But it was too late now; all Things Heaven appoints are beft; had I gone with him, I had never had fo many Things to be thankful for, and you had never heard of the fecond Part of the Travels and Adventures of Robin. Crufoe; fo I must leave here the fruitless exclaiming at my felf, and go on with my Voyage.

From the Brafils, we made directly away over the Atlantick Sea, to the Cape de bon Efperance, or. as we call it, the Cape of Good Hope; and had a tollerable good Voyage, our Course generaliy South-Eaft; now and then a Storm, and fome contrary Winds, but my Difafters at Sea were at an End; my future Rubs and cross Events were to befal me on Shore; that it might appear the Land was as well prepar'd to be our Scourge, as the Sea; when Heaven, who directs the Circumftances of Things, pleases to appoint it to be fo.

Our Ship was on a trading Voyage, and had a Supra-Cargo on board, who was to direct all her Motions after fhe arriv'd at the Cape; only being limited to certain Numbers of Days, for Stay, by Charter party, at the feveral Ports fhe was to go to: This was none of my Bufinefs, neither did I meddle with it at all; my Newhew the Captain, and the Supra-Cargo, adjusting all thofe Things between them, as they thought fit.

We made no Stay at the Cape longer than was needful, to take in fresh Water, but made the best of our Way for the Coast of Coremandel; we were indeed inform'd, that a French Man of War of fifty Gnns, and two large Merchant Ships, were gone for the Indies, and as I knew

We

we were at War with France, I had fome Apprehenfions of them; but they went their own Way, and we heard no more of them.

I shall not pester my Account, or the Reader, with Defcriptions of Places, Journals of our Voyages, Variations of the Compafs, Latitudes, Meridian-Distances, Trade-Winds, Situation of Ports, and the like; fuch as almost all the Hiftories of long Navigation are full of; and makes the reading tirefome enough, and are perfectly unprofitable to all that read it, except only to thofe, who are to go to thofe Places themfelves.

It is enough to name the Ports and Places, which we touch'd at, and what occurr'd to us upon our paffing from one to another; we touch'd firft at the Ifland of Madagascar; where,tho' the People are fierce and treacherous, and in particular, very well arm'd with Launces, and Bows, which they ufe with inconceiveable Dexfterity; yet we fared very well with them a while, they treated us very civilly; and for fome Trifles which we gave them, fuch as Knives, Sciffars, &c. they brought us eleven good fat Bullocks, middling in Size, but very good in Flefh; which we took in, partly for fresh Provifions for our prefent spending, and the reft, to falt for the Ship's Ule.

We were obliged to stay here fome Time after we had furnish'd our felves with Provifions; and 1, that was always too curious, to look into every Nook of the World where ever I came, was for going on Shore as often as I could, it was on the East Side of the Island that we went on Shore, one Evening; and the People, who by the Way are very numerous, came thronging about us, and

ftood

ftood gazing at us at a Distance; but as we had traded freely with them, and had been kindly ufed, we thought our felves in no Danger; but when we faw the People, we cut three Boughs out of a Tree, and ftuck them up at a Distance from us, which it feems, is a Mark in the Country, not only of Truce and Friendship, but when it is accepted, the other Side fet up three Poles or Boughs, which is a Signal, that they accept the Truce too; but then, this is a known Condition of the Truce, that you are not to pafs beyond their three Poles towards them, nor they to come past your three Poles or Boughs, towards you; fo that you are perfectly fecure within the three Poles, and all the Space between your Poles and theirs, is allow'd like a Market, for free Converfe, Traffick, and Commerce: When you go there, you must not carry your Weapons with you; and if they come into that Space, they ftick up their Javelines and Launces, all at the firft Poles, and come on unarm'd; but if any Violence is offer'd them, and the Truce thereby broken; away they run to the Poles, and lay hold of their Weapons, and then the Truce is at an End.

It happen'd one Evening when we went on Shore, that a greater Number of their People came down than ufual, but all was very friendly and civil, and they brought in feveral Kinds of Provifions, for which we fatisfy'd them, with fuch Toys as we had; their Women alfo brought us Milk, and Roots, and feveral Things very acceptable to us, and all was quiet; and we made us a little Tent or Hut, of fome Boughs of Trees, and lay on Shore all Night.

I

I know not what was the Occafion, but I was not fo well fatisfy'd to lye on Shore as the reft and the Boat riding at an Anchor, about a Stone caft from the Land, with two Men in her to take Care of her; I made one of them come on Shore, and getting fome Boughs of Trees to cover us alfo in the Boat, Ifpread the Sail on the Bottom of the Boat, and lay under the Cover of the Branches of Trees all Night in the Boat.

About two a-Clock in the Morning, we heard one of our Men make a terrible Noife on the Shore, calling out for God's Sake, to bring the Boat in, and come and help them, for they were all like to be murther'd; at the fame Time, I heard the Fire of 5 Muskets, which was the Number of the Guns they had, and that, three Times over; for it feems, the Natives here, were not fo easily frighted with Guns, as the Savages were in America, where I had to do with them.

All this while, I knew not what was the Matter; but rouzing immediately from Sleep with the Noife, I caufed the Boat to be thruft in, and refolv'd, with three Fufils we had on board, to land, and affift our Men.

We got the Boat foon to the Shore, but our Men were in too too much Hafte; for being come to the Shore, they plung'd into the Water to get to the Boat with all the Expedition they could, being purfa'd, by between three and four hundred Men: Our Men were but nine in all, and only five of them had Fuzees with them; the reft had indeed Piftols and Swords, but they were of fmall Ufe to them.

We

We took up feven of our Men, and with Difficulty enough too, three of them being very ill wounded; and that which was ftill worse, was, that while we ftood in the Boat to take our Men in, we were in as much Danger as they were in on Shore; for they pour'd their Arrows in upon us fo thick, that we were fain to barricade the Side of the Boat up with the Benches, and two or three loose Boards, which to our great Satisfaction we had by meer Accident or Providence in the Boat.

And yet, had it been Day-light, they are it feems fuch exact Marks-men, that if they could have feen but the leaft Part of any of us, they would have been fure of us; we had by the Light of the Moon a little Sight of them, as they stood pelting us from the Shore with Darts and Arrows and having got ready our Fire-arms, we gave them a Volley, that we could hear by the Cries of fome of them, that we had wounded feveral; however, they ftood thus in Battle Array on the Shore till break of Day, which we fuppofe was, that they might fee the better to take their Aim at us.

In this Condition we lay, and could not tell how to weigh our Anchor or fet up our Sail, because we must needs ftand up in the Boar, and they were as fure to hit us, as we were to hit a Bird in a Tree with fmall Shot; we made Signals of Diftrels to the Ship, which, tho' we rode a League off, yet my Nephew the Captain hearing our firing, and by Glaffes, perceiving the Pofture we lay in, and that we fir'd towards the Shore, pretty well understood us; and weighing An

chor