They entered the bay of Guasco[77] on the 1st April, where they remained till the 7th.  The 11th they came into a large bay, named Moro Gorch, in lat. 18 deg. 30’ S. ten miles from which is Moro Moreno, from which the shore runs to Arica, and all this coast, up to the hill of St Francis, is very much subject to south winds, though the adjoining seas have the winds variable and uncertain.  On the 20th the whole air was darkened by an Arenal which is a cloud of dust, and so thick that one cannot see a stone’s throw.  These are raised by the wind from the adjoining shore, and are very common in these parts.  The 25th they were within view of the famous city of Lima in Peru.  At this time they learnt the value of the treasure of which the Spaniards had deprived them, in the ships they took on the coast of Chili.  Nicholas Peterson, the captain of one of these prizes, acquainted Van Noort that he had been informed by a negro of a great quantity of gold having been on board the ship, as he believed to the amount of three tons, having helped to carry a great part of it on board.  On this information the admiral closely examined the Spanish pilot, who at first denied all knowledge of any gold; but another negro having corroborated the information, with some farther circumstances, the pilot at last owned that they had on board fifty-two chests, each containing four arobas of gold, and besides these 500 bars of the same metal, weighing from eight to ten and twelve pounds each; all of which, together with what private stock belonged to any of the company, the captain had ordered to be thrown overboard in the night, when first chased, amounting in the whole to about 10,200 pounds weight of gold; and, from its fineness, worth about two million pieces of eight, or Spanish silver dollars.  Upon this the admiral ordered the ship and all the prisoners to be searched, but there was only found a single pound of gold dust, tied up in a rag, in the breeches pocket of the Spanish pilot.  The prisoners owned that all this gold was brought from the island of St Mary, from mines discovered only three years before; and that there were not more than three or four Spaniards on that island, and about 200 Indians, only armed with bows and arrows.

[Footnote 77:  Perhaps Huasco in lat. 28 deg. 27’ S. or it may possibly have been Guacho, in 25 deg. 50’ S.—­E.]

The 5th September they came in sight of the Ladrones, and came on the 16th to Guam, one of these an island of about twenty Dutch miles in extent, and yielding fish, cocoa-nuts, bananas, and sugar canes, all of which the natives brought to the ships in a great number of canoes.  Sometimes they met 200 of these canoes at one time, with four or five men in each, bawling out hiero, hiero, meaning iron; and often in their eagerness they run their canoes against the ships, overturning them and losing all their commodities.  These islanders were a sly subtle people, and honest with good looking after; for otherwise, they would sell a basket of cocoa-nut shells covered over with a small quantity of rice, as if full of rice.  They would also snatch a sword from its scabbard, and plunge instantly into the water, where they dived like so many ducks; and the women were as roguish as the men, stealing as impudently, and diving as expertly to carry off their prizes.