Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/655

Rh that one vessel annually from each port might trade between the two colonies was shackled with restrictions, and in 1634 finally withdrawn. Yet this ungenerous legislation was not wholly effective, since we learn that Peruvian vessels directed their course from time to time to the port of Acapulco, and that even viceroys were apt to ignore the stringent statutes, whereupon the crown ordered that the penalty of death and confiscation of property should be imposed upon all Peruvian merchants trading with Acapulco. Happy colonies! Nevertheless during the eighteenth century trade to some extent was reëstablished, though it was not until 1794 that the eyes of Spain were opened and the monarch decreed free trade between the two colonies.

The internal commerce of New Spain was conducted for a long time along the routes of the Indian trails: but these narrow lines of communication were soon widened and made practicable for pack trains and wagons, while additional roads were opened later between important places. The principal routes were those from the capital to Vera Cruz through Puebla and Jalapa; that through Chilpancingo to Acapulco; the one to Guatemala through Oajaca; and that leading northward to Durango and called "el camino de tierra dentro." From these main arteries branches and ramifications extended to all the principal towns.