To have asked others to undertake a danger
from which we shrank would have been to undermine our authority and sow
the seeds of mutiny. Thus we kept our secret, and after a further
week's rest, during which I fully regained my strength, we made sail
for the open sea.
The land which we had up to now skirted and touched at was not only
barren and inhabited by savages, but also the sea in these parts seemed
to yield nothing but sharks, swordfish, and the like unnatural
monsters, while the birds also were as wild and shy as the men. What
pleasure the wretched inhabitants of this country can find in their
lives it is hard to understand.
We were now once more in need of water, and having sighted an island,
we made for it, but could find no means to get near the land, owing to
the heavy surf. We found the coast very precipitous, without any
foreland or inlets. In short, it seemed to us a barren, accursed place,
without leaf or grass. The coast here was steep, consisting of red
rocks of the same height almost everywhere, and impossible to touch at
owing to the breakers.
During the whole of the next day the current carried us northward
against our will, since we were running with small sail, and had but
little control over the rudder.
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