Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle

“ Commerce, all-powerful commerce, nevertheless, draws man to this abode, and in the middle of swamps, reptiles, venomous insects, tornadoes and earthquakes, he finds enjoyment in its pursuit, and shortens his life to amass a few grains of dust to enrich those, who after he is gone, laugh at him for his pains. The Buccaneers and different powers having taken and sacked this city several times, the Spanish government built small forts along the line of coast near it. ”

“ The Spaniards, ever fond of romance, greedily swallowed the miraculous tale, and undertook voyages to discover this invaluable fountain. Many Indians had embarked from time to time, but as they never returned, they were supposed to be so charmed with the country, and the all-healing water, that they preferred living there, allured by all the bounties of Nature, and the supreme bliss of perpetual youth. ”

“ The cathedral is a handsome edifice of stone, as are the churches, convents, monasteries, and an excellent hospital.
The streets are broad and paved, both in the city and its suburbs, but the houses of the suburbs are mostly of wood, intermixed with thatched huts. Such is the spirit of trade of this place, that every person is engaged in bartering. The people of Panama, have a disagreeable drawling method of speaking, and appear as if they were overcome by the great heat of the climate; they nevertheless are really healthy, and live in general to a good age. ”

“ The soil of this province is very luxuriant, especially near the capital where it produces every thing in the greatest plenty. The trees attain an immense bulk, and form by their shades, pleasing retreats from the scorching rays of the sun. ”

“ The climate of this city is very unhealthy, as the heat is excessive, owing to the stagnation of the air by the wall of mountains enveloping the harbour. The humid exhalations from the forests cause frequent rains, which, though of short duration, pour down with astonishing violence. The nights are as suffocating as the days, accompanied [237] with torrents of rain, bursts of thunder, and flashes of lightning, which fill the mind of an European on his first arrival with dread and horror. ”

“ The constant temperature of the air is such, that the summits of those mountains which enter the region of perpetual snow have the line of congelation distinctly marked, and the road to Quito from Guayaquil leads along the northern declivity of Chimborazo, amid scenes of the most majestic nature, and near the regions of eternal frost. ”

“ America certainly offers very singular facts towards the support of this mystical doctrine, in which, though we have no faith, yet there is considerable pleasure in tracing the analogy of events in the Continent, partially described in the ensuing pages; for not only has the circumstance of Spanish power extending solely towards the western shores of the New World, a strong shade of likelihood to bear out the colouring which has been thrown on the assertion by those who strenuously advocate it, yet there is probably a much stronger, and more recent event to give a deeper tone to the picture. ”

“ Volcanoes and crevices are not the only surprising circumstances which attract the notice of the adventurous traveller; cataracts of magnificent forms are every where observed, that of Tequendama, near the city of Santa Fé, dashing a volume of water from the plains of Bogota, through an opening in the Cordillera, to the depth of six hundred feet, into a dark and unfathomable gulf. ”

“ Climate.—The climate of New Granada presents [219] great variety; the elevated Cordillera of the Andes, and the eternal snows which cap its summits, render this country, though it lies partly under the equator, subject to all the cold of the polar regions; whilst on its low savannahs, the tropical heats are felt with all their ardour. The elevated plains between the ridges of the Andes, enjoy a temperate and unvariable climate, and it is in these delightful spots, that the European colonists have chiefly fixed their abodes. ”

“ In another place, a large island, which rises gradually on all sides from the sea to a great height, in the form of a parabolic conoid, has its body severed from the apex to the base, as regularly as if it had been the work of art; such is the islet Eglesha, on the west coast of Shetland. A third form is that of an immense islet rising perpendicularly on every side from the subjacent ocean to a great elevation, having its whole body perforated with an arch, of such dimensions that a large vessel could sail under it without lowering her topgallant sails. ”

“ The interior of the vast government of La Plata and the Savannah of the Amazons is nearly involved in as much obscurity as the central parts of Africa; inhabited by a tribe of fierce and untameable Indians, the European traveller cannot hope to make his way; and we must in all probability remain unacquainted with those countries, till the increasing stride of colonial population from the governments of Brazil on the one hand, and from those of Peru and La Plata on the other, clears the forest of its ancient tenants. ”

“ Leaving Guatimala, the Andes ascend through the viceroyalty of New Spain, near the capital of which, their summits are scarcely inferior to Chimborazo, and continuing their immense course, they pass the confines of New Spain by the province of New Mexico; entering a wild and unfrequented country, where the elevation of their peaks is still very great; and they are supposed finally to lose themselves in the icy ocean of the Arctic regions. ”

“ Peacocks, bustards, geese, ducks, cranes, vultures, and sea-fowls, are plenty on the coasts; horses, asses, sheep, and goats, have been introduced and thrive very well. In New California the climate is nearly the same as in New Mexico, the western side being superior to the other parts, on account of the neighbourhood of the Pacific; the soil of this province is very prolific. The harvests of maize, barley, wheat, pease, and beans, are comparable to those of Mexico and Chili, corn produces in a seventy-fold proportion, and the soil is favourable for nearly all sorts of fruit trees. ”

“ The peninsula, or Old California, is, as we before observed, more barren than the northern province; it is mostly a rocky soil, and seems as if some concussion of nature had disjoined it from Sonora; the climate is hot in the summer, but it is moderated by the sea breezes. Few trees of any consequence are found except on the south; there are some [81] small volcanoes in it, with a ridge of mountains; vines and the Indian fig grow wild; the coast of the gulf is low and marshy, and the pearl fishery is very valuable; the gulf produces all sorts of shell-fish, turtles, oysters, lobsters, &c. ”

“ Wheat was first introduced by the Spaniards, and promises to become, with the other European grains, when the great roads are completed, one of the most abundant articles of the commerce of New Spain, as it already enters into competition, at the Havannah, with the flour of the United States; but the means of transport are at present so bad in the interior, that no great quantity is cultivated for exportation. The potato which was introduced by the Europeans thrives very well; for although it originally came from America, it was known only in the southern part at the time of the conquest. ”

“ The whole of Puebla is under the torrid zone; the western part is a mere desert, and the east, from the above named volcano to the borders of Vera Cruz, where there are beautiful plains filled with fields of maize, corn, sugar, cotton, fruit, &c., is the most populous, containing 813,300 souls. It is on this ridge or plain, that the most ancient monuments of the former state of the Mexicans exist, of which the greatest and most astonishing, is the pyramid or temple of Cholula, 177 feet high, with a base of 1420 feet in breadth. ”

“ The houses are mostly of stone, very lofty and tasteful, the streets broad and quite straight, crossing each other at right angles, which is a favourite method of building the towns of the Spanish dominions in the New World. The streets are generally very clean, and there is a fine square in the middle of the city, superior to the great square of Mexico, adorned with porticoes or piazzas on three of its sides, and on the fourth, by the great cathedral built of stone, with two lofty towers, and an elegant front of modern architecture. ”

“ The western barrier of Spanish territory in North America, is the Pacific Ocean; on the south east, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Honduras, and the Caribbean Sea, are the boundaries established by nature; and on the south, a chain of mountains called the Sierro de Canatagua, which run across the extremities of the two provinces of Veragua and Panama, in about 80° 50ʹ west longitude. This chain divides the northern from the southern continent of America, and the country is here known by the geographical name of the Isthmus of Darien. ”

“ It will be needless to detail the further operations of Atahualpa, now become the sole emperor of Peru, as his subsequent history is so intimately connected with that of the Spanish conquests, that it must be reserved for the history of those memorable occurrences.
Atahualpa, being slain by the orders of Pizarro, the kingdom of Quito was forcibly taken possession of by Ruminagui, one of the chiefs who had served under the unfortunate prince in his expeditions against Huascar; he put to death all the surviving children and relatives of the Inca, and caused his brother to be flayed alive. ”

“ In Honduras, the rainy season is always accompanied by great flights of swallows, who remain at night at rest on the great savannahs or plains, and at sun-rise rush in a body up into the air, in quest of the flies, their nutriment; at dusk they return, and a traveller has described the noise which this immense body of birds make in their flight, as comparable to that of a waterfall. In the bay, cormorants and pelicans are very numerous, as well as many other sorts of sea-fowl, attracted by the abundance of fish. ”

“ Flowers are a part of the household goods of the Mexican Indians; their shops for the display of fruit, &c. in Mexico, being completely lined with the most beautiful productions [51] of the flower garden, in which they take great delight.
The Indian tribes who inhabit the northern part of New Spain, are mostly free from the domination of the Spaniards; they are a warlike people, and are a more noble race than their subjugated brethren, carrying on a constant warfare against the settlers, and only trading with them, when in absolute want of some articles of finery, or nourishment. ”

“ Pelicans frequent the sea at a small distance from land, and are a good sign for seamen, never going more than six leagues from shore; pelicans are very common on the coast of California; where they are called Alcatras by the Spaniards. Late travellers who have visited Port Monterey, say, that a better harbour could not be found for ships coming from the west, and that the soil in its neighbourhood is good, though dry; all sorts of grain succeed very well, and the cattle are very fine. The Manilla ships find this a good harbour to recruit in, when driven to the north by contrary winds. ”

“ The capital, though on a lake, is however free from these pests, probably owing to the circumambient atmosphere being charged with smoke; the smoke or vapour of wood fires being destructive to these insects. Thus many towns in North America are free from mosquitoes, whilst, if you step across their boundaries, these insects immediately assail you, and it is remarkable, that they are more troublesome to strangers than to the natives. Butterflies of every beautiful and elegant variety are natives of the Mexican forests and fields, and form rich articles in the collections of the virtuosi. ”

“ The fertility of Cuba is celebrated; spices, among which are pepper and ginger; cassia, manioc, cacao, maize, aloes, mastic, sugar, tobacco, the flavour of which is superior to that of any other part of the world, known in commerce by the name of Havannah, and sold to an enormous amount in cigars, with many other articles the produce of tropical climates, constitute the riches of this fine island. Coffee, though cultivated, is so little attended to in the plantations, that not so much is grown for exportation as might easily be raised. ”