the Missouri, or to obtain their navigation, there is, beyond doubt, nothing that can prevent them from crossing those rivers and penetrating into our provinces on the other side. Since those provinces are in great measure wilderness, no obstacle can be opposed to them. But, although they should not prove an obstacle, who can be certain that their few inhabitants will not gladly and eagerly join certain men who by offering them help, and the protection to make themselves independent, to govern themselves, and to impose their own laws will flatter them with the spirit of liberty and with a free, extensive, lucrative commerce, etc.? A general revolution, in my opinion, threatens Spain in America, unless it apply a powerful and speedy remedy. I know that once involved in a war so grievous, that object, withal so important, can be ill attended to; but since the evil is still in its beginning, I consider that a provisional remedy can be applied which will remove the effects of the damage until less troublous times permit it to be radically cured.

I have shown incontestably in several secret despatches addressed to his Excellency, the duke of Alcudia, that the whole power of the Atlantic States is insufficient to subject those of the west, who are determined to procure by force the navigation of the Mississippi and to separate from the former, in case they try to oppose their purpose, and to declare themselves independent or to unite with Canada. I have shown the moral impossibility of Spain's being able to attack the Kentuckians and other western settlements in their own country. But at the same time I have proposed the means of sheltering Louisiana from their purposes and of devastating all their possessions by means of our allies, the Choctaw [Chactas], Chickasaw [Chicachas], Creek [Criks], and Cherokee [Cheroquies] nations, who fearful of the usurpations of the Americans, will be disposed to make the most destructive war on them whenever incited by presents and arms.

He who can obtain from the Chickasaw nation a piece of land sufficient to erect a fort on the bluff located between the Casas and Carondelet Rivers1 will unquestionably be the master of the navigation of

1 The Spaniards finally obtained a treaty with the Indians, ceding the fourth of the Chickasaw Bluffs. This treaty was negotiated by Gayoso de Lemos. The Casas and Carondelet Rivers are the Chickasaw and Wolf Rivers. A map of the region covered by the treaty is among the transcripts in the Department of Archives and History of Mississippi.

the Mississippi River from New Madrid to Nogales. If hope is taken from the Americans of obtaining that settlement projected long ago by them (since they proceeded to mark it out formerly and spared no expense to gain the goodwill of the nation), it is clear that they will not find a site suitable for a port along all the east bank from the Ohio to Nogales, as all of that bank is under water at the time of high water on the Mississippi. The Chickasaw nation, more jealous than any other of the possession of its lands, recognizes the importance of Ecores à Margot, but a goodly present, tactfully made and in time might surprise their consent. Consequently, I am of the opinion that the sacrifice of thirty thousand pesos would not be excessive to obtain that end and take away forever from the Americans all hope of preserving a port on the Mississippi.

A regular fort at Ecores à Margot, capable of holding a garrison of one hundred men, which could be supplied from the Battalion of New Madrid, would cost, considering the distance, with all its buildings, another thirty thousand pesos.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE OLD RÉGIME IN

HISPANIC AMERICA

58. A VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA

[1735-1746. Don Jorge Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa, A Voyage to South America: Describing at Large, the Spanish Cities, Towns, Provinces, etc., on that Extensive Continent, the Genius, Customs, Manners, and Trade of the Inhabitants: Together with the Natural History of the Country, and an Account of their Gold and Silver Mines, I and II. Second Edition. Published by Alexander Ewing, Dublin, 1765.]

1

With the aid of Louis XV a group of French scientists organized an expedition to Quito in the Indies. The purpose was to "measure some degrees of the meridian near the equator; and (as was done with great propriety after our departure) by measuring other degrees under the polar circle, in order to form a judgment of the different parts of its circumference, by their equality or inequality, and from thence to determine its magnitude and figure." Philip V of Spain gave permission for the expedition to enter the Indies and accepted the invitation of Louis XV to appoint representatives from the Royal Academy of Spain to accompany it to Quito. He chose Don Jorge Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa, members of the Royal Academy and of his navy. Both men were learned in the sciences. They were given commissions "as lieutenants of men of war," and sailed from Cadiz Bay on May 26-28, 1735, Don Jorge sailing on the Conquistador and Don Antonio on the Incendio. The expedition arrived at Carthagena on July 9, but did not proceed to Quito until November 24 owing to the delay in the arrival of the French expedition. The two men made a detailed study of the general conditions in several parts of the viceroyalties of New Granada and Peru. Don Jorge arrived in France in 1745, and 1 Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America..., I, 22.

Don Antonio in Spain in 1746. "The arrangement and composition of his [Don Antonio's] travels," declared St. John, "occupied his whole attention during the two following years, and in 1748 his great work on South America, by which he will be advantageously known to posterity, was published by the order and at the expense of the government. When this was accomplished, he travelled by order of the King over a considerable portion of Europe, collecting during his journey knowledge useful both to the state and to the nation. As a reward for his services, he was appointed superintendent of the mercury mine at Guancavelica in Peru; but this did not altogether answer his expectations. In the reign of Charles III. he was promoted to the rank of commodore of a squadron, and was entrusted with the command of the fleet of the Indies. In 1762 Ulloa was commissioned to take possession of Louisiana, which had been recently ceded to Spain, and was at the same time appointed governor; but met with so much resistance on the part of the colonists, who disliked the change, that he was compelled to re-embark. The remainder of his life was spent in honourable offices and in literary and scientific labours, by which he acquired a high degree of well-merited reputation. He died on the Isle of Leon, on the 3d of July, 1795, in the eightieth year of his age." Don Antonio also wrote the Memorias secretas ("Secret Memoirs"), which were published after his death.

A. THE TRADE OF PORTO BELLO 2

The Town of Porto Bello, so thinly inhabited, by reason of its noxious air, the scarcity of provisions, and the barrenness of its soil, becomes at the time of the galleons, one of the most populous places in all South America. Its situation on the isthmus betwixt the south and the north seas, the goodness of its harbours, its small distance from Panama, have given it the preference for the rendezvous of the joint commerce of Spain and Peru, at its fair.

1 James Augustus St. John, The Lives of Celebrated Travellers, 337-338.

2 Juan and Ulloa, A Voyage to South America, I, 93–95.

On advice being received at Carthagena, that the Peru fleet had unloaded at Panama, the galleons make the best of their way to Porto Bello, in order to avoid the distempers which have their source from idleness. The concourse of people on this occasion is such as to raise the rent of lodging to an excessive degree; a middling chamber, with a closet, lets, during the fair, for a thousand crowns, and some large houses for four, five, or six thousand.

The ships are no sooner moored in the harbour, than the first work is, to erect, in the square, a tent made of the ship's sails, for receiving its cargo; at which the proprietors of the goods are present, in order to find their bales, by the marks which distinguish them. These bales are drawn on sledges, to their respective places, by the crew of every ship, and the money given them is proportionally divided.

Whilst the seamen and European traders are thus employed, the land is covered with droves of mules from Panama, each drove consisting of above an hundred, loaded with chests of gold and silver, on account of the merchants of Peru. Some unload them at the exchange, others in the middle of the square; yet, amidst the hurry and confusion of such crowds, no theft, loss, or disturbance, is ever known. He who has seen this place during the tiempo muerto, or dead time, solitary, poor, and a perpetual silence reigning every where; the harbour quite empty, and every place wearing a melancholy aspect, must be filled with astonishment at the sudden change, to see the bustling multitudes, every house crowded, the square and streets encumbered with bales and chests of gold and silver of all kinds; the harbour full of ships and vessels, some bringing by the way of Rio de Chape the goods of Peru; as cacao, quinquina or jesuits bark, Vicuna wool, and bezoar stones; others coming from Carthagena, loaded with provisions: and thus a spot, at all other times detested for its deleterious qualities, becomes the staple of the riches of the old and new world, and the scene of one of the most considerable branches of commerce in the whole earth.

The ships being unloaded, and the merchants of Peru, together with the president of Panama, arrived, the fair comes under deliberation. And for this purpose the deputies of the several parties repair on board the commodore of the galleons, where, in presence of the commodore, and the president of Panama; the former, as patron of the Europeans, and the latter, of the Peruvians; the prices of the