try." Why," says he, " you are no pirates; what need you fear? They will not meddle with peaceable merchants, sure. If I had any blood in my body that did not fly up into my face at that word, it was hindered by some stop in the vessels appointed by nature to circulate it, for it put me into the greatest disorder and confusion imaginable; nor was it possible for me to conceal it so, but the old man easily perceived it.

tr

Sir," says he, “I find you are in some disorder in your thoughts at my talk; pray be pleased to go which way you think fit, and depend upon it, I'll do you all the service I can. Why, seignior," said I, "it is true, I am a little unsettled in my resolution at this time, whither to go in particular; and I am something more so for what you said about pirates. I hope there are no pirates in these seas; we are but in an ill condition to meet with them, for you see we have but a small force, and are but very weakly manned." O, sir," says he,

don't be concerned,-I do not know that there have been any pirates in these seas these fifteen years, except one, which was seen, as I hear, in the Bay of Siam, about a month since; but you may be assured she is gone to the southward; nor was she a ship of any great force, or fit for the work: she was not built for a privateer, but was run away with by a reprobate crew that was on board, after the captain and some of his men had been murdered by the Malayans, at or near the Island of Sumatra.”

What!" said I, seeming to know nothing of the matter, "did they murder the captain ?"-"No," said he, “I don't understand that they murdered him; but as they afterwards ran away with the ship, it is generally believed that they betrayed him into the hands of the Malayans, who did murder him; and perhaps they procured them to do it." "Why then," said I, "they deserve death as much as if they had done it themselves."____ 66 Nay," says the old man, they do deserve it; and they will certainly have it, if they light upon any English or Dutch ship; for they have all agreed together, that if they meet that rogue, they'll give him no quarter."—" But,” said 1 to him, "you say the pirate is gone out of these seas; how can they meet with him then ?"—"Why, that's true," says he,

"they do say so ; but he was, as I tell you, in the Bay of Siam in the river Cambodia; and was discovered there by some Dutchmen who belonged to the ship, and who were left on shore when they ran away with her; and some English and Dutch traders being in the river, they were within a little of taking him: nay," said he, "if the foremost boats had been well seconded by the rest, they had certainly taken him; but he, finding only two boats within reach of him, tacked about, and fired at those two, and disabled them before the others came up, and then standing off to sea, the others were not able to follow, and so he got away; but they have all so exact a description of the ship, that they will be sure to know her; wherever they find her, they have vowed to give no quarter either to the captain or seamen, but to hang them all up at the yard-arm."-"What!" said I, "will they execute them right or wrong; hang them first, and judge them afterwards ?"—"O sir," says the old pilot, "there is no need to make a formal business of it with such rogues as those; let them tie them back to back, and set them a diving-'tis no more than they deserve."

and

I knew I had my old man fast on board, and that he could do no harm, so that I turned short upon him: "Well now, seignior," said I, "this is the very reason why I would have you carry us up to Nanquin, and not put back to Macao, or to any other part of the country where the English or Dutch ships come; for be it known to you, seignior, those captains of the English and Dutch ships are a parcel of rash, proud, insolent fellows, that neither know what belongs to justice, or how to behave themselves as the laws of God and nature direct; but being proud of their offices, and not understanding their power, they would act the murderers to punish robbers; would take upon them to insult men falsely accused, and determine them guilty without due inquiry; and perhaps I may live to bring some of them to account for it, when they may be taught how justice is to be executed; and that no man ought to be treated as a criminal till some evidence may be had of the crime, and that he is the man."

With this I told him that this was the very ship they attacked, and gave him a full account of the skirmish we had with their boats, and how foolishly and cowardly they behaved. I told him all the story of our buying the ship, and how the Dutchman served us. I told him the reasons 1 had to believe the story of killing the master by the Malayans was true, as also the running away with the ship; but it was all a fiction of their own to suggest that the men had turned pirates, and they ought to have been sure it was so before they had ventured to attack us by surprise, and oblige us to resist them; adding, that they would have the blood of those men, whom we killed there in just defence, to answer for.

The old man was amazed at this relation, and told us we were very much in the right to go away to the north; and that if he might advise us, it should be to sell the ship in China, which we might very well do, and buy or build another in the country; "and," said he, "though you will not get so good a ship, yet you may get one able enough to carry you and all your goods back again to Bengal, or any where else." I told him I would take his advice when I came to any port where I could find a ship for my turn, or get any customer to buy this. He replied I should meet with customers enough for the ship at Nanquin, and that a Chinese junk would serve me very well to go back again; and that he would procure me people both to buy one and sell the other. Well, but, seignior," said I, as you say they know the ship so well, 1 may, perhaps, if I follow your measures, be instrumental to bring some honest, innocent men into a terrible broil, and perhaps to be murdered in cold blood; for wherever they find the ship, they will prove the guilt upon the men, by proving this was the ship, and so innocent men may probably be overpowered and murdered." Why," says the old man, "I'll find out a way to prevent that also; for as I know all those commanders you speak of very well, and shall see them all as they pass by, 1 will be sure to set them to rights in the thing, and let them know that they had been so much in the wrong; that though the people who were on board at first might run away with

the ship, yet it was not true that they had turned pirates; and that, in particular, these were not the men that first went off with the ship, but innocently bought her for their trade; and I am persuaded they will so far believe me, as at least to act more cautiously for the time to come."

While these things were passing between us, by way of discourse, we went forward directly for Nanquin, and in about thirteen days' sail came to an anchor at the south-west point of the great Gulf of Nanquin; where, by the way, I came by accident to understand that two Dutch ships were gone the length before me, and that I should certainly fall into their hands. I consulted my partner again in this exigency, and he was as much at a loss as I was, and would very gladly have been safe on shore almost any where; however, I was not in such perplexity neither, but I asked the old pilot if there was no creek or harbor which I might put into and pursue my business with the Chinese privately, and be in no danger of the enemy. He told me, if I would sail to the southward about forty-two leagues, there was a little port called Quinchang, where the fathers of the mission usually landed from Macao, on their progress to teach the Christian religion to the Chinese, and where no European ships ever put in; and if I thought to put in there, I might consider what further course to take when I was on shore. He confessed, he said, it was not a place for merchants, except that at some certain times they had a kind of a fair there, when the merchants from Japan came over thither to buy the Chinese merchandises.

We all agreed to go back to this place; the name of the port, as he called it, I may, perhaps, spell wrong, for I do not particularly remember it, having lost this, together with the names of many other places set down in a little pocket-book, which was spoiled by the water by an accident; but this I remember, that the Chinese or Japanese merchants we corresponded with called it by a different name from that which our Portuguese pilot gave it, and pronounced it as above, Quinchang.

As we were unanimous in our resolution to go to this place,

we weighed the next day, having only gone twice on shore, where we were to get fresh water; on both which occasions the people of the country were very civil to us, and brought us abundance of things to sell to us, I mean of provisions, plants, roots, tea, rice, and some fowls, but nothing without

money.

We came to the other port (the wind being contrary) not till five days, but it was very much to our satisfaction; and I was joyful, and I may say thankful, when I set my foot on shore, resolving, and my partner too, that if it was possible to dispose of ourselves and effects any other way, though not every way to our satisfaction, we would never set one foot on board that unhappy vessel more; and, indeed, I must acknowledge, that of all the circumstances of life that ever I had any experience of, nothing makes mankind so completely miserable as that of being in constant fear. Well does the Scripture say, .. The fear of man brings a snare;" it is a life of death, and the mind is so entirely oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief.

Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by heightening every danger, representing the English and Dutch captains to be men incapable of hearing reason, or of distinguishing between honest men and rogues; or between a story calculated for our own turn, made out of nothing, on purpose to deceive, and a true, genuine account of our whole voyage, progress, and design; for we might many ways have convinced any reasonable creature that we were not pirates; the goods we had on board, the course we steered, our frankly showing ourselves, and entering into such and such ports; and even our very manner, the force we had, the number of men, the few arms, little ammunition, short provisions; all these would have served to convince any men that we were no pirates. The opium and other goods we had on board would make it appear the ship had been at Bengal. The Dutchmen, who, it was said, had the names of all the men that were in the ship, might easily see that we were a mixture of English, Portuguese, and Indians, and but two Dutchmen on board. These, and many other particular circumstances, might have made it evident to the