Chap. I. Captain William DAmpier. 
becaufe this Place was formerly inhabited by Spaniards. As 
the Grounds about it are dry and bandy, they bear nei- 
ther Corn nor Roots, but only a few Shrubs. They are fup- 
plied with Provifions by Sea, this being the firft Place, 
where the Ships bound from 'Panama to Lima, and other 
Parts of Peru , refrefli themfelves. jThey have ari excellent 
Spring of frefh Water between the Village and the Sea. Juft 
oppofite to the Village, one Mile and an half from the Shore* 
is a Rock, which proves often dangerous, becaufe it never 
appears above W ater ; but, a Mile within this Roclq is 
fafe Anchorage at fix, eight, or ten Fathom, hard and clear 
Sand. About a Mile Weft from the Anchoring-place, a 
Shole runs out a Mile into the Sea. Behind the Town, 
direblly South of it, a good Way into the Country, Hands 
a very high Mountain, rifing up into the Clouds like a Su- 
gar-loaf •, and therefore ferves for a good Sea-mark, there 
being none other like it on all that Coaft. We returned to 
our Men, who landed, about Day-break, one Mile and an 
half from the Village ; but the Inhabitants, being already 
ftirring, took the Alarm, and fo got all away, except two 
old Women, who, being taken Prifoners, declared, that 
theWiceroy, upon News brought him, that a good Num- 
ber of the Enemies were come over the Ifthmus of Darien 
into the South Seas, had ordered the Burning of their Ships, 
the deftroying of all the Goats in the Ifle of Plata , and no 
mere Provifions to be kept, than for their own prefent Ufe. 
22. We returned the next Day to the Me of Plata , where 
we found our Ship. Here we ftaid, unrefolved what Courfe 
to take, till October 2 . when Captain Swan , Commander of 
the Cygnet of London , a rich Ship, which was defigned to trade 
on that Coaft, came to an Anchor in the fame Road ; but, 
being difappointed in his Hopes to traffick thereabouts, his 
Mien had forced him to take aboard a Company of Priva- 
teers he met with at Nicoya , being the fame we were told of 
at Manta ; for they were come by Land, under the Com- 
mand of Captain Peter Harris , Nephew to the lame Cap- 
tain Harris , who was killed before Panama . Captain Swan’s 
Ship being unfit for Service, by reafon of his Cargo, moft 
of his Goods were fold upon Credit, and the reft thrown 
overboard, except the fine Commodities, and fome Iron 
for Ballaft. Then Captain Davis and Captain Swan joined 
Company by Confent; and Harris had a final! Bark' given 
him. Our Bark, which had been fent three Days before 
cruifing, brought in a Prize laden with Timber, which they 
had taken in the Bay Guiaquil. The Commander told 
us, that it was credibly reported at Guiaquil, that the Vice- 
roy was fitting out ten Frigates to chafe us out of thofe Seas. 
This made 11s wifh for Captain Eaton ; and it was refolved 
to fend our fmall Bark towards Lima , to invite him to join 
Company with us. This done, we fitted up another fmall 
Bark into a Firefhip ; and, October 20. failed for the Ifle of 
Lobos. ' The Wind being very flack, we did not pafs by 
the Point of St. Helena till the 23 d, and the 25 th crofted 
the Bay of Guiaquil. The 30th, we doubled the Cape of 
Blanco, at 3 0 48 ', the worft Cape in the South Seas to double, 
becaufe you cannot here, as in moft other Places, ftand off 
at Sea, by reafon of the ftrong Current, which, fetting 
North-weft, will carry a Ship off more in two Hours, than 
Hie can get again in five. Thus we were forced to keep 
near the Shore, which is not often performed without great 
Difficulty ; for as there are no Land-winds here, it ge- 
nerally blows hard at South South-weft, or South by Weft. 
The Cape is furrounded with white Rocks on the Sea-fide, 
whence, queftionlefs, it has got its Name j and the Coun- 
try near it appears fteep and rugged. 
23. November 2. we lay about fix Leagues off Payta , 
whence we fent feveral Canoes, manned with 1 10 Men, to 
attack the Town, a fmall Sea-port belonging to the Spani- 
ards, at 5° 1 5k built on a fandy Rock near the Sea-fide, 
under an high Hill. It has two Churches, tho’ not more 
than feventy-five or eighty Houfes, low, and meanly built. 
It is like moft of the other Buildings all along the Coaft of 
Peru. They build their Walls with a kind of Brick made 
of Eartn and Straw, dried only in the Sun, three Feet long, 
two broad, and one half thick. In fome Places, they only 
lay Poles acrofs, covered with Mats inftead of Roofs ; but 
fome times they tifed Roofs. The Reafon why they build fo 
meanly, is partly becaufe they want Materials of good Stone 
and Timber, partly becaufe it never rains, which only 
makes them felicitous of keeping out the Sun 5 and thofe 
Numb. 7, 
PI 
Walls, tho s never fo flight and brittle, yet will there hold firm 
for a confiderable time, as they were at firft, being not 
fhaken or mouldered by the Wind and Rains. The Tim- 
ber the better Sort make ufe of in their Buildings is brought 
thither from other Places. Their Walls, as well as thofe 
of their Churches, are neatly whitened, both within and 
without, with very large Beams, Pofts, and Doors, all 
adorned with carved Work, befides good Pictures brought 
thither from Spain , and rich Hangings of Tapeftry, or 
painted Calicoes. But the Houfes of Payta were not of that 
fort, tho’ their Churches were large and handfome. Clofe 
by the Sea is a fmall Fort, which, with Mufquets only, 
commands the Harbour, as another on the Top of an Hill 
commands both that and this Fort. They are obliged to 
fetch their frefh Water, as alfo their Fowls, Hogs, Plan- 
tains, and Maiz, from Colon, a Town two Leagues North 
North-eaft from Payta, where a frefh-water River empties 
itfelf into the Sea. 
24. The dry Tradl of this Country begins to the North 
from Cape Blanco, and reaches to Coquimbo, at 30° South Lati- 
tude, where I never faw or heard any Rain, nor of any green 
Thing growing, either in the Mountains or Valleto, except 
in fome Places watered conftantly with divers Rivers. 
The People of Colon are much addicted to Fifhing, which 
they perform in Bark-logs : Thefe are compofed of divers 
round Logs of Wood, like a Rafter, but in different Man- 
ners, according to the Ufe they are intended for, or the 
Cuftom of the People that make them. Thofe defigned for 
Fifhing are only three or four Logs of light Wood, eight 
Feet long, joined to each other on the Sides with Wooden 
Pegs and Withes. The middlemoft is always longer than 
the reft, efpecially at the fore Part, which ends, by Degrees, 
in a Point, the better to cut the Waves. Thofe intended 
for carrying MIerchandize are made after the fame manner 
and Shape, of twenty or thirty great Trunks of Trees, 
joined together, thirty or forty Feet long. Upon thefe 
they fatten, with Wooden Pins, another fhorter Row of 
Logs crofs-ways. From this double Bottom they raife a 
Raft of ten Feet, by the means of Pofts fet upright, which 
are the Supporters of two thick Trees laid acrofs each other, 
juft like our Wood-piles, but not fo clofe as in the Bottom 
of the Float, and at the Ends and Sides only, the inner 
Part being hollow. In this, at four Feet high from the 
Beam of the Bottom, they lay fmall Poles clofe together, 
which ferve for a Bottom of another Room, on the Top 
whereof they make juft fuch another Floor. The firft Story 
ferves for the Hold, in which they flow Ballaft, and Water- 
calks, or Jars ; and the fecond for the Seamen, and what 
belongs to them. Above this fecond Floor the Goods are 
flowed, as high as they think fit, which feldom exceeds ten 
Feet. Some Space is left behind for the Steerfman, and 
before for the Kitchen, elpecially in long Voyages, becaufe 
they fometimes go 5 or 600 Leagues. They have a very 
large Rudder, and, in the Midft of this Machine, a Maft, 
with a large Sail, like our Weft-country Barges. As they can- 
not go but before the Wind, they are only fit for thofe Seas, 
where the Wind blows conftantly one Way, feldom varying 
above a Point or two in the whole Voyage betwixt Lima 
and Panama. If thereabouts they meet, as fometimes it 
happens, with a North-weft Wind, they drive before it till 
it changes, having nothing elfe to do in the mean while but 
to avoid the Shore ; for they never fink at Sea. Thefe laft 
Bark-logs carry fixty or feventy Tons of Wine, Oil, Flour, 
Sugar, Quito Cloth, Soap, dreffed Goat-fkins, &c. They 
are managed by three or four Boatfmen only, who, after 
they come to Panama, fell both the Goods and Veffel there, 
becaufe they cannot go back in them by the Trade-wind. 
The filhing Bark-logs are likewile furnifhed with Mails and 
Sails, and are much eafier managed than the large ones. 
Thefe get out at Night with the Land-wind, and return in 
the Day-time with the Sea-wind. Thefe fmall Bark-logs 
are ufed in a great many Places in the IV eft Indies, and in 
fome in the Eafi Indies. On the Coaft of Coromandel they 
ufe only one, or fometimes two Logs, made of a light 
Wood, without Sail or Rudder, managed by a Angle Man, 
who, with his Legs in the Water, fleers the Log with a 
Paddle. 
25. The next Town of Confequence to Payta is Piura , 
a fpacious Place, forty Miles thence, feated in a Valley 
upon a River, which difeharges itfelf into the Bay of 
2 B Chirapees 
