He Was Also Much
Pleased, When They Landed On The Island, To See Two Of His Old
Acquaintances, Captains Cooke And Dampier, Who Had Belonged To The Ship
By Which He Was Left On The Island.
The island of Juan Fernandez is in lat.
34 deg. 15' S. [33 deg. 42'] about 420
English miles from the coast of Chili. The whole island is a pleasant
mixture of hills and vallies, the sides of the hills partly covered with
wood, and partly savannas, or places naturally clear of wood, bearing
fine grass. Among the woods are what are called cabbage-trees, but not
so large as in other parts of the world. The goats which feed on the
west end of the island are much fatter and better than those at the east
end, though the latter has better and greater plenty of grass, with
abundance of excellent water in the vallies, while the west end is a dry
plain, the grass scanty and parched, and has hardly any wood or fresh
water. Though fertile, this island has no inhabitants, who might live
here in plenty, as the plain is able to maintain a great number of
cattle, and the sea affords vast quantities of seals, sea-lions,
snappers, and rock-fish. The sea-lions are not much unlike seals, but
much larger, being twelve or fourteen feet long, and as thick as a large
ox. They have no hair, and are of a dun colour, with large eyes, their
teeth being three inches long. One of these animals will yield a
considerable quantity of oil, which is sweet and answers well for
frying. They feed on fish, yet their flesh is tolerably good. The
snapper is a fish having a large head, mouth, and gills, the back red,
the belly ash-coloured, and its general appearance resembling a roach,
but much larger, its scales being as broad as a shilling. The rock-fish,
called baccalao by the Spaniards, because resembling the cod, is
rounder than the former, and of a dark-brown colour, with small scales,
and is very good food, being found in vast abundance on the coasts of
Peru and Chili. This island has only two bays fit for anchorage, with a
rivulet of fresh water in each, and both at the east end, and so
conveniently situated that they might easily be fortified, and defended
by a slender force against a powerful army, being inaccessible from the
west, by reason of the high mountains. Five Englishmen, left by Captain
Davies, secured themselves here against a great number of Spaniards.
After remaining fourteen days at this island, they left it on the 8th
April, 1684, steering N.N.E. till off the bay of Arica, whence they
sailed to Cape Blanco, in hopes of meeting the Spanish Plate fleet from
Panama; but if they had gone into the bay of Arica, they must have taken
a Spanish ship which lay there, having 300 tons of silver on board.
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