But to the victors was not all the glory. The precipitate flight of so large a band of desperadoes could only have been accomplished by divine power; and, indeed, the Spaniards learned from their captives[XXVI‑21] that when the invaders' quarters were broken up they saw on the height a host of warriors commanded by a radiant female form,[XXVI‑22] who were none others than the holy virgin and an army of saints who had come to the succor of the chosen of God; so the grateful people of Cartago chose her as their patron, and instituted an annual procession to her shrine at Ujarraz,[XXVI‑23] which ceremony continued to the time of Juarros. [Sidenote: DEATH OF THE CHIEF.] When Mansvelt arrived at the bay of Matina he reëmbarked and set sail for Santa Catarina. There he found his pirate colony thriving. The fortifications had been put in the best repair, portions of the island cultivated, and other measures taken for a permanent residence thereon. He therefore decided to request aid for carrying out his project from the governor of Jamaica; but that official, though inclined to connive at the doings of the buccaneers, did not dare place his position in jeopardy by such an open act of hostility against Spain, with which nation England was then at peace. Mansvelt made an equally unsuccessful appeal to the governor of Tortuga, and dying ere long, the robbers at Santa Catarina were left to their own resources. Not long afterward the president of Panamá, sent a force to recover the island, and St Simon, finding that the promised reënforcements did not arrive, and considering it impossible to defend the place with the company under his command, surrendered after a slight show of resistance.[XXVI‑24] CHAPTER XXVII. PANAMÁ, PORTOBELLO, AND PIRACY. 1601-1670. AN AUDIENCIA AGAIN ESTABLISHED IN PANAMÁ—ITS PRESIDENTS—CAPTAIN PARKER'S RAID ON PORTOBELLO—GROWTH OF PORTOBELLO AND DECADENCE OF PANAMÁ—MALEFEASANCE OF OFFICIALS—INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION—CONTRABAND TRADING—CHURCH MATTERS IN PANAMÁ—DISPUTES BETWEEN THE BISHOPS AND THE OIDORES—THE ECCLESIASTICS IN EVIL REPUTE—DESTRUCTIVE CONFLAGRATION—BAZAN'S ADMINISTRATION—HIS DOWNFALL AND ITS CAUSE—THE ANNUAL FAIR AT PANAMÁ. During the first half of the seventeenth century the province of Panamá was under the control of a governor or president, and an audiencia real, which was reëstablished toward the close of the previous century. The archives are meagre of information regarding the governors, some of them being barely mentioned, and their succession not always agreed upon by the authorities. In 1601 Alonso de Sotomayor was governor; on the 9th of June 1604 the licentiate Alonso de Coronado, an oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, was appointed president; and on the 18th of September in the same year that office was filled by Valverde de Mercado, each of the officials receiving as salary six thousand ducats per annum.[XXVII‑1]