Robert Kerr

“ Even before the sternmost ships of the squadron were clear of the straits, the serenity of the sky was suddenly obscured, and we observed all the presages of an impending storm. The wind presently shifted to the southward, and blew in such violent squalls that we had to hand our top-sails and reef our main-sail; while the tide, which had hitherto favoured us, turned furiously adverse, and drove us to the eastward with prodigious rapidity, so that we were in great anxiety for the Wager and Anna pink, the two sternmost vessels, fearing they might be dashed to pieces upon the shore of Staten Land ”

“ Indeed, the only pretension of the Chinese to a more refined morality than their neighbours is founded, not on their integrity or beneficence, but solely on the affected evenness of their demeanour, and their constant attention to suppress all symptoms of passion and violence. But it must be considered, that hypocrisy and fraud are often not less mischievous to the general interests of mankind, than, impetuosity and vehemence of temper, since these, though usually liable to the imputation of imprudence, do not exclude sincerity, benevolence, resolution, nor many other laudable qualities. ”

“ After all, as if to employ every possible means to mollify their invaders, the men, women, and children presented themselves in the most humble postures, carrying branches of palm in token of peace and submission, bringing plenty of provisions of all kinds, and even pointing to their women, giving the Dutch to understand by signs that these were entirely at their disposal, and that they might carry as many of them on board ship as they thought proper. ”

“ The aspect of a country thus beautifully diversified would at any time have been extremely delightful; but, in our distressed situation, languishing as we were for the land and its vegetable productions, an indication constantly attending every stage of the sea-scurvy, it is scarcely credible with what eagerness and transport we viewed the shore, and with how much impatience we longed for the greens and other refreshments which were in sight. ”

“ The natives of this island were in general a brisk, slender, active, well-made people, very swift of foot, and seemed of sweet tempers, and modest dispositions, but timorous and faint-hearted; for whenever they brought fowls or other provisions to the Dutch, they threw themselves on their knees, and immediately on delivering their presents retired in all haste. They were mostly as brown-complexioned as Spaniards, some among them being almost black, while others were white, and others again had their skins entirely red, as if sun-burnt. ”

“ But as to those who keep at any considerable distance from the coast, there is no other method to be taken by them for finding this harbour than that of making it by its latitude; for there are so many ranges of mountains rising one upon the back of another within land, that no drawings of the appearance of the coast can be at all depended on when off at sea, for every little change of distance, or variation of position, brings new mountains in view, and produces an infinity of different prospects, which would render all attempts of delineating the aspect of the coast impossible. ”

“ Those only who have endured a long series of thirst, and who can readily recall the desire and agitation which even the ideas alone of springs and brooks have at that time raised in their minds, can judge of the emotion with which we viewed a large cascade of the purest water, which poured into the sea at a short distance from the ship, from a rock near a hundred feet high. ”

“ There was, perhaps, no country in the world where commerce was more profitable, or held more honourable, than in Holland, or where more respect and attention was shewn to it by the government. As the republic chiefly subsisted by trade, every thing relating to it was considered as an affair of a public nature, in which the welfare of the state was concerned, and highly deserving therefore of the strictest and readiest attention. The great companies in Holland, as in other countries, were considered as injurious to trade in some lights, yet necessary to its welfare in others. ”

“ They had now no hopes of being able to find any port for refreshments till they should arrive at the island of Java; as, wherever they might attempt to land, they well knew that their ships would be confiscated, in consequence of the invariable maxims of the East-India Company. All men therefore, but especially the sick and feeble, cast an anxious look on the fertile island now left behind them, presaging the melancholy effects which must necessarily attend so pernicious a measure. ”

“ The Indian inhabitants consist of Javanese, or natives of the island, Chinese, Malays, negroes, Amboinese, Armenians, natives of the island of Bali, Mardykers, Macassars, Bougis, and others. It is a very curious thing to see so great a multitude of different nations all living in the same great city, and each nation according to their own manners. Every moment one sees new customs, strange manners, varieties of dresses, and faces of different colours, as black, white, brown, yellow, and olive-coloured; every one living as he pleases, and all speaking their different languages. ”

“ For, in other countries, the scorching heat of the sun in summer renders the greater part of the day unapt either for labour or amusement, and the frequent rains are not less troublesome in the more temperate parts of the year: But, in this happy climate, the sun rarely appears. Not that the heavens have at any time a dark or gloomy aspect; for there is constantly a cheerful gray sky, just sufficient to screen the sun, and to mitigate the violence of its perpendicular rays, without obscuring the air, or tinging the light of day with an unpleasant or melancholy hue. ”

“ Yet, amidst all this variety of people and customs so opposite to each other, there is a surprising unity among the citizens, occasioned by the advantages of commerce, the common object of all, so that they live harmoniously and happily under the gentle and prudent laws established by the company. All enjoy perfect liberty of conscience, whatever may be their religion or sect, only that none are permitted the public exercise of their religion except the Calvinists, any more than in Holland, so that priests and monks must not walk the streets in the habits of their respective orders. ”

“ In regard to the climate, it must be remembered that the woods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulation of air, and the continual vigorous vegetation furnishes such a prodigious quantity of vapour, that a thick fog covers the whole country all night, and a great part of the morning, continuing till either the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersed by a brisk sea-breeze. ”

“ That nothing might be wanting to keep up our amity, I sent a large boiler on shore, with a good store of flour and sugar, and a negro cook, who continually boiled hasty-pudding, to serve the numerous guests on the beach. At first the natives remained idle spectators of our labours; but at length, taking compassion to see our few men labouring hard in rolling great casks of water over the heavy sand in the sultry heat of the day, they put forth their hands to help them, encouraged by the particular readiness of their chief to serve us ”

“ For the prospect of the country did by no means resemble that of an uninhabited and uncultivated place, but had much more the air of a magnificent plantation, where large lawns and stately woods had been laid out together with great skill, and where the whole had been so artfully combined, and so judiciously adapted to the slopes of the hills, and the inequalities of the ground, as to produce a most striking effect, and to do honour to the invention of the contriver. ”

“ And, that no circumstance might be wanting which could aggravate our distress, these blasts generally brought with them a great quantity of snow and sleet, which cased our rigging in ice, and froze our sails, rendering them and our cordage so brittle as to tear and snap with the least strain; adding thereby great difficulty and labour to the working of the ship, benumbing the hands and limbs of our people, and rendering them incapable of exerting themselves with their accustomed activity, and even disabling many of them, by inducing mortification of their toes and fingers. ”

“ Like the Javans, the Chinese are extravagantly addicted to gaming and laying wagers; and this humour, especially at cock-fights and the new-year's feasts, drives them sometimes into downright madness. They will not only stake and lose their money, goods, and houses, but sometimes their wives and children; and when these are all lost, will stake their beards, nails, and winds; that is, they bind themselves not to shave their beards, pare their nails, or go on board ship to trade, till they have paid their game debts. ”

“ But despair often lends strength and spirits to men beyond their usual powers; and, by dint of great exertions, they dragged their boat clear of the bank, and got to land, where all got safe on shore without hurt, but almost exhausted by fatigue. The first thing they did was to look out for some place of retreat, where they might be safe from any sudden assault of the natives; but night came on before any such could be found, so that they were forced to rest contented with making a fire on the shore, in order to dry and warm themselves, which in some measure revived their spirits. ”

“ The vast advantage of the trade of Chili by way of Cape Horn, is so obvious, that his catholic majesty is obliged by treaty to shut out all the European nations from it, as well as the English, although his own subjects make nothing of it, as it very rarely happens that a Spanish ship ventures to go round Cape Horn. Owing to this, all European goods sell enormously dear in Chili and Peru; insomuch, that I have been told at Lima, that they are often at 400 per cent. profit, and it may be fairly asserted, that the goods carried from France by Cape Horn are in themselves 50 per cent. ”

“ They do not cut their hair, as all in China are obliged to do since the Tartars conquered the country; and whenever any one comes to Batavia from China, he immediately suffers his hair to grow, as a token of freedom, dressing it with the utmost care; their priests only excepted, whose heads are all close shaven.
The Chinese go always bare headed, carrying an umbrella in their hands to keep off the sun; and they suffer their nails to grow immoderately long, which gives them prodigious dexterity in slight of hand, an art of considerable importance as they use it. ”

“ As their boats were very leaky, and there was no appearance of a landing place, the whole crew, consisting of sixteen men and boys, gave themselves up for lost, believing, if even any of them happened to get on shore by some extraordinary chance, that they would be almost certainly massacred by the savages; as these people, knowing no other Europeans except Spaniards, might be expected to treat all strangers with the same cruelty which they have so often, and so signally, exercised against their Spanish neighbours. ”

“ That the Chinese are a very ingenious and industrious people, is sufficiently evinced, from the great number of curious manufactures which are established amongst them, and which are eagerly sought for by the most distant nations; but though skill in the handicraft arts seems to be the most important qualification of this people, yet their talents therein are but of a second-rate kind; for they are much out-done by the Japanese in those manufactures, which are common to both countries; and they are in numerous instances incapable of rivalling the mechanic dexterity of the Europeans. ”

“ That all currents run with greater violence near the shore than out at sea, and that at great distances from the land they are scarcely perceptible. The reason of this seems sufficiently obvious, if we consider that constant currents, in all probability, are produced by constant winds; the wind, though with a slow and imperceptible motion, driving a large body of water continually before it, which, being accumulated on any coast that it meets with in its course, must escape along the shore by the endeavours of the surface to reduce itself to the level of the rest of the ocean. ”

“ Yet vapours often burst forth suddenly, by which the workmen are killed on the spot; and one way or another, great multitudes of Indians die in working the mines. One is apt to wonder that, through all this part of the world, those districts which are most barren and unwholesome are the best inhabited; while other places, that seem to vie with our nations of the terrestrial paradise, in beauty and fertility, are but thinly peopled. ”

“ This champaign country is from thirty to an hundred miles broad, and extends three hundred miles along shore; and I was travelling to the southward, having the Cordelieras, or mountains of the Andes, on my left hand, and the great Pacific Ocean to the right. As the soil is good and fertile, this land would be as fine a country as any in the world, if well watered; but travellers are here obliged to carry water for their mules as well as themselves. ”

“ Though by this view of the land we ascertained our position, yet it gave us great uneasiness to find that we had so needlessly altered our course, when we had been, in all probability, just upon the point of making the island: For the mortality among us was now increased to a most frightful degree, and those who remained were utterly dispirited by this new disappointment, and the prospect of their longer continuance at sea. Our water, too, began to grow scarce, and a general dejection prevailed among us, which added much to the virulence of the disease, and destroyed numbers of our best men. ”