Page:Early voyages to Terra Australis.djvu/267

 Rh The first spring after wee came hither wee hall'd our ship into a sandy bay, where shee lay dry all the neepe tides, for it flows there right up and downe above five fathome; the flood setts north by east, and the ebb setts S. by W.

There are many turtle and manatee in this bay, which our strikers supplyed us with all the time we lay here, and one time they mett some of the natives swimming from one iland to the other, and tooke up foure of them and brought aboard, whoe tooke noe notice of any thing that wee had noe more than a bruite would; wee gave them some victualls, which they greedily devoured, and being sett out of the ship ran away as fast as their leggs (for the ship was now dry on the sand) could carry them. Wee mett divers of them on the ilands, for they could not run from us there, but the women and children would be frighted at our approach.

Wee tarried here till the twelfth day of February, in which time wee cleaned our ship, mended our sailes, and filled our water; and when our time drew neare to depart from thence, I motioned goeing to Fort St. George, or any settlement where the English had noe fortification, and was threatened to be turned a shoare on New Holland for it; which made me desist, intending, by God's blessing, to make my escape the first place I came neare, for wee were now bound into India for Cape Comorin, if wee could fetch it.