was fair; for, as I have since learned, the winds generally springup to the eastward, as the sun goes from them to the north.
Our debate now was, which way we should go, and never were men soirresolute; some were for going to the east, and stretching awaydirectly for the coast of Malabar; but others, who considered moreseriously the length of that voyage, shook their heads at the proposal,knowing very well that neither our provisions, especially of water,or our vessel, were equal to such a run as that is, of near 2000 mileswithout any land to touch at in the way.
These men, too, had all along had a great mind to a voyage for themainland of Africa, where they said we should have a fair cast for ourlives, and might be sure to make ourselves rich, which way soever wewent, if we were but able to make our way through, whether by sea or byland.
Besides, as the case stood with us, we had not much choice for our way;for, if we had resolved for the east, we were at the wrong season of theyear, and must have stayed till April or May before we had gone to sea.At length, as we had the wind at S.E. and E.S.E., and fine promisingweather, we came all into the first proposal, and resolved for the coastof Africa; nor were we long in disputing as to our coasting the islandwhich we were upon, for we were now upon the wrong side of the islandfor the voyage we intended; so we stood away to the north, and, havingrounded the cape, we hauled away southward, under the lee of the island,thinking to reach the west point of land, which, as I observed before,runs out so far towards the coast of Africa, as would have shortened ourrun almost 100 leagues. But when we had sailed about thirty leagues, wefound the winds variable under the shore, and right against us, so weconcluded to stand over directly, for then we had the wind fair, and ourvessel was but very ill fated to lie near the wind, or any way indeedbut just before it.
Having resolved upon it, therefore, we put into the shore to furnishourselves again with fresh water and other provisions, and about thelatter end of March, with more courage than discretion, more resolutionthan judgment, we launched for the main coast of Africa.
As for me, I had no anxieties about it, so that we had but a view ofreaching some land or other, I cared not what or where it was to be,having at this time no views of what was before me, nor much thought ofwhat might or might not befall me; but with as little consideration asany one can be supposed to have at my age, I consented to everythingthat was proposed, however hazardous the thing itself, howeverimprobable the success.
The voyage, as it was undertaken with a great deal of ignorance anddesperation, so really it was not carried on with much resolution orjudgment; for we knew no more of the course we were to steer than this,that it was anywhere about the west, within two or three points N. orS., and as we had no compass with us but a little brass pocket compass,which one of our men had more by accident than otherwise, so we couldnot be very exact in our course.
However, as it pleased God that the wind continued fair at S.E. and byE., we found that N.W. by W., which was right afore it, was as good acourse for us as any we could go, and thus we went on.
The voyage was much longer than we expected; our vessel also, which hadno sail that was proportioned to her, made but very little way in thesea, and sailed heavily. We had, indeed, no great adventures happenedin this voyage, being out of the way of everything that could offer todivert us; and as for seeing any vessel, we had not the least occasionto hail anything in all the voyage; for we saw not one vessel, smallor great, the sea we were upon being entirely out of the way of allcommerce; for the people of Madagascar knew no more of the shores ofAfrica than we did, only that there was a country of lions, as they callit, that way.
We had been eight or nine days under sail, with a fair wind, when, toour great joy, one of our men cried out "Land!" We had great reason tobe glad of the discovery, for we had not water enough left for above twoor three days more, though at a short allowance. However, though it wasearly in the morning when we discovered it, we made it near night beforewe reached it, the wind slackening almost to a calm, and our ship being,as I said, a very dull sailer.
We were sadly baulked upon our coming to the land, when we found that,instead of the mainland of Africa, it was only a little island, with noinhabitants upon it, at least none that we could find; nor any cattle,except a few goats, of which we killed three only. However, they servedus for fresh meat, and we found very good water; and it was fifteen daysmore before we reached the main, which, however, at last we arrived at,and which was most essential to us, as we came to it just as all ourprovisions were spent. Indeed, we may say they were spent first, for wehad but a pint of water a day to each man for the last two days. But, toour great joy, we saw the land, though at a great distance, the eveningbefore, and by a pleasant gale in the night were by morning within twoleagues of the shore.
We never scrupled going ashore at the first place we came at, though,had we had patience, we might have found a very fine river a littlefarther north. However, we kept our frigate on float by the help of twogreat poles, which we fastened into the ground to moor her, like poles;and the little weak ropes, which, as I said, we had made of matting,served us well enough to make the vessel fast.
As soon as we had viewed the country a little, got fresh water, andfurnished ourselves with some victuals, which we found very scarce here,we went on board again with our stores. All we got for provision wassome fowls that we killed, and a kind of wild buffalo or bull, verysmall, but good meat; I say, having got these things on board, weresolved to sail along the coast, which lay N.N.E., till we found somecreek or river, that we might run up into the country, or some townor people; for we had reason enough to know the place was inhabited,because we several times saw fires in the night, and smoke in the day,every way at a distance from us.
At length we came to a very large bay, and in it several little creeksor rivers emptying themselves into the sea, and we ran boldly into thefirst creek we came at; where, seeing some huts and wild people aboutthem on the shore, we ran our vessel into a little cove on the northside of the creek, and held up a long pole, with a white bit of clothon it, for a signal of peace to them. We found they understood uspresently, for they came flocking to us, men, women, and children, mostof them, of both sexes, stark naked. At first they stood wonderingand staring at us, as if we had been monsters, and as if they had beenfrighted; but we found they inclined to be familiar with us afterwards.The first thing we did to try them, was, we held up our hands to ourmouths, as if we were to drink, signifying that we wanted water. Thisthey understood presently, and three of their women and two boys ranaway up the land, and came back in about half a quarter of an hour, withseveral pots, made of earth, pretty enough, and baked, I suppose, inthe sun; these they brought us full of water, and set them down near thesea-shore, and there left them, going back a little, that we might fetchthem, which we did.
Some time after this, they brought us roots and herbs, and some fruitswhich I cannot remember, and gave us; but as we had nothing to givethem, we found them not so free as the people in Madagascar were.However, our cutler went to work, and, as he had saved some iron outof the wreck of the ship, he made abundance of toys, birds, dogs, pins,hooks, and rings; and we helped to file them, and make them bright forhim, and when we gave them some of these, they brought us all sorts ofprovisions they had, such as goats, hogs, and cows, and we got victualsenough.
We were now landed upon the continent of Africa, the most desolate,desert, and inhospitable country in the world, even Greenland and NovaZembla itself not excepted, with this difference only, that even theworst part of it we found inhabited, though, taking the nature andquality of some of the inhabitants, it might have been much better to usif there had been none.
And, to add to the exclamation I am making on the nature of the place,it was here that we took one of the rashest, and wildest, and mostdesperate resolutions that ever was taken by man, or any number of men,in the world; this was, to travel overland through the heart of thecountry, from the coast of Mozambique, on the east ocean, to the coastof Angola or Guinea, on the
western or Atlantic Ocean, a continent ofland of at least 1800 miles, in which journey we had excessive heats tosupport, unpassable deserts to go over, no carriages, camels, or beastsof any kind to carry our baggage, innumerable numbers of wild andravenous beasts to encounter with, such as lions, leopards, tigers,lizards, and elephants; we had the equinoctial line to pass under, and,consequently, were in the very centre of the torrid zone; we had nationsof savages to encounter with, barbarous and brutish to the last degree;hunger and thirst to struggle with, and, in one word, terrors enough tohave daunted the stoutest hearts that ever were placed in cases of fleshand blood.
Yet, fearless of all these, we resolved to adventure, and accordinglymade such preparations for our journey as the place we were in wouldallow us, and such as our little experience of the country seemed todictate to us.
It had been some time already that we had been used to tread barefootedupon the rocks, the gravel, the grass, and the sand on the shore; but aswe found the