e found thirteen jars of good wine, but no other loading. An Indian
canoe came to us, in which were three natives, who were straight and
well-limbed, but of low stature, having black hair, long visages, small
eyes and noses, and dark complexions. Several of our men, who had gone
seven or eight leagues up the river, returned on the 31st, bringing with
them several ounces of gold, which they had found in a Spanish house,
whence the inhabitants had fled.

On the 1st January, 1685, while going in our canoes from Tomaco to
Gallo, we took a packet of letters in a Spanish boat bound from Panama
to Lima, by which the president of Panama wrote to hasten the Plate
fleet from Lima, as the armada from Spain had arrived in Porto Bello.
This intelligence made us change our intention of proceeding to Lavelia,
instead of which we now proposed to make for the _Pearl Islands_, not
far from Panama, past which all ships bound from the south for Panama
must necessarily pass. We accordingly sailed on the 7th, and next day
took a vessel of ninety tons, laden with flour; and continuing our
voyage with a gentle wind at S. we anchored on the 9th at the island of
_Gorgona_, on its west side, in thirty-eight fathoms clean ground, two
cables length from shore, in a sandy bay, the land round which is very
low.

_Gorgona_ is in lat. 2 deg. 54' N. twenty-five leagues from Gallo, and is
remarkable for two high risings or hills called the Saddles. This island
is two leagues long by one league broad, and is about four from the
continent, having another small isle at its west end. It is full of tall
trees, and is watered by many rivulets, having no animals except
monkies, rabbits, and snakes. It is very subject to heavy rains, and the
only observable difference in the seasons here is, that the rains are
more moderate in summer. The sea around is so deep that there is no
anchorage except at the west end, where the tide flows eight feet.
Muscles and periwinkles are here in great plenty, and the monkies open
the shells at low water. There are also abundance of pearl oysters,
fixed to loose rocks by their beards, four, five, and six fathoms under
water. These resemble our oysters, but are somewhat flatter and thinner
in the shell, their flesh being slimy and not eatable, unless dried
beforehand and afterwards boiled. Some shells contain twenty or thirty
seed pearls, and others have one or two pearls of some size, lying at
the head of the oyster, between the