[Footnote 172:  From the circumstances in the text Lavelia seems to be the town now named San Francisco, near the head of the river Salado, which runs into the gulf Parita, on the west side of the bay of Panama.—­E.]

Having well careened our ships by the 14th February, and provided a stock of wood and water, we sailed on the 18th, and came to anchor in the great channel between the isles and the continent, in fifteen fathoms, on soft ooze, and cruised next day towards Panama, about which the shore seemed very beautiful, interspersed with a variety of hills and many small thickets.  About a league from the continent there are several small isles, partly ornamented with scattered trees, and the King’s Isles on the opposite side of the channel give a delightful prospect, from their various shapes and situations.  The 18th we went towards Panama, and anchored directly opposite Old Panama, once a place of note, but mostly laid in ashes by Sir Henry Morgan, and not since rebuilt.  New Panama is about four leagues from the old town, near the side of a river, being a very handsome city, on a spacious bay of the same name, into which many long navigable rivers discharge their waters, some of which have gold in their sands.  The country about Panama affords a delightful prospect from the sea, having a great diversity of hills, vallies, groves, and plains.  The houses are mostly of brick, and pretty lofty, some being handsomely built, especially that inhabited by the president; the churches, monasteries, and other public edifices, making the finest appearance of any place I have seen in the Spanish West Indies.  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,