neighbourhood of that port, the commodore being determined to send the barge a second time upon the same enterprize, when we were arrived within a moderate distance. Accordingly, the next day, which was the 12th of February, we being by that time considerably advanced, the barge was again dispatched, and particular instructions given to the officers to preserve themselves from being seen from the shore. On the 13th we espied a high land to the eastward, which was first imagined to be that over the harbour of Acapulco; but we afterwards found that it was the high land of Seguateneio, where there is a small harbour, of which we shall have occasion to make more ample mention hereafter. We waited six days, from the departure of our barge, without any news of her, so that we began to be uneasy for her safety; but on the 7th day, that is, on the 19th of February, she returned: when the officers informed the commodore that they had discovered the harbour of Acapulco, which they esteemed to bear from us E.S.E. at least fifty leagues distant; that on the 17th, about two in the morning, they were got within the island that lies at the mouth of the harbour, and yet neither the Spanish pilot, nor the Indian, could give them any information where they then were; but that while they were lying upon their oars in suspence what to do, being ignorant that they were then at the very place they sought for, they discerned a small light near the surface of the water, on which they instantly plied their paddles, and moving as silently as possible towards it, they found it to be in a fishing canoe, which they surprized, with three negroes that belonged to it. It seems the negroes at first attempted to jump overboard, and being so near the shore they would easily have swam to land, but they were prevented by presenting a piece at them, on which they readily submitted, and were taken into the barge. The officers further added that they had immediately turned the canoe adrift against the face of a rock, where it would inevitably be dashed to pieces by the fury of the sea. This they did to deceive those who perhaps might be sent from the town to search after the canoe, for upon seeing several remains of a wreck, they would {214} immediately conclude that the people on board her had been drowned, and would have no suspicion of their having fallen into our hands. When the crew of the barge had taken this precaution, they exerted their utmost strength in pulling out to sea, and by dawn of the day had gained such an offing as rendered it impossible for them to be seen from the coast.