138 The V O Y 
made us a Canvas Pipe of about ninety Fathom long, to 
carry our Water from the Top of the Hill down to our 
Calk, which lay at the Foot of it, we went to work to 
fill our Water, each Man having with him a fix Gallon 
Calk. The Water which we took up was very muddy •, 
and, on the Top of it, grew Duck-weed, as it does ufually 
in our Ditches : At firft we raked the Duck- weed away ; 
but our Doftor perfuading us, that if we took up the Weeds, 
they would mightily preferve our Water, we, according 
to his Advice, took up both Weeds and Water together. 
When each Man had filled his fix Gallon Calk, he carried 
it up to the Top of the Hill, and then poured it into the 
Canvas Pipe, which conveyed it down the Hill into our Cask. 
Thus we employed ourfelves for four Days ; and, having 
filled about twenty-five Tons, which we concluded would 
laft longer than our Vidluals, and got it on board our V effel, 
the next Day, being January 31. 1705. we all went alhore 
to the Plantain-walk ; and, having cut down a fufficient 
Quantity of them, we returned at Night on board our Vef- 
fel, intending to fail next Day. This Evening, two of our 
Men, who had refolved to ftay with Captain Damper , left 
him, and came over to us ; fo that now we were thirty-five 
in Number, viz. thirty-four Engltjh , and one little Negro 
Boy, whom we had taken from the Spaniards. During the 
Time of our watering our Bark, the Men on board the 
Ship belonging to Captain Damper , were bufy in refitting 
their Ship as well as they could : The Carpenter flop- 
ped the Shot-holes, which they had in their Powder- 
room, with Tallow and Charcoal, not daring, as he faid, 
to drive in a Nail, for fear of making it worfe •, and the 
four great Guns, which ufually flood between Decks, were 
put down into the Hold, there being fixteen befides, which 
was more than they had Men to manage-, for there remained 
with them no more than twenty-eight Men and Boys, and 
mofl of them Landmen ; which was a very infignificant 
Force, for one who was to make War on a whole Nation. 
2 1 . W e left the Gulph of Amapalla on February 1 . 1705. 
and Captain Dampier , with his Ship the St. George , at An- 
chor in it. We fleered out between the Gulph of Ama- 
palla and the Ifland Mangera , and many times had not 
above two Fathom Water. We had a fine Gale of Wind 
at North-eafl, which foon carried us out of the Mouth of 
the Gulph. So long as we had been in any of the Har- 
bours on this Coafl of Mexico , we had feldom been allowed 
any thing but Flour, excepting that we ufed to go afhore, 
and found upon the Rocks Store of Conchs, Oyflers, Muf- 
fels. Snails, &c. of which we made many a good Meal. 
But now, being in hopes of getting into a Land of Plenty, 
we bore Hunger with more Patience ; and, indeed, we had 
Heed of great Patience j for now our Commons were lef- 
fened to half a Pound of coarfe Flour a Man per Day, 
with two Ounces of fait Meat every other Day. Our Vef- 
fel was a fmall Bark, with two Mails, of about feventy 
Tons, which we had taken from the Spaniards but, whilft 
we lay here, fhe was fo eaten by the Worms, that fhe be- 
gan to grow very leaky •, and, to add to our Afflictions, 
we had no Carpenter ; neither, if any of us fhould fall lick, 
had we any Debtor, or any Medicines to make ufe of ; 
and, which was worfl of all, we had no Boat to affift our- 
felves, if our Veffel fhould fail us •, for the DoCtor, Car- 
penter, and Boat, were left with Captain Dampier: Yet, 
trailing to God’s Providence, who had already delivered 
us out of ib many Dangers, we proceeded on our intended 
Voyage to India. A bolder Attempt than this, all Cir- 
cumilances confidered, was perhaps never made by fuch an 
Handful of Men j and nothing but a Delire of feeing our 
Country, could have fupported us under it. 
22. The very Profped of the Difficulties that we were 
fure to go thro’, gave us Spirits to provide againil them ; 
and we held, on this Occafion, a kind of Council, in which 
we determined on two Things 5 the firft was our Courfe, 
and the latter was our Allowance. We knew very well, 
that the Wind we then had was only a Land-wind ; and 
that, by running one hundred Leagues to Sea, we ihould 
meet with the true Trade-wind, blowing either North- 
eaft, or Eaft North-eaft Our Bufinefs was then to get into 
the Latitude of 13 0 North, which is that of the Ifland of 
Guam , and then to bear away before the Wind. It was on 
February 2-.- that we determined thefe Points. All that Day, 
AGES of Book I. 
and moft of the Night, was fine calm Weather 5 fo that 
we caught abundance of Yellow- tails, which were fwim- 
ming about our Veffel. This Fiffi is about four Feet in 
Length, and has twenty Fins on his Back ; one middling 
one near the hinder Part of his Head, one large one near 
the Middle of his Back, and eighteen fmall ones, ftretch- 
ing from the large one to his Tail. He has two large 
Fins near his Gills, one on each Side ; and thirteen under 
his Belly, viz. one middling one underneath the Gills, one 
large one near the Middle of his Belly, which goes in with 
a Dent, and eleven fmall ones, ftretching from the large 
one to his Tail, which is half-mooned : He has a very 
large Head, a great Eye, and is extraordinary good Food. 
It is very fleffiy, having no Bone but the Back-bone : 
Thefe Fiffi, when taken by us, looked very white, but the 
Tips of their Fins and Tail were yellow ; and for this Rea- 
fon we called them Yellow-tails. They were very welcome 
to us ; for, whilft they lafted, which was three Days, we 
faved our Provifions, feeding upon nothing elfe but this 
Fiffi. On February 3. the firft Part of the Day, it was 
calm •, in which time, five or fix Turtles coming near the 
Veffel, we caught two of them, which ftill ferved to help 
us, and fave our Sea-ftores, which otherwife had not been 
fufficient to keep us from periffiing. 
23. On the Evening of the fame Day, we had the Land- 
wind at North-eaft, a fine brisk Gale ; and therefore we 
took our Departure from Mount £/. Michael ’, in the Gulph 
of Amapalla \ and continued our Courfe South- weft, and 
South- weft by Weft, till we were in the Latitude of io° ; 
and then, finding we had the Trade-wind, we bore away 
Weft North- weft, according to our former Refolution. 
The next Thing we did, was to make Studding-fails out 
of our Main-fail, and Main-top-fail ; we got our Studding- 
fail up by Day-break every Morning, and at Sun-fet haled 
them down again ; for it commonly blew fo frefh in the 
Night, that we Were forced to fet our Top-fail, and, with 
the rifing of the Sun, the Wind abated yet we always 
had as much as we could well carry with our Studding- 
fails. We continued, during our whole Voyage, to adhere 
fteadily to that Rule of Diet, which we had preferibed 
ourfelves ; and of the Slendernefs of which the Reader- 
will be a proper Judge, when I enter a little into Particu- 
lars. From the third to the laft of February , we fed in- 
tirely upon Plantains, making two Meals a Day, and allow- 
ing each Man two Plantains at a Meal. We then had re- 
courfe to our Flour, of which half a Pound a Day was al- 
lowed to each Man, and every other Day two Ounces of 
fait Beef or Pork ; but the Meat had been fo long in Salt, 
that, when we boiled if, it fhrunk one half ; and therefore 
we concluded, that it would be better to eat it raw, which 
we did, fo long as it lafted, all the Voyage after: But, in 
the Beginning of the Month of April , that began to fail, 
fo that we were forced to have recourfe to Flour alone ; 
which, befides its being meafured out to us in fo fcanty a 
Proportion, as half a Pound to each Man for a whole Day, 
was likewife very much fpoiled, being full of Maggots, 
Spiders, and other Vermin ; fo that nothing but the Ex- 
tremity of Want could oblige us to eat it. It is, indeed, 
furprifing to behold this ftrange Change, and to perceive 
Flour, that a few Days before was white and fine, in a 
manner all alive, the Maggots tumbling one over another. 
On ftriCt Inquiry, however, it feems, this Change is pro- 
duced by the Eggs of Spiders depofited amongft it ; for, 
out of thefe, the Maggots are bred, which fed voracioufiy 
on what afforded them a kind of Nell, till fuch times as 
they became living Creatures. It muft be confeffed, that 
Words very faintly deferibe the Miferies of fuch a Life as 
this *, but then it muft be confidered, that Work makes 
the Time pafs away ; and that the Elopes of accomplifh- 
ing a very difficult Voyage, keeps up Mens Spirits, and 
gets the better of their Apprehenfions of finking under it. 
Some little occafional Affiftances we met with in this long 
Courfe, fuch as fometimes catching a Dolphin ; at other 
times we faw many Sea-birds, fuch as Boobies, Noddies, 
&c. which would come and fettle upon our Veffel, and 
happy was he that could catch one of them. In this man- 
ner we paffed away about ten Weeks ; at the End of which 
we were in a very melancholy Condition, and nothing but 
the Hopes of fpeedily feeing Land, could poffibly have 
