world, but it did indeed satisfyus, and our men declared they did not desire any more. The next motion,therefore, was about going back, and the way by which we should performthe voyage, so as not to be attacked by the Dutch in the Straits ofSunda.
We had pretty well stored ourselves here with provisions, and it beingnow near the return of the monsoons, we resolved to stand away to thesouthward; and not only to keep without the Philippine Islands, that isto say, to the eastward of them, but to keep on to the southward, andsee if we could not leave not only the Moluccas, or Spice Islands,behind us, but even Nova Guinea and Nova Hollandia also; and so gettinginto the variable winds, to the south of the tropic of Capricorn, steeraway to the west, over the great Indian Ocean.
This was indeed at first a monstrous voyage in its appearance, and thewant of provisions threatened us. William told us in so many words, thatit was impossible we could carry provisions enough to subsist us forsuch a voyage, and especially fresh water; and that, as there wouldbe no land for us to touch at where we could get any supply, it was amadness to undertake it.
But I undertook to remedy this evil, and therefore desired them notto be uneasy at that, for I knew that we might supply ourselves atMindanao, the most southerly island of the Philippines.
Accordingly, we set sail, having taken all the provisions here that wecould get, the 28th of September, the wind veering a little at firstfrom the N.N.W. to the N.E. by E., but afterwards settled about theN.E. and the E.N.E. We were nine weeks in this voyage, having met withseveral interruptions by the weather, and put in under the lee of asmall island in the latitude of 16 degrees 12 minutes, of which we neverknew the name, none of our charts having given any account of it: Isay, we put in here by reason of a strange tornado or hurricane, whichbrought us into a great deal of danger. Here we rode about sixteen days,the winds being very tempestuous and the weather uncertain. However, wegot some provisions on shore, such as plants and roots, and a few hogs.We believed there were inhabitants on the island, but we saw none ofthem.
From hence, the weather settling again, we went on and came to thesouthernmost part of Mindanao, where we took in fresh water and somecows, but the climate was so hot that we did not attempt to salt up anymore than so as to keep a fortnight or three weeks; and away we stoodsouthward, crossing the line, and, leaving Gillolo on the starboardside, we coasted the country they call New Guinea, where, in thelatitude of eight degrees south, we put in again for provisions andwater, and where we found inhabitants; but they fled from us, and werealtogether inconversable. From thence, sailing still southward, we leftall behind us that any of our charts and maps took any notice of, andwent on till we came to the latitude of seventeen degrees, the windcontinuing still north-east.
Here we made land to the westward, which, when we had kept in sightfor three days, coasting along the shore for the distance of about fourleagues, we began to fear we should find no outlet west, and so shouldbe obliged to go back again, and put in among the Moluccas at last; butat length we found the land break off, and go trending away to the westsea, seeming to be all open to the south and south-west, and a great seacame rolling out of the south, which gave us to understand that therewas no land for a great way.
In a word, we kept on our course to the south, a little westerly, tillwe passed the south tropic, where we found the winds variable; and nowwe stood away fair west, and held it out for about twenty days, when wediscovered land right ahead, and on our larboard bow; we made directlyto the shore, being willing to take all advantages now for supplyingourselves with fresh provisions and water, knowing we were now enteringon that vast unknown Indian Ocean, perhaps the greatest sea on theglobe, having, with very little interruption of islands, a continued seaquite round the globe.
We found a good road here, and some people on shore; but when we landed,they fled up the country, nor would they hold any correspondence withus, nor come near us, but shot at us several times with arrows as longas lances. We set up white flags for a truce, but they either did notor would not understand it; on the contrary, they shot our flag of trucethrough several times with their arrows, so that, in a word, we nevercame near any of them.
We found good water here, though it was something difficult to get atit, but for living creatures we could see none; for the people, ifthey had any cattle, drove them all away, and showed us nothing butthemselves, and that sometimes in a threatening posture, and in numberso great, that made us suppose the island to be greater than we firstimagined. It is true, they would not come near enough for us to engagewith them, at least not openly; but they came near enough for us to seethem, and, by the help of our glasses, to see that they were clothed andarmed, but their clothes were only about their lower and middle parts;that they had long lances, half pikes, in their hands, besides bowsand arrows; that they had great high things on their heads, made, as webelieved, of feathers, and which looked something like our grenadiers'caps in England.
When we saw them so shy that they would not come near us, our men beganto range over the island, if it was such (for we never surrounded it),to search for cattle, and for any of the Indian plantations, for fruitsor plants; but they soon found, to their cost, that they were to usemore caution than that came to, and that they were to discover perfectlyevery bush and every tree before they ventured abroad in the country;for about fourteen of our men going farther than the rest, into a partof the country which seemed to be planted, as they thought, for it didbut seem so, only I think it was overgrown with canes, such as we makeour cane chairs with--I say, venturing too far, they were suddenlyattacked with a shower of arrows from almost every side of them, as theythought, out of the tops of the trees.
They had nothing to do but to fly for it, which, however, they could notresolve on, till five of them were wounded; nor had they escaped so, ifone of them had not been so much wiser or thoughtfuller than the rest,as to consider, that though they could not see the enemy, so as to shootat them, yet perhaps the noise of their shot might terrify them, andthat they should rather fire at a venture. Accordingly, ten of themfaced about, and fired at random anywhere among the canes.
The noise and the fire not only terrified the enemy, but, as theybelieved, their shot had luckily hit some of them; for they found notonly that the arrows, which came thick among them before, ceased, butthey heard the Indians halloo, after their way, to one another, and makea strange noise, more uncouth and inimitably strange than any they hadever heard, more like the howling and barking of wild creatures in thewoods than like the voice of men, only that sometimes they seemed tospeak words.
They observed also, that this noise of the Indians went farther andfarther off, so that they were satisfied the Indians fled away, excepton one side, where they heard a doleful groaning and howling, and whereit continued a good while, which they supposed was from some or otherof them being wounded, and howling by reason of their wounds; orkilled, and others howling over them: but our men had enough of makingdiscoveries; so they did not trouble themselves to look farther, butresolved to take this opportunity to retreat. But the worst oftheir adventure was to come; for as they came back, they passed by aprodigious great trunk of an old tree; what tree it was, they said, theydid not know, but it stood like an old decayed oak in a park, where thekeepers in England take a stand, as they call it, to shoot a deer; andit stood just under the steep side of a great rock, or hill, that ourpeople could not see what was beyond it.
As they came by this tree, they were of a sudden shot at, from the topof the tree, with seven arrows and three lances, which, to our greatgrief, killed two of our men, and wounded three more. This was the moresurprising, because, being without any defence, and so near the trees,they expected more lances and arrows every moment; nor would flying dothem any service, the Indians being, as appeared, very good marksmen.In this extremity, they had happily this presence of mind, viz., to runclose to the tree, and stand, as it were, under it; so that those abovecould not come at, or see them, to throw their lances at them. Thissucceeded, and gave them time to consid
er what to do; they knew theirenemies and murderers were above; they heard them talk, and those aboveknew those were below; but they below were obliged to keep close forfear of their lances from above. At length, one of our men, looking alittle more strictly than the rest, thought he saw the head of one ofthe Indians just over a dead limb of the tree, which, it seems, thecreature sat upon. One man immediately fired, and levelled his piece sotrue that the shot went through the fellow's head; and down he fell outof the tree immediately, and came upon the ground with such force, withthe height of his fall, that if he had not been killed with the shot,he would certainly have been killed with dashing his body against theground.
This so frightened them, that, besides the howling noise they made inthe tree, our men heard a strange clutter of them in the body of thetree, from whence they concluded they had made the tree hollow, and weregot to hide themselves there. Now, had this been the case, they weresecure enough from our men, for it was impossible