Cape is well neere a mile broad and lieth North-east by East The Captaine went here ashoare and found the ground to be full of Pease Strawberies Hurtberies c. as then vnripe the sand also by the shoare somewhat deepe the fire-wood there by vs taken in was of Cypresse Birch Wich-hazell and Beech. A young Indian came here to the Captaine armed with his Bow and Arrowes and had certaine plates of Copper hanging at his Eares hee shewed a willingnesse to helpe vs in our occasions The sixteenth we trended the Coast Southerly which was all champaine and full of grasse but the Ilands somewhat wooddie Twelue leagues from Cape Cod we descried a point with some breach a good distance off and keeping our losse to double it wee came on the sudden into shoale water yet well quitted our selues thereof This breach wee called Tuckers Terror vpon his expressed feare The Point we named Point Care hauing passed it wee bore vp againe with the Land and in the night came with it anchoring in eight fadome the ground good The seuenteenth appeared many breaches round about vs so as wee continued that day without remooue The eighteenth being faire we sent forth the Boat to sound ouer a Breach that in our course lay of another Point by vs called Gilberts Point who returned vs foure fiue sixe and seuen fadome ouer Also a Discouery of diuers Ilands which after prooued to bee Hils and Hummocks distinct within the Land This day there came vnto the ships side diuers Canoas the Indians apparelled as aforesaid with Tobacco and Pipes steeled with Copper Skins artificiall strings and other trifles to barter one had hanging about his necke a plate of â—â—ch Copper in length a foot in breadth halfe a foot for a brest-plate the Eares of all the rest had Pendants of Copper Also one of them had his face ouer painted and his head stucke with feathers in manner of a Turkey Cocks traine These are more timerous then those of the Sauâ—ge Rocke yet very theeuish The nineteenth we passed ouer the breach of Gilberts Point in foure or fiue fadome and anchored a league or somewhat more beyond it betweene the last two Points are two leagues the interim along shoale water the latitude here is 41. degrees two third parts The twentieth by the ships side we there killed Pengwins and saw many sculs of fish The Coast from Gilberts Point to the supposed Iles lyeth East and by South Here also we discouered two Inlets which might promise fresh water inwardly whereof we perceiued much smoake as though some population had there beene This Coast is very full of people for that as we trended the same Sauages still runne along the shoare as men much admiring at vs. The one and twentieth we went coasting from Gilberts Point to the supposed Iles in tenne nine eight seuen and sixe fadome close aboord the shoare and that depth lyeth a league off A little from the supposed Iles appeared vnto vs an opening with which we stood iudging it to bee the end of that which Captaine Gosnoll descrieth from Cape Cod and as hee thought to extend some thirtie or more miles in length and finding there but three fadome a league off we omitted to make further discouerie of the same calling it Shole-hope From this opening the Mayne lyeth south-South-west which coasting along we saw a disinhabited Iland which so afterwards appeared vnto vs we bore with it and named it Marthaes Vineyard from Shole-hope it is eight leagues in circuit the Iland is fiue miles and hath 41. degrees and one quarter of latitude the place most pleasant for the two and twentieth we went a shoare and found it full of Wood Vines Gooseberie bushes Hurtberies Raspices Eglentine c. Heere we had Cranes Hearnes Shoulers Geese and diuers other Birds which there at that time vpon the Cliffes being sandie with some Rockie stones did breed and had young In this place we saw Deere heere we rode in eight fathome neere the shoare where wee tooke great store of Cod as before at Cape Cod but much better The three and twentieth wee weyed and towards night came to Anchor at the Northwest part of this Iland where the next morning offâ—red vnto vs fast running thirteene Sauages apparelled as aforesaid and armed with Bowes and Arrowes without any feare They brought Iobacco Deere skins and some sodden fish These offered themselues vnto vs in great familiaritie who seemed to be well conditioned They came more rich in Copper then any before This Iland is sound and hath no danger about it The foure and twentieth we set saile and doubled the Cape of another Iland next vnto it which wee called Douer Cliffe and then came into a faire Sound where wee roade all night the next morning wee sent off our Boate to discouer another Cape that lay betweene vs and the Mayne from which were a ledge of Rockes a mile into the Sea but all aboue water and without danger we went about them and came to Anchor in eight fadome a quarter of a mile from the shoare in one of the stateliest Sounds that euer I was in This called wee Gosnolls Hope the North banke whereof is the Mayne which stretcheth East and West This Iland Captaine Gosnoll called Elizabeths Ile where we determined our abode the distance betweene euery of these Ilands is viz. from Marthaes Vineyard to Douer Cliffe halfe a league ouer the Sound thence to Elizabeths Ile one league distant From Elizabeths Ile vnto the Mayne is foure leagues On the North side neere adioyning vnto the Iland Elizabeth is an Ilet in compasse halfe a myle full of Cedars by me called Hills Hap to the Northward of which in the mouth of an opening on the Mayne appeareth another the like that I called Haps Hill for that I hope much hap may be expected from it The fiue and twentieth it was that we came from Gosnolls Hope The six and twentieth we trimmed and fitted vp our Shallop The seuen and twentieth there came vnto vs an Indian and two women the one we supposed to be his Wife the other his Daughter both cleane and straite bodied with countenance sweet and pleasant To these the Indian gaue heedfull attendance for that they shewed them in much familiaritie with our men although they would not admit of any immodest touch The eight and twentieth we entred counsell about our abode and plantation which was concluded to be in the West part of Elizabeths Iland The North-east thereof running from out our ken The South and North standeth in an equall Parallel This Iland in the Westerâ—de admitteth some Increekes or sandie Coues so girded as the water in some places of each side meeteth to which the Indians from the Mayne doe oftentimes resort for fishing of Crabs There is eight fadome very neere the shoare and the latitude here is 41. degrees 10. minutes the breadth from Sound to Sound in the
point south-South-west it riseth in three Mounts or round Hillockes bringing it more Westerly they shoot themselues all into one and bringing it Easterly it riseth in two Hillockes This we called Point Tremountaine Some twelue or fourteene leagues from this point to the Eastwards faire by the shoare lyeth a low flat Iland of some two leagues long we named it Faire Iland for it was all ouer as greene and smooth as any Meddow in the Sping of the yeare Some three or foure leagues Easterly from this Iland is a goodly opening as of a great Riuer or an arme of the Sea with a goodly low Countrey adjacent And eight or tenne leagues from this opening some three leagues from the shoare lyeth a bigge Rocke which at the first we had thought to be a ship vnder all her sayles but after as we came neere it discouered it selfe to bee a Rocke which we called Conduit-head for that howsoeuer a man commeth with it it is like to the Conduit-heads about the Citie of London All this Coast so farre as we discouered lyeth next of any thing East and by North and West and by South The Land for that it was discouered in the Reigne of Qâ—eene Elizabeth my Souereigne Lady and Mistris and a Mayden Queene and at my cost and aduenture in a perpetuall memory of her chastitie and remembrance of my endeuours I gaue it the name of Hawkins Maiden-land Before a man fall with this Land some twenâ—y or thirty leagues he shall meet with beds of Oreweed driuing to and fro in that Sea with white flowres growing vpon them and sometimes farther off which is a good shew and signe the Land is neere whereof the Westermost part lyeth some threescore leagues from the neerest Land of America With our faire and large wind wee shaped our course for the Straits and the tenth of February wee had sight of Land and it was the head-land of the Straits to the Northwards which agreed with our height wherein wee found our selues to bee which was in 52. degrees and 40. minutes Within a few houres we had the mouth of the Straits open which lieth in 52. degrees and 50. minutes It riseth like the North foreland in Kent and is much like the Land of Margates It is not good to borrow neere the shoare but to giue it a faire birth within a few houres we entred the mouth of the Straits which is some sixe leagues broad and lieth in 52. degrees and 50. minutes doubling the Point on the starbood which is also flat of a good birth we opened a faire Bay in which we might descry the Hull of a ship beaten vpon the Beach It was of the Spanish Fleet that went to inhabit there in Anno 1582. vnder the charge of Pedro Sarmiento who at his returne was taken Prisoner and brought into England In this Bay the Spaniards made their principall habitation and called it the Citie of Saint Philip and left it peopled But the cold barrennesse of the Countrey and the malice of the Indians with whom they badly agreed made speedy end of them as also of those whom they left in the middle of the Straits three leagues from Cape Forward to the Eastwards in another habitation We continued our course alongst this Reaâ—h for all the Straits is as a Riuer altering his course sometimes vpon one point sometimes vpon another which is some eight leagues long and lieth West North-west From this we entred into a goodly Bay which runneth vp into the Land Northerly many leagues and at first entrance a man may see no other thing but as it were a maine Sea From the end of this first Reach you must direct your course West South-west and some fourteene or fifteene leagues lyeth one of the narrowest places of all the Straits This leadeth vnto another Reach that lyeth West and by North some six leagues Here in the middle of the Reach the wind tooke vs by the North-west and so we were forced to anchor some two or three dayes In which time we went ashoare with our Boats and found neere the middle of this Reach on the starboord side a reasonable good place to ground and trimme a small ship where it higheth some nine or ten foot water Here we saw certaine Hogs but they were so farre from vs that we could not discerne whether they were of those of the Countrey or brought by the Spaniards these were all the beasts which we saw in all the time we were in the Straits In two tides we turned through this reach and so recouered the Ilands of Pengwins they lye from this reach foure leagues South-west and by West Till you come to this place care is to be taken of not comming too neere to any point of the land for being for the most part sandy they haue sholding off them and are somewhat dangerous These Ilands haue beene set forth by some to be three we could discouer but two And they are no more except that part of the Mayne which lyeth ouer against them be an Iland which carrieth little likelihood and I cannot determine it A man may saile betwixt the two Ilands or betwixt them and the Land on the Larboord side from which Land to the bigger Iland is as it were a bridge or ledge on which is foure or fiue fathom water and to him that commeth neere it not knowing thereof may justly cause feare for it sheweth to be shold water with his ripling like vnto a Race Betwixt the former Reach and these Ilands runneth vp a goodly Bay into the Countrey to the North-wards It causeth a great Indraughty and aboue these Ilands runneth a great tide from the mouth of the Straits to these Ilands the Land on the Larboord-side is low Land and sandy for the most part and without doubt Ilands for it hath many openings into the Sea and forcible Indraughts by them and that on the Starboord side is all high Mountaynous Land from end to end but no wood on either side Before we passed these Ilands vnder the Lee of the bigger Iland we anchored the winde beeing at North-east with intent to refresh our selues with the Fowles of these Ilands they are of diuers sorts and in great plentie as Pengwins wild Ducks Guls and Gannets of the principall we purposed to make prouision and those were the Pengwins The Pengwin is in all proportion like a Goose and hath no feathers but a certaine downe vpon all parts of his bodie and therefore canot flee but auayleth himselfe in all occasions with his feet running as fast as most men He liueth in the Sea and on the Land feedeth on fish in the Sea and as a Goose on the shore vpon grasse They harbour themselues vnder the ground in Burrowes as the Conies and in them hatch their young All parts of the Iland where they haunted were vndermined saue onely one Valley which it seemeth they reserued for their food for it
Wester part is not passing a mile at most altogether vnpeopled and disinhabited It is ouer-growne with Wood and Rubbish viz. Okes Ashes Beech Wal-nut Weech-halse Sassafrage and Cedars with diuers other of vnknowne names The R 〈…〉 sh is wild Peaze young Sassafrage Cherie trees Vines Eglentine Goose-berie bushes Hawâ—â—orne Honisuckles with others of like qualitie The herbs and Roots are Strawberies Raspis Ground Nuts Alexander Surrin Tansie c. without count Touching the fertilitie of the soyle by our owne experience made we found it to be excellent for sowing some English pulse it sprowted out in one fortnight almost halfe a foot In this Iland is a stage or Pond of fresh water in circuit two miles on the one side not distant from the Sea thirtie yards in the Centre whereof is a Rockie Islet contayning neere an Acre of ground full of wood on which wee beganne our Fort and place of abode disposing it selfe so fit for the same These Indians call Gold Wassador which argueth there is thereof in the Countrey The nine and twentieth we laboured in getting of Sassafrage rubbishing our little Fort or Islet new keeling our shallop and making a Punt or Flat bottome Boate to passe to and fro our Fort ouer the fresh water the powder of Sassafrage in twelue houres cured one of our Company that had taken a great Surfet by eating the bellies of Dog-fish a very delicious meate The thirtieth Captaine Gosnoll with diuers of his company went vpon pleasure in the shallop towards Hills Hap to view it and the Sandie Coue and returning brought with him a Canoa that foure Indians had there left being fled away for feare of our English which we brought into England The one and thirtieth Captaine Gosnoll desirous to see the Maine because of the distance hee set sayle ouer where comming to anchor went ashoare with certaine of his companie and immediatly there presented vnto him men women and children who with all curteous kindnesse entertayned him giuing him certaine skinnes of wilde beasts which may be rich Furres Tobacco Turtles Hempe artificiall Strings câ—â—oured Chaines and such like things as at the inâ—â—ant they had about them These are a faire conditioned people On all the Sea coast along we found Mussell shells that in colour did represent Mother-of-pearle but not hauing meanes to dredge could not apprehend further knowledge thereof This Maine is the goodliest Continent that euer we saw promising more by farre then we any way did expect for it is replenished with faire fields and in them fragrant Flowers also Medowes and hedged in with stately Groues being furnished also with pleasant Brookes and beautified with two maine Riuers that as wee iudge may haply become good Harbours and conduct vs to the hopes men so greedily doe thirst after In the mouth of one of these Inlets or Riuers lieth that little I le before mentioned called Happes Hill from which vnto the Westermost end of the Maine appearing where the other Inlet is I account some fiue leagues and the Coast betweene bendeth like a Bow and lyeth East and by North. Beyond these two Inlets we might perceiue the Mayne to beare vp south-South-west and more Southerly Thus with this taste of Discouery we now contented our selues and the same day made returne vnto our Fort time not permitting more sparing delay The first of Iune we employed our selues in getting Sassafrage and the building of our Fort. The second third and fourth we wrought hard to make readie our house for the prouision to bee had ashore to sustaine vs till our ships returne This day from the Mayne came to our ships side a Canoa with their Lord or chiefe Commander for that they made little stay only pointing to the Sunne as in signe that the next day hee would come and visit vs which hee did accordingly The fifth wee continued our labour when there came vnto vs ashoare from the Mayne fiftie Sauages stout and lustie men with their Bowes and Arrowes amongst them there seemed to be one of authoritie because the rest made an inclining respect vnto him The ship was at their comming a league off and Captaine Gosnoll aboord and so likewise Captaine Gilbert who almost neuer went ashoare the company with me only eight persons These Indians in hastie manner came towards vs so as we thought fit to make a stand at an angle betweene the Sea and a fresh water I mooued my selfe towards him seuen or eight steps and clapt my hands first on the sides of mine head then on my breast and after presented my Musket with a threatning countenance thereby to signifie vnto them either a choice of Peace or Warre whereupon hee vsing mee with mine owne signes of Peace I stept forth and imbraced him his company then all sate downe in manner like Grey-hounds vpon their heeles with whom my company fell a bartering By this time Captaine Gosnoll was come with twelue men more from aboord and to shew the Sauage Seignior that he was our Captaine we receiued him in a guard which he passing thorow saluted the Seignior with ceremonies of our salutations whereat he nothing mooued or altered himselfe Our Captaine gaue him a straw Hat and a paire of Kniues the Hat awhiles hee wore but the Kniues he beheld with great maruelling being very bright and sharpe this our courtesie made them all in loue with vs. The sixt being raine we spent idlely aboord The seuenth the Seignior came againe with all his troupe as before and continued with vs the most part of the day we going to dinner about noone they sate with vs and did eate of our Bacaleure and Mustard dranke of our Beere but the Mustard nipping them in their noses they could not indure it was a sport to behold their faces made being bitten therewith In time of Dinner the Sauages had stolne a Target wherewith acquainting the Seignior with feare and great trembling they restored it againe thinking perhaps we would haue beene reuenged for it but seeing our familiaritie to continue they fell a fresh to roasting of Crabs Red Herrings which were exceeding great ground Nuts c. as before Our Dinner ended the Seignior first tooke leaue and departed next all the rest sauing foure that stayed and went into the Wood to helpe vs digge Sassafrage whom we desired to goe aboord vs which they refused and so departed The eighth wee diuided the victuals viz. the ships store for England and that of the Planters which by Captaine Gilbert allowance could be but sixe weekes for sixe moneths whereby there fell out a controuersie the rather for that some seemed secretly to vnderstand of a purpose Captaine Gilbert had not to returne with supplie of the issue those goods should make by him to be carried home Besides there wanted not ambitious conceits in the mindes of some wrangling and ill disposed persons that ouerthrew the stay there at that time which vpon consultation thereof had about fiue dayes after was
want of refreshing must of force put into those Ilands although at this time many Ships doe auoide those Ilands to the great discommodity of the Ilands and the Ships From Tercera Southeast about seuen and twenty or eight and twenty miles lyeth the Iland of Saint Michael which is about twenty miles long and is likewise full of Townes and Villages inhabited by Portugals for ayre and all other things like vnto Tercera The chiefe Towne is called Punta del Gada where there is great traffique of English Scots and Frenchmen onely as in Tercera because of the woad which is more abundant in that Iland then in all the rest of them for that euery yeare there is made aboue two hundreth thousand Quintals of Wood. It hath likewise great abundance of Corne so that they helpe to victuall all the Ilands that are round about them It hath neither Hauens nor Riuers but onely the broad Sea and haue lesse safegard and defence then those which are of Tercera but there they lye not vnder the commandement of any Fort so that many set sayle with all the windes and put to Sea which in the road of Tercera they may not doe and therefore the strangers Ships had rather sayle to Saint Michaels for there they can not be constrained to doe any thing but what they will themselues to doe There is also a company of Spaniards in a Castle that standeth by the Towne of Punta del Gada which is made by the Spaniards for the defence and maintenance of the same towne From the Iland of Saint Michaels Southwards twelue miles lyeth the Island Santa Maria which is about ten or twelue miles compasse hath no traffique but onely of pot earth which the other Ilands fetch from thence It hath no Woad but is full of all victuals like Tercera and inhabited by the Portugals There are no Spaniards in it because it is a stony Country like Tercera and hard to boord whereby the inhabitants themselues are sufficient and able enough to defend it While I remained in Tercera the Earle of Cumberland came thither to take in fresh water and some other victuals but the inhabitants would not suffer him to haue it but wounded both himselfe and diuers of his men whereby they were forced to depart without hauing any thing there From Tercera North Northwest about seuen or eight miles lyeth a little Iland called Gratiosa and is but fiue or sixe miles in compasse a very pleasant and fine Iland full of all fruits and all other victuals so that it not onely feedeth it selfe but also Tercera and the other Ilands about it and hath no other kinde of Merchandise it is well built and inhabited by Portugals and hath no Soldiers in it because it is not able to beare the charge The Earle of Cumberland while I lay in Tercera came vnto that Iland where himselfe in person with seuen or eight in his company went on land asking certaine Beasts Hens and other Victuals with Wine and fresh water which they willingly gaue him and therewith he departed from thence without doing them any hurt for the which the inhabitants thanked him and commended him for his curtesie and keeping of his promise From Tercera West North-west eight or nine miles lyeth the Iland of Saint George It is about twelue miles long but not aboue two or three miles at the furthest in breadth it is wooddy and full of hils it hath no speciall traffique but onely some Woad and yet very little of it The inhabitants liue most by Cattell and tilling of the Land and bring much victuals to sell in Tercera it hath likewise many Cedar trees and other kindes of wood that from thence are brought vnto Tercera and sold vnto the Ioyners which for that occasion dwell onely in Tercera From Saint George West South-west seuen miles lyeth the Iland called Fayael which is seuenteene or eighteene miles in compasse it is one of the best Ilands next vnto Tercera and Saint Michaels it aboundeth in all sorts of victuals both flesh and fish so that from this Iland the most part of victuals and necessaries commeth by whole Caruels vnto Tercera it hath likewise much Woad so that many English Ships doe traffique thither The principall road and place is the Towne called Uitta dorta there the Ships likewise doe lye in the open Sea vnder the Land as they doe before all the other Ilands by this Towne there lyeth a fortresse but of small importance and because the inhabitants of themselues doe offer to defend the Iland against all enemies the Soldiers discharged from thence which before that time lay in the Fort complaining that they were not able to maintaine nor lodge them The same time that the Earle of Cumberland was in the Iland of Gratiosa he came likewise to Fayael where at the first time that hee came they began to resist him but by reason of some controuersie among them they let him land where he rased the Castle to the ground and sunke all their Ordnance in the Sea taking with him certaine Caruels and Ships that lay in the road with prouision of all things that hee wanted and therewith departed againe to Sea Whereupon the King caused the principall actors therein to be punished and sent a company of Souldiers thither againe which went out of Tercera with all kinde of warlike munition and great shot making the Fortresse vp againe the better to defend the Iland trusting no more in the Portugals In that Iland are the most part of the Netherlanders off-spring yet they vse the Portugals language by reason they haue beene so long conuersant among them and those that vsed the Dutch tongue are all dead they are greatly affected to the Netherlanders and strangers From Fayael Southeast three miles and from Saint George South-west foure miles and from Tercera South-west and by West twelue miles lyeth the Iland called Pico which is more then fifteene miles in length It is so named of a high Mountaine that standeth therein called Pico which is so high that some thinke it is higher then the Pico of Canaria When it is cleare weather it may as perfectly be seene in Tercera as if it were not halfe a mile from thence and yet it lyeth aboue twenty fiue miles from it for it is at the furthest end of the Iland towards Fayael The top of it is seene cleare and bright but the nether part is couered with clouds and with the Horizon whereby the Iland is much spoken of It is very fruitfull of all kindes of victuals like Fayael and hath great store of wood as Cedars all other kindes and also the costly wood Teixo There they build many Caruels and small Ships and from thence by reason of the abundance of wood they serue the other Ilands with wood It is also inhabited as the rest are their chiefe traffique being Cattle husbandry It hath much Wine the
tooke it to be neerer the order of the Warres if the other Regiment this day were respected This reason together with request to his honour to remember himselfe to be the Generall and therefore his place should not be so full of danger so farre moued his Lordship that Sir Iohns Regiment had the Point neuerthelesse his Lordshippe would be at the seruice in person Thus the manner of the enterprize being vpon the present resolued on his Lordship put himselfe into his Armour so did all the Commanders and who else had Armours for they looked that the seruice should be hot as indeede it proued By and by the enemies Centinell had discouered the approach of our Companies and they tooke the Alarum It may be well said it was well fought by the Engliâ—h and if it had bin day that euery one might haue seene what he did it is to be thought so many would not haue deserued so much commendation The assault continued aboue two houres during which time the Spaniards were not idle For though the assalants left no way in the world vnattempted yet no way could they finde to enter the Gate The Cawsey which was the ordinarie way of passage was purposely made so rugged that our men to keepe them on their feete made choise to wade in the water besides it Here his Lordship was by the stumbling of him that bore his Target ouerthrowne euen to the danger of drowning for his Armour so ouerburdened him that the Sergiant Maior that by chance was next had much adoe at the first and second time to get him from vnder the water when he was vp he had receiued so much Salt water that it droue him to so great extremity of present sicknesse that he was forced to lye downe in the very place vpon the Cawsey till being somewhat recouered he was able to be led to a place of some more safetie and ease in which place the Bullets made him threatning musicke on euery side His Lordshippe being brought to this little safe place whence yet he would not be remoued till the fight was done Sir Iohn Barkeley led on his Regiment from whom there were not lesse then 3000. English Bullets sent among the Spaniards who had not so many hands as we yet were not much behinde vs in sending these heauy leaden messengers of death For besides fix peece of great Ordnance which were bent and played iust vpon the Cawsey and some pretty store of Musketeers at a port fast by the gate lay there a fowler or a cast peece that did more skathe then all the rest for that at once shot many murthering shot whereupon the peece is also called a murtherer for all this our Soldiers came to the very gate and with Bils some two or three that they had wanting other fitter instruments began to hewe it At their ports and loope holes they were at the push of the Pike and hauing broken their owne with their naked hands tooke their enemies Pikes and perforce brake them But for all this no entrance could be got Sir Iohn Barkeley attempting to discouer if any passage might be found of either side of the gate twice waded so farre that if he could not haue swamme he had bin drowned They that were come to the gate called to their owne Companies that some Pikes should be drawne to them this word was giuen farther then was intended for by and by all the Pikes were called for Then his Lordships colours began to march and to the Cawsey came where hee was very exceeding sicke lying vpon the ground in a place no lesse dangerous then if he had bin vpon the Cawsey a place so perillous that it had bin as safe being at the entry of a breach by assault but the end was it could not then bee taken the tyde came in so fast that what was at our knees before was now come vp to our middles and besides the day began to breake which though some thought would be aduantagious for vs yet certainely it would haue bin the death of many a man their Ordnance being bent to scoure the Cawsey and the ruggednesse which they had made to hinder our approach had made vs forsake it which if the day had once discouered to them they might easily haue bent their Artillery to our much greater losse But God would not haue more bloud shed nor ours as yet to haue our wils The Companies therefore were brought off to the place where we lodged all night before where the Chirurgians were presently to looke to the hurt which were not many and the slaine much fewer all vnder fiftie of both sorts No Commander slaine or hurt but two Lieutenants Lieutenant Cholmley that had serued excellently well and Lieutenant Belings The losse that the enemy had was much like sauing that of the assaults there were some few more slaine from this place our Companies marched to the Sea-side whether his Lordship had appointed victuals to meete them His Lordship hauing giuen the Souldiours some time to refresh themselues in the meane time went himselfe aboord so sicke that in truth he was to be feared with purpose to râ—pose himselfe for that night but his thoughts were so busied and restlesse that within few houres he came ashore againe and presently put in execution a purpose which his Lordshippe had this meane time digested it was to land men at the other Fort. For effecting whereof he gaue direction that one of the Ships should beare in close to the shore though it were as indeede at proued with apparent danger of casting her away But the seruice was to be done whatsoeuer it cost Withall there were in the rocks on the other side ouer against the Fort I meane that which we first came to see but could not come at some fifty Musketeers placed to beate the enemy from their Ordnance meane while there were shipped in Boates Captaine Coach and Captaine Orrell with two hundred Pikes and shot to land on the other side the Fort twixt it and the Town that they hauing made good the place might either make a stand till the rest of the forces were landed if it were thought needefull or else might march and charge the other Fort on that side when our men should assault it on this side This plot tooke very good effect for within an houre that the attempt was giuen partly the Ship and partly the Musketeers had so beaten the Fort that the Boates had good leisure to land whereupon within short space the enemy quitted the place without losse to be spoken of to our Companies for of all ours there were not aboue three hurt and one slain onely the Ship was driuen vpon the rockes and finally cast away Their direction was that the Souldiers should make the place good for there was no doubt of their sufficient strength the Boats were commanded to come backe againe to his Lordship who appointed to
his Lordship would passe ouer into the Mayne For without him I had no great desire and indeed I should haue beene quickly missed seeing it pleased his Honor to vse mee in the dispatch of all things which were to be done by warrant or direction vnder his hand So that whatsoeuer I shall say here I must be content to report vpon the report of others and I will not tell you any thing which mee thought my selfe did not first see reason to beleeue The plat and figure of the Iland is a square altera parte longius the length exceeding the breadth neere the proportion of seuen to foure for it is told me to be sixe and thirtie leagues long and twentie leagues broad bearing it selfe out from end to end neere in the same distance It lyeth East and West at the West end the two corners doe so jut out that they make a goodly Bay betwixt them but yet not so profitable because a goodly Riuer which would gladly disburden it selfe into the Bay is choaked with sands which the Sea casteth vp into the mouth of the Riuer which being nauigable a good way vp into the Land is within a stones cast of losing his old name and being called the Sea made shallow and vnfit for the receit of Vessels of burthen There are indeed in the same Bay other lesser Riuerets whereat Passengers vse to take in fresh water as Sir Francis Drake did after hee was beaten from the Citie of Puerto Rico and put forth thence to Nombre de Dios. Vpon this part of the Iland which is commonly called La Aquada in English The watering place the greatest Commander and of largest possessions is or of late hath beene one Chereno whose proper land is thought to containe in compasse and circuit neere the quantitie of ten leagues The other end the Easterly end is knowne by the name of La cabeça de San Iuan in English Saint Iohns head The Citie of Puerto Rico is his right side or arme and the South side about the Countrie of Choama whither the Bishop at our comming had carried himselfe will be answerable to the left side or left arme as being lesse fit for action and his feet is the watering place The most famous Riuers of this Iland are Toa and Baiamond the rather because they runne into the Harbour of the Citie of Puerto Rico whereof Toa is by much the greater and falleth more with the West of the Towne This Riuer riseth out of a Mountaine called Guiamo being on the South side of the mayne Iland some fifteene or sixteene leagues from Ricoâ—o â—o the Eastward from Guiamo it runneth North in one streame till it come to another Mountaine called Cawas and though in this way it receiue many Riuerets into it yet it cannot bee said either to lose or retaine his name for thus farre it is not knowne certainly what name it had as they say but here parteth it selfe into two streames the one whereof runneth Northerly to Luisa a Towne not great but somewhat fortified standing some sixe leagues to the Eastward of Puerto Rico. Whether the Towne doe giue or take his name of this arme of the Riuer it is vnknowne But well knowne it is that they haue both one name The other streame being once diuorced from Luisa runneth North North-west and falleth into the Harbour of Puerto Rico where it is called Toa Baiamond riseth betwixt the parting of Toa and Luisa and runneth a Northerly but more Easterly course withall till it mingleth it selfe with salt water on the South-west side of Puerto Rico. The Iland is watered with very many other Riuers and Riuerets and Springs without number or names but those that giue or take names of the Villages and Townes which stand vpon them for the most part runne Northerly For besides Guiamo which riseth in the Countrie of Coama and runneth into the Southerly Sea and the Riuer whereon Saint German which also is called Salamanca and Guadianilla is situate towards the West end of the Iland neere to Cape Roxo all the other of name runne to the leeward of the Iland and fall into the Northerly Sea As first and next to Puerto Rico to the Westward the Riuer and Towne of Saâ—uco next to it Guiamo then the Recibo twixt which and the Laguada is another whose name I could not learne The Laguada whereof I spake before and which giueth name to the Westerly end of the Iland where Sir Francis Drake as I said watered is next vnto the choaked Bay before mentioned in which Bay at the North-west Point is the Gawaraba which the Seas violence hath made something vnprofitable for nauigation so that the passage to Saint Domingo and the other leeward parts of the West Indies are most ordinarily from the Laguada if they of the Westerly part of the Iland haue any businesse that way For as Saint Germans or Salamanca though I haue heard it to be a Harbour and a Sea-faring Towne yet I am told so much to the contrarie as makes me doubt of the former report though I dare not absolutely assent to this later though a Spaniard of good vnderstanding told it me Now in euery one of these Riuers which I haue named is there gold found ordinarily before it be sought And I know it to bee true when the Spaniards perceiued by his Lordships manner of leauing the Citie of Puerto Rico that hee went not away without purpose to returne one of them told his Honor in plaine termes that he could not thrust his spade into any of these named Riuers and many other besides these but hee should finde gold This certainly is true and I haue seene the experience that some of the grauell of one of these Riuers being brought to his Lordship because it looked rich when triall was made onely by washing away the sand and grauell there was cornes of very good gold found in it and that for the quantitie and proportion in great measure Where because we are againe fallen into this argument I will report vnto you a certaine truth whereby the richnesse of the mynes in Puerto Rico may be esteemed One Ioancho de Luyando a Mint-master in this Iland dwelling in the Guadianilla neere to Saint Germans or at the least hauing workes there tooke a bullion or masse of gold so pure as it needed no further triall that being sent to the King it was found worth three thousand and fiue hundreth Duckets and diuers times he found such plates that onely splitting them he made himselfe trenchers of gold to eate his meat on This man may bee judged to haue beene of no great either wit or care for it is certainly reported that oftentimes meeting his owne slaues comming out of the Countrie to his house in Puerto Rico with store of gold hee did not know them to be his owne till themselues told him so and yet this man dyed so very rich that he left euery of his
and mens names written in them This Riuer in our language is called the Riuer of Crocodiles for in it there are many which the Indians call Faquares it is narrow and in the mouth of it standeth a white Rocke To enter it you must take heed you keepe on the North side of this Rocke and you shall finde nine and ten foot water after you be within it you shall come to a great Bay and on the North-east side you shall finde a small Riuer where you may take fresh water but let euery man take heed how hee leapeth into the water for the Crocodiles lie by the banke-side hidden and if any thing fall into the water presently they kill it Here is nothing to bee had vnlesse you will fish for the Crocodiles and take the Bladders or Cods of muske from them here you need not feare any Inhabitants except you be espyed by some passengers that goe to Ferâ—ambuquâ— Alaqua is a very faire Riuer that lyeth foure leagues Northward from the Riuer of Saint Michael and three leagues Southward from the afore said Riuer of Crocodiles On either side of it you shall see a great Hill called by the Portugals Os Caiâ—â—â— You shall finde but seuen or eight foot water at the comming and very cleere from any Rocks but after you bee within you shall finde many bankes of sand where you shall kill good store of fish and alwayes you shall bee sure to haue Caruells fishing in this place at the comming in on both sides you may take fresh water Before the Riuer of Saint Michael you shall see the Cliffes like Arecines of Fernambuquo you must enter at the end of the Cliffe hard by the shoare on the south-South-west and you must marke a small Cliffe that lyeth betweene the mouth of the Riuer and the shoare this Cliffe you leaue betweene you and the shoare and betwixt this Cliffe and the great Rocks you may enter it three fathom water But take heed when you enter that you saile not towards the North-east although you see the Bay great for you shall run vpon many great bankes of sand therefore you must keepe West still within a stones cast of the shoare so shall you be sure to keepe in the Channell Thus you must saile till you discouer a house that you shall see doubling a Point full South from you then your best is to anchor for if you goe farther you are in danger except you know the Channell very well In this place dwels a Portugall called Iohn de Rocho and vp a Riuer that you shall see runne into the Land dwell many Portugals where they haue a Church with Friars to say Masse Here you shall haue good store of Cattell if you need and Brasill wood Cassaui meale and in this Riuer you shall haue good store of Oisters and in them you shall find many great Pearles likewise here is good store of Balsom oile and trees of All Nesico which is a very precious and rich wood singular good for bruises or old hurts also here is good store of Tabacco This place is eight leagues from the Riuer of Toades where we were driuen on the Rocks because we knew not where wee were for it is a singular good Harbour to enter if a man know the comming in betweene the Rocks called Os Bayos de Don Rodrigo Because the Indians indeed doe kill many Toades therefore they call it Cororoen that is to say the Riuer or water of Toades I tell you the name in the Indian language Because in all places you shall haue of them and so you may know when they tell you where you are When you are in ten degrees and an halfe Southwards of the Equinoctiall Line you shall see fiue hils and the three that standeth on the North side of this place whereof wee speake are round and high the other two that stand on the South not farre in distance one from another are long and lower then the other if you come neere the shoare you shall see a great many of small Rockes and a great Bay which is the place I speake of right before this Bay you shall see two great Rockes to goe into this Harbour you must passe betweene these Rockes which are called Bayos de don Rodrigo when you are â—ntred you may anchor hard by the Rockes and sound the Channell which will lye Norâ—h-east from you Here you may haue fresh water vp the Riuer but it will be hard for you to find therefore your best is to goe a quarter of a mile by the Sea side and you shall see a faâ—re Riuer where you may take water at pleasure and kill good store of fish At this place comming from the Riuer of Ienero in the night we were driuen vpon the Rockes for want of a Pilot that knew the Coast. I doe not set downe the places betweene this and the Cape Frio because I know them not but by report of other Trauellers and therefore I leaue it to them for I will write no more but what I haue seene and am able to proue when time shall serue and thus I end shewing you all that I haue seene on the Coast Northward of Cape Frio which is in our Language Cape Cold. Cape Frio is a point of the Land that runneth into the Sea at least twelue mile it lyeth vnder 22. degrees At this Cape you may haue sight of a great Mountaine that you may see ouer it called Abausango Reâ—ambuera here you may anchor on the East-side of this Cape in a Harbour called Abaâ—â—a formozo Here you may haue great store of Brassell-wood and in this Bay you shall find oftentimes good store of Ambeâ—-greece and on the North side of this Bay you shall see a great Riuer called vparason where you may kill good store of many kinde of fishes and in the mouth of this Riuer you shall haue great store of Corall if you will dragge for it Saquarema is a Riuer where the Frenchmen did traffique with the Canibals called Tamoyes it floweth foure leagues Southward from the Cape This Riuer is nâ—rrow at the comming in you shall find twelue foote water till you be three or foure leagues vp the Riuer You shall find fresh water on either side of the Riuer and great store of Brassell-wood all along the Riuer side On the South side of this Riuer you shall â—ee a great hill which the Indians call Boypeâ—a that is The rotten Whale for you shall see the top of it like a dead Whale If you want refreshing you may haue good store of Potato Roots there Plantons Lemons Orenges and many other good Roots as bigge as great Tuâ—nips which the Indians call Carauasou Etioca is a league Southward of the Riuer of Saquarema It is as I haue said in the description of my trauell a great and huge Rocke hollow within where the Indians say that the seruant of God did preach vnto them which they
was as greene as any Medow in the moneth of Aprill with a most fine short grasse The flesh of these Pengwins is much of the sauour of a certaine Fowle taken in the Ilands of Lundey and Silley which we call Puffins by the taste it is easily discerned that they feed on fish They are very fat and in dressing must be flead as the Byter they are reasonable meate rosted baked or sodden but best rosted We salted some doozen or sixteene Hogsheads which serued vs whilest they lasted insteed of powdred Beefe The hunting of them as wee may well terme it was a great recreation to my company and worth the sight for in determining to catch them necessarily was required good store of people euery one with a cudgell in his hand to compasse them round about to bring them as it were into a Ring if they chanced to breake out then was the sport for the ground beeing vndermined at vnawares it failed and as they ranne after them one fell here another there another offering to strike at one lifting vp his hand sunke vp to the arme-pits in the earth another leaping to auoid one hole fell into another And after the first slaughter in seeing vs on the shoare they shunned vs and procured to recouer the Sea yea many times seeing themselues persecuted they would tumble downe from such high Rocks and Mountaines as it seemed impossible to escape with life Yet as soone as they came to the Beach presently we should see them runne into the Sea as though they had no hurt Where one goeth the other followeth like sheepe after the Bel-weather but in getting them once within the Ring close together few escaped saue such as by chance hid themselues in the borrowes and ordinarily there was no Droue which yeelded vs not a thousand and more the manner of killing them which the Hunters vsed beeing in a cluster together was with their cudgels to knocke them on the head for though a man gaue them many blowes on the body they dyed not Besides the flesh bruized is not good to keepe The massacre ended presently they cut of their heads that they might bleed well such as we determined to keepe for store we saued in this manner First wee split them and then washed them well in Sea-water then salted them hauing laine some sixe houres in Salt we put them in presse eight houres and the bloud being soaked out wee salted them againe in our other caske as is the custome to salt Beefe after this manner they continued good some two moneths and serued vs in steed of Beefe The Guls and Gannets were not in so great quantitie yet we wanted not young Guls to eate all the time of our stay about these Ilands It was one of the delicatest foods that I haue eaten in all my life The Duckes are different to ours and nothing so good meate yet they may serue for necessitie They were many and had a part of the Iland to themselues seuerall which was the highest Hill and more then a Musket shot ouer In all the dayes of my life I haue not seene greater arte and curiositie in creatures voide of reason then in the placing and making of their Nests all the Hill being so full of them that the greatest Mathematician of the World could not deuise how to place one more then there was vpon the Hill leauing onely one path-way for a Fowle to passe betwixt The Hill was all leuell as if it had beene smoothed by arte the Nests made onely of earth and seeming to be of the selfe-same mould for the Nests and the soile is all one which with water that they bring in their Beakes they make into Clay or a certaine dawbe and after fashion them round as with a compasse In the bottome they containe the measure of a foot in the height about eight inches and in the top the same quantitie ouer there they are hollowed in somwhat deep wherein they lay their Egges without other preuention And I am of opinion that the Sun helpeth them to hatch their young their Nests are for many yeares and of one proportion not one exceeding another in bignesse in height nor circumference and in proportionable distance one from another In all this Hill nor in any of their Nests was to be found a blade of grasse a straw a sticke a feather a moat no nor the filing of any Fowle but all the Nests and passages betwixt them were so smooth and cleane as if they had bin newly swept washed One day hauing ended our hunting of Pengwins one of our Mariners walking about the Iland discouered a great company of Seales or Sea-wolues so called for that they are in the Sea as the Wolues on the Land aduising vs that he left them sleeping with their bellies toasting against the Sunne we prouided our selues with staues and other weapons and sought to steale vpon them at vnawares to surprize some of them and comming downe the side of a Hill we were not discouered till wee were close vpon them notwithstanding their Sentinell before wee could approach with a great howle waked them we got betwixt the Sea and some of them but they shunned vs not for they came directly vpon vs and though we dealt heere and there a blow yet not a man that withstood them escaped the ouerthrow They reckon not of a Musket shot a sword pierceth not theirskinne and to giue a blowe with a staffe is as to smite vpon a stone only in giuing the blowe vpon his snout presently he falleth downe dead After they had recouered the water they did as it were scorne vs defie vs and daunced before vs vntill we had shot some Musket shot through them and so they appeared no more This fish is like vnto a Calfe with foure legs but not aboue a spanne long his skinne is hairy like a Calte but these were different to all that euer I haue seene yet I haue seēne of them in many parts for these wee greater and in their former parts like vnto Lions with shagge haire and mostaches They liue in the Sea and come to sheepe on the Land and they euer haue one that watcheth who aduiseth them of any accident They are beneficiall to man in their skinnes for many purposes In their mostaches for Pick-tooths and in their fatte to make Traine-oyle Wee embarqued our selues and set sayle with the winde at NOrth-west which could serue vs but to an end of that reach some dozen leagues long and some three or foure leagues broad It lieth next of any thing till you come to Cape Agreda south-South-west from this Cape to Cape Froward the coast lieth West South-west Some foure leagues betwixt them was the second peopling of the Spaniards and this Cape lieth in 55. degrees and better Thwart Cape Froward the winde larged with vs and we continued our course towards the Iland of Elizabeth which lieth from
Cape Forward some foureteene leages West and by South This reach is foure or fiue leagues broad and in it are many channels or openings into the Sea for all the land on the Souther part of the Straites are Ilands and broken land and from the beginning of this reach to the end of the Straits high mountainous Land on both sides in most parts couered with Snowe all the yeere long Betwixt the Iland Elizabeth and the Maine is the narrowest passage of all the Sraites it may be some two Musket shor from side to side From this Straite to Elizabeth Bay is some-foure leagues and the course lieth North-west and by West This Bay is all sandie and cleane ground on the Easterne pâ—rt but before youcome at it there lieth a point of the shoare a good birth off which is dangerous And in this reach as in many parts of the Straites runneth a quicke and forcible tide In the Bay it higheth eight or nine foot water The Northerne part of the Bay hath foule ground and Rockes vnder water and therefore it is not wholsome borrowing of the Maine One of Master Thomas Candish his Pinasses as I haue been enformed came aground vpon one of them and he was in hazard to haue left her there From Elizabeth Bay ot the Riuer of Ieronimâ— is some fiue leagues The course lieth West and by North and West Here the winde scanted and forced vs to seeke a place to anchor in Our Boats going alongst the shoare found a reasonable Harbour which is right against that which they call Riuer Ierâ—â—imâ— but it is another channell by which a man may dissembâ—que the Straite as by the other which is accustomed for with a storme which tooke vs one night suddenly wee were forced into that opening vn wittingly but to the morning seing our errour and the winde larging with two or three boords we turned into the old channell nor daring for want of our Pinasse to attempt any new Discouerie This Harbour wee called Blanches Bay for that it was found by William Blanch one of our Masters Mates Here hauing moored our ship we beganne to make our prouision of wood and water whereof was plentie in this Bay and in all other places from Pengwin Ilands till within a dozen leagues of the mouth of the Straites NOw finding our DeckeÌ„s open with the long lying vnder the Line and on the coast of Brasill the Sunne hauing beene in our Zenith many times we calked our ship within boord and without aboue the Deckes And such was the diligence wee vsed that at foure dayes end wee had aboue threescore Pipes of water and twentie Boats of wood stowed in our ship no man was idle nor otherwise busied but in necessarie workes some in felling and cleaning of wood some in carrying of water some in romaging somein washing others in baking one in heiting of Pitch another in gathering of Mussels no man was exempted but knew at euening whereunto he was to betake himselfe the morning following Some man might aske mee how wee came to haue so many emptie Caske in lesse then two moneths for it seemeth much that so few men in such short time and in so long a Voyage should waste so much Whereto I answere that it came not of excessieu expense for in health we neuer exceeded our ordinarie but of a mischance which befell vs vnknowne in the Iland of Saint Iames or Saint Anne in the coast of Brasill where where wee refreshed our selues and recording to the custome laid our Caske ashoare to trimme it and afters to fill it the place being commodious forvs But with the waer a certaine worme called Broma by the Spannard and â—yvs Aters entred also which eate it so fuli of holes that all the waer spaked out and made much of our Caske of small vse This we remedied the best wee could and discouered it long before we came to this place Hereof let others take warning in no place to haue Caske on the shoare where it may be anoyded for it is one of the promisions which are with greatest care to be preserued in long Voyages and bardest to be supplied These Arters or B oma in all hot Countries enter into the plankes of ships and effeciast where are Ruers of fresh water the common opinion is that they are bred in fresh water and with the current of the Riners are brought into the Sea but experience teacheth that they breede in the great Seas in all hot chimates especially neere the Equinoctiall Line for lying so long vnder and neere the Line and towing a Shalop at our sterne comming to cleanse her in Brasill wee found her all vnder water couered with these Wormes as bigge as the little singer of a man on the outside of the planke not fully couered but halfe the thicknesse of their bodie like to a gellie wrought into the planke as with a Gowdge In little time if the ship be not sheathed they put all in hazard for they enter in no bigger then a small spanish Needle and by little and little their holes become ordinarily greater then a mans finger The thicker the planke is the greater he groweth yea I haue seene many ships so eaten that the most of their plankes vnder water haue beene like Honie-combes and especially those betwixt winde and water If they had not beene sheathed it had beene impossible that they could haue swomme The entring of them is hardly to be discerned the most of them being small as the head of a Pinne Which all such as purpose long Voyages are to prenent byu sheathing their ships And for that I haue seene diuers manners of sheathing for the ignorant I will set them downe which by experience I haue found best In Spaine and Portugall some sheath their ships with Lead which besides the cost and weight although they vse the thinnest sheet-lead that I haue seene in any place yet it is nothing durable but subiect to many casualities Another manner is vsed with double plankes as thicke without as within after the manner of surring which is little better then that with Lead for besides his weight it dureth little because the Worme in small time passeth through the one and the other A third manner of sheathing had beene vsed amongst some with fine Canuas which is of small continuance and so not to be regarded The fourth preuention which now is most accounted of is to burne the vpper planke till it come to be in euery place like a Cole and after to pitch it this isnot bad in China as I haue beene enformed they vse a certaine Betane or Varnish in manner of an artificiall Pitch wherewith they trimme the outside of their ships It is said to bee durable and of that vertue as neither worme nor water pierceth it neither hath the Sunne power against it Some haue deuised a certaine Pitch mingled with Glasse and other ingredients beaten into
beginning of the Straits Here our ship being well moored we began to supplie our wood and water that we had spent Which being a dayes worke and the winde during many dayes contrary I endeauored to keep my people occupied to diuert them from the imagination which some had conceiued that it behoued we should returne to Brasill and winter there and so shoot the Straits in the Spring of the yeere One day wee rowed vp the Riuer with our Boate and Light-horseman to discouer it and the Inland where hauing spent a good part of the day and finding shoald water and many Trees fallen thwart it and little fruit of our labour nor any thing worth the noting wee returned Another day wee trained our people ashoare being a goodly sandy Bay another wee had a hurling of Batchelors against married men this day we were busied in wrestling the other in shooting so we were neuer idle neither thought we the time long After wee had past here some seuen or eight dayes one euening with a flaw from the shoare our ship droue off into the channell and before wee could get vp our Anchor and set our Sayles we were driuen so farre to lee-wards that wee could not recouer into the Bay and night comming on with a short sayle we beate off and on till the morning At the breake of the day conferring with the Captaine and Master of my ship what was best to bee done wee resolued to seeke out Tobias Coue which lieth ouer against Cape Fryo on the Southerne part of the Straits because in all the Reaches of the Straits for the most part the winde bloweth trade and therefore little profit to be made by turning to winde-wards And from the Ilands of the Pengwins to the end of the Straites towards the South-sea there is no anchoring in the channell and if we should be put to lee-wards of this Coue we had no succour till we came to the Ilands of Pengwins and some of our companie which had been with M. Th. Candish in the Voyage in which he died and in the same Coue many weekes vndertooke to be our Pilots thither Whereupon wee bare vp being some two leagues thither hauing so much winde as we could scarce lie by it with our course and bonnet of each but bearing vp before the winde we put out our Topsayles and Spritsayle and within a little while the winde began to fayle vs and immediatly our ship gaue a mightie blowe vpon a Rocke and stucke fast vpon it And had wee had but the fourth part of the winde which we had in all the night past but a moment before wee strucke the Rocke our ship doubtlesse with the blowe had broken her selfe all to pieces All our labour was fruitlesse till God was pleased that the floud came and then wee had her off with great ioy and comfort when finding the current fauourable with vs wee stood ouer to English Bay and fetching it we anchored there hauing beene some three houres vpon the Rock and with the blowe as after we saw when our ship was brought a ground in Perico which is the Port of Panama a great part of her sheathing was beaten off on both sides of her Bulges and some foure foot long and a foot square of her false stemme ioyning to the Keele wrested acrosse like vnto a Hogs yoake which hindered her sayling very much They founded a Coue some sixteene leagues from the mouth of the Straite which after wee called Crabby Coue. It brooked his name well for two causes the one for that all the water was full of a small kinde of red Crabbes the other for the crabbed Mountaines which ouer-topped it a third wee might adde for the crabbed entertainment it gaue vs. In this Coue wee anchored but the winde freshing in and three or foure Hills ouer-topping like Sugar-loaues altered and straightned the passage of the wind in such manner as forced it downe with such violence in flawes and furious bluâ—trings as was like to ouerset our ship at Anchor and caused her to driue and vs to weigh but before we could weigh it she was so neere the Rocks and the puffes and gusts of wind so sudden and vncertain sometimes scant somtimes large that it forced vs to cut our Cable and yet dangerous if our ship did not cast the right way Here necessitie not being subiect to any law forced vs to put our selues into the hands of him that was able to deliuer vs. Wee cut our Cable and Sayle all in one instant And God to shew his power and gracious bountie towards vs was pleased that our ship cast the contrarie way towards the shoare seeming that hee with his owne hand did wend her about for in lesse then her length she flatted and in all the Voyage but at that instant shee flatted with difficultie for that shee was long the worst propertie shee had On either side we might see the Rockes vnder vs and were not halfe a ships length from the shoare and if shee had once touched it had beene impossible to haue escaped From hence wee returned to Blanches Bay and there anchored expecting Gods good will and pleasure Here beganne the bitternesse of the time to encrease with blustering and sharpe windes accompanied with raine and fleeting snowe and my people to bee dismayed againe in manifesting a desire to returne to Brasill which I would neuer consent vnto no not so much as to heare of And all men are to take care that they goe not one foote backe more then is of meere force for I haue not seene that any who haue yeelded thereunto but presently they haue returned home As in the Voyuge of Master Edward Fenton in that which the Earle of Cumberland set forth to his great charge as also in that of Master Thomas Candish in which he died All which pretended to shoote the Straites of Magelan and by perswasion of some ignorant persons being in good possibilitie were brought to consent to returne to Brasill to winter and after in the Spring to attempt the passing of the Straite againe None of them made any abode in Brasill for presently as soone as they looked homeward one with a little blustering winde taketh occasion to lose companie another complaineth that he wanteth victuals another that his ship is leake another that his masts sayles cordidge fayleth him So the willing neuer want probable reasons to further their pretences As I saw once being but young and more bold then experimented in the yeere 1582. in a Voyage vnder the clarge of my Uncle William Hawkins of Plimouth Esquire in the Indies at the Wester end of the Iland of San Iuan de Portorico One of the ships called the Barke bonner being somewhat leake the Captaine complayned that shee was not able to endure to England whereupon a Counsell was called and his reasons heard and allowed So it was concluded that the Victuall Munition and what was seruiceable
them and take out the Pearles they lie vnder the vttermost part of the circuit of the Oyster in rankes and proportions vnder a certaine part which is of many pleights and folds called the Ruffe for the similitude it hath vnto 〈◊〉 Ruffe The Pearles increase in bignesse as they bee neerer the end or ioynt of the Oyster The meate of those which haue these Pearles is milkie and not verie wholsome to be eaten In Anno 1583. in the Iland of Margarita I was at the dregging of Pearle Oysters after the manner we dreg Oysters in England and with mine owne hands I opened many and tooke out the Pearles of them some greater some lesse and in good quantitie They are found in diuers parts of the world as in the West Indies in the South Sea in the East Indian Sea in the Straits of Magellane and in the Scottish Sea Those found neere the Poles are not perfect but are of a thicke colour whereas such as are found neere the line are most orient and transparent the curious call it their water and the best is a cleere white shining with fierie flames And those of the East India haue the best reputation though as good are found in the West India the choice ones are of great valew and estimation but the greatest that I haue heard of was found in these Ilands of Pearles the which King Philip the second of Spaine gaue to his daughter Elizabeth wife to Albertus Arch-Duke of Austria and Gouernour of the States of Flanders in whose possession it remaineth and is called la Peregrina for the rarenesse of it being as big as the pomell of a Poniard In this Nauigation after our surrender the Generall tooke speciall care for the good intreatie of vs and especially of those who were hurt And God so blessed the hands of our Surgions besides that they were expert in their Art that of all our wounded men not one died that was aliue the day after our surrendry and many of them with eight ten or twelue wounds and some with more The thing that ought to moue vs to giue God Almightie especiall thankes and praises was that they were cured in a manner without Instruments or Salues For the Chests were all broken to pieces and many of their Simples and Compounds throwne into the Sea those which remayned were such as were throwne about the ship in broken pots and bagges and such as by the Diuine Prouidence were reserued at the end of three dayes by order from the Generall were commanded to be sought and gathered together These with some Instruments of small moment bought and procured from those who had reserued them to a different end did not onely serue for our cures but also for the curing of the Spaniards beeing many more then those of our Company For the Spanish Surgeons were altogether ignorant in their profession and had little or nothing wherewith to cure And I haue noted that the Spaniards in generall are nothing so curious in accommodating themselues with good and carefull Surgeons nor to fit them with that which belongeth to their profession as other Nations are though they haue greater need then any that I doe know At the time of our surrender I had not the Spanish Tongue and so was forced to vse an Interpreter or the Latine or French which holpe mee much for the vnderstanding of those which spake vnto me in Spanish together with a little smattering I had of the Portugall Through the Noble proceeding of Don Beltran with vs and his particular care towards mee in curing and comforting me I began to gather heart and hope of life and health my seruants which were on foot aduised me ordinarily of that which past But some of our enemies badly inclined repined at the proceedings of the Generall and said he did â—ll to vse vs so well That we were Lutherans and for that cause the faith which was giuen vs was not to be kept nor performed Others that we had fought as good Souldiers and therefore deserued good quarter Others nicknamed vs with the name of Corsarios or Pirats not discerning thereby that they included themselues within the same imputation Some were of opinion that from Panama the Generall would send vs into Spaine Others said that he durst not dispose of vs but by order from the Vice-roy of Peru who had giuen him his authoritie This hit the naile on the had To all I gaue the hearing and laid vp in the store-house of my memory that which I thought to be of substance and in the store-house of my consideration endeauoured to frame a proportionable resolution to all occurrents conformable to Gods most holy Will Withall I profited my selfe of the meanes which should bee offered and beare greatest probabilitie to worke our comfort helpe and remedie And so as time ministred oportunitie I began and endeauoured to satisfie the Generall and the better sort in the po 〈…〉 t s I durst intermeddle And especially to perswade by the best reasons I could that wee might bee sent presently from Panama Alleaging the promise giuen vs the cost and charges ensuing which doubâ—lesse would bee such as deserued consideration and excuse besides that now whilest hee was in place and power and authoritie in his hands to performe with vs that he would looke into his honour and profit himselfe of the occasion and not put vs into the hands of a third person who perhaps being more powerfull then himselfe he might be forced to pray and intreate the performance of his promise whereunto he gaue vs the hearing and bare vs in hand that he would doe what he could The Generall and all in generall not only in the Peru but in all Spaine and the Kingdomes thereof before our surrendry held all Englishmen of Warre to bee Corsarios or Pirats which I laboured to reforme both in the Peru and also in the Counsels of Spaine and amongst the Chieftaines Souldiers and better sort with whom I came to haue conuersation Alledging that a Pirate or Corsario is he which in time of peace or truce spoyleth or robbeth those which haue peace or truce with them but the English haue neither peace nor truce with Spaine but warre and therefore not to bee accounted Pirats Besides Spaine broke the peace with England and not England with Spaine and that by Ymbargo which of all kinds of defiances is most reprooued and of least reputation The ransoming of prisoners and that by the Canon being more honorable but aboue all the most honorable is with Trumpet and Herald to proclaime and denounce the warre by publike defiance And so if they should condemne the English for Pirats of force they must first condemne themselues Moreouer Pirats are those who range the Seas without licence of their Prince who when they are met with are punished more seuerely by their owne Lords then when they fall into the hands of strangers which is notorious to bee
haue done their vttermost yet can they not bring that People wholly in subiection And although the Spaniards haue in this Prouince eleuen Townes and two Bishoprikes yet haue they little enough to maintayne themselues by reason of the Warres for they spend all the Gold that the Land yeeldeth in the maintenance of their Souldiers which would not bee so if they had peace for then they might worke in all their Mines Thus hauing spoken somwhat of the situation of Chili and of the troublesome conquest thereof I will returne to my former discourse where I left Baldiuia therefore being of 150. houses hath twice beene burnt and spoyled by the Indians so that now it is waxen poore but before the Indians sacked it it was very rich and it standeth vp a Riuer foure leagues from the Sea Passing from hence you come to the plaine Countrie of Arauco being situate ouer against the Iland La Mocha on which Iland the Indians that inhabite belong to the maine Land Hauing passed this Plaine of Arauco the next Towne of the Spaniards that you come vnto is La Concepcion which hath beene the greatest and the richest Towne in all Chili but by reason that the Indians haue burned the same foure times it is now growne very poore and hath small store of people it containeth about some two hundred houses And because it adioyneth vpon the Plaine of Arauco where these valiant Indians bee therefore this Towne is enuironed about with a strong wall and hath a Fort built hard by it and here are fiue hundred Souldiers continually in Garrison Betweene this place and Ualparizo the Indians call the Coast by the name of Mapocha Sant Iago it selfe standing fiue and twentie leagues vp into the Countrie is the principall Towne of all Chili and the seat of the Gouernour it consisteth of about eight hundred houses The Port of Valparizo whither the goods come from Lima by shipping hath about twentie houses standing by it The next Towne neere the Sea side beyond this is Coquimbo which standeth two leagues vp into the Land and containeth about two hundred houses Next vnto Coquimbo standeth a Port-towne called Copiapo inhabited altogether by Indians which serue the Spaniards and here a Gentleman which is Gouernour of the Towne hath an Ingenio for Sugar at this place endeth the whole Prouince of Chili Here also the Mountaines ioyning hard vpon the Sea are the cause why all the Land betweene Capiapo and Peru contayning one hundred and sixtie leagues lieth desolate The first Towne on the Coast of Peru called Atacama is inhabited by Indians which are slaues vnto the Spaniards But before I passe any further I will here also declare vnto you the first Discouerie of Peru with other matters there to belonging and then will I returne to the Sea-coast againe and to the end you may vnderstand me the better I will beginne with Panama After that the Spaniards had inhabited the North side of this mayne Land passing ouer the Mountains they discouered the South Sea where because they found Indian people with Gold and Pearles they built a Towne eighteene leagues to the West of Nombre de Dios hard vpon the Sea side and called it Panama From hence they discouered along the Coast of Nueua Espanna and for that Nueua Espanna was at the same time inhabited by Spaniards there beganne a trade from thence to Panama but from Panama by Sea to the Coast of Peru they could not trade in a long time because of the Southerly windes blowing on this Coast almost all the yeere long which are a hinderance to ships sayling that way and by Land the passage was impossible in regard of Mountaines and Riuers Yea it was fifteene yeeres before they passed the Iland of Pearles which is but twentie leagues from Panama There were at this time in Panama two men the one called Francisco Pizarro borne in the Citie of Truxillo in Spaine a valiant man but withall poore the other called Diego de Almagro was very rich These men got a companie vnto them and prouided two Carauels to discouer the Coast of Peru and hauing obtayned licence of the Gouernour of that place Francisco Pizarro set forth with the two foresaid Carauels and an hundred men and Diego de Almagro stayed in Panama to send him Victuals and other necessaries Now Francisco Pizarro sayling along the Coast met with contrary windes and raine which put him to great trouble and hee began also after a while to lacke victuals for hee was sayling of that in eight moneths which they now passe in fifteene dayes and not knowing the right course hee ranne into euery Riuer and Bay that hee saw along the Coast which was the chiefe cause that he stayed so long on his Voyage also thirtie of his companie died by reason of the vnhealthfulnesse of the coast At last he came to an Iland called by him Isla del Gallo being situate from the maine Land sixe leagues From hence he sent one of his ships to Panama for a new supplie of victuals and of men which ship being departed fortie of his men that remayned behinde made a mutinie and passed vp into the Countrie meaning to returne by Land to Panama but in the way they all perished for they were neuer heard of vntill this day So that Francisco Pizarro was left vpon the said Iland onely with thirteene men who although hee had his ship there in which he might haue returned yet would hee rather die then goe backe and his thirteene men also were of his opinion notwithstanding that they had no other victuals but such as they had from the maine Land in the night season Thus hee continued nine moneths before any succour was brought him from Panama but in the end his ship returned with fortie men onely and victuals whereupon hee prosecuted his Voyage till hee came to the first plaine Countrie of Peru called Tumbez where hee found a Fort made by the King of Peru against the Indians of the Mountaines Wherefore Pizarro and his men were very glad in that they had found a People of so good vnderstanding and discretion being rich also in Gold and Siluer and well apparelled At this Port of Tumbez hee tooke thirtie thousand Pezos of Gold in trucke of Merchandise and hauing two few men to proceed any further he carried two Indians with him to learne the Language and returned backe for Panama Vpon this Discouerie Francisco Pizarro thought it expedient to trauell into Spaine to craue of the King the Conquest of this Land Whither being come the King granted his request And with the money which he carried ouer with him he hired a great number of men with a Fleet of shippes and brought also along with him foure of his Brethren very valiant and hardy men And being come to Panama he straightway went on his Voyage for Peru being accompanied with his Partner Diego de Almagro They sayled first to the Iland called
before me Al these fears which they haue of vs they yet put into the heads of those who came lately to know vs because they should giue vs whatsoeuer they haue for they know that we tooke nothing for our selues but gaue euerie thing to them This was the most obedient people and best conditioned that we found in all that Countrie and commonly they are well disposed Those that were sicke being recouered and restored vnto health and wee hauing continued there three daies the women that we had sent came vnto vs and said that they had found verie few people because they were gone to the kine which was now their time Then we commanded them that were weake to remaine behinde and those that were well to come with vs and that two daies iourney from thence those two women should goe with two of our men to cause the people to come forth to the highwaies to receiue vs. And so the morning following all those that were the lustiest departed with vs and after three daies iourney wee setled our selues and the day following Alonso del Castiglio and Esteuanicco the Negro together with those two women for their guides and that who was their prisoner brought them vnto a Riuer which ranne within a mountaine where a people abode among whom their father was and these were the first houses that wee saw which had the forme and manner of true houses There Castiglio and Esteuanicco arriued and after they had spoken with those Indians at the end of three dayes Castiglio returned to the place where they left vs and brought fiue or sixe of those Indians and said That hee had found houses of people and of artificiall building and that the people eate pulse and gourds and that hee had seene Maiz there There wee abode one day and the next wee departed they bringing vs with them to other built houses where wee did eate of the same food that they eate And after from thenceforth there was another custome that they who knew of our comming came not forth into the high-way to meete vs as the other did but wee found them in their houses and they did nothing else for vs. And they were all sitting and all held their faces towards the wall hanging downe their heads with their haire ouer their eyes and all their clothes were hanged vp aloft in the middle of the house and from thence forward they began to giue vs many mantles of hides and they had not any thing which they gaue vs not It is a Nation of the best and goodliest proportion of bodie that euer wee saw there and of a more liuely spirit and agilitie and that vnderstood vs better and answered vs to whatsoeuer wee demanded them and wee call them The people of the Kine because the greater part of the Kine which dye in those Countries is neere thereabouts and vp that Riuer more then fiftie leagues they goe killing many These people goe all naked after the manner of those whom wee found first The women goe couered with certaine Deere skinnes and so doe some few men also and particularly the aged who are not seruiceable for the warres It is a verie populous Countrey and being demanded why it did not sowe Maiz they said They did it because they would not leese that which they should sowe for two yeeres since their water failed and the seasons was so dry that they all lost the Maiz that they had sowed and that they could not by any meanes be assured to sowe vnlesse first it had rained very much and they prayed vs to speake vnto the Heauens that they might send downe raine they boyle pulse in this manner They fill a great pot halfe full with water and put many of those stones in the fire which will quickely burne and when they seeth them on fire they take them vp with certaine tongs of Wood and cast them into that water in the gourd vntill they make it boyle with that fire of those stones and when they perceiue that the water boyleth they put in that which they haue to boyle and all this time they doe nothing else but take out one stone and put in another fired redde hot to make the water boyle §. IIII. They come to the South Sea and trauell through a plentifull Countrey till they meet with Spaniards whose crueltie and manner of conuerting Sauages is related WE went Westward on our iourny crossed ouer all the land vntil we came forth at the South Sea and the feare wherein they had put vs of the great famine which we were to passe as surely we passed it for seuenteen daies together as they had told vs was not able to diuert vs from our intended purpose Throughout all that Countrey vp the Riuer they gaue vs many Mantles of the hides of Kine and wee did not eate of those their fruites but our sustenance was euery day a piece of the fat of Deere of the bignesse of a mans hand which for this necessitie wee prouided alwaies to haue in a readinesse and so wee passed all those seuenteene daies iourney and at the end of them wee crossed ouer the Riuer and trauelled other seuenteene daies more to the West through certaine plaines and verie great mountaines which are found there and there wee met with a people who the third part of the yeere eate no other thing saue the powder of straw and because wee passed that way at that season of the yeere wee also were constrained to eate it vntill hauing finished those daies iourney wee found setled houses where there was great quantitie of Maiz and of that and Meale they gaue vs enough and Gourds and Pulse and Mantles of Bombasin Cotton withall which we laded them whom wee had hyred there who returned the most contented men in the world Wee yeelded many thankes vnto God who had brought vs thither where we found such plentie of sustenance Among these houses they had some that were of earth and all the rest were of mats and from thence wee passed more then an hundred leagues into the Countrey and alwaies found setled houses and much sustenance of Maiz and Pulse and they gaue vs many Deeres skinnes and Mantles of Bombasin Cotten better then those of New Spaine and gaue vs also many Garlands and certaine Corall which grow in the South Sea and many Turkie stones which come from toward the North. And finally they gaue vs whatsoeuer they had and vnto Dorante they gaue Emeralds made into Arrow heads and with those Arrowes they make their sports and festiuall iollitie seeming to mee very good I demanded of them whence they had them who told me that they brought them from certaine very high mountaines which lye towards the North and that they got them by exchange and barter for quills and Parrats feathers and there were many people there and very great houses Among them wee saw the women more honourably
that if it were so it was in their owne hands to goe out of Florida if they found nothing of profit for they feared they should lose themselues in some wildernesse This Indian led him two dayes out of the way The Gouernour commanded to torture him He said that the Cacique of Nondacao his Lord commanded him to guide them so because they were his enemies and that he was to doe as his Lord commanded him The Gouernour commanded him to be cast to the dogs and another guided him to Soacatino whither he came the day following It was a very poore Country there was great want of Maiz in that place He asked the Indians whether they knew of any other Christians They said that a little from thence toward the South they heard they were He trauelled twentie dayes through a Country euill inhabited where they suffered great scarsitie and trouble For that little Maiz which the Indians had they had hidden and buried in the woods where the Christians after they were well wearied with trauell at the end of their iourney went to seeke by digging what they should eate At last comming to a Prouince that was called Guasco they found Maiz wherewith they loaded their horses and the Indians that they had The Indians told them there that ten daies journie from thence toward the West was a Riuer called Daycao whither they went sometimes a hunting and killing of Deere and that they had seene people on the other side but knew not what habitation was there There the Christians tooke such Maiz as they found and could carry and going ten daies iournie through a wildernesse they came to the Riuer which the Indians had told them of Ten horsemen which the Gouernour had sent before passed ouer the same and went in a way that led to the Riuer and lighted vpon a company of Indians that dwelt in very little cabins who as soone as they saw them tooke themselues to flight leauing that which they had all which was nothing but miserie and pouertie The Countrie was so poore that among them all there was not found halfe a pecke of Maiz. The horsemen tooke too Indians and returned with them to the Riuer where the Gouernour staied for them He sought to learne of them what habitation was toward the West There was none in the Campe that could vnderstand their language The Gouernour assembled the Captaines and principall persons to determine with their aduice what they should doe And the most part said that they thought it best to returne backe to Rio grande or the great Riuer of Guachoya because that id Nilco and thereabout was store of Maiz saying that they would make Pinnaces that winter and the next Summer passe downe the Riuer to the Seaward in them and comming to the Sea they would goe along the coast to Nuena Espanna For though it seemed a doubtfull thing and difficult by that which they had already alleadged yet it was the last remedy they had For by land they could not goe for want of an Interpreter And they held that the Countrie beyond the Riuer of Dayaco where they were was that which Cabeça de Uaca mentioned in his relation that he passed of the Indians which liued like the Alarbes hauing no setled place and fed vpon Tunas and rootes of the fields and wilde beasts that they killed Which if it were so if they should enter into it and finde no victuals to passe the winter they could not choose but perish For they were entred already into the beginning of October and if they staied any longer they were not able to returne for raine and snowes nor to sustaine themselues in so poore a Countrie The Gouernour that desired long to see himselfe in a place where hee might sleepe his full sleepe rather then to conquer and gouerne a Countrie where so many troubles presented themselues presently returned backe that same way that he came When that which was determined was published to the Campe there were many that were greatly grieued at it for they held the Sea voyage as doubtfull for the euill meanes they had and as great danger as the trauelling by land and they hoped to finde some rich Countrey before they came to the land of the Christians by that which Cabeça de Vaca had told the Emperour and that was this That after he had found cloathes made of Cotten wooll hee saw Gold and Siluer and stones of great value And they had not yet come where hee had beene For vntill that place he alwayes trauelled by the Sea coast and they trauelled farre within the land and that going toward the West of necessitie they should come where he had beene For he said That in a certaine place he trauelled many dayes and entred into the land toward the North. And in Guasco they had already found some Turkie stones and Mantles of Cotten wooll which the Indians signified by signes that they had from the West and that holding that course they should draw neere to the land of the Christians From Daycao where now they were to Rio grando or the great Riuer was one hundred and fiftie leagues which vnto that place they had gone Westward They departed from Nilco in the beginning of December and all that way and before from Chilano they endured much trouble for they passed through many waters and many times it rained with a Northren winde and was exceeding colde so that they were in open field with water ouer and vnderneath them and when at the end of their dayes iourney they found dry ground to rest vpon they gaue great thankes to God With this trouble almost all the Indians that serued them died And after they were in Minoya many Christians also died and the most part were sicke of great and dangerous diseases which had a spice of the lethargie As soone as they came to Minoya the Gouernour commanded them to gather all the chaines together which euery one had to lead Indians in and to gather all the Iron which they had for their prouision and all the rest that was in the Campe and to set vp a forge to make nailes and commanded them to cut downe timber for the Brigandines And a Portugall of Ceuta who hauing bin a prisoner in Fez had learned to saw timber with a long Saw which for such purposes they had carried with them did teach others which helped them to saw timber And a Genowis whom it pleased God to preserue for without him they had neuer come out of the Countrie for there was neuer another that could make Ships but he with foure or fiue other Biscaine Carpenters which hewed his plankes and other timbers made the Brigandines And two calkers the one of Genua the other of Sardinia did calke them with the tow of an hearbe like Hempe whereof before I haue made mention which there is named Enequen And because there was not enough of it
destroy other Prouinces that which they call discouering many of the Indians assembled fortifying themselues vpon certaine Rockes Vpon the which Rockes the Spanish haue made and yet at this present and afresh doe make so many cruelties that they almost made an end of laying desolate all this great Countrey slaying an infinite number of people Of the Realme of Yucatan THe yeare one thousand fiue hundred twenty and six was deputed ouer the Realme of Yucatan another caitiffe Gouernour and that through the lies and false reports which himselfe had made vnto the King in like manner as the other tyrants vntill this present to the end there might be committed vnto them offices and charges by meanes whereof they might rob at their pleasures This Realme of Yucatan was full of inhabitants for that it was a Countrie in euery respect wholesome and abounding in plentie of victuals and of fruites more then Mexico and singularly exceeded for the abundance of Honie and Waxe there to be found more then in any quarter of the Indies which hath beene seene vnto this present It containeth about three hundred leagues compasse The people of that Countrie were the most notable of all the Indies as well in consideration of their policie and prudencie as for the vprightnesse of their life verily worthy the training of the knowledge of God amongst whom there might haue beene builded great Cities by the Spanish in which they might haue liued as in an earthly Paradise if so be they had not made themselues vnworthy because of their exceeding couetousnesse hard hartednesse and heinous offences as also vnworthy they were of other moe blessings a great many which God had set open in these Indies This tyrant began with three hundred men to make warre vpon these poore innocent people which were in their houses without hurting any body where he slew and ransacked infinite numbers And for because the Countrey yeeldeth no Gold for if it had yeelded any he would haue consumed those same Indians in making them to toyle in the Mines to the end he might make Gold of the bodies and soules of those for whom Iesus Christ suffered death he generally made slaues of all those whom he slew not and returned the Ships that were come thither vpon the blowing abroad and noyse of the selling of slaues full of people bartered for Wine Oyle Vinegar powdred Bacons flesh Garments Horses and that that euery man had neede of according to the Captains estimate and iudgement He would let choose amongst an hundred or fiftie yong Damosels bartering some one of the fairest and of the best complexion for a Caske of Wine Oyle Vineger or for Porke powdred And in like manner he would let choose out a young hansome Stripling amongst two or three hundred for the foresaid Merchandize And it hath beene seene that a youth seeming to bee the Sonne of some Prince hath beene bartered for a Cheese and an hundred persons for an Horse Hee continued in these doings from the yeere twentie sixe vntill the yeere thirtie three As these Spaniards went with their mad Dogges a foraging by the tracke and hunting out the Indian men and women An Indian woman being sicke and seeing she could not escape their Dogges that they should not rent her as they did others shee tooke a coard and hanged her selfe at a beame hauing fastened at her foot a child she had of a weere old and she had no sooner done behold these Curres which come and dispatch this infant howbeit that before it died a Religious man a Frier baptized it When the Spanish parted out of this Realme one amongst others said to a Sonne of a Lord of some Citie or Prouince that he should goe with him the Boy answered and said he would not forsake his Countrie The Spaniard replied Goe with me or else I will cut off thine eares The young Indian persisted in his first saying that he would not forsake his Countrie The Spaniard drawing out his Dagger cut off first one and then his other eare The youngman abiding by it still that he would not leaue his Countrie he mangled off also his Nose with the vppermost of his lips making no more scrupulositie of the mater then if he had giuen him but a philip This damnable wretch magnified himselfe and vaunted him of his doings villanously vnto a reuerend Religious person saying that hee tooke as much paines as hee could to beget the Indian women in great numbers with child to the end he might receiue the more money for them in selling them great with childe for slaues In this Realme or in one of the Prouinces of New Spaine a certaine Spaniard went one day with his Dogges on hunting of Venison or else Conies and not finding game hee minded his Dogges that they should bee hungrie and tooke a little sweet Babie which hee bereaued the mother of and cutting off from him the armes and the legges chopped them in small gobbets giuing to euery Dogge his Liuerie or part thereof by and by after these morsels thus dispatched he cast also the rest of the bodie or the carkasse to all the kenell together Being now departed the Realme all the Deuillish Tyrants blinded with the couetousnesse of the riches of Peru that reuerend Father Frier Iames with foure other Religious of Saint Francis was moued in spirit to goe into this Realme to pacifie them and for to preach to them and to winne vnto Iesus Christ those which might bee remayning of the Butcheries and Tyrannous Murders which the Spanish had beene peâ—petrating seuen continuall yeeres And I beleeue that these same were those Religious persons the which in the yeere thirtie foure certaine Indians of the Prouince of Mexico sending before them Messengers in their behalfe requested them that they would come into their Countrie to giue them knowledge of that one only God who is God and very Lord of all the woâ—ld according in the end to admit them with condition that they should enter themsâ—lues alone and not the Spaniards with them that which the Religious promised them For it was permitted them yea commanded them so to doe by the Vice-roy of New Spaine and that there should bee no kind of displeasure bee done vnto them by the Spaniards The Religious men preached vnto them the Gospell of Christ as they are accustomed to doe and as had beene the holy intention of the Kings of Castile that should haue beene done Howbeit that the Spaniards in all the seuen yeeres space past had neuer giuen them any such notice of the truth of the Gospell or so much as that there was any other King sauing himselfe that so tyrannized ouer them and destroyed them By these meanes of the Religious after the end of fortie dayes that they had preached vnto them the Lords of the Countrie brought vnto them and put into their hands their Idols to the end that they should burne them After also they brought vnto them their young children that
bare sway and ruled that was nine yeares there was no more care of teaching or bringing the Indians to saluation neither was there any more labor employed or once thought of to that purpose then if they had beene Trees Stones Dogs or Cats He wasted great townes and fortresses he gaue to one Spaniard a hundred Indians to another fiftie to another more or lesse as euery man was in liking or fauour and as it pleased him to grant He gaue children and old men women with childe and in childebed men of countenance and commons the naturall Lords of the Townes and Countries he parted them among those to whom hee wished most wealth and commoditie vsing in his Letters of command this speech following To you such a man are giuen so many Indians with their Cacique them to vse in their Mines and affaires So as all great and small yong and old that could stand on their feete men women with childe or in childebed one or other trauailed and wrought so long as they had any breath in their bodies He gaue leaue to take away married men and to make them draw Gold tenne twenty thirtie fortie or eightie leagues or farther The women remained in farme houses and granges in great labours So that the man and wife should not see one another in eight or ten moneths or a whole yeare And at their meeting they were so worne with labour and hunger that they had no minde of cohabitation whereby their generation ceased and their poore children perâ—â—hed because the mothers through hunger and trauaile had no milke wherewith to nourish them This was a cause that in the I le of Cuba one of vs being there there perished in the space of three moneths for hunger 7000. children some desperate women strangled and killed their owne children others finding themselues with childe did eate certaine hearbes thereby to loose their fruit so that the men died in the Mines the women perished in the farme houses their whole generation in a short space decayed and all the Countrey lay desolate The said Gouernour to the end without release to keepe them in continuall labour still gaue them away and yet besides their great labors he suffered them rigorously and very austerely to be misused For the Spaniards that had them in command appointed certaine hangmen ouer them some in the Mines whom they tearmed Miniero others in the Farmes that were called Estanciero vnnaturall and pittilesse persons that beate them with staues and cords boxing them pricking them with needles and still calling them dogges neither did they euer shew any signe of humanity or clemencie but all their dealings did consist of extreame seueritie riot and bitternesse The Gouernour had also in the Spanish Townes and Forts certaine of the most honorable and principall persons about him whom he called Visitors vnto whom also besides their other ordinary portions that he had giuen them he gaue in respect of their offices one hundred Indians to serue them These in the Townes were the greatest executioners as being more cruell then the rest before whom Athuaziles del camoo brought all such as had bin taken in this chase The accuser he that had them in command was present and accused them saying This Indian or those Indians are dogs and will doe no seruice but doe daily run to the Mountaines there to become loyterers and vagabonds and therefore required that they might be punished Then the Visitor with his owne hands bound them to a Pale and taking a pitched cord in the Gallies called an Eele which is as it were an iron rod gaue them so many stripes and beate them so cruelly that the bloud running downe diuers pâ—rts of their bodies they were left for dead God is witnesse of the cruelties committed among those lambs Throughout the yeare they neuer knew holiday neither might be suffered from labour little or much Besides that during all this toyle they neuer had sufficient food no not of Caçabi Some therâ— were that through niggardlinesse wanting meate to giue them would send them two or three dayes abroad into the fields and Mountaines to feede where they might satisfie themselues with such fruite as hang on the trees and then vpon the force of that which they brought in their guts would force them to labour two or three dayes more without giuing them any one morsell to eate The Gouernour commanded they should be paid their day wages and expences for any labour or seruice that they should doe to the Spaniard and their wages was three blankes euery two dayes which in the yeare amounted to halfe a Castelin Thus grew they into sickenesse through long and grieuous trauailes and that was soone caught among them When the Spaniards perceiued the sickenesse increase so as there was no profit or seruice to be looked for at their hands then would they send them home to their houses giuing them to spend in some thirty forty or eightie leagues trauaile some halfe dozen of Radish or Refortes that is a kinde of nauet roote and a little Caçabi wherewith the poore men trauailed not farre before they should desperately dye some went two or three leagues some ten or twenty so desirous to get to their owne home there to finish their hellish life that they suffered that they euen fell downe dead by the wayes so as many times we found some dead others at deaths doore others groning and pittifully to their powers pronouncing this word hunger hunger Then the Gouernour seeing that the Spaniard had in this wise slaine halfe or two third parts of these Indians whom hee had giuen them in command he came a fresh to draw new lots and make a new distribution of Indians still supplying the number of his first gift and this did hee almost euery yeare Pedrarias entred into the firme land as a Wolfe that had long beene starued doth into a flocke of quiet and innocent Sheepe and Lambs and as Gods wrath and scourge committing infinite slaughters robberies oppressions and cruelties together with those Spaniards whom he had leuied and laid waste so many Townes and Villages which before had bin replenished with people as it were Ant hils as the like was neuer seene heard of or written by any that in our daies haue dealt in Histories He robbed his Maiestie Subiects with those whom he tooke with him and the harme that he did amounted to aboue foure yea six Millions of Gold hee laid aboue fortie leagues of land desart namely from Darien where he first arriued vnto the Prouince of Nicaraga one of the fruitfullest richest and best inhabited lands in the world From this cursed wretch sprang first the pestilence of giuing the Indians in command which afterward hath infected all those Indies where any Spaniards doe inhabit and by whom all these Nations are consumed so that from him his commands haue proceeded the certaine waste and desolation that your Maiestie haue sustained in these so great lands and dominions
is within a league of the I le which is called the Ile du Coudre or the I le of Fâ—lberds which may be some two leagues in length And from the said I le to the Land on the North side is a league The said Ile is some what euen and groweth sharpe toward both the ends on the West end there are Medowes and Points of Rockes which stretch somewhat into the Riuer The said Ile is somewhat pleasant by reason of the Woods which enuiron the same There is store of Slate and the soyle is somewhat grauelly at the end whereof there is a Rocke which stretcheth into the Sea about halfe a league We passed to the North of the said I le which is distant from the I le of the Hare twelue leagues The Thursday following we departed from thence and anchored at a dangerous nooke on the Northside where there be certaine Medowes and a little Riuer where the Sauages lodge sometimes The said day wee still ranged the Coast on the North vnto a place where wee put backe by reasons of the winds which were contrary vnto vs where there were many Rockes and places very dangeous here we stayed three dayes wayting for faire weather All this Coast is nothing but Mountaynes as well on the South side as on the North the most part like the Coast of the Riuer of Saguenay On Sunday the two and twentieth of the said moneth wee departed to goe to the I le of Orleans in the way there are many Iles on the South shoare which are low and couered with trees shewing to be very pleasant contayning as I was able to iudge some two leagues and one league and another halfe a league About these Iles are nothing but Rocks and Flats very dangerous to passe and they are distant some two leagues from the mayne Land on the South And from thence wee ranged the I le of Orleans on the Southside It is a league from the North shoare very pleasant and leuell contayning eight leagues in length The Coast on the South shoare is low land some two leagues into the Countrey the said lands begin to below ouer against the said Ile which beginneth two leagues from the South Coast to passe by the North side is very dangerous for the bankes of Sand and Rockes which are betweene the said Ile and the mayne Land which is almost all dry at a low water At the end of the said Ile I saw a fall of water which fell from a great Mountaine of the said Riuer of Canada and on the top of the said Mountaine the ground is leuell and pleasant to behold although within the said Countries a man may see high Mountaynes which may bee some twenty or fiue and twenty leagues within the Lands which are neere the first Sault of Saguenay We anchored at Quebec which is a Strait of the said Riuer of Canada which is some three hundred pases broad there is at this Strait on the North side a very high Mountayne which falleth downe on both sides all the rest is a leuell and goodly Countrey where there are good grounds full of Trees as Okes Cypresses Birches Firre-trees and Aspes and other Trees bearing fruit and wild Vines So that in mine opinion if they were dressed they would be as good as ours There are along the Coast of the said Quebec Diamants in the Rockes of Slate which are better then those of Alonson From the said Quebec to the I le of Coudre or Filberds are nine and twenty leagues ON Munday the three and twentieth of the said moneth we departed from Quebec where the Riuer beginneth to grow broad sometimes one league then a league and an halfe or two leagues at most The Countrey groweth still fairer and fairer and are all low grounds without Rockes or very few The North Coast is full of Rockes and bankes of Sand you must take the South side about some halfe league from the shore There are certaine small Riuers which are not nauigable but only for the Canowes of the Sauages wherein there be many fals Wee anchored as high as Saint Croix which is distant from Quebec fifteene leagues This is a low point which riseth vp on both sides The Countrey is faire and leuell and the soyles better then in any place that I haue seene with plenty of wood but very few Firre-trees and Cypresses There are in these parts great store of Vines Peares small Nuts Cheries Goose-beries red and greene and certaine small Roots of the bignesse of a little Not resembling Musheroms in taste which are very good roasted and sod All this soyle is blacke without any Rockes saue that there is great store of Slate The soyle is very soft and if it were well manured it would yeeld great increase On the Northside there is a Riuer which is called Batiscan which goeth farre into the Countrey whereby sometimes the Algoumequins come downe and another on the same side three leagues from the said Saint Croix in the way from Quebec which is that where Iacques Quartier was in the beginning of the Discouery which he made hereof and hee passed no farther The said Riuer is pleasant and goeth farre vp into the Countries All this North Coast is very leuell and delectable On Tuesday the foure and twentieth of the said moneth wee departed from the said Saint Croix where we stayed a tyde and an halfe that we might passe the next day following by day light because of the great number of Rockes which are thwart the Riuer a strange thing to behold which is in a manner dry at a low water But at halfe flood a man may beginne to passe safely yet you must take good heed with the Lead alwayes in hand The tyde floweth heere almost three fathomes and an halfe the farther we went the fairer was the Countrey We went some fiue leagues and an halfe and anchored on the North side The Wednesday following wee departed from the said place which is a flatter Countrey then that which we passed before full of great store of Trees as that of Saint Croix We passed hard by a little I le which was full of Vines and came to an Anchor on the South side neere a little Hill but beeing on the top thereof all is euen ground There is at other little Ile three leagues from Saint Croix ioyning neere the South shore Wee departed from the said Hill the Thursday following and passed by a little I le which is neere the North shoare where I saw sixe small Riuers whereof two are able to beare Boats farre vp and another is three hundred pases broad there are certaine Ilands in the mouth of it it goeth farre vp into the Countrey it is the deepest of all the rest which are very pleasant to behold the soyle being full of Trees which are like to Walnut-trees and haue the same smell but I saw no Fruit which maketh me doubt the Sauages told
season there one may see Orange-trees Lymmon-trees Fig-trees Pomgranat-trees and all such sorts of trees bring forth fruit as good as in Prouence The Sauages vse sweatings often as it were euery moneth and by this meanes they preserue themselues driuing out by sweate all the cold and euill humours they might haue gathered But one singular preseruatiue against this perfidious sicknesse which commeth so stealingly and which hauing once lodged it selfe within vs will not bee put out is to follow the counsell of him that is wife amonst the wise who hauing considered all the afflictions that man giue to himselfe during his life hath found nothing better then to reioyce himselfe and doe good 〈◊〉 take pleasure in his owne workes They that haue done so in our companie haue found themse 〈…〉 s well by it contrariwise some alwaies grudging repining neuer content idle haue beene found out by the same disease True it is that for to enioy mirth it is good to haue the sweetnesse of fresh meates Fleshes Fishes Milke Butter Oyles Fruits and such like which wee had not at will I meane the common sort for alwaies some one or other of the companie did furnish Monsieur de Poutrincourt his Table with Wilde-fowle Venison or fresh Fish And if wee had halfe a dozen Kine I beleeue that no body had died there It resteth a preseruatiue necessary for the accomplishment of mirth and to the end one may take pleasure on the worke of his hands is euery one to haue the honest companie of his lawfull wife for without that the cheere is neuer perfect ones minde is alwaies vpon that which one loues and desireth there is still some sorrow the body becomes full of ill humours and so the sicknesse doth breed And for the last and soueraigne remedie I send backe the Patient to the tree of life for so one may well qualifie it which Iames Quartier doth call Anneda yet vnknowne in the coast of Port Royall vnlesse it bee peraduenture the Sasafras whereof there is quantitie in certaine places And it is an assured thing that the said tree is very excellent But Monsieur Champlain who is now in the great Riuer of Canada passing his Winter in the same part where the said Quartier did winter hath charge to finde it out and to make prouision thereof THe rough season being passed Monsieur de Monts wearied with his bad dwelling at Saint Croix determined to seeke out another Port in a warmer Countrie and more to the South And to that end made a Pinnace to bee armed and furnished with victuals to follow the coast and discouering new Countries to seeke out some happier Port in a more temperate aire Hee made in this Voyage but about an hundred and twenty leagues as wee will tell you now From Saint Croix to sixty leagues forward the coast lieth East and West at the end of which sixty leagues is a Riuer called by the Sauages Kinibeki From which place to Malebarre it lieth North and South and there is yet from one to the other sixty leagues in right line not following the Bayes So farre stretcheth Monsieur de Monts his Voyage wherein hee had for Pilot in his Vessell Monsieur de Champdore In all this Coast so farre as Kinibeki there are many places where shippes may bee harboured amongst the Ilands but the people there is not so frequent as is beyond that And there is no remarkable thing at least that may bee seene in the outside of the Lands but a Riuer whereof many haue written fables one after another I will recite that which is in the last Booke intituled The vniuersall Historie of the West Indies Printed at Douay the last yeere 1607. in the place where hee speaketh of Norombega For in reporting this I shall haue also said that which the first haue written from whom they haue had it Moreouer towards the North sayth the Authour after hee had spoken of Virginia is Norombega which is knowne well enough by reason of a faire Towne and a great Riuer though it is not found from whence it hath his name for the Barbarians doe call it Aguncia At the mouth of this Riuer there is an Iland very fit for fishing The Region that goeth along the Sea doth abound in fish and towards New France there is great number of wilde beasts and is very commodious for hunting the Inhabitants doe liue in the same manner as they of New France If this beautifull Towne hath euer beene in nature I would faine knowe who hath pulled it downe For there is but Cabins heere and there made with pearkes and couered with barkes of trees or with skinnes and both the Riuer and the place inhabited is called Pemptegoet and not Agguncia The Riuer sauing the tide is scarce as the Riuer on that coast because there are not Lands sufficient to produce them by reason of the great Riuer of Canada which runneth like this coast and is not fourescore leagues distant from that place in crossing the Lands which from else-where receiued many Riuers falling from those parts which are towards Norombega At the entrie whereof it is so farre from hauing but one Iland that rather the number thereof is almost infinite for as much as this Riuer enlarging it selfe like the Greeke Lambda 〈◊〉 the mouth whereof is all full of Iles whereof there is one of them lying very farre off and the formost in the Sea which is high and markable aboue the others But some will say that I equiuocate in the situation of Norombega and that it is not placed where I take it To this I answer that the Author whose words I haue a little before alleaged is in this my sufficient warrant who in his Geographicall Mappe hath placed in the mouth of this Riuer in the 44. degree and his supposed Towne in the 45. wherein we differ but in one degree which is a small matter For the Riuer that I meane is in the 45. degree and as for any Towne there is none Now of necessity it must be this riuer because that the same being passed and that of Kinibeki which is in the same higth there is no other Riuer forward whereof account should be made till one come to Virginia I say furthermore that seeing the Barbarians of Norombega doe liue as they of new France and haue abundance of hunting it must be that their Prouince be sea 〈…〉 our new France for fiftie leagues farther to the South-west there is no great game bec 〈…〉 e the woods are thinner there and the Inhabitants setled and in greater number then in Norombega The Riuer of Norombega being passed Monsieur de Monts went still coasting vntill he came to Kinibeki where a Riuer is that may shorten the way to goe to the great Riuer of Canada There is a number of Sauages Cabined there and the land beginneth there to be better peopled From Kinibeki going farther one findeth the Bay of
fully resolued all for England againe There came in this interim aboord vnto vs that stayed all night an Indian whom wee vsed kindly and the next day sent ashoare hee shewed himselfe the most sober of all the rest wee held him sent as a Spie In the morning he filched away our Pot-hookes thinking he had not done any ill therein being ashoare wee bid him strike fire which with an Emerald stone such as the Glasiers vse to cut Glasse he did I take it to be the very same that in Latine is called Smiris for striking therewith vpon Touch-wood that of purpose hee had by meane of a mynerall stone vsed therein sparkles proceeded and forth with kindled with making of flame The ninth wee continued working on our Store-house for as yet remayned in vs a desired resolution of making stay The tenth Captaine Gosnoll fell downe with the ship to the little Ilet of Cedars called Hills happe to take in Cedar wood leauing mee and nine more in the Fort onely with three meales meate vpon promise to returne the next day The eleuenth he came not neither sent whereupon I commanded foure of my companie to seeke out for Crabbes Lobsters Turtles c. for sustayning vs till the ships returne which was gone cleane out of sight and had the winde chopt vp at South-west with much difficulty would shee haue beene able in short time to haue made returne These foure Purveyers whom I counselled to keepe together for their better safety diuided themselues two going one wayes and two another in search as aforesaid One of these petie companies was assaulted by foure Indians who with Arrowes did shoot and hurt one of the two in his side the other a lusty and nimble fellow leapt in and cut their Bow-strings whereupon they fled Being late in the euening they were driuen to lie all night in the Woods not knowing the way home thorow the thicke rubbish as also the weather somewhat stormie The want of these sorrowed vs much as not able to coniecture any thing of them vnlesse very euill The twelfth those two came vnto vs againe whereat our ioy was encreased yet the want of our Captaine that promised to returne as aforesaid strooke vs in a dumpish terrour for that hee performed not the same in the space of almost three dayes In the meane wee sustayned our selues with Alexander and Sorrell pottage Ground-nuts and Tobacco which gaue nature a reasonable content Wee heard at last our Captaine to Iewre vnto vs which made such musike as sweeter neuer came vnto poore men The thirteenth beganne some of our companie that before vowed to stay to make reuolt whereupon the planters diminishing all was giuen ouer The fourteenth fifteenth and sixteenth wee spent in getting Sasafrage and fire-wood of Cedar leauing House and little Fort by ten men in nineteene dayes sufficient made to harbour twenty persons at least with their necessary prouision The seuenteenth we set sayle doubling the Rockes of Elizabeths Iland and passing by Douer Cliffe came to anchor at Marthaes Vineyard being fiue leagues distant from our Fort where we went ashoare and had young Cranes Herneshowes and Geese which now were growne to pretie bignesse The eighteenth we set sayle and bore for England cutting off our Shalop that was well able to land fiue and twenty men or more a Boate very necessary for the like occasions The winds doe raigne most commonly vpon this coast in the Summer time Westerly In our homeward course wee obserued the foresaid fleeting weeds to continue till we came within two hundred leagues of Europe The three and twentieth of Iuly we came to anchor before Exmouth CHAP. XI Notes of the same Voyage taken out of a Tractate written by IAMES ROSIER to Sir WALTER RALEIGH and of MACES Voyage to Virginia ELizabeths Iland is full of high timbred Oakes their leaues thrice so broad as ours Cedars straight and tall Beech Elme Hollie Wal-nut trees in abundance the fruit as bigge as ours as appeared by those wee found vnder the trees which had lien all the yeere vngathered Hasle-nut trees Cherrie trees the leafe barke and bignesse not differing from ours in England but the stalke beareth the blossomes or fruit at the end thereof like a cluster of Grapes fortie or fiftie in a bunch Sassafras trees great plentie all the Iland ouer a tree of high price and profit also diuers other fruit-trees some of them with strange barkes of an Orange colour in feeling soft and smooth like Veluet in the thickest parts of these Woods you may see a furlong or more round about On the North-west side of this Iland neere to the Sea-side is a standing Lake of fresh water almost three English miles in compasse in the miast whereof stands a woody ground an acre in quantitie or not aboue this Lake is full of small Tortoises and exceedingly frequented with all sorts of fowles before rehearsed which breed some lowe on the bankes and others on lowe trees about this Lake in great abundance whose young ones of all sorts wee tooke and eate at our pleasure but all these fowles are much bigger than ours in England Also in euery Iland and almost euery part of euery Iland are great store of Ground-nuts fortie together on a string some of them as bigge as Hennes egges they growe not two inches vnder ground the which Nuts wee found to bee as good as Potatoes Also diuers sorts of shell-fish as Scalops Mussels Cockles Lobsters Crabs Oisters and Wilkes exceeding good and very great But not to cloy you with particular rehearsall of such things as God and Nature hath bestowed on these places in comparison whereof the most fertile part of all England is of it selfe but barren wee went in our Light-horsman from this Iland to the Maine right against this Iland some two miles off where comming ashoare wee stood a while like men ranished at the beautie and delicacy of this sweet soyle for besides diuers cleere Lakes of fresh water whereof wee saw no end Medowes very large and full of greene grasse euen the most wooddy places I speake onely of such as I saw doe growe so distinct and apart one tree from another vpon greene grassie ground somewhat higher than the Plaines as if Nature would shew her selfe aboue her power artificiall Hard by wee espied seuen Indians and comming vp to them at first they expressed some feare but being emboldned by our courteous vsage and some trifles which we gaue them they followed vs to a necke of Land which wee imagined had beene seuered from the Mayne but finding it otherwise wee perceiued abroad Harbour or Riuers mouth which came vp into the Mayne and because the day was farre spent we were forced to returne to the Iland from whence we came leauing the Discouery of this Harbour for a time of better leisure Of the goadnesse of which Harbour as also of many others thereabouts there is small doubt
that there had bin a generall determination to haue shut vp hatches and commending our sinfull soules to God committed the Shippe to the mercy of the Sea surely that night we must haue done it and that night had we then perished but see the goodnesse and sweet introduction of better hope by our mercifull God giuen vnto vs. Sir George Summers when no man dreamed of such happinesse had discouered and cried Land Indeede the morning now three quarters spent had wonne a little cleerenesse from the dayes before and it being better surueyed the very trees were seene to moue with the winde vpon the shoare side whereupon our Gouernour commanded the Helme-man to beare vp the Boateswaine sounding at the first found it thirteene fathome when we stood a little in seuen fatham and presently heauing his lead the third time had ground at foure fathome and by this we had got her within a mile vnder the South-east point of the land where we had somewhat smooth water But hauing no hope to saue her by comming to an anker in the same we were inforced to runne her ashoare as neere the land as we could which brought vs within three quarters of a mile of shoare and by the mercy of God vnto vs making out our Boates we had ere night brought all our men women and children about the number of one hundred and fifty safe into the Iland We found it to be the dangerous and dreaded Iland or rather Ilands of the Bermuda whereof let mee giue your Ladyship a briefe description before I proceed to my narration And that the rather because they be so terrible to all that euer touched on them and such tempests thunders and other fearefull obiects are seene and heard about them that they be called commonly The Deuils Ilands and are feared and auoyded of all sea trauellers aliue aboue any other place in the world Yet it pleased our mercifull God to make euen this hideous and hated place both the place of our safetie and meanes of our deliuerance And hereby also I hope to deliuer the world from a foule and generall errour it being counted of most that they can be no habitation for Men but rather giuen ouer to Deuils and wicked Spirits whereas indeed wee find them now by experience to bee as habitable and commodious as most Countries of the same climate and situation insomuch as if the entrance into them were as easie as the place it selfe is contenting it had long ere this beene inhabited as well as other Ilands Thus shall we make it appeare That Truth is the daughter of Time and that men ought not to deny euery thing which is not subiect to their owne sense The Bermudas bee broken Ilands fiue hundred of them in manner of an Archipelagus at least if you may call them all Ilands that lie how little soeuer into the Sea and by themselues of small compasse some larger yet then other as time and the Sea hath wonne from them and eaten his passage through and all now lying in the figure of a Croissant within the circuit of sixe or seuen leagues at the most albeit at first it is said of them that they were thirteene or fourteene leagues and more in longitude as I haue heard For no greater distance is it from the Northwest Point to Gates his Bay as by this Map your Ladyship may see in which Sir George Summers who coasted in his Boat about them all tooke great care to expresse the same exactly and full and made his draught perfect for all good occasions and the benefit of such who either in distresse might be brought vpon them or make saile this way It should seeme by the testimony of Gonzalus Ferdinandus Ouiedus in his Booke intituled The Summary or Abridgement of his generall History of the West Indies written to the Emperor Charles the Fift that they haue beene indeed of greater compasse and I easily beleeue it then they are now who thus saith In the yeere 1515. when I came first to informe your Maiesty of the state of the things in India and was the yeere following in Flanders in the time of your most fortunate successe in these your kingdomes of Aragony and Casteel whereas at that voyage I sayled aboue the Iland Bermudas otherwise called Gorza being the farthest of all the Ilands that are yet found at this day in the world and arriuing there at the depth of eight yards of water and distant from the Land as farre as the shot of a Peece of Ordnance I determined to send some of the ship to Land as well to make search of such things as were there as also to leaue in the Iland certaine Hogges for increase but the time not seruing my purpose by reason of contrary winde I could bring my Ships no neerer the Iland being twelue leagues in length and sixteene in breadth and about thirtie in circuit lying in the thirtie three degrees of the North side Thus farre hee True it is the maine Iland or greatest of them now may bee some sixteene miles in length East North-east and West South-west the longest part of it standing in thirtie two degrees and twentie minutes in which is a great Bay on the North side in the North-west end and many broken Ilands in that Sound or Bay and a little round Iland at the south-South-west end As occasions were offered so we gaue titles and names to certaine places These Ilands are often afflicted and rent with tempests great strokes of thunder lightning and raine in the extreamity of violence which and it may well bee hath so sundred and torne downe the Rockes and whurried whole quarters of Ilands into the maine Sea some sixe some seuen leagues and is like in time to swallow them all so as euen in that distance from the shoare there is no small danger of them and with them of the stormes continually raging from them which once in the full and change commonly of euery Moone Winter or Summer keepe their vnchangeable round and rather thunder then blow from euery corner about them sometimes fortie eight houres together especially if the circle which the Philosophers call Halo were in our being there seene about the Moone at any season which bow indeed appeared there often and would bee of a mightie compasse and breadth I haue not obserued it any where one quarter so great especially about the twentieth of March I saw the greatest when followed vpon the eues eue of the Annuntiation of our Ladie the mightiest blast of lightning and most terrible rap of thunder that euer astonied mortall men I thinke In August September and vntill the end of October wee had very hot and pleasant weather onely as I say thunder lightning and many scattering showers of Raine which would passe swiftly ouer and yet fall with such force and darknesse for the time as if it would neuer bee cleere againe wee wanted not any and of raine more in
hand and which weighed heauiest they tooke for the best and let the others alone and so our men would take twentie dozen in two houres of the chiefest of them and they were a good and well relished Fowle fat and full as a Partridge In Ianuary wee had great store of their Egges which are as great as an Hennes Egge and so fashioned and white shelled and haue no difference in yolke nor white from an Hennes Egge There are thousands of these Birds and two or three Ilands full of their Burrowes whether at any time in two houres warning wee could send our Cock-boat and bring home as many as would serue the whole Company which Birds for their blindnesse for they see weakly in the day and for their cry and whooting wee called the Sea Owle they will bite cruelly with their crooked Bills Wee had knowledge that there were wilde Hogges vpon the Iland at first by our owne Swine preserued from the wrack and brought to shoare for they straying into the Woods an huge wilde Boare followed downe to our quarter which at night was watched and taken in this sort One of Sir George Summers men went and lay among the Swine when the Boare being come and groueled by the Sowes hee put ouer his hand and rubbed the side gently of the Boare which then lay still by which meanes hee fastned a rope with a sliding knot to the hinder legge and so tooke him and after him in this sort two or three more But in the end a little businesse ouer our people would goe a hunting with our Ship Dogge and sometimes bring home thirtie sometimes fiftie Boares Sowes and Pigs in a weeke aliue for the Dog would fasten on them and hold whilest the Hunts-men made in and there bee thousands of them in the Ilands and at that time of the yeere in August September October and Nouember they were well fed with Berries that dropped from the Cedars and the Palmes and in our quarter wee made styes for them and gathering of these Berries serued them twice aday by which meanes we kept them in good plight and when there was any fret of weather for vpon euery increase of wind the billow would be so great as it was no putting out with our Gundall or Canow that we could not fiâ—h nor take Tortoyses then wee killed our Hogs But in February when the Palme Berries began to be scant or dry and the Cedar Berries failed two moneths sooner True it is the Hogs grew poore and being taken so wee could not raise them to be better for besides those Berries we had nothing wherewith to franke them but euen then the Tortoyses came in againe of which wee daily both turned vp great store finding them on Land as also sculling after them in our Boate strooke them with an Iron goad and sod baked and roasted them The Tortoyse is reasonable toothsom some say wholsome meate I am sure our Company liked the meate of them verâ—e well and one Tortoyse would goe further amongst them then three Hogs One Turtle for so we called them feasted well a dozen Messes appointing sixe to euery Messe It is such a kind of meat as a man can neither absolutely call Fish nor Flesh keeping most what in the water and feeding vpon Sea-grasse like a Heifer in the bottome of the Coues and Bayes and laying their Egges of which wee should finde fiue hundred at a time in the opening of a shee Turtle in the Sand by the shoare side and so couering them close leaue them to the hatching of the Sunne like the Manati at Saint Dominique which made the Spanish Friars at their first arriuall make some scruple to eate them on a Friday because in colour and taste the flesh is like to morsells of Veale Concerning the laying of their Egges and hatching of their young Peter Martyr writeth thus in his Decades of the Ocean at such time as the heate of Nature moueth them to generation they came forth of the Sea and making a deepe pit in the sand they lay three or foure hundred Egges therein when they haue thus emptied their bag of Conception they put as much of the same againe into the Pit as may satisfie to couer the Egges and so resort againe vnto the Sea nothing carefull of their succession At the day appointed of Nature to the procreation of these creatures there creepeth out a multitude of Tortoyles as it were Pismyers out of an Ant-hill and this only by the heate of the Sunne without any helpe of their Parents their Egges are as big as Geefe Egges and themselues growne to perfection bigger then great round Targets §. II. Actions and Occurrents whiles they continued in the Ilands Rauens sent for Virginia Diuers mutinies PAINE executed Two Pinnaces built SO soone as wee were a little setled after our landing with all the conueniencie wee might and as the place and our many wants would giue vs leaue wee made vp our long Boate as your Ladyship hath heard in fashion of a Pinnace fitting her with a little Deck made of the Hatches of our ruin'd ship so close that no water could goe in her gaue her Sayles and Oares and intreating with our Masters Mate Henry Rauens who was supposed a sufficient Pilot wee found him easily wonne to make ouer therewith as a Barke of Auiso for Virginia which being in the height of thirtie seuen degrees fiue degrees from the Iland which we were might bee some one hundred and fortie leagues from vs or thereabouts 〈…〉 koning to euery degree that lies North-east and Westerly twentie eight English leagues who the twentie eight of August being Munday with sixe Saylers and our Cape Merchant Thomas Whittingham departed from vs out of Gates his Bay but to our much wonder returned againe vpon the Wednesday night after hauing attempted to haue got cleere of the Iland from the North North-eath to the South-west but could not as little water as shee drew which might not bee aboue twentie inches for shoales and breaches so as he was faine to go out from Summers Creeks and the same way we came in on the South South-east of the Ilands and from thence wee made to Sea the Friday after the first of September promising if hee liued and arriued safe there to returne vnto vs the next new Moone with the Pinnace belonging to the Colony there according vnto which instructions were directed vnto the new Leiftenant Gouernour and Councell from our Gouernour here for which the Ilands were appointed carefully to be watched and fiers prepared as Beacons to haue directed and wafted him in but two Moones were wasted vpon the Promontory before mentioned and gaue many a long and wished looke round about the Horizon from the North-east to the South-west but in vaine discouering nothing all the while which way soeuâ—r we turned our eye but ayre and sea You may please excellent Lady to know the reason which moued our Gouernour to dispatch this
tedious to relate yet was no lesse delightfull to them then comfortable to vs. Here we remained onely that night but neuer had better entertainment amongst any of them The day following in our iourney Hobbamocke told me of the priuate conference he had with Massassowat and how he charged him perfectly to acquaint me there with as I shewed before which hauing done he vsed many arguments himselfe to moue vs thereunto That night we lodged at Namasket and the day following about the mid-way betweene it and home we met two Indians who told vs that Captaine Standish was that day gone to the Massachusets but contrary windes againe draue him backe so that we found him at home where the Indian of Paomet still was being very importunate that the Captaine should take the first opportunitie of a faire winde to goe with him but their secret and villanous purposes being through Gods mercy now made knowne the Gouernour caused Captaine Standish to send him away without any distaste or manifestation of anger that we might the better effect and bring to passe that which should be thought most necessary Before this iourney we heard many complaints both by the Indians and some others of best desert amongst Master Westons Colony how exceedingly their Company abased themselues by vndirect meanes to get victuals from the Indians who dwelt not farre from them fetching them wood water c and all for a meales meate whereas in the meane time they might with diligence haue gotten enough to haue serued them three or foure times Other by night brake the earth and robbed the Indians store for which they had beene publiquely stocked and whipt and yet was there small amendment This was about the end of February at which time they had spent all their Bread and Corne not leauing any for Seede neither would the Indians lend or sell them any more vpon any tearmes Hereupon they had thought to take it by violence and to that spiked vp euery entrance into their Towne being well impaled saue one with a full resolution to proceede But some more honestly minded aduised Iohn Sanders their Ouer-seer first to write to Plimoth and if the Gouernor aduised him thereunto he might the better doe it They sent and our Gouernour writ diuers reasons of dislike With these Letters wee dispatched the Messenger Vpon the receipt whereof they altered their determination resoluing to shift as they could till the returne of Iohn Sanders from Munhiggen who first comming to Plimoth notwithstanding our owne necessities the Gouernour spared him some Corne to carrie them to Munhiggen But not hauing sufficient for the Ships store he tooke a Shallop and leauing others with instructions to ouer-see things till his returne set forward about the end of February so that he knew not of this conspiracie of the Indians before his going neither was it knowne to any of vs till our returne from Sawaams or Puckanakick at which time also another Sachim called Wassapinewat brother to Obtakiest the Sachim of the Massachusets who had formerly smarted for partaking with Coubatant and fearing the like againe to purge himselfe reuealed the same thing The three and twentieth of March being now come which is a yearely Court day the Gouernour hauing a double testimony and many circumstances agreeing with the truth thereof not being to vndertake warre without the consent of the body of the Company made knowne the same in publique Court We came to this conclusion That Captaine Standish should take so many men as he thought sufficient to make his party good against all the Indians in the Massachuset Bay because as all men know that haue had to doe in that kinde it is impossible to deale with them vpon open defiance but to take them in such traps as they lay for others therfore he should pretend trade as at other times but first goe to the English acquaint them with the plot the end of his owne comming that comparing it with their carriages towards them he might better iudge of the certainty of it and more fitly take opportunity to reuenge the same but should forbeare if it were possible till such time as he could make sure Wituwamat that bloudy bold villain before spoken of whose head he had order to bring with him that hee might be a warning and terrour to all that disposition Vpon this Captaine Standish made choice of eight men and would not take more because he would preuentiealousie knowing their guilty consciences would soone be prouoked thereunto but on the next day before he could goe came one of Master Westons Company by land vnto vs with his packe at his backe who made a pittifull narration of their lamentable and weake estate and of the Indians carriages whose boldnesse increased abundantly insomuch as the victuals they got they would take it out of their Pots and eate before their faces yea if in any thing they gaine-said them they were ready to hold a Knife at their breasts that to giue them content since Iohn Sanders went to Munhiggen they had hanged one of them that stole their Corne and yet they regarded it not that another of their Company was turned Sauage that their people had most forsaken the Towne and made their randeuous where they got their victuals because they would not take paines to bring it home that they had sold their cloathes for Corne and were ready to starue both with cold and hunger also because they could not indure to get victuals by reason of their nakednesse and that they were dispersed into three Companies scarce hauing any Powder and Shot left As this Relation was grieuous to vs so it gaue vs good encouragement to proceede in our intendments for which Captaine Standish was now fitted and the winde comming faire the next day set forth for the Massachusets The Indians at the Massachusets missed this man and suspecting his comming to vs as wee conceiue sent one after him and gaue out there that he would neuer come to Patuxet but that some Wolues or Beares would eate him but we know not by our owne experience and the report of others that though they finde a man sleeping yet so soone as there is life discerned they feare and shun him This Indian missed him but very little and missing him passed by the towne and went to Manomet whom we hoped to take at his returne as afterward we did Now was our Fort made fit for seruice and Iome Ordnance mounted and though it may seeme long worke it being ten moneths since it begun yet we must note that where so great a worke is begun with such small meanes a little time cannot bring to perfection beside those workes which tend to the preseruation of man the enemy of mankinde will hinder what in him lieth sometimes blind 〈…〉 iudgement and causing reasonable men to reason against their own safety The Indian last mentioned in his returne from Monomet came through the Towne pretending
them will chase almost an hundred men for they account it death for whomsoeuer stand in their way These are highly esteemed of all sorts of people and are of the Sachims Councell without whom they will not warre or vndertake any weightie businesse In warre their Sachims for their more safetie goe in the midst of them They are commonly men of greatest stature and strength and such as will endure most hardnesse and yet are more discreet courteous and humane in their carriages then any amongst them scorning theft lying and the like base dealings and stand as much vpon their reputation as any men And to the end they may haue store of these they traine vp the most forward and likeliest boyes from their child-hood in great hardnesse and make them abstaine from daintie meat obseruing diuers orders prescribed to the end that when they are of age the Deuill may appeare to them causing to drinke the juyce of Sentry and other bitter Hearbs till they cast which they must disgorge into the platter and drinke againe and againe till at length through extraordinary pressing of nature it will seeme to bee all bloud and this the boyes will doe with eagernesse at the first and so continue till by reason of faintnesse they can scarce stand on their legs and then must goe forth into the cold also they beat their shins with sticks and cause them to run through bushes stumps and brambles to make them hardy and acceptable to the Deuill that in time he may appeare vnto them Their Sachims cannot bee all called Kings but onely some few of them to whom the rest resort for protection and pay homage vnto them neither may they warre without their knowledge and approbation yet to be commanded by the greater as occasion serueth Of this sort is Massassowat our friend and Conanacus of Nanohiggenset our supposed enemy Euery Sachim taketh care for the widdow and fatherlesse also for such as are aged and any way maymed if their friends be dead or not able to prouide for them A Sachim will not take any to wife but such an one as is equall to him in birth otherwise they say their seede would in time become ignoble and though they haue many other wiues yet are they no other then concubines or seruants and yeeld a kind of obedience to the principall who ordereth the family and them in it The like their men obserue also and will adhere to the first during their liues but put away the other at their pleasure This Gouernment is successiue and not by choyce If the father dye before the sonne or daughter bee of age then the childe is committed to the protection and tuition of some one amongst them who ruleth in his stead till hee be of age but when that is I know not Euery Sachim knoweth how farre the bounds and limits of his owne Countrey extendeth and that is his owne proper inheritance out or that if any of his men desire land to set their Corne hee giueth them as much as they can vse and sets them in their bounds In this circuit whosoeuer hunteth if any kill any venison bring him his fee which is foure parts of the same if it bee killed on the Land but if in the water then the skin thereof The Great Sachims or Kings know not their owne bounds or limits of land as well as the rest All Trauellers or Strangers for the most part lodge at the Sachims when they come they tell them how long they will stay and to what place they goe during which time they receiue entertainment according to their persons but want not Once a yeere the Pnieses vse to prouoke the people to bestow much Corne on the Sachim To that end they appoint a certaine time and place neere the Sachims dwelling where the people bring many baskets of Corne and make a great stack thereof There the Pnieses stand ready to giue thankes to the people on the Sachims behalfe and after acquainteth the Sachim therewith who fetcheth the same and is no lesse thankfull bestowing many gifts on them When any are visited with sicknesse their friends resort vnto them for their comfort and continue with them oftentimes till their death or recouery If they die they stay a certaine time to mourne for them Night and morning they performe this dutie many daies after the buriall in a most dolefull manner insomuch as though it bee ordinary and the Note Musicall which they take one from another and altogether yet it will draw teares from their eyes and almost from ours also But if they recouer then because their sicknesse was chargeable they send Corne and other gifts vnto them at a certaine appointed time whereat they feast and dance which they call Commoco When they bury the dead they sowe vp the corps in a mat and so put it in the earth If the partie be a Sachim they couer him with many curious mats and bury all his riches with him and inclose the graue with a pale If it bee a childe the father will also put his owne most speciall Iewels and Ornaments in the earth with it also he will cut his haire and disfigure himselfe very much in token of sorrow If it bee the man or woman of the house they will pull downe the mats and leaue the frame standing and bury them in or neere the same and either remoue their dwelling or giue ouer house-keeping The men imploy themselues wholly in hunting and other exercises of the Bow except at some times they take some paine in fishing The women liue a most slauish life they carry all their burdens set and dresse their Corne gather it in and seeke out for much of their food beate and make readie the Corne to eate and haue all houshold care lying vpon them The younger sort reuerence the elder and doe all meane offices whilst they are together although they be strangers Boyes and girles may not weare their haire like men and women but are distinguished thereby A man is not accounted a man till he doe some notable act or shew forth such courage and resolution as becommeth his place The men take much Tobacco but for boyes so to doe they account it odious All their names are significant and variable for when they come to the state of men and women they alter them according to their deeds or dispositions When a maide is taken in marriage shee first cutteth her haire and after weareth a couering on her head till her haire be growne out Their women are diuersly disposed some as modest as they will scarce talke one with another in the company of men being very chaste also yet other some light lasciuious and wanton If a woman haue a bad husband or cannot affect him and there bee warre or opposition betweene that and any other people shee will runne away from him to the contrary partie and there liue where they neuer come
between Sagadahoc and it From the Iland vpward the water is fresh abounding in Salmons and other fresh-water fish Some thirteene or fourteen daies iourney from the entrance in the North-east branch there is a little arme of a Riuer that runneth East some daies iourney which hath at the entrance foure fathoms water Vpon this arme there is one ouer fail which standeth halfe a daies iourney aboue this braneh vpon this arme there are foure Townes The first is called Kenebeke which hath eightie houses and one hundred men The Lord whereof is Apombamen The second is Ketangheanycke and the Sagamos name is Octoworthe who hath in his Towne ninetie housholds and three hundred and thirtie men This Towne is foure dayes iourney from Kenebeke and eight dayes iourney from To the Northward is the third Towne which they call Naragooc where there are fiftie housholds and one hundred and fiftie men The chiefe Sagamo of that place is Cocockohamas And on the small branch that runneth East standeth the fourth Towne named by Mâ—ssakiga where there are but eight housholds and fortie men Vpon the Northwest branch of this Sound stand two Townes more The first is called Amereangan and is distant from Kenebeke sixe dayes iourney In this place are ninetie housholdes and two hundred and sixtie men with two Sagamoes the one called Sasuâ—a the other Scawas Seuen daies iourney hence there is another Sagamo whose name is Octoworâ—kin and his Townes name Namercante wherein are fortie housholds and one hundred and twentie men A dayes iourney aboue Namercante there is a downefall where they cannot passe with their Cannoes but are inforced to carrie them by Land for the space of a quarter of a mile and then they put them into the Riuer againe And twelue dayes iourney aboue this Downfall there is another where they carrie their Boates as at the first and sixe dayes iourney more to the North is the head of this Riuer where is the Lake that is of eight dayes iourney long and foure dayes broad before mentioned In this Lake there is one Iland and three dayes iourney from this Lake there is a Towne which is called Buccawganecants wherein are threescore housholds and foure hundred men And the Sagamo thereof is called Baccatusshe This man and his people are subiects to the Bashabez of Mawooshen and in his Countrey is the farthest limit of his Dominion where he hath any that doe him homage To the Westward of Sagadahoc foure dayes iourney there is another Riuer called Ashamabaga which hath at the entrance sixe fathoms water and is halfe a quarter of a mile broad it runneth into the Land two dayes iourney and on the East side there is one Towne called Agnagebcoc wherein are seuentie houses and two hundred and fortie men with two Sagames the one called Maurmet the other Casherokenit Seuen dayes iourney to the South-west of Ashamabaga there is another Riuer that is sixe fathoms to the entrance This Riuer is named Shawakotoc and is halfe a myle broad it runneth into the Land fiftie dayes iourney but foure dayes from the entrance it is so narrow that the Trees growing on each side doe so crosse with their boughes and bodies on the other as it permitteth not any meanes to passe with Boates that way for which cause the Inhabitants that on any occasion are to trauell to the head are forced to goe by Land taking their way vpon the West side At the end of this Riuer there is a Lake of foure dayes iourney long and two dayes broad wherein are two Ilands To the north-North-West foure daies iourney from this Lake at the head of this Riuer Shawakatoc there is a small Prouince which they call Crokemago wherein is one Towne This is the Westermost Riuer of the Dominions of Bashabez and Quibiquisson the Westermost To the Reader I Haue thought good to adde to the English Plantations in New England those in the neighbour Countrey of New-found-land This was first discouered Ann. 1497. by S. Sebastian Cabot set forth by King Henry the seuenth the Voyages followed of M. Rut Albert de Prato M. Hore and others Ann. 1583. actuall and formall possession was taken in the right of Queene Elizabeth of glorious memory and her Successours by that memorable Knight Sir Humfrey Gilbert see sup lib. 4. ca. 13. And in the yeere 1609. M. Iohn Guy of Bristoll did write a Treatise to animate the English to plant there a written Copy whereof I haue A. 1610. It pleased his most excellent Maiestie to grant a Patent for a Plantation part whereof the whole might seeme too long for our purpose we haue inserted CHAP. VII The beginning of the Patent for New-found-land and the Plantation there made by the English 1610. deliuered in a Letter dated thence from M. GVY to M. SLANY Also of the weather the three first Winters and of Captaine WESTON with other remarkable Occurrents IAMES by the Grace of GOD of Great Brittaine France and Ireland King Defendour of the Faith c. To all people to whom these Presents shall come greeting Know yee whereas diuers Our louing and well disposed Subiects are desirous to make Plantation to inhabite and to establish a Colony or Colonies in the Southerne and Easterne parts of the Countrey and I le or Ilands commonly called New-found-land vnto the Coast and Harbour whereof the Subiects of this our Realme of England haue for the space of fiftie yeeres and vpwards yeerely vsed to resort in no small numbers to fish intending by such Plantation and inhabiting both to secure and make safe the said Trade of Fishing to Our Subiects for euer And also to make some commendable benefit for the vse of mankind by the lands and profits thereof which hitherto from the beginning as it seemeth manifest hath remained vnprofitable And for better performance of such their purpose and intentions haue humbly besought Our Regall Authoritie and assistance Wee being well assured that the same Land or Countrey adioyning to the foresaid Coasts where Our Subiects vse to fish remaineth so destitute and desolate of inhabitance that scarce any one Sauage person hath in many yeeres beene seene in the most parts thereof And well knowing that the same lying and being so vacant is as well for the reasons aforesaid as for many other reasons very commodious for Vt and Our Dominions And that by the Law of Nature and Nations We may of Our Royall Authoritie possesse our selues and make graunt thereof without doing wrong to any other Prince or State considering they cannot iustly pretend any Soueraigntie or Right thereunto in respect that the same remaineth so vacant and not actually possessed and inhabited by any Christian or other whomsoeuer And therefore thinking it a matter and action well beseeming a Christian King to make true vse of that which God from the beginning created for mankind And therefore intending not onely to worke and procure the benefit and good of many of Our Subiects
and necessary way to be held against him and therefore more importing then the warre in the Low-countries I doubt not but this voyage hath sufficiently made knowne what they are euen vpon their owne dunghill which had it bin set out in such sort as it was agreed vpon by their first demand it might haue made our Nation the most glorious people of the world For hath not the want of eight of the twelue Peeces of Artillery which were promised vnto the Aduenture lost her Maiesty the possâ—ssion of the Groine and many other places as hereafter shall appeare whose defensible rampiers were greater then our battery such as it was cold force and therefore were left vnattempted It was also resolued to haue sent 600. English Horses of the Low-countries whereof wee had not one notwithstanding the great charges expended in their transportation hither and that may the Army assembled at Puente de Burgos thanke God of as well as the forces of Portugall who fore-ran vs six dayes together Did we not want seuen of the thirteen old Companies which we should haue had from thence foure of the ten Dutch Companies and six of their men of Warre for the Sea from the Hollanders which I may iustly say wee wanted in that we might haue had so many good Souldiers so many good ships and so many able bodies more then wee had Did there not vpon the first thinking of the iourney diuers gallant Courtiers put in their names for Aduenturers to the sum of 10000. li. who seeing it went forward in good earnest aduised themselues better and laid the want of so much money vpon the iourney Was there not moreouer a round summe of the aduenture spent in leâ—ying furnishing and maintaining three moneths one thousand fiue hundred men for the seruice of Berghen with which Companies the Mutinies of Ostend were suppressed a seruice of no small moment What misery the detracting of the time of our setting out which should haue beene the first of February did lay vpon vs too many can witnesse and what extremitie the want of that months victualls which wee did eat during the moneth wee lay at Plimouth for wind might haue driuen vs vnto no man can doubt of that knoweth what men doe liue by had not God giuen vs in the end a more prosperous wind and shorter passage into Galitia then hath been often seene where our owne force and fortune reuictualled vs largely of which crosse winds that held vs two dayes after our going out the Generalls being weary thrust to Sea in the same wisely chusing rather to attend the change thereof there then by being in Harbour to lose any part of the better when it should come by hauing their men on shoare in which two dayes twentie fiue of our Companies shipped in part of the Fleet were scattered from vs either not being able or willing to double Ushant These burdens layed vpon our Generalls before their going out they haue patiently endured and I thinke they haue thereby much enlarged their honour for nauing done thus much with the want of our Artillery 600. Horse 3000. Foot 20000. li. of their aduenture and one moneths victualls of their proportion what may be coniectured they would haue done with their full complement For our instruction against them who had almost seduced you from the â—â—ue opinon you hold of such men you shall vnderstand that Generall Norris from his booke was trained vp in the warres of the Admirall of France and in very young yeeres had charge of men vnder the Earle of Essex in Ireland which with what commendations hee then discharged I leaue to the report of them who obserued those seruices Vpon the breach betwixt Don Iohn and the States he was made Colonell Generall of all the English Forces there present or to come which he continued two yeeres he was then made Marshall of the Field vnder Conte Hobenlo and after that Generall of the Army in Frisland at his comming home in the time of Monsieurs gouernment in Flanders he was made Lord President of Munster in Ireland which he yet holdeth from whence within one yeere hee was sent for and sent Generall of the English Forces which her Maiestie lent then to the Low-countries which he held till the Earle of Leicesters going ouer And he was made Marshall of the Field in England the enemy being vpon our Coast and when it was expected the Crowne of England should haue beene tried by battell All which places of Command which neuer Englishman successiuely attained vnto in forraine warres and the high places her Maiestie hath thought him worthy of may suffice to perswade you that hee was not altogether vnlikely to discharge that he vndertooke What fame Generall Drake hath gotten by his iourney about the world by his aduentures to the West Indies and the scourges hee hath laid vpon the Spanish Nation I leaue to the Southerne parts to speake of But to answere the reports which haue beene giuen out in reproach of the Actors and Action by such as were in the same let no man thinke otherwise but that they who fearing the casuall accidents of Warre had any purpose of returning did first aduise of some occasion that should moue them thereunto and hauing found any whatsoeuer did thinke it sufficiently iust in respect of the earnest desire they had to seeke out matter that might colour their comming home Of these there were some who hauing noted the late Flemish wars did find that many young men haue gone ouer and safely returned Souldiers within few moneths in hauing learned some words of Art vsed in the wars and thought after that good example to spend like time amongst vs which being expired they began to quarrell at the great mortalitie that was amongst vs. The neglect of discipline in the Armie for that men were suffered to bee drunke with the plentie of Wines The scarsitie of Surgions The want of carriages for the hurt and sicke and the penury of victualls in the Campe It hath beene proued by strickt examinations of our Musters that we were neuer in our fulnesse before our going from Plimouth 11000. Souldiers nor aboue 2500. Mariners It is also euident that there returned aboue 6000. of all sorts as appeareth by the seuerall paiments made to them since our comming home And I haue truely shewed you that of these numbers very neere three thousand forsooke the Armie at the Sea whereof some passed into France and the rest returned home So as wee neuer being 13000. in all and hauing brought home aboue six thousand with vs you may see how the world hath beene seduced in beleeuing that we haue lost 16000. men by sicknesse If at home in the eyes of your Iustices Maiors Preachers and Masters and where they pay for euery pot they take they cannot be kept from their liquor doe they thinke that those base disordered persons whom themselues sent vnto vs as liuing at home without rule who hearing of
new Authors may teach beating off and on sometimes to the Westwards sometimes to the Eastwards with a fairegale of winde Being betwixt three and foure degrees of the Equinoctiall line my Company within a few daies began to fall sicke of a disease which Sea-men are wont to call the Scuruie and seemeth to be a kinde of dropsie and raigneth most in this climate of any that I haue heard or read of in the world though in all Seas it is wont to helpe and increase the miserie of man it possesseth all those of which it taketh hold with a loathsome sloathfulnesse that euen to eate they would be content to change with sleepe and rest which is the most pernicious enemie in this sicknesse that is knowne It bringeth with it a great desire to drinke and causeth a generall swelling of all parts of the body especially of the legges and gummes and many times the teeth fall out of the iawes without paine The signes to know this disease in the beginning are diuers by the swelling of the gummes by denting of the flesh of the legges with a mans finger the pit remaining without filling vp in a good space others show it with their lasinesse others complaine of the cricke of the backe c. all which are for the most part certaine tokens of infection The cause is thought to be the stomacks feeblenesse by change of aire in vntemperate climates of diet in salt meates boiled also in Salt water and corrupted sometimes the want of exercise also either in persons or elements as in calmes And were it not for the mouing of the Sea by the force of windes tydes and currants it would corrupt all the world The experience I saw in Anno 1590. lying with a Fleete of her Maiesties Ships about the Ilands of the Azores almost six moneths the greatest part of the time we were becalmed with which all the Sea became so replenished with seuerall sorts of gellyes and formes of Serpents Adders and Snakes as seemed wonderfull some greene some blacke some yellow some white some of diuers colours and many of them had life and some there were a yard and halfe and two yards long which had I not seene I could hardly haue beleeued And hereof are witnesses all the Companies of the Shippes which were then present so that hardly a man could draw a Bucket of water cleere of some corruption In which Voyage towards the end thereof many of euery Ship sauing of the Nonpereli which was vnder my charge and had onely one man sicke in all the Voyage fell sicke of this disease and began to die apace but that the speedie passage into our Countrie was remedy to the crazed and a preseruatiue for those that were not touched The best preuention for this disease in my iudgement is to keepe cleane the Shippe to besprinkle her ordinarily with Uinegar or to burne Tarre and some sweet sauours to feede vpon as few salt Meats in the hot Country as may be and especially to shun all kindes of salt Fish and to reserue them for the cold Climates and not to dresse any meate with salt water nor to suffer the companie to wash their Shirts nor Cloathes in it nor to sleepe in their Cloathes when they are wet For this cause it is necessarily required that prouision be made of apparell for the Company that they may haue wherewith to shift themselues Being a common calamitie amongst the ordinary sort of Mariners to spend their thrift on the shore and to bring to Sea no more Cloathes then they haue backes for the body of man is not refreshed with any thing more then with shifting cleane Cloathes a great preseruatine of health in hot Countries The second Antidote is to keepe the company occupied in some bodily exercise of worke of agilitie of pastimes of dancing of vse of Armes these helpe much to banish this infirmitie Thirdly In the morning at discharge of the watch to giue euery man a bit of bread and a draught of drinke either Beere or Wine mingled with water at the least the one halfe or a quantitie mingled with Beere that the poores of the bodie may be full when the vapours of the Sea ascend vp The morning draught should bee euer of the best and choisest of that in the ship Pure wine I hold to be more hurtfull then the other is profitable In this others will be of a contrary opinion but I thinke partiall If not then leaue I the remedies thereof to those Phisicions and Surgeons who haue experience And I wish that some learned man would write of it for it is the plague of the Sea and the spoyle of Mariners doubtlesse it would bee a Worke worthy of a worthy man and most beneficiall for our Countrie for in twentie yeeres since I haue vsed the Sea I dare take vpon me to giue account of ten thousand men consumed with this disease That which I haue seene most fruitfull for this sicknesse is sowre Oranges and Lemmons and a water which amongst others for my particular prouision I carried to the Sea called Doctor Steuens water of which for that his vertue was not then well knowne vnto me I carried but little and it took end quickly but gaue health to those that vsed it The Oyle of Vitry is beneficiall for this disease taking two drops of it and mingled in a draught of water with a little Sugar It taketh away the thirst and helpeth to clense and comfort the stomacke But the principall of all is the Ayre of the Land for the Sea is naturall for Fishes and the Land for men And the oftner a man can haue his people to Land not hindering his Voyage the better it is and the profitablest course that he can take to refresh them Hauing stood to the Westwards some hundred leagues and more the winde continuing with vs contrary and the sicknesse so feruent that euery day there died more or lesse my company in generall began to be dismayed and to desire to returne homewards which I hindered by good reasons and perswasions As that to the West Indies we had not aboue eight hundred leagues to the Ilands of Azores little lesse and before wee come to the Ilands of Cape de Verde that wee should meete with the Breze for euery night we might see the reach goe contrary to the winde which we sayled by verifying the old Prouerbe amongst Mariners That hee hath need of a long Mast that will sayle by the Reach and that the neerest Land and speediest refreshing wee could looke for was the Coast of Brasill c. As wee approached neerer and neerer the Coast of Brasill the winde beganne to vere to the Eastwardes and about the middle of October to bee large and good for vs and about the eighteenth of October wee were thwart of Cape Saint Augustine which lieth in sixe degrees to the Southwards of the Line and the one
and twentieth in the height of Farnambuca but some fourescore leagues from the Coast the twentie foure in the height of Bayea de Todos Santos neere the end of October betwixt seuenteene and eighteene degrees wee were in sixteene fathomes sounding of the great Scoles which lye alongst the Coast betwixt the Bay of Todos Santos and the Port of Santos alias nuestra sâ—nora de Vitoria which are very perillous But the diuine Prouidence hath ordained great flockes of small Birds like Snites to liue vpon the Rockes and broken lands of these Sholes which are met with ordinarily twentie leagues before a man come in danger of them It shall not be amisse here to recount the Accidents which befell vs during this contrary wind and the curiosities to be obserued in all this time Day and night we had continually a faire gale of wind and a smooth Sea without any alteration one day the Carpenters hauing Calked the Decke of our ship which the Sunne with his extreame heate had opened craued license to heate a little Pitch in the Cooke roome which I would not consent vnto by any meanes for that my Cooke roomes were vnder the Decke knowing the danger vntill the Master vndertooke that no danger should come thereof But hee recommended the charge to another who had a better name then experience He suffered the Pitch to rise and to runne into the fire which caused so furious a flame as amazed him and forced all to flee his heate one of my company with a double paire of Gloues tooke off the Pitch-pot but the fire forced him to let flip his hold-fast before he could set it on the Hearth and so ouerturned it and as the Pitch began to runne so the fire to enlarge it selfe that in a moment a great part of the ship was on a light fire I being in my Cabbin presently imagined what the matter was and for all the haste I could make before I came the fire was aboue the Decke for remedie whereof I commanded all my company to cast their Rugge Gownes into the Sea with Ropes fastened vnto them These I had prouided for my people to watch in for in many hot Countreyes the nights are fresh and cold and deuided one Gowne to two men a Starboord and a Larboord man so that hee which watched had euer the Gowne for they which watched not were either in their Cabbins or vnder the Decke and so needed them not The Gownes being well soaked euery man that could took one and assaulted the fire and although some were sindged others scalded and many burned God was pleased that the fire was quenched which I thought impossible and doubtlesse I neuer saw my selfe in greater perill in all the dayes of my life Let all men take example by vs not to suffer in any case Pitch to be heate in the ship except it be with a shot heate in the fire which cannot breed danger nor to permit fire to be kindled but vpon meere necessitie for the inconuenience thereof is for the most part remedilesse Great care is to be had also in cleaning of Wood in Hooping or Scutling of Caske and in any businesse where violence is to be vsed with Instruments of Iron Steele or Stone and especially in opening of Powder these are not to be vsed but Mallets of Wood for many mischances happen beyond all expectation I haue beene credibly enformed by diuers persons that comming out of the Indies with Scutling a But of water the water hath taken fire and flamed vp and put all in hazard And a Seruant of mine Thomas Gray told me that in the ship wherein he came out of the Indies Anno 1600. there happened the like and that if with Mantles they had not smoothered the fire they had beene all burned with a Pipe of Water which in Scutling tooke fire Master Iohn Hazlelocke reported that in the Arsenall of Venice happened the like he being present For mine owne part I am of opinion that some waters haue this propertie and especially such as haue their passage by Mines of Brimstone or other Minerals which as all men know giue extraordinary properties vnto the waters which runne by them Or it may be that the water being in Wine Caske and kept close may retaine an extraordinary propertie of the Wine Yea I haue drunke Fountaine and Riuer waters many times which haue had a fauour as that of B 〈…〉 stone Three leagues from Bayon in France I haue prooued of a Fountaine that hath this sauour and 〈◊〉 medicinable for many Diseases In the South Sea in a Riuer some fiue leagues from Cape 〈◊〉 Francisco in one degree and an halfe to the Northwards of the Line in the Bay of Atacames is a Riuer of fresh water which hath the like sauour We had no small cause to giue God thankes and tooke an occasion hereby to banish swearing out of our ships which amongst the common sort of Mariners and Sea-faring men is too ordinarily abused So with a generall consent of all our company it was ordained that in euery shippe there should be a Palmer or Ferula which should be in the keeping of him who was taken with an Oath and that hee who had the Palmer should giue to euery other that hee tooke swearing in the Palme of the hand a Palmada with it and the Ferula And whosoeuer at the time of Euening or Morning Prayer was found to haue the Palmer should haue three blowes giuen him by the Captaine or Master and that he should be still bound to free himselfe by taking another or else to runne in danger of continuing the penaltie which executed few dayes reformed the Vice so that in three dayes together was not one Oath heard to be sworne This brought both Ferulaes and swearing out of vse Ordinarily such ships as Nauigate betweene the Tropickes are accompanied with three sorts of fish The Dolphin which the Spaniards call Dozado the Bonito or Spanish Makeâ—ill and the Sharke alias Tiberune The Dolphin I hold to be one of the swiftest fishes in the Sea He is like vnto a Breame but that he is longer and thinner and his scales very small Hee is of the colour of the Rain-bow and his head different to other fishes for from his mouth halfe a span it goeth straite vpright as the head of a Wherry or the Cut-water of a ship He is very good meate if he be in season but the best part of him is his head which is great They are some bigger some lesser the greatest that I haue seene might be some foure foot long I hold it not without some ground that the ancient Philosophers write that they bee enamoured of a man for in meeting with shipping they accompany them till they approach to cold Climates this I haue noted diners times For disembarking out of the West Indies Anno 1583. within three or foure dayes after we met a Scole of them which
torment and paine which is such that he who hath beene throughly punished with the Collique can quickly decipher or demonstrate The Antidote for this pernicious worme is Garlique and this was discouered by a Phisitian to a Religious person §. III. THARLTONS treacherie Discouerie of Land vnknowne Entrance of the Straits accidents therein and description thereof diuers occasionall discourses for the furtherance of Marine and Naturall knowledge IN our Nauigation towards the Straits by our obseruation we found that our Compasse varied a point and better to the Eastwards In the height of the Riuer of Plate we being some fiftie leagues off the coast a storme tooke vs Southerly which endured fortie eight houres In the first day about the going downe of the Sunne Robert Tharlton Master of the Francie bare vp before the winde without giuing vs any token or signe that she was in distresse We seeing her to continue her course bare vp after her and the night comming on we carried our light but she neuer answered vs for they kept their course directly for England which was the ouerthrow of the Voyage as well for that we had no Pinnace to goe before vs to discouer any danger to seeke out roades and anchoring to helpe our watering and refreshing as also for the victuals necessaries and men which they carried away with them which though they were not many yet with their helpe in our fight we had taken the Vice-admirall the first time shee bourded with vs as shall be hereafter manifested For once we cleered her Decke and had wee beene able to haue spared but a dozen men doubtlesse we had done with her what we would for she had no close fights Moreouer if she had beene with me I had not beene discouered vpon the coast of Peâ—ew But I was worthy to be deceiued that trusted my Ship in the hands of on hypocrite and a man which had left his Generall before in the like occasion and in the selfe same place for being with Master Thomas Candish Master of a small Shippe in the Voyage wherein hee died this Captaine being aboord the Admirall in the night time forsocke his Fleete his Generall and Captaine and returned home Pitie it is that such perfidious persons are not more seuerely punished These absentings and escapes are made most times onely to pâ—lâ—er and steale as well by taking of some prize when they are alone and without command to hinder or order their bad proceedings as to appropriate that which is in their intrusted shippe casting the fault if they bee called to account vpon some poore and vnknowne MarineÌ„rs whom they suffer with a little pillage to absent themselues the cunninglier to colour their greatest disorders and Robberies The storme ceasing and being out of all hope wee set saile and went on our course During this storme certaine great Fowles as bigge as Swannes soared about vs and the winde calming setled themselues in the Sea and fed vpon the sweepings of our ship which I perceiuing and desirous to see of them because they seemed farre greater then in truth they were I caused a Hook and Line to be brought me and with a piece of a Pilehard I baâ—ted the Hooke and a foot from it tied a piece of Corke that it might not sinke deepe and threw it into the Sâ—a which our ship driuing with the Sea in a little time was a good space from vs and one of the Fowles beeing hungry presently seized vpon it and the Hooke in his vpper beake It is like to a Faulcons bill but that the point is moore crooked in that manner as by no meanes hee could cleere himselfe except that the Line brake or the Hooke righted Plucking him towards the ship with the wauing of his wings he eased the weight of his body and being brought to the sterne of our ship two of our company went downe by the ladder of the Poope and seized on his neck and wings but such were the blowes he gaue them with his Pinnions as both left their hand fast beeing beaten blacke and blue we cast a snare about his necke and so triced him into the ship By the same manner of fishing we caught so many of them as refreshed and recreated all my people for that day Their bodies were great but of little flesh and tender in taste answerable to the food whereon they feed They were of two colours some white some grey they had three ioynts in each wing and from the point of one wing to the point of the other both stretched out was aboue two fathomes The wind continued good with vs till we came to 49. degrees and 30. minutes where it took vs Westerly being as we made our account some fifty leagues from the shoare Betwixâ— 49. and 48. degrees is Port Saint Iulian a good Harbour and in which a man may graue his shippe though she draw fifteene or sixteene foot water But care is to bee had of the people called Patagones They are treacherous and of great stature most giue them the name of Gâ—ants The second of February about nine of the clocke in the morning wee descried land which bare South-west of vs which we looked not for so timely and comming neerer and neerer vnto it by the lying wee could not coniecture what Land it should be for wee were next of any thing in 48. degrees and no Plat nor Sea-card which we had made mention of any Land which lay in that manner neere about that height In fine wee brought our Lar-boord tacke aboord and stood to the North-east-wards all that day and night and the winde continuing Westerly and a faire gale we continued our course alongst the Coast the day and night following In which time we made account we discouered well neere threescore leagues off the Coast. It is bold and made small shew of dangers The land is a goodly Champion Countrey and peopled wee saw many fires but could not come to speake with the people for the time of the yeere was farre spent to shoote the Straits and the want of our Pinnasse disabled vs for finding a Port or Road not being discretion with a ship of charge and in an vnknowne Coast to come neere the shoare before it was founded which were causes together with the change of the winde good for vs to passe the Strait that hindered the further Discouery of this Land with its secrets This I haue sorrowed for many times since for that it had likelihood to bee an excellent Countrey It hath great Riuers of fresh waters for the out-shoot of them colours the Sea in many places as we ranne alongst it It is not Moâ—ntaynous but much of the disposition of England and as temperate The things we noted principally on the Coast are these following the Westermost point of the Land with which wee first fell is the end of the Land to the Westwards as wee found afterwards If a man bring this
still friendship and in loue to see vs but as formerly others so his end was to see whether wee continued still in health and strength or fell into weakenesse like their neighbours which they hoped and looked for though God in mercy prouided better for vs and hee knew would be glad tydings to his Countrie men But here the Gouernour staid him and sending for him to the Fort there gaue the Guard charge of him as their prisoner where he told him hee must be contented to remaine till the return of Captain Standish from the Massachusets so he was locked in a chaine to a staple in the Court of guard and there kept Thus was our Fort hanselled this being the first day as I take it that euer any watch was there kept The Captaine being now come to the Massachusets went first to the Ship but found neither man or so much as a Dogge therein vpon the discharge of a Musket the Master and some others of the Plantation shewed themselues who were on the shore gathering ground-nuts and getting other foode After salutation Captaine Standish asked them how they durst so leaue the Ship and liue in such security who answered like men senslesse of their owne misery they feared not the Indians but liued and suffered them to lodge with them not hauing Sword or Gunne or needing the same To which the Captaine answered if there were no cause he was the gladder but vpon further inquiry vnderstanding that those in whom Iohn Sanders had reposed most speciall confidence and left in his stead to gouerne the rest were at the Plantation thither he went and to be briefe made knowne the Indians purpose and the end of his owne comming as also which formerly I omitted that if afterward they durst not there stay it was the intendment of the Gouernours and people of Plimouth there to receiue them till they could be better prouided but if they conceiued of any other course that might be more likely for their good that himselfe should further them therein to the vttermost of his power These men comparing other circumstances with that they now heard answered they could expect no better and it was Gods mercy that they were not killed before his comming desiring therefore that he would neglect no opportunity to proceede Hereupon he aduised them to secrecy yet withall to send speciall command to one third of their Company that were farthest off to come home and there enioyne them on paine of death to keepe the Towne himselfe allowing them a pint of Indian Corne to a man for a day though that store he had was spared out of our Seede The weather prouing very wet and stormy it was the longer beforâ— he could doe any thing In the meane time an Indian came to him and brought some Furres but rather to gather what he could from the Captaines then comming then for trade and though the Captaine carried things as smoothly as possibly he could yet at his returne he reported he saw by his eyes that he was angry in his heart and therefore began to suspect themselues discouered This caused one Pecksuot who was a Pinese being a man of a notable spirit to come to Hobbamocke who was then with them and told him hee vnderstood that the Captaine was come to kill himselfe and the rest of the Sauages there tell him said he we know it but feare him not neither will we shun him but let him begin when he dare he shall not take vs at vnawares many times after diuers of them seuerally or few together came to the Plantation to him where they would whet and sharpen the point of their Kniues before his face and vse many other insulting gestures and speeches Amongst the rest Wituwamat bragged of the excellency of his Knife on the end of the handle there was pictured a womans face but said hee I haue another at home wherewith I haue killed both French and English and that hath a mans face on it and by and by these two must marry Further he said of that Knife he there had Hinnaim namen hinnaim michen mattacuts that is to say By and by it should see and by and by it should eatâ—â— but not speake Also Pecksuot being a man of greater stature then the Captaine told him though he were a great Captaine yet he was but a little man and said he though I be no Sachim yet I am a man of great strength and courage These things the Captaine obserued yet bare with patience for the present On the next day seeing he could not get many of them together at once and this Pecksuot and Wituwamat both together with another man and a youth of some eighteene yeares of age which was brother to Wituwamat and villaine-like trode in his steps daily putting many trickes vpon the weaker sort of men and hauing about as many of his owne Company in a roome wiâ—h them gaue the word to his men and the doore being fast shut began himselfe with Pecksuot and snatching his owne Knife from his necke though with much strugling killed him therewith the poinâ— whereof he had made as sharpe as a needle and ground the backe also to an edge Wituwamat and the other man the rest killed and tooke the youth whom the Captaine caused to be hanged but it is incredible how many wounds these two Pueeses receiued before they died not making any fearefull noyse but catching at their weapons and striuing to the last Hobbamocke stood by all this time as a spectator and medled not obseruing how our men demeaned themselues in this action all being here ended smiling he brake forth into these speeches to the Captaine Yesterday Pecksuot bragging of his owne strength and stature said though you were a great Captaine yet you were but a lttle man but to day I see you are big enough to lay him on the ground But to proceede there being some women at the same time Captaine Standish left them in the custody of Master Westons people at the Towne and sent word to another Company that had intelligence of things to kill those Indian men that were amongst them these killed two more himselfe also with some of his owne men went to another place where they killed another and through the negligence of one man an Indian escaped who discouered and crossed their proceedings Not long before this Execution three of Master Westons men which more regarded their bellies then any command or Commander hauing formerly fared well with the Indians for making them Clanoes went againe to the Sachim to offer their seruice and had entertainment The first night they came thither within night late came a Messenger with all speede and deliuered a sad and short message Whereupon all the men gathered together put on their Bootes and Breeches trussed vp themselues and tooke their Bowes and Arrowes and went forth telling them they went a hunting and that at their returne they should haue