hill, when they took off his shirt and trowsers, and examined him, expressing the greatest astonishment at the whiteness of his skin.  Our sailors in the boat seeing a great fire made up, and their companion placed very near it, full of fear, as is usual in all cases of novelty, imagined that the native were about to roast him for food.  But as soon as be had recovered his strength after a short stay with them; showing by signs that he wished to return aboard, they hugged him with great affection, and accompanied him to the shore, then leaving him, that he might feel more secure, they withdrew to a little hill, from which they watched him until he was safe in the boat.  This young man remarked that these people were black like the others, that they had shining skins, middle stature, and sharper faces, and very delicate bodies and limbs, and that they were inferior in strength, but quick in their minds; this is all that he observed of them.

Departing hence, and always following the shore, which stretched to the north, we came, in the space of fifty leagues, to another land, which appeared very beautiful and full of the largest forests.  We approached it, and going ashore with twenty men, we went back from the coast about two leagues, and found that the people had fled and hid themselves in the woods for fear.  By searching around we discovered in the grass a very old woman and a young girl of about eighteen or twenty, who had concealed themselves for the same reason; the old woman carried two infants on her shoulders, and behind her neck a little boy eight Sending Completed Page, Please Wait ... as they carefully remove the shrubbery from around them, wherever they grow, to allow the fruit to ripen better.  We found also wild roses, violets, lilies, and many sorts of plants and fragrant flowers different from our own.  We cannot describe their habitations, as they are in the interior of the country, but from various indications we conclude they must be formed of trees and shrubs.  We saw also many grounds for conjecturing that they often sleep in the open air, without any covering but the sky.  Of their other usages we know nothing;—­we believe, however, that all the people we were among live in the same way.

After having remained here three days, riding at anchor on the coast, as we could find no harbour, we determined to depart, and coast along the shore to the north-east, keeping sail on the vessel, only by day, and coming to anchor by night.  After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea; from the sea to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass, with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet.  But as we were riding at anchor in a good berth, we would not venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth; therefore we took the boat, and entering the river, we found the country