If We Continued
At Sea In Our Boat, Exposed By Day To The Burning Heat Of The Sun Which
Sensibly
Consumed us by copious perspiration, and to the frequent
tornadoes or hurricanes by night, accompanied with thunder, lightning
and rain;
Which deprived us of all rest, we could not possibly long hold
out. We were often three days without a morsel of food; and having sat
for twenty days continually in our boat, we were in danger of losing the
use of our limbs for want of exercise, and our joints were so swollen by
the scurvy, that we could hardly stand upright. It was not possible for
us to remain much longer in the boat in our present condition, so that
it was necessary to come to some resolution, and we had only three
things to choose. The first was to repair to the castle of St George del
Mina, which was not far off, and give ourselves up to the Portuguese who
were Christians, if we durst trust them or expect the more humanity on
that account. Even the worst that could happen to us from them was to be
hanged out of our misery; yet possibly they might have some mercy on us,
as nine young men such as we were might be serviceable in their gallies,
and if made galley slaves for life we should have victuals enough to
enable us to tug at the oar, whereas now we had both to row and starve.
The next alternative was to throw ourselves upon the mercy of the
negroes, which I stated was very hopeless and discouraging, as I did not
see what favour could be expected from a beastly savage people, whose
condition was worse than that of slaves, and who possibly might be
cannibals. It was likewise difficult for us to conform ourselves to their
customs, so opposite to ours; and, we could not be expected, having
always lived on animal food, to confine ourselves to roots and herbs
like the negroes, which are the food of wild beasts. Besides, having
been always accustomed to the use of clothes, we could not for shame go
naked. Even if we could get the better of that prejudice, our bodies
would be grievously tormented and emaciated by the scorching heat of the
sun, for want of that covering and defence to which we had been
accustomed. The only other course was to stay at sea in the boat, and
die miserably. Being determined to run any risk at land, rather than to
continue pent up in a narrow boat, exposed to all the inclemencies of
the weather day and night, and liable to be famished for want of
victuals, I gave it as my opinion that we had better place confidence in
the Christian Portuguese than in the negroes who lived like so many
brutes. We how determined to throw ourselves on the mercy of the
Portuguese, and hoisting sail shaped our course for the castle of St
George del Mina; which was not above 20 leagues distant. We went on all
day without stopping till late at night, when we perceived a light on
shore. Concluding that this might be a place of trade, our boatswain
proposed to cast anchor at this place, in hopes that we might be able to
procure provisions next morning in exchange for some of our wares. This
was agreed upon, and on going next morning near the shore we saw a
watchhouse upon a rock, in the place whence the light had proceeded
during the night, and near the watchhouse a large black cross was
erected. This made us doubtful whereabout we were, and on looking
farther we perceived a castle which perplexed us still more[288].
[Footnote 288: It appears in the sequel that this fort or castle had
been recently erected by the Portuguese at the western point or
head-land of Cape Three-points, and of which there are no notices in any
of the preceding voyages on this part of the coast. - Astley, I. 132, a.]
Our doubts were quickly solved by the appearance of some Portuguese, one
of whom held a white flag in his hand which he waved as inviting us to
come on shore. Though we were actually bound in quest of the Portuguese,
yet our hearts now failed us, and we tacked about to make from the
shore. On being seen from the castle, a gun was fired at us by a negro,
the ball from which fell within a yard of our boat. At length we turned
towards the shore to which we rowed, meaning to yield ourselves up; but
to our great surprise, the nearer we came to the shore the more did the
Portuguese fire at us; and though the bullets fell thick about us we
continued to advance till we got close under the castle wall, when we
were out of danger from their cannon. We now determined to land in order
to try the courtesy of the Portuguese, but were presently assailed by
showers of stones from the castle: wall, and saw a number of negroes
marching down to the beach with their darts and targets, some of them
having bows and poisoned arrows. Their attack was very furious, partly
from heavy stones falling into the boat which threatened to break holes
in her bottom, as well as from flights of arrows which came whizzing
about our ears, and even wounded some of us: Therefore being in
desperation, we pushed off from the shore to return to sea, setting four
of our men to row, while the other five determined to repay some part of
the civility we had received, and immediately handled our fire-arms and
bows. We employed these at first against the negroes on the beach, some
of whom soon dropped; and then against the Portuguese who stood on the
walls dressed in long white-shirts and linstocks in their hands, many of
which were dyed red by means of the English arrows.
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