Page 26 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

26 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST

ordinate, as a “ negro,” but in all probability lie was of the
same race as the Indian seamen who in this era compose
the lascar crews of many of our ocean-going steamers in
%
the East. Such have for ages navigated the Indian ocean,
and they no doubt constituted a numerous community «
at Zanzibar at the end of the sixteenth century as they do
to-day.
Whatever his nationality the pilot must have proved
of great service to Lancaster. Drake and Cavendish’s
expeditions had not touched at any part of India, nor
had they utilized in their passage from the China Sea to
the Atlantic the Straits of Malacca, which now are almost
invariably traversed by vessels proceeding to or coming
from the Far East. The pilot’s local knowledge enabled
i
Lancaster not only to test the value of the great strategic
waterway which we command by the possession of Singa­
pore, but, what for him at the time was of more moment,
to make personal acquaintance with the natural advan­
I
1 tages of Penang.
When the Edward Bonavcnture got into the Indian Ocean
the old enemy, scurvy, reappeared in an aggravated form.
The crew in time was so reduced that it became imperative
that a rather prolonged stay should be made in some salu­
brious locality. After touching at the Nicobar Islands,
!
i Lancaster sailed for Penang where he arrived at the
beginning of June with his men in the last stages of weak-
ness. The excellent air of the island was a tonic which had
its effect on the enfeebled constitutions of many; but
Penang then was an uninhabited waste devoid of the fresh
food supplies which were so essential to the invalids.
Twenty-six of the unfortunates died in a short time, amongst
them Mr. Rainold Golding, “ a merchant of great honesty