1 9^ Discoveries and Settlements Book L 
be found. Our Author^s Endeavours, however, were 
ftrangely croiTed by the unexpected Severity of the Wea- 
ther, of which the Reverend Mr. Francis Fletcher^ who 
was Chaplain in this Voyage, gives us a large Account j 
and, as it relates to a Subjeft of great Importance, and 
contains a Multitude of curious Circumftances, though not 
delivered in the moil polifhed Stile, we Ihall give it the 
Reader, ' for the Sake of Exaftnefs, in his own Words. 
From Guatulco we departed the Day following, viz. 
April the 1 6th, fetting our Coiirfe direftly into the Sea, 
whereupon we failed five hundred Leagues in Longi- 
tude to get a "Wind, and between that and June the 
“ 3d 1400 Leagues in all, till we came in 42 Degrees 
of North Latitude, wherein the Night following we 
“ found fuch an Alteration of Heat into extreme and 
“ nipping Cold, that our Men, in general, did griev- 
“ oufly complain thereof, fome of them feeling their 
Healths much impaired thereby j neither was it that 
this chanced in the Night alone, but the Day folio w- 
ing carried with it not only the Marks, but the Stings 
“ and Force, of the Night going before, to the great Ad- 
“ miration of us all ; for befides that the pinching and 
biting Air was nothing altered, the very Ropes of our 
Ship were ftiff, and the Rain which fell was an unna- 
tural and frozen Subftance j fo that we feemed rather 
“ to be in the frozen Zone, than any way fo near unto 
the Sun, or thefe hotter Climates. 
Neither did this happen for the Time only, or by 
fome fudden Accident, but rather feemed, indeed, to 
** proceed from fome ordinary Caufe, againft the which 
“ the Heat of the Sun prevails not j for it came to that 
“ Extremity in Sailing but 2° farther to the Northward in 
“ our Courfe, that tho’ the Seamen lacked not good Sto- 
“ machs, yet it feemed a Queflion to many amongft us, 
“ whether their Hands fhould feed their Mouths, or 
“ rather keep themfelves within Coverts, from the 
“ pinching Cold that did benumb them ? Neither could 
“ we impute it to the Tendernefs of our Bodies, though 
“ we came lately from the Extremity of Heat, by rea- 
“ fon whereof we might be more fenfible of the pre- 
‘‘ fent Cold, infomuch that the dead and fenfelefs 
“ Creatures were as well affefted with it as ourfelves. 
Our Meat, as foon as it was removed from the Fire, 
“ would prefently, in a Manner, become frozen up-, 
“ and our Ropes and Tackling, in a few Days, were 
“ grown to that Stiffnefs, that what three Men before 
“ were able with them to perform, now fix Men, with 
“ their bell Strength and utmoft Endeavours, were 
hardly able to accomplilh whereby a fudden and great 
“ Difeouragement feized upon the Minds of our Men, 
“ and they were polTefled with a great Miflike, and 
“ doubting of any good to be done that Way; yet 
would not our General be difeouraged, but as well by 
“ comfortable Speeches of the divine Providence, and of 
“ God’s loving Care over his Children, out of the 
“ Scriptures, as alfo by giving other good and pro- 
“ fitable Perfuafions, adding thereto his own chearful 
‘‘ Example, he fo ftirred them up to put on a good 
“ Courage, and to acquit themfelves like Men, to endure 
fome fliort Extremity ; to have the fpeedier Comfort, 
“ and a little Trouble to obtain the greater Glory ; that 
“ every Man was thoroughly armed with Willing- 
nefs, and refolved to fee the uttermoft, if it were pof- 
fible, of what Good was to be done that Way. 
“ The Land in that Part of America bearing farther 
out into the Weft than we before imagined, we were 
nearer on it than we were aware, and yet the nearer 
“ ftill we came unto it, the more Extremity of Cold did 
feize upon us. The 5th Day of June we were forced 
by contrary Winds to run in with the Shore, which 
we then firft deferied, and to call Anchor in a bad 
“ Bay, the beft Road we could for the prefent meet 
v/ith, where we were not without fome Danger, by 
reafon of the many extreme Gufts and Flaws that beat 
upon us ; which if they ceafed and were ftill at any time, 
immediately upon their Intermiftion there followed 
“ moft vile, thick, and ftinking Fogs, againft which 
the Sea prevailed nothing, till the Gufts of Wind again 
removed them, which brought with them fuch Extre- 
“ mity and Violence when they came, that there was 
“ no dealing or refifting againft them. In this Place 
“ v/as no abiding for us, and to go furtherNorth the Extre- 
mity ol the Cold (which had now utterly difeouraged 
‘‘ all our Men) would not permit us, and the Winds, be- 
‘‘ ing diredlly againft us, having once gotten us under 
“ Sail again, commanded us to the Southward, whether 
“ we would or no ; from the Height of 48°, in which 
“ now we were, to 38°, we found the Land by coafting 
“ it 'to be but low, and reafonably plain-, every Eliil 
(whereof we faw many, but none very high) though 
“ it were in June., and the Sun in the neareft Approach 
“ unto them, being covered with Snow. 
“ In 38° 30' we fell in with a convenient and fit Har- 
“ hour, and June the 1 7th came to an Anchor therein, 
“ where we continued to the 23d July following; 
“ during all v/hich Time, notwithftanding it was in the 
“ height of Summer, and fo near the Sun, yet we were 
“ continually vifited with like nipping Colds as we had 
“ felt before ; infomuch, that if violent Exercifes of our 
“ Bodies, and bufy Employment about our neceffary La- 
“ hours, had not fometimes compelled us to the contra- 
“ ry, we could very well have been contented to have 
“ kept about us, ftill, our Winter Clothes ; yea, (had our 
‘‘ Neceflity fuffered us) to have kept our Beds ; neither 
“ could we at any Time, in the whole fourteen Days toge- 
“ gether, find the Air fo clear as to be able to take the 
“ Height of Sun or Star. 
“ And here, having fo fit Occafion (notwithftanding 
“ it may feem to be befides the Purpofe of writing the 
“ Hiftory of this our Voyage) we will a little more di- 
“ ligently enquire into the Caufes of the Continuance of 
“ the extreme Cold in thefe Parts ; as alfo into the Pro- 
“ babilities or Unlikelihoods of a Paffage to be found 
“ that way. Neither was it (as hath formerly been 
“ touched) the Tendernefs of our Bodies coming fo late- 
“ ly out of the Heat, whereby the Pores were opened, 
“ that made us fo fenfible of ?he Colds we here felt. 
“ In this refpeeft, as in many others, we found our God 
“ a provident Father and careful Phyfician to us ; wc 
“ lacked no outward Helps nor inward Comforts to re- 
“ ftore and fortify Nature, had it been decayed or weak- 
“ ened in us ; neither was there wanting unto us the 
“ great Experience of our General, who had often him- 
“ felf proved the Force of the burning Zone, whofe 
“ Advice always prevailed much to the preferving of a 
“ moderate Temper in our Conftitutions ; fo that even 
“ after our Departure from the Heat, we always found 
“ our Bodies not as Sponges, but ftrong and hard, 
“ more able to bear out Cold, though we came out of 
“ Excefs of Heat, than a Number of Chamber-Compa- 
“ nions could have been, who lie on their Feather-beds 
“ till they go to Sea, or rather, whofe Teeth in a tern- 
“ perate Air do beat in their Heads at a Cup of cold 
Sack and Sugar by the Fire. 
“ And that it was not our Tendernefs, but the very 
“ Extremity of the Cold itfelf, that caufed this Senfible- 
“ nefs in us, may the rather appear in that the natural 
“ Inhabitants of the Place (with whom we had for a long 
“ Seafon familiar Intercourfe, as is to be related) who 
“ had never been acquainted with fuch Heat, to whom 
“ the Country Air and Climate was proper, and in 
“ whom Cuftom of Cold was as it were a fecond Na- 
“ ture, yet ufed to come fhivering to us in their warm 
“ Furs, crouding clofe together. Body to Body, to re- 
“ ceive Heat one of another, and fiieltering themfelves 
“ under a Lee Bank if it were poflible ; and as often 
“ as they could, labouring to fhrowd themfelves under 
“ our Garments to keep them warm : Befides, how 
“ unhandfome and deformed appeared the Face of the 
“ Earth itfelf? ftiewing Times without Leaves, and 
“ the Ground without Greennefs in thofe Months 
“ of June and July. The poor Birds and Fowls not 
“ daring (as we had great Experience to obferve it) fo 
“ much as once to rife from their Nefts after the firft 
“ Egg laid, till it, with all the reft, be hatched, and 
“ brought to fome ftrength- of Nature able to help 
“ felf : Only this Recompence has Nature afforded them, 
“ that the Heat of their own Bodies being exceeding 
^ great. 
