74 The V O Y 
Treaty with them whatever for the Ranfom of Prifoners j 
and that, if any prefumed to enter the Port of Calao again 
with a Flag of Peace, he would order them to be hanged 
up with the Flag about their Necks. On the 14th, when 
this Anfwer was reported to the Dutch , they refolved, in a 
Council of War, to hang up all their Prifoners. The 
Reafons which induced them to fo cruel a Proceeding were 
thefe : They were themfelves much ftreightened for Pro- 
yifions, and had fcarce any Water left-, it was therefore 
impoffible for them to maintain thefe People, if they meant 
to keep them ; and, at the fame time, they had no Reafon 
to keep them, fince they were to expeft no Ranfom. On 
the other hand, to fet them at Liberty, was againft the 
Maxims of Prudence, as well as the Laws of War, fince 
it could only ferve to expofe their Weaknefs to the Spa- 
niards •, and thereby render them the Scorn of their Ene- 
mies. On the 15. in the Morning, they put this fevere 
Refolve of theirs in Execution, and actually hanged twenty- 
one Spaniards at the Yard’s-arm of the Mizen-maft, of 
their Admiral, in the Sight of an infinite Number of Peo- 
ple who were Handing on the Shore. Three old Men they 
fent in a Bark to Calao, with Orders to tell the Viceroy, 
that fince they had no Quarter to expebf from him They 
were refolved to give none to fuch as fell into their Hands ; 
and that he ought to look upon this, as the juft Effedt of 
his own brutal Mefiage. In the Evening, Cornelius Jacob- 
fon returned with the four Ships under his Command, and 
made a very indifferent Report, to this Purpofe ; That he 
had landed on the 4th near Pifco , with much Difficulty 
and Danger ; that, having marched within Mufquet-fhot 
of the Town, he found it regularly fortified, with a Wall 
round it of fifteen Feet high, and a Garifon of 2000 
Men, befides two hundred Horfe, that were employed in 
fcouring the Country round it ; that he was obliged to 
throw up an Entrenchment for his own Security and 
that, after skirmifhing for fome Days with the Enemy to 
very little Purpofe, he found, the beft Step he could take 
was to embark his Troops, and retreat. He loft in this 
Expedition five Men killed, fixteen wounded, and had 
thirteen deferted ; fo that perhaps there never was a more 
difaftrous Expedition undertaken with fo great a Force. 
29. On the 25th, they hanged, in the Ifland of Lima, in 
Sight of the whole, Crew of the Fleet, a Gunner, who was 
taken endeavouring to defert. It was now refolved, that 
they fliould proceed to Chili , becaufe they had certain Intel- 
ligence of the Situation that Country was in : The Inhabit- 
ants had been in Arms againft the Spaniards near thirty 
Years, having taken from them the City and Port of Bal- 
divia which they kept. The Chileans were, at that time, 
efteemed the moft warlike Nation in America , adting in 
quite another Manner than the Indians are wont to do ^ for 
they raided Armies of 3 or 4000 Foot and Horfe, the lat- 
ter being much fuperior to the Spaniards. With thefe they 
wafted the Country, and then blocked up their Fortreffes. 
Such as were beft acquainted with the Affairs of that Part 
of the World, were perfuaded, that the Spaniards would 
willingly have quitted Chili , if they had not been afraid, 
that the Inhabitants, not fatisfied with their own Liberty, 
would next have attempted the Conqueft of Peru. For 
many Years, all the Recruits they were able to fend into this 
Country were composed of Malefadtors j but, a little before 
the Dutch Fleet arrived, they had been forced to fend regu- 
lar Troops from Buenos Ayres ; and a new Mifchief had 
arifen from thence : For thefe People, finding themfelves 
very ill ufed, and the Service at the fame time very hard, 
had mutinied, and difpoffeffed their Officers of their Com- 
mand ; which had thrown all things into Confufion. The 
Dutch therefore perfuaded themfelves, that if, while things 
were in this Situation, their Fleet appeared upon the Coaft, 
the Inhabitants would join them, and fomething might ftill 
be made of this hitherto unfortunate Voyage but, before 
this could be done, they were obliged to. wait for the Mau- 
rice and the Hope , which, if they had left them, muft have 
fallen into the Hands of the Enemies. The Scurvy pre- 
vailed all this Time in the Fleet, and efpecially in the four 
Ships that had failed to the South, the Crews of which were 
fo miferably reduced, that they had not Men enow to man 
their Shallops *, fo that, all things confidered, they were in 
an hopelels 'Condition, and their Affairs like to grow worfe, 
2 
AGE S of Book I. 
rather than better. But, on 'June 26. a Swifs, who was very 
ill of the Scurvy, took it into his Head to climb up to the 
very Top of the higheft Hill in the Eland of Lima , which 
appeared on every Side a bare Rock. On the Summit, 
however, he met with great Plenty of a kind of Herbs, with 
which he was well acquainted in his own Country, and by 
eating of which he very foon recovered. As foon as this 
was known, there were enow to climb that Rock ; and, by 
this fortunate Accident, the beft Part of the Fleet was faved 
from Death, and, in a fihort time, recovered Strength and 
Spirits. On July 18. there arrived two Spanijh Deferters 
on a Float from Calao *, one of thefe was the chief of the 
Players at Lima , and the other a common Soldier. They 
had, in a Quarrel about a Woman, murdered the General 
of the Spanijh Horfe ; and therefore found it neceffary to 
make their Efcape. They reported, that the Town of 
Calao was completely fortified j that they had fourfcore 
Cannon mounted on their Works, exclufive of thofe in the 
Ships ; and that, within the Place, were forty Companies 
of Foot, and fixteen Troops of Horfe, befides feme fmall 
Bodies of Militia, which were employed to defend the 
Watering-places, in cafe the Dutch fliould attempt a De- 
feent. They likewife reported, that the Maurice and the 
Hope had taken four Ships near the Ifle of Puna , and had 
burnt the Town of Guiaquil , with the King’s Galleon, 
which was upon the Stocks there. 
30. From July 22. to 29. they were continually engaged 
with the Spaniards , who attacked them vigoroufiy, becaufe 
the Dutch , intending for Chili, were very iparing of their 
Shot at firft ; but, when they found, that this gave the 
Enemy Spirits, they afforded them fo warm a Reception, 
that the Spaniards made them fewer Vifits. On Augujd 5. 
in a full Council of War, the Vice-admiral, purfuant to the 
Patent of Prince Maurice , was inftalled Admiral on board 
the Delft, and there received the Oath of Fidelity from 
the Fleet, the Ship’s Company that lay neareft going on 
board firft. The Rear-admiral fucceeded him as Vice- 
admiral ; and Cornelius Jacobfon, who failed from Holland 
with the Title of Counsellor to the Admiral, was now ad- 
vanced to be Rear-admiral. About Noon, the Admiral, 
attended by ail the Shallops of the Fleet, failed towards 
the Orange, in order to receive the Oath of Fidelity from 
her Crew, and Ships that were near her ; which the Spa- 
niards obferving, attacked the Shallops in their Paffage ; 
but were fo warmly received, that they were very foon 
glad to retreat. 
31. The Vice-admiral Verfchoor returned foon after with 
the Maurice and the Hope, and one Prize which they had 
taken. They found three Veffels in the Road of Puna , 
two of which they burnt, and the third they brought with 
them : They afterwards ran up the River as far as the 
Town of Guiaquil, which they found pretty well forti- 
fied, and defended by a good Garifon however, they 
determined to make a Defcent, which they performed 
with the Lofs of thirty-five Men, and afterwards attacked 
the Place. The Dutch Soldiers, overborne by Numbers, 
began at firft to give way but Captain Schutte , who com- 
manded them, defiring them to reflect, that nothing but 
pufhing on could preferve them, their Countrymen, or 
the Ship, he prevailed with them to renew the Attack, by 
which the Town was taken : As they had but two hundred 
Men in all, they found it impoffible to keep the Place 
when they were Matters of it ; and, as they had not either 
Shallops or Boats to carry off their Booty, they found 
themfelves under a Neceffity of burning all the rich Goods 
in the Warehoufes, of which, as it is the Port of the Pro- 
vince of Quito, there were many, and well furnifhed ; and 
then retired with the next high Tide. The Spaniards loft 
100 Men in the Adtion, killed upon the Spot, befides 
feventee'n that were taken Prifoners, and whom, foon after, 
they threw into the Sea, and drowned, for entering into a 
Confpiracy againft them. At Sea they met with contrary 
Winds, which once drove them almcft as far as Aric a.. , 
which they intended to have attempted *, but the Wind- 
changing again, they, with very great Difficulty, rejoined 
their Fleet. The new Admiral hoifted his Flag on board 
his own Ship the Delft , the Vice-admiral removed into the 
Amfterdam, and the Rear-admiral into the Orange . 
32. On 
