take up a
<piece> steel, of 4 lb weight, which I made the lesse difficulty
to beleeve because that with the point of a knife toucht at the same stone I
sustaind a key of about 6 inches long & proportionably great
<
which I found to be>replacing '& did not only sustain'd' which I found the knife not only to sustaine but to detaine so
vigorously that I could turne it & move it this way, & that way without
makeing it fall out.
[Integral marginalia:]
feb. 23.
90/1
Having enquird of Monsieur who had
<for> sometime practisd physick in the
E. I. the Isles of the
South Sea & even in
China whether he had seen any
magicall feats in those parts some of which (especiallie
situat'ed' at end of word deleted
in the S. Sea) are said to abound with sorcerers, he answerd me that he had
heard of severall effects of Magick some
<of>
which'ich' altered from 'o' he
judg'd to be true as being averrd to him by persons that he knew, that had
themselves been mischeifd by them, & retaind tokens of the truth of what
they said. But as for himself he answer'd me that he had seen but one thing
that he confesst to be supernaturall, which when I desyrd some account of he
told me 'twas this. A little Negroe that had been seen by the River syde, being
not afterwards to be found, the commander of a little Dutch fort, near which my
Relator lay at Anchor, was enformd that the persons concernd for the lost
Negroe, guesst him to have been eaten up by one of the crocodils wherewith the
River abounded, whereupon they went to a famous sorcerer, who undertook the
next day to satisfie their curiosity at an easie rate, & promis'd he would
make all the Crocodils that inhabited the neighbouring part of the River, passe
before the parties concernd, & the commander of the fort if he should be
there, this commander therefore invited my Relator to be present, who came
thither with divers other persons. And the Magician according to his promise
<met them at the time & place appointed, &> with a
wand in his hand went into the neighbouring wood
†without be deleted where they saw not what he did, nor heard what he
sayde, but soone after returning to them they saw the Crocodiles flock
together, & one after sweeme along the River passing by that part of the
bank where they stood, to the number as was guest of between 25 & 30, one
of these which was
†the last that ca deleted the last, was that which he told them had
devourd the Negroe (which to me signify'd
<very little>replacing 'nothing', since
<thô one could not confidently contradict him, he> it was
affirm'd
†that deleted it without proof) but that which seem'd to him strange
& supernaturall was, that when the sorcerer came out of the