The Nicholas sailed from Guam W. by S. and on computing that they were 206 leagues from that island, they changed to due W. The 23d, when they reckoned themselves 560 leagues west of Guam, they met with a very strong current, resembling the race of Portland, and fell in with a cluster of islands in lat. 20° 30' N. to the north of Luçonia, [the Bashee Islands.] They sent their boat ashore on the northermost of these islands, in order to get some fish, and to examine the island, on which they found vast quantities of nutmegs growing, but saw no people, and as night was drawing on they did not venture to go any distance from the shore. To this island they gave the name of Nutmeg Island, and called the bay in which they anchored English Bay. They observed many rocks, shoals, and foul ground near the shore, and saw a great many goats on the island, but brought off very few.
On the 26th of April they were off Cape Bojadore, the N.W. point of Luçonia, and came soon after to Cipe Mindato, where they met the S.W. monsoon, on which they bore away for Canton in China, where they arrived in safety and refitted their ship. They had here an opportunity of making themselves as rich as they could desire, but would not embrace it; as there came into the port thirteen sail of Tartar vessels, laden with Chinese plunder, consisting of the richest productions of the East. The men, however, would have nothing to do with any thing but gold and silver, and Captain Eaton could not prevail upon them to fight for silks, as they alleged that would degrade them into pedlars. The Tartars therefore quietly pursued their affairs at Canton, unconscious of their danger.
Having repaired the ship, Captain Easton sailed for Manilla, intending to wait for a Tartar ship of which they had information, bound from that port, and half laden with silver. They even got sight of her, and chased her a whole day to no purpose, as she was quite clean, and the Nicholas was as foul as could well be. They then stood for a small island, to the north of Luçonia, to wait for a fair wind to carry them to Bantam. Instead of one island, they found several, where they procured refreshments.[158] Learning from an Indian that in one of these islands there were plenty of beeves, they sent a boat thither with thirty men, who took what they wanted by force, though the island was well inhabited.
[Footnote 158: The indications in the text are too vague to point out the particular islands at which the Nicholas refreshed. Immediately north from Luçonia are the Babuvanes Isles, in lat 19° 30', and still farther, the Bashee Islands, in 20° 30', both N.]
Leaving these islands about the middle of September, 1685, they were for three days in great danger on the banks of Peragoa, in lat. 10° N. after which they came to a convenient bay in an island not far from the northern coast of Borneo, where they set up a tent on shore and landed every thing from the ship, fortifying themselves with ten small guns, in case of being attacked by the natives, and hauled their ship on shore to clean her bottom. At first the natives of the island avoided all intercourse with the English; but one day the boat of the Nicholas came up with a canoe in which was the queen of the country with her retinue, who all leaped into the sea to get away from the English. They took up these people with much difficulty, and entertained them with so much kindness that they became good friends during two months which they continued afterwards at this island. At this time the Spaniards were at peace with the sovereign of Borneo, and carried on an advantageous trade there from Manilla; of which circumstance Captain Eaton and his people got intimation, and passed themselves for Spaniards during their residence.
This great island is plentifully stored with provisions of all kinds, and many rich commodities, as diamonds, pepper, camphor, &c. and several kinds of fine woods, as specklewood and ebony. Cloves also were there to be had at a reasonable price, being brought there from the neighbouring islands by stealth. The animals of Borneo, as reported by Cowley, are elephants, tigers, panthers, leopards, antelopes, and wild swine. The king of Borneo being in league with the Spanish governor of the Philippines, the English passed themselves here as Spaniards, and were amply supplied by the natives during their stay with fish, oranges, lemons, mangoes, plantains, and pine-apples.
The Nicholas sailed from this place in December, 1685, proceeding to a chain of islands in lat. 4° N. called the Naturah islands,[159] whence they went to Timor, where the crew became exceedingly mutinous; on which Captain Cowley and others resolved to quit the Nicholas, in order to endeavour to get a passage home from Batavia. Accordingly, Cowley and one Mr Hill, with eighteen more of the men, purchased a large boat, in which they meant to have gone to Batavia, but, owing to contrary winds, were obliged to put in at Cheribon, another factory belonging to the Dutch in Java, where they found they had lost a day in their reckoning during their voyage by the west. They here learnt the death of Charles II. and that the Dutch had driven the English from Bantam, which was then the second place of trade we possessed in India. The Dutch were forming other schemes to the prejudice of our trade, wherefore Cowley, with Hill and another of the Englishmen, resolved to make all the haste they could to Batavia, to avoid being involved in the subsisting disputes. They were kindly received by the governor of Batavia, who promised them a passage to Holland.
[Footnote 159: The Natuna Islands, in long. 108° E. from Greenwich.--E.]
Cowley and his remaining companions embarked at Batavia in a Dutch ship in March, 1686. They arrived in Table bay at the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st June, where they landed next day, and of which settlement, as it then existed in 1686, Cowley gives the following account:--
"Cape Town does not contain above an hundred houses, which are all built low, because exposed to violent gales of wind in the months of December, January, and February. The castle is very strong, having about eighty large cannon for its defence. There is also a very spacious garden, maintained by the Dutch East India Company, planted with all kinds of fruit-trees, and many excellent herbs, and laid out in numerous pleasant walks. This garden is near a mile in length and a furlong wide, being the greatest rarity at the Cape, and far exceeding the public garden at Batavia. This country had abundance of very good sheep, but cattle and fowls are rather scarce. We walked out of town to a village inhabited by the Hodmandods, or Hottentots. Their houses are round, having the fire-places in the middle, almost like the huts of the wild Irish, and the people lay upon the ashes, having nothing under them but sheep-skins. The men seemed all to be Monorchides, and the whole of these people were so nasty that we could hardly endure the stench of their bodies and habitations. Their women are singularly conformed, having a natural skin apron, and are all so ignorant and brutish that they do not hesitate to prostitute themselves publicly for the smallest imaginable recompense, of which I was an eye witness. Their apparel is a sheep-skin flung over their shoulders, with a leather cap on their heads, as full of grease as it can hold. Their legs are wound about, from the ankle to the knees, with the guts of beasts well greased.