erally named collectively the
Quibo islands.

Having failed in our designs at sea, it was agreed to try our fortune on
land, and the city of Leon, near the coast of Nicaragua in Mexico, was
pitched upon, as being nearest us. Being in want of canoes for landing
our men, we cut down trees to make as many as we had occasion for, and
in the mean time 150 men were detached to take _Puebla nova_, a town on
the continent, near the Quibo island,[176] in hopes of getting some
provisions. They easily took that town, but got nothing there except an
empty bark, and returned to us on the 26th June. Captain Knight came
back to us on the 5th July, having been farther to the west, but meeting
with no prize, he had gone south to the bay of Guayaquil, where he took
two _barco-longas_, with wine, oil, brandy, sugar, soap, and other
commodities. Knight learnt from his prisoners that certain merchant
ships, designed to have accompanied the Spanish fleet to Panama,
remained behind at Payta, which he might easily have taken if he had
been provided with a stronger force.

[Footnote 176: The only place in modern geography resembling the name,
and agreeing with the description in the text, is San Pablo on the S.
coast of Veragua, in lat. 8 deg. 9' N. and long. 83 deg. W. from Greenwich.--E.]

Our canoes being all ready, we sailed from Quibo on the 20th July
towards Realejo, a port a small way to the N.W. of Leon, being now 640
men, with eight ships, three tenders, and a fire-ship. Coasting along to
the N.W. we passed the gulfs of Dulce and Nicoya, and the _Isla del
Cano_, the land along the coast being low and covered with wood, but
almost destitute of inhabitants. August 8th, in lat. 11 deg. 20' N. we got
sight of _Volcano viejo_, or Old Volcano, the sea-mark for Realejo,
bearing from us N.E. by N. when we made ready to land next day.
Accordingly, we sent 520 men on the 9th in thirty-one canoes to attack
the harbour of Realejo. The weather was fair and the wind favourable
till two p.m. when a tempest arose, attended by thunder and lightning,
which almost overwhelmed us in the sea. It subsided, however, in half an
hoar, as did the agitation of the waves; it being observable in these
hot climates that the waves soon rise and soon fall. It became calm
about seven p.m. but as we could not get ready to land that night before
day, being then five leagues from shore, we remained nearly in the same
place till next evening, that we might not be discov