Chap. L Captain W ILL I AM FuNNELL 
kept us from defgairing •, but, as this was daily expedted, 
it took up all our Thoughts, and calmed all our Sorrows. 
24. April 10. we faw the Clouds gather about the Ho- 
rizon much more than ufual : This was a lure Sign of 
Land for it is common between the Tropics to be ioggy 
over the Land, though it be never fo clear at Sea ; there- 
fore all this Night we took care to look out, and on the 
1 1 th, in the Morning betimes, we faw the Hand of Magon , 
bearing Weft, diftant about ten Leagues. It is an high 
woody Hand, and very plain and green on the Top : So 
we flood towards it ; and, when we had brought it to 
bear North, diftant about a Mile, being fo near, we laid 
our Ship by, and feveral Fiftiing-boats came to us, and 
brought us fome Fifh, with Eggs, Yams, Potatoes, &c. 
The Men in thofe Fiftiing-boats were a very tall large- 
limb’d People, of a tawny Complexion, having long black 
Hair reaching down to their Middle. They all go ftark- 
naked, not fo much as covering their private Parts. In 
Exchange of what we had of them, we would have given 
them Money v but they looked on it, and gave it us again, 
making Signs to us to give them Tobacco in the room of 
it -, which we did, and they feemed very much pleafed. 
We alfo gave them fome old Shirts, which they imme- 
diately tore in Pieces, and rolled them round their Heads. 
We would have given each of them a Dram of Brandy, 
but they, were afraid to drink it: Only one of them, feeing 
us drink to each other, and that it did us no hurt, at laft 
made Signs, that he would drink with us : So we gave him 
a Glafsful, which he immediately drank off ; but we thought 
the Fellow would never {hut his Mouth again tor he was 
fo amazed at the Heat it had left in his Mouth, and in his 
Belly, that, I believe, he thought he had fet himfelf on 
Fire. He laid himfelf down, and roared like a Bull, 
which feared moft of the reft of them away : After he had 
roared near half an Hour, he fell faft afleep •, and we, being 
in hafte, put the poor Fellow into his Boat, and made 
Signs to his Conforts to take care of him, that he might 
not fall over-board. They feemed to be a very civil People ; 
but, however, we did not care to let too many of them 
come into our Veffel at a time. Their Language we could 
not underftand at all. When they firft approached us’,* 
they tied two Sticks together, in Faftiion of a Crofs, and 
held them up for us to fee ; which was, as we fuppofed, to 
fignify to us, that they had fome Knowledge of the Chri- 
ftian Religion : We, in Return, fhewed them a Crucifix, 
which we had taken from the Spaniards ; at the Sight of 
which they all bowed their Bodies, and came on board. 
This Hand of Magon , I conceive, lies in the Latitude of 
1 3 0 North, and we made Longitude from the Mouth of St. 
Michael’ s. Weft 120° 9', or 7029 Miles, allowing between 
5 8 and 59 Miles to a Degree of Longitude in this Parallel. 
The Boats that thefe Fifhermen came on board in, were 
about forty Feet in Length, and about feventeen or eighteen 
Inches broad aloft, but not above three broad below : 
Their Head and Stern were alike: The Bottom, to the 
Water’s Edge, was one intire Piece, but hollow ; upon 
which, for the Side of the Boat, was a Piece of thin 
Plank, about three Feet broad, and of the fame Length 
as the Boat itfelf : It had its lower Edge fewed with 
Rattans to the Bottom of the Boat : They had two long 
Poles put out of one Side one was within ten Feet of one 
End of the Boat, and the other within ten Feet of the 
other End, fo that they lay diftant from each other about 
120 Feet ; the Poles were about thirty Feet in Length ; at 
the End of which was a long Piece of Plank, about 
twenty-one Feet, of the fame Shape, and about one-fourth 
Part of the Bignefs of the Bottom of the Boat : This Piece 
is laid acrofs at the one End of the Poles from the one Pole to 
the other, where it is very fecurely made faft •, and this, all 
together, is called theOudayer,orOutleaker. This is always 
the Weather- fide, and theUfeofit is to keep the Boat from 
over letting ; for, without the Outleaker, the Boat is fo 
narrow, that it would not bear itfelf : They have but one 
Sail, which is made of Mat, and like our Bermudas Sail ; 
it is not above two Inches broad at Top, and hales out by 
a Boom : When they have a mind to go about, it is only 
letting go the Sheet of the Sail, and haling aft on the 
fame Side, at the other End of the Boat ; and then that 
widen was the Stern before, becomes the Head, any End 
going foremoft, and no Diftincftion in the Building of 
either End, but it is the fame Side ftill that always remains 
the Weather-fide. The Conveniency of thefe Yeffels are 1 
very great, and the Contrivance of them exceedingly in- 
genious, fo that we are able to build nothing like them. 
25. It was refolved, on mature Deliberation, to bear 
away from hence for the Coaft of New Gainey , without 
putting in to the Hand of Guam , of which we had Sight. 
The Weather continued fair, and the Wind brisk, as well 
as favourable, till we arrived in the Latitude of 4 0 North ; 
and then we had a Calm for no lefs than feven Days ; in 
which Space we had no way to relieve our Hunger, but by 
drinking a good large Draught of Water, and then lying 
down to fleep. On the 3d of May, we had a fine Gale, 
which continued to the 5th, when it died away before we 
faw any Land. About ten in the Evening, we were all 
fenftble of a very odoriferous Smell brought to us by the 
little Air there was *, from whence we concluded, that we 
could not be far diftant from fome Land, whence this fra- 
grant Breeze muft blow. Upon this, we began to learch 
our Charts, but to no manner of purpofe •, for in none oi 
them was there any Land laid down. The next Morning, 
however, we found our Conjecture verified, and actually 
faw Land at no great Diftance. The fame Day we caught 
two Bonetoes, which were very welcome to us •, for they 
made a good Meal for all our Company. This Fifh is 
commonly about three Feet in Length, and two Feet 
about •, he hath two middling Fins on his Back, with 
eleven fmall ones, ftretching to his Tail, the like Number 
oppofite, under his Belly, with two large ones, one on 
each Side, near his Gills ; a very fharp Head, with a fmall 
Mouth ; a full Eye, and an half-mooned Tail ; it is a 
very flefhy Fifh, having no Bone but his Back-bone, and 
they make very good Broth. About Noon we were in 
Sight of three fmall Hands, all of them low Land, but 
exceedingly green and pleafant, affording a moft delightful 
ProfpeCt from the Sea, and efpecially to us, who had not 
feen Land for fo long a time. We had likewife an Obfer- 
vation, by which we found, that we were in the Latitude 
of 50' North ; and, as the Eaftermoft of thofe Hands was 
four Leagues to the South-eaft, it muft be, confequently, 
in the Latitude of 42' North. 
26. As we were cautious of venturing upon an un- 
known Coaft in the dark, we flood off all Night •, and 
very well it was for us, that we did fo *, for the next Morn- 
ing, being the 7th of May , about Day-break, we found 
ourfelves within a Ship’s Length of a great Ledge of 
Rocks, which ran from one Hand to the other, which 
we not feeing before, and thinking to go between the 
two Hands, had like to have been upon them : But, 
through God’s Mercy, a fmall Breeze of Wind coming 
from the Shore, we got off, and flood to the Weftermoft 
Hand, becaufe we faw many Sholes lying off the reft of 
them. The Rocks we were like to have been upon were 
near the Northermoft Hand, which, upon account of our 
miraculous Efcape, we called the Hand of Deceit. ’When 
we came near the Weftermoft Hand, which was the big- 
geft of the three, we flood in for the Hand ; and, as we 
drew nearer, about forty or fifty of their flying Proes 
came off, and in them might be about 450 Men, allow- 
ing ten to each Proe ; and we could difeern Multitudes of 
People upon the Shore ; for, as we palled by any of 
thefe Hes to go to the .next, the People alfo followed us ; 
their flying Proes lay at a Diftance from us, and viewed us, 
till we beckoned, and made Signs for them to come to us ; 
then one of them, which was in theMidft, advanced to- 
wards us, and, being pretty near, lay and looked on us for 
awhile. We ftill made Signs for him to draw nearer ; 
then he came within a Ship’s Length of us, and lay ftill 
again. In her were ten Men, all naked, and, in the 
Midft of them, a grave old Man, of a pleafant Coun- 
tenance, who had on his Head a Four-corner’d Cap, 
without a Crown, but otherwife he was quite naked, as 
were all the reft of them. This Man, by the Relpedt all 
the reft in the Boat fhewed to him, we gueffed to be a 
King or Prince. At their Approach to us they fung a 
Song, which continued about a Quarter of an Hour: We 
could not underftand it, but it was tuned very prettily : 
When this Song was done, they came almoft clofe to our ' 
Veftel’s 
