210 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Hook I.
A.D. 1588. liud to doe her majesty service in the performance of tliis voyage. And hh it hath pleased (iod to give lier the victory over part of her enemies, ho I trust yer long to see her overthrowe them all. For the places of their wealth, whereby they have maintained and made their warres, are now perfectly' discovered ; and if it please her majesty, with a very smal ix)wer she may take the s[ioile of them all. It liath pleased the Almighty to suffer me to circompasse the whole globe of the worlde, entering in at the Streight of Magellan, and returning ]>y the Cape of Biiena Cavendish's Esperan9a. In which voyage I have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of the world that ever were knowen or discovered by any Christian. I navi-
1118 voyage.
gated alongst the coast of Chili, Peru, and Nueva Espanna, where I made great spoiles ; I burnt and sunk nineteen sailes of ships, small and great. All the villages and townes that ever I landed at I burnt and spoiled ; and had I not bene discovered upon the coast I had taken great qiuxntitie of treasure. The matter of most profit unto me was a great ship of the king's which I took at California, which ship came from the Philippina.s, being one of the richest of merchandise that ever passed those seas, as the king's register and merchants' accounts did
shew; for it did amount in value to in Mexico to be solde. Which goods (for that my
ships were not able to conteine the least part of them) I was inforced to set on fire. From the Cape of California, being the uttermost part of all Nueva Espanna, I navigated to the islands of the Philippinas, hard upon the coast of China ; of which country I have brought such intelligence as hath not been heard of in these parts. The statelinesse and riches of which countrey I feare to make report of, least I should not be credited : for if I had not knowen sufficiently the incomparable wealth of that countrey, I should have bene as in- credulous thei'eof as others will be that have not had the like experience. I sailed along the islands of the Malucos, where among some of the heathen people I was well intreated, where our countrey men may have trade as freely as the Portugals if they will themselves. From thence I passed by the Cape of Buena Esperan9a, and found out by the way homeward the island of St. Helena, where the Portugals use to relieve themselves; and from that island God hath suffered me to return into England. All which services, with myself, I humbly prostrate at her majestie's feet, desiring the Almighty long to continue her reigue among us; for at this day she is the most famous and victorious prince that liveth in the world."
In returning homewards, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled on the 1 6th of March, 1588; and Plymouth harbour was reached, after a prosperous voyage, on the 9th of September. Establish- While the information thas flowing in from successful na-igators was pavinfj
mentofthe ^ _ * _ . .
Levant the way for the establishment of direct trafiic with the East Indies, other inci- dents were contiibuting powerfully to the same end. Notice has been repeatedly taken of the important Indian trade which had been carried on, almost from time immemorial, by the way of the Levant. For many centiiries the English had been contented to receive then- suppHes of Indian produce at second hand from some one or other of the Italian maritime cities ; but latterly, particularly after the accession of Queen EHzabeth, they had agents of their own in the different ports of the Levant, and thus procured the means of carrjdng on an active and lucrative trade in their own vessels. When this trade had acquired such extent and consistency as to entitle it to be regarded as a national interest, the queen entered into a commercial treaty with Tm-key, seciu-ing for her sub- jects all the advantages which other nations enjoyed; and immediately there- after, in 1581, granted a charter of exclusive pridleges to a mercantile associa- tion which assumed the name of the Levant Company. This company, not satisfied with confining its connections to the ports of the Levant, extended
