Hamilton's account of the east indies.

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not lodge in every houfe there with honefl: and induftrious men more than in Europe ;yet, after many ftrugglings with adverfe fortune, and heavy oppreffions, I have broughthack a charm that can keep out the meagre devil (poverty) from entering into myhoufe, and fo I have got holy Agur’s wilh in Prov. xxx. 8. and I have learned a prettygood leffon from St. Paul in his epiftle to the Philippians , chap. iv. ver. 11 . which Iam refolved to follow as long as I live.

And now P1I tell you who I am not. I affure you I am no mercenary fcribbler,.for, although I was profferred a good round fum for a copy of thefe following obfer-vations, I refufed it, and have made a prefent of them to a particular friend, and, ifhe thinks them worth the printing, he may print them for his own benefit and advan-tage; and, if he has good luck in putting them off, perhaps I may make fome addi-tions, appendixes or fupplements to thole obfervations-already made.

Moreover, I left England before King William came into it as King, which Ilook on as a fingular providence, confidering the revolutions and wars that foonfollowed King James ’s abdication, for being then young and thoughtlefs, and havinghut little experience of the affairs of the politick world, a fair tale plaufibly told,with a little ffnooth perfuafion, might have drawn me into a wrong way of think-‘Dg, or might have led me away (by taking part with a wrong faction) to an un-timely end, or, at leaft, have given me time enough to make obfervations on the mi-feries of a penurious life, as I fee many now in Holland do at this time, who areplentifully fed with the bread of affliction, and their heat quenched with the waters°f forrow, and the tears of repentance.

Now 7 , as thefe obfervations have been moftly from the ftore-houfe of my me*Dtory, and are the amufement or lucubrations of the nights of two long winters,f have even let my thoughts take their places, as they came out of my little maga-zme, without ftudying to put them in rank and file, according to nice rules andforms. So in the fame order I leave them to my reader, with the old proverb toa ccompany them, ( that the proof of the pudding is in eating itfo, according toy°ur tafte or appetite, you may either condemn or commend.

A NEW ACCOUNT OF THE EAST INDIES.

Ciiap. I .—Giveth a traditional Account of the firjl fettling of Europeans at the Cape ofGood Hope , with fome hijlorical Remarks on the maritime Countries between the faidGape and Cape Guardafoy, with the inhabited Iflands of that Coajl .

ri-IE firft Europeans that fettled at Cabo de bona Efperanza, or, in Englifh, the Capeof Good Hope , were the Englifh, in Queen Elibabeth’s time; but the nativ.es'vere f G unfociable and indocile, that they thought fit to leave it. A few years after/* e y had left it; the Englifh Eaft India company confidering what importance a port°uld be of to their flapping, both in their outward and homeward bound paffages tofrom India , were refolved to make another trial for a fettlement there, and, into } Cr t0 accom phfh their clefign, obtained a reprieve for three condemned malefactors,

• r Je oarned thither in order to learn the language,arH r as * ar as they could, into the manners and°f the product and commerce of the country.

to lerve for interpreters, and tocuftoms of the native Hottentots,

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