ro, and St. Iago (whereof Coro and St. Iago were
taken by Captain Preston, and Cumana and St. Josepho by us) we found
not the value of one real of plate in either. But the cities of
Barquasimeta, Valencia, St. Sebastian, Cororo, St. Lucia, Laguna,
Maracaiba, and Truxillo, are not so easily invaded. Neither doth the
burning of those on the coast impoverish the king of Spain any one
ducat; and if we sack the River of Hacha, St. Martha, and Carthagena,
which are the ports of Nuevo Reyno and Popayan, there are besides within
the land, which are indeed rich and prosperous, the towns and cities of
Merida, Lagrita, St. Christophoro, the great cities of Pamplona, Santa
Fe de Bogota, Tunxa, and Mozo, where the emeralds are found, the
towns and cities of Marequita, Velez, la Villa de Leiva, Palma, Honda,
Angostura, the great city of Timana, Tocaima, St. Aguila, Pasto, [St.]
Iago, the great city of Popayan itself, Los Remedios, and the rest. If
we take the ports and villages within the bay of Uraba in the kingdom
or rivers of Darien and Caribana, the cities and towns of St. Juan de
Rodas, of Cassaris, of Antiochia, Caramanta, Cali, and Anserma have gold
enough to pay the king's part, and are not easily invaded by way of
the ocean. Or if Nombre de Dios and Panama be taken, in the province of
Castilla del Oro, and the villages upon the rivers of Cenu and Chagre;
Peru hath, besides those, and besides the magnificent cities of Quito
and Lima, so many islands, ports, cities, and mines as if I should name
them with the rest it would seem incredible to the reader. Of all which,
because I have written a particular treatise of the West Indies, I will
omit the repetition at this time, seeing that in the said treatise I
have anatomized the rest of the sea towns as well of Nicaragua, Yucatan,
Nueva Espana, and the islands, as those of the inland, and by what means
they may be best invaded, as far as any mean judgment may comprehend.

But I hope it shall appear that there is a way found to answer every
man's longing; a better Indies for her Majesty than the king of Spain
hath any; which if it shall please her Highness to undertake, I shall
most willingly end the rest of my days in following the same. If it be
left to the spoil and sackage of common persons, if the love and service
of so many nations be despised, so great riches and so mighty an empire
refused; I hope her Majesty will yet take my humble desire and my labour
therein in gracious p