Chap. I. Captain B e t a g h. 2^1 
Home through the Mountains ; in cafe of which, they, mu ft 
be obliged to ftay at leaft nine Months longer than they in- 
tended, The Reader will obferve, that this Journey, from 
Buenos Ayres to Valparaifo , is direblly athwart the whole 
Continent of South America ; which is a clear Proof of the 
mighty Extent of the Spanijh Empire, which reaches here 
from Sea to Sea. On the Whole, though a very great 
Part of the Country be abfolutely defert ; and, in fome 
Places where it is inhabited, the People do not acquire great 
Fortunes ; yet, unqueftionably, the Spaniards fettled in 
Chili acquire annually immenfe Riches ; fmce, as we ob- 
ferved before, the Country is very thinly peopled, and all 
the Gold that is drawn from the Mines, orLavadores, muft 
be divided amongft them. 
Yet it is agreed, that a great Part of the Inhabitants do 
not fee m to abound in Wealth; which, however, may be 
very well accounted for, if we confider, that fuch as deal in 
Cattle, Corn, and the other Produbt of the Country, acquire 
but moderate Fortunes •, and fuch as are concerned in Mines 
are frequently ruined, by launching into too great Expences 
about them. But, alter all, fuch as are eafy in their Cir- 
cumftances, and, in confequence of that Eafe, retire to St. 
lago , live in fuch a Manner, as fufficiently demonftrateS the 
Riches of Chili , fince all their Utenfils, even thofe that are 
moft common, are of pure Gold ; and it is believed, that 
the Wealth of that City alone cannot fall fhort of 20,000,000. 
Add to this, that the Gold Mines are continually increafmg, 
and it is only for want of Elands that they are notwrougnt 
to infinitely more Advantage, thofe already difeovercd, and 
negledted, being fufficient to employ 40,000 Men. It may 
be likewife obferved, that the Frauds pradtifed for deceiv- 
ing the King increafe daily ; and, as they meafure the 
Riches of the Spanijh IVeji Indies by the Standard of the 
King’s Revenue, this muft neceffarily make them appear 
poorer than they really are. We have an Inftance of this 
in the Mines of Potofi , which are faid to yield lefs Silver 
than they did formerly ; yet, on a Computation for fifty 
Years, the King’s annual Revenue from thofe Mines has 
amounted to 220,000 Pefos of thirteen Rials and a quarter 
each; which fhews, that the annual Produce of thefe Mines, 
for which the legal Duty is paid, amounts nearly to 2,000,000 
Pieces of Eight -per Annum-, and we may boldly affert, that 
the King does not receive above half of what is due : And 
from this Example we may judge of the reft. 
1 6. As the Policy of the Spaniard confilts chiefly in en- 
deavouring, by all Ways and Means poffible, to reftrain the 
vaft Riches of thofe extenfive Dominions from paffing into 
other Hands, fo the Knowledge that oiher Nations have of 
the mighty Wealth of thefe Countries, on the one hand, and 
of the great Demand for European Manufactures among 
their Inhabitants, on the other, has excited almoft every 
Nation in Europe to praftife all Methods poffible, in order 
to gain a Share in them ; and this with fo good Effiedt, 
that it is very doubtful, whether any confiderable Part of 
the Riches in the W ejl Indies centres among the Inhabitants 
of Old Spain. This will appear very plainly to the Reader, 
if he confiders, that, in the firft Place, the very Trade car- 
ried on from Spain is of much greater Confequence to Fo- 
reigners, than to the Spaniards themfelves ; for, as there 
are few Commodities, and fcarce any Manufactures in that 
Country, the Spanijh Merchants at Cadiz make up their 
Cargoes out of what they purchafe from other Countries ; 
or rather, the Merchants at Cadiz are barely Factors for 
the Englijh, French and Butch , whole Goods they fend to 
America , and pay them out of the Returns made by the 
Plate Fleets. We are likewife to confider, that Spain ltfeif 
is a Country very ill provided with fome of the Neceffaries, 
and moft of the Conveniencies, of Life ; fo that prodigious 
Sums of Money are annually exported to obtain thefe. 
But, befides fuch Drawbacks as thofe we have mentioned, 
to which the Spaniards would willingly lubmit, there are 
many others, which they are forced to endure : For In- 
France, all the Negroes they employ in their Plantations, 
where every kind of Labour is done by thefe fort of Peo- 
ple, all thefe Negroes, I fay, are purchafed from Foreign- 
ers, particularly the Englijh and Dutch , at a very large Ex- 
pence every Year. Add to this, that, under Pretence of 
furmilling them with Negroes, there is a clandeftme Trade 
continually carried on from one End to the other of their 
Coafts upon the North Sea. 
But, in the South Seas, they were pretty fafe from every 
thing, but the Depredations of Pirates, till the laft general 
War on account of the Succeffiion to the Crown cf Spain ; 
which created a neve kind of contraband Trade, unknown 
to former Times, I mean, that of the Flench Interlopers, 
who carried vaft Quantities of Goods dire&ly from Europe 
into the South Seas, which, till then, fcarce any other N a- 
tion had attempted. This was always looked upon with 
an evil Eye by the Court of Madrid , as Being directly re- 
pugnant to the Intereft of Spain , and the Maxims of their 
Government ; but, as there were many Circumftances at 
that time, which rendered this a kind of neceftary Evil, the 
Spaniards were forced to fubmit to it, I mean by Spaniards , 
the Inhabitants of Old Spain ; for, as to the Creolians, if 
they had European Goods, and at a cheaper Rate, it would 
not give them much Concern who took their Money for 
them. The Hiftory of thefe French Interlopers is, in itfelfj 
fo important, as well as curious, and is, at the fame time, 
fo very little known in England , that there is good Reafon 
to believe* it will prove acceptable, and be well received ; 
the rather becaufe it is compofed of fuch Remarks, as fell 
immediately within my own Sphere of Gbfervation, and as 
to the Truth of which I am nryfelf a competent Witnefs : 
So that every thing may be taken for certain, that I advance. 
I may have Leave alfo to put the Reader in mind, that, 
having a great Intimacy with moft of the Officers I mention*' 
this enabled me to come at many Particulars, which another 
Man, in my Situation, would have been abfolutely unac- 
quainted with. But to come to Matters of Pad: : 
The Town of St. Malo has always been noted for good 
Privateers : They annoyed the Englijh and Dutch very 
much in their Trade during the whole Reign of King Wil- 
liam, and Part of Queen Anne ; and, tho’ fome religious- 
headed People fancy, that Money got by Privateering won’t 
profper, yet I may venture to fay, the St. Malomen are as' 
rich and fiouriihing, as any People in France. It has thrived 
fo well with them, that all their South Sea Trade is owing 
to their Privateering ; and, in the late War, they were fo 
generous, chat they made feveral free Gifts to Lewis XIV. 
And tho’ our Englijh Admiralty always kept a flout Squa- 
dron cruifing in the Atlantic Ocean , yet We fiever took one 
of their South Seamen : And my Reafon for it is this ; they 
kept their Ships extremely clean, having Ports to careen at, 
which we did not think of; for, in the Year 1709* when 
I belonged to her Majefty’s Ship the LoO i being one of the 
Convoys that Year to Newfoundland , we faw upon the Coaft 
a fifty-gun Ship, which we chafed, and foon difeovered 
fhe was French built ; but floe crouded Sail, and left us in a 
very little time. She had juft been cleaned at Placentia: 
And we might well wonder to find fuch a Ship in that Part 
of the World ; but were afterwards informed by French 
Prifoners, that fhe was a Frenchman ,■ and bound to St. Malo , 
with two or three Million of Dollars aboard ; and was then 
fo trim, that fhe traded to her Heels, and valued nobody. 
By their going fo far to Weftward, and Northward withal, 
they had the Advantage of Wefterly Winds, which feldom 
failed of fending them into Soundings at one Spirt, if not 
quite home. But, fmce Placentia has been yielded to 
Great Britain, they now make ufe of St. Catharina , the 
Ifiand Grande on the Coaft of Brafil , and Martinico in the 
Weft Indies. 
This Trade fucceeded fo well, that they all fell into it* 
fending every Year to the Number of twenty Sail oi Ships. 
I faw myfelf eleven Sail together on the Coaft of Chili in the 
Year 1721, among which were feveral of fifty Guns, and 
one that could mount feventy, called the Flower de-Luc e, 
formerly a Man of War. This being contrary to the Af- 
fiento Treaty between Spain and Great Britain , Memorials 
were frequently prefented at Madrid ; and the King of Spain , 
.willing to keep to his Engagements with England , refolved 
to gratify the Britijh Court, by deftroying the French Trade 
to the South Sea. His Catholic Majefty knew there was' 
no Way to do this, but by a Squadron of Men of War ; he 
knew alfo, that few of his own Subjects were acquainted 
with the Navigation of Cape Horn , or could bear the ex- 
treme Rigour of the Climate therefore was obliged, to’ 
mate 
