Seeing People On Shore Next
Day, I Went A-Land, And Found Them A Subtle People, Strong-Built And
Well-Made, Almost Entirely Naked, Except A Cloth Of Bark Carelessly Hung
Before Them.
We bought a calf, a sheep, and a lamb, but they would only
deal for silver.
In the afternoon I rowed up the river, which I found
shallow and brackish. The 24th we bought three kine, two steers, and
four calves, which cost us about nineteen shillings and a few beads.
These cattle have far better flesh than those we got at Saldanha, and
have bunches of flesh on their shoulders, like camels, only more
forward. Some affirmed that the people were circumcised. We here found
the beautiful beast.[162]
[Footnote 161: As the bay of St Augustine, in lat. 23 deg. 30' S. is on the
west coast of Madagascar, where the coast is direct N. and S. the
current of the tide could not set from the east. The expression in the
text, therefore, probably means that it is high-water when the moon is
nearly east. - E.]
[Footnote 162: This seems to refer to some creature then in the ship,
and perhaps brought home with them to England. Astl. I. 316. a. - Mr
Finch says, there were in the woods, near the river, great store of
beasts, as big as monkies, of an ash colour, having a small head, a long
tail like a fox, barred with black and white, and having very fine
fur.
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