a small quantity of the wine is poured, after which the hole is filled up, and the pot set on the place.  Then with a small cup made of a gourd shell, they take out a little of the wine, which is poured on the ground in three several places.  They set up likewise some branches of the Palm tree in different parts of the ground, where they shed some of the wine, doing reverence to the palms.  All these ceremonies being gone through, the king took a gold cup full of wine which he drank off, all the people calling out Abaan!  Abaan! together with certain words, as is usual in Flanders on twelfth night, the king drinks. When he had drank, then the wine was served round to every one, and the king allowed them to depart.  Then every one bowed three times, waving his hands, and so departed.  The king has usually sitting beside him, eight or ten old men with grey beards.

On the 23d we took 1 lib. 10 oz. of gold; the 24th 3 lib. 7 oz.; the 25th 3-1/4 oz.; the 26th 2 libs. 10 oz.; the 27th 2 libs. 5 oz.; the 28th 4 libs.  Then seeing that there was no more gold to be had, we weighed anchor and continued along the coast.  The 1st of March we came to a town called Moure, where we found neither boats nor people; but when about to depart there came some people to us in two canoes from another town, from whom we took 2-1/2 oz. of gold, and who told us that the inhabitants had removed from Mowre to Lagoua.[269].  The 2d we were abreast the castle of Mina, where we saw all the five Portuguese ships at anchor, and by night we were off Shamma or Chama, where we meant to water.  But next day we saw a tall ship of about 200 tons to windward within two leagues, and then two more astern of her, one a ship of 500 tons or more and the other a pinnace.  Upon this we weighed anchor, and made a shirt to stand out to sea, the wind being S.S.W., but the Hart fell three leagues to leeward of us.  These ships chased us from 9 A.M. till 5 P.M. but could not make up with us.  At night, when we joined the Hart, on asking why she fell to leeward, they pretended that they durst not make sail to windward, lest they had carried away their fore-top-mast.  Having been thus obliged to abandon our watering-place, we were under the necessity of boiling our meat-in sea-water, and to reduce our allowance of drink to make it hold out, as we now shaped our course homewards.

[Footnote 269:  Mowree is 4-1/2 leagues east from the castle of Minas, and Lagoua or Laguy is 9 leagues east from the same place.—­Astl.  I. 168. a.]

On the 16th of March we fell in with the land, which I judged to be Cape Misurado, about which there is much high land.  The 18th we lost sight of the Hart, and I think the master wilfully went in shore on purpose to lose us, being offended that I had reproved him for his folly when chased by the Portuguese.  The 27th we fell in with two small islands about 6 leagues off Cape Sierra Leona; and before we saw them we reckoned ourselves at least 30 or 40 leagues from