This Being Given To Their Satisfaction, The Whole Train
Began To Move Towards The Admiral, In Good Order, And With A Graceful
Deportment.
In front came a very comely person, bearing the sceptre
before the king, on which hung two crowns, and two chains of great
length.
The crowns were made of net-work, ingeniously interwoven with
feathers of many colours, and the chains were made of bones. Next to the
sceptre-bearer came the king, a very comely personage, shewing an air of
majesty in all. This deportment, surrounded by a guard of tall
martial-looking men, all clad in skins. Then followed the common people,
who, to make the finer appearance, had painted their faces, some black,
and some of other colours. All of them had their arms full of presents,
even the children not excepted.
The admiral drew up all his men in line of battle, and stood ready to
receive them within his fortifications. At some distance from him, the
whole train of natives made a halt, all preserving the most profound
silence, except the sceptre-bearer, who made a speech of half an hour.
He then, from an orator, became a dancing-master, and struck up a song,
being joined in both by the king, lords, and common people, who came all
singing and dancing up to the fences which the admiral had thrown up.
The natives then all sat down; and, after some preliminary compliments,
the king made a solemn offer of his whole kingdom and its dependencies
to the admiral, desiring him to assume the sovereignty, and professing
himself his most loyal subject; and, that this might not seem mere empty
compliment, he took off his illustrious crown of feathers from his own
head, with the consent and approbation of all his nobles there present,
and placing it on the head of the admiral, invested him with all the
other ensigns of royalty, constituting the admiral, as far as in him
lay, king of the whole country. The admiral, as her majesty's
representative, accepted of this new-offered dignity in her name and
behalf; as from this donation, whether made in jest or earnest, it was
probable that some real advantage might redound hereafter to the English
nation in these parts. After this ceremony, the common people dispersed
themselves about the English encampment, expressing their admiration and
respect for the English in a most violent and even profane manner, even
offering sacrifices to them, as in the most profound devotion, till they
were repressed by force, with strong expressions of abhorrence, and
directed to pay their adorations to the supreme Creator and Preserver of
all things, whom only they ought to honour with religious worship.[32]
[Footnote 32: The whole of this story, of a king and his nobles, and the
investiture of Drake in the sovereignty of California, which he named
New Albion, is so completely absurd as not to merit serious
observation. - E.]
After this ceremony, the admiral and some of his people penetrated to
some distance into the interior country, which they found to be
extremely full of large fat deer, often seeing about a thousand in one
herd. There were also such immense numbers of rabbits, that the whole
country seemed one vast warren. These rabbits were of the size of those
of Barbary, having heads like our own rabbits in England, with feet like
those of a mole, and long tails like rats. Under the chin on each side,
they have a bag or pouch in the skin, into which they store up any food
they get abroad, which they there preserve for future use. Their flesh
is much valued by the natives, and their skins are made into robes for
the king and nobles. This country seemed to promise rich veins of gold
and silver; as wherever they had occasion to dig, they threw up some of
the ores of these metals.[33] Partly in honour of England, and partly
owing to the prospect of white cliffs which this country presented from
the sea, the admiral named this region New Albion. Before his departure,
he erected a monument, on which was a large plate, engraven with the
name, picture, and arms of queen Elizabeth, the title of her majesty to
the sovereignty of the country, the time of its discovery, and Drake's
own name. In this country the Spaniards had never had the smallest
footing, neither had they discovered this coast of America, even for
several degrees to the southwards of New Albion.
[Footnote 33: This surely is a gross falsehood, as even the Spaniards,
so much experienced in mines of the precious metals, have found none in
California, though possessing missions among its rude and scanty
population in every corner, even in this very spot. - E.]
SECTION IV.
Continuation of the Voyage, from New Albion to England.
Sailing from this port of New Albion, [now called by the Spaniards the
Bay of San Francisco,] they had no sight of land till the 13th October,
1579, when, in the morning of that day, they fell in with certain
islands in lat. 8 deg. N.[34] They here met many canoes, laden with
cocoa-nuts and other fruits. These canoes were very artificially
hollowed, and were smooth and shining, like polished horn. Their prows
and sterns were all turned circularly inwards; and on each side there
lay out two pieces of timber, or out-riggers, a yard and a half long,
more or less, according the size of the canoes. They were of
considerable height in the gunwales; and their insides were ornamented
with white shells. The islanders in these canoes had large holes in the
lower parts of their ears, which reached down a considerable way, by the
weight of certain ornaments. Their teeth were as black as jet,
occasioned by chewing a certain herb with a sort of powder, which they
always carry with them for that purpose.[35]
[Footnote 34: These probably were some of the Caralines, being in the
direct route from Port Sir Francis Drake to the Moluccas.
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