[Footnote 169:  The island and point of Tomaco are placed in modern maps at the mouth of the Mira, off which are many islands, in lat. 1 deg. 40’N.]

As the land here is low and full of creeks, we left the river on the 21st December, and crossed these small bays in our canoes.  In our way we saw an Indian hut, whence we took the master and all his family, and rowing forwards, we came to Tomaco at midnight.  We here seized all the inhabitants, among whom was one Don Diego de Pinas, a Spanish knight, whose ship was at anchor not far off to load with timber, and in which we found thirteen jars of good wine, but no other loading.  An Indian canoe came to us, in which were three natives, who were straight and well-limbed, but of low stature, having black hair, long visages, small eyes and noses, and dark complexions.  Several of our men, who had gone seven or eight leagues up the river, returned on the 31st, bringing with them several ounces of gold, which they had found in a Spanish house, whence the inhabitants had fled.

On the 1st January, 1685, while going in our canoes from Tomaco to Gallo, we took a packet of letters in a Spanish boat bound from Panama to Lima, by which the president of Panama wrote to hasten the Plate fleet from Lima, as the armada from Spain had arrived in Porto Bello.  This intelligence made us change our intention of proceeding to Lavelia, instead of which we now proposed to make for the Pearl Islands, not far from Panama, past which all ships bound from the south for Panama must necessarily pass.  We accordingly sailed on the 7th, and next day took a vessel of ninety tons, laden with flour; and continuing our voyage with a gentle wind at S. we anchored on the 9th at the island of Gorgona, on its west side, in thirty-eight fathoms clean ground, two cables length from shore, in a sandy bay, the land round which is very low.

Gorgona is in lat. 2 deg. 54’ N. twenty-five leagues from Gallo, and is remarkable for two high risings or hills called the Saddles.  This island is two leagues long by one league broad, and is about four from the continent, having another small isle at its west end.  It is full of tall trees, and is watered by many rivulets, having no animals except monkies, rabbits, and snakes.  It is very subject to heavy rains, and the only observable difference in the seasons here is, that the rains are more moderate in summer.  The sea around is so deep that there is no anchorage except at the west end, where the tide flows eight feet.  Muscles and periwinkles are here in great plenty, and the monkies open the shells at low water.  There are also abundance of pearl oysters, fixed to loose rocks by their beards, four, five, and six fathoms under water.  These resemble our oysters, but are somewhat flatter and thinner in the shell, their flesh being slimy and not eatable, unless dried beforehand and afterwards boiled.  Some shells contain twenty or thirty seed pearls, and others have one or two pearls of some size, lying at the head of the oyster, between the fish and the shell; but the inside of the shells have a brighter lustre than even the pearls.