D A M P I E R. 
578 
board a fliip bound to the bay of Campeacliy ; and, upon 
a fepond trip to the fame coaft, his love of variety led 
him to engage with the logwood-cutters as a common 
workman. Of the lingular and laborious life of thofe 
people, and of the geography and natural products of 
that tract of country, he has given a curious and circum- 
Itantial relation. He concludes it with obferving, “ It 
is not my bufinefs to determine how far we may have a 
right of cutting wood there ; but this I can lay, that the 
Spaniards never receive lefs damage from the perfons 
who generally follow that trade, than when they are em¬ 
ployed upon that work.” When he had obtained fuffi- 
cient knowledge of that country, he failed back to Ja¬ 
maica, and thence to England, where he arrived in Au- 
guft 1678. In the beginning of the next year he failed 
as palfeng'er to Jamaica, meaning to revifit Campeacliy ; 
but he was perfuaded to join a body of privateers then 
lying in a bay of that iiland. Thefe privateers appear 
to have been real pirates, a refufe of various nations, 
Engiifh, French, and Dutch, who, under pretence of 
reprifals, undertook pillaging expeditions againlt the fet- 
tlements and commerce of the Spaniards, without any 
regular commiffion from their refpedtive powers. With 
thefe people Dampier crolfed the ifthmus of Darien in 
i 63 o, and fpent that year in roving about the Peruvian 
coafi, and making attempts upon the towns, in fome of 
which they were fuccefsful, in others were repulfed with 
conliderable lofs. A diflenfion arifing among them, re- 
fpefting a commander, Dampier was one of a minority 
who parted from the reft, and, in 1681, re-crofted the 
ifthmus, and joined another fleet of privateers, which 
was cruiling upon the Spanilh main. After fpending a 
year among the coafts and illands of the Weft Indies, 
Dampier, with a few more, proceeded in a Angle veil'd 
to Virginia, in order to fell their prize goods. At that 
place he ftaid above a year, and then entered with a cap¬ 
tain Cook, who, with a crew of feventy men, refolved 
to make an expedition again ft the Spanifli fcttlements in 
the fouth leas. They failed in Auguft, 1683, and, after 
touching at the Cape Verd illands and the coalt of Guinea, 
proceeded round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. There 
■ they were overtaken by a captain Eaton, who was come 
in a fhip from London for a fimilar purpofe. They joined 
company, and touched at the ifle of Juan Fernandez, and 
thence made the coaft of South America, and cruifcd 
along Chili and Peru. Having taken fome prizes, they 
proceeded with them to the Gallapago ifles, and thence 
to the Mexican coaft, which they fell in with at Cape 
Blanco. At this place captain Cook died, and was fuc- 
ceeded in his command by captain Davis. They ca¬ 
reened their ftiips in Amapalla gulf, and, after alarming 
that coaft by fome attempts, they failed back to Peru. 
Here they met with captain Swan, who had been fitted 
out by lome London merchants only for the purpofe of 
trading with the Spaniards or Indians ; but, having been 
forced to take on-board a company of privateers or pi¬ 
rates, whom he met with in thefe leas, was prepared for 
any mode of acquiring gain that might offer. Davis, 
who had been left by Eaton, joined Swan; and now their 
great object was to plunder the town of Guiaquil. They 
made an attempt for this purpofe, which failed through 
mifmanagement. At the mouth of its river they took 
three velfels, with one thoufand negro Haves on-board : 
.and on this occafion Dampier gives a difplay of his large 
and adventurous views. It was his plan to have gone 
with thefe negroes to Santa Maria on the ifthmus of Da¬ 
rien, and to have employed them in working the gold 
mines in its neighbourhood, from which the Spaniards 
.had fome time before been driven by fome privateers. 
He does not doubt that the place might have been main¬ 
tained againft all the efforts of the Spaniards, and that 
they fhould in time have been joined by numbers of men 
.from the Weft-India illands, by whofe aid they might 
have taken polfeflion of the whole coaft, as far as Quito. 
Hisj ideas, however, were not adopted; and the next 
project was to capture the rich plate fleet which this 
year (1685) was to convey the treafure of the Peruvian 
mines to Panama. While lying in the bay of Panama, 
they were joined by a number of French and Engiifh, who 
had crofted the ifthmus upon the fame fcheme of plun¬ 
der. They had now collected a confiderable force ; and, 
at length, on May 28, they aeferied the long-expedted 
Spanilh fleet, of force much fuperior to their own. A 
kind of running fight enfued, in which the Engiifh were 
ill fupported by their French alfociates, and in the end 
the whole Spanifli fleet got fafe to Panama. The Engiifh 
ftiips next proceeded on a cruife along the coaft of Mexi¬ 
co. They landed, and took the town of Puebla Nova, 
and burnt thofe of Leon and Ria Lexa. Dampier left 
Davis, and went on-board captain Swan’s fliip, for the 
fake of feeing more of the northern part of Mexico. They 
coafted as far as the fouthern point of California, often 
landing to obtain plunder, and efpecially proviiion, of 
which they were in much want. On returning from the 
pillage of Santa Pecaque, with a train of liorfes laden 
with maize, fifty men were intercepted by the Spaniards, 
and all killed. This lofs deterred them from further 
attempts in thofe parts ; and Swan propofed to run acrofs 
the Pacific Ocean, and return by the Eaft Indies. By 
the temptation of a privateering cruife off the Manillas, 
he perfuaded his men to venture upon the paffage, though 
they had only fixty days provifion, at half a pint of maize 
for each man, and three meals of falt-fifti. Dampier and 
feveral of the men were taken ill with dropfies, in con- 
fequence of the difeafes of thefe unhealthy climates; 
and he received great relief from lying half an hour bu¬ 
ried to his head in the hot fand, which brought on a 
profufe fweat. On March 31, 1686, they took their de¬ 
parture from Cape Corrientes, being two ftiips in com¬ 
pany ; that of Swan, and a bark under an inferior com¬ 
mander. They reached Guam, one of the Ladrone 
illands, on the fifty-fecond day, when the men had be¬ 
gun to talk of killing and eating captain Swan and the 
officers, as foon as their provifions fhould have been ex- 
haufted. It is worth mentioning, that the fpare diet, 
which weakened many of the crew, proved falutary to 
Dampier, who got rid of the remains of his droplical 
fwellings during the voyage. From Guam they iailed 
to Mindanao, where they ftaid fo long, that a mutiny 
arofe among the crew for want of aftive employment ; 
and, in the end, the majority carried oft'the fliip, leaving 
Swan and fome of his people on the ifland. Dampier 
happened at this time to be on-board ; but it does not 
appear that he was at all concerned in the defection. 
Swan’s views were directed to trade, rather than to pri¬ 
vateering; but the crew had acquired fuch an inveterate 
habit of pillage, that they could not be fatisfied without 
cruiling for Spanilh prizes. For this purpofe they pro¬ 
ceeded to Luzonia, and roved fome time off Manilla, 
whence they bore away for Pulo Condore, in order to 
careen. In 1687, after palling fome time among the 
illands of thofe feas, they were driven to the coaft of 
China, and vifited feveral parts of the continent and cir¬ 
cumjacent ifles. Thence they made a vaft circuit round 
Luzonia and Mindanao, and through the groupe of fpice 
illands, till they arrived on the coaft of New Holland in 
the beginning of 1688. Leaving this in March, they 
pafted all along the weft coaft of Sumatra to the Nicobar 
illands. Dampier, who had long been tired of this 
“ mad crew,” as he calls them, and had made fome at¬ 
tempts to get on-lhore, perfuaded captain Read, the 
commander, to leave him on Nicobar, where he thought, 
by conforming to the manners of the people, and learn¬ 
ing their language, he could carry on an advantageous 
trade in ambergris. With him were let on-ftiore two 
other Englilhmen, a Portuguefe, and four Malays of 
Achin in Sumatra. Their number gave them hopes of 
being able to navigate a canoe to Achin, which they at¬ 
tempted ; and, after undergoing extreme danger from a 
ftorm in the palfage, which Dampier has deferibed with 
admirable 
