DAMPIER 309 



cannibalism. But the life in the tropical forest was exactly 

 the life he wanted. There was plenty of money to be 

 got, he says, " if men would be diligent and frugal " ; 

 a phrase which surely suffices to stamp him as the most 

 ridiculous pirate that ever sailed ship ! But, in truth, 

 Dampier cared no more for money than for drink. He 

 went to Campeachy for the same reason that took Wallace 

 to Borneo. He enjoyed the tropical forest as only a scientific 

 enthusiast enjoys one. Taking with him hatchets, axes, 

 knives, saws, wedges, a pavilion to sleep in, and a gun with 

 powder and shot, he studied the habits of monkeys, ant- 

 bears, sloths, armadillos, spiders, and other natives of 

 the fascinating jungle. 



But the logwood-cutter was a pirate out of work. When In the 

 trade was bad, he cut wood and drank rum. When South Seas - 

 trade revived, he preferred to plunder and drink rum. 

 Dampier went, without enthusiasm, the way of his com- 

 panions. They sacked Portobello, getting thirty pounds 

 a man. Dampier does not mention the fact among his 

 " observables." No one ever hated more than he to 

 talk shop. He omits all professional details, not because 

 he is ashamed of them, but because he thinks them un- 

 interesting. If you wish to know these facts, he advises 

 you to read the professional work on piracy by " my 

 ingenious friend Mr. Ringrose." Dampier gets rid of 

 uninteresting Portobello with a phrase : " the first 

 expedition was to Portobel, which being accomplished " 

 and he passes on to tell how his companions, disdaining 

 the dwindling and over-done trade on the Atlantic side, 

 " resolved to march by land over the isthmus of Darien 

 upon some new adventure in the South Seas." 



They followed Drake's way over the isthmus, and 

 tried to follow Drake's way in raids on Spanish towns 

 on the Pacific. But here Dampier's narrative hurries 

 at prodigious pace. And indeed his ingenious friend 

 Mr. Ringrose has a poor story to tell. The attacks were 

 muddled, and failed. They got as far as the island of 

 Juan Fernandez ; the island which gave Defoe, who got 

 all that was worth getting from pirate-stories, the suggestion 



