de. Here they found the
cold so intense, that many of the crew suffered greatly. The air was
biting in the extreme, and even the ropes of the ship on which the rain
fell became covered with ice. This occurred not only at night, but
during the day, when the sun was shining.

As they sailed two degrees farther north, the seamen could scarcely keep
themselves warm with the thickest clothing they could put on. They
found it difficult also, even with double the number of men, to work the
ropes and trim the sails. The crew, not without reason, began to
murmur, and declared that they should never be able to endure the cold.
The Admiral, however, urged them to persevere. They were standing on
when they found themselves close to a shore trending to the westward,
and, compelled by a contrary wind, they put into a bay, where they
brought up; but the anchorage appearing very insecure, they sailed out
again. The Admiral would have continued on his course again in search
of a passage, but a northerly wind springing up, drove the _Golden Hind_
once more to the southward.

Though it was in the height of summer, the cold continued so bitter,
that many would have taken to their beds had they not been compelled to
attend to the working of the ship. During this time also the sky became
so overcast with clouds and thick mists, that it was impossible to take
an observation. At length they came to the conclusion that there was no
passage at all along the north shore of America, or that it was so
blocked up with ice as to be impassable. They ran in and dropped anchor
in a roadstead, since called the Bay of San Francisco.

The following day the natives came down to the beach, and sent off a man
in a canoe, who, as he approached, stood up and made a long speech,
using a variety of gesticulations, moving his hands and turning his head
about in all directions. His address concluded, he turned back and made
for the shore. In a short time he came again, and behaved exactly in
the same manner; a third time he appeared, bringing with him as a
present a bunch of feathers, much like those of a black crow, all neatly
and cleverly put together, forming a sort of crown, such as was also
worn by the principal persons in attendance on the chief. He also
produced a small basket made of rushes, filled with a herb, which the
natives called _tabak_, from which the French take the word _tabac_, and
the English tobacco. Having tied this to a pole,