The Baron¹ secures his chariot, &c., at the Cape² and takes his passage for England in a homeward-bound Indiaman—Wrecked upon an island of ice, near the coast of Guinea—Escapes from the wreck³, and rears a variety of vegetables upon the island—Meets some vessels⁴ belonging to the negroes bringing white slaves from Europe, in retaliation⁶, to work upon their plantations⁷ in a cold climate near the South Pole—Arrives in England, and lays an account of his expedition before the Privy⁸ Council—Great preparations for a new expedition—The Sphinx, Gog and Magog, and a great company attend him—The ideas of Hilaro Frosticos respecting the interior parts of Africa.  
I perceived with grief and consternation⁹ the miscarriage¹⁰ of all my apparatus¹¹; yet I was not absolutely dejected: a great mind is never known but in adversity. With permission of the Dutch governor the chariot was properly laid up in a great storehouse, erected¹² at the water's edge, and the bulls received every refreshment¹³ possible after so terrible a voyage. Well, you may be sure they deserved it, and therefore every attendance was engaged for them, until I should return.
 
As it was not possible to do anything more I took my passage in a homeward-bound Indiaman, to return to London, and lay the matter before the Privy Council.
 
We met with nothing particular until we arrived upon the coast of Guinea, where, to our utter astonishment¹⁵, we perceived a great hill, seemingly of glass, advancing against us in the open sea; the rays of the sun were reflected upon it with such splendour, that it was extremely difficult to gaze at the phenomenon. I immediately knew it to be an island of ice, and though in so very warm a latitude¹⁷, determined¹⁸ to make all possible sail from such horrible danger. We did so, but all in vain, for about eleven o'clock at night, blowing a very hard gale¹⁹, and exceedingly dark, we struck upon the island. Nothing could equal the distraction²⁰, the shrieks²¹, and despair of the whole crew, until I, knowing there was not a moment to be lost, cheered up their spirits, and bade them not despond, but do as I should request them. In a few minutes the vessel⁵ was half full of water, and the enormous castle of ice that seemed to hem¹⁴ us in on every side, in some places falling in hideous²² fragments upon the deck, killed one half of the crew; upon which, getting upon the summit of the mast, I contrived²³ to make it fast to a great promontory²⁴ of the ice, and calling to the remainder of the crew to follow me, we all escaped from the wreck, and got upon the summit of the island.
 
The rising sun soon gave us a dreadful prospect²⁵ of our situation, and the loss, or rather iceification, of the vessel; for being closed in on every side with castles of ice during the night, she was absolutely frozen over and buried in such a manner that we could behold²⁶ her under our feet, even in the central solidity of the island. Having debated what was best to be done, we immediately cut down through the ice, and got up some of the cables of the vessel, and the boats, which, making fast to the island, we towed it with all our might, determined to bring home island and all, or perish in the attempt. On the summit of the island we placed what oakum and dregs of every kind of matter we could get from the vessel, which, in the space of a very few hours, on account of the liquefying of the ice, and the warmth of the sun, were transformed into a very fine manure²⁷; and as I had some seeds of exotic vegetables in my pocket, we shortly had a sufficiency of fruits and roots growing upon the island to supply the whole crew, especially the bread-fruit tree, a few plants of which had been in the vessel; and another tree, which bore plum-puddings so very hot, and with such exquisite²⁸ proportion of sugar, fruit, &c., that we all acknowledged it was not possible to taste anything of the kind more delicious in England: in short, though the scurvy²⁹ had made such dreadful progress among the crew before our striking upon the ice, the supply of vegetables, and especially the bread-fruit and pudding-fruit, put an almost immediate¹⁶ stop to the distemper.
 
We had not proceeded thus many weeks, advancing with incredible fatigue³⁰ by continual towing, when we fell in with a fleet of Negro-men, as they call them. These wretches³¹, I must inform you, my dear friends, had found means to make prizes of those vessels from some Europeans upon the coast of Guinea, and tasting the sweets of luxury, had formed colonies in several new discovered islands near the South Pole, where they had a variety of plantations of such matters as would only grow in the coldest climates. As the black inhabitants of Guinea were unsuited to the climate and excessive cold of the country, they formed the diabolical³² project of getting

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