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 went on shore for the first time; and my princess, or
rather queen, for such by her authority she appeared to be, soon after
came to me, followed by many of her attendants. As she perceived that my
disorder had left me very weak, she ordered her people to take me in
their arms, and carry me not only over the river, but all the way to
her house; and observing that some of the people who were with me,
particularly the first lieutenant and purser, had also been sick, she
caused them also to be carried in the same manner, and a guard, which I
had ordered out upon the occasion, followed. In our way, a vast
multitude crowded about us, but upon her waving her hand, without
speaking a word, they withdrew, and left us a free passage. When we
approached near her house, a great number of both sexes came out to meet
her: These she presented to me, after having intimated by signs that
they were her relations, and taking hold of my hand, she made them kiss
it. We then entered the house, which covered a piece of ground 327 feet
long, and forty-two feet broad. It consisted of a roof, thatched with
palm leaves, and raised upon thirty-nine pillars on each side, and
fourteen in the middle. The ridge of the thatch, on the inside, was
thirty feet high, and the sides of the house, to the edge of the roof,
were twelve feet high; all below the roof being open. As soon as we
entered the house, she made us sit down, and then calling four young
girls, she assisted them to take off my shoes, draw down my stockings,
and pull off my coat, and then directed them to smooth down the skin,
and gently chafe it with their hands: The same operation was also
performed upon the first lieutenant and purser, but upon none of those
who appeared to be in health. While this was doing, our surgeon, who had
walked till he was very warm, took off his wig to cool and refresh
himself: A sudden exclamation of one of the Indians who saw it, drew the
attention of the rest, and in a moment every eye was fixed upon the
prodigy, and every operation was suspended: the whole assembly stood
some time motionless, in silent astonishment, which could not have been
more strongly expressed if they had discovered that our friend's limbs
had been screwed on to the trunk; in a short time, however, the young
women who were chafing us, resumed their employment, and having
continued it for about half an hour, they dressed us again, but in this
they were, as may easily be imagined, very awkward; I found great
benefit however, from the chafing, and so did the lieutenant and purser.
After a little time, our generous benefactress ordered some bales of
Indian cloth to be brought out, with which she clothed me, and all that
were with me, according to the fashion of the country. At first I
declined the acceptance of this favour, but being unwilling not to seem
pleased with what was intended to please me, I acquiesced. When we went
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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