h time, and spent all the summer of that country, so they
had to run along the coast because winds were favorable for going ahead,
for they were westerly. And because they found everything desolate,
without people by land or sea, they agreed unanimously not to enter any
more rivers, but to run ahead, and thus they did; for by day they ran
under full sail, drawing so near to the land as possible to see if they
could make out any village or beach, which as yet they had not seen; and
by night they stood away to sea and ran under shortened sail. Navigating
in this manner, the wind began to moderate, and fell calm altogether,
which happened in November, when they had to struggle with another wind,
with which they stood out to sea, fearing some contrary storm might
arise; then, taking in all sail, they lay waiting for the springing up of
another wind, so they went increasing their distance from the land till
they lost sight of it; for the wind increased continually, and the sea
rose greatly, for then the winter of that country was setting in.

The masters, seeing that the weather was freshening, took counsel as to
returning to land and putting into some river until meeting with a change
of weather. This they did, and, putting about to the land, the wind
increased so much that they were afraid of not finding a river in which
to shelter, and of being lost. On which account they again stood out to
sea, and made ready the ships to meet the storm which they saw rising
every moment, so that the water should not come in, with ropes made fast
to the masts, and with the shrouds passed over the yards so that the
masts should remain more secure; and they took away all the pannels from
the tops, and the sails, so as not to hold the wind; the small sails and
the lower sails all struck, and with the foresails only they prepared to
weather the storm.

Seeing the weather in this state, the pilot and master told the
captain-major that they had great fear on account of the weather because
it was becoming a tempest, and the ships were weak, and that they thought
they ought to put in to land and run along the coast and return to seek
the great river into which they had first entered, because the wind was
blowing that way, and they could enter it for all that there was a storm.
But when the captain-major heard of turning backward he answered them
that they should not speak such words, because, as he was going out of
the bar at Lisbon, he had prom