20 
Relation 
[1669 
The tempest lasted more than 60 hours, during which it 
was resolv’d to make extraordinary Prayers to ask God 
that which was necessary for us, & immediately we 
experienc’d the effects of the goodness of Our Saviour, 
for the wind ceas’d, the waves were still’d, & the calm 
was so great that the Ship could only turn. 
On Saturday, 13th, it was resolv’d to expose the Holy 
Sacrament during three days from the first Mass to the 
last, which was done, & from that very evening the wind 
became most favourable, & our Ship, with wind abaft, 
sail’d better than she had done since Cape Verd. Every¬ 
one was astonished at it. The Catholics thank’d God 
for it, & made their devotions; & the Calvinists were 
astonish’d at it. We made with this wind more than 700 
leagues, without which we had been nearly lost. 
Thursday 25, and Friday 26 July, the wind always abaft 
& with the same strength, we met with the tempests which 
are generally encounter’d about the Cape of Good Hope. 
We were in these regions during the Winter season ; thus 
in this same year we had had two Winters, one in France, 
& the other in the Ethiopian Sea. This Cape is call’d 
the Promontory of Good Hope , because the Europeans 
going to the Indies, when they have doubl’d this Cape, 
say that now there’s good hope for them, & the same in 
returning, when they perceive they have pass’d it. It was 
not without reason that the Ancients call’d it the Pro¬ 
montory or Cape of Storms, because storms are here 
met with at all seasons, & the Ships are often wreck’d 
here, the Sea having been greatly toss’d by the strong 
winds & the strong & opposite tides which meet in this 
place, & particularly near the land of the Cape, where the 
Sea, mingl’d with sand, often washes over the Ships & 
makes them sink. Our ship was not so treated, being 
distant by more than 60 leagues from land. 
At this point, which advances into the Sea towards 
