History of the Buccaneers of America Part 14

Dampier calls them the _Isles of Chametly_, 'different from the _Isles_ or _Keys of Chametly_ at which we had before anch.o.r.ed. These are six small Islands in lat.i.tude 23 11' N, about three leagues distant from the main-land[74], where a salt lake has its outlet into the sea. Their meridian distance from _Cape Corrientes_ is 23 leagues [West.] The coast here, and for about ten leagues before coming abreast these Islands, lies NW and SE.'

[Sidenote: The Penguin Fruit.] On the _Chametlan Isles_ they found guanoes, and seals; and a fruit of a sharp pleasant taste, by Dampier called the Penguin fruit, 'of a kind which grows so abundantly in the _Bay of Campeachy_ that there is no pa.s.sing for their high p.r.i.c.kly leaves.'

[Sidenote: Rio de Sal, and Salt-water Lagune, 23 30' N.] In the main-land, six or seven leagues NNW from the _Isles of Chametlan_, is a narrow opening into a _lagune_, with depth of water sufficient for boats to enter. This _lagune_ extends along the back of the sea-beach about 12 leagues, and makes many low Mangrove Islands. The lat.i.tude given of the entrance above-mentioned is 23 30' N, and it is called by the Spaniards _Rio de Sal_.

Half a degree Northward of _Rio de Sal_ was said to be the River _Culiacan_, with a rich Spanish town of the same name. Swan went with the canoes in search of it, and followed the coast 30 leagues from abreast the _Chametlan Isles_, without finding any river to the North of the _Rio de Sal_. All the coast was low and sandy, and the sea beat high on the sh.o.r.e.

[Sidenote: 30th.] The s.h.i.+ps did not go farther within the _Gulf_ than to 23 45' N, in which lat.i.tude, on the 30th, they anch.o.r.ed in eight fathoms depth, three miles distant from the main-land; the meridian distance from _Cape Corrientes_ being 34 leagues West, by Dampier's reckoning.

[Sidenote: The Mexican, a copious Language.] In their return Southward, Swan with the canoes, entered the _Rio de Sal Lagune_, and at an _estancian_ on the Western side, they took the owner prisoner. They found in his house a few bushels of maize; but the cattle had been driven out of their reach. Dampier relates, 'The old Spanish gentleman who was taken at the _Estancian_ near the _Rio de Sal_ was a very intelligent person. He had been a great traveller in the kingdom of _Mexico_, and spoke the Mexican language very well. He said it is a copious language, and much esteemed by the Spanish gentry in those parts, and of great use all over the kingdom; and that many Indian languages had some dependency on it.'

[Sidenote: Mazatlan.] The town of _Mazatlan_ was within 5 leagues of the NE part of the _lagune_, and Swan with 150 men went thither. The inhabitants wounded some of the Buccaneers with arrows, but could make no effectual resistance. There were rich mines near _Mazatlan_, and the Spaniards of _Compostella_, which is the chief town in this district, kept slaves at work in them. The Buccaneers however found no gold here, but carried off some Indian corn.

[Sidenote: February 2d. Rosario, an Indian Town.] February the 2d, the canoes went to an Indian town called _Rosario_, situated on the banks of a river and nine miles within its entrance. '_Rosario_ was a fine little town of 60 or 70 houses, with a good church.' The river produced gold, and mines were in the neighbourhood; but here, as at _Mazatlan_, they got no other booty than Indian corn, of which they conveyed to their s.h.i.+ps between 80 and 90 bushels.

[Sidenote: 3d. River Rosario, 22 51' N. Sugar-loaf Hill. Caput Cavalli.]

On the 3d, the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed near the _River Rosario_ in seven fathoms oozy ground, a league from the sh.o.r.e; the lat.i.tude of the entrance of the river 22 51' N. A small distance within the coast and bearing NEbN from the s.h.i.+p, was a round hill like a sugar-loaf; and North Westward of that hill, was another 'pretty long hill,' called _Caput Cavalli_, or the _Horse's Head_.

[Sidenote: 8th.] On the 8th, the canoes were sent to search for a river named the _Oleta_, which was understood to lie in lat.i.tude 22 27' N; but the weather proving foggy they could not find it.

[Sidenote: 11th. Maxentelbo Rock. Hill of Xalisco.] On the 11th, they anch.o.r.ed abreast the South point of the entrance of a river called the _River de Santiago_, in seven fathoms soft oozy bottom, about two miles from the sh.o.r.e; a high white rock, called _Maxentelbo_, bore from their anchorage WNW, distant about three leagues, and a high hill in the country, with a saddle or bending, called the _Hill Xalisco_, bore SE.

[Sidenote: River of Santiago, 22 15' N.] 'The _River St. Iago_ is in lat.i.tude 22 15' N, the entrance lies East and West with the _Rock Maxentelbo_. It is one of the princ.i.p.al rivers on this coast: there is ten feet water on the bar at low-water; but how much the tide rises and falls, was not observed. The mouth of the river is nearly half a mile broad, with very smooth entering. Within the entrance it widens, for three or four rivers meet there, and issue all out together. The water is brackish a great way up; but fresh water is to be had by digging two or three feet deep in a sandy bay just at the mouth of the river. Northward of the entrance, and NEbE from _Maxentelbo_, is a round white rock.'

'Between the lat.i.tudes 22 41' and 22 10' N, which includes the _River de Santiago_, the coast lies NNW and SSE[75].'

No inhabitants were seen near the entrance of the _River St. Iago_, but the country had a fruitful appearance, and Swan sent seventy men in four canoes up the river, to seek for some town or village. After two days spent in examining different creeks and rivers, they came to a field of maize which was nearly ripe, and immediately began to gather; but whilst they were loading the canoes, they saw an Indian, whom they caught, and from him they learnt that at four leagues distance from them was a town named _S^{ta} Pecaque_. With this information they returned to the s.h.i.+p; and the same evening, Swan with eight canoes and 140 men, set off for _S^{ta} Pecaque_, taking the Indian for a guide. This was on the 15th of the month.

[Sidenote: 16th.] They rowed during the night about five leagues up the river, and at six o'clock in the morning, landed at a place where it was about a pistol-shot wide, with pretty high banks on each side, the country plain and even. Twenty men were left with the canoes, and Swan with the rest marched towards the town, by a road which led partly through woodland, and partly through savannas well stocked with cattle. They arrived at the town by ten in the forenoon, and entered without opposition, the inhabitants having quitted it on their approach.

[Sidenote: Town of S^{ta} Pecaque.] The town of _Santa Pecaque_ was small, regularly built after the Spanish mode, with a Parade in the middle, and balconies to the houses which fronted the parade. It had two churches. The inhabitants were mostly Spaniards, and their princ.i.p.al occupation was husbandry. It is distant from _Compostella_ about 21 leagues.

_Compostella_ itself was at that time reckoned not to contain more than seventy white families, which made about one-eighth part of its inhabitants.

There were large storehouses, with maize, salt-fish, salt, and sugar, at _Santa Pecaque_, provisions being kept there for the subsistence of some hundreds of slaves who worked in silver mines not far distant. The chief purpose for which the Cygnet had come so far North on this coast was to get provisions, and here was more than sufficient to supply her wants. For transporting it to their canoes, Swan divided the men into two parties, which it was agreed should go alternately, one party constantly to remain to guard the stores in the town. The afternoon of the first day was pa.s.sed in taking rest and refreshment, and in collecting horses. [Sidenote: 17th.] The next morning, fifty-seven men, with a number of horses laden with maize, each man also carrying a small quant.i.ty, set out for the canoes, to which they arrived, and safely deposited their burthens. The Spaniards had given some disturbance to the men who guarded the canoes, and had wounded one, on which account they were reinforced with seven men from the carrying party; and in the afternoon, the fifty returned to _Santa Pecaque_. Only one trip was made in the course of the day.

[Sidenote: 18th.] On the morning of the 18th, the party which had guarded the town the day before, took their turn for carrying. They loaded 24 horses, and every man had his burthen. This day they took a prisoner, who told them, that nearly a thousand men, of all colours, Spaniards, Indians, Negroes, and Mulattoes, were a.s.sembled at the town of _Santiago_, which was only three leagues distant from _Santa Pecaque_. This information made Captain Swan of opinion, that separating his men was attended with much danger; and he determined that the next morning he would quit the town with the whole party. In the mean time he employed his men to catch as many horses as they could, that when they departed they might carry off a good load.

[Sidenote: February 19th.] On the 19th, Swan called his men out early, and gave order to prepare for marching; but the greater number refused to alter the mode they had first adopted, and said they would not abandon the town until all the provision in it was conveyed to the canoes. Swan was forced to acquiesce, and to allow one-half of the company to go as before.

They had fifty-four horses laden; Swan advised them to tie the horses one to another, and the men to keep in two bodies, twenty-five before, and the same number behind. His directions however were not followed: 'the men would go their own way, every man leading his horse.' The Spaniards had before observed their careless manner of marching, and had prepared their plan of attack for this morning, making choice of the ground they thought most for their advantage, and placing men there in ambush. The Buccaneer convoy had not been gone above a quarter of an hour when those who kept guard in the town, heard the report of guns. Captain Swan called on them to march out to the a.s.sistance of their companions; but some even then opposed him, and spoke with contempt of the danger and their enemies, till two horses, saddled, with holsters, and without riders, came galloping into the town frightened, and one had at its side a carabine newly discharged. [Sidenote: Buccaneers defeated and slain by the Spaniards.] On this additional sign that some event had taken place which it imported them to know, Swan immediately marched out of the town, and all his men followed him. When they came to the place where the engagement had happened, they beheld their companions that had gone forth from the town that morning, every man lying dead in the road, stripped, and so mangled that scarcely any one could be known. This was the most severe defeat the Buccaneers suffered in all their _South Sea_ enterprises.

The party living very little exceeded the number of those who lay dead before them, yet the Spaniards made no endeavour to interrupt their retreat, either in their march to the canoes, or in their falling down the river, but kept at a distance. 'It is probable,' says Dampier, 'the Spaniards did not cut off so many of our men without loss of many of their own. We lost this day fifty-four Englishmen and nine blacks; and among the slain was my ingenious friend Mr. Ringrose, who wrote that part of the _History of the Buccaneers_ which relates to Captain Sharp. He had engaged in this voyage as supercargo of Captain Swan's s.h.i.+p.'--'Captain Swan had been forewarned by his astrologer of the great danger they were in; and several of the men who went in the first party had opposed the division of their force: some of them foreboded their misfortune, and heard as they lay down in the church in the night, grievous groanings which kept them from sleeping[76].'

Swan and his surviving crew were discouraged from attempting any thing more on the coast of _New Galicia_, although they had laid up but a small stock of provisions. On the 21st, they sailed from the _River of St. Jago_ for the South Cape of _California_, where it was their intention to careen the s.h.i.+p; but the wind had settled in the NW quarter, and after struggling against it a fortnight, on the 7th of March, they anch.o.r.ed in a bay at the East end of the middle of the _Tres Marias Islands_, in eight fathoms clean sand. [Sidenote: March. At the Middle Island of the Tres Marias.]

The next day, they took a birth within a quarter of a mile of the sh.o.r.e; the outer points of the bay bearing ENE and SSW.

None of the _Tres Marias Islands_ were inhabited. Swan named the one at which he had anch.o.r.ed, _Prince George's Island_. Dampier describes them of moderate height, and the Westernmost Island to be the largest of the three. 'The soil is stony and dry, producing much of a shrubby kind of wood, troublesome to pa.s.s; but in some parts grow plenty of straight large cedars. [Sidenote: A Root used as Food.] The sea-sh.o.r.e is sandy, and there, a green p.r.i.c.kly plant grows, whose leaves are much like the penguin leaf; the root is like the root of the _Sempervive_, but larger, and when baked in an oven is reckoned good to eat. The Indians of _California_ are said to have great part of their subsistence from these roots. We baked some, but none of us greatly cared for them. They taste exactly like the roots of our English Burdock boiled.'

At this Island were guanoes, racc.o.o.ns, rabbits, pigeons, doves, fish, turtle, and seal. They careened here, and made a division of the store of provisions, two-thirds to the Cygnet and one-third to the Tender, 'there being one hundred eaters in the s.h.i.+p, and fifty on board the tender.' The maize they had saved measured 120 bushels.

[Sidenote: A Dropsy cured by a Sand Bath.] Dampier relates the following anecdote of himself at this place. 'I had been a long time sick of a dropsy, a distemper whereof many of our men died; so here I was laid and covered all but my head in the hot sand. I endured it near half an hour, and then was taken out. I sweated exceedingly while I was in the sand, and I believe it did me much good, for I grew well soon after.'

This was the dry season, and they could not find here a sufficient supply of fresh water, which made it necessary for them to return to the Continent. Before sailing, Swan landed a number of prisoners, Spaniards and Indians, which would have been necessary on many accounts besides that of the scantiness of provisions, if it had been his design to have proceeded forthwith Westward for the _East Indies_; but as he was going again to the American coast, which was close at hand, the turning his prisoners ash.o.r.e on a desolate Island, appears to have been in revenge for the disastrous defeat sustained at _S^{ta} Pecaque_, and for the Spaniards having given no quarter on that occasion.

[Sidenote: Bay of Vanderas.] They sailed on the 26th, and two days after, anch.o.r.ed in the _Bay of Vanderas_ near the river at the bottom of the bay; but the water of this river was now brackish. Search was made along the South sh.o.r.e of the bay, and two or three leagues towards _Cape Corrientes_, a small brook of good fresh water was found; and good anchorage near to a small round Island which lies half a mile from the main, and about four leagues NEastward of the Cape. Just within this Island they brought the s.h.i.+ps to anchor, in 25 fathoms depth, the brook bearing from them E-1/2N half a mile distant, and _Point Ponteque_ NWbN six leagues.

The Mosquito men struck here nine or ten jew-fish, the heads and finny pieces of which served for present consumption, and the rest was salted for sea-store. The maize and salted fish composed the whole of their stock of eatables for their pa.s.sage across the _Pacific_, and at a very straitened allowance would scarcely be sufficient to hold out sixty days.

CHAP. XX.

_The =Cygnet=. Her Pa.s.sage across the =Pacific Ocean=. At the =Ladrones=. At =Mindanao=._

[Sidenote: 1686. March. The Cygnet quits the American Coast.] March the 31st, they sailed from the American coast, steering at first SW, and afterwards more Westerly till they were in lat.i.tude 13 N, in which parallel they kept. 'The kettle was boiled but once a day,' says Dampier, 'and there was no occasion to call the men to victuals. All hands came up to see the Quarter-master share it, and he had need to be exact. We had two dogs and two cats on board, and they likewise had a small allowance given them, and they waited with as much eagerness to see it shared as we did.' [Sidenote: Large flight of Birds. Lat. 13 N. Long. 180.] In this pa.s.sage they saw neither fish nor fowl of any kind, except at one time, when by Dampier's reckoning they were 4975 miles West from _Cape Corrientes_, and then, numbers of the sea-birds called b.o.o.bies were flying near the s.h.i.+ps, which were supposed to come from some rocks not far distant. Their longitude at this time may be estimated at about 180 degrees from the meridian of Greenwich[77].

[Sidenote: May 21st.] Fortunately, they had a fresh trade-wind, and made great runs every day. 'On May the 20th, which,' says Dampier, 'we begin to call the 21st, we were in lat.i.tude 12 50' N, and steering West.

[Sidenote: Shoals and Breakers SbW-1/2W 10 or 11 leagues from the S end of Guahan. Bank de Santa Rosa.] At two p. m. the bark tender being two leagues ahead of the Cygnet, came into shoal water, and those on board plainly saw rocks under her, but no land was in sight. They hauled on a wind to the Southward, and hove the lead, and found but four fathoms water. They saw breakers to the Westward. They then wore round, and got their starboard tacks on board and stood Northward. The Cygnet in getting up to the bark, ran over a shoal bank, where the bottom was seen, and fish among the rocks; but the s.h.i.+p ran past it before we could heave the lead.

Both vessels stood to the Northward, keeping upon a wind, and sailed directly North, having the wind at ENE, till five in the afternoon, having at that time run eight miles and increased our lat.i.tude so many minutes.

We then saw the Island _Guam_ [_Guahan_] bearing NNE, distant from us about eight leagues, which gives the lat.i.tude of the Island (its South end) 13 20' N. We did not observe the variation of the compa.s.s at _Guam_.

At _Cape Corrientes_ we found it 4 28' Easterly, and an observation we made when we had gone about a third of the pa.s.sage, shewed it to be the same. I am inclined to think it was less at _Guam_[78].'

The shoal above mentioned is called by the Spaniards the _Banco de Santa Rosa_, and the part over which the Cygnet pa.s.sed, according to the extract from Dampier, is about SbW-1/2W from the South end of _Guahan_, distant ten or eleven leagues.

[Sidenote: At Guahan.] An hour before midnight, they anch.o.r.ed on the West side of _Guahan_, a mile from the sh.o.r.e. The Spaniards had here a small Fort, and a garrison of thirty soldiers; but the Spanish Governor resided at another part of the Island. As the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed, a Spanish priest in a canoe went on board, believing them to be Spaniards from _Acapulco_. He was treated with civility, but detained as a kind of hostage, to facilitate any negociation necessary for obtaining provisions; and Swan sent a present to the Spanish Governor by the Indians of the canoe.

No difficulty was experienced on this head. Both Spaniards, and the few natives seen here, were glad to dispose of their provisions to so good a market as the buccaneer s.h.i.+ps. Dampier conjectured the number of the natives at this time on _Guahan_ not to exceed a hundred. In the last insurrection, which was a short time before Eaton stopped at the _Ladrones_, the natives, finding they could not prevail against the Spaniards, destroyed their plantations, and went to other Islands. 'Those of the natives who remained in _Guahan_,' says Dampier, 'if they were not actually concerned in that broil, their hearts were bent against the Spaniards; for they offered to carry us to the Fort and a.s.sist us to conquer the Island.'

Whilst Swan lay at _Guahan_, the Spanish Acapulco s.h.i.+p came in sight of the Island. The Governor immediately sent off notice to her of the Buccaneer s.h.i.+ps being in the road, on which she altered her course towards the South, and by so doing got among the shoals, where she struck off her rudder, and did not get clear for three days. The natives at _Guahan_ told the Buccaneers that the Acapulco s.h.i.+p was in sight of the Island, 'which,'

says Dampier, 'put our men in a great heat to go out after her, but Captain Swan persuaded them out of that humour.'

[Sidenote: Flying Proe, or Sailing Canoe.] Dampier praises the ingenuity of the natives of the _Ladrone Islands_, and particularly in the construction of their sailing canoes, or, as they are sometimes called, their flying proes, of which he has given the following description.

'Their Proe or Sailing Canoe is sharp at both ends; the bottom is of one piece of good substance neatly hollowed, and is about 28 feet long; the under, or keel part is made round, but inclining to a wedge; the upper part is almost flat, having a very gentle hollow, and is about a foot broad: from hence, both sides of the boat are carried up to about five feet high with narrow plank, and each end of the boat turns up round very prettily. But what is very singular, one side of the boat is made perpendicular like a wall, while the other side is rounding as other vessels are, with a pretty full belly. The dried husks of the cocoa-nuts serve for oak.u.m. At the middle of the vessel the breadth aloft is four or five feet, or more, according to the length of the boat. The mast stands exactly in the middle, with a long yard that peeps up and down like a s.h.i.+p's mizen yard; one end of it reaches down to the head of the boat, where it is placed in a notch made purposely to keep it fast: the other end hangs over the stern. To this yard the sail is fastened, and at the foot of the sail is another small yard to keep the sail out square, or to roll the sail upon when it blows hard; for it serves instead of a reef to take up the sail to what degree they please. Along the belly side of the boat, parallel with it, at about seven feet distance, lies another boat or canoe very small, being a log of very light wood, almost as long as the great boat, but not above a foot and a half wide at the upper part, and sharp like a wedge at each end. The little boat is fixed firm to the other by two bamboos placed across the great boat, one near each end, and its use is to keep the great boat upright from oversetting. They keep the flat side of the great boat against the wind, and the belly side, consequently, with its little boat, is upon the lee[79]. The vessel has a head at each end so as to be able to sail with either foremost: they need not tack as our vessels do, but when they ply to windward and are minded to make a board the other way, they only alter the setting of the sail by s.h.i.+fting the end of the yard, and they take the broad paddle with which they steer instead of a rudder, to the other end of the vessel. I have been particular in describing these their sailing canoes, because I believe they sail the best of any boats in the world. I tried the swiftness of one of them with our log: we had twelve knots on our reel, and she ran it all out before the half-minute gla.s.s was half out. I believe she would run 24 miles in an hour. It was very pleasant to see the little boat running so swift by the other's side. I was told that one of these proes being sent express from _Guahan_ to _Manila_, [a distance above 480 leagues]

performed the voyage in four days.'

[Sidenote: Bread Fruit.] Dampier has described the Bread-fruit, which is among the productions of the _Ladrone Islands_. He had never seen nor heard of it any where but at these Islands. Provisions were obtained in such plenty at _Guahan_, that in the two vessels they salted above fifty hogs for sea use. The friar was released, with presents in return for his good offices, and to compensate for his confinement.

[Sidenote: June.] June the 2d, they sailed from _Guahan_ for the Island _Mindanao_. The weather was uncertain: 'the Westerly winds were not as yet in strength, and the Easterly winds commonly over-mastered them and brought the s.h.i.+ps on their way to _Mindanao_.'

[Sidenote: Eastern side of Mindanao, and the Island St. John.] There is much difference between the ma.n.u.script Journal of Dampier and the published Narrative, concerning the geography of the East side of _Mindanao_. The Ma.n.u.script says, 'We arrived off _Mindanao_ the 21st day of June; but being come in with the land, knew not what part of the Island the city was in, therefore we run down to the Northward, between _Mindanao_ and _St. John_, and came to an anchor in a bay which lieth in six degrees North lat.i.tude.'

In the printed Narrative it is said, 'The 21st day of June, we arrived at the _Island St. John_, which is on the East side of _Mindanao_, and distant from it 3 or 4 leagues. It is in lat.i.tude about 7 or 8 North.

This Island is in length about 38 leagues, stretching NNW and SSE, and is in breadth about 24 leagues in the middle of the Island. The Northernmost end is broader, and the Southern narrower. This Island is of good height, and is full of small hills. The land at the SE end (where I was ash.o.r.e) is of a black fat mould; and the whole Island seems to partake of the same, by the vast number of large trees that it produceth, for it looks all over like one great grove. As we were pa.s.sing by the SE end, we saw a canoe of the natives under the sh.o.r.e, and one of our boats went after to have spoken with her, but she ran to the sh.o.r.e, and the people leaving her, fled to the woods. We saw no more people here, nor sign of inhabitant at this end. When we came aboard our s.h.i.+p again, we steered away for the Island _Mindanao_, which was fair in sight of us, it being about 10 leagues distant from this part of _St. John's_. The 22d day, we came within a league of the East side of _Mindanao_, and having the wind at SE, we steered towards the North end, keeping on the East side till we came into the lat.i.tude of 7 40' N, and there we anch.o.r.ed in a small bay, a mile from the sh.o.r.e, in 10 fathoms, rocky foul ground; _Mindanao_ being guarded on the East side by _St. John's Island_, we might as reasonably have expected to find the harbour and city on this side as any where else; but coming into the lat.i.tude in which we judged the city might be, we found no canoes or people that indicated a city or place of trade being near at hand, though we coasted within a league of the sh.o.r.e[80].'

This difference between the ma.n.u.script and printed Journal cannot well be accounted for. The most remarkable particular of disagreement is in the lat.i.tude of the bay wherein they anch.o.r.ed. At this bay they had communication with the inhabitants, and learnt that the _Mindanao City_ was to the Westward. They could not prevail on any Mindanao man to pilot them; the next day, however, they weighed anchor, and sailed back Southward, till they came to a part they supposed to be the SE end of _Mindanao_, and saw two small Islands about three leagues distant from it.

[Sidenote: Sarangan and Candigar.] There is reason to believe that the two small Islands here noticed were _Sarangan_ and _Candigar_; according to which, Dampier's _Island St. John_ will be the land named _Cape San Augustin_ in the present charts. And hence arises a doubt whether the land of _Cape San Augustin_ is not an Island separate from _Mindanao_.

Dampier's navigation between them does not appear to have been far enough to the Northward to ascertain whether he was in a Strait or a Gulf.

[Sidenote: July. Harbour or Sound on the South Coast of Mindanao.] The wind blew constant and fresh from the Westward, and it took them till the 4th of July to get into a harbour or sound a few leagues to the NW from the two small Islands. This harbour or sound ran deep into the land; at the entrance it is only two miles across, but within it is three leagues wide, with seven fathoms depth, and there is good depth for s.h.i.+pping four or five leagues up, but with some rocky foul ground. On the East side of this Bay are small rivers and brooks of fresh water. The country on the West side was uncultivated land, woody, and well stocked with wild deer, which had been used to live there unmolested, no people inhabiting on that side of the bay. Near the sh.o.r.e was a border of savanna or meadow land which abounded in long gra.s.s. Dampier says, 'the adjacent woods are a covert for the deer in the heat of the day; but mornings and evenings they feed in the open plains, as thick as in our parks in England. I never saw any where such plenty of wild deer. We found no hindrance to our killing as many as we pleased, and the crews of both the s.h.i.+ps were fed with venison all the time we remained here.'