The general ordered all our tents to be taken down on the 24th of October, and all our men to repair on board their respective ships, having laid in an ample supply of wood and water. We put to sea the 29th of that month, passing a small island in the mouth of the bay, which is so full of seals and penguins, that if no better refreshment could have been procured, we might very well have refreshed here. Over the bay of Saldanha there stands a very high and flat hill, called the Table; no other harbour on all this coast having so plain a mark to find it by, as it can be easily seen seventeen or eighteen leagues out at sea. In the morning of Sunday the 1st November, we doubled the Cape of Good Hope in a heavy gale at W.N.W.
On the 26th November we fell in with the head-land of the island of St Lawrence or Madagascar, somewhat to the eastward of cape St Sebastian, and at five mile from the shore we had 20 fathoms; the variation of the compass being 16°, a little more or less. In an east and west course, the variation of the compass serves materially, and especially in this voyage.[104] From the 26th November till the 15th December we plied to the eastwards, as nearly as we could, always striving to get to the island of Cisne, called Diego Rodriguez in some charts; but ever from our leaving Madagascar, we found the wind at E. or E.S.E. or E.N.E. so that we could not accomplish it, and we could not continue to strive long in hopes of the wind changing, as our men began again to fall sick of the scurvy. The captain of our vice-admiral, John Middleton of the Hector, now proposed to our general to bear away for the bay of Antongit, on the east coast of Madagascar, where we might refresh our men with oranges and lemons, so as to get rid again of this cruel disease; which counsel was approved by him and the whole company.
[Footnote 104: At this period, and for long afterwards, mariners estimated their longitudes by dead reckonings, or by the observed variations of the compass; both very uncertain guides.--E.]
We had sight of the southernmost part of the island of St Mary [in lat. 16° 48' S. long. 50° 17' E.] and anchored next day between that island and the main of Madagascar. We immediately sent our boats to St Mary, where we procured some store of lemons and oranges, being very precious for our sick men to purge them of the scurvy. While riding here, a great storm arose, which drove three of our ships from their anchors; but within sixteen hours the storm ceased, and our ships returned and recovered their anchors. The general thought it improper to remain here any longer, on account of the uncertainty of the weather, the danger of riding here, and because we were able to procure so little refreshment at this island; having got, besides a few lemons and oranges, a very little goats milk, and a small quantity of rice: But as our men were sick, and the easterly winds still prevailed, he gave orders to sail for Antongil.
The isle of St Mary is high land and full of wood. The natives are tall handsome men, of black colour and frizzled hair, which they stroke up at their foreheads as our women do in England, so that it stands three inches upright. They go entirely naked, except covering their parts; and are very tractable and of familiar manners, yet seemed valiant. Most of their food is rice, with some fish; yet while we were there we could get very little rice to purchase, as their store was far spent, and their harvest near at hand. There are two or three watering places on the north part of this island, none of them very commodious, yet there is water enough to be had with some trouble.
Departing from this island of St Mary on the 23d December, we came into the bay of Antongil on Christmas-day, and anchored in eight fathoms water, at the bottom of the bay, between a small island and the main.[105] The best riding is nearest under the lee of that small island, which serves as a defence from the wind blowing into the bay; for while we were there it blew a very heavy storm, and those ships which were nearest the island fared best Two of our ships drove with three anchors a-head, the ground being oosy and not firm. Going a-land on the small island, we perceived by a writing on the rocks, that five Holland ships had been there, and had departed about two months before our arrival, having had sickness among them; for, as we could perceive, they had lost between 150 and 200 men at this place.
[Footnote 105: This island of Maroise is in lat. 15° 10' S. and almost in the same longitude with the isle of St Mary, being 62 English miles from its northern extremity.--E.]
The day after we anchored, we landed on the main, where the people presently came to us, making signs that five Dutch ships had been there, and had bought most of their provisions. Yet they entered into trade with us for rice, hens, oranges, lemons, and another kind of fruit called plantains; but held every thing very high, and brought only small quantities. Our market was beside a considerable river, into which we went in our boats, such of our men as were appointed to make the purchases going ashore; the rest always remaining in the boats with their arms in readiness, and the boats about twenty or thirty yards from the land, where the natives could not wade to them, and were ready at all times, if needful, to take our marketers from the land. In this manner we trifled off some days before we could get the natives to commence a real trade; for all these people of the south and east parts of the world are subtle and crafty in bartering, buying, and selling, so that, without sticking close to them, it is difficult to bring them to trade in any reasonable sort, as they will shift continually to get a little more, and then no one will sell below that price. Upon this, the general ordered measures to be made of about a quart, and appointed how many glass beads were to be given for its fill of rice, and how many oranges, lemons, and plantains were to be given for every bead, with positive orders not to deal at all with any who would not submit to that rule. After a little holding off, the natives consented to this rule, and our dealing became frank and brisk; so that during our stay we purchased 15-1/4 tons of rice, 40 or 50 bushels of their peas and beans, great store of oranges, lemons, and plantains, eight beeves, and great numbers of hens.
While at anchor in this bay, we set up a pinnace which we had brought in pieces from England; and cutting down trees, which were large and in plenty, we sawed them into boards, with which we sheathed her. This pinnace was about 18 tons burden, and was very fit and necessary for going before our ships at our getting to India. While we remained here, there died out of the Admiral, the master's mate, chaplain, and surgeon, with about ten of the common men; and out of the Vice-Admiral, the master and some two more. By very great mischance, the captain and boatswain's mate of the Ascension were slain: For, when the master's mate of the Admiral was to be buried, the captain of the Ascension took his boat to go on shore to his funeral; and as it is the rule of the sea to fire certain pieces of ordnance at the burial of an officer, the gunner fired three pieces that happened to be shotted, when the ball of one of them struck the Ascension's boat, and slew the captain and boatswain's mate stark dead; so that, on going ashore to witness the funeral of another, they were both buried themselves. Those who died here were mostly carried off by the flux, owing, as I think, to the water which we drank; for it was now in the season of winter, when it rained very much, causing great floods all over the country, so that the waters were unwholesome, as they mostly are in these hot countries in the rainy season. The flux is likewise often caught by going open, and catching cold at the stomach, which our men were very apt to do when hot.
We sailed from this bay on the 6th March, 1602, steering our course for India, and on the 16th fell in with an island called Rogue Pize, [in lat. 10° 30' S. and long. 64° 20' E.] The general sent his boat to see if there were any safe anchorage, but the water was found almost every where too deep. As we sailed along, it seemed every where pleasant, and full of cocoa-nut trees and fowls, and there came from the land a most delightful smell, as if it had been a vast flower garden. Had there been any good anchorage, it must surely have been an excellent place of refreshment; for, as our boats went near the land, they saw vast quantities of fish, and the fowls came wondering about them in such flocks, that the men killed many of them with their oars, which were the best and fattest we had tasted in all the voyage. These fowls were in such vast multitudes, that many more ships than we had might have been amply supplied.