he turned to a great old cabinet, full of pretty large drawers, and,
pulling out one drawer, he showed us a surprising number of pieces of
pure clean gold, some round, some long, some flat, some thick, all of
irregular shapes, and worked roundish at the ends with rolling along on
the sands; some of these weighed a quarter of an ounce, some more, and
some less; and, as I lifted the drawer, I thought there could be no less
than between twenty and thirty pounds weight of it.
Then he pulled out another drawer, which was almost full of the same
kind of metal, but as small as sand, the biggest not so big as pins
heads, and which might very properly be called gold dust.
After this sight, we were not to be surprised at anything he could show
us of the kind. I asked him how long such a treasure might be amassing
together in that country? He told me that was according to the pains
they might take in the search; that he had been twelve years here, and
had done little or nothing; but, had he had twenty negroes to have set
on work, as he might have had, he might have procured more than this in
one year. I asked him how much gold in weight he thought there might be
in all he had shown me? He told me, he could not tell; that they never
troubled themselves to weigh, but when the silversmith at St. Jago came
to bring home any vessel, or when the merchants from Lima came to
Baldivia with European goods, then they bought what they wanted of them.
That they were sensible they gave excessive prices for everything, even
ten or twenty for one; but as gold, he said, was the growth of that
country, and the other things, such as cloth, linen, fine silks, &c,
were the gold of Europe, they did not think much to give what was asked
for those things. In short, I found that the people in this country,
though they kept large plantations in their hands, had great numbers of
cattle, ingenios, as they call them, for making sugar, and land, under
management, for the maintenance of themselves and families, yet did not
wholly neglect the getting gold out of the mountains, where it was in
such plenty; and, therefore, it seems the town adjacent is called Villa
Rica, or the Rich Town, being seated, as it were, at the foot of the
mountains, and in the richest part of them.
After I had sufficiently admired the vast quantity of gold he had, he
made signs to the doctor that I should take any piece or any quantity
that I pleased; but thought I might take it as an affront to have him
offer me any particular small parcel. The doctor hinted to me, and I
bade him return him thanks; but to let him know that I would by no means
have any of that, but that I would be glad to take up a piece or two,
such as chance should present to me, in the mountains, that I might show
in my own country, and tell them that I took it up with my own hands. He
answered, he would go with me himself; and doubted not but to carry me
where I should fully satisfy my curiosity, if I would be content to
climb a little among the rocks.
I now began to see plainly that I had no manner of need to have taken
his sons for hostages for my safety, and would fain have sent for them
back again, but he would by no means give me leave; so I was obliged to
give that over. A day or two after, I desired he would give me leave to
send for one person more from the ships, who I had a great mind should
see the country with me, and to send for some few things that I should
want, and, withal, to satisfy my men that I was safe and well.
This he consented to; so I sent away one of the two midshipmen, whom I
called my servants, and with him two servants of the Spaniard, my
landlord, as I styled him, with four mules and two horses. I gave my
midshipman my orders and directions, under my hand, to my supercargo,
what to do, for I was resolved to be even with my Spaniard for all his
good usage of me. The midshipman and his two companions did not return
in less than ten days, for they came back pretty well laden, and were
obliged to come all the way on foot.
The whole of this time my landlord and I spent in surveying the country,
and viewing his plantation. As for the city of Villa Rica, it was not
the most proper to go there in public, and the doctor knew that as well
as the Spaniard, and, therefore, though we went several times
_incognito_, yet it was of no consequence to me, neither did I desire
it.
One night I had a very strange fright here, and behaved myself very much
like a simpleton about it. The case was this. I waked in the middle of
the night, and, chancing to open my eyes, I saw a great light of fire,
which, to me, seemed as if the house, or some part of it, had been on
fire, I, as if I had been at Wapping or Rotherhithe, where people are
always terrified with such things, jumped out of bed, and called my
friend, Captain Merlotte, and cried out, Fire! fire! The first thing I
should have thought of on this occasion should have been, that the
Spaniards did not understand what the words fire! fire! meant; and that,
if I expected they should understand me, I should have cried Fuego,
Fuego!
However, Captain Merlotte got up, and my Madagascar captain, for we all
lay near one another, and, with the noise, they waked the whole house;
and my landlord, as he afterwards confessed, began to suspect some
mischief, his steward having come to his chamber door, and told him that
the strangers were up in arms; in which mistake we might have all had
our throats cut, and the poor Spaniard not to blame neither.
But our doctor coming hastily in to me, unriddled the whole matter,
which was this: that a volcano, or burning vent among the hills, being
pretty near the Spanish side of the country, as there are many of them
in the Andes, had flamed out that night, and gave such a terrible light
in the air as made us think the fire had at least been in the outhouses,
or in part of the house, and, accordingly, had put me in such a fright.
Upon this, having told me what it was, he ran away to the Spanish
servants, and told them what the meaning of it all was, and bade them go
and satisfy their master, which they did, and all was well again; but,
as for myself, I sat up almost all the night staring out from the window
at the eruption of fire upon the hills, for the like wonderful
appearance I had never seen before.
I sincerely begged my landlord's pardon for disturbing his house, and
asked him if those eruptions were frequent? He said no, they were not
frequent, for they were constant, either in one part of the hills or
another; and that in my passing the mountains I should see several of
them. I asked him if they were not alarmed with them? and if they were
not attended with earthquakes? He said, he believed that among the hills
themselves they might have some shakings of the earth, because sometimes
were found pieces of the rocks that had been broken off and fallen down;
and that it was among those that sometimes parts of stone were found
which had gold interspersed in them, as if they had been melted and run
together, of which he had shown me some; but that, as for earthquakes in
the country, he had never heard of any since he came thither, which had
been upwards of fifteen years, including three years that he dwelt at
St. Jago.
One day, being out on horseback with my landlord, we rode up close to
the mountains, and he showed me at a distance, an entrance as he called
it, into them, frightful enough, indeed, as shall be described in its
place. He then told me, that was the way he intended to carry me when he
should go to show me the highest hills in the world; but he turned
short, and, smiling, said it should not be yet; for, though he had
promised me a safe return, and left hostages for it, yet he had not
capitulated for time.
I told him he need not capitulate with me for time; for if I had not two
ships to stay my coming, and between three and four hundred men eating
me up all the while, I did not know whether I should ever go away again
or not, if he would give me house room. He told me as to that, he had
sent my men some provisions, so that they would not starve if I did not
go back for some days. This surprised me not a little, and I discovered
it in my countenance. Nay, seignior, says he, I have only sent them some
victuals to maintain my two hostages, for you know they must not want.
It was not good manners in me to ask what he had sent; but I understood,
as soon as my midshipman returned, that he had sent down sixteen cows or
runts, I know not what else to call them, but they were black cattle,
thirty hogs, thirteen large Peruvian sheep, as big as great calves, and
three casks of Chilian wine, with an assurance that they should have
more provisions when that was spent.
I was amazed at all this munificence of the Spaniard, and very glad I
was that I had sent my midshipman for the things I intended to present
him with, for I was as well able to requite him for a large present as
he was to make it, and had resolved it before I knew he had sent
anything to the ships; so that this exchanging of presents was but a
kind of generous barter or commerce; for as to gold, we had either of us
so much, that it was not at all equal in value to what we had to give on
both sides, as we were at present situated.
In short, my midshipman returned with the horses and servants, and when
he had brought what I had sent for into a place which I desired the
Spaniard to allow me to open my things in, I sent my doctor to desire
the Spaniard to let me speak with him.
I told him first, that he must give me his parole of honour not to take
amiss what I had to say to him; that it was the custom in our country,
at any time, to make presents to the ladies, with the knowledge and
consent of their husbands or parents, without any evil design, or
without giving any offence, but that I knew it was not so among the
Spaniards. That I had not had the honour yet either to see his lady or
his daughter, but that I had heard he had both; however, that if he
pleased to be the messenger of a trifle I had caused my man to bring,
and would present it for me, and not take it as an offence, he should
see beforehand what it was, and I would content myself with his
accepting it in their behalf.
He told me, smiling, he did not bring me thither to take any presents of
me. I had already done enough, in that I had given him his liberty,
which was the most valuable gift in the world: and, as to his wife, I
had already made her the best present I was able, having given her back
her husband. That it is true, it was not the custom of the Spaniards to
let their wives appear in any public entertainment of friends, but that
he had resolved to break through that custom; and that he had told his
wife what a friend I had been to her family, and that she should thank
me for it in person; and that then, what present I had designed for her,
since I would be a maker of presents, she should do herself the honour
to take it with her own hands, and he would be very far from mistaking
them, or taking it ill from his wife.
As this was the highest compliment he was able to make me, the more he
was obliging in the manner, for he returned in about two hours, leading
his wife into the room by the hand, and his daughter following.
I must confess I was surprised, for I did not expect to have seen such a
sight in America. The lady's dress, indeed, I cannot easily describe;
but she was really a charming woman, of about forty years of age, and
covered over with emeralds and diamonds; I mean as to her head. She was
veiled till she came into the room, but gave her veil to her woman when
her husband took her by the hand. Her daughter I took to be about
twelve years old, which the Spaniards count marriageable; she was
pretty, but not so handsome as her mother.
After the compliments on both sides, my landlord, as I now call him,
told her very handsomely what a benefactor I had been to her family, by
redeeming him from the hands of villains; and she, turning to me,
thanked me in the most obliging manner, and with a modest graceful way
of speech, such as I cannot describe, and which indeed I did not think
the Spaniards, who are said to be so haughty, had been acquainted with.
I then desired the doctor to tell the Spaniard, her husband, that I
requested his lady to accept a small present which my midshipman had
brought for her from the ship, and which I took in my hand, and the
Spaniard led his wife forward to take it; and I must needs say it was
not a mean present, besides its being of ten times the value in that
place as it would have been at London; and I was now very glad that, as
I mentioned above, I always reserved a small quantity of all goods
unsold, that I might have them to dispose of as occasion should offer.
First, I presented her with a very fine piece of Dutch Holland, worth in
London about seven shillings an ell, and thirty-six ells in length, and
worth in Chili, to be sure, fifteen pieces of eight per ell, at least;
or it was rather likely that all the kingdom of Chili had not such
another.
Then I gave her two pieces of China damask, and two pieces of China
silks, called atlasses, flowered with gold; two pieces of fine muslin,
one flowered the other plain, and a piece of very fine chintz, or
printed calico; also a large parcel of spices, made up in elegant
papers, being about six pounds of nutmegs, and about twice as many
cloves.
And lastly, to the young lady I gave one piece of damask, two pieces of
China taffity, and a piece of fine striped muslin.
After all this was delivered, and the ladies had received them, and
given them their women to hold, I pulled out a little box in which I had
two couple of large pearls, of that pearl which I mentioned we found at
the Pearl Islands, very well matched for ear-rings, and gave the lady
one pair, and the daughter the other; and now, I think, I had made a
present fit for an ambassador to carry to a prince.
The ladies made all possible acknowledgment, and we had the honour that
day to dine with them in public. My landlord, the Spaniard, told me I
had given them such a present as the viceroy of Mexico's lady would have
gone fifty leagues to have received.
But I had not done with my host; for after dinner, I took him into the
same room, and told him I hoped he did not think I had made all my
presents to the ladies, and had nothing left to show my respect to him;
and therefore, first, I presented him with three negro men, which I had
bought at Callao for my own use, but knew I could supply myself again,
at or in my way home, at a moderate price; in the next place, I gave him
three pieces of black Colchester baize, which, though they are coarse
ordinary things in England, that a footman would scarce wear, are a
habit for a prince in that country. I then gave him a piece of very fine
English serge, which was really very valuable in England, but much more
there, and another piece of crimson broadcloth, and six pieces of fine
silk druggets for his two sons; and thus I finished my presents. The
Spaniard stood still and looked on all the while I was laying out my
presents to him, as one in a transport, and said not one word till all
was over; but then he told me very gravely, that it was now time for him
to turn me out of his house: For seignior, says he, no man ought to
suffer himself to be obliged beyond his power of return, and I have no
possible way of making any return to you equal to such things as these.
It is true the present I had made him, if it was to be rated by the
value of things in the country where it then was, would have been valued
at six or seven hundred pounds sterling; but, to reckon them as they
cost me, did not altogether amount to above one hundred pounds, except
the three negroes, which, indeed, cost me at Lima one thousand two
hundred pieces of eight.
He was as sensible of the price of those negroes as I was of the
occasion he had of them, and of the work he had to do for them; and he
came to me about an hour after, and told me he had looked over all the
particulars of the noble presents which I had made them; and though the
value was too great for him to accept, or for any man to offer him, yet
since I had been at so much trouble to send for the things, and that I
thought him worthy such a bounty, he was come back to tell me that he
accepted thankfully all my presents, both to himself and to his wife
and daughter, except only the three negroes; and as they were bought in
the country, and were the particular traffick of the place, he could not
take them as a present, but would be equally obliged, and take it for as
much a favour if I would allow him to pay for them.
I smiled, and told him he and I would agree upon that; for he did not
yet know what favours I had to ask of him, and what expense I should put
him to; that I had a great design in my view, which I was to crave his
assistance in, and which I had not yet communicated to him, in which he
might perhaps find that he would pay dear enough for all the little
presents I had made him; and, in the meantime, to make himself easy as
to the three negro men, I gave him my word that he should pay for them,
only not yet.
He could have nothing to object against an offer of this kind, because
he could not guess what I meant, but gave me all the assurance of
service and assistance that lay in his power in anything that I might
have to do in that country.
But here, by the way, it ought to be understood, that all this was
carried on with a supposition that we acted under a commission from the
King of France; and though he knew many of us were English, and that I
was an Englishman in particular, yet as we had such a commission, and
produced it, we were Frenchmen in that sense to him, nor did he
entertain us under any other idea.
The sequel of this story will also make it sufficiently appear that I
did not make such presents as these in mere ostentation, or only upon
the compliment of a visit to a Spanish gentleman, any more than I would
leave my ship and a cargo of such value, in the manner I had done, to
make a tour into the country, if I had not had views sufficient to
justify such measures; and the consequence of those measures will be the
best apology for my conduct, with all who will impartially consider
them.
We had now spent a fortnight, and something more, in ceremony and
civilities, and in now and then taking a little tour about the fields
and towards the mountains. However, even in this way of living I was not
so idle as I seemed to be, for I not only made due observations of all
the country which I saw, but informed myself sufficiently of the parts
which I did not see. I found the country not only fruitful in the soil,
but wonderfully temperate and agreeable in its climate. The air, though
hot, according to its proper latitude, yet that heat so moderated by the
cool breezes from the mountains, that it was rather equal to the plain
countries in other parts of the world in the latitude of 50 deg. than to a
climate in 38 to 40 deg..
This gave the inhabitants the advantages, not only of pleasant and
agreeable living, but also of a particular fertility which hot climates
are not blessed with, especially as to corn, the most necessary of all
productions, such as wheat, I mean European wheat, or English wheat,
which grew here as well and as kindly as in England, which in Peru and
in the Isthmus of America will by no means thrive for want of moisture
and cold.
Here were also an excellent middling breed of black cattle, which the
natives fed under the shade of the mountains and on the banks of the
rivers till they came to be very fat. In a word, here were, or might be
produced, all the plants, fruits, and grain, of a temperate climate. At
the same time, the orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, and figs, with a
moderate care would come to a very tolerable perfection in their
gardens, and even sugar canes in some places, though these last but
rarely, and not without great art in the cultivation, and chiefly in
gardens.
I was assured, that farther southward, beyond Baldivia, and to the
latitude of 47 to 49 deg., the lands were esteemed richer than where we now
were, the grass more strengthening and nourishing for the cattle, and
that, consequently, the black cattle, horses, and hogs, were all of a
larger breed. But that, as the Spaniards had no settlement beyond
Baldivia to the south, so they did not find the natives so tractable as
where we then were; where, though the Spaniards were but few, and the
strength they had was but small, yet, as upon any occasion they had
always been assisted with forces sufficient from St. Jago, and, if need
were, even from Peru, so the natives had always been subdued, and had
found themselves obliged to submit; and that now they were entirely
reduced, and were, and had been for several years, very easy and quiet.
Besides, the plentiful harvest which they made of gold from the
mountains (which appeared to be the great allurement of the Spaniards),
had drawn them rather to settle here than farther southward, being
naturally addicted, as my new landlord confessed to me, to reap the
harvest which had the least labour and hazard attending it, and the most
profit.
Not but that, at the same time, he confessed that he believed and had
heard that there was as much gold to be found farther to the south, as
far as the mountains continued; but that, as I have said, the natives
were more troublesome there, and more dangerous, and that the king of
Spain did not allow troops sufficient to civilize and reduce them.
I asked him concerning the natives in the country where we were? He told
me they were the most quiet and inoffensive people, since the Spaniards
had reduced them by force, that could be desired; that they were not,
indeed, numerous or warlike, the warlike and obstinate part of them
having fled farther off to the south, as they were overpowered by the
Spaniards; that, for those who were left, they lived secure under the
protection of the Spanish governor; that they fed cattle and planted the
country, and sold the product of their lands chiefly to the Spaniards;
but that they did not covet to be rich, only to obtain clothes, arms,
powder and shot, which, however, they were suffered to have but
sparingly, and with good assurance of their fidelity. I asked him if
they were not treacherous and perfidious, and if it was not dangerous
trusting themselves among them in the mountains, and in the retired
places where they dwelt? He told me that it was quite the contrary; that
they were so honest, and so harmless, that he would at any time venture
to send his two sons into the mountains a-hunting, with each of them a
Chilian for his guide; and let them stay with the said natives two or
three nights and days at a time, and be in no uneasiness about them; and
that none of them were ever known to do any foul or treacherous thing by
the Spaniards, since he had been in that country.
Having thus finally informed myself of things, I began now to think it
was high time to have a sight of the particulars which I came to inquire
after, viz., the passages of the mountains, and the wonders that were to
be discovered on the other side; and, accordingly, I took my patron, the
Spaniard, by himself, and told him that as I was a traveller, and was
now in such a remote part of the world, he could not but think I should
be glad to see everything extraordinary that was to be seen, that I
might be able to give some account of the world when I came into
Europe, better and differing from what others had done who had been
there before me; and that I had a great mind, if he would give me his
assistance, to enter into the passages and valleys which he had told me
so much of in the mountains; and, if it was possible, which, indeed, I
had always thought it was not, to take a prospect of the world on the
other side.
He told me it was not a light piece of work, and perhaps the discoveries
might not answer my trouble, there being little to be seen but steep
precipices, inhospitable rocks, and impassable mountains, immuring us on
every side, innumerable rills and brooks of water falling from the
cliffs, making a barbarous and unpleasant sound, and that sound echoed
and reverberated from innumerable cavities among the rocks, and these
all pouring down into one middle stream, which we should always find on
one side or other of us as we went; and that sometimes we should be
obliged to pass those middle streams, as well as the rills and brooks on
the sides, without a bridge, and at the trouble of pulling off our
clothes.
He told us that we should meet, indeed, with provisions enough, and with
an innocent, harmless people, who, according to their ability, would
entertain us very willingly; but that I, who was a stranger, would be
sorely put to it for lodging, especially for so many of us.