How the city of San Sebastian was founded in the bay of Uraba;[190] and
of the native Indians in that neighbourhood.
In the year 1509, when Alonzo de Ojeda and Nicuesa were governors of
Tierra Firme, a town was founded in the province of Darien, and was
named Nuestra Señora del Antigua. Some of the Spaniards, who were among
the early discoverers, declare that they found the flower of the chiefs
of the Indians in these parts. At that time, although the province of
Carthagena was discovered, it was not settled, nor had the Christians
done more than trade with the Indians, obtaining a quantity of fine gold
by exchanges. The Governor Ojeda marched to the great town of Turbaco,
four leagues from Carthagena (which was formerly called Calamar), where
he fought a great battle with the Indians. Many Christians were killed,
and among them the captain Juan de la Cosa, a valiant and resolute man.
In order that his body might not fall into the hands of the Indians, the
Spaniards retreated to their ships. After this event the Governor Ojeda
founded a town of Christians in the country called Uraba, and appointed
as his captain and lieutenant there, Francisco Pizarro, who was
afterwards governor and marquis. In this city or town of Uraba, this
captain Francisco Pizarro, suffered from hunger and sickness, and from
the attacks of the Indians of Uraba. These Indians (as it is said) were
not natives of this province, their ancient home having been in the
country which borders on the great river of Darien.[191] Desiring to
escape from subjection to the yoke of the Spaniards who treated them so
ill, they left their homes with their arms, taking their women and
children with them. Having arrived at Uraba, they attacked the natives
with great cruelty, killed them all, and made themselves masters of
their land.
When the governor Ojeda heard of this he entertained hopes of finding
great riches in that country, and sent his lieutenant Francisco Pizarro
to form a settlement there, who was the first Christian to enter this
land. Afterwards these governors Ojeda and Nicuesa came to a disastrous
end, as is well known among those of that time who still survive, and
Pedrarias came as governor of Tierra Firme, but though there were 2000
Spaniards in the city of Antigua, none of them settled in Uraba.[192]
Time passed on, the governor Pedrarias cut off the head of his
son-in-law Yasco Nuñez de Balboa,[193] and of Captain Francisco
Hernandez in Nicaragua, and the Indians of the river Cenu killed the
captain Bezerra and the Christians who were with him. At last, Don Pedro
de Heredia came out as governor of Carthagena, and sent his brother the
captain Alonzo de Heredia with a party of Spaniards to settle in Uraba
for a second time, calling the city San Sebastian de Buena Vista.[194]
This city is situated on some small hills clear of trees, and there is
no thicket near them, except in the marshy ground and on the banks of
the rivers. But the province is covered with dense forest in many parts,
and the plains are full of very large palm trees with thick bark, and
bearing large _palmitos_, which are white and very sweet. When the
Spaniards explored this country, in the time when Alonzo Lopez de Ayala
was lieutenant to the governor of this city, they ate nothing for many
days except these _palmitos_. The wood is so hard and difficult to cut,
that it took a man half a day before he could cut a tree down and get
the _palmitos_, which they ate without bread, and drank much water, so
that many Spaniards died. Near the town, and on the banks of the river,
there are many gardens of orange-trees, plaintains, and guavas. There
are many rivers in the province, which rise in the mountains. In the
interior there are some Indians and caciques, who used to be very rich
by reason of their trade with those who lived in the plains beyond the
mountains, and in the country of Dobaybe. These Indians, who were
masters of this region, originally came, as I have before said, from the
other side of the great river of Darien. The lords or caciques are
obeyed and feared by the Indians, and their women are the prettiest and
most loveable of any that I have seen in the Indies. They are clean in
their eating, and have none of the dirty habits of other nations. These
Indians have small villages, and their houses are like long sheds. They
sleep in hammocks and use no other sort of bed. Their land is fertile
and abundantly supplied with provisions, such as well tasted roots.
There are also herds of small pigs which are good eating, and many great
tapirs, said by some to be of the shape and form of zebras; abundance of
turkeys and other birds, plenty of fish in the rivers, and tigers, which
kill the Indians and commit havoc amongst their beasts. There are also
very large serpents and other creatures in the dense forests, the names
of which we know not. Among them are the creatures which we call
_Pericos ligeros_,[195] and it is a marvel to see their fierce looks,
and the torpid lazy way in which they move along.
When the Spaniards occupied the villages of these Indians, they found a
great quantity of gold in some small baskets, in the form of rich
ornaments. There were also many other ornaments and chains of fine gold,
and much cotton cloth. The women wore mantles, which covered them from
the waist to the feet, and other mantles over their bosoms. They are
very pretty, and always go about decently dressed and combed. The men go
naked and barefooted, without other covering than what nature has given
them; but they have shells or other ornaments, either of bone or of very
fine gold, suspended by a thread in front of their privates. Some of
these that I saw, weighed forty to fifty _pesos_ each, some more and
some less. These Indians are engaged in trade, and take pigs, which are
native, and different from those in Spain, to sell to other tribes more
inland.[196] These pigs are smaller than Spanish pigs, and they have a
navel on their backs,[197] which must be something which has grown
there. The Indians also trade with salt and fish, getting in exchange
their gold, cloth and other articles. Their arms are bows, made of the
wood of a black palm, a _braza_ long, with very long and sharp arrows,
anointed with a juice which is so evil and pestilential, that no man who
is wounded with it so as to draw blood, can live, although it should not
be as much as would flow from the prick of a pin. Thus few if any who
have been wounded with this juice, fail to die.