[177] Hernando de Ribera.
[178] Brigantine.
All this having occurred, and peace being established, he desired our commander, Ernando Rieffere, and us to give him a report on the country we had been to; and explain how it happened that we had remained so long absent; and we gave him an answer wherewith he was well satisfied. That he had received us so badly and taken our things away, was the result of our not having obeyed his mandate; for he had only ordered us to go as far as the Scherues,[179] and four days’ journey inland, and then to return and report to him; we on the contrary had gone for eighteen days beyond the country of the Scherues.
[179] Xarayos.
Now our chief commander, after the report we had made of it, would have marched with all his people to that country to which we had just been; but we soldiers would not agree thereto, especially at this very time when the country was quite under water.
Moreover, most of the people were very feeble and ill, besides which our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, commanded no great respect or favour among the soldiers, for he was a man who had never held a command nor any important post whatsoever.
So we remained for two months among the aforesaid Siberis (Surukusis?), during which time our chief commander got a fever, which made him very ill—it would have been no great loss had he died at this time, for he really commanded no great respect among us.
In this country of the Surukusis I did not find a single Indian who was forty or fifty years of age, nor have I ever in my life experienced a more unhealthy country; for it lies under the tropic, i.e., there where the sun is at the highest; it is as unhealthy as Sancte Thome.[180]
[180] The island of San Thomé, off the west coast of Africa.
Being among the Surukusis, I saw the constellation of Ursa Major, of which we had lost sight when we passed the island of S. Augo.[181]