cially by thoſe who had not the Uſe of ſcaling Ladders: Over this Ditch there was one Paſſage into the Wood; the Dwelling, which was a Hut, was built in that Part of the Wood which the Prince, who inhabited it, thought fit, but ſo covered that it could not be ſeen till you came at it; but the greateſt Cunning lay in the Paſſage which lead to the Hut, which was ſo narrow, that no more than one Perſon could go a Breaſt, and contrived in ſo intricate a Manner, that it was a perfect Maze or Labyrinth, it being round and round, with ſeveral little croſs Ways, ſo that a Perſon that was not well acquainted with the Way, might walk ſeveral Hours round and croſs theſe Ways without being able to find the Hut; moreover all along the Sides of theſe narrow Paths, certain large Thorns which grew upon a Tree in that Country, were ſtruck into the Ground with their Points uppermoſt, and the Path it ſelf being made crooked and ſerpentine, if a Man ſhould attempt to come near the Hut at Night, he would certainly have ſtruck upon theſe Thorns, tho’ he had been provided with that Clue which Ariadne gave to Theſeus when he entered the Cave of the Minataur.
Thus Tyrant like they lived, fearing and feared by all; and in this Scituation they were found by Captain Woods Rogers, when he went to Madagaſcar, in the Delicia, a Ship of forty Guns, with a Deſign of buying Slaves in order to ſell to the Dutch at Batavia or New-Holland: He happened to touch upon a Part of the Iſland, where no Ship had been ſeen for ſeven or eight Years before, where he met with ſome of the Pyrates, at which Time, they had been upon the Iſland above 25 Years, having a large motly Generation of Children and Grand-Children deſcended from them, there being about that Time, eleven of them remaining alive.
