L0S6 OF A JAMAICA SLOOP. 265 
Other of the like stories my padrone used to entertain me with, 
and hearing him describe all the islands and coasts in the bay 
of Honduras, and those about us, where we had often traveled 
to and fro for many years, and I knowing the drafts of those 
parts where I had been to be very false, which was the cause 
of the loss of our vessel ; for though our pilot was ignorant, 
if I had had a good draft of the coast I could have preserved 
the sloop. 
" These considerations put me upon drawing a draft of those 
coasts, which will be very useful to masters of ships that may, 
by accident, be driven into those seas, or trade thither, and are 
unacquainted therewith. Having advised with my padrone 
about it, he encouraged it, and said he would give me an ex- 
act account of that part which I had not seen, and supplied 
me with paper for that purpose. In order to draw the said 
draft, I made a wooden pair of compasses and a scale, my ink 
was made with gunpowder, and my pens with the feathers of 
Avild fowl ; with these utensils I drew the draft of the bay of 
Honduras, describing all the islands therein, and the coast of 
the moschettos, which, with some alteration I have made since, 
is a pretty good one. 
" In a day or two after I had finished my draft, our neigh- 
boring Indians came to pay us a visit, and invited my padrone 
and myself to an entertainment, to be the next day at their 
habitations. 
" When we came there we found the fathers of the families 
lying on their hammocks, talking to each other : the younger 
men sitting on mats, and the women attending them; there 
being two or three families residing together, who made a 
small society, they being now altogether, made about sixteen 
or eighteen in number ; some were eating and others drink- 
ing : they welcomed us, and entertained us with broiled mul- 
let ; they generally broil their fish and boil their flesh ; some 
of their favorite wives were sitting by them, and others hand- 
ing about mishlaw, which is a drink they make with ripe 
plantains, in the following manner : They take of them a cer- 
tain number sufficient to make the quantity of liquor they de- 
sign, and squeezing them into small pieces, put them into a 
vessel with as much water as is proper for fermenting it ; and 
after it has remained in the vessel two days it is fit to drink. 
The women that are appointed to serve the liquor about, dip 
the caHbash into the vessel, and take it out almost full, and 
with their hands squeeze the plantains and water together, 
till it is come to a pulp, the liquor running between their fin- 
23 
