and villages, whofe inhabitants' were ail either deftroyed, or carried
into captivity by the Arraucos and the other neighbouring
Indians, who, in a war againft the Spaniards, never fail to)oin their
forces.
But even, independent of an Indian revolt, there were two places
only on all the coaft of the South-Sea, which could be fuppofed
capable of refifting our fquadron ; thefe were the cities o f Panama
and Callao : As to the firft of thefe, its fortifications were fo decayed,
and it was fo much in want o f powder, that the Prefident
himfelf, in an intercepted letter, acknowledged it was incapable of
being defended; whence I take it for granted, it would have given
us but little trouble, eipecially i f we had opened a communication
acrofs the Ifthmus with' our fleet on the other fide. And with
regard to the city-and port of Callao, its condition was not much
better than that o f Panama -, fince its walls are built upon the plain
ground, without either outwork or ditch before them, and confift
only e f very flender feeble mafonry, without any earth behind them;
1b that a battery of five or fix pieces of cannon, raifed any where
within four or five hundred paces o f the place, would have had a
full view o f the whole rampart, and would have opened it in a
lhort time; and the breach hereby formed, as the walls are fo extremely
thin, could not have been difficult of afcent; for the ruins
would have been but little higher than the furface of the ground 5
and it would have yielded this particular advantage to the affailants*
that the bullets, which grazed upon it, would have driven before
them fuch fhivers o f brick and flone, as would have prevented the
garnfon from forming behind it, fuppofing that the troops employed
in the defence of the place, fhould have fo far furpaffed the
ufual limits o f Creelian bravery, as to refolve to ftand a general
affault. Indeed fuch a r-efolution cannot be imputed to them; for
the garrifon and people were in general diflatisfied with the
Viceroy’s behaviour, and were never expedted to aft a vigourous
part. On the contrary, the Viceroy himfelf greatly apprehended
that the Commodore would make him a vifit at Lima, the capital
2 of
of the kingdom of Peru-, to prevent which, i f poffible, he had
ordered twelve gallies to be built at Guaiaquil and other places,,
which were intended to oppofe the landing of our boats, and ter
hinder us from pufhing our men on fhote. But this was an
impradticable projedt of defence, and proceeded on the fuppofition
that our fhips, when we fhould land our men, would keep at
fuch a diftance, that thefe gallies, by drawing little water, would
have been out o f the reach of our guns; whereas the Commodore,
before he had made fuch an attempt, Would doubtle'fs have
been poffefled of feveral prize-fhips, which he would not have
hefitated to have run on fhore for the protedtion of his boats ;
and befides, there were many places on that coaft, and one particularly
in the neighbourhood of Callao, where there was good anchoring,
though a great depth of water, within a cable’s length
o f the fhore ; confequently the canon o f the men o f war would,
have fwept all the coaft to above a mile’s diftance from the water’s
edge, and would have effedtually prevented any force from alfem-
bling, to oppofe the landing and forming of our men And this
landing-place had the additional advantage,-that it was but two
leagues diftant from Lima ; fo that we might have been at that
city within four hours after we fhould have been firft difeovered
from the fhore. The place 1 have in view is about two leagues.-
South of Callao, and juft to the northward of the head-land called,
in Frezier.s. draught of that coaft, M om Solar. Here there is fe-
venty or eighty fathom of water, within two cables length of the
fhore; and here the Spaniards themfelves were fo apprehenfivet
o f our attempting to land, that they had projected to. build a fort
clofe to the water; but as there was no money in the royal cheftsi
they could not compleat fo Confiderable a work, and therefore
they contented themfelves with keeping a guard of a hundred horfe
there, that they might be fure to receive early notice of our appearance
on that coaft. Indeed fome of them (as we were told)
conceiving our management at Jea to be as pufillanimous as their
own, pretended that this was a road where the Commodore would
never