Setting Sail From Puna On The 5th June, They Sailed To Rio Dolce, Where
They Watered.
They passed the equinoctial on the 12th, continuing their
course northwards all the rest of that month.
The 1st July, they had
sight of New Spain, being four leagues from the land in 10 deg. N. The 9th
they took a new ship of 120 tons, in which was one Michael Sancius, a
native of Provence, a very skilful coasting pilot for these seas, whom
Candish retained as his pilot, and from whom he got the first hint of
the great ship Anna Maria, which he afterwards took on her voyage from
the Philippine islands. Taking all the men, and every thing of any value
from the ship of Sancius, they set her on fire. The 26th they came to
anchor in the mouth of the river Capalico, and the same night went in
the pinnace with thirty men to Guatalco, two leagues from that river, in
15 deg. 70' N. and burnt both the town and custom-house, which was a large
handsome building, in which there were laid up 600 bags of indigo, and
400 bags of cacao, every bag of the former being worth forty crowns, and
each of the latter worth ten. These cacaos serve among the people of
these parts both as food and money, being somewhat like almonds, yet not
quite so pleasant, and pass in trade by way of small change, 150 of them
being equal in value to a rial of plate.
They set sail from Capalico on the 28th, the sea running so high that
they could not fill their water casks, and came to Guatalco that same
night. Next day Candish went ashore with thirty men, marching two miles
into the woods, where he took a mestizo belonging to the custom-house
of that town, having with him a considerable quantity of goods, both
which and their master were carried to the ships. The 24th August,
Candish went with thirty men in the pinnace to the haven of Puerto de
Navidad in lat. 19 deg. 24' N. where Sancius had informed him there would
be a prize; but, before their arrival, she had gone twelve leagues
farther to fish for pearls. They here made prisoner of a mulatto, who
had been sent to give notice of the English, all along the coast of New
Gallicia, and got possession of all his letters. They likewise burnt the
town, and two ships of 200 tons here building, after which they returned
to the ships.
They came on the 26th into the bay of St Jago, where they watered at a
good river, which yielded them plenty of fish, and where they found some
pearls. This bay is in lat. 19 deg. 18' N. Leaving this bay on the 2d
September, they came next day into the bay of Malacca, a league westward
from port Navidad, and a good place for ships to ride in. That day,
Candish went ashore with about thirty men, to an Indian town named
Acatlan, about two leagues from the road.[52] This town or village
consisted of twenty or thirty houses and a church, which they
demolished, and then returned at night to the ships. Leaving this bay on
the 4th, they came on the 8th to the road of Chacalla, eighteen leagues
from Cape Corientes. On the 9th, Candish sent a party of forty men,
guided by Sancius, which, after marching through woods and deserts,
lighted upon a few families, some of which were Indians, and others
Spanish and Portuguese, all of whom were brought to the ships. The women
were ordered to fetch plantains, lemons, oranges, and other fruits, in
reward for which all their husbands were set free, except a Spaniard
named Sembrano, and Diego, a Portuguese.
[Footnote 52: Guatlan is the name of a bay on this coast, and which is
probably corrupted in the text to Acatlan. - E.]
On the 12th they arrived at the island of St Andrew, which is very full
of wood, and where they found plenty of fowls and seals, together with a
sort of serpents, or lizards rather, called Iguanos, having four feet
and a long sharp tail, which they found good eating. Leaving this isle,
they came to the road of Mazatlan on the 24th, lying under the tropic of
Cancer. The river here is large within, but much obstructed by a bar at
its mouth. The bay abounds with fish, and there are abundance of good
fruits up the country. Departing from this bay on the 27th, they came to
an island, a league north from Mazatlan,[53] where they heeled their
ships, and rebuilt their pinnace. On this isle, they found fresh water,
by digging two or three feet into the sand, otherwise they must have
gone back twenty or thirty leagues for water, being advised by one
Flores, a Spanish prisoner, to dig in the sands, where no water or sign
of any could be perceived. Having amply supplied the ships with water,
they remained at this island till the 9th October, and then sailed from
Cape San Lucar, the S.W. point of California, in lat. 22 deg. 50' N. which
they fell in with on the 14th, observing that it much resembled the
Needles at the Isle of Wight, which had been before noticed by Sir
Francis Drake. Within this cape, there is a large bay, called by the
Spaniards Aguada Segura,[54] into which falls a fine fresh-water
river, the banks of which are usually inhabited by many Indians in the
summer. They went into this bay, where they again watered, and remained
waiting for the Accapulco ship till the 4th November, the wind
continuing all that time to hang westerly.
[Footnote 53: In our best modern maps no such island is to be found; but
about the same distance to the S. is a cluster of small isles. - E.]
[Footnote 54: Probably that now called the bay of St Barnaby, about
twenty miles E.N.E. from Cape San Lucar.
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