THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



repetition of his exploits, he made precautions foolish 

 by rising from height to height of daring, until the 

 very wind of his name cleared the seas before him. 

 His Exploits In 1570, the year after his return in the Judith^ 

 Zlt^^''''"^ Drake was back on the coast of the Spanish Main, 

 where he robbed divers barks of their merchandise. 

 In the following year he cut out a Spanish ship of a 

 hundred and eighty tons from the harbour of Cartha- 

 gena. To provide himself with a convenient retreat, he 

 established a base in the Gulf of Darien, a natural 

 harbour, far from any Spanish settlement. Hither he 

 came in 1572 with two ships, the larger only seventy 

 tons, and with seventy-three men. He entered into 

 friendly relations with the Maroons, or hill-tribes 

 descended from escaped negroes, who shared his hatred 

 of Spain. With his diminutive force he surprised 

 the city of Nombre de Dios, and, if he had not been 

 wounded, would probably have emptied its treasure- 

 house. He planned the capture and sack of Carthagena 

 itself; then, finding that watch was kept for him at all 

 the Spanish ports, he changed his plans, and transferred 

 The Peruvian his operations from sea to land. The yearly produce 

 treasure. ^^ ^^^ mines of Peru was wont to be brought fifty 



miles overland by mule-trains from Panama to Nombre 

 de Dios, and thence shipped to Spain. 'By the abun- 

 dant treasure of that country,' wrote Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, ' the Spanish King vexeth all the Princes of 

 Europe, and is become in a few years from a poor 

 King of Castile the greatest monarch of this part of 

 the world.' It was Drake's purpose to surprise and 

 capture the treasure as it crossed the isthmus. He 

 made his first attempt on the Panama side with eighteen 



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