THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 25 



masses of gold that had accumulated in the hands of 

 the merchants ; that the whole Spanish army stood 

 before them, and that now was the time for them to 

 acheive a splendid victory, or be totally annihilated. 

 The Spanish force was a splendid looking body 

 of men, dressed in silks" and satins, and riding mag- 

 nificent horses, but when the rough, ferocious-looking 

 buccaneers had grappled with them their " hour had 

 come." Of the Spanish cavalry but fifty men escaped. 

 The infantry, seeing the maimer in which the cavalry 

 were treated, after a few vollies, did not wait for the 

 charge, but began to run in all directions, pursued 

 with tiger-like ferocity by the the buccaneers, who 

 killed hundreds of them while flying. An officer 

 taken prisoner, told Morgan that the city was de- 

 serted, most of the women, children, and treasure 

 sent to Taboga, and that the Governor had left to 

 defend the place, 3,000 infantry, 400 cavalry, and 

 600 Indians. This army was defeated and atit to 

 pieces by Morgan, with a loss of two men killed and 

 two wounded. The old city of Panama fell into his 

 hands after a battle of two hours, against a force 

 quadruple to his own. To prevent his men from 

 getting drunk, lest they might be surprised and 

 taken, he told them that the wine and other liquors 

 had been poisoned by the priests. He sent, under 

 the command of an English captain, in a small ves- 

 sel, (which they took in the act of cutting her cable), 

 a party of twenty-five men to the Island of Taboga, 

 to fire all the houses on the island, and to bring back 

 the vessels that had left. Next day the party re- 



