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
The 15th April they came to _Moro Moreno_, in lat. 23° 30' S. under the
tropic of Capricorn, where there is an excellent harbour, made by means
of an island, having an entrance for ships at either end. The admiral
went ashore here with thirty men, and was met by the Indians, who
brought them water and wood on their backs. These are a simple sort of
people, living in a wild and savage manner, in great dread of the
Spaniards. They brought the admiral and his company to their houses,
about two miles from the harbour. These were only constructed of a few
rafters laid across upon forked sticks stuck in the ground, having a few
boughs laid over them by way of a roof. Their beds were the skins of
wild beasts laid on the ground; and their food little else than raw
stinking fish. When any of them dies, he is buried with all his arms and
goods, as bows and arrows, and even his canoe is laid in the earth along
with him. Their canoes, if such they may be called, consist of two skin
bags, like large bladders, blown up with quills at one end, and fastened
together by the sinews of some wild beast; yet in these they think
nothing of venturing to sea, loading them even with great quantities of
fish, part of which they have to give in tribute to the Spaniards, the
rest being kept to stink for their own eating.
On the 3d May, they came into a bay on which were three small towns,
Paracca, Chincha, and Pisco, which latter is in lat. 13° 20' S.[51] They
landed here, and took some provisions, as wine, bread, poultry and figs,
from the houses, but could not get ashore at the best of these towns,
owing to the sea running too high. By this time; they had made two
valuable prizes, laden with sugar, melasses, maiz, cordovan leather,
_montego de porco_, packs of painted calicoes, Indian coats, marmalade,
hens, and other articles, which would have yielded £20,000, if there had
been any opportunity for selling their cargoes. That not being the case,
they took out as much as could be conveniently stowed in their own
ships, burning their two prizes with the rest of their contents.
[Footnote 51: Pisco, the principal of these towns, is in lat. 16° 43'
S.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account