CHAP. III
Arrives at Leghorn. Touches at the Canaries in his return. Enters with a Dutch captain for China. Is cast away. Gets to land with one Thomas. In great distress for food and water. Go in search of them but in vain. Find water. Terrified by a wild boar. Are in great distress for food.
Hope of meeting inhabitants. Combat a wild bull. Kill him. Eat of him before dead. Lodge in a tree.
WE set sail the next morning, and in due time arrived with our cargoe at Leghorn, where I got leave once or twice to go on shoar; for my view was, to observe if it would be worth my while to settle there; but I found the town so stocked with English manufactures of all sorts in my way, at so much a cheaper price than I could possibly make them at, that I soon dropt all thoughts of an establishment in that country, and resolved to return on board my ship for England again; hoping, that the remembrance of my description would be quite worn out by that time.
Captain Marriot, (for that was my captain’s name) was to touch at the Canaries, before we returned home, and accordingly we arrived there, where we stayed some time to take in a lading of wines, with which we were to proceed for England. During our stay, there arrived a Dutch vessel, bound for China in the East-Indies, the master of whom was very diligent m picking up sailors, having lost several in his voyage. I no sooner had notice thereof, but I told Captain Marriot, that as I received no pay I hoped he would please to dismiss me, acquainting him with the opportunity I now had of seeing the East-Indies, for which I had always had a great desire; and that I did not doubt, but the Dutchman would enter me upon immediate pay. I confess, I was dubious whether the captain would have complied with me or not, and believe, that had we been outward bound he would not; but however, he made but little opposition, and seeing me so earnestly bent upon going, he discharged me.
I immediately entered myself with the Dutch skipper upon full pay, he making no further enquiries after my abilities as a sailor, and setting sail, we had a very prosperous voyage, till we came near the Malaccas, when a storm arising at north-north-east, it blew such a hurricane, that our shrouds were almost all torn away; we were at last obliged to cut down our masts, and leave ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and had we not had a very sound ship under us, we could not have stood it an hour in the violence of the weather that lay on us.
This storm continued with very little intermission for seventeen days, during which time the sea had been over us forty times, and we were half full of water, being obliged to throw out great part of the lading to lighten the ship, and to keep hands constantly at the pump.
We had thirty-two hands on board, but with labour and watching, we were so reduced in our strength, that we could scarce crawl about the deck; and what was now worst of all was, we found-but little mitigation of the storm. On the eighteenth morning, the man at the steerage called out, he saw land; this, though it rejoiced us all, seemed to be but comfortless news at last, when we heard it lay full to leeward of us; for having no command of the vessel, we could expect little less than to be dashed to pieces against the rocks or shoals the shore might abound with.
The captain having observed the land, could not conceive what it was called; but on coming nearer, we plainly perceived it to be a flat shore, and somewhat mountainous above it; we longed for night to take some observation, but it was too cloudy, and we were before the close of day gotten within two leagues of it : As the wind still continued very high, and our rudder answered but very little, having no sail, we gave ourselves up for lost before morning; and about the middle of the night we felt such a thump against the head of the vessel as threw us all flat. Our consternation was not over, when we felt ourselves rise up suddenly, and by the subsiding of the wave which then bore us, we ere again let down with such a force, as left the ship immoveable, and broke great part of the head through, and the waves washed us over and over with such violence, that many of the men were forced away with them, nor could any moveable upon deck resist their fury.
Myself and one or two more had lashed ourselves to a stump of one of the masts, and held the end of the cord in our hands, in which posture we resisted the wash of two or three terrible waves that broke over us, though we were cruelly beaten and bruised by the impetuous force of the water against us.
When we recovered a little, we could not see a soul on board but ourselves, and the water was up full chuck to the head of the hatchway; so that we did not doubt, but that every soul had perished but ourselves; and whilst we were bemoaning our conditions and waiting our fate, we heard something dash violently into the water behind us; upon which, Caleb Rogers, one of us, ran to see what it was, and calling to us, said, it was the main-mast, which had hung by the ropes to the side of the vessel when it was washed over; he advised us, whilst it was within reach, to commit ourselves to it, and not untill the ship bulged and we perished there. This invitation rousing us, Peter, Thomas, and I, unlashed ourselves and ran to him. The mast still hung at the top by a small cord, which kept it from parting from the ship, and Rogers asked, if either of us had an instrument or knife to cut it a-float with, which each of us having, we all three leaped upon the mast, and disjoining it from the vessel, delivered up ourselves to the mercy of the wind and waves.
We clung to the mast till we were within half a mile of the land; but the billows broke so high over us, that we were immersed frequently for near a minute wholly in water, before we rose through them again; the repetition of which so spent and wasted our strength and spirits, that we had scarce power to keep our holds to the mast.
We were now within twenty yards of the shore, and at times could touch it with our feet, when Rogers, (impatient of his situation, and fearing, that the mast should strike against his legs and break them, if any wave should drive it on with violence) got off, at about middle deep, and strove for the shore on his legs; but a prodigious surge pursuing him, raised up the mast with us upon it, and letting us furiously down upon the sand, almost beat the breath out of our bodies; (for we drew up our legs and lay flat upon it) This shock, we presume, beat down poor Rogers, and the return of the breaker carried him back to the sea, for we never saw him more. By the time we had recovered from the shock we had received, the water turning, left the mast a-ground, which we no sooner saw, than starting up, we ran to land for lives: Though one single breaker more overtaking us, when it was almost spent, it threw us down indeed, but we were cast too forward to be returned with it, and before another could come up to us, we were out of their reach.
When we had gotten out of danger of the water we were amazed to reflect, how it was possible, (amidst the contention of the waves, which laboured in our view like mountains,) for us two poor creatures to escape upon our mast, which was of less force and significance amongst them, than a small twig would be on a raging inland river.
We thanked God for our lives, and walked up to the more rising ground, by which time the sun was near setting, (for it had shone a little this afternoon;) we wrung each other’s cloaths as dry as possibly we could, and having no change, we were forced to retain our wet ones; but we took the precaution to keep stirring, for fear of chilling our limbs; though after our fatigue, rest would have been of great refreshment to us: At length, it growing very dark, we were forced to lay us down amongst some shrubs, and bushes that grew there, to shelter “s from the inclemency of the wind, which still raged at a great rate.
We had not lain long, but Thomas, to my thinking, making a great bustle, (for I could not see what he was at,) I asked him, what he was doing? When he told me, that his shirt clinging most uncomfortably to his body, he had stripped himself, to let it dry in the wind. This induced me, who suffered the like inconvenience, to follow his example; so slipping on our jackets, we hung our breeches, waistcoats, and shirts to dry, which the wind soon perfected; and then slipping them on, we dried our jackets; and tho’ it took us up some time, yet it fully recompensed us, by the satisfaction with which we afterwards lay down to compose ourselves; and I believe it contributed very much to the sweetness of our sleep, which lasted till the sun was a good heighth the next morning.
We waked very reasonably refreshed; when being more easy in our minds, and our vigour being somewhat recruited, we returned thanks for the blessed refreshment we had received, and turned our further thoughts to the discovery of some means, whereby we might, after so miraculous a preservation, still continue ourselves in being. We looked wistfully towards our ship, of which we could only now and then see something blackish, when the sinking of the water on that spot discovered it; and being both very hungry, we agreed, that no time was to be lost, in seeking somewhat to satisfy that demand : But whether the land or the shoar would be properest to direct our steps to first, was a doubt.
We saw at about half a mile distance from us, the skirts of some large woods, which seeming to rise higher, the further they went from us, pave us hopes of discovering some eatable fruits there; but then, we knew not by what men or beasts they might be inhabited, and possibly in seeking life there, we might meet with death; but our occasions growing too urgent to be trifled with, we postponed all dismal prospects, to the hopes of accomplishing our desires, and having no baggage to carry, we were prepared as quick as thought for our march.
It was a flattish country we had to pass, interspersed with shrubs, several whereof were in flower, and smelt deliciously; we picked of them as we went along, and chewing them, brought a refreshing moisture into our mouths, which was very pleasing to us. We saw several small creatures like weazels, as near as we could guess, but could not come nigh enough to any of them, to discover their just make and proportion; and at length, just before we came to the entrance of the woods, we saw several yellow berries, that grew on a sort of shrub we had not before observed, though we were fearful of tasting them, in hopes of finding somewhat more to our purpose amongst the great trees; but all our search was in vain, for there was neither fruit, nut, or berry to be seen; and by the number of blossoms we met with, we judged it an improper time of the year to expect any and this gave us a particular air of melancholy for having passed through this wood, in the search of which we had spent many hours we were at length obliged to take up with the tenderest branches of the trees for our support, and then setting down on the further side of it to rest ourselves, we began to lament our want of water also, having seen not the least sign of any in all our walk.
From the verge of the wood we had thus passed, we saw another large one not a quarter of a mile from us, with a sharp valley between, very much over-run with bushes, insomuch, that we feared it would be difficult to pass it; but still by the situation of it, we were in hopes of water in the lower parts, and so indeed it happened; but we had a hard task to get at it; for the bushes that grew thicker the nearer we approached to it, almost tore us to pieces in our passage.
This valley reached both ways as far as we could see, and was very full of shrubs, bushes, and low trees; when we arrived at the bottom, we found a fine rill of water, very clear and sweet; but the brambles and thorns had so intertwined each other on the banks, that we were near an hour clearing a way with our knives to come at it.
Our next difficulty was, how to get over it, resolved to search the wood on the other side if possible, in hopes still of finding something eatable; but the banks were exceeding steep, and though the cut itself was not above ten or twelve yards wide, yet it being very much clogged with twigs and thorns, which the current had brought forward, and lodged amongst the branches, that shot cross from one side almost to the other of it, we were apprehensive of a dangerous passage, especially as we were unacquainted with the depth of the water; but in order to fathom it, we cut each of us a strong strait shoot from some of the trees, about twelve foot long, by the help of which, we made experiments to find out the most fordable places; and at length, having with much ado, forced our way through all opposition; at about one hundred yards above us, we came to a seeming ford, where we could visibly discern, on the opposite shore, the traces and footsteps of beasts, and by the number of them, and their seeming freshness, were satisfied, that it must be a common entrance for the wild inhabitants of the country; this put us upon our guard for fear of a surprise, having as yet seen nothing that had conveyed the least idea of danger to us.
We crossed this common ford, at little above knees in water, and being arrived on the other shore, held a counsel, what was best to be done, in case of any violence from the wild creatures, which we were now too sensible the neighbouring woods must abound with. We had no other weapon, either of offence or defence, than our long poles, which amongst the trees would be unmanageable; and then, should we be assaulted they being so long and cumbersome, we could expect but to give our adversary one blow, before he would be upon us; at length, we agreed to sharpen our poles at one end, very taper, that they might serve us to push, as well as to strike with, which having done, and cut off about three foot from the length of each, we set forward, very circumspectly to the wood, looking every way, and listening at the least noise we heard.
We were not many paces from the wood, labouring through a thicket, when we heard a violent snort, (which to our terrified apprehensions sounded as loud as a cannon) not many poles from us; this made us stop as dead as a pointer on winding his game; but after listening for some minutes, without making the least stir, and finding every thing about us quiet, our fears subsiding a little, we gently stepped forward again; but being forced to push ourselves through the branches and bushes that obstructed our way, we could not stir a foot without making a great rustling. The first noise we made, produced a second snort, to our thinking more dreadful than the first; this fixed us trembling to the spot like images; but again, all being hush’d, we whispered very softly to each other, that it would be to no se to stand there enclosed in the underwood which would render our arms useless, if we should be attacked, and give us up at once a prey to our assailant; and then came to a resolution, that as the wood was so very near where we plainly saw we should have more room to put ourselves upon the defensive, we would at all hazards make a bold rush to it, in spite of every opposition. With this resolution, we sprang forward, struggling with all our might, till we came through the thicket to the wood, which we instantly gained: But from the moment we began to stir, our hairs stood on end on our heads, and our blood ran thro’ us as cold as water, at hearing not only another snort, but such a terrible hoarse grumbling, that we expected nothing less, than some monstrous lyon to oppose us in the wood; we instantly drew up upon our guard, facing the quarter from whence the sound came, where we beheld a prodigious wild boar, rushing through the trees, about twenty paces below us, making the wood eccho with his grunting; but we standing quite still, with our sticks pointing towards him, he trotted off at a great rate through the cover, without turning to attack us.
We stood quite still, till he was gone out of sight, but could hear him much further than we could see him; nor could we collect our spirits again for some time after; not doubting, but we should be forced to encounter several of the same kind, if we were obliged to traverse the woods for food. We searched very narrowly on every tree, but could see nothing like fruit thereon, or any thing to satisfy the demands of nature, the want of which supply, began to cause a great faintness in our bodies.
What could we do in this dilemma! die we must a lingering death, if we could find nothing, and nothing could be found without search; neither was it at all more dangerous to meet wild beasts in our travels, than to wait them where we were; who would as certainly range to the places we should be in, as elsewhere: So that having death on the one hand certain, if we were idle ; with a chance of a supply, as a reward for our diligence, (on the other hand) if we were active ; we brushed on, referring ourselves to providence for protection.
It must be allowed to be a melancholy situation that we were in, when we had spent the whole day to no manner of purpose, as to the main view of our travel; and not only so, but we were now so far withdrawn from the rivulet, that even that comfort was out of all prospect of being attained till the next day: Thomas declared himself to be so far spent about sun set, that he wished with all his heart, he had been torn to pieces by the boar, rather than to suffer the rack of his present hopeless condition; and regularly to contradict it,) when not far from us, we heard the lowing of some cow or bull as we then thought; then hearing it again; come Thomas, says I, cheer up lad, we are nearer company than we thought for, here are inhabitants at hand, don’t you hear their cattle? He told me, he imagined he did. I own, says he, if I thought there were any civilized people near us, I could shake off my melancholy, and be glad to meet them, notwithstanding what has passed; then rising, we both directed our steps to the quarter the lowing came from; but had not passed far, before we perceived ourselves sorely disappointed in our expectations; for the first object that presented to us, was a prodigious fierce bull, whetting his horns against a large tree, bellowing and pawing with desperate fury.
The part of the wood we were then in, being very plain at bottom, and free from underwood, and consisting only of very large trees, standing at a tolerable distance from each other; we had but just time to regulate our conduct, (which was, that we would dodge him behind the trees, and by no means quit our station, but keep the same stand we first occupied) before he espied us: Then setting his tail erect, and shaking his head very terribly, he made full at us, who by this time, had taken our stand behind two several large trees: The first that he made at was Thomas, lowering his head to gore him; when he slipping behind the tree, the creature, with all the violence and malice imaginable, pushed sometimes on this and again on that side; but still as he changed his station, Thomas changed his, myself standing trembling for my companion, behind two large trunks, which had shot from one stem, and had left an open space between.
I could very easily have climbed up one of the stems, and have secured myself in the branches, but did not know how soon there might be a necessity for my assisting my comrade; for it was not without the exactest judgment that he had avoided the creature so long as he had; but at length, the beast being almost mad to be disappointed of his aim, clapping his forehead against the tree, he seemed to strive with all his force to overturn it; this Thomas perceiving, he struck the sharp point of his pole quite into the creature’s eye. The anguish of the wound, enraged the bull ten times more if possible than before; and running backwards some paces, he reared up perpendicularly, bellowing, roaring, and pawing with his fore feet in the air; but in his return to the ground, (having turned his body about in his agitation,) he missed the sight of Thomas, and made directly at me; I standing and looking on between the two stems I have mentioned. On his approach, I retired behind one of the stems; but the beast having seen me between them, made a leap to come through; when his horn happening (on the blind side) to strike against the tree, and thereby stopping the force of his leap, he fell short between the two stems, which growing close toward the bottom, and opening wider the higher they rose, caught him fast in the cleft at the flank, so that he could neither draw his buttocks after him, or withdraw his fore part from it.
The rage of the brute at this accident was inexpressible; his fury even shook both the large trees from the foundation; but Thomas and I perceiving that all his struggles would be fruitless, and that he had already torn a large gash in his flank, and would rather have borne the anguish of disjointing his hinder parts from the body, than have ceased from endeavouring his escape; we both came before him, in order to dispatch him; when observing what a benefit the loss of one eye had been to us, I directly ran my pole into the other; and then new sharpening and tapering our poles, one of us on the right, and the other on the left side, ran them into his body, just below his shoulder bone, which presently brought him to his knees, and killed him.
The fall of the beast gave us time to recruit our breath a little, and to recover from our fears: But I almost ashamed to say, that the beast was scarce breathless, before we had each of us devoured a part of him; though our pressing necessities may be a reasonable excuse for us: For he had no sooner fallen upon his knees, unable to renew his former efforts, than our knives were in his haunches, cutting slices to appease our hunger; and though we had neither cook or seasoning, I have often called it to mind, as the most excellent dainty, I ever tasted in my whole life.
After so seasonable and elegant a refreshment, we both began to consider our lives at a much greater price than we had just before esteemed them at, and that the preservation of them was worth our future concern; wherefore we came to a resolution, of lodging on the crown of some of the trees thereabouts, (where were several of them overgrown with a creeping plant, not unlike our ivy in nature, though different in leaf,) and were not long finding one of capacity to contain us both; upon this we mounted with each other’s help; the body of it, though not very high, was yet of too enormous a bulk for us to grasp or swarm up; so that I mounting up on Thomas’s back, and thereby reaching the branches, clambered up myself first, and then extending my arm to him, I drew him up to me.
The crown of the tree could be no less than five foot diameter, and was pretty near circular, covered over with a fine dry mould, which had been formed in length of time from the decayed leaves which had lodged there, and over that were innumerable fine tender shoots of the running plant, as full of leaves as possible; so that we lay as comfortable as on a down bed and having both agreed to acquiesce in the absence of water till morning, we fell into a sound and delightful sleep.