[V-7] _Repartimiento_, a distribution; _repartir_, to divide;

_encomienda_, a charge, a commandery; _encomendar_, to give in

charge; _encomendero_, he who holds an encomienda. In Spain

an encomienda, as here understood, was a dignity in the four

military orders, endowed with a rental, and held by certain

members of the order. It was acquired through the liberality

of the crown as a reward for services in the wars against

the Moors. The lands taken from the Infidels were divided

among Christian commanders; the inhabitants of those lands

were crown tenants, and life-rights to their services were

given these commanders. In the legislation of the Indies,

encomienda was the patronage conferred by royal favor over

a portion of the natives, coupled with the obligation to

teach them the doctrines of the Church, and to defend their

persons and property. It was originally intended that the

recipients of these favors were to be the discoverers,

conquerors, meritorious settlers, and their descendants; but

in this as in many other respects the wishes of the monarchs

and their advisers did not always reach the mark. The system

begun in the New World by Columbus, Bobadilla, and Ovando was

continued by Vasco Nuñez, Pedrarias, Cortés, and Pizarro, and

finally became general. Royal decrees upon the subject, which

seemed to grow more and more intricate as new possessions

were pacified, began with a law by Ferdinand the Catholic in

1509, reiterated by Philip II. in 1580, to the effect that

immediately upon the pacification of a province the governor

should divide the natives among the settlers. The natives thus

distributed were held for a term of years, or during the life

of the holder, or for two or more lives—that is, during the

life of the first holder, and that of his heir, and perhaps

that of his heir's heir, or until the king should otherwise

decree. _Solorzano_, _De Indiarum Jure_, ii. lib. ii. cap. i.;

_Acosta_, _De Procur. Ind._, iii. cap. x. When by this course

three fourths of certain populations had been 'recommended' to

their death, at the representation of Las Casas, the king in

1523 decreed that 'as God our lord had made the Indians free,'

they must not be enslaved on this or any other pretext; 'and

therefore we command that it be done no more, and that those

already distributed be set at liberty.' _Remesal_, _Hist.

Chyapa_, 10. But by this abolition the destruction of the

colonies was threatened. Petition followed petition for the

restoration of the system, until the king finally yielded.

_Solorzano_, _Política Indiana_, i. 225. In 1542 encomiendas

were again abolished, and again the king was obliged to

restore them. Meanwhile every effort possible was made by the

crown to prevent abuses. The encomendero must fulfil in person

the intention of the law. He must not leave without permission

from the governor, and then his duties must be delegated to a

responsible agent. If away for four months without permission,

his encomienda was to be declared vacant. The encomendero must

not hire out any natives, or pledge them to creditors, under

penalty of loss of Indians and a fine of 50,000 maravedís.

No one could appropriate any natives except those legally

assigned. When it was seen how those in office misused their

power, in 1530, in 1532, in 1542, in 1551, and in 1563 all

civil and ecclesiastical functionaries were forbidden to

hold encomiendas; but in 1544 Philip II. excepted from this

prohibition _tenientes de gobernadores_, _corregidores_, and

_alcaldes mayores de pueblos_. Indians should not be given in

encomienda to the daughters of royal officials, or to sons

unless married. It was just and reasonable that the savages

should pay the Spaniards tribute, for so God had appointed, so

the pope had ordained, and the king had commanded; but it was

the collection of this tribute only, and not the deprivation

of liberty, or of any personal rights, that the encomienda

was intended to cover. And for this tax, which whosoever

enjoys the boon of civilization must surely pay, the vassal

was to receive protection, and the still more blessed boon of

Christianity. Nor must this impost under any consideration be

made burdensome.

The manner of making assessments was minutely defined by

edicts of Charles V. at divers dates from 1528 to 1555, and

of Philip II. from the beginning to the end of his reign.

In substance they were as follows. The king made responsible

to him the viceroys, and the presidents and audiencias, who,

by the aid of a commissioner and assessors, fixed the rates

in their respective districts. The assessors having first

heard a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost, in order to enlighten

their understanding that they might justly regard the value

of the rental and equitably determine the rate, they were to

swear with all solemnity before the priest this to do without

bias. They were personally to inspect all the pueblos of the

province, noting the number of settlers and natives in each

pueblo, and the quality of the land. They were to ascertain

what the natives had originally paid to their caciques as

tribute, and never make the new rate higher, but always lower,

than the old one. For surely they should not be worse off in

serving Spain than in serving their heathen lords. After thus

carefully examining the resources and capabilities of the

tributaries, and never infringing on the comfort of the women

and children, the assessors should fix the rate according to

God and their conscience. The natives might pay in money if

they preferred, but payment should be required only in kind,

in whatever produce grew on their lands. They must not be

required to raise anything specially for this purpose; and

from not over two or three kinds of produce should tribute be

taken; a few chickens, or a pig or two, need not be counted

at all. It was the intention of the monarchs that from a tenth

to a fifth might in this way be taken, though the encomendero

too often managed to get twice or thrice as much, or all

the natives had. The Indians must be made to understand how

the appraisement was made, and that it was not done in the

interests of the Spaniards alone. Then the assessor must put

in writing what each had to pay, and leave the original with

the cacique, giving one copy to the encomendero, and sending

one to the Council of the Indies, or to the viceroy, or to

the audiencia. For the encomendero to practise extortion,

or demand more than the schedule called for, there were

pronounced the severest penalties, even to the loss of the

encomienda and half his goods. Natives voluntarily coming

forward and entering in encomienda were excused from paying

tribute for ten years; and, in any event, for the first two

years after congregating in pueblos but one half the usual

tribute could be legally exacted. Males were taxed after the

eighteenth year; caciques, elder sons, women, and alcaldes

in office were exempt. After the gift, the encomienda was the

property of the encomendero, not to be taken from him before

the expiration of his term without cause. In every encomienda

there must be a church, and where there was none, the natives

must be stimulated to build one, the priest to be paid out

of the rental. In every pueblo of 100 or more natives, two

or three must be taught to sing, so that they might act as

choristers; also a native sacristan—these to be exempt from

tribute. In 1568 Philip II. ordered that no encomendero

should receive a rental of over 2000 pesos; any excess was to

be returned to the crown and employed as pensions. The same

monarch directed in 1573 that when an encomienda fell vacant,

a viceroy or governor might, if he deemed best, appropriate

the rental to benevolent objects, and defer granting it again

till the king's pleasure should be known. And again, in 1583,

that the encomendero must have a house of his own, built of

stone for purposes of defence, in the city of his residence;

and he must keep his family there. He should maintain no house

in the town of the Indians, nor should he have any building

there except a granary. In 1592 it was decreed that Indians in

encomienda could be given to none but residents in the Indies.

When an encomienda became vacant, so it was decreed in 1594

and subsequently, the fact was advertised for from twenty to

thirty days, during which time applicants might prefer their

respective claims, and recite services rendered the crown by

themselves or their ancestors. Preference was always to be

given to the descendants of discoverers and settlers. Two or

three small encomiendas might sometimes be joined in one. And

never might religious training be forgotten; when the rental

was not sufficient for the support of the encomendero and

the instructor, the latter must have the revenue. Felipe III.

in 1602, 1611, 1616, 1618, and 1620, decreed that as a rule

but one encomienda could be held by one person; still more

seldom could one be given up and another taken. There was to

be no such thing as commerce in them. They were a trust. Much

evil had arisen from dividing encomiendas, and it should be

done no more. Felipe IV. in 1655 ordered that governors under

royal commission and those named by the viceroy _ad interim_

might give Indians in encomienda, but _alcaldes ordinarios_

holding temporarily the office of governor were not allowed

this privilege. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 249-284 and passim.

Finally, toward the close of the seventeenth century, the

monarchs, becoming more and more straitened in their need of

money, ordered that encomenderos should pay a portion of their

revenue to the crown; then a larger portion was demanded; and

then the whole of it. In 1721 the system came to an end. But

after endeavoring for two hundred years to get back what they

had given away, the monarchs found there was nothing left

of it, the natives having by this time merged with sometimes

slightly whitened skins into the civilized pueblos.

[V-8] It was decreed by the emperor in 1555 that the _Casa de

Contratacion_ should have an _arca de tres llaves_, a chest

of three keys; after which the government strong-box became

common in Spanish America. It was usually in the form of a

sailor's chest, of heavy wood bound with brass or iron, and

having three locks fastening the lid by hasps. The strong-box

of the India House, the law goes on to say, must remain in

the custody of the treasurer, who was responsible for its

safe keeping. One of the keys was held by the _tesorero_,

one by the _contador_, and one by the _factor_. Out of the

hand of any one of these three royal officers his key could

not lawfully go; and no one but they might put into the chest

or take out of it any thing, under penalty, on the official

permitting it, of four times the value of the things so

handled. In this box were kept, temporarily, all gold, silver,

pearls, and precious stones that came from the Indies on the

king's account, or were recovered for him by suits at law

brought before the India House in Spain. _Recop. de Indias_,

iii. 17.

[V-9] Oviedo, i. 103, says that when the Jeronimite friars

arrived a few days before Christmas, 1516, the _jueces de

apelacion_ 'ya se llamaban oydores, é su auditorio ya se

deçia audiençia Real.' Herrera, ii. ii. iv., treating of

the instructions given the Jeronimites remarks, that it was

ordered also that the jueces de apelacion should be submitted

to residencia. After that he writes jueces de apelacion,

and audiencia indifferently. Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, v. 45,

treating of events in 1518-20, says 'jueces de apelacion;'

relating the occurrences of 1521, 165, 177, he writes

'audiencia,' and 'cuatro oidores.' Writing the king August

30, 1520, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 332-48,

the court styles itself _Real Audiencia_, the members signing

the communication. In _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,

xiv. 568, the presidents of this audiencia are given as Luis

de Figueroa, 1523; Sebastian Ramirez in 1527; Fuente Mayor in

1533; Maldonado in 1552; Alonso Arias de Herrera in 1560; and

in 1566 Diego de Vera, who was sent to Panamá as president

when he was succeeded by Doctor Mejía.

[V-10] The word _audiencia_, from _audire_, to hear, has a

variety of significations in Spanish; meaning, namely, the

act of hearing, the tribunal, the courtroom and building,

and finally, jurisdiction. _Oidor_, he who hears, comes from

the same root, but is now applied only to the magistrate

of an audiencia. The more important general laws governing

audiencias in the New World were the following. In 1528 the

emperor ordered, and the decree was reiterated in 1548, 1569,

1575, and 1589, that each audiencia should make a tariff of

fees of notaries and other officers, which must not exceed

five times those in Spain. In 1530 the mandates of this

tribunal were made of equal force with those of the king

himself. Should any one demand it, decisions in civil suits

were to be rendered in one case before another was begun;

suits of poor persons always to have preference in time of

hearing. Even dissenting judges must sign the decision, making

it unanimous. On the first business day of each year, all

the members and officers being present, the laws governing

audiencias should be read. In 1541 the emperor ordered that

in 'first instance' alcaldes, regidores, alguaciles mayores,

and escribanos should not be brought before the audiencia;

in each pueblo one alcalde should have cognizance of what

affected the other, and both of matters concerning its other

officers. In 1540, and many times thereafter, the audiencia

was charged to look to the welfare of the natives, to watch

narrowly the conduct of governors and other officials, and

to punish excesses. While in October, 1545, the emperor was

at Malines, hence known as the law of Malinas, directions

were given for procedure in cases of claims of Indians.

_Menor cuantía_ in suits was fixed at 300,000 maravedís; not

exceeding this amount two oidores might decide; also in suits

of _mayor cuantía_, except at Lima and Mexico where three

votes were necessary as in Spanish law. It was ordered in

1548 that audiencias must not meddle with questions of rank

and precedence. In 1551, Saturdays and two other days in the

week were set aside, there being no suits of poor persons,

for hearing disputes between Indians, and between Indians

and Spaniards. More _casos de corte_, that is important

suits taken from lower courts, were not to be admitted by an

audiencia of the Indies than was customary in Spain. This

was in 1552, and repeated in 1572. In 1553 it was ordered

that any person having a grievance against a president or

viceroy might appeal to the audiencia, the accused officer

being forbidden to preside at such times. If the president

was a bishop he was not permitted to adjudicate in matters

ecclesiastic. Six years later all petitions presented were

to be admitted. Philip II. in 1561 ordered that suits of the

royal treasury should have precedence over all others. The

year 1563 was prolific in regulations for the audiencia.

Where the president of an audiencia was governor and

captain-general, the tribunal should not meddle in matters

of war, unless the president was absent, or unless specially

directed by the crown. In the city where the audiencia is

held there must be an Audiencia House, and the president must

live there, and keep there the royal seal, the registry, the

jail, and the mint; in this house must be a striking clock;

and if there be no such building provided, the residence of

the president shall in the mean time be so used. On every day

not a feast-day the audiencia must sit at least three hours,

beginning at 7 A. M. in summer, and 8 A. M. in winter, and

at least three oidores must be present. Audiencias must not

annul sentences of exile; or, unless bonds for payment are

given, grant letters of delay to condemned treasury debtors.

The majority decide. The governor, alcalde mayor, or other

person refusing obedience to any mandate of the tribunal must

be visited by a judge and punished. In exceptional cases only

the audiencia might touch the royal treasury. Each audiencia

must keep a book in which was to be recorded—where the

amount in question was over 100,000 maravedís, or, in other

important cases—the verdict of each oidor; and the president

must swear to keep secret the contents of this book unless

ordered by the king to divulge the same. A book should also

be kept in which was to be entered anything affecting the

treasury; and another the fines imposed. Audiencias could

appoint only to certain offices. Philip II. further ordered

during the subsequent years of his reign, that audiencias must

keep secret the instructions from the crown; that they must

not interfere with the lower courts, or with the courts of

ecclesiastics, except in cases provided by law, but rather aid

them; that they should register the names of persons coming

from Spain, with their New World address; that with such

matters as residencias, compelling married men to live with

their wives, and the estates of deceased persons, presidents

and viceroys should not intermeddle, but leave them to the

other members; that they should use no funds resulting from

their judgments, but draw on the treasury for expenses; that

when an audiencia was to be closed, a governor should be

appointed with power to continue and determine pending suits,

but he should institute no new suits, and appeals lie to

the nearest audiencia; that they should not make public the

frailties of ecclesiastics, but examine charges against them

in secret; that royal despatches for the audiencia must not

be opened by the president alone, but at an _acuerdo_, and in

presence of the oidores and fiscal, and if thought necessary

the _escribano de cámara_ must be present; and that they

must not remit to the Council of the Indies trivial matters

for decision. In subsequent reigns during the seventeenth

century it was at various times decreed that a president might

impeach an oidor before the Council of the Indies, though he

could not send him to Spain, but no oidor might impeach his

president except by royal command; that audiencias should

exercise their functions in love and temperance, especially

during a vacancy in the office of president or viceroy; that

in their visits to the jail the oidores should not entertain

petitions of those condemned to death by the ordinary justices

in consultation with the criminal section of the audiencia,

nor should they on such visits take cognizance of anything not

specially confided to them; that they should not legitimize

natural children, but refer such cases to the Council of

the Indies; that each year the president should designate an

oidor to oversee the officers and attachés and punish their

faults; that no favoritism should be shown appointees of

viceroys or presidents; one oidor might transact business,

if the audiencia were reduced to that extremity; in arriving

at a decision the junior member should vote first, then the

next youngest, and so on up to the senior member. This from

the _Recopilacion de las Indias_, i. 323-70. In the _Politica

Indiana_ of Solorzano, ii. 271-82, may be found how the

audiencias of America differed from those of Spain. Larger

powers were given the former by reason of their distance from

the throne. They were given jurisdiction in the residencias of

the inferior judiciary; they could commission _pesquisidores_,

or special judges, and order execution to issue where an

inferior judge had neglected to do so. They had cognizance

in matters of tithes, of royal patronage, patrimony, treasury

matters, and jurisdiction; they could even fix the fee-bill of

the ecclesiastical tribunals, settle the estates of bishops,

retain apostolic bulls which they deemed prejudicial to the

royal patronage, and they could watch and regulate the conduct

of all ecclesiastical officials. In making appointments the

viceroy was obliged to take the opinion of the audiencia.

Persons aggrieved might appeal from the viceroy to the

audiencia. On the death, absence, or inability of the viceroy

the senior oidor stood in his place. None of these powers

were given audiencias in Spain. This and kindred subjects

are treated at great length by Solórzano y Pereira, who was

a noted Spanish jurist, born at Madrid in 1575. He studied at

Salamanca, and in 1609 was appointed by Felipe III. oidor of

the audiencia of Lima. Later he became fiscal and councillor

in the _Consejo de Hacienda_, the _Consejo de Indias_, and

the _Consejo de Castilla_. He published several works on

jurisprudence, the most conspicuous being _Disquisitiones

de Indiarum jure_, 2 vols, folio, Madrid, 1629-39. It was

reprinted in 1777, an edition meanwhile appearing in Lyons in

1672. A Spanish translation by Valenzuela was published at

Madrid in 1648, and reprinted in 1776. I have used both the

Latin edition and the Spanish, but the latter is preferable.

The work is a commentary on the laws of the Indies,

wonderfully concise for a Spanish lawyer of that period, and

was of great utility at a time when those laws were in chaotic

condition.

To conclude my remarks on audiencias in America I will only

say that ultimately their number was eleven; and one at

Manila, which, like that of Santo Domingo, had a president,

oidores, and a fiscal, and exercised executive as well as

judicial functions. The eleven, including that of Santo

Domingo, were those of Mexico and Lima, each being presided

over by a viceroy, and having 8 oidores, 4 alcaldes del

crímen, and 2 fiscales; and those of Guatemala, Guadalajara,

Panamá, Chile, La Plata, Quito, Santa Fé, and Buenos Ayres.

These several audiencias were formed at different times

soon after the establishing of government in the respective

places. See further, _Montemayor_, _Svmarios_, 110-11; _Revue

Américaine_, i. 3-32; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Biblioteca de

Legislacion Ultramarina_, passim.

[V-11] Irving says 1510. I cannot undertake to correct all the

minor errors of popular writers, having neither the space nor

the inclination. It would seem that in the present, and like

instances, of which there are many, the mistake springs from

an easy carelessness which regards the difference of a year

or two in the date of the settlement of an island as of no

consequence; for Las Casas, and other authorities who agree

better than usual in this case, were before Mr Irving at the

time he entered in his manuscript the wrong date. Important

and sometimes even unimportant discrepancies of original or

standard authorities will always be carefully noted in these

pages. What I shall endeavor to avoid is captious criticism,

and the pointing out of insignificant errors merely for the

satisfaction of proving others in the wrong.

[V-12] Maria, widow of Diego, demanded of the audiencia of

Santo Domingo for her son Luis, then six years of age, the

viceroyalty of Veragua, which was refused. She then carried

her claim to Spain, where the title of admiral was conferred

on Luis, and many other benefits were extended by the

emperor to the family, but the title of viceroy was withheld.

Subsequently Luis, having instituted court proceedings which

were referred to an arbitration, succeeded in having himself

declared captain-general of Española. Shortly before his

death he relinquished the claim to the viceroyalty of the

New World for the titles of duke of Veraguas and marquis

of Jamaica, and gave his right to a tenth of the produce of

the Indies for a pension of a thousand doubloons. Luis was

succeeded by a nephew, Diego, by whose death the legitimate

male line was extinguished. Then followed more litigation,

female claimants now being conspicuous, until in the beginning

of the seventeenth century we find in the Portuguese house

of Braganza the titles the discoverer once so coveted, they

being then conferred on Nuño Gelves, grandson of the third

daughter of Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, and who then

might write his name De Portugallo Colon, duque de Veraguas,

marqués de la Jamaica, y almirante de las Indias.

[V-13] The _Consejo Supremo de Indias_, Supreme Council of

the Indies, sometimes termed the _Consejo de Indias_, or India

Council, was a body possessing executive as well as judicial

powers, in permanent session at Madrid, and having the same

jurisdiction over Spanish colonies in America that was held in

Spain by the other supreme councils, especially the _Consejo

de Castilla_. Immediately after its discovery the American

portion of the Spanish realm was superintended by the Council

of Castile, or by councillors selected therefrom. But with

the constantly increasing burden of business the creation of a

separate supreme tribunal became necessary. Thus the machinery

set in motion by Ferdinand was augmented by Charles, and

further improved by Philip, until these vast western interests

were watched over with undeviating care. Thence all measures

for the government and commerce of Spanish America issued;

it was the tribunal likewise of ultimate resort where all

questions relating thereto were adjudicated. For many years,

however, the India Council had no formal existence. Fonseca;

Hernando de Vega, _comendador mayor_ of Leon; Mercurino

Gatinara, afterward superintendent of all the councils;

a gentleman of the emperor's bedchamber called De Lassao;

Francisco de Vargas, treasurer-general of Castile, and others,

acted specially at the request of their sovereign. This fact

gave rise to errors of date into which several historians

fell. Thus Prescott, _Ferd. and Isabella_, iii. 452, says,

copying Robertson, _Hist. Am._, ii. 358, that the Council of

the Indies was first established by Ferdinand in 1511. Helps,

_Span. Conq._, ii. 28—drawing a false inference from a false

inference drawn by Herrera, ii. ii. xx., who makes the date

1517—goes on to describe a council for Indian affairs, dating

its organization 1518, and of which Fonseca was president,

and Vega, Zapata, Peter Martyr, and Padilla were members.

It was the first of August, 1524, that the office proper

of the Council of the Indies was created. See _Solorzano_,

_Politica Indiana_, ii. 394. The decree of final organization

may be found in the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 228. It sets forth

that in view of the great benefits, under divine favor, the

crown daily receives by the enlargement of the realm, the

monarch by the grace of God feeling his obligation to govern

these kingdoms well, for the better service of God and the

well-being of those lands, it was ordered that there should

always reside at court this tribunal. It should have a

president; the grand chancellor of the Indies should also be

a councillor; its members, whose number must be eight, should

be _letrados_, men learned in the law. There were to be a

fiscal, two secretaries, and a deputy grand chancellor, all

of noble birth, upright in morals, prudent, and God-fearing

men. There must be, also, three _relatores_, or readers, and

a notary, all of experience, diligence, and fidelity; four

expert _contadores de cuentas_, accountants and auditors;

a treasurer-general; two _solicitadores fiscales_, crown

attorneys; a chief chronicler and cosmographer; a professor

of mathematics; a _tasador_ to tax costs of suits; a lawyer

and a _procurador_ for poor suitors; a chaplain to say

mass on council days; four door-keepers, and a bailiff, all

taking oath on assuming duty to keep secret the acts of the

council. The first president appointed was Fray García de

Loaysa, at the time general of the Dominicans, confessor

of the emperor, and bishop of Osma, and later cardinal and

archbishop of Seville. The first councillors were Luis Vaca,

bishop of the Canary Islands; Gonzalo Maldonado, later bishop

of Ciudad Rodrigo; Diego Beltran; the prothonotary, Pedro

Martyr de Anglería, abbot of Jamaica, and Lorenzo Galindez de

Carbajal. Prado was the first fiscal. A list of the earlier

presidents, councillors, and officials may be found at the

end of _Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales_, in vol. i.

Barcia's edition of Herrera.

The jurisdiction of the council extended to every department,

civil, military, ecclesiastical, and commercial, and no

other council in Spain might have cognizance of any affairs

appertaining to the New World. Two thirds of the members

must approve of any law or ordinance before it was presented

to the king for his signature. In the _Recopilacion de las

Indias_, i. 228-323, is given the legislation on the council

to 1680. Philip II. ordered the council to be obeyed equally

in Spain and in the Indies. Three members were to constitute

a quorum, and sit from three to five hours every day except

holidays. For purposes of temporal government the New World

was to be divided into viceroyalties, provinces of audiencias,

and _chancillerías reales_, or sovereign tribunals of lesser

weight than audiencias, and provinces of the officials of the

royal exchequer, _adelantamientos_, or the government of an

adelantado, _gobernaciones_, or governmentships, _alcaldías

mayores_, _corregimientos_, _alcaldías ordinarias_, and of

the _hermandad_, _concejos de Españoles y de Indios_; and

for spiritual government into archbishoprics and suffragan

bishoprics, abbeys, parishes, and _diezmerías_, or tithing

districts, and provinces of the religious orders. The division

for temporal matters was to conform as nearly as possible

to that for spiritual affairs. The council was commanded to

have for its chief care the conversion and good treatment

of the Indians. The laws made by the Council for the Indies

should conform as nearly as possible to the existing laws

of Spain. In selecting ecclesiastics and civil officers for

the Indies, the greatest care should be exercised that none

but good men were sent, and their final nomination must rest

with the king. Nepotism was strictly prohibited, and offices

were not to be sold. In 1600 Felipe III. ordered that twice

a week should be held a council of war, composed of eight

members, four of whom were councillors of the Indies, and

four specially selected by the king. It was decreed in 1584

that the offices of governors, corregidores, and alcaldes

mayores of the Indies, when bestowed on persons residing

in Spain, should be for five years; when residents in the

Indies were appointed, it should be for three years. Felipe

IV. in 1636 ordered that in the archives of the council,

beside records, should be kept manuscripts and printed books

treating on matters moral, religious, historical, political,

and scientific, touching the Indies, all that had been or

should be issued; and publishers of books of this class were

required by law to deposit one copy each in these archives.

Two keys were ordered kept, one by the councillor appointed by

the president, and the other by the senior secretary. And when

the archives of the council became too full, a portion might

be sent to Simancas. It was early ordered that the chronicler

of the council should write a history, natural and political,

of the Indies, every facility being afforded him; and before

drawing his last quarter's salary each year, he must present

what he had written. So it was with the cosmographer, who was

to calculate eclipses, compile guide-books, prepare tables

and descriptions, and give an annual lecture. The regulations

governing this august body were most wise, and it was the

constant aim of the Spanish monarchs to increase its power and

sustain its authority. Its jurisdiction extended over half

the world, being absolute on sea and land. By it viceroys

were made and unmade, also presidents and governors; and, in

ecclesiastical rule, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and

lesser spiritual dignitaries. His Holiness himself was second

here. All bulls or briefs of indulgences issued by the pope

must be laid before the _Consejo de Cruzada_, and pass through

the Council of the Indies. The Consejo de Indias continued

in Spain till by a law of the Cortes, March 24, 1834, it

was abolished, as indeed was the _Consejo de Castilla_. The

judicial functions of the two were vested in the _Tribunal

Supremo de España é Indias_; their executive powers in the

_Consejo Real de España é Indias_, both being created by the

same law.

The next most important agency in the management of New

World affairs was the _Casa de Contratacion_, house or board

of trade, supreme in commercial matters, save only in its

subordination to the Consejo de Indias, in common with every

other power below absolute royalty. As before stated, on the

return of Columbus from his first voyage, Fonseca, with two or

three assistants, was appointed to take charge of the business

appertaining to the discovery, the nature or importance of

which was then but faintly conceived. This Indian office or

agency was established at Seville, with a branch office in

the form of a custom-house at Cádiz. But before the expiration

of the first decade the New World business had so increased,

and the New World dimensions were so rapidly expanding, that

it was found necessary to enlarge the capabilities and powers

of the India Office; hence by decrees of January 20, and June

5, 1503, was ordered established at Seville the _Casa de

Contratacion de las Indias_, or India house of trade, that

commerce between the mother country and the Indian colonies

might be promoted. The first cédula ordered the office

placed in the arsenal, the second in a building known as the

_alcazar viejo_, and in that part of it called the _cuarto de

los almirantes_, or admirals' quarters. The board consisted

of a president, three royal officers, or judges, to wit,

treasurer, auditor, and factor; also three judges bred to the

law; one fiscal, and other lesser officers and attendants.

Among the first to serve, beside Fonseca, were Sancho de

Matienzo, a canon of Seville, treasurer; Francisco Pinelo,

factor, or general agent; and Jimeno de Berviesca, contador,

or auditor. By law those three officers were to reside in the

building; and were to despatch all ships going to the Indies,

and receive all merchandise coming thence. In all which

they were scrupulously to respect the agreement made with

Columbus by the sovereigns. They were, moreover, to proclaim

that licenses for discovery and trade would be given, under

just conditions, to all seeking them and filing commensurate

bonds. See _Nueva España_, _Brev. Res._ MS.; _Veitia Linage_,

_Norte de la Contratacion_; _Recop. de Indias_; _Solorzano_,

_Pol. Ind._; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Bib. Leg. Ult._; _Young's

Hist. Mex._, 40-6; _Democratic Review_, i. 264-9; _Walton's

Exposé_, 24; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 65-8; _Revolution in

Sp. Am._, 5-6; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 916-17. An

officer appointed by the king resided at Cádiz to despatch

vessels under the supervision of the Casa de Contratacion.

The India House was a court of judicature no less than a

board of trade; it had cognizance in all civil, criminal,

and commercial questions arising from the traffic of Spain

with the Indies, appeal being to the Council of the Indies.

I will mention a few only of the more important of the many

minor orders regulating this board. The volume and variety

of its business rapidly increased from year to year. In 1510

Diego Colon was instructed to inform its officers concerning

all that he should write to the king. The board was obliged

to possess itself of the minutest knowledge concerning

New World affairs, and of persons asking permission to go

thither, and in the execution of its duties it was not to

be interfered with even by royal officers of high rank. The

actual powers conferred on the three officials first named

by Queen Juana are not given by any of the chronicles, or

collections of laws, which I have examined. Indeed, the powers

and jurisdiction of the board were never clearly defined

until the issuing of the ordinances of the 23d of August,

1543, known as the _ordenanzas de la casa_, and which should

not be confounded with the _ordenanzas_ of other years. Every

day but feast-days the board should meet for business, and

remain in session for three hours in the forenoon, and on

the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the

despatch of ships. Absence involved primarily loss of pay,

and finally loss of office. If this be not time sufficient

for the business, they must take more time. The president and

judges together should transact the business; a judge might

not act singly except upon a matter referred to him by all.

The notary should keep in his book an account of the hours of

absence among the officers. Before the platform on which sat

the judges, benches were ordered placed for the convenience

of the _visitadores_, or inspectors of ships, and such other

honorable persons having business there as should be invited

by the tribunal to sit. The authorities of Seville should not

interfere in the trial and punishment of crimes committed on

board ships sailing to and from the Indies. If the penalty

was death or mutilation, the offender was to be tried by the

three judges, members of the board, learned in the law. In the

civil suits of private persons, appertaining to the Indies,

litigants were given the option of bringing their disputes

before the judges of the India House, or before the ordinary

justice of Seville. Disputes arising from shipwreck, loss of

cargo, and frauds connected therewith, were all brought before

the India House. Traders to the Indies residing in Seville

were authorized to meet and elect a prior and consul, or

consuls, which consulate should be called the _Universidad de

los Cargadores á las Indias_, and hold their meetings in the

Casa de Contratacion. No foreigner, his son or grandson could

so hold office. This consulate had cognizance in disputes

between these merchants and factors in matters relative to

purchases, sales, freights, insurance, and bankruptcy, all

being subordinate to the regular tribunal of the India House.

Appeals were from the consulate to one of the regular judges

selected annually to that duty. The consulate could address

the king only through the Casa de Contratacion, and government

despatches from the Indies must be forwarded by the board.

As justice alone was the object of these merchants, and not

chicanery, or the distortion of evidence, parties to suits

before the consulate were not allowed lawyers. That harmony

might be maintained, the Casa de Contratacion should carry

out the orders of the _audiencia de grados_ of Seville, if

deemed conformable to law, and to existing regulations of

the board. Communications from the board to the king must be

signed by the president and judges conjointly, and no letter

must treat of more than a single subject. All gold, silver,

pearls, and precious stones coming from the Indies were first

to be deposited in the India House, and thence distributed to

the owners. The king's share was to be placed in a safe with

three keys, or if this was too small, then in a room having

three keys. Other safes were to be kept, one for each kind

of property. Accounts of receipts at the India House were

to be rendered the king every year. The board must render an

annual statement of its expenditures on _religiosos_ sent to

the Indies. Felipe IV. ordered that the board should collect

from all ships and merchandise, including a _pro rata_ on the

king's share, the cost for convoying them forth and back.

Such was the famous India House at Seville, modest in its

beginning, mighty in its accomplishments, through which passed

into Spain the almost fabulous wealth of Spanish America.

[V-14] _Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_,

of which I make general use in referring to the laws passed

in Spain for the regulation of the affairs of the New World,

is the result of several previous efforts in the direction of

compilation. It was published at Madrid, the first edition in

four volumes, by order of Cárlos II. in 1681, and the fourth

edition in three volumes, under the direction of the Royal

and Supreme Council of the Indies, in 1791. The work aimed

to embody all laws in force at the date of the respective

editions relative to the Spanish American colonies. The three

volumes are divided into nine books, and each book into from

eight to forty-six titles. The first title of the first book

is _De la Santa Fe Católica_, a subject then second to none

in grave importance. In fact the whole of the first book is

devoted to ecclesiastical and kindred matters. The second book

refers in the main to tribunals and officials; the third in

a great measure to the army; the fourth to discoveries and

settlements; the fifth to executive and judicial offices;

the sixth to Indians, including treatment, repartimientos and

encomiendas; the seventh to crimes and punishments; the eighth

to the management of the royal treasury; and the ninth to the

India House and the commerce of the Indies. By a decree of

the emperor in 1550, which was embodied in the ordinances of

audiencias in 1563, by Philip II., it was ordered that all

_cédulas_ and _provisiones_ should be copied _in extenso_

in a book set apart for that service, and of which great

care should be taken, and that the said documents were to be

filed chronologically in the archives of each audiencia. In

1571, by Philip II., it was decreed, and the decree embodied

in the _Recopilacion_ of 1680, that cédulas and provisiones

concerning the royal treasury should be kept in a separate

book.

The earliest printed collection of laws relating solely to

the Indies is that of the _ordenanzas_ for the government of

the audiencia of Mexico. This was issued in 1548. In 1552 a

similar collection was made by order of the viceroy of Peru,

Antonio de Mendoza, for the government of the audiencia of

Lima, but was not printed at that time. Later the fiscal

of Mexico, Antonio Maldonado, began a compilation to which

he gave the name _Repertorio de las Cedulas, Provisiones,

i Ordenanzas Reales_, but it does not appear that he ever

completed his task, although a royal cédula in 1556 authorized

him to do so. Upon the representation in 1552 by Francisco

Hernandez de Liébana, fiscal of the Council of the Indies,

of the urgent necessity of such a work, a royal cédula was

issued in 1560, directing the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de

Velasco, to have prepared and printed such regulations as were

in force within the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Mexico,

which was done in 1563 under the direction of Vasco de Puga,

oidor of the audiencia. Francisco de Toledo, sent from Spain

in 1569 as viceroy of Peru, was ordered to make a similar

compilation covering the limits of his viceroyalty, but it was

afterward thought better the work should be done in Spain.

Hence in 1570 Philip II. ordered made a general compilation

of laws and provisions for the government of the Indies, which

was intended as a code, obsolete laws being omitted, new ones

provided where necessary, and those in conflict reconciled.

Of this work, from some cause not satisfactorily explained,

probably from the death of the author, only the title relating

to the Consejo de Indias and its ordenanzas was printed,

although the whole of the first book had been prepared.

In 1581 some ordinances relative to the Casa de Contratacion

and its judges were printed at Madrid; and more of a

similar nature in 1585, beside the _Leyes y Ordenanzas_ for

the government of the Indies, and the ordinances of 1582

concerning the despatch of fleets for New Spain and Tierra

Firme, printed at Madrid; and in Guatemala the _ordenanzas_ of

July 14, 1556, relating to the _Universidad de los Mercaderes

de Sevilla_. In 1594 the marqués de Cañete, viceroy of Peru,

published at Lima a small volume of ordinances relative to

the good treatment of the Indians. But the want of a general

compilation becoming more and more apparent, Diego de Encinas,

a clerk in the office of the king's secretary, was ordered

to prepare a copy of all _provisiones_, _cédulas_, _cartas_,

_ordenanzas_, and _instrucciones_ despatched prior to 1596,

which work was printed at Madrid, in four folio volumes, the

same year. Harrisse is mistaken when he says these volumes

were suppressed, not having been authorized; for not only

is their authorization distinctly stated over the king's

own hand in the enacting clause of the _Recopilacion de las

Indias_, May 18, 1680, where it says that Philip II. ordered

Encinas to do this work, but that owing to their faulty

arrangement the volumes 'aun no han satisfecho el intento de

recopilar en forma conveniente,' which clearly shows them to

have been in use up to that time. Shortly after this, Alvar

Gomez de Abaunza, oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, and

subsequently _alcalde del crímen_ of the audiencia of Mexico,

compiled two large volumes under the title of _Repertorio

de Cedulas Reales_, which were not printed. And in Spain,

Diego de Zorrilla made an attempt to revive the project

of the _recopilacion de leyes_, by making extracts from

Encinas and adding laws of later date; but having received

an appointment as oidor of the audiencia of Quito, he left

the work incomplete and in manuscript. Others made similar

attempts; I shall not be able to enumerate them all, or give

a full list even of the printed collections. For example, in

1603 was published at Valladolid a folio entitled _Ordenanças

Reales del Consejo de Indias_, and another thin folio called

_Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para

la gouernaciõ de las Indias_; later appeared a folio entitled

_Ordenanças de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla_, and

another, _Ordenanças Reales para el gobierno de los Tribunales

de Contaduría Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias_. In 1606

Hernando de Villagomez began to arrange cédulas and other laws

relating to the Indies; and two years after, the celebrated

conde de Lémos being president of the Council, Villagomez,

and Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, member of the Council of

the Indies, were appointed a committee to compile the laws;

but nothing came of it, even Fernando Carrillo failing to

complete their unfinished task. Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,

oidor of the audiencia of Lima, also began a collection of

cédulas, and sent to the Council of the Indies the first book

of his contemplated work, with the titles of the other five

books which he intended to compile. In a _carta real_ he was

thanked for what he had done, and charged to continue his

labors, sending each book as prepared to the Council. I have

no evidence that he did so.

All this time our book was a-building, and indeed for 170

years more. A complete history of this one work would fill

a volume; obviously in a bibliographical note, even of undue

length, only the more prominent agencies and incidents of its

being can be touched upon.

We come now to the time when Antonio de Leon Pinelo, judge

in the India House, presented to the Council of the Indies

the first and second books, nearly complete, of his _Discurso

sobre la importancia, forma, y disposicion de la Recopilacion

de Leies de Indias_, which was printed in one volume, folio,

in 1623. This was in reality Encinas' work with some cédulas

added. Meanwhile it appears that some direct official work

was done on a compilation, for in 1624 we find the Council

instructing Pinelo to enter into relations with the custodian

of the material for the compilation. Pinelo was likewise

authorized to examine the archives of the Council; and for two

years he employed himself continuously in examining some 500

MS. volumes of cédulas, containing over 300,000 documents.

In the law authorizing the _Recopilacion de las Indias_ of

1680, it is said that in 1622 the task had been entrusted to

Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, probably the custodian referred

to. In 1628 it was thought best to print for the use of the

Council an epitome of the part completed; hence appeared

the _Sumarios de la Recopilacion General de las Leies de las

Indias_. Aguiar y Acuña dying, Pinelo worked on alone until

1634, when the Council approved of what had been done; and in

the year following this indefatigable and learned man had the

satisfaction of presenting the completed _Recopilacion de las

Indias_. To one of the members, Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,

the work was referred, and received his approbation in 1636.

More than half a million of cédulas had been examined and

classified during the progress of this compilation. And yet

it was not published; and during the delay it was becoming

obsolete, and new material and partial compilations were being

made both in Spain and in America, some of which were printed

in separate pieces. In 1634 the _Ordenanzas de la Junta de

Guerra de Indias_ were published; in 1646 Juan Diez de la

Calle compiled and published for the Council of the Indies

in small quarto a memorial containing some of the cédulas of

the _Recopilacion_. A useful aid for the study of statistic

geography in America is to be found in the exceedingly rare

_Memorial y Noticias Sacras y Reales del Imperio de las Indias

Occidentales_. By Iuan Diez de la Calle, 1646, sm. 4to, 183

folios. A register for the Spanish colonies, chiefly of state

and church officials, of towns, their wealth and notable

objects. Folios 41-132 refer to the jurisdictions of the

audiencias of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Guatemala. Calle had in

the previous year, as assistant chief clerk to the secretary

of the Royal Council of the Indies, presented the work to the

king as _Memorial Informatorio al Rey_, and in accordance with

his approval it had been reprinted with additions as above.

Encouraged hereby he wrote at greater length the _Noticias

Sacras i Reales_ in twelve libros, the publication of which

was begun, but never finished. Puga's work was continued in

the form of an _Inventario_ of the cédulas relating to New

Spain issued from 1567-1620, the manuscript being presented

to the secretary of the New Spain department of the Council

of the Indies by Francisco de Párraga, afterward forming part

of the Barcia collection. In 1647 appeared at Seville the

_Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y

para otras cosas de las Indias_; in 1658 Pinelo published at

Madrid the _Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno del real

y supremo consejo de las Indias_. In 1661 there was printed

at Madrid a folio entitled _Ordenanzas para remedio de los

daños, é inconvenientes que se siguen de los descaminos i

arribadas maliciosas de los Navios que navegan de las Indias

Occidentales_; and in 1672 the _Norte de la Contratacion

de las Indias Occidentales_ of Ioseph de Veitia Linage was

published at Seville. J. Stevens translated this last work

into English and published it in London in 1702.

The many and long periods of suspended animation of the

_Recopilacion de Indias_, between its inception and its birth,

is no less remarkable a feature in the history of the work

than its multiplicity of origins and collateral affluents. In

1660 the case was brought before the king, and then referred

to successive committees, in each of which were several

members of the Council, the whole being under the supervision

of their successive presidents, until finally, on the 18th of

May, 1680, a royal decree made the _Recopilacion de Indias_

law, and all ordinances conflicting therewith null. Even

now printing did not seem to be at first thought of. Two

authenticated copies were ordered made, one to be kept in the

archives of the Council, and the other at Simancas. It was

soon seen, however, that this was not sufficient, and in 1681

the king ordered the book printed under the superintendence

of the Council of the Indies, which was done. Although the

_Recopilacion de Indias_ was several times revised, and well

fulfilled its mission for over a hundred years, in fact to

the end of Spain's dominion in America, several partial

collections appeared from time to time in Spain and in

America. Among these were _Sumarios de las Cédulas ... que

se han despachado ... desde el año 1628 ... hasta ... 1677_,

printed in Mexico in 1678; _Ordenanzas del Perù_, Lima,

1685; also the _Ordenanhas de Cruçada, para los Subdelegados

del Perù_; _Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio

Libre de España à Indias_, 1778; _Teatro de la legislacion

universal de España e Indias_, by Antonio Javier Perez y

Lopez, 28 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1791-8. In the various public and

private archives of Spain and Spanish America are manuscript

collections of cédulas and compilations on special subjects.

[VI-1] The world was at a loss at first what to call the

newly found region to the westward. It was easy enough to

name the islands, one after another, as they were discovered,

but when the Spaniards reached the continent they were

backward about giving it a general name. Everything was so

dark and uncertain; islands were mistaken for continent, and

continent for islands. The simple expression New World that

fell with the first exclamations of wonder from the lips of

Europeans on learning of the success of Columbus sufficed

for a time as a general appellation. More general and more

permanent was the name India, arising from the mistake that

this was the farther side or eastern shore of India, applied

at first to the continent as well as to the islands, and

which fastened itself permanently on the people as well as

on the country. 'Segun la opinion mas probable, que penetró

hasta aquellos parages, y tambien mas comunmente se da à este

nuevo mundo descubierto, el nombre de Indias Occidentales,

para distinguirlas de las verdaderas que están situadas en la

Asia à nuestro Oriente entre el Indo, y el Ganges.' _Nueva

España, Brev. Res._, MS. i. 3. As the coast line of the

continent extended itself and became known as such it was very

naturally called by navigators _tierra firme_, firm land, in

contradistinction to the islands which were supposed to be

less firm. And, indeed, not the islands only, but the people

of the islands are inconstant, the moon being mistress of

the waters. As Las Casas, _Hist. Indias_, iii. 395, puts it,

'La naturaleza dellos no les consiente tener perseverancia en

la virtud, quier por ser insulares, que naturalmente tienen

ménos constancia, por ser la luna señora de las aguas.' The

name Tierra Firme, thus general at first, in time became

particular. As a designation for an unknown shore it at first

implied only the Continent. As discovery unfolded, and the

magnitude of this Firm Land became better known, new parts

of it were designated by new names, and Tierra Firme became

a local appellation in place of a general term. Paria being

first discovered, it fastened itself there; also along the

shore to Darien, Veragua, and on to Costa Rica, where at no

well defined point it stopped, so far as the northern seaboard

was concerned, and in due time struck across to the South

Sea, where the name marked off an equivalent coast line. Lopez

Vaz, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 1433, says, 'From this

Land of Veragua vnto the Iland of Margereta, the Coast along

is called the _firme Land_, not for that the other places

are not of the firme Land, but because it was the first firme

Land that the Spaniards did conquer after they had past the

Ilands.' In the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 324, is a law dated

1535, and repeated 1537, 1538, 1563, 1570, 1571, and 1588,

which places within the limits of the kingdom of Tierra Firme

the province of Castilla del Oro. As a political division

Tierra Firme had existence for a long time. It comprised the

provinces of Darien, Veragua, and Panamá, which last bore

also the name of Tierra Firme as a province. The extent of

the kingdom was 65 leagues in length by 18 at its greatest

breadth, and nine leagues at its smallest width. It was

bounded on the east by Cartagena, and the gulf of Urabá and

its river; on the west by Costa Rica, including a portion

of what is now Costa Rica; and on the north and south by the

two seas. On the maps of _Novvs Orbis seu descriptionis Indiæ

Occidentalis_ by De Laet, 1633, and of _Ogilby's America_,

1671, the Isthmus is called Tierra Firme. Villagutierre

writes in 1701, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 12, 'Tierra-Firme de la

Costa de Paria, ò Provincia, que llamò de Veragua; principio

de los dilatados Reynos de aquel Nuevo, y Grande Emisferio.'

Neither Guatemala, Mexico, nor any of the lands to the north

were ever included in Tierra Firme. English authors often

apply the Latin form, Terra Firma, to this division, which is

misleading.

The early Spanish writers were filled with disgust by the

misnomer America. Pizarro y Orellana, _Varones Ilvstres_,

in his preface speaks of the 'Nueva, y riquissima Parte

del Mundo, que se llama vulgarmẽte _America_, y nosotros

llamamos _Fer-Isabelica_;' and throughout his book the

author persists, where 'Nuovo Mundo' is not employed, in

calling America Fer-Isabelica, that is to say Ferdinand and

Isabella, an attempt at name-changing no less futile than

bungling. This was in 1639. If with these seventeenth-century

writers the name Columbia, the only appropriate one for the

New World, smacked too strongly of Genoa, they might have

called it Pinzonia, which would have been in better taste, at

least, than in bestowing the honor on the cold and haggling

sovereigns. Jules Marcou, like thousands of his class who

seek fame through foolishness, writes in the _Atlantic

Monthly_, March, 1875, to prove that the name America came

from a mountain range in Nicaragua, called by the natives

Americ, which became a synonym for the golden mainland, first

at the islands and then in Europe, until it finally reached

the foot of the Vosges, where Waldsee-Müller, or Hylacomylus

of Saint Dié, confuses it with the name of Vespucci, and is

led to print in the preface of Vespucci's Voyages:—'And the

fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus

may well be called Amerige, which is as much as to say, the

land of Americus, or America.' Had the name been so early

and so commonly applied to Tierra Firme, it is strange that

some one of the many Spanish writers in the Indies or in

Spain had not employed it or mentioned it. Villagutierre in

1701 endorses the effort made by Pizarro y Orellana in 1639,

saying, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 13, that the New World should have

been called after the Catholic sovereigns, 'de cuya orden,

y à cuyas expensas se descubrian.' He states further, on the

authority of Simon, that the Council of the Indies as late as

1620 talked of changing the name, but were deterred by the

inconvenience involved. Likewise Vetancurt, _Teatro Mex._,

13-15, in 1698 says that the name America should be erased

from history, calling attention to the bull of partition

issued by Pope Adrian VI., which alludes to the new lands

as the Western Part—only it was not Adrian but Alexander

VI. who perpetrated the bull, in which moreover there is no

such term as Western Part used—arguing therefrom that Indias

Occidentales was the most proper term. On the application

and origin of the name America see cap. i. p. 123-5 of this

volume.

[VI-2] Now gulf of Darién. The name Urabá was first applied to

the gulf by Bastidas, or by navigators immediately following

him. Subsequently the territory on the eastern side of the

gulf was called Urabá, and that on the western side Darien. On

Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is the

word _vraba_; on the globe of Orontius, 1531, _Sinus vraba_

is applied to the gulf, and _vrabe_ to the river Atrato.

Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places _G: d

epimeg_ at the southern end of the gulf, which is represented

as very wide. Maiollo, _Munich Atlas_, no. v., 1519, writes

_Vraba_ in small letters at the southern end; also the words

_aldea_, _tera plana_, and _Rio basso_.

[VI-3] Castilla del Oro was for the time but another name

for this part of Tierra Firme. Then Castilla del Oro became

a province of Tierra Firme; for in the _Recop. de Indias_,

ii. 110, we find ordered by the emperor in 1550, 'que la

Provincia de Tierrafirme, llamada Castilla del Oro, sea de

las Provincial del Perú, y no de las de Nueva España.' The

province of Veragua, and the territory 'back of the gulf of

Urabá, where dwelt the cacique Cimaco,' were declared within

the limits of the government of Tierra Firme. Helps, _Span.

Conq._, i. 400, calls a map of that portion of South America

extending from the gulf of Maracaibo to the gulf of Urabá

by the name Castilla del Oro. I have noticed in several

of the early maps the same mistake. Colon and Ribero call

only the Pearl Coast Castilla del Oro. In _West-Indische

Spieghel_, 1624, 64, the country between the Atrato and a

river flowing into the gulf of Venezuela is called Castilla

del Oro. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 320, erroneously narrows

the limits of Nicuesa's government to that 'partie de la

Terre-Ferme placée entre le Veragua et le golfe d'Uraba,

où commençait la governacion de Hojeda;' for Navarrete says

distinctly in his _Noticias biográficas del capitan Alonso

Hojeda_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170, 'Los límites de la

gobernacion de Hojeda eran desde el cabo de la Vela hasta la

mitad del golfo de Urabá, que llamaron _nueva Andalucía_; y

los de la gobernacion de Diego de Nicuesa, que se le concedió

al mismo tiempo, desde la otra mitad del golfo hasta el cabo

de _Gracias á Dios_, que se denominó _Castilla del Oro_.' He

who some time after drew the commission of Pedrarias Dávila as

'Gobernador de la provincia de Castilla del Oro en el Darien,'

is sadly confused in his New World geography when he writes,

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 337, 'Una muy grand

parte de tierra que fasta aquí se ha llamado Tierra-firme,

é agora mandamos que se llame Castilla del Oro, y en ella

ha hecho nuestra gente un asiento en el golfo de Urabá, que

es en la provincia del Darien, que al presente se llama la

provincia de Andalucía la Nueva, é el pueblo se dice Santa

Maria del Antigua del Darien;' and again on the following

page:—'Castilla del Oro, con tanto que no se entienda ni

comprenda en ella la provincia de Verágua, cuya gobernacion

pertenece al Almirante D. Diego Colon por le haber descubierto

el Almirante su padre por su persona, ni la tierra que

descubrieron Vicente Yañez Pinzon é Juan Diaz de Solis, ni la

provincia de Pária.' Oviedo marks the limits plainly enough,

iv. 116, 'Por la costa del Norte tiene hasta Veragua, que lo

que con aquel corresponde en la costa del Sur puede ser la

punta de Chame, que está quince leguas al Poniente de Panamá,

é desde allí para arriba seria Castilla del Oro hasta lo que

respondiesse ó responde de Norte á Sur.' The _Descripcion

Panamá_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 82,

says the official name was _Provincia de Castilla del Oro y

reino de Tierra Firme_, and so remained till the beginning of

the 17th century, and afterward _Bética áurea_, or _Castilla

del oro_, is written in _Décadas_, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,

_Col. Doc._, viii. 14.

[VI-4] And no wonder misunderstandings should arise over a

cédula dividing territory in such words as, 'á vos el dicho

Diego de Nicuesa en el parte de Veragua y el dicho Alonso de

Hojeda en el parte de Urabá.' _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,

iii. 116.

[VI-5] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. i., gives Nicuesa 795, and

Ojeda 300 men. Herrera, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. xi., says that

700 sailed from Española with Nicuesa and 300 with Ojeda. 'No

pudiendo Hojeda por su pobreza aprestar la expedicion, la Cosa

y otros amigos le fletaron una nao, y uno ó dos bergantines,

que con doscientos hombres.' _Noticias biográficas del capitan

Alonso Hojeda_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170.

Benzoni, who pays little heed to numbers or dates, says,

_Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 37, 'Hoieda comprò quattro naui e fece

più di quattrocento soldati alle fue spese, e cosi partì san

Domenico.'

[VI-6] 'Bachiller,' says the English translator of Benzoni,

'has a wider meaning than our word bachelor, signifying also

an inferior order of knighthood.' This is a mistake. The word

has the same corresponding significance in both languages.

It is true that the degree exempts the possessor from certain

obligations, such as personal service, military and municipal,

imprisonment for debt, etc., and grants him certain privileges

enjoyed by noblemen. But this does not make him noble. The

next degree, which is that of licentiate, carries with it

still further privileges, but even this does not constitute

knighthood. The degree of doctor, which follows that of

licentiate and is the highest conferred by the university,

gives the possessor the right to prefix Don to his name, and

places him in nearly every respect on a par with noblemen.

[VI-7] The word _alcalde_ is from the Arabic _al cadi_,

the judge or governor. _Alcalde ordinario_ used formerly to

designate the officer having the immediate superintendency

of a town or city, with cognizance of judicial matters except

those of persons enjoying some privilege (_fuero_). _Alcalde

mayor_ signifies a judge, learned in the law, who exercises

ordinary jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in a town or

district. The office is equivalent to that of district judge

in the United States, the audiencia standing for the supreme

court. There were, however, in the early years, alcaldes

mayores who were not law judges, or men learned in the law;

they governed for the king a town or city not the capital of

a province.

_Corregidor_, a magistrate having civil and criminal

jurisdiction in the first instance (_nisi prius_) and

gubernatorial inspection in the political and economical

government in all the towns of the district assigned to him.

There were _corregidores letrados_ (learned in the law),

_políticos_ (political), _de capa y espada_ (cloak and sword),

and _políticos y militares_ (holding civil and military

authority). All had equal jurisdiction. When the corregidor

or mayor was not by profession a lawyer, unless he had an

_asesor_ of his own, the alcalde mayor, if possessed of legal

knowledge, became his adviser, which greatly increased the

importance of the latter. The alcalde mayor was appointed by

the king. He must be by profession a lawyer, twenty-six years

of age, and of good character. He could neither be a native

of the district in which he was to exercise his functions,

nor could he marry a wife in his district. _Recop. de Indias_,

ii. 113-27 and note. So much for the law. Practically in cases

of this kind, where the governor was not learned in the law,

civil, criminal, and some phases even of military authority

devolved on the alcalde mayor, the two first _ex officio_, and

the last as the legal adviser of the military chief. In new

colonies this officer was invested with powers almost equal

to those of the governor, though of a different kind.

[VI-8] A document prepared by the united wisdom of church

and state, for general use in the Indies, setting forth the

obligations of all good savages to their dual head of Spain

and Rome, with a list of punishments which were to follow

disobedience. Of which more hereafter.

[VI-9] To this day there are tribes in the vicinity of the

Atrato River which have never been subjugated.

[VI-10] I am unable to find this place on any map. Gomara,

_Hist. Ind._, 68, says: 'Començo luego vna fortaleza, y

pueblo, donde se recoger, y assegurar en el mismo lugar que

quatro años antes lo auia comẽçado Iuan dela Cosa. Este fue el

primer pueblo de Españoles en la tierra firme de Indias.' If

the author refers his first town to the former visit of Juan

de la Cosa four years before, I should say that could scarcely

be called an attempted settlement, still less an established

town. If he intimates that this fort of Ojeda's was the first

settlement, then is he wrong, for Belen, in Veragua, was

before this. Whatever he means, and that often is impossible

to determine, in this instance it is safe to say that he is

in error, as San Sebastian can by no possibility have been

the first settlement in Tierra Firme. Herrera writes, i.

vii. xvi.: 'Entrò en el golfo de Vrabà, y buscò el rio del

Darien, que entre los Indios era muy celebrado de oro, y de

gente belicosa, y no le hallando, sobre vnos cerros assentó

vn pueblo, al qual llamò la villa de san Sebastian, tomandole

por abogado contra las flechas de la yerua mortifera: y esta

fue la segunda villa de Castellanos que se poblò, en todo la

tierra firme, auiendo sido la primera la que començò a poblar

el Almirante viejo, en Veragua.' Words to the same effect are

in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 172. It seems rather

premature to call these futile attempts establishing towns.

[VI-11] The first in Tierra Firme, Oviedo says, but he forgets

the landing, for the same purpose, of Bartolomé Colon at Cape

Honduras, Sunday, August 14, 1502.

[VI-12] When Oviedo gravely asserts that Ribero intended

desertion, and was stealing by Belen when he was captured by

Olano, he goes out of his way to make palpable nonsense appear

as truth. Admit them inhuman monsters, which they were not,

whither would four starved helpless wretches desert on this

deadly shore?

[VI-13] Chagre, not Chagres, was the name of the native

province through which this river flows. Near its mouth empty

several small streams, and it was only below the confluence of

these that the term Lagartos for any length of time applied.

Says Alcedo, _Dic._, i., of the River Chagre:—'Lo descubrió

el de 1527 Hernando de la Serna llamándole rio de Lagartos,

y antes su boca Lope de Olano el de 1510.' Oviedo remarks

upon it:—'Algunos han querido deçir que los de aquesta armada

le dieron este nombre, porque ninguna cosa viva saltaba de

los navíos que en pressençia de la gente no se la comiessen

luego muy grandes lagartos, lo qual se experimentó en algunos

perros. Este rio es la boca del rio Chagre.' _Hist. Gen._,

ii. 467. Acosta is somewhat loose in the statement, _Compend.

Hist. Nueva Granada_, 34, 'En la boca del rio Chagres, que

entonces llamaban de los Lagartos por la multitud de caimanes

que Colon habia visto en él.' Vaz Dourado places, on _Munich

Atlas_, no. x., 1571, in this vicinity a river with the word

_chi_. _Munich Atlas_ no. ix. has it _Chiche_. De Laet writes

_R. de Chagre_; Dampier, _R. Chagre_; Jefferys, _R. Chagre_

and _Ft. Chagre_.

[VI-14] The name familiar to cartographers often assumed in

those days peculiar orthography on the maps. Thus Fernando

Colon writes this name _nõbre_; Ribero, _nõb_; Agnese, _nõmbre

de dio_; Vaz Dourado, _nöbre de dios_; Ramusio, _Nome de

dio_; Hondius, in Purchas, _Nom de Dios_; Mercator, Dampier,

Ogilby, the author of _West-Indische Spieghel_, Jefferys, and

their successors, contrary to their frequent custom, all write

the words correctly. This place, as we shall hereafter see,

was for a long time famous as the chief post on the northern

coast of Tierra Firme through which passed the merchandise

from Spain and the gold from Peru. Says Benzoni, _Hist. Mondo

Nvovo_, 79: 'Questa Città stà situata nel mare di Tramontana.

Sogliono adunque communemente ogn'anno andare di Spagna al

Nome di Dio, da quattordici, ò quindici naui, fra piccole,

e grande, e la maggior porterà mille, e ottocento salme;

cariche di robbe diuerse.' Dampier about a century later found

the spot where the city had stood overgrown with trees. Its

abandonment was owing to poisoned air, the same unwholesome

climate that broke up all the early settlements on this coast,

the last being always regarded as the worst.

[VI-15] The original authorities for this chapter are: _Real

Cédula_, etc., in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 116;

_Memorial presentado al Rey por Rodrigo de Colmenares_, in

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 387; _Las Casas_, _Hist.

Ind._, ii. 61; _Oviedo_, ii. 465-78; _Noticias biográficas

del capitan Alonso Hojeda_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,

iii. 163; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 69; _Peter Martyr_, dec.

ii. 2; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. vii. Reference,

mostly unimportant, to the doings of Ojeda and Nicuesa may

be found in _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 18-22; _Roberts' Nar.

Voy._, xviii.-xix.; _Dalton's Conq. Mex. and Peru_, 37-38;

_Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 62-65; _Morelet_, _Voy. dans

l'Amérique Cent._, ii. 300-1; _Laharpe_, _Abrégé_, ix. 160-84;

_Ogilby's Am._, 66-67, 397; _March y Labores_, _Marina

Española_, i. 391-402; _Juan_ and _Ulloa_, _Voy._, i. 94;

_Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 26-36; _Remesal_,

_Hist. Chyapa_, 163; _Andagoya_, _Nar._, 4-5; _Nouvelle An.

des Voy._, cxlviii. 7-10; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist. Am._, i.

66-71, 371-75; _Helps' Span. Conq._, i. 295-334; _Gordon's

Hist. Am._, ii. 62-72; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 29-30;

_Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 37-40; _Gonzalez Dávila_,

_Teatro Ecles._, ii. 57; _Quintana_, _Vidas_, 'Vasco Nuñez,'

1-10, and 'Pizarro,' 42-43; _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in

West_, 171-95; _S. Am. and Mex._, i. 12-14; _Snowden's Am._,

70-1; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i. 191-95; _Irving's Col._,

iii. 66-31; _Russell's Hist. Am._, i. 43-8; _Drake's Voy._,

155-58; _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiii. 179; _Du Perier_,

_Gen. Hist. Voy._, 110-13; _Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones

Ilvstres_, 53-61; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 36-47;

_Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 14; _Bastidas_, _Informacion_,

in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 439; _Décadas_,

in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 14; _Mesa y

Leompart_, _Hist. Am._, i. 85-86; _Touron_, _Hist. Gen. Am._,

i. 275-87; _Lallement_, _Geschichte_, i. 22.

[VII-1] So named by the early settlers of Antigua, probably

because of its being on the other side of the gulf from them,

toward the Carib country. It is now known as Punta Arenas.

Some maps make two points, and give one of the names to each.

[VII-2] Oviedo, ii. 426, says that, with the assistance of

one Hurtado, Vasco Nuñez was hidden in a ship's sail.

[VII-3] 'Der Name _Darien_ (_Dariena_, oder _Tarena_) scheint

zunächst mit dem indianischen Namen des grossen Flusses

Atrato, welcher sich in den Golf von Uraba ausgiesst, seinen

Anfang genommen zu haben. Der erste Eroberer, der in diesen

Golf einsegelte, war Bastidas 1501. Ob er schon den Fluss

Darien gesehen und den Namen nach Europa gebracht hat, ist

ungewiss. Gewiss ist es, das der Name des Flusses Darien

bereits in den Dokumenten und Theilungspakten zwischen Nicuesa

und Ojeda in Jahre 1509 genannt wird.' _Kohl_, _Die Beiden

ältesten General-karten von Amerika_, 116. On Peter Martyr's

map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is _tariene_; on the

globe of Orontius, 1531, the gulf is called _Sinus vraba_,

the river _vrabe_, and the Isthmus _furna dariena_. Salvat de

Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places on the west

side of the gulf of Urabá the word _dariem_. Maiollo, _Munich

Atlas_, no. v., 1519, calls the place _daryen_; Fernando

Colon, 1527, writes _darien_; Diego de Ribero, 1529, _dariẽ_;

_Munich Atlas_, no. vi., 1532-40, _dariem_; Vaz Dourado,

1571, _dariem_; Robert Thorne, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, _Darion_;

_Mercator's Atlas_, 1569; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624;

_Ogilby's Map of America_, 1671; Dampier, 1699, and subsequent

cartographers give the present form.

[VII-4] Ogilby, _Am._, 66, entertains a dim conception of the

fact when he says, 'Ancisus pursuing, found in a Thicket of

Canes, or Reeds a great Treasure of Gold.'

[VII-5] 'De que hoy no quedan ni vestigios,' says Acosta.

Nor do I find laid down on any map in my possession the town

of Santa María, or Antigua, or Darien, by which names this

place has been severally designated. Puerto Hermoso, placed

by Colon at the south-western extremity of the gulf of Urabá,

_p: hermosso_, and also by Ribero, _po hmoso_, is supposed to

have been the anchorage of Enciso and the harbor of Antigua.

Oviedo, i. 4, in endeavoring to fasten upon the place the

name _La Guardia_, confuses himself beyond extrication. 'En

la cibdad del Darien (que tambien se llamó antes la Guardia)

é despues santa Maria del Antigua.'

[VII-6] _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde

Santa María del Darien, 20 de Enero de 1513_, in _Navarrete_,

_Col. de Viages_, iii. 358. That Enciso has been properly

represented as a vain and shallow man is proved by a reference

to his book, _Suma de Geographia_, 2, wherein he does not

hesitate to patronize the boy-emperor 'whose youth had not

permitted him to read much of geography.' 'Por tanto yo Martin

Fernandez de Enciso alguazil mayor dela tierra firme delas

Indias ocidentales llamada castilla dl oro. Desseando hazer

algun seruicio a vuestra. s. c. c. m. que le fuesse agradable

y no menos prouechoso, cõsiderando que la poca edad de vuestra

real alteza no ha dado lugar a que pudiesse leer los libros

que dela geographia hablan.' And that he was as beastly in

his bigotry and cruelty as his less learned companions we

may know from what he himself wrote the king, _Pacheco_ and

_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 449, about the caciques who kept

men dressed as women, and used as such, 'and when I took

Darien, we seized and burned them, and when the women saw

them burning they manifested joy.' Compare _Oviedo_, ii.

425-27, 472-76; and iii. 7; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. viii.

cap. v.-vii.; and lib. ix. cap. l; or, if one will have it in

Dutch, _Ezquebel_, _Aankomst_, 30-8, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_,

i.; _Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 33-8; _Drake's

Voy._, 157-58; _Norman's Hist. Cal._, 10; _Patton's Hist.

U. S._, 11; _Ogilby's Am._, 399; _March y Labores_, _Marina

Española_, i. 413-23; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 41-5;

_Harper's Mag._, xviii. 468; _Bidwell's Panamá_, 27-28; and

_Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1087.

[VII-7] As I have before observed, there were alcaldes

of various denominations, duties, and jurisdictions. In

new discoveries, when the chief of the expedition had not

contracted with the king for the appointing of authorities,

the settlers met and elected one or more alcaldes and

regidores. The alcalde, in the absence of the governor or

military chief, presided over the municipal council, composed

of regidores who governed the municipality, or _regimiento_,

as it was then called. The alcalde was also the executive

power, exercising the functions of judge, with original

jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal, those relating

to the natives excepted. In the absence of the adelantado he

was therefore chief in authority, and when the governor was

present, the alcalde was second. Alcaldes in new settlements,

and in early times, were different from those created later.

Their duties covered the emergency. In the present instance,

had Enciso continued to exercise the office of alcalde mayor,

regidores might still have been elected to attend to the

affairs of the municipality, in which case no alcaldes would

have been elected, for Enciso himself would have presided.

[VII-8] Regidores, or members of the municipal council,

were elected by the residents of a ward or district. Cities

were entitled to twelve, towns to six, and villages or small

settlements were limited to three or even less.

[VII-9] The name of a Spanish settlement midway between

Cape de la Vela and Cartagena, and sometimes applied to the

territory in that vicinity.

[VII-10] The _procurador de la ciudad_, called afterward

_síndico procurador_, and later still _síndico_, was an

officer of the municipal council, whose duty it was to see

the city ordinances enforced, bring suit for and defend the

city in any suit, performing the functions of city attorney,

beside having a seat in the common council of the city.

[VII-11] Benzoni asserts that after leaving Antigua, Nicuesa

followed the coast for some distance, but landing one day for

water, he was seized by cannibals, who captured the vessel

and devoured the men. 'E cosi Niquesa molto dolente se ne

parti, e per quella costa andando salto in terra per piglior

acqua, e su da paesani ucciso, e poi mangiato con tutti i

suoi compagni, e questo su la fine della vita di Diego di

Niquesa, con la sua armata di Veragua.' _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_,

i. 47. A story was current for a time that they had been

thrown on Cuba, where all perished, leaving inscribed upon

a tree, 'Here ended the unfortunate Nicuesa.' Las Casas and

Herrera, however, are of opinion that his vessel foundered

at sea. 'Algunos imaginaron que aportò a Cuba, y que los

Indios le mataron, porque andando ciertos Castellanos por la

isla hallarõ escrito en un arbol: Aqui feneciò el desdichado

Nicuesa: pero esto se tuvo por los hombres mas verdaderos, por

falso, porque los primeros que entraron en Cuba, afermaron

nunca aver oydo tal nueva. Lo que se tuvo por mas cierto,

es, que como llenava tan mal navio, y las mares de aquellas

partes son ton bravas, y vehementes, la mesma mar lo tragara

facilmente, o que pereceria de hãbre, y de sed.' _Herrera_, i.

viii. viii. But his fate must forever remain a mystery; and

he one among the many whose visionary hopes have been buried

beneath these waters; one among the many who, having left home

with sanguine expectations, sailed over these seas in quest

of gold or adventure, never again to be heard from! It is

easy, after a failure, to find the mistake. Many of Nicuesa's

misfortunes sprang not from any fault, and yet faults, in

place of nobler qualities, were developed by his misfortunes.

[VIII-1] Oviedo, ii. 477, is obviously wrong in saying over

six hundred.

[VIII-2] 'Il Baccelliero non poteva mostrare le Reali sue

prouisioni per bauerle per dute nella naue, che si ruppe nel

Golfo d'Vraua.' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, i. 47. There

were those who told Peter Martyr that Enciso was thus punished

by providence for having advised the expulsion of Nicuesa.

[VIII-3] Martin Fernandez de Enciso first came to the Indies

with Bastidas. After practising law for a time successfully

at Santo Domingo, he was tempted to this expedition, as

we have seen, by Ojeda, upon the promise of the office of

alcalde mayor. Though a pettifogger in his profession, he

was nevertheless possessed of worth and ability in other

directions. In Darien, while in the main well meaning, he

was unable to cope successfully with shrewder intellects

sharpened by New World experiences. After his return to Spain

he published a work, entitled _Suma de geografiã q̃ trata de

todas las partidas & prouincias del mundo: en especial de las

indias, y trata largamẽte del arte del marear: Juntamete con

la esphera en romãce: con el regimiento del Sol & del norte:

nueuamente hecha_. As the title indicates, the book purports

to be a compendium of universal geography, treating of all

parts of the world, but including the little that was then

known of the Indies. That part relating to the New World was

made up in a great measure from his own observations. And

yet it resembles too nearly the usual summaries of the period

to be of much value. The first third of the work is devoted

to the science of geography, with astronomical tables and a

résumé of early Spanish history. Then the physical features of

Spain, and Europe generally, are given, and finally a rambling

account of Asia, Africa, and America. It was printed at

Seville by a German, Jakob Cromberger, in 1519. Other editions

appeared in 1530 and 1546. My edition is dated 1530, the part

relating to America occupying the last eight folios of the

book. Bibliographers believe this the first book relative to

the New World printed in the Spanish language. 'Livre curieux,

parce qu'il est le premièr traité de géographie impr. en

Espagne, où l'on trouve des détails sur l'Amérique.' _Brunet_,

_Manuel du Libraire_. 'Apparently the first book printed in

Spanish relating to America.' _Rich_, _Bibliotheca Americana

Vetus_. 'L'ouvrage rare et très remarquable.' _Humboldt_,

_Examen Critique_, iv. 306. 'A great hydrographer and

explorer, his work is invaluable for the early geographical

history of the continent.' _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca Americana

Vetustissima_. Navarrete says: 'Escribió Enciso un papel muy

curioso sobre si los conquistadores españoles podian tener y

poseer indios encomendados, contra los frailes dominicos que

decian que no, y se opusieron al despacho de la expedicion de

Pedrarias Dávila, so pretexto de que el Rey no podia enviar

á hacer tales conquistas.' And in his _Epitome_, Pinelo

remarks: 'Trata en su _Suma Geografia_ del Arte de Navegar,

de la Esfera, y de las quatro partes del Mundo, especialmente

de las Indias, i es el primero que imprimió _Obra Geografica_

de ellas.' Indeed, this last was said in 1738, and subsequent

bibliographers have repeated it.

[VIII-4] For definition see chapter xv. note 1, this volume.

[VIII-5] It was the _cárcel_, whether jail or pen. In newly

settled towns, and in some country villages where jails were

not built, it was customary to construct a small enclosure on

the plaza near the _casa consistorial_, or municipal hall, in

which to confine prisoners till sent to the capital of the

province, or elsewhere, for trial. Those convicted of petty

municipal offences were likewise incarcerated in this pen.

Inside were stocks, the better to secure great offenders.

[VIII-6] In popular parlance, _acogerse á santuario_, or

_acogerse á sagrado_, or _tomar iglesia_, the protection

afforded criminals who sought refuge in a church or other

sacred asylum. As we shall often meet with the custom in this

history I will state briefly what it was. It is well known

that from the earliest times, in both heathen and Jewish

societies, the right of asylum, or right of sanctuary, has

existed, in degrees more or less modified by time, down to

the present day. In Spanish-America it was in vogue as late

as a quarter of a century ago. Originally the idea implied

the right of appeal from the judgment of men to the justice

of God. The Creator himself, it is said, set the example

by placing a mark on Cain, the first murderer, that none

might kill him; and Moses and Joshua, under divine sanction,

established cities of refuge, whither certain involuntary

offenders might flee and find safety. Later, the founders of

cities offered asylum to outlaws for the purpose of increasing

the population. To this custom is attributed in a measure the

existence, or at least the importance, of Athens, Thebes, and

other cities. Instead of making the whole city an asylum, a

certain locality was sometimes assigned for that purpose;

thus tradition says that one of the first acts of Romulus

preparatory to building his city was to set apart Palatine

Hill as a place of refuge. Sacred groves were asylums; also

temples to the gods, and religious houses. Notably the groves

of the Grecians, and the Erechtheium of Athens, the temple

of Artemis at Ephesus, and that of Apollon at Miletus. With

the advent of Christianity, to increase their influence, the

clergy secured this privilege for their churches. In the time

of Constantine all Christian churches afforded refuge, and

Theodosius II. included in this right all houses belonging to

the church, with their courts and gardens. In France and Spain

not only the church and its surroundings afforded protection,

but all chapels, cloisters, abbeys, monasteries, cemeteries,

tombs, crosses, and in short all religious monuments.

Frequently a stone bench, called the stone of peace, was

placed for refugees within the church near the altar. The

priests assured the people that they would be visited by

dire calamities if they violated this right. Gradually,

however, the practice diminished. Though the culprit must

not be forcibly dragged from the church, he might be enticed

thence, or starved out, or smoked out. Then the more abhorred

criminals, as heretics and murderers, were denied protection;

and the number of places was reduced. Clement XIV., in 1772,

limited the number to one or two in each town, though no one

sheltered by the roof of a church might be torn thence without

an order from the ecclesiastical judge. The right of churches

to extend protection over minor offenders was recognized long

after it became the custom for the clergy to deliver rank

offenders for punishment. The superstition was respected, as

we have seen, in the wilds of the New World by the distempered

colonists of Darien. Nor was England free from it; to this day

there are places in France, and in Scotland, Holyrood abbey

and palace, where a debtor may not be arrested. For a good

treatise on right of sanctuary, and on immunity of religious

persons and places, see _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 288

et seq.

[VIII-7] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. iv., thinks Valdivia

carried away 300 pounds of gold. In the words of his

quaint English translator:—'This pound of eight ounces, the

Spanyardes call Marcha, whiche in weight amounteth to fiftie

pieces of golde called Castellani, but the Castilians call

a pound Pesum. We conclude therefore, that the summe hereof,

was xv. thousande of those peeces of gold called Castellani.

And thus is it apparent by this accompt, that they receiued of

the barbarous kings a thousande and fyue hundred poundes, of

eight ounces to the pounde: all the whiche they founde readie

wrought in sundry kindes of ouches, as cheynes, braselets,

tabletes, and plates, both to hang before their brestes, and

also at their eares, and nosethrils.

[VIII-8] Quintana thinks the amount was too small, or that it

never reached him; for as events unfolded Pasamonte proved

himself no less friendly to Enciso than hostile to Vasco

Nuñez. It seems never to occur to a Spaniard that a public

officer could refuse a bribe. As it was, Pasamonte did favor

Vasco Nuñez.

[VIII-9] We shall see everywhere, from Darien to Alaska,

Indian towns and provinces frequently called by the name of

the ruling chief. For instance, adventurers and geographers

who knew only the chief's name, called his village Careta's

village, or Careta; his country, Careta's country, or Careta.

Maiollo, 1519, writes on his map, where the province of Careta

should be, _aldea de machin_; and adjacent north-west, _P.

scatozes_. Vaz Dourado, _Munich Atlas_, nos. x. and xi., 1571,

labels the province _careta_; De Laet, 1633, gives _Careta_;

Jefferys, 1776, _Pta Carata_; and Kiepert, 1858, _Pto

Carreto_. Alcedo mentions the river _Careti_. 'De la Provincia

y Gobierno del Darien y Reyno de Tierra-Firme: nace en las

montañas del N. y sale al mar en la Ensenada de Mandinga.'

[VIII-10] Map-makers give—Vaz Dourado, _comogra_, De Laet,

_Comagre_, and _Pta de Comagre_, 'which according to

Keipert,' says Goldschmidt, _Cartography Pac. Coast_, MS. i.

67; 'as near as I can determine, is now _P. Mosquitos_.'

[VIII-11] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. iii., says this building

measured 150 by 80 paces. See _Bancroft's Native Races_, i.

758.

[VIII-12] 'Estas palabras célebres,' says Quintana,

'conservadas en todas las memorias del tiempo, y repetidas

por todos los historiadores, fueron el primer anuncio que los

españoles tuvieron del Perú.' _Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, 13. To

which I would remark, first, that it is not certain Panciaco

referred to Peru; and secondly, that vague allusions of a

similar kind were made to Columbus, which historians apply to

Peru.

[VIII-13] This on the authority of Herrera. Gomara places the

king's fifth at 20,000 ducats, and Bernal Diaz at 10,000 pesos

de oro.

[VIII-14] The strange story of Aguilar is given by _Gomara_,

_Hist. Mex._, 21-22; _Torquemada_, i. 371; _Cogolludo_, _Hist.

Yucathan_, 24-9; and by _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. vii. cap. v.

He was kept seven years in this captivity.

[VIII-15] The name is variously rendered _Dabaybe_, _Dabaibe_,

_Davaive_, _Daibaba_, _Abibe_, _Abibeja_, and _d'abaibe_.

'Auch der Rio Atrato wurde nicht selten _Rio Dabeyba_ genannt.

Das 'D' im Anfang dieses Namens ist nur eine Abbreviatur

von 'de,' und das Wort sollte wohl eigentlich: _d'Abaibe_

geschrieben werden.' _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten karten_,

125. Maps mark the region, Colon and Ribero, _dabaybe_, at

the southern extremity of the gulf, and De Laet gives the

_Montanas de Abibe_.

[VIII-16] The Atrato discharges through several channels, one

of which was called the Rio del Darien; one the Rio Grande de

San Juan; one the Rio de las Redes, from the snares or nets

found there for taking wild beasts; one the Rio Negro, from

the color of its water. Often the Spaniards had scoured these

parts in search of food and gold.

[IX-1] Galvano says 290, which for him is quite near the mark.

Oviedo places the number at 800, which probably was intended

to include the natives afterward added.

[IX-2] The Spaniards must have had quite accurate information

from the natives as to the trend of the southern coast, though

there was then little communication between the northern

and southern seaboards. But, without such knowledge, Balboa

naturally would have undertaken the ascent of the river

Atrato, which flows directly from the south, rather than have

sailed some distance to the north-west before attempting to

cross. The direct march to the gulf of San Miguel, from which

course a deviation would have almost doubled the distance,

is another evidence of his having obtained the most reliable

information before or during the march.

[IX-3] Enciso, _Suma de Geographia_, 57, calls the country

'tierra rasa y buena de muchos mãtenimientos y caças.'

'Experience had proved that moving a body of men sufficient

to act as a protecting force and to carry the necessary

provisions was attended with great risk and great delay.'

_Gisborne's Survey of Darien_, in _London Geog. Soc., Jour._,

xxvii. 193. 'Mr Hopkins was lately prevented by the Indians

from ascending the Chepo river towards Mandinga, or San Blas

Bay; and Dr Cullen was stopped likewise by the aborigines

while endeavoring to ascend the Paya river.... _Climate_ and

_natives_ are at present the only serious impediments to a

regular survey.' _Fitz-Roy's Isth. Cent. Am._, in _London

Geog. Soc., Jour._, xx. 161. 'The Panama railroad, a most

stupendous work, considering the excessively swampy nature

of the country over which it has been carried.' _Cullen's

Darien_, 95. For obstacles overcome in surveying and

constructing the Panamá railway, see _Otis' Isthmus Panama_,

15-36. The climate inclines 'to the wet extreme, for two

thirds of the year, the Rains beginning in _April_.' _Defence

of the Scots Settlement at Darien_, 64. On the Atrato 'the

trees approach to the very edge of the stream, which their

branches overhang. The trees are frequently concealed by

dense masses of vines which entirely envelope them, and in

certain lights present plays of color comparable only to

those of the richest velvet.... But like the plumes and velvet

of the funeral pageant, they serve but to conceal and adorn

corruption. Behind them stretches, far away, the pestiferous

swamp, through the dreary wilds of which even the birds refuse

to sport; and whose silence is broken only by the sighing of

the breeze, or the sullen growl of the roving tiger. Venomous

reptiles often fall into the boats from the branches overhead;

wasps' nests are frequent and troublesome; natural levees

of soft mud stretch along the banks. Floods are common, and

the houses are built on stilts.' _Trautwine_, in _Franklin

Inst., Jour._, xxvii. 220-4. In 1853, Carl Scherzer, a German

naturalist, travelling in Costa Rica with a civil engineer and

a force of thirty-two men, attempted to make a survey for a

road from Angostura to Limon Bay; but on account of scarcity

of provisions, illness, and the difficulties of the route,

they failed in their purpose; and after having penetrated to

within eight leagues of their destination, they were obliged

to return, having travelled only ten leagues in two weeks.

See _Wagner and Scherzer_, _Costa Rica_, 358-407. In December

of the same year, a party under J. C. Prevost, of H. M. S.

_Virago_, set out with fourteen days' provisions from the gulf

of San Miguel for Caledonia Bay, on the opposite side of the

Isthmus. Their route was essentially that of Vasco Nuñez on

his return. As he ascended the Sabana River, the attention of

Captain Prevost was attracted by the débris on the overhanging

branches, which marked the height of water attained during

certain seasons. The dense foliage was enlivened by birds

of gay plumage; brilliant flowers carpeted the ground; and

the chattering monkeys, which they shot in great numbers,

furnished the guides food. The country even then was as wild

as when traversed by Vasco Nuñez; the natives, however, had

exchanged their wooden weapons for fire-arms. Swamps and

hills alternate, and 'dense was the forest we had cut our way

through.' The flora then changed, and 'instead of the small

underwood, we came on almost impenetrable thickets of the

prickly palm or aloe, rather more than six feet in height,

through which we with great difficulty cut our way.' They

crossed 'deep ravines, whose steep and slippery sides caused

many a tumble.' The attempt was finally abandoned. Returning,

on arriving at one of their ranchos or encampments, where had

been left three sailors to guard the provisions, they found

the men murdered and the camp sacked. 'So toilsome was our

journey,' says Captain Prevost, 'that we spent fifteen days in

performing a distance of little more than twenty-six miles,

having to force our slow and laborious path through forests

that seemed to stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic

shores. The trees, of stupendous size, were matted with

creepers and parasitical vines, which hung in festoons from

tree to tree, forming an almost impenetrable net-work, and

obliging us to hew open a passage with our axes every step

we advanced.' _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiv. 249. Nothing

could more aptly illustrate the difficulties surmounted by the

Spaniards than this narrative of failure, by a British officer

of the nineteenth century, who operated under conditions

far more favorable than those so successfully overcome by a

company of ill-accoutred and poorly fed adventurers more than

three hundred years before. With the material before me, these

illustrations could be greatly multiplied; but I have given

enough to show that the transit of the Isthmus, by a small

party of Europeans, over an unknown or unexplored route, is

even to-day esteemed a desperate undertaking.

[IX-4] _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde

Santa María del Darien_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,

iii. 368.

[IX-5] A strategy which continues through the centuries. 'The

Indians, although offering no direct hostility, abandoned

their villages at our approach.' _Gisborne's Survey of

Darien_, _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxvii. 193.

[IX-6] Among the dogs which accompanied the expedition

was one, the property of the commander, whose pedigree and

physical and metaphysical traits and mighty deeds are minutely

recorded by contemporary historians. His name was Leoncico,

little lion, descendant of Becerrico, of the Island of San

Juan. He was in color red with black snout, of medium size and

extraordinary strength. In their foragings Leoncico counted

as one man, and drew captain's pay and share of spoils.

Upon these conditions his master frequently loaned him; and

during the wars of Darien he gained for Vasco Nuñez more than

one thousand pesos de oro. He was considered more efficient

than the best soldier, and the savages stood in the greatest

terror of him. He readily discriminated between wild and

tame Indians. When a captive was missing from the fields, and

Leoncico was told, 'He is gone; seek him!' the dog tracked the

poor fugitive, and did not harm him if he returned quietly,

but if the Indian resisted, the dog would destroy him. The

hero of many a conflict, he was covered with wounds; but like

Cæsar he escaped the wars to meet his death by treacherous

hands. He was poisoned. See _Oviedo_, iii. 9-10.

[IX-7] Again a general difference occurs in an important date,

and, according to my custom, I am governed by the authorities

I deem most reliable. Oviedo follows the expedition from day

to day, noting places and dates; and he says, iii. 10: 'Y un

mártes, veynte é cinco de septiembre de aquel año de mill é

quinientos y trece, á las diez horas del dia,' at 10 o'clock

in the morning. So Gomara also writes, _Hist. Ind._, 77: 'Vio

Valboa ala mar del Sur a los veynte y cinco del Setiembre

del año de treze;' and Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 109:

'Llegaron á la cumbre de las más altas sierras á 25 dias de

Setiembre de dicho año de 1513;' and Herrera, i. x. i.: 'A

veynte y cinco de Setiembre, deste año, de donde la mar se

parecia.' Careful writers following these first authorities

also name the day correctly, as Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i.

319, who says: 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa vit la Mer du Sud, le 25

septembre 1513, du haut de la Sierra de Quarequa;' and Acosta,

_Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 50: 'Esto pasó el dia 25 de

setiembre del año de 1513 poco antes de medio dia y forma una

de las épocas notables en el descubrimiento de la América;'

and Quintana, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_, 'Balboa,' 20: '25

de setiembre;' and Chevalier, _L'Isthme de Panama_, 15: 'Le

vingt-cinquième jour, le 25 septembre;' and Campbell, _Hist.

Span. Am._, 23: 'the 25th of _Septembre_;' and Helps, _Span.

Conq._, i. 361: '25th of September;' etc. In the face of

which, Irving, _Columbus_, iii. 198, shows gross carelessness

when he writes 'the 26th of September.' To support him he has

Ramusio, who, _Viaggi_, iii. 29, falls into a mistake of Peter

Martyr's, 'alli ventisei adunque di Settembre,' and Du Perier,

_Cen. Hist. Voy._, 139, and, to copy his error, Dalton,

_Conq. Mex. and Peru_, 43, and a host of others. Not quite

so often mentioned as Columbus' voyages is this discovery

of Vasco Nuñez, though nearly so. After Oviedo and Las Casas

probably Peter Martyr gives the best original account. Herrera

copied from all before him. The following popular accounts

are most of them meagre and unreliable:—_Nouvelles An. des

Voy._, cxlviii. 11-12; _Goodrich's Man upon the Sea_, 201-8;

_Voyages, New Col._, i. 180-6; _World Displayed_, i. 153-9;

_Monson's Tracts_, in _Churchill's Voy._, iii. 372; _March y

Labores_, _Marina Española_, i. 413-50; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist.

Am._, i. 75-86; _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, 239-41; _Juarros_,

_Guat._, 122; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 66-72; _Ogilby's

Am._, 69-72; _Norman's Hist. Cal._, 10-11; _Patton's Hist.

U. S._, 11; _Pim's Gate of Pacific_, 99; _Hazlitt's Gold

Fields_, 3; _Roberts' Nar. Voy._, xx.; _Isth. Panama_, 5;

_Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, i. 17; _Lallement_, _Geschichte_,

i. 25; _Bidwell's Panamá_, 23-7; _Andagoya's Nar._, 19;

_Galvano's Discov._, 123-4; _Cavanilles_, _Hist. España_, v.

290-1; _Greenhow's Mem._, 22; _Farnham's Adv._, 119; _Fédix_,

_L'Orégon_, 67-8; _Span. Emp. in Am._, 23; _Burney's Discov.

South Sea_, i. 8-9; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 14-15; _Kerr's

Col. Voy._, ii. 67-8; _Colton's Jour. Geog._, no. 6, 84;

_Douglas' Hist. and Pol._, 44; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 32-3;

_Inter-Oceanic Canal and Monroe Doct._, 11; _Hesperian_,

ii. 27-33; _Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 40-1; _Harper's

Mag._, xviii. 469-84; _Macgregor's Prog. Am._, i. 10-11;

_Mofras_, _L'Orégon_, i. 88-9; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel. Chile_,

in _Pinkerton's Col._, xiv. 142-4; _Mesa y Leompart_, _Hist.

Am._, i. 88-94; _Mavor's Am. Hist._, xxiv. 52-5; _Holinski_,

_Cal._, 62-4; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 47-8; _Morelli_,

_Fasti Novi Orbis_, 15; _Rivera_, _Hist. Jalapa_, i. 20.

[IX-8] The testimonial with the sixty-seven names attached,

as given by Oviedo, iii. 11-12, is as follows:—'Diré aqui

quién fueron los que se hallaron en este descubrimiento con el

capitan Vasco Nuñez, porque fué servicio muy señalado, y es

passo muy notable para estas historias, pues que fueron los

chripstianos que primero vieron aquella mar, segund daba fée

de ello Andrés de Valderrábano, que allí se halló, escribano

real é natural de la villa de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias,

el qual testimonio yo vi é lei, y el mismo escribano me lo

enseñó. Y despues quando murió Vasco Nuñez, murió aqueste con

él, y tambien vinieron sus escripturas á mi poder y aquesta

decia desta manera:' Los cavalleros é hidalgos y hombres de

bien que se hallaron en el descubrimiento de la mar del Sur,

con el magnífico y muy noble señor el capitan Vasco Nuñez de

Balboa, gobernador por Sus Altezas en la Tierra Firme, son

los siguientes: 'Primeramente el señor Vasco Nuñez, y él fué

el que primero de todos vido aquella mar é la enseñó á los

infrascriptos. Andrés de Vera, clérigo; Françisco Piçarro;

Diego Albitez; Fabian Perez; Bernardino de Morales; Diego de

Texerina; Chripstóbal de Valdebuso; Bernardino de Cienfuegos;

Sebastian de Grijalba; Françisco de Ávila; Johan de Espinosa;

Johan de Velasco; Benito Buran; Andrés de Molina; Antonio

de Baracaldo; Pedro de Escobar; Chripstóbal Daça; Françisco

Pesado; Alonso de Guadalupe; Hernando Muñoz; Hernando Hidalgo;

Johan Rubio de Malpartida; Álvaro de Bolaños; Alonso Ruiz;

Françisco de Luçena; Martin Ruiz; Pasqual Rubio de Malpartida;

Françisco Gonçalez de Guadalcama; Françisco Martin; Pedro

Martin de Palos; Hernando Diaz; Andrés Garçia de Jaen; Luis

Gutierrez; Alonso Sebastian; Johan Vegines; Rodrigo Velasquez;

Johan Camacho; Diego de Montehermoso; Johan Matheos; Maestre

Alonso de Sanctiago; Gregorio Ponçe; Françisco de la Tova;

Miguel Crespo; Miguel Sanchez; Martin Garçia; Chripstóbal

de Robledo; Chripstóbal de Leon, platero; Johan Martinez;

Valdenebro; Johan de Beas Loro; Johan Ferrol; Johan Gutierrez

de Toledo; Johan de Portillo; Johan Garçia de Jaen; Matheo

Loçano; Johan de Medellin; Alonso Martin, asturiano;

Johan Garçia Marinero; Johan Gallego; Françisco de Lentin,

siciliano; Johan del Puerto; Françisco de Arias; Pedro de

Orduña; Nuflo de Olano, de color negro; Pedro Fernandez de

Aroche.' Andrés de Valderrábano, escribano de Sus Alteças en

la su córte y en todos sus reynos é señorios, estuve pressente

é doy fée dello, é digo que son por todos sessenta y siete

hombres estos primeros chripstianos que vieron la mar del Sur,

con las quales yo me hallé é cuento por uno dellos; y este

era de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias.

[IX-9] Herrera calls the second Blas de Atiença, but that name

is not in Oviedo's list. Irving refers to Herrera, but fails

to reproduce him correctly in his text. Compare _Oviedo_, iii.

11-12; _Herrera_, i. x. ii.

[IX-10] The form of taking possession, or the declaration of

proprietary rights to the lands seized by Europeans, as we

have seen, differs with different discoverers, and with the

same discoverer at different times. Sometimes mass was said;

sometimes a cross was erected; sometimes prayer was offered,

of which the following is said to have been the prescribed

form used by Columbus, Vasco Nuñez, Cortés, and Pizarro:

Domine Deus æterne et omnipotens, sacro tuo verbo cœlum, et

terram, et mare creâsti; benedicatur et glorificetur nomen

tuum, laudetur tua majestas, quæ dignita est per humilem

servum tuum, ut ejus sacrum nomen agnoscatur, et prædicetur

in hac altera mundi parte. But always this seizure, whether

by Spanish, English, French, or Dutch, and by whatsoever other

formalities attended, was accompanied by a loud proclamation,

before God and man, of the deed then and there consummated.

This proclamation was made with drawn sword, by the commander

of the party taking possession, and sometimes attended by

the throwing of earth toward the four cardinal points, as

was common, and is now in Spanish America, in giving judicial

possession in granting lands, and planting the royal standard.

All present were called upon to witness the act, which was

done for and in the name of the sovereign authority recognized

by the party. Then the notary, or, if none were present, a

clerk, or a person or persons appointed to act as such, took

down in writing what had been done, and each member of the

party signed it. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely.

We have seen what Columbus did in one or two instances, and

how Vasco Nuñez conducted himself on the mountain overlooking

Panamá Bay. That which I have just given in the text is a

literal translation of Balboa's address to the four corners

of the Pacific Ocean as reported by _Oviedo_, iii. 11-12. At

the beginning the meaning of the orator is clear enough, but

toward the latter part he lapses into verbiage. It is likely

that he had in view, while taking possession of that sea or so

much of it as his sovereigns should at any future time please

to claim, the papal bull which divided the heathen world

between Spain and Portugal, and a desire to avoid all words

and acts which might prejudice the Spanish claim. A lengthy

account is given of the taking possession of the province of

Paque, on the Pacific shore of the Isthmus, west of Panamá,

in 1519, by Pedrarias Dávila. The party was standing at the

head of an inlet, two notaries, a clergyman, several captains,

soldiers, and seamen, beside the commander, being present.

First, Pedrarias called on the notaries and all present to

witness the acts he was about to perform. Then he took in

his right hand a white silk flag, on which was represented

the image of the Virgin Mary, and holding it aloft all knelt;

the trumpet sounded, and in loud tones the commander offered

the following prayer: 'Oh! mother of God, quiet the sea, and

render us worthy of being and of moving under thy protection.

May it please thee that under it we may discover these seas,

and lands of the southern sea, and convert the people thereof

to our holy Catholic faith.' Following the prayer was a long

speech by Pedrarias, declaring possession after the usual

form, similar to that employed by Vasco Nuñez, interspersed

with divers acts in consummation of what he said. He declared

the possession previously taken renewed, especially the

'possession _vel casi_ of all the coast of the new land and

of the southern sea, and of all the ports and inlets and

coves and roadsteads ... being as I am, in the name of their

highnesses and as their lieutenant-general in the said coast

of the said southern sea, from the stones of the rivers to

the leaves of the forests, eating the grass and drinking the

waters, and razing, devastating, and cutting the woods of the

said coast, upon the said site and province of Paque.' As a

token of possession and seizure thereof, civilly, naturally,

and bodily, he continued: 'I raise this royal standard of the

said Queen Doña Juana and King Don Cárlos, her son, our lords,

which is of red damask having thereon painted and stamped the

royal arms of their highnesses the said kings, our lords;' the

trumpeters were then ordered to sound; after which, in concert

with Pedrarias, all said, 'Castilla del Oro and Tierra Firme,

and new land, and southern sea, and coasts thereof, and island

and islands, and all land and provinces that may be therein,

for the most high and most illustrious Queen Doña Juana, our

lady, and the King Don Cárlos, her son, our lord; and after

them for their successors to Castile.' 'All of which new lands

and southern sea and coast thereof and the whole Tierra Firme

and kingdoms of Castilla del Oro, and all thereunto annexed

and appertaining, and all that has been or may be hereafter

discovered therein, is and must be of the royal crown of

Castile, and you must testify how I, Pedrarias Dávila, in the

name of the said kings, our lords, and of their successors

to the royal crown of Castile, cut trees, and mow the grass

in said land, and enter the water of the said southern sea,

corporeally and standing on my feet therein, and stamp the new

land and waters of the said southern sea.' Again the trumpets

were sounded, and again Pedrarias reiterated in a loud voice

his claims; and he called upon the notaries to witness as

further proof of their possession that four ships had been

built and navigated on the southern sea. Another flourish of

trumpets, and by way of doxology three times repeated, 'Viva

la muy alta é muy poderosa reyna doña Juana,' etc., concluded

the ceremony. _Testimonio de un acto de posesion que tomó el

Gobernador Pedrárias Dávila_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,

_Col. Doc._, ii. 549-56. Although the custom was universal

from the beginning, Philip II. deemed best to decree, in

1568, that all captains or others discovering any island or

mainland should, on landing, take possession in the king's

name. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 7.

[IX-11] Colon gives _g. de san migel_; Agnese, _G. de S.

miguell_; Vaz Dourado, _Saö migell_; Mercator, _S. Miguel_;

Hondius, in _Drake's World Encompassed_, _Michael_; _Ogilby's

Am._, _G. S. Miguel_; Jacob Colom, _G. del S. Miguel_;

Jefferys, _G. de St. Miguel_, and emptying into it _R. Canty_,

_R. Savanas_, _R. Congo_.

[IX-12] It was not for some years after this discovery that

the name Pacific was applied to any part of the ocean; and

for a long time after parts only of it were so termed, this

part of it retained the original name of South Sea, so called

because it lay to the south of its discoverer. The lettering

of the early maps is here significant. All along from this

time to the middle of the seventeenth century, the larger

part of the Pacific was labeled _Oceanus Indicus Orientalis_,

or _Mar del Sur_, the Atlantic, opposite the Isthmus, being

called _Mar del Norte_. Sometimes the reporters called the

South Sea _La Otra Mar_, in contradistinction to the _Mare

Oceanus_ of Juan de la Cosa, or the _Oceanus Occidentalis_

of Ptolemy, as the Atlantic was then called. Indeed, the

Atlantic was not generally known by that name for some time

yet. Schöner, in 1520, terms it, as does Ptolemy in 1513,

_Oceanus Occidentalis_; Grynæus, in 1532, _Oceanus Magnus_;

Apianus, appearing in the Cosmography of 1575, although

thought to have been drawn in 1520, _Mar Atlicum_. Robert

Thorne, 1527, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, writes _Oceanus Occiden._;

Bordone, 1528, _Mare Occidentale_; Ptolemy, 1530, _Occean

Occidentalis_; Ramusio, 1565, _Viaggi_, iii. 455, off Central

America, _Mar del Nort_, and in the great ocean, both north

and south, _Mar Ociano_; Mercator, 1569, north of the tropic

of cancer, _Oceanius Atlanticvs_; Hondius, 1595, _Mar del

Nort_; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624, _Mar del Nort_; De

Laet, 1633, _Mar del Norte_; Jacob Colon, 1663, _Mar del

Nort_; Ogilby, 1671, _Oceanus Atlanticum_, _Mar del Norte_,

and _Oceanus Æthiopicus_; Dampier, 1699, _the North or

Atlantick Sea_. The Portuguese map of 1518, _Munich Atlas_,

iv., is the first upon which I have seen a name applied

to the Pacific; and there it is given, as I have elsewhere

remarked, as _Mar visto pelos Castelhanos_, Sea seen by the

Spaniards. On the maps of Baptiste Agnese, Vallard de Dieppe,

Diego Homem, and others, is the name _Mar del Sur_, but the

lettering is small, and seems applied only to the waters

between Peru and Guatemala. We have noticed on the globe of

Martin Behaim, 1492, a multitude of islands, scattered and in

groups, situated between the coast lines of western Europe

and eastern Asia. In that part of the globe where the north

Pacific Ocean should be represented, are the words _Oceanus

orientalis Indie_. On the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520,

the two continents of America are represented with a strait

dividing them at the Isthmus. The great island of _Zipangri_,

or Japan, lies about midway between North America and Asia.

North of this island, and in about the same locality as on

the globe of Behaim, are the words _Orientalis Oceanus_, and

to the same ocean south of the equator the words _Oceanus

Orientalis Indicus_ are applied. Diego Homem, in 1558, marks

out upon his map a large body of water to the north-west of

_Terra de Florida_, and west of Canada, and labels it _Mare

leparamantium_. Neither Maiollo nor Vaz Dourado gives a name

to either ocean. Colon and Ribero call the South Sea _Mar

del Svr_. In _Hakluyt's Voy._ we find that Robert Thorne, in

1527, wrote _Mare Australe_. Ptolemy, in 1530, places near the

Straits of Magellan _Mare pacificum_. Ramusio, 1565, _Viaggi_,

iii. 455, off Central America, places _Mar del Sur_, and off

the Straits of Magellan, _Mar Oceano_. Mercator places in his

atlas of 1569 plainly, near the Straits of Magellan, _El Mar

Pacifico_, and in the great sea off Central America _Mar del

Zur_. On the map of Hondius, about 1595, in _Drake's World

Encompassed_, the general term _Mare Pacificvm_ is applied to

the Pacific Ocean, the words being in large letters extending

across the ocean opposite Central America, while under it in

smaller letters is _Mar del Sur_. This clearly restricts the

name South Sea to a narrow locality, even at this date. In

Hondius' Map, _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 857, the south

Pacific is called _Mare Pacificum_, and the central Pacific

_Mar del Sur_.

[IX-13] In his _Novus Orbis_, i., De Laet inserts a map on

which he places _Tumaco_ to the north of Chiapes. North of

Tumaco is Quareca. The northern cape of _G. de S. Miguel_ he

calls _Pta de Garachine_. Debouching here is the _R. de

Congos_. See _Goldschmidt's Cartography Pac. Coast_, MS. ii.

5.

[IX-14] Colon and Ribero mark the group _y: de perlas_ and

_y∴a de plas_; Vaz Dourado, _I∴ de perollas_; _West-Indische

Spieghel_, _I Perles_; De Laet, _Ias de Perlas_; Jacob

Colom, _I de Perlas_; Jefferys, _I del Rey or Perlas_,

_Toboga, I_. Keipert in 1858 calls the group _Archipielago

de las Perlas_, and the largest, that which Balboa called

Isla Rica, _I. S. Miguel_; others of the group he calls

_I. St. Elmo_, _I. Galera_, _I. Pajaros_, _I. Chapera_, _I.

Contradora_, _I. Pacheca_, _I. Saboga_, _I. Bayoneta_, _I.

Pedro Gonzales_, and _I. S. José_. 'Da die Haupt-Insel mehrere

guten Schutz gewährende Ankerplätze hatte, so wurde sie bald

das Rendezvous und der Ausgangs-Punkt der Flotten, die vom

Golfe von Panama zur Entdeckung des Westens (Nicaragua) und

des Südens (Peru) ausliefen. Auch war ihre Anhöhe stets für

alle von Panama auslaufenden Flotten ein Merkzeichen zur

Orientirung.' _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten karten_, 104.

[IX-15] Sabana. See note 3, this chapter.

[IX-16] It is impossible from the rambling narratives which

constitute the groundwork of Central American history to

locate with certainty these two villages. Thus of Pocorosa

Vasco Nuñez, in a letter to the king, says, 'Está un cacique

que se dice Comogre y otro que se dice Pocorosa, estan tan

cerca de la mar el uno como el otra;' and of Tubanamá, 'Hase

de hacer otra fuerza en las minas de Tubanamá, en la provincia

de Comagre.' _Carta por Vasco Nuñez_ in _Navarrete_, _Col. de

Viages_, iii. 366, 369.

[IX-17] A hundred thousand castellanos, Gomara says. 'Passo

muchos trabajos y hambre, traxo sin las perlas, mas de cien

mil castellanos de buen oro, y esperança, tornando alla, de

auer la mayor riqueza, que nũca los nacidos vieron, y con esto

estaua tan vfano, como animoso.' _Hist. Ind._, 82.

[X-1] According to Oviedo, iii. 4, 'hermano de Johan Arias

Dávila, que despues fué el primero conde de Puñoenrostro.'