A Bit of Rocky Shore.
The business of repairing and refitting the vessel being at length finished, the cargo re-embarked and the peaceful character of the Indians being now so well understood that no trouble from them was apprehended, Drake, with a number of his crew made a short excursion inland, which being necessarily made on foot extended but a few miles, and did not afford any wide or distant view; and the English, like the Spaniards under Cabrillo, though within less than a day's travel of the most spacious and magnificent bay in the world, had no idea of its existence.
Marin Cows.
When ready to sail, Drake erected, by way of monument and memorial of his having been there and taken possession of the country, a large post, firmly planted, upon which he caused to be nailed a plate of brass engraven with the name of the English Queen, the day and date of his arrival, the voluntary submission of the inhabitants to English sovereignty, and beneath all, his own name. Fastened to the plate was an English sixpence of recent coinage, so placed as to exhibit Her Majesty's likeness.
All of which goes to prove that Drake supposed himself to be the discoverer of this region, and was not aware that thirty-six years previously the Spaniards had passed the same Coast and anticipated him.
Having found no northern passage to the Atlantic, and making up his mind that if one existed it was too far north to be practical, Drake returned by the route pointed out by Magellan in his circumnavigation of the globe.