me such
transports of joy as are not to be conceived but by those who feel them.
I now heard a trampling over my head, and somebody calling through the
hole with a loud voice, in the English tongue, "If there be any body
below, let them speak." I answered, "I was an Englishman, drawn by ill
fortune into the greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and
begged, by all that was moving, to be delivered out of the dungeon I was
in." The voice replied, "I was safe, for my box was fastened to their
ship; and the carpenter should immediately come and saw a hole in the
cover, large enough to pull me out." I answered, "that was needless, and
would take up too much time; for there was no more to be done, but let
one of the crew put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the
sea into the ship, and so into the captain's cabin." Some of them, upon
hearing me talk so wildly, thought I was mad: others laughed; for indeed
it never came into my head, that I was now got among people of my own
stature and strength. The carpenter came, and in a few minutes sawed a
passage about four feet square, then let down a small ladder, upon which
I mounted, and thence was taken into the ship in a very weak condition.

The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions,
which I had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded at the
sight of so many pigmies, for such I took them to be, after having so
long accustomed mine eyes to the monstrous objects I had left. But the
captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honest worthy Shropshire man, observing
I was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a cordial to
comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, advising me to take a
little rest, of which I had great need. Before I went to sleep, I gave
him to understand that I had some valuable furniture in my box, too good
to be lost: a fine hammock, a handsome field-bed, two chairs, a table,
and a cabinet; that my closet was hung on all sides, or rather quilted,
with silk and cotton; that if he would let one of the crew bring my
closet into his cabin, I would open it there before him, and show him my
goods. The captain, hearing me utter these absurdities, concluded I was
raving; however (I suppose to pacify me) he promised to give order as I
desired, and going upon deck, sent some of his men down into my closet,
whence (as I afterwards found) they drew up all my goods, and stripped
off the quilting;