and it continued so for about two hours; but the sky looked very black and rueful, especially in the SW., and the sea tossed us about like an eggshell for want of wind. About 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the wind sprung up at SW., out of the quarter from whence we did expect it; therefore we presently brailed up our mizzen and wore our ship; but we had no sooner put our ship before the wind but it blew a storm again, and it rained very hard, though not so violently as the night before; but the wind was altogether as boisterous, and so continued till 10 or 11 o'clock at night. All which time we scudded, or run, before the wind very swift, though only with our bare poles, that is, without any sail abroad. Afterwards the wind died away by degrees, and before day we had but little wind and fine clear weather.

I was never in such a violent storm in all my life; so said all the company. This was near the change of the moon; it was two or three days before the change. The 6th, in the morning, having fine handsome weather, we got up our yards again, and began to dry ourselves and our clothes, for we were all well sopped. This storm had deadened the hearts of our men so much that, instead of going to buy more provision at the same place from whence we came before the storm, or of seeking any more from the Island of Prata, they thought of going somewhere to shelter before the full moon, for fear of another such storm at that time; for commonly, if there is any very bad weather in the month it is about two or three days before or after the full or change of the moon. These thoughts, I say, put our men on thinking where to go; and the draughts or sea-plats being first consulted, it was concluded

2

1 It had been in the NE. before; and thus, though Dampier knew nothing about modern theories of storms, it seems clear that in the two hours' lull he had passed through the vortex of a tornado.

2 Plans or charts.

265

The

to go to certain islands lying in Lat. 23° N., called Pescadores. For there was not a man aboard that was anything acquainted on these coasts; and therefore all our dependence was on the draughts, which only pointed out to us where such and such places or islands were, without giving us any account what harbour, roads, or bays there were, or the produce, strength, or trade of them. These we were forced to seek after ourselves. Pescadores are a great many inhabited islands, lying near the Island of Formosa, between it and China, in or near Lat. 23° N., almost as high as the Tropic of Cancer. These Pescadore Islands are moderately high, and appear much like our Dorsetshire and Wiltshire Downs in England. They produce thick short grass and a few trees. They are pretty well watered, and they feed abundance of goats and some great cattle. There are abundance of mounts and old fortifications on them, but of no use now, whatever they have been. Between the two easternmost islands there is a very good harbour, which is never without junks riding in it; and on the west side of the easternmost island there is a large town and fort commanding the harbour. The houses are but low, yet well built, and the town makes a fine prospect. This is a garrison of the Tartars, wherein are also three or four hundred soldiers, who live here three years, and then they are removed to some other place. On the island on the west side of the harbour, close by the sea, there is a small town of Chinese, and most of the other islands have some Chinese living on them, more or less.

Having, as I said before, concluded to go to these islands, we steered away for them. The 20th of July we had first sight of them, and steered in among them, finding no place to anchor in till we came into the harbour before mentioned. We blundered in, knowing little of our way, and we admired to see so many

3 They really lie about 20' to the northward of the Tropic. • Mounds.

Wondered.

junks going and coming, and some at anchor, and so great a town as the neigh bouring easternmost town, the Tartarian garrison; for we did not expect nor desire to have seen any people, being in care to lie concealed in these seas. However, seeing we were here, we boldly ran into the harbour, and presently sent ashore our canoe to the town. Our people were met by an officer at their landing, and our quartermaster, who was the chief man in the boat, was conducted before the Governor and examined, of what nation we were, and what was our business here. He answered that we were English, and were bound to Amoy or Anhay, which is a city standing on a navigable river in the province of Fo-kien in China, a place of vast trade, there being a huge multitude of ships there, and in general on all these coasts, as I have heard of several that have been there. He said also, that having received some damage by a storm, we therefore put in here to refit before we would adventure to go farther, and that we did intend to lie here till after the full moon, for fear of another storm. The Governor told him that we might better refit our ship at Amoy than here, and that he heard that two English vessels were arrived there already, and that he should be very ready to assist us in anything, but we must not expect to trade there, but must go to the places allowed to entertain merchant strangers, which were Amoy and Macao. (Macao is a town of great trade also, lying in an island at the very mouth of the River of Canton. It is fortified and garrisoned by a large Portuguese colony, but yet under the Chinese Governor, whose people inhabit one moiety of the town, and lay on the Portuguese what tax they please; for they dare not disoblige the Chinese for fear of losing their trade.) However, the Governor very kindly told our quartermaster that whatsoever we wanted, if that place could furnish us, we should have it; yet that we must not come ashore on that island, but he would send aboard some of his men to know what we

wanted, and they should also bring it off to us; that nevertheless we might go on shore on the other islands, to buy refreshments of the Chinese. After the discourse was ended, the Governor dismissed him with a small jar of flour and three or four large cakes of very fine bread, and about a dozen pine-apples and water-melons (all very good in their kind) as a present to the Captain.

The next day an eminent officer came aboard with a great many attendants. He wore a black silk cap of a particular make, with a plume of black and white feathers standing up almost round his head behind, and all his outside clothes were black silk. He had a loose black coat which reached to his knees, and his breeches were of the same, and underneath his coat he had two garments more of other coloured silk. His legs were covered with small black limber boots. All his attendants were in a very handsome garb of black silk, all wearing those small black boots and caps. These caps were like the crown of a hat made of palmetto leaves, like our straw-hats, but without brims, and coming down but to their ears. These had no feathers, but had an oblong button on the top, and from between the button and the cap there fell down all round their head, as low as the cap reached, a sort of coarse hair like horse-hair, dyed (as I suppose) of a light red colour. The officer brought aboard, as a present from the Governor, a young heifer, the fattest and kindliest beef that I did ever taste in any foreign country; it was small yet full grown; two large hogs, four goats, two baskets of fine flour, twenty great flat cakes of fine welltasted bread, two great jars of arrack (made of rice as I judged), called by the Chinese Sam-Shu, and fifty-five jars of Hog-Shu, as they call it, and our Europeans from them. This is a strong liquor, made of wheat, as I have been told. It looks like mum,1

1 Described in Bailey as a strong liquor brought from Brunswick, in Germany "- -a drink so potent as to

a liquor which we drank there plenti- | fully every day after we came to an anchor at it. The other, which is the smallest of all, we called Goat Island, from the great number of goats there; and to the northward of them all are two high rocks. Orange Island, which is the biggest of them all, is not inhabited. It is high land, flat and even on the top, with steep cliff's against the sea; for which reason we could not go ashore there, as we did on all the rest. Monmouth and Grafton Isles are very hilly, with many of those steep inhabited precipices on them that I shall describe particularly. The two small islands are flat and even; only the Bashee Island has one steep, scraggy hill, but Goat Island is all flat and very even. The mould of these islands in the valleys is blackish in some places, but in most red. The hills are very rocky; the valleys are well watered with brooks of fresh water, which run into the sea in many different places. The soil is indifferent fruitful, especially in the valleys, producing pretty great plenty of trees (though not very big) and thick grass. The sides of the mountains have also short grass, and some of the mountains have mines within them; for the natives told us that the yellow metal they showed us (as I shall speak more particularly) came from these mountains; for when they held it up they would point towards them.

The fruit of the islands are a few plantains, bananas, pine-apples, pumpkins, sugar-canes, &c.; and there might be more if the natives would, for the ground seems fertile enough. Here are great plenty of potatoes and yams, which is the common food for the natives for bread kind; for those few plantains they have are only used as fruit. They have some cotton growing here, of the small plants. Here are plenty of goats and abundance of hogs, and few fowls, either wild or tame. For this I have always observed in my travels, both in the East and West Indies, that in those places where there is plenty of grain, that is, of rice in the one and maize

in the other, there are also found great abundance of fowls; but on the contrary, few fowls in those countries where the inhabitants feed on fruits and roots only. The few wild fowls that are here are paroquets and some other small birds. Their tame fowl are only a few cocks and hens.

Monmouth and Grafton Islands are very thick inhabited; and Bashee Island has one town on it. The natives of these islands are short, squat people; they are generally round-visaged, with low foreheads and thick eyebrows; their eyes of a hazel colour and small, yet bigger than the Chinese; short low noses, and their lips and mouths middle proportioned. Their teeth are white; their hair is black, and thick, and lank, which they wear but short; it will just cover their ears, and so it is cut round very even. Their skins are of a very dark copper colour. They wear no hat, cap, or turbat,1 nor anything to keep off the sun. The men for the biggest part have only a small clout to cover their nakedness; some of them have jackets made of plantain leaves, which were as rough as any bear's skin. I never saw such rugged things. The women have a short petticoat made of cotton, which comes a little below their knees. It is a thick sort of stubborn cloth, which they make themselves of their cotton. Both men and women wear large earrings, made of that yellow metal before mentioned. Whether it were gold or no I cannot positively say; I took it to be so, it was heavy, and of the colour of our paler gold. I would fain have brought away some to have satisfied my curiosity, but I had nothing wherewith to buy any. Captain Reed bought two of these rings with some iron, of which the people are very greedy; and he would have bought more, thinking he was come to a very fair market, but that the paleness of the metal made him and his crew distrust its being right gold. For my part, I should have ventured on the purchase of some;

1 Turban.