Prince Maurice.

The seventh day after, being the 22d, we anchored in Torbay, having a
contrary wind. We sailed thence on the 7th of April, and had sight of
Porto Santo on the 20th; fell in with Palma on the 23d, and the 30th
reached the Cape Verd islands. We first anchored at St Nicholas, in lat.
16 deg. 16' N. We here watered on the 7th of May, and setting sail on the
9th, fell in with St Jago. The 9th June we got sight of Brazil, in lat.
7 deg. S, not being able to double Cape St Augustine; for, being near the
equator, we had very inconstant weather and bad winds; in which
desperate case we shaped our course for the island of Fernando Noronho,
in lat. 4 deg. S. where on the 15th June we anchored on the north side in
eighteen fathoms. In this island we found twelve negroes, eight men and
four women. It is a fertile island, having good water, and abounds in
goats; having also beeves, hogs, hens, melons, and Guinea corn with
plenty of fish and sea-fowl. These negroes had been left here by the
Portuguese to cultivate the island, and no ships had been there for
three years.

Leaving this island on the 26th August, with the wind at E.N.E. we
doubled Cape St Augustine on the 30th. The 10th September we passed the
_Abrolhos_, which we were in much fear of; these shoals being far out at
sea in lat. 21 deg. S. and are very dangerous. On this occasion our _Baas_,
for so a Dutch captain is called, appointed a _Master of Misrule_, named
the _Kesar_, the authority of which disorderly officer lay in riot, as
after dinner he would neither salute his friends, nor understand the
laws of reason, those who ought to have been most respectful being both
lawless and witless. We spent three days in this dissolute manner, and
then shaped our course for the Cape of Good Hope, sailing towards the
coast of Bacchus, to whom this idolatrous sacrifice was made, as
appeared afterwards.

The 11th November we came to anchor in Saldanha bay, in lat. 34 deg. S. ten
leagues short of the Cape of Good Hope, where there are three fresh
water rivers.[33] The people came to us with great plenty of oxen and
sheep, which they sold for spike nails and pieces of old iron, giving
the best for not more than the value of a penny. Their cattle are large,
and have a great lump of flesh on the shoulder, like the back of a
camel. Their sheep have prodigiously large tails, entirely composed of
fat, weighing twelve or fourteen pounds, but are covered with hair
instead