e being only a bare hulk; so I set the native carpenters to
work upon her, who did her little good, as it was afterwards found. I
likewise sent orders by the Hopewell to the ship, to send some rigging,
and that Mr Davis should come to carry her over.

On this occasion the Hopewell did not appear again for three weeks, so
that we were doubtful of some mischance; and it might have been long
before they at the ship could have hired any one to bring us word, as
the Hollanders have often used them very ill for carrying provisions to
the Bandanese. The weather being tolerably good, and having our skiff at
Pulo-way, I resolved to go over to the ship in her myself; for I could
not hire men to carry over the junk, if I would have loaded her with
silver, and I had not a man with me sound enough to stand on his legs;
so I hired three natives, and put to sea in the skiff. When out of sight
of Pulo-way, it came on to blow a heavy storm, so that I had to scud
before the wind and sea to save our lives; yet, thank God, we got sight
of Ceram, and kept her right afore the sea, but clean from the place
where our ship lay, and on nearing the shore the sea did break so aloft,
that we had no hope of getting safe on shore. Night being at hand, we
strove all we could to keep the sea till day; but as the storm
increased, we had no remedy for our lives but attempting to get through
the surf over a ledge of rocks. This we did, but durst not leave the
boat, lest we had been dashed in pieces on the rocks. Next morning we
got her on shore, being brim-full of water, and every thing we had
washed out.

Immediately afterwards, the blacks came and told us we must go to sea
again instantly, if we valued our lives, for we had landed in the
country of the _canibals_, who, if they saw us, would come and eat us.
They said, nothing could ransom us from them if once taken, and
especially because we were Christians, they would roast us alive, in
revenge for the wrongs the Portuguese had done them. Our blacks added,
if we would not put immediately to sea, they would go and hide
themselves, being sure the canibals would be at the water-side as soon
as it was light. On hearing this, and seeing by the moonlight that the
sea was more calm, the wind having dulled, we pushed off, and having the
tide in our favour, we got quickly a-head, so that by day-light we were
beyond the watches of the canibals; and keeping close to the shore, we
espied the hull of a bark, on ne