Chap. I. Captain Woo 
that, at laft, it laid him on the Floor ; and in this Condi- 
tion he was, when Captain Rogers and his Men quitted the 
Place. A little after, the Mailer of the Houfe returned, 
and found the Dutchman ftretched at his full Length, and 
fo fall, that it was a difficult Matter to diftinguifh, whether 
he was dead or afleep. The Spaniard refolved to make the 
Experiment ; but, firft of all, called in his Neighbours, 
•who advifed him to fecure the Dutchman’s Arms •, which 
being done without any Difficulty, they next raifed him lip, 
and fet-him on his Feet, when, after a little Tottering, he 
opened his Eyes, and began to flare about him, being fen- 
fible that he was not afleep, and not very well fatisfied to 
find himfelf awake, and in fuch Company. His Landlord, 
however, foon fet his Heart at Reft, by reftoring him his 
Arms, and advifing him to make all the Halle he could to 
join his Companions, who were not yet embarqued. There 
did not need many Intreaties to fet the Dutchman forward ; 
he moved with all the Alacrity imaginable, and got fafely 
aboard. If this Story be a little ftrange. Captain Rogers 
adds an Obfervation, that is Hill ftranger, which is, that, 
of all the Men who landed on this Occaflon, there was not 
a Soul, that drank a Cup too much, but this poor Dutch- 
man ; which if true, the Town of Guiaquil had the Honour 
to be plundered by the fobereft Set of People, that ever were 
of their Profeffion. But it is now time to come to the Forms 
of Capitulation, which the Spaniards , as Perfons moll deeply 
interefted in it, defired might be drawn up in proper form •, 
and fo they were, with the Omiffion only ol a Angle Cir- 
cumftance ; viz. that the Place was taken by P orce of 
Arms, which, the Spaniards infilled, Ihould be particularly 
fpecified, to demonftrate, that they had been beaten, before 
they confented to treat ; and to this the Englijh very will- 
ingly yielded, which produced the following Scheme of 
Articles, which fatisfied both Parties, procuring one the 
Money they wanted, and fatisfying the other as to the Point 
of Honour ; a thing no Spaniard ever willingly gave up. 
Contrast for the Ranfom of the Down of Guiaquil. 
* TIT Here as the City of Guiaquil , lately in Subjection to 
4 W Philip V. King of Spain , is now taken by Storm, 
4 and in the Poffeflion of the Captains Dhomas Dover, 
4 Woodes Rogers , and Stephen Courtney , commanding a 
4 Body of her Majefty of Great Britain's Subjects •, we the 
4 Underwritten are content to become Hoftages for the faid 
4 City, and to continue in the Cuftody of the faid Captains 
4 Dhomas Dover , Woodes Rogers , and Stephen Courtney , till 
* 30,000 Pieces of Eight lhall be paid to them for the Ran- 
4 fom of the faid City, two new Ships, and fix Barks ; 
4 during which time no Hoftility is to be committed on 
4 either Side between this and Buna ; the faid Sum to be 
4 paid at Puna, in fix Days from the Date hereof ; and then 
* the Hoftages to be difcharged, and all the Prifoners to be 
4 delivered immediately : Otherwife the faid Hoftages do 
4 agree to remain Prifoners, till the faid Sum is difcharged 
4 in any other Part of the World. In Witnefs whereof, we 
4 have voluntarily fet our Hands this 27th Day of April , 
4 O. S. and the 7th of May , N. S. in the Year of our 
4 Lord 1709.’ 
19. The Plunder we took here, exclufive of the Ran- 
fom we received for the Town, was very confiderable ; for 
we found there 230 Bags of Flour, Beans, Peas, and Rice ; 
fifteen Jars of Oil •, 160 Jars of other Liquor ; fome Cord- 
age, Iron-ware, and fmall Nails ; with about four half Jars 
of Powder; about a Ton of Pitch and Tar; a Parcel of 
Cloathing and Neceffaries ; and, as I guefs, about 1200 /. 
in Plate, Ear-rings, &c. and 1 50 Bales of dry Goods ; four 
Guns ; and about 200 Spanijh ordinary ufelefs Arms and 
Mufquet-barrels ; a few Packs of Indico, Cocoa, and Anot- 
to ; with about a Ton of Loaf-fugar. We left abundance 
of Goods in the Town, befides Liquors of molt forts, and 
Sea-ftores, with feveral Warehoufes full of Cocoa, divers 
Ships on the Stocks, and two new Ships unrigged, upwards of 
400 Ton, which coft above 80,000 Crowns ; and then lay 
at Anchor before the Town. We were alfo to deliver four 
Barks alhore, and leave two here, to bring down the Ran- 
fom. By this it appears, the Spaniards had a good Bar- 
gain ; but this Ranfom was far better for us, than to burn 
what we could not carry off. The Hoftages informed us. 
Numb. h. 
des Rogers. 16T 
that, during the Treaty, 80,000 Pieces of Eight of the 
King’s Money were fent out of the Town, befides their 
Plate, Jewels, and other Things of the greateft Value ; fo 
that it is certain, that, if we had landed at firft, and given 
them no Time at all, we had been much greater Gainers 
than we were ; and I have great Reafon to believe, that 
we might, in that Cafe, have made 200,000 Pieces of 
Eight, in ready Money, Plate, and Jewels ; and yet the 
Place had never been fo poor for forty Years pall, as at the 
Time we took it, there having been a Fire about a Year 
and an half before, which had burnt down bell Part of the 
Town, and occafioned a very great Expence in rebuilding 
it. As it was, we thought ourfelves very happy ; and all 
imaginable Care was taken, that every Man concerned in 
the Expedition found his Account in it ; by which the Ex- 
pediency of the Articles before-mentioned fully appeared ; 
and our People were fo perfectly fatisfied with the Ufage 
they received on this Occafion, that they expreffed the 
greateft Alacrity in the Execution of every Enterprize, that 
was afterwards undertaken. To lay the Truth, this is a 
Matter of the utmoft Importance with Privateers ; for, if 
the Men have the leaft Jealoufy of their being ill-treated, 
fuch Difputes arife, as do infinitely more Mifchief, than the 
Value of what can be gotten by fuch Pradlices. But to pro- 
ceed with our Affairs : When May 2. came, which was the 
laft Day appointed to wait for the Money, and no Boat ar- 
riving, we began to be very uneafy. At length, however, 
a Boat arrived, and brought us 22,000 Pieces of Eight; 
which we received, and difpatched the Boat back again, 
telling them we defigned to leave the Place the next Morn- 
ing, and would carry away the Hoftages, if they did not 
come time enough to prevent it. Weftaid, however, till 
the 6th ; and then Captain Courtney was refolved to depart, 
being apprehenfive, that we Ihould be attacked by the 
French and Spanijh Squadron. I endeavoured, but in vain, 
to convince him, that, as yet, we were not in any Danger 
of being attacked; becaufe it was not polfible, that the 
French and Spaniards could have received notice by this 
time at Lima , and have fitted out a Force fufficient to en- 
gage us. We failed however, and came to an Anchor, 
about four in the Afternoon, a few Leagues before Point 
Arena . The next Morning about two o’clock, we were 
preparing to fail, when Mr. Morel , and a Gentleman from 
Puna , related to our Prifoners, brought us 3 500 Pieces of 
Eight more towards the Ranfom. This put us in fo good 
an Humour, that, in the Afternoon, we difcharged all our 
Prifoners, except the Morels , the three Hoftages, and three 
or four more. The Gentleman, that came from Guiaquil , 
had a Gold Chain, and fome other things of Value, with 
which he bought our Bark the Beginning , which was now of 
no further Ufe. We gave the Captain of the French Ship, 
three Negro Women; Mr. Morel , another; and to moll of 
the Prifoners, their Wearing-apparel ; fo that we parted 
very good Friends. They told us, that one Don Pedro 
Cienfuegos , whom we put afhore at Puna , and who was a 
Man of great Credit, had got together a confiderable Sum 
of Money, and defigned to buy Goods of us ; for which 
Purpofe he would be down in twelve Hours time : But the 
Majority of our Officers would not believe them ; but, con- 
ceiving this to be a Scheme for detaining us till the French 
and Spanifh Fleet came, were in fo much the greater Hurry 
to get away. But, before we proceed, let me give you a 
fhort Defcription of the Town of Guiaquil , as we found it. 
20. Guiaquil is divided into two Parts, called the Old 
and the New Downs ; both of them together confiding of 
about 500 Houfes, joined by a long wooden Bridge, for 
People to pafs over on Foot, above half a Mile in Length, 
with fome Houfes on each Side at a Diftance. It is fituated 
in a low boggy Ground, fo dirty in Winter, that, without 
this Bridge, there would be fcarce any going from one 
Houfe to another : There is but one regular Street along 
the River-fide to the Bridge, and from it along the Old 
Down. Before the Church of Sant Iago is a very handfome 
Parade; but the Church itfelf lies in Ruins. There are, 
in all, four Churches, viz. Sant Iago , or St. James the 
Apoftle, which, as I laid, is deft rayed ; St. Auguftin , St. 
Francis , and St. Dominic ; and before this laft another 
Parade, with an Half-moon, on which fix Guns may be 
planted ; but there were none when we came. Befides thefe, 
2 T there 
