Cheap
and his people a little before to go a-fishing, and had in the meantime
committed them to the care of the other Indian, whom the sailors had
carried to sea in the barge. But when he came on shore and found the
barge gone and his companion missing, he was extremely concerned, and
could with difficulty be persuaded that the other Indian was not
murdered; but being at last satisfied with the account that was given
him, he still undertook to carry them to the Spanish settlements, and (as
the Indians are well skilled in fishing and fowling) to procure them
provisions by the way.

CHILOE.

About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and the four who were left with
him set out for Chiloe, the Indian having procured a number of canoes,
and got many of his neighbours together for that purpose. Soon after they
embarked, Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, died, so that there now remained only
four of the whole company. At last, after a very complicated passage by
land and water, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Campbell arrived, in
the beginning of June, at the island of Chiloe, where they were received
by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account of some quarrel
among the Indians, Mr. Hamilton did not get thither till two months
after. Thus, above a twelvemonth after the loss of the Wager, ended this
fatiguing peregrination, which by a variety of misfortunes had diminished
the company from twenty to no more than four, and those, too, brought so
low that had their distresses continued but a few days longer, in all
probability none of them would have survived. For the captain himself was
with difficulty recovered and the rest were so reduced by the severity of
the weather, their labour, and their want of all kinds of necessaries,
that it was wonderful how they supported themselves so long. After some
stay at Chiloe, the captain and the three who were with him were sent to
Valparaiso, and thence to Santiago, the capital of Chile where they
continued above a year; but on the advice of a cartel being settled
betwixt Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr.
Hamilton were permitted to return to Europe on board a French ship. The
other midshipman, Mr. Campbell, having changed his religion whilst at
Santiago, chose to go back overland to Buenos Ayres with Pizarro and his
officers, with whom he went afterwards to Spain on board the Asia; and
there having failed in his endeavours to procure a commission from the
Cour