278 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



about him, upon which the principal Spaniard crossed himself 

 and jumped overboard. The rest were easily secured under the 

 hatches. The prize was rifled, and one thousand seven hundred 

 and seventy jars of Chili wine, sixty thousand pieces of gold, 

 and a number of strings of pearls, were taken from her. The 

 miserable town, .consisting of nine families, who at once fled to 

 the interior, was next ransacked. A poor little church was 

 robbed of a silver chalice, two cruets, and a cloth with which 

 the altar was spread. A warehouse was forced to disgorge its 

 store of Chili wine and cedar planks. Thus did Drake, armed 

 with the sanction of Elizabeth, Queen of England, plunder a 

 handful of inoffensive men securely anchored in a peaceful 

 roadstead, who saluted their coming with music and with wine. 

 Thus did Drake commit sacrilege in a Christian church, and 

 furnish the mess-room of his ship from the spoils of a Catholic 

 altar. Even Southey admits that, in this affair, Drake deserves 

 no other name than that of pirate. And we shall see that he de- 

 served it equally well throughout his stay upon the coast. 



