Book III. Travels in India. 



monthly cuftoms arc upon 'em, they happen to make watery and that an Euro- 

 pean chances to fet his feet upon it, it caufes an immediate Head-ach and Fea- 

 ver, which many times turns to the Plague. 



CHAP. XXVII. 

 The Holland Fleet arrives at St. Helens. The description of the JJj.md. 



HAving ftaid two and twenty days at the Cape of good Hope, feeing that the 

 Wind was favourable, we Vyeigh'd, and fteer'd for St. Helens. When we 

 were under Sail, the Mariners cry'd out, they would fleep till they came into 

 St. Helens Road. For the wind is very confiant, and carries you in fix teen or 

 eighteen days to the Road of the Ifland. All the trouble that our Mariners 

 had, was that fourteen days after our departure from the C^p<?,they were often forc'd 

 to the Top-Maft head, upon difcovery of the Ifland ; for as foon as you difcover 

 the Ifland, thé Pilot muft take care to fteer to the North-fide of the Ifland, be- 

 caufe there is no cafting Anchor but on that fide, and that very near the fhore 

 too ; by reafon of the deepnefs of the water ; for if the Anchors come not to 

 take hold, the current of the water and the wind carries the Ship quite out of 

 the Road, which there is no recovering again, becaufe the wind never changes. 



So foon as the Ships came to an Anchor, part of the Seamen were fent afbore 

 to get wild Hogs, of which there are great plenty ; and to gather Sorrel, which 

 grows in great abundance; and indeed they not only fend the Seamen., but all the 

 Pigs, Sheep, Geefe,Ducks,and Pullets aboard, to feed upon that Sorrel, which pur- 

 ges them in fuch a manner, that in a few days they became fo fat,that by that time 

 we came to Holland they were hardly to be eaten. That Sorrel has the fame 

 operation upon the men, who boiling their wild S wines fiefh, Rice, and Sorrel to- 

 gether, make thereof a kind of Potage fo excellent, that it keeps their bodies 

 open by an infenfible purgation. 



There are two places upon the Coaft of St. Helens where Ships may come to 

 an Anchor. But the beft is that where we lay, by reafon that ground is very 

 good, and for that the water that falls from the Mountain is the beft in the Ifland. 

 In this part of the Ifland there is no plain, for the Mountain defcends to the very 

 fliore of the Sea. 



It is not fo good anchoring in the other Road ; but there is a very handfome 

 plain, where you may fow or plant whatever you pleafe. There are great ftore 

 of Citrons, and fome Oranges, which the Portugais had formerly planted there. 

 For that Nation has that vertue, that wherever they come, they make the place 

 the better for thofe that come after them ; whereas the Hollanders endeavour to 

 deftroy all things wherever they fet footing. I confefs the Commanders are not 

 of that humour, but the Sea-men and Souldiers, who cry one to another, we fhall 

 never come hither any more, and out of greedinefs will cut down a whole tree 

 inftead of gathering the fruit. 



Some days after there arriv'd a Portuguese Veflel from Guiny, full of Slaves, 

 which were bound for the Mines of Peru. Some of the Hollanders that underftood 

 the language of the Negro's, told 'em how miferably they would be us'd, and 

 thereupon the next night two hundred and fifty of them threw themfelves into the 

 _§ea. And indeed it is a miferable flavery ; for fometimes after they have min'd in 

 fome places for fome days together, the Earth being loofe, falls down and kills 

 four or five hunder'd at a time. Befides, that after they have been mining awhile, 

 their Faces, their Eyes, and their Skins change colour; which proceeds from the 

 vapours that arife from thofe concavities ; nor could they fubfift in thofe places, 

 but for the quantity of ftrong Water which they give both to the men and wo- 

 men. There are fome that are made free by their Mafters, who labour however 

 for their living ; but between Saturday night and Munday morning they fpend all 

 their weeks wages in ftrong Water, which is very dear ; fo that they always live 

 miferably. 



Being ready to depart the Ifland of St. Helens, the Admiral call'd a Council, to 

 advize which way to fteer. The greateft part were for fteering more to the Weft, 



their 



