I! 6 Eliz, Naval Expedition

9

*595* " dm. Bat because there came bad" with the good, and belike the said" Alderman was not presented with the" best, he was pleased to lay a Scan-dal upon all the Rest, and to dispa-rt rage the Enterprize, to the utmost ofhis Power. It has also been conclud-tf ed by many, that if there had been" any such Ore in Guiana, and I had" discovered it, I should have brought‘ r Home a greater Quantity : But first,

" I was not bound to satisfy any Body" of the Quantity, excepting those who“ were Adventurers, if any Store hadbeen returned; But it is very true,

“ that had all their Mountains been ofMasly Gold, it was impossible for us" to have made any longer Stay to have

Sec. of the English, Book

“ wrought it: And whosoever has seen 1 59f*" with what Strength of Stone, the best" Gold-Ore is encompassed, will not" think it easy to be had out in Heaps,

" especially by us, who had neither" Men, Instruments, nor Time, to per-(S form it.”

Sir Walter, in his Return Home,set Fire to Cumana, because the Inha-bitants would not ransom it at his Price, g e T, urn ,and he did the same by several small severalCottages at St. Mars s, and Rio de la placeS f t ' 0Hacha. Nor was he discouraged from ^fspani-one or two Essays more of this Kind, ards.tho’ at a vast Expence to himself, andnotwithstanding th eSpaniards had plant-ed a Colony at ‘Trinidada to oppose hisA ttempts j as we stall fee below.

CHAP. LI.

Prestou’j and Summer’ j Expedition to. the West-Indies,

I S95- 1 ^ c ^ e Year 1 595- Bkewise, Cap-Hackluyt, 0 tain Ami as Preston , and Captain"^Prestortf' ^ George Sommers, with two Ships,an d Som- the Ascension and the Gift, and a smallrate’s Voyage Pinnace, set Sail from Plymouth, on theto the West- Cwe if t; ] 1 Q f March, and were followedn 1£S ' on the nineteenth, by Captain Jones inthe Darling, and Captain Browse in theAngel. The last of the same Month,Preston, being in Chace of a Ship, wasseparated from the Fleet, and had theCourage alone to attack, and pillage thePuerto San- Ifl an d of Puerto Santo, near Madera,flAsil and. having, with sixty Men, beat fivelaged. Hundred Portuguese ■ Soldiers, let hireto the chief Town of the Island, and re-duced it, with several other Places, toAstes. Before they entered the Town,the Portuguese had conveyed away theirWives, Children, and best Effects tothe Top of a very high Hill, whichstands near the Town, and could not beattempted without great Hazard. Theysent several Times to offer a Ransom forthe Town, which was handsome andlame; But Preston had resolved, inReturn for their Treachery and Cruelty,to one Captain Harvey and his People,to stew them no Favour. He likewisesent out Parties to waste the Rest oftheir Villages of the Island, preferringthe Honour and just Revenge of hisCountry-men, before his own privateGain and Commodity: And so, with

small Pillage, and great Honour, he 159 a'

retired in Safety, wish his small Com-pany. 1

Having reimbarked his Men, he set JqSsSail, and on the twelfth of April, he pillaged-joined the Fleet again. On the nine-teenth of May, towards Evening, theygot Sight of a little Island, between thePearl-Fishery, at Margarita, and theMain, called Coche. They landed thenext Morning, and pillaged the wholeIfland, taking some Spaniards and In-dians, and a small Quantity of Pearls.

The one and twentieth they set Sail forCumana, which the Inhabitants ransom- ran f 0 med-ed, and, in the Bay, they took threeCaravels with their Eong-boat, but Three sffound nothing of considerable Value in ssg 'them. The seven and twentieth, theylanded at a Fort, near the Sea-Coast, inthe Coracos, which they took withoutResistance, and made the Governour A F° rt iaPrisoner. This Goveinour they ex- ^ en ‘amined concerning the State of the City°f St. J ago de Leon. He declared thatthey had News of the coming of theglish a Month before, and had made allthe Preparations they could to receivethem. That there were two Waysthither, one, the common Road, inwhich there was a Passage not abovefive and twenty or thirty Foot broad,with steep Precipices on each Side of it,covered with Woods so thick there was