6$a ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



Paita and the Ifland of Lobes, they took a coaft fhip of great value. The facking of 

 Paita was the laft ad: of hoftility they committed in thefe parts ; for the Englifh com- 

 modore having procured intelligence of the fhort time requilite to alarm Guayaquil, and 

 finding that there had been abundantly more than fufficient, prudently abandoned a -de- 

 fign, againfl which he judged infuperable precautions had been taken ; and indeed had 

 he made an attempt, in all probability thofe fpirits would have been depreffed, which 

 were fo greatly elevated at their fuccefs in Paita. 



After leaving Paita they fleered for the coaft of Manta, where they put the prifoners 

 they had taken in the merchant fhips on board a long-boat, to make the beft of their 

 way to the land ; the fliip, keeping ten or twelve leagues from the fliore ; but many of 

 the failors, negroes, and mulattoes, who had nothing to lofe, volvmtarily entered with 

 them. They now determined to fail for the Philippines, in order to intercept the gal- 

 leon in her return to thofe iflands, and which was to fail from Acapulco fome time in 

 January. This was doubtlefs the moft advantageous fcheme that could be formed in 

 their circumftances. But in this they were difappointed by tlie viceroy of Mexico ; 

 who, from the intelligence fent by the viceroy of Peru to all the ports on the coaft of 

 the South Sea, as well as by expreffes difpatched from Guayaquil and Atacames to Pa- 

 nama, deferred fending the lliip that year ; which the enemy being apprifed of, they 

 burnt the Aranzaza, as they had before the other prizes, and continued their voyage 

 towards the Philippines, where by a long perfeverance in a moft tedious cruize they 

 accompliftied their defign. For the Acapulco ftiip returning when all the danger was 

 imagined to be over, fell in with the Centurion, and after a fhort, though fmart engage- 

 ment, was taken. 



But, to re-aflume the thread of the narrative, to which I hope tKis has been no dif- 

 agreeable interruption. On the fifth of January 1742, I fet out from Guayaquil for 

 Quito, being the very worft time of the year for performing that journey ; and, as 

 fuch, I experienced it by feveral misfortunes. In one of the rivers we were obliged to 

 ford, the two mules which firft entered were fwept away by the current, and that which 

 carried my portmanteau was loft ; and the other, on which an Indian rode and led the 

 former, fwam with great difficulty to the ftiore, and the Indian faved himfelf by hold- 

 ing faft by the creature's tail ; in which manner they were carried near a quarter of a 

 league below the ford. If the travelling up the mountains was not attended with fuch 

 imminent danger, it was extremely troublefome, a fpace of about half a league having 

 taken me up from feven in the morning till feven in the afternoon, the mules, though 

 light, falling at every ftep, nor was it an eafy matter to make them rife ; and foon after 

 the creatures became fo fatigued, they even funk under their own weight. At length 



1 reached Quito on the nineteenth of the fame month ; but had hardly alighted from 

 the mules with the hopes of refting myfelf after thefe dangers and fatigues, when the 

 prefident informed me, that three days before he had fent away an exprefs, with letters 

 from the viceroy, direding us to haften to Lima with all poffible expedition ; and 

 charging him in particular to provide immediately every thing neceflary that our journey 

 might not be a moment delayed. It was therefore no time to think of reft ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, after making fuch provifions as were abfolutely neceflary, I fet out on the 



2 2d of the fame month, and a third time crofled that difficult mountain in my way to 

 Guayaquil, where, having joined Don George Juan, who was included in the orders, 

 we travelled night and day, with a difpatch anfwerable to the governor's impatience, 

 all the towns on the road having received orders to keep beafts in readinefs, that we 

 might not be detained a moment ; and accordingly we reached Lima the 26 th of Feb- 

 ruary. In the meantime, the viceroy had ordered a fquadron of four men of war 



to 



