A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume X Part 6

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

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

[Footnote 51: Pisco, the princ.i.p.al of these towns, is in lat. 16 43'

S.]

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

They arrived at Puna, in lat. 3 10' S. on the 25th of May, when they found a ship of 250 tons at anchor in the harbour. After sinking her, they went ash.o.r.e. The lord of this island, styled the Cacique of Puna, was an Indian by birth, but having married a Spanish woman, he became a Christian, and made all his subjects follow his example. He had a sumptuous and well-contrived palace near the sh.o.r.e, with curious gardens adjoining, and fair prospects, both to the water and up the country. All the inhabitants of this island were kept continually employed in fabricating cables, such abundance of which are made here by the Indian subjects of this cacique; that most of the ships navigating the South Sea are supplied from hence. This island is nearly as large as the isle of Wight in England, being about forty English miles from S.W. to N.E.

and sixteen in the opposite direction. It enjoys a great share in the blessings of nature; for, although it has no mines of gold or silver, it affords every thing in abundance that is necessary to the comforts of life. The pastures are excellent, and are well stored with horses, oxen, sheep, and goats, yielding abundance of milk; it has also plenty of poultry, turkeys, ducks of a large size, and pigeons. The cacique has several orchards, yielding a great variety of fine fruits, as oranges, lemons, figs, pomegranates, pumpkins, melons, and many others; with a variety of odoriferous plants, as rosemary, thyme, and the like. One of these gardens or orchards was planted with the bombast cotton tree, which grows in pods, in each of which there are seven or eight seeds.

The 29th of May, Candish went to an island near Puna, into which the cacique had conveyed all the valuable furniture of his palace, with other things of value. These stores were all discovered, and plundered of every thing thought worth carrying on board the ships, and the rest destroyed. The church also of Puna, which stood near the palace, was burnt down, and its five bells carried to the ships. On the 2d June, the English were attacked by 100 Spaniards, who killed or took prisoners twelve of their men, losing forty-six of their own in the encounter.

Candish landed again that same day with seventy English, and had another battle with the Spaniards, who were joined by 200 Indians armed with bows and arrows. The English were victorious, after which they made great havock of the fields and orchards, burnt four ships on the stocks, and left the town of 300 houses a heap of rubbish. Besides this princ.i.p.al town, there were two others on the island of 200 houses each, so that Puna was the best settled island on all this coast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SECTION III.

_Voyage Home to England_.

This great business, for which they had so long waited, being now accomplished, they set sail cheerfully on their return for England. The Content staid some short time behind the Desire, which went on before, expecting she would soon follow, but she never rejoined company.

Pursuing the voyage, therefore, in the Desire, Candish directed his course for the Ladrones across the Pacific Ocean, these islands being nearly 1800 leagues distant from this harbour of _Aguada Segura_ in California. This pa.s.sage took forty-five days, from the 19th November, 1587, to the 3d January, 1588. On this day, early in the morning, they had sight of Guam, one of the Ladrones, in lat. 13 40' N. and long.

143 30' E. Sailing with a gentle gale before the wind, they came within two leagues of the island, where they saw sixty or seventy canoes full of savages, who brought cocoas, plantains, potatoes, and fresh fish, to exchange for some of their commodities. They gave them in return some pieces of old iron, which they hung upon small cords and fishing lines, and so lowered down to the canoes, getting back, in the same manner, what the savages offered in exchange. In the course of this traffic the savages crowded so much about the ship, that two of their canoes were broken; yet none of the savages were drowned, as they were almost as familiar with the water as if they had been fishes. The savages continued following the ship, and would not quit her company till several shots were fired at them; though 'tis ten to one if any of them were killed, as they are so very nimble, throwing themselves immediately into the water, and diving beyond the reach of danger on the slightest warning.

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

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

[Footnote 55: The lat.i.tude of Cape Espiritu Santo, as given in the test, is grossly erroneous, being only 12 35' N. and its long. 125 30' E.

from Greenwich. The difference of longitude from Guam, Guaham, or Guaci, the most southerly of the Ladrones, is 17 45' nearly east, and consequently 355 marine leagues. This island is divided from Luzon, or Luconia, the princ.i.p.al island of the Philippines, by the narrow straits of San Bernardino; and Cape Espiritu Santo is about 100 leagues, in a straight line, from the city of Manilla, which lies to the N.W. Cape Espiritu Santo is at the N.W. extremity of the island of Samar.--E.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

At six in the morning of the 29th of January, they began to pa.s.s through the straits between Panama and Negro islands, and, after proceeding sixteen leagues, they found a fair opening in these straits, trending S.W. by S. About this time, being rejoined by their boat, which had been sent before them in the morning, Candish sent a Spanish prisoner on sh.o.r.e, with a message to his captain, who commanded a ship which lay at Panama the night before, desiring him to provide an abundant supply of gold against the return of the Desire, as he meant to pay him a visit at Manilla, and as that was a long voyage, it merited good entertainment.

He said farther, that he would have come now, to weigh some of his Spanish gold in English scales, if he had possessed a larger boat for landing his men on the island.

Proceeding on the voyage, they saw Batochina on the 8th of February, an island near Gilolo, in the lat. of 1 N. The 14th of that month they fell in with eleven or twelve small flat low islands, almost level with the sea, in lat. 3 10' S. near the Moluccas. March 1st, having pa.s.sed the straits between Java Major and Java Minor, they anch.o.r.ed under the S.W. part of Java Major, where they saw some people fishing in a bay under the island. The admiral sent a boat to them, in which was a negro who could speak the _Moresco_[58] language, which is much used in Java.

But, being frightened at the approach of the boat, they all got on sh.o.r.e and ran away into the woods. One of them, however, came back to the sh.o.r.e, on being called to by the negro, and directed where to find fresh water; besides which, he undertook to carry a message to the king of that part of the island from the admiral, certifying that he had come to purchase victuals, or any commodities the country afforded. In consequence of this message, nine or ten canoes belonging to the king came off, on the 12th March, loaded with all sorts of provisions as deep as they could swim; bringing oxen, hogs, hens, geese, eggs, sugar, cocoa-nuts, plantains, oranges, lemons, wine, and arrack.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_To the Right Honourable the Lord Hunsdon, &c._

_Right Honourable_,

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