Portobelo

“ But near at hand, a scant twenty-five miles down the coast and easily accessible by motor-boat, is the ancient stronghold of Porto Bello, the grim old citadel that defied Drake, the treasure-house that fell to Morgan and his men, [300] the Atlantic terminus of the celebrated Gold Road.
Within the vaults of Porto Bello have been stored countless millions of treasure. To this port, winding their way through the jungles, along the roughly paved road from Panama, came the long mule-trains, laden with the riches of the despoiled Incas; with the output of the marvelous mines of Darien and Veraguas ”

“ Porto, Ropo, Listeno, and Blowo wanted to give up the attempt, and pass on farther; but the knight would not hear of abandoning the adventure.
“If your worship is so determined,” said Porto, “I’ll open a way for you.”
So he broke off a huge piece of rock as big as two men, and, standing a hundred yards off, he flung it against the wall, with a noise that could be heard a hundred miles off. The wall trembled and clattered; but it was held together by a stronger than human power, and all Porto’s great strength could produce no effect on it. ”

“ The king of Naples, and Antonio the false brother, repented the injustice they had done to Prospero; and Ariel told his master he was certain their penitence was sincere, and that he, though a spirit, could not but pity them.
"Then bring them hither, Ariel," said Prospero: "if you, who are but a spirit, feel for their distress, shall not I, who am a human being like themselves, have compassion on them? Bring them, quickly, my dainty Ariel." ”

“ II. Surely no city in the world queens it over the waves so completely as does Portoferraio. She rides them imperiously, lifting high the turrets that are her crown and defence; she decks herself in the brightest colours, conscious of her beauty; and sets herself boldly on the very head and front of the dark blue waters that wash her feet or leap up in wrath at her pride, yet never injure her. Genoa is called the Superb, but the epithet rises more spontaneously to the mind on view of the capital of the Island of Elba. ”

“ As soon as the fleet was gone the city emptied as rapidly as it had filled. The merchants and merry-makers vanished back to Panama, and the thirty odd wretched souls who stayed, began their dreary vigil until the next year, when the galleons returned. In 1584, on the report of Antonio Baptista, surveyor to the King of Spain, the trade was removed to Porto Bello, a beautiful bay, discovered and named by Columbus, lying some twenty miles farther to the west. It is a good harbour for all winds, and offers every convenience for the careening of vessels. ”

“ Porto Cabello; fort San Carlos, (at the mouth of the lake of Maracaybo) ; and Carthagena. Porto Cabello is, next to Carthagena, the most important fortified place. The town of Porto Cabello is quite modern, and the port is one of the finest in the world. Art has had scarcely anything to add to the advantages which the nature of the spot presents. A neck of land stretches first towards the north, and then towards the west. Its western extremity is opposite to a range of islands connected by bridges, and so close together that they might be taken for another neck of land. ”

“ The ships which were wont to anchor in Nombre de Dios, and there to take in the Kings treasure, which is yeerly brought from Peru to Panama, and from thence to the North Sea, now harbour themselves in Portabel; which signifyeth Porto bello, a faire and goodly Haven, for so indeed it is, and well fortified at the entrance with three Castles, which can reach and command one another. The third and chiefe place belonging to the Spaniards in Castella del oro is Panama, which is on the Westside and upon the South Sea. This City and Nombre de Dios were both built by Didacus de Niquesa. ”

“ A day or two after Christmas 1679 they got their anchors and set sail. They shaped their course for Porto Bello, which had recovered something of its old wealth and beauty, in the years of peace it had enjoyed since Morgan sacked it. They landed 200 men to the eastward of the town, "at such a distance" that the march "occupied them three nights." During the day they lay in ambush in the woods. As they "came to the town" a negro saw them, and ran to set the bells ringing, to call out the troops. The buccaneers followed him so closely that the town was theirs before the troops could muster. ”

“ On every side are fields of maize, and orchards of fruit, and groves of palm; for the people dwell in houses and cultivate the ground. There he remains seven days, waiting the cessation of a storm; and he calls the place Puerto Bello, also written Portobello, which name it has ever since retained. Venturing forth on the 9th, he makes eastward eight leagues, but is driven back, and takes refuge behind some islands in a small harbor, which he calls Puerto de Bastimentos, [IV-16] from the abundance of provisions brought them there. ”

“ And Portofino’s tiny town lies around the head of Portofino’s harbour; this also you can see from off the battlements of Villa C——, can even hear the sound of children’s voices from off the stone-paved piazza—fisher-children, who play around the beach and the little pier—or the [119] harsher tones of women calling and men in argument. Where the land heaves inward and the slopes climb up into hills, chestnut trees grow in place of olives and aloes, and the turf is more mossy beneath them, for streams flow there, on whose brink ferns and the maiden-hair flourish. ”

“ Returning to Portobello, and again resting our horses and refreshing ourselves, we return by the road up the harbour side to Dunedin. Here the sinuosities of land and sea, while protracting the journey, add immensely to the interest, as features of the landscape are revealed from unexpected points, which otherwise would be withheld. The artistic eye can best appreciate these unfoldings of beauty which a slight bend or turn displays, as we move along in contemplative silence. Each object has its own peculiar attraction. ”

“ Having no cigars to bestow, I gave them in lieu thereof a small piece of silver. Two of the worst looking were very eager to be permitted to escort us to Nogales, the village where we proposed to spend the night. “By no means permit them, mon maître,” said Antonio. “They are two famous assassins of my acquaintance; I have known them at Madrid. In the first ravine they will shoot and plunder us.” I therefore civilly declined their offer and departed. “You seem to be acquainted with all the cut-throats in Galicia,” said I to Antonio, as we descended the hill. ”

“ Naturally, with such incredible fortunes stored in Porto Bello, the Spaniards used every effort and spared no expense to make the place so impregnable that there was no chance of its falling to the buccaneers, and in all New Spain, aside from Havana, there was no spot more strongly fortified and garrisoned than Porto Bello. ”

“ But I never saw an English notary walk so fast: it could scarcely be called walking: it seemed more like a succession of galvanic leaps and bounds. I found it impossible to keep up with him: “Where are you conducting me?” I at last demanded, quite breathless.
“To the house of the cleverest man in Spain,” he replied, “to whom I intend to introduce you; for you must not think that Pontevedra has nothing to boast of but its splendid edifices and its beautiful country; it produces more illustrious minds than any other town in Spain. ”

“ Prospero nobly forgave all injuries, and giving the dainty Ariel his liberty from that time forth, he embarked upon the King’s ship, which lay peacefully in the harbor, and they all set sail for Naples, where Ferdinand and Miranda were speedily united in marriage. Prospero was again placed on the throne of Milan, and the enchanted island has never since known human inhabitant, but remains lonely and beautiful in the midst of the sea. ”

“ Without making any stay here, the admiral proceeded on till he put into Porto Bello, to which he gave that name because it is large, well peopled, and encompassed by a finely cultivated country. He entered this place on the 2d of November, passing between two small islands within which ships may lie close to the shore, and can turn it out if they have occasion. The country about that harbour and higher up is by no means rough, but cultivated and full of houses a stone throw or a bow-shot only from each other, and forms the finest landscape that can be imagined. ”

“ On the 14th of July, Portolá began his march to Monterey, distant one hundred and fifty-nine leagues. His force consisted of Sergeant Ortega, with twenty-seven soldados de cuera under Rivera, Fages with six Catalan volunteers—all that could travel, Ensign Costansó, the priests, Crespi and Gomez, seven muleteers, fifteen Christian Indians from the missions of Lower California, and two servants—sixty-four in all. Both Fages and Costansó were sick with scurvy, but joined the command notwithstanding. The personnel of this expedition contains some of the best known names in California. ”

“ Our road, though passable, extended over a deserted region, planted thinly with chestnut and olive trees, with pines at intervals. Portalegre is large, populous and well built: although not regularly fortified, it is capable, from the strong ground in its neighbourhood, with the aid of some works on the adjacent heights, of making much resistance, and might be rendered formidable to an enemy by some degree of skill combined with labour, and by exertions that the Portuguese will never make. ”

“ On the 3d of June, 1770, under a shelter of branches near the oak where, in 1602, Vizcaino's Cármelite friars had celebrated mass, Don Gaspar de Portolá, with his officers, soldiers, and people of the land expedition, Fray Junípero Serra and Fray Juan Crespi, Don Juan Perez, captain of the San Antonio, Don Miguel del Pino, his second in command, together with the crew, assembled to establish a presidio and mission. ”

“ In the annals of adventure, there are no more thrilling narratives of heroic perseverance in the performance of duty than the record of Spanish exploration in America. To those of us who have come into possession of the fair land opened up by them, the story of their travels and adventures have the most profound interest. The account of the expedition of Portolá has never been properly presented. Many writers have touched on it, and H. H. Bancroft, in his History of California, gives a brief digest of Crespi's diary. ”

“ A crowd of importunate beggars followed me to the posada, and even attempted to penetrate to the apartment to which I was conducted. “Who are you?” said I to a woman who flung herself at my feet, and who bore in her countenance evident marks of former gentility. “A widow, sir,” she replied, in very good French; “a widow of a brave officer, once admiral of this port.” The misery and degradation of modern Spain are nowhere so strikingly manifested as at Ferrol. ”

“ Nervi itself, that surprising place where beauty is all gathered into a nosegay of sea and seashore, will not keep you long, for the sun is high, and the road is calling, and the heat to come; moreover, the beautiful headland of Portofino seems to shut out all Italy from your sight. Once there, you tell yourself, what may not be seen, the Carrara hills, Spezia perhaps, even Pisa maybe, miles and miles away, where Arno winds through the marshes behind the Pineta to the sea. ”

“ While the galleons were approaching Porto Bello the South Sea fleet arrived before Panama, and the merchants of Chili and Peru began to transfer their merchandise on mules across the high back of the isthmus.18
Then began the famous fair of Porto Bello.19 The {18} town, whose permanent population was very small and composed mostly of negroes and mulattos, was suddenly called upon to accommodate an enormous crowd of merchants, soldiers and seamen. Food and shelter were to be had only at extraordinary prices. ”

“ Among the counties of Gallicia was one called the 'comitatus Portucalensis,' because it contained within its boundaries the famous city at the mouth of the Douro, known in Roman and Greek times as the Portus Cale, and in modern days as Oporto, or 'The Port.' This county of Oporto or Portugal was the one destined to give its name to the future kingdom, and was held at the time of Ferdinand's death by Nuno Mendes, the founder of one of the most famous families in Portuguese history. ”

“ Even granting these facts, the question remains whether he, as the commander of the party making the expedition which resulted in the discovery, [192] is not still entitled to the fame which has generally been granted to him.
A parallel might be drawn between the case of Portolá and that of Columbus. When the famous expedition of 1492 drew near to the shores of the new world, it was not the great admiral, but a common sailor, Rodrigo de Triana by name, who first raised the thrilling cry of “land! land!” ”

“ There is something infinitely touching in this story about a man who was usually so calm and restrained that he might be in a passion of anger and only show it—to those who knew him—by his smile, and whose whole life was marked by exceptional strength of will. But his old vigour returned, and very soon he was challenging the Master of Santiago, begging him not to tire himself in advancing through so hot a country, as he, “Nun’ Alvarez Pereira, Count of Barcellos and of Ourem and of Arrayolos and Constable of my Lord the King of Portugal,” would save him the trouble. ”