By this means it was
insured that these goods should pass through the commercial
head-quarters, and leave a purely artificial profit to the Spaniards
concerned, instead of being sent direct to the various ports with which
the coasts of the Continent were now provided.
[Illustration: BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS.
"The Apostle of the Indies," who took up the cause of the much afflicted
natives of South America.
_From the portrait in the Bibliotheque Nationale._
_A. Rischgitz._]
In these circumstances it was necessary for colonial merchants and
traders from all parts of South America to journey to this far northern
corner in order to carry out their negotiations, and to attend to the
fresh transport of the wares. The hardships and the added cost brought
about by regulations such as these may be imagined, and, as was only to
be expected, a system such as this recoiled upon the heads of those who
were responsible for its adoption.
Occasionally circumstances arose in connection with these official
fleets which bore with almost equal hardship upon Spaniard and colonial
alike. Thus, when the English, Dutch, and French buccaneers took to
harassing the South American coast in earnest, there were periods when
the galleons of the Indies were kept within their harbour for a year and
more.
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