252 A. | The Sixth Voyage of

place in all the sea. ‘A rapid current carries the ship along with it,
he said, ‘and we shall all of us perish in less than a quarter of an
hour. Pray to God to deliver us from this danger; we cannot escape
it if He does not take pity on us” At these words he ordered the
sails to be changed; but all the topes broke, and the ship, without
its being possible to help it, was carried by the current to the foot
of an inaccessible mountain, where she ran ashore, and was broken
to pieces, yet so that we saved our lives, our provisions, and the
best of our goods.
This being over, the captain said to us, ‘God has done what
pleased Him; we may every man dig our grave here, and bid the
world adieu, for we are all” in so fatal a place that none ‘ship-
wrecked here have ever returned to their homes again. His discourse
afflicted us sorely, and we embraced each other with tears in our
eyes, bewailing our deplorable lot, a
_ The mountain at the foot of which we were cast was the coast
of a very long and large island: This coast was covered all over
with wrecks, and from the vast number of men’s bones we saw every- |
where, and which filled us with horror, we concluded that abundance
of people had died there. It is also impossible to tell what a quantity
of goods and riches we found cast ashore there. All these objects
"served only to augment our grief. Whereas in all other places rivers
tun from their channels’ into the sea, here 4 great river of fresh
water runs out of the sea into a dark cave, whose entrance is very
high and large. What, is most remarkable in this place is that
the. stones of the mountain, are of crystal, rubiés, or- other precious
' stones. Here is also a sort. of fountain of pitch or bitumen, that
runs, into the. sea, which the fishes swallow, and then vomit up
again, turned -into ambergris ; and this the. waves throw up on the
beach jin great quantities, Here also grow trees, most of which are
wood: of aloes, equal-in goodness to those of Comari.

To finish the description of this place, which may well be called a