Chapter THE SECOND: How we departed from the island of Cabo Verde

WHEN we had repaired the leak of the _Admiral_ ship, and purchased the necessary supplies, such as water, meat, and other things, we embarked and pursued our voyage and crossed the equinoctial line, and, continuing our navigation, the master took stock of the water that was on board the _Admiral_, and, out of a hundred barrels that had been stored, he found no more than three left, and four hundred men and thirty horses had to drink. And the governor, having seen the necessity we were in, ordered the ship to land; and they were in search of it three days, and the fourth day, one hour before dawn, a wonderful thing happened, and as it is not beyond our purpose, I will relate it. It happened, as the vessels were going towards land, they were on the point of striking some very high rocks, and nobody would have seen or been aware of them had not a cock began to crow which one of the soldiers had put on board at Cadiz, being desirous of listening to the music of the cock; during two months and a half, however, we had neither heard it nor known of its existence; and the soldier was grieved at its silence. That morning, however, the bird felt the land and began to crow, and its music woke all the people on the vessel, who saw the rocks an arrow-flight off, and shouted to let go the anchors, as we were drifting towards the rocks. And so they lowered the anchors, and this saved us, for had not the cock crowed our four hundred men and thirty horses would assuredly have been drowned; and we all thought it a miracle of God for us. And while we navigated more than one hundred leagues along the coast, the cock gave us his music every night, and so the armada arrived at an harbour which is called Cananea,[299] which lies beyond Cape Frio,[300] and is twenty-four degrees of elevation. It is a good harbour, and there are several islands at its entrance. The water is clear and eleven fathoms deep. Here the governor took possession in the name of His Majesty, and having done so, he left that harbour and passed over the river and the bay called San Francisco,[301] which is twenty-five leagues from Cananea, and thence the armada proceeded to the island of Santa Catalina, which is twenty-five leagues from the Rio de San Francisco, and they anchored at the island of Santa Catalina, after encountering many troubles and reverses on the voyage, arriving there on the 29th of March 1541. The island of Santa Catalina is barely in the twenty-eighth degree of latitude.

[299] Cananea, on the coast of the province San Paulo, Brazil, in lat.
25° 1′ S., long. 47° 51′ W.

[300] Cape Frio is east of Rio de Janeiro, in lat. 23° 1′ S., long.
41° 58′ W., where the coast trends northward.

[301] The river, island, and bay of San Francisco in the province of
Santa Catharina.