measures sometimes for prosecuting the voyage as the state of my ship’s crew, rather than my own judgment and experience, determined me to.  The disorders of my ship made me think at present that Pernambuco would not be so fit a place for me; being told that ships ride there 2 or 3 leagues from the town, under the command of no forts; so that whenever I should have been ashore it might have been easy for my discontented crew to have cut or slipped their cables and have gone away from me:  many of them discovering already an intention to return to England, and some of them declaring openly that they would go no further onwards than Brazil.  I altered my course therefore, and stood away for Bahia de todos los Santos, or the Bay of All Saints, where I hoped to have the governor’s help, if need should require, for securing my ship from any such mutinous attempt; being forced to keep myself all the way upon my guard, and to lie with my officers, such as I could trust, and with small arms upon the quarter-deck; it scarce being safe for me to lie in my cabin by reason of the discontents among my men.

His arrival on that coast and in the bay.

On the 23rd of March we saw the land of Brazil; having had thither, from the time when we came into the true tradewind again after crossing the Line, very fair weather and brisk gales, mostly at east-north-east.  The land we saw was about 20 leagues to the north of Bahia; so I coasted alongshore to the southward.  This coast is rather low than high, with sandy bays all along by the sea.

Of the several forts, the road, situation, town, and buildings of Bahia.

A little within land are many very white spots of sand appearing like snow; and the coast looks very pleasant, being chequered with woods and savannahs.  The trees in general are not tall; but they are green and flourishing.  There are many small houses by the seaside, whose inhabitants are chiefly fishermen.  They come off to sea on bark logs, made of several logs fastened side to side, that have one or two masts with sails to them.  There are two men in each bark log, one at either end, having small low benches, raised a little above the logs, to sit and fish on, and two baskets hanging up at the mast or masts; one to put their provisions in, the other for their fish.  Many of these were a-fishing now, and 2 of them came aboard, of whom I bought some fish.  In the afternoon we sailed by one very remarkable piece of land where, on a small pleasant hill, there was a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  See a sight of some parts of this coast and of the hill the church stands on.