her, though at first the winds had been
contrary. I shall trouble nobody with the little incidents of wind,
weather, currents, &c., on the rest of our voyage; but to shorten my
story, shall observe that I came to my old habitation, the island, on the
10th of April 1695. It was with no small difficulty that I found the
place; for as I came to it and went to it before on the south and east
side of the island, coming from the Brazils, so now, coming in between
the main and the island, and having no chart for the coast, nor any
landmark, I did not know it when I saw it, or, know whether I saw it or
not. We beat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands
in the mouth of the great river Orinoco, but none for my purpose; only
this I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one great
mistake before, viz. that the continent which I thought I saw from the
island I lived in was really no continent, but a long island, or rather a
ridge of islands, reaching from one to the other side of the extended
mouth of that great river; and that the savages who came to my island
were not properly those which we call Caribbees, but islanders, and other
barbarians of the same kind, who inhabited nearer to our side than the
rest.

In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose; some I found
were inhabited, and some were not; on one of them I found some Spaniards,
and thought they had lived there; but speaking with them, found they had
a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and came thither to make salt,
and to catch some pearl-mussels if they could; but that they belonged to
the Isle de Trinidad, which lay farther north, in the latitude of 10 and
11 degrees.

Thus coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship,
sometimes with the Frenchman's shallop, which we had found a convenient
boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will, at length I came
fair on the south side of my island, and presently knew the very
countenance of the place: so I brought the ship safe to an anchor,
broadside with the little creek where my old habitation was. As soon as
I saw the place I called for Friday, and asked him if he knew where he
was? He looked about a little, and presently clapping his hands, cried,
"Oh yes, Oh there, Oh yes, Oh there!" pointing to our old habitation, and
fell dancing and capering like a mad fellow; and I had much ado to keep
him from jumping into the sea to swim ashore to the p