night, and the distance of the land in the morning, there was no doubt
to be made but this fire, when we first discovered it, was above
twenty-five leagues from us; and yet, I believe, there was no person on
board who doubted of its being a ship's light, or of its being near at
hand.  It was indeed upon a very high mountain, and continued burning
for several days afterwards; however, it was not a vulcano, but rather,
as I suppose, a tract of stubble or heath, set on fire for some purpose
of agriculture.

At sun-rising, after this mortifying delusion, we found ourselves about
nine leagues off the land, which extended from the N.W. to E.½N.  On
this land we observed two remarkable hummocks, such as are usually
called paps, which bore north from us: these a Spanish pilot and two
Indians, who were the only persons amongst us that pretended to have
traded in this part of the world, affirmed to be over the harbour of
Acapulco.  Indeed, we very much doubted their knowledge of the coast,
for we found these paps to be in the latitude of 17° 56', whereas those
over Acapulco are said to be 17 degrees only; and we afterwards found
our suspicions of their skill to be well grounded.  However, they were
very confident, and assured us that the height of the mountains was
itself an infallible mark of the harbour, the coast, as they pretended,
though falsly, being generally low to the eastward and westward of it.

Being now in the track of the Manila galeon, it was a great doubt with
us, as it was near the end of January, whether she was or was not
arrived; but examining our prisoners {212} about it, they assured us
that she was sometimes known to come in after the middle of February,
and they endeavoured to persuade us that the fire we had seen on shore
was a proof that she was yet at sea, it being customary, as they said,
to make use of these fires as signals for her direction when she
continued longer out than ordinary.  On this reasoning of our
prisoners, strengthened by our propensity to believe them in a matter
which so pleasingly flattered our wishes, we resolved to cruise for her
some days, and we accordingly spread our ships at the distance of
twelve leagues from the coast in such a manner that it was impossible
she should pass us unobserved.  However, not seeing her soon, we were
at intervals inclined to suspect that she had gained her port already,
and as we now began to want a harbour to refresh our people, the
uncertainty of our present situation gave us great uneasiness, and we
were very solicitous to get some positive intelligence, which might
either set us at liberty to consult our necessities, if the galeon was
arrived, or might animate us to continue our present cruise with
chearfulness, if she was not.  With this view, the commodore, after
examining our prisoners very particularly, resolved to send a boat,
under colour of the night, into the harbour of Acapulco, to see if the
Manila ship was there or not, one of the Indians being very positive
that this might be done without the boat itself being discovered.  To
execute this enterprize, the barge was dispatched the 6th of February,
carrying a sufficient crew and two officers, as also a Spanish pilot,
with the Indian who had insisted on the facility of this project, and
had undertaken to conduct it.  Our barge did not return to us again
till the 11th, when the officers acquainted Mr. Anson that, agreeable
to our suspicions, there was nothing like a harbour in the place where
the Spanish pilots had at first asserted Acapulco to lie; that after
they had satisfied themselves in this particular, they steered to the
eastward, in hopes of discovering it, and had coasted along shore
thirty-two leagues; that in this whole range they met chiefly with
sandy beaches of a great length, over which the sea broke with so much
violence that it was impossible for a boat to land; that at the end of
their run they could just discover two paps at a very great distance to
the eastward, which from their appearance and their latitude they
concluded to be those in the neighbourhood of Acapulco; but that not
having a sufficient {213} quantity of fresh water and provision for
their passage thither and back again, they were obliged to return to
the commodore, to acquaint him with their disappointment.  On this
intelligence we all made sail to the eastward, in order to get into the
neighbourhood of that port, the commodore being determined to send the
barge a second time upon the same enterprize, when we were arrived
within a moderate distance.  Accordingly, the next day, which was the
12th of February, we being by that time considerably advanced, the
barge was again dispatched, and particular instructions given to the
officers to preserve themselves from being seen from the shore.  On the
13th we espied a high land to the eastward, which was first imagined to
be that over the harbour of Acapulco; but we afterwards found that it
was the high land of Seguateneio, where there is a small harbour, of
which we shall have occasion to make more ample mention hereafter.  We
waited six days, from the departure of our barge, without any news of
her, so that we began to be uneasy for her safety; but on the 7th day,
that is, on the 19th of February, she returned: when the officers
informed the commodore that they had discovered the harbour of
Acapulco, which they esteemed to bear from us E.S.E. at least fifty
leagues distant; that on the 17th, about two in the morning, they were
got within the island that lies at the mouth of the harbour, and yet
neither the Spanish pilot, nor the Indian, could give them any
information where they then were; but that while they were lying upon
their oars in suspence what to do, being ignorant that they were then
at the very place they sought for, they discerned a small light near
the surface of the water, on which they instantly plied their paddles,
and moving as silently as possible towards it, they found it to be in a
fishing canoe, which they surprized, with three negroes that belonged
to it.  It seems the negroes at first attempted to jump overboard, and
being so near the shore they would easily have swam to land, but they
were prevented by presenting a piece at them, on which they readily
submitted, and were taken into the barge.  The officers further added
that they had immediately turned the canoe adrift against the face of a
rock, where it would inevitably be dashed to pieces by the fury of the
sea.  This they did to deceive those who perhaps might be sent from the
town to search after the canoe, for upon seeing several remains of a
wreck, they would {214} immediately conclude that the people on board
her had been drowned, and would have no suspicion of their having
fallen into our hands.  When the crew of the barge had taken this
precaution, they exerted their utmost strength in pulling out to sea,
and by dawn of the day had gained such an offing as rendered it
impossible for them to be seen from the coast.

Having now gotten the three negroes in our possession, who were not
ignorant of the transactions at Acapulco, we were soon satisfied about
the most material points which had long kept us in suspence.  On
examining them we found that we were indeed disappointed in our
expectation of intercepting the galeon before her arrival at Acapulco;
but we learnt other circumstances which still revived our hopes, and
which, we then conceived, would more than balance the opportunity we
had already lost, for though our negroe prisoners informed us that the
galeon arrived at Acapulco on our 9th of January, which was about
twenty days before we fell in with this coast, yet they at the same
time told us that the galeon had delivered her cargo, and was taking in
water and provisions in order to return, and that the Viceroy of Mexico
had by proclamation fixed her departure from Acapulco to the 14th of
March, N.S.  This last news was most joyfully received by us, since we
had no doubt but she must certainly fall into our hands, and it was
much more eligible to seize her on her return than it would have been
to have taken her before her arrival, as the species for which she had
sold her cargoe, and which she would now have on board, would be
prodigiously more to be esteemed by us than the cargoe itself; great
part of which would have perished on our hands, and none of it could
have been disposed of by us at so advantageous a mart as Acapulco.

Thus we were a second time engaged in an eager expectation of meeting
with this Manila ship, which, by the fame of its wealth, we had been
taught to consider as the most desirable capture that was to be made on
any part of the ocean.  But since all our future projects will be in
some sort regulated with a view to the possession of this celebrated
galeon, and since the commerce which is carried on by means of these
vessels between the city of Manila and the port of Acapulco is perhaps
the most valuable, in proportion to its quantity, {215} of any in the
known world, I shall endeavour, in the ensuing chapter, to give as
circumstantial an account as I can of all the particulars relating
thereto, both as it is a matter in which I conceive the public to be in
some degree interested, and as I flatter myself, that from the
materials which have fallen into my hands, I am enabled to describe it
with more distinctness than has hitherto been done, at least in our
language.

{216}

CHAPTER X

AN ACCOUNT OF THE COMMERCE CARRIED ON BETWEEN THE CITY OF MANILA ON THE
ISLAND OF LUCONIA, AND THE PORT OF ACAPULCO ON THE COAST OF MEXICO

About the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the
sixteenth, the searching after new countries, and new branches of
commerce, was the reigning passion among several of the European
princes.  But those who engaged most deeply and fortunately in these
pursuits were the kings of Spain and Portugal, the first of them having
discovered the immense and opulent continent of America and its
adjacent islands, whilst the other, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
had opened to his fleets a passage to the southern coast of Asia,
usually called the East Indies, and by his settlements in that part of
the globe, became possessed of many of the manufactures and natural
productions with which it abounded, and which, for some ages, had been
the wonder and delight of the more polished and luxurious part of
mankind.

In the meantime, these two nations of Spain and Portugal, who were thus
prosecuting the same views, though in different quarters of the world,
grew extremely jealous of each other, and became apprehensive of mutual
encroachments.  And, therefore, to quiet their jealousies, and to
enable them with more tranquillity to pursue the propagation of the
Catholick faith in these distant countries (they having both of them
given distinguished marks of their zeal for their mother church, by
their butchery of innocent pagans), Pope Alexander VI. granted to the
Spanish crown the property and dominion of all places, either already
discovered, or that should be discovered, an hundred leagues to the
westward of the islands of Azores, leaving all the unknown countries to
the eastward of this limit to the industry and disquisition of the
Portuguese; and this boundary being afterwards removed two hundred and
fifty leagues more to the westward, by the agreement of both nations,
it was imagined that this regulation would have suppressed all the
seeds of future {217} contests.  For the Spaniards presumed that the
Portuguese would be thereby prevented from meddling with their colonies
in America, and the Portuguese supposed that their East Indian
settlements, and particularly the Spice Islands, which they had then
newly found out, were for ever secured from any attempts of the Spanish
nation.

But it seems the infallibility of the Holy Father had, on this
occasion, deserted him, and for want of being more conversant in
geography, he had not foreseen that the Spaniards, by pursuing their
discoveries to the west, and the Portuguese to the east, might at last
meet with each other, and be again embroiled, as it actually happened
within a few years afterwards.  For Ferdinand Magellan, an officer in
the King of Portugal's service, having received some disgust from the
court, either by the defalcation of his pay, or by having his parts, as
he conceived, too cheaply considered, he entered into the service of
the King of Spain.  As he appears to have been a man of ability, he was
desirous of signalizing his talents in some enterprize which might
prove extremely vexatious to his former masters, and might teach them
to estimate his worth from the greatness of the mischief he brought
upon them, this being the most obvious and natural turn of all
fugitives, more especially of those who, being really men of capacity,
have quitted their country by reason of the small account that has been
made of them.  Magellan, in pursuance of these vindictive views,
knowing that the Portuguese considered their traffic to the Spice
Islands as their most important acquisition in the east, resolved with
himself to instigate the court of Spain to an attempt, which, by still
pushing their discoveries to the westward, would give them a right to
interfere both in the property and commerce of those renowned
countries; and the King of Spain approving of this project, Magellan,
in the year 1519, set sail from the port of Sevil in order to carry
this enterprize into execution.  He had with him a considerable force,
consisting of five ships and two hundred and thirty-four men, with
which he stood for the coast of South America, and ranging along shore,
he at length, towards the end of October 1520, had the good fortune to
discover those streights which have since been denominated from him,
and which opened him a passage into the South Seas.  This, which was
the first part of his scheme, being thus happily accomplished, he,
after some stay on the {218} coast of Peru, set sail again to the
westward, with a view of falling in with the Spice Islands.  In this
extensive run across the Pacific Ocean, he first discovered the
Ladrones or Marian Islands, and continuing on his course, he at length
reached the Philippine Islands, which are the most eastern part of
Asia, where, venturing on shore in an hostile manner, and skirmishing
with the Indians, he was slain.

By the death of Magellan, his original project of securing some of the
Spice Islands was defeated; for those who were left in command
contented themselves with ranging through them, and purchasing some
spices from the natives, after which they returned home round the Cape
of Good Hope, being the first ships which had ever surrounded this
terraqueous globe, and thereby demonstrated, by a palpable experiment
obvious to the grossest and most vulgar capacity, the reality of its
long-disputed spherical figure.

But though Spain did not hereby acquire the property of any of the
Spice Islands, yet the discovery of the Philippines, made in this
expedition, was thought too considerable to be neglected, since these
were not far distant from those places which produced spices, and were
very well situated for the Chinese trade, and for the commerce of other
parts of India.  A communication, therefore, was soon established and
carefully supported between these islands and the Spanish colonies on
the coast of Peru: whence the city of Manila (which was built on the
island of Luconia, the chief of the Philippines) became in a short time
the mart for all Indian commodities, which were brought up by the
inhabitants, and were annually sent to the South Seas, to be there
vended on their account; and the returns of this commerce to Manila
being principally made in silver, the place by degrees grew extremely
opulent, and its trade so far increased as to engage the attention of
the court of Spain, and to be frequently controlled and regulated by
royal edicts.

In the infancy of this trade it was carried on from the port of Callao
to the city of Manila, in which navigation the trade-wind continually
favoured them; so that notwithstanding these places were distant
between three and four thousand leagues, yet the voyage was often made
in little more than two months.  But then the return from Manila was
extremely troublesome and tedious, and is said to have sometimes lasted
above a twelvemonth; which, if they pretend to ply up {219} within the
limits of the trade-wind, is not at all to be wondered at.  Indeed,
though it is asserted that in their first voyages they were so
imprudent and unskilful as to attempt this course, yet that route was
soon laid aside, by the advice, as it is said, of a Jesuit, who
persuaded them to steer to the northward till they got clear of the
trade-winds, and then by the favour of the westerly winds, which
generally prevail in high latitudes, to stretch away for the coast of
California.  This we know hath been the practice for at least a hundred
and sixty years past, as Sir Thomas Cavendish, in the year 1586,
engaged off the south end of California a vessel bound from Manila to
the American coast.  And it was in compliance with this new plan of
navigation, and to shorten the run both backwards and forwards, that
the staple of this commerce to and from Manila was removed from Callao
on the coast of Peru, to the port of Acapulco on the coast of Mexico,
where it continues fixed to this time.

Such was the commencement, and such were the early regulations of this
commerce; but its present condition being a much more interesting
subject, I must beg leave to dwell longer on this head, and to be
indulged in a more particular narration, beginning with a description
of the island of Luconia, and of the port and bay of Manila.

The island of Luconia, though situated in the latitude of 15° north, is
esteemed to be in general extremely healthy, and the water that is
found upon it is said to be the best in the world.  It produces all the
fruits of the warm climates, and abounds in a most excellent breed of
horses, supposed to be carried thither first from Spain.  It is very
well seated for the Indian and Chinese trade; and the bay and port of
Manila, which lies on its western side, is perhaps the most remarkable
on the whole globe, the bay being a large circular bason, near ten
leagues in diameter, great part of it entirely land-locked.  On the
east side of this bay stands the city of Manila, which is large and
populous, and which, at the beginning of this war, was only an open
place, its principal defence consisting in a small fort, which was
almost surrounded on every side by houses; but they have lately made
considerable additions to its fortifications, though I have not yet
learnt after what manner.  The port, peculiar to the city, is called
Cabite, and lies near two leagues to the southward: and in this port
all the ships employed for the Acapulco trade are usually stationed.

{220}

The city of Manila itself is in a healthy situation, is well watered,
and is in the neighbourhood of a very fruitful and plentiful country;
but as the principal business of this place is its trade to Acapulco,
it lies under some disadvantage from the difficulty there is in getting
to sea to the eastward: for the passage is among islands and through
channels, where the Spaniards, by reason of their unskilfulness in
marine affairs, waste much time, and are often in great danger.

The trade carried on from this place to China and different parts of
India is principally for such commodities as are intended to supply the
kingdoms of Mexico and Peru.  These are spices, all sorts of Chinese
silks and manufactures, particularly silk stockings, of which I have
heard that no less than fifty thousand pair were the usual number
shipped in each cargoe; vast quantities of Indian stuffs, as callicoes
and chints, which are much worn in America, together with other minuter
articles, as goldsmiths' work, etc., which is principally wrought at
the city of Manila itself by the Chinese; for it is said there are at
least twenty thousand Chinese who constantly reside there, either as
servants, manufacturers, or brokers.  All these different commodities
are collected at Manila, thence to be transported annually in one or
more ships to the port of Acapulco in the kingdom of Mexico.

This trade to Acapulco is not laid open to all the inhabitants of
Manila, but is confined by very particular regulations, somewhat
analogous to those by which the trade of the register ships from Cadiz
to the West Indies is restrained.  The ships employed herein are found
by the King of Spain, who pays the officers and crew; and the tunnage
is divided into a certain number of bales, all of the same size: these
are distributed amongst the convents at Manila, but principally to the
Jesuits, as a donation to support their missions for the propagation of
the Catholick faith; and the convents have thereby a right to embark
such a quantity of goods on board the Manila ship as the tunnage of
their bales amounts to; or if they chuse not to be concerned in trade
themselves, they have the power of selling this privilege to others:
nor is it uncommon, when the merchant to whom they sell their share is
unprovided of a stock, for the convent to lend him considerable sums of
money on bottomry.

The trade is by the royal edicts limited to a certain value, which the
annual cargoe ought not to exceed.  Some Spanish {221} manuscripts I
have seen, mention this limitation to be 600,000 dollars; but the
annual cargoe does certainly surpass this sum, and though it may be
difficult to fix its exact value, yet from many comparisons I conclude
that the return cannot be much short of three millions of dollars.

As it is sufficiently obvious that the greatest share of the treasure
returned from Acapulco to Manila does not remain in that place, but is
again dispersed into different parts of India; and as all European
nations have generally esteemed it good policy to keep their American
settlements in an immediate dependence on the mother country, without
permitting them to carry on directly any gainful traffick with other
powers; these considerations have occasioned many remonstrances to be
presented to the court of Spain against this Indian trade allowed to
the kingdom of Mexico.  It has been urged that the silk manufactures of
Valencia and other parts of Spain are hereby greatly prejudiced, and
the linens carried from Cadiz much injured in their sale: since the
Chinese silks coming almost directly to Acapulco, can be afforded
considerably cheaper there than any European manufactures of equal
goodness, and the cotton from the Coromandel coast makes the European
linens nearly useless.  So that the Manila trade renders both Mexico
and Peru less dependant upon Spain for a supply of their necessities
than they ought to be, and exhausts those countries of a considerable
quantity of silver, the greatest part of which, were this trade
prohibited, would center in Spain, either in payment for Spanish
commodities, or in gains to the Spanish merchant: whereas now the only
advantage which arises from it is the enriching the Jesuits, and a few
particular persons besides, at the other extremity of the world.  These
arguments did so far influence Don Joseph Patinho, who was formerly
prime minister, and an enemy to the Jesuits, that about the year 1725
he had resolved to abolish this trade, and to have permitted no Indian
commodities to be introduced into any of the Spanish ports in the West
Indies, except such as were brought thither by the register ships from
Europe.  But the powerful untrigues of the Jesuits prevented this
regulation from taking place.

This trade from Manila to Acapulco and back again is usually carried on
in one or at most two annual ships, which set sail from Manila about
July, and arrive at Acapulco in {222} the December, January, or
February following; and having there disposed of their effects, return
for Manila some time in March, where they generally arrive in June; so
that the whole voyage takes up very near an entire year.  For this
reason, though there is often no more than one ship freighted at a
time, yet there is always one ready for the sea when the other arrives;
and therefore the commerce at Manila is provided with three or four
stout ships, that in case of any accident the trade may not be
suspended.  The largest of these ships, whose name I have not learnt,
is described as little less than one of our first-rate men-of-war; and
indeed she must be of an enormous size, as it is known that when she
was employed with other ships from the same port to cruise for our
China trade, she had no less than twelve hundred men on board.  Their
other ships, though far inferior in bulk to this, are yet stout large
vessels, of the burthen of twelve hundred tun and upwards, and usually
carry from three hundred and fifty to six hundred hands, passengers
included, with fifty odd guns.  As these are all king's ships,
commissioned and paid by him, there is usually one amongst the captains
stiled the general, and he carries the royal standard of Spain at the
main topgallant mast-head, as we shall more particularly observe
hereafter.

And now having described the city and port of Manila, and the shipping
employed by its inhabitants, it is necessary to give a more
circumstantial detail of the navigation from thence to Acapulco.  The
ship having received her cargo on board, and being fitted for the sea,
generally weighs from the mole of Cabite about the middle of July,
taking the advantage of the westerly monsoon, which then sets in.  It
appears that the getting through the channel called the Boccadero, to
the eastward, must be a troublesome navigation, and in fact it is
sometimes the end of August before they compleat it.  When they have
cleared this passage, and are disintangled from the islands, they stand
to the northward of the east, till they arrive in the latitude of
thirty degrees or upwards, where they expect to meet with westerly
winds, before which they stretch away for the coast of California.

It is indeed most remarkable that by the concurrent testimony of all
the Spanish navigators, there is not one port nor even a tolerable road
as yet found out betwixt the Philippine Islands and the coast of
California: so that from {223} the time the Manila ship first loses
sight of land, she never lets go her anchor till she arrives on the
coast of California, and very often not till she gets to its
southermost extremity.  As this voyage is rarely of less than six
months' continuance, and the ship is deep laden with merchandize and
crowded with people, it may appear wonderful how they can be supplied
with a stock of fresh water for so long a time.  The method of
procuring it is indeed extremely singular, and deserves a very
particular recital.

It is well known to those who are acquainted with the Spanish customs
in the South Seas, that their water is preserved on shipboard, not in
casks but in earthen jars, which in some sort resemble the large oil
jars we often see in Europe.  When the Manila ship first puts to sea,
she takes on board a much greater quantity of water than can be stowed
between decks, and the jars which contain it are hung all about the
shrouds and stays, so as to exhibit at a distance a very odd
appearance.  Though it is one convenience of their jars that they are
much more manageable than casks, and are liable to no leekage, unless
they are broken, yet it is sufficiently obvious that a six or even a
three months' store of water could never be stowed in a ship so loaded
by any management whatever; and therefore without some other supply
this navigation could not be performed.  A supply indeed they have, but
the reliance upon it seems at first sight so extremely precarious that
it is wonderful such numbers should risque the perishing by the most
dreadful of all deaths on the expectation of so casual a relief.  In
short, their only method of recruiting their water is by the rains,
which they meet with between the latitudes of 30° and 40° north, and
which they are always prepared to catch.  For this purpose they take to
sea with them a great number of mats, which, whenever the rain
descends, they range slopingly against the gunwale from one end of the
ship to the other, their lower edges resting on a large split bamboe;
whence all the water which falls on the mats drains into the bamboe,
and by this, as a trough, is conveyed into a jar.  And this method of
furnishing themselves with water, however accidental and extraordinary
it may at first sight appear, hath never been known to fail them, but
it hath been common for them, when their voyage is a little longer than
usual, to fill all their water jars several times over.

{224}

However, though their distresses for fresh water are much short of what
might be expected in so tedious a navigation, yet there are other
inconveniences generally attendant upon a long continuance at sea from
which they are not exempted.  The principal of these is the scurvy,
which sometimes rages with extreme violence, and destroys great numbers
of the people; but at other times their passage to Acapulco (of which
alone I would be here understood to speak) is performed with little
loss.

The length of time employed in this passage, so much beyond what
usually occurs in any other known navigation, is perhaps in part to be
imputed to the indolence and unskilfulness of the Spanish sailors, and
to an unnecessary degree of caution, on pretence of the great riches of
the vessel: for it is said that they rarely set their main-sail in the
night, and often lie by unnecessarily.  Thus much is certain, that the
instructions given to their captains (which I have seen) seem to have
been drawn up by such as were more apprehensive of too strong a gale,
though favourable, than of the inconveniences and mortality attending a
lingering and tedious voyage.  For the captain is particularly ordered
to make his passage in the latitude of 30 degrees, if possible, and to
be extremely careful to stand no farther to the northward than is
absolutely necessary for the getting a westerly wind.  This, according
to our conceptions, appears to be a very absurd restriction, since it
can scarcely be doubted but that in the higher latitudes the westerly
winds are much steadier and brisker than in the latitude of 30 degrees.
Indeed the whole conduct of this navigation seems liable to very great
censure: since, if instead of steering E.N.E. into the latitude of 30
degrees, they at first stood N.E. or even still more northerly, into
the latitude of 40 or 45 degrees, in part of which coast the
trade-winds would greatly assist them, I doubt not but by this
management they might considerably contract their voyage, and perhaps
perform it in half the time which is now allotted for it.  This may in
some measure be deduced from their own journals; since in those I have
seen, it appears that they are often a month or six weeks after their
laying the land before they get into the latitude of 30 degrees;
whereas, with a more northerly course, it might easily be done in less
than a fortnight.  Now when they were once well advanced to the
northward, the {225} westerly winds would soon blow them over to the
coast of California, and they would be thereby freed from the other
embarrassments to which they are at present subjected, only at the
expence of a rough sea and a stiff gale.  This is not merely matter of
speculation; for I am credibly informed that about the year 1721, a
French ship, by pursuing this course, ran from the coast of China to
the valley of Vanderas, on the coast of Mexico, in less than fifty
days: but it was said that notwithstanding the shortness of her
passage, she suffered prodigiously by the scurvy, so that she had only
four or five of her crew remaining alive when she arrived in America.

However, I shall descant no longer on the probability of performing
this voyage in a much shorter time, but shall content myself with
reciting the actual occurrences of the present navigation.  The Manila
ship having stood so far to the northward as to meet with a westerly
wind, stretches away nearly in the same latitude for the coast of
California, and when she has run into the longitude of about 100
degrees from Cape Espiritu Santo, she generally finds a plant floating
on the sea, which, being called Porra by the Spaniards, is, I presume,
a species of sea-leek.  On the sight of this plant they esteem
themselves sufficiently near the California shore, and immediately
stand to the southward; and they rely so much on this circumstance,
that on the first discovery of the plant, the whole ship's company
chant a solemn _Te Deum_, esteeming the difficulties and hazards of
their passage to be now at an end; and they constantly correct their
longitude thereby, without ever coming within sight of land.  After
falling in with these signs, as they denominate them, they steer to the
southward without endeavouring to approach the coast, till they have
run into a lower latitude, for as there are many islands, and some
shoals adjacent to California, the extreme caution of the Spanish
navigators renders them very apprehensive of being engaged with the
land.  However, when they draw near its southern extremity, they
venture to hale in, both for the sake of making Cape St. Lucas to
ascertain their reckoning, and also to receive intelligence from the
Indian inhabitants, whether or no there are any enemies on the coast;
and this last circumstance, which is a particular article in the
captain's instructions, obliges us to {226} mention the late
proceedings of the Jesuits among the California Indians.

Since the first discovery of California, there have been various
wandering missionaries who have visited it at different times, though
to little purpose.  But of late years the Jesuits, encouraged and
supported by a large donation from the Marquis de Valero, a most
munificent bigot, have fixed themselves upon the place, and have there
established a very considerable mission.  Their principal settlement
lies just within Cape St. Lucas, where they have collected a great
number of savages, and have endeavoured to inure them to agriculture
and other mechanic arts.  Nor have their efforts been altogether
ineffectual, for they have planted vines at their settlements with very
good success, so that they already make a considerable quantity of
wine, which begins to be esteemed in the neighbouring kingdom of
Mexico, it resembling in flavour the inferior sorts of Madera.

The Jesuits then being thus firmly rooted on California, they have
already extended their jurisdiction quite across the country from sea
to sea, and are endeavouring to spread their influence farther to the
northward, with which view they have made several expeditions up the
gulf between California and Mexico, in order to discover the nature of
the adjacent countries, all which they hope hereafter to bring under
their power.  And being thus occupied in advancing the interests of
their society, it is no wonder if some share of attention is engaged
about the security of the Manila ship, in which their convents at
Manila are so deeply concerned.  For this purpose there are
refreshments, as fruits, wine, water, etc., constantly kept in
readiness for her, and there is besides care taken at Cape St. Lucas to
look out for any ship of the enemy, which might be cruising there to
intercept her, this being a station where she is constantly expected,
and where she has been often waited for and fought with, though
generally with little success.  In consequence then of the measures
mutually settled between the Jesuits of Manila and their brethren at
California, the captain of the galeon is ordered to fall in with the
land to the northward of Cape St. Lucas, where the inhabitants are
directed, on sight of the vessel, to make the proper signals with
fires.  On discovering these fires, the captain is to send his launch
on shore with twenty men well armed, who are to carry with them the
{227} letters from the convents at Manila to the California
missionaries, and are to bring back the refreshments which will be
prepared for the ship, and likewise intelligence whether or no there
are enemies on the coast.  If the captain finds, from the account which
is sent him, that he has nothing to fear, he is directed to proceed for
Cape St. Lucas, and thence to Cape Corientes, after which he is to
coast it along for the port of Acapulco.

The most usual time of the arrival of the galeon at Acapulco is towards
the middle of January, but this navigation is so uncertain that she
sometimes gets in a month sooner, and at other times has been detained
at sea above a month longer.  The port of Acapulco is by much the
securest and finest in all the northern part of the Pacific Ocean,
being, as it were, a bason surrounded by very high mountains.  But the
town is a most wretched place, and extremely unhealthy, for the air
about it is so pent up by the hills that it has scarcely any
circulation.  Acapulco is besides destitute of fresh water, except what
is brought from a considerable distance, and is in all respects so
inconvenient, that except at the time of the mart, whilst the Manila
galeon is in the port, it is almost deserted.

When the galeon arrives in this port, she is generally moored on its
western side to two trees, and her cargoe is delivered with all
possible expedition.  And now the town of Acapulco, from almost a
solitude, is immediately thronged with merchants from all parts of the
kingdom of Mexico.  The cargoe being landed and disposed of, the silver
and the goods intended for Manila are taken on board, together with
provisions and water, and the ship prepares to put to sea with the
utmost expedition.  There is indeed no time to be lost, for it is an
express order to the captain to be out of the port of Acapulco on his
return, before the first day of April, N.S.

Having mentioned the goods intended for Manila, I must observe that the
principal return is always made in silver, and consequently the rest of
the cargoe is but of little account; the other articles, besides the
silver, being some cochineal and a few sweetmeats, the produce of the
American settlements, together with European millinery ware for the
women at Manila, and some Spanish wines, such as tent and sherry, {228}
which are intended for the use of their priests in the administration
of the sacrament.

And this difference in the cargoe of the ship to and from Manila
occasions a very remarkable variety in the manner of equipping her for
these two different voyages.  For the galeon when she sets sail from
Manila, being deep laden with variety of bulky goods, she has not the
conveniency of mounting her lower tier of guns, but carries them in her
hold, till she draws near Cape St. Lucas, and is apprehensive of an
enemy.  Her hands too are as few as is consistent with the safety of
the ship, that she may be less pestered by the stowage of provisions.
But on her return from Acapulco, as her cargoe lies in less room, her
lower tier is (or ought to be) always mounted before she leaves the
port, and her crew is augmented with a supply of sailors, and with one
or two companies of foot, which are intended to reinforce the garrison
at Manila.  Besides, there being many merchants who take their passage
to Manila on board the galeon, her whole number of hands on her return
is usually little short of six hundred, all which are easily provided
for by reason of the small stowage necessary for the silver.

The galeon being thus fitted in order to her return, the captain, on
leaving the port of Acapulco, steers for the latitude of 13° or 14°,
and then continues on that parallel till he gets sight of the island of
Guam, one of the Ladrones.  In this run the captain is particularly
directed to be careful of the shoals of St. Bartholomew, and of the
island of Gasparico.  He is also told in his instructions, that to
prevent his passing the Ladrones in the dark, there are orders given
that, through all the month of June, fires shall be lighted every night
on the highest part of Guam and Rota, and kept in till the morning.

At Guam there is a small Spanish garrison (as will be more particularly
mentioned hereafter), purposely intended to secure that place for the
refreshment of the galeon, and to yield her all the assistance in their
power.  However, the danger of the road at Guam is so great that though
the galeon is ordered to call there, yet she rarely stays above a day
or two, but getting her water and refreshments on board as soon as
possible, she steers away directly for Cape Espiritu Santo, on the
island of Samal.  Here the captain is again ordered to look out for
signals, and he is told that centinels {229} will be posted not only on
that cape, but likewise in Catanduanas, Butusan, Birriborongo, and on
the island of Batan.  These centinels are instructed to make a fire
when they discover the ship, which the captain is carefully to observe,
for if, after this first fire is extinguished, he perceives that four
or more are lighted up again, he is then to conclude that there are
enemies on the coast, and on this he is immediately to endeavour to
speak with the centinel on shore, and to procure from him more
particular intelligence of their force, and of the station they cruize
in; pursuant to which, he is to regulate his conduct, and to endeavour
to gain some secure port amongst those islands, without coming in sight
of the enemy; and in case he should be discovered when in port, and
should be apprehensive of an attack, he must land his treasure, and
must take some of his artillery on shore for its defence, not
neglecting to send frequent and particular accounts to the city of
Manila of all that passes.  But if after the first fire on shore, the
captain observes that two others only are made by the centinels, he is
then to conclude that there is nothing to fear, and he is to pursue his
course without interruption, making the best of his way to the port of
Cabite, which is the port to the city of Manila, and the constant
station for all ships employed in this commerce to Acapulco.

{230}

CHAPTER XI

OUR CRUISE OFF THE PORT OF ACAPULCO FOR THE MANILA SHIP

I have already mentioned, in the ninth chapter, that the return of our
barge from the port of Acapulco, where she surprized three negro
fishermen, gave us inexpressible satisfaction, as we learnt from our
prisoners that the galeon was then preparing to put to sea, and that
her departure was fixed, by an edict of the Viceroy of Mexico, to the
14th of March, N.S., that is, to the 3d of March, according to our
reckoning.

What related to this Manila ship being the matter to which we were most
attentive, it was necessarily the first article of our examination, but
having satisfied ourselves upon this head, we then indulged our
curiosity in enquiring after other news; when the prisoners informed us
that they had received intelligence at Acapulco of our having plundered
and burnt the town of Paita; and that, on this occasion, the Governor
of Acapulco had augmented the fortifications of the place, and had
taken several precautions to prevent us from forcing our way into the
harbour; that in particular, he had planted a guard on the island which
lies at the harbour's mouth, and that this guard had been withdrawn but
two nights before the arrival of our barge.  So that had the barge
succeeded in her first attempt, or had she arrived at the port the
second time two days sooner, she could scarcely have avoided being
seized on; or if she had escaped, it must have been with the loss of
the greatest part of her crew, as she would have been under the fire of
the guard before she had known her danger.

The withdrawing of this guard was a circumstance that gave us much
pleasure, since it seemed to demonstrate not only that the enemy had
not as yet discovered us, but likewise that they had now no farther
apprehensions of our visiting their coast.  Indeed the prisoners
assured us that they had no knowledge of our being in those seas, and
that they had therefore flattered themselves that, in the long interval
{231} from our taking of Paita, we had steered another course.  But we
did not consider the opinion of these negro prisoners as so authentick
a proof of our being hitherto concealed, as the withdrawing of the
guard from the harbour's mouth; for this being the action of the
governor, was of all arguments the most convincing, as he might be
supposed to have intelligence with which the rest of the inhabitants
were unacquainted.

Satisfied therefore that we were undiscovered, and that the day was
fixed for the departure of the galeon from Acapulco, we made all
necessary preparations, and waited with the utmost impatience for the
important moment.  As it was the 19th of February when the barge
returned and brought us our intelligence, and the galeon was not to
sail till the 3d of March, the commodore resolved to continue the
greatest part of the intermediate time on his present station, to the
westward of Acapulco, conceiving that in this situation there would be
less danger of his being seen from the shore, which was the only
circumstance that could deprive us of the immense treasure on which we
had at present so eagerly fixed our thoughts.  During this interval we
were employed in scrubbing and cleansing our ships bottoms, in bringing
them into their most advantageous trim, and in regulating the orders,
signals, and positions, to be observed, when we should arrive off
Acapulco, and the time appointed for the departure of the galeon should
draw nigh.

It was on the first of March we made the high lands, usually called the
paps over Acapulco, and got with all possible expedition into the
situation prescribed by the commodore's orders.  The distribution of
our squadron on this occasion, both for the intercepting the galeon,
and for avoiding a discovery from the shore, was so very judicious that
it well merits to be distinctly described.  The order of it was thus:
the _Centurion_ brought the paps over the harbour to bear N.N.E. at
fifteen leagues distance, which was a sufficient offing to prevent our
being seen by the enemy.  To the westward of the _Centurion_ there was
stationed the _Carmelo_, and to the eastward the _Tryal's_ prize, the
_Gloucester_, and the _Carmin_; these were all ranged in a circular
line, and each ship was three leagues distant from the next, so that
the _Carmelo_ and the _Carmin_, which were the two extremes, were
twelve leagues removed from each other, and as the galeon {232} could,
without doubt, be discerned at six leagues distance from either
extremity, the whole sweep of our squadron, within which nothing could
pass undiscovered, was at least twenty-four leagues in extent; and yet
we were so connected by our signals as to be easily and speedily
informed of what was seen in any part of the line.  To render this
disposition still more compleat, and to prevent even the possibility of
the galeon's escaping us in the night, the two cutters belonging to the
_Centurion_ and the _Gloucester_ were both manned and sent in shore,
and commanded to lie all day at the distance of four or five leagues
from the entrance of the port, where, by reason of their smallness,
they could not possibly be discovered, but in the night they were
directed to stand nearer to the harbour's mouth, and as the light of
the morning approached to come back again to their day-posts.  When the
cutters should first discern the Manila ship, one of them was to return
to the squadron, and to make a signal, whether the galeon stood to the
eastward or to the westward; whilst the other was to follow the galeon
at a distance, and if it grew dark, to direct the squadron in their
chace, by shewing false fires.

Besides the care we had taken to prevent the galeon from passing by us
unobserved, we had not been inattentive to the means of engaging her to
advantage when we came up with her, for considering the thinness of our
crews, and the vaunting accounts given by the Spaniards of her size,
her guns, and her strength, this was a consideration not to be
neglected.  As we supposed that none of our ships but the _Centurion_
and _Gloucester_ were capable of lying alongside of her, we took on
board the _Centurion_ all the hands belonging to the _Carmelo_ and
_Carmin_, except what were just sufficient to navigate those ships; and
Captain Saunders was ordered to send from the _Tryal's_ prize ten
Englishmen, and as many negroes, to reinforce the crew of the
_Gloucester_.  At the same time, for the encouragement of our negroes,
of which we had a considerable number on board, we promised them that
on their good behaviour they should have their freedom.  As they had
been almost every day trained to the management of the great guns for
the two preceding months, they were very well qualified to be of
service to us; and from their hopes of liberty, and in return for the
kind usage they had met with amongst us, they seemed disposed to exert
themselves to the {233} utmost of their power, whenever we should have
occasion for them.

Being thus prepared for the reception of the galeon, we expected, with
the utmost impatience, the often mentioned 3d of March, the day fixed
for her departure.  No sooner did that day dawn than we were all of us
most eagerly engaged in looking out towards Acapulco, from whence
neither the casual duties on board nor the calls of hunger could easily
divert our eyes; and we were so strangely prepossessed with the
certainty of our intelligence, and with an assurance of her coming out
of port, that some or other amongst us were constantly imagining that
they discovered one of our cutters returning with a signal.  But, to
our extreme vexation, both this day and the succeeding night passed
over without any news of the galeon.  However, we did not yet despair,
but were all heartily disposed to flatter ourselves that some
unforeseen accident had intervened, which might have put off her
departure for a few days; and suggestions of this kind occurred in
plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the viceroy for her sailing
was often prolonged on the petition of the merchants of Mexico.  Thus
we kept up our hopes, and did not abate of our vigilance, and as the
7th of March was Sunday, the beginning of Passion week, which is
observed by the Papists with great strictness, and a total cessation
from all kinds of labour, so that no ship is permitted to stir out of
port during the whole week, this quieted our apprehensions for some
time, and disposed us not to expect the galeon till the week following.
On the Friday in this week our cutters returned to us, and the officers
on board them were very confident that the galeon was still in port,
for that she could not possibly have come out but they must have seen
her.  The Monday morning following, that is, on the 15th of March, the
cutters were again dispatched to their old station, and our hopes were
once more indulged in as sanguine prepossessions as before; but in a
week's time our eagerness was greatly abated, and a general dejection
and despondency took place in its room.  It is true, there were some
few amongst us who still kept up their spirits, and were very ingenious
in finding out reasons to satisfy themselves that the disappointment we
had hitherto met with had only been occasioned by a casual delay of the
galeon, which a few days would remove, and not by a total suspension of
her departure {234} for the whole season.  But these speculations were
not adopted by the generality of our people, for they were persuaded
that the enemy had, by some accident, discovered our being upon the
coast, and had therefore laid an embargo on the galeon till next year.
And indeed this persuasion was but too well founded, for we afterwards
learnt that our barge, when sent on the discovery of the port of
Acapulco, had been seen from the shore, and that this circumstance (no
embarkations but canoes ever frequenting that coast) was to them a
sufficient proof of the neighbourhood of our squadron; on which they
stopped the galeon till the succeeding year.

The commodore himself, though he declared not his opinion, was yet in
his own thoughts apprehensive that we were discovered, and that the
departure of the galeon was put off; and he had, in consequence of this
opinion, formed a plan for possessing himself of Acapulco, because he
had no doubt but the treasure as yet remained in the town, even though
the orders for dispatching of the galeon were countermanded.  Indeed
the place was too well defended to be carried by an open attempt,
since, besides the garrison and the crew of the galeon, there were in
it at least a thousand men well armed, who had marched thither as
guards to the treasure, when it was brought down from the city of
Mexico, for the roads thereabouts are so much infested either by
independent Indians or fugitives that the Spaniards never trust the
silver without an armed force to protect it.  Besides, had the strength
of the place been less considerable, and such as might not have
appeared superior to the efforts of our squadron, yet a declared attack
would have prevented us receiving any advantages from its success, for
upon the first discovery of our squadron, all the treasure would have
been ordered into the country, and in a few hours would have been out
of our reach, so that our conquest would have been only a desolate
town, where we should have found nothing that could in the least have
countervailed the fatigue and hazard of the undertaking.

For these reasons, the surprisal of the place was the only method that
could at all answer our purpose; and therefore the manner in which Mr.
Anson proposed to conduct this enterprize was, by setting sail with the
squadron in the evening, time enough to arrive at the port in the
night.  As there {235} is no danger on that coast, he would have stood
boldly for the harbour's mouth, where he expected to arrive, and
perhaps might have entered, before the Spaniards were acquainted with
his designs.  As soon as he had run into the harbour, he intended to
have pushed two hundred of his men on shore in his boats, who were
immediately to attempt the fort, whilst he, the commodore, with his
ships, was employed in firing upon the town and the other batteries.
And these different operations, which would have been executed with
great regularity, could hardly have failed of succeeding against an
enemy who would have been prevented by the suddenness of the attack,
and by the want of daylight, from concerting any measures for their
defence.  So that it was extremely probable that we should have carried
the fort by storm, and then the other batteries, being open behind,
must have been soon abandoned, after which, the town and its
inhabitants, and all the treasure, must necessarily have fallen into
our hands.  For the place is so cooped up with mountains that it is
scarcely possible to escape out of it but by the great road which
passes under the fort.  This was the project which the commodore had
thus far settled generally in his thoughts, but when he began to
inquire into such circumstances as were necessary to be considered in
order to regulate the particulars of its execution, he found there was
a difficulty, which, being insuperable, occasioned the enterprize to be
laid aside; as on examining the prisoners about the winds which prevail
near the shore, he learnt (and it was afterwards confirmed by the
officers of our cutters) that nearer in shore there was always a dead
calm for the greatest part of the night, and that towards morning, when
a gale sprung up, it constantly blew off the land, so that the setting
sail from our present station in the evening, and arriving at Acapulco
before daylight, was impossible.

This scheme, as hath been said, was formed by the commodore upon a
supposition that the galeon was detained till the next year, but as
this was a matter of opinion only, and not founded on intelligence, and
there was a possibility that she might still put to sea in a short
time, the commodore thought it prudent to continue cruising on his
present station as long as the necessary attention to his stores of
wood and water, and to the convenient season for his future passage to
China, would give him leave.  And therefore, as the cutters had been
{236} ordered to remain before Acapulco till the 23d of March, the
squadron did not change its position till that day, when the cutters
not appearing, we were in some pain for them, apprehending they might
have suffered either from the enemy or the weather, but we were
relieved from our concern the next morning, when we discovered them,
though at a great distance and to the leeward of the squadron.  We bore
down to them and took them up, and were informed by them that,
conformable to their orders, they had left their station the day
before, without having seen anything of the galeon; and we found that
the reason of their being so far to the leeward of us was a strong
current which had driven the whole squadron to windward.

And here it is necessary to mention, that, by information which was
afterwards received, it appeared that this prolongation of our cruise
was a very prudent measure, and afforded us no contemptible chance of
seizing the treasure on which we had so long fixed our thoughts.  For
after the embargo was laid on the galeon, as is before mentioned, the
persons principally interested in the cargo dispatched several
expresses to Mexico, to beg that she might still be permitted to
depart.  It seems they knew, by the accounts sent from Paita, that we
had not more than three hundred men in all, whence they insisted that
there was nothing to be feared, as the galeon, carrying above twice as
many hands as our whole squadron, would be greatly an overmatch for us.
And though the viceroy was inflexible, yet, on the account of their
representation, she was kept ready for the sea near three weeks after
the first order came to detain her.

When we had taken up the cutters, all the ships being joined, the
commodore made a signal to speak with their commanders; and upon
enquiry into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron,
it was found to be so very slender that we were under a necessity of
quitting our station to procure a fresh supply.  Consulting what place
was the properest for this purpose, it was agreed that the harbour of
Seguataneio or Chequetan being the nearest, was, on that account, the
most eligible; so that it was immediately resolved to make the best of
our way thither.  But that, even while we were recruiting our water, we
might not totally abandon our views upon the galeon, which, perhaps,
from certain intelligence of our being employed at Chequetan, {237}
might venture to slip out to sea, our cutter, under the command of Mr.
Hughes, the lieutenant of the _Tryal's_ prize, was ordered to cruise
off the port of Acapulco for twenty-four days, that if the galeon
should set sail in that interval, we might be speedily informed of it.
In pursuance of these resolutions we endeavoured to ply to the westward
to gain our intended port, but were often interrupted in our progress
by calms and adverse currents.  At these intervals we employed
ourselves in taking out the most valuable part of the cargoes of the
_Carmelo_ and _Carmin_ prizes, which two ships we intended to destroy
as soon as we had tolerably cleared them.  By the 1st of April we were
so far advanced towards Seguataneio that we thought it expedient to
send out two boats that they might range along the coast to discover
the watering-place.  They were gone some days, and our water being now
very short, it was a particular felicity to us that we met with daily
supplies of turtle, for had we been entirely confined to salt
provisions, we must have suffered extremely in so warm a climate.
Indeed our present circumstances were sufficiently alarming, and gave
the most considerate amongst us as much concern as any of the numerous
perils we had hitherto encountered, for our boats, as we conceived by
their not returning, had not as yet found a place proper to water at,
and by the leakage of our casks, and other accidents, we had not ten
days water on board the whole squadron, so that from the known
difficulty of procuring water on this coast, and the little reliance we
had on the buccaneer writers (the only guides we had to trust to), we
were apprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity the most terrible
of any that occurs in the long disheartening catalogue of the
distresses of a seafaring life.

But these gloomy suggestions were at length happily ended: for our
boats returned on the 5th of April, having about seven miles to the
westward of the rocks of Seguataneio met with a place fit for our
purpose, and which, by the description they gave of it, appeared to be
the port of Chequetan, mentioned by Dampier.  The success of our boats
was highly agreeable to us, and they were ordered out again the next
day, to sound the harbour and its entrance, which they had represented
as very narrow.  At their return they reported the place to be free
from any danger, so that on the 7th we stood for it, and that evening
came to an anchor {238} in eleven fathom.  The _Gloucester_ cast anchor
at the same time with us, but the _Carmelo_ and the _Carmin_ having
fallen to the leeward, the _Tryal's_ prize was ordered to join them,
and to bring them up, which in two or three days she effected.

Thus, after a four months' continuance at sea from the leaving of
Quibo, and having but six days' water on board, we arrived in the
harbour of Chequetan, the description of which, and of the adjacent
coast, shall be the business of the ensuing chapter.

{239}

CHAPTER XII

DESCRIPTION OF THE HARBOUR OF CHEQUETAN, AND OF THE ADJACENT COAST AND
COUNTRY

The harbour of Chequetan, which we here propose to describe, lies in
the latitude of 17° 36' north, and is about thirty leagues to the
westward of Acapulco.  It is easy to be discovered by any ship that
will keep well in with the land, especially by such as range down the
coast from Acapulco, and will attend to the following particulars.

There is a beach of sand, which extends eighteen leagues from the
harbour of Acapulco to the westward, against which the sea breaks so
violently that with our boats it would be impossible to land on any
part of it, but yet the ground is so clean that during the fair season
ships may anchor in great safety at the distance of a mile or two from
the shore.  The land adjacent to this beach is generally low, full of
villages, and planted with a great number of trees, and on the tops of
some small eminencies there are several lookout towers, so that the
face of the country affords a very agreeable prospect: for the
cultivated part, which is the part here described, extends some leagues
back from the shore, where it seems to be bounded by a chain of
mountains which stretch to a considerable distance on either side of
Acapulco.  It is a most remarkable particularity that in this whole
extent, containing in appearance the most populous and best planted
district of the whole coast, there should be neither canoes, boats, nor
any other embarkations, either for fishing, coasting, or for pleasure.
This cannot be imputed to the difficulty of landing, because in many
parts of Africa and Asia, where the same inconvenience occurs, the
inhabitants have provided against it by vessels of a peculiar fabric.
I therefore conceive that the government, to prevent smuggling, have
prohibited the use of all kinds of small craft in that district.

The beach here described is the surest guide to those who {240} are
desirous of finding the harbour of Chequetan, for five miles to the
westward of the extremity of this beach there appears a hummock, which
at first makes like an island, and is in shape not very unlike the hill
of Petaplan, hereafter mentioned, though much smaller.  Three miles to
the westward of this hummock is a white rock near the shore which
cannot easily be passed by unobserved.  It is about two cables'-length
from the land, and lies in a large bay, about nine leagues over.  The
west point of this bay is the hill of Petaplan, with the view of the
islands of Quicara and Quibo.  This hill of Petaplan, like the
forementioned hummock, may be at first mistaken for an island, though
it be in reality a peninsula, which is joined to the continent by a low
and narrow isthmus, covered over with shrubs and small trees.  The bay
of Seguataneio extends from this hill a great way to the westward, and
it appears by a plan of the bay of Petaplan, which is part of that of
Seguataneio, that at a small distance from the hill, and opposite to
the entrance of the bay, there is an assemblage of rocks which are
white from the excrements of boobies and tropical birds.  Four of these
rocks are high and large, and together with several smaller ones, are,
by the help of a little imagination, pretended to resemble the form of
a cross, and are called the White Friars.  These rocks, as appears by
the plan, bear W. by N. from Petaplan, and about seven miles to the
westward of them lies the harbour of Chequetan, which is still more
minutely distinguished by a large and single rock that rises out of the
water a mile and an half distant from the entrance, and bears S.½W.
from the middle of it.  To these directions I must add that the coast
is no ways to be dreaded between the middle of October and the
beginning of May, nor is there then any danger from the winds, though
in the remaining part of the year there are frequent and violent
tornadoes, heavy rains, and hard gales in all directions of the compass.

Such are the infallible marks by which the harbour of Chequetan may be
known to those who keep well in with the land.  But as to those who
keep at any considerable distance from the coast, there is no other
method to be taken for finding the place than that of making it by the
latitude, for there are so many ranges of mountains rising one upon the
back of another within land, that no drawings of the appearance of the
coast can be at all depended on when off {241} at sea, every little
change of distance or variation of position bringing new mountains in
view, and producing an infinity of different prospects, which render
all attempts of delineating the aspect of the coast impossible.

Having discussed the methods of discovering the harbour of Chequetan,
it is time to describe the harbour itself.  Its entrance is but about
half a mile broad; the two points which form it, and which are faced
with rocks that are almost perpendicular, bear from each other S.E. and
N.W.  The harbour is invironed on all sides, except to the westward,
with high mountains overspread with trees.  The passage into it is very
safe on either side of the rock that lies off the mouth of it, though
we, both in coming in and going out, left it to the eastward.  The
ground without the harbour is gravel mixed with stones, but within it
is a soft mud: and it must be remembered that in coming to an anchor a
good allowance should be made for a large swell, which frequently
causes a great send of the sea, as likewise for the ebbing and flowing
of the tide, which we observed to be about five feet, and that it set
nearly E. and W.

The watering-place is situated in that part of the harbour where there
is fresh water.  This, during the whole time of our stay, had the
appearance of a large standing lake, without any visible outlet into
the sea, from which it is separated by a part of the strand.  The
origin of this lake is a spring that bubbles out of the ground near
half a mile within the country.  We found the water a little brackish,
but more considerably so towards the seaside; for the nearer we
advanced towards the spring-head the softer and fresher it proved.
This laid us under a necessity of filling all our casks from the
furthest part of the lake, and occasioned us some trouble; and would
have proved still more difficult had it not been for our particular
management, which, on account of the conveniency of it, deserves to be
recommended to all who shall hereafter water at this place.  Our method
consisted in making use of canoes which drew but little water; for,
loading them with a number of small casks, they easily got up the lake
to the spring-head, and the small casks being there filled, were in the
same manner transported back again to the beach, where some of our
hands always attended to start them into other casks of a larger size.

Though this lake, during our continuance there, appeared {242} to have
no outlet into the sea, yet there is reason to suppose that in the
rainy season it overflows the strand, and communicates with the ocean;
for Dampier, who was formerly here, speaks of it as a large river.
Indeed it is necessary that a vast body of water should be amassed
before the lake can rise high enough to overflow the strand, since the
neighbouring lands are so low that great part of them must be covered
with water before it can run out over the beach.

As the country hereabouts, particularly the tract of coast contiguous
to Acapulco, appeared to be well peopled and cultivated, we hoped to
have easily procured from thence some fresh provisions and other
refreshments which we now stood greatly in need of.  To facilitate
these views, the commodore, the morning after we came to an anchor,
ordered a party of forty men, well armed, to march into the country,
and to endeavour to discover some town or village, where they were to
attempt to set on foot a correspondence with the inhabitants; for when
we had once begun this intercourse, we doubted not but that, by proper
presents, we should allure them to bring down to us whatever fruits or
fresh provisions were in their power, as our prizes abounded in various
kinds of coarse merchandize, which were of little consequence to us,
though to them they would be extremely valuable.  Our people were
directed on this occasion to proceed with the greatest circumspection,
and to make as little ostentation of hostility as possible; for we were
sensible we could find no wealth in these parts worth our notice, and
what necessaries we really wanted, we expected would be better and more
abundantly supplied by an open amicable traffic than by violence and
force of arms.  But this endeavour of opening a commerce with the
inhabitants proved ineffectual; for towards evening, the party which
had been ordered to march into the country returned greatly fatigued by
their unusual exercise, and some of them so far spent that they had
fainted on the road, and were obliged to be brought back upon the
shoulders of their companions.  They had penetrated, as they conceived,
about ten miles into the country, along a beaten track, where they
often saw the fresh dung of horses or mules.  When they had got near
five miles from the harbour, the road divided between the mountains
into two branches, one running to the east and the other to the west.
On deliberation concerning the course they should take, it {243} was
agreed to continue their march along the eastern road: this when they
had followed it for some time led them at once into a large plain or
savannah, on one side of which they discovered a centinel on horseback
with a pistol in his hand.  It was supposed that when they first saw
him he was asleep; but his horse, startled at the glittering of their
arms, and turning round suddenly, ran off with his master, who, though
he was very near being unhorsed in the surprize, yet recovered his
seat, and escaped with the loss only of his hat and his pistol, which
he dropped on the ground.  Our people pursued him in hopes of
discovering the village or habitation which he would retreat to; but as
he had the advantage of being on horseback, they soon lost sight of
him.  Notwithstanding his escape, they were unwilling to come back
without making some discovery, and therefore still followed the track
they were in, till the heat of the day increasing, and finding no water
to quench their thirst, they were first obliged to halt, and then
resolved to return; for as they saw no signs of plantations or
cultivated land, they had no reason to believe that there was any
village or settlement near them.  However, to leave no means untried of
procuring some intercourse with the people, the officers stuck up
several poles in the road, to which were affixed declarations written
in Spanish, encouraging the inhabitants to come down to the harbour to
traffic with us, giving them the strongest assurances of a kind
reception, and faithful payment for any provisions they should bring
us.  This was doubtless a very prudent measure, yet it produced no
effect; for we never saw any of them during the whole time of our
continuance at this port of Chequetan.  Indeed it were to have been
wished that our men, upon the division of the path, had taken the
western road instead of the eastern; for then they would soon have been
led to a village or town, which some Spanish manuscripts mention as
being in the neighbourhood of this port, and which we afterwards learnt
was not above two miles from that turning.

And on this occasion I cannot avoid mentioning another adventure which
happened to some of our people in the bay of Petaplan, as it may
greatly assist the reader in forming a just idea of the temper and
resolution of the inhabitants of this part of the world.  Some time
after our arrival at Chequetan, Lieutenant Brett was sent by the
commodore, {244} with two of our boats under his command, to examine
the coast to the eastward, particularly to make observations on the bay
and watering-place of Petaplan.  As Mr. Brett with one of the boats was
preparing to go on shore towards the hill of Petaplan, he accidentally
looking across the bay, perceived on the opposite strand three small
squadrons of horse parading upon the beach, and seeming to advance
towards the place where he proposed to land.  On sight of this he
immediately put off the boat, though he had but sixteen men with him,
and stood over the bay towards them: and he soon came near enough to
perceive that they were mounted on very sightly horses, and were armed
with carbines and lances.  On seeing him make towards them, they formed
upon the beach, and seemed resolved to dispute his landing, firing
several distant shot at him as he drew near, till at last the boat
being arrived within a reasonable distance of the most advanced
squadron, Mr. Brett ordered his people to fire, upon which this
resolute cavalry instantly ran with great confusion into the wood
through a small opening.  In this precipitate flight one of their
horses fell down and threw his rider; but whether he was wounded or not
we could not discern, for both man and horse soon got up again, and
followed the rest into the wood.  In the meantime the other two
squadrons were calm spectators of the rout of their comrades, for they
were drawn up at a great distance behind, out of the reach of our shot,
having halted on our first approach, and never advancing a step
afterwards.  It was doubtless fortunate for our people that the enemy
acted with so little prudence, and exerted so little spirit, since had
they concealed themselves till our men had landed, it is scarcely
possible but all the boat's crew must have fallen into their hands, as
the Spaniards were not much short of two hundred, and the whole number
with Mr. Brett only amounted to sixteen.  However, the discovery of so
considerable a force collected in this bay of Petaplan obliged us
constantly to keep a boat or two before it: for we were apprehensive
that the cutter, which we had left to cruise off Acapulco, might on her
return be surprized by the enemy, if she did not receive timely
information of her danger.  But now to proceed with the account of the
harbour of Chequetan.

After our unsuccessful attempt to engage the people of {245} the
country to furnish us with the necessaries we wanted, we desisted from
any more endeavours of the same nature, and were obliged to be
contented with what we could procure for ourselves in the neighbourhood
of the port.  We caught fish here in tolerable quantities, especially
when the smoothness of the water permitted us to hale the seyne.
Amongst the rest, we got cavallies, breams, mullets, soles,
fiddle-fish, sea-eggs, and lobsters: and we here, and in no other
place, met with that extraordinary fish called the torpedo, or
numbing-fish, which is in shape very like the fiddle-fish, and is not
to be known from it but by a brown circular spot about the bigness of a
crown piece near the centre of its back.  Perhaps its figure will be
better understood when I say it is a flat fish much resembling the
thorn-back.  This fish, the torpedo, is indeed of a most singular
nature, productive of the strangest effects on the human body: for
whoever handles it, or happens even to set his foot upon it, is
presently seized with a numbness all over him, but which is more
distinguishable in that limb which was in immediate contact with it.
The same effect too will be in some degree produced by touching the
fish with anything held in the hand, since I myself had a considerable
degree of numbness conveyed to my right arm, through a walking cane,
which I rested on the body of the fish for a short time only; and I
make no doubt but I should have been much more sensibly affected had
not the fish been near expiring when I made the experiment, as it is
observable that this influence acts with most vigour upon the fish's
being first taken out of the water, and entirely ceases as soon as it
is dead, so that it may be then handled, or even eaten, without any
inconvenience.  I shall only add, that the numbness of my arm upon this
occasion did not go off on a sudden, as the accounts of some
naturalists gave me reason to expect, but diminished gradually, so that
I had some sensation of it remaining till the next day.

To the account given of the fish we met with here I must add, that
though turtle now grew scarce, and we found none in this harbour of
Chequetan, yet our boats, which were stationed off Petaplan, often
supplied us therewith; and though this was a food that we had been long
as it were confined to (since it was the only fresh provisions which we
had tasted during near six months), yet we were far from {246} being
cloyed with it, or from finding that the relish we had for it at all
diminished.

The animals we met with on shore were principally guanos, with which
the country abounds, and which are by some reckoned delicious food.  We
saw no beast of prey here, except we should esteem that amphibious
animal, the alligator, as such, several of which our people discovered,
but none of them very large.  However, we were satisfied that there
were great numbers of tygers in the woods, though none of them came in
sight, for we every morning found the beach near the watering-place
imprinted very thick with their footsteps: but we never apprehended any
mischief from them, since they are by no means so fierce as the Asiatic
or African tyger, and are rarely, if ever, known to attack mankind.
Birds were here in sufficient plenty; for we had abundance of pheasants
of different kinds, some of them of an uncommon size, but they were all
very dry and tasteless eating.  And besides these we had a variety of
smaller birds, particularly parrots, which we often killed for food.

The fruits and vegetable refreshments at this place were neither
plentiful nor of the best kinds.  There were, it is true, a few bushes
scattered about the woods, which supplied us with limes, but we
scarcely could procure enough for our present use: and these, with a
small plum of an agreeable acid, called in Jamaica the hog-plum,
together with another fruit called a papah, were the only fruits to be
found in the woods.  Nor is there any other useful vegetable here worth
mentioning, except brook lime.  This indeed grew in great quantities
near the fresh-water banks; and as it was esteemed an antiscorbutic, we
fed upon it frequently, though its extreme bitterness made it very
unpalatable.

These are the articles most worthy of notice in this harbour of
Chequetan.  I shall only mention a particular of the coast lying to the
westward of it, that to the eastward having been already described.  As
Mr. Anson was always attentive to whatever might be of consequence to
those who might frequent these seas hereafter, and as we had observed
that there was a double land to the westward of Chequetan, which
stretched out to a considerable distance, with a kind of opening that
appeared not unlike the inlet to some harbour, the commodore, soon
after we came to an anchor, sent a boat to discover it more accurately,
and it was found on a {247} nearer examination that the two hills which
formed the double land were joined together by a valley, and that there
was no harbour nor shelter between them.

By all that hath been said it will appear that the conveniences of this
port of Chequetan, particularly in the articles of refreshment, are not
altogether such as might be desired: but yet, upon the whole, it must
be owned to be a place of considerable consequence, and that the
knowledge of it may be of great import to future cruisers, for except
Acapulco, which is in the hands of the enemy, it is the only secure
harbour in a vast extent of coast.  It lies at a proper distance from
Acapulco for the convenience of such ships as may have any designs on
the Manila galeon; and it is a place where wood and water may be
procured with great security in despight of the efforts of the
inhabitants of the adjacent district: for there is but one narrow path
which leads through the woods into the country, and this is easily to
be secured by a very small party against all the strength the Spaniards
in that neighbourhood can muster.  After this account of Chequetan, and
the coast contiguous to it, we now return to the recital of our own
proceedings.

{248}

CHAPTER XIII

OUR PROCEEDINGS AT CHEQUETAN AND ON THE ADJACENT COAST, TILL OUR
SETTING SAIL FOR ASIA

The next morning after our coming to an anchor in the harbour of
Chequetan, we sent about ninety of our men well armed on shore; forty
of whom were ordered to march into the country, as hath been mentioned,
and the remaining fifty were employed to cover the watering-place, and
to prevent any interruption from the natives.

Here we compleated the unloading of the _Carmelo_ and _Carmin_, which
we had begun at sea; that is to say, we took out of them the indico,
cacao, and cochineal, with some iron for ballast, which were all the
goods we intended to preserve, though they did not amount to a tenth of
their cargoes.  Here too it was agreed, after a mature consultation, to
destroy the _Tryal's_ prize, as well as the _Carmelo_ and _Carmin_,
whose fate had been before resolved on.  Indeed the _Tryal's_ prize was
in good repair, and fit for the sea; but as the whole numbers on board
our squadron did not amount to the complement of a fourth-rate
man-of-war, we found it was impossible to divide them into three ships
without rendering each of those ships incapable of navigating in safety
through the tempestuous weather we had reason to expect on the coast of
China, where we supposed we should arrive about the time of the change
of the monsoons.  These considerations determined the commodore to
destroy the _Tryal's_ prize, and to reinforce the _Gloucester_ with the
best part of the crew.  And in consequence of this resolve, all the
stores on board the _Tryal's_ prize were removed into the other ships,
and the prize herself, with the _Carmelo_ and _Carmin_, were prepared
for scuttling with all the expedition we were masters of; but the great
difficulties we were under in providing a store of water (which have
been already touched on), together with the necessary repairs of our
rigging and other unavoidable occupations, took us up so much time,
{249} and found us such unexpected employment, that it was near the end
of April before we were in a condition to leave the place.

During our stay here there happened an incident which, as it proved the
means of convincing our friends in England of our safety, which for
some time they had despaired of, and were then in doubt about, I shall
beg leave particularly to recite.  I have observed, in the preceding
chapter, that from this harbour of Chequetan there was but one pathway
which led through the woods into the country.  This we found much
beaten, and were thence convinced that it was well known to the
inhabitants.  As it passed by the spring-head, and was the only avenue
by which the Spaniards could approach us, we, at some distance beyond
the spring-head, felled several large trees, and laid them one upon the
other across the path; and at this barricadoe we constantly kept a
guard.  We besides ordered our men employed in watering to have their
arms ready, and, in case of any alarm, to march instantly to this post.
And though our principal intention herein was to prevent our being
disturbed by any sudden attack of the enemy's horse, yet it answered
another purpose which was not in itself less important: this was to
hinder our own people from straggling singly into the country, where we
had reason to believe they would be surprized by the Spaniards, who
would doubtless be extremely solicitous to pick up some of them in
hopes of getting intelligence of our future designs.  To avoid this
inconvenience, the strictest orders were given to the centinels to let
no person whatever pass beyond their post.  But notwithstanding this
precaution, we missed one Lewis Leger, who was the commodore's cook.
As he was a Frenchman, and was suspected to be a Papist, it was at
first imagined that he had deserted, with a view of betraying all that
he knew to the enemy; though this appeared, by the event, to be an
ill-grounded surmise, for it was afterwards known that he had been
taken by some Indians, who carried him prisoner to Acapulco, from
whence he was transferred to Mexico, and then to Vera Cruz, where he
was shipped on board a vessel bound to Old Spain.  But the vessel being
obliged by some accident to put into Lisbon, Leger escaped on shore,
and was by the British consul sent from thence to England, where he
brought the first authentick account of the safety of the commodore,
and of his principal transactions {250} in the South Seas.  The
relation he gave of his own seizure was that he rambled into the woods
at some distance from the barricadoe, where he had first attempted to
pass, but had been stopped and threatened to be punished; that his
principal view was to get a quantity of limes for his master's store,
and that in this occupation he was surprized unawares by four Indians,
who stripped him naked, and carried him in that condition to Acapulco,
exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of the
year shone with its greatest violence; that afterwards at Mexico his
treatment in prison was sufficiently severe; so that the whole course
of his captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which the
Spaniards bear to all those who endeavour to disturb them in the
peaceable possession of the coasts of the South Seas.  Indeed Leger's
fortune was, upon the whole, extremely singular, as, after the hazards
he had run in the commodore's squadron, and the severities he had
suffered in his long confinement amongst the enemy, a more fatal
disaster attended him on his return to England: for though, when he
arrived in London, some of Mr. Anson's friends interested themselves in
relieving him from the poverty to which his captivity had reduced him,
yet he did not long enjoy the benefit of their humanity, since he was
killed in an insignificant night-brawl, the cause of which could
scarcely be discovered.

And on occasion of this surprizal of Leger, I must observe, that though
the enemy never appeared in sight during our stay in the harbour, yet
we perceived that large parties of them were encamped in the woods
about us; for we could see their smokes, and could thence determine
that they were posted in a circular line surrounding us at a distance;
and just before our coming away they seemed, by the increase of their
fires, to have received a considerable reinforcement.  But to return.

Towards the latter end of April, the unloading of our three prizes, our
wooding and watering, and in short, every one of our proposed
employments at the harbour of Chequetan, were compleated: so that, on
the 27th of April, the _Tryal's_ prize, the _Carmelo_, and the
_Carmin_, all which we here intended to destroy, were towed on shore
and scuttled, a quantity of combustible materials having been
distributed in their upper works: and the next morning the _Centurion_
with the _Gloucester_ weighed anchor, though as there was but little
{251} wind, and that not in their favour, they were obliged to warp out
of the harbour.  When they had reached the offing, one of the boats was
dispatched back again to set fire to our prizes, which was accordingly
executed.  After this a canoe was left fixed to a grapnel in the middle
of the harbour, with a bottle in it well corked, inclosing a letter to
Mr. Hughes, who commanded the cutter, which had been ordered to cruise
before the port of Acapulco when we ourselves quitted that station.
And on this occasion I must mention more particularly than I have yet
done the views of the commodore in leaving the cutter before that port.

When we were necessitated to proceed for Chequetan to recruit our
water, Mr. Anson considered that our arrival in that harbour would soon
be known at Acapulco; and therefore he hoped that on the intelligence
of our being employed in port, the galeon might put to sea, especially
as Chequetan is so very remote from the course generally steered by the
galeon.  He therefore ordered the cutter to cruise twenty-four days off
the port of Acapulco, and her commander was directed, on perceiving the
galeon under sail, to make the best of his way to the commodore at
Chequetan.  As the _Centurion_ was doubtless a much better sailor than
the galeon, Mr. Anson, in this case, resolved to have got to sea as
soon as possible, and to have pursued the galeon across the Pacifick
Ocean: where supposing he should not have met with her in his passage
(which, considering that he would have kept nearly the same parallel,
was very improbable), yet he was certain of arriving off Cape Espiritu
Santo, on the island of Samal, before her; and that being the first
land she makes on her return to the Philippines, we could not have
failed to have fallen in with her by cruising a few days in that
station.  However, the Viceroy of Mexico ruined this project by keeping
the galeon in the port of Acapulco all that year.

The letter left in the canoe for Mr. Hughes, the commander of the
cutter, the time of whose return was now considerably elapsed, directed
him to go back immediately to his former station before Acapulco, where
he would find Mr. Anson, who resolved to cruise for him there a certain
number of days; after which it was added that the commodore would
return to the southward to join the rest of the squadron.  This last
article was inserted to deceive the Spaniards, if they got possession
of the canoe, as we afterwards learnt they did; {252} but could not
impose on Mr. Hughes, who well knew that the commodore had no squadron
to join, nor any intention of steering back to Peru.

Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound across the vast Pacifick
Ocean in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast as
soon as possible, since the stormy season was approaching apace.  As we
had no farther views in the American seas, we had hoped that nothing
would have prevented us from steering to the westward the moment we got
out of the harbour of Chequetan: and it was no small mortification to
us that our necessary employment there had detained us so much longer
than we expected, but now, when we had put to sea, we were farther
detained by the absence of the cutter, and the necessity we were under
of standing towards Acapulco in search of her.  Indeed, as the time of
her cruise had been expired for near a fortnight, we suspected that she
had been discovered from the shore, and that the Governor of Acapulco
had thereupon sent out a force to seize her, which, as she carried but
six hands, was no very difficult enterprize.  However, this being only
conjecture, the commodore, as soon as he was got clear of the harbour
of Chequetan, stood along the coast to the eastward in search of her:
and to prevent her from passing by us in the dark, we brought to every
night, and the _Gloucester_, whose station was a league within us
towards the shore, carried a light, which the cutter could not but
perceive if she kept along shore, as we supposed she would do; besides,
as a farther security, the _Centurion_ and _Gloucester_ alternately
shewed two false fires every half-hour.  Indeed, had she escaped us,
she would have found orders in the canoe to have returned immediately
before Acapulco, where Mr. Anson proposed to cruise for her some days.

By Sunday, the 2d of May, we were advanced within three leagues of
Acapulco, and having seen nothing of our boat, we gave her over as
lost, which, besides the compassionate concern for our ship-mates, and
for what it was apprehended they might have suffered, was in itself a
misfortune, which, in our present scarcity of hands, we were all
greatly interested in: since the crew of the cutter, consisting of six
men and the lieutenant, were the very flower of our people, purposely
picked out for this service, and known to be every one of them of tried
and approved resolution, and as skilful seamen {253} as ever trod a
deck.  However, as it was the general belief among us that they were
taken and carried into Acapulco, the commodore's prudence suggested a
project which we hoped would recover them.  This was founded on our
having many Spanish and Indian prisoners in our possession, and a
number of sick negroes, who could be of no service to us in the
navigating of the ship.  The commodore therefore wrote a letter the
same day to the Governor of Acapulco, telling him that he would release
them all provided the governor returned the cutter's crew.  This letter
was dispatched in the afternoon by a Spanish officer, of whose honour
we had a good opinion, and who was furnished with a launch belonging to
one of our prizes and a crew of six other prisoners, who gave their
parole for their return.  The Spanish officer too, besides the
commodore's letter, carried with him a joint petition, signed by all
the rest of the prisoners, beseeching the governor to acquiesce in the
terms proposed for their liberty.  From a consideration of the number
of our prisoners and the quality of some of them, we did not doubt but
the governor would readily comply with Mr. Anson's proposal, and
therefore we kept plying on and off the whole night, intending to keep
well in with the land that we might receive an answer at the limited
time, which was the next day, being Monday.  But both on Monday and
Tuesday we were driven so far off shore that we could not hope that any
answer could reach us; and even on the Wednesday morning we found
ourselves fourteen leagues from the harbour of Acapulco; however, as
the wind was then favourable, we pressed forwards with all our sail,
and did not doubt of getting in with the land that afternoon.  Whilst
we were thus standing in, the centinel called out from the mast-head
that he saw a boat under sail at a considerable distance to the
south-eastward.  This we took for granted was the answer of the
governor to the commodore's message, and we instantly edged towards
her; but as we approached her we found, to our unspeakable joy, that it
was our own cutter.  And though, while she was still at a distance, we
imagined that she had been discharged out of the port of Acapulco by
the governor; yet, when she drew nearer, the wan and meagre
countenances of the crew, the length of their beards, and the feeble
and hollow tone of their voices, convinced us that they had suffered
much greater hardships than could be expected {254} from even the
severities of a Spanish prison.  They were obliged to be helped into
the ship, and were immediately put to bed, where by rest and nourishing
diet, which they were plentifully supplied with from the commodore's
table, they recovered their health and vigour apace.  And now we learnt
that they had kept the sea the whole time of their absence, which was
above six weeks; that when they had finished their cruise before
Acapulco, and had just begun to ply to the westward, in order to join
the squadron, a strong adverse current had forced them down the coast
to the eastward, in spight of all their efforts to the contrary, that
at length, their water being all expended, they were obliged to search
the coast farther on to the eastward in quest of some convenient
landing-place where they might get a fresh supply; that in this
distress they ran upwards of eighty leagues to leeward, and found
everywhere so large a surf that there was not the least possibility of
their landing; that they passed some days in this dreadful situation
without water, having no other means left them to allay their thirst
than sucking the blood of the turtle which they caught; that at last,
giving up all hopes of succour, the heat of the climate too augmenting
their necessities, and rendering their sufferings insupportable, they
abandoned themselves to despair, fully persuaded that they should
perish by the most terrible of all deaths; but that soon after a most
unexpected incident happily relieved them.  For there fell so heavy a
rain, that on spreading their sails horizontally, and putting bullets
in the centers of them to draw them to a point, they caught as much
water as filled all their casks; that immediately upon this fortunate
supply they stood to the westward in quest of the commodore; and being
now luckily favoured by a strong current, they joined us in less than
fifty hours from that time, after having been absent in the whole full
forty-three days.  Those who have an idea of the inconsiderable size of
a cutter belonging to a sixty-gun ship (being only an open boat about
twenty-two feet in length), and who will reflect on the various
casualties that must have attended her during a six weeks' continuance
alone, in the open ocean, on so impracticable and dangerous a coast,
will readily own that her return to us at last, after all the
difficulties which she actually experienced, and the dangers to which
she was each hour exposed, may be considered as little short of
miraculous.

{255}

I cannot finish this article of the cutter without remarking how
slender a reliance navigators ought to have on the accounts of the
buccaneer writers; for though in this run of hers, eighty leagues to
the eastward of Acapulco, she found no place where it was possible that
a boat could land; yet those writers have not been ashamed to feign
harbours and convenient watering-places within these limits, thereby
exposing such as should confide in their relations to the risque of
being destroyed by thirst.

I must farther add on this occasion that, when we stood near the port
of Acapulco, in order to send our message to the governor, and to
receive his answer, Mr. Brett took that opportunity of delineating a
view of the entrance of the port and of the neighbouring coast, which,
added to the plan of the place formerly mentioned, may be of
considerable use hereafter.

Having thus recovered our cutter, the sole object of our coming a
second time before Acapulco, the commodore determined not to lose a
moment's time more, but to run off the coast with the utmost
expedition, both as the stormy season on the coast of Mexico was now
approaching apace, and as we were apprehensive of having the westerly
monsoon to struggle with when we came upon the coast of China: for this
reason we no longer stood towards Acapulco, as at present we wanted no
answer from the governor.  However, Mr. Anson resolved not to deprive
his prisoners of the liberty which he had promised them; and therefore
they were all immediately embarked in two launches which belonged to
our prizes, those from the _Centurion_ in one launch, and those from
the _Gloucester_ in the other.  The launches were well equipped with
masts, sails, and oars; and lest the wind might prove unfavourable,
they had a stock of water and provisions put on board them sufficient
for fourteen days.  There were discharged thirty-nine persons from on
board the _Centurion_, and eighteen from the _Gloucester_, the greatest
part of them Spaniards, the rest being Indians and sick negroes.
Indeed, as our crews were very weak, we kept the Mulattoes and some of
the stoutest of our negroes with a few Indians to assist us; but we
dismissed every Spanish prisoner whatever.  We have since learnt that
these two launches arrived safe at Acapulco, where the prisoners could
not enough extol the humanity with which they had been treated.  It
seems the {256} governor, before their arrival, had returned a very
obliging answer to our letter, and had at the same time ordered out two
boats laden with the choicest refreshments and provisions that were to
be procured at Acapulco, which he intended as a present to the
commodore: but these boats not having found our ships, were at length
obliged to put back again, after having thrown all their provisions
overboard in a storm which threatened their destruction.

The sending away our prisoners was our last transaction on the American
coast; for no sooner had we parted with them than we and the
_Gloucester_ made sail to the S.W., proposing to get a good offing from
the land, where we hoped, in a few days, to meet with the regular
trade-wind, which the accounts of former navigators had represented as
much brisker and steadier in this ocean than in any other part of the
world: for it has been esteemed no uncommon passage to run from hence
to the eastermost isles of Asia in two months; and we flattered
ourselves that we were as capable of making an expeditious voyage as
any ships that had ever sailed this course before us; so that we hoped
soon to gain the coast of China, for which we were now bound.  As we
conceived this navigation to be free from all kinds of embarrassment of
bad weather, fatigue, or sickness, conformable to the general idea of
it given by former travellers, we consequently undertook it with
alacrity, especially as it was no contemptible step towards our arrival
at our native country, for which many of us by this time began to have
great longings.  Thus, on the 6th of May, we, for the last time, lost
sight of the mountains of Mexico, persuaded that in a few weeks we
should arrive at the river of Canton in China, where we expected to
meet with many English ships and with numbers of our countrymen; and
hoped to enjoy the advantages of an amicable, well-frequented port,
inhabited by a polished people and abounding with the conveniences and
indulgencies of a civilized life; blessings which now for near twenty
months had never been once in our power.  But, before we take our final
leave of America, there yet remains the consideration of a matter well
worthy of attention, the discussion of which shall be referred to the
ensuing chapter.

{257}

CHAPTER XIV

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED FROM OUR SQUADRON HAD
IT ARRIVED IN THE SOUTH SEAS IN GOOD TIME

After the recital of the transactions of the commodore, and the ships
under his command, on the coasts of Peru and Mexico, contained in the
preceding narration, it will be no useless digression to examine what
the whole squadron might have been capable of atchieving had it arrived
on its destined scene of action in so good a plight as it would
probably have done had the passage round Cape Horn been attempted at a
more seasonable time of the year.  This disquisition may be serviceable
to those who shall hereafter form projects of the like nature for that
part of the world, or who may be entrusted with their execution.  And
therefore I propose, in this chapter, to consider, as succinctly as I
can, the numerous advantages which the public might have received from
the operations of the squadron had it set sail from England a few
months sooner than it did.

To begin then: I presume it will be granted me that in the summer time
we might have got round Cape Horn with an inconsiderable loss, and
without any material damage to our ships or rigging.  For the _Duke_
and _Duchess of Bristol_, who between them had above three hundred men,
buried no more than two from the coast of Brazil to Juan Fernandez; and
out of a hundred and eighty-three hands which were on board the _Duke_
alone, there were only twenty-one sick of the scurvy when they arrived
at that island.  Whence as men-of-war are much better provided with all
conveniences than privateers, we might doubtless have appeared before
Baldivia in full strength, and in a condition of entering immediately
on action; and therefore, as that place was in a very defenceless
state, its cannon incapable of service, and its garrison in great
measure unarmed, it was impossible that it could have opposed our
force, or that its half-starved inhabitants, most of whom {258} are
convicts banished thither from other parts, could have had any other
thoughts than that of submitting.  This would have been a very
important acquisition; since when Baldivia, which is an excellent port,
had been once in our possession, we should immediately have been
terrible to the whole kingdom of Chili, and should doubtless have awed
the most distant parts of the Spanish Empire in America.  Indeed it is
far from improbable that, by a prudent use of this place, aided by our
other advantages, we might have given a violent shock to the authority
of Spain on that whole continent, and might have rendered some at least
of her provinces independent.  This would certainly have turned the
whole attention of the Spanish ministry to that part of the world where
the danger would have been so pressing, and thence Great Britain and
her allies might have been rid of the numerous difficulties which the
wealth of the Spanish Indies, operating in conjunction with the Gallick
intrigues, have constantly thrown in their way.

But that I may not be thought to over-rate the force of this squadron
by ascribing to it a power of overturning the Spanish Government in
America, it is necessary to enter into a more particular discussion,
and to premise a few observations on the condition of the provinces
bordering near the South Seas, and on the disposition of the
inhabitants, both Spaniards and Indians, at that time.  For hence it
will appear that the conjuncture was the most favourable we could have
desired, since we shall find that the Creolian subjects were
disaffected and their governors at variance, that the country was
wretchedly provided with arms and stores, and they had fallen into a
total neglect of all military regulations in their garrisons; and that
the Indians on their frontier were universally discontented, and seemed
to be watching with impatience the favourable moment when they might
take a severe revenge for the barbarities they had groaned under during
more than two ages: so that every circumstance concurred to facilitate
the enterprizes of our squadron.  Of all these articles we were amply
informed by the letters we took on board our prizes; none of these
vessels, as I remember, having had the precaution to throw their papers
overboard.

The ill blood amongst the governors was greatly augmented by their
apprehensions of our squadron; for every one being {259} willing to
have it believed that the bad condition of his government was not the
effect of negligence, there were continual demands and remonstrances
among them in order to throw the blame upon each other.  Thus, for
instance, the President of St. Jago in Chili, the President of Panama,
and many other governors and military officers were perpetually
soliciting the Viceroy of Peru to furnish them with the necessary sums
of money for putting their provinces and places in a proper state of
defence to oppose our designs: but the customary answer of the viceroy
to these representations was that he was unable to comply with their
requests, urging the emptiness of the royal chest at Lima, and the
difficulties he was under to support the expences of his own
government: he in one of his letters (which we intercepted) mentioning
his apprehensions that he might soon be necessitated to stop the pay of
the troops and even of the garrison of Callao, the key of the whole
kingdom of Peru.  Indeed he did at times remit to these governors some
part of their demands; but as what he sent them was greatly short of
their wants, these partial supplies rather tended to the raising
jealousies and heart-burnings among them than contributed to the
purposes for which they had at first been desired.

Besides these mutual janglings amongst the governors, the whole body of
the people were extremely dissatisfied, they being fully persuaded that
the affairs of Spain for many years before had been managed by the
influence of a particular foreign interest, which was altogether
detached from the advantages of the Spanish nation: so that the
inhabitants of these distant provinces believed themselves to be
sacrificed to an ambition which never considered their convenience or
emoluments nor paid any regard to the reputation of their name or the
honour of their country.  That this was the temper of the Creolian
Spaniards at that time might be proved from a hundred instances; but I
shall content myself with one which is indeed conclusive: this is the
testimony of the French mathematicians sent into America to measure the
magnitude of an equatorial degree of latitude.  For in the relation of
the murther of a surgeon belonging to their company in one of the
cities of Peru, and of the popular tumult thence occasioned, written by
one of those astronomers, the author confesses that the multitude
during the uproar universally joined in imprecations on their bad
government, {260} and bestowed the most abusive language upon the
French, detesting them, in all probability, more particularly as being
of a nation to whose influence in the Spanish counsels the Spaniards
imputed all their misfortunes.

And whilst the Creolian Spaniards were thus dissatisfied, it appears by
the letters we intercepted that the Indians on almost every frontier
were ripe for a revolt, and would have taken up arms upon the slightest
encouragement; particularly the Indians in the southern parts of Peru,
as likewise the Arraucos, and the rest of the Chilian Indians, the most
powerful and terrible to the Spanish name of any on that continent.
For it seems in some disputes between the Spaniards and the Indians,
which happened a short time before our arrival, the Spaniards had
insulted the Indians with an account of the force which they expected
from Old Spain under the command of Admiral Pizarro, and had vaunted
that he was coming thither to compleat the great work which had been
left unfinished by his ancestors.  These threats alarmed the Indians,
and made them believe that their extirpation was resolved on.  For the
Pizarros being the first conquerors of that coast, the Peruvian Indians
held the name, and all that bore it, in execration; not having forgot
the destruction of their monarchy, the massacre of their beloved Inca,
Atapalipa, the extinction of their religion, and the slaughter of their
ancestors, all perpetrated by the family of the Pizarros.  The Chilian
Indians too abhorred a chief who was descended of a race which, by its
lieutenants, had first attempted to inslave them, and had necessitated
the stoutest of their tribes for more than a century to be continually
wasting their blood in defence of their independency.

Nor let it be supposed that among barbarous nations the traditions of
these distant transactions could not be preserved for so long an
interval; since those who have been acquainted with that part of the
world agree that the Indians, in their publick feasts and annual
solemnities, constantly revive the memory of these tragick incidents;
and such as have been present at these spectacles have constantly
observed that all the recital and representations of this kind were
received with emotions so vehement, and with so enthusiastick a rage,
as plainly demonstrated how strongly the memory of their former wrongs
was implanted in them, and how acceptable the means of revenge would at
{261} all times prove.  To this I must add too, that the Spanish
governors themselves were so fully informed of the disposition of the
Indians at this conjuncture, and were so apprehensive of a general
defection among them, that they employed all their industry to
reconcile the most dangerous tribes, and to prevent them from
immediately taking up arms.  Among the rest, the President of Chili in
particular made large concessions to the Arraucos and the other Chilian
Indians, by which, and by distributing considerable presents to their
leading men, he at last got them to consent to a prolongation of the
truce between the two nations.  But these negociations were not
concluded at the time when we might have been in the South Seas; and
had they been compleated, yet the hatred of these Indians to the
Spaniards was so great that it would have been impossible for their
chiefs, how deeply soever corrupted, to have kept them from joining us
against their old detested enemy.

Thus then it appears that on our arrival in the South Seas we might
have found the whole coast unprovided with troops and destitute even of
arms: for we well know, from very particular intelligence, that there
were not three hundred fire-arms, of which too the greatest part were
matchlocks, in all the province of Chili.  Whilst at the same time, the
Indians were ripe for a revolt, the Spaniards disposed to mutiny, and
the governors enraged with one another, and each prepared to rejoice in
the disgrace of his antagonist.  At this fortunate crisis we, on the
other hand, might have consisted of near two thousand men, the greatest
part in health and vigour, all well armed, and united under a chief
whose enterprising genius (as we have seen) could not be depressed by a
continued series of the most sinister events, and whose equable and
prudent turn of temper would have remained unvaried in the midst of the
greatest degree of good success; and who besides possessed, in a
distinguished manner, the two qualities the most necessary for these
uncommon undertakings--I mean that of maintaining his authority and
preserving, at the same time, the affections of his people.  Our other
officers too, of every rank, appear, by the experience the public hath
since had of them, to have been equal to any attempt they might have
been charged with by their commander: and our men (at all times brave
if well conducted) in such a cause, where treasure was the {262}
object, and under such leaders, would doubtless have been prepared to
rival the most celebrated achievements hitherto performed by British
mariners.

It cannot then be contested but that Baldivia must have surrendered on
the appearance of our squadron: after which, it may be presumed, that
the Arraucos, the Pulches, and Penguinches, inhabiting the banks of the
river Imperial, about twenty-five leagues to the northward of this
place, would have immediately taken up arms, being disposed thereto, as
hath been already related, and encouraged by the arrival of so
considerable a force in their neighbourhood.  As these Indians can
bring into the field near thirty thousand men, the greatest part of
them horse, their first step would have been the invading the province
of Chili, which they would have found totally unprovided both of
ammunition and weapons; and as its inhabitants are a luxurious and
effeminate race, they would have been incapable, on such an emergency,
of giving any opposition to this rugged enemy: so that it is no
strained conjecture to imagine that the Indians would have been soon
masters of the whole country.  Moreover, the other Indians, on the
frontiers of Peru, being equally disposed with the Arraucos to shake
off the Spanish yoke, it is highly probable that they likewise would
have embraced this favourable occasion, and that a general insurrection
would have taken place through all the Spanish territories of South
America; in which case, the only resource left to the Creolians
(dissatisfied as they were with the Spanish government) would have been
to have made the best terms they could with their Indian neighbours,
and to have withdrawn themselves from the obedience of a master who had
shown so little regard to their security.  This last supposition may
perhaps appear chimerical to those who measure the possibility of all
events by the scanty standard of their own experience; but the temper
of the times, and the strong dislike of the natives to the measures
then pursued by the Spanish court, sufficiently evince at least its
possibility.  However, not to insist on the presumption of a general
revolt, it is sufficient for our purpose to conclude that the Arraucos
would scarcely have failed of taking arms on our appearance: since this
alone would so far have terrified the enemy that they would no longer
have employed their thoughts on the means of opposing us, but {263}
would have turned all their care to the Indian affairs; as they still
remember, with the utmost horror, the sacking of their cities, the
rifling of their convents, the captivity of their wives and daughters,
and the desolation of their country by these resolute savages in the
last war between the two nations.  For it must be observed that the
Chilian Indians have been frequently successful against the Spaniards,
and possess at this time a large tract of country which was formerly
full of Spanish towns and villages, whose inhabitants were all either
destroyed or carried into captivity by the Arraucos and the other
neighbouring Indians, who in a war against the Spaniards never fail to
join their forces.

But even, independent of an Indian revolt, there were two places only,
on all the coast of the South Sea, which could be supposed capable of
resisting our squadron; these were the cities of Panama and Callao: as
to the first of these, its fortifications were so decayed, and it was
so much in want of powder, that the president himself, in an
intercepted letter, acknowledged it was incapable of being defended;
whence I take it for granted it would have given us but little trouble,
especially if we had opened a communication across the isthmus with our
fleet on the other side.  And with regard to the city and port of
Callao, its condition was not much better than that of Panama; since
its walls are built upon the plain ground, without either out-work or
ditch before them, and consist only of very slender feeble masonry,
without any earth behind them; so that a battery of five or six pieces
of cannon, raised anywhere within four or five hundred paces of the
place, would have had a full view of the whole rampart, and would have
opened it in a short time; and the breach hereby formed, as the walls
are so extremely thin, could not have been difficult of ascent; for the
ruins would have been but little higher than the surface of the ground;
and it would have yielded this particular advantage to the assailants,
that the bullets, which grazed upon it, would have driven before them
such shivers of brick and stone as would have prevented the garrison
from forming behind it, supposing that the troops employed in defence
of the place should have so far surpassed the usual limits of Creolian
bravery as to resolve to stand a general assault.  Indeed, such a
resolution cannot be imputed to them; for the garrison and people were
in general dissatisfied with the viceroy's {264} behaviour, and were
never expected to act a vigorous part.  On the contrary, the viceroy
himself greatly apprehended that the commodore would make him a visit
at Lima, the capital of the kingdom of Peru; to prevent which, if
possible, he had ordered twelve gallies to be built at Guaiaquil and
other places, which were intended to oppose the landing of our boats,
and to hinder us from pushing our men on shore.  But this was an
impracticable project of defence, and proceeded on the supposition that
our ships, when we should land our men, would keep at such a distance
that these gallies, by drawing little water, would have been out of the
reach of our guns; whereas the commodore, before he had made such an
attempt, would doubtless have been possessed of several prize ships,
which he would not have hesitated to have run on shore for the
protection of his boats; and besides, there were many places on that
coast, and one particularly in the neighbourhood of Callao, where there
was good anchoring, though a great depth of water, within a cable's
length of the shore; consequently the cannon of the man-of-war would
have swept all the coast to above a mile's distance from the water's
edge, and would have effectually prevented any force from assembling to
oppose the landing and forming of our men.  And this landing-place had
the additional advantage that it was but two leagues distant from Lima;
so that we might have been at that city within four hours after we
should have been first discovered from the shore.  The place I have in
view is about two leagues south of Callao, and just to the northward of
the headland called, in Frezier's draught of that coast, Morro Solar.
Here there is seventy or eighty fathom of water within two cables'
length of the shore; and here the Spaniards themselves were so
apprehensive of our attempting to land, that they had projected to
build a fort close to the water; but as there was no money in the royal
chests, they could not compleat so considerable a work, and therefore
they contented themselves with keeping a guard of a hundred horse
there, that they might be sure to receive early notice of our
appearance on that coast.  Indeed some of them (as we were told),
conceiving our management at sea to be as pusillanimous as their own,
pretended that this was a road where the commodore would never dare to
hazard his ships, for fear that in so great a depth of water their
anchors could not hold them.

{265}

And let it not be imagined that I am proceeding upon groundless and
extravagant presumptions, when I conclude that fifteen hundred or a
thousand of our people, well conducted, should have been an over-match
for any numbers the Spaniards could muster in South America.  Since,
not to mention the experience we had of them at Paita and Petaplan, it
must be remembered that our commodore was extremely solicitous to have
all his men trained to the dexterous use of their fire-arms; whereas
the Spaniards, in this part of the world, were wretched provided with
arms, and were very awkward in the management of the few they had: and
though on their repeated representations the court of Spain had ordered
several thousand firelocks to be put on board Pizarro's squadron, yet
those, it is evident, could not have been in America time enough to
have been employed against us.  Hence then by our arms, and our
readiness in the use of them (not to insist on the timidity and
softness of our enemy), we should in some degree have had the same
advantages which the Spaniards themselves had on the first discovery of
this country against its naked and unarmed inhabitants.

Now let it in the next place be considered what were the events which
we had to fear, or what were the circumstances which could have
prevented us from giving law to all the coast of South America, and
thereby cutting off from Spain the resources which she drew from those
immense provinces.  By sea there was no force capable of opposing us;
for how soon soever we had sailed, Pizarro's squadron could not have
sailed sooner than it did, and therefore could not have avoided the
fate it met with.  As we should have been masters of the ports of
Chili, we could thereby have supplied ourselves with the provisions we
wanted in the greatest plenty; and from Baldivia to the equinoctial we
ran no risque of losing our men by sickness (that being of all climates
the most temperate and healthy), nor of having our ships disabled by
bad weather.  And had we wanted sailors to assist in the navigating of
our squadron whilst a considerable proportion of our men were employed
on shore, we could not have failed of getting whatever numbers we
pleased in the ports we should have taken, and from the prizes which
would have fallen into our hands.  For I must observe that the Indians,
who are the principal mariners in that part of the world, {266} are
extremely docile and dexterous; and though they are not fit to struggle
with the inclemencies of a cold climate, yet in temperate seas they are
most useful and laborious seamen.

Thus then it appears what important revolutions might have been brought
about by our squadron had it departed from England as early as it ought
to have done: and from hence it is easy to conclude what immense
advantages might have thence accrued to the public.  For, as on our
success it would have been impossible that the kingdom of Spain should
have received any treasure from the provinces bordering on the South
Seas, or should even have had any communication with them, it is
certain that the whole attention of that monarchy would have been
immediately employed in endeavouring to regain these inestimable
territories, either by force of arms or compact.  By the first of these
methods it was scarcely possible they could succeed; for it must have
been at least a twelvemonth after our arrival before any ships from
Spain could have got into the South Seas, and when they had been there,
they would have found themselves without resource, since they would
probably have been separated, disabled, and sickly, and would then have
had no port remaining in their possession where they could either
rendezvous or refit.  Whilst we might have been supplied across the
isthmus with whatever necessaries, stores, or even men we wanted; and
might thereby have supported our squadron in as good a plight as when
it first set sail from St. Helens.  In short, it required but little
prudence so to have conducted this business as to have rendered all the
efforts of Spain, seconded by the power of France, ineffectual, and to
have maintained our conquest in defiance of them both.  Whence they
must either have resolved to have left Great Britain mistress of the
wealth of South America (the principal support of all their destructive
projects), or they must have submitted to her terms, and have been
contented to receive these provinces back again, as an equivalent for
such restrictions to their future ambition as she in her prudence
should have dictated to them.  Having thus discussed the prodigious
weight which the operations of our squadron might have added to the
national influence of this kingdom, I shall here end this second book,
referring to the next the passage of the shattered remains of our force
across the Pacific Ocean, and all their subsequent transactions till
the commodore's arrival in England.

{267}

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

THE RUN FROM THE COAST OF MEXICO TO THE LADRONES OR MARIAN ISLANDS

When, on the 6th of May 1642, we left the coast of America, we stood to
the S.W. with a view of meeting the N.E. tradewind, which the accounts
of former writers taught us to expect at seventy or eighty leagues from