Chap II. to the EAST -INDIES. 
ing up to their Middle in Water. Thefe go only to Ben - 
gal , the Inhabitants of which efteem them fo much that I 
have feen thirty or forty Ships laden; without any other 
Commodity, bound thither. Though in Bengal they have 
enough of other Metals, yet thefe Shells pafs there as Mo- 
ney, and the King and Noblemen hoard up prodigious 
Quantities of them, accounting them their Trealure. They 
give twenty Meafures of Rice for a Fardel of Shells, each 
Fardel containing 12000. They have, befides thefe, a fort 
of Tortoife-fhell, called Cambe, which is black and fmooth, 
and has many natural Figures ; it is found no where but 
there and in the Philippines, and goes off belt in Cambay a . 
Here they make fine Reed-mats, and Cloths of Cotton 
and Silk ; in Exchange the Merchants export fome Cot- 
ton and Silk-Cloths, a fort of Oil, Arac, Iron, Steel, 
Pieces of Porcelane, and, in fhort, all the Neceffaries of 
Life ; yet every thing is cheap, becaufe of the Number 
and Frequency of Ships. They import all their Gold and 
Silver, which they never fend out again, but lay it up 
among their Wives Jewels as their chief Treafure. 
27. After following our Author through his large De- 
feription of the Maldives , we are next to recur to his per- 
fonal Adventures, in order to acquaint the Reader how he 
recovered his Freedom, and efcaped from thence to the 
Continent of India , from whence he returned to his native 
Country. The Faff, as he relates it, runs thus*. He fays. 
That in the Beginning of the Month of February , 1607, 
he dreamed that he was fet at Liberty, and found a Paf- 
fage home to Europe, which made a very great Impreffion 
on his Mind, infomuch that it induced him to make a 
Vow of going in Pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. James 
of Galicia, in order to return God Thanks, if this Dream 
Ihould prove true ; at the fame time, he was exceedingly 
perplexed in his Mind, and endeavoured to difeover how this 
could be brought about. All his Conjectures proved vain 
and fruitlefs-, but two Nights after the Thing dilcovered 
itfelf, by the unexpected News that the King of Bengal was 
preparing to invade the Maldives with a Fleet of fixteen 
Sail of large Gallies. On the firft receiving of this Intelli- 
gence, the King of Male iffued his Orders for fitting out, 
with all imaginable Expedition, the large Ships, and all the 
Gallies, Barks, and Veffels in his Dominions ; but before this 
could be accompli fhed, the Enemy’s Fleet appeared in Sight ; 
upon which the Kingfuddenly alter’d his Refolution, and de- 
termined to fly to the Southern Hands, in Hopes of taking 
Shelter there, till fuch Time as he could affemblea Force fut- 
ficient to expel the Invaders. His beff Goods were immedi- 
ately embarked, as alfo his three Queens, each of whom was 
carried by a Gentleman in his Arms, as if they had been 
Children, covered withVeils of Taffety of different Colours ; 
as foon as they were on Board the King followed them, 
leaving his Capital altogether defencelefs, and the Streets full 
of Women crying and lamenting the Danger to which 
they were expofed. The Enemy no fooner arrived than 
they divided their Forces, fending eight of their Gallies in 
Purfuit of the King, with whom the Wind failing, they 
very fpeedily came up, engaged his final! Fleet, and hav- 
ing killed the unfortunate Monarch of the Maldives, who 
fought very bravely in his own Defence, made themfelves 
Mailers of his Ships, Wives and Treafures. As foon as 
thefe People landed in Male our Author furrendered, and 
put himfelf into their Hands, declaring to them in what 
Manner he came thither, and how he had remained Prifo- 
ner there for feveial Years. They treated him very kind- 
ly as foon as they were fatisfied that he was not a Portu- 
gueze ; for had he been of that Nation they would, with- 
out any Ceremony, have put him to Death. The Con- 
querors remained about ten Days on the Ifland, in which 
Space they carried on Board their Veffels all the Plunder 
of the King’s Palace, with every thing of Value they 
could find, particularly one hundred and twenty Pieces of 
Cannon, and then prepared for their Departure, leaving 
every body at Liberty, excepting only the King’s Brothel 
in-Law, whom they carried with them, and our Author, 
who went of his own Accord, and who with fome Diffi- 
culty got to Bengal , where he had leifure to contrive, the 
belt he could, the Means of finding a Paflage back to 
Europe . While he remained in Bengal , the Mogul declar- 
ed War againft that Prince, who immediately affembled a 
7*5 
prodigious Army, in order to withftand him, amounting] 
as our Author was informed; to feveral hundred thou land 
Men, and fome thoufands of armed Elephants ; which 
military Piepatations did not incline him to remain any 
longer than till he found an Opportunity of withdrawing 
himfelf, and this in a fhort Time he obtained; 
28. He retired from Bengal to the Malabar Coaft, in- 
habited at that Time for the moil Part by Pirates, from 
whence he proceeded to Calicut , where he remained eight 
Months, waiting for a Dutch Ship ; but at Jaft was per- 
fuaded by the Jefuits to go to Cochin , where, on his firft 
Arrival, he was imprifoned as a Spy, and fuffered great 
Hardfhips. At Goa alfo he was a Prifoner with thole who 
remained of feventeen Englijlo taken at the Bar of Surat. 
1 he Jeliiits had brought one Matter Richards and four 
other Englijhmen from the Mogul's Court ; fome Hollanders 
alfo were there, and they all were Prifoners together ; but 
the Jefuits undertook for them, and procured their Li- 
berty, viz. Thomas Stevens an Englishman , and ReCftr of 
Margon College in Salfete, Nicholas Trigaut a Walloon] 
Stephen Crofs a Frenchman of Roan, with Gafpar Almano a 
Spaniard. Phis Thomas Stevens procured the Liberty of 
the Englijhmen alfo, four of which became Catholicks, 
ana two of them died there. Don Eouis Lorenpo d s EJia- 
arrived at Goa with the Title of Ciceroy to the Peo- 
ple’s great Grief, with the more defired Don Andreo Fur - 
tado: Ten Months after his coming four great Carracks 
arrived, each about two thoufand Tuns; five had de- 
paited irom Lijbon, but they knew not what was be- 
come of the fifth, which was feparated by a Tempeft at the 
Cape, in each were embarked a thoufand Perfons, Sol- 
diers, Mariners, Jefuits, and other Churchmen* with Mer- 
chants and Gentlemen ; but when they arrived at Goa, 
there were not above three hundred in each, by reafon of the 
Sicknefs and Miferies they endured in eight Months at Sea 
without Sight of Land. Thefe brought an Edift from the 
King, forbidding the Englijlo, French, or Dutch Commerce 
in his Dominions ; and if there were any fuch there, to fend 
them away, upon Peril of their Lives. On the 26th of 
December 1609, he embarked for Lijbon, and on the 15th 
of March 1610, they arrived at the Ifle of Diego Rodri- 
guz in 20 0 , about forty Leagues Eaft from Sainf 'Laurence A 
After a cruel Storm there five Days together, they reached 
the Cape, St. Helena, Brajil , the Afore , the Berlings, and 
having paid his Vow to St. James in Galicia , he arrived at 
Rochel the 1 6th of February 1 6 1 1 . Thus we have brought 
this Voyage to a Conclulion without taking in the Authors 
Travels through the reft of India , which would have fwelled 
the Sedition to a great extent, and would have contributed 
little to the Reader s Satisfaction, as containing nothin 0- 
which may not be met with eifewhere, in as good, or in a 
better Drefs, as the Reader will perceive in the next Sec- 
tion, wherein we fhall give one of the exaffeft and beff 
written Voyages to the Fdajl- Indies that is any where ex- 
tant. But with regard to the Maldives , Pirard’s Account 
is beyond a Queftion prefeiaole to any for the Reafons we 
have affigned at the Beginning of the Voyage. It may nor, 
however, be amils, confidering our Author went thither 
one hundred and forty Years ago, to conclude the prefent 
Sedition with fome Remarks on the State thofe Elands are 
now in, that we may give the Reader, as near as poffible* 
a compleat View of the Subject at once, without far min” - 
him with needlefs and impertinent Repetitions ; forwan? 
of which Caution, molt of our old Collections of Voyages 
fwell to fuch bulky Volumes, and at the fame time are, in 
many material Points, extreamly defective. 
29. One would imagine from the Account given us by 
this Writer, that in the Courfe of lb many Years as have 
elapfed fince his being ihipwrecked on thofe Hands, many 
of them muff have been (wallowed up entirely, and many 
more rendered uninhabitable and defart, which, however 
does not appear to be the Cafe. On the contrary, the Eland 
of Male, according to the iateft Accounts we have, is in a 
better Condition than ever, and the Dutch carry on there 
a very considerable Commerce, the Natives themfelves 
alfo trading in their own Veffels to Ceylon, where they are 
well ufed by the Dutch , and make a very great Profit of 
thofe little Shells which are called Cauris , Coris , and by our 
Seamen Cowries . Of thefe there are prodigious Quanti- 
ties s 
1 
