On Thursday, at noon, they crossed the river Coronda [? Kannadera Oya],
which parts the country of the Malabars from the king's, and on Friday,
about nine or ten in the morning, came among the inhabitants, of whom
they were as much afraid as of the Chiangulays before; for, though the
Wanniounay, or prince of this people, payeth tribute to the Dutch out
of fear, yet he is better affected to the King of Kandy, and, if he had
took them, would have sent them up to their old master; but not knowing
any way to escape, they kept on their journey by the river-side by day,
because the woods were not to be travelled by night for thorns and wild
beasts, who came down then to the river to drink. In all the Malabar
country they met with only two Brahmins, who treated them very civilly;
and for their money, one of them conducted them till they came into the
territories of the Dutch, and out of all danger of the King of Kandy,
which did not a little rejoice them; but yet they were in no small
trouble how to find the way out of the woods, till a Malabar, for the
lucre of a knife, conducted them to a Dutch town, where they found
guides to conduct them from town to town, till they came to the fort
called Aripo, where they arrived Saturday, October 18, 1679, and there
thankfully adored God's wonderful providence, in thus completing their
deliverance from a long captivity of nineteen years and six months.
I come now back to my own history, which grows near a conclusion, as to
the travels I took in this part of the world. We were now at sea, and we
stood away to the north for a while, to try if we could get a market for
our spice, for we were very rich in nutmegs, but we ill knew what to
do with them; we durst not go upon the English coast, or, to speak more
properly, among the English factories to trade; not that we were afraid
to fight any two ships they had, and, besides that, we knew that, as
they had no letters of marque, or of reprisals from the government, so
it was none of their business to act offensively, no, not though we were
pirates. Indeed, if we had made any attempt upon them, they might have
justified themselves in joining together to resist, and assisting one
another to defend themselves; but to go out of their business to attack
a pirate ship of almost fifty guns, as we were, it was plain that it was
none of their business, and consequently it was none of our concern, so
we did not trouble ourselves about it; but, on the other hand, it was
none of our business to be seen among them, and to have the news of us
carried from one factory to another, so that whatever design we might be
upon at another time, we should be sure to be prevented and discovered.
Much less had we any occasion to be seen among any of the Dutch
factories upon the coast of Malabar; for, being fully laden with the
spices which we had, in the sense of their trade, plundered them of, it
would have told them what we were, and all that we had been doing; and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account