Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
two men struck a deal by which Dampier acquired a stake in Jeoly
and his mother. The understanding was that he would take them
back to their own people, among whom Jeoly claimed to be a prince,
and, using this as a means of ingratiating himself, establish trading
relations with an island which (like so many unvisited eastern is-
lands) was supposedly rich in gold and spices. But it had already
occurred to Dampier that Jeoly might prove profitable in another
way. It was eleven years since he had left home with his head full of
money-making schemes. And he had nothing to show for those el-
even years except a wealth of adventures, recorded in his journal -
and Jeoly. For the young man was no ordinary Philippine islander.
He was tattooed all over his body from his chest and shoulders to
his ankles. Travellers in Malaysia and Indonesia were fairly familiar
with the practice of tattooing but Jeoly obviously provided a remark-
able example of the art and Dampier believed he could make a small
fortune exhibiting in London the man he called his 'painted prince'.
*
For some months Dampier lived at Bengkulu but his stay was
not a happy one. He found the governor despotic and unreasonable.
Then his two slaves fell ill. The picture he paints of their life is
a sad one. They had no skills or interests to occupy them in this
alien environment. The woman filled her time sewing, at which she
was very clumsy, while Jeoly 'busied himself in making a chest with
four boards and a few nails that he begged off me. It was but an
ill-shaped, odd thing, yet he was as proud of it as if it had been
and the mother died. Jeoly was so distraught that it seemed he had
neither the strength nor the will to recover. Only ardent nursing by
Dampier, for whom the young man was both a friend and an invest-
ment, restored him to health.
By the end of 1690 Dampier had had enough of Bengkulu. He
asked to be released from his contract so that he could take passage
on the next homeward-bound ship. The governor agreed and, early
