The President Of Panama Had Sent
Intelligence To This Place Of The English Being In These Seas, In
Consequence Of
Which the inhabitants, who mostly subsist by cultivating
corn, and by slaughtering great numbers of cattle which feed on their
Extensive savannas, had sent their ox hides to the North Sea by way of
the lake of Nicaragua, as also a certain red wood, called in Jamaica
Blood wood, or Nicaragua wood, which is used in dying. These
commodities are exchanged for linen and woollen manufactures, and other
European goods.
[Footnote 155: There is no river at Niceya, but it is seated on a bay or
harbour within the gulf of the same name. - E.]
Learning from their prisoners that there was a large cattle pen at no
great distance, where cows and bulls could be had in abundance, and
being very desirous of having some fresh beef which had long been very
rare among them, twenty-four of the English went ashore in two boats,
under the guidance of one of the Indians, and landed about a league from
the ships, hauling their boats upon the dry sand. Their guide conducted
them to the pen, in a large savanna two miles from the boats, where they
found abundance of bulls and cows feeding. Some of the English were for
killing three or four immediately, but the rest insisted to wait till
morning, and then to kill as many as they needed. On this difference of
opinion, Dampier and eleven more thought proper to return aboard that
night, expecting to be followed by the rest next day.
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