d
noses. On Saturday the 24th of November we put into a small port which was
called _Retrete_, or the Retired Place, because it could not contain above
five or six ships together; the mouth of it was not above 15 or 20 paces
over, and on both sides rocks appeared above water as sharp as diamonds.
The channel between was so deep that no bottom could be found, though if
the ships inclined only a little way to either side the men could leap on
shore. This sharpness of the rocks saved the ships in this narrow passage,
and the danger we were now in was owing to the covetousness of the people
who went in the boats to view it, as they were desirous of trafficking
with the Indians, and believed that the ships might be in safety close to
the shore. In this place we were detained nine days by bad weather. At
first the Indians came very familiarly to trade in such articles as they
had to dispose of; but our seamen used to steal privately on shore and
commit a thousand insolencies like covetous dissolute fellows, insomuch
that they provoked the Indians to break the peace, and several skirmishes
happened between them and our people. The Indians at length took courage
to advance to our ships which lay with their sides close to the shore,
intending to do us some harm; but their designs turned out to their own
detriment, although the admiral always endeavoured to gain them by
patience and civility. But perceiving their insolence to increase, he
caused some cannon to be discharged, thinking to frighten them; this they
answered with loud shouts, thrashing the trees with their clubs and staves,
and showed by threatening signs that they did not fear the noise.
Therefore to abate their pride and to surprise them with respect for the
Christians, the admiral ordered a shot to be fired at a company of them
that stood upon a hillock near the shore; and the ball falling among them
made them sensible that our thunder carried a bolt along with it, and in
future they dared not to show themselves even behind the hills.

The people of this country were the handsomest we had yet seen among the
Indians, being tall and thin, without large bellies, and with agreeable
countenances. The country was all plain, bearing little grass and few
trees. In the harbour there were crocodiles or alligators of a vast size,
which go on shore to sleep, and they scatter a scent as if all the musk in
the world were together: They are fierce and ravenous, so that if they
fin