We Landed Here
To The Number Of 140 Men, Of Whom I Was One, On The 8th September, And
Marched About Fourteen Miles To An Indian Village, Where We Found
Nothing But Vanillas Drying In The Sun.
The vanilla grows on a small
vine, or bindwood shrub, which winds about the stems of trees, producing
a yellow flower, which changes to a pod of four or five inches long,
about the the size of a tobacco-pipe stem.
This is at first green, but
becomes yellow when ripe, having black seeds. When gathered they are
laid in the sun, which makes them soft and of a chesnut colour, when
they are squeezed flat by the Indians. The Spaniards buy this commodity
at a cheap rate from the Indians, and afterwards preserve it in oil.
The 10th we sent four of our canoes to wait for us at the port of
Angelos, about ten miles W. from Guataico, and on the 12th we sailed
from Guataico. The 23d we landed 100 men at Angelos, where they got salt
beef, maize, salt, hogs, and poultry but could bring little on board,
being at a distance from the shore. Hearing of a stout ship lately
arrived at Acapulco from Lima, and as Captain Townley was much in need
of a better ship, it was agreed to endeavour to cut that ship out of the
harbour. Acapulco is a town and harbour in lat. 16 deg. 50' N. long. 99 deg.
44' W. on the western coast of New Spain, and belonging to the city of
Mexico, being the only place of commerce on this coast, and yet there
are only three ships that come to it annually.
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