To
This Also May Be Referred What Richard Chancellor Told Me, As Having
Heard From Sebastian Cabot, As Far As
I remember, either on the coast of
Brazil or of the Rio de la Plata, that his ship or pinnace
Was suddenly
lifted from the sea and cast upon the land, I know not how far. Which,
and other strange and wonderful works of nature considered, and calling
to remembrance the narrowness of human knowledge and understanding,
compared with her mighty power, I can never cease to wonder, and to
confess with Pliny, that nothing is impossible to nature, whose smallest
power is still unknown to man.
[Footnote 220: In our present version the word _smite_ is used instead
of burn. But the quotation in the text is a literal translation from the
Latin vulgate, and agrees with the older English version, still used in
the Book of Common Prayer. - E.]
Our people saw and considered many things in this voyage that are
worthy of notice, and some of which I have thought fit to record, that
the reader may take pleasure, both in the variety of these things, and
in the narrative of the voyage. Among other matters respecting the
manners and customs of these people, this may seem strange, that their
princes and nobles are in use to pierce and wound their skins in such
way as to form curious figures upon it, like flowered damask, which they
consider as very ornamental[221]. Although they go in a manner naked,
yet many of them, and the women especially, are almost loaded with
collars, bracelets, rings, and chains, of gold, copper, or ivory.
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