he safety of the Commodore, and of what he had done
in the South Seas. The relation he gave of his own seizure was that he
had rambled into the woods at some distance from the barricade, where he
had first attempted to pass, but had been stopped and threatened to be
punished; that his principal view was to get a quantity of limes for his
master's store, and that in this occupation he was surprised unawares by
four Indians, who stripped him naked and carried him in that condition to
Acapulco, exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of
the year shone with its greatest violence. And afterwards at Mexico his
treatment in prison was sufficiently severe, and the whole course of his
captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which the Spaniards bear
to all those who endeavour to disturb them in the peaceable possession of
the coasts of the South Seas. Indeed, Leger's fortune was, upon the
whole, extremely singular, for after the hazards he had run in the
Commodore's squadron, and the severities he had suffered in his long
confinement amongst the enemy, a more fatal disaster attended him on his
return to England; for though, when he arrived in London, some of Mr.
Anson's friends interested themselves in relieving him from the poverty
to which his captivity had reduced him, yet he did not long enjoy the
benefit of their humanity, for he was killed in an insignificant night
brawl, the cause of which could scarcely be discovered.

On the 28th of April the Centurion and the Gloucester weighed anchor.
Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound across the vast Pacific Ocean
in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast as soon as
possible, as the stormy season was approaching apace, and we had no
further views in the American seas.

The sending away our prisoners* was our last transaction on the American
coast, for no sooner had we parted with them than we and the Gloucester
made sail to the south-west, proposing to get a good offing from the
land, where we hoped in a few days to meet with the regular trade-wind.
It has been esteemed no uncommon passage to run from hence to the
easternmost parts of Asia in two months, and we flattered ourselves that
we were as capable of making an expeditious passage as any ship that had
ever run this course before us; so that we hoped soon to gain the coast
of China. On the 6th of May we for the last time lost sight of the
mountains of Mexico, persuaded that