A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed BeforeDefoe, Daniel
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A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before
Defoe, Daniel
Adventure stories; Voyages around the world -- Fiction
This was so generous, and so extraordinary, that I had nothing to say
more, but to please myself with the apparent success of my attempt, and
acknowledge the happiness of having an opportunity to oblige so
generous, spirited, and grateful a person.
I would, however, have made some farther acknowledgment to our Chilian
benefactor, but I had nothing left, except a couple of hats, and three
pair of English stockings, one pair silk and the other two worsted, and
those I gave him, and made him a great many acknowledgments for the
favours he had shown us, and the next morning came away.
We made little stay anywhere else in our return; but, making much such
stages back as we did forward, we came the fourteenth day to our
patron's house, having made the passage through in something less than
sixteen days, and the like back in fifteen days, including our stay at
the Chilian's, one day.
The length of the way, according to the best of my calculations, I
reckoned to be about one hundred and seventy-five English miles, taking
it with all its windings and turnings, which were not a few, but which
had this conveniency with them, that they gave a more easy and agreeable
passage, and made the English proverb abundantly good, namely, that the
farthest way about is the nearest way home.
The civilities I received after this from my generous Spaniard were
agreeable to the rest of his usage of me; but we, that had so great a
charge upon us at the sea-side, could not spare long time in those
ceremonies, any more than I do now for relating them.
It is enough to mention, that he would not be excused, at parting, from
going back with us quite to the ships, and when I would have excused it,
he said, Nay, seignior, give me leave to go and fetch my hostages. In
short, there was no resisting him, so we went all together, after
staying two days more at his house, and came all safe to our ships,
having been gone forty-six days from them.
We found the ship in very good condition, all safe on board, and well,
except that the men seemed to have contracted something of the scurvy,
which our Spanish doctor, however, soon recovered them from.
Here we found the two Spanish youths, our patron's hostages, very well
also, and very well pleased with their entertainment; one of our
lieutenants had been teaching them navigation, and something of the
mathematics, and they made very good improvement in those studies,
considering the time they had been there; and the Spaniard, their
father, was so pleased with it, that not having gold enough to offer the
lieutenant, as an acknowledgment for his teaching them, he gave him a
very good ring from his finger, having a fine large emerald in it of
some value, and made him a long Spanish compliment for having nothing of
greater consequence to offer him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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