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This day the 6th do...[we] set sail in the pinnace, and on this day touched at two separate islands, where we found at best some brackish water, which had collected in the cavities of the rocks on the beach after the rain, but it was largely mixed with seawater. On the 7th do. we remained here, in order to repair our pinnace with a plank, for we found that without this it would have been impossible to reach the mainland...
On the 8th do. in the morning we set sail from this island for the mainland...
At noon we were in 28° 13' Lat., and shortly after sighted the mainland, which we estimated to lie 6 miles north by west of our ship. The wind blew from the west, and we sounded 25 and 30 fathom about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. During the night we kept off the land, and after midnight shaped our course for it again.
In the morning of the 9th we were still about 3 miles from the land, the wind being mainly north-west with some rain; in the last 24 hours we covered 4 or 5 miles by estimation, course held north by west. The land here extends chiefly north by west and south by east. It is a barren, rocky coast without trees, about the height of Dover in England.
We here saw a small inlet, and some low land with dunes, which we meant to touch at, but on nearer approach we found a heavy sea and violent breakers on the shore, while at the same time the swell from the west suddenly began to run towards the land so strongly and so high, that we could hardly keep off it, the less so as the storm always rose in violence.
On the 10th do. we kept holding off and on for twenty-four hours owing to the strong wind, while the storm from the north-west, which stood on the boat we had taken with us, forced us to cut the same adrift and to throw overboard a part of the bread we had with us, together with other things that were in the way, since we could not keep the water out of our pinnace.
During the night we were in great peril of foundering owing to the violent gale and the hollow seas. We could not keep off the land, because we did not venture to carry sail, and so were wholly at the mercy of wind and waves, while it kept raining the whole night.
On the 1lth do. in the morning the weather began somewhat to abate, the wind turning to west-south-west, upon which we held our course to northward, but the sea was still very rough.
On the 12th do. at noon we were in Lat. 27°; we ran close along the land with a south-east wind, but could find no means to get near the land with the pinnace, owing to the violent surf; we found the coast falling off very steeply, without any foreland or inlets, such as other lands are found to have: in short it seemed to us a barren, accursed earth without leafage or grass.