Travels in India (Tavernier) 158.5

158.5

The anchorage is less good at the other roads, but on shore there is a beautiful plain where all that is sown arrives at maturity. The orders of the Dutch Company are at present, that, if a vessel takes cabbages, salad, or other vegetables, seeds must be sown for the benefit of those who may come afterwards. There are an abundance of lemon and some orange trees, which the Portuguese formerly planted. For this nationality has that much good about it, that wherever it goes it seeks to do something for the benefit of whoever visits the same place subsequently. The Dutch act altogether otherwise and seek to destroy all, to the end that those who come afterwards shall find nothing. It is true that it is not the superior officers who act in this way, but the majority of the sailors and soldiers, who say to one another, “We shall not return any more,” and in order to obtain the fruit from the tree more quickly, they cut it down to the ground instead of plucking (the fruit itself). A serious disturbance in the fleet was on the point of breaking out. Although our vessel left Batavia the last of all, since she was a good sailer, she was the second to arrive at St. Helena. One day the Vice-Admiral, the captain, and other officers of the vessel determined to go in the skiff towards this plain, in order to obtain some vegetables and lemons.