Book III Travels in India. 



board. After that they brought great ftore of Tortoife-Shells, and Oftriches 

 Eggs, and other Eggs as big as Goofe Eggs ; which though they had no Yollc, 

 raited very well. The Birds that lay thefe Eggs are a fort of Geefc, and fb fat 

 that they are hardly to be^eaten, tailing rather like Fifh than Flefh. The wo- 

 men feeing our Cook throw away the Guts of two or three Fowl which he was 

 drefling, took them up, and fqueezing out the Ordure, eat them as they were; 

 being hugely pleas'd with the A^ua Vitu which the Captain gave them. Nei- 

 ther men nor women are afham'd to fhew their nakedneis, for indeed they are 

 but a fort of human B afts. 



So foon as the Ship arrives^ they bring their Beeves to the fhore, with what 

 other Commodities they have, to barter for ftrong Water and Tobacco, Cry- 

 Hal or Agat Beads ; or any fort of old Iron work. If they are not latisfid with 

 what you offer them, away they fly ; and then giving a whiftle all their Cat- 

 tel follow 'em ; nor fhall you ever lèe 'em again. Some, when they faw 'em 

 fly, would fhoot and kill their Cattél ; but after that for fome years they would 

 never bring any more. 'Tis a very great convenience for the Velfels that touch 

 there, to take in frclh Victuals ; and the Hollanders did well to build a Fort 

 there. It is now a good hanclfome Town, inhabited by all forts, that live with 

 the Hollanders -, and all forts of Grain, which are brought oik of Europe or Afia 

 and fow'd there, come to better perfection there then in other; parts. The Coun- 

 try lies in thirty-five Degrees, and fome few Minutes over, fb that it cannot be 

 fàid that either the heat or fcituation of the Climate makes thefe Cafres fo black. 

 Being defirous to know the reafon,anH why they flunk fb terribly, I learnt it from a 

 Girl that was bred up in the Fort, who was tak'n from her Mother, as foon as 

 fhe was born, and was white like our women in Europe ; {he told me, that the 

 reafon why the Cafres are fo black is, becaufe they rub themfelves with a Greafè 

 or Ointment compos'd of feveral forta of Drugs ; wherewith fhould they not 

 anoint themfelves very often, and as loon as they were born, they fhould be- 

 come Hydropfical, as the Blacks of Africa, and the Abyffms are ; or like the 

 people of Saba, that never live above forty years, and are always troubPd with 

 one Leg twice as big as the other. Thefe Cafres, as brutifh as they are, have 

 ■ yet fome knowledg of Simples, which they know to apply to feveral Difeafes; 

 which the Hollanders have feveral times experiene'd. Of nineteen fick perfons 

 that we had in our Ship, fifteen were committed to the care of thefe Cafres, 

 being troubl'd with Ulcers in their Legs, and old wounds which they had re- 

 ceiv'd in the wars 5 and in lefs then fifteen days they were all perfectly cur d. 

 Every one of thefe had two Cafres to look after him ; and according to the con- 

 dition of the wound or Ulcer, they went and fetch'd Simples, which they bruis'd 

 between two Stones, and apply'd to the fore. As for the other four, they were fb 

 far gone with the Pox, that they would not truft the Cafres with them, having 

 been given over at Batavia, and fo they all dy'd, between the Cape and St. He- 

 lens. 



In the year ï66i, a Gentleman of Britanny being at Batavia, was fo bit by 

 the Gnats in the night, that his Leg exulcerated prefently in fuch a manner, as 

 to puzzle all the art and skill of the Chirurgeons in that Town. When he came 

 to the Cape of ^ood Hope, the Captain of the Ship fending him afhore, the Cafres 

 came about him, and after they had beheld hjm, they told him if he would 

 truft to them they would cure him. The Captain thereupon committed him to 

 their care, who curd him and made him a found man in lefs then fifteen days. 



When a Ship comes to an Anchor in the Cape, it is the fafhion for him that 

 commands the Ship, to give leave to fome part of the Mariners and Souldiers to 

 go afhore to refrefh themfelves. The fickly have firft leave by turns, and go to 

 the Town, where they. are dyeted and lodg'd for feven or eight Sous a day, and 

 are very well us'd. 



It is the cuftom of the Hollanders, when they ftay- here, to fend out parties of 

 Souldiers upon the difcovery of the up-land Country,- and they that go fartheft 

 are beft rewarded. With this defign a party of Souldiers, under the Command 

 of a Serjeant, far advane'd in the Country 5 and night coming on, they 

 made a great fire, as welfto keep themfelves from the Lions, as to warm them- 

 felves,and fo lay down to fleep round about it. Being afleep/a Lion came and feiz'd ; 



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