westward,
and in the morning the Commodore gave orders that the whole squadron
should spread themselves, in order to look out for the Gloucester; for we
now drew near to the station where Captain Mitchel had been directed to
cruise, and hourly expected to get sight of him, but the whole day passed
without seeing him.

DOLLARS AMONGST THE COTTON.

At night having no sight of the Gloucester, the Commodore ordered the
squadron to bring to, that we might not pass her in the dark. The next
morning we again looked out for her, and at ten we saw a sail, to which
we gave chase, and at two in the afternoon we came near enough her to
discover her to be the Gloucester, with a small vessel in tow. About an
hour after we were joined by them, and then we learned that Captain
Mitchel in the whole time of his cruise, had only taken two prizes, one
of them being a small snow, whose cargo consisted chiefly of wine,
brandy, and olives in jars, with about 7,000 pounds in specie; and the
other a large boat or launch which the Gloucester's barge came up with
near the shore. The prisoners on board this vessel alleged that they were
very poor and that their loading consisted only of cotton, though the
circumstances in which the barge surprised them seemed to insinuate that
they were more opulent than they pretended to be, for the Gloucester's
people found them at dinner upon pigeon-pie served up in silver dishes.
However, the officer who commanded the barge having opened several of the
jars on board to satisfy his curiosity, and finding nothing in them but
cotton, he was inclined to believe the account the prisoners gave him;
but the cargo being taken into the Gloucester, and there examined more
strictly, they were agreeably surprised to find that the whole was a very
extraordinary piece of false package, and that there was concealed
amongst the cotton, in every jar, a considerable quantity of double
doubloons and dollars to the amount, in the whole, of near 12,000 pounds.
This treasure was going to Paita, and belonged to the same merchants who
were the proprietors of the greatest part of the money we had taken
there; so that, had this boat escaped the Gloucester, it is probable her
cargo would have fallen into our hands. Besides these two prizes which we
have mentioned, the Gloucester's people told us that they had been in
sight of two or three other ships of the enemy, which had escaped them;
and one of them, we had reason to believe from s