Chapter XVI: Section II

_Transactions on the Western Coast of America_.

The weather moderating, they entered into the great South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, on the 24th February, 1587, observing on the south side of the entrance a very high cape, with an adjoining low point; while, at the northern side of the entrance there were four or five islands, six leagues from the main land, having much broken and sunken ground among and around them. In the night of the 1st March, there arose a great storm, in which they lost sight of the Hugh Gallant, being then in lat. 49° S. and forty-five leagues from the land. This storm lasted three or four days, in which time the Hugh sprung a leak, and was tossed about in this unknown sea, devoid of all help, being every moment ready to sink. By great exertions, however, she was kept afloat; and on the 15th, in the morning, she got in between the island of St Mary and the main, where she again met the admiral and the Content, which two ships had secured themselves during two days of the storm, at the island of Mocha, in lat. 38° S'.[50]

[Footnote 50: Mocha is in lat. 38° 20', and the isles of St Mary in 37°, both S.]

At this place some of the company went ashore well armed, and were met by the Indians, who gave them a warm reception with their bows and arrows. These Indians were of the district in Chili called Araucania, a country rich in gold, and consequently very tempting to the avaricious Spaniards, which accordingly they had repeatedly invaded, but to no purpose, as the natives always defended themselves so valiantly, that their enemies could never subdue them. On the present occasion, mistaking the English for Spaniards, these brave and desperate Araucans gave Candish a hostile welcome. After this skirmish, Candish went with his ships under the lee of the west side of St Mary's island, where he found good anchorage in six fathoms. This island, in lat. 37° S. abounds in hogs, poultry, and various kinds of fruit; but the inhabitants are held under such absolute slavery by the Spaniards, that they dare not kill a hog, or even a hen, for their own use; and although the Spaniards have made them converts to Christianity, they use them more like dogs than men or Christians.

The admiral went ashore on the 16th March, with seventy or eighty men well armed, and was met by two Indian chiefs, who conducted him to a chapel, round which were several store-houses, well filled with wheat and barley, as clean and fair as any in England. He accordingly provided his ships with a sufficient store of grain from this place, and laid in besides an ample supply of hogs, hens, potatoes, dried dog-fish, and maize or Guinea wheat. The admiral invited the two principal Indians to an entertainment on board; and the wine having sharpened their wit, to perceive that the admiral and his men were not Spaniards, as they had hitherto supposed them, they began to talk very freely about the gold mines, saying that the English might procure gold to their full content, by going into the country of the Araucans. But not fully understanding them, as the information was mostly given by signs, the admiral did not prosecute this proposed adventure, but proceeded on his voyage.

Leaving the island of St Mary on the 18th in the morning, they sailed all that day N.N.E. ten leagues. The 19th they steered in with the land, E.N.E. and anchored under an island in the Bay of Conception, in lat. 36° 36' S. The 30th they came into the Bay of Quintero, in lat. 32° 45' S. and next day a party of fifty or sixty men, well armed, marched seven or eight miles into the country. In their march, they saw vast herds of wild cattle, with horses, dogs, hares, rabbits, partridges, and other birds, with many fine rivers, well stocked with wild fowl. Having travelled as far as they conveniently could for the mountains, and having rested and refreshed on the banks of a pleasant river, they returned in good order to the ships at night, without meeting any remarkable adventure; although a party of 200 horse had been abroad all that day in search of them, upon information of some Spaniards who had seen them the preceding day, but durst not venture to attack them, keeping always at a distance on the hills. They had at this time a short conference with three Spanish horsemen, through the medium of the poor half-starved Spaniard they took on board in the Straits of Magellan; but, in spite of his many oaths and protestations never to forsake Candish, he took the opportunity to mount on horseback behind one of his countrymen, and got off.

Next day, the 1st April, some of the English being on shore filling their water-casks, the Spaniards became bolder, and watching an opportunity when the sailors were hard at work, poured down with their 200 horse from the hills, slew some of them, and made a few prisoners. But this glorious victory was soon snatched from their hands by the arrival of a reinforcement of fifteen English, who rescued the prisoners, killed twenty-four of the Spaniards, and drove the rest back to the mountains. After this, they continued in the road till the 5th, and watered there in spite of the Spaniards. On the 5th they weighed anchor, and went to a small island about a league from the bay, which is full of penguins and other sea fowl, of which they provided themselves with what store they wanted; after which they sailed N. and N. by W. in order to prosecute their voyage.

The 15th April they came to _Moro Moreno_, in lat. 23° 30' S. under the tropic of Capricorn, where there is an excellent harbour, made by means of an island, having an entrance for ships at either end. The admiral went ashore here with thirty men, and was met by the Indians, who brought them water and wood on their backs. These are a simple sort of people, living in a wild and savage manner, in great dread of the Spaniards. They brought the admiral and his company to their houses, about two miles from the harbour. These were only constructed of a few rafters laid across upon forked sticks stuck in the ground, having a few boughs laid over them by way of a roof. Their beds were the skins of wild beasts laid on the ground; and their food little else than raw stinking fish. When any of them dies, he is buried with all his arms and goods, as bows and arrows, and even his canoe is laid in the earth along with him. Their canoes, if such they may be called, consist of two skin bags, like large bladders, blown up with quills at one end, and fastened together by the sinews of some wild beast; yet in these they think nothing of venturing to sea, loading them even with great quantities of fish, part of which they have to give in tribute to the Spaniards, the rest being kept to stink for their own eating.

On the 3d May, they came into a bay on which were three small towns, Paracca, Chincha, and Pisco, which latter is in lat. 13° 20' S.[51] They landed here, and took some provisions, as wine, bread, poultry and figs, from the houses, but could not get ashore at the best of these towns, owing to the sea running too high. By this time; they had made two valuable prizes, laden with sugar, melasses, maiz, cordovan leather, _montego de porco_, packs of painted calicoes, Indian coats, marmalade, hens, and other articles, which would have yielded £20,000, if there had been any opportunity for selling their cargoes. That not being the case, they took out as much as could be conveniently stowed in their own ships, burning their two prizes with the rest of their contents.

[Footnote 51: Pisco, the principal of these towns, is in lat. 16° 43' S.]

The 26th May, they came into the road Payta, in lat. 5° 4' S. the town being very neat and clean, and containing about 200 houses. Landing here with sixty or seventy men, Candish had a skirmish with the inhabitants, whom he beat out of the town, forcing them to take refuge in the hills, whence they continued to fire at the English, but would not venture a fair battle on the plain ground. Having possessed themselves of the town, the English marched after the enemy on the hill, and put them completely to the rout, seizing all their baggage, which they brought back with them to the town. They here found all sort of household stuff, together with warehouses well filled with various kinds of goods, and twenty-five pound weight of silver in pieces of eight. After taking away what plunder they found convenient, they set fire to the town, which was burnt to the ground, and destroyed likewise a bark at anchor in the roads; after which they set sail for Puna.

They arrived at Puna, in lat. 3° 10' S. on the 25th of May, when they found a ship of 250 tons at anchor in the harbour. After sinking her, they went ashore. The lord of this island, styled the Caçique of Puna, was an Indian by birth, but having married a Spanish woman, he became a Christian, and made all his subjects follow his example. He had a sumptuous and well-contrived palace near the shore, with curious gardens adjoining, and fair prospects, both to the water and up the country. All the inhabitants of this island were kept continually employed in fabricating cables, such abundance of which are made here by the Indian subjects of this caçique; that most of the ships navigating the South Sea are supplied from hence. This island is nearly as large as the isle of Wight in England, being about forty English miles from S.W. to N.E. and sixteen in the opposite direction. It enjoys a great share in the blessings of nature; for, although it has no mines of gold or silver, it affords every thing in abundance that is necessary to the comforts of life. The pastures are excellent, and are well stored with horses, oxen, sheep, and goats, yielding abundance of milk; it has also plenty of poultry, turkeys, ducks of a large size, and pigeons. The caçique has several orchards, yielding a great variety of fine fruits, as oranges, lemons, figs, pomegranates, pumpkins, melons, and many others; with a variety of odoriferous plants, as rosemary, thyme, and the like. One of these gardens or orchards was planted with the bombast cotton tree, which grows in pods, in each of which there are seven or eight seeds.

The 29th of May, Candish went to an island near Puna, into which the caçique had conveyed all the valuable furniture of his palace, with other things of value. These stores were all discovered, and plundered of every thing thought worth carrying on board the ships, and the rest destroyed. The church also of Puna, which stood near the palace, was burnt down, and its five bells carried to the ships. On the 2d June, the English were attacked by 100 Spaniards, who killed or took prisoners twelve of their men, losing forty-six of their own in the encounter. Candish landed again that same day with seventy English, and had another battle with the Spaniards, who were joined by 200 Indians armed with bows and arrows. The English were victorious, after which they made great havock of the fields and orchards, burnt four ships on the stocks, and left the town of 300 houses a heap of rubbish. Besides this principal town, there were two others on the island of 200 houses each, so that Puna was the best settled island on all this coast.

Setting sail from Puna on the 5th June, they sailed to Rio Dolce, where they watered. They passed the equinoctial on the 12th, continuing their course northwards all the rest of that month. The 1st July, they had sight of New Spain, being four leagues from the land in 10° N. The 9th they took a new ship of 120 tons, in which was one Michael Sancius, a native of Provence, a very skilful coasting pilot for these seas, whom Candish retained as his pilot, and from whom he got the first hint of the great ship Anna Maria, which he afterwards took on her voyage from the Philippine islands. Taking all the men, and every thing of any value from the ship of Sancius, they set her on fire. The 26th they came to anchor in the mouth of the river Capalico, and the same night went in the pinnace with thirty men to Guatalco, two leagues from that river, in 15° 70' N. and burnt both the town and custom-house, which was a large handsome building, in which there were laid up 600 bags of indigo, and 400 bags of cacao, every bag of the former being worth forty crowns, and each of the latter worth ten. These cacaos serve among the people of these parts both as food and money, being somewhat like almonds, yet not quite so pleasant, and pass in trade by way of small change, 150 of them being equal in value to a rial of plate.

They set sail from Capalico on the 28th, the sea running so high that they could not fill their water casks, and came to Guatalco that same night. Next day Candish went ashore with thirty men, marching two miles into the woods, where he took a _mestizo_ belonging to the custom-house of that town, having with him a considerable quantity of goods, both which and their master were carried to the ships. The 24th August, Candish went with thirty men in the pinnace to the haven of _Puerto de Navidad_ in lat. 19° 24' N. where Sancius had informed him there would be a prize; but, before their arrival, she had gone twelve leagues farther to fish for pearls. They here made prisoner of a mulatto, who had been sent to give notice of the English, all along the coast of New Gallicia, and got possession of all his letters. They likewise burnt the town, and two ships of 200 tons here building, after which they returned to the ships.

They came on the 26th into the bay of St Jago, where they watered at a good river, which yielded them plenty of fish, and where they found some pearls. This bay is in lat. 19° 18' N. Leaving this bay on the 2d September, they came next day into the bay of Malacca, a league westward from port Navidad, and a good place for ships to ride in. That day, Candish went ashore with about thirty men, to an Indian town named Acatlan, about two leagues from the road.[52] This town or village consisted of twenty or thirty houses and a church, which they demolished, and then returned at night to the ships. Leaving this bay on the 4th, they came on the 8th to the road of Chacalla, eighteen leagues from Cape Corientes. On the 9th, Candish sent a party of forty men, guided by Sancius, which, after marching through woods and deserts, lighted upon a few families, some of which were Indians, and others Spanish and Portuguese, all of whom were brought to the ships. The women were ordered to fetch plantains, lemons, oranges, and other fruits, in reward for which all their husbands were set free, except a Spaniard named Sembrano, and Diego, a Portuguese.

[Footnote 52: Guatlan is the name of a bay on this coast, and which is probably corrupted in the text to Acatlan.--E.]

On the 12th they arrived at the island of St Andrew, which is very full of wood, and where they found plenty of fowls and seals, together with a sort of serpents, or lizards rather, called _Iguanos_, having four feet and a long sharp tail, which they found good eating. Leaving this isle, they came to the road of Mazatlan on the 24th, lying under the tropic of Cancer. The river here is large within, but much obstructed by a bar at its mouth. The bay abounds with fish, and there are abundance of good fruits up the country. Departing from this bay on the 27th, they came to an island, a league north from Mazatlan,[53] where they heeled their ships, and rebuilt their pinnace. On this isle, they found fresh water, by digging two or three feet into the sand, otherwise they must have gone back twenty or thirty leagues for water, being advised by one Flores, a Spanish prisoner, to dig in the sands, where no water or sign of any could be perceived. Having amply supplied the ships with water, they remained at this island till the 9th October, and then sailed from Cape San Lucar, the S.W. point of California, in lat. 22° 50' N. which they fell in with on the 14th, observing that it much resembled the Needles at the Isle of Wight, which had been before noticed by Sir Francis Drake. Within this cape, there is a large bay, called by the Spaniards _Aguada Segura_,[54] into which falls a fine fresh-water river, the banks of which are usually inhabited by many Indians in the summer. They went into this bay, where they again watered, and remained waiting for the Accapulco ship till the 4th November, the wind continuing all that time to hang westerly.

[Footnote 53: In our best modern maps no such island is to be found; but about the same distance to the S. is a cluster of small isles.--E.]

[Footnote 54: Probably that now called the bay of St Barnaby, about twenty miles E.N.E. from Cape San Lucar.--E.]

The 4th November, putting to sea, the Desire and Content beat to and fro to windward off the head land of California; and that very morning one of the men in the admiral, going aloft to the topmast, espied a ship bearing in from seaward for the cape. Putting every thing in readiness for action, Candish gave chase, and coming up with her in the afternoon, gave her a broadside and a volley of small arms. This ship was the Santa Anna of 700 tons burden, belonging to the king of Spain, and commanded by the admiral of the South Sea. Candish instantly boarded, finding the Spaniards in a good posture of defence, and was repulsed with the loss of two men slain and four or five wounded. He then renewed the action with his cannon and musquetry, raking the St Ann, and killing or wounding great numbers, as she was full of men. The Spaniards long defended themselves manfully; but the ship being sore wounded, so that the water poured in a-main, they at last hung out a flag of truce, praying for quarter, and offering to surrender. This was immediately agreed to by Candish, who ordered them to lower their sails, and to send their chief officers to his ship. They accordingly hoisted out their boat, in which came the captain, the pilot, and one of the chief merchants, who surrendered themselves, and gave an account of the value of their ship, in which were 122,000 pezos in gold, with prodigious quantities of rich silks, satins, damasks, and divers kinds of merchandise, such as musk, and all manner of provisions, almost as acceptable to the English as riches, having been long at sea.

The prize thus gloriously obtained, Candish returned to _Aguada_, or _Puerto Seguro_, on the 6th November, where he landed all the Spaniards, to the number of 150 persons, men and women, giving them plenty of wine and victuals, with the sails of their ship and some planks, to build huts or tents for them to dwell in. The owners of the prize being thus disposed of, the next thing was to share the booty; which ungracious work of distribution soon involved Candish in all the troubles of a mutiny, every one being eager for gold, yet no one satisfied with his share. This disturbance was most violent in the Content; but all was soon appeased and compromised by the candid and generous behaviour of Candish. The 17th of November, being the coronation day of queen Elizabeth, was celebrated by discharges of ordnance, and vollies of small shot, and at night by fireworks. Of the prisoners taken in the Spanish ship, Candish reserved two Japanese boys, three natives of the island of Luzon or Manilla, a Portuguese who had been in China and Japan, and a Spanish pilot, who was thoroughly versant in the navigation between New Spain and the Philippine islands. Accapulco is the haven whence they fit out for the Philippines, and the Ladrones are their stated places of refreshment on this voyage.

Having dismissed the Spanish captain with a noble present, and sufficient provision for his defence against the Indians, and removed everything from the prize which his ships could contain, Candish set the Santa Anna on fire on the 19th November, having still 500 tons of her goods remaining, and saw her burnt to the water's edge.