C H A P. V.
Employment at Tinian, till the final departure o f the
Centurion from thence; with a defcription o f the
Ladrones.
WH E N the Commodore came on board the Centurion,
after her return to Tinian, he refolved to flay no longer
at the Illand than was abfolutely neceffary to ,compleat
our flock of water, a work which we immediately fet ourfelves
about. But the lofs o f our long-boat, which was ftaved againft
our poop, before we were driven out to fea, put us to great in-
conveniencies in getting our water on board; for we were obliged
to raft off all our calk, and the tide ran fo flrong, that, befides
the frequent delays and difficulties it occafioned, we more than
once loft the whole raft. Nor was this our only misfortune; for
on the 14th of October, being but the third day after our arrival,
a fudden guft of wind brought home our anchor, forced us off
the bank, and drove the fhip out to fea a fecond time. The Commodore,
it is true, and the principal officers were now on board;
but we had near feventy men on fhore, who had been employed
in filling our water, and procuring provifions : Thefe had with
them our two Cutters 5 but as they were too many for the Cutters
to bring off at once, we fent the eighteen-oared barge to afiift
th em ; and at .the fame time made a lignal for all that could to
embark. The two Cutters foon came off to us full of men; but
.forty of the company who were bufied in killing cattle in the
woods, and in bringing them down to the landing-place, remained
behind.; and though- the eighteen-oared barge was left for their
conveyance, yet, as the fhip foon drove to a confiderable diftance,
i t was not in their power to join us. However, as the weather was
z favourable^
favourable, and our crew was now ftronger than when we were
firft driven out, we, in about five: days time, returned again to an
anchor at Tinian, and relieved thofe we had left behind us from-
their fecond fears of being defected by their fhip. :
On our arrival, we found that the Spanijh bark, the old ob-
ieft of their hopes, had undergone a new metamorphofis: For
thofe on fhore defpairing of our return, and conceiving that the
lengthening the bark, as formerly propofed, was both a toilfomè
and unneceffary meafure, confidering the fmall number they confided
of, they had refolved to join her again, and to reftore her
to her firft ftate ; and in this fcheme they had made fome progrefs ;•
for they had brought the two parts together, and would have foon
compieated her, had not our coming back put a period to-their
labours and dilquietudes. • • •'
Thefe-people we had left behind informed us, that, juft Before-
we were feen in the offing, two Proas had flood in very near the
fhore, and.had continued there for fome time; but, on the appearance'of
our fhip, they crowded away, and were prefently out of
fight. And, oii this occafion, I muft mention an incident, which
though it happened during the firft abfence of the fhip, was then,
omitted, to avoid interrupting thé courfe of the narratiom
It hath been already obferved, that a part of the detachment*,
fent to this Ifland under the command of the Spanijh- Serjeant, lay
concealed in the woods : Indeed we were the lefs felicitous to find
them'out, as our prifoners all affured us, that it was impoffible for
them to get off, and confequently that it was impoffible for them
to fend any intelligence about us to Guam. But when the Centurion
drove out to fea, and left the Commodore on fhore, he one
day, attended by fome of his officers, endeavoured, to make the
tour of the Ifland : In this expedition-, being on a rifing ground,
they obferved in the valley-beneath them the appearance of a fmalli
thicket, which, by attending to more nicely, they found had a
progreffive motion : This at firft furprized them; but they foon
perceived,, that it. was- no more than, feveral large coco-bu(hes„
* - wh iG'hu