Chip. I. 
Sebald d e We e k t. 
in his Cahin, gave them good Words, and defired their 
Advice as to what wasbeft to be done in this difficult Con- 
juncture. Some were of Opinion, they fhduid go to Rio de 
Plata with the Sloop only, and leave the Ship, telling the 
Pofluguefe they were forced to it, becaufe the Englifb gave 
her Chace •, others tvere for failing into St. Helena , to take 
in frefb Provifions ; but they did not con.fider; that it was 
impoffible to get to that Ifland by the Weft. John Outgetz 
the Pilot faid, they could not do better than to go upon the 
Co aft of Gainey , or upon the Gold Coaft, where he was 
known, having made Five Voyages into that Country. 
Thefe different Opinions did not pleafe the Captain •, and 
therefore he told them, he could refolve upon nothing 
without Captain de Cordes’s Confent. In the mean time, 
he ordered that the Sloop Ihould be built ; and January i . 
1 600. he went on board his new Sloop, and fleered her 
himfelf afhore for the better caulking of her. 
21. In the Afternoon, having doubled the Southerly 
Point, he difcovered the Two Sloops of General Oliver 
van Ncort ■, who, being put back to the Bay of Knights , 
and come to fee whether the Faith was ftill iii the Bay of 
de Cordes , brought a Piece of Ice Three or Four Foot 
thick, and faid, he had feen many much thicker, though 
it was in the Middle of Summer, and the Savages were all 
naked. The next Day the General returned back, and 
promifed to fend his Sloop in Queft of th & Fidelity. The 
Captain fent his Sloop alfo with his Enfign, and one of his 
Pilots, for the fame Purpofe •, and, as they were going by 
the Fleet, he charged them with a Letter for the General, 
to defire him to fend him Bifcuit for Two Months. The 
Sloop cime back January 5. with the General’s Anfwer, 
that he did not know whether he had Bifcuit enough for 
the Fleet, nor how long he fhould be at Sea •, and therefore 
he could not fpare any. This Anfwer afflifted Captain de 
Weert the more, that he had no Hopes of meeting again 
with Captain de Cordes therefore he refolved to return 
into the Iftand of Penguins , and make a large Provision of 
them, that he might be able to follow the Fleet, in cafe the 
Wind was fair. Before he failed away, he writ a Letter 
to Captain de Cordes , which he left in the Foot of a Tree, 
upon which the General had writ the Date of his Fleet 
palling by that Place ; and nailed a Board to the Tree, with 
thefe Words written upon it, Look into the Foot of the Free. 
22. January 11. 1600. the Ship failed towards the 
Eland of Penguins , and the 12 th they anchored under the 
leaft Hand ; immediately the Captain landed with Thirty- 
eight healthy Men, leaving the Pilots and the other Sea- 
men on board : Coming near the Shore, they faw prodi- 
gious Quantities of Birds •, and, leaving only Three Seamen 
on board the Sloop, went to kill as many Fowl as they 
could. In the mean while, the Wind grew fo high, and 
the Sea fo ftormy, that the Sloop was driven up the Shore, 
and was fo full of Water before the Seamen could get into 
her, and call fo far upon the Rocks, that all the Seamen 
could not heave out the Water, or hale her to Shore ; in 
fine, fhe was fo much tolled by the Surges of the Sea, 
that they expe&ed every Minute to fee her fplit in Pieces : 
In fuch an Extremity the Seamen had no Hopes of faving 
their Lives •, for they could by no means return on board 
their Ship again : They had no Carpenters, no Tools, no 
Provifions, and no Wood ; that Ifland producing none : 
They were ail over wet, and ftarved with Gold ; for every 
one went into the Water to the Shoulders to draw the 
Sloop: In fine, at low Water, the Sloop being aground, 
: they found an Ax, and other Tools, with Nails, which 
gave them fome Hopes of returning on board their Ship 
again ; but, it being impoffible to draw the Sloop afhore 
before Night, they were forced to be quiet till the next Day : 
So they paffed the Night in the open Air, and made Fires 
wdth fome of the broken Planks of the Sloop, and eat a 
lew Birds half-roafted, without Bread, and with fo little 
Water, that they could not quench their Thirft : Asfoonas 
Day-light was come, every one went to work fo chearfully, 
that one Side 01 the Sloop, which was the moll damaged, 
was quite refitted before Night : The next Day the other 
Side was alfo refitted, and E our Men laved the Water out 
of her with. Pails then they laded her with 450 Penguins, 
' and > about Evening, they went on board the Ship, after 
they had been Three Days aftiore. While they were 
catching the Penguins, they Kief found. In one bf their 
Holes, a Savage Woman, who had hid herfelf there all 
the while the Seamen remained on the Ifland, When Ge-* 
neral Oliver landed in that Ifland, the Savages killed Twh 
of his Men ; upon which he deftroyed them all but this 
Woman, who was then wounded, and ftxewed her Wounds 
to the Sloop’s Crew. Her Face was painted j fire had 
about her Body a kind of a Cloak, made of the Skiffs 
of Beafts and Fowls, neatly feWed together, which reached 
down to her Knees. Her privy Parts were alfo covered 
with a Skin ; fo that the Savages on the North Side of 
the Streight are more modeft and fcciabie than thofe that 
inhabit the South of it. This Woman was tall and well 
proportioned, and her Hair was cut Abort * but the Men 
wear it prodigious long, as they faw by the Corpfe of one 
of thefe that had been killed, who had fine Feathers on his 
Head, and about his Body. They make ufe of Bows and 
Arrows, at the End of which a hard Flint is inlaid very 
neatly : The Captain gave a Knife to that Woman, who, 
in Acknowledgment:, told him, he would find a greater 
Abundance of Birds in the biggeft of the Two Hands ; 
fo they left her where fhe was, though fhe wifhed to be 
tranlported to the Continent. They went to this Ifland, 
in order to get greater Numbers of thefe Birds, of which, 
in this Place, it may not be amifs to enter into a more full 
Defcription. The Penguin does not receive its Name 
from its Fatnefs, as the Author of the Dutch Voyage be- 
lieved j and, to favour his Opinion, calls thefe Birds Pin- 
guins , in order to make the Derivation from the Latin 
Word Pinguedo , Fatnefs, more apparent : Neither is the 
Conjecture of the Editor of the French Voyage, grounded 
on a Miftake of Sir Fhomas CandiJFs, Senfe, any better ; 
for he fuppofes, that they were called Penguins by the Eng- 
lift-, becaufe of their white Heads. The Truth of the 
Matter is, they were fo called by the Savages •, and be- 
caufe Penguin in the Britijh (vulgarly called Welfo ) fignifies 
white Head, and thefe Birds have white Heads, it has 
been argued from hence, that thefe Savages are defeended 
from a Colony of Britons , fuppofed to be fettled in Ame- 
rica by Madoc , Prince of North Wales , about the Year 
1170. I do not mean by this Remark to eftablifh the 
Truth of that Hiftory, but barely to clear up the Mean- 
ing of the Word, and to fhew how reafonable it is, in 
different Voyages, to preferve the different Orthographies 
of their Authors, becaufe, in many Cafes, they may be 
of much greater Ufe than is commonly imagined. But to 
return now to the Birds, which gave Occafion to this Di- 
greffion : The old ones weigh from Twelve to Sixteen 
Pounds, and the young ones from Eight to Twelve ; they 
are black upon the Back, and white under the Belly ; fome 
have about their Neck a white Ring, fo that they are a i- 
moft half-white half-black ; their Skin is much like that; 
of the Sea-dog’s, and as thick as the Skin of a wild Boar ; 
their Bill is as long as the Bill of a Raven, but not fo 
crooked ; their Neck is fliort and thick, and the Body as 
long as a Goofe, but not fo big : Inftead of Wings, they 
have I' wo Fins hanging down, and covered with Feathers, 
with which they fwim with great Strength : They feldom 
come afhore but when they brood, and then they neflle 
Three or Four together in a Hole ; they have black Feet, 
like thofe of a Goofe, but not fo broad ; they walk up- 
right, with their Fins hanging down like a Man’s Arm, 
fo that, afar off, they look like Pygmies : They live upon 
nothing but Fifh, and, for all that, they have not the rank 
Relifh of Fifh, but are extraordinary well tailed : They 
make their Holes in the Downs as deep as Rabbet-bo- 
roughs, and the Ground about it is fo full of them, that yon 
can hardly walk along without falling into thofe Holes up 
to the Knees. January 5. the Ship reached the great Ifland 
of Penguins , a League off the fmall one : There they found 
fo great Quantities of them, that they might have fuf- 
nifhed 25 Ships with them ; for they took above 900 
in Two Hours time. The next Day, while they were 
bufy in faking them, a great Storm rofe from the North- 
weft, which carried the Ship out of Sight of the Ifland, 
and fo great a Way off, that the Captain was quite out of 
Hopes of making the Ifland again. Then he reduced the 
Proportion of Bifcuit to a Quarter of a Pound to each 
Man a Day ; However, the 17 th of the fame Month in the 
Afternoon 
