This Bond, who instructed the Spaniards in making her, after he left the

Cape de Verd isles, as has already been related, steered for the South

Seas, and in his passage meeting with Captain Eaton, Bond’s pilot,

Richard Morton by name, persuaded him to join with Eaton and to make the

voyage conjointly; but after they had sailed in company two days, Morton

took an opportunity to slip on board Eaton, and persuaded him to drop

Bond, which he did in the night, Morton still continuing on board with

Eaton. Bond being thus deserted, and having no navigator with him who

had ever been in the South Seas, and having been scouted for

mal-practices in the North Seas, had no other resource but that of

betraying his countrymen’s designs to ingratiate himself with the

Spaniards. With this view he steered directly for Porto Bello,

surrendered himself and crew to the Governor, informing him of the

buccaneer’s designs in the South Seas, and offering to remain himself as

surety for the truth of what he said. The Governor, not doubting the

fact, entertained him, and sent him over to the Viceroy of Lima to be

employed by him as he should think fit; and he proved a very useful

instrument in defeating the enterprizes of his old companions.

But to proceed. In the morning when it was light, the ships returned to

their buoys to fish up their anchors; and while they were thus employed,

they were alarmed by a multitude of canoes and periagoes that were in

motion all round the island. They seemed to make directly towards the

ships, and when they came within call, the people on board learnt that

they were a new company of English and French invaders just arrived from

the North Seas to try their fortune along with the old, and were headed

by two captains, one Grenet, the other Lequie; that they consisted of

200 French and the rest English; and that 180 English more were still on

the isthmus, under the command of Captain Townley, and were daily

expected to arrive in order to join the rest. All the Englishmen were

immediately taken on board Captain Davis and Captain Swan; and the

French were accommodated with the flour prizes, of which mention has

already been made, and Captain Grenet, as the eldest officer, was made

choice of to command his countrymen. In a few days, Captain Townley

arrived, having already made himself master of two ships, one laden with

flour, the other with wine, brandy, and oil: the prisoners they took in

these ships declared, that the fleet from Lima was ready to sail. Soon

after the arrival of Capt. Townley, there came a canoe out of the river

of Santa Martha, who said there were 300 men more on the isthmus of

Darien in their way to these seas. On the 15th, they fell in with a bark

with five or six Englishmen in her that belonged to Captain Knight, who

had been six months in the South Seas, and was now upon the coast of

Mexico, where he came in sight of this bark, but not being able to come

up with her in his ship, had sent the men that were found in her in a

canoe to make prize of her; who, having succeeded, had lost company in

the night, and could not recover their ship again. This bark Captain

Swan took under his care, on pretence that the men had run away and left

their commander, and gave her to Captain Harris, who presently manned

her.

The time approached when the Lima fleet was expected, and some letters

were intercepted that contained the instructions to the commanders which

course to steer. In consequence whereof the captains of the buccaneers

held a consultation in what manner to steer in order to intercept them;

but, while they were yet undetermined, word was brought that the Spanish

fleet was advancing, and, as it should seem, to give them battle. This

news was by no means agreeable. Such a motley crew of common plunderers

were but ill suited to stand a regular engagement. However, there was

now no alternative, either they must fight or run away; in which case,

being taken singly, they probably would all be destroyed; but by

fighting some might chance to escape. The Spaniards were 14 in number;

of which the Admiral carried 40 guns and 540 men; the Vice-admiral 40

guns, 400 men; the Rear-admiral 36 guns, 360 men; one ship of 24 guns,

300 men; one of 18 guns, 250 men; and one of eight guns, 200 men; two

fireships; six ships with only small arms, some periagoes and tenders,

having eight hundred men among them all.

The English, who were to engage this formidable squadron, consisted of

ten sail; Captain Davis’s ship of 36 guns, 156 men, mostly English;

Captain Swan, 16 guns, 140 men, all English; these were the only ships

of force; the others being furnished with none but small arms; Captain

Townley had 110 men, all English; Captain Grenet 308 men, all French;

Captain Harris 100 men, most English; Captain Branley 36 men, some

English, some French; Davis’s tender, eight men; Swan’s tender, eight

men; Townley’s bark, eighty men; and a small bark of thirty tons made

into a fireship, with a canoe’s crew in her; in all 960 men. The

English, notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy, resolved to begin

the attack, having the advantage of the weather gage, which gave them

the choice either to fight or run. Accordingly, about three in the

afternoon, they bore down right before the wind on the enemy, who kept

close upon a wind to meet them; but night came on without any thing

material being done on either side.

When it grew dark, the Spanish Admiral put forth a light as a signal for

the fleet to cast anchor, and presently hoisted a light on his top,

which after continuing there an hour was taken down, and in a little

time hoisted again. The English, being still to windward, were not aware

of this stratagem; for the Spaniard, knowing of what consequence it was

to gain the weather gage, hoisted the second light upon the topmast of

one of his barks, and edged away silently himself, followed by his

capital ships, and, as soon as it was day-light, appeared to windward of

the English. This was an unexpected stroke, and left them no other

course to take but to fly.

Captain Townley being hard pressed by the enemy, made a bold push

through a narrow gut that parted the isles, and was followed by several

of the smaller ships, by which they escaped. Captain Harris was chaced

to the westward, and returned no more. And Captain Davis maintained a

running fight all day round the bay of Panama, with the loss only of a

single man. At night the Spaniards gave over the pursuit, and suffered

the English to rendezvous at the same islands from whence they sailed

the day before to begin the attack.

The 30th, the Spaniards, without pursuing their victory, continued their

course to Panama; and the English having lost Captain Harris in the

engagement, as has just now been mentioned, set sail to the keys of

Quibo in search of him, that being the place appointed to rendezvous in

case of being dispersed. Here they cashiered their cowardly French

Captain, who never came into the engagement at all; and, having found

Captain Harris, they held a consultation about their future operations.

All their hopes being now frustrated of effecting any thing considerable

by sea, they turned their thoughts on making their fortunes by land; and

for that purpose their prisoners were all strictly examined, with regard

to the strength and riches of the principal cities along the sea-coast,

and within 20 or 30 miles within land.

On the 5th of July they were joined by Captain Knight, of whom mention

has already been made. He had been cruising more than six months, and

had got nothing except a good ship. He expected to have found the fleet

at King’s Islands enriched with the treasures of the Spanish fleet: but

when he came there, he was informed by the master of a bark-log which he

took, that they were worsted, and had fled to the westward, where he had

now come to join them.

In order more effectually to pursue their inland enterprizes, they set

about providing canoes for navigating the rivers that led to the chief

cities, against which they had formed designs, and on the 20th of July

they sailed from Quibo, bending their course for Ria Lexa, the nearest

port to Leon, the city they determined first to attack. Their whole

force consisted of 640 men in eight ships, commanded by the Captains

Davis, Swan, Townley, and Knight, with a fireship and three tenders.

Being arrived within eight leagues of the shore, they quitted their

ships and embarked to the number of 520 men in 31 canoes; and after a

dangerous passage, in which they met with two dreadful tornados, and in

which the large canoes were very near sinking; they arrived at length at

the creek that leads to Leon, and advancing within five miles of the

city without the loss of a man, they landed to the number of 470,

leaving the remainder under the command of Dampier to guard the canoes.

They marched from the boats in three divisions. Captain Townley with 80

of the briskest men led the van; Captain Swan with 100 men followed

next, to support him; Captain Davis headed the main body, consisting of

170 men, and Captain Knight with the remainder, composed the rear.

Captain Townley, who had advanced more than two miles a head of the

rest, met a party of Spanish horsemen, and defeated them. Encouraged by

this success, his men pushed briskly on, and entered the town, driving

all before them. When they had gained the high-street they were opposed

by the main body of the Spaniards, drawn up on the parade in order of

battle; but, on two or three of their principal Officers being killed,

they were soon dispersed; and Captain Townley had made himself master of

the city before the foremost division that was to support him had

entered the suburbs. About six in the evening the rearguard came

straggling in; many of the men who composed it, being tired and unable

to keep pace with the rest, came dropping in all night; and one old man

was killed next morning by the Spaniards, from whom he refused to accept

of quarter. He fired his piece among them, reserving his pistols to

defend himself when he should come to close engagement; but they

returned his fire, and shot him dead at a distance. He was a stout

grey-headed old man, aged about 84, and had served under Oliver in the

time of the Irish Rebellion; after which, he entered on board a ship,

and sailed to Jamaica, where he had followed buccaneering for many

years. He could not be prevailed on to tarry with the canoes, but said

he would venture as far as the boldest man among them. He was much

regretted, being a cheerful old man, and never dispirited.

The Spaniards likewise picked up another straggler, one Mr. Smith, a

merchant, who had accompanied Capt. Swan with an intent to trade, when

that gentleman took in his cargo at London for the South Seas. This

gentleman was carried before the Governor of Leon, who was encamped at

some distance from the town, and was examined by him concerning the

number of the invaders. Being known to a Mulatto servant that attended

the Governor, he was the more easily credited; when he told him, that

they were 1000 strong in the town, and that 500 were left to guard the

canoes. This information had its effect; for the Governor, who was

assembling the force of the country to fall upon the assailants, sent

next day a flag of truce, with an offer to ransom the city. They

demanded 300,000 pieces of eight, and provisions for 1000 men for four

months. The demand, it is probable, exceeded the Governor’s abilities;

so that he was obliged to suffer the city to be set on fire, because he

could not comply with their exorbitant demands. In the mean time, Mr.

Smith being exchanged for a lady that had fallen into the hands of the

invaders, and a Spanish gentleman released, upon promise of sending them

150 oxen to Ria Lexa, the next town they intended to assault, they left

Leon in flames, and returned to their canoes. It does not appear that

the plunder of Leon answered the expectations of the assailants. Be that

as it may, they prowled down the river, stealing cattle, or any thing

that fell in their way; and, on the 16th of June, reached Ria Lexa, in

the harbour of which the ships were already arrived. The Spaniards, for

their better defence, had thrown up an intrenchment at the mouth of a

narrow creek leading to the town, and had placed 110 soldiers to defend

it; they had besides thrown a boom across the river, to prevent either

ships or boats from advancing up the channel: so that these men might

have maintained their posts against an army of 500 regulars. But when

the English came in sight of the breast-work, they fired but two guns

before the Spaniards run away. They were about half an hour in cutting

the boom; and, the channel being now clear, they entered the town

without farther opposition. Here they found nothing but empty houses,

except such things as the inhabitants could not, or would not carry

away; these were about 500 sacks of flour, some pitch, tar, and cordage,

all which, though things of little value to the Spaniards, were

notwithstanding of great use to them. They therefore conveyed them

aboard the ships; and having here received the 150 beeves (the ransom of

the gentleman released on his parole at Leon), some were employed in

killing and salting, while others made excursions to the neighbouring

farms and sugar-works, from whence they rarely returned empty handed.

They staid here from the 17th to the 24th, “when some of our destructive

crew (to use Dampier’s own words) set fire to the houses, I know not by

whose order, but we marched away, and left them burning.”

The 25th, the Captains Davis and Swan agreed to part company. They had

hitherto been unsuccessful in concert; they therefore determined to try

their fortunes separately. Knight and Harris accompanied Davis; and

Townley with his two barks followed Captain Swan.

In a few days Davis set sail for the coasts of Peru; but Capt. Swan,

after staying to take in wood and water, and to recover his men, pursued

his course to the westward, intending first to examine the country of

Mexico towards the north, and then to steer for the East-Indies, and by

that course to return home. This was a very flattering voyage for

Dampier, who was no less earnest to store his mind with the knowledge of

new countries, than to enlarge his fortune by the riches they contained:

he therefore quitted Davis, and entered on board with Captain Swan.

On the 3d of September they set their prisoners and pilots on shore; the

latter being of no farther use, and the former only an incumbrance. A

malignant fever continued to rage on board, which carried off many of

their men. As the same distemper broke out in the fleet of Captain

Davis, it was concluded that they had taken the infection at Ria Lexa,

where, a few months before their arrival, the inhabitants had been

visited by a kind of plague, which had almost depopulated the town. They

had still, however, about 340 men in tolerable health in four ships.

In their course to the north-westward, they met with most tempestuous

weather, violent tornadoes from the north-east almost every day, with

such flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, as no man on board had

ever heard.

On the 14th they came in sight of the well-known volcano of Guatimala,

which appears at first with a double peak. Between these peaks fire and

smoke with dreadful roarings frequently break forth, and spread the

alarm far and wide; yet the inhabitants of Guatimala continue to reside

near the foot of the mountain, and are not so much intimidated upon

those occasions as those who live at a greater distance. This city is

famous for many rich commodities, the produce of the neighbouring hills

and savannas among which it is situated. It lies about eight leagues

from the South Sea, and by report not above 40 or 50 leagues from the

North, to which it sends annually great quantities of indico, anatta,

silvester, and cochineal. The indico plant grows wild about Guatimala,

and has lately been introduced and cultivated in Georgia and Carolina.

The anatta is a red dye, and is made from the flowers of a shrub which

grows in many of the southern provinces of America. Silvester is the

seeds of a fruit not unlike the prickly pear of England; and cochineal

is a collection of insects bred in fruit of the same shape and size.

Both the trees grow wild about Guatimala; and both the silvester and

cochineal yield the same kind of dye, and are sometimes substituted one

for the other, though the cochineal is generally accounted the most

valuable.

The volcano of Guatimala is seen at 75 miles distance; and the sea, as

they approached it, was full of floating pumice-stones, washed by the

rains from the adjacent hills, and precipitated by the floods into the

main ocean, where, by a constant accumulation, they cover an immense

space. Driftwood they likewise observed in great abundance; and the

trees were large and not much rotted.

When they had reached the latitude of Toguantapeque, in 14 deg. 30 min.

N. Captain Townley, with 106 men in nine canoes, attempted to land; but

found the country defended by huge sandy hills, against which the waves

beat high with incredible fury. The wind being fair, he coasted along

the shore for several days, and the ships continued to follow him with

an easy sail: at length, grown desperate, he rushed upon a sandy beach,

but the canoes overset before they could reach the land. In this attempt

one or two men perished; some had a leg or an arm broke, and others were

very much hurt. However, the majority having made good their landing,

dragged afterwards their boats on shore; but what gave them the greatest

concern was, that all but those who had been provident enough to seal up

their cartouch-boxes, had wetted their powder, and rendered their

fire-arms useless. This gave a damp to their enterprize; yet they

prepared to penetrate the country, and to get sight of the town of which

they were in search: but either there was no such place, or their fears

prevented their discovering it; for all that were alive returned on

board the ships without procuring a meal’s provisions to refresh the

sick.

After this fruitless expedition, they still continued coasting to the

westward, with the wind at east-north-east, till they came to Tangola, a

small island where there was good anchorage; from thence they sailed to

Guatulco, a sea-port in lat. 15 deg. 30 min. N. the best in Mexico. On

one side of the entrance into this harbour there is a small island, and

on the other a hollow rock, through which the billows as they pass

produce a horrible roaring, and, being compressed against the sides, are

forced through a hole at the top, and rise like the waters of an

artificial fountain to an incredible height. In this harbour there is

good anchorage. It is about three miles in depth and one in breadth,

runs in north-west, and on the west side small ships may ride

land-locked secure from wind, or weather. At the bottom of this harbour,

Drake found a fine rivulet of water, near a village, of which hardly any

traces remained, except the ruins of a small chapel enclosed in a fine

grove of trees that gave it a very venerable appearance. Here the sick

on board the ships were brought ashore; and here a project was formed to

traverse the country, and plunder the inland towns; but, after

travelling 14 miles, and seizing two or three Indian guides, they could

only find a little village, where some vanellos were drying, the cods of

which are held in great esteem by the Spaniards. They grow upon vines

that creep like ivy about trees of greater magnitude, and flourish in

the bay of Campeachy, as well as in the country of Guatulco; but the

Indians keep the method of curing them a secret to themselves. The

Indians of this village could speak but little Spanish, appeared to be a

poor harmless people, had neither gold nor silver among them, nor could

they tell where those precious metals were to be obtained. It was

therefore to no purpose to pursue their march through a country, rich,

indeed, in natural productions, but destitute of cultivation, and almost

without inhabitants; they therefore returned to their ships; and, while

the sick were endeavouring to regain their strength, the healthy

employed themselves in providing necessaries to continue the voyage.

On the 8th, four canoes well manned set forwards to the port of Angels,

with orders to wait there till the arrival of the ships. In the mean

time their instructions were to take some prisoners.

On the 12th, the malignity of the distemper with which they had been

long afflicted being abated, and the sick in a fair way of recovery, the

ships set sail in order to follow the boats. The boats, however, had

mistaken the harbour, and two of them, in attempting to land at a place

near which they had observed some cattle feeding, were overset in the

beach, and with difficulty got out again to sea, with the loss of one

man drowned, and some others hurt. They lost likewise four of their

guns, and spoiled their ammunition; and, in a very distressed condition,

the next day met the ships. The other two canoes parted from them in the

night of the 9th, and had not rejoined them since. The harbour of Port

Angels lies in latitude 15 deg. N. and is open to all winds, except

those from the land. The Spaniards had compared it to that of Guatulco;

but there being no similitude, the boats had passed it without knowing

it; and the two that were missing had rowed as far as Acapulco before

they discovered their mistake. When the ships arrived before the

harbour, the missing boats were ready to join them; and there appearing

to be plenty of cattle at no great distance from the shore, 100 men were

landed to supply the ships with beef.

The country round this harbour exhibited a most delightful prospect; the

hills were covered with large and lofty trees, the plains with a most

beautiful verdure, and the savannas interspersed with rills and rivers,

on the banks of which were innumerable little shrubs, the beauty and

variety of whose flowers surpass description. Here they made no doubt of

being furnished with whatever their wants required. In less than four

miles march, the party that were landed met with a grazing seat

belonging to Don Diego de la Rosa, in which they found store of salt,

and a considerable quantity of maize, but no inhabitants, the family

having fled on the first appearance of a descent. They found also

poultry in abundance, and hogs or cabritos without number. Here they

feasted for two or three days, and every man brought away as much as he

could carry; but the ruggedness of the road, and the weakness of the

company, debilitated by sickness, prevented their improving so

favourable an opportunity to the best advantage. They relinquished with

reluctance many good things which they had in possession, more than

sufficient for present enjoyment, but too cumbersome to be conveyed to

the ships for future use.

In the harbour of Port Angels there is good riding in 13, 20, and 30

fathom water. The flood rises about five feet, sets to the north-east;

and the ebb at south-west.

The 27th in the morning they set sail from Port Angels, and in the

evening came to an anchor in 16 fathom water, under a small rocky island

six leagues to the westward of their former station, of which island the

Spanish books give no account. The next day they weighed and continued

their course; and, being a-breast of a small lagune whence the missing

boats had a few days before taken a quantity of fish, they lay to, and

sent in a boat with 12 men to bring off a more ample supply. The

Spaniards, on marking the trim of the ships, suspected their intent;

and, concealing themselves behind a rock at the narrow entrance of the

lagune, discharged a volley of small arms at the boat just as it passed

the place of their ambuscade, by which five of the crew were dangerously

wounded. Alarmed at this sudden attack, and finding it impossible to

retreat, because of the narrowness of the channel, they pushed forwards

into the lagune, where they could lie out of gunshot till the enemy

dispersed, or till they should be relieved by the vigilance and valour

of their own people. In this situation, however, they continued two days

and three nights; till at length Captain Townley, fearing some disaster

had befallen them, manned his canoes, and, beating the Spaniards from

the rocks, opened the sufferers a free passage to the sea. Their joy was

the greater, as the pains of the wounded men began to grow intolerable;

and, had they not then been relieved, they must in another day, nay,

some of them, perhaps, in a few hours, have died in the greatest

agonies. This lagune lies in latitude 16 deg. 40 min. N.

On the 2d of November they passed by a remarkable rock, called by the

Spaniards the Algatross; five or six miles to the westward of which are

seven or eight white cliffs that serve to direct mariners to avoid a

dangerous shoal stretching about a league and a half south-by-west. A

little farther to the westward the Spaniards have erected a breast-work

upon a small island at the mouth of a fair river, which at that time was

defended by 200 men. They manned their boats, and being determined to

land, the Spaniards, after firing 20 or 30 shot, deserted the island,

and left the channel open. They entered on the west side, and found

plenty of salt laid up in cabbins for curing the fish which they catch

in the lagunes, but in what manner Dampier could not conceive, for he

neither saw hook, line, net, boat, or canoe. At the distance of three

leagues from the entrance of the river they came to a house in which was

a Mulatto servant, who informed them, that at Acapulco there was a stout

ship from Lima; and that a little higher up the river, there was maize

and cattle in abundance, to which place he offered to be their guide.

On this intelligence a contention arose between the commanders. Captain

Townley, who was in want of a better ship, proposed to sail immediately

to Acapulco to make himself master of that from Lima; but Captain Swan

was first for procuring provisions to enable them to subsist while they

were pursuing the grand object they had in view, that of intercepting

the Manilla ship which every year comes constantly from the East Indies

richly laden, and arrives nearly at a certain season off the southermost

point of California in her course to Acapulco. As questions of this kind

are always decided by numbers among voluntary adventurers, Captain

Townley’s proposal was not only seconded by his own crew, but also by

the greatest part of Captain Swan’s. They accordingly returned to the

ships with all expedition, and set sail on the 5th, and on the 7th came

in sight of the high land of Acapulco, a port easy to be distinguished

from all others, by means of three hills, the middlemost of which rises

like a sugar loaf, and the westermost of the other two has on its summit

two hillocks which shew in appearance like two paps. When the ships came

to the distance of about 12 leagues they brought to, and Captain Townley

with 140 men embarked on board canoes with a view to seize the Lima ship

by surprize, before his own ships should come in sight.

They had hardly sailed four leagues before there arose so dreadful a

tornado that those on board the ships thought themselves in the utmost

peril of their lives, and everyone concluded that the boats must perish.

Happily, however, they weathered the storm; but were driven in great

distress into Port Marquis, a tolerable harbour about a league to the

eastward of Acapulco. Here they staid to dry their cloaths, and refit

their furniture, and in the night of the following day they rowed softly

into Acapulco harbour; “and, because they would not be heard,” says

Dampier, “they hauled in their oars, and paddled as softly as if they

had been seeking manatee. They paddled close to the castle; then struck

over to the town, and found the ship riding between the breastwork and

the fort, about 100 yards from each. When they had well viewed her, and

considered the danger of the design, they thought it impossible to

accomplish it; therefore they paddled softly back again till they were

out of command of the forts, and then they attempted to land, but were

opposed by a company of Spanish soldiers, who fired at them and kept

them at a distance from the shore till day-light; when, taking a view of

the town and castle, and not liking their appearance, they returned on

board, tired, hungry, and heartily mortified at their disappointment.”

Acapulco lies in 17 deg. N. on the west-side of the continent of

America, famous for its trade to the East Indies, and to Lima; in which

trade three ships are annually employed; two of them are so regulated,

that each has the advantage of the trade-winds that blow between the

Tropics, both in going and returning to their respective ports. The

third is employed in supplying the other two with Spanish goods from

Lima, and in bringing to Lima the Indian merchandize and money brought

from Manilla.

On the 11th, the ships sailed from Acapulco, and continued coasting

along the shore to the westward. Near the sea-side the land is low, but

rises gradually till within land it appears to touch the clouds. Though

the ground is clean and the anchorage good at a mile from land, yet it

is defended by breakers that render the shore inaccessible, except at

the utmost hazard of men’s lives. In their passage, observing a cluster

of little round hills a little to the westward of the promontory of

Petaplan in 17 deg. 20 min N. they examined the coast narrowly, and

discovered a small river, at the entrance of which they landed 170 men,

who, after marching about 14 miles up the country, came to a wretched

Indian village, in which a Mulatto woman and four children were the only

living creatures left. These they brought to the ships; and, by the

intelligence they received from the old woman, they proceeded to the

harbour of Chequetan, from whence she conducted them, through a pathless

wood, to a farm-house, where they found a caravan of sixty mules laden

with flour, chocolate, and cheese; all which, together with some oxen,

they brought down to their canoes. The cargo of the caravan they

instantly conveyed on board the ships; but the oxen, with eighteen cows

which they afterwards seized without opposition, they first killed and

cured, and, having divided the whole into lots, every ship’s crew took

their own share on board.

[Illustration: _Dampier’s Comrades seizing the Oxen & Mules laden with

Flour, Cheese &c. at a Farm House._]

On the 21st they quitted this fortunate harbour, leaving the Mulatto and

her four children to their fate. On the 25th they passed a lofty hill

divided into peaks, in lat. 18 deg. 8 min. N. near which the Spanish

maps place a town called Cupan, which however they could not find; after

a short stay in search of it, they proceeded along the coast, till on

the 28th they came in sight of the volcano of Colima, in lat. 18 deg. 36

min. N. at the foot of which is situated the rich town of Colima, from

whence it takes its name. Of the valley by which this burning mountain

is surrounded, the Spaniards give a most luxuriant description; but our

navigators found it absolutely inaccessible from the sea; for the surf

ran so high, and the breakers appeared so formidable, that the boldest

of them durst not attempt it: they therefore very reluctantly quitted

the neighbourhood, and proceeded in quest of Sallagua, the bay of which

they discovered in lat. 18 deg. 52 min. N. Here they landed 200 of their

best men, who were opposed by a body of Spanish foot, supported by a

party of horse; but, on the first charge, the foot gave way, and the

horse soon followed. In the pursuit the English were led into a broad

road, and followed it, through a woody and rocky country, to the

distance of four or five leagues, without seeing house or inhabitant. In

their way back they met with two straggling Mulattoes, who told them the

road led to the city of Oarrah four days journey off, and the soldiers

whom they had defeated were sent from thence to escort the passengers

from India that were expected to land in Sallagua bay, from on board the

Manilla ship that every year touched upon that coast.

Encouraged by this intelligence, they hastened to embark; and, setting

sail on the 6th of December, steered directly for Cape Corientes, at the

height of which they expected to meet their prize. In this passage,

Dampier, who had hitherto by temperance preserved his health, was seized

with a fever and ague, which at length terminated in a dropsical

disorder that was very near carrying him off, and which carried off many

of the men. The dropsy, Dampier says, is a general disorder on this

coast, and the natives pretend that the stone of the alligator dried and

powdered, and drank in water, is an infallible remedy. The same receipt

he found mentioned in a Mexican almanac; but could find no alligator to

give it a trial.

On the 11th of December they came in sight of Cape Corientes. It is of a

moderate height, flat and even a-top, cloathed with woods, and

projecting into the sea in steep cliffs. It is laid down in the Spanish

maps in latitude 20 deg. 28 min. N. and longitude 230 deg. 56 min. W.

from Teneriff, or in 121 deg. 41 min. W. from the Lizard-point in

England.

They were now four ships in company; Captain Swan and his tender, and

Captain Townley and his tender. These were all properly stationed to

gain intelligence; but, provisions growing short, Captain Townley’s bark

was dispatched with 60 men to traverse the coast to the westward of the

Cape, in search of some town or village where their wants might be

supplied. On the 17th the bark returned, being unable to weather the

cape, or make any useful discovery. She had left, however, four canoes

with 46 men, who determined to double the cape, or perish in the

attempt.

On the 18th, all the ships quitted their stations, and sailed for the

island of Chametley, about 16 or 18 leagues to the eastward of the cape,

to take in wood and water. On these islands live the fishermen, who, as

the Spaniards say, fish for the inhabitants of the city of Purification.

On the 20th, they anchored between the islands and the main in five

fathom water, clear sand. Here they caught plenty of rock-fish, but saw

no inhabitants. On the 21st Captain Townley with about 60 men went to an

Indian village about seven or eight leagues to the westward, to

endeavour to procure provisions; and next day Captain Swan returned to

his station off the cape. On the 24th, the four canoes who had doubled

the cape, returned to the cruisers, and reported, that they had rowed to

the bay of the valley of Valderas, or Val d’ Iris, and had landed in the

garden of the world, where they found fruits of the most delicious

flavour growing wild in the plains, and where the cattle were feeding at

large among the streams of water that flowed meandering in the savannas,

and lost their waters among the finest groves of trees they ever beheld;

but when they marched in pursuit of the beeves that were every where

straying in the vallies, they were suddenly surrounded by a body of

Spaniards, who briskly attacked them, some on foot, and some on

horseback. They made a gallant defence, and suddenly retreated into an

adjoining wood, where they were followed by the Spanish horse. These

were armed each with a case of pistols, and some of them, besides their

pistols, had short guns. The English, being covered by the trees, made

use of their fire-arms with advantage; and, after killing about 17 of

the assailants, and wounding several others, the rest being unsupported

by the foot, fled with precipitation. In this skirmish four English were

shot dead, besides two desperately wounded; and, not daring again to

attempt the valley, they killed a horse, and, having satisfied their

hunger, they returned to their canoes.

On the 25th, being Christmas-day, they cruised close to the cape, and

sent in three of their strikers to kill fish. In the afternoon they

returned with three great jew-fish, which afforded them all a

Christmas-dinner. Captain Townley on the 28th came to his station, and

brought with him 40 bushels of maize, which he had seized at an Indian

village four or five leagues up the country, and which his men were

obliged to carry all that way on their backs.

They cruised till the 1st of January, 1686, off Corientes, and then

steered towards the valley of Valderas, in order to furnish themselves

with beef; and before night they anchored in 60 fathom water a mile from

the shore. The next day they landed, dividing themselves into two

parties; one party posted themselves on the hills to watch the motions

of the Spaniards, while the other party traversed the vallies to kill

the cattle. The Spaniards frequently presented themselves in companies,

but did not dare to come near enough to engage. They continued here till

the 7th, in which time they had killed and salted beef enough for two

months allowance for their whole company, and, had not their salt failed

them they might have stored themselves with much more.

They now gave over all farther expectation of the Manilla ship, it being

the general opinion that she had escaped (as they were afterwards

assured she had) while the ships were employed in seeking provisions.

“So this design failed,” says Dampier, “through Captain Townley’s

eagerness after the Lima ship, which he attempted in Acapulco harbour.

For though,” adds he, “we took a little flour hard by, yet the same

guide who told us of the Lima ship, would have conducted us where we

might have had store of beef and maize; but instead thereof we lost both

our time and the opportunity of providing ourselves, and so were forced

to be victualling when we should have been cruizing, to the total ruin

of the enterprize.”

Being now provided with beef in abundance, and having taken in wood and

water in proportionable quantities, the two commanders, Swan and

Townley, having separate views, though united in this one grand object

of intercepting the Manilla ship, thought proper to part company,

Captain Swan intending to steer westward, and Captain Townley to return

eastward. Hitherto a Moskito chief with three of his men had sailed with

Captain Swan, but being now about to depart never more to return to

their country, he was desirous of recommending them to the care of

Captain Townley, who being bound to the coast of Peru, might there put

them on shore at some convenient place, from whence they might travel

over land to the North Sea. This Captain Townley undertook to perform;

and the ships being now under sail, they saluted each other, and parted.

Our navigator continued to sail with Captain Swan. Before night they

passed Point Pontique, which forms the westernmost point of the bay,

distant from Cape Corientes about twenty leagues. This point is in lat.

20 deg. 50 min. N. a league to the westward of which are two barren

islands, called the islands of Pontique. Beyond these islands the land

trends to the northward, presenting a very rugged unpleasant appearance

as far as the eye can extend the prospect. On the 14th, they came in

sight of a small white rock in lat. 21 deg. 15 min. N. which at a

distance seemed like a ship under sail. From this island the land runs

full more northerly, and the sea tumbles in with such violence upon the

shore, that for many leagues together there is no landing; there is,

however, every where good anchoring as far as the islands of Chametley.

These islands are six in number, and different from those of the same

name on the east of Cape Corientes, being a little within the Tropic of

Cancer, and not above three leagues from the main. On these islands

grows a fruit called the penguin, of which there are two sorts, the

yellow and the red. The yellow grows on a thick stem about a foot high,

the leaves narrow and about half the length of the stem edged with

prickles. The fruit grows out from the top of the stem in two or three

large clusters, 16 or 20 in a cluster. It is round and in size like a

small pullet’s egg; the outer coat is thick and tough, and the pulp in

the inside is full of little black seeds. The red penguin is in shape

like a little nine-pin; grows up on stools from the ground in clusters

of 60 or 70 on a stool, standing upright like the leaves of houseleek,

and are smaller than the yellow: they are surrounded by leaves a foot

and a half long, edged with prickles like the former. They have a sharp

pungent taste, are very wholesome; but those who eat of them

immoderately find them heating. They grow wild, and in the bay of

Campeachy Dampier says they are so plentiful, that one can hardly range

the plains for their prickly leaves.

From these islands Captain Swan embarked 100 men in canoes, and went

himself in search of Coolican, a river in the province of Cullacan, with

a town of considerable trade (probably that marked Pastla in the Spanish

maps) upon its banks, the inhabitants whereof pass in boats to the

island of California and fish for pearls. They coasted along the shore

as far as lat. 24 deg. N. but found no river; and after three or four

days absence returned without making any discovery.

A few leagues to the N.N.W. of Chametley is a narrow entrance into a

lake, called by the Spaniards Rio de Sal, which runs about 12 leagues

easterly, parallel with the shore, forming many low mangrove islands,

and having depth of water every where for boats to row along its banks.

In this lake Captain Swan entered, accompanied by 150 of his men in 12

canoes. In his progress he observed a grazing farm, and landing some of

his men, they found the house deserted, and the cattle driven away. On

proceeding further along the lake, two Indians were seen running at some

distance, whom they took for spies, and having discharged a volley of

small arms, one of them was wounded in the thigh, and not being able to

continue his race, was seized by a party landed for that purpose who

brought him on board. He informed them, that, about four leagues from

the place where they there were, an Indian town was situated in a

savanna, abounding with cattle. The company were scarcely landed to go

in search of this town before they were attacked by a body of Spanish

horse, who not being properly armed, made but a faint opposition, and

suddenly retired. While the English were in pursuit, the enemy played

off a stratagem that greatly annoyed them. We have already mentioned, in

the voyages of Captain Sir Francis Drake, the nature of the grass that

covers the savannas on the isthmus of Darien between the North and the

South Seas. Such was the grass with which the pursuers were surrounded,

when the Spaniards set it on fire, and, being dry as stubble, it burnt

with astonishing fury, and spread with such rapidity, that it was with

the utmost difficulty the whole party escaped being involved in the

flames. This disaster not only made them more cautious, but occasioned a

delay, which gave the Spaniards time to collect their force and to make

a more formidable opposition. When the English arrived the next day at

the village of which they had intelligence, they found it occupied by an

armed garrison, whom it was necessary to overcome before they could

enter; but as the Spaniards were, for the most part, destitute of

fire-arms, and the Indians wholly unexperienced in their use, the

advantage the English derived from that circumstance soon decided the

contest in their favour. The enemy fled after the loss of some of their

leaders, and left the conquerors master of the place, having only one

man killed with an arrow, and their surgeon sorely wounded.

They were told by their prisoners, that, about five leagues from the

town of which they were now in possession, two rich gold mines were

wrought by Indian slaves belonging to the Spaniards of Compostella, the

most considerable Spanish city in that district. It was not now a time

to search for gold, when they were in want of every kind of food, except

the beef they had cured at Valderas. Their chief search was now for

maize, and having plundered the village of all they could find, they

conveyed it to their boats with great labour; and next day quitted the

lake, and returned on board the ships. This lake is laid down in

latitude 23 deg. 30 min. N.

On the 2d of February, Captain Swan made another excursion with 80 men

in search of the river Rosario, at the entrance of which they landed,

and marched to an Indian town of the same name. Here they were told,

that the gold mines were not above two leagues from the town; but, like

the cock in the fable, they rejected the pearl and chose the

barley-corn; about 90 bushels of maize, and the other provisions they

found in the place, though insufficient for the purpose of their

intended voyage, were yet of more value in their present necessity than

all the gold of Compostella.

On the 3d the ships came to an anchor off the river’s mouth of Rosario,

in seven fathom water, oozy ground, in lat. 22 deg. 51 min. N.

On the 7th, the Captain with his company came on board. The quantity of

provisions which he had procured was but trifling for so many men; he

therefore sent the next day a party in search of the river Oleta, but

they returned without having found it. The river St. Jago was next

attempted, and on the 11th they anchored in seven fathom water near the

mouth of it, three leagues E. S. E. of the white rock of Maxentelbo, the

high hill of Zelisco bearing S. E. This is one of the principal rivers

upon the coast, and lies in latitude 22 deg. 15 min. N.

On the 11th, 70 men were sent up the river to make discoveries; they

spent two days in examining the creeks and inlets, and at length came to

a large field of maize which they had begun to gather, when they spied

an Indian who had been sent to watch the corn, whom they seized and

carried on board, in hopes of gaining from him some intelligence, by

which they might obtain a more effectual and speedy supply. He told

them, there was a town called Santa Pecaque, about four leagues from the

place where he was taken, in which there was great store of provisions,

and to which he undertook to be their guide. Captain Swan, overjoyed at

the news, ordered 140 men to be instantly embarked on board the canoes,

and to proceed with the Indian as he should direct. After rowing five

leagues up the river, they came in sight of the town, when they landed

in the night, and next morning set out on their march by land. About 10,

they had advanced within musket-shot; and, having dispatched a party to

reconnoitre, they found the town deserted, and entered it without

opposition.

The town of Santa Pecaque is seated near the side of a wood in a

spacious plain, neatly built, with a square in the middle, on each side

of which the houses are furnished with balconies, from whence the

inhabitants, in general, are spectators of the frequent processions

exhibited by the Spanish priests, in order to convert the Indians, who

are now almost all become christians in the Spanish settlements. The

town, though small, has two churches; and they were told, that about 70

white families constantly resided in it, besides those who occasionally

came there as carriers from the mines, and as merchants from

Compostella. These carriers furnish the adjacent miners with maize,

sugar, salt, and salt-fish, of all which there was great plenty in Santa

Pecaque.

Captain Swan being acquainted by an express with the success of this

expedition, and with the opportunity that now offered to supply his

wants, hastened to the town to give the necessary orders. When he

arrived, he divided his men into two parties; one party he employed in

conveying the provisions to the boats; the other in plundering and

packing up. These he relieved alternately; and when both parties were

wearied out with this laborious service, they caught horses, and, having

laden them with maize, dispatched them under a strong escort down to the

canoes.

On the 17th, when they arrived, they found the men who guarded the

canoes in high spirits, though they had been attacked by the Spaniards,

and had one man desperately wounded. The party that escorted the horses

thought it adviseable, however, to reinforce the canoe-guard, lest the

Spaniards should renew the attack. Next day they returned to the town,

and the party left therein were preparing to convoy more maize to the

canoes; but, before they set out, Captain Swan understood by an Indian

whom they had made prisoner, that 1000 men were in arms in order to

attack them, and that they were already advanced within three leagues of

the place. Upon this intelligence, the Captain advised all his men to

load as much maize as they could altogether bear away, and instantly to

depart in a body. With this advice they absolutely refused to comply,

being determined not to leave Santa Pecaque while a load of provisions

remained within it. It was in vain to endeavour to persuade those whom

he could not punish for disobeying orders; and, therefore, on the 19th,

he suffered 50 of them to depart with as many loaded horses; exhorting

them, however, to march in a body, that they might be the better able to

defend themselves against any sudden surprize. They were equally deaf to

advice and instruction; they pursued their old course, marching in a

line, and every one leading a single horse. The Spaniards had remarked

their manner of marching, and had placed themselves in ambush the

preceding night. They had scarce travelled half a league before they

were suddenly set upon, and every man cut to pieces before they could

assemble to prepare for their defence. Captain Swan, who had heard the

firing, hastened with his party to the place of action; but on his

approach he was struck with horror at the sight of such a number of his

followers weltering in their blood, stript of their arms, and divested

of their charge. The Spaniards, after the slaughter, having possest

themselves of their musquets, &c. seized also the loaded horses, and

instantly fled. Though the party commanded by Captain Swan did not

exceed the number of those already slain, yet they were suffered to pass

unmolested to the canoes, on board of which they embarked, and, with the

provisions they had already secured, returned to the ships. Among the

slain on this occasion was Mr. Ringrose, who wrote that part of the

history of the buccaneers that relates to Captain Sharpe.

The slaughter of this unfortunate party dampt the spirits of the

survivors, and discouraged them from attempting any farther descents

upon this coast. It was therefore determined to steer directly for Cape

St. Lucas on the island of California, where they might lie secure from

the attacks of the Spaniards, till the men were refreshed, and the ships

put in a condition to undertake a new voyage.

The lake of California (for so it is called in the Spanish charts) is

either very little known to the Spaniards, or very carefully concealed.

Though they have mines open already more than they can work, in Mexico,

Chili, and Peru, yet they are very unwilling to allow other European

powers to share the treasures of those countries, though they themselves

cannot exhaust them; nor is it at all likely that any considerable

advantages will ever be made by others, till by some lucky chance a

nearer passage into those seas is discovered. “Were I,” says Dampier,

“to attempt a North-west passage, I would go first to the South Seas,

bend my course from thence along by California, and that way seek a

passage into the Western Seas. If I succeeded in my attempt, I should

then be without that dread which others must have had of passing from a

known to an unknown region; and which, it is not improbable, obliged

them to relinquish the pursuit just as they were on the point of

accomplishing their designs. In like manner,” he adds, “were I to be

employed in search of a North-east passage, I would winter about Japan,

Conca, or the North-east part of China; and taking the spring and summer

before me, I would make my first trial on the coast of Tartary, wherein

if I succeeded I should come into some known part, and have a great deal

of time before me to reach Archangel or some other European harbour.”

On the 21st they set sail, directing their course for California; but,

being opposed by contrary winds, were unable to reach their destined

port, and obliged to put in at the Maria islands, in latitude 21 deg. 40

min. N. distant about 40 leagues from Cape St. Lucas, and 20 from Cape

Corientes. These islands are three in number, and they came to an anchor

at the east end of the middlemost in five fathom water, clear sand;

where, as soon as they moored their ships, they instantly began to unrig

them, in order to careen.

Here Captain Swan proposed to his company to return home by way of the

East Indies, which was highly approved by some, and as violently opposed

by others, who, being ignorant, imagined, as Dampier says, that he would

carry them out of the world. At first coming they lived upon nothing but

seal; but in two or three days their strikers furnished them plentifully

with turtle; and they likewise killed guanicoes, conies, and large

pigeons; so that they consumed none of their ship provisions during

their stay. While the sailors were working upon the ships, the officers

employed themselves in surveying the stores and measuring the maize;

which they divided into three parts, and allotted two parts to the ship,

and one part to the bark, the ship carrying one hundred men, the bark

only fifty.

Here Dampier, who had been long ill of the dropsy, tried a very uncommon

remedy. He stripped himself stark naked, laid himself down upon the hot

sand, and caused the surgeon to cover him all but his head; in this

manner he lay near half an hour; but being unable to endure it any

longer, he was carried to his tent and put to bed. While he was in the

sand he sweat immoderately, and to that operation he ascribes the

recovery of his health.

They staid till the 26th, when their ships being clean, they sailed to

the valley of Valderas, in order to take in fresh water. Here they came

to an anchor at the mouth of the river where they had anchored before;

but, now that the dry season prevailed, they found the water brackish,

and unfit for use. They then weighed, and, coming to a fine fresh-water

brook at the foot of a little round hill about four leagues from Cape

Corientes, they filled on the 29th 32 tons of excellent water, a

quantity sufficient to serve their voyage.

Being provided with every thing they had reason to expect in this

country, they now began seriously to consider of the possibility of

performing their intended voyage. Upon a nice calculation, they found

they had only 60 days provisions on board, at a little more than half a

pint of maize a-day for each man; they had a great many rats on board,

which they could not prevent from consuming a part of the maize; they

had, according to the Spanish account, more than 7000 miles to run from

Cape Corientes to Guam, the nearest land; and, that island being subject

to the Spaniards, they had no certainty of a supply when they came

there. All these discouragements staggered the most forward of them; and

nothing could prevail with the majority but a promise from Captain Swan

to cruise off Manilla, to intercept the register ship, as soon as they

should arrive in the proper station. To this condition Captain Swan was

forced to submit, though much against his inclination; for he had no

mind to commence plunderer at first; and now he was heartily tired of

the trade.

On the 31st of March, 1686, they took their departure from Cape

Corientes, the Cygnet, Captain Swan, with 100 men; and the bark, Captain

Teat, with 50. At first they steered with a small land breeze at

E. N. E. which carried them three or four leagues; then the sea-wind

came on at W. N. W. and changed their course S. W. By six o’clock in the

evening they were nine leagues S. W. from the cape. About 10 the next

morning they had the sea-breeze at N. N. E. so that at noon they were 30

leagues from the cape. It then blew a fresh gale, which carried them

into the true trade-wind. At first they had it at N. N. E. and then

northerly. At 250 leagues from the shore it settled at E. N. E., and

there stood till they came within 40 leagues of Guam.

After the second day of their departure, having fine clear weather, and

a fresh trade-wind, they crouded all the sail they could spread, and had

frequently observations of the sun, moon, and stars; so that they could

calculate their longitudinal distance by way of amusement almost every

day. At their first setting out they steered into the latitude of 13

deg. N. and it is remarkable, that in a run of more than 6700 miles in

this latitude they saw none of those small islands that are so

plentifully interspersed in the same latitude on the opposite side of

the Line; nor did Commodore Anson, who afterwards pursued the same track

from Acapulco, see land till he arrived at the island of Tinian. As they

run at a great rate, and the wind had every appearance of continuing,

after being at sea about 20 days, the men began to grow clamorous to

have their allowance enlarged; with which the Captain was forced to

comply, though he endeavoured to persuade them to patience, and

represented to them the danger of being becalmed, of missing their

intended port, or of being refused a supply when they arrived. But none

of these could prevail. The cry was for an augmentation, and an

augmentation they had. Till the 20th of April their allowance was eight

spoonfuls of boiled maize a man; but after that it was enlarged to ten.

Dampier, who, as has been before noticed, had long been troubled with a

dropsical disorder, gathered strength by this spare regimen; but those

who were in full health it very much weakened. He says, he constantly

drank three times a-day; but there were many on board who did not drink

once in nine or ten days, and some not in twelve; one in particular did

not drink in 17 days, and then said he was not a-dry, though he made

water every day. Amidst these hardships one poor fellow was found guilty

of theft, and sentenced to receive three stripes with a two-inch rope on

his bare back from every man in the ship. Captain Swan, Dampier says,

began first, and struck with a hearty good will, and his example was

followed by all the rest; a punishment that must make every feeling mind

shudder.

Though by the Spanish account the distance from Cape Corientes to Guam

is said to be 2400 leagues, or 7200 English miles, yet Captain Swan had

persuaded his men, that, by the English account the distance was only

1900 leagues; and that, as Drake and Cavendish had run it in less than

50 days each, they with better built ships might run it even in less

than either of them: when, therefore, they had run the 1900 leagues, and

the 50 days were nearly expired, they began to grow very mutinous and

those who had declared against the voyage from the beginning, exclaimed

bitterly against the Captain, and against all those who had persuaded

them to undertake it. They had, during this long run of 6000 miles, seen

neither fish, fowl, bird, or insect, except once when, at the distance

of 4975 miles from Cape Corientes, they spied some ruabies, which they

apprehended had come from islands or cliffs at no great distance, though

they never came in sight of any. The Captain in the midst of these

tumults gave them fair words; told them, that it was probable, the

Spanish accounts might be the best, and encouraged them by giving them

hopes, that, as the breeze continued, a few days patience would put an

end to their troubles. On the 18th of May they met with some rain, and

the clouds settling in the west foretold their near approach to land. On

the 20th, the bark being near three leagues a-head, ran over a rocky

shoal, on which there was only four fathom water. On the shoal they

observed abundance of fish swimming every where about; and Captain Teat

imagining that land was near, clapt upon a wind with the bark’s head to

the north, and lay by to speak with the ship. When the ship came up,

Captain Teat went on board, and related what he had seen; on which,

being then in lat. 12 deg. 55 min. N. and Guam being laid down in 13

deg. N. they clapt on a wind, and steered to the northward, very

doubtful, however, of being right, as no shoals near Guam are noticed in

the Spanish charts. They pursued this course, however, till four in the

afternoon; when, to their unspeakable joy, they saw the island of Guam

at eight leagues distance. “And happy it was, says Dampier, that we got

sight of it before our provisions were gone, of which we had but enough

for three days more; for, as I was afterwards informed, the crew had

combined first to kill Captain Swan, and eat him, when the victuals were

gone; and, after him, all of us who were accessary in promoting the

voyage.”

Nothing can exhibit a more striking indication of the ferocity of man’s

nature, than the resolution formed by this abandoned crew. After a long

series of enormities, robberies, murders, burning of houses and towns,

exposing their fellow-creatures to want of food and shelter, and

spreading terror and devastation wherever they set their feet, they at

length, distressed and half-famished themselves, begin to murmur against

their leaders, and the greater number combine to murder the lesser

number, and to make food of their flesh. Need we, after reading this,

have recourse to those we call barbarous nations for instances of the

savage nature of man! The most uncultivated of those eat only the flesh

of enemies killed in war; but these wretches, who called themselves

christians, exceeded in their intention every horrid example we read of;

they conspired to kill and eat their own Chiefs!

On the 21st of May they came to an anchor about the middle of the island

of Guam on the west side. This is one of the Ladrone islands. Dampier

places it in 13 deg. 21 min. N. and computes the meridian distance of

Guam from Cape Corientes to be about 7302 miles; and supposes the South

Sea to be of greater breadth by 25 degrees than is commonly allowed by

hydrographers. It is about twelve leagues in length and four in breadth;

on it the Spaniards have a small fort of six guns, garrisoned by 20 or

30 soldiers, and commanded by a Governor, and one or two subordinate

Officers. The climate is healthy, and the natives active, docile, and

ingenious, and are the best boat-builders throughout the Indian seas.

Dampier believes their boats sail the best of any in the world. He tried

one of them by the log; and, by the rate she ran in half a minute,

computes her course at 24 miles within the hour. These Indians are no

less dexterous in navigating than in building their boats. By report

they will pass to other islands at 30 leagues distance, do business, and

return again in 12 hours.

They had no sooner cast anchor than a Spanish friar came on board, with

three Indians: Captain Swan received the priest with great civility told

him they came with no hostile intention, but as friends to purchase with

their money provisions to continue their voyage. The priest replied,

that provisions were now scarce upon the island, but would engage the

Governor to do his utmost to supply their wants. They thought proper,

however, to detain the padre till his promise was fulfilled.

Next day a messenger was sent with letters and a present to the

Governor, and in the mean time two boats were manned, one to fish, and

another to purchase cocoa-nuts; the former returned empty, but the

latter came back laden. The Governor, on the receipt of the letters and

present, in token of friendship complimented the Captain with six hogs,

12 musk-melons, and as many water melons; and at the same time sent an

order to the Indians in the nearest town to bake every day as much

bread-fruit as the ships should require, and to assist the mariners in

gathering cocoa-nuts and other fruits; with which order the Indians very

readily complied. During this friendly intercourse the Manilla ship came

in sight; but, being first seen from the fort, the Governor found means

to apprize her of her danger, and she stood off, and escaped without

being discerned by the ships. But in steering to the southward to avoid

them, she was very near sharing a worse fate; for she struck upon the

shoal already mentioned, and, after three days incessant labour, floated

off with the loss of her rudder. During her distress the men got

intelligence of her situation; but Captain Swan, who had determined no

longer to follow the infamous employment of plundering, found means to

divert them from their purpose of attacking her.

On the 30th of May the Governor sent his last present to Captain Swan,

consisting of some hogs, a jar of pickled mangoes, a jar of excellent

pickled fish, a jar of rusk or bread made of fine flour, and six or

seven packs of rice. In return, at his own request, he was furnished

with powder and shot of which he was in want; but what he coveted most

was a fine English dog which they had on board, with which he was

likewise gratified. The friar’s civility was rewarded with a brass

clock, an astrolabe, and a large telescope; in return for which he sent

the Captain six hogs, some bushels of potatoes, a roasting pig, and half

a hundred weight of fine Manilla tobacco. The ships were plentifully

supplied, besides, with every thing the island afforded; cocoa-nuts and

bread-fruit as many as the ships could stow, and upwards of 50 hogs in

pickle. Captain Swan was desirous of the Governor’s letter to the

merchants of Manilla, having a private view to trade, which he concealed

from his villainous crew.

On the 2d of June, they departed from Guam, directing their course to

Mindanao, one of the Philippines; a range of islands extending in length

from the 5th to the 19th degree of North latitude, and occupying in

breadth about six degrees of longitude. The principal island in this

range is Luconia on the north, where Magellan, in his voyage round the

world, was slain with a poisoned arrow, and where the Spaniards made

their first settlement, and established at Manilla a mart of traffic

with the richest kingdoms of the east.

On the south, Mindanao is the principal island. It is in length about 60

leagues, and in breadth fifty. It is diversified with hills and vallies.

The hills abound with gold, and the vallies are covered with perpetual

verdure. It is finely watered with rivers and springs; and the plains

and lawns are interspersed with groves of lofty trees, some of which are

formed for shade, and some afford food for the inhabitants.

Of the pith of one they make their bread, and of the sap of others they

make a pleasant drink. The marshy grounds abound with rice, and on the

dry hilly land they cultivate yams, potatoes, melons, and a variety of

vegetables unknown to Europeans. Their chief fruits are plantains,

bonanoes, nutmegs, cloves, beetel-nuts, durians, jaccas, cocoa-nuts,

bread-fruit, and oranges.

The plantain Dampier calls the king of fruit, and prefers it to every

other. The tree that bears it is between three and four feet in

circumference, and rises about ten or twelve feet high. When at its

height, there springs from the top a stem about the size of a man’s arm,

round which the fruit grows in clusters, in shape not unlike the Turkey

cucumber, the coat of which is of a yellow colour when ripe. The

inclosed fruit is of a delicate flavour, and melts in the mouth like

mamalet. It is highly esteemed by all Europeans, and all their

settlements are furnished with plantain walks, some families subsisting

wholly upon that fruit.

The bonanoe differs but little from the plantain, except in size, being

small and less luscious.

The nutmeg and clove trees are rare in this island, but those that grow

are large and fine. The natives discourage their growth for fear of

exciting the jealousy of the Dutch, who have monopolized the whole trade

for spices, and who keep in pay a company of armed soldiers to cut down

the spice-trees in the uninhabited islands, lest other European nations

should avail themselves of their plenty. Dampier says, that he has been

assured that, in some of the eastern islands, it is usual to see, at the

shedding time, cloves three or four inches deep under the trees.

Of the beetel-nut all the Eastern people are immoderately fond. It is

the fruit of a tree that grows like the cabbage-tree to the height of

ten or twelve feet, without either leaf or branch, and then sends forth

shoots on every side, among which the fruit is found in clusters, on

tough stalks about the bigness of a man’s finger. It is larger than a

nutmeg, and rounder; they cut it, when green, in quarters, wrapping each

quarter up in an arek-leaf, and chewing both together. It tastes rough,

dyes the lips red, and makes the teeth black.

The durian grows on trees like apple-trees, and are in size as large as

pumpkins, covered with a thick rind, which, when ripe, opens and sends

forth a strong scent, not unlike that of roasted onions. It divides into

chives, each about the size of a pullet’s egg, the inside of which is of

the consistence of cream, and must be eaten in its prime, or there is no

enduring its rankness.

The jacca differs very little from the durian; only the inside of the

former is yellow, and that of the latter white.

The island of Mindanao abounds likewise with animals of various kinds;

and, according to Dampier, is one of the most plentiful islands in the

world; and, though so near the Equator, being in 7 deg. N. the air is

temperate, enjoying gentle sea breezes in the day, and cooling

land-winds in the night.

Though they arrived on this coast about the middle of June, yet it was

the middle of July before they could come to an anchor. They were

ignorant of the situation of the chief town; and, arriving first on the

opposite side, had been all that time plying about the island in search

of it. At length they cast anchor near the river that bears the name of

the island, and leads to the chief city. They fired seven guns, and were

answered from the shore by three. They were presently after invited by a

Raja and one of the Emperor’s sons, who demanded in Spanish, who they

were, and from whence they came? They were answered by Mr. Smith (the

gentleman made prisoner at Leon), that they were English, and had been

long from their country. They were told, they were welcome; and asked if

they were come to settle a factory, and to open trade? They said, they

came only to purchase provisions. At which the Mindaneians appeared

disconcerted. Captain Swan was some time at a loss to account for this

circumstance; but he afterwards understood, that a Captain Goodluck had

been there some time before, with some proposals from the East-India

Company; and that, when he went away, he had given them some reason

shortly to expect an Ambassador from England, to complete the treaty.

The Raja and Prince sat in their canoes; and, after half an hour’s

conversation, took their leave, having invited Captain Swan ashore, and

promised to assist him in procuring provisions.

There are three small islands called Meangis, within 20 leagues of

Mindanao, that abound with gold and cloves; and, while Captain Swan was

beating along the coast, in his passage from Guam to the river where the

ships now were at anchor, they were observed by the Princes of that

country, and known to be English. The Prince of those islands, having

heard a good report of the English, and fearing a visit from the Dutch,

sent secretly his nephew to Captain Swan, to invite him and his company

to come and settle in his territories, offering every advantage in point

of trade and security that he should require. Nothing could have been

more advantageous, both to the nation and the settlers than this offer;

but Captain Swan paid no regard to it.

As the season was now approaching when the westerly monsoon was about to

set in, which would necessarily oblige the ships to stay a considerable

time in the port of Mindanao, Captain Swan judged it his interest to

cultivate a good understanding with the reigning Sultan. With this view

he caused a magnificent present to be prepared for the Sovereign,

consisting of scarlet-cloth, gold lace, a Turkish scymetar enriched with

jewels, and a case of pistols, together with presents of less value to

his chief Ministers; and, being in readiness, he sent them on shore by

Mr. More, who sailed with him from London as chief supercargo, when his

design was to trade in the South Seas. These presents were graciously

received. The Sultan made Mr. More sit down by him, and asked him many

questions concerning England, by means of a Spanish interpreter; and,

after an hour’s conversation, dismissed him with marks of the highest

esteem. Next day Captain Swan was invited on shore, and admitted to an

audience in form; when the Sultan shewed him letters from the East-India

Company, and desired to know if he came to settle in consequence of

those letters? He talked with him much concerning the produce of his

country, and the nature of carrying on commerce; and seemed highly

entertained with the accounts he gave of it, and of the countries

through which he had passed, and the novelties he had seen. He was three

hours in close conversation; and, when he was dismissed, was entertained

by Raja Laut, the King’s uncle, with a sumptuous banquet, after their

manner, consisting of boiled rice, fish, and fowls.

[Illustration: _Captain Swan Entertaind by the Raja Lout; Uncle to the

King of Mandanao._]

On this occasion, Captain Swan was given to understand, that, while Mr.

Goodluck resided in that city, he had been robbed by a servant belonging

to Raja Laut, and that the fellow absconded till Mr. Goodluck took his

leave; but that he was now returned, and was ready to be delivered up to

be punished, in such manner and with such severity as crimes of the like

nature are punished by the laws of England. But Captain Swan told him,

that in his country none but the injured party could prosecute the

criminal; and, as the man had committed no offence against him, he could

take no cognisance of his crime. The Raja heard him with astonishment;

and, to shew that the Princes of Mindanao were far from countenancing

such practices, he caused the fellow to be stript naked, tied to a post,

and exposed a whole day with his face to the burning sun; while at the

same time the Moskitos continually tormented him without a possibility

of being able to brush them off; a kind of torture that few have

hardiness enough to survive. This condescension, in offering to deliver

up the criminal to be punished by the Captain, was followed by a like

offer from the Captain, with respect to any of his men who should offend

against the laws of the Mindaneians; but the Minister returned the

compliment, and left the punishment to the Captain himself, who, upon

the least complaint, punished his men with a severity that shewed more

of revenge than of justice, and which they afterwards look occasion to

resent. Among those who felt the effects of his indignation was Captain

Teat, his chief mate, who commanded the bark that accompanied him in his

run across the Southern Ocean; and others, who had offended him on

board, he remembered, now he had the countenance of the court on shore.

Captain Swan was highly caressed by the Chiefs of Mindanao, and pressed

to stay and secure his ships from the approaching tempests, which always

attend the change of the monsoons; and, as the river before the rainy

season generally runs low, finding it difficult to float his ship over

the bar, fifty or sixty Mindaneian fishermen were immediately sent with

their canoes, to assist him in lightening his ship, and floating her up

the river. She was no sooner moored than a free intercourse with the

natives commenced. They expressed their regard for the English by signs

that were easily understood. When the Dutch were mentioned to them, they

would spread their fore-fingers half a foot apart, saying _Bujeto_, they

are so far distant in friendship: when speaking of the Spaniards, they

would spread their fingers still wider; but when the English were spoken

of, they would bring their fingers quite close, saying _Samo_, we are

all one. They were very fond of getting the men to their houses, where

they kindly entertained them, after their manner, with tobacco, and

beetel-nut; and where those who had money, and were decently dressed,

were pressed to connections with the best families, and courted by the

young females to the most familiar intimacy. To men who have long been

at sea, such inducements are irresistible; and many of them made

themselves poor by being too easily drawn in by these allurements to

spend their money lavishly. Some who accompanied Harris from the North

Seas had gold in abundance; and the Mindaneian misses, when they knew

their power, very soon found the way to ease them of it. In Mindanao

they had goldsmiths and other artificers, who charged double their value

for such baubles as these prodigals were for ever bespeaking to present

to their favourites; besides, some of them bought houses, and hired

servants, and lived as profusely as the Raja himself, imitating the

custom of the country, and having a pagelly or principal companion, and

half a dozen mistresses. It was not long before the town’s-people

discovered the true humour of English sailors, and they likewise took

care to make their advantage of it. As they had no other but gold in

lumps, when they wanted change, they gave them at the rate of 11 or 12

dollars an ounce. To others the same gold was exchanged for 18 dollars.

The price of provisions and common necessaries was in like manner

enhanced by those spendthrifts; and thus, says Dampier, the poor were

made to suffer by the folly of the rich, and a foundation was laid for

imposing upon all Englishmen who should hereafter have occasion to take

up their residence in that port.

Captain Swan himself was seldom seen at any other house but Raja Laut’s

or the royal palace. At the latter he made frequent visits, and at the

former dined every day, attended by such of his men as had no money to

spend, who had rice in plenty provided for them, and sometimes the

remains of fowls or pieces of buffalo, drest in a course, and served in

a hoggish manner. The Mindaneians use neither knives nor forks in

eating, and they cram their mouths with lumps as large as they can take

in, those being accounted the genteelest who can open their mouths the

widest.

The religion of Mindanao is the Mahometan, and when the ships first cast

anchor, it was their _Ramadam_, which answers to our Lent, when all

sports and pastimes are suspended; on this account the Raja made an

apology for not entertaining the Captain with the usual diversions of

the country. The wet season too came on, which caused a general

suspension of all out-door business.

During the month of August the weather became tempestuous, and the rains

excessive. The river swelled and overflowed its banks; and it was with

the utmost difficulty the ships were prevented from driving on the main

land, or into the open sea; for trees of vast magnitude came floating

down with the torrent, and frequently pressed against their bows with

such weight, that they were in continual fear lest their cables should

give way. During the time of these inundations the city stands, as it

were, in a pond, and there is no communication between house and house

till the floods abate. It was probably this circumstance that suggested

to them the manner of constructing their houses. They are all built upon

posts from 12 to 20 feet high. These posts are larger or smaller

according to the height or magnitude of the superstructure. The Sultan’s

palace has but one floor, on which, however, there are many rooms, to

which they ascend by stairs from the street. It stands upon 180 posts,

and is twenty feet above the level of the ground. The ordinary houses

are also of one floor, and ascended by ladders. The roofs are all

covered with palmeto leaves. The area beneath their houses is usually

fenced in, and there the poorer sort keep their poultry; and there also

is received the common draught of their sculleries; and, were it not for

the frequent inundations that carry off the soil, the nastiness of the

meaner people would render living in Mindanao impossible: but every

crevice is scoured clean by the violence of the currents, which

frequently overset the houses; though the posts on which they stand are

sunk deep in the ground.

The inhabitants of Mindanao are, like all the Eastern people, very clean

in their persons; they constantly bathe every day once, and sometimes

oftener; they wash after every meal: and, if they happen to touch by

accident any unclean thing, they have their times of purification

allotted, before the expiration of which they are not permitted to leave

their chambers. Swine are held with them in abomination, and though they

run wild in the woods, yet they are never eaten. The chief food of the

people is rice, sago, plantains, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and other

nutritious fruits; among the better sort, fowls and beef are used rather

by way of relish, than as solid subsistance; for they are boiled to rags

in their strange messes.

The Mindaneians are of low stature, small limbs, straight bodies, little

heads, and are of a brown copper-colour. The women are fairer than the

men, and their hair is black and long, and generally well dressed. Their

visage too is rounder, and better featured than that of the men; only

their noses are small, and so flat between their eyes that the rising is

scarce discernible. At a distance they look tolerable, but on a nearer

approach these imperfections are rather disgusting. Their dress consists

of a petticoat and a loose jacket. The sleeves of the jacket are long

and wide at the shoulders, but sloping down to their wrists, where they

are so tight that it is with difficulty they get their hands through in

putting them on. They then rise in folds about the arm, and in that lies

their pride. The better sort of people wear fine callico or silks; the

meaner sort, an ordinary cloth made of the plantain-tree, which they

call saggen. The women, in general, (as has been noted) love the company

of strangers, especially of white men; and Dampier adds, that the men

belonging to the ships could scarce walk the streets without being

pulled into their houses.

The chief artists among them are goldsmiths, ship-builders, carpenters,

and smiths; all of whom are excellent in their way, allowing for the

badness of their tools. Dampier gives a description of their smith’s

bellows, which is simple and ingenious. It is composed of two hollow

cylinders, like the large wooden pipes used by us for the conveyance of

water; they are cut flat at both ends, in length about four feet, and

placed upright at the distance of two feet from each other upon a stone

hearth before the fire. Within two inches of the bottom of each a pipe

is placed, projecting like a cock towards the fire, but bending so as

that the pipes from both cylinders meet and terminate in one before they

reach it. Thus constructed, and fixed firm, a man with two light brushes

made of feathers, which he works alternately like two pistons, keeps up

a continual blast; and with this simple contrivance, without either vice

or anvil, other than a large stone or the butt-end of an old cannon,

they fabricate their work to admiration. Their carpenters have neither

saws nor planes, and yet they split and smooth their boards with great

neatness. This requires time, but their work is the more durable for it,

because the grain being unbroken the timber remains the tougher.

In Mindanao there is only one mosque, or place of worship, and that but

little frequented by the meaner people. In this mosque they have a

contrivance for striking the time. A drum of vast dimensions, shaped in

form of a bell, is placed over a large hollow cavity, the head of which

drum is covered with brass, and called a gong. A certain number of men

are appointed to attend this gong, who relieve each other alternately

night and day, and with a stick as large as a man’s arm, with a ball at

the end of it, at certain intervals, they strike the gong, the sound of

which is heard from one extremity of the town to the other, and supplies

the place of a clock.

The Mindaneians use circumcision, and that operation is performed with

great ceremony. The usual time among the common people is about the age

of twelve; but the Princes of the blood are circumcised, like the Jews,

at the end of eight days. On this occasion, the warriors all appear in

arms, and, like Europeans at a review, make a sham-fight, for the

diversion of the spectators, in which both the Sultan and his General

are principal performers.

When the waters were subsided, and the Ramadam over, Raja Laut, the

Sultan’s brother, and General of his forces, to entertain Captain Swan,

assembled the dancers, who are women bred from their infancy, like those

in Europe, to that art. On this occasion, more than 50 of them were

assembled, who, being ranged in a ring, danced to their own music. In

these dances their feet and legs are but little employed. Having no

other than vocal music, they sing at first solo parts in slow time; but

their chorusses are brisk; and then their hands, arms, heads, and

bodies, are all employed in such contortions, that one would think they

were made without bones.

Dancing and processions were the favourite diversions among the Chiefs

of this island; and, Captain Swan, in conformity to the prevailing

taste, resolving to give an English entertainment, ordered his music

ashore, and such of his men as could dance were likewise ordered to

attend. Accordingly, having hired a convenient house, he invited the

Sultan, and Chiefs of the place, with their women, to be spectators of

the splendor of the European dances. He had caused the house to be hung

round with the richest silks, of which he had store on board and

decorated it with gold and silver-lace, which, when illuminated with a

profusion of wax-candles, made a most brilliant appearance. When the

company assembled, they were struck with amazement, and thought all they

beheld was the effect of enchantment. Among the dancers, there was one

Jack Thacker, a common sailor, who at the music-houses at Wapping had

learned to dance a horn-pipe. This man attracted the notice of the

Mindaneians more than all the rest, because more in the antic manner to

which they were accustomed. Him, therefore, they fixed their eyes upon,

and considered as a man of consequence. When they had spent the best

part of the night in feasting their eyes and their appetites (for

Captain Swan had ordered his cook to prepare a cold collation of

sweet-meats, and other savoury dishes), they were still unwilling to

retire; and it was almost day-break before the Sultan retired, and, very

unwillingly, was accompanied by his female train. Raja Laut and his

women staid longer; and, it is said, notwithstanding his devotion to his

prophet, drank plentifully of wine.

Nothing was talked of so much among the Mindaneians, during the stay of

the ships, as the comic English dancer, of whom Raja Laut was willing to

know the history; and, having enquired, was told by one of his

companions, that he was an English nobleman who travelled for his

diversion, and that all those who wore fine cloaths were gentlemen of

inferior quality, who left their own country out of curiosity to see the

countries abroad.

This harmless imposition, being told by the General to Captain Swan, who

was of a morose unsociable disposition, cost the poor fellow a hearty

drubbing, though he was wholly ignorant of what had been told. He was

first stript of his fine cloaths, in the presence of the Raja, by his

Captain’s orders, and then stript of his nobility by flogging his back.

It was not long, however, before the man was revenged.

About the middle of November they began to prepare for their departure,

and for that purpose their first business was to examine the ships

bottoms, the sheathing of which they found eaten by the worm like a

honey-comb; and the bottom of the bark not being sheathed, was eaten to

the timbers, and the vessel thereby rendered unserviceable: application

was therefore made to the Raja for planks to new sheathe the ship. The

Raja’s sincerity was never suspected, till this incident gave reason for

jealousy. When he came down to the river, and saw the carpenters ripping

off the sheathing, he shook his head, and seemed much disconcerted,

declaring he had never before seen a ship with two bottoms. His hope

was, that the ship, like the bark, would have been eaten through, and

that he should have had all her guns. A like accident had formerly

entitled him to a like advantage, when a Dutch ship, by anchoring in the

same river during the westerly monsoon, was entirely disabled, and never

again put to sea. He was sensible enough of the mischief that would

infallibly ensue to the ships by lying so long among those destructive

vermin; for, whenever the natives disuse their vessels, they haul them

up on the dry beach, burn their bottoms, and there let them lie, till

they want again to use them.

While some were employed in ripping off the old worm-eaten planks,

others were busy in preparing new and, by the beginning of December, the

sheathing was repaired and tallowed. The latter part of the month was

taken up in putting the ballast, stores, and guns aboard: this was a

work of the greater labour, as it was first necessary to carry the ship

out to sea before it was undertaken. About the beginning of January they

began to fill water, and to take in rice; and application was made to

Raja Laut to furnish buffaloes, as he had all along promised to do. He

now began to form excuses, and pretended to take men out every day

a-hunting (for those creatures always run wild); but always came home

empty, and pleaded ill success. The Captain too began to act very

mysteriously. By the help of the government on shore, he had got the

absolute ascendancy over his men, and was as implicitly obeyed as if he

had been Captain of a king’s ship. When he was importuned to declare

when he intended to sail, he chose to be silent; and when the men wanted

to know upon what enterprize they were next to be employed, he

reproached them with their eagerness for piracy. He had sold Raja Laut

some tons of iron and lead, and was to have had in return rice and beef;

as to the first, the Raja had failed in furnishing the stipulated

quantity, and the latter he had hitherto in no shape fulfilled. The Raja

had besides borrowed of him 20 ounces of gold; and, when he required

payment, the Raja demanded a much larger sum for his own board, and the

board of his men. This treatment, and these disappointments, served to

discompose a mind naturally sour, and to put him out of humour with

every body about him.

All this while the westerly monsoon was wasting that was to carry them

on to India. The men began again to murmur, and grow unruly: some, weary

of rambling about, and who had formed connections with the natives, were

for staying at Mindanao: some, who had husbanded their money, of whom

indeed there were but few, were eager to get home; and others, who were

poor (by far the majority), were for continuing their ravages, and were

impatient to be in action.

While matters were in this situation, strong representations were made

to the Captain to come on board, and to declare himself; and, after many

delays, a day was at length fixed for a determination.

In the mean time, those who were bent on returning home, foreseeing that

continued extravagancies would necessarily create new wants, and that

new wants would require new means of supply, took occasion secretly to

purchase a canoe, and formed a design to depart in the night for Borneo,

where, by a letter just received from thence by a Mindaneian vessel,

they hoped to meet with an English factory, and from thence find a

passage home; but Captain Swan getting intelligence of their design,

seized their canoe, and threatened to punish for deserters all those

concerned in the plot.

Another party about the same time, hearing that the ship was about to

sail, retired into the country, to conceal themselves till after her

departure.

The party on board, who had nothing but the ship’s allowance to subsist

on, became unruly, and sent ashore to the merchants iron to sell for

arrack and honey, with which they made themselves drunk, and grew

quarrelsome. All these disorders, Dampier says, might easily have been

redressed, had Captain Swan exerted his authority in time, and

established proper discipline on board the ship; but he living with his

merchants constantly on shore, and leaving every one to do as he pleased

on board, they encouraged one another in their villainies, and at length

grew mutinous.

When these things were come to extremity, he gave orders that the whole

crew should attend him on board the ship, on the 13th of January [1687];

but, unluckily for him, two days before this meeting was to take place,

Captain Swan sent his gunner to fetch something he had occasion for out

of the locker of his cabin. This man, in rummaging for what he wanted,

among other things happened to take out the Captain’s journal, which,

being laid carelesly by, was taken up by one John Read, (an ingenious

young man, who likewise kept a journal) out of mere curiosity to peep in

it, to see how nearly his and the other agreed.

At the first opening of the book he cast his eye on a part in which the

Captain had made a memorandum of the mutinous behaviour of his men in

their passage from Cape Corientes to Guam, and had particularly noted

that of one John Read, a Jamaica-man, a namesake of the Read who took

the journal, but no relation. This naturally excited his curiosity to

look farther, and he found means, while the gunner was busy, to convey

the journal away to examine it at his leisure. As soon as the gunner was

gone ashore, John Read, the artist, shewed the book to John Read, the

Jamaica-man, and both of them held a consultation with their comrades on

the contents. These men, who were before ripe for mischief, now grew

outrageous, and it was unanimously agreed to consult Captain Teat, who,

as has been before noted, had received unworthy treatment from Captain

Swan on shore, which, they knew, he only wanted an opportunity to

resent. Teat left nothing unsaid to aggravate the failings of his

superior, and to incense the company against him. He represented him as

proud, ignorant, avaricious, cruel, and vindictive, and withal cowardly

and unfit to command upon any bold and manly enterprize; called to their

minds the opposition he made to the attacking the Manilla ship off Guam,

by the conquest of which they would all have been enriched; and which,

he said, Swan did not oppose out of a principle of honesty or gratitude,

but from the fear of engaging a ship so much superior to his own in

weight of metal and in numbers, though he, Teat, would have pawned his

head to have been master of her in a few hours close attack. Men whose

expectations have been raised to an unreasonable pitch, give easy credit

to unfavourable suggestions against the authors of their disappointment.

The crew took fire, and instantly bound themselves by an oath to deprive

Captain Swan of the command, without naming any officer to substitute in

his room; nay, so precipitate was their resolution, that the majority

were for setting sail immediately, and leaving all that were on shore

behind: and this hasty resolve would certainly have taken place, had

either of the surgeons been on board; but, as their cry was for war, it

was judged too desperate to go to sea without one skilful person on

board to assist the wounded.

As all this passed in the night, it was agreed to stay till morning, and

then to send a trusty messenger on shore, speedily to request the

surgeons to come to the assistance of a man who had broken his leg. The

chief surgeon said he should see the man the next day, and in the mean

time sent his mate, Mr. Herman Coppinger, to his immediate relief. This

man, a few days before, was sleeping at his mistress’s, when a snake

twisted itself round his neck, but quietly went away upon his waking

without hurting him. Coppinger, supposing the accident real, made haste

to pack up his moveables to go on board; and, as the Captain was to have

his general rendezvous the next day, Dampier took the opportunity of

going with him. They scarce had mounted the ship’s side before they

discovered the trick. But when the mutineers were thus in possession of

the surgeon, they presently dispatched the canoe to shore again to

invite all the men who chose it to come on board, but with a strict

caution not to tell the reason, lest their design should reach the ears

of their captain.

The 13th in the morning they weighed, and fired a gun. The Captain, much

alarmed, immediately dispatched Mr. Nelly, his mate, to know the cause.

To him they told their grievances, and shewed the journal; he persuaded

them to stay till next day to hear what the Captain and merchants had to

say. They did so, and Mr. Harthop came on board in the morning. He

advised them to a reconciliation, and to take more rice on board. They

were deaf to his persuasion; yet at his entreaty they staid till two in

the afternoon to wait for the Captain and such gentlemen or seamen as

chose to accompany them, but suffered none to go ashore, except Mr.

Harthop and a man with a wooden leg. Dampier remarks, that, if Captain

Swan had then come on board, as a man of sense and spirit ought to have

done, he might at the very last have crusht their designs, and reduced

the mutineers to order and discipline; but being of a sullen,

suspicious, vindictive temper himself, he dreaded the resentment of

those he had marked for vengeance; and therefore suffered the time to

elapse, and was with 36 others left behind in the town. Besides these,

six or eight had deserted and were up the country; and sixteen had died

of poison, given them, as was supposed, by the husbands of those women

whom they had seduced; and there were others on board, who had received

the poison, and died of it some months after. In this manner their

numbers were considerably diminished, and of 150 who sailed from Cape

Corientes, not above 80 were now on board.

It has been more than once hinted, that Captain Swan sailed from London

with no design of privateering, but of carrying on trade with the

Spaniards on the western coasts of America. He had therefore a great

quantity of heavy goods, such as iron and lead, not yet disposed of,

some of which he had sold to Raja Laut, and no doubt was willing to have

received the payment before he departed. This may, in some measure,

account for his delay. His crew was composed of men, who, most of them,

had forced themselves upon him for purposes which he abhorred; and,

perhaps, he wanted to have rid himself of the greatest part of them, if

he could have found a proper opportunity. Those marked in his journal

were, no doubt, the men most obnoxious to him, and the most averse to

trade, which he was determined to follow in his way home, having already

5000l. of his owners money, which he had received for the goods put up

by auction at his first commencing buccaneer; with this he purposed to

have purchased a cargo to take with him from the East-Indies. Hence

arose his mysterious conduct, and his want of resolution. The loss of

his bark was his embarrassment. Could that have been rendered

serviceable, his design could more easily have been carried into

execution. The suspicious part of the crew might have been shipped on

board the bark; and by giving them a wrong track, they might have been

deserted in the night, and left to their own course. But a discovery

being made before the Captain’s designs were ripe for execution, he was

entangled in his own net.

But to return: On the 14th of January, 1687, at three o’clock in the

afternoon, they set sail from the river Mindanao, and next day came

a-breast of Chambango, where formerly the Spaniards had a settlement,

and where, it is said, there were plenty of swine and buffaloes. On the

17th, they anchored in a good bay on the west side of a small island,

where they chose their Officers, constituting John Read the Jamaica-man

Captain, Thomas Teat Master, and Henry More Quarter-master; and, having

cut some curious short-jointed canes, and plentifully supplied the ship

with water from a clear spring, they pursued their course; but on their

passage they struck on a rock, where after lying two hours, they were

heaved off by the rising of the tide, and escaped with the loss only of

a large piece of their rudder, though in more danger than ever they had

experienced in the whole voyage.

On the 18th, they anchored at the north-west end of the island of

Mindera, in 10 fathom water. While they lay there a canoe with four

Indians from Manilla came along side, who informed them, that at Manilla

there was seldom less than 20 or 30 sail of ships of different nations,

who came to traffic with the Spanish merchants; and that, if they meant

to trade, they might for a trifle have a letter of recommendation from a

friar to whom they were carrying dispatches, and would in a few days

return with his answer. Trade, however, was no part of their employment;

and the Indians were suffered to pass without molestation.

On the 23d, they reached Luconia, the island so ardently wished for by

this piratical crew, and presently descried a sail, which they instantly

pursued and took. She proved a Spanish bark from Pangassanam, laden with

rice and cotton-cloth, and bound for Manilla. The master of this prize

was boatswain to the Acapulco ship that passed by Guam; this man gave

Dampier an account of all that happened on that occasion. The time of

the year being too far spent to effect any thing of consequence on this

coast, they concluded to sail for Pulo Condore, and there wait till the

latter end of May, about which time the Acapulco ship generally arrives

at Manilla. With this resolution they quitted Luconia on the 26th of

February; and, on the 14th of March, cast anchor at the island of

Condore, on the coast of Cambodia. Among the productions of these

islands (for there is a cluster of them), there is a lofty tree, the

body of which is in diameter three or four feet, from which the

inhabitants extract a clammy juice, which being boiled becomes a perfect

tar, and answers all the purposes of that balsam. On the 16th, they

entered a convenient harbour, and employed themselves in careening their

ships, in which they were assisted by the natives of the island, who

brought them hogs and turtle in exchange for rice, of which they had now

great plenty.

While they lay in this harbour, two of the men died who had been

poisoned in Mindanao; they were opened by the surgeon, and their livers

were found black, light, and dry, like pieces of cork.

Before they departed, they engaged an old native who could speak the

Malayan language, to pilot them to Siam, where they expected to purchase

dried fish, having nothing now but rice to eat at sea.

On the 21st of April they sailed from Condore, and, on the 24th,

anchored in the bay of Siam, where, however, they could get no fish. On

the 21st of May they left Siam and, in their return to Pulo Condore,

overtook a Chinese junk, laden with pepper, who told them that the

English were settled on the island of Sumatra, at a place called

Sillebar, which was the first intelligence they received of that

factory. This junk accompanied them to Pulo Condore, where Captain Read,

observing a Malayan vessel at anchor within shore, sent a canoe to learn

from whence they came; but, knowing the Malayans to be desperate

fellows, cautioned his men not to trust themselves on board, but to hail

them from the boat: but the men, not regarding the Captain’s

instructions, went on board armed; which the Malayans observing, fell

upon them unawares with their short daggers, and stabbed five or six of

them dead upon the spot; the rest jumped into the sea, and saved

themselves by swimming, among whom was one Daniel Wallis, who never

could swim before or since, but in his fright made shift to reach the

boat, and made his escape with the rest. Here Herman Coppinger, the

surgeon, went on shore, on purpose to leave this diabolical company; but

Read sent an armed force, and pressed him on board again. Dampier

intended following his example, but waited a more convenient place.

They were now confined at this island by stormy weather till the 4th of

June; and in the mean time a Malayan Portuguese from the junk entered on

board, whom they entertained as an interpreter, to facilitate an

intercourse with the natives. When they weighed anchor, the wind was

contrary; yet they kept plying to the westward in hopes of its shifting

to carry them to Manilla, before their much longed-for prize should

arrive. In this hope they continued labouring incessantly for 10 days;

when, being almost worn out with fatigue, and finding no probability of

accomplishing their desires, they relinquished that project in despair,

and, instead of it, stood away for Prata, in lat. 20 deg. 40 min. N.

where they flattered themselves with fishing up much treasure from the

China ships that had been cast away on that island, some of which were

said to contain immense riches. But in this too they were disappointed

by adverse winds; and, notwithstanding the utmost exertion of their

skill in seamanship, they were driven by the violence of the gale to the

island of St. John, on the coast of China. While they lay at this island

they visited the shore every day, and purchased hogs, fowls, and

buffaloes. Some of the men visited the continent, but found nothing

there that answered their purpose.

On the 3d of July they weighed anchor with a gentle breeze, but on the

4th there came on a violent gale from the north-east, which increased

till the dead of the night, when the rain began to pour down in such

torrents that the fountains of heaven seemed to be opened, and a second

deluge threatened; at the same time the thunder began to crack, and the

flashes of lightning that pierced through the torrents of rain, appeared

upon the face of the deep as if the sea was overspread with a blue

flame. The darkness that succeeded between the flashes presented the

most horrid gloom that ever covered the deep. The sea was raised to an

astonishing height, and the waves broke short upon the ship with such

violence, that it was thought every succeeding billow must have dashed

her to the bottom. One sea struck away the rails of the head, and at the

same time dislodged the sheet-anchor that was lashed with its fluke over

the bend of the ship in the strongest manner, and it was every moment

expected to beat a hole through the ship, by striking against her bows.

It then became necessary to steer right before the wind, to endeavour to

secure the anchor; and it was impossible afterwards to change the course

till the storm abated. The fury of the storm abated about four in the

morning, about which time they observed what the sailors call a _Corpus

Sant_ at the mast-head. This meteor is seen at sea, sometimes at the

mast-head, sometimes at the yard-arm, and sometimes upon the deck. When

it appears aloft it is like a star, and is taken for a good omen; but

when below, it resembles a glow-worm, and always dreaded as a bad sign.

The crew was overjoyed on seeing it at the very pinnacle of the ship’s

fane.

From two in the morning till seven they kept scudding before the wind;

but the wind gradually dying away, and the sea subsiding, they set their

mizzen, brought the ship up upon a wind, and lay to under their mizzen

till eleven, when for two hours there ensued a perfect calm, yet the sky

looked black and lowring. About one the wind shifted to the south-west,

and began again to blow hard, with violent rain. They furled up their

mizzen, wore ship, and suffered her to scud before the wind, as before,

till ten at night, when the wind ceased, and before morning the sea was

calm, and the sky perfectly serene. This storm, however, dispirited the

crew, who were now driven out of their knowledge, and were anxious for

nothing but a place of shelter to preserve them from the fury of a

second hurricane, which they had reason to expect towards the full of

the moon.

They consulted their sea-charts, and concluded to steer for the

Piscadores, islands situated in lat. 23 deg. N. of which, however, they

knew nothing but the name. On the 20th of July they came in sight of

them; and when they arrived were astonished to see so many junks passing

and re-passing as were continually in sight. They followed some of the

largest into a spacious harbour, which brought them to a considerable

town, such as they did not expect to have found among islands so little

known. On their attempting to land, they were met by a Tartarian

Officer, who demanded, whence they came, of what nation they were, and

whither they were bound? And being told they were English, and driven

there in distress, they were kindly entertained; but were told, they

must not come on shore; but whatever necessaries they wanted should be

sent them on board without delay. Mutual civilities were exchanged. The

ship was supplied with the best provisions they had ever tasted and the

Captain in return sent a curious Spanish silver-hilted rapier, an

English carbine, and a gold chain, as a present to the Governor. They

staid till the 29th, and then directed their course to a cluster of

islands that lie between Formosa and Luconia, the place they still set

their hearts upon. On the 6th of August they came in sight of the

islands they were in pursuit of, and, contrary to expectation, found

them well inhabited.

On these islands were plenty of goats and swine, but very few birds or

poultry. It is an observation of Dampier, founded on reason and

confirmed by experience, that, in countries abounding in corn and maize,

birds and all manner of fowls are bred in abundance; but in those

islands where the inhabitants subsist chiefly on fruits, roots, and

fish, birds wild and tame are more rare.

As these islands were without names in the sea-charts, Captain Read

called them all by one general name of Bashee Islands. The situation of

their towns was remarkable. They were built on precipices inaccessible

on every side, except by ladders placed at the ends of the streets,

which all ran in lines parallel to each other, and on which the houses

rise in ranges one above another, till they terminate in a single row.

The inhabitants of these islands were acquainted with the use of iron,

and they had amongst them a yellow metal that very much resembled gold,

for some of which Captain Read exchanged iron; and Dampier laments that

he could purchase none of it, because he had nothing to bestow in

return. They were very ingenious, had large fishing-boats, and lived in

a peculiar manner different from any people they had yet visited. They

were not very delicate in their food; for they would gather up the

goats-skins and goats-paunches which the men threw away; and would

singe, broil, and eat the former; the latter they would stew (not over

nicely cleansed), and, mincing raw fish very small, would mix the mess

together, and with a little salt over it, make a very savoury meal. The

paunches of the swine they never touched. They appeared to be very

cleanly in their persons, and withal so honest and good natured, that

they would take nothing but what was given them; nor were they ever out

of humour with the strangers, though they had often cause enough, nor

with one another. No provocation could incense them to anger; nor any

opportunity induce them to theft. They brought constantly every morning

goats, hogs, potatoes, and fruits, to the ship, which they exchanged for

iron, nails, old hoops, or bullets. Thus the crew of the ship fared

sumptuously every day, and salted 70 or 80 hogs for future use. These

islands lie in lat. 20 deg. 21 min. N.

Being now sufficiently stored with provisions, and having filled their

casks with water, after staying from the 13th of August till the 24th of

September, and after having mended their sails, and scrubbed the ships

bottom, they were preparing to sail, when a violent storm came on, which

forced them to cut their cables and put to sea, leaving six of their

best men on shore.

They put before the wind with their bare poles; but it was the 1st of

October before they could recover to their former station. On the

following day their six men were brought on board by the natives, whom

they rewarded with three bars of iron, a present to them more valuable

than so many bars of solid gold. The men reported, that, as soon as the

ship was out of sight, the natives were more kind to them than ever;

that they endeavoured to prevail upon them to cut their hair short, like

theirs; and that they offered to each the choice of a wife, with a small

hatchet, a set of planter’s tools, and a portion of land for each of

them to cultivate by way of dowry; and, when the ship came in sight

again, they then importuned them for iron, which was the only recompense

they required.

This second storm quite disconcerted all their measures. They began to

think that the winds and the waves were employed against them, and were

terrified with the thoughts of their unhappy situation. Most of them

were heartily weary of being tost to and fro to no manner of purpose,

and were very desirous of getting home: only Read and Teat were

determined to make their fortunes at whatever risque; they therefore,

finding the crew resolute to leave this dangerous coast, persuaded them

to accompany them to Cape Comorin, where, if they disapproved of their

proceedings, every one should be at liberty to follow his own course. To

this they all agreed; but these freebooters, fearing to meet English or

Dutch ships in the direct road, proposed to coast along the east side of

the Philippines, and so, keeping south towards the spice islands, to

pass into the Indian ocean near the island of Timor. With this view they

let sail on the 3d of October, 1687; and leaving the island of Luconia

on the west, “with all our golden projects,” says Dampier, “along with

it, we stood to the southward till we came in sight of the island St.

John on the coast of Mindanao, and on the 16th came to an anchor on the

south-east side of that island.” While they lay in this bay, the young

prince of Meangis, formerly mentioned, came on board, and importuned

Captain Read to transport him and his men back to his own island,

promising to reward him handsomely for his trouble. He said, that a few

days before he had seen Captain Swan and some of his people all well at

the city of Mindanao; that they had accompanied Raja Laut in a military

expedition against his enemies, and had acquired great honour and were

in high favour with the Sultan; that Captain Swan was preparing to leave

the island; and that he had offered 40 ounces of gold for a ship to

carry him off, but did not think the Raja would suffer him to depart.

Captain Read promised to stay for the prince three days, and in that

time he engaged to return with his men. In the mean time Dampier took

occasion to sound how the crew stood affected towards their old Captain,

and found one party, who happened to be filling water ashore, very well

inclined; and he desired them to be silent till he had consulted the

other party whose turn it was next day to fill water at the same place;

but one of the company, who appeared to be the most zealous in Swan’s

favour, as soon as he got aboard discovered the secret; on which Read

and Teat ordered all hands on board and weighed directly.