A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: 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 12: 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 next morning I sent the boats on shore, with a guard, to fill some
more casks with water, and soon after the people were on shore, the same
old man who had come over the river to them the first day, came again to
the farther side of it, where he made a long speech, and then crossed
the water. When he came up to the waterers, the officer shewed him the
stones that were piled up like cannon balls upon the shore, and had been
brought thither since our first landing, and some of the bags that had
been taken out of the canoes, which I had ordered to be destroyed,
filled with stones, and endeavoured to make him understand that the
Indians had been the aggressors, and that the mischief we had done them
was in our own defence. The old man seemed to apprehend his meaning,
but not to admit it: he immediately made a speech to the people,
pointing to the stones, slings, and bags, with great emotion, and
sometimes his looks, gestures, and voice were so furious as to be
frightful. His passions, however, subsided by degrees, and the officer,
who, to his great regret, could not understand one word of all that he
had said, endeavoured to convince him, by all the signs he could devise,
that we wished to live in friendship with them, and were disposed to
shew them every mark of kindness in our power. He then shook hands with
him, and embraced him, giving him at the same time several such trinkets
as he thought would be most acceptable. He contrived also to make the
old man understand that we wished to traffic for provisions, that the
Indians should not come down in great numbers, and that they should keep
on one side of the river and we on the other. After this the old man
went away with great appearance of satisfaction, and before noon a trade
was established, which furnished us with hogs, fowls, and fruit in great
abundance, so that all the ship's company, whether sick or well, had as
much as they could use.
SECTION VI.
_The Sick sent on Shore, and a regular Trade established with the
Natives; some Account of their Character and Manners, of their Visits on
board the Ship, and a Variety of Incidents that happened during this
Intercourse_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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