SPANISH LETTERS INTERCEPTED ad. 



1590- 

 My meaning is to carie my commodities thither : for it 



is constantly reported, that for every hundred ducats a The great 



man shall get 600. ducats cleerely. Wee must stay here P^°fij^ °f^^^ 



in Panama from August till it be Christmasse. For r,j,'i:^^-„, 



o rntlippinas. 



m August, September, October and November it is 



winter here, and extreme foule weather upon this coast 



of Peru, and not navigable to goe to the Philippinas, 



nor to any place else in the South sea. So that at 



Christmasse the ships begin to set on their voyage for 



those places : and then in these parts the summer 



beginneth with very faire weather, and alwayes we 



shall have the windes with us. For in July until 



October here is terrible thundering and lightening 



with extreme raines, so that it is not possible to go 



any way in this countrey. Here are in Panama 10. 



great ships of 500, 400, 300, & 200. tuns apiece, & 



some 15. barkes which use commonly to saile in the 



South sea to Lima, to the Valles, to Arica, and to the 



Philippinas. This countrey in the summer is so extreme 



hotte, that it is not possible to travel in the day time : [III. 565.] 



it standeth in 8. deg. & \. and all this coast is in 9. 



and ic. deg. Here is great store of adders, snakes 



and toades, which are in the houses, but they doe but 



small hurt. Here bread, wine, and bacon are very 



deere, by reason the countrey doth not yeeld it : for 



it is brought from Peru. A li. of bread is worth here 



2. rials of plate: a quart of wine is solde for 4. rials: 

 for none groweth here. Here are very few sheep, and 

 those extreme deere. The only food here for flesh, 



are oxen, kine, buls & heffkers : you may buy 20. li. Twenty li, of 

 of beefe for one rial of plate. Their smallest money ^^^fi ^^y ^^^ 

 of silver is a rial of plate, & very few of them, but all ^ZfeZ^'peru 

 pieces of 4. & 8. For the silver mines which dayly 

 be found in Peru be wonderfull to bee spoken of. 

 If a man did not see the silver made, hee would 

 never beleeve it : for the very earth which commeth 

 out of the mines, & is afterward washed, being but 



3. or 4. yeres on a mount, yeeldeth great store of 

 X 177 M 



