ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA. 365 



lets, during the fair, for a thoufand crowns, and fome large houfes for four, five,, or 

 fix thoufand. 



The fhips are no fooner moored in the harbour, than the firft work is to ere£t in the 

 fquare a tent made of the fhip's fails, for receiving its cargo, at which the proprietors of 

 the goods are prefent, in order to find their bales by the marks which diftinguifh them. 

 Thefe bales are drawn on fledges to their refpeftive places by the crew of every fhip, and 

 the money given them is proportionally divided. 



Whilft the feamen and European traders are thus employed, the land is covered with 

 droves of mules from Panama, each drove confiding of above an hundred, loaded with 

 chefls of gold and filver, on account of the merchants of Peru. Some unload them at 

 the exchange, others in the middle of the fquare ; yet, amidft the hurry and confwfion of 

 fuch crowds, no theft, lofs, or difturbance is ever known. He who has feen this place 

 during the tiempo muerto, or dead time, folitary, poor, and a perpetual filence reigning 

 every where ; the harbour quite empty, and every place wearing a melancholy afpe£t, 

 mufi be filled with aftonifliment at thefudden change; to fee the buftlirig multitudes, 

 every houfe crowded, the fquare and flreets encumbered with bales and chefts of gold 

 and filver of all kinds ; the harbour full of fhips and vefTels, fome bringing by the way 

 of Rio de Chape the goods of Peru, as cacao, quinquina, or Jefuits* bark. Vicuna wool 

 and bezoar flones ; others coming from Carthagena loaded with provifions ; and thus 

 a fpot at all other times detefled for its deleterious qualities, becomes the ftaple of the 

 riches of the old and new world, and the fceneof one of the mod confiderable branches 

 of commerce in the whole earth. 



The fhips being unloaded, and the merchants of Peru, together with the prefident 

 of Panama, arrived, the fair comes under deliberation. And for this purpofe the de- 

 puties of the feveral parties repair on board the commodore of the galleons, where, in 

 prefence of the commodore, and the prefident of Panama, the former as patron of the 

 Europeans, and the latter, of the Peruvians, the prices of the feveral kinds of mer- 

 chandifes are fettled ; and all preliminaries being adjufled in three or four meetings, 

 the contracts are figned, and made public, that every one may conform himfelf to 

 them in the fale of his effects. Thus all fraud is precluded. The purchafes and fales, 

 as likewife the exchanges of money, are tranfafted by brokers, both from Spain and 

 Peru. After this, every one begins to difpofe of his goods j the Spanifh brokers em- 

 barking their chefls of money, and thofe of Peru fending away the goods they have 

 purchafed, in vefTels called chatas and bongos, up the river Chagre. And thus the 

 fair of Porto Bello eads. 



Formerly this fair was limited to no particular time ; but as a long flay, in fuch a 

 fickly place, extremely affedted the health of the traders. His Catholic Majefty tranf- 

 mitted an order, that the fair fhould not laft above forty days, reckoning from that in 

 which the fhips came to an anchor in the harbour ; and that, if in this fpace of time the 

 merchants could not agree in their rates, thofe of Spain fhould be allowed to carry their 

 goods up the country to Peru ; and accordingly the commodore of the galleons has 

 orders to re-embark them, and return to Carthagena ; but otherwife, by virtue of a 

 compaft between the merchants of both kingdoms, and ratified by the king, no Spa- 

 nifh trader is to fend his goods, on his own account, beyond ?orto Bello ; and on the 

 contrary, thofe of Peru cannot fend remittances to Spain, for purchafmg goods there. 

 Whilft the Englifh were permitted to fend an annual fhip, called Navio de Permiffo, 

 fhe ufed to bring to the fair a large cargo on her own account, never failing firft to 

 touch at Jamaica, fo that her loading alone was more than half of all thofe brought 

 by the galleons j for befides that her burthen fo far exceeded five humked: Spanifh 

 VOL. XIV. -I B tons* 



