These are doubtless the Falkland Islands, or Malouines,
but to which no name seems to have been affixed on this occasion.
- E.]
We fell in with the cape [Virgin] on the 18th of August, in a very thick
fog, and that same night came to anchor ten leagues within the straits'
mouth. The 19th we passed the first and second narrows, doubled Cape
Froward on the 21st, and anchored on the 22d in a cove, or small bay,
which we named Savage Cove, because we here found savages.
Notwithstanding the excessive coldness of this place, yet do these
people go entirely naked, living in the woods like satyrs, painted and
disguised in a strange manner, and fled from us like so many wild deer.
They were very strong and agile, and threw stones at us, of three or
four pounds weight, from an incredible distance. We departed from this
cove on the 24th in the morning, and came that same day into the N.W.
reach of the straits, which is its last or most western reach. On the
25th we anchored in a good cove, within fourteen leagues of the South
Sea, where we proposed to await the return of our general, as the strait
at this place is only three miles broad, and he could not possibly pass
unseen.
After we had remained here a fortnight, in the depth of winter, our
victuals fast consuming, and our salted seals stinking most vilely, our
men fell sick and died pitifully, through famine and cold, as most of
them had not clothes sufficient to defend them from the extreme rigour
of winter.
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