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  INTRODUCTION The sea has always been the cradle of the English race, and over 600 years ago an old chronicler wrote of our great sea tradition that English ships visited every coast, and that English sailors excelled all others, both in the arts of navigation and in fighting. In this respect, the west of England has probably played a greater part in our maritime development

  than any other portion of the United Kingdom, and the names of our most famous seamen, Drake, and Raleigh and Hawkins, among others, are now almost household words. There are, however, many other nautical celebrities among our sons, whose names deserve a more prominent place in our naval annals, and such in one is Captain Woods Rogers. Not only does he rank as a splendid navigator and magnificent seamen, but he also filled

  an important role as a colonial administrator and governor, and was one of the pioneers in the development of our colonial empire. He is indeed one of the most picturesque and romantic figures of the first half of the 18th century, and his rescue and account of Alexander Selkirk's privations on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez undoubtedly provided Defoe with materials for Robinson

  Crusoe. It is not too much to assume that had there been no Woods Rogers, Defoe's charming and immortal romance, which has delighted millions of readers, might never have been written. Nevertheless, Rogers is a rather inelusive personage, and the writer of the appreciative article on him in the Dictionary of National Biography was unable to glean any particulars

  of his birth, parentage, or marriage. Thanks to recent research, it is now possible to supply some of these details. It is certain that his ancestors had been settled at the old seaport of Poole, Dorset, since the beginning of the 16th century, and among the mayors of Poole, the name is prominent during the reign of Elizabeth.

  His great-grandfather, John Rogers of Poole, married Anne Woods, and from this union the name of Woods, afterwards spelt Woodis Rogers, was perpetuated for at least three generations until the death of Wood Rogers' infant son in 1713. Woods Rogers II, the father of the subject of this book, was a sea captain born in Poole in 1650.

  He eventually removed to Bristol where his family consisted of two daughters and two sons, the oldest of whom, Captain Woods Rogers, was probably born there in 1679, but the precise date is uncertain. All that we know is that Rogers, like his father, followed a sea career, and in the records of Bristol he is described as a mariner, from which we may assume that he was connected

  with the merchant-venturers of that port. He is probably to be identified with the Captain Rogers, whom the famous navigator, Captain William Dampier, mentions in his voyages published in 1699 as my worthy friend, and from whom he included three contributions in his book. 1.

  A long letter on the African hippopotamus as he, Rogers, had seen them in the River Natal. 2. A description of the trade winds from the Cape of Good Hope to the Red Sea. And 3. An account of Natal in Afrique, as I received it from my ingenious friend, Captain Rogers,

  who has lately gone to that place and hath been there several times before. This gives a lively account of the manners and customs of the natives and the natural history of the country. It is evident that at this period the Rogers family occupied a prominent position both in the industrial and social life of Bristol, and in January 1705 the marriage of Woods

  Rogers to the daughter of Admiral Sir William Whetstone of Bristol, the commander-in-chief in the West Indies, took place at St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London. This marriage proved a stepping stone to Rogers' future career, and in consequence of the union between these two old families, Rogers was made a freeman of his native place as the following entry from the city records under the date of 16 March 1704 slash 5 shows, quote,

  Woods Rogers, Jr., mariner, is admitted to the liberties of this city for that he married Sarah, daughter of Sir William Whetstone, Knight, end quote. We now come to the year 1708, in many respects the most eventful of Wood Rogers' career. He had long been impressed by the way in which both France and Spain monopolized the whole of the trade to the South Sea, and he determined if possible to remedy the evil.

  In 1698, Monsieur de Boucherne-Guin, the captain of the French navy, went there with two ships for the purpose of establishing trade, and in account of that voyage, in the shape of the commander's journal, coming to the hands of Rogers, he eagerly perused and digested it. Elated by the success of Boucherne-Guin, the French had carried on a vast trade ever since,

  and in one year, Rogers informs us, no less than 17 warships and merchantmen had been sent to the South Sea. In the first year it was estimated that their ships carried home above 100 millions of dollars or nearly 25 million sterling, besides which they convoyed the Spanish galleons and treasure ships to and from the West Indies.

  By this means they had become absolute masters of all the valuable trade in those parts, and the riches thus amassed had enabled them, according to Rogers, to carry on the war against most of the potentates of Europe. This war, known as the War of the Spanish Succession, in which the forces of Great Britain, Austria, and Holland were allied against those of France and Spain, lasted from 1702 to 1713,

  and Rogers, as befitted a seaman of sound knowledge and wisdom, realized the truth of the old saying that he who commands the sea commands the trade. Not only did he wish to see the English take a share in this vast trade of the South Sea, but he realized that it would be a fitting opportunity to attack the enemy's commerce there, and so by cutting off her resources it would help to shorten the war and enrich

  his own country. To quote his own words, necessity has frequently put private men on noble takings. This was indeed a noble undertaking, and in the belief that it was both necessary and profitable to undertake such an expedition, he drew up a scheme which he presented to his friends, the merchants of his native Bristol.

  The time was particularly opportune for such a venture, for an act had recently been passed by Parliament which marks a crucial and important point in the history of privateering. In this act, an effort was made to restore to privateering all the old spirit of adventure which permeated our sea story in the reign of Elizabeth. Previously the Crown had reserved to itself one-fifth of all prizes taken by privateers.

  Now the whole interest was transferred to the owner and crew. This act marks the close of the period of decline and the opening of a period of great activity. The Crown now sanctioned privateering solely for the benefit which it was hoped to derive from injury inflicted on the enemy.

  Under these circumstances it was only natural that the scheme which Rogers propounded should have been looked on in a most favourable light, and the expedition was duly financed and fitted out. Rogers dedicates his book to his surviving owners, and among them it is of particular interest to note the following.

  Sir John Hawkins, Mayor of Bristol in 1701 Christopher Shooter, Mayor in 1711 James Hollage, Mayor in 1709 Captain Freak and Thomas Clements, Sheriffs of Bristol John Romsey, Town Clerk of Bristol and Thomas Goldney, a leading Quaker of Bristol. It will be seen from this that during the voyage 1708 through 11, the whole of the corporation

  at one time or another were interested in adventure. The money being forthcoming, two merchant ships or private men of war were fitted out. These were the Duke of 320 tons with a crew of 117 men and mounting 30 guns, and the Duchess, a slightly smaller ship of 260 tons with a crew of 108 men and 26 guns. How these two small ships, the equivalent of a 6th rate ship of the Royal Navy of the

  day, with a keel length of about 80 feet and a breadth of about 25 feet, helped to make history the readers of Wood Rogers' cruising voyage will be able to judge. Each ship had a commission from the Lord High Admiral to wage war against the French and the Spaniards, and in order that those who sailed with him should not be forgotten, Rogers has left us the names of all the officers in the two ships, and among them may be noted

  the following. Captain Stephen Courtney, Commander of the Duchess, a man of birth, fortune, and of very amiable qualities, who contributed to the expense of the voyage. Thomas Stubber, Second Captain of the Duke, President of the Council, and Captain of the Marines, whose appointment appears to have been due to his financial interest in the

  voyage. Brightford Freshen, a doctor of physics, he is remembered to posterity as the inventor of Dover's powder. Captain Edward Cook, who was second to Captain Courtney, had been twice taken prisoner by the French.

  The most noteworthy was undoubtedly Captain William Dampier, then in his fifty-sixth year who sailed under Rogers as pilot for the South Seas. The choice was a wise one, for probably no man living had a wider experience in those waters having been there three times before and twice round the world. To the Spaniards his name was second only to that of Drake, a formidable asset in a

  voyage of this kind. That he should have consented to serve under a much younger man is sufficient testimony of the regard and esteem in which he held Woods Rogers. Among the officers of the Duke were three lieutenants and three mates. Of the latter, John Ballot, third mate, was designated surgeon if occasion arose, he having

  been Captain Dampier's doctor in his last unfortunate voyage around the world. This department was further strengthened by the inclusion of Dover's kinsmen, Samuel Hopkins and Apothecary, who was to act as Dover's lieutenant if we landed a party. In addition, two young lawyers, George Underhill and John Parker, were born upon the ship's books, designed to act as midshipmen.

  Among the officers of the Duchess under Captain Courtney was Rogers' young brother John, who sailed as second lieutenant. The instructions given by the owners were embodied in a document which Rogers solemnly calls the Constitution, which was signed and sealed at Bristol on the 14th of July, 1708. This document not only stipulated the exact powers of the various officers, but laid down

  a definite rule that all attempts, attacks and designs upon the enemy should at first be debated by a general council of the officers and the same applied to all discontents, differences or misbehavior. The wisdom of this procedure was apparent from the first, and Rogers states that without this method, we could never have performed the voyage.

  And so within three weeks of the signing of the Constitution, Rogers and his merry man sailed from the King Road, near Bristol, on August the 2nd, on what proved to be one of the most successful voyages that ever left the shores of Great Britain. His crew consisted for the most part of tinkers, tailors, haymakers, peddlers, fiddlers, etc. Not forgetting John Finch, late wholesale oilman of London, as ship steward, and the

  ship's mascot, a fine specimen of an English bulldog. Though the composition of the crew was Gilbertian in the extreme, its spirit, as we shall see, was in the main Elizabethan. Most of us, the chief officers, says Rogers, embraced this trip of privateering around the world to retrieve the losses we had sustained by the enemy, and the opportunity soon offered

  itself. Proceeding down the Bristol Channel with a fair wind and bound for Cork, they saw a large ship, but after three hours chase lost sight of her. This was probably fortunate for Rogers, for he records that his ships were out of trim, and that in his own ship there were not twenty sailors.

  After several minor adventures, Cork was reached on the 6th, where the provisioning of the ships was completed by Mr. Noblat Rogers, brother of one of the owners. Here Rogers succeeded in shipping some good sailors, and clearing out the useless ones, being ordinary fellows, and not fit for our employment. The defects in the rigging of the ships were now made good, and they were also careened

  and cleaned. During this enforced stay in Cork Harbor, we get a glimpse of the lighter side of a sailor's life. Though they expected to sail immediately, the crew, we are informed, were continually marrying.

  Among others, Rogers tells an amusing story of a Danish seaman who married an Irish woman without understanding a word of each other's language so that they were forced to use an interpreter. While the rest drank their cans of flip till the last minute, and parted unconcerned, the Dane continued melancholy for several days after the ship sailed.

  Sweethearts and wives were finally left behind on September 1st, when the Duke and Duchess in company with about 20 merchant sips, and escorted by the Hastings, man of war, under the command of Captain Paul, shaped their course for the Canary Islands. And now having left British waters with a mixed gang, as Rogers dubbed his crew, we hope to be well manned as soon as they have learnt the use of arms and got their sea legs,

  which we doubted not soon to teach them, and bring them to discipline. The holds of both the Duke and Duchess were full of provisions. The between decks were crowded with cables, bread, and watercasts, and whereas on leaving Bristol they had only a crew of 225 all told, they now had a total of 334, so we can quite agree with Rogers when he says they were very much crowded in pestered ships.

  Under such circumstances, Rogers was no doubt glad to sail under the protection of a man of war. As strange as it may seem, things were not so bad as Rogers thought, and after chasing a small vessel, he records with evident satisfaction that the Duke and Duchess sailed as well as any in the fleet, not accepting the man of war.

  Prior to parting company with Captain Paul, the crews were mustered in order to acquaint them with the design of the expedition, and to give an opportunity of sending home any malcontents in the Hastings. All professed themselves satisfied, excepting one poor fellow on the Duke, who expected to have been the tithing man that year in his parish, and whose lament was that his

  wife would be obliged to pay forty shillings in his absence. However, when he saw all the rest willing, and knew the prospect of plunder, he became easily quieted, and in common with the others, drank heartily to the success of the voyage. Six days after leaving Cork, the ships parted company with the Hastings, and as a farewell gift Captain Paul gave them scrubbers, iron scrapers for our ship's bottom, a speaking

  trumpet, and other things that we wanted. By this time Rogers was beginning to get his ships into trim, and all provisions, etc. properly stowed, they hitherto having been in some confusion, as is usual in privateers at first setting out. Taking into consideration the length of the voyage, the different climates they would

  pass, and the excessive cold going about Cape Horn, it was resolved to stop at Madeira to replenish their slender stock of liquor. It was Pepys who wrote that seaman loved their bellies above anything else, and Rogers was of the opinion that good liquor to sailors is preferable to clothing. In spite of the assurances of his crew a few days earlier, a mutiny now occurred on board

  his ship. He and his consort had chased and overhauled a vessel flying Swedish colors, believed to be carrying contraband goods. Nothing however was found to prove her a prize, and Rogers let her go without the least embezzlement, for which courtesy the master gave him two hams and some rough dried beef, and the compliment

  was returned with a dozen bottles of red streak cider. This much incensed the crews of the duke and duchess, who had no idea of the perils of privateering without the sweets of plunder, and under the leadership of the boatswain of the duke several of them mutinied. The situation looked ugly, but Rogers, who was a born commander, quickly quelled it,

  putting ten of the mutineers in irons, while the boatswain, the most dangerous fellow, was shipped in the crown galley, then in company to be carried to Madeira in irons. Five days later the prisoners were discharged from their irons upon their humble submission and strict promises for their future good behavior. Contrary to arrangements, it was decided to pass by Madeira, there being little wind,

  and to cruise a little among the Canary Islands for liquor. On the 18th of September they chased and captured a small Spanish bark, with 45 passengers on board who were relieved when they found that their captors were English and not Turks. Among there were four friars, one of whom, a good honest fellow, Rogers and his officers made heartily merry drinking King Charles III's health.

  The rest, he tersely records, were of the wrong sort. The prize was carried into Orataba, where after some delay and a threatened bombardment of the town, the Spaniards eventually ransomed her. The transaction, however, seemed to have ended to Rogers' satisfaction, and as ships sailed away well stocked with liquor, the better able to endure the cold when we get the length

  of Cape Horn. On the 25th of September the ships passed the Tropic, when according to the ritual of the sea, the freshwater sailors were ducked from the yard arm or forced to pay a fine of half a crown. The next place of call was the Cape Verde Islands, and on the last day of September

  the two ships dropped anchor in the harbor of St. Vincent. Here they wooded and watered, and their casks, which had been oil casks, were hauled ashore, burnt and cleaned, the water and them having stunk insufferably. By bartering with the inhabitants they were also able to obtain fresh provisions in the shape of cattle, goats, hogs, fowls, melons, potatoes, limes, brandy, tobacco, Indian corn,

  etc. Here Rogers had the misfortune to lose one of his crew, Joseph Alexander, a good linguist, who had been sent ashore with a respectful letter to the governor. This man seems to have found life more attractive on the island than the uncertainties and hardships of life aboard a privateer.

  After waiting a week for him, Rogers reluctantly came to the conclusion that he had deserted, and it was unanimously agreed that we had better leave him behind than to wait with two ships for one man that had not followed his orders. Rogers was extremely scrupulous in all his undertakings. Everything relating to the proceedings of his squadron and the affairs of both officers

  and men was carefully recorded in his journal. On the eve of sailing from the Bay of St. Vincent, a council was held on board the duchess to prevent embezzlement and prizes and to hinder feuds and disorders amongst the officers and men for the future. An agreement was arrived at whereby each man was to have the following shares in the plunder.

  It was also agreed that both Rogers and Courtney should have 5% over and above their respective shares and the reward of 20 pieces of 8 would be given to him that first sees a prize of good value or exceeding 50 tons in burden. This was signed by the officers and men of both ships on the 8th of October. On the same day that ships wade and steered for the coast of Brazil, by this time the

  men had found their sea legs and were more amenable to discipline, and only one act of insubordination is recorded on the voyage to Brazil. The spiritual needs of the men were not neglected and it is pleasing to note that from the 28th of October when the ships crossed the line, prayers were read in both ships morning or evening as opportunity would permit according to the Church of England.

  On the 19th of November they made the coast of Brazil anchoring off the island of Grande. The opportunity was now taken to replenish the water cast and careen the ships. The depredations of the French corsairs had made the Brazilians suspicious of strangers and Rogers states that his boat was fired on several times when trying to land with the present for the governor of Angra de Reis.

  On learning that they were English, Rogers and his men were welcomed by the friars and the governor who treated them very handsomely. Rogers' account of a religious procession in which he and his men, assisted by the ship's band, took part is one of the most amusing episodes in his book. Another amusing incident was an attempt by two Irish sailors to desert, but they were

  so frightened by the monkeys and baboons in the woods that they were glad to return to the ship. In the afternoon of December 3rd, the ships made a due to the hospitalities of the island of Grande and commenced their long and arduous voyage to Juan Fernandez, a distance of nearly 6,000 miles.

  A succession of gales now followed, and on the 13th of December the Duchess was forced to reef her mainsail for the first time since leaving England. In spite of strong gales, with squalls from the south to the west when nearing Cape Horn, the new year was fitly ushered in. According to the custom of the sea, there was a large tub of punch hot upon the quarter

  deck where every man in the ship had above a pint to his share and drank our owners and our friends' health in Great Britain. After which, Rodgers recorded, we bore down to our consort and gave him three huzzahs, wishing them the like. In anticipation of the excessive cold in going about Cape Horn, six tailors were hard at

  work for several weeks making warm clothing for the men, and every officer handed over items as he could spare from his own kit. The actual passage of the horn is vividly described by Rodgers, and although the Duchess was for some hours in considerable danger, good seamanship brought her and her consort safely through.

  Having got as far south as latitude 61 degrees 53 minutes, the furthest for aught we know that anyone has yet been to southward, we now account ourselves in the South Sea, says Rodgers. In fact, Dampierre's pilot had carried them so far south that many of the men in both ships were nearly frozen to death and some were down with the scurvy.

  The pressing need was to find a harbor in order that the sick might be recruited ashore, and for this purpose the island of Juan Fernandez was decided upon. Unfortunately, all the charts differed, and for a time grave doubts were entertained of striking it. Thanks to the skill of Dampierre who had been there before, the island was sighted on the

  last day of January, but by that time they had slightly overshot it, for it bore west-south-west distant about seven leagues. Footnote Over thirty years later, Anson experienced the same difficulty, and records that not finding the island in the position in which the charts had taught us to expect it, they feared they had gone too far to westward.

  End footnote. With this famous landfall lay not only the destinies of the crews of the Duke and Duchess, but also of the solitary inhabitant of the island who was anxiously scanning the horizon. That same afternoon the pinnace was hoisted out and a boat's crew under the command of Dover went in or to go ashore.

  When the pinnace was about a league from the island, it being then nightfall, Rodgers from the deck of the Duke suddenly saw light blaze up from the shore. The pinnace immediately made haste to return, and believing that a French squadron was lying at anchor, Rodgers ordered the decks to be cleared for action. At daybreak on the following day the ship stood in to engage, but not a single sail

  was to be seen. A yaw with two officers and six men, all armed, was sent forward to reconnoitre, and as it neared the shore a man, clothed in goatskins, was seen gesticulating wildly to them. This was Alexander Selkirk, late master of the sink works, who through some quarrel with his captain had been on the island four years and four months.

  This was the first time that an English ship had called at the island since, and his joy at seeing the English flag again and hearing the voices of his own countrymen can better be imagined than described. Though his actions reflected his gratitude, his speech, for want of use, failed him. He seemed to speak his words by halves.

  His adventures and privations are vividly described by Rodgers, and it is not proposed to dwell on them here. Suffice it to say that Selkirk's story was first communicated to the world in the pages of Wood Rogers' cruising voyage, and that his adventures formed the basis of the romance of Robinson Crusoe.

  Two days after their arrival at the island all was bustle and excitement. As ships foraged was set up ashore, sailmakers were busy repairing the sails, coopers were hard at work on the casts, and tents were pitched to receive the sick men. In the words of Rodgers, we have a little town of our own here, and everybody is employed. The time was indeed precious, for while at the Canaries they had heard that five large

  French ships were coming to search for them, and Rodgers was anxious to get away as soon as possible. Thanks to the goodness of the air and the help of the Greens, and to the fact that the Governor, as Rodgers dubbed Selkirk, cut two or three goats every day for them, the crew soon recovered from their distemper and only two died.

  The ships were quickly wooded and watered, and about 80 gallons of sea lion's oil was boiled down to be used as oil for the lamps in order to save the candles. By the 12th of February the sick men were re-embarked, and two days later the little squadron weighed with a fair pleasant gale, with Selkirk duly installed as second mate of the Duke.

  The voyage was continued to the northward off the coast of Chile and Peru, with the intent of getting across the track of the great Spanish galleons from Manila to Acapulco. On the 16th of March they captured a little vessel of about 16 tons belonging to Peita, and on the following day arrived with their prize at the island of Lobos. Here it was resolved to fit out the prize as a privateer, she being well built for sailing.

  This was carried out with the greatest expedition, and with a crew of 32 men and four swivel guns, she was renamed The Beginning and placed under the command of Captain Cook. While the Duke was being cleaned and tallowed, The Beginning, in company with the Duchess, was sent to cruising, and on the morning of the 26th they captured another Spanish vessel. Among other things, they found a store of tobacco on board, a very welcome article which

  was distributed among the men. After being cleaned and refitted, she was christened The Increase, and Selkirk was appointed to commander. The ships continued cruising on the station till the 5th of April, and among other prizes they took the Spanish galleon Ascension of 500 tons bound from Panama to Lima.

  So far, the financial results of the expedition have been disappointing, but spurred on by the glowing accounts given by their prisoners of richly laden ships that were expected, with the widow of the viceroy of Peru with their family and riches, and the wealth of the Spanish South American cities, they resolved to attack the city of Guayaquil and exact a ransom.

  This resolution was arrived at on the morning of April 12th, and a council was held on board the duke to discuss the project when regulations were drawn up regarding the landing parties and other details. In order that his mixed gang of most European nations should have good discipline and needful encouragement, minute regulations were drawn up by Rogers and his officers concerning what

  was to be termed plunder. Although everything portable seems to have been considered as such, it is amusing to learn that Rogers with his customary civility to the fair sex resolved that money and women's earrings with loose diamonds, pearls, and precious stones should be accepted. The plunder of Guayaquil, being thus comfortably and amicably arranged beforehand, the ships

  headed for the island of Puna at the entrance to the Guayaquil River. On the 15th of April, when nearing their intended anchorage, an unfortunate incident occurred. In an attack on a French-built ship belonging to Lima, Rogers' younger brother John was killed in attempting the border. Though we must sympathize with Rogers when he speaks of his unspeakable sorrow on this

  occasion, we cannot but admire his pluck when he philosophically adds that the greatest misfortune or obstacle shall not deter him from the object that he had in view. Within 24 hours Rogers had captured the ship, eventually naming her the Marquis and increasing her armament from 12 to 20 guns. On the 19th the landing was effected on the island of Puna, and at midnight on the 22nd

  the ship's boats, with 110 men, arrived inside of the town of Guayaquil. On the top of an adjoining hill a blazing beacon showed that an alarm had been raised. Bells were violently rung and muskets and guns were discharged to awake the inhabitants. A hurried consultation was now held between Rogers and his chief officers, and both Dampier and Dover were against proceeding with the attack.

  Cautious councils prevailed and the plan for taking the town by surprise, having failed, negotiations were opened with the governor for its ransom. A sum of 50,000 pieces of 8 was demanded, but the town could only raise 30,000. Rogers thereupon broke off the negotiations, and while the ships bombarded the town he landed a force of 70 men and guns.

  Rogers has minutely described the attack and space forbids dwelling on it here. Suffice it to say that within an hour the enemy were in full retreat and the English were masters of the city. Other reinforcements were now landed and strategic points in the city occupied while parties were towed off to plunder.

  An agreement was eventually drawn up for the payment of 30,000 pieces of 8 as ransom to be paid within six days. On the 27th of April Rogers and his men marched down to the boats with colors flying, and the plunder was safely stored aboard. At eight o'clock the next morning they sailed with drums beating, trumpets sounding and

  guns booming and thus took leave of the Spaniards very cheerfully. It was now decided to make the utmost dispatch for the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Peru. In the passage there a malignant fever contracted at Guayaquil broke out amongst the crews of both ships and on the morning of the 17th when inside of the Galapagos no less than

  sixty were down on the duke and upwards of eighty on the duchess. On arrival at the island it was agreed to separate in order to search for fresh water, but none was discovered. Finding that punch preserved his own health, Rogers records that he prescribed it freely among such of the ship's company as were well, though it was thought when setting out from

  Bristol that they had sufficient medicines aboard, Rogers now laments that with so many sick in both ships the supplies were inadequate. Owing to the absence of water, it was decided to steer for the island of Gargona near the mainland. Here a supply of fresh water was available and the sick were brought ashore and placed

  in tents to recruit their health. The opportunity was now taken to caulk and careen the ships and examine the prizes. In discharging the cargo of the galleon which Rogers had named the marquee, he found in her to his amazement five hundred bales of pope's bowls, sixteen reams and a bale, and a quantity of bones in small boxes ticketed with the names of Romish saints, some of which

  had been dead seven or eight hundred years. A more inconvenient cargo for a privateer would be difficult to imagine, and as they took up such a lot of room in the ship, Rogers records that he threw most of them overboard to make room for better goods, except some of the papal bowls which are used to burn the pitch off our ship's bottoms when we careen them.

  In extenuation for what may seem an impious act, Rogers states that it was impossible to read them as the print looked worse than any of our old ballads. After two months' stay at Gargona, the crew had sufficiently recuperated to continue the cruise and on the seventh of August the ships sailed from the island bound southward. On board the duke were thirty-five negroes, lusty fellows selected from some of the Spanish

  prizes. Rogers called them together and explained his plan of campaign, telling them that if they fought and behaved themselves well in the face of an enemy they should be free men, upon which thirty-two of them immediately promised to stand to it as long as the best Englishman and desired that they might be improved in the use of arms.

  To confirm the contract, Rogers gave them a suit of bays and made them drink a dram all around to the success of the voyage. In order that nothing should be wanting, he staged a sham fight to exorcise them in the use of our great guns and small arms, and in the heat of the engagement to imitate business, red lead mixed with water was liberally sprinkled over them.

  A very agreeable diversion, comments Rogers. And so for the real business, the capture of the Manila ship. All the romance of buccaneering and privateering hangs round these great treasure galleons, the annual ships from Manila to Acapulco and the sister ships from Acapulco to Manila. It was the golden dream of every sailor who sailed D.C.s to capture one of them, but although

  many had made the attempt, only one prior to this, that famous Elizabethan seaman Thomas Cavendish had actually done so in 1587. Here was a feat worthy of emulation, and so, in the November of 1709, we find Rogers and his little squadron cruising off Cape St. Lucas, waiting and watching in the very place and in the same month where Cavendish took the Manila ship, 122 years earlier.

  It was a long and weary watch which textured both the temper and the metal of the men to the extreme. Through the whole of November, no sign of the treasure ship was to be seen. Several of the men mutinied and were confined in irons, and two others broke into the storeroom and stole from the fast diminishing stock of victuals.

  By the 20th of December, provisions were at such a low ebb that, Rogers records, we all looked very melancholy and dispirited. And after consultation with his officers, it was agreed to make for the island of Guam with the utmost dispatch in order to revictual. All hope of falling in with the Manila ship had been practically abandoned when at nine

  o'clock on the following morning, a man at the masthead of the Duke cried out that he saw a sail distant about seven leagues, bearing west half south of us. At this great and joyful surprise, the English ensign was immediately hoisted and both the Duke and Duchess bore away after her. The weather had now fallen calm, and all through that day, and the next, Rogers hung

  on to his prey, with his two penises tending her all night and showing false fires that they might keep in touch. Before nightfall on the 22nd, both the Duke and Duchess cleared for action, and everything was made ready to engage the ship at daybreak. As day dawned, the chase was observed upon the Duke's weather bow, about a league away

  while the Duchess was ahead of her to Leeward, near about half as far. The ships were now becalmed, and Rogers was forced to get out eight of our ship's oars and rowed above an hour. A light breeze then sprang up and carried them gently towards the enemy. There was no time to be lost.

  Not a dram of liquor was in the ship to fortify the spirits of the men, so a large kettle of chocolate was boiled and served out to the crew, who when they had emptied their prayers like true British sailors. Ere long their devotions were disturbed by the enemy's gunfire, and about eight o'clock the Duke began to engage the Spaniards single-handed, the Duchess being to Leeward and having little

  wind could not get up in time. The enemy presented a most formidable aspect with powder barrels hanging at each yardarm to deter us from boarding. As the Duke approached, she received the fire of the enemy's stern chasers, to which she was only able to reply with her four chasers.

  Getting on her course, she soon ranged alongside the great galleon and gave her several broadsides. The precision and rapidity of the English gunners was apparent from the first, and after a little while the Duke shot a little ahead and, placing herself across the bows of the galleon, plied her guns with such good effect that the Spaniard hauled her colors two-thirds down and surrendered.

  The fight, which was hotly contested, according to Rogers, lasted about three glasses, and on board the Spaniard, nine men were killed and several wounded. On the English side, only two were wounded, Rogers and an Irish landsman. Rogers' wound was a serious one, it was shot in the left cheek, the bullet carrying away part of his upper jaw.

  As he lay on the deck writhing in agony, he pluckily delivered his orders in writing. Two days later, although he had much ado to swallow any sort of liquids and was obviously very ill, it was decided to cruise for a larger ship which the prisoners stated had sailed from Manila at the same time. On Christmas Eve, the Duchess and the Marquis sailed out of the harbor of Port Segura to

  search for the larger ship. The inability of the former to engage the other Spanish ship in time had caused some reflections amongst the sailors, and it was decided by a majority of the council that Rogers with the Duke and the prize should wait in harbor to refit, much against our will.

  However, Rogers was not to be put aside. He placed two men on an adjoining hilltop to signal as soon as the Spanish ship was sighted and on the 26th he stood out to sea to join his consorts. By nine o'clock in the morning, the Duchess was observed engaging the Spaniard and the Marquis standing to them with all the sails she could crowd.

  Unfortunately at this moment the Duke was some 12 miles to Leeward and as the wind was light she made little way. By the afternoon the Duchess was joined in the attack by the Marquis, but the latter soon fell to Leeward out of cannon shot, being apparently temporarily disabled. Fortunately, she soon recovered and renewed the attack with great vigor for four glasses

  and upwards. The brunt of the fighting having fallen on the Duchess, she now stretched ahead to windward of the enemy to repair her rigging and stop a leak. In the meantime the Marquis kept firing several broadsides until the Duchess bore down again when the fight was renewed until nightfall.

  All this time Rogers and the Duke was crowding on all sail to come to his consorts' assistance. At daybreak the winds shifted and Rogers was able to bring his guns to bear, the Duchess being now thwart the Spaniard's hoss and plying her guns very fast, those that missed the target exposed the Duke to a serious risk if we had lain on her quarters and across her stern as I had designed.

  Rogers now ranged his sip alongside the Spaniard and for four glasses continued pouring broadsides into her. The Duke now received two shots in her main mask which disabled her and the fireball lighting on her quarter deck blew up a chest of gunpowder and nearly fired the ship. The Duchess was in much the same plight and having our rigging shattered very much, Rogers

  records, we sheared off and brought two. A council was now held on board the Duke and taking into consideration the damage that the ships had received, coupled with the fact that their ammunition was nearly exhausted, it was unanimously agreed to forbear any further attempts on the Spaniard. The loss of such a valuable prize caused great disappointment and it was Rogers' opinion

  that had the Duke been allowed to accompany the Duchess of Marquis on their first setting out we all believe we might then have carried this great ship. However, Rogers had reason to be proud of the way in which his ships had acquitted themselves. The lofty Spaniard was the Admiral of Vanilla named Begonia, a new ship of 900 tons with the crew of 450 and mounting 60 brass guns.

  It was estimated the English fired no less than 500 shots, 6 pounders, into her hull. From first to last the English had fought her for 7 hours and the casualties on the Duke were 11 wounded while the Duchess had about 20 killed and wounded and the Marquis two scorched with powder. Among the wounded was Rogers who had part of his ankle carried away when the Spaniard's

  fireball blew up on the quarter deck. To the end of the action he lay on his back where he fell encouraging the man and refusing to be carried below. It was now resolved to return to Port Segura on the California coast to look after the prize already taken and on the first day of January they were again in harbor.

  The Acapulco galleon was now named the Bachelor in honor of Alderman Bachelor of Bristol, one of the financiers of the expedition. By a majority the Council decided to appoint Dover to commander and Rogers, ill as he was, strongly protested against the appointment. Dover was not a seaman.

  He was absolutely incapable of commanding and navigating the prize to England. Moreover his temper was such that most of the seamen refused to serve under him. Finally a compromise was arrived at and captains Frye and Stretton were entrusted with the navigation sailing and engaging of the ship and Selkirk was appointed master. Dover, though nominally in command, was not to molest, hinder or contradict them in their

  business. During the evening of the 10th of January 1710 the four ships, Duke, Duchess, Marquis and Bachelor, all heavily laden left the coast of California for the island of Guam, one of the Laidrones, that being the first stage on their journey home to Great Britain. Seams were now extremely short and five men were forced to subsist on one and a half pounds

  of flour and one small piece of meat between them per day with three pints of water each for drink and dressing their victuals. Stern measures were therefore necessary and a seaman who stole several pieces of pork was punished with the cat-o-nine tails by his mess-mates. During this extreme scarcity Rogers was forced to adopt a measure which is perhaps rather

  a humiliating episode in his career. To his negro sailors whom he had promised to treat as Englishmen and who had behaved themselves well, he could only allow six in a mess to have the same allowance as five of her own men, which will but just keep those that are in health alive. The long voyage to Guam, a distance of over 6,000 miles, occupied two months, during which

  the best day's run was 168 miles and the worst 41. Nothing of importance occurred until the 14th of February when in commemoration of the ancient customs of choosing valentines, Rogers drew up a list of all the fair ladies in Bristol who were in any way related or known to them. Assembling his officers in the cabin of the Duke, everyone drew and drank the ladies'

  health in a cup of punch and to a happy sight of them all. Three days later Rogers was troubled with the swelling in his throat which incommoded him very much and he succeeded in getting out a piece of his jaw bone that had lodged there since I was wounded. On March 11th they arrived at Guam where Rogers, after a little diplomatic dealing with the

  Spanish governor, succeeded in getting such provisions as he wanted for his depleted stores. In return the governor and others were entertained on board the Duke, the crew diverting them with music and our sailors dancing till night. On the 21st of March they sailed from Guam for the Maluccas, encountering very stormy weather and owing to the unseaworthy nature of the Duke, the crew were worried almost

  to death with continual pumping. By the 15th of May provisions had again reached a low ebb and with the shortest allowance it was estimated that he could only subsist at sea three weeks longer. A fortnight later the four ships were safely anchored at the island of Bhutan by which time the Duchess was using her last bud of water.

  Here the King of Bhutan supplied them with various commodities, all of which were very dear. Nevertheless, as some return for the hospitality received Rogers made the King a present of a bishop's cap, which is of interest to note he highly esteemed and gratefully accepted. Being now pretty well supplied with provisions for a fortnight or three weeks, the ships

  left the island on the 8th of June en route for Batavia, having taken on board a pilot who promised to carry them through the channel the great Dutch ships generally went. On the 17th near the north coast of Java they met a Dutch ship of 600 tons, the first eastward bound merchantman they had seen for nearly two years. From her they had their first items of home news, the death of Prince George of Denmark,

  the consort of Queen Anne and the continuation of the wars in Europe. Three days later they anchored safely in the roadstead of Batavia, between 30 and 40 sail great and small. After such a long and perilous voyage the crew were naturally overjoyed at being in port.

  To them Batavia was a perfect paradise. They hugged each other and thanked their lucky stars that they had found such a glorious place for punch, where they could have a rock for eight pence per gallon and sugar for a penny a pound. In spite of the humours of his ship's company, Rogers was still very ill.

  The doctor hadn't recently cut a large musket shot out of his mouth. And while at Batavia several pieces of his heel bone were also removed. As the marquee was found unfit to proceed to Europe she was sold for 575 Dutch dollars, An extraordinary bargain remarks Rogers. On October 12th after a stay of nearly four months they sailed from Batavia and proceeded

  direct to the Cape of Good Hope. The Duke was in such a leaky condition that she was kept afloat with the greatest difficulty. By the end of October she had three feet of water in the hold and her pumps being choked says Rogers. We were in such dangers that we made signals and fired guns for our consorts to come to

  our relief, but it just sucked her, i.e. pumped her dry, as the Duchess came up. On the 28th of December the three ships arrived at the Cape and 16 sick men were sent ashore. Several days were now spent in watering and refitting and on the 18th of January, 1711 it was agreed that some of the plate and gold from the ships should be sold to buy several necessities and provisions.

  On account of his valuable cargo, Rogers deferred his departure until a number of homeward bound ships collected and it was not before April the 6th that the combined fleet, numbering 16 Dutch and 9 English ships, sailed for Europe. On the 14th of May the Duke and Duchess crossed the line for the eighth time. A course was now steered to the westward of the Azores and from thence northeastward around

  the Shetlands to the Texel, where the whole fleet anchored on the 23rd of July. Here Rogers remained some little while, having received orders from the owners that the East India Company resolved to trouble us, on pretense we had encroached upon their liberties in India. Finally, all difficulties were amicably settled and at the end of September the Duke, Duchess

  and Marquis sailed from Holland, convoyed by four Englishmen of war. On the 1st of October they arrived in the Downs and on the 14th came to anchor at Aerith, which finished their long and fatiguing voyage of over three years. Thus ended one of the most remarkable expeditions that ever left the shores of Great Britain. The cost of fitting it out was less than £14,000 and the net profits amounted to at least £170,000.

  Of this sum, two thirds went to the owners and the other third was divided according to their rating among the officers and men. The prizes taken, including the ships and barks rancid at Wayakil, amounted to 20 sale. What a rousing welcome must have been accorded Rogers and his plucky crew when they arrived home in Bristol.

  By their daring and skill they had ranged the seas in defiance of the enemy and by their superb seamanship and courage they had added a brilliant page to our naval history. Their voyage was epic making. In the words of a contemporary writer, there never was any voyage of this nature so happily adjusted.

  Once and for all it stripped distant and tedious navigations of those terrors which haunted them through the incapacity of their commanders and it opened a door to the great South Sea which was never to be closed again. Rogers was a born leader, besides being a magnificent seaman. He had a way of maintaining authority over his men which Dampier and others before him

  sadly lacked. And whenever the occasion arose he had a happy knack of ingratiating himself with the various authorities ashore. Whether friend or foe, he invariably parted with them cheerfully. In many respects the voyage of Woods Rogers is more noteworthy than that of Anson 30 years

  later. Rogers has only two small merchant ships, fitted out by private enterprise, whereas Anson's squadron was fitted, manned, and armed by the Admiralty. It comprised six ships of the Royal Navy with 236 guns and 2,000 men, in addition to two victualing ships of the size of the Duke and Duchess.

  Rogers was able to bring both his ships safely home, but fate was not so kind to Anson and only one, his flagship the Centurion, succeeded in reaching England. The success of the expedition naturally stimulated public interest and at the request of his many friends Rogers agreed to publish his journal which appeared in the following year under the title of A Cruising Voyage Around the World.

  It is written, as its author informs us, in the language of the sea, and as such it is a picturesque human document enlivened with a quaint humor which makes it delightful reading. During the 18th century the book was widely read. Three editions appeared within the space of 14 years and it was also translated into French and German.

  It was used as a model by later voyagers and it is interesting to note that when Anson sailed on a similar expedition 30 years later, a copy of the Cruising Voyage found a prominent place in his cabin. End of section 1

• 02 - Introduction Part 2 and Dedication

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  Section 2 of A Cruising Voyage Around the World. On returning to England, Rogers took up his residence at a house in Queen Square, Bristol, which had been built for him about 1708. His share of the plunder taken by the Duke and Duchess must have amounted to about 14,000 pounds, and he was thus able to live in ease and retirement during the next few years.

  At this period of his life, he formed some important and influential friendships, and among his correspondents we find such well-known names as Addison, Steele, and Sir Hans Sloan. To a man of Rogers' disposition, an inactive life must have been particularly irksome, and his ever restless nature was continually looking for some outlet where the spirit of adventure was combined with service to the state.

  In the years following his expedition around the world, the government had under consideration various schemes for the settlement of Madagascar and the Bahama Islands, both of which had become strongholds for the pirates and were a dangerous menace to the trade and navigation in those waters. That Rogers had his own ideas on the matter is shown in the following letter to Sir Hans

  Sloan, dated 7th May 1716, which in its way is a model of brevity. Sir, I, being ambitious to promote a settlement on Madagascar, beg you'll be pleased to send me what accounts you have of that island, which will be a particular favour done. Your most obliged humble servant, Woods Rogers. For some reason or other the proposed settlement never matured, and nothing further is heard

  of it. There remained, however, the question of the Bahamas, and it was not long before Rogers was called from the seclusion of his Bristol home to take command of an important expedition against the pirates of New Providence in the Bahamas, in which he was to become a pioneer in the settlement and administration of our West Indian Empire.

  The story of this expedition and Rogers' subsequent career as governor of the Bahama Islands, the most northerly of our West Indian possessions, has never been told in full before. It may be taken as a typical example of the pluck and enterprise shown by our early colonial governors against overwhelming odds and difficulties, and as such it fills an important chapter in colonial history.

  Although the islands had nominally belonged to Great Britain since 1670, they had been left without any systematic government or settlement for over half a century, and in consequence the House of Lords, in an address to the Queen during the early part of 1716, set forth the desirability of placing the Bahamas under the crown for the better security and advantage of the trade of this kingdom.

  They pointed out that twice within living memory the French and Spaniards had plundered the colony and driven out the few English settlers and that it was now necessary to establish a stable form of government there. Owing to their geographical position, the Bahamas were a favorite haunt of the pirates, whose headquarters were at New Providence, the principal island.

  Nothing however was done in the matter until the following year when Rogers submitted a careful and considered proposal for their settlement to the Lords Commissioners of Trade in the summer of 1717. He emphasized the importance of those islands to British trade and navigation and the necessity of driving out the pirates and fortifying and settling the islands for the better protection

  of that trade. His endeavors were stoutly supported by some of the most considerable merchants of London and Bristol, who declared that Rogers was in every way qualified for such an undertaking. In the meantime, the Lords proprietors of the Bahamas surrendered the civil and military government of the islands to the Crown with the reservation of quit rents and royalties.

  These they leased under an agreement dated 28th of October 1717 to Rogers, who was described in the original lease as of London, Mariner, for a term of 21 years. For the first seven years, Rogers was to pay 50 pounds a year. For the second seven years, 100 pounds a year. And for the remaining period, 200 pounds a year.

  Accordingly, Rogers' suggestion, backed by the recommendation of Addison, then Secretary of State, was agreed to, and he was duly appointed Captain General and Governor-in-Chief in and over our Bahama Islands in America, the King reposing his special trust in his prudence, courage and loyalty. On his appointment, he assigned his lease to W. Chetwind, Adam Cardinal and Thomas Pitt,

  with the proviso that the lessee was to have the right to grant lands for not less than one penny sterling per acre. Among other things, Rogers had represented to the Crown the necessity of taking out a number of soldiers to protect the colony. And on the 14th of October 1717, Addison wrote to the Secretary of War, stating that the

  company should consist of a hundred men at least, and that as the season was too far advanced to procure these forces from any part of America, he proposed that they should be drafted out of the guards or any other regiments now on foot or out of His Majesty's Hospital at Chelsea. This garrison Rogers had proposed a victual at the rate of six pence per head per diem,

  and the Treasury were asked to provide the sum of 912 pounds 10 shillings, the cost of a year's victualing, provided your Lordship shall find the same to be a cheap and reasonable proposal. On the 6th of November, Rogers duly received his commission as Captain of the Independent Company afoot, which we have appointed to do duty in our Bahama Islands in America.

  While in London, Rogers had an opportunity of renewing his friendship with Steele, whom he met in the tennis coffee house in the cockpit white hall, on which occasions we are told, the conversation turned upon the subject of trade and navigation, a subject which we may be sure was eagerly discussed, for Steele at the time was full of his idea for the fish pool, a scheme for bringing fish alive to London.

  On Friday the 11th of April, Rogers sailed from England to take up his appointment. His commission gave him full power to employ whatever means he thought fit for the suppression of piracy, and he also carried with him the Royal Proclamation of Pardon, dated 5th of September, 1717, to any pirates who surrendered before the 5th of September, 1718. At the same time, a determined effort was made by the government to stamp out piracy

  in the whole of the West Indian Islands, and several ships were dispatched to Jamaica, Barbados and the Leeward Islands for that purpose. After a voyage of three and a half months, Rogers arrived at his destination, and on the 25th of July, the Delicia, with the governor and his retinue on board, escorted by Her Majesty's ships Rose and Milford, anchored off Nassau, the principal town of New Providence,

  and the seat of government of the Bahamas. Owing to the lateness of the evening, the pilot of the Delicia decided that it was unsafe to venture over the bar that night, and in consequence it was resolved to wait till the morning. From information received, it was learned that nearly all the pirates were anxious to

  avail themselves of the royal clemency. Two notable exceptions, however, were Teach, the famous Blackbeard, and Charles Vane. The latter swore that he would suffer no other governor than himself, except on his own terms, and these he embodied in the following letter to Rogers. Your Excellency may please to understand that we are willing to accept His Majesty's most

  gracious pardon on the following terms, viz. that you will suffer us to dispose of all our goods now in our possession, likewise to act as we think fit with everything belonging to us. If Your Excellency shall please to comply with this, we shall, with all readiness, accept of His Majesty's act of grace.

  If not, we are obliged to stand on our defence. We wait to speedy answer. Rogers promptly replied by sending in the rose and the shark's sloop, and after a desultory cannonade, Vane set fire to a French prize of twenty-two guns, and during the confusion and danger which followed, he and about ninety of his crew succeeded in escaping to sea.

  The morning following Vane's escape, Rogers went on shore and was enthusiastically received by the principal inhabitants. The pirates who had availed themselves of the royal pardon were not to be eclipsed in their desire to show their loyalty to the new governor, and on the way from the beach to the fort, Rogers passed between two lines of reformed pirates who fired their muskets

  in his honour. On arriving at the fort, the royal commission was opened in red, and Rogers was solemnly sworn in as governor of the Bahamas. The next procedure was to form a council, and for this purpose Rogers nominated six of the principal persons he had brought with him from England, and six of the inhabitants,

  who had not been pirates and were of good repute. Within a week of landing, Rogers assembled this council, and among other business, the following appointments were made. Judge of the Admiralty Court, Collector of Customs, Chief Justice, Provost Marshal, Secretary to the Governor, and Chief Naval Officer.

  Having appointed his council and administrative officers, Rogers next turned his attention to the inhabitants and the condition of the islands generally. It was a task which required a man of strong and fearless disposition, and Rogers did not shrink from this responsibility. The secret of his success was that he found and made work for all.

  The fort of Nassau, in ruins and dismantled, was repaired and garrisoned. A number of guns were also mounted and a strong palisade constructed round it. All about the town the roads were overgrown with brushwood and shrubs and rendered almost impassable. A proportion of the inhabitants were therefore mustered and employed in clearing the ground

  and cleansing the streets, while overseers and constables were employed to see the work carried out in an efficient manner. Those not employed on cleansing and scouring were formed into three companies of militia whose duty it was to keep guard in the town every night to prevent surprise attacks. The neighboring islands were not forgotten, and various members of the council were appointed

  deputy governors of them. A militia company was also formed in each of the principal ones, and a fort constructed and provided with powder and shot. As an extra method of precaution, the Delicia was retained as the governor's guard ship and stationed off the harbor of Nassau.

  A scheme of settlement was also devised, and in order to attract settlers to New Providence and the other islands, a plot of ground 120 foot square was offered to each settler, provided he would clear the ground and build a house within a certain time. As there was abundance of timber on the island which was free to be taken, this stipulation was not difficult to fulfill.

  Unfortunately, the difficulties which Rogers had to contend with bid fare to wreck his almost utopian scheme. Before many months had elapsed, the pirates found this new mode of life less remunerative and much more irksome to their roving dispositions. As Captain Charles Johnson, their historian, tersely puts it, it did not much suit the

  inclinations of the pirates to be set to work. As a result, many of them escaped to sea at the first opportunity and resumed their former trade. One of their number, John Auger by name, who had accepted the royal pardon, was appointed by Rogers to command a sloop dispatched to get provisions for the island.

  Captain John, however, soon forgot his oath of allegiance and meeting with two trading vessels en route, he promptly boarded and rifled them. With booty estimated at 500 pounds, he steered a course for Hispaniola, little knowing that he had played his last card. Encountering a severe storm, he and his comrades were wrecked on one of the uninhabited Bahamas

  where Rogers, hearing of their fate, dispatched a ship to bring them back to Nassau. Here they were quickly dealt with by the court of admiralty and 10 out of 11 of them were convicted and hanged in the sight of their former companions. A contemporary records that these trials were marked by Rogers' prudence and resolution and that in the condemnation and execution of the pirates, he had a just regard of the

  public good and was not to be deterred from vigorously pursuing it in circumstances which would have intimidated many brave men. Whenever the occasion offered, Rogers tempered justice with mercy and the human side of his character comes out well in the case of the man who was pardoned. His name, Rogers informs us, was George Ronseval, and I reprieved him under the gallows, he

  wrote in a letter to the Secretary of State, through a desire to respite him for his future repentance. He is the son of loyal and good parents at Weymouth in Dorseture. I hope this unhappy young man will deserve his life, and I beg the honor of your intercession with His Majesty for me on his behalf.

  One of the greatest difficulties which Rogers had to encounter was the smallness of the force at his disposal for the preservation of law and order. The discovery of a conspiracy among the settlers to desert the island and their friendship with the pirates were matters of urgent importance which he brought to the notice of the home government.

  From first to last, his great ambition was to make the colony worthy in all respects of the British Empire, and amidst frequent disorders we find him busy about this time with plans for the development of the whale fishery and for supplying Newfoundland and North America with salt. The failure of the Admiralty to send out ships for the protection of the colony against the

  swarms of pirates who still infested the West Indian seas caused Rogers to complain bitterly, and in a very interesting letter to his friend Sir Richard Steele, he regrets that several of his letters have fallen into the hands of the pirates. In it he also gives an amusing account of a lady whose fluency of speech caused him considerable annoyance.

  To the Honorable Sir Richard Steele, to be left at Bartram's Coffee House in Church Court opposite Hungerford Market in the Strand, London, Via Carolina, Nassau, on New Providence, January 30th, 1718-19, Sir, having read to you by several former opportunities and not hearing from you, I have the greater cause to evade against the malice of the pirates who took Captain Smitter, lately come from London, from whom I have since heard that

  there were several letters directed to me in Mr. Beecham, which the pirates after reading tore. Every capture made by the pirates aggravates the apparent inclination of the commanders of our men of war, who having openly avowed that the greater number of pirates makes their suitable advantage in trade, for the merchants of necessity are forced to send their effects

  in the king's bottoms when they from every part hear of the ravages committed by the pirates. There is no governor in these American parts who has not justly complained of this grand negligence, and I am in hopes that several representations will induce the Board of Admiralty to be more strict in their orders.

  There has not been one here almost these five months past, and, as if they wished us offered as a sacrifice both to the threatening Spaniards and pirates, I have not had influence enough to make our danger prevail with any of them to come to our assistance because of their greater occupations in trade. I, however, expect to be sufficiently provided if the Spaniards, as believed, defer their

  coming till April. At my first arrival I received a formal visit from a woman called Pritchard, who by her voluble tongue, and mentioning some of our first quality with some freedom, and with all saying that she was known to you, Mr. Cardindale, and Sir William Seawin, next to whom she lived, near the storey's Westminster, that I gave her a patient hearing.

  She dressed well and had charms enough to tempt the pirates, and, when she pleased, could assume an air of haughtiness which indeed she showed to me when I mis-doubted her birth, education, or acquaintance with those noble men and others, whom she could without hesitation call over, and indeed some very particular private passages. She had often a loose way of speaking which made me conjecture she endeavoured to win

  the hearts of her admirers to the pretender's interest, and made me grow weary of seeing her. This my indifference, and a little confinement, provoked her to depart hence for Jamaica, saying that she would take passage for England to do her self-justice, and did not come abroad without money to support her.

  She talked much of Sir Ambrose Crawley and his son, from whom she intends to provide a good quantity of ironwork, and with a suitable cargo of other goods she says she will soon make another turn this way, and seldom serious in her talk. I thought fit to say thus much of a woman who pretends to such a general knowledge of men, particularly of you and Mr. Addison.

  If our carpenters had not otherwise been employed, and I could have spared them, I should have been glad to have made her First Lady of the Stool. She went hence, as I thought, with resentments enough, but I have heard since from Jamaica that she has not only forgot her passion, but sent her friendly service to me, and as I expect, she now is on her way home, designed to do me all the good offices that she can

  with all the numerous gentlemen of her acquaintance. But I can't believe it, and I beg, if you see her soliciting in my behalf, be pleased to let her know I don't expect her company here, and she can't oblige me more than to let me and my character alone. Captain Whitney, Commander of His Majesty's Ship the Rose, Man of War, being one of the

  three that saw me into this place, and left me in an utmost danger so long ago, he also pretends to a knowledge of you and several of my friends in London, but he has behaved so ill that I design to forget him as much as I can, and if he is acquainted with you and sees you in London before me, I desire he might know his character from the several accounts I have sent hence, which, with what goes from other ports, may serve to convince

  all his friends that he is not the man that he may have appeared to be at home. I hope Mrs. Kerr and Roach, who I have sent hence, has been often with you, and that this will keep your hands in perfect health, and that you have thrown away your great cane and can dance a minuet, and will honor me with the continuance of your friendship, for I am, good sir, your most sincere humble servant, Woods Rogers.

  Be pleased to excuse my writing to you in such a hurry as oblige me to write this letter in two different hands. My humble service to Mr. Addison and Mr. Sansom. This comes in close to Mr. G, with whom I hope you will be acquainted, W.R. In his subsequent letter, he writes regretting that his majesty's ships of war had so little

  regard for this infant colony, and he certainly had just cause to complain. His statement about the Admiralty and the representations of other colonial governors is borne out by the following letter from the Governor of South Carolina, written on the 4th of November, 1718. It is not long since I did myself the honor to write to you from this place, South Carolina,

  which I hope you'll receive. But having fresh occasion grounded upon advice received by a brig, since that arrived from Providence, I thought it my duty, after having so far engaged myself in that settlement once more, to offer you my opinion concerning it. My last, if I forget not, gave you account of the mortality that had been amongst the

  soldiers and others that came over with Governor Rogers, and the ill state of that place both in regard to pirates and Spaniards, unless speedily supported by a greater force than are yet upon the place, and especially the necessity that there is of cruising ships and snows and sloops of war to be stationed there, without which I do assure you, it will at any time be in the power of either pirates or Spaniards at their pleasure to make themselves

  master of the island, or at least to prevent provisions or other necessaries being carried to it from the main, and without that, it's not possible for the King's garrison or inhabitants to subsist. The pirates yet accounted to be out are near 2,000 men, and those of Vane, Thach, and others promise themselves to be repossessed of Providence in a short time.

  How the loss of that place may affect the ministry, I cannot tell, but the consequence of it seems to be not only a general destruction of the trade to the West Indies and the main of America, but the settling and establishing a nest of pirates who already esteem themselves a community and to have one common interest, and indeed they may in time become so and make that island another sally, but much more formidable unless speedy care be taken to

  subdue them. I should humbly propose that two ships of twenty-four or thirty guns, and two sloops of ten or twelve guns should be stationed there, one ship and sloop to be always in harbor as guard. In these days of rapid transit and wireless communications, it is difficult to realize

  what this isolation meant to a colonial governor with the perpetual menace of the enemy within his gates and the risk of invasion from outside. The existence of the settlement depended entirely on his initiative and resource, and at times the suspense and despair in these far-flung outposts of empire must have been terrible in the extreme.

  The difficulties which Rogers had to contend with are vividly shown in the following letter from him to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, Nassau, on Providence, May 29, 1719. My Lords, We have never been free from apprehension of danger from pirates and Spaniards, and I can only impute these causes to the want of a stationed ship of war, till we really can be strong enough to defend ourselves.

  I hope your Lordships will pardon my troubling you, but a few instances of those people I have to govern who, though they expect the enemy that has surprised them these fifteen years thirty-four times, yet these wretches can't be kept to watch at night, and when they do come, they come very seldom sober and rarely awake all night, though our officers or soldiers very often surprise their guard and carry off their arms, and I punish, fine,

  or convine them almost every day. Then for work they mortally hate it, for when they have cleared a patch that will supply them with potatoes and yams and very little else, fish being so plentiful, they thus live, poorly and indolently, with a seeming content, and pray for wrecks or pirates, and few of them have any opinion of a regular orderly life under any sort of government, and would

  rather spend all they have at a punch-house than pay me one-tenth to save their families and all that's dear to them. Had I not took another method of eating, drinking, and working with them myself, officers, soldiers, sailors, and passengers, and watched at the same time whilst they were drunk and drowsy, I could never have got the fort in any posture of defence, neither would they have willingly

  kept themselves or me from the pirates if the expectation of a war with Spain had not been perpetually kept up. It was as bad as treason is in England to declare our design of fortifying was to keep out the pirates if they were willing to come in and say they would be honest and live under government as we called it even then.

  I ask your lordship's pardon if I am too prolix, but the anxiety I am in, and it being my duty to inform your honourable board as fully as I can, I hope will plead for me till I can be more concise. I am, with the utmost ambition and zeal, your lordship's most obedient and most humble servant, Woods Rogers.

  An interesting sidelight on the Spanish attack which Rogers mentioned in his letter to Steele is to be found among the treasury papers in the form of a claim for provisions supplied to Woods Rogers, captain general, governor and vice admiral of the Bahama Islands, during the invasion from the Spaniards against the island of Providence, when the inhabitants and others of that place were forced to continue under arms for a considerable time and the

  governor was obliged to be at an extraordinary charge to support near 500 men exclusive of his majesty's garrison. Though he had been sent out to the Bahamas as the representative of the crown, his position was more like that of a shipwrecked mariner, so completely was he cut off from the outside world.

  On the 20th of November, 1720, the council wrote to the secretary of state the following letter, which reveals an amazing situation. Governor Rogers, having received no letter from you dated since July 1719, and none from the board of trade since his arrival, gives him and us great uneasiness, lest this poor colony should be no more accounted as part of his Britannic majesty's dominions.

  The intolerable position thus created, and the utter impossibility of getting either help or guidance from the home government, at last forced Rogers to return. The strain of the last two years had told severely on his health, and he decided to make the journey to England and personally plead the cause of the colony. In a letter written on the eve of his departure, dated from Nassau, 25th of February 1720-21,

  he writes, It is impossible that I can subsist here any longer on the foot I have been left ever since my arrival. He had been left, he stated, with a few sick men to encounter five hundred of the pirates, and that he had no support in men, supplies, or warships. He had also contracted large debts through having to purchase clothing and supplies at

  extravagant rates. This place, he wrote, so secured by my industry into fatigable pains and the forfeiture of my health, has since been sold for forty thousand pounds and myself by a manager at home and co-partners factored him here. All the unworthy usage a man can have, he added, has been given me, and all the expenses

  designed to be thrown on me. Leaving the government of the island in the hands of Mr. Fairfax, he left for England carrying with him a remarkable memorial drawn up and signed by the council, principal inhabitants, and traders of the Baham Islands, dated 21 March 1720-21, setting forth the services he had rendered to the colony.

  In this document they express the belief that too many of these neglects of, and misfortunes attending us, are owing to the want of a power to call an assembly, and that the colony being in the hands of proprietors and co-partners, who, we are sensible, have it not in their power to support and defend their settlements in such a manner as is necessary, more especially in young colonies.

  And this place, being left on so uncertain a foundation and so long abandoned, has discouraged all men of substance coming to us. We hope, they added, his majesty and the wisdom of the nation will not suffer this colony to be any longer so neglected and lost to the crown, as it inevitably must, and will be soon abandoned to the pirates, if effectual care is not taken without any farther loss

  of time. We thought it a duty incumbent upon us, as well as to the country, as to his excellency the governor, and his majesty's garrison here, to put these things in full and true alight, that we might, as much as in us lies, do our governor justice, and prevent any further ungrateful usage being offered him at home, to frustrate his good endeavours when please

  God he arrives there, for the service of his country to preserve this settlement. For next to the divine protection it is owing to him, who has acted amongst us without the least regard for his private advantage or separate interest in a scene of continual fatigues and hardships. These motives led us to offer the truth under our hands of the almost insurmountable difficulty

  that he and this colony has struggled with for the space of two years and eight months past. With these assurances of good will and support, Rogers left for England calling en route at South Carolina, where he ordered provisions to be dispatched to New Providence sufficient to last the company till Christmas.

  During the second week in August he landed at Bristol, and then proceeded to London. On arrival in London, Rogers met with as many difficulties as he had encountered in the colony, and he does not appear to have succeeded to any extent in the objects of his mission. That he strongly objected to return for a further tenure of office under the same conditions is apparent, and in the same year George Fenny was appointed to succeed him as governor.

  Within two months of his arrival in England, he addressed a petition to the Lords of the Treasury setting forth his services and impoverished condition, stating that in preserving the islands from destruction by the Spaniards, or from again being possessed by the pirates, he had dispersed his whole fortune and credit and stood engaged for large sums. He prayed that he might be granted an allowance of victualing for the last three years.

  Those who have had occasion to search into the records of the 18th century know the difficulties which confront the searcher, especially in writing for the first time the life of a man like Woods Rogers. There must inevitably be some missing links in the biographical chain, and such a missing link occurs in the years immediately following his return to England.

  For some reason or other he seems to have been in bad odour with the government, possibly on account of his pugnacity and outspoken nature, and there is no record of his petition being answered. On slender authority he is said to have gone in 1724 in the Delicia of 40 guns to Madagascar for the purpose of buying slaves for the Dutch colony at Batavia, during which voyage

  he narrowly escaped captured by the pirates who settled there from the Bahamas. This however seems an unlikely procedure for a man of Rogers attainments, and the story is not corroborated by any authoritative source. The next mention of Rogers occurs in connection with the operations against Spain. In March 1726, Vice Admiral Hozier was appointed to command a squadron which was dispatched

  to the West Indies for the purpose of intercepting the Spanish treasure ships lying at Portobello. On hearing of Hozier's expedition and its object, the ships were dismantled and the treasure sent back to Panama. Hozier, however, in spite of a virulent epidemic among the crew of his ships, kept up a strict blockade of Portobello.

  In the spring and summer of 1727, while his ships were blockading Havana and Veracruz, the epidemic continued, and Hozier himself fell a victim to the disease, dying at Jamaica on the 25th of August. The government did all in their power to prevent the Spanish treasure ships reaching Europe, and Rogers, who was in London at the time, was consulted by the government as the probable

  means and route the Spaniards would adopt to get their treasure home. The situation was rendered more difficult by a dispatch from William Cayley, our consul at Cadiz, informing the government of the sailing of a squadron from Cadiz to assist in bringing the treasure home. From past experience, Rogers probably knew more than any other person then in England

  of the difficulties of the voyage, and the report which he delivered in conjunction with Jonathan Dennis to Lord Townsend, the Secretary of State, is of considerable interest and is now printed for the first time. According to what Your Lordship was pleased to command us, we have considered the account given by Mr. Cayley from Cadiz to his grace the Duke of Newcastle of three men of war

  and a ship of ten guns being sent under the command of Admiral Castañeda from that port in the month of May last with cannon and land forces which, Your Lordship apprehends, may be ordered round Cape Horn in order to bring to Spain the bullion now detained at Panama. And we give it Your Lordship as our opinion that it is not only improbable but almost impracticable for the following reasons.

  First, because of the time of year in which those ships sailed from Cadiz, which is at least three months too soon to attempt getting round Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan especially if the nature of the ships be considered and they are being deeply laden into having cannon and land forces on board. Secondly, because there can be no need of cannon in Peru or Chile, those provinces

  abounding in metal for casting them and the Spaniards being able to do it, as they have always done, cheaper and full as well as in Spain as to the soldiers that transporting them that way seems altogether improbable because of the many better methods there are of doing it. Thirdly, My Lord, as the bullion is now at or near Panama, the embarking at thence to

  Lima and so to be brought round Cape Horn will require so prodigious an expense both of time and money that renders the doing of it extremely improbable. Tis true, My Lord, were the money now at Potosi or Lima to be easy enough to bring it round Cape Horn or rather overland to Buenos Aires where Castañeda might be gone to receive it.

  But as it is not, the bringing of it from Panama to Lima will require too long a time because of the difficulty of the navigation from a former to the latter place being against both winds and currents so that the Spanish ships are commonly from six to eight or ten months performing the voyage and though the French formally often came with their money round the Cape de France, yet your Lordship will consider their attractive trade was never

  to Leeward or to the northward of the coast of Peru by which means the greatest fatigue of the voyage was avoided. But my Lord what seems to us the most likely is that Castañeda after refreshing at the Havana may go to La Veracruz and there wait for the bullion from Panama from whence it may be sent to La Veracruz under notion of it being reshipped for Peru and so bring it

  to Havana there to join in the flota and so come for Spain or send it home in running ships and our reason for this suggestion is not only for the above difficulties that must and will attend bringing the bullion now at Panama to Spain round Cape Horn or by the way of Buenos Aires but because of the facility and dispatch with which it may be transported from Panama to Acapulco and so by land to La Veracruz which is what has been often practiced

  by the Spaniards even when there was no blockade at Portobello nor fear of enemies as a conveniency for Spain is offered for the navigation from Panama to Acapulco is very safe and easy and the carriage from thence to La Veracruz is neither so difficult nor expensive as that between Lima and Buenos Aires this my Lord is what occurs to us worth of your Lordship's notice we are with the uttermost respect and submission my Lord your Lordship's most devoted

  and most obedient humble servants Woods Rogers Jonathan Dennis right honorable Lord Townsend London 10 of November 1726 in the meanwhile things were going from bad to worse in the Bahamas Finney Rogers successor had failed in his efforts to bring about a stable form of government and he appears to have been without the commanding and organizing abilities of his predecessor at the beginning of 1726 he wrote complaining of the difficulties of government

  stating that he had been unable to get sufficient of his counsel together to form a quorum and that many of them were very illiterate Finney himself was not above reproach it was reported that he and his wife had grossly abused their office the governor's wife and her husband monopolized all the trade so that the inhabitants could not have any provisions without paying her own exorbitant prices and it was reported that she sold rum by the pint and biscuits by

  the half real added to this she had frequently browbeated juries and insulted even the justice on the bench while Finney himself was stated to have dismantled the fort and sold the iron for his own benefit if half the misdemeanors attributed to Finney and his wife are true it is not to be wondered at that his recall was demanded by the principal inhabitants and that a strong desire was shown by the council and others to have Rogers reinstated as the following petition and its

  annex paper dated 28 February 1727 28 clearly shows to the King's most excellent majesty the humble petition of Captain Woods Rogers late governor of the Bahama Islands in America and captain of the independent company there she with the petitioner had the honor to be employed by your royal father to drive the pirates from the Bahama Islands and he succeeded therein he afterwards established a settlement and defended it against an attack of the Spaniards on your

  majesty's happy accession he humbly represented the state of his great losses and sufferings in this service praying that you would be graciously pleased to grant him such compensation for the same as might enable him to exert himself more effectually in your majesty's services having nothing more than the subsistence of half pay as captain afoot given him on a report of the board of general officers appointed to inquire into his conduct who farther recommended him to

  his late majesty's bounty in favor the petitioner not having the happiness to know your royal pleasure humbly begs leave to represent that the Bahama Islands are a very great importance to the commerce of these kingdoms as it is well known to all concerned in the American trade and the weak condition they now are in renders them an easy prey to the Spaniards if a rupture should happen but if effectually secured they will soon contribute very much to distress any power

  which may attempt to molest the British dominions or trade in the West Indies your petitioner therefore humbly prays that your most sacred majesty will be graciously praised to restore him to his former station of governor and captain of an independent company of these islands in which he hopes to get further proofs of zeal for your majesty's service or if it is your royal pleasure his successor be continued there he most humbly relies that through your great compassion

  and bounty he shall receive such a consideration for his past sufferings and present half pay as well enable him to be usefully employed for your majesty's and his country's advantage and in some measure retrieve his losses that he may support himself and family who for above seven years past have suffered very much by means of this employment wholly for the public service and your majesty's petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray etc. at the same time a petition bearing 29 influential

  names among who was Sir Hans Sloan, Samuel Shute ex-governor of Massachusetts, Alexander Spotswood deputy governor of Virginia, Benjamin Bennett ex-governor of Bermuda and Lord Montague was sent to Sir Robert Walpole in favor of Rogers stating we never heard any complaint against his conduct in his duty there nor that he behaved otherwise in that employ than with the utmost resolution and fidelity becoming a good subject though to the ruin of his own fortune it is evident from

  this petition that at the time the government were considering the question of the Bahamas and the policy to be pursued there the influential support which Rogers had received and the general desires shown by the colonists for his return were factors which could not be ignored in the situation by the end of the year it was decided to recall Fenney and send Rogers out for a second tenure of office his commission drawn up in December 1728 gave him among other things power and authority

  to summon and call general assemblies of the said freeholders and planters in our islands under your government which assembly shall consist of 24 persons to be chosen by a majority of the inhabitants instead of the previously nominated council as captain general and governor-in-chief he was to receive a salary of 400 pounds a year just prior to sailing he had a family picture painted by Hogarth which represents him with his son and daughter outside the fort at Nassau

  on the wall is a shield with the motto Doom Spiro Spiro in the early summer of 1729 Rogers with his son and daughter sailed for New Providence and among other things it is interesting to note that he took with him two little flagons one chalice one patent and a receiver to take the offerings for the use of his majesty's chapel there the building of which had commenced a few years earlier one of his first duties on arrival

  was to proceed with the election of an assembly which met on the 30th of September in that year in its first session no less than 12 acts were passed which it was judged would be beneficial to the welfare of the colony and efforts were made to encourage the planting of cotton and the raising of sugar canes praiseworthy as these endeavors were they were fraught with considerable difficulties the settlers which it was hoped to attract from the other islands in the west indies

  and from the american colonies were not forthcoming at sufficient numbers principally owing to the poverty of the colony in the October of 1730 Rogers wrote I found the place so very poor and thin of inhabitants that I never mentioned any salary to them for myself or anyone else and the fees annexed to all offices and places here being the lowest of any part in America no one can support himself there on without some other employment nevertheless the spiritual needs

  nevertheless the spiritual needs of the colony as we have seen were not neglected and Rogers says that they were in great want of a chaplain and that the whole colony had requested him to get an orthodox divine as soon as possible to add to his other embarrassments Rogers had considerable difficulty with the members of his assembly and the opposition led by the speaker did all in their power to wreck the various schemes that were brought before them

  in a letter to the lord commissioners of trade dated February 10th 1730 31 he mentions an incident which caused him to dissolve the house during the sessions of the last assembly I endeavored pursuant to his majesty's instructions to recommend to them the state and condition of the fortifications which must wanted all the assistance possible for their repair to which I did not find the major part of the assembly averse at first

  but since they have been diverted from their good intentions by the insinuations of one Mr. Colebrooke their speaker who imposed so long on their ignorance that I was obliged to dissolve them lest his behavior might influence them to fall into schemes yet more contrary to the good of the colony in their own safety another assembly is lately elected and I still find the effects of the above Mr. Colebrooke's influence on the most ignorant of them who are the majority

  he added that the present ill state of his health which has been lately much impaired obliges me to have recourse to his majesty's permission of going to South Carolina for a change of air from which I hope to return in three weeks or a month the growth of constitutional government in the colony and the molding of the powers and procedure of the legislature on similar lines to the home government are vividly brought out in the

  official reply to rogers dispatch this reply is dated 29th of june 1731 and it is evident from the tone of it they realized the difficulties which he had to contend with it would be proper they wrote that the proceedings of the assembly also should resemble those of the parliament of great britain so far as the circumstances of the colony and your instructions will permit it would be a pretty difficult task to lay down a plan for the proceedings of your assembly in

  future times but in general we may observe to you that the constitution of england owes its preservation very much to the maintaining of an equal balance between the branches of the legislature and that the more distinct they are kept from each other the likelier they will be to agree and the longer they will be likely to last up till this date the crown had only taken over the civil and military jurisdiction of the colony and the retention of the lands by the

  proprietors and lessees of the islands undoubtedly hampered their economic progress and well-being finally in response to a suggestion from the crown the proprietors in a letter of april 11 1730 offered to sell out their rights for 1000 guineas each clear of all fees and rogers in a letter to the board of trade emphasized the necessity of the crown taking this step and so bringing to an end the discouraging contest on titles to land by an irony of fate rogers

  would not spare to see this suggestion carried into effect though his efforts on behalf of the colony had undermined his health he did not spare himself or shrink from his responsibility how great that responsibility was and how we overcame a widespread conspiracy by colbrook to overthrow his government is shown in the following letter to the board of trade written from nassau on the 10th of june 1731

  how great an enemy mr. crow book hath been to this government and what vile means he used to make the garrison mutiny and stir up a spirit of discontent and opposition in the inhabitants by the great influence which he had artfully gained over the most ignorant of them while he was speaker of the assembly from all which i humbly hope that the method taken to prevent proceeding in his seditious and wicked designs will meet with his majesty's and your lordship's

  approbation the method taken was the arrest and indictment of john colbrook for sedition he was tried before the chief justice of the bahamas at the end of may and found guilty a fine of 750 pounds was imposed and he was ordered to be confined during his majesty's pleasure and was not to be discharged until he had given sufficient security for his future good behavior the influence that such a person could wield over an ignorant community 200 years ago

  is strangely reminiscent of the 20th century in spite of colbrook's detention the danger was not yet over and the canker of sedition seems to have been very deeply rooted two months later in august 1731 rogers thus reports on the situation i can yet procure no assistance from the inhabitants from the inhabitants towards the fortifications though i have without any help from them built a new barrack for the garrison in the fort and have made upwards of 20 new carriages for guns

  of this country timber and shall continue to do all i can towards the fortifications as soon as the heat of the summer is over that i can put the garrison to work again without endangering their house and as soon as possible we'll try in a new assembly what i can do though i fear little public good is to be expected from them if mr colbrook and his accomplices here can have any influence to prevent the people's working they being too poor to contribute anything worth

  contributing in money at what period colbrook was released we do not know but that he appealed to the home government is certain and in order that the lord's commissioners of trade should have all the facts at their disposal rogers dispatched his son to england with the following letter dated 14 october 1731 as i am at a loss what complaints mr colbrook may make i entreat your lordships will please to allow me to refer you to my son who will have the honor

  to wait on your lordships with this and is instructed to give you such particular information as you may desire to be apprised of either with regard to mr colbrook or anything else related to this colony i have also transmitted here with transcripts of the council and assembly proceedings and answer to your lordships queries together with an account of every family on this island in as particular a manner as possible i hope soon to visit columbia alias cat island which

  being esteemed the most fertile of any in this government i shall transmit to your lordships a particular account thereof this was his last official dispatch of any importance and his death is recorded at nasa on the 15th of july 1732 his will drawn up on the eve of departure from england and dated 26th of may 1729 was proved in london the 24th of november 1732 in it he bequeathed his property to his son william whetstone rogers and his daughter syra rogers the probate act

  describes him as late of the parish of saint margaret west minster but dying at the bahama islands a widower and so amid the tropical grandeur of his island home with the surge of the broad atlantic for his requiem past all that was mortal of woods rogers no tombstone stands to mark his last resting place but somewhere in nasa we may be sure that his spirit looks out past the great statue of columbus standing sentinel over government house to the shipping

  and harbor beyond one wonders how many of the thousands of visitors who bask in the perpetual sunshine of a winter's day in this queen of coral isles realize how much they owe to woods rogers and his successors a great seaman and splendid patriot he deserves well of his country may this reprint of his cruising voyage be a fitting tribute to his memory this edition of woods rogers cruising voyage around the world is printed from the original and scarce edition of 1712

  in the introduction i have attempted to tell the full story of the author's life from the original documents in the public record office and the british museum for the facilities offered me at both these institutions and also at the london library i beg to tender my sincere thanks i have also to acknowledge my indebtedness to mr agh mcpherson for his kindness in allowing me to reproduce three illustrations from his unique collection of naval prints and to the

  facilities at the national portrait gallery for their courtesy and granting me permission to reproduce the beautiful portrait of captain william dampier finally i have to thank dr philip goss whose enthusiasm for woods rogers spurred me to complete this edition of one of the most interesting voyages in the english language ge man wearing the dedication to the worthy gentleman my surviving owners the worshipful christopher shooter esquire

  sir john hawkins knight john ramsay esquire captain philip freak mr james hollage francis rogers francis rogers thomas goldney thomas clements thomas coots john coarsely john duckenfield richard hawksworth william saunders john grant laurence holister and daniel hickman merchants in bristol gentlemen as you did me the honor to approve my proposals for the following voyage and generously fitted out two ships in which you gave me the principal command

  i no sooner resolved to publish my journal than i determined to choose you from my patrons and thereby to take an opportunity of expressing my gratitude to you who had the courage to adventure your estates on an undertaking which to men less discerning seemed impracticable i heartily congratulate you on the success and profit of this long and hazardous voyage which might have been greater but the following sheets will show it was not my fault i shall only add on this head

  that i used my utmost endeavors to promote your interest which was always preferred to my own i make no doubt it will be to your lasting honor that such a voyage was undertaken from bristol at your expense since it has given the public a sufficient evidence of what may be done in those parts and since the wisdom of the nation has now agreed to establish a trade to the south seas which with the blessing of god may bring vast riches to great britain i wish you entire health

  and happiness and am gentlemen your most humble servant woods rogers end of section two

• 03 - Ireland to Caribbean

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  CHAPTER III. Begun August 1, 1708, and finished October 14, 1711, by Captain Woods Rogers, Commander-in-Chief. Though others who give an account of their voyages do generally attempt to imitate the style and method which is used by authors that write ashore, I rather choose to keep to the language of the sea, which is more genuine and natural for a mariner.

  Because voyages of this sort have commonly miscarried, tis necessary that I should keep to my original journal, that the methods we took to succeed in our designs may appear from time to time in their native light. Therefore without any disguise I shall publish the copies of all our material regulations and agreements, and keep to the usual method of sea journals, omitting nothing that happened

  remarkable to ourselves, or that may serve for information or improvement to others in the like cases. Every day's transactions begin at the foregoing day, about twelve o'clock, and end at the same hour the following day, carrying that date. Since custom has likewise prevailed for sailors to give an account of such countries upon

  whose coasts they touch or pass by, I shall so far comply with it as to give a description of those that occurred in the course of my navigation, especially of such as are or may be of most use for enlarging our trade, wherein I have consulted the best authors upon the subject and the manuscript journals of others, as well as informed myself by inquiry upon the spot, and from those that have been in the respective countries I treat of.

  1708. August 2. Yesterday, about four in the afternoon, we wade from King Road near Bristol on board the Duke frigate, whereof Captain Woods Rogers was commander, in consortship with the Duchess, Captain Stephen Courtney, commander, both private men of war, bound to Cork in Ireland,

  and thence to the southward accruing. The Duke burdened about 320 tons, having 30 guns and 117 men, and the Duchess burdened about 260 tons by measure, 26 guns and 108 men. Both well furnished, with all necessaries on board for a distant undertaking. We had in company the Scipio, Peterborough frigate, Prince Eugene, Bristol galley, Berkeley

  galley, Beecher galley, Pompeii galley, Surestone galley, and Diamond sloop. At ten at night, having little wind, we made the signal for the fleet to anchor between the Holmes and Minehead. We lay near two hours, and about twelve we fired a gun, and all came to sail, a fine gale at southeast and east-southeast.

  We ran by Minehead at six in the morning, having stemmed the flood from the place we anchored at. We came up with a sloop about ten o'clock, but she could not hold way with the fleet, being all light and clean ships and good sailors. August 3.

  The wind veered to the northeast and east-northeast. Our ship and the Duchess did not sail so well as the major part of the galleys, our masts and rigging being all unfit for the sea, our ships out of trim and everything in disorder being very indifferently manned. Notwithstanding our number, we had not twenty sailors in the ship, and it's very little

  better on board the Duchess, which is a discouragement, only we hope to get some good sailors at Cork. We saw a sail at five last night, the Duchess gave chase and came near her. She seemed a large ship, but we lost sight of her at eight o'clock. Being informed at Bristol that the Jersey, a Frenchman of war carrying forty-six guns, was cruising betwixt England and Ireland, it obliged us to keep our hammocks up and

  a clear ship for a fight all night. Abouts two this morning the rest of the fleet that lay astern of us came up, and we kept an easy sail, with a light out all night. But when day came we saw nothing, so that this proved a false alarm. Which happened well for us, since had it been real, we should have made but an indifferent

  fight for want of being better manned. August 4. The Bristol Galley, Berkeley Galley, Prince Eugene, and the Beecher Galley, being bound to the westward, left us at six in the evening. Little wind at east-southeast and smooth water.

  August 5. We saw the land, and finding we had overshot our port, came to an anchor at twelve o'clock off of the two rocks called the Sovereign Bollocks, near Kinsale, being calm. August 6. At about eight last night we wade with the flood, a small gale at east.

  It came on to blow and veered to the northward. We had a Kinsale pilot on board, who was like to have endangered our ship, it being dark and foggy. For day he would have turned us into the next bay to the westward of Cork, had I not prevented it, which provoked me to chastise him for undertaking to pilot a ship, since

  he understood his business no better. The rest of our company, except the Diamond and Surestone Galley, got into Cork before us. Only our consort stayed in the harbour's mouth till we came up with her. August 7.

  Yesterday at three in the afternoon we came to an anchor with our consort in the cove, and at north-northeast. August 8. Came in the Arendelle, a Queen's ship, and ordered us to strike our pendant, which we immediately did, all private commissioned ships being obliged by their instructions

  to pay that respect to all Her Majesty's ships and fortifications. August 9. Yesterday afternoon came in the Hastings with the fleet under her convoy, which we left in King Road, as also the Elizabeth, a merchant ship of five hundred tons, about twenty-six guns and well-manned, with a fleet under her convoy, from Liverpool, bound to the westward,

  with us and the Hastings, etc. Fair weather, the wind southerly. August 10. We were well pleased with the men Mr. Noblet Rogers got for us at Cork, upon which we cleared several of those brought from Bristol, and some of them run away, being ordinary fellows,

  and not fit for our employment. August 11. It blowed fresh and dirty weather. We had four lighters from Cork to discharge our ships, that we might have them well stowed, and the provisions in the bottom when they came aboard us.

  We lengthened our mizzen mast four foot and a half, by placing it on a step on the gun deck, got our fore-mast forward, and did what we could in order to be in a better trim than against we had better men to work the ship, who lay all ready to come aboard from Cork. August 12. Blew fresh and dirty weather.

  We cleared and run near forty of our fresh-water sailors. The Shoreham captain, Saunders, came hither to convoy a fleet back to Bristol. August 16. Continued dirty weather, so that we could not have an opportunity to heal our ship and clean her bottom, and were forced to keep our provisions covered in the lighter and

  men to watch them. This morning about ten, one boat loaded with men, came down from Cork to us. The fellows appeared to be brisk, but of several nations, and I sent to Mr. Rogers to stop the rest till we were ready, our ships being pestered. August 29.

  Nothing happened worth notice since the 16th, but that we had good weather to clean and tallow our ships five streaks below the waterline, and to take in our provisions and men, etc. This morning we fell down to the spit end by the Hastings man of war, as our consorts did the night before. When I came without the spit end, I saluted the Hastings with seven guns.

  They returned five, and I three, for thanks. We had now above double the number of officers usual in privateers, and a large complement of men to each ship. We took this method of doubling our officers to prevent mutinies, which often happen in long voyages, and that we might have a large provision for a succession of officers in

  each ship in case of mortality. Our ship was now so full that we sent our sheet-cable and the other new store-cortage to Mr. Noblet Rogers at Cork to make room for our men in provisions, having three cables besides and being willing, rather, to spare that than anything else we had aboard. Our crew were continually marrying whilst we stayed at Cork, though they expected to

  sail immediately. Among others there was a Dane, coupled by a Romish priest, to an Irish woman, without understanding a word of each other's language, so that they were forced to use an interpreter. Yet I perceived this pair seemed more afflicted at separation than any of the rest. The fellow continued melancholy for several days after we were at sea.

  The rest, understanding each other, drank their cans aflip till the last minute, concluded with a health to our good voyage, and their happy meeting, and then parted unconcerned. I think it necessary to set down here the names of all the officers in both ships with the number of our men, because it is proper that the persons whom this journal concerns should be known.

  Officers of the Duke Woods Rogers, Captain, a Mariner Thomas Dover, a Doctor of Physics, Second Captain, President of our Council, and Captain of the Marines. Carlton Van Brew, Merchant, now our Owner's Agent Robert Frye, a Mariner, Chief Lieutenant Charles Pope, Second Lieutenant

  Thomas Glendal, Third Lieutenant John Bridge, Master William Dampier, Pilot for the South Seas, who had been already three times there and twice around the world Alexander Vaughan, Chief Mate Lance Appleby, Second Mate John Ballet, Rated Third Mate, but designed surgeon if occasion.

  He had been Captain Dampier's doctor in his last unfortunate voyage around the world. Samuel Hopkins, being Doctor Dover's kinsman and an apothecary, was both an assistant to him and to act as his lieutenant if we landed a party anywhere under his command during the voyage. George Underhill and John Parker, two young lawyers designed to act as midshipmen

  John Vigor, Irreformado, to act as Captain Dover's ensign when ashore Benjamin Parsons and Howell Nethal, midshipmen Richard Edwards, coxswain of the pinnace, to receive midshipman's pay James Wassa, surgeon Charles May, his mate John Lancy, assistant Henry Oliphant, gunner, with eight men called the gunner's crew

  Nathaniel Scorch, carpenter John Jones, his mate, with three assistants Giles Cash, boatswain, and John Piller, his mate John Shepherd, cooper, with two assistants John Johnson, Thomas Young, Charles Clovet, and John Bowden, all four quartermasters John Finch, late wholesale oilman of London, now ship's steward Henry Newkirk, sailmaker

  Peter VandenHendt, smith and armorer William Hopkins, ship's corporal, Captain Dover's sergeant and cook to the officers Bartholomew Burns, ship's cook Officers of the Duchess Stephen Courtney, captain, a mariner Edward Cook, second captain William Stretton, chief lieutenant John Rogers, second lieutenant John Connolly, third lieutenant

  William Bath, owner's agent George Milburn, master Robert Nollman, chief mate Henry Duck, second Simon Hatley, third James Goodall, fourth and William Page, fifth mate with all other inferior officers much the same as aboard the Duke.

  Most of us, the chief officers, embraced this trip of privateering round the world to retrieve the losses we had sustained by the enemy. Our complement of sailors in both ships was three hundred thirty-three, of which above one third were foreigners from most nations. Several of Her Majesty's subjects on board were tinkerers, tailors, haymakers, peddlers,

  fiddlers, etc., one negro, and about ten boys. With this mixed gang we hoped to be well manned as soon as they had learnt the use of arms and got their sea legs, which we doubted not soon to teach them, and bring them to discipline. We took sailing orders, the better to keep company with the Hastings and fleet, and having agreed with our consort, Captain Courtney, on signals between us, which are so common

  that I need not insert them here, and appointed places of rendezvous in case of separation, and how long to lie for each other at every place, about ten this morning we came to sail with the Hastings and about twenty merchant ships bound to the southward and westward wind at north by west. We should have sailed yesterday, but could not weigh and cast our ships clear of the

  rest. Some at that time drove, and the sure-stone galley run quite ashore on this bit. In the night it drew moderate weather, and Captain Paul got her off to sail with us. Our holds are full of provisions, our cables a great deal of bread and water casks between decks, and one hundred eighty-three men aboard the duke, with one hundred fifty-one aboard

  the duchess, so that we are very much crowded and pestered ships, not fit to engage an enemy without throwing provision and stores overboard. September 2nd. We and our consort stood out of the fleet to chase a sail we saw to Windward. Our ships sailed as well as any in the fleet, not accepting the man-of-war, so that we began

  to hope we should find our heels, since we go so well though deep-laden and pestered. We found the chase to be a small vessel coming into the fleet from Baltimore, one huntmaster, called the Hope Galley, a small French-built snow belonging to Mr. James Vaughan of Bristol, bound for Jamaica. Wind at north by west, moderate weather.

  September 3rd. The wind, very virable from the west-southwest to the northwest, blowed strong with squalls, so that we reefed often, and our ship was a little leaky in her upper works. September 4th. It blew fresh this morning, but not so much wind as yesterday, and the water smoother.

  Captain Paul made a signal for me, Captain Courtney, and Captain Edwards, commander of the Scipio, and after speaking with him, he sent his boat for us, being larger than ours. We with Captain Dover and Mr. Vanbrew went in with her, and dined with Captain Paul aboard his ship, where we were very handsomely treated. He proposed to me and consort, when he left the fleet, which would be very soon, to cruise

  a few days together off Cape Finister, after having asked us what we wanted that he could supply us with. He gave us scrubbers, iron scrapers for our ship's bottom, a speaking trumpet, and other things that we wanted, but he would accept nothing from us, because our voyage would be long, but told us he should be well pleased if our owners returned him the same necessaries

  for his ship when he returned. Wind from the north-northwest to the northwest by west, moderate. September 5th. We came from on board Captain Paul to our own ships yesterday at six in the afternoon, and now thought it fit to discover to our crew whether we were bound, that if any disorder

  should have risen upon it, we might have exchanged our malcontents whilst in company with one of Her Majesty's ships. But I found no complaint on board the duke, except from one fellow who expected to have been tithing man that year in his parish, and said his wife would be obliged to pay forty shillings in his absence, but seeing all the rest willing, he was easily quieted,

  and all hands drank to a good voyage. I and Captain Courtney writ to our owners, Alderman Batchelor and Company, in the same letter, a method we designed to continue in the whole voyage for all the things that related to it. A brisk gale and clear weather.

  September 6th. The Hastings and we parted at six last night. The reason why we did not keep him longer company was our ships being very full and our consort unwilling to lose time so near home, so that we were obliged to break measures with Captain Paul.

  I excused it to him and saluted him, which he answered, and wished us a prosperous undertaking. Winds north by west and clear weather. Our ship does not sail so well as she did two days before. The crown galley of Bideford keeps us company bound for the Medaris. Wind from north to northwest to north by east.

  September 8th. Everything now begins to come into order, we having been hitherto in some confusion as is usual in privateers at first setting out. We had a good observation. Moderate weather.

  Wind at west-northwest. Latitude, forty degrees, ten minutes north. This day the chief officers dined on board me, and the next day on board the Duchess. September 9th. Now we begin to consider the length of our voyage, and the many different climates we

  must pass, and the excessive cold which we cannot avoid going about Cape Horn. At the same time we had but a slender stock of liquor, and our men but meanly clad, yet good liquor to sailors is preferable to clothing. Upon this we held our first committee to debate whether it was necessary for us to stop at Madeira as follows.

  At a committee held on board the Duke, frigate resolved by the general consent of the following persons. That both the ships, Duke and Duchess, do touch at Madeira to make a larger provision of liquors, the better to carry on our long undertaking, being but meanly stored for so large a number of men, as are in both ships, and in case of separation between this place

  and Madeira, then to meet at the island St. Vincent, one of the Cape de Verde islands, to wood and water our ships. But if we miss one another at that island, or that the first ship finds it inconvenient for stopping, then to proceed to Prea, on St. Jago, another of the same islands, to wait at both these islands fourteen days, and then if the missing ship does not appear,

  the other to proceed to the Isle of Grande, in latitude 23, degree 30 minutes, south on the coast of Brazil, there to wait three weeks, and then if we don't meet, let the single ship proceed on the voyage according to the orders given from our owners. This is our opinion this ninth day of September 1708. Thomas Dover President, Stephen Courtney, Woods Rogers, Edward Cook, William Dampier,

  Robert Frye, Charles Pope, Carlton Vanbrew, Thomas Glendal, John Bridge, John Ballet. September 10. At six in the morning we saw a sail, after speaking with our consort, we both chased. I gave the Duchess about a mile start of us, in order to spread the moor. It blew fresh with a great sea, and the chase being windward, we crowded extravagantly.

  Wind at northwest. September 11. At three yesterday afternoon we came up with the chase, who board down right upon us, shooing Swedish colors. I fired twice at her, before she brought two, then went aboard her with my yaw, Captain

  Courtney's boat being just before me. We examined the master, and found he came round Scotland and Ireland. We suspected he had contraband goods on board, because some of the men we found drunk, told us they had gunpowder and cables. So we resolved to examine her strictly, put twelve men on board her, and kept the Swedes

  master and twelve of his men on board our ships. This morning, after we had examined the men and searched the ship, we found it difficult to be proved whether she was a prize. And not willing to hinder time to carry her into any harbor to examine her farther, we let her go without the least embezzlement.

  The master gave me two hams and some roughed dried beef, and I gave him a dozen bottles of red streak cider. They saluted us at parting with four guns. She belonged to Stott, near Hamburg, and was a frigate-built ship of twenty-two guns, about 270 tons.

  While I was on board the Swede yesterday, our men mutinied, the ringleaders being our boat swain, and three other inferior officers. This morning the chief officers, having kept with me in the after part of the ship, we can find the authors of this disorder, in which there was not one foreigner concerned. We put ten of the mutineers in irons, a sailor bringing first, soundly whipped, for exciting

  the rest to join him. Others less guilty, I punished and discharged, but kept the chief officers all armed, fearing what might happen. The ship's company, seeming too much inclined to favor the mutineers, made me the easier to forgive.

  Some begged pardon, and others I was forced to wink at. However, they began to find their design frustrated, which was to make a prize of the Swede, who they alleged had much contraband goods aboard, though we could see none. Yet they obstinately insisted that we apparently gave away their interest by letting her go without plundering her.

  I labored to convince them of the necessity of our making dispatch, and that if we could make her a prize it would unman our ships too much to send her into any port, besides other disadvantages it might procure to ourselves and owners should we be mistaken, which pacified the major part. Our consort's men were at first very uneasy, but finding the malcontents quelled aboard

  our ship, they all kept quiet. September 12. Yesterday the wind was very little and virable, and we had an observation, 34 degrees, 30 minutes north. September 13.

  Those in irons discovered others who were ringleaders in the mutiny whom we'd also punished and confined one of them in irons with the rest. Alexander Winter was made boatswain, instead of Giles Cash, one of the mutineers. Fair pleasant weather, little wind at northwest by west. September 14.

  I agreed with the captain of the crown galley to carry my boatswain, who was the most dangerous fellow among the mutineers, in irons with him to Medeiros. I did not at his first confinement think of sending him off, but this day a sailor came aft to the steerage door with near half the ship's company of sailors following him and demanded the boatswain out of irons.

  I desired him to speak with me by himself on the quarter-deck, which he did, where the officers assisted me, seized him, and made one of his chief comrades whip him. This method I thought best for breaking any unlawful friendship amongst themselves, which, with different correction to other offenders, allayed the tumult, so that now they began to submit quietly, and those in irons beg pardon and promise amendment.

  This mutiny would not have been easily laid were it not for the number of our officers, which we begin to find very necessary to bring our crew to order and discipline, which is always very difficult in privateers, and without which tis impossible to carry on any distant undertaking like ours. Fine pleasant weather and moderate gales.

  It being little wind and contrary, we agreed to pass by Medeiros and cruise a little amongst the Canary Islands for liquor to prevent loss of time. So we took leave of the crown galley who was bound in to Medeira. September 15. Last night we sent Giles Cash aboard her in irons with several letters by the commander

  at large to our owners. We parted at 12 o'clock at night, fair weather, very little wind, from west-northwest to north-by-east, and had a very good observation. Latitude 31 degrees, 29 minutes north. September 16.

  I discharged the prisoners from their irons, upon their humble submission and strict promises of good behavior for time to come. While they continued in irons, they had centuries over them, and were fed with bread and water. we restored to their places, and everybody was ordered to obey them. John Piller, the boatswain's mate, was advanced to be boatswain, so that we are all quiet

  again. About eight this morning we saw land, and found it to be Salvages Island, bearing south-southwest. Distant eight leagues. Latitude 29 degrees, 45 minutes. Wind very light and variable, with fair, clear weather.

  September 17. Great gales of wind, the Salvages at a distance is not unlike the island Lundy in Bristol Channel, about two miles long, a high island. This morning we saw the rock that appeared to us a good league to the southwest of the island, and took it to be a sail till we came near it.

  Little wind between the north-northeast and the west. September 18. At four yesterday in the afternoon we came in sight of Pico Teneriff, bearing south-west-by-west. Distant about eight leagues. Steered south-southeast and southeast-by-south for Grand Canaries.

  This morning about five o'clock we spied a sail under our lee bow between the islands of Grand Canaries and Fortaventura. We chased her, and at seven came up with her. Our consulate, being a little ahead, fired a gun, and made her bring two. She proved a prize, being a Spanish bark about 25 tons, belonging to Orotava on Teneriff,

  and bound to Fortaventura with about forty-five passengers, who rejoiced when they found us English, because they feared we were Turks. Amongst the prisoners were four friars, and one of them the padre-guardian for the island Fortaventura, a good, honest old fellow. We made him heartily merry, drinking King Charles III's health, but the rest were

  of the wrong sort. We used them all very well, without searching them, etc. Fresh gales and fair weather, wind from the north-northeast to the east-southeast. September 19. After we had took the prize, we stood to the westward for Teneriff, in order to have her

  ransomed, where our agent, Mr. Van Brew, pressed to go ashore with some of the prisoners. At eleven last night, the wind being at northeast when we were very near the shore, we could hardly weather Cape Nago, the easternmost part of Teneriff, till the wind veered to the northward. We stood off till day.

  In the morning it proved moderate, so we stood in for Oratava, and sent the Spanish master of the bark to it in his boat, being manned with some of the prisoners. Mr. Van Brew, still insisting to go ashore, I consented, though against my judgment, and he went with them to treat for the ransom of the hull of the bark, her small cargo, which consisted in two butts of wine, and one hog's head of brandy, and other small

  matters, we designed for our own use in both ships, the agents of each being to take in account of it the first opportunity. Fresh gale of wind at northeast. September 20. About eight this morning came a boat off from Oratava with a flag of truce, and brought

  a letter signifying that unless we would immediately restore the bark and cargo, Mr. Van Brew should be detained. I sent to Captain Courtney, who agreed with me on an answer. We stood in with our ships within a league of the town, to tow in the boat for dispatch, and about eleven they went ashore again.

  Wind at northeast by east, very fresh. The letter sent us was as follows. Captain Rogers and Captain Courtney, Gentlemen, Port Oratava, 20 September 1708. Your lieutenant coming ashore, and having given an account to our governor of your having taken a boat belonging to this place bound to Fort Aventura, we must inform you that

  her majesty is graciously pleased to allow a trade between her subjects and the people of these islands, whereof we suppose you are not ignorant, and that it is approved of not only by his catholic majesty, but also by the most gracious Christian king, who has sent express orders unto his consul here, that none of his men of war or others shall molest any ship trading to these islands.

  And there has been actually an example of a ship belonging to the subjects of her Britannic majesty, which was taken by a French privateer, and upon due application to the French consul the ship was restored. Wherefore we are all of opinion that there can be no room for your making a prize of this Spanish bark, for it will be extremely prejudicial to her majesty's subjects that

  reside here, and likewise to those in England trading hither, by prohibiting of all future trade by making more than sufficient reprisal upon our effects here, and perhaps on our persons, by reason of the evident breach on our part of the stipulated trade which has been concerted with us. Wherefore we must once more desire you to restore the Spanish bark, as you will answer

  the contrary before her majesty, who has so far approved of the private trade, that she was pleased to allow of two men of war, Vis, the Dartmouth captain Cock, and the Greyhound captain Harriot, the last year, who had expressed orders to molest in no manner of way any vessel belonging to the Spaniards, which accordingly they observed. Wherefore as you have a due regard to what is so much the interest of her majesty's

  we expect at the return of this boat, that you will make restitution of the said bark, otherwise Mr. Vanbrew will not be permitted to go off, and there will be extravagant reprisals made upon our estates and persons, which we expect you will take into your consideration. And we cannot omit to let you know that there is now a Spanish bark actually in England, which is daily expected with other English ships to load wine, which they will not be

  admitted to do, in case you don't restore this bark. We don't doubt, but the people here, out of complacence, will make you some acknowledgement of a refreshment. Gentlemen, your very humble servants, J. Polden, vice-consul, J. Cross, Bernard Walsh, G. Fitzgerald. Pray excuse haste that we have not time to transcribe.

  The rest of the merchants are in the city, where our governor generally resides, being about six leagues hence. Our answer was thus. On board the Duke frigate. September 20th.

  Gentlemen, we have yours, and observe its contents. But having no instructions given us with our commission relating to Spanish vessels trading amongst these islands, we can't justify the parting with this bark on your single opinions. It was Mr. Vanbrew's misfortune to go ashore, and if he is detained, we can't help it. To have convinced us satisfactorily of what you say, you ought to have sent us a copy

  of Her Majesty's orders or proclamation, but we doubt there's no such thing in this case. If Mr. Vanbrew is unjustly detained, we'll carry the prisoners we have on board to the port we are bound to, but the consequence be what it will. We are required to be accountable no further than we are obliged by our instructions, which we have given sufficient security already to follow, and don't fear a pre-immunery

  when we comply with them. We know fishing boats are excused on both sides, and all trading vessels from Rio La Ache to the River of Chagre in the Spanish West Indies. We admire the master, and passengers should be so ignorant of a thing so necessary to be known by him, for we never had the least word or intimation from them of what you write.

  The example you give us of a trade here allowed by the French King and Duke of Anjou we don't admire it at, because it is for the benefit of the Spaniards, and we know that English ships are protected no farther than in anchor ground, and since we took this vessel at sea, we shan't part with her unless on our own terms. If you are positive in what you wrote us, and conscious what detriment it will be to

  the English trade, you have no way to prevent it, but immediately to ransom this bark. And if it be Her Majesty of Great Britain's pleasure, and we are better informed in England, then we can justify our conduct to the gentleman that employed us, and you will be again reimbursed. We shall wait but a short time for an answer, having water and provisions for ourselves and prisoners to the English settlements where we are bound.

  We are apprehensive you are obliged to give us this advice to gratify the Spaniards, and with respect our gentleman, your humble servant, Woodes Rogers Stephen Courtney. If you send us Mr. Van Brew and the man with him, we'll send you the prisoners, but will not part from the bark unless ransomed, though the value is not much, we will not be imposed on.

  We desire you to use all manner of dispatch without loss of time, which we can't allow, nor answer it to our employers. September 21st. At six last night the Spanish boat came again to us with adulatory answers to our last insisting on behalf of the Spaniards that the goods should be returned them, though they consented

  to ransom the bark. To which we immediately returned an answer, for we were angry at their tediousness and our ill treatment, our timing precious, because we were informed that they expected every hour a small privateer that usually cruised off Madeira, as also a Spanish ship from the West Indies designed for Santa Cruz, so that it looked like a design to keep us here in

  suspense till these ships might get safely in on the other side of the island. Our answer was to this effect, that it had not been out of respect to our officer on shore we would not have stayed one minute, but would now stay till morning for their answer, and take a cruise among the islands some time longer than we intended in order to make a reprisal, and though we could not land our men, would visit the town with our

  guns by eight next morning, adding that we hoped to meet with the governor's frigate, and should repay his civility in his own way, but wondered that they, being Englishmen, should trifle with us. The letter had its effect, for this morning at eight o'clock we stood in close to the town, and spied a boat coming off, which proved to be one Mr. Cross, an English merchant,

  and Mr. Van Brew, our agent with him, with wine, grapes, hogs, and other necessaries, for the ransom of the bark. Upon his coming up, we immediately went to work, discharged the bark, and parted the small cargo between our two ships. We treated Mr. Cross as well as we could, and at his desire gave the prisoners back

  as much as we could find of what belonged to their persons, particularly to the friars, their books, crucifixes, and relics. We presented the old Padre guardian with a cheese, and such as were stripped with other clothes, so that we parted very well satisfied on all sides. Mr. Cross told us the Spaniards ashore were very inquisitive whether we were bound, and

  understanding by the prisoners that our ships were sheathed, and so full of provisions, they suspected we designed for the South Sea. And he informed us that four or five French ships from twenty-four to fifty guns sailed thence about a month before on the same voyage. But we did not think fit to own there that we were bound to any other place than the

  English West Indies. These islands being so well known, I need not add any description of them. We saw the Pike of Tenerife plain, but once while there it being generally clouded. You may often see the top above the clouds, when the rest is all covered with them. Now we are indifferently well stocked with liquor, and shall be the better able to endure

  the cold when we get the length of Cape Horn, which we are informed has always very cold bad weather near it. September 22. Last night, just as we had finished with Mr. Cross and delivered the Spaniards their bark, we spied a sail to the westward of the island between three and four in the evening.

  We immediately made what sail we could, and steered west by north along the shore. At eight o'clock we were in sight of Gamera, bearing south-southwest distant three leagues, Palma west by north distant five leagues. We lost sight of the sail before night, spoke with our consort, and agreed to keep between Palma and Gamera in our voyage, it being uncertain to meet with the chase the next day since

  last night she was near five leagues from us, so that we believed she might get into a place of safety, if an enemy, before we could see her. Besides, there came on a stiff gale, which put us quite out of hopes of seeing her again to advantage. Fair weather, fresh gales at northeast by north.

  September 23. About five yesterday in the afternoon, when at least thirty-six leagues distant, we saw the Pico Tenerife very plain. Fine pleasant weather, fresh gales with smooth water, wind at northeast by east. September 24.

  We sent our boat for Captain Courtney, Captain Cook, Mr. Stratton, and Mr. Bath, their agent, who stayed and dined with us, and whilst they were aboard we held a council, the result of which was as follows. At a committee by desire of Captain Woods Rogers, Captain Thomas Dover and Captain Stephen Courtney held on board the duke.

  We have examined all letters and proceedings that happened at and after the taking of the Spanish park, and the reason of both ships stay off of Tenerife and amongst Canary Islands, and we do approve of all that was transacted and wrote. The major part of us having at the time when t'was done advised the commanders to do it. Witness our hands.

  Thomas Dover President, Stephen Courtney, Woods Rogers, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Carlton Van Brew, William Bath, William Stratton, Robert Frye, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, John Bridge, John Ballet. Whilst the committee were together, Mr. Van Brew complained I had not treated him as I ought, upon which I offered to refer it to all present, that we might not have needless

  misunderstandings at the beginning of our voyage, and they came to the following resolution. Whereas there has been some difference between Captain Woods Rogers and Mr. Carlton Van Brew, the ship's agent, it being referred to the Council, we adjudged the said Mr. Van Brew to be much in the wrong. In witness whereof, we have set our hands, the 24th of September, 1708.

  Thomas Dover President, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, William Stratton, William Bath, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, John Bridge, John Ballet. September 25th. This day, according to custom, we ducked those that had never passed the Tropic before. The manner of doing it was by a rope through a block from the main yard, to hoist them

  above halfway up to the yard, and let them fall at once into the water, having a stick cross through their legs, and well fastened to the rope, that they might not be surprised and let go their hold. This proved of great use to our fresh-water sailors to recover the color of their skins, which were grown very black and nasty.

  Those that we ducked after this manner three times, or about sixty, and others that would not undergo it, chose to pay half a crown fine, the money to be levied and spent at a public meeting of all the ship's companies, when we returned to England. The Dutchmen and some Englishmen desired to be ducked, some six, others eight, ten and twelve times, to have the better title for being treated when they come home.

  Wind, northwest by west, and veering to the northward and eastward. September 26th. Today in the afternoon we sold the loose plunder of the bark amongst the sailors by auction. Fair weather, moderate gales at north-northeast, had a very good observation. Latitude twenty-one degrees, thirty-three minutes north.

  September 29th. Betwixt nine and ten at night, sailor going up to furl the main-top gallant sail fell suddenly without any noise from the main-top overboard, occasioned, as I supposed, by a fit. At nine this morning we saw land and supposed it to be Salle, one of the Cape de Verde islands,

  bearing southeast by south distant, at about twelve leagues. At twelve o'clock at noon it bore east-southeast distant, four leagues. Fair weather, smooth water, fresh gales at north-east. Latitude seventeen degrees, five minutes north. Longitude west from London, twenty-three degrees, sixteen minutes.

  September 30th. After being satisfied the island was Salle, we stood from it west and west by north for St. Vincent. At four o'clock Salle bore east by south, one-quarter south, distant, ten leagues. At six St. Nicholas bore southwest by west, distant, eight leagues.

  We went with an easy sail till four this morning and lay by to make the islands, because we had none aboard either ship that was acquainted with them. When day broke we saw the islands all in a range, much as is laid down in the drafts. At ten o'clock we anchored in the bay of St. Vincent in five-fathom water. Tis a fine bay.

  The northmost point bore north near a mile distant, and the westernmost port bore west distant about two miles. Monk's Rock, which is like a sugar loaf, high and round and bold on every side, lies almost in the entrance of this fine sandy bay on the west side of the island. At nearest the north point of the bay sailors must be careful as they come in, not to run

  too near under the high land of the north point for fear of being becalmed and sudden flaws coming every way upon them, there being a small shoal about three ships length almost without the point, but giving it a small berth it's bold enough. We ran within two cables length of the first round point next to the long sandy bay and came to an anchor in clean sandy ground.

  Monk's Rock bore northwest by north distance three-quarters mile. The body of the island St. Antonio bore northwest half north distance nine miles. This is a fine bay and a good landing, but the best at northmost point. The wood lies in the middle of the sandy bay in the water between the north point and the place where we anchored.

  There is good anchoring all over the bay and the Monk's Rock will direct any stranger into it, there being no other like it about this island on the side opposite to St. Antonio. It blows here a constant trade wind betwixt the east by north and the north northeast, except in the months of October, November, December and January it sometimes blows southerly with tornadoes and rain.

  October the first, we cleared our ship yesterday but it blowed too hard to row our boatloads of empty butts ashore, and we could do but little to wooding and watering till this morning we were forced to get a rope from the ship to the watering place, which is a good half mile from our anchoring place, and so hauled our empty casks ashore by boatloads in order to have them burnt and cleaned in the inside being oil casks.

  And for want of cleaning our water stunk insufferably. I borrowed a cooper from the Duchess and having five of my own made quick dispatch. October third, we sent our boat over to St. Antonio with Joseph Alexander a good linguist and a respectful letter to the governor, who accounts himself a great man here, though very poor, to get in truck for our prize goods what we wanted, they having plenty of cattle,

  goats, hogs, fowls, melons, potatoes, limes, ordinary brandy, tobacco, Indian corn, etc. Our people were very meanly stocked with clothes and the Duchess's crew much worse, yet we are both forced to watch our men very narrowly and punish several of them to prevent their selling what clothes they have for trifles to the negroes that came over with little things from St. Antonio's. The people at all these islands rather choose clothing or

  necessaries of any sort than money in return for what they sell. The letter sent by the linguist to the governor of St. Antonio's, Sr. Joseph Rodriguez, was as follows. Honorable sir, the bearer hereof is one of our officers whom we have sent to wait upon due respects, and to acquaint you with our arrival in the bay of St. Vincent. And further, that being subjects and servants of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, a high ally and

  confederate of His Sacred Majesty the King of Portugal, and having several necessaries which we suppose the inhabitants of your island may want, and supposing they can accommodate us per contra, we are desirous of an immediate traffic with them. We arrived three days ago, but being strangers we are unacquainted in these parts, and not sooner informed of your honor's residence in the neighboring islands, else we had been earlier with our respects.

  And if not too great a favor, we should be proud to see your honor on board. Our stay cannot exceed two days more, so that dispatch is necessary. We have money or goods of several kinds to pay or exchange for what they bring. The bearer can inform your honor of the public occurrences of Europe and the great successes of the confederate arms against the French and Spaniards, which no doubt must soon be followed with a lasting

  peace which God grant. We subscribe ourselves with much respect, your honor's most obedient humble servants, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney.

• 04 - Caribbean to Grande

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  October 4. Our boat returned this morning, but the landing place being far from the inhabitable part of St. Antonio, they brought nothing but a few limes and fowls, and left our linguist behind to get what we wanted. We struck two of our gun room guns into the hold, being useless in their place, and the

  ship having too much top weight and not very stiff. We had plenty of fish here, but not very good. Winds at north-northeast. October 5. Our boat went to St. Antonio to see for our linguist, according to appointment.

  We healed and cleaned our ships and got a great deal of wood and water aboard. Wind at north-east. Fine weather. October 6. Our boat returned with nothing but limes and tobacco and no news of our linguist.

  But soon after, they came another boat belonging to that part of the island where the governor lives, with his deputy governor, a negro, who brought limes, tobacco, oranges, fowls, potatoes, hogs, bananas, musks and watermelons, and brandy, which we bought of him and paid in such cheap prize goods as we had left of the bark's cargo cheap enough. They are poor people and will truck at any price for what they want, in such payments

  as they can make. October 7. We sent our boat at three this morning to see if our linguist was returned. The deputy governor told us he promised him to wait at the waterside all that night where we put him ashore, and that there were cattle for us if we would fetch them.

  We were ready to sail. A good wind at north-east and a fresh gale. October 8. Our boat returned yesterday in the afternoon with two good black cattle, one for each ship but no news of our linguist, upon which we consulted with the officers of both ships

  and all unanimously agreed that we had better leave him behind than to wait with two ships for one man that had not followed his orders. We held a committee on board the Duchess to prevent embezzlement in prizes and to hinder feuds and disorders amongst our officers and men for the future, because the small prize had shewed us that without a method to be strictly observed in plunder, it might occasion

  the worst of consequences to both ships and such quarrels as would not easily be laid. So with the consent and approbation of the officers appointed for a committee, we unanimously agreed on it to prevent those mutinies and disorders amongst the men of both ships who were not yet reconciled since the taking the small canary prize. They all insisted there was never any privateer's crew hindered from plunder so that we were

  forced to agree on the following instrument of a dividend when we should meet with any prize and that the things we deemed to be plunder according to custom in privateering should tend as little as possible to the disadvantage of the owners. We did for that end take care by the second article in the said instrument and agreement with the men to reserve the power of a judging what should be deemed plunder unto the superior

  officers and agents, exclusives of the crew, etc. For we found it would be next to a miracle to keep the men in both ships under command and willing to fight resolutely on occasion if we held them to the letter of agreement with the owners, which was not duly considered of at home. We had a particular regard, however, to the sentiments of the owners delivered on this

  head and discourses at several times with diverse of the committee as myself, Captain Dover, Captain Courtney, Mr. Robert Fry and Mr. Carlton Van Brew, and particularly in King Road to the men at the time of signing of their instrument. By all which we judged that the owners could not but approve of the measures that we took on this occasion and that the good effects of them would abundantly answer our intentions.

  Although the officers and men did voluntarily allow Captain Courtney and me five percent each out of the value of all plunder, it was much less than our due, and we would have been glad to have let all alone, provided we could, with the advice of our chief officers in both ships have contrived any other method to be safe in the prosecution of our designs with our men, and have kept them to their duty on all occasions at so great a distance

  from home. Although to their being easy, we must unavoidably have run into such continual scenes of mischief and disorder as have not only tended to the great hindrance, but generally to the total disappointment of all voyages of this nature that have been attempted so far abroad in the memory of man.

  The agreement we made was as follows. At a committee held on board the Duchess the 8th of October 1708, it is agreed by the officers and men of both ships to the sundry particulars following. of eight in value, twenty-four hours after the capture of any prize, he shall be severely punished and lose his shares of the plunder.

  The same penalty to be inflicted for being drunk in time of action, or disobeying his superior officer's commands, or concealing himself, or deserting his post in sea or land service, except when any prize is taken by storm in boarding, then whatsoever is taken shall be his own as followeth. A sailor or landman, ten pounds.

  Any officer below the carpenter, twenty pounds. A mate, gunner, boat-swain and carpenter, forty pounds. A lieutenant or master, seventy pounds. And the captain's one hundred pounds over and above the gratuity promised by the owners to such as shall signalize themselves.

  and divided as soon as possible after the capture. Also, every person to be sworn and searched so soon as they shall come aboard by such persons as shall be appointed for that purpose. The person or persons refusing shall forfeit their shares of the plunder as above. Five, in consideration that Captain Rogers and Captain Courtney, to make both ships

  companies easy, have given the whole cabin plunder, which in all probability is the major To be divided as aforesaid, we do voluntarily agree that they shall have five percent each of them over and above their respective shares as a consideration for what is their due of the plunder aforesaid. Six, that a reward of twenty pieces of eight shall be given to him that first sees a prize

  of good value or exceeding fifty tons in burden. Seven, that such of us who have not signed already to the articles of agreement indented with the owners do hereby oblige ourselves to the same terms and conditions as the rest of the ships company have done, half shares and half wages, etc. To which articles of agreement we have set our hands as our full intent and meaning without

  any compulsion, signed by the officers and men of both ships. October 8, at seven in the evening, after having put the Deputy Governor ashore where he must lie in a hole of the rocks, there being no house on that part of the island, we came to sail. Our consorts got before us and lay with a light for us.

  There were several negroes on the island that came from St. Nicholas and St. Antonio to make oil of turtle, there being very good green turtle at this time of the year, which I sometimes gave our men to eat. They have likewise wild goats but in no great plenty, wild asses, guinea hens and curlews, in abundance of sea fowls.

  and others aboard each ship that had formerly stopped at St. Iago, another of these Cape de Verde islands, told us that though this island is not often frequented by ships, yet it is preferable to St. Iago for stopping outward because tis a much better road for ships and more convenient for water and wood and has better landing. The island is mountainous and barren, the plainest part lies against this sandy bay

  where we rode. The wood that grows in it is short and for no use but firing. They have very large spiders here which weave their webs so strong betwixt the trees that tis difficult to get through them. Where we watered, there is a little stream that flows down the hill from a spring and

  is very good, but in other parts tis brackish. This island was formerly inhabited and had a governor, but is now only frequented in the season for catching tortoises by the inhabitants of the other islands, who are for the most part negros and mulattoes and very poor. The stock of wild goats in this island is almost destroyed by the people of St. Nicholas

  and St. Antonio. The heats are excessive to us who came newly from Europe, so that several of our men began to be sick and were blooded. Some of our officers that went ashore hunting could meet no game but a wild ass, which after a long chase they got within shot and wounded, yet he afterwards held out so as to tire them

  and they returned weary and empty handed. These islands are so well known that I need not say much of them. They are ten in number of which St. Iago, St. Nicholas, Boniviste, St. Ontario, Bravimaio, and Fuego are inhabited. The latter is so named from a volcano.

  St. Iago is much the largest and best in the seat of the chief governor. It produces a small matter of indico, sugar, and tobacco, which with their goatskins and others they send to Lisbon. The capital is of the same name and the sea of a bishop. There is also a town called Ribera Grande, which is said to consist of 500 houses and

  has a good harbor towards the west. The air of this island is not very wholesome and the soil uneven. Their valleys produce some corn and wine. Their goats are fat and good meat, and the she-ones are said to bring three or four kids at a time once in four months.

  St. Nicholas is the best peopled next to St. Iago. The island Mayo has a great deal of salt naturally made by the sun from the seawater, which is left from time to time in pits on shore. It's known they loaned many ships with that commodity in a year and are able to furnish some thousands had they vent for it.

  The fine Marrakeen leather is made of their goatskins. The other inhabited islands afford more or less of provisions. They have their name from Cape Verde on the African coast, from whence they lie about 160 leagues to the westward. The Portuguese settled here in 1572.

  We had very hot weather here. On the 8th, a brisk gale at east-northeast. At 9 last night, St. Antonio's bore northwest by north-distance three leagues. From whence we took our departure for the Isle of Grande in Brazil. October 9th, fair weather, brisk gale of wind at northeast.

  We saw abundance of flying fish. At 12 o'clock, being near the latitude 14 north, we hailed up southeast by south to get well to the eastward, expecting as usual to meet with southerly winds when near the equinoctial. Had an observed latitude 12 53.

  October 10th, fair weather, moderate gales of wind at northeast by east. These 24 hours we met with several great whiplings as if a current, which had it been calm we would have tried. October 11th, wind and weather as before till 7 last night, when we had much lightning followed by a hard shower of rain and a calm ensued.

  Forge weather is customary as we draw near the line. October 14th, cloudy weather with moderate gales from the south-southwest to the southwest by west all last night, but this morning cloudy weather with hard showers of rain. This day we put up the Smiths forge and he began to work on such things as we wanted. October 21st, yesterday I dined on board Captain Courtney.

  Nothing remarkable happened since the 14th, but variable winds and frequent showers of rain with calms. We agreed with our consort if possible to stop at the island Trinidad and not to water and refresh at Brazil for fear of our men deserting and losing our time. October 22nd, close cloudy weather all night with squalls of rain.

  At 10 this morning it cleared up. Captain Courtney came aboard of us and sent back his boat for Captain Cook with orders to bring Mr. Page, second mate with him, to be in the room of Mr. Ballet that we exchanged out of our ship. Page, disobeying command, occasioned Captain Cook, being the superior officer on board,

  to strike him, whereupon Page struck him again and several blows passed, but at last Page was forced into the boat and brought on board of us. And Captain Cook and others telling us what mutiny had passed, we ordered Page on the forecastle into the billows. He begged to go into the head to ease himself.

  Under that pretense the corporal and the rest left him for a while, upon which he leapt overboard thinking to swim back to the duchess, it being near calm, and the captains out of the ship. However, the boat being alongside, we soon overtook him and brought him on board again, for which in his abusive language he was lashed to the main gears and drubbed, and for inciting the men to mutiny was afterward confined in iron to board the duke.

  October 28th. At five last night we were on the equinoctial and spied a sail about four leagues distant to Windward, bearing south by east, and thinking she had not seen us, we lay by in her way from six o'clock till half an hour past ten, hoping to meet her if bound to the West Indies. But at growing dark, and she having, as we suppose, seen us before night, and altered

  her course, we saw no more of her. This day we began to read prayers in both ships, mornings or evenings, as opportunity would permit, according to the Church of England, designing to continue it the term of the voyage. Early weather, moderate gales at southeast by south. October 29th.

  This morning I let Mr. Page out of irons on his humble submission, and acknowledging his fault with promises of amendment. Fair pleasant weather with a fresh gale. November 1st. This morning between one and four o'clock the seas seemed to be in a breach as far as

  we could see, being a moonlit night. The watch, being surprised, called me up, for they supposed it to be something extraordinary and hove the lead. But finding no ground were all easy, and afterwards believed that it was the spawn of fish floating on the water.

  Fair weather with moderate gales. November 2nd. This morning two persons being accused of concealing a peruke of the plunder in the canary bark, two shirts and a pair of stockings, and being found guilty, I ordered them into the billbows.

  After which they begged pardon, promised amendment, and were discharged. Fair pleasant weather and moderate gales of wind from east to southeast to southeast by south. Had an observed latitude of 750 south. November 4th.

  Yesterday, about four in the afternoon, we spoke with our consort and agreed to bear away for the island of Grande in Brazil, it being uncertain to fetch the island of Trinidad. And besides, by the time we could get the length of it, being generally close weather, and the sun and the zenith, we might miss so small an island, which would prove a great loss of time to us.

  Close weather with a fresh gale of wind at southeast by east. November 13th. Nothing remarkable since the 4th. We have had the winds very veerable. Now we draw near the land, the wind veers to the northward, and often strong gales

  with hazy weather. About 11 last night, we made a signal to our consort, and both lay by, thinking ourselves to be near the land. This morning came on moderate weather and we made sail again. Wind at north by east.

  November 14th. This morning at 5, we made the land of Brazil very plain, bearing northwest. We had several soundings on the sand called, in the maps, Bonfunda, from 28 to 50 fathom water. Brown, fair sand, with gray stones amongst it.

  We had several showers of rain, with very little wind, from north northeast to north by west. Latitude, 22, 9, south. November 15th. At 10 o'clock last night, we had a heavy tornado with lightning, which felt as if it

  had been liquid. While this storm held, which was not above an hour, we had all our sails furled, yet the ship lay along very much wind, at southwest, but afterwards calm and little wind. The sun being near the zenith here at this time, occasions such weather. As soon as day appeared, we saw the land bearing west about seven leagues distance, a small

  breeze at north northwest. We stood in with it, but could not be certain what land it was. We had sundry soundings from 40 to 50 fathom water, coarse sand. November 16th. Yesterday evening, having a brave breeze at east, we stood in with the land and supposed

  it to be the island of Cape Frio. It makes the southernmost land of several other islands. It is high and uneven. This island appears in two hills to the southward. The least looks like a saddle, and appears at a distance like two islands, but as you

  draw near it, you see that it joins. November 17th. This morning, the weather being calm, our pennies went ashore with Captain Dan Peer into a sandy bay about two leagues off. They brought aboard a large tortoise, which our people eat.

  The tortoises on this coast have a strong taste. Foggy weather and very little wind from the east to the southwest, sometimes calm. November 19th. Yesterday in the afternoon, we came to an anchor in 22 fathom water. The east end of the large island, which we took to be Grande, bore west-southwest distance,

  about four leagues, and there is a high woody point at the west end of the low sandy bay, which at last we run by, about one league and a half from us. We sent our pennies ashore well-manned to this point with Captain William Dan Peer in order to be certain whether it was the entrance of Grande between the two lands. The boat returned about 10 o'clock at night with a confirmation that it was the island

  of Grande, as we had supposed. So we immediately weighed with a small breeze, but it soon falling calm, we came to anchor again, then weighed with another small breeze and rowed and towed, by the help of which at 12 o'clock we came to an anchor in the middle of the entrance of the island by Grande in 11 fathom water.

  The entrance goes in west by south, a remarkable white rock on the larboard side of the bay bore southeast about a mile and a half. It is a long entrance near five leagues from the place we anchored at. November 20th. Yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon we sent our boats in with a lieutenant in

  one boat and Captain Dan Peer in the other to sound all the way to our watering place and see if no enemy lay there. I borrowed the duchess, y'all, and kept her ahead sounding, but having a breeze against us we got little ground. This morning at four we weighed again with the wind at northeast and got both into the

  bay on the west side of the isle of Grande, but could not reach the cove where we designed to water. Heavy showers of rain took us. At eleven we rowed and towed into the cove where our consort had been an hour before us.

  A Portuguese boat came from a small cove on our starboard side as we came in and told us they had been robbed by the French not long before. November 21st. Yesterday afternoon it rained so hard that our men could not work. At four o'clock Captain Courtney put eight of his men in irons for disobeying command

  and knowing them to be ringleaders was willing to secure them whilst here where they could run away. About six o'clock it began to clear up and our pennies with Captain Cook and Lieutenant Pope went to Angre de Reis, as it's called in sea drafts, but the Portuguese call it Nostra Senhora de la Concepcion, a small village about three leagues distant, to wait on the

  governor and acquaint him with our arrival with a present of butter and cheese to procure his friendship if any of our men should run away. The boat returned at twelve at night and told us that when they came near the town it was almost dark that the people suspecting they were French fired on them several times but did no hurt and when they came ashore begged their pardon.

  The friars invited them to the convent and told them they were often plundered by the French or they should not have been so ready to fire at them. The governor was gone to Rio Gennaro, a city about twelve leagues distant, but was expected back every day. This morning our men went in our boat to haul our fishing net and caught some very good

  fish much better than those at St. Vint's. November 22, yesterday afternoon we got our empty casks ashore and sent our carpenter with the Portuguese to look out wood for trussle trees. Our main and four trussle trees being both broke but the weather proved so wet and sultry that we could do little or nothing.

  Here our abundance of graves of dead men and the Portuguese tell us that two great French ships homeward bound from the South Seas that watered in this same place about nine months before had buried nearly half their men to here. But God be thanked, ours are very healthy. At this place the French South Sea ships generally water both out and homewards.

  This morning we had several canoes from the town with limes, fowls, idian corn, etc. to exchange for such things as we could spare. We treated them all very civilly and offered a gratuity to such as would secure our men if any of them run away. They all promised to give us good information and assist us in searching after them.

  November 23, this was a fair pleasant day but violent hot. We healed the duchess both sides by us. We had a great deal of wood cut, caught excellent fish with our limes and had several canoes from the town which informed us of a brigantine at an anchor in the entrance where we came I sent our pinnace manned and armed to know what she was and found her a Portuguese laden

  with negroes for the gold mines. Our boat returned and brought a present being a roof of fine sugar and a pot of sweet meats from the master who spoke a little English and had formerly sailed with them. The way that leads to these gold mines is not far from this place by water but the Portuguese say they lie several days journey up in the country and some will tell you tis ten or

  fifteen days others a month's travel from the town of cenetas which is the seaport for they are cautious how they discover the truth but there is certainly abundance of gold found in this country. They told us the French often surprised their boats and that at one time when the French stayed to water which could not exceed a month they took of gold above twelve hundred pounds

  weight in boats from the mines bound to Rio de Janeiro because the way is not good by land November 24th yesterday in the afternoon we cleaned one side by the duchess and this morning the other side gave the ship's great lists and having men enough whilst our ship was cleaning we let the pinnace with Captain Dover Mr Van Brew and others go to take their pleasure but to return by twelve o'clock when we should want our boat.

  When they returned they brought with them a monstrous creature which they had killed having prickles or quills like a hedgehog with fur between them and the head and tail resembled those of a monkey it stunk intolerably which the Portuguese told us was only the skin that the meat of it is very delicious and they often killed them for the table but our men being not yet at very short allowance none of them had stomach good enough to try

  the experiment so that we were forced to throw it overboard to make a sweet ship. Soon after came several canoes with Portuguese in them whom we treated very civilly. November 25th this day was fair but very hot we had three or four canoes aboard one of which had three fathers belonging to the Franciscan convent at Angra de Reis we had got a great deal of water and wood aboard with new trussle trees fixed to the head of the foremast.

  November 26th yesterday afternoon we rigged the foremast again and got almost all our water on board last night when Michael Jones and James Brown two Irish landmen run into the woods thinking to get away from us the two such sparks run away the 25th from the Duchess and in the night were so frightened with tigers as they thought but really by monkeys and baboons that they ran into the water hollowing to the ship till they were

  fetched aboard again. About four this morning the watch on the quarter deck spied a canoe and called her to come on board but they not answering and trying to get away made us suspect they had either got our men that run away last evening or were coming by agreement to fetch them off the island which was uninhabited.

  We immediately sent the pinnace and y'all after them the pinnace coming up near the canoe fired to stay them but to no purpose at last they wounded one of the Indians that rode to the canoe he that owned and steered her was a friar and had a quantity of gold which he got at the mines I suppose by his trade of confessing the ignorant. The friar had just ran the canoe ashore on the little island full of wood as our boats

  landed and afterwards he told us he hid some gold there. A Portuguese that would not run away with the father because he had no gold to hide knew our people to be English and called the father back. The man that was wounded could not move and was brought by our men with the father and several slaves that rode the large canoe on board our ship where our surgeon dressed to

  the wounded Indian who died in two hours time. I made the father as welcome as I could but he was very uneasy at the loss of his gold in the death of his slave and said he would seek for justice in Portugal or England. November 27th. Yesterday in the afternoon the duchess wade and towed out of the cove about a mile and

  came to anchor to wait for us. Their boats returning to the cove to fetch what was left they spied two men waiting under the side of the wood by the shore for a Portuguese canoe to get them off but our boats landed on each side of the point where they were not seen found them to be the men that left us the evening before and brought them to us.

  I ordered them both to be severely whipped and put in irons. This morning Captain Courtney and I with most of our officers except those which we left to do what little remained unfinished on board the ships went in our boats to Angra de Reis it being the day kept for the conception of the Virgin Mary and a high day of procession amongst these people.

  The governor Senor Rafael de Silva Lagos a Portuguese received us very handsomely. He asked us if we would see the convent and procession. We told him our religion differed very much from his. He answered we were welcome to see it without partaking in the ceremony. We waited on him in a body being ten of us with two trumpets and a hout boi which he

  desired might play us to church where our music did the office of an organ but separate from the singing which was by the fathers well performed. Our music played hey boys up go we and all manner of noisy poultry tunes and after service who were by that time more than half drunk marched at the head of the company next to them an old father and two friars carrying lamps of incense with the host.

  Next came the Virgin Mary on a beer carried on four men's shoulders and dressed with flowers and wax candles etc. After her came the Padre Guardian of the convent and then about 40 priests friars etc. Next was the governor of the town myself and Captain Courtney with each of us a long wax candle lighted.

  Next followed the rest of our officers the chief inhabitants and junior priests with everyone a lighted wax candle. The ceremony held about two hours after which we were splendidly entertained by the fathers of the convent and then by the governor at the guard house his habitation being three leagues off.

  It's to be noted they kneeled at every cross way and turned walked around the convent and came in at another door kneeling and paying their devotion to the image of the Virgin and her wax candles. They unanimously told us they expected nothing from us but our company and they had no more but our music.

  The town consists of about 60 low houses built of mud covered with palmetto leaves and meanly furnished. They told us they had been plundered by the French or perhaps they hid their plate and other best movables because they were in doubt whether we were friends or enemies. They have two churches and a Franciscan monastery tolerably decent but not rich in ornaments.

  They have also a guard house where there are about 20 men commanded by the governor a lieutenant and ensign. The monastery had some black cattle belonging to it but the fathers would sell us none. The fish we saw on the road were sharks so well known that I need not describe them. Two pilot fishes so called because they commonly attend the sharks find out their prey for

  them and are never devoured by them. Three the sucking fish so called because of a sucker about two inches long on the top of their heads by the slime of which they stick so fast to sharks and other large fish that they are not easily pulled off. Four parrot fish so named because their mouths resemble the beak of a parrot.

  Five a rock fish which is very good and much like our cod. Six silver fish and great plenty. It is a deep bodied bright fish from 12 to 18 inches long and very good meat but there are so many sorts of good fish here that we can't describe them all. November 28th.

  Yesterday in the afternoon we left Angra de Reis. When we got aboard we found the main mast rigged with everything ready. This morning we got our ship out by our consort and the wind being out of the way and but little, we went with our boat to the town to get liquors for the voyage and bring the gentleman of the town aboard our ships where we treated them the best we could.

  They were very merry and in their cups proposed the Pope's health to us but we were quits with them by toasting that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. To keep up the humor we also proposed William pens to them and they liked the liquor so well that they refused neither. We made the governor and the fathers of the convent a handsome present of butter and cheese

  from both ships in consideration of the small presents and yesterday's favors from them and as a further obligation on them to be careful of our letters which we took this opportunity to deliver into their own hands. I shall say no more of our letters but that they contained everything material since my coming out with two post scripts wrote by Captain Dover and Captain Courtney to put

  it out of doubt amongst all those concerned that we joined hardly in prosecuting our long undertaking and that our officers behaved with themselves to satisfaction which may clear up some difficulty started amongst the gentlemen at home before we sailed that were a great hindrance and discouragement to us in the beginning because mismanagement and misunderstanding amongst the officers never fail of ill effects to the voyage and of spoiling

  the men which is an irrecoverable loss. November 29th, yesterday in the afternoon our y'all went to town to get necessaries for our next long voyage because we were to run near two thousand leagues before we could expect any recruit of liquors unless by extraordinary good fortune. In the evening it came on blowing with thick showers of rain which prevented the governor

  and the rest from going ashore that night. This morning the governor and company were carried ashore at parting we saluted them with a huzzah from each ship because we were not overstocked with powder. After which all the officers of the committee met on board the duchess where we inquired into the true cause of the aforesaid Indian's death and protested against Mr. Van Brew who

  was the occasion for commanding our ship's penance as he did in chase of the canoe unknown to me and without my order. At the same time I desired to have the committee's hands if they approved what I transacted since my leaving the Canary Islands which they very readily signed and also the protest against Mr. Van Brew's unadvised management for I was sensible that good order and discipline

  and privateers was the only method to support myself and the other officers and keep up our authority which is so essential towards acting with success and vigor on all occasions. This made it highly necessary in the infancy of our undertaking to prevent innovations in command which inevitably confound the most promising designs. For I thought it a fit time now to resent ignorant and woeful actions publicly and

  eschew the vanity and mischief of them rather than to delay or excuse such proceedings which would have made the distemper too prevalent and brought all to remediless confusion had we indulged conceited persons with a liberty of hazarding the fairest opportunities of success. The above-mentioned Resolves of the committee follow.

  At a committee held on board the duchess riding at the island Grande on the coast of Brazil by request of Captain Thomas Dover, President, Captain Woods Rogers, and Captain Stephen Courtney, 29th November 1708. We have examined and do approve of all the proceedings and transactions since our being at the Canary Islands both as to the punishing of offenders and acting in all cases for the

  best of our intended voyage and that we found it actually necessary to sell part of the goods taken in the prize amongst the Canary Islands here to purchase some liquor and other necessaries for our men as they go about Cape Horn, they being very meanly clothed and ill provided to endure the cold, and we have and do hereby desire the agent of each ship to take particular cognizance of what such goods are sold and disposed of for and agree that

  all possible dispatch hath been made both here and at St. Vincent, an acknowledgement of which we have set our hands the day and year above written. Thomas Dover, President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Fry, Carlton Van Brew, William Stratton, William Bath, Charles Pope, John Rogers, John Connolly, George Milburn, John Ballet.

  Memorandum that on the 26th day of November 1708, a little before break of day, a canoe coming near the ship Duke as she rode at anchor at the island of Grande on the coast of Brazil. They hailed her, she not answering, they fired at her, upon which she rode away and the captain ordered the boat to get ready and pursue her. And Mr. Carlton Van Brew, agent of the said ship, putting off the boat without the order of his captain or before

  any commanding officer was in pursuit of her, fired or ordered to be fired at her several muskets at a distance. But coming nearer, he ordered the men to fire into the boat and the corporal firing as we have reason to believe, killed an Indian and took the canoe and sent her away with two of the Duke's men, the corporal and a padre, and afterwards brought the rest of the people in the ship's penis. Since which time we are informed by the padre, master

  of the dead Indian, that he lost a quantity of gold to the value of 200 pounds which he says he carried ashore and hid in oaks to preserve, he taking them for Frenchmen by their firing and chasing, which could not afterwards be found. Although he says he does verily believe it was not taken by any of the ship's people, but alleges it was lost by means of their chasing and surprising him. Whatever damages may arise from the above

  mentioned action on account of killing the Indian or loss of gold that the padre says he has lost, we the commanders and officers of ship, Duke and Duchess, consorts, do in behalf of ourselves and the rest of the ship's company protest against the unadvised action of the aforesaid Mr. Carlton Van Brew for proceeding without any order from the captain of same ship and acting contrary to what he was shipped for. In witness whereof we have

  set our hands the 29th day of November 1708. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Fry, Charles Pope, William Stratton, William Bath, John Rogers, Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, George Milburn, John Ballet. November 30th. The wind continuing out of the way, last night we had a committee on board Duchess and agreed to remove Mr. Carlton Van Brew from the ship Duke, which agreement is as follows. Memorandum,

  this 30th of November 1708, we the underwritten officers belonging to the ships Duke and Duchess appointed as a committee by the owners of both ships do find it necessary for the good of our intended voyage to remove Mr. Carlton Van Brew from being agent of the Duke frigate to be agent of the Duchess and to receive Mr. William Bath, agent of the Duchess in his place. This is our opinion and desire and acknowledgement of which we have here

  on to set our hands in the port of the island of Grande on the coast of Brazil, the day above written. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Fry, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, John Bridge. November 30th. About 10 this morning we both wade in order to go out on the other side of the Grande, which I think is the fairest outlet, though they are both very large, bold, and good. We went

  out east-south-east, the wind at northeast, and in two hours came to an anchor again, approving calm and a current against us. December 1st. Yesterday at two in the afternoon we wade again, with a breeze at northeast, but at five a gale came up at south-southwest and blew very strong with rain, insomuch that we were forced to bear away and come to an anchor close under the island of Grande in fourteen fathom water. It rained hard all

  night but towards morning little wind. About 10 this morning we wade anchor and steered away south-west. At twelve it was calm and we anchored again. Just before we anchored we spied a small vessel close under the shore near the west end of Grande. We sent our boat to examine her and found it to be the same brigantine our boats were aboard of six days before and from whence I had the present. I gave the master and half hour glass and

  other small things of little value for which she was very thankful. December 2nd. I wrote a long letter to my owners which Captain Dover and Captain Courtney also underwrote and gave it to the master of this brigantine who promised to forward it by the first conveyance for Portugal so that now I had sent by four conveyances. At ten this morning we sailed, wind at west-northwest, rowed and towed till twelve and came to an anchor to the southward

  of Grande, our men continuing healthy. December 3rd. Yesterday in the afternoon we sailed with a brisk gale of wind at east by north. At six o'clock in the evening the southwest point of Grande bore west-northwest distant five leagues. The small three hummock island without Grande, which is seen as you go in both ways to it, bore northeast half north distant five leagues. The westernmost point of the main bore west by south distant nine

  leagues. From whence we departed for the island of Juan Fernandez. The rest of these twenty-four hours a good gale from east by north to the east southeast. This I observed when we came from Cape Frio to Grande, more than I have yet noted. About thirteen leagues to the eastward of the isle of Grande is a high round rock, a good league without the island as it appeared to us. Within it is high mountainous land which we are informed is the entrance to Rio

  Janeiro. And as we came to the westward we opened a sandy bay with low sandy land in the middle and high land on each side clear to the points. It's about three leagues over and deep. Next to this bay as we came to the westward opened another low sandy bay not quite so deep but above twice as wide. The westernmost point is indifferent high and full of trees which make the easternmost point as we entered Grande. From whence it runs

  in west and northerly about four leagues. There is no such bay to the eastward as Rio Janeiro between that and Cape Frio. This is a certain mark not to miss Grande which might easily be done by a stranger, the latitude being near the same for forty leagues within Cape Frio. But Grande lies out near two points farther southerly as you come to it from the eastward than any other land between that and Cape Frio. We kept but an indifferent

  account of the ship's way from Cape Frio being nothing but fluttering weather but the Portuguese master told me it is not less than thirty four leagues. We kept continual soundings and had always ground from one league to ten off the shore from twenty to fifty fathom water. Very even and gradual soundings with soft blue clayish sand till we got the length of Grande then we had harder ground mixed with small stones and red sand. The shore

  runs hither nearest west. The island Grande is remarkable high land with a small notch and a tip standing up on one side in the middle of the highest land easy to be seen if clear. And there is a small island to the southward without it which rises in three little hummocks. The nearest hummock to the island Grande is the least. As we came in and out we saw it and it appears alike on both sides. There is also a remarkable round

  white rock that lies on the larboard side nearest to Grande between it and the main at the entrance going in. On the starboard side there are several islands and the main is much like islands till you get well in. The best way when you open the coves that are inhabited on the starboard side going in is to get a pilot to carry you to the watering cove within Grande. Otherwise send in a boat to the freshwater cove which lies round the

  inner western most point of the island and near a league inn. The passage is between small islands but room enough and bold. It is the second cove under the first high mount and round behind the first point you see when you are in between the two islands. This is the cove where we watered. There are two other coves very good with some shoal banks between them but no shoal ground before we come to this cove. We sounded all the passage

  in and seldom found less than ten fathom water but had not time to know or sound of the rest of the coves. The town bears northeast about three leagues distant from this cove. The island of Grande is near about nine leagues long high land and so is the main within it. All you see near the water side is thick covered with wood. The island abounds with monkeys and other wild beasts, has plenty of good timber, firewood and excellent water with

  oranges and lemons and guavas growing wild in the woods. The necessaries we got from the town were rum, sugar and tobacco which they sell very dear though not good to smoke to so very strong. We had also fowls and hogs but the latter are scarce. Beef and mutton are cheap but no great quantity to be had. Indian corn, bananas, plantains, guavas, lemons, oranges and pineapples they abound with but have no bread except cassado, the same sort

  as is eaten in our West Indies which they call farana de pau, i.e. bread of wood. They have no kind of salating. We had fine pleasant weather most of the time we were here but hot like an oven, the sun being right over us. The winds we did not much observe because they were little and veerable but commonly between north and the east. We cleared an ordinary Portuguese here called Emmanuel de Santo and shipped another whose name was Emmanuel

  Gonçalves. End of section 4.

• 05 - Account of Brazile

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  I had Newhoff's account of Brazil on board, and by all the inquiry and observation I could make, found his description of the country, its product, and animals, to be just, particularly of that monster called Leboia, or the roebuck serpent, which I inquired after, thinking it incredible to the Portuguese governor told me, there are some of them thirty feet long, as big as a barrel, and devour a roebuck at once, from whence they had their name.

  I was also told that one of these serpents was killed near this place a little before arrival. Tigers are very plenty here on the continent, but not so ravenous as those in India. The product of Brazil is well known to be red wood, sugars, gold, tobacco, whale oil, snuff, and several sorts of drugs. The Portuguese build their best ships here. The country has now become very populous, and the people delight much in arms, especially about the gold mines,

  where those of all sorts resort, but mostly negros and mulattos. Tis but four years since they would be under no government, but now they have submitted. Some men of repute here told me the mines increase very fast, and that the gold is got much easier at these mines than in any other country. This is all I can affirm from my own observation concerning this country, which was discovered first by the famous Americus Vespuccius, Anno 1500, when he called it Santa

  Cruz, but the Portuguese afterwards named it Brazil from the red wood of that name which grows here. It situates in the torrid zone, and extends from the equinoctiole to the latitude of 28 south. The extent from east to west is uncertain, therefore I can determine nothing concerning it. The Portuguese divided into 14 districts, or captain ships, six of which, being the northern part, were subdued by the Dutch about the year 1637, and a peace concluded, allowing it to be

  called Dutch Brazil, which extended from north to south about 180 leagues. And since it is not unusual for the Dutch to lose their settlements abroad, it mayn't be amiss to give a brief account how they were outed of this profitable country. In 1643, the face of the Dutch affairs there began to alter for the worse. The magazines of their West India Company were exhausted by several expeditions against Angola, etc., and receiving no supplies from Holland as usual,

  the great council at the Recife, their capital in Brazil, was forced to make use of what was due to the company, for paying the garrisons and civil officers, and by consequence to force their conquered debtors the Portuguese to prompt payment. This obliged the debtors to borrow money at three or four percent per month, which impoverished them so in a little time that they were neither able to pay principal nor interest. The Portuguese immersed themselves in debt to the

  company, because of their hopes that the fleets coming from Portugal would quickly subdue the Dutch and pay off all scores. Besides, there happened a great mortality among the Portuguese which they purchased from the Dutch at three hundred pieces of eight per head. This completed their ruin, which together with their hatred to the Dutch on account of religion, made them resolve on a general revolt. The Dutch at the same time were engaged in a war with Spain at home, and

  Count Maurice, who was governor of Dutch Brazil, was recalled just in the height of the plot. The Dutch had several discoveries of it, and an account of Portuguese commissions, importing that this revolt was undertaken for the honor of God, the propagation of the Roman faith, the service of the king, and common liberty. They complained of this to the Portuguese government in Brazil, who told them they would cultivate a good correspondence with them according to the orders of the king,

  their master, and wrote so to the Dutch council, yet still carried on the conspiracy till at last the rebellion broke out. The Dutch renewed their complaints, but the Portuguese government denied any hand in it, till in 1645 they openly invaded the Dutch on pretense at first of appeasing the revolts of the Portuguese in the Dutch provinces, according to the tenor of the peace. But afterwards, when they had got footing, they alleged the Dutch had murdered many of the Portuguese in cool blood,

  and then carried on the war till 1660, when the Dutch were forced to abandon Brazil in the following conditions. That the Crown of Portugal should pay the states 800,000 pounds in money or goods, and that the places taken on each side in the East Indies should remain to the present possessors, and that a free trade should be allowed the Dutch in Portugal and at their settlements in Africa and Brazil without paying any more custom than the Portuguese. But the other agreements have

  been since made between the two states, and the Portuguese remain in full possession of this fine country without allowing the Dutch to trade to it. This, they fancy, makes them sufficient amends for the loss of their large conquests in India taken from them by the Dutch East India Company, the Portuguese being now the least traders thither after enjoying the whole East India trade for above 100 years. Nieuhoff, who gave the best account of Brazil at that time, assigns the

  following clauses for so easy a reconquest of it by the Portuguese. One, the Dutch took no care to have sufficient colonies of their own natives, nor to keep strong garrisons in the country. Two, they left the Portuguese in possession of all their sugar mills and plantations, which hindered the Dutch from getting any considerable footing in the open country. Three, the plantations and sugar mills that fell into their hands by forfeiture or otherwise, they sold at such

  excessive rates and laid such taxes on the product that the Dutch did not care to purchase them. Four, the states of Holland, instead of reinforcing the garrisons of Brazil, according to Prince Maurice's advice, reduced them lower notwithstanding all the remonstrances of the company to the contrary, for they were so intent upon their conquests in the East Indies that they seemed willing to be rid of Brazil, which is now a vast and populous country and employs a great number

  of large ships yearly from Portugal, who carry home an immense treasure of gold besides all other commodities of that country. Whilst Prince Maurice was in Brazil, the Dutch fitted ships thence for Chile, which arrived there, but wanted a sufficient force to withstand the Spaniard while they could be recruited, or gain an interest amongst the natives, which they might have easily done, could they have settled, because at that time the Spaniards had not conquered the Indians

  of Chile, so the Dutch, being too weak, were forced to return without affecting anything. I shall conclude this head with a brief account of the natives of Brazil from Neuhoff, whose authority, as I have said already, I found upon inquiry to be very good. They are divided into several nations and speak different languages. They are generally of a middling size, well-limbed, and their women not ill-featured. They are not born black, but become so by the heat of the sun.

  They have black eyes, black curled hair, and have their noses made flat when young. They come soon to maturity, yet generally live to a great age, without much sickness, and many Europeans live here to above a hundred years old, which is ascribed to the goodness of the climate. The Portuguese cut off such multitudes of them that they perfectly hate that nation, but were civil enough to the Dutch because they treated them kindly. Such as live next the Europeans, wear

  shirts of linen or calico, and the chief of them affect our apparel. But those within land go, for the most part, naked, covering their privities slightly with leaves or grass fastened about them with a string, and the men exceed the women in modesty. Their huts are built of stakes, and covered with palm-tree leaves. Their dishes and cups are made of calabashes, being the shells of a sort of pompeons. Their chief furniture is hammocks of cotton made like network, and these

  they fasten to sticks, and use them for beds, and when they travel tie them to trees. The wives follow their husbands to war and elsewhere, and carry their luggage in a basket, with a child hung about them in a piece of calico, a parrot or an ape in one hand, and leading a dog by a string in the other, while the idle lover carries nothing but his arms, which are bows and arrows, darts, or wooden clubs. They know nothing of arithmetic, but count their years by laying a chestnut in the

  season. Those who inhabit the inland parts know scarce anything of religion, yet they have a sort of priests, or rather conjurers, who pretend to foretell what's to come. They have a notion of a supreme being more excellent than the rest, some reckon this to be thunder, and others Ursa Minor, or some constellation. They fancy that after death their souls are transplanted into devils, or enjoy all sorts of pleasures in the lovely fields beyond the mountains, if they have killed

  and eat many of their enemies. But those that never did anything of the moment, they say, are to be tormented by devils. These people are much afraid of apparitions and spirits, and make offerings to pacify them. Some of them are mightily addicted to sorcery, to revenge themselves upon their enemies, and they have others who pretend to cure those that are so bewitched. The Castilians converted some of them, but the Dutch ministers were more successful,

  till they were hindered by the revolt of the Portuguese. The Brazilian women are very fruitful, have easy labor, retire to the woods where they bring forth a loan, and return after washing themselves and their child. The husbands lying abed the first twenty-four hours, and being treated as if they had endured the pains. The Tapayars, who inhabit the inland country on the west, are the most barbarous of the natives, taller and stronger than the rest, and indeed than most

  Europeans. They wear little sticks through their cheeks and under lips, are man-eaters, and use poisoned darts and arrows. They change their habitations according to the season, and live chiefly by hunting and fishing. Their kings and great men are distinguished by the manner of shaving their crowns and their long nails. Their priests are sorcerers, make them believe that the devils appear to them in forms of insects, and perform their diabolical worship

  in the night when the women make a dismal howling, which is their chief devotion. They allow polygamy, yet punish adultery by death, and when young women are marriageable, but courted by nobody, their mothers carry them to their princes, who deflower them, and this they reckon a great honor. Some of these people were much civilized by the Dutch and very serviceable to them, but kept under subjection to their own kings. For the extraordinary animals, plants, etc. of Brazil,

  I referred to Newhoff, being sensible that the descriptions of such things are not my province, but I thought it convenient to give this hint for the diversion of such readers, as may relish it better than a mariner's bear journal. The River of the Amazons, being the northern boundary of Brazil, I shall describe it here. According to most geographers, it rises in the mountains of Peru, and is composed at first of

  two rivers, one of which begins about latitude nine degrees south, and the other about fifteen degrees. The Sansons call the latter Huaca, or Marronbone, which communicates its name to the other. It was called Amazons not because of any nation of virgos, who, as some fancy, are governed by a queen, and have no commerce with our sex, but at certain times, when they make an appointment with the males of neighboring nations, and if they prove with child, keep the

  daughters and send away the sons, as the Greeks fabled of their Amazons. But the true reason of the name is, that the Spaniards, who first discovered it, were told of such a terrible barbarous nation of women by some of the natives, on purpose to frighten them, that they did actually on several places of this river find their women as fierce and warlike as the men, it being their custom to follow their husbands, etc., to war, on purpose to animate them, and to share in their fate,

  as we find was anciently practiced by the women of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. But to return to the course of the river. The Sansons give us a map of it from the discoveries of Tejera, who sailed up and down the same in 1637, 1638, and 1639. The river, he says, begins at the foot of a chain of mountains named Cordillera, about nine or ten leagues east of Quito in Peru. It runs first from west to east, turns afterwards south, and then, after many windings and turnings, holds its main

  course east till it falls into the Atlantic Sea. Its fountains and mouth are very near under the equator, and the main of its streams is in the fourth and fifth degree of south latitude. The rivers which fall into it on the north side rise about one or two degrees north at latitude, and those on the south side, some of them begin in ten, some in fifteen, and others in the twenty first foot of south latitude. Its channel from Junta de los Reios, about sixty degrees from its

  head till it is joined by the river Marimbón, is from one to two leagues in breadth. From thence, say the Sansons, tis from three to four, but grows larger as it advances toward the Atlantic, into which it falls by a mouth from fifty to sixty leagues broad betwixt Cape Norte on the coast of Guiana and Cape Zaparrara on the coast of Brazil. Its depth from Junta de los Reios to Marimbón is from five to ten fathom, from thence to Rio Negro from twelve to twenty,

  and from thence to the sea from thirty to fifty and sometimes a great deal more. Tis always of a good depth near the shore and has no sand banks till it come towards the sea. Its running in a continued descent from west to east makes the sailing down it very easy, and the east winds, which last most part of the day, are very commodious for those who sail up this river. From the fountain to its mouth tis eight or nine hundred leagues in a direct line,

  but the windings and turnings make it about twelve hundred. Some compute it at eighteen hundred and others twelve hundred seventy-six, but then they derive its source from the Lake Loricoccha near Guanaco in Peru about latitude ten. Authors differ whether this river or La Plata be the greatest, which I shall not take upon me to determine. The rivers which run into it on the right and left have their courses from one hundred to six hundred leagues in length, and their banks

  are well inhabited by multitudes of people of different nations, not so barbarous as those of Brazil, nor so polite as the natives of Peru. They live chiefly upon fish, fruit, corn, and roots, are all idolaters, but pay no great respect to their idols, nor perform any public worship to them except when they go upon expeditions. Teixeira and his fellow discoverers say that most of those countries enjoy a temperate air though in the middle of the torrid zone.

  This is probably owing to the multitude of rivers with which they are watered, the east winds which continue most of the day, the equal length of the days and nights, the great number of forests, and the annual inundations of the rivers, which fructify this country as that of the Nile does Egypt. Their trees, fields, and flowers are verdant all the year, and the goodness of the air prevents their being infested so much with serpents and other dangerous

  insects as Brazil and Peru. In the forests they have store of excellent honey, accounted very medicinal. They have balm good against all wounds. Their fruit, corn, and roots are not only in greater plenty, but much better than anywhere else in America. They have vast number of fish of all sorts in the rivers and lakes, and among others sea cows which feed on the banks, and tortoises of a large size and delicate taste. Their woods abound with venison

  and afford materials for building the largest ships. They have many trees of five or six fathom round in the trunk, and inexhaustible sores of ebony and Brazil wood, cocoa, tobacco, sugar canes, cotton, a scarlet dye called rocone, besides gold and silver in their mines in the sand of their rivers. The nations who inhabit about this and the other rivers that run into it are reckoned by Sanson and others 150, and their villages so thick in many places that most of them are within

  call of one another. Among those people, the homagoos, who live toward the head of this great river, are mostly noted for their manufactures of cotton, the correspiares for their earthenware, the serines who live betwixt latitude 5 and 10 and longitude 314 and 316 for their joiner's work, the tapinambes who live in a great island of this river at about latitude 4 and longitude 320 for their strength. Their arms in general are darts and javelins, bows and arrows, with targets of

  cane or fish skin. They make war upon one another to purchase slaves for their drudgery, but otherwise they treat them kindly enough. Among the rivers that fall into it on the north side, the Napo, Agaric, Putumaye, Jenupapay, Corapitube, and others have gold in their sands. Below Corapitube there are mines of several sorts in the mountains. In those of Yagnare there are mines of gold, in Picora there are mines of silver, on the river Paragoche there are precious stones

  of several sorts, and mines of sulfur etc. near other rivers. Those of Putumaye and Caqueta are large rivers. The latter is divided into two branches. One falls into the Amazon River by the name of Rio Negro, which is the largest on the north side, and the other, called Rio Grande, falls into the Orinoco. The chief rivers that fall into it on the south side are the Marabón, Amaramaye, Tape, Catua, Cusignate, Madere, or Cayenne, and many other large ones.

  The Sansons add that on this river, about 200 leagues from the sea, there is a bosphorus, or strait of one mile broad, that the tide comes up hither, so that it may serve as a key to all the trade of those countries. But the Portuguese, being already possessed of Para on the side of Brazil, Corupa and Estero on the side of Guiana, and Cogemina, an island at the mouth of it, they may, by fortifying the island of the sun, or some other place in its chief outlet,

  be masters of all the trade. William Davis, a Londoner, who lived in this country some time, gives us this further account of it, and of the inhabitants about this river. They have store of excellent wild fowl in their woods, and, among others, parrots, as many as we have pigeons in England, and as good meat. Their rivers and lakes abound with fish, but such as catch them must be upon their guard against crocodiles, alligators, and water serpents. The country is subject to

  frequent and violent storms of rain, thunder, and lightning, which commonly hold sixteen or eighteen hours. And the inhabitants are terribly pestered with mosquitoes. There are abundance of petty kings who live upon their particular rivers, on which they decide their quarrels with canoes, and the conqueror eats up the conquered, so that one king's belly proves another's sepulcher. The regalia by which they are distinguished is a crown of parrots' feathers, a chain of lions' teeth

  or claws about their necks or middles, and a wooden sword in their hands. Both sexes go quite naked and wear their hair long, but the men pluck theirs off on the crown. He says to the question whether the women's hair or breasts be longest. The men thrust pieces of cane through the foreskin of their pundenda, their ears and under lips, and hang glass beads at the gristle of their noses, which bob to and fro when they speak. They are thievish and such good archers that they kill fish

  in the water with their arrows. They eat what they catch without bread or salt. They know not the use of money, but barter one thing for another, and will give twenty shillings' worth of provisions, etc., for a glass bead or a Jew's harp. I come next to the discovery of this river. When González Pizarro, brother to Francis that conquered Peru, was governor of the north provinces of that country, he came to a great river where he saw the natives bring gold in their canoes

  to exchange with the Spaniards. This put him upon a complete discovery of that river from its fountains to its mouth. In order to this he sent out Captain Francisco de Oriana in 1540, with a penis and men. Some say he went also himself and sailed down the river Jaquesa, or Maranbón, forty-three days, but wanting provisions commanded Oriana to go in quest of some down the river and to return as soon as he could. But Oriana, being carried down two hundred

  leagues through a desert country, the stream was so rapid that he found it impracticable to return and therefore sailed on till he came to that which is properly called the River of the Amazons. He had spent all his provisions and eat the very leather on board so that seven of his men died of want. In January that year, after sailing two hundred leagues further, he came to a town on the bank of the river where the people were afraid of him, but at last furnished him with provisions.

  And here he built a large brigantine. He set out again on the second of February, and thirty leagues further was almost cast away by the violent stream of a river which run into that of the Amazons on the right side. He sailed above twenty leagues further and was invited ashore in the province of Aparia, where he discoursed several of their cayacays, who forewarned him of his danger by the Amazons. He stayed here thirty-five days, built a new

  brigantine, and repaired the other. He sailed again in April through a desert country where he lived upon herbs and toasted Indian wheat. On the twelfth day of May he arrived at the populous country of Macaparo, where he was attacked by many canoes full of natives armed with long shields, bows, and arrows, but fought his way through them till he came to a town where he took provisions by force, after two hours fight with some thousands of the natives whom he put to flight, and had

  eighteen of his men wounded but all recovered. He put off again and was pursued two days by eight thousand Indians in one hundred thirty canoes till he was past the frontiers of that country. Then he landed at another town, three hundred forty leagues from Aparia, which being abandoned by the natives, he rested there three days and took in provisions. Two leagues from hence he came to the mouth of a great river with three islands, for which he

  called it Trinity River. The adjacent country seemed very fruitful, but so many canoes came out to attack him that he was forced to keep the middle of the stream. Next day he came to a little town where he took provisions again by force, and found abundance of curious earthenware finely painted and several idols of monstrous shapes and sizes. He also saw some gold and silver and was told by the inhabitants that there was abundance of both in the country. He sailed on one hundred leagues

  further till he came to the land of Panganana, where the people were civil and readily furnished him with what he wanted. On Whitsunday he passed by a great town divided into many quarters with a canal from each to the river. Here he was attacked by canoes but soon repulsed them with his firearms. He afterwards landed and took provisions at several towns. He met with the mouth of a river, the water as black as ink and the stream so rapid that for twenty leagues it

  did not mix with that of the Amazons. He saw several small towns in his passage, entered one by force, which had a wall of timber, and took abundance of fish there. He pursued his voyage by many great towns and well inhabited provinces, by which time the river was grown so wide that they could not see the one side from the other. Here he took an Indian, by whose information he supposed this to be the proper country of the Amazons. He sailed on by many other towns and

  landed at one where he found none but women. He took abundance of fish there and resolved to have stayed for some time, but the men coming home in the evening they attacked him so that he shipped off and continued his voyage. He saw several great towns with paved roads between rows of fruit trees into the country and landed for provisions. The inhabitants opposed him but their leader being killed they fled and left him at liberty to carry off provisions. From hence he sailed to an island

  for rest and was informed by a female he had taken prisoner that there were men like themselves in that country and some white women whom he conceived to be Spaniards. She told them they were entertained by a kayak. After several days sail he came to another great town near which the Indian told him those whites did live. He kept on his course and after four days came to another town where the natives were civil furnished him with provisions and here he saw abundance of cotton

  cloth and a place of worship hung with weapons and two mitres resembling those of a bishop. He went to a wood on the other side in order to rest but was soon dislodged by the natives. He saw several large towns on both sides of the river but did not touch them. Some days after they came to a town where he got provisions. After doubling a point he saw other large towns where the people stood ready on the banks to oppose him. He offered him toys in order

  to please them but in vain. He continued his voyage and on the banks he saw several bodies of people. He stood into them and landing his men the natives fought with great resolution 10 or 12 being white women of an extraordinary size with long hair and all naked but their pudenda who seemed to be their commanders. They were armed with bows and arrows and seven of them being killed the rest fled. Oriana had several men wounded and finding that multitudes of the natives were

  marching against him he sailed off reckoning that he had now made 1400 leagues during his voyage but still did not know how far he was from the sea. He afterwards came to another town where he met with like opposition. Several of his men were wounded and his chaplain lost an eye. Here he observed several woods of oak and cork trees. He called this province by the name of St. John's because he came to it on that saint's day. He sailed on till he met with some

  islands where he was attacked by 200 canoes with 30 or 40 men in each abundance of drums trumpets and pipes etc but he kept them off with his firearms. These islands appeared to be high fruitful and pleasant and the largest of them about 50 leagues long but he could take in no provisions because the canoes continually pursued him. When he came to the next province he perceived many large towns on the larboard side of the river. Multitudes of natives came in their

  canoes to gaze on him and his Indian prisoner informed him that these countries abounded with gold and silver. Oriana was here obliged to barricado his boats to cover his men because one of them was killed by a poison arrow. As he sailed on he came to inhabited islands and perfectly discerned the tide. Here he was attacked by multitudes of canoes and lost some more men by poisoned arrows. There were many towns on the starboard side of the river and he found other

  inhabited islands where he got provisions but was attacked and beat off when he landed on the continent till he came near the mouth of the river where the people readily furnished him. He sailed 200 leagues among the islands where he found the tide strong and at last in august that year found a passage to the sea of about 50 leagues wide where the tide rises five or six fathom and the fresh water runs 20 leagues into the sea. Esquire Harcourt in his voyage to Guiana

  says 30 leagues and that the fresh water there is very good. He was mightily distressed for want of rigging and provisions till he came to the island of Cubagua from whence he went to Spain to give the king an account of his discovery. The manuscripts taken by Captain Witherington say that Oriana was about a year and a half upon this river. When he reported his discoveries the king of Spain sent him back with a fleet and 600 men to take possession of this river in 1544. Some say 1549

  but the project came to nothing. For the captain himself after he had sailed up 100 leagues died with 57 of his men by the unhealthiness of the air and some of them sailed 60 leagues higher where they were friendly entertained by the natives but being too few to pursue the discovery they returned to the island Margarita where they found Oriana's lady says Herrera who told them that her husband died of grief for the loss of so many of his men by sickness and the attacks of the Indians

  and thus they returned Rey and Fecta so that Oriana received no other advantage for his danger and expense but the honor of the first discovery and having the river called by his name in some authors Ovalle says that he lost half his men at the Canaries and Cape Verde and his fleet was reduced to two large boats before he came back to the river so that he was too weak to attempt a further discovery. The manuscripts taken by Captain Witherington say the second person who attempted

  it was Luz de Melo a Portuguese by order of his sovereign King John the third to whom the country from the mouth of this river to that of La Plata belonged according to the partition agreed on betwixt the Portuguese and the Spaniards. He had 10 ships and 800 men but lost eight of his ships at the mouth of the river so that he went to the island Margarita from whence his men were dispersed all over the Indies. Two or three captains from the kingdom of New Granada attempted it afterwards

  by land but without success. In 1560 those of Peru tried it another way. The viceroy sent Pedro de Orsua a native of Navarre with 700 men to the head of this river where he built pinnaces and canoes and having furnished himself with provisions and taken 2,000 Indians with many horses on board he embarked on the river Jauca or Maranbón. He sailed till he came to a plain country where he began to build a town but his men not being used to such labor and fatigued by the hot and rainy

  seasons they murmured though they had provisions enough and a great prospect of finding store of gold. The mutineers were headed by López de Aguirre a bisqueiner who had been an old mutineer in Peru and being joined by Ferdinand de Guzmán a Spanish soldier and one saldueno who was enamored on Orsua's beautiful lady they murdered him when asleep with all his friends and chief officers then they proclaimed Guzmán their king but 20 days after he was also murdered by López who assumed

  the title to himself. Being a fellow of mean birth he murdered all the gentlemen in company lest any of them should rival him and having formed a guard of ruffians about him he became so jealous of his new dignity and was so conscious of what he deserved that when any of the men talked together he concluded they were plotting against him and sent his ruffians to murder them abundance of the rest and the women falling sick he barbarously left them to the mercy of the natives and sailed

  to the island margarita with 230 men he was well entertained by the governor who took him to be one of the king's officers but this ungrateful villain did speedily murder him and his friends ravaged the island forced some soldiers to go along with him and pretended to conquer the indies but was defeated taken and hanged by the governor of new granada the wretch murdered his own daughter that she might not be insulted by his enemies and then attempted to murder himself but was prevented

  thus concluded that fatal expedition the sansons say the next attempt was by those of cusco in 1566 but it came to nothing for their leaders fell out and fought with one another which made the rest a prey to the natives or that only maldenado one of their captains and two priests escaped to carry home the news two of the generals of para and the governors of mar and bone were the next that renewed the attempt by the king's command but met with so many cross accidents

  that they could not affect it in 1606 two jesuits set out from keto thinking to reduce the country on this river by their preaching but one of them was killed by the natives and the other narrowly escaped says ovalle the next discovery was by captain john de palacios authors differ as to the time but most agree it was in 1635 he set out from keto with a few armed men and franciscan friars sailed down the river till he came to anel where he was killed in 1636 and most of his companions

  returned except two monks and five or six soldiers who sailed down in a little vessel as far as para the capital of brazil where they acquainted to share the portuguese governor with their discovery who upon their information sent 47 canoes with 70 spaniards and 1200 indians to sail up the river under to share the sailor he set out in october 1637 and met with several difficulties which occasioned many of the indians to forsake him but he went on and set a captain with eight canoes

  to make discoveries before him this captain arrived june 24th 1638 at a spanish town built at the conflux of the rivers harari and amazons and dispatched a canoe to acquaint to share with it this encouraged him to proceed till he came to the mouth of the river chevalas where it falls into the amazons and there he left part of his men under a captain and the rest at junta de los rios under another while himself with a few went forward to quito the other captain arrived

  there sometime before and both were well received by the spaniards to whom they reported their discovery in september 1638 the men he left behind were well entertained by the natives at first but quarreling with them afterwards suffered much for want of provisions and had little but what they took by force upon the news of this discovery the count de chinchón viceroy of peru sent orders from lima to furnish to share with all necessaries for his return down the river

  and appointed father de cugna rector of the college of cuenca and another jesuit to attend him and carry the news to spain they set out in february 1639 and arrived at para in december following from whence dia cugna went to spain and published his account of this river in 1640 the sum of his discovery besides what has been mentioned already is as follows there's a tree on the banks of this river called anderova from whence they draw an oil that is a specific for

  curing wounds there's plenty of ironwood so named because of its hardness redwood logwood brazil and cedars so large that a cugna says he measured some that were 30 span around to the trunk they have timber enough to build ships make cordage of the barks of trees and sails of cotton but want iron they make hatchets of tortoise shells or hard stones ground to an edge and chisels planes and wimbles of the teeth and horns of wild beasts their chief directors are sorcerers who are the

  managers of their hellish worship and teach them how to revenge themselves on their enemies by poison and other barbarous methods some of them keep the bones of their deceased relations in their houses and others burn them with all their movables and solemnize their funerals first by mourning then by excessive drinking yet the father says they are in general good-natured and courteous and many times left their own huts to accommodate him and his company some of these nations

  particularly the omaguas whose country is 260 leagues long and the most populous on the river are decently clad in raiment of cotton and trade in it with their neighbors some of the other nations were plates of gold at their ears and nostrils and their joiners are so expert that they make chairs and other household furniture in the shapes of several animals with great art the jesuits of keto in peru have engraved a map of this river in which they give the following

  account vis that is the greatest known in the world that though it be called by the name of amazon's or oriana its true name is marinbone that it rises from the lake loricoca as we have mentioned already runs 1800 leagues and falls into the north sea by 84 mouths that near the city borja it is pent up by a strait called el pongo not above 13 fathom wide and three leagues long where the stream is so rapid that boats run it in a quarter of an hour the truth of this must

  be submitted to the judgment of the reader but it seems very improbable since none of those who sailed up and down this river describe it thus the sides were impossible to sail up against so rapid a stream without a tide which the sense on say comes up to this straight but they make it a mile broad and by consequence not so rapid the jesuits add that both banks from the city yaen in the province of brocca moros where it begins to be navigable down to the sea are covered with

  woods of very tall trees among which there's timber of all colors abundance of sarsaparilla and the bark they call cloves which is used by dyers and cooks in the neighboring woods there are many tigers wild boars and buffaloes etc the jesuits began their mission upon this river in 1638 have their capital at the city of st francis of borja in the province of manos 300 leagues from keto and their mission extends along three of the rivers as far as the province of omaguas

  whether they make sometimes long and dangerous voyages in canoes they give an account of eight of their number that have been murdered by the barbarians the last of them in 1707 besides borja and its dependencies they have 39 towns founded mostly by their own labor and charge but we shan't insist on their names their converts they reckon at 26 000 and the missionaries about 18 they add that they have contracted amity with several numerous nations whose conversion they

  hope for the portuguese have some towns at the mouth of this river and a fort on rio negro so that of late years they have traded much upon it and as several spaniards informed me during the last piece they extended their commerce as far as keto and many other places in peru i have insisted the longer on this river because it is of so great fame and may be of mighty advantage for trade end of section five

• 06 - Account of River of La Plata

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  Section 6 of A Cruising Voyage Around the World. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Pamela Nagami.

  A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Woods Rogers. Part of the River of La Plata. The River of La Plata being the south boundary of Brazil, within the limits of the South Sea Company, and lying conveniently for opening a great trade from the North Sea with Peru, Chile and other vast countries, I shall give a description of it here from the best authors.

  The first European who discovered it seems to have been Juan Díaz de Solís, who, sailing from Spain in 1512, some say 1515, ran along the coast of Brazil till he came to this river, says Ovalle. With him agree the manuscripts taken on some Spanish priests in this river by Captain Witherington, published in Harrison's Collections, where we are told de Solís obtained the government

  of this river, but was murdered by the natives with most of his men in 1515. The next who came hither was Sebastian Cabot in 1526, but his men, being mutinous, he had not the desired success, though he sailed 150, some say 200, leagues up this river and purchasing many pieces of gold and silver plate from the natives, who called this river Parama.

  He called it the River of Plate, because he thought it to be the product of the country which was afterwards found to be a mistake. Yet upon his report in 1530 when he returned, the Emperor Charles V sent Don Peter Mendoza, one of his chief grandees, with 2200 men besides mariners, to plant a colony here in 1535, and they had so great hopes of finding mines of gold and silver that above 30 heirs

  of noble families went on the expedition, and sailing 50 leagues up the river where the heir was good, he founded a town which from thence was called Buenos Aires. They built a fort and enlarged the town, but as they were carrying on their work, the natives attacked them and overpowering them with numbers killed 250, among whom were several of the chief men.

  This obliged the Spaniards to keep within their fort where they suffered much by famine. Mendoza returned towards Spain but died miserably, with many of his companions for want of provisions by the way. His deputy general, Oyola, sailed up into Paraguay in quest of a country said to abound with gold and silver, but was treacherously slain by the natives with all his followers.

  Irala, who was his deputy and left at Buenos Aires, contracted a friendship with some of the natives called Guaranians. In 1538 he built Asomption in their country which is now the metropolis of Paraguay and left Buenos Aires for a time. Asomption lies on the banks of the river Paraguay in southern latitude 25, 240 leagues from

  the sea and 40 from the mouth of the river Paraguay where it falls into La Plata. These rivers, after they join, continue their natural color for several miles, La Plata being clear and Paraguay muddy. The latter is by much the most considerable river and the adjacent country abounds with mines of gold and silver and is navigable above 200 leagues.

  The river of Uruguay falls into Paraguay on the right side and runs a course of 300 leagues according to Sepp the Jesuit who in his voyage says Tizza's big is the Danube at Vienna. In short, as to this river La Plata authors are not agreed. Some of the Jesuits who are missionaries in those countries think it to be the same with that called Paraguay higher up in the country and that it has a communication with the northeast

  coast of Brazil by the river St. Mary which rises out of the same lake and runs northeast as Paraguay or Plata runs south and afterwards to the southeast when it falls into the sea. Be that how it will, here are many rivers which fall into the same channel on both sides, but that which is commonly called La Plata begins near the town of that name about south latitude 19 and after running north a little way takes its course southeast till it join

  the river Paraguay so that I choose rather to trust the account given us by Mr. White our linguist who having dwelt long in that country told me this river derives its name from the town of La Plata a sort of metropolis to which there lies an appeal from other jurisdictions. He adds that Tizza pretty town has 14 churches with a cathedral and four nunneries and lies northwest from Buenos Aires about 500 leagues which requires commonly two months and a half's

  travel. All are agreed that La Plata is very large at the mouth where some account at 50 and others 30 leagues broad. The mouth of it is dangerous because of the sands and therefore requires pilots. Kniwet in his description of the West Indies says the best way to avoid those sands is to keep near the north shore till you have come to a high mountain white at top and then to sail four leagues south to another small hill on the north side near

  which you must sail. This brings you into a fair bay where you must still keep along shore and after passing the west point of this bay you come to the river Maror and then there are no more shoals between that and Buenos Aires. La Plata runs into the sea about south latitude 35 and sometimes overflows the country for several miles when the natives put their goods into canoes and float about till the inundation assuages and then they

  return to their habitations. Ovalle gives the following account of this river namely that it runs with such a mighty stream into the sea as makes it fresh for a great way that the water of this river is very sweet clears the voice and lungs and is good against all rooms and deflections that the people who dwell about it have excellent voices and are all inclined to music that it petrifies the branches of trees and other things which

  fall into it and that vessels are naturally formed of its sand which are of various figures look as if they were polished by art and keep water very cool it breeds great store of excellent fish of diverse sorts and most beautiful birds of all kinds are seen on its banks. Sepp informs us that this river and Uruguay abound so with fish that the natives catch great numbers of them without any other instrument than their hands. One of the choices called

  the king's fish is small without bones and taken only in winter. Our author says he never saw any European fish in this ladder except one that the Spaniards called bocado and that the fish are larger here than ours of a dark or yellow color and well-tasted which he ascribes to the nature of the water that though drunk in great quantities even after raw fruit helps digestion and never does any hurt. The plains about this river are so large and even without any obstruction

  to the sight that the sun seems to rise and set in them. Their way of traveling in those planes is by high carts covered with hoops and cow hides like our wagons with convenience for travelers to sleep in the bottom which is so much the better because they travel most by night to avoid the heat. They are drawn by oxen which are frequently so pinched by drought that when they come toward any water which they smell at a great distance they run furiously to it and drink up the very

  mud which they raise with their feet. This obliges travelers to furnish themselves with water and other provisions for their journey there being no water to be had except by rain so that travelers are frequently as much distressed for want of water as the oxen and can scarce get any that's clear at the watering places though they send beforehand because the oxen run with so much haste to it that they make it all in a puddle. Ovalle says that in this case travelers are

  forced to stop their noses and shut their eyes when they drink it. The journey through these plains is at least 14 or 20 days without any place of shelter or any firing to dress their victuals but the dry dung of cattle. Yet there are several lakes and ponds where inns might be fixed but is neglected because there's no settled trade that way. It remains to give some account of the towns upon the river Plata and on the road to Potosi. Number one, Buenos Aires lies

  upon the river 50 leagues from the sea about latitude 36. Our linguists inform me that tis the residence of a Spanish governor, is defended by a stone fort mounted with 40 guns, and is generally garrisoned by four or five hundred men. The harbor is pretty good but troublesome in a northwest and west wind. The river is seven leagues broad there and navigable by ships 60 leagues above the town, but no further because of a great cataract. The town has

  one cathedral and five other churches. The Portuguese had a settlement over against this town but were dislodged by the Spaniards at the beginning of this war since which time the French drive a guinea trade hither for Negroes who are sent overland to Peru and Chile and yield them vast profit. The trade from hence to Spain is in hides and tallow, silver from Peru, and gold and silver from Chile. All European goods yield a good price here. They have plenty of fruit trees about

  the town of all kinds, both of the hot and cold climates, and have store of wheat and other European grain besides Indian corn. Thousands of cattle of all sorts run wild in the neighborhood and they furnish Peru with 50,000 mules per annum. In short, this place lies very convenient for commerce in silver and gold and the other commodities of Peru and Chile which the French have now begun to engross. They send three ships to those parts in the South Sea under Monsieur de Beauchesne Gouin

  of Saint-Malo in 1698, of whose progress I shall give a further account from a copy of his journal as I go on with my description of the coasts. Footnote. Gouin de Beauchesne, a captain in the French merchant's service, his celebrated voyage occupied nearly three years. End footnote. Their winter here is in May, June, and July, when tis cold by night, but warm enough by day, the frost never being violent, nor the snow considerable in those parts. Father Sepp,

  who is here in 1691, tells us in his voyage from Spain to Paraguaya, or Paraguay, that Buenos Aires has only two streets built crosswise, that there are four convents, one of which belongs to the Jesuits, that their houses and churches are built of clay and not above one story high, that the Jesuits have taught them of late to burn lime and make tiles and bricks with which they now begin to build. The castle is likewise of clay encompassed with an earthen wall and a deep trench,

  and defended by nine hundred Spaniards, though in case of necessity above thirty thousand Indian horse might be armed out of the several cantons where they have been trained by the Jesuits. But this boasting account I can't believe. They have in the neighborhood whole woods of peach, almond, and fig trees which they propagate by putting the kernels in the ground. They grow so fast as to produce fruit the first year and their timber is used for fuel. The adjacent

  pastures are so fat and large that many thousands of beavers feed together so that anyone when he pleases goes into the field, throws a rope about their horns, and brings them home and kills them. They are very large, generally white, and being so numerous are valued only for their hides, tallow, and tongues, the rest being exposed to the birds and beasts of prey which are very numerous and frequently destroy the calves. The natives feed most on beef half raw without bread

  or salt, and in such quantities that they throw themselves naked into cold water that they may retain the natural heat within their entrails to help digestion, and sometimes they lie down with their stomachs in hot sand, but their gluttony and devouring so much raw flesh fills them so with worms that they seldom live till fifty years old. There are such numbers of partridges here and so tame that they knock them down with sticks as they walk in the fields. The missionaries

  who are absolute masters of the natives in the neighboring cantons of Paraguay and etc. suffer none of them to come nearer Buenos Aires than two or three leagues on pretence that they would be corrupted by the ill example of the Spaniards, and under that same pretence they won't suffer the Spaniards to settle in their missions, which extend above two hundred leagues up the river, nor do they allow merchants who trade dither to stay above a few days, the true cause of which is

  that they are not willing that the laity should be privy to the wealth they heap up there in a country which abounds with gold, nor be witness to their splendid or rather luxurious ways of living. Sometimes complaints of this procedure of the Jesuits have been made to the Spanish governors, but they find a way to bribe them to silence. This I was informed of by those who have been among them and am confirmed in it by Father Sepp. He does not dissemble that the missionaries

  have a despotical power over the natives, though he gives it another turn and pretends that is necessary in order to convert and force them to work. He says the Jesuits are captains, teach them the use of arms and how to drop into squadrons and battalions, which he boasts they do as well as the Europeans. The Jesuits obtained this power on the specious pretence of reducing those Indians to the obedience of the Spaniards, which they would not submit to till within these

  few years. This management is so much the more easily carried on because the ecclesiastical government there is lodged in the hands of one bishop only and three canons, and the missionaries being composed of all nations, few of them have any natural affection to the Spanish government. This is the more to be observed because the Jesuits being an intriguing society and generally in the French interest, it would seem to be the concern of the Allies to recover the trade of those

  countries from the house of Bourbon with all possible speed, left by making themselves masters of the vast treasures of Peru and Chile, they be enabled at last to complete their design of an universal monarchy. Father Sepp says that silver in 1691 was cheaper here than iron, that for a two-penny knife one may have a crown, for a hat of two shillings ten or twelve crowns, and for a gun of ten or twelve shillings thirty crowns, that provisions are so plenty here that a fat cow may

  be bought for the value of ten pence or twelve pence, a good ox for a few needles, a stout horse for about two shillings, that he has seen two given for a knife not worth six pence, and that he and his company had twenty horses for a few trifles that did not cost them a crown, being only a few needles, fishhooks, sawry knives, tobacco, and a little bread. He mentions a cataract in the river Uruguay, which he says Providence has placed here for the advantage of the poor Indians against

  the avarice of the Spaniards, who not being able to go further with their vessels had been hitherto confined to Buenos Aires and could not settle in those cantons, though very inviting, because of the vast profit they might draw from them. This he reckons a great happiness to the natives, who being a simple people would not only be infected with the vices of the Spaniards, but enslaved by them, for says he, they make no difference betwixt pagan and Christian natives,

  but treat them promiscuously like dogs. He adds that this province of Paraguaya, or Paraguay, exceeds in bigness Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands put together, wherein I doubt he exceeds, that they have no cities, are governed by eighty colleges of Jesuits, in which there are no more than a hundred and sixty persons, and that these colleges are from one hundred to six hundred miles distant from one another. There's one plain of two hundred leagues long betwixt

  Buenos Aires and Córdoba in Tucuman, without so much as a tree or cottage, and yet it contains the best pastures in the world, filled with cattle of all sorts, which have no owners. He describes the natives thus, the men are not quite so tall as Europeans, but have thick legs and large joints. Their faces are round, flattish, and of an olive color, and their arms are bows and arrows. Some of the strongest have many scars on their bodies, occasioned by wounds which they

  gave themselves when young, that these scars may be remaining proofs of their courage. Their hair is black, long, and as strong as that of a horse. The women look more like devils than rational creatures, with their hair loose over their foreheads, and the rest twisted in locks behind, which hang as low as their hips. Their faces are wrinkled, their arms, shoulders, and breasts naked, and their ornaments are of fish bones, made like scales of mother of pearl about their necks,

  arms, and hands. The wives of their caquiques, or petty princes, wear a sort of triple crowns of straw. The caquiques wear doe skins hanging over their shoulders, the rest only a piece of skin wrapped around their middle and hanging down before to their knees. The boys and girls are quite naked, they have holes in their ears and shins in which they put fish bones, or a colored feather tied by a thread, and feathers of several colors fastened to a string round their necks.

  They wrap their infants as soon as born in a tiger skin, give them the breast for a little while, and then half raw meat to suck. He says the men at the death of their nearest relations cut off a finger of their own left hand, and if it be a handsome daughter, they make a feast and drink out of her skull. They live in straw huts without roofs, and their utensils are a few sticks for spits and pumpkins hollowed out in which they eat their meats. Their beds are the hides

  of oxen or tigers spread on the ground, but the caquiques and those of note lie in a net fastened to two poles for hammocks, at some distance from the ground, being a security against wild beasts and serpents. Our author says that he sent well-boiled meat to several of them when sick, which they received thankfully, but afterwards gave it to their dogs, because they liked their own cookery better. It is now time to see how the missionaries live among those flocks over whom

  they assume the pastoral care. Father Sepp tells us that he and other new missionaries were welcomed by some of them with twenty musicians in a train, abundance of boats equipped like galleys lined with firelocks and having drums, trumpets, and oat-boy on board. The missionaries brought them sweetmeats and all sort of fruit, and the Indians diverted them by wrestling in the water and salvos of their firearms, etc. They conducted them through a green triumphal arch to the church, where the

  women were so earnest at their devotion that not one of them cast an eye upon our father and his companions so that here were a militant and a triumphant church both together. When the devotion was over, the chief of the Indians welcomed the father and the rest of the missionaries by a short but very pathetic speech, and one of the Indian women did the like with wonderful elegance, says the Jesuit, who it seems is not against women speaking in the church. That and the next day they

  spent in mirth and jollity and in the evening were diverted by four dances, one by boys who danced with pikes and lances, two by a couple of fencing masters, three by six seamen, four by six boys on horseback who afterwards gave them a kind of tournament, the place being illuminated by filled with suet, for they have no oil nor wax. On Whitsunday, which happened soon after, the missionaries went to church and returned thanks for so many converts, as certainly they had reason

  since they were such merry ones. These cantons, he says, are 26 and have but one or two missionaries apiece, though they contained from 3,000 to 6,000 people each and sometimes more, so that they must either have too much work or perform it very slightly, especially if they be so ignorant, as our father says, that if they be neglected one day, they scarce know how to make the sign of the cross the next. And besides all the pastoral work the missionaries must act the part of clerks

  and clean the church ornaments and plate, for these poor wretches are incapable of doing it. To be short, says he, the missionary must be cook, nurse, doctor, architect, gardener, weaver, smith, painter, baker, potter, tilemaker, and everything else that is necessary in a commonwealth. This, he supposes, will appear incredible, and he's certainly in the right, but he says, tis the naked truth, the natives being so stupid that unless he plainly show his Indian cook how

  much salt he must put in each pot, he would put all into one, though ever so much, and he must see them wash the vessels unless he would be poisoned. Yet this father, for all his other hard work, must look after his garden, orchard, and vineyard, where he has all sorts of flowers, herbs, roots, and fruits, and so many vines as produce five hundred large casks of wine in a year, if not prevented by multitudes of pismires, wasps, birds, or by the north winds, which sometimes make wine

  so dear that a cask yields twenty or thirty crowns, and after all tis not to be preserved from turning sour without a great mixture of lime. The chief distemper of the natives is the worms, before mentioned, the bloody flux, dysentery, and spotted fever, which frequently carry off great numbers. The medicines which the missionaries give against worms is a vomit of tobacco leaves, and after that, sour lemon juice with those of mint and rue put into milk. These cantons, or towns, he says,

  are generally upon an ascent near the rivers Uruguay and Paraguay, and contain young and old, from six thousand to eight thousand souls. Each canton has a church and a square marketplace near it, the rest being divided into streets of clay huts covered with straw, only of late they begin to use tiles. They have no windows, chimneys, or different apartments, and over the fireplace they hang their beds at night. Their doors are ox hides, and since all lie together in one room

  with their dogs, cats, etc., the missionaries are entertained with very ungrateful scents besides smoke when they go to visit them. He says in the main they are very patient under distempers and the death of relations, that they seek after no riches but a present maintenance, that their young women are marriageable at fourteen and the men at sixteen, when the missionaries take care to match them, otherwise they will pair themselves. There are no disputes here about dowries, jointures,

  or marriage settlements. The agreement consists only in two articles, namely, the woman promises to fetch what water the husband wants from the river, and he engages to provide the kitchen with fuel. The missionaries furnish them with huts, the wedding clothes, and dinner. The wedding suit is five yards of coarse wool and stuff for each, the dinner is a fat cow, and the bed some ox hides. He presents them also with a little salt and a few loaves, and then they treat their parents.

  The women court here come to the missionary and tell them they have a mind as such a man if he will give his consent, which if he do the match is made, and the missionary is both priest and father. How mean, so ever the natives live, the priests have enough of splendor and plenty. Their churches and steeples are lofty, have four or five bells apiece, most of them a couple of organs, altars, and pulpits richly gilt, images well painted,

  plenty of silver candlesticks, chalices, and other church plate, and the ornaments of the priests and altars are as rich as in Europe. They teach the natives to sing and play on all musical instruments, both for devotion and war, so that according to the Jesuits they go now more merrily to heaven than formerly they did to hell, and the good fathers divert themselves with sets of musicians on the banks of the rivers and in charming islands. Nor can we wonder that they

  live so merrily, since they fare so well, for besides all sorts of delicious fruits and preserves, they have plenty of fowl, fish, and venison of all sorts, as well as ordinary butchers meet. Only the tigers, which are very numerous, frequently put in for a share with them, invade their flocks and their followers, but if you'll believe our father, they never attack the clergy. They have such a respect for the cloth, and are so civil to Europeans,

  that they'll charge the Indians in their company and let them go scot-free, and the serpents, which likewise abound here, are charmed by Ave Marys, into the like good manners. The priests use honey for their salads, for they have no oil, so that they are very hard put to it. They had silver in such plenty, says the father, that old shoes and hats were much more valuable. And as if the missionaries had not work enough otherwise, Father Sepp tells us, the natives,

  when they kill their cows, bring them to the good Jesuits to allow each their share, and to be sure the hides fall to the missionaries, for, he says, the three ships which brought him and his company from Spain carried back 300,000 ox hides, which they had for nothing, and each hide, he says, would yield them six crowns at home. A good horse shoe, he says, is here worth six horses, and the bit of a bridle worth three. An L of linen is worth four or five crowns, for they have no

  hemp or flax, but store of cotton, and one sheep, lamb, or kid is, for the sake of the wool, worth three oxen or cows. Though the natives, he says, are so dull that they can't do the most frivolous thing without direction, yet they are so good at imitation that if you give them models, they will make anything very well. Thus, he says, the Indian women, after ripping a piece of bone lace with a needle, will make one by the same pattern very exactly, and so the men do trumpets,

  oat boys, organs, or watches, and copy pictures printing and writing to admiration. But they are so lazy that they must be forced to their work by blows at the direction of the missionaries, who, though they convert them themselves, make them cudgel one another. This they take very patiently, give no ill language, but cry, Jesu Maria, and thank the good fathers into the bargain for taking such care of them,

  so that they have learnt passive obedience to perfection. But to make them amends, our author says the missionaries teach their young ones to dance as well as to sing in the church, when they are habited in richer peril, so that they are extremely taken with the ornaments of our religion, says he, which raises in them a high esteem and affection, and indeed, twid be a wonder if it should not. The missionaries do now take care to instruct both sexes

  in all necessary employments, reading, writing, etc. They have also taught them to make images, especially of Our Lady of Otigan, and very good reason, for if we believe Sep, she has done abundance of miracles there. The fathers wear caps like a bishop's and black linen cassocks when they go abroad, and instead of canes use crosses which have a peculiar virtue to knock serpents on the head. The soil is so fruitful that it produces a hundredfold,

  though sorely manured. The natives sow nothing but turkey wheat, and scarce enough of that they are so lazy, and are likewise such bad husbands that they would eat all at once did not the missionary force them to lay it up in his barn, where he distributes it to them as they want, and so he does their flesh. They have no mills but pround their wheat in a mortar, and make it into cakes which they bake on coals or boil with their meat. The fathers have white

  bread for themselves which the natives value so much that they will give two or three horses for a loaf, and of these the missionaries have good store, for they have always forty or fifty acres sowed with wheat for themselves. Land, corn, cattle, and everything is theirs, so that they call all the people their sons and daughters, and perhaps there is just cause enough to give many of them that title. These lords proprietors assign every family their number of cows and oxen to till

  their ground and to eat, though one would think they might have enough for the taking without asking anybody's leave, and yet our father says he has been forced to chide his parishioners for killing and eating their oxen and roasting them with their wooden plows in the very field while they were tilling the ground, for which they pleaded an excuse that they and their wives were hungry and weary, and yet there was no great reason for the latter since their plows, says our author,

  don't enter above three inches into the ground. They need no hay for their cattle since they go up to the knees in grass all the year. This is the way of living in those cantons, which the missionaries call reductions, because if you'll believe me, they have reduced them to Christianity by their preaching, though the Spaniards could never do it by their arms. Our linguist told me that the road from Buenos Aires to Chile is only passable in the summer months when commodities

  are purchased at that town and transported by land to Chile. On that road, about a hundred leagues northwest from Buenos Aires, lies the city of Córdoba, which is the sea of a bishop, has 10 churches and a university. It was founded in 1573, says Father Techo, by a native of Córdoba in old Spain, when there were 60,000 archers reckoned in its territory, about 8,000 of whom continued in subjection, but the others revolted. Tis now the metropolis of the province,

  and the Jesuits have a chapel in their college there, which for riches and beauty may vie with the best in Europe. The natives of this country were very barbarous, made use of sorcery to satisfy their revenge, and of filters of their own blood to gratify their lust. Both sexes daubed their faces with strange colors, and each village was governed by a sorcerer, who pretended to be their physician. To show their courage, they would draw arrows through

  the skins of their bellies, and they fought duels with sharp stones standing foot to foot, and holding down their heads to receive the blows from one another by turns. He that struck first was reckoned the most fearful. It was accounted disgraceful to dress their wounds, and the conqueror was applauded by hideous shouts from the spectators, t'was a long time before the missionaries could reform those barbarous customs.

  Another town on this road is Mendoza, where they make large quantities of wine, brandy, and oil. So much for that part of this vast country which lies toward Chile and Brazil. I shall next come to that part which lies toward Peru, and particularly the road to Potosí and the mines. Santa Fe is the next Spanish settlement of note to Buenos Aires, from which it lies 80 leagues northwest at the mouth of a river which falls into La Plata. The country betwixt this town

  and Buenos Aires is fruitful, well inhabited by Spaniards and Indians, and produces wheat from 40 to 100-fold and abounds with cattle. The town is encompassed with a river and built of brick. Our prisoners and linguists told us that there are mines of gold and silver in the neighborhood, but the Spaniards don't care to open them because the convenience of sailing up the river might encourage enemies to invade and take them from them. This town was built by the Spaniards when

  they first settled for the defense of this river. Saint Huago de Listero, 200 leagues northwest from Santa Fe, is a pretty town governed by a corregidor, has three churches and lies on the river that runs down to Santa Fe. Hither the plate is brought from Potosí on mules because the roads are bad and from hence it is carried to Buenos Aires by wagons. Next to this town lies San Miguel de Toloman, 200 leagues northwest, then Salta, 150 leagues. This town contains six churches,

  then Ajuy, 50 leagues further, which has five churches. Potosí is next, lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn, about south latitude 21, longitude 73. Our linguist tells us the city is large, has 10 churches governed by an archpriest. The town stands at the bottom of that called the Silver Hill, which is round like a sugarloaf. There are 1500 or 2000 Indians constantly at work in the mines there. They have two reals a day and are paid every Sunday. The mines are a hundred

  fathomed deep and the silver is grown much scarcer of late. Provisions are scarce at this town and they have no firing but charcoal, which is brought from 30 to 50 leagues distance. They have great frosts and snows here in May, June and July. Canivet in his remarks says in his time they were well supplied here with all things from the South Sea and that the natives in the adjoining country trafficked in gold and precious stones and hundreds

  of them plied upon the road to carry passengers from town to town in nets fastened to canes and supported by two or more men, which was the easiest way of traveling and they desired no other reward but a fish hook and a few glass beads. They have also sheep of an extraordinary size with large tails upon which they carry jars of oil and wine. He says the rich ore when taken out of these mines looks like black lead, then they grind it by certain engines and wash it

  through fine sieves into paved cisterns. They make the Indians and other slaves work quite naked in the mines that they may not hide anything. The curious who would know more of the manners of the natives or the history and particular product of this large country may find it in Gemelli, Father Sepp and Father Techo, but this is enough for my purpose to show what a vast field of trade may be opened here and how dangerous it may prove to all Europe

  if the house of Bourbon continue possessed of that trade. Some being of opinion that our South Sea company may possess themselves by virtue of the late act of the river De La Plata as far up that river and country as they please, either in the provinces of Parawai or Tucuman. I shall give a further description of those large provinces after taking notice that according to several of our drafts, Parawai lies both on the east and west side of the river La Plata, according to others

  entirely on the east side and Tucuman on the west side. The Sansans make Parawai 720 miles from south to north and 480 where broadest from east to west and place it betwixt south latitude 14 and 24, longitude 315 and 325, but the breadth is not equal. Father Techo says that the river Parawai, which gives name to the country, is one of the greatest in America, receives several other large rivers, runs 300 leagues before it falls into the Parana, about 200 from the sea, is navigable and

  together with the Parana forms the river La Plata. The word Parawai in the language of the country signifies the crowned river because the inhabitants wear crowns of feathers of several beautiful colors which they have from the birds that abound in that country. I shall not insist upon the several nations that inhabit it, among whom the Garanians are the chief and submitted first to the Spaniards, but growing weary of the slavery they subjected them to, revolted and were with much

  difficulty subdued after their leaders were cut off about 1539. The chief discovery of this country is owing to Dominic Irala, who in the reign of the emperor Charles V was sent by the governor Álvaro Núñez Cabega Ibaca with 300 chosen men and went 250 leagues up this river to endeavor a communication with Peru, but was opposed by some of the natives of whom 4,000 were killed and 3,000 taken in battle. The governor went afterwards on the discovery himself and sailing

  up the river came to a delicious island which his men called Paradise and would have settled there, but he dissuaded them and advancing to the borders of Peru found a large town of 8,000 houses deserted by the inhabitants who were affrighted with the noise of the Spanish firearms. Tis said they found in this town a great market place with a wooden tower in the form of a pyramid built in the middle and a monstrous serpent kept in it by which the devil pronounced oracles.

  This serpent they killed with their firearms, but a difference happening betwixt the officers and soldiers about dividing the booty they returned to Asumpcion without pursuing the discovery any further. This province till that of Tucumán was taken from it contained all the country betwixt Brazil and Peru. Our author adds that besides the towns above mentioned the Spaniards built here Corrientes on the conflux of the Paraguay and Paraná which is but a small

  town no way suited to the dignity of these two rivers. That 100 leagues up the Paraná in the province of Huirana the Spaniards built two little towns called Vilarica and Huarica. Then on the upper part of the Paraguay they built Ceres and another Vilarica to join Paraguay on that side to the further provinces and lastly the city of Concepcion on the marshes of the Red River which falls into Paraná and was of great use to curb the fierce nations in the

  neighborhood. He adds that all these towns were first planted by a race of the noblest families in Spain. He mentions an extraordinary herb here called Paraguay by the name of the country. It grows in marshy grounds and the leaves being dried and powdered and mixed with warm water the Spaniards and natives drink it several times a day which makes them vomit and strengthens their appetite. They look upon it as a sort of catholicon, use it so much that they can't live without it and this

  custom has so much overspread the neighboring provinces that the inhabitants will sell anything to purchase it though the excessive use of it occasions the same distempers as the immoderate use of wine. They did so fatigue the natives to gather and powder this herb that multitudes of them died in this with other slavish employments did much dispeople the country. The natives live mostly by fishing hunting and shooting. Tucuman is 300 leagues long but varies much in breadth.

  It is inhabited by four nations. The furthest south have no fixed dwellings, live by fishing and hunting and carry about mats to serve them for tents. The north people live in marshes and feed most on fish. The southern people are the tallest but the northern the fiercest and many of them live in caves but those nearest Peru in villages. They are all very slothful and have store of brass and silver but make little use of them. They have large sheep which carry their burdens

  and their wool is almost as fine as silk. They have many lions not so large and fierce as those of Africa but their tigers are fiercer than those of other countries. Their two chief rivers are dulce and salado so called from the sweet and salt taste of their waters. They have multitudes of springs and lakes some of which have a petrifying quality. The country was formerly very populous but their numbers are much decreased since the Spaniards planted among them.

  They easily subdue this country which was governed by abundance of petty princes continually at war with one another. This province was first discovered in 1530 by one Cesar, a soldier belonging to Sebastian Cabot and three more at the time when Pizarro took Atabilipa, the great Inga of Peru. In 1540 the Viceroy of Peru, Vaca de Castro, assigned this country to John Rojas as a reward for his services. He went thither with 200 Spaniards but was killed on the

  frontiers by a poisoned arrow and his men under Francis Mendoza marched through to the River of Plate. Mendoza being killed as going up that river by mutineers, John Núñez Prada was sent hither by the Viceroy Peter Gasca, subdued the Indians, built the town of San Michelle on the banks of River Escava and settled friars there. This province was afterward subjected to Chile and Francis being sent thither with 200 Spaniards destroyed St. Michelle and built Santago, now the metropolis

  of Tucuman on the River Dulce in southern latitude 28 says Techo but others place it on the river Salado. Tis the same town I have already described. In 1558 Tarita being made governor of this province built the city of London near the borders of Chile about latitude 29 calling it so out of compliment to Queen Mary of England at that time married to Philip II of Spain. This town served to curb the natives. Tarita did likewise rebuild San Michelle and reduced

  the country so much that 80,000 Indians who submitted to Spain were mustered in the territory of San Hago. The Spaniards as was usual in those days fighting with one another about the command of the provinces Tarita was drove out in 1561 by Castaneda so that most of the natives revolted till 1563 that Francis d'Aquire reduced them again and built Esteco above mentioned. But the Spaniards contending afterwards with one another about the government many of their settlements

  were destroyed so that in Techo's time the chief places remaining in this country were San Hago, Cordova, San Michelle, Salta or Lerma, Zuzui or San Salvador, Rioja, Esteco or Nuestro Senor de Talavera, London and a few other small garrisons. He says that in this country it does not rain in winter but in summer they have thick mists and rains enough. The Jesuits are the chief missionaries here and settled in the principal towns. He adds that near the city Concepcion which is 90 leagues

  from San Hago the natives were called frontones because they made the fore part of their heads bald. Their arms were a club at their girdle, bows and arrows and staves set with jawbones of fishes. They went naked and painted their bodies to make them look terrible. They were continually at war among themselves about the limits of their land and they fixed the bodies of their slain enemies in rows to the trunks of trees that others might be afraid of invading their borders.

  He adds that the country about San Michelle is well peopled, abounds with woods and all sorts of European and other fruits so that it was called the land of promise but they are much infested with tigers which the natives kill with great dexterity. Huayra, a province of Paraguay, is very hot because for the most part under the tropic of Capricorn is very fruitful but subject to fevers and other diseases. Yet when the Spaniards came hither in 1550 they are said to have found

  300,000 people in this country but they say there's scarce a fifth part of that number now and the natives are very miserable having no meat but the flesh of wild beasts nor bread but what they make of the root mandiosa. There are stones here which breed in an oval stone case about the bigness of a man's head. Our author says they lie underground and when they come to maturity break with a noise like bombs and scatter abundance of beautiful stones of all colors which at first the

  Spaniards took to be of great value but did not find them so. The other remarkable product of this country is a flower called granadillo which the Jesuit says represents the instrument of our savior's passion and produces a fruit as big as a common egg the inside of which is very delicious. Number two a fruit called huembe which is very sweet but has yellow kernels which if chewed occasions a sharp pain in the jaws. Number three dates of which they make wine and potage.

  Number four wild swine which have their navel on their backs and if not cut off immediately when the beast is killed corrupts the whole carcass. Number five abundance of wild bees several sorts of which yield store of honey and wax. Number six snakes which dart from the trees and twist themselves about men and beasts and soon kill them if they are not immediately cut in pieces. Number seven macaqua birds so called because of an herb which they eat as an antidote when hurt by

  snakes which lie and watch for them in the marshes. They frequently fight those snakes for which nature has provided them with sharp beaks for a weapon and strong wings to serve them as a buckler. Our author mentions the river Paranapan which runs through this country is almost as large as the Parawai and falls into the Parana. Its banks on both sides are covered with tall trees especially cedars of so vast a bulk that they make canoes out of a single trunk which row with 20

  oars. The Jesuits built the town of Loreto and Santarnatius and two more near the conflux of this river and the Pirapus about 1610 and 11 more have since been built in that province where they have brought over many of the inhabitants to their religion. They killed many of the Spaniards at first and then ate them. These towns are placed by the Sansons about latitude 22 and betwixt longitude 325 and 330. Our author not being distinct in describing the provinces of Parawai

  and Tucuman but sometimes confounding one with the other I shall only add a few things more relating to those countries in general. He mentions a people called Waikurians who live on the banks of Parawai near the city Assumption, maintain themselves by fishing and hunting and eat all manner of serpents and wild beasts without hurt. They have tents of mats which they remove at pleasure. They daub one side of their bodies with stinking colors, scarify their faces to make them

  look terrible, suffer no hair to grow on their bodies and instead of a beard fasten a stone of a finger's length to their chin and make their deformity the standard of their valor. Their chief delight is in drunkenness and war and to acquire the title and dignity of soldiers they must endure to have their legs, thighs, tongues, etc. bored with an arrow and if they flinch in the least are not allowed that quality and therefore they inure their children from their youth to all

  sorts of hardship and to run thorns and briars into their flesh by way of pastime. They honor their commander so much that when they spit they receive it into their hands and stand about them when they eat and observe all their motions. They chose to fight by night because they knew nothing of order but made their onsets like beasts. They either killed or sold their prisoners if at man's estate and the young ones they bred to their own way. They lurked in marshes

  and woods by day keeping spies abroad and thus they plagued the Spaniards for above a hundred years till they were civilized by some missionaries. They would not allow their women to paint with a clay color till they had tasted human flesh and therefore when they killed enemies would divide them among the young women or give them the corpse of their own dead. They planted trees over their graves adorned them with ostrich feathers and met there at certain times howling

  in a most barbarous manner and performing many lewd and hellish ceremonies. They worship parrots as gods and have a sort of bears called antbears. They have long heads, snouts much longer than those of swine and tongues like spears which they thrust into the ant hills and lick up those insects which are as big as the top of one's finger and being toasted over the fire are ate by the natives and Spaniards too as a dainty. Father Techo mentions another people called calcacuins in this country

  whom he supposes to have been of Jewish descent because when the Spaniards came first here they found that many of them had Jewish names and something of their habit and customs. Our author draws a parallel in several instances but this as well as his arguments to prove that Saint Thomas the Apostle planted Christianity in this country will scarce obtain credit among the learned. I refer the curious who would know more of these things to our author who brings down what he calls

  the history of this country as low as 1645 which is the latest account we have yet printed except Father Sepp's above mentioned which brings it to 1691 of which I have given the substance already. Before I go further I should give some account of the river Orinoco or Orinoco which is the northern boundary of our South Sea Company's limits. The head of it according to our maps is about north latitude three and in longitude 77. It runs eastward about 840 miles

  about 60 miles north of the equator then runs north about 420 and turning northeast about 120 falls into the sea about north latitude nine so that its whole course is about 1370 miles including turnings and windings for it runs almost the whole breadth of that part of America since it rises within 160 miles of the South Sea. Mr. Spari who was left in the adjoining country by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595 footnote Francis Spari servant to one of Raleigh's captains

  was left in Guiana in 1595 eventually captured by the Spaniards he escaped to England in 1602. Raleigh spoke of him as a man who could describe a country with a pen and his description of Guiana is included in volume four of Purchase Pilgrims 1625 end footnote. He said it is also called Betacuan is a great river and others call it Paria. It falls into the sea by 16 mouths but according to Sanson's map what Spari calls mouths are a number of islands which lie near

  the shore at the entrance of the river and the chief of those mouths named Kapuri lies furthest south. They say it has nine foot water at full sea but five at ebb. It flows but a small time when it rises apace and the ebb continues eight hours. There are several other ways of entering this river for which I refer to Spari as also for the other rivers which fall into it on both sides. He attempted a passage to Peru this way but in vain. He says that in his search he entered

  the great river Papemena which is six leagues broad and came to a pleasant island called Atul where the climate is temperate. The island is well watered and abounds with fish, files and other animals for food. It has many woods that abound with delicate fruit all the year. There is store of cotton, balsam, brazil wood, lignum vitae, cypress trees, several minerals and fine stones but for want of skill he could not judge the value of them. This island was not then

  inhabited because of the cannibals named caribes in the neighborhood. He is of opinion that westward from Orinoco gold might be found but it was dangerous to go far into the country because the natives were continually in arms. He adds that in the country of Curay part of the province of Guiana which lies on the south and east of Orinoco there was plenty of gold but it was dangerous seeking for it in the sands of the rivers because of crocodiles. He talks also of pearl or topaz is

  found here but dubiously. At Kamalaha south of Orinoco he says there was then a fair for women slaves where he bought eight for a coarse red hafted knife the eldest of whom was not above 18 years old. The inhabitants he says are generally swarthy. We have few modern accounts of this river because it is not much frequented for trade and therefore I shall say no more of it but return to my journal. End of section six.

• 07 - From Grande to Juan Fernandez

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  Nothing remarkable happened till December 6th, when we had close cloudy weather with wind at east by north. We saw a large bird called Alcatross, who spread their wings from 8 to 10 foot wide and are much like a gannet. December 7th, rainy weather with thunder and lightning, a brisk gale from east by north to northeast. This day I removed one of the boat swain's mates and put Robert Hollenby, one of our best sailors in his place. December 10th, yesterday I exchanged

  Benjamin Long, one of the boat swain's mates, with Thomas Hughes, boat swain's mate on board the duchess. He being mutinous there, they were willing to be rid of him. December 13th, we had a strong gale of wind at southwest. Yesterday in the afternoon we reefed our main sail, which was the first time since we left England. December 15th, the color of the water being changed very much, we founded but had no ground, so that this change is probably occasioned by the nature of the ground

  at bottom. We find it much colder in this latitude, which is 43 degrees 30 minutes south, than in the like degree north, though the sun was in its furthest extent to the southward, which may be ascribed partly to our coming newly out of warmer climates, which made us more sensible of the cold, or tis probable the winds blow over larger tracts of ice than in the same degrees of north latitude. December 18th, cold, hazy, rainy weather. Yesterday in the afternoon one of the

  duchess's men fell out of his mizintop down on the quarterdeck and broke his skull. They desired the advice of our surgeon, and I went on board with our two, where they examined the wound, but found the man irrecoverable, so that he died and was buried next day. Brisk gales from the west northwest to the west by south. December 19th, cold, airy weather. We saw several gram pusses, and a great number of uncommon sort of porpoises, black on their back and fins,

  and white underneath with sharp white noses. They often leaped a good height out of the water, turning their white bellies uppermost. They were much of the shape and bigness of our porpoises. We also saw many seals. December 20th, this day, according to what our committee agreed at Grande, we exchanged Mr. Van Brew for Mr. Bath, agent of the duchess. Easy gales of wind, but very virable. This morning at four we had a very thick fog, when we were caught in the stays,

  and lost sight of the duchess, though we made all the noise agreed on between us. At nine o'clock it cleared up, being very little wind, and we were within a league of them. December 21st, easy gales of wind, but very virable. We have seen a great deal of rock weed for some days past, of a great length, and generally round in large branches. Latitude 48 degrees, 50 minutes south. December 22nd, fair weather with rain,

  wind, very virable. The water is generally discolored. We had a good observation. Latitude 49 degrees, 32 minutes south. December 22nd, at 10 this morning we saw land bearing south-southeast distant nine leagues. It appeared first in three, afterwards in several more islands. At 12 it bore south one-half west, the west end distant six leagues, a long tract of land. We saw most of that which appeared at first to be islands join

  with the lowlands. The wind being westerly and blowing fresh, we could not weather it, but was forced to bear away and run along shore from three to four leagues distant. It lay as near as we could guess east-northeast and west-southwest. This is Falklands land described in few drafts, and none lay it down right, though the latitude agrees pretty well. The middle of it lies in latitude 51 degrees 0 minutes south, and I make the longitude of

  it to be about 61 degrees 54 minutes west from London. The two islands extend about two degrees in length as near as I could judge by what I saw. December 24th, last night we reefed both courses, it blowing strong, lay by from eight till three in the morning with our heads to northward, wind at west by south, because we could not tell how far Falkland islands ran to eastward. Between two and three o'clock yesterday in the afternoon we ran by a high round large

  white remarkable rock which appeared by itself near three leagues without the land, which is not unlike Portland, but not so high, and the rock like that called the Fast Nest to the westward of Cape Clear in Ireland. At four yesterday in the afternoon the northeast end bore southeast by south seven leagues, the white rock bore south three leagues. At six the easternmost land in sight bore southeast seven leagues. All this land appeared with gentle descents from hill to hill

  and seemed to be good ground with woods and harbors. At three o'clock we made sail, steering southeast latitude 52 degrees south. December 25th, yesterday noon we saw the land again and found it to trim away southerly from the white rock, a strong gale of wind at southwest. At six o'clock in the evening we lost sight of the land but could not come near enough to see if it was inhabited, and spied a sail under our lee bow bearing southeast from us distant about four

  leagues. We immediately let our reefs out, chased and got ground of her apace. We kept sight till ten at night when we lost her. We spoke with our consort and were both of the opinion that the chase would, as soon as she lost sight of us, if homeward bound, bear away to the northward. So we ran north till dawning, then we stood to the westward till it was light and our consort kept on with an easy sail. When it was full light we saw nothing, being thick hazy weather. We bore away and were with our

  consort again by five o'clock. Between six and seven it cleared up. We saw the chase bearing about south by east between three and four leagues from us. It falling calm we both got out our oars, rowed and towed with our boats ahead, and made pretty good way. Had a small breeze at north so we set all the sail we could, and by twelve o'clock had gained very much ground of the chase. We had an observed latitude fifty-two degrees forty minutes. December 26th. We kept on rowing

  and towing till about six in the evening, and perceiving we approached her, I went in the boat to speak with Captain Courtney and agree how to engage her, if a great ship, as she appeared to be, and also adjusted signals if either of us should find it proper to board her in the night. I returned aboard as soon as possible when we had a fine breeze. We got in our boats and oars and made all possible sail after the chase, kept in sight of her till past ten o'clock bearing south

  southwest of us, when it came on thick again. We kept her open on the larboard and the duchess on the starboard bow, and being short nights we thought it impossible to lose one another. At one o'clock this morning my officers persuaded me to shorten sail, telling me we should lose our consort if we kept on. I was prevailed with to do so, and in the morning had a very thick fog, so that I could see neither our consort nor chase till an hour after t'was full light.

  But when it cleared up we saw our consort on our larboard bow, we fired a gun for her to bear down, but immediately we saw the chase ahead of her about four miles, which gave us new life. We four with hailed up for them, but the wind soon veering ahead had a great disadvantage in the chase. We ran at a great rate, being smooth water, but at coming on to blow more and more, the chase outbore our consort, so she gave off, and being to windward came down very melancholy to us,

  supposing the chase to have been a French homeward bound ship from the south seas. Thus this ship escaped, which, considering that we always outwent her before, is as strange as our first seeing of her in this place, because all ships that we have heard of bound out or home this way, kept within Falklands Island. At twelve o'clock we saw a little plain low island, which bore west-northwest distant four leagues, not marked in any of our charts. The wind has been very

  virable since six o'clock last night, from the north-northeast to the south, where it now is. Latitude fifty-three degrees eleven minutes south. December twenty-second, strong gales with squalls from the south to the west. The duchess put her guns into the hold again that she took up in the chase. Yesterday at two in the afternoon we put about and stood off to the eastward from the little low island, because we could but just weather it. We were not willing to come too near it. Latitude

  fifty-four degrees fifteen minutes south. December thirtieth, fresh gales of wind at west, hazy weather mixed with small rain. We had an observed latitude fifty-eight degrees twenty minutes. January one, fresh gales of wind from the west-northwest to the west-southwest with fogs, but indifferent smooth water. This being New Year's Day, every officer was wished a Merry New Year by our music, and I had a large tub of punch hot upon the quarter-deck, where every man

  in the ship had above a pint to his share, and drank our owner's and friend's healths in Great Britain to a Happy New Year, a good voyage, and a safe return. We bore down to our consort and gave them three huzzahs, wishing them the like. January second, fresh gales from the west-southwest to the northwest with fogs. Clothes and liquor were now an excellent commodity amongst our ship's company, who are but meanly stored. We had six tailors at work for several weeks to make them

  clothing, and pretty well supplied their wants by the spare blankets and red clothes belonging to the owners. And what every officer could spare was altered for the men's use. The like was done on board the duchess. January fifth, just past twelve yesterday, it came on to blow strong. We got down our foreyard and reefed our foresail and mainsail, but there came a violent gale of wind and a great sea. A little before six we saw the duchess lowering her main yard. The tack flew

  up and the lift unreaved, so that the sail to the leeward was in the water and all aback. Their ship took in a great deal of water to leeward. Immediately they loosed their spirit sail and wore her before the wind. I wore after her and came as near as I could to them, expecting when they had gotten their mainsail stowed, they would take another reef in, and bring two again under a two-reefed mainsail, and reefed in balanced mizzen, if the ship would

  not keep two without it. But to my surprise they kept scutting to the southward. I dreaded running amongst ice because it was excessive cold, so I fired a gun as a signal for them to bring two, and brought to ourselves again under the same reefed mainsail. They kept on and our men on the lookout told me they had an ensign in their main top mast shrouds as a signal of distress, which made me doubt they had sprung their main mast. So I wore again, our ship working exceeding

  well in this great sea. Just before night I was up with them again and set our foresail twice reefed to keep them company, which I did all night. About three this morning it grew more moderate. We soon after made a signal to speak with them, and at five they brought two. When I came within hail I inquired how they all did aboard. They answered they had shipped a great deal of water in lying by and were forced to put before the wind, and the sea had broke in the cabin windows and over their

  stern, filling their steerage and waste, and had liked to have spoiled several men. But God be thanked all was otherwise indifferent well with them. Only they were intolerably cold and everything wet. At ten we made sail, wind at west-northwest and moderate. Latitude 60 degrees 58 minutes. January 6. Raw cold weather with some rain. A great sea from the northwest. Little wind from the north-northwest to the west. I and Captain Dampier went in the yawl on board the duchess to

  visit them after this storm, where we found them in a very orderly pickle. With all their clothes drying the ship and rigging covered with them from the deck to the main top. They got six more guns into the hold to make the ship lively. January 7. Fresh gales of wind with hazy weather and some small rain. Yesterday about three in the afternoon John Vale, a landman, died having lain ill a fortnight and had a swelling in his legs ever since he left Grande. At nine last night we buried

  him. This is the first that died by sickness out of both ships since we left England. Several of the duchess's men had contracted illnesses by the wet and cold. Wind from the north-northwest to the west-northwest. January 10. Strong gales of wind with squalls of rain and hail and a great sea from the west. We lay by with our head to the southward till 12 last night then came to sail under three reefed courses and sometimes the main top sail low set. Wind from the west to the north

  and thence to the northwest. We have no night here. Latitude 61 degrees 53 minutes. Longitude west from London 79 degrees 58 minutes. Being the furthest we run this way and for aught we know the furthest that anyone has yet been to the southward. January 14. Moderate gales with cloudy weather. Wind virable. This day the duchess buried a man that died of the scurvy. January 15. Cloudy weather with squalls of rain. Fresh gales at southwest. We had an observed latitude 56 degrees

  south. We now account ourselves in the south sea being got round Cape Horn. The French ships that came first to trade in these seas came through the Straits of Magellan but experience has taught them since that it is best passage to go around Cape Horn where they have sea room enough. The Straits being in many places very narrow with strong tides and no anchor ground. Here I think it proper to give an account of the first discovery of the south sea of the passage to it by the

  Straits of Magellan of the chief of those who have passed those straits and a short description of the country on both sides of them. An account of the discovery of the south sea and of the Straits of Magellan etc. from Oveil and other authors. The first European who discovered the south sea was Bosco or Vasco Nunez de Balboa a Spaniard in 1513. He was the first who landed on the isthmus of Darien and made war with the Kayakes or princes who not being able to resist his firearms and perceiving

  that the chief design of the Spaniards was to find gold. One of the Kayakes told Vasco that since they were so fond of that which he and his countryman valued so little would he conduct them over the mountains to another sea upon which they might find a country where the people had all the utensils of gold. This was the first notice the Spaniards had of the south sea. Vasco marched on until he came near the top of the highest mountain where he ordered his men to halt because he would

  have the honor of first discovering that sea himself which having done he fell down on his knees and thanked God for his success and called it the south sea in opposition to that on the other side of the continent. Having passed these mountains he marched down till he came to the coast and took possession of it in the name of the king of Spain. When he returned back he found a new Spanish governor in Darien called Pedrarias who being his enemy because he envied the kings

  making him governor and admiral of the south sea he falsely accused him of treason and cut off his head and sent Gaspar Morales and Francis Pizarro to complete the discovery with a good number of men and large dogs that were as terrible to the Indians as the Spaniards firearms. Here they discovered the Isle of Pearls and forced the natives to fish for them then discovered the rest of the coast. The first who found a passage from the North Sea was for Nan Magellan who in

  1519 sailed on purpose by commission from the emperor Charles V to discover it. In latitude 52 degrees south he found the passage which from him has been since called the straits of Magellan. Pegafetta an Italian who made the voyage with him says that in south latitude 49 and a half degrees at port Saint Julian they found giants whose waist a middle-sized man could scarce reach with his head. They were clad with the skins of beasts as monstrous as themselves armed with huge bows

  and arrows and of a strength proportional to their bulk yet good-natured. One of them seeing himself in a looking glass on board the ship was so frightened that he run backwards and tumbled down several men that stood behind him. The crew gave toys to some of them at which being mightily pleased they suffered them to put shackles about their arms and legs which they took for ornaments but when they found themselves fast bellowed like bulls. One of them he says made his escape

  from nine men after they had got him down and tied his hands. Other voyagers say they have seen such giants in these parts particularly Mr. Candish Sebaldeverte in 1599 and Spielberg in 1614. But the reader may believe of this story what he pleases. Pegafetta says the straits were 110 leagues long in some places very wide and in others not above a half league over. Magellan's passed him in November 1520 and being overjoyed he called the cape from once he first

  saw the South Sea the Cape of Desire. After rambling almost four months in the South Sea where he suffered extreme want and lost many of his men he sailed to the Ladrones Islands and foolishly engaging 7,000 natives in Mathen which is one of them he was killed. One of his ships forsook him as he passed the straits and returned to Spain. Of the other four only the ship Victoria returned to Saint Lucar near Seville under the command of John Sebastian Cabot who was nobly

  rewarded by the emperor. In 1539 Alonso de Camargo a Spaniard passed the same straits and arrived at the port of Arequipa in Peru but much shattered having lost one of his ships and another leaving him returned to Spain. After him several other Spaniards passed the same way and they planted a colony and garrison at the north end to block up the passage to other nations but without success the garrison being all starved or destroyed by the Indians. On the 15th of November 1577 the famous

  Sir Francis Drake set out from Plymouth with five sail and having touched at several places by the way entered the straits the 21st of August following. He found them very dangerous because of the many turnings contrary winds and sudden blasts from high mountains covered with snow on both sides and their tops reaching above the clouds and no anchoring but in some narrow river or creek. The 24th he came to an island in the straits where there were so many fouls called

  penguins that his men killed 3,000 in a day which served them for provisions. The 6th of September he entered the South Sea where he met with dreadful storms and one of his ships was drove back into the straits through which she returned to England. As Sir Francis Drake did July 24th 1580 being the first sea captain that ever sailed around the world and brought his ship home which was accounted a great honor to the English nation. July 1st 1586 Mr Thomas Candish afterwards

  Sir Thomas sailed from Plymouth with three ships and the 6th of January after entered the straits having met with a severe storm near the mouth of him. He took the remainders of a Spanish garrison there who from 400 were reduced to 23 by famine and those of King Philip's city which had been built in the straits were in the same miserable condition so that they abandoned the place. They found cannibals in some part of the straits who had eaten many of the Spaniards

  and designed the like to the English had they not been kept off by their guns. Mr Candish was stopped here a considerable while by a furious storm and bad weather which reduced him to want a provisions till the 24th of February that he got into the South Sea and bought provisions of the Indians. Mr Candish returned to England after having sailed around the world the 9th of September next year. He again attempted the passage of

  the same straits in 1591 but without success as Mr Fenton did in 1582 as Flores did at the same time the Earl of Cumberland in 1586. Mr Chidley in 1589 and Mr Wood in 1596. Sir Richard Hawkins passed them in 1593 but was taken by the Spaniards and Mr Davis the discoverer to the northwest passed and repassed those straits but was forced back by contrary winds. So that our countrymen though they did not all succeed in the attempt yet have been the most fortunate in passing them of

  any other nation for the Dutch passed them in 1597 with five ships of which only one returned. Five other Dutch ships passed them in 1614 when they lost one of them. In 1623 the Dutch Nassau fleet so called because the Prince of Orange was the greatest adventurer attempted it with 15 brave ships and two or three thousand men but were repulsed wherever they came to land by the Spaniards so that they could not settle there. Other nations attempted it likewise and particularly

  Don Garcia de Loaiza a knight of Malta and a Spaniard with seven ships and 450 men and though he passed the straits he died himself and all his ships were afterwards taken by the Portuguese or others. Vargas bishop of Placentia sent seven ships to attempt it one of which only succeeded and went to Arequipa a port on the South Sea and discovered the situation of the coast of Peru but went no further. Ferdinand Cortes the conqueror of New Spain sent two ships and 400 men in 1528 to

  discover the way to the Maluccas through the straits but without success. Two Genoese ships were the first that attempted it in 1526 after Magellan but could not affect it. Sebastian Cabot tried it also by commission from Don Emanuel king of Portugal but could not do it. Americus Vespucius was sent by the same prince but could neither find the straits nor the river of La Plata. Simón Alcáceres a Spaniard attempted it likewise with several ships and 440 men

  but came back without performing it his men having mutinied. All these attempts by the Spaniards etc happened before Sir Francis Drake performed it. In the reports made of those straits upon oath to the emperor Charles V those who attempted this passage give the following account v's that from the cape of 11,000 virgins at the entrance of the North Sea to the cape of desire at the entrance of the South Sea it is 100 Spanish leagues that they found in this strait three great

  bays of about seven leagues wide from land to land but the entrance is not above half a league and encompassed with such high mountains that the sun never shines in them so that they are intolerably cold there being a continual snow and the nights very long that they found good water with cinnamon trees and several others which though they look green burnt in the fire like dry wood that they found many good sorts of fish good harbors with 15 fathom water and several pleasant

  rivers and streams that the tides of both seas meet about the middle of the straits with a prodigious noise and shock but some of the portuguese who had passed the straits say they are only high floods which last about a month rise to a great height and sometimes fall so low and ebb so fast that they leave ships on dry ground the reader may find more of this in Herrera's history but others differ in their accounts and particularly spillberg a dutchman who mentions

  a porch here that he called famous by way of eminency the adjacent soil producing fruit of various colors and excellent taste and affording brooks of very good water he mentions 24 other ports besides those that he did not see and particularly the pimento or pepper harbor so called because of the trees which grow there of an aromatic smell whose bark tastes like pepper and is more hot and quick than that of the east indies the spaniards having brought some of it

  to seville it was sold there for two crowns a pound the last of our countrymen who passed them was sir john narborough who set out from the tems may 15th 1669 with two ships he had king charles the second's commission was furnished out at his majesty's charge and entered the straits october 22nd following he says that from the entrance of this straight to the narrow there's good anchorage and not much tide but in the narrow the tide runs very strong the flood sets into the straights and

  the ebb out keeping its course as on other coasts it rises and falls near four fathom perpendicular and it is high water here on the change of the moon at 11 o'clock when he came to the narrow he found the tide very strong which endangered the running of his ships upon the steep rocks on the north side from the first narrow to the second is above eight leagues and the reach betwixt them seven leagues broad he found a bay on the north side at the point of the second narrow where one

  may ride in eight fathom water and clear sandy ground half a mile from the shore in the channel of the second narrow he found 38 fathom water and several bays and cliffs with little islands he exchanged several trifles with the natives for bows and arrows and their skin coats they were of a middle stature well limbed with round faces low foreheads little noses small black eyes and ears black flaggy hair of an indifferent length their teeth white their faces of an olive color

  daubed with spots of white clay and streaks of soot their bodies painted with red earth and grease their clothing of the skins of seals guianacos and otters wrapped about them like the scotch highlanders plaids they had caps of the skins of fowls with the feathers on and pieces of skins on their feet to keep them from the ground they are very active and nimble and when about business go quite naked only the women have a piece of skin before them and differ from the

  men inhabit only by want of caps and having bracelets of shells about their necks they seem to have no manner of government nor religion live by hunting and fishing and are armed with bows and arrows the latter 18 inches long and headed with flint stones these people sir john found in elizabeth aisle which lies near the second narrow in port famine bay south latitude 53 degrees 35 minutes he found good wood and water and abundance of pimento trees their language is guttural and

  slow sir john is of opinion that the mountains contain gold or copper he computes the whole length of the straights at 116 leagues for the rest we refer to him i have insisted the longer on these straights partly because they are so much talked of and partly to justify our going to the south seas by the way of cape horn which is far more safe so that in all probability the straights of mongelin will be little frequented by europeans in time to come the land on the

  north side of the straights is called patagonia and that on the south terra del fuego because of the numerous fires and the great smoke which the first discovers saw upon it it extends the whole length of the straights and lies from east to west about 130 leagues according to avail and before the discovery of the straights of saint vincent otherwise called lamar's straights was supposed to join to some part of the terror australias avail says that on the continent of chile

  near the straights of mongelin there's a people called cesares who are supposed to be descended from a part of the spaniards that were forced ashore in the straights when the bishop of placentia sent the ships above mentioned to discover the maluca islands to suppose they contracted marriages with some indian nation where they have multiplied and taught them to build cities and the use of bells oval says that when he wrote the history of chile he received letters and other informations

  that there is such a nation in those parts and that one of the missionaries had been in the country with captain navarro and found the people to be of a white complexion with red in their cheeks by the shape of their bodies they seemed to be men of courage and activity by the goodness of their complexions was probable they might be mixed up with a race of flamangos who had been shipwrecked in those parts but there being no farther account of these people since avail's

  account of chile in the year 1646 we believe this relation to be fabulous m. d. buchanguin who is the last that attempted the passage of the straights of mongelin that we have heard of came to an anchor at the virgin's cape in the mouth of the straight on the 24th of june 1699 and the wind being contrary he lay in anchor betwixt the continent and terra del fuego he weighed again the winds being still contrary and on the 3rd of july anchored at port famine

  in the straights where the spaniards had built a garrison but were forced to quit it for want of provisions he observes that from the mouth of the straights to this place the climate seemed to be as temperate as in france though now the coldest season of the year in those parts he found abundance of wood for firing but the greatest inconveniency he met with there was from the great storms of snow though it did not lie long being carried off by rains which come from the

  west he is of opinion that a settlement might easily be made here in a part of the country extending above 20 leagues that he was informed the islands of saint elizabeth in the straights are proper enough for corn and cattle if planted with them he sent his sloop ashore on terra del fuego where he saw fires and found the savage natives by 50 or 60 together in companies and some of them came aboard his ship that lay five leagues from the shore they were very

  peaceable and friendly but more miserable than our beggars in europe having no clothes but a straight coat of wild beast skins that comes no lower than their knees and pitiful huts made up of poles covered with skins of beasts and this is all the shelter they have against the extremity of the weather they came in such multitudes to beg from him as soon made him weary of their company so that he weighed again the 16th of august and stopped at park galland to leave some letters

  there for those who were to follow him from france as had been agreed upon and here he observes that both the climate and the navigation of the straights are very unequal and that from this place to the entrance of the south sea there's nothing but extraordinary high mountains on each side from whence come very impetuous and frightful torrents and scares any place for anchorage to be found or one day without either rain or snow he adds that he found an island opposite to the mouth

  of the strait of saint jerome that is set down in none of our maps this island he says has two good harbors which may be of great consequence to those who pass this way he took possession of it called it by the name of the island louis lagrange the largest harbor he named port dauphine and the lesser which is very convenient port filippo after having given this character of the straights he says one may be sure of a passage through them provided it be in the proper season but is very

  difficult in the winter he came out of those straights into the south sea on the 21st of january 1700 and went to view the harbor of san domingo which he says is the spanish frontier and the only place where a new settlement can be made there the rest being all possessed already he arrived there the 3rd of february 1700 and on the 5th anchored on the east of an island called by different names but the latest authors call it saint magdalene's island he sent his first lieutenant to view and

  take possession of it who brought him word that it was a very pleasant place and shewed him some fine beautiful shrubs and peas blossoms that he found upon the east side of it from once he conjectures that it may be a proper place to inhabit though he owns that the climate is very moist and they have frequent rains and mists which he ascribes to the high mountains he made ready to discover four other islands which lie in view of this isle and the mainland

  and sounded as he went on but durst not ventured to go among them with so large a ship because there blew a strong northwest wind followed by a thick mist which made him lose sight of land so that to his great sorrow he could not complete the discovery of that frontier he adds that his full of high mountains down to the very sea but was afterwards informed by a spaniard who wintered in those parts that there's a very good harbor for ships to ride in where they

  may be moored to tall trees and that there are very few inhabitants on this coast but some wandering savages like those on the straits of Magellan this and the other journals convince me entirely that the best way to the south sea is around cape horn the route we pursued in our voyage besides what i said for my own observation to prove how extensive a trade we might have in those seas i shall add the following observations from m day bushane who says that though he was

  looked upon as a freebooter and that the then spanish governors on those coasts were forbid to trade or suffer the people to trade with any but their own subjects in those seas and that the valdivia and other places they fired at him when he approached their harbors and denied so much as to sell him any provisions or to suffer him to wood or water yet at rica some particular persons traded with him to the value of 50 000 crowns and told him that that place was not so proper for them

  to act so manifestly contrary to law but if you went to a place more retired they would buy all he had though both his ships were full of goods accordingly when he came to helo a great number of merchants bought all that he had of value at good rates he owns that the cloth he had on board was half rotten that the merchants were vexed at their disappointment and expressed the resentment that he should come to those parts so ill provided but in other places the people bought all to the

  very rags he had on board and brought him provision in abundance to sell though they were forbid doing so on pain of death and the officers themselves connived at it he returned by the way of cape horn in 58 degrees 15 minutes january 1701 and had as good a passage and season as could be desired but saw no land on either side till the 19th of january 1701 when he discovered a small island about three or four leagues round in latitude 50 degrees odd minutes not marked in our maps

  with strong currents near it and on the 20th he came to the isle of cbaldevert which is a marshy land with some rocky mountains no trees but abundance of sea flow it is proper here likewise to give an account of the straits of lamere so called from james lamere an amsterdam merchant their discoverer in 1615 they lie in south latitude 55 degrees 36 minutes and are formed by the terra del fuego on the west and an island by the dutch called statenland or the country of

  the states on the east the straits are eight leagues wide with good roads on each side and plenty of fish and fowl the land on both sides is high and mountainous the discoverers saw very large fowls bigger than sea mews and their wings when extended above a fathom long each they were so tame that they flew into the ships and suffered the sailors to handle them in latitude 57 degrees they saw two barren islands which they called barneveld and the south cape of terra del fuego

  which runs out in a point to latitude 57 degrees 48 minutes they named cape horn some compute this strait to be only five leagues in length oval says that in 1619 the king of spain being informed that lamere had discovered these straits he sent two vessels to make a further discovery of them these ships came to the east side of the strait of Magellan where the crew found a sort of giants higher by the head than any europeans who gave them gold in exchange for scissors and other

  baubles but this can't be relied on they went through this strait in less than a day's time it being not above seven leagues in length i return now to my journal january 16th fresh gales of wind with cloudy weather these 24 hours we had extraordinary smooth water as if we were close under land in different warm weather wind from the west southwest to west by north january 20 yesterday at three in the afternoon we saw high land bearing east by north distance about

  10 leagues being the land about port saint sievens on the coast of patagonia in the south sea described in the drafts south latitude 47 degrees january 22 fair weather with fresh gales of wind from west by south to the west northwest last night george cross died he was a smith by trade and an armorer's mate we and the duchess have had a great many men down with the cold and some with the scurvy the distemper that this man died of the duchess had always more sick men than we

  and have so now they buried but one man that died of sickness and tell us they hope the rest will recover we have but one man whose life we doubt of though most want a harbor this day captain cortney and captain cook dined with us at two o'clock we saw the land on the coast of patagonia being very high distant about 14 leagues latitude 44 degrees nine minutes south january 26 fresh gales with clouds and rain we spoke with our consorts this day who complains their men grow

  worse and worse and want a harbor to refresh them several of ours are also very indifferent and if we don't get ashore and a small refreshment we doubt we shall both lose several men we are very uncertain of the latitude and longitude of juan fernandez the books laying them down so differently that not one chart agrees with another and being but a small island we are in some doubts of striking it so designed to hail in for the mainland to direct us january 27 fair weather

  smooth water pleasant scales of wind variable from the west to the northwest had a good amplitude found the variation to be 10 degrees eastward this is an excellent climate latitude 36 degrees 36 minutes south january 28 we have had moderate weather at six o'clock we saw the land the eastern most appearing like an island which we agreed to be the island of saint mary on the coast of chile it bore east by north distance nine or ten leagues our consorts men are very ill their want of clothes

  and being often wet in the cold weather has been the greatest cause of their being sick more than our ship's company january 31st these 24 hours we had the wind between the south and southwest by west at seven this morning we made the island of juan fernandez it bore west to southwest distant about seven leagues at noon west by south six leagues we had a good observation latitude 34 degrees 10 minutes south end of section seven

• 08 - Account of Alexander Selkirk

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  1. About two yesterday in the afternoon we hoisted our penis out. Captain Dover with the boat's crew went in her to go ashore, though we could not be less than four leagues off. As soon as the penis was gone I went on board the Duchess, who admired our boat, attempted going ashore at that distance from land. T'was against my inclination, but to oblige Captain Dover I consented to let her go. As soon as it was dark we saw a light

  ashore. Our boat was then about a league from the island, and bore away for the ships as soon as she saw the lights. We put out lights abroad for the boat, though some were of the opinion the lights we saw were our boat lights, but as night came on it appeared too large for that. We fired one quarter deck gun and several muskets, showing lights in our mizzen and four shrouds that our boat might find us, whilst we plied in the lee of the island. About two

  in the morning our boat came on board having been two hours on board the Duchess that took them up a stern of us. We were glad they got well off because it's begun to blow. We were all convinced the light is on the shore and designed to make our ships ready to engage, believing them to be French ships at anchor, and we must either fight them or want water, etc. February 2nd. We stood on the back side along the south end of the island in order to lay in with

  the first southerly wind, which Captain Dampier told us generally blows there all day long. In the morning, being past the island, we tacked to lay it in close aboard the land, and about ten o'clock opened the south end of the island and ran close aboard the land that begins to make the northeast side. The flaws came heavy offshore and we were forced to reef our top sails when we opened the middle bay, where we expected to find our enemy, but saw all clear and no ships

  in that nor the other bay next the northwest end. These two bays are all that ships ride in which recruit on this island, but the middle bay is by much the best. We guessed there had been ships there, but that they were gone on sight of us. We sent our y'all ashore about noon with Captain Dover, Mr. Fry, and six men all armed. Meanwhile we and the Duchess kept turning to get in, and such heavy flaws came off the land that we were forced to let fly our top sail sheet,

  keeping all hands to stand by our sails for fear of the winds carrying them away. But when the flaws were gone we had little or no wind. These flaws proceeded from the land, which is very high in the middle of the island. Our boat did not return, so we sent our pinnace with the men armed to see what was the occasion of the y'all's stay. For we were afraid that the Spaniards had a garrison there and might have seized them. We put out a signal for our boat,

  and the Duchess showed a French ensign. Immediately our pinnace returned from the shore and brought abundance of crawfish with a man clothed in goatskins who looked wilder than the first owners of them. He had been on the island four years and four months, had been left there by Captain Stradling in the syncoports. His name was Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch man who had been master of the syncoports, a ship that came here last with Captain Dampier, who told me that this

  was the best man in her. So I immediately agreed with him to be a mate on board our ship. It was he that made the fire last night when he saw our ships, which he judged to be English. During his stay here, he saw several ships pass by, but only two came into anchor. As he went to view them, he found them to be Spaniards and retired from them, upon which they shot at him. Had they been French, he would have submitted, but chose to risk his dying alone on the island rather than fall into

  the hands of the Spaniards in these parts, because he apprehended they would murder him or make a slave of him in the mines, for he feared they would spare no stranger that might be capable of discovering the South Sea. The Spaniards had landed before he knew what they were, and they 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 to the top of a tree, at the foot of which they

  made water and killed several goats just by, but went off again without discovering him. He told us that he was born at 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 betwixt him and his captain, which, together with the ships being leaky, made him willing rather to stay here than go along with him at first, and when he was at last willing the captain would not receive him. He had been in the

  island before to wood and water, when two of the ship's company were left upon it for six months till the ship returned, being chased thence by two French South Sea ships. He had with him his clothes and bedding, with a firelock, some powder, bullets and tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a bible, some practical pieces, and his mathematical instruments and books. He diverted and provided for himself as well as he could, but for the first eight months had much ado to bear up

  against melancholy and the terror of being left alone in such a desolate place. He built two huts with the pimento trees, covered them with long grass, and lined them with the skins of goats, which he killed with his gun as he wanted, so long as his powder lasted, which was but a pound. And that, being near spent, he got fire by rubbing two sticks of pimento wood together upon his knee. In the lesser hut, at some distance from the other, he dressed his victuals,

  and in the larger he slept and employed himself in reading, singing psalms, and praying, so that he said he was a better Christian while in this solitude than ever he was before, or than he was afraid he should ever be again. At first he never ate anything till hunger constrained him, partly for grief and partly for want of bread and salt, nor did he go to bed till he could watch no longer. The pimento wood, which burnt very clear, served him both for firing and candle,

  and refreshed him with its fragrant smell. He might have had fish enough, but could not eat them for want of salt, because they occasioned a looseness, except crawfish, which are there, as large as our lobsters, and very good. These he sometimes boiled, and other times broiled, as he did his goat's flesh, of which he made a very good broth, for they are not so rank as ours. He kept an account of five hundred that he killed while there, and caught as many more,

  which he marked on the ear and let go. When his powder failed, he took them by speed of foot, for his way of living, and continual exercise of walking and running, cleared him of all gross humours, so that he ran with wonderful swiftness through the woods and up the rocks and hills, as we perceived when we employed him to catch goats for us. We had a bulldog, which we sent with several of our nimblest runners, to help him in catching goats, but he distanced and tired both

  the dog and the men, catched the goats, and brought them to us on his back. He told us that his agility in pursuing a goat had once liked to have cost him his life. He pursued it with so much eagerness that he catched hold of it on the brink of a precipice, of which he was not aware, the bushes having hid it from him, so that he fell with the goat down the said precipice a great height, and was so stunned and bruised with the fall, that he narrowly escaped with his life,

  and when he came to his senses found the goat dead under him. He lay there about twenty-four hours, and was scarce able to crawl to his hut, which was about a mile distance, or to stir abroad again in ten days. He came at last to relish his meat well enough without salt or bread, and in the season had plenty of good turnips, which had been sowed there by Captain Dampier's men, and have now overspread some acres of ground. He had enough good cabbage from the cabbage trees,

  and seasoned his meat with the fruit of the pimento trees, which is the same as the Jamaica pepper, and smells deliciously. He found there also a black pepper called Malaguita, which was very good to expel wind, and against gripping of the guts. He soon wore out all his shoes and clothes by running through the woods, and at last being forced to shift without them, his feet became so hard, that he run everywhere without annoyance, and it was some time before he could wear shoes

  after we found him. For not being used to any so long, his feet swelled when he came first to wear them again. After he had conquered his melancholy, he diverted himself sometimes by cutting his name on the trees, and the time of his being left and the continuance there. He was at first much pestered with cats and rats, that had bred in great numbers from some of each species, which had got ashore from ships that put in there to wood and water. The rats gnawed his

  feet and clothes while asleep, which obliged him to cherish the cats with his goats' flesh, by which many of them became so tame, that they would lie about him in hundreds, and soon delivered him from the rats. He likewise tamed some kids, and to divert himself would now and then sing and dance with them and his cats, so that by the care of Providence and vigor of his youth, being now but about thirty years old, he came at last to conquer all the inconveniences of his solitude, and to be

  very easy. When his clothes wore out, he made himself a coat and cap of goat skins, which he stitched together with little thongs of the same that he cut with his knife. He had no other needle but a nail, and when his knife was wore to the back, he made others as well as he could of some iron hoops that were left ashore, which he beat thin and grounded upon stones. Having some linen cloth by him, he sewed himself shirts with a nail, and stitched them with the

  worsted of his old stockings, which he pulled out on purpose. He had his last shirt on when we found him in the island. At his first coming on board us, he had so much forgot his language for the want of use, that we could scarce understand him, for he seemed to speak his words by halves. We offered him a dram, but he would not touch it, having drank nothing but water since his being there, and t'was some time before he could relish our victuals. He could give us an account of no

  other product of the island than what we have mentioned except small black plums, which are very good, but hard to come at, the trees which bear them growing on high mountains and rocks. Pimento trees are plenty here, and we saw some of 60 foot high, and about 2 yards thick, and cotton trees higher, and near 4 fathom round in the stock. The climate is so good that the trees and grass are verdant all the year. The winter lasts no longer than June and July and is not then severe,

  there being only a small frost and a little hail, but sometimes great rains. The heat of the summer is equally moderate, and there's not much thunder or tempestuous weather of any sort. He saw no venomous or savage creature on the island, nor any other sort of beast but goats, etc., as above mentioned, the first of which had been put ashore here on purpose for a breed by Juan Fernando, a Spaniard, who settled there with some families for a time, till the continent of Chile began to

  submit to the Spaniards, which being more profitable, tempted them to quit this island, which is capable of maintaining a good number of people, and of being made so strong that they could not be easily dislodged. Ringrose, in his account of Captain Sharpe's voyage and other buccaneers, mentions one who had escaped ashore here out of a ship, which was cast away with all the rest of the company, and says he lived five years alone before he had the opportunity of

  another ship to carry him off. Captain Dampier talks of a Mosquito Indian that belonged to Captain Watlin, who, being a hunting in the woods when the Captain left the island, lived here three years alone and shifted much in the same manner as Mr. Selkirk did, till Captain Dampier came hither in 1684 and carried him off. The first that went ashore was one of his countrymen, and they saluted one another first by prostrating themselves by turns on the ground, and then embracing.

  But whatever there is in these stories, this of Mr. Selkirk I know to be true, and his behavior afterwards gives me reason to believe the account he gave me how he spent his time and bore up under such an affliction, in which nothing but the divine providence could have supported any man. By this one may see that solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine, especially when people are fairly called or thrown

  into it unavoidably as this man was, who in all probability must otherwise have perished in the seas, the ship which left him being cast away not long after, and few of the company escaped. We may perceive by this story the truth of the maxim that necessity is the mother of invention, since he found means to supply his wants in a very natural manner so as to maintain his life, though not so conveniently, yet as effectually, as we are able to do with the help of all our

  arts and society. It may likewise instruct us how much a plain and temperate way of living conduces to the health of the body and the vigor of the mind, both which we are apt to destroy by excess and plenty, especially of strong liquor, and the variety as well as the nature of our meat and drink. For this man, when he came to our ordinary method of diet and life, though he was sober enough, lost much of his strength and agility. But I must quit these

  reflections which are more proper for a philosopher and divine than a mariner, and return to my own subject. End of section 8.

• 09 - Juan Fernandez to Lobos and Northward

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  We did not get to anchor till six at night on February 1st, and then it fell calm. We rowed and towed into the anchor ground about a mile offshore, 45 fathom water, clean ground. The current sets mostly along shore to the southward. This morning we cleared up ship and unbent our sails and got them ashore to mend and make tents for our sick men. The governor, though we might as well have named him the absolute monarch of the island,

  for so we called Mr. Selkirk, caught us two goats which make excellent broth mixed with turnip tops and other greens for our sick men, being 21 in all, but not above two that we account dangerous. The duchess has more men sick and in a worse condition than ours. February 3rd. Yesterday in the afternoon we got as many of our men ashore as could be spared from clearing and fitting our ship to wood and water. Our sail-makers are all

  mending our sails, and I lent the duchess one to assist them. This morning we got our Smiths forge put up ashore, set our coopers to work in another place, and made a little tent for myself to have the benefit of the shore. The duchess has also a tent for their sick men, so that we have a little town of our own here and everybody is employed. A few men supply us all with fish of several sorts, all very good, as silverfish, rockfish,

  pollock, cavaios, old wives, and crawfish in such abundance that in a few hours we could take as many as would serve some hundreds of men. There were sea-fowls in the bay as large as geese, but eat fish. The governor never failed of getting us two or three goats a day for our sick men, by which, with the help of the greens and the goodness of the air, they recovered very fast of the scurvy, which was their general distemper. Twas very pleasant ashore among the green pimento

  trees which cast a refreshing smell. Our house was made by putting up a sail, round four of them, and covering it atop with another sail, so that Captain Dover and I both thought in a very agreeable seat, the weather being neither too hot nor too cold. We spent our time till the tenth in refitting our ships, taking wood on board and laying up water, that which we brought from England, and St. Vincent being spoiled by the badness of the casks.

  We likewise boiled up about 80 gallons of sea lion's oil, as we might have done several tons, had we been provided with vessels, etc. We refined and strained it for the use of our lamps, and to save our candles, though sailors sometimes use it to fry their meat, when straightened for want of butter, etc., and say tis agreeable enough. The men who worked ashore on our rigging eat young seals, which they preferred to our ship's

  victuals, and said was as good as English lamb, though for my own part I should have been glad of such an exchange. We made what haste we could to get all necessaries on board, being willing to lose no time, for we were informed at the canaries that five stout French ships were coming together to these seas. February 11. Yesterday in the evening, having little or nothing to do with the

  pinnace, we sent her to the south end of the island to get goats. The governor told us that during his stay he could not get down to that end from the mountains where he lived, they were so steep and rocky, but that there were abundance of goats there, and that part of the island was plainer. Captain Dampier, Mr. Glendal, and the governor, with ten men, set out in company with the duchess's boat and crew, and surrounded a great parcel of goats, which are of a larger sort,

  and not so wild as those on the higher part of the island where the governor lived. But not looking well to them, they escaped over the cliff, so that instead of catching above a hundred, as they might easily have done with a little precaution, they returned this morning with only sixteen large ones, though they saw above a thousand. If any ships come again to this island, the best way is to keep some men and dogs at that part of the island, and sending a boat to

  them once in twenty-four hours they may victual a good body of men, and no doubt but amongst those goats they may find some hundreds with Mr. Selkirk's earmark. February 12. This morning we bent the remaining sails, got the last wood and water aboard, brought off our men, and got everything ready to depart. The island of Juan Fernandez is nearest of a triangular form, about twelve leagues round. The southwest side is much the longest, and has a small island about a mile

  long lying near it, with a few visible rocks close under the shore of the great island. On this side begins a ridge of high mountains that run cross from the southwest to the northwest of the island, and the land that lies out in a narrow point to the westward appears to be the only level ground here. On the northeast side tis very high land, and under it are the two bays where ships always put in to recruit. The best bay is next, the middle, on this side the island, which is to

  be known at a distance by the highest table mountain right over this bay. You may anchor as near as you will to the shore, and the nearer the better. The best road is on the larboard side of the bay, and the nearest the easternmost shore. Provided you get well in, you cannot mistake the road. The other bay is plain to be seen under the north end, but not so good for wood water or landing, nor so safe for riding. In this bay where we rode there is plenty of good water and wood,

  the best water is in a small cove about a good musket shot to the eastward of the place I have described. You may ride from a mile to a bow shot off the shore, being all deep water and bold, without any danger round the island, but what is visible and very near in. This bay where we rode is open to near half the compass. The easternmost land in sight bore east by south distance about a mile and a half, and the outermost northwest point of the island lies something without

  our bay, and bears northwest by west distance a good league. We were about a mile off the shore, and had 45 fathom water, clean sandy ground. We were designed to have ran farther in and knew moored, but Mr. Selkirk informed us that this month proves the fairest in the year, and that during winter and summer the whole time he was here he seldom knew the wind to blow off from the sea, but only in small breezes that never brought in a sea, nor held two hours. But he warned us to be on our

  guard against the wind offshore, which blew very strong sometimes. The bay is all deep water, and you may carry in ships close to the rocks, if occasion require. The wind blows always over the land, and at worst along shore, which makes no sea. It's for the most part calm at night, only now and then a flaw blows from the high land over us. Near the rocks there are very good fish of several sorts, particularly large crawfish, under the rocks easy to be caught. Also cavililies,

  gropers, and other good fish in so great plenty anywhere near the shore that I never saw the like, but at the best fishing season in Newfoundland. Pimento is the best timber, and most plentiful on this side of the island, but very apt to split till a little dried. We cut the longest and cleanest so split for firewood. The cabbage trees abound about three miles in the woods, and the cabbage very good. Most of them are on the tops of the nearest and lowest mountains. In the first plain

  we found store of turnip greens and watercress in the brooks, which mightily refreshed our men, and cleansed them from the scurvy. The turnips, Mr. Selkirk told us, are good in our summer months, which is winter here. But this being autumn, they are all run to seed, so that we can't have the benefit of anything but the greens. The soil is a loose black earth, the rocks very rotten, so that without great care it's dangerous to climb the hills for cabbages. Besides, there are

  abundance of holes dug in several places by a sort of fowls like puffins, which fall in at once and endanger the wrenching or breaking of a man's leg. Mr. Selkirk tells me, in July he has seen snow and ice here. But the spring, which is in September, October, and November, is very pleasant, when there is abundance of good herbs, as parsley, purslane, sythes, and great plenty. Besides, an herb found by the waterside, which proved very useful to our surgeon for fomentations.

  Tis not much unlike feverfew, of a very grateful smell like balm, but of a stronger and more cordial scent. Tis in great plenty near the shore. We gathered many large bundles of it, dried them in the shade, and sent them on board, besides great quantities that we carried in every morning to strow the tents, which tended much to the speedy recovery of our sick men, of whom none died but two belonging to the Duchess, Vese, Edward Wilts, and Christopher Williams.

  Mr. Selkirk tells me that in November the seals come ashore to whelp and engender, when the shore is so full of them for a stone's throw that tis impossible to pass through them, and they are so surly that they'll not move out of the way, but like an angry dog run at a man, though he have a good stick to beat them, so that at this and their whelping seasons tis dangerous to come near them, but at other times they'll make way for a man, and if they did not would be

  impossible to get up from the waterside. They lined the shore very thick, for above half a mile of ground all round the bay. When we came in they kept a continual noise day and night, some bleating like lambs, some howling like dogs or wolves, others making hideous noises of various sorts, so that we heard them aboard, though a mile from the shore. Their fur is the finest that I ever saw of the kind, and exceeds that of our otters.

  Another strange creature here is the sea lion. The governor tells me he has seen of them above twenty foot long and more in compass, which could not weigh less than two ton weight. I saw several of these vast creatures, but none of the above mentioned size. Several of them were upward of sixteen foot long and more in bulk, so that they could not weigh less than a ton weight. The shape of their body differs little from the sea dogs or seals, but have another sort of skin,

  a head much bigger in proportion, and very large mouths, monstrous big eyes, and a face like that of a lion, with very large whiskers, the hair of which is stiff enough to make toothpickers. These creatures come ashore to engender the latter end of June and stay till the end of September, during all which time they lie on the land and are never observed to go to the water, but lie in the same place above a musket shot from the waterside, and have no manner of sustenance

  all that time that he could observe. I took notice of some that lay a week without once offering to move out of the place whilst I was there, till they were disturbed by us. But we saw few in comparison of what he informs us he did, and that the shore was all crowded full of them a musket shot into the land. I admire how these monsters come to yield such a quantity of oil. Their hair is short and coarse, and their skin thicker than the thickest oxide I

  ever saw. We found no land bird on the island, but a sort of black bird with a red breast, not unlike our English blackbirds, and the hummingbird of various colours, and no bigger than a large humblebee. Here is a small tide which flows uncertain, and the spring tide flows about seven foot. I shall not trouble the reader with the descriptions of this island given by others, wherein there are many falsehoods, but the truth

  of this I can't assert from my own knowledge. Nor shall I insert the description of the cabbage and pimento trees being so well known and so frequently done that there is no manner of need for it. I have insisted the longer upon this island because it might be at first of great use to those who would carry on any trade to the South Sea. February 13, at a committee held on board the Duchess the 13th of February 1708-9, it was agreed as follows, resolved to steer from

  Juan Fernandez northeast by east for the land, and when come within six leagues of the shore to keep that distance, steering along shore to the northward. The next place we designed to stop at, to build our boats and land our men, is the island of Lobos de la Mar. In case of losing company, to wait for each other twenty leagues to the northward of the place where we accounted we were when we separated. Then to lie at six leagues distance from the shore the space of four days,

  and to proceed with an easy sail for Lobos, in case of not meeting, taking special care of the rocks called Ormigos, lying about that distance off from Cayo, the seaport of the city of Lima. In case of seeing one or more sail, the signal for chasing, if not out of call, is to clue up our main top gallant sheets with the yards aloft. And the general method we designed to take in chasing is, for the ship that sails best or is nearest the chase, to chase directly after the sail

  discovered, and the other to keep to or from the shore at a convenient distance as occasion shall require to prevent being known. And if the ship that is nearest the chase believes her to be too big for one ship alone, then to make the same signal or any other planer to be distinguished than the signal for the chase. And if either ship comes up with the chase and have her in possession or under command, if in the day, to show a white jack on the main top masthead, and if in the night

  to make two false fires and carry as plain light as possible. To leave off chase, the signal by night is one good light at the main top masthead, and to fire no gun, but in a fog or very thick weather, either night or day, to prevent being discovered. To leave off chase by day, the signal is to haul down the top sails, keeping out our main top gallant stay sail, and in case of losing company, we refer ourselves to our weekly signals to discover each other. In case either ship in

  chase or other ways should run into any danger of shoal water or other kind, then the ship in such danger is to fire a gun with a shot and to stand from it. In case of a separation, each ship, as they enter Lobos, to carry an English pennant at the fore top masthead, and if the other happens to be there, she must show her English colors. And if either ship anchors short of the road, she shall put out three lights, V's, at the main top masthead, poop, bolt, spirit, end. Either ship arriving

  at Lobos and not finding his consort there, he is immediately to set up two crosses, one at the landing place nearest the farther end of the starboard great island going in, with a glass bottle hid underground, 20 yards directly north from each cross, with intelligence of what has happened since parting and what their further designs are. This is to be done and in readiness that if they give chase or be forced out by the enemy, the missing ship may not want intelligence from her

  consort. We began this method at Cork to secure the best place we could possible to rendezvous at, hoping by this means and our signals always to keep company and know each other through the whole voyage. These directions being something particular made me insert them in the journal. February 13. Yesterday in the afternoon we sent our y'all a fishing and got near 200 large fish in a very little time which we salted for our future spending. This morning we concluded what

  we began last night, being the foregoing agreement to direct our affairs from this place, and as all our success depends on a strict secrecy, the precautions may not be useless. February 14. Yesterday about three in the afternoon we wade, had a fair pleasant gale at south southeast. Mr. Van Brew came on board our ship again in exchange with Mr. Bath. I hope for the best. Course, north latitude 32 degrees 32 minutes, longitude west from London 83 degrees 6 minutes.

  February 16. Had moderate gales of wind with calms. This morning I went on board the duchess with Captain Dover and Captain Dampier and dined there, wind at south. February 17. Most part of this 24 hours was calm and cloudy weather. About 10 o'clock we hoisted our boat out and fetched Captain Courtney and Captain Cook to dine with us. Whilst they were on board we settled and signed the following instrument, one for each ship, further to secure our methods and to regulate

  the affair of plunder which if well followed will prevent the bad effects of so dangerous an obstacle to our good proceedings, which has proved too hard a task for all others in our time that have gone out on the same account so far from Great Britain, which I believe is chiefly owing either to want of unity or good measures. God be thanked we have a good concord between each ship's company hitherto. At a committee held by the officers of the duke and duchess, 17th February

  1708 9. Mr. George Underhill, Mr. David Wilson, Mr. Lance Appleby, Mr. Sam Warden. You being chosen by the officers and men on board the duke to be managers of the plunder which we may take in our cruising at sea on the coast of New Spain, tis our order that Mr. Lance Appleby and Mr. Samuel Warden do go and continue aboard the duchess in the place of two other men from them, who are to search all persons that return from such prize or prizes that may be taken

  by either ship, as also all persons that the captains of either ship shall give leave whose advice you are continually to follow and apply to them for assistance if occasion require, and immediately to inform of any persons belonging to either ship that shall be perceived to use clandestine methods to hide plunder or endeavor to avoid the searching them. If the ship's duke and duchess are separated when any prize is taken,

  then one of you is to be on board the prize and the other to remain on board the ship, and in each place be very strict and keep an exact account of what comes to your hands, and as soon as possible secure it in such manner as the captain of either ship shall direct, still observing the command of the superior officer on board the prize, who is also to assist you to the utmost of his power.

  If any person not concerned in this order nor employed in the same by Captain Courtney concerns himself with the plunder, except the commanding officer, you are to forbid him, and if he disobeys, to give immediate information of such person or persons. You are not to encumber the boats with chests or plunder out of any prize at first coming aboard, but mind what you see, and the first thing you are to do is to take account of what you find

  aboard that is plunder and remove nothing without the captains of either ship's orders, or in case of their absence the chief officer or officers of either ship that shall be aboard the prize to avoid trouble and disturbance. You are by no means to be rude in your office but to do everything as quiet and easy as possible and to demean yourselves so towards those employed by Captain Courtney that we may have no manner of disturbance or complaint, still observing that you be not

  overawed nor deceived of what is your due in behalf of the officers and men. The persons appointed to be managers by the Duchess were the underwritten John Connolly, Simon Fleming, Simon Hatley, Bartholomew Rowe, to whom the foregoing orders were also given and signed by the committee, Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Fry, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, Carlton VanBrew, John Bridge, William Stratton,

  John Rogers, John Connolly, William Bath, George Milburn, John Ballet. February 17th, Captain Courtney and Captain Cook being aboard, we agreed that Mr. Appleby should appear for the officers on board the Duchess and Samuel Worden for the men. Mr. Simon Hatley and Simon Fleming were to have the like charge on board of us to manage the plunder according to the foregoing orders. February 18th, about three yesterday afternoon we saw the main distance nine

  leagues, its very high land with several islands. February 28th, yesterday afternoon we came within about six leagues of very high land. This morning we put both penises in the water to try them under sail, having fixed them with each agun after the manner of a Paterero and all things necessary for small privateers, hoping they'll be serviceable to us in little winds to take vessels, wind at south and south by east. March 1st, having little wind and smooth water, we healed both ships and tallowed.

  March 2nd, we are in sight of land, distance 12 or 14 leagues. Within the country there is a vast high ridge of mountains, named Cordieros, all along this course. Some parts, I believe, are full as high, if not higher, than the Pico Tenerife, with snow on the top. We had a good observation, latitude 17 degrees three minutes, longitude 70 degrees 29 minutes west from London. March 4th, fine pleasant weather with fresh gales of wind. This day we came to an allowance

  of three pints of water a man per day, though we had a good stock aboard. My reason for it was that we might keep at sea some time and take some prizes, and not be forced to discover ourselves by wandering, before we attempted anything ashore. Because an enemy being once discovered, there is nothing of value, as I am informed, put to sea from one end of the coast to the other. They have great conveniences of giving notice by expresses and strict orders for all officers

  on the shore to keep lookers out upon every headland. March 8th, fine pleasant weather, a brisk gale at southeast. At three this morning we lay by, and at six saw the land distant about 14 leagues, after which I made sail. The duchess had a boy fall out of the mizzen top down on the deck and broke his leg, of which he is in a fair way to recover. Latitude 12 degrees 31 minutes, longitude 84 degrees 58 minutes. March 9th, fair weather,

  a moderate gale at southeast. We go under an easy sail in hopes of seeing rich ships either coeing or coming out of Lima, being now near it. We keep about seven links from shore to prevent our being discovered. We shall not lie long there, but design to go for lobos to build our boats and get things ready to land at Guayaquil. March 10th, pleasant weather, moderate gales at southeast. This morning, perceiving white rocks at a distance which looked like ships, we brought two and sent

  our boats under the shore, having kept them ready a stern four days, that if we saw a sail near the shore, they might take to them to prevent their discovering us to those on the continent. March 13th, fair weather, moderate gales at southeast. This morning we ran near land and the duchess kept in the offing to see if we could meet any of the traders, there being as I am informed ships of good value sometimes on this coast. Our men began to repine that though come

  so far we have met with no prize in these seas. March 14th, the nights are very cold in comparison of the days which are warm enough but not so hot as I expected in this latitude. Here's never any rain but great dews in the night almost equivalent to it, though the air be generally serene. At eight last night we hailed up north-northwest for the island Lobos. March 15th, we saw land yesterday and supposing it was Lobos, stood off and on all night. In the morning it proved very hazy

  till ten when we saw it again right ahead, but we stood nearer till we were convinced it was not Lobos but the mainland of Peru within it, so we stood off at twelve and had a good observation, latitude six degrees fifty-five minutes. March 16th, yesterday afternoon we spied a sail, our consort being nearest soon took her. She was a little vessel of about sixteen ton belonging to Peta and bound to Chiripe for flour, with a small sum of money aboard to purchase it.

  The master's name was Antonio Giliagos, a mustis, begots in between an Indian and a Spaniard. His company was eight men, one of them a Spaniard, one a Negro and the rest Indians. We'd asked them for news, and they assured us that all the French ships, being seven in number, sailed out of these seas six months ago, and that no more were to return, adding that the Spaniards had such an aversion to them, that at Cayo, the seaport for Lima, they killed so many of the French

  and quarreled so frequently with them, that none were suffered to come ashore there for some time before they sailed from thence. After we had put men aboard the prize, we hailed off close on a wind for Lobos, having shot within it, and had we not been better informed by the crew of the prize, might have endangered our ships by running in farther, because there are shoals between the island and the main. The prisoners tell us there had been no enemy in those parts since Captain

  Dampierre, which is above four years ago. They likewise informed us that Captain Stradling's ship, the Sincaports, who was Dampierre's consort, founded on the coast of Barbacore, where he, with six or seven of his men, were only saved, and being taken in their boat had been four years prisoners at Lima, where they lived much worse than our Governor Selkirk, whom we left on the island Juan Fernandez. This morning we saw the island Lobos, which bore south about four leagues

  at noon, it bore south by west distance six miles. We sent our pinnace thither, manned and armed, to see if there were any fishermen upon it, and secure them, lest they should discover us to the people on the main. March seventeenth. Yesterday, about five in the evening, we got well into anchor, but found nobody at the island. We had twenty fathom water, clean ground in the thoroughfare between the two islands, above a cable's length from each shore. Tis a bold going in and a good

  road, the wind blowing constantly over land. We resolved here to fit out our small bark for a privateer, she being well built for sailing, and this morning we had her into a small round cove in the southernmost island, where we hauled her up dry on the land. The carpenters also got the timber ashore to build our boat for landing men. March eighteenth. In the evening we launched our small privateer, having cleaned her bottom well, called her the beginning, and appointed Captain

  Cook to command her. We got a small spare mast out of our ship, which made her a new main mast, and our mizzen top sail was altered to make her a main sail. The duchess healed and cleaned their ship. This morning I got all our sick men ashore and built tents for them. The duchess also landed hers. We agreed to stay the building of our boat and fitting out the privateer while the duchess cruised about the island and in sight of the main. March nineteenth. Yesterday afternoon we sent the

  y'all a fishing, got the bark rigged and almost ready, with four swivel guns and a deck near finished. This morning the duchess sailed a cruising and appointed to meet the bark off the southeast end of the island. March twentieth. The bark being got ready, this morning we victualled her out of our ship and put twenty of hours and twelve of our consort's men aboard her well armed. I saw her out of the harbor with our pinnace. She looks very pretty, and I believe will sail

  well in smooth water, having all masts, sails, riggings and materials, like one of the half galleys, fitted out for her majesty's service in England. They gave our ship's company three hazzahs, and we returned them the like at parting. I told Captain Cook if we should be forced out of the road or give chase hence, we would leave a glass bottle buried near a remarkable great stone that I showed him, with letters in it, to give an account how it was with us,

  of the occasion of our departure and where to meet again. I bid him acquaint Captain Courtney with it. March twenty second. This morning a Spaniard belonging to us, named Sylvester Ramos, died suddenly, and we buried him at night. Most of our men are healthy, except two or three who are ill of the scurvy. March twenty third. This morning we began to scrub our ship, and cleared abundance of barnacles off her bottom almost as large as mussels.

  A ship grows foul very fast in these seas. March twenty fifth. We caught plenty of very good fish. The seals are numerous here, but not so many as at Juan Fernandez. A large one seized a stout Dutchman, had liked to have pulled him into the water and bit him to the bone in several places in one of his arms and legs. March twenty sixth. This morning the Duchess came in with a prize called the Santa Josefa, bound from Guayaquil to Truxillo, burdened about fifty

  tons full of timber with some cocoa and coconuts, and tobacco which we distributed among our men. The Duchess in beginning took her between this island and the main. She had very little of value on board. March twenty seventh. This morning we gave our ship a good heel and tallowed her low down. A Dutchman belonging to the Duchess died of the scurvy ashore and was buried on the island. March thirtieth. Yesterday afternoon we got the second prize, which we called the increase,

  aboard us, and cleaned her. We brought all offshore and launched our new boat to tow at our stern, and at ten o'clock came to sail, after we had put Mr. Stratton to command the beginning, and all our sick men and a doctor of each ship aboard the increase, of which Mr. Selkirk, our second mate, was appointed master. By observation we had here this island lies in latitude six degrees fifty minutes south, the variation thirty degrees thirty minutes easterly,

  and I reckon it lies in the longitude of eighty-seven degrees thirty-five minutes west from London. The two largest islands, called Lobos de la Mar, to distinguish them from others called Lobos de la Terra, within two leagues of the land, are about sixteen leagues from the main and six miles in length. There's another small island close by the easternmost to Windward, not half a mile long, with some rocks and breakers near the shore, all round and off

  of each side of the entrance to the road, which is bold and has no visible danger. There's a passage for boats to Windward to come into the road, which is to the leeward of these islands in a sound between them. It is not half a mile broad, but above a mile deep, has from ten to twenty fathom water and good anchor ground. There's no coming in for ships but to leeward of the islands. We went in with a small weather tide, though I never perceived it flow above three foot

  whilst we lay here. The wind commonly blows southerly, veering a little to the eastward. On the easternmost island, which was on our larboard side as we lay at anchor in the sound, there is a round hummock, and behind it a small cove, very smooth, deep and convenient enough for a ship to careen in. There we hauled up and fitted our little frigate. The highest part of the island appears in the road not much higher than a large ship's top mast head. The soil is a hungry white,

  clayish earth mixed with sand and rocks. There's no freshwater or green things on the islands. There's abundance of vultures, alias carrion crows, which looked so like turkeys that one of our officers at landing blessed himself at the site and hoped to fare deliciously here. He was so eager that he would not stay till the boat could put him ashore, but leaped into the water with his gun, and getting near enough to a parcel let fly at him,

  but when he came to take up his game it stunk insufferably and made us marry at his mistake. The other birds here are penguins, pelicans, boobies, gulls, and a sort of fowls like teal that nestle in holes on the land. Our men got loads of them which they skinned and praised them for very good meat. We found abundance of bull rushes and empty jars that the Spanish fishermen had left ashore. All over this coast they used jars instead of casks for oil, wine,

  and all other sorts of liquids. Here's abundance of seals and some sea lions. The seals are much larger than at Juan Fernandez, but the fur not so fine. Our people killed several with a design to eat their livers, but one of our crew, a Spaniard, died suddenly after eating them. I forbade the use of them. Our prisoners told us they accounted those old seals very unwholesome. The wind, always blowing fresh over the land, brought an ugly, noisome smell above from the

  seals ashore, which gave me a violent headache, and everybody else complained of this nauseous smell. We found nothing so offensive at Juan Fernandez. Our prisoners tell us they expected the widow of the late Viceroy of Peru would shortly embark for Acapulco with her family and riches and stop at Peita to refresh or sail near in sight as customary in one of the king's ships of 36 guns, and that about eight months ago there was a ship with 200,000 pieces of eight

  aboard, the rest of her cargo, liquors and flour, which had passed Peita for Acapulco. She would have been a welcome prize to us, but since she is gone, it's not worthwhile to follow her. Our prisoners added that they left Signor Morel in a stout ship with dry goods for Lima, recruiting at Peita, where he expected in a few days a French-built ship belonging to the Spaniards to come from Panama richly laden with a bishop aboard. Peita is a common recruiting place to

  those who go to or from Lima, or most ports to Windward, in their trade to Panama or any part of the coast of Mexico. Upon this advice, we agreed to spend as much time as possible cruising off of Peita without discovering ourselves, for fear of hindering our other designs. At these islands, Captain Dampier in his last voyage left his ship the St. George at anchor and went to the East Indies in a Spanish brigantine with about 25 men. After he had plundered Puna in

  1704 and watered his small bark near it, he endured many hardships and for want of his commission to show, which he lost at Puna, he was imprisoned and had all his goods seized in the Indies by the Dutch. Before we came hither, we held a committee and published an order in both ships forbidding our officers or men on severe penalties to hold any correspondence or talk anything that in the least concerns the voyage with our prisoners, which was strictly observed to prevent the discovery

  of our designs to the Spaniards. April 1, small gales, fair clear weather. This morning I went in our yaw on board the duchess and afterwards spoke with the beginning. We agreed how to act in case we see more than one sail at a time to chase. April 2, yesterday in the afternoon, we were surprised with the color of the water, which looked as red as blood for several miles, occasioned by the spawn of fish. This morning at daybreak we spied a sail about two leagues to

  Windward. We immediately hoisted out and manned our pinnace, commanded by Mr. Fry, my chief lieutenant, who by eight in the morning took the ship. She was called the Ascension, built galleon fashion, very high with galleries, burdened between four and five hundred ton, two brothers being commanders, Wiese, Joseph, and John Morell. She was laden with dry goods and timber, had above fifty negroes, and several passengers bound from Panama to Lima.

  April 3, we immediately manned this prize, took some of the Spaniards out of her, and put in Mr. Fry, commander. We found a good stock of fresh provisions on board. In the evening we saw another sail, which the beginning took, and brought her to the rest this morning. She was a vessel of thirty five tons, laden with timber from Guayaquil to the Chanci near Lima. The master's name was Juan Guastelos, the crew eleven white men and one negro. We agreed with the duchess and beginning

  when and where to meet, and having all our stations appointed, they left us. We were informed by the prisoners that the Bishop of Choqueagua, a place far up the country in the south parts of Peru, was to have come from Panama in this vessel for Lima, in his way to the said bishopric. But the ship springing a leak at Panama, he went on board a French-built ship belonging to the Spaniards that was following them for Lima, but would stop at Peita to recruit,

  as the Morells had done. Being near that place, we resolved to watch narrowly in order to catch the ship with his lordship. April 4, about six in the evening, we parted with Mr. Fry in the great prize, having ordered him with the two other prizes to keep together, and ply about eight leagues offshore in sight of the hummocks called the Saddle of Peita, because they appear in that shape with low land betwixt them. We stood in for the shore, and next morning saw a ship to

  Leeward and gave chase. She made a signal, by which we knew her to be the duchess. But being at a distance, and we not having kept out our signal long enough, they did not see it. We kept on sail till we came near her, which made them clear their ship in order to fight. I did this to surprise them, and at noon went on board. April 5, I kept the duchess company till the evening, and whilst I was on board her, the beginning came down to us. We agreed on an exact station,

  the beginning to keep close in with Peita, the duchess eight leagues to Leeward, and I to lie right off of Peita about seven or eight leagues, a little to Windward. Just as the sun set, I left them. They fancied they saw a sail, and chased in great haste, but we saw nothing except the blowing of a whale, of which there are abundance on this coast. Wind from the southeast by south to the east-southeast. April 6, We came up with our three prizes about four o'clock in the afternoon,

  and found all in good order. Mr. Fry had fitted out the great boat we built at Lobos, which we called a launch, with sails and oars, ready to give chase if they saw anything in little winds, having meant enough for that end in these peaceable seas, where they are in no fear of an enemy. April 7, At eight this morning the saddle of Peita bore east-northeast seven leagues, at noon northeast distant ten leagues. I went on board the galleon to Mr. Fry, and stationed him

  again, leaving signals for the other two if he saw them, and after having dined on a good quarter of mutton and cabbage with him, which is a great rarity to us here, I came on board, in order to leave him the second time. Mr. Van Brew, threatening to shoot one of our men at Lobos, only for refusing to carry some carrion crows that he shot, and having lately abused Captain Dover, as he said, the latter desired a committee might be called to examine into Mr. Van Brew's conduct,

  and we came to the following issue, that Mr. Van Brew had committed sundry misdemeanors, and according to our orders, we not believing him a fit person to be one of the committee, had chosen Mr. Samuel Hopkins in his stead, which was signed and agreed to by all the committee in both ships. At the same time, while we were together, we had a second committee which concluded as follows. We have examined and do approve of all the proceedings and transactions since our

  leaving the island of Grande on the coast of Brazil, both as to punishing offenders, our dispatch at Juan Fernandez and staying at Lobos to build our boat, and acting in all cases for the best of our intended voyage to this time. In testimony of which we have set our hands the day and year above written, signed by all the chief officers in both ships. April 11th. Yesterday afternoon, we all met aboard the duke to consult how to act. For beginning to grow short of water,

  we can't keep the sea much longer. April 12th. This morning, we came to a full resolution to land and attempt Guayaquil. In order thereunto, we fixed two barks, put ammunition and arms aboard them, with our four quarter deck guns and field carriages. And for the management of this expedition, we held a committee and resolved on the following particulars. At a committee held on board the Duke frigate, we have consulted and examined sundry pilots

  taken in prizes and had several meetings on this occasion being provided with convenient vessels to carry our men, guns, arms and other necessaries to Guayaquil. We resolved to attempt it, having also consulted the most secret way of managing our attempts on it without discovery. We do approve and appoint Captain Thomas Dover, Captain Woods Rogers and Captain Stephen Courtney to command the men designed to land in three equal parties, except 21 men with Captain William Dampier and

  Mr. Thomas Glendal, who are to manage and take care of the guns, ammunition, provisions, etc., which we agree to be lodged in a convenient place as near as possible to the best landing place nearest the water side, in order to take care and help ship off the effects that we may take in the town, who are also to serve either commander where most wanted. We leave the management of this expedition wholly to the prudent conduct of the above commanders whom we heartily wish and desire

  to consult each other on all occasions, as the most promising method to succeed and keep our designs secret, which is the only way to prevent the enemies removing their wealth or giving us a vigorous reception. This is our opinion and witness whereof we have set our hands the 12th day of April 1709, signed by all the chief officers in both ships. Memorandum. We have considered the opinion of the foregoing committee signed this day and do jointly concur with them and accordingly

  designed to prosecute it with our lives and fortunes to the utmost of our power and judgment. Witness our hands this 12th day of April 1709. Thomas Dover President. Woods Rogers. Stephen Courtney. End of section 9.

• 10 - At Guiaquil Part 1

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  APRIL 13. We appointed an officer to every ten men to prevent disorders and straggling ashore. The Committee, having agreed on our method of command, left it to us jointly and vigorously to attack the enemy ashore. We knew that misfortunes attend sailors when out of their element, and hearing that they

  began to murmur about the encouragement they were to expect for landing, which they alleged was a risk more than they were shipped for, to prevent their desertion, which we had reason to apprehend, since they were a mixed gang of most European nations, we the commanders agreed on the most plausible methods we could then think of, to form a good discipline among them, if possible, and to give them all needful encouragement that we might depend on their

  good order and bravery, and therefore came to the following resolves. Whereas, as it is agreed to land and take the town of Guayaquil, we fully resolved to do it with all manner of privacy and dispatch, and that we ourselves and our men may have full encouragement to attempt it bravely and cheerfully, we publish this following order. In cream, all manner of bedding and clothes without stripping, all manner of necessaries,

  gold rings, buckles, buttons, liquors, and provisions for our own expending and use, and ammunition, except great guns for ships, is plunder, and shall be divided equally amongst the men of each ship with their prizes, whether aboard or ashore, according to the whole shares. 2. It is also agreed that any sort of wrought silver or gold crucifixes, gold and silver

  watches, or any other movables found about the prisoners, or wearing apparel of any kind, shall likewise be plunder, provided always may make this reserve that money and women's earrings with loose diamonds, pearls, and precious stones be accepted. And if anything is short and omitted in this publication, we do hereby declare that when this expedition is over, every particular man shall have a hearing, where the persons

  already appointed for the company of both ships may come to us and insist on what is or ought to be deemed plunder, either more or less than what is here inserted, and that a general committee of the officers of both ships shall immediately meet and at once resolve if any mores is or ought to be plunder, and that we shall give all manner of encouragement without fraud to the owners or prejudice to ourselves, officers, and men, in the same

  manner as agreed on at the island of St. Vincent on this head, provided always that our intent and meaning for the men's encouragement be not made liable to a construction prejudicial to the owner's or ship's company's interest, and that under pretense of the aforesaid movables allowed to be plunder, no person whatsoever do seize on or clandestinely hide any wrought or unwrought gold or silver, pearls, jewels, diamonds, and other precious stones which

  are not found about the prisoners or their wearing apparel, which shall be accounted a high misdemeanor and punished severely, and that no person do presume to keep any plunder but immediately deliver it to his officers publicly and carry it directly to the place appointed for plunder. In case this or any other town, fort, ships, or the like be taken in this expedition by

  storm, then the same encouragement shall be allowed each man as agreed on at St. Vincent, over and above the gratuity promised by the owners, to such as shall signalize themselves in time of action, as by their instrument appears. But if any party of ours, or the whole, or any separate body shall be engaged with the enemy on shore, and become victors, then all prisoners, the money, arms, and movables about

  them are immediately on that place to be brought to the officer or officers of that body or party, and put into a general stock to be divided proportionately amongst those only of our men that were engaged in that action, who are to enjoy the whole reputation and right of it to themselves. And though there has been nothing yet taken worth a division of plunder, we don't question

  but the effecting this good enterprise will equally encourage us all, and that we shall gladly and expeditiously get the wealth of the town brought to the places appointed on shore. There shall, at the same time, be several places appointed, and men to receive plunder, and a sufficient time before we leave the town allowed to ship it off by itself, and

  men appointed to take care and an account of it, which, with all other plunder, shall be entered in public books. And when we come on board, we hope and desire to divide it equally to the satisfaction of all concerned. And to prevent all manner of pernicious and mischievous ill-conduct that may accrue by

  disorders on shore, we pressingly remind you that any officer or other that shall be so brutish as to be drunk ashore in an enemy's country shall not only be severely punished, but lose all share of whatsoever is taken in this expedition. The same punishment shall be inflicted on any that disobeys command, or runs from his post, discourages our men, or is cowardly in any action, or presumes to burn or destroy

  anything in the town without our order, or for mischief's sake, or that shall be so sneakingly barbarous to debauch themselves with any prisoners on shore, where we have more generous things to do, both for our own benefit and the future reputation of ourselves and our country. We shall always take care to keep prisoners of the best note as pledges for our men that

  may be accidentally missing, for as soon as any man is wanting, we shall engage the Spaniards to bring him to us, or give a satisfactory account of him. But we desire no man to trust to this, or be a moment from his officers and post. And if all the forgoing rules be strictly followed, we hope to exceed all other attempts of this nature before us in these parts, and not only to enrich and oblige ourselves

  and friends, but even to gain reputation from our enemies. Dated and signed on board the Duke, 13 April 1709. Thomas Dover, President. Stephen Courtney. Wood.

  Rogers. April 14. This morning we got all our arms, ammunition, and provisions, with part of our men, etc. aboard. With our bark being the largest, we took in part of Captain Courtney's men, and his

  bark carrying the rest, we stood into the great bay of Guayaquil all night, designing to leave the ships a good distance at sea, for fear of being discovered from the town called Tombs, which, lying on the starboard side going in, would ruin our design. Wind at the south, but very little. Latitude, 4 degrees, 23 minutes.

  85 degrees, 42 minutes. April 15. At break of day we saw a ship between us and the land. Being calm, we sent off both our penises, manned and armed. But our men, expecting no resistance from that ship, they hurried from us, left out

  their swivel gun, and carried but a slender stock of arms with them. My brother John Rogers, being unfortunately aboard our ship to assist me in getting ready, as he was to be lieutenant of my company ashore, he stepped into our boat. I had before this opposed his landing, which he resented as a slight, and this hindered me stopping him now, though it was not his business, he being second lieutenant of our

  consort, and we having officers enough of our own for that service. But Mr. Frye, who commanded the boat, being related to us, was the occasion of my brother's willingness to go as a volunteer with him. The Duchess's penis was worse provided than ours, and had not arms enough for their men, as Captain Cook told me afterwards.

  About nine o'clock our boat came within shot of the ship, which proved to be the French-built ship belonging to Lima, the same we have been accrued in for. They hoisted their Spanish ensign in its place, and a flag at their top masthead, which our boats took to be the Bishop's banner, because it was broad, made of white satin, and fringed, which was unusual colors in ships.

  They fired a gun at our boat, which lay still above half an hour before the Duchess's penis came up, she not rowing so well as ours. When they came up, Captain Cook, Mr. Frye, and my brother consulted how to begin the attack with advantage. They agreed that our boat should ply her under the stern, and the other on the bow, till

  they could get near enough to board at once. But when they came up, the Spaniards brought a gun right aft and upwards of twenty small arms pointed into the boats, so that the fight began before they could reach the station agreed on, and both were forced to engage the enemy abaft, where they had five guns mounted.

  Our people were constrained to fall astern twice, after the loss of one man killed and three wounded. The boats and sails were much damaged by the enemy's partridge shot, yet they again attempted to come up and board her. At this attack my unfortunate brother was shot through the head and instantly died,

  to my unspeakable sorrow. But as I began this voyage with the resolution to go through it, and the greatest misfortune or obstacle shall not deter me, I'll as much as possible avoid being thoughtful and afflicting myself for what can't be recalled, but in to fatigably pursue the concerns of the voyage, which has hitherto allowed little respite.

  Our men, upon this disaster, left engaging, and put all their spare men and arms into the duchess's boat, who was to keep between the enemy and the shore, to prevent them from landing the riches. Our ships having little wind were yet at a distance, and our boats came aboard afternoon with two dead and three wounded men.

  April 16. We got possession of the Spanish ship about two yesterday in the afternoon. She had upwards of fifty Spaniards and above one hundred Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes on board. They would not strike to within half a shot of our ships.

  The duchess, being somewhat nearest, fired two shots over her, and then she struck and bore down to us. But we missed the bishop, who ten days before landed at Point St. Helena, with his attendants, plate, etc., designing to stop at Guayaquil. This morning we saw a small sail under the shore.

  We sent our pinnace and the beginning, who brought her off to us. She proved a small bark from Peta, with soap, casso, fistula, and leather. About twelve we read the prayers for the dead and threw my dear brother overboard, with one of our sailors, another lying dangerously ill. We hoisted our colors but half-masked up.

  We began first and the rest followed, firing each some volleys of small arms. All our officers expressed a great concern for the loss of my brother, he being a very hopeful active young man, a little above twenty years of age. April 17. We made ready to go ashore and read the encouragement agreed on the 13th to the men, who all expressed

  themselves well pleased with the undertaking, and were so forward to land that they make all the interest possible to go ashore, not considering that we must secure a safe retreat by leaving a sufficient number on board our ships to man them and guard our prisoners. But it was a proof of their courage, since the advantage was alike either to stay on board or go ashore.

  To prevent their straggling, when landed, we gave each man a ticket that he might remember what company he belonged to, and appointed the best and soberest man we could pick to command every ten men under the captains. Captain Courtney and I, being willing to compliment our present Captain Dover, agreed that he should have the preference and command at our landing.

  Being a considerable owner in our ship, he had an equal third part of the men allotted to be under his command whilst ashore. We were afterwards to take it in turns. April 18. Yesterday afternoon Captain Courtney and I settled everything on board our ships and

  prizes and got all the men designed for landing on board the barks. We proportioned the rest and put irons on board every ship, because having many more prisoners than we could leave men to guard them, we must have them well secured. We agreed to leave on board the duke forty-two men and boys, sick and well. Robert Fry, commander, thirty-seven aboard the Duchess, Edward Cook, commander, fourteen

  aboard the galleon, John Bridge, master, fourteen aboard Havre de Grace, Robert Nullman, master, and four aboard the beginning, Henry Duck, master. The whole being one hundred eleven and two hundred and one were designed for the shore. The prisoners on board were above three hundred, more than one-half Spaniards and Indians, and the rest Negroes.

  With the captain and seven of the chief Spaniards taken in the last prize, I carried aboard our bark to go with us to the town, fearing they might be dangerous persons to leave behind us. Last midnight we left the ships, everything being in good order aboard both embarkations. We were when we parted, about nine leagues distant from the island, Sancta Clara, and

  not less than thirty-six from Guayaquil. We ordered Captain Cook and Fry to keep at sea undiscovered forty-eight hours, and then to make the best of their way to Point Arena, and stay there at an anchor till our return, having engaged Signor Morell and another Spaniard to be their pilot. At about twelve this day we passed by the island, Sancta Clara, having little wind and

  the weather very hot. This island appears like a core extended, therefore the Spaniards call it Mortho. It's not above two miles long. We left it on the starboard side, which is not the ship's channel, for none enter that way but barks by reason of shoals both on the island and toward the main, within it,

  to the northward. About ten last night we came to an anchor in sight of Point Arena with both barks, not being able to stem the tide. At four in the morning we weighed, when Captain Courtney and I, with our boat and forty men, the barks, and ordered them to lie at Puna, one tide after us, that we might have time

  to surprise Guayaquil before they should appear in sight of it to alarm them, for we had noticed that they keep a lookout a league below the town. We reached about halfway to Puna and landed on the island where we stayed during the ebb tide and hid our boats under the mangrove branches. This island is not passable, being full of thick mangroves and swamps that swarm with

  mosquitoes. April 20. Yesterday in the evening we rowed and towed one another with the flood, that if seen in the night we might look like drift timber. We had an excellent Indian pilot that advised us to come to a grappling, about eleven at

  night, to lie on our boats about a mile short of the town and to surprise them by break of day. We took his advice, but just as we got in by the town, saw two lights by the waterside logs, which we secured with all the canoes. But an Indian escaping, he alarmed the people about the church, who ran into the woods before

  we could reach the houses. However, we secured the lieutenant that governs here with his family, and about twenty others, who assured us there could be nobody to give notice of us to Guayaquil. Now we had secured them, and the rest being fled to the woods. We sent some of our men, who took the lookouts at their posts, and cut all their canoes and

  bark logs to pieces there, and also at the town. The day was hot, and two of our men, finding liquors in the houses, got drunk betimes. This place has about thirty houses and a small chapel. We found a Spanish paper here that gave us some uneasiness. It was directed to the lieutenant, who had the chief command here, and ordered him to

  keep a strict watch, signifying that they had notice of Captain Dampier's coming pilot to a squadron into the seas. The copy of this paper was sent from Lima to all inhabited places on the coast of Peru, signifying that the French were on the first notice to fit out after us, and the bark that came from Paeta told us of two great ships that lay in Cayo Road, and one at Pisco, besides

  Concepcion, a port of Chile, being all French frigates from forty to fifty guns and upwards, notwithstanding the report of their not coming into these seas any more. But to our great satisfaction we are certain that we were not discovered before this, and that it's next to impossible any sufficient force can arm out from Lima to be here in less than twenty-four days, by which time we hope to finish and be gone where they cannot

  find us. But since we perceive their accounts of us imperfect, and that they believe a squadron comes under Captain Dampier's pilotage, and he being known by the people, because he surprised this village when last in these seas, we agreed amongst ourselves how to improve this Spanish story of a squadron, which I hope will not only hinder their fitting out from Lima, but

  even alarm them there. The substance of this Spanish advice paper in English is as follows. To the Lieutenant-General Don Hieronimo Boza y Solís, Corregidor and Judge of the City of Santiago de Guayaquil, under the jurisdiction of the Captain-General for His Majesty. I have a letter I receive from His Excellency, the Lord Marquis de Castel dos Reyes, Viceroy

  Governor and Captain-General of these Kingdoms, with the copy of another of that tenor following. In the packet with letters from Spain which I have received, there are orders from His Majesty, giving an account of a squadron of seven sail, getting ready at London by several lords, from forty-four to seventy-four guns each, to sail to the South Sea under the conduct of an English man named Dampier, that they are first to sail for Ireland in April to

  victual there, and afterwards to possess themselves of an island and harbor in these seas, and particularly the island of Juan Fernandez. You are to give an account to all those provinces where it is necessary that they may take proper measures to guard the coasts and harbors. Order Don Hieronimo, as soon as he receives this, to give notice of it to the people on

  all the coasts under his jurisdiction to withdraw their cattle and provisions, and that he don't neglect to put this in execution. That so the enemies finding no provision may be obliged to retire from these seas, whether they can't bring provision enough to maintain them for so long a voyage. And let the said Don Hieronimo place guards on all the coasts and in all the seaports

  where it is necessary, with orders to be vigilant and carefully to observe every sail that comes into any port, and give an account of their numbers with the utmost dispatch to Don Hieronimo, the cora codore, that he may send the same from one cora codore to another, till it come to the viceroy's hands, without fail, all along the coast belonging to Don Hieronimo, and particularly that those he has given orders to, do immediately dispatch them for the king's

  service. This I trust he will do to all that can give notice of the enemy's motions, that it may be impossible for him to get provisions on the coast when tis well guarded, or in the villages of his jurisdiction, and I trust to his activity and zeal for the royal service in a matter of such weight and consequence, that he also give notice if there be on the

  coasts or ports in his jurisdiction any French ships. As we hear there is in these seas, and give them warning of the enemy's squadron, take a certificate that he gave them such notice, and send it to me, that they mayn't pretend to have been surprised if the enemy get any advantage of them. The like orders are sent to the lieutenant general, and the other officers belonging

  to the sea coast, and the lieutenant of Puna, etc. April 21st At two yesterday afternoon I left Captain Courtney and Captain Dampier at Puna, and went in quest of the barks, admiring they did not come in sight, they being now a tide and half behind. I carried with me the lieutenant of Puna, and went with the great launch and our pinnace,

  designing to join Captain Courtney and Captain Dampier again, who are to lie all night in the river to prevent being discovered by any advice going before us to Guayaquil. I found the barks about four o'clock, four leagues below Puna. They had been with us according to appointment, but last night were misinformed by the pilot aboard the duchess's bark, who brought them to anchor with a fair wind below that place,

  thinking they had got the length of it. Our bark's pilot, who was the best, being with us in the boats. We got other pilots at Puna, and left him aboard the bark, where I punished one that I brought aboard drunk from Puna, and had him severely whipped before the whole company as a terror to the rest.

  I was not aboard above half an hour before low water, and had just time to embark Captain Dover and part of his company in the launch, and as many more as we could carry in our pinnace to get before the barks up the river. We rowed till twelve at night, judged at high water, and came to a grappling. We saw lights which we took to Puna.

  It blowed fresh, was very dark, with a small rolling sea, and the boat being deep laden and crammed with men, I had rather be in a storm at sea than here. But in regard we are about a charming undertaking. We think no fatigue too hard. At daybreak we saw a bark above us in the river.

  We thought it to be a stranger, and sent our pinnace to her. I was in the launch behind a shoal, which we were forced to go round to get into the channel where the bark was. By eight o'clock I was aboard her, and found it to be our bark, which the honest pilot had brought so high the last tide.

  We have no sight of the Duchess's bark since we left her last night. About ten we came up with Captain Courtney and Captain Dampier, who told us they had kept a good look out, and that nothing had passed them up the river. About noon it was high water. We lay with the boats under the mangroves, all the ebb, and the bark off in the river.

  We were now about half way up to Guayaquil from Puna, and might have gone farther, but that there was a plantation or farm a little higher which would have discovered us, and alarmed the town, should we have gone higher before night. April 22 It was very hot yesterday, and we were pestered and stung grievously by the mosquitoes as

  we lay under the mangroves. At six o' the evening the bark and boats made way of the river. By twelve at night we were in sight of the town with all the boats, in which we had one hundred ten men. We saw a very great fire on the top of an adjoining hill, and lights in the town.

  In half an hour we were abreast of it and ready to land, but saw an abundance of lights appear at once coming down the hill, and the town full of them. We inquired of the Indians, our pilots, whether it was any saint's day, or what might be the occasion of it, and they answered us that it must be an alarm. It was very dark whilst we lay still driving on the river, being just high water.

  We heard a Spaniard from the shore talking loudly that Puno was taken, and that the enemy were coming up the river. This made us conclude it was an alarm. Immediately after we heard their bells making a confused noise, then a volley of small arms, and two great guns.

  Above an hour was spent in debate betwixt Captain Dover, Captain Courtney, and myself, whether we should land. I asked the consent of the lieutenants in all the boats about landing, telling them I supposed this to be the first alarm, and that we had best land during their consternation. But they differed in opinion, and few were for landing in the night.

  I asked Captain Dampier how the Buccaneers behaved themselves in such cases, and he told me they never attacked any large place after it was alarmed. It drew near two in the morning, and the ebb run so strong that the great boat and yawl could not row up to land. So that it being too late to attempt to the town, I advised to fall down the river out

  of sight of it, to meet our barks, and land with the morning flood. Upon this all our boats drove down with the ebb about a league below the town, where we lay till daybreak, and saw our bark, Mr. Glendal Commander, brought by the honest Indian pilot a mile above us, for we had passed by him in the night. We rowed back to him and recruited our men as well as we could.

  We found the water fresh there and drank of it, though yesterday it was a little brackish. The bark lay against a wood of tall trees close by the shore, and we kept a file of musketeers with their arms pointing into the wood with orders to fire if they saw any man. And we kept firing a musket now and then into the woods to prevent ambuscades. About three our yawl and launch came aboard, for they could not row back with us to the

  bark till the tide slackened and the flood was coming. At ten we saw the Duchess's bark come in sight. Immediately I ordered the anchor to be got up to fall on the town, which was about two miles from us. But Captain Dover opposed it, pressed that we might have a consultation with as many

  of the officers as were present, and to lie in the boat astern of the bark that what was debated might not be overheard by the rest of our company. We immediately assembled there accordingly, and Captain Dover insisted on the difficulty of attempting the enemy now they had been so long alarmed. We thought that we should but throw away our own and our men's lives, or else weaken ourselves

  so much as might occasion the loss of the remaining part of the voyage, that chiefly brought us from England, and was our greatest dependence, that the town appeared large and consequently was much more able to hold out than we to attack it. And though the Spaniards in these parts had no extraordinary fighting character, yet if they armed the mulattoes as they generally did on the like occasions, we might find the

  attempt very desperate, with other objections not fit to recite here. He concluded that our best method would be to send a trumpeter with proposals to the enemy to trade with us for the cargoes of negroes and other goods aboard our prizes, that immediate meeting should be appointed, the prices for the negroes and goods fixed, and good hostages given us for the performance within a limited time, and if they agreed

  to this that we would not land. This proposal I withstood by the best arguments I could, and urged our landing immediately, lest the enemy gain time by our delays, might send off their wealth, and get leisure to strengthen themselves so as to bid us defiance. This being put to the vote, the majority was for landing, and as an obligation to Captain

  Dover, who was a part owner in our ships, we agreed he should lead on the attack as he requested, and if he took the town he should give the watchword that night, and Captain Courtney and I, to take it in turns after him. But this resolution did not hold, for Captain Dover reflected on me, and said I should be answerable for all the damage that might happen to us on our landing.

  By these reflections, and some other people's indifferency, I had reason to doubt the consequence of attempting the enemy with success, since we were so divided amongst ourselves. Therefore, at length, I yielded to send two of our prisoners, instead of a trumpeter, as Captain Dover first proposed, with the foregoing proposals. The other prisoners in our bark obliged themselves for the return of these two in less than an

  hour, and this method everyone seemed to be pleased with. So we put the captain of the French-built ship and the lieutenant of Pune ashore in our boat, and charged them to return from the shore in less than an hour, otherwise we would land. In the meanwhile, we ran up with the other bark, and lay against the middle of the town

  at an anchor. As we sailed up, we saw four barks put off from the town to go higher up the river, and just as the limited hour was past, we sent our boats, well manned and armed, after them, who soon took and brought them to us. Meanwhile, our prisoners returned in a boat from the town, with the Spanish master Lacamp,

  who discoursed with us, and told us that, at his return ashore, the corridor, or governor, with another gentleman, would come off and treat with us. We soon put him ashore again, and quickly after came off the corridor with another gentleman. Captain Dover and I met them in our boat, with a linguist, and carried them aboard one of the barks that our boats had taken as they endeavored to escape up the river.

  April 23rd. We did nothing yesterday in the afternoon, but secure the barks and treat with the governor. Several of our prisoners told us they did not doubt to find credit here, and that they would also deal with us, so that we were in hopes of more profit by selling our cargoes and negroes than if we had ransacked the town.

  The corridor and we had verbally agreed for the goods by the lump, at one hundred forty pieces of eight per bale, one sort with another, and talked of the price for other things. We parted about five in the afternoon, he having desired to go ashore that he might prevail with the other gentleman to agree with him, and promised to meet us three commanders on board one of our prizes at eight in the evening.

  We ordered our linguist to get candles lighted, and the best entertainment we could provide for them. By the time being elapsed, and they not appearing, it gave us great reason to suspect we were tricked. Therefore we sent our boats again above the town, and alarmed them afresh in the night.

  Our sentinels hailed a boat after midnight that came aboard us with a gentleman, who told us he was sent from the corridor with a present of two bags of flour, two sheep, and two hogs, ready killed, two jars of wine, and two of brandy, and to assure us the governor had been with us according to appointment, but that one of the chief merchants concerned was absent.

  Yet he would come off in the morning by seven o'clock on board one of the new ships next the shore, where he desired us to meet him, and requested us to believe he was a man of honor, for though he had been considerably reinforced since he left us, and that more men were continually coming into the town, he resolved to discharge yesterday's promise, and therefore hoped we would forbear offering any hostilities above the town, because the

  women and children were there in sanctuary, with little or no wealth to prompt us to plunder them. We the three commanders returned our humble service to the corridor, and our kind thanks for his present, being sorry we had nothing to oblige him with by way of return, but desired he might be told from us that we all admired at his not keeping his word according to appointment,

  and still depended that he would convince us he was a man of honor, by meeting us at where we agreed last night, otherwise our treaty was at an end. We were all uneasy till seven in the morning, when we saw a flag of truce aboard the new ship, and supposing the governor to be there, we manned our pinnace, and sent our linguist to give our promise, that if the corridor came aboard the bark our prize, he should

  be at liberty to return. Upon this, he with three more came aboard, and we ordered our two frigate barks to go under the shore, next the best part of the town, and that everything should be kept in readiness for landing, lest we should not agree with these gentlemen. Nothing else was transacted this morning but our conference with these men.

  Our first proposals were fifty thousand to pieces of eight contribution for the town, and we would deliver them their two ships that lay near the shore, and six barks, provided they would oblige themselves to buy our two prizes, cargoes of goods, and negroes, and gave us sufficient hostages for payment within nine days. The latter they gave us some hopes of complying with, if we would take their words and two

  hostages, which we thought too little, for though they came to our price for the goods, they would not give near that sum for the town and ships, alleging they were not yet in our power, and consequently not liable to so large contributions, adding that they had men and arms sufficient in the town, and ships to protect them. We all concluded by their dilatory treaty that they only designed to trick us and gain

  time, upon which we gave them this answer, that the ships we could have in a minute or set them on fire, that we did not fear taking the town at pleasure, that we looked upon it as much our own as if it was in our possession, and must have the money or good hostages, otherwise before night we would set it on fire. By noon the Corridor and the other gentlemen agreed with us to buy both cargoes and to

  give hostages for 40,000 pieces of eight for the town, two new ships, and six barks. But neither of us were to sign this agreement till it was confirmed by the chief of men of the town ashore, which the Corridor was to procure in an hour's time. April 27. About one yesterday afternoon the governor was put ashore in my penis.

  Some insisted on our stopping him because not long before an Indian came in a canoe from the master la camp, and the other officers ashore to know whether the governor had agreed. Because our barks lay near the shore, the Spaniards kept to arms, expecting we might fall on them suddenly, and said they wanted nothing but him, and if he could not come, his orders went to begin the fight with us, if we did not agree.

  This message was delivered in our hearing and occasioned disputes among us about keeping him prisoner. Those who were for it urged that if he went ashore the enemy would certainly fight us, and that as he had broke with us last night, we might break with him now. But I was utterly against it since we had given him our word of honor to the contrary,

  and alas we agreed and sent him ashore. The three gentlemen stayed with us as hostages upon the request of the Corridor, neither they nor we doubting but the agreement would be ratified ashore. The time allotted for answer being passed, a messenger from the town came to inform us they could raise but thirty thousand pieces of eight, and not a word of the trade.

  So we sent our linguist and a prisoner with our final answer, that if they did not in half an hour send us three more good hostages for the forty thousand pieces of eight agreed on, we would take down our flag of truce, land and give no quarter, and fire the town in ships. In the meantime we saw the Spaniards quit the new ships and we took possession of them.

  Our messenger returned, and in half an hour three men more from the town came to the bank against our barks, holding out a white handkerchief to parlay again. They told us their resolution was to give us thirty two thousand pieces of eight and no more. So we ordered our linguist to tell them we had done treating and bid the Spaniards ashore

  retire forthwith and keep out of shot of us if they designed to save their lives. We all at once hauled down our white flag of truce and let fly our English and field colors. I ordered two of our guns of about six hundred weight each mounted on field carriages into great launch to land before their faces, and we filled our three boats full of men.

  I went in our pinnace, Captain Dover in the launch, and Captain Courtney in his pinnace, the three boats landing about seventy men. We towed the launch ashore. Mr. Glendal, third lieutenant of our ship, tarried aboard our bark with ten men to ply our guns over our heads into the town as we landed.

  The enemy drew up their horse at the end of the street, which fronted our men and barks, and also lined the houses with men within half musket shot of the bank where we landed. They made a formidable show in respect to our little number that was to attack them. We landed and fired every man on his knee at the brink of the bank, then loaded, and as we advanced called to our bark to forbear firing, for fear of hurting our men.

  We who landed kept loading and firing very fast, but the enemy made only one discharge and retired back to their guns where their horse drew up a second time. We got to the first houses, and as we opened the streets saw four guns pointed at us before a spacious church. But as our men came in sight firing, the horse scoured off.

  This encouraged me to call to our men to run and seize the guns, and I immediately hastened toward them with eight or ten of our men to within pistol shot of the guns when we all fired some at the gunner and others at the men in arms at the front of the church where they appeared very numerous. But by the time we had loaded and more of our men came in sight, the enemy began to

  run and quitted the guns after they had fired them with round and partridge shot. One of the last was discharged at us very near, but thanks to God did us no hurt, and they had not time to relay them. We that were foremost ran into the church and seized about ten or twelve prisoners. By that time many of our men were coming up, and Captain Courtney and Captain Dover with

  the rest of their company came all to the church, where I stayed to secure that post with a few men, the rest marched with them to the other end of the town. From the time we landed till we took their guns and possession of the church, which lies above a furlong from the water side, I believe was not much above half an hour. I posted Captain Dampier and above twenty-five men with guns, which we turned on the enemy

  who had run clear out of the town. By this time the remaining part of our men were landed and joined me at the church. Then I marched after Captain Courtney and Captain Dover with this latter gang. For most of those that got to the church with me first, I could not stop. After I had secured the guns, so that seven of them ran into the valley and woods adjoining

  to pursue the Spaniards, and having cowards to deal with, came well back. But being offended at their boldness, I reprimanded them, and they promised never to be guilty of the like folly again. All the men in general behaved themselves with great courage, but like sailors could be kept under no command as soon as the first piece was fired.

  However, it happened much better than we could expect, for now the attack is over. They keep handsomely together and forebear immoderate drinking. I overtook Captain Dover and Captain Courtney at the other end of the town, and left Captain Dover to keep guard at a church there. As I marched back with Captain Courtney, I left him in the middle of the town at another

  to my first post at the church where the guns were planted, and sent Captain Dampierre with his men to reinforce Captain Courtney and Captain Dover. Thus we were in quiet possession of the town by sunset, and posted our guards having no opposition after the enemy quitted the great church. In the evening I went aboard our boats, settled a good watch, and secured the Spaniards the

  corridor left behind them. Then I returned ashore to the church. Captain Dover set the houses on fire that fronted the church where he was posted, which burnt all night and the next day. There was a hill near his quarter and thick woods within half-shot of the church, so that

  the enemy were almost continually popping at him all night. He told me that the next day some parties appeared out of the woods, but when he fired a volley at them they retired. Our quarters were quiet and out of hearing all night. The enemy might have done him mischief had they been courageous, since we were not near

  enough to assist him in the night. For the town being long we could not keep the whole without dividing at such a distance, but his firing the houses covered the worst part of his quarters that night, which was of great service to him. Captain Courtney relieved him at daybreak, and they both quitted Captain Dover's quarters

  as being too much exposed to the enemy. An Indian that I had taken prisoner told us that he knew of much money up the river in bark logs and houses, upon which Captain Courtney and I last night detached twenty-one men out of our companies, and sent them in his boat up the river under the command of his new second lieutenant, Mr. Connolly.

  I would fain have sent both pinnaces to make the best use of our time, and seize that wealth, finding little or none of it in the town. But the rest would by no means consent to it, lest the enemy might engage us next morning, and then we should want our boats and men. When I could not possibly prevail for another boat and men enough to man both pinnaces,

  I desired Captain Courtney's boat might go because the largest, and she was manned out of both our companies. In the morning we began with iron crows and mauls to break open the other two churches and all the storehouses, cellars, etc., which was soon done, for nobody was left at home, nor much of value to be found, but flour, peas, beans, and jars of wine and brandy in

  great plenty. We began to carry it to the waterside, but having sultry hot, wet, and unhealthful weather, and our men being fatigued, they became so weak that they could not work very well at this new employment. They would fain have had the boarded floor of the church taken up to look amongst the

  dead for treasure, fancying the Spaniards might hide their money there, but I would not suffer it, because of contagious distemper that had swept off a great number of people not long before, so that the church floor was full of graves. We had yet found but two of the enemy killed in the town, and one prisoner who was slightly wounded in the head, but this day I heard fifteen of them were killed and wounded.

  Amongst whom was the chief gunner, an Irishman that fired the last gun at us, who had lived some years amongst them. On our side we had but two men wounded, one of them Jarek Deriksen, a Dutchman, belonging to my company, was shot through between the lower part of his neck and shoulder, but I believe not mortal.

  And one John Martin, a Portuguese, mortally wounded aboard the bark, occasioned by a cohorn shell which split as soon as fired out of our cohorn mortar. The Spaniard's force being variously reported by our prisoners, I'll not insert it until I am better informed. The fatigue I have had since I left our ships in this hot weather has weakened and disordered

  me very much. On April 25th we kept our colors flying on the tower of the church, Captain Dover keeping guard there all day, whilst I and Captain Courtney took care to get everything we found useful carried to the waterside. Yesterday in the afternoon we sent the lieutenant of Puna and another prisoner into the country

  with proposals to ransom the town, a great part of the enemy being in the woods, about a league from us. They have but ordinary quarters because of the great rain, their horses being in parties and continually in sight alarm us several times a day. The prisoners returned to us in the evening with an ambiguous answer but desired they

  might go again in the morning to prevent burning the town. About ten last night the boat returned that we had sent up the river, having been from us about twenty-four hours. They were seven leagues up and sixteen of them landed at six several different places. The other five kept the boat having a swivel gun to defend themselves.

  They separated in Mr. Connolly with three others rambled so far in the woods to look for wealth that after three hours' search they could not find the way back to the rest but by accident met again and got to the boat. William Davis, one of my men, was shot through the hinder part of the neck by the enemy. The wound was not dangerous and none the rest hurt.

  They chased thirty-five horsemen well armed that were coming to help those of Guayaquil. The houses up the river were full of women and particularly at one place there were above a dozen handsome genteel young women well dressed where our men got several cold chains and earrings but were otherwise so civil to them that the ladies offered to dress them victuals and brought them a cask of good liquor.

  Some of their largest gold chains were concealed and wound about their middles, legs and thighs, etc. But the gentle women in these hot countries being very thin clad with silk and fine linen and their hair dressed with ribbons very neatly, our men by pressing felt the chains, etc. with their hands on the outside of the ladies' apparel and by their linguist modestly desired

  the gentle women to take them off and surrender them. This I mention as a proof of our sailors' modesty in respect to Mr. Connolly and Mr. Selkirk, the late governor of Juan Fernandez, who commanded this party. For being young men I was willing to do them this justice, hoping the fair sex will make them a grateful return when we arrive in Great Britain on account of their civil behavior

  to these charming prisoners. They called it this house for proficions as they returned down from the river and being so civil at first they gave their fair landladies no uneasiness or surprise at a second visit. They took a large empty bark but left her up the river and brought with them in gold chains earrings and plates I believe about £1,000 value with a negro that had been serviceable

  in discovering part of the hidden treasure. But they all agreed that the want of another boat lost much more than they got for while they'd searched and plundered one side the canoes and bark logs did cross the river and carry the people and purchase out of their reach for want of another boat to prevent it.

  They also informed us that in the places where they had been above the town they saw more than 300 armed horse and foot in several parties so that we apprehended the enemy designed to gain time by pretending to ransom till with the vast odds they might attack us and reckoned themselves sure of victory. But we for fear of being surprised agreed to assemble in a body at every alarm which

  was beat several times a day on the site of large parties though it hindered our business. We found five jars of powder some match and shot with a good quantity of ordinary arms three drums with several swords and lances in the church where I'd picked the corridor's gold-headed cane and another captain's with a silver head. For among the Spaniards none carry a cane but the chief officers and of those none under

  a captain must wear a cane with a silver or gold head so that those gentlemen were much in haste to leave the badges of their office behind them. After Captain Dover had quitted his post yesterday morning one of our men came to tell me that the enemy was coming down the hill that way upon us. We beat an alarm and leaving part of our men with the guns I marched with the rest and

  met Captain Courtney and part of his company on the bridge retiring. He told me the enemy was numerous and well armed in the north end of the town. I desired him to join us and we would visit them. He left his chief lieutenant and the rest of his men at arms in his quarters and we went together with seventy men to face the enemy.

  As we marched forward they retired only now and then they shot at us out of the woods. We looked into the two churches and several houses but found nobody. The woods were very thick and joined to the backs of the houses from whence we had several shot all around us which we returned at a venture but none of them touched us which was a very great providence for it was really strange that they missed us.

  Captain Courtney and I could not agree to keep that end of the town so we marched back again took what we liked best into our boats and carried it aboard the barks. April 26th About one yesterday in the afternoon our prisoners returned with an offer of thirty thousand pieces of eight for the town with their ships and barks to be paid in twelve days which we don't approve of nor should we stay so long for a greater sum.

  But these delays they designed to gain time that if they don't fight us they may draw their forces from Lima for we know an express was dispatched thither immediately on our arrival. This morning we sent our final answer, V's, that they should see the town all on fire by three in the afternoon if they did not agree and give us sufficient hostages for

  the above mentioned sum to be paid within six days during which time we would grant a cessation of arms between Guayaquil and Puna where we expected they would meet us and purchase our cargoes. A Frenchman belonging to my company whom I sent with the others by request of Captain Courtney to strengthen his quarters being put sentinel last night shot Hugh Tidcombe

  one of their men so that he died. The accident happened by a too severe order at their quarters to shoot any in the night that did not answer and neither this man nor the sentinel as I am informed understood how to ask or answer the watchword which by neglect a man was unaccountably lost. Mr. Gardiner one of their officers and nine men more yesterday in the afternoon engaged

  at the north end of the town with a party of Spaniards whom they chased into the woods but following them too far were attacked by others and one of our men shot through the calf of his leg and another of them while he stopped to relay his piece was shot against the middle of the pole axe that hung at his side which made an impression on the iron and bruised the part under it so that it proved a piece of armor well placed.

  The other man who was wounded in the leg by his irregularity and hard drinking fell into a fever that carried him off. At the same time Mr. Stratton Captain Courtney's chief lieutenant having his pistols hanging at his side one of them unluckily discharged itself against the outside of the thickest part of his leg and left a bullet in the flesh but there's little danger of his life.

  He being by this accident disabled to make a quick retreat if occasion required his captain immediately ordered him on board the bark. Upon these accidents and perceiving the enemy to increase and grow bolder Captain Courtney brought his company to my quarters. Last night we all lay in the church round which we kept sentinels within a musket shot,

  the sentinels as customary calling to each other every quarter of an hour to prevent their sleeping, an hour being surprised in the night. Every man kept his arms and ammunition in exact order by him and was strictly charged to rise at the least alarm. We unhung a small church bell and sent it aboard for our ship's use.

  We have done little this twenty-four hours towards shipping off goods because the enemy were continually popping at us from the woods. The weather was very wet, hot, and faint, the streets deep and slippery, and the ways to the water side very bad, which mightily incommoded us. End of section ten.

• 11 - At Guiaquil Part 2

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  CHAPTER XXVII. Yesterday, about two in the afternoon, our prisoners returned with two men on horseback from the enemy's sorry camp, and told us the agreement was concluded as we last proposed, that if we suspected them, they would stay for hostages, and that the lieutenant of Puna, who as a messenger forwarded the treaty, with an old gentleman already on board our bark,

  were to be the other two. We contented ourselves with the latter, and let the two strangers return to their camp with our messenger, who was to bring back the agreement signed. But they sent another back to us, signifying that we had omitted to take notice that the town was taken by force of arms, which we afterwards inserted both in the Spanish and

  English paper. This morning the Spanish agreement was brought back, signed by them, and we sent ours in English, signed to them as follows. Whereas the city of Guayaquil, lately in subjection to Philip the fifth king of Spain, is now taken by storm, and in the possession of the captains Thomas Dover, Woods Rogers,

  and Stephen Courtney, commanding a body of Her Majesty of Great Britain's subjects, we the underwritten are content to become hostages for the said city, and to continue in the custody of the said captains Thomas Dover, Woods Rogers, and Stephen Courtney, till thirty thousand pieces of eight shall be paid to them for the ransom of the said city, two new ships, and six barks, during which time no hostility is to be committed

  on either side between this and Puna, the said sum to be paid at Puna in six days from the date hereof, and then the hostages to be discharged, and all the prisoners to be delivered immediately. Otherwise the said hostages do agree to remain prisoners till the said sum is discharged in any other part of the world. In witness whereof we have voluntarily set our hands

  this twenty-seventh day of April, old style, at the seventh of May, S.N., in the year of our Lord, 1709. The two hostages lay this night at our quarters, and we shipped them off, with all we had got together, by eleven o'clock, and marched towards our barks with our colors flying, while the Spaniards returned to their houses. I marched on the rear with a few men, and picked up pistols, cutlasses, and pole axes, which shewed that our men were

  grown very careless, weak, and weary of being soldiers, and that was time to be gone from hence. The hardest work we had was to get the guns down to the water, the earth being so soft, that they who helped to carry them sunk half-leg deep. To make it as easy as I could, I can drive a frame of bamboo canes, under which sixty men could stand, and bear equal weight

  on their shoulders. Though they were large four-pounders, the gun and the frame did not exceed fifteen c weight, but had not the prisoners we took helped us, though it had been an easy task in a cold country, I could hardly have picked men enough of our own for the work. John Gabriel, one of my company, a Dutchman, was missing. April 28. Yesterday in the afternoon we settled everything on board the barks as well as we

  could, and separated our men aboard the prizes, where we had put most of our town goods and plunder, being about two hundred thirty bags of flour, beans, peas, and rice, fifteen jars of oil, about one hundred sixty jars of other liquors, some cordage, ironware, and small nails, with about four half-jars of powder, about a ton of pitch and tar, a parcel of clothing and necessaries, and, as I guess, about twelve hundred pounds in plate, earrings,

  etc., and one hundred fifty bales of dry goods, four guns, and about two hundred Spanish ordinary useless arms and musket barrels, a few packs of indigo, cocoa, and annatto, with about a ton of loaf sugar. We left abundance of goods in the town, besides liquors of most sorts, and sea stores, with several warehouses full of cocoa, diverse ships on the stocks, and two new ships unrigged, upwards of four hundred ton, which cost above eighty thousand crowns, and then lay at

  anchor before the town. We are also to deliver four barks ashore and leave two here to bring down the ransom. By this it appears the Spaniards had a good bargain, but this ransom was far better for us than to burn what we could not carry off. About two yesterday afternoon our Dutchman that was missing rose out of his brandywine fit and came aboard. He was disturbed by the honest man of the house where he lay, who first called in his neighbors and cautiously seized his arms, then gently

  raised him, and when his eyes were open, told him there was his arms again, and bid him hasten aboard to us. This is the only man that I know of since we took Guayaquil, who had so much training, stressed our orders by drinking beyond his bearing. This morning about eight we weighed and sailed with all our barks, and at parting made what shoe and noise we could with our drums, trumpets, and guns, and thus took our leave of the Spaniards very cheerfully, but not half so well

  pleased as we should have been had we taken them by surprise. For I was well assured from all hands that at least we should have got above two hundred thousand pieces of eight in money, wrought and unwrought, gold and silver, besides jewels, and a greater plenty of such necessaries as we now found, though the place has not been poorer these forty years, by reason that a sudden fire about eighteen months ago had destroyed the better half of the town which is now mostly rebuilt. Before I go any

  further, tis proper to describe the town. A description of Guayaquil. Tis the metropolis of its province, about a mile and a half long, and divided into old and new, joined by a wooden bridge above half a mile in length, but passable only by people on foot. There are some houses at a distance on each side of the bridge, and those of both towns may be about four or five hundred in the whole, besides five churches, and the inhabitants, about two thousand in all. Their chief church is that of St.

  Iago, or St. James the Apostle, which has seven altars, and before it a handsome square. The others are those of St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Ignatius. The latter belongs to the Jesuits. Before that of St. Dominic, which is not quite finished, there is also a square with a half moon, upon which they formerly planted guns, but none were mounted there when we took it. Three of these churches were very lofty, one of them of stone, and all adorned with altars, carved work, pictures, etc., and

  there was an organ in that of St. Augustine, but the priests and their scholars had carried off all the plate belonging to those churches, and retired with it into the woods before we landed. Some of the houses of the town were very high, several built of brick, but most of them of timber, and the meter sort of bamboos. There is but one regular street along the side of the river to the bridge, and from thence along the old town. The situation is in a low, boggy soil so dirty in the winter that without the bridge they could scarce go from one

  house to another. The town is governed by Acora Dior, who is their chief magistrate, and appointed by the king. His name was Don Hieronimo Bos, a young man of about twenty-four years of age, and a native of the Canaries. The town is well seeded for trade and building of ships, for which they have sheds to cover the workmen from the sun. It lies fourteen leagues up from Point Arena, and seven from Puna. The river is large, receives several others, has many villages and farmhouses on its banks, with abundance of mangroves and sarsaparilla, which impregnates its water.

  It makes it good against the French pox, but in the time of floods it is unwholesome because of the poisonous roots and plants washed down from the mountains. They have plenty of provisions, black cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, several sorts of ducks unknown in Europe, and store of horses. The water of the river is fresh at low water, almost as far as Puna. An English man who lived here some time came over to us, informed us of many particulars, and told us that in December last they had three weeks rejoicings for the births of the Prince of Asturias, when they mustered one thousand one hundred foot and

  five hundred horse in arms, besides a much greater number that had none, but most of those troops came from the adjacent country. During this solemnity they baited many bulls to death after the Manor of Spain, and run at the ring, etc., which are their chief diversions. He told us likewise that ships are frequently built here for the King. The hostages informed us that during the treaty, eighty thousand dollars of the King's money was sent out of the town, besides their plate, jewels, and other things of greatest value. But they were robbed of a great deal by the blacks, to whom they had given it in the hurry to carry off.

  We took several of them with stolen goods, as we went to the rounds by night, and therefore we made a signal to the inhabitants to return, as we marched off, that they might not suffer any more loss by those villains. The French, by their commerce in these seas, as the Spaniards in general told us, damaged their trade so much that their seaports are sensibly impoverished, and this town was much richer six years ago than now. A mile below I took my leave of the barks with the pinnace double-manned, designing to get before them to the ships at Point Arena.

  The day came on very hot, and we saw many alligators in the river. April 29. Last night I reached Puna and met Mr. Duck and Mr. Hatley in the beginning, and an empty bark which the Duke's y'all had taken in our absence, the Spaniards having run ashore and left her at anchor off Point Arena. Our people were concerned at our being absent so long and hearing no news of us, the scarcity of water had made them give the prisoners but a pint a day for some time, and they sunk the last small prize we took coming from Peta to prevent the prisoners running away

  with her, for they had not meant to spare for manning her themselves. By daylight I got aboard where I found all our people overjoyed at our meeting again, after twelve days' absence on undertaking subject to so many fatal accidents which we happily escaped. Captain Cook and Fry were very uneasy in our absence and had their full share of care and fatigue. They usually gave the prisoners liberty by day but kept their arms always ready, and the after parts of the ships to themselves.

  At night they shut them up in the forecastle, or between decks, but aboard the prize, which was not so secure. They put them in irons every evening and let them out in the morning, but never suffered any correspondence between the prisoners in the several ships, by which means they neither knew their own strength nor our weakness any further than in the respective ships they were confined to. Roger Booth, one of the Duchess's men, who was wounded through his windpipe in the engagement with the Havre de Grace, died the

  20th instant. William Essex, a stout sailor, one of our quartermasters, being wounded in the breast in the same fight, died the 24th instant. So that out of both ships we lost four good men, including my dear brother, by that engagement. Mr. James Stratton, a quartermaster belonging to the Duchess, that was wounded at the same time by a musket ball in his thigh, is now out of danger. The wounded in these parts are more frequently attended with fevers and other dangerous accidents than in Europe.

  April 30. About three yesterday afternoon a sail from under the main appeared in sight running up the channel to Guayaquil. Captain Cook sent the Havre de Grace's boat in pursuit of her, but my pinnace sailing better followed and took her before sunset. She was a bark of above 30 tons from Sagna, called the Francisco de la Salma, Signor Jacomo de Brenes master, with six men on board. She was laden with about 270 bags of flowers, beans and peas, near 200 sugar loaves, several frails of quince, marmalette, sugar plums and other sweet meats, with a good quantity of large pomegranates, apples and onions, a little of this country cheese and dried beef.

  They had been out seven days and heard nothing of us, but confirmed the story of an English squadron expected in these seas, and that there were several stout French ships in their harbours, particularly two at Lima and one at Pisco, besides others in the harbours of Chile. That at Chinipe, whence they came, being the seaport to Sagna, there was a strict order lately sent from Lima to the chief officer there to be on his guard and keep continual watch in the same manner as I have before noted, in the order we found directed to the lieutenant or governor of Puna. This morning at seven the beginning came to an anchor by us, from Puna, with a few jars of waters, which we mightily wanted.

  Mr. Goodall and others told me there were no other barks coming down but what went up with his from the ships for water, and that he did not know the reason why the rest stayed there. He told me he had a letter from Captain Courtney to his second, Captain Cook, but no message or letter from him or Captain Dover to me. Adding, he heard one of them say that they expected this bark would meet the ships halfway coming up to Puna, and that they looked for me hourly. This unexpected story surprised me, but I suppose they might have some hopes of disposing our cargo to the Spaniards at Guayaquil, which occasioned their staying and expectation of my return. I discoursed it with Captain Cook and Mr. Frye and saw Captain Courtney's letter, but not of a word of advice to me.

  However, I resolved to hasten away the beginning with some negroes—the most troublesome goods we had—to dispose of, that they might be at Puna before me. I began to unmoor the Havre de Grace in order to go up with the flood, hoping to sell her cargo, or good part of it, while our ships took in water, resolving to save as much time as possible. Meanwhile, the other water bark arrived, but without any manner of advice to me when those above designed to come down, were to send the men that were so much wanting aboard, to put things in order for our going to sea. May 1. Yesterday in the afternoon I took Signor Morell for a pilot, and weighed with the Havre de Grace, but having little wind and being neap tides I did not get one-third of the way up to Puna with that flood. I was likewise but ill-manned, because I was obliged to leave the pinnace and crew that came down with me for the security of our ship.

  We weighed again with the morning flood and met the Duchess's bark coming down, but without the least advice to me from the two captains at Puna, which farther confirmed me that they waited for my company and the ship to sell her goods. I was pleased at the thoughts of this, for I concluded that, had it been otherwise, one or both of them would have come down, or have sent all the barks except one to stay for the ransom. We were forced to anchor again before high water, and the tide shot us over towards the island. There is a shoal sand above halfway up to Puna, near mid-channel, over on that side, which tis difficult to avoid unless we have a commanding gale to keep in the channel which is nearest the main. Tis the starboard shore as you go up, and there are gradual soundings on both sides to the shoal on the larboard side, or the main land on the starboard side, keeping between four and seven fathom water.

  The coast clear of all is northeast up the channel, bearing about two large leagues off port arena, where it's bold, and all a thwart, till we get two leagues higher than point arena, and as we come against, or a little above, the white chalky cliff near the point or upper end, and the highest part of the island of Puna, we must haul over for the island and come to an anchor before the houses that are plain to be seen when we get above the high point, which is easily known because all the land on the island is even with the water. And elsewhere there's nothing to be seen but trees down to the river. We must keep nearest the starboard shore going up, which is the only channel for ships. Tis above eight leagues from point arena to the town of Puna, which lies on the upper end of the island of that name. May 2. We got up to an anchor before Puna, by ten this morning, where I found four of the barks that came down from Guayaquil. Captain Dover and Courtney came on board, and contrary to expectation told me they had not heard one word from the Spaniards since we left them. This being the last day appointed for payment, a boat came and brought us upwards of 22,000 pieces of eight in part of the ransom, which we immediately received, and dispatched the boat back, telling them we designed to leave this place in the morning, and would carry off the hostages if they did not come time enough with the rest of the money to prevent it. May 3. Yesterday in the afternoon Captain Courtney took charge of the Havre de Grace, and I agreed to follow him in the morning, to point arena, after I had shipped off seven live black cattle, some sheep, hogs, and fowls, with a good quantity of plantains, about eighty jars and some casks of water, twenty-four packs of cocoa, two sails, and four large blast peteros.

  Two barks sailed about midnight with the marquise. I began again early in the morning, and by nine got all aboard. We agreed to leave the lieutenant of Puna here, giving him four old sick negroes and a damaged bale of goods for what we had taken from him, being a man we had some respect for. We also parted very friendly with several of our prisoners we took at sea, particularly an old padre that I had treated civilly at my own table ever since we took him, for which he was extremely thankful. About a league before the town I saw the Havre de Grace at anchor, near the edge of a shoal, and the Duchess's pinnace coming from her, with Captains Courtney, Dover, and Dampier, who had quitted the Havre de Grace and desired to exchange with me, which I did. May 5. I went aboard the Havre de Grace about two in the afternoon and got her out of danger into the channel, but came to an anchor again, by the advice of Signior Morel and the Indian pilot. I encouraged him and the men to assist me as much as possible to get her under sail, because we were in haste to be gone, but there being little wind I could not make use of half the ebb before I was again in shoal water and came to an anchor, where for the want of wind we lay for the rest of these twenty-four hours. May 5. This morning I got the length of our ships again and soon after day went aboard the Duke, being quite sick by my long fatigue. Captain Courtney came to me aboard, and we agreed to throw the timber and great boat between decks in the galleon overboard to make room for the flour and guayaquil goods which were yet in the barks. We gave the flour prize to the prisoners whom we let go to carry to the inhabitants of guayaquil and took in as much water as we could get. Most of it was fetched half way above Puna in the river towards guayaquil, and though but very indifferent we had not half enough for want of time.

  May 6. Our hostages are very uneasy, fearing the money will not come in time to redeem them, and it's worse than death, they say, to be carried to Great Britain. We got all aboard last night by seven o'clock, our people being fatigued. I was willing to rest myself and them one night before we sailed, but Captain Courtney was in too much haste, and my second, Captain Dover, and my pilot, Dampierre, forsook me to go along with him. They sailed at midnight with the Havre de Grace, leaving me and the rest at anchor. Mr. Connolly, who went in the bark for water, did not return till the morning when we saw our consort and prize at anchor, for the weather falling calm they did not get two leagues from us that ebb. At high water, about ten this morning, all the rest of us came to sail. Our small bower cable was cut with the foul ground, and we lost our anchor. I endeavoured, but in vain, to convince the other captains that we were not yet in any danger from the enemy, because it was not possible that the French and Spaniards could have notice of us, and arm out time enough from Lima to attack us.

  May 7. Yesterday, about four in the afternoon, we came to an anchor again in thirteen fathom water, about four leagues below Point Arena. At two this morning, with a very small breeze, we came to sail. Some time after, Signor Morel, that went up with us to Guayaquil from Puna, and a gentleman of that town related to our prisoners, brought us about 3,500 pieces of eight in plate towards the Ransom. They came as far as Point Arena in a boat, and thence followed in one of the four barks that we left by agreement. May 8. Yesterday, in the afternoon, we discharged all our prisoners, except the Morels, a little Dutchman, and a gentleman's son of Panama, with our Indian pilots, that I took aboard to amuse the people of Guayaquil, that we should return dither, and two more that desired to stay with us, besides the three Ransomers. The gentleman that came from Guayaquil had a gold chain and some other movables with which he purchased the beginning of us, and we gave the captain of the Havre de Grace three Negro women, and Signor Morel and Signor Ignatius one apiece, and to all of them good part of their wearing apparel, so that we parted very friendly. They told us, a prisoner we put at shore at Puna, called Signor Don Pedro Sin Fuegos, was a man of great credit at Guayaquil, that he had got a good sum together, before they came thence in order to buy goods of us, and that they expected him in less than twelve hours, adding that there were several others coming down to trade with us, but the majority of our officers would not believe him, being resolved to make the utmost dispatch for the Galapagos Islands.

  They pressed to know where they might meet us to trade, but every one was against informing them of the place where we designed to rendezvous, lest they should discover it to the enemy ships of war. At eight last night we came to an anchor in sixteen fathom water. The island Santa Clara bore northeast by north five leagues. At two this morning we wade with the flood, wind at southwest at six, the island bore north by east four leagues distance. A description of the province of Guayaquil. The city or town of Guayaquil is the metropolis of a province of that name in Peru governed by a president with five or six orteres, which makes a royal audiencia, or chief court of judicature, accountable only to the viceroy in military affairs. Every province has a government of the same nature.

  These governors are commonly appointed, or, to speak more properly, purchase their offices in old Spain for life or good behavior, and in case any die or misbehave themselves, the viceroy may name another during his time, which ought to be but five years, but sometimes he gets these officers of his own placing, confirmed by an order from Spain, which is a considerable part of the viceroy's unknown profits. The late viceroy continued fourteen years, several new ones having died by the way. The king of Spain himself scarce lives in more splendor than his viceroy in the city of Lima, where the chief courts of judicature are kept, and appeals are brought thither from all courts and provinces of this extensive kingdom. I should not here mention the vast wealth the late viceroy obtained during his government, the sum being so large that I thought it fabulous, but that I was informed of it by so many hands, who told me that about four years ago he died at least worth eight million pieces of eight, and left it to his widow and children, but the greatest part to his eldest son, the condi de la Monclo, besides vast sums he gave away in charity during his lifetime and the many churches, friaries, and nunneries that he built. He left a better character behind him than any viceroy has done for an age past. The condi, his eldest son, waits here, expecting to succeed the present viceroy of Peru or Mexico, if the government holds in old Spain, but I and every Englishman ought earnestly to hope that King Charles III will happily recover that monarchy and gratefully place a viceroy here that will shoe himself as good a friend to the English trade as the present viceroy does to the French. For he openly espouses their interest and encourages them, whereas the Spaniards say he racks and heavily oppresses their own countrymen.

  The corregidor that last died at Guayaquil, though he had possessed the office but five years, had raked together 300,000 pieces of eight, though his post was not allowed to exceed above 2,000 pieces of eight per annum, but all the corregidores make vast advantages by seizures and trading privately themselves. The trade to and from Mexico is forbid here under the severest penalty, especially transporting quick silver from Peru vither, because quantities are brought from old Spain, which is imposed on the refiners at great rates. Here are many ships employed, coasting in this kingdom, but a trade is so severely prohibited between them and Mexico that all the commodities with silver and gold in returns may have little other circulation in these vast countries, but by flota and galleons to and from old Spain. Yet notwithstanding the severity used against private traders by the viceroys and the corregidores, there are some that use it, who have no mercy, shoot them if caught, all being seized in the king's name, though his majesty has little or no share of it. All such seizures, as I am told, being divided amongst these officers, and the poor sufferer banished or confined to a jail.

  All English and Dutch goods except what comes by the galleons are prohibited here, so that the private traders, after they have by stealth purchased them in the North Seas, must vend them in like manner all over Peru, and if the wholesale merchants have not a good certificate from the commerce of Sevilla, that their commodities came by the flota or galleons. Whenever the goods are questioned, they must disown them, for fear of a worse punishment, unless they have a good interest in the viceroy, which costs dear to purchase and preserve, so that the trader makes little profit, but where the chief officers have a feeling. Yet though these mercenary viceroys are so severe on others, they themselves implore the corregidores to negotiate a trade for them by a third hand, which cannot be done to the purpose without being publicly known, so that ships are constantly employed on their account and carry quicksilver and all manner of prohibited goods to and from Mexico out of buy ports. Thus, being their own judges, they get fast estates and stop all complaints in Old Spain by bribes. The goods they trade for have a free passage and sail through the continent, whilst others, if they do but offer at it, are punished as above.

  There are other ways of getting money unjustly are too many, but in short, and in my opinion, there is no country naturally more rich, nor any people more terribly oppressed. The Spaniards say, and I believe, not without reason, that a viceroy, after purchasing his place with all that he has and quitting Old Spain as poor as Job, comes here like a hungry lion to devour all that he can, and that every officer under him in the provinces, who are ten times more than are necessary, are his jackals to procure prey for him that they may have a share of it themselves. To this we may add the birthing of a numerous and luxurious clergy that indulge their pride, slough, effeminacy, and bigotry more than in Romish countries of Europe, so that were this country possessed by an industrious and well-governed people, we might have reason to fear that silver and gold would become so plentiful, and by consequence of so little value, that the world would be at a loss to find a less troublesome and more acceptable species to satisfy avarice and luxury. The river of Guayaquil, from about two leagues above Puna to Point Arena, is so broad that a man can scarcely cross the channel. The land down to the water side is low and covered with mangrove trees. The tide flows above Three Fathom, and an east and west moon, as near as I could guess, makes high water at Puna. The tide has a quick current, much stronger than in the Thames, and I believe the ebb is a little inferior to that at Bristol, and the water as thick and as much discoloured.

  Not being able to describe the channel plain enough to direct strangers, I shall give a view of it from a Spanish draft, for I had not time enough to draw the channel, or found it all along. There's need of a good pilot to carry a vessel to the town. The river's fourteen leagues navigable beyond it, and the tide flows twenty leagues above it, but canoes and bark logs go much higher. The province abounds with several sorts of good timber, which makes it the chief country of Peru for building and repairing ships. There's seldom less than six or seven at a time on the stocks before the town of Guayaquil. The chief commodity this city and its provinces afford is cocoa, which is so plentiful, as to supply most places on the South Sea. They say there's nevertheless exported in a year than thirty thousand carguas, each cargua eighty-one pound weight, and sometimes double the quantity. It was purchased generally at half a rial per pound, but now much cheaper, so that the cargua may be bought for two pieces of eight and a half. Their coasting trade is for salt and salt fish from Point Santa Helena, and most vended at Quito and other distant places within land.

  A vast quantity of timber is laid in here for Truxillo, Chanse, Lima, and other seaports, where it is scarce. It pays a great freight, and it is a profitable trade. They export also from hence rice, cotton, and some dried, jerked beef. There are no mines of silver or gold in this province, but plenty of all sorts of cattle, and very cheap, especially on the island Puna, where we supplied ourselves with what we could stow conveniently. Here's no other corn but Indian, so that all their flour is brought from Truxillo, Cherepe, and other places in the windward parts. It blows here always southerly. They are also supplied with several sorts of woolen cloth, and very good strong bays made at Quito. Their wine, brandy, oil, olives, and sugar, etc., come from Piscola, Nazca, and other places to windward. All sorts of European goods come hither from Panama, whether they are brought over land from Portobello out of the North Seas, so that the number of ships that come and go from hence, without including the coasters, are no less than 40 sale every year, which shows that the port of Guayaquil is no mean place of trade in this part of the world.

  A market is also kept on bark logs and boats in the river every day before the town, with all that the country affords in great plenty. Having thus given an account of the wealth and trade of the town and province for my own knowledge or good information, I shall now proceed to give a further account of the strength and government of the province. The correador is the governor in all civil and military affairs of the whole. The next is his lieutenant, called by the Spaniards Lieutenant General, and all the chief officers reside in or near Guayaquil. Their method of trying civil and criminal causes being different from ours, I shall give as clear an idea of it as I can. When any court is held or urgent affair happens, the following persons are summoned to the council in Guayaquil.

  First, the correador, the lieutenant general, two alcaldes or justices, who are generally men versed in the law, and serve in the nature of mayors and justices by turn every year. The next is the algozil mayor, with eight regiadores, or common councilmen, who supply the room of the superior officers, in case of absence or death, to the viceroy's pleasure be known, and always give their votes in public affairs. In cases of law they are a standing jury, and the correador is judge, but generally follows the advice of the alcaldes. The plaintiff or defendant may appeal after trial to the Supreme Court of Lima, which is encouraged by the gentlemen of the law, who improve suits to such a degree that though they are almost as numerous as the clergy, yet they are a thriving society, seldom want employment, and have large fees. There are two attorneys called clerks of the court, and four algoziles or sergeants.

  All lawyers are allowed to practice here, and have a salary from the king besides their fees, and since money abounds here, many of them don't scruple taking fees on both sides. The Inquisition rages worse here than in Old Spain. Their chief court is at Lima, but four officers from that court are settled at Guayaquil, besides twenty-four clergy belonging to the town, who inform against any person that they suspect of opinions contrary to the Roman Church, and with a violent zeal prosecute them almost without any formality. The offenders are speedily sent to the chief court at Lima, where nothing but a great deal of money can save them, if found guilty in the least degree. Their military men affect great titles, and their strength is as follows. The Corridore is General Don Jerónimo Bozo.

  Master Lecompe, Don Christopher Romedeo de Orreño. Sergeant Major Don Francisco Gantes. Commissaria de la Cavalaria Don Antonio Calabria. They have five dons, all captains of the infantry, and each of them a large company. One don is a captain of near two hundred horsemen, and there are lieutenants, ensigns, sergeants, corporals, and drummers to each company, as customary among the Spaniards.

  By the most reasonable computation of their force, they could in a few days bring together nine hundred armed horse and foot militia, and I was informed by them they had not less than five hundred of these in a body before we landed, and beat them out of the town. There being always that number ready in the towns and adjacent parts upon an alarm. These and many more farmed a sorry camp within a league of us in the woods, whilst with about one hundred sixty men we camped the town till they ransomed it. An Englishman that ran over to us after the fright, who had lived two years in the town and saw their force, told us there were many more than what the Spaniards acknowledged by the above-mentioned account, and that he saw at one time, a few months before, upwards of one thousand one hundred horse and foot drawn up and mustered before the town.

  Their other towns are governed by lieutenants, deputed by the corridor, above half of them border on the same river and its branches, so that they can join those of the capital in two tides, though at several leagues distance. The towns and lieutenancies are as follows. A list of the lieutenancy of this province. Point St. Helena, Colonche, Chongong, Chando, by the same lieutenant. Thirty leagues, twenty leagues, seven leagues, ten leagues.

  Sheba, Baboya, Chilintom, by the same lieutenant. Twenty-one leagues, sixteen leagues, fourteen leagues. Puerto Vaco, Chavapeto, Peco Asa, Manta, Hepehapa, by the same lieutenant. Thirty-four leagues, thirty-six leagues, twenty-five leagues, forty leagues, thirty leagues. Puerto Vaco was formerly the metropolis of the province before the government was removed to Guayaquil.

  In the towns and the whole province the Spaniards compute at least ten thousand inhabitants, but I believe there are many more. They are distinguished by themselves into eleven classes or sorts, which being particular and worth remarking, I shall add a description of them for the information of such as have not been in those parts. The first in chief is the original Spaniards, never yet mixed with other people, at least as they pretend, and these are most respected. Their posterity again mixed with the Spaniards.

  The last are allowed to be primitive Spaniards again. A third mixture with the Spaniards, still called mulatos because they will not allow them the privilege or title of Spaniard after once debased with the Negro breed, though some of them are as white as themselves, but they can't get off the ugly name of mulato unless they hide their descent, which is no hard task if they remove their abode to another place where they are not known,

  which is often practiced and connived at by the fathers of the church to increase the number of good Catholic Spaniards. are placed a class below the worst of the Spanish descendants, which are generally begot without marriage on their servants and slaves. All the species and breeds between the Negroes and Indians are called sambos, though by mixing their breed as they do, they commonly differ little or nothing to the eye from the Spanish mixed descendants. These eleven are the common sorts, though some of them seem not very regularly distinguished,

  but they have wrung changes so often in those peels of generation that there is no end of their distinctions. The Spaniards are the fewest by far of all the inhabitants, and were it not for those mixtures which the fathers of the church keep united, the Indians might again take possession of their country, for the Spaniards would be too few to keep it and much more incapable of peopling it. Few of those prisoners that fell into our hands were healthy and sound. Near half of the Spaniards discovered publicly to our doctors their malady in order to get physics from them against the French disease,

  which is so common here that they reckon it no scandal to be deep in the powdering tub, and the heat of the country facilitating the cure they make very light of it. All the Spaniards I discoursed allow that this rich country is not a tenth people nor are half the Indians far within land civilized, though they affirm their king has in the West Indies more subjects of several colors than in all Spain or the rest of his dominions in Europe, which may be true, and I believe they are such subjects as no Christian king can boast of,

  for the king of Spain is able to match the skins of his Americans to any color with more variety and exactness than a draper can match his cloth and trimming. The account that the French buccaneers, alias pirates, gave of this place is so false that there's not the least truth in it, so that by their description it would not appear to be the same place had they not left infamous marks of their being here, for when they took the town of Guayaquil about twenty-two years ago they discovered little or no bravery in the attack, though they lost a great many men, and committed a great deal of brutishness and mirth after they had the place in their power,

  which was above a month here and at Puna. The seasons here are improperly called winter and summer. The winter is reckoned from the beginning of December to the last of May, and all that season is sultry, hot, wet, and unhealthy. From the latter end of May to December to serene, dry, and healthy, but not so violently hot as what they call winter. Their cogo is ripe and most gathered between June and August, and of the other fruits natural to these climates some are ripe and others green all the year.

  But I return to my journal in the account of our voyage to the Galapagos Islands. May 11. A fresh gale at South-Southwest. We had upwards of twenty men that fell ill within these twenty-four hours, and our consort near fifty of a malignant fever contracted as I suppose at Guayaquil, where I was informed that about a month or five weeks before we took it, a contagious disease which raged there swept off ten or twelve persons every day for a considerable time, so that the floors of all the churches, which are their usual burial places, were filled so fast that they were obliged to dig a large and deep hole of about a rod square close by the great church where I kept guard,

  and this hole was almost filled with corpse half putrefied. The mortality was so very great that many of the people had left the town. An hour lying so long in the church surrounded with such unwholesome scents was enough to infect us, too. Captain Courtney was taken ill and Captain Dover went on board the duchess to prescribe for him. May 14. This day we saw a great many albacores in pursuit of flying fish, and a very large albacore leaped into one of our boats.

  We have now about fifty men down and the duchess upwards of seventy, but I hope the sea air, which is very fresh, will make the climate more healthy. May 15. At six last night Mr. Samuel Hopkins, Dr. Dover's kinsman and assistant, died. He read prayers once a day ever since we passed the equinox in the North Sea. He was a very good tempered, sober man, and very well beloved by the whole ship's company. May 17. This morning we saw the land bearing south-southwest about ten leagues distant.

  It seems a large island and high land. We tacked and stood east by south, wind at south by east, to turn up to windward for the island. Our men in both ships continue very ill. We have near sixty-six and the duchess upwards of eighty. We had a good observation. Latitude zero degrees, thirty-seven minutes south. May 18. At six last night the end of the island bore south by east distant about five leagues. Edward Downe died at twelve at night. When day broke we were within four leagues of two large islands almost joining together, having passed the other that we saw yesterday.

  We sent our boat ashore to look for water and agreed with our consort where to meet in case of separation. They turned towards an island we saw to windward and left us to try this island for water. All our prizes were to stay near us under sail by a remarkable rock. May 19. Yesterday in the afternoon the boat returned with a melancholy account that no water was to be found. The prizes we expected would have lain to windward for us by the rock about two leagues offshore,

  but Mr. Hatley in a bark and the Havre de Grace turned to windward after our consort the duchess, so that only the galleon and the bark that Mr. Selkirk was in stayed for us. We kept playing to windward all night with a light out which they followed. At five in the morning we sent our boat ashore again to make a further search in this island for water. About ten in the morning James Daniel, our joiner, died.

  We had a good observation. Latitude zero degrees, thirty-two minutes south. May 20. Yesterday in the evening our boat returned but found no water, though they went three or four miles up into the country. They tell me the island is nothing but loose rocks like cinders, very rotten and heavy, and the earth so parched that it will not bear a man but breaks into holes under his feet, which makes me suppose there has been a volcano here, though there is much shrubby wood and some greens on it,

  yet there is not the least sign of water, nor is it possible that any can be contained on such a surface. At twelve last night we lost sight of our galleon so that we have only one bark with us now. May 21. Yesterday in the afternoon came down the duchess and the French prize. The duchess's bark had caught several turtle and fish and gave us a part which was very serviceable to the sick men, our fresh provisions that we got on the mainland being all spent.

  They were surprised as much as we at the galleon and Hatley's bark being out of sight, thinking before they had been with us. We kept lights at our top mast's head and fired guns all night that they might either see or hear how to join us but to no purpose. Captain Courtney, being not yet quite recovered, I went on board the duchess and agreed with him and his officers to stay here with the Havre de Grace and bark, whilst I went in quest of the missing prizes.

  At six in the morning we parted and stood on a wind to the eastward, judging they lost us that way. Here are very strange currents amongst these islands and commonly run to the leeward, except on the full moon I observed it ran very strong to windward. I believe tis the same at change. May 22. Yesterday at three in the afternoon we met with the galleon under the east island but heard nothing of Mr. Hatley's bark. At nine last night Jacob Scraunder, a Dutchman and a very good sailor, died.

  We kept on a wind in the morning to look under the weather island for Mr. Hatley and fired a gun for the galleon to bear away for the rendezvous rock, which she did. May 23. Yesterday at three in the afternoon we saw the weather island near enough and no sail about it. We bore away in sight of the rock and saw none but our galleon. We were in another fright, what became of our consort and the two prizes we left behind,

  but by five we saw him come from under the shore to the leeward of the rock. We spoke with him in the evening, we all bewailed Mr. Hatley, and were afraid he was lost. We fired guns all night and kept lights out, in hopes he might see or hear us, and resolved to leave these unfortunate islands after we had viewed two or three more to leeward. We pitied our five men in the bark that is missing, who if in being have a melancholy life without water,

  having no more but for two days when they parted from us. Some are afraid they run on rocks and were lost in the night, others that the two prisoners and three negroes had murdered them when asleep. But if otherwise we had no water and our men being still sick we could stay a little longer for them. Last night died Lawrence Carney of a malignant fever.

  There is hardly a man in the ship who had been ashore at Guayaquil but has felt something of this distemper, whereas not one of that were not there have been sick. Finding that punch did preserve my own health I prescribed it freely among such of the ship's company as were well to preserve theirs. Our surgeons make heavy complaints for want of sufficient medicines with which till now I thought we abounded, having a regular physician, an apothecary, and surgeons enough with all sorts of medicines on board.

  Our owners believed so too and did often at home set forth the uncommon advantage we had in being so carefully provided for this tedious voyage. But now we found it otherwise and had not sufficient medicines to administer for the recovery of our sick men, which so many being sick in both ships makes it a melancholy time with us. May 21st. Yesterday at five in the afternoon we ran to the northward and made another island which bore northwest by west distant five leagues. And this morning we sent our boat ashore to see for the lost bark, water, fish, or turtle.

  This day Thomas Hughes, a very good sailor, died, as did Mr. George Underhill, a good proficient in most parts of the mathematics and other learning. Though not much above 21 years old. He was of a very courteous temper and brave, was in the fight where my brother was killed and served as lieutenant in my company at Guayaquil. About the same time another young man called John English died aboard the Havre de Grace and we have many still sick. If we had stayed in the harbor we should in all probability have lost near half of our men. We had a good observation, latitude zero degrees, 14 minutes north.

  May 25th. Yesterday at six in the evening our boat returned from the island without finding any water or seeing the bark. About four in the morning we stood to another island that bore about northeast distant four leagues and the duchess went to view another to the southwest of it. Last night Peter Marshall, a good sailor, died. This morning our boat with Mr. Selkirk's bark went to another island to view it. We had an observation, latitude zero degrees, 35 minutes north. May 26th. Last night our boat and bark returned having rounded the island, found no water but plenty of turtle and fish.

  This morning we joined the duchess who had found no water. About twelve o'clock we compared our stocks of water, found it absolutely necessary to make the best of our way to the main for some, then to come off again, and so much the rather because we expected that two French ships, one of 60 and another of 40 guns with some Spanish men of war would suddenly be in quest of us. May 27th. At six last night the body of the easternmost island bore southeast by south distant four leagues from whence we took our departure for the main. Last night died Ponsford Wall a landman. A fresh gale at southeast with cloudy weather.

  May 30th. Fair weather with moderate gales from the south southeast to the south by east. We are forced to water the bark and galleon every day with our yawl. It is a very great trouble to hoist our boat out daily now that our men are so very weak. Signior Morell and the other prisoners tell us that it frequently proves calm between these islands and the terra firma at this time of the year, which if it should now happen but for a few days would very much incommode us for want of water.

  Had we supplied ourselves well at Point Arena we should no doubt have had time enough to find the island St. Maria de la Cuada, reported to be one of the Galapagos, where there is plenty of good water, timber, land and sea turtle, and a safe road for ships. This was the place we intended for and would have been very suitable to our purpose, which was to lie some time concealed. It's probable there is such an island because one Captain Davis, an Englishman who was a buccaneering in these seas above twenty years ago, lay some months and recruited here to contend.

  He says that it had trees fit for masts, but these sort of men and others I have conversed with, or whose books I have read, have given very blind or false relations of their navigation, and action in these parts for supposing the place is too remote to have their stories disproved, they imposed on the credulous, amongst whom I was one, till now I too plainly see, that we cannot find any of their relations to be relied on. Therefore I shall say no more of these islands, since by what I saw of them they don't at all answer the description that those men have given us. Nothing more remarkable happened till the 6th of June, but that Thomas Morgan, a Welch landman, died the 31st of May,

  George Bishop, another landman, the 4th of June, and that we had advice from some of our men on board the galleon, that the prisoners and blacks there had formed a plot to murder the English and run away with the ship in the night. We examined the Spaniards who positively denied it, yet some of the blacks owned there had been such a discourse betwixt some Negroes and Indians, but they did not believe they were in earnest. So we contented ourselves to disperse those prisoners into several ships as the best way to break the cabal. June 6th. Yesterday at four o'clock in the afternoon we spied a sail, and at the same time we saw the land, the Duchess being a mile ahead, gave chase first.

  We followed, and about seven in the evening the Duchess took her. We immediately sent our boat aboard and took out some of the prisoners. She was a vessel of about 90 ton, bound from Panama to Guayaquil, called the St. Thomas de Villanova and St. Dimas Juan Navarro Navarrete Commander. There were about forty people aboard, including eleven Negro slaves, but little of European goods except some iron and cloth. Captain Courtney sent to tell me the prisoners he had knew nothing of our being in these seas, and brought no news from Europe, but confirmed the story that they expected the arrival of a squadron from England, my Lord Peterborough, Admiral and General, by sea and land, which was dreaded every day,

  and that they were informed he designed to secure some port in the North Sea and send part of his squadron to the South Sea. They had a passenger of note on board called Don Juan Cardoso, he was going to be Governor of Bolivia, and said he had been taken not long before in the North Sea by Jamaica cruisers. We bore away by agreement for the island of Gorgona. This morning we saw Gallo, near the shore, a small island, and the main to the north of it, which by the shore is low land. Our late prize ran aboard the Havre de Grace and lost her main top mast, but did little damage to the other ship. The Duchess took the prize into a tow. We had a good observation, latitude two degrees, zero minutes north.

  Thank you.

• 12 - Island of Gorgona

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  June 7.—Yesterday, at two in the afternoon, we made the island of Gorgona. June 8.—Yesterday, at four in the afternoon, we got to an anchor, about a good cable's length from the shore, in thirty-fathom water, on the east side of the island. The southernmost point of it in sight bore southeast about three miles, and the rocks off the north point bore north half-west a mile and a half. June 8.—At eight this morning we spied a sail to the southward of the island, between it and the main. Our pinnace being ashore for water, the duchess's boat went first after her, ours followed on the other side of the island, that if the prize bore away, she might meet her on the west side. In the meantime, I took in water from the island. June 9.—Yesterday, in the afternoon, our boats returned and brought the prize with them, being a small bark of about thirty-five tons, called the Golden Sun.

  She belonged to a creek within this island on the main, and was bound for Guayaquil, Andros Enrique's master, with ten Spaniards and Indians, and some Negroes. No cargo, but a very little gold dust, and a large gold chain, together about five hundred pounds' value, which were secured aboard the duchess. The prize designed to purchase salt and brandy with them. The prisoners said they had no notice of us, so that news does not spread in this country so fast as we believed, especially this way. The land being, as I am informed, full of woods and rivers, and bad for travelers or posts. About six in the evening there was a consultation on board the duchess with some of my officers, Captain Dover and others. Being discomposed, I was not with them, but resolved to act in consortship, according to their agreement. After they had examined the prisoners, they resolved to go to Malaga, an island which had a road, where we designed to leave our ships, and with our boats row up the river, for the rich gold mines of Barbacor, called also by the Spaniards the Mines of St. Juan, from a village about two tides up the river of that name.

  There we designed to surprise canoes as fitter than our boats to go against the stream. For this time of the year, being subject to great rains, which makes a strong fresh down the river, our pilot, an old Spaniard, did not propose to get up to the mines in less than twelve days. I had often before suspected his knowledge, but according to their resolutions on board the duchess, we came to sail about twelve o'clock at night and steered northeast for the place. In the morning I discoursed Captain Morrell, as I had done several times before, and all the rest of the prisoners, who agreed that this island, called Malaga, was an unfrequented place, and not fit for ships, that ever they heard of. I also had two prisoners aboard that were taken in the last prize, who had been at the said island very lately.

  I examined them separately, and they agreed that a ship could not be safe there, and the place being so narrow, t'was impossible to get in, but with the tide, which ran very strong, that the entrance was full of shoals, and had not water enough, but at spring tides, for our ships to get out or in. Besides that if a ship gets loose, as we must moor head and stern, she would turn all adrift, and very much endanger the whole. They added that the river was so narrow, before we could get to the mines, that the Indians and Spaniards might fell trees across and cut off our retreat, there being thick woods on the banks of the river, from whence the Indians would gall us with their poisoned arrows. For those about the mines were an amity with the Spaniards, and a bold and a very numerous people. Upon this information I was surprised that the Council had not informed themselves better, before they resolved on going to this place, and immediately sent Mr. White, our linguist, with the two prisoners on board the Duchess, to undeceive Captain Courtney and his officers, and to desire his company with some of the rest without loss of time, that we might agree how to act for our safety and interest, and not to proceed farther on this hazardous enterprise.

  June 10. Yesterday afternoon Captain Courtney and Captain Cook came aboard us. We immediately agreed to return to Gorgona to refit our prizes, and that there we would come to a final resolution. We saw the island at six in the evening, bearing southwest distance about eight leagues. In the night we had much rain, with lightning and squalls of wind, by which the Havre de Grèce lost her main top-mast. This morning died Jonathan Smith, a Smith by trade, and armorer's mate of our ship. I went on board the Havre de Grèce and Duchess, and lent them what was necessary for their assistance. Our men, being very much fatigued, many of them sick, and several of our good sailors dead, we are so weak that should we meet an enemy in this condition, we could make but a mean defense. Everything looks dull and discouraging, but it's in vain to look back or repine in these parts.

  June 11. We had good soundings, but came no nearer the shore than thirty-six fathom water, it being uncertain soundings and dangerous for ships to venture within that depth here. June 12. Had rainy weather, with little or no wind. At eight this morning saw the island of Gorgona, bore south-half-west distance about nine leagues. We impatiently longed to be there again at an anchor, being in an ordinary condition to keep the sea, though when there we are open to all advantages against us, if the enemy is out after us, which we expect, and that this is a place they will search, but having no other place so convenient, we must run the risk of it. June 13. About four in the morning we came to an anchor again at Gorgona, in forty-fathom water, and most of both ships' officers having some thoughts of careening here. We held the following committee.

  Gorgona, 13th June 1709. At a committee held on board the Duke. We have agreed on Mr. Lancelot Appleby to succeed Mr. Samuel Hopkins and Mr. Robert Knowlesman to succeed Mr. John Rogers, who being deceased, these we approve as the fittest men to be members of a committee in their places, and having at the same time considered the necessity of cleaning our ships, we do desire Captain Courtney to use all manner of dispatch to get ready for a careen, and that the men and officers assist him as much as possible, and that he need to assist the Duke as soon as his ship is completed, and off the careen because one ship ought to be in a readiness to protect the other, whilst on a careen, in case we be attacked by the enemy. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, William Stratton, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, John Bridge. While we were together we agreed to fit out the Havre de Grace with twenty guns and put men out of each ship aboard her, under Captain Cook's command, resolving to carry her home with us and to make a third ship to cruise in our company whilst in these seas.

  June 14. I proposed before we should careen at Port Apennus because it was an unfrequented place and a good harbor where we might lie sometime undiscovered, and from thence go to the Bay of Panama when ready. But considering our present condition, everybody seemed most inclinable to stay here, which I the more readily agreed to because it was pleasing to the rest, and that if any casualty happened I might not be reflected on, if I had over-persuaded them to go elsewhere. We began according to agreement to careen the Duchess first, and I to lie on the guard the meanwhile, in case of being attacked, which we had reason to fear having been so long from Guayaquil. The Duchess began to make ready for a careen. Captain Courtney and I went fishing together and had pretty good luck, fish being plenty here. June 15. We had indifferent fair weather, but very sultry. We put all our sick men, with our consorts, on board the galleon, being about seventy in number besides sick officers whom we put on board the Havre de Grace. June 16. We built a tent ashore for the armorer and cooper, set several men to cutting of wood, and clearing a place for the sick men's tents. Nothing remarkable passed from the 16th, but that we had frequent thunder, lightning, and rain, which retarded our careening the Duchess, till the 21st that we finished her, and began upon our ship. We were forced to carry most of our stores ashore for want of barks, which are full of the Duchess's provisions and materials. We seldom miss catching good fish daily, and keep a boat and men employed for that purpose, there being very little refreshment in the island.

  We spent till the 25th in careening, the sea swelling into the road hindered us heaving our keel wholly out, however we cleaned within lesser than two streaks of the keel, and being upright again. June 28. We got our provisions aboard and mounted all our guns, so that in fourteen days we had caulked our ships all round, careened, rigged, and stowed them again, both fit for the sea, which was a great dispatch considering what we had to do was in an open place with few carpenters and void of the usual conveniences for careening. The Spaniards, our prisoners being very dilatory sailors, were amazed at our expedition, and told us they usually take six weeks or two months to careen one of the King's ships at Lima, where they are well provided with all necessaries and accounted good dispatch. June 29. Yesterday in the afternoon we built a tent ashore for the sick, who are now much better than when we came to the island, neither the weather nor the air here being half so bad as the Spaniards represented, which made us think it would be worse than we found it. June 30. This morning we got the sick men into their tents and put the doctors ashore with them. We unloaded the Havardig Grace and chose a place very easy to lay her ashore to clean her bottom. A clear sand about a mile and a half from the place where we rowed, near the south end of the island.

  June 30. I went to her this morning and left Captains Courtney and Cook with the carpenters, etc., to grave her bottom, whilst I took the most experienced prisoners and walked through the island, which is everywhere full of wood, to look out masts for her. The Spaniards knew best what wood was most fit for this purpose here. We found one tree proper to be a foremast, having before that cut down a great tree big enough, but a wrong sort of wood. All the timber here is too heavy, but we must use it, her old masts and yards being unserviceable, her sails rotten, and very little of her cordage fit to be used, so that it's near equal to rigging out anew. She is a very sharp ship, but lies easily on soft red sand, which is dry at little more than half tide. The worms had not much damaged her bottom, but her rudder and cut water were eaten to pieces. It follows fifteen foot at spring tides. July 1. We have men employed in our tents ashore to prepare the rigging as fast as possible, a rope-maker at work to make twice-laid cordage, and a smith, block-maker, and sail-maker at the same time, so that we want no tradesmen to fit her out. Necessity makes us of all trades on this occasion. The natives of Old Spain are accounted but ordinary mariners, but here they are much worse. All the prizes we took being rather cobbled than fitted out for the sea. So that, had they such weather as we often meet with in the European season winter, they could scarce ever reach a port again as they are fitted, but they sail here hundreds of leagues. The French used her as a victualling ship and sold her at Lima as they have done several others, for four times the money they cost in Europe.

  Tis certainly a good method they took at first trading hither to bring a victualling ship with no other goods but provisions and stores along with them. Generally one of these small ships comes out with two traders, and since in six, nine, or twelve months' time, which they stay in these seas, they expend their provisions and lessen their men by mortality or desertion, they sell their victualling ship, and being recruited with men and provisions out of her, they return well-victualled and manned to France. But now they put into Chile, where they sell the remaining part of their cargo and salt up a new stock of provisions for their homeward bound passage, so that they need bring no more victuallers. July 2. We had showers of rain with thunder and lightning last night, and few nights are without rain, but tis pretty dry in the daytime. This day I got a fine tree for the main mast. The island is so covered with trees that we are forced to clear a place for a yard to work in.

  The wood that we used for masts and yards is three sorts, but the best is Maria wood, of the color and grain of our English oak, all of the cedar kind, good timber, but very heavy. There are several other sorts fit for masts, but care must be taken not to use any that is short-grained or soft and white when green. July 3. The prize flower we took in bags being much damaged by the rats, I ordered the coopers to put it up in thirty-six casks. The little English bread we have left is eaten as hollow as a honeycomb and so full of worms that it's hardly fit for use. Last night we met aboard our ship to consult of the quickest method for dispatch, and the officers agreed each to take his share of looking after the ships and forwarding the several workmen.

  So that most of our little commonwealth being ashore very busy, it was a diversion for me to oversee the several companies at work in our yard from break of day till night, which otherwise in this hot country would have been very birth-and-sum to me. We were employed till the ninth in refitting the Havre de Grace, and when finished called her the Marquis. We saluted each of the other ships with three huzzahs from on board her, distributed liquor among the company, drank her majesty's and our owner's healths, and to our own good success. The ship looked well, so that we all rejoiced in our new consort to cruise with us. The next thing we did was to clear Mr. Selkirk's bark to carry our prisoners to the main, who being seventy-two in number, were very chargeable to maintain.

  But we could not discharge them sooner, lest they should have alarmed the country and informed the French and Spanish men-of-war where to find us. But being now almost ready to depart, we called a committee and came to the following resolutions. At a committee held on board the duke, riding at anchor in the road of Gorgona, July 9, 1709, we think it convenient to turn all our prisoners ashore in a bark already provided for that purpose, and at the same time to plunder the settlements on the main opposite to this island,

  and do desire Captain Thomas Dover, Mr. Robert Frye, and Mr. William Stratton to command the bark and forty-five men on the same expedition, and to make what dispatch they can, and return hither with such refreshments, etc., as they can get for our sick men. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, William Stratton, Charles Pope, John Connolly, John Ballet, John Bridge, Lancelot Appleby. After this, we gave them the following instructions.

  Captain Thomas Dover, Mr. Robert Frye, Mr. William Stratton, Gorgona, 9th July, 1709, Gentlemen, we, having agreed with you in a committee, that you take a bark under your care and transport our prisoners to the main, and having ordered about forty-five men under your command to proceed with you, and attempt the plundering where you judge most convenient. We only recommend the utmost dispatch, and that you keep in mind we hope to be ready in eight days, and shall earnestly expect you as much as possible within that time.

  Other things relating to this you'll know better how to act than we can hear direct. Should a powerful enemy attempt us in your absence, we'll be certain to leave a glass bottle buried at the root of the tree once the foremast was cut, to acquaint you, then Kibo is the place we will wait for you at, if we are well, and you must leave a glass bottle at this place in case we return hither again, but this we don't expect if once chased away. Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, William Bath, Charles Pope, Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, George Milborne, John Bridge, John Ballet.

  July 10th. Early this morning we put our seventy-two prisoners aboard the bark. We had several times discoursed our prisoners, the two Morels and Don Antonio, about ransoming the goods, and were in hopes of selling them to advantage, but deferred coming to particulars, till now that we plainly saw, unless they could have the cargoes under a quarter value, they would not deal with us. I proposed going to Panama, and to lie six days as near it as they pleased, till they brought the money we should agree for at a moderate rate, provided they left a hostage aboard us, whom on failure we would carry to England. To this they would have agreed, provided we would take sixty thousand pieces of eight for all the prized goods.

  Then I proposed their ransoming the galleon, and putting good part of the goods aboard her, provided one of them, three, and another they could procure would be hostages for the sum. They answered that neither of them would go hostage to England for the world. Then I proposed delivering the galleon and cargo to them here, provided two of them would be ransomers to pay us the money at any other place but Panama or Lima in six days, if they would give us one hundred twenty thousand pieces of eight, being the lowest price we could take for all the prizes and goods, Negroes, etc. They told us that trade with strangers, especially the English and Dutch, was so strictly prohibited in those seas, that they must give more than the prime cost of the goods and bribes to get a license to deal with us,

  so that they could not assure us of payment unless we sold the goods very cheap, therefore not finding it worth our time, and knowing the danger, we must run in treating with them. We desisted and ordered them all ashore, still hoping that this would necessitate the Morales and Navarre to get money for us, and prevent our burning the ships and what we can't carry away. Everyone now wished we had kept some others of the topping prisoners, to have tried whether they had a better foundation and method to trade, the goods being of little value to us here, and we must fill our ships so full that we fear to spoil our sailing. July 11. Yesterday our bark and two pinnaces sailed with our chief prisoners, Don Antonio, the Fleming, Signor Navarre, and the Morales, who did not expect to part with us so suddenly, but by continuing with us and knowing we could not carry away all the prizes and goods, they hoped we should, of course, have freely given them what we could not keep. We apprehended that was the principal reason of their not closing with our turns, which were advantageous to them.

  Besides, should we have been attacked, they believed we must then put them in possession of their ships which were of no use for fighting. But to obviate all their hopes of benefiting themselves at this easy rate without our participating of their money, the magnet that drew us hither, I made them sensible at parting, that as we had treated them courteously like generous enemies, we would sell them good bargains for whatever money they could bring us in ten days' time, but that we would burn what we did not so dispose of or carry away. They begged we would delay burning the ships and promised to raise what money they could, and return within the time to satisfy us. One of the chief prisoners we now parted with was Don Juan Cardoso, designed Governor of Baldavia, a brisk man of about 35 years of age.

  He had served as a colonel in Spain, had the misfortune to be taken in the North Seas by an English privateer near Portobello, and carried to Jamaica from whence he was sent back to Portobello. He complained heavily of the usage he met with from the Jamaica privateer, but we parted very good friends, and he returned us his hearty thanks and a stone ring for a present to one of the Duchess's lieutenants that had lent him his cabin while he was sick on board. We allowed liberty of conscience on board our floating commonwealth to our prisoners, for there being a priest in each ship, they had the great cabin for their mass, whilst we used the Church of England service over them on the quarterdeck, so that the papists here were the low churchmen. July 13. This morning our vessels returned from landing our prisoners and brought off seven small black cattle, about twelve hogs, six goats, some limes, and plantains, which were very welcome to us.

  They met with little else of value in the village they were at, and the others being far up the river, they did not think it worth while to visit them. The country where they landed was so poor that our men gave the prisoners and negroes some bays, nails, etc. to purchase themselves subsistence. The inhabitants ashore had notice of our taking Guayaquil and were jealous of our being at this island because they heard our guns when we fired in order to scale them after careening. This place, bare southeast about seven leagues from the body of Gorgona, is low land and full of mangrove trees. But within the country the land is very high. The river is hard to be found without a pilot and has shoal water for above two leagues from shore.

  There are some poor gold mines near it, but the inhabitants agree that those of Barbacore are very rich, though difficult to be attempted, as we were informed before. July 16. Yesterday about noon came aboard one Michael Kendall, a free negro of Jamaica, who had been sold a slave to the village we plundered. But not being there when our people were ashore, he followed them privately in a small canoe. And the account he gave of himself was that when the last war was declared at Jamaica, he embarked under the command of one Captain Edward Roberts, who was joined in commission from the Governor of Jamaica with Captains Rash, Golding, and Pilkington.

  They had 106 men and designed to attempt the mines of Jaco at the bottom of the Gulf of Darien. There were more commanders and men came out with them but did not join in this design. They had been about five months out when they got near the mines undiscovered. They sailed fifteen days up the river in canoes and traveled ten days by land afterwards. By this time the Spaniards and Indians, being alarmed, laid ambushes in the woods and shot many of them.

  The enemy having assembled at least 500 men and the English being dismissed to about sixty, including the wounded. The Spaniards sent them a flag of truce and offered them their lives after a small skirmish wherein the English lost four and the enemy about twelve men. The English, being in want of provisions, quite tired out and not knowing their way back, agreed to deliver their arms, on condition to be used as prisoners of war. Having thus yielded, the Spaniards and Indians carried them in the canoes three days up the river that leads to the same mines they designed to attempt. Treated them very well and gave them the same food that they eat themselves.

  But the fourth day, when they came to a town beyond the mines and thought all danger had been passed, an order came from the chief Spanish officer to cut them all off, which the Indians and Spanish troops did, as those poor disarmed wretches sat at victuals, so that in this barbarous manner they were all massacred in a few minutes, except a Scots, a French, and an English boy, with twelve free Negroes, which at the intercession of a priest they kept for slaves. This man, being one of them, happened to be sold first to the mines, where he says he cleared at least three pieces of eight a day for his master,

  and from thence he was sold to this place. By this we may see that a mighty advantage the Spaniards make of their slaves to employ at these mines, which are accounted the richest in New Spain. The rest of the free Negroes, being farther up the country, could have no opportunity to escape. This is enough to shoo what merciless and cowardly enemies we have to deal with in these parts of the world.

  I have heard of many such cruelties in the Spanish parts of America to the eternal scandal of those who encourage or connive at them. July 17. About ten this morning, the two Morales, Mr. Navarre and his son-in-law, our old prisoners, came in a large canoe, with some money to ransom what they could of us. We told them of the barbarity of their countrymen, and of the different treatment they met with from us, and that we had reason to apprehend that if we became prisoners here, that few of us would ever return to our native country.

  July 18. A Negro belonging to the Duchess was bitten by a small brown speckled snake and died within twelve hours, notwithstanding the doctor used his utmost endeavors to save him. There is abundance of snakes on this island, and the Spaniards say some are as thick as the middle of a man's thigh. I saw one as big as my leg, and above three yards long. Their bite proves generally mortal. Yesterday in the afternoon we had a consultation, and agreed that the small bark we took belonging to the main right against this island

  should be given to the lieutenant's brother that we plundered, and who came over with our bark. For being a man in some authority ashore, we hope this favor will have some influence on him to trade with us whilst we are here. This morning Mr. Morale and Navarre went a second time in our bark for money. One of the same sort of snakes that killed the Negro was found on our forecastle this morning and killed by our men. We suppose it came aboard on the cable, they being often seen in the water.

  July 19. We continued discharging the galleon and lading the marquee, and put a part aboard of us and the Duchess. We found in the marquee, near five hundred bales of Pope's bowls, sixteen reams and a bale. This took up an abundance of room in the ship. We throwed most of them overboard to make room for better goods, except what we used to burn the pitch of our ship's bottoms when we careened them. These bowls are imposed upon the people, and sold here by the clergy from three rials to fifty pieces of eight apiece,

  according to the ability of the purchaser. Once in two years they are raided, and all the people obliged to buy them against lent. They cannot be read, the print looking worse than any of our old ballads, yet the vulgar are made to believe it's a mortal sin to eat flesh and lent without being licensed by one of these bowls, the Negro slaves not being exempted. This is one of the greatest branches of income the King of Spain has in this country,

  being a free gift from the Pope to him, as the Spaniards and Natives told us. We should have made something of them if we had taken the Bishop before mentioned, but now they are of no use to us. July 20. At noon Navarre returned with a little more money, some limes, fowls, etc. He told us he had left Mr. Morell to get more, and that he would be soon with us. July 21. We sent aboard the Marquis two of our main deck-guns, and the Duchess did the like,

  which with four we took at Guayaquil, and twelve taken in the same ship make twenty good ones. The carriages are all new, or very much repaired, and as good and strong as if mounted in England. Another canoe came with limes, guavas, and other fruit, and brought a little money to trade with us. The main here is a poor country, and I believe we might have picked up a good quantity of money anywhere else on this coast, notwithstanding their severe orders against trading with us.

  July 22. Two of our Negroes and three of the Duchesses ran into the woods to hide themselves, and go to the Spaniards after we are gone. We caught one of them today, and punished him severely. July 23. At six last night our stream cable broke, and we lost our anchor. The ground here is a black mud, which in all hot countries rots cables in a very little time. We have often thunder, rain, and lightning all night, though clear, dry days.

  This accounted by the Spaniards the worst part of all the coast for wet, dirty weather. We have had enough of it, but God be thanked are now pretty well, they're not being above 30 persons in all our ships unhealthy. July 24. We caught our Negroes that ran away, and one of the Duchesses, hunger having brought him out of the woods. July 25. I put 35 men aboard the marquee, and Captain Courtney 26,

  so that her compliment will be 61 white men and 20 Negroes. Captain Edward Cook, commander, and our second lieutenant, Mr. Charles Pope, his second. We designed to agree that the captain with his officers and men shall have equal wages with others in the like posts to encourage them. July 26. Last night the marquee sprung a leak, and made eight inches water in an hour, but the carpenters stopped it. A canoe came from the main, and bought some Negroes of us.

  July 27. At eight this morning the canoe returned with Mr. John Morrell, who desired he might go ashore to his brother, and forward his getting of more money to deal with us for goods, since he saw that we were resolved to leave nothing of value behind us. July 28. Yesterday afternoon Mr. John Morrell returned, having met his brother coming with what money he could get. He told us the country being alarmed he had much ado to get leave to come to us,

  that the governor of Barbacore was at the waterside, with above 200 men commanded by himself to prevent our landing, or that anything should be brought to us, and that all the shore was lined with men for that end. We have took out of the galleon 320 bales of linen, woolen, a little silks, and most squirts of goods, usually in bales, besides boxes of knives, scissors, hatchets, etc. The duchess and marquee have also taken what they can, so that all our three ships are full.

  We found aboard the galleon a great quantity of bones in small boxes, ticketed with the names of Romish saints, some of which had been dead seven or eight hundred years, with an infinite number of brass metals, crosses, beads, and crucifixes, religious toys in wax, images of saints made of all sorts of wood, stone, and other materials, I believe in all near 30 ton, with 150 boxes of books in Spanish, Latin, etc.,

  which would take up much more stowage than 50 tons of other goods. All this came from Italy, and most from Rome, designed for the Jesuits of Peru, but being of small value to us, we contented ourselves to take only a sample of most sorts to shoo our friends in England, and left the rest. A large wooden effigies of the Virgin Mary being either dropped or thrown overboard from the galleon,

  and drove ashore near the north point of the island, the Indians that came in the canoe with Signor Morel, etc., from the mainland, being then a fishing, took up the image and brought her in the canoe to the shore just over against our ship, where we gave our prisoners liberty to walk that day. As soon as they saw her, they crossed and blessed themselves, and fancied that this must be the Virgin Mary

  come by water from Lima or Panama, to relieve them in their necessity. Then they set it up on the shore and wiped it dry with cotton, and when they came aboard told us that though they had wiped her again and again, she continued to sweat very much, and all but those employed in wiping her stood around devoutly amazed, praying and telling over their beads.

  They also shooed the cotton to our linguists and the ransomers, wet by the excessive sweat of the Holy Virgin, as they fondly seemed to believe, and kept it as a choice relic. The Morels perceiving me to laugh at the story, they told me a much stranger, in order to convince me, viz.,

  that a few years ago, at a procession in the Cathedral Church of Lima, which was at that time very richly furnished, and worth some millions of pieces of eight in gold, silver and jewels, the image of the Virgin was more richly adorned with pearls, diamonds and gold than the rest, and those ornaments being left in the Church according to custom,

  till the night after procession, without any guard, because the people concluded that none durst be so sacrilegiously impious as to rob the Church. An unfortunate thief, resolving at once to enrich himself, got into the Church at midnight and made up to the image, but whilst he was going to take off a rich string of pearls

  from the Virgin's wrists, she caught him fast by the arm and held him, till, being found in that posture, he was apprehended and executed. This story was confirmed as an unquestionable truth by all the other prisoners who assured us that all the fathers of the Church of Lima confidently affirm the same, as well as a considerable number of lay brethren who, they say, were eyewitnesses of it,

  so that it passes amongst them as current, as an article of their faith. By this we may see how the belief of those false miracles by the cunning of the Romish clergy in these parts obtains credit among those men who are not so easily imposed on in their worldly affairs. Thus, I am apt to believe those gentlemen invented the story of the sweating miracle out of zeal to their Church, and thinking thereby to deter us from carrying away

  any more of the relics out of Sr. Morales' galleon. Before this, when I heard such stories, I took them to have been invented merely to ridicule the Romanists, but when I heard such silly stories related by eight grave men of a handsome appearance and good reputation amongst the Spaniards, I was convinced of the ignorance and credulity of the papists. July 29. Having for a long time been importuned by the companies of each ship

  to divide what we was forced to agree to as plunder, we resolved on a committee to be called tomorrow to settle that affair, which we did in the following manner. At a committee on board the Duke, the 29th day of July 1709, it is agreed that the following articles shall regulate plunder and be in part a satisfaction

  allowed by the committee of the Duke and Duchess for past services more than each man's agreement with the owners. Impress. Gold rings found in any place except in a goldsmith's shop is plunder. All arms, sea books, and instruments, all clothing and movables usually worn about prisoners, except women's earrings, unwrought gold or silver, loose diamonds, pearls, or money.

  All plate and use aboard ships, but not on shore, unless about the persons of prisoners, is plunder. All manner of clothes ready made, found in the upper deck and betwixt decks belonging to the ship's company and passengers is plunder also, except what is above limited, and is in whole bundles and pieces and not opened in this country, that appears not for the person's use that owns the chest,

  but designed purposely for merchandise, which only shall not be plunder. And for encouragement we shall allow to James Stratton forty rupees to buy him liquor in India in part of amends for his smart money. To William Davis and Yerrick Derrickson, twenty rupees each as smart money over and above their shares. We also give the boat's crews over and above their shares that were engaged with a marquee when taken,

  four bales of goods to be sold when and where they think convenient, which bale shall be one of serges, one of linen, and two of bays, and this over and above their respective shares. Also a good suit of clothes to be made for each man that went up the river above Guayaquil the last time in the Duchess's penance.

  In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands the day and year above mentioned, Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, William Stratton, John Connolly, William Bath, Thomas Glendal, George Milborne, John Bridge, John Ballet, Lancelot Appleby. The cause why we delayed adjusting what should be plunder so long was the unreasonable expectations of some among us. This made us wait till now we had a proper opportunity and could better insist on our owner's interest.

  Besides, we were not willing that any difference should arise about this naughty affair when the prisoners were on board, nor till we had finished the rigging of our ships lest it should have put a full stop to our business or at least have hindered our proceeding cheerfully. July 30th, we over-held our plunder chests and what was judged to be plunder by men appointed with the owner's agents, was carried aboard the galleon which was kept clear between decks in order to divide it.

  Mr. Frye and Mr. Pope were to be the appraisers for the Duke and Mr. Stratton and Mr. Connolly for the Duchess. So I hope to get over a troublesome job peaceably. July 31st, Mr. Navarre's bark grew leaky and Benjamin Parsons, one of our midshipmen that had charge of her, ran her ashore without orders at high water thinking to have stopped her leak at low water and got her off the next tide. But contrary to his expectation, the vessel strained and sunk so that we had much ado to get out what we had aboard her.

  Time enough and were forced to leave in her ten bales of damaged base and a great deal of iron work which we gave Mr. Navarre in part of payment for what we have received of him from the settlement on the main. August 1st, the officers we appointed to praise the plunder met on board the galleon and valued the clothing in order to divide it amongst the officers and men of the ship according to their respective shares. August 2nd, we continued appraising the plunder and found it a very troublesome task.

  August 3rd, Captain Cook told me they had discovered another leak and was troubled at so many leaks in a harbor so that I began to dread that all our labor and time was lost on the marquee but hoped for the best. August 4th, yesterday in the afternoon they made an end of appraising the clothes at a very low rate amounting to upwards of £400 and the silver-handled swords, buckles, snuff boxes, buttons and silver plate used aboard every prize we took and allowed to be plundered at £4.06 per piece of eight

  amounted to £743.15 besides £3.122 of gold which was in rings, gold snuff boxes, earrings and gold chains taken about prisoners. This I believe to be an exact account. This morning we had liked to have a mutiny amongst our men. The steward told me that several of them had last night made a private agreement and that he heard some ringleaders by way of encouragement boast to the rest that sixty men had already signed the paper.

  Not knowing what this combination meant or how far it was designed, I sent for the chief officers into the cabin where we armed ourselves, secured two of the chief of those mutinous fellows and presently seized two others. The fellow that wrote the paper we put in irons. By this time all hands were upon deck and we had got their agreement from those who were in the cabin the purport of which was to oblige themselves not to take their plunder nor to move from thence till they had justice done them as they termed it.

  There being so many concerned in this design, Captain Dover and Frye desired I would discharge those in confinement upon their asking pardon and faithfully promising never to be guilty of the like or any other combination again. The reason we shooed them this favor was that there were too many guilty to punish them at once and not knowing what was designed aboard the Duchess Anne Marquis, we were of opinion they had concerted to break the ice first aboard the Duke and the rest stand by them. Upon this I used what arguments I could offer, shooed them the danger and folly of combinations and extorted them to believe they would have justice in England

  should anything seem uneasy to them now or in the whole course of the voyage, adding that we had done all that we could for their good and would continue our endeavors not doubting their good intentions provided they were not misled. With these and other healing arguments all appeared easy and quiet and every man seemed willing to stand to what had been done provided the gentlemen that were officers and not sailors amongst us had not such large shares which they alleged was unreasonable and that they could not possibly in a privateer deserve what they were allowed in proportion to the rest of the ship's company.

  This we did in part yield to in order to appease those malcontents by making some abatement on Mr. White's, Mr. Bath's and Mr. Van Brew's shares so that we hoped this difficult work would, with less danger than we dreaded, be brought to a good conclusion. For disputes about plunder is a common occasion of privateers quarreling amongst themselves and ruining their voyages. Sailors usually exceed all measures when left to themselves and I counted a privilege in privateers to do themselves justice on these occasions though in everything else I must own that they have been more obedient than any ship's crews engaged in the like undertaking that I ever heard of.

  Yet we have not wanted sufficient trial of our patience and industry in other things so that if any sea officer thinks himself endowed with these two virtues let him command in a privateer and discharge his office well in a distant voyage and I'll engage he shall not want opportunities to improve if not to exhaust all his stock. Had Captain Courtney and I kept what is always allowed to be plunder in privateers and not voluntarily given our parts amongst the men but for a greater and more generous design and view v's the good of the voyage

  our parts of the plunder would have been above ten times so much as it is now because very little valuable plunder was taken out of any place but the great cabins and all this in every prize is of right due to the commander that takes it. But if we had acted thus we foresaw the fatal consequences that we must have suffered by it for the officers and crews would plunder unaccountably as is too often practiced in privateers to keep their men together

  though but meanly to their duty so that we to preserve a good discipline gave an imminent example to them of preferring the common interest before our own to our particular loss. We have had lately almost a general misunderstanding amongst our chief officers and some great abuses which I suppose sprung at first from several unhappy differences arriving at and before our attempt on Guayaquil. This made me so particularly relate all that past material in that attempt

  so that I doubt not anyone's contradicting this journal to my disadvantage. Yet in differences of this kind amongst the sailors we all join and I hope agree though I long for a reconciliation and good harmony amongst us which is so essential to the welfare of the voyage but not being willing to make the reader a party taker or trouble his patience to read over unreasonable feuds I have left them as much as possible out of my journal.

  Captain Morale that went for the main to get victuals returned. The negro we caught first and punished we kept in irons but this night missed him. We suppose he got his irons off and swam ashore. We had the following committees confirmed the officers of the marquee agreed to sell the bark and her cargo got off all our wood and water and made preparation for sailing.

  We designed to leave the launch we built at Lobos with Senor Morales and Navarre being of no further use to us though hitherto she had done us very good service. Here follows what we agreed on in council. At a committee held on board the Duchess riding at Gorgona August 6th 1709 we whose names are hereunto subscribed appointed as a committee on board the ships Duke and Duchess

  do hereby empower and order Captain Cook to command the marquee Mr. Charles Pope Lieutenant, Mr. Robert Neumann Master, Mr. William Page Chief Master, Joseph Parker Second Mate Mr. John Ballet Doctor, Benjamin Long Boatswain, George Knight Gunner, Edward Gorman Carpenter and other officers as the captain shall direct aboard the marquee. Each of the above officers or the others on their good behavior

  to have such wages as those in the same office on board the Duke and Duchess and to cruise on this coast in our company or where else Captain Cook shall think convenient in his return to Bristol should he be unfortunately separated from us. Witness our hands. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Robert Frye, William Stratton

  Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, William Bath, George Milburn, John Bridge, Lancelot Appleby Memorandum We have now done careening, fixing and loading our ships with the marquee and taken all manner of goods out of our prizes as much as our ships can carry having received a valuable consideration of Mr. Morell and Navarre, the masters of our two prizes.

  We are all of opinion that we had best leave them in possession of their ships and what Negroes we can't carry, hence our present circumstances and the condition of the prizes not allowing us to remove them from this place could we make ever so great advantage of them elsewhere. So judge it our present interest to ply to Windward to try for other purchases and sale of the goods

  and if possible to take or buy provisions. We all agree to land one of the Guayaquil hostages at Manta in order to procure money to pay for the ransom of the town and a bark we have sold the same man laden with prized goods. Witness our hands this 6th of August 1709.

  Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, Charles Pope, William Stratton, Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, William Bath, John Ballet, Lancelot Appleby. I drew up the following agreement to which we officers swore on the Holy Evangelists because I thought it the most proper method to prevent the confusions which were like to happen among us because of the jealousies that were entertained of one another and came to such a height that I feared a separation.

  We, having made a solemn agreement, do this instant sign voluntarily and give each other our oaths on the Holy Bible and as we hope for forgiveness of sins and salvation by the alone merits and intercession of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ to keep severely and strictly this serious concerted memorandum. First, we agree to keep company and assist each other on all occasions and with all necessaries as far as our abilities reach and our common safety requires.

  Secondly, that in case we engage at any time with the enemy, we design it in consort ship and that each commander and second in each ship here to subscribe shall on all occasions without the least reserve and to the utmost of his power be forward and ready to assist, rescue or defend each other with the utmost dispatch, bravery and conduct, even to the apparent hazard of his ship and all that is dear to him. While knowing all of us that on whatever occasion should either of our ships be deserted by the other two

  and taken or lost in these barbarous and remote parts, it's very improbable ever the men will get home and the survivors would be in as bad if not a worse condition than the dead. On these and the like considerations we do hereby solemnly agree never to desert each other in time of need, if possibly we can't afford it, and to be to the utmost of our power and knowledge alike brave and attacking or defending ourselves against the enemy to the last extremity.

  But if we are so unfortunate to see one ship inevitably perish, then the two remaining, after they have used their utmost endeavors for the distressed ship and find all past recovery, may then agree on the best methods for their own security. The like for one ship if two are lost, but for no other reason, to desert this firm and solemn agreement of consort ship, and to shoe that none of us is so unbecoming a man as to shrink back or slight this agreement in time of action,

  we agree it shall not be altered without the consent of all us three commanders and the major part of the officers here too subscribed, and to a duplicate in each ship of the same date in Gorgona the sixth day of August 1709. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, William Stretton, Charles Pope, Charles Connolly, Thomas Glendale.

  Another paper was also drawn up for every man to swear what clothes, goods, etc. he had received of the agents and to restore whatever he had taken without the agent's knowledge in order to adjust distribution of the plunder, and everyone was to oblige himself in a penalty of 20 shillings for every shilling value that could be found about him concealed, besides the former penalty agreed on of losing his share of any price or purchase for concealing above the value of half a piece of eight, and for the encouragement of discoveries the informer was to have half the penalty and the protection of the commanders.

  This paper was objected against by several of the officers who insisted that there ought to be a greater latitude allowed them to advantage themselves since they had ventured their lives hither on so difficult an undertaking which made us defer the signing till a better opportunity, for unless such agreements as these had been constantly promoted as occasion required, the temptation of interest would have made us all fall into irrevocable confusions abroad which generally end in a separation or worse. End of Section 12

• 13 - Island of Gorgona part 2 and Galapagos Islands

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  August 7. We gave Signor Morell and Navarre their ships, and all the goods we could not carry away, for what money our agents received of them, though they expected to have had them at an easier rate. We came to sail this morning.

  The dividing the plunder has took up more time than we were willing to spare, but twas absolutely necessary to do it. We took Signor Navarre with us before we came to sail. I went ashore, and shewed Signor Morell how we had left things between his ship and the other prize.

  Mr. Navarre left his son-in-law in charge of this vessel and goods, then came with me on board our ships, expecting to have the bark betwixt him and our ransomers, if they paid us a guayaquil. Wind virable in the southwest quarter, a lee current. August 8.

  Yesterday at six in the evening the island of Gorgona bore south by east distant six leagues. Just before night we took our men out of the bark and left her in possession of an old Indian pilot, and some Negroes and Indian prisoners, putting our ordinary ransomer aboard to go in her, as we agreed on, before we came out.

  I and Captain Dover signed a paper to protect them from being seized by the Spaniards if they should lose company with us, but ordered them not to stir from us. I also desired the Spaniards aboard the duke, who had agreed for her strictly to charge the crew in the bark not to leave us willingly, which they did, because our agreement was not in writing, but only verbal, promising us 15,000 pieces of eight for the bark and

  her cargo, including the remainder of the town's ransom, we designing to have it under their hand in Spanish and English to-morrow, before we would wholly let go the bark. But this morning, to our surprise, the bark was out of sight. The marquise is very crank and sails heavy on a wind. We held the following committee to endeavor to help the marquise's sailing.

  At a committee held on board the duchess at sea, off the island of Gorgona, August 8, 1709, Memorandum. The marquise not answering our expectations, but proving crank and sailing heavy, we now advise Captain Cook to heave the duchess's two heavy guns overboard and 20 boxes of snuff with two spare top masts and bring his ship more by the stern, stowing everything as low

  as possible in the ship, to endeavor to make her stiffer, and if he finds anything more necessary for the benefit of the ship, we desire him to do it. Witness our hands, signed by the majority of our council. Amongst our prisoners taken on board Senor Navarre's ship from Panama, there was a gentle woman and her family.

  Her eldest daughter, a pretty young woman of about eighteen, was newly married and had her husband with her. We assigned them the great cabin aboard the galleon, and none were suffered to intrude amongst them or to separate their company. Yet the husband, I was told, showed evident marks of jealousy, the Spaniard's epidemic

  disease. But I hope he had not the least reason for it amongst us, my third lieutenant, Glendal, alone having charge of the galleon and prisoners. For being above fifty years of age, he appeared to be the most secure guardian to females that had the least charm, though all our young men have hitherto appeared modest beyond example

  among privateers. Yet we thought it improper to expose them to temptations. At this time, Lieutenant Connolly, who behaved himself so modestly to the ladies of Guayaquil, was some days in possession of Navarre's ship before we stopped here, to remove these prisoners aboard the galleon, where he gained their thanks and public acknowledgments for his

  civilities to these ladies, and even the husband extols him. We had noticed these ladies had some concealed treasure about them and ordered a female negro that we took, and who spoke English, to search them narrowly, and found some gold chains and other things cunningly hid under their clothes. They had before delivered to Captain Courtney plates and other things of good value.

  We gave them most of their wearing apparel and necessaries, with three female mulatto slaves and parted very friendly. They confessed to our people who put them ashore that we had been much civiler than they did expect, or believed their own countrymen would have been in the like case, and sent back the husband with gold to purchase some goods and two slaves of us.

  I come next to the description of Gorgona. Gorgona is three leagues in length, northeast and southwest, but narrow. It's about six leagues from the main, full of wood and tall trees, one of them called Palma Maria, of which the Spaniards make masts, and use a balsam that flows from it for several diseases.

  The island appears at a distance indifferent high and in three hummocks. There is riding for ships all over against the northeast side, but in some places foul ground and shoaled near the shore, particularly on the southeast side and near the southwest end, where there's a small island almost joining with shoal ground and breakers near a mile to the eastward from that end.

  Captain Dampier has been here several times but never rode where we did, which is the best and only good road in the island. The Spaniards told us of strange storms and heavy tornadoes of wind about this island, but we found it otherwise, and had only frequent showers and thunder. But in the time of breezes, which the Spaniards call our winter months, and in spring till

  the beginning of May, here are now and then northerly strong breezes of wind, and then I believe the road must be shifted to the other side of the island, which may be at that time the best riding. With this we had no time to try, neither do I think it half so bad as these puny mariners tell us.

  About this island are several remarkable rocks. At the southwest end, there's one that looks like a sail half a mile offshore. At the northeast end, there are several high ones, round and steep, near a cable's length offshore where the sea fowls breed. The beasts and insects we saw in this island are monkeys, guinea pigs, hares, lizards,

  which change their colors, and are fine creatures to look at. Several species of great and small snakes, and so numerous that tis dangerous for a man to walk the island for fear of treading on them. There's great variety of plants and trees peculiar to these hot climates, and little or nothing resembling what we have in Great Britain.

  But it being out of my road to describe such things, I refer them to such whose talents lie that way. There are also several sorts of fish unknown in our seas, besides mullets in Great Plenty, but hard to be caught with hook and line, which I suppose is occasioned by the clearness of the water, so that they easily see the hook and avoid it.

  Here's also some white coral, an abundance of oysters, and, as I am told by the prisoners, good pearls in them. We caught an ugly creature here, which I suppose may be of the monkey kind, because it looked like one of the middling sort. But with this difference, his hair was thicker and longer, his face, eyes, and nose less,

  and more wrinkled and deformed. His head of the same shape, but his ears not so large, his teeth longer and sharper, his hindered parts more clumsy, and his body thicker in proportion, with a very short tail, and instead of five claws, like fingers, as a monkey has, he had only three on each paw, with the claws longer and sharper.

  We let one of them go at the lower part of the mizzen shrouds, and it was about two hours getting to the masthead, which a monkey would have performed in less than half a minute. He moved as if he had walked by art, keeping an equal and slow pace, as if all his movements had been directed by clockwork within him. The Spaniards call it a sloth, and not improperly.

  They say it feeds on the leaves of a certain lofty tree, and when it has cleared one, before it can get down and walk a little way to find and climb another, would grow lean and be almost starved. I saw no land birds here, because I suppose the monkeys destroy their nests and eggs. We shot many of them, none of our officers would touch them, provisions not being yet

  so scarce. But Captain Dampier, who had been accustomed to such food, says he never ate anything in London that seemed more delicious to him than a monkey or baboon in these parts. August 9th. I proposed sending the marquise to India, and thence to Brazil, and then we could add

  to our own stock of bread and salt provisions, and if she got well to Brazil, would vend her goods at an extraordinary rate, to the advantage of the voyage, and we too should be strong enough to wait for the Manila ship. But Captains Dover and Courtney did not think it reasonable. August 10th.

  We got to Windward very slowly, here being a constant current which runs down to Leeward into the Bay of Panama. August 11th. Early afternoon I went aboard the Duchess, and carried with me Dr. Dover. We discoursed about parting with Captain Cook, and giving him only a sailing crew to go for

  Brazil and sell his cargo. But finding the majority against my proposition, I dropped it, though I fear we shall repent it. There were no other reasons but to save provisions. Captain Cook came to us aboard the Duchess to put in execution the order of the eighth

  instant, where we agreed as before to throw two of the heaviest guns overboard he had out of the Duchess, being less valuable than the goods between decks, and what lumber they had besides, which he did, and we perceive his ship much stiffer, and sails better. Our consorts, Captain Courtney and his officers, with some of mine, are uneasy at parting with the bark, so that if we come up with her, we must take to her again, for peace's sake.

  August 12th. Yesterday evening the island of Gorgona was in sight, and bore east half south about thirteen leagues. At six this morning we met with the bark, and put Mr. Selkirk aboard her with his crew. At nine this morning we sent our boat for Captain Courtney and Captain Cook, when we

  had a second consultation, which again concluded with keeping the marquise and bark, though I was of opinion they'd be rather a detriment than furtherance to us in anything, so long as the marquise sails so heavily, besides the benefit of more provisions that would have been left for us that must stay behind. August 13th.

  In the evening last night we saw the island of Gallo, bearing south by east, distant six leagues. We have a strong current runs to leeward, so that we lost ground, and at eight this morning was again in sight of Gorgona, bearing northeast by east, distant about twelve leagues. Had rainy weather all night with thunder and lightning, but indifferent fare in the morning.

  Wind virable in the southwest quarter. This coast is more subject to hot weather than any other part of Peru. August 15th. We sounded several times in the night, and had ground in about fifty fathom water, not above two leagues off shore.

  August 16th. This day I mustered our negroes aboard the duke, being about thirty-five lusty fellows. I told them that if we met the Spaniards or French, and they would fight, those that behaved themselves well should be freemen. Thirty-two of them immediately promised to stand to it, as long as the best Englishmen,

  desired that they might be improved in the use of arms which some of them already understood, and that if I would allow them arms and powder, these would teach the rest. Upon this I made Michael Kendall, the Jamaica free negro who deserted from the Spaniards to us at Gorgona their leader, and charged him to be continually exercising them, because I did not know how soon we might meet an enemy.

  I took down the names of those that had any, and such as wanted I bestowed names on them, to confirm our contract made them drink a dram all round to our good success. At the same time I gave them bays for clothes, and told them that they must now look upon themselves as Englishmen, and no more as negro slaves to the Spaniards, at which they expressed themselves highly pleased.

  I promised myself good assistance from them if need be, having this proverb on their side, that those who know nothing of danger fear none. And for our own parts we must not submit to be prisoners, though forced to engage at the greatest disadvantage, but every one resolved to stand to the last, for if taken we shall be worse than slaves.

  August 18. At six this morning we saw a sail which bore west-northwest of us. We and the Duchess gave chase and took her in about an hour. The Duchess had kept her company ever since twelve at night, and thought her to be our bark.

  She was a vessel of about seventy ton, bound from Panama to Lima, but was to stop at Guayaquil. They had very little aboard besides passengers, for they knew of our being in these seas. The best of her cargo was about twenty-four negroes, men and women. I sent our agent aboard to examine the prize. August 19.

  After dinner aboard the Duchess we examined the prisoners. They could tell us little news from Europe, but said there came advices by a packet to Portobello from Spain, and by a French ship from France, not long before they came out of Panama. That all was kept private, only they heard in Panama that his Royal Highness Prince George

  of Denmark was dead, which we were not willing to believe, but drank his health at night, which can do him no hurt if he is dead. We read several letters from Panama, by which we understood that when they heard of our taking Guayaquil, they kept their gates shut day and night for above a week, and that the inhabitants kept guard on their walls, being afraid we should attack them next.

  And by what I can guess we might have taken that town as well as Guayaquil had we but double our number of men. They had various conjectures about us when at Panama, and were continually alarmed not knowing where to expect us. August 20.

  At ten in the morning we board down to the Duchess, who had Spanish colors flying, to make a sham fight to exercise our men and the negroes in the use of our great guns and small arms. Here I must not forget a Welshman that came to me and told me. He took the ship we were going to engage for the Duchess, till he saw the Spanish colors,

  and that being overjoyed with the hopes of a good prize, he had loaded his musket with shot and designed to fire amongst the thickest of them, which he would certainly have done had he not been forbid. But this it appears that blundering fools may have courage. During this sham engagement everyone acted the same part he ought to have done, if in

  earnest firing with ball accepted. For our prisoners were secured in the hold by the surgeons, who had their instruments in order, and to imitate business for them. I ordered red lead mixed with water to be thrown upon two of our fellows, and sent them down to the surgeons, who, as well as the prisoners in the hold of the ship, were very

  much surprised, thinking they had been really wounded, and the surgeons actually went about to dress them, but finding their mistake it was a very agreeable diversion. August 23. Yesterday at one in the afternoon we tacked and stood for the shore, but at two we drew near discolored water and sounded, had but eight fathom, and very near an ugly shoal,

  which the Spaniards tell me runs off about two leagues from the shore, off a high, white cliff, three leagues to the north of Tacames. At six last night Cape San Francisco bore south by west distant about six leagues. We sounded again and had forty fathom water. We stood off at night and at six in the morning tacked for the shore.

  The wind here is always more southerly as we draw near the equinox. August 24. At ten this morning I went with Captain Dover aboard the Duchess, where we agreed to send the bark into Tacames, being now under our lee, and we to follow them. We ordered our linguist to buy provisions of the Indians there, and put several men

  well armed aboard, to keep the bark till our ship could arrive near enough to protect her, if occasion, in case of an attack. August 25. About two yesterday in the afternoon we bore away for Tacames after the barks. I went aboard the Duchess and found our pilot, and most of the Spaniards, who are generally

  ignorant, uncertain whether it was the port under our lee, though I never saw more remarkable land. This made us the more timorous, and me in particular, because Captain Dampier, who was here last voyage, and said he had passed near it very often, was fool as dubious as our slaves that never saw it.

  This occasioned me to hurry aboard our own ship to secure her, for I doubted our being near Shoals, because the water was very thick and white. Captain Courtney sent his pinnace ahead sounding, and we followed, he having then all the pilots aboard. We kept the lead sounding from forty to thirteen fathom water, very uneven depths, till we

  came within two leagues of the anchoring place. We had every cast about fourteen fathom water, and saw the houses by the waterside. Then I was easy and satisfied. Before we got in, the barks were at anchor, and our linguist, Mr. White, without orders, ventured ashore with a Spanish prisoner.

  We designed that the prisoner alone should discourse the Indians and try to trade for a refreshment. It was night as they landed, just against the houses where the Indians lay in ambush, with firearms, bows, arrows, and lances among the trees, and fired several times at our boats, though they told the Indians in Spanish that they were friends, and called to them

  often to forbear firing. Our men having the good luck to escape being shot, they hid themselves all night, whilst we feared they were either killed or taken. But at daylight they called again to the Indians, and prevailed with them to trade for what we wanted, provided their Padre would give consent.

  He lived about six leagues off, and they promised to send and ask his leave. Our linguist told them we had a Padre aboard, whom we esteemed, and he would absolve them if they traded with us. In this they desired we would permit him to come ashore, which we granted. August 26.

  The Padre aboard, who was zealous to conclude this treaty with the Indians to our content, went this morning ashore, and returned aboard in the evening. While he was ashore, he writ a letter to the priest of the place in our favor, earnestly recommending a trade, and expressing the many civilities we shewed to him and the other Spanish prisoners beyond their expectation, adding that we were sensible of the smallest

  favors, and would not fail of making very grateful returns. He convinced the inhabitants ashore, and also informed the Padre how easily we could land and burn the church and houses and lay waste of the adjacent parts, but that we were full of charity and very kind to those in our power. This wrought so well on the people that they promised faithfully that they would only wait

  till tomorrow, and if the Padre did not consent, would not withstanding trade with us. They brought with them a naked Indian who, like a savage, viewed very narrowly every part of our ship. He was wonderfully taken with the great cabin, where he lay on his side, scarce satisfied after an hour's gazing wildly about him, till giving him a dram of brandy and a few toys

  to be rid of this visitant, I obligingly led the gentleman out, and giving him old bays for clothing, our yawl carried him ashore, to influence the rest by our kind usage of him. At the same time all the rest of our boats full of casks with the men well armed went up the creek between us and the village for fresh water, where they accidently met one

  of the chief Indians painted and armed with bows and arrows. He came friendly and advised them to go higher up the river, otherwise the water would be brackish. They offered him a dram out of a quart bottle of strong brandy, he drank the major part of it at once, and went away extremely pleased, telling them we should be supplied with what

  we wanted from the village. August 27th. Last night the boats came from the village laden with water, and brought a letter from the Tacamas Padre assuring us that he would not obstruct our trade. Theonabantons also told us that cattle, hogs and plantains would be ready for us, and desired

  we should bring ashore bays and other goods to pay for them, which we did, and this morning our boats returned with black cattle and hogs, leaving Captain Navarre, one of our chief prisoners, and Mr. White, our linguist, to deal with the Indians. This morning we began to heal and clean our ship's bottoms, and sent several of our best sailors and two carpenters to assist the marquise.

  Ashore our men keep one half at arms while the rest load the boats, left the Indians, who are generally treacherous, should watch an opportunity to fall on them. Our people that came off the shore took particular notice that the red paint with which the Indians were first daubed was a declaration of war, and after we had amicably treated with them they rubbed it off, but still kept their arms.

  We sent them three large wooden Spanish saints that we had out of Morel's ship to adorn their church, which they accounted a great present, and I sent a feathered cap to the chief Indian's wife, which was likewise very well accepted, and I had a present of bows and arrows in requital. August 28th Yesterday in the afternoon we made an end

  of healing and cleaning our ship. Our boats brought from the shore at several times water, plantains, and other provisions with hogs and two black cattle. Our linguist and prisoner managed their business beyond expectations, selling very ordinary bays at one piece of eight and a half per yard, and other things in proportion so that

  we have provisions very cheap. August 29th Captain Cook buried one John Edwards, a youth who died of a complication of scurvy and the pox which he got from a loathsome negro whom we afterwards gave to the prisoners, that she might do no further mischief on board. In the afternoon we concluded how to proceed from this place as follows.

  At a committee held on board the duke the 29th of August 1709 into Commis Road. We have considered our mean stock of provisions and that our time is fair spent, therefore do think it for the good of the forage to part with several negroes, besides those taken in the last prize, and to make as good a contract as we can with two or more of the substantial prisoners, and to return their produce to Alderman Batchelor and Company, our owners

  in Bristol, in the best manner we can, having no other method to make an advantage of them. We are now being designed to cruise for the Mineral Ship, but if any accident parts us that our place of rendezvous is in the latitude of Cape Corrientes in sight of land. It is likewise a Greece to sell the hull of the last prize, to carry the small bark with us, and to turn one of the guayaquil prisoners ashore here in order to save provisions.

  Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, Edward Cook, Robert Frye, Charles Pope, William Stratton, Thomas Glendal, John Connolly, John Bridge, John Ballet, Lancelot Appleby. Then we found it necessary to agree as follows, August 29th, 1709. In consideration of the great risk that Captain Edward Cook and Captain Robert Frye ran in

  attacking the Marquis, when in the hands of the Spaniards we do in behalf of the owners agreed to give Captain Cook, the Black Boy Dublin, and Captain Frye, the Black Boy Emmanuel of Martinico, as a free gift. Thomas Dover President, Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, William Dampier, William Stratton, Charles Pope, John Connolly, John Bridge, John Ballet, Lancelot Appleby.

  August 30th, Yesterday Peter Harry, a Frenchman and Lazarus Luke, a Portuguese, both good sailors ran from our y'all ashore. Suppose Peter Harry was he who shot a sentinel at Guayaquil as before mentioned. We did not punish him because he was a foreigner and did not well understand English, but suppose he was afraid of a prosecution in England.

  Yesterday evening at the above mentioned committees aboard our ship, after a long dispute, some measures were agreed on, contrary to my expectations. If we had not grown irresolute since we left Gorgona, but continued our design to put our ashore at Manta, and part with our clog, the Marquise, which I so earnestly pressed the ninth instant, by this time in all human probability we should have made good our bargain to the

  advantage of the voyage, besides getting provisions and necessaries that we shall mightily want. The goods that we might have vended there for ready money I fear will rot before we get the like opportunity. Time being now so far spent, we must proceed as we agreed for the Galapagos to get Turtle to lengthen our provisions, and then for the coast of Mexico to look for the Manila ship

  bound for Acapulco. The two Negroes given to Captain Cook and Mr. Fry in the committee yesterday is not an equivalent gratuity for the risks they voluntarily ran when they attacked the Havre de Grace, now called the Marquise. Such actions ought sometimes to be particularly rewarded among us, else we might lose great

  opportunities of advantage for want of due encouragement to personal bravery, and in this action, where there was but a few concerned, t'was a fit and cheap way of encouraging the rest, without offence to any. We put our young Padre ashore, and gave him, as he desired, the prettiest young female Negro we had in the prize, with some bays, linen, and other things, for his good services

  in helping to promote our trade for provisions here. We sent also a male Negro and piece of bays to the Tacamas Padre in acknowledgement of his kindness. The young Padre parted with us extremely pleased, and, leering under his hood upon his black female angel, we doubt he will crack a commandment with her and wipe off the sin with the Church's

  indulgence. The Indians ashore promised to bring our men to us if they can find them, we having offered them a large gratuity to do it. August 31. Yesterday in the afternoon we put ashore our useless Negroes, I having concluded with Signor

  Navarre and taken the best methods we could to be paid at Jamaica for them. He had also four bails of bays and one piece of camelot, and became obliged to our owners for 3,500 pieces of eight to be remitted by way of Portobello, with the English trading sloops to Jamaica, which if he do, tis much better than to turn the Negroes ashore as prisoners of war, as otherwise we must have done to save provisions.

  took one obligation and I the other, he having signed a duplicate to us. We had the best opinion of this man's honesty and ability which made us trust him solely. In the evening we cleared our prisoners and put them all aboard the prize, which we left in the road with only one ordinary anchor and hauser, and no rigging except what belonged to the foresail and foreyard, which we left them to run the vessel at high water into

  the river. We turned ashore here, our least responsible hostage for Guayaquil, resolving to keep but two, which must be carried home. According to the last conclusion, in a committee of the 29th instance, we came to sail at six this morning.

  Captain Cook lost two Spanish Negroes, which he supposed swam ashore from his ship in the night. A fresh gale at south-southwest. At noon Cape St. Francisco bore south by west one half west distant about six leagues. The land to the northward, which is the limit of the bay of Tacamas, is a long bluff high

  point and looks white down to the water. The next land to the southward of Tacamas is also white cliffs but not so high. I saw no land on any part of the shore like those white cliffs. Between them, which is about three leagues, the land is lower, full of wood, and trimming inward makes a small bay, and the village of Tacamas lies in the bottom, consisting

  of seven houses and a church, all low built of split bamboos, covered with palmetto leaves and standing on posts with hog sties under them. These houses have notched pieces of timber instead of stairs to get up to them. The village lies close by the water side and may be seen when the bay is open above four leagues.

  To suppose they had sent off their best furniture on notice of our approach, for there's nothing of worth in their houses nor church. The women had only a piece of baize tied about their middle. Men are dexterous at hunting and fishing. There's a large village about four leagues off where the Padre resides, and several Indians

  live between these villages. The next river, three leagues to the northward, is very large and called Río de las Esmeraldas, but shoaled, and the country about is thinly inhabited by Indians, mulattoes, and sambos. By the village of Tacamas there's a river into which a boat may enter at half tide. It flows here above three-fathom water, the flood runs to the northward and the ebb to

  the southward. There is an infinite number of plantains for three days' journey into the country. The nearest are about a league from the houses and were brought to our boats down this river in their canoes. Here runs a great surf on the shore so that were it not in these parts of the world it

  would be but an ordinary road. Ships generally come in from the southward, or at least directly in with the southernmost white land, and then bear away because, as we were informed, there is an ugly shoal runs off the northernmost white land about two leagues into the sea, being the place where we had but eight-fathom water on the twenty-third instant as I noted before.

  We now came in from abreast off Cape San Francisco, latitude one degree zero minutes north, and this lies in about east-north-east near six leagues from Cape San Francisco. We came no nearer than half a league of the shore because there is a small shoal off a point about halfway between Tacamas and the Cape, which is an indifferent high promontory, and as we made it falls down like stairs to the water.

  We had good clean grounds where we rode near half a league from the shore in seven-fathom water, but a league into the bottom of the bay, where the houses lie, there is not above three-fathom a good musket shot from the shore. There is another river enters in by a single house between us and Tacamas village, where we fetched our water about two leagues up this river, and it is very narrow and shoaled

  all from the entrance. We went in on half flood. Here's sea and land breezes as well as on all this coast near the mainland. The sea breeze at west and west-southwest, the land breeze at south and south by east. The sea breeze comes generally in the afternoon and holds till midnight when comes the land

  breeze, which dies away calm towards the middle of the day. There's a rock under water at quarter flood and a shoal above a cable's length offshore, from the first point as you go in for the narrow river where we watered. A ship ought not to come to an anchor near the shore if high water and less than six fathom, because at certain times, and out, of course, as the Indians told us, the tide

  ebbs exceedingly low. Its dry weather here, though showery to the northward, being the limits of the rains at this time of year. From June to December it is always dry, and from the beginning of January to the last of May there are showers now and then.

  The Indians about this place are sometimes barbarous to the Spaniards, as our prisoners tell us. Our people saw here about fifty armed with bows and arrows and some good firearms. They are worse to engage than double the number of Spaniards, so that it would have been folly in us to land men here, where there is so little to begot, and the Indians with poisoned

  arrows and firearms would line the bushes down to the water side, and no doubt we should have lost many of our men had we landed by force, so that we are all extremely obliged to Mr. White, our linguist, for negotiating a trade in so peaceable a manner with these poor mischievous wretches, which must in justice be ascribed to his good management, he accomplishing it voluntarily with the danger of his life.

  Twas off this cape that Sir Francis Drake in 1578 took the rich plate prize, and Sir Richard Hawkins was taken by the Spaniards in this bay off of Tacoma's in 1594, both in Queen Elizabeth's time. September 1. At six this morning Cape St. Francisco bore south-east distant ten leagues from whence

  we take our departure. Had fair weather, wind at southwest by south. We saw many water snakes, one of them crawled up the side of Captain Cook's ship but was beat off by his men. The Spaniards say their bite is incurable.

  September 6. This day I had Captain Courtney, Captain Cook, and Captain Dampier aboard who dined with us. Captain Cook complained of his ship being crank, and that we need not have tacked so near the shore, since we might easily fetch the Galapagos without tacking.

  I'll agree to this except our pilot, who is very positive of seeing other islands about 100 or 110 leagues from the main under the equinox. He tells us he was at them formerly when he was a buccaneer, and has described them in one of the volumes he calls his Voyages, and says that those islands we were at lay to the westward of them.

  But he must be mistaken, or we had seen them in the last runs to and from these islands. September 8. We are run over and beyond where our pilot affirmed the islands were, and no sight of them, so we all agree that the islands he was at when a buccaneering can be no other but those we were at, and are going to now.

  The nearest part of them lies 165 leagues to the westward of the mainland. September 10. The eighth we made one of the Galapagos Islands, and in the morning hoisted out our pinnace. Captain Dover and Mr. Glendal went in her for the shore. The Duchess's pinnace returned very soon laden with turtle.

  September 11. Yesterday we came to an anchor in about 30 fathom water, about two miles offshore, being rocky at bottom. In letting go the anchor, the buoy rope was immediately cut off, and our ship drove, so that we thought our cable was also cut, but after driving about half a mile the ship rowed

  very well. In the evening our boats that left us after we came to an anchor returned laden with excellent good turtle. We sent our yawl and some men ashore to turn those creatures in the night, but to no purpose because we afterwards found they only come ashore in the day.

  I sent away our pinnace and Lt. Frye to sound out a better anchoring place, while we hove up the anchor and came to sail. Our boat returned and by 10 o'clock we had our ship again to an anchor within less than a mile off the shore, right against a white sandy bay. The outermost great rock being near the middle of the island bore north by east, distant

  six miles. The little rock appearing like a sail bore west by south about four miles. Here we rowed very smooth in good sandy ground. The wind amongst these islands generally blows from the southeast to the south by west. I went ashore in the pinnace and carried men to walk around the sandy bay to get turtle.

  The island is high like the rest, but some low land on this side down to the sea. It's very rocky, dry and barren without water, like those we have already seen. September 12th This morning I sent to the duchess who was at an anchor a good distance from us to know how they were stocked with turtle.

  At 10 the boat returned with an account. They had about 150 land and sea turtle, but not generally so large as ours. We had no land turtle as yet, but about 150 sea turtle. The marquise had the worst luck. September 13th

  The duchess's people having informed us where they got their land turtle, I sent our pinnace, which at night returned with 37 and some salt they found in a pond, and the y'all brought 20 sea turtle so that we are very full of them. Some of the largest of the land turtle are about 100 pound weight and those of the sea upwards of 400.

  We land turtle lay eggs on our deck. Our men brought some from the shore about the bigness of a goose's egg, white with a large thick shell exactly round. These creatures are the ugliest in nature, the shell not unlike the top of an old hackney coach, as black as jet, and so is the outside skin, but shriveled and very rough.

  The legs and neck are long and about the bigness of a man's wrist, and they have club feet as big as one's fist, shaped much like those of an elephant. They have five thick nails on the forefeet, and but four behind, the head little and visage small like a snake, and look very old and black. When at first surprised, they shrink their neck, head, and legs under their shell.

  Two of our men with Lieutenant Stratton and the trumpeter of the duchess affirm they saw vast large ones of this sort about four feet high. They mounted two men on the back of one of them, who with its usual slow pace carried them and never minded the weight. They suppose this could not weigh less than seven hundred pound.

  I don't affect giving relations of strange creatures so frequently done by others already in print, but where an uncommon creature falls in my way I shall not omit it. The Spaniards tell us they know of none elsewhere in these seas. This morning we began healing our ship and found that abundance of worms had entered the sheathing.

  We scrubbed, cleaned, and tallowed as low as we could. September fourteenth. Yesterday afternoon we sent a boat ashore for wood. They brought off the rudder and bolt spirit of a small bark. We fancied it might be Mr. Hatley's that we lost amongst these islands when here before,

  but on view perceived it to be much older. We also found two jars in a place where fire had been made on the shore, but nothing to give us further hopes of poor Mr. Hatley. Our pinnace came aboard and brought about eighteen bushels of salt and eighteen land turtle more.

  The men commended them for excellent food, especially the land turtle, which makes very good broth, but the flesh never boils tender. For my own part I could eat neither sort yet. Having got as much turtle on board as we could eat while good, we agreed to make the best of our way to the coast of Mexico, and this morning our consort and the marquees were

  under sail by eight o'clock, but we lying farther in were becalmed and could not follow them. We caught a good quantity of fish here, which we split and salted for our future spending. About twelve o'clock, being calm, we weighed our anchor and, with the help of our boats and ships oars, got off the shore.

  September fifteenth. We had a fine breeze, came up to the rest, and agreed to lie by with our heads to the eastward till midnight, being in sight of the island and rock where we lost poor Mr. Hatley when last here. In the morning we stood to the westward amongst the islands.

  September sixteenth. At four o'clock in the afternoon we sent our y'all for Captain Cook and Captain Courtney, with whom we agreed to bear away, seeing so many islands and rocks to the westward, we did not care to encumber ourselves amongst them in the night. By six we found the remedy worse than the disease, and at Masthead could see all low

  rocks almost joining from island to island, that we seemed landlocked for three parts of the compass, and no way open but to the south east from whence we came. So we resolved to return that way, and made short trips all night, keeping continual sounding for fear of shoals, and had from forty to sixty fathom water. In the morning we had got far enough windward to return.

  We could have no observation by the sun being in our zenith, though we find the weather here much colder than in any latitude within ten degrees of each side of the equinox. September seventeenth. Yesterday afternoon I went aboard the marquise being brought to between the two islands in sight of the rendezvous rock I have so often mentioned.

  Meanwhile the duchess, not being so well provided with turtle as we, sent her boat ashore on another island where they got her lading of excellent turtle, leaving a vast number ashore that they could not bring away. We have as many aboard as we have room for, being, as we suppose, enough to last us to the trace of Maria's if they live.

  At seven we all joined in a green to lie by till two in the morning, when we again jogged on with an easy sail till daybreak. We were abreast of the thoroughfare where we tried for water the last time. I ordered a gun to be fired at a venture to see if it were possible Mr. Hatley could be there alive, and then seeing or hearing us might make a smoke ashore as a signal.

  But we had no such good luck, so that our hopes of him are all vanished, and we finally conclude that we can do no more for him than we have done already. The eighteenth and nineteenth we saw several more islands, one of them a large one which we suppose reached near the equinoctial, and an abundance of small islands betwixt us. The nineteenth at noon we had an indifferent good observation, latitude two degrees, two

  minutes north. The Galapagos Islands needs no further description than I have at several places given of them, only that I believe, as others before have observed, that the turtle come ashore in the sandy bays of these islands all the year round. We saw in all, some that we searched and others that we viewed at a distance at both times,

  no less than fifty, but none that had the least appearance of fresh water. The Spanish reports agree that there is but one that has any, which lies at about latitude one degree, thirty minutes south. Senor Moral tells me that a Spanish man of war employed to cruise for pirates was once at an island that lies by itself in the latitude one degree, twenty or thirty minutes south.

  They call it Santa Maria de la Cuara, a pleasant island, in good road, full of wood, and plenty of water and turtle of both sorts, with fish, etc., lying about one hundred forty Spanish leagues west from the island Plata. But I believe it's at least thirty leagues more, and that it's no other but the same island where Captain Davis, the English buccaneer, recruited, and all the light he has left to

  find it again is that it lies to the westward of those islands he was at with the other buccaneers, which, as I have before examined, can be no other than these islands we have been twice at. We had no occasion to look for this island the second trip, though I believe it's easy to find it without farther directions.

  Here's most sorts of sea-birds amongst these islands and some land-birds, particularly hawks of several sorts, and turtledoves, both so very tame that we often hit them down with sticks. I saw no sort of beasts, but there are guanas in abundance and land-turtle almost on every island.

  To strange how the latter got here, because they can't come of themselves, and none of that sort are to be found on the main. Seals haunt some of these islands, but not so numerous, nor their fur so good as at Juan Fernando's. A very large one made at me three several times, and had I not happened to have a pike

  staff pointed with iron in my hand, I might have been killed by him, one of our men having narrowly escaped the day before. I was on the level sand when he came open-mouthed at me, out of the water, as quick and fierce as the most angry dog let loose. I struck the point into his breast and wounded him all the three times he made at me, which

  forced him at last to retire with an ugly noise, snarling and chewing his long teeth at me out of the water. This amphibious beast was as big as a large bear. End of section 13

• 14 - Off Mexico

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  SEPTEMBER 22. The marquise had sprung a large leak for want of good caulking at first in Gorgona. I went aboard with our carpenter who assisted theirs, and with a piece of lead nailed over the leak, being in the water's edge, soon stopped it, and we made sail again in little time.

  Wind at south by east. We had a good observation. North latitude 6 degrees 9 minutes. Every day as we leave the equinoctial, more distant, the heat increases very much. October 1st.

  Yesterday we made the main land of Mexico. It bore northeast distant about ten leagues. We hoisted out our yawl and fetched aboard Captain Cook and his lieutenant Mr. Pope, Captain Courtney and Captain Dampier. The latter says he knows this high land, but the latter directs us all to know it.

  Captain Dampier, near this place, five years past, met the Manila ship in the St. George and had a fight at a distance, but he says for want of men could not board her and after a short dispute was forced to let her alone. We hauled off the shore west-northwest, not caring to be near enough to be seen from the land to alarm the coast too soon.

  We had often, showers of rain, wind at south-southeast. October 2nd. Most part of this twenty-four hours we had squalls and then little wind at south-southeast, intermixed with sultry hot weather. Our men began to be unhealthy again, having lately dropped down on the deck, but after

  bleeding came pretty well to themselves. We agreed with our consort to lie by from eight at night till daybreak. At noon it cleared up and we saw the land, at least eight leagues off, though we seemed just under it, it was so very high. We made Cape Corrientes bearing northeast about eight leagues, by which we judge, according

  to our observation at noon, that it lies in latitude twenty degrees ten minutes north. We know it to be Cape Corrientes because we could see no land to the northward of it and that it was a headland. Captain Dampier has been here also, but it was a long time ago. We all agreed it was the Cape and that we had best haul off northwest to look for the

  islands trace Marias, which are not far from this Cape, but we are not certain of their situation. October 4th. Yesterday afternoon at four the Cape bore east-northeast about ten leagues. We kept on under an easy sail all night.

  In the morning we saw two islands, being very clear weather, at least fourteen leagues distant, one bearing north by west and the other north by east. At noon we had a good observation, latitude twenty degrees forty-five minutes north. Though our men have their fill of land and sea turtle which keeps them from the scurvy, yet I find them weak, it being but a faintly food, except they had sufficient bread or

  flour with it, they having but a pound and a quarter of bread or flour, for five men a day, to prolong our stock of bread against we come to live wholly on our salt provisions, and then must be forced to allow more. October 6th. In the morning we sent Lieutenant Frye in the Pinnis, shore on the easternmost island,

  to try whether there was any good road or convenience for us to recruit there. At nine they returned and told me the island had foul ground near half a mile from the shore, bad anchoring, worse landing, and no fresh water, but would enough. A melancholy story, our water growing short. We hauled on a wind for the middle island which Captain Dampier, I do believe, can remember

  he was at, when he belonged to Captain Swan and found water. Being little wind we sent our boat towards the island to view it before we could get thither with the ship. October 7th. The Duchess's people and our Pinnis had been ashore at several places on the southeast

  side of the island and found bitter water at every place. Our ship got soon to an anchor near the Duchess in eleven-fathom water and sandy ground, about a mile and a half off shore. October 8th. Those that had been on the island saw no sign of peoples being lately there, but found a

  skull above ground which we suppose to have been one of the two Indians Captain Dampier tells us were left here by Captain Swan about twenty-three years ago. For victuals being scarce with these buccaneers, they would not carry the poor Indians any farther, but, after they had served their turns, left them to make a miserable end on a desolate island.

  We kept a light out all night and a great fire in the island that if the marquise and had left the company, saw it, and had a gale, they might come into anchor ground. By having no sight of them at daybreak, I went on board our consort and proposed my going out to look after him, but they made light of it and thought it needless, believing they would be in after us without any assistance.

  The recruit of cattle, hogs, and plantains at Tacames held to the Galapagos, and we have fed on turtle, we got there ever since, excepting these last two days. This accidental stock of fresh food has been some refreshment to our men, and prolongs our stock of European provisions. Now bread or flour will be the first thing wanting.

  We had little wind northerly, and often calm. October 9. Yesterday I sent Lt. Glendale to view the other side of the island, and he brought me back word it was much better than this, with sandy bays and signs of turtle in the sand, which he believed came ashore the last night.

  I sent back the boat and men to try to get turtle, and this morning they came back with their boat's load of very good ones, and left another lading behind them ready turned. They also had found indifferent good water on the northeast side of the island, which rejoiced us to be so unexpectedly supplied. For the other water on this side of the island had purged those that drank it aboard the

  duchess like physics. We had no sight yet of the bark or marquise. Tis very hot with an air of wind northerly, but almost calm. Our consort has sent their penis in quest of the missing ships. October 10.

  Lt. Connolly of the duchess that went in quest of them returned without any news. And we having begun trimming our ship and stripping the rigging, the duchess desired to go and look for them, meanwhile we were to employ our people to cut wood and get a stock of turtle against their return. We found an excellent run of water on the other side of the island and sent our penis

  to view the westernmost island to see if either of the missing ships had got into anchor there. Captain Dover being willing to remove aboard the duchess, I desired our officers to make the following memorandum. Trace S. Maria Islands. We the underwritten, appointed part of a committee now present on board the duke, do certify

  that Captain Dover requested to go on board the duchess and desired us to take notice it was his own choice to do so. Witness our hands this 10th day of October 1709. Stephen Courtney, Woods Rogers, William Dampier, Robert Frye, Thomas Glendal, Lancelot Appleby. At the same time, the following agreement was made where to meet with the duchess and

  they took a copy with them. In case we aboard the duke don't see the duchess return in 10 days, then to be ready to sail and first look in the latitude 20 degrees north in sight of the land, if not to be found there to run off the land farther into sea and then in sight again but no nearer than within six leagues of the land to prevent discovery.

  We are to bring all full of water and turtle for second recruit to keep a continual lookout for them and leave a signal at the south end of this island. October 11th. According to this agreement Captain Dover went himself and sent his servant with his necessaries aboard the duchess.

  In the evening they came to sail and carried above 100 large turtles that we brought to them in our boats for victualing to save salt provisions. We hope the current that has hitherto run to Leeward will quickly shift and facilitate their return that we may not be obliged to follow them. I ordered six yards of red and white bays to be joined together to spread it as a signal

  on the island for directing them to a letter from me in a bottle by it should we unexpectedly quit the place in her absence. October 12th. Last night our pennies which had been in quest of the missing ships returned from the westernmost island and saw no sign of the ships.

  Our people tell us they heard aboard the duchess that the bark had not two days water when they left them which made me very uneasy lest she should go to the main after water which would discover us and might prove the occasion of losing her also. Yesterday we put Negroes ashore to cut wood for the absent ships and last night our boat came off and brought but three out of ten seven having run away into the woods.

  Immediately we dispatched several men round the island with arms to endeavor to catch them when they came down out of the woods to get food at the seaside. These Negroes had an antipathy against Michael Kendall the Jamaica Negro and designed to have him killed had not one of those that came aboard given him timely notice of it. A Negro amongst the runaways could write well which made me get our ransomers to write three

  Spanish papers of encouragement to incite the fugitives upon sight of them to return promising that Negro his freedom and everything else he or the rest of them could reasonably desire. These papers we nailed up against trees by the brookside while there we would be sure to see them.

  My reason for so doing was to prevent these fellows from giving notice of us on the coast if they reached the main on bark logs which they could make with the hatchets they had to cut wood for us. If this method fails of success tis in vain to hope for finding them by searching the island every part of it being full of thick woods and prickles which make it unpassable.

  On the sandy shore we began to employ our rope makers to spin twine for the Duchess and Marquise who complain their stock is short. Our people found another spring of excellent water on the other side of the island. October 13th, yesterday afternoon the Duchess came in sight with the bark in tow and soon after we saw the Marquise.

  We kept a light out that they might the better find us. In the morning we saw them at anchor between the two islands. I weighed in their sight and put out our ensign for them to follow us to the watering place on the other side of the island which they did accordingly. The wind continues northerly with a lee current.

  October 14th, yesterday in the afternoon we came to an anchor in sixteen fathom water off the northeast side of the island. I went immediately in our penis aboard the Duchess that was then under sail with the bark in tow two leagues from us. About four they and the Marquise came to an anchor.

  I told them of our negroes deserting us which had prevented our getting a good stock of wood in their absence and we agreed to keep all our negroes on board the ships and narrowly watch them to prevent their desertion for the future. Mr. Duck who was the master of the bark told me the day they lost sight of us their water was expended and two of the bark's crew in a very small canoe left her almost out

  of sight of land and being smooth calm weather fortunately had got aboard the Marquise to acquaint Captain Cook they had no water upon which he bore down to them and took her in tow. Had he not done this the bark must have run for the mainland to get water which might have alarmed the enemy and endangered the loss of the vessel and men.

  They were not above eight leagues off the island but it being hazy weather and having little wind and a lee current they could not get in or see us. October 15th, we could not get to the watering place near the northwest corner of the island until seven last night when we anchored in seven fathom water clean sandy ground about a half a mile from the shore.

  The westernmost point bore west by north about three miles and the easternmost east by south six miles. The body of the westernmost island bore northwest distant four leagues. This morning we got our empty casks ashore and began filling water. Had we not very fair weather at this season and little wind this place would be but an

  ordinary road. October 16th, Captain Courtney sent me word that the marquise who has been again missing was well moored at the southeast side of the island and could not easily turn it hither so we agreed she should lie there and we would water her from hence with our boats. October 18th, Lt. Fry went in the pinnace last night to view the weather island and

  he returned this morning and told me there was a road but not very good and that he could find no water. October 19th, we hauled the seine and caught some fish. This morning we found some bale goods damaged which we believe they received before we had them and we unpacked and dried them and sold what was most damaged amongst the ships company

  repacking and stowing away the rest. Very hot weather and a little air of wind north. October 23rd, we began this morning to take aboard our turtle and the remainder of our wood and water designing in the evening to return and anchor on the southeast side of the island to join the marquise and to agree on a station to cruise for the manila ship.

  Our men shot a snake ashore and brought it aboard dead. I saw it measured 15 inches round and near 10 foot long. Some of them are much longer. This was of a hazel color spotted called by the Spaniards here a leopard serpent. October 24th, all the officers met aboard the Duchess and signed a duplicate of every

  conclusion in all committees since we have been in these seas. Many of the resolutions wrote aboard this ship were in my custody and others wrote aboard the Duchess and Captain Courtney's but it was thought advisable that each of us should have all the copies signed alike. While we were together we agreed on a station to lie for the manila ship but I lately proposed

  parting and to meet again at Cape Corrientes or any other appointed station and for us in the Duke to cruise off the same place where Captain Dampier met the manila ship in the St. George or else the marquise and Duchess to take that station and I would go to Cape St. Lucas since by either method we would have two chances for the prize and get provisions which we begin to want very much.

  This method might prove better than to be at one place where we could not be supplied with provisions but the officers of the Duchess and marquise seemed unwilling to part companies and the majority thinking Cape St. Lucas the prosperous place to lie for the manila ship bound for Acapulco I drew up our resolution which was signed by the whole council who on this occasion were all together.

  At a committee held on board the Duchess at the Islands Trace Marias October 24, 1709. We whose names are hereunto subscribed being members of a committee appointed to manage the affairs of the Duke, Duchess and Marquise having recruited our ships at these islands and being in a readiness to put to sea again. We have examined the opinion of Captain Dampier appointed pilot by the owners of the ships

  Duke and Duchess in Bristol and have been well informed from all the intelligences we have frequently had from prisoners since our being in the South Seas and do now finally determined to cruise off Cape St. Lucas the southernmost Cape of California in such methods and with such signals to each other as shall be agreed on in our next committee. We resolve with the utmost care and diligence to wait here the coming of the manila ship

  belonging to the Spaniards and bound for Acapulco whose wealth on board her we hope will prompt every man to use his utmost conduct and bravery to conquer. This is our opinion the day above. Thomas Dover President Woods Rogers, Stephen Courtney, Edward Cook, William Dampier, Robert Frye, William Stratton, Charles Pope, John Connolly, William Bath, Thomas Glendal, George

  Milburn, Robert Nollman, John Bridge, John Ballet, Lancelot Appleby. Being all supplied with wood, water and turtle we came to sail at 11 this forenoon winded north by west a fine gale but ere I proceed with my journal I will give a short description of these islands. The islands of Trace Maria's lie northwest in a range at equal distances from each other

  about four leagues asunder. The largest island is the westernmost appears to be high double land and about five leagues in length the middle island about three leagues the longest way and the easternmost scarce two leagues. These are also middling highlands and full of trees.

  Near the least island are two or three small broken white islands one of the outermost of these appeared so much like a ship under sail at a distance that we gave the usual signal for a chase but soon found our mistake. These islands have abundance of different sorts of parrots, pigeons, doves and other land birds of which we killed great numbers with excellent hairs but much less than ours.

  We saw abundance of guanas and some raccoons the latter barked and snarled at us like dogs but were easily beat off with sticks. I think the water more worthy of remark than anything we saw here because we found but two good springs which ran down in large streams near others that were very bitter and disagreeable which I suppose might proceed from shrubs and roots that grow in the water or from some mineral.

  The turtle here is very good but of a different shape from any I have seen and though vulgarly there's reckoned but three sorts of turtle we have seen six or seven different sorts at several times and our people have each of them all except the very large hooping or loggerhead turtle as they are called found in Brazil in great plenty and some of them above 500 l weight.

  We did not eat of that sort because then our provisions were plentiful which made those turtles to be slighted as coarse and ordinary food. Those at the Galapagos Islands both he's and she's I observed came ashore in the daytime and not in the night quite different from what I have seen or heard of the rest. All that we caught in this island was by turning them in the night and were she's which came

  ashore to lay their eggs and bury them in the dry sand. One of these had at least 800 eggs in its belly 150 of which were skinned and ready for laying at once. I could not imagine that turtle were six weeks in hatching as some authors write considering the sun makes the sand so very hot wherever these eggs are found and instead of a shell

  they have nothing but a very thin film. In order therefore to be better informed I ordered some of our men ashore to watch carefully for one and suffer her to lay her eggs without disturbance and to take good notice of the time and place. Accordingly they did so and assured me they found the eggs addled in less than 12 hours

  and in about 12 more they had youngins in them completely shaped and alive. Had we stayed a little longer I might have given myself and others a thorough satisfaction in this quick production of nature. From hence I am inclinable to credit the report of divers of our sailors who assert that where they have found eggs in the sand and looked for them three days after in the same place

  they found nothing but films, this shoes that the young ones are hatched within that time. They assured me also that they had observed oftener than once that the young brood run out of the sand every day directly for the sea in great numbers and quicker than the old ones. At this time here was little fish about the shores of this island and of the same sorts

  mentioned at other places in these seas. But the plenty of turtle at this time supplies that defect. We the chief officers fed deliciously here, being scarce ever without hares, turtle doves, pigeons and parrots of various sizes and colors. Many had white or red heads with tufts of feathers on their crowns.

  I wished to withhold but tis vain to tantalize ourselves. For we must soon fare otherwise and take to our old food of almost decayed salt pork and which we must prize, and hardly wish we had more aunt. We found good anchor ground about this middle island and gradual soundings from twenty to four fathom water close by the shore.

  Between this and the least island tis about the same depth. Where we were between them I found no shoal, but what was visible, as a rock off the southwest point and a shoal off the northeast point of the same, with another at a greater distance from that point off the least island, but neither runs above half a mile from the shore. I know no danger about them, but what with care might be easily avoided.

  Where we rode we could see spots of high land which I suppose was the continent joined by low land between it, the northermost bore north by east half east about sixteen leagues distance. I take it to be the starboard entrance into the gulf or strait of California. The nearest land us bore east north east about twelve leagues and the southermost east southeast

  at least seventeen leagues very high, which I believe is the next headland to the northward of Cape Corrientes. I had but two opportunities to see it just at sun rising because tis very hazy during our stay here, so that I might err in the distance, but the best directions for these islands is thus.

  We account the nearest bears north and northwest from Cape Corrientes twenty eight leagues, that it lies in the latitude twenty one degrees fifteen minutes north and the longitude one hundred eleven degrees forty minutes west from London. I return to my journal. October 28th.

  At six this evening the westernmost island bore east northeast fifteen leagues. The wind has been very little and virable, with a great swell out of the northwest. I sent our y'all with a lieutenant aboard the Duchess and Marquis with whom we agreed as we ran to the northward that the Acapulco ship might not pass us if they should arrive sooner than we expected.

  We agreed to be to the leeward, the Marquis to the windward, and the Duchess between us, and all to keep insight of each other. I ordered our surgeons and Mr. Van Brue to see the inside of the physical chest that Captain Dover left us and take an inventory of what was in it. We saw no more of the islands.

  October 29th. Little easy gales and sometimes quite calm and extreme hot. We can hardly keep our ground against the current that runs strong to the southward. We are in the same latitude and I judge about the same place we were two days ago. October 30th.

  This morning one of our negro women cried out and was delivered of a girl of a tawny color. Mr. Wassa, our chief surgeon, was forced to discharge the office of a midwife in a closed cabin provided for that purpose. But what we most wanted was good liquor, to keep up or imitate the women's laudable custom

  of a refreshing cup on such an occasion. I accidentally found a bottle of thick strong Peru wine, a good part of which was given to the sick woman, who desired more than we could spare her. She had not been full six months amongst us so that the child could belong to none of our company.

  But to prevent the other she-negro, called Daphne, from being debauched in our ship, I gave her a strict charge to be modest, with threats of severe punishment if she was found otherwise. One of the duchess's black nymphs having transgressed this way was lately whipped at the capstan. This I mentioned to satisfy the censorious that we don't countenance lewdness and that

  we took those women aboard only because they spoke English and begged to be admitted for laundresses, cooks, and semstresses. November 1st. This day we saw high land being the point of California. By noon the westernmost in sight bore west by north eight leagues, and the northernmost

  north half-west about ten leagues. We had an observation latitude 22 degrees 55 minutes longitude 113 degrees 38 minutes west from London. November 2nd. The westernmost land we set yesterday noon we make to be Cape St. Lucas, the southernmost

  headland of California. We agreed on signals and stations and to spread southwest into the sea off of this cape that now bore north by west from us. November 3rd. Our stations being concluded I was to be the outermost ship, the duchess in the middle

  and the marquee next to the land, with the bark to ply and carry advice from ship to ship. The nearest ship to be six leagues at least and nine at most from the land. By this agreement we could spread fifteen leagues and see anything that might pass us in the day within twenty leagues of the shore.

  And to prevent the ships passing in the night we were to ply to Windward all day and drive at night. Whilst we were together we at last settled the form of our agreement for each ship that all the ship companies might sign it for everyone to give account of all plunder he has received, that he may be charged with what's more than his share, and those, now

  or for the future suspected or accused of concealment, when demanded shall give their oaths before the commanders to the truth of their accounts. And if anyone was found to conceal above the value of half a piece of eight he is to be severely punished and fined twenty times its value. This we did to deter everyone from fraudulent practices, which if we should happily take

  this ship might also prevent disorders. November 4. I ordered a sailor into Irons for threatening the Cooper, and one Peter Clark, an ill-abusive fellow, I ordered to have the like punishment because he had wished himself aboard a pirate and said he should be glad that an enemy who could overpower us was alongside of us.

  November 5. Yesterday in the afternoon, the Duchess being near, I sent our y'all aboard with Lieutenant to agree more exactly on some remarkable land, that each of us knowing the same landmark might the better keep our stations. We agreed also that the marquee should now be in the middle and the Duchess next the

  shore, as being the properest stations. This morning we put all manner of lumber and chests down, designing to keep all as clear as possible that we might not be in a hurry if near the Acapulco ship. November 6. This day ended our stock of turtle we had at the Maria's.

  Being all she's, with eggs in them, they would not keep so long as those we had at the Galapagos Islands. We have for some days thrown more dead turtle overboard than we killed for eating. November 7. Yesterday I went aboard the marquee and desired them to tell Captain Courtney when he came

  off the shore that we would take the inner berth and exchange again for the same number of days that we might have equal chances for seeing the Manila ship. As I now think, the inner berth the likeliest. Sir Thomas Cavendish, in Queen Elizabeth's time, took the Manila ship in this place on the 4th of November.

  November 12. Yesterday afternoon all our ship's company signed the before mentioned agreement finally to settle plunder. At the same time we signed another agreement to prevent gaming and wagering, some of our crews having already lost most of their clothes and what else they could make away with.

  To prevent those loose and dissolute courses we signed both agreements as follows. We the officers, seamen, and landmen belonging to the ship Duke, having made several former agreements concerning the equal sharing of plunder, do now desire and agree that each man give an exact account of all clothes, goods of value, or necessaries of any kind he has, over and above his dividend delivered him at Gorgona, or has purchased of others

  since, to be rightly charged to him in his account of plunder by the agents appointed, and to restore whatever he has taken without the agent's knowledge, and to prevent any persons detaining and concealing any goods or riches of any kind now or for the future, more than their respective shares, in order to a right distribution of plunder, except arms, chests, knives, Roman relics, scissors, tobacco, loose books, pictures, and worthless

  tools and toys, and bedding in use which are not included in this agreement, and those that have already only things of this kind are not liable to a penalty. We do voluntarily sign this and offer ourselves to be obliged firmly by these presents to be under the penalty of twenty shillings for every shilling of value taken, hid, or concealed by any of us, or removed out of any prize without written orders from the commanders

  publicly, and that none but the agents already named, or to be named hereafter, shall detain in possession any plunder. But whatever is found concealed shall be valued, and the persons that hid it to be fined as aforesaid, which penalty we acknowledge to be laid on us by our own desire, content, and approbation, over and above the former penalty agreed on, that any person shall lose his share of every prize or purchase taken, whether cargo or

  plunder, that conceals of either the value of a half a piece of eight, and this to remain in force to the end of the voyage. And to encourage discoveries of such concealments, whatever person discovers the fraud of any, who shall be so imprudent as to detain more than his due, in any goods that has not been shared before as plunder, or purchased of the owner's agent or commander's, the informer

  of such fraud shall have one half given him gratis out of the offender's shares and wages, the other half for the use of the ship's company as plunder, which information shall be encouraged by the commanders of each ship in order to prevent frauds as long as his voyage holds, and that ever hereafter accounts shall be made up and the plunder immediately adjudged to prevent confusion.

  We likewise agree that if any of us hereafter shall without farther proof be accused of concealing plunder or goods of value belonging to any prize, he shall, on request before a committee of all or either of the ship's commanders and chief officers, voluntarily make affidavits to answer fully and satisfactorily to such questions as shall then and there be demanded of him in order to prevent fraudulent concealments, and on his refusal agrees to

  be punished or degraded, and to be subject to such penalties as a general committee shall think fit to inflict on him or them. Everyone hereunto subscribed is within three days from the date hereof to settle his account of plunder, after which time this instrument is in full force and not before. Signed by the officers and men of each ship.

  The agreement to prevent gaming was as follows. We the ship's company, belonging to the ship Duke now in the South Seas, being adventurers so far to improve our fortunes in a private man of war, under the command of Captain Woods Rogers, who has a lawful commission from His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark, and considering the apparent hazard of our lives in these remote parts, do mutually agree

  to prevent the growing evil now arising amongst us, occasioned by frequent gaming, wagering, and abetting at others' gaming, so that some by chance might thus too slightly get possession of what his fellow adventurers have dangerously and painfully earned. To prevent this intolerable abuse we shall forbear and utterly detest all practices of this kind for the future, during the whole voyage, till our safe arrival in Great Britain,

  where good laws of this kind take place. In designing effectually to confirm this our desire and agreement, we do jointly remit all sorts of notes of hand, contracts, bills, or obligations of any kind whatsoever, that shall in any way pass, directly or indirectly, signed by either of us after the Duke hereof, provided the sum in each note be for gaming, wagering, or abetting, any way whatsoever

  by any of us. And to prevent our being misled for the future, all manner of obligations of this kind and for this consideration, shall be wholly invalid and unlawful here and in Great Britain or Ireland. And thoroughly to secure this method we farther jointly agree that no debt from this time

  forward shall be lawfully contracted from man to man amongst us unless by the commander's attestation, and entered on the ship's book. It shall appear done publicly and justly to prevent each other's frauds being connived at amongst us. And that none of us may fraudulently do ill things of this kind for the future, and make

  a pretense to ignorance, we have all publicly and voluntarily set our hands, desiring the true intent and meaning hereof may take place without the least evasion, it being, as we very well know, for our common interest and public good that not one of us employed on this dangerous and remote undertaking might be so unhappy to arrive at his wished-for country and habitation poor and dejected.

  And being thoroughly sensible of the necessity of this agreement we have set our hands. Designed by all the officers and men in each ship in sight of California November 11, 1709 November 13. The water being discolored, and we near the shore, we hove the lead but found no ground. November 17.

  Yesterday we sent the bark to look for water on the main, and this morning they returned having seen wild Indians who paddled to them on bark logs. They were fearful of coming near our people at first, but were soon prevailed with to accept a knife or two and some bays, for which they returned two bladders of water, a couple of live foxes and a deer skin.

  Till now we thought the Spaniards had missionaries among those people, but they being quite naked having no signs of European commodities, nor the least word of Spanish, we conclude that they are quite savage. We dispatched the bark and boat a second time with odd trifles, in hopes to get some refreshment from them.

  November 19. Before sunset last night we could perceive our bark under the shore, and having little wind she drove most part of the night, that she might be near us in the morning. We sent our pennies and brought the men aboard who told us that their new acquaintance were grown very familiar, but were the poorest wretches in nature and had no manner of refreshment

  for us. They came freely aboard to eat some of our victuals, and by signs invited our men ashore. The Indians swam ashore in the water to guide the bark logs that our men were on, there being too much sea to land out of our boat. After they got safe on shore the Indians led each of our men betwixt two of them up the

  bank where there was an old naked gentleman with a deer skin spread on the ground, on which they kneeled before our people, who did the like and wiped the water off their faces without a cloth. Those that led them from the waterside took the same care of them for a quarter of a mile, and led them very slowly through a narrow path to their huts where they found a dull

  musician rubbing two jagged sticks across each other and humming to it to divert and welcome their new guests. After the ceremonies were over our people sat on the ground with them, ate broiled fish, and were attended back in the same manner with the Indian music. The savages brought a sample of everything they had except their women, children, and

  arms which we find are not common to strangers. Their knives made of shark's teeth and a few other other curiosities, our people brought a board to me which I have preserved to shoe what shifts may be made. November 21. Last night we saw a fire ashore which we interpreted to be a signal from the inhabitants that they

  had got something extraordinary for us, and we wanting refreshments sent our bark and boat this morning with one of our musicians to shoe that we could at least equal them in music. November 22. Our boat returned and brought in account that they had found a very good bay with a

  fresh water river, and that they saw near five hundred Indians who lived there in small huts but had no recruit for us besides a little fish. They met them as customary and piloted the bark to that place which we suppose was the same that Sir Thomas Cavendish recruited at in Queen Elizabeth's time, Anno 1588. November 23.

  Our main top-gallant mast being broke we got up another, but the rope breaking the mast fell down upon the deck amongst the men, but by God's providence hurt nobody. At eight last night our ship sprung a leak so that we were forced to keep one pump going. November 25. Captain Courtney came aboard in his yawl and complained his stock of water was almost spent.

  I agreed with him to send in our pinnace and a bark to supply them with water. November 26. This morning our pinnace returned from shore, brought three barrels of water and two very large fish from the Indians which served most of the ship's company. Those that came from the shore observed the Indians were not so friendly to our men as

  customary. November 27. They refused to let them come ashore after it was night which could not be to prevent their thieving because the miserable wretches had nothing to lose, yet they are jealous to keep what they have, and though they make no use of their land might be afraid of rivals.

  November 28. Yesterday in the afternoon we heard the Marquis fire a gun which was answered by the Duchess who had the middle berth. We tacked immediately and made all possible sail, supposing they had seen a stranger. The Marquis stood toward us towards the shore and we soon met her.

  By four o'clock I was aboard them and inquiring into the cause of the alarm, and was surprised to hear they took us for the Milanilla ship. And the gun they fired was to alarm the Duchess to give chase, as she had done all the day, though not regarded by us, who knew the Marquis and admired they could mistake the Duke. Immediately each ship returned to a station, soon after our main tie gave way and our main

  yard came down at once, but did no other damage. This morning we saw the bark coming offshore where she had been becalmed. Being longer wanting than usual, we were afraid they were cut off by the Indians. We got our bale goods up from a baft to see for the leak, but all to no purpose. We found some of the bales that had received old damages, which we dried and repacked,

  and sold what was damaged among the ship's company. November 29th. Last night our lazaretto door being broke open and losing bread and sugar. This morning I ordered a search and found the thief. I blamed the steward for his reminiscence.

  He told me he lay next to the door with the key fastened to his privy parts, because he had it once stolen out of his pocket, I suppose by the same thief. He was so dextrous to get it now without disturbing him, but not being ingenious enough to fasten it to the same place he was discovered. His mess-mate was also guilty, but knowing his friends in Bristol I was unwilling to

  punish him, though provisions being scarce it makes the crime the greater, for we expect no recruit till we get to the East Indies. I ordered the first to be severely whipped at the gears, and the other and a Dutchman to be afterwards left with him in irons. December 9th.

  Mr. Duck, the master of the bark, came aboard and presented me with some dolphins he had from the Indians. I ordered our master to go with him, and endeavor, if possible, to discover the shore along to the northward, to find out a better harbor than that where the Indians lived, and if they met with the Duchess to tell Captain Courtney I thought it convenient for one of

  the ships to go into the bay we had already discovered, and there to take in water and wood, etc., so to fit our ships by turns to save time, and consequently provisions, which begin to grow short with us. We were now something dubious of seeing the Manila ship, because it's near a month after the time they generally fall in with this coast.

  December 14th. Yesterday I went aboard the Duchess, where it was agreed the marquee should go into the harbor and refit with all manner of dispatch, in the meantime we to keep the outer berth, and the Duchess to be betwixt us and the shore, and to cruise but eight days longer, without we had a prospect of the Manila ship, because our provisions grow short.

  December 20th. Having compared our stock of bread, and of what would serve to prolong it, we agreed that a committee should be held, and that everyone should give his opinion in writing, whether we should attempt taking a town to victual us, and so continue the cruise for some time longer, or to make all possible dispatch to refit, and sail hence for the

  island Guam, one of the Ladrones, and there, if possible, to get a fresh recruit. My opinion was as follows. Onboard the ship Duke, cruising off Cape St. Lucas in California, this 19th of December, 1709. Eight days ago I was with Captains Courtney and Cook, and computed what bread there might

  be left aboard the three ships, and we all agreed there might be sixty-four days' bread of all sorts for each ship when equally divided. Since which time there is eight days spent, so that there should be left no more than 56 days' bread. But on a rummage of both ships, Duke and Duchess, and strictly computing everything that will

  help prolong our bread, we hope to make fourteen days more bread, which may be, in all, seventy days' bread to come. We must expect, before we can get fitted hence, to spend at least nine days, and add to that our passage to Guam, which we can't think will be less than fifty days, is fifty-nine days' bread.

  By this account, which is the utmost, eleven days' bread will be left when we come to Guam. I am of opinion, now, we have searched each other's ships to prevent frauds, that there can be no more than eleven days' bread left when we come to Guam, as above, except we shorten our allowance very much, which we can't do till driven to the last extremity,

  our allowance being very small already. But if we should have an unexpected long passage from hence to Guam, it will go hard with us at the present allowance, besides we are not certain of a recruit at Guam. By the foregoing account, it's plain what flour and bread kind we have left, and the risk we must now run to get to the East Indies, would so mean a stock.

  This I doubt not will be full satisfaction to our employers, that we have prolonged our cruise to the utmost extent, in hopes to meet the rich Manila ship. But since fortune has not favored us, we must think of other methods to promote our safety and interest. Except we resolve to take a town here to victual us, tis evident we can't cruise, and tis

  my opinion that now our time is so far spent, we ought to attempt nothing more in these seas, lest our too long stay might be the loss of all, because the worm has already entered our sheathing. For these and other reasons I think it highly necessary that from this instance we make all manner of dispatch to fit and sail hence for the island of Guam, one of the Ladrones

  Islands, and there if possible to get a fresh recruit, and consult how further to proceed for the interest of our employers, and our own advantage and reputation. This I give as my opinion aboard the Duchess this 20th of December 1709, Woods Rogers. This my opinion, being perused with the rest, we came to the following resolve. We the officers present in a committee on board the Duchess, having farther considered

  our short store of bread and bread kind, and finding it too little to continue our cruise longer here for the Manila ship, do therefore now agree to get a harbor, and there to recruit with the utmost dispatch, and sail for the island of Guam, or any other place where we can re-victual. We design to consult farther of our next proceedings when in harbor.

  This is our present opinion. When is our hands this 20th day of December 1709? At signing, this in the committee we all looked very melancholy and dispirited, because so low in provisions, that if we should not reach Guam in the limited time, or accidentally miss it, we shall not have enough till we arrive at any other place.

  Necessity forces us to design from hence to Guam, and thence to the East Indies, for if we had provisions to go back round Cape Horn, and to stop in Brazil, and there to sell our Europe prize goods, it might be much more for our advantage, and be sooner at Great Britain. December 21, pursuant to yesterday's agreement, we made the best of our way into the harbor

  called by Sir Thomas Cavendish, Port Segura, where the marquee was refitting. By having calmed most part of the afternoon, in a current sitting to Leeward, we rather lost than got ground. Towards morning, there sprung up a gale, and we found ourselves to Leeward of the port, though we took all advantages of the wind.

  But to our great and joyful surprise, about nine o'clock, the man at masthead cried out, he saw a sail besides the duchess and bark, bearing west half south of us, distant about seven links. We immediately hoisted our ensign, and bore away after her. The duchess soon did the same, but it, falling calm, I ordered the pinnace to be manned and

  armed, and sent her away to make what she was. No more of the pinion twas the marquee come out of the harbor, and to confirm this, said they could discern the sail, to have no fore-top mast. So the boat, being not out of call, returned back, and we put a cap in her for the marquee, then set her away again, by which time it was noon.

  The cape bore north-north-east of us, distant about five leagues. December 22, We had very little wind all yesterday afternoon, so that we neared the ship very slowly, and the boat not returning kept us in a languishing condition, and occasioned several wagers, whether twas the marquee or the Acapulco ship. We kept sight of our boat, and could not perceive her to go aboard the ship, but made towards

  the duchess's pinnace, who was rowing to them. They lay together some time, then the duchess's boat went back to their ship again, and ours kept dogging the stranger, though at a good distance, which gave us great hopes that twas the manila ship. I sent Mr. Fry aboard the duchess an hour y'all to know what news, and if the ship was

  not the marquee, to agree how to engage her. We then hoisted a French ensign, and fired a gun, which the stranger answered. Mr. Fry returned with joyful news that it was the ship we had so impatiently waited for, and despaired of seeing her. We agreed the two pinnaces should tend her all night, and keep showing false fires, that

  we might know whereabouts they and the chase was. And if we were so fortunate to come up with her together, agreed to board her at once. We made a clear ship before night, had everything in a readiness to engage her at daybreak, and kept a very good lookout all night for the boat's false fires, which we saw and answered frequently.

  At daybreak we saw the chase upon our weather bow about a league from us, the duchess ahead of her to leeward near about half as far. Towards six our boat came aboard, having kept very near the chase all night, and received no damage, but told us the duchess passed by her in the night, and she fired two shots at them, but they returned none.

  We had no wind, but got out eight of our ship's oars, and rowed above an hour. Then there sprung up a small breeze. I ordered a large kettle of chocolate to be made for our ship's company, having no spiritist liquor to give them. Then we went to prayers, and before we had concluded, were disturbed by the enemies firing

  at us. They had barrels hanging at each yard arm that looked like powder barrels to deter us from boarding them. About six o'clock we began to engage her by ourselves, for the duchess being to leeward, and having little wind, did not come up.

  The enemy fired her stern chase upon us first, which we returned with our four chase several times till we came nearer, and when close aboard each other we gave her several broad sides, plying our small arms very briskly, which they returned as thick a while, but did not ply their great guns half so fast as we. After some time we shot a little ahead of them, lay thwart her hoss close aboard, and

  plied them so warmly that she soon struck her colors two-thirds down. By this time the duchess came up and fired about five guns with a volley of small shot, but the enemy having submitted made no return. We sent our pinnace aboard and brought the captain with the officers away, and having examined them, found there was another ship came out of Manila with them, of a bigger

  having about forty brass guns mounted, and as many petereros, but they told us they lost her company three months ago, and reckoned she was got to Acapulco before this time, she sailing better than this ship. This prize was called by the long name of Nostra Senora de la Encarnacion Disengaño, Sir John Pickerby Commander.

  She had twenty guns, twenty petereros, and one hundred ninety-three men aboard, whereof nine were killed, ten wounded, and several blown up and burnt with powder. We engaged them about three glasses, in which time we had only myself and another man wounded. I was shot through the left cheek, the bullet struck away great part of my upper jaw and several of my teeth, part of which dropped down upon the deck where I fell.

  The other, Will Powell, an Irish landman, was slightly wounded in the buttock. They did us no great damage in our rigging, but a shot disabled our mizzen mast. I was forced to write what I would say to prevent the loss of blood, and because of the pain I suffered by speaking. December 23.

  After we had put our ships to rights again, we stood in for the harbor which bore northeast of us distant about seven links. Our surgeons went aboard the prize to dress the wounded men. End of section fourteen.

• 15 - Off California

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  Section 15 of A Cruising Voyage Around the World. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by SS Kim, Seoul, South Korea. A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Uus Rogers of California. December 24. About four yesterday afternoon, we got to an anchor in Port Segura in 25

  feet of water, found the marquees in a sailing posture, and all the company much overjoyed at our unexpected good fortune. In the night, I felt something clog my throat, which I swallowed with much pain, and suppose it's a part of my jawbone or the shirt, which we can yet give an account of. I soon recovered myself, but my throat and head being very much swelled, have much to do to swallow any sort of liquid for sustenance. At eight, the committee met

  aboard us and agreed that the duchess and marquees should immediately go out and cruise eight days for the other ship, being in the hopes she had not passed us. In the meantime, we and the pride stay and refit and dispatch the prisoners away in the bark, and if we could get security from the guayaquil hostages for the payments of the remainder of the ransom, to let them go likewise. We lay landlocked from the east by north to the south-south

  east, distant from the easternmost point, about four miles, from the southernmost rock about half a mile, and near the same distance offshore. The committee we held resolved as follows. Onboard the duke riding in Port Segura on the coast of California, December 24, 1709. Having information from the prisoners taken on board, the prize, the 22nd instant, bound from Manila to Acapulco, that they came out in company with another ship, bound for

  the same port from which they parted in latitude 35 north. It is resolved that Captain Kootenay in the duchess and Captain Cook in the marquees to forthwith go out upon a cruise for eight days to look after the sad ship, signed by the majority of the council. Captain Kootenay, Cook and the officers of the council would not agree that the duke and duchess should go out as I desired, with most of the men belonging to the marquees divided between

  them, in order to cruise for the biggest Acapulco ship, which we in hopes had not passed us, and by being thus well meant might if they meet a carrier by a boarding at once, and that in the meantime the marquees with a very small number of men might be sufficient to stay in the port and send off the bulk with the prisoners. But there having been some reflections amongst the sailors, because the duchess did not engage this prize before the

  duke came up, it made them obstinate to cruise for her without us, and the officers of our council being agreed made the majority of our council, so that according to the foregoing committee we are obliged to stay in the harbor against our will. December 25. Last night the duchess and marquees went out. We put ten good hands above the duchess that if they should be so fortunate as to see the great ship, they might be the

  better able to attack her. In the morning we began to put parts of the goods above the bulk into the prize in order to send the prisoners away. Captain Dover and Mr. Threaten, who were above the prize, came to me and we all agreed to send off the Guayaquil hostages. Captain of the Manila ship, who was a French chevalier, having given us five bills of exchange for the same, payable in London for $6,000, being $2,000 more than the ransom money for

  which we allowed him the benefit of the bulk and cargo. The captain and hostage giving us certificate that it was a bargain concluded at their own request and very much to their advantage. Sir John Pitchberty being, we hope, man of honor, will not suffer his bills to be protested since we have so generously trust him, though a prisoner, without a hostage which is always demands for less sums. December 25. We placed two sentries to keep good lookout

  upon the top of a hill with orders if they saw three sail in the offing to make three wharfs with their colors. December 26. Yesterday afternoon the sentry made three wharfs and we immediately sent the yoke to them for better satisfaction and found there were three sail out at sea, upon which we immediately put all the prisoners aboard the barque, taking away her sails and fetched our men aboard, leaving only 22 hands belonging to us, aboard

  the price, to help refit and look after her. The prisoners, who about 170, being secured aboard our barque, without arms, rudder, sails or boat, and more than near a mile from our price, a few more of our men than was sufficient to give them victors and drink, might have guarded them very safely. Yet, for the more security, we left a lieutenant of each ship and the above men well armed aboard our price and immediately wait in order to go and assist

  our consult to attack the great ship which then came in sight. Captain Dover thought fit to go on board the price and exchange post with one of the lieutenants that guarded the prisoners and sent him to us in his stead. I was in so weak a condition and my head and throat so much swelled that I yet spoke in great pain and not loud enough to be heard at any distance so that all the rest of the chief officers and our sergeants would have

  persuaded me to stay in the harbor in safety aboard our price. We weighed our anchors and got on the sail by 7 o'clock. We saw lights several times in the night which we took to be our consult boats making false fires. In the morning at daybreak, we saw three sails to windward of us but were so far distant that we could not make which were our consult and reach the chase till about 9 o'clock when we saw the duchess and chase near together

  and the marquis standing to them with all the sail she could crowd. We made what sail we could but were leeward of them three or four leagues and having a scant wind made little way. At noon, they bore southeast of us being right to windward about three leagues. In the afternoon we saw marquis come up with the chase and engage pretty briskly but soon fell to leeward out of cannon shot and lay a considerable time which made us think she

  was some way or other disabled. I ordered the pianist to be manned and sent away to her that if what he suspected proved true and we had not been to get up with them before night, our boat might talk the chase with the signals till the morning that she might not escape us and the other ships. But before the boat could get up with them, the marquis made the sail and come up with the chase and both went to it again briskly for four glaces

  and upward. Then the ship which we took to be the duchess stretched ahead to windward of the enemy, I suppose to fix her rigging or to stop her leagues. Meanwhile the other kept her in play till she bore down again and each firing a broadside or two left of because it was dark. They then bore south of us which were right in the windside, distant about two leagues. By midnight we were pretty well up with them and our boat came aboard

  having made false fires which we answered. They had been aboard the duchess and marquis and told me the former had a foremost much disabled and the ring of anchor shut away with several men wounded and one killed having received a shot in their powder room, several in their upper works but all stopped. They engaged the ship by themselves the night before which was what it took to be the boat's light being out of the hearing of the guns. At that

  time they could perceive the enemy was in disorder, her guns not being all mounted and consequently their netting deck and close quarter unprovided so that had it been my good fortune in the duke to accompany the duchess as I desired, we all believed we might then have carried the great ship or if they in the duchess had thought of taking most of the men out of marquis who did not sail well enough to come up to their assistant

  at first, they alone might very probably have taken her by boarding at once, before the spaniard had experienced our strengths being afterwards so well provided as encouraged them to lie driving and give us all opportunity to board them when we pleased. Captain Cook sent me word that the marquis had fired near all her shot and powder but had escaped very well both in masts rigging and men. I sent our boat with three barrels of powder and

  shot in proportion and Lieutenant Fry to consult our consult how to engage the enemy to the best advantage of the break of day. The chase had made signals to our ship all day and night because she took us for her consult which we had in possession and after it was dark had edged away to us else I should not have been up with her having very little wind and that against us. In the morning as soon as towards day the wind veering at once put our

  ship about and the chase fired first upon the duchess who by means of wind veering was the nearest to the enemy. She returned it smartly. We stood as near as possible firing as our guns came to bear but the duchess being by this time toward the spaniard halls and firing very fast those shots that missed the enemy flew from the duchess over us and betwixt our masts so that we ran the risk of receiving more damage from them than from the enemy

  if we had lain on our quarters and crossed the stern as I designed while the enemy lay driving. This forced us to lie along side close a border where we kept firing round shot and did not load with any bar or a batridge because the ship side was too thick to receive any damage by it and no men appearing inside it would only have been a cloak to the force of our round shot. We kept close a border and drove as she did as near as possible.

  The enemy kept to their close quarters so that we did not fire our small arms till we saw men appear or a port open then we fired as quick as possible. Thus we continued for four glasses about each time we received a shot in the main mast which much disabled Soon after that the duchess and we firing together we came both close under the enemy and had lied to have been all aboard her so that we could make little use of our guns.

  Then we fell astern in our berth along side where the enemy threw a fireball out of one of our tops which lighting upon our quarter deck blew up a chest of arms and cartouche boxes all loaded and several cartridges of powder in the storage by which means Mr. Vanbrue our agent and the Dutchman were very much burnt. It might have done more damage had it not been quenched as soon as possible. After we got clear of each other the duchess

  stood in for the shore where she lay braised too mending her rigging and so on. The marquise fired several shots but to little purpose her guns being small. We were close aboard several times afterwards till at last we received the second shot in the main mast not far from the other which rented miserably and the mast settled to it so that we were afraid it would drop by the board and having shattered our rigging very much we sheared off and brought

  to making a signal to our consort to consult what to do. In the interim we got ordinary fishes for a port the main mast and phased it as well as we could to secure it at present. Captain Kootenay and Captain Cook came aboard with other officers where we considered the conditions the three ships were in. Their mast and rigging being much damnified in a place where we could get no recruit. That if we engaged again we could propose to do

  no more than what we had already done which was evidently no great hurt. Because we could perceive few of our shots entered the side to any purpose and our small arms availed less there being not a man to be seen above board that the least thing in the world would bring our main mast and likewise the Dutch's four masts by the board either which by its fall might carry away another mast and then we should lie a battery for the enemy having

  nothing to command our ships with so that by his heavy guns he might either sink or take us. That if we went aboard we should run a great hazard in losing a great many men with little hopes of success. They having above travel the number aboard to oppose us and they'll be now in all our three ships not above 120 good men fit for boarding and those but weak having been very short of provisions a long time besides we had the disadvantage of netting deck

  to enter upon and a ship every other way well provided. So that if we have boarded her and been forced off and left any of our men behind the enemy by that means might have known our strengths and then gone into the harbor and took possessions of the price in spite of all we could do to prevent it. Besides our ammunition was very short having only enough to engage a few glasses longer. All this being seriously considered and knowing the difficulty we should have to get mast

  and the time and provisions we must spend before we could get them fitted it was resolved to forbear attempting her further since our battering her signified little and we had not strength enough to board her. Therefore we agreed to keep her company till night then to lose her and make the best of our way into the harbor to secure the price we had already took. We engaged first and last about six or seven hours during all which time we had aboard the Duke but 11 men wounded

  three of whom were scorched with gunpowder. I was again unfortunately wounded in the left foot with a splinter just before we blew up on the quarter deck so that I could not stand but lay on my back in a great deal of misery part of my heel bone being struck out and all under my ankle cut above half through which bled very much and weakened me before it could be dressed and stopped. The Duchess had about 20 men killed and wounded three of the latter and one of the former were my men.

  The Marquis had none killed or wounded but two scorched with the powder. The enemies was a brave lofty new ship the Admiral of Manila and this the first voyage she had made. She was called the Begonia of about 900 tons and could carry 60 guns about 40 of which were mounted with as many pteroros or brass. Her compliment of men on board as we are informed was about 450 beside passengers. They added that 150 of the men on board this great ship were Europeans several of whom had

  been formerly pirates and having now got all their wealth aboard were resolved to defend it to the last. The gunner who had a good post in Manila was an expert man and had provided the ship extraordinary well for defense which made them fight so desperately. They had filled up all between the guns with bales to secure the men. She kept a Spanish flag at her main top masthead all the time she fought us. We shattered her sails and rigging very much, shut her mason yard,

  killed two men out of our tops which was all the damage we could see we did them though we could not place less than 500 shot 6 pounders in a hull. These large ships were built at Manila with excellent timber that will not splinter. They have very thick sides much stronger than we build in Europe. Whilst the officers were aboard us, Captain Kutney and others desired that what we had agreed upon might be put in writing and signed by as many as were present

  to prevent false reflection hereafter which was done as follows. At the committee held on board the Duke after we had engaged the bigger Manila ship December 27, 1709. We having considered the condition of all our three ships and that our master much demnified in engaging the Manila ship, do think it for the interest of all to forbear any further attempts upon her, having no probability of taking her, but to do our endeavors to secure the prize we have already took which will be much

  more for the honor and interest of ourselves and country. This is our opinion. In witness's whereof we have set our hands the day and year above written. John Bridge. Thus ended our attempt on the biggest Manila ship which I have heard related so many ways at home that I thought it necessary to set down every particular circumstance of it as it stood in my journal. Had we been together at first and boarded her, we might probably have

  taken this great prize but after the enemy had fixed the netting deck and closed quarters, they valued us very little. I believe also we might have bound her with one of our ships but that was objected against by all officers because we had goods of value on board all our three ships. The enemy was the better provided for us because they heard at Manila from our English settlements in India that there were two small ships fitted from Bristol that designed to

  tempt them in the South Seas. This was told by the prisoners we took on board the other ship. When I proposed parting companies at the dress Maria's and to cruise for the Acapulco, ship from Manila with our ship and bark at one station and the Duchess and Marquis at another, we then expected but one ship from Manila and she not so well provided as the list ship now was. Though as we found it, we might probably have been better sonder, for then I make little question

  but we should have got some recruit or provisions. And consequently, our men had been stronger and better in hearts to have boarded this great ship at once. Before, they had been so well provided. But since providence or fate will have it as it is, we must be content. December 28, the enemy lay brazed to all the time the council held and run out four guns over lower tier, expecting we would have the other brush with her. But when we made sail, she filed and made

  away west-northwest and we betwixt the south-south east and the south close upon a wind. At 6 o'clock we sent the penis with some men into the harbor to secure the prize, not knowing why we were not knowing what might happen before we could get in with our ships. We unrigged the main top gallant mast and got it down, securing our main mast with the runners and tackles everywhere we could contrive. Had little wind all the afternoon and night,

  but this morning a fresh breeze sprung up at east-southeast and soon after we saw nothing more of the great ship. January 1, after we arrived again at Port Segura, we dispatched the prisoners away in the bark and likewise the guayaquil hostages, having got security for the money as aforesaid. We supplied them with water and provisions enough to carry them to Acapulco, and gave Captain Pichberti and his chief officers with the padre their clothes, instruments, books, and so on,

  so that they partied very friendly and acknowledged we had been very civil to them, of which they desired me to accept the following testimony. We, whose names are here to subscribe, do acknowledge that ever since we have been in the hands of Captain Wood Rogers and Captain Stephen Crutney, commanders of the duke and duchess, two British private men of war, we have been by them very civilly treated, and whatsoever

  we have transacted or done had been voluntary and by our consent, and particularly in passing bills and obligations through the hands of Sir John Pichberti for the ransom of town of guayaquil and other valuable consideration. Witness our hands on the coast of California, January 1st, 1709. Don John Pichberti, Manuel de Punta, Don Antonio Gutera, Manuel Emanes. I wrote a letter to my owners to acclaim them with our good success,

  but could not be so full as I would because I sent it by the hand of an enemy. We spent our time till the 7th in refitting, wooding, and watering, and were very glad to find as much bread on board the prize as we hoped might, with what we had left of our old store, make enough to subsist us in our next long run. Captain Crutney and his officers, with those on board the markets, are too willing to compliment Captain Dover with cheap command of the prize.

  Which till now I thought he would not have accepted, his post already being above a commander of any of our prizes. But I and my officers are against it, because we believed Captain Frye or others are fitter persons to take charge of her, which we insisted on, and Captain Crutney and Cook came to me where they agreed to a paper that was drawn of while we were all together, while we were all together, in such a manner as I thought would have satisfied everyone.

  Captain Crutney carried this agreement to Captain Dover to sign it, not doubting, but all would be content with what we have concluded. Yet, to our surprise, they spent the remainder of the day, and instead of making Captain Dover comply with it, indeed all, and brought a paper which empowered him to be sole commander without the least restraint of not molesting those that should navigate the ship, but to order everything as

  he should think fit. January 9th, we fetched our three wounded men from on board the duchess. One of them was Thomas Young, a Welchman, who lost one of his legs. The other, Thomas Evans, a Welchman whose face was miserably torn. The third, John Gould, wounded in the thigh. And one died of his wounds with Emmanuel Goncalves, a Portuguese, so that out of 10 that went, only 6 returned safe. I sent a letter to Captain Crutney this morning to know what measures were

  going forward, having heard nothing from him since the 7th instant, and desired that there might be no loss of time, but that the committee might meet once more to try if they would make use of their unbiased reason. They were then aboard the Marquis when I heard they had, ever since our last meeting, concerted how to frame a protest against me and my officers of committee, which was immediately answered by a protest from us, both which are as follows.

  Know, all men, by this presence, that we, the commanders of the ships, duchess and marquis, and other officers, being the major part of a committee appointed by the owners, for regulating the affairs of the ships, duke and duchess, private men of war, till they return to Great Britain, as more largely appears in their orders and instructions. Now whereas we have lately taken a rich price bound from Manila to Acapulco, and the said ship being safe at anchor in a bay near

  Cape St. Luke on California, we held the general committee on board the duke on the 6th day of January 1709-10, for appointing a commander and other officers for the said price, called by the Spaniards when in their possession, Nostra Senoria del Encarnacion de Singano, but now named by us the Bachelor of Regate, wherein it was carried by majority of votes for Captain Thomas Dover, who came out second captain of the duke, and president of this committee, and owner of a

  very considerable part of both ships, duke and duchess, to command the said price. We're thinking him the most proper person for the interests of the owners and company. We likewise proposing to put two of the best of officers on board, to command under him, and manage the navigating part of the said ship during a voyage, with other substantial officers of men, sufficient to work the ship and take care of her. Now whereas Captain Wood Rogers, commander of the duke, and several

  of his officers, members of this committee, did refuse to sign the agreement of the said committee, the like never having been refused by any before when carried by majority of voices. To acknowledge the said Captain Thomas Dover, commander of the ship, Bachelor of Regate, we do hereby, in the behalf of the owners of the ship, duke and duchess, ourselves and company, protest against the unadvised proceedings and practice of the said Captain Wood Rogers,

  and the rest of the officers of the committee, that refused to sign and agree to the same, it being directly contrary to the owner's orders and instructions, reference being had thereto, and the union and peace of the ship's company, by them likewise recommended, and whatever damage may ensue, either by loss of time, want of provisions, or men sufficient to manage the said ship, or any mutiny or disagreement that may arise from hands between the ship's companies,

  or any other disaster whatsoever, and so on. We do likewise protest against, in the behalf of the owners, ourselves and company, as of foresaid, expecting from the said Captain Wood Rogers, and officers of the committee of foresaid, full satisfaction and reparation of all losses and damages whatsoever, that may happen to the said ship during her voyage to Great Britain. In witness we are all, we, the commanders and officers, being the major parts of the

  committee, have set our hands, this 9th day of January 1709-10, on board the marquise at anchor near Cape Saint Luke on California, signed by the officers of the duchess and marquise. Which protest was answered by another from our ship? We, the ship officers, in behalf of ourselves and rest of the ship's company of the duke, having taken a rich Spanish prize in consort ship of the duchess and marquise, called Nostra Signoria del Encarnacion de Ingano, and did design to use the

  the secularist method to carry her to Great Britain, both for our employers' interest and our own advantage. But being in a remote part of the world, we offered and desired our consort to put one or more able officers in the principal charge of the foresaid prize, it being so valuable that a retaliation for all our risks and hardship is in our riches, which highly behoves us to be very careful in preserving. But against all our ship's company's consent, though we are so nearly

  concerned, our sad consort officers, Captain Stephen Kootenay, Captain Edward Cook, Captain William Dampier, Mr. William Stratton, Mr. Charles Pope, Mr. John Connolly, Mr. George Milburn, Mr. Robert Norman, Mr. John Ballet, have signed an instrument and combined together to put Captain T. Dover in command of the sad ship. We therefore, being inclined to peace and quietness aboard and not to use any violence to remove the sad Captain Dover out of the aforesaid false command, although he is

  utterly incapable of the office, do hereby publicly protest against the aforesaid commander and every one of those that have already or shall hereafter combine to place him in. The ship now being in safety, we declare against all damages that may arise or accrue to the sad ship or cargo under his command, and that the aforesaid combiners who have put the care of the sad ship under an uncapable command we expect are accountable and liable to us for all damages that may happen.

  This is our public protest. Witness our hands aboard the sad ship Duke riding at anchor in a port of California the 9th of January 1709-10 signed by the officers of the Duke. It was our great unhappiness after taking a rich prize to have a paper war amongst ourselves. I'm sorry to trouble the reader with this dispute which continued for two days about a proper commander for this prize because it highly concerned us to take the utmost precautions

  for our safety, having a long run through a dangerous unknown passage into the East Indies, and most of the recompense for our great risk and hardship lay in the riches. I had always desired that Captain Dover might be a boarder for being a considerable owner. We all agree he was a very proper person to take care of a cargo and to have all the freedom and accommodation that should be made for him in that ship, which was of such vast consequences to us

  and to our employers that in their instructions to me, they strictly charged me to use the securest method to bring a safe home in case we should be so fortunate as we are to take one of the Acapulco ships. So that after the protests were over on both sides, I desired they might assemble together and finally determine what the majority would agree on that no time might be lost. So all the council met again on board the bachelor to endeavor on accommodation.

  I being very weak and in much pain was not able to stir, therefore sent my opinion in writing as follows. My opinion is that it is not for the safety of the rich Spanish prize that Captain Dover commander because his temper is so violent that capable men cannot well act under him and himself is incapable. Our owner directed me to use the securest method to bring the ship home if we should have the good fortune to take her and is not so if an ignorant person have the command.

  And though it may be pretended that he will not command the sailing part, there are other parts necessary for a commander so that whosoever has the charge of one ought to act wholly in the rest or else confusion follows the mixed commands that would be very pernicious in this case and which it highly concerns us to be aware of. I'm content and desired Captain Dover might be aboard and have power to take care of the cargo and all the liberty and freedom in her. He can

  in reason otherwise desire and that no one may have the like power on board the prize but himself. This is my opinion. January 9, 1709 10. Wu's Rogers. This dispute is against my desire already put in print from the public notes of the voyage. Otherwise I have left it wholly out of my journal as I had done several other of our differences being unwilling to trouble the reader with the contest that too often happened in the government of our sailing commonwealth.

  After a long debate they voted Mr. Frye and Mr. Streaton both to act in equal post to take charge of the navigating the ship though under Captain Dover but they were to be no ways molested hindered nor contradicted in their business by him whose duty it was to see that nothing should be done contrary to the interest of the owners and ship's companies in nature of an agent almost in the same manner I proposed at first only he had the title of chief captain in that ship

  which was so small difference where titles are so common that we all consented to it and at the same time they choose officers agreeing that we should put 30 men aboard her the duchess 25 and the marquis 13 which with 36 manila indians called last cars and other prisoners we have left her compliment will be about 110 men the majority keeping to their first agreement I was obliged to come into it according to my instructions from our owners so that all our

  differences about this affair were at an end and we drank to our safe arrival in Great Britain the council agreed as follows at the council held on board the bachelor frigate at anchor in port segura on california january 10 1709 10 it is agreed by the majority of this council that captain robert fry and captain william streiton shall both act in equal post in the sole navigating sailing and engaging if occasion should be on the captain thomas dover on both the bachelor frigate

  and that the said captain thomas dover shall not molest hinder or contradict them in their business and we do a point alexander selkirk master joseph smith chief mate benjamin parsons second mate charles may surgeon john jones carpenter robert holinsby boat swing richard bickhouse gunner pier spray pooper james streiton and richard hickman richard man dennis redding steward and all other inferior officers as the commander shelting fit signed by the majority of our council

  in the morning we put 35 good hands above her the duchess and marquess put no more than their share meanwhile captains kutney and cook and two or three more of the committee came to me where we signed the paper for captain dover and two commanders recommending peace and tranquility amongst them and that in case of separation the place of rendezvous was to be guam one of the ladrones island where we designed to touch at god willing to get provisions everything being

  thus settled and all in readiness to sail before i proceed with the relations of our voyage from hence i shall give an account of california california described it is not yet certainly known whether it be an island or joins to the continent nor did our time or circumstances allow us to attempt the discovery i heard from spania that some of the nation had sailed as far up between california and the main as latitude 42 north were meeting with shore water and abundance

  of islands they does not venture any further so that if this be true in all probability it joins the continent a little further to the north world for shore water and islands is a general sign of being near some mainland but the spaniards having more territories in this part of the world than they know how to manage they are not curious of further discoveries the manila ships bound to acapulco open make this coast in the latitude of 40 north and i never heard of any that discovered

  it farther to the northward some will dread make it to join to the land of hasso but all this being yet undetermined i shall not take upon me to affirm whether it's an island or joins to the continent the dutch say they formally took a spanish vessel in those seas which had sailed around california and found it to be an island but this account can't be dependent on and i choose to believe it joins the continent there is no certain account of its shape or bigness and having seen so little of it

  i shall refer the reader to our common draft for its situation what i can say of it from my own knowledge is that the land where we were is for the most part mountains baron and sandy and had nothing but a few shrubs and bushes which produce fruits and berries of several sorts our men who went in our bark to view the country about 15 leagues to the northward say it was there covered with tall trees the spaniards tell us of several good harbors in this country but we found none of

  them near this cave we frequently saw smoke in several places which makes us believe the inhabitants are pretty numerous the bay where we rode had but very indifferent anchoring ground in deep water and is the worst recruiting place we met with since i came out the wind at this time of the year generally blowing overland make it good riding on the starboard side of the bay where we ride on the bank that has from 10 to 25 fathom water but the rest of that bay is very deep and near the rocks

  on the layerboard side going in there is no ground during the time of our stay the air was serene pleasant and healthful and we had no strong gales of wind very little rain but great dews fell by night when it was very cold the natives we saw here were about 300 they had large limbs was straight tall and over much blacker complexion than any other people that i had seen in the south seas their hair long black and straight which hung down to their thighs

  the men stuck naked and the women had the covering of leaves over their privities or little clouds made of silk grass or the skins of birds and beasts all of them we saw were old and miserably wrinkled we suppose they were afraid to let any of their young ones come near us but needed not for besides the good order we kept among our men in that respect if we may judge by what it saw they could not be very tempting the languages of the natives was as unpleasant to us

  as they expect for it was very harsh and broad and they pronounced it so much in the throat as if the world had been ready to choke them i designed to have brought two of them away with me in order to have had some account of the country when they had learned so much of our language as to enable them to give it but being short of provisions i durst not venture it some of them were pearls around their arms and necks having first notched it round and faced it with

  a string of silk grass for i suppose they knew not how to bore them the pearls were mixed with little red berries sticks and bits of shells which they looked upon to be so fine an ornament that though we had the glass beads of several colors and other toys they would accept none of them they coveted nothing we had but knives and other cutting instruments and were so honest that they did not meddle with our coupons or carpenter's tools so that whatever was left ashore at night

  we found it untouched in the morning we saw nothing like european furniture or utensils among them their huts were very low and made of branches of trees and reeds but not sufficiently covered to keep our grain they had nothing like gardens or provisions about them they subsisted cheaply on fish while we are here which with the miserableness of their huts they seemed only to be made for a time made us conclude they had no fixed habitation here whatever they may have elsewhere

  and that this was their fishing season we saw no nets or hooks but wooden instrument with which they strike the fish very dexterously and dive to admiration some of our sailors told me they saw one of them dive with his instrument and whilst he was underwater put up his striker with a fish on the point of it which was taken off by another that watched by him on a backlog the reader may believe of this what he pleases but i give it the more credit because i myself

  threw some rusty knives overboard on purpose to try those divers who seldom missed catching a knife before it could sink about three or four fathoms which i took to be an extraordinary proof of their agility instead of bread they used a little black seed which they ground with stones and eat by handfuls some of our men thicken their broth with it and say it tastes somewhat like coffee they have some roots that it's like yam a sort of seeds that grow in cuts and taste like green peas

  a berry which resembles those of ivy and being dried at the fire it's like patched peas they have another like a large current with a white tarnished pulp a stone and a kernel this sort of fruits they seem to value very much they have also fruits which grows on the pickle pear tree taste like gooseberry and make good sauce they have many other seeds and plants unknown to us but i was not in a condition to view or describe them they seem to have a season of

  hunting by the skin of deer and so on we saw among them they paid a sort of respect to one man whose head was adorned with the feathers made up in the form of cap in other respect they seem to have all things in common for when they exchanged fish with us for old knives of which we had plenty they gave the knives to any that stood next and after they had enough we could get no fish from them they appear to be very idle and seem to look after no more than a present

  subsistence they stood and looked upon our men very attentively while they cut wood and filled water but did not care to lend us a hand at either and indeed to do anything that required hard labor their arms are bows and arrows with which they can shoot birds flying their bows are about seven foot long and over tough plant wood unknown to us with strings of silk grass their arrows about four foot and a half made of cane and pointed with fish bones that they shaved for

  the purpose most of their knives and other cutting instruments are made of shark teeth i saw two or three large pearls in their necklace and bracelets and spania told me they had a store of them from the inner part of the gulf of california where they had missionaries planted among them our men told me they saw heavy shining stones or shore which looked as if they came from some mineral but they did not inform me of this till we were at sea otherwise i would have brought

  some of them to try what metal could be extracted out of them the spaniard likewise informed me that the country in general within on mainland of mexico is pleasant and fruitful and abounds with cattle and provisions of all sorts the natives grew very familiar with us and came frequently aboard to view our ships which they mightily admired we saw no boats or canoes among them no any other sailing craft but barc logs which they steered with pedals at each end

  we gave one of the natives a shot but he soon tore it in pieces and gave it to the rest of his company to put the seeds in each they used for bread we saw no utensils for cookery about them nor do i suppose they have any for they bury their fish in a heap of sand and make a fire over it till they think it fit for eating there were all the fishes usual in those seeds to be found in the bay the fresh water here is good and they have abundance of sand fire they make a fire in the

  middle of their huts which are very low and smoky we saw no extraordinary birds here i'm told by our people that have been a show that they get fire by rubbing two dry sticks against each other as customary among the wild indians the entrance into the harbor may be known by four high rocks which look like the needles at the isle of white as you come from the westward the two western most in the form of sugar loaves the innermost has an arch like a bridge through which the sea

  makes its way you must leave the outermost rock about the cable's length on the layabout side and steer into the deepest part of the bay being all bold where you may anchor from 10 fathom to 20 or 25 fathom motor here you ride landlocked from east by north back to the southeast by south yet it is but an ordinary road if the wind should come strong out of the sea which it never did while we lay there end of section 15

• 16 - Mexico describ'd

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  Section 16 of Cruising Voyage Around the World. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by SS Kim, Seoul, South Korea.

  A Cruising Voyage Around the World, by Uj Rogers, Mexico Described. I shall next give a brief account of Mexico from the best information and orders. This country lies between latitude 8 and 50 or 55 north, but it is little known or inhibited by the Spaniards to the northward of 35. It is divided into old and new, and the former is also called New Spain.

  The country in general includes all the west side of northern America as far as it is known. It is divided into audiences or jurisdictions of Santo Domingo, Mexico properly so called, Guadalajara or New Galicia, and Guatemala, and these again are subdivided into several provinces with which I shall not trouble the reader since that is the business of a geographer and not of a sailor.

  That part of it called New Spain is the best and most famous part of all North America, and the name is sometimes extended by the Spaniards to the whole. The air in general is mild, temperate and healthful, and the soil so fertile that in some places it produced 100 for one of corn and of maize 200, but the great rains in summer hinder their having good oil and wine.

  The most remarkable plant is that called Magui, which abounds in this country, and some of it we found in the Maria Islands. Of the Jews, the Spaniards and natives make small wine, vinegar and honey, and of the leaves and other parts, they make cordage, thread and cloth for sex and shirts. They have great and small cattle and fowl in such plenty that they frequently kill them

  only for the skins and feathers. They have also excellent horses of the best Spanish breed. There are few gold mines in this country, but abundance of silver, and though not so rich as those of Peru, are much easier to be worked with less expensive money and far less danger of man's lives.

  The other cheap commodities are iron, steel, copper, but none of them much wrought, hides, wool, cotton, sugar, silk, cochineal, scarlet dye, feathers, honey, wax, balm, amber, ambergris, salt, abundance of medicinal drugs, cocoa, cassia, golden sands of their rivers, figs, oranges, citrons and other fruits peculiar to the climates. Besides all these common in Europe, wild beasts and fowl of all sorts, crystal, turquoise,

  emeralds, marcasites, bezua stones and pepper. This must be understood of Mexico in general, for all those commodities are not in one province, but some have one sort and some another. Nor is the temper of the climates everywhere the same. For those places toward the South Sea are warm, but in and about the mountains it is

  cold, and in some places they have continued rain almost for 8 or 9 months in a year, and are much infected with serpents, mosquitoes and other insects, especially near the torrid zone. I shall not swell my book with the fabulous accounts of the origin of the ancient Mexicans, which are shocking to common sense, nor pretend to give the reader the history of their kings,

  because it is not my business. Besides, it would puzzle the ablest critique to distinguish betwixt the truth and falsehood in those pretended histories, preserved by fanciful hieroglyphics which will bear what sense any author pleases to impose upon them. Therefore, I shall only say in general that the Spanish authors who write of this country

  say the kings of Mexico were very potent, that they had 25 or 30 petty kings their tributaries, that their ordinary gods did usually consist of 2 or 3,000 men, and that on occasion they could raise 20 or 30,000, that their palaces were magnificent, their temples sumptuous, and their warships barbarous, it being ordinary for them to sacrifice their enemies and sometimes their own subject.

  The natives of old Mexico say they are not of that race of people, but that their ancestors came from diverse nations who inhabited the northern part of the continent, and particularly that called New Mexico, and by the count of their historians give of their travels to settle here. It would seem those who composed the story had heard something of the travel of the children

  of Israel in the wilderness, and designed to write something like it, and by calling their leader Maxi, they would make his name resemble that of Moses. It was a long time before they united into one monarchy, for Montezuma, who reigned when Fernando Cortes invaded them, was only the 9th in their catalogue. The divisions among the natives, and the hatred which the neighbouring princes brought to

  their kings, made the conquest of Mexico much easier to the Spaniards than they expected, so that in the Bishopric of Los Angeles and so on, there are many thousands of Indians exempt from extraordinary taxes because their ancestors assisted the Spaniards in the conquest of the country. The natives of Mexico, properly so called, are the most civilized, industrious and engineers.

  They are noted for admirable colours in their paintings, though their figures are not so proportionable. They draw them with the feathers of their sincones, a small bird which they say lives only upon dew. They make use of certain characters instead of letters of the alphabet, by which they

  have preserved some fragments of their history. The Spanish governor of Mexico, our older says, with much difficulty got it out of the hands of the natives, with an explanation in their own language and had it translated into Spanish. The ship in which it was sent to the emperor Charles V, being taken by a French ship, the

  manuscript fell into the hands of the Andrew Teve at Paris, from whose heirs our Hecluid being then el mono to the English ambassador, purchased it. So Walter Lowley got it translated into English and the learned sir Henry Spelman prevailed with the purchase to get the figures engraven. They represent princes and others in several postures and bring down the history from the

  year 1324 to the beginning or middle of the 16th century or thereabouts. This history is divided into three parts. The first contains little but an account of the names and conquests of their princes, with a summary of their vices and virtues, so that it is not worth insisting upon. The second has an account of the tributes paid by the people, which were proportions

  of the products of the country for provisions, clothes, arms, or like habits and ornaments, paper and household furniture. The third gives an account of the economy, customs and discipline of Mexicans, which because they are art enough, I shall give a short account of the most remarkable. Four days after a child was born, the midwife carried it to the yard of the house, laid

  it upon the rushes, and after washing it, desired three boys who were there at a sort of feast, to name it how they pleased. If it was a boy, she put into its hands the tools belonging to his father's employment, and if a soldier, his arms, if it was a girl, she put the distaff or other utensils of women by it.

  If the boy was designed for the church, they carried it to a temple in the present when of a sufficient age, and left it with the high priest to be educated, and if designed for war, they carried him to an officer to teach him the use of arms. The parents corrected them by blows, or pricking them with needles made of megatrees. The father pricked the boys, if unlucky, all over their body, and the mother pricked her

  daughters only in the fist. When the boys were pretty well grown, they tied them hand and foot, and laid them in muddy naked a whole day, and then their mothers took them out and cleaned them at night. When a maid was to be married, the marriagemaker carried her on his back to the bridegroom's house.

  Four women bearing torches before her, the bridegroom's friends received her in a yard or a court, carried her to a room, and sat her down by him on a mat, and tied the skirts of their garments together, offered incense to their idols, and had four old men and women to be witnesses. After a feast, the witnesses exhort them to live well together, and so the ceremony concluded.

  The priests trained up their novices in sweeping the temples, carrying branches and so on to adorn them, to make seeds of cane, to bring needles or thorns of maghwe to draw blood for sacrifices, and shrubs to keep a perpetual fire, and if they failed in their duty, returned to their parents, or were caught with women, they pricked them with those needles. One of the chief priests went by night to a mountain where he did penance, carried fire

  and perfume to sacrifice to the devil, and was always attended by a novice. Others of the priests played on musical instruments by night, and some of them observed the stars and told the howls. The novices arrived to the chief dignities of the priesthood by degrees, and some of them always attended the armies to encourage the men and perform their rites.

  Those who trained the youth to war punished their scholars by throwing burning coals on their heads, pricking them with the sticks of pine sharpened at one end, or by burning off their hair. The king lured the soldiers according to the numbers of prisoners they took, with military habits of several colors, or post in the army till they came to the highest.

  The chief priests were also men of arms, and capable of all military performance. Their capital punishments were strangling or stoning to death. If a cacique or petty prince revealed, all his subjects shared in his punishments, except they found some method to appease the king. They punished drunkenness in young men by death, but allowed in old men and old women

  of seventy. Highwaymen and adulterers they stoned to death. They had assemblies for public affairs wherein the great master of the emperor or king's household exhorted the youth to avoid idleness, gaming, drunkenness, and other vices. This is the sum of what the teleglyphical history says of the ancient Mexicans.

  As to the present natives, most of them are subject to the Spaniard, but in some of the mountains and northern parts they are not reduced, so that they frequently attack the Spaniard when they meet with a favorable opportunity. In that cold New Mexico, some of the natives are very barbarous, much given to arms. The men wear nothing but skins, and the women scarce any other covering than their hairs.

  They live for a most part on low flesh, and go together in troops, changing their habitation as the season requires, or for the convenience of pastures. Their oxen and cows are large, with small horns, their hair almost like wool, long before and short behind, with a bunch on their backs. Great beards like goats and their four legs short, they are of an ugly aspect, but very

  strong. They are the principal riches of the natives. Their flesh serves them for diet, their skins for clothes, and coverings to their huts. They make dread of their hair, bowstrings of their nerves, utensils of their bones, trumpets of their horns, keep their drinks in their bladders, use their dung for firing,

  because they are scarce of wood. They have sheep as large as our asses, and dogs so strong that they make them carry their baggage. This country is inhabited by people of different languages and manners. Some of them live in cities, of which it is said there are several that contains from

  30,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. Others wander about in herds like the Arabs or Tatars. But in short, this country is so little known, and the travelers differ so much in the accounts of it that there is not much to be depended upon. I think it's proper here to say something of the peopling of it.

  There are many opinions about the peopling of America, but the most reasonable to me is that it is peopled from the Tatari by way of the North Pole, where they suppose it to join with some parts of Asia. This I think very probable because the Spaniards, who came eerily hither from Manila or Laconia, one of the Philippine islands in the East Indies, are forced to keep in high latitude

  for the benefit of westerly winds, and have open-sounded finding ground in latitude 40 to north in several places of the ocean betwixt the East Indies and America, which makes me conclude that there must be more lands, though none of them, as I have heard of, ever saw any continent till they fall in with California in about 38 or 39 north latitude. I have often admired that no considerable discoveries have yet been made in south latitude

  from America to the East Indies. I never heard the South Ocean has been run over by above three or four navigators, who varied little in their runs from their course and by consequence could not discover much. I gave this hint to encourage our South Sea Company or others to go upon some discovery that way, wherefore ought we know they may find a better country than any yet discovered.

  There being a vast surface to the sea from the Equinox to South Pole of at least 2,000 leagues in longitude that has hitherto been little regarded, though it be agreeable to reason that there must be a body of land about the South Pole to counterpoise those vast countries around the North Pole. These are supposed to be the reason why our ancient geographers mentioned a Terra Australis

  incognita, though very little of it has been seen by anybody. The land near the North Pole in the South Sea, from California to Japan, is wholly unknown, although the old maps describe the Straits of Aenion and a large continent, it is but imaginary. For the Dutch themselves, that now trade to Japan, say they do not yet know whether it

  be an island or joins to the continent. Jemma Lee having been in this country in 1697, who is the latest traveler that has published anything about it, and his accounts being in the main conformed to me by our Spanish prisoners, I should give a brief hint of what he says, especially of what he relates to the trade and provisions.

  The best product is gold and silver, pearl, emeralds and other precious stones. He saw the silver mines of Pachma, 11 leagues from the city of Mexico. One of them, he says, is 225 English yards deep, the other 195. He adds that in space of 6 leagues, there are about 1000 mines, some laid aside, others still in use.

  There are many thousands of people employed to dig them. From some, the metal and water is brought up by engines. From others, the metal is brought up on man's back to the great danger of their lives, besides numbers that are lost by falling in of the earth and pestilential dams. They go down to them by notched poles, which being wet and slippery, the poor Indian slaves

  made times fall and break their necks. Our author says he was in danger of doing the like when he went to see them. He adds the workmen informed him that from one of the vines where near thousand men worked per diem, they had in 10 years the 40 millions of silver that 2 millions had been laid out in timber work to support it and that it became so dangerous as the owner stopped it up.

  I refer to him for the manner of spreading the metal from the ore. Every discoverer of a mine must pay the fifth of the product to the king, who allows him only 60 Spanish yards round from the mouth or all on one side if he pleases. Jiménez says there's 2 millions of marks of 8 ounces each entered at Mexico in a year from those mines, beside what is stalled, and 700,000 marks of wheat are coined annually

  into pieces of 8th year, for which the king has a real per mark. There being gold mixed with the silver, they make use of aqua forties to separate them. The officers of the mints have very profitable places, but I can't insist upon their salaries. It is needless to be particular in describing the birds and beasts of this country. They having been so often done by others, I shall only say they have enough for provisions

  and many of both sorts unknown to us, tis the like as to their fruits and plants, which serve them for food and physics, but I have not room to be particular. Mexico is the capital city of this vast rich country, and lies in north latitude 19.40 in the middle of a valley, which is 14 Spanish leagues long and 7 broad, encompassed by a ridge of mountains.

  The city is surrounded by a lake, and is square with long and wide and well-paved streets cross one another. It is 2 leagues round and the diameter half a league. There are 5 causes and banks through the lake into the city, which visor is the best in Italy for noble structures and beautiful women, who prefer Europeans to their own countrymen.

  This occasions irreconcilable prejudices between them, so that an European can scarce pass the street without being insulted. The inhabitants are about 100,000, the major parts blacks and mulattoes, because of the vast numbers of slaves carried thither. Women seldom marry there because finding no way to get real estates.

  They generally become clergymen, which takes up most of those that come from old Spain. There are 22 nunneries, 29 friaries of several orders within the city, and all richer than they ought to be, says Gemily. The cathedral is exceedingly rich, maintains 10 canons, 5 dignified priests, 6 demicanons, 6 half-demicanons, 1 chief sacristan, 5 curates, 12 royal chaplains and 8 other chosen by

  the chapter, besides many others named by the king. The revenue of the cathedral is 300,000 pieces of aid per annum. The climate here is uncertain, as through all the country, being for most parts both cold and hot at the same time, with cold in the shade and hot in the sun, but is never excessive either way.

  Yet the inhabitants complain of the cold in the mornings and of the heat from March till July. From then to September, the rains cool the air, and from that time till March, the rains are but small. The Indians reckon those nights cold, but the Europeans like the climate well enough.

  The water is very cool. The neighboring country produces three harvests per annum, one in June, the second in October, and the third uncertain, as the weather proves. May's or Indian corn is their cheap grain, the earliest being sowed in March, the latest in May.

  It yields a wonderful increase and other provisions being plentiful. One may live well here for half a piece of aid per day. And all the year-round, there's fruits and flowers in the market. There's no breast money here, and the least piece of silver is three pence, so that they buy herbs and small fruits with coconuts, 60 or 70 of which, as time goes, are valued

  at 6th. I cannot insist on the particular description of the churches and monasteries. The archbishop has 11 suffragants under him, whose revenues in all amounts to 5,160,000 pieces of aid. The cathedral founded by Fernando Cortes, who conquered this country, was not finished

  in 1697. It is carried on at the king's charge. They have admirable conveyances to let the water run out of the lake by canals to prevent it overflowing the city, as sometimes it has done. The expense of these canals is so prodigious that it seems incredible.

  The curious may find it, in general, as also an account of the royal palace and other structures. I say nothing of the fabulous accounts which the natives give of the foundation of this city. The present habit generally worn by the natives of this country is the short doublet and wide breeches, a clock of several colors on their shoulders, which they cross under the right arm and tie on the left shoulder by the two ends in a great knot.

  Some wear sandals, the rest go barefooted and bare-legged, and all wear their hair long, which they will by no means part with. The women wear a fine cotton cloth and under it a thing like a sack. They wear another upon their backs, with each they cover their heads when abroad or in church. The natives adorn their narrow coats with figures of beasts, birds, and feathers.

  Both sexes are of dark color, but endeavor to make themselves fair with pounded herbs. They dope their heads with thin clay to refresh them and make their hair black. The mestizo, bulater, and black women are most in number, but not being allowed to wear veils or Spanish habits, and despising the Indian garb, they wear a thing like a petticoat across their shoulders or on their heads, which makes them look like so many devils.

  The blacks and mulattoes are very insolent and so much increased that if it be prevented, they may at one time or another endanger the country. The Indians of most parts of Mexico are nothing so industrious as formerly, and the Spaniards say they are cowardly, cruel, thieves, cheats, and so beastly that they use women in common without regard to the nearest relations, lie on the bare ground, and are nesting in their

  way of living, which perhaps may proceed from the slavery they are kept under, being worse treated than those in the mines. He adds that they're scarce, won't fear dealing men to be found among hundred mulattoes. Acapulco lies in latitude 17, baiting some few minutes. He said it is rather like a poor village of fishermen, than fit to be the cheap marts

  of South Sea and port for China. The houses are mean, built of wood, mud, and straw. It is covered by high mountains on the east side, and very subject to distempers from November till the end of May, during which time they have no rain or very little. It is hot here in January, as in our dog days, they are much pasted with nets and earth cakes.

  He observed that it never rains in New Spain in the morning. This town is dirty and ill-furnished with provisions, so that a man can scarcely leave for a piece of aid per day. Most of the inhabitants are blacks and mulattoes, for the Spanish merchants are gone as soon as their business is over at the fair for goods brought here from China and Peru.

  It has nothing good but the harbour, which is surrounded with high mountains, and the ships are moored to trees that grow on the shore. It has two mouths, the small one at northwest and the great at southeast. The mouth is defended by 42 brass cannons. The castellans, whose chief magistrates during the fair, has 20,000 pieces of aid from the

  duties paid in the harbour, and the controller and other officers as much. The curate has 14,000 per annum, though the king allows him but 180. But he exacts terribly on baptism and barriers, so that he will scare very rich merchants under a thousand. The trade of this place being for many millions, everyone in his profession gets a great deal

  in a short time, for a black will scarce work for less than a piece of aid per diem. All the dependence of inhabitants is on the port, which also maintains the hospital, monasteries and missionaries. During the fair, this town resembles a populous city, because of the great concourse of merchants from Peru and Mexico, then the miserable huts in which there was nothing before but a few

  nasty mulattoes are filled with gay Spaniards and rich merchants, and the very porters do generally earn three pieces of aid per diem, by loading and unloading of the goods and so on. But when this trade is over, the porters make a sort of funeral, carry one of their number about upon a beer, and pretend to bewail his death, because their harvest for gain is then

  at an end till the next year. I shall not here say anything further of the seaports of Mexico, because the reader will find them in the appendix, which gives a full account of all the noted harbors in the South Sea, but shall add that the trade of Mexico on this coast is very little compared with that of Peru, because those of the former have their goods brought to their cheap ports

  in the North Sea, directly from Europe, so that except when the two ships come yearly from Manila to Acapulco, they have little commerce in this sea. I must here observe that the ships which come from Manila used to be much richer than our price, for she waited a long time for the Chinese junk to bring silk, which not arriving, she came away with the cargo mixed with abundance of coal's goods.

  The prisoners told me that the Manila ship did often return from Acapulco with 10 millions of dollars, and that the officers never cleared less than from 20 to 30 thousand dollars each in a voyage, and the captain, whom they call general, seldom got less than 150 or 200 thousand pieces of aid, so that it would have been an extraordinary prize could we have met with them at the time.

  I think it proper to observe here, because it belongs to the subject that when we arrived at the taxel in Holland, there were two Spanish ships there, bound for Cádiz, and on board, one of them a sailor, who told us he was aboard the large Spanish ship from Manila when she arrived at Acapulco, very much disabled by the engagement she had with us off of California, that it was the gunner who made them engage us so resolutely at first, and forced them

  to continue the fight by keeping in the powder room himself, and having taken the sacrament to blow up the ship in case we had boarded and overpowered her. I was no more apt to believe this man had seen the ship, and this story might be true because he related almost every passage of the fight as I given it before in my journal. I shall also take notice here that Captain Stradling, who was taken prisoner in America

  when his ship stranded and came off prisoner in French ship, some month after we left the South Sea, informed me that the Corredors of Guayaquil sent an express to Lima upon the first notice of our being in those parts, that they then apprehended us to be part of a squadron of men of war, and therefore lay still until they had certain advice of our strength, and in about three weeks after we took the town, they fitted out three Spanish

  men of war, which was all their South Sea strength against us. The biggest carried not above 32 guns, but they were joined by two French ships, one of them 50 and the other of 36 guns, and all well manned. They stopped at Paita till Mr. Hatley and his four men, who lost company with us at the Galapagos Islands, being in want of provisions and having had no water for 14 days, stood

  in for the main and landed near Cape Paso, almost under the equinox among the barbarous sort of people, who are a mixed breed of Negroes and Indians. They voluntarily surrendered themselves, being in a starving condition, yet those brutish people, instead of giving them food, tied their hands and whipped them and hanged them up so that they must unavoidably have lost their lives had not Padre, who lived in the

  neighborhood, came time enough by good providence to cut them down and save them. There are several letters from Mr. Hatley since, which signify that he is a prisoner at Lima. Captain Stradling likewise told me that the French ship which brought him to Europe was the very ship that we chased inside of Falkland Island before we passed Cape Horn.

  She had before attempted to sail around the Cape Horn, to South Sea, but it being the wrong season, she met with bad weather and was forced to bear away to recruit at the river of La Plata and there wait for more proper season to go round Tierra del Fuego into South Sea. When we chased her, she had not above 100 helpful men on board, so that had we been

  able to come up with her, she must certainly have won our prize. Captain Stradling told me they ran their ship on an island and afterwards surrendered the prisoners to the Spaniard to save their lives, she being ready to sink so that the report I formally mentioned that part of their crew was drowned in the ship proves a mistake. In Mexico, the prisoners who are employed in cutting low-good had no way to escape the

  cruelty of the Spaniard but to turn poppies and be baptized after their manner, then they have the liberty to choose a godfather who is generally a man of note and they serve him as a livery man and so on. One boy who fled to us at Guayaquil was baptized us by an abbot in the Cathedral of Mexico, had salt put in his mouth and oil poured upon his head and small parcels of cotton which

  were distributed as precious relics among the penitents, because taken off the head of a condorted heretic as they call them. The native Spaniard enjoy all the post in the church and monasteries and admit no Indians, nor any mixed breed to those preformant which they think a necessary piece of policy that they may be the better keep the country in subsection to Spain.

  Some of these prisoners who are forced to be pretended converts do now and then make their escape, though it be dangerous to tempt it, for if taken they are generally confined to the workhouses for life. There are several Englishmen who were prisoners in this country but by compliance have obtained their liberty with the loss of their religion in exchange for riches.

  Particularly one Thomas Bull, who was born in Dover and taken in Campeche, he is a clockmaker, has been 18 years there, is about 45 years old, lives in the province of Tabasco and grown very rich. One Captain James Thomson, born in the Isle of Wight, has been there about 20 years, is about 50 years old, grown rich and commanded the mulaters who took Captain Peck at the

  beginning of the war. The person who told me this was a comb maker and endeavoured to escape from La Veracruz but was taken and sent prisoner to Mexico where he came off to Peru after he had his liberty by pretending he went to buy ivory to make combs. He gave me a long account of his ramble amongst Indians and says he was at the mouth of River

  Mississippi which falls into the Gulf of Mexico but could not pass it. He adds that the Indians on the Bay of Pilachi have murdered several of the Padres out of aversion to the Spaniard but show a great inclination to trade with the English. There are other Englishmen who now live near the Bay of Campeche as I was informed. One of them is Thomas Faulkner who was born at the Hen and Chickens in Pormol where his

  friend kept an ale house. He is married to an Indian woman. Such of them as want comply to turn pepists are kept in miserable slavery either in the mines or workhouses at Mexico which city says is about as large as Bristol. Those that are put in workhouses are chained and employed in carding woods, rasping log

  woods and so on. They have more manufactures of woolen and linen in Mexico than in Peru. Abundance of raw silk is brought from China and over late years worked up into rich brocades equal to any made in Europe. The mulattoes and Indians on light occasions are put into the workhouses and kept there

  till they pay their debts or tributes but no Spaniard except for the worst of the crimes. There are many Englishmen who were taken cutting log wood in the Bay of Campeche and several of these workhouses kept hard labor and will end their days in slavery unless their liberty be demanded by a majesty at the general peace. There is an abundance of sheep in this country which yield excellent wool of which I am informed

  the English prisoners have taught them to make clothes worth about 15 shilling a yard in England which there yields 8 piece of 8. They have also taught them to make bays and other course woolen. At Chopa in Mexico about latitude 12 north, there is a great river which sinks into the earth at once, runs on the mountains and rises bigger about 15 leagues from the place where

  it sunk. It is twice as large as the Thames. This river afterwards joins that of Tabasco and falls into the North Sea as most of the great rivers of this vast continent do, he told me about this place. There are high mountains with plains on the top where the air is very temperate and all

  our European fruits grow whereas at the bottom of these mountains they have known but the fruits of hot climate though it is not above 5 leagues of thunder. There are also woods of pines and so on on those mountains among which there are flocks of harmonious birds which sing together in an agreeable concert that resembles a fine organ so that strangers are amazed to hear such music strike up over sudden in the woods.

  There is also a strange creature in those woods called by the Spaniard on ons, much of the form and size of wolf-dog but it has talons and head is more like that of tiger. It kills men and beasts which makes travelling through the woods dangerous, it is said to eat nothing but the heart of its prey. I had many more relations from this man who had been 7 years a prisoner in this country

  but they being too tedious I shall add nothing more concerning Mexico but that the worm is larger and its bottom of the ship more on its seacoats than any other place where we were. All the coast from Guayaquil in Peru to the north was as far as Ratitude 20 in Mexico it is reckoned unhealthful but the contrary from Guayaquil to southward.

  End of section 16.

• 17 - Peru and Chili describ'd

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  section 17 of a cruising voyage around the world this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a cruising voyage around the world by Woods Rogers Perot described I shall not trouble the reader with the history of its conquest by the Spaniards nor the fabulous stories of its Incas or

  princes the curious may find them in the Spanish writers and for the natives they are much the same as those I have described in other parts Peru properly so-called is about thousand leagues long but the breadth varies from 100 to 300 leagues the best-known part of it lies on the South Sea and is divided into the three audiences Quito in the north Lima in the middle and La Plata in the south

  the air of Quito is tempered enough though under the line the soil is fruitful abounds with cattle and corn and they have mines of gold silver quick silver and copper they have also emeralds and medical drugs the audience of Lima is most noted because of its capital of the same name being the residents of the Viceroy of Peru this country abounds with mines of gold

  silver quick silver vermilion and salt the audience of La Plata I have already described in my account of that river I shall only add that though the silver mines of Potosí be much decayed yet some say the king of Spain has annually about two millions of crowns per annum for his wealth and that those of La Plata and Porco in the same province which were upon discovery of the mines

  of Potosí less used may probably be opened again to advantage now goods are sold so cheap by the continual supplies from France that the Indians who were employed in the manufacturers must again work at the mines their own coarse goods being brought either cheaper than they can make them the Spanish writers in general say that for 500 leagues in length from Tumbes to Chile it never

  thunders lightens no rains which agrees with the informations that I had from our prisoners with that from Cape Blanco in South Latitude 4 to Cocumbo latitude 30 it never rains but the water of this is supplied by great dews so that they have as good corn and fruit particularly wheat about Truxillo as any in Europe in the valleys near the sea the climate is hot but tempered with

  breezes from the ocean and mountains in the hilly part far into the country this winter and very rainy when this summer in the plains though in the same latitude the product beasts and birds be much the same with other parts of the South Sea coast I shall not insist upon them they have their cottage cotton clothes peach and tar from Chile and Rio Alito in Mexico and though the

  country abounds with provision it is always dear near the mines because their husbandry is neglected the cordage they use is made of coarse silk grass which is very tough draws small when strained but grows twice as big when Captain Stradling told me he traveled the great road from Quito towards Cusco in his way to Lima which has piles of stone on each side for some hundreds of

  miles when he and his men were brought prisoners to Lima the Spaniards put them in closed dungeon use them barbarously and threatened to send them to the mines because he attempted his escape and sailed in canoe from Lima towards Panama near 400 leagues intending to cross the East Miss and to get to Jamaica by some of our trading sloops but was taken and brought back to Lima

  before he came hence he saw several of the Spaniards who had been our prisoners and said they're all aren't we had treated them very severely which has in part taken off the bad impression they had conceived of the English in those parts for not being used to war they count all alike that come to cruise because of the unheard of cruelties and debaucheries which were committed about

  24 years ago by the Buccaneers in those parts which their priests did improve to give them an ill idea of all those they think fit to call heretics not considering that most of those disorders were committed by French Buccaneers of their own religion having said so much of Peru in several parts of my journal I need not enlarge upon it here the Spaniards extend it from Panama to

  Cocumbo which is about 800 leagues but the breadth varies the gold mines are most of them in the north parts betwixt Panama and equinox before the French traded Heather around Cape Horn there was a considerable commerce from Panama to all the parts of the South Sea as I noted before but now they have supplied the country so much with the European goods and so cheap that this trade is in

  manner sunk so that from hence forward there will be little sent overland from Panama to the North Sea but the King's revenue the Spaniards have a great many ships and small vessels belonging to the several ports of Peru which are chiefly employed in carrying timber salt salt fish wine brandy oil and other commodities from one part of the coast to another without which they could not

  well subsist for this country is laid to be more populous and better inhabited than Mexico they make woolen clothes here of several sorts I have seen some made it quito worth about eight solos pay yard that sold here for five dollars the Indians do likewise make a coarse sort of cotton clothes but since the French foreign system better and cheaper those manufacturers will come to

  nothing and the people must protect themselves to digging of mines or what other employment they can get the Spanish settlements in this country as well as in Mexico and Chile are not so full of Indians as formerly for many of are gone to remote parts and live in colonies by themselves to avoid the slavery and taxes imposed on them by the Spaniards for they were obliged to pay

  from eight to eighteen dollars per annum per head to the King which had it been duly collected and faithfully paid would have amounted to the greatest poll tax in the world but this now lessened by the removal of so many natives is above mentioned and the impoverishment of the rest who are sensible enough of their oppression but are so dispirited that they can do nothing to assert their

  liberty and they are besides kept under by the artifices of the priests the Spaniards here are very profuse in their closing in a cup each and affects to wear the most costly things that can be purchased so that those who trade hither with such commodities as they want may be sure to have the greatest share of their wealth Chile described I come next to the kingdom of Chile which lies

  nearest to those who shall think fit to attempt a trade from England into the South Sea father Ovaly a native of this country and procurator for it at Rome agrees with our maps that it lies farther south of any part of America on that called the South or Pacific Sea he bounds it with Peru on the north the Straits of Magellan on the south Paraguay Tocuman and Patagonia on the

  east and the South Sea on the west he begins it at South latitude 25 and extends it to latitude 59 which is near 500 leagues the breadth of it varies in the broadest place from east to west he makes about 150 leagues though Chile properly so called is not above 20 or 30 leagues broad from the chain of mountains named Cordillera to the South Sea but when the king of Spain divided

  America into particular governments he added to Chile the vast plains of Cuyo which are of an equal length and twice as broad as Chile itself the country in general Ovaly places in the third fourth and fifth climates the longest day in the third is 13 hours and in the fifth above 14 the first European who took possession of it was Don Diego Dalmagro a Spaniard in 1535 he's said to march

  hither from Peru by order of the King of Spain with a body of Spanish troops and Indians and blacks commanded by some Indian princes who had submitted to the Spaniards I shall not trouble the reader with the particular history of the Spanish conquests till they reduce this country which they may find at large in Ovaly, Herrera and others but shall only say in general that it was not totally in

  subjection to the Spaniards till the year 1640 when the inhabitants submitted to the Crown of Spain on condition that they should not be given in property as slaves the Spaniards who sufficiently experienced the value of these people treat them with more civility than they do the rest of the Americans on purpose to keep them in obedience and for the most part they have submitted to the

  Church of Rome. The Sansons say that Chile in the language of the country signifies cold which is so excessive in the mountains called Sierra Nevada a part of the Cordillera that it freezes men and cattle to death and keeps their corpse from petrification so that Almagro lost a great many of his men and horses as he passed those mountains but the values toward the sea are very

  healthful the climate temperate and the soil excellent and fruitful though with some difference according as it lies nearer or further from the equator but the coasts are subject to strong gales of wind. The country is divided into three quarters and those three into 13 jurisdictions. The quarter of Chile proper extends from the river Copiapo to that of Maoli and is harder than Spain.

  The second quarter called Imperial reaches from the river Maoli to that of Gallegos and much resembles the climate of Spain. The proximity of the mountains on one side and of the sea on the other makes it colder than otherwise it would be but it has warmth enough to make it one of the best countries in America. The valley of Copiapo is so fruitful that it frequently yields 300 for one single

  measure. Those of Cuaco and Cocumbo fall very little short of it and that of Chile proper is so excellent that it gives name to the whole country by way of eminence. I come now to give a brief view of what a valley a native says to it in general. He tells us that in Chile properly so called this the country betwixt the mountains and the sea the soil and climate exceed those of any

  part of Europe in goodness by the confession of the Europeans themselves. He says it's like the best part of Europe in everything except the opposition of the seasons. It being spring and summer in the one when it's autumn and winter in the other. But in the valleys the heat and cold are not so excessive as in Europe especially from latitude 36 or thereabouts to latitude

  45 so that neither the heat of the day nor the cold of the night can be complained of. From whence it's that the inhabitants make no difference between the summer and winter in their bedding and clothes. He adds that they are not troubled here with lightning and seldom hear thunder except at a great distance. They have no storms of hail in the spring and seldom above two or three

  rainy days together in the winter after which the sky is serene without the least cloud. The north winds bring the clouds and rain and the south winds speedily make all clear. They have no poisonous or ravenous creatures except a small sort of lions which sometimes prey on their flocks but always fly from man nor are these lions numerous there being only a few of them in the woods and

  deserts. He observes it's a peculiar property of the air of Chile that no bugs will live in it though they swarm in cuyo on the other side of the mountains. From the whole he infers that there is no country in America so agreeable to European constitutions as Chile and air and provisions are so like their own but rather better. The spring begins about the middle of our August

  and lasts till the middle of November then the summer holds to the middle of February the autumn continues to the middle of May and the winter from then to the middle of August. During this season the trees are deprived of their leaves and the ground is covered with white frosts which are dissolved about two hours after the Sun rises. The snow falls seldom in the valleys but in great

  quantity in the mountains. From winds it's melted in the summer and fructifies the valleys and plains with rivulets. In the spring the fields are adorned with beautiful flowers of all colors and sorts and of an admirable scent. From winds they distill a fine liquid called angels water which makes a noble perfume. The choicest flowers and plants that we cultivate grow wild there.

  They have groves of mustard trees higher than a man on horseback and the birds build their nests in them. They have many physical plants and herbs with which their Indian physicians perform wonderful cures when the patients are despaired of by our European doctors but they are very shy of communicating those secrets. Fruits and seeds brought hither from Europe thrive very well but those

  of Mexico and Peru don't. They have all our sorts of fruit in such abundance that everyone may take what they please so that none is sold except a sort of extraordinary large strawberries which they cultivate. They have oats, wheat and maize in such plenty that they are seldom troubled with want of grain. Their pastures are so rich in their cattle of all sorts so numerous that they don't

  value the flesh but salt the tongues and lines and send them to Peru with the heights and tallow which is a great branch of their trade. They have store of noble and generous wines both white and red. Their vines are larger in their clusters of grapes much bigger than any in Europe. They have also plenty of olives, groves of cocao trees of several leagues long, almond trees and such store of silk

  grass which they use instead of hemp that they furnish all the coasts of the South Sea with cortege for their ships. They have also great quantities of anise and cummins seed, salt, flax, wool, leather, timber, pitch, amber and so on so that according to Ovale merchants may trade from hence to other parts in the South Sea and especially to Lima from 100 to 300 percent profit of which I have also

  been informed by our prisoners. Though they have abundance of mulberry trees they breed no silk worms so that the ladies who are extravagant in their apparel impoverish the country by purchasing the rich silks though they might easily have enough of their own. They have plenty of bees yet have their wax from Europe for want of industry to improve their own and they have pepper

  and other spice from the East Indies though they have a kind of spice of their own which might very well supply them. He adds that the garbage, fishing, hunting, wood for fuel and timber and salt mines are here in common so that everyone may take what they please. They make little use of their mines of lead and quicksilver for Peru has enough of the latter to purify their silver.

  Ovale says the gold mines are so many that from the confines of Peru to the Straits of Magellan there is no part of the country without them but they are not so much followed as in Peru and they don't so much apply themselves to the because those of gold are wrought with less charge. Their silver is dug from hard rocks ground to powder in their mills and then refined with quicksilver

  which is laborious as well as expensive whereas they have no other trouble with the gold than to wash the earth from it yet sometimes they follow the veins of gold through rocks when they have hopes that they will grow larger as they're frequently do and one of these veins is often enough to enrich the discoverers. Gold is not dark here in such plenty since the war betwixt the Spaniards and

  Araucanos but the natives wait for the winter rains which wash it down from the mountains into rivers, ponds, etc. When the women go into the water, fill out the grains with their toes and make up as much as supplies their present necessaries as our author says but to me this appears a very odd way to get gold. He tells us that he sent one of those grains to Seville where being touched it

  was found to be 23 carats fine without any manner of purification. Most of the bells and great guns used in Peru are made of the copper of this country. He comes next to give an account of the chain of mountains named Cordillera from his own observation and what he has read in authors. He says they run from north to south from the province of Quito to the Straits of Magellan which

  is above a thousand leagues and accounts them the highest mountains in the world. There are generally 40 leagues broad and intermixed with abundance of habitable valleys. These mountains form two ridges. The low most is covered with woods and groves but the higher barren because of the excessive cold and snow on them. The most remarkable animals in these mountains are one, that species of hawks

  which have their navels on their backs called picory. These go in great hordes with each their leader until he be killed. It is not safe for hunters to attack them but when he falls they immediately disperse. Two, wild goats. Those hair is as soft as silk and much used for fine hats. Three, their sheep called guanacos shaped like camels but of a far less size with wool is fine that's preferred

  to silk for softness and color. He adds that the ancient Incas or princes cut two roads through those mountains and if we may believe Herrera one of them was paved for 900 leagues from Cusco to Chile. It was 25 foot broad and at every four leagues there was a noble structure and at each half league couriers to relieve one another and carrying messages from the state. He says there are still a

  sort of inns on this road where travelers find all necessaries but the path into the mountains are so narrow that a single mule can scarce pass them. The ascent begins at the very shore of the sea but that which is properly called the mountains requires three or four days journey to the top of them where the air is so very piercing and cold that he found difficulty to breath

  when he passed them so that he and his fellow travelers were obliged to breath quicker and stronger than ordinary and to apply their handkerchiefs to their mouth to break the stream coldness of the air. Herrera says that those who passed them from Peru are troubled with aching and vomitings. Ovale adds that there are meteors upon those mountains sometimes so high in the air that they resemble

  stars and at other times so low that they're frightened the mules and buzz about their ears and feet. He says on the top of those mountains they can't see the country below for clouds though the sky over the heads is clear and bright and the sun shines with admirable beauty. When he passed the highest part of that which is properly called the Cordillera he found no snow though in the beginning

  of winter whereas in the lower parts it was so deep that the mules would scarce travel. He supposes in reason why there was no snow on the top is that it reached above the middle region of the air. There are 16 volcanoes in this chain of mountains which sometimes break out with dreadful effects, cleave the rocks and issue great quantities of fire with a noise resembling thunder. I refer to our

  author for the particular names in places of those volcanoes. He doubts not but there are many rich mines among those mountains though the natives industriously conceal them and make it death to discover them which has defeated several attempts of that nature by the Spaniards. The natives have no occasion for those mines themselves because they have plenty of provisions which is all

  their desire and they are afraid that such discoveries will occasion the Spaniards to dispossess them or to make them work in the mines as slaves. He concludes this had with an account that very rich mines were discovered at the foot of those mountains on the side of Cuyo. Those mountains of the Cordillera are possible only in summer or in the beginning of the winter. There are

  frightful precipices and deep rivers at the sides of the narrow passes which frequently occasions the loss of mules and travelers. The streams run with such violence and so far below the roads that to look at them turns one's head. The ascent and descents are so steep that there are difficult to pass on foot but the irksomeness of the way is alleviated by the beautiful cascades which the

  water naturally forms as it falls from the rocks and mountains and in some of the valleys the water springs up to a great height like fountains made by art amongst other reference plants and flowers which make an agreeable prospect. All these streams and springs are so very cool that a man can't drink above two or three sips at once nor hold his hand in them above a minute. In some

  places there are hot springs good against many distempers and leave a green tincture in the channels through which they run. One of those rivers called has a natural bridge of rock over it from the fault of which there hangs several pieces of stone resembling salt which congeal like icicles as the water drops from the rock and are formed into several shapes and colors. This bridge is

  broad enough for three or four carts to pass a brisk. There is another bridge near this called the Incas. Laid over by art betwixt two rocks as some say but our author thinks it's the work of nature. It's so very high from the river that he could not hear the stream which runs with great rapidity and though it be a large river it appeared like a brook when he looked down from the bridge

  which he could not do without being struck with horror. He comes next to describe the particular rivers which run from these mountains but I shall only mention the chief of them and though most of them don't run above 30 leagues yet some of them towards the mouth are navigable by ships of the greatest The first is that which rises in the confines of Peru about south latitude

  25 it is called the river of salt because there's so salt that it can't be drank and petrified what's thrown into it. Two, Copiapo which rises in latitude 26 runs 20 leagues from east to west and forms a bay and harbour at its entrance into the sea. Three, Guaco rises in latitude 28 and forms likewise a bay and harbour. Four, the river of Cocumbo which rises in latitude 30 forms a

  noble bay and a port with beautiful murals and other trees on the bank that make a noble and pleasant grove. Five, Aconcagua a large deep river that rises about latitude 33 runs through several fruitful valleys. Six, Maipo rises about latitude 33 and half. It's so rapid that it admits no bridge but one made of cables. It enters the sea with so much force that its waters form a circle and

  are distinguished a great way. It's brackish noted for excellent trouts and the ship which feed on its banks afford mutton of a curious relish. There are several other rivers which fall into it. The first is that of Santiago, Elies Mapocho. It is divided into several streams to water the district of Santiago which sometimes it overflows. Not far from the city it sinks underground and

  rises again in a grove about two or three leagues distant. Two, the river Pongü its water is extraordinarily clear and sweet and flowing into veins of middle very much helps digestion. It runs for several leagues underground fructifies the valley which lies over it and produces excellent corn and melons. The banks of this river are adorned with beautiful trees. Three, the

  rivers Ticolina and Lampa which unite together within 10 or 12 leagues of their rise and formed a noted lake of Codagus. It's so deep that great vessels may sail in it is about two leagues long and its banks cowered with trees that are wardened all the year. It abounds with excellent trouts and smells which are great convenience to the city of Santiago. Seven, Rapel is

  nothing inferior to Mapo enters the sea about latitude 34 and a half and receives several other rapid streams. Digestant country has excellent pastures for fattening of cattle. Eight, Delora rises in latitude 34 three quarters and is exactly like the former. Nine, Mall a great river which rises in latitude 35 and bounds the jurisdiction of Santiago. The natives call all the country between

  those rivers promocas i.e. a place of dancing and delight which our author says is very just for he never saw a more pleasant country nor one better furnished with provisions of all sorts. The Spaniards have many noble farms in these parts. Near the mouth of this river there is a dock for building of ships and a ferry belonging to the king for the convenience of passengers. Ten, Itata

  it is three times as large and deep as the Mall and enters the sea about latitude 36. In most places they pass it on rafts and in some it's fordable. Eleven, Andaline a river which runs slow and enters the spacious and pleasant bay of Concepcion at latitude 36 three quarters. There is another small river which runs through the middle of the city of Concepcion a little above which

  it falls from a high rock and gives the inhabitants an opportunity to form all sorts of waterworks from it among pleasant groves of laurels, murtels and other odorous plants. Twelve, Biobio a famous river which enters the sea in latitude 37 is the largest in Chile and is from two to three mile broad at its mouth. Our author says its waters run through veins of gold and fields of

  sarsapilla which make them very wholesome and good against several distempers. This river is the boundary betwixt the Indians who are friends to the Spaniards and those who are their enemies and make frequent incursions upon them. This obliges the Spaniards to keep many garrisons in those parts but the natives trust to their mountains. This river swells so much in the winter

  that it becomes unpassable and occasions a cessation of arms on both sides. These people says Ovale have given the Spaniards more trouble than all the other natives of America so that they are forced to maintain two forts well provided with men and cannon besides the city of Concepcion and Chile to over all the natives. Thirteen, Imperial a pleasant river which falls into the sea

  about latitude 39 after having received many other rivers and among them two which run into the famous lake of Buran where the Indians have an impregnable fortress. Fourteen, Talton about 30 miles from the River Imperial is deep enough for great ships where it enters the sea. Fifteen, about eight leagues farther the River Canale enters the sea and is capable of small parks. Sixteen, Valdivia

  so called from Pedro de Valdivia one of the conquerors and governors of Chile who built a port and city near the mouth of it where great ships may come up about three leagues from the sea. This river opens to the north and over against the city lies the pleasant island of Constantine with two others. The river is navigable on both sides of the island but deepest on the south side.

  Seventeen, Chilo which rises from a lake at the foot of the Cordillera where they are bathed good against the leprosy and other distempers. Our author says so little of the rivers on the east side of the Cordillera that we pass them over. Ovaly gives an account of many remarkable fountains both hot and cold good against most distempers but I shall not insist on them. He says they have

  many sea lakes or bays which bring great profit to the owners because the fisheries are more certain than those of the sea and furnish most part of the Linton fair to the inhabitants and in the hot season abundance of salt. He adds that in the valley of Lampa near Santiago there is an herb about a food high resembling sweet basil. In summer it's covered with grains of salt like

  pearl which is more savory and has a fine flavor than any other salt. Our author comes next to treat of the fertility of the coast which he says among other fish produces shellfish in great quantities larger than anywhere else. And one oysters valuable both for the meat and pearls. Two chorus a fine sort of shellfish which also bred pearl. Three manicus which have two round

  shells the inside of which resembles mother of pearl. In short he says the sea throws up shellfish in such quantities upon some parts of the coast that ships may be loaded with them and their shells are of such variety of colors and shapes that our European visitors might from hence have a curious collection. Where is the Indians only burn them for chalk. There are other sorts of fish on these

  coasts some of which they call sea stars others suns and moons because they resemble those planets as they are usually painted which are common elsewhere but not so large as here. These fish reduced into powder and drank in wine are in infallible remedy against drunkenness and frequently used for that end because it creates an abhorrence of wine in those who drink it says our

  author. He adds that great quantities of amber are found on these coasts particularly the gray sort which is the best. They have all other sorts of fish common to us in Europe besides others peculiar to themselves. He comes next to their birds and besides those which are common in Europe there are one flamingos bigger than turkeys the feathers of a white and scarlet color of

  which the natives make ornaments in their legs are so long that they walk through lakes and ponds to the child bird so-called because they look like a swaddled child and with its arms at liberty there are very good meat three ironis so much valued for the feathers to make tufts that formerly they say every feather upon their heads cost two reels these boards are rare there are

  other called garcolos whose feathers are generally used by soldiers for focus from whose notice the Indians pretend to foretell death sickness or other misfortunes the feathers on their breasts are of a deep scarlet color and the rest brown five pingudas their body is of the size of an almond their feet upon flowers and shine like polished gold mixed with green the males have a

  lively orange color like fire on their heads and the tails of those birds are a foot long and two inches broad six condors which are white as omen their skins are extreme soft and warm and therefore used as gloves they have abundance of ostriches and variety of Hawks in this country a valley comes next to treat their beasts he says they had no cows horses sheep Hawks house

  cats nor common dogs of any sort goats asses or rapids till they were brought hither by the Spaniards but now all these are increased to a wonderful degree by the richness of their country and pasture so that one cow frequently yields hundred and fifty pounds weight of tallow Arira says that when the Spaniards came first hither a horse was commonly sold for thousand crowns but now there

  are so plenty that they sent them yearly to Peru the most remarkable animals which are not common with us are one their sheep mentioned before shaped like camels though not so large the natives used them for ploughing and carriage before they had European cattle their upper lips are slit with which they spit at those who wakes them and wherever their spittle falls it causes

  a scab they govern them by a kind of bridle put into their ears and they would kneel like camels to take on their burden to wild goats which very much resemble those sheep but are all of a red clear color so very swift that their outrun horses and are never to be tamed their feet in great herds and are hunted by dogs which easily catch the young ones that are excellent meat the

  flesh of the old ones dried and smoked is reckoned the best of its kind these creatures especially the oldest have bizarre stones in a bag under their belly our author says he brought one of those stones to Italy which weighed 32 ounces and was as perfect an oval as if it had been formed by a Turner he gave the Indian who founded 70 pieces of aid for it their most remarkable trees

  besides what are common to Europe are one the cinnamon tree so-called because the bark resembles cinnamon in such plenty that they cover their houses with them they keep their leaves all the year and resemble the Italian laurel royal to the guac tree grows in the cartel era is as hard and heavy as iron the decoction is good against many diseases three the sandal tree that's very

  other efforts a preservative against infectious distempers and therefore used by the priests when their visit the sick for the maguilla whose leaves are admirable against burnings the fruit is like mortal berries and of an excellent relish five the quill of whose fruit they make a very sweet drink seven the Spaniards call it molded this of the shape and color of paper it grows on a

  small tree and makes an agreeable liquor coveted by those of quality eight the murtilla which grows on the mountains from latitude 37 and upwards every says its fruit is a common good to the natives not unlike a grape and of these they make a wine that exceeds all other liquors this of a bright gold color will beer more water than any other wine cheers the heart and never offends the

  stomach but increases appetite the vinegar made of it exceeds all other sorts our author adds that their cypress cedar and oak trees are extraordinarily good he comes next to the islands of Chile the first are those of one Fernandez already described the second are the islands of Chile which lie about latitude 43 and form an archipelago of 40 islands he says the

  nature of the climate is such that it rains almost all year so that on the maze or such other grain can ripen here as need little Sun the chief diet of the inhabitants is the root papas which is larger here than anywhere else they have excellent shellfish very good poultry and hawks some beefs and sheep the capital of this country is the city of castra which lies in the chief island

  and is garrisoned by the Spaniards here they have great store of honey and wax and some gold mines on the coast the chief manufacturer is closing for the Indians they have vast woods of cedar trees of a prodigious size with the planks of which they drive a great trade to Chile and Peru three the islands of chinos in latitude 45 but of little use because of the excessive rains which

  drawn the soil for the fine island which lies almost in the same latitude with Valparaiso and Santiago it has a safe harbor for ships where they may ride in 20 or 30 fathom water the Spaniards say it is a very beautiful island a bounce with trees wild boars and other game and excellent water and there is plenty of fish on the coast five the island of mocha where the Dutch under Spolburg

  found a very generous reception by the natives who furnished them with plenty of sheep and other provisions in exchange for clothes axes etc. the north side of it is plain and low but the south side rocky six the island of St. Maria 13 leaks southwest from the city of conception and three from Arauco it's very fruitful and tempered lies about latitude 37 in is well inhabited seven

  the islands of Pedro de Sarmento so called because he discovered them when in pursuit of Sir Francis Drake they are about 80 in number and lie about latitude 50 so that we suppose them to be those now called the Duke of York's islands which lie a little to the northward of the Straits of Magellan our author comes next to quio the third quarter of Chile which lies on the other

  side of the Cordillera towards the east it is divided into several provinces and quite differs in temperature from Chile the summer is excessive hot and the inhabitants so annoyed with bugs and mosquitoes that they lie abroad in their gardens and yards they have almost perpetual thunders and lightnings and are mightily infested with poisonous insects these are the bad

  qualities of the country to compensate which the soil in many places if possible exceeds that of Chile in fruitfulness the crops are richer the fruits larger and of a better taste because of the greater heats they have store of corn wine flesh and all the fruits roots and herbs of Europe with large plantations of olives and almonds the cold is not so sharp in winter is

  that of Chile and the air much clearer so that the season is then very temperate they have great quantities of large excellent trouts and other river fish their peculiar fruits are one Algarabo of which they make a bread so sweet that strangers can't eat it they supply Tucuman and Paraguay with figs palm grenades apples dry peaches and grapes and excellent wine and oil Awali says

  that in his time there were rich mines of gold and silver discovered here which were reckoned to be better than those of Potosí and that in short it had all necessities for life in as great abundance as any other country and in general is very helpful the provinces of Tucuman and Paraguay which bound this country we have already described end of section 17

• 18 - To the East Indies

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  Section 18 of A Cruising Voyage Around the World. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by SS Kim, Seoul, South Korea. A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Woods Rogers. To the East Indies. We decided to keep an exact account of the distance and variation, not being certainly known to us from any form of voyages. January 11th. We wade from the port to Segura last night, but were becalmed under the shore till the 12th in the afternoon, where there sprung up a breeze, which soon ran us out of sight of the land.

  We took our departure from St. Lucas, which bore north by east at 12 o'clock, distance about 15 leagues. We were forced to go away with little or no refreshments, having but three or four files and a very slender stalk of liquor, which we got out of the bachelor. Several of our men were in a weak condition, besides myself, Mr. Vanbrough and the rest that were wounded. We were forced to allow but one pound and half of flour and one small piece of meat to five in a mess, with three pints of water a man for 24 hours for drink and dressing their fitters. We struck down ten of our guns into the hold, to ease the ship, for being out of the way of enemies, there are altogether useless betwixt this and the East Indies. On the 16th, the bachelor made a signal to give us some bread, they having found a good quantity of bread and sweetmeats aboard her, but little of flesh kind. We had a thousand weight of bread for our share, the duchess as much and the marquis 500 weight, in lieu of which we sent back to the prize two casks of flour, one of English beef and one of pork, they having but 45 days provision aboard in flesh. This morning Thomas Connor, a boy fell overboard, but the launch being a stone, we cut a mooring and took him up just as he was tired with swimming and ready to sink.

  On the 26th in the morning the water was very much discoloured, at which being surprised, we immediately sounded but found no ground. We spoke with the duchess and agreed to go away west-south-west till we got into the latitude of 13 degree, because our Spanish pilot told us it was dangerous going in 14 by reason of island and shores, where a Spanish vessel was lost some time ago, ever since which the Manila ship in her return from Acapulco runs in latitude 13 and keeps that parallel till they make the island. On the 28th, the steward missing some piece of pork, we immediately searched and found the thieves, one of them had been guilty before and forgiven on promise of amendment but was punished now, lest forbearance should encourage the rest to follow this bad practice. Provisions being so short and our run so long may prove of ill-consequence. I ordered them to the mangers and every man of the watch to give them a blow with a cat of nine tails, and their mess-mate being privy to the theft were put in irons. February 1st, we buried one boy betwixt 40 and 50 years of age, whom we brought from Guayaquil, where and in other parts of New Spain he had been a prisoner above seven years since he was taken in the Bay of Campeche.

  On the 5th, a negro we named Deftfall died, who'd been much addicted to stealing of provisions, his room was more acceptable than his company at this time. On the 6th, we spoke with the duchess, I was for augmenting the man's allowance in meat, since we had such a favorable gale, which was like to continue, but Captain Coutinho objected against it, alleging that if we missed the guam, we should all be starved, so we deferred it a week longer. We have had very bad luck in fishing in Hidothu, having took only one albicore since we came from Cape St. Lucas. On the 11th, I agreed with Captain Coutinho to continue our west by south coast till we get clear of the rocks called the Bartolomeus, which are laid down in 13 and a half, but the distance of them being variously computed makes us the more cautious and keep a constant good lookout. On the 13th, the Spanish pilot we took in The Bachelor died. We kept him thinking he might be abused to us if he recovered of his wounds, but he was shot in the throat with a musket ball, which lodged so deep the doctors could not come at it.

  On the 14th, we agreed with Captain Coutinho to give half a pound of flour or bread more to a mess. The same day, in commemoration of the ancient custom in England of choosing valentines, I drew up a list of fair ladies in Bristol that were anyways related to or concerned in the ships and sent for my officers into the cabin, where everyone drew and drank the ladies' health in a cup of punch and to a happy sight of them all. This I did to put them in mind of home. On the 17th, I was troubled with the swelling in my throat, which incomodated me very much, till this morning I got out a piece of my jaw bone that lodged there since I was wounded. Our ship began to make more water, so we clapped on a new bonnet where we took the old one off, but after many fruitless attempts, we were forced to keep one pump continually going, every two men in the watch taking their post once an hour, which labored with the want of sufficient food, make our people look miserably. On the 18th, we drew a negro overboard, who died over consumption and want together. Our men began to be very much out of order, and what adds to their weakness is our continual pumping, nor can we pretend to make any further addition to their allowance.

  On the 25th, Thomas Williams, a Welsh tailor, died. He was shot in the leg at engaging the Second Manila Ship, and being of a weak constitution fell into a dysentery which killed him. On the 26th, we caught a couple of fine dolphins, which were very acceptable to us, having had but very indifferent luck of fish in this long passage. On March the 3rd, we buried a negro called Augustine, who died of scurvy and dropsy. We agreed to give six negroes the same allowance as five of our own men, which will but just keep those that are in health alive. On the 10th, we made land, being the island Srapina, which bore northwest distant about eight leagues. The Dutchess made another island to the westward, which bore west by south distant about ten leagues, the latter they took to be the island Guam, so we clapped upon a wind and stood for it.

  March 11th, this morning we had the sight of both islands, the northmost bearing north-northwest distant about seven leagues, and the body of westmost west-southwest five leagues. The Spaniards say there is a great shore between these islands, but nearest to Srapina. We ran along the shore, being satisfied it was the island of Guam. From whence there came several flying pros to look at the ships. They ran by us very swift, but none would venture aboard. At noon, the westmost part of the island bore west, and at the same time, we made a small low island join into Guam, with a shore between it and Guam. The island appeared green and very pleasant. Off of it, there runs a spit of sand to the southward, but keeping it a good berth from you as you near it, there is no danger, being gradual soundings to the shore.

  After we were clear of it, we sprung our luff and stood in for the harbor, which lies midway betwixt this and the north part of the island. There came heavy flows of wind offshore, sometimes for us and at other times against us, but we got to an anchor in the afternoon in twelve-feet of water, about half a mile offshore, where there was a little village. The small island to the southward bore south of us, distant about three leagues, and another small one to the northward bore, north-northwest about two leagues. The necessity of our stopping at these islands to get a refreshment of provisions was very great, our sea store being almost exhausted and what we had left was very ordinary, especially our bread and flour, which was not enough for fourteen days at the shortest allowance. In order to recruit quietly, we endeavored to get some of the natives aboard that were in the pros, to keep them as hostages in case of sending any of our men to the governor.

  One of them, as we were turning into harbor with Spanish colors, came under our stern. There were two Spaniards in the boat who asked what we were and from whence we came. Being answered in Spanish that we were friends and came from New Spain, they willingly came aboard and asked if we had any letter to the governor. We had one ready, but before we could get it signed by all the commanders, there came a messenger from the governor, who demanded the same account of us. We immediately sent him away with two of our linguists, detaining one of the Spaniards till they returned. The letter was thus. So, we being servants to a metastop Great Britain and stopping at these islands in our way to the East Indies will not molest the settlement, provided you deal friendly with us.

  We'll pay for whatever provisions and refreshments you have to spare, in such manner as bests agrees with your convenience, either in money or any necessities you want. But if after this civil case you deny us and do not act like a man of honor, you may immediately expect such military treatment as we are with ease able to give you. This we thought fit to conform under our hands, recommending to our friendship and kind treatment, which we hope you will esteem and assure yourself we then shall be with the strictest honor, your friends and humble servants. To the Honorable Governor of the Island of Guam, March 23, 1709, W. Rogers S. Courtney E. Cook, March 11. In the morning, we and the Duchess manned our penis center a show with the flag of truth, where they were entertained courteously by the natives who promised to supply us with such provisions as they could spare,

  provided the Governor would give them leave. About noon, our linguist returned and brought with him three Spanish gentlemen from the Governor, who in answer to our letter sent another expressing all readiness imaginable to accommodate us with what the Island afforded, and that he had sent those gentlemen to treat with us. I immediately sent for Captain Dover, Courtney and Cook and so on, being not able to stir out of the ship and desired they would come and consult with me how to act. March 13, this morning we had four bollocks, one for each ship, with some limes, oranges and coconuts. Our misunderstanding at California has been very much augmented since by our want of provisions.

  One ship's company being jealous, the other had most and best, but now being arrived at the place of plenty, we are all indifferently well reconciled and an entertainment was provided aboard the bachelor for the Spanish gentlemen, where most of our officers appointed to meet. I being not able to move myself was hoisted in a chair out of the ship and also out of the boat into the bachelor. There we had good entertainment and agreed that on Thursday next, a representative for each ship should wait upon the Governor and make him a handsome present for his civility and readiness to supply us. March 15, this morning we had another entertainment aboard the Marquis, where I likewise went in the same manner as before. March 16, this morning our penis went with several of our officers to accept the Governor's invitation or show, who received them with all imaginable friendship and respect, having near 200 men drawn up in arms at their landing, and the officers and clergy of the island to conduct them to the Governor's house, which was a very handsome seat considering where we are.

  They entertained them with at least 60 dishes of several sorts, the best could be caught on the island, and when they took their leaves, each fired a volley of small arms. They presented the Governor according as we had agreed, with two Negro boys dressed in liveries, 20 yards of scarlet cloth search, and six pieces of cambric, which he seemed wonderfully pleased with and promised to assist us in whatever lay in his power. March 17, this day we got our dividend, being about 60 hawks, 99 fowls, 24 baskets of Indian corn, and 14 bags of rice, 44 baskets of yams, and 800 coconuts. March 18, there was an entertainment aboard us today where we had most of our officers and four Spanish gentlemen from the Governor. I made them as welcome as time and place would afford, diverting them with music and our sailors dancing till night when we partied very friendly. We got some more bollocks on board, being small in cattle, but what we gladly accepted of, each ship had 14 in all.

  March 20, this morning each ship had two cows and calves more, being the last we are likely to get. We had a meeting on board the markets, where it was agreed to make a handsome present to the Governor's deputy, who had the fatigue to get our provisions together, wherein he used all possible dispatch. We gave him and the rest of the gentlemen what they esteemed double the value of what we received of them, which they certified under their hands, and that we had been very civil to them. We also gave them the like certificate, signed by all our officers, to shoot to any English that might have occasion to recruit there, and partied very friendly. Having finished that affair, it was agreed that we should steer from hence west and by south's coast to get clear of some islands that lie in our way, and then dot it proper to steer directly for southeast part of Mindanao, and from thence the clearest way to Ternate. It was also agreed that our ship being very leaky, I should deliver to Captain Kutny one chest of platinum money to be put on board the duchess.

  March 21st. At break of day, we hoisted our colors and fired a gun for our consul to unmoor. In the meantime, with the consent of the other officers, I put on old spaniard offshore, called Antonio Gomez Figuero, whom we took in the first bulk in the South Seas, and designed to carry him to the Great Britain to condemn all our prices took there, but he being now in all appearance, not likely to leave, we agreed to dismiss him, he giving us a certificate that he saw us attack and take several prices, all subject to Philip IV, King of Spain, and so on. I gave him some clothes and other odd things to help him in his sickness, then put him ashore to the deputy governor and the rest of Spanish officers who gave us a certificate that they received such a person. I shall here give a description of the Isle of Guam.

  The island of Guam described. This island is about 40 leagues round, the anchoring place is on the west side, and about middle there is a large cove, with several houses built after Spanish mode, with accommodations for the officers and crew of the Acapulco ship, the settlement being made here on purpose for that ship to recruit in a way to Manila. There are about 300 Spaniards on this and the neighboring islands, most of the natives are their converts. They told us they have eight fathers, six of whom teach school, besides performing their office as a clergyman. They have also schools taught by militars and Indians who have learned the language so that most of the natives understand Spanish.

  The Spaniards informed me that there is a range of islands from hence to Japan, among which there are several abound with gold, and they were now building a small vessel to discover them in order to get a trade. The island of Guam itself abounds with orange, lemons, citrons, musk, and watermelons, which were brought here by the Spaniards. The orange trees thrive very well here. The island is full of hills and hills, and streams of good water. They have plenty of cattle, but small, poor, and generally white. The Indico plant grows wild in such abundance that were their industries, and had corpores to boil up, they might have great quantities of that commodity,

  but being so remote and out of way of the trade, they make no use of it, nor do they improve anything but what contributes to their present subsistence. And having that, they are easy. Money is of so little use, and so scarce among them, that they could not raise $1,000 in the whole islands to purchase commodities from us, which they would gladly have done. Here are about 200 soldiers who receive their pay from Manila by a small ship once per annum. This ship brings them clothes, sugar, rice, and liquor, for which she carries back most of the money again.

  This has made them of late sow rice in their valleys, and make other improvements. They abound with hogs, which are the best pork in the world, because they feed all together on coconuts, and bread fruits, which are plentiful here, and while not the Spaniards slothful, they might have most necessities of their own gross for the maintenance of life. The bread fruit I thought the most remarkable thing on the island. I saw some of it which was as large as oranges, and much resembled them.

  They tell me that when life, they are three times as large, and grow in many other places near Equinox in the East Indies. The leaves are almost as large as those of figs, something like them, but of a brown color. The tree is large, and they have such plenty of these fruits in the season that they fatten their hogs with them. The fruit has no stone, and by the account they gave, the inside resembles a dried potato or a yam, with which they likewise abound. The wind blows constantly a South-East trade here, except during the westly monsoons, which last from the middle of June to the middle of August.

  The governor lives on the north side of the island, where there is a small village and a convent, being the cheap habitation of the Spaniards. They marry with their natives, and had not about four Spanish women on the island. The Indians are tall and strong, of a dark olive color, go all naked except a clout about their posteriors, and the women have little petticoats. The men are dexterous at flinging of stones, which they make of clay, of an oval form, burn in them till as hard as marble, and are so good marksmen that the Spaniards say they seldom miss hitting any mark and throw it with such a force as to kill a man at a considerable distance. I heard of no other weapons that they use, but a stick or lance made of heaviest wood in the island.

  The governor presented us with one of their flying pros, which I shall describe here because of the oddness of it. The Spaniard told me it would run 20 leagues per hour, which I think too large, but by what I saw, I very little believe. They may run 20 miles or more in the time, for when they viewed our ships, they passed by us like a bird flying. These pros are about 30 foot long, not about two broad and about three deep. They have but one mast which stands in the middle, with a mat sail made in the form of ship's mason.

  The yard is long in the middle, and men sit at each end with a paddle to steer her, so that when they go about, they don't turn the boat, as we do to bring the wind on the other side, but only change the sail, so that the tack and sheet of sail are used alike, and the boat's head and stern are the same. Only they change them, as occasion requires to sail either way. For they are so narrow that they could not bear any sail, were it not from booms that run out from the windward side, facing to a large log shaped like a boat, and near half as long, which becomes continuous to the boat.

  On these booms, a stage is made above the water, on a level with the side of the boat, upon which they carry goods or passengers. The greatest inconvenience in sailing these boats is before the wind, for by the outer layer, which is built out on one side, if the wind presses anything heavy on the contrary side, the boat is overset, which often happens. Having brought one of these boats to London, it might be worth fitting up to put in the canals in St. James Park for curiosity, since we have known like it in this part of the world.

  As soon as the boat returned from landing Signor Figuro, we put on the sail, having the fine breeze of wind at east-north-east. We had generally fair weather here in the daytime, and showers commonly in the night, but very subtly. The wind always offshore between the east and north-east, our decks are filled with cattle and provender. According to promise, I have here inserted my run from California to Guam, a table of which they run between Cape St. Lucas in California and the island of Guam.

  There is a table of daily log from 12th of January till 10th of March, about the course, distance and location of ship. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the island of Guam bore west by south distant 10 leagues. 1710 March 22nd. At 6 last night, the body of the island Guam bore east-north-east distant 8 leagues, from whence we took our departure, designing for Ternate, one of the Meluca Islands belonging to the Dutch,

  and distant from Guam, about 400 leagues. We had a fresh scale of wind at north-east and north-east by east with fair weather, but very subtly, latitude 12.45, variation 5.30e. April 11th. Nothing remarkable has occurred worth noting, but that we have generally had a strong current setting to the northward. At 2 yesterday afternoon, we made land bearing south-east, distant about 5 leagues, being a low flat land, all green and full of trees, latitude 2.54 north. This island is not laid down in any sea chart, our ship continues very leaky.

  April 14th. Yesterday in the afternoon we saw land bearing west-south-west, 12 leagues, being very high. The current has set to the northward, this 24 hours very strong, latitude 1.54. April 15th. Yesterday in the afternoon we made other land, which bore west-north-west, distant about 10 leagues, and supposed it to be the northeast part of Celebes. We saw three water spouts, one of which had liked to have broke on the marquise, but the duchess, by firing two shots, broke it before it reached her. We saw a very large tree afloat, with a multitude of fish about it, and two large islands, the southernmost bearing south-west, distant about 8 leagues, and the northernmost, west-north-west, 7 leagues.

  Both being the same land we saw yesterday, and later, we now supposed to be the southeast part of the Maratai, Maltai, and the other, the north part of Gilolo. At noon, the southernmost land bore south-west by south, 10 leagues, and the westmost, 5 leagues, north latitude, 0.213. April 17th. We have a westerly gale, and the current setting against us, we gained little ground in turning to get about Maratai. We had indifferent fair weather all night and morning, but standing pretty much to the southward, lost sight of land, and a strong current setting to the northward. April 23rd. We had a very stormy weather for most parts since the 17th.

  The Marquis and we suffered both in our rigging, so that we began to despair of getting to windward of this island, Maltai, to reach Ternaito, which is now near us. But we are obliged to keep company with the Marquis and Bachelors, who sail but very indifferent upon wind. And it's the hardest upon our ship's company, who are wearied almost to death with continual pumping, the leak having increased upon us since we came out of Guam, so that it is as much as four men are able to keep for three half an hour, all the watch being obliged to come to it once in four hours. April 29th. We got 292 pounds weight of bread from the Bachelors yesterday afternoon.

  In exchange for meat, we sent them, which, with what we had before, will last us about 20 days and not much longer. We begin to be very much disheartened, because Captain Dempere, who has been twice here, tells us that if we can't get to Ternaito or find the island Tila, Tulo, we can reach no port or place to recruit at, and that it will be impossible to get provisions for us on the coast of New Guinea, should we be forced to go either, upon which I sent my opinion about our consult and desired they would call a committee and agree how to proceed next, which they did as follows. The committee held on board the Bachelors' Regate, April 29th, 1710.

  It is agreed to make the best of our way to the island of Tula, where we are in expectation of supplying ourselves with wood, water and provisions, to cross 10 or 12 days for this island, being uncertain of its situation, and in case the wind should present sooner, that we can fetch Ternaito, then to make the best of our way for it. But if the wind should not present for Ternaito nor the island Tula, then if we see occasion, we make the best of our way to some port in Mindanao. And for all opportunities in going about and carrying a light, we leave it to Captain Kootenay in the Duchess.

  May 2nd, we shaped our course for Ternaito a second time, being in all probability to the westward of Gilolo, having made our reckoning 3 degrees of longitude to the westward of Maratai. May 3rd, about 8 this morning, we made land which we took to be some of the island lying off the northeast part of Celebes. It bore west-southwest of us, distant about 15 leagues. May 7th, fair weather till 4 this morning, when there came up a violent shower with great flashes of lightning. At break of day, we saw land trending from southeast by south to south-southwest, which at first appeared like a five-island,

  but after it cleared up, we plainly perceived it was one continued land. We also saw other lands to the westward of that, which bore west by south, distant about 10 leagues, and more of opinion than we got to the eastward of Gilolo a second time. We were the more inclined to believe this, because whenever we tried the current, we generally found this set to the eastward very strong, though we little thought it could have driven us so far back. May 9th, yesterday in the afternoon, all the officers met aboard us to consult about the land and what course to take, but being divided in opinions, we deferred coming to a resolution till such time as we were better satisfied.

  We tried the current at 4 o'clock when it set north-northwest after the rate of 20 miles in 24 hours. We made no other land all day than that we first saw, so stood on and off all night, expecting a gale to run in with it in the morning, but having calms for the most part and a current setting against us, we still lost ground and made another round high hummock about noon, which bore south-east by east, distant 8 leagues, and southmost land bearing at the same time south by east 7 leagues, and westmost west by south 8 leagues. May 10th, I sent the penis aboard the marquise with 12 hawks' heads and a barrel of water, their stock being almost spent,

  and in their way ordered them to speak with the bachelor and duchess to be satisfied what allowance of petty. Being right in the husk, their men were at, because ours had a notion they had more than we. I having ordered them but a pound and a quarter for five men, whereas before they had two pounds. Upon inquiry, I found the ship's companies faired all alike, but to make them easy, agreed with Captain Kootenay and the rest to make it two pounds again, at which allowance we have not above 12 days at most, being all the bread kind we have in the ship.

  May 12th, we were satisfied that many island and land we saw for these several days was the Strait of Milgini. We spoke with the duchess who had been near the land where we perceived the greatest opening, and they told us the reason of their keeping in with the shores was, with a desire to have anchored but meeting with irregular sounding, did not think it fit to adventure it. They sent their boat or shore to the easternmost small island to see what they could meet with. We stood within a mile and half of the shore when the water began to discolor.

  We sounded and heard dirty phantom water, and presently after about six. So we went about and stood off till the duchess' boat returned, who gave us an account that they had seen the tracks of turtle and men's feet with fireplaces lately made. These islands are in the same climate with the Spice Island, and no doubt would produce spice if planted. I went on board the duchess and agreed with Captain Kootenay to send the peninsula shore, standing and off with our ship all night,

  latitude 00.24 south, longitude 236.25 west from London. May 13th, we kept turning to windward this 24 hours between the southmost long track of land we made first of all, and the islands to the eastward of it, where we expected to find the passage between Gilolo and New Guinea. May 15th, we being jealous of each other who had the most provisions, we this day met aboard the bachelor and carried an account with us of what each ship had left,

  and on making a strict rummage there, we found more rice than we expected, so that with the shortest allowance we may subsist at sea above three weeks longer. Each ship's proportion of the provisions we had left being weighed, we then returned to our ships in better state than we expected. May 18th, we have passed several islands and are now inside of what we account the point or cape of New Guinea

  and the south end of the Gilolo, which appears about eight leagues asunder, with some islands near each side who have commonly little wind and very bearable. This being the time that the southeast monsoon begins, which made weather and wind very uncertain, latitude too south. May 20th, the Dutchess generally kept ahead in the night with the pennies ahead of her, because the currents are so very uncertain and being in an unknown track, we cannot be too careful in the night.

  We are still inside of highland of New Guinea and several islands to the northward, which we find laid down in no drought, so we noted them as we passed by. This way into India would not be half so dangerous as it is imagined, were it well known. While we had any breeze of wind, in the day we told our prize. We made another long high island trending from south by east to west south west,

  distant about twelve leagues and crowded along shore to make what it was, judging it to be the island serum. We likewise made another island to the northward, which bore north by west, distant about seven leagues, south latitude all three. May 21st, being close under it, I sent the pennies aboard the Dutchess yesterday afternoon to know what they made of the land and what they designed to do. They both met ours and told them Captain Dempio was of the same opinion with us that it is the island serum.

  May 22nd, had an ugly gale of wind which drove us clear off the island we took to be serum. Since the 18th that we passed the Straits of New Guinea, we have had a westerly current, but before the current generally set to the eastward. We now have dark, gloomy weather with a strong gale of wind at south east and south east by east runs us out of sight of all the land. Our ship is still very leaky and we begin to be in the utmost want of all manner of refreshment and necessities

  and doubtful where to harbor or refit, the land being unknown to us for want of good draft or unexperienced pilot, latitude 3.40, south, longitude 237.21, west from London. May 24th, we were in expectation making land this morning, being in the latitude of the island Boro, which is about 20 leagues to the south west of serum and near the same distance in parallel with Amboyna. The land of which we designed to have touched at had the wind been favorable,

  but south east monsoon being now setting, we are almost out of hope of fetching it and still doubtful what island we passed by last, not agreeing whether it was serum or Boro. We found by our observation at noon that we were in the latitude of southernmost part of Boro and the reason of our not seeing of it, we impute the current setting as the westward of it, south latitude 04.30, longitude 237.29, west from London.

  May 25th, I spilt the duchess a pot of water, they having little or none, but what they can catch when it rains. We came to a resolution to spend no more time in such a Boro, not to wait for wind to carry us to Amboyna, but to make the best of our way for the Straits of Bolton, where if we arrive safe, we might get provisions enough to carry us to Batavia. Pursuant to which agreement, we hauled away south west by south for them, having a fresh gale of wind at east,

  but by two in the morning we fell in with the parcel of island to the eastward of Bolton, and had infallibly been a show upon one of them, had not the weather cleared up at once. We made a shift and wore the ships, then stood off northeast from the land till daybreak, when we saw it trending from south by east to south west by south about six leagues distant, which made like a fine large bay, but as we stood in, perceived an opening,

  and that there were two islands with three lying door to the outlet to the southward of both. We hoisted our penis and sent a show, the duchess did the same, from whence they brought off some coconuts, which were very plentiful here, and told us they were Malayan inhabitants who seemed to be very friendly. We kept turning in with our ships and our boats sounding ahead, designed to anchor,

  if we could find any ground but found none with sixty or eighty phetum line. We saw land to the northwest of us, which we took to be the island Bolton, being pretty high and distant eight or ten leagues, south latitude 05.00, longitude 237.51. May 26, we could get no anchor ground all yesterday afternoon, though we ran our boat split almost ashore, and having the current setting against us,

  made it a tiresome piece of work to fetch within the reach of the houses. At last, some of the inhabitants came off in a canoe to our boats, as they were sounding ahead. They brought them aboard and by signs we understood there was plenty of provisions ashore. I sent the pinnace and yaw to see what they could meet. In the meantime came several canoes full of Malayans with coconuts, pumpkins, Indian corns, fowls and so on,

  to truck with our people. Oshu they had sheep and black cattle in plenty. The officers I sent were admitted into the presence of their king and nobles, who were all barefoot and most naked, save a clout about their posteriors. They seemed to be very courteous and ready to supply us with what we wanted.

  We lay by and drove till morning, having little wind that we might be nearer the other ships and resolve what to do. We found no anchor ground but two near the shore and the current setting strong to the southwest and driving us out, which together with our having no anchor ground, if the wind should take us out of the sea, made us desist to attempt any further here. We agreed to stand over for the land to the west of us,

  the northernmost part of which bore west-northwest, distant nine leagues, and the westernmost, west-by-south, ten leagues. The inhabitant called the easternmost of this island Fancyt, other next to it Capota, and the westernmost Cambeva, south latitude 05.13 longitude 238.11 west. May 27, we stood from this island to the westward and ran along shore, as near as we thirst to weather the westernmost point of land, where we expect to find the harbor,

  but as we neared it, found a long tract of highland trending to the southward, as far as southwest-by-south. We agreed in opinion that it was the island Bolton, but that we had overshot the straits. We made sail to see if we could discover any land further to the southward, but finding no, we choked on keeping the wind as near as possible because of the current, which sets strong to the southwest. By two o'clock in the morning, we were hoarse near a small island that bore south-southwest of us about two leagues,

  but having clear weather, we stood from it till daybreak. There being no other land near it as we saw, except that we came from, which we had opened five point farther to the westward. I was unwilling to act any farther without the consent of the committee, so the major part of us met aboard the duchess, where we agreed to stand back and make a land plan, so as to be fully satisfied what it was, and with all to find the recruit of water and wood,

  before we proceed any farther, being in want of everything. South latitude 05.50, longitude west from London 238.38. May 28, according to agreement, we stood back and having a fresh breeze of wind at east, came up with the land, which trended from northeast by east to north. We stood away with the north almost, and by six o'clock brought it to bear east by north, distant about two leagues,

  having opened land farther to the northward, which made like a bay, and trimming to the westward, as far as west-northwest, distant about ten leagues. We made little or no sail all night, because the bachelor and marquis were astern, and we were not willing to run too far in with the land in the night. In the morning it was calm and being clear weather, we made all the land very plain from west-southwest to the east-southeast,

  making high double lands with the island under it. Most of it looked as if it was inhabited, being pretty thick of wood, and promised fare for other refreshment, but we could find no anchor ground hither too. May 29, a breeze sprung up, and we ran farther in, keeping nearest the southern shore, where we opened a sandy spit, of which we could perceive blue water,

  like shold ground running across the bay near Harper League. A little to the westward of this, we got ground in betweens 30 and 40 feet of water, with good gradual soundings where we let go our anchor. The duchess and the rest standing over to the other side of the bay could meet with no ground, so they came back and anchored by us, south latitude 05.41, longitude 238.34 west from London.

  A little before this, our boat we sent returned from the shore, having by present engaged a canoe with some Malayans to come aboard with them, but for want of a linguist, we were little the better. I sent to the bachelor who had won, but Captain Dover refused to let him come to me, although he had no use for him, then I sent a second time that I might know the best anchoring place for our ships,

  and treated the people who were impatient to be gone with sweet smiths and other things they fancied, but could not keep them or send them aboard the bachelor to secure her, seeing white shore water near us. But they passed by us in danger of running on the shores, not knowing the best anchoring place for want of the linguist, I so honestly desired to understand the Malayans that had now left us. As parting, they made signs and pointed to the land to the northward, which they called Bulu.

  Our pilot Captain Dampier says he has been formerly through the straits, and in his book tells us of a town near the south part of them, where the king resided, but he knew nothing of it now, except the bare story. Upon this, we agreed to send one of the penises along with him and the linguist to find out the town, being willing to venture him to wait on his majesty, the King of Bolton,

  to solicit for a supply of provisions which we would gladly pay for, and to make the better appearance, we sent Mr. Van Bool and Mr. Connolly along with him. The water flows here about 15 feet. There are place near to the town which lied to the north was about six leagues from whence we rode where a ship might, on occasion be laid the shore to refit, and we should have carried the duke there to stop a leak,

  but were not willing to lose time since we found it did not increase more than one pump could vent, which we had meant enough to keep continually going. The King of Bolton has several galleys built after a peculiar form, and other small invocations on each they say he can embark 8,000 men on any expedition. Our people that were upon the island tells me all the towns are built on precipice,

  and hard to get at, and that the cheap city was built on the top of a hill, to which there was only one passage, very steep. We found the watering place from a spring out of the rocks, but difficult to fill out of because of its ebbing and flowing here, almost tree phantom which drives the rock near the shore.

  May 30, this morning a messenger came from the King, with a letter from our officers that went to wait upon him, who were received very courteously, and promised the supplier provisions, in case we could come to an agreement. We showed the gentlemen samples of what we had to dispose of,

  which they seemed very well pleased with, and having made them a present of some odd things, and entertained them as well as we could. We dispatched them with a letter of directions to our officers what to do, and at their going off, saluted them with five guns and three hussars from each ship. We made a present to the King of Bishops cap, being of little or no value to us,

  but what he highly esteemed and greatly accepted of. The inhabitants began to come off fast enough with Indian corn, coconuts, pumpkins, fowls and so on, to work with our people, but they were very dear compared with other islands we had been at, June 1st, we supplied ourselves in different wells with water and wood, and our pennies returned from the town with a mysterious account of their proceedings,

  and presently after Captain Dempier came with a small quantity of provisions, as present to the commanders, having left our other two officers to dispatch away what they could agree for. June 2nd, this morning there came three or four of the better sort from the town, the Portuguese linguists that belonged to Batavia, on the pretense of looking upon goods, and carrying samples of them to their King, but by their trifling we are afraid we shall get nothing of them at last.

  We made much of the Portuguese and gave him a small present hoping he would influence the people to dispatch our business. We sent the Dutchess pennies with the letter to our officers to hurry away as fast as possible with what provisions they had got, only if they could, with the Portuguese linguists for a pilot, if they should give him 10 or 20 dollars or more for a present. June 3rd and 4th, our ships have done watering and wooding, and the country people have brought off much provisions, so we conclude we are pretty well supplied for a fortnight or three weeks,

  which with what we had before may carry us to Batavia without any further recruit from the town, so that if we had our boat and men, it would be much more for our interests to be gone than to lie here and spend time to no purpose. An officer aboard our ship and other officers and men aboard Captain Kutny began to be mutinous and form a conspiracy against us, but we prevented it by chastising their leaders, whom we put an iron on board different ships to break the knot, which might otherwise have ruined the voyage. June 5th, the Dutchess pennies returned with Mr. Connolly, who acquainted us with the deletory proceedings of King of Bolton,

  who, having gathered quantity of provisions together, would have obliged us to take it at an extravagant price, and detained Mr. Van Brouw till such time as the money was paid. In the morning, there came some of his nobility with about four last of rice, which, for dispatch sake, we immediately agreed for, and the cask of rake. After we had entertained them as well as time and place would afford, we sent them off in our pennies.

  This morning, the Portuguese linguist came with some provisions of his own to sail without any news from our people, which made us suspect they had some ill design upon us, therefore we designed to keep him till the boat returned. But he got out of the ship before we were aware, he being jealous by his cold reception, that we were uneasy, and rode away as fast as possible. I sent a yoke after him, which overtaking his canoe, the men all jumped overboard, but the Dutchess pennies took them up, and our boat brought the Portuguese linguist aboard us.

  Where seen he was likely to be confined, he sent the boat with the men up to the town, to desire our people might be dismissed as soon as possible. June 7th, this morning our pennies returned with Mr. Van Brouw and all our men having parted very friendly with His Majesty, but could not get a pilot for money. However, we resolved to stay no longer and to trust wholly to Almighty Providence for our future preservation. We dismissed the Portuguese linguist and began to unmoor our ships. We weighed on the 8th, about 4 in the afternoon, and by 6 o'clock the westernmost land inside bore west-northwest nine leagues and the southernmost, southwest-by-south, distant five leagues.

  Bolton described. The island of Bolton is in latitude 05.20 south and near about 30 leagues long. The king, they say, can raise 50,000 men and had all the adjacent islands under him. They boast of not valuing the Dutch, but I am satisfied their poverty is their greatest security. They speak the Malayan language, which is universal amongst all the islands of India.

  They are a well-said people over middle stature, or rather small, over dark olive color, with the most indifferent features of any people that ever I saw. They profess the Mahometan religion, but know little of it, save bathing, a few other ceremonies, as forbearance of hawk's flesh, keeping many wives, and so on. Here are several Mahometan missionaries that came from Arabia and Prussia to propagate their doctrine. The Dutch have no settlement here, but trade for slaves and a little gold, the climate being near the same with Dutch Spice Island. I admire they don't raise quantities of spice, but no sort of it grows here, save a few nutmegs.

  End of section 18. Thank you for watching.

• 19 - East Indies to the Cape of Good Hope

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  Section 19 of A Cruising Voyage Around the World. This is a LivriVox recording. All LivriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LivriVox.org. Recording by S.S. Kim, Seoul, South Korea. A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Woodes Rogers. East Indies to the Cape of Good Hope. June 9th, in the morning, we made land from southwest to northwest by west, distant about eight leagues, which we took to be the island of Zalaya, south latitude 5.45, longitude west from London, 240.21. We likewise saw a sail to windward was, and taking it to be a Dutch vessel, we hold near the wind till eight o'clock, then the Dutchess and we made sail at once to speak with her, but the wind abating soon after, and she making the best of her way from us, we mend our penis and sent it after her. We made three islands to the northward of Zalaya, and the looming of other land to the westward of all, which we took to be the southernmost part of Celebes.

  June 10th, our penis came up with this small vessel who told them they were bound for Makassar, a Dutch factory on the south part of Celebes. The penis took the master of her board, being a Malayan who promised to pilot us not only through the streets of Zalaya but to Batavia if we would keep it secret for few of the Dutch. He sent his vessel to lie in the narrow passage between the islands till such time as our ships came up. About four o'clock we entered the street and came betwixt the islands that are next to Zalaya, and another little one to the northward of that being the middlemost of the tree, where we found a good passage, three leagues over, all deep water steering from northwest by west to give the labored island a good berth, then we made the southernmost part of Celebes. June 11th, the pilot promised to carry us through the channel, the great Dutch ship general event for Batavia, and by that means avoid the shores called the Brille and Bunker ground.

  The Brille has very uneven soundings and in many places but three-fetum water and less, so we hauled away to the northward, keeping the island Celebes aboard, the southwest part of which trends away in low land with high mountains at the back of it. And off the point there lies a rock pretty high and remarkable. At four o'clock we came into soundings and had ten-fetum first cast, the rock of southwest point both and north distant about six leagues, and we had an island ahead of us. From northwest by west to north northwest being low and level, about three leagues long and near the same distance from the main as we entered between them, it grew narrower. We stemmed with the north part of the island till we came within a league and half of it, then steered north a little to weather a spit of sand lying off the island by which means we opened three small keys. After we were clear of the shore, we hauled off northwest about seven and came to an anchor under the island behind the spit of sand in ten-fetum water, very good clean ground. The rock of Celebes then bore northeast by north four leagues, the northernmost of keys west two leagues, and the middlemost west southwest three leagues, the other being shut in with the long island. We kept the lead going all the way constantly through and had never less than six-fetum, no more than ten.

  As soon as it was day, we weighed and went between the two small keys, keeping nearest the northernmost, sounding all the way and had no more than ten-fetum. The water still deepening, being clear of them, we hauled away west, then southwest, having a fresh scale of wind at southeast and southeast by east, no land inside at noon, but part of the highland of Celebes, which bore east, distant about twelve leagues. It is well for us that we meet with this pilot, for having no good charts, nor anyone acquainted with those seas, we had run greater hazard. June 13, we made land a second time, which bore southwest by west, distant six leagues. June 14, we ran by the island of Madura, which is about forty leagues long, lying east and west, on the north side of Java, the land we made in the morning being the northeast part of it, which agreeing with the pilot knowledge made us more certain.

  June 15, in the morning, we fell in with the coast of Java, near the highland of Japara, which bore west by south, distant about five leagues. We had soundings between ten and twenty-fetum, good easy ground, and saw abundance of fishing boat, but all kept at a distance. We got our guns out of the hold and scaled them, in order to be in a resonance against we come to Batavia, where in all probability we shall get two or three days more, it being not above nine leagues from this place. By noon, we brought the land of Japara to bare south by east, distant four leagues, having opened a large deep bay with other highland, further to the westward, which bore west-northwest, distant nine leagues, latitude 6.19 south, longitude 248.47 west from London. June 16, we made a small high hummocks the westward of highland we set yesterday noon, which at 6 o'clock bore west by south, distant five leagues.

  We hauled off west by west and west-northwest, and in the morning made the island of Karaman Java, Kriman Java, which bore northeast by north, distant three leagues, and also a ragged island to the eastward of it, bearing east-northeast, five leagues, and five small keys to the westward, which are all called Karaman Java, Kriman Java. We had soundings most part of these 24 hours, betwixt 20 and 30 fathom Aussie ground, latitude 6.7 south, longitude 250.14 west from London. June 17, we made the highland of Cherrybone, which bore southwest. In the morning we saw a great ship right ahead, and being very eager to hear news, I sent our pennies aboard to know what she was. She proved the Dutch ship about 600 tons and 50 guns belonging to Batavia, and was flying to some of the Dutch factories for timber. They told us of Prince George's death, which we heard in the South Sea, but gave no credit to it then, that the wars continued in Europe and that we had good success in Flanders and but little elsewhere. They likewise told us that it was about 30 Dutch leagues from hence to Batavia, but no danger. We borrowed a large draft, which were very useful to us, and left them at anchor.

  Towards noon, we made the land being very low, but had gradual soundings by which we were satisfied in the night how to sail by the sand. June 20, in the afternoon we saw the ships in the road of Batavia betwixt 30 and 40 sail, great and small, and got happily to anchor just after sunset betwixt 6 and 7 fathom water at the long desired port of Batavia, latitude 6.10 south, longitude 252.51 west from London. By our reckoning here, we altered our count of time, having, as customary, lost almost one day in running rest so far round the globe. June 22, we waited on His Excellency, the Governor General, whom we acquainted with the necessity we lay under to refeed our ships. He was pleased to see and approve our commissions as private men of war, and promised he would meet the Council, and soon resolve us how far he could afford such assistance as we desired.

  June 30, I am still very weak and thin, but I hope to get time and leisure to recover my health. During these ten days, I was not able to go much on board, and whenever I went, found that till then I was a stranger to the humours of our ship's company. Some of them were hugging each other, others blessing themselves that they will come to such a glorious place for punch, where they could have a rack for eight pence per gallon, and sugar for one penny a pound. Others quarreled who should make the next bowl, for now the labour was worth more than the liquor, whereas a few weeks past, a bowl of punch to them was worth half the wage. Eight days ago, the doctor cut a large musket shirt out of my mouth, which had been there near six months, ever since I was first wounded.

  Reckoned it a piece of my jawbone, the upper and lower jaw being much broken and almost closed together so that the doctor had much ado to come at the shot to get it out. I had also several pieces of my foot and heel bone taken out, but God be thanked, am now in a fair way to have the use of my foot and to recover my health. The hole the shot made in my face is now scarce, dissonable. I proposed the calling of committee to regulate our affairs wherein we agreed as follows. At the committee held on board the bachelor frigate June 30, 1710 in the road of Batavia,

  it is agreed to pack and repack all goods that appear damaged and to let other bales that are not nor have not been apparently damaged to be all in new cupboards with wax clothes or tarpaulins if necessary in every ship, and that Mr. Vanbrough and Mr. Goodall be at every place and the rest of the agent be accountable to them and they to leave a duplicate of the hole with the other two and be always ready to give an account to a general committee. Secondly, that Captain Kootenay do provide the ships with all manner of necessities as fast on wanting and as soon as Captain Rogers is in health that he assist in it that everyone give a list to them of what they want from time to time. That Mr. Charles Pope do continue a show and send off provisions for all the ships and keep a book of the hole. Let every ship take their daily turn to divide the meat and send it off as early as possible in a country boat and as near as he can no more no less than 350 pounds weight every other day or as often as he can conveniently.

  Let him send off greens, carrots, eggs and any other small refreshments more than the common allowance to be equally divided with the meat. Thirdly, that a suitable quantity of rack and sugar be sent aboard each ship to give or cut a mess to the ship's companies but whilst on the crane the allowance may be enlarged as the commanding officers think convenient. Fourthly, if anything not included is necessary to the dispatch and outset of our ships, considering the trouble and loss of time to meet in a whole committee, we too prevent the later proceedings unanimously leave such things to Captain Thomas Dover, Captain Wood Rogers, Captain Steven Courtney and Captain Edward Cook who are to agree on a time and place to meet and have the same power in this affair as a whole committee. That if anything requires such dispatch that the four cannot be present at a time, then any three of them together agreeing and signing what they have done for the satisfaction of the rest shall be sufficient, but otherwise we desire them to act in conjunction.

  Fifthly, we agree to continue Mr. Carlton Venbrough, agent of the Duke, Mr. James Goodall, agent of the Duchess, to make Mr. John Weiger, agent of the Bachelor and Mr. Joseph Parker, agent of the Marquis, to keep a strict account of what they can in each ship and to preserve and take care of the general interest to the utmost of their power. Sixthly, we likewise agree to divide the blunder and bolder Bachelor, and in order thereto we appoint Captain William Dampier and Mr. Thomas Glendal to be judges what ought to be divided as blunder, who are to govern themselves as near as possible by our resolution in a committee of the 9th of July, 1709. And in order to dispatch matters quietly without loss of time, we appoint Mr. John Ballet, Mr. Lancelot Appleby, Mr. Alexandre Selcock and Mr. Joseph Smith to act for the officers in uprising and dividing the said blunder, and we allow the sailors to agree on a man from each ship who is to act in conjunction with them and in the whole to promote the general good with the utmost sincerity and dispatch. We also appoint Mr. Carlton Vanbrough and Mr. James Goodall to be in the place when the blunder is opened or divided and to receive what belongs to the cargo. Seventhly, it is further resolved for our general safety that all trading be prohibited by any of us with the inhabitants of this city of Batavia, or this island of Java, or any part of India.

  And to the end that no person may plead ignorance, a protest shall be drawn of and published at the mast of each ship, prohibiting the aforesaid commerce and protesting against all damages arising through the same, and the person found guilty of it. Eighthly, it is also agreed that a reward of $100 will be given to the pilot we made use of from the Strait of Zelaya to this port. Ninthly, it is further agreed that the market shall go first upon the crane and then to be next followed by the Duke, the Duchess, to be the last. Tenthly, we have considered the charge and method of our outset and do agree in order to promote dispatch that 10,000 pieces of aid be delivered to captains Dover, Rogers, Kutny and Cook, tomorrow being the 1st of July, 1710. Signed by the majority of our council, the committee did likewise resolve on supply of the money to the officers as follows.

  At a committee held in Batavia Road, July 1st, 1710, we have resolved to supply these officers of the Duke, Duchess, Marcus and Bachelor with the following sums to provide themselves with necessities in our long passage to Europe. Pieces of aid to Captain Thomas Dover, 2,000. Captain Rogers and Captain Kutny for their present expenses, 400. Captain Cook, 800. Mr. Fry and Mr. Threaten, 1,000. Captain Dampier, 200. Mr. Pope, 350. Mr. Glendale and Mr. Connolly, 700. Mr. Van Brue, 250. Mr. Thomas Bridge and Mr. Milborne, 100. Mr. Norman and Mr. Selkirk, 80. To the three doctors of the Duke, Duchess and Marcus, 90. To the doctor of the bachelor, 20. To Mr. Goodall and Mr. Appleby, 80. Total, 6,070. All these sums we ordered Mr. Van Brue and Mr. Goodall to discharge out of the money on board to Duke or Duchess, as is the commander's sheltering convenient, whenever the above-mentioned officers shall be demanded, and the receipt to Mr. Van Brue and Mr. Goodall, so far as is here ordered, shall be sufficient. Witness our hand, July 1, 1710, signed by the majority of our council.

  July 2, from the 22nd of the last month, we lay leaky and in a very ordinary condition, not knowing when and how the general would please to order assistance, according to our present necessities, which were then laid open to him. And this day, to show that we should sufficiently vindicate and justify all our proceedings like honest men, we gave in an abstract of our voyage from the day we set sail out of King Road to the day we arrived in Batavia, which they desired to see before they would assist us, so we gave with them as short as possible. July 7, Today our men finished praising and dividing the blundered clothes in the bachelor, which being tolerable good, amounted to about 400 pounds sterling. July 8, This day, after a great many deletory answers, we were at last permitted to make preparations for cleaning at Horn Island, which is about two or three leagues to the north-west of the road, but were by no means suffered to go to the island unrest, where all the Dutch ships are cleaned. Being only allowed eight or ten Malayan corkos and small vessels to put our goods in.

  The markets began to grin about her, but the carpenters having viewed betwixt wind and water, finding her very bad, and that she had but a single bottom, eat to a honeycomb by the worms. They judged her altogether unfit to go to Europe, whereupon I desired the committee to meet and agree to dispose of her as follows. It is agreed that having now discharged the markets of her cargo brought from the South Sea, and finding great part thereof perished through the weakness of the ship, and damage of the worms which had eaten through her bends, and good parts of a bottom like a perfect honeycomb, we have considered our present condition. With the great charge and loss of time to repair her here, and judging our three ships sufficient and capable to carry the remaining parts of her cargo, we, according to the best of our judgment and information from a view made by the carpenters, do believe it for our safety and benefit for the concerned, to sell the said ship the markets here as soon as possible, for the most she will yield. And we do appoint Captain Wood Rogers, Captain Stephen Courtney, Captain Edward Cook, and Captain Thomas Dover to treat off and conclude the sale, letting the purchaser have sufficient power as far as we are capable to condemn her. Signed by the Officers of the Committee

  July 20th, the markets being condemned to sale, we had the caucus aboard us to make all manner of dispatch for cleaning. Our ship being very leaky, we thought it high time to wait on the Governor with the following representation, which we got put into Dutch, but could not get the savander to introduce us, as the custom is here, therefore we went ourselves and gave presents to the Dutch Guards to let us in to see the General. After an hour's waiting, we were admitted and delivered him a copy of our commissions and were promised assistance, but finds it's no more than what he can't ever pretend to deny us. Our memorial was as follows. To His Excellency, the Governor General and Council of the Dutch East India Company.

  About four weeks ago, we arrived here and waited upon Your Excellency, acquainting you with our circumstances, which, according to your order, we delivered the same day in writing to your savander, and have daily waited upon him for your resolution thereupon. He has since visited our several ships, and we questioned not but all things appeared to him agreeable to our representation. We have lain some time ready with leaky ships to go to the place appointed us to clean at, only waiting for a cleaning vessel to heave down by, which we humbly crave you will be placed to order us. Delays are very prejudicial to our ships that have been long without the benefit of our friends' ports, which we earnestly request you will please to consider. We have deferred travelling you in daily hopes of an order for our assistance by the proper officer, till we can no longer account for our loss of time without the direct application.

  We hope for our continuance of the common benefits and refreshments, and on our part shall persevere to behave ourselves with all due regard and respect to the government and customs of this city. The governor immediately ordered us a vessel to clean, and we took our leaves. July 23rd, we went over to Horn Island having a pilot to drag us and a sampan ready to heave down by and take in our guns, carriages and so on, anchored on the south side of the island in five feet of water above the stone-scratched offshore where we cleaned. We continued refitting our ships and repacking our goods with a great deal of difficulty till the 13th of September, during which time nothing remarkable happened but that after I had refitted as well as I could on Horn Island, I returned to the road of Batavia. Many of our men fell ill of fevers and fluxes, occasioned as I was informed by their drinking the water upon the island.

  We buried here John Bridge, our master, as also the gunner of the duchess, with another of a crew and one belonging to the bachelor. The season being so far spent and the wind blowing fresh on Horn Island, I could not go again neither to clean my ship, though she needed much, therefore we tried to get an order to clean at unrest, where the dutch cleans their own, as we might have done ours in a few days and with little trouble. I wrote from hence on the 21st of August to my owners by Donna Daniel an English East India ship bound directly for England to let them know of our safe arrival here with our effects, and that we hoped to be with them in a very short time. On the 15th, we called committee and came to the following resolution, Batavia, September 15th, 1710. At a committee held then, it is agreed to divide the money received for a quantity of plates sold amongst several ships' company, being what had been a judged plunder.

  Also that we should make out a request and deliver it the first opportunity to the general, to the following purpose, is to again leave, if possible, to clean the duke at unrest and so on. Also for leave to set up the markets for sale here, and for a supply of ten hoaxes of dutch beef and pork, with the permission to buy and carry aboard some rags and sugar for the three ships' stores for our company and so on. It is also agreed to allow the following particulars for the use of the officers in the great cabin of each ship, namely, to each ship as follows. Two forkins of butter, two gallons of sweet oil, 400 casks of bread or rusk, 100 pounds of wheat or flour, 400 pounds weight of tamarins, half a liquor of Spelman's neaf or the best sort of arak, three cheeses, the third part of liquor of Cape wine, three packets of fine sugar, also $60 of Spanish money to buy small necessaries, signed.

  Thomas Dover, President, William Dampier, Woods Rogers, Charles Pope, Stephen Kootenay, William Stratton, Edward Cook, John Connolly. Rommaging today in the powder room, we found the leak, three or four foot underwater, which we did our best to stop. All English ships allowed by the government here have a liquor of arak or men for the ship's use, and it is counted as part of the provisions, but our boats are not suffered to bring the listing offshore without being first severely searched. This, though we pay more, will likewise hinder all manner of traffic with anyone here. Our chief officers have also prevented it aboard and narrowly watched our crews, so that I doubt they will want several necessaries that this place offers.

  This we do to avoid giving the India Company in England, and it pretends to clamor against us at home on account of our trading here without their permission. We requested the governor to have liberty to sell the markets by the inventory to the highest bidder at the public sale, but the savander, who a chief custom house officer for foreigners, told us it was the governor and council's resolution to publish at the sale, that if any Dutch freemen should purchase the ship, they must either leap her up or burn her. This we thought under the great hardship that we could not get Dutch carpenters at liberty to clean and refit her at unrest, nor get freedom of sale. So we drew up a request and got it put in Dutch, reserving to wait on the general to self-force the hardship we are under, and likewise request to clean the duke at unrest, where we might have Dutch carpenters, that being the only fit place. Now the weather and wind was changeable, and we could not do it at any other islands.

  But when Captain Kootenay and I came to the castle to wait on the general, the guards told us they had orders that no Englishman should be admitted without the savander, and that they thus carried no paper or message from us to the governor-general. We waited till past the middle of day, then addressed ourselves to one of the rats of India, who used to listen to the English when any was imposed on. He treated us very handsomely with our linguist, Mr. Van Brouw and Mr. Swart, at his house, and said he believed we had not justice done us, but the savander being the general's near relations, he should make enemies if he appeared in our affair. And could advise us no better than to try what we could do again with the savander, who we knew was inflexible. So we were forced to be silent and let this drop that we might dispatch for the Cape of Good Hope as fast as possible, the best season for our passage being now at hand.

  July 30th. The plunder money was shared on the 24th instant, which amounted to 26 shillings a share, being what was judged as plunder when at the island of Golgona, to which I refer. October 7th. This week we made all preparations for sailing, having got most of our stores aboard and discharged Marcus, which was so lucky that we sold her to Captain John Opie, commander of the Aldi Brigade, lately arrived from London for $575, being an extraordinary bargain. We had been offered much more before by another person, but then I could not prevail with the majority of our council to consent to the sale. October 12th. At daybreak this morning, we, our consort and prize, wade out of the road, taking the first of land breeze. About noon came to a gain in 11th Atomwater, about a mile to the northward of Horn Island. We had several English gentlemen aboard our ships, who favored us with the company out of the road, there being several that arrived during our stay here.

  English ships that arrived and sailed hence during our stay. Frederick, Captain Priff, arrived July 23rd, sailed July 29th from Benkouli bound to Tito. Rochester, Captain Staines, arrived July 6th, sailed the 21st from England bound to China. Nathaniel, Captain Negers, arrived July 27th, sailed August 27th from Benkouli bound to England. Stranger, Captain Pike, arrived August 30th from England bound to China. We left her there, she having lost her passage to China.

  Ollie, Captain Opie, arrived September 9th from England, left there behind us. Here follows a description of Batavia. Although this place is well known and has been so frequently described, yet being such a noble settlement and proof of the industry of the Dutch in these parts, I can't omit giving the far long account of it. The town lies on the northwest side of the island of Java, latitude 5.50 south. The time we are here, it was not very healthy. The east and west winds blow all the year along the shore, besides the ordinary land and sea winds which qualifies the air and makes it pleasant. Otherwise, it would be excessive hot. The summer begins in May with continual breezes from the east and a very clear sky till the latter end of October or beginning of November when the winter begins with hard rains which hold sometimes three or four days without intermission.

  In December, the west winds blow very violently so that then there is little trade on the coast of Java. In February, it is changeable weather with sudden thunderstorms. In March, they begin to soar. June is their pleasantest month. In September, they gather in their sugar and rice and in October they have plenty of fruits and flowers, plants and herbs of most sorts. There is a large fennel plant country before the city, but it is well improved by the Dutch and to the eastward, it is very full of woods and morasses. The city is four-square with a river running through it and fortified by a stone wall and 22 bastions. About ten years past, there was an earthquake which broke down part of the mountains in the country and altered the coast of the river so that the canals in and about Batavia are not near so commodious as they have been.

  Nor the entrance into the river so deep and for want of strong current water to keep it open, they are forced to employ a large engine worked with the horses to preserve the entrance of the river navigable for small vessels to come into the canals of the city. It lies on a bay in and about which there are 17 or 18 islands which saw break of the sea that though the road is very large yet it is safe. The banks of the canals through the city are faced with stones on both sides as far as the boom which is shut up every night at 9 o'clock and guarded by soldiers. There is a channel cut out of the main river for smaller vessels and everyone that passes the boom pays custom. All the streets run in a straight line, most of them being above 30 foot broad, on each side clear of the canals and paved next to the houses with bricks.

  All the streets are very well built and inhabited, 15 of which have canals and they reckon 56 bridges on them, most of them made of stone. The country seats and buildings around the city are generally neat and well contrived with handsome gardens for flower and fruits and adorned with springs, fountains, statues and so on. The vast quantity of coconut trees everywhere afford delightful and profitable groves. They have fine structure here, particularly the cross church built of stone and the inside very neat. There are two other churches for Dutch and two for Portuguese protestants who are a mixed breed of people.

  There is one church also for the protestant Malayans. The townhouse is built of brick in a square about center of the city. It is two lofty stories high and very finely built where all courts of advice are held and all matters relating the civil government of the city are determined and senators and directors of military affairs meet. There is an inner court enclosed with the high wall and the double row of stone pillars where the officers of justice live. Here are hospitals, spin houses and rasp houses the same as in Amsterdam with all other public buildings equal to most cities in Europe.

  The Chinese have also a large hospital in this city for their aged and sick persons and manage their charities so well that you never see a Chinese looked speakable in the street. The Dutch women have great privileges in India than in Holland or anywhere else for on slight occasions they are often divorced from their husbands and share the estate between them. A lawyer told me at Vatavia he has known out of 58 causes all depending in the council chamber, 52 of them were divorces. Great numbers of the natives who are criminals and not executed after condemnation are chained by pairs and kept at hard labor under guard, perpetually clearing the kennels and moats around the city or any other labor for the public. Three leagues west from the town is the island unrest where all the company's ships are refitted.

  There are great magazines of naval stores defended by platforms of guns and the castle at Vatavia is Godrengla, lies in a lair and has four bastions and cottons faced with white stones and provided with watch houses. In this castle or other citadel, the Dutch governor general and most of the members of the council of India with other officers of Vatavia have their residence. The governor's palace is a brick, large and well built. In this palace is the council chamber, the secretary's office and chamber of accounts. The great hall is hung with bright armor and signs, flags and so on taken by the Dutch here. The governor gives audience to strangers who are introduced to him by the sabander who is chief custom master.

  Here is also a church within the castle and armory with apartments for all artificers belonging to the castle which has four gates and all the avenues well defended, the hall being surrounded with ditches and works well mounted with brass cannon, as are the bastions of the town with block houses within the walls so that they can fire upon the mutineers within as well as upon an enemy without. The outworks of the town of which there are several every way at four leagues distance are made of earth surrounded with ditches and quickset hatches which render them arbors for beauty and some of them faced with brick. The garrison on duty is generally about thousand strong and all the outworks are said to be furnished with good stocks of provisions as well as the castle. But the soldiers are kept much under except the governor's guard who have large privileges and make a fine appearance.

  The governor general lives in as great splendor as a king. He has the train and guards having a troop of horse and a company of foot with halberd in liveries of yellow satin richly adorned with silver laces and fringes to attend his coach when he goes abroad. The guards are as well equipped as most princes in Europe. His lady has also her guards and train. He is chosen but for three years out of the 24 councilors called rats of India, twelve of whom must always reside in the city.

  The Chinese have the greatest trade here, farm most of the excise and customs, live according to their own laws and idolatrous worship and have a chief that manages their affairs within the company who allow them great privileges and particularly a representative in council who has a vote when any Chinese is tried for life. But these privileges are allowed only to such Chinese as inhibit here for others are not admitted to stay above six months in the town or on the island Java. The other strangers who inhibit here besides Europeans are Malayans with some people from most part of India. The Japanese or ancient natives are numerous and said to be barbers and proud of dark color with flat faces, thin short black hair, large eyebrows and cheeks. The men are strong-limbed but the women small.

  The former have a wrapper of calico three or four times round their bodies and a letter from their armpits to their knees. The men have two or three wives beside concubines and the Dutch say they are much addicted to lying and stealing. Those on the coast are generally Mahometans but the others pagans. The women are not tony as the men and many of them handsome but in general amorous and unfaithful to their husband or others being very apt to give poison which they do very cunningly. It would be too tedious for me to describe all the remarkable things I saw at Batavia.

  In short, I was perfectly surprised when I came hither to see such a noble city and Europeans so well settled in the Indies. The town is very populous but not one sixth of them Dutch. The Chinese here go all bareheaded with their hair rolled up and long gowns carrying fans in their hands. The Dutch say they are more industrious and acute in trade than themselves. The discipline and order of the Dutch here both in civil and military affairs is admirable.

  They have all necessities for building and cleaning ships as well as in Europe and their officers as regular as in a magistrate's yard whereas we have nothing like it in India. They keep the natives very much in awe being perfectly despotical in their government over them because they say the natives are naturally so treacherous that they are obliged to punish them severely for small faults. But they are favorable to the Chinese because of the great trade they have by their means and that they pay great rents for their shops besides large taxes and from 16 to 30 percent for money which they frequently borrow off the Dutch. I was told there are about 80,000 on the island who pay a Dutch a dollar a head each month for liberty to wear their hair which they are not allowed to do at home since they were conquered by the Tatars.

  There comes either from China 14 or 16 large chunks yearly being flat-bottomed vessels from 3 to 500 tons apiece. The merchants come along with their goods which are lodged in different partitions in the vessel like warehouses for which they pay a certain price and not for the weight or measures of their cargo as we do so that they fill them with what they please. They come in with an history monsoon and generally arrive in November or December and return the beginning of June so that the Dutch have all Chinese commodities brought to them cheaper than they can fetch them and being conveniently situated for the spice trade. They have all in their own hands. Batavia wants no commodities that India offers.

  It is pity our East India Company has no settlement to which the Chinese might resort which I presume would turn to a much better account than our going China does where our traders are but indifferently used. It is about five years since we quitted Benjar in the island of Borneo which by all accounts I had here might if well improved have been as serviceable to our East India Company as Batavia is to the Dutch who have seldom less than 20 sail of ships at the Isle of Java from 30 to 50 and 60 guns each with men enough for them on all occasions so that they might easily drive us out of the island. It is the metropolis of most parts if not all India should we ever have an unfortunate war with them. Their soldiers are very well trained and there is a company always on duty at every gate of the city and citadel and they have 7 or 8,000 disciplined Europeans in and about the city who can be ready for action at a very short warning. It is the metropolis of their Indian settlement and sends governors and officers to all the rest.

  The late general before we came here had war with the Indians which I was informed had liked to have spoiled their settlement but at last they divide the natives among themselves brought them to a peace and advantageous condition and are now pretty secure of the sea coast. There are many pleasant seats about the city and the adjacent country abounds with rice, sugarcane fields, gardens and orchards, mills for sugar, corn and gunpowder so that this city is one of the pleasantest in the world. I don't think it's so large as Bristol but it is more populous. They have schools for Latin, Greek and so on and a printing house. They have lately begun to plant coffee here which drives very well so that in a little time they may be able to load a ship or two but I am told it is not so good as that of Arabia.

  October 12th, we according to order from our owners to keep our ships fully manned if the war continues till our return. Shipped here 17 men, most of them Dutch. The duchess and bachelor near the same number so that we are all well manned and though we looked upon our hardship to be over, several ran from us here that came out of England with us, being straggling fellows that can't leave their old trade of deserting. Though now they have a good sum due to each of them so that their shares are by contract due to those that continued. October 17th, we got to the watering place on the main, within Princess Island to Java Head.

  The chief of our business here was to get water and wood for our passage to the Cape of Good Hope which we completed in four days' time. But in the interim, a misfortune befell us which occasioned our stay longer on account of a boat lent us by Captain Pike, commander of the Stringer Galley who followed us hither from Batavia after a servant of his who was brought away by Captain Dover in the bachelor. October 23rd, the boat was missing but came back with all the men safe and we returned to Captain Pike who had his servant and took his leave of us. We had the following council just before we came to sail. In a committee on board the Duke, October 23rd, 1710 at Java Head.

  It is agreed that we make the best of our way from hence to the Cape of Good Hope. And if through misfortune any ship should lose or part company, either by bad weather or otherwise, they are to go to the Cape of Good Hope and if they don't find other ships, to stay there 20 days. But if within that time the missing ship or ships don't appear, then to make the utmost dispatch for the island St Helena and if not there to proceed thence according to the owner's orders for Great Britain. Signed by the majority of our council. October 24th, at 4 in the afternoon Java Head bore north east by east distant 10 or 12 leagues which being the last sight we had of it. From that we took our departure.

  October 25th, a fresh gale of wind at south east with fair weather but an ugly swelling sea. This morning in storing our best anchor Joseph Long, a sailor fell overboard and being no swimmer before we could get the boat out to his assistance was lost. Nothing remarkable happened till the 27th of December but that my ship proved so leaky that on the 31st of October she had near three foot water in the hold and our pumps being chocked. We were in such danger that we made signals and fired guns for our consort to come to a relief but had just sucked her as the touches came up. The 10th of October she sprung a new leak which we could not fully stop though we used all our endeavours and at the same time I had been for the most part confined to my cabin by illness ever since I left Batavia.

  The 28th of December Mr. James Ways, our chief surgeon died and we buried him decently next day with our neighbour ceremonies as usual being a very honest useful man, a good surgeon and bred up at Leiden in the study of physics as well as surgery. We made land the 15th of December, came in with the shore the 18th and had soundings in 60 and 70 fathom, the ground grey-gray with small stones and shells, had a strong southerly current, south latitude 34.2, longitude west from London 334.34. Thank you for watching.

• 20 - Cape of Good Hope; to Holland and London

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  27 December we came up with Cape Falso, betwixt which and the Cape of Good Hope there's a deep bay, and about a third over from the Cape there's a shoal which breaks for a good distance, but plain enough to be seen. By noon we were abreast of the Cape, and saw the table land, south latitude 3414. The 28th we had very hard flaws of wind off the highland, till we came within sight of

  the lion's head and rump, two hills over the Cape Town. This day we arrived in the harbor of the Cape, saluted the Dutch fort with nine guns, and were answered by seven. We anchored in six-fathom water about a mile off shore, and found only one English ship called the Donegal, Captain Cliff, commander, homeward bound from Mocha, and two middle bergers outward bound for Batavia in the harbor, besides the guard ship, and two or three galleots.

  On the 29th we moored our ship and got down our yards and top masts to guard against the hard flaws of wind off the table land, which frequently blow very fresh betwixt east, southeast and southeast. We sent sixteen sick men ashore. We spent till the 18th of January, 1710-11, in watering and refitting, and then held the following committee. On the 18th the committee met ashore and agreed as follows. The three ships, wanting several necessaries

  and provisions, we agree that Captain Rogers and Captain Courtney do bring one hundred weight of play ashore, from either Duke or Duchess, and sixty ounces of unwrought gold, with all the coined gold or silver that is in both ships. We likewise empower them, in conjunction with Captains Dover and Cook, to purchase what necessaries are wanting for the whole, and to sell what goods are fit to be disposed of here, if not too much

  to our disadvantage, rather than exchange more gold or silver. We also desired they would agree for a cable and anchor, now wanting for the Duke, in place of her sheet anchor and cable, lately put aboard the bachelor, for her security. Thomas Dover, president, Robert Frye, Woods Rogers, John Connolly, Stephen Courtney, Lan Appleby, William Dampier. On the 1st of February I offered some proposals in writing to Captains Dover and Courtney,

  with the rest of the committee, wherein I told them, it was my opinion we should lose too much time to stay for the Dutch fleet, in order to have the benefit of their convoy to Holland, which would not only be out of our way, but very tedious and chargeable. And we, having large quantities of decaying goods on board, the time we should lose by waiting for the Dutch, might be advantageously employed in Brazil, where we could lie in

  with very little danger of the enemy, and vend them at great rates, and thence get to Bristol through the North Channel, having the summer before us, continuing in the latitude of 55 or 56 degrees, two or three hundred leagues, before we get the length of the North of Ireland, and by that means might avoid the track of the enemy. I earnestly pressed that if they could not agree to this, one of our privateers might take this run alone,

  and the other keep with the bachelor and Dutch fleet, but the majority was against anything but going home with the Dutch fleet altogether, so that all I could do more was to remind them of examining the goods aboard the bachelor, and to take out of her so much goods in safe package as would lie in the lycrum of European goods on board the duchess, that if any accident should happen to the bachelor, we might have part of her value in another bottom. I desired

  if any amongst them were not of this opinion, they would give their reasons for the contrary in writing, but we could agree to nothing, so I was forced to yield to the majority of the committee to go home with the Dutch fleet, and having a good conveyance by two ships to advise our owners, I wrote them a full account of all our transactions since we left Grand and all other matters relating to the voyage, and also sent what we had agreed in

  the committee to our owners, which was as follows. Gentlemen, at the Cape of Good Hope, this is to acquaint you of our safe arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, December 29th, 1710, with our prize, the Acapulco ship, called Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desenganio, commanded by Mr. John Peshperty, and now called by us the bachelor frigate, mounted with twenty great guns and twenty brass, and manned with

  a hundred and sixteen men, a firm ship, and each of our ships are manned with one hundred and twenty men each, in company with three English East India ships, and to expect three sail more every day. The Dutch ships from Batavia, which are twelve sail of stout ships, are expected here every hour, and six sail more from Ceylon, which fleet we are resolved in council to accompany to Holland, except we have an account of peace, or happen to

  meet with an English convoy in crossing our latitudes. Our ships are all fitted with everything necessary, and only wait for the fleet, which we expect will sail by the last of March, hoping God will so direct us that we shall come with speed and safety to yourselves, and the rest of our friends, to whom we render all due respects and remain gentlemen. Your most humble and most obedient servants, Thomas Dover, President, William Stratton, Woods

  Rogers, Charles Pope, Stephen Courtney, Thomas Glendale, Edward Cook, John Connolly, William Dampier, John Ballot, Robert Frye. We being now likely to spend so much time here and the Duke, having been very leaky all the way betwixt Batavia and this place, and considering the long passage we had to England, I moved to the council that we might go to Sardinia Bay to careen. It was debated some time before betwixt me and Captain Courtney,

  Pro and Con, and to be further satisfied on the 13th captains Cook, Frye and Stratton were appointed to come aboard, and we had a survey of carpenters concerning the leak. After some rummage they agreed it would be very dangerous to attempt anything with inboard, and no other way but careening would do, which Captain Dover and the majority would not consent to, so that we are forced to lie in as bad condition as ever, only now and then mitigate

  the leak with a bonnet which is of no long continuance in the harbor, and much less when we come to sea. This day about noon the Batavia fleet came in being 11 sail, the fort saluted the flag with 21 guns, and all the English ships saluted likewise except mine which being upon the heel could not do it. February 26th, having been very weak and kept my chamber for several days, but now something better, I send for most of my officers ashore that

  I might be thoroughly satisfied what was wanting aboard in order to go home with the Dutch fleet, and being too weak and made uncapable of assisting to get anything, I delivered in the set account to Captains Dover, Courtney and Cook with the rest of the committee that we might not be hurried to sea without necessaries for subsistence. On the 27th we made a rummage for bail goods to dispose of ashore, having leave of the governor and provided a storehouse

  where Captain Courtney with the owner's agent took their turns weekly during the sale of them. Nothing remarkable happened till the 3rd of April, but that on the 13th of March four Dutch ships came in from Ceylon, three of them having lost their main masts and being otherwise much damaged by a violent storm they met with in latitude 18 south. I took in more water and provisions, sent more goods ashore to the storehouse, and disposed of

  twelve negroes. On the 28th of March a Portuguese ship from Brazil came in with advice that five stout French ships attempted Rio de Janeiro but were repulsed and had a great number of men killed and four hundred taken prisoners by the Portuguese. April 3rd, being in the readiness to sail, the flag came offshore and was saluted first by the Dutch and then by all the English ships, but contrary wind prevented our sailing. Most of the goods sold

  at the Cape were taken out of the Duke, being in much worse package than those aboard the Duchess and Bachelor, so that most of our bales that could be come at have been opened and we find abundance of damage, our ship having been so leaky that we have not a tight place in the ship fit to secure dry goods. April 5th. At daybreak this morning the flag hoisted a blue ensign, loosened his foretopsal, and fired a gun as a signal to unmoor. As

  we were heaving in our cable it rubbed against the oakum which had got into the leak and occasioned the ship to be as leaky again as ever, she having been indifferent tight for some time, and we were in hopes it would have continued. About noon I came aboard very thin and in no better health than I was when I went first ashore at our arrival here, presently after I went aboard the flag there being a signal

  made for all the English commanders. We had before received our orders, which were very particular, and as obligatory to be punctually observed. About four in the afternoon the flag, vice, and rear admirals weighed with part of the fleet and fell down to Robbins or Penguin Island where they lay for the rest of the ships. April 6. In the afternoon we all weighed from Penguin Island, sixty in Dutch and nine English ships having a fresh

  breeze at south-southeast. At the Cape of Good Hope. We buried ashore here at George Russell, a foremass man, December 30th, 1710. John Glasson died 5th of January. Mr. Carlton Van Brue, owner's agent, 3rd of February, Mr. Lancelot Appleby, second mate, 21st, and four deserted. Here follows a list of the ships that arrived during our stay at the Cape, all those homeward bound are now in company with us except Captain

  Opie in the Olie and a Dane that sailed in February designed home before us. The ships that arrived at the Cape while we were there. Donagall, Captain Cliff, found here, from Mocha, bound to England. A Dutch ship arrived January 6 from Batavia and bound Thither. Loyal Bliss, Captain Rob Hudson, arrived January 10 from Bengal, bound to England. A Dane arrived January 15 from Trincomber, bound to Denmark. A Dutch ship arrived January 16 from Zeeland,

  bound for Batavia. Blenheim, Captain Parrot, January 22nd, arrived from Mocha, bound to England. Olie, Captain Opie, arrived January 25 from Batavia, bound for England. A Dutch ship arrived February 4th from Holland, bound to Batavia. The Batavia fleet, 11 ships arrived February 22, bound to Holland. The Salon fleet, 4 ships arrived March 7, bound for Holland. Loyal Cook, Captain Clark, arrived March 12 from China, bound for England. Carlton, Captain

  Lytton, arrived March 17 from Batavia, bound for England. King William, Captain Winter, arrived March 26 from Bengal, bound to England. A short description of the Cape of Good Hope. I shall not trouble the reader with what has been written by others concerning this noted place, and since I had neither time, health, nor permission to ramble the country, I can relate no adventures that we had with bears, tigers, or hot-and-tots, but what I shall

  say is from my own observation, a description of the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch have here a well-built small town containing about 250 houses with a church and several fine gardens and small vineyards near it. There are diverse villages in the country, from 10 to 30 miles a distance, and scattering plantations near a hundred miles from the Cape, so that from the whole they are supposed to be capable of raising 3,000

  well-armed horse and foot at a short warning. The climate being in about 35 south latitude is excellent and healthful, and the soil very fruitful. They have many pleasant seats in the neighborhood, with gardens, vineyards and plantations of young oaks and other trees raised by themselves, there being no large timber nearer than 50 miles off the Cape. I was informed that these farms and plantations bring in their East India Company a considerable

  sum per annum, besides maintenance for the garrison. They let the land sow cheap for encouragement of planters, and it produces such a large increase of corn, wine and cattle that it enables the people to pay a great excise for their commodities, which are also continually exported for the Dutch settlements in India, and spend in recruiting their fleets that stop here, so that in a few years they hope this place will be so considerable as

  to afford them recruits on any occasion for their garrison in India, and if they be pressed by a war there, they may always lodge such a number of men as this noble settlement, which they esteem a second fatherland, as may arrive at India in so good a condition that no European power can be so capable of holding the India trade as themselves. This makes me think it to have been a great omission in our East India Company to quit

  this settlement for St. Helena, which is no way comparable to it, nor able to answer the same end. Among other advantages, the Dutch have here a noble hospital, furnished with physicians and surgeons as regularly as any in Europe, and this hospital is capable of entertaining six or seven hundred sick men at one time, so that as soon as the Dutch ships arrive here, their distempered men are put ashore, and they are supplied with fresh

  men in their stead. They have all sorts of naval stores here with proper officers to attend on all occasions, which is a mighty addition to their strength, and enables them to preserve their India trade. An express comes hither annually from Holland by a small ship to meet their homered-bound East India fleet, which is generally from seventeen to twenty great ships. The express brings a private order to the commander-in-chief, who is appointed

  by the government in India, so that none knows where they are to meet their convoy in the North Seas but himself, and he gives it sealed up to each ship to be opened in a proper latitude near home. By this method their fleets have for many years escaped the enemy and arrived safe in Holland. Their form of government, their industry, and neatness abroad is justly to be admired and worthy to be imitated. I saw nothing I could blame, unless it be their

  severity, for which no doubt they have very good reason, though it seemed harsh to me, who was born with English liberty. They have an island called Robben, which lies at the entrance of the Cape Bay, about three leagues from the town, where they can find mutineers or other heinous offenders to hard labor during life, by sentence of the fiscal. The Dutch generally send a ship every year from hence to Madagascar for slaves to supply their plantations,

  for the Hottentots, who are very numerous and love their liberty and ease so much that they cannot be brought to work, even though they should starve. I spoke with an English and an Irish man, who had been several years with the Madagascar pirates, but were now pardoned and allowed to settle here. They told me that those miserable wretches, who had made such a noise in the world, were now dwindled to between sixty or seventy, most

  of them very poor and despicable, even to the natives among whom they had married. They added that they had no embarkations but one ship and a sloop that lay sunk, so that those pirates are so inconsiderable that they scarce deserve to be mentioned. Yet if care not be taken after a peace to clear that island of them and hinder others from joining them, it may be a temptation for loose straggling fellows to resort thither and make it once

  more a troublesome nest of free-booters. The Dutch have seldom less than five hundred soldiers in the Cape Castle, which is very large, built with stone, and has seventy guns well mounted on its ramparts, with convenient dwellings for the officers and soldiers, but it lies too deep in the bay to protect the ships in the road. Therefore they talk of erecting a battery on the starboard sanity point as you enter the bay. The road is so much exposed

  to the sea that in the winter months, when the wind blows strong from thence, it is unsafe riding and ships are very often lost here, so that whoever comes hither in that season ought to be well provided with cables and anchors to ride out a storm. But in the summer it seldom blows from the sea, yet scarce a day passes without very strong flaws at southeast, which come down from the table mountains that lie over the fort, so violently that boats

  cannot go to or from the ships but in the morning and evening, when it is generally very moderate and calm. The Dutch have found out a noble hot spring of water about one hundred miles up in the country, which is of excellent virtue against all distempers contracted in India, so that few have been carried thither, though in a desperate condition, but they have recovered to admiration by drinking and bathing in that water. This place having

  been so frequently described by others, I shall only add that I found the character of the Hottentots to be very true, and that they scarce deserve to be reckoned of the humankind. They are such ill-looked, stinking nasty people. Their apparel is the skins of beasts. Their chief ornament is to be very greasy and black, so that they besmear themselves with stinking oil or tallow and soot, and the women twist the guts of beasts or thongs

  of hides round their legs, which resembles a tobacco roll. Here's plenty of all sorts of beasts and fowl, wild and tame, and in short there's nothing wanting at the Cape of Good Hope for a good subsistence, nor is there any place more commodious for a retirement to such as would be out of the noise of the world than the adjacent country in possession of the Dutch. Nothing remarkable happened till the first of May, only I continued very

  ill, as my ship did leaky, and sometimes we, sailing from the Cape towards Europe, had thunder, lightning, rain, and squalls of wind. Yesterday afternoon we had sight of the island of St. Helena, bearing north-west by north, about six leagues, lying in south latitude sixteen. On the seventh we made the island of Ascension, south latitude eight, two, longitude west from London, thirteen, twenty. On the fourteenth at noon we found we had just crossed

  the equator, being the eighth time we had done so in our course round the world. There was a strong current setting to the northward, after the rate of about one mile an hour, longitude west from London, twenty-one, eleven, so that we have run much continually to the westward, over and above the circumference of the globe. The seventeenth in latitude three, thirteen, we found the current still continuing to set to the north-west twenty

  miles in twenty-four hours. The Dutch Commodore was very civil to us, and because our prize sailed heavy, he allowed her to keep ahead in the night, which she did not to any other ship. We and the Duchess often towed her in the day, to keep her up with the fleet. June seven, in the latitude of twenty-four, fifty-five. The three admirals hauled down their flags and hoisted pennants at their main top mastheads to appear more like ships

  of war, every Dutch ship doing the same. Now we draw near home, they scrape and clean their ships, bending new sails, so that they look as if they newly come out of Holland. June thirteen. Yesterday afternoon the flag made a signal for all the Dutch commanders to go aboard, with their latitude and longitude. We took the bachelor in tow this morning, having a fine, moderate gale, at east by north, with smooth, pleasant weather.

  June fourteen. We cast the bachelor off about five yesterday afternoon, I being unwilling to run too far ahead with her. Now we are got so far to the northward, where we may expect not only the danger of the enemy, but also virable winds and thick weather, by which means she may lose the fleet. I advise Captain Courtney the same in the evening by a letter. This morning we rummaged our hold and found very little new damage amongst the bales,

  but all in general much decayed by lying so long in ordinary package. June fifteen. The admiral made a signal this morning for all the English commanders and some of the Dutch skippers to come aboard him, where we found an excellent entertainment and the good humor of the Dutch admiral soon made all the company understand each other without a linguist, though we had much ado to get one at first meeting. We parted before

  the sunset and had a fine day. June twenty-eight. Being got into the latitude of fifty-one north, we had thick, foggy weather so that the flag fired two guns every half hour. Each ship answered with one. This continued several days, which consumed a great deal of powder, but by the noise of the guns it was easy to keep company, though sometimes so thick for several hours that we could not

  see three ships' lengths. July fourteen. This morning we fancied we saw land and some of the Dutch ships made the concerted signal, but none was positive, having sounded and found no ground with above one hundred fathom of line. July fifteen. We saw two ships yesterday afternoon, one of which we spoke with, being a Dane bound

  for Ireland. She told us the wars still continued, but gave a very imperfect account of any other news. She informed us of the Dutch men of war that were cruising for us off Shetland, being ten sail, whom she saw four or five days ago, and reckoned herself now about forty leagues from the land. We had soundings then in seventy fathom water, brown gravelly ground. I just had time to send the owners a copy of my letters from the Cape of Good

  Hope and to let them know we were now got so far safe towards the conclusion of a fatiguing voyage. In the morning we made Fair Island and Foul Island lying off Shetland, presently after we saw the men of war, but having little wind, and they a good way distant from each other, we could join but one of them by noon. Fair Island and Boer South, south east, distant about two leagues.

  July sixteen. All the men of war joined us yesterday afternoon, but one or two with the fishing-doggers who were cruising off the northeast of Shetland. After mutual salutations both by the Dutch and English ships, one of the men of war was sent out to sea for the missing ships. Meanwhile the fleet lay by, and having little wind, the boats came to and fro all night, and supplied us with what we wanted. The inhabitants of those islands

  came aboard with what provisions they had, being very poor people who subsist most by fishing. July seventeen. In the morning we had a small breeze with which the men of war got into the fleet again, having met with the other. About noon we all made sail, steering away betwixt south, south east, and south east, and the winds at south west and south west

  by south. I wrote a single letter to the owners in general by a Scots fishing-boat belonging to Shetland, advising them of our joining the men of war, who are ordered with the fleet to the Texel, where I hope we shall soon meet an English convoy. The Dutch India Admiral, though but a company ship, wears his flag and gives signals and orders to the Dutch men of war, which is not suffered among the English, and in the whole run from the Cape

  have kept an exact discipline in the fleet, not suffering any of the commanders to go out of the ships to visit each other at sea without his signal or leave. July twenty-one. This morning one of the men of war was ordered away for the Texel, to give notice of the fleets coming. I again wrote to the owners, for fear of any miscarriage by the former conveyances.

  July twenty-third. The weather being close, the Commodore made a signal about ten o'clock for seeing land. Presently, after all, the fleets answered him with their colors. The boats coming off aboard the ships, we had two aboard, who told us the Texel bore about southeast by east, distant fifteen or sixteen miles. Presently afternoon we parted with the Rotterdam and Middleborough ships, most of the men of war going with them to see him

  safe in. The flag and all the English ships saluted the Commodore, and afterwards we saluted the flag himself to welcome him in sight of Holland, and as soon as they got over the bar the Dutchmen fired all their guns for joy of their safe arrival in their own country, which they very affectionately call Fatherland. All the ships bound into the Texel lay by from two till five o'clock, waiting for the flood to carry us up. About eight at night

  we all came safe to an anchor in six-fathom water, about two miles off shore. On the twenty-fourth in the morning the Dutch flag weighed in order to go up to the unlivering place. As he passed by us we gave him three huzzahs and nine guns. In the afternoon I went up to Amsterdam, where we had letters from our owners to direct us how to act and proceed from hence. On the twenty-eighth the English East India ships had orders to be in readiness for sailing

  with the first Dutch convoy for London. We got some provisions aboard from Amsterdam on the thirtieth. When I came aboard on the first of August, by consent of our council, we discharged what men we'd shipped at Vitavia and the Cape, and afterwards went away from Amsterdam. On the fourth the duchess and bachelor went up to the road, called the Vlichter being a better road than the Texel. In the evening we had news of some of our owners being at

  the helder. Mr. Pope went to wait upon him, and in the morning came aboard with them. After a short stay they went for the duchess and bachelor, designing thence for Amsterdam. We welcomed them with fifteen guns at their coming and going. The English East India ships and others bound for England weighed with the Dutch convoy to-day, having a fine gale at north-east. On the sixth we weighed from the Texel and went up to our consorts, it

  being by a particular order from the owners for our better security. We being obliged to wait there, fearing the India company would be troublesome, although we had dealt for nothing but necessaries in India. On the tenth, in the afternoon, the owners with the chief officers came down, and the next day went ashore to the Texel. Where having an abstract of our voyage ready drawn up, we went before a notary public and took our

  affidavits that what was therein contained was true to the best of our knowledge, and that we had been at no other places than therein mentioned. This was desired of us by James Holly Just Squire, one of our owners, to justify our proceedings to the Queen and Council in answer to what the East India Company had to allege against us, they being, as we were informed, resolved to trouble us on pretense we had encroached upon their liberties in

  India. On the twelfth we returned aboard again, to keep up a form of government, though the owners were here, we held a committee, where it was agreed to carry a quantity of gold to Amsterdam, to exchange for a supply of our men and ships, viz. twenty guilders to a sailor, ten to a landman, and to every officer in proportion as his occasions required. On the thirteenth we went away for Amsterdam, but did not carry any gold out of our ships.

  Upon consideration it might be prejudicial to the insurance made on our ships, if we took any value out, and an accident should afterwards happen, so we agreed again it would be better to take up the money at Amsterdam. We had several stores and provisions from Amsterdam this week, and likewise money for the officers and men, which was paid them, and they had liberty to go ashore by turns. Transactions in Holland.

  On the twenty-third in the afternoon the owners came down from Amsterdam, and the next day examined the prisoners aboard us and the bachelor, about taking the said ship and other prizes, having notice of our going over for England, and that a convoy was appointed to come for us. We got all the men off shore who had been very troublesome to the owners at Amsterdam, and everything in readiness for sailing. On the thirty-first Mr. Hollage came aboard,

  the rest of the owners being gone over for England, and took account of what plate, gold, pearl, etc. was in the ship. The same being done aboard the duchess, he likewise took a list of our men to get protections for them from being impressed after our arrival in the River of Thames. The next day he went to the Texel to discharge the custom-due from our ships, and on the fifth in the morning he took his leave of us. On the nineteenth in the afternoon we had news of our

  convoys lying without the Texel, which was very acceptable to the crews of each ship, who were in the utmost uneasiness at our long stay, being just at home, so that we had much adieu to keep the companies aboard till now. We got everything in readiness in order for falling down to them. On the twentieth, about five in the afternoon, we got down to the Texel, where we found our convoy at anchor, being the Essex, Canterbury, Midway, and Dunwich men of war.

  On the twenty-second in the morning, the wind being at northeast, we waved from the Texel, and by ten o'clock got clear of the channel. In the afternoon the Commodore took the bachelor in tow, and next morning, the wind being against us, we bore away again for the harbor, as did likewise four Dutch men of war that came out with us, bound for London. After seeing us safe in, he stood off to the northward with the Canterbury and Midway, but came in the next morning.

  On the twenty-fifth our officers met, where, consulting that our three ships wanted several necessaries to keep the sea in case we should meet with bad weather, we requested Captain Raffey, our Commodore, that he would please to stay should the wind be fair till such time as we could be provided with the said necessaries from Amsterdam, which was granted. On the thirteenth, the wind continuing at southeast by south and southeast, at break of day we waved,

  as did likewise four Dutch men of war. On the first of October, about eleven of the clock, we came to an anchor in the Downs, where several of our owners came aboard, and after they had visited every ship, went ashore with some prisoners to examine them about our capture, etc. At three this morning the Essex made a signal to unmoor, and betwixt nine and ten weighed, he being ordered up to the buoy in the Knorr, and we to make the best of our way to the Hope. October fourteenth,

  this day at eleven of the clock, we, under consort and prize, got up to the Aerith, where we came to an anchor, which ends our long and fatiguing voyage. Finis. End of A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Woods Rogers