west to sell, "but 'twas so bad that none would buy it." On a
porridge of this meat, chopped up with mouldy flour, they contrived to
keep alive, "jogging on" towards the east till they made Jamaica. They
arrived off Blewfield's Point thirteen weeks after leaving Campeachy,
and, as Dampier says: "I think never any vessel before nor since made
such Traverses ... as we did.... We got as much Experience as if we had
been sent out on a Design." However, they dropped their anchor "at
Nigrill" "about three a Clock in the Afternoon," and sent in the boat
for fruit and poultry. One or two sea-captains, whose ketches were at
anchor there, came out to welcome the new arrival. In the little
"Cabbin," where the lamp swung in gimbals, the sailors "were very busie,
going to drink a Bowl of Punch, ... after our long Fatigue and Fasting."
The thirsty sea-captains, bronzed by the sun, came stumping down the
ladder to bear a hand. One captain, "Mr John Hooker," said that he was
under "Oath to drink but three Draughts of Strong Liquor a Day." The
bowl, which had not been touched, lay with him, with six quarts of good
rum punch inside it. This Mr Hooker, "putting the Bowl to his Head,
turn'd it off at one Draught"--he being under oath, and, doubtless,
thirsty. "And so, making himself drunk, disappointed us of our
Expectations, till we made another Bowl." Thus with good cheer did they
recruit themselves in that hot climate after long sailing of the seas.

Dampier passed the next few weeks in Port Royal, thinking of the jolly
life at One Bush Key, and of the little huts, so snugly thatched, and of
the camp fires, when the embers glowed so redly at night before the moon
rose. The thought of the logwood cutters passing to and fro about those
camp fires, to the brandy barrel or the smoking barbecue, was pleasant
to him. He felt inclined "to spend some Time at the Logwood Trade," much
as a young gentleman of that age would have spent "some Time" on the
grand tour with a tutor. He had a little gold laid by, so that he was
able to lay in a stock of necessaries for the trade--such as "Hatchets,
Axes, Long Knives, Saws, Wedges, etc., a Pavillion to sleep in, a Gun
with Powder and Shot, etc." When all was ready, he went aboard a New
England ship, and sailed for Campeachy, where he settled "in the West
Creek of the West Lagoon" with some old logwood cutters who knew the
trade.

Logwood cutting was then a very profitable business, for the wood
fetched