22,8 The TOY 
tinuing here, till we faw what might happen, and in hopes 
of meeting with fomething to our Advantage. 
It may not be arnifs to enter into a particular Account of 
fo remarkable a Place as this, becaufe hitherto our Travellers 
have fcafce vouch fafed to take notice of it, as if there was not 
as much Reafon to give Defcriptions of Places where good 
Settlements may be made, as where good Settlements are 
made. This til and of Coiba or iho is almoft in the fame 
Parallel ol: Latitude with Panama , and is about nine Leagues 
in Length, and four in Breadth, cf a moderate Height, 
covered all over with inacceffible Woods, always green ; 
and though it was, perhaps, never inhabited, yet it abounds 
with Papas, Limes, and fonie other Fruits I never faw be- 
fore, ; Which are near as good, though wholly negledled, as 
thofe that have the gteateft Care taken of them in fome 
other Hands in as promifing a Latitude ; from whence w'e 
inferred, that the Soil is fruitful : And, if ever it be inha-^ 
bited, and cleared of the Incumbrances of Woods, with 
which it is choaked at prefent, it might be made productive 
of every thing our beft Hands yield in America. But the 
Spaniards having fo much more on the Continent than 
they know what to do with, and it being Prudence in them 
not to fend away Colonies from amongft them to people 
Hand's, which might weaken their Force on the Continent, 
and knowing they are fecure from the Attempts of an Euro- 
pean Nation to fettle on them, who might, by that means, 
annoy their Coafts, it lies neglebled ; though I cannot help 
thinking, being a very confiderable Pearl-fifhery, it would 
4 ae worth while to make a fmall Settlement here : But the 
Pearl-fifhers, not being able to dive with their Piraguas in 
the time of the Vandevals, which is a black ftormy Seafon, 
for tour or five Months in the Year, beginning about June, 
and ending in November, and being withal fo near the Con- 
tinent, and Panama in particular, which muft be the Mar- 
ket for a Commodity of that Price, they have not yet 
thought it worth while ; fo that all the Settlement they have 
here, are a few Huts fcattered up and down in feveral Parts 
of this Hand and ppuivetta, made ufe of by the Divers at the 
Seafon they come hither, to open the Oyflers, eat, and fleep 
in. The Tandy Beach is covered with Shells of fine Mo- 
ther-of-pearl of all Sizes •, and, in going no farther than up 
to the Middle in the Sea, you may reach large Oyflers from 
the Bottom. This pleafed us at firft, not fo much from 
the Hopes of finding any valuable Pearl in them, as to eat 
them •, but, when we came to make Trial, we found, that 
' Nature had not ordained this Fifh to be at once Riches and 
Food ; for they are tough as fo much Leather, and by no 
means palatable. As to any other forts of Fifh, as we had 
no Seyn, I cannot fay much of them, nor give any Account 
of their various Kinds •, but only take notice, that we ufed 
to obferve a large Sort of flat Fifh, that often jumped a 
great Height out of the Water. Thefe are reported to be 
very deflrudtive to the Pearl-divers; for, when they return 
up again, if they take not great Heed, thefe wrap their 
broad Sides about them, and keep them in their mortal 
Embraces, till they are drowned : Therefore, to prevent 
this, the Divers always carry a fharp-pointed Knife, and, 
upon Sight of any of thefe as they look upwards, they carry 
the Point of it above them, and, by that means, flick it 
into his Belly, and hinder him from his mifchievous Intent. 
There is yet another thing, which muft make Diving here 
a Matter of great Danger, fince the Sea hereabouts is dread- 
fully peflered with Alligators, one of which, fome of us 
fan lied, we faw fwimming under the Water near Point 
Mari at o , which is but a few Leagues from hence. There 
is a great Variety of Birds, and alfo great Numbers of black 
Monkeys and Guanoes, who moftiy frequent the Streams 
of frefh Water. There are fome Guanoes here of an extra- 
ordinary Size, moftiy of brownifli-yellow Streaks about the 
Head, and in other Places grey, with Hack Streaks, &c. 
There cannot be a more convenient Place for V/ ooding and 
Watering in ; for the frefh Water runs in feveral Streams, 
larger and fmaller, on the Sand of the Beach *, and Wood 
grows within lefs than twenty Yards of the Sea-fide. Hav- 
ing got clear of this Place, and nothing thought of but our 
lpeedy Return, we met with flrong Currents againfr us, 
together with contrary Winds and Calms, which detained 
us feveral Days under the Mountains of Guanacho. On the 
15th of May, .a fmall Bark, taking us for Spaniards , bore 
5 
AGE S of Book I. 
down to us. The Mafter of her was mightily furprifed, 
when he found his Miftake ; but foon recovered, when he 
learned we were bound for Panama ; and readily' offered to 
pilot us thither ; but had heard of nothing like a Truce. He 
belonged to, and was bound for, that Port. This Veflel 
was called the Holy Sacrament , and came laft from Cheriqui , 
laden with dried Beef, Pork, and Hogs. He defired I 
would take her in tow, complaining, that the Currents 
drove him off Shore ; fo that he could not fetch the Land, 
tho* he had conftant Sight of it ; and that, by this means, 
all his live Cattle were almoft dead for want of Water ; and 
that fhe was, at the fame time, fo leaky, that his People 
Were no longer able to Hand at the Pumps. Upon the hear- 
ing of this, 1 took her into tow, and kept the Mafter of her 
On board, fending fome of my Hands to aftift them ; and 
fpared them as much Water and Padian Com as I could. It 
may appear ftrange, that this Opportunity of Supplying 
ourfelves with Provifions did not make an Alteration m our 
intended Proceedings ; but every one was fo tired of the 
Sea, fo worn out by a continual Want of all Neceffaries, and 
difheartened by our perpetual Misfortunes, that they were 
willing to embrace any Opportunity of going afhore at any 
rate. Indeed, as to myfelf, I was glad, that this Bark fell 
into our Flands ; becaufe, if we found the Governor of Sanfo- 
nates News to be falfe, we might be throughly enabled, by 
this Help, to go to India. To this End, I defigned to 
anchor a great Way fhort of the Town, and keep Poffeffion 
of the Holy Sacrament , in cafe the Prefident fhould not have 
complied with fuch Terms as I efteemed fafe and honour- 
able ; and then we fhould have it in our Power to redrefs 
ourfelves, by keeping out of their Hands. But, all this 
while, we had not determined who fhould be the Perfon 
intrufted with the Flag of Truce ; for my People, having 
known fo much Treachery afted amongft themfelves, were 
apprehenfive the Perfon fent would only make his own 
Cafe good to the Governor, and not return again. There- 
fore, after all, my Son v/as thought the propereft to go, as 
being fure of his Return, if it was purely for my fake. 
This, and many other Objections, were flarted, that could 
not be fo eafily removed ; notwithstanding we kept on our 
Way, fixed in our Refolution. 
On the 1 7th, another Bark came down upon us, flood 
pretty near us, and then fheered off again. Upon which, 
I fent Mr. Randal in our Canoe, to inform them of our 
Defign •, but they no fooner faw him approaching them, 
than they hoifled Spanijh Colours, and fired. The next 
Morning, we looked into the Bay, to fee if fhe had lain at 
Anchor there all Night ; and, as foon as floe faw us com- 
ing, fhe renewed her Fire, Upon which, at his own Re- 
queft, I fent the Mafter of our Bark, with four' Negroes, 
in a Canoe, with a Flag of Truce, to inform them of our 
Intentions. A Gale of Wind interrupted this Difpute, and 
at laft forced the Canoe we fent on fhore, without Danger, 
I dare fay, to their Lives •, for they Teemed to make this 
their Choice, On the 19th, we faw a Sail a-head of us. 
Handing along-fhore : Upon which, we let go the Bark we 
had in tow, and fpread all the Sail we could ; fo that, by 
Night, we were at a confiderable Diflance from our Bark, 
which had four of our own People, and five Spaniards in it. 
I was for lying-by in the Night, that our own Veffel might 
come up but my Company differed from me, and it was 
carried by a great Majority, that we fhould continue to 
croud Sail all Night ; fo that, by Day-break on the 26th, 
we were within lefs than Gun-fhot of the Chace. I imme- 
diately ordered our Colours to be fpread, fired a Gun to 
Leeward, and fent a Man upon our Poop to wave a Flag 
of Truce; but they, upon the firft Sight of our EngUJh 
Enfign, fired at us, and fo continued to do, with their 
Decks full of Men, hollowing, and abufing us with the 
groffeft Appellations. Notwithftanding this, I made no 
Return, until I came clofe upon their Quarter, and then 
fent one of their Countrymen to the Bowfprit-end, to in- 
form them in Spanijh, that we were bound to Panama ; and 
defired to treat peaceably with them; and hoped, at Jeaft, 
that they would have fome Regard to the white Flag, which 
they faw flying : But Hill they continued their Fire, and 
Bor aches, and Per os Inglefes , i. e. Drunkards, and EngliJJo 
Dogs , was all we could get from them : And perceiving, 
that the more ccmplaifant our Deportment was, the more 
inhumanly 
<i 
