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After staying four days in Champoton, we pursued our voyage to what appeared the entrance of a large river; but Alaminos insisted that it was the termination of a large island, on which account this inlet was called Boca de Terminos.

We soon beat them off, however, when they went to the assistance of another party who had come round in some canoes, and were dragging away our boat, after wounding Alaminos and four sailors.

Yet this voyage was actually beneficial on another account, by the discovery of a passage to Spain from the West Indies through the channel of Bahama, which was first performed by the pilot Alaminos.

Our agents passed through the Bahama channel, under the direction of the pilot Alaminos, being the first ship which took that passage from the West Indies for Europe. After touching at the island of Tercera for refreshments, they proceeded for Seville, and arrived a few days afterwards at Valladolid, where the court was then held.

On landing near a creek, Alaminos said he knew the place, having been here before with Ponce de Leon, and advised them to be on their guard against the natives, and they accordingly posted centinels to give the alarm.

Antonio, holding their course to the westwards, as Antony de Alaminos, their pilot, said that the first admiral always inclined in that way, having sailed with him when a boy. They encountered a great storm which lasted two days, during which they expected to have perished.

From other communications we learn that the soldiers at Alaminos were about to desert on November 30th, 1898; that it was deemed necessary to restrict travel between Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales in order to prevent robberies; and that on January 9, 1899, the governor of the province found it impossible to continue the inspection of a number of towns, as many of their officials had fled to escape the abuses of the military.

On November 30, 1898, the commander in Alaminos, Zambales Province, telegraphed that his soldiers were all about to desert as the head of the town would not furnish rations or pay without orders from the governor."

After spending six months in this fruitless search, he was tired of playing the dupe, so giving up the business he returned to Porto Rico on the 5th of October, leaving Perez de Ortubia and the pilot Antonio de Alaminos to continue the search. Père Charlevoix says, "He was the object of great ridicule when he returned in much suffering, and looking older than when he set out."

Twenty of us, among whom I was one, went on shore with the casks as soon as possible, being warned by Alaminos to be on our guard against a sudden attack from the natives, who had fallen upon him by surprise when formerly on that coast. We accordingly posted a guard in an open place near the shore, and set about digging some pits, in which we had the satisfaction to find excellent water.