would very soon be missed, and search made after him, to quit that ship; he landed to the westward of the town, but on a place where there was a good deal of surf, and where the rocks behind him were inaccessible.  The officer of marines on board that transport, having ordered the convicts to be mustered as usual at setting the watch, when they were always put below, found this man was missing, and immediate information of it sent to Captain Phillip; who next morning sent an officer from the Sirius to the governor, requesting his assistance in recovering the deserter; orders were immediately given by the governor for that purpose; in the morning early, boats were dispatched from the ships to row along shore to the westward, to endeavour to recover the boat he had taken away, and a little to the westward of the town, they discovered the boat beating on the rocks; and rowing in to pick her up, they discovered the fellow concealing himself in the cliff of a rock, not having been able to get up the precipice:  the officer presented a musket at him, and threatened if he did not immediately come down and get into the boat he would shoot him; the fellow complied, rather than run the hazard of being shot, and was taken on board, punished, and put in irons until we got to sea, when he was liberated in the same manner as the rest.

Before we were ready to put to sea, a party of us had determined to make a short excursion into the country, where we had no doubt of finding its aspect more inviting than the prospect from the ships:  for this purpose, we set out one morning very early, accompanied by two British gentlemen, who were merchants resident here, (Mr. Little and Mr. Armstrong,) and who had shown us upon every occasion much civility and attention:  those gentlemen had previously provided horses, mules, provisions, etc.  We directed our journey to the city of Laguna, which was, and is still called the capital of the island; it is said to be but three or four miles from Santa Cruz; but, whether from the badness of the road, (which is certainly the worst I ever saw in any country,) or the slowness of our progress from that cause, I thought it not less than twice that distance.

When we arrived at Laguna, we walked through many of the streets, which are very regular, and cross each other at right angles; the buildings in general are good, and some of the streets are wider than you generally see them in any of the Spanish or Portuguese towns:  there are two parish churches, which have short square steeples, but they appear above all the other buildings; there are also two nunneries, and three or four convents, which are built in a quadrangular form, and have good gardens.  In the middle of the town is a conduit, which supplies the inhabitants with water.  This city stands on a plain of considerable extent, over part of which we rode, until we came to the foot of the hill from whence the town is supplied with water.  We ascended the mountain, and traced the stream to its fountain-head, where we found it issuing from cavities in several parts of the hill, and was conveyed down the declivity in stone-troughs, and received on the plain by troughs of wood, supported about seven or eight feet above the ground by props; through this aqueduct, the water is carried to the center of the city, over a plain, from a distance of four or five miles.