[Footnote 293: This general was probably head factor--E.]

We departed from Plymouth on the 10th December 1566, and were abreast of
Ushant on the 12th. On the 15th we got sight of Cape Finister, and lost
company of our admiral that night, for which reason we sailed along the
coast of Portugal, hoping our admiral might be before us. Meeting a
French ship on the 18th and getting no intelligence of our admiral, we
made sail for the Canaries, and fell in with the island of Tenerife on
the 28th, where we came to anchor in a small bay, at which there were
three or four small houses, about a league from the town of Santa Cruz.
In this island there is a marvellous high hill called the Peak, and
although it is in lat. 28 deg. N. where the air is as warm in January as it
is in England at midsummer, the top of this hill, to which no man has
ever been known to ascend, is seldom free from snow even in the middle
of summer. On the 3d January 1567, we departed from this place, going
round the western point of the island, about 12 or 14 leagues from Santa
Cruz, and came into a bay right over against the house of one Pedro de
Souza, where we came to anchor on the 5th, and heard that our admiral
had been there at anchor seven days before us, and had gone thence to
the island of Gomera, to which place we followed him, and coming to
anchor on the 6th over against the town of Gomera, we found our admiral
at anchor to our great mutual satisfaction. We found here Edward Cooke
in a tall ship, and a ship of the coppersmiths of London, which had been
treacherously seized by the Portuguese in the bay of Santa Cruz on the
coast of Barbary, or Morocco, which ship we left there all spoiled. At
this place we bought 14 buts of wine for sea stores, at 15 ducats a but,
which had been offered to us at Santa Cruz for 8, 9, or 10 ducats. The
9th we went to another bay about three leagues off, where we took in
fresh water; and on the 10th we sailed for Cape Blanco on the coast of
Africa.

The 12th we came to a bay to eastwards of Cape Pargos, (_Barbas?_) which
is 35 leagues from Cape Blanco, but being unacquainted with that part of
the coast, we proceeded to Cape Blanco, off which we had 16 fathoms two
leagues from shore, the land being very low and all white sand. At this
place it is necessary to beware of going too near shore, as when in 12
or 10 fathoms you may be aground within two or three casts of the lead.
Directing our course on the 17th S. and S.