Capt. North, leaving this island, steered for Madagascar, and came to Cape Dolphin at the south end, where he anchored, and took on board some refreshments, but it blowing hard, he was obliged to put to sea, and leave his boat with 30 men behind him. He ran along the east side of the island, and came to Ambonavoula, in lat. 17 deg. 38 m. where they put on shore some of their goods, and settled themselves among the negroes, several living in a house. Here they lived as sovereign princes among the inhabitants.
The Moor prisoners they kept on board, and allowed them sufficient fresh provisions. North privately told the boatswain of the Moors to take advantage of the land breeze in the night time, and go off with the ship, and what goods were left on board, or the pirates would soon haul her up, take every thing on shore, and they never see their own country again. Accordingly the boatswain, following this advice, laid hold of the opportunity of a dark night, and communicating his design to the other Moors, whom he did not acquaint with this advice, as North charged him not, till he was on the point of executing his design, they weighed with great silence and stood to sea.
The next morning some of the pirates proposed to go on board and bring off some iron and other things to trade with in the country; but they were strangely surprised when they missed the ship. They alarmed the rest of their comrades, and went in a body to Capt. North, to tell him what had happened. He answered, if the Moors were gone off with the ship, it was their own fault; they ought to have left a sufficient number of hands on board to have secured her; and there was now no remedy but patience, for they had no vessel to pursue with, except they thought the canoe proper.
Some of the pirates thought, as she lay in foul ground, the cable might be cut by some rock, and the ship blown off to sea by that accident. On starting this, some of them ran up to an eminence, and from thence spied the ship as far as they could well see, with all sail set, which was a cruel and convincing proof that their loss was irreparable.
The Moors going to Sea with the Pirates’ Ship, and leaving them on an Island. Page [202].
They endeavoured to make themselves easy, since there was no help; and transporting their goods to different abodes, at small distances, they settled themselves, buying cattle and slaves, and lived in a neighbourly manner, one among another, five years, cleared a great deal of ground, and planted provisions, such as yams, potatoes, &c. The natives among whom they fixed, had frequent broils and wars among themselves, but the pirates interposed, and endeavoured to reconcile all differences, North deciding their disputes with that impartiality and strict regard to distributive justice, (for he was allowed, by all, a man of admirable good natural parts) that he ever sent away, even the party who was cast, satisfied with the reason, and content with the equity of his decisions.
These inclinations which the pirates showed to peace, and the example they set of an amicable way of life, (for they carefully avoided all jars, and agreed to refer all cause of complaint among themselves which might arise, to a cool hearing before North, and twelve of their companions,) gave them a great character among the natives, who were before very much prejudiced against the white men. Nay, in this point of keeping up a harmony among themselves, they were so exact, that whosoever spoke but in an angry or peevish tone, was rebuked by all the company, especially if before any of the country people, though even but a slave of their own; for they thought, and very justly, that unity and concord were the only means to warrant their safety; for the people being ready to make war on one another upon the slightest occasion, they did not doubt but they would take the advantage of any division which they might observe among the whites, and cut them off whenever a fair opportunity offered.
The example they set, and the care they took to accommodate differences among their neighbours, had calmed all the country round them. After they had lived here near three years, Capt. North, and some of his companions, had a mind to visit the country southward, and trade for more slaves and cattle; to which end, taking a considerable quantity of powder and arms, beside what they might use, with 50 whites and 300 natives, he set forward on his journey. When they had traveled about 80 miles southward, they came to a nation rich in slaves and cattle, who inhabited the banks of the largest river on the east side of the island, called Mangora. With these people he trafficked for a great number of slaves and cattle, which he purchased for guns and powder. They being at war when Capt. North came among them, with a neighbouring prince, he was entreated to give his assistance, for which they, the Mangorians, promised him 100 slaves with 500 head of cattle, and all the prisoners they should take. On these conditions he joined them, and marched to a very large town of the enemy’s, which was naturally very strong, and esteemed by the natives impregnable, being situated on a high and craggy rock, which could be ascended by the way only leading to the gate, where was kept a strong guard. The blacks in North’s army were for leaving this town unattempted, and marching farther into the country, in search of booty; but North told them it was not safe to leave a garrison of enemies at their backs, which would continually infest them by falling on their rear, and which would be an obstacle to their carrying off what plunder they might get together; beside, it would be an asylum for all the country, which would fly thither till they had gathered a body considerable enough to come down and face them in the open field, which the enemy might do with reasonable hopes of success, as their men would be all fresh, while those of his party would be fatigued with marches, perhaps encumbered by plunder, and worn down with the inconveniences of lying exposed in the fields.
The chief of his allies allowed his reasons good, were an attempt on the town practicable, which experience told him was not; for, though several times besieged, it never could be taken, and it would be the loss of a great deal of time, and many men’s lives to attempt it. North desired he would leave the management of this siege to him. The chief answered, he should do as he pleased, but it was against his judgment to attack a town which nature herself had fortified, which God Almighty would never suffer to be taken, and which had, to no purpose, cost the lives of a number scarce to be told, of his countrymen, in the several attempts they had made to be masters of it.