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642 knife being thrust ever and anon between a victim's shoulder-blades. At these fairs a great proportion of the commerce of the country was carried on. Cacao, cochineal, indigo, sugar, flour, sarsaparilla, vanilla, tanned hides, jalap, soap, dye-woods, and peppers brought thither were purchased by exporting merchants, and conveyed by long trains of pack-mules to Vera Cruz for shipment to Spain. In turn these traders sold their own commodities at a profit that would stagger the merchants of modern days. Gaudy linen and cotton goods, wines and oil, cheap trinkets, and trumpery were disposed of at enormous prices. The Indian and the country Spaniard alike paid exorbitant rates, whether the purchase consisted of a string of glass beads, or of an expensive costume.

It was late before Spain recognized that restrictions on commerce did not conduce to either her own prosperity or to that of her colonies. In 1765 the crown relaxed somewhat the prohibitions, and opened a number of ports in Spain to trade with certain colonies,' and in 1778 extended the privilege to all the Indies. These liberal measures of Cárlos III. gave a great impulse to commerce; the port of Campeche and others were opened to trade, the system of the fleets was forever abolished, and in 1799, owing to the war between Spain and England, neutral vessels were allowed to trade directly between the Peninsula and the colonies. Meanwhile the system