Chapter M (2)

That Drake was not less enraged than his followers at this disappointment cannot be doubted; but there was now no time to be spent in complaints. The whole country, he knew, would soon be alarmed, and all the force of the Spaniards assembled to overwhelm him; he had no fortress to retire to; every man was his enemy; and every road better known to the Spaniards than to himself. This was an occasion that demanded all the qualities of an hero, an intrepidity never to be shaken, and a judgment never to be perplexed. He immediately considered all the circumstances of his present situation, and found that it afforded him only the choice of marching back by the same way through which he came, or forcing his passage through Venta Cruz. He foresaw many difficulties in marching back, besides the hazard of having his ships seized before his return; he, therefore, determined to pass forwards to Venta Cruz, before the enemy could be prepared to oppose him. He asked Pedro, the leader of the Symerons, whether he was resolved to follow him? and, having received from him the strongest assurance that nothing should separate them, commanded his men to refresh themselves, and prepare to set forwards. When they came to the gates of the town, they dismissed the mules they had made use of to carry their prize, and continued their march with as little noise as possible; yet they discovered that the alarm had been spread, and the forces of the town hastily drawn together, to oppose their entrance. Drake, who was not unacquainted with the behaviour of that kind of military, received their first onset, and then breaking in upon them, drove them before him without farther opposition, and was seconded by the Symerons, who could not be restrained from making plunder of the town: but Drake hastened in person to the Spanish ladies, and assured them that no injuries should be offered to them; so inseparable is humanity from true courage.

Having thus broken the spirits, and scattered the forces of the Spaniards, he continued his march to the ships without any apprehension of danger, yet with great speed, being very solicitous about the state of the crew; so that he allowed his men, harrassed as they were, but little time for sleep or refreshment; but by kind exhortations, gentle authority, and a chearful participation of all their hardships, prevailed upon them to bear without murmur, not only the toil of travelling, but, on some days, the pain of hunger. In this march, he owed much of his expedition to the assistance of the Symerons, who, being accustomed to the climate, and naturally robust, when any of the English fainted by the way, two of them would carry him between them for miles together. Nor was their valour less than their humanity, after they had learned from their English companions to dispise the fire-arms of the Spaniards.

When they were within five leagues of the ships, they found a town built in their absence by the Symerons, at which Drake consented to halt, sending a Symeron to the ships with his gold toothpick as a token, which, though the master knew it, was not sufficient to gain the messenger credit, till, upon examination, he found that the Captain, having ordered him to regard no message without his hand-writing, had engraven his name upon it with the point of his knife; he then sent the pinnace up the river, which they met, and afterwards sent to the town for those whose weariness had made them unable to march farther.

On February the 23d, the whole company was re-united and Drake, whose good or ill success never prevailed over his piety, celebrated their meeting with thanks to God.

Drake, not yet discouraged, soon turned his thoughts to new projects; and, without languishing in melancholy reflections upon past miscarriages, employed himself in forming schemes for repairing them. Eager of action, and acquainted with man’s nature, he never suffered idleness to infect his followers with cowardice; but kept them from sinking under any disappointment, by directing their attention to some new enterprize.

Upon consultation with his own men, and the Symerons, he found them divided in their opinions; some declaring, that, before they engaged in any new attempt, it was necessary to increase their stores of provisions; and others urging that the ships, in which the Spanish treasure was embarked, should be immediately attempted. The Symerons proposed a third plan, and advised them to undertake another journey over-land, to the house of one Pezoro, near Veragua, whose slaves brought him every day more than 200 pounds sterling from the mines, which he heaped together in a strong stone house, that might, by the help of the English, be easily forced. But Drake, being unwilling to fatigue his followers with another journey over land, determined to steer a middle course between these variable opinions; and, manning his two pinnaces, the Bear and the Minion, he sent John Oxenham in the Bear towards Tolu, to seek provisions; and went himself in the Minion to the Cabezes, to endeavour to intercept the treasure that was to be transported from Veragua and that coast, to the fleet at Nombre de Dios; first dismissing with presents those Symerons who desired to return to their wives, and ordering those that chose to remain with him to be kindly entertained. Drake took at the Cabezes a frigate of Veragua, the pilot of which informed him, that there was in the harbour of Veragua a ship freighted with more than a million of gold; to which he offered to conduct him, being well acquainted with the soundings, if he might be allowed his share of the prize; so much was his avarice superior to his honesty.

Drake, after some deliberation, complying with the pilot’s conditions, sailed towards the harbour; but had no sooner entered the mouth of it than he heard the report of artillery, which was answered by others at a greater distance; upon which the pilot told them that they were discovered, this being the signal appointed by the Governor to alarm the coast.

Drake now thought it convenient to return to the ships, that he might enquire the success of the other pinnace, which he found with a frigate that she had taken with twenty-eight fat hogs, 200 hens, and a great store of maize or Indian corn. The vessel itself was so strong and well-built, that he fitted it for war, determining to make a second attempt on Nombre de Dios.

On March the 21st, he set sail with the new frigate and the Bear towards the Cabezes, at which he arrived in little more than two days, and found there one Totu, a Frenchman, with a ship of war. Having supplied his ship with water, and other articles of which he was in want, the Captain desired to join the Admiral in his new attempt, to which Drake consented, and admitted him to accompany him with 20 of his men, stipulating to allow them a proportionable share of whatever booty they should acquire: yet they were not without some suspicions of danger from this new ally, he having eighty men, and they being now reduced to thirty-one. Manning, however, the pinnaces, they set sail for Rio Francisco, at which place they arrived on the 29th of March. Here they landed; and, having dismissed their pinnaces for fear of discovery, and ordered them to repair to the same place on the 4th day following, they began their march through the woods towards Nombre de Dios, and continued it with such silence and regularity as surprized the French, who did not imagine the Symerons so discreet and obedient to command as they appeared to be, and were therefore in perpetual anxiety about the fidelity of their guides: nor did the Symerons treat the Frenchmen with that submission and regard which they paid to the English, whose bravery and conduct they had already tried. At length, after a laborious march of more than seven leagues, they began to hear the hammers of the carpenters in the bay, it being the custom in that hot season to work in the night, and to rest in the day; and, in a short time, they perceived the approach of the recoes, or droves of mules, from Panama. They now no longer doubted that their labour would be rewarded, and every man imagined himself secure from poverty for the remaining part of his life; they, therefore, when the mules came up, rushed out, and seized them with an alacrity proportioned to their expectations. The three droves consisted of one hundred and nine mules, each of which carried 300 pounds weight of silver. It was to little purpose that the soldiers, ordered to convoy the treasure, attempted resistance. After a short combat, in which the French Captain and one of the Symerons were wounded, it appeared with how much greater ardour men are animated by interest than fidelity.

As it was possible for them to carry away but a small part of this treasure, after having wearied themselves with hiding it in the thickets, they determined to return by the same way they came; and, without being pursued, they traversed the woods, where the French Captain, being disabled by his wound, was obliged to stay, two of his company continuing with him. When they had gone forward about two leagues, the Frenchmen missed another of their company, who, upon enquiry, was known to be intoxicated with wine, and supposed to have lost himself in the woods by neglecting to observe the guides; but common prudence not allowing them to hazard the whole company by too much solicitude for a single life, they travelled on towards Rio Francisco, at which they arrived on the 3d of April; and, looking out for their pinnaces, were surprized with the sight of seven Spanish sloops, and immediately concluded that some intelligence of their motions had been carried to Nombre de Dios, and that these vessels had been fitted out to pursue them, which might undoubtedly have overpowered the pinnaces and their feeble crews. Nor did their suspicions stop here; but immediately it occurred to them, that their men might be compelled by torture to discover where their frigate and ship were stationed, which being weakly manned, and without the presence of the chief Commander, would fall into their hands almost without resistance, and all possibility of escaping be entirely cut off. These reflections sunk the whole company into despair; and every one, instead of endeavouring to break through the difficulties that surrounded him, resigned himself up to his ill fortune; when Drake, whose intrepidity was never to be shaken, and whole reason was never to be surprized or embarrassed, represented to them, that, though the Spaniards should have made themselves masters of the pinnaces, they might yet be hindered from discovering the ships. He put them in mind, that the pinnaces could not be taken, the men examined, their examinations compared, their resolutions formed, their vessels sent out, and the ships taken, in an instant. Some time must necessarily be spent before the last blow could be struck; and, if that time were not neglectfully lost, it might be possible for some of them to reach the ships before the enemy, and direct them to change their station.

They were animated with this discourse, by which they observed that their leader was not without hope; but, when they came to look more narrowly into their situation, they were unable to conceive upon what it was founded. To pass by land was impossible, as the way lay over high mountains, thick woods, and deep rivers; they had not a single boat in their power, so that passage by water seemed equally impracticable. But Drake determined upon the only means of success which their condition afforded them; and, ordering his men to make a raft out of the trees that were then floating in the river, offered himself to put out to sea upon it, and chearfully asked who would accompany him. John Owen, John Smith, and two Frenchmen, who were willing to share his fortune, embarked with him on the raft, which was fitted out with a sail made of the biscuit sacks in which they had carried their provisions, and formed a kind of oar to direct its course instead of a rudder. Then, having comforted the rest with assurances of his regard for them, and resolution to leave nothing unattempted for their deliverance, he put off; and, after having with much difficulty sailed three leagues, descried two pinnaces hasting towards him, which, upon a nearer approach, he discovered to be his own; and, hailing them, proposed that they should anchor behind a point that jutted out into the sea, while he put to shore; and, crossing the land on foot, was received by his company with that satisfaction which is only known to those who have been acquainted with dangers and distresses.

The same night they rowed silently to Rio Francisco, where they embarked the whole company, with what treasure they had been able to bring with them through the woods; then sailing back with the utmost expedition, they returned to their frigate, and soon after to their ship, where Drake divided the gold and silver equitably between the French and English.

Here they spent fourteen days in fitting out their frigate more completely; during which time, the Frenchmen, with their ship, lay among the Cabezes, while twelve English and sixteen Symerons travelled once more into the country, as well to recover the French Captain, whom they had left wounded, as to bring away the treasure which they had hid in the woods. Drake, whom his company would not suffer to hazard his person in another land expedition, went with them to Rio Francisco, where he found one of the Frenchmen who had staid to attend their Captain, and was informed by him, upon his enquiries after his fortune, that, half an hour after their separation, the Spaniards came upon them, and easily seized upon the wounded Captain; but that his companion might have escaped with him, had he not preferred money to life; for seeing him throw down a box of jewels that retarded him, he could not forbear taking it up, and, with that and the gold which he had already, was so loaded that he could not escape. With regard to the bars of gold and silver which they had concealed in the ground, he informed them that 200 men had been employed in searching for them. The people, however, either mistrusting the informer’s veracity, or confident that what they had hidden could not be found, pursued their journey; but, upon their arrival at the place, found the ground turned up for two miles round, and were able to recover no more than 13 bars of silver, and a small quantity of gold. They discovered afterwards, that the Frenchman who was left drunk in the woods, falling into the hands of the Spaniards, was tortured by them till he confessed where Drake and his company had concealed their plunder; so fatal to Drake’s expedition was the drunkenness of his followers.

Then, dismissing the French, they passed by Carthagena with their colours flying, and soon after took a frigate laden with provisions and honey, which they valued as a great restorative, and then sailed away to the Cabezes. Here they staid about a week to careen their vessels, and fit them for a long voyage, determining to set sail for England; and that the faithful Symerons might not go away unrewarded, broke up their pinnaces, and gave them the iron, the most valuable present in the world to a nation whose only employments were war and hunting, and amongst whom show and luxury had no place. Pedro, their Captain, being desired by Drake to go through the ships, and to chuse what he most desired, fixed his eye upon a scymetar set with jewels, which the French Captain had presented to Drake for the provisions with which he had supplied him, and, being unwilling to ask for so valuable a present, offered for it four large quoits, or thick plates of gold, which he had formerly concealed in the waters; but Drake, desirous to shew him, that fidelity seldom is without a recompence, gave it him with the highest professions of satisfaction and esteem. Pedro, receiving it with the utmost gratitude, informed him, that by bestowing it he had conferred greatness and honour upon him; for, by presenting it to his King, he doubted not of obtaining the highest rank among the Symerons. He then persisted in his resolution of giving him the gold, which was generously thrown by Drake into the common stock; for he said, that those at whose expences he had been sent out, ought to share in all the gain of the expedition, whatever pretence cavil and chicanery might supply for the appropriation of any part of it. Thus was Drake’s character consistent with itself; he was equally superior to avarice and fear; and, through whatever danger he might go in quest of gold, he thought it not valuable enough to be obtained by artifice or dishonesty.

They now forsook the coast of America, which for many months they had kept in perpetual alarms, having taken more than 100 vessels of all sizes between Carthagena and Nombre de Dios, of which they never destroyed any, unless they were fitted out against them, nor ever detained the prisoners longer than was necessary for their own security or concealment, providing for them in the same manner as for themselves, and protecting them from the malice of the Symerons; a behaviour which humanity dictates, and which, perhaps, even policy cannot disapprove. He must, certainly, meet with obstinate opposition who makes it equally dangerous to yield as to resist, and who leaves his enemies no hopes but from victory.

What riches they acquired is not particularly related; but, it is not to be doubted, that the plunder of so many vessels, together with the silver seized at Nombre de Dios, must amount to a very great sum, though the share that was allotted to Drake was not sufficient to lull him into effeminacy, or to repress his natural inclination to adventures. They arrived at Plymouth on the 9th of August, 1573, on Sunday in the afternoon; and so much were the people delighted with the news of their arrival, that they left the preacher, and ran in crouds to the key with shouts and congratulations.

Drake having, in the voyage just mentioned, had a view of the South Sea, as has already been related, and formed a resolution to sail upon it, did not suffer himself to be diverted from his design by the prospect of any difficulties that might obstruct the attempt, nor any danger that might attend the execution. His reputation was sufficiently established to remove all obstacles (for obstacles he met with), and to obviate the motives that produced them; but it was not till the year 1577, that he was able to assemble a force proportioned to his design, and to obtain a commission from the Queen, by which he was constituted Captain-General of a squadron, consisting of five vessels, of which the Pelican, of 100 tons, was commanded by himself as Admiral; the Elizabeth, of 80 tons, Vice-Admiral, commanded by John Winter; the Marygold, of 30 tons, by John Thomas; the Swan, of 50 tons, by John Chester and the Christopher, of 15 tons, by Thomas Moon, the honest carpenter, who, on the former voyage, destroyed the Swan by Drake’s direction.

These ships, equipped partly by himself, and partly by other private adventurers, he manned with 164 stout sailors, and furnished with such provisions as he thought necessary for so long and hazardous a voyage: nor did he confine his concern to the ordinary equipment of his ships with naval stores and military preparations, but carried with him whatever he thought might contribute to raise, in those nations with which he should have intercourse, the highest ideas of the arts and grandeur of his native country. He, therefore, not only procured a complete service of silver-plate for his own table, and furnished the cook-room with many vessels of the same metal, but engaged several musicians to accompany him; rightly judging, that nothing would more excite the admiration of savages, or uncivilized people, than the powers of music. On this occasion, however, it must not be concealed, that he engaged his men on the false pretence of sailing to Alexandria; and that it was not till after he arrived on the coast of Brazil, that he acquainted them with his design of passing the Straits, and entering the South Seas.

On the 15th of Nov. 1577, about three in the afternoon, he sailed from Plymouth; but a heavy storm (such as no man on board had ever seen the like), taking him almost as soon as out of port, forced him into Falmouth, where he staid till the 13th of December to refit. He then took his departure, and on the 25th of the same month fell in with the coast of Barbary, and on the 27th cast anchor at the island of Mogadore, about one mile distant from the main, between which and the isle they found a very convenient harbour. Here he began to build the pinnaces, the frames of which he brought ready from Plymouth to be put together, as in his former voyage. While the carpenters were employed in this service, they were discovered by the Moors that inhabit those coasts, who sent two of their Chiefs on board Drake’s ship, receiving at the same time two of his company as hostages. These men he not only treated in the most hospitable manner, but presented them with such things as they appeared most to admire; it being with him an established maxim to endeavour to secure in every country a kind reception to such Englishmen as should come after him, by treating the inhabitants with kindness and generosity.

But this friendly intercourse was in appearance soon broken; for, on the next day, observing the Moors making signals from the land, they sent out their boat, as before, to fetch them to the ship; and one John Frye leapt ashore, intending to become an hostage, as on the former day, when immediately he was seized by the Moors; and the crew, observing great numbers start from behind a rock with weapons in their hands, thought it next to madness to attempt his rescue, and, therefore, provided for their own security by returning to the ship. Frye was mounted on horseback, and immediately carried up into the country to their King, who being then in continual expectation of an invasion from Portugal, suspected that these ships were sent only to reconnoitre the coast, and discover a proper harbour for a more formidable fleet; but, being informed who they were, and whither they were bound, not only dismissed his captive, but made large offers of friendship and assistance; which Drake, however, did not stay to receive; but being disgusted at this breach of the laws of commerce, and apprehending further treachery, he quitted the coast on December 31, and on the 17th of January arrived at Cape Blanco, having in their passage taken several Spanish vessels, and found one in the harbour with no men.

Here, while Drake was employing his men in catching fish, and training them for land as well as sea service, the natives came down to the sea-side with ambergrease and other gums, to traffic for such commodities as they then stood most in need of, and with which Drake very generously supplied them.

Having rifled and discharged the Spanish ships which they had taken, they sailed on the 22d of January towards the isles of Cape Verd, and on the 27th came to anchor before Mayo, hoping to furnish themselves with fresh water; but, having landed, they found the chief town deserted; and, marching farther up the country, saw the vallies extremely fruitful, and abounding with ripe figs, cocoes, and plantains, but could by no means prevail upon the inhabitants to converse or traffic with them. However, they were suffered by them to range the country without molestation, but found no water, except at such a distance from the sea, that the labour of carrying it to their ships was greater than it was at that time necessary for them to undergo. Salt, had they wanted it, might have been obtained with less trouble, being left by the sea upon the sands, and hardened by the sun, during the ebb, in such quantities, that the chief traffic of this island is carried on by means of it. Thus, though the island abounded with goats, poultry, and delicious fruits of various kinds, they could procure none of any consequence, because the Portuguese, who were then in possession of it, were prohibited all commerce with strangers on very severe penalties.

On the 31st of January they made St. Iago, an island at that time divided between the natives and the Portuguese, who, first entering these islands under the shew of traffic, by degrees established themselves, claimed a superiority over the natives, and harrassed them with such cruelty, that they obliged them either to fly to the woods and mountains, where many of them perished with hunger, or to take arms against their oppressors, and, under the insuperable disadvantages with which they contended, to die almost without a battle. Such treatment had the natives of St. Iago received, which had driven them into the rocky parts of the island, from whence they made incursions into the plantations of the Portuguese, sometimes with loss, but generally with that success which desperation produces; so that the Portuguese were in continual alarms, and lived with the natural consequences of guilt, terror, and anxiety. They were wealthy but not happy, and possessed the island, but did not enjoy it.

In passing this island, the garrison of the fort discharged three pieces of cannon at them, but without effect. For this insult they took a Portuguese ship laden with wines, the pilot of which they retained, but set the rest of the crew on shore. This man, Nuno da Silva by name, was very useful to them in traversing the coast of Brazil, being acquainted with the bays and harbours where fresh water and provisions were to be obtained. Him they continued to detain captive, though they broke up his ship before they entered the Straits, till they were about to leave the coasts of Peru, when finding him no longer serviceable, they set him on shore in the Spanish settlements, from whence he afterwards returned home, and wrote an account of the voyage as far as he went, which is thought by many to be very authentic.

It was soon after the capture of this ship that a difference arose between Drake and his friend, Mr. Thomas Doughty, which, gradually increasing, grew into inveteracy, and terminated at last in the death of the latter. Doughty was a gentleman and a scholar, whom Drake had persuaded to embark in this expedition to better his fortune and to whom, till the incident happened which we are about to relate, he had shewn particular marks of favour and friendship; but trivial beginnings are often productive of the most important events.

The ground of the malevolence with which Drake pursued Doughty, under the colour of justice, has hitherto lain concealed from the public eye; but we shall now trace it, step by step, till the fatal period when the unhappy victim was brought to the block, and when Drake, by suffering revenge to triumph over virtue, left an indelible blot upon his character, which no panegyric can wipe away.

Among the Harleian manuscripts there is a written account of this voyage, in which the author has particularly had his eye on this transaction. As he was an eye-witness of all that passed, his relation will best appear in his own words: “Captain Drake, says he, having boarded the ship of Nuno da Sylva, and feasted his eyes with the view of the commodities, he committed the custody and well-ordering of this prize unto Master Thomas Doughty, as his good and esteemed friend, praying him in any case to see good order kept, and whoso should be the breaker thereof, to give him to understand of any such without exception of any.

“It thus chanced that General Drake had a brother (not the wisest man in christendom), whom he put into this said prize, as also divers others. This Thomas Drake, as one more greedy of prey than covetous of honesty or credit, offered himself the first and only man to break the General his brother’s commandment; for he, contrary to his strict prohibition, did not only break open a chest, but did dive suddenly into the same, that Master Doughty knew not how to discharge himself against the General but by revealing it unto him; yet first Master Doughty called Thomas Drake unto him, and shewed him his great folly in this behalf, who, yielding unto his fault, prayed Master Doughty to be good unto him, and keep it from the General; but he briefly told him he could not keep it, but he would deliver it with what favour he might. So at the General’s next coming on board the prize, Master Doughty opened the same unto him, who presently falling into a rage, not without some great oaths, seemed to wonder what Thomas Doughty should mean to touch his brother; and did, as it were, assure himself that he had some farther meaning in this, and that he meant to strike at his credit, and he would not, or could not, by God’s life (as he phrased it), suffer it. From this time forth grudges did seem to grow between them from day to day, to the no small admiration of the rest of the company, although some envying his former favour and friendship with the General, and some, I think, doubting that his capacity would reach too far to the aggrandizing his credit in the country, talked variously of the matter; however, Master Doughty was put again into the Pelican. Thus grudges, although they had not long rested, yet were they grown to great extremities, such and so great as a man of any judgment would verily think that his love towards him in England was more in brave words than hearty good will or friendly love.” So writes our author.

In proceeding on their voyage, they came within sight of Fogo, an island so called from a mountain about the middle of it continually burning, and like the rest inhabited by the Portuguese. Two leagues to the south of Fogo lies Brava, which has received its name from its fertility, abounding with all kinds of fruits, and watered with great numbers of springs and brooks, but, having neither harbour nor anchorage, was at that time uninhabited.

Drake, having sent out his boats with plummets to sound, was not able to find any ground about it; and it is reported, that many experiments of the like kind have been made without success. However, he took in water sufficient; and on the 2d of Feb. set sail for the coast of Brazil.

On February the 17th, he passed the equator, after being becalmed near three weeks, during which time they had dreadful storms of thunder with lightning, but without any memorable accident, till, continuing their voyage, on March 28, one of their vessels with 28 men, and the greatest part of the fresh water on board, was, to their great discouragement, separated from them; but their perplexity lasted not long, for on the next day they discovered her, and she again joined her associates. In their long course, which gave them opportunities of observing several animals, both in the air and water, at that time very little known, nothing entertained or surprized them more than the flying-fish, which is nearly of the same size with a herring, and has fins of the length of his whole body, by the help of which, when he is pursued by the benito (a large kind of mackarel), as soon as he finds himself upon the point of being taken, he springs up into the air, and flies forward as long as his wings continue wet, moisture being, as it seems, necessary to make them pliant and moveable; and, when they become dry and stiff, he falls down into the water, unless some vessel intercepts him, and dips them again for a second flight. This unhappy animal is not only pursued by fishes in his natural element, but attacked in the air, where he hopes for security, by the don or spar kite, a great bird that preys upon fish; and their species must certainly be destroyed, were not their increase so great, that the young fry, in one part of the year, covers that part of the sea.

There is another fish, named the cuttle, of which whole shoals will sometimes rise at once out of the water, and of which a great multitude fell into their ship.

At length, having sailed without sight of land for 54 days, they arrived April the 5th on the coast of Brazil. “In the mean while, you shall hear, says our author, what befel: Master Drake, never leaving to seek and force upon Master Doughty, found, in the end, this opportunity to degrade him. Whether of purpose, or his own voluntary, it chanced John Brown the trumpet to go aboard the Pelican, where, for that he had been long absent, the company offered him a hobbey, among the which, Master Doughty putting in his hand, said, Fellow John, you shall have in my hand, although it be but light amongst the rest; and so laying his hand on his buttock, which perceived of John Trumpet, he began to swear wounds and blood to the company to let him loose, for they are not all (said he) the General’s friends that be here; and with that turned him to Master Doughty, and said unto him, (as himself presently after told me in the prize) God’s wounds, Doughty, what dost thou mean to use this familiarity with me, considering thou art not the General’s friend; who answered him, What, fellow John! what moves you to this, and to use these words to me, that am as good and as sure a friend to my good General as any in this place, and I defy him that shall say the contrary. But is the matter thus? why yet, fellow John, I pray thee let me live until I come into England. Thus, John Brown coming again presently aboard the prize, had not talked any long time with the General, but the boat went aboard and rested not, but presently brought Master Doughty to the prize’s side, General Drake sitting in the midst of his men, who hearing the boat at the ship’s side stood up, and Master Doughty offering to take hold of the ship to have entered, said the General, Stay there, Thomas Doughty, for I must send you to another place, and with that commanded the mariners to row him on board the fly-boat, saying unto him, it was a place more fit for him than that from whence he came: but Master Doughty, although he craved to speak with the General, could not be permitted, neither would he hear him.” Soon after this, the fly-boat here mentioned, (called the Swan,) was separated from them by a violent storm, “in all whose absence, says our author, the General never ceased to inveigh against Master Doughty, terming him a conjurer and a witch; and, at any time when we had foul weather, he would say that Tom. Doughty was the occasion thereof, and that it came out of Tom. Doughty’s capcase, and would avouch the same with oaths.”

After the storm above-mentioned, they steered near the land to the southward; and on the 14th anchored under a cape, which they afterwards called Cape Joy, because in two days the vessel that was missing returned to them. Here they refreshed their weary crews, and took in fresh water; but, finding the country, though pleasant, without inhabitants, they weighed anchor, and, by running a little farther to the southward, found a small harbour between a rock and the main, where the rock breaking the force of the sea, the ships rode at anchor with the greatest security. On this rock they killed several seals, keeping them for food, and found them wholesome, though not palatable.

Their next course was directed to the great river of Plate, in 36 deg. of south latitude; but, not finding anchorage in that river, they sailed in quest of a more convenient harbour, when they were surprized by a sudden storm, in which they again lost sight of the fly-boat. This accident determined Drake to contract the number of his ships, that he might not only avoid the inconvenience of such frequent separations, but ease the labour of his men, by having more hands in each vessel. For this purpose he sailed along the coast and on May the 13th discovered a bay, which, though it promised fair, he durst not enter before it was examined: he, therefore, ordered his boat to be hoisted out, and, taking the line into his own hand, went on sounding the passage till he was three leagues from his ship, when on a sudden the weather changed, the skies blackened, the wind rose, and all the usual forerunners of a storm began to threaten them. Nothing was now thought of but the means of returning to the ship; but the thickness of the fog intercepting it from their sight, made the attempt almost impracticable. In this perplexity, which Drake was not more sensible of than those whom he had left in the ships, nothing was to be omitted, however dangerous, that might tend to extricate them from it. Captain Thomas, therefore, having the lightest vessel, steered boldly into the bay, and, taking the Admiral on board, dropt anchor, and lay out of danger; while the rest that were in the open sea suffered much from the tempest, and the Mary (the Portugueze prize) was driven before the wind. The others, as soon as the tempest was over, discovering by the fires that were made on shore where Drake was, repaired to him.

Here they met with no inhabitants, though there were several wigwams or huts standing, in which they found some dried fowls, and among them ostriches, of which the thighs were as large as those of a sheep. These birds are too unwieldy to rise from the ground; but with the help of their wings, or rather stumps, they run so swiftly, that the English could never come near enough to shoot any of them.

Not finding this harbour convenient, or well stored with wood and water, they left it on the 15th of May, and on the 18th entered another much safer and more commodious, which they no sooner arrived at, than Drake sent Winter to the southward in search of those ships that were absent, and immediately after sailed himself to the northward, and happily meeting with the Swan, conducted her to the rest of the fleet; after which, in pursuance of his former resolution, he ordered her to be broken up, preserving the iron work for a future supply. The other vessel which was separated in the late storm, could not be discovered. While they were thus employed upon an island about a mile from the main land, to which, at low water, there was a passage on foot, they were discovered by the natives, who appeared upon a hill at a distance, dancing, and holding up their hands, as beckoning to the English to come to them, which Drake observing, sent out a boat with knives, bells, and bugles, and such things as by their usefulness or novelty he imagined would be agreeable. As soon as the English landed, they observed two men running towards them as deputed by the company, who came within a little distance, and then standing still, could not be prevailed upon to come nearer. The English, therefore, tied their presents to a pole, which they fixed in the ground, and then retiring, saw the Indians advance, who taking what they found upon the pole, left in return such feathers as they wore upon their heads, with a small bone about six inches in length, carved round the top and burnished. Drake observing their inclination to friendship and traffic, advanced with some of his company towards the hill, upon sight of whom the Indians ranged themselves in a line from east to west, and one of them running from one end of the rank to the other, backwards and forwards, bowed himself towards the rising and setting of the sun, holding his hands over his head, and, frequently stopping in the middle of the rank, leaped up towards the moon, which then shone directly over their heads thus calling the sun and moon, the deities they worship, to witness to the sincerity of their professions of peace and friendship. While this ceremony was performing, Drake and his company ascended the hill, to the apparent terror of the Indians, whose apprehensions when the English perceived, they peaceably retired, which gave the natives so much encouragement, that they came forward immediately, and exchanged their arrows, feathers, and bones, for such trifles as were offered them. Thus they traded for some time but by frequent intercourse, finding that no violence was intended, they became familiar, and mingled with the English without the least distrust. They go quite naked, except the skin of some animals, which they throw over their shoulders when they walk or lie in the open air. They roll up their hair, which is very long, with a plume of ostrich’s feathers, and usually stick their arrows in it, that they may not encumber them, they being made with reeds headed with flint, and therefore not heavy. Their bows are about an ell long. Their chief ornament is paint, which they use of several kinds, delineating generally upon their bodies the figures of the sun and moon in honour of their deities.

It is observable, that the inhabitants of most nations amongst whom the use of cloaths is unknown, paint their bodies. Such was the practice of the inhabitants of our own country. To this custom did our earliest enemies, the Picts, owe their denomination. As it is not probable that caprice or fancy should be uniform, there must be doubtless some reason for a practice so general, and prevailing in distant parts of the world which have no communication with each other. The original end of painting their bodies was probably to exclude the cold; an end, which, if we believe some relations, is so effectually produced by it, that the men thus painted never shiver at the most piercing blasts: but, doubtless, any people so hardened by continual severities, would, even without paint, be less sensible of the cold than the civilized inhabitants of the same climate. However, this practice may contribute in some degree to defend them from the injuries of winter, and, in those climates where little evaporates by the pores, may be used with no great inconvenience: but in hot countries, where perspiration in a greater degree is necessary, the natives only use unction to preserve them from the other extreme of weather, or, more probably, from the inconvenience of the flies, which, were it not for that or some such defence, would be intolerable.

These savages had no canoes, like the other Indians, nor any method of crossing the water; which was probably the reason why the birds in the adjacent islands were so tame that they might be taken with the hand, having never been before frighted or molested. The birds here spoken of are, without doubt, the penguins of which so ample a description is given in the Voyages of Byron and Wallis. The great plenty of these fowls, and of the seals that were found every-where on the shores of this coast, contributed much to the refreshment of the English, who named the bay where they then lay, Seal-bay, from the number they there killed of those animals.

These seals seem to be the chief food of the natives; for the English often found raw pieces of their flesh half eaten, and left, as they supposed, after a full meal, by the savages, whom they never knew to make use of fire, or any art in dressing or preparing their victuals. Nor were their other customs less wild or uncouth than their way of feeding. One of them, having received a cap off the General’s head, and being extremely pleased as well with the honour as the gift, to express his gratitude, retired to a little distance, and thrusting an arrow into his leg, let the blood run upon the ground, testifying, as it is probable, that he was ready to shed his blood in his defence.

When the Swan fly-boat was separated from the fleet in the storm off the coast of Brazil, the crew, despairing of ever being able to rejoin it, began to be in fear for provisions. They were on a desart coast, had no place of rendezvous, and were ignorant even of their place of destination. In this untoward situation a dispute arose among the officers, of which the author of the manuscript before cited, gives the following relation:--He had already taken notice that Master Thomas Doughty had been sent on board this vessel as a kind of punishment, and in truth so it proved; for the master of the vessel, who seems also to have been the purser, knowing upon what terms he stood with Drake, took every occasion to insult, or, as our author’s phrase is, to discredit him; for those were always ranked among Drake’s friends who were enemies to Master Doughty. “This man, foreseeing that provisions might run short, put himself from the mess of Master Doughty, Captain Chester, and the rest of the gentlemen, and did set himself amongst the sailors, nothing at all sparing, but rather augmenting his own diet; but how scantily those gentlemen did fare, there be some come home, that, except they will deny their own words, can make relation thereof.

“Master Doughty, with Master Chester, whom the General had made Captain of the fly-boat, found themselves so ill used, that Master Doughty accosted his friend one day in these words: I marvel, Master Chester, that you will take it at his hands to be thus used, considering that you were here authorized by the General to be our Commander. And, at the same time, he spoke to the Master, and told him, that he used so much partiality in the distribution of his provisions, that the same could not be borne, considering the extremity they were like to fall into for want of victuals; and that it was against reason that he and his messmates should be so plentifully fed, while others were at the point to starve. The Master hereat putting himself in a rage, swore that such rascals as he was should be glad to eat the shoals (husks) when he would have them. Master Doughty answered him again, that reason would will that he should be used as well as other men, considering his advantages. Thou any advantage here! replied the Master, I would not give a point for thee nor thy advantages; and if ever thou comest home to enjoy any advantages, I will be trussed up. Then in multiplying words, and as I heard a blow or two passing between them, the Master, in the spleen of his heart, looking at him with an evil eye, Thou! will thou have victuals! thou shalt be glad, if we do not meet with the General, the rather to eat that falls from my tail on the anchor-fluke ere thou gettest home again. Then Master Doughty, turning to Master Chester, said unto him, Master Chester, let us not be thus used at this knave’s hands. Lose nothing of that authority that the General committed unto you. If you will, we will put the sword into your hands again, and you shall have the government. This case I will aver to be true, for there were two or three witnesses sworn to these articles, as some of the special matter that he had to lose his head for.”

It was not many days after this quarrel before the Swan fell in again with the fleet; when Drake, as has been said, caused her to be hauled on shore, set on fire, and burnt; or, as others say, broke up and converted into fire-wood for the use of the fleet.

Mr. Doughty, being here delivered from the fly-boat, was again restored to the Pelican, where the master with whom he had the dispute appears to have preferred a complaint against him, and with such aggravations as he thought proper to add; all which were favourably heard, and credit given to the whole relation by the General, who wanted only a pretence to persevere in his severity to the man who, being once his favourite, was now become the object of his most inveterate hatred. Doughty, provoked, no doubt, by the misrepresentations of the master, and the partiality with which they were heard, gave the General some opprobrious, language, adding, “that the lightest word that came out of his (Doughty’s) mouth was to be believed as soon as the General’s oath. Whereupon the General did not only strike him, but commanded him to be bound to the mast; for the accomplishment of which, the master of the fly-boat took no little pains. This happened as the two ships (the Pelican and the Canter) lay together; and as soon as Doughty was released, he was put into the Canter, although greatly against his will, for that he said he knew them to be there that sought his life, as namely the master of the fly-boat, and some other desperate and unhonest people; but would he or no, thither he must, or else the General swore he would lift him out with the tackle, and for that purpose commanded the tackle to be loosed. Thus aboard the Canter he went, and his brother John Doughty with him.” The Canter was a vessel taken from the Spaniards on the coast of Africa.

While they lay in this harbour, there is one remarkable incident related by this author that deserves particular notice, as it tends to illustrate the previous steps that were pursued to accomplish the ruin of this unfortunate gentleman.

“On board the fly-boat, says he, was one, Thomas Cuttle, who some time had been Captain of the Pelican under Drake, with whom the General had been tampering. This man came out from him in great wrath, and offering to go over to the main, between the which, and the island where they then lay, was (as has been said) but a shallow water. He, standing well nigh up to the middle in the water with his piece, uttered these words, Well, my Masters, quoth he, I find I am heavily borne with here, because I will not accuse this gentleman (meaning Doughty) of that, as I take God to witness, I know not by him; and, therefore, I declare before you all, that, whatsoever becomes of me, I never knew any thing by him but to be the General’s friend; and, rather than I will bide this hard countenance at the General’s hands, I will yield myself into cannibal’s hands; and so I pray you all to pray for me.”

After this public declaration the man departed; and, having reached the opposite shore, he went up into the country, where firing his piece to bring the natives to him, Drake taking it for a signal that he wanted to return, sent a boat over to the main, and brought him back.