Before proceeding to narrate our subsequent transactions, it may be proper to give a succinct account of the booty we acquired at Payta, and the losses there sustained by the Spaniards.  It has been already observed, that there were great quantities of valuable effects at this place, but most of them were of a nature that we could neither dispose of nor carry away, and their value, therefore, can only be guessed at.  In their representations to the court of Madrid, as we were afterward assured, the Spaniards estimated their loss at a million and a half of dollars; and as no small portion of the goods we there burnt were of the richest and most expensive kinds, as broad cloths, silks, cambrics, velvets, and the like, perhaps that valuation might be sufficiently moderate.  The acquisition we made, though inconsiderable in comparison to what we destroyed, was yet far from despicable, as, in wrought plate, dollars, and other coin, there was to the value of more than 30,000l. sterling, besides several rings, bracelets, and other jewels, the value of which could not then be ascertained; and besides the very great plunder which became the property of the immediate captors.

It has been already observed, that all the prisoners we had taken in our preceding prizes were here discharged.  Among these were some persons of considerable distinction, one of them a youth of seventeen, son to the vice-president of Chili.  As the barbarity of the buccaneers, and the artful uses the Spanish ecclesiastics had made of that circumstance, had filled the natives of these countries with the most horrible notions of the English cruelty, we always found our prisoners, on first coming aboard, extremely dejected, and under great horror and anxiety.  This youth particularly, having never been before from home, lamented his captivity in the most moving terms, regretting the loss of his parents, his brothers, his sisters, and his native country; all of which he believed he should never see more, conceiving that he was devoted for the remainder of his life to an abject and cruel servitude.  Indeed, all the Spaniards who came into our power, seemed to entertain similarly desponding notions of their condition.  The commodore constantly exerted his utmost endeavours to efface these terrifying impressions, always having as many of the principal people among them as there was room for to dine at his table; and giving strict charges that they should at all times, and in every circumstance, be treated with the utmost decency and humanity.  In spite of this precaution, they hardly ever parted with their fears for the first few days, suspecting the gentleness of their usage to be only preparatory to some after calamity; but at length, convinced of our sincerity, they grew perfectly easy and cheerful, so that it was often doubtful whether they considered their captivity as a misfortune.  The before-mentioned youth, who was near two months on board the Centurion, had at last so completely conquered his original melancholy surmises, and had taken such an affection for the commodore, and seemed so much pleased with the manner of life on board, so different from all he had ever seen before, that I much question, if it had been in his choice, if he would not have preferred a voyage to England in the Centurion to going on shore at Payta, though he had here liberty of returning to his friends and country.