A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume X Part 9

[Footnote 71: These were probably young unfledged sea-gulls, called in provincial English _Malls, Maws_, and _Mews,_ not unlike the Dutch names in the text; where perhaps we ought to read Malle _or_ Mewen.--E.]

Soon leaving this inhospitable place, they put to sea again, and on the 1st of June, while endeavouring to reach Ascension, they got back to the coast of Brazil. Not being suffered to land any where on the continent, they sailed to the isle of Santa Clara, an island of about a mile round, and as much from the continent, in lat. 21 15' S. This island afforded little else beyond herbs, but they found here a sour fruit resembling plums, which cured all their sick men in fifteen days. They sailed from thence for Port Desire, in lat 47 40' S. on the 16th June, and reached that place on the 20th September, after enduring much bad weather. They procured abundance of penguins and fish, at an island three miles south from Port Desire; killing to the number of 50,000 penguins, which are nearly as large as geese, and procured a vast quant.i.ty of their eggs, by which their people were greatly refreshed, and the sick restored. Going up the river on the 5th October, and landing in the country, they found animals resembling stags, together with buffaloes, and ostriches in great numbers, and even found some of the nests of these birds, in which were as far as nineteen eggs. The 20th, the admiral went ash.o.r.e to view the country, leaving orders with those who were left in charge of the boats, not to leave them a moment on any account: But they, having a mind also to see the country, ventured upon a short ramble, when they fell into an ambush of the savages, who slew three of their number, and wounded the fourth. These savages were very tall portly men, painted, and armed with short bows, and arrows headed with stone.

Leaving Port Desire on the 29th September, they reached Cape Virgin at the entrance into the Straits of Magellan on the 24th November. The land here is low and plain, and from the whiteness of the coast somewhat resembles the chalk cliffs of England in the channel. In many attempts to enter the straits, they were beaten back by tempests of wind, accompanied by rain, hail, and snow. They lost their anchors, and broke their cables, and sickness, together with contention, which is worse than any disease, were added to their other calamities. All these so r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress of the voyage, that it was near fifteen months after leaving Holland before they could make their way into the straits.

They observed the land to trend from Cape Virgin to the S.W. and the mouth of the straits to be fourteen miles distant from that cape, and half a mile wide.[72] On the 25th November, they saw some men on two islands near Cape Na.s.sau, who shook their weapons at the Hollanders, as in defiance. The Dutch landed, and pursued the savages into a cave, which they bravely defended to the last man, and were all slain on the spot. Going now into this dark cave, the Dutch found the women and children of the slain savages, when the mothers, expecting present death to themselves and their infants, covered their little ones with their own bodies, as if determined to receive the first stab. But the Dutch did them no other injury, except taking away four boys and two girls, whom they carried on s.h.i.+p board.

[Footnote 72: These must necessarily be Dutch miles, 15 to the degree, each equal to nearly 4.66 English miles. By the mouth of the straits in the text, must be understood what is called the Narrows of the Hope.--E.]

From one of these boys, after he had learnt the Dutch language, they had the following intelligence. The larger of the two islands was named _Castemme_ by the natives, and the tribe inhabiting it _Enoo_. The smaller island was called _Talche_. Both were frequented by great numbers of penguins, the flesh of which served the natives as food, and their skins for cloathing. Their only habitations were caves. The neighbouring continent abounded in ostriches, which they also used as food. The natives of these dreary regions were distinguished into tribes, each having their respective residences. The _Kemenetes_ dwelt in _Kaesay;_ the _Kennekin_ in _Karamay_; the _Karaiks_ in _Morina_: All these are of the ordinary size, but broad-breasted, and painted all over; the men tying up their pudenda in a string, and the women covering their parts of shame with the skins of a penguin; the men wearing their hair long, while that of the women was kept very short; and both s.e.xes going naked, except cloaks made of penguin skins, reaching only to the waist. There was also a fourth tribe, called _Tirimenen_, dwelling in _Coin_, who were of a gigantic stature, being ten or twelve feet high,[73] and continually at war with the other tribes.

[Footnote 73: This absurdity might be pardoned in the ignorant savage boy, who knew neither numerals nor measures; but in the grave reporters it is truly ridiculous, and yet the lie has been renewed almost down to the close of the eighteenth century.--E.]

The 28th November, the navigators went over to the continent, or north side of the straits, seeing some whales at a distance, and observed a pleasant river, about which were some beautiful trees with many parrots.

Owing to this fine prospect, they called the mouth of this river _Summer Bay_. The 29th they made sail for _Port Famine_, where the land trends so far to the south, that the main land of Patagonia and the islands of Terra del Fuego seemed, when seen afar off, to join together. They found here no remains of the late city of King Philip, except a heap of stones. The straits are here four miles wide, having hills of vast height on both sides, perpetually covered with snow. At Port Famine they cut down wood to build a boat, and found the bark of the trees to be hot and biting like pepper.[74] Not finding good water at this place, and indeed doubting if it were Port Famine, they proceeded onwards, and found a good river two miles farther west on the 1st December. Next day they doubled Cape Froward, with some danger, on account of bad anchorage and contrary winds.

[Footnote 74: The Wintera aromatica, the bark of which is called Winter's bark, said to have been first discovered by Captain Winter in 1567, on the coast of Terra Magellanica. The sailors employed this bark as a spice, and found it salutary in the scurvy.--E.]

Pa.s.sing four miles beyond this cape, they anch.o.r.ed in a large bay, where was a plant resembling sneezwort, which they found serviceable in the scurvy; also another plant, which rendered those who eat of it distracted for a time. They here fell in with two s.h.i.+ps belonging to the fleet under Verhagen, which had been driven back out of the South Sea, one of which was commanded by Sebaldt de Weert, who told them he had been five months in the straits, and had only thirty-eight remaining out of 110 men, and not being able to bear up against the storms in the South Sea, had been forced to put in here, while the rest of the fleet under Verhagen held on their course.[75] These s.h.i.+ps wished to have joined the expedition under Van Noort, but were forced to remain in the straits for want of provisions, which the others could not spare. They afterwards got back to Holland on the 13th July, 1600.

[Footnote 75: The voyage of Verhagen, or so much of it rather as relates to the adventures of Sebaldt de Weert, follows the present voyage of Van Noort in the Collection by Harris, vol. I. pp. 37-44; and is, therefore, retained in the same situation on the present occasion.--E.]

Van Noort and his s.h.i.+ps left this bay on the 2d January, 1600, directing their course for Maurice bay, which they found to extend far to the eastwards, and to receive several rivers, the mouths of which were filled with vast quant.i.ties of ice, which seemed never to melt. It was now near midsummer of this southern clime, and the ice was so thick that they could not find its bottom with a line of ten fathoms. The land here seemed a congeries of broken islands, yet appearing like one continued ma.s.s, owing to the height of the mountains. They were here much distressed by hunger and continual rains, and two of their men were slain by the savages, while gathering muscles, which formed their chief subsistence. After weathering many storms in _Meniste_ bay, and having several encounters with the savages, they set sail on the 17th, and were driven into Penguin bay, or Goose bay, three miles from Meniste bay, and receiving its name from the vast mult.i.tude of penguins found there. At this place, James Claas van Ulpenda, the vice-admiral, was arraigned before a council of war, for various breaches of the articles sworn to before proceeding on the voyage. Having a fair trial, and sufficient time allowed him for his defence, he was condemned to be turned ash.o.r.e in the straits, with a small supply of provisions, and allowed to s.h.i.+ft for himself among the wild beasts and more savage inhabitants, which sentence was accordingly executed, so that he doubtless soon fell a prey either to hunger or the natives, who are implacable enemies to all strangers.

They entered another bay on the 1st February, which they called Popish bay, probably owing to some cross erected on its sh.o.r.e, and in which they were exposed to much danger. On the 27th, they saw at a distance a huge mountain of ice in Penguin bay. The 28th they pa.s.sed Cape Deseado, or Desire, into the South Sea, bidding adieu to the many dismal prospects of the Straits of Magellan. Their company, originally 248 men, was now reduced to 147, but was soon still farther lessened by losing company of the Henry Frederick, which never rejoined. Waiting for that s.h.i.+p in vain till the 12th March, they sailed to the island of Mocha on the coast of Chili, in lat. 38 22' S. and six miles [twenty English]

from the continent. This island is remarkable by a high mountain in the middle, which is cloven at the top, and whence a water-course descends into the vale land at its foot. They here bartered knives and hatchets with the natives for sheep, poultry, maize, _bartulas_,[76] and other fruits. The town consisted of about fifty straw huts, where the Dutch were regaled with a sour kind of drink, called _cici_, made of maiz steeped in water, which is the favourite drink of the Chilese at their feasts. Polygamy is much practised among these people, who buy as many wives as they can afford to maintain; so that a man who has many daughters, especially if they be handsome, is accounted rich. If one man kill another, he is judged by the relations of the deceased, as they have no laws or magistrates among them, so that the murderer may sometimes buy off his punishment by giving a drinking-bout of _cici_.

Their cloathing is manufactured from the wool of a large kind of sheep, which animal they also employ to carry burdens. They would not sell any of these, but parted freely with another kind, not very different.

[Footnote 76: This probably means battatas or potatoes, a native production of Chili.--E.]

From thence they went to the island of St Mary, in lat. 37 S. eighteen miles [ninety-five English] from Mocha, where they fell in with a Spanish s.h.i.+p carrying lard and meal from Conception to Valdivia in Araucania, which they chased and took. The pilot of this s.h.i.+p informed them that they would not be able to return to the island of St Mary, owing to the south wind, and that two Spanish s.h.i.+ps of war were waiting for them at Arica. Upon this information they resolved to sail for Valparaiso, and by that means quite lost all chance of being rejoined by the Henry Frederick, which might otherwise have got up with them.

Besides, they concluded that the missing s.h.i.+p had failed to find St Mary's isle, owing to its being wrong placed in the map of Plancius, in lat. 38 S. which error they themselves had fallen into, had they not been set right by the observations of Mr Mellish. They were farther confirmed in the resolution of not returning to the island of St Mary, by hearing of the misfortune which had there befallen Simon de Cordes, who was there butchered with twenty-three of his men, after being invited on sh.o.r.e in a friendly manner by the Indians, owing to the treachery of the Spaniards endeavouring to get possession of his two s.h.i.+ps, and sending intelligence to Lima and all about the country of the arrival of the Dutch in these seas, with a list of their s.h.i.+ps, and the names of all their commanders. For these reasons they proceeded to Valparaiso, where they took two s.h.i.+ps and killed some Indians, but all the Spaniards escaped on sh.o.r.e. Valparaiso is in lat. 35 5' S. And about eighteen miles inland, [100 English miles] is the town of St Jago, abounding in red wine and sheep. They kill these animals merely for the sake of their tallow, with which alone they load many vessels. Here they received letters from the captain of the Flying Hart, one of the squadron under Verhagen, who had been treacherously captured by the Spaniards; owing, as he alleged, to the wrong placement of the island of St Mary in the map, by which he had been misled.

At Valparaiso they intercepted some letters giving an account of the wars in Chili between the Spaniards and the Indians, who it seems were in rebellion, had sacked the town of Valdivia, putting vast numbers of Spaniards to the sword, and carrying off many captives. They burnt the houses and churches, knocking off the heads of the popish images, crying, "Down go the G.o.ds of the Spaniards." They then crammed the mouths of these images with gold, bidding them satisfy themselves with that, for the sake of which their votaries had committed so many barbarous ma.s.sacres of their nation. They afterwards laid close siege to the city of Imperial, and had almost starved the Spanish garrison into a surrender. The valiant Indians who undertook this enterprise were about 5000, of whom 5000 were cavalry, 100 were armed with muskets, and 70 had corslets, all of which were plunder they had taken from the Spaniards.

They so mortally hate the Spaniards, that they rip up the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of all they overcome, tearing out their hearts with their teeth, and they delight to drink their favourite liquor from a cup made of a Spaniard's skull.

These Indians [the Araucans] are for the most part very stout, and skilful soldiers, and commit the management of all their military affairs to the direction of one supreme general, whose orders are implicitly obeyed. Their method of election to this high dignity is very singular; for he who carries a certain log of wood on his shoulders the longest, and with the smallest appearance of weariness, is saluted general by the army. In this trial several carried the log four, five, and six hours; but at length one carried it twenty-four hours on end, and this person was now general. The whole of Chili, from St Jago to Valdivia, is one of the most fertile and most delightful countries in the world. It abounds in all kinds of cattle and fruit, has many rich gold mines, and its climate is so sweet and salubrious as to exclude the use of medicine, being health and life in itself.

They entered the bay of Guasco[77] on the 1st April, where they remained till the 7th. The 11th they came into a large bay, named _Moro Gorch_, in lat. 18 30' S. ten miles from which is _Moro Moreno_, from which the sh.o.r.e runs to Arica, and all this coast, up to the hill of St Francis, is very much subject to south winds, though the adjoining seas have the winds variable and uncertain. On the 20th the whole air was darkened by an _Arenal_ which is a cloud of dust, and so thick that one cannot see a stone's throw. These are raised by the wind from the adjoining sh.o.r.e, and are very common in these parts. The 25th they were within view of the famous city of Lima in Peru. At this time they learnt the value of the treasure of which the Spaniards had deprived them, in the s.h.i.+ps they took on the coast of Chili. Nicholas Peterson, the captain of one of these prizes, acquainted Van Noort that he had been informed by a negro of a great quant.i.ty of gold having been on board the s.h.i.+p, as he believed to the amount of three tons, having helped to carry a great part of it on board. On this information the admiral closely examined the Spanish pilot, who at first denied all knowledge of any gold; but another negro having corroborated the information, with some farther circ.u.mstances, the pilot at last owned that they had on board fifty-two chests, each containing four arobas of gold, and besides these 500 bars of the same metal, weighing from eight to ten and twelve pounds each; all of which, together with what private stock belonged to any of the company, the captain had ordered to be thrown overboard in the night, when first chased, amounting in the whole to about 10,200 pounds weight of gold; and, from its fineness, worth about two million pieces of eight, or Spanish silver dollars. Upon this the admiral ordered the s.h.i.+p and all the prisoners to be searched, but there was only found a single pound of gold dust, tied up in a rag, in the breeches pocket of the Spanish pilot. The prisoners owned that all this gold was brought from the island of St Mary, from mines discovered only three years before; and that there were not more than three or four Spaniards on that island, and about 200 Indians, only armed with bows and arrows.

[Footnote 77: Perhaps Huasco in lat. 28 27' S. or it may possibly have been Guacho, in 25 50' S.--E.]

The 5th September they came in sight of the Ladrones, and came on the 16th to Guam, one of these an island of about twenty Dutch miles in extent, and yielding fish, cocoa-nuts, bananas, and sugar canes, all of which the natives brought to the s.h.i.+ps in a great number of canoes.

Sometimes they met 200 of these canoes at one time, with four or five men in each, bawling out _hiero, hiero,_ meaning iron; and often in their eagerness they run their canoes against the s.h.i.+ps, overturning them and losing all their commodities. These islanders were a sly subtle people, and honest with good looking after; for otherwise, they would sell a basket of cocoa-nut sh.e.l.ls covered over with a small quant.i.ty of rice, as if full of rice. They would also s.n.a.t.c.h a sword from its scabbard, and plunge instantly into the water, where they dived like so many ducks; and the women were as roguish as the men, stealing as impudently, and diving as expertly to carry off their prizes.

The 17th of September they sailed for the Philippines; and on the 20th they met with ice, though then only in the lat.i.tude of 3 N.[78] On the 16th October they came to Bayla bay, in a very fertile land, at which place they procured abundance of all kinds of necessaries for their s.h.i.+ps, by pretending to be Spaniards. The Spaniards, who are lords here, make the Indians pay an annual capitation tax, to the value of ten single rials for every one above twenty years of age. The natives of these islands are mostly naked, having their skins marked with figures so deeply impressed, [_tatooed_] that they never wear out. Being discovered to be Dutch, but not till they had gained their ends, they sailed for the Straits of Manilla, all the coasts near which appeared waste, barren, and rocky. Here a sudden squall of wind from the S.E.

carried away some of their masts and sails, being more furious than any they had hitherto experienced during the voyage. The 23d some of the people went ash.o.r.e, where they eat palmitoes and drank water so greedily, that they were afterwards seized with the dysentery. The 24th they entered the straits, sailing past an island in the middle, and came in the evening past the island of Capul, seven miles within the straits, near which they found whirlpools, where the sea was of an unfathomable depth, so far as they could discover.

[Footnote 78: This surely is an error for 18, Guam being in lat. 18 20' N. yet even here, the fact of meeting ice so far within the tropic is sufficiently singular.--E.]

They now crowded sail for Manilla, which is eighty miles from Capul, but wanted both a good wind to carry them, and good maps and a skilful pilot to direct them to that place. The 7th November they took a junk from China, laden with provisions for Manilla. The master of this junk told them there were then at Manilla two great s.h.i.+ps, that come every year from New Spain, and a Dutch s.h.i.+p also which had been brought from Malacca. He said also that the town of Manilla was walled round, having two forts for protecting the s.h.i.+ps, as there was a vast trade to that place from China, not less than 400 junks coming every year from Chincheo, with silk and other valuable commodities, between Easter and December. There were also two s.h.i.+ps expected shortly from j.a.pan, laden with iron and other metals, and provisions. The 15th they took two barks, laden with hens and hogs, being part of the tribute to the Spaniards, but became food to the Dutch, who gave them a few bolts of linen in return.

They pa.s.sed the islands of _Bankingle_ and _Mindoro_, right over against which is the island of _Lou-bou_. at the distance of two miles, and between both is another small island, beside which there is a safe pa.s.sage for s.h.i.+ps. The island of Luzon is larger than England and Scotland,[79] and has a numerous cl.u.s.ter of small islands round about it; yet is more beholden to trade for its riches, than to the goodness of its soil. While at anchor, in 15 N. waiting for the s.h.i.+ps said to be coming from j.a.pan, Van Noort took one of them on the 1st December, being a vessel of fifty tons, which had been twenty-five days on her voyage.

Her form was very strange, her forepart being like a chimney, and her furniture corresponding to her shape; as her sails were made of reeds, her anchors of wood, and her cables of straw. Her j.a.panese mariners had their heads all close shaven, except one tuft left long behind, which is the general custom of that country. The 9th, they took two barks, one laden with cocoa wine and arrack, and the other with hens and rice.

[Footnote 79: Luzon is certainly a large island, but by no means such as represented in the text.--E.]

The 14th of December they met the two Spanish s.h.i.+ps returning from Manilla to New Spain, on which a very sharp engagement took place.

Overpowered by numbers, the Dutch in the s.h.i.+p of Van Noort were reduced to the utmost extremity, being at one time boarded by the Spaniards, and almost utterly conquered; when Van Noort, seeing all was lost without a most resolute exertion, threatened to blow up his s.h.i.+p, unless his men fought better and beat off the Spaniards. On this, the Dutch crew fought with such desperate resolution, that they cleared their own s.h.i.+p, and boarded the Spanish admiral, which at last they sunk outright. In this action the Dutch admiral had five men slain, and twenty-six wounded, the whole company being now reduced to thirty-five men. But several hundreds of the Spaniards perished, partly slain in the fight, and partly drowned or knocked in the head after the battle was over. But the Dutch lost their pinnace, which was taken by the Spanish vice-admiral; and this was not wonderful, considering that she had only twenty-five men to fight against five hundred Spaniards and Indians.

After this action, Van Noort made sail for the island of Borneo, the chief town of which island is in lat. 5 N. while Manilla, the capital of Lucon, is in lat. 15 N. On the way to Borneo, they pa.s.sed the island of _Bolutam_, [Palawan or Paragua,] which is 180 miles in length from N.E. to S.W. They came to Borneo on the 26th December, putting into a great bay, three miles in compa.s.s, where there was good anchorage, and abundance of fish in a neighbouring river, and the fishermen always ready to barter their fish for linen. Van Noort sent a message to the king, desiring leave to trade; but suspecting them to be Spaniards, he would come to no terms till his officers had examined them with the utmost attention, after which they had trade for pepper with a people called _Pattannees_, of Chinese origin. Both these and the native Borneans were fond of Chinese cotton cloth, but the linen from Holland was a mere drug, and quite unsaleable. In the mean time, the Borneans laid a plot to surprise the s.h.i.+p; for which purpose, on the 1st January, 1601, they came with at least an hundred praws full of men, pretending to have brought presents from the king, and would have come on board the s.h.i.+p; but the Dutch, suspecting their treachery, commanded them to keep at a distance from the s.h.i.+p, or they would be obliged to make them do so with their shot, on which the Borneans desisted.

Borneo is the largest of all the islands in the East-Indies; and its capital, of the same name, contains about 300 houses, but is built in a dirty marshy soil, or rather in the water, so that the inhabitants have to go from one house to another in their praws. The inhabitants all go constantly armed, from the n.o.ble down to the fisherman; and even the women are of so martial a disposition, that on receiving an affront, they instantly revenge it, either with a dagger or a javelin. This a Dutchman had nearly proved to his cost; for having offended one of these viragoes, she set upon him with a javelin, and had surely dispatched him, if she had not been prevented by main force. They are Mahometans, and so very superst.i.tious, that they would rather die than eat of swine's flesh, nor will they keep any of these animals about them. The better sort have a cotton garment from the waist down, with a turban on their heads; but the common people go entirely naked. They continually chew betel and areka, which is also a common practice in many other parts of India.

On the 4th January, four Borneans came to the s.h.i.+p, intending to have cut the cables, that she might drive on sh.o.r.e and become their prey; but the Dutch fortunately discovered them, and drove them away with shot, when they left their praw behind, which the Dutch took, to serve instead of their own boat, which they had lost at the Philippines. Seeing no hope of any profitable trade at this place, they now left it, intending for Bantam, not much pleased either with the country or the people. The day after leaving Borneo, they met a junk from j.a.pan bound for Manilla, which informed them of a great Dutch s.h.i.+p being forced by tempests into j.a.pan, all her company having died by sickness and famine except fourteen. They came first to _Bongo_, in lat. 34 40' N. [Bungo in about lat. 33 N.] whence the emperor of j.a.pan ordered them to remove to _Atonza_, in lat. 36 30' N. [Osaka in lat. 34' 55' N.] They alleged that they were allowed to trade, and to build a new s.h.i.+p, with liberty to dispose of themselves afterwards as they pleased. From this account, it was not doubted that this was the admiral of Verhagen's fleet;[80]

and dismissing the j.a.panese vessel, they pa.s.sed the line a third time, and proceeded for Bantam, in no little fear and danger, for want of an experienced pilot and good charts.

[Footnote 80: This was the s.h.i.+p in which William Adams sailed as pilot, as related on a former occasion, being the Hope, commanded by James Mahu, one of five s.h.i.+ps from Rotterdam. We have already had occasion to meet with two of these in the Straits of Magellan.--E.]

The 16th they took a junk belonging to Jor or Johor, in which they procured an experienced and skilful pilot, who came in good time to save them from s.h.i.+pwreck, which they had otherwise most probably suffered in these dangerous seas, so thick set with shoals and islands on every side, with which they were entirely unacquainted; and besides, they were now reduced to one anchor, and one solitary cable almost worn out. The 28th they came to Jortan in the island of Java, where they had news of several Dutch s.h.i.+ps being at Bantam. The city of Jortan consists of about 1000 houses built of timber, and its king commands over a considerable portion of that end of the island, and had lately conquered _Balambuan_, a small island S.E. from Jortan. The people in these parts are said to be Mahometans; yet, as paG.o.ds are still in use, they seem to retain some mixture of the old Indian superst.i.tions, or at least some remnant of paganism is tolerated among the common people. Their chief priest at this time was an old man, said to be an hundred and twenty years of age, who had a large household of wives, who fed the old man with their milk.

Sailing past Jortan, they saw a large Portuguese s.h.i.+p of 600 tons, sticking fast among the shoals. She was bound for Amboina, on purpose to have engrossed all the trade of that place; at least such was the report of the Portuguese; but Van Noort strongly suspected she had been sent out to cruize for the purpose of intercepting him. He was, therefore, the less concerned for her misfortune, and the less careful in a.s.sisting her crew, originally of between six and seven hundred men, many of whom were still on board, and in great danger of peris.h.i.+ng. The 5th of February, they pa.s.sed the straits between _Balambuan_ and _Bally_, leaving Java on the N.E.[81] On the 11th, finding themselves in lat 13 S. they directed their course for the Cape of Good Hope. On the 18th, having the sun vertical at noon, their lat.i.tude was 11 20' S. and here a calm began which lasted eleven days. The 11th March they were in lat.

24 45' S. and in 28 10' S. on the 24th.

[Footnote 81: This is an obvious error, as the Straits of Bally are at the _east_ end of Java, which they must consequently have left on the N.W. of their course.--E.]

The 19th of April, having been considerably r.e.t.a.r.ded by cross winds and calms, they were under the necessity to lessen their allowance of water.

At night of the 24th they observed light, as of a fire, on land, about four miles to the N.W. although they reckoned themselves 200 miles from the cape, and were not aware of having approached any other land. The 25th, being calm weather, they were enabled to mend their sails, and at night another fire was observed; and in the morning of the 26th they saw land. The 3d May they saw land between the east and north, about six miles off, resembling the end of an island, by which they reckoned themselves near the cape, and now shaped their course for the island of St Helena, where they arrived on the 26th. They here refreshed themselves with fish and some flesh, and laid in a supply of wood and water; but found goats and fowls hard to be got, and could not procure any oranges.

Leaving St Helena on the 30th May, they crossed the line for the fourth time on the 14th of June; and on the 16th met a fleet of six Dutch s.h.i.+ps, under Admiral Heemskirk, bound for India. These had fought with thirteen Spanish s.h.i.+ps near the island of Sal, and had lost their pinnace and vice-admiral; the former having been taken by the Spaniards, and the latter having parted company. The 8th July they were in lat. 27 N. when they fell in with considerable quant.i.ties of the sea-weed called _saragossa_. By the 13th they were in lat. 32 30' N. after which they had a calm of fifteen days, the sea being all covered with weeds. The 22d they had to go upon short allowance of bread, and that too much worm eaten. August 1st, being in lat. 40 N. they pa.s.sed the island of Flores, forty-five miles to the westward, by their estimation. They met three s.h.i.+ps belonging to Embden on the 18th, from whom they procured bread and flesh, in exchange for rice and pepper; and from whom they learnt that they were so near England, that they might expect to see the Lizard next day. About noon of the 26th August, 1601, they arrived in safety before the city of Rotterdam, where they were received with the utmost joy, on their return from so long and perilous a voyage, which had occupied three years, bating eighteen days.

SECTION II.

_Voyage of Sebald de Weert, to the South Sea and Straits of Magellan, in 1598_.[82]

"Though not a circ.u.mnavigation, it seems necessary to give an account of this voyage of Sebald de Weert, by way of supplement to that of Oliver de Noort; because De Weert was fitted out with the intention of sailing by the Straits of Magellan to India, and because it is difficult to find so good a description of these famous straits as he has given. De Weert was one of the best seamen in Holland, and lived to distinguish himself afterwards by many more successful enterprises; and I persuade myself the reader will be pleased to see the firmness of an able commander, struggling against a long series of misfortunes. This has always been esteemed one of the best written, and most curious of all the Dutch voyages, and is therefore given at large."[83]--_Harris_.

[Footnote 82: Harris, I. 36.]

[Footnote 83: So far Harris; but on the present occasion several trivial and minute circ.u.mstances are omitted or abbreviated.--E.]

-- 1. _Incidents of the Voyage from Holland to the Straits of Magellan_.

The fleet fitted out for this expedition consisted of the Hope of 500 tons, with 130 men, commanded by James Mahu, admiral; the Love or Charity of 300 tons, and 110 men, commanded by Simon de Cordes, vice-admiral; the Faith of 320 tons, and 100 men, of which Gerard van Beuningen was captain; the Fidelity of 220 tons, with 86 men, captain Jurian Buckholt; and a yacht of 150 tons and 112 men, called the Merry Messenger, captain Sebald de Weert. These five s.h.i.+ps were well provided with all manner of provisions, cannon, small arms, ammunition, money, merchandise, and stores necessary for a long voyage; and the pilot on whose knowledge and experience they chiefly depended, was an Englishman named William Adams,[84] besides whom there were three other Englishmen on board the admiral.

[Footnote 84: Of the adventures of this person in j.a.pan, we have formerly had occasion to give an account in vol. VIII. p. 64, of this Collection, preceded by a brief abstract of the voyages of Schald de Weert.--E.]

The fleet sailed from the road of Goeree in the Maese on the 27th June, 1598; but, owing to contrary winds, had to remain at anchor in the Downs on the coast of England, till the 15th July. The wind being then fair, they set sail on that day, and on the 19th were on the coast of Barbary.