We arrived in the Downs[38]
on the thirteenth of April, 1702. I had only one misfortune, that the
rats on board carried away one of my sheep; I found her bones in a hole,
picked clean from the flesh. I got the rest of my cattle safe ashore,
and set them a-grazing in a bowling-green at Greenwich, where the
fineness of the grass made them feed very heartily, though I had always
feared the contrary: neither could I possibly have preserved them in so
long a voyage, if the captain had not allowed me some of his best
biscuits, which, rubbed to powder, and mingled with water, was their
constant food. The short time I continued in England, I made a
considerable profit by showing my cattle to many persons of quality and
others: and before I began my second voyage I sold them for six hundred
pounds.
Since my last return, I find the breed is considerably increased,
especially the sheep, which I hope will prove much to the advantage of
the woollen manufacture, by the fineness of the fleeces.
[Illustration]
I stayed but two months with my wife and family; for my insatiable
desire of seeing foreign countries would suffer me to continue no
longer. I left fifteen hundred pounds with my wife and fixed her in a
good house at Redriff. My remaining stock I carried with me, part in
money, and part in goods, in hopes to improve my fortune.
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