n which we
anchored in eleven fathoms. We here landed 170 men, who marched fourteen
miles into the country, when they reached a wretched Indian village,
deserted by the inhabitants, so that we only found one mulatto-woman and
four young children.

Proceeding on the 18th about two leagues farther to the N.W. we came to
a pretty good harbour named _Chequetan_, having the convenience of a
good fresh-wafer river and plenty of wood. On the 19th we landed
ninety-five men, having the mulatto-woman for their guide, at
_Estapa_,[180] a league west from Chequetan. The guide now conducted
them through a pathless wood along a river, and coming to a farm-house
in a plain, they found a caravan of sixty mules, laden with flour,
chocolate, cheese, and earthenware, intended for Acapulco, and of which
this woman had given them intelligence. All this they carried off,
except the earthenware, and brought aboard in their canoes, together
with some beeves they killed in the plain. Captain Swan went afterwards
on shore, and killed other eighteen beeves, without any opposition. We
found the country woody but fertile, and watered by many rivers and
rivulets.

[Footnote 180: Istapha is to the eastward of Petatlan, but Chequetan is
not delineated in modern maps, neither are any rivers noticed for a
great way either N.W. or S.E. from Petatlan.--E.]

Sailing on the 21st to the N.W. the land appeared full of rugged hills,
with frightful intervening vallies. On the 25th we passed a high hill
having several peaks, in lat. 18 deg. 8' N. near which there is a town named
_Cupan_,[181] but we could not find the way to it. The 26th, 200 men
were sent to find out the way to _Colima_, said to be a rich place, but
after rowing twenty leagues along shore they could not find any place
fit for landing, and saw not the least sign of any inhabitants, so that
they returned to the ships on the 28th. Soon after we got sight of the
volcano of Colima, remarkable for its height, six leagues from the sea,
in lat. 19 deg. 5' N. It shewed two peaks or summits, both of which always
emit either fire or smoke. The valley at the foot of this mountain is
said to be fertile and delightful, abounding in cacao, corn, and
plantains, and is said to be ten or twelve leagues wide towards the sea,
and to reach far into the country. It is watered by a deep river named
Colima, but which is so obstructed by a sand-bank at its mouth, as not
even to allow admission to canoes; but there i