A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

On the 27th, Captain Mitchel having finished the clearing of his largest prize, she was scuttled and set on fire; but we still consisted of five ships, and were fortunate enough to find them all good sailors, so that we never occasioned any delay to each other. Being now in a rainy climate, which we had been long disused to, we found it necessary to caulk the decks and sides of the Centurion, to prevent the rain water from running into her.

On the 3d of December we had a view of the island of Quibo, the east end of which then bore from us N.N.W. four leagues distant, and the island of Quicara W.N.W. about the same distance. Here we struck ground with sixty-five fathom of line, the bottom consisting of grey sand with black specks. When we had thus got sight of the land, we found the wind to hang westerly; and therefore, night coming on, we thought it adviseable to stand off till morning, as there are said to be some shoals in the entrance of the channel. At six the next morning Point Mariato bore N.E.½N. three or four leagues distant. In weathering this point all the squadron except the Centurion were very near it; and the Gloucester being the leewardmost ship, was forced to tack and stand to the southward, so that we lost sight of her. At nine, the island of Sebaco bore N.W. by N. four leagues distant; but the wind still proving unfavourable, we were obliged to ply on and off for the succeeding twenty-four hours, and were frequently taken aback. However, at eleven the next morning, the wind happily settled in the S.S.W., and we bore away for the S.S.E. end of the island, and about three in the afternoon entered the Canal Bueno, passing round a shoal which stretches off about two miles from the south point of the island. This Canal Bueno, or Good Channel, is at least six miles in breadth; and as we had the wind large, we kept in a good depth of water, generally from twenty-eight or thirty-three fathom, and came not within a mile and a half distance of the breakers, though, in all probability, if it had been necessary, we might have ventured much nearer without incurring the least danger. At seven in the evening we anchored in thirty-three fathom muddy ground; the south point of the island bearing S.E. by S., a remarkable high part of the island W. by N., and the island Sebaco E. by N. Being thus arrived at this island of Quibo, the account of the place, and of our transactions there, shall be referred to the ensuing chapter.

CHAPTER VIII

OUR PROCEEDINGS AT QUIBO, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
THE PLACE

The next morning after our anchoring, an officer was dispatched on shore to discover the watering-place, who, having found it, returned before noon; and then we sent the long-boat for a load of water, and at the same time we weighed and stood farther in with our ships. At two we came again to an anchor in twenty-two fathom, with a rough bottom of gravel intermixed with broken shells, the watering-place now bearing from us N.W.½N. only three-quarters of a mile distant.

This island of Quibo is extremely convenient for wooding and watering, since the trees grow close to the high-water mark, and a large rapid stream of fresh water runs over the sandy beach into the sea: so that we were little more than two days in laying in all the wood and water we wanted. The whole island is of a very moderate height, excepting one part. It consists of a continued wood spread all over the whole surface of the country, which preserves its verdure the year round. Amongst the other wood, we found there abundance of cassia, and a few lime-trees. It appeared singular to us, that considering the climate and the shelter, we should see no other birds than parrots, parroquets, and mackaws; indeed, of these last there were prodigious flights. Next to these birds, the animals we found in most plenty were monkeys and guanos, and these we frequently killed for food; for notwithstanding there were many herds of deer upon the place, yet the difficulty of penetrating the woods prevented our coming near them, so that though we saw them often, we killed only two during our stay. Our prisoners assured us that this island abounded with tygers; and we did once discover the print of a tyger's paw upon the beach, but the tygers themselves we never saw. The Spaniards too informed us that there was frequently found in the woods a most mischievous serpent, called the flying snake, which, they said, darted itself from the boughs of trees on either man or beast that came within its reach, and whose sting they believed to be inevitable death. Besides these dangerous land animals, the sea hereabouts is infested with great numbers of alligators of an extraordinary size; and we often observed a large kind of flat fish jumping a considerable height out of the water, which we supposed to be the fish that is said frequently to destroy the pearl divers by clasping them in its fins as they rise from the bottom; and we were told that the divers, for their security, are now always armed with a sharp knife, which, when they are entangled, they stick into the belly of the fish, and thereby disengage themselves from its embraces.

Whilst the ship continued here at anchor, the commodore, attended by some of his officers, went in a boat to examine a bay which lay to the northward, and they afterwards ranged all along the eastern side of the island. And in the places where they put on shore in the course of this expedition, they generally found the soil to be extremely rich, and met with great plenty of excellent water. In particular, near the N.E. point of the island they discovered a natural cascade, which surpassed, as they conceived, everything of this kind which human art or industry hath hitherto produced. It was a river of transparent water, about forty yards wide, which rolled down a declivity of near a hundred and fifty in length. The channel it fell in was very irregular, for it was entirely composed of rock, both its sides and bottom being made up of large detached blocks; and by these the course of the water was frequently interrupted, for in some parts it ran sloping with a rapid but uniform motion, while in others it tumbled over the ledges of rocks with a perpendicular descent. All the neighbourhood of this stream was a fine wood; and even the huge masses of rock which overhung the water, and which, by their various projections, formed the inequalities of the channel, were covered with lofty forest trees. Whilst the commodore with those accompanying him were attentively viewing this place, and were remarking the different blendings of the water, the rocks, and the wood, there came in sight (as it were still to heighten and animate the prospect) a prodigious flight of mackaws, which, hovering over this spot, and often wheeling and playing on the wing about it, afforded a most brilliant appearance by the glittering of the sun on their variegated plumage; so that some of the spectators cannot refrain from a kind of transport when they recount the complicated beauties which occurred in this extraordinary waterfall.

In this expedition which the boat made along the eastern side of the island, though they discovered no inhabitants, yet they saw many huts upon the shore, and great heaps of shells of fine mother-of-pearl scattered up and down in different places. These were the remains left by the pearl-fishers from Panama, who often frequent this place in the summer season; for the pearl oysters, which are to be met with everywhere in the bay of Panama, do so abound at Quibo, that by advancing a very little way into the sea you might stoop down and reach them from the bottom. They are usually very large, and out of curiosity we opened some of them with a view of tasting them, but we found them extremely tough and unpalatable. And having mentioned these oysters and the pearl-fishery, I must beg leave to recite a few particulars relating to that subject.