But Neither This, Nor The Approach Of My Small Craft, Made Any Impression, For They Stood Firm, And At Least Shewed The Countenance Of As Good Troops As Could Be Wished.

This much disappointed me, as it shewed my men that the Spaniards were far from being cowards, as they had been represented.

As soon as it was dark, Gonzales came off to me, and I agreed to let him have back his ship and six negroes on receiving 1500 dollars, reserving right to take any thing out of her that might be useful to us; and at ten next night he brought me the agreed sum, being the weight of 1300 dollars in ingots of virgin silver, called pinnas by the Spaniards, and the rest in coined dollars. He also made great enquiry for English commodities, for which he offered high prices, complaining that the French only supplied them with paltry goods and mere trifles, for which they carried off vast sums. He added, that he supposed the English merchants were all asleep, or too rich, as they did not come near them: And, although their ports were not so open as in other parts of the world, they yet know how to manage matters tolerably well; and that their governors, being generally Europeans, who seldom remained above three years in the country, used any means to improve their time, and could easily be gained so as to act very obligingly. He said much more as to the blindness of the English, in suffering the French pedlars to carry on, uninterruptedly, the most considerable branch of traffic in the world. Before leaving me, he desired me to carry his ship two or three leagues out to sea, and then to turn her adrift, on purpose to deceive the governor and the king's officers; and, if I would meet him at Hilo (Ilo,) about twenty-five leagues to the north-westwards, he would purchase from me any coarse goods I had to dispose of, which might be done there with all imaginable secrecy. At this time also, the master of the small bark came off in a balsa. This is an odd sort of an embarkation, consisting of two large seal skins, separately blown up, like bladders, and made fast to pieces of wood. On this he brought off two jars of brandy and forty dollars; which, considering his mean appearance, was as much as I could expect. One part of his cargo was valuable, being a considerable quantity of excellent dried fish.

The port of Arica, formerly so famous for the great quantities of silver shipped from thence, is now much diminished in its riches, and appears mostly a heap of ruins, except the church of St Mark, and two or three more, which still look tolerably well. What helps to give it a very desolate appearance is, that the houses near the sea are only covered with mats. Being situated on the sea-shore, in an open roadstead, it has no fortifications of any kind to defend or command the anchorage, the Spaniards thinking it sufficiently secured by the heavy surf, and the rocky bottom near the shore, which threaten inevitable destruction to any European boats, or other embarkation, except what is expressly contrived for the purpose, being the balsas already mentioned.

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