A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The 1st of September the king gave out that we were to receive ordnance
on board for battering Johor, and to take in soldiers for that service.
Many gallies were manned and brought out of the river, and rode at
anchor about half a mile from our ships. The sea was all full of
_paraws_ and boats. There came that day on board our ship the secretary,
named _Corcoun_, and the chief sabander, named _Abdala_, accompanied by
many soldiers armed with cutlasses, darts, crisses, and targets. They
brought with them many kinds of meats, and a great jar of aquavitae,
making a great shew of friendship and banqueting. Suspecting some
treachery, we filled our tops with stones, made fast and prepared our
gratings, all without orders from our _baas_, who was exceedingly angry,
and ordered us to discontinue, but we would not.
There is a kind of seed in this country, by eating a little of which a
man becomes quite foolish, all things seeming to be metamorphosed; but,
above a certain quantity, it is deadly poison. With this all the meat
and drink they brought on board was infected. While banqueting, the
sabandar sent for me and Mr Tomkins, who kept me company, and said some
words to one of their attendants, which I did not understand. In a short
time we were foolishly frolicsome, gaping one upon another in a most
ridiculous manner, our captain, or _baas_, being at that time a prisoner
in their hands, yet knew it not. A signal was made from the other ship,
where the like treachery was going on under the direction of the
secretary, who went there from our ship for that purpose. They
immediately set upon us, murdered our _baas_, and slew several others.
Mr Tomkins and I, with the assistance of a Frenchman, defended the poop,
which, if they had gained, our ship had been lost, for they already had
the cabin, and some of their fellows were below among our guns, having
crept in at the port-holes. The master of our ship, whom the Dutch call
captain, leapt into the sea, with several others, but came on board
again when all was over. In the end, we put them to flight, for our
people in the tops annoyed them sore; and, when I saw them run, I leapt
from the poop to pursue them, Mr Tomkins following my example. At this
time a Turk came out of the cabin, who wounded him grievously, and they
lay tumbling over each other on the deck. On seeing this, I ran the Turk
through the body with my rapier, and our skipper thrust him down the
throat into the body with a half pike.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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