They Thus Continued Their Course, All The Pilots Going On With Blind
Confidence, Till On Wednseday The 8th Of June
They came in sight of
Odemira, between Lisbon and Cape St Vincent; but the admiral, confident
that they were near
That cape, slackened sail the night before, though
laughed at by many, some affirming that they were in the English channel,
while those who erred least believed themselves on the coast of Galicia.
The scarcity was now become so great that many objected to shortening sail,
alleging that it were better to run the risk of perishing at once by
running on shore than to starve miserably on the sea; and many, like the
canibals, were for eating the Indians who where on board, or at least were
for throwing them overboard, on purpose to make some small saving of the
provisions which remained; and this would certainly have been done if the
admiral had not exerted his whole authority to save them, as human
creatures who ought not to be worse used than the rest. At length it
pleased God to reward him with the sight of land in the morning, according
to his promise the preceding evening; for which he was ever afterwards
considered by the seamen as most expert and almost prophetical in maritime
affairs.
Having landed in Spain the admiral went to Burgos, where he was very
favourably received by their Catholic majesties, who were then at that
place celebrating the marriage of their son Prince John with Margaret of
Austria, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian.
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