Portugal, nor is the lower sky overclouded as we see it in these Western parts; and besides the brightness of the moon (when there is one), the stars of themselves give so much light that it is easy for one man to recognise another, even though they be a little space apart. So that track was found; yet, because they saw no reason to put reliance in it, they would not return to their captains until they had a more certain understanding of the matter. And so going on, they came where the Moors lay, and saw them so close that they felt they could not turn back without being perceived. Therefore they went for the Moors with a rush; and with their accustomed cries leapt among them, being twelve in number. And such was their[CJ] dismay that they did not look at the number of their enemy, but like conquered people began to flee; though this was of little service to them, for only two escaped, while three were killed and seven taken. And thus, returning to their ships, our men were received as those who deserved honour for their toil and bravery; for although we write some part of their desert, we have not done so as perfectly as they performed it, for the knowledge of a thing can never be so proper by its likeness as when it is known by itself; and yet historians, to avoid prolixity, often summarize things that would be far greater if these were related in their true effects.[N112] [Footnote CH: _I.e._, Tiger.] [Footnote CI: _I.e._, Tiger.] [Footnote CJ: "Their" refers to the Moors.] The captaincy for that turn was in the hands of Dinis Eannes, as we have said already; and he took aside one of those Moors to know if there were any other people in that land. And the Moor answered by signs that there was no other settlement near there, but only a village very far distant from that part, in which there were many people, but few of them men of war. "Now we shall make small profit by our coming here," said Dinis Eannes to his company, "if we are not ready to endure bodily toils; and though this village be so far distant as this Moor maketh me to understand, I should think it would be well for us to go to it, for all the amount of our gain dependeth on our labour." All agreed to go, in any case, where some profit could be got; and taking that Moor for their guide, they went on a space of three leagues, till they arrived at that village which the Moor had named to them before. But they found there nothing by which they could get any profit, for the Moors had already removed far off. So they returned again, not without great weariness; for what they felt most sorely, after going through such great toil, was the finding of nothing that they had sought. [Illustration] LONDON: PRINTED AT THE BEDFORD PRESS, 20 AND 21, BEDFORDBURY, STRAND, W.C. [Illustration: THE COAST OF N.W. AFRICA, ACCORDING TO THE PIZZIGANI MAP, 1567.] NOTES. [_N.B.--The page references are to the Hakluyt Society's translation_].