Part 20 (1/2)

But a all my relations, or acquaintances, I could not yet pitch upon one, to whoo away to the Brasils, and leave things safe behind reatly perplexed one to the Brasils, and have settled my self there; for I was, as it were, naturalized to the place; but I had soion, which insensibly drew me back, of which I shall say ion that keptthither for the present; and as I had ion of the country, all the while I was a of late thoughtand dying a professed ion to die in

But, as I have said, this was not theto the Brasils, but that really I did not knohoo to England with them, where if I arrived, I concluded I should make some acquaintance, or find soly I prepared to go for England with allho away) resolved to give answers suitable to the just and faithful account of things I had froustine I wrote a letter full of thanks for his just dealings, and the offer of the eight hundred and seventy-two iven, five hundred to the monastery, and three hundred and seventy-two to the poor, as the prior should direct, desiring the good Padre's prayers for me, and the like

I wrote next a letter of thanks to ment that sothe any occasion of it

Lastly, I wrote tothe plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock of the works, giving hi to the powers I had left with my old patron, to whom I desired him to send whatever became due tohim, that it was my intention, not only to come to him, but to settle myself there for the remainder of my life To this I added a very handsohters, for such the captain's son inforlish broad-cloth, the best I could get in Lisbon, five pieces of black bays, and so thus settled ood bills of exchange, land I had been accustoo to England by sea at that tiive no reason for it, yet the difficulty increased upon e in order to go, yet I altered my mind, and that not once, but two or three times

It is true, I had been very unfortunate by sea, and thisihts in cases of such o in, I led out than any other, that is to say, so as in one of thereed with the captain; I say, two of these shi+ps erines, and the other was cast away on the Start, near Torbay, and all the people drowned except three; so that in either of those vessels I had been madebeen thus harassed in , pressed o by land to the Groyne, and cross over the Bay of Biscay to Rochelle, from whence it was but an easy and safe journey by land to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all the way by land through France

In a word, I was so prepossessed againstby sea at all, except from Calais to Dover, that I resolved to travel all the way by land; which, as I was not in haste, and did not value the charge, was by much the pleasanter way; and to entle to travel with lish, and oing to Paris only; so that ere in all six of us, and five servants, the twothee; and as for lish sailor to travel with me as a servant, besides er to be capable of supplying the place of a servant upon the road

In thisall very well mounted and armed, we made a little troop whereof they did me the honour to call me captain, as well because I was the oldest inal of the whole journey

As I have troubled you with none of my sea journals, so shall I trouble you with none of my land journals But some adventures that happened to us in this tedious and difficult journey, Iall of us strangers to Spain, illing to stay some time to sec the court of Spain, and to see orth observing; but it being the latter part of the summer, we hastened away, and set out from Madrid about the e of Navarre, ere alarmed at several towns on the ith an account that so much snoas fallen on the French side of the ed to co attempted, at an extreme hazard, to pass on

When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me that had been always used to a hot climate, and indeed to countries where we could scarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable; nor, indeed, was it : to come but ten days before out of the Old Castile, where the weather was not only warm, but very hot, and immediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenees mountains, so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intolerable, and to endanger benuers and toes, was very strange

Poor Friday was really frighted when he saw the mountains all covered with snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt before in his life

To mend thewith so , that the people said, winter was come before its time; and the roads, which were difficult before, were now quite impassable: in a word, the snow lay in so not hard frozen, as is the case in northern countries, there was no going without being in danger of being buried alive every step We staid no less than twenty days at Pa on, and no likelihood of its being better, for it was the severest winter all over Europe that had been known in o away to Fontarabia, and there take shi+pping for Boardeaux, which was a very little voyage

But while ere considering this, there ca been stopped on the French side of the passes, as ere on the Spanish, had found out a guide, who traversing the country near the head of Languedoc, had brought them over the mountains by such ways, that they were not much incommoded with the snow; and where they met with snow in any quantity, they said it was frozen hard enough to bear theuide, who told us, he would undertake to carry us the same ith no hazard from the snow, provided ere armed sufficiently to protect us froreat snows, it was frequent for some wolves to show thecovered with snow We told hih prepared for such creatures as they were, if he would ensure us froed wolves, which ere told ere in er from, especially on the French side of the er of that kind in the way that ere to go: so we readily agreed to follow hientlemen, with their servants, soo, and were obliged to coly we all set out frouide, on the fifteenth of Nove forward, he came directly back with us, on the same road that we ca passed two rivers, and come into the plain country, we found ourselves in a warain, where the country was pleasant, and no snow to be seen; but on a sudden, turning to the left, he approached the h it is true, the hills and the precipices looked dreadfully, yet heways, we insensibly passed the height of themuch encumbered with the snow; and all on a sudden he shewed us the pleasant fruitful provinces of Languedoc and Gascoigne, all green and flourishi+ng; though indeed they were at a great distance, and we had soh way to pass yet

We were a little uneasy, however, e found it snowed one whole day and a night, so fast, that we could not travel; but he bid us be easy, we should soon be past it all: we found, indeed, that we began to descend every day, and to couide, ent on

It was about two hours before night, when our guide being soht, out rushed three monstrous wolves, and after the to a thick wood Two of the wolves flew upon the guide, and had he been half a mile before us, he had been devoured indeed, before we could have helped him; one of them fastened upon his horse, and the other attacked the man with that violence, that he had not tih, to draw his pistol, but hallooed and cried out to usnext to me, I bid him ride up, and see as the ht of the man, he hallooed, as loud as the other, ”O master' O master!” But, like a bold fellow, rode directly up to the man, and with his pistol shot the wolf that attacked him in the head

It was happy for the poorbeen used to that kind of creature in his country, had no fear upon him, but went close up to him, and shot him as above; whereas any of us would have fired at a farther distance, and have perhaps eitherthe h to have terrified a bolder man than I, and indeed it alarmed all our company, when, with the noise of Friday's pistol, we heard on both sides the diss of wolves, and the noise redoubled by the echo of the ious multitude of them; and perhaps indeed there was not such a few, as that we had no cause of apprehensions

However, as Friday had killed this wolf, the other, that had fastened upon the horse, left hi happily fastened upon his head, where the bosses of the bridle had stuck in his teeth, so that he had not done hi creature had bit him twice, once on the arm, and the other time a little above his knee; and he was just as it were tu down by the disorder of the horse, when Friday came up and shot the wolf