The watering-place had the appearance of a large standing lake, without any visible outlet into the sea, from which it is separated by a part of the strand. The origin of this lake is a spring, that bubbles out of the ground near half a mile within the country. We found the water a little brackish, but more considerably so towards the sea-side, for the nearer we advanced towards the spring-head, the softer and fresher it proved: This laid us under a necessity of filling all our casks from the furthest part of the lake, and occasioned us some trouble, and would have proved still more difficult had it not been for our particular management, which, for the conveniency of it, deserves to be recommended to all who shall hereafter water at this place. Our method consisted in making use of canoes which drew but little water; for, loading them with a number of small casks, they easily got up the lake to the spring-head, and the small casks being there filled, were in the same manner transported back again to the beach, where some of our hands always attended to start them into other casks of a larger size.
Though this lake, during our continuance there, appeared to have no outlet into the sea, yet there is reason to suppose that in the wet season it overflows the strand, and communicates with the ocean; for Dampier, who was formerly here, speaks of it as a large river. Indeed, there must be a very great body of water amassed before the lake can rise high enough to overflow the strand, for the neighbouring country is so low, that great part of it must be covered with water before it can run out over the beach.
As the country in the neighbourhood, particularly the tract which we have already described, appeared to be well peopled and cultivated, we hoped thence to have procured fresh provision and other refreshments which we stood in need of. With this view, the morning after we came to an anchor, the commodore ordered a party of forty men, well armed, to march into the country, and to endeavour to discover some town or village, where they were to attempt a correspondence with the inhabitants; for we doubted not if we could have any intercourse with them, but that by presents of some of the coarse merchandise, with which our prizes abounded (which, though of little consequence to us, would to them be extremely valuable,) we should allure them to furnish us with whatever fruits or fresh provisions were in their power. Our people were directed on this occasion to proceed with the greatest circumspection, and to make as little ostentation of hostility as possible; for we were sensible that we could meet with no wealth here worth our notice, and that what necessaries we really wanted we should in all probability be better supplied with by an open amicable traffic, than by violence and force of arms. But this endeavour of opening an intercourse with the inhabitants proved ineffectual, for towards evening, the party which had been ordered to march into the country, returned greatly fatigued with their unusual exercise, and some of them so far spent as to have fainted by the way, and to be obliged to be brought back upon the shoulders of their companions. They had marched in all, as they conceived, about ten miles, in a beaten road, where they often saw the fresh dung of horses or mules. When they had got about five miles from the harbour, the road divided between the mountains into two branches, one running to the east and the other to the west. After some deliberation about the course they should take, they agreed to pursue the eastern road, which, when they had followed for some time, led them at once into a large plain or savannah; on one side of which they discovered a centinel on horseback with a pistol in his hand: It was supposed that when they first saw him he was asleep, but his horse startled at the glittering of their arms, and, turning round suddenly, rode off with his master, who was very near being unhorsed in the surprise, but he recovered his seat, and escaped with the loss of his hat and his pistol, which he dropped on the ground. Our people ran after him, in hopes of discovering some village or habitation, but as he had the advantage of being on horseback, they soon lost sight of him. However, they were unwilling to come back without making some discovery, and therefore still followed the track they were in; but the heat of the day increasing, and finding no water to quench their thirst, they were first obliged to halt, and then resolved to return; for, as they saw no signs of plantations or cultivated land, they had no reason to believe that there was any village or settlement near them: But, to leave no means untried of procuring some intercourse with the people, the officers stuck up several poles in the road, to which were affixed declarations, written in Spanish, encouraging the inhabitants to come down to the harbour and to traffic with us, giving the strongest assurances of a kind reception, and faithful payment for any provisions they should bring us. This was doubtless a very prudent measure, but it produced no effect; for we never saw any of them during the whole time of our continuance at this port of Chequetan. But had our men, upon the division of the path, taken the western road instead of the eastern, it would soon have led them to a village or town, which, in some Spanish manuscripts, is mentioned as being in the neighbourhood of this port, and which we afterwards learnt was not above two miles from that turning.
And on this occasion I cannot help mentioning another adventure which happened to some of our people in the bay of Petaplan, as it may help to give the reader a just idea of the temper of the inhabitants of this part of the world. Some time after our arrival at Chequetan, Lieutenant Brett was sent by the commodore, with two of our boats under his command, to examine the coast to the eastward, particularly to make observations on the bay and watering-place of Petaplan. As Mr Brett with one of the boats was preparing to go on shore towards the hill of Petaplan, he, accidentally looking across the bay, perceived, on the opposite strand, three small squadrons of horse parading upon the beach, and seeming to advance towards the place where he proposed to land. On sight of this he immediately put off the boat, though he had but sixteen men with him, and stood over the bay towards them; and he soon came near enough to perceive that they were mounted on very sightly horses, and were armed with carbines and lances. On seeing him make towards them they formed upon the beach, and seemed resolved to dispute his landing, firing several distant shot at him as he drew near; till at last, the boat being arrived within a reasonable distance of the most advanced squadron, Mr Brett ordered his people to fire, upon which this resolute cavalry instantly ran in great confusion into the wood. In this precipitate flight one of their horses fell down and threw his rider; but whether he was wounded or not we could not learn, for both man and horse soon got up again, and followed the rest. In the mean time the other two squadrons, who were drawn up at a great distance behind, out of the reach of our shot, were calm spectators of the rout of their comrades; for they had halted on our first approach, and never advanced afterwards. It was, doubtless, fortunate for our people that the enemy acted with so little prudence, and exerted so little spirit, for had they concealed themselves till our men had landed, it is scarcely possible but the whole boat's crew must have fallen into their hands, since the Spaniards were not much short of two hundred in number. However, the discovery of so considerable a force collected in this bay of Petaplan, obliged us constantly to keep a boat or two before it; for we were apprehensive that the cutter, which we had left to cruise off Acapulco, might, on her return, be surprised by the enemy, if she did not receive timely information of her danger.
After our unsuccessful attempt to engage the people of the country to furnish us with the necessaries we wanted, we were obliged to be contented with what we could procure in the neighbourhood of the port. We caught fish here in tolerable quantities, especially when the smoothness of the water permitted us to hale the seyne. Amongst the rest, we got here cavallies, breams, mullets, soles, fiddle-fish, sea eggs, and lobsters; and here, and in no other place, met with that extraordinary fish called the Torpedo, or numbing fish, which is in shape very like the fiddle-fish, and is not to be known from it but by a brown circular spot of about the bigness of a crown-piece near the centre of its back; perhaps its figure will be better understood when I say it is a flat fish, much resembling the thorn-back. This fish is of a most singular nature, productive of the strangest effects on the human body; for whoever handles it, or happens even to set his foot upon it, is presently seized with a numbness all over him, but more distinguishable in that limb which was in immediate contact with it. The same effect, too, will be, in some degree, produced by touching the fish, with any thing held in the hand; for I myself had a considerable degree of numbness conveyed to my right arm through a walking cane, which I rested on the body of the fish for some time, and I make no doubt but I should have been much more sensibly affected had not the fish been near expiring when I made the experiment: For it is observable that this influence acts with most vigour when the fish is first taken out of the water, and entirely ceases when it is dead, so that it may be then handled, or even eaten, without any inconvenience. I shall only add that the numbness of my arm on this occasion did not go off on a sudden, as the accounts of some naturalists gave me reason to expect, but diminished gradually, so that I had some sensation of it remaining till the next day.
To the account given of the fish we met with here, I must add, that though turtle now grew scarce, and we met with none in this harbour of Chequetan, yet our boats, which, as I have mentioned, were stationed off Petaplan, often supplied us therewith; and though this was a food that we had now been so long as it were confined to, (for it was the only fresh provisions which we had tasted for near six months,) yet we were far from being cloyed with it, or finding that the relish we had of it at all diminished.
The animals we met with on shore were principally guanos, with which the country abounds, and which are by some reckoned delicious food. We saw no beasts of prey here, except alligators, several of which our people discovered, but none of them very large. However, we were satisfied there were tygers in the woods, though none of them came in sight; for we every morning found the beach near the watering-place imprinted with their footsteps: But we never apprehended any mischief from them, for they are by no means so fierce as the Asiatic or African tyger, and are rarely, if ever, known to attack mankind. Birds were in sufficient plenty, especially pheasants of different kinds, some of them of an uncommon size, but they were very dry and tasteless food. Besides these we had a variety of smaller birds, particularly parrots, which we often killed for food.
The fruits and vegetable refreshments at this place were neither plentiful, nor of the best kinds: There were, it is true, a few bushes scattered about the woods, which supplied us with limes, but we scarcely could procure enough for our present use; and these, with a small plumb of an agreeable acid, called in Jamaica the hog-plumb, together with another fruit called a papah, were the only fruits to be found in the woods. Nor is there any other useful vegetable here worth mentioning, except brook-lime: This indeed grew in great quantities near the fresh-water banks; and, as it was esteemed an antiscorbutic, we fed upon it frequently, though its extreme bitterness made it very unpalatable.
By all that has been said, it will appear that the conveniences of this port of Chequetan, particularly in the articles of refreshment, are not altogether such as might be desired: But, upon the whole, it is a place of considerable consequence, as the only secure harbour in a vast extent of coast, except Acapulco.
Footnote 1: [(return)]
In the original are references to some plates, which cannot be given in this work.E.