7*4 E X P R D IT 10 N of Commodore Beaulieu Book I 
Zenith ; neither is the Heat exceffive, being tempered by 
the Land Breezes, that never fail blowing from the Sun- 
fetting to Ten or Eleven o’Clock in the Morning, and the 
Sea-gales that blow from that Time to Sun-fetting. I 
found the Air of that Bay very healthy, for we had not 
one fick aboard, to which the Abundance we had of frefh 
Meat and good Water contributed not a little. As for 
the adjacent Country, the Valley is very pleafant, and af- 
fords excellent Pafturage, being watered with a large Ri- 
ver, which would render the Ground very fertile, if it 
were cultivated. The Sea fwells the Mouth of the River 
to ten or twelve Foot running Water, fo that ordinary 
Ships might enter it. The Mountains are a dry Rock, the 
Surface of which looks as if it were burnt. The low 
Country is clad with an Infinity of Bufhes and Shrubs, and 
the greateft Quantity of Tamarinds I ever faw, as well as 
with Ebony, and Aloe-Roots. 
Their Tamarinds were not then ripe, but I met with 
another Fruit, almoft ripe, that refembled a large Walnut, 
having a green Rind, which, when I opened it, gave a 
fragrant Smell, and the Fruit within it was black, and full 
of little Stones, like Gfflffta Fijtula , and the Pulp being of 
the fame Tafte and Colour, though not fo thick, was, as 
I take it, of the fame Qualities. This Fruit is called Tam- 
borins, and faid to refemble Poppy-Heads, but without 
any Reafon. We faw, in the Hands of the Savages, fome 
fmall Cucumbers, which feemed to be better than ours, 
which they eat as we do Pears, a great many Gourds, 
fome Beans, very good Peas, and a little Rice, and only 
one Citron. The Natives are jolly, proper, handfome Ne- 
groes, they are very friendly one to another, and obey one 
Sovereign, called Aurea , and he was only his Deputy, to 
whom I made a Prefent of the filver Cutlafs, for they 
told me, with great Concern, that their Aurea had been 
llabbed. I could not perceive them guilty of any brutifh 
-or inhuman Adtion, for they dealt with us very friendly 
and honeftly ; they did not Real the leaf! odd Thing, or 
offer the fmalleft Injury to our Men. 
One Day, when one of our Priefts was faying Mafs, 
and had but very few Auditors, twenty- five or thirty of 
the Natives came about him, and being defired to kneel 
did To, and behaved themfelves very refpedlfully till the Ser- 
mon was over. As for Religion, I could perceive none 
they had amongft them : Indeed they are circumcifed, and 
though the Inftitution came to them time out of mind, yet 
I believe they had it from the Mohammedans upon the 
Coaft of Ethiopia , who have long had, and ftill have, 
Traffick with that Country. Their Language founds pret- 
ty fmooth, for they pronounce it very glibly. They do 
not reckon beyond Ten in Computations, and their ten 
Numbers are thus expreffed in Order, IJfa , Rowa , T dlo, 
Effad , Lime , Euning , Frutto , Virollo , Sinay, Foulo. As 
for their Women, and their Houles, I faw neither. Some 
of our Men told me, they left their Women about half a 
League off in the Woods, and that they faw three or four 
of them that were very handfome, being covered from 
their Bread to their Knees with a party-coloured Cloth of 
Cotton, and having their Ears pierced in many Places, 
with a great many Ear-rings and Bracelets hanging upon 
them. 
Flaving refitted our Ships, and furnifhed ourfelves with 
frefh Provifions, Wood, and Frefh-water, and rode fif- 
teen Days in this Bay, which is a very proper Place for 
taking in frefh Provifions, and flickering diftreffed Ships, 
and might be made as ufeful for thofe who trade to the In- 
dies as Mozambique is to the Portugueze. Having rode, I 
fay, fifteen Days in this Bay, which lies in the Ifland of 
Madagafcar or St. Laurence , under the Tropick of Capri- 
corn. , we weighed Anchor and flood North-Weft to avoid 
the Flats ; and, having failed all the Day with little Wind, 
at Night the Bay lay about ten Leagues off S.E. a Quarter 
E. at which Time we perceived another Bay about fix 
Leagues off to the Eaftward ; the Coaft runs N. and S. as 
far as we could fee, and appears high, fmooth, and all of 
a Piece, like the Coafts of Piccardy , Normandy , and Bre- 
tagne. 
12. June the 9th we came in Sight of the Terra jirma , 
between Sophala and Mozambique , and, at Night, being 
in 9 0 io / Lat. and failing N.E. a Quarter E. were in Dan- 
ger of being caft away, becaufe our Sea- Charts are very 
defective in thofe Parts, for the Pinnace being ordered to 
fail a-head and found, and, it fhe apprehended any Danger, 
to give us a Signal of three Guns j about an Hour and a 
hah before Day, the Signal being given, we immediately 
tacked about and dropped an Anchor ; and when Day 
came, perceived that if we had gone a little farther we 
had run our Ship a-ground, for, about a Quarter of a 
League off there lay a little Eland, fcarce a Mile in Cir- 
cumference, covered with Bufhes and Greens, having two 
tall Trees together upon its Weftern Point, and to theW. 
N.W. of this Ifland, which has a long Bar before it ; there 
lies another of the fame Bignefs very low, and covered all 
over with Trees. 
The Continent lay about four Leagues from the firft 
Ifland to the S. W. We faw a high and fandy Coaft with 
a woody Country behind it, and to the Weft we defcried 
a low Land, with large Trees upon it, as if they had been 
planted in the Sea. I was furprized to fee the Continent 
fo near me, taking my Meafure from the Sea- Charts ; for 
over Night, when we faw the Terra Firma , and the 
Hands, we took them, according to the Latitude in the 
Charts, to be what the Portugueze call the Primieras , and 
reckoning thefe three Leagues to the Weft ward of us, the 
Courfe laid down in the Charts from thefe Hands to a large 
Flat, lying in 16 0 30' about twelve Leagues from the 
Terra Firma , being N. E. and S. W. and the laft of the 
Primieras- IJlands being placed in 17 0 , above ten Leagues 
from the Terra Firma , we refolved to ftand N. E. a Quart. 
E. thinking to fail nearer to the Flat than the Primieras - 
IJlands , but we were miftaken, for the Primieras- IJlands 
are not above two or three Leagues from the T err a Firma , 
from which the Coaft runs away E. a Quart.N. E. Befides^ 
the Charts have no Flats or Hands along that Coaft, un~ 
lefs it be thofe of Angoxa , which are placed more to the 
Southward, viz. 16 0 ; though after all, I faw that Morn- 
ing a String of Hands diftant one from another, and lying 
1 60 4o ; , which I took for them ; fo that the Charts miff 
placed them alfo two thirds of a Degree. Being at a Lofs 
to know what little Hands thefe were, and finding the 
Chart fo much out, I refolved to ftay there no longer 5 
accordingly I weighed Anchor, and failed between^the 
two Hands, the Pinnace founding a Head of me. 
We failed clofe by the Land-Side of the firft Ifland, 
where we had ten or twelve Fathom Water, with a good 
Ground of muddy Sand, and no Banks, fo that this Side, 
together with the Bar, affords a very good Road for Ships ; 
then Handing E. S. E. with a frefh foutherly Gale, we got 
clear of the iecond Hand, between which and the Conti- 
nent I doubt not but there is a good Paffage, for I ob- 
ferved not any Banks or Shallows. Having paffed this fe- 
cond Ifland, we defcribed a third of the fame Bignefs 
with the former, which convinced me that thefe were the 
Hands of Angoxa. The next Day it was as much as we 
could do to fee the Land to the North- Weft of us, being 
then about fix Leagues off ; but, according the Charts, we 
fhould have been above twenty. 
13. The thirteenth we defcribed one of the Hands of 
Comorro , which is very high, and as confpicuous as Ma- 
dera. The next Day we perceived another not fo high, 
which is called Majotta , and abounds with all forts of 
Provifions and Fruits, lying about ten Leagues from the 
Hand that is neareft the Terra Jirma of Mozambique , the 
South Point of which we made the next Day, but could 
find no Conveniency of coming to an Anchor. Notwith- 
ftanding it is inhabited all along the Shore, this laft Hand 
is very cool, moift, and full of Verdure, by reafon of its 
Height, which gathers a great number of Clouds that 
break upon it. It has a great many Brooks of Water 
running down from the Top, which, in my Opinion, does 
not fpring from the Rock, but are occafioned by the con- 
tinual Vapours and their Condenfation. The fixteenth we 
made the North Cape, which is fifteen or fixteen Leagues 
diftant from the South. Having doubled the Cape, we 
perceived a fandy Creek, which appeared like an old ruin- 
ous Caftle, where two Ships may ride at Anchor, in fix 
Fathom Water, upon a fandy Ground : We thought to 
have rode there, but the Tide carried us by it. 
Having 
