n upon our men as though it had been
in line of battle. We lay at present but in a very unfit posture to
fight; and before the stages could be got down, or the men in the boat
come on board as they were ordered, the Cochinchinese were upon them,
and two of their boats boarding our long boat, they began to lay hold of
our men as prisoners. The first they seized was a stout English sailor,
who never fired his musket, like a fool, as I imagined, but laid it down
in the boat: but he knew what he was doing; for, by main force, he
dragged the Pagan out of the boat into ours by the two ears, and knocked
his brains out against the boat's gunnel; a Dutchman that was next him,
snatched up the musket, and knocked down five more with the but-end of
it; however, this was doing very little to their number; but a strange
unexpected accident, which rather merits laughter than any thing else,
gave our men a complete victory over them.

It seems the carpenter, who was preparing to grave the outside of the
ship, as well as to pay the seams, where he caulked to stop the leaks,
had gotten two kettles just let down in the boat, one filled with
boiling pitch, and the other with rosin, tallow, oil, and such stuffs as
the shipwrights use; the carpenter's man had a great iron ladle with
which he used to supply the workmen with hot stuff, & as two of the
enemies entered the boat where the fellow stood, he saluted them with a
full ladle of the hot boiling liquor; which, the poor creatures being
half naked, made them roar out, and jump into the sea. _Well done,
Jack_, says the carpenter, _give them the other dose_: and so stepping
forward himself, takes a mop, and dipping it into the pitch-pot, he and
his man so plentifully flung it among them, as that none escaped being
scalded; upon which they all made the best of their way, crying and
howling in such a frightful manner, that, in all my adventures, I never
heard the like. And, indeed, never was I better pleased with any
conquest than I was with this, there being so little bloodshed, and
having an aversion to killing such savage wretches, (more than was
necessary) as knowing they came on errands, which their laws and customs
made them think were just and equitable. By this time, all things being
in order, and the ship swimming, they found their mistake, so they did
not venture a second attack. Thus ended our merry fight; and, having got
rice, bread, roots, and sixteen good hogs on board the day bef