BOOKS.
THE ADVENTURES OF ANDREW BATTELL.* WHEN the Rev. Samuel Purchas had speech in his Essex vicarage with returned mariners from oversee he heard such tales as might make The Tempest credible. And if he was ready to believe, it must also be acknowledged that his " pilgrims," for the most part, were truthful adventurers, who not only had the courage to explore the earth, but the obser- " The Strange Adventures of Andrew BatteIt. Edited from Purchas his Pilgrim, by E. G. Bavenstein. London ; printed for the Hakluyt Society.
'ration and eloquence which might make their discoveries known. The works of Hakluyt and Purchas contain a vast literature, which for manner and substance cannot be matched elsewhere. There you may see in the making the narrative
style which is the glory of Robinson Crusoe ; there you may admire the quiet bravery and the persistent resolution which
took Englishmen from one end of the world to the other, and which urged them to penetrate wherever a river could float a coracle or a path could be cut through the jungle.
And of those who came into Essex to inform Purchas few had .a better tale to tell than Andrew Battell, whose adven-
tures in Kongo and Angola lacked neither excitement nor variety. Now, Battell was, like Purchas, an Essex man, and he sailed for the River of Plate with Abraham Cocke in 1589. The object_ of the voyage was to harry and plunder the Portuguese, who, being under the dominion of Spain, were the enemies of England. For a while the voyage prospered in spite of the scurvy, which always attacked the sailors of that time. But when Abraham Cocke and his companions had crossed the Atlantic to the Brazils they fell upon evil days. Provisions ran short, and for thirty days they lived upon seals, and were in great distress. At last in sheer hunger they landed at the Isle of St. Sebastian, to catch fish and to gather fruit in the woods. And here they were surprised by the Portuguese ; Abraham Cooke " went to sea, and was never beard of more," and Battell was transported to Angola in Africa. The Portuguese, he says, hated him because he was an English. man, but their love of profit was greater than their hatred, and they presently set him to trade for them for elephants' teeth, wheat, and oil of the palm-tree. The profits of the trade were enormous. For one yard of cloth Battell got from the natives "three elephants' teeth, that weighed 120 pounds" ; but he had no love of the Portugals, and from the first his mind was bent on escape. His first attempt was disastrous, for he was betrayed and recaptured, and " lay with great bolts of iron two months." Worse still, he was banished for ever to the Fort of Massangano, where he lived " a most miserable life for the space of six years without any hope to see the sea again."
From Massangano he made his second escape with a band of Egyptians and Moriscoes. But though be was soon forced to surrender, his life henceforth was less difficult. He joined the Portuguese in a campaign against Lamba, and presently discovered the Gages, the description of whom gives his book its chief value. It was near the cliff of Benguela that he first saw this strange tribe. The Gages were in a mighty camp, and, says Battell, " being desirous to know what they were, we went on shore with our boat; and presently there came a troop of five hundred men to the waterside. We asked them who they were. Then they told us that they were the Gages, or Gindes, that came
from Sierra de lion The great Gaga, which is their general, came down to the waterside to see us, for he had never seen white men before. He asked wherefore we came. We told him that we came to trade upon the coast. Then he bade us welcome, and called us on shore with our com- modities." But the visit did not have a peaceful end. The Great Gaga demanded the aid of Battell and his companions against the Benguelas. "Then the general commanded all the drums, &vales, peter, pongos, and all his instruments of warlike music to strike up, and gave the onset, which was a bloody day for the Benguelas." In this epic strain does Batten tell the story. The Prince, Hombiangymbe, was slain, and all his subjects, men, women, and children, put to death or made captive. The victory was followed by a ghastly carouse. "The dead corpses," says Battell, "that were brought to be eaten were strange to behold. For these Gages are the greatest cannibals and man-eaters that be in the world, for they feed chiefly upon man's flesh, notwithstanding of their having all the cattle of that country."
However, the Gagas did not eat Battell, and he determined to live among them, "hoping in God that they would travel so far to the westward that we should see the sea again," for to see the sea again was always the end of Battell's desire. And despite their evil customs, he liked the Gages well enough, and they in return treated him with consideration. "These Gages remained four months in this place," says he of Calican- samba, "with great abundanee and plenty of cattle, corn, wine, and oil, and great triumphing, drinking, dancing, and banquet-
ling, with man's flesh, which was a heavy spectacle to behold:: So for sixteen months he stayed with them," so highly esteemed with the great Gaga, because I killed many negroes with my musket, that I had anything I desired of him." And the Great Gaga was a leader such as a brave man might gladly serve, nor was his army ill-disciplined. Wherever the Gages encamped but for a night they were strongly entrenched, building a round circle with twelve gates, " so that every captain keepeth his gate." For- " There were in the camp of the Gages," writes Batts% " twelve captains. The first called Imbe Calandola, their general, a man of great courage. He warmth all by enchant- ment, and taketh the Devil's counsel in all his exploits. He is always making of sacrifices to the Devil, and doth know many times what shall happen unto him. He believeth that he shall never die but in the wars. There is no image among them, but he useth certain ceremonies. He hath straight laws to his soldiers : for those that are faint-hearted, and turn their backs to the enemy, are presently condemned and killed for cowards and their bodies eaten. He useth every night to make a warlike oration upon an high scaffold, which doth encourage his people."
The Gages, in truth, were a nation of warriors. " They would not sow, nor plant, nor bring up any cattle more than they take by wars." So in the harvest time they settled in the fruitfullest place they could find, and helped themselves. The Great Gaga Calando, with his long hair, his knots of Banba shells, and his beads made of the ostrich eggs, was an amazing spectacle. " His body is carved and cut with sundry works," says Battell, "and every day anointed with the fat of men. He weareth a piece of copper cross his nose, two inches long, and in his ears also. His body is always painted red and white. He hath twenty or thirty wives, which follow him when he goeth abroad ; and one of them carrieth his bows and arrows ; and four of them carry his cups of drink after him. And when he drinketh they all kneel down, and clap their hands and sing." But Batten not only fought and traded, he observed the customs of the Gages and of Loango with great care and circumstance. At Loango the King's drinking was so solemn a ceremony that when it was announced by the ringing of a bell all present fell upon their faces, "for if any seeth the King drink he is presently killed, whatsoever he be." On every page there is some curious custom recorded, or some strange beast described. The pongos (or gorillas) are indeed fearsome. They were never taken alive because they were so strong that ten men could not bold them. Yet they did not harm him whom they surprised unawares, unless he looked at them ; and Battell brought back to England a negro boy who, by feigning indifference, had lived unhurt among the pongos for a month. But Batten's adventures are worth reading from beginning to end. They are excellently edited, with a valuable appendix on the history of Angola, and they give us another opportunity of calling our readers' attention to the admirable work done by the Hakluyt Society.
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