the most delicious of
all eatables; and that it is a most wholesome food we are amply convinced
by our own experience. For we fed on it for near four months, and
consequently, had it been in any degree noxious, its ill effects could
not possibly have escaped us.

At this island we took what quantity we pleased with great facility; for
as they are an amphibious animal, and get on shore to lay their eggs,
which they generally deposit in a large hole in the sand, just above the
high-water mark, covering them up and leaving them to be hatched by the
heat of the sun, we usually dispersed several of our men along the beach,
whose business it was to turn them on their backs when they came to land;
and the turtle being thereby prevented from getting away, we carried them
off at our leisure. By this means we not only secured a sufficient stock
for the time we stayed on the island, but we took a number of them with
us to sea, which proved of great service both in lengthening out our
store of provision, and in heartening the whole crew with an almost
constant supply of fresh and palatable food. For the turtle being large,
they generally weighing about 200 pounds weight each, those we took with
us lasted us near a month, and by that time we met with a fresh recruit
on the coast of Mexico, where we often saw them in the heat of the day
floating in great numbers on the surface of the water fast asleep. When
we discovered them, we usually sent out our boat with a man in the bow,
who was a dexterous diver, and when the boat came within a few yards of
the turtle, the diver plunged into the water, and took care to rise close
upon it, seizing the shell near the tail, and pressing down the hinder
parts. The turtle, when awakened, began to strike with its claws, which
motion supported both it and the diver, till the boat came up and took
them in. By this management we never wanted turtle for the succeeding
four months in which we continued at sea.

CHAPTER 21.
DELAY AND DISAPPOINTMENT--CHASING A HEATH FIRE--ACAPULCO--THE Manila
GALLEON--FRESH HOPES.

On the 12th of December we stood from Quibo to the westward. We had
little doubt of arriving soon upon our intended station,* as we expected,
upon increasing our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regular trade
wind. But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near a month,
either with tempestuous weather from the western quarter, or with dead
calms and heavy rains, attended with