l a fishing, and so
many they tooke, that they serued all the ship for that day, and part of
the next. [Sidenote: Corall.] And one of them pulled vp a corall of great
bignesse and price. For there they say (as we saw by experience) that the
corals doe grow in the maner of stalks vpon the rocks in the bottome, and
waxe hard and red. The day of perill was the nine and twentieth of Iuly.
[Sidenote: Two wayes beyond the cape of Good hope.] And you shall
vnderstand that, the Cape passed, there be two wayes to India: one within
the Ile of S. Lawrence, which they take willingly, because they refresh
themselues at Mosambique a fortnight or a moneth, not without great need,
and thence in a moneth more land in Goa. The other is without the Ile of S.
Lawrence, which they take when they set foorth so late, and come so late to
the point, that they have no time to take the foresayd Mosambique, and then
they goe heauily, because in this way they take no port. And by reason of
the long nauigation, and want of food and water, they fall into sundry
diseases, their gummes waxe great, and swell, and they are faine to cut
them away, their legges swell and all the body becommeth sore, and so
benummed, that they cannot stirre hand nor foot, and so they die for
weaknesse, others fall into fluxes and agues, and die thereby. And this way
it was our chance to make: yet though we had more then one hundred and
fifty sicke, there died not past seuen and twentie; which losse they
esteemed not much in respect of other times. Though some of ours were
diseased in this sort, yet, thanks be to God, I had my health, contrary to
the expectation of many: God send me my health so well in the land, if it
may be to his honour and seruice. This way is full of priuy rocks and
quicke-sands, so that sometimes we durst not saile by night, but by the
prouidence of God we saw nothing, nor neuer found bottom vntill we came to
the coast of India. When we had passed againe the line, and were come to
the third degree or somewhat more, we saw crabs swimming on the water that
were red as though they had bene sodden: but this was no signe of land.
After about the eleuenth degree, the space of many days, more than ten
thousand fishes by estimation followed round about our ship, whereof we
caught so many, that for fifteene days we did eate nothing els, and they
serued our turne very well: for at this time we had neither meate nor
almost any thing els to eate, our nauigation growi