This Rock Is Not Above
A Mile From The Shore, And A Mile Farther We Saw Another Rock, The Space
Between Both Being Broken Ground.
We sounded off the second rock, and
had ground at 20 fathoms on black sand.
We could now see plainly that
the rocks were not along the shore, but at some distance off to sea, and
about 5 leagues farther south we saw a great bay, being then in lat. 4 deg.
27' N. The 16th we met a French ship belonging to Harfleur, which robbed
our pinnace: we sent a letter by him. This night we saw another spot on
the sun at his going down. Towards evening we were athwart the mouth of
a river, right over which was a high tuft of trees. The 17th we anchored
in the mouth of the river, when we found the land to be Cape Palmas,
there being a great ledge of rocks between us and the Cape, a league and
half to sea, and an island off the point or foreland of the Cape. We
then bore to the west of the Cape, and as night came on could see no
more of the land, except that it trended inwards like a bay, in which
there ran a stream or tide as it had been the Thames. This was on the
change day of the moon.
The 19th December, a fair temperate day, with the wind S. we sailed
east, leaving the land astern of us to the west, all the coast appearing
low like islands to the east of Cape Palmas, and trending inwards like a
great bay or sound. We went east all night, and in the morning were only
three or four leagues from shore. The 20th we were off Rio de las
Barbas. The 21st we continued along shore; and three or four leagues
west of Cape Three Points, I found the bay to be set deeper than it is
laid down by four leagues. At 4 P.M. the land began to shew high, the
first part of it being covered by palm trees. The 24th, still going
along shore, the land was very low and full of trees to the water side.
At noon we anchored off the Rio de Boilas, where we sent the boat
towards the shore with our merchants, but they durst not put into the
river, because of a heavy surf that broke continually on the bar. The
28th we sailed along shore, and anchored at night in seven fathoms, to
avoid being put back by a current setting from E.S.E. from _Papuas_.
At noon on the 29th we were abreast of Ardrah, and there we took a
caravel, the people belonging to which had fled to the land. She had
nothing in her except a small quantity of palm oil and a few roots. Next
morning our captain and merchants went to meet the Portuguese, who came
off in a boat to speak with them.
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