So 8 The Voyages and Obfervations of J. A. de Mandelfloe, Book I. 
sway upon the Rocks, where they made 'a fhift to ereCt a 
Hut out of feme Boards belonging to their Ship. They 
lived upon the Sea-mews they catched, which they dried 
in the Sun, and fo eat them raw ; as alfo upon certain Eggs 
they found in the Crevices of the Rocks, which kept 
them from ftarving : But their greateft Want was frelh 
Water, of which they had none but what the Rain helped 
them to. They continued in this Condition fix Weeks ; 
at the Expiration of which the Englijhman , waking in the 
Morning, milled his Companion (whom he fuppofed to 
be fallen from the Rock through Careleffnefs) the only 
Comfort of his Life. In this Solitude, which almoft threw 
him into Defpair, efpecially when the approaching Winter 
made every thing appear with a more doleful AfpeCt than 
before, his Hut being covered with Snow, he made the 
hardeft Shift in the World to fuftain himfelf, till after a 
miferable Life of eleven Months, fome Seamen belonging 
to a Flemijh Ship, commanded by Captain Peckman, famous 
for his Art in getting out the great Guns of the SpanifhAr- 
mada , forced upon the Coaft of Scotland and Ireland in 
1588, by Tempeft, as they were looking for Eggs, difco- 
vered this poor Wretch, whom, at laft, with many En- 
treaties, they took into their Veffel, being all black, hairy, 
and meager, more like a SpeCtre than a Man ; and hav- 
ing given him what Refrefhments the Ship afforded, fet 
him afhore at Derry in Ireland , from whence he afterwards 
returned into England. 
A third Relation he was pleaded to give us of a moll 
fur priding Refolution of four Seamen, who, being taken 
by the Algerines, and one of them being a Carpenter, they 
refolved to make a fmall Boat, and venture in it in the 
open Sea, in order to their Deliverance ; accordingly, hav- 
ing fecretly made what Pereparation they could for the 
Execution of this Defign, they took off five Boards from 
the Store-Room, two whereof were employed for the Bot- 
tom of the Boat, two more for the Sides, and the fifth for 
the Prow and Poop, their Quilt ferving for Towe. The 
Boat being well pitched, and the appointed Time come, 
they found that their Boat .was fo little as not to contain 
above two, fo that two of the Confederates were obliged 
to ftay behind •, the other two, being an Englifhman and a 
Dutchman , perfifting in their Refolution to go forward, 
let it coil what it would ; accordingly, having found 
Means to provide a Pair of Oars, a Piece of a Sail, and 
a fiender Portion of Bread and frefh Water, they boldly 
put to Sea, having neither Compafs nor Aftrolabe •, fo that 
being overtaken by a Storm, they were forced to go where 
the Wind would carry them, their chief Bufinefs being to 
caff out the Water which continually came into the Boat, 
and foon fpoiled what little Bread they had ; which toge- 
ther with the want of Reft, had brought them fo low, 
that they were fcarce able to Hand on their Legs. In this 
miferable Condition Chance brought them to the Coaft of 
Barb ary, where, lighting on fome Wood that ferved them 
to refit and enlarge their Boat, which they had no fooner 
done, but being in manifeft Danger of being killed by the 
Inhabitants, were forced to chufe the main Sea a fecond 
Time, and, at laft, after being toffed up and down in the 
Sea for ten Days, were call upon the Spanijh Coafts near 
the Cape of St. Martin , between Alicant and Valentia, 
where, being civily entertained by the Inhabitants, they 
after came into England. 
30. On the 6th I faw the King of England touch ma- 
ny Perfons that were afflicted with the Evil, and the Ce- 
remony being over, my Lord Strafford did me the Ho- 
nour to introduce me to his Majefty to kifs his Hand, and 
afterwards to the Queen, both their Majefties, at feveral 
Times after, being pleafed to bellow fome Time in hear- 
ing my Relations of my Travels, efpecially of thofe into 
Perfia and Mufcovy. During my Stay of three Months in 
England , I fpent Part of my Time at Court, and the 
reft in taking a View of what was molt worthy of Gb- 
fervation in London , and the adjacent Places, fuch as 
White-Hall , St. James’s, H amp ton- Court, Wejiminjler - 
Hall, and the Ably, Greenwich , the Tower, &c. And 
having by this Time fufficiently recovered myfelf of the 
Fatigue of fo tedious a Voyage, and received the Money I 
expeCted from my native Country, I left London on the 
?orb of March , an.d taking Water for Grave fend, went 
thence for Rochejier, and coming the 24th to Dover, em- 
barked the 28 th for Dunkirk, where I arrived the fame 
Day. The 26th I continued my Journey thence to New- 
port, where I flayed that Night, and came the next Day 
to Bruges, arid the 29th to Ghent, where I Hayed only to 
the 2 1 ft of April , when I profecuted my Journey to Bruff 
f e Is, the capital City of the Province of Brabant . After a 
Stay of two Days at Br iff els, I came the 5th to Louvain, 
and travelled the fame Day four Leagues farther to Me.cE 
lin thence I profecuted my Journey the 6th to Antwerp , 
where I Hayed two Days, and the 9th and 10th travelled 
to Breda, where, having fpent the Remainder of that 
Day, I made five Leagues the next Dav to Bois-le-duc , or 
Bolduc. 
The 1 2 th I fet forward again for Gertrudenburg , 
whence I took Boat the fame Day for Rotterdam, where I 
arrived the 13th, and continued my Journey the fame Day 
for Delft, and fo farther through the Hague, by the Way of 
Leyden to Harlem. This City, which is the biggeft next 
to Amfierdam, in the Province of Holland, challenged! 
the Glory of the Invention of the Myftery of Printing by 
one of its Inhabitants, named Laurence Cofiar, who, in 
the Year 1420, firft made the Characters of Beech- wood, 
and afterwards having alfo found out the Ink, that to this 
Day is ufed by Printers, he changed the wooden Charac- 
ters into leaden ones ; and having at laft made them of 
Tin, he brought the whole to Perfection in 1440-, in Me- 
mory of which the Senate of Harlem have caufed the fol- 
lowing Infcription to be fet over the Houfe he lived in. 
Memorise Sacrum, Typographia, Ars Artium omnium con « 
fervatrix, nunc primuminventa circa Annum 1440. 
Leaving Harlem in the Evening, I came the fame Night 
to Amfierdam , of which Place having heard fo much in 
the Indies , I refolved to fpend fome Time in taking a View 
of it. The firft Thing that furprized me the next Morn- 
ing was, that vail Numbers of People which fo crouded 
the Streets, that a Man could very hardly pafs ; but when 
I came to the Port, I flood amazed at the prodigious 
Number of Ships, which appeared at a Diftance no other- 
wife than one continued Foreft, efpecially when I was in- 
formed how many Ships were abroad at that Time, bound 
to all Parts of the World ; and that I faw every Day a 
confiderable Number go to their own, and other adjacent 
Coafts. The vaft Stores brought thither even from all the 
moll remote Parts of the World, efpecially in the Houfe of 
the Eajl- India Company, made me imagine no otherwife 
than that all I had feen in my Travels thro’ fo great a Part 
of the Globe, was centered in this Place, there being 
fuch prodigious Quantities of Spices, Silk, and Porcelain 
here, thatChina, and all the reft of the Indiesfeemed to have 
exhaufted their Store-houfes, to lay them up in this City. 
It was in the Year 1595, that the Dutch , by the En- 
couragement ofa certain Merchant, whofe Name was Cor- 
nelius Houtman , and who had lived a confiderable Time in. 
Portugal, undertook the firft Voyage to the Eajl- Indies 
along the African Coaft ; their Defign of finding out the 
Northern Paffage having proved abortive. The firllVoyage 
did not anfwer the Expectation of the Merchants, notwith- 
ftanding which they fent eight Ships more thither. In 1598 
and 1 599, they fent another Squadron, but by different Own- 
ers, fo that for fear of deftroying this fo powerful a Trade, 
a Charter was granted to all the Perlons concerned in 1602, 
for twenty Years, and fix Chambers erected, viz. at Am- 
fterdam , confiding of twenty Directors, Middleborough for 
Zealand, twelve Directors ; at Delft, and Rotterdam for the 
Meufe •, at Horn, and Enkhuifen for Wefl-Friezland % thefe 
four laft confifting each of feven Directors. According to 
the fame Charter the City of Amfierdam was to defray one- 
half of all the Charges, and to fend eight Deputies to their 
general Meetings, and thofe of the Muefe and Wejl-Friez- 
land one half- Quarter each, and to fend two Deputies 
each. 
Their original Stock amounted to 6, 600., 000 French 
Livres, which was improved to that Degree, that in the 
Year 1613, the Perfons concerned had gained two hun- 
dred and fixty upon the hundred, and the next Year the 
Profits were more confiderable. The Regularity of the 
Streets 
4 
