Leaving this river, they sailed two leagues farther, to an inlet named St Jerome's channel; whence, proceeding three or four leagues W. they came to a cape to the northward, whence the course to the western entrance of the straits is N.W. and N.W. by W. for about thirty-four leagues; so that the entire length of these straits is ninety leagues. This western entrance is in lat. 52 deg. 40' S. nearly under the same parallel with the eastern mouth. In consequence of storms and excessive rains, they were forced to remain in a harbour near this western mouth of the straits till the 23d of February. By the excessive rains, pouring down with extreme fury in torrents from the mountains, they were brought into extreme danger; and were also much distressed for want of food, as the excessive severity of the weather hardly permitted their landing, to range the country in search of a supply In their passage through these straits, it was observed that there were harbours on both shores, at every mile or two, tolerably safe and convenient for small ships.

SECTION II.

Transactions on the Western Coast of America.

The weather moderating, they entered into the great South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, on the 24th February, 1587, observing on the south side of the entrance a very high cape, with an adjoining low point; while, at the northern side of the entrance there were four or five islands, six leagues from the main land, having much broken and sunken ground among and around them. In the night of the 1st March, there arose a great storm, in which they lost sight of the Hugh Gallant, being then in lat. 49 deg. S. and forty-five leagues from the land. This storm lasted three or four days, in which time the Hugh sprung a leak, and was tossed about in this unknown sea, devoid of all help, being every moment ready to sink. By great exertions, however, she was kept afloat; and on the 15th, in the morning, she got in between the island of St Mary and the main, where she again met the admiral and the Content, which two ships had secured themselves during two days of the storm, at the island of Mocha, in lat. 38 deg. S'.[50]

[Footnote 50: Mocha is in lat. 38 deg. 20', and the isles of St Mary in 37 deg., both S.]

At this place some of the company went ashore well armed, and were met by the Indians, who gave them a warm reception with their bows and arrows. These Indians were of the district in Chili called Araucania, a country rich in gold, and consequently very tempting to the avaricious Spaniards, which accordingly they had repeatedly invaded, but to no purpose, as the natives always defended themselves so valiantly, that their enemies could never subdue them. On the present occasion, mistaking the English for Spaniards, these brave and desperate Araucans gave Candish a hostile welcome. After this skirmish, Candish went with his ships under the lee of the west side of St Mary's island, where he found good anchorage in six fathoms. This island, in lat. 37 deg. S. abounds in hogs, poultry, and various kinds of fruit; but the inhabitants are held under such absolute slavery by the Spaniards, that they dare not kill a hog, or even a hen, for their own use; and although the Spaniards have made them converts to Christianity, they use them more like dogs than men or Christians.

The admiral went ashore on the 16th March, with seventy or eighty men well armed, and was met by two Indian chiefs, who conducted him to a chapel, round which were several store-houses, well filled with wheat and barley, as clean and fair as any in England. He accordingly provided his ships with a sufficient store of grain from this place, and laid in besides an ample supply of hogs, hens, potatoes, dried dog-fish, and maize or Guinea wheat. The admiral invited the two principal Indians to an entertainment on board; and the wine having sharpened their wit, to perceive that the admiral and his men were not Spaniards, as they had hitherto supposed them, they began to talk very freely about the gold mines, saying that the English might procure gold to their full content, by going into the country of the Araucans. But not fully understanding them, as the information was mostly given by signs, the admiral did not prosecute this proposed adventure, but proceeded on his voyage.

Leaving the island of St Mary on the 18th in the morning, they sailed all that day N.N.E. ten leagues. The 19th they steered in with the land, E.N.E. and anchored under an island in the Bay of Conception, in lat. 36 deg. 36' S. The 30th they came into the Bay of Quintero, in lat. 32 deg. 45' S. and next day a party of fifty or sixty men, well armed, marched seven or eight miles into the country. In their march, they saw vast herds of wild cattle, with horses, dogs, hares, rabbits, partridges, and other birds, with many fine rivers, well stocked with wild fowl. Having travelled as far as they conveniently could for the mountains, and having rested and refreshed on the banks of a pleasant river, they returned in good order to the ships at night, without meeting any remarkable adventure; although a party of 200 horse had been abroad all that day in search of them, upon information of some Spaniards who had seen them the preceding day, but durst not venture to attack them, keeping always at a distance on the hills. They had at this time a short conference with three Spanish horsemen, through the medium of the poor half-starved Spaniard they took on board in the Straits of Magellan; but, in spite of his many oaths and protestations never to forsake Candish, he took the opportunity to mount on horseback behind one of his countrymen, and got off.

Next day, the 1st April, some of the English being on shore filling their water-casks, the Spaniards became bolder, and watching an opportunity when the sailors were hard at work, poured down with their 200 horse from the hills, slew some of them, and made a few prisoners. But this glorious victory was soon snatched from their hands by the arrival of a reinforcement of fifteen English, who rescued the prisoners, killed twenty-four of the Spaniards, and drove the rest back to the mountains. After this, they continued in the road till the 5th, and watered there in spite of the Spaniards. On the 5th they weighed anchor, and went to a small island about a league from the bay, which is full of penguins and other sea fowl, of which they provided themselves with what store they wanted; after which they sailed N. and N. by W. in order to prosecute their voyage.

The 15th April they came to Moro Moreno, in lat. 23 deg. 30' S. under the tropic of Capricorn, where there is an excellent harbour, made by means of an island, having an entrance for ships at either end. The admiral went ashore here with thirty men, and was met by the Indians, who brought them water and wood on their backs. These are a simple sort of people, living in a wild and savage manner, in great dread of the Spaniards. They brought the admiral and his company to their houses, about two miles from the harbour. These were only constructed of a few rafters laid across upon forked sticks stuck in the ground, having a few boughs laid over them by way of a roof. Their beds were the skins of wild beasts laid on the ground; and their food little else than raw stinking fish. When any of them dies, he is buried with all his arms and goods, as bows and arrows, and even his canoe is laid in the earth along with him. Their canoes, if such they may be called, consist of two skin bags, like large bladders, blown up with quills at one end, and fastened together by the sinews of some wild beast; yet in these they think nothing of venturing to sea, loading them even with great quantities of fish, part of which they have to give in tribute to the Spaniards, the rest being kept to stink for their own eating.

On the 3d May, they came into a bay on which were three small towns, Paracca, Chincha, and Pisco, which latter is in lat. 13 deg. 20' S.[51] They landed here, and took some provisions, as wine, bread, poultry and figs, from the houses, but could not get ashore at the best of these towns, owing to the sea running too high. By this time; they had made two valuable prizes, laden with sugar, melasses, maiz, cordovan leather, montego de porco, packs of painted calicoes, Indian coats, marmalade, hens, and other articles, which would have yielded L20,000, if there had been any opportunity for selling their cargoes. That not being the case, they took out as much as could be conveniently stowed in their own ships, burning their two prizes with the rest of their contents.

[Footnote 51: Pisco, the principal of these towns, is in lat. 16 deg. 43' S.]

The 26th May, they came into the road Payta, in lat. 5 deg. 4' S. the town being very neat and clean, and containing about 200 houses. Landing here with sixty or seventy men, Candish had a skirmish with the inhabitants, whom he beat out of the town, forcing them to take refuge in the hills, whence they continued to fire at the English, but would not venture a fair battle on the plain ground. Having possessed themselves of the town, the English marched after the enemy on the hill, and put them completely to the rout, seizing all their baggage, which they brought back with them to the town. They here found all sort of household stuff, together with warehouses well filled with various kinds of goods, and twenty-five pound weight of silver in pieces of eight. After taking away what plunder they found convenient, they set fire to the town, which was burnt to the ground, and destroyed likewise a bark at anchor in the roads; after which they set sail for Puna.

They arrived at Puna, in lat. 3 deg. 10' S. on the 25th of May, when they found a ship of 250 tons at anchor in the harbour. After sinking her, they went ashore. The lord of this island, styled the Cacique of Puna, was an Indian by birth, but having married a Spanish woman, he became a Christian, and made all his subjects follow his example. He had a sumptuous and well-contrived palace near the shore, with curious gardens adjoining, and fair prospects, both to the water and up the country. All the inhabitants of this island were kept continually employed in fabricating cables, such abundance of which are made here by the Indian subjects of this cacique; that most of the ships navigating the South Sea are supplied from hence. This island is nearly as large as the isle of Wight in England, being about forty English miles from S.W. to N.E. and sixteen in the opposite direction. It enjoys a great share in the blessings of nature; for, although it has no mines of gold or silver, it affords every thing in abundance that is necessary to the comforts of life. The pastures are excellent, and are well stored with horses, oxen, sheep, and goats, yielding abundance of milk; it has also plenty of poultry, turkeys, ducks of a large size, and pigeons. The cacique has several orchards, yielding a great variety of fine fruits, as oranges, lemons, figs, pomegranates, pumpkins, melons, and many others; with a variety of odoriferous plants, as rosemary, thyme, and the like. One of these gardens or orchards was planted with the bombast cotton tree, which grows in pods, in each of which there are seven or eight seeds.

The 29th of May, Candish went to an island near Puna, into which the cacique had conveyed all the valuable furniture of his palace, with other things of value. These stores were all discovered, and plundered of every thing thought worth carrying on board the ships, and the rest destroyed. The church also of Puna, which stood near the palace, was burnt down, and its five bells carried to the ships. On the 2d June, the English were attacked by 100 Spaniards, who killed or took prisoners twelve of their men, losing forty-six of their own in the encounter. Candish landed again that same day with seventy English, and had another battle with the Spaniards, who were joined by 200 Indians armed with bows and arrows. The English were victorious, after which they made great havock of the fields and orchards, burnt four ships on the stocks, and left the town of 300 houses a heap of rubbish. Besides this principal town, there were two others on the island of 200 houses each, so that Puna was the best settled island on all this coast.

Setting sail from Puna on the 5th June, they sailed to Rio Dolce, where they watered. They passed the equinoctial on the 12th, continuing their course northwards all the rest of that month. The 1st July, they had sight of New Spain, being four leagues from the land in 10 deg. N. The 9th they took a new ship of 120 tons, in which was one Michael Sancius, a native of Provence, a very skilful coasting pilot for these seas, whom Candish retained as his pilot, and from whom he got the first hint of the great ship Anna Maria, which he afterwards took on her voyage from the Philippine islands. Taking all the men, and every thing of any value from the ship of Sancius, they set her on fire. The 26th they came to anchor in the mouth of the river Capalico, and the same night went in the pinnace with thirty men to Guatalco, two leagues from that river, in 15 deg. 70' N. and burnt both the town and custom-house, which was a large handsome building, in which there were laid up 600 bags of indigo, and 400 bags of cacao, every bag of the former being worth forty crowns, and each of the latter worth ten. These cacaos serve among the people of these parts both as food and money, being somewhat like almonds, yet not quite so pleasant, and pass in trade by way of small change, 150 of them being equal in value to a rial of plate.

They set sail from Capalico on the 28th, the sea running so high that they could not fill their water casks, and came to Guatalco that same night. Next day Candish went ashore with thirty men, marching two miles into the woods, where he took a mestizo belonging to the custom-house of that town, having with him a considerable quantity of goods, both which and their master were carried to the ships. The 24th August, Candish went with thirty men in the pinnace to the haven of Puerto de Navidad in lat. 19 deg. 24' N. where Sancius had informed him there would be a prize; but, before their arrival, she had gone twelve leagues farther to fish for pearls. They here made prisoner of a mulatto, who had been sent to give notice of the English, all along the coast of New Gallicia, and got possession of all his letters. They likewise burnt the town, and two ships of 200 tons here building, after which they returned to the ships.

They came on the 26th into the bay of St Jago, where they watered at a good river, which yielded them plenty of fish, and where they found some pearls. This bay is in lat. 19 deg. 18' N. Leaving this bay on the 2d September, they came next day into the bay of Malacca, a league westward from port Navidad, and a good place for ships to ride in. That day, Candish went ashore with about thirty men, to an Indian town named Acatlan, about two leagues from the road.[52] This town or village consisted of twenty or thirty houses and a church, which they demolished, and then returned at night to the ships. Leaving this bay on the 4th, they came on the 8th to the road of Chacalla, eighteen leagues from Cape Corientes. On the 9th, Candish sent a party of forty men, guided by Sancius, which, after marching through woods and deserts, lighted upon a few families, some of which were Indians, and others Spanish and Portuguese, all of whom were brought to the ships. The women were ordered to fetch plantains, lemons, oranges, and other fruits, in reward for which all their husbands were set free, except a Spaniard named Sembrano, and Diego, a Portuguese.

[Footnote 52: Guatlan is the name of a bay on this coast, and which is probably corrupted in the text to Acatlan.—E.]

On the 12th they arrived at the island of St Andrew, which is very full of wood, and where they found plenty of fowls and seals, together with a sort of serpents, or lizards rather, called Iguanos, having four feet and a long sharp tail, which they found good eating. Leaving this isle, they came to the road of Mazatlan on the 24th, lying under the tropic of Cancer. The river here is large within, but much obstructed by a bar at its mouth. The bay abounds with fish, and there are abundance of good fruits up the country. Departing from this bay on the 27th, they came to an island, a league north from Mazatlan,[53] where they heeled their ships, and rebuilt their pinnace. On this isle, they found fresh water, by digging two or three feet into the sand, otherwise they must have gone back twenty or thirty leagues for water, being advised by one Flores, a Spanish prisoner, to dig in the sands, where no water or sign of any could be perceived. Having amply supplied the ships with water, they remained at this island till the 9th October, and then sailed from Cape San Lucar, the S.W. point of California, in lat. 22 deg. 50' N. which they fell in with on the 14th, observing that it much resembled the Needles at the Isle of Wight, which had been before noticed by Sir Francis Drake. Within this cape, there is a large bay, called by the Spaniards Aguada Segura,[54] into which falls a fine fresh-water river, the banks of which are usually inhabited by many Indians in the summer. They went into this bay, where they again watered, and remained waiting for the Accapulco ship till the 4th November, the wind continuing all that time to hang westerly.

[Footnote 53: In our best modern maps no such island is to be found; but about the same distance to the S. is a cluster of small isles.—E.]

[Footnote 54: Probably that now called the bay of St Barnaby, about twenty miles E.N.E. from Cape San Lucar.—E.]

The 4th November, putting to sea, the Desire and Content beat to and fro to windward off the head land of California; and that very morning one of the men in the admiral, going aloft to the topmast, espied a ship bearing in from seaward for the cape. Putting every thing in readiness for action, Candish gave chase, and coming up with her in the afternoon, gave her a broadside and a volley of small arms. This ship was the Santa Anna of 700 tons burden, belonging to the king of Spain, and commanded by the admiral of the South Sea. Candish instantly boarded, finding the Spaniards in a good posture of defence, and was repulsed with the loss of two men slain and four or five wounded. He then renewed the action with his cannon and musquetry, raking the St Ann, and killing or wounding great numbers, as she was full of men. The Spaniards long defended themselves manfully; but the ship being sore wounded, so that the water poured in a-main, they at last hung out a flag of truce, praying for quarter, and offering to surrender. This was immediately agreed to by Candish, who ordered them to lower their sails, and to send their chief officers to his ship. They accordingly hoisted out their boat, in which came the captain, the pilot, and one of the chief merchants, who surrendered themselves, and gave an account of the value of their ship, in which were 122,000 pezos in gold, with prodigious quantities of rich silks, satins, damasks, and divers kinds of merchandise, such as musk, and all manner of provisions, almost as acceptable to the English as riches, having been long at sea.

The prize thus gloriously obtained, Candish returned to Aguada, or Puerto Seguro, on the 6th November, where he landed all the Spaniards, to the number of 150 persons, men and women, giving them plenty of wine and victuals, with the sails of their ship and some planks, to build huts or tents for them to dwell in. The owners of the prize being thus disposed of, the next thing was to share the booty; which ungracious work of distribution soon involved Candish in all the troubles of a mutiny, every one being eager for gold, yet no one satisfied with his share. This disturbance was most violent in the Content; but all was soon appeased and compromised by the candid and generous behaviour of Candish. The 17th of November, being the coronation day of queen Elizabeth, was celebrated by discharges of ordnance, and vollies of small shot, and at night by fireworks. Of the prisoners taken in the Spanish ship, Candish reserved two Japanese boys, three natives of the island of Luzon or Manilla, a Portuguese who had been in China and Japan, and a Spanish pilot, who was thoroughly versant in the navigation between New Spain and the Philippine islands. Accapulco is the haven whence they fit out for the Philippines, and the Ladrones are their stated places of refreshment on this voyage.

Having dismissed the Spanish captain with a noble present, and sufficient provision for his defence against the Indians, and removed everything from the prize which his ships could contain, Candish set the Santa Anna on fire on the 19th November, having still 500 tons of her goods remaining, and saw her burnt to the water's edge.

SECTION III.

Voyage Home to England.

This great business, for which they had so long waited, being now accomplished, they set sail cheerfully on their return for England. The Content staid some short time behind the Desire, which went on before, expecting she would soon follow, but she never rejoined company. Pursuing the voyage, therefore, in the Desire, Candish directed his course for the Ladrones across the Pacific Ocean, these islands being nearly 1800 leagues distant from this harbour of Aguada Segura in California. This passage took forty-five days, from the 19th November, 1587, to the 3d January, 1588. On this day, early in the morning, they had sight of Guam, one of the Ladrones, in lat. 13 deg. 40' N. and long. 143 deg. 30' E. Sailing with a gentle gale before the wind, they came within two leagues of the island, where they saw sixty or seventy canoes full of savages, who brought cocoas, plantains, potatoes, and fresh fish, to exchange for some of their commodities. They gave them in return some pieces of old iron, which they hung upon small cords and fishing lines, and so lowered down to the canoes, getting back, in the same manner, what the savages offered in exchange. In the course of this traffic the savages crowded so much about the ship, that two of their canoes were broken; yet none of the savages were drowned, as they were almost as familiar with the water as if they had been fishes. The savages continued following the ship, and would not quit her company till several shots were fired at them; though 'tis ten to one if any of them were killed, as they are so very nimble, throwing themselves immediately into the water, and diving beyond the reach of danger on the slightest warning.

These islanders were large handsome men, extraordinarily fat, and of a tawny colour, mostly having very long hair, some wearing it tied up in large knots on the crown of their heads, like certain wooden images at the heads of their canoes. Their canoes were very artificially made, considering that they use no edge-tools in their construction; and are about seven or eight yards in length, by half a yard only in breadth, their heads and stems being both alike, and having rafts made of canes or reeds on their starboard sides, being also supplied both with masts and sails. These latter are made of sedges, and are either square or triangular. These canoes have this property, that they will sail almost as well against the wind as before it.

On the 19th January, at day-break, Candish fell in with a head-land of the Philippine islands, called Cabo del Espiritu Santo. The island itself [Samar] is of considerable size, consisting of high land in the middle, and depressed in its east and west extremities; the latter of which runs a great way out to sea. It is in lat. 30 deg. N. being distant 110 leagues from Guam and about 60 leagues from Manilla, the chief of the Philippines.[55] Samar is a woody island, and its inhabitants are mostly heathens. Candish spent eleven days in sailing from Guam to this place, having had some foul weather, and scarcely carrying any sail for two or three nights. Manilla, at this time, was an unwalled town of no great strength, yet containing vast riches in gold and valuable commodities, and inhabited by six or seven hundred Spaniards. It has a constant annual correspondence with Accapulco in New Spain; besides which twenty or thirty vessels come thither yearly from China, for conducting its trade with the Sangueloes: These are Chinese merchants, very sharp and sensible men in every thing relating to trade, extremely ingenious in all kinds of mechanical contrivances, and the most expert embroiderers on silk and satin of any in the world. They will execute any form of beast, fowl, or fish, in gold, silver, or silk, having all the just proportions and colours in every part, and giving all the life and beauty to their work, as if done by the best painter, or even as nature has bestowed on the originals. The trade of these men with Manilla must be very profitable, as they bring great quantities of gold there, and exchange it against silver, weight for weight.[56]

[Footnote 55: The latitude of Cape Espiritu Santo, as given in the test, is grossly erroneous, being only 12 deg. 35' N. and its long. 125 deg. 30' E. from Greenwich. The difference of longitude from Guam, Guaham, or Guaci, the most southerly of the Ladrones, is 17 deg. 45' nearly east, and consequently 355 marine leagues. This island is divided from Luzon, or Luconia, the principal island of the Philippines, by the narrow straits of San Bernardino; and Cape Espiritu Santo is about 100 leagues, in a straight line, from the city of Manilla, which lies to the N.W. Cape Espiritu Santo is at the N.W. extremity of the island of Samar.—E.]

[Footnote 56: This surely is an egregious error, as such acute merchants as the Chinese are here represented, and actually are, could never be so foolish as to give gold for silver, weight for weight. Before the present scarcity of bullion, the ordinary European price of exchange, was fourteen for one; and perhaps the then price in China might be lower, as twelve, eleven, or ten; but equality is quite inconceivable.—E.]

The same day on which he fell in with Cape Espiritu Santo, 14th of January, 1588, Candish entered in the evening into the straits of San Bernardino, between Samar or Cambaia, and the island of Luzon. The 15th he fell in with the island of Capul, passing a very narrow strait between that island and another, in which the current of the tide was considerable. In this passage, a ledge of rocks lay off the point of Capul, but was passed without danger. Within the point was a fair bay, with a good harbour, having anchorage in four fathoms, within a cable's length of the shore. Coming to anchor here about ten in the morning, the Desire was immediately boarded by a canoe, in which was one of the seven chiefs of the island. Passing themselves for Spaniards, the English traded with these people for cocoa-nuts and potatoes, giving a yard of linen for four cocoa-nuts, and as much for about a quart of potatoes, which they found sweet and excellent food, either boiled or roasted.

The cacique or chief who came on board had his skin curiously streaked or painted [tatooed], full of strange devices all over his body. Candish kept him on board, desiring him to send his servants, who paddled his canoe, to bring the other six chiefs to the ship. They came accordingly, attended by a great train of the natives, bringing vast quantities of hogs and hens, and a full market of cocoa-nuts and potatoes; so that the English were occupied the whole day in purchasing, giving eight rials of plate for a hog, and one for a hen. At this place, a justly-merited punishment was inflicted on a Spanish pilot, taken in the Santa Anna, who had plotted to betray them to the Spaniards, and for which he was hanged. Candish remained here for nine days, all the time receiving ample supplies of fresh victuals, good water, and wood for fuel. The islanders are all pagans, who are said to worship the devil, and to converse with him. They are of a tawny complexion, and go almost naked; the men wearing a small square piece of cloth in front, woven from plantain-leaves, and another behind, which is brought up between their legs, both being fastened to a girdle round their waists. They are all circumcised, and have also a strange custom, hardly practised any where else but in Pegu, having a nail of tin in a perforation through the glans, which nail is split at one end and rivetted; but which can be taken out as they have occasion, and put in again. This is said to have been contrived, on the humble petition of the women, to prevent perpetrating an unnatural crime, to which they were much addicted.

On the 23d of January, Candish summoned all the caciques of this island, and an hundred more, who had paid him tribute, and then revealed to them all, when assembled, that he and his men were Englishmen, and the greatest enemies the Spaniards had in the world. At the same time he generously restored them, in money, the value of all the tribute they had paid to him, in hogs, cocoa-nuts, potatoes, and the like. This unexpected generosity astonished the whole assembly, who applauded his bounty, and offered to join him with all the forces of their respective districts, if he would go to war with the Spaniards. They seemed much pleased with finding that Candish and his people were English, and thankful for the kindness with which they had been treated. On taking leave, they rowed round the ship awhile in their canoes, as if in compliment to the English; and Candish caused a gun to be fired at their departure.

Setting sail on the 24th, Candish ran along the coast of Luzon, steering N.W. between that island and Masbate. In the islands thereabout, the Spaniards were observed to keep a strict watch, making great fires, and discharging their pieces all night, having been much alarmed by the arrival of the English. The island of Panama is in many places plain and level, affording many large, tall, and straight trees, fit for masts, and has several mines of very fine gold, which are possessed by the natives. To the south of this is the island of the Negroes, which is very large, almost as big as England, and is in lat. 9 deg. N.[57] It appeared to consist mostly of low land, and to be very fertile.

[Footnote 57: Negro island reaches from lat. 9 deg. 15' to 11 deg. 45' N. and is consequently two and a half degrees from N. to S. about 174 English miles, but does not any where exceed thirty miles from E. to W.—E.]

At six in the morning of the 29th of January, they began to pass through the straits between Panama and Negro islands, and, after proceeding sixteen leagues, they found a fair opening in these straits, trending S.W. by S. About this time, being rejoined by their boat, which had been sent before them in the morning, Candish sent a Spanish prisoner on shore, with a message to his captain, who commanded a ship which lay at Panama the night before, desiring him to provide an abundant supply of gold against the return of the Desire, as he meant to pay him a visit at Manilla, and as that was a long voyage, it merited good entertainment. He said farther, that he would have come now, to weigh some of his Spanish gold in English scales, if he had possessed a larger boat for landing his men on the island.

Proceeding on the voyage, they saw Batochina on the 8th of February, an island near Gilolo, in the lat. of 1 deg. N. The 14th of that month they fell in with eleven or twelve small flat low islands, almost level with the sea, in lat. 3 deg. 10' S. near the Moluccas. March 1st, having passed the straits between Java Major and Java Minor, they anchored under the S.W. part of Java Major, where they saw some people fishing in a bay under the island. The admiral sent a boat to them, in which was a negro who could speak the Moresco[58] language, which is much used in Java. But, being frightened at the approach of the boat, they all got on shore and ran away into the woods. One of them, however, came back to the shore, on being called to by the negro, and directed where to find fresh water; besides which, he undertook to carry a message to the king of that part of the island from the admiral, certifying that he had come to purchase victuals, or any commodities the country afforded. In consequence of this message, nine or ten canoes belonging to the king came off, on the 12th March, loaded with all sorts of provisions as deep as they could swim; bringing oxen, hogs, hens, geese, eggs, sugar, cocoa-nuts, plantains, oranges, lemons, wine, and arrack.

[Footnote 58: Probably the Malay is here meant, and called Moresco or Moors, an ordinary term for Mahometans.—E.]

At the same time two Portuguese came off to visit Candish, and to enquire about their king, Don Antonio, then residing in England. These persons gave him a full account of the manners and customs of the people of this island. The king of this part was held in prodigious awe by his subjects, over whom he exercised absolute power, insomuch that no man was permitted to make a bargain without his leave, on pain of death. He had an hundred wives, and his son fifty; who may possibly be happy enough while he lives; but when he dies, and his body is burnt, and the ashes collected into an urn, the tragedy of his wives begins five days afterwards. They are then all conducted to an appointed place, where the favourite wife throws a ball from her hand, and where it stops marks the place of their deaths. Being come there, and turning their faces to the east, they all draw their daggers and stab themselves to the heart; after which they smear themselves with their own blood, and thus die.

The men of this island are excellent soldiers, being hardy, valiant, and desperate to the last degree, sticking at nothing commanded by their king, however dangerous; and, should he even command them to plunge a dagger into their own breast, or to leap from a precipice, or into a den of wild beasts, they instantly obey: For the displeasure of their sovereign is as certain death as the point of a sword, or the fangs of a beast of prey. Their complexion is tawny, like the other natives of India, and they go entirely naked; but their women are of a fairer hue, and are more modestly cloathed than the men.

After this relation of the Portuguese, having satisfied the Javans for the provisions they had supplied, and received a promise of good entertainment to the English when they might return to their island, Candish took leave of them, making a present to their king of three large cannon. Next day, being the 16th of March, he made sail for the Cape of Good Hope, spending all the rest of that month, all April, and a part of May, in traversing the vast ocean between the island of Java and the southern extremity of Africa, making many observations on the appearances of the stars, the weather, winds, tides, currents, soundings, and bearings and positions of lands.

On the 11th of May, land was espied bearing N. and N. by W. and towards noon more land was seen bearing W. which was believed to be the Cape of Good Hope, being then about forty or fifty leagues from that southern promontory of Africa.[59] The wind being scanty, they stood off to the southwards till midnight; and, the wind being then fair, stood their course directly west. On the 12th and 13th they were becalmed, with a thick and hazy atmosphere. The weather cleared upon the 14th, when they again saw land, which proved to be Cape Falso, forty or fifty leagues short, or to the eastwards of the Cape of Good Hope.[60] This Cape Falso is easily known, having three hills directly over it, the highest in the middle, and only a little distance from each other; the ground being much lower by the sea-side. Besides which, the Cape of Good Hope bears W. by S. from this cape. They discovered the Cape of Good Hope on the 16th of May, observing the head-land to be considerably high, having two hummocks at the westerly point, a little off the main, and three others a little farther into the sea, yet low-land still between these and the sea. By the Portuguese the Cape of Good Hope is said to be 2000 leagues from Java; but by their reckoning they made it only 1850 leagues, which took them just nine weeks in the run.

[Footnote 59: Either this is a gross error, or it means that their reckoning still made that distance from the Cape, as nothing nearly approaching to such a distance can possibly be seen.—E.]

[Footnote 60: Captain Falso is only ten leagues E. from the Cape of Good Hope; but perhaps Cape Aguillas may be meant in the text, which is about thirty-five leagues E.S.E. from the Cape.—E.]

By break of day on the 8th June, they were within seven or eight leagues of St Helena, of which island they had merely a glimpse that day, as, having little or no wind, they had to stand off and on all night. Next day, having a tolerably good wind, they stood in with the shore, sending the boat before, and came to anchor in a good bay, under the N.W. side of the island, in twelve fathoms, only two or three cables length from the shore. This island lies in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, almost at equal distances from the main land of Africa and that of Brazil, in Lat. 15 deg. 43' S. between five and six hundred leagues from the Cape of Good Hope.

Candish went here on shore, and entered the church, to which there was a fair causeway; having a frame between two bowls, and a cross of freestone adjoining. Within it was hung with painted cloth, on which were represented the Blessed Virgin, the story of the Crucifixion, and other holy legends, hung round the altar. The valley in which this church stands is extremely pleasant, and so full of fruit-trees and excellent plants, that it seemed like a very fair and well-cultivated garden, having long rows of lemon, orange, citron, pomegranate, date, and fig-trees, delighting the eye with blossoms, green fruit, and ripe, all at once. These trees seemed nicely trimmed, and there were many delightful walks under the shelter of their boughs, which were pleasant, cool, and shady. At some distance there rises a fine clear spring, which diffuses itself in many fine rivulets, all through this valley, watering all its parts, and refreshing every plant and tree. In the whole of this great garden there is hardly any unoccupied space; as, where nature may have left any part empty, there art has supplied the deficiency, so as to fill the whole space to advantage. This island also affords great abundance of partridges and pheasants, both being larger than ours in England. There are also turkeys, both black and white, with red heads, about as large as those in England, and their eggs much the same, only altogether white. There is also plenty of cabritos, or wild goats, as big as asses, and having manes like horses, and their beards reaching down to the ground. These are so numerous, that their herds or flocks are sometimes a whole mile in length. It contains also vast herds of wild-swine, which keep chiefly in the mountains, as do likewise the wild-goats. These swine are very fat, but so excessively wild that they are never to be got at by a man, unless when asleep, or rolling themselves in the mire.

Having taken in all necessaries that this place produced, Candish set sail for England on the 20th of June, standing N.W. by W. It is observable, that the wind at St Helena is generally off the shore. On Friday, the 23d of August, he steered E. and E. by S. for the northernmost of the Azores; and on the 29th, after midnight, he got sight of the islands of Flores and Corvo, in lat. 39 deg. 30' N. whence he shaped his course N.E. He met a Flemish vessel on the 3d September, bound from Lisbon, from which he had the joyful news of the total defeat of the Spanish Armada. On the 9th September, after receiving a farewell from the wind in a violent storm, which carried away most of his sails, Candish arrived at the long-desired haven of Plymouth.

There had not hitherto been any voyage of so much consequence, or attended by such uninterrupted success as this: As plainly appears from the length of time occupied by that of Magellan, which extended to three years and a month; that of Sir Francis Drake extending to upwards of two years and ten months; while this voyage by Candish was less than two years and two months. We need not wonder, therefore, that a young gentleman like Mr Candish, who was entirely devoted to a desire of acquiring glory and renown, should contrive some extraordinary manner of displaying his good fortune. Some accounts accordingly inform us, that he brought his ship into Plymouth harbour under a suit of silken sails, which, if true, may be thus explained. We have already mentioned, from his own narrative, that he encountered a violent storm, just before his arrival, which tore all his sails to pieces. In this distress, he would probably use those he had taken in the South Sea, made of what is called silk-grass, having a strong gloss and beautiful colour, which might easily deceive the eyes of the vulgar, and pass upon them for sails made of silk. This much is certain, however, that though he might be vain and expensive in such matters, yet all came fairly out of his own pocket; and those who had sailed with him, from the prospect of raising their fortunes, had not the least reason to complain, as he made a fair and full distribution of the prizes, by which he gained universal credit and esteem.

To shew his duty and diligence, as well as to discharge respectfully the obligations he owed his patron, Lord Hunsdon, the near relation of Queen Elizabeth, and then lord-chamberlain, he wrote the following letter to him on the very day of his arrival at Plymouth.

To the Right Honourable the Lord Hunsdon, &c.

Right Honourable,

As your favour heretofore hath been most greatly extended towards me, so I humbly desire a continuance thereof; and though there be no means in me to deserve the same, yet the uttermost of my services shall not be wanting, whensoever it shall please your honour to dispose thereof. I am humbly to desire your honour to make known unto her majesty the desire I have had to do her majesty service in the performance of this voyage; and, as it hath pleased God to give her the victory over part of her enemies, so I trust, ere long, to see her overthrow them all. For the places of their wealth, whereby they have maintained and made their wars, are now perfectly discovered; and, if it please her majesty, with a small power she may take and spoil them all.

It hath pleased the Almighty to suffer me to circumcompass all the whole globe of the world, entering in at the Straits of Magellan, and returning by the Cape of Buena Esperanca. In which voyage I have either discovered, or brought certain intelligence of, all the rich places of the world that ever were known or discovered by any Christian. I navigated along the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Nueva Espanna, where I made great spoils. I burnt and sunk nineteen sail of ships, great and small. All the villages and towns that ever I landed at, I burnt and spoiled; and, had I not been discovered upon the coast, I had taken a great quantity of treasure. The matter of most profit unto me was a great ship of the king's, which I took at California, which ship came from the Philippines, being one of the richest for merchandize that ever passed these seas, as the royal register, accounts, and merchants did shew; for it amounted in value to ***** in Mexico to be sold: which goods, for that my ships were not able to contain the least part of them, I was enforced to set on fire.

From the Cape of California, being the uppermost part of all New Spain, I navigated to the Philippine islands, hard upon the coast of China, of which country I have brought such intelligence as hath not been heard in these parts; the stateliness and riches of which country I fear to make report of; lest I should not be credited: for, if I had not known sufficiently the incomparable wealth of that country, I should have been as incredulous thereof as others will be that have not had the like experience.

I sailed along the islands of the Moluccas, where among some of the heathen people I was well intreated, and where our people may have trade as freely as the Portuguese, if they will themselves. From thence, I passed by the Cape of Buena Esperanca; and found out, by the way homeward, the island of St Helena, where the Portuguese used to refresh themselves; and, from that island, God hath suffered me to return into England. All which services, together with myself, I humbly prostrate at her majesty's feet, desiring the Almighty long to continue her reign among us; for at this day she is the most famous and most victorious prince that liveth in the world.

Thus, humbly desiring pardon for my tediousness, I leave your lordship to the tuition of the Almighty.

Your honour's most humble to command, Thomas Candish.

Plymouth, this 9th of September, 1588. * * * * *

There are many circumstances in this voyage, besides the wonderful facility with which it was accomplished, that deserve to be considered. As, for instance, the adventuring to pass a second time into the South Sea, after it was not only known that the Spaniards were excessively alarmed by the passage of Sir Francis Drake, but also that they had received succours from Spain, and had actually fortified themselves strongly in the South Sea. Also the nice search made by Candish, and the exact description he has given us of the Straits of Magellan, are very noble proofs of his skill and industry, and of his desire that posterity might reap the fruits of his labours. The attack of the Accapulco ship, likewise, considering the small force he had along with him, was a noble instance of true English bravery, which was justly rewarded by the queen with the honour of knighthood.

His account of the Philippines, and his description of several islands in the East Indies, are very clear and curious, and must at that time have been very useful; but particularly his map and description of China, which gave great lights in those days. We may add to all this, the great care he took in the instruction of his seamen, many of whom afterwards distinguished themselves by navigating vessels in the same stupendous course, and thereby filling all the known world with the fame and reputation of English seamen. It is not therefore surprising that we find the best judges, both of our own and other nations, bestowing very high praise on this worthy gentleman, who, in the whole conduct of his voyage, shewed the courage and discretion of a great commander, with all the skill and diligence of an able seaman; of both which eminent characters he has left the strongest testimonies in his accurate account of this circumnavigation.

The wealth brought home by Sir Thomas Candish from this successful voyage must have been considerable; an old writer says it was sufficient to have purchased a fair earldom, a general and vague expression, having no determinate meaning. Whatever may have been the amount of the sum, which he acquired with so much hazard and so great honour, he certainly did not make such prudent use of his good fortune as might have been expected; for in the space of three years the best part of it was spent, and he determined to lay out the remainder upon a second expedition. We need the less wonder at this, if we consider what the writers of those days tell us, of his great generosity, and the prodigious expence he was at in procuring and maintaining such persons as he thought might be useful to him in his future naval expeditions, on which subject his mind was continually bent. Such things require the revenues of a prince; and as he looked upon this voyage round the world as an introduction only to his future undertakings, we may easily conceive that, what the world considered extravagance, might appear to him mere necessary disbursements, which, instead of lessening, he proposed should have laid the foundations of a more extensive fortune. All circumstances duly considered, this was neither a rash nor improbable supposition; since there were many examples in the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth, of very large fortunes acquired by the same method in which he proposed to have increased his estate. Besides, it clearly appears, by his will, that he not only did not die in debt, but left very considerable effects behind him, notwithstanding his heavy expences, and the many misfortunes of his second expedition, of which it is proper to subjoin a brief account.—Harris.

In the Collection of Hakluyt, vol. IV. p. 341-355, is a long enumeration of nautical remarks, of the latitudes, soundings, distances of places, bearings of lands, variations of the compass, time spent in sailing between the several places enumerated, time of remaining at any of these, observations of winds, &c. &c. &c. written by Mr Thomas Fuller of Ipswich, who was master of the Desire in this voyage round the world; but which are too tedious and uninteresting for insertion.—E.

SECTION IV.

Second Voyage of Sir Thomas Candish, intended for the South Sea, in 1591.[61]

Though not a circumnavigation, owing to various misfortunes, it appears proper to insert this narrative, giving an account of the unfortunate end of the renowned Candish, by way of appendix to his circumnavigation. From the happy success of his former voyage, and the superior strength with which he undertook the second, in which, after ranging the Spanish coast of the South Sea, he proposed to have visited the Philippine islands and China, he certainly had every reason to have expected, that the profits of this new enterprise would have fully compensated for its expences, and have enabled him to spend the remainder of his days in honourable ease and affluence.

[Footnote 61: Hakluyt, IV. 361.—This narrative, as we learn from Hakluyt, was written by Mr John Lane, or Jane, a person of good observation, who was employed in this and many other voyages.—E.]

* * * * *

The ships fitted out on this occasion, entirely at his own expence, were the galleon named the Leicester, in which Sir Thomas Candish embarked himself as admiral, or general of the expedition; the Roebuck vice-admiral, commanded by Mr Cocke; the Desire rear-admiral, of which Mr John Davis was captain;[62] the Dainty, a bark belonging to Mr Adrian Gilbert, of which Mr Randolph Cotton had the command; and a pinnace named the Black.

[Footnote 62: The author of this narrative informs us that he sailed on this voyage along with Mr Davis.—E.]

Sec. 1. Incidents in the Voyage, till the Separation of the Ships.

With this squadron we sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of August, 1591. The 29th November, we fell in with the bay of St Salvador on the coast of Brazil, twelve leagues to the N. of Cabo Frio, where we were becalmed till the 2d December, when we captured a small bark, bound for the Rio Plata, laden with sugar, haberdashery wares, and negroes. The master of this bark brought us to an isle, called Placencia or Ilha Grande, thirty Portuguese leagues W. from Cabo Frio, where we arrived on the 5th December, and rifled six or seven houses inhabited by Portuguese. The 11th we departed from this place, and arrived on the 14th at the island of St Sebastian; whence Mr Cocke and Mr Davis immediately departed, with the Desire and the Black pinnace, on purpose to attack the town of Santos.

We anchored at the bar of Santos in the evening of the 15th, and went immediately in our boats to the town. Next morning about nine o'clock, we reached Santos, and being discovered, we immediately landed, being only twenty-four of us, our long-boat being still far astern. By this promptitude, we took all the people of the town prisoners in the church, being at mass, and detained them there all day. The great object of Sir Thomas Candish in assaulting this town was to supply our wants, expecting to have got every thing of which we stood in need, when once in possession: But such was the negligence of Mr Cocke, who commanded on this occasion, that the Indians were allowed to carry every thing out of the town in open view, and no one hindered them; and next day, our prisoners were all set free, only four poor old men being kept as pledges to supply our wants. By this mismanagement, the town of Santos, which could easily have supplied a fleet the double of ours with all kinds of necessaries, was in three days left to us entirely naked, without people, and without provisions. Sir Thomas Candish came up eight or ten days afterwards, and remained till the 22d January, 1592, endeavouring by treaty to procure what we were once possessed of, but to little purpose; and we were then forced to depart, through want of provisions, glad to procure a few baskets of cassavi meal, going away worse provided than we had come there. We accordingly left Santos on the 22d January, and burnt the town of St Vincent to the ground.

We set sail on the 24th, shaping our course for the Straits of Magellan. On the 7th February we had a violent storm, and on the 8th, our fleet was separated by the fury of the tempest. Consulting with the master of our ship, our captain concluded to go for Port Desire, in the latitude of 48 deg. S. hoping that Sir Thomas would go there likewise, as he had found great relief there in his former voyage. Our captain had not been able to get directions, what course to take in such a contingency as had now occurred, though he had earnestly proposed such a measure. In our way, we fortunately fell in with the Roebuck, which had been in extreme danger, and had lost her boat. We arrived together at Port Desire on the 6th March. The Black pinnace came in there also on the 16th; but the Dainty came not, having gone back for England, leaving their captain, Mr Randolph Cotton, aboard the Roebuck, with nothing but the clothes he wore. He now came aboard our ship, being in great habits of friendship with Captain Davis.

On the 18th Sir Thomas brought the galleon into the roads, and came himself into the harbour in a boat he had got built at sea, for his long-boat and light-horseman were both lost during the storm, together with a pinnace he had set up at Santos. Being on board our ship, the Desire, Sir Thomas informed our captain of all his extremities, and complained severely of his company, and particularly of several gentlemen in his ship, proposing to go no more on board his own ship, but to proceed for the rest of the voyage in the Desire. We were all grieved to hear such hard speeches of our good friends; but having spoken with the gentlemen in the Leicester, we found them faithful, honest, and resolute in their proceedings, although it pleased our general to conceive of them otherwise.

The 20th March we departed from Port Desire, Sir Thomas being in the Desire with us. The 8th of April we fell in with the Straits of Magellan, having sustained many furious storms between Port Desire and the straits. The 14th we passed the first straits, and got through the second, ten leagues beyond the first, on the 16th. We doubled Cape Froward on the 18th, which cape is in 53 deg. 30' S. The 21st we were forced by a furious storm to take shelter in a small cove with our ships, four leagues beyond the cape, and on the southern shore of the straits, where we remained till the 15th of May; in which time we endured much distress, by excessive storms, with perpetual snow, and many of our men died of cold and famine, not having wherewithal to cover their bodies nor to fill their bellies, but living on muscles, sea-weeds, and water, with an occasional supply of meal from the ships stores.[63] All the sick men in the galleon were most uncharitably put on shore into the woods, exposed to the snow, the air, and the cold, which men in health could hardly have endured, where they ended their days in the utmost misery, Sir Thomas remaining all this time in the Desire.

[Footnote 63: It would appear that this expedition had been very improvidently undertaken, with a very inadequate supply of provisions, and, as will afterwards appear, of naval stores, trusting perhaps to obtain supplies from the enemy, as had been attempted in vain at Santos. Either delayed by these views, or from ignorance, the passage through the straits was attempted at a very improper season, three months after the antarctic mid-summer and during the autumnal equinoctial gales. November, December, and January are the summer months, and best fitted for these high southern latitudes.—E.]

Seeing these great extremities of cold and snow, and doubting a disastrous end to the enterprize, Sir Thomas asked our captain's opinion, being a person of great experience in the utmost parts of the north, to which he had made three voyages of discovery in the employ of the London merchants. Captain Davis said, that he did not expect the snow to be of long continuance, for which he gave sufficient reasons from his former experience, and hoped therefore that this might not greatly prejudice or hinder the completion of the enterprize. Yet Sir Thomas called all the company together, telling them that he proposed to depart from the straits upon some other voyage, either proceeding for the Cape of Good Hope, or back again to Brazil. The company answered, that they desired rather to wait God's favour for a wind, if he so pleased, and to submit to any hardships, rather than abandon the intended voyage, considering that they had been here only for a short time, and were now only forty leagues from the South Sea; yet, though grieved to return, they were ready to perform whatever he pleased to command. So he concluded to leave the straits, and make sail for the Cape of Good Hope.

When Sir Thomas Candish returned on board the Desire, from talking with the company, Captain Davis requested he would consider the extremity of our estate and condition, the slenderness of his provision, and the weakness of his men, being in no case for undertaking that new enterprise; as, if the other ships were as ill appointed as the Desire, it would be impossible to perform his new design, having no more sails then were then bent, no victuals, no ground tackle, no cordage save what was already in use; and, of seventy-five persons in the Desire, the master only had knowledge enough for managing the ship, and there were only fourteen sailors besides, all the rest being gentlemen, serving-men, or tradesmen. Captain Davis laid these persuasions before both the general and Mr Cocke; and in fine, in consequence of a petition, delivered in writing by all the chief persons of the whole company, the general determined to depart from the Straits of Magellan, and to return again for Santos in Brazil.

Accordingly, we set sail on the 15th of May, the general being now on board the galleon, his own ship. The 18th we were free of the straits; but on passing Cape Froward, we had the misfortune to have our boat sunk at our stern in the night, by which she was split and sore injured, and lost all her oars. The 20th of May, being athwart Port Desire, the general altered his course during the night, as we suppose, by which we lost him. In the evening he stood close by the wind to leewards, having the wind at N.N.E. and we stood the same course, the wind not altering during the night, and next day we could not see him. We were then persuaded that the general was gone for Port Desire in quest of relief or that he had sustained some mischance at sea, and was gone there to seek a remedy. Our captain then called all hands together, the general's men among the rest, asking their opinion what was to be done, when every one said he thought the general was gone to Port Desire.

Our master, who was the general's man, and careful for his master's service, and also a person of good judgment in sea affairs, represented to the company how dangerous it was for us to go to Port Desire, especially if we should there miss the general; as we had now no boat wherewith to land, neither any anchors or cables which he could trust to in such rapid streams. Yet as we all concluded that it was most probable the general had gone there, we shaped our course for Port Desire, and on our way met the Black pinnace by chance, which had also parted company from the general, being in a miserable plight. So we both proceeded for Port Desire, where we arrived on the 26th of May.

Sec. 2. Disastrous result of the Voyage to Sir Thomas Candish.[64]

Various accounts of the disappointments and misfortunes of Sir Thomas Candish, in this disastrous voyage, are still preserved, but the most copious is contained in his own narrative, addressed to Sir Tristram Gorges, whom he constituted sole executor of his will. In this, Sir Thomas attributes his miscarriage to the cowardice and defection of one of his officers, in the following terms:—"The running away of the villain Davis was the death of me, and the decay of the whole action, and his treachery in deserting me the ruin of all."

[Footnote 64: This portion of the voyage is taken from the supplement in the Collection of Harris, to the circumnavigation of Sir Thomas Candish.—E.]

In this letter he complained also of mutinies, and that, by adverse winds at S W. and W.S.W. he had been driven 400 leagues from the shore, and from the latitude of 50 deg. to that of 40 deg. both S. He says also, that he was surprised by winter in the straits, and sore vexed by storms, having such frosts and snows in May as he had never before witnessed,[65] so that forty of his men died, and seventy more of them sickened, in the course of seven or eight days. Davis, as he says, deserted him in the Desire, in lat. 47 deg. S. The Roebuck continued along with him to lat. 36 deg. S. In consequence of transgressing his directions, Captain Barker was slain on land with twenty-five men, and the boat lost; and soon afterwards other twenty-five men met with a similar fate. Ten others were forsaken at Spiritu Santo, by the cowardice of the master of the Roebuck, who stole away, having six months provisions on board for 120 men, and only forty-seven men in his ship. Another mutiny happened at St Sebastians by the treachery of an Irishman, when Mr Knivet and other six persons were left on shore.

[Footnote 65: Sir Thomas Candish seems not to have been aware, that the month of May, in these high antarctic or southern latitudes, was precisely analogous with November in the high latitudes of the north, and therefore utterly unfit for navigation.—E.]

Intending again to have attempted passing through the straits, he was tossed up and down in the tempestuous seas of the Southern Atlantic, and came even at one time within two leagues of St Helena, but was unable to reach that island. In his last letter, he declares that, rather than return to England after so many disasters, he would willingly have gone ashore in an island placed in lat. 8 deg. in the charts. In this letter, he states himself to be then scarcely able to hold a pen; and we learn that he soon afterwards died of grief. The Leicester, in which Candish sailed, came home, as did the Desire. The Black pinnace was lost; but the fates of the Roebuck and the Dainty are no where mentioned.

The miscarriage of this voyage was certainly prejudicial to the rising trade and spirit of naval adventure in England. The ruin of Sir Thomas Candish threw a damp on such undertakings among the English gentlemen; and, on the return of these ships, several able and experienced seamen were turned adrift, to gain their livings as they best might. These thorough-bred seamen went to other countries; and, as knowledge is a portable commodity, they made the best market they could of their nautical experience in Holland and elsewhere. Among these was one Mr Mellish, who had been a favourite of Sir Thomas Candish, and the companion of all his voyages. This person offered his services to the East India Company of Holland, then in its infancy; and, his proposals being accepted, he was employed as pilot in the circumnavigation of Oliver van Noort, which falls next in order to be related.

Sec. 3. Continuation of the Voyage of the Desire, Captain Davis, after parting from Sir Thomas Candish.

Not finding our general at Port Desire, as we had expected, and being very slenderly provided, without sails, boat, oars, nails, cordage, and other necessary stores, and very short of victuals, we were reduced to a very unpleasant situation, not knowing how to proceed. Leaving ourselves, however, to the providence of the Almighty, we entered the harbour, and, by the good favour of God, we found a quiet and safe road, which we knew not of before. Having moored our ship, by the help of the boat belonging to the Black pinnace, we landed on the southern shore of the bay, where we found a standing pool, which might contain some ten tons of fresh water, by which we were greatly relieved and comforted. From this pool we took more than forty tons of water, yet left it as full as at first. At our former visit to this harbour, we were at this very place and found no water, wherefore we persuaded ourselves that the Almighty had sent this pool for our relief. We found here such remarkably low ebbs as we had never before seen, by means of which we procured muscles in great plenty. Providence also sent such great abundance of smelts about our ship, that all the people were able to take as many as they could eat, with hooks made of crooked pins. By these means we husbanded the ship's provisions, and did not spend any of them during our abode at this place.

Considering what was best to be done in our present circumstances, that we might find our general, and as it was obvious we could not refit our ship for sea in less than a month, our captain and master concluded to take the pinnace and go in search of the general, leaving the ship and a considerable part of the men till the return of the general, who had vowed he would return again to the straits. Hearing of this determination, two pestilent fellows, named Charles Parker and Edward Smith, secretly represented to the men, that the captain and master meant to leave them to be devoured by cannibals, and had no intention to come back; on which the whole company secretly agreed to murder the captain, master, and all those who were thought their friends, among whom I was included. This conspiracy was fortunately known to our boatswain, who revealed it to the master, and he to the captain. To appease this mutiny the captain found it necessary to desist from his intentions, and it was concluded not to depart, but to wait at Port Desire for the return of the general. After this the whole company, with one consent, made a written testimonial of the circumstances by which we had lost company of the general, and the indispensable necessity of returning home.

In this testimony or protest, dated Port Desire, 2d June, 1592, it is represented, that the shrouds of the ship are all rotten, the ropes all so decayed that they could not be trusted; the sails reduced to one shift all worn, of which the topsails were utterly unable to abide any stress of weather; the ship unprovided with pitch, tar, or nails for repairs of any kind, and no means of supplying these wants; the provisions reduced to five hogsheads of salt pork, and such quantity of meal as admitted only an allowance of three ounces for a man each day, and no drink remaining except water. This instrument is signed by John Davis and Randolph Cotton, the captains of the Desire and Black pinnace, and thirty-eight more, but the name John Jane, or Lane, does not appear among them.

After this, they proceeded to refit the ship with all expedition, for which purpose they built a smith's forge, making charcoal for its supply, and made nails, bolts, and spikes. Others of the crew were employed in making ropes from a piece of cable; and others again in all the necessary repairs of the ship, sails, and rigging; while those not fit for such offices, gathered muscles and caught smelts for the whole company. Three leagues from Port Desire there is an island, having four small isles about it, on which there are great abundance of seals, and where likewise penguins resort in vast numbers at the breeding season. To this island it was resolved to dispatch the Black pinnace occasionally, to fetch seals for us to eat, when smelts and muscles failed, for we could get no muscles at neap-tides, and only when the ebb was very low.

In this miserable and forlorn condition we remained till the 6th of August, 1592, still keeping watch on the hills to look out for our general, suffering extreme anguish and vexation. Our hope of the general's return becoming very cold, our captain and master were persuaded that he might have gone directly for the straits; wherefore it was concluded to go there and wait his coming, as there we could not possibly miss seeing him if he came. This being agreed to by the whole company, we set sail from Port Desire on the 6th August, and went to Penguin island, where we salted twenty hogsheads of seals, which was as much as our salt could do. We departed from Penguin island towards night of the 7th August, intending for the straits. The 14th we were driven among certain islands, never before discovered, fifty leagues or better from the shore, east-northerly from the straits.[66] Fortunately the wind shifted to the east, or we must have inevitably perished among these islands, and we were enabled to shape our course for the straits.

[Footnote 66: 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. In this heavy distress, our captain and master thought it best to depart from the straits into the South Sea, and to proceed for the island of Santa Maria in lat. 37 deg. S. on the coast of Chili, which is situated in a temperate climate, where we might find relief, and could wait for our general, who must necessarily pass by that island. We accordingly set sail on the 13th September, and came in sight of the South Sea. The 14th we were driven back into the straits, and got into a cove three leagues from the South Sea. We again stood out, and being eight or ten leagues free of the land, the wind rose furiously at W.N.W. and we were again forced to return into the straits, not daring to trust to our sails in any stress of weather. We again got into the cove, three leagues from the eastern mouth of the straits, where we had such violent weather that one of our two remaining cables broke, and we were almost in despair of saving our lives. Yet it pleased God to allay the fury of the storm, and we unreeved our sheets, tacks, halyards, and other ropes, and made fast our ship to the trees on shore, close by the rocks. We laboured hard to recover our anchor again, which we could not possibly effect, being, as we supposed, entirely covered over in the ooze.

We were now reduced to one anchor, which had only one whole fluke; and had only one old cable, already spliced in two places, and a piece of another old cable. In this extremity of trouble it pleased God that the wind came fair on the 1st October, on which we loosed our land fastnings with all expedition, weighed our anchor, and towed off into the channel; for we had repaired our boat when in Port Desire, and got five oars from the Black pinnace. On weighing our anchor we found the cable sore broken, holding only by one strand, which was a most merciful preservation. We now reeved our ropes and rigged our ship the best we could, every man working as if to save our lives in the utmost extremity. Our company was now much divided in opinion as to how we should proceed for the best; some desiring to return to Port Desire, to be there set on shore, and endeavour to travel by land to some of the Spanish settlements, while others adhered to the captain and master: But at length, by the persuasion of the master, who promised that they would find wheat, pork, and roots in abundance at the island of St Mary, besides the chance of intercepting some ships on the coasts of Chili and Peru, while nothing but a cruel death by famine could be looked for in attempting to return by the Atlantic, they were prevailed upon to proceed.

So, on the 2d of October, 1592, we again made sail into the South Sea, and got free from the land. This night the wind again began to blow very strong at west, and increased with such violence that we were in great doubt what measures to pursue. We durst not put into the straits for lack of ground tackle, neither durst we carry sail, the tempest being very furious, and our sails very bad. In this extremity the pinnace bore up to us, informing she had received many heavy seas, and that her ropes were continually failing, so that they knew not what to do; but, unable to afford her any relief; we stood on our course in view of a lee shore, continually dreading a ruinous end of us all. The 4th October the storm increased to an extreme violence; when the pinnace, being to windward, suddenly struck a hull, when we thought she had sustained some violent shock of a sea, or had sprung a leak, or that her sails had failed, because she did not follow us. But we durst not hull in this unmerciful storm, sometimes trying under our main-course, sometimes with a haddock of our sail; for our ship was very leeward, and laboured hard in the sea. This night we lost sight of the pinnace, and never saw her again.

The 5th October, our foresail split, on which our master brought the mizen-sail to the foremast to make the ship work, and we mended our foresail with our spritsail. The storm still continued to rage with the most extreme fury, with hail, snow, rain, and wind, such and so mighty that it could not possibly in nature be worse; the seas running so lofty, and with a continual breach, that we many times were in doubt whether our ship did sink or swim. The 10th, the weather dark, the storm as furious as ever, most of the men having given over labour from fatigue and in despair, and being near the lee-shore by the reckoning both of the captain and master, we gave ourselves up for lost, past all remedy. While in this extremity of distress, the sun suddenly shone out clear, by which the captain and master were enabled to ascertain the latitude, and thereby knew what course to steer, so as to recover the straits. Next day, the 11th October, we saw Cape Deseado, being the southern point of the entrance into the straits, for the northern point is a dangerous assemblage of rocks, shoals, and islands. The cape was now two leagues to leeward, and the master was even in doubt whether we might be able to steer clear of it; but there was no remedy, as we must either succeed or be irretrievably lost.

Our master, being a man of spirit, made quick dispatch, and steered for the straits. Our sails had not been half an hour abroad for this purpose when the foot-rope of the fore-sail broke, so nothing held save the oilet-holes. The sea continually broke over our poop, and dashed with such violence against our sails, that we every moment looked to have them torn to pieces, or that the ship would overset. To our utter discomfort also, we perceived that she fell still more and more to leeward, so that we could not clear the cape. We were now within half a mile of the cape, and so near shore that the counter surge of the sea so rebounded against the side of our ship, that the horrors of our situation were undescribably awful. While in this utmost extremity, the wind and the sea raging beyond measure, and momentarily expecting to be driven upon the rocks, our master veered away some of the main-sheet: Whether owing to this, or by some counter current, or by the wonderful interposition of God, our ship quickened her way and shot past the rock, where we all thought she must have perished. Between this and the cape there was a small bay, so that we were now somewhat farther from the shore; but on coming to the cape, we again looked for nothing but instant death; yet God, the father of mercy, delivered us, and we doubled the cape little more than the length of our ship. When past the cape, we took in all our sails, and, being between the high lands, the wind blowing trade, or steadily in the direction of the straits, we spooned before the sea under bare poles, three men being unable to manage the helm, and in six hours we were driven twenty-five leagues within the straits.

In this time we freed our ship from water, and when we had rested a while, our men became unable to move, their sinews being stiff, and their flesh as if dead. Many of them were so covered and eaten with lice, that there lay clusters of them in their flesh as large as peas, yea, some as big as beans. In this state of misery we were constrained to put into a cove to refresh our men, where we moored to the trees as we had done before, our only anchor being to seaward. We here continued till the 20th of October; and being unable to continue longer, through the extremity of famine, we again put off into the channel on the 22d, the weather being then reasonably calm. Before night the wind blew hard at W.N.W. The storm waxed so violent that our men could scarcely stand to their labour; and the straits being full of turnings and windings, we had to trust entirely to the discretion of the captain and master to guide the ship during the darkness of the night, when we could see no shore, and the straits were in some places scarcely three miles broad. When we first passed these straits, our captain made so excellent a draught of them, as I am confident cannot in any sort be made more correct. Which draught he and the master so carefully considered, that they had every turning, creek, and head-land so perfectly in their memory, as enabled them, even in the deepest darkness of the night, undoubtingly to convey the ship through that crooked channel.

The 25th October we came to an island in the straits, named Penguine Isle, where the boat was sent ashore to seek relief, as it abounded with birds, and the weather was calm; so we came to anchor near the island, in seven fathoms. While the boat was ashore, where we got abundance of penguins, there rose a sudden storm, by which our ship was driven over a breach, and our boat sunk at the shore. Captain Cotton and the lieutenant, who were both on shore, leapt into the boat, and freed it of water, throwing away the birds, and with great difficulty got back to the ship. All this time the ship was driving upon the lee-shore; and when we got on board, we helped to weigh the anchor and make sail. Thus, in a severe storm, we got clear of the straits on the 27th October; and on the 30th we got to that Penguin Island which is three leagues from Port Desire, where we purposed to seek relief. Immediately on coming to this isle, our boat was sent ashore, and returned laden with birds and eggs, the men reporting that the penguins were so thick on the isle, that even ships might be laden with them, as they could not step without treading on these birds; at which news we greatly rejoiced.

Then the captain appointed Charles Parker and Edmund Smith, with twenty others, to go on shore, and remain on the island, on purpose to kill and dry these penguins: promising to send others when the ship was safe in harbour, not only for expedition, but to save the small store of victuals that remained in the ship. But Parker and Smith, with the rest of their faction, remembering that this was the place where they intended formerly to have slain the captain and master, thought it was meant here to leave them on shore out of revenge, and refused to land. After some altercation, these men were allowed to proceed in the ship, and ten others were left in the island. The last day of October we entered the harbour of Port Desire. The master, having at our being there before taken notice of every creek in the river, ran our ship aground in a very convenient place on the sandy ooze, laying our anchor out to seawards, and mooring her with the running ropes to stakes on shore, in which situation the ship remained till our departure.

The 3d November our boat was sent off for Penguin Island, with wood and water, and as many men as she could carry; but, being deep laden, she durst not proceed, and returned again the same night. Then Parker, Smith, Townsend, Purpet, and five others, desired that they might go by land, and that the boat might fetch them from the shore opposite the isle, being scarcely a mile across. The captain bid them do as they thought best, only advised them to carry weapons, as they might meet with savages; so they accordingly carried calivers, swords, and targets, departing by land on the 6th November, while the boat went by sea. But these nine men were never more heard of. On the 11th, when most of our men were at the island, only the captain, master, and five more remaining in the ship, there came a great multitude of savages to the shore beside the ship, throwing dust into the air, leaping and running about like so many beasts, having vizards on their faces like dogs, or else their faces actually resembled dogs. We greatly feared they would have set the ship on fire, for they would suddenly make fire, at which we were greatly astonished. They came to windward of the ship, and set the bushes on fire, so that we were enveloped in a very stinking smoke; but coming within shot of us, we fired at them, and hitting one on the thigh, they all fled instantly away, and we never heard or saw them more. Hence we judged that these savages had slain our nine men, who were the ringleaders of those who would formerly have murdered our captain and master, with the rest of their friends; so that God evidently drew just judgment upon them, and we supplicated his divine Majesty to be merciful to us.

While we lay in this harbour, our captain and master went one day in the boat to see how far the river could be penetrated, that if need enforced us, it might be known how far we might proceed by water. They found that this river was only navigable by the boat for twenty miles. On their return, the boat was sent to Penguin Island, by which we learnt that the penguins dried to our entire satisfaction, and were in infinite numbers. This penguin is shaped like a bird, having stumps only in place of wings, by which it swims under water as swiftly as any fish. They live upon smelts, which are found in vast abundance on this coast. In eating, these penguins seem neither fish nor flesh. They lay large eggs; and the bird is about as large as two ducks. All the time we remained at Port Desire, we fared well on penguins and their eggs, young seals, young gulls, and other birds of which I know not the names, all of which we had in vast abundance. In this place also we found plenty of an herb called scurvy-grass, which we eat fried in seal-oil along with eggs, which so purified the blood, that it entirely removed all kind of swellings, of which many had died, and restored us all to as perfect health as when we first left England.

We remained in this harbour till the 22d of December, 1592, in which time we had dried 20,000 penguins. In this time also the captain, with the master and I, made some salt, by filling some holes in the rocks with sea-water, which in six days was changed to salt by evaporation, it being now Midsummer in this southern hemisphere. Thus did God feed us in the desert, even as with manna from heaven. The 22d December we departed from Port Desire for Penguin island, where, with great difficulty, we got 14,000 of the dried birds on board, during which we had nearly lost our captain; and had not our master been very expert in the set of the tides, which ran in many cross directions, we had lost our ship.

We now shaped our course for Brazil, under a regulated allowance of provisions, so that our victuals might last six months, in which time we hoped we might get back to England, though our sails were very bad. This allowance was, two ounces and a half of meal for each man, two days only in the week, or five ounces for a week; three days a week, three spoonfulls of oil were allowed to each man; two days a week, a pint of peas among four men; and every day five dried penguins among four men, with six quarts of water each day to four men. With this allowance, praised be God, we lived, though weak and feeble.

The 30th January, 1593, we arrived at the isle of Placencia, or Ilha Grande, in Brazil, the first place at which we touched when outwards bound. The ship laying off at sea, the captain went aland in the boat with twenty-four men, being the whole night before he could reach the shore. He landed next day at sun-rise, hoping to catch the Portuguese in their houses, and by that means to procure a supply of casava meal; but on coming to the houses, we found them all burnt to the ground, so that we thought no one had remained on the island. The captain then went to the gardens, whence he brought a quantity of fruits and roots for the company, and returned on board. He then brought the ship into a fine creek, where she was moored to the trees on each side, at a place where we had plenty of fresh water. Our case being very desperate, we presently set to work to trim and repair our water-casks, the coopers making new hoops; while others laboured to repair the sails, keeping always a guard on shore, and every man having always his weapons ready at hand. The 3d February, thirty men well armed went to the gardens, three miles from where the ship lay, to dig cassavi-roots, to serve our company instead of bread. This was again repeated on the 5th. They laboured in quietness all the morning; and about ten o'clock, the heat being extreme, they came to a rock near the side of the wood, where they boiled cassavi-roots for dinner. After dinner, some went to sleep, and others to bathe in the sea, no one keeping watch, not a match lighted, nor even a piece charged. While in this unprovided state, and out of sight from the ship, there came suddenly upon them a multitude of Portuguese and Indians, who slew them all to the number of thirteen, two only escaping, one of these very sore hurt, and the other not touched, from whom we learnt the circumstances of this sad massacre.

We manned the boat with all speed, and went ashore, if happily we might succour our men; but we found them all slain, and laid naked in a row, with their faces upwards, and a cross set up beside them. We saw also two large pinnaces coming from Rio de Janeiro, full of men, who, as we supposed, were intended to take us. We were now much reduced, as of seventy-six persons we had on board when we left England, there were now only twenty-seven of us remaining, thirty-two having died formerly, and thirteen being slain in this place. Between those formerly slain by the savages at Port Desire, and those now in the island of Placencia by the Portuguese, all those who had conspired to murder our captain and master were now cut off, the gunner only excepted. Our casks were so greatly decayed, that we could not take in a sufficient supply of water, and what we had was exceedingly bad. Having lost several muskets on shore, which had belonged to our slain men, with good store of powder and shot, we expected to be beaten from our decks by means of our own weapons, by the Portuguese on the island, joined by those coming from Janeiro: and as we were moored to the trees, for want of cables and anchors, we were in dread of having our mooring ropes cut. In this miserable state we knew not what measures to pursue. To depart with only eight tons of bad water, and in bad casks, were to run the risk of starving at sea, and to remain seemed inevitable ruin. These were severe alternatives; but in our perplexity we preferred trusting to the hand of God than to the mercy of our enemies, and concluded to depart. Wherefore, on the 6th February, we unmoored and removed our ship into the channel, putting all our ordnance and small arms in readiness in case of an assault, and having a small gale of wind, we put to sea in deep distress.

Thus bemoaning our sad estate, and recounting our past misfortunes, we came to Cape Frio; being much crossed for three weeks by contrary winds, and our water running short, we were reduced to the utmost distress and perplexity. Some of the people were desirous of going into Bahia, and submitting to the Portuguese, rather than die of thirst; but our captain persuaded them against this measure. In this extremity, it pleased God to send us such abundant rain, that we were enabled to supply ourselves with water. On getting into the hot climate near the line, our dried penguins began to corrupt, and there bred in them many loathsome worms, an inch in length. These worms increased with astonishing rapidity, devouring our victuals so fast that we now seemed doomed to die of famine, as before of thirst We were even in danger of being eaten up by these worms, which devoured every thing except iron. They so gnawed the timbers of our ship, that we feared they would eat holes through her sides. We used every possible contrivance to destroy these noisome vermin, but they seemed only to increase so much the more, so that at last they would eat our flesh, and bite us like mosquitoes when we were asleep.

In this woeful plight, after we had passed the equator towards the north, our men began to fall sick of a most terrible disease, such as, I believe, was never before heard of. It began with a swelling in their ankles, which in two days rose up as high as their breasts, so that they could not breathe. It then fell into the scrotum, which, with the penis, swelled in a most grievous manner, so that they could neither stand, walk, nor lie; and many of them became frantic with grief and distress. Our captain, with extreme distress of mind, was in so miserable a condition, that he wished to die; yet, while scarcely able to speak for sorrow, he continued to exhort us all to patience and reliance on God, desiring us to accept our chastisement like dutiful and thankful children. In this state of misery and wretchedness, several died raving mad, and others in a most loathsome state, or in dreadful pain and agony. None in the ship remained in perfect health, except the captain and one boy; the master also, though oppressed with extreme labour and anxiety, bore up with spirit, so that his disease did not overcome him.

At length all our men died except sixteen, five only of whom were able to move. These were, the captain, who was in good health, the master indifferent, Captain Cotton and myself swollen and short-winded, yet better than the other sick men, and the boy in good health. Upon us five the whole labour of the ship rested. The captain and master, as happened to be necessary, took in and left out the topsails. The master by himself attended to the sprit-sail, and all of us the capstan, being utterly unable to work sheets and tacks. Our misery and weakness were so extreme, that we were utterly unable to take in or set a sail; so that our top-sails and sprit-sail were at length torn in pieces by the weather. The captain and master had to take their turns at the helm, where they were inexpressibly grieved and distressed by the continual and sad lamentations of our few remaining sick men.