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54 François-Timoléon de Choisy
(And see item 56.) Translated from his ‘Journal du Voyage ...’, Paris 1687: there is also a translation in Strangman, with occasional errors and with the omissions not indicated, but with valuable background material. It is an entirely delightful account, and perhaps reflects something of the writer's odd character - in 1668, at the age of 24, he was a notorious transvestite in Paris society, but then reformed in rural solitude, and by 1671 was living in a monastery. In 1676 he acted as secretary in Rome to four French cardinal-conclavists, and was proposed by one of them as Ambassador to Siam; but de Chaumont had already been appointed, and de Choisy had to content himself with the title of ‘coadjuteur’, carrying the right of succession himself should de Chaumont die. The whole book is very well worth reading, but preferably in French: only the part dealing with the Cape is included here.
He sailed from Brest in L'Oiseau on March 3, 1685, with the authors of items 53, 55, 56 and the returning Siamese Ambassadors etc. mentioned at the beginning of item 56, accompanied by the frigate* La Maligne.
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May 25 [1685]. We are on our way: that is something, but we go very gently. Where then are the so-furious seas of the Cape of Good Hope? since those in La Maligne are sure that it is not far off. A very gentle wind, and a very calm sea.
May 26. Always little wind. But we are studying wonderfully hard: my Siamese will go ahead. We do not reach the Cape; but we learn a thousand lovely things. Everyone is in despair. Oh, we'll never reach the Cape! Oh, we'll not get to Siam this year! But I tell them: All will be well - things have started too well for them not to finish well. If we do not reach Siam, we'll pass the Winter at Surat or at Bantam, in those lovely lands. We are all good friends: we shall be longer together: I shall know Siamese better. They feel like chasing me away, with my fine consolations that they find hard to swallow. Father de Fontenai continues his explanation of the globe: this morning he showed us very clearly why the latitude is so easy to find, and the longitude so impossible. During the discussion I thought that I had found this longitude: my reasoning was good, I neared the goal; but unfortunately I was wrecked near harbour. A little unsurmountable difficulty turned up: otherwise I would have sent you my authorisation to collect the hundred thousand écus which the Dutch have promised to anyone who shall discover [a means of finding] the longitudes*.
May 27 ... This morning we saw flights of small birds: the Daimiers [Cape Doves] are back.... Our Pilots differ in their reckoning: some think us a hundred leagues* from the Cape, others fifty. We see lots of birds; but we see none of the floating weeds that are a sign of the nearness of the Cape [Trombas].... La Maligne has just passed us to port, and those in her called out that we were not more than 15 leagues from the Cape: we don't believe a word of it. They are to sail ahead, carrying a light by night: they draw less water than we, and anyhow they are reckless fellows.
May 28. We are contented: the wind is strong and there is a mountainous sea ... the small birds appear, a piece of floating wood has just been seen - all signs of near-by land....
May 29 ... flat calm all day....
May 30. A quartering wind, all sails drawing, a good sea: we are making more than two leagues an hour. No sign of the Cape as yet, although they say it is very high land. There are no clouds: we must still be more than twenty leagues off.
Land! Land! All's well: land in sight, the Cape in sight! We are about twelve leagues off. What a pleasure after so long an absence! We shall eat green things. The wind is not too good for anchoring, but it will become tolerable tonight.
May 31. We did not dare to enter the roads by night; but at dawn, in spite of an adverse wind, we took our chance; and today has been the most dangerous and the most tiring of the voyage. We had a very nasty quarter of an hour: in the centre of the roads the wind suddenly fell, and we found ourselves very close to a rock [Walvis Rock], towards which the current was setting us: we were at less than half a musket*-shot from it when fortunately the wind returned and got us out of this awkward fix. We had to tack all day, and change course twenty times. The wind was strong and contrary. Both our
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topsails were carried away. At last, after much trouble, we anchored [dr]. Two ships' Captains and the Fiscaal* of the Cape came out to see who we were, to pay their compliments to our Commander, and offer everything in their power.
June 1. There are four ships in the Cape roads, carrying a Commissioner-General on his way to the Indies for the Dutch Company, to inspect their settlements and put all in order. He is Baron de Reede, and holds complete authority, even to change the Governors. This morning he sent a gentleman to the Ambassador with his compliments. The ship in which he is wears the flag of an Admiral*, as is the Dutch custom in the seas of the Indies; and as soon as they pass the Equator they wear the flag, even if only a small merchantman. The Ambassador sent the Chevalier de Fourbin to pay his compliments to the Commissioner-General and to the Governor. We saluted the fort with seven guns, this replying with the same number. All the ships in the roads, even their Admiral, saluted us with seven, five, or three guns: we replied to each with the same number, and each thanked us with one gun. Our sick, our Jesuits, our Missionaries went ashore: I shall go tomorrow well accompanied, since they say that on the mountain are some bad-tempered lions, and very impudent wild elephants.
The Commissioner-General has just sent a present to the Ambassador, of fruits, vegetables and fish. We shall eat salad! I care nothing for the rest.
June 2. The Commissioner-General is very polite: he has just sent us twelve fat sheep. I was ashore this morning. The fort* is very fine. The houses in the town* are thatched with reeds for the most part, but are so clean, so white, that one sees they are Dutch. There is a Garden* laid out by the Company: I wish it were in a corner of Versailles. There are avenues of orange- and citron-trees as far as the eye can see, vegetable beds, espaliers, dwarf trees, all traversed by streams of fresh water. All the produce is stored in good order, and nothing is taken out except for the ships of the Company. All our youngsters have gone shooting: they were provided with horses and dogs, and with hunters* to take them to the good spots [dr]. The lions and elephants have withdrawn somewhat since the country has become more populated; but the monkeys have remained on the mountain. They are very fond of melons: at times two hundred come in array to take them from the garden. They first post four or five sentries on the rocks or trees, which give a certain call when they see anyone.
The pluckiest apes enter the garden in a line, and pass the melons back from hand to hand. They go back on three legs, each with a melon in one hand; and when they are chased, they very carefully put the melon onto the ground, and defend themselves by throwing stones. This happens several times a year. There is a big monkey at the fort, at which more than twenty stones were thrown this morning without being able to hit it: I think he would make a good fives-player.
Our hunters have just returned, laden with roebucks and partridges. They were entertained at a house two leagues from here. They found many houses and much game, but a difficult country: they walked all day in grass up to their necks - they will sleep well! For our part, we went out fishing: it is a more peaceful pleasure, and no less
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a great one. All the fish caught here is excellent, firm-fleshed, plump, tasty: it seems to us better than your turbots, perhaps because we are really hungry.
June 3. The watering will be finished tomorrow: on Wednesday everyone will re-embark. Our scurvy patients are already fit; and we sail on Thursday, if God wills. It is very pleasant here, but we must go on to Siam.
I shall sleep ashore in the pavilion of the Jesuits, in the centre of one of the loveliest gardens of the world. No sooner did these good Fathers appear than the Commissioner-General offered to put them up, and give them a place suitable for their observations: they took him at his word. Their lodging is between two terraces, where there is plenty of room for their largest telescopes: they lack nothing, bread, wine, fruits. They entertain guests. Are they stupid? They show the Dutch Jupiter's satellites, Saturn's rings, the Milky Way. They have little microscopes, with which very pretty little shapes can be seen. In fact, I believe that, if they wished to remain here, a house would be built for them. Intelligence is well-regarded in every land.
June 4. This evening we had a good observation, and claim to have rectified the longitude* of the Cape of Good Hope: it is 3 degrees less easterly than is believed. However, in this region 3 degrees of longitude make forty-eight leagues; and that is very important in navigation. Here is the proof. The emersion of the satellite occurred here on June 4 at 10.40 p.m., and thus 74 minutes later than at Paris. In these 74 minutes the satellite covered only 18½ degrees, and consequently the Cape is only 18½ degrees East of Paris [actually 16o 10′], whereas the ordinary charts still show it as 3 degrees further East. This one observation has repaid the cost of all the instruments which the King ordered made. Don't you find me a great astronomer? [Hardly! For the correct explanation see in item 55, page 278.] I was not altogether useless there: while Father de Fontenei was at his telescope, and the others looked after the clocks, at times I counted ‘one, two three’ to mark the seconds.
June 5. This morning I went to call on the Commissioner-General. The Ambassador is the prisoner of his rank; but since I am a nobody, I went to thank him for all the kindnesses he has done to the French. He received me most cordially. He is a man of sixty, not unlike the late M. de Navailles: good-looking, with much intelligence. He spoke Portuguese and I French: we had no need of an interpreter. He is very well versed in the concerns of rulers: your teaching helped me greatly. Our conversation did not flag: it almost always concerned the King, all of whose great gifts he knows as well as if he had spent his life at Versailles. Your King, he said to me, speaks like Holy Writ: he orders, and everything is done. You tell me that he spends four or five hours at the Council every day, but for my part I believe that he is always there, to judge by the way he handles his neighbours. We took tea two or three times. M. de Saint Martin came in: he is a Frenchman, Major-General Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of the Company in the Indies. He now came from Holland, on his way back to Batavia. These two men are closely united: more than thirty years ago they were young, penniless, job-less and brave, and with muskets on their shoulders went aboard a ship for the Indies. Since then they
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have risen step by step [‘par les formes’] to the highest posts under the Republic. They had a friend who began his career as long ago as they did, and who died two years ago as Governor of the Cape of Good Hope [Bax, in reality seven years ago, 1678]. They are going to build him a magnificent tomb, with an inscription explaining the careers of the three friends.
Two wounded men and a dead tiger have just been brought in from two leagues away. These two men were on their way, each with a loaded musket*: the tiger leapt on one: the other at once fired at it, and wounded his comrade: the furious animal ran at the man who had just fired: the other, thus freed and wounded as he was, fired at it, hitting it between the eyes and killing it. I don't know if this is quite clear, but at least it is quite true.
The Ambassador came incognito for a stroll in the Garden*: he met there the Dutch Generals. Great politeness, much compliments on both sides. Pure chance led to this interview, and both sides were very pleased to have made each other's acquaintance. I was in the confidence of both.
I have come back aboard to sleep, since we sail tomorrow.
June 6. All our officers came back from the hunt yesterday evening, with partridges as large and as fat as pullets, little roebucks, turtle-doves. Everything is good here, meat and fish.
The gun for departure is fired: we shall set sail. But it did not depend on us: no wind, we must stay here. We have gained by it some sucking-pigs and some Canary wine which the Commissioner-General has sent us.
June 7. We set sail at dawn, with a good north-wester. We had to tack to get out of the roads, but as the wind was not strong we did not have so much trouble as when we came in [dr]. La Maligne finds it hard to keep up with us, although she boasted of being faster than L'Oiseau. We are still drinking Brest water: that of the Cape is not so good. Our sick are fit again, their gums are healed: six days on land is a good medicine. The rest of the crew are somewhat tired: the poor fellows have done in five or six days what the Dutch spend three weeks over, watering, wooding, other provisions. They have hardly slept: they will rest at Bantam. That is now the goal of our desires; and when we have been there for five or six days, we shall hope for Siam. All the Dutch Pilots feel sure that we shall arrive there this year.
We have doubled the Cape: so we entered the roads and came out from them in spite of the wind. But I do not advise our successors to imitate us: when arriving from Europe with a strong adverse wind it is better to drop anchor to the North of Robin Island, which lies at the entry to the roads, and wait there in peace for the wind to change, so as to enter without fear of the rocks. The Dutch told us, that when they saw us tacking so boldly into their roads, they thought that at any moment we would break ourselves up on the rocks which lie below the surface.
June 6. I think it is as well to tell you all that I know about the Cape of Good Hope, while I remember it.
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The Dutch settled there in 1651 [sic], and bought* about a league of land from a King or Chief of the local people, at the place on the roads where the ships are most sheltered. First they built a wooden fort* where they set twelve or fifteen guns; but for the past four or five years [sic] they have been building a stone fort with good ramparts, in which there are more than sixty guns. The Commander or Governor is well lodged there. It has no outworks or moats, and thus is good only against the folk of the country, who have no arms but poisoned arrows. There are more than a hundred houses [in the town*] within a musket*-shot of the fortress, all clean and white in the Dutch fashion.
The people for forty leagues around the Cape are called Outentots by the Dutch, because they often make use of a word in their language which sounds like this [see Hottentots*, Name]. They are separate and independent one from another. They have a King or Captain whom they obey. All their wealth consists of herds, and they move from place to place as necessity compels them. They have hardly any religion: only, when they have need of rain for their pastures, they ask this from a certain Being whom they do not name, who lives, they say, right up above, and offer him a sacrifice of milk, which is the best thing that they have. The Secretary of the Commissioner-General [not identified] has seen them around a bowl of milk, their eyes raised to heaven and in a deep silence: he is a very reliable man whose word should be believed [cf. item 21]. At the Cape there are some thirty families living in caves [sic], who from time to time bring to the Dutch herds of sheep, which they barter for tobacco and brandy. They seem good folk: they are well built, with a cheeky air, pretty thin, with fine legs, white teeth, lively eyes full of intelligence, swarthy in colour, always in good humour, but very dirty and stinking. They put grease on their hair, eat their lice (of which they have no lack), cover their shoulders and their privities with a sheepskin, the rest of the body being naked. The women put guts around their legs, eating them when they are hungry. For the rest, they are very lazy, liking better to go hungry than to work, although eating is their greatest pleasure.
They very severely punish murder, theft, and adultery, and when one of them is convicted of such a crime the whole tribe assembles. The criminal is brought, and the King or Captain gives him the first blow, which is followed by the others until he dies of the beating. A month ago the King of the Outentots came himself to the Cape to beat to death five of his subjects who had killed a Dutchman [dr 27/4]. He left them lying there, and the Dutch hanged them up on a gallows, where they still are.
The Dutch go forward little by little into the country, which they buy with tobacco [see ‘Bought*’]. They have already made a colony ten leagues inland, where there are eighty families [Stellenbosch]. Last year they sent out an expedition* [dr 16/1/84]: I talked for a long time with one who went with it, and he told me that he went more than a hundred leagues, finding everywhere the same nomad people with their flocks. He will go again next August, and hopes to reach the Kingdom of Manamotapa, which cannot be far from there [perhaps Claudius*].
For the rest, I doubt if there is in the world a better land to live in: everything is
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good there, the oxen, the sheep, the poultry. The game there is exquisite: three sorts of partridge, white, red, grey, some of them as large as pullets. They do not have the flavour of the partridges of Auvergne, but their flesh is firm, white, and at least as tasty as that of hazel-hens. The roebucks, the lambs, the turtle-doves are excellent: I mention only what we ate. All the foods of Europe are found in abundance, and an infinity of others which you do not know of. And, what is surprising, amidst all this everywhere is full of deer, wild boars, tigers, leopards, lions, elephants, wild asses [Zebras], wild dogs without tails or ears [sic] which hunt in packs, elands of a prodigious size, wild horses [Quaggas] marked in black and white and more beautiful than Barbary steeds. It has not yet been possible to tame these: they are caught in traps, but kill themselves. The Commander told me that he is having a sort of net made, to catch them without their being able to harm themselves in struggling.
All these wild beasts are moving further away as the country becomes inhabited. Nevertheless, it is not long ago that a lion took a large horse at a hundred paces from the Cape [town], and dragged it by the tail to the top of the mountain. A trap was laid for it, where there were five or six loaded blunderbusses around a piece of an ox: he did not fail to return to it, and the guns went off and killed him. His skin is in the Fort [see Museum*].
The wine of the country is white, very pleasant, with no earthy taste, and much resembles that of the Genetin: it improves at each harvest. Each year there come more than twenty-five ships of the Company to refresh at the Cape. They take in provisions, which cost them practically nothing, sheep, fruits, vegetables: their lovely Garden provides them with these.
I am tired of writing about the Cape. If later on I remember anything else, I will shove it in where I can. This is not a formal account: these are very familiar letters [to Abbé de Dangeau] where everything is put in that comes to the tip of my pen. For instance, should I omit the roots, the plants, the flowers? There is an infinity of them which M. d'Aquin does not know, and which he would put to good use for the service of mankind: I shall try to bring him some of them.
We ran South all night, and the Cape is far away.... [Batavia. Siam until December 22, 1685.] |
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