You know that it is hard to sail from east to west, or the contrary, because there is no fixed point in all the sky by which they can direct their course, wherefore I shall tell you what help God hath provided to direct them. There is not a fowl that appeareth, neither any sign in the air or in the sea, that have not been written down by those who have formerly made these voyages; so that partly by their own experience, judging what space the ship was able to make with such and such a wind, and partly by the experience of others recorded in the books of navigations which they have, they guess whereabouts they may be in regard to longitude, for they are always sure as to latitude. But the greatest and best direction of all is, to mark the variation of the needle or mariners compass; which, in the meridian of the island of St Michael, one of the Azores in the same latitude with Lisbon, points due north, and thence swerveth so much towards the east, that, between the foresaid meridian and the extreme south point of Africa, it varieth three or four of the thirty-two points. Again, having passed a little beyond the cape called das Agulias, or of the Needles, it returneth again towards the north; and when it hath attained that, it swerveth again toward the west proportionally, as it did before eastwards.
In regard to the first mentioned signs from fowls: The nearer we came to the coast of Africa, the more kinds and greater number of strange fowls appeared; insomuch that, when we came within not less than thirty leagues, almost 100 miles, and 600 miles as we thought from any other land, as good as 3000 fowls of sundry kinds followed our ship; some of them so great, that, when their wings were opened, they measured seven spans from point to point of their wings, as the sailors said. It is a marvellous thing to think how God hath so provided for these fowls in so vast an expanse of sea, that they are all fat. The Portuguese have named them all, according to some obvious property. Thus they call some rushtails, because their tails are small and long like a rush, and not proportionate to their bodies; some fork-tails, because their tails are very broad and forked; others again velvet-sleeves, because their wings are like velvet, and are always bent like a mans elbow. This bird is always welcome, as it appears nearest the Cape. I should never have an end, were I to tell you all particulars, but shall touch on a few that may suffice, if you mark them well, to give cause for glorifying God in his wonderful works, and in the variety of his creatures.
To say something of fishes: In all the places of calms, and especially in the burning zone near the line, there continually waited on our ship certain fishes, called tuberones403 by the Portuguese, as long as a man, which came to eat such things as might fall from the ship into the sea, not even refusing men themselves if they could light upon any, and if they find any meat hung over into the sea, they seize it. These have waiting upon them continually six or seven, small fishes, having blue and green bands round their bodies, like finely dressed serving men. Of these two or three always swim before the shark, and some on every side, [whence they are called pilot fish, by the English mariners]. They have likewise other fishes [called sucking fish] which always cleave to their bodies; and seem to feed on such superfluities as grow about them, and they are said to enter into their bodies to purge them, when needful. Formerly the mariners used to eat the sharks, but since they have seen them devour men, their stomachs now abhor them; yet they draw them up with great hooks, and kill as many of them as they can, thinking thereby to take a great revenge. There is another kind of fish almost as large as a herring, which hath wings and flieth, and are very numerous. These have two enemies, one in the sea and the other in the air.
That in the sea is the fish called albicore, as large as a salmon, which follows with great swiftness to take them; on which this poor fish, which cannot swim fast as it hath no fins, and only swims by the motion of its tail, having its wings then shut along the sides of its body, springeth out of the water and flieth, but not very high; on this the albicore, though he have no wings, giveth a great leap out of the water, and sometimes catcheth the flying fish, or else keepeth in the water, going that way as fast as the other flieth. When the flying fish is weary of the air, or thinketh himself out of danger, he returneth to the water, where the albicore meeteth him; but sometimes his other enemy, the sea-crow, catcheth him in the air before he falleth.
With these and the like sights, but always making our supplications to God for good weather and the preservation of our ship, we came at length to the south cape of Africa, the ever famous Cape of Good Hope, so much desired yet feared of all men: But we there found no tempest, only immense waves, where our pilot was guilty of an oversight; for, whereas commonly all navigators do never come within sight of land, but, contenting themselves with signs and finding the bottom, go their course safe and sure, he, thinking to have the winds at will, shot nigh the land; when the wind, changing into the south, with the assistance of the mountainous waves, rolled us so near the land that we were in less than 14 fathoms, only six miles from Capo das Agulias, and there we looked to be utterly lost. Under us were huge rocks, so sharp and cutting that no anchor could possibly hold the ship, and the shore was so excessively bad that nothing could take the land, which besides is full of tigers and savage people, who put all strangers to death, so that we had no hope or comfort, but only in God and a good conscience. Yet, after we had lost our anchors, hoisting up our sails to try to get the ship upon some safer part of the coast, it pleased God, when no man looked for help, suddenly to fill our sails with a wind off the land, and so by good providence we escaped, thanks be to God. The day following, being in a place where they are always wont to fish, we also fell a fishing, and caught so many, that they served the whole ships company all that day and part of the next. One of our lines pulled up a coral of great size and value; for it is said that in this place, which indeed we saw by experience, that the corals grow on the rocks at the bottom of the sea in the manner of stalks, becoming hard and red.
Our day of peril was the 29th of July. You must understand that, after passing the Cape of Good Hope, there are two ways to India, one within the island of Madagascar, or between that and Africa, called the Canal of Mozambique, which the Portuguese prefer, as they refresh themselves for a fortnight or a month at Mozambique, not without great need after being so long at sea, and thence in another month get to Goa. The other course is on the outside of the island of St Lawrence or Madagascar, which they take when they set out too late, or come so late to the Cape as not to have time to stop at Mozambique, and then they go on their voyage in great heaviness, because in this way they have no port; and, by reason of the long navigation, and the want of fresh provisions and water, they fall into sundry diseases. Their gums become sore, and swell in such a manner that they are fain to cut them away; their legs swell, and all their bodies become sore, and so benumbed that they cannot move hand nor foot, and so they die of weakness; while others fall into fluxes and agues, of which they die. This was the way we were forced to take; and, although we had above an hundred and fifty sick, there did not die above seven or eight and twenty, which was esteemed a small loss in comparison with other times. Though some of our fraternity were diseased in this sort, thanks be to God I had good health the whole way, contrary to the expectation of many: May God send me as good health on the land, if it may be to his glory and service. This way is full of hidden rocks and quicksands, so that sometimes we dared not sail by night; but by the goodness of God we saw nothing all the way to hurt us, neither did we ever find bottom till we came to the coast of India.