Gullivers Travels | Page 4

some
other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me
at Leyden: there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be
useful in long voyages.
Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to
be surgeon to the Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander; with whom I
continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and some other
parts. When I came back I resolved to settle in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master,
encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took part of a small
house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary
Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom I
received four hundred pounds for a portion.
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my
business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice
of too many among my brethren. Having therefore consulted with my wife, and some of
my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two ships,
and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got some
addition to my fortune. My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient
and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore,
in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their
language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the sea, and
intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to
Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it
would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I
accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope,
who was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and
our voyage was at first very prosperous.

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the particulars of our
adventures in those seas; let it suffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence to
the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemen's
Land. By an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes
south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the rest were in
a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in
those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable's
length of the ship; but the wind was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and
immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down the boat into the
sea, made a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation,
about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with labour
while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and
in about half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What
became of my companions in the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or
were left in the vessel, I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I
swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often let my
legs drop, and could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no
longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The
declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the shore, which I
conjectured was about eight o'clock in the evening. I then advanced forward near half a
mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a
condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat
of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left the ship, I found
myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was