Page 188
An. 1685
A Spanish Strategem.
off like Leather; but before it is ripe it is brittle : the Juice is then white and clammy ; but when ripe not so. The ripe Fruit under the Rind is yellow as a Carret ; and in the middle are two large rough Stones flat, and each of them much bigger than an Almond. The Fruit smells very well, and the taste is answera- ble to the smell. The S. W. end of the Island hath never been cleared, but is full of Fire-wood, and Trees of divers forts. There is a very fine small Brook of fresh Water, that springs out of the side of the Mountain, and gliding through the Grove of Fruit- trees, falls into the Sea on the North side. There was a small Town standing by the Sea, with a Church at one end, but now the biggest part of it is destroy- ed by the Privateers. There is good anchoring right against the Town, about a mile from the shore, where you may have 16 or 18 fathom Water, soft oazy ground. There is a small Island close by the N. W. end of this called Tabogilla, which is a small Channel to pass between. There is another woody Island about a mile on the N. E. side of Tabago, and a good Channel between them : this Island hath no Name that ever I heard.
While we lay at Tabago we had like to have had a scurvy trick plaid us by a pretended Merchant from Panama, who came, as by stealth, to traffick with us privately ; a thing common enough with the Spanish Merchants, both in the North and South Seas, notwith- standing the severere Prohibitions of the Governours; who yet sometimes connive at it, and will even trade with the Privateers themselves. Our Merchant was by agreement to bring out his Bark laden with Goods in the night, and we to go and anchor at the South of Perico. Out he came, with a Fireship instead of a Bark, and approached very near, haling us with the Watch-word we had agreed upon. We suspecting the worst, call'd to them to come to an anchor, and upon their not doing so fired at them : when immediately their