A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
They entered the bay of Guasco[77] on the 1st April, where they remained
till the 7th. The 11th they came into a large bay, named _Moro Gorch_,
in lat. 18° 30' S. ten miles from which is _Moro Moreno_, from which the
shore runs to Arica, and all this coast, up to the hill of St Francis,
is very much subject to south winds, though the adjoining seas have the
winds variable and uncertain. On the 20th the whole air was darkened by
an _Arenal_ which is a cloud of dust, and so thick that one cannot see a
stone's throw. These are raised by the wind from the adjoining shore,
and are very common in these parts. The 25th they were within view of
the famous city of Lima in Peru. At this time they learnt the value of
the treasure of which the Spaniards had deprived them, in the ships they
took on the coast of Chili. Nicholas Peterson, the captain of one of
these prizes, acquainted Van Noort that he had been informed by a negro
of a great quantity of gold having been on board the ship, as he
believed to the amount of three tons, having helped to carry a great
part of it on board. On this information the admiral closely examined
the Spanish pilot, who at first denied all knowledge of any gold; but
another negro having corroborated the information, with some farther
circumstances, the pilot at last owned that they had on board fifty-two
chests, each containing four arobas of gold, and besides these 500 bars
of the same metal, weighing from eight to ten and twelve pounds each;
all of which, together with what private stock belonged to any of the
company, the captain had ordered to be thrown overboard in the night,
when first chased, amounting in the whole to about 10,200 pounds weight
of gold; and, from its fineness, worth about two million pieces of
eight, or Spanish silver dollars. Upon this the admiral ordered the ship
and all the prisoners to be searched, but there was only found a single
pound of gold dust, tied up in a rag, in the breeches pocket of the
Spanish pilot. The prisoners owned that all this gold was brought from
the island of St Mary, from mines discovered only three years before;
and that there were not more than three or four Spaniards on that
island, and about 200 Indians, only armed with bows and arrows.
[Footnote 77: Perhaps Huasco in lat. 28° 27' S. or it may possibly have
been Guacho, in 25° 50' S.--E.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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