A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before

by Daniel Defoe

They found the country looked wild and savage; but, though they could find no houses, or speak with the inhabitants, they saw their footsteps and their seats where they had sat down under some trees; and after wandering about a little, they saw people, both men and women, at a distance; but they ran away from our men, at first sight, like frightened deer; nor could they make any signal to them to be understood; for when our men hallooed and called after them, they ran again as if they had been bewitched.

Our men gathered a great variety of green stuff, though they knew not of what kind, and brought it all on board, and we eat a great deal of it; some we boiled and made broth of, and some of our men, who had the scurvy, found it did them a great deal of good; for the herbs were of a spicy kind, and had a most pleasant agreeable taste: but none of us could tell what to call them, though we had several men on board who had been among the Spice Islands before in Dutch ships.

We were very uneasy that we could get nothing here but a little grass and potherbs, as our men called it, and the men importuned me to let them have two boats, and go up the river as high as the tide would carry them; this I consented to, being as willing to make the discovery as they; so I ordered the captain of the Madagascar ship, who had, as I have said, been formerly my second mate, to go along with them.

But in the morning, a little before the flood was made, I was called out of my cabin to see an army, as they told me, coming to attack us. I turned out hastily enough, as may be easily conjectured, and such an army appeared as no ship was ever attacked with; for we spied three or four hundred black creatures, come playing and tumbling down the stream towards us, like so many porpoises in the water. I was not satisfied at first that they were human creatures, but would have persuaded our men, that they were sea-monsters, or fishes of some strange kind.

But they quickly undeceived us, for they came swimming about our ships, staring and wondering and calling to one another, but said not one word to us, at least, if they did, we could not understand them.

Some of them came very near our ships, and we made signs to them to come on board, but they would not venture. We tossed one of them a rope, and he took hold of it boldly; but as soon as we offered to pull, he let go, and laughed at us; another of them did the like, and when he let go, turned up his black buttocks, as in sport at us; the language of which, in our country, we all knew, but whether it had the same meaning here, we were at a loss to know.

However, this dumb manner of conversing with them we did not like, neither was it to any purpose to us; and I was resolved, if possible, to know something more of them than we could get thus; so I ordered out our pinnace with six oars, and as many other men well armed, to row among them; and, if possible, to take some of them and bring them on board. They went off, but the six-oar pinnace, though a very nimble boat, could not row so fast as they could swim; for, if pulling with all their might, they came near one of them, immediately, like dog and duck, they would dive, and come up again thirty or forty yards off; so that our men did not know which way to row after them; however, at last getting among the thickest of them, they got hold of two, and with some difficulty dragged them in; but think of our surprise, to find they were not men, but both young women. However, they were brought on board naked as they were.

When they came on board, I ordered they should have two pieces of linen wrapped round their waists to cover them, which they seemed well pleased with. We gave them also several strings of beads, and our men tied them about their necks, and about their arms like bracelets, and they were wonderfully delighted with their ornaments. Others of our men gave each of them a pair of scissors, with needles and some thread, and threading the needles, showed them how to sew with them; we also gave them food, and each of them a dram of arrack, and made signs to know of them where they lived; they pointed up to the river, but we could by no means understand them.

When we had dressed them up thus with necklaces, and bracelets, and linen, we brought them up upon the deck, and made them call to their country folk, and let them see how well they were used, and the girls beckoned them to come on board, but they would not venture.