On Getting Up With This
Vessel, We Were Informed That The Admirals Ship, Which We Had Left In
Great Danger, Had Gone To The Bottom.
This melancholy intelligence gave us
vast uneasiness, as we were 1000 leagues from Lisbon.
But putting our
trust in Providence, we returned with the ship to the before-mentioned
island, on purpose to take in wood and water for the voyage.
This island was wild and uninhabited, but had many pleasant rills of
excellent water, with great abundance of trees, and prodigious numbers
both of land and water-fowl, which were so tame, from being unaccustomed
to man, that they allowed themselves to be caught by hand, so that we
caught as many as filled one of our boats. The only quadrupeds were large
rats, and lizards having forked tails, besides which there were several
serpents. Having taken in such refreshments as the island afforded, we set
sail on a S.S.W. course, the king having ordered us to follow the same
direction we had pursued in our preceding voyage. We at length reached a
port, to which we gave the name of the Bay of all Saints[8], which we
reached in seventeen days sail, being favoured with a fair wind, although
300 leagues distance from the before-mentioned island[9]. Although we
waited here two months and four days, we were not joined by any of the
ships belonging to our squadron. It was therefore agreed upon between the
master and me to proceed farther along this coast, which we did
accordingly for 260 leagues to a certain harbour, where we determined upon
erecting a fort, in which we left twenty-four of our men who had been
saved out of the admirals ship[10]. We remained five months at this
harbour, occupied in building the fort, and in loading our ships with
Brazil-wood; our stay being protracted by the small number of our hands
and the magnitude of our labour, so that we only made slow progress.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 601 of 789
Words from 167432 to 167768
of 219607
