to those houses which were most windward, he collected his men and marched towards the beach, where the boats waited to carry them off.  And the part of the beach where he intended to embark being an open place without the town, the Spaniards on the hill, perceiving he was retreating, resolved to try if they could not precipitate his departure.  For this purpose a small squadron of their horse, consisting of about sixty, picked out as I suppose for this service, marched down the hill with much seeming resolution; so that, had we not been prepossessed with a juster opinion of their prowess, we might have suspected that, now we were on the open beach with no advantage of situation, they would certainly have charged us.  But we presumed (and we were not mistaken) that this was mere ostentation; for, notwithstanding the pomp and parade they advanced with, Mr. Brett had no sooner ordered his men to halt and face about, but the enemy stopped their career and never dared to advance a step farther.

Our detachment under Lieutenant Brett having safely joined the squadron, the Commodore prepared to leave the place the same evening.

ENGLISH HUMANITY.

There remains, before I take leave of this place, another particularity to be mentioned, which, on account of the great honour which our national character in those parts has thence received, and the reputation which our Commodore in particular has thereby acquired, merits a distinct and circumstantial discussion.  It has been already related that all the prisoners taken by us in our preceding prizes were put on shore and discharged at this place; amongst which there were some persons of considerable distinction, particularly a youth of about seventeen years of age, son of the Vice-President of the Council of Chili.  As the barbarity of the buccaneers, and the artful use the ecclesiastics had made of it, had filled the natives of those countries with the most terrible ideas of the English cruelty, we always found our prisoners at their first coming on board us, to be extremely dejected and under great horror and anxiety.  In particular, this youth whom I last mentioned, having never been from home before, lamented his captivity in the most moving manner, regretting in very plaintive terms his parents, his brothers, his sisters, and his native country, of all which he was fully persuaded he had taken his last farewell, believing that he was now devoted for the remaining part of his life to an abject and cruel servitude; nore was he singular in his fears, for his companions on board, and indeed all the Spaniards that came into our power, had the same desponding opinion of their situation.  Mr. Anson constantly exerted his utmost endeavours to efface these in human impressions they had received of us, always taking care that as many of the principal people among them as there was room for should dine at his table by turns, and giving the strictest orders, too, that they should at all times and in every circumstance