Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . rofuse perspiration, which wasthus brought on, was the commencement of his convalescence. Swan and Dampier were now convinced that the commerceof this region was not carried on by sea, but by land, by meansof mules and caravans. They therefore resolved to try theirfortune in the East Indies. They sailed from California on the31st of March, 1686. They made the island of Guam, after avoyage of six thousand miles, in seven weeks, having but threedays provisions left
Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . rofuse perspiration, which wasthus brought on, was the commencement of his convalescence. Swan and Dampier were now convinced that the commerceof this region was not carried on by sea, but by land, by meansof mules and caravans. They therefore resolved to try theirfortune in the East Indies. They sailed from California on the31st of March, 1686. They made the island of Guam, after avoyage of six thousand miles, in seven weeks, having but threedays provisions left, and the men having begun to talk of eatingCaptain Swan when these were exhausted. They found theisland defended by a small fort mounting six guns, and con-taining a garrison of thirty men with a Spanish governor,—thisbeing solely for the convenience of the Manilla galleons ontheir annual voyages from Acapulco to Manilla. The governor,being deceived as to the character of the ship, sent the captainsome hogs, cocoanuts, and rice, and fifty pounds of Manillatobacco. They learned here, from the friar belonging to the garrison,. BOATS USED IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. that Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, was very fertile andproductive, and that the natives, who were Mohammedans, were MAN UPON THE SEA. 343 at war with the Spaniards. They therefore resolved to go there,and left Guam on the 2d of June. After seeing Luzon, (Matan,)where Magellan was killed, they anchored off Mindanao, thelargest of the Philippines with the exception of Luzon. Thoughmountainous, Dampier found its soil deep, black, and extra-ordinary fat and fruitful. The valleys were moistened withpleasant brooks and small rivers of delicate water, and in theheart of the country were mountains that yielded good gold. Dampiers description of the plantain-tree is often quoted asa fine specimen of descriptive writing. It is, he says, theking of all fruit, not excepting the cocoanut. The tree is threefeet round an
Size: 2441px × 1023px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., booksubjectdiscoveriesingeography, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
