On the 18th, between Fuertaventura and Grand Canary, we chased and took a small Spanish ship, bound from Teneriff to Fuertaventura, having several men and women passengers, and laden with a variety of goods. Next day we bore away for Oratavia Roads, where, after much discussion, we sold the vessel for 450 dollars, retaining all her goods. The 30th September we put into the harbour of St Vincent, one of the Cape de Verd islands, coming to anchor in ten fathoms within the rock. Seeing several men on shore, though the island is not inhabited, Captain Cook went in the pinnace, well armed, to see who they were, and found them some Portuguese from St Antonio, come to catch turtles or sea-tortoises, who told him we could have wood and water at this island, which is in lat. 16 deg. 55' N. long. 24 deg. 50' W. from Greenwich. It has great plenty of Guinea fowl, with some hogs and goats; and we caught abundance of fish in the road. In the woods there are great numbers of spiders as large as walnuts, and their webs are very troublesome to get through, being very numerous, and as strong as ordinary threads.

While here, new disturbances arose among the men, in relation to the effects taken in the late prize; as we had here an opportunity of purchasing various things, and every one wished to have the means of purchasing. To put an end to all these heart-burnings, and to fix the people in a resolution of doing their duty, we determined to settle this affair by framing such articles as might inspire the seamen with courage and constancy, and make them as willing to obey as the officers to command, without giving our owners any cause of complaint. It cost us some trouble to adjust these articles, but they effectually answered our purpose, and all our people readily agreed to abide by them.

After staying two days here, in which we heeled our ships, and got wood and water on board, our boat returned with limes and tobacco; but our linguist, who had been sent ashore to procure refreshments, did not make his appearance. Soon after there came a boat from that part of the island where the governor resides, on board of which was the deputy-governor, a negro, who brought limes, tobacco, oranges, fowls, potatoes, hogs, bananas, musk-melons, watermelons, and brandy, all of which we bought of him, paying in prize goods we had taken out of the bark at the Canaries, and at a cheap rate; for they are a poor people, and are ready to truck for any thing they want at any price, in such payments as they can make. Being ready to sail, we called a council to consider what was to be done in respect to the absence of our linguist, who had promised the deputy-governor to wait for him at the water-side, but had broke his word; and therefore, as his absence seemed to be entirely his own fault, it was unanimously resolved that we ought to leave him behind, rather than our two ships should wait for one man, who had disobeyed orders. We were the more inclined to this, that others might learn, by this example, to comply with their instructions when sent ashore, and might come aboard again without delay, after completing their business, and not flatter themselves that fair words and fine excuses were to atone for breach of duty, to humour the fancies of individuals, at the expence of delaying the voyage. This was certainly but an indifferent place for our linguist to be left in; but he knew the people and the language, and might easily get a passage home. We persisted therefore in our resolution, and gave orders for sailing as soon as possible, that we might not lose the proper season, and be obliged to double Cape Horn at a wrong time of the year.

Captain Dampier and others in our ships, who had formerly put in at St Jago, another of the Cape Verd islands, said that this island of St Vincent, though not so much frequented, is preferable to St Jago for outward-bound ships, as its road is much better, has better land, and is more convenient for wood and water. The island is mountainous and barren, its plainest part being over against the sandy bay where we anchored. The wood growing upon it is short, and only fit for fuel. We watered at a little stream that flows from a spring down the hill, and is good fresh-water, the others in that neighbourhood being brackish. It was formerly inhabited and had a governor, but is now only frequented by the inhabitants of the other islands in the season for catching turtle, these islanders being mostly negroes and mulattoes, and very poor. The stock of wild goats on this island has been mostly destroyed by the inhabitants of St Nicholas and St Antonio. The heat at this place was so excessive to us, newly from Europe, that several of our men became sick, and were blooded. There are a few wild asses; and some of our officers wounded one, after a long chase, yet he held out, and tired them.

These islands are named from Cape Verd, on the coast of Africa, whence they lie about 170 leagues to the west.[218] They are ten in number, of which St Jago, St Nicholas, Bonavista, St Antonio, Brava, Mayo, and Fuego are inhabited. St Jago is much the largest and best, and is the seat of the chief governor. Besides sugar and tobacco, this island produces a small quantity of indigo, which, with goat-skins and some other articles, are sent to Lisbon. The capital is named likewise St Jago, and is the see of a bishop. There is another town, named Ribera grande, said to consist of 500 houses, which has a good harbour. The air of this island is rather unwholesome, and the soil is very unequal, the vallies producing some corn and wine. The goats are fat and good eating, the females usually producing three or four kids at a birth, once in four months. St Nicholas is the best peopled next after St Jago. Mayo has a great deal of salt, formed by the heat of the sun in pits, or ponds, into which the sea-water is let from time to time, and might furnish many thousand tons yearly, if there were vent for it. The fine Marroquin leather is made from the goat-skins brought from these islands.

[Footnote 218: The difference of longitude between the cape and islands is seven degrees W. or 140 marine leagues.—E.]

We sailed from St Vincent on the 8th October; and in our passage to the coast of Brazil some new disputes arose among the men. After various consultations, it was determined that one Page, second mate of the Duchess, should be removed into the Duke, whence Mr Ballet was to remove into the Duchess. Captain Cooke was sent to execute this order, which Page refused to obey, but was brought away by force. Being accused of mutiny, he requested leave to go to the head before entering on his defence, which was permitted, when he jumped overboard, meaning to swim to the Duchess, while both captains were absent; but he was brought back and punished, which ended this dissension. The 18th November we anchored before Isla Grande, on the coast of Brazil, in eleven fathoms. While here new quarrels arose, and matters had like to have come to a great height in the Duchess, when Captain Courtney put eight of the ringleaders in irons, which frightened the rest, and probably prevented an attempt to run away with the ship. On the 23d two men deserted from the Duchess, but were so frightened in the night by tigers, as they supposed, though only monkeys and baboons, that they took refuge in the sea, and hallooed with all their might till they were fetched on board: yet, on the 25th, two Irish landmen stole away into the woods; but both were taken next day, and put in irons.

This island is remarkably high land, having a small cliff and a tip standing up on one side, in the middle of the highest land, easily seen in clear weather; and there is a small island without Isla Grande to the southward, rising in three little hummocks, the nearest hummock to the great island being the smallest. There is also a singularly round white rock on the larboard side, nearest Isla Grande, at the entrance between it and the main going in. On the starboard-side of this entrance there are several islands, and even the main land has much the appearance of islands till well in. The best way is, when you have opened the coves on the starboard-side going in, which are inhabited, to get a pilot to carry you to the watering-cove on Isla Grande; otherwise send a boat to the watering-cove, which lies round the inner and western point of the island, and is near a league in the passage between small islands, but room enough and bold. It is the second cove, under the first high mount, round behind the first-seen point, after getting in between, the two islands. This is the cove at which we watered; and we sounded all the passage going in, having seldom less than ten fathoms. There are other two very good coves, but we had not time to sound them. The town is N.E. from this cove, about three leagues distant.

Isla Grande is about nine leagues long, consisting of high land, as in the main, and all near the water is thickly covered with wood. The island abounds with monkeys and other wild beasts, and has plenty of good timber for various uses as well as fuel, with excellent water; and oranges, lemons, and guavas grow wild in the woods. From the town we procured rum, sugar, and tobacco, and the last is sold very dear, though not good for smoking, being too strong. We got also fowls and hogs, but the latter were scarce and dear; likewise maize, or Indian corn, bananas, plantains, guavas, lemons, oranges, and pine-apples are in great plenty; but they have no bread except cassada, which they call faranada pan, or bread of wood. Beef and mutton were cheap, but no great quantity to be had. We had fine pleasant weather most of the time we were here, but hot like an oven, as the sun was quite vertical. The winds we did not much observe, as they were little and variable, but commonly between the N. and E.

I had Neuhoff's account of Brazil on board, and from all the enquiry and observation I could make, I found his description of the country, with its animals and productions, to be just. I particularly enquired respecting the monster called the liboya, or roebuck-serpent, thinking it fabulous; but the Portuguese governor assured me that they are sometimes found thirty feet long, and as big round as a barrel, being able to swallow a roebuck at one morsel, whence it has its name; and he told me that one of these enormous serpents had been killed near the town, a short time before our arrival. The principal products of Brazil are red wood, bearing the name of the country; sugar, gold, tobacco, snuff, whale oil, and various kinds of drugs; and the Portuguese build their best ships in this country. Brazil has now become very populous, and the people take great delight in arms, especially about the gold mines, to which people of all kinds resort in great numbers, especially negroes and mulattoes. Only four years ago [in 1704] these people endeavoured to make themselves independent, but have now submitted. Some men of repute told me that the gold mines increase fast in productiveness, and that the gold is got much easier in them than in any other country.

The indigenous Brazilian women are very fruitful, and have easy labours, on which occasion they retire into the woods, and bring forth alone, and return home after washing themselves and their child; the husbands lying a-bed for the first twenty-four hours, being treated as if they had endured the pains of child-birth. The Tapoyers, who inhabit the inland country to the west, are the most barbarous of the natives, being taller and stronger than any of the other tribes, and indeed than most Europeans. They wear, by way of ornament, little sticks thrust through their cheeks and underlips, and are said to be cannibals, using poisoned arrows and darts. They live chiefly by hunting and fishing, shifting their habitations according to the seasons. Their kings, or chiefs, are distinguished by a particular manner of shaving their crowns, and by wearing their nails very long. Their priests are sorcerers, making the people believe that the devils appear to them in the form of certain insects, and they perform their diabolical worship in the night, when the women make dismal howlings, in which consists their principal devotion. They allow polygamy, yet punish adultery with death. When the young women are marriageable, but not courted, their mothers carry them to the chiefs, who deflower them, and this is deemed a great honour. Some of these people were considerably civilized by the Dutch, while they possessed a part of Brazil, and did them good service under the conduct of their native chiefs.

Leaving Isla Grande on the 30th November, we continued our voyage far to the south, where we endured great cold, owing to which, a third part of both ships companies fell sick while passing round Cape Horn, for which reason we bore away for the island of Juan Fernandez, which we had some difficulty to find, owing to its being laid down differently in all the charts. Even Captain Dampier was much at a loss, though he had been there so often, and had as it were a map of the island in his head, which exactly agreed with it when we came there. This ought to induce sea-officers to prefer their own proper business to amusement, since, with all this knowledge, we were forced to make the main land of Chili, in order to find this island, and did not strike it at the last without considerable difficulty.

We arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez on the 1st February 1709, and having a good observation the day before, when we found our lat. 34 deg. 10' S.[219] In the afternoon we hoisted out our pinnace, in which Captain Dover set off to go on shore, though not less than four leagues from the ship. As it grew dark, we observed a light on shore, which some were of opinion was from our boat, but it was evidently too large for that, and we hung up a light to direct our boat, firing our quarter-deck gun, and showing lights in our mizen and fore shrouds, that our boat might find us, as we had fallen to leeward of the island. Our boat came aboard again about two in the morning, having turned back on seeing the light ashore when within a league, and we were glad they had got off so well, as it now began to blow. We were all convinced that the light which we had seen was from the shore, and therefore prepared our ships for an engagement, supposing it might proceed from some French ships at anchor, which we must either fight or want water. All this stir and apprehension, as we afterwards found, arose from one poor man, who passed in our imaginations for a Spanish garrison, a body of Frenchmen, or a crew of pirates, and it is incredible what strange notions some of our people entertained about this light; yet it served to show their tempers and spirits, and enabled us to guess how our men would behave, in case there really were enemies on the island.

[Footnote 219: Juan Fernandez is in lat 33 deg. 40' S. long. 79 deg. W. Massa Faera, in the same latitude, is in long. 80 deg. 50' W. from Greenwich.—E.]

While under these apprehensions, we stood to the back of the island in order to fall in with the southerly wind, till we were past the island. We then stood back for it again, and ran close aboard the land that begins to form its N.E. side. The flaws came heavy off the land, and we were forced to reef our top-sails when we opened the middle bay, where we expected to have found our enemy, but saw all clear, and no ships either there or in the other bay near the N.E. end. These are the only bays in which ships can ride that come here for refreshments, the middle one being the best. We now conjectured that there had been ships here, but that they had gone away on seeing us. About noon of the 2d February, we sent our yawl on shore, in which was Captain Dover, Mr Fry, and six men, all armed; and in the mean time we and the Duchess kept turning in, and such heavy squalls came off the land that we had to let fly our top-sail sheets, keeping all hands to stand by our sails, lest the winds should blow them away. These flaws proceed from the land, which is very high in the middle of the island; but when they passed by, we had little or no wind. As our yawl did not return, we sent the pinnace well armed, to see what had occasioned the yawl to stay, being afraid there might be a Spanish garrison on the island, who might have seized her and our men.

Even the pinnace delays returning, on which we put up a signal for her to come back, when she soon came off with abundance of cray-fish, bringing also a man cloathed in goat-skins, who seemed wilder than the original owners of his apparel. His name was Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman, who had been left here by Captain Stradling in the Cinque-ports, and had lived alone on the island for four years and four months. Captain Dampier told me he had been master of the Cinque-ports, and was the best man in that vessel; so I immediately agreed with him to serve as a mate in the Duke. During his stay, he had seen several ships pass by, but only two came to anchor at the island, which he found to be Spaniards, and therefore retired from them, on which they fired at him, but he escaped into the woods. Had they been French, he would have surrendered to them; but chose rather to run the risk of dying alone on the island than fall into the hands of the Spaniards, as he suspected they would either put him to death, or make him a slave in their mines. The Spaniards had landed before he knew what they were, and came so near him that he had much ado to escape; for they not only shot at him, but pursued him into the woods, where he climbed up a tree, at the foot of which some of them made water, and killed several goats just by, yet went away without discovering him.

He told us that he was born in Largo, in the county of Fife in Scotland, and was bred a sailor from his youth. The reason of his being left here was a difference with Captain Stradling; which, together with the ship being leaky, made him at first rather willing to stay here than to continue in the ship; and when at last he was inclined to have gone, the captain would not receive him. He had been at the island before to wood and water, when two of the men were left upon it for six months, the ship being chased away by two French South-Sea ships; but the Cinque-ports returned and took them off, at which time he was left. He had with him his clothes and bedding, with a firelock and some powder and bullets, some tobacco, a knife, a kettle, a bible, with some other books, and his mathematical instruments. He diverted himself and provided for his sustenance as well as he could; but had much ado to bear up against melancholy for the first eight months, and was sore distressed at being left alone in such a desolate place. He built himself two huts of pimento trees, thatched with long grass, and lined with goat-skins, killing goats as he needed them with his gun, so long as his powder lasted, which was only about a pound at first. When that was all spent, he procured fire by rubbing two sticks of pimento wood together. He slept in his larger hut, and cooked his victuals in the smaller, which was at some distance, and employed himself in reading, praying, and singing psalms, so that he said he was a better Christian during his solitude than he had ever been before, or than, as he was afraid, he should ever be again.

At first he never ate but when constrained by hunger, partly from grief; and partly for want of bread and salt. Neither did he then go to bed till he could watch no longer, the pimento wood serving him both for fire and candle, as it burned very clear, and refreshed him by its fragrant smell. He might have had fish enough, but would not eat them for want of salt, as they occasioned a looseness; except cray-fish, which are as large as our lobsters, and are very good. These he sometimes boiled, and at other times broiled, as he did his goat's flesh, of which he made good broth, for they are not so rank as our goats. Having kept an account, he said he had killed 500 goats while on the island, besides having caught as many more, which he marked on the ear and let them go. When his powder failed, he run down the goats by speed of foot; for his mode of living, with continual exercise of walking and running, cleared him of all gross humours, so that he could run with wonderful swiftness through the woods, and up the hills and rocks, as we experienced in catching goats for us. We had a bull-dog, which we sent along with several of our nimblest runners to help him in catching goats, but he outstript our dog and men, caught the goats, and brought them to us on his back. On one occasion, his agility in pursuing a goat had nearly cost him his life: as, while pursuing it with great eagerness, he caught hold of it on the brink of a precipice, of which, he was not aware, being concealed by bushes, so that he fell with the goat down the precipice to a great depth, and was so bruised and stunned by the fall, that he lay senseless, as he supposed, for twenty-four hours, and when he recovered his senses found the goat dead under him. He was then scarcely able to crawl to his hut, about a mile distant, and could not stir out again for ten days.

He came at length to relish his meat well enough without bread and salt. In the proper season he had plenty of good turnips, which had been sowed there by Captain Dampier's men, and had now spread over several acres of ground. He had also abundance of cabbage, from the cabbage-palms, and seasoned his food with the fruit of the pimento, which is the same with Jamaica pepper, and has a fine flavour. He found also a species of black pepper, called malageta, which was good for expelling wind and curing gripes. He soon wore out all his shoes and other clothes, by running in the woods; and, being forced to shift without, his feet became so hard that he ran about every where without inconvenience, and it was some time after he came to us before he could wear shoes, as his feet swelled when he first began again to wear them. After he had got the better of his melancholy, he sometimes amused himself with carving his name on the trees, together with the date of his being left there, and the time of his solitary residence. At first he was much pestered with cats and rats, which had bred there in great numbers from some of each species which had got on shore from ships that had wooded and watered at the island. The rats gnawed his feet and clothes when he was asleep, which obliged him to cherish the cats, by feeding them with goats flesh, so that many of them became so tame that they used to lie beside him in hundreds, and soon delivered him from the rats. He also tamed some kids, and for his diversion would at times sing and dance with them and his cats: So that, by the favour of Providence and the vigour of his youth, for he was now only thirty years of age, he came at length to conquer all the inconveniences of his solitude, and to be quite easy in his mind.

When his clothes were worn out, he made himself a coat and a cap of goat skins, which he stitched together with thongs of the same, cut out with his knife, using a nail by way of a needle or awl. When his knife was worn out, he made others as well as he could of some old hoops that had been left on the shore, which he beat out thin between two stones, and grinded to an edge on a smooth stone. Having some linen cloth, he sewed himself some shirts by means of a nail for a needle, stitching them with worsted, which he pulled out on purpose from his old stockings, and he had the last of his shirts on when we found him. At his first coming on board, he had so much forgotten his language, for want of use, that we could scarcely understand him, as he seemed to speak his words only by halves. We offered him a dram, which he refused, not having drank any thing but water all the time he had been on the island, and it was some time before he could relish our provisions. He could give us no farther account of the productions of the island than has been already, except that there were some very good black plums, but hard to come at, as the trees which bear them grow on high mountains and steep rocks. There are many pimento trees, some of them being sixty feet high and two yards round; and we saw cotton trees still higher, and near four fathoms round the stems. The climate is excellent, and the trees and grass are quite verdant the whole year. The winter lasts no longer than June and July, and is not then severe, there being then only slight frosts and a little hail, but sometimes very great rains. The heat of summer is equally moderate, and there is not much thunder or tempestuous weather. He saw no venomous, or savage creature on the island, nor any other beasts besides goats, bred there from a few brought by Juan Fernandez, a Spaniard, who settled there with a few families, till the continent of Chili began to submit to the Spaniards when they removed to that country as more profitable. This island, however, might maintain a good many people, and is capable of being made so strong that they could not be easily dislodged.

We got our smith's forge ashore on the 3d February, and set our coopers to work to repair our water casks. They made a little tent also for me on shore, to enjoy the benefit of the land air. The two ships also set up tents for their sick, so that we had presently a kind of small town, in which all who were able were busily employed. A few men supplied us with excellent fish, in such abundance that they could take as many in a few hours as would serve 200 men for a meal. There were some sea-fowl in the bay, as large as geese, but they eat fishy. The governor, for so we called Mr Selkirk, never failed to procure us two or three goats every day for our sick men, by which, with the help of cabbages and other vegetables, and the wholesome air, our men soon recovered from the scurvy, and we found this island exceedingly agreeable, the weather being neither too hot nor too cold. We spent our time till the 10th in refitting our ships, taking wood on board, and laying in a stock of water, that which we brought from England, St Vincents, and Isla Grande, being spoilt by the badness of our casks. We also boiled up and refined eighty gallons of oil of sea-lions, which we used in lamps to save candles, and might have prepared several tons, if we had been provided with vessels. The sailors sometimes used this oil to fry their fish, for want of butter, and found it sufficiently agreeable. The men who worked ashore in repairing our rigging, eat the young seals, which they preferred to our ship's provisions, alleging that it was as good as English lamb. We made all the haste we could to get every thing on board, as we learnt at the Canaries that five stout French privateers were coming in company into the South Sea.

This island of Juan Fernandez is about fifteen English miles in length from E. to W. and five miles where broadest, but averaging little more than two miles in breadth, and is mostly composed of high rugged land. I know of nothing in its neighbourhood which may endanger a ship, except what is distinctly visible. We anchored in the great bay, [La Baia or Cumberland harbour] on the N.E. side, about a mile from the bottom of the bay, our best bower being dropt in forty fathoms, and the stream anchor carried in with the shore, where it was laid in about thirty fathoms. We here had plenty of several sorts of fish, as silver-fish, snappers, bonitoes, cavallos, pollocks, old wives, and cray-fish of great size. The wind blows here generally off the shore, sometimes in heavy squalls, but for the most part calm, and where we were moored the water was very smooth, owing to the winding of the shore. Mr Selkirk told us it had never blown towards the land above four hours, all the time he had been there. It is all hills and vallies, and would doubtless produce most plants usual in such climates, if manured and cultivated, as the soil promises well in most parts, and already grows turnips and some other roots, which I suppose were formerly sowed. It has plenty of wood and water, and abundance of wild goats.

There are such numbers of great sea-lions and other seals of various sorts, all having excellent furs, in every bay, that we could hardly walk about along shore for them, as they lay about in flocks like sheep, their young ones bleating for their dams like so many lambs. Some of these sea-lions are as big in the body as an English ox, and they roar like lions. They are covered with short hair of a light colour, which is still lighter on the young ones. I suppose they live partly on fish and partly on grass, for they come on shore by means of their fore paws, dragging their hind parts after them, and bask themselves in the sun in great numbers. They cut near a foot deep of fat, and we killed a good many of them for the sake of their oil, which is of good quality, but they are difficult to kill. Both sea-lions and seals were so numerous on the shore, that we had to drive them away before we could land, and they were so numerous as is hardly credible, making a most prodigious noise.

There are but few birds. One sort, called pardelas by the Spaniards, burrow in the ground like rabbits, and are said to be good eating. There are also humming-birds, not much larger than bumble bees, their bills no thicker than a pin, their legs proportional to their bodies, and their minute feathers of most beautiful colours. These are seldom taken or seen but in the evenings, when they fly about, and they flew sometimes at night into our fire. There is here a sort of cabbage tree, of the nature of a palm, producing small cabbages, but very sweet. The tree is slender and straight, with circular knobs on the stem fourteen inches above each other, and having no leaves except at the top. The branches are about twelve feet long, and at about a foot and a half from the body of the tree begin to shoot out leaves, which are four feet long and an inch broad, and so regularly placed that the whole branch seems one entire leaf. The cabbage, which grows out from the bottom of the branches, is about a foot long and very white; and at the bottom of this there grow clusters of berries, weighing five or six pounds, like bunches of grapes, as red as cherries and larger than our black-heart cherries, each having a large stone in the middle, and the pulp eats like our haws. These cabbage trees abound about three miles into the woods, the trunk being often eighty or ninety feet high, and is always cut down to get the cabbages, which are good eating; but most of them grow on the tops of the nearest mountains to the great bay.

We found here some Guinea pepper, and some silk cotton trees, besides several others with the names of which I am not acquainted. Pimento is the best timber, and the most plentiful at this side of the island, but it is very apt to split till it is a little dried. We cut the longest and cleanest to split for fire wood. In the nearest plain, we found abundance of turnip greens, and water-cresses in the brooks, which greatly refreshed our men, and quickly cured them of the scurvy. Mr Selkirk said the turnips formed good roots in our summer months, which are winter at this island; but this being autumn, they were all run up to seed, so that we had no benefit of them excepting their green leaves and shoots. The soil is a loose black earth, and the rocks are very rotten, so that it is dangerous to climb the hills for cabbages without great care. There are also many holes dug into the ground by a sort of birds called puffins, which give way in walking, and endanger the breaking or wrenching a limb. Mr Selkirk said he had seen snow and ice here in July, the depth of the southern winter; but in September, October, and November, the spring months, the climate is very pleasant, and there are then abundance of excellent herbs, as purslein, parsley, and sithes. We found also an herb, not unlike feverfew, which proved very useful to our surgeons for fomentations. It has a most grateful smell like balm, but stronger and more cordial, and grew in plenty near the shore. We gathered many large bundles of it, which were dried in the shade, and sent aboard for after-use, besides strewing the tents with it fresh gathered every morning, which tended much to the recovery of our sick, of whom, though numerous when we came here, only two died belonging to the Duchess. We found the nights very cold, and the days not near so warm as might have been expected in so low a latitude. It hardly ever rains, instead of which there fall very heavy dews in the night, which serve the purposes of rain, and the air is almost perpetually serene.

The 13th February we held a consultation, in which we framed several regulations for preserving secrecy, discipline, and strict honesty in both vessels: and on the 17th we determined that two men from the Duke should serve in the Duchess, and two of her men in the Duke, to see that justice was reciprocally done by each ship's company to the other. The 28th we tried both pinnaces in the water under sail, having a gun fixed in each, and every thing else requisite to render them very useful small privateers.

SECTION II.

Proceedings of the Expedition on the Western Coast of America.

In the evening of the 13th March[220] we saw a sail, and the Duchess being nearest soon took her. She was a small bark of sixteen tons from Payta, bound to Cheripe for flour, having a small sum of money on board to make the purchase, being commanded by a Mestizo, or one begotten between a Spaniard and an Indian, having a crew of eight men, one a Spaniard, another a negro, and all the rest Indians. On asking for news, we were told, that all the French ships, being seven in number, had left the South Sea six months before, and no more were to come there; adding, that the Spaniards had such an aversion to them, that they had killed many Frenchmen at Callao, the port of Lima, and quarrelled with them so frequently that none of them were suffered to come ashore there for some time before they sailed.

[Footnote 220: It is quite obvious that they had now left Juan Fernandez, but this circumstance and its date are omitted by Harris.—E.]

After putting some men aboard the prize, we haled close upon a wind for the isle of Lobos, and had we not been informed by our prisoners, had endangered our ships by running too far within that isle, as there are shoals between the island and the main, having a passage for boats only in that direction to get into the road which is to leeward of these islands in a sound between them. This sound is a mile long and half a mile wide, and has from ten to twelve fathoms on good ground. The only entrance for ships is to leeward of the islands. We went in with a small weather tide, but I could never observe it to flow above three feet while we were there. On the eastermost island there is a round hummock, behind which is a small cove, very smooth, deep, and convenient enough for careening a ship; we here hauled up and fitted our prize, which we named the Beginning. The highest part of the island of Lobos, as seen from the road, did not seem much higher than the top-mast head of a large ship. The soil is a hungry white clayish earth, mixed with sand and rocks; and there is no fresh water, nor any green thing to be seen on either of the islands. They are frequented by many vultures or carrion crows, and looked so like turkeys that one of our officers was rejoiced at the sight, expecting to fare sumptuously, and would not wait till the boat could put him ashore, but leapt into the water with his gun, and let fly at a parcel of them; but, when he came to take up his game, it stunk most abominably, and made us merry at his expence. The other birds here are pelicans, penguins, boobies, gulls, and one resembling teal, which nestle in holes under ground. Our men got great numbers of these birds, which they said were good meat after being skinned.

We found abundance of bulrushes and empty jars, which the Spanish fishers had left on shore; for all over this western coast of America, they use earthen jars instead of casks, for containing oil, wine, and all other liquids. There are here abundance of sea-lions and seals, the latter being much larger than those we saw at Juan Fernandez, but their fur not so fine. Our people killed several of these, on purpose to eat their livers; but a Spaniard on board died suddenly after eating them, and I forbade their use, and we learnt also from our prisoners that the old seals are very unwholesome. The wind commonly blows here fresh from the south, veering to the east, and coming over the land to where we lay, brought with it a most noisome smell from the seals on shore, which gave me a violent headach, and offended every one else extremely. We found nothing so offensive at Juan Fernandez.

Our prisoners told as, that the widow of the late viceroy of Peru was soon expected to embark in a Spanish man of war of thirty-six guns for Acapulco, with her family and riches; on which voyage she would either stop at Payta for refreshments, or pass in sight of that place, as is customary. They said also that about eight months before, a ship had passed Payta for Acapulco, loaded with flour and liquors, and having 200,000 dollars on board. Also, that they had left signior Morel at Payta, in a ship laden with dry goods, who was expected to sail shortly for Lima; and that a stout French-built ship richly laden, and having a bishop on board, was shortly expected at Payta. This is the common place for refreshments, and is frequented by most ships from Lima or other parts to windward, on their way to Panama or other ports on the western coast of Mexico. On this information, we determined to spend as much time as possible cruising off Payta, so as not to discover that we were in these seas lest we should thereby hinder our other designs.

In pursuance of this plan, we took a galleon on the 1st April, of 500 tons burden, commanded by two brothers, Joseph and Juan Morel, laden with dry goods and negroes; and next day we took another prize. We now determined to make an attack on the town of Guayaquil; and on the 11th April, in a grand consultation, this enterprize was fully resolved upon, and a paper of instructions was drawn up for the guidance of the officers who were to command, so that each might be taught and kept to his duty. This enterprize was to be conducted by the three captains, Rogers, Courtney, and Dover. Captain Dover was to command the van division, consisting of seventy marines; Rogers the centre company, of seventy-one men, mostly officers and sailors; and Courtney the rear-guard, of seventy-three men; while Captain Dampier, with a reserve of twenty-two men, was to bring up some pieces of cannon, to be employed if necessary. Our force therefore on this occasion consisted of 238 men.[221] Captain Cooke was to remain in the Duchess with forty-two men, and Captain Fry in the Duke with forty, our entire force being 320 men, while we had about 266 prisoners in both ships, including Indians and Negroes.

[Footnote 221: The enumeration in the text gives only 236 men.—E.]

Every thing being arranged, we bore in for Cape Blanco on the 13th, of which we had sight about noon, bearing E.S.E. ten leagues off. On the 15th in the morning we saw a ship near the shore, and having little wind, the Duke's boat, commanded by Captain Fry, and that of the Duchess by Captain Cooke, rowed directly for her, going off in such haste that neither of them had the swivel guns commonly used in the boats, neither had they their full complement of men, and only ten muskets and four pistols, with not much powder and shot, and no water. They rowed very hard for six leagues to get up with the ship, and on Mr Fry getting near, she hoisted Spanish colours. We could plainly see that she was French-built, and therefore concluded that it must be the ship we had long looked for, which was to carry the bishop. Our ships being almost out of sight, and the chase near the coast, making the best of her way to run ashore in a sandy bay, we resolved to lay her on board, one of our boats on each bow, I[222] being then on her weather quarter, and Captain Fry on her lee. It was our intention to pretend that we were friends, till we should get out of the way of her stern-chase guns; but the Duke's men, conceiving the Spaniards were going to give us a volley, poured in their shot. We then laid in our oars, and fell to with our small arms. We kept up a constant fire for a long time, which was returned by the Spaniards, who killed two of Captain Fry's men, and wounded one of his and two of mine. One of the dead men was John Rogers, our second lieutenant, and brother to Captain Woods Rogers, who had behaved himself gallantly. Finding the enterprize too difficult, Captain Fry drew off his boat, as I did soon after. Captain Fry then put some of his men aboard my boat, giving us some powder and shot, and taking in our wounded men, on which he stood away towards our ships, while I resolved to keep the chase if possible from running on shore, and rather than fail to clap her on board. Seeing our design, the enemy edged off to sea, and we after them. Our ships came up apace, while we kept close to the Spaniard, sometimes firing at him. At length the Duchess got up and fired a shot or two, on which she struck, and we immediately boarded. The men begged for quarter, and we promised them all civility. This ship was of 270 tons, commanded by Don Joseph Arizabella, and had come from Panama bound for Lima, where she was to have been fitted out as a man of war, the captain having his commission on board for that purpose. She had seventy negroes on board, with many passengers. The loading was bale goods, with some things belonging to the bishop, and a considerable quantity of pearls; but the bishop had been landed at Point St Helena, whence he was to go by land to Guayaquil. Many of the passengers were considerable merchants at Lima, and the briskest Spaniards I ever saw. After the capture of this ship, Captain Cooke remained on board, sending her captain and the rest of the prisoners to the Duke and Duchess.

[Footnote 222: This particular action is related by Harris in the words of Captain Cooke, who commanded the boat from the Duchess.—E.]

We now proceeded on our intended expedition against Guayaquil, sending the Beginning ahead to Punta arena, or Sandy Point, on the island of Puna, to see if there was any force to oppose us; but she only found a Spanish bark, quite empty, riding close under the point. She had been sent to load salt, but her men had abandoned her on seeing us approach. At five in the afternoon, our whole force intended for the attack upon Guayaquil, being embarked in boats, rowed for that place; and at eleven at night we could see a light in the town, on which we rowed as easy as we could and in silence, for fear of being discovered; till we were within a mile of the place. We then heard a sentinel call to another, and after conversing for some time, bid him bring fire. Perceiving we were now discovered, we rowed to the other side of the river, opposite the town, whence we saw a fire lighted up at the place where the centinels had talked, and soon after we could see lights all over the town and at the water side, heard them ring the alarm bell, fire several vollies, and saw a fire lighted on the hill where the beacon was kept, all on purpose to give notice to the town and neighbourhood that we were come into the river.

Our boats were now moored with grapplings, and so hot a dispute took place among some of our officers, that they were heard on shore; but as the Spaniards did not understand what they said, an English prisoner was brought to the shore to interpret what they heard. By the time he came, the dispute was over; but this Englishman afterwards joined us, and gave us this account. We held a council in the stern sheets of one of our boats, to consider whether we should land immediately or wait till day-light; and, as the barks were not come up, in which were the artillery and half of our men, and as we did not know the ground sufficiently to act in the dark, it was agreed to wait till day, by which time it was hoped the barks would join. We accordingly fell down the river a short way, to meet our barks, hearing several musket shots by the way. On the 23d April at day-break, we saw one of our barks at anchor within a mile of the town, close under the shore, and the other coming up the river with the tide of flood. We then rowed up to our bark, which had fired the shots we heard in the night at some fishermen passing by, whom they took.

All our force being now joined, we proceeded up the river, and sent a flag of truce on shore, accompanied by Don Joseph Arizabella, the governor of Puna, and another prisoner; and then towed up our barks over against the town, where we came to an anchor. When Captain Arizabella came with our flag of truce before the corregidor or mayor of Guayaquill, he enquired our numbers, which the captain magnified, on which the corregidore said we were boys, not men. To this the captain answered, he would find them men, and brave ones too, for they had fought him gallantly in their open boats, although he had slain the brother of their commander and others; and therefore advised him to agree for the ransom of the town, as even if he had 3000 men he would be unable to withstand the English. To this the corregidore replied, My horse is ready.

After bringing our barks to anchor, we went up the river after some vessels, six of which we secured and brought to anchor beside our barks. We also took possession of two new ships of about 400 tons burden each. Soon after this, the governor came on board one of the prizes, to treat for the ransom of the town and ships, but could not then agree, but promised to meet the captains again at seven in the evening, but did not keep his sword. This evening our boats took some canoes having silver on board. On the 24th in the morning, the governor came off again to treat, but no agreement could be made; and at four in the afternoon we landed all our men in good order, when the Spaniards only fired one volley and then fled. Our men pursued them to where their cannon were placed, which they soon gained possession of, only one gunner, an Irishman, remaining by them till he was wounded in four places, of which he soon afterwards died. We marched through both towns in a compact body, driving the enemy before us, and then placed three guards in the three churches, setting fire to five or six houses which stood near to a wood into which the Spaniards had fled, that they might not have the cover of these houses to annoy our guard, which stood within pistol shot. All night they kept firing at our sentinels from the woods, yet without doing us any harm. Several parties also of horse and foot came out of the wood, as if to attack us, but made no attempt. In the mean time, the pinnace belonging to the Duchess, in which was Lieutenant Connely and twenty-two men, went up the river, landed at every house near its banks, and brought away all the plate and other articles of value they could find. In this service, they had some skirmishing with the enemy, in which one of our men was wounded.

On the 25th the enemy appeared numerous in the woods, whence they sometimes came out and skirmished with our guards, in which one of our men was wounded. We spent the afternoon in sending off provisions from the town to our ships, and in disposing all things in readiness in case of being attacked in the night, as the enemy appeared numerous about the outskirts. For this reason, all the captains concentrated our whole force at the main guard, where we had our cannon in readiness. Messengers arrived with a flag of truce in the morning of the 26th, to treat for ransoming the town, but could not agree; but in the afternoon it was at length agreed to pay 30,000 dollars for its ransom, giving three hostages, and we were to remain at Puna till they had time to raise the sum, as the inhabitants had carried away their money, and being so dispersed that it was impossible to collect the money while we were there, even the inhabitants of the adjacent country having carried off their valuable effects into the interior.

In the morning of the 27th, the hostages for the ransom were sent on board one of our barks, together with a boatload of brandy; and, as agreed upon with the Spaniards, we took down our union jack, hoisted a flag of truce, and fired a signal gun, that the Spaniards might come freely into the town, and that no hostilities should take place on either side during the time we had agreed to wait for the money. The purpose of admitting the Spanish inhabitants was to prevent the Indians and Negroes from robbing; and I am apt to believe they had already robbed as much as we had plundered, for we had taken many of them loaded with goods, while going our rounds, which they confessed to have stolen; and we were afterwards informed, that the inhabitants, in their hurry, had given much plate and money to Negroes to carry out of town, which they could never hear of afterwards.

The 29th in the morning we took a small Spanish bark, coming from Cheripe to Guayaquil, on board of which were 330 bags of meal, and 140 arobas or hundred-weights of sugar, with some onions, quinces, and pomegranates. This, with the six barks and two great ships ransomed with the town of Guayaquil, made 14 prizes taken in the South Sea. The plunder taken in Guayaquil, exclusive of the ransom, was very considerable. We found 230 bags of flour, beans, peas, and rice; 15 jars of oil, besides 160 jars of other liquor; some cordage, iron ware, and nails; about four half jars of powder; about a ton of pitch and tar; 150 bales of dry goods; a few packs of indigo, cacao, and arnotto; about a ton of loaf-sugar; a considerable parcel of clothes and other necessaries, and to the value of about L1200 in plate, ear-rings, and other trinkets; besides four pieces of cannon, and about 200 useless muskets. We left abundance of goods in the town, besides liquors of all sorts, and a variety of naval stores, and several warehouses full of cacao. We left also several ships on the stocks, and two new ships still unrigged, of above 400 tons each, which cost upwards of 80,000 crowns; and we also restored four barks, leaving two others to bring down the ransom. Thus it appears that the Spaniards had a good bargain; but the agreed ransom, though small, was far better for us than to burn what we could not carry away. The hostages informed us, that during our treaty 80,000 dollars belonging to the king had been sent out of the town, besides plate, jewels, and other things of the greatest value. Hence it is certain, if we had landed at the first, giving them no time at all, that we had been much greater gainers, and might have made 200,000 dollars, in ready money, plate, and jewels. Yet Guayaquil had not been so poor for forty years as now, there having been a great fire about a year and half before we took it, in which the best part of the town was burnt down, and had occasioned great expence for its rebuilding.

As it was, we thought ourselves well off, and great care was taken that all concerned in the expedition should be satisfied, by which our people were much gratified, and afterwards shewed great alacrity in executing our other enterprizes. This is of the utmost consequence with privateers; for, if the men have the smallest jealousy of being ill treated in this respect, disputes arise which do infinitely more mischief than the value of what can be got by such sinister practices. Among all the men who landed in this enterprize, the only man who drank a cup too much was one John Gabriel, a Dutchman, who served in the company commanded by Captain Rogers. When we were evacuating the town, he was missing, and was supposed to be either taken or slain. But he had found some excellent brandy in the house where he was quartered, of which he drank so liberally that he fell fast asleep on the floor, and was in that condition when we evacuated the town. The master of the house returned soon after, and found the Dutchman stretched out at full length, and so dead asleep that he could hardly distinguish whether he were living. Calling in some of his neighbours, and securing the Dutchman's weapons, they set him on his feet, and with some difficulty brought him to his senses, when he was not a little alarmed at finding himself in such company. At length the Spaniard restored his arms, and desired him to make all the haste he could after his comrades, who were not yet embarked.

On the 2d May, which was the day appointed for payment of the ransom, no boat appeared, and we began to be uneasy for our money; but at length the boat arrived, and brought us 22,000 dollars. We received the money, and sent back a message that we proposed to sail from Puna next morning, and should carry away the hostages, if the rest of the money were not then sent. We staid however till the 6th, when Captain Courtney was anxious to depart, lest we should be attacked by the French and Spanish ships from Lima. I endeavoured in vain to convince him that we were in no danger, as they could not by this time have received notice at Lima, and have fitted out a force sufficient to attack us. We sailed however, and came to anchor in the afternoon a few leagues from Point Arena. Next morning, when we were preparing to sail, Mr Morel, a gentleman from Puna related to our prisoners, and another gentleman from Guayaquil, brought us 3500 dollars, in farther payment of our ransom. This put us into such good humour, that we discharged all our prisoners except the Morels, the three hostages, and three or four more. The gentleman from Guayaquil had a gold chain and some other things of value, for which we sold him our bark, the Beginning, having no farther use for her. We also gave Captain Arizabella three negro women, and another to Mr Morel, and returned their wearing apparel to most of our prisoners who were now liberated, so that we parted good friends.

Guayaquil is divided into two parts, called the old and new towns, which together contain about 500 houses, and are joined by a long wooden bridge for foot passengers, near half a mile long. It is situated in low boggy ground, so dirty in winter that it is difficult to go from house to house. There is but one regular street along the river side, leading to the bridge, and from it along the old town. Besides this, there is a handsome parade or square in front of the church of St Jago, but that church is in ruins. Besides this, there are three other churches, St Augustin, St Francis, and St Dominic; before which last is another parade, and a half-moon battery fitted for mounting six guns, but there were none while we were there. There is also a chapel, and there had been a church dedicated to St Ignatius, belonging to the jesuits, but it was burnt down in the great fire. These were all decently adorned with altars, carved work, and pictures, and that dedicated to St Augustin had an organ, but all their plate had been carried away by the priests and students, who fled into the woods. Some of the houses were of brick, particularly about the parades, and the rest of timber or split bamboos, and some of them were decently furnished. Some of the inhabitants had calashes, but I know not what use they could be of, all the neighbourhood being so boggy that there was not road for them.

The boggy ground about Guayaquil was full of the largest toads I ever saw, some being as big as an English two-penny loaf. The town was said to contain 2000 inhabitants of all sorts, including Indians, Negroes, and Mulattoes. An Englishman who joined us here, told us that, in the preceding December, on occasion of a public rejoicing for the birth of the prince of the Asturias, which lasted for three weeks, they had mustered 1100 foot and 500 horse, all armed, which came from the surrounding country, besides a much greater number unarmed, the greater part of whom must have been Indians. Guayaquil is well situated for trade and ship-building, being fourteen leagues from Point Arena and seven from Puna, up a large river, into which fall several smaller ones, and on which there are many villages and farms. The water of this river is fresh for four leagues below the city, and all along its banks grow great quantities of mangroves and sarsaparillas, and on account of this last the water is thought salutary against the lues. But during floods, when it brings down many poisonous plants from the mountains, among which is the manchinilla apple, it is not reckoned wholesome. All birds that eat of this apple are sure to die, and we saw hundreds of them dead, floating on the water.

The seasons here are very improperly denominated summer and winter. The winter is reckoned from the beginning of December to the end of May, in all which season it is sultry, hot, wet, and unhealthy. From the end of May to the beginning of December, which they call summer, the weather is serene, dry, and healthy, and not so violently hot as in what they denominate winter. The cacao is ripe and mostly gathered between June and August. Of the other fruits of this country, some are ripe and others green during the whole course of the year. Guayaquil is the chief city of a province of that name in the kingdom of Peru, governed by a president with five or six orders of judges, forming a royal audiencia, or chief court of judicature, and accountable only to the viceroy in military affairs,[223] and every province has a government of the same nature. The governors are appointed, or more properly purchase their offices, at the court of Old Spain, and are for life or good behaviour. If any one die or misbehave, the viceroy may name another during his time, which ought only to be for five years; but he sometimes gets those of his own placing confirmed by an order from Spain, by which means he derives a considerable portion of his unknown profits. The late viceroy of Peru continued in office fourteen years, several intended successors having died on the way. Scarcely does the king of Spain live in greater splendour than the viceroy does at Lima, where the chief courts of judicature are held, to which appeals are brought from all the courts and provinces of this extensive kingdom. I was told on good authority that the last viceroy, who died about four years ago, left at least eight millions of dollars to his widow and family, besides vast sums given in charity during his life, and building many churches, friaries, and nunneries. He left a better character than any viceroy had done for an age past.

[Footnote 223: This province is now in the kingdom or viceroyalty of New Granada, and audiencia of Quito.—E.]

The province of Guayaquil abounds in excellent timber of several kinds, so that it is the chief place in all Peru for building and repairing ships, of which there are seldom less than seven or eight on the stocks here at one time. Its chief commodity is cacao, with which it supplies most parts on the South Sea, and we were told it never exported less than 30,000 carguas yearly, and sometimes double that quantity, a cargua being eighty-one pounds weight, which only costs here two dollars and a half. They have also a considerable trade in salt and salt-fish, from Cape St Helena, which is mostly sent to Quito and other places of the inland country. It exports also a vast quantity of timber to Truxilo, Chana, Lima, and other places, where it is scarce. They export also from hence rice and cotton, with some dried or jerked beef. This province has no mines of gold or silver, but abounds in all sorts of cattle, which are very cheap, especially on the island of Puna, where we amply supplied ourselves. Their only grain is maiz, so that all their wheat flour is brought from Truxilo, Cherisse, and other places to windward, or to the south, as the wind blows here always from the south. They procure several kinds of woollen cloth, among which, are very strong and good bags, from Quito. Their wines, brandy, olives, oil, and sugar, come from Piscola, Nasca, and other places to windward. All kinds of European goods are brought from Panama, being brought there overland from Portobello on the Gulf of Mexico; and the trade of this port is so considerable as to employ forty sail every year, besides coasters. A market is also held daily on bark logs, or boats, every day, on the river before the town, containing every thing afforded by the interior country in great plenty.

The other towns in the province are governed by lieutenants, or deputies, appointed by the corregidore. Above half of these towns border on the same river or its branches, so that their inhabitants can all come to the capital in two tides, though some are many leagues distant. Porto Vaco was formerly the capital. In the whole province, the Spaniards reckon 10,000 inhabitants, but I believe there are many more, including all the mixed races between Spaniards, Indians, and negroes, which they divide and subdivide into eleven denominations. Few of the prisoners who fell into our hands were healthy or sound, and nearly half of the native Spaniards applied to our doctors for remedies against the French disease, which is so common here that it is reckoned no scandal.

On the 11th May, with a strong gale at S.S.W. we bore away for the Gallepagos islands, being in a very sad condition; for we had upwards of twenty men ill in the Duke, and near fifty in the Duchess, seized with a malignant fever, contracted, as I suppose, at Guayaquil, where a contagious disease had reigned a month or five weeks before we took it; which swept away ten or twelve persons every day, so that all the churches were filled, being their usual burying places, and they had to dig a great deep hole close by the great church, where I kept guard, and this hole was almost filled with putrefying bodies: and our lying so long in that church, surrounded by such noisome scents, was enough to infect us all. In twenty-four hours more we had fifty men down and the Duchess upwards of seventy, and in the next twenty-four hours, ten more fell sick in each ship. We discovered land on the 17th, and on the 18th, at day-break, we were within four leagues of two large islands almost joining each other, having passed that we first saw during the night. We sent repeatedly ashore here in search of water, but could find none, though the people went three or four miles up into the country, and they reported that the island was nothing but loose rocks like cinders, very rotten and heavy, and the earth so parched that it broke into holes under their feet. This made me suppose there had been a volcano here; and though there is much shrubby ground, with some green herbs, there was not the smallest signs of water, neither was it possible for any to be contained on such a surface. In short, we found these islands completely to disappoint our expectations, and by no means to agree with the descriptions of former voyagers. We had also the misfortune to lose company of one of our barks, in which was Mr Hately, with five of our men, two Spanish prisoners, and three negroes.[224]

[Footnote 224: Mr Hately, being unable to rejoin his companions, was forced to land at Cape Passado in lat. 0 deg. 25' S. on the coast of Guayaquil, where he and his people were barbarously used by a mixed race between the Indians and negroes; but were rescued by a priest, and sent to Lima, where he was kindly treated.—E.]

In a consultation on the 26th May, we resolved to proceed for the island of Plata in quest of water, and then to come immediately off the coast again, having information of two French ships, one of sixty and the other of forty-six guns, together with a Spanish man of war, that would soon be sent in search of us. It was also our intention to refit our ships there, and not to go near the main, our ships being out of order, and our men very weak and sickly, several of them having already died. We accordingly sailed on the 27th, and in another conversation on the 30th, it was agreed to go first to Gorgono, to see if there were any English ships there; and afterwards to sail for Maugla, Malaga, or Madulinar,[225] where there are some Indians at enmity with the Spaniards, who, as the pilots informed us, come seldom there, and were not likely to procure any intelligence of us from thence. They told us also, if we could induce the Indians to trade with us, we might have hogs, fowls, plantains, bananas, and other refreshments.

[Footnote 225: The island of Gorgona is on the coast of New Granada, in lat. 2 deg. 54' N. and long. 78 deg. 35' W.]

While on our course towards Gorgona, the Duchess took the San Thoma de Villa nova of ninety tons, having about forty people on board, including eleven negro slaves, and but little European goods, except some cloth and iron. Next day we made the island of Gorgona,[226] and on the 8th of June our boats brought in another prize, a small bark of fifteen tons belonging to a creek on the main. She was bound to Guayaquil, having ten Spaniards and Indians on board, and some negroes, but had very little cargo, except a small quantity of gold dust and a large gold chain, together of about 500l. value, which were secured aboard the Duchess. In a consultation, held on the 19th June, proceeding upon information procured from our prisoners, it was resolved to proceed to Malaga, at which there was an anchorage, where we proposed to leave our ships, and to row up the river for the rich gold mines of Barbacore, [Barbaceas][227] called also the mines of St Pean, from a village of that name about two tides up the river. At that place we proposed to seize canoes, as fitter than our boats for going up against the stream, in which, at this season of the year, according to the information of an old Spanish pilot, there are such strong freshes, that he did not expect we should reach the mines in less than twelve days. But having discoursed with several of the prisoners, we found the island of Malaga an unsafe place for our ships, and besides, they represented the river as so narrow, that the Indians would be able to assail us with poisoned arrows, and the Spaniards might easily cut off our retreat, by felling trees across from bank to bank. On this information, we held another consultation, in which it was agreed to desist from this enterprize, and we came accordingly back to Gorgona, in so very weak a condition that we could hardly have defended ourselves, if attacked.

[Footnote 226: It is somewhat difficult to ascertain what island is here meant. There are some islands at the mouth of the Rio de Mira, in lat. 1 deg. 38' N. on one of which is Punta de Mangles, or Cape Mangles, resembling one of the names in the text; but from the context, the island for which they were next bound appears to have been that now called Del Gallo, in lat. 1 deg. 55' N. not above ten miles south from the river they proposed to enter.—E.]

[Footnote 227: Barbacoas is one of the provinces of New Granada, having a town of the same name in the _Rio Telemli_, which joins the _Rio Patia.—E.]

We arrived at Gorgona on the 13th June, where we anchored in forty fathoms, and resolved to careen our two ships in succession, beginning with the Duchess. Our sick men were removed into the galleon, and the sick officers to the French-built ship. We landed tents for the cooper's and armourer's crews, and cleared a place for tents to accommodate the sick on shore. All this was performed with so much diligence, that by the 28th both ships were careened, caulked, rigged, and restored fit for sea. On the 29th, we set up tents ashore for the sick, who were already much recovered, though the Spaniards had represented this island as unhealthy; yet by walking about on shore they soon gathered strength enough to return to their duty. We here fitted out the French-built ship, with twenty guns, putting Captain Cooke into her, with a crew taken from the other two ships, resolving to carry her home with us, and to employ her as a third cruizer while in these seas; and this great work employed us from the 29th June to the 9th July, calling her the Marquis. She had thirty-five men from the Duke and twenty-six from the Duchess, making a crew of sixty-one British, to which were added twenty negroes.

Our next care was to get rid of our prisoners, who were a great burden to us, and we resolved therefore to set them on shore, after trying every possible method to engage them in a scheme for trading with us. For this purpose I proposed going to Panama, to remain six days near that place, till they should bring the money we could agree for, as the price of our prize goods; and to this the two Morels and Don Antonio agreed, provided we would take 60,000 dollars for the whole. I then proposed to give them up the galleon and all the goods and negroes, if they would give us 120,000 dollars for the whole. They told us that trading in these seas with strangers, especially the English and Dutch, was so rigidly prohibited, that they would have to give more than the original cost in bribes, to procure licence to deal with us, and could not therefore assure us of payment, unless we agreed to take a low price. Finding it therefore not worth while to waste time, and knowing we should run much risk in treating with them, we at length resolved to set them all ashore, hoping the Morels and Don Antonio would get money for us, to prevent us from burning the ships we could not conveniently carry away. At parting, I made them sensible that we had treated them like generous enemies, and said we would sell them good bargains for what money they might be able to bring us in ten days, after which we should burn or carry away all that was not then disposed of. We accordingly landed seventy-two prisoners on the 10th July. On the 16th the Morels came off with what money they had been able to procure, and bought some of our goods, behaving with much honour, and putting great confidence in us. On the 18th, a negro belonging to the Duchess was bitten by a small brown speckled snake, and died in twelve hours. There are many snakes in this island of Gorgona, and I saw one above three yards long, and as thick as my leg. The same morning the Mr Morels went off a second time in our bark for money; and this day one of the same kind of snakes that killed our negro was found on the forecastle of the Duke, having crawled up the cable, as we supposed, as they were often seen in the water.

On the 2d of August we were like to have had a mutiny, for the steward informed me that he understood many of the men had entered into a secret agreement, and he had heard some ringleaders boasting that sixty men had already signed the paper, but knew not the nature of their design. I immediately convened the officers in the cabin, where we armed ourselves, and soon secured four of the principal mutineers, putting the fellow who wrote the paper in irons. By this time all the people were on deck, and we had got their paper from those we had in custody; the purport of it being to refuse accepting the intended distribution of plunder, and not to move from this place, till they had what they termed justice done them. Not knowing how far this mutiny might have been concerted with the people of the other ships, we agreed to discharge those in confinement, on asking pardon, and faithfully promising never to be guilty of the like again.

We sailed from Gorgona on the 11th August, and as our ships were now rather thinly manned, I engaged thirty-two of our negro prisoners to join our company, placing Michael Kendall, a free Jamaica negro, who had deserted to us from the Spaniards, as their leader, and charging him to exercise them in the use of arms. At the same time I supplied them with clothes, desiring them to consider themselves now as Englishmen, and no longer slaves to the Spaniards. After this we stood over to the bay of Jecames, [Atacames,] where the Indians are free; and with much ado entered into trade with them, by the help of a priest. We sent them three large wooden saints to adorn their church, which they took as a great present; and I sent a feathered cap to the wife of the chief which was well accepted. We here sold some of our prize goods to good account, so that we had provisions very cheap. We sailed from hence on the 1st September, intending for the Gallapagos, and on the 8th we made one of these islands.

Next day we came to anchor in about thirty fathoms; and in the evening our boats brought us off a lading of excellent turtle, having sent our yawl and several men ashore previously to turn over these creatures in the night; but to no purpose, as we afterwards found they only came ashore in the day. The island off which we lay was high, rocky, and barren, with some low land next the sea, but now water was to be found, like those we had seen formerly. On the 12th the Duchess, which lay at anchor a good distance from us, had got about 150 land and sea-tortoises, but not generally so large as ours; while we had 120 turtles, but no land-tortoises as yet. The Marquis had the worst luck. On the 13th, I sent our pinnace to the place where the Duchess got land-tortoises, which returned at night with thirty-seven, and some salt they had found in a pond; and our yawl brought us twenty sea-turtles, so that we were now well provided. Some of the largest land-tortoises weighed 100 pounds; and the largest sea-turtles were upwards of 400 pounds weight. The land-tortoises laid eggs on our deck; and our men brought many of them from the land, pure white, and as large as a goose's egg, with a strong thick shell, exactly round.

These are the ugliest creatures that can well be imagined, the back-shell being not unlike the top of an old hackney-coach, as black as jet, and covered with a rough shrivelled skin. The neck and legs are long, and as big as a man's wrist, and they have club-feet as large as a fist, shaped much like those of an elephant, having five knobs, or thick nails, on each fore-foot, and only four on the hind-feet. The head is small, with a visage like that of a snake; and when first surprised they shrink up their head, neck, and legs under their shell. Some of our men affirmed that they saw some of these about four feet high, and of vast size; and that two men mounted on the back of one of these, whom it easily carried at its usual slow pace, not appearing to regard their weight. They supposed this one could not weigh less than 700 pounds. The Spaniards say that there are no others in these seas, except at the Gallapagos, but they are common in Brazil.

The 15th, being under sail with a fine breeze, we agreed to lay to till midnight. The 16th, seeing many islands and rocks to the westwards, we agreed to bear away, not caring to encumber ourselves among them during the night; but by six in the evening, from the mast-head, we could see so many low rocks, almost joining from island to island, that we seemed land-locked for more than three parts of the compass, and no way open except the S.W. whence we came. We resolved therefore to return that way, making short trips all night, and continually sounding, for fear of shoals, having from forty to sixty fathoms. The 18th and 19th we saw several more islands, one of them very large, which we supposed to be near the equator. At noon of the 19th we had an observation, making our latitude 2 deg. 2' N. We saw in all at least fifty islands, some of which we searched, and others we viewed from a distance, but none had the least appearance of fresh water.[228] Signior Morel told me that a Spanish man-of-war had been to an island in lat. 1 deg. 20' or 30' S. 140 Spanish leagues west from the island of Plata, and to which they gave the name of Santa Maria del Aguada, a pleasant island with a good road, full of wood, and having plenty of water, with turtle and sea-tortoises in abundance. This I believe to have been the same island in which Davis the buccaneer recruited; and all the light he has left by which to find it again, is, that it is to the west of the islands he was at with the other buccaneers, which must be those we were twice at. We had no occasion to look out for this island on the present trip, though I believe it might easily have been found without farther directions. In these islands there are many kinds of sea-fowl, and some land-birds, particularly hawks and turtle-doves, both so very tame that we often knocked them down with sticks. I saw no kind of beasts, but there are guanas in abundance, and land-tortoises almost on every island, besides vast numbers of turtles or sea-tortoises. It is very strange how the land-tortoises have got here, as there are none on the main, and they could not have come of themselves. Some of these islands are the haunts of seals, but not in such numbers as at Juan Fernandez, neither is their fur so good. A very large one made at me three several times, and if I had not happened to have a pike-staff headed with iron, he might have killed me. I was on the level sand when he came open-mouthed at me from the water, as fierce and quick as an angry dog let loose. All the three times he made at me, I struck the pike into his breast, which at last forced him to retire into the water, snarling with an ugly noise, and shewing his long teeth. This animal was as big as a large bear.

[Footnote 228: In Cowley's voyage, formerly given, one of these islands, which he calls the Duke of York's Island, is said to have abundance of wood and water, but none to be had in any of the rest. Perhaps the Duke of York's Island of Cowley, and Santa Maria del Aguada of Morel, may be the same.—E.]

On the 1st October we made the main-land of Mexico, which Captain Dampier immediately recognized as near the place where he had attacked the lesser Manilla ship in the St George. Our men began again to fall sick, and two of them dropped down on the deck in a kind of scorbutic appoplexy, but recovered on being let blood. The 2d we made Cape Corientes, on the coast of Mexico, in lat. 20 deg. 25' N. which we knew by our charts. Captain Dampier had been here, but it was a long time ago, and he did not seem to remember much of the matter; yet when he came to land at different places, he very readily recollected them. Our purpose now was to look for the islands called Tres Marias, to procure some refreshments, but found this somewhat difficult, being very uncertain as to their true situation. In the afternoon of the 4th, Cape Corientes bore E.N.E. about ten leagues, and next morning, being fine clear weather, we discovered two islands at the distance of about fourteen leagues, one bearing N. by W. and the other N. by E. At noon we had an observation, and found our latitude 20 deg. 45' N.

The sight of these islands was very satisfactory, for though our men had their fill of land and sea-turtle, which kept them from the scurvy, they were but weak, as that is but a faint food, except they had enough of bread or flour to eat with it; whereas they only had a pound and a quarter of bread or flour to five men per day, on purpose to husband our stock till we came to live entirely on salt-meat, when we should be under the necessity to allow more. On the 6th I sent a pinnace to the eastern island, to look if there were any good road, or convenience for wooding and watering; but the officer reported that the island had foul ground for near half a mile from the shore, with bad anchorage and worse landing; and though there was abundance of wood, no water was to be had. This was bad news for us, as our water began to grow scarce. We now bore up for the middle island, which Captain Dampier believed he had been at when he sailed with Captain Swan, and on which occasion they found water. On the 8th our boat returned from the middle island, they and the boat of the Duchess having landed at several places on the S.E. side of the island, where was plenty of good water. They saw no signs of any people having been there lately, but found a human skull on the ground. This was supposed to have belonged to one of two Indian chiefs, who were left there by Captain Swan, about twenty-three years before, as Dampier told us: for victuals being scarce with these buccaneers, they would not carry the poor Indians any farther, after they had served their turns, but left them to starve on this desolate island. The Marquis and bark having separated from us, we kept a light up all night, and made a fire on the island, that they might see where to find us at anchor; but not seeing them next morning at day-break, I proposed to have gone in search of them; but Captain Courtney and the rest made light of the matter, believing they might soon come in without assistance, which they afterwards did.

The supply of cattle, hogs, and plantains we procured at Atacames lasted us to the Gallapagos, and we had fed on turtle ever since till the last two days, which was a great refreshment to our men, and husbanded our stock of European provisions. On the 9th, I sent an officer to view the other side of the island, who told me, on his return, it was much better than where we were, having several sandy bays, on which he had seen the tracks of turtle. On this intelligence I sent the boat back in the evening; and it came back next morning with a full load of turtle, leaving another load ready turned; and, what was of much more consequence, they found good water; whereas that we had gotten hitherto purged the men excessively. As we wooded, watered, and furnished ourselves with fresh provisions here, and as these islands are little known, some account of them may be acceptable.

The Tres Marias, or Three Marias, off the western coast of Guadalaxara, in the kingdom of Mexico, are in a range stretching from S.E. to N.W. of about forty-five English miles in length. The largest island is the N.W. which appeared a high double land, and above five leagues in length: the middle island about three leagues; and the south-eastermost hardly two leagues. There also are high lands, full of trees; and near the least island there are two or three small broken white islets, one of which was so like a ship under sail, that we gave the signal for a chase. The S.E. end of the island is in lat. 21 deg. 10' N. long. 105 deg. 56' W. and the N.W. point of the N. island is in lat. 21 deg. 40' N. long. 106 deg. 26' W. the distance from each being about two marine leagues. These islands have abundance of parrots of different sorts, with pigeons and other land-birds, of which we killed great numbers. There were also many excellent hares, but much smaller than ours. We saw likewise abundance of guanas, and some racoons, which barked and snarled at us like dogs, but were easily beaten off with sticks. The water is more worthy of remark than any other thing we saw here, as we only found two good springs, which ran in large streams; the others being bitter and disagreeable, proceeding, as I suppose, from being impregnated by shrubs or roots growing in the water, or from some mineral.

The turtle we found here are of a different sort from any I had ever seen, though very good. Though it is ordinarily believed that there are only three sorts of sea-turtles, yet we have seen six or seven sorts at different times, and our people have eaten of them all, except the very large whooping or loggerhead kind, which are found in great plenty in Brazil, some of them above 500 pounds weight. We did not eat of these, because at that time our provisions were plentiful. At the Gallapagos, both males and females were observed to come on shore only in the day time, quite different from what I had heard of them at other places; whereas all we caught here were by turning them over in the night, when the females come on shore to lay their eggs and bury them in the dry sand. One of these whom we caught had 800 eggs in her belly, 150 of which were skinned over and ready for being extruded at once. Some authors alledge that these eggs are six weeks in hatching, which I can hardly credit, as the sun makes the sand in which they are deposited excessively hot, and they are only covered by a very thin film or skin, instead of a shell. In order to ascertain this point, I made some of our men ashore watch one carefully, and mark the place and time of laying her eggs. In less than twelve hours they found the eggs addled, and in about twelve hours more they had young ones completely formed and alive. Had we remained some time longer, I might have thoroughly satisfied myself and others, respecting the quick production of tortoises; for I am apt to credit the report of several of our men, who asserted that having found eggs in the sand, and looked for them three days afterwards in the same place, they then found nothing but films; which shews that the young ones are hatched in that time. They assured me also that they had seen the young brood run out of the sand every day, making directly in great numbers for the sea.

There were few fish about the shores of this island, these being of the ordinary sorts usually met with in these seas; but the abundance of turtle at this time amply made up for this defect. The chief officers fed here deliciously, being scarcely ever without hares, turtle-doves, pigeons, and parrots of various colours and sizes, many of which had white or red heads, with tufts of feathers on their crowns. We found good anchorage at this middle island, and gradual soundings from twenty-four to four fathoms close by the shore; and between this and the least or southern island the depth was about the same as where we were, having no shoal between but what was visible, as a rock lay off the S.W. point and a shoal off the N.E. point of the same, with another at a great distance from that point of the least island, but neither were above half a mile from the shore.

Sailing from these islands, we saw land on the 1st November, which proved to be the point of California, or that headland called Cape St Ducas. It was now necessary to put in execution the rules we had formerly laid down for cruizing, as also to settle our regulations about plunder. Accordingly, my station was to be the outermost in the Duke, the Duchess in the middle, and the Marquis nearest the shore; the nearest ship to be at the least six leagues, and nine at the most from shore, and the bark to ply between ship and ship, carrying advice. By this means we could spread out fifteen leagues, and might see any thing that passed in the day within twenty leagues of the shore; and to prevent any ships passing in the night, we were to ply to windward all day, and to drive to leeward all night. On the 5th November, the Duchess went nearest shore, and the Marquis took the middle station. We were much encouraged by considering that in this very place, and about the same time of the year, Sir Thomas Candish took the Manilla ship.

On the 16th we sent our bark to look for fresh water on the main, and next morning she returned to us, reporting that they had seen wild Indians, who paddled to them on bark-logs. These Indians were fearful of coming near our people at first, but were soon prevailed upon to accept a knife or two and some baize, for which they gave in return two bladders of water, two live foxes, and a deer skin. Till now, we thought that the Spaniards had missionaries among these people, but finding them quite naked, with no appearance of any European commodities, nor a single word of the Spanish language, we concluded that they were quite savage, and we dispatched the bark and a boat a second time, in hopes of procuring some refreshments, with some trifles to distribute among the natives. On the 19th our men returned, having become very familiar with the Californians, who were the poorest wretches that could be imagined, and had no manner of refreshments whatever to afford us. They brought off some Indian knives made of sharks teeth, and a few other curiosities, which I preserved to shew what shifts may be made. It was now the 9th of December, near a month after the time when the Manilla ships generally fall in with this coast, and we were much embarrassed by the impossibility of procuring any intelligence respecting them. On examining our provisions, we found only bread on board for seventy days, even at our present short allowance, and it would require not less than fifty days for our run across the Pacific to Guam, one of the Ladrones; wherefore we resolved to continue our cruize here no longer than other eight days. Being in want of water also, it was agreed upon that the Marquis should go first into a harbour for that necessary article, while the Duke and Duchess continued on the look-out, and then these other ships to do the same in succession.

On the 21st December, while bearing up for the port in which was the Marquis, the man at the mast-head, about nine in the morning, gave notice that he saw a sail besides the Duchess and bark, seeming about seven leagues from us. We immediately hoisted our ensign, and bore for the strange sail, as did the Duchess; and as it fell calm, I sent the pinnace to endeavour to make out what she was. All the rest of the day we had very little wind, so that we made hardly any way, and as our boat did not return we remained in much anxiety, not knowing whether the ship in sight were our consort the Marquis, or the Manilla ship. In this uncertainty, I sent Mr Fry in our yawl to the Duchess, to endeavour to learn what this ship was, and as soon as the yawl was gone I hoisted French colours and fired a gun, which the stranger answered, and in some measure cleared our doubts. Mr Fry soon returned, bringing the joyful news that the ship in sight really was the Manilla galleon for which we had waited so long, and of which we were now almost in despair of meeting. This revived our courage, and every one actively prepared for the engagement; all our melancholy reflections on the shortness of our provisions for the run to Guam being now dispelled, and nothing now occupied our thoughts but of our being masters of the mighty treasure supposed to be on board this ship, while every moment seemed an hour till we could get up with her. We gave orders for the two pinnaces to keep with her all night, shewing false fires from time to time, that we might know whereabout they and the chase were; and it was agreed, if the Duke and Duchess could get up with her together, that we should board her at once. Before night we had made a clear ship, and had every thing in readiness for action at day-light; and all night long we kept a sharp look-out for the boats false fires, which we frequently saw and answered.

At day-break of the 22d December, 1709, we saw the chase about a league from us on our weather bow, the Duchess being a-head of her to leeward about half a league. About six a.m. our boat came aboard, having kept very near the chase all night without receiving any damage, and told us that the Duchess passed the chase in the night, at which time the chase fired two shots at her, which were not returned. Having no wind, we got out eight sweeps, with which we rowed for near an hour, when there sprung up a small breeze. I ordered a large kettle of chocolate to be prepared for the ship's company, having no spirituous liquor to give them, and then went to prayers; but were disturbed before these were finished, by the enemy firing at us. To deter as from attempting to board, they had barrels hung at their yard arms, which resembled barrels of powder. About eight a.m. we began to engage by ourselves, for the Duchess being still at leeward, had not been able to get up, as there was very little wind. At first the enemy fired at us with their stern-chase guns, which we returned with those on our bows, till at length we got close on board each other, when we gave her several broadsides, plying our small arms very briskly; which last the enemy returned as thick for a time, but did not fire their great guns half so fast as we. After some time, we shot a little a-head, laying the enemy athwart hawse close aboard, and plied her so warmly that she soon lowered her colours two-thirds down. By this time the Duchess had got up, and fired about five guns with a volley of small arms; but as the enemy had submitted she made no return.