ame and supplied us with victuals and drink, and
procured liberty for the captain to go home with him to his lodgings.
He likewise sent some blankets for the officers, and we made shift to
pass the night with tolerable comfort, being very much fatigued.

At nine in the morning of the 21st, the emperor sent orders for the
captain and every officer to appear before him. We immediately
repaired to his palace; we remained waiting in an outer yard two
hours; in the mean time he diverted himself with seeing a clumsy Dutch
boat rowed about in a pond by four of our petty officers. About noon
we were called before him, and placed in a line about thirty yards
from him. He was sitting in a chair by the side of the pond,
accompanied only by two of his chief alcaides. Having viewed us some
time, he ordered the captain to come forward, and after asking him a
good many questions concerning our navy, and the destination of the
squadron to which we had belonged, we were also called forward by two
and three at a time as we stood according to our rank. He then asked
most of us some very insignificant questions, and took some to be
Portuguese because they had black hair, and others to be Swedes
because their hair was light. He judged none of us to be English
excepting the captain, the second lieutenant, the ensign of the
soldiers, and myself. But assuring him we were all English, he cried
Bonno, and gave a nod for our departure, to which we returned a very
low bow, and were glad to return to our old ruined houses again. Our
total number amounted to thirty.

On the 25th, being Christmas-day, prayers were read to the people as
usual in the church of England. The captain this day received a
present of tea and loaves of sugar from one of the queens, whose
grandfather had been an English renegado.

In the afternoon of the 26th, we received the disagreeable
intelligence, that the emperor would oblige all the English to work,
like all the other Christian slaves, excepting the officers who were
before him on the 21st. The next day this account was confirmed; for,
at seven in the morning, an alcaide came and ordered all our people
out to work, excepting the sick. Upon our application eight were
allowed to stay at home every day to cook for the rest, and this
office was performed by turns throughout the whole number. At four in
the afternoon the people returned, some having been employed in
carrying wood, some in turning up the ground with hoes,