to make himunderstand that we would make him well again.
This created a new awe in their minds of us, believing that, as we couldkill at a distance by something invisible to them (for so our shot was,to be sure), so we could make them well again too. Upon this the youngprince (for so we called him afterwards) called six or seven of thesavages to him, and said something to them; what it was we know not, butimmediately all the seven came to me, and kneeled down to me, holding uptheir hands, and making signs of entreaty, pointing to the place whereone of those lay whom we had killed.
It was a long time before I or any of us could understand them; but oneof them ran and lifted up a dead man, pointing to his wound, which wasin his eyes, for he was shot into the head at one of his eyes. Thenanother pointed to the surgeon, and at last we found it out, that themeaning was, that he should heal the prince's father too, who was dead,being shot through the head, as above.
We presently took the hint, and would not say we could not do it, butlet them know, the men that were killed were those that had first fallenupon us, and provoked us, and we would by no means make them aliveagain; and that, if any others did so, we would kill them too, and neverlet them live any more: but that, if he (the prince) would be willingto go with us, and do as we should direct him, we would not let him die,and would make his arm well. Upon this he bid his men go and fetch along stick or staff, and lay on the ground. When they brought it, we sawit was an arrow; he took it with his left hand (for his other was lamewith the wound), and, pointing up at the sun, broke the arrow in two,and set the point against his breast, and then gave it to me. This was,as I understood afterwards, wishing the sun, whom they worship, mightshoot him into the breast with an arrow, if ever he failed to be myfriend; and giving the point of the arrow to me was to be a testimonythat I was the man he had sworn to: and never was Christian morepunctual to an oath than he was to this, for he was a sworn servant tous for many a weary month after that.
When I brought him to the surgeon, he immediately dressed the wound inhis haunch or buttock, and found the bullet had only grazed upon theflesh, and passed, as it were, by it, but it was not lodged in the part,so that it was soon healed and well again; but, as to his arm, he foundone of the bones broken, which are in the fore-part from the wrist tothe elbow; and this he set, and splintered it up, and bound his arm in asling, hanging it about his neck, and making signs to him that he shouldnot stir it; which he was so strict an observer of, that he set himdown, and never moved one way or other but as the surgeon gave himleave.
I took a great deal of pains to acquaint this negro what we intendedto do, and what use we intended to make of his men; and particularlyto teach him the meaning of what we said, especially to teach him somewords, such as yes and no, and what they meant, and to inure him toour way of talking; and he was very willing and apt to learn anything Itaught him.
It was easy to let him see that we intended to carry our provision withus from the first day; but he made signs to us to tell us we need not,for we should find provision enough everywhere for forty days. It wasvery difficult for us to understand how he expressed forty; for heknew no figures, but some words that they used to one another that theyunderstood it by. At last one of the negroes, by his order, laid fortylittle stones one by another, to show us how many days we should travel,and find provisions sufficient.
Then I showed him our baggage, which was very heavy, particularly ourpowder, shot, lead, iron, carpenters' tools, seamen's instruments, casesof bottles, and other lumber. He took some of the things up in his handto feel the weight, and shook his head at them; so I told our peoplethey must resolve to divide their things into small parcels, and makethem portable; and accordingly they did so, by which means we were fainto leave all our chests behind us, which were eleven in number.
Then he made signs to us that he would procure some buffaloes, or youngbulls, as I called them, to carry things for us, and made signs, too,that if we were weary, we might be carried too; but that we slighted,only were willing to have the creatures, because, at last, when theycould serve us no farther for carriage, we might eat them all up if wehad any occasion for them.
I then carried him to our bark, and showed him what things we had here.He seemed amazed at the sight of our bark, having never seen anythingof that kind before, for their boats are most wretched things, such asI never saw before, having no head or stern, and being made only of theskins of goats, sewed together with dried guts of goats and sheep, anddone over with a kind of slimy stuff like rosin and oil, but of a mostnauseous, odious smell; and they are poor miserable things for boats,the worst that any part of the world ever saw; a canoe is an excellentcontrivance compared to them.
But to return to our boat. We carried our new prince into it, and helpedhim over the side, because of his lameness. We made signs to him thathis men must carry our goods for us, and showed him what we had; heanswered, "Si, Seignior," or, "Yes, sir" (for we had taught him thatword and the meaning of it), and taking up a bundle, he made signs tous, that when his arm was well he would carry some for us.
I made signs again to tell him, that if he would make his men carrythem, we would not let him carry anything. We had secured all theprisoners in a narrow place, where we had bound them with mat cords, andset up stakes like a palisado round them; so, when we carried the princeon shore, we went with him to them, and made signs to him to ask them ifthey were willing to go with us to the country of lions. Accordingly hemade a long speech to them, and we could understand by it that he toldthem, if they were willing, they must say, "Si, Seignior," tellingthem what it signified. They immediately answered, "Si, Seignior," andclapped their hands, looking up to the sun, which, the prince signifiedto us, was swearing to be faithful. But as soon as they had said so, oneof them made a long speech to the prince; and in it we perceived, by hisgestures, which were very antic, that they desired something from us,and that they were in great concern about it. So I asked him, as well asI could, what it was they desired of us; he told us by signs that theydesired we should clap our hands to the sun (that was, to swear) that wewould not kill them, that we would give them chiaruck, that is to say,bread, would not starve them, and would not let the lions eat them.I told him we would promise all that; then he pointed to the sun, andclapped his hands, signing to me that I should do so too, which I did;at which all the prisoners fell flat on the ground, and rising up again,made the oddest, wildest cries that ever I heard.
I think it was the first time in my life that ever any religious thoughtaffected me; but I could not refrain some reflections, and almost tears,in considering how happy it was that I was not born among such creaturesas these, and was not so stupidly ignorant and barbarous; but this soonwent off again, and I was not troubled again with any qualms of thatsort for a long time after.
When this ceremony was over, our concern was to get some provisions,as well for the present subsistence of our prisoners as ourselves; andmaking signs to our prince that we were thinking upon that subject, hemade signs to me that, if I would let one of the prisoners go to histown, he should bring provisions, and should bring some beasts to carryour baggage. I seemed loth to trust him, and supposing that he wouldrun away, he made great signs of fidelity, and with his own hands tied arope about his neck, offering me one end of it, intimating that I shouldhang him if the man did not come again. So I consented, and he gave himabundance of instructions, and sent him away, pointing to the light ofthe sun, which it seems was to tell him at what time he must be back.
The fellow ran as if he was mad, and held it till he was quite out ofsight, by which I supposed he had a great way to go. The next morning,about two hours before the time appointed, the black prince, for so Ialways called him, beckoning with his hand to me, and hallooing afterhis manner, desired me to come to him, which I did, when, pointing to alittle hill about two miles off, I saw plainly a little drove of cattle,and several people with them; those, he told me by signs, were the manhe had sent, and several more with him, and cattle for us.
Accordi
ngly, by the time appointed, he came quite to our huts, andbrought with him a great many cows, young runts, about sixteen goats,and four young bulls, taught to carry burthens.
This was a supply of provisions sufficient; as for bread, we wereobliged to shift with some roots which we had made use of before. Wethen began to consider of making some large bags like the soldiers'knapsacks, for their men to carry our baggage in, and to make it easyto them; and the goats being killed, I ordered the skins to be spreadin the sun, and they were as dry in two days as could be desired; so wefound means to make such little bags as we wanted, and began to divideour baggage into them. When the black prince found what they were for,and how easy they were of carriage when we put them on, he smiled alittle, and sent away the man again to fetch skins, and he brought twonatives more with him, all loaded with skins better cured than ours, andof other kinds, such as we could not tell what names to give them.
These two men brought the black prince two lances, of the sort they usein their fights, but finer than ordinary, being made of black smoothwood, as fine as ebony, and headed at the point with the end of a longtooth of some creature--we could not tell of what creature; the head wasso firm put on, and the tooth so strong, though no bigger than my thumb,and sharp at the end, that I never saw anything like it in any place inthe world.
The prince would not take them till I gave him leave, but made signsthat they should give them to me; however, I gave him leave to take themhimself, for I saw evident signs of an honourable just principle in him.
We now prepared for our march, when the prince coming to me, andpointing towards the several quarters of the world, made signs to knowwhich way we intended to go; and when I showed him, pointing to thewest, he presently let me know there was a great river a little furtherto the north, which was able to carry our bark many leagues into thecountry due west. I presently took the hint, and inquired for the mouthof the river, which I understood by him was above a day's march, and, byour estimation, we found it about seven leagues further. I take this tobe the great river marked by our chart-makers at the northmost part ofthe coast of Mozambique, and called there Quilloa.
Consulting thus with ourselves, we resolved to take the prince, and asmany of the prisoners as we could stow in our frigate, and go aboutby the bay into the river; and that eight of us, with our arms, shouldmarch by land to meet them on the river side; for the prince, carryingus to a rising ground, had showed us the river very plain, a great wayup the country, and in one place it was not above six miles to it.
It was my lot to march by land, and be captain of the whole caravan.I had eight of our men with me, and seven-and-thirty of our prisoners,without any baggage, for all our luggage was yet on board. We drove theyoung bulls with us; nothing was ever so tame, so willing to work, orcarry anything. The negroes would ride upon them four at a time, andthey would go very willingly. They would eat out of our hand, lick ourfeet, and were as tractable as a dog.
We drove with us six or seven cows for food; but our negroes knewnothing of curing the flesh by salting and drying it till we showed themthe way, and then they were mighty willing to do so as long as we hadany salt to do it with, and to carry salt a great way too, after wefound we should have no more.
It was an easy march to the river side for us that went by land, andwe came thither in a piece of a day, being, as above, no more than sixEnglish miles; whereas it was no less than five days before they cameto us by water, the wind in the bay having failed them, and the way, byreason of a great turn or reach in the river, being about fifty milesabout.
We spent this time in a thing which the two strangers, which brought theprince the two lances, put into the head of the prisoners, viz., to makebottles of the goats' skins to carry fresh water in, which it seems theyknew we should come to want; and the men did it so dexterously, havingdried skins fetched them by those two men, that before our vessel cameup, they had every man a pouch like a bladder, to carry fresh water in,hanging over their shoulders by a thong made of other skins, about threeinches broad, like the sling of a fuzee.
Our prince, to assure us of the fidelity of the men in this march,had ordered them to be tied two and two by the wrist, as we handcuffprisoners in England; and made them so sensible of the reasonableness ofit, that he made them do it themselves, appointing four of them to bindthe rest; but we found them so honest, and particularly so obedientto him, that after we were gotten a little further off of their owncountry, we set them at liberty, though, when he came to us, he wouldhave them tied again, and they continued so a good while.
All the country on the bank of the river was a high land, no marshyswampy ground in it; the verdure good, and abundance of cattle feedingupon it wherever we went, or which way soever we looked; there wasnot much wood indeed, at least not near us; but further up we saw oak,cedar, and pine-trees, some of which were very large.
The river was a fair open channel, about as broad as the Thames belowGravesend, and a strong tide of flood, which we found held us aboutsixty miles; the channel deep, nor did we find any want of water for agreat way. In short, we went merrily up the river with the flood andthe wind blowing still fresh at E. and E.N.E. We stemmed the ebb easilyalso, especially while the river continued broad and deep; but when wecame past the swelling of the tide, and had the natural current of theriver to go against, we found it too strong for us, and began to thinkof quitting our bark; but the prince would by no means agree to that,for, finding we had on board pretty good store of roping made of matsand flags, which I described before, he ordered all the prisoners whichwere on shore to come and take hold of those ropes, and tow us along bythe shore side; and as we hoisted our sail too, to ease them, the menran along with us at a very great rate.
In this manner the river carried us up, by our computation, near 200miles, and then it narrowed apace, and was not above as broad as theThames is at Windsor, or thereabouts; and, after another day, we cameto a great waterfall or cataract, enough to fright us, for I believe thewhole body of water fell at once perpendicularly down a precipiceabove sixty foot high, which made noise enough to deprive men of theirhearing, and we heard it above ten miles before we came to it.
Here we were at a full stop, and now our prisoners went first on shore;they had worked very hard and very cheerfully, relieving one another,those that were weary being taken into the bark. Had we had canoes orany boats which might have been carried by men's strength we might havegone two hundred miles more up this river in small boats, but our greatboat could go no farther.
All this way the country looked green and pleasant, and was full ofcattle, and some people we saw, though not many; but this we observednow, that the people did no more understand our prisoners here thanwe could understand them; being, it seems, of different nations and ofdifferent speech. We had yet seen no wild beasts, or, at least, nonethat came very near us, except two days before we came to the waterfall,when we saw three of the most beautiful leopards that ever were seen,standing upon the bank of the river on the north side, our prisonersbeing all on the other side of the water. Our gunner espied them first,and ran to fetch his gun, putting a ball extraordinary in it; and comingto me, "Now, Captain Bob," says he, "where is your prince?" So I calledhim out. "Now," says he, "tell your men not to be afraid; tell them theyshall see that thing in his hand speak in fire to one of those beasts,and make it kill itself."
The poor negroes looked as if they had been all going to be killed,notwithstanding what their prince said to them, and stood staring toexpect the issue, when on a sudden the gunner fired; and as he was avery good marksman, he shot the creature with two slugs, just in thehead. As soon as the leopard felt herself struck, she reared up on hertwo hind-legs, bolt upright, and throwing her forepaws about in the air,fell backward, growling and struggling, and immediately died; the othertwo, frighted with the fire and the noise, fled, and were out of sightin an instant.
But the two frighted leopards were not in half the consternation thatour prisoners were; four or five of them fell down as if
they had beenshot; several others fell on their knees, and lifted up their hands tous; whether to worship us, or pray us not to kill them, we did not know;but we made signs to their prince to encourage them, which he did, butit was with much ado that he brought them to their senses. Nay, theprince, notwithstanding all that was said to prepare him for it, yetwhen the piece went off, he gave a start as if he would have leaped intothe river.
When we saw the creature killed, I had a great mind to have the skin ofher, and made signs to the prince that he should send some of his menover to take the skin off. As soon as he spoke but a word, four of them,that offered themselves, were untied, and immediately they jumped intothe river, and swam over, and went to work with him. The prince having aknife that we gave him, made four wooden knives so clever, that I neversaw anything like them in my life; and in less than an hour's time theybrought me the skin of the leopard, which was a monstrous great one, forit was from the ears to the tale about seven foot, and near five footbroad on the back, and most admirably spotted all over. The skin of thisleopard I brought to London many years after.
We were now all upon a level as to our travelling, being unshipped, forour bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on ourbacks; but as we found the course of the river went a great way farther,we consulted our carpenters whether we could not pull the bark inpieces, and make us three or four small boats to go on with. They toldus we might do so, but it would be very long a-doing; and that, whenwe had done, we had neither pitch or tar to make them sound to keep thewater out, or nails to fasten the plank. But one of them told us that assoon as he could come at any large tree near the river, he would makeus a canoe or two in a quarter of the time, and which would serve usas well for all the uses we could have any occasion for as a boat; andsuch, that if we came to any waterfalls, we might take them up, andcarry