ease: the ravages of death became at length so great, that the few who remained alive were unable to bury their deceased companions. A pestilence consequently ensued, which obliged the survivors, twenty-three in number, to desert the city, and wander forth to procure subsistence by hunting or fishing: but, unable to bear the privations and vicissitudes of a savage life, the greater part of them scon perished.

The attempt of the Spaniards to fortify the straits, which they believed to form the only entrance into the Pacific Ocean, did not deter the English adventurers from their bold schemes of hostility. Among the gentlemen in that enterprising age who sought wealth and fame by privateering expeditions against the Spaniards one of the most distinguished was Thomas Candish, or Cavendish, proprietor of a large estate near Ipswich in Suffolk. As soon as he became master of his fortune he equipped a vessel of 120 tons burden, with which he accompanied sir Richard Greenville in his expedition to Virginia in 1585. Some experience, and aspirations prompted by the accounts which he heard of sir Francis Drake's exploits in the western seas, were the sole fruits of this enterprise: but his ardour was rather prompted than extinguished by the expensiveness of his voyage; and he soon after fitted out a small fleet, consisting of three vessels, the largest of which was of 140 tons burden, and having on board 126 officers and sailors, with which he intended to follow the footsteps of Drake, and invade the Spanish possessions in the South Seas. Having provided himself with maps, and whatever guides the science of the age afforded, and having successfully employed his influence at court to obtain a commission from the queen to cruise against the Spaniards, he set sail in July, 1586.

When Candish arrived in the Straits of Magellan, the ruins of Sarmiento's unfortunate colony were still in existence. The bastions of the fort had suffered no dilapidation; some of the houses were still standing, and the whole presented a melancholy appearance of desolaOne of the surviving Spaniards was found, who

tion.

gave to our countrymen an afflicting account of the sufferings which terminated in the destruction of the colony. The guns which had been mounted on the batteries, and which the Spaniards, foreseeing the fate of the settlement, had taken the precaution to bury in the sand, were dug for by Candish, and all recovered. With respect to the natives, he confirms the account given by preceding navigators of their gigantic stature. The impression of a foot in the sand, in one instance, measured eighteen inches. At Penguin Island, which lies within the straits, he found such a multitude of those birds, from which the island has its name, that he could easily have taken sufficient to serve as provision for his whole voyage.

Candish at length left the straits, and entered the Pacific Ocean, without encountering any of those violent hurricanes or variable winds which have so often baffled the skill of the Spanish seamen both before and after him. As he proceeded northward along the coast, he entered on his work of war and spoliation. He burned the town of Payta, and committed the like outrage at Puna, where he sunk a large ship, having first plundered her valuable cargo. On approaching New Spain he captured a vessel, on board of which was Sanchez, a pilot well acquainted with the South Seas, and from whom he first received intelligence of a richly laden vessel whose arrival was daily expected from the Philippines. At Cape Saint Lucas, in California, where the jutting white rocks resemble the Needles in the Isle of Wight, he lay in shelter, awaiting his prey. length the wished-for signal was given. A large vessel was seen on the horizon, and proved to be the Saint Anne of 700 tons, the admiral of the South Seas, and laden with a cargo which was valued at 122,000 pesos.

At

The division of so rich a prize led to mutinous quarrels, which might have been attended with the most fatal consequences; but the generosity of Candish appeased the storm which his youth and inexperience could not prevent.

All were satisfied with the distri

bution which he made of his wealth, and returned to obedience before discord and alienation had become incurable. Preparations were now made to return home. The prisoners were put on shore, furnished with clothing and provisions to enable them to reach New Spain over land; and a few only of the crew were retained, whose acquaintance with the Indian seas might be serviceable in the navigation homeward.

Candish sailed from the coast of California to the Ladrones, a distance which he estimated at 1800 leagues, in the short space of forty-five days. Pursuing a circuitous route, by the Philippines, Borneo, and the Moluccas, he at length arrived in the Straits of Sunda. Having here refitted, and taken in a new stock of provisions, he put to sea, and after a voyage of nine weeks arrived at the Cape of Good Hope.

During this navigation he made numerous observations on winds, tides, and currents, which contributed not a little to improve the nautical science of the day. He remarked that the distance from Java to the Cape of Good Hope was above 2000 leagues in the Portuguese charts, while by his reckoning it was only 1850. He thus made a considerable approximation to geographical correctness in contracting the distance between the Cape of Good Hope and the remote countries of India; while at the same time he increased the interval between the Spice Islands and the continent of America. Leaving

the Cape of Good Hope, he touched at Saint Helena, which he describes as a delicious island covered with trees; and he was the first British navigator who discovered the local advantages of that island, which had hitherto been resorted to exclusively by the Portuguese fleets. The native forests, with which it was then covered, were afterwards destroyed with singular rapidity by the introduction of goats and rabbits into the island; and this is not the only instance in which the multiplication of these animals has laid bare the most enchanting scenes in nature. Candish arrived at Plymouth on the 9th of September, 1588.

In this voyage we see another proof of the rapid improvement of maritime science. Drake had circumnavigated the globe in three months less time than had been employed in a like navigation by the companions of Magellan; but the voyage of Candish round the globe was performed in eight months less than that of Drake. In all the accounts which remain of his voyage may be seen abundant evidence that he surveyed every object with the eye of an expert seaman. He examined with great care the Straits of Magellan; his account of the Philippines is full of valuable information; and he likewise brought home with him a map and description of China.

His success as a privateer surpassed the anticipations of the most sanguine. He is said, by contemporary writers, to have amassed wealth sufficient "to buy a fair earldom." Being young and ardent, he regarded his carly good fortune as only the prelude to greater acquisitions. But success so eminent was not to be repeated: and Fortune, who had once lavished all her favours on him, rudely repulsed his future addresses. He equipped a second fleet, and sailed once more for the Magellanic Straits. But his progress was now thwarted by all the calamities that can beset a maritime expedition. Continued storms baffled all his attempts to enter the Pacific Ocean: mutiny broke out among his crews; his captains disobeyed his commands; and, after sustaining a considerable time the united pressure of bodily fatigue and mental anxiety, he sunk under his affliction, and died on the coast of Brazil. The lamentable issue of this expedition damped, for a time, the ardour of enterprise which existed in England; and the experienced mariners of Candish's fleet, many of whom had been the companions of sir Francis Drake, were obliged to seek abroad that employment which they could not find at home.

The union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal under Philip II. gave a sudden check to the spirit of aggrandisement with which the latter nation extended its acquisitions in the East. The loss of national independence, and the interference of a government at once jealous and

remiss, paralysed that energy which the Portuguese had previously displayed in mercantile speculation and in conquest. While the Portuguese empire in the East thus lost that vital spirit which had hitherto nourished and sustained it, it was assailed from without by enemies provoked by the same genius of encroaching and despotic policy. Philip, by attacking the rights of the Hollanders, compelled them to take up arms and to assert their independence. The Dutch, while obedient subjects, were prohibited from engaging in the lucrative commerce in the East. They had been compelled to receive all the productions of the Indies at second hand, through the merchants of Spain and Portugal. But now, when they found themselves involved in so unequal a contest, to maintain which, though they brought the courage of freemen, they were unable to supply the adequate and necessary funds, they were prompted not only by interest, but by national hatred, to attack the Spanish possessions in the Indies and South Seas. Their attempts to find a passage by the north-east to India had proved unsuccessful; and they were tempted, by the example of the English, to pursue boldly the beaten tracks by the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan.

In the beginning of the year 1598, some eminent Dutch merchants resolved to equip an expedition for the purpose of cruising on the coasts of New Spain and Peru, as the English had already done with so much success. Accordingly four ships were fitted out, and manned by 240 persons of all ranks. Oliver Van Noort was appointed to the command of this little fleet. The officers were all men of experience; and the pilot, Mellish, had already sailed with Candish in his voyage round the world. Their voyage was so much retarded by bad weather, accidents, sickness, and discord, that fifteen months elapsed before they could enter the Straits of Magellan. While anchored in the straits, they saw some men on a little island brandishing their weapons at them in token of defiance. The Dutch, nevertheless, landed, and pursued the savages to a cave, which they