22$ ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



In thefe operations we employed ourfelves till the middle of November 1735, impa- 

 tient at the delay of the French academicians. At length, on the 15th, a French 

 armed veffel came to an anchor, during the night, under Boca Chica ; and to our great 

 fatisfaftion we learned, that the long-expe6led gentlemen were on board. On the i6th 

 we vifited them, and were received with all imaginable politenefs by M.de Ricour, 

 captain of a man of war, and king's lieutenant of Guarico, in the ifland of St. Do- 

 mingo ; and Meffrs. Godin, Bouguer, and De la Condamine, academicians, who were 

 accompanied by Meffrs. Juffieu, botanift ; Seniergues, furgeon ; Verguin, Couplet, and 

 Deffordonais, affociates ; Morenvile, draughtfman ; and Hugot, clock-maker. 



Our intention being to go to the equator with all poffible expedition, nothing re- 

 mained but to fix on the mbft convenient and expeditious route to Quito. Having 

 agreed to go by the way of Porto Bello, Panama, and Guayaquil, we prepared to fail ; 

 in the meantime, by help of the inftruments brought by the academicians, we repeated 

 our obfervations on the latitude, weight of the air, and the variation of the needle ; 

 the refult of which will appear in the following defcription : — 



The city of Carthagena ftands in 10° 25' 48 f" north latitude; .and in the longitude 

 of 282* 28' ^6'' from the meridian of Paris; and 301° 19' 36" from the meridian of 

 Pico Teneriffe ; as appeared from our obfervations. The variation of the needle we 

 alfo, from feveral obfervations, found to be eight degrees eafterly. 



The bay, and the counti^y, before called Calamari, were discovered in 1502 by Ro- 

 derigo de Baftidas ; and in 1504, Juan de la Cofa and Chriflopher Guerra began the 

 war againft the Indian inhabitants, from whom they met with greater refiftance than 

 they expeded ; thofe Indians being a martial people, and valour fo natural to them, 

 that even the women voluntarily fhared in the fatigues and dangers of the war. Thwr 

 ufual arms were arrows, which they poifoned with the juice of certain herbs ; whence 

 the llighteft wounds were mortal. Thefe were fucceeded by Alonfo de Ojeda, who 

 fome years after landed in the country, attended by the fame Juan de la Cofa, his chief 

 pilot, and Americo Vefpucio, a celebrated geographer of thofe times ; but made no 

 greater progrefs than the others, though he had feveral encounters with the Indians. 

 Nor was Gregorio Hernandez de.Oviedo more fortunate. But, at length, the conqueft 

 of the Indians was accomplifhed by Don Pedro de Heredia, who, after gaining feveral 

 viftories over them, peopled the city in 1533, under the title of a government. 



The advantageous fituation of Carthagena, the extent and fecurity of its bay, and 

 the great fhare it attained of the commerce of that fouthern continent, foon caufed it 

 to be erefted into an epifcopal fee. The fame circumftances contributed to its prefer- 

 vation and increafe, as the moft efteemed fettlement and ftaple of the Spaniards ; but 

 at the fame time they drew on it the hoftilities of foreigners, who, thirfting after its 

 riches, or induced by the importance of the place, have feveral times invaded, taken, 

 and plundered it. 



The firfl invafion was made foon after its eftablifhment in 1 544, by certain French 

 adventurers, conducted by a Corfican pilot, who, having fpent fome time there, gave 

 them an account of its fituation, and the avenues leading to it, with every other parti- 

 cular neceffary to the fuccefsful condudt of their enterprife ; which they accordingly 

 effeQ:ed. The fecond invader was Francis Drake, termed the deflroyer of the new 

 conquefts, who, after giving it up to pillage, fet it on fire, and laid half the place in 

 alhes ; and its fatal deflrudion was only prevented by a ranfom of a hundred and twenty 

 thoufand filver ducats paid him by the neighbouring colonies. 



It was invaded a third time in 1597, by the French, commanded by M. de Poinds, 

 who came before the place with a large armament, confifting partly of Flibuftiers, little 



9 better 



