rid of them, which we did by discharging a gun. As they
had never seen ordnance discharged before they were vastly astonished by
this, and fled precipitately to the shore, having first pelted us with
showers of stones which they carried in their canoes.

On the fifth of November we cast anchor before Ternate, and had scarce
arrived when the viceroy of that place, attended by the chief nobles,
came out in three boats, rowed by forty men on each side. Soon
afterwards appeared the king himself, attended by a large and imposing
retinue. Him we received with discharges of cannon and musketry,
together with various kinds of music, with which he was so highly
delighted that he would have the musicians down into his own boat. At
this place we stayed some days, trafficking with the inhabitants, who
brought us large quantities of provisions, and behaved to us with
civility. After that we repaired to a neighboring island, and there
found a commodious harbor where we repaired the Golden Hinde, and did
ourselves enjoy a much-needed rest.

Leaving this place on the 12th day of December, we sailed southwards
towards the Celebes; but the wind being against us, we drifted about
among a multitude of islands mingled with shallows until the middle of
January. And now we met with an adventure which was like to have stayed
our further progress and put a summary end to all our hopes. For sailing
forward under a strong gale we were one night suddenly surprised by a
shock, caused by our being thrown upon a shoal, on which the speed of
our course served to fix us very fast. Upon examination we found that
the rock on which we had struck rose perpendicularly from the water, and
there was no anchorage, nor any bottom to be found for some distance. On
making this discovery we lightened the ship by throwing into the sea a
not inconsiderable portion of her lading. Even then the ship seemed
hopelessly fast, and we had almost given way to despair when we were on
a sudden relieved by a remission of the wind, which, having hitherto
blown strongly against that side of the ship which lay towards the sea,
holding it upright against the rock, now slackened, and blowing no
longer against our vessel allowed it to reel into deep water, to our
great comfort and relief. We had enjoyed so little hope of ever
extricating ourselves from this perilous position, that Drake had caused
the sacrament to be administered to us as if we had been on the point of
death, and