[Footnote 50: Mocha is in lat. 38° 20', and the isles of St Mary in 37°, both S.]
At this place some of the company went ashore well armed, and were met by the Indians, who gave them a warm reception with their bows and arrows. These Indians were of the district in Chili called Araucania, a country rich in gold, and consequently very tempting to the avaricious Spaniards, which accordingly they had repeatedly invaded, but to no purpose, as the natives always defended themselves so valiantly, that their enemies could never subdue them. On the present occasion, mistaking the English for Spaniards, these brave and desperate Araucans gave Candish a hostile welcome. After this skirmish, Candish went with his ships under the lee of the west side of St Mary's island, where he found good anchorage in six fathoms. This island, in lat. 37° S. abounds in hogs, poultry, and various kinds of fruit; but the inhabitants are held under such absolute slavery by the Spaniards, that they dare not kill a hog, or even a hen, for their own use; and although the Spaniards have made them converts to Christianity, they use them more like dogs than men or Christians.
The admiral went ashore on the 16th March, with seventy or eighty men well armed, and was met by two Indian chiefs, who conducted him to a chapel, round which were several store-houses, well filled with wheat and barley, as clean and fair as any in England. He accordingly provided his ships with a sufficient store of grain from this place, and laid in besides an ample supply of hogs, hens, potatoes, dried dog-fish, and maize or Guinea wheat. The admiral invited the two principal Indians to an entertainment on board; and the wine having sharpened their wit, to perceive that the admiral and his men were not Spaniards, as they had hitherto supposed them, they began to talk very freely about the gold mines, saying that the English might procure gold to their full content, by going into the country of the Araucans. But not fully understanding them, as the information was mostly given by signs, the admiral did not prosecute this proposed adventure, but proceeded on his voyage.
Leaving the island of St Mary on the 18th in the morning, they sailed all that day N.N.E. ten leagues. The 19th they steered in with the land, E.N.E. and anchored under an island in the Bay of Conception, in lat. 36° 36' S. The 30th they came into the Bay of Quintero, in lat. 32° 45' S. and next day a party of fifty or sixty men, well armed, marched seven or eight miles into the country. In their march, they saw vast herds of wild cattle, with horses, dogs, hares, rabbits, partridges, and other birds, with many fine rivers, well stocked with wild fowl. Having travelled as far as they conveniently could for the mountains, and having rested and refreshed on the banks of a pleasant river, they returned in good order to the ships at night, without meeting any remarkable adventure; although a party of 200 horse had been abroad all that day in search of them, upon information of some Spaniards who had seen them the preceding day, but durst not venture to attack them, keeping always at a distance on the hills. They had at this time a short conference with three Spanish horsemen, through the medium of the poor half-starved Spaniard they took on board in the Straits of Magellan; but, in spite of his many oaths and protestations never to forsake Candish, he took the opportunity to mount on horseback behind one of his countrymen, and got off.
Next day, the 1st April, some of the English being on shore filling their water-casks, the Spaniards became bolder, and watching an opportunity when the sailors were hard at work, poured down with their 200 horse from the hills, slew some of them, and made a few prisoners. But this glorious victory was soon snatched from their hands by the arrival of a reinforcement of fifteen English, who rescued the prisoners, killed twenty-four of the Spaniards, and drove the rest back to the mountains. After this, they continued in the road till the 5th, and watered there in spite of the Spaniards. On the 5th they weighed anchor, and went to a small island about a league from the bay, which is full of penguins and other sea fowl, of which they provided themselves with what store they wanted; after which they sailed N. and N. by W. in order to prosecute their voyage.
The 15th April they came to Moro Moreno, in lat. 23° 30' S. under the tropic of Capricorn, where there is an excellent harbour, made by means of an island, having an entrance for ships at either end. 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° 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 £20,000, 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° 43'S.]
The 26th May, they came into the road Payta, in lat. 5° 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° 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 Caçique 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 caçique; 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 caçique 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.