It Is Fortified By A High Stone Wall, Mounted By A Considerable
Number Of Guns, Which Were Formerly Only On The Land Side, But Have Now
Been Added To The Side Next The Sea.
The city has vast trade, being the
staple or emporium for all goods to and from Peru and Chili;
Besides
that, every three years, when the Spanish armada comes to Porto Bello,
the Plate fleet comes here with the treasure belonging to the king and
the merchants, whence it is carried on mules by land to Porto Bello, at
which time, from the vast concourse of people, everything here is
enormously dear.
The Spanish armada, which comes every three years to the West Indies,
arrives first at Carthagena, whence an express is dispatched by land to
the viceroy at Lima, and two packets are also sent by sea, one for Lima,
and the other for Mexico, which last I suppose goes by way of Vera
Cruz. That for Lima goes first by land to Panama, and thence by sea to
Lima. After remaining sixty days at Carthagena, the armada sails to
Porto Bello, where it only remains thirty days to take in the royal
treasure brought here from Panama, said to amount to twenty-four
millions of dollars, besides treasure and goods belonging to the
merchants. From Porto Bello the armada weighs always on the thirtieth
day, but the admiral will sometimes stay a week longer at the mouth of
the river, to oblige the merchants.
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