They Easily Took That Town, But Got Nothing There Except An
Empty Bark, And Returned To Us On The 26th June.
Captain Knight came
back to us on the 5th July, having been farther to the west, but meeting
with no prize, he had gone south to the bay of Guayaquil, where he took
two barco-longas, with wine, oil, brandy, sugar, soap, and other
commodities.
Knight learnt from his prisoners that certain merchant
ships, designed to have accompanied the Spanish fleet to Panama,
remained behind at Payta, which he might easily have taken if he had
been provided with a stronger force.
[Footnote 176: The only place in modern geography resembling the name,
and agreeing with the description in the text, is San Pablo on the S.
coast of Veragua, in lat. 8 deg. 9' N. and long. 83 deg. W. from Greenwich. - E.]
Our canoes being all ready, we sailed from Quibo on the 20th July
towards Realejo, a port a small way to the N.W. of Leon, being now 640
men, with eight ships, three tenders, and a fire-ship. Coasting along to
the N.W. we passed the gulfs of Dulce and Nicoya, and the Isla del
Cano, the land along the coast being low and covered with wood, but
almost destitute of inhabitants. August 8th, in lat. 11 deg. 20' N. we got
sight of Volcano viejo, or Old Volcano, the sea-mark for Realejo,
bearing from us N.E. by N. when we made ready to land next day.
Accordingly, we sent 520 men on the 9th in thirty-one canoes to attack
the harbour of Realejo.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 410 of 825
Words from 111195 to 111468
of 224764
