The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 11Hakluyt, Richard
History
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 11
Hakluyt, Richard
Discoveries in geography -- English; Voyages and travels
Wee hauing stayed there a good space, and seeing that they would not come
to vs, thrust our boates heads a shoare, being both well appointed, and
then the Captaine of the Towne came downe being a graue man: and he came
with his dart in his hand, and sixe tall men after him, euery one with his
dart and his target, and their darts were all of yron, faire and sharpe,
and there came another after them which caried the Captaines stoole: wee
saluted him, and put off our caps, and bowed our selues, and hee like one
that thought well of himselfe, did not mooue his cap, nor scant bowed his
body, and sate him downe very solemnly, vpon his stoole: but all his men
put off their caps to vs, and bowed downe themselues.
He was clothed from the loines down with a cloth of that Countrey making,
wrapped about him, and made fast about his loynes with a girdle, and his
cap of a certaine cloth of the Countrey also, and bare legged, and bare
footed, and all bare aboue the loynes, except his head.
His seruants, some of them had cloth about their loines, and some nothing
but a cloth betwixt their legges, and made fast before, and behinde to
their girdles, and cappes of their owne making, some like a basket, and
some like a great wide purse of beasts skinnes.
[Sidenote: Their weapons.] All their cloth, cordes, girdles, fishing lines,
and all such like things which they haue, they make of the bark of certaine
trees, and thereof they can worke things very pretily, and yron worke they
can make very fine, of all such things as they doe occupy, as darts,
fishhookes, hooking yrons, yron heads, and great daggers, some of them as
long as a woodknife, which be on both sides exceeding sharpe, and bended
after the maner of Turkie blades, and the most part of them haue hanging at
their left side one of those great daggers.
Their targets bee made of such pils as their cloth is made of, and very
closely wrought, and they bee in forme foure square, and very great, and
somewhat longer then they bee broad, so that kneeling downe, they make
their targets to couer their whole body. Their bowes be short, and of a
pretie strength, as much as a man is able to draw with one of his fingers,
and the string is of the barke of a tree, made flat, and about a quarter of
an inch broad: as for their arrowes, I haue not as yet seene any of them,
for they had wrapped them vp close, and because I was busie I could not
stand about it, to haue them open them. Their golde also they worke very
well.
When the Captaine was set, I sent him two elles of cloth, and two basons,
and gaue them vnto him, and hee sent againe for a waight of the same
measure, and I sent him a weight of two Angels, which he would not take,
nether would hee suffer the towne to buy any thing, but the basons of
brasse: so that wee solde that day 74. basons vnto the men of the towne,
for about half an Angel weight, one with another, and nine white basons,
which we solde for a quarter of an Angell a peece, or thereabouts.
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