of Quito was only exercised over a valley,
formed by two spurs of the Andes, which reached some eighty leagues in
length, with an average breadth of fifteen leagues. At the beginning of
the eighteenth century a number of towns were established by Catholic
missionaries on the Atlantic coast and on the rivers emptying into the
Gulf of San Miguel; but the Indians destroyed them all, and remained so
little dominated by the white race that a treaty of peace, concluded
between Spaniards and native chiefs in 1790, contained a clause by which
the Spaniards consented to abandon all their forts in Darien.

Beyond these there were other foes to be feared, quite as grim and even
more dangerous. In 1670 the famous buccaneer, Captain Morgan, destroyed
the castle of San Lorenzo at Chagres. This, of course, was in addition
to his feat of capturing and burning the town of Panama. Ten years later
another party of buccaneers captured the city of Santa Maria, in
consequence of which the mines of Cana were closed in 1685.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century William Paterson established
a Scottish colony on the Bay of Caledonia, at Puerto Escoces, but the
venture scarcely proved a success. Ill-fate seems to have pursued most
of the attempts at settlement in New Granada while the Spanish rule
lasted. Yet the town of Santa Fe de Bogota flourished, and has continued
to flourish to this day, so that no less an authority than Mr. R.B.
Cunninghame Graham has described it as the chief literary centre south
of Panama.

The town is set at the foot of the hills, facing a vast plain, and
towards the end of the colonial period was represented as a city of
3,250 families--a population of upwards of 16,000. It was the centre of
archiepiscopal authority, with jurisdiction over the Dioceses of
Cartagena, Santa Marta, Panama, Caracas, and Quito. The route from
Bogota to Europe lay by way of Cartagena, 300 miles distant from the
capital.

Next in order of importance was Quito. The immense province was--and is
at the present day--made up for the most part of dense jungle growth,
alternating with marshy and desert stretches, with nomadic tribes
inhabiting the more open areas. The city of Quito itself, set in
perpetual spring, is considered one of the most beautiful spots in the
world, almost its only drawbacks being the tremendous violence of the
tropical storms to which it is subject, and occasional earthquake
shocks.

The poverty of the mines o