Having dismissed the Spanish captain with a noble present, and sufficient provision for his defence against the Indians, and removed everything from the prize which his ships could contain, Candish set the Santa Anna on fire on the 19th November, having still 500 tons of her goods remaining, and saw her burnt to the water's edge.
SECTION III.
Voyage Home to England.
This great business, for which they had so long waited, being now accomplished, they set sail cheerfully on their return for England. The Content staid some short time behind the Desire, which went on before, expecting she would soon follow, but she never rejoined company. Pursuing the voyage, therefore, in the Desire, Candish directed his course for the Ladrones across the Pacific Ocean, these islands being nearly 1800 leagues distant from this harbour of Aguada Segura in California. This passage took forty-five days, from the 19th November, 1587, to the 3d January, 1588. On this day, early in the morning, they had sight of Guam, one of the Ladrones, in lat. 13° 40' N. and long. 143° 30' E. Sailing with a gentle gale before the wind, they came within two leagues of the island, where they saw sixty or seventy canoes full of savages, who brought cocoas, plantains, potatoes, and fresh fish, to exchange for some of their commodities. They gave them in return some pieces of old iron, which they hung upon small cords and fishing lines, and so lowered down to the canoes, getting back, in the same manner, what the savages offered in exchange. In the course of this traffic the savages crowded so much about the ship, that two of their canoes were broken; yet none of the savages were drowned, as they were almost as familiar with the water as if they had been fishes. The savages continued following the ship, and would not quit her company till several shots were fired at them; though 'tis ten to one if any of them were killed, as they are so very nimble, throwing themselves immediately into the water, and diving beyond the reach of danger on the slightest warning.
These islanders were large handsome men, extraordinarily fat, and of a tawny colour, mostly having very long hair, some wearing it tied up in large knots on the crown of their heads, like certain wooden images at the heads of their canoes. Their canoes were very artificially made, considering that they use no edge-tools in their construction; and are about seven or eight yards in length, by half a yard only in breadth, their heads and stems being both alike, and having rafts made of canes or reeds on their starboard sides, being also supplied both with masts and sails. These latter are made of sedges, and are either square or triangular. These canoes have this property, that they will sail almost as well against the wind as before it.
On the 19th January, at day-break, Candish fell in with a head-land of the Philippine islands, called Cabo del Espiritu Santo. The island itself [Samar] is of considerable size, consisting of high land in the middle, and depressed in its east and west extremities; the latter of which runs a great way out to sea. It is in lat. 30° N. being distant 110 leagues from Guam and about 60 leagues from Manilla, the chief of the Philippines.[55] Samar is a woody island, and its inhabitants are mostly heathens. Candish spent eleven days in sailing from Guam to this place, having had some foul weather, and scarcely carrying any sail for two or three nights. Manilla, at this time, was an unwalled town of no great strength, yet containing vast riches in gold and valuable commodities, and inhabited by six or seven hundred Spaniards. It has a constant annual correspondence with Accapulco in New Spain; besides which twenty or thirty vessels come thither yearly from China, for conducting its trade with the Sangueloes: These are Chinese merchants, very sharp and sensible men in every thing relating to trade, extremely ingenious in all kinds of mechanical contrivances, and the most expert embroiderers on silk and satin of any in the world. They will execute any form of beast, fowl, or fish, in gold, silver, or silk, having all the just proportions and colours in every part, and giving all the life and beauty to their work, as if done by the best painter, or even as nature has bestowed on the originals. The trade of these men with Manilla must be very profitable, as they bring great quantities of gold there, and exchange it against silver, weight for weight.[56]
[Footnote 55: The latitude of Cape Espiritu Santo, as given in the test, is grossly erroneous, being only 12° 35' N. and its long. 125° 30' E. from Greenwich. The difference of longitude from Guam, Guaham, or Guaci, the most southerly of the Ladrones, is 17° 45' nearly east, and consequently 355 marine leagues. This island is divided from Luzon, or Luçonia, the principal island of the Philippines, by the narrow straits of San Bernardino; and Cape Espiritu Santo is about 100 leagues, in a straight line, from the city of Manilla, which lies to the N.W. Cape Espiritu Santo is at the N.W. extremity of the island of Samar.--E.]
[Footnote 56: This surely is an egregious error, as such acute merchants as the Chinese are here represented, and actually are, could never be so foolish as to give gold for silver, weight for weight. Before the present scarcity of bullion, the ordinary European price of exchange, was fourteen for one; and perhaps the then price in China might be lower, as twelve, eleven, or ten; but equality is quite inconceivable.--E.]
The same day on which he fell in with Cape Espiritu Santo, 14th of January, 1588, Candish entered in the evening into the straits of San Bernardino, between Samar or Cambaia, and the island of Luzon. The 15th he fell in with the island of Capul, passing a very narrow strait between that island and another, in which the current of the tide was considerable. In this passage, a ledge of rocks lay off the point of Capul, but was passed without danger. Within the point was a fair bay, with a good harbour, having anchorage in four fathoms, within a cable's length of the shore. Coming to anchor here about ten in the morning, the Desire was immediately boarded by a canoe, in which was one of the seven chiefs of the island. Passing themselves for Spaniards, the English traded with these people for cocoa-nuts and potatoes, giving a yard of linen for four cocoa-nuts, and as much for about a quart of potatoes, which they found sweet and excellent food, either boiled or roasted.
The caçique or chief who came on board had his skin curiously streaked or painted [tatooed], full of strange devices all over his body. Candish kept him on board, desiring him to send his servants, who paddled his canoe, to bring the other six chiefs to the ship. They came accordingly, attended by a great train of the natives, bringing vast quantities of hogs and hens, and a full market of cocoa-nuts and potatoes; so that the English were occupied the whole day in purchasing, giving eight rials of plate for a hog, and one for a hen. At this place, a justly-merited punishment was inflicted on a Spanish pilot, taken in the Santa Anna, who had plotted to betray them to the Spaniards, and for which he was hanged. Candish remained here for nine days, all the time receiving ample supplies of fresh victuals, good water, and wood for fuel. The islanders are all pagans, who are said to worship the devil, and to converse with him. They are of a tawny complexion, and go almost naked; the men wearing a small square piece of cloth in front, woven from plantain-leaves, and another behind, which is brought up between their legs, both being fastened to a girdle round their waists. They are all circumcised, and have also a strange custom, hardly practised any where else but in Pegu, having a nail of tin in a perforation through the glans, which nail is split at one end and rivetted; but which can be taken out as they have occasion, and put in again. This is said to have been contrived, on the humble petition of the women, to prevent perpetrating an unnatural crime, to which they were much addicted.