heir desire; and they, glad men, made speedy returne to
their Hioh. Neither was it long before their king (making as princely
a shew as possibly he could) with all his traine came forward.

In their comining forwards they cryed continually after a singing
manner, with a lustie courage. And as they drew neerer and neerer
towards vs, so did they more and more striue to behaue themselues with
a certaine comelinesse and grauity in all their actions.

In the forefront came a man of a large body and goodly aspect, bearing
the Scepter or royall mace, made of a certaine kind of blacke wood,
and in length about a yard and a halfe, before the king. Whereupon
hanged two crownes, a bigger and a lesser, with three chaines of a
maruellous length, and often doubled, besides a bagge of the herbe
Tabah. The crownes were made of knitworke, wrought vpon most curiously
with feathers of diners colours, very artificially placed, and of a
formall fashion. The chaines seemed of a bony substance, euery linke
or part thereof being very little, thinne, most finely burnished, with
a hole pierced through the middest. The number of linkes going to make
one chaine is in a manner infinite; but of such estimation it is
amongst them, that few be the persons that are admitted to weare the
same; and euen they to whom its lawfull to use them, yet are stinted
what number they shall vse, as some ten, some twelue, some twentie,
and as they exceed in number of chaines, so thereby are they knowne to
be the more honorable personages.

Next vnto him that bare this Scepter was the king himselfe with his
guard about him; his attire vpon his head was a cawle of knitworke,
wrought vpon somewhat like the crownes, but differing much both in
fashion and perfectnesse of worke; vpon his shoulders he had on a
coate of the skins of conies, reaching to his wast; his guard also had
each coats of the same shape, but of other skins; some hauing cawles
likewise stucke with feathers, or couered ouer with a certaine downe,
which groweth vp in the countrey vpon an herbe much like our lectuce,
which exceeds any other downe in the world for finenesse, and being
layed vpon their cawles, by no winds can be remoued....

In the meane time, our Generall hauing assembled his men together (as
forecasting the danger and worst that might fall out) prepared
himselfe to stand vpon sure ground, that wee might at all times be
ready in our owne defence, if any thing should chance otherwise than