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down in snow, and increase their height by hardening into ice, which is never dissolved; but the valleys are, nevertheless, green, fruitful, and pleasant.

Here Drake finding the strait in appearance shut up, went in his boat to make farther discoveries, and, having found a passage towards the north, was returning to his ships; but curiosity soon prevailed upon him to stop, for the sake of observing a canoe or boat, with several natives of the country in it. He could not at a distance forbear admiring the form of this little vessel, which seemed inclining to a semicircle, the stern and prow standing up, and the body sinking inward; but much greater was his wonder, when, upon a nearer inspection, he found it made only of the barks of trees sewed together with thongs of sealskin, so artificially that scarcely any water entered the seams. The people were well shaped and painted, like those which have been already described. On the land they had a hut built with poles and covered with skins, in which they had water-vessels and other utensils, made likewise of the barks of trees.

Among these people they had an opportunity of remarking, what is frequently observable in savage countries, how natural sagacity, and unwearied industry, may supply the want of such manufactures, or natural productions, as appear to us absolutely necessary for the support of life. The inhabitants of these islands are wholly sirangers to iron and its use, but instead of it make use of the shell of a muscle of prodigious size, found upon their coasts; this they grind upon

a stone to an edge, which is so firm and solid, that neither wood nor stone is able to resist it.

September 6, they entered the great South Sea, on which no English vessel had ever been navigated before, and proposed to have directed their course towards the line, that their men, who had suffered by the severity of the climate, might recover their strength in a warmer latitude. But their designs were scarce formed before they were frustrated; for on September 7, after an eclipse of the moon, a storm arose, so violent, that it left them little hopes of surviving it; nor was its fury so dreadful as its continuance, for it lasted with little intermission till October 28, fifty-two days, during which time they were tossed incessantly from one part of the ocean to another, without any power of spreading their sails, or lying upon their anchors, amidst shelving shores, scattered rocks, and unknown islands, the tempest continually roaring, and the waves dashing over them.

In this storm, on the 30th of September, the Marigold, commanded by captain Thomas, was separated from them. On the 7th of October, having entered a harbour, where they hoped for some intermission of their fatigues, they were in a few hours forced out to sea by a violent gust, which broke the cable, at which time they lost sight of the Elizabeth, the vice-admiral, whose crew, as was afterwards discovered, wearied with labour, and discouraged by the prospect of future dangers, recovered the Straits on the next day, and, returning by the same passage through which they came, sailed along the coast of Brasil, and on the 2nd of June, in the year following, arrived at England.

From this bay they were driven southward to fifty-five degrees, where among some islands they stayed two days, to the great refreshment of the crew; but, being again forced into the main sea, they were tossed about with perpetual expectation of perishing, till soon after they again came to anchor near the same place, where they found the natives, whom the continuance of the storm had probably reduced to equal distress, rowing from one island to another, and providing the necessaries of life.

It is, perhaps, a just observation, that, with regard to outward circumstances, happiness and misery are equally diffused through all states of human life. In civilized countries, where regular policies have secured the necessaries of life, ambition, avarice, and luxury, find the mind at leisure for their reception, and soon engage it in new pursuits; pursuits that are to be carried on by incessant labour, and, whether vain or successful, produce anxiety and contention. Among savage nations, imaginary wants find indeed no place; but their strength is exhausted by necessary toils, and their passions agitated not by contests about superiority, affluence, or precedence, but by perpetual care for the present day, and by fear of perishing for want of food.

But for such reflections as these they had no time; for, having spent three days in supplying themselves with wood and water, they were by a new storm driven to the latitude of fifty-six degrees, where they beheld the extremities of the American coast, and the confluence of the Atlantic and southern ocean.

Here they arrived on the 28th of October, and at last were blessed with the sight of a calm sea, having for almost two months endured such a storm as no traveller has given an account of, and such as in that part of the world, though accustomed to hurricanes, they were before unacquainted with.

On the 30th of October they steered away towards the place appointed for the rendezvous of the fleet, which was in thirty degrees, and on the next day discovered two islands so well stocked with fowls, that they victualled their ships with them, and then sailed forwards along the coast of Peru till they came to thirty-seven degrees, where finding neither of their ships, nor any convenient port, they came to anchor, November the 25th, at Mucho, an island inhabited by such Indians as the cruelty of the Spanish conquerors had driven from the continent, to whom they applied for water and provisions, offering them in return such things as they imagined most likely to please them. The Indians seemed willing to traffick, and having presented them with fruits and two fat sheep, would have showed them a place whither they should come for water.

The next morning, according to agreement, the English landed with their water-vessels, and sent two men forward towards the place appointed, who, about the middle of the way, were suddenly attacked by the Indians and immediately slain. Nor were the rest of the company out of danger; for behind the rocks was lodged an ambush of five hundred men, who, starting up from their retreat, discharged their arrows into the boat with

such dexterity, that every one of the crew was wounded by them, the sea being then high, and hindering them from either retiring or making use of their weapons. Drake himself received an arrow under his eye, which pierced him almost to the brain, and another in his head. The danger of these wounds was much increased by the absence of their surgeon, who was in the vice-admiral, so that they had none to assist them but a boy, whose age did not admit of much experience or skill; yet so much were they favoured by Providence, that they all recovered.

No reason could be assigned for which the Indians should attack them with so furious a spirit of malignity, but that they mistook them for Spaniards, whose cruelties might very reasonably incite them to revenge, whom they had driven by incessant persecution from their country, wasting immense tracts of land by massacre and devastation.

On the afternoon of the same day, they set sail, and on the 30th of November dropped anchor in Philip's Bay, where their boat having been sent out to discover the country, returned with an Indian in his canoe, whom they had intercepted. He was of a graceful stature, dressed in a white coat or gown, reaching almost to his knees, very mild, humble, and docile, such as perhaps were all the Indians, till the Spaniards taught them revenge, treachery, and cruelty.

This Indian, having been kindly treated, was dismissed with presents, and informed, as far as the English could make him understand, what they chiefly wanted, and what they were willing to

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