eceived from Gautemala that the ships were not to sail that year,
because the President and Audiencia were informed of some Dutch and
English ships lying in wait at the mouth of the river.]

[Footnote 18: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 64-5; Duhalde and de Rochefort.
There were two ways of sending goods from Panama to Porto Bello. One was
an overland route of 18 leagues, and was used only during the summer.
The other was by land as far as Venta Cruz, 7 leagues from Panama, and
thence by water on the river Chagre to its mouth, a distance of 26
leagues. When the river was high the transit might be accomplished in
two or three days, but at other times from six to twelve days were
required. To transfer goods from Chagre to Porto Bello was a matter of
only eight or nine hours. This route was used in winter when the roads
were rendered impassable by the great rains and floods. The overland
journey, though shorter, was also more difficult and expensive. The
goods were carried on long mule-trains, and the "roads, so-called, were
merely bridle paths ... running through swamps and jungles, over hills
and rocks, broken by unbridged rivers, and situated in one of the
deadliest climates in the world." The project of a canal to be cut
through the isthmus was often proposed to the Councils in Spain, but was
never acted upon. (Descript. ... of Cartagena; Oppenheim, i. p. 333.)]

[Footnote 19: Nombre de Dios, a few leagues to the east of Porto Bello,
had formerly been the port where the galleons received the treasure
brought from Panama, but in 1584 the King of Spain ordered the
settlement to be abandoned on account of its unhealthiness, and because
the harbour, being open to the sea, afforded little shelter to shipping.
Gage says that in his time Nombre de Dios was almost forsaken because of
its climate. Dampier, writing thirty years later, describes the site as
a waste. "Nombre de Dios," he says, "is now nothing but a name. For I
have lain ashore in the place where that City stood, but it is all
overgrown with Wood, so as to have no sign that any Town hath been
there." (Voyages, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.)]

[Footnote 20: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 196-8.]

[Footnote 21: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 65.]

[Footnote 22: Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.]

[Footnote 23: When the Margarita patache failed to meet the galleons at
Cartagena, it was given its clearance and allowed to sail alone to
Havana--a tempting prey to buccaneers hovering in those seas.]

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