that merited the name of dishonest or fraudulent, much less thievish. I had chiefly been mine own enemy; or, as I may rightly fay, I had been nobody's enemy but my own. But now I was embarraffed in the worst condition imaginable; for though I was perfectly innocent, I was in no condition to make that innocence appear. And if I had been taken, it had been under a fuppofed guilt of the worst kind; at least, a crime esteemed fo among the people I had to do with.

This made me very anxious to make an escape, though which way to do it, I knew not; or what port or place we fhould go to. My partner, seeing me thus dejected, though he was the most concerned at firft, began to encourage me; and defcribing to me the feveral ports of that coaft, told me, he would put in on the coaft of Cochinchina, or the bay of Tonquin; intending to go afterwards to Macao, a town once in the poffeffion of the Portugucfe, and where still a great many European families refided, and particularly the miffionary priest usually went thither, in order to their going forward to China.

Hither we then refolved to go; and accordingly, though after a tedious and irregular courfe, and very much ftraitened for provifions, we came within fight of the coaft very early in the morning; and, upon reflection upon the past circumftances we were in, and the danger, if we had not escaped, we refolved to put into a final river, which, however, had depth enough of water for us, and to fee if we could, either over land or by the fhip's pinnace, come to

know what ships were in any port thereabouts. This happy ftep was, indeed, our deliverance; for tho' we did not immediately fee any European fhips in the bay of Tonquin, yet, the next morning, there came into the bay two Dutch fhips, and a third without any colours spread out, but which we believed to be a Dutchman, paffed by at about two leagues diftance, fteering for the coaft of China; and in the afternoon went by two English fhips, fteering the fame course; and thus, we thought, we faw ourselves beset with enemies, both one way and the other. The place we were in was wild and barbarous, the people thieves, even by occupation or profeffion; and though, it is true, we had not much to feek of them, and except getting a few provisions, cared not how little we had to do with them; yet it was with much difficulty that we kept ourselves from being infulted by them several ways,

We were in a small river of this country, within a few leagues of its utmost limits northward; and by our boat we coasted north-east to the point of land which opens to the great bay of Tonquin; and it was in this beating up along the fhore, that we difcovered as above, that in a word, we were furrounded with enemies. The people we were among were the most barbarous of all the inhabitants of the coaft; having no correfpondence with any other nation, and dealing only in fifh and oil, and fuch grofs commodities; and it may be particularly feen, that they are, as I faid, the moft barbarous of any of the inhabitants, viz. that among other customs they have this one, that if any veffel had the misfortune

to be shipwrecked upon their coaft, they prefently make the men all prifoners; that is to fay, flaves; and it was not long before we found a spice of their kindness this way, on the occafion following:

I have obferved above, that our fhip fprung a leak at sea, and that we could not find it out; and however it happened, that, as I have faid, it was stopped unexpectedly, in the happy minute of our being to be feized by the Dutch and English fhips, near the bay of Siam; yet, as we did not find the ship so perfectly tight and found as we defired, we refolved, while we were in this place, to lay her on fhore, take out what heavy things we had on board, which were not many, and to wash and clean her bottom; and if poffible, to find out where the leaks were.

Accordingly, having lightened the ship, and brought all our guns, and other moveable things, to one fide, we tried to bring her down, that we might come at her bottom; for, on fecond thoughts, we did not care to lay her dry a-ground, neither could we find out a proper place for it.

The inhabitants, who had never been acquainted with fuch a fight, came wondering down to the fhore to look at us; and feeing the fhip lie down on one fide in fuch a manner, and heeling towards the fhore, and not feeing our men, who were at work on her bottom, with ftages, and with their boats on the off fide, they presently concluded that the ship was caft away, and lay so very fast on the ground. fo

On this fuppofition they came all about us in two or three hours time, with ten or twelve large boats,

having fome of them eight, fome ten men in a boat, intending, no doubt, to have come on board and plundered the fhip; and if they had found us there, to have carried us away for flaves to their king, or whatever they call him, for we knew not who was their governor.

When they came up to the fhip, and began to row round her, they discovered us all hard at word, on the outside of the fhip's bottom and fide, washing and graving, and ftopping, as every feafaring man

knows how.

They stood for a while gazing at us, and we, who were a little furprized, could not imagine what their defign was; but, being willing to be fure, we took this opportunity to get fome of us into the fhip, and others to hand down arms and ammunition, to those that were at work to defend themselves with, if there fhould be occafion; and it was no more than need; for, in less than a quarter of an hour's consultation, they agreed, it seems, that the fhip was really a wreck; that we were all at work, endeavouring to fave her, or to fave our lives by the help of our boats; and when we handed our arms into the boats, they concluded, by that motion, that we were endeavouring to fave fome of our goods. Upon this they took it for granted they all belonged to them; and away, they came directly upon our men, as if it had been in a line of battle.

Our men, seeing fo many of them, began to be frighted; for we lay but in an ill posture to fight, and cried out to us to know what they should do? I immediately called to the men who worked upon the

stages, to flip them down, and get up the fide into the fhip; and bade thofe in the boat to row round and come on board: and thofe few of us who were on board, worked with all the ftrength and hands we had, to bring the fhip to rights; but however, neither the men upon the ftage, nor thofe in the boats, could do as they were ordered, before the Cochinchinefe were upon them; and, with two of their boats boarded our long-boat, and began to lay hold of the men as their prifoners.

The first man they laid hold of was an English feaman, a ftout ftrong fellow, who having a mufquet in his hand, never offered to fire it, but laid it down in the boat, like a fool, as I thought. But he understood his business better than I could teach him; for he grappled the pagan, and dragged him by main force out of their own boat into ours; where, taking him by the two ears, he beat his head fo against the boat's gunnel, that the fellow died inftantly in his hands; and in the mean time, a Dutchman, who ftood next, took up the mufquet, and with the buttend of it, fo laid about him, that he knocked down five of them, who attempted to enter the boat: but this was little towards refifting thirty or forty men, who fearlefs, becaufe ignorant of their danger, began to throw themselves into the long-boat, where we had but five men to defend it: but one accident gave our men a complete victory, which deferved our laughter rather than any thing elfe; and that was this:

Our carpenter being prepared to grave the outfide of the fhip, as well as to pay the feams where

he