dared no longer ascend the river, they still continued to blockade its mouths. Inter-oceanic transit was once more practically stopped, and a successful piratical raid under L'Olonnais, who marched on Granada from the Gulf of Fonseca, and sacked and burned it, in 1685, gave Spanish commerce along this route its coup de grâce. The invading buccaneers left Central Nicaragua three years later. This expedition was followed by one under Dampier (1689-90) against Leon, which, ascending the Estero Real, was only partially successful.

In 1698-1700 came the episode of Paterson's Scots settlement at Darien. The Jamaica Government no longer protected the buccaneers, but established permanent settlements along the Atlantic coast, attached the natives to its interests by promises of milder treatment, and by the abolition of forced labour. Finally, during the first half of last century, they completely and efficiently blockaded the whole coast.

Shortly before 1695, William Paterson, one of the greatest men Scotland ever produced, conceived the idea. of obtaining for Great Britain, to quote his own language, "the keys of the universe . . . enabling their enabling their possessors to give laws to both oceans, and to become the arbiters of the commercial world." He proposed to carry out his scheme by means of an entrepôt, or settlement, at the Isthmus of Darien, as a distributing centre for the commerce of the world.

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He obtained the incorporation by the Scottish Parlia

"Central America in 1701," by Wm. Paterson. S. Bannister, 1857,

ment of "the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies." Money was freely subscribed in Scotland, England, and Holland, and the prospect, so far as financial means went, was encouraging until the English and Dutch East India Companies, fearing injury to their monopolies, strongly opposed the project. Support from England and Holland was then withdrawn, and Scotland alone was left to carry on the work, which she, however, did with enthusiasm.

The Scots settlement at Darien was organized, and 1,200 pioneers, sailed from Leith on the 26th July, 1698, reaching their destination on the 4th November. Unfortunately for the success of his scheme, Paterson planted his colony in the Bay of Caledonia, in a terribly unhealthy situation, where he founded Puerto Escoces. But, even if the climate had been perfect, the opposition of England and Holland alone was enough to prove fatal to his success. Their colonies in the West Indies were forbidden to sell the pioneers food or supplies. Unsupported from home, Paterson had to contend against innumerable local difficulties. The Indians, finding they were simply changing masters, devastated the country around the Scots; the privations endured aided the epidemic which ravaged the settlement; the hostility of the natives grew; and at last came anarchy among the settlers, who had been reinforced by another expedition numbering some twelve hundred. While matters stood thus, Herrera, at the head of a Spanish squadron and a large force, appeared in 1700 and laid siege to the remainder of the colony, who had managed to escape the series of calami

The discovery of the South Sea inflamed the enthusiasm of the Spanish conquistadores. The wildest legends circulated concerning the fabulous riches of the countries to be found in the New World, and Spain went mad with excitement.

In 1517 Gil Gonzalez Davila arrived in Darien, with a special commission to carry out explorations on the west coast. Sailing from Panama, in 1522, he penetrated into the lake country, established that there was a sheet of fresh water, situated at a small distance from the South Sea, and having a communication with the North Sea (Atlantic). Of the lake he took possession, according to the prevailing custom, by riding his horse into it and drinking of the water. The origin of the name Nicaragua is said to be due to Davila. who, when making treaties with the natives, executed one with a chief named Nicarao, who ruled over the district in which is now situated the present town of Granada. He therefore called the lake Nicarao-agua (Nicarao's water), which, contracted to Nicaragua, has given a name to the whole country.

In 1519, Pedrarias Davila, sent from Spain in 1514, founded Old Panama, and continued the exploration of both coasts, assisted by Espinosa and Badajoz, also by Andagoya to the south of the Tuyra, and by Ponce and Hurtado in Costa Rica, who were the first to get definite information about the great interior lakes of Nicaragua, which, according to native report, communicated with the seas. The conquests of the next twenty years by Cortes in Mexico, Alvarado in Guatemala and Honduras, Pizarro and Almagro in Peru and Chili, and many others

of minor importance, led to greatly improved knowledge of Central America. In 1520 Magellan discovered the Strait bearing his name at the southern extremity of the continent; but, this being too far south, Charles V. ordered Cortes and Pedrarias to renew the search for the channel.1

In a letter to Cortes, in 1523, Charles V. ordered him to search carefully in the eastern and western shores of New Spain for the "secret of the strait," to which Cortes had frequently referred in his despatches, which should shorten by two-thirds the navigation from Cadiz to the Country of Spices, as the East Indies were then called. In the hope of solving the secret Cortes had already some three years before pressed Montezuma for information concerning the eastern coast of Mexico. A drawing of the coast was prepared, and, under Diego de Ordas, an exploration of the river Huascualco was made, with no favourable result, however. Disappointed in this quarter, Cortes wrote to the Spanish Court in 1524:

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"I have determined to send three caravels and two brigantines in this quest, although I believe that it will cost me more than 10,000 pesos of gold, because if the strait is found I shall hold it to be the greatest service I have yet rendered." And again he wrote: "I also propose to send out the ships I have had built on the South Sea, so that if it please our Lord, they may sail at the end of the month of July, in this year, 1524, on a voyage down the coast in quest of the said strait; since if

Gomara. "La Conquista de Mexico," fo. xcvii.

it exists, it must be discovered by those on the South Sea, as well as the others on the North Sea, for the former will run along the coast until they either find the strait, or reach the land discovered by Magallanes; and the latter will proceed, as I have stated, until they arrive at the Bacallaos.' Thus on the one side or the other, I shall not fail to solve the secret. I assure your Majesty that according to the information I have of the lands situated on the upper coasts of the South Sea, it would be of great service to myself, and likewise to your Majesty, to send these ships in that direction; but being well aware of the great desire of your Majesty to know the secret of this strait, and of the great advantage the crown would derive from its discovery, I postpone all other schemes and interests, some of them of the highest moment, in order to pursue this object alone."

Nicaragua became subject to the Spanish crown in 1524. A few years later, although the search for the secret channel was continued, the idea of an artificial communication to pierce the isthmus began to take shape, and search was made for some point, a low watershed between the two oceans, which could be cut through.

As early as 1529, Saavedra, interpreting the ideas of Balboa, according to Galvano formed a scheme for connecting the two oceans, and at the time of his death was on the point of laying his plans before the Emperor.'

The entire coast of North America including Newfoundland. • Lorenzana, pp. 384 385.

* Commenting on this, the Jesuit José de Acosta says that such