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第1章 帝子VS方太清！！！

　　We then set sail from Archangel the 20th of August, the same year;and, after no extraordinary bad voyage, arrived safe in the Elbethe 18th of September. Here my partner and I found a very goodsale for our goods, as well those of China as the sables, &c., ofSiberia: and, dividing the produce, my share amounted to 3475pounds, 17s 3d., including about six hundred pounds' worth ofdiamonds, which I purchased at Bengal.

　　It is further observable, that these extravagances did not showthemselves in that different manner I have mentioned, in differentpersons only; but all the variety would appear, in a shortsuccession of moments, in one and the same person. A man that wesaw this minute dumb, and, as it were, stupid and confounded, wouldthe next minute be dancing and hallooing like an antic; and thenext moment be tearing his hair, or pulling his clothes to pieces,and stamping them under his feet like a madman; in a few momentsafter that we would have him all in tears, then sick, swooning,and, had not immediate help been had, he would in a few momentshave been dead. Thus it was, not with one or two, or ten ortwenty, but with the greatest part of them; and, if I rememberright, our surgeon was obliged to let blood of about thirtypersons.

　　I liked this proposal very well; and the more so because it seemedto be expressed with so much goodwill. In my loose, unhingedcircumstances, I was the fitter to embrace a proposal for trade, orindeed anything else. I might perhaps say with some truth, that iftrade was not my element, rambling was; and no proposal for seeingany part of the world which I had never seen before could possiblycome amiss to me. It was, however, some time before we could get aship to our minds, and when we had got a vessel, it was not easy toget English sailors - that is to say, so many as were necessary togovern the voyage and manage the sailors which we should pick upthere. After some time we got a mate, a boatswain, and a gunner,English; a Dutch carpenter, and three foremast men. With these wefound we could do well enough, having Indian seamen, such as theywere, to make up.

ertthese thirty-seven men to the faith of Jesus Christ, it is notworth my time, though I should never be fetched off the islandagain? - nay, is it not infinitely of more worth to save so manysouls than my life is, or the life of twenty more of the sameprofession? Yes, sir," says he, "I would give God thanks all mydays if I could be made the happy instrument of saving the souls ofthose poor men, though I were never to get my foot off this islandor see my native country any more. But since you will honour mewith putting me into this work, for which I will pray for you allthe days of my life, I have one humble petition to you besides." -"What is that?" said I. - "Why," says he, "it is, that you willleave your man Friday with me, to be my interpreter to them, and toassist me; for without some help I cannot speak to them, or they tome."

ccording tothe true faith, and a savage or a barbarian, that knows no God, noChrist, no Redeemer; and if you are not within the pale of theCatholic Church, we hope you are nearer being restored to it thanthose who know nothing of God or of His Church: and I rejoice,therefore, when I see this poor man, who you say has been aprofligate, and almost a murderer kneel down and pray to JesusChrist, as we suppose he did, though not fully enlightened;believing that God, from whom every such work proceeds, willsensibly touch his heart, and bring him to the further knowledge ofthat truth in His own time; and if God shall influence this poorman to convert and instruct the ignorant savage, his wife, I cannever believe that he shall be cast away himself. And have I notreason, then, to rejoice, the nearer any are brought to theknowledge of Christ, though they may not be brought quite home intothe bosom of the Catholic Church just at the time when I desire it,leaving it to the goodness of Christ to perfect His work in His

　　Well, as Will Atkins and his wife were gone, our business there wasover, so we went back our own way; and when we came back, we foundthem waiting to be called in. Observing this, I asked my clergymanif we should discover to him that we had seen him under the bush ornot; and it was his opinion we should not, but that we should talkto him first, and hear what he would say to us; so we called him inalone, nobody being in the place but ourselves, and I began byasking him some particulars about his parentage and education. Hetold me frankly enough that his father was a clergyman who wouldhave taught him well, but that he, Will Atkins, despised allinstruction and correction; and by his brutish conduct cut thethread of all his father's comforts and shortened his days, forthat he broke his heart by the most ungrateful, unnatural returnfor the most affectionate treatment a father ever gave.

　　If my partner, who was no way concerned with my young man, made himsuch an offer, I could not do less than offer him the same; and allthe ship's company being willing to go with him, we made over halfthe ship to him in property, and took a writing from him, obliginghim to account for the other, and away he went to Japan. The Japanmerchant proved a very punctual, honest man to him: protected himat Japan, and got him a licence to come on shore, which theEuropeans in general have not lately obtained. He paid him hisfreight very punctually; sent him to the Philippines loaded withJapan and China wares, and a supercargo of their own, who,trafficking with the Spaniards, brought back European goods again,and a great quantity of spices; and there he was not only paid hisfreight very well, and at a very good price, but not being willingto sell the ship, then the merchant furnished him goods on his ownaccount; and with some money, and some spices of his own which hebrought with him, he went back to the Manillas, wh

　　I was so annoyed at the loss of my old trusty servant andcompanion, that I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded withsmall shot, and four with great, and gave them such a broadside asthey had never heard in their lives before. They were not abovehalf a cable's length off when we fired; and our gunners took theiraim so well, that three or four of their canoes were overset, as wehad reason to believe, by one shot only. The ill manners ofturning up their bare backs to us gave us no great offence; neitherdid I know for certain whether that which would pass for thegreatest contempt among us might be understood so by them or not;therefore, in return, I had only resolved to have fired four orfive guns at them with powder only, which I knew would frightenthem sufficiently: but when they shot at us directly with all thefury they were capable of, and especially as they had killed mypoor Friday, whom I so entirely loved and valued, and who, indeed,so well deserved it, I thought myself not only justifiable befo

guna,being on the west side of the river Arguna.