Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/209



the years 1680 and 1687, it will be remembered, the principal towns of Central America that lay near the shores of the South Sea were continually infested by pirates. The settlements on the North Sea had been so frequently sacked that few of them contained sufficient wealth to tempt the freebooters, with the exception of Cartagena, which was too strongly fortified to fall an easy prey. Nevertheless they were not exempt from attack. In August 1682 four French vessels entered the harbor of Portobello and rescued a number of their countrymen who were detained there as prisoners. From a negro slave on board the squadron the governor ascertained that fifteen French vessels had arrived at Martinique with three thousand persons on board, the purpose of the expedition being the colonization of Darien. In Nicaragua news was received that two thousand filibusters were assembled at the same point, intending to make a raid on Panamá. Vera Cruz and other

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