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A Narrative
diers , was in the end the saving of our lives . By the 12 th of September ) having got every thing ready , I sailed from Tulliar Bay , having with me the tourthofhcer , four seamen , and Mr . De Souza , a passenger , who , from his knowled ge of the Portuguese language , offered to accompany me . x or two days we made pretty good progress to the Northward , having pleasant westerly winds , but then it shifted to N . N . E . and never returned fairWhat
again . added considerabl y to our disappointment was , tnat our small stock of provisions , which consisted of cakes made or Indian corn and beef , proved entirely rotten and maggoty ; so that our whole subsistence was some raw sweet potatoes , and sugar cane , with hah a pint of water a man per day ; for thtfugh we had about twenty-five gallons of it when we sailed , yet , owing to a great part of itbeing cahbashes
_ kept m , many of them had broke with the motion O ; the boat Thus situated , on the 20 th of September we made-the coast of Africa , nearly in the latitude of 18 S . the currents having set us considerabl y farther to the Westward than we imagined . For three days we endeavoured to get to the Northward , but could gain nothingthe wind keeping constantlin the andbthat time
, y N . E . , y having but a very slender stock of water left , it was judged imprudent to persist any longer in the design of reaching Mosambique in the condition we were ; accordingly we bore away for a Portuguese ' set-¦ tlement named Sofala , situated in 20 £° South latitude , to which our little book directed us .
1 cannot help remarking in this place , how unfortunate it was for us all , that the onl y book of charts saved from the wreck should be deficient in but one chart , and that to be the one most wanted , viz . of the Mosambique channel ; as , at the time that we relinquished the intention of getting to Mosambique , we were not more than 20 miles distant irom a sea-port named Killeman , where vessels are at all times trading to the Had
capital . we known this it would have been the means of procuring immediate relief for our distressed shipmates , and thereby have prevented the loss of so many lives , occasioned by their long stay on the island . Ignorant as we were , I believe nothing but the dread of absolute starving would have induced us to land on any part of the coast though we afterwards found fears imaginary
, our were- , notwithstanding that barbarous idea , which the Portuguese have endeavoured to instil into the minds of the natives , that all other European nations are cannibals , and do not scruple to eat black people . Hat , to return , m our run for Sofala we put into two rivers , in both of which we imagined it to lay ; in the last , meeting some inhabitants who spoke Portuguese , they advised us to apprize the Governor of our wish to reach the
place . On receiving notice of this he instantl y dispatched a letter with a most seasonable supply of victuals , and a pilot to conduct us into Sofala , where we arrived the 29 th of September . -By the means of Mr . de Souza , we made the Governor fully acquainted witn the unhappy- disaster that had befallen us , and at the same time requested his advice and assistance , in what manner it would be proper for us to act . Our reception was perfectl y humane and kind 3 he da-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Narrative
diers , was in the end the saving of our lives . By the 12 th of September ) having got every thing ready , I sailed from Tulliar Bay , having with me the tourthofhcer , four seamen , and Mr . De Souza , a passenger , who , from his knowled ge of the Portuguese language , offered to accompany me . x or two days we made pretty good progress to the Northward , having pleasant westerly winds , but then it shifted to N . N . E . and never returned fairWhat
again . added considerabl y to our disappointment was , tnat our small stock of provisions , which consisted of cakes made or Indian corn and beef , proved entirely rotten and maggoty ; so that our whole subsistence was some raw sweet potatoes , and sugar cane , with hah a pint of water a man per day ; for thtfugh we had about twenty-five gallons of it when we sailed , yet , owing to a great part of itbeing cahbashes
_ kept m , many of them had broke with the motion O ; the boat Thus situated , on the 20 th of September we made-the coast of Africa , nearly in the latitude of 18 S . the currents having set us considerabl y farther to the Westward than we imagined . For three days we endeavoured to get to the Northward , but could gain nothingthe wind keeping constantlin the andbthat time
, y N . E . , y having but a very slender stock of water left , it was judged imprudent to persist any longer in the design of reaching Mosambique in the condition we were ; accordingly we bore away for a Portuguese ' set-¦ tlement named Sofala , situated in 20 £° South latitude , to which our little book directed us .
1 cannot help remarking in this place , how unfortunate it was for us all , that the onl y book of charts saved from the wreck should be deficient in but one chart , and that to be the one most wanted , viz . of the Mosambique channel ; as , at the time that we relinquished the intention of getting to Mosambique , we were not more than 20 miles distant irom a sea-port named Killeman , where vessels are at all times trading to the Had
capital . we known this it would have been the means of procuring immediate relief for our distressed shipmates , and thereby have prevented the loss of so many lives , occasioned by their long stay on the island . Ignorant as we were , I believe nothing but the dread of absolute starving would have induced us to land on any part of the coast though we afterwards found fears imaginary
, our were- , notwithstanding that barbarous idea , which the Portuguese have endeavoured to instil into the minds of the natives , that all other European nations are cannibals , and do not scruple to eat black people . Hat , to return , m our run for Sofala we put into two rivers , in both of which we imagined it to lay ; in the last , meeting some inhabitants who spoke Portuguese , they advised us to apprize the Governor of our wish to reach the
place . On receiving notice of this he instantl y dispatched a letter with a most seasonable supply of victuals , and a pilot to conduct us into Sofala , where we arrived the 29 th of September . -By the means of Mr . de Souza , we made the Governor fully acquainted witn the unhappy- disaster that had befallen us , and at the same time requested his advice and assistance , in what manner it would be proper for us to act . Our reception was perfectl y humane and kind 3 he da-