founder, for she was leaky, and had damage in her hold when we met
with her.
I was now in the latitude of 19 degrees 32 minutes, and had
hitherto a tolerable voyage as to weather, though at first the
winds had been contrary. I shall trouble nobody with the little
incidents of wind, weather, currents, &c., on the rest of our
voyage; but to shorten my story, shall observe that I came to my
old habitation, the island, on the 10th of April 1695. It was with
no small difficulty that I found the place; for as I came to it and
went to it before on the south and east side of the island, coming
from the Brazils, so now, coming in between the main and the
island, and having no chart for the coast, nor any landmark, I did
not know it when I saw it, or, know whether I saw it or not. We
beat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands in
the mouth of the great river Orinoco, but none for my purpose; only
this I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one great
mistake before, viz. that the continent which I thought I saw from
the island I lived in was really no continent, but a long island,
or rather a ridge of islands, reaching from one to the other side
of the extended mouth of that great river; and that the savages who
came to my island were not properly those which we call Caribbees,
but islanders, and other barbarians of the same kind, who inhabited
nearer to our side than the rest.
In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose; some I
found were inhabited, and some were not; on one of them I found
some Spaniards, and thought they had lived there; but speaking with
them, found they had a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and
came thither to make salt, and to catch some pearl-mussels if they
could; but that they belonged to the Isle de Trinidad, which lay
farther north, in the latitude of 10 and 11 degrees.
Thus coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship,
sometimes with the Frenchman’s shallop, which we had found a
convenient boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will,
at length I came fair on the south side of my island, and presently
knew the very countenance of the place: so I brought the ship safe
to an anchor, broadside with the little creek where my old
habitation was. As soon as I saw the place I called for Friday,
and asked him if he knew where he was? He looked about a little,
and presently clapping his hands, cried, “Oh yes, Oh there, Oh yes,
Oh there!” pointing to our old habitation, and fell dancing and
capering like a mad fellow; and I had much ado to keep him from
jumping into the sea to swim ashore to the place.
“Well, Friday,” says I, “do you think we shall find anybody here or
no? and do you think we shall see your father?” The fellow stood
mute as a stock a good while; but when I named his father, the poor
affectionate creature looked dejected, and I could see the tears
run down his face very plentifully. “What is the matter, Friday?
are you troubled because you may see your father?” “No, no,” says
he, shaking his head, “no see him more: no, never more see him
again.” “Why so, Friday? how do you know that?” “Oh no, Oh no,”
says Friday, “he long ago die, long ago; he much old man.” “Well,
well, Friday, you don’t know; but shall we see any one else, then?”
The fellow, it seems, had better eyes than I, and he points to the
hill just above my old house; and though we lay half a league off,
he cries out, “We see! we see! yes, we see much man there, and
there, and there.” I looked, but I saw nobody, no, not with a
perspective glass, which was, I suppose, because I could not hit
the place: for the fellow was right, as I found upon inquiry the