Hamilton’s account of the east inwes. 265

produces nothing worth the merchants adventuring thither for, I know not; but toNatal I have known forne Englifli veffels go from India , for elephants teeth, and didmake pretty good voyages; but they were two years and a half in performing a voy-age. The country is fertile, but unwholfome. The woods are thick fet with feveralforts of trees, and ftored with elephants, lions, leopards, bears, wolves, deer and foxes;the rivers with filh, manatees and crocodiles. Here lived, in anno 1718, a penitentpirate, who fequeftered himfelf from his abominable community, and retired out ofharm’s way.

There is no commerce on the coaft between Natal and Delagoa, I believe, for thefame reafon that I gave for the unfrequentednefs of the coaft between the Cape ofGood-Hope and Natal; and I believe, the firft communicative commerce, either toNatal or Delagoa, with the Englilh, came by accident; for about the year 1683, anEnglifli fhip, called the Johanna, was loft fomewhere about Delagoa. The natives,who were reputed great barbarians, fhewed the fhipwrecked men much more civilityand humanity than fome nations that I know, w r ho pretend much religion and polite-nefs, for they accommodated their guefts with whatever they wanted of the product oftheir country, at very eafy rates, and affifted what they could, to fave part of the da-maged cargo, receiving very moderate rewards for their labour and pains. Their lan-guage was by figns ; and for a few glafs-beads, knives, fcilfars, needles, thread, andfmall looking-glaffes, which they are very fond of, they hired themfelves to carry manyportable things (that were faved from the Ihipwreck) to a neighbouring country, andprocured others, who alfo ferved them for guides towards the Cape of Good-Hope ,and provided eatables for their mafters, all the while they were under their conduct;and having carried them about 200 miles on their way, by land, they provided newguides and porters for them, for fome of the aforefaid trifles, who conducted them,and provided for them, as the others had done, for 7 or 800 miles farther, whichthey travelled in 40 days, and fo delivered their charge to others, who conduced andprovided for them, till they arrived at the Cape ; and fome of the Englifli falling lickon the way, they carried the lick in hammocks, till they either recovered or died, andout of 80 men there were but 3 or 4 died ; but how long they journeyed before theyarrived at the Cape, I have forgotten. This account I had from one of the travellers.He told me, that the natural fertility of thofe countries he travelled through, made themhabitants lazy, indolent, indocile and Ample. Their rivers are abundantly ftored■with good-lilh and water-fowl, belides manatees or fea-cows, and crocodiles ; their’Woods with large trees, wild cattle and deer, elephants, rhinocerofes, lions, tigers,Solves and foxes for game ; alfo many forts of winged fowl and birds, befides oftriches.ftftey have fome notions of a Deity, whom they worlhip with dancing and feafting, forthey are generally very much inclined to mirth,an inftance whereof I will venture to relate,on the account I had from a mafter of a fliip, who went thither to trade in anno 1718,viz. when they had got their fliip fecured in a river, the natives affembled in goodnumbers to traffick, near the place where the fhip lay : an arch Indian youth, who wasa very good drummer, carried his drum afhore, and in a thicket pretty near the aflem-hly, beat his drum very brilkly, on which the young of both iexes fell a Ikipping, anda little after the adultjind old followed their example, fo that none ftood idle ipecta-tQ i's; but the old beginning to tire, fome went to the drummer, and prefented him'with eggs, fowl and fruits, and intreated him to leave off, which as foon as he did,*hey all fat down again on the ground, well heated.

I faw feveral rhinocerofes horns brought thence to Bombay, much longer thanc ' Ver I faw in India or China , and one was three horns growing from one root; thev °i. VIII. m m longed.