A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER:

FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TOTHE PRESENT TIME. 

BY

ROBERT KERR, F. R. S. & F. A. S. EDIN. 

ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS. 

VOL. XI. 

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH:AND T. CADELL, LONDON. MDCCCXXIV. 

CONTENTS OF VOL. XI

PART II. BOOK IV. CONTINUED. 

CHAP. XII. --(_Continued_. ) Voyage round the World, by Captain George Shelvocke, in 1719-1722, SECT. V. Voyage from California to Canton in China, VI. Residence in China, and Voyage thence to England, VII. Supplement to the foregoing Voyage, VIII. Appendix to Shelvocke's Voyage round the World. Containing Observations on the Country and Inhabitants of Peru, by Captain Betagh, Introduction, § 1. Particulars of the Capture of the Mercury by the Spaniards, § 2. Observations made by Betagh in the North of Peru, § 3. Voyage from Payta to Lima, and Account of the English Prisoners at that Place, § 4. Description of Lima, and some Account of the Government of Peru, § 5. Some Account of the Mines of Peru and Chili, § 6. Observations on the Trade of Chili, § 7. Some Account of the French Interlopers in Chili, § 8. Return of Betagh to England, CHAP. XIII. Voyage round the World, by Commodore Roggewein, in 1721-1723

 Introduction

 SECT. I. Narrative of the Voyage from Holland to the Coast of Brazil, II. Arrival in Brazil, with some Account of that Country, III. Incidents during the Voyage from Brazil to Juan Fernandez, with a Description of that Island, IV. Continuation of the Voyage from Juan Fernandez till the Shipwreck of the African Galley, V. Continuation of the Voyage after the Loss of the African, to the Arrival of Roggewein at New Britain, VI. Description of New Britain, and farther Continuation of the Voyage till the Arrival of Roggewein at Java, VII. Occurrences from their Arrival at the Island of Java, to the Confiscation of the Ships at Batavia, VIII. Description of Batavia and the Island of Java, with some Account of the Government of the Dutch East-India Company's Affairs, IX. Description of Ceylon, X. Some Account of the Governments of Amboina, Banda, Macasser, the Moluccas, Mallacca, and the Cape of Good Hope, XI. Account of the Directories of Coromandel, Surat, Bengal, and Persia, XII. Account of the Commanderies of Malabar, Gallo, Java, and Bantam, XIII. Some Account of the Residences of Cheribon, Siam, and Mockha, XIV. Of the Trade of the Dutch in Borneo and China, XV. Of the Dutch Trade with Japan, XVI. Account of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, XVII. Voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Holland, with some Account of St Helena, the Island of Ascension, and the Açores, CHAP. XIV. Voyage round the World, by Captain George Anson, in the Years1740-1744, Preface, Introduction, SECT. I. Of the Equipment of the Squadron, and the Incidents relating to it, from its first Appointment to its setting Sail from St Helens, II. The Passage from St Helens to the Island of Madeira, with a short Account of that Island, and of our Stay there, III. History of the Spanish Squadron commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro, 236

 IV. Passage from Madeira to St Catharines, V. Proceedings at St Catharines, and a Description of that Place, with a short Account of Brazil, VI. The Run from St Catharines to Port St Julian; with some Account of the Port, and of the Country to the South of the Rio Plata, VII. Departure from the Bay of St Julian, and Passage from thence to the Straits of Le Maire, VIII. Course from the Straits of Le Maire to Cape Noir, IX. Observations and Directions for facilitating the Passage of future Navigators round Cape Horn, X. Course from Cape Noir to the Island of Juan Fernandez, XI. Arrival of the Centurion at Juan Fernandez, with a Description of that Island, XII. Separate Arrivals of the Gloucester, and Anna Pink, at Juan Fernandez, and Transactions at that Island during the Interval, XIII. Short Account of what befell the Anna Pink before she rejoined; with an Account of the Loss of the Wager, and the putting back of the Severn and Pearl, XIV. Conclusion of Proceedings at Juan Fernandez, from the Arrival of the Anna Pink, to our final Departure from thence, XV. Our Cruise, from leaving Juan Fernandez, to the taking of Payta, XVI. Capture of Payta, and Proceedings at that Place, XVII. Occurrences from our Departure from Payta to our Arrival at Quibo, XVIII. Our Proceedings at Quibo, with an Account of the Place, XIX. From Quibo to the Coast of Mexico, XX. An Account of the Commerce carried on between the City of Manilla on the Island of Luconia, and the Port of Acapulco on the Coast of Mexico, XXI. Our Cruise off the Port of Acapulco for the Manilla Ship, XXII. A short Account of Chequetan, and of the adjacent Coast and Country, XXIII. Account of Proceedings at Chequetan and on the adjacent Coast, till our setting sail for Asia, XXIV. The Run from the Coast of Mexico to the Ladrones or Marian Islands, XXV. Our Arrival at Tinian, and an Account of the Island, and of our Proceedings there, till the Centurion drove out to Sea, XXVI. Transactions at Tinian after the Departure of the Centurion, XXVII. Account of the Proceedings on board the Centurion when driven out to Sea, XXVIII. Of our Employment at Tinian, till the final Departure of the Centurion, and of the Voyage to Macao, XXIX. Proceeding at Macao, XXX. From Macao to Cape Espiritu Santo: The taking of the Manilla Galleon, and returning back again, XXXI. Transactions in the River of Canton, XXXII. Proceedings at the City of Canton, and the Return of the Centurion to England, A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 

PART II. 

BOOK IV. (CONTINUED. )

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XII--_Continued_. 

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN GEORGE SHELVOCKE, IN 1719-1722. 

SECTION V. 

_Voyage from California to Canton in China_. 

We fell in with the coast of California on the 11th of August, andas soon as we were discovered by the natives, they made fires on theshore as we sailed past. Towards evening, two of them came off on abark log, and were with difficulty induced to come on board. Seeingour negroes standing promiscuously among the whites, they angrilyseparated them from us, and would hardly suffer them to look at us. They then made signs for us to sit down, after which one of them puthimself into strange postures, talking to us with great vehemence, andseeming to be in a transport of extacy, running from one to theother of us with great vehemence, continually singing, speaking, andrunning, till quite out of breath. Night coming on, they were fordeparting, when we gave them a knife and an old coat each, with whichthey were much pleased, and invited us by signs to go on shore alongwith them. On the 13th, we were near Porto Leguro, whence some of thenatives came out to meet us on bark-logs, while others made fires, as if to welcome us, on the tops of hills and rocks near the sea, allseemingly rejoiced to see us; those on shore running up and downto each other, and those on the bark-logs paddling with all theirstrength to meet us. 

No sooner was our anchor down than they came off to us in crowds, someoff bark-logs, but most of them swimming, all the while talking andcalling to each other confusedly. In an instant our ship was full ofthese swarthy gentry, all quite naked. Among the rest was theirking or chief; who was no way distinguishable from the rest by anyparticular ornament, or even by any deference paid to him by hispeople, his only ensign of sovereignty being a round black stick ofhard wood, about two feet and a half long. This being observed by someof our people, they brought him to me, and concluding that I was thechief of the ship, he delivered his black sceptre to me in a handsomemanner, which I immediately returned. Notwithstanding his savageappearance, this man had a good countenance, and there was somethingdignified in his manner and behaviour. I soon found a way to regalethem, by setting before them abundance of our choicest Peruvianconserves, with which they seemed much gratified. They wereaccommodated with spoons, mostly silver, all of which they veryhonestly returned. 

Having thus commenced friendship with the natives, I sent an officerashore to view the watering-place; and, to make him the more welcome, I sent with him some coarse blue baize and some sugar, to distributeamong the women. On seeing our boat ready to put off, the king wasfor accompanying her in his bark-log, but I persuaded him to go in theboat, with which he seemed to be much gratified. The remainder ofthe day was spent with our wild visitors, who behaved in general veryquietly. The officer returned with an account of having been verycivilly received, and we prepared our casks for being sent ashore nextmorning. Although, at first view, the country and inhabitants mightdissuade us from venturing freely among them, I had formerly read suchaccounts of these people, that I was under no apprehension of beingmolested in wooding and watering. The Californians, however, appearedvery terrible to our negroes, insomuch, that one of them, whoaccompanied the officer on shore, was afraid to stir from the boat, and held an axe constantly in his hand, to defend himself in case ofbeing attacked. On the approach of night, all the Indians swam ashore, leaving us a clear ship, after the fatigues of the day. 

Next morning, at day-break, our boat went ashore with the peopleappointed to cut wood and fill our water-casks; and before the sun wasup, our ship was again filled with our former guests, who seemednever satisfied with gazing at us and every thing about the ship. Thatnothing might be wanting to keep up our amity, I sent a large boileron shore, with a good store of flour and sugar, and a negro cook, whocontinually boiled hasty-pudding, to serve the numerous guests on thebeach. At first the natives remained idle spectators of our labours;but at length, taking compassion to see our few men labouring hard inrolling great casks of water over the heavy sand in the sultry heatof the day, they put forth their hands to help them, encouraged by theparticular readiness of their chief to serve us; for, after seeing MrRandal take up a log of wood to carry to the boat, he took up another, and was immediately followed by two or three hundred of the natives, so that they eased our men mightily. They also rolled our casks downto the beach, but always expected a white man to assist them, thoughquite satisfied if he only touched the cask with his finger. Thiseased our men of a great deal of fatigue, and shortened the time ofour stay at this place. We even found means to make those who used tostay all day on board, of some use to us; for, when we came to heelthe ship, we crowded them, all over on one side, which, with othershifts, gave her a deep heel, while we cleaned and paid her bottomwith pitch and tallow. 

The natives seemed every day more and more attached to us. When ourboat went ashore in the morning, there was constantly a large retinuein waiting on the beach for our people, and particularly for thosewhom they guessed to be above the common rank, by their better dress. By this time, the news of our arrival had spread through all theneighbouring parts, and some natives of different tribes from thatwhich dwelt about the bay, came daily to visit us. Those who camefrom any distance in the inland country could not swim, and weredifferently painted, besides some other visible distinctions; butall united amicably to assist us, and hardly any were idle except thewomen, who used to sit in circles on the scorching sand, waiting fortheir shares of what was going forwards, which they received withoutany quarrelling among themselves about the inequality of distribution. Having completed our business in five days, we prepared for ourdeparture on the 18th August, and employed that morning in making alarge distribution of sugar among the women, and gave a great manyknives, old axes, and old iron among the men, being the most valuablepresents we could make them; and, in return, they gave us bows andarrows, deer-skin bags, live foxes and squirrels, and the like. Thatwe might impress them with awe of our superior power, we saluted themwith five guns on loosing our top-sails, which greatly frightenedthem, and there seemed an universal damp on their spirits on seeingour sails loosed, as sorry for our approaching departure. The womenwere all in tears when my people were coming off to the ship; and manyof the men remained till we were under sail, and then leapt into thesea with sorrowful countenances. 

Having made some stay in California, some account of that country andits inhabitants may be expected; though I believe a complete discoveryof its extent and boundaries would produce few real advantages, exceptsatisfying the curious. That part of California which I saw, being thesouthern extremity of its western coast, appears mountainous, barren, and sandy, much like some parts of Peru: yet the soil about PortoLeguro, and most likely in the other vallies, is a rich black mould, and when turned up fresh to the sun, appears as if intermingled withgold-dust. We endeavoured to wash and purify some of this, and themore this was done, the more it appeared like gold. In order to befarther satisfied, I brought away some of this earth, but it wasafterwards lost in our confusions in China. However this may be, California probably abounds in metals of all sorts, though the nativeshad no ornaments or utensils of any metal, which is not to be wonderedat, as they are perfectly ignorant of all arts. 

The country has plenty of wood, but the trees are very small, hardlybetter than bushes. But woods, which are an ornament to most othercountries, serve only to make this appear the more desolate; forlocusts swarm here in such numbers, that they do not leave agreen leaf on the trees. In the day, these destructive insects arecontinually on the wing in clouds, and are extremely troublesome byflying in, one's face. In shape and size they greatly resemble ourgreen grasshoppers, but are of a yellow colour. Immediately after wecast anchor, they came off in such numbers, that the sea around theship was covered with their dead bodies. By their incessant ravages, the whole country round Porto Leguro was stripped totally naked, notwithstanding the warmth of the climate and the richness of thesoil. Believing that the natives are only visited with this plague atthis season of the year, I gave them a large quantity of calavances, and shewed them how they were sown. The harbour of Porto Leguro isabout two leagues to the N. E. Of Cape St Lucas, being a good and safeport, and very convenient for privateers when cruizing for the Manillaship. The watering-place is on the north side of the bay or harbour, being a small river which there flows into the sea, and may easily beknown by the appearance of a great quantity of green canes growingin it, which always retain their verdure, not being touched by thelocusts, as these canes probably contain, something noxious to thatvoracious insect. 

The men of this country are tall, straight, and well set, having largelimbs, with coarse black hair, hardly reaching to their shoulders. Thewomen are of much smaller size, having much longer hair than the men, with which some of them almost cover their faces. Some of both sexeshave good countenances; but all are much darker-complexioned thanany of the other Indians I saw in the South Seas, being a very deepcopper-colour. The men go quite naked, wearing only a few trifles byway of ornament, such as a band or wreath of red and white silk-grassround their heads, adorned on each side with a tuft of hawk'sfeathers. Others have pieces of mother-of-pearl and small shellsfastened among their hair, and tied round their necks; and some hadlarge necklaces of six or seven strings, composed of small red andblack berries. Some are scarified all over their bodies; others usepaint, some smearing their faces and breasts with black, while otherswere painted black down to the navel, and from thence to the feet withred. 

The women wear a thick fringe or petticoat of silk-grass, reachingfrom their middle to their heels, and have a deer-skin carelesslythrown over their shoulders. Some of the better sort have a cloak ofthe skin of some large bird, instead of the bear-skins. Though theappearance of the Californians is exceedingly savage, yet, from whatI could observe of their behaviour to each other, and their deportmenttowards us, they seem to possess all imaginable humanity. All the timewe were there, and constantly among many hundreds of them, therewas nothing to be seen but the most agreeable harmony, and mostaffectionate behaviour to each other. When any of us gave any thingeatable to one person, he always divided it among all who were aroundhim, reserving the smallest share to himself. They seldom walkedsingly, but mostly in pairs, hand in hand. They seemed of meekand gentle dispositions, having no appearance of cruelty in theircountenances or behaviour, yet seemed haughty towards their women. They lead a careless life, having every thing in common, and seemed todesire nothing beyond the necessaries of life. They never once offeredto pilfer or steal any of our tools or other utensils; and such wastheir honesty, that my men having forgotten their axes one day onshore, while cutting wood, which was noticed by one of the natives, hetold it to the king, who sent into the wood for the axes, and restoredthem with much apparent satisfaction. 

Their language is guttural and harsh, and they talk a great deal, butI could never understand a single word they spoke. Their dwellingswere very mean, being scarcely sufficient to shelter them. Their dietis, I believe, mostly fish, which they frequently eat raw, but theysometimes bake it in the sand. They seldom want abundance of thisfood, as the men go out to sea on their bark-logs, and are very expertharponiers. Their harpoons are made of hard wood, and with thesethey strike the largest albicores, and bring them ashore on theirbark-logs, which they row with double paddles. This seemed strangeto us, who had often experienced the strength of these fish; forfrequently when we had hold of one of these with very large hooks, made fast to eight-strand twine, we had to bring the ship to, to bringthem in, and it was then as much as eight or ten men could do; so thatone would expect, when an Indian had struck one of these fish, from his light float, it would easily run away with the man and thebark-log; but they have some sleight in their way of management, bywhich the strength and struggling of these fish are all in vain. Thereare hardly any birds to be seen in this country except a few pelicans. 

When the Californians want to drink, they wade into the river, up totheir middles, where they take up the water in their hands, or stoopdown and suck it with their mouths. Their time is occupied betweenhunting, fishing, eating, and sleeping; and having abundant exercise, and rather a spare diet, their lives are ordinarily prolonged toconsiderable age, many of both sexes appearing to be very old, bytheir faces being much wrinkled, and their hair very grey. Their bowsare about six feet long, with strings made of deer's sinews, but theirarrows seemed too long for their bows; and considering that they haveno adequate tools, these articles must require much time in making. The shafts of their arrows consist of a hollow cane, for two-thirds oftheir length, the other third, or head, being of a heavy kind of wood, edged with flint, or sometimes agate, and the edges notched like asaw, with a very sharp point. They made no display of their arms tous, and we seldom saw any in their hands, though they have need ofsome arms to defend themselves from wild beasts, as I saw some men whohad been severely hurt in that way, particularly one old man, whohad his thigh almost torn in pieces by a tiger or lion, and though, healed, it was frightfully scarred. The women commonly go into thewoods with bows and arrows in search of game, while the men arechiefly occupied in fishing. I can say nothing respecting theirgovernment, except that it did not seem any way strict or rigorous. When the king appeared in public, he was usually attended by manycouples, or men walking hand in hand, two and two together. On thefirst morning of our arrival, he was seen in this manner coming out ofa wood, and noticing one of my officers cutting down a tree, whomhe judged to be better than ordinary, by having silver lace on hiswaistcoat, be shewed both his authority and civility at the same time, by ordering one of his attendants to take the axe and work in hisstead. 

One day while we were there, a prodigious flat fish was seen baskingin the sun on the surface of the water near the shore, on which twelveIndians swam off and surrounded him. Finding himself disturbed, thefish dived, and they after him, but he escaped from them at this time. He appeared again in about an hour, when sixteen or seventeen Indiansswam off and encompassed him; and, by continually tormenting him, drove, him insensibly ashore. On grounding, the force with which hestruck the ground with his fins is not to be expressed, neither canI describe the agility with which the Indians strove to dispatchhim, lest the surf should set him again afloat, which they at lengthaccomplished with the help of a dagger lent them by Mr Randal. Theythen cut him into pieces, which were distributed among all who stoodby. This fish, though of the flat kind, was very thick, and had alarge hideous mouth, being fourteen or fifteen feet broad, but notquite so much in length. 

On the 18th August, 1721, we set sail from Porto Leguro, bound forCanton in China, as a likely place for meeting with some Englishships, in which we might procure a passage home. Considering thelength of the voyage before us, our ship was in a very bad condition, as her sails and rigging were so old and rotten, that if any accidenthad befallen our masts or sails, we had been reduced to extremedistress and danger, having no change either of sails or ropes; butours being a case of necessity, we had to run all hazards, and toendeavour, by the utmost attention, to guard against deficiencieswhich could not be supplied. Having already overcome manydifficulties, seemingly insurmountable in prospect, we were fullof hope to get over these also, and the pleasing expectation ofrevisiting our native shores gave us spirits to encounter this tediousnavigation in so weak and comfortless a condition. We were now soweakly manned, that we could scarcely have been able to navigate ourvessel without the assistance of the negroes, not amounting nowto thirty whites, so much had our crew been reduced by untowardaccidents. 

We discovered an island on the 21st, 110 leagues W. S. W. From Cape StLucas, [1] but as the wind blew fresh, I could not get nearer than twoleagues, and did not think proper to lose time in laying-to in thenight. It seemed seven or eight leagues in circumference, having alarge bay on its S. W. Side, in the middle of which was a high rock. Mypeople named this Shelvocke's island. From hence we shelved, down tothe latitude of 13° N. But were stopped two or three days by westerlywinds, which we did not expect in this sea, especially as beingnow five or six hundred leagues from the land. The trade-wind againreturning, we kept in the parallel of 13° N. Except when we judgedthat we were near the shoals of St Bartholomew, and then haled adegree more to the north, and so continued for sixty or seventyleagues. A fortnight after leaving California, my people, who hadhitherto enjoyed uninterrupted health, began to be afflicted withsickness, particularly affecting their stomachs, owing doubtless tothe great quantities of sweetmeats they were continually devouring, and also to oar common food, chiefly composed of puddings made ofcoarse flour and sweetmeats, mixed up with sea-water, together withjerked beef, most of which was destroyed by ants, cockroaches, andother vermin. We could not afford to boil the kettle once in the wholepassage with fresh water, so that the crew became reduced to avery melancholy state by scurvy and other distempers. The sicknessincreased upon us every day, so that we once buried two in one day, the armourer and carpenter's, mate, besides whom the carpenter, gunner, and several others died, together with some of our bestnegroes. 

[Footnote 1: Probably La Nablada, in lat. 18° 55' N. Long. 180° 48'E. ]

The greatest part of my remaining people were disabled, and our shipvery leaky; and to add to our misfortunes, one of our pumps split andbecame useless. Under these unhappy circumstances, we pushed forwardswith favourable gales till within 80 leagues of Guam, one of theLadrones, when we encountered dismal weather and tempestuous winds, veering round the compass. This was the more frightful, as we wereunable to help ourselves, not above six or seven, being able for duty, though necessity obliged even those who were extremely low and weakto lend what help they could. In the boisterous sea raised by thesegales, our ship so laboured that the knee of her head, and her wholebeak-head, became loose, so that the boltsprit fetched away and playedwith every motion of the ship, and so continued all the rest ofthe time we were at sea. For some time our main-mast stood withoutlarboard shrouds, till we could unlay our best cable to make more, having knotted and spliced the old shrouds till our labour was invain. In the midst of these difficulties, I was taken very ill, andhad little expectations of living much longer, till the gout gave mesome painful hopes of recovery. 

In the beginning of October, we made the island of Guam, 100 leaguesshort of the account given by Rogers, who makes 105° of longitudebetween Cape St Lucas and Guam, while we made not quite 100°. [2] Wepassed through between Guam and Serpana, and saw several flying proas, but none came near us that day. We had heavy and squally weather, which obliged me to keep the deck in the rain, by which I caught acold, which threw me into a worse condition than before, in which Icontinued all the time I was in China. Guam seemed very green and ofmoderate height, and the sight of land was so pleasant after our longrun, that we would gladly have stopped to procure some refreshments, but durst not venture in, though on the point of perishing, lest theinhabitants should take advantage of our weakness. From Guam I shapedour course for the island of Formosa, to which we had a long andmelancholy voyage, as our sickness daily increased; so that, on the 3dNovember, when we got sight of that island, both ship and companywere almost entirely worn out. Next day we doubled the south Cape ofFormosa, passing within a league of the rocks of _Vele-Rete_, wherewe were sensible of a very strong current. As we passed in sight, theinhabitants of Formosa made continual fires on the coast, as invitingus to land; but we were so weak that we did not deem it prudent toventure into any of their harbours. 

[Footnote 2: Rogers is however nearer the truth, the difference oflongitude being 106° 42' between these two places. --E. ]

We directed our course from Formosa for the neighbouring coast ofChina, and found ourselves on the 6th at the mouth of the river_Loma_, [3] in twelve fathoms water, but the weather was so hazy thatwe could not ascertain where we were. Seeing abundance of fishingboats, we tried every method we could think of to induce some ofthe fishermen to come on board to pilot us to Macao, but foundthis impracticable, as we could not understand each other. We weretherefore obliged to keep the land close on board, and to anchorevery evening. This was a prodigious fatigue to our men, who were souniversally ill that we could hardly find any one able to steerthe ship. We were bewildered in a mist during four days, and muchsurprised by seeing a great many islands, omitted in our charts, onsome of which we saw large fortifications. This made us believethat the current had carried us beyond our port, and occasioned muchdejection of spirits; for, though the sea was covered with fishingboats, we could get no one to set us right, or to give us anydirections we could understand. 

[Footnote 3: This name is so corrupted as to be unintelligible. --E]

Towards evening of the 10th, as we were passing through a very narrowchannel between two islands, a fisherman who was near, and observedby our manner of working that we were afraid to venture through, wavedwith his cap for us to bring to till he came to us. When he came, heseemed to understand that we enquired for Macao, and made signs thathe would carry us there, if we gave him as many pieces of silver ashe counted little fish from his basket, which amounted to forty. Weaccordingly counted out forty dollars into a hat, and gave them tohim, on which he came into our ship, and took her in charge, carryingus through the narrow channel, and brought us to anchor at sun-set. Weweighed next morning, and kept the coast of China close on board. Bynoon we were abreast of Pulo Lantoon, whence we could see two Englishships under sail, passing the island of Macao on their way from theriver of Canton. They kept on their way, taking no notice of us, whichstruck a damp into our spirits, fearing we should miss a passage forEngland this season. In the afternoon of next day, we anchored inthe road of Macao, near the entrance of Canton river, which we nevershould have found out by any of our charts. 

I was much amazed at the incorrectness with which these coasts arelaid down, to the eastwards of Pulo Lantoon; as there runs a clusterof islands for upwards of twenty leagues in that direction, which arenot in the least noticed by any of our hydrographers, nor have I evermet with any navigator who knew any thing about them. The coast ofChina, within these islands, is rocky, mountainous, and barren;but, owing to my heavy sickness, I was unable to make any usefulobservations. 

SECTION VI. 

_Residence in China, and Voyage thence to England. _

As Macao is the place where ships always stop for a pilot to carrythem up the river of Canton, I sent an officer with my complimentsto the governor, and with orders to bring off a pilot; buthearing nothing of him till next morning, I was under very greatapprehensions. Next morning, a great number of the people belongingto the Success came off to our ship, and acquainted me that Clippertonhad left me designedly. About noon this day, the 12th November, 1721, a pilot came off to us, when we immediately weighed anchor, andimmediately entered Canton river, being assured that there still weresome European ships at Wampoo, about ten miles short of Canton. Wewere four days in plying up to the road between the tower bars, wherewe anchored; and, finding the Bonetta and Hastings, two Englishships, I sent an officer to request their instructions how to conductourselves in this port, and to acquaint us with its customs. Theyanswered, that the Cadogan and Francis, two English European ships, were lying at Wampoo, and advised me to send up to the English factorsat Canton, to acquaint them with our arrival, and the reasons whichobliged us to come here. This I accordingly did next day, borrowingone of their flags to hoist as our boat, without which we had met withmuch trouble from the _Hoppo-men_, or custom-house officers. I sentletters to the captains of the English ships, signifying the necessitywhich forced me to this country, and requesting their succour andprotection; assuring them that I acted under his majesty's commission, which also I sent, for their perusal. Next morning, being the 17th, Iweighed and worked up to Wampoo, where, besides the two English ships, I found three belonging to France, one Ostender, and a small ship fromManilla. 

I was here in hopes of all my troubles being at an end, and that Ishould have full leisure for rest and refreshment after my many andgreat fatigues; but I soon found these expectations ill grounded, and after all my perils, that I was fallen into others least to beendured, as proceeding from false brethren. A most unlucky accidenthappened the very evening that we anchored at Wampoo, which gave birthto all the troubles I encountered in India; though, in respect tome, both unforeseen and unavoidable, and purely the effects of thateagerness in the ship's company to get out of this part of the worldat any rate. Had there been any government among the English settledhere, to have supported my authority, this unlucky business had neverhappened; and, as it was, could only be imputed to nothing but thewant of such an establishment. One of my men, named David Griffith, being in a hurry to remove his effects into the Bonetta's boat, inwhich he was chased by a _Hoppo_ or custom-house boat; and being alittle in liquor, and fearing to lose his silver, fired a musket andkilled the Hoppo-man or custom-house officer. Early next morning, thedead body was laid at the door of the English factory, where Chineseofficers lay in wait to seize the first Englishman that should comeout. A supercargo belonging to the Bonetta happened to be the first;he was immediately seized and carried off, and afterwards led inchains about the suburbs of Canton. All that could be said or doneby the most considerable Chinese merchants who were in correspondencewith the English, was of no avail. In the mean time, my man, who hadslain the Chinese officer, and another, were put in irons aboardthe Francis, which was _chopped_, or seized, till the guilty manwas delivered up. He was then carried to Canton in chains, and thesupercargo was released. 

I had not been here many days, when I was deserted by all my officersand men, who were continually employed in removing their effects frommy ship to some of the European ships, without my knowledge, I beingthen confined to bed. My officers were using all their efforts toengage the gentlemen belonging to the company in their interest, andhad only left my son and a few negroes to look after the ship, andto defend my effects, which were on the brink of falling into thebottomless pit of Chinese avarice; besides, they and the ship'scompany had so many ways of disposing of every thing they could laytheir hands on, that I found it impossible to oblige them to do whatI thought justice to our owners: They all soon recovered fromtheir illness, and they all became their own masters. There were nomagistrates for me to appeal to on shore, who would aid me so far asto compel them to remain in my ship; and the officers commandingthe English ships could not afford me the help they might have beeninclined to give, lest the supercargoes might represent their conductto the East India Company. And these last, who superintend the Englishtrade at this port, seemed even inclined to have refused me a passagein one of their ships, and even treated me as one enemy would treatanother in a neutral port; looking on me in that light for presumingto come within the limits of the Company, without considering thenecessity by which I had been compelled to take that step. 

When Captains Hill and Newsham came to visit me, they were astonishedat the ruinous condition of my ship, and could scarcely think itpossible for her to have made so long a passage. The rottenness of hercordage, and the raggedness of her sails, filled them with surpriseand pity for my condition. When I had given them a short history ofthe voyage, and requested they would receive my officers and company, with their effects, they at once said, That they saw plainly my shipwas in no condition to be carried any farther, and they were willingto receive us all as soon as we pleased, on payment of our passage. But the supercargoes were displeased that I had not applied to them, as they are the chief men here, though only passengers when aboard; sothat I was quite neglected, and the English captains were ordered tofall down with their ships five or six miles below where I lay. I wasthus left destitute in the company of five foreign ships; yet theirofficers, seeing me deserted by my countrymen, kindly offered me theirservices, and assisted me as much as they could, and without themI know not what might have been my fate, as I was under perpetualapprehensions that the Chinese would have seized my ship. 

After the murder of the custom-house officer seemed to have been quiteforgotten, a magistrate, called a _Little Mandarin_, committed thefollowing outrageous action:--At the beginning of the troubles, occasioned by that murder, he had received orders to apprehend all theEnglish he could find, which he neglected till all was over. He thenone day, while passing the European factories, ordered his attendantsto seize on all the English he could see in the adjoining shops, andtook hold of nine or ten, French as well as English, whom he carried, with halters about their necks, to the palace of the _Chantock_, orviceroy. Application was then made to the _Hoppo_, or chief customer, who represented matters to the viceroy in favour of the injuredEuropeans; on which the mandarin was sent for, and being unable tovindicate himself was degraded from his post, subjected to the bamboo, a severe punishment, and rendered incapable of acting again as amagistrate; the Europeans being immediately liberated. It appears tome, however, that the English are tyrannized over by the Chinese, andexposed to the caprices of every magistrate, wherefore I was the moreurgent to be on board one of the European ships. I had now discoveredmy error in addressing the captains, and now sent a letter to thesupercargoes, demanding a passage for myself, my officers, andship's company, which I was sensible they could not refuse: but theircompliance was clogged with a charge to the captains not to receiveany thing belonging to us, unless consigned to the company in England. 

The hoppo now made a demand upon me for anchorage in the river, amounting to no less than 6000 _tahel_, and, to quicken the payment, annexed a penalty to this extortion of 500 _tahel_ for every daythe payment was delayed. There were no means to avoid this grossimposition; and though a day necessarily elapsed before I couldsend up the money, I had to add the penalty of that day, so that hereceived 6500 _tahel_, or L. 2166:13:4 sterling;[4] being about sixtimes as much as was paid for the Cadogan, the largest English shipthere at the time, and which measured a third larger than mine. I soonafter sold my ship for 2000 tahel, or L. 666, 13s. 4d. Sterling, whichmoney was consigned to the India Company, along with all the rest ofmy effects, and I prevailed on most of my officers and men to taketheir passage in the English homeward-bound ships. 

[Footnote 4: At these proportions, the Chinese _tahel_ is exactly 6s. 8d. Sterling. --E. ]

Considering my short stay in China, and my bad health, I cannot beexpected to give any tolerable account of this place from my ownobservation, and to copy others would be inconsistent with the purposeof this narrative, so that I shall only observe, that the English, atthis time, had no settled factory at Canton, being only permittedto hire large houses, called _hongs_, with convenient warehousesadjoining, for receiving their goods previous to their shipment. Forthese they pay rent to the proprietors, and either hire the same orothers, as they think proper, next time they have occasion for theaccommodation. 

Notwithstanding my utmost diligence, the business I was engaged inkept me in a continual hurry till the ships were ready to depart, which was in December, 1721: At which time, heartily tired of thecountry, and the ill usage I had met with, I sailed in the Cadogan, Captain John Hall, in company with the Francis, Captain Newsham; andas the latter ship sailed much better than the Cadogan, she left usimmediately after getting out to sea. Finding his ship very tender, orcrank, Captain Hill put in at Batavia, to get her into better trim. Wecontinued here about ten days; but I can say little about that place, being all the time unable to stand on my legs, and was only twice outin a coach to take the air, two or three miles out of the city, inwhich little excursion I saw a great variety of beautiful prospects offine country seats and gardens, and, indeed, every thing around shewedthe greatest industry. The buildings in the city are generally veryhandsome, and laid out in very regular streets, having canals runningthrough most of them, with trees planted on each side, so that Bataviamay justly be called a fine city: But the sight is the only sense thatis gratified here, for the canals smell very offensively when the tideis low, and breed vast swarms of muskitoes, which are more troublesomehere than in any place I was ever in. 

A great part of the inhabitants of Batavia are Chinese, who areremarkable for wearing there their ancient dress, having their hairrolled up in such a manner that there is little difference in thatrespect between the men and women. Ever since the revolution in China, which brought that country under the Tartar yoke, the Tartariandress has been imposed upon the whole kingdom, which was noteffected without great bloodshed: For many of the Chinese wereso superstitiously attached to their ancient modes, that theyunaccountably chose rather to lose their lives than their hair; as theTartar fashion is to shave the head, except a long lock on the crown, which they plait in the same manner we do. The Dutch, taking advantageof this superstitious attachment of the Chinese to their hair, exactfrom all the men who live under their protection, a poll-tax of adollar a month for the liberty of wearing their hair, which produces avery considerable revenue. 

Hearing at Batavia that there were several pirates in these seas, Captain Hill joined the Dutch homeward-bound fleet in Bantam bay, andthe Dutch commodore promised to assist Captain Hill in wooding andwatering at _Mew_ island, the water at Batavia being very bad. We fellin with the Francis in the Straits of Sunda, though we imagined thatship had been far a-head. The Dutch made this a pretence for leavingus before we got to Mew island, and Captain Newsham also desertedus, so that we were left alone. We continued six or seven days atMew island, during which time several boats came to us from Prince'sisland, and brought us turtle, cocoa-nuts, pine-apples, and otherfruits. From Mew island we had a very pleasant voyage to and about theCape of Good Hope. By the good management of Captain Hill, althoughthe Francis and the Dutch ships had the start of us seven days, bydeserting us in the Straits of Sunda, we yet got to the cape sevendays before the Francis, though she sailed considerably better thanwe. By comparing notes with the officers of the Francis, we found thatshe had suffered a good deal of bad weather off the south of Africa, while we, by keeping about ten leagues nearer shore, continuallyenjoyed pleasant weather and a fair wind, till we anchored in TableBay, which we did towards the end of March, 1722. 

We here found Governor Boon and others, bound for England in theLondon Indiaman. We had a pleasant voyage from the cape to St Helena, and thence to England, arriving off the Land's-end towards the closeof July. On coming into the British channel we had brisk gales fromthe west, with thick foggy weather. In the evening of the 30th July weanchored under Dungeness, and that same night some of the supercargoesand passengers, among whom I was one, hired a small vessel to carryus to Dover, where we arrived the next morning early. The same day weproceeded for London, and arrived there on the 1st August, 1722. Thusended a long, fatiguing, and unfortunate voyage, of _three years, seven months, and eleven days_, in which I had sailed considerablymore than round the circumference of the globe, and had undergone agreat variety of troubles and hardships by sea and land. 

SECTION VII. 

_Supplement to the foregoing Voyage. _

In the Collection of Harris, besides interweaving severalcontroversial matters respecting this voyage, from an account of it byone Betagh, who was captain of marines in the Speedwell, a long seriesof remarks on the conduct of Shelvocke by that person, are appended. Neither of these appear to possess sufficient interest, at thisdistance of time, almost a century, to justify their insertion inour collection, where they would have very uselessly occupied aconsiderable space. Captain Betagh appears to have been actuated byviolent animosity against Captain Shelvocke, whose actions he traducedand misrepresented with the utmost malignity, the innocent cause ofhis having suffered captivity among the Spaniards in South America, of which some account will be found in the subsequent section. Ofall these charges, we have only deemed it expedient to insert thefollowing statement of the circumstances connected with the captureof the Conception, as related by Betagh, which Harris, I. 230, characterizes as "a very extraordinary piece of recent history, andseemingly supported by evidence;" but at this distance of time we haveno means of ascertaining to which side the truth belongs. --_Ed. _

"This being the great crisis of the voyage, I shall be more particularin relating the affair of this last prize. This ship was named theConception, Don _Stephen de Recova_ commander, [1] bound from Calao toPanama, having on board several persons of distinction, particularlythe Conde de la Rosa, who had been some time governor of Pisco, and was now going to Spain, laden with flour, sugar, marmalade, _etcetera_. Now, be it known to all men, that the _et cetera_ was 108, 630pieces of eight, or Spanish dollars: And Shelvocke little thought, when he took this prize, or compiled his book, that I, of all men, should have the exact state of this affair. He often said that hewould give the gentlemen owners a fair account; and I have oftenpromised to prove that he did say so. We have now both made ourwords good, and I have not only an authentic account, but I will alsodeclare how I got it. 

[Footnote 1: Shelvocke who certainly ought to have known best, namesthe ship the Conception de Recova, and her commander Don JosephDesorio. --E. ]

"When I was carried prisoner to Lima, I had sufficient leisure toreflect on my misfortunes, and how likely I was to be ruined andthe owners cheated; wherefore, to prepare them to defend their justrights, I wrote to one of them the substance of what had occurredto me; how Shelvocke had mismanaged; how arbitrarily he had acted indefiance of their articles, and what were his private intentions inthe latter part of the voyage. As soon as I came to London, which wasin October, 1721, I confirmed the report of my letter with severalnew circumstances; for all which performance of my duty, it is, asI suppose, that my name has met with so much reproach in CaptainShelvocke's book. But, besides my advices, the gentlemen owners hadmany proofs from prisoners and other people. Eleven months after me, being August, 1722, Shelvocke himself arrived, and immediately waitedon the gentlemen in the lump for all his transactions; not owning anything of this prize, which he had unlawfully shared, with every thingelse, among twenty-three of his men. Instead of compromising thematter, the gentlemen read him a letter, secured him, and had himthe same day confined in _Wood-street Compter_. A few days after, hispupil, Stewart, arrived at Dover, and was seized by the honest wardenof the castle, according to directions, securing also his book ofaccounts, and brought it along with the prisoner to the owners, fromwhom I had the book, and copied from it the following statement of thedividends:--

Names. Quality Number Dollars Eng. Of Money. Shares

George Shelvocke Captain 6 14, 325 2642 10 0Samuel Rundal Lieutenant 2-1/2|John Rainer Cap. Marines 2-1/2|Blowfield Coldsea Master 2-1/2|---4718 1100 17 4Nicholas Adams Surgeon 2-1/2| eachMathew Stewart First mate 2|Monsieur La Porte Second mate 2|George Henshall Boatswain 2|-------3775 880 16 8Robert Davenport Carpenter 2| eachWilliam Clark Gunner 2|James Daniel Midshipman 1-1/2|David Griffith Ditto 1-1/2|Christopher Hawkins Ditto 1-1/2|Oliver Lefevre Sail-maker 1-1/2|John Doydge Surgeon's | mate 1-1/2|William Morgan Ditto 1-1/2|---2850 660 0 0John Popplestone Armourer 1-1/2| eachJames Moyett Cooper 1-1/2|John Pearson Carpenter's 1-1/2| mate |Geo. Shelvocke, jun. 1-1/2|William Clement Able seaman 1|John Norris Ditto 1|James Moulville Ditto 1|George Gill Ditto 1|Peter Fero Ditto 1|-------1887-1/4 440 7 2John Smith Ditto 1| eachEdward Alcocke Ditto 1|John Theobald Barber 1|William Burrows Old seaman 3/4Daniel M'Donald Ditto 3/4Richard Croft Ditto 3/4John Robbins Grommet, 1/2| or boy |----943-1/4 220 4 2Benedict Harry Cook 1/2| each------------------------------------------------------------------33 persons in all 52-1/4 98, 604-2/3 23, 007 15 6

"The reader will perceive that the sum total of this dividend fallsshort of what I said the capture amounted to; but, in order to setthat matter right, there is a secret article of 627 quadruples ofgold, which Shelvocke graciously shared among private friends, eachquadruple, or double doubloon; being worth sixteen dollars each, or L. 3:14:8 sterling, at 4s. 8d. The dollar. The value of these is 10, 032dollars, which, added to the sum of the foregoing account, make108, 636-3/4 dollars, or L. 25, 348:11:6 sterling in all. Which largesum of money Shelvocke had the prodigious modesty to conceal, underthe mysterious _et cetera_. Stewart's book mentions the doubledoubloons, but says not a word as to how they were distributed, sothat we may imagine they were sunk between the two Shelvockes andStewart: For, as Stewart was agent, cashier, and paymaster, it was aneasy matter to hide a bag of gold from the public, and to divide itafterwards in a committee of two or three. "--_Betagh. _

SECTION VIII. 

_Appendix to Shelvocke's Voyage round the World. ContainingObservations on the Country and Inhabitants of Peru, by CaptainBetagh. _[1]

[Footnote 1: Harris, I. 240. ]

INTRODUCTION. 

This article may rather seem misplaced, as here inserted among thecircumnavigations; but, both as having arisen out of the voyage ofShelvocke, and because arranged in this manner by Harris, it has beendeemed proper and necessary to preserve it in this place, where itmay be in a great measure considered as a supplement to the precedingvoyage. In the opinion of Harris, "The time that Betagh lived amongthe Spaniards in Peru, and the manner in which he was treated by them, gave him an opportunity of acquainting himself with their manners andcustoms, and with the nature and maxims of their government, such asno Englishman had possessed; and the lively manner in which he tellshis story, gives it much beauty and spirit. " We have already seen, inthe narrative of Shelvocke, the occasion of Betagh separating from hiscommander, along with Hately and a complement of men in the Mercury, on which occasion Shelvocke alleged that they purposely separated fromhim, in consequence of taking a prize containing 150, 000 dollars. Inthe following narrative, Betagh tells his own story very differently, and we do not presume to determine between them. The separation ofShelvocke originally from his own superior officer, Clipperton, is notwithout suspicion; and Hately and Betagh may have learnt from theircommander, to endeavour to promote their own individual interests, atthe expense of their duty, already weakened by bad example. --_Ed_. 

§ 1. _PARTICULARS OF THE CAPTURE OF THE MERCURY BY THE SPANIARDS_. 

It was in the beginning of the year 1720, about the middle of March, when Captain Shelvocke sent Hately and the rest of us to seek ourfortunes in the lighter called the Mercury. He then went in theSpeedwell to plunder the village of Payta, where we might easily havejoined him, had he been pleased to have imparted his design to us. We had not cruized long off Cape Blanco, when we took a small bark, having a good quantity of flour and chocolate. There were also onboard an elderly lady, and a thin old friar, whom we detained twoor three days; and, after taking out what could be of use to us, wedischarged the bark and them. Soon after this we took the Pink, whichShelvocke calls the rich prize. Her people had no suspicion of ourbeing an enemy, and held on their way till they saw the Mercurystanding towards them, and then began to suspect us; on which, aboutnoon, they clapt their helm hard a-weather, and crowded all sailbefore the wind; and, being in ballast, this was her best sailing, yetproved also the greatest advantage they could have given us; for, hadshe held her wind, our flat-bottomed vessel could never have got upwith theirs. About ten o'clock at night, with the assistance of hardrowing, we got up within shot of the chase, and made her bring to, when pretty near the shore. On boarding the prize, in which wereabout seventy persons, thirty of whom were negroes, Hately left me andPressick in the Mercury, with other four, where we continued two orthree days, till a heavy rain spoiled all our bread and other dryprovisions. We then went on board the prize, sending three men to takecharge of the Mercury. 

After this, we stood off and on in the height of Cape Blanco for sevenor eight days, expecting to meet with the Speedwell; and at thatplace we sent ashore the Spanish Captain, a padre or priest, and somegentlemen passengers. At last we espied a sail plying to windward;and, having no doubt that she was either the Speedwell or the Success, we stood towards her, while she also edged down towards us. About tenin the morning we were near enough to make her out to be a ship ofwar, but neither of these we wished for. The master of our prize hadbefore informed us, that he had fallen in with the _Brilliante_, which was cruizing for our privateers, and we had till now entirelydisregarded his information. Upon this, Hately advised with me whatwe ought to do in this emergency, when we agreed to endeavour to takeadvantage of the information given us by the Spaniards; considering, as the Brilliante had spoken so very lately with the Pink, that theremight not be many questions asked now. Accordingly, Hately andI dressed ourselves like Spaniards, and hoisted Spanish colours, confined all our prisoners in the great cabin, and allowed none butIndians and negroes to appear on the deck, that the Pink might havethe same appearance as before. We had probably succeeded in thiscontrivance, but for the obstinacy of John Sprake, one of our men, whom we could not persuade to keep off the deck. As the Brilliantecame up, she fired a gun to leeward, on which we lowered our topsail, going under easy sail till we got alongside. The first question askedwas, If we had seen the English privateer? We answered, No. The nextquestion was, How we had got no farther on our way to Lima? Towhich we answered, By reason of the currents. To two or three otherquestions, we answered satisfactorily in Spanish, and they weregetting their tacks aboard in order to leave us, when Sprake and twoor three more of our men appeared on the main deck. A Frenchman aboardthe Brilliante, who was on the mast-head, seeing their long trowsers, called out, _Par Dieu, Monsieur, ils sont Anglois_, By Heaven, Sir, they are English: Upon which they immediately fired a broad-side intous with round and partridge shot, by one of which Hately was slightlywounded in the leg. 

As soon as we struck our flag, the enemy sent for all the Englishon board their ships, and ordered two of their own officers into ourprize. The Brilliante then bore down on the Mercury, into which shefired at least twenty-five shot, which bored her sides through andthrough: Yet such was the construction of that extraordinary vessel, that, though quite full of water, there was not weight enough to sinkher, and our three men who were in her remained unhurt. Don PedroMidrando, the Spanish commander, ordered these three men into hisown ship, in which he intended to sail for Payta. As for me, he gavedirections that I should be sent forty miles up the country, to aplace called _Piura_, and was so kind as to leave Mr Pressick thesurgeon, and my serjeant Cobbs, to bear me company. Mr Hately andthe rest of our men were ordered to Lima by land, a journey of fourhundred miles. [2] Hately had the misfortune to be doubly under thedispleasure of the Spaniards: First, for returning into these seasafter having been long their prisoner, and being well used among them:And, second, for having stripped the Portuguese captain at Cape Frioof a good quantity of moidores, which were now found upon him. DonPedro proposed to have this business searched to the bottom, and theguilty severely punished, without exposing the innocent to any danger. 

[Footnote 2: Lima is above six hundred miles from Cape Blanco, andPiura is about seventy-five miles from the same place. Betagh gives noaccount of the place where he landed; but forty miles northwards fromPiura would only carry him to the north side of the bay of Payta; and, as he makes no mention of passing any river, he was probably landed onthe south side of the river Amatape or Chira. --E. ]

§ 2. _OBSERVATIONS MADE BY BETAGH IN THE NORTH OF PERU. _

Leaving Mr Hately for the present, I proceed to the observations Imade on the road, as the admiral was so good as send me up into thecountry, till his return from Payta. As the weather in this part ofthe world is much too hot to admit of any labour in the middle of theday, the custom is to travel only from six in the evening till eightnext morning. My Indian guide set me on the best mule he had, which did not think proper to follow the rest, so that I led myfellow-travellers while day lasted. The whole country through which wetravelled was an open plain, having Indian plantations laid out withtolerable regularity, on both sides of us. This champaign country isfrom thirty to an hundred miles broad, and extends three hundredmiles along shore; and I was travelling to the southward, having theCordelieras, or mountains of the Andes, on my left hand, and the greatPacific Ocean to the right. As the soil is good and fertile, this landwould be as fine a country as any in the world, if well watered; buttravellers are here obliged to carry water for their mules as well asthemselves. At the approach of night, I was much puzzled to find theway, my mule still persisting to go foremost, being often stopped bygreat sand hills, and my mule as often endeavoured to pull the reinsout of my hand. This being very troublesome, the Indians advised meto lay the reins on the mule's neck, and on doing that the creatureeasily hit the way. These sand hills often shift from place to place, which I suppose is occasioned by strong eddy winds, reverberated fromthe mountains. 

We rested at night in an old empty house, about half way, whichthe guide told me was built by the inhabitants of Piura, for theaccommodation of the prince of San Bueno, viceroy of Peru, when theymet and regaled him at his entrance on his government. After a shortrest, we continued our journey, and arrived at Piura, a handsomeregularly built town, on the banks of the river _Callan_ or _Piura_. The Indian conducted us to the house of an honest Spanish gentlemanand his wife, to whose charge he committed us, and then returned toPayta. In less than a quarter of an hour, the inhabitants of the townflocked to see us, as a raree-show, and entertained us with respectand civility, instead of using us as prisoners of war. The gentlemanto whose charge we were committed was named Don Jeronimo Baldivieso, who had five daughters, who received us in so benevolent a manner, that we hoped our time would slide easily away, and our captivityprove no way disagreeable; and I now became sensible of the favourshewn me by Don Pedro in sending me to this place; for he had suchinterest in all Peru, that for his sake we found very good treatment. 

After refreshing ourselves, according to the custom of the country, with chocolate, biscuit, and water, we were serenaded by the soundof a harp from some inner apartment, of which instrument the artistseemed to have a good command, as I heard parts of several famouscompositions, both Italian and English. Upon enquiry, I found thatall Don Jeronimo's daughters had learnt music, and sung or playedupon some instrument. Though this seemed unaccountable at first, Iafterwards found that music was much cultivated in Peru. During theprevalence of the Italian party at the court of Madrid, the lastviceroy of Peru, the prince of San Bueno, who was an Italian, broughta great many musicians to that country along with him, by whom thetaste for music had spread every where, and had become as good inPeru as in old Spain. I the rather notice this, because, by ourbeing lovers of music, and behaving peaceably and civilly to theinhabitants, we passed our time quietly and chearfully. We were onlyexposed to one inconvenience, which lasted all the time we remainedhere: which was, the daily assembling of the people to stare at us. I and my sergeant Cobbs, being used to exercise in public, bore thispretty well; but Mr Pressick, being a grave man, at first hung downhis head, and was very melancholy. But he grew better acquainted withthe people by degrees, and came to like them so well, that we had muchado to get him away, when it became necessary for us to remove ourquarters. 

Almost all the commodities of Europe are distributed through SpanishAmerica by a sort of pedlars, or merchants who travel on foot. Thesemen come from Panama to Payta by sea; and in their road from Paytato Lima, make Piura their first stage, disposing of their goods, andlessening their burdens, as they go along. From Piura, some take theinland road by Caxamarca, and others the road along the coast throughTruxillo. From Lima they take their passage back to Panama by sea, perhaps carrying with them a small adventure of brandy. At Panamathey again stock themselves with European goods, and return by sea toPayta. Here they hire mules to carry their goods, taking Indians alongwith them to guide the mules and carry them back: And in thisway these traders keep a continual round, till they have gained asufficiency to live on. Their travelling expenses are next to nothing;as the Indians are under such entire subjection to the Spaniards, that they always find them in lodgings free, and provide them withprovender for their mules. All this every white man may command, beingan homage the Indians have long been accustomed to, and some thinkthemselves honoured into the bargain. Yet out of generosity, theysometimes meet with a small recompense. Among the British and French, a pedlar is despised, and his employment is considered as a very, meanshift for getting a living: But it is quite otherwise here, where thequick return of money is a sufficient excuse for the manner in whichit is gained; and there are many gentlemen in old Spain, in decliningcircumstances, who send their sons to what they call _the Indies_, toretrieve their fortunes in this way. 

Our lodging while at Piura was in an out-house, which had been builton purpose for accommodating such travelling merchants. Every day, according to the Spanish custom, our dinner was served up undercovers, and we eat at the same table with Don Jeronimo; while the goodlady of the house and her daughters sat in another room. Any strongliquors are only used during dinner: And I think the only circumstancein our conduct that any way disobliged our good host, was once seeingme drink a dram with the doctor, at a small eating-house; and, asnothing is more offensive to the Spaniards than drunkenness, I hadmuch ado to apologise for this step. Yet they admit of gallantry inthe utmost excess, thus only exchanging one enormity for another. 

After remaining about six weeks at Piura, our Indian guide came toconduct us to Payta, to which place the Brilliante had returned. Whenabout to take leave, Mr Pressick our surgeon was not to be found, which detained us a day. They had concealed him in the town, meaningto have kept him there, being a very useful man; and if he could havehad a small chest of medicines, he might soon have made a handsomefortune. Next day, however, we mounted our mules, and partedreluctantly with our kind host and his family. We went on board theBrilliante at Payta, which had done nothing at sea since we left her, and now made a sort of cruizing voyage to Calao, the port of Lima. I have already mentioned the civility I received from Don PedroMidranda, who was admiral or general of the South Seas; and I shallhere add one circumstance to the honour of Monsieur de Grange, acaptain under the general. When taken by the Brilliante, the soldiersstripped us, considering our clothes as the usual perquisite ofconquerors; on which that gentleman generously gave me a handsome suitof clothes, two pair of silk stockings, shirts, a hat and wig, andevery thing accordant, so that I was rather a gainer by this accident. 

§ 3. _VOYAGE FROM PAYTA TO LIMA, AND ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH PRISONERSAT THAT PLACE. _

Our voyage to Lima occupied about five weeks; and, immediately on ourarrival, we were committed to the same prison in which the rest ofthe ship's company were confined, except Mr Hately, who, for reasonsformerly assigned, was confined by himself, and very roughly treated. A short time after our arrival, commissioners were appointed tohear our cause, and to determine whether we were to be treated ascriminals, or as prisoners of war. We were charged with piracy, not solely for what we had done in the South Seas in plunderingthe Spaniards, but for having used the like violence against othernations, before our arrival in that sea, from which they proposed toinfer that we had evinced a piratical disposition in the whole ofour conduct. Of this they thought they had sufficient proof in themoidores found upon Hately, as they appeared to have been taken fromthe subjects of a prince in amity with our sovereign. Happily for us, Don Diego Morsilio, the viceroy, who was an archbishop in the declineof life, was pleased to investigate this matter; and finding only oneof us guilty, would not sign an order for taking away the lives ofthe innocent. Some were for sending Hatley to the mines for life, and others for hanging him: But the several accounts of the vileproceedings of Captain Shelvocke contributed to his deliverance, ofthe truth of which circumstance, there were enough of our people atLima to witness; for, besides Lieutenant Sergeantson and his men, who were brought thither, there came also the men whom Shelvocke sentalong with Hopkins to shift for themselves in an empty bark, who wereforced to surrender themselves to the Indians for want of sustenance;so that the court were satisfied that Shelvocke was the principal inthat piratical act, rather than Hately. Considering that we had allbeen sufficiently punished before our arrival at Lima, they thoughtfit to let us all go by degrees. Hately was kept in irons about atwelvemonth, and was then allowed to return to England. I was morefortunate, as my imprisonment lasted only a fortnight, owing to theinterposition of one Captain Fitzgerald, a gentleman born in France, who had great interest with the viceroy, and became security forme, on which I was allowed my liberty in the city, provided I wereforthcoming when called for. 

Among my first enquiries was into the condition of other Englishprisoners at this place. I learnt from Lieutenant Sergeantson andhis men, who were here before us, that most of them had adopted thereligion of the country, had been christened, and were dispersed amongthe convents of the city. The first of these I met had his catechismin one hand, and a large string of beads dangling in the other. Ismiled, and asked him how he liked it? He said, very well; for havinga religion to chuse, he thought theirs better than none, especiallyas it brought him good meat and drink, and a quiet life. Many ofShelvocke's men followed this example, and I may venture to say, thatmost of them had the same substantial reason for their conversion. It is here reckoned very meritorious to make a convert, and manyarguments were used for that purpose, but no rigorous measureswere used to bring any one over to their way of thinking. Those whoconsented to be baptized, generally had some of the merchants of Limafor their patrons and god-fathers, who never failed to give them agood suit of clothes, and some money to drink their healths. 

About this time four or five of Clipperton's men had leave from theconvents where they resided, to meet together at a public-house keptby one John Bell, an Englishman, who had a negro wife, who had beenmade free for some service or other. The purpose of this meeting wasmerely to confirm their new baptism over a bowl of punch; but they allgot drunk and quarrelled, and, forgetting they were true catholics, they demolished the image of some honest saint that stood in a corner, mistaking him for one of their companions. Missing them for a fewdays, I enquired at Bell what was become of them, when he told me theywere all in the Inquisition; for the thing having taken air, he wasobliged to go himself to complain of their behaviour, but he got themreleased a few days after, when they had time to repent and getsober in the dungeons of the holy office. Bell said, if these men hadremained heretics, their drunken exploit had not come within the vergeof the ecclesiastical power; but as they were novices, they were theeasier pardoned, their outrages on the saint being attributed to theliquor, and not to any designed affront to the catholic faith, or arelapse into heresy. 

Some time afterwards, about a dozen of our men from the Success andSpeedwell were sent to Calao, to assist in careening and fitting outthe Flying-fish, designed for Europe. They here entered into a plotto run away with the Margarita, a good sailing ship which lay in theharbour, meaning to have gone for themselves, in which of course theywould have acted as pirates. Not knowing what to do for ammunition anda compass, they applied to Mr Sergeantson, pretending they meant tosteal away to Panama, where there was an English factory, and whencethey had hopes of getting home. They said they had got half a dozenfirelocks, with which they might be able to kill wild hogs or othergame, as they went along, and begged him to help them to some powderand shot, and a compass to steer their way through the woods. Bybegging and making catholic signs to the people in Lima, they hadcollected some dollars, which they desired Sergeantson to lay outfor them; and he, not mistrusting their plot, bought them what theywanted. Thus furnished, one of them came to me at Lima, and told metheir intention, and that Sprake was to have the command, as being theonly one among them who knew any thing of navigation. I answered, thatit was a bold design; but as Captain Fitzgerald had engaged for myhonour, I could not engage in it. Their plot was discovered a few daysafter, their lodgings searched, their arms taken away, and they werecommitted to prison. The government was much incensed against them, and had nearly determined upon their execution; but they were soon allreleased except Sprake, who was the ringleader, and was kept in ironsfor two or three months, and then set at liberty. 

The dominions belonging to the Spaniards in America are so large andvaluable, that, if well governed, they might render that monarchyexceedingly formidable. In my long stay in Peru, I had the means ofexamining at leisure, and with attention, their manner of living, theform of their government, and many other circumstances little knownin our part of the world, and had many opportunities of enquiring intothings minutely, which did not fall under my immediate observation;and of which I propose to give as clear and accurate an account asI can, constantly distinguishing between what fell under my ownimmediate knowledge, and what I received from the information ofothers. 

§ 4. _DESCRIPTION OF LIMA, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GOVERNMENT OFPERU. _

The great and rich city of Lima is the metropolis of Peru, and theseat of an archbishop. It is all regularly built, the streets beingall straight and spacious, dividing the whole into small squares. Itstands in an open vale, through which runs a gentle stream, dividingthe city in two, as the Thames does London from Southwark. Calao isthe port of Lima, from whence it is about seven miles distant. Becauseof the frequent earthquakes, the houses are only of one story, andgenerally twelve or fourteen feet high. It contains eight parishchurches, three colleges for students, twenty-eight monasteries offriars, and thirteen nunneries, so that the religions occupy a fourthpart of the city; yet, by the quick and plentiful flow of money, andthe vast sums bequeathed through the effects of celibacy, they arewell endowed. Besides these, there are two hospitals for sick, poor, and disabled; and in which several of our men were kindly lookedafter. The length of the city from north to south is two miles, andits breadth one and a half; its whole circumference, including thewall and the river, being six miles. The other, or smaller part ofthe city, is to the east of the river, over which there is a handsomestone bridge of seven arches. Including all sorts and colours, Icomputed that the whole population of Lima amounted to betweensixty and seventy thousand persons; and I should not wonder at anymultiplication in this city, as it is the centre of so much affluenceand pleasure. Besides the natural increase of the inhabitants, allships that trade this way, whether public or private, generally leavesome deserters, who remain behind in consequence of the encouragementgiven to all white faces. 

The people here are perhaps the most expensive in their habits of anyin the world. The men dress nearly as in England, their coats beingeither of silk, fine English cloth, or camblets, embroidered or lacedwith gold or silver, and their waistcoats usually of the richestbrocades. The women wear no stays or hoops, having only a stitchedholland jacket next their shifts, and they generally wear a squarepiece of swansdown flannel thrown over their shoulders, entirelycovered with Flanders lace, and have their petticoats adorned withgold or silver lace. When they walk out, the Creole women are mostlyveiled, but not the mulattoes; and, till thirty or forty years ofage, they wear no head-clothes, their hair being tied behind with fineribbons. The pride of the ladies chiefly appears in fine Mechlin orBrussels lace, with which they trim their linen in a most extravagantmanner, not omitting even their sheets and pillows. Their linenjackets are double bordered with it, both at top and bottom, with fouror five ruffles or furbelows hanging down to their knees. Theyare very extravagant also in pearls and precious stones, in rings, bracelets, and necklaces, though the value of these is hardly equal tothe shew. 

The viceroy has a splendid palace in the royal square, or greatquadrangle of the city, which seemed as large as Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. His salary is ten thousand pounds a-year, but his perquisites amountto double that sum. And though his government expires at the end ofthree, four, or five years, he generally makes a handsome fortune, as all places are in his gift, both in the government and the armythroughout all Peru, except such as are sent out or nominated by theking. The great court of justice consists of twelve judges, besides anumber of inferior officers, councillors, and solicitors. Before thiscourt all causes are decided, but they are too often determined infavour of the party who gives most money. And, though these vastdominions abound in riches, there is not much work for the lawyers, as the laws are few and plain, which certainly is much better thana multiplicity of laws, explaining one another till they become sointricate that the issue of a cause depends more on the craft of thesolicitor and advocate, than on its justice. Every magistrate in thiscountry knows that his reign is short, and that he will be laughed atif he does not make a fortune, so that they wink at each other; and, so great is the distance between Spain and Peru, that the royal ordersare seldom, regarded, being two years in going backward and forward:Hence arise many clandestine doings. According to law, the king oughtto have a twentieth part of all the gold, and a fifth of all thesilver procured from the mines; but vast quantities are carried awayprivately, without paying any duty, both north by Panama, and souththrough the Straits of Magellan. There are also vast sums allowed forthe militia, the garrisons, and the repairs of fortifications, onehalf of which are never applied to these objects. Hence it may easilybe imagined what immense riches would flow into the treasury ofMadrid, if his catholic majesty were faithfully served. 

The country of Peru is naturally subject to earthquakes. About fiftyyears before I was there, or about the year 1670, there were two greatones at Lima, which overturned many houses, churches, and convents. And in the reign of Charles II. The late king of Spain, there was anearthquake near the equator, which lifted up whole fields, carryingthem to the distance of several miles. Small shocks are often feltwhich do no harm, and I have been often called out of bed on suchoccasions, and heard nothing more about the matter; but on theseoccasions the bells always toll to prayers. Yet, although this countryhas suffered much from earthquakes, especially near the coast, theirchurches are lofty and neatly built. Such parts of their buildings asrequire strength are made of burnt bricks; but their dwelling-housesare all constructed of bamboos, canes, and bricks only dried inthe sun, which are sufficiently durable, as it never rains in Peru. Instead of roofs, they are merely covered over with mats, on whichashes are strewed, to keep out the dews. The small river of Lima, or _Runac_, consists mostly of snow-water from the neighbouringmountains, which are covered all the year with snow, that partlydissolves in the summer-season, from September to March. 

One would expect the weather to be much hotter here; but there isno proportion between the heat of this part of America and thesame latitudes in Africa. This is owing to two causes; that theneighbourhood of the snowy mountains diffuses a cool temperatureof the air all around; and the constant humid vapours, which are sofrequent that I often expected it to rain when I first went to Lima. These vapours are not so dense, low, and gloomy, like our fogs, noryet are they separated above like our summer clouds; but an exhalationbetween both, spread all around, as when we say the day is overcast, so that sometimes a fine dew is felt on the upper garments, and mayeven be discerned on the knap of the cloth. This is a prodigiousconvenience to the inhabitants of Lima, who are thus screened half theday from the sun; and though it often shines out in the afternoon, yetis the heat very tolerable, being tempered by the sea-breezes, andnot near so hot as at Lisbon and some parts of Spain, more than thirtydegrees farther from the equator. 

The entire want of rain in this country induced the Indians, evenbefore the conquest, to construct canals and drains for leading waterfrom among the distant mountains, which they have done with greatskill and labour, so as to irrigate and refresh the vallies, by whichthey produce grass and corn, and a variety of fruits, to which alsothe dews contribute. A Spanish writer observes that this perpetualwant of rain is occasioned by the south-west wind blowing on the coastof Peru the whole year round, which always bears away the vapours fromthe plains before they are of sufficient body to descend in showers:But, when carried higher and farther inland, they become more compact, and at length fall down in rain on the interior hills. The inhabitantsof Peru have plenty of cattle, fowls, fish, and all kinds ofprovisions common among us, except butter, instead of which theyalways use lard. They have oil, wine, and brandy in abundance, but notso good as in Europe. Instead of tea from China, which is prohibited, they make great use of _camini_, called herb of Paraguay, or Jesuitstea, which, is brought from Paraguay by land. They make a decoctionof this, which they usually suck through a pipe, calling it _Mattea_, being the name of the bowl out of which it is drank. Chocolate istheir usual breakfast, and their grace cup after dinner; and sometimesthey take a glass of brandy, to promote digestion, but scarcely drinkany wine. In Chili, they make some butter, such as it is, the creambeing put into a skin bag kept for that purpose, which is laid on atable between two women, who shake it till the butter comes. 

The Spaniards are no friends to the bottle, yet gallantry and intrigueare here brought to perfection, insomuch that it is quite unmannerlyhere not to have a mistress, and scandalous not to keep her well. Thewomen have many accomplishments, both natural and acquired, havinggraceful motions, winning looks, and engaging, free, and sprightlyconversation. They are all delicately shaped, not injured bystiff-bodied stays, but left entirely to the beauty of nature, andhardly is there a crooked body to be seen, among them. Their eyes andteeth are singularly beautiful, and their hair is universally of adark polished hue, nicely combed and plaited, and tied behind withribbons, but never disguised by powder; and the brightness of theirskins round the temples, clearly appears through their dark hair. Though amours are universal at Lima, the men are very careful to bidethem, and no indecent word or action is ever permitted in public. They usually meet for these purposes, either in the afternoon atthe _Siesta_, or in the evening in calashes on the other side of theriver, or in the great square of the city, where calashes meet ingreat numbers in the dusk. These are slung like our coaches, butsmaller, many of them being made only to hold two persons sittingopposite. They are all drawn by one mule, with the negro driversitting on his back; and it is quite usual to see some of thesecalashes, with the blinds close, standing still for half an hour ata time. In these amusements they have several customs peculiar tothemselves. After evening prayers, the gentleman changes his dressfrom a cloak to a _montero_, or jockey-coat, with a laced linen cap onhis head, and a handkerchief round his neck, instead of a wig; or ifhe wear his own hair, it must be tucked under a cap and concealed, asit is the universal fashion to be thus disguised. Even those whohave no mistress, are ashamed to appear virtuous, and must be somehowmasked or disguised, in order to countenance the way of the world. As, all this is night-work, they have an established rule to avoidquarrels, by never speaking to or noticing each other, when going inquest of or to visit their ladies. 

In short, the fore-part of every night in the year is a kind ofmasquerade. Among people of any rank who do not keep calashes, onecouple never walks close behind another, but each at the distanceof at least twelve paces, to prevent the overhearing of any secretwhispers. Should a lady drop a fan or any thing else by accident, agentleman may take it up, but he must not give it to the lady, but tothe gentleman who accompanies her, lest she may happen to be the wifeor sister of him who takes it up; and as all the ladies are veiled, these wise rules are devised to prevent any impertinent discoveries. Any freedom in contravention of these laws of gallantry would belooked upon as the highest affront, and would be thought to merit adrawn sword through the midriff. Should any one see his most intimatefriend any where with a woman, he must never take notice of it, ormention it afterwards. Every thing of this nature is conducted withall imaginary gravity and decorum, by which the practice of gallantrybecomes decent and easy; yet there are some jealousies in this regularcommerce of love, which sometimes end fatally. A story of this kindhappened shortly before I went to Lima. A young lady, who thoughtherself sole sovereign in the heart of her lover, saw him by chancein the company of another, and, waiting no farther proof of hisinfidelity, she instantly plunged a dagger in his bosom. She was soonafter brought to trial, and every one expected that she should paythe forfeit with her life; but the judges, considering her rashnessas proceeding from excess of love, not malice, acquitted her. Howeveragreeable these gallantries may be to the _Creole_ Spaniards, theyhave an inconvenient effect on society; as the men are so engrossedby these matters, as to spoil all public conversation. Their time isentirely taken up in attendance on their mistresses, so that there areno coffee-houses or taverns, and they can only be met with at theiroffices, or in church. 

Perhaps it may be chiefly owing to this effeminate propensity, thatall manly exercises, all useful knowledge, and that noble emulationwhich inspires virtue, and keeps alive respect for the public good, are here unknown. Those amusements which serve in other countries torelax the labours of the industrious, and to keep alive the vigour ofthe body and mind, are unknown in Peru; and whoever should attempt tointroduce any such, would be considered as an innovator, which, amongthem, is a hateful character: For they will never be convinced, thatmartial exercises or literary conferences are preferable to intrigues. They have, however, a sort of a play-house, where the young gentlemenand students divert themselves after their fashion; but their dramaticperformances are so mean as hardly to be worth mentioning, beingscripture stories, interwoven with romance, a mixture still worse thangallantry. At this theatre, two Englishmen belonging to the squadronof Mons. Martinat, fought a prize-battle a short time before I cameto Lima. Having first obtained leave of the viceroy to display theirskill at the usual weapons, and the day being fixed, they went throughmany previous ceremonies, to draw, as the phrase is, a good house. Preceded by beat of drum, and dressed in holland shirts and ribbons, they went about the streets saluting the spectators at the windowswith flourishes of their swords, so that the whole city came to seethe trial of skill, some giving gold for admittance, and hardly anyone less than a dollar. The company, male and female, being assembled, the masters mounted the stage, and, after the usual manner of theEnglish, having shaken hands, they took their distance, and stoodon their guard in good order. Several bouts were played without muchwrath or damage, the design being more to get money than cuts orcredit, till at length one of the masters received a small hurt onthe breast, which blooded his shirt, and began to make the combat lookterrible. Upon this, fearing from this dreadful beginning that thezeal of the combatants might grow too warm, the company cried out, _Basta! basta!_ or enough! enough! And the viceroy would never permitanother exhibition of the same kind, lest one of the combatants mightreceive a mortal wound, and so die without absolution. 

So deficient are the Spaniards in energy of spirit, that manyextensive countries and islands remain unexplored, in the immediateneighbourhood of their vast American dominions, though some of theseare reported to be richer and more valuable than those which arealready conquered and settled. The first Spanish governors of Mexicoand Peru were not of this indolent disposition, but bestowed greatpains in endeavouring to acquire the most perfect knowledge borderingupon their respective governments: But now that general thirst of fameis entirely extinguished, and they content themselves with plunderingtheir fellow-subjects in the countries already known. The regions tothe north of Mexico are known to abound in silver, precious stones, and other rich commodities, yet the Spaniards decline all conquest onthat side, and discourage as much as possible the reports which havespread of the riches of these countries. On the same principles, theygive no encouragement to attempt penetrating into the heart of SouthAmerica, whence most of the riches of Peru are known to come, themountains at the back of the country being extremely rich in gold; andthe regions, on the other side, towards the Atlantic, being inhabitedby nations that have abundance of that metal, though, for fear ofbeing oppressed by the Europeans, they conceal it as much as possible. 

Of all the discoveries that have been talked of among the Spaniards, that which has made the most noise is the island or islands ofSolomon, supposed to be the same with those discovered by the famousFerdinand Quiros. He reported them to be extremely rich and verypopulous, and repeatedly memorialed the court of Spain to beauthorised to complete his discovery. All his solicitations, however, were neglected, and it became a question in a few years whether anysuch islands had ever existed. At length, towards the close of theseventeenth century, such discoveries were made as to the reality ofthese islands, that Don Alvaro de Miranda was sent out to discoverthem in 1695. He failed in the attempt, but in the search met withfour islands, between the latitude of 7° and 10° S. Which werewonderfully rich and pleasant, the inhabitants being a better lookingrace, and far more civilized than any of the Indians on the continentof America. This discovery occasioned a good deal of discourse at thetime; but the subsequent disturbances relative to the succession tothe crown of Spain, so occupied the attention of every person, thatall views of endeavouring to find the islands of Solomon were laidaside. [2]

[Footnote 2: These islands of Miranda appear to have been theMarquebes, between the latitudes of 8° 45' and 10° 25' N. And long. 139° W. The Solomon islands, or New Georgia, are between 5° and 10° N. And long. 200° to 205° W. 63-1/2 degrees of longitude farther to thewestwards. --E. ]

§ 5. _SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MINES OF PERU AND CHILI_. 

As the riches of Peru consist chiefly in mines of silver, I shallendeavour to give some account of them, from the best information Icould procure. There are two sorts of silver-mines, in one of whichthe silver is found scattered about in small quantities, or detachedmasses, while, in the other kind of mine, it runs in a vein betweentwo rocks, one of which is excessively hard, and the other muchsofter. These certainly best deserve the name of silver-mines, andare accordingly so denominated. This precious metal, which in othercountries is the standard or measure of riches, is the actual richesof Peru, or its chief natural commodity; as, throughout the whole ofthat vast country, silver-mines are almost every where to be met with, of more or less value, according as the ore produces more or lesssilver, or can be wrought at a greater or less expence. Some of thesemines are to the north of Lima, but not a great many, but to the souththey are very numerous. On the back, or eastern side of the Andes, there is a nation of Indians called _Los Platerors_, or the _Plate_, or _Silver_ men, from their possessing vast quantities of silver, [1]but with them the Spaniards have very little communication. The bestof the mine countries are to the south of Cusco, from thence to Potosiand the frontiers of Chili, where, for the space of 800 miles, thereis a continued succession of mines, some being discovered and othersabandoned almost every day. 

[Footnote 1: This tribe still holds its place in modern geography, in the vast plain to the E. Of the Maranors or Amazons, where therecannot be any silver-mines, at least that they can explore. They areso named because of wearing silver ear-rings, which they must, almostcertainly, procure in barter from the tribes in the mountains, far tothe west. --E. ]

It is common, both here and elsewhere, for people to complain of thetimes, commending the past, as if there had been infinitely greaterquantities of silver dug from the mines formerly than at present. Thiscertainly may be the case with particular mines; but, on the whole, the quantities of silver now annually obtained from the mines inSpanish America, abundantly exceeds what used formerly to be procured. Those mines which are at present [1720] most remarkable in Peru are, Loxa, Camora, Cuenca, Puerto-veio, and St Juan del Oro. Those of Oruroand Titiri are neglected; and those of Porco and Plata are filledup. At Potosi there are a vast number of mines; and those of Tomina, Chocaia, Atacuna, Xuxui, Calchaques, Guasco, Iquique, &c. Are allwrought with more or less profit, according to the skill of theproprietors or managers. It is generally believed that the Creoleshave a very perfect acquaintance with the minerals, from experience, and with the art of treating them, so as to obtain the largest profit;but, when their utter ignorance in all other arts is considered, theirconstant going on in the old beaten track, and their enormous waste ofquicksilver, one is tempted to believe that our European miners mightconduct their works to still greater advantage. 

The most perfect silver that is brought from Peru is in the formscalled _pinnas_ by the Spaniards, being extremely porous lumps ofsilver, as they are the remainder of a paste composed of silver dustand mercury, whence the latter being exhaled or evaporated, leaves thesilver in a spongy mass, full of holes, and very light. This is thekind of silver which is put into various forms by the merchants, inorder to cheat the king of his duty; wherefore all silver in thisstate, found any where on the road, or on board any ship, is lookedupon as contraband, and liable to seizure. 

In regard to the art of refining, I propose to shew the progress ofthe ore, from the mine till it comes to this spongy mass or cake. After breaking the stone or ore taken out of the veins, it is grindedin mills between grindstones, or pounded in the _ingenious reales_, or royal engines, by means of hammers or beetles, like the mills forParis plaster. These generally have a wheel of twenty-five or thirtyfeet diameter, with a long axle or lying shaft, set round with smoothtriangular projections, which, as the axle turns, lay hold of the ironhammers, of about two hundred-weight each, lifting them to a certainheight, whence they drop down with such violence that they crush andreduce the hardest stones to powder. The pounded ore is afterwardssifted through iron or copper sieves, which allow the finest powderto go through, the coarse being returned to the mill. When the onehappens to be mixed with copper or other metals which preventits reduction to powder, it is roasted or calcined in an oven orreverberatory furnace, and pounded over again. 

At the smaller mines, where they only use grindstones, they, for themost part, grind the ore along with water, forming it into a liquidpaste, which runs out into receivers. When grinded dry, it has to beafterwards mixed with water, and well moulded up with the feet for along time. For this purpose, they make a court or floor, on which thatmud, or paste of pounded ore and water, is disposed in square parcelsof about a foot thick, each parcel containing half a _caxon_, orchest, which is twenty-five quintals or hundred-weights of ore, andthese parcels are called _cuerpos_, or bodies. On each of these theythrow about two hundred-weights of sea-salt, more or less, accordingto the nature of the ore, which they mould or incorporate with themoistened ore for two or three days. They then add a certain quantityof quicksilver, squeezing it from a skin bag, to make it fall in dropsequally on the mass or _cuerpo_, allowing to each mass ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds of quicksilver, according to the nature or quality ofthe ore, as the richer it is, it requires the more mercury to draw itto the silver contained in the mass, so that they know the quantityby long experience. An Indian is employed to mould or trample oneof these square cuerpos eight times a-day, that the mercurymay thoroughly incorporate with the silver. To expedite thisincorporation, they often mix lime with the mass, when the ore happensto be what they call greasy, and in this great caution is required, as they say the mass sometimes grows so hot that they neither findmercury nor silver in it, which seems quite incredible. Sometimes alsothey strew in some lead or tin ore, to facilitate the operation of themercury, which is slower in very cold weather; wherefore, at Potosiand Lipes, they are often obliged to mould or work up their cuerposduring a month or six weeks; but, in more temperate climates, theamalgama is completed in eight or ten days. To facilitate the actionof the mercury, they, in some places, as at Puno and elsewhere, construct their _buiterons_ or floors on arches, under which they keepfires for twenty-four hours, to heat the masses or _cuerpos_, whichare in that case placed as a pavement of bricks. 

When it is thought that the mercury has attracted all the silver, the assayer takes a small quantity of ore from each cuerpo, which hewashes separately in a small earthen plate or wooden bowl; and, by thecolour and appearance of the amalgama found at the bottom, when theearthy matters are washed away, he knows whether the mercury hasproduced its proper effect. When blackish, the ore is said to havebeen too much heated, and they add more salt, or some other temper. Inthis case they say that mercury is _dispara_, that is, shoots or fleesaway. If the mercury remains white, they put a drop under the thumb, and pressing it hastily, the silver in the amalgam sticks to thethumb, and the mercury slips away in little drops. When they conceivethat all the silver has incorporated with the mercury, the mixed mass, or cuerpo, is carried to a basin or pond, into which a small streamof water is introduced to wash it, much in the same way as I shallafterwards describe the manner in which they wash gold, only that asthe silver-ore is reduced to a fine mud without stones, it is stirredby an Indian with his feet, to dissolve it thoroughly, and loosen thesilver. From the first basin it falls into a second, and thence intoa third, where the stirring and washing is repeated, that any amalgamwhich has not subsided in the first and second may not escape thethird. 

The whole being thoroughly washed in these basins, which are linedwith leather, till the water runs clear off, the amalgam of mercuryand silver is found at the bottom, and is termed _la pella_. This isput into a woollen bag and hung up, from whence some of the mercuryruns out. The bag is then beaten and pressed as much as they can, laying upon it a flat piece of wood loaded with a heavy weight, to getout as much of the mercury as they can. The paste is then put intoa mould of wooden planks bound together, generally in the form of anoctagon pyramid cut short, its bottoms being a plate of copper, fullof small holes, into which the paste is stirred and pressed down, inorder to fasten it. When they design to make many _pinnas_, or spongylumps of various weights, these are divided from each other by thinbeds or layers of earth, which hinder them from uniting. For thispurpose, the _pella_, or mass of amalgam, must be weighed out inseparate portions, deducting two-thirds for the contained mercury, bywhich they know to a small matter the quantity of silver contained ineach. They then take off the mould, and place the pella or mass withits copper base on a trivet, or such like instrument, standing over agreat earthen vessel full of water, and cover it with an earthen cap, which again is covered by lighted coals. This fire is fed and keptup for some hours, by which the mass of pella below becomes violentlyheated, the contained mercury being thereby raised into vapour: But, having no means of escape through the cap or cover, it is forced downto the water underneath, where it condenses into quicksilver and sinksto the bottom. By this contrivance, little of the mercury is lost, and the same serves over again. But the quantity must be increased, _because it grows weak_. [2] At Potosi, as Acosta relates, theyformerly consumed six or seven thousand quintals of mercury everyyear, by which Some idea may be formed of the silver there procured. 

[Footnote 2: This is utterly absurd, as the mercury must be the samein _quality_ as before, the _quantity_ only being _weakened_. ]

On the evaporation of the mercury, nothing remains but a spongy lumpof contiguous grains of silver, very light and almost mouldering, called _la pinna_ by the Spaniards. These masses must be carried tothe king's receipt or mint, to pay the royal fifth; and are there castinto ingots, on which are stamped the arms of the crown, the placewhere cast, and their weight and fineness. All these ingots, havingpaid the fifth, are sure to be without fraud or deceit; but it is notso with the _pinnas_, as these have often iron, sand, or some othermatter contained within them, to increase their weight; Hence, prudence requires that these should be opened, and made red hot in afire; for, if falsified, the fire will turn them black or yellow, ormelt them more easily. This trial by fire is also necessary to extractmoisture, which they contract in places where they are purposely laidto render them heavier, as also for separating the mercury with whichthe bottom of the mass is always more or less impregnated. The weightof these _pinnas_ may be increased nearly a third, by dipping themwhile red hot into water. It also sometimes happens that the same massof pinna may be of different fineness in different parts. 

The ore, or stones taken from the mines, or the _mineray_, as it iscalled in Peru, from which the silver is extracted, is not always ofthe same nature, consistence, and colour. Some are white and grey, mixed with red or bluish spots, called _plata blanca_ or white silver;of which sort the one in the Lipes mines mostly consists. For the mostpart, some little grains of silver are to be discerned, and very oftensmall branches are seen, ramifying along the layers of the stone. Someores are as black as the dross of iron, and in which no silver is tobe seen, which is called _negrillo_ or blackish ore. Sometimes the oreis rendered black by admixture of lead, and is called _plombo ronco_, or coarse lead, in which the silver appears as if scratched bysomething harsh. This ore is generally the richest in silver, and fromit also the silver is got at the smallest charge; as instead of havingto be moulded or kneaded with quicksilver, it has only to be meltedin furnaces, where the lead evaporates by the force of fire, and thesilver remains pure behind. From this sort. Of mines, the Indians drewtheir silver before the coming of the Spaniards, having no knowledgeof the use of mercury, and they accordingly only wrought those minesof which the ore would melt; and, having but little wood, they heatedtheir furnaces with _ylo_, the dung of the _Llamas_ or Peruvian sheep, placing their furnaces on the sides of mountains, that the wind mightrender their fires fierce. 

There is another sort of black ore, in which the silver does not atall appear; and which, when wetted and rubbed against iron, becomesred. This ore is called _rosicler_, signifying that ruddiness whichappears at the dawn of day. This is very rich, and affords the finestsilver. Another kind, called _zoroche_, glitters like talc, and isgenerally very poor, yielding little silver: Its outer coat is verysoft and of a yellowish red, but seldom rich; and the mines of thissort are wrought on account of the easiness of extracting the ore, being very easily dug. Another kind, not much harder than the last, isof a green colour, called _cobrissa_ or copperish, and is very rare. Although the silver usually appears in this kind, and it is almostmouldering, it is the most difficult of all to manage, as it partsvery difficultly with the silver. Sometimes, after being stamped orreduced to powder, it has to be burnt in the fire, and several otherexpedients must be used to separate the silver, doubtless becausemixed with copper. There is another very rare sort of ore, which hasonly been found in the mine of _Cotamiso_ at Potosi, being threads ofpure silver entangled, or wound up together, like burnt lace, and sofine that it is called _arana_, or spider ore, from its resemblance toa cobweb. 

The veins of _mineray_, of whatever sort they may be, are generallyricher in the middle than towards the edges; and where two veinshappen to cross each other, the place where they meet is always veryrich. It is also observed that those which lie north and south arericher than those which lie in any other direction. Those also whichare near to places where mills can be erected, and can consequentlybe more commodiously wrought, are often preferable to others that arericher, but require more expense in working. For this reason, at Lipesand Potosi, a chest of ore must yield ten marks or eighty ounces ofsilver, to pay the charges of working; while those in the province ofTarama only require five merks or forty ounces to defray the expences. When even very rich, and they happen to sink down so as to be liableto be flooded, the adventurers must have recourse to pumps andmachines in order to drain them; or to _cocabones_ or levels dugthrough the sides of the mountain, which often ruin the owners by theenormous expence they are insensibly drawn into. At some of the mines, where the methods of separation already described fail, they use othermeans of extracting the silver from the ore, and from other metalswhich may be combined with it; as by fire, or strong separatingwaters; and there the silver is cast into a sort of ingots, called_bollos_. But the most general and useful method is that alreadydescribed. 

It may naturally be supposed that mines, as well as other things, aresubject to variation in their productiveness. The mines which, tillvery lately, yielded most silver, were those of _Oroura_, a small townabout eight leagues from Arica. In the year 1712, one was discoveredat _Ollachea_ near Cusco, so rich that it yielded 2500 marks of silverof eight ounces each, or 20, 000 ounces, out of each _caxon_ or chest, being almost a fifth part of the ore; but it has since declined much, and is now [1720] only reckoned among the ordinary sort. Those ofLipes have had a similar fate. Those at Potosi now yield but little, and are worked at a very heavy expence, owing to their excessivedepth. Although the mines here are far diminished in theirproductiveness, yet the quantity of ore which has been formerlywrought, and has lain many years on the surface, is now thoughtcapable of yielding a second crop; and when I was at Lima, they wereactually turning it up, and milling it over again with great success. This is a proof that these minerals generate in the earth like allother inanimate things;[3] and it likewise appears, from all theaccounts of the Spaniards, that gold, silver, and other metals arecontinually growing and forming in the earth. This opinion is verifiedby experience in the mountain of Potosi, where several mines hadfallen in, burying the workmen and their tools; and these beingagain opened up after some years, many boxes and pieces of wood werediscovered, having veins of silver actually running through them. [4]

[Footnote 3: It is merely a proof that the ore had been formerly veryimperfectly managed, and still contained enough of silver to pay forextraction with profit, by more expert methods. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: This proves only change of place, by solution, infiltration, and deposition not growth, increase, or newproduction. --E. ]

All these mines become the property of their first discoverer, whoimmediately presents a petition to the magistrates, desiring to havesuch a piece of ground for his own. This is accordingly granted, anda spot of ground eighty Spanish yards in length by forty in breadth[5]is measured out and appropriated to the discoverer, who chuses whatspot he pleases within these bounds, and does with it as he thinksfit. The exact same quantity is then measured off as belonging to theking, and is sold to the best bidder, there being always many who arewilling to purchase, what may turn out an inestimable treasure. Afterthis, if any person may incline to work a part of this mine on his ownaccount, he bargains with the proprietor for a particular vein. Allthat is dug out by any one is his own, subject however to payment ofthe royal duties; being one-twentieth part for gold, and a fifth forsilver; and some proprietors find a good account in letting out theirgrounds and mills to others. 

[Footnote 5: In Harris this is said to be _about 1200 feet in length, and 100 in breadth_, which is obviously absurd; as the one measuregives the Spanish yard at 15 English feet, and the latter at 2-1/2feet. Both measures are probably erroneous; but there are no data fortheir correction. --E. ]

There are gold-mines just beyond the town of Copaipo, and in all thecountry around, which have attracted many purchasers and workmen tothat district, to the great injury and oppression of the Indians;as the Spanish magistrates not only take away their lands for thepurposes of mining, but their horses also, which they sell to thenew adventurers, under pretence of serving the king and improving thesettlements. There is also abundance of magnet and _lapiz lazuli_, of which the Indians know not the value; and some leagues within thecountry, there is plenty of salt and salt-petre, which often lies aninch thick on the ground. On the _Cordelieras_, about an hundred milesto the east, there is a vein of sulphur about two feet wide, so fineand pure that it needs no cleaning. This part of the country is fullof all sorts of mines, but so excessively barren, that the inhabitantshave to fetch all their subsistence from the country about Coquimbo, over a desert of more than 300 miles extent, in which the earthabounds so much in salt and sulphur that the mules often perish bythe way, for want of grass and fresh water. In that long road thereis only one river in the course of two hundred miles, which is named_Ancalulae_ or the Hyporite, because it runs only from sun-rise tosun-set. This is occasioned by the great quantities of snow melted onthe Cordelieras in the day, which freezes again by the excessive coldof the night. Hence _Chili_ is said to derive its name, as _chile_signifies cold in the Indian language; and we are told by the Spanishhistorians, that some of their countrymen and others, who first tradedto this country, were frozen to death on their mules; for which reasonthey now always travel by a lower road, towards the coast. 

The mine countries are all so cold and barren, that the inhabitantshave to procure most of their provisions from the coast; this iscaused by the exhalations of salts and sulphur from the earth, whichdestroy the growth of all vegetables. These are so stifling to theSpaniards who dwell about the mines, that they are obliged often todrink the _mattea_, or tea made of the herb _camini_, to moisten theirmouths. The mules also, that trip it nimbly over the mountains, areforced to walk slowly in the country about the mines, and have oftento stop to take breath. If these vapours are so strong without and inthe open air, what must they be within the bowels of the earth in themines, into which, if a fresh man go, he is suddenly benumbed withpain. This is the case with many, but seldom lasts above a day, andthey are not liable to be affected a second time: Yet vapours oftenburst forth suddenly, by which the workmen are killed on the spot;and one way or another, great multitudes of Indians die in working themines. One is apt to wonder that, through all this part of the world, those districts which are most barren and unwholesome are the bestinhabited; while other places, that seem to vie with our nations ofthe terrestrial paradise, in beauty and fertility, are but thinlypeopled. Yet, when one considers, that it is the thirst of wealth, notthe love of ease, which attracts people thither, the wonder ceases, and we see how much the hope of living rich gets the better even ofthe hope of living; as if the sole end for which man was created wasto acquire wealth, at the expence of health and happiness. 

In reference to these deserts, the following observation occurs to mymemory, as having happened when we were on the road to Piura. Whenwe lay down to sleep at night, our mules went eagerly in search of acertain root, not unlike a parsnip, but much bigger, which contains agreat deal of juice, and, besides serving as food, often answers asa substitute for water in the deserts. When the mules find these, andare unable to rake them out of the ground with their feet, they standover them and bray with all their might, till the Indians come totheir assistance. 

It is generally understood that silver is the peculiar wealth of Peru, and the Spaniards usually talk of gold-mines as confined to Chili: Yetthere are one or two _lavaderas_, or washing-places for gold in thesouth of Peru, near the frontiers of Chili. In 1709, two surprizinglylarge _pepitos_, or lumps of virgin gold, were found in one of theseplaces, one of which weighed complete thirty-two pounds, and waspurchased by the _Conde de Monclod_, then viceroy of Peru, andpresented by him to the king of Spain. The other, shaped somewhat likean ox's heart, weighed twenty-two pounds and a half; and was purchasedby the corregidor of Arica. In searching for these _lavadores_ orwashing places, they dig in the corners of some little brook, wherethey judge, from certain tokens, that the grains of gold are lodged. To assist in carrying away the earth or mud, they let in a stream orcurrent of water into the excavation, and keep stirring up the soil, that the water may carry it away. On reaching the golden sand, theyturn the stream another way, and dig out this sand, which is carriedon mules to certain ponds or basons, which are joined by small canals. Into these they introduce a smart stream of water, to loosen the earthand carry away the grosser part. The Indians stand in the basons orponds, stirring up the earth to assist the operation of the water, andthrowing out the stones. The gold remains at the bottom, still mixedwith a black sand, and is hardly to be seen till farther cleaned andseparated, which is easily done. These washing places differ much fromeach other. In some the grains of gold are as big as small shot; andin one belonging to the priests, near Valparaiso, some are found fromthe weight of two or three ounces to a pound and a half. This wayof getting gold is much better than from the mines, as it does notrequire expensive digging, neither are mills necessary for grindingthe ore, nor quicksilver for extracting the metal; so that both thetrouble and expence are much less. The Creoles are by no means so nicein washing their gold as are the people in Europe; but great plentymakes them careless, both in this and other matters. 

§ 6. _OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRADE OF CHILI. _

It is not intended in this place to give a description of the largekingdom of Chili, but only some account of the nature of its trade, and the manner in which that is connected with the general commerceof Peru, by which the wealth of Chili is transmitted to Europe. Chili extends in length about 1200 miles from north to south, but itsbreadth is uncertain. The air is very temperate and wholesome, unlesswhen rendered otherwise by pestilential exhalations, that are mostcommon after earthquakes, to which this country is peculiarly liable. The winter rains are very heavy, during the months of May, June, July, and August; after which, for eight months together, they have fineweather, generally speaking. The soil, where it admits of cultivation, is prodigiously fertile, and fruit-trees carried thither from Europecome to the greatest perfection, so that fruit is coming forward inits different stages at all times of the year; insomuch that it iscommon to see apple-trees, in the situation so much admired in orangetrees, having blossoms, fruit just set, green fruit, and ripe apples, all on one tree at the same time. The valleys, wherever they have anymoisture, wear a perpetual verdure; and the hills are covered withodoriferous herbs, many of which are very useful in medicine. Thecountry also produces trees of all sorts. Thus Chili, independent ofits gold-mines, may well be accounted one of the richest and finestcountries in the world. For instance, the town of Coquimbo, in lat. 30° S. [30° 20'] a short mile from the sea, in a most delightfulplace. It is situated on a green rising ground, about ten yards high, formed by nature like a regular terrace, stretching north and south ina direct line of more than half a mile, turning a little at each endto the eastwards; and its principal street forms a delightful walk, having a fine prospect of the country and the bay. All this is placedin an evergreen valley, and watered by a beautiful river, which risesin the mountains, and flows in a winding stream to the sea, throughbeautiful meadows and fertile vales. 

Notwithstanding its many advantages, this vast country is very thinlyinhabited; so that through its whole extent there are scarcely fivetowns deserving that appellation, and only one city, named St Jago. Through all the rest of the country there are only farms, called_estancias_, which are so remote from each other, that the wholecountry cannot muster 20, 000 whites capable of bearing arms, of whichSt Jago contains 2000. All the rest of the population consists ofmesticoes, mulattoes, and Indians, the number of whom may amount tothree times as many. [1] This is exclusive of the _friendly_ Indians tothe south of the river _Biobio_, who are reckoned to amount to 15, 000fighting men, but whose fidelity is not much to be depended upon. 

[Footnote 1: Allowing _eight_ persons of all ages and both sexesto _one_ fit to bear arms, this would give to Chili, in 1720, apopulation of 160, 000 whites, and 480, 000 of colour, or 640, 000 inall. --E. ]

The trade of this country is chiefly carried on by sea, and atpresent, 1720, is rather in a declining situation. The port ofBaldivia was formerly very famous, on account of the very richgold-mines which were wrought in its neighbourhood, which are now ina great measure disused. Hence it is now only kept as a garrison, serving to Peru as the fortresses on the coast of Barbary do toSpain, as a place to which malefactors are sent, to serve against theIndians. The trade of this place consists in sending ten or twelveships every year to Peru, laden with hides, tanned leather, salt meat, corn, and other provisions, which are to be had here in great plenty. 

The port of Conception is more considerable, by reason of its tradewith the Indians who are not under subjection to the crown of Spain. These Indians are copper-coloured, having large limbs, broad faces, and coarse lank hair. The nation of the _Puelches_ differs somewhatfrom the rest, as among them there are some who are tolerably white, and have some little colour in their cheeks; which is supposed to beowing to their having some Europeans blood in their veins, ever sincethe natives of this country revolted from the Spaniards, and cut offmost of their garrisons; on which occasion they preserved the women, and especially the nuns, by whom they had many children; who stillretain a sort of affection for the country of their mothers, and, though too proud to submit to the Spaniards, yet are unwilling to hurtthem. 

These _Puelches_ inhabit the ridge of mountains called _La Cordeliera_by the Spaniards, and as the manner of trading with them is verysingular, it may be proper to give some account of it. When theSpanish pedlar or travelling merchant goes into this country, hegoes directly to a caçique or chief, and presents himself before himwithout speaking a word. The caçique breaks silence first, sayingto the merchant, _Are you come?_ To which the merchant answers _I amcome. _ _What have you brought me?_ replies the caçique. To which themerchant rejoins, _Wine_, and such other things as he may have todispose of, wine being a necessary article. Upon which the caçiquenever fails to say, _You are welcome_. The caçique then appointsa lodging for the merchant near his own hut, where his wives andchildren, bidding him welcome, each demand a present, however small, which he accordingly gives. The caçique then gives notice to hisscattered subjects, by means of his horn or trumpet, that a merchantis arrived with whom they may trade. They come accordingly and seethe commodities, which are knives, axes, combs, needles, thread, smallmirrors, ribbons, and the like. The best of all would be wine, were itnot dangerous to supply them with that article; as, when drunk, theyare very quarrelsome and apt to kill one another, and it would notthen be safe to be among them. When they have agreed on the price, orbarter rather, they carry away all the articles without then makingpayment; so that the merchant delivers all his commodities withoutknowing to whom, or even seeing any of his debtors. When his businessis concluded, and he proposes to go away, the caçique commands paymentby again sounding his horn, and then every man honestly brings tothe merchant the cattle he owes for the goods received; and, asthese consist of mules, goats, oxen, and cows, the caçique commands asufficient number of men to conduct them to the Spanish frontiers. 

The far greater number of bullocks and cows that are slaughtered andconsumed every year in Chili, comes from the plains of Paraguay, [2]which are in a manner covered by them. The Puelches bring them throughthe plain of _Tapa-papa_, inhabited by the _Pteheingues_, [3] orunconquered Indians, this being the best pass for crossing themountains, as being divided into two hills of less difficult accessthan the others, which are almost impassable for mules. There isanother pass, about eighty leagues from Conception, at the volcano of_Silla Velluda_, which now and then casts out fire, and sometimes withso great a noise as to be heard even at that city. In that way thejourney is much shortened, and they can go to Buenos Ayres in sixweeks. By these communications they generally bring all the beeves andgoats, [4] which are slaughtered in Chili by thousands for their tallowand lard. This last consists of the marrow of the bones, which servesthroughout all South America instead of butter and oil, for makingsauces. The flesh is either dried in the sun, or by means of smoke, to preserve it for use, instead of salt as used in Europe. Theseslaughters also afford great quantities of hides, especiallygoat-skins, which they dress like Morocco leather, by them calledcordovanes, and is sent into Peru for making shoes, or other uses. 

[Footnote 2: Paraguay is here used in far too extensive a sense, as comprising the whole level country to the east of the Andes: Theplains of Cuyo are those alluded to in the text. --E. ]

[Footnote 3: The Pehneuches are probably here meant, who dwell on thewest side of the Andes, between the latitudes of 33° and 36° S. ThePuelches on the same side of the Andes, from 36° to 40°. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: Perhaps, instead of the goats in the text, _vicunnas_ought to be understood. --E. ]

Besides the trade of hides, tallow, and dried meat, the inhabitants ofConception send every year eight or ten ships of forty or fifty tonsto Calao laden with corn; besides supplying meal and biscuit to theFrench ships, which take in provisions there in order to proceedto Peru, and for their voyage back to France. All this were quiteinconsiderable for so fine a country, were it better peopled; sincethe land is so extraordinarily fertile, were it well cultivated, thatthey only scratch it for the most part, by means of a plough made of acrooked stick, and drawn by two oxen; and, though the seed be scarcelycovered, it produces seldom less than an hundred fold. Neither arethey at any more pains in procuring their vines, in order to make goodwine. Besides which, as they have not the art to glaze their jars inwhich the wine is secured, to make them hold in, they are under thenecessity of pitching them. And this, together with the goat-skin bagsin which it is carried from the estancias, gives it a bitter tastelike treacle, and a flavour to which it is hard for strangers toaccustom themselves. The grasses also are allowed to grow without anyattention or industry being employed in grafting. Apples and pearsgrow naturally in the woods, and in such abundance as it is hard tocomprehend how they could have so multiplied since the conquest, asthey affirm there were none in the country before. 

The mines of _Quilogoya_ and _Quilacura_ are within four leagues ofthis port, and afford vast quantities of gold. At the _Estancia delRe_, or king's farm, which is at no great distance, there is by farthe most plentiful _lavaders_, or washing-place for gold in all Chili, where sometimes they find lumps of pure gold of prodigious size. Themountains of the Cordelieras are reported to contain a continued chainof mines for many hundred miles, which certainly is highly probable, as hardly any of these mountains have hitherto been opened withoutvast quantities of metal being found in them, especially fine copper, of which all the artillery in the Spanish West Indies is constructed, at least all that are used in the countries on the South Seas. 

The most considerable port in Chili is Valparaiso, which is esteemedone of the best harbours on the whole coast of the South Sea. It lieson a river fifteen leagues below St Jago, the capital of Chili. [5]To this port all the riches of the mines on every side are brought, particularly from those of _Tiltil_, which are immensely rich, and aresituated between St Jago and Valparaiso. The gold here is found ina very hard stone, some of which sparkles and betrays the inclosedtreasure to the eye; but most of it does not shew the smallest signof gold, appearing merely a hard harsh stone of various colours, somewhite, some red, some black. This ore, after being broken in pieces, is grinded or stamped in a mill by the help of water, into a grosspowder, with which quicksilver is afterwards mixed. To this mixture abrisk stream of water is let in, which reduces the earthy matters to akind of mud, which is carried off by the current, the amalgam of goldand quicksilver remaining at the bottom, in consequence of its weight. This amalgam is then put into a linen bag, and pressed very hard, by which the greatest part of the mercury is strained off, and theremainder is evaporated off by the force of fire, leaving the gold ina little wedge or mass, shaped like a pine-apple, whence it is calleda _pinna_. This is afterwards melted and cast in a mould, to know itsexact weight, and to ascertain the proportion of silver that is mixedwith the gold, no farther process of refining being done here. Theweightiness of the gold, and the facility with which it forms anamalgam with the mercury, occasions it easily to part from the drossor earthy matters of the stone or matrix. This is a great advantageto the gold-miners, as they every day know what they get; but thesilver-miners often do not know how much they get till two monthsafter, owing to the tediousness of their operation, as formerlydescribed. 

[Footnote 5: This is a material error. Valparaiso is on no river, andlies forty English miles north from the river Maypo, on one of theupper branches of which, the Mapocho, St Jago is situated. --E. ]

According to the nature of these gold-mines, and the comparativerichness of the veins, every _caxon_, or chest of fifty quintals, yields four, five, or six ounces of gold. When it only yields twoounces, the miner does not cover his charges, which often happens; buthe sometimes receives ample amends, when he meets with good veins; andthe gold-mines are those which produce metals the most unequally. Infollowing a vein, it frequently widens, then becomes narrower, andthen seems to disappear, all within a small space of ground; and thissport of nature makes the miners live in continual hopes of findingwhat they call a _purse_, being the expanded end of a vein, which issometimes so rich as to make a man's fortune at once; yet this sameinequality sometimes ruins them, which is the reason that it is morerare to see a gold-miner rich than a silver-miner, or even one in anyother metal, although there be less expence in extracting gold fromthe mineral than any other metal. For this reason also the gold-minershave the particular privilege that they cannot be sued to execution incivil actions. Gold only pays a twentieth part to the king, whichduty is called _Covo_, from the name of a private individual at whoseinstance the duty was thus reduced, gold having formerly paid a fifth, as silver still does. 

On the descent of this mountain of _Tiltil_, there runs, during therainy season, a brisk stream of water, which passes through amongthe gold-ore, and washes away abundance of that rich metal, as itripens[6] and breaks from its bed. On this account, this stream isaccounted one of the richest lavaderos in all Chili for four monthsof every year; and well it may, as there are sometimes found in itpellets of gold of an ounce weight. At _Palma_, about four leaguesfrom Valparaiso, there is another rich lavadero; and every wherethroughout the country, the fall of a brook or rivulet is accompaniedby more or less of these golden showers, the richest of which fallinto the laps of the jesuits, who farm or purchase abundance of minesand lavaderos, which are wrought for their benefit by their servants. The soil in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso is exceedingly rich andfertile, so that forty ships go from thence yearly to Calao, ladenwith corn; yet that commodity still remains so cheap at this place, where money is so abundant, that an English bushel of wheat may bebought for less than three shillings. It would be still cheaper, couldall the country be cultivated; but as it has constant dry weather foreight months endurance, cultivation is only possible where they havebrooks or little rills in the vales coming from the mountains, whichcan be applied for irrigating or watering the cultivated land. 

[Footnote 6: That is, as the matrix or rock in which it is contained, moulders and decays by the influences of the weather and of thisstream; for the notion of ores ripening is a mere dream or fancy. --E. ]

There is a great trade carried on to all parts of Chili from theAtlantic ocean, by way of Buenos Ayres, whence the Chilese receivesome European goods, together with large sums in silver, in returnfor their commodities. This is perhaps the largest route of Indiancommerce in the world, as the road from Buenos Ayres to Potosi is 1500miles; and though the distance from Valparaiso be not above 160 milesmore, [7] yet it is attended with much greater difficulty, as thevast chain of mountains called the Cordelieras of the Andes has to bepassed, which can only be done during the three first months of theyear, the passes being impracticable at all other times. At thatseason the merchants come from Mendoza, an inland town about 300leagues from Buenos Ayres, and travel through the mountains to StJago. The passage of the mountains usually takes up six or seven days, though only about sixty leagues, and the travellers have not only tocarry their own provisions with them, but also the provender of theirmules, as the whole of that part of the road is a continued seriesof rocks and precipices, and all the country round so barren and soexposed to snows in winter, that it is utterly uninhabitable. Theremainder of the journey, from St Jago to the mines, and from thenceto Valparaiso, is both safe and pleasant; and in this the merchantshave nothing to fear, except staying too long, and losing theirpassage home through the mountains for that season, in which case theywould have to remain in Chili at least nine months longer than theyintended. 

[Footnote 7: In these estimates, Betagh has been very unfortunate, asthe direct distance from Buenos Ayres to Potosi does not exceed 1100miles, and the distance from Valparaiso, also in a straight line, ishardly 800 miles. --E. ]

On the whole, though a very great part of the enormous extent ofthe Spanish dominions in South America be absolutely desert, and thepeople in some of the inhabited parts do not acquire large fortunes, yet the Spanish settlers in Chili certainly procure immense richesyearly, as the country is but thinly inhabited, and all the golddrawn from the mines and lavadores must be divided among them. Itis evident, however, that the greater part of the inhabitants do notabound in wealth. Those among them who deal in cattle, corn, and theother productions of the country, only acquire moderate fortunes;and those who are concerned in the mines are frequently ruined bylaunching out into unsuccessful speculations, and by expensive living. Those who are easy in their circumstances, and retire to the city ofSt Jago, Jago, live in such a manner as sufficiently demonstratesthe riches of Chili; as all their utensils, even those of the mostordinary sort, are of pure gold, and it is believed that the wealthof that city cannot fall short of twenty millions. [8] Add to this, the gold-mines are continually increasing, and it is only for wantof hands that they are not wrought to infinitely more advantage; forthose already discovered and now neglected, would be sufficient toemploy 40, 000 men. It may also be observed, that the frauds practisedagainst the royal revenue are increasing daily, and, as the richesof the Spanish West Indies are measured by the amount of the royalrevenue, this must make them appear poorer than they are in reality. We have one instance of this in the mines of Potosi, which are said toproduce less silver than they did formerly; yet, on a computationfor fifty years, the annual revenue to the king has amounted, on theaverage, to 220, 000 _pesos_, of thirteen rials and a quarter yearly, which shews that the annual produce of these mines, so far as it haspaid the royal duty, amounts nearly to two million pieces of eight, or dollars, and it may be confidently asserted that the royal treasurydoes not receive above half of what is due: wherefore, from thisexample, the rest may be judged of. 

[Footnote 8: The coin or denomination is not specified: If dollars, at4s. 6d. , this would amount to four millions and a half sterling. --E. ]

§ 7. _SOME ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH INTERLOPERS IN CHILI. _

As the policy of Spain chiefly consists in endeavouring, by allpossible means, to prevent the riches of these extensive dominionsfrom passing into other hands, so the knowledge possessed by othernations of the great wealth of these countries, and of the greatdemand for European manufactures among their inhabitants, has excitedalmost every nation in Europe to devise every possible contrivance forcoming in for a share in these riches, and this with such effect, thatit is even questionable whether any considerable portion of the richesof the new world centres among the inhabitants of Old Spain. This maybe judged of from the following considerations: Even the trade carriedon from Spain to the new world is of much greater importance toforeigners than to the Spaniards themselves. For as Spain has fewcommodities of its own, and carries on scarcely any manufactures, theSpanish merchants at Cadiz have to make up their cargoes by means ofpurchases from other countries; or rather the Cadiz merchants are merefactors for the merchants of England, France, and Holland, whose goodsthey send to America, and pay them by the returns made in the Platefleets. Spain also is a country very ill provided with some of thenecessaries of life, and most of the conveniences; so that prodigioussums of the money brought from America have to be yearly exported forthe purchase of these. 

Besides such drawbacks as the above, to which the Spaniards willinglysubmit, there are many others which they are forced to endure: Forinstance, all the negroes they employ in their plantations, inwhich every kind of labour is performed by them, are purchased fromforeigners, particularly the English and Dutch, at a very largeannual expence; and, under pretence of furnishing them with negroes, aclandestine trade is carried on every year, along the whole coastsof their possessions on the Atlantic. In the South Sea, however, they were tolerably free from every thing except the depredationsof pirates, till the general war on account of the succession to thecrown of Spain, which created a new kind of contraband trade, unknownin former times, of which I now propose to give some account. 

The _French interlopers_ carried vast quantities of goods directlyfrom Europe into the South Seas, which till then had hardly ever beenattempted by any European nation. This was always viewed with an evileye by the court of Spain, as repugnant to the interests of Spain, anddiametrically opposite to the maxims of her government; but therewere many circumstances at that time which rendered this a kind ofnecessary evil, and obliged therefore the people of Old Spain tosubmit to it. As for the Creoles, they had European goods and at acheaper rate, and it did not give them much concern who it was thatreceived their money. The town of St Malo has always been noted forprivateers, and greatly annoyed the trade of the English and Dutchduring the whole reign of King William, and part of that of QueenAnne; and though some allege that money procured by privateering neverprospers, yet I may safely affirm that the people of St Malo are asrich and flourishing as any in all France. Privateering has thrivenso well among them, that all their South Sea trade has arisen fromthence; and, during the last war, they were so rich and generous, that they made several free gifts to Louis XIV. ; and so dexterous werethey, that though our Admiralty always kept a stout squadron inthe Atlantic, we were never able to capture one of their South-Seatraders. The reason of this was, that they always kept their shipsextremely clean, having ports to careen at of which we knew not. In1709, when I belonged to her majesty's ship the Loo, being one of theconvoy that year to Newfoundland, we saw and chased upon that coasta ship of fifty guns, which we soon perceived to be French-built; butshe crowded sail and soon left us. She had just careened at Placentia, and we wondered much to find such a ship in that part of the world. Weafterwards learnt, from some French prisoners, that she was a Frenchship bound to St Malo, having two or three millions of dollars onboard, and was then so trim that she trusted to her heels, and valuednobody. They went thus far to the north and west on purpose to havethe advantage of a westerly wind, which seldom failed of sending theminto soundings at one spirt, if not quite home. Since Placentiahas been yielded to Great Britain, they now use St Catherine andIslagrande, on the coast of Brasil, and Martinico in the West Indies. 

This trade succeeded so well, that all the merchants of St Maloengaged in it, sending every year to the number of twenty sail ofships. In 1721, I saw eleven sail of these together at one time on thecoast of Chili, among which were several of fifty guns, and one calledthe _Fleur-de-luce_, which could mount seventy, formerly a man-of-war. As this trade was contrary to the _Assiento_ treaty between GreatBritain and Spain, memorials were frequently presented against itat Madrid by the court of London; and the king of Spain, willing tofulfil his engagements to the king of England, resolved to destroythis contraband French trade. As there was no other way to accomplishthis but by sending a squadron of men-of-war into the South Sea, andas few of the Spaniards were acquainted with the navigation of CapeHorn, or could bear the extreme rigour of the climate, the court ofSpain was obliged to use foreigners on this expedition, and thefour ships sent oat were both manned and commanded by Frenchmen. Thesquadron consisted of the _Gloucester_, of 50 guns, and 400 men, the_Ruby_, of 50 guns, and 330 men, both of these formerly English shipsof war, the _Leon Franco_, of 60 guns, and 450 men, and a frigateof 40 guns, and 200 men. Monsieur _Martinet_, a French officer, wascommodore of this squadron, and commanded the _Pembroke_, [1] andMonsieur _La Jonquiere_ the Ruby. The French conducted the navigationround the cape very well, though in the middle of winter; but the lastship of the four, which was manned with Spaniards, could not weatherCape Horn, and was forced back to the Rio Plata, where she was castaway. As the Spaniards have little or no trade into any of the coldclimates, and are unused to hard work, it is not to be wondered thatthey failed on this occasion, especially considering the improperseason of the year. The Biscaneers, indeed, are robust enough fellows;and had the Leon Franco been manned with them, she had certainlydoubled the cape along with the other three ships; but the Spaniardsin general, since acquiring their possessions in America, have becomeso delicate and indolent, that it would be difficult to find an entireship's company capable to perform that navigation. 

[Footnote 1: No such name occurs, in enumerating the squadronimmediately before--E. ]

The vast advantage of the trade of Chili by way of Cape Horn, is soobvious, that his catholic majesty is obliged by treaty to shut outall the European nations from it, as well as the English, althoughhis own subjects make nothing of it, as it very rarely happens thata Spanish ship ventures to go round Cape Horn. Owing to this, allEuropean goods sell enormously dear in Chili and Peru; insomuch, thatI have been told at Lima, that they are often at 400 per cent. Profit, and it may be fairly asserted, that the goods carried from France byCape Horn are in themselves 50 per cent. Better than those sent inthe Cadiz _flota_ to Carthagena and Vera Cruz, because the former aredelivered in six months, fresh and undamaged, while the latter aregenerally eighteen months before they reach Chili. In the course ofthis trade, the French sold their goods, furnished themselves withprovisions, and got home again, all within twelve or fourteen months. 

When Martinet arrived on the coast of Chili in 1717, furnished with acommission from the king of Spain to take or destroy all the ships ofhis countrymen found trading in the South Sea, he soon had sufficientemployment for his squadron and of fourteen ships belonging to StMalo, then on the coast, only one escaped him, which lay hid in alandlocked creek unseen till he had gone to leeward. Although in thishe executed the orders of his catholic majesty, and did a materialbenefit to the British South Sea company, yet he almost ruined thetrading part of the Creole Spaniards, as hindering the circulation ofmoney and spoiling business, so that they could not bear the sightof the French men-of-war, though they liked the French merchant shipsvery much. On the other hand, imagining that they had done essentialservice to the Spaniards, the French expected to have received atleast civil treatment in return, during their stay in these seas. As soon, however, as Martinet brought his prizes into Calao, and theFrenchmen had received their shares of the prize-money, forgettingthe ancient antipathy of the Spaniards for the French, they gavethemselves extravagant airs on shore, by dancing and drinking, whichstill more incensed the creolians against them, who called themcavachos and renegados, for falling foul of their own countrymen. Fromone thing to another, their mutual quarrels grew so high, that theFrenchmen were obliged to go about Lima and Calao in strong armedparties, the better to avoid outrages and affronts. At last, a younggentleman, who was ensign of the Ruby, and nephew to Captain LaJonquiere, was shot from a window, and the murderer took refuge inthe great church of Calao. Martinet and La Jonquiere petitioned theviceroy to have the murderer delivered up to justice: But the viceroy, who was at the same time archbishop, would on no account consent toviolate the privileges of the church. On this refusal, they called alltheir men on board by beat of drum, and laid the broadsides of theirthree ships to bear on the town of Calao, threatening to demolishthe town and fortifications, unless the assassin were delivered upor executed. All this blustering, however, could not prevail upon theviceroy to give them any satisfaction, though they had several othermen killed, besides that gentleman. 

At length, unwilling to proceed to extremities, and no longer ableto endure the place where his nephew had been murdered, La Jonquiereobtained leave of his commodore to make the best of his way home. About this time, many _padros_ and many rich passengers were assembledat Conception in Chili, intending to take their passage to Europe inthe French squadron, knowing that all ships bound for Cape Horn musttouch at Conception, or some places thereabout, for provisions. La Jonquiere, having thus the start of his commodore, had all theadvantage to himself of so many good passengers in his ship; for, asthe king of Spain had no officer at Conception to register themoney shipped at that place, these passengers and missionaries putastonishing sums of money on board the Ruby. They were thereby sparedthe trouble of a voyage to Panama or Acapulco, and travelling thencefor Portobello or Vera Cruz, where they must have had their coffersvisited, to see if the _indulto_ of his majesty were fairly accountedfor. They therefore saved every shilling of that _indulto_, as theRuby touched first in France, where no cognizance whatever was takenof this affair. They also got clear of the other moiety payable inSpain, as they landed all their money in France. 

Besides these rich passengers and their money, the Ruby had also onboard a considerable sum arising to his catholic majesty from theconfiscation of the thirteen captured interlopers, all of which, as Iwas informed, amounted to four millions of dollars in that ship. Whata fine booty we missed therefore by the obstinacy of Shelvocke! For, when this ship, the Ruby, found us at the island of St Catharine, hercompany was so sickly that she had not above sixty sound men out offour hundred; so that La Jonquiere was actually afraid of us, andwould not send his boat to the watering-place, where we kept guard, and our coopers and sail-makers were at work, till he had firstobtained leave of our captain; neither is this strange, for he knew wehad a consort, and was in Spain all the time he staid there, lest theSuccess should have joined us. 

After Commodore Martinet had cleared the coast of Chili and Peruof his countrymen, he sent his brother-in-law, Monsieur de Grange, express with the news to Madrid, who went by way of Panama, Portobello, Jamaica, and London. On delivering his message, the kingof Spain asked what he could do for him, when he humbly requested hismajesty would give him the command of a ship, and send him again roundCape Horn into the South Sea. He accordingly got the Zelerin, of fiftyguns. He came first to _Calais_, [2] where the ship was getting ready, and was surprised to meet with a cold reception from the Frenchmerchants and other gentlemen of his acquaintance residing there; for, as there were merchants of various nations interested in the shipstaken and confiscated in the South Sea, they universally consideredhim and all the French in that squadron as false brethren, for servingthe crown of Spain to the prejudice of their own countrymen. Thus, while he expected to have had a valuable cargo consigned to his care, no man would ship the value of a dollar with him. Captain Fitzgerald, who was then at _Cales_, made him a considerable offer for theprivilege of going out as his second officer, with liberty to take outwhat goods he might be able to procure, in his own name. As de Grangewas not a little embarrassed, he accepted this offer, and procured acommission for Fitzgerald as second captain. They accordingly mannedthe Zelerin chiefly with French seamen, and some English, and got verywell round Cape Horn. At this time our two privateers, the Success andSpeedwell, were known to be in the South Seas, and the Zelerin wasone of the ships commissioned by the viceroy of Peru to cruize forus. Fitzgerald sold all his goods to great advantage at Lima, where hecontinued to reside; while de Grange served as captain under AdmiralDon Pedro Miranda, who took Hately and me prisoners. 

[Footnote 2: This, certainly, is a mistake for Cadiz, often namedCales by English seamen; and, in fact, only a few lines lower down, the place is actually named Cales. --E. ]

Though great sufferers by so many confiscations, the merchants of StMalo were not entirely discouraged; for, in the year 1720, we foundthe Solomon of St Malo, of 40 guns, and 150 men, at _Ylo_, on thecoast of Chili, with several Spanish barks at her stern. In the courseof six weeks, she sold all her cargo, got in a supply of provisions, and left the coast without interruption, as by this time Martinet'ssquadron had left the coast. Encouraged by the success of the Solomon, the merchants of St Malo fitted out fourteen sail together, all ofwhich arrived in the South Sea in the beginning of the year 1721. Three of the commanders of these ships, being well acquainted with thecreolians, quickly sold their cargoes and returned home. About thistime, the people of Lima judged that our privateers were gone off thecoast, or at least would not commit any more hostilities, becauseof the truce between the two crowns. Wherefore, the three Spanishmen-of-war that had been fitted out to cruize against us, were orderedagainst these fresh interlopers. I was on board the Flying-fish, anadvice-boat that accompanied the men-of-war, when they came up witheleven sail of the St Malo ships, which were then altogether on thecoast of Chili, and, instead of firing on them, the Spaniards joinedthem as friends. At first, expecting to have been attacked, the Frenchships drew up in a line, as if daring the ships of war. This seemed tome somewhat strange, that three such ships, purposely fitted out forthis cruize, should decline doing their duty on their own coasts; for, had they proved too weak, they had ports of their own to retireto, under their lee. But the ships of war contented themselves withwatching the motions of the interlopers, keeping them always in sight;and when any of the French ships drew near the shore, the Spaniardsalways sent a pinnace or long-boat along with her, carrying theSpanish flag, the sight of which effectually deterred the creoliansfrom trading with the French. In this manner they contrived to preventall these ships from disposing of their goods, except when theywere met with at sea by chance, and sold some of their commoditiesclandestinely. At length, completely tired out by this closesuperintendence, the French got leave to take in provisions, and wenthome, at least half of their goods remaining unsold. Notwithstandingthese losses and disappointments, and severe edicts issued againstthis trade in France, the merchants of St Malo still persist to carryit on, though privately, nor is it probable they will ever leave offso lucrative a commerce, unless prevented by the strong arm of power, or supplanted by some other nation. 

§ 8. RETURN OF BETAGH TO ENGLAND. 

I now return to my own affairs, and the manner of my return to Englandfrom Peru. I have already acknowledged the kind reception I met withfrom the admiral of the South Seas, Don Pedro Miranda, and the reasonsof his treating us so civilly. I think it barely justice to mentionthe several favours I received, during the eleven months that Icontinued at Lima, particularly from Don Juan Baptista Palacio, anative of Biscay, a knight of the order of St Jago, who came weeklyto the prison while we were there, and distributed money to us all, inproportion to our several ranks. Captain Nicholas Fitzgerald procuredmy enlargement, by becoming security for me; and he afterwardssupplied me with money and necessaries, from that time till mydeparture; and procured for me and twenty more, a passage to Cadiz, ina Spanish advice-boat called the Flying-fish, of which our surgeon'smate, Mr Pressick, acted as surgeon, receiving wages, as did therest of our men, being released from prison expressly to assist innavigating that vessel home to Spain. For my own part, being welltreated, I did not think proper to eat the bread of idleness, but keptmy watches as well as the other officers. And pray, what is the harmof all this? Though Shelvocke had the stupidity to call it treason;it must surely appear a very malicious, as well as an ignorant charge, after a man has been driven among the enemy, to call him a traitorbecause he has been kindly used, and for accepting his passage backagain; and, because I was not murdered in Peru, I ought to beexecuted at home. This is Shelvocke's great Christian charity and goodconscience![1]

[Footnote 1: After all, had the Flying-fish been captured by a Britishcruizer, Betagh would have run great risk of being found guilty oftreason for _keeping his watches_. --E. ]

On my arrival at Cadiz, captain John Evers of the Britannia kindlygave me my passage to London, and entertained me at his own table. Onmy return to London, and representing the hardships I had undergone, nine honourable persons made me a present of ten guineas each; whichafforded me the satisfaction of seeing, that such as were the bestjudges, had a proper idea of the miseries I had suffered, and approvedthe manner in which I had behaved, the only consolation I couldreceive in the circumstances in which I was left by that unfortunatevoyage. The fair account I have given of facts, and the detail of myproceedings in the Spanish West Indies, together with the account ofwhat I observed worthy of notice during my stay in these parts, will acquit me, I hope, in the opinion of every candid and impartialperson, from the aspersions thrown upon me by Shelvocke, in theaccount he has published of his voyage. 

 * * * * *

_Note. _

"Betagh has fully shewn, that the navigation round Cape Horn is nosuch dangerous or wonderful voyage. If twenty ships from St Malo couldperform it in one year, and not a single vessel either shipwrecked orforced to put back, what shall hinder an English ship or an Englishfleet from doing the same? We see from the foregoing account, with howmuch ease the French carried on a prodigious trade to the South Seas, at a time when the appearance of an English ship there was esteemeda prodigy. We certainly can send our frigates there, as well as theFrench can their ships from St Malo; and it might be well worth thewhile of our merchants to send out ships to the coasts of Chili andPeru, laden with proper goods for that country. "--_Harris. _

In the present day, this trade to the coasts of Chili and Peru hasbeen resumed by the citizens of the United States; but the subjectsof Britain are debarred from even attempting to take a share, becausewithin the exclusive limits of the East India Company; although theirships never come nearer to the western coast of America than Cantonin China, at the enormous distance of 174 degrees of longitude, and59 degrees of latitude, counting from Canton in China to Conception inPeru, or upwards of _twelve thousand English miles_. It is certainlyat least extremely desirable, that a trade of such promise should notremain any longer prohibited, merely to satisfy a punctilio, withoutthe most distant shadow of benefit to the India Company, or to thenonentity denominated the South-sea Company. --_Ed. _

CHAPTER XIII. 

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY COMMODORE ROGGEWEIN, IS 1721-1723. [1]

INTRODUCTION. 

There was, perhaps, no country in the world where commerce was moreprofitable, or held more honourable, than in Holland, or where morerespect and attention was shewn to it by the government. As therepublic chiefly subsisted by trade, every thing relating to it wasconsidered as an affair of a public nature, in which the welfareof the state was concerned, and highly deserving therefore of thestrictest and readiest attention. The great companies in Holland, as in other countries, were considered as injurious to trade insome lights, yet necessary to its welfare in others. The _West IndiaCompany_ of that country, originally erected in 1621, held, by anexclusive charter, the commerce of the coast of Africa, from thetropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, and that of America, fromthe southern point of Newfoundland in the N. E. All along the easterncoast to the Straits of Magellan or Le Maire, and thence northwardsagain along the western coast, to the supposed Straits of Anian, thusincluding the entire coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Thedirectors of this company consisted of seventy-two persons, dividedinto five chambers, of whom eighteen were chosen to administer theaffairs of the Company, together with a nineteenth person, nominatedby the States-General. 

[Footnote 1: Harris, I. 256. Callender, III. 644. ]

The affairs of this Company were once in so very flourishing acondition, that it was considered as even superior to their East IndiaCompany. This prosperity was chiefly owing, to the happy success oftheir affairs at sea; as their admiral, Peter Haines, in the 1629, captured the Spanish plate fleet, laden with immense riches. They atone time made themselves masters of the greatest part of Brazil; andwere so considerable that the great Count Maurice of Nassau did notthink it beneath him to accept a commission from this Company asGovernor-General of Brazil; which country, however, after it had costthem immense sums to defend, they at length lost. The term of theircharter, originally limited to twenty-four years, expired in 1647, and was then renewed for other twenty-five years. During this secondperiod, their affairs became so perplexed, so that the Company wasdissolved towards the close of that term, with its own consent. 

In 1674, a new company was erected, by letters patent from theStates-General, with nearly the same powers and privileges, which hassubsisted ever since with great reputation. [2] The capital of thisnew company consisted of six millions of florins, which are equalto 545, 454l. 10s. 10d. 10-11ths sterling. And the limits of theirauthority are the western coast of Africa and both coasts of America, all the establishments of the Dutch in these countries being undertheir authority, so that any one who proposes a new scheme of commercein those parts, must necessarily apply himself to that company. Underthese circumstances, a Mr Roggewein, a person of parts and enterprize, formed a project for the discovery of the vast continent and numerousislands, supposed to be in the southern part of the globe, under thename of _Terra Australis Incognita_, of which the world had hithertoonly very imperfect notices from others; which project, with a planfor carrying the discovery into execution, they presented to the Dutch_East_ India Company[3] in 1696, by which it was favourably received, and he was assured of receiving all the assistance and support hecould desire or expect, as soon as the affairs of the Company wouldpermit. But the disturbances which soon afterwards followed put a stopto the good intentions of the Company; and Mr Roggewein died beforeany thing could be done. Mr Roggewein was a gentleman of the provinceof Zealand, who had addicted himself from his youth to mathematicalstudies, and we have reason to suppose recommended his projecteddiscovery on his death-bed to his son. 

[Footnote 2: This refers to the year 1743, when Harris wrote: Itis hardly necessary to say, that Holland and its great commercialcompanies are now merely matters of history. --E. ]

[Footnote 3: From what goes both before and after, this seems amistake for the _West_ India Company. --E. ]

After the death of his father, the younger Roggewein applied to hisstudies with much vigour, and qualified himself for the office ofcounsellor in the court of justice at Batavia, where he residedfor many years. After his return from Java, where he had acquired ahandsome fortune, he resolved upon carrying his father's projecteddiscovery into execution; and, in the year 1721, presented a memorialto the West India Company, narrating the proposal of his fatherfor discovering the southern continent and islands, which they hadformerly been pleased to approve of, and which he was now ready toattempt. The Company received this memorial with readiness; and, asits affairs were now in better order, acquainted Mr Roggewein, that itwould give immediate orders for equipping such a squadron as mightbe necessary for carrying his design into effect. The squadronaccordingly fitted out on this occasion consisted of three ships: TheEagle of 36 guns and 111 men, commanded by Captain Job Coster, and inwhich Mr Roggewein embarked as Commodore; the Tienhoven of 28 guns and100 men, commanded by Captain James Bowman; and the African, a galleyarmed with 14 guns, and carrying 60 men, commanded by Captain HenryBosenthal. 

It may be proper to acquaint the reader, that the subsequent accountof this voyage is derived from an original journal, which neverappeared before in our language, for which I was indebted to thegentleman who commanded the land-forces on board the Commodore, andwhose name I am not at liberty to mention; neither that of anothergentleman who was engaged in the voyage, and from whom I receivedconsiderable assistance. The nature of the expedition is sufficientin itself to recommend it to the notice of the curious; and the manyremarkable particulars it contains, especially respecting the state ofthe Dutch Company in the Indies, renders it both a very entertainingand a most instructive performance. 

Before proceeding to the narrative of this voyage, I hope to beindulged in making a few remarks, which may contribute both toamusement and information, and may clear up some points that mightotherwise appear obscure in the following voyage. It is worthobserving, that the Dutch West India Company had been long in adeclining condition; which, instead of dispiriting the Directors, engaged them to turn their thoughts to every method that could bedevised for recovering their affairs. There is so wide a differencebetween our English great chartered companies and those [formerly]in Holland, that it may not be amiss to give a concise account of theflourishing state of that Company, as it may shew what great thingsmay be managed by a board of merchants, for such the Directorsgenerally were. 

It appears, from the books of the Company, that, in the space ofthirteen years, from 1623 to 1636, the Company had fitted out 800ships, either for war or trade, and that the expence of building, equipping, and seamen's wages had cost forty-five millions of florins, or upwards of _four millions_ sterling: And, in the same space oftime, the Company had taken from the enemy 545 vessels, valued at_sixty millions_ of florins, or nearly _five and a half millions_sterling; besides to the value of _thirty millions_ at the least, ornearly _two millions and a quarter_ sterling, in spoils of variousdenominations. The greatest of their exploits was the capture of theSpanish _flota_ at the Havannah, by their admiral Peter Heyne; bywhich they gained seven millions of dollars in money, or L. 2, 625, 000sterling; besides ships, brass cannon, and other military stores, tothe value of above ten millions. [4] Such were the flourishing times ofthe Company. 

[Footnote 4: Harris does not say whether dollars or florins: If theformer, equal to L. 2, 250, 000 sterling at 4s. 6d. The dollar; if thelatter, a little above L. 900, 000 sterling at 11 florins to the poundsterling; both of these the old par of exchange. --E. ]

The causes of their decay seem to have been principally the following. _First_, their emulation of the East India Company, which inducedthem to make the conquest of Brazil from Portugal, the crown of whichcountry had been usurped by their arch enemy the king of Spain. Thiswas achieved at a vast expence, and Count Maurice of Nassau wasappointed governor-general, who conducted their affairs with greatskill and prudence. _Secondly_, owing to the desire of the Companyto conduct all things, and repining at the expence incurred bythat prince in the government of Brazil, was another cause of theirmisfortunes: For the merchants, who had conducted their affairs withgreat wisdom and capacity, while they confined themselves to commerceand maritime war, shewed themselves only indifferent statesmen, andsoon lost all that Prince Maurice had gained, and loaded the Companywith so heavy a debt, as compelled them in the end to consent to itsdissolution. 

The new West India Company, warned by the example of its predecessors, has kept more within bounds, and has certainly managed its affairswith great prudence and economy. Having formed a project in 1714, for uniting the East and West India Companies into one, [5] and theproposition, being rejected, the directors of the West IndiaCompany very wisely turned their thoughts another way; and it is notimprobable, that the rejection of their proposal on this occasionmay have induced them to give encouragement to the proposition ofRoggewein: For, being disappointed in their aim of coming in for ashare in the commodities of the East Indies, they were desirous ofacquiring the same articles of trade by some other means, expecting tohave found these in the continent or islands proposed to be discoveredby Roggewein. This also accounts for the extraordinary heat andviolence of the Dutch East India Company, against those who wereengaged on the present expedition, and is the true secret of thedispute so warmly carried on by the two Companies, and so wiselydecided by the States-General. When the Dutch East India Companypersecuted and destroyed Le Maire for his voyage of discovery, under pretence of interfering within their exclusive boundaries, thegovernment did not interfere, because at that time the power of theEast India Company was of the highest importance to the state: But, as the government of Holland became better established, and especiallysince a share in the public administration has been acquired by suchas are conversant in trade, the concerns of the East India Companyhave been viewed in a new light. The first who explained this matterclearly was that consummate statesman and true patriot, John de Witte, whose words are most worthy the attention of the reader. 

[Footnote 5: A long, indistinct, and uninteresting account of thisproject is here omitted, which Harris alleges might have transferredthe whole commerce of Europe to the Dutch, but for which opinion headvances no substantial reasons, or rather none at all. --E. ]

"When the East India Company had attained to a certain extent of powerand grandeur, its interests came not only to clash with, but grewabsolutely opposite to those of the country. For, whereas theadvantage of the nation consists in the increase of manufactures, commerce, and freight of ships; the interests of the Company are topromote the sale of foreign manufactures, and that with the smallestextent of traffic and navigation that can be contrived. Hence, ifthe East India Company can gain more by importing Japan cloths, Indiaquilts, carpets, and chintzes, than by raw silk; or, if the Company, by creating an artificial scarcity of nutmegs, mace, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices, can raise their price so as to gain as much profitby the sale of 100 tons, as it would otherwise gain by the sale of1000 tons, we are not to expect that it will import raw silks, or beat the expence of transporting 1000 tons of spice; though the formerwould assist and encourage our manufactures at home, and the latterwould increase our navigation. 

This chain of reasoning is so plain, and so evidently agrees with theinterests of all nations, as well as with those of Holland, that itis impossible for any unprejudiced person not to discern that allexclusive companies destroy, instead of promoting, the commerce ofthe countries in which they are established. The same great statesmanalready quoted observes, "That the more any country extends itsforeign conquests, the more of its stock must necessarily be spent, for the preservation and defence of these conquests: And consequently, by how much the greater are its dominions, so much the less is thatcompany able to prosecute the trade, for the promotion of which it waserected. "[6]--_Harris. _

[Footnote 6: The remarks of Harris on this voyage are extended to afar greater length than have been here adopted, and are many of themloose and uninteresting; but some of those here inserted have a strongreference to a most important subject now under consideration of thelegislature; and the notices respecting the Dutch West India Companiesare curious in themselves, as well as upon a subject very little knownin this country. 

The subject of this voyage round the world is principally exhaustedin the _seven_ first sections; all those subsequent being chiefly adetail of the Indian settlements of the Dutch East India Company, asit was in the year 1722, almost a century ago. These certainly mighthave been omitted on the present occasion, without injury to thepresent article, as a _circumnavigation_: But, as conveying aconsiderable mass of information, respecting the _Dutch possessions inIndia_, now all belonging to Britain, and respecting which hardly anything has been published in the English language, it has been deemedindispensable to preserve them. --E. ]

SECTION I. 

_Narrative of the Voyage from Holland to the Coast of Brazil. _[1]

The small squadron of three ships, already enumerated, sailedfrom Amsterdam on the 16th July, 1721, and arrived at the Texel inthirty-six hours, where they were provided with every thing requisitefor so long a voyage. All things being in readiness, they sailed witha fair wind on the 21st August; but, as the wind changed next day, they were three days in beating to windward through the Britishchannel, after which they continued their course to the S. W. For thecoast of Barbary, but were opposed by a heavy storm which did themconsiderable damage. To this a dead calm succeeded, during which thewater ran mountains high, owing to agitation they had been thrown intoby the storm. By the rolling of the ships during the calm, severalinjuries were sustained, one of the vessels losing its main-top-mastand mizen-mast; and the main-yard of the Commodore came down with suchforce as to wound several of the people on deck. After two days thewind freshened again, and they continued their course S. W. Towards theCanaries, amusing themselves with observing the manner in which theflying-fish endeavours to escape from its enemies, the albicores andbonitoes. The _flying-fish_ are not larger than a herring, and raisethemselves into the air by means of two long fins, one on each side, not much unlike the wings of a bat in strength and texture. They areconsidered as good eating, and the sailors are always well pleasedwhen they are met with in plenty. The _bonito_ is about two feet long, of a greyish colour, finely streaked from head to tail; but the fleshis hard, dry, and disagreeably tasted. The _albicore_ is generallyfive or six feet long, and sometimes weighs 150 pounds. They sawlikewise several water-fowls, particularly _teal_, which the seamenaccount a sign of land being near. 

[Footnote 1: In the various steps of this voyage, the merelyuninteresting journal or log-book incidents have been materiallyabbreviated. --E. ]

While in lat. 28° N. And soon expecting to see the Canaries, a sailwas descried from the mast-head carrying English colours. On drawingnear she struck her colours and bore away, but re-appeared in about anhour, having four sail more in her company, sometimes carrying white, sometimes red, and sometimes black colours, which gave reason tosuspect that they were pirates. The Commodore immediately made thesignal for the line of battle, and all hands went to work in clearingthe ship for action, filling grenades, and preparing every thing forthe ensuing engagement, in which they fortunately had the advantageof the weather-gage. Observing this, the pirates put themselves intoa fighting posture, struck their red flag, and hoisted a black one, onwhich was a death's head in the centre, surmounted by a powder horn, and two cross bones underneath. They likewise formed the line, andcommenced a smart action. The pirates fought very briskly for sometime, as believing the Dutch ships to be merchantmen; but after twohours cannonade, perceiving the Commodore preparing to board thevessel to which he was opposed, the pirates spread all their canvass, and crowded away as fast as they could sail. Commodore Roggewein, onseeing them bear away, called out, _Let the rascals go:_ In which hestrictly obeyed his instructions; as all the ships belonging to theDutch East and West India Companies have strict orders to pursue theircourse, and never to give chase. In this action, four men were killed, and nine wounded in the Commodore, the other two ships having sevenslain and twenty-six wounded. The carpenters also had full employmentin stopping leaks, and repairing the other damages sustained. 

Continuing their voyage, they had sight of Madeira on the 15thNovember, and in the neighbourhood saw a desert island which is muchfrequented by the pirates, for wood and water and other refreshments. They afterwards had sight of the Peak of Teneriffe, which is generallyesteemed the highest single mountain in the world, on which accountthe geographers of Holland adopt it as the first meridian in theirmaps and charts; while the French and English of late incline tofix their first meridians at their respective capitals of Paris andLondon. These differences are apt to create much confusion in thelongitudes of places, when not explained by the writers who use theseseveral modes of reckoning; on which account Lewis XIII. Of France, byedict in 1634, endeavoured to obviate this inconvenience, by directingthe first meridian to be placed in the island of Ferro, the mostwesterly of the Canaries. [1] From these islands they directed theircourse for the islands of Cape Verde, so named from Cabo Verde, orthe Green Cape, a point or mountain on the coast of Africa, called_Arlinarium_ by Ptolemy. 

[Footnote 1: The Royal Observatory at Greenwich is now the firstmeridian in British maps and globes, from which St Paul's in London is0° 5' 37" W. The observatory of Paris 2° 20' E. Teneriffe peak 16° 40'W. And Ferrotown 17° 45' 50" W. ]

This cape is bounded by two rivers, the Senegal and Gambia, called bythe ancients the _Garatius_ and _Stachiris_. It has an island to thewest, which is frequented by an infinite number of birds, the eggs ofwhich are frequently gathered by mariners going this way. This cape isdangerous to land upon, because of a great many sunken rocks aboutit. The continent is here inhabited by negroes, who trade with allnations, and speak many languages, especially French and Portuguese. Most of them go naked, except a piece of cloth about their middle, buttheir princes and great men wear long garments of calico stripedwith blue, and made like shifts; they hang also little square bags ofleather on their arms and legs, but we could not learn of them whatthese bags contain. [2] They wear necklaces made of sea-horses teeth, alternating with glass beads; and have caps of blue and white stripedcalico on their heads. They are a prudent and wise people, cultivatingtheir soil, which bears good rice and other articles sufficient fortheir maintenance; and the richer people keep cattle, which are verydear, as being scarce. They have many good blacksmiths, and iron ismuch, valued among them, being forged into fish-spears, implements forcultivating the ground, and various weapons, as the heads of arrows, darts, and javelins. Their religion seems to border on Mahometism, asthey are all circumcised; but they have little knowledge of the trueGod, except among a few who converse with Christians. They are verylascivious, and may have as many wives as they please; but the womenare seldom contented with one husband, and are passionately fond ofstrangers. The whole country is under subjection to the governorsor head-men of the various towns and villages, who row on board suchships as arrive, making them pay customs. Several Portuguese residehere, who trade freely with all nations, but have no power orauthority, except over their own slaves and servants. 

[Footnote 2: These are called _obi_, containing a varietyof ridiculous trash, and are held in superstitious esteem asamulets. --E. ]

Having the advantage of a strong N. E. Wind, they took their departurefrom Cape de Verde, and continued their course for six weeks, withoutcoming to anchor or handing a sail. In this long passage, they hadsome days in which the heat was almost insupportable, and the crewbegan to murmur excessively on account of being at short allowance ofwater. On this occasion one of the swabbers got into the hold, and, being extremely thirsty, pierced a cask of brandy, of which he pulled, so heartily that he was soon intoxicated to a degree of madness. Inthis condition he staggered into the cook-room, where he threw down apan of grease, and being sharply reproved by the cook, drew his knifeand rushed upon him. Some of the crew gathered about him and wrenchedthe knife out of his hand, but not till he had drawn it two or threetimes across the cook's face. For this they drubbed him soundly, whichhe resented so deeply that he seized a knife as soon as he got loose, and gave himself several stabs in the belly. The utmost care was takenof his recovery, in order to make him a public example, to preventsuch actions in future among the crew; and after his recovery hewas punished in the following manner. Being declared infamous atthe fore-mast, he was thrice keel-hauled, and had 300 strokes on thebuttocks, after which his right hand was fastened to the mast with hisown knife. When he had stood some time in this condition, he was putin chains on the fore-castle, being allowed nothing but bread andwater for some days; and was continued in irons to be set on shore atthe first barren island they came to. 

Continuing their voyage till near the line, they were much incommodedby the shifting of the wind; and by scarcity of water, many of thecrew falling ill of the scurvy. When it sometimes fell entirely calm, the heat of the sun became more than ordinarily oppressive, owing towhich some of the men became quite distracted, others fell into highfevers, and some had fits like the epilepsy. Their water, as it grewlow, stunk abominably, and became full of worms. The salt provisionswere in a manner quite spoiled, and served only to turn their stomachsand increase their thirst. Hunger is said to be the greatest oftorments, but they had reason to consider thirst as the greatestmisery incident to human nature. At this time they often observedtowards evening that the sea appeared all on fire; and taking up somebuckets of water in this condition, they observed that it was full ofan infinite number of little globules, of the size, form, and colourof pearls. These retained their lustre for some time when held in thehand, but on pressure seemed nothing more than an earthy fat substancelike mud. 

They at length crossed the line, with the loss only of one man, whodied of a high fever; and on getting into the latitude of 3° S. Theyfell into the true trade-wind, before which they scudded along at agreat rate. In lat. 5° S. They had the sun directly vertical, so thatthey were some days without any observation. In 6° S. They caughtmany dorados and dolphins, both, in the opinion of the author of thisvoyage, being the same fish, of which the dolphin is the male andthe dorado the female. Some of these are six feet long, but not ofproportional bulk. In the water they appear excessively beautiful, their skins shining as if streaked with burnished gold; but lose theirsplendid appearance on being taken out of the water. Their flesh isvery sweet and well flavoured, so that the seamen always feast whenthey can procure plenty of this fish. They saw also abundance ofsharks, many of which are ten feet long. Their flesh is hard, stringy, and very disagreeably tasted; yet the seamen frequently hang them upin the air for a day or two, and then eat them: Which compliment thesurviving sharks never fail to return when a seaman falls in theirway, either dead or alive, and seem to attend ships for that purpose. 

SECTION II. 

_Arrival in Brazil, with some Account of that Country. _

Coming near the coast of Brazil, their design was to have anchoredat the island _Grande_, but finding they had passed that island, theycontinued their course till off Porto, in lat. 24° S. Where they cameto anchor. Some of the ship's company of the commodore then got intothe boat in order to go shore, both for the purpose of procuring woodand water and other refreshments, and in order to bury one of theirseamen who had died. Before they could get on shore, they descried abody of Portuguese well armed moving along the coast, who seemedto prevent them from landing, and beckoned the Dutch to keep off, threatening to fire if they attempted to land: But, on shewing themthe dead body, they allowed them to land, and even shewed them a placein which to inter their dead companion. Being desirous of procuringsome intelligence, the Dutch asked many questions about the country, but could only get for answer, that Porto was an advanced port to StSebastian, not marked in the charts, and that they were inhabitantsof Rio Janeiro, which lay at the distance of eight miles. [1] The Dutchendeavoured to persuade them to go on board the commodore, but theyrefused, fearing they might be pirates, which frequently used to comeupon the coast, and, under pretence of getting fresh water, would landand pillage any of the little towns near the sea. 

[Footnote 1: There must be a considerable mistake here in regard tothe latitude of Porto, said to be in 21° S. As Rio Janeiro is inlat. 22° 54' S. And must therefore have been eighty leagues distant. Perhaps the eight miles in the text, as the distance to Rio Janeiro, ought to have been eighty leagues or Dutch miles. --E. ]

About six months before the arrival of Roggewein at this place, apirate had been there, and, while the crew were preparing to make adescent, a French ship of force arrived, which sent her to the bottomwith one broadside. She sank in thirteen fathoms, and as she wassupposed to have seven millions on board, [2] they had sent for diversfrom Portugal, in order to attempt recovering a part of her treasure. However, by dint of entreaties and the strongest possible assurance ofsafety, two of them were prevailed upon to go on board the commodore, where they were very kindly treated, and had clothes given them, bywhich they were induced to carry the squadron into a safe port, whichwas most serviceable to men in their condition, almost worn out withfatigues, and in a manner destroyed for want of water. 

[Footnote 2: This is a most inconclusive mode of expression, perhapsmeaning Dutch florins, and if so, about £636, 363 sterling. --E. ]

The harbour of Porto affords good anchorage in from six to eightfathoms. In entering it on the S. W. The main land is on the right, anda large island on the left, all the coast appearing very high land, consisting of mountains and intermediate vallies, overgrown with treesand shrubs. Porto is in a pleasant situation, but at this time hadno inhabitants. They caught here both fish and tortoises of exquisiteflavour, and so very nourishing, that about forty of the people whowere ill of the scurvy, recovered very fast. Having remained there twodays, in which time they supplied themselves with wood and water, theyweighed anchor, and in six leagues sailing to the S. W. Came into theroad of St Sebastian. Just when entering the mouth of the river aviolent storm arose, on which they had to drop their anchors, lestthey had been driven on the rocks, and to wait the return of the tidein that situation. They entered the port next day, and came to anchorjust before the town, which they saluted, but without being answered, either because the Portuguese guns were not in order, of because theinhabitants were not pleased, with their arrival, suspecting them ofbeing pirates, though under the Dutch flag. In order to remove theseapprehensions, Roggewein wrote to the governor, informing him whatthey were, and desiring to be furnished with cattle, vegetables, fruits, and other refreshments for payment, also requesting the useof a few huts on shore for the recovery of the sick men. The governormade answer, that these things were not in his power, as he wassubordinate to the governor of Rio de Janeiro, to whom he shoulddispatch an express that evening, and hoped the commodore would givehim time to receive the orders of his superior officer. But Roggeweinwas by no means satisfied with this answer, giving the governor toknow, if he refused to deal with him by fair means and for ready moneyas offered, be should be obliged to have recourse to force, thoughmuch against his inclinations. Having learnt that there was aFranciscan monastery in the town, Roggewein sent also to inform thefathers of his arrival, accompanying his message by a present. 

It happened fortunately for the Dutch, that a native of Utrecht, oneFather Thomas, belonged to this monastery, who came immediately onboard, accompanied by several other monks. He was so much delightedat the sight of his countrymen, that he declared he should now diein peace, having earnestly wished for twenty-two years to enjoy thesatisfaction he was now gratified with. The commodore gave him a kindwelcome, and presented him with whatever was deemed useful for themonastery. The prior, who was of the party on this occasion, beggedthe commodore to have patience till the return of the express fromRio de Janeiro, and promised to use his interest with the governor, toinduce him to furnish the demanded refreshments, so that they partedwell satisfied with each other. In the mean time, the Portuguese camedown to the coast in large bodies well armed, posting themselves insuch places as they judged the Dutch might attempt to put their men onshore; and at the approach of a Dutch pinnace, thought proper to fireat her, by which one of the Dutchmen was dangerously wounded in theshoulder. The boat's crew returned the fire by a general discharge oftheir fire-arms, by which two of the Portuguese were brought down, and the rest made a precipitate retreat. The Dutch then landedimmediately, filling what water they had occasion for, and returned onboard. 

On the report of what had happened, which he deemed an act ofhostility, Roggewein made immediate dispositions for attacking thetown, ordering his smallest ship to go as near the place as possible, while the Teinhoven was ordered to watch the coast, and the commodorelaid his own ship opposite the monastery, as if he had intended tobatter it down. All this was merely to frighten the Portugueseinto better behaviour, and it had the desired effect, as thedeputy-governor came soon after on board, and entered into atreaty, granting every thing desired. He at the same time expressedconsiderable doubts of being paid for what they might furnish, asa French ship had been lately supplied with necessaries, and at itsdeparture the French captain threatened to burn the town about theirears, if they insisted on payment according to agreement and hispromises on first coming in. The sick were now landed on the island, and the whole of the ships companies were daily furnished by thePortuguese with beef, mutton, fowls, vegetables, fruits, and everything else they wanted. The ships companies also had leave to go onshore, and soon contracted acquaintance among the Portuguese, fromwhom they obtained sugar, tobacco, brandy, and every thing else theywished for, in exchange for European goods, although the governor hadstrictly prohibited all commerce, under the strictest penalties. Thus, in a very short time the Portuguese became so well satisfied of thehonesty and good intentions of the Dutch, that they brought back alltheir rich effects, formerly carried out of town when the ships firstarrived. The Portuguese, however, complained loudly of the bad usagethey met with from the French, who came frequently to this place withtheir ships, taking whatever they pleased by force, and plundering thehouses in which they were permitted to lodge the sick; owing to whichthe Portuguese believed that all other Europeans would treat them inthe same manner. 

The town of St Sebastians is situated in lat. 24° S. And long. 60°W. [3] being a place of moderate extent, only indifferently fortifiedby an inclosure of palisades, with a few cannon for its defence. Thechurch however is a beautiful building, and the palace of the governoris very magnificent; but the houses of the inhabitants are only suchas are commonly met with among the Spanish and Portuguese colonists inAmerica. The Franciscan monastery stands on the S. Side of the town, and accommodates about thirty monks very conveniently. The priorshewed to the commodore and his officers a curious idol, which he saidhad been worshipped by the ancient natives of the place. It was theimage of a creature half tiger half lion, about four feet high and afoot and a half round. Its feet resembled the paws of a lion, andthe head was adorned with a double crown, in which were stuck twelveIndian darts, one of which on each side was broken. On each shoulderthere was a large wing like that of a stork. In the inside was seenthe statue of a man, completely armed in the manner of the country, having a quiver of arrows at his back, a bow in his left hand, and anarrow in his right. The tail of this strange idol was very long, andtwisted three or four times round the body of the man. It had beencalled _Nasil Lichma_, by its worshippers, and the prior said that itwas made of gold; but the author of this voyage suspected it wasonly gilded. The monks had also a numerous collection of European andAmerican curiosities, which they exhibited at the same time. 

[Footnote 3: It is impossible to reconcile this longitude with anyof the first meridians mentioned in a former note, or indeed with anyknown geographical principles. It is 45° 30' W. From Greenwich. Ifreckoned from the meridian of Teneriffe, said to be that used by theDutch, this would place it 21° 10' too far west, as Teneriffe is 16°40' W. From Greenwich. This place, in an island of the same name, hasto be carefully distinguished from the city of St Sebastian, now morecommonly known by the name of Rio de Janeiro. --E. ]

The port, or river rather, of St Sebastian, is three or four leaguesin length, and about one league broad, having a very fine island onthe N. E. Of about four miles round, and there are smaller islands onall the other sides of this haven. The country of Brazil is very largeand rich, insomuch that the king of Portugal is said to draw asgreat a revenue from hence, as the king of Spain from all his vastpossessions in America. Its capital is Bahia, or St Salvador, besideswhich there are many other towns, as Siara, Olinda, Rio de Janeiro, StVincent, and others. The country was discovered in 1590; but even atthis day the Portuguese have not penetrated above eighty leaguesinto the interior. The soil is good, and the country would doubtlessproduce abundance of corn and wine for the use of its inhabitants;but, from a principle of policy, the colonists are not permitted tocultivate these productions, and are consequently supplied with themfrom Portugal. It is the common opinion that the ancient inhabitantswere _anthropophagi_, or cannibals, and it is even said that humanflesh was sold in their markets, as commonly as beef and mutton, butof this there is no authentic proof. [4]

[Footnote 4: There is no doubt that at least some of the tribesroasted and eat their prisoners, like the Caribs of the West Indies. But certainly they had not arrived to that state of civilization asto have markets; and beef and mutton were unknown in America, tillcarried there from Europe. --E. ]

Such of the natives as were seen were large dark-complexioned men, having thick lips, flat noses, and very white teeth. The Portugueseare numerous in Brazil, both Creoles, and such as come from time totime from Portugal, to repair their broken fortunes. A little timebefore the arrival of Roggewein, the Portuguese had discovered adiamond mine not far from St Sebastian, of which at that time theywere not in full possession, but were meditating an expedition againstthe Indians, in order to become sole masters of so valuable a prize;and with this view they invited the Dutch to join them, promising thema share in the riches in the event of success. By these means, nineof our soldiers were tempted to desert. I know not the success of thisexpedition; but it is probable that it succeeded, as great quantitiesof diamonds have since been imported from Brazil into Europe. They aresaid to be found on the tops of mountains among a peculiar red earthcontaining a great deal of gold; and, being washed down by the greatrains and torrents into the vallies, are there gathered in lavaderasby negroes employed for the purpose. 

Brazil abounds with numerous sorts of beasts, birds, and fish, bothwild and tame. They have tigers that do a great deal of mischief, also elephants in great abundance, the teeth of which are of greatvalue. [5] There is no country on earth where serpents, and othervenomous reptiles, are more frequent, or of larger size. So far asthe Portuguese power and colonization extends, the popish religion isestablished; but vast numbers of the indigenous natives of the countryremain unsubdued, and continue their original idolatry, being of suchcruel and vindictive dispositions, that when a Christian falls intotheir hands, the best thing that can happen to him is to have histhroat cut, as they are, for the most part, put to death by meansof cruel tortures. The air of the country, though excessively hot atcertain times of the year, is extremely wholesome, as we experiencedby our speedy recovery from the scurvy and other distempers. AboutSt Sebastian there are vast quantities of venomous musquetoes, whichsting to such a degree that we were all covered over with blisters. Our pilot, having drank too freely of the country rum, and afterwardsfallen asleep in the open air, had his head, face, arms, and legs soseverely stung, that his life was in imminent danger, and he recoveredafter a long time, not without much care. 

[Footnote 5: There are animals of the tyger kind in Brazil andother parts of America, and the Jaguar, Owza, or Brazilian tyger, isprobably the one here meant. No elephants exist in America, andtheir teeth, mentioned in the text, must have come from some of thePortuguese African possessions. --E. ]

While here, the commodore kept up a very strict discipline over hispeople; and some of his sailors being complained against as havingmaltreated some Indian women, he caused them to be severely punished, and would never afterwards allow them to go on shore. The Dutch andPortuguese agreed extremely well, but the governor was far from beingpleased with his visitors, more especially because he had learnt fromsome of the deserters that the object of the expedition was to makediscoveries in the south. For this reason he practised every art hecould devise to hinder and distress them, and furnished them withprovisions only from day to day, that they might not increase theirsea-stores. He also frequently talked of there being five or sixPortuguese men-of-war in Rio de Janeiro, in order to put the Dutch infear of being attacked, and actually sent for the only ship thatwas there at the time, to come to St Sebastian. Roggewein perfectlyunderstood the meaning of all this, of which he took no notice, andcomplied exactly with the terms of the agreement entered into with thedeputy governor, saving part of the fresh provisions daily and saltingthem, cleaned and repaired his ship in succession, and took on boardtobacco, sugar, and every thing else he wanted, till in a conditionto continue the voyage. He then fully satisfied the governor for everything procured at this place, making payment in fire-arms, hats, silkstockings, linen, stock-fish, and other European articles, and madehim a considerable present besides. In return, the governor senthim some black cattle, and gave him a certificate of his honourablebehaviour. 

SECTION III. 

_Incidents during the Voyage from Brazil to Juan Fernandez, with aDescription of that Island. _

Every thing being settled at St Sebastian, Roggewein set sail towardsthe S. W. And falling in with a desert island about three leagues fromthe coast, he set on shore the swabber who had attempted to murder thecook, pursuant to his sentence, as formerly related. Leaving the coastof Brazil, the commodore proposed to have visited an island calledAukes Magdeland, after the name of its supposed discoverer, whois said to have seen a light on that island about an hundred yearsbefore, but did not go on shore. This island was said to be situatedin the latitude of 30° S. And as being in the route of the navigationtowards the South Sea, and in a good climate, he proposed to havesettled a colony there for the service of such ships as mightafterwards be bound for the _Southern Indies_, the object he was nowin search of, where they might be supplied with wood, water, and otherrefreshments. But after much pains, he could neither discover thatnor any other island in or near the latitude of 30° S. He thereforealtered his coarse, steering for those called the _New Islands_ by theDutch, and the _Islands of St Lewis_, by a French privateer who firstdiscovered them. Keeping always within forty or fifty leagues ofthe American coast, the squadron prosecuted its course very happily, having always the advantage of the land and sea-breezes; whereas, ifit had kept farther from land, it would infallibly have fallen in withthe western trade-wind. 

On the 21st December, being in lat. 40°. S. They were assailed by ahurricane, attended with thunder and lightning, during which stormthe Tienhoven parted company, and did not rejoin till three monthsafterwards. The extreme violence of this hurricane only lasted aboutfour hours, during which they every moment expected to have beenswallowed up by the waves, which ran mountain-high. These hurricanesare extremely dangerous, and are far more frequent in the Americanseas than in the East Indies. They usually happen at that season ofthe year when the west monsoon reigns, which is from the 20th July tothe 15th October, for which reason ships usually remain then in porttill they think the danger is over. Yet as storms of this kind are notexactly periodical, ships that trust to such calculations are oftencaught, as there are some years in which there are no hurricanes, andothers in which they are more frequent and violent, and at unusualperiods. The ordinary, or at least the surest sign of an approachinghurricane, is very fair weather, and so dead a calm that not even awrinkle is to be seen on the surface of the sea. A very dark cloud isthen seen to rise in the air, not larger than a man's hand, and in avery little time the whole sky becomes overcast. The wind then beginsto blow from the west, and in a short space of time, whirls round thecompass, swelling the sea to a dreadful height; and as the wind blowsnow on one side and then on the other, the contrary waves beat soforcibly on the ships that they seldom escape foundering or shipwreck. On first perceiving the before-mentioned small cloud, the best thinga ship can do is to stand out to sea. It is remarkable that thehurricanes are less frequent as we approach the higher latitudes ineither hemisphere, so that they are not to be feared beyond the lat. Of 55° either S. Or N. It is also remarked, that hurricanes rarelyhappen in the middle of the wide ocean, but chiefly on the coasts ofsuch countries as abound with minerals, and off the mouths of largerivers. Another surprising phenomenon at sea is what is called awhirlwind water-spout, or syphon, which often carries up high intothe air whatever comes within the circle of its force, as fish, grasshoppers, and other things, where they appear like a thick vapouror cloud. The English fire at a water-spout or whirlwind, and oftensucceed in stopping its progress; the circular motion ceasing, and allthat it had taken up falling immediately down, when the sea becomespresently calm. 

On the cessation of the hurricane, the commodore and his remainingconsort, the African galley, continued their course to the S. S. W. Tillin the height of the Straits of Magellan. They here fell in with anisland of near 200 leagues in circumference, and about 14 leagues fromthe mainland of America, and seeing no smoke, nor any boat, or otherkind of embarkation, they concluded that it was uninhabited. The westcoast of this island was discovered by a French privateer, and namedthe Island of St Lewis; but being seen afterwards by the Dutch, whofancied its many capes to be distinct islands, they called it _NewIslands_. Considering that, if ever it should be inhabited, itsinhabitants would be the antipodes of the Dutch, Roggewein gave it thename of _Belgia Australis_. It is in the lat. Of 52° S. And long. Of95° W. [1]

[Footnote 1: There is not the smallest doubt that the text refersto the Falkland islands or Malouines, which consist of two principalislands, called West and East Islands, besides a number of islets, about 360 English miles from the continent of South America. Thecentre of the west, or principal island, is in lat. 51° 25' S. Andlong. 60° W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

The land appeared extremely beautiful and very fertile, beingchequered with mountains and vallies, all of which were cloathed withfine straight trees. The verdure of the meadows, and freshness of thewoods, afforded a delightful prospect, insomuch that all the peoplebelieved they should have found abundance of excellent fruits. But thecommodore would not delay by permitting them to land, being anxiousto get round Cape Horn, and chose therefore to defer a thoroughexamination of this new country till his return from discovering thesouthern continent and islands: This, however reasonable, proved vainin the sequel, as he was forced to return with his squadron by theEast Indies; and this fine island, therefore, is likely to continue ina great measure unknown. 

Quitting this island, they made for the Straits of Magellan, in orderto wait a wind favourable for their navigation, which took place in afew days: for, if it had continued to blow from the west, they couldnot possibly have got into the South Seas. They now resolved toattempt the Straits of Le Maire, as infinitely more commodious thanthe Strait of Magellan, in which latter the sea has but small depth, and the meeting of the north and south currents occasion continualrough seas. The bottom also of the Straits of Magellan is rocky, affording no good anchorage; and the flows of winds from the mountainson both sides are apt to endanger all ships that endeavour to passthrough these perilous straits. Having now a fair wind, they continuedtheir course to the south for the Straits of Le Maire, seeing on theirway abundance of whales and other large fish of that kind. Among therest, they were followed for a whole month by that kind of fish whichis called the _Sea Devil_ by the Dutch sailors, which they took theutmost pains to catch, but to no purpose. It has a large head, a thickshort body, and a very long tail, like that which painters bestow onthe dragon. 

Arriving in the lat. Of 55° S. They soon after saw State Island, orStaten-land, which forms one side of the Straits of Luttaire. Thefury of the waves, and the clashing of contending currents, gave suchterrible shocks to their vessels, that they expected every momenttheir yards should have been broken, and their masts to come by theboard. They would gladly have come to anchor, especially on findingthe bottom to be good, but the weather and the sea were so rough thatthey durst not. They passed through the straits, which are about tenleagues long, by six over, with a swiftness not to be expressed, owingto the force and rapidity of the current. After getting through, thiscurrent, together with the westerly winds, carried them a great wayfrom the coast of America; and, that they might be sure to sail freeof Cape Horn, they sailed as high as the lat. Of 62° 30' S. For threeweeks together, they sustained the most dreadful gusts of a furiouswest wind, accompanied with hail and snow, and the most piercingfrost. While enveloped in thick mists, they were apprehensive of beingdriven by the extreme violence of the winds upon mountains of ice, where they must inevitably have perished. 

Whenever the weather was in any degree clear or serene, they hadscarcely any night; for, being in the middle of January, 1722, thesummer was then in its height, and the days at their utmost length. 

These mountains of ice, of which they were so much afraid, are certainproofs that the southern countries extend quite to the pole, as wellas those under the north; for, without question, these vast hills ofice cannot be produced in the sea, nor formed by the common force ofcold. It must therefore he concluded, that they are occasioned by thesharp piercing winds blowing out of the mouths of large rivers. [2] Itis no less certain, that the currents discerned in this ocean must allproceed from the mouths of large rivers, which, rolling down froma high continent, fall with such impetuosity into the sea, as topreserve a great part of their force long after they have enteredit. [3] The great quantity of birds seen here was an additional proofthat land was not far off. It may be asked, whether this land beinhabited or not? For my part I believe it is. It may be again asked, How men should live in such a climate, in the lat. Of 70° S. Where thewinter is so very long, the summer so short, and where they must beinvolved for so great a portion of the year in perpetual night? Tothis I answer, That such as dwell there come only in the fine seasonin order to fish, and retire on the approach of winter, as is done bymany of the inhabitants of Russia and of Davis Straits, who, when theyhave provided themselves with fish on the coasts of a frozen climate, retire farther inland, and eat in their cabins during the winterthe fish they have caught in the summer. If the people who inhabitGreenland and Davis Straits are to be believed, the country isinhabited even as high as 70° N. Both winter and summer; and what ispracticable in one country, cannot justly be reputed impracticablewhen supposed in another. [4]

[Footnote 2: This is quite erroneous, as it is now well known thatthe sea water freezes, when reduced to a sufficient degree of cold, considerably lower than what is requisite for freezing fresh water. Onthis occasion, the salt precipitates from the freezing water, and theice of sea water is sufficiently fresh for use when melted, if thefirst running be thrown away, which often contains salt, eitheradhering to the surface, or contained in cells. --E. ]

[Footnote 3: This is poor reasoning to support a preconceived theoryof a southern continent, and might easily have been answered bythemselves, as the prodigious current which set them through theStraits of Le Maire with such rapidity, could not have originated fromany such cause. Currents are well known to be occasioned by thetides, the diurnal revolution of the earth, and by prevailing winds, influenced and directed by the bendings of coasts, the interpositionof islands, and the position of straits. No such currents couldpossibly come from rivers in an austral land, locked up in ever-duringfrost, should any such land exist. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: It might be asked, whence are these fishers to come?Not surely from among the miserable inhabitants of Terra del Fuego. A miserable hypothesis is thus often obstinately defended by wretchedarguments. --E. ]

Being driven 500 leagues from the continent by the contrary winds, thecommodore now believed that he was beyond Cape Horn to the westwards, and steered therefore N. E. By N. In order to fall in with the coast ofChili. On the 10th March, being in lat. 37° 30' S. They discoveredthe coast of Chili to their great joy, and anchored soon after onthe coast of the island of Mocha, which is three leagues from thecontinent. [5] They were in hopes of finding on this island at least apart of the refreshments of which they were in want, especially freshmeat and vegetables, but were disappointed, by finding the islandentirely abandoned, all its inhabitants having removed to the mainland. They saw, however, in the island a multitude of horses andbirds, and found some dogs in two cabins near the shore. They alsodiscovered the wreck of a Spanish ship, from which they supposed thedogs had got on shore. The horses were supposed to have been left hereto graze, and that the owners came at certain times from the main totake them, as wanted. They here killed abundance of geese and ducks;and finding the coast extremely rocky, and having no safe place ofanchorage, they resolved to put to sea. In a council of the officers, it was determined to continue for some time longer on the coast ofChili, in hopes of meeting with some port in which they couldsafely anchor, in order to get some refreshments; but perceiving theSpaniards to be every where on their guard, they steered W. N. W. For the island of Juan Fernandez, which they reckoned to be at thedistance of ninety leagues in that direction. Although the coast ofChili appears to be enormously high when seen from a distance, theydiscovered, by sailing along shore, that it was not higher than thecoast of England, and that they had been deceived by the enormousheight of the inland mountains, the tops of which are hid in theclouds, and cloathed in perpetual snow. 

[Footnote 5: Mocha is in lat. 36° 20' S. And about 20 miles from thecoast of Chili. --E. ]

Having a favourable wind, they made way at a great rate, and got sightof the island of Juan Fernandez, on the fourth day after leaving thecoast of Chili, but could not get to anchor that day in the road, owing to its falling calm. Next day, when ready to go in, they wereastonished by seeing a ship riding at anchor, which they conjecturedto be either a Spanish ship of force or a French interloper, but atlast concluded to be a pirate. While consulting what to do, they sawthe boat belonging to the ship coming towards them, carrying a Spanishflag, on which they began to prepare for an engagement, but wereastonished beyond measure, on its nearer approach, to find that itbelonged to their consort the Tienhoven, which they concluded hadfoundered. Captain Bowman was himself on board the boat, and shewedhow well he had followed his instructions, as, by the commodore'sorders in case of separation, this was to be the first place ofrendezvous; whence, after cruizing six weeks, they were to repairto lat. 28° S. And cruize there a similar time: But, in case of notmeeting the commodore in either of these places, they were then toopen their sealed instructions, and follow them exactly. As soon asCaptain Bowman was on board the commodore, he made a signal agreedon to his own ship, to acquaint them that the two ships were theirconsorts, After this, the Eagle and African entered the harbour. 

When leisure permitted, Captain Bowman gave an account of the dangershe had encountered in passing the Straits of Magellan: That he had metwith many storms on the coast of America, and that his ship was in avery bad condition, having only arrived at Juan Fernandez the eveningbefore his consorts, both of which he believed had been lost inthe hurricane at the time of their separation. The three captainsafterwards dined together very cheerfully in the Tienhoven, where theyrecounted and reciprocally commiserated their past misfortunes, andrejoiced at their present happy meeting. As it still continued a deadcalm, they were unable to come to anchor at the place intended, butthey next day got close beside the Tienhoven, anchoring in fortyfathoms, within musket-shot of the shore. The sick were now landed, and proper persons sent ashore along with them to construct cabinsor huts for their accommodation; and to search for provisions andrefreshments. 

According to the author of this voyage, the island of Juan Fernandezis one of the finest and best situated in the world, having apleasant, wholesome, and temperate climate, fit to restore health tothe sick, and to give a constant flow of spirits to those who arein health, which this author personally experienced, having hererecovered from a complication of disorders to perfect health. Thehills are covered with tall trees of various kinds, fit for all kindsof uses; and the vallies are fertile, and able to produce all thenecessaries of life with very little cultivation. It abounds withsmall streams and brooks, the banks of which are covered withwholesome giants; and the waters which run down from the mountains, though not in the least disagreeable to the taste, or injurious tohealth, are so impregnated with some mineral particles, that theynever corrupt. On the east side of the bay in which the Dutch shipsanchored, there are three mountains, the middlemost of which resemblesthe Table Mountains at the Cape of Good Hope. Behind these thereare many other mountains which rise to a prodigious height, and aregenerally covered by very thick mist, especially in the mornings andevenings, whence I am apt to suspect that these mountains may containrich mines. To give a just idea of the island in few words, itresembles in all respects the country at the Cape of Good Hope. 

This author also mentions the sea-lions and seals of other writers, and adds, that there are sea-cows also of enormous size, some weighingnear half a ton. He also mentions the abundance and excellence of thefish, of which the Dutch cured many thousands during their short stay, which proved extraordinarily good, and were of great service duringthe rest of the voyage. He mentions goats also on the island inabundance, but says the Dutch were unable to catch them, and at a losshow to get at their bodies when shot; but they were frightened fromthis sport by an unlucky accident which happened to the steward of oneof the ships, soon after their arrival, who, rambling one evening inthe mountains, fell suddenly from the top of a rock and was dashed topieces. They found here the remains of a wreck, supposed by them tohave been of a Spanish ship; but it was more probably the vestiges ofthe Speedwell, lost a year before, and from which, by diving, some ofthe sailors recovered several pieces of silver plate. 

Having attentively considered the advantageous situation and manyconveniences of this island, Roggewein conceived the design ofsettling on it, as the most proper place that could be thought offor ships bound, as he was, for the _Terra Australis_, or southernislands, and was the more encouraged in this design by consideringthe fertility of the island, which could not fail to afford sufficientsubsistence for six hundred families at least. He postponed this, however, as also the settlement of _Belgia Australis_, or Falklandislands, till his proposed return, owing to which they never weresettled. A settlement at the latter might have afforded a proper placefor ships to careen and refit at, and to procure wood and water, afterthe long voyage from Europe, before entering the Straits of Magellan, and Juan Fernandez would have afforded every convenience for repairingany injuries that might have been sustained in passing through thesestraits, or going round Cape Horn. Whatever nation may revive andprosecute this plan, will certainly acquire in a few years as rich andprofitable a commerce as is now possessed by the Spaniards with Mexicoand Peru, or the Portuguese with Brazil. [6]

[Footnote 6: Britain once tried a settlement at Falkland islands, andhad nearly gone to war with Spain on the occasion; and there can be nodoubt that Spain could never have submitted to the settlement of JuanFernandez by any other power. There is now a fort and small garrisonkept in that island. --E]

SECTION IV. 

_Continuation of the Voyage from Juan Fernandez till the Shipwreck ofthe African Galley. _

On leaving Juan Fernandez, Roggewein proposed to visit that part ofthe southern lands which was reported to have been discovered by Davisin 1680. [1] As the Dutch author of this voyage is rather dark on thissubject, I shall here insert Mr Wafer's account of this discovery, asit is very short. Wafer was a man of sense and knowledge, who sailedalong with Davis when this discovery was made. 

[Footnote 1: We have omitted a long, inconclusive, and uninterestingdiscussion about the climate and productions of the proposeddiscovery, the _Terra Australis_, which still remains _incognito_, orrather has been clearly shewn to have no existence. --E. ]

"We steered from the Gallapagos island S. By E. 1/2 E. Until we cameinto the lat. Of 27° 20' S. When we fell in with a low sandy island, and heard a great roaring noise right a-head of the ship, like thatof the sea beating on the shore. It being some hours before day, andfearing to fall foul of the shore, the ship put about, and plied offand on till next morning, and then stood in for the land, whichproved to be a small flat island, not surrounded by any rocks. To thewestwards, about twelve leagues by estimation, we saw a range of highland which we took to be islands, as there were several partitionsin the prospect, and this land seemed to extend fourteen or sixteenleagues. There came great flocks of fowls from that direction; and Iand more of the men would have made this land and gone on shore there, but the captain would not consent. The small island bears 500 leaguesfrom Copaipo almost due W. And from the Gallapagos 600 leagues. "[2]

[Footnote 2: There can be no doubt that the small low flat island wasEaster island, in lat. 27° 20' S. Long. 110° 10' W. Its distance fromCopaipo, almost due W. Is almost exactly 40° or 800 marine leagues. The range of high land seen to the westwards, could be nothing but afog bank, so that Roggewein set out from Juan Fernandez in search of anonentity. --E. ]

In prosecuting his voyage to the westwards, the first land seen byRoggewein was the lesser island of Juan Fernandez, otherwise calledMassa-fuero, about ninety-five English miles direct west. Thisappeared lower and less fertile from a distance, but they had not anopportunity of landing. Having the benefit of a S. E. Trade-wind, theysoon arrived in lat. 28° S. And the longitude of 251° E. Where theyexpected to have fallen in with the land seen by Davis, but no suchland was to be found. Continuing their voyage to the westwards, andattended by a vast quantity of birds, they arrived on the coast of asmall island about sixteen leagues in extent, which they fell in withon the 14th April, 1722, being Easter-day, and called it therefore_Pascha_, or _Easter_ Island. 

The African galley being the smallest ship, was sent in first toexamine this new discovery, and reported that it seemed to be veryfertile and well peopled, as abundance of smoke was to be seen in allparts of the island. Next day, while looking out for a port, and whenabout two miles from the shore, an Indian came off to the ships in acanoe, who came readily on board and was well received. Being naked, he was first presented with a piece of cloth to cover him, and theygave him afterwards pieces of coral, beads, and other toys, all ofwhich he hung about his neck, together with a dried fish. His body waspainted all over with a variety of figures, through which thenatural colour of his skin appeared to be dark brown. His ears wereexcessively large and long, hanging down to his shoulders, occasioneddoubtless by wearing large heavy ear-rings; a thing also practisedby the natives of Malabar. He was tall, well-made, robust and of apleasing countenance, and brisk and active in his manners, appearingto be very merry by his gestures and way of speaking. They gave himvictuals, of which he eat heartily, but could not be prevailed on touse a knife and fork; and when offered a glass of wine threw it awayto their great surprise, afraid of being poisoned, or offended bythe smell of strong liquor, to which he was unaccustomed. He was thendressed from head to foot, and had a hat put on his head, with whichhe did not seem at all pleased, but cut a very awkward figure, andseemed uneasy. The music was then ordered to play, with which heseemed much pleased, and when taken by the hand would leap and dance. Finding it impossible to bring the ships to anchor that day, theysent off the Indian, allowing him to keep all he had got in order toencourage the rest to come on board. But, what was really surprising, he had no mind to go away, and looked at the Dutch with regret, heldup his hands towards his native island, and cried in a loud voiceseveral times _Odorega!_ making appear by signs that he would muchrather have staid, and they had much ado to get him into his canoe. They afterwards imagined he called upon his gods, as they sawabundance of idols erected on the coast when they landed. [3]

[Footnote 3: It will be afterwards seen in the moderncircumnavigations, that there are several gigantic statues, havinga distant resemblance to the human figure, on this island, which areperhaps alluded to in the text. --E. ]

Next morning at day-break, the ships entered a cove or bay on the S. E. Side of the island, when _many thousands_[4] of the inhabitants camedown to meet them, bringing with them vast quantities of fowls androots; and many of them brought these provisions on board, whilethe rest ran backwards and forwards on the shore, like so many wildbeasts. As the ships drew near, the islanders crowded down to theshore to get a better view of them, and at the same time lightedfires, and made offerings to their idols, probably to implore theirprotection against the strangers. All that day the Dutch spent ingetting into the bay and mooring their ships. Next morning very early, the islanders were observed prostrating themselves before their idolstowards the rising sun, and making burnt offerings. While preparationswere making for landing, the friendly native who had been before onboard came a second time, accompanied by many others, who had theircanoes loaded with living fowls and roots cooked after their manner, as if to make themselves welcome. Among this troop of islanders therewas one man perfectly white, having round pendents in his ears as bigas a man's fist. He had a grave decent air, and was supposed to be apriest. By some accident, one of the islanders was shot dead in hiscanoe by a musket, which threw the whole into prodigious confusion, most of them leaping into the sea in order to get the sooner ashore;while the rest who remained in their canoes paddled away with alltheir might. 

[Footnote 4: This surely is a prodigious exaggeration, as the islandis utterly incapable to have supported any considerable number ofinhabitants, and there is not any other within 1500 miles. --E. ]

The Dutch presently followed, and made a descent with 150 soldiers andseamen, at the head of whom was Commodore Roggewein, accompanied bythe author of the voyage, who commanded the soldiers. The islanderscrowded so close upon them while landing, that they thought itnecessary to make their way by force, especially as some of thenatives were so bold as to lay hold of their arms; and the Dutchaccordingly fired, when a great number of the islanders were slain, among whom was the friendly native who had been twice aboard ship. This frightened and dispersed them; yet in a few minutes they ralliedagain, but did not come quite so near the strangers as before, keepingat the distance of about ten yards, as if they supposed thatwere sufficient to ensure their safety from the muskets. Theirconsternation was however very great, and they howled and lamenteddismally. After all, as if to employ every possible means to mollifytheir invaders, the men, women, and children presented themselves inthe most humble postures, carrying branches of palm in token of peaceand submission, bringing plenty of provisions of all kinds, and evenpointing to their women, giving the Dutch to understand by signs thatthese were entirely at their disposal, and that they might carry asmany of them on board ship as they thought proper. Softened by thesetokens of submission, the Dutch did them no farther harm, butmade them presents of coral beads and small looking-glasses, anddistributed among them sixty yards of painted cloth. 

The natives now brought at once to the Dutch about 500 live fowls, every way the same with the ordinary poultry of Europe, together witha great quantity of red and white roots and potatoes, which theseislanders use instead of bread. They brought also several hundredsugar-canes, and a great quantity of _pisans_, which are a sort offigs as large as gourds covered by a green rind, the pulp of which isas sweet as honey. The leaves of the tree on which these figs groware six or eight feet long and three broad, and there are sometimes anhundred of these _pisans_ on one bough. The Dutch saw no quadrupeds ofany kind, yet supposed there might be cattle and other beasts in theinterior, as on shewing some hogs to the islanders, they expressed bysigns that they had seen such animals before. They used pots to dresstheir meat in; and it appeared that every family or tribe amongthem dwelt in a separate village. The huts or cabins composing thesevillages were from forty to sixty feet long, by six or eight feetbroad, made of upright poles, having the interstices filled up withloam or fat earth, and covered at top with palm leaves. They drew mostof their subsistence from the earth by cultivation, the land beingportioned out into small plantations very neatly divided and stakedout. While the Dutch were there, almost all the fruits and roots werein full maturity, and the island seemed to abound in good things. Intheir houses there were not many moveables, and those they had wereof no value, except some red and white quilts or cloths, which servedthem in the day for mantles, and at night for coverlets. The stuff ofwhich these were composed felt as soft as silk, and was probably oftheir own manufacture. 

The natives of this island were in general a brisk, slender, active, well-made people, very swift of foot, and seemed of sweet tempers, andmodest dispositions, but timorous and faint-hearted; for whenever theybrought fowls or other provisions to the Dutch, they threw themselveson their knees, and immediately on delivering their presents retiredin all haste. They were mostly as brown-complexioned as Spaniards, some among them being almost black, while others were white, andothers again had their skins entirely red, as if sun-burnt. Their earshung down to their shoulders, and some had large white bales hangingto them, which they seemed to consider as a great ornament. Theirbodies were painted all over with the figures of birds and otheranimals, on some much better executed than on others. [5] All theirwomen had artificial bloom on their cheeks, but of a much deepercrimson than is known in Europe, and the Dutch could not discover whatthis colour was composed of. They wore little hats on their headsmade of straw or reeds, and had no other covering than the quilts ormantles formerly mentioned. [6] The women were by no means extremelymodest, for they invited the Dutchmen into their houses by signs, and when they sat by them would throw off their mantles, as invitingfamiliarity. It is very singular of these islanders, that the Dutchsaw no appearance whatever of arms among them; but, when attacked, they fled for refuge to their idols, numbers of which were erectedall along the coast. These idols were all of stone, representingthe figures of men with great ears, their heads covered by therepresentations of crowns; and all so nicely proportioned, andso highly finished, that the Dutch were much amazed. Many of theinhabitants seemed to be more frequent and more zealous worshippersof these images than the rest, which induced the Dutch to believe thatthese were priests; and that the more especially, as their heads wereclose shaven, on which they wore caps of black and white feathers, [7]and they had large white balls hanging at their ears. 

[Footnote 5: _Tatooed_ in all probability, a practice so commonthrough the inhabitants of Polynesia, which will be minutely describedin an after division of this collection. It may suffice to say atpresent, that this decoration is formed by pricking the skin withsharp instruments till it just bleeds, and afterwards rubbingsome coloured powders into the punctures, which leave indeliblestains. --E. ]

[Footnote 6: It is left ambiguous whether these straw hats and mantleswere worn by both sexes, or confined exclusively to the women. --E. ]

[Footnote 7: A dissertation is here omitted on a fancied migrationof storks annually from Europe to this island and others in theSouth-sea, as high as lat. 40° and 50° S. Merely because the Dutchthought the feathers in these caps resembled those of storks. --E. ]

No appearance of government or subordination was observed among theseislanders, and consequently no prince or chief having dominion overthe rest. The old people wore bonnets made of feathers resemblingthe down of ostriches, and had sticks in their hands. In some of thehouses, the father of the family was observed to have rule over allits inhabitants, and was obeyed with the greatest readiness. In theopinion of the Dutch author of this voyage, this island might besettled to great advantage, as the air is very wholesome and the soilrich; being proper for producing corn in the low lands, and its highergrounds might be converted into vineyards. On the evening, afterreturning on board, Roggewein proposed to land again next morning witha force sufficient to make a strict survey of the whole island: Butduring the night there arose so strong a west wind as drove them fromtheir anchors, and they were forced to put to sea, to avoid beingshipwrecked. After this misfortune, they cruized for some time in thesame latitude, seeking in vain for the land discovered by Davis, onwhich Roggewein determined to bear away for the _Bad Sea of Schouten_, keeping always a west course, in hopes of discovering some new land. In this coarse, they soon found themselves in the height of theisland discovered by Schonten in 1615, to which he gave the name of_Bad-water_, because all its waters were brackish; but, by changingtheir course, they ran 300 leagues out of their way, and at least 150leagues farther than Schonten. 

In this wide sea, Roggewein sailed upwards of 800 leagues withoutseeing land, though he frequently varied his course. At length, whenin lat. 15° 30' S. They discovered a very low island, the coast ofwhich was covered with a deep yellow-coloured sand, having inthe middle of the island a kind of pond, lake, or lagoon. All theprincipal officers were of opinion that this was the island to whichSchonten gave the name of _Dog_ island, and did not therefore thinkit necessary to go on shore for more particular examination. [8] Theauthor of this voyage was of a different opinion, conceiving it a newdiscovery, and calling it _Carlshoff_, [9] which he says is in lat. 15°45' S. And long. 280°. He describes it as a low flat island of aboutthree leagues in extent, having a lake in the middle. 

[Footnote 8: In modern geography Dog island is placed in lat. 15° 10'S. Long. 137° 45' W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

[Footnote 9: Carlshoff is laid down by Arrowsmith in lat. 15° 45' S. As in the text, and long. 145° 28' W. The first meridian used for thelongitude in the text is quite inexplicable, and was probably assumedon very erroneous computation. It is 190 marine leagues due west fromDog island. --E. ]

Leaving this island, the wind came about to the S. W. A sign that theywere near some coast, which had changed the current of the air; andby this alteration of wind they were driven among some small islands, where they found themselves considerably embarrassed. In thissituation the African galley led the way for the rest, as sailing bestand drawing least water; but she soon found herself in such danger, that they fired repeated guns of distress, on which the other twoships hastened to her assistance, when they found her stuck so fastbetween two rocks that it was impossible to get her of? and were onlyable to save her people. Roused by the noise of the signal guns, thenatives of the surrounding islands kindled many fires on their hills, and flocked in crowds to the coasts; and the Dutch; not knowing whatmight be their designs in the darkness of the night and in the midstof their own confusion, fired upon them without ceremony, that theymight have as few dangers as possible to deal with at one time. In themorning as soon as it was light, they had a clear view of the dangerall the ships had been in during the darkness of the past night, finding themselves environed on all sides by four islands, with acontinued chain of steep rocks, and so close together that they couldhardly discern the channel by which they had got in, so that they hadmuch reason to be thankful for having been so wonderfully preservedin the midst of so much danger. On this occasion only one seaman waslost, who belonged to the Tienhoven, and who, in his eagerness to goto succour his friends, dropt overboard and was drowned. 

The danger was by no means over as soon as discovered, as it costthe Dutch no less than five days to extricate themselves from theirperilous situation, during which time the commodore was separated fromthe Tienhoven, and remained ignorant of the fate of the African. Atlength, the boat of the Tienhoven, having sailed all round the groupof islands, brought information that the crew of the African had gotsafe on shore; and that the natives, after being once fired on, hadretired into the interior in all haste. Roggewein now sent his boat tobring off all those who had got on shore; and on mustering the crew ofthe African on board the Eagle, it appeared that a quarter-master andfour seamen were missing. On enquiry, it was found that these men hadchosen to remain on the island, as they had mutinied against theirofficers on getting ashore, because they had interposed to preventthem from killing each other with their knives, and Captain Rosenthallhad threatened to have them all put to death when he got them aboardthe commodore, wherefore they had fled to avoid punishment. Beingunwilling to lose them, the commodore sent the author of thisnarrative with a detachment of soldiers to bring them away, but he wasunable to succeed. 

These islands are situated between the latitudes of 15° and 16° S. About twelve leagues west from Carlshoff, [10] each of them appearingto be four or five leagues in compass. That on which the Africanwas shipwrecked was named _Mischievous Island_, the two next itthe _Brothers_, and the fourth the _Sister_ All four islands werebeautifully verdant, and abounded in fine tall trees, especiallycocoas; and the crews found material benefit while here by refreshingthemselves on the vegetable productions of these islands, by whichmany of them were surprisingly recovered from the scurvy. The Dutchfound here vast quantities of muscles, cockles, mother-of-pearls, and pearl-oysters, which gave reason to expect that a valuable pearlfishery might have been established here. These islands are extremelylow, so that some parts of them must be frequently overflowed; but theinhabitants have plenty of stout canoes, as also stout barks providedwith sails and cables; and the Dutch found several pieces of rope onthe shore, that seemed made of hemp. The natives were of extraordinarysize, all their bodies being painted [or _tatooed_] with many colours, and had mostly long black hair, though some had brown hair eveninclined towards red. They were armed with pikes or lances eighteen ortwenty feet long, and kept in bodies of fifty or an hundred together, endeavouring to entice the Dutch to follow them into the interior, asif to draw them into an ambuscade, on purpose to be revenged for theloss they had sustained by the firing on the night of the shipwreck. 

[Footnote 10: Pernicious islands, almost certainly the Mischievousislands of the text, are placed in lat. 16° 5' S. And long. 148° 50'W. About 20 leagues W. By S. From Carlshoff by Arrowsmith. --E. ]

SECTION V. 

_Continuation of the Voyage after the Loss of the African, to theArrival of Roggewein at New Britain. _

The next morning after leaving Mischievous island, they saw a newisland eight leagues to the west, to which they gave the name of_Aurora_ island, because observed first at break of day. At this timethe Tienhoven was so near, that if the sun had risen half an hourlater, she must have shared the same fate with the African, as she waswithin cannon-shot of the shore when the danger was perceived, and shethen tacked and escaped with considerable difficulty. The fright whichthis occasioned produced a mutiny, in which all the seamen insistedwith the commodore either to return immediately, or to give themsecurity for payment of their wages, in case they should be sounfortunate as to suffer shipwreck. This request seemed just andreasonable, being daily exposed to excessive fatigue in these stormyand unknown seas, and at the same time ran the hazard of losing allthe reward of their labours, as it is the custom in Holland that theseamen lose their wages if the ship is lost in which they sail. The commodore listened to their complaints with much humanity, andimmediately gave them assurance upon oath, that they should have theirwages to the uttermost farthing, and kept his promise with the utmostexactness; for, though the African was lost before, and both the otherships were condemned at Batavia, yet every one of their respectivecrews received their full wages on their arrival at Amsterdam. 

The island of _Aurora_ was about four leagues in extent, the wholebeing covered with delightful verdure, and adorned with lofty treesinterspersed with smaller wood. But, as the coast was found to be allfoul and rocky, they left this island also without landing. Towardsevening of the same day, they had sight of another island, to whichtherefore they gave the name of _Vesper_. [1] This was about twelveleagues in circuit, all low land, yet verdant and containing abundanceof trees of various sorts. Continuing their course to the west inabout the latitude of 15° S. They next morning discovered anothercountry; and, as it was covered with smoke, they concluded itwas inhabited, and made there all sail to come to it, in hopes ofprocuring refreshments. On approaching nearer, some of the inhabitantswere seen diverting themselves off the coast in their canoes. Theyalso perceived by degrees, that what they had at first supposed tobe one country or large island, was in reality abundance of islandsstanding close together, among which they had now entered so far, thatthey found it difficult to get out again. In this situation, a man wassent to the mast-head to look out for a passage, and as the weatherwas quite serene, they had the good fortune to get out once more intothe open sea without injury; although in passing by several steepranges of rocks, they had reason to consider this as a greatdeliverance. There were six of these islands, exceedingly beautifuland pleasant in appearance, which altogether could not be less thanthirty leagues in circumference. They were about twenty-fiveleagues west from Mischievous island, and the Dutch called them theLabyrinth, [2] having difficultly got clear of them by numerous tacks. 

[Footnote 1: Aurora and Vesper are called in modern geographyRoggewein's or Palliser's Islands, in lat. 15° 32' S, about 10 leaguesN. By W. Of Pernicious Islands. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: Perhaps Prince of Wales' islands are here alluded to, inlat. 15° 50' S. And long. 148° 5' W. About 40 marine leagues W. N. W. From Pernicious islands. --E. ]

As it was very dangerous to anchor on the coast, and as none of theinhabitants came off in their canoes, the Dutch did not think fit tomake any stay, but continued still a western course, and in a few daysdiscovered another island, which at a distance appeared very highand beautiful; but, on a nearer approach they found no ground foranchorage, and the coast appeared so rocky that they were afraid toventure near. Each ship therefore embarked twenty-five men in theirboats, in order to make a descent. The natives no sooner perceivedtheir design than they came down in crowds to the coast to opposetheir landing, being armed with long spears, which they soon shewedthey knew how to use to the best advantage. When the boats drew near, the shore was found to be so steep and rocky, that the boats could notcome to land, on which most of the sailors went into the water withtheir arms in their hands, having some baubles fit for presents to thenatives tied upon their heads; while those who remained in the boatskept up a continual fire to clear the shore. This expedient succeeded, and the seamen got ashore without much resistance from the natives;who were frightened by the fire of the musquetry, and retired up themountains, but came down again as soon as the Dutch ceased firing. 

On the return of the islanders, the Dutch who had landed shewed themsmall mirrors, beads, and other baubles, and the people came up tothem without fear, took their presents, and suffered them to searchwhere they pleased for herbs and sallading for the sick. They foundabundance of these, and soon filled twelve sacks, six for the Eagleand six for the Tienhoven, the inhabitants even assisting them andshewing them the best sorts. They carried their cargo of greensimmediately on board, which were more acceptable to the sick than ifthey had brought them as much gold and silver. Next morning a largerbody of men were ordered on shore, both on purpose to gather herbs andto examine the island. The first thing they did was to make a presentto the king or chief of a considerable assortment of trinkets, whichhe received with an air of indifference and disdain, which did notpromise much good in their future intercourse, yet sent the Dutcha considerable quantity of cocoa nuts in return, which were veryagreeable to them in their present circumstances. The chief wasdistinguished from the ordinary inhabitants by wearing variousornaments of pearls, as they judged to the value of 600 florins, orL. 55 sterling. The women of the island seemed to admire the white menmuch, and almost stifled them with caresses: But this was all employedto lull the Dutch into security, that the plot contrived by the menfor their destruction might the more readily succeed. 

When the Dutch had filled twenty sacks with greens, they advancedfarther into the country, till they came to the top of some steeprocks, which hung over a large and deep valley, the natives going bothbefore and behind them, quite unsuspected of any evil intention. At length, thinking they had the Dutch at an advantage, the nativessuddenly quitted them, and soon after prodigious numbers came pouringout from caves and holes in the rocks, and surrounded the Dutch on allsides, while they immediately formed in close order for defence. Thechief or king then made a signal for the Dutch to keep off, but asthey continued to advance, the chief made a signal of battle, whichwas instantly followed by a prodigious shower of stones. The Dutch inreturn made a general discharge of their fire arms, which did greatexecution, and the chief was among the first who fell. Yet theislanders continued to throw stones with great fury, so that most ofthe Dutch were soon wounded and almost disabled, on which they retiredunder shelter of a rock, whence they fired with such success thatgreat numbers of the islanders were slain. They still obstinatelymaintained their ground, and the Dutch were at last forced to retreat, having some of their number killed, and a great many wounded, most ofwhom died not long after, in consequence of their scorbutical habitof body, in spite of every care. As soon as they could disengagethemselves from the enemy, the Dutch retired on board ship, carryingwith them the sacks of greens which they had gathered. This rencounterhad so great an effect on the Dutch, that when it was proposed toland again, not a man could be prevailed upon to make the dangerousattempt. 

They had given to this island, before this unfortunate affair, thename of the _Island of Recreation_, [3] which is in lat. 16° S. Andlong. 285°. It is about twelve leagues in compass, with a fertilesoil, producing a great number of trees, especially cocoa nuts, palms, and iron-wood. The Dutch conceived that there might be rich minesin the heart of the country, and other valuable things, but were notallowed to search. The natives were of middle size, but robustand active, having long black shining hair, which they anoint withcocoa-nut oil, a practice very common among the Indians. They werepainted all over, like the inhabitants of Easter island; the menwearing a kind of net-work round their middles, which they stickup between their legs. The women were entirely covered by a kind ofmantles of their own manufacture, the stuff of which to the sight andtouch resembled silk;[4] and they wear long strings of pearls abouttheir necks and wrists. 

[Footnote 3: By Arrowsmith, this island is placed in lat. 16° 32' S. And long. 148° 50' W. The longitude in the text is inexplicable on anysupposition. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: The cloth of the South-sea islands is a substance ina great measure resembling paper, composed of the inner bark of thepaper mulberry, the preparation of which will be afterwards detailedin the narratives of the modern circumnavigators--E. ]

Roggewein thought proper to sail from this island without farther lossof time, and before his departure held a council of his officers, in which he stated his instructions, which were, --If no discovery ofimportance could be made in the latitude and longitude in which theythen were, that he should return home. Some of the council were muchastonished at this, and remonstrated, That having already gone sofar, and met with such encouragement to hope for discoveries of greatimportance, they thought it would betray a great want of spirit notto proceed. To this Roggewein answered, That they had now been out tenmonths, having still a long voyage to make to the East Indies; thatprovisions began to grow scarce, and, above all, that the crews werealready so much diminished in number, and the survivors in so weak acondition, that if twenty more were to die or fall sick, there wouldnot be a sufficient number remaining to navigate both ships. The truereason, however, in the opinion of the author of this voyage, was theanxiety to get to the East Indies before the change of the monsoon, in which case they must have remained six months longer in theseseas. Some of the officers opposed this motion to the last, earnestlyentreating the commodore that he would rather winter at the landmentioned by Ferdinand de Quiros, from which they could not now bemore than 150 leagues distant. They insisted that it was wrong tothink of going to the East Indies, that being directly contrary tothe design of their instructions: And that by continuing in the samewestern course, they could not fail to fall in with some island, wherethey might land and procure refreshments, remaining on shore tillall their sick men were recovered, and erecting a fort to defendthemselves against the natives. If this were complied with, they saidthey might afterwards return home by an eastern coarse; and, by takingtime, might effectually complete the discoveries on which they weresent. 

These reasons were listened to with patience and civility, but hadnot the weight they deserved; and a resolution was formed to continuetheir coarse for New Britain and New Guinea, and thence to the EastIndies, by way of the Moluccas, being in hopes to procure there asupply of provisions and necessaries, together with a reinforcementof seamen, in case they should then be too weak for navigating theirships home to Europe. In consequence of this resolution, an end wasput to all hope of visiting the land of Quiros, which the best seamenon board thought might have been easily discovered, called by himand Torres the _Islands of Solomon_, and reported to be beautifuland fertile, and abounding in gold, silver, precious stones, andspices. [5]

[Footnote 5: We have here omitted a long, uninteresting, andinconclusive disquisition on the supposed Terra Australis, asaltogether founded on supposition and error. --E. ]

Leaving the island of _Recreation_, Roggewein steered a coarse towardsthe N. W. Pursuant to the resolution of the council, in order to getinto the latitude of New Britain. On the third day, in lat. 12° S. And long. 29° they discovered several islands which appeared verybeautiful at a distance, and, on a nearer approach, were seen to bewell planted with all sorts of trees, and produced herbs, corn, and roots in great plenty, to which they gave the name of _Bowman'sIslands_, after the captain of the Tienhoven, by whom they were firstseen. [6] As soon as they were seen by the natives, they came off intheir canoes to the ships, bringing fish, cocoa-nuts, Indian figs, and other refreshments, in return for which the Dutch gave them smallmirrors, strings of beads, and other trifles. These islands were veryfully peopled, as many thousands of men and women came down to theshore to view the ships, most of the men being armed with bows andarrows. Among the rest, they saw a majestic personage, who, from thepeculiar dress he wore, and the honours that were paid him, evidentlyappeared to be chief or king of these islanders. This person soonafterwards went into a canoe, accompanied by a fair young woman, whosat close by his side, and his canoe was immediately surrounded by avast number of others, which seemed intended for his guard. 

[Footnote 6: These appear to have been the most northerly of theSociety islands, about 70 marine leagues, or 3-1/2 degrees W. By N. From Recreation island, in lat. 15° 20' S. Long. 152° W. ]

All the inhabitants of these islands were white, differing only fromEuropeans in being sun-burnt, and they seemed a very harmless goodsort of people, of brisk and lively dispositions, behaving to eachother with much civility, and shewing no appearance of wildness orsavageness in their behaviour. Their bodies were not painted likethose of the islanders they had seen hitherto, but very handsomelycloathed from the waist downwards, with a sort of silk fringes veryneatly arranged. On their heads they wore hats of a very neat-lookingstuff, very large and wide spreading, in order to keep off the sun, and their necks were adorned with collars or garlands of beautifulodoriferous flowers. The islands appeared quite charming, beingagreeably diversified with beautiful hills and intermediate vallies. Each family or tribe appeared to have its separate district, andto compose a separate government or community, all the land beingregularly laid out into regular and fair plantations, as had formerlybeen observed at _Pasch_, or _Easter_ island. In all respects, thenatives were the most civilized and best disposed people they had seenin the South Seas. Instead of shewing any terror or apprehension atthe arrival of the Dutch, the natives expressed the utmost joy andsatisfaction, treating them with the utmost kindness and respect, andmanifested the most sincere and deep concern at their departure. Manyof the Dutch also felt a similar regret, and would have been wellpleased to have made a longer stay in this delightful and plenteouscountry, among so kind a people, as, by the help of the excellentprovisions in great abundance with which these good islands furnishedthem, all their sick people would have been perfectly recovered ina month. These islands had also one convenience greatly superior tothose they had met with before, as there was good anchorage almostevery where along their coasts, where they rode in the utmost safety, in from fifteen to twenty fathoms. 

So many advantageous circumstances ought to have induced Roggeweinand his officers to have remained here longer; but their heads wereso full of proceeding for the East Indies, that they were fearful ofmissing the favourable monsoon, while they afterwards discovered, totheir cost, that they were two months too early, instead of two monthstoo late. By this indiscreet step, they sacrificed the health andstrength of their crew to such a degree, that they were at lengthhardly able to navigate their ships, and at one time were on thepoint of burning one of their ships, that they might be better able tomanage the other: All of which inconveniences might have been avoided, had they embraced this opportunity afforded them by Divine Providence, and been contented to remain in a place of safety, plenty, andpleasure, till their sick were recovered, instead of wilfully seekingnew dangers which they were so little able to encounter. 

Leaving Bowman's islands, and continuing their course towards the N. W. They came next morning in sight of two islands, which they took tobe _Coccos_ and _Traitor's_ islands, [7] so called by Schouten, whodiscovered them. The island of Coccos, at a distance, for Roggeweinwould not stop to examine it, seemed very high land, and about eightleagues in circuit. The other seemed much lower, composed of a redsoil, and destitute of trees. They soon after saw two other islandsof large extent, one of which they named _Tienhoven_, [8] and the other_Groninguen_; which last many of their officers were of opinion wasno island, but the _great southern continent_ they were sent out todiscover. The island of _Tienhoven_ appeared a rich and beautifulcountry, moderately high, its meadows or low lands, by the sea, exceedingly green, and the interior well provided with trees. Theycoasted along this island for a whole day without reaching itsextremity, yet noticed that it extended semi-circularly towards theisland of Groninguen, so that those which they took for islands mightbe contiguous lands, and both of them parts of the _Terra Australisincognita_. 

[Footnote 7: There must be here an enormous error in the text; Coccosand Traitor's islands are almost directly west from Recreationisland, and the northermost of the Society islands, supposed to be theBowman's islands of the text, and not less than 23°10' farther westthan these last, or 463 marine leagues, which could not well be run inless than a week or ten days. --E. ]

[Footnote 8: These were probably the _Fee-jee_, or Bligh's islands, inlat. 17° 20' S. Long. 181° 30' W. But the narrative is tooincomplete to ascertain this and many other points with any tolerablecertainty. --E. ]

A great part of the company were for anchoring on this coast, andmaking a descent, but the officers were so intent on proceedingfor India, that they alleged it might be very dangerous to attemptlanding, lest any of the men might be cut off, and they should nothave enough left to carry on the ships. They continued in theircourse, therefore, not doubting that they should soon see the coastsof New Britain or New Guinea: But, after sailing many days withoutseeing any land at all, they began to see the vanity of thesecalculations, and could not forbear murmuring at their effects, asthe scurvy began to cut off three, four, or five of their best handsdaily. At this time nothing was to be seen but sick people, strugglingwith inexpressible pains, or dead carcasses just relieved from theirintolerable distress. From these there arose so abominable a stench, that even those who were yet sound often fainted away, unable toendure it. Cries and groans were incessantly heard in all parts of theships, and the sight of the poor diseased wretches who were still ableto crawl about, excited horror and compassion. Some were reduced tosuch mere skeletons that their skins seemed to cleave to their bones, and these had this consolation, that they gradually consumed awaywithout pain. Others were swelled out to monstrous sizes, and were sotormented with excruciating pain, as to drive them to furious madness. Some were worn away by the dysentery, and others were racked withexcruciating rheumatism, while others again dragged their dead limbsafter them, having lost feeling through the palsy. To thesenumerous and complicated diseases of the body, many had superaddeddistemperature of the mind. An anabaptist of twenty-five years oldcalled out continually to be baptized, and when told with a sneer thatthere was no parson on board, he became quiet, and died with greatresignation. Two papists on board gave what little money they had totheir friends, beseeching them, if they ever got back to Holland, tolay it out in masses to St Anthony of Padua for the repose of theirsouls. Others again would listen to nothing that had the smallestsavour of religion, for some time before they died. Some refusedmeat and drink for twenty-four hours before death, while others weresuddenly carried off in the midst of conversation. 

All these various appearances of disease are attributed by the authorof this voyage principally to the bad quality of their provisions;their salt meat being corrupted, their bread full of maggots, andtheir water intolerably putrid. Under these circumstances medicineswere of no avail, being utterly unable to work a cure, and could atbest only defer death for a little, and protract the sufferings ofthe sick. Though as well as any one in either ship, the author of thisjournal had the scurvy to such a degree that his teeth were all loose, his gums inflamed and ulcerated, and his body all over covered withlivid spots. Even such as were reputed in best health, were low, weak, and much afflicted with the scurvy. Nothing could effectually relieveor even alleviate their sufferings, except fresh meat, vegetables, and sweet water. At length it pleased God to put a period to theirmiseries, by giving them sight of the coast of New Britain, the joy ofwhich filled the sick with new spirits, and encouraged those who werestill able to move, with the enlivening hope of once more revisitingtheir native land. Our author was fully of opinion, that if theyhad been many days longer at sea, they must all have perished by thecontinuance and necessary increase of the miseries which they endured, which no description can possibly express in any thing like adequateterms. 

SECTION VI. 

_Description of New Britain, and farther Continuation of the Voyagetill the Arrival of Roggewein at Java. _

The country of New Britain, and all the islands in its neighbourhood, is composed of very high land, many of the mountains hiding theirheads in the clouds. The sea coasts are however both pleasant andfertile, the low lands being cloathed in perpetual verdure, and thehills covered with a variety of trees, mostly bearing fruit. It isin lat. Between 4°and 7° S. [1] and both in regard to situation andappearance, no country can promise better than this. After someconsultation, it was resolved to go on shore here at all events, though now so much reduced by the long-continued sickness, that theycould hardly muster a sufficient number of men from both ships to mana boat, and leave men enough, in case they were cut off, to navigateone ship home, supposing them even to sacrifice one of the ships. Yetsuch was the ardent desire of all to get on shore, and so urgent wasthe necessity for that measure, that it appeared indispensableto venture on landing, let the consequences be what they might. Accordingly, our author was ordered into the boat, with as many menas could be spared, with orders to get on shore at any rate, by fairmeans if possible, and with the consent of the inhabitants, for whomhe carried a great number of baubles to distribute among them aspresents. If, however, these had no effect, he was then to use force, as the circumstances to which they were reduced made it as eligible todie by the hands of barbarians as to perish gradually by disease andfamine. 

[Footnote 1: No account is given of this voyage from Bowman's islands, perhaps the Fee-jees, as already mentioned, to New Britain, neitherindeed is it any way expressed on what part of New Britain they hadnow arrived. They probably steered a course N. W. Or N. W. By W. Fromthe Fee-jees, and fell in with the N. E. Part of New Britain, now knownto be a separate island, and called New Ireland; and by the lowerlatitude mentioned, in the text, they appear to come first to theeastern part of New Ireland; but it is impossible to say whether theywent to the N. Or S. Of Solomon's island. --E. ]

The nearer they drew towards the coast, the more they were delightedwith its appearance, as giving them a nearer prospect of thewished-for refreshments. The inhabitants came down in multitudes tothe coast, but in such guise as did not by any means increase theirsatisfaction, as they were all armed with bows and arrows and slings, and demonstrated sufficiently by their gestures that the Dutch wereby no means welcome visitors, and that they were not to expect beingpermitted to land peaceably. As the boat approached the shore, thenatives seemed to become frantic with despair, made frightful faces, tore their hair, and howled in a horrible manner; and at length, asborrowing courage from the increase of danger, they hurried intotheir canoes and put off from the shore, as if to meet that danger thesooner which was evidently unavoidable. As the Dutch continued theirway towards the land, the natives discharged a flight of arrows at theboat, which they followed by throwing their spears or javelins, after which they threw in a shower of stones discharged from slings. Convinced now that there was nothing to be trusted to but force, theDutch opened their fire, and kept it up with such effect, that many ofthe natives were slain, and the rest so terrified, that great numbersof them leapt into the water to swim ashore, and at last all thesurvivors followed the example, by turning their canoes towards theland. But such was their confusion and dismay, that they were nowunable to distinguish the proper channels by which to get back to thecoast, but ran them on the rocks and shoals. This circumstance almostdeprived the Dutch of all hopes of being able to attain the coast. 

While thus embarrassed, there arose a violent storm, of that kindwhich the Dutch call _traffat_, and which in the east is named a_tuffoon_, which usually arises suddenly in the midst of a calm, andwhen the air is perfectly clear and serene, and which, by its extremeviolence, often brings the masts by the board, and whirls the sailsinto the air, if they are not furled in an instant. By this suddentempest, the two ships were forced out to sea, and the poor people inthe boat were left without relief, and almost devoid of hope. The boatwas forced on a sand-bank, where she was for some time so beaten bythe winds and waves, that there seemed no chance of escaping almostinstant destruction. But despair often lends strength and spirits tomen beyond their usual powers; and, by dint of great exertions, theydragged their boat clear of the bank, and got to land, where all gotsafe on shore without hurt, but almost exhausted by fatigue. The firstthing they did was to look out for some place of retreat, where theymight be safe from any sudden assault of the natives; but night cameon before any such could be found, so that they were forced to restcontented with making a fire on the shore, in order to dry and warmthemselves, which in some measure revived their spirits. The lightof the fire enabled them to discover several huts or cabins of thenatives in the neighbourhood of where they were, on which they feltinclined to examine them, but found neither inhabitants nor householdgoods of any kind, all that they met with worth taking away being afew nets of curious workmanship. They also saw abundance of cocoa-nuttrees, but, having no hatchets, were unable to come at any of thefruit, and had to pass a most comfortless night, during which theywere perpetually disturbed and alarmed by the frightful noise of thenatives in the adjoining wood, whence they naturally concluded theywere every moment about to attack them. About midnight they heard asignal from the ships, which had been able to come back to thatpart of the coast, on which they immediately hastened on board, andimmediately continued their voyage along the coast of New Britain, making their way with considerable difficulty through among numerousislands. They named that part of the coast on which they landed, _Stormland_, which was probably the same called _Slinger's bay_ byDampier, on account of the dexterity of the natives in the managementof that instrument. 

This country of New Britain seems to be extremely fertile, and toabound in fruits of many sorts. The inhabitants are a tall well-madepeople, perfect mulattoes in their complexions, with long black hairhanging down to their waists, being extremely nimble and vigorous, and so dexterous in the management of their weapons, that in allprobability they live in a state of continual warfare with theirneighbours. The sea along the coast is studded with numerous islands, so that they had great difficulty in getting a passage through them. 

Notwithstanding the dangers they had already experienced, theyresolved to make another descent upon the coast on the firstopportunity, though they had not now ten men in both vessels inperfect health, but their necessities admitted of no other remedy. The stock-fish, on which they had lived for some time past, was nowso full of worms, and stunk so abominably, that, instead of eatingit, they were unable to come near it. The officers were unable nowto pacify the men with stories of relief in the East Indies, forthey unanimously declared that immediate death on shore would be morewelcome than living longer at sea in this dreadful condition. Inthis forlorn condition they arrived in the lat. Of 2° S. Where theyfortunately fell in with the islands of _Moa_ and _Arimoa_, [2]formerly discovered by Schouten, and immediately determined uponendeavouring to procure relief from Arimoa, the larger of theseislands. The natives, on perceiving the approach of the two ships, came immediately off to meet them in their canoes, of which theyhad prodigious numbers. All of these people were armed with bows andarrows, even their women and children; but they brought with themvarious refreshments, as cocoa-nuts, _pisans_, or Indian figs, withvarious other fruits, and different kinds of roots, rowing directly tothe ships without any signs of fear or distrust. The Dutch gave themsuch kind of trifles as they had by way of presents, and in returnfor these refreshments; but on shewing more of these, and giving theislanders to understand, by signs, that such was the merchandize theyhad to give in barter for refreshments, they looked at them coolly, as if they had no desire to trade for such commodities. Next day, however, they returned with great quantities of similar articles ofprovision; and the Dutch having endeavoured to express by signsthat they wished them to bring some hogs, the natives mistook theirmeaning, and brought two or three dogs the day following, to the greatdisappointment of the Dutch. 

[Footnote 2: It is utterly impossible to ascertain what islands arehere meant, as the indications of the voyage are so entirely vague. Inthe indicated latitude, off the mouth of the Great bay, in New Guinea, there are two considerable islands, named Mysory, or Schouten'sisland, and Jobie, or Long-island, which may possibly be Arimoa andMoa. Perhaps Jobie of our modern maps includes both, as in some morerecent maps it is laid down as two contiguous islands, and it is moreexactly in the indicated latitude, while Mysory is rather less thanone degree from the line. ]

These refreshments were very seasonable, and greatly amended thehealth of many of the sick people in the two ships; and our author isconvinced that most of them would have perfectly recovered in a fewdays, if they could have ventured to live on shore. The islandersnever failed to invite them ashore every time they came off; but beinggreatly weakened, as for some days they had thrown four or five oftheir people overboard, they did not think it prudent to run so greata hazard; more especially as, even in the midst of their civility, theair, look, and language of these people seemed to savour of perfidy, and besides the island was extremely populous. The Dutch noticed thatthese islanders, always on coming on board their ships, carried apiece of stick to which some white stuff was fixed, as if in thenature of a flag of truce, whence they supposed they were often atwar with some neighbouring nation or tribe, and especially with theinhabitants of _Moa_, particularly as none of their canoes ever wentashore on that island, but always, on the contrary, passed it withevident precipitation. These remarks furnished the Dutch with anew project by which to acquire a considerable stock of provisionsspeedily, by a sudden descent on Moa, which appeared to be but thinlypeopled, though as pleasant and fertile as the other, hoping to carryoff at once enough of provisions to enable them to prosecute theirvoyage, without the risk of falling again into the distress they hadso lately endured. 

This bold scheme required much prudence, and it was thought expedientto land in different places at once, one party being directed toadvance into the country, while the others should be at hand tosupport them, and to secure their retreat. This was accordingly veryhappily effected; for, although the natives formed an ambush behindthe trees and bushes, and discharged their arrows at the principalparty as soon as they began to cut down the cocoa-trees, the Dutchfortunately remained uninjured, and laid many of the natives dead bydischarges of their fire-arms. This so frightened the rest that theytook refuge in their canoes, whence they endeavoured by criesand shouts to alarm the rest of their countrymen to come to theirassistance: But the Dutch were so judiciously posted as to constrainthem to remain in the mountains, by which means the main party wereenabled to carry off about 800 cocoa-nuts to their boats, with whichbooty they rejoined their ships. 

The _cocoa-tree_ is a species of palm, found in most parts of the Eastand West Indies. The trunk is large, straight, and lofty, taperinginsensibly to the top, whence the fruit hangs in bunches united by atendril, not unlike the twig of a vine, but stronger. The flowers areyellow, resembling those of the chesnut. As it produces new bunchesevery month, there are always some quite ripe, some green, somejust beginning to button, and others in full flower. The fruit isthree-lobed and of a greenish hue, of different sizes, from the sizeof an ordinary tennis-ball, to that of a man's head, and is composedof two rinds. The outer is composed of long tough fibres, between redand yellow colour, the second being a hard shell. Within this is athick firm white substance or kernel, lining the shell, tasting likea sweet almond; and in a central hollow of this kernel there is aconsiderable quantity of a clear, bright, cool liquor, tasting likesugared water. The natives of the countries in which these trees grow, eat the kernel with their victuals instead of bread; and likewiseextract from it, by pressure, a liquor resembling milk of almondsin taste and consistence. When this milk is exposed to the action offire, it changes to a kind of oil, which they use as we do butterin dressing their victuals, and also burn in their lamps; and theylikewise employ it for smearing their bodies. They also draw from thetree a liquor called _sura_ by the Indians, and which the Europeansname _toddy_, or palm-wine. For this purpose, having cut one of thelargest twigs about a foot from the body of the tree, they hang tothis stump a bottle or calabash, into which the sap distils. This_sura_ is of a very agreeable taste, little inferior to the Spanishwhite wine; but being strong and heady, is generally diluted withfresh clear water got from the nut It does not however keep, as itbecomes sour in about two days; when, by exposure to the sun, it isconverted into excellent vinegar. When boiled in its recent state, it is converted into another liquor, called _orraqua_ by the Indians;from which they distil a spirituous liquor called arrack, which manypeople prefer to the other liquor of the same name distilled from ricein India, which is so well known and so much esteemed in Europe. 

Besides cocoa-nuts, the Dutch found in Moa great plenty ofpomegranates of exquisite taste, and abundance of _pisans_ or Indianfigs. These refreshments were of infinite service to them, as withoutthem the whole of both ships companies must have inevitably perished;and immediately on returning to their ships, they began to preparefor resuming their voyage. While engaged in these preparations, theinhabitants of Moa came off to the ships in about 200 canoes, whichthey exchanged with the Dutch for various articles, apparently doingthis to prevent the Dutch from making a second descent on theirisland: But on this occasion, though the Dutch received them kindly, and treated them with fairness in purchasing their provisions, theywould only admit a few of them into the ships at once; and when theislanders attempted to rush on board in crowds, they fired upon them. On these occasions, the natives all ducked their heads, and when theyraised them again broke out into loud laughter. This exchange was nosooner over than they weighed anchor and proceeded on their voyage. The author of this narrative remarks, that such of the sick as had anystrength remaining recovered surprisingly at these islands, throughthe excellent refreshments they procured there, while those who werealready quite exhausted soon died. 

Leaving these islands of _Moa_ and _Arimoa_, they continued theirvoyage through a part of the sea so very full of islands, that findingit difficult or impossible to count them, they gave them the name of_Thousand Isles_. [3] Their inhabitants were negroes, of a short squatmake, and their heads covered with thick curled wool, being a bold, mischievous, and intractable race of savages. They were all naked, men, women, and children, having no other ornaments except a beltabout two fingers broad, stuck fall of teeth, and bracelets ofthe same; and some of them wore light straw hats, adorned with thefeathers of the _Bird-of-Paradise_. These birds are said to be foundno where else but in these islands. Such of these islands as aresituated near the west point of New Guinea are still called the_Islands of the Popoes_ or _Papuas_, the continent itself being calledthe _Land of Papua_, till Schouten imposed upon it the name of _NewGuinea_, chiefly because of its being in the same latitude with _OldGuinea_. [4]

[Footnote 3: These appear, by the sequel, to have been the islandsat the N. W. Extremity of Papua or New Guinea, and from thence toCelebes--E. ]

[Footnote 4: More probably because of its inhabitants beingnegroes. --E. ]

When the inhabitants of these islands go to Ternate, Banda, Amboina, or any of the Moluccas, in order to sell their salt pork, amber, [5]gold-dust, and other merchandise, they always carry some of these_Birds-of-Paradise_, which they constantly sell dead, affirming thatthey find them so, and that they know not whence they come or wherethey breed. This bird is always seen very high in the air. It isextremely light, as its bulk consists mostly of feathers, which areextremely beautiful, rendering it one of the greatest curiosities inthe world. The plumage of the head is as bright as burnished gold;that of the neck resembles the neck of a drake; and those of the wingsand tail are like those of a peacock. In beak and form, this birdcomes nearest to a swallow, though considerably larger. Such as dealin them endeavour to persuade strangers that they have no feet, andthat they hang themselves, when they sleep, to the boughs of trees bymeans of their feathers. But, in reality, these traders cut off theirfeet, to render them the more wonderful. They also pretend that themale has a cavity on his back, where the female lodges her young tillthey are able to fly. They always cut off the feet of these birds soclose to the body, that the flesh dries in such a manner that the skinand feathers perfectly unite, making it impossible to perceive thesmallest scar. They also assert, that these birds are perpetually onthe wing, subsisting on birds and insects, which they catch in theair. The feathers of the male are much brighter than those of thefemale. In the east, this bird is usually called _Mancodiata_, or theBird-of-God. Great numbers of them are sent to Batavia, where theygenerally sell for three crowns each. The Moors, Arabians, andPersians are anxious to procure these birds, with which they adorntheir saddles and housings, often mixing with them pearls anddiamonds. They wear them also in their turbans, especially on goingto war, having a superstitious notion that they act as a charm ortalisman, capable of preserving them from wounds. Formerly, the Shahand Mogul used to present their favourites with one of these birds, asa mark of esteem or favour. 

[Footnote 5: Perhaps ambergris ought to be here understood. --E. ]

Besides their girdle and bracelets, formerly mentioned, the _Popoes_, or inhabitants of the Thousand Isles, wear a bit of stick, the size ofa tobacco-pipe and the length of a finger, thrust through the gristleof the nose, which they think renders them terrible to their enemies, as some Europeans consider mustachios. They are the worst and mostsavage people in all the South Seas. The continent of _New Guinea_appeared a high country, extremely full of trees and plants of a vastvariety of kinds, so that, in sailing 400 leagues along its coast, they did not observe one barren spot. Our author thinks that itprobably contains many precious commodities, as rich metals andvaluable spices, especially as most of the countries hithertodiscovered under the same parallel are not deficient in such riches. He was afterwards assured, that some of the free burgesses in theMoluccas go annually to New Guinea, where they exchange small piecesof iron for nutmegs. Schouten and other navigators conceived highideas of this country, and represented it as one of the finest andrichest in the world; but they were unable to penetrate any way intothe interior, which could not be done with a small force, as it isextremely populous, and the natives are mostly well armed, and of amartial disposition. 

Roggewein and his officers were at this time in considerable doubts, whether to prosecute the route formerly followed by Dampier, or to goby Ternate, Tidore, and Bacian, as the less dangerous passage. Togain time, however, they chose the former, as they most otherwisehave coasted round the last-mentioned islands, in their way to theMoluccas. In this view, they steered along shore, or rather through aninnumerable chain of small islands, extending from the western pointof New Guinea to the island of Gilolo, making their passage with muchdifficulty and danger, and were greatly delighted and astonished ongetting sight of the island of _Bouro_, in lat. 2° S. [3° 30' S. Andlong. 127° E. ] the most eastern country in which the Dutch East-IndiaCompany, maintain a factory. This island is mostly pretty high land, and abounds every where with trees and shrubs of various kinds. Ontheir arrival upon its coast, they were spoken with by a small vessel, in which were two white men and several blacks. The white men examinedthem very strictly to whom they belonged, whence they came, andwhither they were bound. To which they answered, that they came fromNew Guinea, and were going to Batavia, but wisely concealed belongingto the West-India Company, knowing that the East-India Companypermitted no vessels, except their own, to navigate these seas, andhad given strict orders to capture all strange vessels that mightappear there. Yet, in spite of these precautions, the Englishsometimes find their way among these islands, to the no smalldispleasure of the Dutch company, although they keep ships cruizinghere during both monsoons, to preserve their monopoly of spices. 

The island of _Bouro_ is about forty or fifty leagues incircumference, and is indifferently fertile, formerly producingabundance of clove-trees; but a detachment of Dutch soldiers is sentyearly to grub them up, as they do also in the other Molucca islands, because Amboina is thought to produce enough of that commodity tomaintain their commerce. Formerly also the Dutch had a strong forthere, which the natives took and demolished after a long siege, putting all the garrison to the sword. At present, [in 1721, ]the company only sends a detachment of soldiers to root out theclove-trees, for which the inhabitants receive some present. The twowhites who were on board this Dutch bark were the first Christiansseen by Roggewein for the space of ten months, or since leaving thecoast of Brazil. Continuing their course for the island of _Bootan_, in hopes of meeting with refreshments, of which they were now inextreme want, they arrived there in lat 4° S. [6] and sailed along itscoast for a whole day, in hopes of finding the strait for which theysought, and at length found they were eight leagues to leeward ofit, and the monsoon now blew too strong to be able to bear up for theintended port. They had now no hopes of being able to find any portfor refreshments till they should arrive at the island of Java; as, wherever they might attempt to land, they well knew that their shipswould be confiscated, in consequence of the invariable maxims of theEast-India Company. All men therefore, but especially the sick andfeeble, cast an anxious look on the fertile island now left behindthem, presaging the melancholy effects which must necessarily attendso pernicious a measure. 

[Footnote 6: The northern end of Bootan is in lat. 4° 40' S. ]

The situation of the island of _Bootan_ is remarkably advantageous, being in from 4° to 6° of S. Latitude, and nearly equal in size to theisland of _Bouro_. It is extremely fertile, especially in rice, andhas abundance of cattle and fish. It would also produce plenty bothof clove and nutmeg trees, if they were permitted to grow. The kingof the island has a very strong fort, on which the Dutch standard isdisplayed, though there is no Dutch garrison; the company contentingitself with sending deputies yearly to see the spice trees destroyed, in consideration of which the king receives a considerable sumyearly from the company. This nation is the most faithful of all theinhabitants of the Indian islands to the India company, having notonly assisted them in expelling the Portuguese, but also against theinhabitants of the Moluccas, whenever they have attempted to revolt;by which means the company has acquired the whole trade of this partof the world. In consideration of this, the inhabitants of Bootanenjoy many privileges that are denied to all other Indians: As, forinstance, they are allowed to come into any of the Dutch forts armed, which is never allowed even to the natives of the countries in whichthe forts are situated. Some time before this voyage, the king ofBootan sent his eldest son ambassador to the governor-generalof Batavia, where he was received with every mark of honour anddistinction. It would not have been easy to have known this prince foran Indian, had he not worn a triple-rowed turban, richly adornedwith gold and precious stones, as the rest of his dress was entirelyEuropean, and he wore a sword instead of a cutlass, which no Indianhad done before. His train was numerous and splendid, all dressedin the Indian manner: Twelve of them were armed with cuirasses andbucklers, carrying each a naked sword resting on his shoulder. At thistime there was a prodigious mortality in Batavia, which carried off500 of the attendants of this prince, and destroyed no less than150, 000 persons in one year, besides vast numbers of beasts. Thismortality was occasioned by a malignant pestilential fever, whichattacked indiscriminately all the inhabitants of Batavia, Europeans, natives, Chinese, and blacks. It spread also through Bengal and allthe dominions of the Great Mogul, where it made incredible ravages, and extended even to Japan in the most extreme violence, where numbersfell down dead in the streets, who had left their houses in perfecthealth. This dreadful malady was supposed to have arisen fromexcessive drought, as no rain had fallen during the space of twoyears, whence it was conceived that the air was surcharged withmineral vapours. 

Leaving the island of Bootan, and passing through the channel ofthe Moluccas, or between the S. W. Leg of Celebes and Salayrislands, during which course the crews of the two vessels sufferedinexpressible miseries, by which the greatest part of them werecarried off, Roggewein arrived on the coast of Java towards the closeof September 1722. 

SECTION VII. 

_Occurrences from their Arrival at the Island of Java, to theConfiscation of the Ships at Batavia. _

Roggewein came to anchor immediately in the road of Japara, andsaluted the city and fort, after which the boats were hoisted out togo on shore, where they were astonished to find that it was Saturday, whereas on quitting their ships they conceived it to be Fridaymorning. This was occasioned by having come round from the eastalong with the sun, by which they had lost a day in their reckoning. Roggewein immediately waited upon Ensign Kuster, a very civil andwell-behaved gentleman, who commanded there on the part of theEast-India Company, to whom he gave an account of his motives forcoming to this place. Kuster immediately assembled a council, toconsider what measures were to be taken on this occasion, and allwere much moved at the recital of the miseries which Roggewein andhis people had endured. In truth, never were men more worthy ofcompassion. Only ten persons remained in any tolerable health, andtwenty-six were down in various sicknesses, by which, exclusive ofthose who had been slain in their different engagements with theIndians, they had lost seventy men during the voyage. Their next carewas to get the sick men on shore, which was done with all care anddiligence, slinging them in their hammocks into the boats. Four ofthese poor people were in so low a condition that it was thoughtimpossible they could bear removal, and they were therefore left onboard, the very thoughts of which, after their companions went ashore, soon killed them. Those who were carried on shore were lodged undertents in an island, where they had every necessary afforded them thatthe country produced, yet many of them died. 

Mr Kuster sent an immediate account of their arrival to thecommandant of the coasts of Java, who instantly forwarded it to Mr_Swaardekroon_, at that time governor-general of the East Indies. Hesent a favourable answer, promising every assistance in his power, andadding, that they had nothing to do but to get to Batavia as soon aspossible. While waiting the answer of the governor-general and therecovery of their sick, they passed their time agreeably enough atJapara, as their countrymen used them with all imaginable kindness. In a few days, the seamen became as frolicsome and gay as if they hadmade a pleasant and fortunate voyage; insomuch, that those who, onlya few days before, were weeping, sighing, praying, and making warmprotestations of leading new lives, if God in his mercy were pleasedto save them, now ran headlong into the greatest extravagances;spending their whole time in debauched houses, and in swearing anddrinking. This our author attributed to the bad example of those amongwhom they lived, all the lower people at Japara being as lewd andprofligate as could be imagined; insomuch, that the first questionthey put to strangers from Europe is, if they have brought over anynew oaths. 

The town of _Japara_ is seated at the bottom of a mountain of moderateheight, is of a middling size, and is inhabited by Javans, Chinese, and Dutch; and was of more considerable extent than now, when in thehands of the Portuguese. Before getting possession of Jacatra, nowBatavia, the Dutch East-India Company had their principal magazinesfor trade at this place, which was their chief factory, and on whichall the other factories in Java were dependent; but it has fallen muchin importance since the factory was transferred to Samarang. The portof Japara is both safe and commodious, and is defended by a fort, built mostly of wood, on the top of the mountain at the foot of whichthe town is seated. This fort is called the _Invincible Mountain_, because the Javanese were constantly defeated in all their attempts toget it into their hands, when in possession of the Portuguese; and itsguns command the whole road. 

The king of Japara mostly resides at a place called _Kattasura_, abouttwenty-nine leagues up the country, where the Dutch have a strongfort with a good garrison, serving at the same time to secure theirconquest, and to guard the king. This prince is a Mahomedan, and isserved entirely by women, of whom he takes as many as he pleases, either as wives or concubines. Some of his priests are obliged togo every year on pilgrimage to Mecca, in order to make vows for thesafety and prosperity of the king and royal family. His subjects areextremely faithful, and devoted to his service; the principal personsof his court having to approach him on their knees, every time theyhave an audience; but in time of war, this slavish custom is dispensedwith. Such as commit the slightest fault, are poniarded on the spot bya kriss or dagger; this being almost the only punishment in use amongthem, as the smallest faults and the greatest crimes are all equallycapital. The natives of this country are mostly of a very browncomplexion, tolerably well shaped, and having long black hair, whichhowever many of them cut short. Their noses are all flat and broad, and their teeth very black, owing to the incessant chewing of beteland faufel. 

The _faufel_ or _areka_ is a kind of nut, not much unlike a nutmeg, but smaller, and in a great measure tasteless, but yielding a redjuice when chewed, which juice also is used by the Indians in paintingchintzes, so much admired in Europe. The tree which bears this nut isvery straight, and has leaves like those of the cocoa-nut tree. The_betel_ is a plant producing long rank leaves, shaped like those ofthe citron, and having an agreeable bitter taste. The fruit of thisplant resembles a lizard's tail, and is about an inch and half long, having a pleasant aromatic flavour. The Indians continually carrythe leaves of this plant, which also are presented at all ceremoniousvisits. They are almost continually chewing these leaves, and theymostly qualify their extreme bitterness by the addition of the faufelor areka-nut, and the powder of calcined oyster-shells, which givethem a very agreeable taste; though some mix their betel leaves withshell lime, ambergris, and cardamom seeds, while others use Chinesetobacco. After all the juice is chewed out, they throw away theremaining dry mass. Many Europeans have got into the habit of chewingbetel, so that they cannot leave it off, though it has proved fatal tosome of them; for the natives are very skilful in preparing betel soas to do a man's business as effectually as a pistol or a dagger. 

The prevailing diversion among these people is called _tandakes_, which are a kind of comedies, acted by women very richly dressed, andconsists chiefly in singing and dancing, accompanied by music, notvery pleasant to European ears, the only instruments being smalldrums, on which they beat with much dexterity. Their dancing is mostlyof a grotesque kind, in which they are very dexterous, throwingtheir bodies into all sorts of postures with astonishing agility, andexpressing by them the passions of the mind so comically, that it isimpossible to refrain from laughing. The men also practise a kindof war dance, in which the king and grandees bear a part. They alsopractise cock-fighting, like the English, and bet such considerablesums on this sport as often beggars them. 

The country abounds in all the necessaries of life, having abundanceof beeves and hogs, and amazing quantities of fowls. The only thingscarce is mutton, chiefly owing to the richness of the pasture, which is very apt to burst the sheep. As to wild animals, they havebuffaloes, stags, tygers, and rhinoceroses; which last animal ishunted by the Indians chiefly for the sake of its horns, of which theymake drinking cups that are greatly valued, owing to a notion thatthey will not contain poison, but break immediately on that beingpoured into them. The high price of these tends to shew that theJavanese are addicted to the infamous practice of poisoning. The landis every where extremely fertile, producing vast abundance of pepper, ginger, cinnamon, rice, cardamoms, and other valuable articles. Oflate they have planted coffee, and with such success as to have areasonable hope of rendering it a principal commodity of the country. Cocoa-nuts, figs, and a variety of other excellent fruits grow everywhere in the greatest profusion; and as the trees on which they groware verdant during the whole year, and are planted in rows along therivers, they form the most agreeable walks that can be conceived. Sugar-canes also abound in Java. They have also plenty of vines, whichproduce ripe grapes seven times every year, but they are only fitfor making raisins, and not wine, being too hastily ripened by theclimate. The sea, and all the rivers, furnish an infinite variety ofthe finest fish. Thus, taking it altogether, it may be safely affirmedthat Java is one of the most plentiful and pleasantest islands in theworld. 

Having refreshed at Japara for about a month, Roggewein began tothink of proceeding to Batavia, encouraged by the fine promises of thegovernor-general. Every thing being ready, the voyagers spent twodays in taking leave of their kind friends, who supplied them with allsorts of provisions, much more than sufficient for so short a voyage, and they at length departed, feeling a sensible regret at parting withthose who had treated them with so much kindness, relieving all theirwants with so much generosity, and had enabled them to spend severalweeks in peace and plenty, after a long period of sickness and misery. Steering from thence about seventy leagues to the westwards, with afair wind, they entered the road of Batavia, where they saluted thefort, and anchored close to the ships that were loading for the voyagehome, believing that all their distresses were now over, and that theyshould speedily accompany these other ships homewards. As soon asthe ships were safely anchored, Roggewein went along with the othercaptains into his boat, meaning to have gone ashore to Batavia, buthad not proceeded far from the ship when he met a boat having thecommandant of Batavia on board, together with the fiscal, and someother members of the council, by whom he was desired to go back to hisship, which he did immediately; and, when the two boats came withinhearing of the ships, the fiscal proclaimed, with a loud voice, thatboth ships were confiscated by order of the governor-general. At thistime both ships were so environed by other large vessels belongingto the East India Company, that it was impossible to have escaped, if they had so inclined; and soon afterwards several hundred soldierscame on board, taking possession of both ships, and placing theircrews under safe custody. Taught by so many and such unlooked-formisfortunes, Roggewein now thoroughly repented having proposed toreturn home by way of the East Indies, but was now wise behind hand. He had neglected prosecuting the discovery on which he had beensent, for which he now suffered a just punishment from the East IndiaCompany, however unjust in itself the sentence might be considered. Bythe sentence, both ships were declared legal prizes, and all the goodsthey contained were confiscated; and to prevent all trouble and delayfrom representations, reclamations, or memorials, every thing wasimmediately exposed to public auction, and sold to the highestbidders. The crews of both ships were divided, and put on boardseveral of the homeward-bound ships. 

SECTION VIII. 

_Description of Batavia and the Island of Java, with some Account ofthe Government of the Dutch East India Company's Affairs. _

The city of Batavia lies in the lat. Of 6° 20' S. And long. 107° E. From Greenwich, being the capital of all the vast dominions belongingto the Dutch East India Company, serving also as the emporium ofits prodigious trade, where all the merchandise and riches of thatprincely and wealthy company are laid up. It fell into the hands ofthe Dutch company in 1618, till which time it was known by the name of_Jacatra_, and soon afterwards they built a fort in the neighbourhoodof that native city, to which they gave the name of Batavia. By thetime this was hardly well finished, the natives of the island attackedit, animated and assisted by the English, and repeated their attemptsseveral times, but always unsuccessfully, and to their great loss. The last time, they kept it blockaded for a considerable time, tillsuccoured by a powerful squadron from Europe under Admiral Koen, whenthe siege was immediately raised, and the natives obliged to retirewith the utmost precipitation. The Dutch had now leisure to considerthe excellent situation of the fort, and the many advantages itpossessed for becoming the centre of their East Indian trade anddominion, on which they resolved to build a town in the neighbourhoodof the fort. With this view they demolished Jacatra, and erected onits ruins this famous commercial city, which they named Batavia. 

This city arrived at perfection in a short time, by the extraordinarydiligence bestowed upon its construction, in spite of the manyobstacles it met with from the two kings of Matarana and Bantam; theformer of whom laid siege to it in 1629, and the latter in 1649. Itis surrounded by an earthen rampart of twenty-one feet thick, faced onthe outside with stone, and strengthened by twenty-two bastions, thewhole environed by a ditch forty-five yards wide, and quite full ofwater, especially in spring-tides. All the approaches to the town aredefended by several detached forts, all of which are well furnishedwith excellent brass cannon. Six of these are so considerable asto deserve being particularly mentioned, which are, Ansiol, Anke, Jacatra, Ryswyk, Noordywyk, and Vythock. The fort of _Ansiol_ isseated on a river of the same name, to the eastwards, and about 1200yards from the city, being built entirely of squared stone, and alwaysprovided with a strong garrison. _Anke_ is on a river of the samename, to the westwards, about 500 yards from the city, and is builtlike the former. _Jacatra_ lies also on a river of the same name, andis exactly like the two former, being 500 paces from the city. Theroad to this fort lies between two regular rows of fine trees, havingvery fine country houses and gardens on each side. The other threeforts are all built of similar materials on the inland side of thecity, and at small distances; the two first-named serving to securethe city on the side of the sea, and the other four to defend theapproaches towards it from the land, and at the same time to protectthe country houses, plantations, and gardens of the inhabitants. By these, all enemies are prevented from coming upon the city bysurprise, as on every side they would be sure to meet a formidableresistance; and besides, no person is allowed to pass the forts, evenoutwards, unless with a passport. 

The river of Jacatra passes through the middle of the city, andsupplies water to fifteen canals, all faced with freestone, andadorned on each side with ever-green trees, affording a charmingprospect. Over these canals, which are all within the city, there arefifty-six bridges, besides others without the town. The streets areall perfectly straight, and are in general thirty feet broad on eachside, besides the breadth of the canals. The houses are built ofstone, mostly of several stories high, like those in the cities ofHolland. The city of Batavia is about a league and a half in circuit, but is surrounded by a vast number of houses without the walls, whichmay be considered as forming suburbs, and in which there is ten timesthe population that is within the city. It has five gates, includingthat leading to the port, near to which there is a boom, or barrier, which is shut every night at nine o'clock, and at which there is astrong guard of soldiers night and day. There were formerly sixgates, but one of these has since been walled up. There is a very finestadt-house, or town-hall, and four churches for the Calvinists. Thefirst of these, named _Kruist-kirk_, or Cross-church, was built in1640, and the second in 1672, and in both of these the worship isin the Dutch language. The third church belongs to the _protestant_Portuguese, and the fourth is for the Malays who have been convertedto the reformed Christian religion. Besides these, there are abundanceof other places of worship for various sorts of religions. 

They have likewise in this city a _Spin-hays_, or house of correctionfor the confinement of disorderly women; an orphan-house, and arsenalof marine stores, and many magazines for spiceries: Also many wharfs, docks, rope-walks, and other public buildings. The garrison usuallyconsists of from two to three thousand men. Besides the forts formerlymentioned, the famous citadel or castle of Batavia is a fine regularfortification, having four bastions, situated at the mouth of theriver opposite to the city; two of its bastions fronting towards thesea and commanding the anchorage, while the other two face towardsthe city. There are two main gates to the citadel, one called theCompany's gate, which was built in 1636, to which leads a stone bridgeof fourteen arches, each of which is twenty-six feet span, and tenfeet wide. The other is called the Water-gate. Besides which, thereare two posterns, one in the east curtain, and the other in thewest, neither of which are ever opened except for the purposes of thegarrison. In this citadel the governor-general resides, having a brickpalace two stories high, with a noble front of Italian architecture. Opposite to this palace is that of the director-general, who is nextin rank to the governor. The counsellors and other principal officersof the company have also their apartments within the citadel, togetherwith the chief physician, chief surgeon, and chief apothecary. Therein also a remarkably neat and light small church, and there are manymagazines and store-houses well furnished with ammunition and militarystores; and in it are the offices in which all the affairs of thecompany are transacted, and archives for containing all the records. 

Besides many Dutch, all of whom are either in the service of thecompany or free burgesses, the city is inhabited by a vast numberof people of many different Indian nations, besides many Portuguese, French, and other Europeans, established here on account of trade. ThePortuguese are mostly descendants of those who lived formerly here orat Goa, and who, finding their account in living under the governmentof the Dutch, did not think proper to remove after the Dutch hadreduced the country; but far the greater number of these are now ofthe reformed religion. The Indian inhabitants consist of Javanese, ornatives of the island, Chinese, Malays, negroes, Amboinese, Armenians, natives of the island of Bali, Mardykers, Macassars, Bougis, andothers. It is a very curious thing to see so great a multitude ofdifferent nations all living in the same great city, and each nationaccording to their own manners. Every moment one sees new customs, strange manners, varieties of dresses, and faces of different colours, as black, white, brown, yellow, and olive-coloured; every one livingas he pleases, and all speaking their different languages. Yet, amidstall this variety of people and customs so opposite to each other, there is a surprising unity among the citizens, occasioned by theadvantages of commerce, the common object of all, so that they liveharmoniously and happily under the gentle and prudent laws establishedby the company. All enjoy perfect liberty of conscience, whatever maybe their religion or sect, only that none are permitted the publicexercise of their religion except the Calvinists, any more than inHolland, so that priests and monks must not walk the streets in thehabits of their respective orders. All are however allowed to livehere in peace, and may exercise the rites of their religion withindoors. Jesuits are, however, excluded, for fear of their intrigues;and the Chinese religion, because of its abominable idolatry, isobliged to have its pagoda, or idol temple, about a league from thecity, where also they bury their dead. 

Every Indian nation settled at Batavia has its chief or head, whowatches over the interests of his nation, but is not allowed to decideupon any thing of importance, his chief functions being those ofreligion, and to decide slight controversies among his countrymen. The_Japanese_ chiefly addict themselves to agriculture, ship-building, and fishing. These people, for the most part, only wear a kind ofshort petticoat, reaching to their knees, all the rest of theirbodies being naked, having also a sort of scarf or sash across theirshoulders, from which hangs a short sword. On their heads they wearsmall bonnets. Their huts or cabins are remarkably neater than thoseof the other Indians, built of split bamboos, with large spreadingroofs, under which they sit in the open air. 

The _Chinese_ are very numerous, as it is reckoned there are at leastfive thousand of them in the city and its suburbs. These people seemnaturally born for trade, and are great enemies to idleness, thinkingnothing too hard or laborious that is attended with a prospect ofgain. They can live on very little, are bold, enterprising, possessedof much address, and indefatigably industrious. Their sagacity, penetration, and subtilty, are so extraordinary as to make good theirown saying, "That the Dutch have only one eye, while they have two;"but they are deceitful beyond measure, taking a pride in imposing onthose who deal with them, and even boast of that cunning of which theyought to be ashamed. In husbandry and navigation they surpass all theother nations of India. Most of the sugar-mills around Batavia belongto them, and the distillery of arrack is entirely in their hands. Theyare the carriers of eastern Asia, and even the Dutch often make useof their vessels. They keep all the shops and most of the inns ofBatavia, and farm all the duties of excise and customs. Generallyspeaking, they are well-made men, of an olive complexion, their headsbeing peculiarly round, with small eyes, and short flat noses. Theydo not cut their hair, as all in China are obliged to do since theTartars conquered the country; and whenever any one comes to Bataviafrom China, he immediately suffers his hair to grow, as a tokenof freedom, dressing it with the utmost care; their priests onlyexcepted, whose heads are all close shaven. 

The Chinese go always bare headed, carrying an umbrella in their handsto keep off the sun; and they suffer their nails to grow immoderatelylong, which gives them prodigious dexterity in slight of hand, an artof considerable importance as they use it. Their dress here differsmaterially from what they wear in their own country, their cottonrobes being very ample, and their sleeves very wide. Below this theyhave a kind of breeches reaching to their ancles, having a kindof little slippers on their feet instead of shoes, and never wearstockings. Their women, who are very brisk, lively, impudent, anddebauched, wear very long cotton robes. In general, the Chinese haveno distinction of meats, but eat without ceremony of any animal thatcomes to hand, be it even dog, cat, or rat, or what it may. They areamazingly fond of shows and entertainments. Their feast of the newyear, which they celebrate in the beginning of March, commonly lastsa whole month; during which they do nothing but divert themselves, chiefly in dancing, which they do in a strange manner, running roundabout to the sound of gongs, flutes, and trumpets, which do not form avery agreeable concert. They use the same music at their comedies, or theatrical diversions, of which they are extremely fond: Thesecomedies consist of a strange mixture of drama, opera, and pantomime, as they sometimes sing, sometimes speak, and at other times the wholebusiness of the scene consists in gesture. They have none but _women_players, [1] who are brought up to this employment from their infancy;but many of them act male parts, using proper disguises for thepurpose. Whenever they act a comedy, the city receives fifty crownsfor a licence. They erect the theatre in the street, in front of thehouse of him who is at the expence of the play, the subject ofwhich always turns on the exploits of their ancient heroes, or theausterities of their old saints. 

[Footnote 1: This may possibly have been the case at this time inBatavia; but we are assured by recent travellers in China, that theyhave there none but _men_ players, the female parts being acted byyouths. --E. ]

The funerals of the Chinese are very singular, as well as very richand pompous, forming grand and solemn processions, in which sometimesat least 500 persons of both sexes assist, the women being allcloathed in white. At these funerals they employ music to heighten theshew, together with coloured umbrellas and canopies, carrying theirprincipal idol, which they call _Joostie de Batavia_, under one oftheir canopies. Their tombs are some of them very magnificent. Theyfollow the idolatrous religion of their native country, and have apagoda, or idol temple, about the distance of a league from thecity, where they assemble for worship. They are perhaps the grossestidolaters, and the most ridiculous in their opinions, of all thepagans of the east, as they openly profess to worship and adore thedevil. This does not proceed from their ignorance or unbelief in aGod, but rather from mistaken notions in their belief concerning him. They say that God is infinitely good and merciful, giving to man everything he possesses, and never doing any hurt; and therefore that thereis no need to worship him. But with the devil, the author of all ill, they are desirous to live upon good terms, and to omit nothing thatcan entitle them to his good graces. It is the devil therefore whomthey represent by the idol above mentioned, and in whose honour theyhave frequently great feasts and rejoicings. 

Like the Javans, the Chinese are extravagantly addicted to gamingand laying wagers; and this humour, especially at cock-fights and thenew-year's feasts, drives them sometimes into downright madness. They will not only stake and lose their money, goods, and houses, butsometimes their wives and children; and when these are all lost, willstake their beards, nails, and winds; that is, they bind themselvesnot to shave their beards, pare their nails, or go on board ship totrade, till they have paid their game debts. When reduced to thiscondition, they are forced to hire themselves as the bond slaves ofsome other Chinese. Under such misfortunes their only resource is, that some relative, either at Batavia or China, pays their debts outof compassion, and by that means reinstates them in their property andfreedom. 

The _Malays_ who live at Batavia usually employ themselves in fishing, having very neat and shewy vessels, the sails of which are mostingeniously constructed of straw. These are a most wicked andprofligate people, who often commit atrocious murders for verytrifling gain. They profess the Mahomedan religion, but are soabsolutely devoid of moral principle, that they even make a boast andmerit of cheating Christians. Their last chief was publicly whippedand branded for his frauds and villainies, his goods confiscated, andhe himself banished to Ceylon; since when they have been ashamedto elect another chief. Their habits are of silk or cotton, the menwearing a piece of cotton round their heads, and their black hair tiedinto a knot behind. 

The blacks or negroes at Batavia are mostly Mahomedans, who comechiefly from Bengal, dressing like the Malays, and living in the samequarter of the city. Some of them work at different mechanic trades, and others are a kind of pedlars; but the most considerable of themtrade in stones for buildings, which they bring from the neighbouringislands. 

The _Amboinese_ are chiefly employed in building houses of bamboos, the windows of which are made of split canes, very nicely wrought invarious figures. They are a bold boisterous race, and so turbulentthat they are not permitted to reside in the city, but have theirquarter near the Chinese burying ground. The chief of their ownnation, to whom they pay the utmost submission, has a magnificenthouse in their quarter, well furnished after their manner. Their armsare chiefly large sabres and long bucklers. The men wear a piece ofcotton cloth wrapped round their heads, the ends of which hang downbehind, and adorn this species of turban with a variety of flowers. Their women wear a close habit, and a cotton mantle over theirshoulders, having their arms bare. Their houses are built of boards, thatched with leaves, usually two or three stories high, the groundfloor especially being divided into several apartments. 

The _Mardykers_ or _Topasses_ are idolaters from various Indiannations, and follow various trades and professions; and theirmerchants, under licences or passports from the company, carry onconsiderable commerce among the neighbouring islands. Some of thesepeople are gardeners, others rear cattle, and others breed fowls. Themen of this mixed tribe generally dress after the Dutch fashion, butthe women wear the habits of other Indians. These people dwell bothin the city and country, their houses being better than those of theother Indians, built of stone or brick, several stories high, and veryneat. There are also some _Macassers_ at Batavia, so famous for theirlittle poisoned arrows, which they blow from tubes. This poison ismade of the juice of a certain tree, which grows in Macasser and the_Bougis_ islands, into which they dip the points of the arrows andallow them to dry. The wound inflicted by these arrows is absolutelymortal. The _Bougis_ are natives of three or four islands nearMacasser, and since the conquest of that island have settled atBatavia. They are very bold and hardy fellows, for which reason theyare employed as soldiers by the company. Their arms are bows andarrows, with sabres and bucklers. Besides these enumerated nations, which contribute to form the population of Batavia, there are severalArmenians and some other Asiatics who reside there occasionally forthe sake of trade, and stay no longer than their affairs require, Allthe inhabitants around Batavia, and for a track of about forty leaguesalong the mountains of the country of Bantam, are immediately subjectto the governor-general, who sends _drossards_ or commissaries amongthem, to administer justice, and to collect the public revenues; andthe chief men of the several districts resort at certain times toBatavia, to give an account of the behaviour of these commissaries. 

The city of Batavia, and all the dominions possessed by the company inthe East Indies, are governed by two supreme councils, one of which isnamed the Council of the Indies, and the other the Council of Justice, both of which are fixed at Batavia, the capital of the dominionsbelonging to the company. To the first of these belong all mattersof government, and the entire direction of public affairs, and tothe other the administration of justice in all its branches. Thegovernor-general always presided in the former of these councils, which is ordinarily composed of eighteen or twenty persons, calledcounsellors of the Indies; but it seldom happens that these are allat Batavia at one time, as they are usually promoted to the sevengovernments which are at the disposal of the company. This councilassembles regularly twice a-week, besides as often extraordinarily asthe governor pleases. They deliberate on all affairs concerning theinterest of the company, and superintend the government of the islandof Java and its dependencies: But in affairs of very great importance, the approbation and consent of the directors of the company in Europemust be had. From this Council of the Indies, orders and instructionsare sent to all the other governments, which must be implicitlyobeyed. In this council, all letters addressed to the governor ordirector-general are read and debated, and answers agreed upon by aplurality of voices. 

The Council of Justice consists of a president, who is generally acounsellor of the Indies, together with eight counsellors of justice, a fiscal or attorney-general for affairs of government, another fiscalfor maritime affairs, and a secretary. The first fiscal has a votealong with the counsellors, and receives a third part of all finesbelow an hundred florins, and a sixth part of all above that sum. The duty of his office is to observe that the laws are obeyed, and toprefer informations against those who break them. The fiscal of thesea has jurisdiction over all frauds committed in commerce, in casesof piracy, or in whatever tends to disturb the settled rules ofmaritime affairs. Besides these sovereign tribunals, there is acouncil of the city of Batavia, consisting of nine burgomasters oraldermen, including a president, who is always a member of the Councilof the Indies, and a vice-president. The bailiff of the city, and thecommissary of the adjacent territory, have also seats in this council, to which likewise there is a secretary. 

The governor-general is head of the empire belonging to the company inIndia, being as it were stadtholder, captain-general, and admiral ofthe Indies. By his office he is president of the supreme council, inwhich he has two voices. He has the keys of all the magazines, anddirects every thing belonging to them, without being accountable toany one. He commands by his own proper authority, and every person isbound to obey him, so that his authority equals, and even surpasses, that of several European sovereigns. But he is accountable to, andremoveable by the directors at home. In cases, however, of beingguilty of treason, or any other enormous crime, the Council of Justicehave a right to seize his person and call him to account. In case thegovernor-general dies or resigns his office, the Council of the Indiesmeets and elects a successor, when they immediately write to thedirectors at home, desiring them to confirm and approve their choice. They also write to the same purpose to the states-general of theUnited Provinces, who have reserved to themselves the power ofconfirming or excluding a governor-general. It is usual, however, forthe directors and the state to confirm the choice of the council, andto send him letters patent, conformable to the desire of the council;yet there have been some instances of the directors rejecting thegovernor-general thus elected, and sending out another. 

The salary allowed by the company to the governor-general is 800rix-dollars, with other 500 dollars for his table, and also pay thesalaries of the officers of his household. But these appointments forma very small portion of his revenue; as the legal emoluments of hisoffice are so great that he is able to amass an immense fortune intwo or three years, without oppressing the people or burdening hisconscience. Being the head and apparent sovereign of all the countriesbelonging to or dependent upon the company, he is allowed a court andmost of the honours usually paid to crowned heads, in compliance withthe customs of the east. When he goes from his palace to his countryseat, he is preceded by the master of his household, at the headof six gentlemen on horseback. A trumpeter and two halberdeers onhorseback go immediately before the coach. The master of the horse andsix mounted halberdeers ride on the right; and he is followed byother coaches carrying his friends and retinue. The whole cavalcade isclosed by a troop of forty-eight dragoons, commanded by a captain andthree quarter-masters, and preceded by a trumpeter richly clothed. Ifthis office be considerable for its honour, power, and emolument, it is also very fatiguing, as the governor-general is employed frommorning to night in giving audiences, in reading letters, and ingiving orders in the service of the company; so that he seldom canallow above half an hour for dinner, and even dispatches pressingaffairs while at table. He has also to receive all Indian princes andambassadors who come to Batavia, and of these many arrive every year. 

The director-general is the next in authority after thegovernor-general, and is the second person in the council of theIndies. This employment requires great care and attention, as he hasthe charge of buying and selling all the commodities that enter intoor go out from the Company's warehouses. He gives orders for the kindsand quantities of all goods sent to Holland or elsewhere, keeps thekeys of all the magazines, and every officer in the service of theCompany makes a report to him daily of every thing committed to theircharge. He has the supreme direction of every thing relative to thetrade and commerce of the Company, both at Batavia and all otherplaces; and the members of all the factories belonging to the Companyare accountable to him for their conduct. 

The third person in the government is the Major-general, who has thecommand of all the forces under the governor-general. The number ofregular troops in the service of the Company throughout the Indies maybe about 12, 000 men, exclusive of the militia, which amount to about100, 000 more, and are well disciplined, and always called out in timeof danger. The entire military and naval strength of the Company byland and sea is about 25, 000 men, including officers, soldiers, and sailors. For the support of its commerce, the Company keepsin constant employment about 180 ships, of from 30 to 60 pieces ofcannon, and in cases of emergency are able at any time to fit outforty of the largest size. 

The ecclesiastical government at Batavia, or consistory, consists ofeleven persons; viz. The five ministers of the two Dutch churches inthe city, and that in the citadel, besides the minister who residesin the island of _Ourust_, together with the three ministers of thePortuguese churches, and the two belonging to the Malay church. Theselast five are all Dutchmen-born, though they preach in the Portugueseand Malay languages. As it is deemed necessary that the state shouldbe informed of all that passes among their clergy, the eleventh personis nominated by the government, whose especial business is to seethat they do nothing contrary to the laws or to the regulations of theCompany. Besides these, the consistory also consists of eight eldersand twenty deacons. One principal branch of business confided to theconsistory, is to provide ministers for the subordinate governments;where they are relieved after a certain term of years, and eitherreturn to Batavia or to Holland, to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Our author relates that one of these ministers went home in the sameship with him, who had made such good use of his time, that he boughta _noble fief_ on his return, and became a man of quality. Inthe smaller places belonging to the Company, where there are noestablished ministers, an itinerant is sent once in three or fouryears, to marry, baptize, and dispense the communion; which isnecessary, since the synods do not permit the propagation of any otherexcept the reformed religion in the territories of the Company. 

For a long time the Lutherans have solicited for permission to have achurch in Batavia, but have constantly been refused, though certainlya just and reasonable demand, especially in a place where Mahomedansand Pagans are freely tolerated in the exercise of their religion, and where the Chinese are even permitted to worship the devil. This ecclesiastical consistory has also dependent upon it all theschoolmasters, consolators of the sick, and catechists. Of these lastthere are many in the service of the Company in their ships; theirduty being to say prayers every day, and to instruct such as embracethe Christian religion; and as they are mostly natives, and speakseveral languages, they are the better able to give instructions, andto teach the confession of faith to so many different nations. Suchas are converted are baptized and receive the communion; and, for thebetter preservation of uniformity in doctrine, an annual visitation ofall the new converts is made by the ministers. In consequence ofthese regulations, the reformed religion has made amazing progress, especially among the blacks, of whom our author says he has seen 150at a time present themselves to receive baptism. This however is notrashly granted, as all who receive it must be well instructed, and beable to make their confession of faith. The Chinese are well knownto be so obstinately addicted to their great Confucius, as not to beeasily induced to embrace any other religion; yet some even of themfrom time to time have abjured their idolatry, and embraced theprotestant faith. Yet our author seems to doubt their sincerity, alleging that the Chinese are seldom sincere in any thing; and hetells us, that a Chinese, on renouncing idolatry; said he was about toembrace the religion of the Company. 

The country around Batavia is extremely beautiful, and it may be saidthat nature and art seem to strive which shall have the greatest sharein adorning it. The air is sweet and mild, the land extremely fertile, and the face of the country finely diversified with hills and vallies, all laid out in regular plantations, beautiful canals, and whatevercan contribute to render the country pleasant and agreeable. Theisland of Java is about 300 leagues in circumference, divided intoseveral kingdoms and principalities, all dependent upon the emperorwho resides at _Kattasura_, except the kings of Bantam and Japara, [2]who do not acknowledge his authority. The country produces inabundance all the necessaries of life, as also great quantities ofthose valuable productions which form its commerce. It is interspersedby many mountains, rivers, and woods, to all of which nature hasbestowed her treasures with a bountiful hand. There are gold-mines insome parts of the country, and for some years the government causedthe mountains of _Parang_ to be wrought, in hopes of reaping profit;but, after expending a million, the marcasites were found not tobe fully ripened. [3] Those who directed this enterprise were muchcensured, and the works have been long discontinued. Some arethoroughly satisfied that the natives find considerable quantitiesof gold in several places, which they carefully conceal from theknowledge of the Dutch. During the last war in Java, which continuedfrom 1716 to 1721, the inhabitants of some parts of the country wereso often plundered that they were reduced to absolute beggary; yet, after a year's peace, they were observed to have grown excessivelyrich, having plenty of gold, both in dust and ingots. 

[Footnote 2: There is some strange error here, which we do not presumeto correct or explain. In the former section, the king of _Japara_ issaid to reside chiefly at _Kattasura_, which in the present instanceis said to be the residence of the emperor. In an after division ofthis collection, more ample and distinct accounts will be found ofthis rich island, now subject to Britain. --E. ]

[Footnote 3: In plain English, the mineral, or ore, was so poor as notto defray the expence of extracting the metal. --E. ]

The mountains of Java are very high, so that many of them can be seenat the distance of thirty or forty leagues. That which is called the_Blue Mountain_ is by far the highest, being seen from the greatestdistance at sea. Java is subject to frequent and terrible earthquakes, which the inhabitants believe are caused by the mountain of Parang, which is full of sulphur, salt-petre, and bitumen, which take fire bytheir intestine commotions, causing a prodigious struggle within thebowels of the earth, whence proceeds the earthquake; and they assertthat it is common, after an earthquake, to see a vast cloud of smokehanging over the top of that mountain. About thirty years beforeRoggewein was in Batavia, Mynheer Ribeck, then governor-general, wentwith many attendants to the top of this mountain, where he perceiveda large cavity, into which he caused a man to be let down, to examinethe inside. On his return, this man reported that the mountain wasall hollow within, that he heard a most frightful noise of torrents ofwater on every side, that he here and there saw flames bursting out, so that he was afraid of going far, from apprehension of either beingstifled by the noxious vapours, or falling into one of the chasms. Thewaters in the neighbourhood of this mountain are unwholesome, and eventhose in the neighbourhood of Batavia are impregnated with sulphur, those who drink much of them being liable to several disorders, particularly the dysentery. But when boiled, their water is entirelyfreed from the sulphur, and does no manner of harm, though drankcopiously. 

The fruits and plants of Java are excellent and numberless. Amongthese the cocoa-nut tree is by far the most valuable, as besidesits fruit already described, the bark makes a kind of hemp which ismanufactured into good ropes and cables; the timber serves to buildhouses and ships, and the leaves serve to cover the former. It is saidthat the father of a family in this country causes a cocoa-nut treeto be planted at the birth of each of his children, by which each mayalways know his own age, as this tree has a circle rising yearly onits stem, so that its age may be known by counting these circles: andwhen any one asks a father the ages of his children, he sends them tolook at his cocoa trees. 

There are numerous woods or forests in different parts of theisland, in which are abundance of wild beasts, as buffaloes, tigers, rhinoceroses, and wild horses. These also abound in serpents, someof which are of prodigious size. Crocodiles are numerous and large inthis island, being mostly found about the mouths of the rivers; and, being amphibious animals, delight much in marshes and savannahs. Likethe tortoise, this creature deposits its eggs in the hot sands, taking no farther care of them, and the sun hatches them in the properseason, when they immediately betake themselves to the water. A shorttime before the arrival of Roggewein at Batavia, a crocodile wastaken in the mouth of the river to the east of the city, upwards ofthirty-three feet long, and proportionally large. They have fowls ofall kinds, and exquisitely good; particularly peacocks, partridges, pheasants, and wood-pigeons. The Indian bat is a great curiosity, differing little in form from ours, but its extended wings measure afull yard, and its body is as large as a rat. 

There are great numbers of excellent fish of different sorts to be hadin the adjoining sea, and so plentiful and cheap that as much may bebought for three-pence as will dine six or seven men. Tortoises orsea-turtle also are abundant, their flesh resembling veal, and thereare many persons who think it much better. The flat country roundBatavia abounds in all kinds of provisions; and to prevent all dangerof scarcity, vessels belonging to the Company are continually employedin bringing provisions, spiceries, and all other necessaries, from themost distant parts of the island, together with indigo, rice, pepper, cardamoms, coffee, and the like. In the magazines and store-houses, there are always vast quantities of rich and valuable commodities, notof Java only, but of all parts of India, ready to be transported toother parts of the Company's dominions, in the ships which returnannually to Holland. 

The homeward-bound ships sail five times every year from Batavia. Thefirst fleet sails in July, generally consisting of four or five sail, which touch on their way at the island of Ceylon. The second, of sixor seven vessels, sails in September. The third usually consistsof from sixteen to twenty ships, and leaves Batavia in October. Thefourth, of four or five vessels, sails in January. And the fifth, being only a single ship, generally sails in March, but not till thearrival of the fleet from China which brings the tea, of which theprincipal part of the cargo of this ship consists, wherefore it isusually called the _tea-ship_: The common people call it also the_book-ship_ as it carries home the current account of the whole year, by which the Company is enabled to judge of the state of its tradein India. It is to be observed that these ships, laden with the richcommodities of many countries, all sail from this single port ofBatavia; the ships from Mokha which carry coffee, being the onlyvessels in the service of the Dutch East India Company that areallowed to proceed directly home without going to Batavia. 

SECTION IX. 

_Description of Ceylon. _

The next best government belonging to the Dutch East India Company, after Batavia, is that of the island of Ceylon. The governor of thisisland is generally a member of the council of the Indies, and hasa council appointed to assist him, framed after the model of that inBatavia, only that the members are not quite such great men. Thoughthe governor of Ceylon be dependent upon the Council of the Indies atBatavia, he is at liberty to write directly to the directors ofthe Company in Holland, without asking permission from thegovernor-general, or being obliged to give any account of his conductin so doing. This singular privilege has had bad effects, having eventempted some governors of Ceylon to endeavour to withdraw themselvesfrom their obedience to the Company, in order to become absolutesovereigns of the island. There have been many examples of this kind, but it may be sufficient to mention the two last, owing to thetyranny of two successive governors, Vuist and Versluys, which made aconsiderable noise in Europe. 

When Mr Rumpf left the government of Ceylon, his immediate successor, Mr Vuist, began to act the tyrant towards all who were not sofortunate as to be in his good graces, persecuting both Europeans andnatives. Having from the beginning formed the project of renderinghimself an independent sovereign, he pursued his plan steadily, bysuch methods as seemed best calculated to insure success. He thoughtit necessary in the first place to rid himself of the richest personsin the island, and of all having the reputation of wisdom, experience, and penetration. In order to save appearances, and to play thevillain with an air of justice, he thought it necessary to trump up apretended plot, and caused informations to be preferred against suchpersons as he intended to ruin, charging them with having entered intoa conspiracy to betray the principal fortresses of the island into thehands of some foreign power. This scheme secured him in two ways, asit seemed to manifest his great zeal for the interest of the Company, and enabled him to convict those he hated of high treason, and todeprive them at once of life and fortune. To manage this the moreeasily, he contrived to change the members of his council, intowhich he brought creatures of his own, on whose acquiescence in hisiniquities he could depend upon. The confiscations of the estates andeffects of a number of innocent persons whom he had murdered by thesefalse judicial proceedings, gave him the means of obliging many, andgained him numerous dependants. 

Vuist was born in India of Dutch parents, and had a strong naturalcapacity which had been improved by assiduous application to hisstudies. His dark brow, and morose air, shewed the cruelty of hisdisposition: Yet he loved and protected the Indians, either from anatural disposition, or because he deemed them fit instruments toforward his designs. In order to gain the natives in his interest, hepreferred them to many vacant offices under his government, in directopposition to repeated instructions from the Company, to bestow theprincipal offices on Dutchmen or other Europeans. After carrying onhis designs with much dexterity, and having acquired by gifts a vastnumber of dependants, ready to support his purposes, some of thefaithful servants of the Company sent such clear and distinctinformation of his proceedings to Holland, as sufficiently evinced hisreal intentions, in spite of all his arts to conceal them. At lengththe Company sent out Mr Versluys to supersede him in the governmentof Ceylon, with orders to send him prisoner to Batavia. As soon as hearrived there, abundance of informations were preferred against him, for a variety of crimes both of a private and public nature, intoall of which the council of justice made strict inquisition, and werefurnished with abundant proofs of his guilt. In the end, he freelyconfessed that he had caused nineteen innocent persons to be put todeath, having put them all to the torture, extorting from all of themconfessions of crimes which they had never even dreamt of committing. He was accordingly sentenced to be broken alive on the wheel, his bodyto be quartered, and his quarters burnt to ashes and thrown into thesea. 

Such was the deserved end of the traitor and tyrant Vuist; yetVersluys, who was sent expressly to amend what the other had doneamiss, and to make the people forget the excesses of his predecessorby a mild and gentle administration, acted perhaps even worse thanVuist. Versluys was by no means of a cruel disposition, wherefore, strictly speaking, he shed no blood, yet acted as despotically andtyrannically as the other, though with more subtilty and under afairer appearance. His great point was not the absolute possession ofthe country, but to possess himself of all that it contained of value. For this purpose, immediately on getting possession of the government, he raised the price of rice, the bread of the country, to soextravagant a height that the people in a short time were unableto purchase it, and were soon reduced to beggary and a starvingcondition. Their humble representations of the great and generalmisery which reigned among all ranks of people throughout the islandmade no impression on his avaricious disposition; but all things wenton from bad to worse, till an account of his nefarious conduct wastransmitted to Holland. When informed of the distressed situation ofthe inhabitants of Ceylon, the States-general sent out Mr Doembourghas governor, with orders to repair all past errors, and to treat thenatives with all possible tenderness and indulgence. On his arrival, Versluys, after beggaring the whole nation, took it into his head thatthey would defend him against his masters, and absolutely refused toresign the government; and had even the insolency to fire uponthe Company's ships as they lay at anchor in the road of Columbo. Doembourgh, however, immediately landed, and his authority was readilyrecognised by all the Company's servants, and submitted to by thepeople. He caused Versluys to be immediately arrested and sent toBatavia, where a long criminal process was instituted against him, butwhich was not concluded when our author left India. 

Of all the Asiatic islands, Ceylon is perhaps the fairest and mostfertile. It lies to the S. E. Of the peninsula of India on this side ofthe Ganges, between the latitudes of 5° 30' and 9° N. And betweenthe longitudes of 79° 45' and 82° 12' E. So that it extends 70 marineleagues from N. To S. And 49 leagues from E. To W. It is so fertileand delicious, that many have believed it to have been the seat of theterrestrial paradise; and the natives certainly believe this, for theypretend to shew the tomb of Adam, and the print of his foot on themountain named the Peak of Adam, [1] one of the highest mountainsin the world. On another mountain there is a salt-lake, which theinhabitants affirm was filled by the tears shed by Eve, while she weptincessantly an hundred years for the death of Abel. 

[Footnote 1: This gross absurdity is not worth contesting; but thefact is, that the real natives, the idolaters of the interior, referboth the tomb and the footmark to their false god, or lawgiver, Bodh. --E. ]

The principal places in Ceylon are Jafnapatam, Trinkamaly, Baracola, Punta de Galla, Columbo, Negombo, Sitavaca, and Candy. The Dutch EastIndia Company are possessed of all the coasts of the island, and tenor twelve leagues within the land, and most of the before-mentionedtowns, except the two last. While the Portuguese had possession, theybuilt abundance of forts for their security, so that the Dutch foundit a difficult matter to dislodge them; but having contracted a secrettreaty with the king of Candy, the Portuguese were attacked on allsides, by sea and land, and were driven by degrees out of all theirpossessions. Since then, the Dutch have taken much pains to cultivatea good understanding with that native sovereign, from whom they haveobtained almost every thing they demanded. They send every year anambassador to him with various presents; in return for which hisCandian majesty sends to the company a casket of jewels, of such valuethat the ship which carries it home is reckoned to be worth half thefleet. 

Punta de Galle and Columbo are the two principal places in theisland, the latter being the residence of the governor, and the other, properly speaking, is only the port of that city. Though extremelyhot, the air of Ceylon is reckoned healthy, and the country aboundswith excellent fruits of many kinds. The sea and the rivers affordplenty of various kinds of fish. There are also on the land greatabundance of fowls, both wild and tame, and many wild animals, particularly elephants that are larger than any other country in Asia, also tygers, bears, civet cats, monkeys, and others. _Cinnamon_ is theproduction for which this island is peculiarly famous, as that whichis procured here is estimated far superior to any other. The DutchEast India Company have the entire monopoly not only of this, but ofall the other spices, with which they supply all parts of the world. Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tree resembling the orange, theflowers of which very much resemble those of the laurel both in sizeand figure. There are three sorts of cinnamon. The finest is takenfrom young trees; a coarser sort from the old ones; and the third isthe _wild cinnamon_, or cassia, which grows not only in Ceylon, butin Malabar and China, and of late years in Brazil. The company alsoderives great profit from an essential oil drawn from cinnamon, whichsells at a high price; and it also makes considerable gain by theprecious stones found in this island, being rubies, white and bluesapphires, topazes, and others. 

Off the coast of this island, at Manaar and Tutecorin, there is a finepearl fishery, which brings in a large revenue, being let twice a-yearin farm to certain black merchants. The oysters are at the bottom ofthe sea, and the fishery is only carried on in fine weather, when thesea is perfectly calm. The diver has one end of a rope fastened roundhis body below the arm-pits, the other end being tied to the boat, having a large stone tied to his feet, that he may descend thequicker, and a bag tied round his waist to receive the oysters. Assoon as he gets to the bottom of the sea, he takes up as many oystersas are within his reach, putting them as fast as possible into thebag; and in order to ascend, pulls strongly at a cord, different fromthat which is round his body, as a signal for those in the boat tohaul him up as fast as they can, while he endeavours so shake loosethe stone at his feet. When the boats are filled with oysters, theblack merchants carry them to different places on the coast, sellingthem at so much the hundred; which trade is hazardous for thepurchasers, who sometimes find pearls of great value, and sometimesnone at all, or those only of small value. 

The inhabitants of Ceylon are called _Cingolesians_, or Cingalese, whoare mostly very tall, of a very dark complexion, with very large ears, owing to the numerous large and heavy ornaments they wear in them. They are men of great courage, and live in a hardy manner, andare therefore excellent soldiers. They are, for the most part, Mahomedans, [2] though there are many idolaters among them who worshipcows and calves. The inhabitants of the interior do not greatlyrespect the Dutch, whom they term their _coast-keepers_, in derision;but the Dutch care little about this, endeavouring to keep in goodcorrespondence with the king of Candy, whose dominions are separatedfrom theirs by a large rapid river, and by impenetrable forests. TheCeylonese are remarkable for their great skill in taming elephants, which they employ as beasts of burden in time of peace, and renderserviceable against their enemies in war. 

[Footnote 2: The author has probably confounded the original nativesof Ceylon, who are idolaters, with the Malays, who are Mahomedans, andof whom a considerable number are settled on the coast country. --E. ]

SECTION X. 

_Some Account of the Governments of Amboina, Banda, Macasser, theMoluccas, Mallacca, and the Cape of Good Hope. _

The third government under the East India Company is that of Amboina, one of the Molucca islands, which was formerly the seat of thegovernor-general till the building of Batavia, when it was transferredthere on account of its advantageous situation, in the centre of thecompany's trade and settlements, while Amboina lay too far to theeast. The island of Java also is vastly more fertile than Amboina, producing all the necessaries of life in abundance, so that it hasno dependence for provisions on any other country, while they hadprovisions to search for in all other places, at the time when thegovernment was established at Amboina. This island is one of thelargest of the Moluccas, being situated in the _Archipelago of StLazarus_, in lat. 3 40' S. And long. 128° 30' E. 21° 30' or 430 marineleagues east from Batavia. It was conquered in 1519 by the Portuguese, who built a fort there to keep the inhabitants under subjection, andto facilitate the conquest of all the adjacent islands. This fort wastaken by the Dutch in 1605, but they did not entirely reduce the wholeisland of Amboina and the neighbouring islands till 1627, by whichconquest they acquired entire possession of the clove trade, whencethese islands are termed the _gold-mine_ of the company, owing to thevast profit they draw from them, and it is so far superior toother gold-mines, that there is no fear of these islands being everexhausted of that commodity. A pound weight of cloves or nutmegs, forthe company has the entire monopoly of both, does not in fact cost thecompany much more than a half-penny, and every one knows at what ratethe spices are sold in Europe. Amboina is the centre of all this richcommerce; and to keep it more effectually in the hands of the company, all the clove-trees in the other islands are grubbed up and destroyed;and sometimes, when the harvest is very large at Amboina, a part evenof its superfluous produce is burnt. 

This valuable spice grows only in Amboina and the other five Moluccaislands, and in the islands of Meao, Cinomo, Cabel, and Marigoran. TheIndians call cloves _calafoor_, while the inhabitants of the Moluccascall them _chinke_. The clove-tree is much like the laurel, but itsleaves are narrower, resembling those of the almond and willow. Eventhe wood and leaves taste almost as strong as the cloves themselves. These trees bear a great quantity of branches and flowers, and eachflower produces a single clove. The flowers are at first white, thengreen, and at last grow red and pretty hard, and are properly thecloves. While green, their smell is sweet and comfortable, beyond allother flowers. When ripe, the cloves are of a yellow colour, butafter being gathered and dried, they assume a smoky and black hue. Ingathering, they tie a rope round each bough, and strip off the wholeof its produce by force, which violence injures the tree for the nextyear, but it bears more than ever in the following season. Others beatthe trees with long poles, as we do walnut-trees, when the cloves falldown on cloths spread on the ground to receive them. The treesbear more fruit than leaves, the fruit hanging from the trees likecherries. Such cloves as are sold in the Indies are delivered just asprocured from the trees, mixed with their stalks, and with dust anddirt; but such as are to be transported to Holland are carefullycleaned and freed from the stalks. If left ungathered on the tree, they grow large and thick, and are then termed _mother-cloves_, whichthe Javanese value more than the others, but the Dutch prefer theordinary cloves. 

No care is ever taken in propagating or planting clove-trees, as thecloves which fall to the ground produce them in abundance, and therains make them grow so fast that they give fruit in eight years, continuing to bear for more than an hundred years after. Some are ofopinion that the clove-tree does not thrive close to the sea, nor whentoo far removed; but seamen who have been on the island assert thatthey are found everywhere, on the mountains, in the vallies, andquite near the sea. They ripen from the latter end of August to thebeginning of January. Nothing whatever grows below or near thesetrees, neither grass, herb, or weed, as their heat draws all themoisture and nourishment of the soil to themselves. Such is the hotnature of cloves, that when a sackful of them is laid over a vesselof water, some of the water is very soon wasted, but the cloves are noway injured. When a pitcher of water is left in a room in which clovesare cleaned, all the water is consumed in two days, although even thecloves have been removed. Cloves are preserved in sugar, forming anextraordinary good confection. They are also pickled. Many Indianwomen chew cloves to give them a sweet breath. A very sweet-smellingwater is distilled from green cloves, which is excellent forstrengthening the eyes, by putting a drop or two into the eyes. Powderof cloves laid upon the head cures the headache; and used inwardly, increases urine, helps digestion, and is good against a diarrhoea, anddrank in milk, procures sleep. 

A few days after the cloves are gathered, they are collected togetherand dried before the fire in bundles, by which operation they losetheir natural beautiful red colour, changing into a deep purple orblack. This is perhaps partly owing to their being sprinkled withwater, which is said to be necessary for preventing worms from gettinginto them. Those persons who are sent for this commodity in thecompany's ships, practise a fraud of this nature, in order to concealtheir thefts: For, having abstracted a certain quantity or proportionfrom the cloves received on board, they place two or three hogsheadsof sea-water among those remaining, which is all sucked up in a fewdays by the cloves, which that recover their former weight. By thiscontrivance, the captain and merchant or supercargo agreeingtogether, find a way to cheat the company out of part of this valuablecommodity. Yet this fraud, though easy and expeditious, is extremelydangerous as when detected it is invariably punished with death, and the company never want spies. Owing to this, cloves are commonlyenough called galgen kruid, or gallows-spice, as frequently bringingmen to an ill end. 

The king of Amboina has a pension from the company, and a guard ofEuropean soldiers, maintained at its expence. The inhabitants of theisland are of middle stature, and of black complexions, being allextremely lazy and given to thieving; yet some of them are veryingenious, and have a singular art of working up the cloves whilegreen into a variety of curious toys, as small ships or houses, crowns, and such like, which are annually sent to Europe as presents, and are much esteemed. Those of the Amboinese who acknowledge theauthority of the king are Mahomedans, but there are many idolaters wholive in the mountains, and maintain their independence, consideringthemselves as free men, but the king and the Hollanders reckon themsavages; and as they are guilty of frequent robberies and murders, they are always reduced to slavery when caught, and are treated withthe utmost rigour, and employed in the hardest labour. On thisaccount a most excessive hatred subsists between them and the otherinhabitants of the island, with whom they are perpetually at war, and to whom they hardly ever give quarter. Their arms are bucklers;swords, and javelins or pikes. 

The garrison kept in the fort of Amboina is numerous, and constantlymaintained in excellent order, being composed of the best troops inthe company's service. The fort is so strong, both by nature andart, as to be reckoned impregnable, and so effectually commands theharbour, that no vessel can possibly go in or out without being sunkby its cannon. Although the rich commerce in cloves might make asufficient return to the company for the charges of this island, yetof late years coffee has been ordered to be cultivated here, andis likely to turn out to advantage. While this island was underthe government of Mr Barnard, it was discovered that considerablequantities of gold-dust were washed down by the torrents in some partsof the mountains, and by tracing up the auriferous streams to theirsources, the mine has at last been found. Amboina also produces a redkind of wood, which is both beautiful and durable, and is naturallyembellished in its grain with abundance of curious figures. Of thiswood they make tables, cabinets, writing-desks, and other beautifulpieces of furniture, which are sent as presents to the principalpersons in the government, the rest being sold at extravagant pricesall over India. 

The fourth government under the company is _Banda_, an island aboutfifty leagues from Amboina towards the east, and to the southwardof the Moluccas. The governor, who is generally an eminent merchant, resides at _Nera_, the capital of the country, and has several otherneighbouring islands under his jurisdiction, in the government ofall which he is assisted by a council, as at Amboina. In somerepresentations sent home, and published by the company, this islandis set forth as being very expensive to the company, and so thinlyinhabited as to take off very little goods, while it is so barren asto require large supplies of provisions. All this is pure artifice;for, though Banda is a very small island in comparison with Amboina, being only about twelve leagues in circumference, it certainly affordsas great profits, which arise from the important commerce in nutmegs, which grow here in such prodigious quantities as to enable the Dutchcompany to supply all the markets in Europe. 

This admirable and much-valued fruit grows in no other part of theworld except Banda and a few other small islands in its neighbourhood, named Orattan, Guimanasa, Wayer, Pulo-wai, and Pulo-rion. Thenutmeg-tree is much like a peach-tree, but the leaves are shorter androunder. The fruit is at first covered by two skins or shells, theouter one being tough and as thick as one's finger, which falls offwhen the fruit ripens. This outer rind when candied has a fine tasteand flavour. When this falls off, the next is a fine smooth skin orpeel, which is the mace, or flower of the nutmeg; and below this is aharder and blackish shell, much like that of a walnut; and on openingthis shell, the nutmeg is found within, being the kernel. The mace isat first of a fine scarlet colour; but, when ripe, it falls off theshell, and is then of an orange colour, as it comes to Europe. Theypreserve whole nutmegs in sugar, which make the best sweetmeat inIndia. The Bandanese call nutmegs _palla_, and mace _buaa-palla_. There are two sorts of nutmegs; the one being of a long shape, calledmales, and the other round and reddish, called females, which latterhave better taste and flavour than the other. When gathered and themace carefully preserved, the shells are removed and the nutmegsdried, being first thrown among quicklime, as otherwise worms wouldbreed in and destroy them. 

There are several islands in the neighbourhood of Banda in which thenutmeg-trees grow, but these are carefully destroyed every year, whichat first sight may seem extraordinary, as, if once destroyed, onewould imagine they would never grow again. But they are annuallycarried by birds to these islands. Some persons allege that the birdsdisgorge them undigested, while others assert that they pass throughin the ordinary manner, still retaining their vegetative power. Thisbird resembles a cuckoo, and is called the nutmeg-gardener by theDutch, who prohibit their subjects from killing any of them on painof death. The nutmeg is a sovereign remedy for strengthening thebrain and memory, for warming the stomach, sweetening the breath, and promoting urine; it is also good against flatulence, diarrhoea, head-ach, pain of the stomach, heat of the liver, and amenorrhoea. Oil of nutmegs is a powerful cordial. Mace is an effectual remedyfor weakness of the stomach, helps digestion, expels bad humours, and cures flatulence. A plaister of mace and nutmegs in powder, and diluted with rose-water, greatly strengthens the stomach. Beingpeculiar to Banda, merchants from Java, Malucca, China, and all partsof the Indies, come to Nera and the other towns of Banda to purchasemace and nutmegs; and immediately on their arrival, they all purchasewives to keep house for them and dress their victuals during theirstay, which is usually two or three months, and when they go awayagain, they give liberty to these temporary wives to go where theyplease. 

The island of Banda is very hilly, yet fertile, the governmentamong the natives being a kind of commonwealth, administered by theMahomedan priests, who are very strict and severe. The populationof the whole island may be about 12, 000 persons of all ages, of whomabout 4000 are fighting men. It is so well fortified as to be deemedimpregnable, yet there is always a numerous squadron of small vesselson the coast for farther security. The garrison is numerous, but ina worse condition than those of any other garrison, belonging to thecompany, owing to the scarcity of victuals, as the island is of abarren sandy soil, [1] wherefore the soldiers eat dogs, cats, andany other animal they can find. For six months of the year they havetolerable abundance of turtle or sea-tortoises, and after this theyare glad to get a little sorry fish, now and then. Their bread is madefrom the juice of a tree, which resembles the grounds of beer whenfirst drawn, but grows as hard as a stone when dried: Yet, when putinto water, it swells and ferments, and so becomes fit to eat, atleast in this country, where nothing else is to be had. [2] Butter, rice, dried fish, and other provisions, are all imported from Batavia, and are much too dear to be purchased by the soldiers, at least in anygreat plenty. Thus the inhabitants are none of the happiest; but, todo them justice, they live fully as well as they deserve, as there isnot an honest man on the island. 

[Footnote 1: This is contradictory, having been before described ashilly, yet fertile. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: This account of the matter is not easily understood, andseems to want confirmation. Perhaps it is an ignorant or pervertedreport of sago: Yet there may possibly be some tree or plant affordinga considerable quantity of fecula or starch by expression. --E. ]

According to the Dutch, the original natives of this island were socruel, perfidious and intractable, that they were forced to root themout in a great measure for their own security, and to send a Dutchcolony to occupy the island: But such a colony as has not much mendedthe matter, being entirely composed of a rascally good-for-nothingpeople, who were either content to come, or were sentenced to be senthere, almost to starve, not being able to live elsewhere. Their miseryat this place does not continue long, as they are usually soon carriedoff by the dry gripes or twisting of the guts, which is the endemic, or peculiar disease of the country. Hence, and because wild youngfellows are sometimes sent here by their relations, the Dutch atBatavia usually call this _Verbeetering Island_, or the Island ofCorrection. 

Macasser, or the island of Celebes, is considered as the fourth bestgovernment after Batavia. This island lies between Borneo and theMoluccas, 260 leagues or 13° E. From Batavia. It is a singularlyirregular island, consisting in a manner of four long peninsularprocesses, two projecting eastwards, and two towards the south, reaching from lat. 1° 30' N. To 5° 45' S. And from long. 119° to 125°20', both E. It is called, and with great reason, the key of the spiceislands, and the form of its government is much the same as in theother islands, consisting of a governor and council. Since the Dutchconquered these islands from the Portuguese, they have carefullyfortified the sea-coast, and have always a very numerous garrisonin the fort of Macasser, where the governor resides; which isparticularly necessary, as the island is very populous, and thenatives are beyond comparison the bravest and best soldiers in India. This nation long gave inexpressible trouble to the Dutch, but was atlength, subdued, and stands now in as much awe of the company as anyother nation: But, till very lately, the expences of the troops atthis place were so large, that the company derived very little gainfrom the conquest, although the slave-trade here is very profitable. 

Before the last Macasser war, which ended in the entire subjugation ofthe prince of this country, he was able to procure great quantitiesof mace, nutmegs, and cloves, which he sold to the English and othernations, at much more reasonable rates than they could procure themfrom the Dutch. For which reason the Dutch were at great pains andexpence to reduce this island to entire subjection, that it mightbecome the bulwark of the Moluccas, and secure their monopoly of thespice-trade: But, for similar reasons, the other European powers oughtto have supported the king of Macasser in his independence. Theisland of Celebes is very fertile, and produces abundance of rice, andarticles of great value in the Indies. The inhabitants are of middlestature, and have yellow complexions, with good features, and are ofbrisk and active dispositions: But are naturally thieves, traitors, and murderers to such a degree, that it is not safe for an European toventure beyond the walls of the fort after dark, or to travel at anytime far into the country, lest he be robbed and murdered. Yet many ofthe natives live under the protection of the Dutch forts, beingfree burgesses, who carry on considerable trade. There are also aconsiderable number of Chinese residents, who sail from hence invessels of their own to all parts of the company's dominions, and whoacquire immense wealth by means of extensive commerce. 

The inland country is under the dominion of three different princes, who, fortunately for the Dutch, are in continual opposition to eachother; for, if united, they might easily drive the Dutch from theisland. One of these princes is styled the _Company's King_, ashe lives in good correspondence with the Dutch, and promotes theirinterest as far as he can. On this account the Dutch make him presentsof considerable value from time to time, such as gold chains, goldencoronets set with precious stones, and the like, in order to keep himsteady in his allegiance, and to prevent him from uniting with theother two princes of the island. Some little time before the arrivalof Roggewein at Batavia, a rich gold-mine was discovered in Celebes, to which a director and a great number of workmen were sent fromBatavia; but how far this has been attended with success, our authorwas unable to say. 

_Ternate_ is the fifth government at the disposal of the company, andthe farthest east of all belonging to the Dutch dominions in India, sothat it is a kind of frontier. The governor is always a merchant, andhas a council, like all the others already mentioned. This is one ofthe largest of the Molucca islands, and the king of Ternate is themost valuable of all the allies of the company; as, although hisisland would abound in cloves, he causes them to be rooted outannually, for which the company allows him a pension of eighteenor twenty thousand rix dollars yearly. He has likewise a numerouslife-guard, with a very strong fort well garrisoned, all at theexpence of the company. The kings of Tidore and Bachian are histributaries. Ternate is very fertile, and abounds in all sorts ofprovisions, and in every thing that can contribute to the ease andhappiness of life, yet its commerce is of no great importance, hardlyamounting to as much as is necessary to defray the charges of thegovernment. It was at this time, however, expected to turn out tobetter account, as a rich gold-mine had been recently discovered. Thenatives are a middle-sized people, strong and active, more faithfulthan their neighbours, and better affected towards the Europeans. Inreligion they are mostly Mahometans or Pagans; but of late many ofthem had become Christians, chiefly occasioned by their king havingdeclared himself of that religion, a point of great consequencetowards the conversion of the people. The inhabitants of Ternatemake a species of palm wine, called _Seggeweer_, which is excessivelystrong. There are here many most beautiful birds, having feathersof all sorts of colours, charmingly diversified, which are sent toBatavia, where they are sold at high prices on account of their beautyand docility, as they may be taught to sing finely, and to imitate thehuman voice. Many Birds-of-Paradise are also brought from this island. There are several sorts of these birds. The most common kind isyellow, having small bodies, about eight inches long exclusive of thetail, which is half a yard long, and sometimes more. The second kindis red, the third blue, and the fourth black. These last are themost beautiful and most in request, being called the King of theBirds-of-Paradise. This kind has a crown or tuft of feathers on thetop of its head, which lies flat or is raised up at pleasure. In thisthey resemble the _cadocus_ or cockatoo, a bird entirely white, with ayellow crown on its head. 

The sixth government is Malacca, which city is the capital of asmall kingdom of the same name, inhabited by Malayans or Malays. Thegovernor here is a merchant, and is assisted by a council like all theothers. This kingdom of Malacca is the south part of the peninsula ofIndia beyond the Ganges, being divided from the island of Sumatra bya strait, named the strait of Malacca. This city is of considerablesize, and carries on an extensive commerce, for which it is admirablysituated, and is the storehouse or emporium of all that part of India. It is also the rendezvous of all the homeward-bound ships from Japan, which make at this place a distribution of their merchandise intovarious assortments, which are sent from hence to all the settlementsof the company in India. It is however subject to the greatinconvenience of scarcity of provisions, having nothing of that kindexcept various sorts of fish. The princes of the adjacent countriesand their subjects are all notorious pirates, and give muchdisturbance to the trade of India; but are particularly inimical tothe Dutch company, and omit no opportunity of doing all the evilin their power to its subjects. These people suffered formerly somesevere reverses from the Portuguese, who were formerly establishedhere, and since from their successors the Dutch, which has graduallyreduced their power, so that they are now much less able to carryon their depredations. The natives of Malacca are of a very darkcomplexion, but brisk and active, and greatly addicted to thieving. Some are idolaters but they are mostly Mahometans. 

When the Portuguese were masters of Malacca, they had no less thanthree churches and a chapel within the fortress, and one on theoutside. That which is now used for worship by the Dutch standsconspicuously on the top of a hill, and may be seen for a greatdistance up or down the straits. It has a flag-staff on the top of itssteeple, where a flag is always displayed on seeing a ship. The fortis large and strong. A third part of its walls is washed by the sea:A deep, narrow, and rapid river covers its western side; and all therest is secured by a broad, deep ditch. The governor's house is bothbeautiful and convenient, and there are several other good houses, both in the fort and the town. But, owing to the shallowness of thesea at this place, ships are obliged to ride above a league off, which is a great inconvenience, as the fort is of no use to defend theroads. The straits here are not above four leagues broad, and thoughthe opposite coast of Sumatra is very low, it may easily be seen ina clear day: Hence the sea here is always quite smooth, exceptin squalls of wind, which are generally accompanied with thunder, lightning, and rain. These squalls, though violent, seldom last morethan an hour. 

The country of Malacca produces nothing for exportation, except alittle tin and elephants teeth; but has several excellent fruits androots for the use of its inhabitants, and the refreshment of strangerswho navigate this way. The pine-apples of Malacca are esteemed thebest in the world, as they never offend the stomach; while those ofother places, if eaten in the smallest excess, are apt to occasionsurfeits. The _mangostein_ is a delicious fruit, almost in the shapeof an apple. Its skin is thick and red, and when dried is an excellentastringent. The kernels, if they may be so called, are like cloves ofgarlic, of a most agreeable taste, but very cold. The _rambostan_ isa fruit about the size of a walnut, with a tough skin beset withcapillaments, [3] and the pulp within is very savoury. 

[Footnote 3: This uncommon word is explained by Johnson, as "smallthreads or hairs growing in the middle of flowers, adorned with littleknobs. "--Here it may be supposed to mean that the fruit is hairy. --E. ]

There is a high mountain to the N. E. Of Malacca, whence several riversdescend, that of Malacca being one of them, and all these have smallquantities of gold in their channels. The inland inhabitants, called_Monacaboes_, are a barbarous and savage people, whose chief delightis in doing injury to their neighbours. On this account, the peasantryabout Malacca sow no grain, except in inclosures defended by thicksetprickly hedges or deep ditches: For, when the grain is ripe in theopen plains, the Monacaboes never fail to set it on fire. These inlandnatives are much whiter than the Malays of the lower country; and theking of Johor, whose subjects they are or ought to be, has never beenable to civilize them. 

When the Dutch finally attempted to conquer Malacca from thePortuguese, in alliance with the king of Johor, and besieged it bothby sea and land, they found it too strong to be reduced by force, andthought it would be tedious to reduce it by famine. Hearing that thePortuguese governor was a sordid, avaricious wretch, much hated by thegarrison, they tampered with him by letters, offering him mountains ofgold to betray his trust, and at length struck a bargain with him for80, 000 dollars, and to convey him to Batavia. Having in consequence ofhis treachery got into the fort, where they gave no quarter to any onefound in arms, they dispatched the governor himself, to save paymentof the promised bribe. 

The seventh government bestowed by the company is that of the Cape ofGood Hope. The governor here is always one of the counsellors of theIndies, and has a council to assist him. This colony was taken fromthe Portuguese by the Dutch in 1653, and is justly esteemed one of themost important places in the hands of the company, though the profitsderived from it are not comparable to what they derive from some ofthe islands in the East Indies. Formerly things were still worse, asthe revenues of this settlement fell short of its expences. Yet thecompany could hardly carry on the trade to India, were it not inpossession of this place, as here only the ships can meet with waterand other refreshments on the outward and homeward-bound voyages; andthese are indispensably necessary, especially for such ships as aredistressed with the scurvy. This place so abounds in all sorts ofprovisions, that there never is any scarcity, notwithstanding the vastyearly demand, and all ships putting in here are supplied at moderaterates. These refreshments consist of beef, mutton, fowls, fruit, vegetables, wine, and every thing, in short, that is necessary, eitherfor recovering the sick on shore, or recruiting the sea-stores forthe continuance of the voyage out or home. In the space of a year, atleast forty outward-bound ships touch here from Holland alone, andin these there cannot be less than eight or nine thousand people. Thehomeward-bound Dutch ships are not less than thirty-six yearly, inwhich there are about three thousand persons; not to mentionforeign vessels, which likewise put in here, and have all kinds ofrefreshments furnished to them at reasonable rates. There are almostalways some ships in this road, except in the months of May, June, andJuly, when the wind usually blows with great violence at N. W. And thenthe road is very dangerous. 

SECTION XI. 

_Account of the Directories of Coromandel, Surat, Bengal, and Persia. _

Having now given a short view of the governments in the disposal ofthe Dutch East-India Company, which are a kind of principalities, aseach governor, with the advice and assistance of his council, is akind of sovereign, and acts without controul through the whole extentof his jurisdiction, we are now to consider the other establishmentsof the company in India, for carrying on this extensive trade. In allthe countries where their affairs require it, they have factories, ineach of which there is a chief, with some title or other, having alsoa council to assist him in regard to matters of policy or trade. Amongthese, the directories of Coromandel, Surat, Bengal, and Persia areall of great importance, and the direction of them is attended withgreat profit. The directors have the same power with the governors, within their respective jurisdictions; only that they cannot executeany criminal sentences within the countries in which they reside, sothat all criminals are executed on board ship, under the flag of thecompany. 

The directory of Coromandel is the first of the four, and has all theforts and factories belonging to the Dutch on that coast underhis jurisdiction. Besides Negapatnam, on the southernmost point ofCoromandel, and the fort of _Gueldria_, in which the director resides, they have factories at Guenepatnam, Sadraspatnam, Masulipatnam, Pelicol, Datskorom, Benlispatnam, Nagernauty, and Golconda. The Dutchdirector is a principal merchant, and if he discharges his office withreputation, he is commonly in a few years promoted to be one ofthe counsellors of the Indies. It is not uncommon for a governoror director in the Indies, in the space of a few years, to amass afortune equal to the original capital of the company, or six millionsand a half of guilders, or nearly £600, 000 sterling. 

Formerly, the country of Coromandel was divided into a great number ofprincipalities, and the little princes and chiefs imposed such heavyduties, and gave such interruptions to trade in other respects, asrendered the company very uneasy. But after the war of Golconda, whichcost the company a great deal of money, yet ended to their advantage, these princes grow more tractable. At present, the kings of Bisnagarand Hassinga, [1] who are the most powerful in Coromandel, live intolerably good terms with the Dutch and other European nations; theEnglish and Danes having also a share in Coromandel, with several goodfortresses for the protection of their trade. 

[Footnote 1: This seems to be a misprint for Narsinga, otherwise theCarnatic. --E. ]

The great trade carried on here is in cotton goods, as muslins, chintzes, and the like; in exchange for which the Dutch bring themspices, Japan copper, steel, gold-dust, sandal and _siampan_ woods. In this country, the inhabitants are some Pagans, some Mahomedans, andnot a few Christians. The country is very fertile in rice, fruits, and herbs, and in every thing necessary to the support of man; butthe weather is exceedingly hot during the eastern monsoon. All themanufactures of this country, purchased by the Dutch, are transportedfirst to Batavia, whence they are sent home to Holland, and are thencedistributed through all Germany and the north of Europe. 

The second and third directories are established at Hoogly on theGanges, and at Surat on the western coast of India, both in theterritories of the Great Mogul, and the two most important placesof trade in all Asia. The Dutch, English, French, and other Europeannatives trade to both, and have erected forts and magazines for theirsecurity and convenience. The best part of the trade is carried on byblack merchants, who deal in all sorts of rich goods; such as opium, diamonds, rich stuffs, and all kinds of cotton cloths. The empire ofthe Great Mogul is of prodigious extent, and the countries under hisdominion are esteemed the richest in the world. The air is tolerablypure, yet malignant fevers are common, generally attacking strangersas a kind of seasoning sickness, in which, if the patient escape thethird day, he generally recovers. 

Most of the inhabitants of this country are tall black robust men, ofgay and lively dispositions. In point of religion, many of them areidolaters, more of them Mahometans, [2] and some of them Christians. The idolaters are split into numerous sects, some of whom believefirmly in the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls; for whichreason they will not take away the life of any living creature, noteven daring to kill a fly or a flea. They have even hospitals forworn-out oxen and old cows, where they are fed and attended till theydie of age or disease. These people are in general very industrious, but covetous, false, and perfidious. They employ themselves, such asreside in towns, in the manufactures of silk and cotton; and thosewho live in the country are very diligent cultivators, so that theyannually expect from hence vast quantities of grain to Batavia. 

[Footnote 2: This is an obvious mistake, as by far the greater part ofthe population is idolatrous. --E. ]

The Great Mogul is one of the richest and most powerful princes in theworld, having a most magnificent court, and a numerous army alwayson foot. The directors at Bengal and Surat know perfectly well howto deal with him, and, by making shewy presents, procure valuablediamonds and other precious stones in return. Surat is a town of nogreat antiquity, yet very large and immensely rich. It is in compassabout five miles within the walls, and is computed to contain about200, 000 inhabitants. The Moorish and even the Indian merchantshere are many of them prodigiously rich. The former chiefly addictthemselves to the diamond trade, which is very precarious; forsometimes a small stock produces an immense fortune, while at othertimes, a man wastes immense sums without finding stones of any greatvalue: For, at the diamond-mines, the adventurers purchase so manyyards square at a certain price, employing slaves to dig and lift theearth, taking whatever stones are found in that spot; which sometimesare of great value, and sometimes so few and small as not to paycosts. Other Moorish merchants deal largely in foreign trade, andas the Mogul is a very easy master, some of them acquire prodigiouswealth, and carry on commerce to such an extent as can scarce becredited in Europe. About twenty years ago, [that is, about the year1700, ] there died a Moorish merchant at Surat, who used yearly tofit out twenty sail of ships, from three to eight hundred tons, thecargoes of each of which were in value from ten to twenty thousandpounds, and who always retained goods in his warehouses equal invalue to what he sent away. The customs of Surat amount every year toupwards of L. 160, 000 sterling, and, as the merchants pay three percent. At a medium, the value of the goods must exceed five millionsyearly. 

The fourth and last factory under a director, is that of Gambroon orBendar-abassi on the coast of Persia. The director here is always aprincipal merchant, having a council and a fiscal to assist him. Asthis city stands on the Persian gulf or sea of Basora, being the onlyport of Persia on the Indian sea, and lies at a great distance fromBatavia, this direction is not so much sought after as others; andbesides, the heat at this place is greater than in any part of theworld, and the air is excessively unwholesome. To balance theseinconveniences, the director at Gambroon has an opportunity of makinga vast fortune in a short time, so that in general, in four or fiveyears, he has no farther occasion to concern himself in commerce. There are several other European nations settled here besides theDutch, but they have by far the best factory, and have fortified it soeffectually, that the inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains, whoare a crew of bold and barbarous robbers, have never been able to gainpossession of it, though they have made frequent attempts. The kingof Persia, who reigned about 1722, came sometimes to Gambroon, anddistinguished the Dutch above the other European nations by many marksof his favour, and by the grant of many privileges. Some time beforethat period, he sent a gold saddle very richly wrought, and adornedwith precious stones, a present to the governor of Batavia, desiringin return an European habit for himself and another for his queen. 

Gambroon is a disagreeable place to live in, as in August it isunbearably hot; and yet the winter is so cold that they wear Englishcloth lined with furs. They have here beeves, sheep, goats, poultry, and fish, all good of their kinds, and tolerably cheap. They have alsograpes, melons, and mangoes in the utmost perfection, and excellentwine, which is esteemed superior to that of all other countries, insomuch that it still preserves its flavour after being diluted withfour times its quantity of water. At the time when our author was inIndia, intestine wars raged to such a degree in Persia, that a shiphad to be constantly stationed at Gambroon to bring off the factory, in case of danger. Another inconvenience to the trade on thiscoast proceeded from the multitude of pirates on those seas, mostlyEuropeans, who, having run away with the ships of their owners, subsisted by robbing all nations. Among these at this time was a stoutship named the Hare, which had been sent from Batavia to Persia: Butthe crew mutinied, and forced their officers to turn pirates. Aftercommitting many depredations on this coast, they sailed to theRed-Sea, where they attacked and plundered many Arabian pirates. Atlength, being short of provisions, and not daring to put into anyport, they resolved to return; and finding themselves also in wantof water, they resolved to supply themselves at an island. With thisview, most of them crowded into the pinnace and put off from the ship, which gave an opportunity to the officers to resume their authority;wherefore they cut the cable, and brought the ship into the harbourof Gambroon, by which means the ship and cargo were restored to theCompany. 

In 1701, the Ballorches, who rebelled against the Shah, attemptedto make themselves masters of the English and Dutch factories atGambroon, with a body of four thousand men, but were beat off at bothplaces; but a warehouse belonging to the Dutch, at some distance fromthe factory, fell into their hands, in which were goods to the valueof twenty thousand pounds. A short time afterwards, the famous rebel_Meriweys_ made himself master of Ispahan, where he plundered both theEnglish and Dutch factories, taking from the former goods to the valueof half a million, and from the latter to the value of two hundredthousand pounds. 

SECTION XII. 

_Account of the Commanderies of Malabar, Gallo, Java, and Bantam. _

In such subordinate places as were not thought of sufficientconsequence to require a governor or director, the Dutch East IndiaCompany has established another principal officer, with the title ofchief or commander. If the person entrusted with this authority be amerchant, he is accountable for his conduct to the civil government, but if a captain, to the military establishment. A chief or commander, in conjunction with his council, has nearly the same authority witha governor, except that he cannot execute any capital judgment oncriminals, till the case has been reviewed and confirmed by thecouncil at Batavia. 

At the time when our author was in India, the commander at the fort ofCochin on the Malabar coast, was Captain Julius de Golints, a nativeof Mecklenburg, from whom he received great civilities. Malabar wasthe first country discovered by the Portuguese in India, and in whichthey established themselves, not without great effusion of blood, norwere they many years in possession till they were driven out by theDutch. These conquerors, in their turn, found it very difficult tosupport themselves against the natives, who attacked them with greatspirit and success, and had infallibly driven them out of the country, but for the courage and conduct of Major John Bergman, who preservedtheir establishments with much difficulty. 

Though very warm, the climate of Malabar is very healthy, and the soilis fertile in rice, fruit, and all sorts of herbs. It is divided intomany principalities, among which the following are reckoned kingdoms;Cananore, Calicut, Cranganore, Cochin, Calicoulan, Porcaloulang, andTravancore. As the capital of the Dutch possessions in Malabar was thecity of Cochin, it may be proper to describe this little kingdom asat that period. It reaches from _Chitway_ in the north, and extendstwenty-four leagues to the southwards along the coast, being dividedinto a multitude of small islands by the streams which descend fromthe mountains of _Gatti_, [the Gauts. ] These rivers have two greator principal mouths, one at Cranganore in the north, and the other atCochin, in the south, distant thirty marine leagues from each other. The Portuguese were the first European nation who settled here, wherethey built a fine city on the river about three leagues from the sea;but the sea has since so gained on the land, that it is now not abovean hundred paces from the city. This place is so pleasantly situated, that the Portuguese had a common saying, "That China was a good placeto get money in, and Cochin a pleasant place to spend it at. " Thegreat number of islands formed by the rivers and canals, make fishingand fowling very amusing; and the mountains, which are at no greatdistance, are well stored with wild game. On the island of _Baypin_[Vaypen], there stands an old fort called _Pallapore_, for the purposeof inspecting all boats that pass between Cranganore and Cochin:And five leagues up the rivulets, there is a Romish church called_Varapoli_ [Virapell], served by French and Italian priests, and atwhich the bishop takes up his residence when he visits this part ofthe country. The _padre_, or superior priest at Virapell can raisefour thousand men on occasion, all Christians of the church of Rome;but there are many more Christians of the church of St Thomas, who donot communicate with the Romanists. [1] About two leagues fartherup than Virapell, towards the mountains, there is a place called_Firdalgo_, [2] on the side of a small but deep river, where theinhabitants of Cochin annually resort in the hot months of April andMay to refresh themselves. The banks and bottom of the river here areclean sand, and the water is so clear that a small pebble stone may beseen at the bottom, in three fathoms water. 

[Footnote 1: A very interesting account of the remnant of an ancientChristian church in the Travancore country, a little to the southwardof Cochin, has been lately published by Dr Buchanan, in a work namedChristian Researches in India, which will be noticed more particularlyin an after division of our Collection. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: Perhaps Bardello, about the distance mentioned in thetext. --E. ]

All the water along this low flat coast, to the south of Cranganore, has the very bad quality of occasioning swelled legs to those whodrink it. This disease sometimes only affects one leg, but sometimesboth, and the swelling is often so great as to measure a yard round atthe ancles. It occasions no pain, but great itching, neither doesthe swelled leg feel any heavier than that which occasionally remainsunaffected. To avoid this disease, the Dutch who reside at Cochin, send boats daily to Virapell, from which they bring water in smallcasks of about ten or twelve gallons, to serve the city. This water isgiven free to the servants of the Company, but private persons have topay six-pence for each cask-full, which is brought to their housesat that price. Still, however, both Dutch men and women are sometimesafflicted with this disease, and no means have hitherto been foundout for prevention or cure. The old legend imputes this disease to thecurse laid by St Thomas upon his murderers and their posterity, asan odious mark to distinguish them: But St Thomas was slain by the_Tilnigue_[3] priests at Miliapoor in Coromandel, above four hundredmiles from this coast; and the natives there have no touch of thismalady. 

[Footnote 3: This word ought assuredly to have been Telinga. --E. ]

Cochin is washed by the greatest outlet on this coast, and beingnear the sea, its situation is strong by nature, but art has not beenwanting to strengthen it. As built by the Portugueze, it was a mileand a half long by a mile in breadth. The Dutch took it in 1662, whenHeitloff van Chowz was commander of the forces by sea and land. Theinsolence of the Portuguese had made several of the neighbouringprinces their enemies, who joined with the Dutch to drive them out ofthat country, and the king of Cochin in particular assisted them withtwenty thousand men. Not long after the Dutch had invested the town, Van Chowz received notice of a peace having been concluded betweenPortugal and Holland, but kept the secret to himself and pushed on thesiege. Having made a breach in the weakest part of the fortifications, he proceeded to a furious assault, which was kept up for eight daysand nights incessantly, relieving the assailants every three hours, while the Portuguese were kept on continual duty the whole time, andwere quite worn out with fatigue. Finding the city in danger of beingtaken by storm, the Portuguese at length capitulated and gave up theplace. There were at this time four hundred topasses in the garrison, who had done good service to the Portuguese, but were not comprehendedin the capitulation. On discovering this omission, and knowing thecruel and licentious character of the Dutch soldiery in India, theydrew up close to the gate at which the Portuguese were to march out, and the Dutch to enter, declaring, unless they had equally favourableterms granted them with the Portugueze, they would massacre them all, and set fire to the town. The Dutch general not only granted them allthey asked, but even offered to take those who had a mind into theDutch pay, to which many of them assented. The very day after thesurrender, a frigate came from Goa, with the articles of peace, andthe Portuguese loudly complained of having been unfairly dealt with byVan Chowz; but he answered, that the Portuguese had acted in the samemanner with the Dutch, only a few years before, in the capture ofPernambuco in Brazil. The English had at that time a factory inCochin, but the Dutch ordered them immediately to remove with alltheir effects, which they accordingly did to their factory at Paniany. 

On gaining possession of Cochin, the Dutch thought it too extensive, and therefore contracted it to the size it is now, being hardly atenth part of what it was before. It measures about 600 paces long, by 200 in breadth, and is fortified with seven large bastions andintermediate curtains, all the ramparts being so thick that they areplanted with double rows of trees, to give shade in the hot season. Some of the streets built by the Portuguese still remain, togetherwith a church, which is now used for the Dutch worship, the cathedralbeing converted into a warehouse. The house of the commandant is theonly one built in the Dutch fashion, which is so near the river thatthe water washes some part of its walls. The flag-staff is placed onthe steeple of the old cathedral, on a mast seventy-five feet high, above which is the staff, other sixty feet in length, so that the flagmay be seen above seven leagues off at sea. The garrison of Cochinusually consists of three hundred men; and from Cape Comoras upwards, in all their forts and factories, they have five hundred soldiers, and an hundred seamen, all Europeans, besides some topasses and themilitia. They procure their store of rice from Barcelore, because theMalabar rice will not keep above three months out of the husk, though it will keep twelve with the husk on. This part of the countryproduces great quantities of pepper, but it is lighter than that whichgrows more to the northwards. The forests in the interior affords goodteak-wood for ship-building, and two woods, called _angelique_ and_prospect_, which make beautiful chests and cabinets, which are sentall over the coasts of western India. They have also iron and steelin plenty, and bees-wax for exportation. The sea and the rivers affordabundance of excellent fish of various kinds, which are sold verycheap. 

_Cranganore_, a little to the north of Cochin, stands upon a riverabout a league from the sea, and at this place the Dutch have afort. This place is remarkable for having formerly been the seat of a_Jewish government_, and that nation was once so numerous here as toconsist of 40, 000 families, though now reduced to 4000. They have asynagogue about two miles from the city of Cochin, not far from thepalace of the rajah, and in it they carefully preserve their records, engraven upon plates of copper in the Hebrew language; and when anyof the characters decay, they are cut anew, so that they still possesstheir history down from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the presentday. About the year 1695, _Mynheer van Reede_ had an abstract of thishistory translated from Hebrew into the Dutch language. They assertthemselves to be of the tribe of Manasseh, a part of which was sentby Nebuchadnezzar to the most easterly province of his large empire, which is alleged to have reached Cape Comorin. Twenty thousand of themtravelled from Babylon to this place in three years, and were civillyand hospitably treated by the inhabitants of Malabar, who allowedthem liberty of conscience in religion, and the free exercise of theirreason and industry in the management of their secular affairs. Havingincreased in numbers and riches, they at length, by policy or wealth, became masters of the small kingdom of Cranganore: And a particularfamily among them being much esteemed for wisdom and riches, two ofthat family were chosen by their elders and senators to govern thecommonwealth, and to reign jointly over them. At length one of thebrothers invited his colleague to a feast, at which he basely killedhim, thinking to reign alone; but a son of the deceased slew thefratricide, after which the state fell into a democracy, which stillcontinues among the Jews here. Their lands have, however, reverted formany years into the hands of the Malabars, and poverty and oppressionhave occasioned many of them to apostatise. 

Between Cranganore and Cochin there is an island called Baypin, [Vaypen] four leagues long, but in no part above two miles broad. The Dutch do not allow any vessels or boats to enter or go out atCranganore, obliging all to use the river of Cochin, which is aquarter of a mile broad, and very deep, but has a bar on which thereis no more than fourteen feet water at spring-tides. The inhabitantsof this country are mostly idolaters, over whom the bramins orpriests exercise great authority, which they much abuse, of whichthe following abominable custom is a strong instance. When any manmarries, he is prohibited from bedding with his wife the first night, which function is performed in his stead by one of the bramins, or, ifnone of these be at hand, by some other man. Foreigners used formerlyto be often employed on these occasions, as the Malabars made choiceof them instead of their own countrymen, often making large presentsto the substitutes, sometimes to the value of forty or fifty pounds. But of late the bramins have become so very religious, that theynever fail to execute this duty themselves. Besides this, the braminsfrequent the company of the women so much, that no one of theirreligion can pretend to know his own father with any certainty. Forwhich reason, by the laws of this country, sons or daughters neverinherit from the husbands of their mothers, but the heritage alwaysgoes, to nephews and nieces, by sisters of the deceased born of thesame mother, as certainly of his blood. This rule is observed alsoin the order of succession in their royal families, and is a glaringproof of the strange effects of boundless superstition. [4]

[Footnote 4: This strange custom has been differently relatedformerly, and we believe more accurately, as prevalent only in theNayra tribe, in which the women are allowed several husbands at thesame time, and may change them at pleasure. --E. ]

The next commandery is _Gallo_, or Point de Galle, on the island ofCeylon, at the distance of about twenty leagues from Columbo, theDutch capital of that island. Gallo was the first place in Ceylontaken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, and still is a place ofconsiderable trade. The commander at this place is entirelydependent upon the governor of Ceylon, and can do nothing without hisapprobation. About the year 1672, Lewis XIV. Sent out a squadron ofeight frigates, with orders to make themselves master of this place, this project having been proposed to the court of France by oneMynheer Jan Martin, who had served the Dutch East India Company formany years, and had quitted their service on some disgust. Whenthe royal orders came to be opened at sea, Martin found that thegovernment was to be vested in another person, in case the place weretaken, on which he took such measures as frustrated the object of theexpedition. Mynheer van Cosse, who then commanded the Dutch fleet, soon arrived on the coast, and the French retired without venturingan engagement. They went to _Trankamala_, or _Trinconomalee_, andanchored in the bay of that name, meaning to force the garrison ofthat small fort to surrender: But Van Cosse soon followed them, andbrought them to action while disadvantageously situated in the bay, and either sank or burnt half of the French fleet. The rest fled toSt Thomas, on the coast of Coromandel, intending to have formed asettlement there; but Van Cosse again followed them to that place andseized all their ships, many of their guns having been carried ashore, as were at this time a great number of their officers and men. TheFrench who were on shore capitulated with the Dutch to quit India, onbeing allowed shipping to carry them home, which Van Cosse agreed to, giving them his flag-ship, the _Groote Britanye_, and two others, forthat purpose. Martin was detained and carried to Batavia, where he wasconfined for life on an allowance of a rix-dollar a-day. 

The next commandery is that of Samarang, on the island of Java, andhe who commands here has the direction of all the factories in thatisland, except those which depend immediately on the government ofBatavia. _Kuttasura_, which is the residence of the emperor of Java, is within his jurisdiction. In the year 1704, a war broke out in Javabetween the brother and son of the deceased emperor, as competitorsfor the succession, which lasted twenty years. The Dutch sided withthe former, but the affections of the natives were with the latter, who drew over to his party a great number of the native soldiers whohad served under the Dutch, and who, being well disciplined, behavedgallantly on all occasions, and gave the Dutch much trouble. 

At _Bantam_, on the same island, the Dutch have a strong fort with anumerous garrison, to keep the people in awe, who are very mutinous, and far from being well affected to the Dutch government. The king, or rajah of Bantam, has also a fort only a few hundred paces from thatbelonging to the Dutch, in which be keeps a numerous garrison for thesecurity of his person. The only commodity of this part of the countryis pepper, of which they are able to export 10, 000 tons yearly. Theking is obliged to supply the company with a certain quantity ofpepper yearly; but in all other respects they treat him kindly enough. His dominions are extensive and well peopled, and his subjects arehardy and enterprising, but perfidious and revengeful, and mortallyhate all Christians. The bay of Bantam is safe and pleasant, havingmany islands, which still retain the names given them by the English, who had a fine factory here, from which they were expelled in 1683. The territory of Bantam is very fertile, abounding in rice, pepper, fruits, and cattle. In the interior of the country the nativessometimes find precious stones of great value, of which however theDutch rarely get possession, as the people fear they might beinduced to extend their conquests, by which they are already greatlyoppressed. The head of the factory at this place has the title ofchief. 

Another Dutch chief resides at _Padang_, on that part of the coast ofSumatra which is called the _gold-coast_. This chief has a counciland fiscal like all the rest, and his post is considered as bothhonourable and profitable. Sumatra is a very large fine island, separated from the continent of Asia by the Straits of Malacca, and from the island of Java by the Straits of Sunda, and is justlyesteemed one of the richest and noblest islands in all India. TheDutch have a factory at Palambaugan, about eight leagues from the sea, on the banks of a very large river, which empties itself into thesea by four different channels. The great trade of this part of thecountry is in pepper, which the Dutch company wish to monopolize, asthey have done cloves, nutmegs, mace, and cinnamon; and are at greatexpence in keeping several armed barks cruising at the mouths of thisriver, to prevent what they are pleased to call smuggling. It mustbe allowed, however, that they have a contract with the king of thiscountry to take all the pepper in his dominions, at the rate of tendollars the bahar of 400 pounds weight, which is a fair price. [5] Theyhave, however, a clause in the contract, by which half the price is tobe paid in cloth, at such rates as greatly reduce the cost. 

[Footnote 5: Exactly five farthings and two-fifths of a farthing thepound. --E. ]

The interior of the island is very mountainous, but most of themountains abound in mines of gold, silver, lead, and other metals. Thecompany possesses some mines of gold, said to be very rich, and greatcare is taken to secure and conceal the profits. Gold-dust is foundin great quantities in all the rivers and rivulets of the country, especially when the western monsoon reigns, when the torrents rolldown from the mountains with great rapidity. Abundance of copperis also found here, of which they make very good cannon. There arelikewise found several sorts of precious stones. There is a burningmountain on the island, which continually throws forth flame andsmoke, like Etna in Sicily; and there is said to be a fountain ofbalsam, or petroleum. This island abounds also in spice and silk; butthe air is not very wholesome, especially to strangers, owing to thegreat numbers of rivers, standing waters, and thick forests, whichevery where abound. It produces no wheat, nor any other of the grainswhich grow in Europe; but has plenty of rice, millet, and fruits, which afford good and sufficient nourishment for the inhabitants. Itproduces also, in great abundance, honey, bees-wax, ginger, camphor, cassia, pepper, and many Other valuable articles. It is of greatextent, being 310 leagues long from N. W. To S. E. And about 50 leaguesacross at an average. The greatest sovereign in the island is the kingof _Acheen, Atcheen_, or Achem, who resides in a city of that nameat the N. W. End of the island. It was formerly always governed by awoman, and it is not above forty years ago since the government fellinto the hands of a man, since which several attempts have been madeto restore the old constitution. Acheen is a free port, to which theEnglish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese resort, and in short all thetrading nations of Europe and Asia. The goods brought there are richbrocades, silks of all kinds, muslins of all sorts, raw silk, fish, butter, oil, and ammunition, for which the payments are mostly made ingold, the great commodity of the country, and remarkably fine. 

During the western monsoon, the rains fall here with prodigiousviolence, attended with terrible storms of thunder and lightning, andfrequent earthquakes; but the people, being used to them, are not muchalarmed. The nations are, generally speaking, Mahometans, and are veryexpert in making all sorts of plate and ornaments in gold, with veryfew tools, yet with such inimitable dexterity, that their workmanshipsells at a high rate all over India. The company sends a great numberof slaves to this island every year to work in their gold-mines; butthe kings in that part of the country are seldom on good terms withthe Dutch, with whom they often quarrel. The principal places wheregold is found are _Trion_ and _Manicabo_, and the way in which theyprocure the gold is as follows:--They dig trenches at the bottoms ofthe hills, so as to intercept the torrents which roll rapidly downtheir sides in the winter months: and having drained off the waterfrom the ditches in summer, they find considerable quantities ofgold-dust in the mud which remains. It is generally believed that thisisland furnishes annually 5000 pounds weight of gold-dust, [6] yetvery little of this quantity is ever brought to Europe, being mostlyemployed by the servants of the East India Company in making purchasesof commodities in places where gold bears a high price. 

[Footnote 6: Supposing these troy pounds, the value may be estimatedat L. 240, 000 sterling. --E. ]

The Dutch East India Company has long entertained a project ofbuilding ships at this island, as its timber is so good that shipsbuilt here are expected to last forty or fifty years, whereas those ofEurope seldom last more than twelve or thirteen years. The Dutch havea strong fort and great factory at _Jambee_, and another at _Siack_, both in this island. This last place is excessively unwholesome, owingto the following circumstance, which certainly might be obviated. Itstands on the great river Andragheira, into which, at one season ofthe year, there come vast shoals of large shads, a third part oftheir bulk being composed of their _roes_, which are accounted a greatdelicacy. Wherefore, after taking these out, the rest of the fish isthrown away, and as these lie in great heaps to corrupt, they exhalepestilential vapours and infect the air. The persons, therefore, whoare sent to reside at Siack, are much of the same descriptionwith those formerly mentioned as sent to Banda, being of abandonedcharacters and desperate fortunes. There is another very considerablefactory on the river Bencalis, which produces a large profit from thesale of cloth and opium, for which gold-dust is received in payment. This trade was discovered about forty years ago, that is, aboutthe year 1680, by a factor, who carried it on privately for his ownemolument for ten years, during which he acquired upwards of a _tonof gold_ yearly, a Dutch phrase implying L. 10, 000 sterling. He thenresolved to secure what he had got by making a disclosure of thisvaluable branch of traffic to the company. There are also severalDutch establishments on what is called the _West-coast_ of Sumatra. 

A very powerful and warlike people subsists in this island, known toEuropeans by the name of the _Free-nation_, who are equally aversefrom submitting either to the Sumatran sovereigns or Europeans, and have always defended themselves valiantly against both. All thenatives of Sumatra are much more inclined to the English than theDutch, perhaps because they are not under subjection to the former. But the latter use every precaution they can to prevent the nativesfrom dealing with any except themselves. For a considerable time past, the chiefs at Padang have been so unlucky as to have their honestymuch suspected, chiefly owing to their management of the mines, whichdo not turn out greatly to the profit of the company, while all theirofficers gain immense sums out of them, which the councils at Bataviaare much dissatisfied with, yet cannot prevent. For this reason theychange the chief very frequently, yet to little purpose. 

SECTION XIII. 

_Some Account of the Residences of Cheribon, Siam, and Mockha. _

The chiefs of those factories belonging to the Dutch in India aretermed _Residents_, and correspond directly with the governor-generalat Batavia, and are not dependent on any subordinate governor ordirector. The first of these independent residents is fixed at_Cheribon_, on the coast of Java, at the distance of about fortyleagues from Batavia, where a very advantageous commerce is carried onby the company in coffee, cardamoms, indigo, and cotton. The land atthis place is as fertile in rice and other provisions as perhaps anycountry in the world. This district is of considerable extent, and wasformerly under the dominion of four great lords, who used to bestyled _pangerans_, but have now the titles of sultans, though theirauthority is not much extended by these more splendid titles. One ofthese is called the company's sultan, because always attached to theinterests of the company, though in truth they might all get the sameappellation, as they are all under the protection of the company, andfreed from apprehensions of the king of Bantam, who used formerlyto be continually at war with them, and must have reduced them undersubjection, but for the assistance of the Dutch. Since then, both fromgratitude for past favours, and in expectation of future protection, they have granted great privileges to the company in their dominions. The company maintains a fort at Cheribon, with a garrison of sixtymen, and has an excellent factory. 

About half a league from the fort of Cheribon, the tombs of theprinces of Cheribon stand in a vast temple, splendidly built ofvarious fine kinds of stone, and are said to contain vast riches, yet are left unguarded, from an idea that they are protected by somesupernatural power; and they tell strange stories of persons havingdropt down dead, on approaching the places where these riches arehidden, with an intention to steal. Many people believe that theJavanese priests, who are Mahometans, have the power of causing suddendeath by means of incantations; and that they are able to enchantcrocodiles and serpents, causing the former to go into and out of thewater at command, and the latter to remain in any posture they please. A great number of priests are maintained about this great temple, manyof whom have made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and are therefore held inmuch veneration. These priests are all governed by a sovereign pontiffor mufti, who is even more respected than the sultans. There wasformerly a considerable English factory at Cheribon, having a smalltown belonging to it: But the persons of the factory so provoked thepeople, by intriguing with their wives, that they rose one night andmassacred them all. Perhaps this might have been set on foot by theirDutch neighbours. 

Another resident has the direction of the company's affairs in thekingdom of Siam, where the company carries on a considerable trade intin, lead, elephants-teeth, gum-lac, _wool_, [1] and other commodities. The king of Siam is a prince of considerable power, and his dominionsextend nearly 300 leagues. Being favourable to commerce, all nationsare allowed to trade freely in his country; but ships of no greatburden are forced to anchor at the distance of sixty leagues from hiscapital; because the river _Menan_, on which it is situated, is sorapid that they find great difficulty in getting higher up. Thisriver, like the Nile and many others, overflows its banks at a certainseason, so that most of the country is under water for half the year, for which reason all the houses are built on posts. The capital is alarge city, consisting at least of 50, 000 houses, with a prodigiousnumber of temples. [2] The natives are all pagans, and hold thissingular maxim, "That all religions are good, provided they tend tothe honour of God. " They think, however, that their own is the best;though they sometimes own that the God of the Christians is mostpowerful, because the head of their principal idol has been twicebeaten to pieces by thunder. This is perhaps the largest idol in theworld, and is called by the Dutch in derision, _The great blockhead ofLust_. He is represented sitting cross-legged like a tailor; in whichposture he measures seventy feet high, and every one of his fingersis as large as the body of a man. About three leagues from the capitalthere is a temple of vast size, having an idol not quite so large asthe other, which the priests say is his wife; and that once in sevenyears, one of these goes to visit the other. The priests also pretendthat both of these idols are of solid gold; but the thunder-clap, which destroyed the head of the larger idol detected that part of thecheat, shewing it to be only brick and lime, very artificially gildedall over. One may justly wonder that this accident did not put an endto the adoration of so wretched a deity; but where superstition onceprevails the plainest proofs very seldom produce any effect. 

[Footnote 1: Perhaps cotton, often termed _cotton-wool_, ought to havebeen here substituted. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: In Harris the temples are stated at 30, 000. --E. ]

The country of Siam is very rich and fertile, and there is aconsiderable trade carried on here by the Chinese. The Dutch have hereconsiderable privileges, and are the favoured nation, especially sincethe great revolution, when they got into great favour with the newking, because the English had been entrusted by his predecessor, whomhe murdered, with the best places in the government, both civil andmilitary. The Dutch have a factory on the side of the river, about amile below the city, where they collect great numbers of deer-skins;which are sent annually to Japan. The Siamese are themselves muchaddicted to trade, and the Chinese who reside here still more; so thatthey send ships every year to Japan, which, considering the difficultyof the navigation, is not a little extraordinary. The Siamese boast ofhaving used the compass above a thousand years before it was knownin Europe: But the Jesuits very justly observe, that the Siamese andChinese compasses are very imperfect. 

The third resident is fixed at _Mokha_, being always a merchant, having two factors under him. This country is under the governmentof an Arab prince, styled _Imaum_, who resides in the inland country, about 200 miles east from Mokha. The sea-port of his dominions wasformerly Aden; but as that was found very inconvenient, he removed thetrade to Mokha, then only a fishing village. Mokha is situated closeto the sea, in a large dry sandy plain, which affords neither fruitsnor water, except what is brackish and unwholesome, and those who areforced to drink it have long worms bred in their legs and feet, whichare very troublesome and dangerous. The town is supplied with verygood and wholesome water from _Musa_, a town at the distance of twentymiles; but it is so dear, being brought by land carriage; that itcosts as much as small beer does in England. Mokha is large, and makesa fine appearance from the sea, the buildings being lofty, but theylook much better without than within. The markets are well suppliedwith provisions, such as beef, mutton, goats, kid, lamb, and camelsflesh, antelopes, poultry, guinea-fowls, partridges, and pigeons. Thesea affords a variety of fish, but not well tasted, owing probablyto the nature of their food. It is also furnished all the year withexcellent fruits, as grapes, peaches, apricots, and quinces, of whichthey make great quantities of marmalade, both for their own use andexportation. Yet there is neither tree nor shrub to be seen near thetown, except a few date-trees, and they seldom have above two or threeshowers of rain in a year, sometimes no rain for two or three years. Among the mountains, however, about twenty miles inland, seldom amorning passes without a moderate shower, which makes the vallies veryfertile in such corn and fruits as suit the soil and climate. Theyhave plenty of wheat and barley, but no rice. 

Since Mokha has been made a free port, it has become a place of greattrade. Besides the Dutch factory, it has one belonging to the EnglishEast-India Company. Trade is also carried on here by English freemerchants, by Portuguese, Banians, and Moors; also by vesselsfrom Basora, Persia, and Muskat. The country itself produces fewcommodities, except coffee and some drugs, as myrrh, olibanum orfrankincense from _Cossin_, Soccotrine aloes from Soccotora, liquidstorax, white and yellow arsenic, some gum-arabic, mummy, and balmof gilead, these two last being brought down the Red Sea. The coffeetrade brings a continual supply of gold and silver from Europe, particularly Spanish money, German crowns, and other European silvercoins, with chequins and German and Hungarian gold ducats, and_ebramies_ and _magrabees_ of Turkey. It is a settled point here, though other goods may be bought and sold on credit for a certaintime, coffee must always be paid for in ready money. The Europeanshipping that comes here annually rather exceeds 20, 000 tons, and thatbelonging to other nations may amount to nearly the same tonnage. Thewhole province of _Betlefackee_ is planted with coffee-trees, whichare never allowed to grow above four or five yards high. The berriescling to the branches like so many insects, and are shaken off whenripe. They are at first green, then red, and lastly of a dark-browncolour. 

The Dutch have here a great advantage over all other nations, inconsequence of their monopoly of the spice-trade, as these areconsumed here in great quantities, which consequently enables them toprocure coffee at much easier rates than other nations. Yet this tradeof Mokha is continually falling off, owing to the vast quantitiesof coffee produced in their own plantations, especially at Batavia, Amboina, and the Cape of Good Hope: Even the Dutch, however, acknowledge that there is no comparison between the coffee raised ontheir own plantations and that brought from Mokha. 

The _Happy Arabia_ is divided into many small territories, underindependent princes, styled Emirs, who all pay a kind of homage, butno obedience, to the Grand Signor or Emperor of the Turks. The Red Seagets this name from several parts of it being of a red colour, owingto its bottom in these parts. 

SECTION XIV. 

_Of the Trade of the Dutch in Borneo and China. _

_Borneo_ is the largest island in the East Indies, perhaps the largestin the world, being 220 marine leagues from N. To S. And 170 leaguesfrom E. To W. It is divided into many small principalities, of whichthe most powerful is the king of _Banjaar Masseen_, and after him thekings of _Borneo_ and _Sambas_. The air is reckoned very unwholesomein some places, on account of being low and marshy; and it is onlythinly peopled, though abounding in very rich commodities. On thefirst establishment of the Dutch in India, they were very solicitousto have factories in this island, and accordingly fixed three, at thecities of Borneo, Sambas, and Succadanea; but they soon found it wasimpossible to have any dealings with the natives, who certainlyare the basest, crudest, and most perfidious people in the world;wherefore they quitted the island, and though several times invitedback, have absolutely refused to return. The commerce of Borneo isas rich as any in India. At Sambas and Banjaar Masseen they deal indiamonds, of which there is a mine in the interior country. Thesestones generally run from four to twenty-four carats each, though someare found as high as thirty and even forty carats; but the whole tradedoes not exceed 600 carats yearly. They always sell these stonesfor gold, though that is a commodity of the island, and there is aconsiderable trade in gold-dust at Pahang, Saya, Calantan, Seribas, Catra, and Melanouba. Bezoar is another principal article of theirtrade. Japan wood, fine wax, incense, mastic, and several other richgums, are here met with; but the staple commodity is pepper, whichthis island produces in as great abundance as any place in India. A drug is met with in this island, called _piedro de porco_, orpork-stone, so highly esteemed as to be worth 300 crowns each; as theIndian physicians pretend that they can infallibly discover whethertheir patients are to live or die, by exhibiting to them the water inwhich this stone has been steeped. 

Before the Portuguese discovered the way by sea to India, the Chinesepossessed the whole trade of this island, and since the Europeanshave declined settling here, it has reverted to them again. The placeswhere they are settled are Banjaar Masseen, Mampua, Teya, Lando, andSambas, where they parry on a great trade, furnishing the inhabitantswith silks, chintz, calico, and all the manufactures of China andJapan. It has been suggested, that a more valuable trade might beestablished in Borneo than in any other part of India, as there comehere every year large fleets of Chinese junks, laden with all thecommodities of that empire, which might be purchased here as cheap, orcheaper even than in China itself. There come also yearly some smallvessels from the island of Celebes to Borneo, in spite of the utmostvigilance of the Dutch, which bring considerable quantities of cloves, nutmegs, and mace, so that the Dutch are unable to sell much of thesespices to the inhabitants: Yet they send ships here frequently to loadwith pepper, endeavouring to keep up a good correspondence with thekings of Borneo and Sambas, for the king of Banjaar Masseen refuses tohave any dealings with them. 

Considering the vast sway of the Dutch in India, it is strange thatthey should not have any factory in China. They have indeed formerlysent ambassadors to that country, under pretence of demanding a freetrade, but in reality on purpose to gain a more accurate knowledge ofthe nature of trade in China, and in consequence of their discoveriesin that manner, have been induced to decline entering upon any directtrade to that country. While they were possessed of the island ofFormosa, they carried on a direct trade to China with great profit:But, since their expulsion from that island in 1661, they havenot been able to make that trade turn out profitable. After theestablishment of the Ostend East-India Company, they tried to sendships to China, direct from Holland; but even this came to no greataccount, the profit having seldom exceeded twenty-five per cent. Which, considering the hazard of so long a voyage, was not considereda very encouraging return. It has been doubted whether the Dutch wereable to deal with the Chinese, where both nations are upon an equalfooting, as the latter are certainly the cunningest of men: Besides, the Chinese are less inclined to deal with the Dutch than with anyother Europeans; and, when they do, always hold them to harder terms. The port charges also in China, and the presents they are obliged tomake, cut deep into their gains. 

Besides the foregoing circumstances, as China is at a great distancefrom Batavia, and as the officers of the Dutch ships can so easilyconsign their effects into the hands of the Portuguese, English, and other foreign merchants, they have been found to mind their ownaffairs much more than those of the Company. But the principalreason of avoiding the trade to China is, that the Chinese carry ona prodigious trade with Batavia; and though the voyage exceeds 550leagues, the Chinese junks make the run in six weeks, sailing fromCanton in the beginning of December, and arriving at Batavia in themiddle of January. The company has in the first place a duty of fourper cent. On all the goods brought by the Chinese, which are gold, silks of all sorts, tea, anniseed, musk, rhubarb, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, china ware, &c. For which they receive in exchange lead, tin, pepper, incense, camphor, cloves, nutmegs, amber, and manyother articles, on all which the Dutch fix their own prices, andconsequently buy much cheaper than other nations can do in China. Theyhave also found by experience, that a direct trade greatly lessensthis more profitable mode at Batavia. They have also opportunities ofdealing with the Chinese in many other parts of India, where, afterthe Chinese merchants have completed their sales to the natives, theyare glad to part with the remainder of their commodities to the Dutch, at a cheap rate. Thus, the Dutch East-India Company are able to sendhome vast quantities of the commodities of China, and purchased onvery advantageous terms, without trading directly to China, eitherfrom Holland or from Batavia. 

SECTION XV. 

_Of the Dutch Trade with Japan. _

A Dutch chief resides at Japan, who is always a principal merchant, and is assisted by some writers in the Company's service. The profitformerly made of this establishment by the Dutch East-India Company, frequently amounted to 80 and even 100 per cent. But has fallen offto such a degree, that they rarely make now, 1721, above eight or ten. This has been chiefly occasioned by the Chinese, who for some timepast have purchased every kind of goods at Canton that are in demandin Japan, and it is even said that they have contracted with theJapanese to furnish them with all kinds of merchandize at as lowprices as the Dutch. Another cause of the low profits is, that theJapanese fix the prices of all the goods they buy, and if their offeris not accepted, they desire the merchants to take them home again. This may possibly have been suggested to them by the Chinese, whoused formerly to be treated in the same manner at Batavia. There is noplace in all India where the Dutch have so little authority, or wheretheir establishments are of so little consequence, as in Japan. Theyare allowed a small island to themselves, where they have warehousesfor their goods, and a few ordinary houses for the members of thefactory; but this island is a prison, in which they are completelyshut up as long as they remain in Japan, not being permitted to passthe bridge that joins this island to the city of Naugasaque. The onlyshadow of liberty that is allowed them is, that their chief, with twoor three attendants, goes once a-year as ambassador to the emperor. One great reason of this is said to have been occasioned by theirusing too great familiarities with the Japanese women; but the truereason is, that the Dutch have more than once given strong indicationsof an inclination to establish themselves in the country by force. 

A French gentleman, Monsieur Carron, who was for some time at the headof their factory in Japan, and who, in several journeys to thecourt, had ingratiated himself into the favour of the emperor, by entertaining him with accounts of the state of Europe, got hispermission to build a house for the factory on the little islandallotted to them. He accordly laid the fortifications of great extent, and continued the work till he had completed a handsome fortification, in form of a regular tetragon; and as the Japanese were quite ignorantin the art of fortification, they suffered it to be finished, withoutany suspicion of deceit. Carron now desired the council at Bataviato send him some cannon, packed in casks filled with oakum or cotton, along with some other casks of the same form filled with spices. Thiswas done accordingly, but in rolling the casks after landing, oneof them that contained a brass gun burst open, by which accident thecheat was discovered. This put an entire stop to all trade till thepleasure of the emperor was known. The emperor, without prohibitingtrade, gave orders that no Dutchman should presume to stir out of theisland on pain of death, and ordered Carron up to Jeddo, to answer forhis fault. The emperor reproached him for abusing his favour; afterwhich he ordered his beard to be pulled out by the roots, and thathe should be led, dressed in a fool's coat and cap, through all thestreets of the city. He was thus sent back to the factory, with ordersto leave Japan in the first ship that sailed for Batavia. 

The island of _Desima_, where the Dutch reside, is divided from thecity of Naugasaki by a small creek of salt water of about forty feetbroad, over which there is a convenient bridge, having a draw-bridgeat one end, of which the Japanese keep possession, and no Dutchman canpass this without leave from the governor of the city; neitherdare any Japanese converse with the Dutch, except the merchants andfactors, who have a licence for that purpose. For the security of thefactory, the island of Desima is pallisaded all round. It containsfour streets, with large warehouses, and a spacious market-place overagainst the bridge, where at stated times the town's people have leaveto trade with the Dutch. So great is the jealousy entertained of theDutch, that they are not even allowed to have the command of their ownships while in Japan: For, as soon as one of them enters the harbour, the Japanese take entire possession of her, taking out all the armsand ammunition, which they lay up on shore, and return again in goodorder, when the ship is ready to sail. They also exact a completeaccount of all the men on board, whom they muster by one of their owncommissaries. 

Japan is well peopled, and produces every thing necessary for humansustenance in great plenty; yet the Dutch pay high for every thingthey need, and have even to purchase wood for fuel by weight. Themountains are rich in gold, silver, and copper, which last is the bestin the world. Their porcelain is finer than that of China, as alsomuch thicker and heavier, with finer colours, and sells much dearerboth in India and Europe. The tea of Japan, however, is not near sogood as that of China. Their lackered ware, usually called Japan, isthe best in the world, and some of it will even hold boiling waterwithout being injured. They have abundance of silks, both raw andmanufactured, much stronger than what is produced in China. Theirhouses are mostly built of wood, but the palace of the emperor isof marble, covered with copper, so remarkably well gilded that itwithstands the weather many years. Jeddo is the metropolis, and itsmagnitude may be guessed from this circumstance, that in a greatfire which raged in this city for eight days, about the year 1660, itconsumed 120, 000 houses, and 500 temples. 

The Japanese are strict observers of moral rules, especially incommercial matters; insomuch that merchants of reputation put up sumsof gold _cupangs_, always in decimal numbers, in silken bags, sealedwith their seals; and these bags always pass current for the severalsums indicated by the seals, without any one ever examining thecontents of the bags for several generations. These _cupangs_ arebroad oblong pieces of gold, of about twenty shillings value in Japan;but gold is there so plentiful and cheap, in relation to silver, thata _cupang_ passes current in Batavia for thirty-two shillings; and, after being stampt with the lion of the Company, it passes for fortyshillings sterling. The Japanese also are exact observers of justice, and punish crimes with extreme rigour. To a man of distinction, when found guilty of a capital crime, the emperor writes a letter, commanding him to become his own executioner, on an appointed day andhour, on penalty of being subjected to the most exquisite tortures, if he survive the appointed time. On receiving this mandate, thedelinquent invites all his friends and near relations to a sumptuousfeast on the set day. When the feast is over, he shows them the letterfrom the emperor, and, while they are reading it, he stabs himselfwith a dagger below the navel, and cuts open his belly to the breastbone. The capital punishments inflicted on the inferior people arehanging, beheading, or being flung over a precipice; and for smallerfaults, whipping and branding are usual. 

The government of Japan would be well pleased to encourage trade withall nations, but for two considerations. The first is, lest theirreligion should be insulted, which was frequently the case frommisguided zeal, while there were any Christians among the Japanese. The other proceeds from their aversion to strange customs, or to anyinnovation in the manners of the people, from which they dread theworst consequences. When the Dutch were first established in thisempire, the then prime minister explained their opinions on thissubject in the following manner: "We are well acquainted with theadvantages resulting from the system of government established amongus, and will on no account run the hazard of any change. We know thatgreat revolutions are often brought about by imperceptible degrees, and are therefore resolved to cure the itch of novelty by the rod ofchastisement. " Upon this maxim a law is established in Japan, bywhich all the subjects of the empire are prohibited from leaving thecountry; or, if any do, they must never return. They are so wedded totheir own customs and opinions, and so jealous of the introductionof any new or foreign customs, that they never send any embassies toother countries, neither do they allow their merchants to carry oncommerce beyond their own country. A few small junks are sent insummer to the land of Yedso, a country about fifty leagues from thenorthern extremity of Japan; and it is said that they bring much goldfrom thence. 

There is but one good harbour in Japan, all the rest of the coastbeing so guarded by steep rocks or shoals, that they have no reason tofear being invaded. In point of military discipline and bravery, theJapanese far exceed the Chinese, and are by no means of so base andeffeminate dispositions as most of the inhabitants of that greatempire. The government also of Japan is perfectly uniform and wellsettled, so that there cannot be any diversity of interests; for, though several of its provinces are denominated kingdoms, yet allthese petty kings are under the strictest subjection to the emperor, and the laws of the country extend over all. These laws pay thestrictest regard to private property, the father transmitting to hischildren not only the patrimonial estate, but all the acquisitions ofhis own industry; and this is certainly a powerful prevention of anydesire of change. Though the emperor resides at Jeddo, thirty daysjourney from Naugasaki, yet he receives intelligence in the spaceof three days, of the number and force of every ship that arrives, conveyed by a chain of signal-posts, by means of flags and firebeacons. 

The forms observed in business are wonderfully exact, and the edictsand orders of the emperor are signified in most expressive anddignified terms, containing very little of the bombast and swellingstyle so common among oriental courts. Yet, amid all their good senseand quick parts, the religion of the Japanese is the idlest and mostridiculous paganism that can well be imagined, of which the followingis a sufficient proof. Every family has a tutelary deity or idol, which is placed at the top of the house, and instructed to keep offall sickness, misfortunes, or accidents: And when any such happen, theidol is taken down and whipt, for not doing its duty. _Amida_ isthe name of their favourite god, his residence in heaven is at aprodigious distance, insomuch that it requires three years journeyof a departed soul to reach paradise, which is only the outskirts orsuburbs of heaven; but when once there, the soul is sure of gettingto heaven, and enjoys a quiet residence in that place, as none ofthe fiends dare come there to give annoyance. They have several othergods, to all of whom they are particularly attached devotees; and eachgod has his own particular paradise, none nearer this world than threeyears journey. On purpose to gain an easy passage to these paradises, some of the zealots cut their own throats, and others hang themselves. Their idols are often carried in procession on horseback, attendedby bands of music; and many feasts and sacrifices are made in theirhonour, the idols being fed on the smoke and flavour, while thevotaries regale on the substantial meats. [1]

[Footnote 1: Harris here subjoins a long enquiry into the nature ofthe Dutch commerce in Japan, in the form of answers to a number ofqueries on the subject: But as we shall have an opportunity, ina subsequent division of this work, to give much more ample andsatisfactory accounts of these matters, by actual travellers in Japan, this has been omitted, as tedious and unsatisfactory. --E. ]

SECTION XVI. 

_Account of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. _

Nothing remarkable occurred to the author of this voyage, while on theway from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope, except seeing the wreck ofthe Schonenberg, a ship belonging to the Company, which had been losta little before. [2] On coming in sight of the Cape, they discoveredmany French, English, and Dutch ships at anchor in the roads, someoutward-bound and some homewards. A little way from the entrance ofthe bay is a small island, on which there is always a guard composedof a serjeant and a small number of men. As soon as the serjeant seeswhat number of ships a fleet consists of, he hoists a flag, and firesso many pieces of cannon as there are ships in sight, to give noticeto the commandant at the Cape. They are here employed in makingtrain-oil, and in raking oyster-shells to burn into lime. Into thisisland, malefactors are generally banished from the Cape, and frommost parts of India. Here, besides the punishment of being separatedfrom all their friends, they are kept to the hardest labour. 

[Footnote 2: This is said to have been on the coast of Africa _at theheight of Angola_, whither they were driven by a storm. But this couldnot possibly have been the case _before_ reaching the Cape of GoodHope. --E. ]

Table Bay is very fine and large, of a semi-oval form, enteringseveral leagues into the land, and may be about nine leagues incircuit; but the anchorage is not every where equally good, and thereis some danger near the shore. The middle of the bay is commanded bya very strong fort, being a regular pentagon, and each of its finebastions mounts twenty pieces of heavy cannon. This fort and the townare situated on the edge of a plain about three leagues in extent, lying at the bottom of three very high mountains. The first of theseis _Lion Mountain_, having some resemblance to a lion couchant. Thesecond is _Table Mountain_, which is much higher, and has a broad flattop like a table, being so high that it may be seen twenty leagues outat sea in clear weather. The third is called the _Devil's Mountain_, and is not so remarkable as either of the other two. The houses ofCape Town are very neat and commodious, but are only built two storieshigh, on account of the furious winds at S. E. Which sometimes blowhere. 

About the year 1650, the Dutch East-India Company bought a certaindistrict of this country from the Hottentots, its aboriginalinhabitants, and took care to have it immediately planted and wellpeopled, for the convenience of their ships, both outward and homewardbound. All the inhabitants of this colony are Europeans, or descendedfrom Europeans. Some of the planters are settled at the distance ofthree hundred leagues from the Cape; yet all are obliged to appearonce a-year at a place called Stellenbosch, where the _Drossart_ ormagistrate of the country resides. They have here to pass in review, as all the peasants, as well as the towns-men, are formed intocompanies under proper officers. After the review is over, they goback to their respective plantations, generally carrying home withthem what tools or other European articles they stand in need of. These people cultivate the ground, raising rye, barley, beans, andother grains. They also plant vines, which produce excellent grapes, of which they make very good wine. Some of these peasants are invery easy circumstances, having, besides large and well-cultivatedplantations, great flocks of sheep and cattle. 

Among other colonists, there is one about eight leagues from CapeTown, at a place called _Drakenstein_, entirely composed of Frenchrefugees, who have a large tract of well cultivated ground, and areallowed churches and ministers of their own. Part of the inhabitantsof Cape Town are in the service of the Company, and the rest are freeburgesses. They have regular magistrates, who decide causes of smallimportance, and regulate any little disputes that happen among them;but affairs of moment are carried before the governor and council, who determine finally and without appeal. In the interior country, thedrossart determines in things of small consequence; but all matters ofimportance must come before the governor and council, whose sentences, both in civil and criminal cases, are executed without delay. Theofficer who commands here in chief, has the rank and pay of major, yetdoes the duty in all respects of a major-general. The officers underhim are captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, who take care to keeptheir companies always complete and well disciplined; and in case ofattack, they can draw together five thousand men at least, all wellarmed and as good as regular troops: Each peasant knows where he hasto repair to, in order to range himself under his proper standard. 

It is not easy to describe the expertness with which these peasantsmanage their fire-arms, an exercise in which they are constantlyemployed, even from their infancy; and it is almost incredible howboldly they attack even the fiercest animals. Many among them disdainto shoot a sleeping lion, because, as they say, it shows neither skillnor courage: When, therefore, they discover a lion asleep, they throwstones to waken him, and do not fire till he is on his feet. A littlebefore the arrival of our author at the Cape, two peasants went outtogether to hunt. One of them, seeing a lion, fired at and missed him, when the lion rushed upon the man, who threw away his gun, to havemore liberty to defend himself. The other peasant, on hearing thereport, hastened to the place, and found his companion and the lionclosely engaged; on which he snatched up the gun, and slew the lionby a few blows on the head, but broke the gun in pieces. The firstpeasant, whose property the gun was, complained loudly of itsdemolition, blamed his companion for coming up uncalled for, and eventalked of making him pay for the gun, insisting that he could haveslain the lion himself without aid. It was formerly considered awonderful deed for a man to kill a lion; but now it is so common anoccurrence, that they make no more of killing a lion, than we do ofshooting a hare. 

The country about Cape Town is full of vineyards and gardens. Twoof these belong to the company, which are perhaps the finest in theworld. One is at the distance of two hundred paces from the fort, between the town and Table Mountain, being about 1400 paces in length, by 235 paces broad, and having a fine rivulet from the mountainrunning through the middle of it. It is divided into quarters, inwhich they cultivate, with the utmost success, the fruits and flowersof the four quarters of the globe. The other garden is about twoleagues distant from the town, in what is called the _New Country_, and is likewise kept in excellent order by slaves belonging to thecompany, of whom there are seldom less than five hundred. Thecountry hereabout is mountainous and stony; but the vallies are veryagreeable, and extremely fertile. The climate is perhaps the bestin the world, neither cold nor heat being ever felt here to anyintolerable degree. The people accordingly live to great ages, andhave hardly any diseases except such as proceed from intemperance ofsome kind. The mountains, which contribute to the wholesomeness of thecountry, are supposed to be rich in gold and other valuable metals. Some trials have been made; but as yet no mines have been discovered, or at least none in such situations as would permit their being workedto advantage. 

Mynheer van Steel, who was lately governor of this colony, travelledover the country, and examined it with much attention. He causedgardens to be laid out, and pleasure-houses to be built, in severalplaces; but the peasants who were employed in building these housesand cultivating these gardens, sent over a representation andcomplaint to the company, alleging that these works were prejudicialto their private affairs, and prevented them from being able tomaintain their families; upon which that governor was immediatelyrecalled. His discoveries, however, were of great consequence, havingmade the interior country known to the Dutch, together with thenations or tribes by whom it is inhabited. These, so far as yetdiscovered, consist of seven different tribes, all comprehended underthe general denomination of _Hottentots_. The first of these, andleast considerable, who live in the neighbourhood of the Cape, haveno chief, and are mostly either in the service of the company, or areemployed as servants by the townsmen, or by the peasants and farmersin cultivating the lands, or tending their flocks and herds. Thesecond tribe inhabit the mountains, or, more properly speaking, dwell in the caverns of the mountains, being thieves and robbers byprofession, and subsist entirely by plundering the other Hottentots, with whom they are perpetually at war; yet never rob or molest theChristians. The other tribes are called the _Great_ and _LittleMaqua_, and the _Great_ and _Little Kriqua_[2], and the _Caffres_. The words _Maqua_ and _Kriqua_ signify king or chief, and these fourtribes are continually engaged in war against each other; but whenany one nation is in danger of being totally ruined, other tribesimmediately take up its cause; and these rude tribes seem to have anotion of maintaining a kind of balance of power. 

[Footnote 2: These tribes are known in geography by the names ofNamaquas and Briquas, the latter being also called Booshuanas. Thesecond tribe in this account are named Bosjemans by the Dutch. --E. ]

Such of the Hottentots as have submitted to the Hollanders are calledthe Company's Hottentots. The Dutch send every year fifty or sixtypersons to trade among the Hottentots, who purchase their cattle, giving them in exchange arrack, tobacco, hemp, and such other thingsas they have occasion for; by which means a good understanding is keptup. These Hottentots of the Company are often attacked by the othertribes, and, when no longer able to defend themselves, their kingor chief comes down to the Cape, attended by a small escort of hissubjects, to demand assistance. He goes immediately to the governor, having in his hand the staff of command given him by the Company, decorated with their arms, and holding it in his hand, demandsassistance. If the governor does not think proper to grant hisrequest, but endeavours to shift him off with fair words, he throwsdown his staff saying, in bad Dutch, _Voor my, niet meer CompagniesHottentot_; that is, "For me, I will no more be the Company'sHottentot. " The governor generally sends him home with an escort oftroops, as it is the interest of the company to be on good terms withthese chiefs, who are always ready to do any service required of them. 

The Hottentots are a very stupid and brutal people. They rub theirbodies all over with rancid grease, which gives them a very bad smell, so that you may nose them at a considerable distance. Their childrenare all born perfectly white; but being constantly rubbed with grease, and exposed to the sun, they grow by degrees quite brown, and almostblack. When a woman brings forth twins, one of them is immediatelycondemned to death, and is tied to a tree, where it is left to expire. Some of them have a custom of extirpating one testicle in their malechildren, as soon as they are able to bear the operation, in hope ofpreventing them afterwards from begetting twins. They seem to havelittle or no religion; yet they frequently look with admiration at theheavenly bodies, saying, "He who governs these is certainly a being ofinfinite power and wisdom. " In many respects they are more like beaststhan men, being abominably nasty in their persons, and, taking themaltogether, they are certainly one of the meanest nations on the faceof the earth. They are short and thick-set, with flat noses like aDutch pug dog, very thick lips, and large mouths, having very whiteteeth, but very long and ill set, some of them sticking out of theirmouths like boar's tusks. Their hair is black, and curled likewool. They are very nimble, and run with incredible speed. They aregenerally covered with a sheep's skin, each man having a quiver fullof arrows on his back, and a bow in his hand. Immediately on coming insight of an enemy, they set up a dreadful cry, leaping, dancing, and skipping about, and throwing themselves into the most frightfulpostures. 

The seventh nation is named the _Caffres_, who are certainly the_Anthropophagi_ who have made so much noise in the world[3]. TheHottentots are much afraid of them, and take care to keep out of theirway as much as possible, for fear of being roasted or boiled if takenprisoners. This abominable nation has never entered into any kindof commerce with the Christians; but, on the contrary, takes all thepains they can to entrap and murder them, in order, as is generallybelieved, to eat them. It is reported that they have grown somewhatmore tractable of late years, and will enter into some sort of tradewith such as venture among them. They are a potent and warlike nation, strong and well-made; and though black, and having curled hairlike other negroes, they have better faces, and a much more manlyappearance. 

[Footnote 3: A very different account is now given of the Caffres, or Koussis rather, who are described as a half-civilized race, whocultivate the ground, and live under regular government. --E. ]

At the distance of about eighteen leagues from the Cape, there isanother port called Saldanha Bay, which is, in all respects, aninfinitely better harbour than Table Bay, except in wanting freshwater, which prevents it from being frequented. The animals of thiscountry are many. The lion is common here, and in hard winters oftencomes very near the habitations of the colonists. He is reputed theking of beasts, because he never eats a man till he has beaten out hisbreath with his paws. Before attacking a man he roars terribly, andshakes his mane; and if he does not give these signals of rage, thereis no danger in passing him. Tigers and leopards are also very common, and do a vast deal of mischief; and it is probable these animals wouldbe much more numerous, were it not for a race of wild dogs, which huntin packs, and are so bold that they often weary out and worry a lion. They often destroy tigers, leopards, and wolves, and it is said thatthey will allow a man to take their prey from them when they havekilled it. Travellers are never afraid when they fall in with thesewild dogs, but rather rejoice, because they are sure that no ferociousanimal is in the neighbourhood. There are many elephants in thiscountry, and of as great size, as any in the world, being often fromtwelve to fifteen feet high or better, their teeth weighing from sixtyto an hundred and twenty pounds. The rhinoceros is also often metwith. This animal is rather less than the elephant, but stronger. Hisskin is prodigiously thick, and so hard that scarcely any weapon canpierce it. His snout is like that of a hog, on which grows a solidhorn, ten or twelve inches long, which is much valued, becauseesteemed an excellent medicine in convulsions. 

There are two animals peculiar to this country, which thereforedeserve notice. One is a species of wild ass, which resembles thecommon ass in nothing but the length of its ears. It is as large asan ordinary horse, and is the most beautiful animal in the world. Hishair is very soft, and from the ridge of the back descends in colouredstreaks to the belly, forming so many circles. It is a brisk andlively creature, which runs more swiftly than any horse. It is verydifficult to take alive, and when taken cannot be tamed; yet sellsat a prodigious price, and is thought a fit present for a sovereignprince, from its rarity and exquisite beauty[4]. The other creature, found in no other country, is called by the Dutch the _Stinkbungsen_, or Stinking-Badger. This is of the size of an ordinary dog, but isshaped like a ferret. When pursued by man or beast, it retreats butslowly, and when its enemy draws near, discharges backwards a sointolerably fetid wind, that dogs tear up the ground and hide theirnoses in it, to avoid the smell. When killed, it stinks so abominablythat there is no approaching the carcass, which is therefore left toconsume where it falls. 

[Footnote 4: This is a very imperfect account of the Zebra, whichexactly resembles the ass, except in colour, and is by no meanslarger. One died lately in Edinburgh, after being exhibited as a show, which was as quiet and gentle as any lady's donkey. --E. ]

It is impossible to describe all the creatures that are seen in thevast forests of Africa, as the inhabitants see new animals every yearthat are utterly unknown to them. They allege that, in the middle ofsummer, when the wild animals are almost raging mad with thirst, theyresort in vast multitudes to the rivers named Salt, Elephants, andSt John's rivers, where the males and females of different speciesintermixing, produce strange beasts that seem to be new species. TheHottentots in the service of the Company frequently carry the skins ofthese monsters to the governor; and our author assures us that hesaw one of the following description, that had been killed not longbefore. It was about the size of a calf of six months old, and seemedto have had four eyes. The head resembled that of a lion, but the hairwas quite smooth, and of a dark grey colour. It had tusks like a boar. The fore-feet resembled those of that creature; but the hind-feet werelike those of a tiger. 

The birds of this country are in a manner infinite in numbers andsorts; and though they have not been observed often to interminglespecies, yet hybrids are sometimes remarked among them. The largestand strongest birds are to be found in Africa, among which is theostrich, the largest of all, being commonly seven feet high. The beakis short and pointed, but the neck is very long. The feathers of themale are white and black only, while those of the female are mixedwhite, black, and grey. Those of the former are most esteemed, astheir large feathers are better spread, and their down much softer. This bird is prodigiously swift of foot, and is hunted down by hounds. Their wings do not serve them to fly, but assist them in running, especially when they have the wind with them. The common opinion oftheir being able to digest iron is totally false. They swallow piecesof iron indeed, but then it is only to bruise the food in theirgizzards, just as other birds swallow stones for the same purpose. They are also said to leave their eggs uncovered on the sand, and totake no care of their young. But those of the Cape country hide theireggs in the sand, and are so tender of their young, that, thoughnaturally timorous, if one of them is missing, they become quitefurious, so that it is not safe to go near them. There are abundanceof eagles of all sorts at the Cape, which are very bold, andfrequently do a great deal of mischief. They are not very large, yetare incredibly strong, so that they often kill and devour cattle whenreturning home from work, when they come in great flocks. Of fifty oran hundred at once, single out a beast as it feeds among the flock, and falling upon it all at once, kill and devour it. 

Some years before our author was at the Cape, there was seen on TableMountain a bird as large in the body as a horse, having grey and blackplumage. His beak and talons were like those of an eagle, but of amost dreadful size. He sat and hovered about that mountain for a longtime, and the people were persuaded it was a griffin. It frequentlycarried off sheep and calves, and at length began to destroy the cows, on which orders were given to destroy it, and it was accordingly shot, its skin stuffed, and sent home as a curiosity to the Company. No suchbird, has been seen since, and the oldest people of the colony do notremember to have heard of any such before. [5]

[Footnote 5: This was probably a stray Condor, and its size anordinary exaggeration, in the passage of the story, like that of _thethree black crows_. --E. ]

Africa has been long famous for serpents, and there are such vastnumbers of them in the neighbourhood of the Cape, that many of themhave no names. Most of them are extremely venomous, and the colonistswould suffer much more than they do from them, were it not that theyhave a specific remedy for their bites, not known in Europe. Thisremedy is the _serpent-stone_, allowed to be factitious, and isbrought from India, where they are made by the bramins who have thesecret of composing them, which they so carefully conceal, that noEuropeans have hitherto been able to discover how they are made. Theserpent-stone is about the size of a bean, white in the middle, but ofa fine sky-blue on the outside. When a person is bitten by a serpent, this stone is applied to the wound, to which it soon sticks fast ofitself, without the aid of any bandage or plaister. The part bittenbegins immediately to swell and becomes inflamed. The stone alsoswells till it becomes full of the venom, and then drops off. It isthen put into warm milk, where it soon purges itself from the venom, and resumes its natural colour, after which it is again applied to thewound, where it sticks as before, till a second time full, and so ontill all the venom is extracted and the cure perfected. 

All the mountains of this vast country are full of minerals andcrystal, with many things of great value, if they could be got at;but the natives are so fearful of being made slaves in the mines, thatthey take all imaginable pains to conceal them. There is particularlya mountain, about 500 leagues from the Cape, called _Copper-mountain_, which is supposed to contain great quantities of metals. Largequantities of copper have been found here, which is said to contain amixture of gold. Some Europeans endeavoured to follow the natives, whowere suspected of going to that mountain to gather gold, but were allmassacred. The Company is so tender of the colonists, and so unwillingto risk a revolt, that they have even neglected a gold-mine muchnearer the Cape, the marcasites of which gave great hopes of itscontaining abundance of gold. Perhaps the Company may have anotherreason for acting in this manner, lest, if a gold-mine was discoveredat the Cape, it might tempt the French or English to undertakesomething to their prejudice. Under its present management, the Dutchcolony at the Cape is a general advantage to other nations, as wellas to the Dutch. A few years ago a cavern was discovered in a mountainvery near Cape-Town, in which the Hottentots find the venom in whichthey dip their poisoned arrows. There have likewise been found abouttwenty leagues from the Cape, some hot springs impregnated with steel, which have been found to cure many diseases, by using as a bath. 

Considerable improvements may certainly be made on this colony, forthe advantage both of the inhabitants and the company, which lattermake no great gains by this establishment besides the convenience itaffords in giving refreshments to their ships going to and returningfrom India. The Company would be glad of any means that mightincrease the value of the settlement, consistent with their maxims ofgovernment, and with that indulgence they find it necessary to shewthe Hottentots, who are perhaps more tenacious of their liberty thanany people on earth, and the most desperate in resenting any attemptsto its prejudice. 

SECTION XVII. 

_Voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Holland, with some Account of StHelena, the Island of Ascension, and the Acores_. 

Towards the end of March, 1723, the ship being revictualled, theysailed from Table-bay with a brisk wind at S. E. The fleet homewardsbound consisting of twenty-three sail, mostly belonging to the DutchEast India Company. In about three weeks they reached the island of_St Helena_, which is in the latitude of 16° 15' S. [lat. 16° S. Long. 5° 30' W. ] This island is about seven leagues in circumference, andis entirely composed of rocky hills, which may be seen in a clear dayfrom the distance of forty leagues. It is surprising to see so smallan island in the midst of the ocean, at so great a distance from anyother land, being 550 leagues from the Cape, 500 leagues from Brazil, and 350 from Augusta, which is the nearest land[1]; yet the sea is allaround so very deep, that there is hardly an anchorage to be found. This island was first discovered by the Portuguese, on which occasionone of their large Indian carracks was wrecked, from the remains ofwhich they built a chapel, long since decayed, but which still givesname to the finest valley in the island. They planted lemons, oranges, and pomegranates all over the island, and left here hogs and goats, together with partridges, pigeons, and peacocks, for the convenienceof ships touching here. At one time a hermit chose to live here, killing the goats for the sake of their skins, which he sold toships that stopped here; but the Portuguese removed him, as they didafterwards some negro slaves who had settled in the mountains. It isnow possessed by the English, who have so good a fort that it is notlikely any other nation should be able to drive them out. The valliesare exceedingly beautiful and fertile, and in these the weather issometimes exceedingly hot; but as it is always cool on the mountains, the inhabitants can never be in want of a place of refreshment. It isadmirably watered, having many rivulets running from the tops of thehills into the sea, the water of these being as clear as crystal. Theisland produces abundance of mustard, parsley, sorrel, cresses, andother herbs, excellent against the scurvy. It has also abundance oftrees fit for fuel, but none that can serve as timber. All sorts ofrefreshments are to be had in plenty. 

[Footnote 1: Caleo Negro, in lat. 16° 20' S. On the coast of Africa, is the nearest part of the continent, and is probably what is referredto in the text under the name of Augusta. --E. ]

They sailed from hence for the island of _Ascension_, which lies inlat 8° N. And long. 14° 20' W. About 200 leagues N. W. From St Helena. This is much of the same size, but the shore is excessively rocky, andthe whole island absolutely barren, having neither trees nor grass, and the entire surface seems as it were rent asunder, whence somehave conceived, and not without great show of reason, that it had beenformerly a volcano, or burning mountain. In the middle of the islandthere is a high hill, on one side of which water has been found. Atone season of the year, the whole surface of the island is coveredwith sea-fowl. What chiefly induces ships to put into the only harbourof the island, is the great plenty of excellent turtle to be foundhere. When these animals come on shore in the night to lay their eggs, the sailors turn them over on their backs till they have leisure tocarry them on board. These creatures will live above a month withoutany kind of sustenance, having only a little salt water sprinkledover them three or four times a-day. The sailors never weary of eatingthem, believing that they make a perfect change of their juices, freeing them entirely from the scurvy and other diseases of the blood. 

As this island is a very miserable place to live in, it is common toleave malefactors here when they do not incline to put them to death. This was done not long before our author passed this way, to a Dutchbook-keeper, who was convicted of sodomy; though perhaps this maybe considered as a worse punishment even than death, considering themiseries that must be endured in the hottest climate of the world, ona place that does not afford even the slightest shelter. After leavingthis island, they began to approach the line, which they crossedwithout feeling any excessive heat, as the sun was then towards thenorth, and they had the benefit of pretty fresh gales, which moderatedthe heat extremely. They now also began to see the north-star atnight, which they had not done for a year and a half and it isimpossible to express how much the seamen were rejoiced at thiscircumstance. 

Coming into the latitude of 18° N. We found that part of the sea whichis generally so covered with grass that it looks at a distance like ameadow. This grass has a yellowish cast, being hollow within, and onbeing pressed it yields a clammy viscous juice. In some years noneof this grass appears, while in other years it is found in prodigiousquantities. Some imagine that it comes from the bottom of the sea, asdivers report that the bottom is in many places covered with grass andflowers. Others conceive that it comes from the coast of Africa: Butour author disapproves both of these opinions, because, if it camefrom the bottom, there is no reason why the same appearance should notbe found elsewhere; whereas, if it came from the coast of Africa, itought to be found in other situations, especially near that coast. Hisopinion, therefore, is, that it comes from the coast of America, andparticularly from the Gulf of Bahama, or Mexico, where it is knownto grow in great abundance, and where, when it comes to maturity, itbreaks off; and is carried away by the currents. [2]

[Footnote 2. In the old Portuguese maps and voyages, this part ofthe Atlantic is called _Mar de Sargasso_, or the _Sea of Cresses_;Sargasso signifying water-cresses, which these weeds which spread overthe sea nearly resemble. --Harris. ]

Nothing is more difficult than to account for the motion and courseof currents in the ocean, which, in some places, run for six monthsin one direction, and six in another, while in other places they runalways one way. There are instances also where they run one way fora day or two after full moon, and then run strongly in the oppositedirection till next full moon. Seamen also observe, that in placeswhere the trade-winds blow, the currents are generally influenced bythem, moving the same way with the winds, but not with equal forcein all places; neither are they so discernible in the wide ocean, but chiefly about islands, where their effects are more or less feltaccording as they are influenced by being more or less in the wayof the trade-winds. It would be of great service to navigation ifsensible men would take notice of these currents, and enquire into thereason of their appearances. In old books of voyages we find many morewonders than in those of later date, not because the course of natureis at all changed, but because nature was not then so well understood. A thousand things were prodigious a century ago, which are not now atall strange. Thus the storms at the Cape of Good Hope, which make sogreat a figure in the histories of the Portuguese discoveries, are nowknown to have been merely the effect of endeavouring to double thatCape at a wrong season of the year. 

In the East and West Indies, the natives are able to foretellhurricanes and tornadoes, not from any superior skill, but byobserving certain signs which usually precede them. There is often solittle apparent connection between the sign and the event, that menwho value themselves on their wisdom are apt to slight such warningsas impertinent and absurd. But they had better enquire diligently intofacts, and neither receive nor reject them too hastily. In the presentcase, it is a clear matter of fact that the sea, in the latitude of18° N. Between Africa and America, is frequently covered with weedsto a great extent, and there is good reason for enquiry as to whencethese weeds come. In the first voyage made by the famous Columbus forthe discovery of the new world, he met with this grass or sea-weedfloating on the sea, without which he could not have prevailed on hissailors to continue the voyage; and it is very remarkable, that, bypursuing his course through these weeds, he arrived in the Gulf ofBahama, the place whence our present author supposes this sea-grass tocome. [3]

[Footnote 3: In his first voyage, Columbus kept the parallel ofabout 37° N. But was considerably farther south in his subsequentvoyage. --E. ]

Continuing their course to the north, they encountered hard gales ofwind, by which they were driven into lat. 37° N. Where they fell inwith two islands, which proved to be _Flores_ and _Corres_;[4] and astheir fresh provisions were now nearly spent, they stopped three daysat the larger island to procure refreshments. There are two of theislands named _Açores_ by the Spaniards, which signifies the _islandsof hawks_. The Dutch call them _Vlanneische eslanders_, or _Flemishislands_, because Fayal was first peopled by Flemings, and theirdescendants remain in the island to this day, and are easilydistinguished from the other inhabitants by their shape and air. Theydwell upon a little river running down a mountain, called _Ribera dosFlamenas_ by the Portuguese, or river of the Flemings. 

[Footnote 4: Flores is in lat. 39° 10', Corvo in 39° 35', both N. ]

The nine islands of the Açores, or Wester Islands, are Tercera, SanMichael, Santa Maria, St George, Gratiosa, Pico, Fayal, Corvo, andFlores. Tercera is the chief island, being fifteen or sixteen leaguesin circumference, and so high and steep in many places that it isalmost impregnable, and they have built forts in such places as areaccessible. The only port is before the capital, named _Angra_, andas it is in the form of a half-moon, it is called the _Half-Moon ofAngra_. At each horn of this half-moon there is a mountain, which arecalled the Brazils, which project out into the sea, appearing from adistance as if two islands; and these mountains are so high that onemay see at any time ten or twelve leagues off, and fifteen in clearweather. Angra has a fine cathedral, and is the residence of a bishop, and of a governor and council, whose authority extends over all thenine islands. There is another town three leagues from Angra, calledPraya, or the town of the shore, situated on a shore which cannot beapproached by ships, so that it has no trade, and the town seems akind of desert, though well built and walled round. 

The inhabitants raise sufficient provisions on the island forall their wants, being pleasant and fertile, and all covered withcorn-fields; and so abounds with flesh, fish, and all sorts ofvictuals, that even in times of the greatest scarcity, there is enoughfor all the inhabitants. It produces wine also, but very small, anddoes not keep well, wherefore the richer people provide themselvesfrom Madeira and the Canaries. They want oil, salt, lime, and pottersware, which they have to import from other countries. They haveabundance of peaches, apples, pears, oranges, and lemons, with allsorts of vegetables and garden stuffs, and among these a plantcalled _batatas_, which grows like a vine stock, but the leaves aredifferent. These produce roots, weighing a pound more or less, andare so plentiful that they are despised by the rich, though of a sweetpleasant taste and very nourishing. There is another root in thiscountry as large as a man's two fists, covered over with filaments ofa golden yellow colour, and as smooth as silk. The inhabitantsstuff beds with this, instead of feathers, but skilful workmen couldcertainly manufacture it into fine stuffs. 

There are but few birds, except canaries, quails, ordinary poultry, and turkies, which are numerous. Several parts of this island are veryhilly, and full of thick and almost impervious woods; and travellingis rendered very difficult, as you often find rocks a league inlength, so rugged and sharp that they cut the shoes at every step;yet these rocks are so full of vines that they are not to be seenin summer, being covered over by the vine leaves. These vines spreadtheir roots among the crannies and crevices of the rocks, which areso small and devoid of soil, that it is wonderful how they should findany nourishment; yet if planted in the good soil of the country, thevines will not grow. The corn and fruits of this island will not keepabove a year; and unless the corn is buried under ground, it spoils infour months. On this account, every inhabitant has a pit without thetown, the mouth of which is round, just large enough to admit a man, which is covered by a flat stone and secured by a lock. Some of thesepits are so large as to contain two or three lasts of corn, the lastcontaining 108 bushels Amsterdam measure, and each bushel weighingforty pounds or more. They put their corn into these pits in July, and cover the stone with earth to exclude the air, and take it out atChristmas, or considerably later, finding it then as good as when putin. The oxen in Tercera are the largest and finest that can be, equalto any in Europe, and have prodigiously wide horns. Every one has hisname, like our dogs, and they are so familiar, that when the mastercalls one of them by his name, though among a thousand others, he willpresently come to him. 

One would think the ground of this island were hollow, as the rockssound like vaults when walked on; and indeed the thing is not at allimprobable, as the island is much subject to earthquakes. In manyplaces of the island of San Michael there are holes and cracks, out ofwhich there comes a great smoke, and the ground seems as if burnt allaround. This is not uncommon also in all the islands, as they all havesulphur mountains. There are also fountains of water so hot as to boileggs. Three leagues from Angra there is a petrifying spring, whichchanges wood into stone; and there was formerly a tree having some ofits roots in that water, which were stony and as hard as flint. Thisisland produces excellent timber, especially cedar, which is so commonthat their carts and waggons are made of it, and it is even used asfuel. The island of _Pico_, twelve leagues from Tercera, has a sort ofwood called _teixo_, as hard as iron, and of a shining red colour whenwrought. It becomes always better and finer as it grows older; forwhich reason no person is allowed to cut any of these trees, unlessfor the king's use, and by virtue of a special order from the royalofficers. The chief trade of Tercera consists in _woad_, of which theyhave great quantities. The fleets of Spain and Portugal, bound for theEast Indies, Brazil, Cape Verd, Guinea, and other countries, usuallycome here for refreshments, to the great profit of this and the otherislands, the inhabitants selling to them their various articles atgood prices. 

The island of _San Michael_ is seven or eight leagues S. E. Of Tercera, and is about twenty leagues in length, having several towns andvillages. The capital of this island is _Ponta del Guda_, which drivesa considerable trade in _woad_, sent to Tercera, producing about200, 000 quintals[5] every year. This island also produces suchabundance of corn, that it is transported to the other islands; but ithas no harbours or rivers to give shelter to ships. 

[Footnote 5: This is perhaps an error for 2000, as the larger quantitywould amount to 10, 000 tons. --E. ]

_Santa Maria_, twelve leagues S. Of San Michael, is ten or twelveleagues in circumference, its only trade being in earthen ware, withwhich the inhabitants supply the other islands. It also producesplenty of all manner of provisions for its own inhabitants. The islandof _Gratiosa_, seven or eight leagues N. N. W. Of Tercera, is only aboutfive or six leagues in circumference, but abounds in provisions of allsorts. _St George_, eight or nine leagues N. W. Of Tercera, istwelve leagues in length by two or three in breadth. This is a wildmountainous country, producing very little woad. The inhabitantssubsist by cultivating the ground and keeping cattle, and exportconsiderable quantities of cedar to Tercera. _Fayal_, seven Germanleagues S. S. W. Of St George, is seventeen or eighteen leagues incircumference, and is the best of the Açores, after Tercera and SanMichael. This island has plenty of woad, with abundance of fish, cattle, and other commodities, which are exported to Tercera and theother islands. Its chief town is called _Villa Dorta_. Most of theinhabitants of this island are descended from Flemings, but now speakthe Portuguese language; yet they continue to love the Flemings, anduse all strangers kindly. 

Three leagues S. E. Of Fayal is the island of _Pico_, so called froma peaked mountain, which some believe to be higher than the Peak ofTeneriffe. The inhabitants cultivate the soil, and have plenty ofcattle and other provisions, growing also better wine than in anyother island of the Açores. This island is about fifteen leagues incircumference. Seventy leagues W. N. W. From Tercera is the island of_Flores_, and to the N. Of it lies _Corvo_, the former about seven, and the latter not above two or three leagues in circumference. They both produce woad, especially Flores, which also abounds inprovisions. The winds at all these islands are so strong, and the airso piercing, especially at Tercera, that they in a short time spoiland consume the stones of the houses, and even iron. [6] They have akind of stone, however, that is found within high-water mark, whichresists the air better than the other sorts, and of which the frontsof their houses are generally built. 

[Footnote 6: This effect on the iron is obviously occasioned bythe muriatic acid in the sea spray; and were it not that the authorexpressly says they have no lime, one would be apt to believe that thestones so affected were limestone. There are, however, some cilicioussand-stones, in which the grit, or particles of sand, are cementedtogether by a calcareous infiltration, which may be the case in theseislands. --E. ]

Leaving the Açores, and getting into Spanish sea, or mouth of the bayof Biscay, the weather proved so bad that the _Advice-ship_ losther rudder, which obliged her to go through the Channel in order topurchase a new one on the coast of England. The French, Danish, andother ships, generally go that way; but the Dutch ships generally goround Ireland and north about, from an idea, if they should happento meet with stormy weather in the channel, so as to be obliged to gointo an English port, that this might occasion several inconveniences. Such ships, however, as have sustained any damage at sea, arepermitted to take their way through the channel. The rest of the Dutchfleet followed the north-about course; and after three weeks, duringwhich they were involved in perpetual mists and fogs, they had sightat length of the Orkney islands, where some Dutch ships were stillengaged in the herring fishery. In the latitude of 60° N. They metsome ships of war that waited for them, and convoyed them to thecoast of Holland, where all the ships got into their destined portsin safety. Those on board of which were our author, and the otherprisoners, came into the Texel on the 11th of July, 1723; and arrivedfive days afterwards at Amsterdam, the very same day two years aftersailing on their voyage. 

The West-Company immediately commenced a law-suit against theEast-India Company, in behalf of themselves and all the personsengaged in their service in the foregoing voyage, to obtainsatisfaction for the injury and injustice done them at Batavia. Aftera long litigation, the States-General decreed, that the East-IndiaCompany should furnish the West-India Company with two new ships, completely fitted for sea in every respect, better than those whichhad been confiscated by their officers in India, and should pay thefull value of their cargoes. Also, that the East-India Company shouldpay the wages of the crews of both ships, up to the day of theirlanding in Holland: Together with the entire costs of suit; besidesa considerable sum by way of fine, as a punishment for having abusedtheir authority so egregiously. [7]

[Footnote 7: Harris has given a report of this law-suit at somelength, but it did not seem necessary to give any more than theresult, as quite uninteresting at the present day. --E. ]

CHAPTER XIV. 

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN GEORGE ANSON, IN THE YEARS1740-1744. [1]

PREFACE. 

Though of considerable length, the importance of this narrativeforbids all attempts to alter it in any respect; except that it hasbeen necessary to leave out the explanations of several engravedviews of coasts and harbours, inserted in the original, but which weregreatly too large for admission, and would have been rendered totallyuseless by being reduced to any convenient use for the octavo formof this collection. Indeed, to have introduced all the engravings ofplans and views, necessary for the illustration of this and many othervoyages and travels, would have been utterly incompatible with thenature and circumstances of this work; as nothing less than a completeAtlas and entire Neptune of the whole globe could have sufficed, attended by an enormous expence, and at the same time inadmissibleinto octavo volumes. It has therefore been indispensably requisite, on all occasions, to confine our illustrations of that kind to afew reduced charts, merely sufficient to convey general notions ofgeographical circumstances, and occasionally sketch plans of harbours, straits, islands, and capes, explanatory of particular and importantplaces. Such of our readers, therefore, as require more completeillustrations of geography, topography, and hydrography, must haverecourse to Atlasses, Neptunes, and coasting pilots. 

[Footnote 1: Voyage, &c. By George Anson, Esq. Afterwards LordAnson; compiled from his papers and materials by Richard Walter, M. A. Chaplain of H. M. S. Centurion in that expedition--_fifteenth edition_, 4to, Lond. 1776. ]

This narrative was originally published under the name of RichardWalter, chaplain to H. M. S. Centurion in the expedition, dedicated byhim to John Duke of Bedford, and said to have been compiled by thatgentleman from papers and materials furnished for the purpose byCommodore Anson. 

As the object of this expedition was of an extensive political nature, intended to humble the power of Spain, in her most valuable yet mostvulnerable possessions, by injuring and intercepting the great sourceof her public treasure, it has been thought proper, on the presentoccasion, to give a transcript of the reflections made upon thepolicy and expedience of this important voyage, very soon afterits completion, by Dr John Harris, by way of _Introduction_ to hisabridged account of this circumnavigation, in his Collection ofVoyages and Travels, vol. I. P. 337. 

 * * * * *

"It is a thing that has been generally taken for granted, ever sinceSpain has been possessed of her American dominions, and has made useof the riches derived from these to disturb the peace and invade theliberties of her neighbours, that the best way to reduce her strength, and to prevent the bad effects of her evil intentions, would be toattack her in the South Seas. This was pursued with great diligence, and in some measure with success, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, [ashas been already shewn in the circumnavigatory voyages of Drakeand Candish, almost solely devoted to that object. ] In that of hersuccessor, when a new quarrel broke out with that crown, in the year1624, the first thing thought of by our patriots, who were equallywilling to humble the king's enemies and to save the money of thenation, was an expedition to the South Seas, to be carried on atthe expence of, and for the benefit of the people; which scheme wasentitled _The West-India Association_. 

"It may be thought I look a great way back when I offer to the viewof the reader the reasons which were then suggested in parliament insupport of that scheme. But whoever considers that it is not only themost effectual, but the safest method, to instruct the present agefrom the sentiments of the last, will readily enter into the reasonswhich induce me, upon this occasion, to produce the speech of aneminent patriot, in which the nature and scope of that _Association_, as well as the motives on which it is grounded, are very fully andpathetically set forth; and this in such terms, as, if the reader werenot told that this was a speech to Sir Dudley Diggs, then chairmanof a committee of the whole house, by Sir Benjamin Rudyard, he mightmistake it for a speech made only a few years since, so agreeable isit, in language and sentiments, even to our present occasions. 

"Sir, --I do profess that as my affections, my reason, and my judgementgo strongly with the scope and drift of this proposition, so shallgood part of my fortune when it comes to execution. For, to myunderstanding, there was never propounded in parliament a design moreproper for this kingdom, nor more pregnant with advantages to it, whether we consider the nature of our situation or the quality of ourenemy's forces. As we are an island, it concerns our very being tohave store of ships to defend us, and also our well-being by theirtrade to enrich us. This Association for the West Indies, when itshall be regulated and established by act of parliament, and therebysecured from the violence and injury of any intruding hand, willcertainly give many men encouragement and confidence voluntarilyto bring in large and liberal contributions towards so noble and soprofitable an enterprize; so that, in short, we shall see many newships built, many brave men employed, and enabled to act for theservice of their country. None of this money shall be carried out ofthe kingdom, but laid out in shipping, which is the defence of it, andbestowed upon our own men, who must be fed and maintained though theystay at home. For this, we shall reap the fruit of whatsoever benefitplantation, traffic, or purchase can procure us, besides honour andsecurity. 

"Now, let us a little consider the enemy we have to encounter, theking of Spain. They are not his great territories which make him sopowerful and so troublesome to all Christendom. For it is very wellknown that Spain itself is but weak in men, and barren of naturalcommodities, and as for his other territories, they lie divided andasunder, which is a weakness in itself. Besides, they are heldby force, and maintained at an extraordinary charge; insomuch, asalthough he be a great king, yet he is like that giant who was saidto have an hundred hands, but had fifty bellies to feed, so that, rateably, he had no more hands than another man. No, sir, they arehis mines in the West Indies which minister fuel to feed his ambitiousdesire of universal monarchy. It is the money he hath from thencewhich makes him able to levy and pay soldiers in all places, and tokeep an army on foot ready to invade and endanger his neighbours, sothat we have no other way but to endeavour to cut him off at the root, and seek to impeach or to supplant him in the West Indies; by partof which course that famous queen, of glorious memory, had heretoforealmost brought him to his knees. And this our undertaking, if itpleases God to bless it, most needs affect it sooner and quicker, thewhole body of the kingdom being united, and concurring in a perpetualsupply to this action, so that he shall have no free time given him torest. 

"Moreover, this will be a means not only to save, but to fill hismajesty's coffers, enabling the people to give him liberally andoften. The king's ships will have little to do but to guard thecoasts; for the sea-war will be chiefly made at the charge of thesubjects. This I doubt not but that, in a short time, both king andpeople shall be safe at home, and feared abroad. To conclude, I shallbe very glad to hear any man make objection against this design, sothat he do so with an intention to refine and perfect the work; butif any shall speak against it with a mind to hinder and destroy it, Imust entreat him to pardon me, if I do scarce think him to be a goodEnglishman. 

"That project of the West India Association had the same fate withmost other bold and honest projects in that reign, which was, afterbeing talked of a little, it sunk into oblivion. Our next differencewith Spain was under the protectorate of Cromwell, who encouragedFather Gage to publish his account of the Spanish West Indies, whichformed the foundation of his attempt upon Hispaniola, and conquest ofJamaica; but I do not know of any design formed by him to attack theSpaniards in the South Seas. After the Restoration we were upon goodterms with Spain, as certainly was our interest. Yet Charles II. Didnot absolutely neglect this navigation, but sent Sir John Marborough, one of the best seamen this nation ever bred, in the Sweepstakes, inthe latter end of the year 1669, by way of the Straits of Magellan, into the South Seas. To say the truth, our privateers, under thecommand of Captains Sharpe, Davis, Swan, &c. Were continually in theseseas, during all that reign and the next; so that, in those days, ourseamen were no strangers to any of the passages into the South Seas;and, as the reader may have already observed, from the voyage ofCaptain Cowley, it was then no unusual thing for the traders of Londonto fit out ships for these parts, but whether with a view to trafficor privateering, is a point not easy to determine at this distance oftime. But whatever the purpose they were sent upon, thither they went, and no complaints were ever heard of with respect to extraordinaryhardships in the voyage, which is sufficient to shew how muchdepends upon keeping all branches of navigation open, in order tobe constantly in a condition to secure and extend our trade, and topreserve our reputation as a maritime power. 

"After the Revolution, several proposals were made in relation to theestablishment of a commerce in the South Sea, which were received withapprobation; and it is certain that king William gave instructions toAdmiral Benbow, when he went out last to the West Indies, to enquirehow far any of these projects were feasible. After the breaking out ofthe last general war, all the world expected that the first thing themaritime powers would have done, would have been sending a squadronto these seas, either for the service of the prince whom they owned asking of Spain, or for their own advantage. The people of this nation, in particular, were so desirous of seeing the war carried on this way, and on this side, that, to give them hopes, and to shew, at the sametime, that the legislature approved their sentiments, a bill wasbrought in and passed, in the House of Lords, for the better carryingon the war in the West Indies, which was lost, however, by a kindof ministerial craft, in the House of Commons; and soon after, forreasons which have never yet been explained to the public, all designsof this nature were laid aside. The only expedition of this nature, during the whole war, was that of the Duke and Duchess, under thecommand of Captain Woods Rogers, already related, which was fitted outat the expence of some private merchants of Bristol. On the change ofministry, a prodigious clamour was raised on this head, and all of asudden a resolution was taken to secure all the advantages that couldbe wished for to this nation from the trade of the South Seas, whichended, however, only in erecting a company under that title. The nation very soon became sensible that this would not do, andtherefore, as soon as our disputes with the king of Spain came toa height, in the reign of the late king, George I. A design wasimmediately set on foot for sending privateers once more into thatpart of the world, which ended in the expedition of Captain Shelvockeand Captain Clipperton, already related at large. 

"By this short deduction of facts, I think it is demonstrably proved, that, in the judgement of this nation, the most probable way ofhumbling Spain, in case of a war, is to send a squadron into the SouthSeas, and I will venture to say, that there is one reason why thisis now become more expedient than ever, which is, that we are now nolonger at liberty to send ships thither in time of peace, as we werebefore the South Sea Company was erected. It is not therefore at allstrange, that as soon as the present war broke out with Spain, thegeneral voice of the nation dictated such an expedition, or that, whenthey saw it resolved on, and a squadron actually equipped for thatservice, they very loudly testified their approbation of the scheme. I believe also, my readers will readily give credit to the assertion, when I affirm, that, during the time this squadron lay at Portsmouth, there was a more general expectation of its performing things of thehighest consequence for the service of Great Britain, and reducing theenemy to reason. 

"It was in the midst of summer, in the year 1740, that this squadronwas formed at Portsmouth, at the same time that a great embarkationwas preparing for the West Indies, by which the siege of Carthagenawas afterwards undertaken, which turned the eyes of the whole worldupon that sea-port. At London, every person spoke of the intendedexpedition to the South Seas as a design that must necessarily beattended with highly advantageous consequences, if properly conducted;and of this there was not made the least doubt, when it was known thatCaptain Anson was named to the command, because he had shewn himselfupon all occasions equally vigilant in his duty, and moderate in theexercise of power, more ready to correct by his own example than byany other sort of reproof, and who, in the course of his services, had acquired the respect of the officers, and the love of the sailors;qualities that rarely meet in one person, and qualities which, withoutthe least contradiction, were ascribed to him. [2]

[Footnote 2: The sequel of these observations, by Harris, areextracted from his supplementary reflections at the close of theexpedition, vol. 1, p. 364, _et sequ. _ In these, however, we have usedmuch retrenchment, as the observations that may have been exceedinglyapplicable in 1745, when Spain was in a great manner identified withFrance, have now lost much of their force, in consequence of thepassing events, well known to all, but which do not admit of beingdiscussed in a note. --E. ]

"Though this expedition was not attended by so great success in theSouth Seas as was expected, yet the nation in general was far frombelieving that its comparative failure ought to deter us fromthe thoughts of such expeditions for the future, since it plainlyappeared, that, if the whole squadron had got round along withthe commodore into the South Seas, he would have been able to haveperformed much greater things than any of our commanders had hithertodone in these parts. Neither is it at all clear that the Spaniardsare there in a better condition, their coasts better fortified, their garrisons more numerous, or the country in any respect betterprovided, than when our privateers had formerly so great successin those parts. The sacking of Payta in this expedition proves thecontrary, since it was then actually in a worse condition, and lesscapable of making any resistance, than when formerly taken by CaptainShelvocke. If this expedition had never taken place, we might havebeen told that it was impracticable, that the Spaniards were grownwiser, that all their ports were well fortified, and any attempt ofthis kind would be only to sacrifice the lives of such as might beemployed in the expedition. But we now know the contrary, and that theSpaniards remained as unguarded, and as little apprehensive as ever;perhaps even the fate of this expedition may have made them lessso, insomuch, that were a new project of the same kind to be put inexecution, either at public or private expence, there seems next to amoral certainty that it would succeed. Another expedition might, and probably would be attended by fewer difficulties; at least, itcertainly might be undertaken at much less expence; and, besidesall the advantages resulting to such private persons as becameproprietors, this inestimable advantage would accrue to the public, that we should once more have a number of able marines, wellacquainted with the navigation of the South Seas, which we never canhave by any other means. 

"I would not be understood at all to lessen the miseries anddistresses of these who were employed in this voyage; and all I wouldendeavour to aim at is to convince the reader that the difficultiesand discouragements met with in this voyage are not sufficient toground a decisive opinion by the few in opposition to the sentimentsof the many, that all attempts on this side ought to be abandoned. AndI really think that the setting the difficulties and discouragementsencountered by the Centurion in the strongest light, will serve mypurpose much better than lessening or extenuating them. For, if afterbeing ruined in a manner by storms, diseases, and hardships, theylanded rather skeletons than men, on the island of Juan Fernandez; if, after their long cruize in the South Seas, their distresses came to beas great when they took shelter in the island of Tinian; if the lyingat Macao was attended with many inconveniences; if the taking of theSpanish galleon be a thing almost incredible, considering the smallnumber of men, and the condition they were in, who attacked her in theCenturion; if the difficulties they afterwards met with in the riverof Canton, and the hazards run by the commodore in visiting theviceroy, and thereby putting himself into the hands of such a peopleas the Chinese, who could not but be displeased with his proceedings, are circumstances which aggravate the matter: If so perilous anavigation as that from Canton, through the Straits of Sunda, andthence to the Cape of Good Hope, with little or no refreshment, witha crew that wanted it so much, is still more amazing; and if thebringing the ship home from thence, with a crew composed of so manydifferent nations, in the midst of a French war, and without the leastassistance from home, swell the whole into a kind of miracle, whatdoes all this prove? Since all this, under God, was entirely owing tothe prudence, moderation, and wise conduct of the commanding officer, it certainly proves, if a right choice be made of commanders, thatthere are no difficulties which may not be overcome, and thereforethat the adverse circumstances attending this voyage ought not at allto discourage us. 

"For, with the help of the example afforded by Commodore Anson, Ipresume that there are many officers who would undertake and executesuch an expedition, to the honour of their country, and to theadvantage of their employers, supposing them to be employed by privatepersons. This is the right use that might be made of this expedition:an expedition difficult, dangerous, and in a manner impracticable, considered in one light, but equally glorious and successfulwhen considered in another point of view; An expedition that hasdemonstrated to the whole world that a train of unforeseen and mostdisastrous accidents may be remedied, and even turned to advantage, byan honest, skilful, brave, experienced, and well-meaning officer; Anexpedition which shews that there are no hazards, no difficulties, nodistresses capable of depressing the courage of English seamen undera proper commander; an expedition which makes it evident thatdiscontent, sedition, and mutiny, do not arise from the restlesstempers, intractable dispositions, and unruly behaviour of the Englishsailors, but purely from the want of prudence, and right management, and, in short, from the want of experience and capacity of such asare entrusted with the command of them; an expedition, in a word, thatputs it beyond all doubt that the British nation is, at this day, as capable of undertaking as great things, and of performing them assuccessfully, as ever were done by their ancestors; and, consequently, an expedition that must convince not only us, but all Europe, thatif our maritime force be not employed in undertakings of the mostimportant nature, it is not owing to the degeneracy or our seamen, norto be imputed to our want of able or daring commanders, which is notmy business, and which indeed surpasses my abilities, to discover. 

"We are now to close this general subject of circumnavigations, whichrelates to the whole world. It is true, that all the circumnavigatorsdid not propose, and that several of them did not make, anydiscoveries; yet all their voyages are of great, though not of equalimportance, down to this last. For, by comparing that by Magellan, which was the first, with this by Mr Anson, we shall find them todiffer in many respects, especially in the conclusion; that by MrAnson being by far the longer of the two. Some of them, also, tookquite a different route from others. As, for instance, Le Maire andRoggewein, who never ran at all into the northern latitudes, butsailed directly through the South Seas to the coast of New Guinea, andthence to the island of Java; which is a much shorter course thanby way of California to the Philippines. From hence it very clearlyappears, that the passage to the East Indies by the South Seas isshorter than that by the Cape of Good Hope;[3] of which the readerwill be convinced by considering the following particulars. CaptainWoods Rogers, in the Duke, sailed From the coast of Ireland anddoubled Cape Horn in four months; and Le Maire sailed from JuanFernandez to New Guinea and the Moluccas in three months; so that thisvoyage takes up but seven months in the whole; whereas the Dutch, whenthe chief emporium of their eastern commerce was fixed at Amboina, thought it a good passage thither from Holland, if performed in ten oreleven months. [4] It is from these stupendous voyages, that not onlythe greatest discoveries have been made in general geography, butfrom which all future discoveries must be expected; and thereforethis ought to be considered as one of the strongest arguments forencouraging such voyages. [5]--_Harris. _

[Footnote 3: It is not easy to conceive how Harris should have falleninto this enormous error. To say nothing of the greater length anddifficulty of passing round Cape Horn, rather than the Cape of GoodHope, the difference in longitudes is sufficient to establish theabsolute contrary of the position in the text. The longitude, forinstance, of the island of Ceylon, by the eastern passage, is only80° E. Whereas by the western passage it is 280 W. An excess of 200degrees. Even Canton in China, is only in 113° E. But in 247° W. Anexcess of 134 degrees. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: To say nothing of the absurdity of the partial instancesadduced, it may be mentioned that, only a few years ago, an EnglishEast Indiaman performed the voyage from England to Madras, deliveredhis outward-bound cargo, took on board a new cargo, and returned toEngland, all within nine months. --E. ]

[Footnote 5: The remaining observations of Harris, supplementaryto his abbreviated account of this expedition, have no manner ofconnection with the subject in hand, and are therefore omitted. ]

 * * * * *

George Anson, the commodore on this expedition, was born in 1697, being the third son of William Anson, Esq. Of Shuckborough, in thecounty of Stafford. Taking an early inclination for the naval service, and after passing through the usual inferior steps, he was appointedsecond lieutenant of the Hampshire in 1716. He was raised to the rankof master and commander in 1722, and obtained the rank of post captainin 1724, with the command of the Scarborough man-of-war. Between thattime and the year 1733, he made three voyages to North Carolina; andhaving acquired considerable wealth, he appears to have purchased anestate in that colony, where he erected a small town of his own name, which gave the name of Anson County to the surrounding district. Inthe years 1738 and 1739, he made another voyage to America and thecoast of Africa; and, without proceeding to hostilities, removedcertain obstructions under which the English trade on the coast ofGuinea had suffered from the French. 

In the _War of the Merchants_, as it was called by Sir Robert Walpole, which broke out in 1739 between Britain and Spain, Captain Anson wasappointed to the command of the expedition, the narrative of whichforms the subject of the present chapter. Immediately after hisreturn to England from this circumnavigation, Captain Anson wasmade rear-admiral of the blue, and shortly afterwards, one of thecommissaries of the Admiralty. In 1746 he was farther promoted to therank of Vice-admiral; and in the winter of 1746-7, was entrusted withthe command of the channel fleet. In May 1747, off Cape Finisterre, he captured six French ships of the line under the command of AdmiralJonquiere, which had been dispatched for the protection of themerchant ships destined for the East and West Indies. On thisoccasion, when Mons. St George, one of the French captains, surrendered his sword to Admiral Anson, he addressed him in thefollowing terms: _Vous avez vaincu L'Invincible, et La Gloire voussuit. _--"You have defeated the Invincible, and Glory follows you:"alluding to two of the French ships, the Invincible and the Gloire, which had surrendered to him. 

For this important service to his king and country, he was created apeer of the realm, by the title of LORD ANSON; and, in 1749, on thedeath of Admiral Norris, he was appointed Vice-admiral of England. In1751, he succeeded to Lord Sandwich, as first Lord Commissioner of theAdmiralty; but, incurring censure for the loss of Minorca, he resignedthis situation in 1756. But, having been acquitted of all blamerelative to that disgraceful affair, after a parliamentary enquiry, hewas reinstated in that high office, which he continued to fill, withhonour to himself and advantage to his country, during the remainderof his life. While attending upon the Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, brother to our present queen, to shew him the naval arsenal atPortsmouth, and the fleet which was then about to sail on theexpedition against the Havannah, he caught a violent cold, of which hedied, at Moor-Park in Hertfordshire, on the 6th of June 1762, in thesixty-fifth year of his age. Having no issue by his lady, the daughterof Lord Hardwicke, whom he married in 1748, he left the whole of hisproperty to his brother. 

Lord Anson appears to have been remarkable for the coolness andequanimity of his temper. Amid all the dangers and successes of hiscircumnavigation of the globe, he never expressed any strong emotion, either of sorrow or joy, except when the Centurion hove in sight ofTinian. He was a man of few words, and was even reckoned particularlysilent among English seamen, who have never been distinguished fortheir loquacity. He introduced a rigid discipline into the Englishnavy, somewhat resembling that of the Prussian army; and revivedthat bold and close method of fighting, within pistol-shot, which hadformerly been so successfully employed by Blake and Shovel, and whichhas fostered that daring courage and irresistible intrepidity in ourBritish seamen, which anticipate and secure success to the most daringand hazardous enterprizes. 

In some reflexions, towards the conclusion of Betagh'scircumnavigation, Harris, [6] a former editor of a collection ofvoyages and travels, breaks forth in the following laudatory strain:--

"Happy, happy, for us, that we have still a SEAMAN left, who has shewnthat the race of heroes is not yet extinct among us, in ADMIRAL ANSON, that great and fortunate commander; who enjoys the singular felicity, in an age of sloth, luxury, and corruption, that his _ease_ is theresult of his _labour_, his _title_ the reward of his _merit_, andthat his _wealth_ does _honour_ to his country. "

[Footnote 6: Harris, Voy. And Trav. I. 253. ]

How much more happy is it for us in the present day, somewhat morethan half a century later, and while every energy is required to theutmost stretch, that we still have a race of transcendent heroes, whohave annihilated the navy and trade and colonies or our arch enemy, have vindicated and preserved our glory and freedom and prosperity, and bid fair to restore the honour and independence of the civilizedworld, threatened with subversion by the modern Atilla--Ed. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Notwithstanding the great improvement of navigation within the lasttwo centuries, a voyage round the world is still considered as anenterprize of so very singular a nature, that the public have neverfailed to be extremely inquisitive about the various accidentsand turns of fortune with which this uncommon attempt is generallyattended. And, though the amusement expected in these narratives isdoubtless one great source of that curiosity with the bulk of readers, yet the more intelligent part of mankind have always agreed, that, from accounts of this nature, if faithfully executed, the moreimportant purposes of navigation, commerce, and national interest, maybe greatly promoted. For every authentic description of foreign coastsand countries will contribute to one or more of these great ends, inproportion to the wealth, wants, or commodities of these countries, and our ignorance of these coasts; and therefore, a voyage roundthe world promises a species of information, of all others, the mostdesirable and interesting; since great part of it is performed in seaswith which we are, as yet, but very imperfectly acquainted, and in theneighbourhood of a country renowned for the abundance of its wealth;though it is, at the same time, stigmatized for its poverty in thenecessaries and conveniences of a civilized life. 

These considerations have occasioned the compiling the ensuing work;which, in gratifying the inquisitive disposition of mankind, andcontributing to the safety and success of future navigators, and tothe extension of our commerce, may doubtless vie with any narration ofthis kind hitherto made public; since, as to the first of these heads, it may well be supposed that the general curiosity hath been stronglyexcited, by the circumstances of this undertaking already known to theworld; for, whether we consider the force of the squadron sent onthis service, or the diversified distresses that each single ship wasseparately involved in, or the uncommon instances of varying fortunewhich attended the whole enterprize; each of these articles must, I conceive, from its well-known rude outlines, appear worthy of acompleter and more finished delineation: And, if this be allowed withrespect to the narrative part of the work, there can be no doubt aboutthe more useful and instructive parts, which are almost every whereinterwoven with it; for I can venture to affirm, without fear of beingcontradicted, on a comparison, that no voyage, hitherto published, furnishes such a number of views of land, soundings, draughts ofports, charts, and other materials, for the improvement of geographyand navigation, as are contained in the ensuing volume; which are themore valuable too, as the greatest part of them relate to such islandsor coasts as have been hitherto not at all, or erroneously described;and where the want of sufficient and authentic information mightoccasion future enterprizes to prove abortive, perhaps with thedestruction of the ships and men employed therein. 

Besides the number and choice of these marine drawings anddescriptions, there is another very essential circumstance belongingto them, which much enhances their worth; and that is the greataccuracy with which they were executed. I shall express my opinion ofthem, in this particular, very imperfectly, when I say that they arenot exceeded, and perhaps not equalled, by any thing of this naturethat hath, as yet, been communicated to the world: For they were notcopied from the works of others, or composed at home from imperfectaccounts given by incurious and unskilful observers, a practicetoo frequent in these matters; but the greatest part of them weredelineated on the spot, with the utmost exactness, by the directionand under the eye of Mr Anson himself; and where, as is the case inthree or four of them, they have been done by less skilful hands, orwere found in possession of the enemy, and consequently their justnesscould be less relied on, I have always taken care to apprize thereader of it, and to put him on his guard against giving entire creditto them; although I doubt not but these less authentic draughts, thuscautiously inserted, are to the full as correct as those which areusually published upon these occasions. For, as actual surveys ofroads and harbours, and nice and critical delineations of views ofland, take up much time and attention, and require a good degreeof skill, both in planning and drawing, those who are defectivein industry and ability supply these wants by bold conjectures andfictitious descriptions; and, as they can be no otherwise confutedthan by going on the spot, and running the risk of suffering by theirmisinformation, they have no apprehension of being detected; andtherefore, when they intrude their supposititious productions on thepublic, they make no conscience of boasting, at the same time, withhow much skill and care they have been executed. But let not those whoare unacquainted with naval affairs imagine, that the impositions ofthis kind are of an innocent nature; for, as exact views of land arethe surest guides to a seaman, on a coast where he has never beenbefore, all fictions, in so interesting a matter, must be attendedwith numerous dangers, and sometimes with the destruction of those whoare thus unhappily deceived. [7]

[Footnote 7: It must be quite obvious to all who are in the leastdegree acquainted with the nature of these draughts and views of land, in the nature of a coasting pilot, that it is utterly impossible toreduce them within the compass of an octavo size, and at the sametime to render them of the smallest degree of usefulness; while largeplates must have been necessary, and speedily destroyed by opening andrefolding. --E. ]

Besides these draughts of such places as Mr Anson, or the ships whichhe commanded, have touched at in the course of this expedition, andthe descriptions and directions relating thereto, there is inserted, in the ensuing work, an ample account, with a chart annexed to it, ofa particular navigation, of which hitherto little more than the namehas been known, except to those immediately employed in it: I meanthe tract described by the Manilla ship, in her passage to Acapulco, through the northern part of the Pacific-ocean. This material articleis collected from the draughts and journals met with on board theManilla galleon, founded on the experience of more than an hundred andfifty years practice, and corroborated in its principal circumstancesby the concurrent evidence of all the Spanish prisoners taken in thatvessel. And as many of their journals; which I have examined, appearto have been not ill kept, I presume the chart of that northern ocean, and the particulars of their routes through it, may be very safelyrelied on by future navigators. The advantages which may be drawn froman exact knowledge of this navigation, and the beneficial projectswhich may be formed thereon, both in war and peace, are by no meansproper to be discussed in this place; but they will easily offerthemselves to the skilful in maritime affairs. However, as the Manillaships are the only ones which have ever traversed this vast ocean, except a French straggler or two, which have been afterwards seized onthe coast of Mexico; and as, during near two ages, in which this tradehas been carried on, the Spaniards have secreted with the utmostcare all accounts of their voyages from the rest of the world; thesereasons would alone authorize the insertion of those papers, and wouldrecommend them to the inquisitive, as a very great improvement ingeography, and worthy of attention, from the singularity of manycircumstances therein recited. 

I must add what, in my opinion, is far from being the leastrecommendation of these materials, that the observations of thevariations of the compass, which are laid down in the chart from theseSpanish journals, tend greatly to complete the general system ofthe magnetic variation, of infinite importance to the commercial andsea-faring part of mankind. These observations were, though in vain, often publicly called for by our learned countryman, the late DrHalley, and to his immortal reputation they confirm, as far as theyextend, the wonderful hypothesis he had entertained on this head, and very nearly correspond, in their quantity, to the predictions hepublished about fifty years since, long before he was acquainted withany one observation made in those seas. The ascertaining thevariation in that part of the world is just now of more thanordinary consequence, as the editors of a new variation chart, latelypublished, for want of proper information, have been misled byan erroneous analogy, and have even mistaken the very species ofvariation in that of the northern ocean; for they make it westerlywhere it is easterly, and have laid it down 12° or 13° different fromits real quantity. 

This much it has been thought necessary to premise, with regard to thehydrographical and geographical part of the ensuing work; which, itis hoped, the reader will find, on perusal, much ampler and moreimportant than this slight sketch can well explain. But, as thereare hereafter interspersed, occasionally, some accounts of Spanishtransactions, and many observations relative to the dispositionsof the American Spaniards, and to the condition of the countriesbordering on the South Seas; and as herein I may appear to differgreatly from the opinions generally established; I think it behoves meparticularly to recite the authorities I have been guided by in thesematters, that I may not be censured as having given way, either to athoughtless credulity on the one hand, or, what would be a much morecriminal imputation, to a wilful and deliberate misrepresentation onthe other. 

Mr Anson, before he set sail upon this expedition, besides the printedjournals to these parts, took care to furnish himself with the bestmanuscript accounts he could procure of all the Spanish settlementsupon the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico. These he carefullycompared with the examinations of his prisoners, and the informationsof several intelligent persons who fell into his hands in the SouthSeas. He had likewise the good fortune, in some of his captures, topossess himself of a great number of letters and papers of a publicnature, many of them written by the viceroy of Peru to the viceroyof Santa Fee, to the presidents of Panama and Chili, to Don Blassde Lezo, admiral of the galleons, and to divers other persons inconsiderable employments; and in these letters there was usuallyinserted a recital of those they were intended to answer, so that theycontained no small part of the correspondence between these officers, for some time previous to our arrival on the coast. We took, besides, many letters, sent from persons entrusted by the Spanish government, to their friends and correspondents, which were frequently filled withnarrations of public business, and sometimes contained undisguisedanimadversions on the views and conduct of their superiors. From thesematerials those accounts of the Spanish affairs ore drawn, which mayappear, at first sight, the most exceptionable. In particular, thehistory of the various casualties which befel Pizarro's squadron is, for the most part, composed from intercepted letters; though, indeed, the relation of the insurrection of Orellana and his followers isfounded on rather a less disputable authority; for it was taken fromthe mouths of an English gentleman then on board Pizarro, who oftenconversed with Pizarro; and it was, upon enquiry, confirmed in itsprincipal circumstances by others who were in the ship at the sametime: so that the fact, however extraordinary, is, I conceive, not tobe contested. 

And, on this occasion, I cannot but mention, that, though I haveendeavoured with my utmost care to adhere strictly to truth, in everyarticle of the ensuing narration, yet I am apprehensive that, in socomplicated a work, some oversights must have been committed, by theinattention to which, at all times, all mankind are liable. However, Iam conscious, as yet, of none but literal and insignificant mistakes;and if there are others more considerable, which have escaped me, Iflatter myself they are not of moment enough to affect any materialtransaction; and therefore I hope they may justly claim the reader'sindulgence. 

After this general account of the ensuing work, it might be expectedperhaps, that I should proceed to the work itself; but I cannot finishthis introduction without adding a few reflections on a matter verynearly connected with the present subject, and, as I conceive, neitherdestitute of utility nor unworthy the attention of the public: Imean the animating my countrymen, both in their public and privatestations, to the encouragement of all kinds of geographical andnautical observations, and of every species of mechanical andcommercial information. It is by a settled attachment to theseseemingly minute particulars, that our ambitious neighbours haveestablished some part of that power with which we are now struggling:and as we have the means in our hands of pursuing these subjects moreeffectually than they can, it would be a dishonour to us longer toneglect so easy and beneficial a practice. For, as we have a navy muchmore numerous than theirs, great part of which is always employed invery distant stations, either in the protection of our colonies andcommerce, or in assisting our allies against the common enemy, thisgives us frequent opportunities of furnishing ourselves with such kindof materials as are here recommended, and such as might turn greatlyto our advantage either in war or peace; since, not to mention whatmight be expected from the officers of the navy, if their applicationto these subjects was properly encouraged, it would create no newexpence to the government to establish a particular regulation forthis purpose; as all that would be requisite would be constantly toembark, in some of our men of war which are sent on those distantcruizes, a person who, with the character of an engineer, and theskill and talents necessary to that profession, should be employed indrawing such coasts, and planning such harbours, as the ship shouldtouch at, and in making such other observations, of all kinds, asmight either prove of advantage to future navigators, or might anyways tend to promote the public service. Persons habituated to theseoperations, which could not fail at the same time of improving them intheir proper business, would be extremely useful in many other lightsbesides those already mentioned, and might tend to secure our fleetsfrom those disgraces with which their attempts against places onshore have been often attended. And, in a nation like ours, whereall sciences are more eagerly and universally pursued, and betterunderstood, than in any other part of the world, proper subjects forthese employments cannot long be wanting, if due encouragement weregiven to them. 

This method, here recommended, is known to have been frequentlypractised by the French, particularly in the instance of Mons. Frezier, an engineer, who has published a celebrated voyage to theSouth Seas: for this person was purposely sent by the French king, inthe year 1711, into that country, on board a merchant ship, thathe might examine and describe the coast, and take plans of all thefortified places; the better to enable the French to prosecute theirillicit trade, or, on a rupture between them and the court of Spain, to form their enterprizes in those seas with more readiness andcertainty. Should we pursue this method, we might hope that theemulation amongst those who were commissioned for these undertakings, and the experience which, even in the most peaceable intervals, theywould thereby acquire, might at length procure us a proper numberof able engineers, and might efface the national scandal which ourdeficiency in that species of men has sometimes exposed us to: andsurely every step to encourage and improve them is of greater momentto the public, as no persons, when they are properly instructed, makebetter returns in war for the distinctions and emoluments bestowedon them in times of peace: of which, the advantages the French havereaped from their dexterity, too numerous and recent to be soonforgot, are an ample confirmation. 

Having mentioned engineers, or such as are skilled in drawing and theother usual practices of that profession, as the properest personsto be employed in these foreign enquiries, I cannot but lament, asit offers itself so very naturally to the subject in hand, how veryimperfect many of our accounts of distant countries are rendered bythe relators being unskilled in drawing, and in the general principlesof surveying, even where other abilities have not been wanting. Hadmore of our travellers been initiated in these acquirements, and hadthere been added thereto some little skill in the common astronomicalobservations, all which a person of ordinary talents might attain witha very moderate share of application, we should, by this time, haveseen the geography of the globe much correcter than we now find it;the dangers of navigation would have been considerably lessened, andthe manners, arts, and produce of foreign countries would have beenbetter known to us than they are. Indeed, when I consider the strongincitements that all travellers have to pursue some part at least ofthese qualifications, especially drawing; when I consider how muchit would facilitate their observations, assist and strengthen theirmemories, and of how tedious, and often unintelligible, a load ofdescription it would rid them; I cannot but wonder that any person whointends to visit distant countries, with a view of informing eitherhimself or others, should be wanting in so necessary a piece of skill. And, to enforce this argument still farther, I must add, that, besidesthe uses of drawing already mentioned, there is one which, though notso obvious, is yet perhaps of more consequence than all that has beenhitherto urged; I mean the strength and distinguishing power it addsto some of our faculties. This appears from hence, that those who areused to draw objects observe them with more accuracy than others whoare not habituated to that practice. For we may easily find, by alittle experience, that when we view any object, however simple, ourattention or memory is scarcely at any time so strong as to enable us, when we have turned our eyes away from it, to recollect exactly everypart it consisted of, and to recall all the circular stances of itsappearance; since, on examination, it will be discovered, that in somewe were mistaken, and others we had totally overlooked. But he who isaccustomed to draw what he sees, is, at the same time, accustomed torectify this inattention; for, by confronting his ideas, copied onthe paper, with the object he intends to represent, he finds outwhat circumstance has deceived him in its appearance; and hence he atlength acquires the habit of observing much more at one view than hecould ever have done without his practice and proficiency in drawing. 

If what has been said merits the attention of travellers of all sorts, it is, I think, more particularly applicable to the gentlemen of thenavy, since, without drawing and planning, neither charts nor views ofland can be taken; and without these it is sufficiently evident thatnavigation is at a full stand. It is doubtless from a persuasion ofthe utility of these qualifications, that his majesty has establisheda drawing-master at Portsmouth, for the instruction of those who arepresumed to be hereafter entrusted with the command of his royalnavy; and though some have been so far misled as to suppose that theperfection of sea officers consisted in a turn of mind and temperresembling the boisterous element they have to deal with, and havecondemned all literature and science, as effeminate and derogatoryto that ferocity, which, they would falsely persuade us, was the mostunerring characteristic of courage, yet it is to be hoped thatsuch absurdities have not at any time been authorized by the publicopinion, and that the belief daily diminishes. If those who adhereto these mischievous positions were capable of being influenced byreason, or swayed by example, I should think it sufficient for theirconviction to observe, that the most valuable drawings inserted inthe following work, though done with such skill that even professedartists can with difficulty imitate them, were taken by Mr PiercyBret, one of Mr Anson's lieutenants, and since captain of the Lionman-of-war, who, in his memorable engagement with the Elizabeth, [forthe importance of the service, or the resolution with which it wasconducted, inferior to none this age has seen, ] has given ample proofthat a proficiency in the arts I have been recommending, is extremelyconsistent with the most exemplary bravery, and the most distinguishedskill in every function belonging to a sea officer. 

Indeed, when the many branches of science are considered, of whicheven the common practice of navigation is composed, and the manyimprovements which men of skill have added to this practice withinthese few years, it would induce one to believe that the advantagesof reflection and speculative knowledge were in no profession moreeminent than in that of a naval officer; for, not to mention someexpertness in geography, geometry, and astronomy, which it would bedishonourable for him to be without, as his journal and his estimateof the daily position of the ship are founded on particular branchesof these sciences, it may well be supposed, that the management andworking of a ship, the discovery of her most eligible position in thewater, usually called her trim, and the disposition of her sails inthe most advantageous manner, are articles in which the knowledgeof mechanics cannot but be greatly assistant. And, perhaps, theapplication of this kind of knowledge to naval subjects may produceas great improvements in sailing and working a ship, as it has alreadydone in many other matters conducive to the ease and convenience ofhuman life; since, when the fabric of a ship and the variety of hersails are considered, together with the artificial contrivances foradapting them to her different motions, as it cannot be doubted butthese things have been brought about by more than ordinary sagacityand invention; so neither can it be doubted but that, in someconjunctures, a speculative and scientific turn of mind may find outthe means of directing and disposing this complicated mechanism muchmore advantageously than can be done by mere habit, or by a servilecopying of what others may have, perhaps erroneously, practised insimilar emergencies. But it is time to finish this digression, and toleave the reader to the perusal of the ensuing work, which, with howlittle art soever it may be executed, will yet, from the importanceof the subject, and the utility and excellence of the materials, meritsome share of the public attention. 

SECTION I. 

_Of the Equipment of the Squadron, and the Incidents relating to it, from its first Appointment to its setting Sail from St Helens. _

The squadron under the command of Mr Anson, of which I here propose torecite the most material proceedings, having undergone many changes inits destination, its force, and its equipment, during the ten monthsbetween its original appointment and its final sailing from St Helens, I conceive the history of these alterations is a detail necessary tobe made public, both for the honour of those who first planned andpromoted this enterprize, and for the justification of those who havebeen entrusted with its execution; since it will from hence appear, that the accidents the expedition was afterwards exposed to, and whichprevented it from producing all the national advantages the strengthof the squadron and the expectation of the public seemed to presage, were principally owing to a series of interruptions, which delayed thecommander in the course of his preparations, and which it exceeded hisutmost industry either to avoid or get removed. 

When, in the latter end of the summer 1739, it was foreseen that awar with Spain was inevitable, it was the opinion of some considerablepersons, then trusted with the administration of affairs, that themost prudent step the nation could take, on the breaking out of thewar, was attacking that crown in her distant settlements; for by thismeans, as at that time there was the greatest probability of success, it was supposed that we should cut off the principal resources of theenemy, and should reduce them to the necessity of sincerely desiringa peace, as they would be deprived of the returns of that treasure bywhich alone they could be enabled to carry on a war. 

In pursuance of these sentiments, several projects were examined, and several resolutions were taken by the council. And, in all thesedeliberations, it was from the first determined, that GeorgeAnson, Esq. Then captain of the Centurion, should be employed ascommander-in-chief of an expedition of this kind: and, he at that timebeing absent on a cruize, a vessel was dispatched to his station soearly as the beginning of September, to order him to return with hisship to Portsmouth. And soon after he came there, that is, on the10th November following, he received a letter from Sir CharlesWager, directing him to repair to London, and to attend the board ofAdmiralty; where, when he arrived, he was informed by Sir Charles, that two squadrons would be immediately fitted out for two secretexpeditions, which, however, would have some connection with eachother; and that he, Mr Anson, was intended to command one of them; andthat Mr Cornwall, who hath since lost his life gloriously in defenceof his country's honour, was to command the other; that the squadronunder Mr Anson was to take on board three independent companies of anhundred men each, and Bland's regiment of foot; that Colonel Bland waslikewise to embark with his regiment, and to command the land-forces;and that, as soon as this squadron could be fitted for sea, they wereto sail, with express orders to touch at no place till they came toJava-Head in the East-Indies; that they were there only to stop totake in water, and thence to proceed directly to the city of Manillain Luçonia, one of the Philippine islands; that the other squadron, of equal force with this commanded by Mr Anson, was intended to passround Cape Horn into the South Seas, to range along that coast; and, after cruizing upon the enemy in those parts, and attempting theirsettlements, this squadron, in its return, was to rendezvous atManilla, there to join the squadron under Mr Anson, where they wereto refresh their men, and to refit their ships, and perhaps receiveorders for other considerable enterprizes. 

This scheme was doubtless extremely well projected, and could notbut have greatly advanced the public service, and the reputationand fortune of those concerned in its execution; for, had Mr Ansonproceeded to Manilla at the time and in the manner proposed by SirCharles Wager, he would in all probability have arrived there beforethey had received any advice of the war between us and Spain, andconsequently before they had been in the least prepared for thereception of an enemy, or had any apprehensions of their danger. Thecity of Manilla might well be supposed to have been at that time inthe same defenceless condition with all the other Spanish settlements, just at the breaking out of the war; that is, their fortificationsneglected, and in many places decayed; their cannon dismounted, orrendered useless by the mouldering of their carriages; their magazinesboth of military stores and provisions, all empty; their garrisonsunpaid, and consequently thin, ill affected, and dispirited; and theroyal chests of Peru, whence alone all these disorders could receiveredress, drained to the very bottom. This, from the interceptedletters of their viceroys and governors, is well known to have beenthe defenceless state of Panama, and the other places on the coast ofthe South Sea, for near a twelvemonth after our declaration of war. And it cannot be supposed that the city of Manilla, removed stillfarther by almost half the circumference of the globe, should haveexperienced from the Spanish government a greater share of attentionfor its security than Panama, and the other important ports in Peruand Chili, on which their possession of that immense empire depends. Indeed, it is now well known that Manilla was at that time incapableof making any considerable defence, and, in all probability, wouldhave surrendered only on the appearance of our squadron before it. Theconsequence of this city, and the island it stands on, may, in somemeasure, be estimated from the known healthiness of its air, the excellence of its port and bay, the number and wealth of itsinhabitants, and the very extensive and beneficial commerce it carrieson to the principal ports in the East-Indies and China, and itsexclusive trade to Acapulco; the returns for which alone, being madein silver, are, upon the lowest calculation, not less than threemillions of dollars yearly. 

On this scheme Sir Charles Wager was so intent, that, on the 18thDecember, a few days only before this first conference, Mr Ansonreceived an order to take under his command the Argyle, Severn, Pearl, Wager, and Tryal sloop; and other orders were issued to him, inthe same month and in December, relating to the victualling of thissquadron. But, on attending the Admiralty in the beginning of January, 1740, Mr Anson was informed by Sir Charles Wager, that, for reasonswith which he was not acquainted, the expedition to Manilla was laidaside. It may well be conceived that Mr Anson was extremely chagrinedat losing the command of so infallible, so honourable, and in everyrespect so desirable an enterprize; especially as he had already, ata very great expence, made the necessary provision for his ownaccommodation in this voyage, which he had reason to expect wouldprove very long. However, to render this appointment more tolerable, Sir Charles Wager informed him that the expedition to the South Seawas still intended; and that he, Mr Anson, and his squadron, as theirfirst destination was now countermanded, should be employed in thatservice. And, on the 10th January, 1740, he received his commission, appointing him Commander-in-chief of the before-mentioned squadron, the Argyle being in the course of preparation exchanged for theGloucester, with which he sailed above eight months afterwards from StHelens. On this change of destination, the equipment of the squadronwas still prosecuted with as much vigour as ever; and the victualling, and whatever depended on the commodore, was soon so far advanced, thathe conceived the ships might be capable of putting to sea theinstant he should receive his final orders, of which he was in dailyexpectation. 

At length, on the 28th June, 1740, the Duke of Newcastle, principalsecretary of state, delivered to him his majesty's instructions, datedon the 31st of January preceding, with an additional instruction fromthe lords justices, dated 19th June. On the receipt of these, Mr Ansonimmediately repaired to Spithead, with a resolution to sail with thefirst fair wind, flattering himself that all his difficulties were nowat an end: for though he knew by the muster that his squadron wantedthree hundred men of their complement, a deficiency he had not, withall his assiduity, been able to get supplied, yet as Sir Charles Wagerhad informed him that an order from the board of Admiralty was sent toSir John Norris to spare him the numbers which he wanted; he doubtednot of its being complied with. But, on his arrival at Portsmouth, hefound himself greatly mistaken and disappointed in this persuasion:for, on application, Sir John Norris told him he could spare him none, as he wanted men for his own fleet. This occasioned an inevitableand very considerable delay, and it was the end of July before thisdeficiency was by any means supplied, and all that was then donewas extremely short of his necessities and expectation; for AdmiralBalchen, who succeeded to the command at Spithead, after Sir JohnNorris had sailed to the westward, instead of three hundred sailorswhich Mr Anson wanted of his complement, ordered on board the squadronan hundred and seventy men only, of which thirty-two were from thehospital and sick-quarters, thirty-seven men from the Salisbury, withthree officers and ninety-eight marines of Colonel Lowther's regiment;and these were all that were ever granted to make up the forementioneddeficiency. 

But the commodore's mortification did not end here. It has beenalready observed, that it was at first intended that Colonel Bland'sregiment, and three independent companies of an hundred men each, should embark as land-forces on board the squadron. But thisdisposition was now changed; and all the land-forces that were tobe allowed were five hundred invalids, to be collected from theout-pensioners of Chelsea College. As these consisted of soldiers, who, from their age, wounds, and other circumstances, were incapableof serving in marching regiments, Mr Anson was much chagrined athaving such a decrepid detachment allotted to him; for he was fullypersuaded that the greatest part of them would perish long before theycould arrive at the scene of action, since the delays he had alreadyexperienced necessarily confined his passage round Cape Horn to themost rigorous season of the year. Sir Charles Wager joined in opinionwith the commodore, that invalids were by no means proper for thisservice, and strenuously solicited to have them, exchanged. But he wastold, that persons who were considered better judges of soldiers thanhe or Mr Anson, thought them the properest men that could be employedon this occasion; and, upon this determination, they were ordered onboard the squadron on the 5th of August. But, instead of five hundred, there came no more on board than two hundred and fifty-nine; for allthose who had limbs and strength to walk out of Portsmouth deserted, leaving only those behind who were literally invalids, most of thembeing sixty years of age, and some upwards of seventy. Indeed, itis difficult to conceive a more moving scene than the embarkation ofthese unhappy veterans: they were themselves extremely averse fromthe service in which they were engaged, and fully apprized of all thedisasters they were afterwards exposed to, the apprehensions ofwhich were strongly marked by the concern which appeared in theircountenances, which was mixed with no small degree of indignation tobe thus hurried from their repose into a fatiguing employ, to whichneither the strength of their bodies, nor the vigour of their minds, were any way proportioned; and in which, without seeing the face of anenemy, or in the least promoting the success of the enterprize, theywould in all probability uselessly perish by lingering and painfuldiseases; and this, too, after they had spent the activity andstrength of their youth in the service of their country. 

I cannot but observe, on this melancholy incident, how extremelyunfortunate it was, both to this aged and diseased detachment, andto the expedition in which they were engaged, that, amongst all theout-pensioners of Chelsea College, which were supposed to amount totwo thousand men, the most crazy and infirm only should be called outfor so laborious and perilous an undertaking; for it was well known, however unfit invalids in general might be for this service, yet, by aprudent choice, there might have been found amongst them five hundredmen who had some remains of vigour; and Mr Anson fully expected thatthe best of them would have been allotted to him; whereas thewhole detachment sent seemed to be made up of the most decrepid andmiserable objects that could be collected out of the whole body; andby the desertion already mentioned, even these were cleared of thelittle strength and health which were to be found among them, and hehad to take up with such as were much fitter for an infirmary than forany military duty. 

It is here also necessary to mention another material particular inthe equipment of this squadron. After it was determined that Mr Ansonshould be sent to the South Sea, it was proposed to Mr Anson to takewith him two persons under the denomination of agent-victuallers. Those mentioned for this employment had been formerly in the SpanishAmerican colonies, in the service of the South-Sea Company, and itwas supposed, that, by their knowledge and intelligence on that coast, they might often procure provisions for the squadron by compact withthe inhabitants, when they were not to be got by force of arms. Theseagent-victuallers were, for this purpose, to be allowed to carryto the value of fifteen thousand pounds in merchandize on board thesquadron, as they represented that it would be much easier to procureprovisions in exchange for goods, than for the value of the same goodsin money. Whatever colours were given to this scheme, it was difficultto persuade the generality of mankind that it was not principallyintended for the enrichment of the agents, by the beneficial commercethey proposed to carry on upon that coast. From the beginning, MrAnson objected both to the appointment of agent-victuallers and toallowing them to carry a cargo on board the squadron; for he conceivedthat in those few amicable ports where the squadron might touch, he needed not their assistance to contract for any provisions theseplaces afforded; and, when on the enemy's coast, he did not imaginethey could ever procure him the necessaries he should want, unlessthe military operations of his squadron were to be regulated by theridiculous views of their trading projects, with which he was resolvednot to comply. All that he thought the government ought to havedone, of this kind, was to put on board, to the value of two or threethousand pounds, of such goods only as were suitable for the Indians, or the Spanish planters on the less cultivated parts of the coast, asit was in such places only that he considered it might be worthwhile to truck with the enemy for provisions, and it was sufficientlyevident that a very small cargo would suffice for such places. 

Although the commodore objected both to the appointment of theseofficers and to their project, of the ill success of which he hadno question, yet, as they had insinuated that their scheme, besidesvictualling the squadron, might contribute to the settling a trade onthat coast which might afterwards be carried on without difficulty, and might become of very considerable national advantage, they weremuch listened to by several considerable persons; and, of the fifteenthousand pounds, which was to be the amount of their cargo, thegovernment agreed to advance them ten thousand pounds upon imprest, and the remaining five thousand they raised on bottomry bonds, and thegoods purchased with this latter sum were all that were put onboard the squadron, how much soever their amount might be afterwardsmagnified by common report. This cargo was shipped at first in theWager store-ship, and one of the victuallers, no part of it beingadmitted on board the men-of-war; but, when the commodore was at StCatharine's, he considered, in case the squadron might be separated, that it might be pretended that some of the ships were disappointed ofprovisions for want of a cargo to truck with, wherefore he distributedsome of the least bulky commodities on board the men-of-war, leavingthe remainder principally on board the Wager, in which it was lost, and more of the goods perishing, by various accidents to be recitedafterwards, and as no part of them being disposed of on the coast, the few that came home to England, when sold, did not produce above afourth part of the original cost. So true was the commodore's judgmentof the event of this project, which had been considered by many asinfallibly productive of immense gain. 

We return to the transactions at Portsmouth. To supply the placeof the two hundred and forty invalids who had deserted, there wereordered on board two hundred and ten marines, drafted from differentregiments. These were raw and undisciplined men, just raised, and hadscarcely any thing more of the soldier than their regimentals, none ofthem having been so far trained as to be permitted to fire. The lastof these detachments came on board on the 8th August, and on the 10ththe squadron dropped down from Spithead to St Helen's, there to waitfor a wind to proceed on the expedition. The delays we had alreadysuffered had not yet spent all their influence; for we were nowadvanced to that season of the year when the westerly winds areusually very prevalent and violent; and it was thought proper thatwe should put to sea in company with the fleet commanded by AdmiralBalchen, and the expedition under Lord Cathcart. As we now made upin all twenty-one sail of men-of-war, and one hundred and twenty-foursail of merchant ships and transports, we had no hopes of getting outof the channel with so large a fleet, without the continuance of afair wind for a considerable time, and this was what we had every dayless and less reason to expect, as the time of the equinox drew near;wherefore our golden dreams and ideal possession of the Peruviantreasures grew every day more faint, and the difficulties and dangersof the passage round Cape Horn, in the winter season, filled ourimaginations in their room. It was forty days from our arrival at StHelens to our final departure from that place; and even then, havingorders to proceed without Lord Cathcart, we tided down the channelwith a contrary wind. But this interval of forty days was not freefrom the displeasing fatigue of often setting sail, and being as oftenobliged to return, nor exempt from dangers greater than have beensometimes undergone in surrounding the globe. For the wind coming fairfor the first time on the 23d August, we got under sail, and AdmiralBalchen shewed himself truly solicitous to have proceeded to sea; butthe wind soon returned to its old quarter, and obliged us to putback to St Helens, not without considerable hazard, and some damagereceived by two of the transports, which ran foul of each other whentacking. We made two or three other attempts to sail, but without anybetter success; and, on the 6th September, being returned to anchorat St Helens, after one of those fruitless attempts, the wind blew sofresh that the whole fleet had to strike yards and topmasts to preventdrifting: Yet, notwithstanding this precaution, the Centurion drovenext evening, and brought both cables a-head, when we were in no smalldanger of getting foul of the Prince Frederick, a seventy-gun ship, which was moored only a small distance under our stern, but we happilyescaped, in consequence of her drifting at the same time, by which shepreserved her distance, yet we did not think ourselves safe till we atlast let go our sheet anchor, which fortunately brought us up. 

We were in some measure relieved from this lingering and vexatioussituation on the 9th September, by an order then received byCommodore Anson, from the lords justices, to put to sea on the firstopportunity, with his own squadron only, if Lord Cathcart should notbe ready. Being thus freed from the troublesome company of so largea fleet, our commodore resolved to weigh and tide it down channel, as soon as the weather should become sufficiently moderate, and thismight easily have been done by our squadron full two months sooner, had the orders of the Admiralty for supplying us with seamen beenpunctually complied with, and had we met with none of those otherdelays mentioned in this narration. Even now, our hopes of a speedydeparture were somewhat damped, by a subsequent order which Mr Ansonreceived on the 12th September, by which he was required to take underhis convoy the St Albans and the Turkey fleet, and to join the Dragonand the Winchester, with the Straits and American trade, at Torbay orPlymouth, and to proceed with them to sea as far as their way andours lay together. This encumbrance of convoy gave us some uneasiness, fearing it might lengthen our passage to Madeira: However, having nowthe command to himself, Mr Anson resolved to tide down channel withthe first moderate weather; and, that the junction of the convoymight occasion as little loss of time as possible, he immediately sentdirections to Torbay that the fleet he was there to take charge ofshould be in readiness to join him instantly on his approach. And atlast, on the 18th September, he weighed from St Helens, and, thoughthe wind was at first contrary, had the good fortune to get clear ofthe channel in four days, as will be more particularly related in theensuing section. 

Having thus gone through the respective steps taken in the equipmentof this squadron, it must be sufficiently obvious how different anaspect the expedition bore at its first appointment in the beginningof January, from what it did in the latter end of September, whenit left the channel, and how much its numbers, its strength, and theprobability of its success were diminished by the various incidentswhich took place in that interval. For, instead of having all our oldand ordinary seamen exchanged for such as were young and able, which the commodore was at first promised, and having our complementcomplete to its full number, we were obliged to retain our firstcrews, which were very indifferent; and a deficiency of three hundredmen in our numbers was no otherwise made up than by sending on boardan hundred and seventy men, the greatest part of whom were dischargedfrom hospitals, or new-raised marines who had never been at seabefore. In the land-forces allotted to us, the change was still moredisadvantageous; as, instead of Bland's regiment of foot, which wasan old one, and three independent companies of an hundred men each, we had only four hundred and seventy invalids and marines, one part ofwhom were incapable of action, by their age and infirmities, and theother part useless, by ignorance of their duty. But the diminution ofthe strength of the squadron was not the greatest inconveniency whichattended these alterations; for the contests, representations, anddifficulties which they continually produced, as we have seen abovethat the authority of the Admiralty in these cases was not alwayssubmitted to, occasioned a delay and waste of time, which, in itsconsequences, was the source of all the disasters to which theenterprize was afterwards exposed. For, owing to these circumstances, we were forced to make our passage round Cape Horn at the mosttempestuous season of the year, whence proceeded the separation of oursquadron, the loss of numbers of our men, and the imminent hazard ofoar total destruction. By this delay also, the enemy had been so wellinformed of our designs, that a person who had been employed in theservice of the South-Sea Company, and arrived from Panama three orfour days before we left Portsmouth, was able to relate to Mr Ansonmost of the particulars of the destination and strength of oursquadron, from what he had learnt from the Spaniards before heleft them. This was afterwards confirmed by a more extraordinarycircumstance; for we shall find, that when the Spaniards, fullysatisfied of our expedition being intended for the South Seas, hadfitted out a squadron before us, which had so far got the start asto arrive before us at the island of Madeira, the commander of thissquadron was so well instructed in the form and make of Mr Anson'sbroad pendant, and had imitated it so exactly, that he thereby decoyedthe Pearl, one of our squadron, within gun-shot of him, before thecaptain of the Pearl was able to discover the deception. 

SECTION II. 

_The Passage from St Helens to the Island of Madeira, with a shortAccount of that Island, and of our Stay there. _

As observed in the preceding section, the squadron weighed fromSt Helens with a contrary wind on the 18th of September, 1740, ourcommodore proposing to tide down the channel, as he less dreaded theinconveniences we might have thereby to struggle with, than the riskhe should run of ruining the enterprize by an uncertain, and, inall probability, a tedious attendance for a fair wind. The squadronallotted for this expedition consisted of five men-of-war, a sloop ofwar, and two victuallers. These were, the Centurion of 60 guns, and400 men, George Anson, Esq. Commander; the Gloucester, of 50 guns, and300 men, Richard Norris, commander; the Severn, of 50 guns, and 300men, the Honourable Edward Legg, commander; the Pearl, of 40 guns, and250 men, Matthew Mitchell, commander; the Wager, of 28 guns, and 160men, Dandy Kidd, commander; the Tryal sloop, of 8 guns, and 100 men, the Honourable John Murray, commander. The two victuallers were pinks, the largest of about four hundred tons burden; and these were toattend us till the provisions we had on board were so far consumed asto make room for the additional quantity they carried, which was thento be taken into our ships, and they were to be discharged. Besidesthe before-mentioned complements of men borne by the ships as theircrews, there were embarked in our squadron about 470 invalidsand marines, as particularly mentioned in last section, underthe denomination of land-forces, which were commanded byLieutenant-Colonel Cracherode. 

With this squadron, together with the St Albans and Lark, and theTurkey trade under their convoy, we tided down channel for the firstforty-eight hours. In the morning of the 20th, we discovered theDragon, Winchester, South-Sea Castle, and Rye, with a number ofmerchantmen under their convoy, waiting for us off the Ram-head. Wejoined there the same day about noon, the commodore having orders tosee them, together with the convoy of the St Albans and Lark, as faras their course and ours lay together. When we came in sight of thislast-mentioned ship, Mr Anson first hoisted his broad pendant, andwas saluted by all the men-of-war in company. After joining this lastconvoy, we made up eleven men-of-war, and about 150 sail of merchantships, consisting of the Turkey, the Straits, and the American trades. The same day Mr Anson made a signal for all captains of men-of-warto come on board, when he delivered them their fighting and sailinginstructions, and then we all stood to the S. W. With a fair wind; sothat next day at noon, being the 21st, we had run forty leagues beyondthe Ram-head. Being now clear of the land, our commodore, to renderour view more extensive, ordered Captain Mitchell, in the Pearl, tomake sail two leagues a-head of the fleet every morning, and to repairto his station every evening. Thus we proceeded till the 25th, whenthe Winchester, with the American convoy, made the concerted signalfor leave to separate, and this being answered by the commodore, theyleft us, which, was done by the St Albans and the Dragon on the 24th, with the Turkey and Straits convoys. 

There now remained only our own squadron and the two victuallers, withwhich we stood on our course for the island of Madeira. But the windswere so contrary, that we had the mortification to be forty days onour passage to that island from St Helens, though it is often knownto be done in ten or twelve. This delay was most unpleasant, and wasproductive of much discontent and ill humour among our people, ofwhich these only can have an adequate idea who have experienced asimilar situation: For, besides the peevishness and despondency, whichfoul and contrary winds, and a lingering voyage, never fail to produceon all occasions, we in particular had substantial reasons for beinggreatly alarmed at this unexpected impediment; since, as we departedfrom England much later than we ought to have done, we had placedalmost all our hope of success on the chance of retrieving in somemeasure at sea, the time we had so unhappily wasted at Spithead and StHelens. At last, on Monday the 25th October, at five in the morning, we made the land to our great joy, and came to anchor in the afternoonin Madeira road, in forty fathoms, the Brazen Head bearing from us E. By S. The Loo N. N. W. And the Great Church N. N. E. We had hardly let goour anchor when an English privateer sloop ran under our stern, andsaluted the commodore with nine guns, which we returned with five. Next day the English consul visited the commodore, and was salutedwith nine guns on coming on board. 

The island of Madeira, where we now arrived, is famous through all ourAmerican settlements for its excellent wines, which seem designed byProvidence for the refreshment of the inhabitants of the torrid zone. It is situated in a fine climate, in lat. 32° 27' N. And long. FromLondon 18° 30' to 19° 30' W. By our different reckonings, though laiddown in the charts in 47°. [1] The whole island is composed of onecontinued hill of considerable height, extending from east towest; the declivity of which, on the south side, is cultivated andinterspersed with vineyards. In the middle of this slope the merchantshave their country seats, which contribute to form a very agreeableprospect. There is but one considerable town, named Fonchiale, onthe south part of the island, situated at the bottom of a largebay. Towards the sea it is defended by a high wall with a battery ofcannon, besides a castle on the Loo, which is a rock standing in thewater at a small distance from the shore. Tonchiale is the only placeof trade, and indeed the only place where it is possible for a boat toland; and even there the beach is so covered with great stones, and soviolent a surf beats continually upon it, that the commodore did notcare to venture the long-boats of our ships in fetching off water, and therefore ordered the captains to employ Portuguese boats on thatservice. 

[Footnote 1: The charts are however the most accurate, as that is thelong. Of the centre of Madeira, in our best modern maps. --E. ]

We continued about a week at this island, watering our ships, andproviding the squadron with wine and other refreshments. While here, on the 3d November, Captain Richard Norris signified to the commodore, by letter, his desire to quit the command of the Gloucester, in orderto return to England for the recovery of his health. The commodorecomplied with this request, and was pleased to appoint Captain MatthewMitchell to command the Gloucester in his room, to remove Captain Kiddfrom the Wager to the Pearl, and Captain Murray from the Tryal sloopto the Wager, giving the command of the Tryal to LieutenantCheap. These promotions being settled, with other changes in thelieutenancies, the commodore, on the 4th November, gave to thecaptains their orders, appointing St Jago, one of the Cape Verdislands, to be the first place of rendezvous in case of separation;and, if they did not meet the Centurion there, directing them to makethe best of their way to the island of St Catharine on the coast ofBrazil. The water for the squadron being that day completed, and eachship supplied with as much wine and other refreshments as theycould take in, we weighed anchor in the afternoon, and took leave ofMadeira. But, before continuing the narrative of our transactions, I think it necessary to give some account of the proceedings of theenemy, and of the measures they had taken to render all our designsabortive. 

On visiting the governor of Madeira, Mr Anson was informed by him, that for three or four days in the latter end of October, there hadappeared to the westward of the island seven or eight ships of theline and a _patache_, which last was sent close in with the land everyday. The governor assured our commodore, upon his honour, that noperson on the island had either given them intelligence, or had anysort of communication with them. He believed them to be either Frenchor Spanish, but was rather inclined to suppose the latter. On thisintelligence, Mr Anson sent an officer in a clean sloop eight leaguesto the westwards, to reconnoitre them, and, if possible, to discoverwhat they were: But the officer returned without having seen them, sothat we still remained in uncertainty; yet we could not but conjecturethat this fleet was intended to put a stop, if possible, to ourexpedition; and, had they cruized to the eastward of the island, instead of the westward, they could not have failed in doing so: for, as in that case they must infallibly have fallen in with us, we shouldhave been under the necessity of throwing overboard vast quantities ofprovisions, to clear our ships for action; and this alone, independentof the event of the action, would have effectually prevented ourprogress. This was so obvious a measure, that we could not helpimagining reasons which might have prevented them from pursuing it. We supposed, therefore, that this French or Spanish squadron, havingadvice that we were to sail in company with Admiral Balchen and LordCathcart's expedition, might not think it adviseable to meet with ustill we had parted company, from apprehension of being over-matched, and supposed we might not separate before our arrival at this island. These were our speculations at the time, from which we had reason tosuppose we might still fall in with them, in our way to the Capede Verd islands. We were afterwards persuaded, in the course of ourexpedition, that this was the Spanish squadron commanded by Don JosephPizarro, sent out purposely to traverse the views and enterprizes ofour squadron, to which they were greatly superior in strength. As thisSpanish armament was so nearly connected with our expedition, and asthe catastrophe, if underwent, though not effected by our force, wasyet a considerable advantage to this nation produced in consequenceof our equipment; I have, in the following section, given a summaryaccount of their proceedings, from their first setting out from Spainin 1740, till the Asia, the only ship of the whole squadron thatreturned to Europe, got back to Corunna in the beginning of the year1746. 

SECTION III. 

_History of the Spanish Squadron commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro. _

The squadron fitted out by the court of Spain, to attend our motions, and traverse our projects, we supposed to have been the ships seenoff Madeira. As this force was sent out particularly against ourexpedition, I cannot but imagine that the following history of itscasualties, so far as has come to my knowledge, by intercepted lettersand other information, is an essential part of the present work. Forit will from hence appear, that we were the occasion of a considerablepart of the Spanish naval power being diverted from prosecuting theambitious views of that court in Europe; and whatever men and shipswere lost by the enemy in this undertaking, were lost in consequenceof the precautions they took to secure themselves against ourexpedition. 

This squadron, besides two ships bound for the West Indies, which didnot part company till after they left Madeira, was composed of thefollowing men-of-war, commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro. The Asia of 66guns and 700 men, the admiral's ship; the Guipuscoa of 74 guns and 700men; the Hermiona of 54 guns and 500 men; the Esperanza of 50 guns and450 men; the St Estevan of 40 guns and 350 men; and a patache of 20guns. 

Over and above their complements of sailors and marines, these shipshad on board an old Spanish regiment of foot, intended to reinforcethe garrisons on the coast of the South-Sea. Having cruised some daysto leeward of Madeira, as formerly mentioned, they left that stationin the beginning of November, and steered for the Rio de la Plata, where they arrived on the 5th of January O. S. And coming to anchor inthe bay of Maldonado, at the mouth of that river, their admiral sentimmediately to Buenos Ayres for a supply of provisions, having leftSpain with only four months provisions on board. While waiting thissupply, they received intelligence, by the treachery of the Portuguesegovernor of St Catharines, of Mr Anson having arrived at that islandon the 21st December preceding, and that he was preparing to put tosea again with the utmost expedition. Notwithstanding his superiorforce, Pizarro had his reasons, and some say his orders, for avoidingour squadron any where short of the South-Sea. He was, besides, extremely desirous of getting round Cape Horn before us, imaginingthat alone would effectually baffle all our designs; wherefore, hearing that we were in his neighbourhood, and that we should be soonready to proceed for Cape Horn, he weighed anchor with his five largeships, the Patache being disabled and condemned, and the men takenout of her; and, after a stay of seventeen days only, got under sailwithout his provisions, which arrived at Maldonado within a day or twoafter his departure. Notwithstanding this precipitation, we put to seafrom St Catharines four days before he did from Maldonado; and at onepart of our passage to Cape Horn the two squadrons were so near, thatthe Pearl, one of our ships, being separated from the rest, fell inwith the Spanish fleet, and, mistaking the Asia for the Centurion, got within gun-shot of the Asia before the mistake was discovered, andnarrowly escaped being taken. 

As it was the 22d January when the Spaniards weighed from Maldonado, they could not expect to get into the latitude of Cape Horn before theequinox; and, as they had reason to apprehend very tempestuous weatherin doubling it at that season, while the Spanish sailors, for the mostpart accustomed to a fair-weather country, might be supposed aversefrom so dangerous and fatiguing a navigation, the better to encouragethem, some part of their pay was advanced to them in European goods, which they were to have leave to dispose of in the South-Seas, thatso the hopes of the great profits they were to make of their ventures, might animate them in their duty, and render them less disposedto repine at the labours, hardships, and perils they might in allprobability meet with, before their arrival on the coast of Peru. 

Towards the latter end of February, Pizarro and his squadron got intothe latitude of Cape Horn, and then stood to the westwards in orderto double that southern promontory. But, in the night of the last ofFebruary O. S. While turning to windward with this view, the Guipuscoa, Hermiona, and Espranza were separated from the admiral. On the 6thMarch following, the Guipuscoa was separated from the other two; andnext day, being that after we passed the Straits of Le Maire, therecame on a most furious storm at N. W. Which, in spite of all theirefforts, drove the whole squadron to the eastward, and, after severalfruitless attempts, obliged them to bear away for the river of Plate. Pizarro arrived there in the Asia about the middle of May, and wasfollowed a few days after by the Esperanza and Estevan. The Hermionawas supposed to have foundered, as she was never more heard of; andthe Guipuscoa was run on shore and destroyed on the coast of Brazil. The calamities of all kinds which this squadron underwent in theirunsuccessful attempt to double Cape Horn, can only be paralleled bywhat we ourselves experienced in the same climate, when buffeted bythe same storms. There was indeed some diversity in our distresses, rendering it difficult to decide whose situation was most worthy ofcommiseration; for, to all the miseries and misfortunes we experiencedin common, as shattered rigging, leaky ships, and the fatigues anddespondency necessarily attendant on these disasters, there wassuperadded on board our squadron the ravages of a most destructiveand incurable disease; and in the Spanish squadron the devastation offamine. 

It has been already observed, that this squadron left Spain with onlyfour months provisions on board, and even that, it is said, at shortallowance, either owing to the hurry of their outfit, or presumingupon a supply at Buenos Ayres; so that, when their continuance at seawas prolonged, by the storms they met with off Cape Horn, a monthor more beyond their expectation, they were reduced to such infinitedistress, that rats, when they could be caught, sold for four dollarsa-piece; and a sailor who died in one of the ships, had his deathconcealed by his brother for some days, who lay all that time inthe hammock with the corpse, that he might receive the dead man'sallowance of provisions. In this dreadful situation, if their horrorswere capable of augmentation, they were alarmed by discoveringa conspiracy among the marines on board the Asia, who proposedmassacring the officers and whole crew, their sole motive for thisbloody resolution appearing to be the desire of relieving theirhunger, by appropriating the whole provisions in the ship tothemselves. This design was prevented, when just on the point ofexecution, by means of one of their confessors, and three of theringleaders were immediately put to death. By the complicateddistresses of fatigue, sickness, and famine, the three ships thatescaped lost the greatest part of their men. The admiral's ship, theAsia, arrived at Monte Video in the Rio Plata with only half her crew. The Estevan, when she anchored in the bay of Barragan had also losthalf her men. The Esperanza was still more unfortunate, for of 450hands she brought with her from Spain, only 58 remained alive. Thewhole regiment of foot perished except sixty men. To give a moredistinct idea of what they underwent upon this occasion, I shallpresent a short account of the fate of the Guipuscoa, extracted from aletter written by Don Joseph Mindinuetta, her captain, to a person ofdistinction at Lima, a copy of which fell into our hands when in theSouth-Sea. 

Having separated on the 6th March in a fog from the Hermiona andEsperanza, being then, as I suppose, to the S. E. Of States Land, andplying to the westward, it blew a furious storm at N. W. The succeedingnight, which, at half past ten, split his main-sail, and obliged himto bear away with his foresail. The ship now went ten knots an hourwith a prodigious sea, and often ran her gangway under water. Helikewise sprung his main-mast, and the ship made so much water thatshe could not be freed by four pumps assisted by bailing. On the 9ththe wind became calm, but the sea continued so high that the ship, inrolling, opened all her upper works and seams, and started the buttends of her planks, and the greatest part of her top-timbers, thebolts being drawn by the violence of the roll. In this condition, withadditional disasters to the hull and rigging, they continued beatingwestward to the 12th, when they were in lat. 60° S. And in great wantof provisions, numbers perishing daily by the fatigue of pumping, andthe survivors quite dispirited by labour, hunger, and the severityof the weather, their decks being covered with snow above a foot indepth. Finding the wind fixed in the west and blowing strong, andtheir passage that way impossible, they resolved to bear away for theRio Plata. On the 22d they had to throw overboard all their upper-deckguns and an anchor, and were obliged to take six turns of the cableround the ship to prevent her from opening and falling to pieces. Onthe 4th of April, in calm weather, but with a very heavy sea, theship rolled so much that her main-mast came by the board, and was soonafter followed by the fore and mizen masts, after which they hadto cut away the boltsprit, to diminish, if possible, the leakageforwards. By this time two hundred and fifty of the men had perishedby hunger and fatigue. Those who were capable of working at the pumps, at which every officer took his turn without exception, were onlyallowed an ounce and a half of biscuit daily; while those who wereweak and sickly, so that they could not assist in this necessarylabour, had no more than one ounce of wheat. It was common for the mento fall down dead at the pumps, and all they could muster for duty, including the officers, was from eighty to an hundred men. 

The S. W. Wind blew so fresh for some days after they lost their masts, that they could not set up jury-masts; so that they were obliged todrive like a wreck, between the latitude of 32° and 38° S. Till the24th of April, when they made the coast of Brazil at Rio de Patas, ten leagues to the southward of the island of St Catharines. They camehere to an anchor, the captain being very desirous of proceeding to StCatharines, in order to save the hull of the ship, with her guns andstores: But the crew instantly left off pumping, and all in one voicecried out, _On shore! on shore!_ enraged at the hardships they hadsuffered and the numbers they had lost, there being at this timethirty dead bodies lying on the deck. Thus the captain was obliged torun the ship directly to the land, where she parted and sunk five daysafter, with all her stores and furniture; but the remainder of thecrew, whom hunger and fatigue had spared, to the number of fourhundred, got safe on shore. 

From this account of the adventures and catastrophe of the Guiapuscoa, we may form some conjecture of the manner in which the Hermiona waslost, and of the distresses endured by the three remaining ships ofthe squadron which got into the Rio Plata. These last being in greatwant of masts, yards, rigging, and all kinds of naval stores, and having no supply at Buenos Ayres or any of the neighbouringsettlements, Pizarro dispatched an advice-boat with a letter of creditto Rio de Janeiro, to purchase what was wanting from the Portuguese. He sent at the same time an express across the continent to St Jago deChili, to be thence forwarded to the viceroy of Peru, informing himof the disasters that had befallen his squadron, and desiring aremittance of two hundred thousand dollars from the royal chest atLima, to enable him to refit and victual his remaining ships, that hemight be again in condition to attempt the passage to the South-Seaas soon as the season of the year should be more favourable. It ismentioned by the Spaniards, as a most extraordinary circumstance, that, though then the depth of winter, when the Cordilleras areesteemed impassable on account of the snow, the Indian who was chargedwith this express was only thirteen days on his journey from BuenosAyres to St Jago in Chili, though the distance is three hundredSpanish leagues, near forty of which are among the snows andprecipices of the Cordilleras. 

The return to this dispatch of Pizarro from the viceroy was by nomeans favourable. Instead of two hundred thousand dollars, the sumdemanded, the viceroy remitted him only one hundred thousand, tellinghim that it was with great difficulty he was able to procure eventhat sum. But the inhabitants of Lima, who considered the presenceof Pizarro as absolutely necessary to their security, were muchdiscontented at this procedure, and did not scruple to assert, thatit was not the want of money, but the interested views of some of theviceroy's confidants, that prevented Pizarro from getting the wholesum. 

The advice-boat sent to Rio Janeiro also executed her commission butimperfectly; for, though she brought back a considerable quantity ofpitch, tar, and cordage, she could not procure either masts or yards;and, as an additional misfortune, Pizarro was disappointed of somemasts he expected from Paraguay, as a carpenter whom he entrustedwith a large sum of money, and sent there to cut masts, instead ofprosecuting the business he was sent upon, married in the country, and refused to return. However, by removing the masts of the Esperanzainto the Asia, and using what spare masts and yards they had on board, they made a shift to refit the Asia and Estevan: And, in the Octoberfollowing, Pizarro was prepared to put to sea with these two ships, in order to attempt the passage round Cape Horn a second time; but, incoming down the Rio Plata, the Estevan ran upon a shoal and beat offher rudder, and Pizarro proceeded to sea in the Asia without her. Having now the antarctic summer before him, and the winds favourable, no doubt was made of his having a fortunate and speedy passage: But, when off Cape Horn and going right before the wind, it being moderateweather, though in a swelling sea, the ship rolled away her masts, bysome misconduct of the officer having the watch, and was a second timeobliged to put back in great distress to the Rio Plata. 

As the Asia had suffered considerably in this second unfortunateexpedition, the Esperanza was now ordered to be refitted, the commandof her being given to Mindinuetta, who was formerly captain of theGuipuscoa. In November 1742, he sailed from the Rio Plata for thesouth, and arrived safe on the coast of Chili, where he was met byhis commodore, Pizarro, who passed over-land from Buenos Ayres. Greatanimosities and contests took place between these two officers, owingto the claim of Pizarro to command the Esperanza, which Mindinuettahad brought round, and now refused to resign; insisting, as he hadcome round the South Sea alone and under no superior, it was not nowin the power of Pizarro to resume the authority he had once partedwith. But, after a long and obstinate struggle, as the president ofChili interposed and declared for Pizarro, Mindinuetta was obliged tosubmit. 

Pizarro had not yet completed the series of his misfortunes. Whenhe and Mindinuetta returned over-land, in 1745, from Chili to BuenosAyres, they found the Asia still at Monte Video, and resolved, ifpossible, to carry her to Europe. With this view they refitted her inthe best manner they could, but had great difficulty in procuringa sufficient number of hands to navigate her, as all the remainingsailors of the squadron, then to be met with in the neighbourhood ofBuenos Ayres, did not amount to an hundred men. They endeavoured tosupply this defect, by pressing many of the inhabitants of BuenosAyres, and putting on board all the English prisoners then in theircustody, together with a number of Portuguese smugglers they had takenat different times, and some of the Indians of the country. Amongthese last there was a chief and ten of his followers, who had beensurprised by a party of Spanish soldiers about three months before. The name of this chief was Orellana, and he belonged to a verypowerful tribe, which had committed great ravages in the neighbourhoodof Buenos Ayres. With this motley crew, all of them except theEuropean sailors averse from the voyage, Pizarro set sail from MonteVideo about the beginning of November 1745: and the native Spaniards, being no strangers to the dissatisfaction of their forced men, treatedthem, the English prisoners and the Indians, with great insolence andbarbarity, particularly the Indians; for it was common in the meanestofficers in the ship to beat them cruelly on the slightest pretence, and often merely to shew their superiority. 

Orellana and his followers, though in appearance sufficiently patientand submissive, meditated a severe revenge for all these inhumanities. As these Indians have great intercourse with Buenos Ayres in time ofpeace, Orellana understood Spanish, and affected to converse with suchof the English prisoners as could speak that language, seeming verydesirous of being informed how many Englishmen there were on board, and of having them pointed out to him. As he knew the English were asmuch enemies to the Spaniards as he was, he had doubtless an intentionof disclosing his purposes to them, and making them partners in thescheme he had projected for revenging his wrongs and recovering hisliberty; but, having sounded them at a distance, and not finding themso precipitate and vindictive as he expected, he proceeded no fartherwith them, but resolved to trust alone to the resolution of his tenfaithful followers, who readily engaged to observe his directions andto execute his commands. Having agreed on the measures to be pursued, they contrived to provide themselves with Dutch knives, sharp at thepoint, which, being the common knives used in the ship, they procuredwithout difficulty. They also employed their leisure in secretlycutting thongs from raw hides, of which there were great numbers onboard, and in fixing to each end of these thongs the double-headedshot of the small quarter-deck guns; by which they formed mostmischievous weapons, in the use of which, by swinging round the head, the Indians about Buenos Ayres are extremely expert, being trained toit from their infancy. When these things were in good forwardness, the execution of their scheme was perhaps precipitated by a particularoutrage committed upon Orellana, who was ordered aloft by one of theofficers, and being incapable of doing so, the officer, who wasa brutal fellow, beat him with such violence, under pretence ofdisobedience, that he left him bleeding on the deck, and quitestupified with wounds and bruises. This certainly increased his thirstof revenge, so that within a day or two he and his followers began toexecute their desperate resolves in the following manner. 

About nine in the evening, when many of the principal officers wereon the quarter-deck indulging in the freshness of the night air, theforecastle being manned with its customary watch, Orellana and hiscompanions, having prepared their weapons, and thrown off theirtrowsers and other cumbrous parts of their dress, came all togetheron the quarter-deck, and drew towards the door of the great cabin. Theboatswain reprimanded them for their presumption, and ordered themto be gone; on which Orellana spoke to his followers in their nativelanguage, when four of them drew off, two towards each gangway, andthe chief and six remaining Indians seemed to be slowly quitting thequarter-deck. When the detached Indians had taken possession of thegangways, Orellana placed his hands hollow to his mouth, and bellowedout the war-cry of the savages, said to be the harshest and mostterrifying of sounds. This hideous yell was the signal for beginningthe massacre; upon which all the Indians drew their knives andbrandished their prepared double-headed shot. The chief, and the sixwho remained with him on the quarter-deck, fell immediately on theSpaniards with whom they were intermingled, and in a very short spacelaid forty of them at their feet, above twenty of whom were killed onthe spot, and the rest disabled. 

In the beginning of the tumult, many of the officers rushed into thegreat cabin, where they put out the lights and barricadoed the door;while of the others, who had escaped the first fury of the Indians, some endeavoured to escape along the gangways to the forecastle, wherethe Indians, placed there on purpose, stabbed the greater part of themas they attempted to pass, or forced them off the gangways into thewaste of the ship, which was filled with live cattle. Some threwthemselves voluntarily over the barricades into the waste, and thoughtthemselves fortunate to lie concealed among the cattle; but thegreatest part escaped up the main-shrouds, and took shelter in thetops and rigging of the ship. Although the Indians only attackedthe quarter-deck, yet the watch in the forecastle, finding theircommunication cut off, and terrified by a few of the wounded who hadbeen able to force their passage, and not knowing either who weretheir enemies, or what were their numbers, they also gave all over forlost, and in great confusion ran up into the rigging of the foremastand boltsprit. 

Thus these eleven Indians, with a resolution perhaps without example, possessed themselves almost in an instant of the quarter-deck of aship mounting sixty-six guns, and manned by near five hundred hands, and even continued in peaceable possession of this part for some time. During a considerable space, the officers in the great cabin, amongwhom were Pizarro and Mindinuetta, the crew between decks, and thosewho had escaped into the tops and rigging, were merely anxious fortheir own safety, and were incapable of forming any project forsuppressing the insurrection and recovering the possession of theship. The yells of the Indians, the groans of the wounded, and theconfused clamours of the crew, all heightened by the darkness of thenight, had at first greatly magnified the danger, and filled them withimaginary terrors. The Spaniards were sensible of the dissatisfactionof their impressed hands, and were conscious of their barbarity totheir prisoners, wherefore they concluded that the conspiracy wasgeneral, and considered their own destruction as infallible; insomuch, that some are said to have designed to leap into the sea, but wereprevented by their companions. 

When the Indians had entirely cleared the quarter-deck, the tumult ina great measure subsided; for those who had escaped were kept silentby their fears, and the Indians were incapable of pursuing them. Orellana, when master of the quarter-deck, broke open the arm-chest, which had been ordered there a few days before, on a slight suspicionof mutiny. He there expected to find cutlasses wherewith to armhimself and his followers, who were all well skilled in the use ofthat weapon, and with these it is imagined they proposed to haveforced the great cabin: But on opening the chest, there appearednothing but fire-arms, which to them were of no use. There were indeedabundance of cutlasses in the chest, but they were hidden by thefire-arms being laid uppermost. This was a sensible disappointment toOrellana and his Indians. By this time Pizarro and his companions inthe great cabin had been able to communicate with those below in thegun-room and between decks, by conversing aloud through the cabinwindows; by which means they learnt that the English prisoners, whomthey chiefly suspected, were all safe below, and had not participatedin the mutiny; and by other circumstances they were at last madesensible that Orellana and his people only were concerned in it. Uponthis information, Pizarro and the officers resolved to attack them onthe quarter-deck, before any of the discontented on board had so farrecovered from their surprise as to reflect on the facility ofseizing the ship by joining with the Indians. With this view, Pizarrocollected what arms were in the cabin and distributed them to thosewho were with him. There were no fire-arms except pistols, andfor these they had neither powder nor ball; but having now acorrespondence with the gun-room, they lowered a bucket from the cabinwindow, into which the gunner put a quantity of pistol cartridges outof one of the gun-room ports. Having thus procured ammunition, andloaded their pistols, they partly opened the cabin door, and firedseveral shots among the Indians on the quarter-deck, though at firstwithout effect. At last Mindinuetta had the good fortune to shootOrellana dead; on which his faithful companions, abandoning allthoughts of farther resistance, instantly leaped into the sea, wherethey all perished. Thus was this insurrection quelled, and possessionof the quarter-deck regained, after it had been fully two hours in thepower of this great and daring chief, and his small band of gallantunhappy countrymen. 

Having thus escaped from imminent peril, Pizarro continued hisvoyage for Europe, and arrived safely on the coast of Gallicia in thebeginning of the year 1746, after an absence of between four and fiveyears, and having, by attendance on our expedition, diminished theroyal power of Spain by above three thousand of their prime sailors, and by four considerable ships of war and a patache. For we have seenthat the Hermione foundered at sea, the Guipuscoa was stranded anddestroyed on the coast of Brazil, the St Estevan was condemned andbroken up in the Rio Plata, and the Esperanza, being left in the SouthSea, is doubtless by this time incapable of returning to Spain:So that the Asia alone, with less than an hundred hands, may beconsidered as all that remains of the squadron with which Pizarro putforth to sea; and whoever considers the very large proportion whichthis squadron bore to the whole navy of Spain, will no doubt confessthat, even if our undertaking had been attended with no otheradvantages, than that of ruining so great a part of the naval force ofso dangerous an enemy, this alone would be a sufficient equivalentfor our equipment, and an incontestable proof of the service which thenation has thence received. Having thus given a summary of Pizarro'sadventures, I return to the narrative of our own transactions. 

SECTION IV. 

_Passage from Madeira to St Catharines. _

I have already mentioned that we weighed from Madeira on the 3dNovember, after orders being given to rendezvous at St Jago, one ofthe Cape Verd islands, in case of a separation. But next day, when wewere got to sea, the commodore, considering that the season was faradvanced, and that touching at St Jago would create additional delay, thought proper for this reason to alter the rendezvous, and appointedthe island of St Catharines, on the coast of Brazil, to be the firstplace to which the ships of the squadron were to repair, in case ofseparation. 

In our passage to the island of St Catharines, we found the directionof the trade winds to differ considerably from what we had reason toexpect, both from the general histories given of these winds, and theexperience of former navigators. For the learned Dr Halley, in hisaccount of the trade-winds which prevail in the Ethiopic and AtlanticOceans, tells us that, from the lat. Of 28° N. To 10° N. There isgenerally a fresh gale of N. E. Wind, which, towards the Africancoasts, rarely comes to the eastward of E. N. E. Or passes to thenorthward of N. N. E. But on the American side the wind is somewhatmore easterly; though even there it is commonly a point or two to thenorthward of east; that from 10° N. To 4° N. The calms and tornadoestake place; and from 4° N. To 30° S. The winds are generally andperpetually between the south and east. We expected to find thisaccount of the matter confirmed by our experience; but we foundconsiderable variations from it, both in regard to the steadiness ofthe winds, and the quarters from whence they blew. For though we metwith a N. E. Wind about lat. 28° N. Yet, from lat. 25° N. To 18° N thewind was never once to the northward of E. But almost constantly tothe southward of it. From thence, however, to 6° 20' N. We had itusually to the northward of E. Though not always, as it changed for ashort time to E. S. E. From 6° 20' N. To about 4° 46' N. The weather wasvery unsettled, the wind being sometimes N. E. Then changing to S. E. And sometimes we had a dead calm, with small rain and lightning. Afterthis, to the lat. Of 7° 30' S. The wind continued almost invariablybetween S. And E. And then again as invariably between N. And E. Tillwe came to 15° 30' S. Then E. And S. E. To 21° 37' S. After this, evento 27° 44' S. The wind was never once between S. And E. Though wehad it in all the other quarters of the compass; though this lastcircumstance may be in some measure accounted for from our approach tothe coast of Brazil. 

I do not mention these particulars with a view of cavilling at thereceived accounts of these trade-winds, which, I doubt not, aresufficiently accurate; but I thought it worthy of public notice, thatsuch deviations from the established rules do sometimes take place. This observation may not only be of service to navigators, by puttingthem on their guard against these hitherto unexplained and unnoticedirregularities, but it is also a circumstance that requires to beattended to in the solution of the great question about the causesof trade-winds and monsoons; a question which, in my opinion, has notbeen hitherto discussed with that clearness and accuracy whichits importance demands, whether it be considered in a naval or aphilosophical point of view. 

On the 16th November, one of our victuallers made a signal to speakwith the commodore, and we shortened sail for her to come up with us. The master came on board, and represented to Mr Anson, that, havingcomplied with the terms of his charter-party, he now desired to beunloaded and discharged. On consulting the captain of the squadron, it was found all the ships had still such quantities of provisionsbetween their decks, and were also so deep, that they could only takein their proportions of brandy from the Industry pink, one of thevictuallers; and consequently the commodore had to continue the other, the Ann pink, in the service of attending the squadron. Accordingly, asignal was made next day for the ships to bring to, and the long-boatswere employed that and the three following days, till the 19th in theevening, to take their proportions of the brandy in the Industry tothe several ships of the squadron. Being then unloaded, she partedcompany, intending for Barbadoes; and there to take in a freight forEngland. Most of the officers in the squadron took the opportunity ofthis ship, to write to their friends at home; but I have been informedshe was taken by the Spaniards. 

On the 20th November, the captains of the squadron represented to thecommodore, that their ships companies were very sickly; and that, both in their own opinions and of their surgeons, it would tend to thehealth of the men to let in more air between decks; but that theships were so deep in the water, that the lower-deck ports could notpossibly be opened. On this representation, the commodore orderedsix air-scuttles to be cut in each ship, in such places as had leasttendency to weaken them. On this occasion, I cannot but observe howmuch it is the duty of all who have any influence in the directionof our naval affairs, to attend to the preservation of the lives andhealth of our seamen. If it could be supposed that motives of humanitywere insufficient for this purpose, yet policy, a regard to thesuccess of our arms, and the honour and interest of each individualcommander, all should lead to a careful and impartial examination ofevery probable method proposed for preserving the health and vigour ofseamen. But hath this been always done? Have the late invented, plain, and obvious methods for keeping our ships sweet and clean, bya constant supply of fresh air, been considered with that candourand temper which the great benefits they promise to produce oughtnaturally to have inspired? On the contrary, have not these salutaryschemes been often treated with neglect and contempt? And have notsome, who have been entrusted with experimenting their effects, beenguilty of the most indefensible partiality in the accounts they havegiven of these trials? It must, however, be confessed, that manydistinguished persons, both in the direction and command of ourfleets, have exerted themselves on these occasions with a judiciousand dispassionate examination, becoming the interesting nature of theenquiry: But the wonder is, that any one should have been found soirrational as to act a contrary part, in despite of the strongestdictates of prudence and humanity. I cannot, however, believethis conduct to have arisen from such savage motives as the firstreflection seems naturally to suggest; but am apt rather to imputeit to an obstinate, and, as it were, superstitious attachment tolong-established practices, and to a settled contempt and hatred toall innovations, especially such as are projected by landsmen, orpersons residing on shore. 

We crossed the equinoctial, with a fine fresh gale at N. E. On Friday, the 28th November, at four in the morning, being thus, by estimation, in long. 27° 59' W. From London. In the morning of the 2d December, wesaw a sail in the N. W. And made the Gloucester's and Tryal's signalsto chase; and half an hour after, let out our reefs, and chased withthe rest of the squadron. About noon a signal was made for the Wagerto take our remaining victualler, the Ann pink, in tow; but, at sevenin the evening, finding we did not near the chase, and that the Wagerwas very far astern, we shortened sail, and recalled the chasingships. Next day but one we again discovered a sail, which, on a nearerapproach, we judged to be the same vessel. We chased her the wholeday, and though we rather gained upon her, night came on beforewe could overtake her, which obliged us to give over the chase, tocollect the scattered squadron. We were much chagrined at the escapeof this vessel, supposing her to have been an advice-boat from OldSpain to Buenos Ayres, sent to give notice of our expedition: But wehave since learnt that it was our East-India Company's packet, boundto St Helena. 

On the 10th December, being by our reckoning in lat. 20° S. And long. 36° 30' W. From London, the Tryal fired a gun to denote soundings. Weimmediately tried, and found sixty fathoms, the bottom coarse groundwith broken shells. The Tryal, which was a-head of us, had at onetime thirty-seven fathoms, which afterwards increased to ninety, after which she had no bottom; which happened to us also at our secondtrial, though we sounded with a line of 150 fathoms. This is the shoallaid down in most charts by the name of the _Abrollos_, [1] andit appeared we were upon its verge; perhaps farther in it may beextremely dangerous. We were then, by our different accounts, fromsixty to ninety leagues east of the coast of Brazil. Next day but onewe spoke a Portuguese brigantine from Rio Janeiro bound to _Bahia detodos los Santos_, by which we learnt that we were thirty-four leaguesfrom Cape St Thomas, and forty from Cape Frio; which latter bore fromus W. S. W. By our own accounts we were nearly eight leagues from CapeFrio; and though, on the information of this brig, we altered ourcourse, standing more southerly, yet, by our coming in with the landafterwards, we were fully convinced that our own reckoning was morecorrect than that of the Portuguese. After passing lat. 16° S. Wefound a considerable current setting to the southward. The same tookplace all along the coast of Brazil, and even to the southward of theRio Plata, amounting sometimes to thirty miles in twenty-four hours, and once to above forty miles. If, as is most probable, this currentbe occasioned by the running off of the water which is accumulated onthe coast of Brazil by the constant sweeping of the eastern trade-windover the Ethiopic Ocean, it were then most natural to suppose thatits general course must be determined by the bearings of the adjacentshores. Perhaps in every instance of currents the same may hold true, as I believe there are no examples of any considerable currents at anygreat distance from land. If this could be ascertained as a generalprinciple, it might be easy by their assistance and the observedlatitude, to correct the reckoning. But it were much to be wished, forthe general interests of navigation, that the actual settings of thedifferent currents in various parts of the world were examinedmore frequently and more accurately than appears to have been donehitherto. 

[Footnote 1: In the map of the world by Arrowsmith, the Abrolhos aremade a cluster of islands off the coast of Brazil, in lat. 18° 10' S. Long. 39° W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

We began now to grow impatient for a sight of land, both for therecovery of our sick, and for the refreshment and security of thosewho still continued in health. When we left. St Helens, we were inso good a condition that we only lost two men in the Centurion in ourlong run to Madeira. But in this run, from Madeira to St Catharines, we were remarkably sickly, so that many died, and great numbers wereconfined to their hammocks, both in our ship and the others, andseveral of these past all hopes of recovery. The disorders they ingeneral laboured under were those common to hot climates, and whichmost ships bound to the south experience in a greater or less degree. These were the fevers usually called _calentures_, a disease not onlyterrible in its first instance, but of which the remains often provedfatal to those who considered themselves as recovered; for it alwaysleft them in a very weak and helpless condition, and usuallyafflicted with fluxes or tenesmus. By our continuance at sea all thesecomplaints were every day increasing; so that it was with great joy wediscovered the coast of Brazil on the 18th December, at seven in themorning. 

The coast of Brazil appeared high and mountainous, extending from W. To W. S. W. And when we first saw it, the distance was about seventeenleagues. At noon we could perceive a low double land, bearing W. S. W. About ten leagues distant, which we took to be the island of StCatharines. That afternoon and the next morning, the wind being N. N. W. We gained very little to windward, and were apprehensive of beingdriven to leeward of the island: But next day, a little before noon, the wind came about to the southward, and enabled us to steer inbetween the N. Point of St Catharines and the neighbouring islandof Alvoredo. As we stood in for the land we had regular soundings, gradually decreasing from thirty-six to twelve fathoms, all muddyground. In this last depth of water we let go our anchor at five inthe evening of the 18th, [2] the N. W. Part of St Catharines bearingS. S. W. Three miles off; and the island of Alvoredo N. N. E. Distant twoleagues. Here we found the tide to set S. S. E. And N. N. W. At the rateof two knots, the tide of flood coming from the southward. 

[Footnote 2: There is an error in date here, as it has been alreadysaid they first got sight of the coast of Brazil on the 18th, obviously two days before. Hence, if the former date be right, thisought to be the 20th. --E. ]

We could perceive from our ships two fortifications at a considerabledistance from us, which seemed intended to prevent the passage of anenemy between the island of St Catharines and the main. We could alsosoon see that our squadron had alarmed the coast, as the two fortshoisted their colours and fired several guns, signals, as we supposed, for assembling the inhabitants. To prevent any confusion, thecommodore immediately sent an officer to compliment the governor, andto request a pilot to conduct our ships into the road. The governorreturned a very civil answer, and ordered us a pilot. On the morningof the 20th we weighed and stood in, and the pilot came aboard of usabout noon, and the same afternoon brought us to anchor in five anda half fathoms, in a commodious bay on the continent, called by theFrench Bon-port. From our last anchorage to this, we found every wherean oozy bottom, the water first regularly decreasing to five fathoms, and then increasing to seven, after which we had five and six fathomsalternately. The squadron weighed again next morning, in order to runabove the two fortifications formerly mentioned, which are called thecastles of Santa Cruiz and St Joam. Our soundings between the islandand the main were four, five, and six fathoms, with muddy ground. Wesaluted the castle of Santa Cruiz in passing with eleven guns, andwere answered with an equal number. At one in the afternoon of the21st December, the squadron came to anchor in five fathoms and a half, Governor's Isle bearing N. N. W. St Joam's castle N. E. 1/2 E. And theisland of St Antonio S. At this time the squadron was sickly, and ingreat want of refreshments, both of which we hoped to have speedilyremedied at this settlement, celebrated by former navigators forits healthiness and abundance of provisions, and for the freedom, indulgence, and friendly assistance given here to all the ships ofnations in amity with the crown of Portugal. 

SECTION V. 

_Proceedings at St Catharines, and a Description of that Place, with ashort Account of Brazil. _

Our first care after mooring the ships was to get our sick men onshore; preparatory for which each ship was ordered by the commodore toerect two tents, one for the reception of the sick, and the other forthe surgeon and his assistants. We sent eighty sick on shore from theCenturion, and I believe the other ships sent as many in proportionto the number of their hands. As soon as this necessary duty wasperformed, we scraped our decks, and gave our ship a thoroughcleansing, then smoaked it between decks, and lastly washed every partwith vinegar. These operations were extremely necessary for correctingthe noisome stench on board, and destroying the vermin; for, from thenumber of our men and the heat of the climate, both these nuisanceshad increased upon us to a very loathsome degree, and, besides beingmost intolerably offensive, were doubtless in some sort productive ofthe sickness we had laboured under for a considerable time before ourarrival at this island. [3]

[Footnote 3: This matter is now infinitely better regulated inthe British navy, and with most admirable and infinitely importantadvantages. By the most minute, sedulous, and perpetual attention tocleanliness, all noisome stench and all vermin are prevented, by whichdoubtless diseases are in a great measure lessened. --E. ]

Our next employment was wooding and watering the squadron, caulkingthe sides and decks of the ships, overhawling the rigging, andsecuring our masts against the tempestuous weather we were, in allprobability, to meet with in going round Cape Horn at so advancedand inconvenient a season. Before proceeding in the narrative of ourvoyage, it may be proper to give some account of the present state ofthe island of St Catharines and the neighbouring country; both becausethe circumstances of the place have materially changed from what theywere in the time of former writers, and as these changes laid us undermany more difficulties and perplexities than we had reason to expect, or than other British ships, bound hereafter to the South Sea, mayperhaps think it prudent to struggle with. 

This island is nine leagues from N. To S. And two from E. To W. Itextends from lat. 27° 35' to 28° both S. And is in long. 49° 45'W. From London. [4] Although of considerable height, it is scarcelydiscernible at the distance of ten leagues, being obscured under thecontinent of Brazil, the mountains of which are exceedingly high; buton a nearer approach is easily distinguished, and may be readily knownby having a number of small islands at each end. [5] Frezier has givena draught of the island of St Catharines and the neighbouring coast, with the smaller adjacent isles; but has, by mistake, called theisland of Alvoredo St Gal; whereas the true island of St Gal is sevenor eight miles northward of Alvoredo, and much smaller. He has alsocalled an island to the southward of St Catharines Alvoredo, andhas omitted the island of Masaquara. In other respects his plan issufficiently exact. The best entrance to the harbour is between theN. E. Point of the island of St Catharines and the island of Alvoredo, where ships may pass under the guidance of the lead, without the leastapprehensions of danger. The north entrance is about five miles broad, the distance from thence to the island of St Antonio is eight miles, and the coarse to that island is S. S. W. 1/2 W. About the middle of theisland the harbour is contracted to a narrow channel by two points ofland, not more than a quarter of a mile separate, and at this time abattery was erecting on the point on the island side to defend thispassage. This seemed, however, a very useless work, as this channelhad only two fathoms water, and is consequently only navigable forbarks and boats, wherefore an enemy could have no inducement toattempt this passage, more especially as the northern one is so broadand safe that no squadron can be prevented from coming in by anyfortifications whatever, when the sea-breeze makes. The brigadier DonJose Sylva de Paz, who is governor of this settlement, has a differentopinion; for, besides the above-mentioned battery, there were threeother forts carrying on for the defence of the harbour, none of whichwere completed when we were there. The first of these, called St Joam, was building on a point of the island of St Catharines, near ParrotIsland. The second, in form of a half-moon, was on the island ofSt Antonio; and the third, which seemed the chief, and had someappearance of a regular fortification, is on an island near thecontinent, where the governor resides. Don Jose Sylva de Paz wasesteemed an expert engineer; and he doubtless understood one branch ofhis business very well, which is the advantages which new works bringto those who have charge of their erection. 

[Footnote 4: This account of the matter is very erroneous. Thelatitudes are between 28° 5' and 28° 30' both S. And the longitude is49° 10' W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

[Footnote 5: The more elaborate nautical description of this islandis necessarily omitted, as referring to two extensive views, withoutwhich the description would be unintelligible. --E. ]

The soil of this island is truly luxuriant, producing many kinds offruits spontaneously, and is covered over with one continued forest oftrees, in perpetual verdure, and which, from the exuberant fertilityof the soil, are so entangled with thorns, briars, and underwood, as to form an absolutely impenetrable thicket, except by some narrowpaths which the inhabitants have opened for their own convenience; andthese, with a few spots cleared for plantations, along that side ofthe island which faces the continent, are the only uncovered parts ofthe island. The woods are extremely fragrant, from the many aromatictrees and shrubs with which they abound, and here the fruits andvegetables of all climates thrive, almost without culture, and areto be had in great plenty, so that there is no want of pine-apples, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, apricots, andplantains; there is also abundance of onions and potatoes, twoproductions of no small consideration for sea-stores. The fleshprovisions are, however, much inferior to the vegetables. There are, indeed, small wild cattle to be purchased, something like buffaloes, but these are very indifferent food, their flesh being of a loosetexture, and generally of a disagreeable flavour, probably owing totheir feeding on wild calabash. There are also abundance of pheasants, but they are not to be compared in taste to those we have in England. The other provisions of the place are monkeys, parrots, and, aboveall, fish of various sorts: These abound in the harbour, and are bothexceedingly good and easily caught, as there are numerous sandy bays, very convenient for haling the seyne. 

The water, both on the island and the opposite continent, isexcellent, and preserves at sea as well as that of the Thames. Afterit has been a day or two in the cask, it begins to purge itself, stinks most abominably, and is soon covered over with a greenscum, which subsides in a few days to the bottom, leaving the waterperfectly sweet, and as clear as crystal. The French first broughtthis place into repute during their South-Sea trade in the reignof Queen Anne, and usually wooded and watered in Bon-port, on thecontinental side of the harbour, where they anchored in great safetyin six fathoms, and this is doubtless the most commodious stationfor ships that are meant only for a short stay. We watered on theSt Catharine's side, at a plantation opposite to the island of StAntonio. 

Such are the advantages of this island; but it has its inconveniencesalso, partly proceeding from its climate, but more particularlyfrom its new regulations and the form of its government, as latelyestablished. In regard to the climate, it must be remembered that thewoods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulationof air, and the continual vigorous vegetation furnishes such aprodigious quantity of vapour, that a thick fog covers the wholecountry all night, and a great part of the morning, continuing tilleither the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersedby a brisk sea-breeze. This renders the place close and humid, andprobably occasioned the many fevers and fluxes we were there afflictedwith. I must not omit to add, that we were pestered all day by vastnumbers of mosquetoes, which are not much unlike the gnats in England, but much more venomous in their stings. At sunset, when the musquetoesretired, they were succeeded by an infinity of sand-flies, whichmade a mighty buzzing, though scarcely discernable by the naked eye;wherever these bite, they raise a small lump attended by painfulitching, like that arising from the bite of an English harvest bug. The only light in which this place deserves our consideration is itsfavourable situation for supplying and refreshing our cruizers boundfor the South Sea, and in this view its greatest inconveniences remainto be related, to do which more distinctly, it may not be amissto consider the changes which it has lately undergone, both in itsinhabitants, its police, and its governor. 

In the time of Frazier and Shelvocke, this place served only as aretreat to vagabonds and outlaws, who fled hither from all parts ofBrazil. It is true, that they acknowledged their subjection to thecrown of Portugal, and had a person among them whom they called theircaptain, and who was considered as a kind of governor; but both theirallegiance to their king, and their obedience to the captain, weremerely verbal; for, as they had plenty of provisions and no money, they were in a condition to support themselves without aid from anyneighbouring settlements, and had nothing among them to tempt anyneighbouring governor to interpose his authority among them. In thissituation they were extremely hospitable and friendly to such foreignships as came among them; for, as these ships wanted only provisions, of which the natives had great store, while the natives wantedclothes, for they often despised money, and refused to take it, theships furnished them with apparel in exchange for their provisions, both sides finding their account in this traffic, and their captainhad neither interest nor power to tax or restrain it. 

Of late, for reasons which will afterwards appear, these honestvagabonds have been obliged to receive a new colony among them, andto submit to new laws and a new form of government. Instead of theirformer ragged and bare-legged captain, whom they took care, however, to keep innocent, they have now the honour of being governed by DonJose Sylva de Paz, a brigadier of the armies of Portugal, who isaccompanied by a garrison of soldiers, and has consequently a moreextensive and better supported power than any of his predecessors:And as he wears better cloaths, lives more splendidly, and has a muchbetter knowledge of the importance of money than any of them couldever pretend to, so he puts in practice certain methods for procuringit with which they were utterly unacquainted; yet it may be muchdoubted if the inhabitants consider these methods as tending topromote either their interests, or that of their sovereign, the kingof Portugal. This much is certain, that his behaviour cannot but beextremely embarrassing to such British ships as touch here in theirway to the South Seas. 

One of his practices was, that he placed centinels at all the avenues, to prevent the people from selling us any refreshments, except at suchexorbitant rates as we could not afford to give. His pretence for thisextraordinary stretch of power was, that he was obliged to preservetheir provisions for upwards of an hundred families, which were dailyexpected as a reinforcement to the colony. Thus he seems no novice inhis profession, by his readiness at inventing a plausible pretencefor his interested management. This circumstance, however, thoughsufficiently provoking, was far from being the most exceptionablepart of his conduct; for, as by the neighbourhood of the Rio Plata, aconsiderable smuggling trade is carried on between the Portuguese andSpaniards, especially in exchanging gold for silver, by which bothprinces are defrauded of their fifths; and as Don Jose was deeplyengaged in this prohibited commerce, in order to ingratiate himselfwith his Spanish correspondents, he treacherously dispatched anexpress to Buenos Ayres, where Pizarro then lay, with an account ofour arrival, our strength, the number, of our ships, guns, men, and every circumstance he could suppose our enemy desirous of beingacquainted with. 

This much, and what we shall have to relate in the course of our ownproceedings, may suffice as to the present state of St Catharines andthe character of its governor. But as the reader may wish to knowthe reasons for the late new modelling of this settlement, it willrequire, to explain this circumstance, to give a short account of theadjacent continent of Brazil, and of the wonderful discoveries whichhave been made within the last forty years, which, from a country ofbut mean estimation, has rendered it now perhaps the most considerablecolony on the face of the earth. 

This country was first discovered by Americus Vesputio, a Florentine, who had the good fortune to be honoured by giving his name to theimmense continent found out some time before by Columbus. As Vesputiowas in the service of Portugal, this discovery was settled and plannedby that nation, and afterwards devolved to the crown of Spain alongwith the rest of the Portuguese dominions. During the long war betweenSpain and the states of Holland, the Dutch possessed themselves of thenorthermost parts of Brazil, and kept it for some years; but, whenthe Portuguese revolted from the Spanish government, this countrytook part in the revolt, and the Dutch were soon driven out of theiracquisitions; since which time it has continued without interruptionunder the crown of Portugal. Till the beginning of the presentcentury, it was only productive of sugar and tobacco, and a few othercommodities of very little importance; but has been lately discoveredto abound in the two mineral productions, gold and diamonds, whichmankind hold in the highest estimation, and which they exercise theirutmost art and industry in acquiring. 

Gold was first found in the mountains adjacent to the city of RioJaneiro. The occasion of its discovery is variously related, but themost common account is, that the Indians dwelling on the back of thePortuguese settlements were observed, by the soldiers employed in anexpedition against them, to use this metal for fish-hooks; and, on enquiry into their manner of procuring this precious metal, itappeared that great quantities of it were annually washed from thehills, and left among the sand and gravel which remained in thevallies after the running off or evaporation of the water. It is now[in 1740] little more than forty years since any quantities of gold, worth notice, have been imported from Brazil to Europe; but, sincethat time, the annual imports have been continually augmented by thediscovery of places in other provinces, where it is to be met withas plentifully as at first about Rio Janeiro. It is alleged that a_slender vein_[3] of gold spread through all the country, at abouttwenty-four feet below the surface, but that this vein is too thin andpoor to answer the expence of digging. [4] However, where the riversor rains have had any course for a considerable time, there gold isalways to be collected, the water having separated the metal from theearth, and deposited it in the sands, thereby saving the expence ofdigging; hence it is esteemed an infallible gain to be able to diverta stream from its channel, and ransack its bed. From this account ofthe manner of gathering gold, it should follow that there are no minesof this metal in Brazil, and this the governor of Rio Grande, whohappened to be at St Catharines, and frequently visited Mr Anson, didmost confidently affirm, assuring us that all the gold was collectedfrom rivers, or from the beds of torrents after floods. It is indeedasserted that large rocks are found in the mountains abounding ingold, and I have seen a fragment of one of these rocks having aconsiderable lump of gold entangled in it; but, even in this case, theworkmen only break off the rocks, and do not properly mine into them;and the great expence of subsisting among these mountains, and inafterwards separating the metal from the stone, occasions this methodof procuring gold to be but rarely put in practice. 

[Footnote 3: The author ought here to have said, _a thin layer_, or_stratum_, to express the obvious meaning intended in the text. --E. ]

[Footnote 4: The editor was informed, many years ago, by anintelligent native of Rio Janeiro, that the search for gold isconfined by law to certain districts, on purpose to secure the royalfifth; and that all over the country round Rio Janeiro, where thesearch is prohibited, gold, emeralds, and aqua-marines are found insmall quantities, on every occasion of digging to any depth into theearth, as for the purpose of a pit-well. --E. ]

The examining the bottom of rivers and beds of torrents, and thewashing the gold there found, from the sand and dirt with which it isalways mixed, are performed by slaves, who are principally negroes, kept in great numbers by the Portuguese for this purpose. Theregulation of the duty of these slaves is singular, as they are eachof them obliged to furnish their master with the eighth part of anounce of gold daily. [5] If they are either so fortunate or industriousas to collect a greater quantity, the surplus becomes their ownproperty, and they may dispose of it as they think fit; so that somenegroes, who have accidentally fallen upon rich washing-places, aresaid to have themselves purchased slaves, and to have lived afterwardsin great splendour, their original master having no other demand uponthem than the daily supply of the before-mentioned eighths; which, as the Portuguese ounce is somewhat lighter than our troy ounce, mayamount to about nine shillings sterling. 

[Footnote 5: On the data of the text, and allowing sixty-five daysin the year for Sundays and high festivals, the yearly profit of oneslave to his master would be L. 135 sterling. --E. ]

The quantity of gold thus collected in the Brazils and returnedannually to Lisbon, may be estimated, in some degree, from the amountof the royal fifth. This has been of late computed, one year withanother, at one hundred and fifty _aroues_, of thirty-two Portuguesepounds each, which, valued at L. 4 sterling the troy ounce, make verynearly three hundred thousand pounds sterling; and consequently thecapital, of which this is the fifth, is about a million and a halfsterling. It is obvious that the annual return of gold to Lisboncannot be less than this, though it may be difficult to guess how muchmore it may be. Perhaps we may not be much mistaken in conjecturingthat the gold exchanged with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres for silver, and what is privately brought to Europe without paying the duty, mayamount to near half a million more, which will make the entire yearlyproduce of Brazilian gold nearly two millions sterling; a prodigioussum to be found in a country which only a few years since was notknown to furnish a single grain. 

Besides gold, this country also affords diamonds, as alreadymentioned. The discovery of these valuable stones is much more recenteven than that of gold, as it is scarcely twenty years since the firstwere brought to Europe. [6] They are found in the same manner as gold, in the gullies of torrents and beds of rivers, but only in particularplaces, and by no means so universally spread throughout the country. They were often found while washing for gold, before they were knownto be diamonds, and were consequently thrown away along with thesand and gravel; and it is well remembered that numbers of very largestones, which would have made the fortunes of the possessors, havepassed unregarded through the hands of those who now impatientlysupport the mortifying reflection. However, about twenty years since, [that is, in 1720, ] a person acquainted with the appearance of roughdiamonds, conceived that these pebbles, as they were then called, wereof the same kind; yet it is said there was a considerable intervalbetween the first stating of this opinion and its confirmation, byproper examination, as it was difficult to persuade the inhabitantsthat what they had been long accustomed to despise, could be of suchamazing importance; and in this interval, as I was told, a governor ofone of these places procured a good number of these stones, whichhe pretended to make use of as markers at cards. The truth of thediscovery was at last confirmed by skilful jewellers in Europe, whowere consulted on the occasion, and who declared that these Brazilianpebbles were true diamonds, many of which were not inferior in lustre, or other qualities, to those of the East Indies. On this being madeknown, the Portuguese in the neighbourhood of the places where thesehad been first discovered, set themselves to search for diamonds withgreat assiduity, and were hopeful of discovering them in considerablequantities, as they found large rocks of crystal in many of themountains whence the streams proceeded that washed down the diamonds. 

[Footnote 6: The author writes as of the year 1740. --E. ]

Soon after this discovery, it was represented to the king of Portugal, that if diamonds should be met with in such abundance as theirsanguine expectations seemed to indicate, their value and estimationwould be so debased as to ruin all the Europeans who had any quantityof East India diamonds in their possession, and would even renderthe discovery itself of no importance, and prevent his majesty fromderiving any advantages from it. On these considerations, his majestythought proper to restrain the general search for diamonds, anderected a diamond company, with an exclusive charter for this purpose;in which company, in consideration of a sum of money paid to the king, the property of all diamonds found in Brazil is vested: But, to hinderthem from collecting too large quantities, and thereby reducing theirvalue in the market, they are prohibited from employing above eighthundred slaves in this search. To prevent any of his other subjectsfrom continuing the search, and to secure the company againstinterlopers, a large town, and considerable surrounding district, hasbeen depopulated; and all the inhabitants, said to have amountedto six thousand, have been obliged to remove to another part of thecountry: For as this town and district were in the neighbourhood ofthe diamonds, it was thought impossible to prevent such a number ofpeople from frequently smuggling, if allowed to reside on the spot. 

In consequence of these important discoveries in Brazil, new laws, newgovernments, and new regulations, have been established in many partsof the country. Not long ago there was a considerable track of countrypossessed by a set of inhabitants called Paulists, from the name oftheir principal settlement, who were almost independent of thecrown of Portugal, to which it scarcely ever acknowledged a nominalallegiance. These Paulists are said to be descendants from thePortuguese who retired from the northern part of Brazil when it wasinvaded and possessed by the Dutch. Being long neglected by theirsuperiors, owing to the confusions of the times, and obliged toprovide for their own security and defence, the necessity of theiraffairs produced a kind of government among themselves, which sufficedfor their mode of life. Thus habituated to their own regulations, theybecame fond of independence, so that, rejecting the mandates of thecourt of Lisbon, they were often engaged in a state of downrightrebellion; and, owing to the mountains surrounding their country, andthe difficulty of clearing the few passes leading towards it, theywere generally able to make their own terms before they submitted. Butas gold was found in this country of the Paulists, the present king ofPortugal, in whose reign almost all these great discoveries have beenmade, thought it necessary to reduce this province, now become ofgreat importance, under the same dependence and obedience with therest of the country, which was at length effected, though, as I wasinformed, with great difficulty. 

The same motives which induced his majesty to reduce the Paulists, have also occasioned the changes which I have mentioned as havingtaken place at the island of St Catharines: For, as we were assuredby the governor of Rio Grande, there are considerable rivers in thisneighbourhood that are found to be extremely rich in gold, for whichreason a military governor with a garrison have been placed here, along with a new colony; and, as the harbour at this island is by muchthe largest and most secure of any on the coast, it is not improbable, if the riches of the neighbourhood answer their present expectation, that it may become in time the principal settlement in Brazil, and themost considerable port in all South America. 

This much I thought necessary to insert, in relation to the presentstate of Brazil and of the island of St Catharines; for, as this lastplace has been generally recommended as the most eligible place forour cruizers to refresh at when bound to the South Sea, I believed itto be my duty to instruct my countrymen in the hitherto unsuspectedinconveniences which attend that place. And, as the Brazilian gold anddiamonds are subjects of novelty, of which very few particulars havehitherto been published, I considered that the account I have beenable to collect respecting them might not be regarded either atrifling or useless digression. 

When we first arrived at St Catharines, we were employed in refreshingour sick on shore, in wooding and watering the squadron, in cleaningour ships, and in examining and securing our masts and rigging, asformerly mentioned. At the same time Mr Anson gave orders that theships companies should be supplied with fresh meat, and have a fullallowance of all kinds of provisions. In consequence of these orderswe had fresh meat sent on board continually for our daily expenditure;and every thing else that was wanting to make up our allowances, wasreceived from the Anna Pink, our victualler, in order to preserve theprovisions on board the ships of the squadron as entire as possiblefor future service. As the season of the year grew every day lessfavourable for our passage round Cape Horn, Mr Anson was very anxiousto leave St Catharines as soon as possible, and we were at first inhopes that all our business would be concluded, and we should be inreadiness to sail, in about a fortnight from our arrival; but, onexamining the masts of the Tryal, we found, to our no small vexation, inevitable employment for twice that time; for, on a survey, hermain-mast was sprung at the upper woulding, though that was thoughtcapable of being secured by means of two fishes; but the fore-mast wasreported entirely unfit for service, on which the carpenters were sentinto the woods in search of a stick proper for a new foremast. Aftera search of four days, nothing could be found fit for the purpose;wherefore, on a new consultation, it was agreed to endeavour to securethe mast by three fishes, in which work the carpenters were employedtill within a day or two of our departure. In the meantime, thinkingit necessary to have a clean vessel, on our arrival in the South Sea, the commodore ordered the Tryal to be hove down, which occasionedno loss of time, as it might be completed while the carpenters wererefitting her masts on shore. 

A sail being discovered in the offing on the 27th December, and notknowing but she might be Spanish, the eighteen-oared boat was mannedand armed, and sent under the command of our second lieutenant, toexamine her before she got within the protection of the forts. Sheproved to be a Portuguese brigantine from Rio Grande; and, thoughour officer behaved with the utmost civility to the master, and evenrefused to accept a calf which the master pressed him to accept, thegovernor took great offence at the sending our boat, talking of itin a high strain, as a violation of the peace subsisting betweenthe crowns of Great Britain and Portugal. We thus attributed thisblustering to no deeper cause than the natural insolence of Don Jose;but when he charged our officer with behaving rudely, and attemptingto take by violence the calf which he had refused as a present, we hadreason to suspect that he purposely sought this quarrel, and had moreimportant objects in view than the mere captiousness of his temper. What these motives might be we had then no means of determining, oreven guessing at; but we afterwards found, by letters which fell intoour hands when in the South-Seas, that he had dispatched an express toPizarro, who then lay in the Rio Plata, with an account of our arrivalat St Catharines, together with a most ample and circumstantialaccount of our force and condition. We then conceived, that Don Josehad raised this groundless clamour on purpose to prevent us fromvisiting the brigantine when she should go away again, lest we mighthave found proofs of his perfidy, and perhaps have discoveredthe secret of his smuggling correspondence with his neighbouringgovernors, and with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres. 

It was near a month before the Tryal was refitted; for not only wereher lower-masts defective, but her main-topmast and fore-yard werelikewise found rotten. While this work was going on, the otherships of the squadron set up new standing-rigging, together with asufficient number of preventer shrowds to each mast, to secure them inthe most effectual manner. Also, in order to render the ships stiffer, to enable them to carry more sail abroad, and to prevent them fromstraining their upper works in hard gales of wind, the severalcaptains were ordered to put some of their great guns into theirholds. These precautions being complied with, and all the ships havingtaken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the Tryal wasat last completed, and the whole squadron was ready for sea: On whichthe tents on shore were struck, and all the sick removed on board. Wehad here a melancholy proof how much the healthiness of this placewas over-rated by former writers; for, though the Centurion had aloneburied no less than twenty-eight of her men since our arrival, yet, inthe same interval, the number of her sick had increased from eighty toninety-six. 

All being embarked, and every thing prepared for our departure, thecommodore made the signal for all captains, and delivered them theirorders, containing the successive places of rendezvous from hence tothe coast of Chili. Next day, being the 18th of January, 1741, thesignal was made for weighing, and the squadron put to sea; leavingthis island of St Catharines without regret, as we had been extremelydisappointed in our accommodations and expectatations of refreshment, and in the humane and friendly offices we had been taught to lookfor, in a place so much celebrated for its hospitality, freedom, andconvenience. 

SECTION VI. 

_The Run from St Catharines to Port St Julian; with some Account ofthat Port, and of the Country to the South of the Rio Plata. _

In quitting St Catharines, we left the last amicable port we proposedto touch at, and were now proceeding to a hostile, or at best a desertand inhospitable coast. As we were to expect a more boisterous climateto the southward than any we had yet experienced, not only ourdanger of separation would by this means be much augmented, but otheraccidents of a more mischievous nature were also to be apprehended, and as much as possible provided against. Mr Anson, therefore, inappointing the various stations at which the ships of the squadronwere to rendezvous, had considered that his own ship might be disabledfrom getting round Cape Horn, or might be lost, and gave thereforeproper directions, that, even in that case, the expedition might notbe abandoned. The orders delivered to the captains, the day beforesailing from St Catharines, were, in case of separation, which theywere to endeavour to avoid with the utmost care, that the first placeof rendezvous was to be Port St Julian, describing the place from SirJohn Narborough's account of it. They were there to provide as muchsalt as they could take on board, both for their own use and that ofthe other ships of the squadron; and, if not joined by the commodoreafter a stay of ten days, they were then to pass through the straitsof Le Maire and round Cape Horn into the South-Seas, where the nextplace of rendezvous was to be the island of Nostra Senora del Socoro, in lat. 45° S. Long. 71° 12' W. From the Lizard. [1] They were to bringthis island to bear E. N. E. And to cruize from five to twelve leaguesdistance from it, as long as their store of wood and water wouldpermit, both of which they were directed to expend with the utmostfrugality. When under the necessity of procuring a fresh supply, theywere to stand in, and endeavour to find an anchorage; and in case theycould not, and the weather made it dangerous to supply the ships bystanding off and on, they were then to make the best of their way tothe island of Juan Fernandez in lat. 33° 37' S. At which island, afterrecruiting their wood and water, they were to cruize off the anchoragefor fifty-six days; and, if not joined by the commodore in that time, they were to conclude that some accident had befallen him, and wereforthwith to put themselves under the command of the senior officer, who was to use his utmost endeavour to annoy the enemy both by sea andland. In this view, the new commander was urged to continue in theseseas as long as provisions lasted, or as they could be supplied bywhat could be taken from the enemy, reserving only a sufficiency tocarry the ships to Macao, at the entrance of the river of Cantonon the coast of China; whence, being supplied with a new stock ofprovisions, they were to make the best of their way to England. As itwas found still impossible to unload the Anna Pink, our victualler, the commodore gave her master instructions for the same rendezvouses, and similar orders to put himself under the command of the remainingsenior officer. 

[Footnote 1: The centre of the island of Socoro, or Guayteca, on thewestern coast of Patagonia, is in lat. 43° 10' S. And long. 73° 40' W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

Under these orders, the squadron sailed from St Catharines on Sundaythe 18th of January, 1741. Next day we had very squally weather, attended with rain, lightning, and thunder; but it soon cleared upagain, with light breezes, and continued so to the evening of the21st, when it again blew fresh, and, increasing all night, it became amost violent storm by next morning, accompanied by so thick a fog thatit was impossible for us to see to the distance of two ships lengths, and we consequently lost sight of all the squadron. On this a signalwas made, by firing guns, to bring to with the larboard tacks, thewind being due east. We in the Centurion handed the top-sails, buntedthe main-sail, and lay to under a reefed-mizen till noon, when thefog dispersed, and we soon discovered all the ships of the squadron, except the Pearl, which did not join till near a month afterwards. The Tryal was a great way to leeward, having lost her main-mast inthe squall, and having been obliged to cut away the wreck, for fear ofbilging. We therefore bore down with the squadron to her relief, andthe Gloucester was ordered to take her in tow, as the weather did notentirely abate till next day, and even then a great swell continuedfrom the eastward, in consequence of the preceding storm. After thisaccident we continued to the southward with little interruption, finding the same setting of the current we had observed before ourarrival at St Catharines; that is, we generally found ourselves abouttwenty miles to the southward of our reckoning by the log every day. This, with some inequality, lasted till we had passed the latitude ofthe Rio Plata, and even then the same current, however difficult tobe accounted for, undoubtedly continued; for we were not satisfied inattributing this appearance to any error in our reckoning, but triedit more than once, when a calm rendered it practicable. 

Immediately on getting to the south of the latitude of the Rio Platawe had soundings, which continued all along the coast of Patagonia. These soundings, when well ascertained, being of great use indetermining the position of a ship on this coast, and as we tried themmore frequently, in greater depths, and with more attention, than Ibelieve had ever been done before, I shall recite our observationson this subject as succinctly as I can. In lat. 36° 52' S. We had 60fathoms on a bottom of fine black and grey sand: From thence to 39°55' S. We varied our depths from 50 to 80 fathoms, but always with thesame bottom: Between the last-mentioned latitude and 43° 16' S. We hadonly fine grey sand with the same variation of depths, except thatwe once or twice lessened the water to 40 fathoms. After this wecontinued in 40 fathoms for about half a degree, having a bottom ofcoarse sand and broken shells, at which time we were in sight of landat not above seven leagues distance. As we edged from the land we hada variety of soundings; first black sand, then muddy, and soon afterrough ground with stones: But when we had increased our depth toforty-eight fathoms, we had a muddy bottom to the lat. Of 46° 10' S. Hence drawing near the shore, we had at first thirty-six fathoms, and still kept shoaling till we came into twelve fathoms, havingconstantly small stones and pebbles at the bottom. 

Part of this time we had a view of Cape Blanco, in about lat. 47°10' S. And long. 69° W. From London. [2] Steering from hence S. ByE. Nearly, we deepened our water to fifty fathoms in a run of aboutthirty leagues, without once altering the bottom; and then drawingtowards the shore, with a S. W. Course, varying rather westward, we hadconstantly a sandy bottom till we came to thirty fathoms, when we hadagain a sight of land in about lat. 48° 31' S. We made this land onthe 17th February, and came to anchor at five that afternoon in lat. 48° 58' S. With the same soundings as before; the southermost landthen in view bearing S. S. W. The northermost N. E. A small island N. W. And the westermost hummock W. S. W. At this anchorage we found the tideto set S. By W. 

[Footnote 2: Cape Blanco is in lat 47° 20' S. Long. 64° 30' W. FromGreenwich. At this place, instead of a description of Cape Blanco, theoriginal gives two views of the coast in different directions, as seenfrom sea; here omitted for reasons already assigned. --E. ]

We weighed anchor at five next morning, and an hour afterwardsdescried a sail, which was soon found to be the Pearl, which hadseparated from us a few days after leaving St Catharines. Yet sheincreased her sail and stood away from the Gloucester; and when shecame up, the people of the Pearl had their hammocks in their netting, and every thing ready for an engagement. The Pearl joined us abouttwo in the afternoon, and running up under our stern, LieutenantSalt informed the commodore that Captain Kidd had died on the 31stof January. He likewise said that he had seen five large ships onthe 10th of this month, which he for some time imagined had been oursquadron, insomuch that he suffered the commanding ship, which wore ared broad pendant exactly resembling that of our commodore at themain top-mast head, to come within gun-shot of the Pearl before hediscovered the mistake; but then, finding it was not the Centurion, he haled close upon a wind and crowded from theirs with all sail; andstanding across a rippling, where they hesitated to follow, he happilyescaped. He had made them out to be five Spanish ships of war, one ofwhich was so exceedingly like the Gloucester that he was under greatapprehension when chased now by the Gloucester. He thought theyconsisted of two seventy-gun ships, two of fifty, and one of forty;the whole of which squadron chased him all that day, but at night, finding they could not get near, they gave over the chase and stoodaway to the southward. 

Had we not been under the necessity of refitting the Tryal, thisintelligence would have prevented our making any stay at St Julians;but as it was impossible for that sloop to proceed round Cape Hornin her present condition, some stay there became inevitable; andtherefore we came to an anchor again the same evening in twenty-fivefathoms, the bottom a mixture of mud and sand, a high hummock bearingfrom us S. W. By W. Weighing at nine next morning, we sent the cuttersof the Centurion and Severn in shore to discover the harbour of StJulian, while the ships kept standing along the coast about a leaguefrom the land. At six in the evening we anchored in the bay of StJulian, in nineteen fathoms, the bottom muddy ground with sand, thenorthermost land in sight bearing N. By E. The S. 1/2 E. And thehigh hummock, called Wood's Mount by Sir John Narborough, W. S. W. Thecutters returned soon after, having discovered the harbour, which didnot appear to us where we lay, the northermost point shutting in uponthe southermost, and closing the entrance in appearance. 

Our principal object in coming to anchor in this bay was to refit theTryal, in which business the carpenters were immediately employed. Hermain-mast had been carried away about twelve feet below the cap, butthey contrived to make the remainder of the mast serve. The Wagerwas directed to supply her with a spare main-top-mast, whichthe carpenters converted into a new fore-mast. And I cannot helpobserving, that this accident to the Tryal's masts, which gave us somuch uneasiness at the time on account of the delay it occasioned, wasthe means, in all probability, of preserving this sloop and all hercrew. For her masts before this were much too lofty for the highsouthern latitudes we were proceeding into, so that, if they hadweathered the preceding storm, it would have been impossible for themto have stood against the seas and tempests we afterwards encounteredin passing round Cape Horn; and the loss of masts, in that boisterousclimate, would scarcely have been attended with less than the loss ofthe vessel and all on board, as it would have been impracticable forthe other ships to have given them any assistance whatever, during thecontinuance of these impetuous storms. 

While at this place, the commodore appointed the honourable CaptainMurray to succeed to the Pearl, and Captain Cheap to the Wager. Hepromoted Mr Charles Saunders, first lieutenant of the Centurion, tothe command of the Tryal sloop; but, as Mr Saunders lay dangerouslyill of a fever in the Centurion, and the surgeons considered hisremoval to his own ship might hazard his life, Mr Saumarez hadorders to act as commander of the Tryal during the illness of CaptainSaunders. 

At this place, the commodore held a consultation with his captainsabout unloading and discharging the Anna pink; but they representedthat, so far from being in a condition for taking her loading onboard, their ships still had great quantities of provisions in the wayof their guns between decks, and that their ships were so deep and solumbered that they would not be fit for action without being cleared. It was therefore necessary to retain the pink in the service; and, asit was apprehended that we should meet with the Spanish squadron inpassing the cape, Mr Anson ordered all the provisions that were inthe way of the guns to be put on board the Anna pink, and that all theguns which had been formerly lowered into the holds, for the ease ofthe ships, should be remounted. 

As this bay and harbour of St Julian is a convenient rendezvous, incase of separation, for all cruizers bound to the southwards, or toany part of the coast of Patagonia, from the Rio Plata to the Straitsof Magellan, as it lies nearly parallel to their usual route, ashort account of the singularity of this country, with a particulardescription of Port St. Julian, may perhaps be neither unacceptable tothe curious, nor unworthy the attention of future navigators, as someof them, by unforeseen accidents, may be obliged to run in with theland and to make some stay on this coast; in which case a knowledge ofthe country, and of its productions and inhabitants, cannot fail to beof the utmost consequence to them. 

The tract of country usually called Patagonia, or that southernportion of South America, not possessed by the Spaniards, extendsfrom their settlements to the Straits of Magellan. This country on itseastern side, along the Atlantic ocean, from the Rio Plata southwards, is remarkable for having no trees of any kind, except a few peachtrees planted by the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres;so that the whole eastern coast of Patagonia, extending near fourhundred leagues from north to south, and as far back into the interioras any discoveries have yet been made, contains nothing that can becalled by the name of wood, and only a few insignificant shrubsin some places. Sir John Narborough, who was sent out expressly byCharles II to examine this country, wintered upon this coast in PortSt Julian and Port Desire, in the year 1670, and declares that he didnot see a stick in the whole country large enough to make the handleof a hatchet. But, although this country be destitute of wood, itabounds in pasture, as the whole land seems made up of downs of alight dry and gravelly soil, producing great quantities of long grass, which grows in tufts, interspersed with large spots of barren gravel. In many places this grass feeds immense herds of cattle, all derivedfrom a few European cattle brought over by the Spaniards at theirfirst settling, which have thriven and multiplied prodigiously, owingto the abundance of herbage which they every where met with, andare now so increased and extended so far into different parts ofPatagonia, that they are not considered as private property; thousandsof them being slaughtered every year by the hunters, only for theirhides and tallow. 

The manner of killing these cattle, being peculiar to that part of theworld, merits a circumstantial description. Both Spaniards and Indiansin that country are usually most excellent horsemen; and accordinglythe hunters employed on this occasion are all mounted on horseback, armed with a kind of spear, which, instead of the usual point or bladein the same line with the shaft, has its blade fixed across. Armedwith this instrument, they ride at a beast and surround him, when thehunter that is behind hamstrings him, so that he soon falls, andis unable to rise from the ground, where they leave him and proceedagainst others, whom they serve in the same manner. Sometimes there isa second party attending the hunters, on purpose to skin the cattle asthey fall; but it is said that the hunters sometimes prefer to leavethem to languish in torment till next day, from an opinion that thelengthened anguish bursts the lymphatics, and thereby facilitates theseparation of the skin from the carcass. Their priests have loudlycondemned this most barbarous practice, and have even gone so far, ifmy memory do not deceive me, as to excommunicate such as persist tofollow it, yet all their efforts to put an entire stop to it havehitherto proved ineffectual. 

Besides great numbers of cattle which are slaughtered every year inthis manner, for their hides and tallow, it is often necessary, forthe uses of agriculture, and for other purposes, to catch them alive, and without wounding them. This is performed with a most wonderfuland most incredible dexterity, chiefly by means of an implement orcontrivance which the English who have resided at Buenos Ayres usuallydenominate a lash. This consists of a very strong thong of raw hide, several fathoms in length, with a running noose at one end. This thehunter, who is on horseback, takes in his right hand, being properlycoiled up, and the other end fastened to the saddle: Thus prepared, the hunters ride at a herd of cattle, and when arrived within acertain distance of a beast, they throw their thong at him with suchexactness, that they never fail to fix the noose about his horns. Finding himself thus entangled, the beast usually endeavours to runaway, but the hunter attends his motions, and the horse being swifter, the thong is prevented from being so much straitened as to break, tillanother hunter throws another noose about one of his hind-legs. Whenthis is done, the horses being trained to the sport, instantly turn inopposite directions, straining the two thongs contrary ways, by whichthe beast is overthrown. The horses then stop, keeping both thongson the stretch, so that the beast remains on the ground incapable ofresistance; and the two hunters alight from their horses and securethe beast in such a manner that they afterwards easily convey him towherever they please. 

They catch horses by means of similar nooses, and are even said tocatch tigers in the same manner, which, however strange it may appear, is asserted by persons of credit. It must be owned, indeed, that theaddress both of Spaniards and Indians in this part of the world, inthe use of this lash or noose, and the certainty with which they throwand fix it on any intended part of a beast, even at a considerabledistance, is so wonderful as only to be credited and repeated on theconcurrent testimony of all who have frequented this country. Thecattle killed in the before-mentioned manner are slaughtered only fortheir hides and tallow, and sometimes their tongues also are takenout; but the rest of the flesh is left to putrify, or to be devouredby birds of prey and wild beasts. The greatest part of it falls to theshare of the wild-dogs, of which there are immense numbers to be foundin the country. These are all supposed to be descended of Spanish dogsfrom Buenos Ayres, which had left their masters, allured by the greatquantity of carrion, and had run wild where they had such facilityof subsisting, for they are plainly of the European breed of dogs. Although these dogs are said to prowl in vast packs, even somethousands together, they do not diminish the number, nor prevent theincrease of the cattle, as they dare not attack the herds, by reasonof the vast numbers that feed together, but content themselves withthe carrion left by the hunters, and perhaps now and then meet witha few stragglers, separated accidentally from the herds to which theybelong. 

This country, to the southward of Buenos Ayres, is also stocked withgreat numbers of wild-horses, brought also originally from Spain, andprodigiously increased, and extending to a much greater distance thanthe cattle. Though many of these are excellent, their numbersmake them of very little value, the best of them being sold in theneighbouring settlements, where money is plenty and commodities verydear, for not more than a dollar a piece. It is not certain how far tothe southwards these herds of wild cattle and horses extend; but thereis reason to believe that stragglers of both are to be met with verynear the Straits of Magellan, and they will doubtless in time fillall the southern part of the continent with their breeds, which cannotfail to be of vast advantage to such ships as may touch on the coast. The horses are said to be very good eating, and are even preferred bysome of the Indians before the cattle. But however plentiful Patagoniamay hereafter become in regard to flesh, this eastern coast of thatextensive country seems very defective in regard to fresh water; foras the land is generally of a nitrous and saline nature, the pondsand streams are frequently brackish. However, as good water has beenfound, though in small quantities, it is not improbable but thisinconvenience may be removed, on a farther search. 

There are also in all parts of this country a good number of_Vicunnas_, or Peruvian sheep, but these, by reason of theirswiftness, are very difficultly killed. On the eastern coast, also, there are immense quantities of seals, and a vast variety of sea-fowl, among which the most remarkable are the penguins. These are, in sizeand shape, like a goose, but have short stumps like fins instead ofwings, which are of no use to them except when in the water. Theirbills are narrow, like that of the albatross, and they stand and walkquite erect, from which circumstance, and their white bellies, SirJohn Narborough has whimsically likened them to little childrenstanding up in white aprons. 

The inhabitants of this eastern coast, to which hitherto I confine myobservations, appear to be but few, and rarely have more than two orthree of them been seen at a time by any ships that have touched here. During our stay at Port St Julian we did not see any. TowardsBuenos Ayres, however, they are sufficiently numerous, and are verytroublesome to the Spaniards: But there the greater breadth andvariety of the country, and a milder climate, yield them greaterconveniences. In that part the continent is between three and fourhundred leagues in breadth, while at Port St Julian it is little morethan one hundred. I conceive, therefore, that the same Indians whofrequent the western coast of Patagonia, and the northern shore of theStraits of Magellan, often ramble to this eastern side. As the Indiansnear Buenos Ayres are more numerous than those farther south, theyalso greatly excel them in spirit and activity, and seem nearly alliedin their manners to the gallant Chilese Indians, [Araucanians] whohave long set the whole Spanish power at defiance, have often ravagedtheir country, and remain to this hour independent. The Indians aboutBuenos Ayres have learned to be excellent horsemen, and are extremelyexpert in the management of all cutting weapons, though ignorant offire-arms, which the Spaniards are exceedingly solicitous to keep fromthem. Of the vigour and resolution of these Indians, the behaviourof Orellana and his followers, formerly mentioned, is a memorableinstance. 

This much may suffice respecting the eastern coast of Patagonia. Thewestern coast is of less extent; and, by reason of the Andes whichskirt it, and stretch quite down to the sea side, the shore is veryrocky and dangerous. As I shall hereafter have occasion to takefarther notice of that coast, I shall not enlarge any fartherrespecting it in this place, but shall conclude this account with ashort description of the harbour of St Julian, the general form ofwhich may be conceived from the annexed sketch. It must however benoticed, that the bar there marked at the entrance has many holes init, and is often shifting. The tide flows here N. And S. And at fulland change rises four fathoms. On our first arrival, an officer wassent on shore to the salt pond marked D. In the sketch, in order toprocure a quantity of salt for the use of the squadron; for Sir JohnNarborough had observed, when he was here, that the salt was verywhite and good, and that in February there was enough to have loaded athousand ships. But our officer returned with a sample which was verybad, and said that even of this very little was to be had: I supposethe weather had been more rainy this year than ordinary, and haddestroyed the salt, or prevented its fermentation. 

SECTION VII. 

_Departure from the Bay of St Julian, and Passage from thence to theStraits of Le Maire. _

The Tryal being nearly refitted, which was our principal occupationat this bay, and sole occasion of our stay, the commodore thoughtit necessary to fix the plan of his first operations, as we werenow directly bound for the South Seas and the enemy's coasts; andtherefore, on the 24th February, a signal was made for all captains, and a council of war was held on board the Centurion. There werepresent on this occasion the Honourable Edward Legg, Captain MatthewMitchell, the Honourable George Murray, Captain David Cheap, andColonel Mordaunt Cracherode, commander of the land-forces. At thiscouncil, it was proposed by Commodore Anson, that their first attempt, after arriving in the South Seas, should be against the town andharbour of Baldivia, the principal frontier place in the south ofChili, informing them, as an inducement for this enterprize, that itformed part of his majesty's instructions to endeavour to securesome port in the South Seas where the ships of the squadron might becareened and refitted. The council readily and unanimously agreedto this proposal; and, in consequence of this resolution, newinstructions were issued to the captains, by which, though stilldirected, in case of separation, to make the best of their way to theisland of Socoro, they were only to cruize off that island for tendays; from whence, if not then joined by the commodore, they were toproceed off Baldivia, making the land between the latitudes of 40° and40° 30' S. And taking care to keep to the southward of the port. Ifnot there joined in fourteen days by the rest of the squadron, theywere then to direct their course for the island of Juan Fernandez;after which they were to regulate their farther proceedings by theformer orders given out at St Catharines. The same orders were alsogiven to the master of the Anna pink, who was enjoined to answer andobey the signals made by any ship of the squadron, in absence of thecommodore; and, if he should be so unfortunate as to fell into thehands of the enemy, he was directed to destroy his orders and paperswith the utmost care. Likewise, as the separation of the squadronmight prove highly prejudicial to the service, each captain wasordered to give it in charge to the respective officers of the watch, on all occasions, never to keep their respective ships at a greaterdistance from the Centurion than two miles, as they should answerat their peril; and if any captain should find his ship beyond thespecified distance, he was to acquaint the commodore with the name ofthe officer who thus neglected his duty. 

These necessary regulations established, and the repairs of the Tryalsloop completed, the squadron weighed from Port St Julians on Fridaythe 27th February, 1741, at seven in the morning, and stood to sea. The Gloucester found such difficulty in endeavouring to purchase heranchor, that she was left a great way astern, so that we fired severalguns in the night as signals for her to make more sail: But she didnot rejoin us till next morning, when we learnt that she had beenobliged to cut her cable, leaving her best bower anchor behind. At tenin the morning of the 28th, Wood's Mount, the high land over PortSt Julian, bore from us N. By W. Distant ten leagues, and we hadfifty-two fathoms water. Standing now to the southward, we had greatexpectations of falling in with the Spanish squadron under Pizarro;as, during our stay at Port St Julian, there had generally been hardgales between W. N. W. And S. W. So that we had reason to conclude thatsquadron, had gained no ground upon us in that interval. Indeed, itwas the prospect of meeting them that had occasioned our commodore tobe so very solicitous to prevent the separation of our ships; for, hadhe been solely intent on getting round Cape Horn in the shortest time, the most proper method for this purpose would have been, to order eachship to make the best of her way to the rendezvous, without waitingfor the rest. 

From the time of leaving Port St Julian to the 4th March, we hadlittle wind with thick hazy weather and some rain, and our soundingswere generally from forty to fifty fathoms, with a bottom of blackand gray sand, sometimes mixed with pebble stones. On the 4th Marchwe were in sight of Cape Virgin Mary, and not more than six or sevenleagues distant, the northern boundary of the eastern entrance ofthe Straits of Magellan, in lat 52° 21' S. Long. 71° 44' W. FromLondon. [1] It seemed a low flat land, ending in a point. [2] Off thiscape the depth of water was from thirty-five to forty-eight fathoms. The afternoon of this day was bright and clear, with small breezesof wind, inclining to a calm; and most of the captains took theopportunity of this fine weather to visit the commodore. While allwere on board the Centurion, they were greatly alarmed by a suddenflame bursting out in the Gloucester, followed by a cloud ofsmoke; but were soon relieved of their apprehensions, by receivinginformation that the blast had been occasioned by a spark of fire fromthe forge lighting on some gun-powder, and other combustibles, whichan officer was preparing for use, in case of falling in with theSpanish squadron, and which had exploded without any damage to theship. 

[Footnote 1: The longitude of Cape Virgin Mary, is only 67° 42' W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: By the draught in the original, omitted here forsubstantial reasons already repeatedly stated, the coast at thissouthern extremity of Patagonia is represented as a high bluff flat onthe top, and ending abruptly at this cape. --E. ]

We here found, what was constantly the case in these high southernlatitudes, that fair weather was always of exceedingly shortcontinuance, and that when remarkably fine it was a certain presage ofa succeeding storm: For the calm and sunshine of this afternoon endedin a most turbulent night; the wind freshening from the S. W. As thenight came on; and increasing continually in violence till nine nextmorning. It then blew so hard that we were forced to bring to with thesquadron, and to continue under a reefed mizen till eleven at night, having in that time from forty-three to fifty-seven fathoms wateron black sand and gravel; and, by an observation we had at noon, weconcluded that a current had set us twelve miles to the southwardof our reckoning. Toward midnight the wind abated, and we again madesail, steering S. In the morning we discovered the southern landbeyond the Straits of Magellan, called Terra del Fuego, stretchingfrom S. By W. S. E. 1/2 E. This country afforded a very uncomfortableprospect, appearing of stupendous height, every where covered withsnow, and shewing at its southern extremity the entrance into theStraits of Le Maire at Cape St Diego. [3] We steered along thisuncouth and rugged coast all day, having soundings from forty to fiftyfathoms, on stones and gravel. 

[Footnote 3: The western side of the entrance into the Straits of LeMaire is formed by the Capes of St Vincent and St Diego; the former inlat. 54° 30', the latter in 54° 40', both S. And long. 65° 40' W. ]

Intending to pass through the straits of Le Maire next day, we lay toat night that we might not overshoot them, and took this opportunityto prepare ourselves for the tempestuous climate in which we were soonto be engaged, with which view we were employed good part of the nightin bending an entire new suit of sails to the yards. At four nextmorning, being the 7th of March, we made sail, and at eight saw land, and soon after began to open the straits, at which time Cape St Diegobore E. S. E. Cape St Vincent S. E. 1/2 E. The middlemost of the ThreeBrothers, hills so called on Terra del Fuego S. By W. Montegorda, ahigh land up the country appearing over the Three Brothers; S. AndCape St Bartholomew, the southernmost point of Staten Land, E. S. E. Imust observe here that, though Frezier has given a very correct viewof that part of Terra del Fuego which borders on these straits to thewestwards, he has omitted the draught of Staten Land, which formsthe opposite shore of these straits, whence we found it difficult todetermine exactly where the straits lay until they began to open uponour view; and hence, had we not coasted a considerable way along theshore of Terra del Fuego, we might have missed the straits, and havegone to the eastward of Staten Land before discovering it. This hashappened to many ships; particularly, as mentioned by Frezier, to theIncarnation and Concord, which, intending to pass through the Straitsof Le Maire, were deceived by three hills on Staten Land, and somecreeks, resembling the Three Brothers and coves of Terra del Fuego, sothat they overshot the straits. 

Though Terra del Fuego presented an aspect exceedingly barren anddesolate, yet this island of Staten Land far surpasses it in thewildness and horror of its appearance, seeming to be entirely composedof inaccessible rocks, without the smallest apparent admixture ofearth or mould, upon or between them. These rocks terminate in a vastnumber of rugged points, which spire up to a prodigious height, and are all covered with everlasting snow; their pointed summits orpinnacles being every way surrounded by frightful precipices, andoften overhanging in a most astonishing manner. The hills which arecrowned by the rugged rocks, are generally separated from each otherby narrow clifts, appearing as if the country had been frequently rentby earthquakes; for these chasms are nearly perpendicular, and extendthrough the substance of the main rocks almost to their bases; so thatnothing can be imagined more savage and gloomy than the whole aspectof this coast. 

Having opened the Straits of Le Maire on the morning of the 7th March, as before mentioned, the Pearl and Tryal, about ten o'clock, were ordered to keep a-head of the squadron and lead the way. Weaccordingly entered the straits with fair weather and a brisk gale, and were hurried through by the rapidity of the tide in about twohours, though they are between seven and eight leagues in length. Asthese straits are often esteemed the boundary between the Atlantic andPacific oceans, and as we presumed that we had nothing now before usbut an open sea, till we should arrive on the opulent coasts where allour hopes and wishes centered, we could not help flattering ourselvesthat the greatest difficulty of our voyage was now at an end, andthat our most sanguine dreams were on the point of being realized. Weindulged ourselves, therefore, in the romantic imaginations whichthe fancied possession of the gold of Chili and silver of Peru mightreadily be conceived to inspire. These joyous ideas were considerablyheightened, by the brightness of the sky and serenity of the weather, which indeed were both most remarkably delightful: For, though theantarctic winter was now advancing with hasty strides, the morning ofthis day, in mildness and even brilliancy, gave place to none thatwe had seen since our departure from England. Thus, animated by theseflattering delusions, we passed those memorable straits, ignorant ofthe dreadful calamities then impending, and ready to burst upon us;ignorant that the moment was fast approaching when our squadron was tobe separated, never again to unite; and that this day of our passagewas the last cheerful day that the greatest part of us was ever toenjoy in this world. 

SECTION VIII. 

_Course from the Straits of Le Maire to Cape Noir. _

We had scarcely reached the southern extremity of the Straits of LeMaire, when our flattering hopes were almost instantly changed to theapprehension of immediate destruction. Even before the sternmost shipsof the squadron were clear of the straits, the serenity of the sky wassuddenly obscured, and we observed all the presages of an impendingstorm. The wind presently shifted to the southward, and blew insuch violent squalls that we had to hand our top-sails and reef ourmain-sail; while the tide, which had hitherto favoured us, turnedfuriously adverse, and drove us to the eastward with prodigiousrapidity, so that we were in great anxiety for the Wager and Annapink, the two sternmost vessels, fearing they might be dashed topieces upon the shore of Staten Land; nor were our apprehensionswithout foundation, as they weathered that coast with the utmostdifficulty. Instead of pursuing our intended course to the S. W. Thewhole squadron was now drifted to the eastward, by the united force ofthe storm and current; so that next morning we found ourselves nearlyseven leagues eastward of the straits, which then bore from us N. W. 

The violence of the current, which had set us with so muchprecipitation to the eastward, together with the fierceness andconstancy of the westerly winds, soon taught us to consider thedoubling of Cape Horn as an enterprize that might prove too mightyfor all our efforts; though some among us had so lately treated thedifficulties which former voyagers were said to have encountered inthis undertaking as little better than chimerical, and had supposedthem to have arisen from timidity and unskilfulness, rather thanfrom the real embarrassments of the winds and seas. But we were nowconvinced, from severe experience, that these censures were rash andill founded; for the distresses with which we struggled during thethree succeeding months, will not be easily paralleled in the relationof any former naval expedition; which, I doubt not, will be readilyallowed by those who shall carefully peruse the ensuing narration. 

From this storm, which came on before we were well clear of thestraits of Le Maire, we had a continual succession of such tempestuousweather as surprised the oldest and most experienced mariners onboard, and obliged them to confess, that what they had hitherto calledstorms were inconsiderable gales, when compared with those windswe now encountered; which raised such short, and at times suchmountainous waves, as greatly surpassed in danger all seas knownin other parts of the globe, and, not without reason, this unusualappearance filled us with continual terror; for, had any one of thesewaves broken fairly over us, it must almost inevitably have sent usinstantly to the bottom. Neither did we escape with terror only:for the ship, rolling incessantly gunwale-to, gave us such quick andviolent jerking motions, that the men were in perpetual danger ofbeing dashed to pieces against the decks and sides of the ship; and, though we were extremely careful to secure ourselves against theseshocks, by grasping some fixed body, yet many of our people wereforced from their holds, some of whom were actually killed, and othersgreatly injured. In particular, one of our best seamen was cantedoverboard and drowned; another dislocated his neck; a third was throwndown the main hatchway into the hold and broke his thigh; one of ourboatswain's mates broke his collar-bone twice; not to mention manyother similar accidents. 

These tempests, so dreadful in themselves, though unattended by anyother unfavourable circumstances, were yet rendered more mischievousto us by their inequality, and by the deceitful intervals that attimes occurred; for, although we had often to lie-to for days togetherunder a reefed mizen, and were frequently reduced to drive at themercy of the winds and waves under bare poles, yet now and then weventured to make sail under double-reefed courses; and occasionally, the weather proving more moderate, were perhaps encouraged to set ourtop-sails; after which, without any previous notice, the wind wouldreturn with redoubled force, and would in an instant tear our sailsfrom the yards. And, that no circumstance might be wanting which couldaggravate our distress, these blasts generally brought with them agreat quantity of snow and sleet, which cased our rigging in ice, andfroze our sails, rendering them and our cordage so brittle as to tearand snap with the least strain; adding thereby great difficulty andlabour to the working of the ship, benumbing the hands and limbs ofour people, and rendering them incapable of exerting themselveswith their accustomed activity, and even disabling many of them, byinducing mortification of their toes and fingers. It were, indeed, endless to enumerate the various disasters of different kinds whichbefel us, and I shall only mention the most material, which willsufficiently evince; the calamitous condition of the whole squadron, during this part of our navigation. 

As already observed, it was on the 7th of March that we passed theStraits of Le Maire, and were immediately afterwards driven to theeastwards, by a violent storm, and by the force of the current settingin that direction. During the four or five succeeding days, we hadhard gales of wind from the same western quarter, attended by a mostprodigious swell; insomuch that, although we stood all that timetowards the S. W. We had no reason to imagine we had made any way tothe westwards. In this interval we had frequent squalls of rain andsnow, and shipped great quantities of water. After this, for threeor four days, though the sea ran mountains high, yet the weather wasrather more moderate; but, on the 18th; we had again strong gales ofwind with excessive cold, and at midnight the main top-sail split, andone of the straps of the main dead-eyes broke. From the 18th to the23d the weather was more moderate, though, often intermixed with rainand sleet and some hard gales; but, as the waves did not subside, the ship, by labouring sore in this lofty sea, became so loose in herupper-works that she let in water at every seam, so that every part ofher within board was constantly exposed to the sea-water, and scarcelyany even of the officers ever lay dry in their beds. Indeed, hardlydid two nights pass without many of them being driven from their bedsby deluges of water. 

On the 23d we had a most violent storm of wind, hail, and rain, with aprodigious sea; and, though we handed the main-sail before the heightof the squall, yet we found the yard spring; and soon after, inconsequence of the foot-rope of the main-sail breaking, the main-sailitself split instantly into rags, and much the greater part of itwas blown away, in spite of every endeavour to save it. On this thecommodore made the signal for the squadron to bring to; and asthe storm lulled into a calm, we had an opportunity to lower themain-yard, and set the carpenters to work upon it, while we alsorepaired our rigging; after which, having bent a new main-sail, we gotagain under way with a moderate breeze. But, in less than twenty-fourhours, we had another storm, still more furious than the former, whichblew a perfect hurricane, and obliged us to lie-to under bare poles. As our ship kept the wind better than any of the rest, we were obligedin the afternoon to wear, in order to join the squadron to leeward, asotherwise we had been in danger of parting from them in the night. Onthis occasion, as we dared not venture to show any sail to the gale, we had to use an expedient, which answered the purpose: This wasputting the helm a-weather and manning the fore-shrouds: But, thoughthis answered the end in view, yet in its execution one of our ablestseamen was canted overboard. Notwithstanding the prodigious agitationof the waves, we could perceive that he swam very vigorously, yet wefound ourselves, to our excessive concern, incapable of giving him thesmallest assistance; and were the more grieved at his unhappy fate, aswe lost sight of him struggling with the waves, and conceived thathe might continue long sensible of the horror of his irretrievablesituation. 

Before this storm was quite abated, we found that two of ourmain-shrouds and one of our mizen-shrouds were broken, all of whichwe knotted and replaced immediately. After this we had an interval ofthree or four days less tempestuous than usual, but accompanied by sothick a fog, that we had to fire guns almost every half hour to keepour squadron together. On the 31st we were alarmed by a gun from theGloucester, and a signal to speak the commodore. We immediately boredown to her, prepared to learn some terrible disaster, of which wewere apprised before we came down, by seeing that her main-yard wasbroken in the slings. This was a grievous misfortune to us all, atthis juncture, as it was evident that it must prove a hinderance toour sailing, and would detain us the longer in these inhospitablelatitudes. Our future safety and success was not to be promoted byrepining, but by resolution and activity; and therefore, that thisunhappy incident might delay us as short as possible, the commodoreordered several carpenters to be put on board the Gloucester from theother ships of the squadron, in order to repair her damage withthe utmost expedition. At this time also, the captain of the Tryalrepresented that his pumps were so bad, and his ship made so muchwater, that he was scarcely able to keep her free; wherefore thecommodore ordered him a pump, ready fitted, from the Centurion. It wasvery fortunate, both for the Gloucester and Tryal, that the weatherproved more favourable that day, than for many days both before andafter; since by this means they were enabled to receive the assistancewhich seemed so essential for their preservation, and which theycould scarcely have procured at any other time, as it would have beenextremely hazardous to have ventured a boat on board. 

Next day, being the 1st of April, the weather returned to itscustomary bias; the sky looking dark and gloomy, and the windbeginning to freshen and to blow in squalls; yet it was not soboisterous as to prevent us carrying our top-sails close reefed, but its appearance evidently prognosticated that a still more severetempest was at hand. Accordingly, on the 3d of April, there came on astorm, which, both in its violence and duration, for it lasted threedays, exceeded all we had hitherto experienced. In its first onset, we received a furious shock from a sea, which broke upon our larboardquarter, where it stove in the quarter gallery, and rushed into theship like a deluge. Our rigging suffered also extremely from the blow;among the rest, one of the straps of the main dead-eyes was broken, aswere likewise a main shroud and a puttock shroud; so that, to ease thestress upon the masts and shrouds, we had to lower both our main andfore yards, and to furl all our sails. We lay in this posture forthree days, when, the storm somewhat abating, we ventured to make sailunder our courses only. Even this would not avail us long; fornext day, being the 7th, we had another hard gale, accompanied withlightning and rain, which obliged as to lie-to all night. 

It was really wonderful, notwithstanding the severe weather weendured, that no extraordinary accident had happened to any of thesquadron since the Gloucester broke her main-yard. But this goodfortune now no longer attended us, for, at three next morning, severalguns were fired to leeward as signals of distress, on which thecommodore made the signal for the squadron to bring to. At day-breakwe saw the Wager a considerable way to leeward of any of the otherships, and soon perceived that she had lost her mizen-mast, and maintopsail-yard. We immediately bore down towards her, and found thatthis disaster had arisen from the badness of her iron-work, as all thechain plates to windward had given way, in consequence of her havingfetched a deep roll. This accident proved the more unfortunate for theWager, as her captain had been on board the Gloucester ever sincethe 31st March, and the weather was now too severe to permit of hisreturn. Nor was the Wager the only ship in the squadron that sufferedin this tempest; for next day, a signal of distress was made by theAnna pink, and on speaking her, we found she had broken her fore-stayand the gammon of her boltsprit, and was in no small danger of all hermasts coming by the board; so that the whole squadron had to bear awayto leeward till she made all fast, after which we again hauled upon awind. 

After all our solicitude, and the numerous ills of every kind, towhich we had been incessantly exposed for near forty days, we nowhad great consolation in the hope that our fatigues were drawing toa close, and that we should soon arrive in a more hospitableclimate, where we should be amply rewarded for all our past toils andsufferings; for, towards the latter end of March, by our reckoning, wehad advanced near ten degrees to the west of the westermost pointof Terra del Fuego; and, as this allowance was double what formernavigators had thought necessary to compensate the drift of thewestern current, we esteemed ourselves to be well advanced withinthe limits of the Southern Pacific, and had been, ever since then, standing to the northward, with as much expedition as the turbulenceof the weather and our frequent disasters would permit. On the 13th ofApril, in addition to our before-mentioned westing, we were only onedegree of latitude to the southward of the western entrance into theStraits of Magellan, so that we fully expected in a very few days toexperience the celebrated tranquillity of the Pacific Ocean. But thesewere only delusions, which served to render our disappointment moreterrible. On the morning of the 14th, between two and three o'clock, the weather, which till then had been hazy, fortunately cleared up, and the pink made a signal for seeing the land right a-head; and, asit was only two miles distant, we were all under the most dreadfulapprehensions of running on shore; which, had either the wind blownfrom its usual quarter, with its wonted violence, or had not the moonsuddenly shone out, not a ship of the whole squadron could possiblyhave avoided. But the wind, which some hours before blew in squallsfrom the S. W. Had fortunately shifted to W. N. W. By which we wereenabled to stand to the southward, and to clear ourselves of thissudden and unexpected danger, and were fortunate enough by noon tohave gained an offing of near twenty leagues. 

By the latitude of this land we fell in with, it was agreed to be thatpart of Terra del Fuego, near the south-western outlet of the Straitsof Magellan, described in Frezier's chart, and was supposed to be thatpoint which he calls Cape Noir. [1] It was indeed wonderful that thecurrent should have driven us to the eastward with so much strength, for the whole squadron computed that we were ten degrees to thewestward of this land; so that in turning, by our reckoning, aboutnineteen degrees of longitude, we had not in reality advanced halfthat distance: And now, instead of having our labours and anxietiesrelieved by approaching a warmer climate, and more tranquil seas, wewere forced again to steer southwards, and had again to combat thosewestern blasts which had already so often terrified us; and thistoo, when we were greatly enfeebled by our men falling sick and dyingapace, and when our spirits, dejected by long continuance at seaand by this severe disappointment, were now much less capable ofsupporting us through the various difficulties and dangers, which wecould not but look for in this new and arduous undertaking. Added toall this, we were sore discouraged by the diminution in the strengthof the squadron; for, three days before this, we had lost sight of theSevern and Pearl in the morning, and, though we spread our ships, andbeat about for them for some time, we never saw them more; whence weapprehended that they also had fallen in with this land in the night, and being less favoured by the wind and the moon, might have perishedby running on shore. Full of these desponding thoughts andgloomy presages, we stood away to the S. W. Prepared, by our latedisappointment, how large an allowance soever we made in our westingfor the drift of the current from the westward, that we might stillfind it insufficient upon a second trial. 

[Footnote 1: Cape Noir, is a small island off the western coast ofTerra del Fuego, is in lat. 54° 28' S. Long, 78° 40' W. --E. ]

SECTION IX. 

_Observations and Directions for facilitating the Passage of futureNavigators round Cape Horn. _

The improper season of the year in which we attempted to double CapeHorn, and to which is to be imputed the before-recited disappointment, in falling in with Terra del Fuego, when we reckoned ourselves abovean hundred leagues to the westward of that coast, and consequentlywell advanced into the Pacific Ocean, to which we were necessitated byour too late departure from England, was the fatal source of all themisfortunes we afterwards experienced. For, from hence proceeded theseparation of our ships, the destruction of so many of our people, theruin of our project against Baldivia, and of all our other views onthe Spanish settlements, and the reduction of our squadron, from theformidable condition in which it passed the Straits of Le Maire, to acouple of shattered half-manned cruizers and a sloop, so exceedinglydisabled that, in many climates, they scarcely durst have put tosea. To prevent, therefore, as much as in me lies, the recurrence ofsimilar calamities to all ships bound hereafter to the South Seas, I think it my duty to insert in this place such observations anddirections, as either my own experience and reflection, or theconversation of the most skilful navigators on board the squadron, could furnish me with, as to the most eligible manner of doubling CapeHorn, whether in regard to the season of the year, the course properto be steered, or the places of refreshment both on the eastern andwestern sides of South America. 

To begin with the proper place for refreshment on the eastern side ofSouth America. For this purpose the island of St Catharines has beenusually recommended by former writers, and on their authority we putin there; but the treatment we experienced, and the small store ofrefreshments we could procure their are sufficient reasons to renderall ships very cautious in future how they trust to the government ofDon Jose Sylva de Paz; for they may assuredly depend on having theirstrength, condition, and designs betrayed to the Spaniards, as far asthe knowledge the governor can procure of these particulars may enablehim. As this treacherous conduct was inspired by the views of privategain, in the illicit commerce carried on to the river Plate, ratherthan by any natural affection between the Portuguese and Spaniards, the same perfidy may perhaps be expected from most of the governors onthe coast of Brazil, since these smuggling engagements are doubtlessvery general and extensive; and, though the governors themselvesshould detest so faithless a procedure, yet, as ships are perpetuallypassing from one or other of the Brazilian ports to the Rio Plata, the Spaniards could scarcely fail of receiving intelligence, by thismeans, of any British ships being on the coast; and, however imperfectsuch intelligence might be, it might prove injurious to the views andinterests of cruizers thus discovered. 

As the Spanish trade in the South Seas is all in one direction, fromnorth to south, or the direct reverse, with very little deviationto the eastward or westward, it is in the power, of two or threecruisers, properly stationed on different parts of this track, topossess themselves of every ship that puts to sea. This, however, can only be the case so long as they continue concealed from theneighbouring coast; for, the moment that an enemy is known to be inthese seas, all navigation is prohibited, and all chance of captureis consequently at an end; as the Spaniards, well aware of theseadvantages to an enemy, send expresses all along the coast, and laya general embargo on all trade; which measure they know will notonly prevent their vessels from being taken, but must soon obligeall cruisers, that have not sufficient strength to attempt theirsettlements on shore, to quit these seas for want of provisions. Hencethe great importance of carefully concealing all expeditions of thiskind is quite evident; and hence too it is obvious how extremelyprejudicial such intelligence must prove as that communicated by thePortuguese to the Spaniards in our case, in consequence of touching atthe ports of Brazil. Yet it will often happen that ships, bound beyondCape Horn, may be obliged to call there for wood, water, and otherrefreshments; in which case, St Catharines is the very last place Iwould recommend; both because the proper animals for a live stock atsea, as hogs, sheep, and fowls, are not to be procured there, for wantof which we found ourselves greatly distressed, being reduced to livealmost entirely on salt provisions; and because, from that port beingnearer the Rio Plata than many others of the Portuguese settlements, the inducements and conveniences for betraying us to the Spaniardswere so much the stronger. The place I would recommend is Rio Janeiro, where two of our squadron put in, after separating from us in passingCape Horn. At this place, as I was informed by a gentleman on boardone of these ships, any quantity of hogs and poultry can be procured;and as it is more distant from the Rio Plata, the difficulty ofsending intelligence to the Spaniards is somewhat increased, andconsequently the chance of continuing there undiscovered is so muchthe greater. Other measures, which may effectually obviate all theseembarrassments, will be considered more at large hereafter. 

I proceed, in the next place, to consider of the proper measures tobe pursued for doubling Cape Horn: And here, I think I am sufficientlyauthorized, by our own fatal experience, and by a careful comparisonand examination of the journals of former navigators, to give thefollowing advice, which ought never, in prudence, to be departed from:Which is, That all ships bound to the South Seas, instead of passingthrough the Straits of Le Maire, should constantly pass by theeastward of Staten-Land, and should be invariably bent on running asfar as the latitude of 61° or 62° S. Before they endeavour to stand tothe westwards; and ought then to make sure of a sufficient westingin or about that latitude, before commencing a northern course. But, since directions diametrically opposite to these have been formerlygiven by other writers, it is incumbent on me to produce my reasonsfor each part of this maxim. 

First then, as to the propriety of passing to the eastward ofStaten-Land. Those who have attended to the risk we ran in passingthe Straits of Le Maire, the danger we were in of being driven uponStaten-Land by the current, when, though we happily escaped beingdriven on shore, we were yet carried to the eastward of that island:those, I say, who reflect on this and the like accidents which havehappened to other ships, will surely not esteem it prudent topass through these straits and run the risk of shipwreck, and findthemselves, after all, no farther to the westward, the only reasonhitherto given for this practice, than they might have been, in thesame time, by a more secure navigation in an open sea. And next, asto the directions I have given for running into the latitude of 61°or 62° S. Before any endeavour is made to stand to the westward. Thereasons for this precept are, that, in all probability, the violenceof the current setting from the westward will be thereby avoided, and the weather will prove less tempestuous and uncertain. Thislast circumstance we experienced most remarkably; for after we hadunexpectedly fallen in with the land at Cape Noir, we stood awaysouthward to get clear of it; and were no sooner advanced into thelat. Of 60° S. Or upwards, than we met with much better weather andsmoother water than in any other part of this whole passage. The airindeed was very sharp and cold, and we had strong gales, but they weresteady and uniform, and we had at the same time sunshine and a clearsky: whereas in the lower latitudes, the wind every now and thenintermitted, as it were, to recover new strength, and then returnedsuddenly in the most violent gusts, threatening at every blast to blowaway our masts, which must have proved our inevitable destruction. 

Also, that the currents in this high latitude would be of muchless efficacy than nearer the land, seems to be evinced by theseconsiderations: That all currents run with greater violence near theshore than out at sea, and that at great distances from the landthey are scarcely perceptible. The reason of this seems sufficientlyobvious, if we consider that constant currents, in all probability, are produced by constant winds; the wind, though with a slow andimperceptible motion, driving a large body of water continually beforeit, which, being accumulated on any coast that it meets with in itscourse, must escape along the shore by the endeavours of the surfaceto reduce itself to the level of the rest of the ocean. It is likewisereasonable to suppose, that those violent gusts of wind which weexperienced near the shore, so very different from what we found inthe lat. Of 60° S. And upwards, may be owing to a similar cause; for awesterly wind almost perpetually prevails in the southern part ofthe Pacific Ocean, and this current of air being interrupted by theenormously high range of the Andes, and by the mountains on Terra delFuego, which together bar up the whole country as far south as CapeHorn, a part only of the wind can force its way over the top ofthese prodigious precipices, while the rest must naturally follow thedirection of the coast, and must range down the land to the southward, and sweep with an impetuous and irregular blast round Cape Horn, andthe southermost part of Terra del Fuego. Without placing toomuch reliance on these speculations, we may assume, I believe, asincontestable facts, that both the rapidity of the currents, and theviolence of the western gales, are less sensible in lat. 61° or 62° S. Than nearer the coasts of Terra del Fuego. 

Though satisfied, both from our own experience and the relations ofother navigators, of the importance of the precept here insisted on, of proceeding to lat. 61° or 62° S. Before any endeavours are made tostand to the westwards, yet I would also advise all ships hereafternot to trust so far to this management as to neglect another mostessential maxim: Which is, to make this passage in the height of the_antarctic summer_, or, in other words, in the months of December andJanuary, which correspond exactly to the months of June and July inour northern or arctic hemisphere: and the more distant the timeof passing may be from this season, so much the more disastrous thepassage may reasonably be expected to prove. Indeed, if the mereviolence of the western winds be considered, the time of our passage, which was about the antarctic autumnal equinox, was perhaps the mostfavourable period of the whole year. But then it must be consideredthat there are, independent of the winds, many other inconveniences tobe apprehended in the depth of winter, which are almost insuperable. For, at that season, the severity of the cold, and the shortness ofthe days, would render it impracticable to run so far to the southwardas is here recommended. The same reasons would also greatly augmentthe danger and alarm of sailing, at that season, in the neighbourhoodof an unknown shore, dreadful in its appearance, even in the midst ofsummer, and would render a winter navigation on this coast, beyond allothers, most dismaying and terrible. As I would, therefore, advise allships to make their passage, if possible, in December and January, so I would warn them never to attempt doubling Cape Horn, from theeastward, after the month of March, which is equivalent to our August. As to the remaining consideration, in regard to the most proper placefor cruizers to refit at, on their first arrival in the South Seas, there is scarcely any choice, the island of Juan Fernandez being theonly place that can be prudently recommended for that purpose. For, although there are many ports on the western side of Patagonia, between the Straits of Magellan, one of which I shall particularlynotice in the sequel, in which ships may ride in great safety, and mayalso recruit their wood and water, and procure some few refreshments, yet that coast is in itself so extremely dangerous, owing to itsnumerous rocks and breakers, and to the violence of the western winds, which blow upon it continually, that it is by no means advisableto fall in with that coast, at least till the roads, channels, andanchorages in each part of it have been accurately surveyed, and boththe perils and shelters with which it abounds are more distinctlyknown. 

Having thus given the best directions in my power, for the success ofour cruizers that may be hereafter bound to the South Seas, it mightbe expected that I should now resume the narrative of our voyage. Yetas, both in the preceding and subsequent parts of this work, I havethought it my duty not only to recite all such facts, and to inculcatesuch maxims, as had even the least appearance of proving beneficial tofuture navigators, and also to recommend such measures to the publicas seemed adapted to promote the same laudable purpose, I cannotdesist from the present subject without beseeching those persons towhom the conduct of our naval affairs is confided, to endeavourto remove the many perplexities and embarrassments with which thenavigation to the South Sea is at present encumbered. An effort ofthis kind could not fail of proving highly honourable to themselves, and extremely beneficial to their country; for it is sufficientlyevident, that whatever improvements navigation shall receive, eitherby the invention of methods by which its practice may be rendered lesshazardous, or by the more accurate delineation of the coasts, roads, and harbours already known, or by the discovery of new countries andnations, or of new species and sources of commerce, the advantagesthence arising must ultimately redound to the emolument of GreatBritain. Since, as our fleets are at present superior to those of thewhole world united, it must be a matchless degree of supineness ormeanness of spirit, if we permit any of the advantages deriveable fromnew discoveries, or from a more extended navigation, to be ravishedfrom us. 

Since it appears, from what has been already said, that all our futureexpeditions to the South Seas must run a considerable risk of provingabortive, while we remain under the necessity of touching at Brazilin our passage thither, the discovery of some place more to thesouthward, where ships might refresh, and supply themselves with thenecessary sea stock for their passage round Cape Horn, would relieveus from this embarrassment, and would surely be a matter worthy ofthe attention of the public. Neither does this seem difficult to beeffected, as we already have an imperfect knowledge of two places, which might perhaps prove, on examination, extremely convenient forthis purpose. One of these is Pepy's Island, in the latitude of 47°S. And laid down by Dr Bailey about eighty leagues to the eastwardof Cape Blanco, on the coast of Patagonia. [1] The other is Falkland'sIslands, in lat. 51° 30' S. [2] nearly south of Pepy's Island. 

[Footnote 1: Isla Grande, supposed to be the Pepy's Island discoveredby Cowley, is in lat. 46° 34' S. And is placed by Mr Dalrymple inlong. 46° 40' W. While the illustrious navigator Cook makes its long. 35° 40' W. A difference of longitude of no less than eleven degrees. ]

[Footnote 2: The centre of Falkland's Islands is in 51° 45' S. Janson's Islands, the most north-westerly of the group, or theSebaldines, is in 51°; and Beauchene's Isle, the most southerly, in53° S. --E. ]

The first of these was discovered by Captain Cowley in 1683, duringhis voyage round the world, and is represented by that navigator as acommodious place for ships to wood and water at, being provided with agood and capacious harbour, where a thousand sail of ships might rideat anchor in great safety, being also the resort of vast numbers offowls; and as its shores consist of either rocks or sands, it seemsto promise great plenty of fish. Falkland's Islands have been seen bymany navigators, both French and English. It is laid down by Frezier, in his chart of the extremity of South America, under the name ofthe New Islands. Woods Rogers, who ran along the N. E. Coasts of theseislands in 1708, says they extend about two degrees in length, [3] andappeared with gentle descents from hill to hill, seeming to be goodground, interspersed with woods, and not destitute of harbours. 

[Footnote 3: The west extremity of this group is in long. 62° W. Andthe east extremity in 56° 43' W. So that their extent is 5° 12' indifference of longitude. --E. ]

Either of these places, being islands at a considerable distance fromthe continent, may be supposed, from their latitude, to be situatedin a sufficiently temperate climate. They are both, it is true, toolittle known at present to be recommended as the most eligibleplaces of refreshment for ships bound to the South Seas: But, if theadmiralty should think proper to order them to be surveyed, whichmight be done at a very small expence, by a vessel fitted out onpurpose; and if, on examination, either one or both should appearproper for serving the end in view, it is scarcely possible toconceive how exceedingly important so convenient a station mightprove, so far to the southward, and so near Cape Horn. The Duke andDuchess of Bristol, under Woods Rogers, were only thirty-five daysfrom losing sight of Falkland's Islands to their arrival at JuanFernandez, in the South Sea; and, as the return back is muchfacilitated by the western winds, a voyage might doubtless be madefrom Falkland's Islands to Juan Fernandez and back again in littlemore than two months. Even in time of peace, this station might be ofgreat consequence to the nation; and in time of war, would render usmasters of those seas. 

As all discoveries of this kind, though extremely honourable tothose who direct and promote them, may yet be carried on at aninconsiderable expence, since small vessels are much the most properto be employed in this service, it were greatly to be wished thatthe whole coasts of Patagonia, Terra del Fuego, and Staten-Land, werecarefully surveyed, and the numerous channels, roads, harbours, andislands, in which they abound, accurately examined, described, andrepresented. This might open to us vast facilities for passing intothe South Seas, such as hitherto we have no knowledge of, and wouldrender the whole of that southern navigation greatly more secure thanit is at present: Particularly as exact draughts of the western coastof Patagonia, from the Straits of Magellan to the Spanish settlements, might furnish us with better and more convenient ports forrefreshment, and better situated, both for the purposes of war andcommerce, than Juan Fernandez, as being above a fornight's sail nearerto Falkland's Islands. 

The discovery of this coast was formerly thought of so muchimportance, by reason of its neighbourhood to the _Araucos_ and otherIndians of Chili, who are generally at war, or at least on illterms, with the Spaniards, that, in the reign of Charles II. Sir JohnNarborough was purposely fitted out to survey the Straits of Magellan, the neighbouring coast of Patagonia, and the Spanish ports on thatfrontier, with directions, if possible, to procure some intercoursewith the Chilese Indians, and to establish a commerce and lastingcorrespondence with them. His majesty's views, on this occasion, werenot solely directed to the advantage he might hope to receive from analliance with these savages, in restraining and intimidating the kingof Spain, but he even conceived, independent of these considerations, that an immediate traffic with these Indians might prove highlyadvantageous to the nation; for it is well known that Chili, at itsfirst discovery by the Spaniards, abounded in vast quantities ofgold, much beyond what it has ever produced since it came into theirpossession. Hence it has been generally believed, that the richestmines are carefully concealed by the Indians, as well knowing thattheir discovery would excite in the Spaniards a greater thirst forconquest and tyranny, and would render their own independence moreprecarious. But, in regard to their commerce with the English, couldthat be established, these reasons would no longer influence them;since it would be in our power to supply them with arms and ammunitionof all kinds, together with many other conveniences, which theirintercourse with the Spaniards has taught them to relish. They wouldthen, in all probability, open their mines, and gladly embrace atraffic of such mutual advantage to both nations: For their gold, instead of proving an incitement to enslave them, would then procurethem weapons with which to assert their liberty, to chastise theirtyranny, and to secure themselves for ever from falling under theSpanish yoke; while, with our assistance, and under our protection, they might become a considerable people, and might secure to us thatwealth, which was formerly most mischievously lavished by the house ofAustria, and lately by the house of Bourbon, in pursuit of universalmonarchy. 

It is true, that Sir John Narborough did not succeed in opening thiscommerce, which promised, in appearance, so many advantages tothe nation: But his disappointment was merely accidental; and histransactions on that coast, besides the many advantages he furnishedto geography and navigation, are rather an encouragement for futuretrials of this kind, than any objection against them. His principalmisfortune was in losing a small bark that accompanied him, and havingsome of his people trepanned at Baldivia. It even appeared, by thefears and precautions of the Spaniards, that they were fully convincedof the practicability of the scheme he was sent to execute, and wereextremely alarmed with apprehensions for its consequences. It issaid that Charles II. Was so far prepossessed with the belief of theadvantages that might redound to the public from this expedition, andwas so eager to be informed of the event, on receiving intelligence ofSir John Narborough passing through the Downs on his return, that hehad not patience to wait till his arrival at court, but went himselfin his barge to meet him at Gravesend. 

The two most famous charts hitherto published, [i. E. In 1745, ] ofthe southern parts of South America, are those of Dr Halley, in hisGeneral Chart of the Magnetic Variation, and of Frezier, in his Voyageto the South Seas. Besides these, there is a chart of the Straits ofMagellan and some parts of the adjacent coast, by Sir John Narborough, which is doubtless infinitely more exact in that part than Frezier's, and even in some parts superior to Halley's, particularly in regard tothe longitudes of different places in these straits. We were in somemeasure capable of correcting, by our own observations, the coast fromCape Blanco to Terra del Fuego, and thence to the Straits of LeMaire, as we ranged along that coast, generally in sight of land. Theposition of the land to the northward of the Straits of Magellan, onthe western side of Patagonia, is doubtless laid down very imperfectlyin our charts; and yet I believe it to be much nearer the truth thanany hitherto published; as it was drawn from the information of someof the crew of the Wager, which was shipwrecked on that coast; andas it pretty nearly agrees with what I have seen in some Spanishmanuscripts. The channel, called Whale Sound, dividing Terra delFuego, towards the western extremity of the Straits of Magellan, wasrepresented by Frezier; but Sir Francis Drake, who first discoveredCape Horn, and the south-west parts of Terra del Fuego, observed thatthe whole coast was indented by a great number of inlets, all of whichhe conceived to communicate with the Straits of Magellan: And I donot doubt, when this country shall be thoroughly examined, that thisconjecture will be verified, and that Terra del Fuego will be found toconsist of several islands. 

I must not omit warning all future navigators against relying on thelongitude of the Straits of Le Maire, or of any part of that coast, as laid down by Frezier; the whole being from eight to ten degreestoo far to the eastward, if any faith can be given to the concurrentevidences of a great number of journals, verified, in someparticulars, by astronomical observations. For instance, Sir JohnNarborough places Cape Virgin Mary in long. 65° 42' W. From theLizard, or about 71° 20' from London. The ships of our squadron, taking their departure from St Catharines, where the longitude wasrectified by an observation of an eclipse of the moon, found CapeVirgin Mary to be from 70° 15' to 72° 30' W. From London, according totheir different reckonings; and, as there were no circumstances inour run that could Tender it considerably erroneous, it cannot beestimated in less than 71° W. From London;[4] whereas Frezier makesit only 66° W. From Paris, which is little more than 63° from London. Again, our squadron found the difference of longitude between CapeVirgin Mary and the Straits of Le Maire to be not more than 2° 30', while Frezier makes the difference nearly 4°, [5] by which he enlargedthe coast, from the Straits of Magellan to the Straits of Le Maire, tonear double its real extent. [6]

[Footnote 4: Only 67° 40' W. From Greenwich. --E. ]

[Footnote 5: The Straits of Le Maire are in long. 65° 30' W. So thatthe difference is 2° 10'. ]

[Footnote 6: Some farther critical observations on the geographicalpositions, as laid down by Frezier, Sir John Narborough, and DrHalley, are here omitted, as tending to no use or information; thesethings having been since ascertained with much more accuracy. --E. ]

SECTION X. 

_Course from Cape Noir to the Island of Juan Fernandez. _

After the mortifying disappointment of falling in with the coast ofTerra del Fuego, at Cape Noir, when we reckoned ourselves ten degreesto the westward of it, as formerly mentioned to have happened on the14th of April, we stood away to the S. W. Till the 22d of that month, when we were in upwards of 60° S. And, by our reckoning, 6° westwardsof Cape Noir. In this run, we had a series of as favourable weatheras could well be expected in that part of the world, even in abetter season of the year; so that this interval, setting aside ourdisquietudes on various accounts, was by far the most eligible of anywe had enjoyed since passing the Straits of Le Maire. This moderateweather continued, with little variation, till the evening of the24th, when the wind began to blow fresh, and soon increased to aprodigious storm. About midnight, the weather being very thick, welost sight of the other ships of the squadron, which had hithertokept us company, notwithstanding the violence of the precedingstorms. Neither was this our sole misfortune, for next morning, whileendeavouring to hand the top-sails, the clew-lines and bunt-linesbroke, and the sheets being half flown, every seam in the top-sailswas soon split from top to bottom. The main top-sail shook soviolently in the wind, that it carried away the top lanthorn, andeven endangered the head of the mast. At length, however, some of theboldest of our men ventured upon the yard, and cut the sail away closeto the reefs, with the utmost hazard of their lives. At the same time, the fore top-sail beat about the yard with so much fury, that it wassoon blown to pieces. The main-sail also blew loose, which obligedus to lower down the yard to secure the sail; and the fore-yard alsobeing lowered, we lay-to under a mizen. In this storm, besides theloss of our top-sails, we had much of our rigging broken, and lost amain studding-sail boom out of the chains. 

The weather became more moderate on the 25th at noon, which enabled usto sway up our yards, and to repair our shattered rigging in thebest manner we could; but still we had no sight of the rest of oursquadron, neither did any of them rejoin us till after our arrivalat Juan Fernandez; nor, as we afterwards learnt, did any two of themcontinue in company together. This total, and almost instantaneousseparation was the more wonderful, as we had hitherto kept togetherfor seven weeks, through all the reiterated tempests of this turbulentclimate. It must be owned, indeed, that we had hence room to expectwe might make our passage in a shorter time than if we had continuedtogether, because we could now make the best of our way, without beingretarded by the misfortunes of the other ships; but then we had themelancholy reflection, that we were thereby deprived of the assistanceof others, and our safety depended solely on our single ship; so that, if a plank started, or any other important accident occurred, we mustall irrecoverably perish. Or, should we happen to be driven on shore, we had the uncomfortable prospect of ending our days on some desolatecoast, without any reasonable hope of ever getting off again; whereas, with another ship in company, all these calamities are much lessformidable, as in every kind of danger there would always be someprobability that one ship at least might escape, and be capable ofpreserving or relieving the crew of the other. 

During the remainder of April, we had generally hard gales, thoughevery day, since the 22d, edging to the northward. On the last dayof the month, however, we flattered ourselves with the expectation ofsoon terminating our sufferings, as we then found ourselves in lat. 52° 13' S. Which, being to the northward of the Straits of Magellan, we were now assured that we had completed our passage, and werearrived on the confines of the South Sea: And, as this ocean isdenominated the _Pacific_, from the equability of the seasons said toprevail there, and the facility and security with which navigation isthere carried on, we doubted not that we should be speedily cheeredwith the moderate gales, the smooth water, and the temperate air, forwhich that portion of the globe is so renowned. Under the influence ofthese pleasing circumstances, we hoped to experience some compensationfor the complicated sufferings, which had so constantly beset us forthe last eight weeks. Yet here we were again miserably disappointed;for, in the succeeding month of May, our sufferings rose even to amuch higher pitch than they had ever yet done, whether we consider theviolence of the storms, the shattering of our sails and rigging, orthe diminution and weakening of our crew by deaths and sickness, andthe even threatening prospect of our utter destruction. All this willbe sufficiently evident, from the following circumstantial recital ofour diversified misfortunes. 

Soon after we had passed the Straits of Le Maire, the scurvy beganto make its appearance among us, and our long continuance at sea, thefatigue we underwent, and the various disappointments we met with, hadoccasioned its spreading to such a degree, that there were but few onboard, by the latter end of April, that were not afflicted with it insome degree; and in that month no less than forty-three died of it inthe Centurion. Although we thought the distemper had then risen toan extraordinary height, and were willing to hope that its malignitymight abate as we advanced to the northward, we yet found, on thecontrary, that we lost near double that number in the month of May;and, as we did not get to land till the middle of June, the mortalitywent on increasing, and so prodigiously did the disease extend, that, after the loss of above 200 men, we could not muster at the last abovesix foremast-men in a watch that were capable of duty. 

This disease, so frequent in long voyages, and so particularlydestructive to us, is surely the most singular and unaccountable ofany that affects the human body. Its symptoms are innumerable andinconstant, and its progress and effects singularly irregular, forscarcely have any two persons complaints exactly resembling eachother; and where there have been, some conformity in the symptoms, the order of their appearance has been totally different. Thoughit frequently puts on the form of many other diseases, and is nottherefore to be described by any exclusive and infallible criterions, yet there are some symptoms which are more general than the rest, andof more frequent and constant occurrence, and which therefore deservea more particular enumeration. These common appearances are largediscoloured spots dispersed over the whole surface of the body, swelled legs, putrid gums, and, above all, an extraordinarylassitude of the whole body, especially after any exercise, howeverinconsiderable and this lassitude at last degenerates into a pronenessto swoon, and even to die, on the least exertion of strength, or evenon the least motion. This disease is usually attended, also, by astrange dejection of spirits, with shiverings, tremblings, anda disposition to be seized with the most dreadful terrors on theslightest accident. Indeed it was most remarkable, in all ourreiterated experience of this malady, that whatever discouraged ourpeople, or at any time damped their hopes, never failed to add newvigour to the distemper, for such usually killed those who were in thelast stages of the disease, and confined those to their hammocks whowere before capable of some kind of duty, so that it seemed as ifalacrity of mind and sanguine hopes were no small preservatives fromits fatal malignity. 

But it is not easy to complete the long roll of the variousconcomitants of this disease; for it often produced putrid fevers, pleurisies, jaundice, and violent rheumatic pains, and sometimesoccasioned obstinate costiveness, which was generally attended with adifficulty of breathing, and this was esteemed the most deadly ofall the scorbutic symptoms. At other times the whole body, butmore especially the legs, were subject to ulcers of the worst kind, attended by rotten bones, and such a luxuriance of fungous flesh asyielded to no remedy. The most extraordinary circumstance, and whichwould scarcely be credible upon any single evidence, was, that thescars of wounds that had been healed for many years, were forced openagain by this virulent distemper. There was a remarkable instanceof this in the case of one of the invalid soldiers on board theCenturion, who had been wounded above fifty years before, at thebattle of the Boyne; and though he was cured soon after, and hadcontinued well for a great many years, yet, on being attacked by thescurvy, his wounds broke out afresh in the progress of the disease, and appeared as if they had never been healed. What is even still moreextraordinary, the callus of a broken bone, which had been completelyformed for a long time, was dissolved in the course of this disease, and the fracture seemed as if it had never been consolidated. Theeffects, indeed, of this disease, were in almost every instancewonderful, for many of our people, though confined to their hammocks, appeared to have no inconsiderable share of health, as they eat anddrank heartily, were even cheerful, talking with much seeming vigourwith a loud strong voice; and yet, on being in the least moved, thoughonly from one part of the ship to another, and that too in theirhammocks, they would instantly expire. Others, who have confidedin their seeming strength, and have resolved to get out of theirhammocks, have died before they could well reach the decks; neitherwas it uncommon for such as were able to walk the deck, and even toperform some kind of duty, to drop down dead in an instant, on anyattempt to act with their utmost effort; many of our people havingperished in this manner in the course of our voyage. 

We struggled under this terrible disease during the greatest part ofthe time of our beating round Cape Horn; and though it did not thenrage with its utmost violence, yet we buried no less than forty-threemen in the month of April, as formerly observed. We were still, however, in hopes of seeing a period to this cruel malady, and to allthe other evils which had so constantly pursued us, when we shouldhave secured our passage round the Cape: but we found, to ourheavy misfortune, that the (so-called) Pacific Ocean was to us lesshospitable even than the turbulent neighbourhood of Terra del Fuegoand Cape Horn. On the 8th of May, being arrived of the island ofSocoro, on the western coast of Patagonia, [in lat. 44° 50' S. Long. 73° 45' W. ] the first rendezvous appointed for the squadron, and wherewe hoped to have met with some of our consorts, we cruized for them inthat station several days. We were here not only disappointed inour expectations of meeting our friends, which induced the gloomyapprehensions of their having all perished, but were also perpetuallyalarmed with the fear of being driven on this coast, which appearedtoo craggy and irregular to give us the least prospect, in such acase, that any of us could possibly escape immediate destruction. Theland, indeed, had a most tremendous aspect. The most distant part, farwithin the country, being the mountains of the Andes, or Cordelieras, was extremely high, and covered with snow; while the coast seemedquite rocky and barren, and the edge of the water skirted withprecipices. In some places, indeed, we observed several deep baysrunning; into the land; but their entrances were generally blockedup by numbers of small islands; and though it was not improbable butthere might be convenient shelter in some of the bays, and properchannels leading to them, yet, as we were utterly ignorant of thecoast, had we been driven ashore by the westerly winds, which blewalmost incessantly we could not well have avoided the loss both of theship and of our lives. 

This continued peril which lasted above a fortnight, was greatlyaggraved by the difficulties we found in working the ship; as thescurvy, by this time, had destroyed so great a number of our hands, and had in some degree infected almost the whole crew. Neither didwe, as we hoped, find the winds less violent as we advanced to thenorthward; for we had often prodigious squalls of wind, which splitour sails, greatly damaged our rigging, and endangered our masts. Indeed, during much the greatest part of the time we were upon thiscoast, the wind blew so hard that, in any other situation where wehad sufficient sea-room, we should certainly have lain-to; but, in thepresent exigency, we were necessitated to carry both our courses andtop-sails, in order to keep clear of this lee-shore. In one of thesesqualls, which was attended by several violent claps of thunder, asudden flash of fire darted along our decks, which dividing, explodedwith a report like that of several pistols, and wounded many of ourmen and officers, marking them in different parts of their bodies. This flame was attended by a strong, sulphurous stench, and wasdoubtless of the same nature with the larger and more violent flashesof lightning which then filled the air. 

It were endless to recite minutely the various disasters, fatigues, and terrors, which we encountered on this coast, all of which wenton increasing till the 22d of May; at which time the fury of all thestorms we had hitherto encountered seemed to have combined for ourdestruction. In this hurricane almost all our sails were split, and agreat part of our standing rigging broken. About eight in the evening, an overgrown mountainous wave took us upon our star-board quarter, andgave us so prodigious a shock that several of our shrouds broke withthe jerk, to the great danger of our masts giving way, and our ballastand stores were so strangely shifted, that the ship heeled afterwardstwo streaks to port. This was a most tremendous blow, and we werethrown into the utmost consternation, having the dismal apprehensionof instantly foundering. Though the wind abated in a few hours, yet, having no sails left in a condition to bend to the yards, the shiplaboured exceedingly in a hollow sea, rolling gunwale too, for wantof sail to keep her steady, so that we every moment expected that ourmasts, now very slenderly supported, would have come by the board. Weexerted ourselves, however, the best we could, to stirrup our shrouds, to reeve new lanyards, and to mend our sails: But, while thesenecessary operations were going on, we ran great risk of being drivenashore on the island of Chiloe, which was not far from us. In themidst of our peril, the wind happily shifted to the southward, and westeered off the land with the main-sail only; at which time the masterand I undertook the management of the helm, while every one else, capable of acting, were busied in securing the masts, and bending thesails as fast as they could be repaired. This was the last effort ofthat stormy climate; for, in a day or two after, we got clear of theland, and found the weather more moderate than we had yet experiencedsince passing the Straits of Le Maire. 

Having now cruized in vain, for the other ships of the squadron, during more than a fortnight, it was resolved to take advantage ofthe present favourable weather, and the offing we had made from thisterrible coast, and to make the best of our way for the island ofJuan Fernandez. It is true that our next rendezvous was appointed offBaldivia; yet, as we had seen none of our companions at this firstrendezvous, it was not to be supposed that any of them would be foundat the second, and indeed we had the greatest reason to suspect thatall but ourselves had perished. Besides, we were now reduced to so lowa condition, that, instead of pretending to attack the settlementsof the enemy, our utmost hopes could only suggest the possibilityof saving the ship, and some part of the remaining crew, by a speedyarrival at Juan Fernandez; as that was the only place, in this part ofthe world, where there was any probability of recovering our sick orrefitting our ship, and consequently our getting thither was the onlychance we had left to avoid perishing at sea. 

Our deplorable situation allowing no room for deliberation, we stoodfor the island of Juan Fernandez; and, to save time, which was nowextremely precious, as our men were dying by four, five, and six ofa day, and likewise to avoid being again engaged on a lee shore, weresolved to endeavour to hit that island upon a meridian. On the 28thof May, being nearly in the parallel on which it is laid down, we hadgreat expectations of seeing that island; but, not finding it in theposition laid down in our charts, we began to fear that we had got toofar to the westward; and therefore, though the commodore was stronglypersuaded that he saw it in the morning of the 28th, yet his officersbelieving it to have been only a cloud, to which opinion thehaziness of the weather gave some countenance, it was resolved, onconsultation, to stand to the eastward in the parallel of the island;as, by this course, we should certainly fall in with the island, if wewere already to the westward of it, or should at least make the mainland of Chili, whence we could take a new departure, so as not to missit a second time in running to the westward. 

Accordingly, on the 30th May, we had sight of the continent of Chili, distant about twelve or thirteen leagues, the land appearing very lowand uneven, and quite white; what we saw being doubtless a part of theCordilleras, which are always covered with snow. Though by thisview of the land we ascertained our position, yet it gave us greatuneasiness to find that we had so needlessly altered our course, whenwe had been, in all probability, just upon the point of makingthe island: For the mortality among us was now increased to a mostfrightful degree, and those who remained were utterly dispirited bythis new disappointment, and the prospect of their longer continuanceat sea. Our water, too, began to grow scarce, and a general dejectionprevailed among us, which added much to the virulence of the disease, and destroyed numbers of our best men. To all these calamities, therewas added this vexatious circumstance, after getting sight of the mainland, that we were so much delayed by calms and contrary winds, whiletacking westwards in quest of the island, that it took us nine daysto regain the westing, which we ran down in two when standing to theeastward. 

In this desponding condition, and under these dishearteningcircumstances, we stood to the westward, with a crazy ship, a greatscarcity of fresh water, and a crew so universally diseased, thatthere were not above ten foremast men in a watch capable of doingduty, and even some of these lame and unable to go aloft. At last, atday-break on the 9th of June, we discovered the long-wished-for islandof Juan Fernandez. Owing to our suspecting ourselves to be to thewestward of this island on the 28th of May, and in consequence of thedelay occasioned by our standing in for the main and returning, welost between seventy and eighty of our men, whom we had doubtlesssaved, if we had made the island on that day, which we could nothave failed to do, if we had kept on our course only for a few hourslonger. 

SECTION XI. 

_Arrival of the Centurion at Juan Fernandez, with a Description ofthat Island. _

As mentioned in the preceding section, we descried the island ofJuan Fernandez at day-break on the 9th June, bearing N. By E. 1/2E. Distant eleven or twelve leagues. Though on this first view itappeared very mountainous, ragged, and irregular, yet it was land, and the land we sought for, and was therefore a most agreeable sight:because here only we could hope to put a period to those terriblecalamities with which we had so long struggled, which had alreadyswept away above half of our crew, and which, had we continued onlya few days longer at sea, must inevitably have completed ourdestruction. For we were now reduced to so helpless a condition, that, out of two hundred and odd men who remained alive, taking all ourwatches together, we could not muster hands now to work the ship onany emergency, even including the officers, the servants, and theboys. 

The wind being northerly when we first made the island, we kept plyingto windward all that day, and the ensuing night, in order to get inwith the land; and, while wearing ship in the middle watch, we had amelancholy instance of the almost incredible debility of our people;for the lieutenant could muster no more than two quarter-masters andsix foremast men capable of working; so that, without the assistanceof the officers, servants, and boys, it might have been impossible forus to have reached the island after we got sight of it; and evenwith their assistance, we were two hours in trimming the sails; to sowretched a condition were we reduced, in a sixty-gun ship, which hadpassed the Straits of Le Maire only three months before with betweenfour and five hundred men, most of them then in health and vigour. 

In the afternoon of the 10th, we got under the lee of the island, andkept ranging along its coast at the distance of about two miles, inorder to look out for the proper anchorage, which was described tobe in a bay on its north side. Being now so near the shore, we couldperceive that the broken craggy precipices, which had appeared sovery unpromising from a distance, were far from barren, being in mostplaces covered by woods; and that there were every where the finestvallies interspersed between them, cloathed with a most beautifulverdure, and watered by numerous streams and cascades, every valley ofany extent being provided with its own rill; and we afterwards foundthat the water was constantly clear, and not inferior to any we hadever met with. The aspect of a country thus beautifully diversifiedwould at any time have been extremely delightful; but, in ourdistressed situation, languishing as we were for the land and itsvegetable productions, an indication constantly attending every stageof the sea-scurvy, it is scarcely credible with what eagerness andtransport we viewed the shore, and with how much impatience we longedfor the greens and other refreshments which were in sight. We wereparticularly anxious for the water, as we had been confined to a verysparing allowance for a considerable time, and had then only fivetons remaining on board. Those only who have endured a long series ofthirst, and who can readily recall the desire and agitation whicheven the ideas alone of springs and brooks have at that time raisedin their minds, can judge of the emotion with which we viewed a largecascade of the purest water, which poured into the sea at a shortdistance from the ship, from a rock near a hundred feet high. Even those of the sick who were not in the very last stage of thedistemper, though they had been long confined to their hammocks, exerted their small remains of strength, and crawled up to the deck, to feast their eyes with this reviving prospect. 

We thus coasted along the island, fully occupied in contemplating thisenchanting landscape, which still improved as we proceeded. But atlast the night closed upon us, before we could determine upon theproper bay in which to anchor. It was resolved, therefore, to keep insoundings all night, having then from sixty-four to seventy fathoms, and to send our boat next morning to discover the road. The currentshifted, however, in the night, and set us so near the land that wewere obliged to let go our best bower in fifty-six fathoms, not halfa mile from shore. At four next morning, the cutter was dispatched, under our third-lieutenant, to find out the bay of which we were insearch. The boat returned at noon, full of seals and grass; for thoughthe island abounded with better vegetables, the boat's crew, duringtheir short stay, had not met any other, and thought even this wouldbe acceptable as a dainty, and indeed it was all speedily and eagerlydevoured. The seals, too, were considered as fresh provision, but werenot much admired, though they afterwards came into more repute; but wehad taken a prodigious quantity of excellent fish during the absenceof the boat, which rendered the seals less valuable at this time. 

The cutter had discovered the bay in which we intended to anchor, which was to the westward of our present station; and next morning, the weather proving favourable, we endeavoured to weigh, in order toproceed thither, mustering all the strength we could, obliging eventhe sick, who could hardly stand on their legs, to assist; yet thecapstan was so weakly manned, that it was near four hours before wecould heave the cable right up and down: after which, with our utmostefforts, though with many surges and some additional purchases toincrease our strength, we found it utterly impossible to start theanchor out of the ground. At noon, however, as a fresh gale blewtowards the bay, we were induced to set the sails, which fortunatelytripped the anchor. We then steered along shore, till we came abreastof the point forming the eastern part of the bay: But on opening thebay, the wind, which had hitherto favoured us, chanced to shift, andblew from the bay in squalls; yet, by means of the head-way we hadgot, we luffed close in, till the anchor, which still hung at our bow, brought us up in fifty-six fathoms. 

Soon after we had thus got to anchor in the mouth of the bay, wediscovered a sail making toward us, which we had no doubt was oneof our squadron, and which, on a nearer approach, we found to be theTryal sloop; whereupon, we immediately dispatched some of our handsto her assistance, by whose means she was brought to anchor betweenus and the land. We soon learnt that she had by no means been exemptedfrom the same calamities by which we had been so severely afflicted;for Captain Saunders, her commander, waiting on the commodore, informed him, that he had buried thirty-four men out of his smallcomplement, and those that remained alive were so universallyafflicted with the scurvy, that only himself, his lieutenant, andthree of the men were able to stand by the sails. 

It was on the 12th about noon that the Tryal came to anchor within us, when we carried our hawsers on board her, in order to warp our shipnearer the shore; but the wind coming off the land in violent gusts, prevented our mooring in the intended birth. Indeed our principalattention was now devoted to a business of rather more importance, aswe were now anxiously employed in sending on shore materials toerect tents for the reception of the sick, who died rapidly on board. Doubtless the distemper was considerably augmented by the stench andfilthiness in which they lay; for the number of the sick was so great, and so few of them could be spared from the necessary duty of thesails to look after them, that it was impossible to avoid a greatrelaxation in regard to cleanliness, so that the ship was extremelyloathsome between decks. Notwithstanding our desire to free the sickfrom their present hateful situation, and their own extreme eagernessto get on shore, we had not hands enough to prepare the tentsfor their reception sooner than the 16th; but on that and the twofollowing days we got them all on shore, to the number of an hundredand sixty-seven persons, besides twelve or fourteen who died in theboats on being exposed to the fresh air. The greatest part of our sickwere so infirm, that we had to carry them out of the ship in theirhammocks, and to convey them afterwards in the same manner fromthe water-side to the tents, over a stony beach. This was a work ofconsiderable fatigue to the few who remained healthy; and thereforeour commodore, according to his accustomed humanity, not onlyassisted in this himself, but obliged all his officers to give theirhelping-hand. 

The extreme weakness of our sick may be collected, in some measure, from the numbers that died after they got on shore. It has generallybeen found that the land, and the refreshments it affords, verysoon produce recovery in most stages of the scurvy, and we flatteredourselves that those who had not perished on their first exposure tothe open air, but had lived to be placed in the tents, would havebeen speedily restored to health and vigour. Yet to our greatmortification, it was nearly twenty days after they landed, beforethe mortality entirely ceased, and for the first ten or twelve days werarely buried less than six each day, and many of those who survivedrecovered by very slow and insensible degrees. Those, indeed, who hadsufficient strength, at their first getting on shore, to creep outof the tents, and to crawl about, were soon relieved, and speedilyrecovered their health and strength: But, in the rest, the diseaseseemed to have attained a degree of inveteracy altogether withoutexample. 

Before proceeding to any farther detail of our proceeding, I think itnecessary to give a distinct account of this island of Juan Fernandez, including its situation, productions, and conveniences. We were wellenabled to be minutely instructed in these particulars, during ourthree months stay at this island; and its advantages will merit acircumstantial description, as it is the only commodious place inthese seas, where British cruizers can refresh and recover their men, after passing round Caps Horn, and where they may remain for sometime without alarming the Spanish coast. Commodore Anson, indeed, wasparticularly industrious, in directing the roads and coasts of thisisland to be surveyed, and other observations of all kinds to be made;knowing, from his own experience, of how great benefit these materialsmight prove hereafter, to any British cruizers in these seas. For theuncertainty we were in of its position, and our standing in forthe main on the 28th May, as formerly related, cost us the lives ofbetween seventy and eighty of our men; from which fatal loss we mighthave been saved, had we possessed such an account of its situation aswe could have fully depended upon. 

The island of Juan Fernandez is in lat. 33° 40'S. [long. 77° 30'W. ] one hundred marine leagues or five degrees of longitude fromthe continent of Chili. It is said to have received its name from aSpaniard who formerly procured a grant of it, and resided there forsome time with the view of forming a settlement, but abandoned itafterwards. [1] On approaching its northern side from the east, itappears a large congeries of lofty peaked mountains, the shore inmost places being composed of high precipitous rocks, presenting threeseveral bays, East bay, Cumberland bay, and West bay, the second onlybeing of any extent, and is by far the best, in which we moored. Theisland itself is of an irregular triangular figure; one side of which, facing the N. E. Contains these three bays. Its greatest extent isbetween four and five leagues, and its greatest breadth somethingless than two. The only safe anchorage is on the N. E. Side, where, asalready mentioned, are the three bays; the middlemost of which, namedCumberland bay, is the widest and deepest, and in all respects by muchthe best; for the other two, named East and West bays, are scarcelymore than good landing places, where boats may conveniently put caskson shore for water. Cumberland bay is well secured to the southward, and is only exposed from the N. By W. To the E. By S. And as thenortherly winds seldom blow in that climate, and never with anyviolence, the danger from that quarter is not worth attending to. Thislast-mentioned bay is by far the most commodious road in the island, and it is advisable for all ships to anchor on its western side, within little more than two cables length of the beach, where they mayride in forty fathoms, and be sheltered, in a great measure, from alarge heavy sea which comes rolling in, whenever the wind blows fromeastern or western quarters. It is expedient, however, to _cackle_ orarm the cables with an iron chain, or with good rounding, for five orsix fathoms from the anchor, to secure them from being rubbed by thefoulness of the ground. [2]

[Footnote 1: In the original, the description given of this islandrefers to large engraved views, which could not be inserted in ouroctavo form, so as to be of the smallest utility. --E. ]

[Footnote 2: Cumberland bay is called _La Baya_ by the Spaniards, whoseem now to have established a fort here. East bay is by them called_Puerta de Juan Fernandez_. There is yet a fourth bay, or smallindentation of the coast, with a landing place and stream of water, named _Puerta Ingles_, or Sugar-loaf bay, between West bay and thenorth point of the island. --E. ]

I have already observed that a northerly wind, to which alone this bayis directly exposed, very seldom blew while we were there; and, as itwas then winter, such may be supposed less frequent in other seasons. In those few instances when the wind was in that quarter, it did notblow with any great force, which might be owing to the high lands, south of the bay, giving a check to its force; for we had reason tobelieve that it blew with considerable force a few leagues out atsea, since it sometimes drove a prodigious sea before it into the bay, during which we rode forecastle in. Though the northerly winds arenever to be apprehended in this bay, yet the southerly winds, whichgenerally prevail here, frequently blow off the land in violent gustsand squalls, which seldom lasted, however, longer than two orthree minutes. This seems to be owing to the high hills, in theneighbourhood of the bay, obstructing the southern gale; as the wind, collected by this means, at last forces its passage through the narrowvallies; which, like so many funnels, both facilitate its escape, and increase its violence. These frequent and sudden guests make itdifficult for a ship to work in with the wind offshore, or to keep aclear hawse, when anchored. 

The northern part of this island is composed of high craggy hills, many of them inaccessible, though generally covered with trees. Thesoil of this part is loose and shallow, so that very large trees inthe hills frequently perish for want of root, and are then easilyoverturned. This circumstance occasioned the death of one of our men, who, being on the hills in search of goats, caught hold of a treeupon a declivity to assist him in his ascent, and this giving way, herolled down the hill; and though, in his fall, he fastened on anothertree of considerable bulk, this also gave way, and he fell among therocks, where he was dashed to pieces. Mr Brett, also, having restedhis back against a tree, near as large about as himself, which grew ona slope, it gave way with him, and he fell to a considerable distance, though without receiving any injury. Our prisoners, whom, as willappear in the sequel, we afterwards brought to this island, remarkedthat the appearance of the hills in some parts resembled that of themountains in Chili where gold is found; so that it is not impossiblethat mines might be discovered here. In some places we observedseveral hills of a peculiar red earth, exceeding vermillion in colour, which perhaps, on examination, might prove useful for many purposes. The southern, or rather S. W. Part of the island, is widely differentfrom the rest; being destitute of trees, dry, stony, and very flat andlow, compared, with the hills on the northern part. This part ofthe island is never frequented by ships, being surrounded by a steepshore, and having little or no fresh water; besides which, it isexposed to the southerly winds, which generally blow here the wholeyear round, and with great violence in the antarctic winter. 

The trees, of which the woods in the northern part of the island arecomposed, are mostly aromatic, and of many different sorts. There arenone of them of a size to yield any considerable timber, except thosewe called myrtle-trees, which are the largest on the island, andsupplied us with all the timber we used; yet even these would notwork to a greater length than forty feet. The top of the myrtle iscircular, and as uniform and regular as if clipped round by art. Itbears an excrescence like moss on its bark, having the taste and smellof garlic, and was used instead of it by our people. We found herethe pimento, and the cabbage-tree, but in no great quantity. Besidesthese, there were a great number of plants of various kinds, whichwe were not botanists enough to describe or attend to. We foundhere, however, almost all the vegetables that are usually esteemedpeculiarly adapted to the cure of those scorbutic disorders which arecontracted by salt diet and long voyages, as we had great quantitiesof water-cresses and purslain, with excellent wild sorrel, and a vastprofusion of turnips and Sicilian radishes, which two last, having astrong resemblance to each other, were confounded by our people underthe general name of turnips. We usually preferred the tops of theturnips to the roots, which we generally found stringy, though someof them were free from that exception, and remarkably good. These vegetables, with the fish and flesh we got here, to be moreparticularly described hereafter, were not only exceedingly gratefulto our palates after the long course of salt diet to which we hadbeen confined, but were likewise of the most salutary consequence inrecovering and envigorating our sick, and of no mean service to us whowere well, by destroying the lurking seeds of the scurvy, from whichnone of us, perhaps, were totally exempted, and in refreshing andrestoring us to our wonted strength and activity. To the vegetablesalready mentioned, of which we made perpetual use, I must add that wefound many acres of ground covered with oats and clover. There weresome few cabbage-trees, as before observed, but these grew generallyon precipices and in dangerous situations, and as it was necessary tocut down a large tree to procure a single cabbage, we were rarely ableto indulge in this dainty. 

The excellence of the climate, and the looseness of the soil, rendersthis island extremely proper for all kinds of cultivation: for, ifthe ground be any where accidentally turned up, it becomes immediatelyovergrown with turnips and Sicilian radishes. Our commodore, therefore, having with him garden-seeds of all kinds, and stones ofdifferent kinds of fruits, sowed here lettuces, carrots, and othergarden-plants, and set in the woods great numbers of plumb, apricot, and peach-stones, for the better accommodation of our countrymen whomight hereafter touch at this island. These last have since thrivenmost remarkably, as has been since learnt by Mr Anson. For someSpanish gentlemen having been taken on their passage from Lima toSpain, and brought to England, having procured leave to wait upon him, to thank him for his generosity and humanity to his prisoners, someof whom were their relations, and foiling into discourse about histransactions in the South Seas, asked if he had not planted a greatnumber of fruit-stones on the island of Juan Fernandez, as their latenavigators had discovered there a great many peach and apricot trees, which, being fruits not observed there before, they supposed to havebeen produced from kernels set by him. 

This may suffice in general as to the soil and vegetable productionsof Juan Fernandez; but the face of the country, at least of itsnorthern part, is so extremely singular as to require a particularconsideration. I have already noticed the wild and inhospitableappearance of it to us at first sight, and the gradual improvementof its uncouth landscape as we drew nearer, till we were at lastcaptivated by the numerous beauties we discovered on landing. Duringour residence, we found the interior to fall no ways short of thesanguine prepossessions we at first entertained. For the woods, whichcovered most of even the steepest hills, were free from all bushes andunderwood, affording an easy passage through every part of them; andthe irregularities of the hills and precipices, in the northern partof the island, traced out, by their various combinations, a greatnumber of romantic vallies, most of which were pervaded by streamsof the purest water, which tumbled in beautiful cascades from rock torock, as the bottoms of the vallies happened to be broken into suddendescents by the course of the neighbouring hills. Some particularspots occurred in these vallies where the shade and fragrance of thecontiguous woods, the loftiness of the overhanging rocks, and thetransparency and frequent cascades of the streams, presented scenes ofsuch elegance and dignity, as would with difficulty be rivalled inany other part of the globe. Here, perhaps, the simple productions ofunassisted nature may be said to excel all the fictitious descriptionsof the most fertile imagination. 

The piece of ground which the commodore chose in which to pitch histent, was a small lawn on a gentle ascent, about half a mile fromthe sea. In front of the tent was a large avenue, opening through thewoods to the shore, and sloping with a gentle descent to the water, having a prospect of the bay and the ships at anchor. This lawn wasscreened behind by a wood of tall myrtle trees, sweeping round in acrescent form, like a theatre, the slope on which the wood grew risingmore rapidly than the open lawn, yet not so much but that the hillsand precipices of the interior towered considerably above the tops ofthe trees, and added greatly to the beauty and grandeur of the view. There were also two streams of water, pure as the finest crystal, which ran to the right and left of the tent within the distance of anhundred yards, and which, shaded by trees skirting either side of thelawn, completed the symmetry of the whole. 

It only now remains that we should mention the animals and provisionswhich we met with at this island. Former writers have related thatthis island abounded with vast numbers of goats, and their accountsare not to be questioned, as this place was the usual resort of thebuccaneers and privateers who used formerly to frequent these seas. There are two instances, one of a _musquito_ Indian, and the other ofAlexander Selkirk, a Scotsman, who were left here by their respectiveships, and lived alone upon the island for some years, and wereconsequently no strangers to its productions. Selkirk, who was herethe last, after a stay of between four and five years, was taken offby the Duke and Duchess privateers, of Bristol, as may be seen atlarge in the journal of their voyage. His manner of life, during hissolitude, was very remarkable in most particulars; but he relates onecircumstance, which was so strongly verified by our own experience, that it seems worthy of being mentioned. He tells us, as he oftencaught more goats than he had occasion for, that he sometimes markedtheir ears, and let them go. This was about thirty-two years beforeour arrival, yet it happened that the first goat killed by our peopleafter they landed, had its ears slit; whence we concluded that it haddoubtless been formerly caught by Selkirk. This was indeed an animalof a most venerable aspect, dignified with a most majestic beard, andbearing many other marks of great age. During our residence, wemet with others marked in the same manner, all the males beingdistinguished by exuberant beards, with every other characteristic ofextreme age. 

The great number of goats, which former writers describe as havingbeen found on this island, were very much diminished before ourarrival. For the Spaniards, aware of the advantages derived by thebuccaneers and pirates from the goats-flesh they here procured, have endeavoured to extirpate the breed, on purpose to deprive theirenemies of this resource. For this purpose, they put on shoregreat numbers of large dogs, which have greatly increased, and havedestroyed all the goats in the accessible pans of the country; sothat there were only, when we were there, a few among the crags andprecipices, where the dogs cannot follow them. These remaining goatsare divided into separate flocks, of twenty or thirty each, whichinhabit distinct fastnesses, and never mingle with each other, sothat we found it exceedingly difficult to kill them; yet we were sodesirous of their flesh, which we all agreed resembled venison, thatwe came, I believe, to the knowledge of all their haunts and flocks;and, by comparing their numbers, it was conceived that they scarcelyexceeded two hundred on the whole island. I once witnessed aremarkable contest between a flock of goats and a number of dogs. Going in our boat into the East bay, we perceived some dogs runningvery eagerly upon the foot, and willing to see what game they were inpursuit of, we rested some time on our oars to observe them, whenat last they took to a hill, on the ridge of which we saw a flockof goats drawn up for their reception. There was a very narrow pathleading to the ridge, skirted on each side by precipices; and herethe master he-goat of the flock posted himself fronting the enemy, therest of the goats being all behind him, on more open ground. As theridge was inaccessible by any other path, except where this championstood, though the dogs ran up the hill with great alacrity, yet, whenthey came within twenty yards, not daring to encounter him, as hewould infallibly have driven them down the precipice, they gave overthe chase, and lay down at that distance, panting at a great rate. 

These dogs, which are masters of all the accessible parts of theisland, are of various kinds, some of them very large, and havemultiplied to a prodigious degree. They sometimes came down to ourhabitations under night, and stole our provisions; and once or twicethey set upon single persons, but, assistance being at hand, they weredriven away, without doing any mischief. As it is now rare for anygoats to fall in their way, we conceived that they lived principallyon young seals; and some of our people, having the curiosity to killdogs sometimes, and dress them, seemed to agree that they had a fishytaste. 

Goats-flesh being scarce, as we were rarely able to kill above one ina day, and our people growing tired of fish, which abounded at thisplace, they at last condescended to eat seals, which they came bydegrees to relish, calling it _lamb_. As the seal, of which numbershaunt this island, has been often mentioned by former writers, itseems unnecessary to say any thing particular respecting that animalin this place. There is, however, another amphibious animal to be metwith here, called the _sea-lion_, having some resemblance to a seal, but much larger, which I conceive may merit a particular description. This too we eat, under the denomination of beef. When arrived at fullsize, the sea-lion is between twelve and twenty feet in length, andfrom eight to fifteen feet in circumference. They are extremely fat, so that, below the skin, which is an inch thick, there is at leasta foot deep of fat, before coming to the lean or bones, and weexperienced more than once, that the fat of some of the largestafforded us a butt of oil. They are also very full of blood; for, ifdeeply wounded in a dozen places, there will instantly gush out asmany fountains of blood, spouting to a considerable distance. To trywhat quantity of blood one of them might contain, we shot one first, and then cut its throat, measuring the blood which flowed, and foundthat we got at least two hogsheads, besides a considerable quantityremaining in the vessels of the animal. 

Their skins are covered with short hair of a light dun colour; buttheir tails and fins, which serve them for feet on shore, are almostblack. These fore-feet, or fins, are divided at the ends like fingers, the web which joins them not reaching to the extremities, and eachof these fingers is furnished with a nail. They have a distantresemblance to an overgrown seal; though in some particulars thereare manifest differences between these two animals, besides the vastdisproportion in size. The males especially are remarkably dissimilar, having a large snout, or trunk, hanging down five or six inches beyondthe extremity of the upper jaw, which renders the countenances of themale and female easily distinguishable from each other. One of thelargest of these males, who was master of a large flock of females, and drove off all the other males, got from our sailors the name ofthe bashaw, from that circumstance. These animals divide their timebetween the sea and the land, continuing at sea all summer, and comingon shore at the setting in of winter, during all which season theyreside on the land. In this interval they engender and bring forththeir young, having generally two at a birth, which are suckled by thedams, the young at first being as large as a full-grown seal. 

During the time they continue on shore, they feed on the grass andother plants which grow near the banks of fresh-water streams; and, when not employed in feeding, sleep in herds in the most miry placesthey can find. As they seem of a very lethargic disposition, and arenot easily awakened, each herd was observed to place some of theirmales at a distance, in the nature of centinels, who never failed toalarm them when any one attempted to molest, or even to approach them. The noise they make is very loud, and of different kinds; sometimesgrunting like hogs, and at other times snorting like horses in fullvigour. Especially the males have often furious battles, principallyabout their females; and we were one day extremely surprised at seeingtwo animals, which at first appeared quite different from any wehad before observed; but on a nearer approach, they proved to be twosea-lions, which had been goring each other with their teeth, andwere all covered over with blood. The bashaw, formerly mentioned, whogenerally lay surrounded by a seraglio of females, to which no othermale dared approach, had not acquired that envied pre-eminence withoutmany bloody contests, of which the marks remained in numerous scars inevery part of his body. 

We killed many of these animals for food, particularly for theirhearts and tongues, which we esteemed exceeding good eating, andpreferable even to those of bullocks. In general there was nodifficulty in killing them, as they are incapable either of flight orresistance, their motion being the most unwieldy that can be imagined, and all the time they are in motion, their blubber is agitatedin large waves under the skin. One day, a sailor being carelesslyemployed in skinning a young sea-lion, the female from whom he hadtaken it, came upon him unperceived, and getting his head into hermouth, scored his skull in notches with her teeth in many places, and wounded him so desperately that he died in a few days, though allpossible care was taken of him. [3]

[Footnote 3: There are two species of the seal tribe which havereceived the name of sea-lion; the phoca leonina, or bottle-nosedseal, which is that of the text; and the phoca jubata, or maned seal, which is the sea-lion of some other writers. These two species areremarkably distinguishable from each other, especially the moles: Thebottle-nosed seal having a trunk, snout, or long projection, on theupper jaw; while the male of the maned seal has his neck coveredwith a long flowing mane. The latter is also much larger, the malessometimes reaching twenty-five feet in length, and weighing fifteenor sixteen hundred weight. Their colour is reddish, and their voiceresembles the bellowing of bulls. The former are chiefly found in theSouthern Pacific; while the latter frequent the northern parts of thesame ocean. --E. ]

These are the principal animals which we found upon the island ofJuan Fernandez. We saw very few birds, and these were chiefly hawks, blackbirds, owls, and hummingbirds. We saw not the _paradela_, [4]which burrows in the ground, and which former writers mention to befound here; but as we often met with their holes, we supposed that thewild dogs had destroyed them, as they have almost done the cats; forthese were very numerous when Selkirk was here, though we did not seeabove two or three during our whole stay. The rats, however, stillkeep their ground, and continue here in great numbers, and were verytroublesome to us, by infesting our tents in the night. 

[Footnote 4: This name is inexplicable; but, from the context, appearsto refer to some animal of the cavia genus, resembling the rabbit:Besides, a small islet, a short way S. W. Of Juan Fernandez, is namedIsla de Conejos, or Rabbit Island. --E. ]

That which furnished us with the most delicious of our repasts, whileat this island, still remains to be described. This was the fish, withwhich the whole bay was most abundantly stored, and in the greatestvariety. We found here cod of prodigious size; and by the report ofsome of our crew, who had been formerly employed in the Newfoundlandfishery, not less plentiful than on the banks of that island. We hadalso cavallies, gropers, large breams, maids, silver-fish, congers ofa particular kind; and above all, a black fish which we esteemed most, called by some the chimney-sweeper, in shape somewhat resembling acarp. The beach, indeed, was every where so full of rocks and loosestones, that there was no possibility of hauling the seyne; but withhooks and lines we caught what numbers we pleased, so that a boat withonly two or three lines, would return loaded with fish in two orthree hours. The only interruption we ever met with arose from greatquantities of dog-fish and large sharks, which sometimes attended ourboats, and prevented our sport. 

Besides these fish, we found one other delicacy in greater perfection, both as to size, quantity, and flavour, than is to be met with perhapsin any other part of the world. This was sea craw-fish, usuallyweighing eight or nine pounds each, of a most excellent taste, andin such vast numbers near the edge of the water, that our boat-hooksoften struck into them in putting the boats to and from the shore. 

These are the most material articles relating to the accommodations, soil, vegetables, animals, and other productions of the island of JuanFernandez, by which it will distinctly appear how admirably this placewas adapted for recovering us from the deplorable situation to whichwe had been reduced by our tedious and unfortunate navigation roundCape Horn. Having thus given the reader some idea of the situation andcircumstances of this island, in which we resided for six months, Ishall now proceed to relate all that occurred to us in that period, resuming the narrative from the 18th of June, on which day the Tryalsloop, having been driven out by a squall three days before, cameagain to her moorings, on which day also we finished sending our sickon shore, being about eight days after our first anchoring at thisisland. 

SECTION XII. 

_Separate Arrivals of the Gloucester, and Anna Pink, at JuanFernandez, and Transactions at that Island during the Interval. _

The arrival of the Tryal sloop at this island, so soon after wecame there ourselves in the Centurion, gave us great hopes of beingspeedily joined by the rest of the squadron; and we were accordinglyfor some days continually looking out, in expectation of their comingin sight. After near a fortnight had elapsed without any of themappearing, we began to despair of ever meeting them again, knowing, ifour ship had continued so much longer at sea, that we should everyman of us have perished, and the vessel, occupied only by dead bodies, must have been left to the caprice of the winds and waves; and this wehad great reason to fear was the fate of our consorts, as every houradded to the probability of these desponding suggestions. But, on the21st of June, some of our people, from an eminence on shore, discerneda ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon. They could, at the same time, observe that she had no sails aboard, except hercourses and main-topsail. This circumstance made them conclude that itmust be one of our squadron, which had probably suffered as severelyin her sails and rigging as we had done. They were prevented, however, from forming more definite conjectures concerning her; for, afterviewing her a short time, the weather grew thick and hazy, and she wasno longer to be seen. 

On this report, and no ship appearing for some days, we were all underthe greatest concern, suspecting that her people must be under theutmost distress for want of water, and so weakened and diminished innumbers by sickness, as to be unable to ply up to windward, so that wedreaded, after having been in sight of the island, that her whole crewmight yet perish at sea. On the 21st, at noon, we again discerned aship at sea in the N. E. Quarter, which we conceived to be the samethat had been seen before, and our conjecture proved true. About oneo'clock she had come so near that we could plainly distinguish herto be the Gloucester; and as we had no doubt of her being in greatdistress, the commodore immediately ordered out his boat to ourassistance, laden with fresh water, fish, and vegetables, which wasa most comfortable relief to them; for our apprehensions of theircalamitous situation were only too well founded, as there neverwas, perhaps, a crew in greater distress. They had already throwntwo-thirds of their complement overboard; and of those who remainedalive, scarcely any were capable of doing duty, except the officersand their servants. They had been a considerable time at the smallallowance of a pint of water to each man in twenty-four hours, and yethad so very little left, that they must soon have died of thirst, hadit not been for the supply sent them by our commodore. 

The Gloucester plied up within three miles of the bay, but could notreach the road, both wind and currents being contrary. She continued, however, in the offing next day; and as she had no chance of beingable to come to anchor, the commodore repeated his assistance, sendingoff the Tryal's boat, manned with the people of the Centurion, with afarther supply of water, and other refreshments. Captain Mitchell ofthe Gloucester was under the necessity of detaining both this boat andthat sent the preceding day, as he had no longer strength to navigatehis ship without the aid of both their crews. The Gloucester continuednear a fortnight in this tantalizing situation, without being ableto fetch the road, though frequently making the attempt, and even attimes bidding fair to effect the object in view. On the 9th July, we observed her stretching away to the eastward, at a considerabledistance, which we supposed was with a design to get to the southwardof the island; but, as she did not again appear for near a week, wewere prodigiously alarmed for her safety, knowing that she must beagain in extreme distress for want of water. After great impatienceabout her, we again discovered her on the 16th, endeavouring to comeround the eastern point of the island, but the wind still blowingdirectly from the bay, prevented her from getting nearer than withinfour miles of the land. 

Captain Mitchell now made signals of distress, and our long-boat, wassent off with a good supply of water, and plenty of fish and otherrefreshments: And, as the long-boat could not be wanted, the cockswainhad positive orders from the commodore to return immediately. But nextday proving stormy, and the boat not appearing, we much feared she waslost, which would have been an irretrievable misfortune to us all. Wewere relieved, however, from this anxiety on the third day after, bythe joyful appearance of her sails on the water, on which the cutterwas sent to her assistance, and towed her alongside in a few hours, when we found that the long-boat had taken in six of the Gloucester'ssick men, to bring them on shore, two of whom had died in the boat. We now learnt that the Gloucester was in a most dreadful condition, having scarcely a man in health on board, except the few she hadreceived from us. Numbers of their sick were dying daily, and itappeared, had it not been for the last supply sent by our long-boat, that both the healthy and diseased must all have perished for wantof water. This calamitous situation was the more terrifying, as itappeared to be without remedy; for the Gloucester had already spent amonth in fruitless endeavours to fetch the bay, and was now no fartheradvanced than when she first made the island. The hopes of herpeople of ever succeeding were now worn out, by the experience ofits difficulty; and, indeed, her situation became that same day moredesperate than ever, as we again lost sight of her, after receivingour last supply of refreshments, so that we universally despaired ofher ever coming to anchor. 

Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about, within a few leagues ofher intended harbour, while the near neighbourhood of that place, andof these circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamitiesunder which her people laboured, served only to aggravate theirdistress, by torturing them with a view of the relief they were unableto reach. She was at length delivered from this dreadful situation ata time when we least expected it: For, after having lost sight of herfor several days, we were joyfully surprised, in the morning of the23d July, to see her open the N. W. Point of the bay with a flowingsail, when we immediately dispatched what boats we had to herassistance, and within an hour from our first perceiving her, sheanchored safe within us in the bay. 

We were now more particularly convinced of the importance of theassistance and refreshments we had repeatedly sent her, and howimpossible it must have been for a single man of her crew tohave survived, had we given less attention to their wants. For, notwithstanding the water, vegetables, and fresh provisions withwhich we had supplied them, and the hands we had sent to assist innavigating the ship, by which the fatigue of her own people had beengreatly diminished, their sick relieved, and the mortality abated;notwithstanding this provident care of our commodore, they yet buriedabove three-fourths of their crew, and a very small proportion of thesurvivors remained capable of assisting in the duty of the ship. Ongetting to anchor, our first care was to assist them in mooring, and the next to get their sick on shore. These were now reduced, bynumerous deaths, to less than fourscore, of which we expected thegreatest part to have died; but whether it was that those farthestadvanced in the cruel distemper had already perished, or that thevegetables and fresh provisions we had sent had prepared those whoremained alive for a more speedy recovery, it so happened, contrary toour fears, that their sick, in general, were relieved and restored tohealth in a much shorter time than our own had been when we first cameto the island, and very few of them died on shore. 

Having thus given an account of the principal events relating to thearrival of the Gloucester, in one continued narration, I shall onlyadd, that we were never joined by any other of our ships, except ourvictualler, the Anna pink, which came in about the middle of August, and whose history I shall defer for the present, as it is now hightime, to return to our own transactions, both on board and ashore, during the anxious interval of the Gloucester making frequent andineffectual attempts to reach the island. 

Our next employment, after sending our sick on shore from theCenturion, was cleansing our ship, and filling our water casks. Theformer of these measures was indispensably necessary to our futurehealth, as the number of our sick, and the unavoidable negligencearising from our deplorable situation at sea, had rendered the decksmost intolerably loathsome. The filling our water was also a cautionthat appeared essential to our security, as we had reason to apprehendthat accidents might intervene which would oblige us to quit theisland at a very short warning, as some appearances we had discoveredon shore, at our first landing, gave us grounds to believe that therewere Spanish cruizers in these seas, which had left the island only ashort time before our arrival, and might possibly return again, eitherfor a supply of water, or in search of us. For we could not doubt thatthe sole purpose they had at sea was to intercept us, and we knew thatthis island was the likeliest place, in their opinion, to meet withus. The circumstances which gave rise to these reflections, in partof which we were not mistaken, as will appear more at large hereafter, were our finding on shore several pieces of earthen jars, made useof in these seas for holding water and other liquids, which appearedfresh broken. We saw also many heaps of casks, near which were fishbones and pieces of fish, besides whole fish scattered here and there, which plainly appeared to have been only a short time out of thewater, as they were but just beginning to decay. 

These were infallible indications that there had been a ship orships at this place only a short time before our arrival; and, as allSpanish merchant ships are instructed to avoid this island, on accountof its being the common rendezvous of their enemies, we concluded thatthose which had touched here must have been ships of force; and, as weknew not that Pizarro had returned to the Rio Plata, and were ignorantwhat strength might have been fitted out at Calao, we were underconsiderable apprehensions for our safety, being in so wretched andenfeebled a condition, as, notwithstanding the rank of our ship, andthe sixty guns with which she was armed, there was hardly a privateersent to sea that was not an overmatch for us. Our fears on this head, however, fortunately proved imaginary, and we were not exposed to thedisgrace which must unavoidably have befallen us, had we been reducedto the necessity, by the appearance of an enemy, of fighting oursixty-gun ship with no more than thirty hands. 

While employed in cleaning our ship, and filling our water casks, weset up a large copper oven on shore, near the sick tents, in whichfresh bread was baked every day for the ship's company, as, beingextremely desirous of recovering our sick as soon as possible, webelieved that new bread, added to their green vegetables and freshfish, might prove powerfully conducive to their relief. Indeed, wehad all imaginable inducements to endeavour at augmenting our presentstrength, as every little accident, which to a full crew would havebeen insignificant, was extremely alarming in our present helplesscondition. Of this we had a troublesome instance, on the 30th of June, at five in the morning, when we were alarmed by a violent gust ofwind directly off shore, which instantly parted our small bower cable, about ten fathoms from the ring of the anchor. The ship at once swungoff to the best bower, which happily stood the violence of the jerk, and brought us up, with two cables on end, in eighty fathoms. 

At this time we had not above a dozen seamen in the ship, and wereapprehensive, if the squall continued, that we might be driven out tosea in this helpless condition. We sent, therefore, the boat on shore, to bring off all who were capable of acting; and the wind soon abatingof its fury, gave us an opportunity of receiving the boat back with areinforcement. With this additional strength, we went immediately towork, to have in what remained of the broken cable, which we suspectedto have received some injury from the ground before it parted, andaccordingly we found that seven fathoms and a half had been chaffedand rendered unserviceable. In the afternoon, we bent this cable tothe spare anchor, and got it over the bows. Next morning, the 1st ofJuly, being favoured by the wind in gentle breezes, we warped theship in again, and let go the anchor in forty-one fathoms; the easternpoint of the bay now bearing from us E. 1/2 S. The western point N. W. By W. And the bottom of the bay S. S. W. As before. We were, however, much concerned for the loss of our anchor, and swept frequently toendeavour its recovery; but the buoy having sunk at the instant whenthe cable parted, we could never find it again. 

As the month of July advanced, and some of our sick men were tolerablyrecovered, the strongest of them were set to cut down trees, andto split them into billets, while others, too weak for this work, undertook to carry the billets, by one at a time, to the waterside. This they performed, some by the help of crutches, and otherssupported by a single stick. We next set up the forge on shore, andemployed our smith, who was just capable of working, to repair ourchain-plates, and other broken and decayed iron-work. We began alsothe repair of our rigging; but as we had not enough of junk to makespun-yarn, we deferred the general overhaul in the daily hope of theGloucester arriving, which was known to have a great quantity of junkon board. That we might dispatch our refitting as fast as possible, we set up a large tent on the beach for the sail-makers, who wereemployed diligently in repairing our old sails and making new ones. These occupations, with cleansing and watering our ship, now prettywell completed, together with attending our sick, and the frequentrelief sent to the Gloucester, were the principal transactions of ourinfirm crew, till the arrival of the Gloucester at anchor in the bay. 

Captain Mitchell immediately waited on the commodore, whom heinformed, that, in his last absence, he had been forced as far asthe small island of _Masefuero_, nearly in the same latitude with thelarger island of Juan Fernandez, and thirty leagues farther W. That hehad endeavoured to send his boat on shore there for water, of which heobserved several streams; but the wind blew so strong upon the shore, and caused so great a surf, that it was impossible to get to land. The attempt, however, was not entirely useless, as the boat cameback loaded with fish. This island had been represented, by formernavigators, as a mere barren rock, but Captain Mitchell assured thecommodore, that it was almost every where covered with trees andverdure, and was nearly four miles in length. He believed also, that some small bay might possibly be found in it which might affordsufficient shelter to any ship desirous of procuring refreshments. 

As four ships of our squadron were still missing, this description ofMasefuero gave rise to a conjecture, that some of them might possiblyhave fallen in with that island, mistaking it for the true place ofrendezvous. This suspicion was the more reasonable, that we had nodraught of either island that could be relied upon; wherefore thecommodore resolved to send the Tryal sloop thither, as soon as shecould be made ready for sea, in order to examine all its creeks andbays, that it might be ascertained whether any of our missing shipswere there or not. For this purpose, some of our best hands were senton board the Tryal next morning, to overhaul and fix her rigging, and our long-boat was employed to complete her water; what stores andnecessaries she wanted, being immediately supplied from the Centurionand Gloucester. It was the 4th of August before the Tryal was inreadiness to sail. When, having weighed, it soon after fell calm, and the tide set her very near the eastern shore of the bay. CaptainSaunders immediately hung out lights, and fired several guns, toapprise us of his danger; upon which all the boats were sent to hisaid, which towed the sloop into the bay, where she anchored till nextmorning, and then proceeded with a fair breeze. 

We were now busily employed in examining and repairing our rigging, and that of the Gloucester; but, in stripping our fore-mast, we werealarmed by discovering that it was sprung just above the partnersof the upper deck. This spring was two inches in depth and twelve incircumference; but the carpenters, on inspection, gave it as theiropinion, that fishing it with two leaves of an anchor-stock wouldrender it as secure as ever. Besides this defect in our mast, we hadother difficulties in refitting, from the want of cordage and canvass;for, although we had taken to sea much greater quantities of both thanhad ever been done before, yet the continued bad weather we had metwith, after passing the straits of Le Maire, had occasioned so greata consumption of these stores, that we were reduced to great straits;as, after working up all our junk and old shrouds, to make twice laidcordage, we were at last reduced to the necessity to unlay a cable, towork up into running rigging; and, with all the canvass and remnantsof old sails, that could be mustered, we could only make up onecomplete suit. 

Towards the middle of August, our men being indifferently recovered, they were permitted to quit the sick tents, and to build separate hutsfor themselves; as it was imagined, by living apart, that they mightbe much cleanlier, and consequently likely to recover their strengththe sooner: But strict orders were given, at the same time, that theywere instantly to repair to the water-side, on the firing of agun from the ship. Their employment now on shore, was either theprocurement of refreshments, the cutting of wood, or the procurementof oil from the blubber of sea-lions. This oil served for severalpurposes; as burning in lamps, mixing with pitch to pay the sides ofour ships, or, when worked up with wood-ashes, to supply the place oftallow, of which we had none left, to give the ship boat-hose tops. Some of the men were also occupied in salting cod; for, having twoNewfoundland fishermen in the Centurion, the commodore set them towork in providing a considerable quantity of salted cod for sea-store;though very little of it was used, as it was afterwards thought to beequally productive of scurvy with any other kind of salted provisions. 

It has been before mentioned, that we set up a copper oven on shore, to bake bread for the sick: But it happened that the greatest part ofthe flour, for the use of the squadron, was on board the Anna pink. Itshould also have been mentioned, that the Tryal sloop informed us, onher arrival, that she had fallen in with our victualler, on the 9thof May, not far from the coast of Chili, and had kept company with herfor four days, when they were parted in a gale of wind. This gave ussome room to hope that she was safe, and might rejoin us: But, allJune and July having passed without any news of her, we gave her overfor lost; and the commodore, at the end of July, ordered all the shipson a short allowance of bread. Neither was it in bread alone that wefeared a deficiency: For, since our arrival at Juan Fernandez, it wasdiscovered that our former purser had neglected to take on board largequantities of several kinds of provisions, which the commodore hadexpressly ordered him to receive; so that the supposed loss of ourvictualler was, on all accounts, a most mortifying circumstance. 

About noon on Thursday the 16th of August, after we had given over allhopes of the Anna pink, a sail was espied in the northern quarter, onwhich a gun was immediately fired from the Centurion, to call off thepeople from the shore, who readily obeyed the summons, by repairingto the beach, where the boats waited to fetch them on board. Beingnow prepared for the reception of the ship in view, whether friend orenemy, we had various speculations respecting her, many supposing atfirst, that it was the Tryal sloop returning from the examination ofMasefuero. As she drew nearer, this opinion was confuted, by observingthat she had three masts, when other conjectures were eagerlycanvassed; some judging the vessel in sight to be the Severn andothers the Pearl, while several affirmed that she did not belong toour squadron. But, about three in the afternoon, all speculations wereended by the unanimous persuasion that it was our victualler, theAnna pink. And, though, this ship had fallen in with the island to thenorthward like the Gloucester, she yet had the good fortune to cometo anchor in the bay at five in the afternoon. Her arrival gave usall the utmost satisfaction, as the ship's companies were immediatelyrestored to their full allowance of bread, and we were now relievedfrom the apprehensions of our provisions falling short before we couldreach some friendly port, --a calamity, in these seas, of all othersthe most irretrievable. This was the last ship that joined us; and, as the dangers she encountered, and the good fortune she afterwardsexperienced, are worthy of a separate narration, I shall refer them, together with a short account of the other missing ships, to theensuing section. 

SECTION XIII. 

_Short Account of what befell the Anna Pink before she rejoined;with an Account of the Loss of the Wager, and the putting back of theSevern and Pearl. _

On the first recognition of the Anna pink, it seemed quite wonderfulto us how the crew of a vessel, which had thus come to the rendezvoustwo months after us, should be capable of working their ship inthe manner they did, and with so little appearance of debility anddistress. This difficulty, however, was soon solved after she cameto anchor; for we then found that she had been in harbour since themiddle of May, near a month before our arrival at Juan Fernandez, so that their sufferings, excepting the risk they had run of beingshipwrecked, were greatly short of what had been undergone by the restof the squadron. 

They fell in with the land on the 16th of May, in lat. 45° 15' S. Being then about four leagues from shore. On the first sight ofit, they wore ship and stood to the southward; but their fore-sailsplitting, and the wind being strong at W. S. W. They drove towards theshore. The captain, either unable to clear the land, or, as otherssay, resolved to keep the sea no longer, steered now for the coast, in order to look out for some shelter among the many islands whichappeared in sight, and had the good fortune to bring the ship toanchor to the eastward of the island of _Inchin_[1]. But, as they didnot run sufficiently near the east shore of that island, and had nothands enough to veer away the cable briskly, they were soon driven tothe eastwards, deepening their water from twenty-five to thirty-fivefathoms. Still continuing to drive, they next day, being the 17th May, let go their sheet anchor, which brought them up for a short time: buton the 18th they drove again, till they came into sixty-five fathoms;and, being now within a mile of the land, they expected every momentto be forced on shore in a place where the coast was so very high andsteep, that there was not the smallest prospect of saving the ship andcargo. As their boats were very leaky, and there was no appearance ofa landing place, the whole crew, consisting of sixteen men and boys, gave themselves up for lost, believing, if even any of them happenedto get on shore by some extraordinary chance, that they would bealmost certainly massacred by the savages; as these people, knowingno other Europeans except Spaniards, might be expected to treat allstrangers with the same cruelty which they have so often, and sosignally, exercised against their Spanish neighbours. 

[Footnote 1: The island of Inchin and the bay in which the Anna pinktook shelter is in lat. 46° 30' S. Long. 74° 30' in what is called thePeninsula de tres Montes, to the N. Of the Golfo de Penas. --E. ]

Under these terrifying circumstances, the Anna continued to drivetowards the rocks which formed the shore; and at last, when expectingevery instant to strike, they perceived a small opening in the land, which raised their hopes of safety. Wherefore, immediately cuttingaway their two anchors, they steered for this opening, which theyfound to be a narrow opening between an island and the main, which ledthem into a most excellent harbour; which, for its security againstall winds and swells, and the consequent smoothness of its water, mayperhaps vie with any in the known world: And this place beingscarcely two miles from the spot where they deemed their destructioninevitable, the horrors of shipwreck and immediate death, with whichthey had been so long and strongly possessed, vanished almost inan instant, giving place to the most joyous ideas of security, refreshment, and repose. 

In this harbour, discovered almost by miracle, the Anna came to anchorin twenty-five fathoms, with only a hawser and small anchor of aboutthree hundred weight. Here she continued for near two months, and herpeople, who were many of them ill of the scurvy, were soon restoredto perfect health by the fresh provisions, which they procured inabundance, and the excellent water which they found in plenty on theadjacent shore. As this place may prove of the greatest importance tofuture navigators forced upon this coast by the western winds, whichare almost perpetual in that part of the world, it may be proper togive the best account that could be collected of this port, as toits situation, conveniences, and productions, before continuing theadventures of the Anna pink. To facilitate, also, the knowledge ofthis place, to such as may be desirous hereafter of using it, thereis annexed a plan both of the harbour and the large bay before it, through which the Anna drifted. This plan, perhaps, may not be inall respects as accurate as could be wished, being composed from thememorandums and rude sketches of the master and surgeon, who were notthe most able draughtsmen; but, as the principal parts were laid downby their estimates of their distances from each other, in which kindof computation seamen are commonly very dextrous, the errors areprobably not very considerable. 

The latitude, which certainly is a very material point, was not veryaccurately ascertained, as the Anna had no observation either on theday she got there, or within a day of leaving the bay; but is supposedto be not very distant from 45° 30' S. [2] But the large extent ofthe bay, at the bottom of which the harbour is situated, renders thisuncertainty of the less importance. The island lying before this bay, called _Inchin_ by the Indians, is supposed to be one of the islandsnamed _Chonos_ by the Spanish accounts, and said to spread along allthis coast, [3] being inhabited by a barbarous people, famous for theirhatred to the Spaniards, and their cruelty to such of that nation ashave fallen into their hands. It is even possible that the land inwhich this harbour is situated may be one of these islands, while thecontinent may be considerably to the eastward. This harbour, besidesits depth of water and complete shelter, has two coves, where shipsmay very conveniently be hove down, as the water is constantly smooth. There are also several fine runs of excellent fresh water, which fallinto the harbour, some so conveniently situated that the casks maybe filled in the long-boat by means of a hose. The most remarkable ofthese is a stream in the N. E. Part of the harbour, being a fresh-waterriver, where the crew of the Anna caught a few mullets of excellentflavour, and they were persuaded that it would be found to have plentyof fish in the proper season, it being winter when they were there. 

[Footnote 2: This has already, on the authority of Arrowsmith, beenstated at 46° 30' S. ]

[Footnote 3: The gulf and archipelago of Chonos, or Guaytecas, one ofthe islands of which is Socora, or Guayteca, is considerably to theN. Of Inchin, between the peninsula de tres Montes and the island ofChiloe, the centre of that archipelago being in lat. 45° S. --E. ]

The principal refreshments of green vegetables met with at this portwere wild cellery, nettle-tops, and the like, which, after so longa continuance at sea, were highly acceptable. We got abundanceof shell-fish, as cockles and muscles of great size and deliciousflavour, with plenty of geese, shags, and penguins. Though in thedepth of winter the climate was by no means extremely rigorous, neither were the trees or the face of the country destitute ofverdure; whence it may be concluded, that many other kinds of freshprovisions would doubtless be found there in summer. Notwithstandingthe relations of the Spaniards respecting the violence and barbarityof the inhabitants, it does not appear that their numbers aresufficient to excite any apprehensions in the crew of a ship of anysize, or that their dispositions are by any means so mischievous ormerciless as has been represented. With all these advantages, thisplace is so far from the frontiers of the Spanish settlements, andso little known to the Spaniards themselves, that, with properprecautions, there is reason to believe a ship might remain herea long time undiscovered. It is also capable of being made a verydefensible port; as, by possessing the island that closes tip theport or inner harbour, which island is only accessible in a very fewplaces, a small force might easily secure this port against all theforce which the Spaniards could muster in that part of the world. Forthis island is so steep towards the harbour, having six fathoms closeto the shore, that the Anna anchored within forty yards of its coast;whence it is obvious how difficult it would prove, either to boardor cut out any vessel protected by a force posted on shore withinpistol-shot, and where those thus posted could not be themselvesattacked. All these circumstances seem to render this port worthy ofa more accurate examination; and it is to be hoped that this rudeattempt to suggest, may hereafter recommend it to the considerationof the public, and the attention of those who are more immediatelyentrusted with the conduct of our naval affairs. 

After this account of the place where the Anna lay for two months, itmay be expected that I should relate the discoveries made by her crewupon the adjacent coast, and the principal incidents that occurredduring their stay here. But, as they were only a few in number, theydurst not venture to detach any of their people on distant searches, being under continual apprehensions of being attacked either by theSpaniards or Indians, so that their excursions were generally confinedto the tract of land surrounding the port, where they were never outof view of the ship: Even if they had known from the first how littlegrounds there were for these fears, yet the neighbouring countrywas so overgrown with wood, and so traversed by mountains, thatit appeared impracticable to penetrate to any distance, so that noaccount of the interior could be expected. They were, however, in acondition to disprove the relations given by Spanish writers, who haverepresented this coast as inhabited by a fierce and powerful people, as no such inhabitants were to be found, at least in the winterseason; for, during the whole time of their continuance here, theynever saw any more than one small Indian family, which came into theharbour in a periagua, or canoe, about a month after the arrival ofthe Anna, and consisted only of one Indian man, near forty years ofage, his wife, and two children, one about three years of age, andthe other still on the breast. They seemed to have with them all theirproperty, consisting of a dog and cat, a fishing net, a hatchet, aknife, a cradle, some bark of trees, intended for covering a hut, areel with some worsted, a flint and steel, and a few roots of a yellowhue, and very disagreeable taste, which served them for bread. 

As soon as these were perceived, the master of the Anna sent his yawland brought them on board; and, lest they might discover him to theSpaniards if permitted to go away, he took proper precautions, as heconceived, for securing them, but without violence or ill usage, asthey were permitted to go about the ship where they pleased in the daytime, but were locked up in the forecastle at night. As they were fedin the same manner with the crew, and were often indulged with brandy, which they seemed greatly to relish, it did not appear at first thatthey were much dissatisfied with their situation. The master tookthe Indian on shore when he went to shoot, and he seemed always muchdelighted on seeing the game killed. The crew also treated them withgreat humanity; but it was soon apparent, though the woman continuedeasy and cheerful, that the man grew pensive and discontented at hisconfinement. He seemed to have good natural parts, and though utterlyunable to converse with our people otherwise than by signs, was yetvery curious and inquisitive, and showed great dexterity in his mannerof making himself understood. Seeing so few people on board so largea ship, he seemed to express his opinion that they had once been morenumerous, and, by way of representing what he imagined had become oftheir companions, he laid himself on the deck, closing his eyes, andstretching himself out motionless, as if to imitate the appearance ofa dead body. 

The strongest proof of his sagacity was the manner of his gettingaway. After having been on board the Anna for eight days, the scuttleof the forecastle, where he and his family were locked up every night, happened to be left unnailed, and on the following night, whichwas extremely dark and stormy, he contrived to convey his wife andchildren through the scuttle, and then over the ship's side into theyawl, and immediately rowed on shore, using the precaution to cutaway the long-boat and his own periagua, which were towing astern, toprevent being pursued. He conducted all this with so much silenceand secrecy, that, though there was a watch on the quarter-deck withloaded arms, he was not discovered by them till the noise of his oarsin the water gave notice of his escape, after he had put off from theship, when it was too late either to prevent or pursue him. Besides, as their boats were all adrift, it was some time before they couldcontrive the means of getting on shore to search for their boats. Bythis effort, besides regaining his liberty, the Indian was in somemeasure revenged on those who had confined him, both by the perplexitythey were in for the loss of their boats, and by the terror occasionedby his departure; for, on the first alarm of the watch, who cried, "The Indians, " the whole crew were in the utmost confusion, believingthat the ship had been boarded by a whole fleet of armed canoes. 

Had the resolution and sagacity with which this Indian behaved onthis occasion, been exerted on a more extensive object, it might haveimmortalized the exploit, and given him a rank among the illustriousnames of antiquity. The people of the Anna, indeed, allowed that itwas a most gallant enterprise, and were grieved at having thus beenunder the necessity, from attention to their own safety, to abridgethe liberty of one who had now given so distinguished a proof ofcourage and prudence. As he was supposed still to continue in thewoods near the port, where he might suffer for want of provisions, they easily prevailed on the master to leave a quantity of such foodas they thought would be most agreeable to him in a place where hewas likely to find it, and there was reason to believe this was notaltogether without its use, for, on visiting the place afterwards, theprovisions were gone, and in a manner that made them conclude they hadfallen into his hands. 

Although many of the crew of the Anna believed that this Indian stillcontinued in the neighbourhood, there were some who strongly suspectedhe might have gone off to the island of Chiloe, where they fearedhe would alarm the Spaniards, and would soon return with a forcesufficient to surprise or overpower the Anna. The master was thereforeprevailed upon to discontinue firing the evening gun, and there is aparticular reason for attending to this circumstance, to be explainedhereafter; for he had hitherto, from an ostentatious imitation ofthe men-of-war, fired a gun every evening at setting the night watch. This, as he pretended, was to awe the enemy, if there were any withinhearing, and to convince them that his ship was always on herguard. The crew being now well refreshed, and their wood and watersufficiently replenished, he put to sea a few days after the escapeof the Indian, and had a fortunate passage to the rendezvous atJuan Fernandez, where he arrived on the 16th of August, as alreadymentioned. 

The remaining ships of the squadron, none of which rejoined thecommodore, were the Severn, Pearl, and Wager, of the fate of whichit may be proper to make mention. The Severn and Pearl parted companyfrom the commodore off Cape Voir; and, as we afterwards learnt, putback to Brazil. The Wager had on board a few field-pieces, and somecoehorn-mortars, mounted for land service, with several kinds ofartillery stores and pioneers tools, intended for operations on shore. And, as an enterprise had been planned against Baldivia, for the firstoperation of the squadron, Captain Cheap was extremely solicitousthat these articles might be forthcoming, and determined to use hisendeavours for that purpose, that no delay or disappointment mightbe imputed to him, not knowing the state the squadron was reducedto. While making the best of his way, with these views, to the firstappointed rendezvous, off Socoro, whence he proposed to proceedfor Baldivia, the Wager made the land on the 14th of May, about thelatitude of 47° S. And while Captain Cheap was exerting himself inorder to get clear of the land, he had the misfortune to fall down theafter-ladder, by which he dislocated his shoulder, and was renderedincapable of acting. This accident, together with the crazy conditionof the ship, which was little better than a wreck, prevented her fromgetting off to sea, and entangled her more and more with the land;insomuch, that at day-break next morning, the 15th May, she struck ona sunken rock, and soon afterwards bilged, and grounded between twosmall islands, about musket-shot from the shore. 

In this situation the ship continued entire a long time, so that allthe crew might have got safe on shore. But a general confusion ensued;many of them, instead of consulting their safety, or reflectingon their calamitous condition, fell to pillaging the ship, armingthemselves with the first weapons that came to hand, and threateningto murder all who should oppose their proceedings. This frenzy wasgreatly heightened by the liquors they found on board, with which theymade themselves so excessively intoxicated, that some fell down intothe hold, where they were drowned, as the water flowed into the wreck. Having done his utmost, ineffectually, to get the whole crew on shore, the captain was at last obliged to leave the mutineers behind, and tofollow his officers on shore, with such few men as he could prevailupon to accompany him; but did not fail to send back the boats, with amessage to those who remained, entreating them to have some regard totheir own preservation. All his efforts, however, were for some timein vain; but next day, the weather proving stormy, and there beinggreat danger of the ship going to pieces, the refractory part of thecrew began to be afraid of perishing, and were desirous of getting toland; and, in their madness, as the boat did not come to fetch themoff so soon as they wished, they pointed a four-pounder from thequarter-deck, against the hut in which the captain resided on shore, and fired two shots, which passed just over its roof. 

From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew, some ideamay be formed of the disorder and anarchy which prevailed when they atlength got all on shore. For the men conceived that the authority oftheir officers was at an end, in consequence of the loss of the ship;and, as they were now upon an inhospitable coast, where scarcely anyother provisions could be got beyond what could be saved from thewreck, this was another insurmountable source of discord: for theworking upon the wreck, and securing the provisions on shore, so thatthey might be preserved as much as possible for future exigencies, and that they might be sparingly and equally distributed for presentsubsistence, were matters, however important, that could not bebrought about unless by means of discipline and subordination. At thesame time, the mutinous disposition of the people, stimulated by theimmediate impulses of hunger, rendered every regulation attempted forthese indispensable purposes, quite unavailing; so that there werecontinual frauds, concealments, and thefts, which animated every oneagainst his neighbour, and produced infinite contentions and perpetualquarrels. Hence a perverse and malevolent disposition was constantlykept up among them, which rendered them utterly ungovernable. 

Besides these heart-burnings, occasioned by petulance and hunger, there was another important point which set the greatest part of thepeople at variance with the captain. This was their difference inopinion from him, on the measures proper to be pursued on the presentemergency; for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit outthe boats in the best manner he could, and to proceed with them tothe northward, as, having above two hundred men in health, and havingsaved some fire-arms and ammunition from the wreck, he had no doubtof being able to master any Spanish, vessel they might fall in with inthese seas, and he thought that he could not fail of meeting with onein the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when taken, he proposed to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandez. He alsoinsisted, should they even meet with no prize by the way, that theboats alone could easily carry them to Juan Fernandez. But thisscheme, however prudent and practicable, was by no means relished bythe generality of the people; for, quite jaded and disgusted with thefatigues, dangers, and distresses they had already encountered, theycould not be persuaded to prosecute an enterprize which had hithertoproved so disastrous. The common resolution, therefore, was tolengthen the long-boat, and, with her and the other boats, to steer tothe southwards, to pass through the Straits of Magellan, and to rangealong the eastern coast of South America, till they came to Brazil, where they had no doubt of being well received, and procuring apassage to Britain. 

This project was evidently a vast deal more tedious, and infinitelymore hazardous, than that proposed by the captain; but, as it had theair of returning home, and flattered them with the hope of gettingonce more to their native country, that circumstance rendered themblind to all its inconveniences, and made them adhere to it withinsurmountable obstinacy. The captain was therefore obliged to giveway to the torrent, though he never changed his opinion, and had, inappearance, to acquiesce in this resolution, though he gave it allthe obstruction he could, particularly in regard to lengthening thelong-boat, which he contrived should be of such a size, as, thoughit might carry them to Juan Fernandez, he yet hoped might appearincapable of so long a navigation as that to the coast of Brazil. But the captain, by his steady opposition at first to this favouriteproject, had much embittered the people against him, to which, also, the following unhappy accident greatly contributed. 

A midshipman, named Cozens, had appeared the foremost in all therefractory proceedings of the crew, had involved himself in brawlswith most of the officers who had adhered to the authority of thecaptain, and had even treated the captain himself with much insolenceand abuse. As his turbulence and brutality grew every day more andmore intolerable, it was not in the least doubted that some violentmeasures were in agitation, in which Cozens was engaged as theringleader; for which reason the captain, and those about him, constantly kept themselves on their guard. One day the purser havingstopped, by order of the captain, the allowance of a fellow whowould not work, Cozens, though the man had not complained to him, intermeddled in the affair with great bitterness, and grossly insultedthe purser, who was then delivering out the provisions close by thecaptain's tent, and was himself sufficiently violent. Enraged by hisscurrility, and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, the purser criedout, _A mutiny_; adding, _the dog has pistols_, and then immediatelyfired himself a pistol at Cozens, but missed him. On hearing thisoutcry, and the report of the pistol, the captain rushed out fromhis tent, and not doubting that it had been fired by Cozens as thecommencement of a mutiny, immediately shot him in the head withoutfarther enquiry. Though he did not die on the spot, the wound provedmortal in about a fortnight. 

Though this accident was sufficiently displeasing to the people, ityet awed them for a considerable time to their duty, and rendered themmore submissive to the authority of the captain. But at last, towardsthe middle of October, when, the long-boat was finished, and they werepreparing to put to sea, the additional provocation given them, bycovertly traversing their project of proceeding through the Straits ofMagellan, and their fears that he might at length engage a sufficientparty to overturn this favourite measure, made them resolve to takeadvantage of the death of Cozens as a reason for depriving him of hiscommand, under pretence of carrying him a prisoner to England to betried for murder, and he was accordingly confined under a guard. Yetthey never meant to carry him with them, as they too well knew whatthey might expect on their return to England, if their commandershould be present to confront them; and therefore, when just ready todepart, they set him at liberty, leaving him, and the few who chose totake their fortunes along with him, no other embarkation but the yawl, to which the barge was afterwards added, by the people on board herbeing prevailed upon to turn back. 

When the ship was wrecked, there were about one hundred and thirtypersons alive on board; above thirty of whom died on the place wherethey landed, and nearly eight went off in the long-boat and cutterto the southward; after whose departure, there remained no more thannineteen persons along with the captain, which were as many, however, as the barge and yawl could well carry, these being the onlyembarkations left them. It was on the 13th of October, five monthsafter the shipwreck, that the long-boat, converted into a schooner, weighed and sailed to the southwards, giving three cheers at theirdeparture to the captain and Lieutenant Hamilton of the land-forces, and the surgeon, who were then standing on the beach. On the 29th ofJanuary, 1742, they arrived at Rio Grande, on the coast of Brazil;but having, by various accidents, left about twenty of their people onshore at the different places where they touched, and a still greaternumber having perished of famine in the course of their navigation, there were not more than thirty of them remaining, when they arrivedat that port. This undertaking was certainly most extraordinary initself; for, not to mention the great length of the voyage, the vesselwas scarcely able to contain the number that first put to sea in her;and their stock of provisions, being only what they saved from theship, diminished by five months expenditure on shore, was extremelyslender. They had also this additional misfortune, that the cutter, the only boat they had along with them, broke loose from their stern, and was staved to pieces, so that, when their provisions and waterfailed, they had frequently no means of getting on shore in search ofa supply. 

The captain and those who remained with him, now proposed to proceedto the northward in the barge and yawl; but the weather was so bad, and the difficulty of subsisting so great, that it was two monthsafter the departure of the long boat, before they were able to put tosea. It seems that the place where the Wager was lost, was not apart of the continent, but an island at some distance from the main, affording no other sort of provisions besides shell-fish, and a fewherbs; and, as the greatest part of what they had saved out of thewreck had been carried off in the long-boat, the captain and hispeople were often in extreme want of food, especially as they choseto preserve what little remained to them of the ship's provisions, toserve them as sea-store, when they should proceed to the northward. During their residence at this place, which was called Wager Islandby the seamen, they were now and then visited by a straggling canoe ortwo of Indians, who came and bartered their fish and other provisionswith our people. This was some little relief to their necessities, and might perhaps have been greater at another season; for there wereseveral Indian huts on the shore, whence it was supposed that, in someyears, many of these savages might resort thither in the height ofsummer, to catch fish. Indeed, from what has been related in theaccount of the Anna pink, it would seem to be the general practice ofthese Indians, to frequent this coast in the summer season, for thepurpose of fishing, and to retire more to the northwards in winter, into a better climate. 

It is worthy of remark, how much it is to be lamented that the peopleof the Wager had no knowledge of the Anna pink being so near them onthe coast;[4] for, as she was not above thirty leagues from them atthe most, and came into that neighbourhood about the same time thatthe Wager was lost, and was a fine roomy ship, she could easily havetaken them all on board, and have carried them to Juan Fernandez. Indeed, I suspect that she was still nearer them than is hereestimated; for, at different times, several of the people belonging tothe Wager heard the report of a cannon, which could be no otherthan the evening gun fired by the Anna, as formerly mentioned, moreespecially as the gun heard at Wager Island was at that time of theday. 

[Footnote 4: Inchin island, where the Anna pink lay, has been formerlystated to be in lat. 46° 30' S. The supposed latitude in which theWager was lost, stated in the text at 47° S. Is only _ten_ marineleagues to the southward, instead of _thirty_, and must thereforehave been on some one of the islands toward the southern coast of thepeninsula de Tres Montes, on the north of the Golfo de Penas. --E. ]

Captain Cheap and his people embarked in the barge and yawl, on the14th of December, in order to proceed to the northward, taking onboard along with them all the provisions they could gather from thewreck of the ship; but they had scarcely been an hour at sea, when thewind began to blow hard, and the sea to run so high, that they wereobliged to throw the greatest part of their provisions overboard, toavoid immediate destruction. This was a terrible misfortune, in a partof the world where food was so difficult to be got; yet they persistedin their design, going on shore as often as they could, in searchof subsistence. About a fortnight after their departure from Wagerisland, another dreadful accident befel them, as the yawl sunk atan anchor, and one of her hands was drowned; and, as the barge wasincapable of carrying the whole company, they were reduced to the hardnecessity of leaving four marines behind them, on that desolatecoast. They still, however, kept their course to the northward; thoughgreatly delayed by cross winds, and by the frequent interruptionsoccasioned by the necessity of searching for food on shore, andconstantly struggling with a series of the most sinister events. Atlength, about the end of January, 1742, having made three unsuccessfulattempts to double a head-land, which they supposed to be that calledCape _Tres Montes_ by the Spaniards, and finding the difficultyinsurmountable, they unanimously resolved to return to Wager Island, which they effected about the middle of February, quite disheartenedand desponding, through their reiterated disappointments, and almostperishing with hunger and fatigue. 

On their return, they had the good fortune to fall in with severalpieces of beef, swimming in the sea, which had been washed out ofthe wreck, which afforded them a most seasonable relief, after thehardships they had endured. To complete their good fortune, there cameshortly afterwards to the place two canoes with Indians, among whomthere happened to be a native of Chiloe, who spoke a little Spanish. The surgeon who accompanied Captain Cheap understood that language, and made a bargain with the Chiloe Indian, that, if he would carry thecaptain and his people in the barge to Chiloe, he should have her andall her furniture for his reward. Accordingly, on the 6th of March, the eleven persons, to which the company was now reduced, embarkedagain in the barge on this new expedition. After having proceededa few days, the captain and four of his principal officers being onshore, the six, who remained in the barge along with an Indian, shovedher off and put to sea, and never returned again. 

Captain Cheap, together with Mr Hamilton, lieutenant of marines, thehonourable Mr Byron and Mr Campbell, midshipmen, and Mr Elliot, thesurgeon, were thus left on shore in the most deplorable situationimaginable. It might be thought that their distresses, long beforethis time, were hardly capable of being increased: Yet they foundtheir present situation much more dismaying than any thing they hadhitherto experienced; being left on a desert coast, far from thehaunts of men, without provisions, or the means of procuring any, andwith no visible prospect of relief; for their arms and ammunition, andevery convenience that had hitherto remained to them, except the fewtattered garments they had on, were all carried away in the barge. While revolving the various circumstances of this new and unlooked-forcalamity, and sadly persuaded that they had no possible relief to hopefor, they perceived a canoe at a distance, which proved to be thatbelonging to the Indian of Chiloe, who had undertaken to convey themto that island. He it seems had left Captain Cheap and his people, only a little before, to go a fishing in his canoe, accompanied by hisfamily, leaving the barge in the mean time under the care of the otherIndian, whom the sailors had carried with them to sea. When he cameon shore, and found the barge and his companion gone, he was muchconcerned, and was with difficulty persuaded that his companion hadnot been murdered; yet, being at last satisfied with the account thatwas given him by Mr Elliot, he still undertook to carry them to theSpanish settlements, and, being well skilled in fishing and fowling, he undertook also to provide them in provisions by the way. 

About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and his four remainingcompanions set out for Chiloe; their Indian conductor having providedseveral canoes, and gathered many of his countrymen together for thatpurpose. Mr Elliot, the surgeon, soon afterwards died, so that therenow only remained four of the whole company. At last, after a verycomplicated passage, partly by sea and partly by land, Captain Cheap, Mr Byron, and Mr Campbell, arrived at the island of Chiloe, where theywere received by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account ofsome quarrel among the Indians, Mr Hamilton did not get there till twomonths later. It was thus above a twelvemonth, from the loss of theWager, before this fatiguing peregrination terminated. The four whonow remained were brought so extremely low, by their fatigues andprivations, that in all probability none of them would have survived, had their distresses continued only a few days longer. The captain waswith difficulty recovered; and the rest were so reduced by labour, theseverity of the weather, scantiness of food, and want of all kinds ofnecessaries, that it was wonderful how they had supported themselvesso long. 

After some stay at Chiloe, the captain and the other three who werewith him, were sent to Valparaiso, and thence to St Jago, the capitalof Chili, where they continued above a year, and where they werejoined by Mr Hamilton. News arriving that a cartel had been settledbetween Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr Byron, and MrHamilton, were permitted to return to Europe in a French ship. MrCampbell, the other midshipman, having changed his religion while atSt Jago, chose to go from thence to Buenos Ayres along with Pizarroand his officers, overland, and went with them afterwards to Spain inthe Asia: But failing in his endeavours to procure a commission fromthe court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted in vain toget reinstated in the British navy. He has since published a narrationof his adventures in which he complains of the injustice that hasbeen done him and strongly disavows having ever been in the Spanishservice: but, as the change of his religion and his offering himselfto the court of Spain, though he was not accepted, are matters whichhe must be conscious can be incontestably proved, he has been entirelysilent on these two heads. [5]

[Footnote 5: The circumstances connected with the loss of the Wager, and of the separation of the Severn and the Pearl, will be given moreat large, by way of supplement to the circumnavigation. The incidentswhich occur to bold and unfortunate navigators are certainly curiousand interesting; but the author of Anson's Voyage seems to haveforgotten, that the circumstances respecting the countries theyvisited, especially such of these which are so little known, are ofinfinitely greater utility. --E. ]

SECTION XIV. 

_Conclusion of Proceedings at Juan Fernandez, from the Arrival of theAnna Pink, to our final Departure from thence. _

About a week after the arrival of the Anna pink, the Tryal sloop, which had been sent to examine the island of Masefuero, returned toan anchor at Juan Fernandez, having gone entirely round that island, without seeing any one of our squadron. As, on this occasion, theisland of Masefuero was more particularly examined, I have no doubt, than it had ever been before, or perhaps ever may be again, and as theknowledge of it may be of great consequence hereafter, under peculiarcircumstances, I think it incumbent to insert the accounts given of itby the officers of the Tryal. 

The Spaniards have generally mentioned two islands, under the same ofJuan Fernandez, naming them the greater and the less;[1] the greaterbeing that island, where we anchored, and the less that we arenow about to describe; which, because it is more distant from thecontinent, they call Masefuero. The Tryal found that it bore from thegreater Juan Fernandez, W. By S. About twenty-two leagues distant. It is much larger and better than has been usually represented, beingreported by former writers as a small barren rock, destitute of woodand water, and altogether inaccessible. Whereas our people found thatit was covered with trees, and that there were several fine fallsof water pouring down its sides into the sea. They found, also, thatthere is a place on its north side, where a ship might come to ananchor, though indeed the anchorage be inconvenient; for the bank issteep, and extends only a little way, and has very deep water, sothat she must anchor very near the shore, and be there exposed to allwinds, except those from the southward. Besides the inconvenienceof the anchorage, there is also a reef of rocks, about two miles inlength, running off the eastern point of the island, though these arelittle to be feared, because always to be seen, by the sea breakingover them. This island has at present one advantage beyond JuanFernandez, as it abounds in goats; and as these are not accustomed tobe disturbed, they were no way shy till they had been frequently firedat. These animals reside here in great tranquillity, as the Spaniards, not thinking this island sufficiently considerable to be frequented bytheir enemies, have not been solicitous to destroy the provisionsit contains, so that no dogs have hitherto been put on shore there. Besides goats, the people of the Tryal found there vast numbers ofseals and sea lions; and upon the whole, though they did not considerit as the most eligible place for ships to refresh at, yet, in caseof necessity, it might afford some sort of shelter, and prove ofconsiderable use, especially to a single ship, apprehensive of meetingan enemy at Juan Fernandez. 

[Footnote 1: They also distinguish the greater by the name of Isla deTierra, as being nearer the main land of Chili. There is yet a thirdand smallest island, a little way from the S. W. Extremity of thelargest, called J. De Cabras or Conejos, Goat or Rabbit island. --E. ]

The latter end of the month of December was spent in unloading theprovisions from the Anna pink; when we had the mortification to find, that great quantities of our provisions, as bread, rice, groats, &c. Were decayed and unfit for use. This had been occasioned by the Annataking in water, by her working and straining in bad weather; owingto which several of her casks had rotted, and many of her bags weresoaked through. Having now no farther occasion for her services, thecommodore, pursuant to his orders from the admiralty, sent noticeto her master, Mr Gerard, that he now discharged the Anna pink fromattending the squadron, and gave him a certificate at the same time, specifying how long she had been employed. In consequence of thisdismission, her master was left at liberty, either to return directlyto England, or to make the best of his way to any port where hethought he could take in such a cargo as might serve the interest ofhis owners. But, sensible of the bad condition of his ship, andher unfitness for any such voyage, the master wrote next day to thecommodore, stating, that he had reason to apprehend the bottom of theAnna to be very much decayed, from the great quantity of water shehad let in on her passage round Cape Horn, and ever since, in thetempestuous weather she had experienced on the coast of Patagonia;that her upper decks were rotten abaft; that she was extremely leaky;that her fore-beam was broken; and, in short, that, in his opinion, itwas impossible to proceed with her to sea, unless she were thoroughlyrepaired. He therefore requested of the commodore, that the carpentersof the squadron might be directed to survey her, so that theirjudgment of her condition might be known. In compliance with thisrequest, the carpenters were ordered to make a careful and accuratesurvey of the Anna, and to give in a faithful report to the commodoreof her condition; directing them to proceed with such circumspection, that they might be able, if hereafter called upon, to confirm theveracity of their report upon oath. Pursuant to these orders, thecarpenters immediately set about the examination, and made theirreport next day. This was in substance, That the Anna had no less thanfourteen knees and twelve beams broken, and decayed; one breast-hookbroken, and another decayed; her water-ways open and decayed; twostandards and several clamps broken, besides others much rotten; allher iron-work greatly decayed; her spirkiting and timbers very rotten;that, having ripped off part of her sheathing, her wales and outsideplanks were extremely defective; and her bows and decks were veryleaky. From all these defects and decays, they certified that, intheir opinion, the vessel could not depart from Juan Fernandez, without great hazard, unless previously thoroughly repaired. 

In our present situation, this thorough repair was impracticable, all the plank and iron in the squadron being insufficient for thatpurpose. Wherefore, the opinion of the master being confirmed by thisreport, he presented a petition to the commodore, in behalf of hisowners, praying, as his vessel was incapable of leaving the island, that her hull, materials, and furniture, might be purchased for theuse of the squadron. The commodore, therefore, ordered an inventoryto be taken of every thing belonging to the pink, with its just value;and as many of her stores might become useful in repairing the othership, these articles having become very scarce, in consequence ofthe great quantities already expended, he agreed with Mr Gerard topurchase the whole for £300. The pink was now broken up, Mr Gerard andher hands being sent on board the Gloucester, as that ship had buriedthe greatest number of men in proportion to her complement. Two orthree of them were afterwards received into the Centurion on theirpetition, as they were averse from sailing in the same ship withtheir old master, on account of some ill usage they alledged to havesuffered from him. 

This transaction brought us down to the beginning of September, bywhich time our people were so far recovered from the scurvy, thatthere was little danger of burying any more for the present. I shalltherefore now sum up the whole of our loss since our departure fromEngland, the better to convey some idea of our past sufferings and ourthen remaining strength. In the Centurion, since leaving St Helens, wehad buried 292 men, and had 214 remaining. This will doubtless appeara most extraordinary mortality, yet that in the Gloucester had beenmuch greater; as, out of a much smaller crew than ours, she had lostthe same number, and had only 82 remaining alive. It might have beenexpected that the mortality would have been the most terrible in theTryal, as her decks were almost constantly knee deep in water: Butit happened otherwise, for she escaped more favourably than the othertwo, having only buried 42, and had 39 remaining alive. The havoc ofthis cruel disease had fallen still more severely on the invalidsand marines, than on the sailors. For, in the Centurion, out of 50invalids and 79 marines, there only remained four invalids, includingofficers, and 11 marines. In the Gloucester every invalid perished;and of 48 marines, only two escaped. It appears from this account, that the three ships departed from England with 961 men on board, ofwhom 626 were dead, and 335 men and boys only remained alive; a numbergreatly insufficient for manning the Centurion alone, and barelycapable of navigating all the three with the utmost exertion of theirstrength and vigour. 

This prodigious reduction of our men was the more alarming, as we werehitherto unacquainted with the fate of the squadron under Pizarro, andhad reason to suppose that some part of it, at least, had got roundinto the South Seas. We were, indeed, much of opinion, from our ownsad experience, that they must have suffered greatly in the passage:but then every port in the South Sea was open to them, and the wholepower of Peru and Chili would be exerted for their refreshment andrepair, and for recruiting their loss of men. We had, also, someobscure information of a force to be fitted out against us from Paluo;and, however contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of theworld may have been generally esteemed, it was hardly possible forany thing bearing the name of a ship of war, to be feebler or lessconsiderable than ourselves. Even if there had been nothing toapprehend from the naval power of the Spaniards in these seas, yet ourenfeebled situation necessarily gave us great uneasiness, as we wereincapable of making an attempt against any of their considerableplaces; for, in our state of weakness, the risking even of twentymen, would have put the safety of the whole in hazard. We conceived, therefore, that we should be forced to content ourselves with whatprizes we might be able to fall in with at sea, before we werediscovered, and then to depart precipitately, and esteem ourselvesfortunate to regain our native country; leaving our enemies to triumphon the inconsiderable mischief they had suffered from a squadron whichhad filled them with such dreadful apprehensions. We had reason toimagine the Spanish ostentation would remarkably exert itself onthis subject, though our disappointment and their security neitheroriginated in their valour nor our misconduct. Such were thedesponding reflections which at this time arose, on the review andcomparison of our remaining weakness with our original strength: And, indeed, our fears were far from being groundless, or disproportionateto our feeble and almost desperate condition: For, though the finalevent proved more honourable than we foreboded, yet the intermediatecalamities did likewise surpass our most gloomy apprehensions; and, could these have been predicted to us while at Juan Fernandez, theywould doubtless have appeared insurmountable. 

In the beginning of September, as already mentioned, our men beingtolerably well recovered, and the season of navigation in these seasdrawing nigh, we exerted ourselves in getting our ships ready for sea. We converted the foremast of the Anna into a new main-mast for theTryal; and, still flattering ourselves with the possible hope ofsome other ships of our squadron arriving, we intended to leave themain-mast of the Anna, to make a new mizen-mast for the Wager. Allhands being thus employed in preparing for our departure, we espieda sail to the N. E. About eleven a. M. Of the 18th September, whichcontinued to approach us till her courses appeared even with thehorizon. While advancing, we had great hopes that this might proveone of our squadron; but she at length steered away to the eastward, without hauling in for the island, on which we concluded that she mustbe Spanish. Great differences of opinion now took place, as to thepossibility of her people having discovered our tents on shore; someof us strongly insisting, that she certainly had been near enough tohave seen something that had given them a jealousy to an enemy, whichhad occasioned her standing away to the eastwards. Leaving thesecontests to be settled afterwards, it was resolved to pursue her; and, as the Centurion was in the greatest forwardness, all her hands weregot immediately on board, her rigging set up, and her sails bent withall possible expedition, and we got under sail by five in the evening. 

At this time we had so very little wind, that all the boats wereemployed to tow us out of the bay, and what wind there was lasted onlylong enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues, when itfell dead calm. As night came on we lost sight of the chase, and wereextremely impatient for the return of light, in hopes to find that shehad been becalmed, as well as we; yet her great distance from the landwas 3 reasonable ground for suspecting the contrary, as we actuallyfound in the morning, to our great mortification; for, though theweather was then quite clear, we had no sight of the chase from themast-head. But, being now quite satisfied that she was an enemy, andthe first we had seen in these seas, we resolved not to give over thechase lightly; and, on a small breeze springing up from the W. N. W. Wegot up our top-gallant masts and yards, set all the sails, and steeredS. E. In hopes of retrieving the chase, which we imagined might bebound for Valparaiso. We continued on this course all that day and thenext; and then, seeing nothing of the chase, gave over the pursuit, believing that she had, in all probability, reached her port. 

Resolving to return to Juan Fernandez, we hauled up to the S. W. Havingvery little wind till the 12th, at three a. M. When a gale sprung up atW. S. W. Which obliged us to tack and stand to the N. W. At day-break, we were agreeably surprised by the appearance of a sail on ourweather-bow, between four and five leagues distant, on which wecrowded all sail and stood towards her, soon perceiving she was adifferent vessel from that we had chased before. She at first boredown towards us, shewing Spanish colours, and making a signal as toa consort; but, seeing we did not answer her signal, she instantlyloofed close to the wind and stood to the southward. Our people werenow all in high spirits, and put about ship with great briskness;and, as the chase appeared a large ship, and had mistaken us forher consort, we imagined that she must be a man of war, and probablybelonged to the squadron of Pizarro. This induced the commodore toorder all the officers cabins to be knocked down and thrown overboard, along with several casks of water and provisions, that stood betweenthe guns; so that we had a clear ship, ready for action. About ninea. M. It came on thick hazy weather, with a shower of rain, duringwhich we lost sight of the chase, and were apprehensive, if thisweather should continue, she might escape us, by going on the othertack, or some other device. The weather cleared up, however, inless than an hour, when we found that we had both weathered andfore-reached upon her considerably, and were then near enough toperceive that she was only a merchant ship, without a single tire ofguns. About half an hour after twelve noon, being within reasonabledistance, we fired four shot among her rigging; on which they loweredtheir top-sails and bore down to us, but in very great confusion, their top-gallant-sails and stay-sails all fluttering in the wind. This was owing to their having let run their sheets and halyards, justas we fired at them; after which not a man among them would venturealoft to take them in, as our shot had passed there just before. 

As soon as the vessel came within hail of us, the commodore orderedher to bring to under his lee quarter; and having the boat hoistedout, sent our first lieutenant, Mr Saumarez, to take possession of theprize, with orders to send all the prisoners on board the Centurion, the officers and passengers first. When Mr Saumarez boarded the prize, he was received by her people at the side with the most abject tokensof submission; as they were all, especially the passengers, who weretwenty-five in number, extremely terrified, and under the greatestapprehensions of meeting with very severe and cruel usage. But thelieutenant endeavoured, with great courtesy, to dissipate theirterror, assuring them that their fears were altogether groundless, and that they would find a generous enemy in the commodore, who wasno less remarkable for his lenity and humanity, than for courage andresolution. The prisoners who were first sent on board the Centurion, informed us, that the prize was called _Neustra Lenora del MonteCarmelo_, and her commander Don Manuel Zamorra. Her cargo consistedchiefly of sugar, and a great quantity of blue cloth, made in theprovince of Quito, somewhat resembling our coarse English broad cloth, but inferior. They had also several bales of a coarser cloth, ofdifferent colours, somewhat like Colchester baize, called by them_Panniada Tierra_; with a few bales of cotton, and some tolerablywell-flavoured tobacco, though strong. These were her principal goods;but we found besides, what was much more valuable than the rest ofher cargo, some trunks full of wrought silver plate, and twenty-threeserons of dollars, each weighing upwards of two hundred pounds. [2]This ship was of about 450 tons burden, having on board 53 sailors, including whites and blacks. She came from Calao, bound forValparaiso, and had been twenty-seven days at sea. Her return cargofrom Chili was to have been corn and Chili wine, with some gold, driedbeef, and small cordage, which is afterwards converted at Calao intolarger rope. This vessel had been built thirty years before; yet, as they lie in harbour all winter, and the climate is remarkablyfavourable, she was not considered as very old. Her rigging and sailswere very indifferent, the latter being of cotton. She had only threefour-pounders, which were quite unserviceable, as their carriagescould scarcely support them; and they had no small arms on board, except a few pistols belonging to the passengers. They had sailed fromCallao in company with two other ships, which they had parted froma few days before, and had at first taken our ship for one of theirconsorts; and, by the description we gave of the ship we had chasedfrom Juan Fernandez, they assured us that she was one of their number;although the coming in sight of that island is directly contrary tothe merchant's instructions, as knowing, if any English ships shouldbe in these seas, that this island is most likely to be their place ofrendezvous. 

[Footnote 2: A seron is a species of package made and used in SpanishAmerica, consisting of a piece of raw bullock's hide with the hair on, formed while wet into the shape of a small trunk, and sewed together. The quantity of dollars taken on this occasion may have been betweenseventy and eighty thousand. --E. ]

We met with very important intelligence in this prize, partly fromthe prisoners, and partly from letters and papers that fell intoour hands. By these we first learnt with certainty the force anddestination of that squadron which cruised off Madeira at our arrivalthere, and had afterwards chased the Pearl in our passage to Port StJulian. This squadron we now knew to be composed of five large Spanishships, commanded by Admiral Pizarro, and purposely fitted out totraverse our designs, as has been already more amply related in ourthird section. We had now the satisfaction to find, that Pizarro, after his utmost endeavours to get round into these seas, had beenforced back to the Rio Plata, after losing two of his largestships; which, considering our great weakness, was no unacceptableintelligence. We also learnt, that, though an embargo had been laid onall shipping in the ports of South America, by the viceroy of Peru, in the preceding month of May, on the supposition that we might thenarrive on the coast, yet it now no longer subsisted: For, on receivingthe account overland of the distresses of Pizarro, part of which theyknew we must also have suffered; and, on hearing nothing of us foreight months after we were known to have left St Catharines, they werefully satisfied we must either have been shipwrecked, have perishedat sea, or have been obliged to put back again; as they conceivedit impossible for any ships to have continued at sea for so long aninterval, and therefore, on the application of the merchants, and thepersuasion that we had miscarried, the embargo had been lately takenoff. 

This intelligence made us flatter ourselves, as the enemy was stillignorant of our having got round Cape Horn, and as navigation wasrestored, that we might meet with some valuable captures, and mightindemnify ourselves in that way, of our incapacity to attempt any oftheir considerable settlements on shore. This much at least we werecertain of, from the information of our prisoners, that, whatevermight be our success in regard to prizes, we had nothing to fear, weakeven as we were, from the Spanish force in that part of the world, though we discovered that we had been in most imminent peril, when weleast apprehended any, when our other distresses were at the greatestheight. As we found, by letters in the prize, that Pizarro, in thedispatch he sent by express to the viceroy of Peru overland, afterhis own return to the Rio Plata, had intimated the possibility of somepart of our squadron getting round; and as, from his own experience, he was certain any of our ships that might arrive in the South Seasmust be in a very weak and defenceless condition, he advised theviceroy to send what ships of war he had to the southwards, in orderto be secure at all events, where, in all probability, they wouldintercept us singly, before we had an opportunity of touching anywhere for refreshment; in which case he had no doubt of our proving aneasy conquest. The viceroy approved this advice, and as he had alreadyfitted out four ships of force at Callao, one of 50 guns, two of 40each, and one of 24, which were intended to have joined Pizarro, threeof these were stationed off the port of Conception, and one at theisland of Juan Fernandez, where they continued cruising for us tillthe 6th of June; and then, conceiving it impossible that we couldhave kept the sea so long, they quitted this station and returned toCallao, fully persuaded we must either have perished, or been drivenback. 

Now, as the time when they left Juan Fernandez was only a few daysbefore our arrival at that island, it is evident, if we had made iton our first search, without hauling in for the main to secure oureasting, a circumstance we then considered as very unfortunate, onaccount of the many men we lost by our long continuance at sea; hadwe made the island 28th of May, when we first expected to see it, andwere in reality very near to have so done, we had inevitably fallen inwith some part of the squadron from Callao; and in our then distressedcondition, the encounter of a healthy and well-provided enemy mighthave proved fatal, not only to us in the Centurion, but also to theTryal, Gloucester, and Anna pink, which separately joined us, and wereeach less capable to have resisted than we. I may also add, that theseSpanish ships, sent out to intercept us, had been greatly shattered bya storm during their cruise, and had been laid up after theirreturn to Callao; and we were assured by our prisoners, that, whenintelligence might be received at Lima of our being in the South Seas, it would require two months at least, before this armament couldbe refitted for going to sea. The whole of this intelligence was asfavourable as we, in our reduced circumstances, could wish for; andwe were now at no loss to account for the broken jars, ashes, and fishbones, which we had observed at Juan Fernandez on our first landing;these things having been doubtless the relics of the cruisersstationed at that island. Having thus satisfied ourselves in the mostmaterial articles of our enquiry, got all the silver on board theCenturion, and most of the prisoners, we made sail to the northwardat eight that same evening, in company with our prize. We got sight ofJuan Fernandez at six next morning, and the day following both we andour prize got safe there to anchor. When the prize and her crew cameinto the bay, in which the rest of our squadron lay, the Spaniards, who had been sufficiently informed of the distresses we had gonethrough, and were astonished we had been able to surmount them, werestill more surprised when they saw the Tryal sloop, that, after allour fatigues, we should have had the industry to complete such avessel in so short a time, besides refitting our other ships, as theyconcluded we had certainly built her there; nor was it without greatdifficulty they could be brought to believe that she came from Englandwith the rest of the squadron; for they long insisted, that it wasimpossible for such a bauble as she was to have passed round CapeHorn, when the best ships of Spain were forced to put back. 

By the time of our arrival at Juan Fernandez, the letters found onboard our prize were more minutely examined, and it appeared fromthem, and from the examination of our prisoners, that several othermerchant-ships were bound from Callao to Valparaiso. Whereupon, thecommodore dispatched the Tryal sloop, the very next morning, to cruiseoff the port of Valparaiso, reinforcing her crew with ten men from theCenturion. The commodore resolved also, on the above intelligence, to employ the ships under his command in separate cruises, as by thismeans he might increase the chance of taking prizes, and should runless risk of being discovered, and alarming the coast. The spirits ofour people were now greatly raised, and their despondency dissipated, by this earnest of success, so that they forgot all their pastdistresses, resumed their wonted alacrity, and laboured incessantly incompleting our water, receiving our lumber, and preparing to leave theisland. 

These necessary occupations took us up four or five days, with all ourindustry and exertions; and in this interval, the commodoredirected the guns of the Anna pink, being four six-pounders and fourfour-pounders, with two swivels, to be mounted in the Carmelo, ourprize. He sent also on board the Gloucester, six Spanish passengersand twenty-three captured seamen, to assist in navigating that ship, and directed Captain Mitchell to leave the island as soon as possible, the service demanding the utmost despatch, giving him orders toproceed to the latitude of 5° S. And there to cruise off the high-landof Payta, at such distance from shore as should prevent his beingdiscovered. He was to continue on this station till joined by theCenturion; which was to be whenever it should be known that theviceroy had fitted out the ships of war at Callao, or on the commodorereceiving any other intelligence that should make it necessary todivide our strength. These orders being delivered to Captain Mitchellof the Gloucester, and all our business completed, we weighed anchorin the Centurion, on Saturday the 19th of September, in company withour prize the Carmelo, and got out of the bay, taking our last leaveof Juan Fernandez, and steering to the eastward, with the intentionof joining the Tryal sloop, on her station off Valparaiso, leaving theGloucester still at anchor. 

SECTION XV. 

_Our Cruise, from leaving Juan Fernandez, to the taking of Payta. _

Although we left the bay on the 19th of September, yet, by theirregularity and fluctuation of the wind in the offing, it was the 22dof that month, in the evening, before we lost sight of Juan Fernandez;after which we continued our course to the eastward, in order to jointhe Tryal off Valparaiso. Next night the weather proved squally, andwe split our main top-sail, which we then handed; but got it repairedand set again by next morning. In the evening, a little before sunset, we saw two sail to the eastward, on which our prize stood directlyfrom us, to avoid any suspicion of our being cruisers, while we madeready for an engagement, and steered with all our canvass towards thetwo ships we had descried. We soon perceived, that one of them, whichseemed a very stout ship, stood directly for us, while the other keptat a great distance. By seven o'clock we were within pistol-shot ofthe nearest, and had a broadside ready to pour into her, the gunnershaving their lighted matches in their hands, only waiting orders tofire. But, as the commodore knew that she could not now escape, he ordered the master to hail the ship in Spanish; on which hercommanding officer, who happened to be Mr Hughes, lieutenant of theTryal, answered us in English, that she was a prize, taken by theTryal a few days before, and that the other vessel at a distance wasthe Tryal, disabled in her masts. 

We were soon after joined by the Tryal, when her commander, CaptainSaunders, came on board the Centurion. He acquainted the commodore, that he had taken this ship on the 18th, being a prime sailor, whichhad cost him thirty-six hours chase before he could get up with her, and that for some time he gained so little upon her, that he almostdespaired of ever making up with the chase. The Spaniards were atfirst alarmed, by seeing nothing but a cloud of sail in pursuit ofthem, as the hull of the Tryal lay so low in the water, that no partof it appeared; yet knowing the goodness of their ship, and findinghow little the Tryal neared them, they at last laid aside their fears, and, recommending themselves to the protection of the blessed Virgin, they began to think themselves quite secure. Indeed, their success wasnear doing honour to their _Ave Marias_; for, altering their coursein the night, and shutting close their cabin windows to prevent any oftheir lights from being seen, they had some chance of escaping: But asmall crevice in one of their shutters rendered all their invocationsof no avail; as the people of the Tryal perceived a light through thiscrevice, which they chased till they got within gun-shot; and thenCaptain Saunders alarmed them with a broadside, when they flatteredthemselves they were beyond his reach. For some time, however, thechase still kept the same sail abroad, and it was not observed thatthis first salute had made any impression; but, just as the Tryal wasabout to repeat her broadsides the Spaniards crept from their holes, lowered their sails, and submitted without opposition. She was namedthe _Arranzazu_, being one of the largest merchantmen employed inthese seas, of about 600 tons burden, bound from Calao to Valparaiso, having much the same cargo with the Carmelo, our former prize, exceptthat her silver amounted only to about 5000l. Sterling. 

To balance this success, we found that the Tryal had sprung hermain-mast, and that her main-top-mast had come by the board; and nextmorning, as we were all standing to the eastward in a fresh gale at S. She had the additional misfortune to spring her fore-mast, so that nowshe had not a mast left on which she could carry sail. These unhappycircumstances were still further aggravated, by the impossibilityof our being then able to assist her, for the wind blew so hard, andraised such a hollow sea, that we could not venture to hoist out aboat, and consequently could not have any communication with her; sothat we were obliged to lie-to for the greatest part of forty-eighthours to attend upon her, as we could not possibly leave her in such acondition of distress. It was no small addition to our misfortunes, on this occasion, that we were all the while driving to leeward of ourintended station, and at the very time, when, by our intelligence, wehad reason to expect several of the enemy's ships would appear on thecoast, and would now get into the port of Valparaiso unobstructed;and, I am convinced, the embarrassment we suffered by the dismastingof the Tryal and our consequent absence from our intended station, deprived, us of some very considerable captures. 

The weather proved somewhat more moderate on the 27th, when we sentour boat for Captain Saunders, who came on board the Centurion, wherehe produced an instrument, signed by himself and all his officers, representing that the Tryal, besides being dismasted, was so veryleaky in her hull, that it was necessary to ply the pumps continually, even in moderate weather, and that they were then scarcely ableto keep her free; insomuch that, in the late gale, though all theofficers even had been engaged in turns at the pumps, yet the waterhad increased upon them; and that, on the whole, they apprehended herpresent condition to be so defective, that they must all inevitablyperish if they met with much bad weather: For all which reasons, he petitioned the commodore to take measures for their safety. Therefittal of the Tryal, and the repair of her defects, were utterlybeyond our power on the present conjuncture, for we had no masts tospare, no stores to complete her rigging, and no port in which shecould be hove down, to examine and repair her bottom. Even had wepossessed a port, and proper requisites for the purpose it would yethave been extremely imprudent, in so critical a conjuncture to haveloitered away so much time as would have been necessary for theseoperations. The commodore, therefore, had no choice left, but wasunder the necessity of taking out her people and destroying her. Yet, as he conceived it expedient to keep up the appearance of our force, he appointed the Tryal's prize, which had often been employed by theviceroy of Peru as a man-of-war, to be a frigate in his majesty'sservice, manning her with the crew of the Tryal, and givingcommissions to the captain and all the inferior officers accordingly. This new frigate, when in the Spanish service, had mounted thirty-twoguns; but she was now to have only twenty, which were the twelve thatbelonged to the Tryal and eight that had been on board the Anna pink. 

This affair being resolved on, the commodore gave orders to CaptainSaunders to carry it into execution, directing him to take all thearms, stores, ammunition, and every thing else that could be of usefrom the sloop, and then to scuttle and sink her. After all this wasdone, Captain Saunders was to proceed with his new frigate, nowcalled the _Tryal's prize_, to cruise off the high-land of Valparaiso, keeping it from him N. N. W. At the distance of twelve or fourteenleagues: for, as all ships from Valparaiso bound to the northward, steer that course, the commodore proposed, by this means, to stop anyintelligence that might be dispatched to Callao, of two of their shipsbeing amissing, which might give them apprehensions of the Englishsquadron being in their neighbourhood. The Tryal's prize was tocontinue on this station for twenty-four days, and, if not joined bythe commodore before the expiration of that time, was then to proceedalong the coast to Pisco, or Nasca, where she would be certain to findthe Centurion. The commodore also ordered Lieutenant Saumarez, who commanded the Centurion's prize, to keep company with CaptainSaunders, both to assist in unloading the Tryal, and that, byspreading in their cruise off Valparaiso, there might be less dangerof any ships of the enemy slipping past unobserved. These orders beingdispatched, the Centurion parted from the other vessels at eleven atnight of the 27th September, directing her course towards Valparaiso, with the view of cruising for some days to windward of that port. Bythis distribution of our ships, we flattered ourselves that we hadtaken all the advantages we possibly could of the enemy with our smallforce, as our disposition was certainly the most prudent that couldbe devised: For, as we might suppose the Gloucester to be now drawingnigh the high-land of Payta, we were thus enabled, by our separatestations, to intercept all vessels employed either between Peru andChili to the southward, or between Panama and Peru to the northward, since the principal trade from Peru to Chili being carried on with theport of Valparaiso, the Centurion, cruising to windward of that port, would probably meet with them, as it is the constant practice of theseships to fall in with land to windward of that place. The Gloucester, also, would be in the way of all ships bound from Panama, or any otherplace to the northward, to any port in Peru, since the highland, offwhich she was ordered to cruise, is constantly made by every ship onthat voyage. While the Centurion and Gloucester were thus convenientlysituated for intercepting the trade of the enemy, the Tryal's prize, and Centurion's prize, were as conveniently stationed for preventingthe communication of intelligence, by intercepting all vessels boundfrom Valparaiso to the northward; as by such vessels it was to befeared that some account of us might be transmitted to Peru. 

But the most judicious dispositions only produce a probability ofsuccess, and cannot command certainty; since those chances, which mayreasonably enough be overlooked in deliberation, are sometimes of mostpowerful influence in execution. Thus, in the present instance, thedistress of the Tryal, and our necessary quitting our station toassist her, which were events that no degree of prudence could eitherforesee or obviate, gave an opportunity to all the ships bound forValparaiso to reach that port without molestation during this unluckyinterval: so that, after leaving Captain Saunders, we used everyexpedition in regaining our station, which we reached on the 29th atnoon; yet, in plying on and off till the 6th of October, we had notthe good fortune to fall in with a sail of any sort. Having lost allhope of meeting with any better fortune by longer stay, we then madesail to leeward of the port, in order to rejoin our prizes; but whenwe arrived off the high-land, where they were directed to cruise, wedid not find them, though we continued there three or four days. Itwas supposed, therefore, that some chase had occasioned them toquit their station, wherefore we proceeded to the northward to thehigh-land of Nasca, in lat. 15° 20' S. Being the second rendezvousappointed for Captain Saunders to join us. We got there on the 21st ofOctober, and were in great expectation of falling in with some ofthe enemy's vessels, as both the accounts of former voyagers, andthe information of our prisoners, assured us, that all ships bound toCallao consequently make this land to prevent the danger of falling toleeward of the port. 

Notwithstanding the advantages of this station, we saw no sailwhatever till the 2d November, when two ships appeared together, towhich we immediately gave chase, and soon perceived that they were theTryal's and Centurion's prizes. As they were to windward, we broughtto and waited their coming up; when Captain Saunders came on boardthe Centurion, and acquainted the commodore that he had cleared andscuttled the Tryal according to his orders, and remained by her tillshe sunk. It was, however, the 4th of October before this could beeffected; for there ran so large and hollow a sea that the sloop, having neither masts nor sails to steady her, rolled and pitched soviolently, that, for the greatest part of the time, it was impossiblefor a boat to lie alongside of her; and, during this attendance onthe sloop, they were all driven so far to the N. W. That they wereafterwards obliged to stretch a long way to the westward, in order toregain the ground they had lost, which was the reason we had not metthem on their station. They had met with no better fortune on theircruise than ourselves, never having seen a single vessel since we leftthem. 

This want of success, and our certainty if any ships had been stirringin these seas for some time past, that we must have fallen in withthem, made us believe that the enemy at Valparaiso, on missing thetwo ships we had taken, had suspected us to be in these seas, and hadconsequently laid an embargo on all trade in the southern parts. Welikewise apprehended they might, by this time, be fitting out theships of war at Callao; as we knew that it was not uncommon for anexpress to reach Lima from Valparaiso in twenty-nine or thirty days, and it was now more than fifty since we had taken the first prize. These apprehensions of an embargo on the coast, and of the equipmentof the Spanish squadron at Callao, determined the commodore to hastendown to the leeward of Callao, to join the Gloucester as soon aspossible off Payta, that, our strength being united, we might beprepared to give the ships from Callao a warm reception, if they daredto put to sea. With this view we bore away that same afternoon, takingparticular care to keep at such a distance from the shore that theremight be no danger of our being discovered from thence; for we knewthat all the ships of that country were commanded, under the severestpenalties, not to sail past the harbour of Callao without stopping: asthis order is always complied with, we should undoubtedly be known forenemies if we were seen to act contrary to that regulation. In thisnew navigation, being uncertain if we might not meet the Spanishsquadron on the way, the commodore took back a part of the crew of theCenturion which had been for some time on board the Carmelo. 

While standing to the northward, we had sight of the small island ofSt Gallan[1] before night, bearing from us N. N. E. 1/2 E. About sevenleagues distant. This island lies in about the latitude of 14° S. Andabout five miles to the northward of a high-land called Morro Viejo, or the Old-man's Head, which island and high-land near it are heremore particularly mentioned, because between them is perhaps the mosteligible station on all this coast for cruising against the enemy, ashereabouts all ships bound for Callao, whether from the northward orsouthward, run well in with the land. By the 5th November, at 3 p. M. We were within sight of the high-land of _Barranca_, in lat. 10° 36'S. Bearing from us N. E. By E. Eight or nine leagues distant; and anhour and a half afterwards we had the satisfaction, so long wishedfor, of seeing a sail. She appeared to leeward, and we all immediatelygave chase; but the Centurion so much outsailed the two prizes thatwe soon ran them both out of sight, and gained considerably upon thechase. Night, however, came on before we could make up with her, andabout seven o'clock the darkness concealed her from our view, andwe were in some perplexity what course to steer; but our commodoreresolved, being then before the wind, to keep all his sails set andnot to change his course: For, although there was no doubt the chasewould alter her course in the night, as it was quite uncertain whattack she might go upon, he thought it more prudent to continue thesame course, rather than change it on conjecture, as, should wemistake, she would certainly get away. Continuing the chase aboutan hour and a half after dark, one or other of our people constantlybelieving they saw her sails right a-head of us, our secondlieutenant, Mr Brett, at length actually discovered her about fourpoints on the larboard bow, steering off to seawards, on which weimmediately clapped the helm a-weather, standing right towards her, and came up with her in less than an hour, and, having fired fourteenshots at her, she struck. Mr Dennis, our third lieutenant, was sentin the boat with sixteen men to take possession of the prize, and toshift the prisoners to our ship. 

[Footnote 1: This island of San Gallan is in lat. 14° S. Long. 76° W. About twelve miles S. W. Of Pisco. --E. ]

This vessel was named the _Santa Teresa de Jesus_, built at Guayaquil, of about 300 tons burden, commanded by Bartolome Urrunaga, a Biscayan. She was bound from Guayaquil to Callao, her loading consisting oftimber, cocoa, cocoa-nuts, tobacco, hides, _Pito_ thread, (which ismade of a kind of grass and is very strong, ) Quito cloth, wax, and various other articles; but the specie on board was veryinconsiderable, being principally small silver coin, not exceeding170l. Sterling in value. Her cargo, indeed, was of great value, ifwe could have sold it; but the Spaniards have strict orders never toransom their ships, so that all the goods we captured in the SouthSeas, except what little we had occasion for ourselves, were of noadvantage to us; yet it was some satisfaction to consider, that itwas so much real loss to the enemy, and that despoiling them was nocontemptible part of the service in which we were employed, and was sofar beneficial to our country. Besides her crew of forty-five hands, she had on board ten passengers, consisting of four men and threewomen, who were natives of the country, but born of Spanish parents, together with three negro slaves who attended them. The women were amother and two daughters, the elder about twenty-one, and the youngerabout fourteen. It is not to be wondered that women of these yearsshould be excessively alarmed at falling into the hands of an enemywhom they had been taught to consider as the most lawless and brutalof all mankind, owing to the former excesses of the buccaneers, andby the artful insinuations of their priests. In the present instancethese apprehensions were much augmented by the singular beauty ofthe youngest of the women, and the riotous disposition they mightnaturally enough expect to find in a set of sailors who had not seen awoman for near a twelvemonth. 

Full of these terrors, the women all hid themselves on the lieutenantcoming on board, and, when found out, it was with difficulty he couldpersuade them to come to the light. But he soon satisfied them, by thehumanity of his conduct, and by his assurances of their futuresafety and honourable treatment, that they had nothing to fear. Thecommodore, also, being informed of their fears, sent directions thatthey should continue in their own ship, with the use of the sameapartments and all other conveniences they had before enjoyed, giving strict orders that they should experience no inquietude ormolestation; and, that they might be the more certain of having theseorders complied with, or having the means of complaining if they werenot, the commodore appointed the pilot, who is generally the secondperson in Spanish ships, to remain with them as their guardian andprotector. He was particularly chosen on this occasion, as he seemedextremely interested in all that concerned these women, and hadat first declared that he was married to the youngest; though itafterwards appeared that he had asserted this merely with the view ofsecuring them from the insults they dreaded on falling into our hands. By this compassionate and indulgent behaviour of the commodore, theconsternation of our female prisoners entirety subsided, and theycontinued easy and cheerful during the time they were with us. 

I have before mentioned that the Centurion ran her two consorts outof sight at the commencement of this chase, on which account we lay tofor them all the night after we had taken the prize, firing guns andshewing false fires every half hour, to prevent them from passing usunobserved. But they were so far astern, that they neither heard norsaw any of our signals, and were not able to come up with us tillbroad day. When they had joined, we proceeded together to thenorthward, being now four sail in company. We here found the seafor many miles of a beautiful red colour, owing, as we found uponexamination, to an immense quantity of spawn floating on its surface:For, taking some of the water in a glass, it soon changed from a dirtyaspect to be perfectly clear, with some red globules of a slimy naturefloating on the top. Having now a supply of timber in our new prize, the commodore ordered all our boats to be repaired, and a swivel-stockto be fitted in the bow of the barge and pinnace, in order to increasetheir force, in case we should have occasion to use them in boardingships, or making any attempt on shore. 

Continuing our course to the northward, nothing remarkable occurredfor two or three days, though we spread our ships in such a mannerthat it was not probable any vessel of the enemy should escape us. During our voyage along this coast, we generally observed that acurrent set us to the northward, at the rate of ten or twelve milesevery day. When in about the latitude of 8° S. We began to be attendedby vast numbers of flying fish and bonitos, which were the first wehad seen after leaving the coast of Brazil. It is remarkable thatthese fish extend to a much higher latitude on the east side ofAmerica than on the west, as we did not lose them on the coast ofBrazil till near the southern tropic. The reason, doubtless, of thisdiversity, is owing to the different degrees of heat obtaining ondifferent sides of the continent in the same latitude; and, on thisoccasion, I use the freedom to make a short digression on the heat andcold of different climates, and on the variations which occur in thesame places at different times of the year, and in different places inthe same degree of latitude. 

The ancients conceived that of the five zones into which they dividedthe surface of the globe, two only were habitable; supposing that theheat between the tropics, and the cold within the polar circles, weretoo intense to be supported by mankind. The falsehood of this idea hasbeen long established; but the particular comparison of the heatand cold of these various climates have as yet been very imperfectlyconsidered. Enough is known, however, safely to determine thisposition, that all the places within the tropics are far from beingthe hottest on the globe, as many within the polar circle are far fromenduring that extreme degree of cold to which their situation seems tosubject them; that is to say, that the temperature of a place dependsmuch more upon other circumstances, than upon its distance from thepole, or its proximity to the equinoctial line. 

This proposition relates to the general temperature of places takingthe whole year round, and, in this sense, it cannot be denied thatthe city of London, for instance, enjoys much warmer seasons thanthe bottom of Hudson's Bay, which is nearly in the same latitude, butwhere the severity of the winter is so great as scarcely to permitthe hardiest of our garden plants to live. If the comparison be madebetween the coast of Brazil and the western shore of South America, as, for example, between Bahia and Lima, the difference will be foundstill more considerable; for, though the coast of Brazil is extremelysultry, yet the coast of the South Sea, in the same latitude, isperhaps as temperate and tolerable as any part of the globe; since we, in ranging it along, did not once meet with such warm weather as isfrequently felt in a summer day in England, which was still the moreremarkable, as there never fell any rain to refresh and cool the air. 

The causes of this lower temperature in the South Sea are notdifficult to be assigned, and shall be mentioned hereafter. I am nowonly solicitous to establish the truth of this assertion, that thelatitude of a place alone is no rule by which to judge of the degreeof heat and cold which obtains there. Perhaps this position might bemore briefly confirmed by observing that on the tops of the Andes, though under the equator, the snow never melts the whole year round;a criterion of cold stronger than is known to take place in many partsfar within the polar circle. 

Hitherto I have considered the temperature of the air all the yearthrough, and the gross estimations of heat and cold which every onemakes from his own sensations. But if this matter be examined by meansof thermometers, which are doubtless the most unerring evidences inrespect to the absolute degrees of heat and cold, the result will beindeed most wonderful; since it will appear that the heat in very highlatitudes, as at Petersburgh for instance, is, at particular times, much greater than any that has been hitherto observed between thetropics. Even at London in the year 1746, there was a part of one dayconsiderably hotter than was at any time felt in one of the shipsof our squadron in the whole voyage out and home, though four timespassing under the equator; for, in the summer of that year, thethermometer in London, graduated according to the scale of Fahrenheit, stood at 78°, and the greatest observed heat, by a thermometer of thesame kind in the same ship, was 76°, which was at St Catharines inthe latter end of December, when the sun was within about 3° of thevertex. At St Petersburgh, I find by the acts of the Academy, in theyear 1734, on the 20th and 25th of July, that the thermometer roseto 98° in the shade, or 22° higher than it was found to be atSt Catharines; which extraordinary degree of heat, were it notauthenticated by the regularity and circumspection with which theobservations appear to have been conducted, would appear altogetherincredible. 

If it should be asked, how it comes then to pass, that the heat, in many places between the tropics, is esteemed so violent andinsufferable, when it appears, by these instances, that it issometimes rivalled, and even exceeded, in very high latitudes, not farfrom the polar circle? I shall answer, That the estimation of heat, in any particular place, ought not to be founded upon that particulardegree of it which may now and then obtain there; but is rather to bededuced from the medium observed during a whole season, or perhaps ina whole year; and in this light, it will easily appear how much moreintense the same degree of heat may prove, by being long continuedwithout remarkable variation. For instance, in comparing together StCatharines and St Petersburg, we shall suppose the summer heat at StCatharines to be 76°, and the winter heat to be only 56°. I do notmake this last supposition upon sufficient authority, but am apt tosuspect the allowance is full large. Upon this supposition, therefore, the medium heat all the year round will be 66°; and this perhaps bynight as well as by day, with no great variation. Now, those who haveattended to thermometrical observation will readily allow, that acontinuance of this degree of heat for a length of time, would befound violent and suffocating by the generality of mankind. But atPetersburg, though the heat, as measured by the thermometer, mayhappen to be a few times in the year considerably higher than at StCatharines, yet, at other times, the cold is intensely sharper, andthe medium for a year, or even for one season only, would be farshort of 60°. For I find, that the variation of the thermometer atPetersburgh, is at least five times greater, from its highest to itslowest point, than I have supposed it to be at St Catherines. [2]

[Footnote 2: On his own principles, the lowest heat of Petersburgought to be -2°, and the medium temperature of the year 48°; but thedata are loosely expressed and quite unsatisfactory, as indeed is thewhole reasoning on the subject. --E. ]

Besides this estimation of the heat of a place, by taking the mediumfor a considerable time together, there is another circumstance whichwill still farther augment the apparent heat of the warmer climates, and diminish that of the colder, though I do not remember to have seenit remarked by any author. To explain myself more distinctly upon thishead, I must observe, that the measure of absolute heat, marked bythe thermometer, is not the certain criterion of the sensation ofheat with which human bodies are affected; for, as the presence andperpetual succession of fresh air is necessary to our respiration, sothere is a species of tainted or stagnated air often produced by thecontinuance of great heats, which, being less proper for respiration, never fails to excite in us an idea of sultriness and suffocatingwarmth, much beyond what the heat of the air alone would occasion, supposing it pure and agitated. Hence it follows, that the mereinspection of the thermometer will never determine the heat which thehuman body feels from this cause; and hence also, the heat, in mostplaces between the tropics, must be much more troublesome and uneasy, than the same degree of absolute heat in a high latitude. For theequability and duration of the tropical heat contribute to impregnatethe air with a multitude of steams and vapours from the soil andwater; and many of these being of an impure and noxious kind, andbeing not easily removed, by reason of the regularity of the windsin those parts, which only shift the exhalations from place to place, without dispersing them, the atmosphere is by this means renderedless capable of supporting the animal functions, and mankind areconsequently affected by what they call a most intense and stiflingheat. Whereas, in the higher latitudes, these vapours are probablyraised in smaller quantities, and are frequently dispersed by theirregularity and violence of the winds; so that the air, being ingeneral more pure and less stagnant, the same degree of absolute heatis not attended by that uneasy and suffocating sensation. 

This may suffice, in general, with respect to the present speculation;but I cannot help wishing, as it is a subject in which mankind arevery much interested, especially travellers of all sorts, that it weremore thoroughly and accurately examined, and that all ships boundto the warmer climates were furnished with thermometers of a knownfabric, and would observe them daily, and register their observations. For, considering the turn to philosophical enquiries which hasobtained in Europe since the beginning of the eighteenth century, itis incredible how very rarely any thing of this kind has beenattended to. For my own part, I do not remember to have ever seen anyobservations of the heat and cold, either in the East or West Indies, which were made by marines or officers of vessels, excepting thosemade by order of Commodore Anson on board the Centurion, and those byCaptain Legg on board the Severn, another ship of our squadron. 

I have been in some measure drawn into this digression, by theconsideration of the fine weather we experienced on the coast ofPeru, even under the equinoctial, but I have not yet described theparticularities of this weather. I shall now therefore observe, thatevery circumstance concurred, in this climate, that could render theopen air and the day-light desirable: For, in other countries, thescorching heat of the sun in summer renders the greater part of theday unapt either for labour or amusement, and the frequent rains arenot less troublesome in the more temperate parts of the year: But, inthis happy climate, the sun rarely appears. Not that the heavenshave at any time a dark or gloomy aspect; for there is constantly acheerful gray sky, just sufficient to screen the sun, and to mitigatethe violence of its perpendicular rays, without obscuring the air, ortinging the light of day with an unpleasant or melancholy hue. By thismeans, all parts of the day are proper for labour or exercise inthe open air; nor is there wanting that refreshing and pleasingrefrigeration of the air which is sometimes produced by rains inother climates; for here the same effect is brought about by the freshbreezes from the cooler regions to the southward. It is reasonable tosuppose, that this fortunate complexion of the heavens is principallyowing to the neighbourhood of those vast mountains called the Andes, which, running nearly parallel to the shore, and at a small distancefrom it, and extending immensely higher than any other mountains uponthe globe, form upon their sides and declivities a prodigious tract ofcountry, where, according to the different approaches to the summit, all kinds of climates may be found at all seasons of the year. 

These mountains, by intercepting great part of the eastern winds, which generally blow over the continent of South America, and bycooling that part of the air which forces its way over their tops, andby keeping besides a large portion of the atmosphere perpetually cool, from its contiguity to the snows by which they are always covered, and thus spreading the influence of their frozen crests to theneighbouring coasts and seas of Peru, are doubtless the cause of thetemperature and equability which constantly prevail there. For, whenwe had advanced beyond the equinoctial to the north, where thesemountains left us, and had nothing to screen us to the eastward butthe high lands on the Isthmus of Darien, which are mere mole-hillscompared to the Andes, we then found that we had totally changedour climate in a short run; passing, in two or three days, from thetemperate air of Peru, to the sultry and burning atmosphere of theWest Indies. 

To return to our narration. On the 10th of November we were threeleagues south of the southern island, of _Lobos_, in lat. 6° 27'S. This is called _Lobos de la Mar_; and another, which is to thenorthward of it, and resembles it so much in shape and appearance asto be often mistaken for it, is called _Lobos de Tierra_. [3] Wewere now drawing near the station that had been appointed for theGloucester, and fearing to miss her, we went under easy sail allnight. At day-break next morning, we saw a ship in shore and towindward, which had passed us unseen in the night, and soon perceivingthat she was not the Gloucester, we got our tacks on board and gaveher chase. But as there was very little wind, so that neither wenor the chase had made much way, the commodore ordered his bargeand pinnace, with the pinnace of the Tryal's prize, to be mannedand armed, and to pursue and board the chase. Lieutenant Brett, whocommanded our barge, came up with her first about nine o'clock, a. M. And, running alongside, fired a volley of small shot between hermasts, just over the heads of her people, and then instantly boardedwith the greatest part of his men. But the enemy made no resistance, being sufficiently intimidated by the dazzling of the cutlasses, andthe volley they had just received. Lieutenant Brett now made the sailsof the prize be trimmed, and bore down towards the commodore, takingup the other two boats in his way. When within about four miles of us, he put off in the barge, bringing with him a number of the prisoners, who had given him some material intelligence, which he was desirous ofcommunicating to the commodore as soon as possible. On his arrival, welearnt that the prize was called _Nuestra Senora del Carmin_, ofabout 270 tons burden, commanded by Marcos Moreno, a native of Venice, having on board forty-three mariners. She was deeply laden withsteel, iron, wax, pepper, cedar plank, snuff, _rosarios_, Europeanbale-goods, powder-blue, cinnamon, papal indulgences, and other kindsof merchandize; and, though this cargo was of little value to us, inour present circumstances, it was the most considerable capture wehad made, in respect to the Spaniards, as it amounted to upwards of400, 000 dollars, prime cost at Panama. This ship was bound from Panamato Callao, and had stopped at Payta on her way, to take on board arecruit of water and provisions, and had not left that place abovetwenty-four hours when she fell into our hands. 

[Footnote 3: The Southern Lobos, or Lobos de la Mar, is in fact twocontiguous islands, N. And S. From each other, in lat. 6° 57' S. Andlong. 80° 43' W. _Lobos de Tierra_, called also _Inner Lobos_, frombeing nearer the land, lying in the same longitude, is in lat. 6° 28'S. There is still a third, or Northern Lobos, in lat. 5° 10' S. Long. 81° W. ]

The important intelligence received by Mr Brett, which he was soanxious to communicate to the commodore, he had learnt from one JohnWilliams, an Irishman, whom he found in the prize, and which wasconfirmed by examination of the other prisoners. Williams was apapist, who had worked his passage from Cadiz, and had travelled overthe whole of the kingdom of Mexico as a pedlar. He pretended that, by this business, he had at one time cleared four or five thousanddollars, but at length got entangled by the priests, who knew he hadmoney, and was stripped of every thing. At present he was all in rags, having just got out of Payto gaol, where he had been confined for somemisdemeanour. He expressed great joy in thus meeting his countrymen, and immediately informed them, that a vessel had come into Payta, onlya few days before, the master of which had informed the governor, thathe had been chased in the offing by a very large ship, which he waspersuaded, from her size and the colour of her sails, must be one ofthe English squadron. This we conjectured to have been the Gloucester, as we found afterwards was the case. On examining the master, andbeing fully satisfied of his account, the governor sent off an expresswith all expedition to the viceroy at Lima; and the royal officerresiding at Payta, apprehensive of a visit from the English, had beenbusily employed, from his first hearing of this news, in removing theking's treasure and his own to Piura, a town in the interior, aboutfourteen leagues distant. [4] We learnt farther, from our prisoners, that there was at this time a considerable sum of money in thecustom-house of Payta, belonging to some merchants of Lima, whichwas intended to be shipped on board a vessel, then in the harbour ofPayta, and was preparing to sail for the bay of _Sansonnate_, onthe coast of Mexico, in order to purchase a part of the cargo of theManilla ship. 

[Footnote 4: San Migual de Piura is about 50 English miles E. By S. From Payta, and nearly the same distance from the mouth of the Piurariver. --E. ]

As the vessel in which this money was to be shipped was reckoneda prime sailer, and had just received a new coat of tallow on herbottom, and might, in the opinion of the prisoners, be able to sailthe succeeding morning, we had little reason to expect that our ship, which had been nearly two years in the water, could have any chanceto get up with her, if she were once allowed to escape from the port. Wherefore, and as we were now discovered, and the whole coast wouldsoon be alarmed, and as our continuing to cruise any longer inthese parts would now answer no purpose, the commodore determinedto endeavour to take Payta by surprise, having in the first placeinformed himself minutely of its strength and condition, by examiningthe prisoners, and being fully satisfied that there was little dangerof losing many of our men in the attempt. 

This attack on Payta, besides the treasure it promised, and its beingthe only enterprise in our power to undertake, had also several otherprobable advantages. We might, in all probability, supply ourselveswith great quantities of live provisions, of which we were in greatwant; and we should also have an opportunity of setting our prisonerson shore, who were now very numerous, and made a greater consumptionof our food than our remaining stock was capable of furnishing muchlonger. In all these lights, the attempt was most eligible, andto which our situation, our necessities, and every prudentialconsideration, strongly prompted. How it succeeded, and how far itanswered our expectations, shall be the subject, of the succeedingsection. 

SECTION XVI. 

_Capture of Payta, and Proceedings at that Place. _

The town of Payta is in lat 50° 12' S. [long. 81° 15' W. ] beingsituated in a most barren soil, composed only of sand and slate. Itis of small extent, being about 275 yards in length along the shoreof the bay, and 130 yards in breadth, containing less than two hundredfamilies. The houses are only ground floors, their walls composed ofsplit canes and mud, and the roofs thatched with leaves. Though thusextremely slight, these edifices are abundantly sufficient for aclimate where rain is considered as a prodigy, and is not seen in manyyears: Insomuch that, a small quantity of rain falling in the year1728, is said to have ruined a great number of buildings, whichmouldered away, and melted as it were before it. The inhabitants arechiefly Indians and black slaves, or of mixed breed, the whitesbeing very few. The port of Payta, though little more than a bay, is reckoned the best on this coast, and is indeed a very secure andcommodious anchorage, and is frequented by all vessels coming from thenorth, as here only the ships from Acapulco, Sonsonnate, Realejo, and Panama, can touch and refresh in their passage to Callao; and thelength of these voyages, the wind for the greatest part of the yearbeing full against them, renders it indispensably necessary for themto call in here for a recruit of fresh water. Payta itself, however, is situated in so parched a spot, that it does not furnish a dropof fresh water, neither any kind of vegetables or other provisions, except fish and a few goats. But, from an Indian town named Colan, twoor three leagues to the northward, water, maize, vegetables, fowls, and other provisions, are conveyed to Payta on _balsas_ or floats, for the supply of ships which touch there; and cattle are sometimesbrought from Piura, a town about thirty miles up the country. Thewater brought from Colan is whitish and of a disagreeable appearance, but is said to be very wholesome; for it is pretended by theinhabitants that it runs through large tracks overgrown withsarsaparilla, with which it is sensibly impregnated. Besidesfurnishing the trading ships bound from the north for Callao withwater and other necessary refreshments this port of Payta is theusual place where passengers from Acapulco and Panama, bound to Lima, disembark; as the voyage from hence to Callao, the port of Lima, istwo hundred leagues, and is extremely tedious and fatiguing, owing tothe wind being almost always contrary; whereas there is a tolerablygood road by land, running nearly parallel to the coast, with manystations and villages for the accommodation of travellers. 

Payta is merely an open town, unprovided with any defence, excepta small fort or redoubt near the shore of the bay. It was of muchconsequence to us to be well informed of the fabric and strength ofthis fort; which, we learnt from our prisoners, had eight pieces ofcannon, but neither ditch nor outwork, being merely surrounded by aplain brick wall; and that the garrison consisted of one weak company, though the town might possibly be able to arm three hundred men. Having informed himself of the strength of the place, the commodoredetermined upon making an attempt for its capture that very night, the 12th November. We were then about twelve leagues from shore; asufficient distance to prevent being discovered, yet not so far butthat, by making all the sail we could carry; we might arrive in thebay long before day-break. The commodore considered, however, thatthis would be an improper manner of proceeding, as our ships, beinglarge bodies, might easily be seen at a distance, even in the night, and might alarm the inhabitants, so as to give them an opportunity ofremoving their most valuable effects. He resolved therefore, as thestrength of the place did not require the employment of our wholeforce, to make the attempt with the boats only, ordering oureighteen-oared barge, with our own and the Tryal's pinnaces, on thisservice. Fifty-eight men, well furnished with arms and ammunition, were picked out to man them, and the command of the expeditionwas entrusted to Lieutenant Brett, to whom the commodore gave thenecessary orders and instructions. 

The better to prevent the disappointment and confusion which mightarise in the darkness of the night, and from the ignorance of ourpeople of the streets and passages of the place, two of the Spanishpilots were appointed to attend Mr Brett, to conduct him to the mostconvenient landing-place, and afterwards to be his guides on shore. Likewise, that we might have the greater security for their fidelityon this occasion, the commodore publicly assured all our prisoners, that they should be set on shore and released at this place, providedthe pilots acted faithfully: But, in case of any misconduct ortreachery, the pilots were threatened with being instantly shot, andall the rest were assured of being carried prisoners to England. Thusthe prisoners were themselves interested in our success, and we had noreason to suspect our guides of negligence or perfidy. It is worthyof remark, on this occasion, as a singular circumstance, that oneof these pilots, as we afterwards learnt, had been taken by CaptainClipperton above twenty years before, and had then been obliged toguide Captain Clipperton and his people to the surprizal of Truxillo, a town to the southward of Payta; where, however, he contrived toalarm and save his countrymen, though the place was carried andpillaged. It is certainly an extraordinary incident, that the only twoattempts on shore, and at so long an interval, should have beenguided by the same person, a prisoner both times, and forced upon, theservice contrary to his inclination. 

During our preparation, the ships continued to stand for the port withall the sail they could carry, secure that we were still at too greata distance to be seen. About ten at night, being then within fiveleagues of Payta, Lieutenant Brett put off with the boats under hiscommand, and arrived at the mouth of the bay undiscovered. He had nosooner entered the bay, than some of the people in a ship riding thereat anchor perceived him, and getting instantly into their boat, rowedtowards the fort, shouting and crying, _The English! the Englishdogs!_ By this the whole town was suddenly alarmed, and our peoplesoon observed several lights hurrying backwards and forwards in thefort, and other indications of the inhabitants being all in motion. On this, Mr Brett encouraged his men to pull briskly, that they mightgive the enemy as little time as possible to prepare for defence. Yet, before our boats could reach the shore, the people in the fort hadgot some of their cannons ready, and pointed them towards thelanding-place; and though, in the darkness of the night, chance maybe supposed to have had a greater share in their direction than skill, yet the first shot passed extremely near one of our boats, whistlingjust over the heads of the crew. This made our people redouble theirefforts, so that they had reached the shore, and were in part landed, by the time the second shot was fired. 

As soon as our men were landed, they were conducted by one of thepilots to the entrance of a narrow street, not above fifty yards fromthe beach, where they were covered from the fire of the fort; andbeing here formed as well as the shortness of the time would allow, they marched immediately for the parade, a large square at the otherend of this street, on one side of which stood the fort, while thegovernor's house formed another side of the same square. In thismarch, though performed with tolerable regularity, the shouts andclamours of nearly threescore sailors, who had been so long confinedon ship board, and who were now for the first time on shore of anenemy's country, joyous as seamen always are when they land, andanimated on the present occasion with the hopes of immense pillage, joined with the noise of their drums, and favoured by the night, hadaugmented their numbers, in the opinion of the astonished enemy, toat least three hundred; by which estimation, the inhabitants were sogreatly intimidated, that they were infinitely more solicitous aboutthe means of flight than of resistance. Hence, though upon enteringthe parade, our people received a volley from the merchants to whomthe treasure then in the town belonged, who were ranged in a gallerythat went round the governor's house, yet that post was immediatelyabandoned on the first fire made by our people, who were thereby leftin quiet possession of the parade. 

Mr Brett now divided his men into two parties, ordering one of them tosurround the governor's house, and if possible to secure the governor, while he went himself at the head of the other party, with theintention of forcing possession of the fort. But the enemy abandonedit on his approach, making their escape over the walls, and he enteredit without opposition. Thus the place was mastered in less than aquarter of an hour after landing, and with no other loss on our sidethan one man killed and two wounded. One of these was the Spanishpilot of the Teresa, who received a slight bruise by a ball, whichgrazed his wrist. The honourable Mr Keppell, son to the Earl ofAlbemarle, had on this occasion a narrow escape. He wore a jockey-cap, one side of the peak of which was shaved off by a ball, close to histemple, yet did him no other injury. 

Having thus far happily succeeded, Mr Brett placed a guard at thefort, and another in the governor's house, and fixed centinels at allthe avenues of the town, both to prevent any surprise from the enemy, and to secure the effects in the place from being embezzled. His nextcare was to seize upon the custom-house, in which the treasure waslodged, and to examine if any of the inhabitants remained in the town, that he might know what farther precautions were necessary. He soonfound that the numbers remaining were no ways formidable; for by farthe greatest part of them, being in bed when the place was surprised, had run away with so much precipitation, that they had not takentime to put on their clothes. The governor was not the last to securehimself in this general rout; for he fled betimes half-naked, leavinghis wife behind, a young lady of about seventeen, to whom he hadonly been married three or four days; yet she also was carried offhalf-naked, by a couple of centinels, just as our detachment, orderedto invest the house, arrived for that purpose. This escape ofthe governor was an unpleasant circumstance, as the commodore hadparticularly recommended to Mr Brett to secure him if possible, as bythat means he might have treated for the ransom of the place; but hisalacrity in flight rendered this impracticable. The few inhabitantswho remained were confined in one of the churches under a guard, except some stout negroes, who were employed the remaining part ofthe night in carrying the treasure, from the custom-house and otherplaces, to the fort, each party of them being attended by a fileof musketeers. This transportation of the treasure was the chiefemployment of Mr Brett's people after getting possession of theplace; yet the sailors, while thus busied, could not be prevented fromentering the houses in their way, in search of private pillage; whenthe first things that occurred to them, were the clothes left by theSpaniards, and which were mostly embroidered or laced, according tothe fashion of the country. Our people eagerly seized these glitteringdresses, and put them on over their own dirty trowsers and jackets, not forgetting the tye or bag-wigs, and laced hats, which weregenerally found along with the clothes. When this had once begun, there was no possibility of preventing the whole detachment fromimitating the example; but those who came latest into the fashion, notfinding men's clothes sufficient to equip them, were forced to takeup with women's gowns and petticoats, which, provided these were fineenough, they made no scruple of putting on and blending with their owngreasy dress: So that, when a party of them first made they appearancein that guise before Mr Brett, he was extremely surprised at theirgrotesque exhibition, and could hardly believe they were his own men. 

While these transactions were going on at Payta, we lay-to till onein the morning, from the time when our boats pushed off; and then, supposing the detachment to be near landing, we went on under easysail for the bay. This we began to open about seven a. M. Of the 13th, and soon after had a view of the town. Though we had no reason todoubt the success of the enterprise, yet we saw with much joy aninfallible sign of its being effected, as, by means of our telescope, we could see the English flag hoisted on the flag-staff of the fort. We plied into the bay with as much expedition as the wind, which thenblew from the shore, would, allow; and at eleven a. M. The Tryal'spinnace came on board us, laden with dollars and church plate, whenthe officer who commanded her gave an account of the transactionsof the preceding night. About two p. M. We anchored in ten and a halffathoms, about a mile and half from the town, and were consequentlynear enough to have direct intercourse; with the shore. 

Mr Brett had hitherto gone on, collecting and removing the treasure, without interruption; but the enemy had now rendezvoused from allparts of the country, on a hill at the back of the town, where theymade no inconsiderable appearance; as, among the rest of their force, there were two hundred horse, seemingly well armed and mounted, and, as we conceived, properly trained and regimented, as they werefurnished with trumpets, drums, and standards. These troops paradedabout the hill with much ostentation, sounding their military music;and, as our small force on shore was by this time known to them, practising every art to intimidate us, in hopes we might be induced, by our fears of them, to abandon the place before completing itspillage. We were not, however so ignorant as to believe that this bodyof horse, which seemed to be what they chiefly depended on, would dareto venture themselves among the streets and houses, even had they beenthree times more numerous; and we went on calmly, as long asday-light lasted, in sending off the treasure, and carrying on boardrefreshments, such as hogs, poultry, and the like, which we found ingreat abundance. At night, to prevent surprise, the commodore sent areinforcement on shore, who were posted in all the avenues leading tothe parade; and, for farther security, all the streets were traversedwith barricades six feet high. But the enemy continued quiet allnight, and at day-break we resumed our labour, in loading and sendingoff the boats. 

We were now thoroughly convinced of what consequence it would havebeen, had fortune seconded the prudent views of the commodore, byenabling us to have secured the governor. For we found many warehousesfull of valuable effects, which were quite useless to us in ourpresent circumstances, as we could not find room for them on board. But, had the governor been in our power, he would have treated, in allprobability, for the ransom of this merchandize, which would havebeen extremely advantageous, both for him and us. Whereas, he beingat liberty, and having collected all the force of the country for manyleagues around, and having even got a body of militia from Piura, hewas so elated by his numbers, and so fond of his new military command, that he did not seem to care about the fate of his government. Insomuch that, although our commodore sent several messages to him, by some of the inhabitants who were made prisoners, offering to enterinto treaty for the ransom of the town and goods, even givingan intimation that we should be far from insisting on a rigorousequivalent, and might perhaps be satisfied with some live cattleand other necessaries for the use of the squadron, yet the governordespised all these reiterated overtures, and did not deign to givethe slightest answer, though repeatedly threatened, if he would notcondescend to treat, that we would set the town and all the warehouseson fire. 

On the second day of our possessing the place, several negro slavesdeserted from the enemy on the hill, and voluntarily entered into ourservice, one of them being well known to a gentleman on board, whoremembered to have seen him formerly at Panama. We now learnt that theSpaniards, without the town, were in extreme distress for water; formany of their slaves crept into town by stealth, and carried awayseveral jars of water to their masters on the hill; and, though someof these were seized in the attempt, yet their thirst was so pressing, that they continued the practice as long as we remained in possessionof the place. In the course of this second day, we were assured, bothby deserters and prisoners, that the Spaniards were now increased toa formidable number, and had resolved to storm the town and fort nextnight, under the command of one Gordon, a Scots papist, and captainof a ship in these seas. We continued, however, to prosecute our work, without hurry, loading and sending off the boats as long as we hadlight; and at night, a reinforcement was again sent on shore by thecommodore, and Mr Brett doubled his guards at all the barricades, allhis posts being connected, by means of centinels placed within callof each other, and the whole visited by frequent rounds, attended by adrum. These marks of our vigilance and readiness to receive the enemy, which they could not be ignorant of, cooled their resolution, and madethem forget the vaunts of the preceding day; so that we passed thissecond night with as little molestation as we had done the first. 

We had finished sending the treasure on board the evening before, sothat the third morning, being the 15th of November, the boats wereemployed in carrying off the most valuable part of the effects fromthe town. As the commodore proposed to sail in the afternoon, he thisday about ten o'clock, pursuant to his promise, sent all his prisonerson shore, to the number of eighty-eight, giving orders to LieutenantBrett to have them secured in one of the churches under a strictguard, till he and his men were ready to embark. Mr Brett was alsoordered to set the whole town on fire, except the two churches, whichfortunately stood at some distance from the houses, after which he wasto abandon the place and return on board. Mr Brett punctually compliedwith these orders, and immediately distributed pitch, tar, and othercombustibles, of which there was great abundance to be had, intovarious houses in the several streets of the town, so that as theplace was to be fired in many different quarters at the same time, thedestruction might be the more violent and sudden, and the enemymight not be able to extinguish it after his departure. All thesepreparations being made, Mr Brett made the cannon in the fort bespiked; and setting fire to the houses most to windward, he collectedhis men and marched them to the beach, where the boats waited to takethem off. 

As that part of the beach where he intended to embark was an openplace without the town, near the churches, his retreat was perceivedby the Spaniards on the hill, on which they resolved to endeavourto precipitate his departure, in order to have a pretext forfuture boasting. For this purpose, a small squadron of their horse, consisting of about sixty, selected probably for this service, marcheddown the hill with much seeming resolution, as if they had proposedto have charged our men now on the open beach without any advantageor situation. But no sooner did Mr Brett halt his men and face about, than they stopped their career, and did not venture to advance anyfarther. On arriving at the boats, and being quite ready to embark, our people were detained some time by missing one of their number;and, after some considerable delay, being unable to learn where hewas left, or by what accident he was detained, they resolved to departwithout him. Just when the last man was embarked, and the boats weregoing to shove off they heard him calling to be taken in; at whichtime the town was so thoroughly on fire, and the smoke so covered thebeach, that they could hardly discern him, though he was quite wellheard. Mr Brett, however, instantly ordered one of the boats to hisrelief, which found him up to the chin in the water, for he had wadedas far as he durst, being extremely terrified at the idea of fallinginto the hands of the enemy, enraged as they doubtless were at thepillage and destruction of their town. On enquiring into the cause ofhis staying behind the rest, he acknowledged having taken too large adose of brandy, which had thrown him into so profound a sleep that hedid not wake till the fire began to scorch him. At first opening hiseyes, he was amazed to see all the houses in a blaze on one side, andseveral Spaniards and Indians not far from him on the other. The greatand sudden terror instantly restored him to sobriety, and gave himsufficient presence of mind to push through the thickest of the smoke, as the most likely means of escaping from the enemy; and, makingthe best of his way to the beach, he ran into the water as far as hedurst, for he could not swim, before he ventured to look back. 

It was certainly much to the honour of our people, that though therewere great quantities of wine and spirits found in the town, yet thiswas the only one who was known to have so far neglected his duty as toget drunk: indeed, their whole behaviour, while on shore, was greatlymore regular than could well have been expected, from sailors who hadbeen so long confined on board ship; and, though much of this goodconduct must doubtless be imputed to the diligence of the officers, and to the excellent discipline they had been constantly inured tounder the commodore, it was certainly not a little to the reputationof the men, that they should so generally have refrained fromindulging in these intoxicating liquors, which they found in abundancein every warehouse. 

There was another singular incident occurred here which merits beingrecorded. An Englishman, who had formerly wrought as a ship-carpenterin Portsmouth yard, had left his country and entered into theSpanish service, and was at this time employed by them at the port ofGuayaquil; and, as it was well known to his friends in England that hewas in that part of the world, they had put letters for him on boardthe Centurion. This man happened at the present time to be among theSpaniards who had retired to the hill of Payta; and ambitious, as itwould seem, of acquiring reputation among his new masters, he camedown unarmed to one of our centinels, who was posted at some distancefrom the fort towards the enemy, pretending that he was desirous ofsurrendering himself and returning to the service of his country. Ourcentinel had a cocked pistol in his hand, but, deceived by the fairspeeches of the carpenter, he allowed him very imprudently to comemuch too near him, so that, watching his opportunity, the carpenterwrenched the pistol from his hand, and ran away with it up thehill. By this time two others of our men, who had seen the carpenteradvance, and suspected his intentions, were making towards him, andnow pursued him, but he got up the hill before they could reach him, and then turned round and fired the pistol. His pursuers immediatelyreturned the fire, though at a great distance, and the crest of thehill covered him as soon as they had fired, so that they took it forgranted they had missed him: yet we afterwards learnt that he was shotthrough the body, and had fallen dead the very next step he took afterfiring his pistol and getting out of sight. The centinel, too, whomhe had so grossly imposed upon, did not escape unpunished; as he wasordered to be severely whipt, for allowing himself to be so shamefullysurprised on his post, and giving an example of carelessness, which, if followed in other instances, might have proved fatal to us all. 

By the time our people had taken their comrade out of the water, andwere making the best of their way to the squadron, the flames had gotpossession of every part of the town with so powerful a hold, by meansof the combustibles laid for the purpose, and by the slightness of thematerials of the houses, and their aptitude to take fire, that it wasnow quite apparent no efforts of the enemy, who now flocked down ingreat numbers, could possibly stop its ravages, or prevent the entiredestruction of the place and all the merchandize it contained. Ourdetachment under Lieutenant Brett safely joined the squadron, and thecommodore prepared to leave the bay that same evening. On our firstarrival there were six vessels belonging to the enemy at anchor, oneof which was the ship, that was to have sailed with the treasure tothe coast of Mexico; and, as she was supposed to be a good sailer, the commodore resolved to take her along with us. The others weretwo snows, a bark, and two row gallies of thirty-six oars each. Theselast, as we afterwards learnt, with many others of the same kind builtat different ports, were intended to prevent us from landing in theneighbourhood of Callao; as the Spaniards, on the first intelligenceof our squadron being destined for the South seas, and learning itsforce, expected that we would attempt the city of Lima. Having nooccasion for these five vessels, the commodore ordered all their maststo be cut by the board at our first arrival; and on leaving the place, they were all towed out into deep water, scuttled, and sunk. Thecommand of the remaining ship, called the Solidad, was given to MrHughes, lieutenant of the Tryal, with a crew of ten men. Towardsmidnight the squadron weighed anchor and sailed out of the bay, now consisting of six ships, the Centurion, Tryal's prize, Carmelo, Teresa, Carmin, and Solidad. 

Before proceeding to narrate our subsequent transactions, it may beproper to give a succinct account of the booty we acquired at Payta, and the losses there sustained by the Spaniards. It has been alreadyobserved, that there were great quantities of valuable effects at thisplace, but most of them were of a nature that we could neither disposeof nor carry away, and their value, therefore, can only be guessed at. In their representations to the court of Madrid, as we were afterwardassured, the Spaniards estimated their loss at a million and a half ofdollars; and as no small portion of the goods we there burnt wereof the richest and most expensive kinds, as broad cloths, silks, cambrics, velvets, and the like, perhaps that valuation might besufficiently moderate. The acquisition we made, though inconsiderablein comparison to what we destroyed, was yet far from despicable, as, in wrought plate, dollars, and other coin, there was to the value ofmore than 30, 000l. Sterling, besides several rings, bracelets, andother jewels, the value of which could not then be ascertained;and besides the very great plunder which became the property of theimmediate captors. 

It has been already observed, that all the prisoners we had takenin our preceding prizes were here discharged. Among these were somepersons of considerable distinction, one of them a youth ofseventeen, son to the vice-president of Chili. As the barbarity of thebuccaneers, and the artful uses the Spanish ecclesiastics had made ofthat circumstance, had filled the natives of these countries withthe most horrible notions of the English cruelty, we always found ourprisoners, on first coming aboard, extremely dejected, and under greathorror and anxiety. This youth particularly, having never been beforefrom home, lamented his captivity in the most moving terms, regrettingthe loss of his parents, his brothers, his sisters, and his nativecountry; all of which he believed he should never see more, conceivingthat he was devoted for the remainder of his life to an abject andcruel servitude. Indeed, all the Spaniards who came into our power, seemed to entertain similarly desponding notions of their condition. The commodore constantly exerted his utmost endeavours to efface theseterrifying impressions, always having as many of the principal peopleamong them as there was room for to dine at his table; andgiving strict charges that they should at all times, and in everycircumstance, be treated with the utmost decency and humanity. Inspite of this precaution, they hardly ever parted with their fearsfor the first few days, suspecting the gentleness of their usage to beonly preparatory to some after calamity; but at length, convinced ofour sincerity, they grew perfectly easy and cheerful, so that itwas often doubtful whether they considered their captivity as amisfortune. The before-mentioned youth, who was near two months onboard the Centurion, had at last so completely conquered hisoriginal melancholy surmises, and had taken such an affection forthe commodore, and seemed so much pleased with the manner of lifeon board, so different from all he had ever seen before, that I muchquestion, if it had been in his choice, if he would not have preferreda voyage to England in the Centurion to going on shore at Payta, though he had here liberty of returning to his friends and country. 

This generous conduct of our commodore to his prisoners, which hecontinued without interruption or deviation, gave them all the highestidea of his humanity and benevolence; and, as mankind are ever fondof forming general opinions, induced them to entertain very favourablethoughts of the whole English nation. But, whatever opinion they mightbe disposed to form of his character before the capture of the Teresa, their veneration for him was prodigiously increased by his conducttowards the women who were taken in that vessel, as formerlymentioned. For the circumstance of leaving them in possession of theirown apartments, the strict orders he issued to prevent any of ourpeople from approaching them, and his permitting the pilot to remainwith them as their guardian, were measures that seemed so differentfrom what they expected in an enemy and a heretic, that, although theSpanish prisoners had themselves experienced his beneficence, theywere astonished at this particular instance; and the more so, that allthis was done without his ever having seen the women, though the twodaughters were both reckoned handsome, and the youngest was celebratedfor her uncommon beauty. The women were themselves so sensible of theobligations they owed him for the attention and delicacy with whichhe had protected them, that they refused to go on shore at Paytatill permitted to wait upon him, that they might in person return himthanks. Indeed all the prisoners left us with the strongest assurancesof their grateful remembrance of his uncommon kindness. A Jesuit, in particular, of some distinction, expressed himself with greatthankfulness for the civilities he and his countrymen had experiencedwhile on board, declaring that he should consider it his duty to doMr Anson justice at all times; adding, that his usage of the menprisoners was such as could never be forgotten, and merited thehighest acknowledgments; but his behaviour to the women was soextraordinary and honourable, that he doubted all the regard due tohis own ecclesiastical character would be scarcely sufficient to makeit believed. Indeed, we were afterwards informed that he and the restof the prisoners had not been silent on this topic, but had given thehighest commendations of our commodore, both at Lima and other places;and the Jesuit, as we were told, had interpreted in his favour, in alax and hypothetical sense, that article of his church which assertsthe impossibility of heretics being saved. 

Let it not be imagined, that the impression received by the Spaniardsto our advantage on the present occasion was a matter of slightimport; for, not to mention several of our countrymen who had alreadyfelt the good effects of these prepossessions, it may be observed, that the good opinion of this nation is certainly of more consequenceto us than that of all the world besides. Not only as the commerce wehave formerly carried on with them, and perhaps may again hereafter, is so extremely valuable, but also as its transacting so immediatelydepends upon the honour and good faith of those who are entrusted withits management. Even if no national conveniences were likely to flowfrom this honourable conduct of our commodore, his own equity and gooddispositions would not the less have prevented him from the exerciseof tyranny and oppression on those whom the chance of war had put intohis hands. I shall only add, that, by his constant practice of thishumane and prudent conduct, he acquired a distinguished characteramong the Spanish Creoles over all their settlements in America, sothat his name was universally mentioned with honour and applause bymost of the Spanish inhabitants of that vast empire. 

SECTION XVII. 

_Occurrences from our Departure from Payta to our Arrival at Quibo. _

Setting sail from the road of Payta about midnight of the 16thNovember, we stood to the westward, and next morning the commodorecaused the squadron to spread, on purpose to look out for theGloucester, as we drew near the station where Captain Mitchell hadbeen directed to cruise, and we hourly expected to get sight of him, yet the whole day passed without seeing him. 

At this time a jealousy between those who had gone ashore to theattack of Payta, and those who had continued on board, grew to such aheight, that the commodore became acquainted with it, and thoughtit necessary to interpose his authority for its abatement. This wasoccasioned by the plunder taken at Payta, which those who acted onshore had appropriated to themselves, considering it as due to therisks they had run, and the resolution they had shewn on that service. But those who had remained on board, deemed this a very partial andunjust procedure; urging, that they also would have preferred actingon shore if it had been left to their choice; that their duty onboard was extremely fatiguing while their comrades were on shore; for, besides the labour of the day, they were forced to remain all nightunder arms to secure the prisoners, who were more numerous thanthemselves, and of whom it was then necessary to be extremelywatchful, to prevent any attempts they might have planned at thatcritical conjuncture. They insisted, also, that it was undeniably asnecessary to the success of the enterprize to have an adequate forceon board as on shore in its execution, and, therefore, that those whoremained on board could not be deprived of their share in the plunder, without manifest injustice. These contests were carried on with greatheat on both sides; and though the plunder in question was a meretrifle, in comparison with the treasure taken, in which there was nodoubt that those on board had an equal right, yet, as the obstinacyof sailors is not always regulated by the importance of the matter indispute, the commodore thought it necessary to put a speedy stop tothis commotion. Accordingly, on the morning of the 17th, he orderedall hands to assemble on the quarter-deck, when, addressing hisdiscourse to those who had been detached on shore, he highly commendedtheir gallant conduct, and thanked them for their services on thatoccasion. He then represented to them the reasons that had been urgedby those who continued on board, for an equal distribution of theplunder, telling them that he thought these reasons were conclusive, and that the expectations of their comrades were justly founded; andhe insisted, therefore, that not only the men, but all the officersalso, who had been employed in the capture of Payta, shouldimmediately produce the whole of their plunder upon the quarter-deck, and that it should be impartially divided among the whole crew, proportionally to the rank and commission of each. To prevent thosewho had been in possession of this plunder from murmuring at thisdecision, and the consequent diminution of their shares, he added, as an encouragement to those who might be afterwards employed onlike services, that he gave up his entire share, to be distributedexclusively among those who had been detached to attack the place. Thus this troublesome affair, which might perhaps have had mischievousconsequences if permitted to go on, was soon appeased by the prudenceof the commodore, to the general satisfaction of all. Some few, indeed, whose selfish dispositions were uninfluenced by the justice ofthis procedure, and who were incapable of discerning the equity of thedecision, were dissatisfied, as it tended to deprive them of what theyhad once possessed. 

This important affair employed the best part of the day after leavingPayta; and at night, having seen nothing of the Gloucester, thecommodore made the squadron bring to, that we might not pass her inthe dark. Next morning we again spread on the look-out, and saw a sailat 10 a. M. To which we gave chase, and which we came near enough bytwo p. M. To observe to be the Gloucester, having a small vessel intow. We joined her in about an hour after, when we learnt that CaptainMitchell had only taken two small prizes during the whole of hiscruise. One was a small snow, the cargo of which consisted chieflyof wine, brandy, and olives in jars, with about 7000l. In specie. Theother was a large boat or launch, taken near shore by the Gloucester'sbarge. The prisoners on board this boat alleged that they were verypoor, and that their loading consisted only of cotton; though thecircumstances under which they were surprized, seemed to insinuatethat they were more opulent than they pretended; for they were foundat dinner on a pigeon-pye, served up in silver dishes. The officer whocommanded the barge, having opened several of the jars in the prize, to satisfy his curiosity, found nothing as he thought but cotton, which inclined him to believe the account given by the prisoners; butwhen these jars were examined more strictly in the Gloucester, theywere agreeably surprised to find the whole a very extraordinary pieceof deception; as in every jar there was a considerable quantity ofdouble doubloons and dollars, artfully concealed among the cotton, tothe amount in all of near 12, 000l. This treasure was going to Payta, and belonged to the same merchants who were proprietors of most ofthe money we had taken there; so that, if this boat had escaped theGloucester, her cargo would probably have fallen into our hands. Besides these two prizes, the Gloucester had been in sight of two orthree other ships, which had escaped them; and one of them, from someof our intelligence, we had reason to believe was of immense value. 

It was now resolved to stand to the northwards, and to make the bestof our way either for Cape St Lucas, in California, or Cape Corienteson the coast of Mexico. When at Juan Fernandez, the commodore hadresolved to touch somewhere in the neighbourhood of Panama, toendeavour to get some correspondence overland with the fleet underAdmiral Vernon. For, on our departure from England, we left a fleetat Portsmouth intended for the West Indies, to be employed there inan expedition against some of the Spanish settlements. Taking forgranted, therefore, that this enterprise had succeeded, and thatPortobello might then be garrisoned by British troops, the commodoreconceived he might easily procure an intercourse with our countrymen, on the other side of the isthmus of Darien, either by means ofthe Indians, who are greatly disposed to favour us, or even bythe Spaniards themselves; some of whom might be induced, by properrewards, to carry on this correspondence; which, when once begun, might be continued with little difficulty. By this means, Mr Ansonflattered himself that he might procure a reinforcement of men fromthe other side, and that, by settling a prudent plan of co-operationwith our commanders in the West Indies, he might even have takenPanama. This would have given the British nation the command of theisthmus, by which we should in effect have become masters of all thewealth of Peru, and should have held an equivalent in our handsfor any demand, however extraordinary, that might have been thoughtadvisable to make on either branch of the Bourbon family. 

Such were the magnificent projects which the commodore revolved in hismind, when at the island of Juan Fernandez, notwithstanding the feeblecondition to which his force was then reduced; and, had the successof the expedition to the West Indies been answerable to the generalexpectation, these views had certainly been the most prudent thatcould have been devised. But, on examining the papers found on boardthe Carmelo, our first prize, it was then learnt, though I deferredmentioning it till now, that the attempt on Carthagena had failed, andthat there was no probability of our fleet in the West Indies engagingin any new enterprise that could at all facilitate this plan. MrAnson, therefore, had relinquished all hope of being reinforced acrossthe isthmus, and consequently had no inducement to proceed at presentfor Panama, being incapable of assaulting that place; and there wasreason to believe there was now a general embargo over all the coastof the South Sea. The only feasible measure that now remained, was tosteer as soon as possible for the southern parts of California, or theadjacent coast of Mexico, and there to cruise for the Manilla galleon, which was now known to be at sea on her voyage to Acapulco; and we hadno doubt of being able to get upon that station in sufficient time tointercept her, as she does not usually arrive at Acapulco tilltowards the middle of January, and, being now only about the middle ofNovember, we did not suppose our passage thither would cost us abovea month or six weeks, so that, in our opinion, we had nearly twice asmuch time as was necessary. 

There was one business, however, which we knew must occasion somedelay, but which we hoped might be accomplished in four or five days. This was to recruit our water; for the number of prisoners we had tomaintain, ever since we left Juan Fernandez, had so far exhausted ourstock, that it was impossible to think of venturing upon a passage tothe coast of Mexico, till we had procured a fresh supply; especiallyas we had not found enough at Payta for our consumption while there. It was for some time a matter of deliberation with the commodore, where we might take in this necessary article; but, by consulting theaccounts of former navigators, and examining our prisoners, he at lastresolved for the island of Quibo, beyond the bay of Panama. There wasindeed a small island called _Cocos_, less out of our way than Quibo, where some of the Buccaneers pretended to have found water: But noneof our prisoners knew any thing of that island, and it was thought toohazardous to risk the safety of the squadron, by exposing ourselves tothe chance of not finding water at that place, on the mere authorityof these legendary writers, of whose misrepresentations and falsitieswe had almost daily experience. Besides, we were not without hopesthat in going to Quibo some of the enemies ships bound to or fromPanama might fall into our hands, particularly such of them as wereput to sea, before they had intelligence of our squadron; we thereforedirected our course to the northward, being eight sail, and sohaving the appearance of a very formidable fleet; and on the 19that day-break, we discovered Cape Blanco, bearing S. S. E. 1/2 E. Sevenmiles distant. This cape lies in the latitude of 4° 15' south, and isalways made by ships bound either to windward or to leeward, so thatit is a most excellent station to cruise upon the enemy. As our lastprize, the Solidad, was far from answering the character given her ofa good sailer, and she and the Santa Teresa delayed us considerably, the commodore ordered them to be cleared of every thing that mightprove useful to the rest of the ships, and then to be burnt. We thenproceeded in our course for Quibo, and, on the 22d in the morning, saw the island of Plata bearing east, distant four leagues. One of ourprizes, which was ordered to stand close in, both to discover if therewere any ships between that island and the continent, and likewise tolook out for a stream of fresh water reported to be there, returnedwithout having seen any ship, or finding any water. At three in theafternoon point Manta bore S. E. By E. Seven miles distant; and therebeing a town of the same name in the neighbourhood, Captain Mitchelltook this opportunity of sending away several of his prisonersfrom the Gloucester in the Spanish launch. The boats were now dailyemployed in distributing provisions on board the Tryal and otherprizes, to complete their stock for six months; and, that theCenturion might be the better prepared to give the Manilla ship (oneof which we were told was of immense size) a warm reception, thecarpenters were ordered to fix eight stocks in the main and fore-topsfor the mounting of swivel guns. 

On the 25th we had a sight of the island of Gallo, bearing E. S. E. 1/2E. Four leagues distant; from hence we crossed the bay of Panama witha N. W. Course, hoping that this would have carried us in a direct lineto the island of Quibo. But we afterwards found that wrought to havestood more to the westward, for the winds in a short time began toincline to that quarter, and made it difficult for us to gain theisland. And now, after passing the equinoctial on the 22d, leaving theneighbourhood of the Cordilleras, and standing more and more towardsthe isthmus, where the communication of the atmosphere to the eastwardand the westward was no longer interrupted, we found, in a fewdays, an extraordinary alteration in the climate. Instead of uniformtemperature, we had, for several days together, close and sultryweather, resembling what we had met with between the tropics on theeastern side of America. We had besides frequent calms and heavyrains, which we at first ascribed to the neighbourhood of the line, where this kind of weather is found to prevail; but, observing that itattended us to the latitude of seven degrees north, we were inducedto believe that the stormy season, or, as the Spaniards call it, theVandevals, was not yet over; though many positively assert, that itbegins in June, and is ended November. 

On the 27th Captain Mitchel's largest prize being cleared, wasscuttled, and set on fire, and as the remaining five ships were allgood sailers, so we never occasioned any delay to each other. Beingnow in a rainy climate, which we had been long disused to, we foundit necessary to caulk the decks and sides of the Centurion, to preventthe rain-water from running into her. 

On the 3d of December we had a view of the island of Quibo, theeast end then bearing N. N. W. Four leagues distant, and the island ofQuicara W. N. W. At about the same distance. Here we struck ground withsixty-five fathom of line, and found the bottom to consist of greysand, with black specks. When we got sight of the land, we found thewind to hang westerly, and therefore thought it adviseable to standoff till morning, as there are said to be some shoals in the entranceof the channel. At six the next morning, point Mariato bore N. E. 1/2N. Three or four leagues distant. In weathering this point, all thesquadron, except the Centurion, were very near it, and the Gloucester, being the leewardmost ship, was forced to tack and stand to thesouthward, so that we lost sight of her. At nine, the island Sebacobore N. W. By N. Four leagues distant; but the wind still provingunfavourable, we were obliged to ply on and off for the succeedingtwenty-four hours, and were frequently taken a-back. However, ateleven the next morning the wind happily settling in the S. S. W. Webore away for the S. S. E. End of the island, and about three in theafternoon entered Canal Bueno, passing round a shoal which stretchesoff about two miles from the south point of the island. This CanalBueno, or Good Channel, is at least six miles in breadth; and as wehad the wind large, we kept in a good depth of water, generally fromtwenty-eight to thirty-three fathom, and came not within a mile and ahalf distance of the breakers, though, in all probability, if it hadbeen necessary, we might have ventured much nearer without incurringthe least danger. At seven in the evening we came to an anchor inthirty-three fathom, muddy ground; the south point of the islandbearing S. E. By E. A remarkable high part of the island W. By N. Andthe island Sebaco E. By N. 

SECTION XVIII. 

_Our Proceedings at Quibo, with an Account of the Place. _

The morning after our coming to an anchor, an officer was dispatchedto discover the watering-place; and, having found it, returned beforenoon; then we sent the long-boat for a load of water, and at the sametime weighed and stood farther in with our ships. At two we cameagain to an anchor in twenty-two fathom, with a bottom of rough gravelintermixed with broken shells, the watering-place now bearing from usN. W. 1/2 N. Only three quarters of a mile distant. 

The island of Quibo is extremely convenient for wooding and watering, for the trees grow close to the high-water mark, and a large rapidstream of fresh water runs over the sandy beach into the sea; so thatwe were little more than two days in laying in all the wood and waterwe wanted. The whole island is of a very moderate height, exceptingone part. It consists of a continued wood spread over the wholesurface of the country, which preserves its verdure all the yearround. We found there abundance of cassia, and a few lime-trees. It appeared singular to us, that, considering the climate and theshelter, we should see no other birds there than parrots, parroquets, and mackaws; of the last there were prodigious flights. Next to thesebirds, the animals we found in most plenty were monkeys and guanos, and these we frequently killed for food; for though there were manyherds of deer upon the place, yet the difficulty of penetrating thewoods prevented our coming near them, so that though we saw themoften, we killed only two during our stay. Our prisoners assured usthat this island abounded with tygers; we did once discover the printof a tyger's paw upon the beach, but the tygers themselves we neversaw. The Spaniards, too, informed us that there was often found in thewoods a most mischievous serpent, called the Flying Snake, which theysaid darted itself from the boughs of trees on either man or beastthat came within its reach, and whose sting they believed to beinevitable death. Besides these mischievous land-animals, thesea hereabouts is infested with great numbers of alligators of anextraordinary size; and we often observed a large kind of flat fishjumping a considerable height out of the water, which we supposed tobe the fish that is said frequently to destroy the pearl-divers, byclasping them in its fins as they rise from the bottom; and we weretold that the divers, for their security, are now always armed with asharp knife, which, when they are entangled, they stick into the bellyof the fish, and thereby disengage themselves from its embraces. 

Whilst the ship continued here at anchor, the commodore, attended bysome of his officers, went in a boat to examine a bay which lay tothe northward; and afterwards ranged all along the eastern side ofthe island. In the places where they put on shore in the course of hisexpedition, they generally found the soil to be extremely rich, andmet with great plenty of excellent water. In particular, near theN. E. Point of the island, they discovered a natural cascade, whichsurpassed, as they conceived, every thing of this kind, which humanart or industry hath hitherto produced. It was a river of transparentwater, about forty yards wide, which ran down a declivity of neara hundred and fifty yards in length. The channel it ran in was veryirregular; for it was entirely formed of rock, both its sides andbottom being made up of large detached blocks; and by these the courseof the water was frequently interrupted: For in some places it ransloping with a rapid but uniform motion, while in other parts ittumbled over the ledges of rocks with a perpendicular descent. All theneighbourhood of this stream was a fine wood; and even the hugemasses of rock which overhung the water, and which, by their variousprojections, formed the inequalities of the channel, were covered withlofty forest trees. Whilst the commodore, and those with him, wereattentively viewing this place, and remarking the different blendingsof the water, the rocks, and the wood, there came in sight (as itwere with an intent still to heighten and animate the prospect) aprodigious flight of mackaws, which hovering over this spot, and oftenwheeling and playing on the wing about it, afforded a most brilliantappearance, by the glittering of the sun on their variegatedplumage; so that some of the spectators cannot refrain from a kind oftransport, when they recount the complicated beauties which occurredin this extraordinary scene. 

In this expedition, along the eastern side of the island, though theymet with no inhabitants, yet they saw many huts upon the shore, andgreat heaps of shells of fine mother-of-pearl scattered up and downin different places: These were the remains left by the pearl-fishersfrom Panama, who often frequent this place in the summer season; forthe pearl oysters, which are to be met with every where in the bay ofPanama, are so plenty at Quibo, that by advancing a very little wayinto the sea, you might stoop down and reach them from the bottom. They are usually very large, but extremely tough and unpalatable. 

The oysters most productive of pearls, are those found in considerabledepths; for, though what are taken up by wading are of the samespecies, yet the pearls found in them are rare and very small. It issaid, too, that the pearl partakes in some degree of the quality ofthe bottom on which the oyster is found; so that if the bottom bemuddy, the pearl is dark and ill-coloured. 

The diving for oysters is a work performed by negro slaves, of whomthe inhabitants of Panama and the neighbouring coast formerly keptgreat numbers, carefully trained to this business. These are notesteemed complete divers, till they are able to protract their stayunder water so long, that the blood gushes out from their nose, mouth, and ears. It is the tradition of the country, that when this accidenthas once befallen them, they dive for the future with much greaterfacility than before; that no inconvenience attends it, the bleedinggenerally stopping of itself, and that there is no probability oftheir being subject to it a second time. [1]

[Footnote 1: The intelligent reader will demand more than the_tradition of the country_ to induce his belief, that this divingbusiness is not most certainly destructive of the miserable wretcheswho are compelled to pursue it. The divers in the Persian gulph, whereit is well known the pearl fishery is carried on by individuals ontheir own account, "seldom live to a great age, " (says Mr Morier inthe account of his Journey through Persia. ) "Their bodies break outin sores, and their eyes become very weak and blood-shot. They arerestricted to a certain regimen; and to food composed of dates andother light ingredients. " It cannot be imagined that the negroes ofPanama fare better in this hazardous occupation. But to the expressionof any solicitude as to _their_ blood, it is very probable the answermight be something in the style of one of Juvenal's worthy ladies:

 ----ita servus homo est? Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas. --P. ]

The sea at this place furnished us with a dainty, in the greatestplenty and perfection, viz. The turtle. There are reckoned fourspecies of turtle: the trunk-turtle, the loggerhead, the hawksbill, and the green turtle. The two first are rank and unwholesome; thehawksbill (which furnishes the tortoise-shell) is but indifferentfood, though better than the other two; but the green turtle isesteemed, by the greatest part of those who are acquainted withits taste, as the most delicious of eatables; and that it is a mostwholesome food, we were amply convinced by our own experience: For wefed on this for near four months, and consequently had it been in anydegree noxious, its ill effects could not possibly have escaped us. Atthis island we took what quantity we pleased with great facility; for, as they are an amphibious animal, and get on shore to lay their eggs, which they generally deposit in a large hole in the sand, just abovethe high-water mark, covering them up, and leaving them to be hatchedby the heat of the sun, we usually dispersed several of our men alongthe beach, whose business it was to turn them on their backs whenthey came to land; and the turtle being thereby prevented from gettingaway, we carried them off at our leisure. These proved of greatservice both in lengthening out our store of provision, and inheartening the whole crew with an almost constant supply of fresh andpalatable food; for the turtle being large, generally weighing about200 lb. Weight each, what we took with us lasted us near a month, andby that time we met with a fresh recruit on the coast of Mexico, wherewe often saw them in the heat of the day floating in great numberson the surface of the water fast asleep. Our mode of taking them wasthis; we sent out our boat with a man in the bow, who was a dexterousdiver; when the boat came within a few yards of the turtle, thediver plunged into the water, and took care to rise close upon it; onseizing the shell near the tail, and pressing down the hinder parts, the turtle awakened, and began to strike with its claws, which motionsupported both it and the diver, till the boat came up and took themin. By this management we never wanted turtle for the succeeding fourmonths in which we continued at sea; and though we had been threemonths on board, without putting our foot on shore, except for thefew days we stayed at the island of Quibo, and those employed in theattack of Payta, yet, in the whole seven months, from our leaving JuanFernandez to our anchoring in the harbour of Chequetan, we buried nomore in the whole squadron than two men; a most incontestable proofthat the turtle on which we fed for the last four months of this term, was at least innocent, if not something more. It appears wonderful, therefore, that a species of food so very palatable and salubrious, and so much abounding in those parts, should be proscribed by theSpaniards as unwholesome, and little less than poisonous. Perhaps thestrange appearance of this animal may have been the foundation of thisridiculous aversion, which is strongly rooted in all the inhabitantsof that coast, and of which we had many instances in the course ofthis navigation. Some Indian and negro slaves we had taken in ourprizes, and continued on board to assist in navigating our ships, wereastonished at our feeding on turtle, and seemed fully persuaded thatit would soon destroy us; but finding that none of us died, nor evensuffered in our health by a continuation of this diet, they at lastgot so far the better of their aversion, as to be persuaded to tasteit, to which the absence of all other kinds of fresh provisions mightnot a little contribute. However, it was with great reluctance, andvery sparingly, that they began to eat it: But the relish improvingupon them by degrees, they at last grew extremely fond of it, preferred it to every other kind of food, and often felicitated eachother on the happy experience they had acquired, and the delicious andplentiful repasts it would be always in their power to procure, whenthey should return to their country. Those who are acquainted with themanner of life of these unhappy wretches, need not be told, that nextto large draughts of spirituous liquors, plenty of tolerable food isthe greatest joy they know; and that the discovering a method whichwould supply them with what quantity they pleased of a kind moreluxurious to the palate than any their haughty lords and masterscould indulge in, was a circumstance which they considered as the mostfortunate that could befal them. 

In three days time we had completed our business at this place, andwere extremely impatient to put to sea, that we might arrive timeenough on the coast of Mexico to intercept the Manilla galleon. Thewind being contrary detained us a night, and the next day when we gotinto the offing, (which we did through the same channel by which weentered) we were obliged to keep hovering about the island, in hopesof getting sight of the Gloucester. It was the 9th of December, in themorning, when we put to sea, and continuing to the southward of theisland, looking out for the Gloucester, we, on the 10th, at five inthe afternoon, discerned a small sail to the northward of us, to whichwe gave chase, and coming up took her. She proved to be a bark fromPanama, bound to Cheripe, an inconsiderable village on the continent, and was called the _Jesu Nazareno_. She had nothing on board but someoakum, about a ton of rock-salt, and between 30l. And 40l. In specie, most of it consisting of small silver money, intended for purchasing acargo of provisions at Cheripe. 

I cannot but observe, for the use of future cruisers, that had we beenin want of provisions, we had by this capture an obvious method ofsupplying ourselves. For at Cheripe, whither she was bound, there is aconstant store of provisions prepared for the vessels which go thitherevery week from Panama, the market of Panama being chiefly suppliedfrom thence: So that by putting a few of our hands on board our prize, we might easily have seized a large store without any hazard, sinceCheripe is a place of no strength. 

On the 12th of December we were relieved from the perplexity we hadsuffered, by the separation of the Gloucester; for on that day shejoined us, and informed us, that in tacking to the southward on ourfirst arrival, she had sprung her fore-top-mast, which had disabledher from working to windward, and prevented her from joining ussooner. We now scuttled and sunk the Jesu Nazareno, the prize we tooklast, and having the greatest impatience to get into a proper stationfor the galleon, stood altogether to the westward, and notwithstandingthe impediments we met with, left the island of Quibo in about ninedays after our first coming in sight of it. 

SECTION XIX. 

_From Quibo to the Coast of Mexico. _

On the 12th of December we left Quibo, and the same day the commodoredelivered fresh instructions to the captains of the men of war, andthe commanders of our prizes, appointing them the rendezvousesthey were to make, and the courses they were to steer in case of aseparation. And first, they were directed to use all possible dispatchin getting to the northward of the harbour of Acapulco, where theywere to endeavour to fall in with the land, between the latitudes of18 and 19°; from thence, they were to beat up the coast at eight orten leagues distance from the shore, till they came a-breast of CapeCorientes, in the latitude of 20°20'. When they arrived there, theywere to continue cruising on that station till the 14th of February;and then they were to proceed to the middle island of the Tres Marias, in the latitude of 21°25', bearing from Cape Corientes N. W. By N. , twenty-five leagues distant. And if at this island they did not meetthe commodore, they were there to recruit their wood and water, andthen to make the best of their way to the island of Macao, on thecoast of China. These orders being distributed, we had little doubtof arriving soon upon our intended station; as we expected, uponthe increasing our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regulartrade-wind. But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near amonth, either with tempestuous weather from the western quarter, orwith dead calms and heavy rains, attended with a sultry air; so thatit was the 25th of December before we got a sight of the island ofCocos, which by our reckoning was only a hundred leagues from thecontinent; and we had the mortification to make so little way, that wedid not lose sight of it again in five days. This island we found tobe in the latitude of 5°20' north. It has a high hummock towards thewestern part, which descends gradually, and at last terminates in alow point to the eastward. From the island of Cocos we stood W. By N. , and were till the 9th of January in running an hundred leagues more. We had at first flattered ourselves, that the uncertain weather andwestern gales we met with were owing to the neighbourhood of thecontinent, from which, as we got more distant, we expected every dayto be relieved, by falling in with the eastern trade-wind: But as ourhopes were so long baffled, and our patience quite exhausted, we beganat length to despair of succeeding in the great purpose we had inview, that of intercepting the Manilla galleon; and this produceda general dejection amongst us, as we had at first considered thisproject as almost infallible, and had indulged ourselves in the mostboundless hopes of the advantages we should thence receive. However, our despondency was at last somewhat alleviated, by a favourablechange of the wind; for, on the 9th of January, a gale for the firsttime sprang up from the N. E. , and on this we took the Carmelo in tow, as the Gloucester did the Carmin, making all the sail we could toimprove the advantage, for we still suspected that it was only atemporary gale, which would not last long; but the next day we had thesatisfaction to find, that the wind did not only continue in the samequarter, but blew with so much briskness and steadiness, that we nowno longer doubted of its being the true trade-wind. And as we advancedapace towards our station, our hopes began to revive, and our despairby degrees gave place to pleasing prejudices: For though the customaryseason of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco was already elapsed, yet we were unreasonable enough to flatter ourselves, that someaccidental delay might lengthen her passage beyond its usual limits. 

When we got into the trade-wind, we found no alteration in it till the17th of January, when we were advanced to the latitude of 12°50', buton that day it shifted to the westward of the north: This changewe imputed to our having haled up too soon, though we then esteemedourselves full seventy leagues from the coast, which plainly shows, that the trade-wind doth not take place, but at a considerabledistance from the continent. After this, the wind was not sofavourable to us as it had been: However, we still continued toadvance, and, on the 26th of January, being then to the northward ofAcapulco, we tacked and stood to the eastward, with a view of makingthe land. 

In the preceding fortnight we caught some turtle on the surface of thewater, and several dolphins, bonitos, and albicores. One day, as oneof the sail-makers mates was fishing from the end of the gib-boom, helost his hold, and dropped into the sea; and the ship, which was thengoing at the rate of six or seven knots, went directly over him: Butas we had the Carmelo in tow, we instantly called out to the people onboard her, who threw him over several ends of ropes, one of which hefortunately caught hold of, and twisting it round his arm, was hauledinto the ship, without having received any other injury than a wrenchin his arm, of which he soon recovered. 

On the 26th of January, we stood to the eastward, expecting, by ourreckonings, to have fallen in with the land on the 28th; but thoughthe weather was perfectly clear, we had no sight of it at sun-set, andtherefore continued our course, not doubting but we should see itby the next morning. About ten at night we discovered a light on thelarboard-bow, bearing from us N. N. E. The Tryal's prize too, about amile a-head of us, made a signal at the same time for seeing a sail;and as we had no doubt that what we saw was a ship's light, we wereextremely animated with a firm persuasion, that it was the Manillagalleon, which had been so long the object of our wishes: And whatadded to our alacrity, was our expectation of meeting with two of theminstead of one, for we took it for granted, that the light in viewwas carried in the top of one ship for a direction to her consort. We immediately cast off the Carmelo and pressed forward with all ourcanvass, making a signal for the Gloucester to do the same. Thus wechased the light, keeping all our hands at their respective quarters, under an expectation of engaging in the next half hour, as wesometimes conceived the chase to be about a mile distant, and at othertimes to be within reach of our guns; and some positively averred, that besides the light, they could plainly discern her sails. Thecommodore himself was so fully persuaded that we should be soonalong-side of her, that he sent for his first lieutenant, whocommanded between decks, and directed him to see all the great gunsloaded with two round-shot for the first broadside, and after thatwith one round-shot and one grape, strictly charging him, at the sametime, not to suffer a gun to be fired, till he, the commodore, shouldgive orders, which he informed the lieutenant would not be till wearrived within pistol-shot of the enemy. In this constant and eagerattention we continued all night, always presuming that anotherquarter of an hour would bring us up with this Manilla ship, whosewealth, with that of her supposed consort, we now estimated by roundmillions. But when the morning broke, and day-light came on, we weremost strangely and vexatiously disappointed, by finding that the lightwhich had occasioned all this bustle and expectancy was only a fireon the shore. Indeed the circumstances of this deception are soextraordinary as to be scarcely credible; for, by our run during thenight, and the distance of the land in the morning, this fire, when wefirst discovered it, must have been above twenty-five leagues fromus. It was indeed upon a very high mountain, and continued burningfor several days afterwards; it was not a volcano, but rather, asI suppose, stubble, or heath, set on fire for some purpose ofagriculture. [1]

[Footnote 1: The reasons for this supposition ought to have beenadduced. It is not improbable that the volcanic mountain in theneighbourhood of Acapulco did furnish this vexatious light. --E. ]

At sun-rising, after this mortifying delusion, we found ourselvesabout nine leagues off the land, which extended from the N. W. To E. 1/2 N. On this land we observed two remarkable hummocks, such as areusually called paps, which bore north from us: These, a Spanish pilotand two Indians, who were the only persons amongst us that pretendedto have traded in this part of the world, affirmed to be over theharbour of Acapulco. Indeed, we very much doubted their knowledge ofthe coast; for we found these paps to be in the latitude of 17°56', whereas those over Acapulco are said to be in 17° only; and weafterwards found our suspicions of their skill to be well grounded:However, they were very confident, and assured us, that the height ofthe mountains was itself an infallible mark of the harbour; thecoast, as they pretended, (though falsely) being generally low to theeastward and westward of it. 

And now being in the track of the Manilla galleon, it was a greatdoubt with us (as it was near the end of January, ) whether she was orwas not arrived: But examining our prisoners about it, they assuredus, that she was sometimes known to come in after the middle ofFebruary; and they endeavoured to persuade us, that the fire wehad seen on shore was a proof that she was as yet at sea, it beingcustomary, as they said, to make use of these fires as signals forher direction, when she continued longer out than ordinary. On thisinformation, strengthened by our propensity to believe them in amatter which so pleasingly flattered our wishes, we resolved to cruisefor her for some days; and we accordingly spread our ships at thedistance of twelve leagues from the coast, in such a manner, that itwas impossible she should pass us unobserved: However, not seeing hersoon, we were at intervals inclined to suspect that she had gainedher port already; and as we now began to want a harbour to refreshour people, the uncertainty of our present situation gave usgreat uneasiness, and we were very solicitous to get some positiveintelligence, which might either set us at liberty to consult ournecessities, if the galleon was arrived, or might animate us tocontinue our present cruise with cheerfulness, if she was not. With this view the commodore, after examining our prisoners veryparticularly, resolved to send a boat, under night, into the harbourof Acapulco, to see if the Manilla ship was there or not, one of theIndians being very positive that this might be done without theboat itself being discovered. To execute this project, the bargewas dispatched the 6th of February, with a sufficient crew and twoofficers, who took with them a Spanish pilot, and the Indian who hadinsisted on the practicability of this measure, and had undertaken toconduct it. Our barge did not return to us again till the eleventh, when the officers acquainted Mr Anson, that, agreeable to oursuspicion, there was nothing like a harbour in the place where theSpanish pilots had at first asserted Acapulco to lie; that when theyhad satisfied themselves in this particular, they steered to theeastward, in hopes of discovering it, and had coasted along shorethirty-two leagues; that in this whole range they met chiefly withsandy beaches of a great length, over which the sea broke with so muchviolence, that it was impossible for a boat to land; that at theend of their run they could just discover two paps at a very greatdistance to the eastward, which from their appearance and theirlatitude, they concluded to be those in the neighbourhood of Acapulco;but that not having a sufficient quantity of fresh water and provisionfor their passage thither and back again, they were obliged to returnto the commodore, to acquaint him with their disappointment. On thisintelligence we all made sail to the eastward, in order to get intothe neighbourhood of that port, the commodore resolving to send thebarge a second time upon the same enterprize, when we were arrivedwithin a moderate distance. And the next day, which was the 12th ofFebruary, we being by that time considerably advanced, the barge wasagain dispatched, and particular instructions given to the officersto preserve themselves from being seen from the shore. On the 13th weespied a high land to the eastward, which we first imagined to be thatover the harbour of Acapulco; but we afterwards found that it was thehigh land of Seguateneo, where there is a small harbour, of which weshall have occasion to make more ample mention hereafter. And now, having waited six days without any news of our barge, we began to beuneasy for her safety; but, on the 7th day, that is, on the 19th ofFebruary, she returned. The officers informed the commodore, that theyhad discovered the harbour of Acapulco, which they esteemed to bearfrom us E. S. E. At least fifty leagues distant: That on the 17th, abouttwo in the morning, they were got within the island that lies atthe mouth of the harbour, and yet neither the Spanish pilot, nor theIndian who were with them, could give them any information where theythen were; but that while they were lying upon their oars in suspencewhat to do, being ignorant that they were then at the very placethey sought for, they discerned a small light upon the surface ofthe water, on which they instantly plied their paddles, and movingas silently as possible towards it, they found it to be in a fishingcanoe, which they surprised, with three negroes that belonged to it. It seems the negroes at first attempted to jump overboard; and beingso near the land, they would easily have swam on shore; but theywere prevented by presenting a piece at them, on which they readilysubmitted, and were taken into the barge. The officers further added, that they had immediately turned the canoe adrift against the face ofa rock, where it would inevitably be dashed to pieces by the fury ofthe sea: This they did to deceive those who perhaps might be sent fromthe town to search after the canoe; for upon seeing several pieces ofa wreck, they would immediately conclude that the people on board herhad been drowned, and would have no suspicion of their having falleninto our hands. When the crew of the barge had taken this precaution, they exerted their utmost strength in pulling out to sea, and by dawnof day had gained such an offing, as rendered it impossible for themto be seen from the coast. 

And now having got the three negroes in our possession, who were notignorant of the transactions at Acapulco, we were soon satisfied aboutthe most material points which had long kept us in suspense: Andon examination we found, that we were indeed disappointed in ourexpectation of intercepting the galleon before her arrival atAcapulco; but we learnt other circumstances which still revived ourhopes, and which, we then conceived, would more than balance theopportunity we had already lost: For though our negro prisonersinformed us that the galleon arrived at Acapulco on our 9th ofJanuary, which was about twenty days before we fell in with thiscoast, yet they at the same time told us, that the galleon haddelivered her cargo, and was taking in water and provisions for herreturn, and that the viceroy of Mexico had by proclamation fixed herdeparture from Acapulco to the 14th of March, N. S. This last newswas most joyfully received by us, as we had no doubt but she mustcertainly fall into our hands, and as it was much more eligible toseize her on her return, than it would have been to have taken herbefore her arrival, as the specie for which she had sold her cargo, and which she would now have on board, was prodigiously more to beesteemed by us than the cargo itself; great part of which would haveperished on our hands, and no part of it could have been disposed ofby us at so advantageous a mart as Acapulco. 

Thus we were a second time engaged in an eager expectation of meetingwith this Manilla ship, which, by the fame of its wealth, we had beentaught to consider as the most desirable prize that was to be met within any part of the globe. As all our future projects will be insome sort regulated with a view to the possession of this celebratedgalleon, and as the commerce which is carried on by means of thesevessels between the city of Manilla and the port of Acapulco isperhaps the most valuable, in proportion to its quantity, of any inthe known world, I shall endeavour, in the ensuing chapter, to give asdistinct an account as I can of all the particulars relating thereto, both as it is a matter in which I conceive the public to be in somedegree interested, and as I flatter myself, that from the materialswhich have fallen into my hands, I am enabled to describe it with moredistinctness than has hitherto been done, at least in our language. 

SECTION XX. 

_An Account of the Commerce carried on between the City of Manillaon the Island of Luconia, and the Port of Acapulco in the Coast ofMexico. _[1]

Though Spain did not acquire the property of any of the spice islands, by the enterprising labours of Magellan (related in our tenth volume, to which we refer, ) yet the discovery made in his expedition to thePhilippine Islands, was thought too considerable to be neglected; forthese were not far distant from those places which produced spices, and were very well situated for the Chinese trade, and for thecommerce of other parts of India; and therefore a communication wassoon established, and carefully supported between these islandsand the Spanish colonies on the coast of Peru: So that the city ofManilla, (which Was built on the island of Luconia, the chief of thePhilippines) soon became the mart for all Indian commodities, whichwere brought up by the inhabitants, and were annually sent to theSouth-Seas to be there vended on their account; and the returns ofthis commerce to Manilla being principally made in silver, the placeby degrees grew extremely opulent and considerable, and its trade sofar increased, as to engage the attention of the court of Spain, andto be frequently controlled and regulated by royal edicts. 

[Footnote 1: Much of the original in this section is omitted, aseither unimportant now; or elsewhere given in the work. ]

In the infancy of this trade, it was carried on from the portof Callao to the city of Manilla, in which voyage the trade-windcontinually favoured them; so that notwithstanding these places weredistant between three and four thousand leagues, yet the voyage wasoften made in little more than two months: But then the return fromManilla was extremely troublesome and tedious, and is said to havesometimes taken them up above a twelvemonth, which, if they pretendedto ply up within the limits of the trade-wind, is not at all to bewondered at; and it is asserted, that in their first voyages they wereso imprudent and unskilful as to attempt this course. However, thatroute Was soon laid aside by the advice, as it is said, of a Jesuit, who persuaded them to steer to the northward till they got clear ofthe trade-winds, and then by the favour of the westerly winds, whichgenerally prevail in high latitudes, to stretch away for the coastof California. This has been the practice for at least a hundred andsixty years past, (1740-4:) For Sir Thomas Cavendish, in the year1586, engaged off the south end of California a vessel bound fromManilla to the American coast. And it was in compliance with thisnew plan of navigation, and to shorten the run both backwards andforwards, that the staple of this commerce to and from Manilla wasremoved from Callao, on the coast of Peru, to the port of Acapulco, onthe coast of Mexico, where it continues fixed at this time. 

This trade to Acapulco is not laid open to all the inhabitants ofManilla, but is confined by very particular regulations, somewhatanalogous to those by which the trade of the register ships from Cadizto the West-Indies is restrained. 

The trade is limited to a certain value, which the annual cargo oughtnot to exceed. Some Spanish manuscripts', I have seen, mention thislimitation to be 600, 000 dollars; but the annual cargo does certainlysurpass this sum; and though it may be difficult to fix its exactvalue, yet from many comparisons I conclude, that the return cannot begreatly short of three millions of dollars. 

This trade from Manilla to Acapulco and back again, is usually carriedon in one or at most two annual ships, which set sail from Manillaabout July, and arrive at Acapulco in the December, January, orFebruary following, and having there disposed of their effects, returnfor Manilla some time in March, where they generally arrive in June;so that the whole voyage takes up very near an entire year: For thisreason, though there is often no more than one ship employed ata time, yet there is always one ready for the sea when the otherarrives; and therefore are provided three or four stout ships, that, in case of any accident, the trade may not be suspended. 

The ship having received her cargo on board, and being fitted forthe sea, generally weighs from the mole of Cabite about the middle ofJuly, taking the advantage of the westerly monsoon, which then setsin, to carry them to sea. It appears that the getting through theBoccadero to the eastward must be a troublesome navigation, and infact it is sometimes the end of August before they get clear of theland. When they have got through this passage, and are clear of theislands, they stand to the northward of the east, in order to get intothe latitude of thirty odd degrees, where they expect to meetwith westerly winds, before which they run away for the coast ofCalifornia. [2] It is most remarkable, that by the concurrent testimonyof all the Spanish navigators, there is not one port, nor even atolerable road, as yet found out betwixt the Philippine Islands andthe coast of California and Mexico; so that from the time the Manillaship first loses sight of land, she never lets go her anchor till shearrives on the coast of California, and very often not till she getsto its southermost extremity: And therefore, as this voyage is rarelyof less than six months continuance, and the ship is deep laden withmerchandise and crowded with people, it may appear wonderful how theycan be supplied with a stock of fresh water for so long a time. Asupply indeed they have, but the reliance upon it seems at first sightso extremely precarious, that it is wonderful such numbers shouldrisque perishing by the most dreadful of all deaths, on theexpectation of so casual a circumstance. In short, their only methodof recruiting their water is by the rains, which they meet withbetween the latitudes of 30° and 40° north, and which they are alwaysprepared to catch: For this purpose they take to sea with them agreat number of mats, which they place slopingly against the gunwale, whenever the rain descends; these mats extend from one end of the shipto the other, and their lower edges rest on a large split bamboe, sothat all the water which falls on the mats drain into the bamboe, and by this, as a trough, is conveyed into ajar; and this method ofsupplying their water, however accidental and extraordinary it may atfirst sight appear, hath never been known to fail them, so that it iscommon, for them, when their voyage is a little longer than usual, tofill all their water jars several times over. 

[Footnote 2: In the original is inserted a chart for the explanationof this track, which it is unnecessary to give here. --E. ]

The length of time employed in this passage, so much beyond whatusually occurs in any other navigation, is perhaps in part to beimputed to the indolence and unskilfulness of the Spanish sailors, andto an unnecessary degree of caution and concern for so rich a vessel:For it is said, that they never set their main-sail in the night, andoften lie by unnecessarily. And indeed the instructions given to theircaptains (which I have seen) seem to have been drawn up by such aswere more apprehensive of too strong a gale, though favourable, thanof the inconveniences and mortality attending a lingering and tediousvoyage; for the captain is particularly ordered to make his passage inthe latitude of 30° if possible, and to be extremely, careful tostand no farther to the northward than is absolutely necessary for thegetting a westerly wind. This, according to our conceptions, appearsto be a very absurd restriction; since it can scarcely be doubted, that in the higher latitudes the westerly winds are much steadier andbrisker than in the latitude of 30°: So that the whole conduct of thisnavigation seems liable to very great censure. If instead of steeringE. N. E. Into the latitude of thirty odd degrees, they at first stoodN. E. , or even still more northerly, into the latitude of 40° or 45°, in part of which course the trade-winds would greatly assist them, Idoubt not they might considerably contract their voyage. And this isnot merely matter of speculation; for I am credibly informed, thatabout the year 1721, a French ship, by pursuing this course, ran fromthe coast of China to the valley of Vanderas on the coast ofMexico, in less than fifty days: But it was said that this ship, notwithstanding the shortness of her passage, suffered prodigiouslyby the scurvy, so that she had only four or five of her crew left whenshe arrived in America. 

The Manilla ship having stood so far to the northward as to meet witha westerly wind, stretches away nearly in the same latitude for thecoast of California: And when she has run into the longitude of 96°from Cape Espiritu, Santo, she generally meets with a plant floatingon the sea, which, being called Porra by the Spaniards, is, Ipresume, a species of sea-leek. On the sight of this plant they esteemthemselves sufficiently near the Californian shore, and immediatelystand to the southward; they rely so much on this circumstance, thaton the first discovery of the plant the whole ship's company chaunta solemn _Te Deum_, esteeming the difficulties and hazards of theirpassage to be now at an end; and they constantly correct theirlongitude thereby, without ever coming within sight of land, till theydraw near its southern extremity. 

The most usual time of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco istowards the middle of January: But this navigation is so uncertain, that she sometimes gets in a month sooner, and at other times has beendetained at sea above a month longer. The port of Acapulco is bymuch the securest and finest in all the northern parts of the PacificOcean; being, as it were, a bason surrounded by very high mountains:But the town is a most wretched place, and extremely unhealthy, forthe air about it is so pent up by the hills, that it has scarcely anycirculation. The place is besides destitute of fresh water; exceptwhat is brought from a considerable distance; and is in all respectsso inconvenient, that except at the time of the mart, whilst theManilla galleon is in the port, it is almost deserted. 

When the galleon arrives in this port, she is generally moored on itswestern side, and her cargo is delivered with all possible expedition. And now the town of Acapulco, from almost a solitude, is immediatelythronged with merchants from all parts of the kingdom of Mexico. Thecargo being landed and disposed of, the silver and the goods intendedfor Manilla are taken on board, together with provisions and water, and the ship prepares to put to sea with the utmost expedition. There is indeed no time to be lost; for it is an express order to thecaptain to be out of the port of Acapulco on his return, before thefirst day of April, N. S. 

The principal return is made in silver, and consequently the rest ofthe cargo is but of little account; the other articles, besides thesilver, being some cochineal and a few sweetmeats, the produce of theAmerican settlements, together with European millinery ware for thewomen at Manilla, and some Spanish wines, such as tent and sherry, which are intended for the use of their priests in the administrationof the sacrament. 

This difference in the cargo of the ship to and from Manilla, occasions a very remarkable variety in the manner of equipping theship for these two different voyages. For the galleon, when she setssail from Manilla, being deep laden with a variety of bulky goods, hasnot the conveniency of mounting her lower tire of guns, butcarries them in her hold, till she draws near Cape St Lucas, and isapprehensive of an enemy. Her hands too are as few as is consistentwith the safety of the ship, that she may be less pestered with thestowage of provisions. But on her return from Acapulco, as her cargolies in less room, her lower tire is (or ought to be) always mountedbefore she leaves the port, and her crew is augmented with a supply ofsailors, and with one or two companies of foot, which are intendedto reinforce the garrison at Manilla. And there being besides manymerchants who take their passage to Manilla, her whole number of handson her return is usually little short of six hundred, all which areeasily provided for, by reason of the small stowage necessary for thesilver. The galleon being thus fitted for her return, the captain, onleaving the port of Acapulco, steers for the latitude of 13° or 14°, and runs on that parallel, till he gets sight of the island of Guam, one of the Ladrones. In this run the captain is particularly directedto be careful of the shoals of St Bartholomew, and of the island ofGasparico. He is also told in his instructions, that to prevent hispassing the Ladrones in the dark, there are orders given that, throughall the month of June, fires shall be lighted every night on thehighest part of Guam and Rota, and kept in till the morning. 

At Guam there is a small Spanish garrison, purposely intended tosecure that place for the refreshment of the galleon, and to yield herall the assistance in their power. However, the danger of the road atGuam is so great, that though the galleon is ordered to call there, yet she rarely stays above a day of two, but getting her water andrefreshments on board as soon as possible, she steers away directlyfor Cape Espiritu Santo, on the island of Samal. Here the captain isagain ordered to look out for signals; and he is told, that centinelswill be posted not only on that Cape, but likewise in Catanduanas, Butusan, Birriborongo, and on the island of Batan. These centinelsare instructed to make a fire when they discover the ship, which thecaptain is carefully to observe: For if, after this first fire isextinguished, he perceives that four or more are lighted up again, heis then to conclude that there are enemies on the coast; and on thishe is immediately to endeavour to speak with the centinel on shore, and to procure from him more particular intelligence of their force, and of the station they cruise in; pursuant to which, he is toregulate his conduct, and to endeavour to gain some secure portamongst those islands, without coming in sight of the enemy; and incase he should be discovered when in port, and should be apprehensiveof attack, he is then to land his treasure, and to take some of hisartillery on shore for its defence, not neglecting to send frequentand particular accounts to the city of Manilla of all that passes. But if, after the first fire on shore, the captain observes that twoothers only are made by the centinels, he is then to conclude, thatthere is nothing to fear: And he is to pursue his course withoutinterruption, and to make the best of his way to the port of Cabite, which is the port to the city of Manilla, and the constant station forall the ships employed in this commerce to Acapulco. 

SECTION XXI. 

_Our Cruise off the Port of Acapulco for the Manilla Ship. _

I have already mentioned, that the return of our barge from the portof Acapulco, where she had surprised three negro fishermen, gave usinexpressible satisfaction, as we learnt from our prisoners, that thegalleon was then preparing to put to sea, and that her departure wasfixed, by an edict of the viceroy of Mexico, to the 14th of March, N. S. That is, to the 3d of March, according to our reckoning. 

Having satisfied ourselves upon this head, we indulged our curiosityin enquiring after other news; when the prisoners informed us, thatthey had received intelligence at Acapulco, of our having plunderedand burnt the town of Paita; and that, on this occasion, the governorof Acapulco had augmented the fortifications of the place, and hadtaken several precautions to prevent us from forcing our way into theharbour; that in particular, he had placed a guard on the island whichlies at the harbour's mouth, and that this guard had been withdrawnbut two nights before the arrival of our barge: So that had the bargesucceeded in her first attempt, or had she arrived at the port thesecond time two days sooner, she could scarcely have avoided beingseized on, or if she had escaped, it must have been with the loss ofthe greatest part of her crew, as she would have been under the fireof the guard, before she had known her danger. 

The withdrawing of this guard was a circumstance that greatlyencouraged us, as it seemed to demonstrate, not only that the enemyhad not as yet discovered us, but likewise that they had now nofarther apprehensions of our visiting their coast, indeed theprisoners assured us, that they had no knowledge of our being in thoseseas, and that they had therefore flattered themselves, that, inthe long interval since our taking of Paita, we had steered anothercourse. But we did not consider the opinion of these negro prisonersso authentic a proof of our being hitherto concealed, as thewithdrawing of the guard from the harbour's mouth, which being theaction of the governor, was of all arguments the most convincing, ashe might be supposed to have intelligence, with which the rest of theinhabitants were unacquainted. 

Satisfied therefore that we were undiscovered, and that the time wasfixed for the departure of the galleon from Acapulco, we made allnecessary preparations, and waited with the utmost impatience for theimportant day. As this was the 3d of March, and it was the 19th ofFebruary when the barge returned and brought us our intelligence, thecommodore resolved to continue the greatest part of the intermediatetime on his present station, to the westward of Acapulco, conceivingthat in this situation there would be less danger of his being seenfrom the shore, which was the only circumstance that could deprive usof the immense treasure, on which we had at present so eagerly fixedour thoughts. During this interval, we were employed in scrubbing andcleansing our ships, in bringing them into their most advantageoustrim, and in regulating the orders, signals, and stations to beobserved, when we should arrive off Acapulco, and the time of thedeparture of the galleon should draw nigh. 

On the first of March, we made the high lands, usually called the papsover Acapulco, and got with all possible expedition into the situationprescribed by the commodore's orders. The distribution of our squadronon this occasion, both for the intercepting the galleon, and for theavoiding a discovery from the shore, was so very judicious, that itwell merits to be distinctly described. 

The Centurion brought the paps over the harbour to bear N. N. E. , atfifteen leagues distance, which was a sufficient offing to prevent ourbeing seen by the enemy. To the westward of the Centurion there wasstationed the Carmelo, and to the eastward were the Tryal prize, theGloucester, and the Carmin: These were all ranged in a circular line, and each ship was three leagues distant from the next; so that theCarmelo and the Carmin, which were the two extremes, were twelveleagues distant from each other: And as the galleon could, withoutdoubt, be discerned at six leagues distance from either extremity, the whole sweep of our squadron, within which nothing could passundiscovered, was at least twenty-four leagues in extent; and yetwe were so connected by our signals, as to be easily and speedilyinformed of what was seen in any part of the line: And, to render thisdisposition still more complete, and to prevent even the possibilityof the galleon's escaping us in the night, the two cutters belongingto the Centurion and the Gloucester were both manned and sent inshore; and were ordered to lie all day at the distance of four or fiveleagues from the entrance of the port, where they could not possiblybe discovered; but they were directed in the night to stand nearerto the harbour's mouth, and as the light of the morning came on, toreturn back again to their day-posts. When the cutters should firstdiscover the Manilla ship, one of them was to return to the squadron, and to make a signal, whether the galleon stood to the eastward orto the westward; whilst the other was to follow the galleon at adistance, and if it grew dark, to direct the squadron in their chace, by shewing false fires. 

Besides the care we had taken to prevent the galleon from passing usunobserved, we had not been inattentive to the means of engaging herto advantage, when we came up with her: For, considering the thinnessof our hands, and the vaunting accounts given by the Spaniards of hersize, her guns, and her strength, this was a consideration not to beneglected. As we supposed that none of our ships but the Centurionand the Gloucester were capable of lying alongside of her, we tookon board the Centurion all the hands belonging to the Carmelo and theCarmin, except what were just sufficient to navigate those ships;and Captain Saunders was ordered to send from the Tryal prizeten Englishmen, and as many negroes, to reinforce the crew of theGloucester. For the encouragement of our negroes, we promised them, that on their good behaviour they should all have their freedom; andas they had been almost every day trained to the management of thegreat guns for the two preceding months, they were very well qualifiedto be of service to us; and from their hopes of liberty, and in returnfor the usage they had met with amongst us, they seemed disposed toexert themselves to the utmost of their power. 

Being thus prepared for the reception of the galleon, we expected, with the utmost impatience, the so-often-mentioned third of March, theday fixed for her departure. And on that day we were all of us mosteagerly engaged in looking out towards Acapulco; and we were sostrangely prepossessed with the certainty of our intelligence, andwith an assurance of her coming out of port, that some or other of uswere constantly imagining they discovered one of our cutters returningwith a signal. But, to our extreme vexation, both this day and thesucceeding night passed without any news of the galleon: However, we did not yet despair, but were all heartily disposed to flatterourselves, that some unforeseen accident had intervened, which mighthave put off her departure for a few days; and suggestions of thiskind occurred in plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the viceroyfor her sailing was often prolonged on the petition of the merchantsof Mexico. Thus we kept up our hopes, and did not abate of ourvigilance; and as the 7th of March was Sunday the beginning ofPassion-week, which is observed by the Papists with great strictness, and a total cessation from all kinds of labour, so that no ship ispermitted to stir out of port during the whole week, this quieted ourapprehensions for some days, and disposed us not to expect the galleontill the week following. On the Friday in this week our cuttersreturned to us, the officers being very confident that the galleon wasstill in port, and that she could not possibly have come out but theymust have seen her. On the Monday morning succeeding Passion-week, that is, on the 15th of March, the cutters were again dispatchedto their old station, and our hopes were once more indulged in assanguine prepossessions as before; but in a week's time our eagernesswas greatly abated, and a general dejection and despondency tookplace. It is true, there were some few amongst us who still keptup their spirits, and were very ingenious in finding out reasons tosatisfy themselves, that the disappointment had been occasioned by acasual delay of the galleon, which a few days would remove, and notby a total suspension of her departure for the whole season: But thesespeculations were not relished by the generality of our people; forthey were persuaded that the enemy had, by some accident, discoveredour being upon the coast, and had therefore laid an embargo on thegalleon till the next year. And indeed this persuasion was but toowell founded; for we afterwards learnt, that our barge, when sent onthe discovery of the port of Acapulco, had been seen from theshore; and that this circumstance (no embarkations but canoesever frequenting that coast) was to them a sufficient proof of theneighbourhood of our squadron; on which they stopped the galleon tillthe succeeding year. 

The commodore himself, though he declared not his opinion, was yet inhis own thoughts very apprehensive that we were discovered, and thatthe departure of the galleon was put off; and he had, in consequenceof this opinion, formed a plan for possessing himself of Acapulco;for he had no doubt that the treasure remained in the town, though theorders for dispatching the galleon were countermanded. [3]

[Footnote 3: It is unnecessary to detail this plan, as, for sufficientreasons soon discovered, it was not attempted to be executed. --E. ]

His scheme was formed on a supposition that the galleon was detainedtill the next year; but as this was a matter of opinion only, and notfounded on intelligence, and there was a possibility that she mightstill put to sea in a short time, the commodore thought it prudentto continue his cruise upon this station, as long as the necessaryattention to his stores of wood and water, and to the convenientseason for his future passage to China, would give him leave; andtherefore, as the cutters had been ordered to remain, before Acapulcotill the 23d of March, the squadron did not change its position tillthat day; when the cutters not appearing, we were in some pain forthem, apprehending they might have suffered either from the enemy orthe weather; but we were relieved from our concern the next morning, when we discovered them, though at a great distance and to the leewardof the squadron: We bore down to them and took them up and wereinformed by them, that, conformable to their orders, they had lefttheir station the day before, without having seen any thing of thegalleon; and we found, that the reason of their being so far tothe leeward of us was a strong current, which had driven the wholesquadron to windward. 

It afterwards appeared that this prolongation of our cruise was a veryprudent measure, and afforded us no contemptible chance of seizing thetreasure, on which we had so long fixed our thoughts. For it seems, after the embargo was laid on the galleon, the persons principallyinterested in the cargo sent several expresses to Mexico, to begthat she might still be permitted to depart: For as they knew, by theaccounts sent from Paita, that we had not more than three hundred menin all, they insisted that there was nothing to be feared from us;for that the galleon (carrying above twice as many hands as our wholesquadron) would be greatly an overmatch for us. Though the viceroy wasinflexible; yet, on this representation, she was kept ready for thesea for near three weeks after the first order came to detain her. 

When we had taken up the cutters, all the ships being joined, thecommodore made a signal to speak with their commanders; and uponenquiry into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron, it was found to be so very slender, that we were under a necessity ofquitting our station to procure a fresh supply. It was agreed, thatthe harbour of Seguataneo or Chequetan being the nearest to us, was, on that account, the most eligible; it was therefore immediatelyresolved to make the best of our way thither: And that, even whilewe were recruiting our water, we might not abandon our views upon thegalleon, which perhaps, upon certain intelligence of our ship beingemployed at Chequetan, might venture to slip out to sea; our cutter, under the command of Mr Hughes, the lieutenant of the Tryal prize, wasordered to cruise off the port of Acapulco for twenty-four days, thatif the galleon should set sail in that interval, we might be speedilyinformed of it. In pursuance of these resolutions we endeavouredto ply to the westward, to gain our intended port, but were ofteninterrupted in our progress by calms and adverse currents: In theseintervals we employed ourselves in taking out the most valuable partof the cargoes of the Carmelo and Carmin prizes, which two ships weintended to destroy as soon as we had tolerably cleared them. By thefirst of April we were so far advanced towards Seguataneo, that wethought it expedient to send out two boats, that they might rangealong the coast, and discover the watering-place; they were gone somedays, and our water being now very short, it was a particular felicityto us that we met with daily supplies of turtle, for had we beenentirely confined to salt provisions, we must have sufferedextremely in so warm a climate. Indeed our present circumstances weresufficiently alarming, and gave the most considerate amongst usas much concern as any of the numerous perils we had hithertoencountered; for our boats, as we conceived by their not returning, had not as yet discovered a place proper to water at, and by theleakage of our cask and other accidents, we had not ten days wateron board the whole squadron; so that from the known difficulty ofprocuring water on this coast, and the little reliance we had onthe Buccaneer writers, (the only guides we had to trust to) we wereapprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity, the most terribleof any in the long disheartening catalogue of the distresses of asea-faring life. 

But these gloomy suggestions were soon happily ended; for our boatsreturned on the 5th of April, having discovered a place proper for ourpurpose, about seven miles to the westward of the rocks of Seguataneo, which, by the description they gave of it, appeared to be the portcalled by Dampier the harbour of Chequetan. They were ordered outagain the next day, to sound the harbour and its entrance, which theyhad represented as very narrow. At their return they reported theplace to be free from any danger; so that on the 7th we stood in, andthat evening came to an anchor in eleven fathom. The Gloucester cameto an anchor at the same time with us; but the Camelo and the Carminhaving fallen to leeward, the Tryal prize was ordered to join them, and to bring them in, which in two or three days she effected. 

SECTION XXII. 

_A short Account of Chequetan, and of the adjacent Coast and Country. _

The harbour of Chequetan lies in the latitude of 17° 36' N. And isabout thirty leagues to the westward of Acapulco. It is easy tobe discovered by any ship that will keep well in with the land, especially by such as range down coast from Acapulco, and will attendto the following particulars. 

There is a beach of sand which extends eighteen leagues from theharbour of Acapulco to the westward, against which the sea breaks withsuch violence that it is impossible to land in any part of it; but yetthe ground is so clean; that ships, in the fair season, may anchor ingreat safety at the distance of a mile or two from the shore. The landadjacent to this beach is generally low, full of villages, and plantedwith a great number of trees; and on the tops of some small eminenciesthere are several look-out towers, so that the face of the countryaffords a very agreeable prospect: For the cultivated part, which isthe part here described, extends some leagues back from the shore, andthere appears to be bounded by the chain of mountains, which stretchto a considerable distance on either side of Acapulco. It is a mostremarkable particularity, that in this whole extent, being, as hathbeen mentioned, eighteen leagues, and containing, in appearance, themost populous and best planted district of the whole coast, thereshould be neither canoes, boats, nor any other embarkations either forfishing, coasting, or for pleasure. 

The beach here described is the surest guide for finding the harbourof Chequetan; for five miles to the westward of the extremity of thisbeach there appears a hummock, which at first makes like an island, and is in shape not very unlike the hill of Petaplan, hereaftermentioned, though much smaller. Three miles to the westward of thishummock is a white rock lying near the shore, which cannot easily bepassed by unobserved; it is about two cables length from the land, and lies in a large bay about nine leagues over. The westward pointof this bay is the hill of Petaplan. This hill, like the forementionedhummock, may be at first mistaken for an island, though it be, inreality, a peninsula, which is joined to the continent by a low andnarrow isthmus, covered over with shrubs and small trees. The bay ofSeguataneo extends from this hill a great way to the westward; and ata small distance from the hill, and opposite to the entrance ofthe bay, there is an assemblage of rocks, which are white, from theexcrements of boobies and tropical birds. Four of these rocks are highand large, and, together with several other smaller ones, are, bythe help of a little imagination, pretended to resemble the form of across, and are called the White Friars. These rocks bear W. By N. From Petaplan, and about seven miles to the westward of them lies theharbour of Chequetan, which is still more minutely distinguished by alarge and single rock, that rises out of the water a mile and a halfdistant from its entrance, and bears S. 1/2 W. From the middle ofit. [1]

[Footnote 1: In the original are references to some plates, whichcannot be given in this work. --E. ]

These are the infallible marks by which the harbour of Chequetan maybe known to those who keep well in with the land; and I must add, thatthe coast is no ways to be dreaded from the middle of October to thebeginning of May, nor is there then any danger from the winds, thoughin the remaining part of the year there are frequent and violenttornadoes, heavy rains, and hard gales, in all directions of thecompass. But as to those who keep at any considerable distance fromthe coast, there is no other method to be taken by them for findingthis harbour than that of making it by its latitude; for there are somany ranges of mountains rising one upon the back of another withinland, that no drawings of the appearance of the coast can be at alldepended on when off at sea, for every little change of distance, orvariation of position, brings new mountains in view, and produces aninfinity of different prospects, which would render all attempts ofdelineating the aspect of the coast impossible. 

The harbour is environed on all sides, except to the westward, withhigh mountains overspread with trees. The passage into it is very safeon either side of the rock that lies off the mouth of it, though we, both in coming in and going out, left it to the eastward. The groundwithout the harbour is gravel mixed with stones, but within it is softmud: And it must be remembered, that in coming to an anchor a goodallowance should be made for a large swell, which frequently causes agreat send of the sea; as likewise for the ebbing and flowing of thetide, which we observed to be about five feet, and that it set nearlyE. And W. 

The watering-place had the appearance of a large standing lake, without any visible outlet into the sea, from which it is separatedby a part of the strand. The origin of this lake is a spring, thatbubbles out of the ground near half a mile within the country. Wefound the water a little brackish, but more considerably so towardsthe sea-side, for the nearer we advanced towards the spring-head, the softer and fresher it proved: This laid us under a necessityof filling all our casks from the furthest part of the lake, andoccasioned us some trouble, and would have proved still more difficulthad it not been for our particular management, which, for theconveniency of it, deserves to be recommended to all who shallhereafter water at this place. Our method consisted in making use ofcanoes which drew but little water; for, loading them with a number ofsmall casks, they easily got up the lake to the spring-head, and thesmall casks being there filled, were in the same manner transportedback again to the beach, where some of our hands always attended tostart them into other casks of a larger size. 

Though this lake, during our continuance there, appeared to have nooutlet into the sea, yet there is reason to suppose that in the wetseason it overflows the strand, and communicates with the ocean; forDampier, who was formerly here, speaks of it as a large river. Indeed, there must be a very great body of water amassed before the lake canrise high enough to overflow the strand, for the neighbouring countryis so low, that great part of it must be covered with water before itcan run out over the beach. 

As the country in the neighbourhood, particularly the tract which wehave already described, appeared to be well peopled and cultivated, wehoped thence to have procured fresh provision and other refreshmentswhich we stood in need of. With this view, the morning after we cameto an anchor, the commodore ordered a party of forty men, well armed, to march into the country, and to endeavour to discover some townor village, where they were to attempt a correspondence with theinhabitants; for we doubted not if we could have any intercourse withthem, but that by presents of some of the coarse merchandise, withwhich our prizes abounded (which, though of little consequence to us, would to them be extremely valuable, ) we should allure them to furnishus with whatever fruits or fresh provisions were in their power. Ourpeople were directed on this occasion to proceed with the greatestcircumspection, and to make as little ostentation of hostility aspossible; for we were sensible that we could meet with no wealth hereworth our notice, and that what necessaries we really wanted weshould in all probability be better supplied with by an open amicabletraffic, than by violence and force of arms. But this endeavour ofopening an intercourse with the inhabitants proved ineffectual, fortowards evening, the party which had been ordered to march into thecountry, returned greatly fatigued with their unusual exercise, andsome of them so far spent as to have fainted by the way, and to beobliged to be brought back upon the shoulders of their companions. They had marched in all, as they conceived, about ten miles, in abeaten road, where they often saw the fresh dung of horses or mules. When they had got about five miles from the harbour, the road dividedbetween the mountains into two branches, one running to the east andthe other to the west. After some deliberation about the course theyshould take, they agreed to pursue the eastern road, which, when theyhad followed for some time, led them at once into a large plain orsavannah; on one side of which they discovered a centinel on horsebackwith a pistol in his hand: It was supposed that when they first sawhim he was asleep, but his horse startled at the glittering of theirarms, and, turning round suddenly, rode off with his master, who wasvery near being unhorsed in the surprise, but he recovered his seat, and escaped with the loss of his hat and his pistol, which he droppedon the ground. Our people ran after him, in hopes of discoveringsome village or habitation, but as he had the advantage of being onhorseback, they soon lost sight of him. However, they were unwillingto come back without making some discovery, and therefore stillfollowed the track they were in; but the heat of the day increasing, and finding no water to quench their thirst, they were first obligedto halt, and then resolved to return; for, as they saw no signs ofplantations or cultivated land, they had no reason to believe thatthere was any village or settlement near them: But, to leave no meansuntried of procuring some intercourse with the people, theofficers stuck up several poles in the road, to which were affixeddeclarations, written in Spanish, encouraging the inhabitants tocome down to the harbour and to traffic with us, giving the strongestassurances of a kind reception, and faithful payment for anyprovisions they should bring us. This was doubtless a very prudentmeasure, but it produced no effect; for we never saw any of themduring the whole time of our continuance at this port of Chequetan. But had our men, upon the division of the path, taken the western roadinstead of the eastern, it would soon have led them to a village ortown, which, in some Spanish manuscripts, is mentioned as being inthe neighbourhood of this port, and which we afterwards learnt was notabove two miles from that turning. 

And on this occasion I cannot help mentioning another adventure whichhappened to some of our people in the bay of Petaplan, as it may helpto give the reader a just idea of the temper of the inhabitants ofthis part of the world. Some time after our arrival at Chequetan, Lieutenant Brett was sent by the commodore, with two of our boatsunder his command, to examine the coast to the eastward, particularlyto make observations on the bay and watering-place of Petaplan. As MrBrett with one of the boats was preparing to go on shore towards thehill of Petaplan, he, accidentally looking across the bay, perceived, on the opposite strand, three small squadrons of horse parading uponthe beach, and seeming to advance towards the place where he proposedto land. On sight of this he immediately put off the boat, though hehad but sixteen men with him, and stood over the bay towards them; andhe soon came near enough to perceive that they were mounted on verysightly horses, and were armed with carbines and lances. On seeing himmake towards them they formed upon the beach, and seemed resolved todispute his landing, firing several distant shot at him as he drewnear; till at last, the boat being arrived within a reasonabledistance of the most advanced squadron, Mr Brett ordered his peopleto fire, upon which this resolute cavalry instantly ran in greatconfusion into the wood. In this precipitate flight one of theirhorses fell down and threw his rider; but whether he was wounded ornot we could not learn, for both man and horse soon got up again, andfollowed the rest. In the mean time the other two squadrons, who weredrawn up at a great distance behind, out of the reach of our shot, were calm spectators of the rout of their comrades; for they hadhalted on our first approach, and never advanced afterwards. It was, doubtless, fortunate for our people that the enemy acted with solittle prudence, and exerted so little spirit, for had they concealedthemselves till our men had landed, it is scarcely possible butthe whole boat's crew must have fallen into their hands, since theSpaniards were not much short of two hundred in number. However, the discovery of so considerable a force collected in this bay ofPetaplan, obliged us constantly to keep a boat or two before it; forwe were apprehensive that the cutter, which we had left to cruise offAcapulco, might, on her return, be surprised by the enemy, if she didnot receive timely information of her danger. 

After our unsuccessful attempt to engage the people of the countryto furnish us with the necessaries we wanted, we were obliged to becontented with what we could procure in the neighbourhood of theport. We caught fish here in tolerable quantities, especially when thesmoothness of the water permitted us to hale the seyne. Amongst therest, we got here cavallies, breams, mullets, soles, fiddle-fish, seaeggs, and lobsters; and here, and in no other place, met with thatextraordinary fish called the Torpedo, or numbing fish, which is inshape very like the fiddle-fish, and is not to be known from it but bya brown circular spot of about the bigness of a crown-piece near thecentre of its back; perhaps its figure will be better understood whenI say it is a flat fish, much resembling the thorn-back. This fish isof a most singular nature, productive of the strangest effects on thehuman body; for whoever handles it, or happens even to set his footupon it, is presently seized with a numbness all over him, but moredistinguishable in that limb which was in immediate contact with it. The same effect, too, will be, in some degree, produced by touchingthe fish, with any thing held in the hand; for I myself had aconsiderable degree of numbness conveyed to my right arm through awalking cane, which I rested on the body of the fish for some time, and I make no doubt but I should have been much more sensibly affectedhad not the fish been near expiring when I made the experiment: For itis observable that this influence acts with most vigour when the fishis first taken out of the water, and entirely ceases when it isdead, so that it may be then handled, or even eaten, without anyinconvenience. I shall only add that the numbness of my arm onthis occasion did not go off on a sudden, as the accounts of somenaturalists gave me reason to expect, but diminished gradually, sothat I had some sensation of it remaining till the next day. 

To the account given of the fish we met with here, I must add, thatthough turtle now grew scarce, and we met with none in this harbour ofChequetan, yet our boats, which, as I have mentioned, were stationedoff Petaplan, often supplied us therewith; and though this was a foodthat we had now been so long as it were confined to, (for it was theonly fresh provisions which we had tasted for near six months, ) yet wewere far from being cloyed with it, or finding that the relish we hadof it at all diminished. 

The animals we met with on shore were principally guanos, with whichthe country abounds, and which are by some reckoned delicious food. We saw no beasts of prey here, except alligators, several of whichour people discovered, but none of them very large. However, we weresatisfied there were tygers in the woods, though none of them came insight; for we every morning found the beach near the watering-placeimprinted with their footsteps: But we never apprehended any mischieffrom them, for they are by no means so fierce as the Asiatic orAfrican tyger, and are rarely, if ever, known to attack mankind. Birdswere in sufficient plenty, especially pheasants of different kinds, some of them of an uncommon size, but they were very dry and tastelessfood. Besides these we had a variety of smaller birds, particularlyparrots, which we often killed for food. 

The fruits and vegetable refreshments at this place were neitherplentiful, nor of the best kinds: There were, it is true, a fewbushes scattered about the woods, which supplied us with limes, but wescarcely could procure enough for our present use; and these, witha small plumb of an agreeable acid, called in Jamaica the hog-plumb, together with another fruit called a papah, were the only fruits to befound in the woods. Nor is there any other useful vegetable here worthmentioning, except brook-lime: This indeed grew in great quantitiesnear the fresh-water banks; and, as it was esteemed an antiscorbutic, we fed upon it frequently, though its extreme bitterness made it veryunpalatable. 

By all that has been said, it will appear that the conveniences ofthis port of Chequetan, particularly in the articles of refreshment, are not altogether such as might be desired: But, upon the whole, itis a place of considerable consequence, as the only secure harbour ina vast extent of coast, except Acapulco. 

SECTION XXIII. 

_Account of Proceedings at Chequetan and on the adjacent Coast, tillour setting sail for Asia. _

The next morning, after our coming to an anchor in the harbour ofChequetan, we sent about ninety of our men well armed on shore, fortyof whom were ordered to march into the country, as has been mentioned, and the remaining fifty were employed to cover the watering-place, andto prevent any interruption from the natives. 

Here it was agreed, after mature consultation, to destroy the Tryal'sprize, as well as the Carmelo and Carmin whose fate had been beforeresolved on. Indeed the ship was in good repair and fit for the sea;but as the whole numbers onboard our squadron did not amount to thecomplement of a fourth-rate man of war, we found it was impossibleto divide them into three ships, without rendering them incapableof navigating in safety in the tempestuous weather we had reason toexpect on the coast of China, where we supposed we should arrive aboutthe time of the change of the monsoons. 

During our stay here there happened an incident, which, as it provedthe means of convincing our friends in England of our safety, whichfor some time they were in doubt about, I shall beg leave particularlyto recite. I have observed, that from this harbour of Chequetan therewas but one path-way which led through the woods into the country. This we found much beaten, and were thence convinced that it was wellknown to the inhabitants. As it passed by the spring-head, and wasthe only avenue by which the Spaniards could approach us, we, at somedistance beyond the spring-head, felled several large trees, and laidthem one upon the other across the path; and at this barricado weconstantly kept a guard: And we besides ordered our men employed inwatering to have their arms ready, and, in case of any alarm, to marchinstantly to this post. Though our principal intention was to preventour being disturbed by any sudden attack of the enemy's horse, yet itanswered another purpose, which was not in itself less important; thiswas to hinder our own people from straggling singly into the country, where we had reason to believe they would be surprised by theSpaniards, who would doubtless be extremely solicitous to pick up someof them, in hopes of getting intelligence of our future designs. To avoid this inconvenience, the strictest orders were given to thecentinels, to let no person whatever pass beyond their post: But, notwithstanding this precaution, we missed one Lewis Leger, who wasthe commodore's cook; and as he was a Frenchman, and suspected to bea papist, it was by some imagined that he had deserted with a viewof betraying all that he knew to the enemy; but this appeared by theevent to be an ill-grounded surmise, for it was afterwards knownthat he had been taken by some Indians, who carried him prisoner toAcapulco, from whence he was transferred, to Mexico, and then to VeraCruz, where he was shipped on board a vessel bound to Old Spain: Andthe vessel being obliged by some accident to put into Lisbon, Legerescaped on shore, and was by the British consul sent from thence toEngland; where he brought the first authentic account of the safety ofthe commodore, and of what he had done in the South Seas. The relationhe gave of his own seizure was, that he had rambled into the woodsat some distance from the barricade, where he had first attempted topass, but had been stopped and threatened to be punished; that hisprincipal view was to get a quantity of limes for his master's store;and that in this occupation he was surprised by four Indians, whostripped him naked, and carried him in that condition to Acapulco, exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of theyear shone with its greatest violence: And afterwards at Mexico histreatment in prison was sufficiently severe, and the whole courseof his captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which theSpaniards bear to all those who endeavour to disturb them in thepeaceable possession of the coasts of the South Seas. Indeed, Leger'sfortune was upon the whole extremely singular; for after the hazardshe had run in the commodore's squadron, and the severities he hadsuffered in his long confinement amongst the enemy, a more fataldisaster attended him on his return to England: For though, when hearrived in London, some of Mr Anson's friends interested themselves inrelieving him from the poverty to which his captivity had reduced him, yet he did not long enjoy the benefit of their humanity, for he waskilled in an insignificant night brawl, the cause of which couldscarcely be discovered. 

And here I must observe, that though the enemy never appeared in sightduring our stay in this harbour; yet we perceived that there werelarge parties encamped in the woods about us; for we could see theirsmokes, and could thence determine that they were posted in a circularline surrounding us at a distance; and just before our coming awaythey seemed, by the increase of their fires, to have received aconsiderable reinforcement. 

Towards the latter end of April, the unloading of our three prizes, our wooding and watering, and, in short, all our proposed employmentsat the harbour of Chequetan were completed: So that, on the 27th ofApril, the Tryal's prize, the Carmelo, and the Carmin, all which weintended to destroy, were towed on shore and scuttled, and a quantityof combustible materials were distributed in their upper works; andthe next morning the Centurion and the Gloucester weighed anchor, butas there was but little wind, and that not in their favour, they wereobliged to warp out of the harbour. When they had reached the offing, one of the boats was dispatched back again to set fire to our prize, which was accordingly executed. And a canoe was left fixed to agrapnel in the middle of the harbour, with a bottle in it well corked, inclosing a letter to Mr Hughes, who commanded the cutter, which wasordered to cruise before the port of Acapulco, when we came off thatstation. And on this occasion I must mention more particularly than Ihave yet done, the views of the commodore in leaving the cutter beforethat port. 

When we were necessitated to make for Chequetan to take in our water, Mr Anson considered that our being in that harbour would soon be knownat Acapulco; and therefore he hoped, that on the intelligence of ourbeing employed in port, the galleon might put to sea, especially asChequetan is so very remote from the course generally steered by thegalleon: He therefore ordered the cutter to cruise twenty-fourdays off the port of Acapulco, and her commander was directed, onperceiving the galleon under sail, to make the best of his way to thecommodore at Chequetan. As the Centurion was doubtless a much bettersailer than the galleon, Mr Anson in this case resolved to have gotto sea as soon as possible, and to have pursued the galleon across thePacific Ocean: And supposing he should not have met with her in hispassage, (which considering that he would have kept nearly the sameparallel, was not very improbable, ) yet he was certain of arrivingoff Cape Espiritu Santo, on the island of Samal, before her; and thatbeing the first land she makes on her return to the Philippines, wecould not have failed to have fallen in with her, by cruising a fewdays in that station. But the viceroy of Mexico ruined this project bykeeping the galleon in the port of Acapulco all that year. 

The letter left in the canoe for Mr Hughes, the commander of thecutter, the time of whose return was now considerably elapsed, directed him to go back immediately to his former station beforeAcapulco, where he would find Mr Anson, who resolved to cruise for himthere for a certain number of days; after which it was added, thatthe commodore would return to the southward to join the rest of thesquadron. This last article was inserted to deceive the Spaniards, ifthey got possession of the canoe, (as we afterwards learnt they did)but could not impose on Mr Hughes, who well knew that the commodorehad no squadron to join, nor any intention of steering back to Peru. 

Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound cross the vast PacificOcean in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast assoon as possible; for as the stormy season was approaching apace, andas we had no further views in the American seas, we had hoped thatnothing would have prevented us from standing to the westward, themoment we got out of the harbour of Chequetan: And it was no smallmortification to us, that our necessary employment there had detainedus so much longer than we expected; and now we were farther detainedby the absence of the cutter, and the standing towards Acapulco insearch of her. Indeed, as the time of her cruise had been expired neara fortnight, we suspected that she had been discovered from the shore;and that the governor of Acapulco had thereupon sent out a force toseize her, which, as she carried but six hands, was no very difficultenterprize. However, this being only conjecture, the commodore, assoon as we got clear of the harbour of Chequetan, stood along thecoast to the eastward in search of her: And to prevent her frompassing by us in the dark, we brought to every night; and theGloucester, whose station was a league within us towards the shore, carried a light which the cutter could not but perceive if she keptalong shore, as we supposed she would do; and as a farther security, the Centurion and the Gloucester alternately showed two false firesevery half hour. 

By Sunday, the 2d of May, we were advanced within three leagues ofAcapulco, and having seen nothing of our boat, we gave her over forlost, which, besides the compassionate concern for our shipmates, andfor what it was apprehended they might have suffered, was in itselfa misfortune in our present scarcity of hands, we were all greatlyinterested in: For the crew of the cutter, consisting of six men andthe lieutenant, were the very flower of our people, purposely pickedout for this service, and known to be every one of them of triedand approved resolution, and as skilful seamen as ever trod a deck. However, as it was the general belief among us that they were takenand carried into Acapulco, the commodore's prudence suggested aproject which we hoped would recover them. This was founded on ourhaving many Spanish and Indian prisoners in our possession, anda number of sick negroes, who could be of no service to us in thenavigating of the ship. The commodore therefore wrote a letter thesame day to the governor of Acapulco, telling him that he wouldrelease them all, provided the governor returned the cutter's crew;and the letter was dispatched the same afternoon by a Spanish officer, of whose honour we had a good opinion, and who was furnished witha launch belonging to one of our prizes, and a crew of six otherprisoners who all gave their parole for their return. The officer, besides the commodore's letter, carried with him a petition signed byall the prisoners, beseeching his excellency to acquiesce in the termsproposed. From a consideration of the number of our prisoners, andthe quality of some of them, we did not doubt but the governor wouldreadily comply, and therefore we kept plying on and off the wholenight, intending to keep well in with the land, that we might receivean answer at the limited time, which was the next day, being Monday:But both on the Monday and Tuesday we were driven so far off shore, that we could not hope to receive any answer; and on the Wednesdaymorning we found ourselves fourteen leagues from the harbour ofAcapulco; but as the wind was now favourable, we pressed forwards withall our sail, and did not doubt of getting in with the land in afew hours. Whilst we were thus standing in, the man at the mast-headcalled out that he saw a boat under sail at a considerable distanceto the south-eastward: This we took for granted was the answer of thegovernor to the commodore's message, and we instantly edged towardsit; but when we drew nearer, we found to our unspeakable joy that itwas our own cutter. While she was still at a distance, we imaginedthat she had been discharged out of the port of Acapulco by thegovernor; but when she drew nearer, the wan and meagre countenances ofthe crew, the length of their beards, and the feeble and hollow toneof their voices, convinced us that they had suffered much greaterhardships than could be expected from even the severities of aSpanish prison. They were obliged to be helped into the ship, and wereimmediately put to bed, and with rest, and nourishing diet, whichthey were plentifully supplied with, from the commodore's table, theyrecovered their health and vigour apace. We learnt that they had keptthe sea the whole time of their absence; that when they finished theircruise before Acapulco, and had just begun to ply to the westward inorder to join the squadron, a strong adverse current had forced themdown the coast to the eastward in spite of all their efforts; that atlength their water being all expended, they were obliged to searchthe coast farther on to the eastward, in quest of some convenientlanding-place, where they might get a fresh supply; that in thisdistress they ran upwards of eighty leagues to leeward, and foundevery where so large a surf, that there was not the least possibilityof their landing; that they passed some days in this dreadfulsituation without water, and having no other means left them to allaytheir thirst than sucking the blood of the turtle which they caught;and at last, giving up all hopes of relief, the heat of the climateaugmenting their necessities, and rendering their sufferingsinsupportable, they abandoned themselves to despair, fully persuadedthat they should perish by the most terrible of all deaths; but thatthey were soon after happily relieved by a most unexpected incident, for there fell so heavy a rain, that by spreading their sailshorizontally, and by putting bullets in the centres of them to drawthem to a point, they caught as much water as filled all their casks;that immediately upon this fortunate supply they stood to the westwardin quest of the commodore; and being now luckily favoured by a strongcurrent, they joined us in less than fifty hours, from the timethey stood to the westward, after having been absent from us fullforty-three days. Those who have an idea of the inconsiderable size ofa cutter belonging to a sixty-gun ship, (being only an open boatabout twenty-two feet in length, ) and who will attend to the variousaccidents to which she was exposed during a six weeks continuancealone, in the open ocean, on so impracticable and dangerous a coast, will readily own that her return to us, after all the difficultieswhich she actually experienced, and the hazards to which she was eachhour exposed, was little short of miraculous. 

I cannot finish this article without remarking how little reliancenavigators ought to have on the accounts of the Buccaneer writers:For though in this run eighty leagues to the eastward of Acapulco, she found no place where it was possible for a boat to land, yetthose writers have not been ashamed to feign harbours and convenientwatering-places within these limits, thereby exposing such as shouldconfide in their relations to the risk of being destroyed by thirst. 

Having received our cutter, the sole object of our coming a secondtime before Acapulco, the commodore resolved not to lose a moment'stime longer, but to run off the coast with the utmost expedition, bothas the stormy season on the coast of Mexico was now approaching apace, and as we were apprehensive of having the westerly monsoon to strugglewith when we came upon the coast of China; and therefore he no longerstood towards Acapulco, as he now wanted no answer from the governor;but yet he resolved not to deprive his prisoners of the liberty whichhe had promised them; so that they were all immediately embarked intwo launches which belonged to our prizes, those from the Centurion inone launch, and those from the Gloucester in the other. The launcheswere well equipped with masts, sails, and oars, and, lest the windmight prove unfavourable, they had a stock of water and provisionsput on board them sufficient for fourteen days. There were dischargedthirty-nine persons from on board the Centurion, and eighteen from theGloucester, the greatest part of them Spaniards, the rest Indians andsick negroes: But as our crews were very weak, we kept the mulattoesand some of the stoutest of the negroes, with a few Indians, to assistus; but we dismissed every Spanish prisoner whatever. We have sincelearnt, that these two launches arrived safe at Acapulco, where theprisoners could not enough extol the humanity with which they had beentreated; and that the governor, before their arrival, had returned avery obliging answer to the commodore's letter, and had attended itwith a present of two boats laden with the choicest refreshments andprovisions which were to be got at Acapulco; but that these boatsnot having found our ships, were at length obliged to put back again, after having thrown all their provisions overboard in a storm whichthreatened their destruction. 

The sending away our prisoners was our last transaction on theAmerican coast; for no sooner had we parted with them, than we and theGloucester made sail to the S. W. , proposing to get a good offing fromthe land, where we hoped, in a few days, to meet with the regulartrade-wind, which the accounts of former navigators had represented asmuch brisker and steadier in this ocean, than in any other part of theglobe: For it has been esteemed no uncommon passage to run fromhence to the eastermost parts of Asia in two months; and we flatteredourselves that we were as capable of making an expeditious passage asany ships that had ever run this course before us; so that we hopedsoon to gain the coast of China, for which we were now bound. Andconformable to the general idea of this navigation given by formervoyagers, we considered it as free from all kinds of embarrassment ofbad weather, fatigue, or sickness; and consequently we undertook itwith alacrity, especially as it was no contemptible step towards oararrival at our native country, for which many of us by this time beganto have great longings. Thus, on the 6th of May, we, for the lasttime, lost sight of the mountains of Mexico, persuaded, that in afew weeks we should arrive at the river of Canton in China, wherewe expected to meet with many English ships, and numbers of ourcountrymen; and hoped to enjoy the advantages of an amicable, well-frequented port, inhabited by a polished people, and aboundingwith the conveniences and indulgences of a civilized life, which fornear twenty months had never been once in our power. 

[It is judged advisable to omit altogether the next section of theoriginal, as occupied by mere reckoning on the advantages "which mighthave been expected from the squadron, had it arrived in the South Seasin good time. " They are in part specified at the beginning. ]

SECTION XXIV. 

_The Run from the Coast of Mexico to the Ladrones or Marian Islands. _

When we left the coast of America, we stood to the S. W. With a viewof meeting with the N. E. Trade-wind, which the accounts of formerwriters made us expect at seventy or eighty leagues distance from theland: We had another reason for standing to the southward, which wasthe getting into the latitude of 13° or 14° north; that beingthe parallel where the Pacific Ocean is most usually crossed, andconsequently where the navigation is esteemed the safest: This lastpurpose we had soon answered, being in a day or two sufficientlyadvanced to the south. At the same time we were also farther from theshore, than we had presumed was necessary for the falling in withthe trade-wind: But in this particular we were most grievouslydisappointed; for the wind still continued to the westward, or at bestvariable. As the getting into the N. E. Trade-wind, was to us a matterof the last consequence, we stood more to the southward, and made manyexperiments to meet with it; but it was seven weeks, from our leavingthe coast, before we got into it. This was an interval, in which webelieved we should well nigh have reached the easternmost parts ofAsia: But we were so baffled with the contrary and variable winds, which for all that time perplexed us, that we were not as yet advancedabove a fourth part of the way. The delay alone would have been asufficient mortification; but there were other circumstancesattending it, which rendered this situation not less terrible, andour apprehensions perhaps still greater than in any of our pastdistresses. For our two ships were by this time extremely crazy;and many days had not passed, before we discovered a spring in thefore-mast of the Centurion, which rounded about twenty-six inches ofits circumference, and which was judged to be at least four inchesdeep: And no sooner had our carpenters secured this with fishing it, but the Gloucester made a signal of distress; and we learnt thatshe had a dangerous spring in her main-mast, twelve feet below thetrussel-trees; so that she could not carry any sail upon it. Ourcarpenters, on a strict examination of this mast, found it so veryrotten and decayed, that they judged it necessary to cut it down aslow as it appeared to have been injured; and by this it was reduced tonothing but a stump, which served only as a step to the topmast. Theseaccidents augmented our delay, and occasioned us great anxiety aboutour future security: For on our leaving the coast of Mexico, thescurvy had begun to make its appearance again amongst our people;though from our departure from Juan Fernandes we had till then enjoyeda most uninterrupted state of health. We too well knew the effects ofthis disease, from our former fatal experience, to suppose that anything but a speedy passage could secure the greater part of our crewfrom perishing by it: And as, after-being seven weeks at sea, theredid not appear any reasons that could persuade us we were nearer thetrade-wind than when we first set out, there was no ground for us tosuppose but our passage would prove at least three times as long aswe at first expected; and consequently we had the melancholy prospect, either of dying by the scurvy, or perishing with the ship for want ofhands to navigate her. Indeed, some amongst us were at first willingto believe, that in this warm climate, so different from what we feltin passing round Cape Horn, the violence of this disease, and itsfatality, might be in some degree mitigated; as it had not beenunusual to suppose that its particular virulence in that passagewas in a great measure owing to the severity of the weather; but thehavock of the distemper, in our present circumstances, soon convincedus of the falsity of this speculation; as it likewise exploded someother opinions, which usually pass current about the cause and natureof this disease. [1]

[Footnote 1: Some remarks respecting the nature and treatment ofthis disease are now given in the original, but being imperfect andconjectural, are omitted here. --E. ]

Our surgeon (who, during our passage round Cape Horn, had ascribed themortality we suffered to the severity of the climate) exerted himselfin the present run to the utmost, and at last declared, that all hismeasures were totally ineffectual, and did not in the least avail hispatients. When we reached the trade-wind, and it settled between thenorth and the east, yet it seldom blew with so much strength, butthe Centurion might have carried all her small sails abroad with thegreatest safety; so that now, had we been a single ship, we mighthave run down our longitude apace, and have reached the Ladrones soonenough to have recovered great numbers of our men, who afterwardsperished. But the Gloucester, by the loss of her main-mast, sailed sovery heavily, that we had seldom any more than our top-sails set, andyet were frequently obliged to lie to for her: And, I conceive, thatin the whole we lost little less than a month by our attendance uponher, in consequence of the various mischances she encountered. In allthis run it was remarkable, that we were rarely many days together, without seeing great numbers of birds; which is a proof that thereare many islands, or at least rocks, scattered all along, at no veryconsiderable distance from our track. Some indeed there are marked ina Spanish chart; but the frequency of the birds seems to evince, that there are many more than have been hitherto discovered: For thegreatest part of the birds we observed were such as are known to rooston shore; and the manner of their appearance sufficiently made out, that they came from some distant haunt every morning, and returnedthither again in the evening; for we never saw them early or late;and the hour of their arrival and departure gradually varied, which wesupposed was occasioned by our running nearer their haunts, or gettingfarther from them. 

The trade-wind continued to favour us without any fluctuation, fromthe end of June till towards the end of July. But on the 26th of July, being then, as we esteemed, about three hundred leagues distant fromthe Ladrones, we met with a westerly wind, which did not come aboutagain to the eastward in four days time. This was a most dispiritingincident, as it at once damped all our hopes of speedy relief, especially too as it was attended with a vexatious accident to theGloucester: For in one part of these four days the wind-flatted to acalm, and the ships rolled very deep; by which means the Gloucester'sforecap split, and her top-mast came by the board, and broke herfore-yard directly in the slings. As she was hereby rendered incapableof making any sail for some time, we were obliged, as soon as a galesprung up, to take her in tow; and near twenty of the healthiest andablest of our seamen were taken from the business of our own ship, andwere employed for eight or ten days together on board the Gloucesterin repairing her damages: But these things, mortifying as we thoughtthem, were but the beginning of our disasters; for scarce had ourpeople finished their business in the Gloucester, before we met witha most violent storm in the western board, which obliged us to lie to. In the beginning of this storm our ship sprung a leak, and let inso much water, that all our people, officers included, were employedcontinually in working the pumps: And the next day we had the vexationto see the Gloucester, with her top-mast once more by the board; andwhilst we were viewing her with great concern for this new distress, we saw her main-top mast, which had hitherto served as a jurymain-mast, share the same fate. This completed our misfortunes, andrendered them without resource; for we knew the Gloucester's crewwere so few and feeble, that without our assistance they could notbe relieved: And our sick were now so far increased, and those thatremained in health so continually fatigued with the additional duty ofour pumps, that it was impossible for us to lend them any aid. Indeedwe were not as yet fully apprized of the deplorable situation ofthe Gloucester's crew; for when the storm abated, (which during itscontinuance prevented all communication with them) the Gloucester boreup under our stern; and Captain Mitchel informed the commodore, thatbesides the loss of his masts, which was all that had appeared tous, the ship had then no less than seven feet of water in her hold, although his officers and men had been kept constantly at the pump forthe last twenty-four hours. 

This last circumstance was indeed a most terrible accumulation to theother extraordinary distresses of the Gloucester, and required, ifpossible, the most speedy and vigorous assistance; which captainMitchel begged the commodore to send him: But the debility of ourpeople, and our own immediate preservation, rendered it impossible forthe commodore to comply with his request. All that could be done wasto send our boat on board for a more particular condition of the ship;and it was soon suspected that the taking her people on board us, andthen destroying her, was the only measure that could be prosecuted inthe present emergency, for the security of their lives and our own. 

Our boat soon returned with a representation of the state of theGloucester, and of her several defects, signed by Captain Mitchel andall his officers; by which it appeared, that she had sprung a leak bythe stern-post being loose, and working with every roll of the ship, and by two beams a midships being broken in the orlope; no part ofwhich the carpenters reported was possible to be repaired at sea. Thatboth officers and men had worked twenty-four hours at the pump withoutintermission, and were at length so fatigued, that they could continuetheir labour no longer; but had been forced to desist, with seven feetof water in the hold, which covered their cask, so that they couldneither come at fresh water, nor provision: That they had no maststanding, except the fore-mast, the mizen-mast, and the mizentop-mast, nor had they any spare masts to get up in the room of thosethey had lost: That the ship was besides extremely decayed in everypart, for her knees and clamps were all worked quite loose, and herupper works in general were so loose, that the quarter-deck wasready to drop down: And that her crew was greatly reduced, for thereremained alive on board her no more than seventy-seven, men, eighteenboys, and two prisoners, officers included; and that of this wholenumber, only sixteen men and eleven boys were capable of keeping thedeck, and several of these very infirm. 

The commodore, on the perusal of this melancholy representation, presently ordered them a supply of water and provisions, of whichthey seemed to be in immediate want, and at the same time sent hisown carpenter on board them, to examine into the truth of everyparticular; and it being found, on the strictest enquiry, that thepreceding account was in no instance exaggerated, it plainly appeared, that there was no possibility of preserving the Gloucester any longer, as her leaks were irreparable, and the united hands on board bothships, capable of working, would not be able to free her, even ifour own ship should not employ any part of them. What then could beresolved on, when it was the utmost we ourselves could do to manageour own pumps? Indeed there was no room for deliberation; the onlystep to be taken was, the saving the lives of the few that remained onboard the Gloucester, and getting out of her as much as was possiblebefore she was destroyed. And therefore the commodore immediatelysent an order to Captain Mitchel, as the weather was now calm andfavourable, to send his people on board the Centurion as expeditiouslyas he could; and to take out such stores as he could get at, whilstthe ship could be kept above water. And as our leak required lessattention, whilst the present easy weather continued, we sent ourboats with as many men as we could spare, to Captain Mitchel'sassistance. 

The removing the Gloucester's people on board us, and the getting outsuch stores as could most easily be come at, gave us full employmentfor two days. Mr Anson was extremely desirous to have gotten two ofher cables and an anchor, but the ship rolled so much, and the menwere so excessively fatigued, that they were incapable of effectingit; nay, it was even with the greatest difficulty that theprize-money, which the Gloucester had taken in the South-Seas, wassecured, and sent on board the Centurion: However, the prize-goodson board her, which amounted to several thousand pounds in value, andwere principally the Centurion's property, were entirely lost; norcould any more provision be got out than five casks of flour, threeof which were spoiled by the salt-water. Their sick men, amountingto near seventy, were removed into boats with as much care as thecircumstances of that time would permit; but three or four of themexpired as they were hoisting them into the Centurion. 

It was the 15th of August, in the evening, before the Gloucester wascleared of every thing that was proposed to be removed; and thoughthe hold was now almost full of water, yet, as the carpenters were ofopinion that she might still swim for some time, if the calm shouldcontinue, and the water become smooth, she was set on fire; for weknew not how near we might now be to the island of Guam, which was inthe possession of our enemies, and the wreck of such a ship would havebeen to them no contemptible acquisition. When she was set on fire, Captain Mitchel and his officers left her, and came on board theCenturion: And we immediately stood from the wreck, not without someapprehensions (as we had now only a light breeze) that if she blewup soon, the concussion of the air might damage our rigging; but shefortunately burnt, though very fiercely, the whole night, her gunsfiring successively, as the flames reached them. And it was six in themorning, when we were about four leagues distant, before she blew up;the report she made upon this occasion was but a small one, but therewas an exceeding black pillar of smoke, which shot up into the air toa very considerable height. 

Thus perished his majesty's ship the Gloucester. And now it might havebeen expected, that, being freed from, the embarrassments which herfrequent disasters had involved us in, we would proceed on our waymuch brisker than, we had hitherto done, especially as we had receivedsome small addition to our strength, by the taking on board theGloucester's crew; but our anxieties were not yet to be relieved; for, notwithstanding all that we had hitherto suffered, there remained muchgreater distresses, which we were still to struggle with. For the latestorm, which had proved so fatal to the Gloucester, had driven us tothe northward of our intended course; and the current setting the sameway, after the weather abated, had forced us still a degree or twofarther, so that we were now in 17° 1/4 of north latitude, instead ofbeing in 13° 1/2, which was the parallel we proposed to keep, in orderto reach the island of Guam: And as it had been a perfect calm forsome days since the cessation of the storm, and we were ignorant hownear we were to the meridian of the Ladrones, and supposed ourselvesnot to be far from it, we apprehended that we might be driven to theleeward of them by the current, without discovering them: In thiscase, the only land we could make would be some of the eastern partsof Asia, where, if we could arrive, we should find the western monsoonin its full force, so that it would be impossible for the stoutestbest-manned ship to get in. And this coast being removed betweenfour and five hundred leagues farther, we, in our languishingcircumstances, could expect no other than to be destroyed by thescurvy, long before the most favourable gale could carry us to such adistance: For our deaths were now extremely alarming, no day passingin which we did not bury eight or ten, and sometimes twelve of ourmen; and those, who had hitherto continued healthy, began to falldown apace. Indeed we made the use we could of the present calm, byemploying our carpenters in searching after the leak, which was nowconsiderable, notwithstanding the little wind we had: The carpentersat length discovered it to be in the gunner's fore store-room, wherethe water rushed in under the breast-hook, on each side of the stein;but though they found where it was, they agreed that it was impossibleto stop it, till we should get into port, and till they could come atit on the outside: However, they did the best they could within board, and were fortunate enough to reduce it, which was a considerablerelief to us. 

We had hitherto considered the calm which succeeded the storm, andwhich continued for some days, as a very great misfortune; since thecurrents were driving us to the northward of our parallel, and wethereby risqued the missing of the Ladrones, which we now conceivedourselves to be very near. But when a gale sprung up, our conditionwas still worse; for it blew from the S. W. And consequently wasdirectly opposed to the course we wanted to steer: And though itsoon veered to the N. E. Yet this served only to tantalize us, for itreturned back again in a very short time to its old quarter. However, on the 22d of August we had the satisfaction to find that thecurrent was shifted; and had set us to the southward: And the 23d, atday-break, we were cheered with the discovery of two islands in thewestern board: This gave us all great joy, and raised our droopingspirits; for before this an universal dejection had seized us, andwe almost despaired of ever seeing land again: The nearest of theseislands we afterwards found to be Anatacan; we judged it to be fullfifteen leagues from us, and it seemed to be high land, though ofan indifferent length: The other was the island of Serigan; and hadrather the appearance of a high rock, than a place we could hope toanchor at. We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearestisland, where we expected to meet with anchoring-ground, and anopportunity of refreshing our sick: But the wind proved so variableall day, and there was so little of it, that we advanced towards itbut slowly; however, by the next morning we were got so far to thewestward, that we were in view of a third island, which was that ofPaxaros, though marked in the chart only as a rock. This was small andvery low land, and we had passed within less than a mile of it, in thenight, without seeing it: And now at noon, being within four milesof the island of Anatacan, the boat was sent away to examine theanchoring-ground and the produce of the place; and we were not alittle solicitous for her return, as we then conceived our fate todepend upon the report we should receive: For the other two islandswere obviously enough incapable of furnishing us with any assistance, and we knew not then that there were any others which we could reach. In the evening the boat came back, and the crew informed us that therewas no place for a ship to anchor, the bottom being every where foulground, and all, except one small spot, not less than fifty fathomin depth; that on that spot there was thirty fathom, though not abovehalf a mile from the shore; and that the bank was steep, and couldnot be depended on: They farther told us, that they had landed on theisland, but with some difficulty, on account of the greatness of theswell; that they found the ground was every where covered with a kindof cane, or rush; but that they met with no water, and did not believethe place to be inhabited; though the soil was good, and abounded withgroves of cocoa-nut trees. 

This account of the impossibility of anchoring at this island, occasioned a general melancholy on board; for we considered it aslittle less than the prelude to our destruction; and our despondencywas increased by a disappointment we met with the succeeding night;for, as we were plying under top-sails, with an intention of gettingnearer to the island, and of sending our boat on shore to load withcocoa-nuts for the refreshment of our sick, the wind proved squally, and blew so strong off shore, as to drive us so far to the southward, that we dared not to send off our boat. And now the only possiblecircumstance, that could secure the few that remained alive fromperishing, was the accidental falling in with some other of theLadrone islands, better prepared for our accommodation; and as ourknowledge of these islands was extremely imperfect, we were to trustentirely to chance for our guidance; only as they are all of themusually laid down near the same meridian, and we had conceived thosewe had already seen to be part of them, we concluded to stand to thesouthward, as the most probable means of falling in with the next. Thus, with the most gloomy persuasion of our approaching destruction, we stood from the island of Anatacon, having all of us the strongestapprehensions (and those not ill founded) either of dying of thescurvy, or of perishing with the ship, which, for want of hands towork her pumps, might in a short time be expected to founder. 

SECTION XXV. 

_Our Arrival at Tinian, and an Account of the Island, and of ourProceedings there, till the Centurion drove out to Sea. _

It was the 26th of August, 1742, in the morning, when we lost sightof Anatacan. The next morning we discovered three other islands to theeastward, which were from ten to fourteen leagues from us. These were, as we afterwards learnt, the islands of Saypan, Tinian, and Aguigan. We immediately steered towards Tinian, which was the middlemost of thethree, but had so much of calms and light airs, that though we werehelped forwards by the currents, yet next day, at day-break, we wereat least five leagues distant from it. However, we kept on our course, and about ten in the morning we perceived a proa under sail to thesouthward, between Tinian and Aguigan. As we imagined from hence thatthese islands were inhabited, and knew that the Spaniards had always aforce at Guam, we took the necessary precautions for our own security, and for preventing the enemy from taking advantage of our presentwretched circumstances, of which they would be sufficiently informedby the manner of our working the ship; we therefore mustered all ourhands, who were capable of standing to their arms, and loaded ourupper and quarter-deck guns with grape-shot; and, that we might themore readily procure some intelligence of the state of theseislands, we showed Spanish colours, and hoisted a red flag at thefore-top-masthead, to give our ship the appearance of the Manillagalleon, hoping thereby to decoy some of the inhabitants on board us. Thus preparing ourselves, and standing towards the land, we were nearenough, at three in the afternoon, to send the cutter in shore, tofind out a proper birth for the ship; and we soon perceived that aproa came off the shore to meet the cutter, fully persuaded, as weafterwards found, that we were the Manilla ship. As we saw the cutterreturning back with the proa in tow, we immediately sent the pinnaceto receive the proa and the prisoners, and to bring them on board, that the cutter might proceed on her errand. The pinnace came backwith a Spaniard and four Indians, which were the people taken in theproa. The Spaniard was immediately examined as to the produceand circumstances of this island of Tinian, and his account of itsurpassed even our most sanguine hopes; for he informed us that itwas uninhabited, which, in our present defenceless condition, was anadvantage not to be despised, especially as it wanted but few of theconveniences that could be expected in the most cultivated country;for he assured us, that there was great plenty of very good water, and that there were an incredible number of cattle, hogs, and poultryrunning wild on the island, all of them excellent in their kind;that the woods produced sweet and sour oranges, limes, lemons, andcocoa-nuts in great plenty, besides a fruit peculiar to these islands(called by Dampier, Bread-fruit); that from the quantity and goodnessof the provisions produced here, the Spaniards at Guam made use of itas a store for supplying the garrison; that he himself was a serjeantof that garrison, and was sent here with twenty-two Indians to jerkbeef, which he was to load for Guam on board a small bark of aboutfifteen tun, which lay at anchor near the shore. 

This account was received by us with inexpressible joy: Part of itwe were ourselves able to verify on the spot, as we were by this timenear enough to discover several numerous herds of cattle feeding indifferent places of the island; and we did not any ways doubt the restof his relation, as the appearance of the shore prejudiced us greatlyin its favour, and made us hope, that not only our necessities mightbe there fully relieved, and our diseased recovered, but that, amidstthose pleasing scenes which were then in view, we might procureourselves some amusement and relaxation, after the numerous fatigueswe had undergone: For the prospect of the country did by no meansresemble that of an uninhabited and uncultivated place, but hadmuch more the air of a magnificent plantation, where large lawns andstately woods had been laid out together with great skill, and wherethe whole had been so artfully combined, and so judiciously adaptedto the slopes of the hills, and the inequalities of the ground, as toproduce a most striking effect, and to do honour to the invention ofthe contriver. Thus (an event not unlike what we had already seen)we were forced upon the most desirable and salutary measures byaccidents, which at first sight we considered as the greatest ofmisfortunes; for had we not been driven by the contrary winds andcurrents to the northward of our course (a circumstance which atthat time gave us the most terrible apprehensions) we should, inall probability, never have arrived at this delightful island, andconsequently we should have missed of that place, where alone allour wants could be most amply relieved, our sick recovered, and ourenfeebled crew once more refreshed, and enabled to put again to sea. 

The Spanish serjeant, from whom we received the account of the island, having informed us that there were some Indians on shore under hiscommand, employed in jerking beef, and that there was a bark at anchorto take it on board, we were desirous, if possible, to prevent theIndians from escaping, who doubtless would have given the governorof Guam intelligence of our arrival; and we therefore immediatelydispatched the pinnace to secure the bark, which the serjeant told uswas the only embarkation on the place; and then, about eight in theevening, we let go our anchor in twenty-two fathom; and though it wasalmost calm, and whatever vigour and spirit was to be found on boardwas doubtless exerted to the utmost on this pleasing occasion, when, after having kept the sea for some months, we were going to takepossession of this little paradise, yet we were full five hours infurling our sails: It is true, we were somewhat weakened by the crewsof the cutter and pinnace having been sent on shore; but it is notless true, that, including those absent with the boats and somenegro and Indian prisoners, all the hands we could muster capable ofstanding at a gun amounted to no more than seventy-one, most of whichnumber too were incapable of duty; but on the greatest emergenciesthis was all the force we could collect, in our present enfeebledcondition, from the united crews of the Centurion, the Gloucester, andthe Tryal, which, when we departed from England, consisted altogetherof near a thousand hands. 

When we had furled our sails, the remaining part of the night wasallowed to our people for their repose, to recover them from thefatigue they had undergone; and in the morning a party was sent onshore well armed, of which I myself was one, to make ourselves mastersof the landing place, as we were not certain what opposition might bemade by the Indians on the island: We landed without difficulty, forthe Indians having perceived, by our seizure of the bark the nightbefore, that we were enemies, they immediately fled into the woodyparts of the island. We found on shore many huts which they hadinhabited, and which saved us both the time and trouble of erectingtents; one of these huts which the Indians made use of for astorehouse was very large, being twenty yards long, and fifteen broad;this we immediately cleared of some bales of jerked beef, which wefound in it, and converted it into an hospital for our sick, who assoon as the place was ready to receive them were brought on shore, being in all a hundred and twenty-eight: Numbers of these were sovery helpless that we were obliged to carry them from the boats to thehospital upon our shoulders, in which humane employment (as before atJuan Fernandes) the commodore himself, and every one of his officers, were engaged without distinction; and, notwithstanding the greatdebility and the dying aspects of the greatest part of our sick, it isalmost incredible how soon they began to feel the salutary influenceof the land; for, though we buried twenty-one men on this and thepreceeding day, yet we did not lose above ten men more during ourwhole two months stay here; and in general, our diseased received somuch benefit from the fruits of the island, particularly the fruits ofthe acid kind, that, in a week's time, there were but few who were notso far recovered, as to be able to move about without help. [2]

[Footnote 2: The description of this beautiful island, and its mostdesirable productions, is deferred till we come to the voyage ofCommodore Byron, who visited it in 1765. --E. ]

Whilst we were employed in the removal of our sick on shore, four ofthe Indians, being part of the Spanish serjeant's detachment, came andsurrendered themselves to us, so that with those we took in theproa, we had now eight of them in our custody. One of the four, whosubmitted, undertook to show us the most convenient place for killingcattle, and two of our men were ordered to attend him on that service;but one of them unwarily trusting the Indian with his firelock andpistol, the Indian escaped with them into the woods: His countrymen, who remained behind, were apprehensive of suffering for this perfidyof their comrade, and therefore begged leave to send one of their ownparty into the country, who they engaged should both bring back thearms, and persuade the whole detachment from Guam to submit to us. The commodore granted their request; and one of them was dispatched onthis errand, who returned next day, and brought back the firelockand pistol, but assured us, he had met with them in a path-way in thewood, and protested that he had not been able to meet with any one ofhis countrymen: This report had so little the air of truth, that wesuspected there was some treachery carrying on, and therefore, toprevent any future communication amongst them, we immediately orderedall the Indians who were in our power on board the ship, and did notpermit them to return any more on shore. 

When our sick were well settled on the island, we employed all thehands that could be spared from attending them; in arming the cableswith a good rounding, several fathom from the anchor, to secure themfrom being rubbed by the coral rocks, which here abounded: And thisbeing completed, our next attention was our leak, and in order toraise it out of water, we, on the first of September, began to get theguns aft to bring the ship by the stern; and now the carpenters, beingable to come at it on the outside, ripped off the old sheathing thatwas left, and caulked all the seams on both sides the cut-water, andleaded them over, and then new-sheathed the bows to the surface of thewater: By this means we conceived the defect was sufficiently secured;but upon our beginning to bring the guns into their places, we had themortification to perceive, that the water rushed into the ship inthe old place, with as much violence as ever: Hereupon we werenecessitated to begin again; and that our second attempt might bemore effectual, we cleared the fore store-room, and sent a hundred andthirty barrels of powder on board the small Spanish bark we had seizedhere, by which means we raised the ship about three feet out of thewater forwards, and the carpenters ripped off the sheathing lowerdown, and new caulked all the seams, and afterwards laid on newsheathing; and then, supposing the leak lobe effectually stopped, webegan to move the guns forwards; but the upper deck guns were scarcelyin their places, when, to our amazement, it burst out again; and now, as we durst not cut away the lining within board, lest a but-end or aplank might start, and we might go down immediately, we had no otherresource left than chincing and caulking within board; and indeed bythis means the leak was stopped for some time; but when our guns wereall in their places, and our stores were taken on board, the wateragain forced its way through a hole in the stem, where one of thebolts was driven in; and on this we desisted from all farther efforts, being now well assured, that the defect was in the stem itself, andthat it was not to be remedied till we should have an opportunity ofheaving down. 

Towards the middle of September, several of our sick were tolerablyrecovered by their residence on shore; and, on the 12th of September, all those who were so far relieved, since their arrival, as to becapable of doing duty, were sent on board the ship: And then thecommodore, who was himself ill of the scurvy, had a tent erected forhim on shore, where he went with the view of staying a few days forthe recovery of his health, being convinced, by the general experienceof his people, that no other method but living on the land was to betrusted to for the removal of this dreadful malady. The place, wherehis tent was pitched on this occasion, was near the well, whence wegot all our water, and was indeed a most elegant spot. As the crewon board were now reinforced by the recovered hands returned from theisland, we began to send our cask on shore to be fitted up, which tillnow could not be done, for the coopers were not well enough to work. We likewise weighed our anchors, that we might examine our cables, which we suspected had by this time received considerable damage. And as the new moon was now approaching, when we apprehended violentgales, the commodore, for our greater security, ordered that partof the cables next to the anchors to be armed with the chains of thefire-grapnels; and they were besides cackled twenty fathom from theanchors, and seven fathom from the service, with a good rounding ofa 41/2 inch hawser; and to all these precautions we added that oflowering the main and fore-yard close down, that in case of blowingweather the wind might have less power upon the ship, to make her ridea strain. 

Thus effectually prepared, as we conceived, we expected the new moon, which was the 18th of September, and riding safe that and thethree succeeding days, (though the weather proved very squally anduncertain) we flattered ourselves (for I was then on board) that theprudence of our measures had secured us from all accidents; but, onthe 22d, the wind blew from the eastward with such fury, that we soondespaired of riding out the storm; and therefore we should have beenextremely glad that the commodore and the rest of our people on shore, which were the greatest part of our hands, had been on board withus, since our only hopes of safety seemed to depend on our puttingimmediately to sea; but all communication with the shore was noweffectually cut off, for there was no possibility that a boat couldlive, so that we were necessitated to ride it out, till our cablesparted. Indeed it was not long before this happened, for the smallbower parted at five in the afternoon, and the ship swung off to thebest bower; and as the night came on, the violence of the wind stillincreased; but notwithstanding its inexpressible fury, the tide ranwith so much rapidity, as to prevail over it; for the tide having setto the northward in the beginning of the storm, turned suddenly to thesouthward about six in the evening, and forced the ship before it indespight of the storm, which blew upon the beam: And now the sea brokemost surprisingly all round us, and a large tumbling swell threatenedto poop us; the long-boat, which was at this time moored a-stern, was on a sudden canted so high, that it broke the transom of thecommodore's gallery, whose cabin was on the quarter-deck, and woulddoubtless have risen as high as the tafferel, had it not been for thisstroke which stove the boat all to pieces; but the poor boat-keeper, though extremely bruised, was saved almost by miracle. About eightthe tide slackened, but the wind did not abate; so that at eleven, thebest bower-cable, by which alone we rode, parted. Our sheet-anchor, which was the only one we had left, was instantly cut from the bow;but before it could reach the bottom, we were driven from twenty-twointo thirty-five fathom; and after we had veered away one whole cable, and two-thirds of another, we could not find ground with sixty fathomof line: This was a plain indication, that the anchor lay near theedge of the bank, and could not hold us. In this pressing danger, MrSanmarez, our first lieutenant, who now commanded on board, orderedseveral guns to be fired, and lights to be shown, as a signal to thecommodore of our distress; and in a short time after, it being thenabout one o'clock, and the night excessively dark, a strong gust, attended with rain and lightning, drove us off the bank, and forced usout to sea, leaving behind us, on the island, Mr Anson, with many moreof our officers, and great part of our crew, amounting in the whole toan hundred and thirteen persons. Thus were we all, both at sea andon shore, reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe, those onshore conceiving they had no means left them ever to leave the island, and we on board utterly unprepared to struggle with the fury of theseas and winds we were now exposed to, and expecting each moment, tobe our last. 

SECTION XXVI. 

_Transactions at Tinian after the Departure of the Centurion. _

The storm, which drove the Centurion to sea, blew with too muchturbulence to permit either the commodore or any of the people onshore bearing the guns, which she fired as signals of distress; andthe frequent glare of the lightning had prevented the explosions frombeing observed: So that, when at day-break, it was perceived from theshore that the ship was missing, there was the utmost consternationamongst them: For much the greatest part of them immediately concludedthat she, was lost, and entreated the commodore that the boat mightbe sent round the island to look for the wreck; and those who believedher safe, had scarcely any expectation that she would ever be able tomake the island again: For the wind continued to blow strong at east, and they knew how poorly she was manned and provided for strugglingwith so tempestuous a gale. And if the Centurion was lost, or shouldbe incapable of returning, there appeared no possibility of their evergetting off the island; For they were at least six hundred leaguesfrom Macao, which was their nearest port; and they were masters of noother vessel than the small Spanish bark, of about fifteen tun, whichthey seized at their first arrival, and which would not even hold afourth part of their number: And the chance of their being taken offthe island by the casual arrival of any ship was altogether desperate;as perhaps no European ship had ever anchored here before, and itwere madness to expect that like incidents should send another in anhundred ages to come: So that their desponding thoughts could onlysuggest to them the melancholy prospect of spending the remainderof their days on this island, and bidding adieu for ever to theircountry, their friends, their families, and all their domesticendearments. 

Nor was this the worst they had to fear: For they had reason toexpect, that the governor of Guam, when he should be informed of theirsituation, might send a force sufficient to overpower them, and toremove them to that island; and then, the most favourable treatmentthey could hope for would be to be detained prisoners for life; since, from the known policy and cruelty of the Spaniards in their distantsettlements, it was rather to be expected, that the governor, if heonce had them in his power, would make their want of commissions (allof them being on board the Centurion) a pretext for treating them, aspirates, and for depriving them of their lives with infamy. 

In the midst of these gloomy reflections, Mr Anson had his share ofdisquietude; but he kept up his usual composure and steadiness: Andhaving soon projected a scheme for extricating himself and his menfrom their present anxious situation, he first communicated it to someof the most intelligent; and being satisfied that it was practicable, he then endeavoured to animate his people to a speedy and vigorousprosecution of it. With this view he represented to them, how littlefoundation there was for their apprehensions of the Centurion's beinglost: That he should have hoped, they had been all of them betteracquainted with sea-affairs, than to give way to the impression of sochimerical a fright; and that he doubted not, if they would seriouslyconsider what such a ship was capable of enduring, they would confessthat there was not the least probability of her having perished: Thathe was not without hopes that she might return in a few days; but ifshe did not, the worst that could be supposed was, that she was drivenso far to the leeward of the island that she could not regain it, andthat she would consequently be obliged to bear away for Macao on thecoast of China: That as it was necessary to be prepared against allevents, he had, in this case, considered of a method of carrying themoff the island, and joining their old ship the Centurion again atMacao: That this method was to hale the Spanish bark on shore, to sawher asunder, and to lengthen her twelve feet, which would enlarge herto near forty tun burthen, and would enable her to carry them all toChina: That he had consulted the carpenters, and they had agreedthat this proposal was very feasible, and that nothing was wanting toexecute it, but the united resolution and industry of the whole body:He added, that, for his own part, he would share the fatigue andlabour with them, and would expect no more from any man than what hehimself was ready to submit to; he concluded with representing to themthe importance of saving time; and that, in order to be the betterprepared for all events, it was necessary to set to work immediately, and to take it for granted, that the Centurion would not be able toput back (which was indeed the commodore's secret opinion;) since, ifshe did return, they should only throw away a few days application;but, if she did not, their situation, and the season of the year, required their utmost dispatch. 

These remonstrances, though not without effect, did not immediatelyoperate so powerfully as Mr Anson wished: He indeed raised theirspirits, by showing them the possibility of their getting away, ofwhich they had before despaired; but then, from their confidence ofthis resource, they grew less apprehensive of their situation, gavea greater scope to their hopes, and flattered themselves that theCenturion would return and prevent the execution of the commodore'sscheme, which they could easily foresee would be a work ofconsiderable labour. By this means, it was some days before they wereall of them heartily engaged in the project; but at last, being ingeneral convinced of the impossibility of the ship's return, they setthemselves zealously to the different tasks allotted them, and were asindustrious and as eager as their commander could desire, punctuallyassembling at day-break at the rendezvous, whence they weredistributed to their different employments, which they followed withunusual vigour till night came on. 

And here I must interrupt the course of this transaction for a moment, to relate an incident which for some time gave Mr Anson more concernthan all the preceding disasters. A few days after the ship was drivenoff, some of the people on shore cried out, A sail. This spread ageneral joy, every one supposing that it was the ship returning; butpresently a second sail was descried, which quite destroyed theirconjecture, and made it difficult to guess what they were. Thecommodore eagerly turned his glass towards them, and saw they were twoboats; on which it immediately occurred to him that the Centurion wasgone to the bottom, and that these were her two boats coming back withthe remains of her people; and this sudden and unexpected suggestionwrought on him so powerfully, that, to conceal his emotion, he wasobliged (without speaking to any one) instantly to retire to his tent, where he past some bitter moments, in the firm belief that the shipwas lost, and that now all his views of farther distressing the enemy, and of still signalizing his expedition by some important exploit, were at an end. 

But he was soon relieved from these disturbing thoughts, bydiscovering that the two boats in the offing were Indian proas, and, perceiving that they stood towards the shore, he directed everyappearance that could give them any suspicion to be removed, andconcealed his people in the adjacent thickets, prepared to securethe Indians when they should land; but, after the proas had stood inwithin a quarter of a mile of the land, they suddenly stopt short, and remaining there motionless for near two hours, they then madesail again, and stood to the southward. --To return to the projectedenlargement of the bark. 

If we examine how they were prepared for going through with thisundertaking, on which their safely depended, we shall find, that, independent of other matters which were of as much importance, thelengthening of the bark alone was attended with great difficulty. Indeed, in a proper place, where all the necessary materials and toolswere to be had, the embarrassment would have been much less; butsome of these tools were to be made, and many of the materials werewanting; and it required no small degree of invention to supply allthese deficiences. And when the hull of the bark should be completed, this was but one article; and there were many others of equal weight, which were to be well considered: These were the rigging it, thevictualling it, and, lastly, the navigating it, for the space of sixor seven hundred leagues, through unknown seas, where no one of thecompany had ever passed before. In some of these particularssuch obstacles occurred, that, without the intervention of veryextraordinary and unexpected accidents, the possibility of the wholeenterprise would have fallen to the ground, and their utmost industryand efforts must have been fruitless. Of all these circumstances Ishall make a short recital. 

It fortunately happened that the carpenters, both of the Gloucesterand of the Tryal, with their chests of tools, were on shore when theship drove out to sea; the smith, too, was on shore, and had withhim his forge and some tools, but unhappily his bellows had notbeen brought from on board, so that he was incapable of working, and without his assistance they could not hope to proceed with theirdesign; their first attention, therefore, was to make him a pair ofbellows, but in this they were for some time puzzled, by their want ofleather; however, as they had hides in sufficient plenty, and they hadfound a hogshead of lime, which the Indians or Spaniards had preparedfor their own use, they tanned some hides with this lime; and thoughwe may suppose the workmanship to be but indifferent, yet the leatherthey thus made served tolerably well, and the bellows (to which agun-barrel served for a pipe) had no other inconvenience than that ofbeing somewhat strong-scented from the imperfection of the tanner'swork. 

Whilst the smith was preparing the necessary iron work, others wereemployed in cutting down trees, and sawing them into plank, and thisbeing the most laborious task, the commodore himself wrought at itfor the encouragement of his people. As there were neither blocksnor cordage sufficient for tackles to hale the bark on shore, itwas proposed to get her up on rollers; and for these the body of thecocoa-nut tree was extremely useful, for its smoothness and circularturn prevented much labour, and fitted it for the purpose with verylittle workmanship; many of these trees were therefore felled, and theends of them properly opened for the reception of hand-spikes; andin the mean time a dry dock was dug for the bark, and ways laid fromthence quite into the sea to facilitate the bringing her up. Besidesthose who were thus occupied in preparing measures for the futureenlargement of the bark, a party was constantly ordered for thekilling and preparing of provisions for the rest: And though in thesevarious employments, some of which demanded considerable dexterity, it might have been expected there would have been great confusion anddelay, yet good order being once established, and all hands engaged, their preparations advanced apace. Indeed, the common men, I presume, were not the less tractable for their want of spirituous liquors;for, there being neither wine nor brandy on shore, the juice ofthe cocoa-nut was their constant drink, and this, though extremelypleasant, was not at all intoxicating, but kept them very cool andorderly. 

And now the officers began to consider of all the articles necessaryfor the fitting out the bark; when it was found, that the tents onshore, and the spare cordage accidentally left there by the Centurion, together with the sails and rigging already belonging to the bark, would serve to rig her indifferently well, when she was lengthened. As they had tallow in plenty, they proposed to pay her bottom witha mixture of tallow and lime, which it was known was well adapted tothat purpose; so that with respect to her equipment, she would nothave been very defective. There was, however, one exception, whichwould have proved extremely inconvenient, and that was her size; foras they could not make her quite forty tun burthen, she would havebeen incapable of containing half the crew below the deck, and musthave been so top-heavy, that if they were all at the same time ondeck, there would be no small hazard of her oversetting; but this wasa difficulty not to be removed, as they could not augment her beyondthe size already proposed. After the manner of rigging and fitting upthe bark was considered and regulated, the next essential point to bethought on was, how to procure a sufficient stock of provisions fortheir voyage; and here they were greatly at a loss what course totake; for they had neither grain nor bread of any kind on shore, theirbread-fruit, which would not keep at sea, having all along suppliedits place; and though they had live cattle enough, yet they had nosalt to cure beef for a sea-store, nor would meat take salt in thatclimate. Indeed, they had preserved a small quantity of jerked beef, which they found upon the place at their landing, but this was greatlydisproportioned to the run of near six hundred leagues, which theywere to engage in, and to the number of hands they should have onboard. It was at last, however, resolved to take on board as manycocoa-nuts as they possibly could; to make the most of their jerkedbeef, by a very sparing distribution of it, and to endeavour to supplytheir want of bread by rice; to furnish themselves with which, it wasproposed, when the bark was fitted up, to make an expedition to theisland of Rota, where they were told that the Spaniards had largeplantations of rice under the care of the Indian inhabitants: But asthis last measure was to be executed by force, it became necessaryto examine what ammunition had been left on shore, and to preserve itcarefully; and on this enquiry, they had the mortification to find, that the utmost that could be collected, by the strictest search, didnot amount to more than ninety charges of powder for their firelocks, which was considerably short of one a-piece for each of the company, and was indeed a very slender stock of ammunition, for such as wereto eat no grain or bread for a month, but what they were to procure byforce of arms. 

But the most alarming circumstance, and what, without the providentialinterposition of very improbable events, had rendered all theirschemes abortive, remains yet to be related. The general idea of thefabric and equipment of the vessel was settled in a few days, and whenthis was done, it was not difficult to make some estimation of thetime necessary to complete her. After this, it was natural to expectthat the officers would consider on the course they were to steer, and the land they were to make. These reflections led them to thedisheartening discovery, that there was neither compass nor quadranton the island. Indeed, the commodore had brought a pocket compasson shore for his own use, but Lieutenant Brett had borrowed it todetermine the position of the neighbouring islands, and he had beendriven to sea in the Centurion, without returning it; and as to aquadrant, that could not be expected to be found on shore, for as itwas of no use at land, there could be no reason for bringing itfrom on board the ship. It was eight days, from the departure of theCenturion, before they were relieved from this terrible perplexity: Atlast, in rummaging a chest belonging to the Spanish bark, they found asmall compass, which, though little better than the toys usually madefor the amusement of school-boys, was to them an invaluable treasure. And a few days after, by a similar piece of good fortune, they founda quadrant on the sea-shore, which had been thrown overboard amongstother lumber belonging to the dead: The quadrant was eagerly seized, but it unluckily wanted vanes, and therefore, in its present state, was altogether useless; however, fortune still continuing in afavourable mood, it was not long before a person, out of curiosity, pulling out the drawer of an old table, which had been driven onshore, found some vanes, which fitted the quadrant very well; and itbeing thus completed, it was examined by the known latitude of theplace, and found to answer to a sufficient degree of exactness. 

All these obstacles being in some degree removed (which were always asmuch as possible concealed from the vulgar, that they might not growremiss with the apprehension of labouring to no purpose, ) the workproceeded very successfully and vigorously: The necessary iron-workwas in great forwardness; and the timbers and planks (which, thoughnot the most exquisite performances of the sawyer's art, were yetsufficient for the purpose, ) were all prepared; so that on the 6th ofOctober, being the 14th day from the departure of the ship, theyhaled the bark on shore, and, on the two succeeding days, she was sawnasunder (though with great care not to cut her planks, ) and her twoparts were separated the proper distance from each other, and, thematerials being all ready before-hand, they, the next day, beingthe 9th of October, went on with great dispatch in their proposedenlargement of her; and by this time they had all their futureoperations so fairly in view, and were so much masters of them, thatthey were able to determine when the whole would be finished, and hadaccordingly fixed the 5th of November for the day of their puttingto sea. But their projects and labours were drawing to a speedier andhappier conclusion; for on the 11th of October, in the afternoon, one of the Gloucester's men, being upon a hill in the middle of theisland, perceived the Centurion at a distance, and running down withhis utmost speed towards the landing-place, he, in the way, saw someof his comrades, to whom he hallooed out with extacy, The ship, theship! This being heard by Mr Gordon, a lieutenant of marines, whowas convinced by the fellow's transport that his report was true, MrGordon ran towards the place where the commodore and his peoplewere at work, and being fresh and in breath, easily outstripped theGloucester's man, and got before him to the commodore, who, on hearingthis happy and unexpected news, threw down his axe with which he wasthen at work, and by his joy broke through, for the first time, theequable and unvaried character which he had hitherto preserved; theothers, who were with him, instantly ran down to the sea-side in akind of frenzy, eager to feast themselves with a sight they had soardently wished for, and of which they had now for a considerable timedespaired. By five in the evening the Centurion was visible in theoffing to them all; and, a boat being sent off with eighteen men toreinforce her, and with fresh meat and fruits for the refreshment ofher crew, she, the next afternoon, happily came to an anchor in theroad, when the commodore immediately went on board, and was receivedwith the sincerest and heartiest acclamations: For, from the followingshort recital of the fears, the dangers and fatigues we in the shipunderwent during our nineteen days absence from Tinian, it may beeasily conceived, that a harbour, refreshments, repose, and thejoining of our commander and shipmates, were not less pleasing to usthan our return was to them. 

SECTION XXVII. 

_Account of the Proceedings on board the Centurion when driven out toSea. _

The Centurion being now once more safely arrived at Tinian, to themutual respite of the labours of our divided crew, it is high timethat the reader, after the relation already given of the projects andemployment of those left on shore, should be apprised of the fatiguesand distresses to which we, who were driven off to sea, were exposedduring the long interval of nineteen, days that we were absent fromthe island. 

It has been already mentioned, that it was the 22d of September, aboutone o'clock, in an extreme dark night, when, by the united violence ofa prodigious storm, and an exceeding rapid tide, we were driven fromour anchors and forced to sea. Our condition was truly deplorable; wewere in a leaky ship, with three cables in our hawses, to one of whichhung our only remaining anchor; we had not a gun on board lashed, nora port barred in; our shrowds were loose, and our top-masts unrigged, and we had struck our fore and main-yards close down, before the stormcame on, so that there were no sails we could set, except our mizen. In this dreadful extremity we could muster no more strength on boardto navigate the ship, than an hundred and eight hands, severalnegroes and Indians included: This was scarcely the fourth part of ourcomplement, and of these the greater number were either boys, or suchas, being lately recovered from the scurvy, had not yet arrived athalf their vigour. No sooner were we at sea, but by the violence ofthe storm, and the working of the ship, we made a great quantity ofwater through our hawse-holes, ports, and scuppers, which, added tothe constant effect of our leak, rendered our pumps alone a sufficientemployment for us all: But though this leakage, by being a short timeneglected, would inevitably end in our destruction, yet we had otherdangers then impending, which occasioned this to be regarded as asecondary consideration only. For we all imagined that we were drivingdirectly on the neighbouring island of Aguiguan, which was about twoleagues distant; and as we had lowered our main and fore-yards closedown, we had no sails we could set but the mizen, which was altogetherinsufficient to carry us clear of this instant peril; we thereforeimmediately applied ourselves to work, endeavouring, by the utmost ofour efforts, to heave up the main and fore-yards, in hopes that, ifwe could but be enabled to make use of our lower canvass, we mightpossibly weather the island, and thereby save ourselves from thisimpending shipwreck. But after full three hours ineffectual labour, the jeers broke, and the men being quite jaded, we were obliged, bymere debility, to desist, and quietly to expect our fate, which wethen conceived to be unavoidable: For we imagined ourselves by thistime to be driven just upon the shore, and the night was so extremelydark, that we expected to discover the island no otherwise than bystriking upon it; so that the belief of our destruction, and theuncertainly of the point of time when it would take place, occasionedus to pass several hours under the most serious apprehensions, thateach succeeding moment would send us to the bottom. Nor did thesecontinued terrors of instantly striking and sinking end but with theday-break, when we, with great transport, perceived that the islandwe had thus dreaded was at a considerable distance, and that a strongnorthern current had been the cause of our preservation. 

The turbulent weather which forced us from Tinian, did not begin toabate till three days after; and then we swayed up the fore-yard, andbegan to heave up the main-yard, but the jeers broke and killed one ofour men, and prevented us at that time from proceeding. The next day, being the 26th of September, was a day of most severe fatigue to usall; for it must be remembered, that in these exigences no rank oroffice exempted any person from the manual application and bodilylabour of a common sailor. The business of this day was no less thanan attempt to heave up the sheet-anchor, which we had hithertodragged at our bows with two cables an end. This was a work ofgreat importance to our future preservation: For, not to mention theimpediment to our navigation, and the hazard it would be to our ship, if we attempted to make sail with the anchor in its present situation, we had this most interesting consideration to animate us, that it wasthe only anchor we had left; and, without securing it, we should beunder the utmost difficulties and hazards, whenever we made theland again; and therefore, being all of us fully apprized of theconsequence of this enterprize, we laboured at it with the severestapplication for full twelve hours, when we had indeed made aconsiderable progress, having brought the anchor in sight; but, itthen growing dark, and we being excessively fatigued, we were obligedto desist, and to leave our work unfinished till the next morning, when, by the benefit of a night's rest, we completed it, and hung theanchor at our bow. 

It was the 27th of September in the morning, that is, five days afterour departure, when we thus secured our anchor; And the same day wegot up our main-yard: And having now conquered in some degree thedistress and disorder which we were necessarily involved in atour first driving out to sea, and being enabled to make use of ourcanvass, we set our courses, and for the first time stood to theeastward, in hopes of regaining the island of Tinian, and joiningour commodore in a few days: For we were then, by our accounts, onlyforty-seven leagues to the south-west of Tinian; so that on the firstday of October, having then run the distance necessary for makingthe island according to our reckoning, we were in full expectationof seeing it; but we were unhappily disappointed, and were therebyconvinced that a current had driven us to the westward. And aswe could not judge how much we might hereby have deviated, andconsequently how long we might still expect to be at sea, we had greatapprehensions that our stock of water might prove deficient; for wewere doubtful about the quantity we had on board, and found manyof our casks so decayed, as to be half leaked out. However, we weredelivered from our uncertainty the next day by having a sight of theisland of Guam, by which we discovered that the currents had driven usforty-four leagues to the westward of our accounts. This sight of landhaving satisfied us of our situation, we kept plying to the eastward, though with excessive labour, for the wind continuing fixed in theeastern board, we were obliged to tack often, and our crew were soweak, that, without the assistance of every man on board, it was notin our power to put the ship about: This severe employment lastedtill the 11th of October, being the nineteenth day from our departure;when, arriving in the offing of Tinian, we were reinforced from theshore, as hath been already mentioned; and on the evening of the sameday, to our inexpressible joy, came to an anchor in the road, therebyprocuring to our shipmates on shore, as well as to ourselves, acessation from the fatigues and apprehensions which this disastrousincident had given rise to. 

SECTION XXVIII. 

_Of our Employment at Tinian, till the final Departure of theCenturion, and of the Voyage to Macao. _[1]

The commodore resolved to stay no longer at the island than wasabsolutely necessary to complete our stock of water, a work which weimmediately set ourselves about. But the loss of our long-boat, whichwas staved against our poop when we were driven out to sea, put usto great inconveniences in getting our water on board: For we wereobliged to raft off all our cask, and the tide ran so strong, that, besides the frequent delays and difficulties it occasioned, we morethan once lost the whole raft. Nor was this our only misfortune; for, on the third day after our arrival, a sudden gust of wind brought homeour anchor, forced us off the bank, and drove the ship out to sea asecond time. The commodore, it is true, and the principal officers, were now on board; but we had near seventy men on shore, who had beenemployed in filling our water, and procuring provisions: These hadwith them our two cutters; but as they were too many for the cuttersto bring off at once, we sent the eighteen-oared barge to assist them;and at the same time made a signal for all that could to embark. Thetwo cutters soon came off to us full of men; but forty of the company, who were employed in killing cattle in the wood, and in bringingthem down to the landing-place, were left behind; and though theeighteen-oared barge was left for their conveyance, yet, as the shipsoon drove to a considerable distance, it was not in their power tojoin us. However, as the weather was favourable, and our crew was nowstronger than when we were first driven out, we, in about five daystime, returned again to an anchor at Tinian, and relieved those wehad left behind us from their second fears of being deserted by theirship. 

[Footnote 1: The original contains also a description of the Ladrones(or Marian Islands, as they are now usually called, ) which, for areason before mentioned, is omitted. ]

On our arrival, we found that the Spanish bark, the old object oftheir hopes, had undergone a new metamorphosis: For those we hadleft onshore began to despair of our return, and conceiving that thelengthening the bark, as formerly proposed, was both a toilsome andunnecessary measure, considering the small number they consisted of, they had resolved to join her again, and to restore her to her firststate; and in this scheme they had made some progress; for they hadbrought the two parts together, and would have soon completed her, hadnot our coming back put a period to their labours and disquietudes. 

These people we had left behind informed us, that, just before we wereseen in the offing, two proas had stood in very near the shore, andhad continued there for some time; but, on the appearance of ourship, they crowded away, and were presently out of sight. And, on thisoccasion, I must mention an incident, which, though it happened duringthe first absence of the ship, was then omitted, to avoid interruptingthe course of the narration. 

It hath been already observed, that a part of the detachment, sent tothis island under the command of the Spanish Serjeant, lay concealedin the woods; and we were the less solicitous to find them out, as ourprisoners all assured us, that it was impossible for them to getoff, and consequently that it was impossible for them to send anyintelligence about us to Guam. But when the Centurion drove out tosea, and left the commodore on shore, he one day, attended by someof his officers, endeavoured to make the tour of the island: In thisexpedition, being on a rising ground, they perceived in the valleybeneath them the appearance of a small thicket, which, by observingmore nicely, they found had a progressive motion: This at firstsurprised them; but they soon discovered, that it was no more thanseveral large cocoa bushes, which were dragged along the ground, bypersons concealed beneath them. They immediately concluded thatthese were some of the Serjeant's party (which, was indeed true); andtherefore the commodore and his people made after them, in hopesof finding out their retreat. The Indians soon perceived they werediscovered, and hurried away with precipitation; but Mr Anson was sonear them, that he did not lose sight of them till they arrived attheir cell, which he and his officers entering found to be abandoned, there being a passage from it down a precipice contrived for theconveniency of flight. They found here an old firelock or two, butno other arms. However, there was a great quantity of provisions, particularly salted spare-ribs of pork, which were excellent; andfrom what our people saw here, they concluded, that the extraordinaryappetite, which they had found at this island, was not confined tothemselves; for, it being about noon, the Indians had laid out a veryplentiful repast considering their numbers, and had their bread-fruitand cocoa-nuts prepared ready for eating, and in a manner whichplainly evinced, that, with them too, a good meal was neither anuncommon nor an unheeded article. The commodore having in vainendeavoured to discover the path by which the Indians had escaped, heand his officers contented themselves with sitting down to the dinner, which was thus luckily filled to their present appetites; after which, they returned back to their old habitation, displeased at missing theIndians, as they hoped to have engaged them in our service, if theycould have had any conference with them. But, notwithstanding what ourprisoners had asserted, we were afterwards assured, that these Indianswere carried off to Guam long before we left the place. 

On our coming to an anchor again; after our second driving off to sea;we laboured indefatigably in getting in our water; and having, by the20th of October, completed it to fifty tun, which we supposed would besufficient for our passage to Macao, we, on the next day, sent one ofeach mess on shore, to gather as large a quantity of oranges, lemons, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits of the island, as they possibly could, for the use of themselves and mess-mates, when at sea. And, thesepurveyors returning on board us on the evening of the same day, wethen set fire to the bark and proa, hoisted in our boats, and gotunder sail, steering away for the south-end of the island of Formosa, and taking our leaves, for the third and last time, of the island ofTinian: An island, which, whether we consider the excellence of itsproductions, the beauty of its appearance, the elegance of its woodsand lawns, the healthiness of its air or the adventures it gave riseto, may in all these views be truly styled romantic. 

[After the description, certainly a very imperfect one, of theLadrones, which now follows, the author gives a curious account of theproas or prows so much used among them. This is extracted, as likelyto interest the reader, and as more satisfactory, than the briefnotice already given in the history of Magellan's voyage. This accountis more deserving of regard, as being drawn up from very particularexamination of one of the vessels taken, as has been mentioned, atTinian. ]

The Indians that inhabit the Ladrones, of which Tinian (formerly wellpeopled) is one, are a bold, well-limbed people; and it should seemfrom some of their practices, that they are no ways defective inunderstanding; for their flying proa in particular, which has been forages the only vessel used by them, is so singular and extraordinaryan invention, that it would do honour to any nation, however dexterousand acute. Whether we consider its aptitude to the particularnavigation of these islands, or the uncommon simplicity and ingenuityof its fabric and contrivance, or the extraordinary velocity withwhich it moves, we shall find it worthy of our admiration, andmeriting a place amongst the mechanical productions of the mostcivilized nations, where arts and sciences have most eminentlyflourished. 

The name of flying proa given to these vessels, is owing to theswiftness with which they sail. Of this the Spaniards assert suchstories, as appear altogether incredible to those who have never seenthese vessels move; nor are the Spaniards the only people who relatethese extraordinary tales of their celerity. For those who shall havethe curiosity to enquire at the dock at Portsmouth, about a trial madethere some years since, with a very imperfect one built at that place, will meet with accounts not less wonderful than any the Spaniards havegiven. However, from some rude estimations made, by our people, of thevelocity with which they crossed the horizon at a distance, whilst welay at Tinian, I cannot help believing that with a brisk trade-windthey will run near twenty miles an hour: Which, though greatly shortof what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a prodigious degree ofswiftness. 

The construction of this proa is a direct contradiction to thepractice of the rest of mankind. For as the rest of the world makethe head of their vessels different from the stern, but the two sidesalike, the proa, on the contrary, has her head and stern exactlyalike, but her two sides very different; the side, intended to bealways the lee-side, being flat; and the windward-side made rounding, in the manner of other vessels: And, to prevent her oversetting, whichfrom her small breadth, and the straight run of her leeward-side, would, without this precaution, infallibly happen, there is a framelaid out from her to windward, to the end of which is fastened a log, fashioned into the shape of a small boat, and made hollow: The weightof the frame is intended to balance the proa, and the small boat is byits buoyancy (as it is always in the water) to prevent her oversettingto windward; and this frame is usually called an outrigger. The bodyof the proa (at least of that we took) is made of two pieces joinedend-ways, and sowed together with bark, for there is no iron usedabout her: She is about two inches thick at the bottom, which at thegunwale is reduced to less than one. [2]

[Footnote 2: The author refers to a plate for a minute description, which is necessarily omitted. --E. ]

The proa generally carries six or seven Indians; two of which areplaced in the head and stem, who steer the vessel alternately with apaddle, according to the tack she goes on, be in the stern being thesteersman; the other Indians are employed either in baling out thewater which she accidentally ships, or in setting and trimmingthe sail. From the description of these vessels it is sufficientlyobvious, how dexterously they are fitted for ranging this collectionof islands called the Ladrones: For as these islands lie nearly N. AndS. Of each other, and are all within the limits of the trade-wind, the proas, by sailing most excellently on a wind, and with eitherend foremost, can ran from one of these islands to the other and backagain, only by shifting the sail, without ever putting about; and, by the flatness of their lee-side, and their small breadth, they arecapable of lying much nearer the wind than any other vessel hithertoknown. 

The eastern monsoon was now, we reckoned, fairly settled; and we hada constant gale blowing right upon our stern: So that we generallyran from forty to fifty leagues a-day. But we had a large hollowsea pursuing us, which occasioned the ship to labour much; whence wereceived great damage in our rigging, which was grown very rotten, andour leak was augmented: But, happily for us, our people were now infull health; so that there were no complaints of fatigue, but all wentthrough their attendance on the pumps, and every other duty of theship, with ease and cheerfulness. 

Having no other but our sheet-anchor left, except our prize-anchors, which were stowed in the hold, and were too light to be depended on, we were under great concern how we should manage on, the coastof China, where we were all entire strangers, and where we shoulddoubtless be frequently under the necessity of coming to an anchor. Our sheet-anchor being much too heavy for a coasting anchor, it wasat length resolved to fix two of our largest prize-anchors into onestock, and to place between their shanks two guns, four pounders, which was accordingly executed, and it was to serve as a best bower:And a third prize-anchor being ill like manner joined with ourstream-anchor, with guns between them, we thereby made a small bower;so that, besides our sheet-anchor, we had again two others at ourbows, one of which weighed 3900, and the other 2900 pounds. 

The 3d of November, about three in the afternoon, we saw an island, which at first we imagined to be the island of Botel Tobago Xima: Buton nearer approach we found it to be much smaller than that is usuallyrepresented; and about an hour after we saw another island, five orsix miles farther to the westward. As no chart, nor any journal we hadseen, took notice of any other island to the eastward of Formosa, thanBotel Tobago Xima, and as we had no observation of our latitudeat noon, we were in some perplexity, being apprehensive that anextraordinary current had driven us into the neighbourhood of theBashee islands; and therefore, when night came on, we brought to, andcontinued in this posture till the next morning, which proving darkand cloudy, for some time prolonged our uncertainty; but it clearedup about nine o'clock, when we again discerned the two islandsabove-mentioned; we then prest forwards to the westward, and byeleven got a sight of the southern part of the island of Formosa. Thissatisfied us that the second island we saw was Botel Tobago Xima, andthe first a small island or rock, lying five or six miles due eastfrom it, which, not being mentioned by any of our books or charts, wasthe occasion of our fears. [3]

[Footnote 3: These two islands are marked in Arrowsmith's map of Asia, under the names of Bottle Tobago and Little Bottle Tobago. --E. ]

When we got sight of the island of Formosa, we steered W. By S. Inorder to double its extremity, and kept a good look-out for the rocksof Vele Rete, which we did not see till two in the afternoon. Theythen bore from us W. N. W. Three miles distant, the south end of Formosaat the same time bearing N. By W. 1/2 W. About five leagues distant. To give these rocks a good birth, we immediately haled up S. By W. And so left them between us and the land. Indeed we had reason to becareful of them; for though they appeared as high out of the water asa ship's hull, yet they are environed with breakers on all sides, andthere is a shoal stretching from them at least a mile and a half tothe southward, whence they may be truly called dangerous. The coursefrom Botel Tobago Xima to these rocks is S. W. By W. And the distanceabout twelve or thirteen leagues: And the south end of Formosa, offwhich they lie, is in the latitude of 21° 50' north, and in 23° 50'west longitude from Tinian, according to our most approved reckonings, though by some of our accounts above a degree more. 

While we were passing by these rocks of Vele Rete, there was an outcryof fire on the fore-castle; this occasioned a general alarm, and thewhole crew instantly flocked together in the utmost confusion, so thatthe officers found it difficult for some time to appease the uproar:But having at last reduced the people to order, it was perceived thatthe fire proceeded from the furnace; and, pulling down the brick-work, it was extinguished with great facility, for it had taken its risefrom the bricks, which, being over-heated, had begun to communicatethe fire to the adjacent wood-work. In the evening we were surprisedwith a view of what we at first sight conceived to have been breakers, but, on a stricter examination, we found them to be only a greatnumber of fires on the island of Formosa. These, we imagined, were, intended by the inhabitants of that island as signals for us to touchthere, but that suited not our views, we being impatient to reach theport of Macao as soon as possible. From Formosa we steered W. N. W. Andsometimes still more northerly, proposing to fall in with, the coastof China, to the eastward of Pedro Blanco; for the rock so called isusually esteemed an excellent direction for ships bound to Macao. Wecontinued this course till the following night, and then frequentlybrought to, to try if we were in soundings: But it was the 5th ofNovember, at nine in the morning, before we struck ground, and then, we had forty-two fathom, and a bottom of grey sand mixed with shells. When we had got about twenty miles farther W. N. W. We had thirty-fivefathom; and the same bottom, from whence our sounding graduallydecreased from thirty-five to twenty-five fathom; but soon after, toour great surprise, they jumped back again to thirty fathom: This wasan alteration we could not very well account for, [4] since all thecharts laid down regular soundings every-where to the northward ofPedro Blanco; and for this reason we kept a very careful look-out, andaltered our course to N. N. W. And having run thirty-five miles in thisdirection, our soundings again gradually diminished to twenty-twofathom, and we at last, about mid-night, got sight of the main land ofChina, bearing N. By W. Four leagues distant: We then brought the shipto, with her head to the sea, proposing to wait for the morning; andbefore sun-rise we were surprised to find ourselves in the midst of anincredible number of fishing-boats, which seemed to cover the surfaceof the sea as far as the eye could reach. I may well style theirnumber incredible, since I cannot believe, upon the lowest estimate, that there were fewer than six thousand, most of them manned withfive hands, and none with less than three. Nor was this swarm offishing-vessels peculiar to this spot; for, as we ran on to thewestward, we found them as abundant on every part of the coast. We atfirst doubted not but we should procure a pilot from them to carryus to Macao; but though many of them came close to the ship, and weendeavoured to tempt them by showing them a number of dollars, a mostalluring bait for Chinese of all ranks and professions, yet we couldnot entice them on board us, nor procure any directions from them;though, I presume, the only difficulty was their not comprehendingwhat we wanted them to do, for we could have no communication withthem, but by signs: Indeed we often pronounced the word Macao; butthis we had reason to suppose they understood in a different sense;for in return they sometimes held up fish to us, and we afterwardslearnt, that the Chinese name for fish is of a somewhat similar sound. But what surprised us most, was the inattention and want of curiosity, which we observed in this herd of fishermen: A ship like ours haddoubtless never been in those seas before; perhaps, there might notbe one, amongst all the Chinese employed in this fishery, who had everseen any European vessel; so that we might reasonably have expectedto have been considered by them as a very uncommon and extraordinaryobject; but though many of their vessels came close to the ship, yetthey did not appear to be at all interested about us, nor didthey deviate in the least from their course to regard us; whichinsensibility, especially in maritime persons, about a matter intheir own profession, is scarcely to be credited, did not thegeneral behaviour of the Chinese, in other instances, furnish us withcontinual proofs of a similar turn of mind: It may perhaps be doubted, whether this cast of temper be the effect of nature or education;but, in either case, it is an incontestable symptom of a mean andcontemptible disposition, and is alone a sufficient confutation of theextravagant panegyrics, which many hypothetical writers have bestowedon the ingenuity and capacity of this nation. [5]

[Footnote 4: It was probably occasioned by their being over a sandbank, which is laid down by Arrowsmith in this part of the Centurion'scourse. --E. ]

[Footnote 5: Neither the ingenuity nor the capacity of the Chinese isat all implicated by the circumstances recorded, the source of whichmay be probably enough conjectured, viz. Their contempt of every thingforeign, which, it is well known, they never scruple to avow. Besides, as is very soon mentioned, their fishermen were under authority, andhad received no orders or permission to the effect desired. --E. ]

Not being able to procure any information from the Chinese fishermenabout our proper course to Macao, it was necessary for us to relyentirety on our own judgment; and concluding from our latitude, whichwas 22° 42' north, and from our soundings, which were only seventeenor eighteen fathoms, that we were yet to the eastward of PedroBlanco, we stood to the westward: And, for the assistance of futurenavigators, who may hereafter doubt about the parts of the coast theyare upon, I must observe, that, besides the latitude of Pedro Blanco, which is 22° 18', and the depth of water, which to the westward ofthat rock is almost every where twenty fathoms, there is anothercircumstance which will give great assistance in judging of theposition of the ship: This is, the kind of ground; for, till we camewithin thirty miles of Pedro Blanco, we had constantly a sandy bottom;but there the bottom changed to soft and muddy, and continued so quiteto the island of Macao; only while we were in sight of Pedro Blanco, and very near it, we had for a short space a bottom of greenish mud, intermixed with sand. 

On the fifth of November, at midnight, we made the coast of China; andthe next day, about two o'clock, as we were standing to the westwardwithin two leagues of the coast, and still surrounded by fishingvessels in as great numbers as at first, we perceived that a boata-head of us waved a red flag, and blew a horn; This we considered asa signal made to us, either to warn us of some shoal, or to informus that they would supply us with a pilot, and in this belief weimmediately sent our cutter to the boat, to know their intentions; butwe were soon made sensible of our mistake, and found that this boatwas the commodore of the whole fishery, and that the signal she hadmade, was to order them all to leave off fishing, and to return inshore, which we saw them instantly obey. On this disappointment wekept on our course, and soon after passed by two very small rocks, which lay four or five miles distant from the shore; but night came onbefore we got sight of Pedro Blanco, and we therefore brought-to tillthe morning, when we had the satisfaction to discover it. It is a rockof a small circumference, but of a moderate height, and, both in shapeand colour, resembles a sugar-loaf, and is about seven or eight milesfrom the shore. We passed within a mile and a half of it, and leftit between us and the land, still keeping on to the westward; and thenext day, being the 7th, we were a-breast of a chain of islands, which stretched from east to west. These, as we afterwards found, werecalled the islands of Lema;[6] they are rocky and barren, and are inall, small and great, fifteen or sixteen; and there are, besides, agreat number of other islands between them and the main land of China. These islands we left on the star-board side, passing within fourmiles of them, where we had twenty-four fathom water. We were stillsurrounded by fishing-boats; and we once more sent the cutter on boardone of them, to endeavour to procure a pilot, but could not prevail;however, one of the Chinese directed us by signs to sail round thewestermost of the islands, or rocks of Lema, and then to hale up. We followed this direction; and in the evening came to an anchor ineighteen fathom. 

[Footnote 6: Called Grand Lema in Arrowsmith's map, and touched at bythe Lion in 1793. --E. ]

On the 9th at four in the morning, we sent our cutter to sound thechannel, where we proposed to pass; but before the return of thecutter, a Chinese pilot put on board us, and told us, in brokenPortuguese, he would carry us to Macao for thirty dollars: These wereimmediately paid him, and we then weighed and made sail; and soonafter, several other pilots came on board us, who, to recommendthemselves, produced certificates from the captains of several shipsthey had piloted in, but we continued the ship under the management ofthe Chinese who came first on board. By this time we learnt, that wewere not far distant from Macao, and that there were in the river ofCanton, at the mouth of which Macao lies, eleven European ships, ofwhich four were English. Our pilot carried us between the islands ofBamboo and Cabouce, but the winds hanging in the northern board, andthe tides often setting strongly against us, we were obliged to comefrequently to an anchor, so that we did not get through between thetwo islands till the 12th of November, at two in the morning. Inpassing through, our depth of water was from twelve to fourteenfathom; and as we still steered on N. W. 1/2 W. Between a number ofother islands, our soundings underwent little or no variation tilltowards the evening, when they increased to seventeen fathom; in whichdepth (the wind dying away) we anchored not far from the island ofLantoon, which is the largest of all this range of islands. At sevenin the morning we weighed again, and steering W. S. W. And S. W. ByW. , we at ten o'clock happily anchored in Macao road, in five fathomwater, the city of Macao bearing W. By N. , three leagues distant; thepeak of Lantoon E. By N. , and the grand Ladrone S. By E. Each of themabout five leagues distant. Thus, after a fatiguing cruise of abovetwo years continuance, we once more arrived in an amicable port, ina civilized country; where the conveniences of life were in greatplenty; where the naval stores, which we now extremely wanted, couldbe in some degree procured; where we expected the inexpressiblesatisfaction of receiving letters from our relations and friends; andwhere our countrymen, who were lately arrived from England, would becapable of answering the numerous enquiries we were prepared to make, both about public and private occurrences, and to relate to us manyparticulars, which, whether of importance or not, would be listenedto by us with the utmost attention, after the long suspension ofour correspondence with our country, to which the nature of ourundertaking had hitherto subjected us. 

SECTION XXIX. 

_Proceedings at Macao. _

The city of Macao, in the road of which we came to an anchor on the12th of November, is a Portuguese settlement, situated in an islandat the mouth of the river of Canton. It was formerly a very rich andpopulous city, and capable of defending itself against the power ofthe adjacent Chinese governors: But at present it is much fallen fromits ancient splendour, for though it is inhabited by Portuguese, andhas a governor nominated by the king of Portugal, yet it subsistsmerely by the sufferance of the Chinese, who can starve the place, and dispossess the Portuguese whenever they please: This obliges thegovernor of Macao to behave with great circumspection, and carefullyto avoid every circumstance that may give offence to the Chinese. [7]The river of Canton, at the mouth of which this city lies, is the onlyChinese port, frequented by European ships; and this river is indeeda more commodious harbour, on many accounts, than Macao: But thepeculiar customs of the Chinese, only adapted to the entertainment oftrading ships, and the apprehensions of the commodore, lest he shouldembroil the East-India company with the regency of Canton, if heshould insist on being treated upon a different footing than themerchantmen, made him resolve to go first to Macao, before he venturedinto the port of Canton. Indeed, had not this reason prevailed withhim, he himself had nothing to fear: For it is certain that he mighthave entered the port of Canton, and might have continued there aslong as he pleased, and afterwards have left it again, although thewhole power of the Chinese empire had been brought together to opposehim. 

[Footnote 7: This circumspection has never availed much. ThePortuguese obtained this port and the adjoining territory of about 8miles in circuit, as a reward for assistance given in extirpating apirate who took refuge here. But the ingratitude of the Chinese alwaysgrudged, and often violated, the immunities thus won from their fears. The city, built after the European model, and originally possessed ofboth military strength and commercial consequence, has, through thecarelessness of the Portuguese, and the exactions and insolence oftheir neighbours, dwindled into comparative insignificance. Accordingto Sir George Staunton's account, the population does not now exceed12000, and more than half is Chinese. In short, Macao is virtually aChinese town, where the Portuguese are merely tolerated. The Chinese, it is certain, require almost any other treatment than condescensionand good manners. The reader will soon see in the narrative howpracticable it is to reduce them to common sense--one of theingredients of it they have in a high degree, the desire ofself-preservation. The following quotation from a work recentlypublished, may amuse him in the mean time, and serves besides toconfirm the statement of the text. "The situation of the Portuguese inMacao is particularly restrained, and that of their governor extremelyunpleasant to him. Although the latter invariably conducts himselfwith the greatest circumspection, cases still arise in which he cannotgive way without entirely sacrificing the honour of his country, already greatly diminished in the eyes of the Chinese. A few monthsonly before our arrival (November 1805, ) a circumstance happened fullyillustrative of this; an account of which may tend to prove that, ifthe Portuguese possessed greater power at Macao, the cowardly Chinesewould not dare to treat them with so little consideration, or, tospeak more correctly, with so much contempt. If Macao were inthe hands of the English, or even of the Spaniards, the shamefuldependence of this possession on the Chinese would soon fall to theground; and, with the assistance of their important possessions in thevicinity of China, either of these nations established in Macao mightbid defiance to the whole empire. A Portuguese resident at Macaostabbed a Chinese, but being rich, he offered the family of thedeceased a sum of money to suffer the affair to drop. This was agreedto, and he paid 4000 piastres; scarcely, however, had he given themoney, when the affair was represented to the Chinese magistracy, whoexacted from the governor that the criminal should be instantly givenup. The latter refused, alleging, that, as the deed was committedin Macao, he was liable to the Portuguese law, according to which hewould be punished if they found him guilty. The Chinese, who wishedto inflict punishment on the Portuguese, immediately on the receipt ofthis answer shut up all their booths, and forbade the importation ofprovisions into Macao; but the governor, who had two years stock ofprovisions for his garrison, (we shall find it was otherwise withthe governor in Anson's time) troubled himself very little with thisthreat, and still refused to give up the criminal; in the mean timehis trial went on; he was found guilty of the murder, and immediatelyhanged. The Chinese assembled with the intention of endeavouring toseize the perpetrator of the murder whilst on his way to the scaffold:The governor collected his troops, loaded the artillery on thebatteries, and awaited the attack; and, alarmed at his decisivemeasures, the Chinese withdrew, under the pretence of beingperfectly satisfied with the execution of the murderer, and orderwas immediately restored. " The work from which this is extractedis Captain Krusenstern's account of his voyage round the world, in1803-4-5 and 6; being the first circumnavigation the Russians havemade, and that too under the patronage and by the command of the mostmagnanimous and beneficient Alexander, a monarch whom every friend ofhumanity must admire and love from the heart, as surpassing even hisliberality in the promotion of useful science and discovery amongsthis own subjects, by the splendour and substantial value of hisservices in the best interests of Europe, and the world:

 Non possidentem multa vocaveris Recte beatum: rectius occupat Nomen beati, qui deorum Muneribus sapienter uti, Duramque callet _pauperiem_ pati, Pejusque leto flagitium timet; Non ille pro caris _amicis_ Aut patria timidus perire. 

To return to Macao: Captain K. Strongly expresses his wish thatsome European power of sufficient energy and consequence would takepossession of it, before the Portuguese themselves abandon it to theChinese. It is evident he alludes to the English. An agreement, it isvery probable, might be readily entered into with the Portuguesefor the possession of that place, which could not fail to prove mostconvenient for our eastern commerce. An equivalent may be found amongthe West Indian islands; but it is perhaps equally vain and invidiousto speculate on such very distant concerns, when the wonderful eventsnow occurring in a kingdom so long the torment and the _teacher_ ofnations, arrest the imagination from every trivial selfish pursuit, and fix the mind undividedly on the operations of the great source ofpower, justice, and truth. A new æra commences in the world--May itbe remarkable to all succeeding generations for liberal policy, disinterestedness, and general benevolence!--E. 

12th April, 1814. ]

The commodore, not to depart from his usual prudence, no sooner cameto an anchor in Macao road, than he dispatched an officer with hiscompliments to the Portuguese governor of Macao, requesting hisexcellency, by the same officer, to advise him in what manner it wouldbe proper to act, to avoid offending the Chinese, which, as there werethen four of our ships in their power at Canton, was a matterworthy of attention. The difficulty, which the commodore principallyapprehended, related to the duty usually paid by all ships in theriver of Canton, according to their tunnage. For as men of war areexempted in every foreign harbour from all manner of port charges, thecommodore thought it would be derogatory to the honour of his countryto submit to this duty in China: And therefore he desired the adviceof the governor of Macao, who, being an European, could not beignorant of the privileges claimed by a British man of war, andconsequently might be expected to give us the best lights for avoidingthis perplexity. Our boat returned in the evening with two officerssent by the governor, who informed the commodore, that it was thegovernor's opinion, that if the Centurion ventured into the river ofCanton, the duty would certainly be demanded; and therefore, ifthe commodore approved of it, he would send him a pilot, who shouldconduct us into another safe harbour, called the Typa, which was everyway commodious for careening the ship, (an operation we were resolvedto begin upon as soon as possible) and where the above-mentioned dutywould, in all probability, be never asked for. 

This proposal the commodore agreed to, and in the morning we weighedanchor, and, under the direction of the Portuguese pilot, steeredfor the intended harbour. As we entered two islands, which form theeastern passage to it, we found our soundings decreased to threefathom and a half: But the pilot assuring us that this was the leastdepth we should meet with, we continued our course, till at length theship stuck fast in the mud, with only eighteen feet water abaft; and, the tide of ebb making, the water sewed to sixteen feet, but the shipremained perfectly upright; we then sounded all round us, and findingthe water deepened to the northward, we carried out our small bowerwith two hawsers an end, and at the return of the tide of flood, hovethe ship afloat, and a small breeze springing up at the same instant, we set the fore top-sail, and, slipping the hawser, ran into theharbour, where we moored in about five fathom water. This harbourof the Typa is formed by a number of islands, and is about six milesdistant from Macao. Here we saluted the castle of Macao with elevenguns, which were returned by an equal number. 

The next day the commodore paid a visit in person to the governor, andwas saluted at his landing by eleven guns, which were returned bythe Centurion. Mr Anson's business in this visit was to solicit thegovernor to grant us a supply of provisions, and to furnish us withsuch stores as were necessary to refit the ship The governor seemedreally inclined to do us all the service he could, and assured thecommodore, in a friendly manner, that he would privately give us allthe assistance in his power; but, at the same time, frankly owned thathe dared not openly furnish us with any thing we demanded, unless wefirst procured an order for it from the viceroy of Canton, for thathe neither received provisions for his garrison, nor any othernecessaries, but by permission from the Chinese government; and asthey took care only to furnish him from day to day, he was indeed noother than their vassal, whom they could at all times compel to submitto their own terms, only by laying an embargo on his provisions. 

On this declaration of the governor, Mr Anson resolved himself to goto Canton to procure a license from the viceroy; and accordingly hireda Chinese boat for himself and his attendants; but just as he wasready to embark, the Hoppo, or Chinese custom-house officer at Macao, refused to grant a permit to the boat, and ordered the watermen not toproceed at their peril. The commodore at first endeavoured to prevailwith the hoppo to withdraw his injunction, and to grant a permit; andthe governor of Macao employed his interest with the hoppo to the samepurpose. Mr Anson, finding the officer inflexible, told him the nextday, that if he longer refused to grant the permit, he would man andarm his own boats to carry him thither; asking the hoppo, at thesame time, who he imagined would dare to oppose him. This threatimmediately brought about what his entreaties had laboured for invain: The permit was granted, and Mr Anson went to Canton. On hisarrival there he consulted with the supercargoes and officers ofthe English ships, how to procure an order from the viceroy for thenecessaries he wanted; but in this he had reason to suppose, that theadvice they gave him, though doubtless well intended, was yet not themost prudent; for as it is the custom with these gentlemen never toapply to the supreme magistrate himself, whatever difficulties theylabour under, but to transact all matters relating to the governmentby the mediation of the principal Chinese merchants, Mr Anson wasadvised to follow the same method upon this occasion, the Englishpromising (in which they were doubtless sincere) to exert all theirinterest to engage the merchants in his favour. And when the Chinesemerchants were applied to, they readily undertook the management ofit, and promised to answer for its success; but after near a month'sdelay, and reiterated excuses, during which interval they pretendedto be often upon the point of completing the business, they at last(being pressed, and measures being taken for delivering a letter tothe viceroy) threw off the mask, and declared they neither had appliedto the viceroy nor could they; for he was too great a man, they said, for them to approach on any occasion. And, not contented with havingthemselves thus grossly deceived the commodore, they now used alltheir persuasion with the English at Canton, to prevent them fromintermeddling with any thing that regarded him, representing to them;that it would in all probability embroil them with the government, andoccasion them a great deal of unnecessary trouble; which groundlessinsinuations had indeed but too much weight with those they wereapplied to. 

It may be difficult to assign a reason for this perfidious conduct ofthe Chinese merchants: Interest indeed is known to exert a boundlessinfluence over the inhabitants of that empire; but how their interestcould be affected in the present case is not easy to discover, unlessthey apprehended that the presence of a ship of force might damptheir Manilla trade, and therefore acted in this manner with a view offorcing the commodore to Batavia: But it might be as natural in thislight to suppose, that they would have been eager to have got himdispatched. I, therefore, rather impute their behaviour to theunparalleled pusillanimity of the nation, and to the awe they areunder of the government; for as such a ship as the Centurion, fittedfor war only, had never been seen in those parts before, she wasthe horror of these dastards, and the merchants were in some degreeterrified even with the idea of her, and could not think of applyingto the viceroy (who is doubtless fond of all opportunities of fleecingthem) without representing to themselves the pretences which a hungryand tyrannical magistrate night possibly find, for censuring theirintermeddling in so unusual a transaction, in which he might pretendthe interest of the state was immediately concerned. However, be thisas it may, the commodore was satisfied that nothing was to be done bythe interposition of the merchants, as it was on his pressing them todeliver a letter to the viceroy that they had declared they durstnot intermeddle, and had confessed, that, notwithstanding all theirpretences of serving him, they had not yet taken one step towards it. Mr Anson therefore told them, that he would proceed to Batavia andrefit his ship there; but informed them, at the same time, that thiswas impossible to be done, unless he was supplied with a stock ofprovisions sufficient for his passage. The merchants on this undertookto procure him provisions, but assured him that it was what theydurst not engage in openly, but proposed to manage it in a clandestinemanner, by putting a quantity of bread, flour, and other provision, onboard the English ships, which were now ready to sail, and these wereto stop at the mouth of the Typa, where the Centurion's boats were toreceive it. This article, which the merchants represented as amatter of great favour, being settled, the commodore, on the 16thof December, returned from Canton to the ship, seemingly resolved toproceed to Batavia to refit, as soon as he should get his supplies ofprovision on board. 

But Mr Anson (who never intended going to Batavia) found, on hisreturn to the Centurion, that her main-mast was sprung in two places, and that the leak was considerably increased; so that, upon the whole, he was fully satisfied, that though he should lay in a sufficientstock of provisions, yet it would be impossible for him to put tosea without refitting: For, if he left the port with his ship in herpresent condition, she would be in the utmost danger of foundering, and therefore, notwithstanding the difficulties he had met with, heresolved at all events to have her hove down before he left Macao. Hewas fully convinced, by what he had observed at Canton, that his greatcaution not to injure the East India Company's affairs, and the regardhe had shown to the advice of their officers, had occasioned allhis embarrassments. For he now saw clearly, that if he had at firstcarried his ship into the river of Canton, and had immediately appliedhimself to the mandarines, who are the chief officers of state, instead of employing the merchants to apply for him, he would, in allprobability, have had all his requests granted, and would have beensoon dispatched. He had already lost a month by the wrong measureshe had been put upon, but he resolved to lose as little more time aspossible; and, therefore, the 17th of December, being the next dayafter his return from Canton, he wrote a letter to the viceroy of thatplace, acquainting him that he was commander-in-chief of a squadron ofhis Britannic majesty's ships of war which had been cruising for twoyears past in the South Seas against the Spaniards, who were at warwith the king his master; that, in his way back to England, he had putinto the port of Macao, having a considerable leak in his ship, andbeing in great want of provisions, so that it was impossible forhim to proceed on his voyage till his ship was repaired, and he wassupplied with the necessaries he wanted; that he had been at Canton, in hopes of being admitted to a personal audience of his excellency, but being a stranger to the customs of the country, he had not beenable to inform himself what steps were necessary to be taken toprocure such an audience, and therefore was obliged to apply to himin this manner, to desire his excellency to give orders for his beingpermitted to employ carpenters and proper workmen to refit his ship, and to furnish himself with provisions and stores, thereby to enablehim to pursue his voyage to Great Britain with this monsoon, hoping, at the same time, that these orders would be issued with as littledelay as possible, lest it might occasion his loss of the season, andhe might be prevented, from departing till the next winter. 

This letter was translated into the Chinese language, and thecommodore delivered it himself to the hoppo, or chief officer of theemperor's customs at Macao, desiring him to forward it to the viceroyof Canton with as much expedition as he could. The officer at firstseemed unwilling to take charge of it, and raised many difficultiesabout it, so that Mr Anson suspected him of being in league with themerchants of Canton, who had always shown a great apprehension ofthe commodore's having any immediate intercourse with the viceroy ormandarines; and, therefore, the commodore, with some resentment, tookback his letter from the hoppo, and told him he would immediatelysend, an officer with it to Canton in his own boat, and would give himpositive orders not to return without an answer from the viceroy. Thehoppo, perceiving the commodore to be in earnest, and fearing to becalled to an account for his refusal, begged to be entrusted with theletter, and promised to deliver it, and to procure an answer as soonas possible. And now it was soon seen how justly Mr Anson had at lastjudged of the proper manner of dealing with the Chinese; for thisletter was written but the 17th of December, as hath been alreadyobserved, and on the 19th in the morning, a mandarine of the firstrank, who was governor of the city of Janson, together with twomandarines of an inferior class, and a great retinue of officers andservants, having with them eighteen half gallies, decorated with agreat number of streamers, and furnished with music, and full of men, came to grapnel a-head of the Centurion; whence the mandarine senta message to the commodore, telling him that he (the mandarine) wasordered by the viceroy of Canton to examine the condition of the ship, and desiring the ship's boat might be sent to fetch him on board. TheCenturion's boat was immediately dispatched, and preparations weremade for receiving him; for a hundred of the most sightly of the crewwere uniformly drest in the regimentals of the marines, and were drawnup under arms on the main-deck on his arrival. When he entered theship he was saluted by the drums, and what other military music therewas on board; and, passing by the new-formed guard, he was met by thecommodore on the quarter-deck, who conducted him to the great cabin. Here the mandarine explained his commission, declaring, thathis business was to examine all the particulars mentioned in thecommodore's letter to the viceroy, and to confront them with therepresentation that had been given of them; that he was particularlyinstructed to inspect the leak, and had for that purpose brought withhim two Chinese carpenters; and that, for the greater regularity anddispatch or his business, he had every head of enquiry separatelywrote down on a sheet of paper, with a void space opposite to it, where he was to insert such information and remarks thereon as hecould procure by his own observation. 

This mandarine appeared to be a person of very considerable parts, and endowed with more frankness and honesty than is to be found in thegenerality of the Chinese. After the proper enquiries had been made, particularly about the leak, which the Chinese carpenters reported tobe as dangerous as it had been represented, and consequently thatit was impossible for the Centurion to proceed to sea without beingrefitted, the mandarine expressed himself satisfied with the accountgiven in the commodore's letter. And this magistrate, as he was moreintelligent than any other person of his nation that came to ourknowledge, so likewise was he more curious and inquisitive, viewingeach part of the ship with particular attention, and appearing greatlysurprised at the largeness of the lower-deck guns, and at the weightand size of the shot. The commodore, observing his astonishment, thought this a proper opportunity to convince the Chinese of theprudence of granting him a speedy and ample supply of all he wanted:With this view he told the mandarine, and those who were with him, that, besides the demands he made for a general supply, he had aparticular complaint against the proceedings of the custom-house ofMacao; that at his first arrival the Chinese boats had brought onboard plenty of greens, and variety of fresh provisions for daily use, for which they had always been paid to their full satisfaction, butthat the custom-house officers at Macao had soon forbid them, by whichmeans he was deprived of those refreshments which were of the utmostconsequence to the health of his men after their long and sicklyvoyage; that as they, the mandarines, had informed themselves of hiswants, and were eye-witnesses of the force and strength of hisship, they might be satisfied it was not for want of power to supplyhimself, that he desired the permission of the government to purchasewhat provisions he stood in need of; that they must be convinced thatthe Centurion alone was capable of destroying the whole navigation ofthe port of Canton, or of any other port in China, without running theleast risk from all the force the Chinese could collect; that itwas true this was not the manner of proceeding between nations infriendship with each other, but it was likewise true that it wasnot customary for any nation to permit the ships of their friends tostarve and sink in their ports, when those friends had money to supplytheir wants, and only desired liberty to lay it out; that they mustconfess he and his people had hitherto behaved with great modesty andreserve, but that, as his wants were each day increasing, hungerwould at last prove too strong for any restraint, and necessity wasacknowledged in all countries to be superior to every other law, andtherefore it could not be expected that his crew would long continueto starve in the midst of that plenty to which their eyes were everyday witnesses. To this the commodore added, (though perhaps with aless serious air, ) that if by the delay of supplying him with freshprovisions his men should be reduced to the necessity of turningcannibals, and preying upon their own species, it was easy to beforeseen, that, independent of their friendship to their comrades, they would, in point of luxury, prefer the plump well-fed Chinese totheir own emaciated shipmates. The first mandarine acquiesced in thejustness of this reasoning, and told the commodore that he should thatnight proceed for Canton; that on his arrival a counsel of mandarineswould be summoned, of which he himself was a member, and that by beingemployed in the present commission, he was of course the commodore'sadvocate; that, as he was fully convinced of the urgency of Mr Anson'snecessity, he did not doubt but on his representation the counselwould be of the same opinion; and that all that was demanded wouldbe amply and speedily granted. And with regard to the commodore'scomplaint of the custom-house of Macao, he undertook to rectify thatimmediately by his own authority; for, desiring a list to be given himof the quantity of provision necessary for the expense of the shipfor a day, he wrote a permit under it, and delivered it to one of hisattendants, directing him to see that quantity sent on board earlyevery morning; and this order, from that time forwards, was punctuallycomplied with. [8]

[Footnote 8: Captain Krusenstern, in his very interesting work alreadyreferred to, relates an anecdote, which it may amuse the reader tocompare with the reasoning of Commodore Anson's now given:

"An English brig (The Harrier) of eighteen guns, sent by Captain Wood, commanding a squadron on that station, to demand indemnification fora Spanish prize stranded on the coast of China, and plundered by thenatives, had the audacity, in defiance of the laws of China, whichprohibit ships of war going up the Tigris, to force her way as high asWhampoa. Two mandarines, as usual, went aboard the brig at the mouthof the river, to enquire what her cargo was. The captain shewed them acannon-ball, on which they instantly retired. 

"The brig, " says K. "had found her way to Whampoa without a pilot; andthe captain, with a guard of twelve men, proceeded to Canton todemand the payment of the sum (£30, 000. ) This daring conduct threw theviceroy into astonishment, and perhaps occasioned him some terror; fornothing but the excessive cowardice of the Chinese could have deterredhim from noticing the affront. They, indeed, shewed a dispositionafter the captain had quitted Canton of avenging themselves, but thisaltogether in their customary manner; and I was assured, that theviceroy, as indemnification for this insult of the English captain, had imposed a heavy fine upon the Kohong (a company of merchantspossessing the monopoly of the European trade, ) although the membersof this body could have no concern in the transaction. " Capt. K. Isdecidedly of opinion, that nothing but resolute conduct will overcomethe fickleness and knavery of the Chinese. He pays a high complimentto our countrymen, especially Mr Drummond, president of the factory, who interfered in his behalf when at Whampoa, and with effect, whenthey could easily have thwarted his plan, and embroiled his governmentwith that of China. "That they pursued a very different line ofconduct, " says he, "will appear by the above account of theirproceedings; nor can I sufficiently rejoice at the zeal and eagernessmanifested by them in this business. Had we been detained onlytwenty-four-hours longer (he had applied for leave to depart, whichwas granted with much difficulty, and actually revoked a day afterhe had gone, ) we must have fallen into the absolute power of thesesavages, who have been emboldened by an useless moderation, not onlyto call the polite nations of Europe barbarians, but also to treatthem as such. "--E. ]

When this weighty affair was thus in some degree regulated, thecommodore invited him and his two attendant mandarines to dinner, telling them at the same time, that if his provisions, either inkind or quantity, were not what they might expect, they must thankthemselves for having confined him to so hard an allowance. One of hisdishes was beef, which the Chinese all dislike, though Mr Ansonwas not apprized of it; this seems to be derived from the Indiasuperstition, which for some ages past has made a great progressin China. However, his guests did not entirely fast; for the threemandarines completely finished the white part of four large fowls. Butthey were extremely embarrassed with their knives and forks, and werequite incapable of making use of them: So that, after some fruitlessattempts to help themselves, which were sufficiently awkward, one ofthe attendants was obliged to cut their meat in small pieces for them. But whatever difficulty they might have in complying with the Europeanmanner of eating, they seemed not to be novices in drinking. Thecommodore excused himself in this part of the entertainment, under thepretence of illness; but there being another gentleman present, of aflorid and jovial complexion, the chief mandarine clapped him on theshoulder, and told him by the interpreter, that certainly he could notplead sickness, and therefore insisted on his bearing him company; andthat gentleman perceiving, that after they had dispatched four or fivebottles of Frontiniac, the mandarine still continued unruffled, heordered a bottle of citron-water to be brought up, which the Chineseseemed much to relish; and this being near finished, they arose fromtable in appearance cool and uninfluenced by what they had drank, and the commodore having, according to custom, made the mandarine apresent, they all departed in the same vessels that brought them. 

After their departure, the commodore with great impatience expectedthe resolution of the council, and the necessary licences for hisrefitment. For it must be observed, as hath already appeared fromthe preceding narration, that he could neither purchase stores nornecessaries with his money, nor did any kind of workmen dare to engagethemselves to work for him, without the permission of the governmentfirst obtained. And in the execution of these particular injunctions, the magistrates never fail of exercising great severity, they, notwithstanding the fustian eulogiums bestowed on them by the catholicmissionaries and their European copiers, being composed of the samefragile materials with the rest of mankind, and often making useof the authority of the law, not to suppress crimes, but to enrichthemselves by the pillage of those who commit them; for capitalpunishments are rare in China, the effeminate genius of the nation, and their strong attachment to lucre, disposing them rather to makeuse of fines; and hence arises no inconsiderable profit to thosewho compose their tribunals: Consequently prohibitions of all kinds, particularly such as the alluring prospect of great profit may oftentempt the subject to infringe, cannot but be favourite institutions insuch a government. But to return:

Some time before this, Captain Saunders took his passage to Englandon board a Swedish ship, and was charged with dispatches from thecommodore; and soon after, in the month of December, Captain Mitchel, Colonel Cracherode, and Mr Tassel, one of the agent-victuallers, withhis nephew Mr Charles Harriot, embarked on board some of our company'sships; and I, having obtained, the commodore's leave to return home, embarked with them. 

Whilst we lay here at Macao, we were informed by some of the officersof our Indiamen, that the Severn and Pearl, the two ships of oursquadron, which had separated from us off Cape Noir, were safelyarrived at Rio Janeiro on the coast of Brazil. I have formerly takennotice, that at the time of their separation, we apprehended themto be lost. And there were many reasons which greatly favoured thissuspicion: For we knew that the Severn in particular was extremelysickly; and this was the more obvious to the rest of the ships, as, in the preceding part of the voyage, her commander, Captain Legg, hadbeen remarkable for his exemplary punctuality in keeping his station, till, for the last ten days before his separation, his crew was sodiminished and enfeebled, that with his utmost efforts it was notpossible for him to maintain it. Whatever was the cause of it, theSevern was by much the most sickly of the squadron: For before herdeparture from St Catharines, she buried more men than any of them, insomuch that the commodore was obliged to recruit her with a numberof fresh hands; and the mortality still continuing, she was suppliedwith men a second time at sea, after our setting sail from St Julians;and, notwithstanding these different reinforcements, she was at lastreduced to the distressed condition I have already mentioned. 

Notwithstanding the favourable disposition of the mandarine governorof Janson, at his leaving Mr Anson, several days were elapsed beforehe had any advice from him; and Mr Anson was privately informed therewere great debates in council upon his affair; partly perhaps owingto its being so unusual a case, and in part to the influence, as Isuppose, of the French at Canton: For they had a countryman and fastfriend residing on the spot, who spoke the language very well, andwas not unacquainted with the venality of the government, nor with thepersons of several of the magistrates, and consequently could not beat a loss for means of traversing the assistance desired by MrAnson. And this opposition of the French was not merely the effect ofnational prejudice or contrariety of political interests, but was ingood measure owing to their vanity, a motive of much more weight withthe generality of mankind, than any attachment to the public serviceof their community: For, the French pretending their Indiamen to bemen of war, their officers were apprehensive that any distinctiongranted to Mr Anson, on account of his bearing the king's commission, would render them less considerable in the eyes of the Chinese, andwould establish a prepossession at Canton in favour of ships of war, by which they, as trading vessels, would suffer in their importance:And I wish the affectation of endeavouring to pass for men of war, andthe fear of sinking in the estimation of the Chinese, if the Centurionwas treated in a different manner from themselves, had been confinedto the officers of the French ships only. [9] However, notwithstandingall these obstacles, it should seem that the representation of thecommodore to the mandarines of the facility with which he could righthimself, if justice were denied him, had at last its effect: For, on the 6th of January, in the morning, the governor of Janson, thecommodore's advocate, sent down the viceroy of Canton's warrant forthe refitment of the Centurion, and for supplying her people withall they wanted; and the next day a number of Chinese smiths andcarpenters went on board to agree for the work. They demanded at firstto the amount of a thousand pounds sterling for the necessary repairsof the ship, the boats, and the masts: This the commodore seemed tothink an unreasonable sum, and endeavoured to persuade them to workby the day; but that proposal they would not hearken to; so it was atlast agreed, that the carpenters should have to the amount of aboutsix hundred pounds; and that the smiths should be paid for theiriron-work by weight, allowing them at the rate of three pounds ahundred nearly for the small work, and forty-six shillings for thelarge. 

[Footnote 9: This sly insinuation, it is pretty evident fromthe preceding narrative, is directed against some of the Englishmerchants. --E. ]

This being regulated, the commodore exerted himself to get this mostimportant business completed; I mean the heaving down the Centurion, and examining the state of her bottom: For this purpose the firstlieutenant was dispatched to Canton to hire two country vessels, called in their language junks, one of them being intended to heavedown by, and the other to serve as a magazine for the powder andammunition: At the same time the ground was smoothed on one of theneighbouring islands, and a large tent was pitched for lodging thelumber and provisions, and near a hundred Chinese caulkers weresoon set to work on the decks and sides of the ship. But all thesepreparations, and the getting ready the careening gear, took up agreat deal of time; for the Chinese caulkers, though they worked verywell, were far from being expeditions; and it was the 26th of Januarybefore the junks arrived; and the necessary materials, which wereto be purchased at Canton, came down very slowly, partly from thedistance of the place, and partly from the delays and backwardnessof the Chinese merchants. And in this interval Mr Anson had theadditional perplexity to discover that his fore-mast was brokenasunder above the upper deck partners, and was only kept together bythe fishes which had been formerly clapt upon it. 

However, the Centurion's people made the most of their time, andexerted themselves the best they could; and as, by clearing the ship, the carpenters were enabled to come at the leak, they took care tosecure that effectually, whilst the other preparations were goingforwards. The leak was found to be below the fifteen-foot mark, andwas principally occasioned by one of the bolts being wore away andloose in the joining of the stem where it was scarfed. 

At last all things being prepared, they, on the 22d of February, inthe morning, hove out the first course of the Centurion's starboardside, and had the satisfaction to find that her bottom appeared soundand good; and, the next day (having by that time completed the newsheathing of the first course) they righted her again, to set upanew the careening rigging which stretched much. Thus they continuedheaving down, and often righting the ship from a suspicion of theircareening tackle, till the 3d of March; when, having completed thepaying and sheathing the bottom, which proved to be every where verysound, they for the last time righted the ship to their great joy, fornot only the fatigue of careening had been considerable, but they hadbeen apprehensive of being attacked by the Spaniards, whilst the shipwas thus incapacitated for defence. Nor were their fears altogethergroundless; for they learnt afterwards by a Portuguese vessel, thatthe Spaniards at Manilla had been informed that the Centurion wasin the Typa, and intended to careen there; and that thereupon thegovernor had summoned his council, and had proposed to them toendeavour to burn her whilst she was careening, which was anenterprise, which, if properly conducted, might have put them in greatdanger: They were farther told that this scheme was not onlyproposed, but resolved on; and that a captain of a vessel had actuallyundertaken to perform the business for forty thousand dollars, whichhe was not to receive unless he succeeded; but the governor pretendingthat there was no treasure in the royal chest, and insisting that themerchants should advance the money, and they refusing to comply withthe demand, the affair was dropped: Perhaps the merchants suspectedthat the whole was only a pretext to get forty thousand dollars fromthem; and indeed this was affirmed by some who bore the governor nogood will, but with what truth it is difficult to ascertain. 

As soon as the Centurion was righted, they took in her powder andgunner's stores, and proceeded in getting in their guns as fast aspossible, and then used their utmost; expedition in repairing thefore-mast, and in completing the other articles of her refitment. And being thus employed, they were alarmed on the 10th of March, by aChinese fisherman, who brought them intelligence that he had been onboard a large Spanish ship off the grand Ladrone, and that there weretwo more in company with her: He added several particulars to hisrelation, as that he had brought one of their officers to Macao; andthat, on this, boats went off early in the morning from Macao to them:And the better to establish the belief of his veracity, he said hedesired no money if his information should not prove true. This waspresently believed to be the fore-mentioned expedition from Manilla, and the commodore immediately fitted his cannon and small arms in thebest manner he could for defence; and having; then his pinnace andcutter in the offing, who had been ordered to examine a Portuguesevessel which was getting under sail, he sent them the advice he hadreceived, and directed them to look out strictly: But no such shipsever appeared, and they were soon satisfied the whole of the storywas a fiction; though it was difficult to conceive what reason couldinduce the fellow to be at such extraordinary pains to impose on them. 

It was the beginning of April before they had new-rigged the ship, stowed their provisions and water on board, and had fitted her for thesea; and before this time the Chinese grew very uneasy, and extremelydesirous that she should be gone; either not knowing, or pretendingnot to believe, that this was a point the commodore was as eagerly seton as they could be. On the 3d of April, two mandarine boats came onboard from Macao to urge his departure; and this having been oftendone before, though there had been no pretence to suspect Mr Ansonof any affected delays, he at this last message answered them in adetermined tone, desiring them to give him no further trouble, for hewould go when he thought proper, and not before. On this rebuke theChinese (though it was not in their power to compel him to be gone)immediately prohibited all provisions from being carried on board him, and took such care that their injunctions should be complied with, that from that time forwards nothing could be purchased at any ratewhatever. 

On the 6th of April, the Centurion weighed from the Typa, and warpedto the southward; and by the 15th, she was got into Macao road, completing her water as she passed along, so that there remained nowvery few articles more to attend to, and her whole business beingfinished by the 19th, she, at three in the afternoon of that day, weighed and made sail, and stood to sea. 

SECTION XXX. 

_From Macao to Cape Espiritu Santo; the taking of the Manilla Galleon, and returning back again. _

The commodore was now got to sea, with his ship very well refitted, his stores replenished, and an additional stock of provisions onboard: His crew too was somewhat reinforced; for he had enteredtwenty-three men during his stay at Macao, the greatest part of whichwere Lascars or Indian sailors, and some few Dutch. He gave out atMacao that he was bound to Batavia, and thence to England; and thoughthe westerly monsoon was now set in, when that passage is consideredas impracticable, yet, by the confidence he had expressed in thestrength of his ship, and the dexterity of his people, he hadpersuaded not only his own crew, but the people at Macao likewise, that he proposed to try this unusual experiment; so that there weremany letters put on board him by the inhabitants of Canton and Macaofor their friends at Batavia. 

But his real design was of a very different nature: For he knew, thatinstead of one annual ship from Acapulco to Manilla, there would bethis year in all probability two; since, by being before Acapulco, hehad prevented one of them from putting to sea the preceding season. He therefore resolved to cruise for these returning vessels off CapeEspiritu Santo, on the island of Samal, which is the first land theyalways make in the Philippine Islands. And as June is generally themonth in which they arrive there, he doubted not but he should get tohis intended station time enough to intercept them. It is true, theywere said to be stout vessels, mounting forty-four guns a-piece, andcarrying above five hundred hands, and might be expected to return incompany; and he himself had but two hundred and twenty-seven handson board, of which near thirty were boys: But this disproportion ofstrength did not deter him, as he knew his ship to be much betterfitted for a sea-engagement than theirs, and as he had reason toexpect that his men would exert themselves in the most extraordinarymanner, when they had in view the immense wealth of these Manillagalleons. 

This project the commodore had resolved on in his own thoughts, eversince his leaving the coast of Mexico. And the greatest mortificationwhich he received, from the various delays he had met with in China, was his apprehension, lest he might be thereby so long retarded as tolet the galleons escape him. Indeed, at Macao it was incumbent onhim to keep these views extremely secret; for there being a greatintercourse and a mutual connection of interests between that port andManilla, he had reason to fear, that if his designs were discovered, intelligence would be immediately sent to Manilla, and measures takento prevent the galleons from falling into his hands: But being now atsea, and entirely clear of the coast, he summoned all his people onthe quarter-deck, and informed them of his resolution to cruise forthe two Manilla ships, of whose wealth they were not ignorant. He toldthem he should chuse a station, where he could not fail of meetingwith them; and though they were stout ships, and full manned, yet, ifhis own people behaved with their accustomed spirit, he was certainhe should prove too hard for them both, and that one of them at leastcould not fail of becoming his prize: He further added, that manyridiculous tales had been propagated about the strength of the sidesof these ships, and their being impenetrable to cannon-shot; thatthese fictions had been principally invented to palliate the cowardiceof those who had formerly engaged them; but he hoped there were noneof those present weak enough to give credit to so absurd a story: Forhis own part, he did assure them upon his word, that, whenever he metwith them, he would fight them so near, that they should find, hisbullets, instead of being stopped by one of their sides, should gothrough them both. 

This speech of the commodore's was received by his people withgreat joy: For no sooner had he ended, than they expressed theirapprobation, according to naval custom, by three strenuous cheers, andall declared their determination to succeed or perish, whenever theopportunity presented itself. And now their hopes, which, since theirdeparture from the coast of Mexico, had entirely subsided, were againrevived; and they all persuaded themselves, that, notwithstanding thevarious casualties and disappointments they had hitherto met with, they should yet be repaid the price of their fatigues, and should atlast return home enriched with the spoils of the enemy: For, firmlyrelying on the assurances of the commodore, that they should certainlymeet with the vessels, they were all of them too sanguine to doubt amoment of mastering them; so that they considered themselves ashaving them already in their possession. And this confidence wasso universally spread through the whole ship's company, that, thecommodore having taken some Chinese sheep to sea with him for his ownprovision, and one day enquiring of his butcher, why, for some timepast, he had seen no mutton at his table, asking him if all the sheepwere killed, the butcher very seriously replied, that there wereindeed two sheep left, but that, if his honour would give him leave, he proposed to keep those for the entertainment of the general of thegalleons. 

When the Centurion left the port of Macao, she stood for some days tothe westward; and, on the first of May, they saw part of the islandof Formosa; and, standing thence to the southward, they, on the 4thof May, were in the latitude of the Bashee islands, as laid down byDampier; but they suspected his account of inaccuracy, as they foundthat he had been considerably mistaken in the latitude of the southend of Formosa: For this reason they kept a good look-out, and aboutseven in the evening discovered from the mast-head five small islands, which were judged to be the Bashees, and they had afterwards a sightof Bottle Tobago Xima. By this means they had an opportunity ofcorrecting the position of the Bashee islands, which had been hithertolaid down twenty-five leagues too far to the westward: For, by theirobservations, they esteemed the middle of these islands to be in 21°4' north, and to bear from Botel Tobago Xima S. S. E. Twenty leaguesdistant, that island itself being in 21° 57' north. [1]

[Footnote 1: The Bashee Islands were so called by Dampier from thename of a liquor used by the natives. Four of them are inhabited, andare tolerably fertile, producing sugar canes, pine apples, plantaines, potatoes, &c. And having some hogs and goats. The inhabitants, whoare reckoned a harmless and peaceable race, are said to resemble theJapanese, and probably are derived from them. The unfortunate Peyreusevisited one of the most northerly of these islands, and found itslatitude to be 21° 9' 13" N. Arrowsmith's map lays them down veryparticularly. The passage betwixt Formosa and these islands is heldvery dangerous on account of the rock called Vele Rete, the precisesituation of which is matter of discord among the navigators. CaptainKrusenstern went through this passage during the night, and thata stormy one too, with perfect safety, keeping the middle of thechannel, and having men continually on the look-out. He seems toprefer the position of Vele Rete and its reef of rocks, (of about twomiles circuit, ) as given by Broughton, according to whose observationsthe latitude is 21° 43' 24", and the longitude 239° 15'. --E. ]

After getting a sight of the Bashee islands, they stood between the S. And S. W. For Cape Espiritu Santo; and, the 20th of May at noon, theyfirst discovered that cape, which about four o'clock they broughtto bear S. S. W. About eleven leagues distant. It appeared to be of amoderate height, with several round hummocks on it. As it was knownthat there were centinels placed upon this cape to make signals to theAcapulco ship, when she first falls in with the land, the commodoreimmediately tacked, and ordered the top-gallant sails to be taken in, to prevent being discovered; and, this being the station in which itwas resolved to cruise for the galleons, they kept the cape betweenthe south and the west, and endeavoured to confine themselves betweenthe latitude of 12° 50', and 13° 5', the cape itself lying, by theirobservations, in 12° 40' north, and 4° of east longitude from BotelTobago Xima. 

It was the last of May, when they arrived off this cape; and the monthof June being that in which the Manilla ships are usually expected, the Centurion's people were now waiting each hour with the utmostimpatience for the happy crisis which was to balance the accountof all their past calamities. As from this time there was but smallemployment for the crew, the commodore ordered them almost every dayto be exercised in the management of the great guns, and in the useof their small arms. This had been his practice, more or less, at allconvenient seasons, during the whole course of his voyage; and theadvantages which he received from it, in his engagement with thegalleon, were an ample recompence for all his care and attention. [2]

[Footnote 2: The original has here some reflections on the importanceand advantages of exercising the seamen in firing, &c. Which, howevergood, are too common and obvious to merit insertion. The art ofdestroying men's lives has been abundantly improved since our author'sday. --E. ]

The galleons being now expected, the commodore made all necessarypreparations for receiving them, having hoisted out his long-boat, andlashed her alongside, that the ship might be ready for engaging, ifthey fell in with the galleons in the night. All this time too he wasvery solicitous to keep at such a distance from the cape, as not tobe discovered: But it hath been since learnt, that notwithstandinghis care, he was seen from the land; and advice of him was sentto Manilla, where it was at first disbelieved, but on reiteratedintelligence (for it seems he was seen more than once) their merchantswere alarmed, and the governor was applied to, who undertook (thecommerce supplying the necessary sums) to fit out a force consistingof two ships of thirty-two guns, one of twenty guns, and two sloopsof ten guns each, to attack the Centurion on her station: And someof these vessels did actually weigh with this view; but the principalship not being ready, and the monsoon being against then, the commerceand the governor disagreed, and the enterprize was laid aside. Thisfrequent discovery of the Centurion from the shore was somewhatextraordinary; for the pitch of the cape is not high, and she usuallykept from ten to fifteen leagues distant; though once indeed, by anindraught of the tide, as was supposed, they found themselves in themorning within seven leagues of the land. 

As the month of June advanced, the expectancy and impatience of thecommodore's people each day increased. And I think no better idea canbe given of their great eagerness on this occasion, than by copying afew paragraphs from the journal of an officer, who was then onboard, as it will, I presume, be a more natural picture of the fullattachment of their thoughts to the business of their cruise, than canbe given by any other means. The paragraphs I have selected, as theyoccur in order of time, are as follow:

"_May_ 31. Exercising our men at their quarters, in great expectationof meeting with the galleons very soon; this being the eleventh ofJune their stile. "

"_June_ 3. Keeping in our stations, and looking out for the galleons. "

"_June_ 5. Begin now to be in great expectation, this being the middleof June their stile. "

"_June_ 11. Begin to grow impatient at not seeing the galleons. "

"_June_ 13. The wind having blown fresh easterly for the forty-eighthours past, gives us great expectations of seeing the galleons soon. "

"_June_ 15. Cruising on and off, and looking out strictly. "

"_June_ 19. This being the last day of June, N. S. The galleons, ifthey arrive at all, must appear soon. "

From these samples it is sufficiently evident, how completely thetreasure of the galleons had engrossed their imagination, and howanxiously they passed the latter part of their cruise, when thecertainty of the arrival of these vessels was dwindled down toprobability only, and that probability became each hour more and moredoubtful. However, on the 20th of June, O. S. Being just a month fromtheir arrival on their station, they were relieved from this stateof uncertainty; when, at sun-rise, they discovered a sail from themast-head, in the S. E. Quarter. On this, a general joy spreadthrough the whole ship; for they had no doubt but this was one ofthe galleons, and they expected soon to see the other. The commodoreinstantly stood towards her, and at half an hour after seven they werenear enough to see her from the Centurion's deck; at which time thegalleon fired a gun, and took in her top-gallant sails, whichwas supposed to be a signal to her consort, to hasten her up; andtherefore the Centurion fired a gun to leeward, to amuse her. Thecommodore was surprised to find, that in all this time the galleondid not change her course, but continued to bear down upon him; forhe hardly believed, what afterwards appeared to be the case, that sheknew his ship to be the Centurion, and resolved to fight him. 

About noon the commodore was little more than a league distant fromthe galleon, and could fetch her wake, so that she could not nowescape; and, no second ship appearing, it was concluded that she hadbeen separated from her consort. Soon after, the galleon haled upher fore-sail, and brought-to under top-sails, with her head to thenorthward, hoisting Spanish colours, and having the standard of Spainflying at the top-gallant-mast-head. Mr Anson, in the mean time, hadprepared all things for an engagement on board the Centurion, and hadtaken all possible care, both for the most effectual exertion of hissmall strength, and for the avoiding the confusion and tumult toofrequent in actions of this kind. He picked out about thirty of hischoicest hands and best marksmen, whom he distributed into his tops, and who fully answered his expectation, by the signal servicesthey performed. As he had not hands enough remaining to quarter asufficient number to each great gun, in the customary manner, hetherefore, on his lower tire, fixed only two men to each gun, who wereto be solely employed in loading it, whilst the rest of his peoplewere divided into different gangs of ten or twelve men each, who wereconstantly moving about the decks, to ran out and fire such guns aswere loaded. By this management he was enabled to make use of all hisguns; and, instead of firing broad-sides with intervals between them, he kept up a constant fire without intermission, whence he doubted notto procure very signal advantages; for it is common with the Spaniardsto fall down upon the decks when they see a broadside preparing, andto continue in that posture till it is given; after which they riseagain, and, presuming the danger to be for some time over, work theirguns, and fire with great briskness, till another broad-side is ready:But the firing gun by gun, in the manner directed by the commodore, rendered this practice of theirs impossible. 

The Centurion being thus prepared, and nearing the galleon apace, there happened, a little after noon, several squalls of wind and rain, which often obscured the galleon from their sight; but whenever itcleared up, they observed her resolutely lying-to; and, towards oneo'clock, the Centurion hoisted her broad pendant and colours, shebeing then within gun-shot of the enemy. And the commodore observingthe Spaniards to have neglected clearing their ship till that time, ashe then saw them throwing overboard cattle and lumber, he gave ordersto fire upon them with the chace-guns, to embarrass them in theirwork, and prevent them from completing it, though his generaldirections had been not to engage till they were within pistol-shot. The galleon returned the fire with two of her stern-chacers; and, theCenturion getting her sprit-sail-yard fore and aft, that if necessaryshe might be ready for boarding, the Spaniards in a bravado riggedtheir sprit-sail-yard fore and aft likewise. Soon after, the Centurioncame a-breast of the enemy within pistol-shot, keeping to the leewardwith a view of preventing them from putting before the wind, andgaining the port of Jalapay, from which they were about seven leaguesdistant. And now the engagement began in earnest, and, for the firsthalf hour, Mr Anson over-reached the galleon, and lay on her bow;where, by the great wideness of his ports, he could traverse almostall his guns upon the enemy, whilst the galleon could only bring apart of hers to bear. Immediately on the commencement of the action, the mats, with which the galleon had stuffed her netting, took fire, and burnt violently, blazing up half as high as the mizen-top. Thisaccident (supposed to be caused by the Centurion's wads) threwthe enemy into great confusion, and at the same time alarmed thecommodore, for he feared least the galleon should be burnt, and leasthe himself too might suffer by her driving on board him: But theSpaniards at last freed themselves from the fire, by cutting away thenetting, and tumbling the whole mass, which was in flames, into thesea. But still the Centurion kept her first advantageous position, firing her cannon with great regularity and briskness, whilst at thesame time the galleon's decks lay open to her top-men, who, havingat their first volley driven the Spaniards from their tops, madeprodigious havock with their small-arms, killing or wounding everyofficer but one that ever appeared on the quarter-deck, and woundingin particular the general of the galleon himself. And though theCenturion, after the first half hour, lost her original situation, and was close alongside the galleon, and the enemy continued tofire briskly for near an hour longer, yet at last the commodore'sgrape-shot swept their decks so effectually, and the number of theirslain and wounded was so considerable, that they began to fall intogreat disorder, especially as the general, who was the life of theaction, was no longer capable of exerting himself. Their embarrassmentwas visible from on board the commodore. For the ships were so near, that some of the Spanish officers were seen running about with greatassiduity, to prevent the desertion of their men from their quarters:But all their endeavours were in vain; for after having, as a lasteffort, fired five or six guns with more judgment than usual, theygave up the contest; and, the galleon's colours being singed offthe ensign-staff in the beginning of the engagement, she struckthe standard at her main-top-gallant-mast-head, the person who wasemployed to do it, having been in imminent peril of being killed, had not the commodore, who perceived what he was about, given expressorders to his people to desist from firing. 

Thus was the Centurion possessed of this rich prize, amounting invalue to near a million and a half of dollars. She was called theNostra Signora de Cabadonga, and was commanded by the general DonJeronimo de Montero, a Portuguese by birth, and the most approvedofficer for skill and courage of any employed in that service. Thegalleon, was much larger than the Centurion, had five hundred andfifty men and thirty-six guns mounted for action, besides twenty-eightpidreroes in her gunwale, quarters and tops, each of which carried afour-pound ball. She was very well furnished with small arms, and wasparticularly provided against boarding, both by her close quarters, and by a strong net-work of two-inch rope, which was laced over herwaist, and was defended by half pikes. She had sixty-seven killed inthe action, and eighty-four wounded, whilst the Centurion had only twokilled, and a lieutenant and sixteen wounded, all of whom, but one, recovered: Of so little consequence are the most destructive arms inuntutored and unpractised hands. 

The treasure thus taken by the Centurion having been for at leasteighteen months the great object of their hopes, it is impossibleto describe the transport on board, when, after all their reiterateddisappointments, they at last saw their wishes accomplished. But theirjoy was near being suddenly damped by a most tremendous incident: Forno sooner had the galleon struck, than one of the lieutenants comingto Mr Anson to congratulate him on his prize, whispered him atthe same time, that the Centurion was dangerously on fire near thepowder-room. The commodore received this dreadful news without anyapparent emotion, and, taking care not to alarm his people, gave thenecessary orders for extinguishing it, which was happily done in ashort time, though its appearance at first was extremely terrible. Itseems some cartridges had been blown up by accident between decks, by which a quantity of oakum in the after-hatch-way, near theafter-powder-room, was set on fire; and the great smother and smokeof the oakum occasioned the apprehension of a more extended andmischievous fire. At the same instant, too, the galleon fell on boardthe Centurion on the starboard quarter, but she was cleared withoutdoing or receiving any considerable damage. 

The commodore made his first lieutenant, Mr Saumarez, captain of thisprize, appointing her a post-ship in his majesty's service. CaptainSaumarez, before night, sent on board the Centurion all the Spanishprisoners, but such as were thought the most proper to be retained toassist in navigating the galleon. And now the commodore learnt, fromsome of the prisoners, that the other ship, which he had kept in theport of Acapulco the preceding year, instead of returning in companywith the present prize, as was expected, had set sail from Acapulcoalone much sooner than usual, and had, in all probability, got intothe port of Manilla long before the Centurion arrived off EspirituSanto; so that Mr Anson, notwithstanding his present success, hadgreat reason to regret his loss of time at Macao, which prevented himfrom taking two rich prizes instead of one. 

The commodore, when the action was ended, resolved to make the best ofhis way with his prize for the river of Canton, being in the mean timefully employed in securing his prisoners, and in removing the treasurefrom on board the galleon into the Centurion. The last of theseoperations was too important to be postponed; for as the navigation toCanton was through seas but little known, and where, from the seasonof the year, much bad weather might be expected, it was of greatconsequence that the treasure should be sent on board the Centurion, which ship, by the presence of the commander in chief, the greaternumber of her hands, and her other advantages, was doubtless muchsafer against all the casualties of winds and seas than the galleon;and the securing the prisoners was a matter of still more consequence, as not only the possession of the treasure, but the lives of thecaptors, depended thereon. This was indeed an article which gave thecommodore much trouble and disquietude; for they were above double thenumber of his own people; and some of them, when they were brought onboard the Centurion, and had observed how slenderly she was manned, and the large proportion which the striplings bore to the rest, couldnot help expressing themselves with great indignation to be thusbeaten by a handful of boys. The method, which was taken to hinderthem from rising, was by placing all but the officers and thewounded in the hold, where, to give them as much air as possible, twohatch-ways were left open; but then (to avoid all danger, whilstthe Centurion's people should be employed upon the deck) there was asquare partition of thick planks, made in the shape of a funnel, which enclosed each hatch-way on the lower deck, and reached tothat directly over it on the upper deck; these funnels served tocommunicate the air to the hold better than could have been donewithout them; and, at the same time, added greatly to the security ofthe ship; for they being seven or eight feet high, it would have beenextremely difficult for the Spaniards to have clambered up; andstill to augment that difficulty, four swivel-guns loaded withmusquet-bullets were planted at the mouth of each funnel, and acentinel with lighted match constantly attended, prepared to fire intothe hold amongst them, in case of any disturbance. Their officers, who amounted to seventeen or eighteen, were all lodged in the firstlieutenant's cabin, under a constant guard of six men; and thegeneral, as he was wounded, lay in the commodore's cabin with acentinel always with him; and they were all informed, that anyviolence or disturbance would be punished with instant death. Andthat the Centurion's people might be at all times prepared, if, notwithstanding these regulations, any tumult should arise, the smallarms were constantly kept loaded in a proper place, whilst all the menwent armed with cutlasses and pistols; and no officer ever pulled offhis cloaths, and when he slept had always his arms lying ready by him. 

These measures were obviously necessary, considering the hazards towhich the commodore and his people would have been exposed, had theybeen less careful. Indeed, the sufferings of the poor prisoners, though impossible to be alleviated, were much to be commiserated; forthe weather was extremely hot, the stench of the hold loathsome beyondall conception, and their allowance of water but just sufficient tokeep them alive, it not being practicable to spare them more than atthe rate of a pint a-day for each, the crew themselves having only anallowance of a pint and a half. All this considered, it was wonderfulthat not a man of them died during their long confinement, exceptthree of the wounded, who died the same night they were taken; thoughit must be confessed, that the greatest part of them were strangelymetamorphosed by the heat of the hold; for when they were first taken, they were sightly, robust fellows; but when, after above a month'simprisonment, they were discharged in the river of Canton, they werereduced to mere skeletons; and their air and looks corresponded muchmore to the conception formed of ghosts and spectres, than to thefigure and appearance of real men. 

Thus employed in securing the treasure and the prisoners, thecommodore stood for the river of Canton; and, on the 30th of June, atsix in the evening, got sight of Cape Delangano, which then bore westten leagues distant; and, the next day, he made the Bashee islands, and the wind being so far to the northward, that it was difficult toweather them, it was resolved to stand through between Grafton andMonmouth islands, where the passage seemed to be clear; but in gettingthrough, the sea had a very dangerous aspect, for it rippled andfoamed, as if it had been full of breakers, which was still moreterrible, as it was then night. But the ships got through very safe, (the prize always keeping a-head) and it was found that the appearancewhich had alarmed them had been occasioned only by a strong tide. Imust here observe, that though the Bashee islands are usually reckonedto be no more than five, yet there are many more lying about themto the westward, which, as the channels amongst them are not at allknown, makes it advisable for ships, rather to pass to the northwardor southward, than through them; and indeed the commodore proposedto have gone to the northward, between them and Formosa, had it beenpossible for him to have weathered them. From hence the Centurionsteering the proper course for the river of Canton, she, on the 8thof July, discovered the island of Supata, the westermost of theLema islands. This island they made to be an hundred and thirty-nineleagues distant from Grafton's island, and to bear from it north 82°, 37° west: And, on the 11th, having taken on board two Chinese pilots, one for the Centurion, and the other for the prize, they came to ananchor off the city of Macao. 

By this time the particulars of the cargo of the galleon were wellascertained, and it was found that she had on board 1, 313, 843 piecesof eight, and 35, 682 oz. Of virgin silver, besides some cochineal, anda few other commodities, which, however, were but of small account, incomparison of the specie. And this being the commodore's last prize, it hence appears, that all the treasure taken by the Centurion wasnot much short of 400, 000l. Independent of the ships and merchandise, which she either burnt or destroyed, and which, by the most reasonableestimation, could not amount to so little as 600, 000l. More; so thatthe whole loss of the enemy, by our squadron, did doubtless exceed amillion sterling. To which, if there be added the great expence of thecourt of Spain, in fitting out Pizarro, and in paying the additionalcharges in America, incurred on our account, together with the lossof their men of war, the total of all these articles will be a mostexorbitant sum, and is the strongest conviction of the utility of thisexpedition, which, with all its numerous disadvantages, did yet proveso extremely prejudicial to the enemy. 

SECTION XXXI. 

_Transactions in the River of Canton. _

The commodore, having taken pilots on board, proceeded with his prizefor the river of Canton; and on the 14th of July, came to an anchorshort of the Bocca Tigris, which is a narrow passage forming the mouthof that river: This entrance he proposed to stand through the nextday, and to run up as far as Tiger island, which is a very safe road, secured from all winds. But whilst the Centurion and her prize werethus at anchor, a boat with an officer came off from the mandarine, commanding the forts at Bocca Tigris, to examine what the ships were, and whence they came. Mr Anson informed the officer, that his ship wasa ship of war, belonging to the king of Great Britain; and that theother in company with him was a prize he had taken; that he was goinginto Canton river to shelter himself against the hurricanes which werethen coming on; and that as soon as the monsoon shifted, he shouldproceed for England. The officer then desired an account of what men, guns, and ammunition were on board, a list of all which he said wasto be sent to the government of Canton. But when these articles wererepeated to him, particularly when he was told that there were in theCenturion four hundred firelocks, and between three and four hundredbarrels of powder, he shrugged up his shoulders, and seemed to beterrified with the bare recital, saying, that no ships ever came intoCanton river armed in that manner; adding, that he durst not set downthe whole of this force, lest it should too much alarm the regency. After he had finished his enquiries, and was preparing to depart, hedesired to leave the two custom-house officers behind him; on whichthe commodore told him, that though as a man of war he was prohibitedfrom trading, and had nothing to do with customs or duties of anykind, yet, for the satisfaction of the Chinese, he would permit twoof their people to be left on board, who might themselves be witnesseshow punctually he should comply with his instructions. The officerseemed amazed when Mr Anson mentioned being exempted from all duties, and told him, that the emperor's duty must be paid by all shipsthat came into his ports: And it is supposed, that on this occasion, private directions were given by him to the Chinese pilot, not tocarry the commodore through the Bocca Tigris; which makes it necessarymore particularly to describe that entrance. 

The Bocca Tigris is a narrow passage, little more than musquet-shotover, formed by two points of land, on each of which there is a fort, that on the starboard-side being a battery on the water's edge, witheighteen embrasures, but where there were no more than twelve ironcannon mounted, seeming to be four or six pounders; the fort on thelarboard-side is a large castle, resembling those old buildingswhich here in England we often find distinguished by that name; it issituated on a high rock, and did not appear to be furnished with morethan eight or ten cannon, none of which were supposed to exceed sixpounders. These are the defences which secure the river of Canton;and which the Chinese (extremely defective in all military skill) haveimagined were sufficient to prevent any enemy from forcing his waythrough. 

But it is obvious, from the description of these forts, that theycould have given no obstruction to Mr Anson's passage, even if theyhad been well supplied with gunners and stores; and therefore, thoughthe pilot, after the Chinese officer had been on board, refused atfirst to take charge of the ship, till he had leave from the forts, yet as it was necessary to get through without any delay, for fear ofthe bad weather which was hourly expected, the commodore weighed onthe 15th, and ordered the pilot to carry him by the forts, threateninghim that, if the ship ran aground, he would instantly hang him upat the yard-arm. The pilot, awed by these threats, carried the shipthrough safely, the forts not attempting to dispute the passage. Indeed the poor pilot did not escape the resentment of his countrymen, for when he came on shore, he was seized and sent to prison, and wasrigorously disciplined with the bamboo. However, he found means toget at Mr Anson afterwards, to desire of him some recompence forthe chastisement he had undergone, and of which he then carried verysignificant marks about him; and Mr Anson, in commiseration of hissufferings, gave him such a sum of money, as would at any time haveenticed a Chinese to have undergone a dozen bastinadings. 

Nor was the pilot the only person that suffered on this occasion;for the commodore soon after seeing some royal junks pass by him fromBocca Tigris towards Canton, he learnt, on enquiry, that the mandarinecommanding the forts was a prisoner on board them; that he was alreadyturned out, and was now carrying to Canton, where it was expected hewould be severely punished for having permitted the ships to pass; andthe commodore urging the unreasonableness of this procedure, fromthe inability of the forts to have done otherwise, explaining to theChinese the great superiority his ships would have had over the forts, by the number and size of their guns, the Chinese seemed to acquiescein his reasoning, and allowed that their forts could not have stoppedhim; but they still asserted, that the mandarine would infalliblysuffer, for not having done what all his judges were convinced wasimpossible. To such indefensible absurdities are those obliged tosubmit who think themselves concerned to support their authority, whenthe necessary force is wanting. 

On the 16th of July the commodore sent his second lieutenant toCanton, with a letter to the viceroy, informing him of the reason ofthe Centurion's putting into that port; and that the commodore himselfsoon proposed to repair to Canton, to pay a visit to the viceroy. Thelieutenant was very civilly received, and was promised that an answershould be sent to the commodore the next day. In the mean time MrAnson gave leave to several of the officers of the galleon to go toCanton, they engaging their parole to return in two days. When theseprisoners got to Canton, the regency sent for them, and examined them, enquiring particularly by what means they had fallen into Mr Anson'spower. And on this occasion the prisoners were honest enough todeclare, that as the kings of Great Britain and of Spain were at war, they had proposed to themselves the taking of the Centurion, andhad bore down upon her with that view, but that the event had beencontrary to their hopes: However, they acknowledged that they had beentreated by the commodore, much better than they believed they shouldhave treated him, had he fallen into their hands. This confession froman enemy had great weight with the Chinese, who, till then, thoughthey had revered the commodore's power, had yet suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless freebooter, than as onecommissioned by the state for the revenge of public injuries. Butthey now changed their opinion, and regarded him as a more importantperson; to which perhaps the vast treasure of his prize might not alittle contribute; the acquisition of wealth being a matter greatlyadapted to the estimation and reverence of the Chinese nation. 

In this examination of the Spanish prisoners, though the Chinese hadno reason in the main to doubt of the account which was given them, yet there were two circumstances which appeared to them so singular, as to deserve a more ample explanation; one of them was the greatdisproportion of men between the Centurion and the galleon; the otherwas the humanity with which the people of the galleon were treatedafter they were taken. The mandarines therefore asked the Spaniards, how they came to be overpowered by so inferior a force; and how ithappened, since the two nations were at war, that they were not putto death when they came into the hands of the English. To the first ofthese enquiries the Spaniards replied, that though they had more handsthan the Centurion, yet she being intended solely for war, had a greatsuperiority in the size of her guns, and in many other articles, overthe galleon, which was a vessel fitted out principally for traffic:And as to the second question, they told the Chinese, that amongstthe nations of Europe, it was not customary to put to death those whosubmitted; though they readily owned, that the commodore, fromthe natural bias of his temper, had treated both them and theircountrymen, who had formerly been in his power, with very unusualcourtesy, much beyond what they could have expected, or than wasrequired by the customs established between nations at war with eachother. These replies fully satisfied the Chinese, and at the same timewrought very powerfully in the commodore's favour. 

On the 20th of July, in the morning, three mandarines, with a greatnumber of boats, and a vast retinue, came on board the Centurion, anddelivered to the commodore the viceroy of Canton's order for a dailysupply of provisions, and for pilots lo carry the ships up the riveras far as the second bar; and at the same time they delivered him amessage from the viceroy, in answer to the letter sent to Canton. Thesubstance of the message was, that the viceroy desired to be excusedfrom receiving the commodore's visit, during the then excessive hotweather; because the assembling the mandarines and soldiers, necessaryto that ceremony, would prove extremely inconvenient and fatiguing;but that in September, when the weather would be more temperate, heshould be glad to see both the commodore himself, and the Englishcaptain of the other ship, that was with him. As Mr Anson knew that anexpress had been dispatched to the court at Pekin, with an account ofthe Centurion and her prize being arrived in the river of Canton, hehad no doubt, but the principal motive for putting off this visit was, that the regency at Canton might gain time to receive the emperor'sinstructions, about their behaviour on this unusual affair. 

When the mandarines had delivered their message, they began to talkto the commodore about the duties to be paid by his ships; but heimmediately told them, that he would never submit to any demand ofthat kind; that as he neither brought any merchandise thither, norintended to carry any away, he could not be reasonably deemed tobe within the meaning of the emperor's orders, which were doubtlesscalculated for trading vessels only, adding, that no duties were everdemanded of men of war, by nations accustomed to their reception, and that his master's orders expressly forbad him from paying anyacknowledgement for his ships anchoring in any port whatever. 

The mandarines being thus cut short on the subject of the duty, theysaid they had another matter to mention, which was the only remainingone they had in charge; this was a request to the commodore, that hewould release the prisoners he had taken on board the galleon; forthat the viceroy of Canton apprehended the emperor, his master, mightbe displeased, if he should be informed, that persons, who were hisallies, and carried on a great commerce with his subjects, were underconfinement in his dominions. Mr Anson was himself extremely desirousto get rid of the Spaniards, having, on his first arrival, sent aboutan hundred of them to Macao, and those who remained, near four hundredmore, were, on many accounts, a great incumbrance to him. However, to enhance the favour, he at first raised some difficulties; butpermitting himself to be prevailed on, he at last told the mandarines, that to show his readiness to oblige the viceroy, he would release theprisoners, whenever they, the Chinese, would send boats to fetch themoff. This matter being thus adjusted, the mandarines departed; and, onthe 28th of July, two Chinese junks were sent from Canton, to take onboard the prisoners, and to carry them to Macao. And the commodore, agreeable to his promise, dismissed them all, and ordered his purserto send with them eight days provision for their subsistence, duringtheir sailing down the river; this being dispatched, the Centurionand her prize came to her moorings, above the second bar, where theyproposed to continue till the monsoon shifted. 

Though the ships, in consequence of the viceroy's permit, found nodifficulty in purchasing provisions for their daily consumption, yetit was impossible for the commodore to proceed to England; withoutlaying in a large quantity both of provisions and stores for his use, during the voyage: The procuring this supply was attended with muchembarrassment; for there were people at Canton who had undertakento furnish him with biscuit, and whatever else he wanted; and hislinguist, towards the middle of September, had assured him, fromday to day, that all was ready, and would be sent on board himimmediately. But a fortnight being elapsed, and nothing being brought, the commodore sent to Canton to enquire more particularly into thereasons of this disappointment: And he had soon the vexation to beinformed, that the whole was an illusion: that no order had beenprocured from the viceroy to furnish him with sea-stores, as hadbeen pretended; that there was no biscuit baked, nor any one of thearticles in readiness which had been promised him; nor did it appear, that the contractors had taken the least step to comply with theiragreement. This was most disagreeable news, and made it suspected, that the furnishing the Centurion for her return to Great Britainmight prove a more troublesome matter than had been hitherto imagined;especially too, as the month of September was nearly elapsed, withoutMr Anson's having received any message from the viceroy of Canton. 

And here perhaps it might be expected that some satisfactory accountshould be given of the motives of the Chinese for this faithlessprocedure. But as I have already, in a former chapter, made some kindof conjectures about a similar event, I shall not repeat them againin this place, but shall observe, that after all, it may perhaps beimpossible for an European, ignorant of the customs and manners ofthat nation, to be fully apprised of the real incitements to thisbehaviour. Indeed, thus much may undoubtedly be asserted, that inartifice, falsehood, and an attachment to all kinds of lucre, many ofthe Chinese are difficult to be paralleled by any other people; butthen the combination of these talents, and the manner in which theyare applied in particular emergencies, are often beyond the reach ofa foreigner's penetration: So that though it may be safely concluded, that the Chinese had some interest in thus amusing the commodore, yetit may not be easy to assign the individual views by which they wereinfluenced. And that I may not be thought too severe in ascribing tothis nation a fraudulent and selfish turn of temper, so contradictoryto the character given of them in the legendary accounts of the Romanmissionaries, I shall here mention an extraordinary transaction ortwo, which I hope will be some kind of confirmation of what I haveadvanced. 

When the commodore lay first at Macao, one of his officers, who hadbeen extremely ill, desired leave of him to go on shore every day ona neighbouring island, imagining that a walk upon the land wouldcontribute greatly to the restoring of his health: The commodore wouldhave dissuaded him, suspecting the tricks of the Chinese, but theofficer continuing importunate, in the end the boat was ordered tocarry him. The first day he was put on shore he took his exercise, andreturned without receiving any molestation, or even seeing any ofthe inhabitants; but the second day, he was assaulted, soon after hisarrival, by a great number of Chinese who had been hoeing rice in theneighbourhood, and who beat him so violently with the handles of theirhoes, that they soon laid him on the ground incapable of resistance;after which they robbed him, taking from him his sword, the hilt ofwhich was silver, his money, his watch, gold-headed cane, snuff box, sleeve-buttons, and hat, with several other trinkets: In the mean timethe boat's crew, who were at some little distance, and had no arms ofany kind with them, were incapable of giving him any assistance;till at last one of them flew on the fellow who had the sword in hispossession, and wresting it out of his hands, drew it, and with itwas preparing to fall on the Chinese, some of whom he could not havefailed of killing; but the officer, perceiving what he was about, immediately ordered him to desist, thinking it more prudent tosubmit to the present violence, than to embroil his commodore in aninextricable squabble with the Chinese government by the deathof their subjects; which calmness in this gentleman was the moremeritorious, as he was known to be a person of an uncommon spirit, andof a somewhat hasty temper: By this means the Chinese recovered thepossession of the sword, which they soon perceived was prohibitedto be made use of against them, and carried off their whole bootyunmolested. No sooner were they gone, than a Chinese on horseback, very well dressed, and who had the air and appearance of a gentleman, came down to the shore, and, as far as could be understood by hissigns, seemed to censure the conduct of his countrymen, and tocommiserate the officer, being wonderfully officious to assist ingetting him on board the boat: But notwithstanding this behaviour, it was shrewdly suspected that he was an accomplice in the theft, andtime fully evinced the justice of those suspicions. 

When the boat returned on board, and reported what had passed tothe commodore, he immediately complained of it to the mandarine, whoattended to see his ship supplied; but the mandarine coolly replied, that the boat ought not to have gone on shore, promising, however, that if the thieves could be found out, they should be punished;though it appeared plain enough, by his manner of answering, that hewould never give himself any trouble in searching them out. However, a considerable time afterwards, when some Chinese boats were sellingprovisions to the Centurion, the person who had wrested the sword fromthe Chinese came with great eagerness to the commodore, to assurehim that one of the principal thieves was then in a provision-boatalongside the ship; and the officer, who had been robbed, viewingthe fellow on this report, and well remembering his face, orders wereimmediately given to seize him; and he was accordingly secured onboard the ship, where strange discoveries were now made. 

This thief, on his being apprehended, expressed so much fright in hiscountenance, that it was feared he would have died upon the spot; themandarine too, who attended the ship, had visibly no small share ofconcern on the occasion. Indeed he had reason enough to be alarmed, since it was soon evinced that he had been privy to the whole robbery, for the commodore, declaring that he would not deliver up the thief, but would himself order him to be shot, the mandarine immediately putoff the magisterial air with which be had at first pretended todemand him, and begged his release in the most abject manner; and thecommodore appearing inflexible, there came on board, in less than twohours time, five or six of the neighbouring mandarines, who all joinedin the same entreaty, and, with a view of facilitating their suit, offered a large sum of money for the fellow's liberty. Whilst theywere thus soliciting, it was discovered that the mandarine, who wasthe most active amongst them, and who seemed to be most interested inthe event, was the very gentleman who came to the officer just afterthe robbery, and who pretended to be so much displeased with thevillainy of his countrymen. And, on further enquiry, it was found thathe was the mandarine of the island; and that he had, by the authorityof his office, ordered the peasants to commit that infamous action:And it seemed, as far as could be collected from the broken hintswhich were casually thrown out, that he and his brethren, who were allprivy to the transaction, were terrified with the fear of beingcalled before the tribunal at Canton, where the first article of theirpunishment would be the stripping them of all they were worth; thoughtheir judges (however fond of inflicting a chastisement so lucrativeto themselves) were perhaps of as tainted a complexion as thedelinquents. Mr Anson was not displeased to have caught the Chinesein this dilemma; and he entertained himself for some time with theirperplexity, rejecting their money with scorn, appearing inexorable totheir prayers, and giving out that the thief should certainly be shot;but as he then foresaw that he should be forced to take shelter intheir ports a second time, when the influence he might hereby acquireover the magistrates would be of great service to him, he at lengthpermitted himself to be persuaded, and, as a favour, released hisprisoner, but not till the mandarine had collected and returned allthat had been stolen from the officer, even to the minutest trifle. 

But, notwithstanding this instance of the good intelligence betweenthe magistrates and criminals, the strong inclination of the Chineseto lucre often prompts them to break through this awful confederacy, and puts them on defrauding the authority that protects them, of itsproper quota of the pillage. For not long after the above-mentionedtransaction, (the former mandarine attendant on the ship, being, inthe mean time, relieved by another, ) the commodore lost a top-mastfrom his stern, which, after the most diligent enquiry, could not betraced: As it was not his own, but had been borrowed at Macao to heavedown by, and was not to be replaced in that part of the world, he wasextremely desirous to recover it, and published a considerable rewardto any who would bring it him again. There were suspicions from thefirst of its being stolen, which made him conclude a reward was thelikeliest method of getting it back: Accordingly, soon after, themandarine told him that some of his, the mandarine's people, had foundthe top-mast, desiring the commodore to send his boats to fetch it, which being done, the mandarine's people received the promised reward;but the commodore told the mandarine that he would make him a presentbesides for the care he had taken in directing it to be searched for, and, accordingly, Mr Anson gave a sum of money to his linguist, to bedelivered to the mandarine; but the linguist knowing that the peoplehad been paid, and ignorant that a further present had been promised, kept the money himself: However, the mandarine fully confiding in MrAnson's word, and suspecting the linguist, took occasion one morningto admire the size of the Centurion's masts, and thence, on apretended sudden recollection, he made a digression to the top-mastwhich had been lost, and asked Mr Anson if he had not got it again. MrAnson presently perceived the bent of this conversation, and enquiredof him if he had not received the money from the linguist, and findinghe had not, he offered to pay it him upon the spot. But this themandarine refused, having now somewhat more in view than the sum whichhad been detained; for the next day the linguist was seized, and wasdoubtless mulcted of all he had gotten in the commodore's service, which was supposed to be little less than two thousand dollars; hewas, besides, so severely bastinadoed with the bamboo, that it waswith difficulty he escaped with life; and when he was upbraided bythe commodore (to whom he afterwards came begging) with his folly inrisking all he had suffered for fifty dollars (the present intendedfor the mandarine. ) he had no other excuse to make than the strongbias of his nation to dishonesty, replying, in his broken jargon, "Chinese man very great rogue truly, but have fashion, no can help. "

It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, andfrauds which were practised on the commodore and his people, by thisinterested race. The method of buying all things in China being byweight, the tricks made use of by the Chinese to increase the weightof the provision they sold to the Centurion, were almost incredible. One time a large quantity of fowls and ducks being bought for theship's use, the greatest part of them presently died. This alarmed thepeople on board with the apprehensions that they had been killed bypoison, but, on examination, it appeared that it was only owing totheir being crammed with stones and gravel to increase their weight, the quantity thus forced into most of the ducks being found to amountto ten ounces in each. The hogs, too, which were bought ready killedof the Chinese butchers, had water injected into them for the samepurpose; so that a carcass, hung up all night for the water to drainfrom it, hath lost above a stone of its weight; and when, to avoidthis cheat, the hogs were bought alive, it was found that the Chinesegave them salt to increase their thirst, and having by this meansexcited them to drink great quantities of water, they then tookmeasures to prevent them from discharging it again by urine, and soldthe tortured animal in this inflated state. When the commodore firstput to sea from Macao, they practised an artifice of another kind;for as the Chinese never object to the eating of any food that dies ofitself, they took care; by some secret practices, that great partof his live sea-store should die in a short time after it was put onboard, hoping to make a second profit of the dead carcasses, whichthey expected would be thrown overboard; and two-thirds of the hogsdying before the Centurion was out of sight of land, many of theChinese boats followed her, only to pick up the carrion. Theseinstances may serve as a specimen of the manners of this celebratednation, which is often recommended to the rest of the world as apattern of all kinds of laudable qualities. 

The commodore, towards the end of September, having found out (ashas been said) that those who had contracted, to supply him withsea-provisions and stores had deceived him, and that the viceroy hadnot sent to him according to his promise, saw it would be impossiblefor him to surmount the embarrassment he was under, without goinghimself to Canton and visiting the viceroy; and, therefore, on the27th. Of September, he sent a message to the mandarine who attendedthe Centurion, to inform him that he, the commodore, intended, on the1st of October, to proceed in his boat to Canton, adding, that the dayafter he got there he should notify his arrival to the viceroy, and should desire him to fix a time for his audience; to which themandarine returned no other answer, than that he would acquaint theviceroy with the commodore's intentions. In the mean time all thingswere prepared for this expedition; and the boat's crew in particular, which Mr Anson proposed to take with him, were cloathed in an uniformdress, resembling that of the watermen on the Thames; they were innumber eighteen and a coxswain; they had scarlet jackets and bluesilk; waistcoats, the whole trimmed with silver buttons, and withsilver badges on their jackets and caps. As it was apprehended, and even asserted, that the payment of the customary duties for theCenturion and her prize would be demanded by the regency of Canton, and would be insisted on previous to the granting a permission forvictualling the ship for her future voyage, the commodore, who wasresolved never to establish so dishonourable a precedent, took allpossible precaution to prevent the Chinese from facilitating thesuccess of their unreasonable pretensions, by having him in theirpower at Canton; and, therefore, for the security of his ship, andthe great treasure on board her, he appointed his first lieutenant, Mr Brett, to be captain of the Centurion under him, giving him properinstructions for his conduct; directing him, particularly, if he, thecommodore, should be detained at Canton on account of the dutiesin dispute, to take out the men from the Centurion's prize, and todestroy her; and then to proceed down the river through the BoccaTigris with the Centurion alone, and to remain without that entrancetill he received further orders from Mr Anson. 

These necessary steps being taken, which were not unknown to theChinese, it should seem as if their deliberations were in some sortembarrassed thereby. It is reasonable to imagine, that they werein general very desirous of getting the duties to be paid them, notperhaps solely in consideration of the amount of those dues, but tokeep up their reputation for address and subtlety, and to avoidthe imputation of receding from claims on which they had already sofrequently insisted: However, as they now foresaw that they had noother method of succeeding than by violence, and that even againstthis the commodore was prepared, they were at last disposed, Iconceive, to let the affair drop, rather than entangle themselves inan hostile measure, which they found would only expose them to therisk of having the whole navigation of their port destroyed, withoutany certain prospect of gaining their favourite point. 

However, though there is reason to imagine that these were theirthoughts at that time, yet they could not depart at once from theevasive conduct to which they had hither to adhered. For when thecommodore, on the morning of the 1st of October, was preparing toset out for Canton, his linguist came to him from the mandarine, whoattended his ship, to tell him that a letter had been received fromthe viceroy of Canton, desiring the commodore to put off his goingthither for two or three days: But in the afternoon of the same dayanother linguist came on board, who, with much seeming fright, told MrAnson that the viceroy had expected him up that day, that the counselwas assembled, and the troops had been under arms to receive him; andthat the viceroy was highly offended at the disappointment, and hadsent the commodore's linguist to prison chained, supposing that thewhole had been owing to the linguist's negligence. This plausible talegave the commodore great concern, and made him apprehend that therewas some treachery designed him, which he could not yet fathom; andthough it afterwards appeared that the whole was a fiction, not onearticle of it having the least foundation, yet (for reasons best knownto themselves) this falsehood was so well supported by the artificesof the Chinese merchants at Canton, that, three days afterwards, thecommodore received a letter, signed by all the supercargoes of theEnglish ships then at that place, expressing their great uneasiness atwhat had happened, and intimating their fears that some insult wouldbe offered to his boat, if he came thither before the viceroy wasfully satisfied about the mistake. To this letter Mr Anson replied, that he did not believe there had been any mistake, but was persuadedit was a forgery of the Chinese, to prevent his visiting the viceroy;that, therefore, he would certainly come up to Canton on the 13th ofOctober, confident that the Chinese would not dare to offer him aninsult, as well knowing it would be properly returned. 

On the 13th of October, the commodore continuing firm, to hisresolution, all the supercargoes of the English, Danish, and Swedishships, came on board the Centurion, to accompany him to Canton, forwhich place he set out in his barge the same day, attended by his ownboats, and by those of the trading ships, which, on this occasion, came to form his retinue; and, as he passed by Whampoa, where theEuropean vessels lay, he was saluted by all of them but the French, and in the evening arrived safely at Canton. 

SECTION XXXII. 

_Proceedings at the City of Canton, and the Return of the Centurion toEngland. _

When the commodore arrived at Canton, he was visited by the principalChinese merchants, who affected to appear very much pleased thathe had met with no obstruction in getting thither, and who thencepretended to conclude that the viceroy was satisfied about the formermistake, the reality of which they still insisted on; they added, thatas soon as the viceroy should be informed that Mr Anson was at Canton(which they promised should be done the next morning, ) they werepersuaded a day would be immediately appointed for the visit, whichwas the principal business that had brought the commodore thither. 

The next day the merchants returned to Mr Anson, and told him thatthe viceroy was then so fully employed in preparing his dispatches forPekin, that there was no getting admittance to him for some days, butthat they had engaged one of the officers of his court to give theminformation as soon as he should be at leisure, when they proposedto notify Mr Anson's arrival, and to endeavour to fix the day ofaudience. The commodore was by this time too well acquainted withtheir artifices not to perceive that this was a falsehood; and had heconsulted only his own judgment, he would have applied directly tothe viceroy by other hands: But the Chinese merchants had so farprepossessed the supercargoes of our ships with chimerical fears, that they were extremely apprehensive of being embroiled with thegovernment, and of suffering in their interest, if those measureswere taken, which appeared to Mr Anson at that time to be the mostprudential; and, therefore, lest the malice and double-dealing of theChinese might have given rise to some sinister incident, which wouldbe afterwards charged on him, he resolved to continue passive as longas it should appear that he lost no time by thus suspending his ownopinion. With this view, he promised not to take any immediate stepfor getting admittance to the viceroy, provided the Chinese with whomhe contracted for provisions would let him see that his bread wasbaked, his meat salted, and his stores prepared with the utmostdispatch; but if by the time when all was in readiness to be shippedoff (which it was supposed would be in about forty days, ) themerchants should not have procured the viceroy's permission, then, thecommodore proposed to apply for himself. These were the terms Mr Ansonthought proper to offer, to quiet the uneasiness of the supercargoes, and, notwithstanding the apparent equity of the conditions, manydifficulties and objections were urged; nor would the Chinese agreeto them till the commodore had consented to pay for every articlehe bespoke before it was put in hand. However, at last, the contractbeing past, it was some satisfaction to the commodore to be certainthat his preparations were now going on, and being himself on thespot, he took care to hasten them as much as possible. 

During this interval, in which the stores and provisions were gettingready, the merchants continually entertained Mr Anson with accounts oftheir various endeavours to get a license from the viceroy, and theirfrequent disappointments, which to him was now a matter of amusement, as he was fully satisfied there was not one word of truth in any thingthey said. But when all was completed, and wanted only to be shipped, which was about the 24th of November, at which time too the N. E. Monsoon was set in, he then resolved to apply himself to the viceroyto demand an audience, as he was persuaded that, without thisceremony, the procuring a permission to send his stores on board wouldmeet with great difficulty. On the 24th of November, therefore, MrAnson sent one of his officers to the Mandarine, who commanded theguard of the principal gate of the city of Canton, with a letterdirected to the viceroy. When this letter was delivered to themandarine, he received the officer who brought it very civilly, andtook down the contents of it in Chinese, and promised that the viceroyshould be immediately acquainted with it; but told the officer it wasnot necessary for him to wait for an answer, because a message wouldbe sent to the commodore himself. 

On this occasion Mr Anson had been under great difficulties about aproper interpreter to send with his officer, as he was well aware thatnone of the Chinese, usually employed as linguists, could be reliedon: But he at last prevailed with Mr Flint, an English gentlemanbelonging to the factory, who spoke Chinese perfectly well, toaccompany his officer. This person, who upon this occasion and manyothers was of singular service to the commodore, had been left atCanton when a youth, by the late Captain Rigby. The leaving him thereto learn the Chinese language was a step taken by that captain, merelyfrom his own persuasion of the great advantages which the East-Indiacompany might one day receive from an English interpreter; and thoughthe utility of this measure has greatly exceeded all that was expectedfrom it, yet I have not heard that it has been to this day imitated:But we imprudently choose (except in this single instance) to carry onthe vast transactions of the port of Canton, either by the ridiculousjargon of broken English, which some few of the Chinese havelearnt, or by the suspected interpretation of the linguists of othernations. [1]

[Footnote 1: The practice recommended, it is almost unnecessary toremark, has been adopted since our author's time, but certainly not tothe extent the probable advantages of it would suggest. --E. ]

Two days after the sending the above-mentioned letter, a fire brokeout in the suburbs of Canton. On the first alarm, Mr Anson wentthither with his officers, and his boat's crew, to assist the Chinese. When he came there, he found that it had begun in a sailor's shed, andthat by the slightness of the buildings, and the awkwardness of theChinese, it was getting head apace: But he perceived, that by pullingdown some of the adjacent sheds it might easily be extinguished; andparticularly observing that it was running along a wooden cornish, which would soon communicate it to a great distance, he ordered hispeople to begin with tearing away that cornish; this was presentlyattempted, and would have been soon executed; but, in the meantime, hewas told, that, as there was no mandarine there to direct what wasto be done, the Chinese would make him, the commodore, answerablefor whatever should be pulled down by his orders. On this his peopledesisted; and he sent them to the English factory, to assist insecuring the company's treasure and effects, as it was easy to foreseethat no distance was a protection against the rage of such a fire, where so little was done to put a stop to it; for all this time theChinese contented themselves with viewing it, and now and then holdingone of their idols near it, which they seemed to expect should checkits progress: However, at last, a mandarine came out of the city, attended by four or five hundred firemen: These made some feebleefforts to pull down the neighbouring houses; but by this time thefire had greatly extended itself, and was got amongst the merchants'warehouses; and the Chinese firemen, wanting both skill and spirit, were incapable of checking its violence; so that its fury increasedupon them, and it was feared the whole city would be destroyed, inthis general confusion the viceroy himself came thither, and thecommodore was sent to, and was entreated to afford his assistance, being told that he might take any measures he should think mostprudent in the present emergency. And now he went thither a secondtime, carrying with him about forty of his people; who, upon thisoccasion, exerted themselves in such a manner, as in that countrywas altogether without example: For they were rather animated thandeterred by the flames and falling buildings, amongst which theywrought; so that it was not uncommon to see the most forward of themtumble to the ground on the roofs, and amidst the ruins of houses, which their own efforts brought down with them. By their boldnessand activity the fire was soon extinguished, to the amazement of theChinese; and the building being all on one floor, and the materialsslight, the seamen, notwithstanding their daring behaviour, happilyescaped with no other injuries, than some considerable bruises. Thefire, though at last thus luckily extinguished, did great mischiefduring the time it continued; for it consumed an hundred shops andeleven streets full of warehouses, so that the damage amounted toan immense sum; and one of the Chinese merchants, well known to theEnglish, whose name was Succoy, was supposed, for his own share, tohave lost near two hundred thousand pounds sterling. It raged indeedwith unusual violence, for in many of the warehouses, there were largequantities of camphor, which greatly added to its fury, and produced acolumn of exceeding white flame, which shot up into the air to sucha prodigious height that it was plainly seen on board the Centurion, though she was thirty miles distant. 

Whilst the commodore and his people were labouring at the fire, andthe terror of its becoming general still possessed the whole city, several of the most considerable Chinese merchants came to Mr Anson, to desire that he would let each of them have one of his soldiers (forsuch they styled his boat's crew from the uniformity, of their dress)to guard their warehouses and dwellings-houses, which, from the knowndishonesty of the populace, they feared would be pillaged in thetumult. Mr Anson granted them this request; and all the men that hethus furnished to the Chinese behaved greatly to the satisfaction oftheir employers, who afterwards highly applauded their great diligenceand fidelity. 

By this means, the resolution of the English at the fire, and theirtrustiness and punctuality elsewhere, was the general subject ofconversation amongst the Chinese: And, the next morning, many of theprincipal inhabitants waited on the commodore to thank him forhis assistance; frankly owning to him, that they could never haveextinguished the fire of themselves, and that he had saved their cityfrom being totally consumed. And soon after a message came to thecommodore from the viceroy, appointing the 30th of November for hisaudience; which sudden resolution of the viceroy, in a matter that hadbeen so long agitated in vain, was also owing to the signal servicesperformed by Mr Anson and his people at the fire, of which the viceroyhimself had been in some measure an eye-witness. 

The fixing this business of the audience, was, on all accounts, acircumstance which Mr Anson was much pleased with; as he was satisfiedthat the Chinese government would not have determined this point, without having agreed among themselves to give up their pretensions tothe duties they claimed, and to grant him all he could reasonably ask;for as they well knew the commodore's sentiments, it would have beena piece of imprudence, not consistent with the refined cunning of theChinese, to have admitted him to an audience, only to have contestedwith him. And therefore, being himself perfectly easy about the resultof his visit, he made all necessary preparations against the day. Mr Flint, whom he engaged to act as interpreter in the conference, acquitted himself much to the commodore's satisfaction; repeating withgreat boldness; and doubtless with exactness, all that was given incharge, a part which no Chinese linguist would ever have performedwith any tolerable fidelity. 

At ten o'clock in the morning, on the day appointed, a mandarinecame to the commodore, to let him know that the viceroy was ready toreceive him; on which the commodore and his retinue immediately setout: And as soon as he entered the outer gate of the city, he founda guard of two hundred soldiers drawn up ready to attend him; theseconducted him to the great parade before the emperor's palace, wherethe viceroy then resided. In this parade, a body of troops, to thenumber of ten thousand, were drawn up under arms, and made a very fineappearance, being all of them new clothed for this ceremony: And MrAnson and his retinue having passed through the middle of them, hewas then conducted to the great hall of audience, where he found theviceroy seated under a rich canopy in the emperor's chair of state, with all his council of mandarines attending: Here there was avacant seat prepared for the commodore, in which he was placed onhis arrival: He was ranked the third it order from the viceroy, therebeing above him only the head of the law, and of the treasury, who inthe Chinese government take place of all military officers. Whenthe commodore was seated, he addressed himself to the viceroy byhis interpreter, and began with reciting the various methods he hadformerly taken to get an audience; adding, that he imputed the delayshe had met with to the insincerity of those he had employed, and thathe had therefore no other means left, than to send, as he had done, his own officer with a letter to the gate. On the mention of this theviceroy stopped the interpreter, and bid him assure Mr Anson, that thefirst knowledge they had of his being at Canton, was from that letter. Mr Anson then proceeded, and told him, that the subjects of theking of Great Britain trading to China had complained to him, thecommodore, of the vexatious impositions both of the merchantsand inferior custom-house officers, to which they were frequentlynecessitated to submit, by reason of the difficulty of getting accessto the mandarines, who alone could grant them redress: That it washis, Mr Anson's, duty, as an officer of the king of Great Britain, tolay before the viceroy these grievances of the British subjects, whichhe hoped the viceroy would take into consideration, and would giveorders, that for the future there should be no just reason forcomplaint. Here Mr Anson paused, and waited some time in expectationof an answer; but nothing being said, he asked his interpreter if hewas certain the viceroy understood what he had urged; the interpretertold him, he was certain it was understood, but he believed no replywould be made to it. Mr Anson then represented to the viceroy the caseof the ship Haslingfield, which, having been dismasted on the coast ofChina, had arrived in the river of Canton but a few days before. Thepeople on board this vessel had been great sufferers by the fire; thecaptain in particular had all his goods burnt, and had lost besides, in the confusion, a chest of treasure of four thousand five hundredtahel, which was supposed to be stolen by the Chinese boat-men. MrAnson therefore desired that the captain might have the assistanceof the government, as it was apprehended the money could never berecovered without the interposition of the mandarines. And to thisrequest the viceroy made answer, that in settling the emperor'scustoms for that ship, some abatement should be made in considerationof her losses. 

And now the commodore having dispatched the business with which theofficers of the East-India company had entrusted him, he entered onhis own affairs; acquainting the viceroy, that the proper season wasnow set in for returning to Europe, and that he waited only for alicence to ship off his provisions and stores, which were all ready;and that as soon as this should be granted him, and he should havegotten his necessaries on board, he intended to leave the river ofCanton, and to make the best of his way for England. The viceroyreplied to this, that the licence should be immediately issued, andthat every thing should be ordered on board the following day. Andfinding that Mr Anson had nothing farther to insist on, the viceroycontinued the conversation for some time, acknowledging in very civilterms how much the Chinese were obliged to him for his signalservices at the fire, and owning that he had saved the city from beingdestroyed: And then observing that the Centurion had been a good whileon their coast, he closed his discourse, by wishing the commodore agood voyage to Europe. After which, the commodore, thanking him forhis civility and assistance, took his leave. 

As soon as the commodore was out of the hall of audience, he wasmuch pressed to go into a neighbouring apartment, where there wasan entertainment provided; but finding, on enquiry, that the viceroyhimself was not to be present, he declined the invitation, anddeparted, attended in the same manner as at his arrival; only at hisleaving the city he was saluted by three guns, which are as many asin that country are ever fired on any ceremony. Thus the commodore, to his great joy, at last finished this troublesome affair, which, forthe preceding four months, had given him great disquietude. Indeed hewas highly pleased with procuring a licence for the shipping of hisstores and provisions; for thereby he was enabled to return to GreatBritain with the first of the monsoon, and to prevent all intelligenceof his being expected: But this, though a very important point, wasnot the circumstance which gave him the greatest satisfaction; for hewas more particularly attentive to the authentic precedent establishedon this occasion, by which his majesty's ships of war are for thefuture exempted from all demands of duty in any of the ports of China. 

In pursuance of the promises of the viceroy, the provisions were begunto be sent on board the day after the audience; and, four days after, the commodore embarked at Canton for the Centurion; and on the 7thof December, the Centurion and her prize unmoored, and stood downthe river, passing through the Bocca Tigris on the 10th. And on thisoccasion I must observe, that the Chinese had taken care to man thetwo forts, on each side of that passage, with as many men as theycould well contain, the greatest part of them armed with pikes andmatch-lock musquets. These garrisons affected to shew themselves asmuch as possible to the ships, and were doubtless intended to induceMr Anson to think more reverently than he had hitherto done of theChinese military power: For this purpose they were equipped with muchparade, having a great number of colours exposed to view; and onthe castle in particular there were laid considerable heaps of largestones; and a soldier of unusual size, dressed in very sightlyarmour, stalked about on the parapet with a battle-axe in his hand, endeavouring to put on as important and martial an air as possible, though some of the observers on board the Centurion shrewdlysuspected, from the appearance of his armour, that instead of steel, it was composed only of a particular kind of glittering paper. 

The Centurion and her prize being now without the river of Canton, andconsequently upon the point of leaving the Chinese jurisdiction, I begleave, before I quit all mention of the Chinese affairs, to subjoina few remarks on the disposition and genius of that extraordinarypeople. And though it may be supposed, that observations made atCanton only, a place situated in the corner of the empire, are veryimperfect materials on which to found any general conclusions, yet asthose who have had opportunities of examining the inner parts ofthe country, have been evidently influenced by very ridiculousprepossessions, and as this transactions of Mr Anson with the regencyof Canton were of an uncommon nature, in which many circumstancesoccurred, different perhaps from any which have happened before, I hope the following reflections, many of them drawn from theseincidents, will not be altogether unacceptable to the reader. 

That the Chinese are a very ingenious and industrious people, issufficiently evinced, from the great number of curious manufactureswhich are established amongst them, and which are eagerly sought forby the most distant nations; but though skill in the handicraft artsseems to be the most important qualification of this people, yettheir talents therein are but of a second-rate kind; for they are muchout-done by the Japanese in those manufactures, which are commonto both countries; and they are in numerous instances incapable ofrivalling the mechanic dexterity of the Europeans. Indeed, theirprincipal excellency seems to be imitation; and they accordinglylabour under that poverty of genius, which constantly attends allservile imitators. This is most conspicuous in works which requiregreat truth and accuracy; as in clocks, watches, fire-arms, &c. For inall these, though they can copy the different parts, and can formsome resemblance of the whole, yet they never could arrive at sucha justness in their fabric, as was necessary to produce the desiredeffect. And if we pass from their manufactures to artists of asuperior class, as painters, statuaries, &c. , in these matters theyseem to be still more defective, their painters, though very numerousand in great esteem, rarely succeeding in the drawing or colouring ofhuman figures; or in the grouping of large compositions; and though inflowers and birds their, performances are much more admired, yet evenin these, some part of the merit is rather to be imputed to the nativebrightness and excellency of the colours, than to the skill of thepainter; since it is very unusual to see the light and shade justlyand naturally handled, or to find that ease and grace in the drawing, which are to be met with in the works of European artists; Inshort, there is a stiffness and minuteness in most of the Chineseproductions, which are extremely displeasing: And it may perhapsbe asserted with great truth, that these defects in their arts areentirely owing to the peculiar turn of the people, amongst whomnothing greater spirited is to be met with. 

If we next examine the Chinese literature; (taking our accounts fromthe writers, who have endeavoured to represent sent it in the mostfavourable light) we shall find; that on this head their obstinacyand absurdity are most wonderful: For though, for many ages, they havebeen surrounded by nations, to whom the use of letters was familiar, yet they, the Chinese alone, have hitherto neglected to availthemselves of that almost divine invention, and have continued toadhere to the rude and inartificial method of representing words byarbitrary marks; a method, which necessarily renders the number oftheir character too great for human memory to manage, makes writingto be an art that requires prodigious application, and in which noman can be otherwise than partially skilled; whilst all reading, andunderstanding of what is written, is attended with infinite obscurityand confusion; for the connection between these marks, and the wordsthey represent; cannot be retained in books, but must be delivereddown from age to age by oral tradition: And how uncertain this mustprove in such a complicated subject, is sufficiently obvious to thosewho have attended to the variation which all verbal relations undergo, when they are transmitted through three or four hands only. Hence itis easy to conclude, that the history and inventions of pastages, recorded by these perplexed symbols, must frequently proveunintelligible; and consequently the learning and boasted antiquity ofthe nation most, in numerous instances, be extremely problematical. 

But we are told by some of the missionaries, that though the skillof the Chinese in science is indeed much inferior to that of theEuropeans, yet the morality and justice taught and practised by themare most exemplary. And from the description given by some of thesegood fathers, one should be induced to believe that the whole empirewas a well-governed affectionate family, where the only contests were, who should exert the most humanity and beneficence: But our precedingrelation of the behaviour of the magistrates, merchants, and tradesmenat Canton, sufficiently refutes these jesuitical fictions. And asto their theories of morality, if we may judge from the specimensexhibited in the works of the missionaries, we shall find them solelyemployed in recommending ridiculous attachments to certain immaterialpoints, instead of discussing the proper criterion of human actions, and regulating the general conduct of mankind to one another onreasonable and equitable principles. Indeed, the only pretensionof the Chinese to a more refined morality than their neighbours isfounded, not on their integrity or beneficence, but solely on theaffected evenness of their demeanour, and their constant attentionto suppress all symptoms of passion and violence. But it must beconsidered, that hypocrisy and fraud are often not less mischievous tothe general interests of mankind, than, impetuosity and vehemenceof temper, since these, though usually liable to the imputation ofimprudence, do not exclude sincerity, benevolence, resolution, nor many other laudable qualities. And perhaps if this matter wereexamined to the bottom, it would appear that the calm and patientturn of the Chinese, on which they so much value themselves, and whichdistinguishes the nation from all others, is in reality the source ofthe most exceptionable part of their character; for it has been oftenobserved by those who have attended to the nature of mankind, thatit is difficult to curb the more robust and violent passions, withoutaugmenting at the same time the force of the selfish ones: So that thetimidity, dissimulation, and dishonesty of the Chinese, may, in somesort, be owing to the composure and external decency so universallyprevailing in that empire. 

Thus much for the general disposition of the people: But I cannotdismiss this subject without adding a few words about the Chinesegovernment, that too having been the subject of boundless panegyric. And on this head I must observe, that the favourable accounts oftengiven of their prudent regulations for the administration of theirdomestic affairs, are sufficiently confuted by their transactions withMr Anson: For we have seen that their magistrates are corrupt, theirpeople thievish, and their tribunals crafty and venal. Nor is theconstitution of the empire, or the general orders of the state, lessliable to exception: Since that form of government, which does notin the first place provide for the security of the public againstthe enterprises of foreign powers, is certainly a most defectiveinstitution: And yet this populous, this rich, and extensive country, so pompously celebrated for its refined wisdom and policy, wasconquered about an age since by an handful of Tartars; and even now, by the cowardice of the inhabitants, and the want of proper militaryregulations, it continues exposed not only to the attempts of anypotent state, but to the ravages of every petty invader. I havealready observed, on occasion of the commodore's disputes with theChinese, that the Centurion alone was an overmatch for all thenaval power of that empire: This perhaps may appear an extraordinaryposition; but to render it unquestionable, one may refer to vesselsmade use of by the Chinese. [2] The first of these is a junk of abouta hundred and twenty tons burden, and was what the Centurion hove downby; these are most used in the great rivers, though they sometimesserve for small coasting voyages: The other junk is about two hundredand eighty tons burden, and is of the same form with those in whichthey trade to Cochinchina, Manilla, Batavia, and Japan, though some oftheir trading vessels are of a much larger size; its head is perfectlyflat; and when the vessel is deep laden, the second or third plankof this flat surface is oft-times under water. The masts, sails, andrigging of these vessels are ruder than their built; for their mastsare made of trees, no otherwise fashioned than by barking them, andlopping off their branches. Each mast has only two shrouds made oftwisted rattan, which are often both shifted to the weather-side; andthe halyard, when the yard is up, serves instead of a third shroud. The sails are made of mat, strengthened every thee feet by anhorizontal rib of bamboo; they run upon the mast with hoops, and whenthey are lowered down, they fold upon the deck. These merchantmencarry no cannon; and it appears, from this whole description, thatthey are utterly incapable of resisting any European armed, vessel. Nor is the state provided with ships of considerable force, or of abetter fabric, to protect them: For at Canton, where doubtless theirprincipal naval power is stationed, we saw no more than four menof war junks, of about three hundred tons burden, being of the makealready described, and mounted only with eight or ten guns, thelargest of which does not exceed a four-pounder. This may suffice togive an idea of the defenceless state of the Chinese empire. But itis time to return to the commodore, whom I left with his two shipswithout the Bocca Tigris; and who, on the 12th of December, anchoredbefore the town of Macao. 

[Footnote 2: The plate is necessarily omitted. ]

Whilst the ships lay here, the merchants of Macao finished theiragreement for the galleon, for which they had offered 6000 dollars;this was much short of her value, but the impatience of the commodoreto get to sea, to which the merchants were no strangers, prompted themto insist on so unequal a bargain. Mr Anson had learnt enough from theEnglish at Canton, to conjecture that the war betwixt Great Britainand Spain was still continued; and that probably the French mightengage in the assistance of Spain, before he could arrive in GreatBritain; and therefore knowing, that no intelligence could get toEurope of the prize he had taken, and the treasure he had on board, till the return of the merchantmen from Canton, he was resolved tomake all possible expedition in getting back, that he might be himselfthe first messenger of his own good fortune, and might thereby preventthe enemy from forming any projects to intercept him: For thesereasons, he, to avoid all delay, accepted of the sum offered forthe galleon; and she being delivered to the merchants the 15th ofDecember, 1743, the Centurion the same day got under sail, on herreturn to England. And on the 3d of January, she came to an anchor atPrince's Island, in the straits of Sunda, and continued there woodingand watering till the 8th, when, she weighed and stood for the Cape ofGood Hope, where, on the eleventh of March she anchored in Table-Bay. 

Here the commodore continued till the beginning of April, highlydelighted with the place, which, by its extraordinary accommodations, the healthiness of its air, and the picturesque appearance of thecountry, all enlivened by the addition of a civilized colony, wasnot disgraced in an imaginary comparison with the vallies of JuanFernandez, and the lawns of Tinian. During his stay he entered aboutforty new men; and having by the 3d of April, 1744, completed hiswater and provision, he on that day weighed and put to sea; and onthe 19th of the same month they saw the island of St Helena, which, however, they did not touch at, but stood on their way; and, on the10th of June, being then in soundings, they spoke with an English shipfrom Amsterdam bound for Philadelphia, whence they received the firstintelligence of a French war; the 12th they got sight of the Lizard;and the 15th, in the evening, to their infinite joy, they came safe toan anchor at Spithead. But that the signal perils which had so oftenthreatened them in the preceding part of the enterprise, might pursuethem to the very last, Mr Anson learnt on his arrival, that therewas a French fleet of considerable force cruising in the chops ofthe channel, which, by the account of their position, he found theCenturion had run through, and had been all the time concealed by afog. Thus was this expedition finished, when it had lasted three yearsand nine months; after having, by its event, strongly evinced thisimportant truth, that though prudence, intrepidity, and perseveranceunited, are not exempted from the blows of adverse fortune; yet in along series of transactions, they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of proving successful. 

 * * * * *

[In concluding the account of this very interesting circumnavigation, it is necessary to advert to a question of some importance inliterature, as every question must be that involves the claims ofauthors and their respective titles to reputation. Nor is the publicoften impatient in listening to evidence on such subjects, if themerit contended for be sufficiently great to justify solicitude asto its being rightly conferred. That it is so in the case of thequestion, Who was the author of this work? no one can doubt, that iscapable of relishing its excellencies; or is aware of the high rankit has always held among compositions of the kind--that its firstreception was such as to take off four large impressions within atwelvemonth--that it has been repeatedly printed since in a variety offorms--and that it has been translated into most of the languages ofEurope. The claimants are Mr Walter, chaplain of the Centurion, underwhose name (as is mentioned in this volume of the Collection, p. 201, )it was originally, and, so far as the editor knows, always published;and Mr Benjamin Robins, an ingenious mathematician, and author ofseveral works, much esteemed by men of science. A short statement ofsuch information as the editor has been able to procure, is all thatthe limits of this work will permit to be said on the subject of thisquestion. The public, being interested in what had been generallyreported through the medium of the periodical publications, respectingthe proceedings and fate of the squadron under Commodore Anson, had eagerly expected some account of this voyage drawn up under hisnotice, or authenticated by his approval. This anxiety, it is likely, was not a little enhanced by the circumstance of several small, butcurious enough, narratives having been published of the distressesexperienced by part of the squadron, especially the Wager; from whichit was naturally enough inferred, that a judicious and minute accountof the whole could not fail to gratify rational curiosity, and thecommon disposition to wonder. Mr Walter, accordingly, who had gone inthe Centurion, the commodore's vessel, as chaplain, and who, it seems, had been in the habit of keeping memorials of the transactions andoccurrences of the squadron, prepared materials for publication, andactually procured subscriptions for the liquidation of its expense. Hebrought down his narrative to the time of his leaving the Centurion atMacao, when he returned by another conveyance to England. But as thepublic expectation had been raised very high, some persons, it wouldappear, suggested that the materials intended to be published shouldbe carefully examined, and, if need be, corrected, by an adequatejudge of literary and scientific composition. Mr Robins, already wellknown as an author of both mathematical and political essays, and muchvalued by several distinguished characters of the times, was engagedto undertake this task, whether with or without the desire of MrWalter, or under any allegation of that gentleman's known orreputed incompetency to fulfil the hopes entertained, cannot nowbe discovered. On examination, we are told, it was resolved that MrRobins should write the whole work anew, and merely use the materialsfurnished by Mr Walter, or otherwise, as the particulars of wind, weather, currents, courses, &c. &c. Usually given in a sailor'sjournal. The introduction, and several dissertations interspersedthrough, the work, are said, moreover, to have been written by MrRobins without any such assistance whatever; but to what magnitude hislabours throughout amounted, it is perhaps impossible to ascertain. That he acquired reputation by it is unquestionable; but that MrWalter himself should not have contributed so much as to warrant hisname appearing on the title-page of the book, and at its dedication tothe Duke of Bedford, would require a proof of both want of talents andmeanness of disposition, which no one yet has attempted to adduce. MrWalter's character, indeed, seems to have been quite above either suchdeficiency; and, in all probability, was, both in point of firmnessand moral and intellectual worth, the very circumstance which obtainedfor him the appointment to a responsible office in an expedition, which, in its origin, progress, and issue, attracted the peculiarregard of the British government, and the admiration of mankind ingeneral. Besides this office, it may be mentioned, that in 1745, onhis return from the expedition, he was made chaplain of Portsmouthdock-yard, in which situation he continued till his death on March10th, 1785. The first edition of the work appeared in 1748; and afifth being required in the following year, Mr Robins, it is said, revised it, and intended, had he remained in England, to have added asecond volume. This rests on the assertion of Dr Wilson, who publishedMr Robins' works after his death, in 2 vols. 8vo. 1761; and who, inthe account of that gentleman's life prefixed, has been at pains toclaim, in the strongest language, the merit of the Narrative for hisfriend. A passage or two from that memoir may satisfy the reader as tothis part of the evidence, and as to the opinion of Dr W. One of theprincipal witnesses, respecting the proportional labours of MessrsWalter and Robins. "Upon a strict perusal of both the performances, "says he, "I find Mr Robins' to contain about as much matter again asthat of Mr Walter--so this famous Voyage was composed in the person ofthe Centurion's chaplain, by Mr Robins in his own style and manner. Ofthis Mr Robins' friends, Mr Glover and Mr Ockenden, are witnesses aswell as myself, we having compared the printed book with MrWalter's manuscript. And this was at that time no secret, for inthe counterpart of an indenture, now lying before me, made betweenBenjamin Robins, Esq. And John and Paul Knapton, booksellers, I findthat those booksellers purchased the copy of this book from Mr Robins, as the sole proprietor, with no other mention of Mr Walter than aproviso in relation to the subscriptions he had taken. " Dr Wilsonevidently writes under some conviction that his assertions are liableto scrutiny, and that the matter of his remarks is debatable; hencehis allegation that other _friends_ of Mr Robins are witnesses as wellas himself, and his insinuation that what he testifies was no secret. But it is obvious, that, were his own assertions of the fact at allquestionable, he would be equally obnoxious to discredit in assigningthese other witnesses; for clearly, the man who could falsify in theone case, would be capable of doing so in the other. This may be saidwithout any impeachment whatever of either Dr Wilson or the otherfriends of Mr Robins. It is merely a remark on the mode of proof whichthe Dr has adopted. As to the insinuation again, of the fact being nosecret, all that it may be requisite to say is simply this, that thecircumstance of the existence of the counterpart of such an indentureas is mentioned, is a very indifferent proof of publicity; and thateven were it otherwise, were it "confirmation strong, " still it mightbe readily conceived that Mr Robins should be the sole proprietor ofthe work, and yet in no degree the author of it. One may believe, atleast, that Mr Robins, having aided in drawing up the materials forpublication, and having furnished some pieces for it, was entrustedwith the disposal of it to the booksellers; Mr Walter himself, forvalue received; or other considerations, abandoning all furtherconcern. Some importance has been attached to a letter from Lord Ansonto Mr Robins, as preserved by Dr Wilson, and published, as he says, byhis lordship's permission, or, to use his own expression, "Printednot without the noble lord's consent; who, " says the doctor, "beingrequested to permit that this testimony might be exhibited to theworld of his lordship's esteem for Mr Robins, replied, in the politestmanner, That every thing in his power was due to the memory of one whohad deserved so well of the public. " That Mr Robins deserved well ofthe public was unquestionable, though he had not written a line ofthe Narrative. He had published several works on subjects of generalutility; and, besides his private instructions in beneficial science, he had been employed officially in the service of his country: Inshort, he needed not any thing of the reputation of the author ofthe Narrative, whoever he was, to extend his own. But does the letterreferred to, or the quotation now given respecting Lord Anson'spermission to publish it, in any degree determine the question, or anything connected with it? The Editor has a different opinion of it; hethinks it quite irrelevant--that it does not yield the least shadowof proof, that Mr Robins had any thing to do with the volume of theNarrative, already given to the public. All that can be legitimatelyinferred from it amounts to this, that Lord Anson, entertaining ahigh opinion of Mr Robins, and being much pleased with his works, wasdesirous that he should publish a second volume of the Voyage, andapprehended that he had abandoned the intention of doing so. Of thefact of Mr Robins being the author of what had appeared, or even ofthe existence of materials for a second volume in a state fit for thepublic notice--of any thing, in short, but an intention on the part ofMr Robins to this effect, the letter in question says not a word. Letthe reader judge for himself. The letter is as follows:--

"DEAR SIR, "When I last saw you in town, I forgot to ask you, whether youintended to publish the second volume of my "Voyage" before you leaveus; which, I confess, I am very sorry for. If you should have laidaside all thoughts of favouring the world with more of your works, itwill be much disappointed, and no one in it more than your very muchobliged and humble servant, _Bath, 22d October, 1749. _

"ANSON. "

"If you can tell the time of your departure, let me know it. "

This letter is also preserved by Mr Nichols in his Literary Anecdotesof the 18th Century, vol. Ii. Page 206, where the Narrative isexplicitly ascribed to Mr Robins, but not on, any particular evidence. The statement indeed that is there given seems founded on Dr Wilson'saccount of Mr Robins, without any other source of information havingbeen consulted. The Encyclopædia Britannica is somewhat more candid, stating merely what was generally thought as to the Narrativebeing the work of Mr Robins, and at the same time pointing, thoughindirectly, to the existence of information opposed to that opinion. "In 1748, " says the article Robins, 3d edition, "appeared Lord Anson'sVoyage round the World, which, though Mr Walter's name is in thetitle, has been generally thought to be the work of Mr Robins. "--"The5th edition, printed at London, in 1749, was revised and correctedby Mr Robins himself. It appears, however, from the corrigenda andaddenda to the 1st volume of the Biographia Britannica, printed inthe beginning of the 4th volume of that work, that Mr Robins was onlyconsulted with respect to the disposition of the drawings, and thathe had left England before the book was printed. Whether this be thefact, as it is asserted to be by the widow of Mr Walter, it is not forus to determine. " The remark now made seems somewhat ambiguous, andmay refer to either the 5th edition only, or to the work in general. In referring, however, to the Biog. Brit. As above, the ambiguity isremoved, and a testimony is discovered in opposition to the statementof Dr Wilson, which the reader cannot fail to consider of very highimport, and as bearing strongly against the claims of Mr Robins. Thewriters of the Biog. Had spoken, in their account of Lord Anson, ofthe history of his voyage having been written by Mr Robins. This theydid on common though uncontradicted report, arising in all probabilityfrom the positive assertions of Dr Wilson, to which, it is certainlyvery singular, neither Mr Walter nor any of his friends chose toobject. With the most praise-worthy liberality and candour, however, these gentlemen, in the corrigenda; &c. Referred to, insert thefollowing notice:--"Thus has the matter hitherto stood. But so lateas the present year (1789) and a few days previously to the writing ofthis note, a letter upon the subject has been put into our hands byMr John. Walter, bookseller at Charing Cross. It is addressed to thatgentleman by Mrs Walter, the widow of the publisher of that Voyage, and is as follows:

"SIR, "I am informed that the Biographia Britannica insinuates that MrRobins, and not Mr Walter, was the writer of Lord Anson's Voyage roundthe World. I shall therefore take it as a favour, if you will put mein the way of correcting so great a mistake. During the time of MrWalter's writing that Voyage, he visited me almost daily previous toour marriage, and I have frequently heard him say how closely be hadbeen engaged in writing for some hours to prepare for his constantattendance upon Lord Anson at six every morning for his approbation, as his lordship overlooked every sheet that was written. At someof those meetings Mr Robins assisted, as he was consulted in thedisposition of the drawings; and I also know that Mr Robins leftEngland (for he was sent to Bergen-op-Zoom, )[2] some months before thepublication of that book; and I have frequently seen Mr Walter correctthe proof sheets for the printer. You may perhaps wonder that MrWalter never took any steps to contradict the assertion; but thatwonder will cease when I tell you that for four years before hisdeath (which was in 1785) he laboured under very severe and painfulillnesses, and therefore never heard any thing but newspaper squibs, which he looked upon with contempt. But as it now appears to bepublished in a work that will be handed down to-posterity, that MrWalter was not the real author, I think it a duty incumbent upon meto endeavour to clear his memory from any imputation of duplicity. Nor can it be supposed that any man would write a book for anotherto share the greatest part of the advantages. These and many otherreasons make me to apply to you, as I should suppose that, as arelation to the deceased, you would be anxious for his fame, as wellas, Sir, Your most humble servant, JANE WALTER. "

_June 16th, 1789. _

[Footnote 2: "Mr Robins, " says Dr Wilson, "was invited over to assistin the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, then invested by the French; andhe did accordingly set out for that place; but it was entered by thebesiegers September 16, 1747, just after his arrival in the Dutcharmy. " This corresponds well with Mrs Walter's statement, and musthave its weight in the question. --E. ]

"We shall make no other comment on this letter than to observe, that it is highly worthy of attention. If it shall give such fullsatisfaction to our readers as to convince them that Mr Walter was thewriter of the voyage in its present form, we shall rejoice in havinghad an opportunity of doing justice to an injured character. "

Such is all the information the Editor has been able to procureon this subject; and he regrets that it is not adequate to what isdesirable for the determining it. He might seem invidiously disposedwere he positively to decide in the claims, the respective evidencesof which, though not logically contradictory, are so much opposed toeach other; but he thinks he can hazard no unfavourable imputation, ifhe should merely state his opinion drawn from the consideration of thetestimonies, and the comparison of the style of part of the Narrative, with that of the works which appeared in Mr Robins' name. He thinks, then, in few words, that the Narrative is really the production ofMr Walter, under whose name it appeared, but that it was materiallyincreased in size, if not in real value, by the contributions ofMr Robins; and that the species of those contributions may becondescended on, which of course goes far to determine their amount. ]

END OF VOLUME ELEVENTH. 

Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.