At dawn we found ourselves in full view of a coast, which, though not
personally known to the captain, he pronounced by his charts to be a
part of the Burmese Empire, and in the neighbourhood of Mergui, on the
Martaban coast. The leak had now increased to an alarming extent, so
that we found it would be impossible to carry the ship safe into port.
We therefore hastily threw our clothes, papers, and eight casks of
silver, into the long-boat; and before we were fifty yards from the
ship, we saw her go down. Some of the underwriters in New York, as I
have since learnt, had the conscience to contend that we left the ship
sooner than was necessary, and have suffered themselves to be sued for
the sums they had severally insured. It was a little after midday when
we reached the town, which is perched on a high bluff, overlooking
the coasts, and contains about a thousand houses, built of bamboo,
and covered with palm leaves. Our dress, appearance, language, and
the manner of our arrival, excited great surprise among the natives,
and the liveliest curiosity; but with these sentiments some evidently
mingled no very friendly feelings. The Burmese were then on the eve
of a rupture with the East India Company, a fact which we had not before
known; and mistaking us for English, they supposed, or affected to
suppose, that we belonged to a fleet which was about to invade them,
and that our ship had been sunk before their eyes, by the tutelar divinity
of the country.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27