Chap. L Captain Betagh* 241; 
appeared on the Main-deck ; a Frenchman aboard the Ad- 
miral, looking out at the Maft-head, cried out, feeing 
- their long Trowfers, Far Dieu , Monjieur , ils font Anglois \ 
they are Englifhmen : Upon this they immediately fired a 
Broadfide into us, with round and Partridge-fhot, by one 
of which Hatley was {lightly wounded in the Leg. 
3. As foon as we {truck our Flag, the Enemy fent for 
all the Englijh on board, and ordered two of their own Of- 
ficers into the Prize. The Spanifh Admiral then bore di- 
rectly down upon the Mercury , and fired into her five- 
and-twenty Guns at leaft, which bored her Sides through 
and through ; but, fuch was the ConftruCtion of that ex- 
traordinary Vefiel, that, though full of Water, there was 
not Weight enough to fink her, and the three Men who 
were in her efcaped unhurt. Don Pedro Midranda , the 
Spanifh Commander, ordered thefe three Men into his own 
Ship, in which he intended to fail to Payta : As for me, he 
gave Directions, that I fhould be fent forty Miles up the 
Country, to a Place called Piura ; and was fo kind as to 
leave Mr. Preffick , the Surgeon, and my Serjeant Cobbs, to 
keep me Company : As for Captain Hatley , and the reft, 
they were ordered to Lima by Land, which was a Journey 
of four hundred Miles •, for that poor Gentleman had the 
Misfortune to be doubly under their Difpleafure firft, for 
returning into thofeSeas after having beenPrifoner fo long, 
and being fo well ufed amongft them ; and next, for the 
Cape Frio Bulinefs, I mean the ftripping the Portuguefe 
Captain, a good Quantity of whofe Moidores were found 
about him. The Defign of the Admiral, in this, was, to 
have that Affair fearched to the Bottom, and the Guilty 
feverely punifhed, without expofing the Innocent to any 
Danger. Here, therefore, I fhall take my Leave of Cap- 
tain Hatley for the prefent, and proceed - to the Obfervations 
I made on the Road, as the Admiral was fo good as to fend 
me up into the Country till his Return from his Cruize to 
Payta , when, as I fhall inform the Reader in its proper 
Place, I again rejoined him. 
As the Weather in this Part of theAVorld is much 
too hot to permit People to labour in the midft of the 
Day, the Cuftom is to travel from fix in the Evening till 
eight in the Morning. My Indian Guide fet me on the 
beft Mule he had, which not caring to follow Company, 
I led my Fellow-travellers the Way till ten o’Clock, while 
Day-light lafted. I obferved the Country one open Plain, 
with Indian Plantations, regularly enough laid out on each 
Side of us. This champagne Country is from thirty to 
one hundred Miles broad, and extends three hundred Miles 
along-fhore ; for I was moving to the Southward, having 
the Cordelier Mountains on the Left Hand, and the meat 
Ocean on the Right. If this Land was well watered, as 
the Soil is plealant and fertile, it might be as fine a Coun- 
try as any in the World ; but Travellers are here obliged 
to carry Water for their Mules, as well as themfelves. At 
the Approach of Night we were puzzled in the Way ; I 
often found myfelf flopped by great Hills of Sand, and 
my Mule as often endeavoured to pull the Reins out of my 
Hand ; which proving troublefome, the Indian advifed 
me to throw the Reins on the Mule’s Neck ; and, as foon 
as that was done, the Creature eafily hit the Way. Thefe 
Sands are often fhifted from Place* to Place, which I take 
to be occafioned by the ftrong Eddies of Wind rever- 
berated from the Mountains. At Night we refted a little 
at an old empty Floufe in a Coppice, about half Way, 
which the Guide told us was built by the Inhabitants of 
Piura , for the Accommodation of the Prince St. Bueno , 
Viceroy of Peru , when they met him at his Entrance on 
his Government, and regaled him. At feven in the Morn- 
ing we arrived at Piura, being an handfome regular Town 
fituate on the Banks of the River Collan. The Indian 
conducted us to the Houle ol an honeft Spanifh Gent]eman 5 
and his Wife, who having received his Charge, the Guide 
returned to Payta, In a Quarter of an Hour’s time, the 
Town’s-people flocked in to fee the Raree-fhew ; and, in- 
ftead of being ufed like Prifoners at Difcretion, we were 
.entertained with Refpect and Civility, which we were not 
lure to meet with. Our Landlord, I fhould fay. Keeper’s 
Name, was Don Jeronimo Baldiviefo : He had five Daugh- 
ters , upon the Sight of whom, and their beneficent way 
of receiving us, we hoped our Time would Hide eafily 
, Numb. XVII, ' 7 
away, and our Captivity prove no -way difagreeable. I 
began now to be fenfible of the Admiral’s Favour, in. 
ordering us to this Place •, for he had fuch Intereft in all 
the Kingdom of Peru, that, for his fake, we found very 
good Treatment. After we had refrefhed ourfelves, ac- 
cording to the Cuftom of the Place, with Chocolate, 
Bifcuit, and Water, we were diverted with the Sound of 
a Weljh Harp in fome inner Apartment : The Artift had 
good Command of it ; for I heard Parts of feveral famous 
Italian as well as Englijh Compofitions ; and, upon in- 
quiring, found, that all the honeft Spaniard’s Daughters 
had learned Mufic, and lung or played upon fome Inftru- 
ment or other. Though, at firft, this feemed a little unac- 
countable to us, yet I afterwards found, that Mufic was 
common in Peru-, for the Italian Party having a few 
Years before prevailed at the Court of Madrid , the laft 
Viceroy, Prince St. Bueno, who was an Italian , had 
brought a great many Muficians of that Country along 
with him, which has now fpread Mufic every-where *, and 
it is as good in Peru , as in Old Spain. I the rather take 
notice of this, becaufe, by our being Lovers of Mufic, 
and behaving peaceably and civilly to the Inhabitants, we 
paffed our Time very quietly and chearfully, being expofed 
only . to one Inconvenience, which lafted fo long as we 
remained here : This was, the daily affembling of the 
People to flare at us, which myfelf, and my Serjeant 
Cobbs , bore pretty well ; for, being ufed to exercife in 
Public, we could turn to the Right and Left without being 
much incommoded : But our Companion Mr. Preffick , 
being a graver Man, at firft hung down his Head, and 
was very melancholy ; but, by degrees, he grew better 
acquainted with the People, and found Reafon to like 
them fo well, that, when we were to remove, we had much 
to do to make him change his Quarters. 
4. Almoft all the Commodities of Europe are diftributed 
through the Spanifh America by a Sort of Pedlars or Mer- 
chants, on Toot, who come from Panama to Payta by 
Sea, and, in their Road from the 1 aft-mentioned Port, 
make Piura their firft Stage to Lima, difpofing of their 
Goods, and leffening their Burdens, as they go along. 
Some take the Road through Caxamarca , others through 
Fruxillo, along-fhore from Lima : They take their Paffage 
back to Panama by Sea, and perhaps carry a little Cargo 
of Brandy with them : At Panama they again flock them- 
felves with European Goods, returning by Sea to Payta, 
where they are put on lhore * there they hire Mules, and 
load them, the Indians going with them, in order to bring 
them back ; and fo thefe 1 raders keep in a continual 
Round, till they have got enough to live on. Their tra- 
velling Expences are next to nothing ; for the Indians are 
brought under fuch Subjection, that they find Lodging for 
them, and Provender for their Mules: This every white 
Face may command, being an Homage the poor Indians 
are long accuftomed to pay ; and fome think they have an 
Honour done into the Bargain, except, out of Generofity, 
they now-and-then meet with a ftnall Recompence. In 
the Britifh and French Nations, a Pedlar is defpifed, and 
his Employment looked upon as a mean Shift to get a 
Living ; but it is otherwife here, where the quick Return 
of Money is a flifficient Excufe for the Manner of getting 
it and there are many Gentlemen in Old Spain , who, 
when their Circumftances in Life are declining, fend their 
Sons to the Indies to retrieve their Fortune this way : Our 
Lodging was in an Outhoufe purpofely for thefe travelling 
Merchants. According to the Spanifh Cuftom, we had 
our Dinner fent to the Table under Cover, where Bon Je- 
ronimo and we eat together, while the good Lady of the 
Floufe, and her Daughters, fat together in another Room. 
This is thePraftice at all Meals, and, if any ftrong Liquors 
are drank, it is then. In all our Conduft, I think the good 
Spaniard was never difobliged, except once, when he faw 
me drinking a Dram with the Doctor at a little Vi&ualling- 
houfe. As nothing is more difagreeable to the Spaniards 
than Drunkennefs, I had much ado to make Amends for 
this Step towards it ; though they admit of Gallantry in 
the utmoft Excefs ; fo that it is only changing one Enor- 
mity for another. After we had paffed about fix Weeks 
at Piura , our Indian Guide came again to conduct us to 
Payta , the Man of War being returned. When we were 
3 Q. upon 
