PORTER'S JOURNAL. 



159 



which were some whale-line yarns, part of wiiich had been 

 used, no doubt, for the purpose of tying it. Ail these cir- 

 cumstances left no doubts on our minds of their having been 

 carried off by some whale-ship ; and, on comparing the 

 yarns with those we had got from on board our prizes, they 

 were known to be English. I now felt great regret that I 

 had not kept the Georgiana with me until our arrival, that 

 I could have despatched her direct for Albemarle in search 

 of the stranger ; for I could have no doubt of her having 

 gone direct for that place, as this is the common touching- 

 place for vessels bound there, both from a high southern 

 latitude, and from Tumbez, on the continent, where they 

 generally go for water, I was in hopes that she was from 

 the latter place, with a good stock of that article, of whicli 

 we now stood more in need than any other ; and although 

 i was almost induced to consider her as our own, (for I had 

 110 doubts that lieutenant Downes \tould fall in with her,) 

 yet, as^ was not certain that he would be enabled to jojii 

 me here, I had no strong expectations of receiving any im- 

 mediate advantage from the supplies she might bring, and 

 determined to make every exertion in my power to pro- 

 fiure, if possible, a supply from the island. I had heard of 

 a spring in the interior, which could be approached from a 

 beach on the west side, about six miles distant from the 

 ship. To this place I proceeded next morning, taking with 

 me two ten-gallon kegs to make the experiment with, m 

 order to estimate the quantity we could procure from thence 

 daily. We found the spring at the distance of three miles 

 from the beach, and the water, after clearing it out, proved 

 excellent. But it was found to be extremely laborious 

 work getting it down to the beach, as our stoutest men 

 were exhausted after taking down one keg each ; and it was 

 found that each man could not carry any more than three 

 kegs in twenty-four hours, owing to the distance, the bad- 

 ness of the roads, and the excessive heat on shore. I con- 

 cluded, however, on attempting to get some water to an- 

 swer our present purpose, notwithstanding the difficulties 

 which opposed us, and with this view returned to the ship 

 to make the necessary arrangements, and on my way load- 

 ed my boat with some excellent fish. 



On landing at the beach leading to the spring, we found 

 fresh embers, and a tortoise, which had not been killed ap- 



