“Whilst the seamen and European traders are thus employed, the land is covered with droves of mules from Panama, each drove consisting of above an hundred, loaded with chests of gold and silver, on account of the merchants of Peru. Some unload them at the exchange, others in the middle of the square; yet amidst the hurry and confusion of such crowds, no theft, loss, or disturbance is ever known. He who has seen this place during the tiempo muerto, or dead time, solitary, poor, and a perpetual silence reigning everywhere, the harbour quite empty, and everyplace wearing a melancholy aspect, must be filled with astonishment at the sudden change, to see the bustling multitudes, every house crowded, the square and the streets encumbered with bales and chests of gold, and silver of all kinds; the harbour full of ships and vessels, some bringing by way of Río de Chape, the goods of Peru, as cacao, quinquina, or Jesuit’s bark, vicuña wool, and bezoar stones; others coming from Carthagena, loaded with provisions; and thus a spot, at all other times detested for its deleterious qualities becomes the staple of the riches of the old and new world, and the scene of one of the most considerable branches of commerce in the whole earth. [Sidenote: Organization of the trading] “The ships being unloaded, and the merchants of Peru, together with the president of Panama, arrived, the fair comes under deliberation. And for this purpose the deputies of the several parties, repair on board the commodore of the galleons, where, in presence of the commodore, and the president of Panama, the former as patron of the Europeans, and the latter, of the Peruvians, the prices of the several kinds of merchandise are settled; and all preliminaries being adjusted in three or four meetings, the contracts are signed, and made public, that everyone may conform himself to them in the sale of his effects. Thus all fraud is precluded. The purchases and sales, as likewise the exchanges of money, are transacted by brokers, embarking their chests of money, and those of Peru, sending away the goods they have purchased in vessels called chatas and bongos, up the river, Chagre; and thus the fair of Porto Bello ends.” (Eng. tr. I, 101.) II [Sidenote: Alonso de Zamora] [Sidenote: Character of Zamora’s book]