the same day,
and ourselves embarked again the same night. And so we put off to sea
south-west.
But before our departure from the town of Santiago, we established
orders for the better government of the army. Every man mustered to his
captain, and oaths were ministered, to acknowledge her Majesty supreme
Governor, as also every man to do his utter-most endeavour to advance
the service of the action, and to yield due obedience unto the
directions of the General and his officers. By this provident counsel,
and laying down this good foundation beforehand, all things went forward
in a due course, to the achieving of our happy enterprise.
In all the time of our being here, neither the governor for the said
King of Spain, which is a Portugal, neither the bishop, whose authority
is great, neither the inhabitants of the town, or island, ever came at
us; which we expected they should have done, to entreat us to leave
them some part of their needful provisions, or at the least to spare
the ruining of their town at our going away. The cause of this their
unreasonable distrust, as I do take it, was the fresh remembrance of
the great wrongs that they had done to old Master William Hawkins, of
Plymouth, in the voyage he made four or five years before, whenas they
did both break their promise, and murdered many of his men; whereof I
judge you have understood, and therefore it is needless to be repeated.
But since they came not at us, we left written in sundry places, as also
in the Spital House (which building was only appointed to be spared),
the great discontentment and scorn we took at this their refraining to
come unto us, as also at the rude manner of killing, and savage kind of
handling the dead body of one of our boys found by them straggling all
alone, from whom they had taken his head and heart, and had straggled
the other bowels about the place, in a most brutish and beastly manner.
In revenge whereof at our departing we consumed with fire all the
houses, as well in the country which we saw, as in the town of Santiago.
From hence putting off to the West Indies, we were not many days at sea
but there began among our people such mortality as in a few days there
were dead above two or three hundred men. And until some seven or eight
days after our coming from Santiago, there had not died any one man
of sickness in all the fleet. The sickness showed not his infection,
wherewith so many were strucken, until we were departed
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