Page:The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques and discoveries of the English nation 16.djvu/43

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in to water, sayling betweene Acapulco and the Philippinas: in which isles of Ladrones, they finde fresh water, plantans, and potato rootes: howbeit the people be very rude and heathens.

The 19 day of Nouember aforesaid, about 3 of the clock in the afternoone, our General caused the kings shippe to be set on fire, which hauing to the quantitie of 500 tunnes of goods in her we saw burnt vnto the water, and then gaue them a piece of ordinance and set sayle ioyfully homewards towards England with a fayre winde, which by this time was come about to Eastnortheast: and night growing neere, we left the Content a sterne of vs, which was not as yet come out of the road. And here thinking she would haue ouertaken vs, we lost her companie and neuer saw her after. Wee were sayling from this hauen of Aguada Segura in California vnto the iles of Ladrones the rest of Nouember, and all December, and so forth vntil the 3 of Januarie 1588, with a faire winde for the space 45 dayes: and we esteemed it to be between 17 and 18 hundred leagues.

The 3 day of Ianuary by sixe of the clocke in the morning wee had sight of one of the islands of Ladrones called the island of Guana, standing in 13 degrees 2/3 toward the North, an sayling with a gentle gale before the winde by 1 or 2 of the clocke in the afternoone, wee were come vp within 2 leagues of the island, where we met with 60 or 70 sailes of canoas full of Sauages, who came off to sea vnto vs, and brought with them in their plantans, cocos, potato rootes, and fresh fish, which they had caught at sea, and helde them vp vnto vs for to truck or exchange with vs; which when we perceiued, we made fast litle pieces of old iron vpon small cords and fishing lines, and so vered the iron vnto their canoas, and they caught hold of them and tooke off the iron, and in exchange of it they would make fast vnto the same line either a potato roote, or a bundle of plantans, which we haled in: and thus our company exchanged with them vntil they had satisfied themselues with as much as did content them: yet we could not be rid of them. For afterward they were so thicke about the ship, that it stemmed and brake 1 or 2 of their canoas: but the men saued themselues