the cause
of this unprovoked outrage, until they approached within two or
three hundred feet of us, when I prostrated myself on the deck,
soon after which, the master fisherman arose, waved his hat at
them, and the firing ceased. About forty or fifty feet abreast of
us, she dropped anchor and gave orders for the canoe at our stern
to come along side, which one of our fishermen obeyed, and
brought on board of us their Captain and three men. The supposed
Cutter was an open boat of about thirty-five feet keel, painted
red inside and black without, except a streak of white about two
inches wide; calculated for rowing or sailing--prepared with long
sweeps, and carrying a jib, foresail, mainsail, and squaresail.
She was manned by TEN SPANIARDS, each armed with a blunderbuss,
or musket, a _machete_,[C] long knife, and pair of pistols. They
were all dressed with neat jackets and trowsers, and wore
palm-leaf hats. Their beards were very long, and appeared as
though they had not been shaved for eight or nine months.[D]

[Footnote C: A long, straight Spanish sword, with a thick back,
and generally very sharp.]

[Footnote D: The Pirates, it is said, wear long beards, that the
change in their appearance, produced by shaving, may prevent
their being recognized when they remingle with society.]

One of them had an extremely savage appearance, having received
a blow, probably from a cutlass, across his face, that had
knocked in all his front teeth and cut off a part of his upper
lip, the scar extending some distance beyond the angles of the
mouth--three of the fingers of his left hand, with a part of the
little finger, were cut off, and the thumb was badly scarred. He
was tall, well proportioned, and appeared to have some authority
over the others. The Captain was stout, and so corpulent that I
should not underrate his weight at 260 pounds. He reminded me
strongly of a Guinea Captain I had formerly seen. He was shaved
after the manner of the Turks; the beard of his upper lip being
very long--was richly dressed--armed with a machete and knife on
one side, and a pair of pistols on the other; besides which, he
wore a dirk within his vest. After examining our papers, which
had been accidentally saved by Capt. Hilton, he took out of a net
purse, two doubloons, and presented them to the master fisherman
in presence of all hands. This, we at first supposed to be
intended as some compensation for the injury done, by firing at
us. The ac