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第5章 一招

　　CHAPTER XIII - ARRIVAL IN CHINA

　　I come back now to the first part of his objections. When we cameto the Englishmen, I sent for them all together, and after someaccount given them of what I had done for them, viz. what necessarythings I had provided for them, and how they were distributed,which they were very sensible of, and very thankful for, I began totalk to them of the scandalous life they led, and gave them a fullaccount of the notice the clergyman had taken of it; and arguinghow unchristian and irreligious a life it was, I first asked themif they were married men or bachelors? They soon explained theircondition to me, and showed that two of them were widowers, and theother three were single men, or bachelors. I asked them with whatconscience they could take these women, and call them their wives,and have so many children by them, and not be lawfully married tothem? They all gave me the answer I expected, viz. that there wasnobody to marry them; that they agreed before the governor to keepthem as their wives, and to maintain them

f Nankin very well; butsmiling, asked us what we would do there? I told him we would sellour cargo and purchase China wares, calicoes, raw silks, tea,wrought silks, &c.; and so we would return by the same course wecame. He told us our best port would have been to put in at Macao,where we could not have failed of a market for our opium to oursatisfaction, and might for our money have purchased all sorts ofChina goods as cheap as we could at Nankin.

　　But I was gone a wildgoose chase indeed, and they that will haveany more of me must be content to follow me into a new variety offollies, hardships, and wild adventures, wherein the justice ofProvidence may be duly observed; and we may see how easily Heavencan gorge us with our own desires, make the strongest of our wishesbe our affliction, and punish us most severely with those verythings which we think it would be our utmost happiness to beallowed to possess. Whether I had business or no business, away Iwent: it is no time now to enlarge upon the reason or absurdity ofmy own conduct, but to come to the history - I was embarked for thevoyage, and the voyage I went.

　　WIFE. - Me no understand that; where is book?

ation; and though it is true we had not much toseek of them, and, except getting a few provisions, cared not howlittle we had to do with them, yet it was with much difficulty thatwe kept ourselves from being insulted by them several ways. Wewere in a small river of this country, within a few leagues of itsutmost limits northward; and by our boat we coasted north-east tothe point of land which opens the great bay of Tonquin; and it wasin this beating up along the shore that we discovered we weresurrounded with enemies. The people we were among were the mostbarbarous of all the inhabitants of the coast; and among othercustoms they have this one: that if any vessel has the misfortuneto be shipwrecked upon their coast, they make the men all prisonersor slaves; and it was not long before we found a spice of theirkindness this way, on the occasion following.

　　But as it was a clear moonlight night, and they found the savagesin great disorder about their dead and wounded men, and a greatnoise and hurry among them where they lay, they afterwards resolvedto fall upon them in the night, especially if they could come togive them but one volley before they were discovered, which theyhad a fair opportunity to do; for one of the Englishmen in whosequarter it was where the fight began, led them round between thewoods and the seaside westward, and then turning short south, theycame so near where the thickest of them lay, that before they wereseen or heard eight of them fired in among them, and did dreadfulexecution upon them; in half a minute more eight others fired afterthem, pouring in their small shot in such a quantity that abundancewere killed and wounded; and all this while they were not able tosee who hurt them, or which way to fly.

　　The only just thing the rogues did was, that when the Spaniardscame ashore, they gave my letter to them, and gave them provisions,and other relief, as I had ordered them to do; also they gave themthe long paper of directions which I had left with them, containingthe particular methods which I took for managing every part of mylife there; the way I baked my bread, bred up tame goats, andplanted my corn; how I cured my grapes, made my pots, and, in aword, everything I did. All this being written down, they gave tothe Spaniards (two of them understood English well enough): nordid they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with anything else,for they agreed very well for some time. They gave them an equaladmission into the house or cave, and they began to live verysociably; and the head Spaniard, who had seen pretty much of mymethods, together with Friday's father, managed all their affairs;but as for the Englishmen, they did nothing but ramble about theisland, shoot parrots, and catch tortoises; and when they

　　I made no hesitation, but told him I would do it. I made someceremony in letting him understand that it was wholly on hisaccount; and that, seeing I could not prevail on him, I would showmy respect to him by my concern for his son. He sent the next dayfor his son; and in about twenty days he came back with themessenger, bringing six or seven horses, loaded with very richfurs, which, in the whole, amounted to a very great value. Hisservants brought the horses into the town, but left the young lordat a distance till night, when he came incognito into ourapartment, and his father presented him to me; and, in short, weconcerted the manner of our travelling, and everything proper forthe journey.