A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xi Part 15

The soil of this island is truly luxuriant, producing many kinds of fruits spontaneously, and is covered over with one continued forest of trees, in perpetual verdure, and which, from the exuberant fertility of the soil, are so entangled with thorns, briars, and underwood, as to form an absolutely impenetrable thicket, except by some narrow paths which the inhabitants have opened for their own convenience; and these, with a few spots cleared for plantations, along that side of the island which faces the continent, are the only uncovered parts of the island. The woods are extremely fragrant, from the many aromatic trees and shrubs with which they abound, and here the fruits and vegetables of all climates thrive, almost without culture, and are to be had in great plenty, so that there is no want of pine-apples, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, apricots, and plantains; there is also abundance of onions and potatoes, two productions of no small consideration for sea-stores. The flesh provisions are, however, much inferior to the vegetables. There are, indeed, small wild cattle to be purchased, something like buffaloes, but these are very indifferent food, their flesh being of a loose texture, and generally of a disagreeable flavour, probably owing to their feeding on wild calabash. There are also abundance of pheasants, but they are not to be compared in taste to those we have in England.

The other provisions of the place are monkeys, parrots, and, above all, fish of various sorts: These abound in the harbour, and are both exceedingly good and easily caught, as there are numerous sandy bays, very convenient for haling the seyne.

The water, both on the island and the opposite continent, is excellent, and preserves at sea as well as that of the Thames. After it has been a day or two in the cask, it begins to purge itself, stinks most abominably, and is soon covered over with a green sc.u.m, which subsides in a few days to the bottom, leaving the water perfectly sweet, and as clear as crystal. The French first brought this place into repute during their South-Sea trade in the reign of Queen Anne, and usually wooded and watered in Bon-port, on the continental side of the harbour, where they anch.o.r.ed in great safety in six fathoms, and this is doubtless the most commodious station for s.h.i.+ps that are meant only for a short stay. We watered on the St Catharine's side, at a plantation opposite to the island of St Antonio.

Such are the advantages of this island; but it has its inconveniences also, partly proceeding from its climate, but more particularly from its new regulations and the form of its government, as lately established. In regard to the climate, it must be remembered that the woods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulation of air, and the continual vigorous vegetation furnishes such a prodigious quant.i.ty of vapour, that a thick fog covers the whole country all night, and a great part of the morning, continuing till either the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersed by a brisk sea-breeze. This renders the place close and humid, and probably occasioned the many fevers and fluxes we were there afflicted with. I must not omit to add, that we were pestered all day by vast numbers of mosquetoes, which are not much unlike the gnats in England, but much more venomous in their stings. At sunset, when the musquetoes retired, they were succeeded by an infinity of sand-flies, which made a mighty buzzing, though scarcely discernable by the naked eye; wherever these bite, they raise a small lump attended by painful itching, like that arising from the bite of an English harvest bug.

The only light in which this place deserves our consideration is its favourable situation for supplying and refres.h.i.+ng our cruizers bound for the South Sea, and in this view its greatest inconveniences remain to be related, to do which more distinctly, it may not be amiss to consider the changes which it has lately undergone, both in its inhabitants, its police, and its governor.

In the time of Frazier and Shelvocke, this place served only as a retreat to vagabonds and outlaws, who fled hither from all parts of Brazil. It is true, that they acknowledged their subjection to the crown of Portugal, and had a person among them whom they called their captain, and who was considered as a kind of governor; but both their allegiance to their king, and their obedience to the captain, were merely verbal; for, as they had plenty of provisions and no money, they were in a condition to support themselves without aid from any neighbouring settlements, and had nothing among them to tempt any neighbouring governor to interpose his authority among them. In this situation they were extremely hospitable and friendly to such foreign s.h.i.+ps as came among them; for, as these s.h.i.+ps wanted only provisions, of which the natives had great store, while the natives wanted clothes, for they often despised money, and refused to take it, the s.h.i.+ps furnished them with apparel in exchange for their provisions, both sides finding their account in this traffic, and their captain had neither interest nor power to tax or restrain it.

Of late, for reasons which will afterwards appear, these honest vagabonds have been obliged to receive a new colony among them, and to submit to new laws and a new form of government. Instead of their former ragged and bare-legged captain, whom they took care, however, to keep innocent, they have now the honour of being governed by Don Jose Sylva de Paz, a brigadier of the armies of Portugal, who is accompanied by a garrison of soldiers, and has consequently a more extensive and better supported power than any of his predecessors: And as he wears better cloaths, lives more splendidly, and has a much better knowledge of the importance of money than any of them could ever pretend to, so he puts in practice certain methods for procuring it with which they were utterly unacquainted; yet it may be much doubted if the inhabitants consider these methods as tending to promote either their interests, or that of their sovereign, the king of Portugal. This much is certain, that his behaviour cannot but be extremely embarra.s.sing to such British s.h.i.+ps as touch here in their way to the South Seas.

One of his practices was, that he placed centinels at all the avenues, to prevent the people from selling us any refreshments, except at such exorbitant rates as we could not afford to give. His pretence for this extraordinary stretch of power was, that he was obliged to preserve their provisions for upwards of an hundred families, which were daily expected as a reinforcement to the colony. Thus he seems no novice in his profession, by his readiness at inventing a plausible pretence for his interested management. This circ.u.mstance, however, though sufficiently provoking, was far from being the most exceptionable part of his conduct; for, as by the neighbourhood of the Rio Plata, a considerable smuggling trade is carried on between the Portuguese and Spaniards, especially in exchanging gold for silver, by which both princes are defrauded of their fifths; and as Don Jose was deeply engaged in this prohibited commerce, in order to ingratiate himself with his Spanish correspondents, he treacherously dispatched an express to Buenos Ayres, where Pizarro then lay, with an account of our arrival, our strength, the number, of our s.h.i.+ps, guns, men, and every circ.u.mstance he could suppose our enemy desirous of being acquainted with.

This much, and what we shall have to relate in the course of our own proceedings, may suffice as to the present state of St Catharines and the character of its governor. But as the reader may wish to know the reasons for the late new modelling of this settlement, it will require, to explain this circ.u.mstance, to give a short account of the adjacent continent of Brazil, and of the wonderful discoveries which have been made within the last forty years, which, from a country of but mean estimation, has rendered it now perhaps the most considerable colony on the face of the earth.

This country was first discovered by Americus Vesputio, a Florentine, who had the good fortune to be honoured by giving his name to the immense continent found out some time before by Columbus. As Vesputio was in the service of Portugal, this discovery was settled and planned by that nation, and afterwards devolved to the crown of Spain along with the rest of the Portuguese dominions. During the long war between Spain and the states of Holland, the Dutch possessed themselves of the northermost parts of Brazil, and kept it for some years; but, when the Portuguese revolted from the Spanish government, this country took part in the revolt, and the Dutch were soon driven out of their acquisitions; since which time it has continued without interruption under the crown of Portugal. Till the beginning of the present century, it was only productive of sugar and tobacco, and a few other commodities of very little importance; but has been lately discovered to abound in the two mineral productions, gold and diamonds, which mankind hold in the highest estimation, and which they exercise their utmost art and industry in acquiring.

Gold was first found in the mountains adjacent to the city of Rio Janeiro. The occasion of its discovery is variously related, but the most common account is, that the Indians dwelling on the back of the Portuguese settlements were observed, by the soldiers employed in an expedition against them, to use this metal for fish-hooks; and, on enquiry into their manner of procuring this precious metal, it appeared that great quant.i.ties of it were annually washed from the hills, and left among the sand and gravel which remained in the vallies after the running off or evaporation of the water. It is now [in 1740] little more than forty years since any quant.i.ties of gold, worth notice, have been imported from Brazil to Europe; but, since that time, the annual imports have been continually augmented by the discovery of places in other provinces, where it is to be met with as plentifully as at first about Rio Janeiro. It is alleged that a _slender vein_[3] of gold spread through all the country, at about twenty-four feet below the surface, but that this vein is too thin and poor to answer the expence of digging.[4] However, where the rivers or rains have had any course for a considerable time, there gold is always to be collected, the water having separated the metal from the earth, and deposited it in the sands, thereby saving the expence of digging; hence it is esteemed an infallible gain to be able to divert a stream from its channel, and ransack its bed. From this account of the manner of gathering gold, it should follow that there are no mines of this metal in Brazil, and this the governor of Rio Grande, who happened to be at St Catharines, and frequently visited Mr Anson, did most confidently affirm, a.s.suring us that all the gold was collected from rivers, or from the beds of torrents after floods. It is indeed a.s.serted that large rocks are found in the mountains abounding in gold, and I have seen a fragment of one of these rocks having a considerable lump of gold entangled in it; but, even in this case, the workmen only break off the rocks, and do not properly mine into them; and the great expence of subsisting among these mountains, and in afterwards separating the metal from the stone, occasions this method of procuring gold to be but rarely put in practice.

[Footnote 3: The author ought here to have said, _a thin layer_, or _stratum_, to express the obvious meaning intended in the text.--E.]

[Footnote 4: The editor was informed, many years ago, by an intelligent native of Rio Janeiro, that the search for gold is confined by law to certain districts, on purpose to secure the royal fifth; and that all over the country round Rio Janeiro, where the search is prohibited, gold, emeralds, and aqua-marines are found in small quant.i.ties, on every occasion of digging to any depth into the earth, as for the purpose of a pit-well.--E.]

The examining the bottom of rivers and beds of torrents, and the was.h.i.+ng the gold there found, from the sand and dirt with which it is always mixed, are performed by slaves, who are princ.i.p.ally negroes, kept in great numbers by the Portuguese for this purpose. The regulation of the duty of these slaves is singular, as they are each of them obliged to furnish their master with the eighth part of an ounce of gold daily.[5] If they are either so fortunate or industrious as to collect a greater quant.i.ty, the surplus becomes their own property, and they may dispose of it as they think fit; so that some negroes, who have accidentally fallen upon rich was.h.i.+ng-places, are said to have themselves purchased slaves, and to have lived afterwards in great splendour, their original master having no other demand upon them than the daily supply of the before-mentioned eighths; which, as the Portuguese ounce is somewhat lighter than our troy ounce, may amount to about nine s.h.i.+llings sterling.

[Footnote 5: On the data of the text, and allowing sixty-five days in the year for Sundays and high festivals, the yearly profit of one slave to his master would be L. 135 sterling.--E.]

The quant.i.ty of gold thus collected in the Brazils and returned annually to Lisbon, may be estimated, in some degree, from the amount of the royal fifth. This has been of late computed, one year with another, at one hundred and fifty _aroues_, of thirty-two Portuguese pounds each, which, valued at L. 4 sterling the troy ounce, make very nearly three hundred thousand pounds sterling; and consequently the capital, of which this is the fifth, is about a million and a half sterling. It is obvious that the annual return of gold to Lisbon cannot be less than this, though it may be difficult to guess how much more it may be. Perhaps we may not be much mistaken in conjecturing that the gold exchanged with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres for silver, and what is privately brought to Europe without paying the duty, may amount to near half a million more, which will make the entire yearly produce of Brazilian gold nearly two millions sterling; a prodigious sum to be found in a country which only a few years since was not known to furnish a single grain.

Besides gold, this country also affords diamonds, as already mentioned. The discovery of these valuable stones is much more recent even than that of gold, as it is scarcely twenty years since the first were brought to Europe.[6] They are found in the same manner as gold, in the gullies of torrents and beds of rivers, but only in particular places, and by no means so universally spread throughout the country.

They were often found while was.h.i.+ng for gold, before they were known to be diamonds, and were consequently thrown away along with the sand and gravel; and it is well remembered that numbers of very large stones, which would have made the fortunes of the possessors, have pa.s.sed unregarded through the hands of those who now impatiently support the mortifying reflection. However, about twenty years since, [that is, in 1720,] a person acquainted with the appearance of rough diamonds, conceived that these pebbles, as they were then called, were of the same kind; yet it is said there was a considerable interval between the first stating of this opinion and its confirmation, by proper examination, as it was difficult to persuade the inhabitants that what they had been long accustomed to despise, could be of such amazing importance; and in this interval, as I was told, a governor of one of these places procured a good number of these stones, which he pretended to make use of as markers at cards. The truth of the discovery was at last confirmed by skilful jewellers in Europe, who were consulted on the occasion, and who declared that these Brazilian pebbles were true diamonds, many of which were not inferior in l.u.s.tre, or other qualities, to those of the East Indies. On this being made known, the Portuguese in the neighbourhood of the places where these had been first discovered, set themselves to search for diamonds with great a.s.siduity, and were hopeful of discovering them in considerable quant.i.ties, as they found large rocks of crystal in many of the mountains whence the streams proceeded that washed down the diamonds.

[Footnote 6: The author writes as of the year 1740.--E.]

Soon after this discovery, it was represented to the king of Portugal, that if diamonds should be met with in such abundance as their sanguine expectations seemed to indicate, their value and estimation would be so debased as to ruin all the Europeans who had any quant.i.ty of East India diamonds in their possession, and would even render the discovery itself of no importance, and prevent his majesty from deriving any advantages from it. On these considerations, his majesty thought proper to restrain the general search for diamonds, and erected a diamond company, with an exclusive charter for this purpose; in which company, in consideration of a sum of money paid to the king, the property of all diamonds found in Brazil is vested: But, to hinder them from collecting too large quant.i.ties, and thereby reducing their value in the market, they are prohibited from employing above eight hundred slaves in this search. To prevent any of his other subjects from continuing the search, and to secure the company against interlopers, a large town, and considerable surrounding district, has been depopulated; and all the inhabitants, said to have amounted to six thousand, have been obliged to remove to another part of the country: For as this town and district were in the neighbourhood of the diamonds, it was thought impossible to prevent such a number of people from frequently smuggling, if allowed to reside on the spot.

In consequence of these important discoveries in Brazil, new laws, new governments, and new regulations, have been established in many parts of the country. Not long ago there was a considerable track of country possessed by a set of inhabitants called Paulists, from the name of their princ.i.p.al settlement, who were almost independent of the crown of Portugal, to which it scarcely ever acknowledged a nominal allegiance. These Paulists are said to be descendants from the Portuguese who retired from the northern part of Brazil when it was invaded and possessed by the Dutch. Being long neglected by their superiors, owing to the confusions of the times, and obliged to provide for their own security and defence, the necessity of their affairs produced a kind of government among themselves, which sufficed for their mode of life. Thus habituated to their own regulations, they became fond of independence, so that, rejecting the mandates of the court of Lisbon, they were often engaged in a state of downright rebellion; and, owing to the mountains surrounding their country, and the difficulty of clearing the few pa.s.ses leading towards it, they were generally able to make their own terms before they submitted. But as gold was found in this country of the Paulists, the present king of Portugal, in whose reign almost all these great discoveries have been made, thought it necessary to reduce this province, now become of great importance, under the same dependence and obedience with the rest of the country, which was at length effected, though, as I was informed, with great difficulty.

The same motives which induced his majesty to reduce the Paulists, have also occasioned the changes which I have mentioned as having taken place at the island of St Catharines: For, as we were a.s.sured by the governor of Rio Grande, there are considerable rivers in this neighbourhood that are found to be extremely rich in gold, for which reason a military governor with a garrison have been placed here, along with a new colony; and, as the harbour at this island is by much the largest and most secure of any on the coast, it is not improbable, if the riches of the neighbourhood answer their present expectation, that it may become in time the princ.i.p.al settlement in Brazil, and the most considerable port in all South America.

This much I thought necessary to insert, in relation to the present state of Brazil and of the island of St Catharines; for, as this last place has been generally recommended as the most eligible place for our cruizers to refresh at when bound to the South Sea, I believed it to be my duty to instruct my countrymen in the hitherto unsuspected inconveniences which attend that place. And, as the Brazilian gold and diamonds are subjects of novelty, of which very few particulars have hitherto been published, I considered that the account I have been able to collect respecting them might not be regarded either a trifling or useless digression.

When we first arrived at St Catharines, we were employed in refres.h.i.+ng our sick on sh.o.r.e, in wooding and watering the squadron, in cleaning our s.h.i.+ps, and in examining and securing our masts and rigging, as formerly mentioned. At the same time Mr Anson gave orders that the s.h.i.+ps companies should be supplied with fresh meat, and have a full allowance of all kinds of provisions. In consequence of these orders we had fresh meat sent on board continually for our daily expenditure; and every thing else that was wanting to make up our allowances, was received from the Anna Pink, our victualler, in order to preserve the provisions on board the s.h.i.+ps of the squadron as entire as possible for future service. As the season of the year grew every day less favourable for our pa.s.sage round Cape Horn, Mr Anson was very anxious to leave St Catharines as soon as possible, and we were at first in hopes that all our business would be concluded, and we should be in readiness to sail, in about a fortnight from our arrival; but, on examining the masts of the Tryal, we found, to our no small vexation, inevitable employment for twice that time; for, on a survey, her main-mast was sprung at the upper woulding, though that was thought capable of being secured by means of two fishes; but the fore-mast was reported entirely unfit for service, on which the carpenters were sent into the woods in search of a stick proper for a new foremast. After a search of four days, nothing could be found fit for the purpose; wherefore, on a new consultation, it was agreed to endeavour to secure the mast by three fishes, in which work the carpenters were employed till within a day or two of our departure. In the meantime, thinking it necessary to have a clean vessel, on our arrival in the South Sea, the commodore ordered the Tryal to be hove down, which occasioned no loss of time, as it might be completed while the carpenters were refitting her masts on sh.o.r.e.

A sail being discovered in the offing on the 27th December, and not knowing but she might be Spanish, the eighteen-oared boat was manned and armed, and sent under the command of our second lieutenant, to examine her before she got within the protection of the forts. She proved to be a Portuguese brigantine from Rio Grande; and, though our officer behaved with the utmost civility to the master, and even refused to accept a calf which the master pressed him to accept, the governor took great offence at the sending our boat, talking of it in a high strain, as a violation of the peace subsisting between the crowns of Great Britain and Portugal. We thus attributed this bl.u.s.tering to no deeper cause than the natural insolence of Don Jose; but when he charged our officer with behaving rudely, and attempting to take by violence the calf which he had refused as a present, we had reason to suspect that he purposely sought this quarrel, and had more important objects in view than the mere captiousness of his temper.

What these motives might be we had then no means of determining, or even guessing at; but we afterwards found, by letters which fell into our hands when in the South-Seas, that he had dispatched an express to Pizarro, who then lay in the Rio Plata, with an account of our arrival at St Catharines, together with a most ample and circ.u.mstantial account of our force and condition. We then conceived, that Don Jose had raised this groundless clamour on purpose to prevent us from visiting the brigantine when she should go away again, lest we might have found proofs of his perfidy, and perhaps have discovered the secret of his smuggling correspondence with his neighbouring governors, and with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres.

It was near a month before the Tryal was refitted; for not only were her lower-masts defective, but her main-topmast and fore-yard were likewise found rotten. While this work was going on, the other s.h.i.+ps of the squadron set up new standing-rigging, together with a sufficient number of preventer shrowds to each mast, to secure them in the most effectual manner. Also, in order to render the s.h.i.+ps stiffer, to enable them to carry more sail abroad, and to prevent them from straining their upper works in hard gales of wind, the several captains were ordered to put some of their great guns into their holds. These precautions being complied with, and all the s.h.i.+ps having taken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the Tryal was at last completed, and the whole squadron was ready for sea: On which the tents on sh.o.r.e were struck, and all the sick removed on board. We had here a melancholy proof how much the healthiness of this place was over-rated by former writers; for, though the Centurion had alone buried no less than twenty-eight of her men since our arrival, yet, in the same interval, the number of her sick had increased from eighty to ninety-six.

All being embarked, and every thing prepared for our departure, the commodore made the signal for all captains, and delivered them their orders, containing the successive places of rendezvous from hence to the coast of Chili. Next day, being the 18th of January, 1741, the signal was made for weighing, and the squadron put to sea; leaving this island of St Catharines without regret, as we had been extremely disappointed in our accommodations and expectatations of refreshment, and in the humane and friendly offices we had been taught to look for, in a place so much celebrated for its hospitality, freedom, and convenience.

SECTION VI.

_The Run from St Catharines to Port St Julian; with some Account of that Port, and of the Country to the South of the Rio Plata._

In quitting St Catharines, we left the last amicable port we proposed to touch at, and were now proceeding to a hostile, or at best a desert and inhospitable coast. As we were to expect a more boisterous climate to the southward than any we had yet experienced, not only our danger of separation would by this means be much augmented, but other accidents of a more mischievous nature were also to be apprehended, and as much as possible provided against. Mr Anson, therefore, in appointing the various stations at which the s.h.i.+ps of the squadron were to rendezvous, had considered that his own s.h.i.+p might be disabled from getting round Cape Horn, or might be lost, and gave therefore proper directions, that, even in that case, the expedition might not be abandoned. The orders delivered to the captains, the day before sailing from St Catharines, were, in case of separation, which they were to endeavour to avoid with the utmost care, that the first place of rendezvous was to be Port St Julian, describing the place from Sir John Narborough's account of it. They were there to provide as much salt as they could take on board, both for their own use and that of the other s.h.i.+ps of the squadron; and, if not joined by the commodore after a stay of ten days, they were then to pa.s.s through the straits of Le Maire and round Cape Horn into the South-Seas, where the next place of rendezvous was to be the island of Nostra Senora del Socoro, in lat. 45 S. long. 71 12' W. from the Lizard.[1] They were to bring this island to bear E.N.E. and to cruize from five to twelve leagues distance from it, as long as their store of wood and water would permit, both of which they were directed to expend with the utmost frugality. When under the necessity of procuring a fresh supply, they were to stand in, and endeavour to find an anchorage; and in case they could not, and the weather made it dangerous to supply the s.h.i.+ps by standing off and on, they were then to make the best of their way to the island of Juan Fernandez in lat. 33 37' S. at which island, after recruiting their wood and water, they were to cruize off the anchorage for fifty-six days; and, if not joined by the commodore in that time, they were to conclude that some accident had befallen him, and were forthwith to put themselves under the command of the senior officer, who was to use his utmost endeavour to annoy the enemy both by sea and land. In this view, the new commander was urged to continue in these seas as long as provisions lasted, or as they could be supplied by what could be taken from the enemy, reserving only a sufficiency to carry the s.h.i.+ps to Macao, at the entrance of the river of Canton on the coast of China; whence, being supplied with a new stock of provisions, they were to make the best of their way to England. As it was found still impossible to unload the Anna Pink, our victualler, the commodore gave her master instructions for the same rendezvouses, and similar orders to put himself under the command of the remaining senior officer.

[Footnote 1: The centre of the island of Socoro, or Guayteca, on the western coast of Patagonia, is in lat. 43 10' S. and long. 73 40' W.

from Greenwich.--E.]

Under these orders, the squadron sailed from St Catharines on Sunday the 18th of January, 1741. Next day we had very squally weather, attended with rain, lightning, and thunder; but it soon cleared up again, with light breezes, and continued so to the evening of the 21st, when it again blew fresh, and, increasing all night, it became a most violent storm by next morning, accompanied by so thick a fog that it was impossible for us to see to the distance of two s.h.i.+ps lengths, and we consequently lost sight of all the squadron. On this a signal was made, by firing guns, to bring to with the larboard tacks, the wind being due east. We in the Centurion handed the top-sails, bunted the main-sail, and lay to under a reefed-mizen till noon, when the fog dispersed, and we soon discovered all the s.h.i.+ps of the squadron, except the Pearl, which did not join till near a month afterwards.

The Tryal was a great way to leeward, having lost her main-mast in the squall, and having been obliged to cut away the wreck, for fear of bilging. We therefore bore down with the squadron to her relief, and the Gloucester was ordered to take her in tow, as the weather did not entirely abate till next day, and even then a great swell continued from the eastward, in consequence of the preceding storm. After this accident we continued to the southward with little interruption, finding the same setting of the current we had observed before our arrival at St Catharines; that is, we generally found ourselves about twenty miles to the southward of our reckoning by the log every day.

This, with some inequality, lasted till we had pa.s.sed the lat.i.tude of the Rio Plata, and even then the same current, however difficult to be accounted for, undoubtedly continued; for we were not satisfied in attributing this appearance to any error in our reckoning, but tried it more than once, when a calm rendered it practicable.

Immediately on getting to the south of the lat.i.tude of the Rio Plata we had soundings, which continued all along the coast of Patagonia.

These soundings, when well ascertained, being of great use in determining the position of a s.h.i.+p on this coast, and as we tried them more frequently, in greater depths, and with more attention, than I believe had ever been done before, I shall recite our observations on this subject as succinctly as I can. In lat. 36 52' S. we had 60 fathoms on a bottom of fine black and grey sand: From thence to 39 55' S. we varied our depths from 50 to 80 fathoms, but always with the same bottom: Between the last-mentioned lat.i.tude and 43 16' S. we had only fine grey sand with the same variation of depths, except that we once or twice lessened the water to 40 fathoms. After this we continued in 40 fathoms for about half a degree, having a bottom of coa.r.s.e sand and broken sh.e.l.ls, at which time we were in sight of land at not above seven leagues distance. As we edged from the land we had a variety of soundings; first black sand, then muddy, and soon after rough ground with stones: But when we had increased our depth to forty-eight fathoms, we had a muddy bottom to the lat. of 46 10' S.

Hence drawing near the sh.o.r.e, we had at first thirty-six fathoms, and still kept shoaling till we came into twelve fathoms, having constantly small stones and pebbles at the bottom.

Part of this time we had a view of Cape Blanco, in about lat. 47 10' S. and long. 69 W. from London.[2] Steering from hence S. by E. nearly, we deepened our water to fifty fathoms in a run of about thirty leagues, without once altering the bottom; and then drawing towards the sh.o.r.e, with a S.W. course, varying rather westward, we had constantly a sandy bottom till we came to thirty fathoms, when we had again a sight of land in about lat. 48 31' S. We made this land on the 17th February, and came to anchor at five that afternoon in lat.

48 58' S. with the same soundings as before; the southermost land then in view bearing S.S.W. the northermost N.E. a small island N.W.

and the westermost hummock W.S.W. At this anchorage we found the tide to set S. by W.

[Footnote 2: Cape Blanco is in lat 47 20' S. long. 64 30' W. from Greenwich. At this place, instead of a description of Cape Blanco, the original gives two views of the coast in different directions, as seen from sea; here omitted for reasons already a.s.signed.--E.]

We weighed anchor at five next morning, and an hour afterwards descried a sail, which was soon found to be the Pearl, which had separated from us a few days after leaving St Catharines. Yet she increased her sail and stood away from the Gloucester; and when she came up, the people of the Pearl had their hammocks in their netting, and every thing ready for an engagement. The Pearl joined us about two in the afternoon, and running up under our stern, Lieutenant Salt informed the commodore that Captain Kidd had died on the 31st of January. He likewise said that he had seen five large s.h.i.+ps on the 10th of this month, which he for some time imagined had been our squadron, insomuch that he suffered the commanding s.h.i.+p, which wore a red broad pendant exactly resembling that of our commodore at the main top-mast head, to come within gun-shot of the Pearl before he discovered the mistake; but then, finding it was not the Centurion, he haled close upon a wind and crowded from theirs with all sail; and standing across a rippling, where they hesitated to follow, he happily escaped. He had made them out to be five Spanish s.h.i.+ps of war, one of which was so exceedingly like the Gloucester that he was under great apprehension when chased now by the Gloucester. He thought they consisted of two seventy-gun s.h.i.+ps, two of fifty, and one of forty; the whole of which squadron chased him all that day, but at night, finding they could not get near, they gave over the chase and stood away to the southward.

Had we not been under the necessity of refitting the Tryal, this intelligence would have prevented our making any stay at St Julians; but as it was impossible for that sloop to proceed round Cape Horn in her present condition, some stay there became inevitable; and therefore we came to an anchor again the same evening in twenty-five fathoms, the bottom a mixture of mud and sand, a high hummock bearing from us S.W. by W. Weighing at nine next morning, we sent the cutters of the Centurion and Severn in sh.o.r.e to discover the harbour of St Julian, while the s.h.i.+ps kept standing along the coast about a league from the land. At six in the evening we anch.o.r.ed in the bay of St Julian, in nineteen fathoms, the bottom muddy ground with sand, the northermost land in sight bearing N. by E. the S. 1/2 E. and the high hummock, called Wood's Mount by Sir John Narborough, W.S.W. The cutters returned soon after, having discovered the harbour, which did not appear to us where we lay, the northermost point shutting in upon the southermost, and closing the entrance in appearance.

Our princ.i.p.al object in coming to anchor in this bay was to refit the Tryal, in which business the carpenters were immediately employed. Her main-mast had been carried away about twelve feet below the cap, but they contrived to make the remainder of the mast serve. The Wager was directed to supply her with a spare main-top-mast, which the carpenters converted into a new fore-mast. And I cannot help observing, that this accident to the Tryal's masts, which gave us so much uneasiness at the time on account of the delay it occasioned, was the means, in all probability, of preserving this sloop and all her crew. For her masts before this were much too lofty for the high southern lat.i.tudes we were proceeding into, so that, if they had weathered the preceding storm, it would have been impossible for them to have stood against the seas and tempests we afterwards encountered in pa.s.sing round Cape Horn; and the loss of masts, in that boisterous climate, would scarcely have been attended with less than the loss of the vessel and all on board, as it would have been impracticable for the other s.h.i.+ps to have given them any a.s.sistance whatever, during the continuance of these impetuous storms.

While at this place, the commodore appointed the honourable Captain Murray to succeed to the Pearl, and Captain Cheap to the Wager. He promoted Mr Charles Saunders, first lieutenant of the Centurion, to the command of the Tryal sloop; but, as Mr Saunders lay dangerously ill of a fever in the Centurion, and the surgeons considered his removal to his own s.h.i.+p might hazard his life, Mr Saumarez had orders to act as commander of the Tryal during the illness of Captain Saunders.

At this place, the commodore held a consultation with his captains about unloading and discharging the Anna pink; but they represented that, so far from being in a condition for taking her loading on board, their s.h.i.+ps still had great quant.i.ties of provisions in the way of their guns between decks, and that their s.h.i.+ps were so deep and so lumbered that they would not be fit for action without being cleared.

It was therefore necessary to retain the pink in the service; and, as it was apprehended that we should meet with the Spanish squadron in pa.s.sing the cape, Mr Anson ordered all the provisions that were in the way of the guns to be put on board the Anna pink, and that all the guns which had been formerly lowered into the holds, for the ease of the s.h.i.+ps, should be remounted.

As this bay and harbour of St Julian is a convenient rendezvous, in case of separation, for all cruizers bound to the southwards, or to any part of the coast of Patagonia, from the Rio Plata to the Straits of Magellan, as it lies nearly parallel to their usual route, a short account of the singularity of this country, with a particular description of Port St. Julian, may perhaps be neither unacceptable to the curious, nor unworthy the attention of future navigators, as some of them, by unforeseen accidents, may be obliged to run in with the land and to make some stay on this coast; in which case a knowledge of the country, and of its productions and inhabitants, cannot fail to be of the utmost consequence to them.

The tract of country usually called Patagonia, or that southern portion of South America, not possessed by the Spaniards, extends from their settlements to the Straits of Magellan. This country on its eastern side, along the Atlantic ocean, from the Rio Plata southwards, is remarkable for having no trees of any kind, except a few peach trees planted by the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres; so that the whole eastern coast of Patagonia, extending near four hundred leagues from north to south, and as far back into the interior as any discoveries have yet been made, contains nothing that can be called by the name of wood, and only a few insignificant shrubs in some places. Sir John Narborough, who was sent out expressly by Charles II to examine this country, wintered upon this coast in Port St Julian and Port Desire, in the year 1670, and declares that he did not see a stick in the whole country large enough to make the handle of a hatchet. But, although this country be dest.i.tute of wood, it abounds in pasture, as the whole land seems made up of downs of a light dry and gravelly soil, producing great quant.i.ties of long gra.s.s, which grows in tufts, interspersed with large spots of barren gravel.

In many places this gra.s.s feeds immense herds of cattle, all derived from a few European cattle brought over by the Spaniards at their first settling, which have thriven and multiplied prodigiously, owing to the abundance of herbage which they every where met with, and are now so increased and extended so far into different parts of Patagonia, that they are not considered as private property; thousands of them being slaughtered every year by the hunters, only for their hides and tallow.

The manner of killing these cattle, being peculiar to that part of the world, merits a circ.u.mstantial description. Both Spaniards and Indians in that country are usually most excellent hors.e.m.e.n; and accordingly the hunters employed on this occasion are all mounted on horseback, armed with a kind of spear, which, instead of the usual point or blade in the same line with the shaft, has its blade fixed across. Armed with this instrument, they ride at a beast and surround him, when the hunter that is behind hamstrings him, so that he soon falls, and is unable to rise from the ground, where they leave him and proceed against others, whom they serve in the same manner. Sometimes there is a second party attending the hunters, on purpose to skin the cattle as they fall; but it is said that the hunters sometimes prefer to leave them to languish in torment till next day, from an opinion that the lengthened anguish bursts the lymphatics, and thereby facilitates the separation of the skin from the carca.s.s. Their priests have loudly condemned this most barbarous practice, and have even gone so far, if my memory do not deceive me, as to excommunicate such as persist to follow it, yet all their efforts to put an entire stop to it have hitherto proved ineffectual.

Besides great numbers of cattle which are slaughtered every year in this manner, for their hides and tallow, it is often necessary, for the uses of agriculture, and for other purposes, to catch them alive, and without wounding them. This is performed with a most wonderful and most incredible dexterity, chiefly by means of an implement or contrivance which the English who have resided at Buenos Ayres usually denominate a lash. This consists of a very strong thong of raw hide, several fathoms in length, with a running noose at one end. This the hunter, who is on horseback, takes in his right hand, being properly coiled up, and the other end fastened to the saddle: Thus prepared, the hunters ride at a herd of cattle, and when arrived within a certain distance of a beast, they throw their thong at him with such exactness, that they never fail to fix the noose about his horns.

Finding himself thus entangled, the beast usually endeavours to run away, but the hunter attends his motions, and the horse being swifter, the thong is prevented from being so much straitened as to break, till another hunter throws another noose about one of his hind-legs. When this is done, the horses being trained to the sport, instantly turn in opposite directions, straining the two thongs contrary ways, by which the beast is overthrown. The horses then stop, keeping both thongs on the stretch, so that the beast remains on the ground incapable of resistance; and the two hunters alight from their horses and secure the beast in such a manner that they afterwards easily convey him to wherever they please.

They catch horses by means of similar nooses, and are even said to catch tigers in the same manner, which, however strange it may appear, is a.s.serted by persons of credit. It must be owned, indeed, that the address both of Spaniards and Indians in this part of the world, in the use of this lash or noose, and the certainty with which they throw and fix it on any intended part of a beast, even at a considerable distance, is so wonderful as only to be credited and repeated on the concurrent testimony of all who have frequented this country. The cattle killed in the before-mentioned manner are slaughtered only for their hides and tallow, and sometimes their tongues also are taken out; but the rest of the flesh is left to putrify, or to be devoured by birds of prey and wild beasts. The greatest part of it falls to the share of the wild-dogs, of which there are immense numbers to be found in the country. These are all supposed to be descended of Spanish dogs from Buenos Ayres, which had left their masters, allured by the great quant.i.ty of carrion, and had run wild where they had such facility of subsisting, for they are plainly of the European breed of dogs.