SAILING FOR THE EAST INDIES. 383 



from here they robbed a caravan of sixty mules, laden with 

 flour, chocolate, cheese, and earthenware. They found and 

 appropriated an abundance of maize, sugar, salt, and salt fish. 

 Dampier, being afflicted with the dropsy, was cured — or, at least, 

 much benefited — by being buried up to his neck for half an hour 

 in the sand in California. A profuse perspiration, which was 

 thus brought on, was the commencement of his convalescence. 



Swan and Dampier were now convinced that the commerce 

 of this region was not carried on by sea, but by land, by means 

 of mules and caravans. They therefore resolved to try their 

 fortune in the East Indies. They sailed from California on the 

 31st of March, 1686. They made the island of Guam, after a 

 voyage of six thousand miles, in seven weeks, having but three 

 days' provisions left, and the men having begun to talk of eating 

 Captain Swan when these were exhausted. They found the 

 island defended by a small fort mounting six guns, and con- 

 taining a garrison of thirty men with a Spanish governor, — this 

 being solely for the convenience of the Manilla galleons on 

 their annual voyages from Acapulco to Manilla. The governor, 

 being deceived as to the character of the ship, sent the captain 

 some hogs, cocoanuts, and rice, and fifty pounds of Manilla 

 tobacco. 



They learned here, from the friar belonging to the garrison, 



BOATS USED IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



that Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, was very fertile and 

 productive, and that the natives, who were Mohammedans, were 



