escription of which, and of
the Portuguese settlement there, shall be given in the following chapter.
As soon as I came to anchor I sent my boat ashore with my second mate, to
go to the governor. The lieutenant that lived here had provided horses
and guides for him, and sent 4 soldiers with him for his guard, and,
while he was absent, treated my men with arack at his own house, where he
and some others of the townsmen showed them many broad thin pieces of
gold; telling them that they had plenty of that metal and would willingly
traffic with them for any sort of European commodities. About 11 o'clock
my mate returned on board and told me he had been in the country, and was
kindly received by the gentleman he went to wait upon; who said we were
welcome, and should have anything the island afforded; and that he was
not himself the governor, but only a deputy. He asked why we did not
salute their fort when we anchored; my mate answered that we saw no
colours flying, and therefore did not know there was any fort till he
came ashore and saw the guns; and if we had known that there was a fort
yet that we could not have given any salute till we knew that they would
answer it with the like number of guns. The deputy said it was very well;
and that he had but little powder; and therefore would gladly buy some of
us, if we had any to spare; which my mate told him we had not.
The 13th the deputy sent me aboard a present of 2 young buffaloes, 6
goats, 4 kids, 140 coconuts, 300 ripe mangoes, and 6 ripe jacks. This was
all very acceptable; and all the time we lay here we had fresh provision,
and plenty of fruits; so that those of my men that were sick of the
scurvy soon recovered and grew lusty. I stayed here till the 22nd, went
ashore several times, and once purposely to see the deputy, who came out
of the country also on purpose to see and talk with me. And then indeed
there were guns fired for salutes, both aboard my ship and at the fort.
Our interview was in a small church which was filled with the better sort
of people; her poorer sort thronging on the outside, and looking in upon
us: for the church had no wall but at the east end; the sides and the
west end being open, saving only that it had boards about 3 or 4 foot
high from the ground. I saw but 2 white men among them all; one was a
padre that came along with the lieutenant; the other was an inhabitant of
the town. The rest were all copper-coloured, with black lank hair. I
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