Thus Day after Day they waited in Expectation of some Answer, sending the Boat to lye off near the Shore, to be ready in Case any Signal should be made. — One Day they perceived a great Number of People to come out of the Town, and make towards the Shore, which gave them an Expectation that the Delivery of their Friends was at Hand; they watched their Motions with earnest Eyes, hoping every Minute to see a Flag of Truce, instead of which, they observed them to march directly behind the Bank, where they seem'd to place themselves in a Kind of Ambuscade.
Now there seem'd to be an End of all their Hopes, the Boat return'd on Board, and made a Report to the Captain of what they saw, who calling a Consultation of all his Officers to hear if any Thing could be offered for the Relief of their Companions; it was proposed by one to send the Boat on Shore, to burn some Junks which were hawl'd up about a Musquet-Shot from the Waterside, but the Captain considered, that tho’ this might gratifie their Revenge, it would bring no Relief to their poor captive Friends: On the contrary, the Natives might be provoked to destroy them for it, if they had not done it already, besides as these Junks lay not far from the Bank, their Men might be exposed to the Arrows of the Natives (who now lay in continual Ambuscade) and so they might run the Hazard of losing more Men without the least Advantage to themselves, or unhappy Companions.
Wherefore, this Project was laid aside, and the Winds often blowing hard, and the Captain not judging it safe to lye any longer in that open Road, he weighed Anchor on the fourth of December, steering along ashore, in Search of some Bay or Inlet, where they might ride shelter'd from the Wind and Weather; and still with a View that if either their Companions might have an Opportunity of making their Escape, or the Natives should relent and think of letting them go for a Ransom, they might be near enough to receive them. After about three or four Hours gentle Sail he dropp'd an Anchor, the Town of Magadoxa then bearing N E b'E of them, they perceived it was all along a flat smooth Shore, without any Bay or other Shelter, for Ships to ride; wherefore, the next Day, which was the fifth of December, they stood off to Sea, and then came to a Consultation what Measures to take in their present Condition; and having considered that they had met with no Place where they could ride with any Safety, and if they should meet with a convenient Bay much farther down the Coast, it would be of no Service to their unhappy Companions, who would never hear of them; and besides they could not venture to traffic with the Natives for Refreshments, for Fear of Surprize and Treachery; and their Men beginning to grow weak and distempered for want of fresh Provisions, they resolved to make for the Island of Joanna, being forced to leave their Companions to Providence, in great Trouble and Anxiety for their unhappy Fate.
We shall leave them to pursue their Voyage, which was happy enough, bating this Accident, and relate what had passd on Shore, as we had it from a Munuscript, written by the Molotto Interpreter, who was the only Person who escaped, and return'd to England, after he had lived sixteen Years amongst the Barbarians.
It has been already taken Notice that Mr. Baldwin the third Mate, and Mr. Sale the Purser (unhappily for them) not observing the Cautions the Captain gave them to be upon their Guard, were so indiscreet, to be tempted to accept of an Invitation to dine with the King's Son; so that having sent the Yawl on Board again, for a Present as has been related, they with the Molotto Interpreter went towards the Town, accompanied by several of the Natives, who made them the Invitation in the Name of the King's Son. They were no sooner arrived at the first Gate of the City, but they were surrounded by a great Multitude of People, and violently dragg'd into a little Door under the Gateway, and shut up in a dark Hole. When they had remained here about the Space of two Hours, they heard a very great Noise without; soon after which, the Doors leading to their Dungeon were all opened, and they were dragg'd out again; when they were out, they found that what occasioned that great Noise, was the Return of their Men, whom they had sent on Board for a Present for the King's Son, who were seized in the same Manner they had been, and being encompassed by such a Number of People, they lost them in a Minute; they were also separated from one another, and the Molotto desiring to know of them the Meaning of all this, and in what they had offended them, they only answered him, that they must go before the Accabo, (the Name by which they call the King, who had not been out of Town as they gave out before) accordingly he was conducted with a sufficient Guard, expecting there to meet his Companions again.
When he arrived at the King's House (which shall be hereafter described) he was led thro’ several Rooms to that where the King was present, whom he found sitting upon the Ground, the Floor being matted; he was dress'd in a long Pair of Drawers of blewish purple Silk, which reach'd down to his Toes, having neither Shoes nor Stockings on, a large Mantle of the same Silk, and a white Turbant on his Head; there were eight others who sat about him, whose Dress was the same with his, as to Form and Fashion, but their Drawers and Mantles were made of a blew and white strip'd Dungeree Stuff, instead of Silk; these were his Councellors and Favourites. The King spoke to him in a Kind of Arabic, asking of what Country he was? he answered of Canton in China. Then he ask'd him, how he came to associate himself with those horrid white Men? The poor Molotto began to tremble at this Question, but excus'd himself by speaking in their Favour, highly extolling them for their Civility of Behaviour, as well as Generosity, and praising them in all Things to the King, telling him, he was sure the Captain would ransom them, if it was his Pleasure to consent to it; to which he returned no Answer, but ask'd what the Ship had in her, the Molotto gave him an Account of her Lading; then he desired to know whether the rest of the Men would come on Shore, he answered, he could not tell, but in Case they were suffered to return again on Board, he was sure they would come on Shore, and that the Captain himself designed to come and see the King, as soon as they should return; but the King made no Offer of suffering that, but commanded him to be carried back to Prison.
The Prison which they call Haulaub, is a square Stone-Building, about twenty Foot high, and flat at Top, fronting one of their broadest Streets; there are no Windows or Iron Bars, as we see in our Prisons, but there are several little Holes about eight or nine Inches square, quite thro’ the Wall, thro’ which, the Place within receives both Light and Air. Here the poor Molotto was put, very anxious about the Fate of his poor Companions, whom he had not seen since their being separated at their first coming out of the Dungeon; wherefore, seeing an old Man looking thro’ one of the Holes before described, he enquired of him what was become of them, who gave him this melancholy Account; that those who came last out of the Boat, which were the four Sailors sent on Board the Ship for the Present for the King's Son, were kill'd in the Streets by the Multitude, and that making some Resistance, they were torn to Pieces, every Man thinking himself happy that could procure a Piece of their Flesh, showing a Bit of about two Ounces, which he begg'd of one who had got a great Piece, which many of them eat; that they were all from their Childhood taught to have an Aversion to white Men, and that these were the first that had been seen in the Memory of Man, that as to the tall Man and the little Man which had been in the Dungeon with him (which were Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Sale, the Mate and Purser) they were by the King's Order carried to the Boderzau (a Place where Tygers and other fierce Beasts are kept for the King's Pleasure) and delivered up to be torn to Pieces by those Animals.
This was in Effect, the true Account of the most bloody Massacre that was committed upon these unhappy Men; the Story of which, it may be imagined, must throw the poor Molotto into the utmost Consternation and Fear, as imagining himself to be near suffering some cruel Death; sometimes he flattered himself