mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i4-037

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had told us about some kind of "presidio" in the direction
of the fires. The Spaniards said that in this "presidio"
lived unknown people, white but not Spanish, surmising that
because those they had seen were dressed differently from
them. We could see nothing on that side in the daytime with
the best telescopes from the highest point on the cape, and
as it was known to us that at such distances it was impossible
to distinguish the huts of the savages from the surrounding
shrubbery, we thought that our assumption was correct. From
experience, we knew that the green|resinous leaves of the
laurel burn with a crackle and a bright, vivid flame. To
determine what the effect would be from setting fire to such
a tree, we set fire to one standing apart from the others.
In a moment, all its branches caught on and illuminated the
whole surroundings. At the same time we fired our falconet,
and the fires opposite disappeared.

At 10:45, it was high tide, and the flow reached the
height of seven feet four inches.

On the 18th we had clear weather and a light breeze from
the NW. The captain again ordered me to climb to the top of
the neighboring mountain and inspect the whole shoreline,
revealed to us in the shape of a round lagoon bay, to see if
somewhere was seen the mouth of the river. The southern shore
was high and wooded; the eastern, also, and between the
cliffs to the NE, I observed a rather wide arm, which I took
for the mouth of the sought-for river. The heights drew back