So to make a re-entry upon a long-since finished Voyage ; The third of February 1615. Our Fleet consisting of six good Ships , three great , viz. the Charles , Admirall of that Companie , then a New-built goodly Ship of a Thousand Tuns , ( in which I sayled ; ) the Unicorn ; a new Ship likewise , and almost of as great a burden ; the James , a great Ship too ; Three lesser , viz. the Globe , the Swan , the Rose , ( all under the Command of Captain Benjamin Joseph ) fell down from Graves-end into Tilbury Hope . where we continued till the eighth day following , when we weighed Anchor , and by a slow , that we might have the safer passage , the twelfth came into the Downs , where an adverse wind forced our abode till the ninth of March , on which day it pleased God to send us , what wee had much desired , a North-East wind , which made us leave that weary Road , and set sayl for East-India ; and the eleventh about night , we were in the height of the Lizard in Cornwall , and that day , for that time took our last sight of our Country .

This wind was favourable to us till the sixteenth day at night , at which time a most fearfull storm met us , we being then in the Bay of Portugal , whose violence continued five whole dayes and nights ; and that Tempest was the most lively and reall Comment , that ever I observed ▪ on that place recorded in Psal. 107. 23. verse , &c. thus rendred ;

The 28. day we had sight of the Grand Canaries , and of that Mou●tain in the Island of Teneriffa , commonly called the Peake .

This over-grown rise of Earth , is in shape like to a Pyramis or Sugar-loafe , circled , and wrapt about which many wreaths of clouds , which encompass it by severall distances , as first earth , then clouds , above which the earth appears again , then clouds , again , then earth , the top of it being of such an immense height , that it may be as truly sayd of this , as Virgil. Eclog ▪ 5. writes of Olympus .

This Peake of Teneriffa , in a cleer day , may be seen ( if the Mariners report truth ) more than forty leagues at Sea . These Islands lye 28 Degrees of North Latitude .

The 31. being Easter day , we passed under the Tropick of Cancer ; and the seventh of April the Sun was our Zenith or Verticall , at noon day directly over our heads , which we found by this infallible Demonstration made by a slender knife , or long Needle , set upright , and did cast no shadow . The Sun in this course like the Equinoctiall , divides the Globe of the Heavens in two equall parts ; and in this Motion ariseth so directly or upright , that there is but a very little time 'twixt the darkness and the appearance of the body of the Sun in the morning for 't is dark immediatly before the Sun then appears ; and so 't is in the Evening presently after the Sun hath left the Hemisphere . Here wee were becalmed fourteen dayes , enduring extreme heat .

The sixteenth we met with winds , ( we being then against , and not far from the Coasts of Africa ) which the Mariners call the Turnadoes ▪ very strange Gusts indeed , like those in Aeschylus , on the shore Aesc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ( ad finem . )

Or like those in Virgil at Sea . Aeneid . 1. v. 85. &c.

Those self-opposing blasts we there had , were so variable and uncertain , that sometimes within the space of one hour , all the thirty two severall winds , ( which are observed in so many points of the Compasse ) will blow , so that if there be many Ships in company , you may observe them all to sayl so many severall wayes , and every one of them seem to goe directly before the wind . Now that it should be so here , and not known so to be in any part of the world beside I ever heard of , if not in those winds , which they say are sometimes sold by the Lapland Witches , I can give no reason for it , unlesse Satan ( who is most Tyrannicall where he is most obeyed ) that Prince of the Ayr seems to rule more here , than hee doth in other parts . And most certain it is that he rules very much in the Inhabitants on that Main , the poor , ignorant , and most miserable Negroes , born for sale ▪ and slavery , and slaughter . These strange Gusts were accompanied with much Thunder and Lightning and with extreme rain , so noysome , that it made their cloths who stir'd much in it ▪ presently to stink upon their backs ; the water likewise of those slimy , unwholsome , hot , and unsavorie showres , wheresoever it stood , would presently bring forth many little offensive Creatures . These Turnadoes met with us when we were about 12. Degrees of North Latitude , and kept us company ere they quitted us , two Degrees Southward of the Equinoctial , under which we passed the 28. of April .

The 19th of May being Whitsunday , wee passed the Tropick of Capricorn , so that we were seven weeks compleat under the Torrid Zone .

Between the Tropicks wee saw ( almost every day ) different kinds of fishes , in greater abundance than else-where , as the great Leviathan whom God hath made to take his pastime in the Sea ; Granpisces , or lesser whales , Sharkes , Turtles or Torteises , Dolphins , Bonitoes , Albicores , Porpisces , Flying fishes , with many others . Some Whales we saw of an exceeding greatnesse , who in calm weather often arise and shew themselves on the top of the water , where they appear like unto great Rocks , in their rise , spouting up into the Ayr with noyse , a great quantity of water which falls down again about them like a showr . The Whale may well challenge the Principalitie of the Sea , yet I suppose that he hath many enemies in this his large Dominion ; for instance , a little long Fish called a Thresher often encounters with him , who by his agilitie vexeth him as much in the Sea , as a little Bee in Summer , doth a great Beast on the shore .

The Shark hath not this name for nothing ; for he will make a morsell of any thing he can catch , master and devour . These Shark are most ravenous fishes ; fo● I have many times observed that when they have been swimming about our Ships ( as oftentimes they doe ) and we have cast over-board an iron hook made strong for this purpose , fastned to a roap strong like it , bayted with a piece of beese of five pounds weight ▪ this bayt hath been presently taken by one of them and if by chance the weight of the fish , thus taken , in haling him up , hath broken out the Hooks hold , not well fastned ( as sometimes it did ) so that he fell again into the Sea , he would presently bite at an other Bayt , and so bite till he was taken . Not much unlike many vile men , who think they may safely take any thing they can finger and get , and having been fastned in , and escaped out of many Snares will take no warning but be still nibling and biting at what they like not once considering that there is an hook within the bayt , that will take them at last , and hamper them to their unavoydable destruction . This Sea-shark is a Fish as bad in eating , as he is in qual 〈…〉 y a very moyst watery fish , yet eaten at Sea ( because any f●esh thing will there down ) but no good food . This Fish turns himself on his back to take his prey by which he gives warning to many other little fishes , who ever swim about him , to avoyd his swollow . Those Fishes that thus keep him company , are called by the Mariners , Pilate-fishes , who alwayes shape their course the same way the Shark takes , and by consequence ( nature having made them so wary ) he becomes their guard , they not his food . And there are other fishes too they call Sucking-fish , that stick as close to the body of the Shark , as a Tike on the shore doth to the body of a Beast , and so receive their nourishment from him and he must be contented , for while he is swimming up and down , he cannot possibly free himself of them ▪ Many of these Sharks grow to a very large greatness ; they have a broad roundhead , in which are three rowes of teeth very strong and sharp , by which they are able to take off the leg of a man at one bite , as some have found by wofull experience , while they have been carelesly swimming in these hot Seas , where these Sharks most use and certainly were they as nimble as they are mischievous , would doe very much hurt .

The Turtle or Torteis is one of those creatures we call Amphibia , that lives sometimes in the Sea and sometimes on the shore , he is marvellously fortified by Nature dwelling ( as it were ) continually under a strong roof , which moves with him , and covers ( when he will ) his whole body ; therefore Testudo which signifies a Torteise , signifies also the roof or vault of an house , which covers all within it . Those concave backs ( like bucklets , but of an Oval shape ) that cover these creatures , are many of them so exceeding strong , that they will bear off the weight of a Cart-wheel . These Torteises increase by eggs ( as I have been often told ) are very good to eat , the substance within them ( whether you will call it flesh or fish ) first boyled , and after minced with butter , tastes like buttered Veal , Their shell makes ( as is very commonly known ) excellent good Combes , Cups , or Boxes , and further it is used by them in East-India , to make or adorn little or great Cabinets .

The Dolphin is a fish called for his swiftnesse the Arrow of the Sea differing in this one particular from all other fishes I ever observed , in that he hath many little teeth upon the top of his tongue . Hee is very pleasing to the eye , smell and taste , of a changeable colour , finn'd like a Roach , covered with many small scales , having a fresh delightsome sent above other fishes , and in taste as good as any ; these Dolphins are wont often to follow our ships , not so much I think for the love they bear unto man , ( as some write , ) as to feed themselves with what they find cast over board , whence it comes to pass , that many times they feed us , for when they swim close to our ships wee often strike them with a broad instrument , full of barbs , called an Harping-iron , fastned to a roap , by which we hale them in ; This Dolphin may be a fit Embleme of an ill race of people , who under sweet countenances , carry sharp tongues .

Bonitoes and Albicores , are in colour , shape , and taste , much like unto Mackrels , and as good fish as they , but they grow to be very exceeding large .

The Porpisces or Hogfish , are like the former ; very large and great , but better to look upon than to taste ; they usually appear at Sea in very great sholes or companies , and are ( as if they came of the race of the Gadaren Swine , that ran violently into the Sea ) very swift in their motion , and like a company matching in rank and file ; They leap or mount very nimbly over th● waves and so down and up again , making a melancholy noyse , when they are above the water . These are usually , when they thus appear , certain presagers of very foul weather .

The Flying fishes have skinny wings like unto Batts , but larger ▪ they are stifned and strengthned with many little bones , such as are in the back finns of Pearches , by which they fly ▪ but a little way at a time ; they have small bodyes like unto Pilchers , and appear when they fly , in marvellous great companies , and some of them often fly into our ships , by which we have tasted that they are excellent good fish . Of all other , these flying Fishes live the most miserable lives , for being in the water , the Dolphins , Bonitoes , Albicores , and Porpisces , chase persecute and take them , and when they would escape by their flight , are oftentimes caught by ravenous Fowls , somewhat like our Kites , which hover over the water . These flying Fishes are like men professing two trades and thrive at neither .