Indian
corn, salted beef and fowls. _Lavelia_ is a large town on the bank of a
river which runs into the north side of the bay of Panama, and is seven
leagues from the sea; and _Nata_ is another town situated in a plain on
a branch of the same river.[172] These two places supply Panama with
beef, hogs, fowls, and maize. In the harbour where we careened, we found
abundance of oysters, muscles, limpits, and clams, which last are a kind
of oysters, which stick so close to the rocks that they must be opened
where they grow, by those who would come at their meat. We also found
here some pigeons and turtle-doves.

[Footnote 172: From the circumstances in the text Lavelia seems to be
the town now named San Francisco, near the head of the river Salado,
which runs into the gulf Parita, on the _west_ side of the bay of
Panama.--E.]

Having well careened our ships by the 14th February, and provided a
stock of wood and water, we sailed on the 18th, and came to anchor in
the great channel between the isles and the continent, in fifteen
fathoms, on soft ooze, and cruised next day towards Panama, about which
the shore seemed very beautiful, interspersed with a variety of hills
and many small thickets. About a league from the continent there are
several small isles, partly ornamented with scattered trees, and the
_King's Isles_ on the opposite side of the channel give a delightful
prospect, from their various shapes and situations. The 18th we went
towards Panama, and anchored directly opposite Old Panama, once a place
of note, but mostly laid in ashes by Sir Henry Morgan, and not since
rebuilt. New Panama is about four leagues from the old town, near the
side of a river, being a very handsome city, on a spacious bay of the
same name, into which many long navigable rivers discharge their waters,
some of which have gold in their sands. The country about Panama affords
a delightful prospect from the sea, having a great diversity of hills,
vallies, groves, and plains. The houses are mostly of brick, and pretty
lofty, some being handsomely built, especially that inhabited by the
president; the churches, monasteries, and other public edifices, making
the finest appearance of any place I have seen in the Spanish West
Indies. It is fortified by a high stone wall, mounted by a considerable
number of guns, which were formerly only on the land side, but have now
been added to the side next the sea. The city has vast trade, being the
staple or