For, firmly relying on the assurances of the
Commodore that they should certainly meet with the vessels, they were all
of them too sanguine to doubt a moment of mastering them; so that they
considered themselves as having them already in their possession. And
this confidence was so universally spread through the whole ship's
company that, the Commodore having taken some Chinese sheep to sea with
him for his own provision, and one day enquiring of his butcher why for
some time past he had seen no mutton at his table, asking him if all the
sheep were killed, the butcher very seriously replied that there were
indeed two sheep left, but that if his honour would give him leave, he
proposed to keep those for the entertainment of the General of the
galleons.
When the Centurion left the port of Macao she stood for some days to the
westward, and on the 1st of May they saw part of the island of Formosa,
and standing thence to the southward, they, on the 4th of May about seven
in the evening, discovered from the masthead five small islands, which
were judged to be the Bashees, and they had afterwards a sight of Botel
Tobago Xima. After getting a sight of the Bashee Islands, they stood
between the south and south-west for Cape Espiritu Santo, and the 20th of
May at noon they first discovered that cape, which about four o'clock
they brought to bear south-south-west, about eleven leagues distant. It
appeared to be of a moderate height, with several round hummocks on it.
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