Read Ebook: A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume 11 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation Discovery and Commerce by Sea and Land from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Kerr Robert

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Introduction, ? 1. Particulars of the Capture of the Mercury by the Spaniards, ? 2. Observations made by Betagh in the North of Peru, ? 3. Voyage from Payta to Lima, and Account of the English Prisoners at that Place, ? 4. Description of Lima, and some Account of the Government of Peru, ? 5. Some Account of the Mines of Peru and Chili, ? 6. Observations on the Trade of Chili, ? 7. Some Account of the French Interlopers in Chili, ? 8. Return of Betagh to England,

Introduction

Preface,

Introduction,

A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN GEORGE SHELVOCKE, IN 1719-1722.

We fell in with the coast of California on the 11th of August, and as soon as we were discovered by the natives, they made fires on the shore as we sailed past. Towards evening, two of them came off on a bark log, and were with difficulty induced to come on board. Seeing our negroes standing promiscuously among the whites, they angrily separated them from us, and would hardly suffer them to look at us. They then made signs for us to sit down, after which one of them put himself into strange postures, talking to us with great vehemence, and seeming to be in a transport of extacy, running from one to the other of us with great vehemence, continually singing, speaking, and running, till quite out of breath. Night coming on, they were for departing, when we gave them a knife and an old coat each, with which they were much pleased, and invited us by signs to go on shore along with them. On the 13th, we were near Porto Leguro, whence some of the natives came out to meet us on bark-logs, while others made fires, as if to welcome us, on the tops of hills and rocks near the sea, all seemingly rejoiced to see us; those on shore running up and down to each other, and those on the bark-logs paddling with all their strength to meet us.

No sooner was our anchor down than they came off to us in crowds, some off bark-logs, but most of them swimming, all the while talking and calling to each other confusedly. In an instant our ship was full of these swarthy gentry, all quite naked. Among the rest was their king or chief; who was no way distinguishable from the rest by any particular ornament, or even by any deference paid to him by his people, his only ensign of sovereignty being a round black stick of hard wood, about two feet and a half long. This being observed by some of our people, they brought him to me, and concluding that I was the chief of the ship, he delivered his black sceptre to me in a handsome manner, which I immediately returned. Notwithstanding his savage appearance, this man had a good countenance, and there was something dignified in his manner and behaviour. I soon found a way to regale them, by setting before them abundance of our choicest Peruvian conserves, with which they seemed much gratified. They were accommodated with spoons, mostly silver, all of which they very honestly returned.

Having thus commenced friendship with the natives, I sent an officer ashore to view the watering-place; and, to make him the more welcome, I sent with him some coarse blue baize and some sugar, to distribute among the women. On seeing our boat ready to put off, the king was for accompanying her in his bark-log, but I persuaded him to go in the boat, with which he seemed to be much gratified. The remainder of the day was spent with our wild visitors, who behaved in general very quietly. The officer returned with an account of having been very civilly received, and we prepared our casks for being sent ashore next morning. Although, at first view, the country and inhabitants might dissuade us from venturing freely among them, I had formerly read such accounts of these people, that I was under no apprehension of being molested in wooding and watering. The Californians, however, appeared very terrible to our negroes, insomuch, that one of them, who accompanied the officer on shore, was afraid to stir from the boat, and held an axe constantly in his hand, to defend himself in case of being attacked. On the approach of night, all the Indians swam ashore, leaving us a clear ship, after the fatigues of the day.

Next morning, at day-break, our boat went ashore with the people appointed to cut wood and fill our water-casks; and before the sun was up, our ship was again filled with our former guests, who seemed never satisfied with gazing at us and every thing about the ship. That nothing might be wanting to keep up our amity, I sent a large boiler on shore, with a good store of flour and sugar, and a negro cook, who continually boiled hasty-pudding, to serve the numerous guests on the beach. At first the natives remained idle spectators of our labours; but at length, taking compassion to see our few men labouring hard in rolling great casks of water over the heavy sand in the sultry heat of the day, they put forth their hands to help them, encouraged by the particular readiness of their chief to serve us; for, after seeing Mr Randal take up a log of wood to carry to the boat, he took up another, and was immediately followed by two or three hundred of the natives, so that they eased our men mightily. They also rolled our casks down to the beach, but always expected a white man to assist them, though quite satisfied if he only touched the cask with his finger. This eased our men of a great deal of fatigue, and shortened the time of our stay at this place. We even found means to make those who used to stay all day on board, of some use to us; for, when we came to heel the ship, we crowded them, all over on one side, which, with other shifts, gave her a deep heel, while we cleaned and paid her bottom with pitch and tallow.

Having made some stay in California, some account of that country and its inhabitants may be expected; though I believe a complete discovery of its extent and boundaries would produce few real advantages, except satisfying the curious. That part of California which I saw, being the southern extremity of its western coast, appears mountainous, barren, and sandy, much like some parts of Peru: yet the soil about Porto Leguro, and most likely in the other vallies, is a rich black mould, and when turned up fresh to the sun, appears as if intermingled with gold-dust. We endeavoured to wash and purify some of this, and the more this was done, the more it appeared like gold. In order to be farther satisfied, I brought away some of this earth, but it was afterwards lost in our confusions in China. However this may be, California probably abounds in metals of all sorts, though the natives had no ornaments or utensils of any metal, which is not to be wondered at, as they are perfectly ignorant of all arts.

The men of this country are tall, straight, and well set, having large limbs, with coarse black hair, hardly reaching to their shoulders. The women are of much smaller size, having much longer hair than the men, with which some of them almost cover their faces. Some of both sexes have good countenances; but all are much darker-complexioned than any of the other Indians I saw in the South Seas, being a very deep copper-colour. The men go quite naked, wearing only a few trifles by way of ornament, such as a band or wreath of red and white silk-grass round their heads, adorned on each side with a tuft of hawk's feathers. Others have pieces of mother-of-pearl and small shells fastened among their hair, and tied round their necks; and some had large necklaces of six or seven strings, composed of small red and black berries. Some are scarified all over their bodies; others use paint, some smearing their faces and breasts with black, while others were painted black down to the navel, and from thence to the feet with red.

The women wear a thick fringe or petticoat of silk-grass, reaching from their middle to their heels, and have a deer-skin carelessly thrown over their shoulders. Some of the better sort have a cloak of the skin of some large bird, instead of the bear-skins. Though the appearance of the Californians is exceedingly savage, yet, from what I could observe of their behaviour to each other, and their deportment towards us, they seem to possess all imaginable humanity. All the time we were there, and constantly among many hundreds of them, there was nothing to be seen but the most agreeable harmony, and most affectionate behaviour to each other. When any of us gave any thing eatable to one person, he always divided it among all who were around him, reserving the smallest share to himself. They seldom walked singly, but mostly in pairs, hand in hand. They seemed of meek and gentle dispositions, having no appearance of cruelty in their countenances or behaviour, yet seemed haughty towards their women. They lead a careless life, having every thing in common, and seemed to desire nothing beyond the necessaries of life. They never once offered to pilfer or steal any of our tools or other utensils; and such was their honesty, that my men having forgotten their axes one day on shore, while cutting wood, which was noticed by one of the natives, he told it to the king, who sent into the wood for the axes, and restored them with much apparent satisfaction.

Their language is guttural and harsh, and they talk a great deal, but I could never understand a single word they spoke. Their dwellings were very mean, being scarcely sufficient to shelter them. Their diet is, I believe, mostly fish, which they frequently eat raw, but they sometimes bake it in the sand. They seldom want abundance of this food, as the men go out to sea on their bark-logs, and are very expert harponiers. Their harpoons are made of hard wood, and with these they strike the largest albicores, and bring them ashore on their bark-logs, which they row with double paddles. This seemed strange to us, who had often experienced the strength of these fish; for frequently when we had hold of one of these with very large hooks, made fast to eight-strand twine, we had to bring the ship to, to bring them in, and it was then as much as eight or ten men could do; so that one would expect, when an Indian had struck one of these fish, from his light float, it would easily run away with the man and the bark-log; but they have some sleight in their way of management, by which the strength and struggling of these fish are all in vain. There are hardly any birds to be seen in this country except a few pelicans.

When the Californians want to drink, they wade into the river, up to their middles, where they take up the water in their hands, or stoop down and suck it with their mouths. Their time is occupied between hunting, fishing, eating, and sleeping; and having abundant exercise, and rather a spare diet, their lives are ordinarily prolonged to considerable age, many of both sexes appearing to be very old, by their faces being much wrinkled, and their hair very grey. Their bows are about six feet long, with strings made of deer's sinews, but their arrows seemed too long for their bows; and considering that they have no adequate tools, these articles must require much time in making. The shafts of their arrows consist of a hollow cane, for two-thirds of their length, the other third, or head, being of a heavy kind of wood, edged with flint, or sometimes agate, and the edges notched like a saw, with a very sharp point. They made no display of their arms to us, and we seldom saw any in their hands, though they have need of some arms to defend themselves from wild beasts, as I saw some men who had been severely hurt in that way, particularly one old man, who had his thigh almost torn in pieces by a tiger or lion, and though, healed, it was frightfully scarred. The women commonly go into the woods with bows and arrows in search of game, while the men are chiefly occupied in fishing. I can say nothing respecting their government, except that it did not seem any way strict or rigorous. When the king appeared in public, he was usually attended by many couples, or men walking hand in hand, two and two together. On the first morning of our arrival, he was seen in this manner coming out of a wood, and noticing one of my officers cutting down a tree, whom he judged to be better than ordinary, by having silver lace on his waistcoat, be shewed both his authority and civility at the same time, by ordering one of his attendants to take the axe and work in his stead.

One day while we were there, a prodigious flat fish was seen basking in the sun on the surface of the water near the shore, on which twelve Indians swam off and surrounded him. Finding himself disturbed, the fish dived, and they after him, but he escaped from them at this time. He appeared again in about an hour, when sixteen or seventeen Indians swam off and encompassed him; and, by continually tormenting him, drove, him insensibly ashore. On grounding, the force with which he struck the ground with his fins is not to be expressed, neither can I describe the agility with which the Indians strove to dispatch him, lest the surf should set him again afloat, which they at length accomplished with the help of a dagger lent them by Mr Randal. They then cut him into pieces, which were distributed among all who stood by. This fish, though of the flat kind, was very thick, and had a large hideous mouth, being fourteen or fifteen feet broad, but not quite so much in length.

On the 18th August, 1721, we set sail from Porto Leguro, bound for Canton in China, as a likely place for meeting with some English ships, in which we might procure a passage home. Considering the length of the voyage before us, our ship was in a very bad condition, as her sails and rigging were so old and rotten, that if any accident had befallen our masts or sails, we had been reduced to extreme distress and danger, having no change either of sails or ropes; but ours being a case of necessity, we had to run all hazards, and to endeavour, by the utmost attention, to guard against deficiencies which could not be supplied. Having already overcome many difficulties, seemingly insurmountable in prospect, we were full of hope to get over these also, and the pleasing expectation of revisiting our native shores gave us spirits to encounter this tedious navigation in so weak and comfortless a condition. We were now so weakly manned, that we could scarcely have been able to navigate our vessel without the assistance of the negroes, not amounting now to thirty whites, so much had our crew been reduced by untoward accidents.

We discovered an island on the 21st, 110 leagues W.S.W. from Cape St Lucas, but as the wind blew fresh, I could not get nearer than two leagues, and did not think proper to lose time in laying-to in the night. It seemed seven or eight leagues in circumference, having a large bay on its S.W. side, in the middle of which was a high rock. My people named this Shelvocke's island. From hence we shelved, down to the latitude of 13? N. but were stopped two or three days by westerly winds, which we did not expect in this sea, especially as being now five or six hundred leagues from the land. The trade-wind again returning, we kept in the parallel of 13? N. except when we judged that we were near the shoals of St Bartholomew, and then haled a degree more to the north, and so continued for sixty or seventy leagues. A fortnight after leaving California, my people, who had hitherto enjoyed uninterrupted health, began to be afflicted with sickness, particularly affecting their stomachs, owing doubtless to the great quantities of sweetmeats they were continually devouring, and also to oar common food, chiefly composed of puddings made of coarse flour and sweetmeats, mixed up with sea-water, together with jerked beef, most of which was destroyed by ants, cockroaches, and other vermin. We could not afford to boil the kettle once in the whole passage with fresh water, so that the crew became reduced to a very melancholy state by scurvy and other distempers. The sickness increased upon us every day, so that we once buried two in one day, the armourer and carpenter's, mate, besides whom the carpenter, gunner, and several others died, together with some of our best negroes.

The greatest part of my remaining people were disabled, and our ship very leaky; and to add to our misfortunes, one of our pumps split and became useless. Under these unhappy circumstances, we pushed forwards with favourable gales till within 80 leagues of Guam, one of the Ladrones, when we encountered dismal weather and tempestuous winds, veering round the compass. This was the more frightful, as we were unable to help ourselves, not above six or seven, being able for duty, though necessity obliged even those who were extremely low and weak to lend what help they could. In the boisterous sea raised by these gales, our ship so laboured that the knee of her head, and her whole beak-head, became loose, so that the boltsprit fetched away and played with every motion of the ship, and so continued all the rest of the time we were at sea. For some time our main-mast stood without larboard shrouds, till we could unlay our best cable to make more, having knotted and spliced the old shrouds till our labour was in vain. In the midst of these difficulties, I was taken very ill, and had little expectations of living much longer, till the gout gave me some painful hopes of recovery.

I was much amazed at the incorrectness with which these coasts are laid down, to the eastwards of Pulo Lantoon; as there runs a cluster of islands for upwards of twenty leagues in that direction, which are not in the least noticed by any of our hydrographers, nor have I ever met with any navigator who knew any thing about them. The coast of China, within these islands, is rocky, mountainous, and barren; but, owing to my heavy sickness, I was unable to make any useful observations.

I had not been here many days, when I was deserted by all my officers and men, who were continually employed in removing their effects from my ship to some of the European ships, without my knowledge, I being then confined to bed. My officers were using all their efforts to engage the gentlemen belonging to the company in their interest, and had only left my son and a few negroes to look after the ship, and to defend my effects, which were on the brink of falling into the bottomless pit of Chinese avarice; besides, they and the ship's company had so many ways of disposing of every thing they could lay their hands on, that I found it impossible to oblige them to do what I thought justice to our owners: They all soon recovered from their illness, and they all became their own masters. There were no magistrates for me to appeal to on shore, who would aid me so far as to compel them to remain in my ship; and the officers commanding the English ships could not afford me the help they might have been inclined to give, lest the supercargoes might represent their conduct to the East India Company. And these last, who superintend the English trade at this port, seemed even inclined to have refused me a passage in one of their ships, and even treated me as one enemy would treat another in a neutral port; looking on me in that light for presuming to come within the limits of the Company, without considering the necessity by which I had been compelled to take that step.

When Captains Hill and Newsham came to visit me, they were astonished at the ruinous condition of my ship, and could scarcely think it possible for her to have made so long a passage. The rottenness of her cordage, and the raggedness of her sails, filled them with surprise and pity for my condition. When I had given them a short history of the voyage, and requested they would receive my officers and company, with their effects, they at once said, That they saw plainly my ship was in no condition to be carried any farther, and they were willing to receive us all as soon as we pleased, on payment of our passage. But the supercargoes were displeased that I had not applied to them, as they are the chief men here, though only passengers when aboard; so that I was quite neglected, and the English captains were ordered to fall down with their ships five or six miles below where I lay. I was thus left destitute in the company of five foreign ships; yet their officers, seeing me deserted by my countrymen, kindly offered me their services, and assisted me as much as they could, and without them I know not what might have been my fate, as I was under perpetual apprehensions that the Chinese would have seized my ship.

Notwithstanding my utmost diligence, the business I was engaged in kept me in a continual hurry till the ships were ready to depart, which was in December, 1721: At which time, heartily tired of the country, and the ill usage I had met with, I sailed in the Cadogan, Captain John Hall, in company with the Francis, Captain Newsham; and as the latter ship sailed much better than the Cadogan, she left us immediately after getting out to sea. Finding his ship very tender, or crank, Captain Hill put in at Batavia, to get her into better trim. We continued here about ten days; but I can say little about that place, being all the time unable to stand on my legs, and was only twice out in a coach to take the air, two or three miles out of the city, in which little excursion I saw a great variety of beautiful prospects of fine country seats and gardens, and, indeed, every thing around shewed the greatest industry. The buildings in the city are generally very handsome, and laid out in very regular streets, having canals running through most of them, with trees planted on each side, so that Batavia may justly be called a fine city: But the sight is the only sense that is gratified here, for the canals smell very offensively when the tide is low, and breed vast swarms of muskitoes, which are more troublesome here than in any place I was ever in.

A great part of the inhabitants of Batavia are Chinese, who are remarkable for wearing there their ancient dress, having their hair rolled up in such a manner that there is little difference in that respect between the men and women. Ever since the revolution in China, which brought that country under the Tartar yoke, the Tartarian dress has been imposed upon the whole kingdom, which was not effected without great bloodshed: For many of the Chinese were so superstitiously attached to their ancient modes, that they unaccountably chose rather to lose their lives than their hair; as the Tartar fashion is to shave the head, except a long lock on the crown, which they plait in the same manner we do. The Dutch, taking advantage of this superstitious attachment of the Chinese to their hair, exact from all the men who live under their protection, a poll-tax of a dollar a month for the liberty of wearing their hair, which produces a very considerable revenue.

Names. Quality Number Dollars Eng. of Money. Shares

INTRODUCTION.

It was in the beginning of the year 1720, about the middle of March, when Captain Shelvocke sent Hately and the rest of us to seek our fortunes in the lighter called the Mercury. He then went in the Speedwell to plunder the village of Payta, where we might easily have joined him, had he been pleased to have imparted his design to us. We had not cruized long off Cape Blanco, when we took a small bark, having a good quantity of flour and chocolate. There were also on board an elderly lady, and a thin old friar, whom we detained two or three days; and, after taking out what could be of use to us, we discharged the bark and them. Soon after this we took the Pink, which Shelvocke calls the rich prize. Her people had no suspicion of our being an enemy, and held on their way till they saw the Mercury standing towards them, and then began to suspect us; on which, about noon, they clapt their helm hard a-weather, and crowded all sail before the wind; and, being in ballast, this was her best sailing, yet proved also the greatest advantage they could have given us; for, had she held her wind, our flat-bottomed vessel could never have got up with theirs. About ten o'clock at night, with the assistance of hard rowing, we got up within shot of the chase, and made her bring to, when pretty near the shore. On boarding the prize, in which were about seventy persons, thirty of whom were negroes, Hately left me and Pressick in the Mercury, with other four, where we continued two or three days, till a heavy rain spoiled all our bread and other dry provisions. We then went on board the prize, sending three men to take charge of the Mercury.

Leaving Mr Hately for the present, I proceed to the observations I made on the road, as the admiral was so good as send me up into the country, till his return from Payta. As the weather in this part of the world is much too hot to admit of any labour in the middle of the day, the custom is to travel only from six in the evening till eight next morning. My Indian guide set me on the best mule he had, which did not think proper to follow the rest, so that I led my fellow-travellers while day lasted. The whole country through which we travelled was an open plain, having Indian plantations laid out with tolerable regularity, on both sides of us. This champaign country is from thirty to an hundred miles broad, and extends three hundred miles along shore; and I was travelling to the southward, having the Cordelieras, or mountains of the Andes, on my left hand, and the great Pacific Ocean to the right. As the soil is good and fertile, this land would be as fine a country as any in the world, if well watered; but travellers are here obliged to carry water for their mules as well as themselves. At the approach of night, I was much puzzled to find the way, my mule still persisting to go foremost, being often stopped by great sand hills, and my mule as often endeavoured to pull the reins out of my hand. This being very troublesome, the Indians advised me to lay the reins on the mule's neck, and on doing that the creature easily hit the way. These sand hills often shift from place to place, which I suppose is occasioned by strong eddy winds, reverberated from the mountains.

After refreshing ourselves, according to the custom of the country, with chocolate, biscuit, and water, we were serenaded by the sound of a harp from some inner apartment, of which instrument the artist seemed to have a good command, as I heard parts of several famous compositions, both Italian and English. Upon enquiry, I found that all Don Jeronimo's daughters had learnt music, and sung or played upon some instrument. Though this seemed unaccountable at first, I afterwards found that music was much cultivated in Peru. During the prevalence of the Italian party at the court of Madrid, the last viceroy of Peru, the prince of San Bueno, who was an Italian, brought a great many musicians to that country along with him, by whom the taste for music had spread every where, and had become as good in Peru as in old Spain. I the rather notice this, because, by our being lovers of music, and behaving peaceably and civilly to the inhabitants, we passed our time quietly and chearfully. We were only exposed to one inconvenience, which lasted all the time we remained here: which was, the daily assembling of the people to stare at us. I and my sergeant Cobbs, being used to exercise in public, bore this pretty well; but Mr Pressick, being a grave man, at first hung down his head, and was very melancholy. But he grew better acquainted with the people by degrees, and came to like them so well, that we had much ado to get him away, when it became necessary for us to remove our quarters.

Our lodging while at Piura was in an out-house, which had been built on purpose for accommodating such travelling merchants. Every day, according to the Spanish custom, our dinner was served up under covers, and we eat at the same table with Don Jeronimo; while the good lady of the house and her daughters sat in another room. Any strong liquors are only used during dinner: And I think the only circumstance in our conduct that any way disobliged our good host, was once seeing me drink a dram with the doctor, at a small eating-house; and, as nothing is more offensive to the Spaniards than drunkenness, I had much ado to apologise for this step. Yet they admit of gallantry in the utmost excess, thus only exchanging one enormity for another.

After remaining about six weeks at Piura, our Indian guide came to conduct us to Payta, to which place the Brilliante had returned. When about to take leave, Mr Pressick our surgeon was not to be found, which detained us a day. They had concealed him in the town, meaning to have kept him there, being a very useful man; and if he could have had a small chest of medicines, he might soon have made a handsome fortune. Next day, however, we mounted our mules, and parted reluctantly with our kind host and his family. We went on board the Brilliante at Payta, which had done nothing at sea since we left her, and now made a sort of cruizing voyage to Calao, the port of Lima. I have already mentioned the civility I received from Don Pedro Midranda, who was admiral or general of the South Seas; and I shall here add one circumstance to the honour of Monsieur de Grange, a captain under the general. When taken by the Brilliante, the soldiers stripped us, considering our clothes as the usual perquisite of conquerors; on which that gentleman generously gave me a handsome suit of clothes, two pair of silk stockings, shirts, a hat and wig, and every thing accordant, so that I was rather a gainer by this accident.

Our voyage to Lima occupied about five weeks; and, immediately on our arrival, we were committed to the same prison in which the rest of the ship's company were confined, except Mr Hately, who, for reasons formerly assigned, was confined by himself, and very roughly treated. A short time after our arrival, commissioners were appointed to hear our cause, and to determine whether we were to be treated as criminals, or as prisoners of war. We were charged with piracy, not solely for what we had done in the South Seas in plundering the Spaniards, but for having used the like violence against other nations, before our arrival in that sea, from which they proposed to infer that we had evinced a piratical disposition in the whole of our conduct. Of this they thought they had sufficient proof in the moidores found upon Hately, as they appeared to have been taken from the subjects of a prince in amity with our sovereign. Happily for us, Don Diego Morsilio, the viceroy, who was an archbishop in the decline of life, was pleased to investigate this matter; and finding only one of us guilty, would not sign an order for taking away the lives of the innocent. Some were for sending Hatley to the mines for life, and others for hanging him: But the several accounts of the vile proceedings of Captain Shelvocke contributed to his deliverance, of the truth of which circumstance, there were enough of our people at Lima to witness; for, besides Lieutenant Sergeantson and his men, who were brought thither, there came also the men whom Shelvocke sent along with Hopkins to shift for themselves in an empty bark, who were forced to surrender themselves to the Indians for want of sustenance; so that the court were satisfied that Shelvocke was the principal in that piratical act, rather than Hately. Considering that we had all been sufficiently punished before our arrival at Lima, they thought fit to let us all go by degrees. Hately was kept in irons about a twelvemonth, and was then allowed to return to England. I was more fortunate, as my imprisonment lasted only a fortnight, owing to the interposition of one Captain Fitzgerald, a gentleman born in France, who had great interest with the viceroy, and became security for me, on which I was allowed my liberty in the city, provided I were forthcoming when called for.

Among my first enquiries was into the condition of other English prisoners at this place. I learnt from Lieutenant Sergeantson and his men, who were here before us, that most of them had adopted the religion of the country, had been christened, and were dispersed among the convents of the city. The first of these I met had his catechism in one hand, and a large string of beads dangling in the other. I smiled, and asked him how he liked it? He said, very well; for having a religion to chuse, he thought theirs better than none, especially as it brought him good meat and drink, and a quiet life. Many of Shelvocke's men followed this example, and I may venture to say, that most of them had the same substantial reason for their conversion. It is here reckoned very meritorious to make a convert, and many arguments were used for that purpose, but no rigorous measures were used to bring any one over to their way of thinking. Those who consented to be baptized, generally had some of the merchants of Lima for their patrons and god-fathers, who never failed to give them a good suit of clothes, and some money to drink their healths.

About this time four or five of Clipperton's men had leave from the convents where they resided, to meet together at a public-house kept by one John Bell, an Englishman, who had a negro wife, who had been made free for some service or other. The purpose of this meeting was merely to confirm their new baptism over a bowl of punch; but they all got drunk and quarrelled, and, forgetting they were true catholics, they demolished the image of some honest saint that stood in a corner, mistaking him for one of their companions. Missing them for a few days, I enquired at Bell what was become of them, when he told me they were all in the Inquisition; for the thing having taken air, he was obliged to go himself to complain of their behaviour, but he got them released a few days after, when they had time to repent and get sober in the dungeons of the holy office. Bell said, if these men had remained heretics, their drunken exploit had not come within the verge of the ecclesiastical power; but as they were novices, they were the easier pardoned, their outrages on the saint being attributed to the liquor, and not to any designed affront to the catholic faith, or a relapse into heresy.

The dominions belonging to the Spaniards in America are so large and valuable, that, if well governed, they might render that monarchy exceedingly formidable. In my long stay in Peru, I had the means of examining at leisure, and with attention, their manner of living, the form of their government, and many other circumstances little known in our part of the world, and had many opportunities of enquiring into things minutely, which did not fall under my immediate observation; and of which I propose to give as clear and accurate an account as I can, constantly distinguishing between what fell under my own immediate knowledge, and what I received from the information of others.

The great and rich city of Lima is the metropolis of Peru, and the seat of an archbishop. It is all regularly built, the streets being all straight and spacious, dividing the whole into small squares. It stands in an open vale, through which runs a gentle stream, dividing the city in two, as the Thames does London from Southwark. Calao is the port of Lima, from whence it is about seven miles distant. Because of the frequent earthquakes, the houses are only of one story, and generally twelve or fourteen feet high. It contains eight parish churches, three colleges for students, twenty-eight monasteries of friars, and thirteen nunneries, so that the religions occupy a fourth part of the city; yet, by the quick and plentiful flow of money, and the vast sums bequeathed through the effects of celibacy, they are well endowed. Besides these, there are two hospitals for sick, poor, and disabled; and in which several of our men were kindly looked after. The length of the city from north to south is two miles, and its breadth one and a half; its whole circumference, including the wall and the river, being six miles. The other, or smaller part of the city, is to the east of the river, over which there is a handsome stone bridge of seven arches. Including all sorts and colours, I computed that the whole population of Lima amounted to between sixty and seventy thousand persons; and I should not wonder at any multiplication in this city, as it is the centre of so much affluence and pleasure. Besides the natural increase of the inhabitants, all ships that trade this way, whether public or private, generally leave some deserters, who remain behind in consequence of the encouragement given to all white faces.

The people here are perhaps the most expensive in their habits of any in the world. The men dress nearly as in England, their coats being either of silk, fine English cloth, or camblets, embroidered or laced with gold or silver, and their waistcoats usually of the richest brocades. The women wear no stays or hoops, having only a stitched holland jacket next their shifts, and they generally wear a square piece of swansdown flannel thrown over their shoulders, entirely covered with Flanders lace, and have their petticoats adorned with gold or silver lace. When they walk out, the Creole women are mostly veiled, but not the mulattoes; and, till thirty or forty years of age, they wear no head-clothes, their hair being tied behind with fine ribbons. The pride of the ladies chiefly appears in fine Mechlin or Brussels lace, with which they trim their linen in a most extravagant manner, not omitting even their sheets and pillows. Their linen jackets are double bordered with it, both at top and bottom, with four or five ruffles or furbelows hanging down to their knees. They are very extravagant also in pearls and precious stones, in rings, bracelets, and necklaces, though the value of these is hardly equal to the shew.

The viceroy has a splendid palace in the royal square, or great quadrangle of the city, which seemed as large as Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. His salary is ten thousand pounds a-year, but his perquisites amount to double that sum. And though his government expires at the end of three, four, or five years, he generally makes a handsome fortune, as all places are in his gift, both in the government and the army throughout all Peru, except such as are sent out or nominated by the king. The great court of justice consists of twelve judges, besides a number of inferior officers, councillors, and solicitors. Before this court all causes are decided, but they are too often determined in favour of the party who gives most money. And, though these vast dominions abound in riches, there is not much work for the lawyers, as the laws are few and plain, which certainly is much better than a multiplicity of laws, explaining one another till they become so intricate that the issue of a cause depends more on the craft of the solicitor and advocate, than on its justice. Every magistrate in this country knows that his reign is short, and that he will be laughed at if he does not make a fortune, so that they wink at each other; and, so great is the distance between Spain and Peru, that the royal orders are seldom, regarded, being two years in going backward and forward: Hence arise many clandestine doings. According to law, the king ought to have a twentieth part of all the gold, and a fifth of all the silver procured from the mines; but vast quantities are carried away privately, without paying any duty, both north by Panama, and south through the Straits of Magellan. There are also vast sums allowed for the militia, the garrisons, and the repairs of fortifications, one half of which are never applied to these objects. Hence it may easily be imagined what immense riches would flow into the treasury of Madrid, if his catholic majesty were faithfully served.

One would expect the weather to be much hotter here; but there is no proportion between the heat of this part of America and the same latitudes in Africa. This is owing to two causes; that the neighbourhood of the snowy mountains diffuses a cool temperature of the air all around; and the constant humid vapours, which are so frequent that I often expected it to rain when I first went to Lima. These vapours are not so dense, low, and gloomy, like our fogs, nor yet are they separated above like our summer clouds; but an exhalation between both, spread all around, as when we say the day is overcast, so that sometimes a fine dew is felt on the upper garments, and may even be discerned on the knap of the cloth. This is a prodigious convenience to the inhabitants of Lima, who are thus screened half the day from the sun; and though it often shines out in the afternoon, yet is the heat very tolerable, being tempered by the sea-breezes, and not near so hot as at Lisbon and some parts of Spain, more than thirty degrees farther from the equator.

So deficient are the Spaniards in energy of spirit, that many extensive countries and islands remain unexplored, in the immediate neighbourhood of their vast American dominions, though some of these are reported to be richer and more valuable than those which are already conquered and settled. The first Spanish governors of Mexico and Peru were not of this indolent disposition, but bestowed great pains in endeavouring to acquire the most perfect knowledge bordering upon their respective governments: But now that general thirst of fame is entirely extinguished, and they content themselves with plundering their fellow-subjects in the countries already known. The regions to the north of Mexico are known to abound in silver, precious stones, and other rich commodities, yet the Spaniards decline all conquest on that side, and discourage as much as possible the reports which have spread of the riches of these countries. On the same principles, they give no encouragement to attempt penetrating into the heart of South America, whence most of the riches of Peru are known to come, the mountains at the back of the country being extremely rich in gold; and the regions, on the other side, towards the Atlantic, being inhabited by nations that have abundance of that metal, though, for fear of being oppressed by the Europeans, they conceal it as much as possible.

Of all the discoveries that have been talked of among the Spaniards, that which has made the most noise is the island or islands of Solomon, supposed to be the same with those discovered by the famous Ferdinand Quiros. He reported them to be extremely rich and very populous, and repeatedly memorialed the court of Spain to be authorised to complete his discovery. All his solicitations, however, were neglected, and it became a question in a few years whether any such islands had ever existed. At length, towards the close of the seventeenth century, such discoveries were made as to the reality of these islands, that Don Alvaro de Miranda was sent out to discover them in 1695. He failed in the attempt, but in the search met with four islands, between the latitude of 7? and 10? S. which were wonderfully rich and pleasant, the inhabitants being a better looking race, and far more civilized than any of the Indians on the continent of America. This discovery occasioned a good deal of discourse at the time; but the subsequent disturbances relative to the succession to the crown of Spain, so occupied the attention of every person, that all views of endeavouring to find the islands of Solomon were laid aside.

It is common, both here and elsewhere, for people to complain of the times, commending the past, as if there had been infinitely greater quantities of silver dug from the mines formerly than at present. This certainly may be the case with particular mines; but, on the whole, the quantities of silver now annually obtained from the mines in Spanish America, abundantly exceeds what used formerly to be procured. Those mines which are at present most remarkable in Peru are, Loxa, Camora, Cuenca, Puerto-veio, and St Juan del Oro. Those of Oruro and Titiri are neglected; and those of Porco and Plata are filled up. At Potosi there are a vast number of mines; and those of Tomina, Chocaia, Atacuna, Xuxui, Calchaques, Guasco, Iquique, &c. are all wrought with more or less profit, according to the skill of the proprietors or managers. It is generally believed that the Creoles have a very perfect acquaintance with the minerals, from experience, and with the art of treating them, so as to obtain the largest profit; but, when their utter ignorance in all other arts is considered, their constant going on in the old beaten track, and their enormous waste of quicksilver, one is tempted to believe that our European miners might conduct their works to still greater advantage.

All these mines become the property of their first discoverer, who immediately presents a petition to the magistrates, desiring to have such a piece of ground for his own. This is accordingly granted, and a spot of ground eighty Spanish yards in length by forty in breadth is measured out and appropriated to the discoverer, who chuses what spot he pleases within these bounds, and does with it as he thinks fit. The exact same quantity is then measured off as belonging to the king, and is sold to the best bidder, there being always many who are willing to purchase, what may turn out an inestimable treasure. After this, if any person may incline to work a part of this mine on his own account, he bargains with the proprietor for a particular vein. All that is dug out by any one is his own, subject however to payment of the royal duties; being one-twentieth part for gold, and a fifth for silver; and some proprietors find a good account in letting out their grounds and mills to others.

In reference to these deserts, the following observation occurs to my memory, as having happened when we were on the road to Piura. When we lay down to sleep at night, our mules went eagerly in search of a certain root, not unlike a parsnip, but much bigger, which contains a great deal of juice, and, besides serving as food, often answers as a substitute for water in the deserts. When the mules find these, and are unable to rake them out of the ground with their feet, they stand over them and bray with all their might, till the Indians come to their assistance.

It is not intended in this place to give a description of the large kingdom of Chili, but only some account of the nature of its trade, and the manner in which that is connected with the general commerce of Peru, by which the wealth of Chili is transmitted to Europe. Chili extends in length about 1200 miles from north to south, but its breadth is uncertain. The air is very temperate and wholesome, unless when rendered otherwise by pestilential exhalations, that are most common after earthquakes, to which this country is peculiarly liable. The winter rains are very heavy, during the months of May, June, July, and August; after which, for eight months together, they have fine weather, generally speaking. The soil, where it admits of cultivation, is prodigiously fertile, and fruit-trees carried thither from Europe come to the greatest perfection, so that fruit is coming forward in its different stages at all times of the year; insomuch that it is common to see apple-trees, in the situation so much admired in orange trees, having blossoms, fruit just set, green fruit, and ripe apples, all on one tree at the same time. The valleys, wherever they have any moisture, wear a perpetual verdure; and the hills are covered with odoriferous herbs, many of which are very useful in medicine. The country also produces trees of all sorts. Thus Chili, independent of its gold-mines, may well be accounted one of the richest and finest countries in the world. For instance, the town of Coquimbo, in lat. 30? S. a short mile from the sea, in a most delightful place. It is situated on a green rising ground, about ten yards high, formed by nature like a regular terrace, stretching north and south in a direct line of more than half a mile, turning a little at each end to the eastwards; and its principal street forms a delightful walk, having a fine prospect of the country and the bay. All this is placed in an evergreen valley, and watered by a beautiful river, which rises in the mountains, and flows in a winding stream to the sea, through beautiful meadows and fertile vales.

The trade of this country is chiefly carried on by sea, and at present, 1720, is rather in a declining situation. The port of Baldivia was formerly very famous, on account of the very rich gold-mines which were wrought in its neighbourhood, which are now in a great measure disused. Hence it is now only kept as a garrison, serving to Peru as the fortresses on the coast of Barbary do to Spain, as a place to which malefactors are sent, to serve against the Indians. The trade of this place consists in sending ten or twelve ships every year to Peru, laden with hides, tanned leather, salt meat, corn, and other provisions, which are to be had here in great plenty.

Besides the trade of hides, tallow, and dried meat, the inhabitants of Conception send every year eight or ten ships of forty or fifty tons to Calao laden with corn; besides supplying meal and biscuit to the French ships, which take in provisions there in order to proceed to Peru, and for their voyage back to France. All this were quite inconsiderable for so fine a country, were it better peopled; since the land is so extraordinarily fertile, were it well cultivated, that they only scratch it for the most part, by means of a plough made of a crooked stick, and drawn by two oxen; and, though the seed be scarcely covered, it produces seldom less than an hundred fold. Neither are they at any more pains in procuring their vines, in order to make good wine. Besides which, as they have not the art to glaze their jars in which the wine is secured, to make them hold in, they are under the necessity of pitching them. And this, together with the goat-skin bags in which it is carried from the estancias, gives it a bitter taste like treacle, and a flavour to which it is hard for strangers to accustom themselves. The grasses also are allowed to grow without any attention or industry being employed in grafting. Apples and pears grow naturally in the woods, and in such abundance as it is hard to comprehend how they could have so multiplied since the conquest, as they affirm there were none in the country before.

There is a great trade carried on to all parts of Chili from the Atlantic ocean, by way of Buenos Ayres, whence the Chilese receive some European goods, together with large sums in silver, in return for their commodities. This is perhaps the largest route of Indian commerce in the world, as the road from Buenos Ayres to Potosi is 1500 miles; and though the distance from Valparaiso be not above 160 miles more, yet it is attended with much greater difficulty, as the vast chain of mountains called the Cordelieras of the Andes has to be passed, which can only be done during the three first months of the year, the passes being impracticable at all other times. At that season the merchants come from Mendoza, an inland town about 300 leagues from Buenos Ayres, and travel through the mountains to St Jago. The passage of the mountains usually takes up six or seven days, though only about sixty leagues, and the travellers have not only to carry their own provisions with them, but also the provender of their mules, as the whole of that part of the road is a continued series of rocks and precipices, and all the country round so barren and so exposed to snows in winter, that it is utterly uninhabitable. The remainder of the journey, from St Jago to the mines, and from thence to Valparaiso, is both safe and pleasant; and in this the merchants have nothing to fear, except staying too long, and losing their passage home through the mountains for that season, in which case they would have to remain in Chili at least nine months longer than they intended.

As the policy of Spain chiefly consists in endeavouring, by all possible means, to prevent the riches of these extensive dominions from passing into other hands, so the knowledge possessed by other nations of the great wealth of these countries, and of the great demand for European manufactures among their inhabitants, has excited almost every nation in Europe to devise every possible contrivance for coming in for a share in these riches, and this with such effect, that it is even questionable whether any considerable portion of the riches of the new world centres among the inhabitants of Old Spain. This may be judged of from the following considerations: Even the trade carried on from Spain to the new world is of much greater importance to foreigners than to the Spaniards themselves. For as Spain has few commodities of its own, and carries on scarcely any manufactures, the Spanish merchants at Cadiz have to make up their cargoes by means of purchases from other countries; or rather the Cadiz merchants are mere factors for the merchants of England, France, and Holland, whose goods they send to America, and pay them by the returns made in the Plate fleets. Spain also is a country very ill provided with some of the necessaries of life, and most of the conveniences; so that prodigious sums of the money brought from America have to be yearly exported for the purchase of these.

Besides such drawbacks as the above, to which the Spaniards willingly submit, there are many others which they are forced to endure: For instance, all the negroes they employ in their plantations, in which every kind of labour is performed by them, are purchased from foreigners, particularly the English and Dutch, at a very large annual expence; and, under pretence of furnishing them with negroes, a clandestine trade is carried on every year, along the whole coasts of their possessions on the Atlantic. In the South Sea, however, they were tolerably free from every thing except the depredations of pirates, till the general war on account of the succession to the crown of Spain, which created a new kind of contraband trade, unknown in former times, of which I now propose to give some account.

When Martinet arrived on the coast of Chili in 1717, furnished with a commission from the king of Spain to take or destroy all the ships of his countrymen found trading in the South Sea, he soon had sufficient employment for his squadron and of fourteen ships belonging to St Malo, then on the coast, only one escaped him, which lay hid in a landlocked creek unseen till he had gone to leeward. Although in this he executed the orders of his catholic majesty, and did a material benefit to the British South Sea company, yet he almost ruined the trading part of the Creole Spaniards, as hindering the circulation of money and spoiling business, so that they could not bear the sight of the French men-of-war, though they liked the French merchant ships very much. On the other hand, imagining that they had done essential service to the Spaniards, the French expected to have received at least civil treatment in return, during their stay in these seas. As soon, however, as Martinet brought his prizes into Calao, and the Frenchmen had received their shares of the prize-money, forgetting the ancient antipathy of the Spaniards for the French, they gave themselves extravagant airs on shore, by dancing and drinking, which still more incensed the creolians against them, who called them cavachos and renegados, for falling foul of their own countrymen. From one thing to another, their mutual quarrels grew so high, that the Frenchmen were obliged to go about Lima and Calao in strong armed parties, the better to avoid outrages and affronts. At last, a young gentleman, who was ensign of the Ruby, and nephew to Captain La Jonquiere, was shot from a window, and the murderer took refuge in the great church of Calao. Martinet and La Jonquiere petitioned the viceroy to have the murderer delivered up to justice: But the viceroy, who was at the same time archbishop, would on no account consent to violate the privileges of the church. On this refusal, they called all their men on board by beat of drum, and laid the broadsides of their three ships to bear on the town of Calao, threatening to demolish the town and fortifications, unless the assassin were delivered up or executed. All this blustering, however, could not prevail upon the viceroy to give them any satisfaction, though they had several other men killed, besides that gentleman.

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