1685.] ISLANDS OF QUIBO, QUICARA, AND RANCHERIA. us to the Isles of Quibo, and there cashiered our cowardly companion. Some were for taking from him the ship which we had given him; but at last he was suffered to keep it with his men, and we sent them away in it to some other place. CHAPTER VIII. ACCORDING to the resolutions we had taken, we set out, June the 1st, 1685, passing between Point Garachina and the King's Islands. The 3d we passed by the Island of Chuche, the last remainder of the isles in the Bay of Panama. In our passage to Quibo, Captain Branley lost his mainmast, therefore he and all his men left his bark, and came aboard Captain Davis's ship. Captain Swan also sprung his maintopmast, and got up another; but while he was doing it, and we were making the best of our way, we lost sight of him, and were now on the north side of the bay; for this way all ships must pass from Panama, whether bound towards the coast of Mexico or Peru. The 10th we passed by Morro de Puercos, or the Mountain of Hogs, why so called I know not; it is a high round hill on the coast of Lavelia. This side of the Bay of Panama runs out westerly to the Islands of Quibo; there are on this coast many rivers and creeks, but none so large as those on the south side of the bay. It is a coast that is partly mountainous, partly lowland, and very thick of woods bordering on the sea; but a few leagues within land it consists mostly of savannahs, which are stocked with bulls and cows. The rivers on this side are not wholly destitute of gold, though not so rich as the rivers on the other side of the bay. The coast is but thinly inhabited; for except the rivers that lead up to the towns of Nata and Lavelia I know of no other settlement between Panama and Puebla Nueva. The Spaniards may travel by land from Panama through all the kingdom of Mexico, 199 as being full of savannahs; but towards the coast of Peru they cannot pass farther than the River Chepo, the land there being so full of thick woods, and watered with so many great rivers, besides less rivers and creeks, that the Indians themselves who inhabit there cannot travel far without much trouble. We met with very wet weather in our voyage to Quibo, and with SSW. and sometimes SW. winds, which retarded our course. It was the 15th of June when we arrived at Quibo, and found there Captain Harris whom we sought. The Island of Quibo or Cabaya is in Lat. 7° 14' N. of the Equator; it is about six or seven leagues long, and three or four broad. The land is low, except only near the NE. end; it is all over plentifully stored with great tall flourishing trees of many sorts, and there is good water on the E. and NE. sides of the island. Here are some deer, and plenty of pretty large black monkeys, whose flesh is sweet and wholesome; besides a few guanas and some snakes. I know no other sort of land animal on the island. There are many other islands, lying some on the SW. side, others on the N. and NE. sides, of this island; as the Island of Quicara, which is a pretty large island SW. of Quibo, and on the north of it is a small island called Rancheria, on which are plenty of Palma-Maria trees. The Palma-Maria is a tall, straightbodied tree, with a small head, but very unlike the palm tree, notwithstanding the name. It is greatly esteemed for making masts, being very tough, as well as of a good length; for the grain of the wood runs not straight along it, but twisting gradually about it. These trees grow in many places of the West Indies, and are frequently used both by the English and Spaniards there for that use. The Islands of Canales and Cantarras are small islands lying on the NE. of Rancheria. These have all channels to pass between, and good anchoring about them, and they are as well stored with trees and water as Quibo. Captain Swan gave to several of these islands the names of those English merchants and gentlemen who were owners of his ship. [On June 16th, Captain Swan came to anchor by them, when they held a consultation as to how they might advance their fortunes, as the sea was promising them little. The result was a decision to take the town of Puebla Nueva, which they accordingly did with 150 men. On the 5th of July Captain Knight came to them, having captured two bark-logs laden with flour. After this, each ship's company began the making of canoes.] Captain Davis made two very large canoes: one was thirty-six feet long, and five or six feet wide; the other thirty-two feet long, and near as wide as the other. In a month's time we finished our business, and were ready to sail. Here Captain Harris went to lay his ship aground to clean her, but she being old and rotten, fell in pieces; and therefore he and all his men went aboard of Captain Davis and Captain Swan. While we lay here we struck turtle every day, for they were now very plentiful; but from August to March there are not many. The 18th of July, John Rose, a Frenchman, and fourteen men more belonging to Captain Gronet, having made a new canoe, came in her to Captain Davis, and desired to serve under him; and Captain Davis accepted of them because they had a canoe of their own. The 20th of July we sailed from Quibo, bending our course for Realejo, which is the port for Leon, the city that we now designed to attempt. We were now 640 men, in eight sail of ships, commanded by Captain Davis, Captain Swan, Captain Townley, and Captain Knight; with a fireship, and three tenders, which last had not a constant of Dulce, and the Island Cano. All this coast is low land, overgrown with thick woods; and there are but few inhabitants near the shore. The 8th of August, being in Lat. 11° 20' by observation, we saw a high hill in the country, towering up like a sugar loaf, which bore NE. by N. We sup posed it to be Volcano Viejo by the smoke which ascended from its top; therefore we steered in N., and made it plainer, and then knew it to be that volcano, which is the sea-mark for the harbour for Realejo. When we had brought this mountain to bear NE., we got out all our canoes, and provided to embark into them the next day. The 9th in the morning, being about eight leagues from the shore, we left our ships under the charge of a few men, and 520 of us went away in thirty-one canoes, rowing towards the harbour of Realejo. We had fair weather and little wind till 2 o'clock in the afternoon; then we had a tornado from the shore, with much thunder, lightning, and rain, and such a gust of wind that we were all like to be foundered. In this extremity we put right afore the wind, every canoe's crew making what shift they could to avoid the threatening danger. The small canoes, being most light and buoyant, mounted nimbly over the surges; but the great heavy canoes lay like logs in the seas, ready to be swallowed by every foaming billow. Some of our canoes were half full of water, yet kept two men constantly heaving it out. The fierceness of the wind continued about half-an-hour, and abated by degrees; and as the wind died away, so the fury of the sea abated; for in all hot countries, as I have observed, the sea is soon raised by the wind, and as soon down again when the wind is gone: and therefore it is a proverb among the seamen, "Up wind, up sea: down wind, down sea. At 7 o'clock in the evening it was quite calm, and the sea as smooth as a millpond. Then we tugged to get into the shore, but finding we could not do it before day, we rowed 1685.] THE CITY OF off again, to keep ourselves out of sight. By the time it was day, we were five leagues from the land, which we thought was far enough off shore. Here we intended to lie till the evening; but at 3 o'clock in the afternoon we had another tornado more fierce than that which we had the day before. This put us in greater peril of our lives, but did not last so long. As soon as the violence of the tornado was over, we rowed in for the shore, and entered the harbour in the night. The creek which leads towards Leon lies on the SE. side of the harbour. Our pilot being very well acquainted here, carried us into the mouth of it, but could carry us no farther till day, because it is but a small creek, and there are other creeks like it. The next morning as soon as it was light, we rowed into the creek, which is very narrow; the land on both sides lying so low, that every tide it is overflown with the sea. This sort of land produces red mangrove trees, which are here so plentiful and thick that there is no passing through them. Beyond these mangroves, on the firm land close by the side of the river, the Spaniards have built a breastwork purposely to hinder an enemy from landing. When we came in sight of the breastwork we rowed as fast as we could to get ashore; the noise of our oars alarmed the Indians who were set to watch; and presently they ran away towards the city of Leon to give notice of our approach. We landed as soon as we could, and marched after them: 470 men were drawn out to march to the town, and I was left with fifty-nine men more to stay and guard the canoes till their return. [The city of Leon, twenty miles up the country, is here described as surrounded with long grassy savannahs, and clumps of high woods. It was thought at the time by some to be the pleasantest place in all America, and the paradise of the Indies. The wealth of the place consisted in the pastures, cattle, and plantations of sugar.] Our men were now marching to Leon; they went from the canoes about 8 o'clock. Captain Townley with eighty of the briskest men marched before, Captain Swan with 100 men marched next, Captain Davis with 170 men marched next, and Captain Knight brought up the rear. Captain Townley, who was near two miles ahead of the rest, met about seventy horsemen four miles before he came to the city, but they never stood him. About 3 o'clock Captain Townley only with his eighty men entered the town, and was briskly charged in a broad street by 170 or 200 Spanish horsemen; but two or three of their leaders being knocked down, the rest fled. Their foot consisted of about 500 men, which were drawn up in the Parade; for the Spaniards in these parts make a large square in every town, though the town itself be small. This square is called the Parade; commonly the church makes one side of it, and the gentlemen's houses with their gal leries about them another. But the foot also, seeing their horse retire, left an empty city to Captain Townley, beginning to save themselves by flight. Captain Swan came in about 4 o'clock, Captain Davis with his men about five, and Captain Knight, with as many men as he could encourage to march, came in about six, but he left many men tired on the road; these, as is usual, came dropping in one or two at a time, as they were able. The next morning the Spaniards killed one of our tired men. He was a stout old greyheaded man, aged about eightyfour, who had served under Öliver in the time of the Irish Rebellion; after which he was at Jamaica, and had followed privateering ever since. He would not accept of the offer our men made him to tarry ashore, but said he would venture as far as the best of them; and when surrounded by the Spaniards he refused to take quarter, but discharged his gun amongst them, keeping a pistol still charged; so they shot him dead at a distance. His name was Swan. He was a very merry, hearty old man, and always used to declare 1 the harbour of Realejo, and in the afternoon our ships came thither to an anchor. The creek that leads to Realejo lies from the NW. part of the harbour, and runs in northerly. It is about two leagues from the island in the harbour's mouth to the town; two-thirds of the way it is broad, then you enter a narrow deep creek bordered on both sides with red mangrove trees, whose limbs reach almost from one side to the other. A mile from the mouth of the creek it turns away west. There the Spaniards have made a very strong breastwork, fronting towards the mouth of the creek, in which were placed 100 soldiers to hinder us from landing; and twenty yards below that breastwork there was a chain of great trees placed across the creek, so that ten men could have kept off 500 or 1000. When we came in sight of the breastwork we fired but two guns, and they all ran away; and we were afterwards near half-an-hour cutting the boom or chain. Here we landed, and marched to the town of Riolexo or Realejo, which is about a mile from hence. This town stands on a plain by a small river. It is a pretty large town, with three churches and an hospital that hath a fine garden be he would never take quarter. But they took Mr Smith, who was tired also; he was a merchant belonging to Captain Swan; and being carried before the Governor of Leon, was known by a Mulatto woman that waited on him. Mr Smith had lived many years in the Canaries, and could speak and write very good Spanish; and it was there this Mulatto woman remembered him. He, being examined how many men we were, said 1000 at the city and 500 at the canoes; which made well for us at the canoes, who straggling about every day might easily have been destroyed. But this so daunted the Governor, that he did never offer to molest our men, although he had with him above 1000 men, as Mr Smith guessed. He sent in a flag of truce about noon, pretending to ransom the town rather than let it be burnt; but our captains demanded 300,000 pieces of eight for its ransom, and as much provision as would victual 1000 men four months, and Mr Smith to be ransomed for some of their prisoners; but the Spaniards did not intend to ransom the town, but only capitulated day after day to prolong time till they had got more men. Our captains therefore, considering the distance that they were from the canoes, resolved to be march-longing to it, besides many large fair ing down. The 14th, in the morning, they ordered the city to be set on fire, which was presently done, and then they came away; but they took more time in coming down than in going up. The 15th, in the morning, the Spaniards sent in Mr Smith, and had a gentlewoman in exchange. Then our captains sent a letter to the Governor, to acquaint him that they intended next to visit Realejo, and desired to meet him there; they also released a gentleman on his promise of paying 150 beeves for his ransom, and to deliver them to us at Realejo; and the same day our men came to their canoes, where having stayed all night, the next morning we all entered our canoes, and came to 1 Professing his desire. 2 houses; they all stand at a good dis- The 2 The chief trade of Realejo was in pitch, tar, and cordage, with the produce of their sugar-works and estantions or beef-farms. They stayed from the 17th to the 24th helping themselves to the produce of the country; when on leaving, some of the more mischievous of the crew set on fire the town, which they left burning. THE TRADE OF GUATEMALA. 1685.] fruits, as guavas,1 pine-apples, melons, and prickly pears. The 25th, Captain Davis and Captain Swan broke off consortships, for Captain Davis was minded to return again on the coast of Peru, but Captain Swan desired to go farther to the westward. I had till this time been with Captain Davis, but now left him and went aboard of Captain Swan. It was not from any dislike to my old Captain, but to get some knowledge of the northern parts of this continent of Mexico; and I knew that Captain Swan determined to coast it as far north as he thought convenient, and then pass over for the East Indies, which was a way very agreeable to my inclination. Captain Townley, with his two barks, was resolved to keep us company; but Captain Knight and Captaia Harris followed Captain Davis. The 27th, in the morning, Captain Davis, with his ships, went out of the harbour, having a fresh land-wind. They were in company, Captain Davis's ship, with Captain Harris in her, Captain Davis's bark and fireship, and Captain Knight in his own ship, in all four sail. Captain Swan took his last farewell of him by firing fifteen guns, and he fired eleven in return of the civility. [While lying here, they were visited by a malignant fever, of which several of the men died. On the 3d September, all their prisoners and pilots were turned ashore, they being unacquainted with the coast farther westward. The same day they steered westward, meeting with a severe storm in the passage.] We had kept at a good distance off The guava grows on a hard scrubbed shrub, is a fruit much like a pear, with a thin rind, and full of small seeds. It is one of the few West Indian fruits which may be eaten while still green. The prickly pear, according to Dampier, thrives best in barren sandy ground near the sea, the fruit being "as big as a large plum, small near the leaf, and big towards the top, where it opens like a medlar." 203 shore, and saw no land till the 14th day; but then being in Lat. 12° 50′, the volcano of Guatemala appeared in sight. This is a very high mountain with two peaks or heads appearing like two sugar-loaves. It often belches forth flames of fire and smoke from between the two heads, and this, as the Spaniards do report, happens chiefly in tempestuous weather. It is called so from the city of Guatemala, which stands near the foot of it, about eight leagues from the South Sea, and by report, forty or fifty leagues from the Gulf of Amatique in the Bay of Honduras in the North Seas. This city is famous for many rich commodities that are produced thereabouts, some almost peculiar to this country and yearly sent into Europe, especially four rich dyesindigo, otta or anatta, silvester, and cochineal. Indigo is made of an herb which grows a foot and a half or two feet high, full of small branches, and the branches full of leaves resembling the leaves which grow on flax, but more thick and substantial. They cut this herb or shrub and cast it into a large cistern made in the ground for that purpose, which is half full of water. The indigo stalk or herb remains in the water till all the leaves, and I think the skin, the rind or bark, rot off and in a manner dissolve; but if any of the leaves should stick fast, they force them off by much labour, tossing and tumbling the mass in the water till all the pulpy substance is dissolved. Then the shrub, or woody part, is taken out, and the water, which is like ink, being disturbed no more, settles, and the indigo falls to the bottom of the cistern like mud. When it is thus settled they draw off the water, and take the mud and lay it in the sun to dry, which there becomes hard as you see it brought 3 The new city of Guatemala stands to the south-east of the old city about twenty-five miles, and only some sixteen miles from the sea. The old city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1776, but has been rebuilt. |
