_ 16 _ On Tuesday we headed for land and found a low-lying area with a large bay. The captain ordered Pero de Alenquer into the ship's boat to take soundings to see if we could find an anchorage. He found the bay very satisfactory and clean, affording shelter from all the winds, except the north-westerlies. The bay extended in an east-westerly direction, and we named it Saint Helena. On Wednesday we dropped anchor in the bay, where we spent eight days cleaning the ships, mending the nets and taking on firewood. Four leagues to the south-east along this bay is the Santiago river, which flows from the interior of the forest. Its mouth is a stone's throw wide and two or three fathoms above all states of the tide. In this country there are dark-skinned men, who eat nothing but sea-lions and whales, the flesh of gazelles and plant roots. They walk about covered with skins and they wear a sheath on their private parts. Their weapons are burnt horns, fixed on olive-wood shafts. They have many dogs, like those in Portugal, which bark the same way. The birds of this country cormorants, sea-gulls, turtle-doves, larks and hosts of others are just like those in Portugal. The land is very healthy and temperate and produces fine plants.
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