Of course the arrival at the Island of Guam (or Guahan, as it was called by the natives) did not mean necessarily that they would at once obtain provisions, because the island, unlike Mas-a-tierra (Juan Fernandez), was strongly fortified and garrisoned by the Spaniards, who kept it, naturally, for the relief and refreshment of Spanish ships alone, those engaged in the transit between the Philippine Islands and the west coast of America. Guam produced in those days rice, pineapples, melons, oranges, limes, bread-fruit, and, above all, coconuts. Upon their first arrival Captain Swan pretended that he and his men were Spaniards. By this means they induced a Spanish priest with three natives of the island to come on board. These they held as hostages, sending word, through them, to the governor of the island of Guam that Captain Swan was badly in want of provisions, was of peaceable intent, and prepared to purchase the same on reasonable terms. Meantime the seamen, including Dampier, landed with little ceremony and brought off quantities of coconuts--as to which Dampier wrote in rapturous terms, noting the delicious liquid preserved in the cavity of the coconut, the flesh of the nut, and the sweet sap drawn from the tree which made either a kind of wine "very sweet and pleasant if it is to be drunk within twenty-four hours after being drawn" and capable of becoming a very alcoholic liquid when fermented. "The kernel", he writes, "is much used in making broth. When the nut is dry they take off the husk, and giving two good blows on the middle of the nut it breaks in two equal parts, letting the water fall on the ground; then with a small iron rasp made for the purpose the kernel or nut is rasped out clean, which being put into a little fresh water, makes it become white as milk. In this milky water they boil a fowl or any other sort of flesh, and it makes very savoury broth. English seamen put this water into boiled rice, which they eat instead of rice-milk, carrying nuts purposely to sea with them. This they learn from the natives." The Governor of Guam, partly through fear, but also pleased at the presents sent to him by Captain Swan, furnished the two ships with a variety and an abundance of provisions, so that they were able to go on their way to the Philippine Islands, of which Dampier wrote an excellent description, which may be read in his book.[54] [54] The best edition of Dampier's travels is that edited by John Masefield and published (in 1906) by E. Grant Richards.