chap, xxix ARRIVAL AT FLUSHING 317
the
Manillas, from whence they had brought a large quantity, as also from
Pointe de Galle in the Island of Ceylon. For when on shore they
pillaged and burnt some convents which were in the country, and as wax
is cheap in India, and is easily bleached, every religious house always
has a large supply of wax tapers for the festivals, when numbers are
lighted before the grand altar and in all the chapels. Thus the least
of the Dutch sailors had thirty or forty of these tapers for his share,
and some of them had some as thick as a man's thigh.
The
command was, according to custom, that our vessel, as Vice-Admiral,
should go to Zealand. We were on the coast seven whole days without
being able to enter Flushing,1 on account of the sand which
frequently changes its position. As soon as we had cast anchor, more
than fifty small boats came about our vessel, but kept a short distance
off, being forbidden to come alongside. Each then began to call out and
ask the names of persons in order to carry the news of their arrival to
their relatives and friends.
On
the day following that on which we anchored off Flushing, two of the
members of the Company came on board to welcome us all, and to tell us
to close our chests and place our marks thereon. They were then carried
into a hall of the India House, and the day was fixed upon which each
should return to claim what belonged to him. It is the custom that
before the chests are given up they are opened to be examined, through
fear lest they should contain anything contraband.
These
two gentlemen summoned the crew on deck between the poop and the
mainmast, and taking the captain, whom they placed at their side in
front of all, ' Gentlemen,' they said to all on board, ' on behalf of
the Directors we order you to tell us whether the captain has
ill-treated you during this voyage.' The crew, who wanted to be on shore,
where the majority saw father or mother, brothers or sisters, or
friends awaiting them, began to cry out that the captain was a good
man, that he knew how to act for the interests of the Company and his
own also; but that if, when leaving Batavia, God had delivered them
from him, they would have 1 Flessingue in the original.
