to save the people and the horses when the south wind blew, and to beach the ships if they found themselves in danger, for winds from that direction wreck many vessels. Then I left. I wanted some people to accompany me, but they did not wish to leave, saying that it was too rainy and cold and the town was too far, but that the following day, which was Sunday, they would leave with God's help to hear mass. An hour after I departed the sea began to be very stormy and the north wind blew so strongly that not even the skiffs dared go toward land, nor could they beach the ships because of headwinds. They remained there that day and Sunday until nightfall with great difficulty because of the swirling winds and the heavy rainfall. At that time the rain and the storm began to increase so much that it was just as strong in the town as on the sea, for all the houses and churches were blown down, and it became necessary for us to go about in groups of seven or eight men locking our arms together so that we could keep the wind from blowing us away. And we feared being amidst the trees as much as the houses, for they too were being blown down and we could have been killed beneath them. In this storm and danger we went about all night without finding a place nor a spot where we might be safe for half an hour. While we were going about we heard all night long, especially from the middle of the night onward, a great uproar and noise of voices, and a great sound of little bells and of flutes and tambourines and other instruments that went on until morning, when the storm ceased. Never in these parts had such a fearsome thing been seen." I gathered evidence of it and sent the testimony to Your Majesty. Monday morning we went down to the port and did not find the ships. We saw their buoys in the water, from which we realized that they had been lost, and we went along the coast to see if we could find signs of them. Since we found nothing, we went into the woods, and a quarter of a league into them we found one of the ship's boats