with cannon. The great church was within this inclosed part of the town. The City of Nueva Granada taken; The Buccaneers arrived about two o'clock in the afternoon, and immediately assaulted the place of arms, which they carried with the loss of four men killed, and eight wounded, most of them mortally. The first act of the victors, according to Lussan, was to sing Te Deum in the great church; and the next, to plunder. Provisions, military stores, and a quantity of merchandise, were found in the town, the latter of which was of little or no value to the captors. 11th. The next day they sent to enquire if the Spaniards would ransom the town, and the merchandise. It had been rumoured that the Buccaneers would be unwilling to destroy Granada, because they proposed at some future period to make it their baiting place, in returning to the North Sea, and the Spaniards scarcely condescended to make answer to the demand for ransom. And Burnt. The Buccaneers in revenge set fire to the houses. 'If we could have found boats,' says Lussan, 'to have gone on the lake, and could have taken the two vessels laden with the riches of Granada, we should have thought this a favourable opportunity for returning to the West Indies.'
15th. On the 15th, they left Granada, to return to the coast, which journey they performed in the most leisurely manner. They took with them a large cannon, with oxen to draw it, and some smaller guns which they laid upon mules. The weather was hot and dry, and the road so clouded with dust, as almost to stifle both men and beasts. Sufficient provision of water had not been made for the journey, and the oxen all died. The cannon was of course left on the road. Towards the latter part of the journey, water and refreshments were procured at some villages and houses, the inhabitants of which furnished supplies as a condition that their dwellings should be spared.
On the 26th, they arrived at the sea and embarked in their vessels, taking on board with them a Spanish priest whom the
Spaniards would not redeem by delivering up their buccaneer prisoner. Most of the men wounded in the Granada expedition died of cramps.
28th, At Ria Lexa. May. The 28th, they came upon Ria Lexa unexpectedly, and made one hundred of the inhabitants prisoners. By such means, little could be gained more than present subsistence, and that was rendered very precarious by the Spaniards removing their cattle from the coast. It was therefore determined to put an end to their unprofitable continuance in one place; but they could not agree where next to go. All the English, and one half of the French, were for sailing to the Bay of Panama. The other half of the French, 148 in number, with Grogniet at their head, declared for trying their fortunes North-westward. Division was made of the vessels and provisions. The whole money which the French had acquired by their depredations amounted to little more than 7000 dollars, and this sum they generously distributed among those of their countrymen who had been lamed or disabled.
Grogniet and Townley part Company. Buccaneers under Townley. May the 19th, they parted company. Those bound for the Bay of Panama, of whom Townley appears to have been regarded the head, had a ship, a bark, and some large canoes. Townley proposed an attack on the town of Lavelia or La Villia, at which place the treasure from the Lima ships had been landed in the preceding year, and this proposal was approved.
June. Tornadoes and heavy rains kept them among the Keys of Quibo till the middle of June. On the 20th of that month, they arrived off the Punta Mala, and during the day, they lay at a distance from the land with sails furled. At night the principal part of their force made for the land in the canoes; but they had been deceived in the distance. Finding that they could not reach the river which leads to Lavelia before day, they took down the sails and masts, and went
to three leagues distance from the land, where they lay all the day of the 21st. Lussan, who was of this party of Buccaneers, says that they were obliged to practise the same manœuvre on the day following. In the middle of the night of the 22d, 160 Buccaneers landed from the canoes at the entrance of the river. 23d. Lavelia taken. They were some hours in marching to Lavelia, yet the town was surprised, and above 300 of the inhabitants made prisoners. This was in admirable conformity with the rest of the management of the Spaniards. The fleet from Lima, laden with treasure intended for Panama, had, more than a year before, landed the treasure and rich merchandise at Lavelia, as a temporary measure of security against the Buccaneers, suited to the occasion. The Government at Panama, and the other proprietors, would not be at the trouble of getting it removed to Panama, except in such portions as might be required by some present convenience; and allowed a great part to remain in Lavelia, a place of no defence, although during the whole time Buccaneers had been on the coast of Veragua, or Nicaragua, to whom it now became an easy prey, through indolence and a total want of vigilance, as well in the proprietors as in those whom they employed to guard it.
Three Spanish barks were riding in the river, one of which the crews sunk, and so dismantled the others that no use could be made of them; but the Buccaneers found two boats in serviceable condition at a landing-place a quarter of a league below the town. The riches they now saw in their possession equalled their most sanguine expectations, and if secured, they thought would compensate for all former disappointments. The merchandise in Lavelia was estimated in value at a million and a half of piastres. The gold and silver found there amounted only to 15,000 piastres.
The first day of being masters of Lavelia, was occupied by