Besides strewing the tents with it
fresh gathered every morning, which tended much to the recovery of our
sick, of whom, though numerous when we came here, only two died
belonging to the Duchess. We found the nights very cold, and the days
not near so warm as might have been expected in so low a latitude. It
hardly ever rains, instead of which there fall very heavy dews in the
night, which serve the purposes of rain, and the air is almost
perpetually serene.
The 13th February we held a consultation, in which we framed several
regulations for preserving secrecy, discipline, and strict honesty in
both vessels: and on the 17th we determined that two men from the Duke
should serve in the Duchess, and two of her men in the Duke, to see that
justice was reciprocally done by each ship's company to the other. The
28th we tried both pinnaces in the water under sail, having a gun fixed
in each, and every thing else requisite to render them very useful small
privateers.
SECTION II.
Proceedings of the Expedition on the Western Coast of America.
In the evening of the 13th March[220] we saw a sail, and the Duchess
being nearest soon took her. She was a small bark of sixteen tons from
Payta, bound to Cheripe for flour, having a small sum of money on board
to make the purchase, being commanded by a Mestizo, or one begotten
between a Spaniard and an Indian, having a crew of eight men, one a
Spaniard, another a negro, and all the rest Indians.
