Fish, and having a fine beach on which to haul the nets.
The 28th in the morning we got under sail to put to sea. This bay of St
Augustine is a very unfit place for ships to touch at for refreshments,
as these are to be had only in small quantities; and the bay is very
untoward for riding at anchor, the water being deep and pitty and the
ground foul, as appeared by cutting our cable. By the 15th March we had
only got into lat. 15 deg. 40' S. and I knew not what course to take to get
out of the current, which was very swift setting to the south, as
keeping mid-channel may endanger us upon In. de Nova;[163] and in
keeping near shore God knows what danger may befal, as it is indiscreet
to continue where the wind does not stem the current. The 17th we were
in, lat. 14 deg. 57' S. so that we have got 25 leagues farther north, and
the main power of the current seems now lessened. My master is of
opinion that the age of the moon may have peculiar influence over the
currents, causing them to be strong till three or four days after the
full: but I rather think that the deep bay between Cape Corientes and
Mozambique causes an indraught or eddy of some stream or current, coming
either from the N.E. or more easterly, and entering the channel of
Mozambique at the N.W. of Madagascar, and so along the land to Cape
Corientes; or else the stream from the N.W. of Madagascar, meeting with
the land of Mozambique, may be drawn that way by the falling in of the
land. If this supposition be true, we committed an error in falling in
with the land till we had got to the north of Mozambique point, which
bends far into the sea.[164]
[Footnote 163: This I understand to be the island of Juan de Nova, in
the narrowing between Madagascar and the coast of Africa towards
Mozambique. - ASTL. I.317.]
[Footnote 164: This is by no means the case, and we may therefore
conjecture that Cape St Andrew in Madagascar is here meant, which is of
that description, and is in some measure opposite Mozambique. - E.]
* * * * *
"Their sailing along the islands, and trucking at Tamara, with other
occurrences, I have left out, as being more fully known by later
experience. Leaving Abdalcuria they were forced to ride in Delisa
road to the north of Socotora, till the monsoon freed them; at which
time Captain Keeling set sail for Bantam with the Dragon, and Captain
Hawkins in the Hector for Surat, as shall after follow."[165]
[Footnote 165: This latter paragraph is a side-note in the original by
Purchas.
