The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-10-10


 aboga Island.
 1 Spanish days will be woefully dis
 appointed by the town as it now is | Romance, commerce, everything at
 tractive has fled long ago from tha-
 place and Porto Bello is nothing but
 dirty, immoral little village, full of
 low cantinas. slatternly natives and
 mangy CUTS. At each side of the
 town is the ruin of a Spanish fort
 its picturesqueness marred by fisher
 mems nets and the local washing hung up to dry.
 ! Thus the work of man has decayed
 but Nature is as kind as ever to Porto ,BeIlo. Its bottle-shaped har- Dor is one of the prettiest to be found, with promontories guarding the entrance, beautiful hills on both sides and entrancing little rivers meandering down from the noun tains and through the jungle into it's upper end. One hill opposite the town boasts the remains of three un- usually interesting Spanish forts. One is- at the waters edge, another severai hundred yards up the slope, and these two were once connected by a covered stone stairway the ruins of which still provide the easiest means of ascending. On the sum- init of the hill is the third fort, mighty square tower surrounded by a deep moat. The walls are almost intact but the roof has fallen in and the fortress is full of trees and shrub. bery
 With these three forts, two others protecting the harbor entrance, the two at the ends of the town and an other just above it, Porto Bello might well seem to have been impregnable, yet it was taken twice by the Eng fish. Sir Francis Drake planned to capture it in 1896, but just as his ships were about to begin the attack Drake died and was buried in the mouth of the harbor. Dispirited by the loss of their leader, the English sailed away, but Capt. William Parker took up the project in 1902. With two ships he got past the first forts at night and after a desperate fight captured and sacked the city, carry ing off 10000 ducts worth of plunder.
 The second taking of Porto Bello was the first notable exploit of Henry Morgan, the famous buccaneer, as an commander of a fleet. Sailing into what is now Colon har- bor, he took his men up a river in canoes, landed at a place called Els tera Longa Lemos and marching through the jungle, attacked the city from the rear. First capturing the castle above the town, he shut the garrison in one room and blew them md the fort to pieces with gunpow- fer. The governor, the citizens and he rest of the soldiers, surprised and were soon driven into one of the other forts and for hours hey bravely withstood the assaults ,f the buccaneers until, as Esquemel- | ng tells us, Captain Morgan began to despair of the whole success of the enterprise. Finally he had a number ,f ladders made and forced the priests and nuns whom he had cap- l ured to set them up against the walls. Many of these poor creatures l were killed by the defenders, but at swarmed up them carrying ireballs and pots of powder which hey kindled and hurled among the 'paniards. The garrison surrendered t discretion, but the gallant governor defended himself so obstinately that he English were forced to kill him. dorgan remained in Porto Bello sev- ral weeks, plundering the place and the citizens to induce them o reveal the hiding places of their iches.
 Though an important place in the of gold from the west oast of South America, Porto Bello ever was a large town, but for sev- raI weeks each year it was very opulous. This was at the time of he annual fair, when the galleons rom Spain were in the harbor wait ng for the mule trains to bring the old from Panama. Then merchants nd adventurers from all that part of he world gathered in the village and rade was brisk in the big building ow called the custom house, whose nined walls still are standing. Mer- drinking and fighting divid- d the time until the galleons set sail pr Spain with their golden cargoee.