_ 26 _ We left there after we had loaded everything we needed, but the wind was light and that same day we anchored once more two leagues from where we had set off. On Friday morning, the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion [8 December], we set sail and continued our route. The following Tuesday, the eve of St. Lucia, we were hit by a great storm and we ran before a following wind with the foresail very low. On the morning of that day, we lost sight of Nicolau Coelho. When sunset came, he was seen from the crow's nest four or five leagues astern of us, and we had the impression that he had seen us too. We set up signal lamps and lay to. When the first watch had ended he came in our direction, not because he had seen us during the day, but because the wind was on the bowline and he could do nothing but come on our course. On Friday morning we sighted a landmass, a place known as the Ilheus Chãos [Bird islands], which are five leagues beyond that of St. Croix. From the bay of St. Bras to the island of St. Croix is sixty leagues, and as much again from the Cape of Good Hope to the island of St. Bras. From the Bird islands to the last padrão that Bartolomeu Dias placed is another five leagues, and from the Infante river it is fifteen leagues.
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