The Warriors Who Were
Drawn Up Opposite Us, Began To Make A Noise, Beating Their Drums, Sounding
Their Horns, And Whistling With Great Violence.
Seeing these threatening
preparations, we deemed it prudent to retreat to our boats, on board of
which our water-casks had been already embarked, and returning to our
ships we proceeded on our voyage.
We coasted along for six days, during which time we had a violent storm
from the north, by which we were in great danger of being driven on shore.
We suffered much also from want of water, owing to the insufficiency of
our casks, and were often obliged to go on shore to sink wells for our
daily supply. At the end of six days, we came opposite a town about a
league from the shore, to which we determined to go, and came to anchor
therefore as near as we could. The name of this town was Pontonchon, in
which we could see several buildings of stone and lime, and it appeared to
be surrounded with fields of maize. We landed, and having found a spring
of water, we immediately began to fill our casks. While busied in this
necessary employment, several large bodies of warriors approached us in
silence. These men had their bodies covered to their knees with defensive
armour of cotton; their faces were painted black, white, and red, and
their heads were ornamented with plumes of feathers. Besides bows, arrows,
and slings, they had shields and two-handed swords.
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