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第7章 北江首富

ked thanthey, that after they had been two or three days together theyturned the two newcomers out of doors to shift for themselves, andwould have nothing to do with them; nor could they for a good whilebe persuaded to give them any food: as for the Spaniards, theywere not yet come.

　　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.

　　From thence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at anequal distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of Chinawhere our European ships usually come; being resolved, if possible,not to fall into any of their hands, especially in this country,where, as our circumstances were, we could not fail of beingentirely ruined. Being now come to the latitude of 30 degrees, weresolved to put into the first trading port we should come at; andstanding in for the shore, a boat came of two leagues to us with anold Portuguese pilot on board, who, knowing us to be an Europeanship, came to offer his service, which, indeed, we were glad of andtook him on board; upon which, without asking us whither we wouldgo, he dismissed the boat he came in, and sent it back. I thoughtit was now so much in our choice to make the old man carry uswhither we would, that I began to talk to him about carrying us tothe Gulf of Nankin, which is the most northern part of the coast ofChina. The old man said he knew the Gulf o

nd, indeed,I found afterwards the orders made for keeping all together wereabsolutely necessary for our common safety.

　　W.A. - He made me as He made all the world: it is I have deformedmyself and abused His goodness, and made myself an abominablewretch.

　　In two days more we passed the great China wall, made for afortification against the Tartars: and a very great work it is,going over hills and mountains in an endless track, where the rocksare impassable, and the precipices such as no enemy could possiblyenter, or indeed climb up, or where, if they did, no wall couldhinder them. They tell us its length is near a thousand Englishmiles, but that the country is five hundred in a straight measuredline, which the wall bounds without measuring the windings andturnings it takes; it is about four fathoms high, and as many thickin some places.

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.

　　First, I carried with me some servants whom I purposed to placethere as inhabitants, or at least to set on work there upon myaccount while I stayed, and either to leave them there or carrythem forward, as they should appear willing; particularly, Icarried two carpenters, a smith, and a very handy, ingeniousfellow, who was a cooper by trade, and was also a general mechanic;for he was dexterous at making wheels and hand-mills to grind corn,was a good turner and a good pot-maker; he also made anything thatwas proper to make of earth or of wood: in a word, we called himour Jack-of-all-trades. With these I carried a tailor, who hadoffered himself to go a passenger to the East Indies with mynephew, but afterwards consented to stay on our new plantation, andwho proved a most necessary handy fellow as could be desired inmany other businesses besides that of his trade; for, as I observedformerly, necessity arms us for all employments.

　　As to the three barbarians (so he called them) that were leftbehind, and of whom, he said, he had a long story to tell me, theSpaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages,only that their number was so small: "And," says he, "had theybeen strong enough, we had been all long ago in purgatory;" andwith that he crossed himself on the breast. "But, sir," says he,"I hope you will not be displeased when I shall tell you how,forced by necessity, we were obliged for our own preservation todisarm them, and make them our subjects, as they would not becontent with being moderately our masters, but would be ourmurderers." I answered I was afraid of it when I left them there,and nothing troubled me at my parting from the island but that theywere not come back, that I might have put them in possession ofeverything first, and left the others in a state of subjection, asthey deserved; but if they had reduced them to it I was very glad,and should be very far from finding any fault with it; for I knewthey