Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Voyager's Tales by Richard Hakluyt
page 30 of 129 (23%)
except there were payment made of the foresaid sum of money.

Then the king condemned all us, who were in number five and twenty, of
which two were hanged (as you have heard) and one died the first day we
came on shore by the visitation of Almighty God, and the other three
and twenty he condemned slaves perpetually unto the Great Turk, and the
ship and goods were confiscated to the use of the Great Turk; then we
all fell down upon our knees, giving God thanks for this sorrowful
visitation and giving ourselves wholly to the almighty power of God,
unto whom all secrets are known, that He of His goodness would
vouchsafe to look upon us.

Here may all true Christian hearts see the wonderful works of God
showed upon such infidels, blasphemers, and runagate Christians, and so
you shall read in the end of this book of the like upon the unfaithful
king and all his children, and of as many as took any portion of the
said goods.

But first to show our miserable bondage and slavery, and unto what
small pittance and allowance we were tied, for every five men had
allowance but five aspers of bread in a day, which is but twopence
English, and our lodging was to lie on the bare boards, with a very
simple cape to cover us. We were also forcibly and most violently
shaven, head and beard, and within three days after, I and five more of
my fellows, together with fourscore Italians and Spaniards, were sent
forth in a galiot to take a Greek carmosel, which came into Arabia to
steal negroes, and went out of Tripolis unto that place which was two
hundred and forty leagues thence; but we were chained three and three
to an oar, and we rowed naked above the girdle, and the boatswain of
the galley walked abaft the mast, and his mate afore the mast, and each
DigitalOcean Referral Badge