until I arrived at the Port de Pedra, and beheld a galley loading with horses for Setuval, where the king, Don John the Third, whom God absolve, then held his court, on account of the great plague with which many parts of the kingdom were infested. Embarking in this galley, I sailed the next day; but, alas! no sooner were we fairly out at sea than we were attacked by a French corsair, who, unexpectedly boarding us with fifteen or twenty men, carried our vessel. After having stripped and pillaged us, they took out our cargo, with 6000 ducats, and then scuttled and sunk the galley, so that out of our crew of seventeen not one escaped slavery. As they were freighted with arms for the Mahometans, they bound us hand and foot, intending to sell us for slaves in Barbary; but at the end of thirteen days it pleased Fortune that, about sunset, they discovered a ship, to which they gave chase all night, following in her track, like old corsairs accustomed to such brigandage, and running alongside towards day-break, they fired three guns and boarded her, killing six Portuguese and ten or twelve slaves.

"It proved to be a large and goodly vessel belonging to a Portuguese merchant, called Sylvestre Godinho, coming from St. Thomas's, with a great quantity of sugar and slaves, worth 40,000 ducats; so that having now such a rich booty, the corsairs abandoned their plan of going to Barbary, and set sail for the coast of France, taking with them as slaves such of our crew as were capable of assisting them in their navigation. As for me, and the others who remained, they landed us by night at a place called Melides, where we remained all miserably naked, and covered with wounds from the blows and lashes we had received. In this pitiable state we arrived next morning at St. James de Caçen, and here our sufferings were relieved, principally by a lady named Donna Beatrix, daughter of Count Villanova; when, after being cured of our wounds, we all betook ourselves whithersoever we thought we might best mend our fortunes. For my part, poor as I was, I wandered with six or seven companions in misery to Setuval, where good fortune instantly placed

me in the service of Francisco de Faria, a gentleman in the household of the grand commander of St. James, who, in reward of four years' service, gave me to the aforesaid commander, to act as chamberlain, which I did for eighteen months. But as the wages then paid were insufficient for my support, necessity compelled me to quit him, though I availed myself of his influence to obtain permission for embarking to the Indies, being resolved to try my fortune in the East, and submit to whatever good or ill fate might be reserved for me in those unknown and remote countries."

On the 11th of March, 1537, our traveller set sail with a fleet of five ships, and arrived safely at Mozambique, whence they were ordered by the governor to proceed to Diu, as he was in daily expectation of the armies of the Grand Turk, to avenge the loss of Sultan Bandar, King of Cambay, whom the said governor had put to death the year before.On their passage from Diu to the Straits of Mecca, they were audaciously attacked by a pirate of inferior force, upon whom, however, they retaliated with such destructive effect, that all the crew, consisting of eighty, were killed or drowned, with the exception of five, whom they made prisoners. One of these was the captain, who, upon being put to the torture, confessed that he was a renegado Christian, having been born at Cedenha, but that becoming enamoured of a beautiful Greek Mahometan, he had renounced Christianity and married her. Earnest and friendly proposals were made to him to abandon his errors, and resume the Catholic faith; all which he resisted with the most unshaken obstinacy and resolution. "Whereupon," says our traveller, “ the captain infallibly concluding that this abandoned miscreant was not to be won from his blindness and heresy, in not believing the thrice holy Catholic faith, became suddenly inspired with such a lively zeal and vehement love of God, that he tied him neck and heels, and having attached a large stone to his neck, cast him into the sea, where the wretch now shares the torments of his Mahomet, aud keeps him company in the other world, for having been his disciple in this."

ferocity, made a cruel war upon the weaker animals, such as stags, wildboars, monkeys, baboons, apes, wolves, and foxes, which we contemplated for a long time with wonderful pleasure, occasionally shouting all at once to frighten them, whereat they were little alarmed, not being accustomed to the pursuit of hunters. On leaving this mountain we encountered another, not less wild and savage, called Gangitanou, beyond which all the country is very rugged, and almost inaccessible. Similau informed us, that certain men, called Gigauhos, dwelt at the foot of this place, who were of enormous size, living like brutes upon the spoils of the chase, or upon the rice which the Chinese merchants brought them from Catan, and bartered with them for furs. He as sured us that more than 200,000 skins were annually exported, which the Chinese consumed for the lining of winter robes, carpeting, and counterpanes. Antonio de Faria, much astonished at this, but still more at the stature of these Gigauhos, begged the pilot to procure him the sight of one, assuring him, that it would be more gratifying to him than to possess all the treasures of China; to which Similau replied,

Signor Captain, as I see that this is essential, both to preserve my credit with you, and to impose silence upon those who murmur and make mockery of me when I relate things which they consider so many fables; in order that by one truth they may judge of another, I swear to you, that before sunset you shall see a couple of these people, and speak to them, on condition that you do not go ashore as you have hitherto done, for fear any misfortune should happen; for I assure you that these Gigauhos are naturally so brutal and fierce, that they live upon flesh and blood like the beasts of the forest.' Among the thick trees and wild mountains that inclosed us as we advanced, there was such an infinite number of apes, monkeys, foxes, wolves, stags, wild boars, and similar animals, that they encumbered and impeded one another, making such a loud noise that we could not hear ourselves speak, which amused us for some time; until, upon turning a point of land, we saw a young boy,

without any beard, driving before him six or seven cows which had been pasturing thereabout. Similau having made signs to him he immediately stopped, and when we had gained the bank where he was, Similau showed him a piece of green taffeta, whereof these savages are immoderately fond. Upon asking him by signs whether he would buy it, he replied with a voice very much broken, Quiteu-parau-fau, fau-words which we could not understand. Antonio de Faria then commanded that three or four yards of this taffeta should be given to him, as well as six pieces of china, which the savage having taken, one after another, he appeared transported with joy, and cried out-Pur pacam pochy pilaca hunangue doreu, which we could no more comprehend than the preceding. Leaving his cows by the river, he then ran off into the woods, being clothed in the skin of a tiger, his feet and arms naked, his head uncovered, and having no other weapon than a stick burnt at the end. As to his height, by what we could guess, it was above seven feet and a half; but we were much astonished when, in a quarter of an hour after, he returned, bearing upon his shoulders a live stag, and accompanied by thirteen people, eight men and five women, who led with them three cows, and danced together to the sound of a drum, on which, from time to time, they struck five times, then clapped their hands, and cried, Cur cur hinau falem. All these people, both male and female, were clothed exactly alike, except that the women wore large tin bracelets on the middle of their arms, and had much longer hair than the men, which they decorated with flowers. They had also round their necks chains of red shells, as large as oyster-shells. All of them had a very savage look, with thick lips, flat noses, large nostrils, and the rest of the body enormous, though not so much so as we had imagined; for Antonio de Faria, having caused them to be measured, found that the tallest did not exceed eight feet in height, excepting an old man, who was nearly six inches more. As to the women, they were hardly seven and a half feet high; and to judge by their looks, I should deem them very

coarse and gross, and less reasonable than any people we have ever encountered. Antonio de Faria, highly gratified that we had not come there for nothing, gave them sixty pieces of china, a piece of green taffeta, and a basket full of pepper, whereat they were so delighted, that throwing themselves upon the ground, and lifting their hands to heaven, they all said at once, Vumguahileu opumguapau lapaon, lapaon, lapaon, which we took for expressions of gratitude and thanks."-Chap. 72.

Our next dip into this marvellous tome conveys us to the city of Pekin, in China, which he introduces to us with a candid and ingenuous profession of his own simplicity and truth, that ought to disarm criticism, and procure him implicit credence from all those who are not incurably sceptical, or needlessly disposed to cavil at the following relation, made, it must be remembered, by an eye-wit

ness.

"As my design in writing this book is solely to bequeath it to my children, as an alphabet wherein they may trace my labours and travels, I care little about the form and style of its composition; for it appears to me much better to leave these things to nature, and simply to describe matters as I saw them, without a musing myself with hyperboles or circumlocutions. I shall therefore proceed to state, that the city of Pekin is situated forty-one degrees north; being, according to some, thirty, and according to others, fifty leagues in circumference, but the latter estimate includes the suburbs. On the inside the walls are lined with fine porcelain, and decorated with painted lions and gilt banners. It contains five hundred large palaces, called houses of the Son of the Sun, where are maintained all those soldiers who have been wounded in the king's service, generally amounting to about a hundred thousand in number. We saw a very long street, with low houses, where resided twenty-four thousand watermen, the king's rowers; and another of the same construction a full league long, where there were fourteen thousand cooks belonging to the court; and a third of similar form, where we beheld an infinity of women of the town, who are exempted from the tribute

paid by the regular courtesans. In this quarter also dwell all the washerwomen, amounting, as we were told, to more than a hundred thousand; and, in the same enclosure, are thirteen hundred noble and sumptuous houses, some of them containing a thousand people, for the religious of both sexes. We saw also a good number of houses having large gardens attached to them, and even thick woods, stocked with game and deer of all sorts." Chap. 104.-In fact, the wonders they saw were so manifold and bewildering, that the poor man says it would be impos sible to enumerate them at that time, although he would certainly resume the subject, and give a more detailed account upon some future occasion; a pledge which he shortly after redeems with the following touching expression of his regret that he should have committed himself to so difficult a task.

"This city of Pekin, of which I have promised to speak more fully, is so prodigious, and the sights to be seen therein so remarkable, that I almost repent my undertaking, which, to say the truth, I hardly know how to set about; for we are not to suppose that it is such a city as Rome, Constantinople, Venice, Paris, London, Seville, or Lisbon; nor that any European city, however populous and famous, can be compared with it. Neither can any of the celebrated places beyond the confines of Europe pretend to rival it in its stupendous buildings, excessive riches, wonderful abundance, innumerable population, its great commerce, and infinite vessels; its courts of peace, justice, government, and other institutions. By the chronicles of the king of China, it appears that this city is thirty leagues in circumference, without reckoning the suburbs, in which latter are many astonishing things, whereon I might enlarge if I thought proper. It is enclosed with a double wall of hewn stone, of great thickness, with three hundred and sixty gates, each having a barbican of two very high towers, surrounded by ditches, over which there is a drawbridge. At each gate is an officer, with four halberdiers, who are obliged to give an account of every thing that enters or passes out. Within these walls are three thou