by Daniel Defoe
wretches thatfell into their hands.
I got nobody to come back with me but the supercargo and two men, andwith these I walked back to the boats. It was a very great piece offolly in me, I confess, to venture back as it were alone; for as itbegan now to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the country,there stood about forty men armed with lances and bows at the littleplace where the twelve or thirteen houses stood mentioned before, but byaccident I missed the place, and came directly to the sea-side; and bythat time I got to the sea-side it was broad day: immediately I took thepinnace and went aboard, and sent her back to assist the men in whatmight happen.
I observed that about the time I came to the boat-side the fire waspretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half an hour after Igot on board I heard a volley of our men's fire-arms, and saw a greatsmoke; this, as I understood afterwards, was our men falling upon theforty men, who, as I said, stood at the few houses on the way; of whomthey killed sixteen or seventeen, and set all those houses on fire, butdid not meddle with the women or children.
By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace our menbegan to appear; they came dropping in some and some, not in two bodies,and in form, as they went out, but all in heaps, straggling here andthere in such a manner that a small force of resolute men might have cutthem all off.
But the dread of them was upon the whole country. The people were amazedand surprised, and so frighted that I believe a hundred of them wouldhave fled at the sight of but five of our men. Nor in all this terribleaction was there a man who made any considerable defence; they were sosurprised between the terror of the fire, and the sudden attack of ourmen in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn themselves; for ifthey fled one way they were met by one party, if back again by another;so that they were every where knocked down. Nor did any of our menreceive the least hurt, except one who strained his foot, and anotherhad one of his hands very much burnt.
I was very angry with my nephew the captain, and indeed with all themen, in my mind, but with him in particular, as well for his acting soout of his duty, as commander of the ship, and having the charge of thevoyage upon him, as in his prompting rather than cooling the rage of hismen in so bloody and cruel an enterprise: my nephew answered me veryrespectfully, but told me that when he saw the body of the poor seamanwhom they had murdered in such a cruel and barbarous manner, he was notmaster of himself, neither could he govern his passion; he owned heshould not have done so, as he was commander of the ship, but as he wasa man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it. As for the rest ofthe men, they were not subject to me at all, and they knew it wellenough, so they took no notice of my dislike.
The next day we set sail, so we never heard any more of it. Our mendiffered in the account of the number they killed; some said one thing,some another; but according to the best of their accounts, put alltogether, they killed or destroyed about a hundred and fifty people,men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in the town.
As for the poor fellow, Thomas Jeffrys, as he was quite dead, for histhroat was so cut that his head was half off, it would do him no serviceto bring him away; so they left him where they found him, only took himdown from the tree where he was hanged by one hand.
However just our men thought this action to be, I was against them init, and I always after that time told them God would blast the voyage;for I looked upon the blood they shed that night to be murder in them:for though it is true that they killed Thomas Jeffrys, yet it was astrue that Jeffrys was the aggressor, had broken the truce, and hadviolated or debauched a young woman of theirs, who came to our campinnocently, and on the faith of their capitulation.
The boatswain defended this quarrel when we were afterwards on board. Hesaid, it was true that we seemed to break the truce, but really had not,and that the war was begun the night before by the natives themselves,who had shot at us, and killed one of our men without any justprovocation; so that as we were in a capacity to fight them, we mightalso be in a capacity to do ourselves justice upon them in anextraordinary manner; that though the poor man had taken liberty with awench, he ought not to have been murdered, and that in such a villanousmanner; and that they did nothing but what was just, and that the lawsof God allowed to be done to murderers.
One would think this should have been enough to have warned us againstgoing on shore among heathens and barbarians; but it is impossible tomake mankind wise but at their own experience; and their experienceseems to be always of most use to them when it is dearest bought.
We were now bound to the Gulf of Persia, and from thence to the coast ofCoromandel, only to touch at Surat; but the chief of the supercargo'sdesign lay at the Bay of Bengal, where if he missed of the businessoutward-bound he was to go up to China, and return to the coast as hecame home.
The first disaster that befel us was in the Gulf of Persia, where fiveof our men venturing on shore on the Arabian side of the Gulf weresurrounded by the Arabs, and either all killed or carried away intoslavery; the rest of the boat's crew were not able to rescue them, andhad but just time to get off their boat. I began to upbraid them withthe just retribution of Heaven in this case; but the boatswain verywarmly told me, he thought I went farther in my censures than I couldshow any warrant for in Scripture, and referred to the thirteenth of St.Luke, ver. 4, where our Saviour intimates that those men on whom thetower of Siloam fell, were not sinners above all the Galileans; but thatwhich indeed put me to silence in this case was, that none of these fivemen who were now lost were of the number of those who went on shore tothe massacre of Madagascar (so I always called it, though our men couldnot bear the word _massacre_ with any patience:) and indeed this lastcircumstance, as I have said, put me to silence for the present.
But my frequent preaching to them on this subject had worse consequencesthan I expected; and the boatswain, who had been the head of theattempt, came up boldly to me one time, and told me he found that Icontinually brought that affair upon the stage, that I made unjustreflections upon it, and had used the men very ill on that account, andhimself in particular; that as I was but a passenger, and had no commandin the ship, or concern in the voyage, they were not obliged to bear it;that they did not know but I might have some ill design in my head, andperhaps call them to an account for it when they came to England; andthat therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and alsonot to concern myself farther with him, or any of his affairs, he wouldleave the ship; for he did not think it was safe to sail with meamong them.
I heard him patiently enough till he had done, and then told him that Idid confess I had all along opposed the massacre of Madagascar, for suchI would always call it; and that I had on all occasions spoken my mindfreely about it, though not more upon him than any of the rest; that asto my having no command in the ship, that was true, nor did I exerciseany authority, only took the liberty of speaking my mind in things whichpublicly concerned us all: as to what concern I had in the voyage, thatwas none of his business; I was a considerable owner of the ship, and inthat claim I conceived I had a right to speak, even farther than I hadyet done, and would not be accountable to him or any one else; and beganto be a little warm with him: he made but little reply to me at thattime, and I thought that affair had been over. We were at this time inthe road to Bengal; and being willing to see the place, I went on shorewith the supercargo, in the ship's boat, to divert myself; and towardsevening was preparing to go on board, when one of the men came to me,and told me he would not have me trouble myself to come down to theboat, for they had orders not to carry me on board. Any one may guesswhat a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and I asked the manwho bade him deliver that errand to me? He told me, the coxswain. I saidno more to the fellow, but bid him let them know he had delivered hismessage, and that I had given him no answer to it.
I immediately went and round out the supercargo, and told him the story,adding, what I presently foresaw, viz. that there would certainly be amutiny in the ship; and entreated him to go immediate
ly on board theship in an Indian boat, and acquaint the captain of it: but I might havespared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore thematter was effected on board: the boatswain, the gunner, the carpenter,and, in a word, all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off inthe boat, came up to the quarter-deck, and desired to speak with thecaptain; and there the boatswain making a long harangue, (for the fellowtalked very well) and repeating all he had said to me, told the captainin a few words, that as I was now gone peaceably on shore, they wereloath to use any violence with me; which if I had not gone on shore,they would otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone. Theytherefore thought fit to tell him, that as they shipped themselves toserve in the ship under his command, they would perform it faithfully;but if I would not quit the ship, or the captain oblige me to quit it,they would all leave the ship, and sail no farther with him; and at thatword All, he turned his face about towards the main-mast, which was, itseems, the
