SIR HANS SLOANE. 
33 
of metal or aloe dropt into the sea,* as Trapham 
would have it. What kind of Arundo it is, the 
same author calls the Dumb-cane ; as also what 
his animal seeds may be. The shining barks of 
trees which he mentions deserves observation, 
because I find nothing of them in other writers,” 
&c-t 
With these instructions he prepared for his 
voyage ; and at length, on Monday, September 
12, 1687, he went on board his Majesty’s ship, 
Assistance, forty-four guns, commanded by Cap- 
tain Lawrence Wright, then lying at Spithead. 
They weighed anchor the same afternoon, and 
reached Madeira on Friday, 21st October. “ Con- 
sidering,” says he, “ that this island had not been 
very anciently inhabited, being but discovered 
in the fourteenth century, and that common fame 
relates all the inhabitants hereof to be criminals 
banished hither, I expected to have found a great 
deal of barbarity and rudeness here, and nothing 
else ; but on going ashore, I was very much 
disappointed, for I have not seen any where more 
accomplished gentlemen than here, having all the 
civility one could desire.” His medical skill was 
in great demand during the ten days he remained 
* It is almost needless to remark, that it is now ascer- 
tained that this substance is a concretion formed in the 
stomach or intestines of the Physeter macrocephalus, or 
Spermaceti whale. 
t Letters, page 209. 
VOL. XXUI. 
C 
