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(although the land be extraordinary high within,) yet there are commonly goodfoundings, and confequently anchoring ; and as the vifible declivity of the land appearsnear, or at the edge of the water, whether pretty fteep or more doping, fo we com-monly find our anchor ground to be more or lefs deep or fteep ; therefore we comenearer the fhore, or anchor farther off as we fee convenient; for there is no coaft inthe world that I know, or have heard of, where the land is of a continual heighth,without fotne fmall valleys or declivities, which lie intermixt with the high land. Theyare the fubfidings of valleys or low lands, that make dents in the fhore and creeks,fmall bays and harbours, or little coves, &c. which afford good anchoring, thefurface of the earth being there lodged deep under water. Thus we find many goodharbours on fuch coafts, where the land bounds the fea with fteep cliffs, by reafonof the declivities, or fubfiding of the land between thefe cliffs : but where thedeclenfion from the hills or cliffs is not within land, between hill and hill, but, as onthe coaft of Chili and Peru , the declivity is toward the main fea, or into it, the coaftbeing perpendicular, or very fteep from the neighbouring hills, as in thofe countriesfrom the Andes , that run along the fhore, there is a deep fea, and few or no har-bours or creeks. All that coaft is too fteep for anchoring, and hath the feweft roadsfit for fhips of any coaft I know. The coafts of Gallicia, Portugal, Norway andNewfoundland, See. are coafts like the Peruvian, and the high iflands of the Archi-pelago ; but yet not fo fcanty of good harbours ; for where there are fhort ridges ofland, there are good bays at the extremities of thofe ridges, where they plunge intothe fea; as on the coaft of Caraccos, &c. The ifiand of John Fernando, and theilland St. Helena, &c. dre fuch high land with deep fhore : and in general, theplunging of any land under water, feems to-be in proportion to the rifing of its con-tinuous part above water, more or lefs fteep ; and it muft be a bottom almoft level,or very gently declining, that affords good anchoring. Ships being foon driven fromtheir moorings on a fteep bank : therefore we never ftrive to anchor where we feethe land high, and bounding the fea with fteep cliffs; and for this reafon, when wecame in fight of States Ifiand near Terra del Fuego, before we entered into the fouth-feas, we did not fo much as think of anchoring after we faw what land it was, becaufeof the fteep cliffs which appeared againft the fea : yet there might be little harboursor coves for fhallops, or the like, to anchor in, which we did not fee or fearch after.
As high fteep cliffs bounding on the fea have this ill confequence, that they feldomafford anchoring ; fo they have this benefit, that we can fee them far off, and fail clofeto them, without danger; for which reafon we call them bold fhores : whereas lowland on the contrary, is feen but a little way, and in many places we dare not comenear if, for fear of running a ground before we fee it. Befides there are in manyplaces fhoals thrown out by the courfe of great rivers, that from the low land fall intothe fea.
This which I have faid, that there is ufually good anchoring near the low lands,may be illuftrated by feveral inftances. Thus on the fouth fide of the bay of Cam-peachey, there is moftly low land, and there alfo is good anchoring all along fhore ;and in fome places to the eaftward of the town of Campeachy, we fhall have fo manyfathom as we are leagues off from land ; that is from nine or ten leagues diftance tillyou come within four leagues : and from thence to land it grows but lhallower. Thebay of Honduras alfo is lowland, and continues moftly fo, as we paft along fromthence to the coafts of Portobel, and Cartagena , till we came as high as Santa Martha;afterwards the land is low again, till you come towards the coaft of Caraccos,which is a high coaft and bold fhore. The land about Surinam on the fame coaft is
2 low