On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of DarienMasefield, John
History
On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien
Masefield, John
Buccaneers; Spanish Main
Gaunt with hunger, they took the trail again after a night of misery at
Torna Munni. The going was slightly better, but there was still the
wood-ticks, the intense, damp heat, and the lust for food to fight
against. About noon they staggered in to Barbacoas, now a station on the
Isthmian Railway. There were a few huts at Barbacoas, for the place was
of some small importance. A native swinging bridge, made of bejuco cane,
was slung across the river there for the benefit of travellers going to
Porto Bello. An ambush had been laid at Barbacoas, but the Spaniards had
left the place, after sweeping it as bare as Torna Munni. The land was
in tillage near the huts, but the plantations were barren. "They
searched very narrowly, but could not find any person, animal or other
thing that was capable of relieving their extreme and ravenous hunger."
After a long search they chanced upon a sort of cupboard in the rocks,
"in which they found two sacks of meal, wheat, and like things, with two
great jars of wine, and certain fruits called Platanos," or large
bananas. Morgan very firmly refused to allow the buccaneers to use this
food. He reserved it strictly for those who were in greatest want,
thereby saving a number of lives. The dying men were given a little meal
and wine, and placed in the canoas, "and those commanded to land that
were in them before." They then marched on "with greater courage than
ever," till late into the night, when they lay down in a plundered bean
patch.
"On the sixth day" they were nearly at the end of their tether. They
dragged along slowly, some in boats, some in the woods, halting every
now and then in despair of going farther, and then staggering on again,
careless if they lived or died. Their lips were scummy with a sort of
green froth, caused by their eating grass and the leaves of trees. In
this condition they came at noon to a plantation, "where they found a
barn full of maize." They beat the door in in a few minutes, "and fell
to eating of it dry," till they were gorged with it. There was enough
for all, and plenty left to take away, so they distributed a great
quantity, "giving to every man a good allowance." With their knapsacks
full of corn cobs they marched on again, in happier case than they had
been in for several days. They soon came to "an ambuscade of Indians,"
but no Indians stayed within it to impeach their passage. On catching
sight of the barricade many buccaneers flung away their corn cobs, with
the merry improvidence of their kind, "with the sudden hopes they
conceived of finding all things in abundance." But the larder was as
bare as it had been in the other strongholds: it contained "neither
Indians, nor victuals, nor anything else." On the other side of the
river, however, there were many Indians, "a troop of a hundred," armed
with bows, "who escaped away through the agility of their feet." Some of
the pirates "leapt into the river" to attack these Indians, and to bring
them into camp as prisoners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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