he women wear aprons made of
leaves. When shipping goes among these islands, the inhabitants come off in
boats, bringing with them ambergris and cocoa nuts, which they barter for
iron; for, being free from the inconveniencies either of extreme heat or
cold they want no clothing. Beyond these two islands is the sea of Andaman.
The people on this coast eat human flesh quite raw; their complexion is
black, with frizzled hair, their countenance and eyes frightful, their feet
very large, almost a cubit in length, and they go quite naked. They have no
sort of barks or other vessels, or they would seize and devour all the
passengers they could lay their hands upon. When ships have been kept back
by contrary winds, and are obliged to anchor on this barbarous coast, for
procuring water, they commonly lose some of their men.

Beyond this there is an inhabited mountainous island, which is said to
contain mines of silver; but as it does not lie in the usual track of
shipping, many have searched for it in vain, though remarkable for a very
lofty mountain called Kashenai. A ship, sailing in its latitude, once got
sight of this mountain, and steered for the coast, where some people were
sent on shore to cut wood: The men kindled a fire, from which there ran out
some melted silver, on which they concluded that there must have been a
silver mine in the place, and they shipped a considerable quantity of the
earth or ore; but they encountered a terrible storm on their voyage back,
and were forced to throw all their ore overboard to lighten the vessel.
Since that time the mountain has been several times carefully sought for,
but no one has ever been able to find it again. There are many such islands
in those seas, more in number than can be reckoned; some inaccessible by
seamen, and some unknown to them.

It often happens in these seas that a whitish cloud suddenly appears
over-head, which lets down a long thin tongue or spout, quite to the
surface of the water, which is then turned swiftly round as if by a
whirlwind, and if a vessel happens to be in the way, she is immediately
swallowed up in the vortex. At length this cloud mounts up again and
discharges itself in prodigious rain; but it is not known whether this
water is sucked up by the cloud, or how this phenomenon comes to pass. All
these seas are subject to prodigious storms, which make them boil up like
water over a fire; at which times the waves dash the ships against the
islands