[4] Cordovan leather. A goatskin leather, prepared in Cordova, Spain.
[5] Cutlass. A short curved sword used by sailors. corselet. Armour for the body; breastplate.
[6] Damascus. A city in Syria, famous for its steel blades.
[7] mystical. Obscure and mysterious in meaning.
[8] fowling-piece. A light gun used for shooting birds. matchlock. An old-fashioned gun, fired by means of a match. This "match" was generally made of twisted cord which would hold the flame.
[9] John Alden had been taken aboard the vessel at Southampton, as a cooper. He was free to return to England on the Mayflower, but decided to share the fortunes of the Puritans.
[10] A monk named Gregory, in the sixth century, seeing some fair-haired youths in the slave market at Rome, enquired as to their nationality. He was told that they were Angles. "Non Angli, sed Angeli," said Gregory. "They have the faces of Angels, not of Angles."
[11] Flanders, part of the Netherlands, in Europe.
[12] arcabucero. Literally, archer; here, musketeer,
[13] howitzer. A small cannon.