occasioned all this bustle and expectancy, was only a fire on the shore. It must be owned, the circumstances of this deception were so extraordinary as to be scarcely credible, for, by our run during the night, and the distance of the land in the morning, there was no doubt to be made but this fire, when we first discovered it, was above twenty-five leagues from us; and yet, I believe, there was no person on board who doubted of its being a ship's light, or of its being near at hand. It was indeed upon a very high mountain, and continued burning for several days afterwards; however, it was not a vulcano, but rather, as I suppose, a tract of stubble or heath, set on fire for some purpose of agriculture. At sun-rising, after this mortifying delusion, we found ourselves about nine leagues off the land, which extended from the N.W. to E.½N. On this land we observed two remarkable hummocks, such as are usually called paps, which bore north from us: these a Spanish pilot and two Indians, who were the only persons amongst us that pretended to have traded in this part of the world, affirmed to be over the harbour of Acapulco. Indeed, we very much doubted their knowledge of the coast, for we found these paps to be in the latitude of 17° 56', whereas those over Acapulco are said to be 17 degrees only; and we afterwards found our suspicions of their skill to be well grounded. However, they were very confident, and assured us that the height of the mountains was itself an infallible mark of the harbour, the coast, as they pretended, though falsly, being generally low to the eastward and westward of it.