Ch. IX. SOUTH AMERICA. 83 



Th s commercial tumult lañs while the galleons 

 continue in the bay : for they are no foonergone, than 

 iilence and tranquillity refume their former place. 

 This the inhabitants of Carthagena call tiempo mu- 

 erto, the dead time ; for, with regard to the trade car- 

 ried on with the other governments, it is not worth 

 notice. The greater pact of it coníiíls in fome bi- 

 landers from La Trinidad, the Havannah, and St. Do- 

 mingo, biuigmg leaf- tobacco, fnufF, and fugars ; and 

 returning with Magdalena cacao, earthen-ware, rice, 

 and other goods wanted in thofe iflands. And even of 

 thefe fmall veifels, fcarcely one is feen for two or three 

 months. The fame may be f¿.id of thofe which go 

 from Cartha^rcna to Nicaragua, Vera-Cruz, Hondu- 

 ras, and other parts ; but the moil frequent trips are 

 made to Porto Bello, Chagra, or Santa Martha. The 

 reafon why this commerce is not carried on more 

 brifkly is, that moft of thefe places are naturally pro- 

 vided with the fame kind of proviiions; and confe- 

 quently are under no neceffity of trafficking with 

 each other. 



Another branch of the commerce of Carthagena, 

 during the tiempo muerto, is carried on with the towns 

 and villages of its jurifdiélion, from whence are 

 brought all kinds of neceffaries and even the luxuries 

 of life, as maize, rice, cotton, live hogs, tobacco, 

 plantanes, birds, cafava, fugar, honey, and cacao, moil 

 of which is brought in canoes and champañas, a fort 

 of boats proper for rivers. The former are a kind of 

 coaiters, and the latter come from the rivers Magda- 

 lena, Sinu, and others. Their returns conñíl of goods 

 for apparel, with which the ihops and warehoufes 

 furnifh themfelves from the galleons, or I'rom prizes 

 taken on the coaft by the king's frigates, or privateers. 



No eatable pay^any duty to the king; and every 

 perfon may, in his own houfe, kill any number of pigs» 

 he thinks he Ihall fell that day; no falted pork is 

 eaten, becaufe it is foon corrupted by the exceffive 



G 2 heat 



