86 



T H E I S L A N D OF 



feiit out feverai detachments to examine and fcour the country, which 

 meeting with many advanced guards of tlie Spaniards, repulfed them, 

 and brought, ia plenty of provifions both for the fleet and army ; but 

 having ftayed till the hurricanes were over, and receiving no fupplies from 

 Europe, ic is faid, they ^vere obliged to quit the ifland on account of the 

 licknels among their troops. . . , 



S A N T I A G O DE CUBA, 



LIES about 50 miles to the weft of Cumberland h^Lrhour ; is the capital 

 city of Crii^a, and a bithop's fee, although the governor of the ifland, 

 and all the king's officers refide at the Havana, the governor of Santiago is fub- 

 jedl to the governor of the Havana, who is captain general in military 

 attairs. Hence this city is neither fo large, populous, nor flrong as 

 the former ; nor is the refort of fliips fo great on account of trade, which 

 confifts of hides, fugar, and copper, whereof there are rich mines in 

 the mountains but three leagues weft from the city. The harbour is one of 

 the befl: in this part of America ; it runs about fevcn miles north into the 

 land : the entrance for about a mile is fo narrow that only one fliip ca.n .en'^: 

 ter ac a time ; then it widens for about two miles, and then contrails itfelf 

 again; after which it opens again into a fpacious triangular bafon, very deep, 

 and fecure from hurricanes. The water is fo ftill that there is fcarce need of 

 anchors to fecure the fhips which ride here. At the mouth of the har- 

 bour, on the eaft fide, flands the ftrong Fort del Morro, mounted with twenty 

 gunsj and a little farther within, on the fame fide, two batteries; thefirftalarge 

 one, the other fmall : by thefe the entrance may be defended againft a nu- 

 merous fleet ; befides it is by nature fo dangerous, that feldom any but 

 fmall vefiTels frequent this port. The officers fentby admiral Vernon to examine 

 this place, report that there is no anchoring without at/ea, where there is 80 

 or 100 fathom water, with a prodigious fwell ; and when fhips are arrived 

 within half a league of it they are generally becalmed, which is occafi- 

 oned by the land intercepting the wind : there they roll and tofs, unable to 

 help one another, and in great danger of being driven upon the rocks 



that 



