Thinking that we were not more than
twenty or thirty leagues from this soil of Peru, we were satisfied
with the water already mentioned, although we might have filled
more of our casks; but we set sail, and with medium weather we
sailed eleven days without sight of land, and the pilot and the
master of the ship came to me to ask me where we were and to
tell me there was only one hogshead of water on the ship. I tried
to take the altitude of the sun that day and found that we were
three degrees south latitude, and I realized that with the direction
we were taking, we were becoming more and more engulfed, that
we were not even heading for land, because we were sailing south;
I had them tack on the other side, and the hogshead of water
I divided as follows: half was given for the animals, and with
the other half a beverage was made which was put into the wine
cask, for I held it as certain that we could not be far from
land, and we sailed for eight days, all of which the hogshead
of the beverage lasted, by giving a ration to each one with which
he was satisfied. And when the hogshead gave out there was no
relief for us, we sighted land and we had calm for two days,
during which we drank only wine, but we took heart on sighting
land. We entered the bay and river of the Carques on Friday,
the ninth of April, and we met there the people of the galleon
from Nicaragua, who had left Nicaragua eight months before, so
we considered our trip in good comparison with theirs. . . .
--FRAY TOMAS EPS.
LOCASTELLI AURIL
