A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Vii Part 16

till the first of May, when we were in lat. 18 20' N. Thence we had the wind at E. and E.N.E. sometimes E.S.E. when we reckoned the Cape Verd islands E.S.E. from us, and by estimation 48 leagues distant. In 20 and 21 N. we had the wind more to the east and south than before; and so we ran N.W. and N.N.W. sometimes N. by W. and N. till we came into lat. 31 N. when we reckoned ourselves 180 leagues S.W. by S. of the island of Flores. Here we had the wind S.S.E. and shaped our course N.E. In 23 we had the wind at S. and S.W. and made our course N.N.E. in which direction we went to 40, and then set our course N.E. having the wind at S.W. and the isle of Flores E. of us, 17 leagues distant. In 41 we had the wind N.E. and lay a course N.W. Then we met the wind at W.N.W.

and at W. within 6 leagues, when we went N.W. We then altered to N.E.

till in 42 where we shaped our course E.N.E. judging the isle of _Corvo_ to be W. of us, 36 leagues distant. On the 21st of May we communed with John Rafe who judged us to be in lat. 39 30' N. 25 leagues E. of Flora, and recommended to steer N.E.

It is to be noted that in lat. 9 N. on the 4th of September, we lost sight of the north star. In lat. 45 N. the compa.s.s varied 8 to the W.

of N. In 40 N. it varied 15. And in 30 30' N. its variation was 5 W.

It is also to be noted that two or three days before we came to Cape Three-points, the pinnace went along sh.o.r.e endeavouring to sell some of our wares, and then we came to anchor three or four leagues west by south of that cape, where we left the Trinity. Then our pinnace came on board and took in more wares, telling us that they would go to a place where the Primrose[210] was, and had received much gold in the first voyage to these parts; but being in fear of a brigantine that was then on the coast, we weighed anchor and followed them, leaving the Trinity about four leagues from us. We accordingly rode at anchor opposite that town, where Martine, by his own desire and with the a.s.sent of some of the commissioners in the pinnace, went on sh.o.r.e to the town, and thence John Berin went to trade at another town three miles father on. The town is called Samma or Samua, which and Sammaterra are the two first towns to the N.E. of Cape Three-points, where we traded for gold.

[Footnote 210: This was one of the s.h.i.+ps in the former voyage under Windham.--E.]

Having continued the course of the voyage as described by the before-mentioned pilot, I will now say something of the country and people, and of such things as are brought from thence[211].

[Footnote 211: These subsequent notices seem subjoined by Richard Eden, the original publisher.--E.]

They brought home in this voyage, 400 pounds weight and odd of gold[212], twenty-two carats and one grain fine. Also 36 buts of _grains_, or Guinea pepper, and about 250 elephants teeth of different sizes. Some of these I saw and measured, which were nine spans in length measured along the crook, and some were as thick as a mans thigh above the knee, weighing 90 pounds each, though some are said to have been seen weighing 125 pounds. There were some called the teeth of calves, of one, two, or three years old, measuring one and a-half, two, or three feet, according to the age of the beast. These great teeth or tusks grow in the upper jaw downwards, and not upwards from the lower jaw, as erroneously represented by some painters and _arras_ workers. In this voyage they brought home the head of an elephant of such huge bigness that the bones or cranium only, without the tusks or lower jaw, weighed about two hundred pounds, and was as much as I could well lift from the ground. So that, considering also the weight of the two great tusks and the under jaw, with the lesser teeth, the tongue, the great hanging ears, the long big snout or trunk, with all the flesh, brains, and skin, and other parts belonging to the head, it could not in my opinion weigh less than five hundred weight. This head has been seen by many in the house of the worthy merchant Sir Andrew Judde, where I saw it with my bodily eyes, and contemplated with those of my mind, admiring the cunning and wisdom of the work-master, without which consideration such strange and wonderful things are only curiosities, not profitable subjects of contemplation.

[Footnote 212: Or 4800 ounces, worth, L.18,600 sterling at the old price of L.3 17s. 6d. per ounce; and perhaps worth in those days as much as ninety or an hundred thousand pounds in the present day.--E.]

The elephant, by some called oliphant, is the largest of all four-footed beasts. The fore-legs are longer than those behind; in the lower part or ancles of which he has joints. The feet have each five toes, but undivided. The trunk or snout is so long and of such form that it serves him as a hand, for he both eats and drinks by bringing his food and drink to his mouth by its means, and by it he helps up his master or keeper, and also overturns trees by its strength. Besides his two great tusks, he has four teeth on each side of his mouth, by which he eats or grinds his food, each of these teeth being almost a span long, as they lie along the jaw, by two inches high and about as much in breadth. The tusks of the male are larger than those of the female. The tongue is very small, and so far within the mouth that it cannot be seen. This is the gentlest and most tractable of all beasts, and understands and is taught many things, so that it is even taught to do reverence to kings, being of acute sense and great judgment. When the female is once seasoned, the male never touches her afterwards. The male lives two hundred years, or at least 120, and the female almost as long; but the flower of their age is reckoned 60 years. They cannot endure our winter or cold weather; but they love to go into rivers, in which they will often wade up to their trunk, snuffing and blowing the water about in sport; but they cannot swim, owing to the weight of their bodies. If they happen to meet a man wandering in the wilderness, they will go gently before him and lead him into the right way. In battle they pay much respect to those who are wounded, bringing such as are hurt or weary into the middle of the army where they may be defended. They are made tame by drinking the juice of barley[213].

[Footnote 213: The meaning of this expression is by no means obvious. It is known that in India, arrack, or a spirituous liquor distilled from rice, is given regularly to elephants, which may be here alluded to.--E.]

They have continual war with dragons, which desire their blood because it is very cold; wherefore the dragon lies in wait for the pa.s.sing of an elephant, winding its tail of vast length round the hind legs of the elephant, then thrusts his head into his trunk and sucks out his breath, or bites him in the ears where he cannot reach with his trunk. When the elephant becomes faint with the loss of blood, he falls down upon the serpent, now gorged with blood, and with the weight of his body crushes the dragon to death. Thus his own blood and that of the elephant run out of the serpent now mingled together, which cooling is congealed into that substance which the apothecaries call _sanguis draconis_ or cinnabar[214]. But there are other kinds of cinnabar, commonly called _cinoper_ or vermillion, which the painters use in certain colours.

[Footnote 214: It is surely needless to say that this is a mere fable.--E.]

There are three kinds of elephants, as of the marshes, the plains, and the mountains, differing essentially from each other. Philostratus writes, that by how much the elephants of Lybia exceed in bigness the horses of Nysea, so much do the elephants of India exceed those of Lybia, for some of the elephants of India have been seen nine cubits high; and these are so greatly feared by the others, that they dare not abide to look upon them. Only the males among the Indian elephants have tusks; but in Ethiopia and Lybia, both males and females are provided with them. They are of divers heights, as of 12, 13, or 14 _dodrants_, the dodrant being a measure of 9 inches; and some say that an elephant is bigger than three wild oxen or buffaloes. Those of India are black, or mouse-coloured; but those of Ethiopia or Guinea are brown. The hide or skin of them all is very hard, and without hair or bristles. Their ears are two dodrants, or 18 inches in breadth, and their eyes are very small. Our men saw one drinking at a river in Guinea as they sailed along the coast. Those who wish to know more of the properties of the elephant, as of their wonderful docility, of their use in war, of their chast.i.ty and generation, when they were first seen in the triumphs and amphitheatres of the Romans, how they are taken and tamed, when they cast their tusks, and of their use in medicine, and many other particulars, will find all these things described in the eighth book of Natural History, as written by Pliny. He also says in his twelfth book, that the ancients made many goodly works of ivory or elephants teeth; such as tables, tressels or couches, posts of houses, rails, lattices for windows, idols of their G.o.ds, and many other things of ivory, either coloured or uncoloured, and intermixed with various kinds of precious woods; in which manner at this day are made chairs, lutes, virginals, and the like. They had such plenty of it in ancient times, that one of the gates of Jerusalem was called the ivory gate, as Josephus reports.

The whiteness of ivory was so much admired, that it was anciently thought to represent the fairness of the human skin; insomuch that those who endeavoured to improve, or rather to corrupt, the natural beauty by painting, were said reproachfully, _ebur atramento candefacere_, to whiten ivory with ink. Poets also, in describing the fair necks of beautiful virgins, call them _eburnea colla_, or ivory necks. Thus much may suffice of elephants and ivory, and I shall now say somewhat of the people, and their manners, and mode of living, with another brief description of Africa.

The people who now inhabit the regions of the coast of Guinea and the middle parts of Africa, as inner Lybia, Nubia, and various other extensive regions in that quarter, were anciently called Ethiopians and _Nigritae_, which we now call Moors, Moorens, or Negroes; a beastly living people, without G.o.d, law, religion, or government, and so scorched by the heat of the sun, that in many places they curse it when it rises. Of the people about Lybia interior, Gemma Phrysius thus writes: Libia interior is large and desolate, containing many horrible wildernesses, replenished with various kinds of monstrous beasts and serpents. To the south of Mauritania or Barbary is Getulia, a rough and savage region, inhabited by a wild and wandering people. After these follow the _Melanogetuli_, or black Getulians, and Phransii, who wander in the wilderness, carrying with them great gourds filled with water.

Then the Ethiopians, called Nigritae, occupy a great part of Africa, extending to the western ocean or Atlantic. Southwards also they reach to the river Nigritis or Niger, which agrees in its nature with the Nile, as it increases and diminishes like the Nile, and contains crocodiles. Therefore, I believe this to be the river called the Senegal by the Portuguese. It is farther said of the Niger, that the inhabitants on one side were all black and of goodly stature, while on the other side they were brown or tawny and of low stature, which also is the case with the Senegal.[215] There are other people of Lybia, called _Garamantes_, whose women are in common, having no marriages or any respect to chast.i.ty. After these are the nations called _Pyrei, Sathiodaphintae, Odrangi, Mimaces, Lynxamator, Dolones, Agangince, Leuci Ethiopes, Xilicei Ethiopes, Calcei Ethiopes_, and _Nubi_. These last have the same situation in Ptolemy, which is now given to the kingdom of Nubia, where there are certain Christians under the dominion of the great emperor of Ethiopia, called Prester John. From these towards the west was a great nation called _Aphricerones_, inhabiting, as far as we can conjecture, what is now called the _Regnum Orguene_, bordering on the eastern or interior parts of Guinea. From hence westwards and towards the north, are the kingdoms of _Gambra_ and _Budamel_, not far from the river Senegal; and from thence toward the inland region and along the coast are the regions of _Ginoia_ or Guinea. On the west side of this region is Cabo Verde, _caput viride_, Cap Verd, or the Green Cape, to which the Portuguese first direct their course when they sail to the land of Brazil in America, on which occasion they turn to the right hand towards the quarter of the wind called _Garbino_, which is between the west and south.

[Footnote 215: It may be proper to mention in this place, that the Niger and the Senegal, though agreeing in these particulars, are totally different rivers in the same parallel. The Senegal runs into the sea from the east; while the Niger running to the east, loses itself in an interior lake, as the Wolga does in the Caspian, having no connection whatever with the ocean. According to some accounts, this lake only exists as such during the rainy season, drying up in the other part of the year, probably however leaving an extensive marsh, called the _w.a.n.gara_. If so, the environs of that lake and marsh must be unhealthy in the utmost extreme.--E.]

To speak somewhat more of Ethiopia, although there are many nations called Ethiopians, yet is Ethiopia chiefly divided into two parts, one of which being a great and rich region, is called _Ethiopia sub Egypto_, or Ethiopia to the south of Egypt. To this belongs the island of Meroe, which is environed by the streams of the Nile. In this island women reigned in ancient times, and, according to Josephus, it was some time called _Sabea_, whence the queen of Saba went to Jerusalem to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. From thence, towards the east and south, reigneth the Christian emperor called Prester John, by some named Papa Johannes, or as others say _Pean Juan_, signifying Great John, whose empire reaches far beyond the Nile, and extends to the coasts of the Red Sea and of the Indian ocean. The middle of this region is almost in 66 degrees of E. longitude, and 12 degrees of N. lat.[216] About this region dwell the people called _Clodi, Risophagi, Axiuntiae, Babylonii, Molili_, and _Molibae_. After these is the region called _Trogloditica_, the inhabitants of which dwell in caves and dens, instead of houses, and feed upon the flesh of serpents, as is reported by Pliny and Diodorus Siculus, who allege, that instead of language, they have only a kind of grinning and chattering. There are also people without heads, called _Blemines_, having their eyes and mouths in their breast. Likewise _Strucophagi_, and naked _Gamphasantes_; _satyrs_ also, who have nothing of human nature except the shape. _Oripei_ likewise, who are great hunters, and _Mennones_. Here also is _Smyrnophora_, or the region of myrrh; after which is _Azania_, producing many elephants.[217] A great portion of the eastern part of Africa beyond the equinoctial line is in the kingdom of _Melinda_, the inhabitants of which have long been in use to trade with the nations of Arabia, and whose king is now allied to the king of Portugal, and pays tribute to Prester John.

[Footnote 216: Reckoning the longitude from the island of Ferro, the middle of Abyssinia is only in about 52 30' E. and as Ferro is 18 W.

from Greenwich, that coincides with 34 30' E. as the longitude is now reckoned by British geographers.--E.]

[Footnote 217: It is impossible, in the compa.s.s of a note, to enter into any commentary on this slight sketch of the ancient geography of eastern Africa.--E.]

The other, or interior Ethiopia, being a region of vast extent, is now only somewhat known upon the sea-coast, but may be described as follows.

In the first place, towards the south of the equator, is a great region of Ethiopians, in which are white elephants, _tigers_, (lions) and rhinoceroses. Also a region producing plenty of cinnamon, which lies between the branches of the Nile. Also the kingdom of Habesch or Habasia,[218] a region inhabited by Christians, on both sides of the Nile. Likewise those Ethiopians called _Ichthyophagi_, or who live only on fish, who were subdued in the wars of Alexander the Great[219]. Also the Ethiopians called _Rapsii_ and _Anthropophagi_, who are in use to eat human flesh, and inhabit the regions near the mountains of the moon.

_Gazatia_ is under the tropic of Capricorn; after which comes the _front_ of Africa, and the Cape of Good Hope, past which they sail from Lisbon to Calicut: But as the capes and gulfs, with their names, are to be found on every globe and chart, it were superfluous to enumerate them here.

[Footnote 218: It is strange that Habasia or Abyssinia, inhabited by Christians, should thus be divided from the empire of Prester John.--E.]

[Footnote 219: The Icthyophagi of Alexander dwelt on the oceanic coast of Persia, now Mekran, between the river Indus and the Persian gulf, not in Ethiopia.--E.]

Some allege that Africa was so named by the Greeks, as being without cold; the Greek letter _alpha_ signifying privation, void of, or without, and _phrice_ signifying cold; as, although it has a cloudy and tempestuous season instead of winter, it is yet never cold, but rather smothering hot, with hot showers, and such scorching winds, that at certain times the inhabitants seem as if living in furnaces, and in a manner half ready for purgatory or h.e.l.l. According to Gemma Phrisius, in certain parts of Africa, as in the greater Atlas, the air in the night is seen s.h.i.+ning with many strange fires and flames, rising as it were as high as the moon, and strange noises are heard in the air, as of pipes, trumpets, and drums, which are caused perhaps by the vehement motions of these fiery exhalations, as we see in many experiments wrought by fire, air, and wind. The hollowness also, and various reflections and breakings of the clouds, may be great causes thereof, besides the great coldness of the middle region of the air, by which these fiery exhalations, when they ascend there, are suddenly driven back with great force. Daily experience teaches us, by the whizzing of a burning torch, what a noise fire occasions in the air, and much more so when it strives and is inclosed with air, as seen in guns; and even when air alone is inclosed, as in organ pipes and other wind instruments: For wind, according to philosophers, is nothing but air vehemently moved, as when propelled by a pair of bellows, and the like.

Some credible persons affirm that, in this voyage to Guinea, they felt a sensible heat in the night from the beams of the moon; which, though it seem strange to us who inhabit a cold region, may yet reasonably have been the case, as Pliny writes that the nature of stars and planets consists of fire, containing a spirit of life, and cannot therefore be without heat. That the moon gives heat to the earth seems confirmed by David, in the 121st psalm, where, speaking of such men as are defended from evils by the protection of G.o.d, he says, "The sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night[220]." They said likewise, that in some parts of the sea they saw streams of water, which they call _spouts_, falling out of the air into the sea, some of them being as large as the pillars of churches; insomuch that, when these fall into s.h.i.+ps, they are in great danger of being sunk. Some allege these to be the cataracts of heaven, which were all opened at Noah's flood: But I rather consider them to be those fluxions and eruptions said by Aristotle, in his book de Mundo, to happen in the sea. For, speaking of such strange things as are often seen in the sea, he writes thus: "Oftentimes also, even in the sea are seen evaporations of fire, and such eruptions and breaking forth of springs, that the mouths of rivers are opened. Whirlpools and fluxions are caused of such other vehement motions, not only in the midst of the sea, but also in creeks and straits. At certain times also, a great quant.i.ty of water is suddenly lifted up and carried about by the moon," &c. From these words of Aristotle it appears, that such waters are lifted up at one time in one place, and suddenly fall down again in another place at another time. 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 s.h.i.+p 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 n.o.bles 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. I have seen one of their ivory armlets weighing 38 ounces, which was worn by one of their women on her arm. It was made of one piece of the largest part of an elephant's tooth, turned and somewhat carved, having a hole through which to pa.s.s the hand. Some have one on each arm and one on each leg, and though often so galled by them as to be almost lame, they still persist to use them. Some wear great shackles on their legs of bright copper, and they wear collars, bracelets, garlands, and girdles of certain blue stones, resembling beads. Some also of their women wear upon their arms a kind of _fore-sleeves_[222], made of plates of beaten gold. They wear likewise rings on their fingers made of gold wire, having a knot or wreath, like those which children make on rush rings.

Among other golden articles bought by our men, were some dog-collars and chains.

[Footnote 221: Now well known under the name of tatooing.--E.]

[Footnote 222: Sleeves for the fore-arms, or from the elbow to the wrist.--E.]

These natives of Guinea are very wary in driving bargains, and will not willingly lose the smallest particle of their gold, using weights and measures for the same with great circ.u.mspection. In dealing with them, it is necessary to behave with civility and gentleness, as they will not trade with any who use them ill. During the first voyage of our people to that country, on departing from the place where they had first traded, one of them either stole a musk-cat or took her away by force, not suspecting that this could have any effect to prevent trading at the next station: But although they went there in full sail, the news had got there before them, and the people refused to deal with them until the cat were either restored or paid for at a fixed price. Their houses are made of four posts or trees set in the ground, and are covered with boughs; and their ordinary food is roots, with such fish as they take, which are in great plenty. Among these are flying fishes, similar to those seen in the West India seas. Our people endeavoured to salt some of the fish which they caught on the coast of Africa, but some said that they would not take salt, and must therefore be eaten immediately; while others alleged that, if salted immediately when taken, they would keep good for ten or twelve days. Part of the salt meat taken by our people from England became putrid while on the coast of Africa, yet turned sweet again after their return to a temperate region. They have a strange method of making bread, which is as follows: They grind, with their hands, between two stones, as much corn into meal as they think may suffice the family, and making this flour into a paste with water, they knead it into thin cakes, which are stuck upon the posts of their houses and baked or dried by the heat of the sun; so that when the master of the house or any of the family are in want of bread, they take it down from the post and eat.

They have very fair wheat, the ear of which is two hand-breadths long and as big as a great bulrush, the stem or straw being almost as thick as a man's little finger. The grains are white and round, s.h.i.+ning like pearls that have lost their l.u.s.tre, and about the size of our pease.

Almost their whole substance turns to flour, leaving very little bran.

The ear is inclosed in three blades, each about two inches broad, and longer than the ear; and in one of them I counted 260 grains of corn. By this fruitfulness, the sun seems in some measure to compensate for the trouble and distress produced by its excessive heat. Their drink is either water, or the juice which drops from cut branches of the palmito, a barren palm or date tree; to collect which they hang great gourds to the cut branches every evening, or set them on the ground under the trees, to receive the juice which issues during the night. Our people said that this juice tasted like whey, but sweeter and more pleasant.

The branches of the palmito are cut every evening to obtain this juice, as the heat of the sun during the day dries up and sears over the wound.

They have likewise large beans, as big as chesnuts, and very hard, having sh.e.l.ls instead of husks or pods. While formerly describing the fruit containing the _grains_ or Guinea pepper, called by the physicians _grana paradisi_, I remarked that they have holes through them, as in effect they have when brought to us; but I have been since informed, that these holes are made on purpose to put strings or twigs through, for hanging up the fruit to dry in the sun. This fruit grows on a plant which does not rise above eighteen inches or two feet above the ground.

At their coming home, the keels and bottoms of the s.h.i.+ps were strangely overgrown with certain sh.e.l.ls, two inches or more in length, as thick as they could stand, and so large that a man might put his thumb into their mouths. It is affirmed that a certain slimy substance grows in these sh.e.l.ls, which falls afterwards into the sea, and is changed into the bird called barnacles[223]. Similar sh.e.l.ls have been seen on s.h.i.+ps coming from Ireland, but these Irish barnacles do not exceed half an inch long. I saw the Primrose in dock, after her return from Guinea, having her bottom entirely covered over with these sh.e.l.ls, which in my judgment must have greatly impeded her sailing. Their s.h.i.+ps also were in many places eaten into by the worms called _Bromas_ or _Bissas_, which are mentioned in the Decades[224]. These worms creep between the planks, which they eat through in many places.

[Footnote 223: This is an old fable not worth confuting. The Barnacle goose or clakis of Willoughby, anas erythropus of Linnaeus, called likewise tree-goose, anciently supposed to be generated from drift wood, or rather from the _lepas anatifera_ or multivalve sh.e.l.l, called barnacle, which is often found on the bottoms of s.h.i.+ps.--See Pennant's Brit. Zool. 4to. 1776. V. II. 488, and Vol. IV. 64.--E.]

[Footnote 224: Meaning the Decades of Peter Martyr, part of which book was translated and published by Richard Eden.--Astl I. 149. b.]

In this voyage, though they sailed to Guinea in seven weeks, they took twenty to return; owing to this cause, as they reported, that about the coast at Cape Verd the wind was continually east, so that they were obliged to stand far out into the ocean, in search of a western wind to bring them home. In this last voyage about twenty-four of the men died, many of them between the Azores and England, after their return into the cold or temperate region. They brought with them several black slaves[225], some of whom were tall strong men, who could well agree with our meats and drinks. The cold and moist air of England somewhat offended them; yet men who are born in hot regions can much better endure cold, than those of cold regions can bear heat; because violent heat dissolves the radical moisture of the human body, while cold concentrates and preserves it. It is to be considered as among the secrets of nature, that while all parts of Africa under the equator, and for some way on both sides, are excessively hot, and inhabited by black people, such regions in the West Indies [America], under the same parallels, are very temperate, and the natives are neither black, nor have they short curled wool on their heads like the Africans; but are of an olive colour, with long black hair. The cause of this difference is explained in various places of the _Decades_. Some of those who were upon this voyage told me that on the 14th of March they had the sun to the north of them at noon.

[Footnote 225: In a side note, _five blacke moors_.--E.]

SECTION IV.

_Voyage to Guinea in 1555, by William Towerson, Merchant of London_[226].

On Monday the 30th of September 1555, we sailed from the harbour of Newport, in the Isle of Wight, with two good s.h.i.+ps, the Hart and the Hind, both belonging to London, of which John Ralph and William Carters were masters, bound on a voyage for the river Sestos, in Guinea, and other harbours in that neighbourhood. Owing to variable winds, we could not reach Dartmouth before the 14th of October; and having continued there till the 20th of that month, we warpt out of the harbour, and set sail to the S.W. and by next morning had run 30 leagues. On the 1st November, by the reckoning of our master, we were in lat. 31 N. and that day we ran 40 leagues. The 2d we ran 36 leagues; and on the 3d we had sight of Porto Santo, a small island about three leagues long and one and a-half broad, belonging to the Portuguese, and lying in the ocean. As we came towards it from the N.N.W. it seemed like two small hills near each other. The east end of the island is a high land like a saddle, having a valley which gives it that appearance; while the west end is lower, with several small round hillocks[227]. Porto Santo is in about lat. 33 N. The same day at 11 o'clock A.M. we raised the island of Madeira, which is 12 leagues S.W. from Porto Santo. Madeira is a fine and fertile island belonging to the Portuguese, and rises from afar like one great high mountain. By 3 P.M. being athwart of Porto Santo, we set our course to the S.W. leaving both Madeira and Porto Santo to the eastwards, being the first land we had seen after leaving England. About three next morning we were abreast of Madeira, within three leagues of its west end, and were becalmed under its high land. We estimated having run 30 leagues in the past day and night. The 4th we remained becalmed under the west end of Madeira till 1 P.M. when the wind sprung up at east, and we continued our course S.W. making in the rest of that day 15 leagues. The 5th we ran 15 leagues.

[Footnote 226: Hakluyt, II. 480, Astl. I. 150.--From several pa.s.sages in this journal it appears that Towerson had been on the former voyage to Guinea with Captain Lock; but in the present voyage he appears to have acted as captain or chief director, and seems to have been the author of the journal here adopted from Hakluyt.--Astl. I. 150, 2.]

[Footnote 227: The saddle-backed hills of old navigators, are to be considered in reference to the old demipique or war-saddle, having high abrupt peaks, or hummocks, at each end, with a flattish hollow between.--E.]

The 6th in the morning we got sight of _Teneriffe_, otherwise called the Peak, being very high land, with a peak on the top like a sugar loaf; and the same night we got sight of _Palma_, which also is high land and W. from Teneriffe [W.N.W.] The 7th we saw _Gomera_, an island about 12 leagues S.E. from Palma, and eight W.S.W. from Teneriffe; and lest we might have been becalmed under Teneriffe, we left both it and Gomera to the east, and pa.s.sed between Palma and Gomera. This day and night our course was 30 leagues. These islands, called the Canaries, are 60 leagues from Madeira, and there are other three islands in the group to the eastward of Teneriffe, named _Gran Canarea_, _Fuertaventura_, and _Lancerota_, none of which we saw. All these islands are inhabited by Spaniards. On this day likewise we got sight of the Isle of _Ferro_, which is 13 leagues south from Gomera, and belongs to the Spaniards like the others. We were unable all this day or the following night to get beyond Ferro, unless we had chosen to go to the westwards, which had been much out of our proper course; wherefore we put about, and stood back five hours E.N.E. in hope of being able to clear it next tack, the wind keeping always S.E. which is not often met with in that lat.i.tude by navigators, as it generally keeps in the N.E. and E.N.E. Next morning, being on the other tack, we were nearly close in with the island, but had room enough to get clear past.

The 8th, our due course to fetch the Barbary coast being S.E. by E. we were unable to keep it by reason of the wind being scant, but lay as near it as we could, running that day and night 25 leagues. The 9th we ran 30 leagues; the 10th 25; and 11th, 24 leagues. The 12th we saw a sail under our lee, which we thought to be a fis.h.i.+ng bark, and stood down to speak with her; but in an hour there came on so thick a fog that we could neither see that vessel nor our consort the Hind. We accordingly shot off several guns to give notice to the Hind of our situation, but she did not hear or answer us. In the afternoon the Hind fired a gun, which we heard and answered with another gun. About half an hour afterwards the fog cleared away, and we were within four leagues of the Barbary coast, when sounding we had 14 fathoms water. The bark also had come _room_[228] with us, and anch.o.r.ed here likewise, the wind being contrary for going down the coast, or to the southwards. On falling in with the land, we could not judge precisely whereabout we were, most of that coast being low, the forepart of the coast being white like chalk or sand, _and very deep unto the hard sh.o.r.e_[229]. Immediately on coming to anchor we began to fish, and got abundance of that kind which the Portuguese call _Pergosses_, the French _saders_, and our men salt-water _breams_. Before the fog entirely cleared away, the vessel we had followed shaped such a course that we lost sight of her, chiefly because we had bore up to find the Hind again. Our pilot reckoned that we were upon that part of the coast which is 16 leagues eastwards[230] from the Rio del Oro.

[Footnote 228: This antiquated nautical word, which occurred before in the journal of Don Juan de Castro, is here obviously going down the wind, large, or to leeward.--E.]

[Footnote 229: The meaning of this pa.s.sage is not obvious, and seems to want some words to make out the meaning: It may be that the sh.o.r.e is very steep, or that the water continues deep close to the sh.o.r.e.--E.]