Notwithstanding the commercial relations thus opened with the province of Panamá, no trade of importance had yet been developed in Nicaragua. There was little money in circulation,[XXIV‑36] and the prices of all imported articles were extremely high. An arroba of wine was worth twelve pesos; cloth could not be bought for less than ten pesos, nor linen for less than fifteen reales a yard. Other commodities sold in the same proportion, and were beyond the means of all but the wealthiest settlers. This condition of affairs may be attributed in part to a clique of merchants in Seville, who had already monopolized the commerce of the New World, who shipped their goods in such small quantities as always to keep the market bare of supplies and insure extravagant prices for their merchandise, and who by their grasping policy gave rise, as we shall see later, to contraband trading. CHAPTER XXV. NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA. 1601-1700. LEON ABANDONED—ANOTHER SITE SELECTED—DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CITY—THE SACRILEGIOUS MOUSE—THE TRADE OF GRANADA—FREEBOOTERS IN NICARAGUA—CHURCH MATTERS—THE JESUITS ENTER THE PROVINCE—THEY ARE RECALLED—THE DIOCESE SUBJECT TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA—SUCCESSION OF PRELATES—ERUPTION OF EL INFIERNO DE MASAYA—MASSACRE OF SPANIARDS IN COSTA RICA—MALDONADO'S EXPEDITION TO TALAMANCA—VERDELETE'S MISSION TO TOLOGALPA—ITS FAILURE—HIS FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO CHRISTIANIZE THE NATIVES—MASSACRE OF SOLDIERS AND ECCLESIASTICS. [Sidenote: LEON, GRANADA, AND REALEJO.]