The governor sent word next day,
offering to ransom the town; on which our officers demanded 30,000
pieces of eight, or Spanish dollars, together with provisions for 1000
men for four months, which terms being refused, our people set the city
on fire on the 14th of August, and rejoined the canoes next morning.
Smith was exchanged for a gentlewoman, and a gentleman who had been made
prisoner was released, on promise to deliver 150 oxen for his ransom at
Realejo, the place we intended next to attack.
[Footnote 177: Only 350 men are here accounted for, though 470 are said
to have marched on this enterprise, leaving a difference of 120 men:
perhaps these made a separate corps under Knight, as he seems to have
fallen considerably in the rear of Davis. - E.]
In the afternoon of the 16th we came to the harbour of Realejo in our
canoes, our ships having come there to anchor. The creek leading to
Realejo extends north from the N.W. part of the harbour, being nearly
two leagues from the island at the mouth of the harbour to the town. The
first two-thirds of this distance the creek is broad, after which it
closes into a deep narrow channel, lined on both sides by many
cocoa-trees.
