The Admiral
Went Ashore Here With Thirty Men, And Was Met By The Indians, Who
Brought Them Water And Wood On Their Backs.
These are a simple sort of
people, living in a wild and savage manner, in great dread of the
Spaniards.
They brought the admiral and his company to their houses,
about two miles from the harbour. These were only constructed of a few
rafters laid across upon forked sticks stuck in the ground, having a few
boughs laid over them by way of a roof. Their beds were the skins of
wild beasts laid on the ground; and their food little else than raw
stinking fish. When any of them dies, he is buried with all his arms and
goods, as bows and arrows, and even his canoe is laid in the earth along
with him. Their canoes, if such they may be called, consist of two skin
bags, like large bladders, blown up with quills at one end, and fastened
together by the sinews of some wild beast; yet in these they think
nothing of venturing to sea, loading them even with great quantities of
fish, part of which they have to give in tribute to the Spaniards, the
rest being kept to stink for their own eating.
On the 3d May, they came into a bay on which were three small towns,
Paracca, Chincha, and Pisco, which latter is in lat. 13 deg. 20' S.[51] They
landed here, and took some provisions, as wine, bread, poultry and figs,
from the houses, but could not get ashore at the best of these towns,
owing to the sea running too high. By this time; they had made two
valuable prizes, laden with sugar, melasses, maiz, cordovan leather,
montego de porco, packs of painted calicoes, Indian coats, marmalade,
hens, and other articles, which would have yielded L20,000, if there had
been any opportunity for selling their cargoes. That not being the case,
they took out as much as could be conveniently stowed in their own
ships, burning their two prizes with the rest of their contents.
[Footnote 51: Pisco, the principal of these towns, is in lat. 16 deg. 43'
S.]
The 26th May, they came into the road Payta, in lat. 5 deg. 4' S. the town
being very neat and clean, and containing about 200 houses. Landing here
with sixty or seventy men, Candish had a skirmish with the inhabitants,
whom he beat out of the town, forcing them to take refuge in the hills,
whence they continued to fire at the English, but would not venture a
fair battle on the plain ground. Having possessed themselves of the
town, the English marched after the enemy on the hill, and put them
completely to the rout, seizing all their baggage, which they brought
back with them to the town. They here found all sort of household stuff,
together with warehouses well filled with various kinds of goods, and
twenty-five pound weight of silver in pieces of eight. After taking away
what plunder they found convenient, they set fire to the town, which was
burnt to the ground, and destroyed likewise a bark at anchor in the
roads; after which they set sail for Puna.
They arrived at Puna, in lat. 3 deg. 10' S. on the 25th of May, when they
found a ship of 250 tons at anchor in the harbour. After sinking her,
they went ashore. The lord of this island, styled the Cacique of Puna,
was an Indian by birth, but having married a Spanish woman, he became a
Christian, and made all his subjects follow his example. He had a
sumptuous and well-contrived palace near the shore, with curious gardens
adjoining, and fair prospects, both to the water and up the country. All
the inhabitants of this island were kept continually employed in
fabricating cables, such abundance of which are made here by the Indian
subjects of this cacique; that most of the ships navigating the South
Sea are supplied from hence. This island is nearly as large as the isle
of Wight in England, being about forty English miles from S.W. to N.E.
and sixteen in the opposite direction. It enjoys a great share in the
blessings of nature; for, although it has no mines of gold or silver, it
affords every thing in abundance that is necessary to the comforts of
life. The pastures are excellent, and are well stored with horses, oxen,
sheep, and goats, yielding abundance of milk; it has also plenty of
poultry, turkeys, ducks of a large size, and pigeons. The cacique has
several orchards, yielding a great variety of fine fruits, as oranges,
lemons, figs, pomegranates, pumpkins, melons, and many others; with a
variety of odoriferous plants, as rosemary, thyme, and the like. One of
these gardens or orchards was planted with the bombast cotton tree,
which grows in pods, in each of which there are seven or eight seeds.
The 29th of May, Candish went to an island near Puna, into which the
cacique had conveyed all the valuable furniture of his palace, with
other things of value. These stores were all discovered, and plundered
of every thing thought worth carrying on board the ships, and the rest
destroyed. The church also of Puna, which stood near the palace, was
burnt down, and its five bells carried to the ships. On the 2d June, the
English were attacked by 100 Spaniards, who killed or took prisoners
twelve of their men, losing forty-six of their own in the encounter.
Candish landed again that same day with seventy English, and had another
battle with the Spaniards, who were joined by 200 Indians armed with
bows and arrows. The English were victorious, after which they made
great havock of the fields and orchards, burnt four ships on the stocks,
and left the town of 300 houses a heap of rubbish. Besides this
principal town, there were two others on the island of 200 houses each,
so that Puna was the best settled island on all this coast.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 32 of 221
Words from 31606 to 32622
of 224764
