for his making ſail from us, which he attributed to the variable winds and his great anxiety to get to Acapulco, to which place he was bound from Lima. From this perſon I learned that Louis the Sixteenth King of France, had been beheaded by his own ſubjects, that the two Nations of Great Britain and France were engaged in war, and that there were on the Coaſt of Peru, a French privateer, two ſnows and a ſchooner, which had already captured ſeveral veſſels. I ſent the Spaniſh ſupercargo back to his ſhip, with a quantity of wine, rum, porter and cheeſe, which, far exceeded in value the preſent I had received, but it was impoſſible by any argument I could employ to procure any addition to it. The whaling maſter who was twice on board the Spaniſh veſſel, might, on the firſt viſit have had his boat filled with whatever he had demanded; but on his ſecond appearance, the Spaniſh Commander had recovered his ſpirits but loſt his liberality, for he would not part with any thing more. From his general converſation, and the manner in which he ſtated the probability of our being taken by the French cruiſers as we went down the coaſt, we had ſome reaſon to believe that Great Britain was at war with Spain as well as France.
We ſoon parted company with the Spaniſh trader, and ſtood to the South, diſtancing the land, at the ſame time,