with Verzina, Nypa, and Beniamin, a few cloues, nutmegs and
maces which come from the coast of Sion, but the greatest marchandise there
is Verzin and Nypa, which is an excellent wine, which is made of the flower
of a tree called Nyper. [Sidenote: Niper wine good to cure the French
disease.] Whose licquour they distill, and so make an excellent drinke
cleare as christall, good to the mouth, and better to the stomake, and it
hath an excellent gentle vertue, that if one were rotten with the French
pockes, drinking good store of this, he shall be whole againe, and I haue
seene it proued, because that when I was in Cochin, there was a friend of
mine, whose nose beganne to drop away with that disease, and he was
counselled of the doctors of phisicke, that he should goe to Tanasary at
the time of the new wines, and that he should drinke of the myper wine,
night and day, as much as he could before it was distilled, which at that
time is most delicate, but after that it is distilled, it is more strong,
and if you drinke much of it, it will fume into the head with drunkennesse.
This man went thither, and did so, and I haue seene him after with a good
colour and sound. This wine is very much esteemed in the Indies, and for
that it is brought so farre off, it is very deare: in Pegu ordinarily it it
good cheape, because it is neerer to the place where they make it, and
there is euery yeere great quantitie made thereof. And returning to my
purpose, I say, being amongst these rockes, and farre from the land which
is ouer against Tanasary, with great scarcitie of victuals, and that by the
saying of the Pylot and two Portugales, holding then firme that wee were in
front of the aforesayd harbour, we determined to goe thither with our boat
and fetch victuals, and that the shippe should stay for vs in a place
assigned. We were twentie and eight persons in the boat that went for
victuals, and on a day about twelue of the clocke we went from the ship,
assuring our selues to bee in the harbour before night in the aforesaid
port, wee rowed all that day and a great part of the next night, and all
the next day without finding harbour, or any signe of good landing, and
this came to passe through the euill counsell of the two Portugales that
were with vs.

For we had ouershot the harbour and left it behind vs, in such wise that we
had lost the lande inhabited, together with the shippe, and we eight and
twentie men had no maner of victuall with vs in