325

CARTAGENA.

325

The antidote, however, is oil taken in abundance
internally, and applied outwardly. Neither wheat
nor barley are known here, but the place abounds
in maize and rice, of which they make cakes, and
which are the common bread of the natives, and
more particularly so that called cazave^ being a
sort of cake made of the root yiica^ name, or mo-
niato. There are also a great number of cotton
trees. The arms of this city are a green cross
upon a gold ground, with a lion rampant on
each side. It was sacked in 1593 by Robert
Baal, a pirate ; in 1583, by Sir Francis Drake, 23
years from the time of its being fortified, and not
from its foundation, as according to Mr. La Ma-
tiniere ; again iti 1695, by Mr. Ducase, assisted by
the adventurers or fiibustiers, who completely pil-
laged it : but a great sensation having been caused
amongst the inhabitants at the loss of a superb se-
pulchre made of silver, in which it rvas usual on
a good Friday to deposit the eucharist, they had
the good fortune to obtain its restitution through
the interest and favour of Louis XI F. The
English, under the command of Admiral Vernon
and Sir Charles Ogle, besieged this city in 1740,
when, although its castles were destroyed, and
it was completely besieged, it would not surren-
der, being gloriously defended by the viceroy
Don Sebastian de Esiava, and Don Bias de Lezo,
who caused the English to abandon the enterprise
with precipitancy and with great loss. [For this
conduct on the part of the English, several reasons
were assigned besides the strength of the place ;
namely, the mortality among the troops, want
of skill in the commanders, and certain ditferences
between the admiral and the general. The forti-
fications which they demolished have since been
repaired.] It is the only part of all America where
there is etfective coin of a fourth part of a real in
silver. Its inhabitants amount to 9160 souls in
communion. It has been the native place of many
celebrated persons, such are,

Don Augustin Samiento de Sotomayor, of the or-
der of Santiago, viscount of Portillo.

Don Andres de la Vega, professor at Salamanca,
a famous lawyer.

Fray Carlos de Melgarejo, a religious Domini-
can, an excellent preacher, and a man of unble-
mished life.

Don Caspar de Cuba and Arce, head collegiate
of San Marcos de Lima, oidor of Chile.

Don Gonzalo de Herrera, Marquis of Villalta,
governor of Antioquia.

Don Gregorio Castellar y Mantilla, governor of
Cumana, and general of the armada of the guard
of the coasts of Cartagena.

Don Joseph de Paredes, captain of infantry,
knight of the order of Santiago.

Fray Joseph Pacheco, of the order of St. Au-
gustin, master, visitor, and vicar-general i:i his pro-
vince of the Nuevo Reyno.

The Father Joseph de Urbina, of the extin-
guished company, rector of the college of Santa
Fe.

Don.Iuan Fernandez Rosillo, dean of the church
of his country, bishop of V^erapez and of Mecho-
acan .

Fray Juan Pereyra, a religious Dominican.

Don Lope Duke Estrada, kiiight of the order of
Santiago.

It is in long. 75° 24' and lat. 10° 25' n. [For
account of the present revolutions, see Vene-
zuela.]

Bishops who have presided in Cartagena.

1. Don Fray Tomas del Toro, a monk of the
order of St. Domingo, elected the . first bishop in
1532; but being at Talavera, his country, at the
time, he unfortunately died before he was conse-
crated.

2. Don Fray Geronimo de Loaisa, a Dominican
monk, renowned for his virtue and talent, and for
his experience in Indian affairs ; he was elected in
the room of the former, was consecrated at Valla-
dolid, and there he erected the church into a ca-
thedral in 1538, the same year in which he entered
Cartagena ; from hence he was promoted to the
archbishopric of Lima in 1542.

3. Don Fray Francisco de Santa Maria y Bena-
vides, of the order of St. Gerome, of the illustrious
family of the Marquises of Fromesta ; serving at
that time the Emperor in Flanders, he took to a
religious life, and was elected bishop of Cartagena
in 1543. The city, in his time, was plundered by
two pirates, lieaded by the Spanisli pilot Alonso
Vexines, who cominitted thisactout of revenge for
a flogging he had received ; they also ill-treated
the venerable prelate, who had the additional griev-
ance, in the year L551, of witnessing the city in
flames. In 1554 he was promoted to the church
of Modonedo in Galicia, and was succeeded in
Cartagena by,

4. Don Fray Gregorio de Beteta, a Dominican
monk, brought up in the convent of Salamanca, and
one of the twenty who went to the Nuevo Reyno
de Gratiada, from whence he passed over to Mex-
ico to convert the Indians, and afterwards with
the same object to the provinces of Santa Marta,
Uraba, ami Cartagena ; and being teacher ami
curate in one of his settlements, he received the
order of presentation to this bishopric in 1555 ;
although he endeavoured to decline the dignify,