The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-12-09

crew '!struck the heads of the rest, and
tins drove them under water''-an afro
cious deed but unfortunately common
one in sea-tights 'sbeyond the line ~ The
Dutch had seven killed and twenty-six
wounded in this desperate encounter, so
that there now remained in the Maurice
but twenty-five sound men. AS for the
little Concord, they saw her in the distance
close under the lee of the other Spaniard
with the Dutch flag struck. She was evil
IDENTIFY prize. But the Maurice was in no
condition to attempt rescue, SO turning
her head towards Borneo she sped away
before the wind, and soon ran the pair out
of sight. Van MORT afterwards heard
that the crew Of the yacht had been carried
into Manila and every man of them hanged
as pirates. The Fuegians were avenged.
Steered by a Chinese pilot, they slSirtcd
the long island of Palawan, repairing their
rigging rs they went. Christmas found
them off Labuan, not so celebrated then as
now. Next morning they anchored i'll the
port of Borneo. but were not long in dis
covering that they must not think of ca
reening in Borneo. Every one of TIE nine
DAYS they remained there revealed some
cunning plot or other for their destruction.
They were compelled, therefore, to put to
sea much sooner than they liked on the 9TH
of January. 1901, steering for Java where
they arrived on the 2Sth. Van MORT now
careened, keeping up brisk trade the
while with the Javenese, and thus turning
most of his plumber into pepper. Two
day after his arrival he was visited by three
Portuguese, who announced themselves
spice merchants. The admiralS expert
ence had taught him to distrust these peo-
pie, but he had no objection to do little
profitable business with them. After rrowl-
ing about some hours the visitors de-
parted, promising to reappear shortly with
such a supply of pepper as should satisfy
the Dutch. They returned on the list of
February, bringing with them fourth,
who spoke "good Flemish-but no pepper.
Van Mort suspicious were now thorough
ly reused, SO he seized Ills visitors and
clapped them in irons. Then hurrying his
preparations he got his ship atioat and his
cargo on board in three days more. On
the 4th he sailed from Java through the
straits of Bali, which he entered in tail
of a cyclone.
Here the voyage ceases to be of interest.
The Maurice sped across the Indian ocean,
and doubled the Cape of Good Hope early
in April. The last week of that month
she spent at st. Helena. Then traversing
the torrid zone and the European seas
without accident, she reached Rotterdam
on the 14th of August 1901. after an alb
sence of nearly three years.
Van Noort's voyage is one of many that
illustrate the evils, in the shape of rapine
and massacre. which sprang from the papal
grants to Spain and Portugal But these
grants were not unproductive Of good
Had they not been made, the tropic seas
would have remained free to all. And, in
consequence, navigation and the kindred
sciences. whose development, be it observ-
ed, has rendered the modern world so unlike
the ancient, would have stood comparative
ly still. Ships of the old vieions forms
would have continued to content them with
the miserable appliances of their fathers;
astronomers to lie mere fortune tellerS, and
mathematician little more than contrivers
of automatic and calculators of clockw0rk.
But the Peninsular monopoly Of the older
and easier routes changed all this. 1t com
PEELED the other nations into newer and
more perilous tracks. These tracks in
their turn required better ships and sea-
manship and infinitely superior science,
which were all produced with astonishing
ra;oidity and with them great events.