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In 1592 he planned an attack upon the Spanish possessions of Panama, but his plans were frustrated. His only personal expedition to the New World was that to Guana in 1595. The expedition of Captain Amadas and Captain Barlow is described by Captain Smith in his compilation called the "General Historie," and by Mr. Strachey. They set sail April 27, 1584, from the Thames.
The sea here affords abundance of excellent fish, some kinds of which I had never before seen; one of them resembling a large silver eel, but much thicker in proportion. The inhabitants of this desolate and forbidding place cure these fish in a very cleanly manner, and export large quantities of them by the vessels which come for the guana.
There is not the smallest verdure to be seen about it, neither does its neighbourhood afford even the smallest necessary of life, not even water, which the inhabitants have to bring in boats from the Quebrada, or breach of Pisagua, ten leagues to the northward; wherefore, being so miserable a place, the advantage derived from the guana or cormorant's dung seems the only inducement for its being inhabited.
The guana is harmless, and, in some countries, is used for food. It is common to Asia, Africa, and America. Fortunately the alligator has not been seen in any of the rivers here, notwithstanding that they are native to all the rivers of the proximate continent.
The objects worshipped by the people of the New Calabar, are the tiger and the shark; while the Bonny people worship the shark and the guana. At half-past four, we anchored, for the night, off Foche Island, inside the first bar of the river, and the pilot went on shore.
Thomas Ceremony of taking Possession of Fernando Po Interview with a Native Chief Celebration Dinner Indirect Roguery Chief and his Wife Hospital near Point William The Guana Mistake at Sea Suggestions on the Slave-Trade Fishing Stakes Schooner on a Mud-flat Thursday, Nov. 15.
"That's not an alligator, Major," said Swinton, "and it is very good eating. It is a large lizard of the guana species, which is found about these rivers; it is amphibious, but perfectly harmless, subsisting upon vegetables and insects. I tell you it is a great delicacy, ugly as it looks. It is quite dead, so let us drag it out of the water, and send it up to Mahomed by Omrah."
Our interview lasted about an hour, when we took leave of the King, to return on board. In passing through one of the streets, we saw a guana climbing up a tree, the Doctor advanced and seized it by the tail, a proceeding by no means dangerous as regarded the animal, whose nature is extremely gentle.
After struggling with adverse currents and long calms for some time, he had to contend against an almost continued storm of sixty days, and then discovered the island of Guana ja, to the northward of Cape Honduras, in Lat. 19° N. He sent his brother on shore at this place, where he met with a canoe eight feet wide and as long as a Spanish galley.
But under these circumstances the women no doubt will have the power of choice, and will prefer the more attractive men. Azara, for instance, describes how carefully a Guana woman bargains for all sorts of privileges, before accepting some one or more husbands; and the men in consequence take unusual care of their personal appearance.
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