when he got to some
considerable distance off, he then exerted himself at his oars,
and got on board a foreign East-India ship, which was lying here,
and offered himself as a seaman, but was refused; finding himself
disappointed in his hope of getting off in that ship, he judged
it necessary, knowing that he would very soon be missed, and
search made after him, to quit that ship; he landed to the
westward of the town, but on a place where there was a good deal
of surf, and where the rocks behind him were inaccessible. The
officer of marines on board that transport, having ordered the
convicts to be mustered as usual at setting the watch, when they
were always put below, found this man was missing, and immediate
information of it sent to Captain Phillip; who next morning sent
an officer from the Sirius to the governor, requesting his
assistance in recovering the deserter; orders were immediately
given by the governor for that purpose; in the morning early,
boats were dispatched from the ships to row along shore to the
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