A Voyage Round the World. Anson George
and at one in the afternoon the squadron came to an anchor in five fathom and a half, the governor's island bearing N.N.W., St. Juan's Castle N.E.½E., and the island of St. Antonio south. In this position we moored at the island of St. Catherine's on Sunday the 21st of December, the whole squadron being, as I have already mentioned, sickly, and in great want of refreshments; both which inconveniencies we hoped to have soon removed at this settlement, celebrated by former navigators for its healthiness, and the plenty of its provisions, and for the freedom, indulgence, and friendly assistance there given to the ships of all European nations in amity with the crown of Portugal.
CHAPTER V
PROCEEDINGS AT ST. CATHERINE'S, AND A DESCRIPTION
OF THE PLACE, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF BRAZIL
Our first care, after having moored our ships, was to get our sick men on shore, preparatory to which, each ship was ordered by the commodore to erect two tents: one of them for the reception of the diseased, and the other for the accommodation of the surgeon and his assistants. We sent about eighty sick from the Centurion; and the other ships, I believe, sent nearly as many, in proportion to the number of their hands. As soon as we had performed this necessary duty, we scraped our decks, and gave our ship a thorough cleansing: then smoked it between decks, and after all washed every part well with vinegar. These operations were extremely necessary for correcting the noisome stench on board, and destroying the vermin; for from the number of our men, and the heat of the climate, both these nusances had increased upon us to a very loathsome degree; and besides being most intolerably offensive, they were doubtless in some sort productive of the sickness we had laboured under for a considerable time before our arrival at this island.
Our next employment was wooding and watering our squadron, caulking our ships' sides and decks, overhauling our rigging, and securing our masts against the tempestuous weather we were, in all probability, to meet with in our passage round Cape Horn in so advanced and inconvenient a season. But before I engage in the particulars of these transactions, it will not be improper to give some account of the present state of this island of St. Catherine's, and of the neighbouring country, both as the circumstances of this place are now greatly changed from what they were in the time of former writers, and as these changes laid us under many more difficulties and perplexities than we had reason to expect, or than other British ships, hereafter bound to the South Seas, may perhaps think it prudent to struggle with.
This island is esteemed by the natives to be nowhere above two leagues in breadth, though about nine in length; it lies in 49° 45' of west longitude of London, and extends from the south latitude of 27° 35', to that of 28°. Although it be of a considerable height, yet it is scarce discernible at the distance of ten leagues, being then obscured under the continent of Brazil, whose mountains are exceeding high; but on a nearer approach it is easy to be distinguished, and may be readily known by a number of small islands lying at each end, and scattered along the east side of it. Frezier has given a draught of the island of St. Catherine's, and of the neighbouring coast, and the minuter isles adjacent; but he has, by mistake, called the island of Alvoredo the Isle de Gal, whereas the true Isle de Gal lies seven or eight miles to the north-westward of it, and is much smaller. He has also called an island to the southward of St. Catherine's Alvoredo, and has omitted the island Masaqura; in other respects his plan is sufficiently exact.
The north entrance of the harbour is in breadth about five miles, and the distance from thence to the island of St. Antonio is eight miles, and the course from the entrance to St. Antonio is S.S.W.½W. About the middle of the island the harbour is contracted by two points of land to a narrow channel no more than a quarter of a mile broad; and to defend this passage, a battery was erecting on the point of land on the island side. But this seems to be a very useless work, as the channel has no more than two fathom water, and consequently is navigable only for barks and boats, and therefore seems to be a passage that an enemy could have no inducement to attempt, especially as the common passage at the north end of the island is so broad and safe that no squadron can be prevented from coming in by any of their fortifications when the sea breeze is made. However, the Brigadier Don Jose Sylva de Paz, the governor of this settlement, is deemed an expert engineer, and he doubtless understands one branch of his business very well, which is the advantages which new works bring to those who are entrusted with the care of erecting them; for besides the battery mentioned above, there are three other forts carrying on for the defence of the harbour, none of which are yet compleated. The first of these, called St. Juan, is built on a point of St. Catherine's, near Parrot Island; the second, in form of a half-moon, is on the island of St. Antonio; and the third, which seems to be the chief, and has some appearance of a regular fortification, is on an island near the continent, where the governor resides.
The soil of the island is truly luxuriant, producing fruits of many kinds spontaneously; and the ground is covered over with one continued forest of trees of a perpetual verdure, which, from the exuberance of the soil, are so entangled with briars, thorns, and underwood, as to form a thicket absolutely impenetrable, except by some narrow pathways which the inhabitants have made for their own convenience. These, with a few spots cleared for plantations along the shore facing the continent, are the only uncovered parts of the island. The woods are extremely fragrant, from the many aromatic trees and shrubs with which they abound, and the fruits and vegetables of all climates thrive here, almost without culture, and are to be procured in great plenty, so that here is no want of pine-apples, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, apricots, nor plantains. There are besides great abundance of two other productions of no small consideration for a sea-store, I mean onions and potatoes. The flesh provisions are, however, much inferior to the vegetables. There are indeed small wild cattle to be purchased, somewhat like buffaloes, but these are very indifferent food, their flesh being of a loose contexture, and generally of a disagreeable flavour, which is probably owing to the wild calabash on which they feed. There are likewise great plenty of pheasants, but they are not to be compared in taste to those we have in England. The other provisions of the place are monkeys, parrots, and, above all, fish of various sorts; these abound in the harbour, are exceeding good, and are easily catched, for there are a great number of small sandy bays very convenient for haling the Seyne.
The water both on the island and the opposite continent is excellent, and preserves at sea as well as that of the Thames. For after it has been in the cask a day or two it begins to purge itself, and stinks most intolerably, and is soon covered over with a green scum. But this, in a few days, subsides to the bottom, and leaves the water as clear as chrystal, and perfectly sweet. The French (who, during their South Sea trade in Queen Anne's reign, first brought this place into repute) usually wooded and watered in Bon Port, on the continent side, where they anchored with great safety in six fathom water; and this is doubtless the most commodious road for such ships as intend to make only a short stay. But we watered on the St. Catherine's side, at a plantation opposite the island of St. Antonio.
These are the advantages of this island of St. Catherine's; but there are many inconveniencies attending it, partly from its climate, but more from its new regulations, and the late form of government established there. With regard to the climate, it must be remembered that the woods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulation of the air. And the vigorous vegetation which constantly takes place there, furnishes such a prodigious quantity of vapour that all the night, and great part of the morning, a thick fog covers the whole country, and continues till either the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersed by a brisk sea-breeze. This renders the place close and humid, and probably occasioned the many fevers and fluxes we were there afflicted with. To these exceptions I must not omit to add, that all the day we were pestered with great numbers of muscatos, which are not much unlike the gnats in England, but more venomous in their stings. And at sunset, when the muscatos retired, they were succeeded by an infinity of sand-flies, which, though scarce discernible to the naked eye, make a mighty buzzing, and, wherever they bite, raise a small bump in the flesh which is soon attended with a painful itching, like that arising from the bite of an English harvest bug. But as the only light in which this place deserves our consideration is its favourable situation for supplying and refreshing our cruisers intended for the South Seas, in this view its greatest inconveniences remain still to be related. And to do this more distinctly, it will not be amiss to consider the changes which it has lately undergone, both in its inhabitants,