3. God has placed an isthmus midway between the two Americas, with the port and bay of Panama on the coast of the Southern Sea, and that of Portovelo on the opposite coast; although the former is of use only for vessels of medium size, there is another, called Perico, which admits ships of the line, their lading being conveyed in small vessels to Panama, which is two leguas distant. The second, which is that of Portovelo, is one of the most beautiful and well-defended ports in America; there are disembarked the goods of the ships from España, and they are conveyed to Panama; and the gold and silver and some products of Peru, which arrive at the latter port at the time of the [Spanish] trading-fleets, are transported to that of Portovelo by land, and by the Chagre River, for the return of the ships to España. 4. The Spanish company, when established in these islands, can have its storehouses and factors at the said ports; the ships which sail from here for Panama will leave there their cargoes, and bring back the goods which the ships of Cadiz will have carried to Portovelo; and these latter will in their turn do the same, leaving their cargoes at the said port, and, for their return voyage, taking aboard whatever might be sent to them from Panama. 5. This route would, without doubt, occasion greater expenses to the Spanish company than would the navigation via Cape Good Hope, but always many advantages to its commerce would result. If war should break out, the said route will be more secure from enemies, and our coasts will be better defended by the frequent visits of our ships to the said ports on the Southern coast; in that spacious sea they are not in danger of encountering enemies, as in the straits of Sunda, Malaca, and others of the Malayan Islands, through which it is necessary to pass in order to navigate through the seas of India and of the African coast, with risk from the nations of Europa who are established in both regions. 6. If the prosperity of the said company will be as great as the circumstances here set forth promise, we ought to expect that, in order to facilitate its commerce and save transportation, some part of its gains will be employed in the improvement of the Panama route--in making the Chagre River more navigable, and perhaps in seeking the easiest mode of joining the two seas, or in finding other means for conveying the goods by water from one port to the other. [169]