312 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



than sixty days' provisions. Swan told them that the 

 English books made the distance less than two thousand 

 leagues, and that Drake and Cavendish, the last Englishmen 

 who had sailed that way, had done the distance in less 

 than fifty days. 1 " His reasons," says Dampier, " were 

 many but weak." However, they prevailed, and the 

 voyage was made in fifty-one days. Dampier afterwards 

 learnt that the pirates had planned, in case provisions 

 failed, first to eat fat Captain Swan, and then all those 

 who had promoted the voyage. " Ah, Dampier," said 

 the Captain, " you would have made them but a poor 

 meal." Dampier, indeed, had lived on a very short 

 allowance, and even apart from the suggestion of canni- 

 balism thought that his health had greatly benefited 

 by his abstinence. 



At Guam, Swan sought not booty but refreshment. 

 Spanish Governor and pirate captain changed presents 

 and compliments. Then they jogged for Mindanao, 

 one of the islands of the Philippines that had not been 

 subdued by the Spaniards. The idea was to get a commis- 

 sion from the prince of the island to plunder ships about 

 Manila, " for our men, it should seem, were very squeamish 

 of plundering without license." They were made welcome. 

 It was thought that they were a company sent by the 

 English East India merchants to settle a Factory ; and 

 there was disappointment when they explained that they 

 had merely called for provisions. This put great thoughts 

 into Dampier's head. Why not accept the suggestion, 

 and establish an English factory at once ? The natives 

 had long " desired the English to settle among them, 

 and had offered them any convenient place to build a 

 fort in, giving this reason that they do not find the English 

 so encroaching as the Dutch or the Spaniards." Mindanao 

 was an excellent business site. Most, if not all, of the 

 Philippines were rich in gold. The Spaniards would trade 

 in spite of government restrictions ; for " Spaniards 

 can and will smuggle as well as any nation I know." Thus 

 the English would at last regain their lost foothold in the 

 1 In fact, Drake did the voyage in 68 days, Cavendish in 45. 



