e
government of it into his own hands; for the king, with the apparent
concurrence of the rest, placed the crown upon his head, graced him
with the chains and other signs of authority, and saluted him with the
title of hioh.

The kingdom thus offered, though of no further value to him than as it
furnished him with present necessaries, Drake thought it not prudent
to refuse; and, therefore, took possession of it in the name of queen
Elizabeth, not without ardent wishes, that this acquisition might have
been of use to his native country, and that so mild and innocent a
people might have been united to the church of Christ.

The kingdom being thus consigned, and the grand affair at an end, the
common people left their king and his domesticks with Drake, and
dispersed themselves over the camp; and when they saw any one that
pleased them by his appearance more than the rest, they tore their
flesh, and vented their outcries as before, in token of reverence and
admiration.

They then proceeded to show them their wounds and diseases, in hopes
of a miraculous and instantaneous cure; to which the English, to
benefit and undeceive them at the same time, applied such remedies as
they used on the like occasions.

They were now grown confident and familiar, and came down to the camp
every day, repeating their ceremonies and sacrifices, till they were
more fully informed how disagreeable they were to those whose favour
they were so studious of obtaining: they then visited them without
adoration, indeed, but with a curiosity so ardent, that it left them
no leisure to provide the necessaries of life, with which the English
were, therefore, obliged to supply them.

They had then sufficient opportunity to remark the customs and
dispositions of these new allies, whom they found tractable and
benevolent, strong of body, far beyond the English, yet unfurnished
with weapons, either for assault or defence, their bows being too weak
for any thing but sport. Their dexterity in taking fish was such,
that, if they saw them so near the shore that they could come to them
without swimming, they never missed them.

The same curiosity that had brought them in such crowds to the shore,
now induced Drake, and some of his company, to travel up into the
country, which they found, at some distance from the coast, very
fruitful, filled with large deer, and abounding with a peculiar kind
of conies, smaller than ours, with tails like that of a rat, and