Ningin, or Ginseng, is mentioned afterwards. The
quicksilver rock has not been found. - E.]
[Footnote 164: This height is probably an exaggeration, or was measured
up its slope or talus, not ascertained perpendicularly. - E.]
On the 16th of June, after a consultation, we set ashore ten of our
condemned persons to remain at the Cape. These were John Crosse, Henry
Cocket, Clerke, Brand, Booth, Hunyard, Brigs, Pets, Metcalf, and
Skilligall. These men agreed that Crosse should be their chief, and we
gave them weapons for their defence against men and wild beasts,
together with provisions and clothes. The natives at this place are
especially desirous of brass, and care not much for copper, chiefly
wishing to have pieces of a foot square. They care little for iron
hoops. We caught seven or eight hundred fishes in the river, at one haul
of our seyne. The country people brought us for sale a root called
Ningin,[165] of which we bought a handful for a small piece of copper
an inch and half long. Our men got some of this, but not so good, this
not being the season when it is ripe; for, when in full perfection, it
is as tender and sweet as anise-seeds.
[Footnote 165: A medicinal root, much prized at Japan, somewhat like a
skerrit. - Purch. Probably that named Ginseng, in high repute in
China and Japan for its fancied restorative and provocative powers, like
the mandrake of holy writ, but deservedly despised in the Materia Medica
of Europe.
