BOTANY OF FEEITANDO NOEONHA. 7 



by any people, and it was Bad Island for all tlie fleet, for your 

 Magnificence must know that by the ill-counsel and steering of 

 our Chief Captain he lost his ship here : since he struck with it 

 upon a rock, and it split oj)en on St. Laurence's night, which was 

 on the 10th day of August, and went to the bottom : and there 

 was nothing saved thereof except the crew. It was a ship of 

 300 tons; in which went all the importance of the fleet ; and when 

 all the fleet had laboured to save it, the Captain commanded me 

 to make with my ship for the said island to seek a good anchorage 

 where all the ships might anchor : and as my boat manned with 9 

 of my sailors was in service and aiding to belay the ships, he willed 

 that I should not take it and that I should proceed without it : 

 telling me that they should take it to me to the island. I quitted the 

 fleet for the island as he ordered me, without a boat, and with the 

 deficiency of half my crew, and I went to the said island, which was 

 about 4 leagues distant : in which I found an excellent harbour, 

 where all the ships could anchor rery safely : where I awaited my 

 Captain and the fleet fully 8 days, and they never came : so that we 

 were very discontented, and the men that had remained with me in 

 the ship were in such dread, that I w^as unable to console them ; and 

 being thus, the eighth day we beheld a ship coming upon the sea, 

 and from fear that it might not see us, we weighed witli our ships 

 and made for it, thinking that it brought me my boat and crew," 

 However, the rest of the fleet with the boat had gone further south 

 (p. 44); so " We returned to the island and provided ourselves 

 witli water and timber by means of my companion's boat, which 

 island we found uninhabited, and it contained many fresh aud 

 sweet waters, innumerable trees full of so many sea- and land- 

 birds that they were beyond count, and they were so tame that 

 they allowed themselves to be taken with the hand, and so many 

 of them did we take that we loaded a boat with those animals. 

 We saw none (other) except very lai'ge rats and lizards with two 

 tails and some snakes." [" Infinitissimi arbori plena di taiiti 

 uccelli marini e terrestri che eron senza numero, . . . et tanti ne 

 pigliamo che carichamo un battello di epsi animali ; nessuno non 

 vedemo ; salvo Topi molto grandi e Eamarri con due code et 

 alchuna serpe." — Lett era, Fiorenza, 1505 ; Quaritch's Eeprint, 

 London, 1885 (unpaged). 



They then made provision, and departed by the wind between 

 S. and S.W. for Bahia, which they reached in seventeen days, and 

 it was 200 leagues from the island. 



