Here, Again, It Would Have Caused Any Stony
Heart To Have Relented To Hear The Pitiful Moan That Many Did Make, And
How Loth They Were To Depart.
The weather was then somewhat stormy and
tempestuous, and therefore we were in great danger, yet,
notwithstanding there was no remedy, but we that were appointed to go
away must of necessity do so.
Howbeit, those that went in the first
boat were safely set ashore, but of them which went in the second boat,
of which number I myself was one, the seas wrought so high that we
could not attain to the shore, and therefore we were constrained -
through the cruel dealing of John Hampton, captain of the Minion, and
John Sanders, boatswain of the Jesus, and Thomas Pollard, his mate - to
leap out of the boat into the main sea, having more than a mile to
shore, and, so to shift for ourselves, and either to sink or swim. And
of those that so were, as it were, thrown out and compelled to leap
into the sea, there were two drowned, which were of Captain Bland's
men.
In the evening of the same day - it being Monday, the 8th of October,
1568 - when we were all come to shore, we found fresh water, whereof
some of our men drank so much that they had almost cast themselves
away, for we could scarce get life in them for the space of two or
three hours after. Other some were so cruelly swollen - what with the
drinking in of the salt water, and what with the eating of the fruit
which we found on land, having a stone in it much like an almond, which
fruit is called capule - that they were all in very ill case, so that we
were, in a manner, all of us, both feeble, weak, and faint.
The next morning - it being Tuesday, the 9th of October - we thought it
best to travel along by the sea coast, to seek out some place of
habitation - whether they were Christians or savages we were
indifferent - so that we might have wherewithal to sustain our hungry
bodies, and so departing from a hill where we had rested all night, not
having any dry thread about us, for those that were not wet being
thrown into the sea were thoroughly wet with rain, for all the night it
rained cruelly. As we went from the hill, and were come into the
plain, we were greatly troubled to pass for the grass and woods, that
grew there higher than any man. On the left hand we had the sea, and
upon the right hand great woods, so that of necessity we must needs
pass on our way westward through those marshes, and going thus,
suddenly we were assaulted by the Indians, a warlike kind of people,
which are in a manner as cannibals, although they do not feed upon
man's flesh as cannibals do.
These people are called Chichemici, and they used to wear their hair
long, even down to their knees; they do also colour their faces green,
yellow, red, and blue, which maketh them to seem very ugly and terrible
to behold.
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