A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The 26th of October, Mr Melsham being very sick, _Zanzibar_ came to
visit him, and urged him to use the physic of the country, bringing with
him a _bonze_, or doctor, to administer the cure. Mr Melsham was very
desirous to use it, but wished our surgeon to see it in the first place.
So the bonze gave him two pills yesterday, two in the night, and two
this morning, together with certain seeds; but, for what I can see,
these things did him no good. God restore his health! At this time, all
our waste-cloths, pennants, brass sheaves, and other matters, were sent
aboard, and our ship was put into order to receive our general, whose
return was soon expected. Last night another house was set on fire by
some villains, but was soon extinguished with very little harm; yet our
nightly criers of fire continue to make such horrible noises, that it is
impossible for any one to get rest. The Chinese captain still continued
sick, and sent to beg some spiced cakes and two wax-candles, which I
sent him, as I had done before. Mr Melsham now grew weary of his
Japanese doctor and his prescriptions, and returned to our surgeon Mr
Warner, to the great displeasure of Zanzibar and the bonze.
§10. _Conclusion of Observations by Mr Cockes_.
Our Chinese landlord came to our house on the 30th October, to inform me
of a general collection of provisions of all kinds, then making at every
house in Firando, to be sent to the two kings, in honour of a great
feast they were to give next day, together with a comedy or play. By his
advice, and after consulting with the other gentlemen of the factory, I
directed two bottles of Spanish wine, two roasted hens, a roasted pig, a
small quantity of rusk, and three boxes of confections and preserves to
be sent, as a contribution towards their feast. Before night the young
king sent one of his men to me, requesting me to furnish him with some
English apparel, for the better setting out their comedy, and
particularly to let him have a pair of red cloth breeches. I answered,
that I had nonesuch, and knew not any of our people who had; but any
clothes I had that could gratify his highness were much at his service.
At night the old king sent to invite me to be a spectator of their
comedy on the morrow, and to bring Mr Foster, our master, along with me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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