The VOYAGES of 
I. 
Years, they made ufe of any Means to improve their Time*, 
and that there were Ways of gaining them fo far, as to 
make them aft very obligingly : Much more he faid, as 
■to the Blindnefs of the Englijh , who had buffered the French 
Pedlars to carry on, uninterrupted, the moft confiderable 
Branch of Commerce in the World, Before he took his 
Leave, he defined me to carry his Ship to Sea with me 
two or three Leagues, and then turn her adrift : The 
Intent of which was, to deceive the Governor, and the 
King’s Officers : And told me farther, That if I would 
meet him at Hilo, which was about twenty-five Leagues to 
the North- weft ward, he would purchafe what little coarfe 
Merchandize we had, which might be done there with all 
imaginable Privacy : The Mafter alfo of the fmall Boat 
-came off upon a Balfe, which is an odd Sort of Embark- 
ation, made of two large Seel-fkins, feparately blown up 
like Bladders, and then made faft, and joined together 
•by Pieces of Wood ; on this he brought off two Jars of 
Brandy, and forty Pieces of Eight, which, confidering his 
mean Appearance, was as much as I could have expedited. 
One Part of his Freight was valuable, which was a good 
Parcel of excellent dry’d Fiffi. 
Captain Betagh , in his Remarks, is very fevere on 
aim oft every one of the Tranfactions mentioned : In 
two long Paragraphs, he defends himfelf from the Impu- 
tation of Mutiny, by abfolutely denying the Fafts Mr. 
Shehocke produces in Support of it. He obferves, that 
Captain Clipperton , during his Stay at the Ifland of Juan 
Fernandez , did every thing that became him, in order to 
fecure the Company of his Confort, by burying a Bottle, 
with Inftruftions, at the Foot of the Crofs he erefted on 
that Ifland ; and if this, by an unforefeen, unavoidable 
Accident, was afterwards difcovered to, and taken away 
by the Spaniards , that was none of Clipperton' s Fault •, 
and, as the Faft was known to Mr. Shehocke before he 
wrote, he ought to have forborne any Refleftions on that 
Subjeft. Then, as to the Attack on Arica, he puts it in 
this Light : The Captain, fays he, went on board the 
Mercury , accompanied by Mr. Stewart , three more Offi- 
cers befides myfelf, and a few Men •, brought the Speed- 
wel and Mercury's Broad- fide to bear on the Town ; he 
began to cannonade it, which really had no other Effeft, 
than to fcare away the Women and Children ; for the 
Men, contrary to our Expectation, affembled on the naked 
Beech, and fuddenly erefted a good Breaft-work of Stones, 
and what Rubbifh they could find, gallantly {landing our 
Fire*, but the Swell giving us fome Motion, we could 
not bring our Guns to bear, fo as to diflodge any of them. 
Mr. Shelvocke , being tired with deftroying his Ammunition, 
fends an Indian Prifoner, under a Flag of Truce, to de- 
mand of the T own what they would pleafe to give to be 
rid of us ; and, though he fays nothing of this, the Indian 
leaped out of the Boat, fwimming through the terrible 
Breakers, which made Landing there impoffible, delivered 
bis Meffage, and returned faithfully the fame Way to the 
Boat, with their Anfwer ; viz. That they cared not a Fig 
for any fuch Borracho , that is. Drunkard, the moft con- 
temptuous Name they can make ufe of. Upon which, our 
Captain called for his Pinnace, and, taking Stewart with 
•him, went aboard in a Pet, but left the reft of us to un- 
moor the Mercury , and carry her out into the Road : At 
his getting into the Boat, the Inhabitants gave us a regular 
Hedge- fire, and three Huzzas, or Horfe-laughs. The 
Number of Spaniards which affembled on this Occafion, 
might be about five or fix hundred. It is certain, that 
thefe Accounts are very different, and yet I am very far 
from conceiving them irreconcileable. Mr. Betagh tells us 
very truly what he faw, and what his Opinion was ; but, as 
to Captain Shehocke' $ Defign, nobody could let us into 
that but himfelf ; and he owns it very fairly ; and, at the 
fame time, frankly acknowledges, that he was d flap- 
pointed, and that the Spaniards behaved in a manner very 
different from what he expefted *, in which his Antagonist 
alfo agrees. We are now to take a View of the Town of 
Arica, at the time thefe Gentlemen were there ; and, to 
be fure, nothing is more ufeful, than fuch accurate De- 
' fcriptions, drawn by Eye-witneffes, becaufe they lhew us, 
how Things alter in that Part of the World, and hinder 
Ppfterity from thinking they are to find every Place in the 
South Seas in the fame, Or a better Situation, than it was 
fifty or an hundred Years ago. 
ii. The Port of Arica , which was formerly fo famous 
for the great Quantities of Plate continually {hipped off 
there, is now much diminiffied in its Riches, and appears 
to be no other than an Heap of Ruins, except the Church 
of St. Mark , and two or three more, which look tolerably 
well : That which helps to make it look the more difcon- 
folate is, that the Houfes below are covered only with 
Mats. This Town, being fituated on the Edge of the 
Sea, in an open Road, has no Fortification of any kind to 
defend or command the Anchoring, they thinking it fuffi- 
cient, that Nature has provided for their Security by the 
great Breach of the Sea, and the rock Bottom near the 
Shore, which threatens inevitable Deftruftion to an Euro- 
pean Boat, or any other Embarkation, but what is con- 
trived for that Purpofe. To obftruft the Landing of 
Enemies, the Spaniards had made Intrenchments of un- 
burnt Bricks, and a Battery, in the Form of a little Fort, 
which flanks the three Creeks *, but it is built after a 
wretched manner, and is now quite falling to Ruin, fo that 
the faid Village deferves nothing lefs than the Name of a 
ftrong Place, given it by Dampier , becaufe he was repulfed 
there in the Year 1680. The Englijh being convinced of 
the Difficulty of landing before the Town, landed at the 
Creek of Chacota , which is to the Southward of the Head- 
land, whence they marched over the Mountain to plunder 
Arica. The Earthquakes, which are frequent there, at 
laft ruined the Town ; for what bears the Name of Arica 
at prefent, is no more than a Village of about 150 Fa- 
milies, moft of them Blacks, Mulattoes, and Indians , and 
but few Whites. On the 26th of November 1605. the Sea, 
being agitated by an Earthquake, fuddenly flooded, and 
bore down the greateft Part of it : The Ruins of the 
Streets are to be feen to this Day, ftretching out near a 
Quarter of a League from the Place where it now {lands. 
What remains of the Town, is not lubjeft to fuch Ac- 
cidents, becaufe it is feated on a little rifing Ground at the 
Foot of the Head-land. Moft of the Houfes are built 
with nothing but Fafcines, of a fort of Flags or Sedge, 
called Fotora , bound together, {landing Endways, with 
Leather Thongs, and Canes, cro fling them ; or elfe they are 
made of Canes fet upright, and the Intervals filled up with 
Earth. The Ufe of unburnt Bricks is referved for the 
ftatelieft Houfes, and for Churches ; no Rain falling there, 
they are covered with nothing but Mats, which makes 
the Houfes look as if they were Ruins when beheld from 
without. The Parifli-church is handfome enough, being 
dedicated to Saint Mark. There is a Monaftery of feven 
or eight Mercenarians, an Hofpital of the Brothers of St. 
John of God , and a Monaftery of Francifcans , who were 
coming there to fettle in the Town. After having de- 
ftroyed the Houfe, they had half a Quarter of a League 
from it, though in the pleafanteft Part of the Vale, and 
near the Sea. The Vale of Arica is about a League wide, 
next the Sea, all a barren Country, except the Place where 
the old Town flood, which is divided into little Meadows 
of Clover-grafs, fome Spots of Sugar-canes, with Olive 
and Cotton-trees intermixed, and Marfhes full of the Sedge 
ufed, as above, to build Houfes. It is thruft in to the Eaft- 
ward. Growing narrower that Way, a League up, is the 
Village of St. Michael de Sap a, where they begin to cul- 
tivate the Agi, that is, Guiney Pepper, which is fown 
throughout all the reft of the Vale; and there are feveral 
fcattered Farms, which have no other Produft but that 
Pepper. In that little Space of the Vale, which is very 
narrow, and not above fix Leagues long, they fell yearly 
of it to the Value of above 80,000 Crowns. The Spaniards of 
Peru are fo addifted to that Sort of Spice, that they can 
drefs no Meat without it, though fo very hot and biting,, 
that there is no enduring of it, unlefs well ufed to it ; and,, 
as it cannot grow 7 on the Puna, that is, the Mountain^ 
coyntry, abundance of Merchants come down every Year,, 
and carry away the Guiney Pepper that growls in the Vales of 
Arica, Sama , Taena, Locumba , and others ten Leagues about : 
whence it is reckoned, there is exported to the Value of 
above 600,000 Pieces of Eight, though fold cheap. Com 
fidering the Smalnefs of the . Place, it is hard to believe 
that fuch vaft Quantities -fhould go from thence •, for, ex- 
cepting 
