From the 20th of May till the 21st of June, we lay mostly becalmed, or with contrary winds at south; and, standing to and again to bear up against this contrary wind, we got with much ado to 2° N. where we espied a ship, to which the general gave chace, commanding all the ships to follow him. By two in the afternoon we got up with and took her. She was of Viana, in Portugal, and came from Lisbon, in company of two caraks and three galleons, bound for the East Indies, but had parted from them at sea. The three galleons were ships of war, intended to keep the coast of India from being traded with by other nations. From this ship we took 146 butts of wine, 176 jars and 12 casks of oil, and 55 hogsheads and vats of meal,[102] which were of great service to us afterwards during our voyage. The general divided these victuals impartially among all the ships, giving a due proportion to each.
[Footnote 102: Probably wheaten meal or flour.--E.]
The 31st June about midnight we crossed the line, having the wind at S.E. and lost sight of the north star; and continuing our course S.S.W. we passed Cape St Augustine about 26 leagues to the eastward. The 20th July, we reached the latitude of 19° 40' S. the wind getting daily more and more towards the east. We here unloaded the Guest, which went along with us to carry such provisions as we could not stow in the other four ships; after which we took out her masts, sails, yards, and all other tackle; broke up her upper works for fire-wood, and left her hull floating in the sea, following our own course southwards. We passed the tropic of Capricorn on the 24th July, the wind N.E. by N. our course E.S.E. On account of our having been so long near the line, by reason of leaving England too late in the season by six or seven weeks, many of our men fell sick; for which reason the general sent written orders to the captain of each ship, either to make Saldanha bay or St Helena for refreshment.
The 1st August we were in 30° S. at which time we got the wind at S.W. to our great comfort, for by this time many of our men were sick of the scurvy; insomuch, that in all our ships, except the admiral, they were hardly able to manage the sails. This wind held fair till we were within 250 leagues of the Cape of Good Hope, and then came clean contrary at E. continuing so for fifteen or sixteen days, to the great discomfort of our men; for now the few that had continued sound began also to fall sick, so that in some of the ships the merchants had to take their turn at the helm, and to go into the tops to hand the top-sails along with the common mariners. But God, shewing us mercy in our distress, sent us again a fair wind, so that we got to Saldanha bay on the 9th September, when the general, before the other ships bore in and came to anchor, sent his boats to help the other ships. The state of the other three ships was such that they were hardly able to let go their anchors. The general went on board them all with a number of men, and hoisted out their boats for them, which they were not able to do of themselves.
The reason of the men in the admiral being in such better health than in the other three ships was this: He brought with him to sea several bottles of lemon juice, of which he gave to each man, as long as it would last, three spoonfuls every morning fasting, not suffering them to eat any thing afterwards till noon. This juice worketh much the better if the person keeps a spare diet, wholly refraining from salt meat; which salt meat, and being long at sea, are the only causes of breeding this disease. By this means the general cured many of his men and preserved the rest; so that, though his ship had double the number of men of any of the rest, he had not so many sick, nor did he lose so many men, as any of the rest.
After getting all the ships to anchor, and hoisting out their boats, the general went immediately aland, to seek refreshments for our sick and weak men. He presently met with some of the natives, to whom he gave various trifles, as knives, pieces of old iron, and the like; making signs for them to bring him down sheep and oxen. For he spoke to them in the cattle's language, which was not changed at the confusion of Babel; using mouth for oxen, and baa for sheep, imitating their cries; which language the people understood very well without any interpreter. Having sent the natives away, well contented with the kind usage and presents he had given them, orders were given for so many men from every ship to bring sails ashore, to make tents for the sick; and also to throw up fortifications for defence, lest by any chance the natives might take offence and offer violence. He at the same time prescribed regulations for buying and selling with the natives; directing, when they should come down with cattle, that only five or six men selected for the purpose should go to deal with them, and that the rest, which should never be under thirty muskets and pikes, should keep at the distance of at least eight or ten score yards, always drawn up in order and readiness, with their muskets in the rests, whatever might befal. This order was so strictly enforced, that no man was permitted to go forward to speak with the natives, except with special leave. I attribute our continuing in such amity and friendship with the natives to these precautions, for the Hollanders had lately five or six of their men slain by the treachery of these natives.
The third day after our arrival in Saldanha bay, the natives brought down beeves and sheep, which we bought for pieces of old iron hoops; as two pieces of eight inches each for an ox, and one piece for a sheep, with which the natives seemed perfectly satisfied. In ten or twelve days, we bought 1000 sheep and 42 oxen, and might have had more if we would. After this they discontinued bringing any more cattle, but the people often came down to us afterwards; and when we made signs for more sheep, they would point to those we had already, which the general kept grazing on the hills near our tents; which, as we judged, was the reason why they did not bring us more, as they thought we meant to inhabit there. But, God be thanked, we were now well provided, and could very well pass without farther purchases. The oxen were as large as ours in England, and very fat; and the sheep were many of them bigger than ours, of excellent flesh, sweet and fat, and to our liking much better than our English mutton, but having coarse hairy wool.
The people of this place are all of a tawny colour, of reasonable stature, swift of foot, and much given to pick and steal. Their language is entirely uttered through their throats, and they cluck with their tongues in so strange a manner, that, in seven weeks which we remained here, the sharpest wit among us could not learn one word of their language, yet the natives soon understood every sigh we made them. While we staid at this bay, we had such royal refreshing that all our men recovered their health and strength, except four or five. Including these, and before we came in, we lost out of all our ships 105 men; yet, on leaving this bay,[103] we reckoned ourselves stronger manned than when we left England, our men were now so well inured to the southern climates and to the sea.
[Footnote 103: In a marginal note, Purchas gives the lat. of Saldanha bay as 34° S. The place then called Saldanha bay was certainly Table bay, the entrance to which is in 33° 50' S. So that Purchas is here sufficiently, accurate.--E.]
SECTION 2. Continuation of the Voyage, from Saldanha Bay to the Nicobar and Sombrero Islands.