our men in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn
themselves; for if they fled one way they were met by one party, if
back again by another, so that they were everywhere knocked down;
nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one that
sprained his foot, and another that had one of his hands burned.
CHAPTER X--HE IS LEFT ON SHORE
I was very angry with my nephew, the captain, and indeed with all
the men, but with him in particular, as well for his acting so out
of his duty as a commander of the ship, and having the charge of
the voyage upon him, as in his prompting, rather than cooling, the
rage of his blind men in so bloody and cruel an enterprise. My
nephew answered me very respectfully, but told me that when he saw
the body of the poor seaman whom they had murdered in so cruel and
barbarous a manner, he was not master of himself, neither could he
govern his passion; he owned he should not have done so, as he was
commander of the ship; but as he was a man, and nature moved him,
he could not bear it. As for the rest of the men, they were not
subject to me at all, and they knew it well enough; so they took no
notice of my dislike. The next day we set sail, so we never heard
any more of it. Our men differed in the account of the number they
had killed; but according to the best of their accounts, put all
together, they killed or destroyed about one hundred and fifty
people, men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in
the town. As for the poor fellow Tom Jeffry, as he was quite dead
(for his throat was so cut that his head was half off), it would do
him no service to bring him away; so they only took him down from
the tree, where he was hanging by one hand.
However just our men thought this action, I was against them in it,
and I always, after that time, told them God would blast the
voyage; for I looked upon all the blood they shed that night to be
murder in them. For though it is true that they had killed Tom
Jeffry, yet Jeffry was the aggressor, had broken the truce, and had
ill-used a young woman of theirs, who came down to them innocently,
and on the faith of the public capitulation.
The boatswain defended this quarrel when we were afterwards on
board. He said it was true that we seemed to break the truce, but
really had not; and that the war was begun the night before by the
natives themselves, who had shot at us, and killed one of our men
without any just provocation; so that as we were in a capacity to
fight them now, we might also be in a capacity to do ourselves
justice upon them in an extraordinary manner; that though the poor
man had taken a little liberty with the girl, he ought not to have
been murdered, and that in such a villainous manner: and that they
did nothing but what was just and what the laws of God allowed to
be done to murderers. One would think this should have been enough
to have warned us against going on shore amongst the heathens and
barbarians; but it is impossible to make mankind wise but at their
own expense, and their experience seems to be always of most use to
them when it is dearest bought.
We were now bound to the Gulf of Persia, and from thence to the
coast of Coromandel, only to touch at Surat; but the chief of the
supercargo's design lay at the Bay of Bengal, where, if he missed
his business outward-bound, he was to go out to China, and return
to the coast as he came home. The first disaster that befell us
was in the Gulf of Persia, where five of our men, venturing on
shore on the Arabian side of the gulf, were surrounded by the
Arabians, and either all killed or carried away into slavery; the
rest of the boat's crew were not able to rescue them, and had but
just time to get off their boat. I began to upbraid them with the
just retribution of Heaven in this case; but the boatswain very
warmly told me, he thought I went further in my censures than I
could show any warrant for in Scripture; and referred to Luke xiii.
4, where our Saviour intimates that those men on whom the Tower of
Siloam fell were not sinners above all the Galileans; but that
which put me to silence in the case was, that not one of these five
men who were now lost were of those who went on shore to the
massacre of Madagascar, so I always called it, though our men could
not bear to hear the word MASSACRE with any patience.
But my frequent preaching to them on this subject had worse
consequences than I expected; and the boatswain, who had been the
head of the attempt, came up boldly to me one time, and told me he
found that I brought that affair continually upon the stage; that I
made unjust reflections upon it, and had used the men very ill on
that account, and himself in particular; that as I was but a
passenger, and had no command in the ship, or concern in the
voyage, they were not obliged to bear it; that they did not know
but I might have some ill-design in my head, and perhaps to call
them to an account for it when they came to England; and that,
therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and also
not to concern myself any further with him, or any of his affairs,
he would leave the ship; for he did not think it safe to sail with
me among them.
I heard him patiently enough till he had done, and then told him
that I confessed I had all along opposed the massacre of
Madagascar, and that I had, on all occasions, spoken my mind freely
about it, though not more upon him than any of the rest; that as to
having no command in the ship, that was true; nor did I exercise
any authority, only took the liberty of speaking my mind in things
which publicly concerned us all; and what concern I had in the
voyage was none of his business; that I was a considerable owner in
the ship. In that claim I conceived I had a right to speak even
further than I had done, and would not be accountable to him or any
one else, and began to be a little warm with him. He made but
little reply to me at that time, and I thought the affair had been
over. We were at this time in the road at Bengal; and being
willing to see the place, I went on shore with the supercargo in
the ship's boat to divert myself; and towards evening was preparing
to go on board, when one of the men came to me, and told me he
would not have me trouble myself to come down to the boat, for they
had orders not to carry me on board any more. Any one may guess
what a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and I asked the
man who bade him deliver that message to me? He told me the
coxswain.
I immediately found out the supercargo, and told him the story,
adding that I foresaw there would be a mutiny in the ship; and
entreated him to go immediately on board and acquaint the captain
of it. But I might have spared this intelligence, for before I had
spoken to him on shore the matter was effected on board. The
boatswain, the gunner, the carpenter, and all the inferior
officers, as soon as I was
gone off in the boat, came up, and
desired to speak with the captain; and then the boatswain, making a
long harangue, and repeating all he had said to me, told the
captain that as I was now gone peaceably on shore, they were loath
to use any violence with me, which, if I had not gone on shore,
they would otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone. They
therefore thought fit to tell him that as they shipped themselves
to serve in the ship under his command, they would perform it well
and faithfully; but if I would not quit the ship, or the captain
oblige me to quit it, they would all leave the ship, and sail no
further with him; and at that word ALL he turned his face towards
the main-mast, which was, it seems, a signal agreed on, when the
seamen, being got together there, cried out, "ONE AND ALL! ONE AND
ALL!"
My nephew, the captain, was a man of spirit, and of great presence
of mind; and though he was surprised, yet he told them calmly that
he would consider of the matter, but that he could do nothing in it
till he had spoken to me about it. He used some arguments with
them, to show them the unreasonableness and injustice of the thing,
but it was all in vain; they swore, and shook hands round before
his face, that they would all go on shore unless he would engage to
them not to suffer me to come any more on board the ship.
This was a hard article upon him, who knew his obligation to me,
and did not know how I might take it. So he began to talk smartly
to them; told them that I was a very considerable owner of the
ship, and that if ever they came to England again it would cost
them very dear; that the ship was mine, and that he could not put
me out of it; and that he would rather lose the ship, and the
voyage too, than disoblige me so much: so they might do as they
pleased. However, he would go on shore and talk with me, and
invited the boatswain to go with him, and perhaps they might
accommodate the matter with me. But they all rejected the
proposal, and said they would have nothing to do with me any more;
and if I came on board they would all go on shore. "Well," said
the captain, "if you are all of this mind, let me go on shore and
talk with him." So away he came to me with this account, a little
after the message had been brought to me from the coxswain.
I was very glad to see my nephew, I must confess; for I was not
without apprehensions that they would confine him by violence, set
sail, and run away with the ship; and then I had been stripped
naked in a remote country, having nothing to help myself; in short,
I had been in a worse case than when I was alone in the island.
But they had not come to that length, it seems, to my satisfaction;
and when my nephew told me what they had said to him, and how they
had sworn and shook hands that they would, one and all, leave the
ship if I was suffered to come on board, I told him he should not
be concerned at it at all, for I would stay on shore. I only
desired he would take care and send me all my necessary things on
shore, and leave me a sufficient sum of money, and I would find my
way to England as well as I could. This was a heavy piece of news
to my nephew, but there was no way to help it but to comply; so, in
short, he went on board the ship again, and satisfied the men that
his uncle had yielded to their importunity, and had sent for his
goods from on board the ship; so that the matter was over in a few
hours, the men returned to their duty, and I began to consider what
course I should steer.
I was now alone in a most remote part of the world, for I was near
three thousand leagues by sea farther off from England than I was
at my island; only, it is true, I might travel here by land over
the Great Mogul's country to Surat, might go from thence to Bassora
by sea, up the Gulf of Persia, and take the way of the caravans,
over the desert of Arabia, to Aleppo and Scanderoon; from thence by
sea again to Italy, and so overland into France. I had another way
before me, which was to wait for some English ships, which were
coming to Bengal from Achin, on the island of Sumatra, and get
passage on board them from England. But as I came hither without
any concern with the East Indian Company, so it would be difficult
to go from hence without their licence, unless with great favour of
the captains of the ships, or the company's factors: and to both I
was an utter stranger.
Here I had the mortification to see the ship set sail without me;
however, my nephew left me two servants, or rather one companion
and one servant; the first was clerk to the purser, whom he engaged
to go with me, and the other was his own servant. I then took a
good lodging in the house of an Englishwoman, where several
merchants lodged, some French, two Italians, or rather Jews, and
one Englishman. Here I stayed above nine months, considering what
course to take. I had some English goods with me of value, and a
considerable sum of money; my nephew furnishing me with a thousand
pieces of eight, and a letter of credit for more if I had occasion,
that I might not be straitened, whatever might happen. I quickly
disposed of my goods to advantage; and, as I originally intended, I
bought here some very good diamonds, which, of all other things,
were the most proper for me in my present circumstances, because I
could always carry my whole estate about me.
During my stay here many proposals were made for my return to
England, but none falling out to my mind, the English merchant who
lodged with me, and whom I had contracted an intimate acquaintance
with, came to me one morning, saying: "Countryman, I have a
project to communicate, which, as it suits with my thoughts, may,
for aught I know, suit with yours also, when you shall have
thoroughly considered it. Here we are posted, you by accident and
I by my own choice, in a part of the world very remote from our own
country; but it is in a country where, by us who understand trade
and business, a great deal of money is to be got. If you will put
one thousand pounds to my one thousand pounds, we will hire a ship
here, the first we can get to our minds. You shall be captain,
I'll be merchant, and we'll go a trading voyage to China; for what
should we stand still for? The whole world is in motion; why
should we be idle?"
I liked this proposal very well; and the more so because it seemed
to be expressed with so much goodwill. In my loose, unhinged
circumstances, I was the fitter to embrace a proposal for trade, or
indeed anything else. I might perhaps say with some truth, that if
trade was not my element, rambling was; and no proposal for seeing
any part of the world which I had never seen before could possibly
come amiss to me. It was, however, some time before we could get a
ship to our minds, and when we had got a vessel, it was not easy to
get English sailors--that is to say, so many as were necessary to
govern the voyage a
nd manage the sailors which we should pick up
there. After some time we got a mate, a boatswain, and a gunner,
English; a Dutch carpenter, and three foremast men. With these we
found we could do well enough, having Indian seamen, such as they
were, to make up.
When all was ready we set sail for Achin, in the island of Sumatra,
and from thence to Siam, where we exchanged some of our wares for
opium and some arrack; the first a commodity which bears a great
price among the Chinese, and which at that time was much wanted
there. Then we went up to Saskan, were eight months out, and on
our return to Bengal I was very well satisfied with my adventure.
Our people in England often admire how officers, which the company
send into India, and the merchants which generally stay there, get
such very great estates as they do, and sometimes come home worth
sixty or seventy thousand pounds at a time; but it is little matter
for wonder, when we consider the innumerable ports and places where
they have a free commerce; indeed, at the ports where the English
ships come there is such great and constant demands for the growth
of all other countries, that there is a certain vent for the
returns, as well as a market abroad for the goods carried out.
I got so much money by my first adventure, and such an insight into
the method of getting more, that had I been twenty years younger, I
should have been tempted to have stayed here, and sought no farther
for making my fortune; but what was all this to a man upwards of
threescore, that was rich enough, and came abroad more in obedience
to a restless desire of seeing the world than a covetous desire of
gaining by it? A restless desire it really was, for when I was at
home I was restless to go abroad; and when I was abroad I was
restless to be at home. I say, what was this gain to me? I was
rich enough already, nor had I any uneasy desires about getting
more money; therefore the profit of the voyage to me was of no
great force for the prompting me forward to further undertakings.
Hence, I thought that by this voyage I had made no progress at all,
because I was come back, as I might call it, to the place from
whence I came, as to a home: whereas, my eye, like that which
Solomon speaks of, was never satisfied with seeing. I was come
into a part of the world which I was never in before, and that
part, in particular, which I heard much of, and was resolved to see
as much of it as I could: and then I thought I might say I had
seen all the world that was worth seeing.
But my fellow-traveller and I had different notions: I acknowledge
his were the more suited to the end of a merchant's life: who,
when he is abroad upon adventures, is wise to stick to that, as the
best thing for him, which he is likely to get the most money by.
On the other hand, mine was the notion of a mad, rambling boy, that
never cares to see a thing twice over. But this was not all: I
had a kind of impatience upon me to be nearer home, and yet an
unsettled resolution which way to go. In the interval of these
consultations, my friend, who was always upon the search for
business, proposed another voyage among the Spice Islands, to bring
home a loading of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts.
We were not long in preparing for this voyage; the chief difficulty
was in bringing me to come into it. However, at last, nothing else
offering, and as sitting still, to me especially, was the
unhappiest part of life, I resolved on this voyage too, which we
made very successfully, touching at Borneo and several other
islands, and came home in about five months, when we sold our
spices, with very great profit, to the Persian merchants, who
carried them away to the Gulf. My friend, when we made up this
account, smiled at me: "Well, now," said he, with a sort of
friendly rebuke on my indolent temper, "is not this better than
walking about here, like a man with nothing to do, and spending our
time in staring at the nonsense and ignorance of the Pagans?"--