[Footnote 17: Gage: A New Survey of the West Indies, _ed._ 1655, pp. 185-6. When Gage was at Granada, in February 1637, strict orders were received from Gautemala that the ships were not to sail that year, because the President and Audiencia were informed of some Dutch and English ships lying in wait at the mouth of the river.] [Footnote 18: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 64-5; Duhalde and de Rochefort. There were two ways of sending goods from Panama to Porto Bello. One was an overland route of 18 leagues, and was used only during the summer. The other was by land as far as Venta Cruz, 7 leagues from Panama, and thence by water on the river Chagre to its mouth, a distance of 26 leagues. When the river was high the transit might be accomplished in two or three days, but at other times from six to twelve days were required. To transfer goods from Chagre to Porto Bello was a matter of only eight or nine hours. This route was used in winter when the roads were rendered impassable by the great rains and floods. The overland journey, though shorter, was also more difficult and expensive. The goods were carried on long mule-trains, and the "roads, so-called, were merely bridle paths ... running through swamps and jungles, over hills and rocks, broken by unbridged rivers, and situated in one of the deadliest climates in the world." The project of a canal to be cut through the isthmus was often proposed to the Councils in Spain, but was never acted upon. (Descript. ... of Cartagena; Oppenheim, i. p. 333.)] [Footnote 19: Nombre de Dios, a few leagues to the east of Porto Bello, had formerly been the port where the galleons received the treasure brought from Panama, but in 1584 the King of Spain ordered the settlement to be abandoned on account of its unhealthiness, and because the harbour, being open to the sea, afforded little shelter to shipping. Gage says that in his time Nombre de Dios was almost forsaken because of its climate. Dampier, writing thirty years later, describes the site as a waste. "Nombre de Dios," he says, "is now nothing but a name. For I have lain ashore in the place where that City stood, but it is all overgrown with Wood, so as to have no sign that any Town hath been there." (Voyages, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.)] [Footnote 20: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 196-8.] [Footnote 21: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 65.] [Footnote 22: Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] [Footnote 23: When the Margarita patache failed to meet the galleons at Cartagena, it was given its clearance and allowed to sail alone to Havana--a tempting prey to buccaneers hovering in those seas.] [Footnote 24: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] [Footnote 25: Rawl. MSS., A. 175, 313 b; Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] [Footnote 26: Here I am following the MSS. quoted by Oppenheim (ii. pp. 335 _ff._). Instead of watering in Hispaniola, the fleet sometimes stopped at Dominica, or at Aguada in Porto Rico.] [Footnote 27: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] [Footnote 28: Quintal=about 100 pounds.]