from Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guinea or to
Brazil, or to the East Indies, made this cape, or those islands; and
in a word, I put the whole of my fortune upon this single point,
either that I must meet with some ship, or must perish.

  When I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I
have said, I began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two or
three places, as we sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore to
look at us; we could also perceive they were quite black, and stark
naked. I was once inclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xury was
my better counsellor, and said to me. "No go, no go." However, I
hauled in nearer the shore that I might talk to them, and I found they
ran along the shore by me a good way. I observed they had no weapons
in their hands, except one, who had a long slender stick, which Xury
said was a lance, and that they would throw them a great way with good
aim. So I kept a distance, but talked with them by signs as well as
I could, and particularly made signs for something to eat; they
beckoned to me to stop my boat, and that they would fetch me some
meat. Upon this I lowered the top of my sail, and lay by, and two of
them ran up into the country, and in less than half an hour came back,
and brought with them two pieces of dried flesh and some corn, such as
is the produce of their country; but we neither knew what the one or
the other was. However, we were willing to accept it, but how to
come at it was our next dispute, for I was not for venturing on
shore to them, and they were as much afraid to us; but they took a
safe way for us all, for they brought it to the shore and laid it
down, and went and stood a great way off till we fetched it on
board, and then came close to us again.

  We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them
amends. But an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them
wonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mighty
creatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury from
the mountains towards the sea; whether it was the male pursuing the
female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we could not tell,
any more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange, but I
believe it was the latter; because in the first place, those
ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night; and in the second
place, we found the people terribly frightened, especially the
women. The man that had the lance or dart did not fly from them, but
the rest did; however, as the two creatures ran directly into the
water, they did not seem to offer to fall upon any of the negroes, but
plunged themselves into the sea, and swam about, as if they had come
for their diversion. At last, one of them began to come nearer our
boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready for him, for I had
loaded my gun with all possible expedition, and bade Xury load both
the others. As soon as he came fairly within my reach, I fired, and
shot him directly into the head; immediately he sunk down into the
water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and down, as if he was
struggling for life, and so indeed he was. He immediately made to
the shore; but between the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and the
strangling of the water, he died just before he reached the shore.

  It is impossible to express the astonishment of these poor
creatures, at the noise and the fire of my gun; some of them were even
ready to die for fear, and fell down as dead with the very terror. But
when they saw the creature dead, and sunk in the water, and that I
made signs to them to come to the shore, they took heart and came to
the shore, and began to search for the creature. I found him by his
blood staining the water: and by the help of a rope, which I slung
round him, and gave the negroes to haul, they dragged him on the
shore, and found that it was a most curious leopard, spotted, and fine
to an admirable degree; and the negroes held up their hands with
admiration, to think what it was I had killed him with.

  The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise of
the gun, swam on shore, and ran directly to the mountains from
whence they came; nor could I, at that distance, know what it was. I
found quickly the negroes were for eating the flesh of this
creature, so I was willing to have them take it as a favor from me;
which, when I made signs to them that they might take him, they were
very thankful for. Immediately they fell to work with him; and
though they had no knife yet, with a sharpened piece of wood, they
took off his skin as readily, and much more readily, than we could
have done it with a knife. They offered me some of the flesh, which
I declined, making as if I would give it them, but made signs for
the skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought me a great
deal more of their provision, which, though I did not understand,
yet I accepted. Then I made signs to them for some water, and held out
one of my jars to them, turning it bottom upward, to show that it
was empty, and that I wanted to have it filled. The called immediately
to some of their friends, and there came two women, and brought a
great vessel made of earth, and burnt, as I suppose, in the sun;
this they set down for me, as before, and I sent Xury on shore with my
jars, and filled them all three. There women were as stark naked as
the men.

  I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and
water; and leaving my friendly negroes, I made forward for about
eleven days more, without offering to go near the shore, till I saw
the land run out a great length into the sea, at about the distance of
four or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kept
a large offing, to make this point. At length, doubling the point,
at about two leagues from the land, I saw plainly land on the other
side, to seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain indeed,
that this was the Cape de Verde, and those the islands, called from
thence Cape de Verde Islands. However, they were at a great
distance, and I could not well tell what I had best to do; for if I
should be taken with a fresh of wind, I might neither reach one or
other.