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