Chap. II 
of the E a s t Indies 
As the Defign of lambultis ' s Voyage was to purchafe 
Spices in Arabia , it is very likely he failed down the 
‘ked Sea to the famous Mart of Zeila ; and in going to, 
or returning therefrom, might fall into the Hands of lome 
of the wandring Inhabitants of that Country, who have 
always fubfifted by Plunder : The Circumftance of his 
being employed with his Companion to keep Sheep, is 
highly probable ^ for, according to the belt Accounts we 
have of thofe Nations, that was the only Service, in which 
they were like to employ them : While they were thus oc- 
cupied, the fecond Misfortune befel them of being ftollen 
off the Coaft by Ethiopian Privateers ; which was alfo no 
unufual Thing in thofe Days, efpecialiy among the Troglo- 
dytes, who enriched themfelves by this Praftice : After he 
was taken by thefe People, he was carried into the mari- 
time Parts of Ethiopia •, which is a very general Expreffion, 
the Senfe of which is not eafily fixed. 
Our Portuguefe Traveller thought, that lambulus might 
very probably be carried as far as the Kingdom of Maga- 
doxa , which lies within two Degrees of the Line, and on 
the other Side of Cape Gmrdafuy •, which, I mult confefs, 
is poffible, without fuppofmg thefe Pirates, in their little 
Bark, to have paffed the Streights of Babelmandel , or to 
have doubled the Cape ; becaufe they might have landed 
in the Guiph, and have carried him and his Companion by 
Land. Here then we are to place the Scene of the next 
Tran faction, and the turning thefe poor Men a-drift into 
the Ocean, at the Seafon of the Year when the Trade- 
wind was Ike to carry them dire&ly to the Eafi-Indies. 
Our Portuguefe feems to be of Opinion, that this Ifland, to 
which they were driven after a Voyage of four Months, 
mult be the great Ifland of 'Sumatra, which lies immediately 
under the Equinodial, and extends itfelf five Degrees on 
each Side the Line ; fo that, if lambulus , and his Compa- 
nion, came on ihore in the South Part of that Ifland, the 
Defcription he has given of the Climate, the Length of 
Days, and the not feeing any of the Northern Conftella- 
tions, would be very exad I Our Portuguefe is the rather 
inclined to embrace this Opinion, becaufe or the Circum- 
- Ranees that attended his Return, in which he fpent four 
Months, before he reached the Continent of India. He 
fuppofes therefor, with great Probability, that he landed 
near the Mouth of the Ganges , and fo came to the City 
of pahmbothra , which was there fituated, a Place very 
famous among the Antients, and which, as we have before 
informed the Reader, was fuppofed to be built by the In- 
dian Hercules. It muff be allowed, that thefe Reflections 
are very curious, and very judicious, as well as the Obser- 
vation of the fame Gentleman, that it is not probable lam- 
bulus, and his Companion, fhould be able to navigate their 
fmall Bark to any of the Elands of the Moluccas. 
Yet, after all, feme Objedions may be railed againft 
this Account, that are not eafily anfwered ; for, in the firft 
I place, as to their Paffage, they mult have neceflarily paffed 
i through that great Chain of Iflands, called the Maldives ; 
and it is not at all probable, that in their Circumftances 
: they fhould continue their Voyage any farther than the firft 
1 Land they met with : But if we pafs by this Difficulty, 
and fuppoie that they fell through the Southern Paffage, 
in the Latitude of three Degrees, and fo had no Sight of 
any of thofe Iflands, but fell diredly on the South Point 
of Sumatra , yet this brings us under a new Difficulty ; 
; for the firft thing we meet with, in the Voyage of lambu- 
] lus, is the Figure of the Ifland, upon which he and his 
; Companion landed : And, as to this, he tells us exprefly, 
■ that it was round, or at leaft, very near it, than which 
nothing can be more irreconcileable to the Figure of the 
Ifland of Sumatra , which is very long, and very narrow : 
And, though we fhould endeavour to help this, byfuppofe- 
ing lambulus took this upon Truft from the Natives, yet 
it is very difficult to conceive this for two Reafons ; Firft, 
becaufe it is no way probable that a Nation fo juft and pru- 
dent, as he deferibes the People among whom he lived to 
; be, fhould impofe upon them in this refpedf, to no Pur- 
f pole *, and next, we can hardly think he fhould live there 
feven Years without difeovering the Falfhood of this Re- 
port, the Ifland being no- where above feven ty Miles broad. 
There is another Circumftance no lefs deftrudtive of this 
Suppofition *, which is, the Vicinity of this Ifland to the 
Coaft of Malacca, which does by no means agree with 
what is related by lambulus. I muff own, that if we 
fhould fuppofe Borneo to be the Ifland he has deferibed, it 
would be attended with as great, or rather, with greater 
Difficulties •, for they muft then have paffed in 1 their little 
Bark the Streights of Sunda •, and there is no affigning any 
Reafon why they fhould continue their Voyage to Borneo , 
and leave the Iflands of Sumatra and Java behind them : 
Belides, the Navigation from Borneo back again, would 
have been much more difficult and perplexed than that 
from Sumatra. 
Perhaps, after all, the Ifland of Java b is liable to fewer 
Objections than either Sumatra or Borneo , if we can fup- 
pofe, that they could make fo long a Paffage in fuch a Vef- 
fel : And indeed this feems to me the greateft Difficulty of 
all ; and therefore I fhould rather incline to think, that this 
Ifland was one of the Maldives, though 1 do not deny, 
that there might be many Objections raifed alfo againft this 
Opinion. The intelligent Reader will from thefe Remarks, 
however, be the mere able to fettle his own Opinion of this 
Matter j and I dare fay, will not think it reafonable to com 
elude the whole Voyage a Fiction, becaufe it is not eafy, 
at this Diftance of Time, and for the Want, perhaps, of 
feme neceffary Circumftances, to decide with Certainty , 
w r hat Eland it was where lambulus, and his Companion, made 
their Refidence for fo many Years. 
ii. We have given the Whole of this Relation, that it 
might be the better underftood. It is generally taken for 
granted, that the Ifland here deferibed is that which in antient 
Authors is called Taprobana •, of which Ifland, fuppofmg them 
the fame, we have a very copious Defcription in the Natu- 
ral Fliftory of Pliny c : In which Defcription of his there 
are Abundance of curious things ; but, I muft confefs, it 
is by no means clear to me, that this Ifland has any 
thing to do with that Relation. In the firft place, they differ 
in Size ; for, whereas this is faid to be five thoufand 
Stadia in Circuit, the Ifland, deferibed by Pliny, is affirmed 
to be ten thoufand Stadia long, on that Side which fronts 
the Continent of India : But, what has greater Weight with 
me, this Defcription agrees as iittle with what we are told 
by Strabo d , the moft accurate of the antient Geographers : 
And there is one Circumftance which plainly ffiews, that this 
Ifland cannot poffibly be efceemed the fame with Tapro - 
bana ; and that is, its being fo far diftant from any other 
Land, whereas Taprobana was within Sight of the Conti- 
nent of India. 
The only Reafon I can conceive, why this Ifland fhould 
be efteemed the fame with that, is, becaufe of the Election 
of their Kings, which is thus related by Pliny e Their 
Monarch is elebted by the Voice of the whole Nation, 
wherein they generally govern themfelves by thefe Quali- 
ties, which they efteem abfolutely neceffary in their Prince ; 
viz. That he be old, of a mild Difpofition, and without 
Children •, for, if he afterwards begets any, he is immedi- 
ately obliged to abdicate ; which Precaution is taken to 
prevent the Crown from becoming hereditary. There is 
iikewife a Council of thirty Perfons affigned him by the 
People ; neither can any Man be condemned but by the 
Majority of this Council : Yet, even after this, he may 
appeal to the People, who appoint feventy Perfons to fit 
in Judgment upon the Party accufed ; and if, upon hear- 
ing the Caufe, he is acquitted, then all the Members of the 
Council of Thirty are inftantly degraded, and are ever 
after efteemed infamous. If their King is guilty of any 
Offence, he is punifhed with Death ; they do not, how- 
ever, ftain their Hands with his Blood ; but, refilling to 
fpeak or look upon him, they deliver him up to be tom 
to-pieces by Tygers and Elephants : What occurs in Pliny's 
Defcription of that Ifland, in refpebt to its Produce and 
Inhabitants, is dill more extravagant than what is reported 
in the foregoing Relation, which, however fabulous in 
fome Circumftances, feems in others*conforrmable enough 
to Truth. 
For, as to the Soil, Climate, and Produce, there is no- 
thing that furpaffes Belief , and, as to the reft, they were. 
a A Circumftance that {hews it s muft have been to the South of the Line. b Lying near Sumatra^ and agreeing better in Figure. 
e Bift. Nat. lib . vi. cap. z z. d Geograpb. lib. xv. p. 698. e Hifi. Nat. lib. vi. cap. 22. ° 
Numb. 27. " 1 5 F probably. 
