ce could catch. These men made
excellent soldiers, for after a battle they were given the plunder of
the men they had killed. Then Panama, with its great garrison, was
perilously near at hand, being barely sixty miles away, or two days'
journey. Lastly, the town was strongly fortified, with castles guarding
it at all points. The garrison was comparatively small, mustering about
three companies of foot. To these, however, the buccaneers had to add
300 townsfolk capable of bearing arms. Following John Exquemeling's
plan, we add a brief description of this famous town, to help the reader
to form a mental picture of it.

Porto Bello stands on the south-eastern side of a fine bay, "in the
province of Costa Rica." At the time when Morgan captured it (in June
1668) it was one of the strongest cities in the possession of the King
of Spain. It was neglected until 1584, when a royal mandate caused the
traders of Nombre de Dios to migrate thither. It then became the port of
the galleons,[16] where the treasures of the south were shipped for
Spain. The city which Morgan sacked was built upon a strip of level
ground planted with fruit-trees, at a little distance from the sea, but
within a few yards of the bay. The westward half of the town was very
stately, being graced with fine stone churches and the residence of the
lieutenant-general. Most of the merchants' dwellings (and of these there
may have been 100) were built of cedar wood. Some were of stone, a thing
unusual in the Indies, and some were partly stone, with wooden upper
storeys. There was a fine stone convent peopled by Sisters of Mercy, and
a dirty, ruinous old hospital for "the sick men belonging to the ships
of war." On the shore there was a quay, backed by a long stone
custom-house. The main street ran along the shore behind this
custom-house, with cross-streets leading to the two great squares. The
eastward half of the city, through which the road to Panama ran, was
called Guinea; for there the slaves and negroes used to live, in huts
and cottages of sugar-cane and palm leaves. There, too, was the slave
mart, to which the cargoes of the Guinea ships were brought. A little
river of clear water divided the two halves of the town. Another little
river, bridged in two places, ran between the town and Castle Gloria.
The place was strongly fortified. Ships entering the bay had to pass
close to the "Iron Castle," built upon the western point. Directly they
stood away towards