368 ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 



the branches. At the foot of this tree he continues till all the fruits are confumed, 

 never ftlrring till hunger forces him to feek again for food. 



Serpents are here as numerous and deadly as at Carthagena ; and toads * innumer- 

 able, fwarming not only in the damp and marlhy places, as in other countries, but even 

 in the ftreets, courts of great houfes, and all open places in general. The great num- 

 bers of them, and their appearance after the leaft fliower, have induced fome to ima- 

 gine, that every drop of water becomes a toad ; and though they allege, as a proof, the 

 extraordinary increafe of them on the fmalleft fhower, their opinion does not feem to 

 me to be well founded. It is evident, that thefe reptiles abound both in the forefts and 

 neighbouring rivers, and even in the town itfelf ; and produce a prodigious quantity of 

 animalcula, from whence, according to the beft naturalifts, thefe reptiles are formed. 

 Thefe animacula either rife in the vapours, which form the rain, and falling together 

 with it on the ground, which is extremely heated by the rays of the fun, or being already 

 depofited in it by the toads, grow, and become animated, in no lefs numbers than were 

 formerly feen in Europe. But fome of them which appear after rains being fo large as 

 to meafure fix inches in length, they cannot be imagined the effect of an inftantaneous 

 production ; I am therefore inclined to think, from my own obfervations. that this 

 part of the country being remarkably moifl, . is very well adapted to nouriih the breed 

 of thofe creatures, which love watery places ; and therefore avoid thofe parts of the 

 ground expofed to the rays of the fun, feeking others where the earth is foft, and there 

 form themfelves cavities in the ground, to enjoy the moifture ; and as the furface over 

 them is generally dry, the toads are not perceived ; but no fooner does it begin to 

 rain, than they leave their retreats to come at the water, which is their fupreme de- 

 light ; and thus fill the ftreets and open places. Hence the vulgar opinion had its 

 rfie, that the drops of rain were transformed into toads. When it has rained in the 

 night, the ftreets and fquares in the morning feem paved with thefe reptiles ; fo that 

 you cannot ftep without treading on them, which fometimes is produdive of trouble- 

 fome bites : for, befides their poifon, they are large enough for their teeth to be fe- 

 verely felt. Some we have already obferved to be fix inches long, and this is their 

 general meafure ; and there are fuch- numbers of them, that nothing can be imagined 

 more difmal than their croakings, during the night, in all parts of the town, woods, 

 and caverns of the mountains. 



CHAP. Vh — Of ths Trade of Porto Bello, 



THE town of Potto Bello, fo thinly inhabited, by reafon of its noxious air, the 

 fcarcity of provifions, and the barrennefs of its foil, becomes, at the time of the gal- 

 leons, one of the moft populous places in all South America. Its fituation on the ifth- 

 mus, betwixt the South and North Sea, the goodnefs of its harbour, and its fmall dif- 

 tance from Panama, have given it the preference for the rendezvous of the joint com- 

 merce of Spain and Peru, at its fair. 



On advice being received at Carthagena, that the Peru fleet had unloaded at Panama, 

 the galleons make the beft of their way to Porto Bello, in order to avoid the diftempers 

 which have their fource from idlenefs. The concourfe of people on this occafion is fuch 

 as to raife the rent of lodging to an exceflive degree j a middling chamber, with a clofet, 



* Called by the natives ferpos : they appear every dewy evening in Ss great numbers as after a fhower. 

 I never heard of the opinion the author fpeaks of. A. 



12 lets. 



