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第7章 身败名裂

　　We made no great gain, however, by this victory, for we lost acamel and gained a horse. I paid for the lost camel, and sent foranother; but I did not go to fetch it myself: I had had enough ofthat.

stulations, and joined with me, not only in making provisionfor my voyage, but also in settling my family affairs for myabsence, and providing for the education of my children. In orderto do this, I made my will, and settled the estate I had in such amanner for my children, and placed in such hands, that I wasperfectly easy and satisfied they would have justice done them,whatever might befall me; and for their education, I left it whollyto the widow, with a sufficient maintenance to herself for hercare: all which she richly deserved; for no mother could havetaken more care in their education, or understood it better; and asshe lived till I came home, I also lived to thank her for it.

　　Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he wasvery opinionated or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen as wellas merchants, and that we had a mind to go and see the great cityof Pekin, and the famous court of the monarch of China. "Why,then," says the old man, "you should go to Ningpo, where, by theriver which runs into the sea there, you may go up within fiveleagues of the great canal. This canal is a navigable stream,which goes through the heart of that vast empire of China, crossesall the rivers, passes some considerable hills by the help ofsluices and gates, and goes up to the city of Pekin, being inlength near two hundred and seventy leagues." - "Well," said I,"Seignior Portuguese, but that is not our business now; the greatquestion is, if you can carry us up to the city of Nankin, fromwhence we can travel to Pekin afterwards?" He said he could do sovery well, and that there was a great Dutch ship gone up that wayjust before. This gave me a little shock, for a Dutch ship was

　　Among the rest, it occurred to him, he said, how his father used toinsist so much on the inexpressible value of the Bible, and theprivilege and blessing of it to nations, families, and persons; buthe never entertained the least notion of the worth of it till now,when, being to talk to heathens, savages, and barbarians, he wantedthe help of the written oracle for his assistance. The young womanwas glad of it also for the present occasion, though she had one,and so had the youth, on board our ship among their goods, whichwere not yet brought on shore. And now, having said so many thingsof this young woman, I cannot omit telling one story more of herand myself, which has something in it very instructive andremarkable.

ed with trampling andrunning through the fire; others their hands burned; one of thewomen had fallen down in the fire, and was very much burned beforeshe could get out again; and two or three of the men had cuts intheir backs and thighs, from our men pursuing; and another was shotthrough the body and died while I was there.

　　But the affair did not end so; the next day came a great number ofthe country people to the town gates, and in a most outrageousmanner demanded satisfaction of the Russian governor for theinsulting their priests and burning their great Cham Chi-Thaungu.The people of Nertsinkay were at first in a great consternation,for they said the Tartars were already no less than thirty thousandstrong. The Russian governor sent out messengers to appease them,assuring them that he knew nothing of it, and that there had not asoul in his garrison been abroad, so that it could not be fromanybody there: but if they could let him know who did it, theyshould be exemplarily punished. They returned haughtily, that allthe country reverenced the great Cham Chi-Thaungu, who dwelt in thesun, and no mortal would have dared to offer violence to his imagebut some Christian miscreant; and they therefore resolved todenounce war against him and all the Russians, who, they said, weremiscreants and Christians.

　　I told the clergyman, word for word, what he said, and thisaffectionate man could not refrain from tears; but, recoveringhimself, said to me, "Ask him but one question. Is he easy that itis too late; or is he troubled, and wishes it were not so?" I putthe question fairly to Atkins; and he answered with a great deal ofpassion, "How could any man be easy in a condition that mustcertainly end in eternal destruction? that he was far from beingeasy; but that, on the contrary, he believed it would one time orother ruin him." - "What do you mean by that?" said I. - "Why," hesaid, "he believed he should one time or other cut his throat, toput an end to the terror of it."

　　But I now come to a scene different from all that had happenedbefore, either to them or to me; and the origin of the story wasthis: Early one morning there came on shore five or six canoes ofIndians or savages, call them which you please, and there is noroom to doubt they came upon the old errand of feeding upon theirslaves; but that part was now so familiar to the Spaniards, and toour men too, that they did not concern themselves about it, as Idid: but having been made sensible, by their experience, thattheir only business was to lie concealed, and that if they were notseen by any of the savages they would go off again quietly, whentheir business was done, having as yet not the least notion ofthere being any inhabitants in the island; I say, having been madesensible of this, they had nothing to do but to give notice to allthe three plantations to keep within doors, and not showthemselves, only placing a scout in a proper place, to give noticewhen the boats went to sea again.

mand, before I engaged in a thing so hazardous andmischievous as I was brought into by it, without design.