INTRODUCTION. 



ofcomputation. The merchants fometimes gain two or three hundred 

 per cent, by thefc regifter fliips, which enables them to pay fo 

 bountifully for cheating the king, after having firft robbed his 

 fubje6i:s in order to do it. 



The regifter fhips go to Buenos Ayres^ Puerto Cavello, Santa 

 Martha, and places where the galleons and flota never come ; 

 but generally arrive with the latter, and fometimes fet out with 

 them, and part company in a certain latitude. People of 

 quality in Spain frequently ufe their intereft in procuring the 

 abovementioned licences, and are fuppofed to be impelled to it 

 by fomething befides mere good nature. But it is not to the 

 Spaniard alone that the management of fuch illegal pradices hath 

 been confined ; other European nations have pufhed their im- 

 provement in thefe myfteries even beyond them ; and by extra- 

 ordinary donations to Spanipo governors, comptrollers, infpedlors, 

 &'c. made them ample amends for their integrity to their king, 

 and kindnefs to ftrangers. The accumulation of great wealth, 

 the natural confequence of this fort of commerce, has tempted the 

 EngliJIj, French and Dutch in the W eft Indies ^ people of no delicate 

 ftomachs in point of manners, to endeavour at dealing in the fame 

 way, without the previous ceremony of a licence; and, partly 

 by the connivance of Spajiijh governors, and partly by 

 ufin<y force, have fucceeded to their wifli : but the court of 

 Spain, provoked by the flagrancy of this evil, refolved to put 

 a ftop to it, and fent over new governors, with very determi- 

 nate 



