three or four port towns in America as we suppose; neither are the
riches of Peru or Nueva Espana so left by the sea side as it can be
easily washed away with a great flood, or spring tide, or left dry upon
the sands on a low ebb. The port towns are few and poor in respect of
the rest within the land, and are of little defence, and are only rich
when the fleets are to receive the treasure for Spain; and we might
think the Spaniards very simple, having so many horses and slaves, if
they could not upon two days' warning carry all the gold they have into
the land, and far enough from the reach of our footmen, especially the
Indies being, as they are for the most part, so mountainous, full
of woods, rivers, and marishes. In the port towns of the province of
Venezuela, as Cumana, Coro, and St. Iago (whereof Coro and St. Iago were
taken by Captain Preston, and Cumana and St. Josepho by us) we found
not the value of one real of plate in either. But the cities of
Barquasimeta, Valencia, St. Sebastian, Cororo, St. Lucia, Laguna,
Maracaiba, and Truxillo, are not so easily invaded. Neither doth the
burning of those on the coast impoverish the king of Spain any one
ducat; and if we sack the River of Hacha, St. Martha, and Carthagena,
which are the ports of Nuevo Reyno and Popayan, there are besides within
the land, which are indeed rich and prosperous, the towns and cities of
Merida, Lagrita, St. Christophoro, the great cities of Pamplona, Santa
Fe de Bogota, Tunxa, and Mozo, where the emeralds are found, the
towns and cities of Marequita, Velez, la Villa de Leiva, Palma, Honda,
Angostura, the great city of Timana, Tocaima, St. Aguila, Pasto, [St.]
Iago, the great city of Popayan itself, Los Remedios, and the rest. If
we take the ports and villages within the bay of Uraba in the kingdom
or rivers of Darien and Caribana, the cities and towns of St. Juan de
Rodas, of Cassaris, of Antiochia, Caramanta, Cali, and Anserma have gold
enough to pay the king's part, and are not easily invaded by way of
the ocean. Or if Nombre de Dios and Panama be taken, in the province of