[Footnote 182: Guadalaxara, the latter part of which is pronounced achara, is probably here meant. It is 160 miles inland from the port of Selagua.--E.]
We pursued our voyage on the 6th December towards Cape Corientes, in hopes of meeting the Manilla ship. The land on the coast was moderately high, sprinkled with many rugged points, and full of wood, having several apparently good ports between Selagua and Cape Corientes, but we did not touch at any of them. Cape Corientes, of which we came in sight on the 11th, in lat. 20° 28' N. is pretty high, being very steep and rocky towards the sea, but flat on the top. I found its longitude from the Lizard in England, by our reckoning, 121° 41' W.[183] As the Manilla ship is obliged to make this point on her voyage to Acapulco, we took up a station here with our four ships in such a manner that we judged she could hardly escape us; but as we were in want of provisions, fifty or sixty men were sent in a bark beyond the cape to endeavour to get some. They returned, however, on the 17th, not having been able to double the cape, but left forty-six men in four canoes, who intended to attempt to get beyond by rowing.
[Footnote 183: It is only in long. 105° 88' W. from Greenwich; that in the text, from computation or dead reckoning, being considerably erroneous in excess.--E.]
The 18th December we sailed to the isles of Chametly, eighteen leagues to the east of Cape Corientes. These are five small low and woody islands, surrounded with rocks, and lying in form of a half-moon a mile from the shore, having safe anchorage in the intermediate space. These isles are inhabited by fishers, who are servants to some of the inhabitants of Purification, a considerable town or city fourteen leagues up the country.[184] We anchored at these isles on the 20th, and here provided ourselves with wood and water, and caught great abundance of rock-fish. Next day sixty of our men were sent under Captain Townley to surprise an Indian village, seven or eight leagues to the N.W.
[Footnote 184: Villa de la Purificacion is considerably to the S.E. of Cape Corientes, but the isles of Chametly are omitted in modern maps. Puerto de Navidad, in lat. 19° 20' N. seems the haven belonging to Purificacion.--E.]
On the 24th the four canoes left by Captain Townley's bark returned to the ships. They had got beyond the cape by means of rowing to the valley of Valderas, or Val d' Iris, the valley of flags, at the bottom of a deep bay, inclosed between Cape Corientes on the S.E. and point Pontique on the N.W. In this delightful valley they landed thirty-seven men, who advanced three miles into the country, and were attacked by 150 Spaniards, horse and foot. Our men retreated into an adjoining wood, whence they kept up a heavy fire on the Spaniards, killing their leader and fourteen troopers, besides wounding a great many, while four of our men were slain and two wounded. Owing to this loss the Spaniards took to flight, and our people were enabled to re-embark. This valley is about three leagues broad, and is bounded towards the inland country by an easy ascent, affording a delightful prospect of extensive pastures well stored with cattle, interspersed with pleasant groves of guavas, orange-trees, and lime-trees. The sandy bay affords a safe landing, and has a fresh-water river, navigable by boats, but becomes brackish in the end of the dry season, which is in February, March, and April.
We continued cruizing off Cape Corientes till the 1st January, 1686, when we sailed for the valley of Valderas, proposing to provide ourselves with some beef, of which we were in great need. At night we anchored in sixty fathoms, a mile from shore. On the 7th we landed 240 men, fifty of whom were kept together in a body to watch the motions of the Spaniards, while the rest were employed in providing cattle. We killed and salted as much beef as would serve us for two months, and might have procured a great deal more if we had not run out of salt. By this time our hopes of meeting the Manilla ship were entirely vanished, as we concluded she had got past us to the S.E. while we were employed in procuring provisions, which we afterwards learnt had been the case, by the information of several prisoners. The loss of this rich prize was chiefly owing to Captain Townley, who insisted on taking the Lima ship in the harbour of Acapulco, when we ought to have provided ourselves with beef and maize, as we might then have done, instead of being now forced to procure provisions at the critical time of her coming on the coast. We were likewise deceived by the hope of falling in with rich towns and mines on this coast, not then knowing that all the wealth of this country is in the interior. Seeing that we were now entirely disappointed in our hopes, we parted company, Captain Townley going back to the S.E. while we in Captain Swan's ship went to the west.
The 7th January we passed point Pontique in lat. 20° 38' N. ten leagues from Cape Corientes, being the N.W. point of this bay of the valley of Valderas. A league beyond this point to the W. there are two little isles called the Pontiques, and beyond these to the north the shore is rugged for eighteen leagues. The 14th we came to anchor in a channel between the continent and a small white rocky isle, in lat. 21° 15'. The 20th we anchored a league short of the isles of Chametly, different from those formerly mentioned under the same name, being six small isles in lat 28° 11' N. three leagues from the continent.[185] One or two of these isles have some sandy creeks, and they produce a certain fruit called penguins. These are of two sorts, one red and the other yellow. The plant producing the latter is as thick in the stem as a man's arm, with leaves six inches long and an inch broad, edged with prickles. The fruit grows in clusters at the top of the stem, being round and as large as an egg, having a thick rind, inclosing a pulp full of black seeds, of a delightful taste. The red penguin grows directly out of the ground, without any stalk, sometimes sixty or seventy in a cluster, no bigger than onions, but the shape of nine-pins, the cluster being surrounded with prickly leaves eighteen inches or two feet long.
[Footnote 185: In modern maps these are called the isles of Mazatlan, and are placed in lat. 28° 15' N. The name given in the text appears taken from a town on this coast called Charmela, in lat 22° 50' N. but improperly.--E.]
Captain Swan went with 100 men in canoes to the north, to find out the river Culiacan, supposed to be in lat. 24° N.[186] and said to have a fair and rich town of the same name on its banks; but after rowing thirty leagues he could not find the river, neither was there any safe landing place on the coast. Seven leagues N.N.W. from the Chametla or Mazatlan isles, our men landed in a small lake or river, having a narrow entrance, called Rio de Sal by the Spaniards, in lat. 23° 30' N.[187] They here procured some maize at an adjacent farm; and learnt at another landing place of an Indian town five leagues distant, to which they marched. Coming near the place we were encountered by a good number of Spaniards and Indians, who were soon beat off. On entering the place we only found two or three wounded Indians, who told us the town was named Mazatlan, and that there were two rich gold-mines at the distance of five leagues.