ed three times, waving his hands, and so
departed. The king has usually sitting beside him, eight or ten old men
with grey beards.

On the 23d we took 1 lib. 10 oz. of gold; the 24th 3 lib. 7 oz.; the
25th 3-1/4 oz.; the 26th 2 libs. 10 oz.; the 27th 2 libs. 5 oz.; the
28th 4 libs. Then seeing that there was no more gold to be had, we
weighed anchor and continued along the coast. The 1st of March we came
to a town called _Moure_, where we found neither boats nor people; but
when about to depart there came some people to us in two canoes from
another town, from whom we took 2-1/2 oz. of gold, and who told us that
the inhabitants had removed from Mowre to _Lagoua._[269]. The 2d we were
abreast the castle of Mina, where we saw all the five Portuguese ships
at anchor, and by night we were off Shamma or Chama, where we meant to
water. But next day we saw a tall ship of about 200 tons to windward
within two leagues, and then two more astern of her, one a ship of 500
tons or more and the other a pinnace. Upon this we weighed anchor, and
made a shirt to stand out to sea, the wind being S.S.W., but the Hart
fell three leagues to leeward of us. These ships chased us from 9 A.M.
till 5 P.M. but could not make up with us. At night, when we joined the
Hart, on asking why she fell to leeward, they pretended that they durst
not make sail to windward, lest they had carried away their
fore-top-mast. Having been thus obliged to abandon our watering-place,
we were under the necessity of boiling our meat-in sea-water, and to
reduce our allowance of drink to make it hold out, as we now shaped our
course homewards.

[Footnote 269: Mowree is 4-1/2 leagues east from the castle of Minas,
and Lagoua or Laguy is 9 leagues east from the same place.--Astl. I.
168. a.]

On the 16th of March we fell in with the land, which I judged to be Cape
Misurado, about which there is much high land. The 18th we lost sight of
the Hart, and I think the master wilfully went in shore on purpose to
lose us, being offended that I had reproved him for his folly when
chased by the Portuguese. The 27th we fell in with two small islands
about 6 leagues off Cape Sierra Leona; and before we saw them we
reckoned ourselves at least 30 or 40 leagues from them. Therefore all
who sail this way must allow for the current which sets N.N.W. or they
will be much deceived. The 14th April we met two large Portuguese ships,
which we supposed were bound to Calicut. The 23d we saw a