert the king, sewed two of her women one to another by the lap of their waistcoats, or what else it might be called; and when they were a little surprised at it, and began, as he thought, to be a little uneasy, he took the scissors, and at one snap set them at liberty again, which passed for such an extraordinary piece of dexterity, that the king would needs have two of them sewed together again, on purpose to see it cut again. And then the king desired he might have a needle and thread himself, and a pair of scissors; then he would sew some things together, and cut them asunder again several times, and laugh most heartily at the ingenuity of it.

Besides the above things, they gave her majesty a pair of ear-rings to hang on her ears, the glass in them looking green like an emerald; a ring of silver, with false stones in it, like a rose diamond ring, the middle stone red like a ruby, which she went presently and gave to the king; but our officer made signs that he had one that was bigger for the king, and accordingly gave the king one much larger; and now they had done giving presents, as they thought, when the king made a sign to the queen, which she understood, and, calling one of her women, she brought a small parcel, which the queen gave our officer into his hand, wherein was about eleven pounds weight of gold-dust, but, as before, no lumps in it.

Our men having thus finished their traffick, and being about to come away, they made signs to the king, that they would come again and bring him more fine things; at which the king smiled, and pointing to the gold, as if telling them he would have more of that for them when they came again.

Our men had now their expectations fully answered; and, as I said, had ended their traffick; and, taking leave of the king and all his retinue, retired to their shallop, the king and queen going away to their city as above. The wind blowing northerly, they were seven days before they got down to us in the ship; during which time they had almost famished the deer they had left, five of which they had kept to bring us alive, and yet they went two or three times on shore to get food for them by the way.