DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(255 =) Their vessels were reduced to three,—the Pelican, the Elizabeth, and the thirty-ton cutter. For six weeks they were battered to and fro in the storms and the bitter, cold winds. The cutter went down in those fearful seas, carrying her crew with her. The com- mander of the Elizabeth lost heart and made his way back to England. Drake was now left alone with the Pelican and pe en ee a crew of eighty men. He waited amongst some islands for milder weather. Then, when the spring brought fair winds, he made for Valparaiso, a Spanish settlement, where an Indian fisherman had informed him that a Spanish galleon had just arrived. The Pelican dashed straight into the harbour of Valpa- raiso, shot up alongside the Spaniard, and boarded her. The Spaniards were taken by surprise and knocked down. Wedges of gold, weighing 600 lbs., ae trata and a mass of miscellaneous plunder, were found in the galleon, besides some pipes of wine, and a Greek pilot, who showed Drake the route to Panama. On his way there, he halted at a place called Tarapaca, where silver bullion had been brought down from the mountains to be shipped for Panama. He found, lying on the pier, piles of silver bars worth 400,000 ducats, which he seized. That was one afternoon’s work. Arica came next, where fifty- seven blocks of the same precious metal were added to the store.