Among These Were
Sugar-Canes, Green Reeds, Great Quantities Of Unripe Figs, Some Of Which
We Likewise Found Ripe On The Tops Of The Trees.
We agreed to take away
two of the natives from hence, that we might learn their language, and
three of them accompanied us to Portugal of their own accord.
Leaving this harbour with the wind at S.W. we proceeded along the land,
keeping it always in sight, and keeping up frequent intercourse with the
inhabitants, until we at length went beyond the tropic of Capricorn, so
far south that the south pole became elevated thirty-two degrees above the
horizon[5]. We had already lost sight of the Ursa Minor; the Ursa Major
appeared very low, almost touching the northern horizon; and we had now to
guide our course by the new stars of another hemisphere, which are more
numerous, larger, and brighter than those of our pole. On this account, I
delineated the figures of many of these new constellations, especially of
the largest, and took their declinations on the tracks which they describe
around the south pole, together with the measurement of the diameters and
semidiameters of their tracks, as shall be found in the history of my four
voyages which I am preparing for publication. In this long course,
beginning from Cape St Augustine[6], we had run 700 leagues along the
coast; 100 of these towards the west, and 600 towards the S.W.[7]. Were I
to attempt enumerating every thing we saw in this long and arduous
navigation, my letter would exceed all bounds.
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