A VOYAGE TO BORNEO.
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him to life again. I told him he would do very well to fhew fuch an experiment beforethefe ignorant perfons ; whereupon he bled him in the fore leg, which immediatelyrevived the monkey, and made him {kip about as brifkly as ever. This feemed nofmall miracle to them, and gave them a great opinion of our ability : “ for (faid they)if you can bring a dead beaft to life, no doubt but you can bring a dead man alfo.”
They efteem him the belt qualified and moft ingenious man, that can moft over-reach and cheat his neighbour by falfe weights, meafures, &c. neither do they reckonit a fault, but glory in it as a mafter-piece of wit. They often ufed to call us fools,when we have prevented their cheating themfelves by a miftake in weighing goods, &c.Sometimes they would bring to our faflory poor ignorant fellows out of the country(having a parcel of pepper to fell) who could neither read, write, or underftand theweights : and the pgrfon in whom they confided in town to fee juftice done to themin difpofing thereof to the belt advantage, ufed to whifper one of us, that in weighingthe pepper we lhould fay eighty pounds when there was one hundred or thereabouts,and fo fet it down ; that, fays he, we may divide the overplus between us ; which wealways refufed to do, and rejected his propofal with indignation; telling the fimpleowners, that whenever they came by themfelves, though they underftood not theweights, yet they lhould not fail to have juftice done them, and that we fcorned to takeany more than our due. We took all occafions to make them have tire belt opinionof us that poflibly could be, to the end that if ever we were fent thither again, wemight not only be the more able to ferve the Honourable Company, but alfo that wemay thereby give them a good opinion of all Chriftians in general, that may have occa-fion hereafter to go thither. By our equitable way of dealing we infinuated ourfelvesvery much into the Sultan’s favour, who, as I mentioned before, is really a Prince ofvery honeft moral principles ; and alfo into the good efteem of the generality of histrading fubjects, who had a great value for us upon the account of our plain honeftdealings.
Having now in a manner finilhed my affairs in this country, I lhall give a fhortaccount of my lalt journey to Caytongee to take my leave of the Sultan. I fet outfrom Tatas on the 8th of'November, in company with Mr. Swartz and Mr. Becherbefore mentioned, in a praw rowed up by the Indians ; for we were now fo intimatewith them, that we could as well truft ourfelves with them alone as with our own men.We arrived there on the 10th, and took up our quarters at our old friend Cay De-nton’s houfe, where we were made heartily welcome. We fat very merry till aboutright at night, when, preparing to go to bed, we heard all on a fudden a moft terribleoutcry, mixed with fquealing, hallowing, whooping, firing of guns, ringing and clatter-mg of gongs, or brafs pans, that we were greatly ftartled, imagining nothing lefs but thatthe city was furprifed by the rebels. I ran immediately to the door, where I found myold fat landlord roaring and whooping like a man raving mad. This increafed myaftoniihment, and the noife was fo great that I could neither be heard, nor get an an-fwer to know what the matter was. At laft I cried as loud as poflibly I could to the°ld man to know the reafon of this fad confufion and outcry, who in a great frightpointed up to the heavens, and faid, “ Leaf joo Shat an dea Macon Boolon which fig-rufies, « Look there, fee the devil is eating up the moon.” I was very glad to hear1 tat there was no other caufe of their fright but their own ignorance. It was only agreat eclipfe of the moon. I fmiled, and told him that there was no danger; that in a•ttle while the moon would be as well as ever. Whereupon catching fall hold of myee ve, as I was returning to bed, he afked me if I was fure of it, for they take us whitem en to be very wife in thofe matters. I affured him I was, and that we always knew
Vo1 -. xi. * s many