On The 5th And 6th Of January We Plied To Get In With The Land,
Designing To Anchor, Fill Water, And Spend A Little Time In
Searching The Country, Till After The Change Of The Moon, For I
Found A Strong Current Setting Against Us.
We anchored in thirty-
eight fathom water, good oozy ground.
We had an island of a league
long without us, about three miles distant, and we rode from the
main about a mile. The easternmost point of land seen bore east-by-
south half-south, distance three leagues, and the westernmost west-
south-west half-south, distance two leagues. So soon as we
anchored, we sent the pinnace to look for water and try if they
could catch any fish. Afterwards we sent the yawl another way to
see for water. Before night the pinnace brought on board several
sorts of fruits that they found in the woods, such as I never saw
before. One of my men killed a stately land-fowl, as big as the
largest dunghill cock; it was of a sky-colour, only in the middle of
the wings was a white spot, about which were some reddish spots; on
the crown it had a large bunch of long feathers, which appeared very
pretty; his bill was like pigeon's; he had strong legs and feet,
like dunghill fowls, only the claws were reddish; his crop was full
of small berries. It lays an egg as big as a large hen's egg, for
our men climbed the tree where it nested, and brought off one egg.
They found water, and reported that the trees were large, tall, and
very thick, and that they saw no sign of people.
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