The Mindanayans

The Mindanayans Have Chinese Accountants

The Mindanayans are no good accountants. Therefore the Chinese that live here do cast up their accounts for them.

After this, Captain Swan bought timber-trees of the general, and set some of our men to saw them into planks to sheath the ship’s bottom.

He had two whip-saws on board which he brought out of England, and four or five men that knew the use of them, for they had been sawyers in Jamaica.

HOW THEIR WOMEN DANCE

When the Ramdam time was over, and the dry time set in a little, the general, to oblige Captain Swan, entertained him every night with dances.

The dancing women that are purposely bred up to it and make it their trade I have already described.

But beside them all the women in general are much addicted to dancing. They dance 40 or 50 at once; and that standing all round in a ring, joined hand in hand and singing and keeping time. But they never budge out of their places nor make any motion till the chorus is sung; then all at once they throw out one leg and bawl out aloud; and sometimes they only clap their hands when the chorus is sung.

Captain Swan, to retaliate the general’s favours, sent for his violins and some that could dance English dances; wherewith the general was very well pleased. They commonly spent the biggest part of the night in these sort of pastimes.

A STORY OF ONE JOHN THACKER

Among the rest of our men that did use to dance thus before the general there was one John Thacker who was a seaman bred, and could neither write nor read but had formerly learnt to dance in the music houses about Wapping: this man came into the South Seas with Captain Harris and, getting with him a good quantity of gold, and being a pretty good husband of his share, had still some left besides what he laid out in a very good suit of clothes.

The general supposed by his garb and his dancing that he had been of noble extraction; and to be satisfied of his quality asked of one of our men if he did not guess aright of him?

The man of whom the general asked this question told him he was much in the right; and that most of our ship’s company were of the like extraction; especially all those that had fine clothes; and that they came aboard only to see the world, having money enough to bear their expenses wherever they came; but that for the rest, those that had but mean clothes, they were only common seamen.

After this the general showed a great deal of respect to all that had good clothes, but especially to John Thacker, till Captain Swan came to know the business, and marred all; undeceiving the general and drubbing the nobleman: for he was so much incensed against John Thacker that he could never endure him afterwards; though the poor fellow knew nothing of the matter.

THEIR BARK EATEN UP, AND THEIR SHIP ENDANGERED BY THE WORM

About the middle of November we began to work on our ship’s bottom, which we found very much eaten with the worm: for this is a horrid place for worms.

We did not know this till after we had been in the river a month, and then we found our canoes’ bottoms eaten like honeycombs; our bark, which was a single bottom, was eaten through; so that she could not swim. But our ship was sheathed, and the worm came no further than the hair between the sheathing plank and the main plank.

RAJA LAUT, THE GENERAL’S DECEITFULNESS

We did not mistrust the general’s knavery until now. He went to our ship and saw us ripping off its sheathing plank. He saw the firm bottom underneath. He shook his head in discontent, saying he did never see a ship with 2 bottoms before.

He told us that a Dutch ship was eaten up in 2 months’ time here and the general took all her guns. He was hoping to get ours too. This is why he was so eager to assist us to get our ship into the river, for when we came out again we had no assistance from him.

THE WORMS HERE AND ELSEWHERE

We had no worms till we came to this place: for when we careened at the Marias the worm had not touched us; nor at Guam, for there we scrubbed; nor after we came to the island Mindanao; for at the south-east end of the island we heeled and scrubbed also.

The Mindanayans are so sensible of these destructive insects that whenever they come from sea they immediately haul their ship into a dry dock, and burn her bottom. There let her lie dry till they are ready to go to sea again. The canoes or proas they haul up dry and never suffer them to be long in the water.

Those worms which get into a ship’s bottom in the salt water will die in the fresh water. The fresh-water worms will die in salt water. But in the brackish water, both sorts will increase prodigiously.

Our ship was sometimes brackish water, yet commonly fresh; but what sort of worm this was I know not.

Some men think that these worms breed in the plank. But I think they breed in the sea for I have seen millions of them swimming in the water, particularly in the Bay of Panama; for there Captain Davis, Captain Swan, and myself and most of our men did take notice of them divers times, which was the reason of our cleaning so often while we were there. These were the largest worms that ever saw.

I have also seen them in Virginia and in the Bay of Campeachy; in the latter of which places the worms eat prodigiously. They are always in bays, creeks, mouths of rivers, and such places as are near the shore; being never found far out at sea that I could ever learn: yet a ship will bring them lodged in its plank for a great way.