Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica онлайн

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Don Pedro de Morales, governor of Santiago and a good soldier, had been informed early in the evening before that the English were landing in great force. Having only a garrison of about two hundred regular soldiers, he determined to defend the town, and called in all the militia of the neighbouring populous settlement to his assistance. Among them were many refugees from Jamaica, who seem to have imposed upon him by a boastful show of courage. All night long the people of the town were busy in removing their families and concealing their valuable property in the woods. Morales with 170 soldiers and a few of the bravest emigrants and peasants awaited the attack at the entrance of the main street, which had been hastily barricaded with raw hides and casks of earth, and two guns were mounted to command the road, while the reserve of about five hundred militia was commanded by Yssasi, "the ould Governor of Jamaica (and a good friend to the English)" as Mings ironically described him. The town, though of course much smaller, was then as now built on the north-eastern side of the spacious triangular basin, forming the inner harbour, securely sheltered from every wind by rugged hills and ridges.