The oysters most productive of pearls, are those found in considerable depths; for, though what are taken up by wading are of the same species, yet the pearls found in them are rare and very small. It is said, too, that the pearl partakes in some degree of the quality of the bottom on which the oyster is found; so that if the bottom be muddy, the pearl is dark and ill-coloured.
The diving for oysters is a work performed by negro slaves, of whom the inhabitants of Panama and the neighbouring coast formerly kept great numbers, carefully trained to this business. These are not esteemed complete divers, till they are able to protract their stay under water so long, that the blood gushes out from their nose, mouth, and ears. It is the tradition of the country, that when this accident has once befallen them, they dive for the future with much greater facility than before; that no inconvenience attends it, the bleeding generally stopping of itself, and that there is no probability of their being subject to it a second time.[1]
The sea at this place furnished us with a dainty, in the greatest plenty and perfection, viz. the turtle. There are reckoned four species of turtle: the trunk-turtle, the loggerhead, the hawksbill, and the green turtle. The two first are rank and unwholesome; the hawksbill (which furnishes the tortoise-shell) is but indifferent food, though better than the other two; but the green turtle is esteemed, by the greatest part of those who are acquainted with its taste, as the most delicious of eatables; and that it is a most wholesome food, we were amply convinced by our own experience: For we fed on this for near four months, and consequently had it been in any degree noxious, its ill effects could not possibly have escaped us. At this island we took what quantity we pleased with great facility; for, as they are an amphibious animal, and get on shore to lay their eggs, which they generally deposit in a large hole in the sand, just above the high-water mark, covering them up, and leaving them to be hatched by the heat of the sun, we usually dispersed several of our men along the beach, whose business it was to turn them on their backs when they came to land; and the turtle being thereby prevented from getting away, we carried them off at our leisure. These proved of great service both in lengthening out our store of provision, and in heartening the whole crew with an almost constant supply of fresh and palatable food; for the turtle being large, generally weighing about 200 lb. weight each, what we took with us lasted us near a month, and by that time we met with a fresh recruit on the coast of Mexico, where we often saw them in the heat of the day floating in great numbers on the surface of the water fast asleep. Our mode of taking them was this; we sent out our boat with a man in the bow, who was a dexterous diver; when the boat came within a few yards of the turtle, the diver plunged into the water, and took care to rise close upon it; on seizing the shell near the tail, and pressing down the hinder parts, the turtle awakened, and began to strike with its claws, which motion supported both it and the diver, till the boat came up and took them in. By this management we never wanted turtle for the succeeding four months in which we continued at sea; and though we had been three months on board, without putting our foot on shore, except for the few days we stayed at the island of Quibo, and those employed in the attack of Payta, yet, in the whole seven months, from our leaving Juan Fernandez to our anchoring in the harbour of Chequetan, we buried no more in the whole squadron than two men; a most incontestable proof that the turtle on which we fed for the last four months of this term, was at least innocent, if not something more. It appears wonderful, therefore, that a species of food so very palatable and salubrious, and so much abounding in those parts, should be proscribed by the Spaniards as unwholesome, and little less than poisonous. Perhaps the strange appearance of this animal may have been the foundation of this ridiculous aversion, which is strongly rooted in all the inhabitants of that coast, and of which we had many instances in the course of this navigation. Some Indian and negro slaves we had taken in our prizes, and continued on board to assist in navigating our ships, were astonished at our feeding on turtle, and seemed fully persuaded that it would soon destroy us; but finding that none of us died, nor even suffered in our health by a continuation of this diet, they at last got so far the better of their aversion, as to be persuaded to taste it, to which the absence of all other kinds of fresh provisions might not a little contribute. However, it was with great reluctance, and very sparingly, that they began to eat it: But the relish improving upon them by degrees, they at last grew extremely fond of it, preferred it to every other kind of food, and often felicitated each other on the happy experience they had acquired, and the delicious and plentiful repasts it would be always in their power to procure, when they should return to their country. Those who are acquainted with the manner of life of these unhappy wretches, need not be told, that next to large draughts of spirituous liquors, plenty of tolerable food is the greatest joy they know; and that the discovering a method which would supply them with what quantity they pleased of a kind more luxurious to the palate than any their haughty lords and masters could indulge in, was a circumstance which they considered as the most fortunate that could befal them.
In three days time we had completed our business at this place, and were extremely impatient to put to sea, that we might arrive time enough on the coast of Mexico to intercept the Manilla galleon. The wind being contrary detained us a night, and the next day when we got into the offing, (which we did through the same channel by which we entered) we were obliged to keep hovering about the island, in hopes of getting sight of the Gloucester. It was the 9th of December, in the morning, when we put to sea, and continuing to the southward of the island, looking out for the Gloucester, we, on the 10th, at five in the afternoon, discerned a small sail to the northward of us, to which we gave chase, and coming up took her. She proved to be a bark from Panama, bound to Cheripe, an inconsiderable village on the continent, and was called the Jesu Nazareno. She had nothing on board but some oakum, about a ton of rock-salt, and between 30l. and 40l. in specie, most of it consisting of small silver money, intended for purchasing a cargo of provisions at Cheripe.
I cannot but observe, for the use of future cruisers, that had we been in want of provisions, we had by this capture an obvious method of supplying ourselves. For at Cheripe, whither she was bound, there is a constant store of provisions prepared for the vessels which go thither every week from Panama, the market of Panama being chiefly supplied from thence: So that by putting a few of our hands on board our prize, we might easily have seized a large store without any hazard, since Cheripe is a place of no strength.
On the 12th of December we were relieved from the perplexity we had suffered, by the separation of the Gloucester; for on that day she joined us, and informed us, that in tacking to the southward on our first arrival, she had sprung her fore-top-mast, which had disabled her from working to windward, and prevented her from joining us sooner. We now scuttled and sunk the Jesu Nazareno, the prize we took last, and having the greatest impatience to get into a proper station for the galleon, stood altogether to the westward, and notwithstanding the impediments we met with, left the island of Quibo in about nine days after our first coming in sight of it.
Footnote 1: [(return)]
The intelligent reader will demand more than the tradition of the country to induce his belief, that this diving business is not most certainly destructive of the miserable wretches who are compelled to pursue it. The divers in the Persian gulph, where it is well known the pearl fishery is carried on by individuals on their own account, "seldom live to a great age," (says Mr Morier in the account of his Journey through Persia.) "Their bodies break out in sores, and their eyes become very weak and blood-shot. They are restricted to a certain regimen; and to food composed of dates and other light ingredients." It cannot be imagined that the negroes of Panama fare better in this hazardous occupation. But to the expression of any solicitude as to their blood, it is very probable the answer might be something in the style of one of Juvenal's worthy ladies:
ita servus homo est?
Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas.P.
SECTION XIX.
From Quibo to the Coast of Mexico.
On the 12th of December we left Quibo, and the same day the commodore delivered fresh instructions to the captains of the men of war, and the commanders of our prizes, appointing them the rendezvouses they were to make, and the courses they were to steer in case of a separation. And first, they were directed to use all possible dispatch in getting to the northward of the harbour of Acapulco, where they were to endeavour to fall in with the land, between the latitudes of 18 and 19°; from thence, they were to beat up the coast at eight or ten leagues distance from the shore, till they came a-breast of Cape Corientes, in the latitude of 20°20'. When they arrived there, they were to continue cruising on that station till the 14th of February; and then they were to proceed to the middle island of the Tres Marias, in the latitude of 21°25', bearing from Cape Corientes N.W. by N., twenty-five leagues distant. And if at this island they did not meet the commodore, they were there to recruit their wood and water, and then to make the best of their way to the island of Macao, on the coast of China. These orders being distributed, we had little doubt of arriving soon upon our intended station; as we expected, upon the increasing our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regular trade-wind. But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near a month, either with tempestuous weather from the western quarter, or with dead calms and heavy rains, attended with a sultry air; so that it was the 25th of December before we got a sight of the island of Cocos, which by our reckoning was only a hundred leagues from the continent; and we had the mortification to make so little way, that we did not lose sight of it again in five days. This island we found to be in the latitude of 5°20' north. It has a high hummock towards the western part, which descends gradually, and at last terminates in a low point to the eastward. From the island of Cocos we stood W. by N., and were till the 9th of January in running an hundred leagues more. We had at first flattered ourselves, that the uncertain weather and western gales we met with were owing to the neighbourhood of the continent, from which, as we got more distant, we expected every day to be relieved, by falling in with the eastern trade-wind: But as our hopes were so long baffled, and our patience quite exhausted, we began at length to despair of succeeding in the great purpose we had in view, that of intercepting the Manilla galleon; and this produced a general dejection amongst us, as we had at first considered this project as almost infallible, and had indulged ourselves in the most boundless hopes of the advantages we should thence receive. However, our despondency was at last somewhat alleviated, by a favourable change of the wind; for, on the 9th of January, a gale for the first time sprang up from the N.E., and on this we took the Carmelo in tow, as the Gloucester did the Carmin, making all the sail we could to improve the advantage, for we still suspected that it was only a temporary gale, which would not last long; but the next day we had the satisfaction to find, that the wind did not only continue in the same quarter, but blew with so much briskness and steadiness, that we now no longer doubted of its being the true trade-wind. And as we advanced apace towards our station, our hopes began to revive, and our despair by degrees gave place to pleasing prejudices: For though the customary season of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco was already elapsed, yet we were unreasonable enough to flatter ourselves, that some accidental delay might lengthen her passage beyond its usual limits.