landing in the dark, they made fast their boat to a float of weeds for want of a grapnel, and waited till day-light.  They then rowed in between the rocks, and were ignorantly welcomed on shore by some Indians.  Going to the house of the lieutenant, they broke open the door, and rummaged it and the village, finding a booty more valuable to us in our present situation than gold or silver.  This consisted of 60 bushels of wheat flour, 120 of calavanses and corn, some jerked beef, mutton, and pork, a thousand weight of well-cured fish, four or five days eating of soft bread, and five or six jars of Peruvian wine and brandy, besides a good number of fowls and some rusk.  They had also the good fortune to find a boat to bring off their plunder, which otherwise had been of little use to us, as our own boat was fully laden with men.

In the mean time, we in the bark were carried away by the current to the northward, out of sight of the island; and as they had not loaded their boats till the height of the day, they had a laborious task to row off, being very heavily laden.  We were under melancholy apprehensions, fearing that our people might have remained on shore and deserted us; but towards evening we perceived two boats coming fast towards us, as heavily laden as they could be with safety.  Words cannot express our joy when they came aboard.  The scene was now changed from famine to plenty.  The loaves of soft bread were distributed, and the jars of wine broached:  But I took care they should drink of it moderately, allowing each man no more than half a pint a-day.  After living a day or two on wholesome food, we wondered how our stomachs could receive and digest the rank nauseous congers fried in train-oil, and could hardly believe we had lived on nothing else for a month past.  I was assured by my second lieutenant, who commanded the boat on this occasion, that the Indians seemed rather pleased at our plundering the Spaniards; so natural is it for bad masters to find enemies in their servants.

The island of Iquique is in the lat. of 19 deg. 50’ S.[271] about a mile from the main land, and only about a mile and a half in circuit, the channel between it and the coast of Peru being full of rocks.  It is of moderate height, and the surface consists mostly of cormorant’s dung, which is so very white that places covered with it appear at a distance like chalk cliffs.  Its smell is very offensive, yet it produces considerable gain, as several ships load here with it every year for Arica, where it is used as manure for growing capsicums.  The only inhabitants of this island are negro slaves, who gather this dung into large heaps near the shore, ready for boats to take it off.  The village where the lieutenant resides, and which our people plundered, is on the main land close by the sea, and consists of about sixty scattered ill-built houses, or huts rather, and a small church.  There is not the smallest verdure to be seen about it, neither does