O' F . P A 'N A M A, 



of Mercy, whofe convent is' contiguous to it j the other dedicated to St. 

 JuaJi de D'ws, and was intended for an hofpital. The church belonging to 

 the Fathers of Mercy is of ftone, but very mean, and in a ruinous condition j 

 and the convent fo greatly decayed, that the religious are obliged to live in 

 the tavvn, difperfed in private hou'es. That of »S/. Juan de Dios, is a fmall 

 building refembling an oratory, and like the other, is in a very ruinous con- 

 dition. Its whole community confifts of a prior, chaplain, and another reli- 

 o-ious, fo that properly fpeaking it has no community at all; and the apartment 

 intended for the reception of patients, confifts of one chamber open to the rooi. 

 without beds or other neceffaries ; nor are any admitted but fuch as are abl^ 

 to pay for their treatment and diet : it is therefore of no other ufe ti:an to 

 lodge the fick men belonging to the fhips of war which come hither, and 

 who are provided with neceffaries from the (hips, and attended by their re- 

 fpeftive furgeons, lodging being the only thing afforded them in this nomi- 

 nal hofpital. At the eaft end of the town in the road to Panama, is a quar- 

 ter called Guinea, being the place where all the negroes of both fexes, whe- 

 ther flaves or free, have their habitations. This quarter is greatly erouded 

 when the galleons are at Porto Velo, moft of the inhabitants of the town re- 

 tiring hither for the fake of letting their houfes. At the fame time great 

 numbers of mechanics, who then flock hither irom Panama, lodge in this quar- 

 ter for cheapnefs. Porto Velo, which is but very thinly inhabited, becomes 

 at the time when the galleons are there, one of the mofi: populous places in 

 the world. Its fituation on the ifthmus between the fouth and north fea, 

 the goodnefs of its harbour, and its fmall diftance from Panama, have given 

 it the preference to all other places for the fale of the joint commerce of 

 Spain and Peru at its fair. As foon as advice arrives at Carthage?ia that the 

 fleet from Peru have unloaded their merchandize at Panama, the galleons 

 make the bed of their way to Porto Velo, in order to avoid the many dif- 

 tempers which affedt the feamen, and derive their fource from idlenefs. The 

 concourfe of people on this occaflon is fuch, that the rent of lodgings is 

 raifed to an exceflive height, the price of a common chamber with a fmall 

 clofet during the fair, being often looo crowns ; and that of fome large 

 houfes 4, 5, or 6000. The fhips are no fooner moored in the harbour, than 



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