governor with the six other Spaniards who had accompanied him. He gave
an account of his exploration, and said: that after he left him in the
forest he marched, following the guide for twenty-one days, without
resting, through a country so thickly covered with trees and brushwood
that it was impossible to advance without cutting a path. Some days they
went one league, on others only half a league in two days, owing to the
obstacles they encountered, the dense forests, and projecting rocks. The
direction they followed was continually west; all the time they marched
they sustained themselves on venison, wild boars' flesh, and tapirs,
which the Indians killed with their arrows; game was so abundant that
they knocked down with sticks all they required for food. They found
a great supply of honey in cavities of trees, and quantities of wild
fruit. After twenty-one days they arrived at a river running to the
west, and this river, according to their guide, flowed past Tapuaguazú
and the Indian settlements. They caught much fish in it of a kind called
by the natives _piraputanas_, which are a kind of _sabalos_,[356] and
are excellent. The Spaniards crossed this river, and, following their
guide, came upon the fresh tracks of Indians; for it had been raining
that day, and the ground was moist. It was evident that the Indians were
a party of hunters. Following their footprints, they came upon two
large stacks of maize which was then being harvested. At this moment
an Indian, who had not time to conceal himself, came towards them. He
spoke a language they could not understand, wore a large silver disc in
his lower lip, and gold earrings. He took Francisco de Ribera by the
hand and signed to him to accompany him, which he did. They now observed
a large house made of straw and wood. On approaching it, they saw women
and other Indians carrying out of the house cotton stuffs and other
articles, which they placed in front of the stacks. The Indian made them
enter the house, where men and women were carrying out all it contained.
In order to avoid passing the Christians, they made an opening in the
straw, and passed the things out that way. Our people saw them taking
from some large vessels full of maize, plates, hatchets, and bracelets
of silver which they carried outside the straw walls. This Indian
appeared to be the head of the family from the respect shown him. He
took them inside, and signed to them to be seated, and ordered two
_Orejones_ (Indians with large ears), whom they supposed to be his
slaves, to give them maize wine to drink out of some jars, which stood
in the house buried up to their necks in the earth. They poured the wine
into large gourds, and handed these to the Spaniards. The two Orejones
said that at three days' journey from that place there were Christians
living with a tribe called Payzunoes; they then told the way to
Tapuaguazú, which is a high mountain. Soon many natives arrived in their
war-paint and feathers, with bows and arrows. The Indian spoke very
volubly to them, and he also took a bow and arrows; he sent men, who
came and went, with messages, by which the Spaniards knew that he was
summoning the population from the neighbouring villages, and intended
killing them. The captain told the Christians who were with him to come
out of the house altogether, and return by the way they came, before
more Indians had assembled; by this time there were over three hundred.
Ribera gave the natives to understand that he would go and fetch many
other Christians who were close at hand, and, as they were expecting
more to arrive, they had only to wait till he came back. By this ruse
our people escaped, but, at a stone's throw from the house, the Indians,
who saw they were escaping, pursued them with cries, and shot many
arrows at them. They followed them into the forest, where the Christians
defended themselves, and the Indians, thinking there were a larger
number of them here, durst not pursue further, but let them go; all the
Spaniards, however, were wounded. They came back the way they went, and
it took them only twelve days to return to the place where they had left
the governor, whence they had marched in twenty-one days. The captain
estimated the distance from the Port of Los Reyes to the villages of
those Indians at seventy leagues.
[356] Shad.
A lagoon twenty leagues from this port, in crossing which they had the
water knee-deep, was, upon their return, so greatly increased that it
covered a league of land, and was two pikes deep. They crossed it in
rafts with great danger and difficulty. The captain added that, before
attempting to enter that country, it would be necessary to wait till the
waters subsided. The Indians he had seen were called _Tarapecosies_;
they have plenty of provisions, and they rear geese and poultry like
ours. This was the account given by Francisco de Ribera and by the
Spaniards who accompanied him, and by the guide, all of whom confirmed
what Francisco de Ribera had said.
There were some Indians in the port of Los Reyes belonging to the same
tribe of Tarapecosies, from whose village de Ribera had just returned.
They had come with Garcia, the interpreter, when he made his journey
into the interior and returned defeated by the Guaranís of the Paraguai.
These Indians had escaped with the Chaneses, who had also fled and lived
all together in the port of Los Reyes. The governor, wishing for further
information, sent for them. They immediately recognised the arrows that
Francisco de Ribera had brought with him, which had been shot at him by
the Tarapecosies, as those used in their native country. The governor
asked them why their fellow-tribesmen had wished to kill those who had
gone to see them. They answered that the Tarapecosies were no enemies of
the Christians; on the contrary, they were their friends since Garcia
had visited their country and trafficked with them. The reason why they
had tried to kill the Spaniards was because these had taken Guaranís
with them whom they regarded as enemies; for in former times these
people had invaded their territory and sought to destroy them. The
Christians, they said, should have taken an interpreter with them who
knew their language, to let them know the object of their visit, for
they were not in the habit of making war upon those who did them no
injury. If they take an interpreter, they added, they will be well
treated and supplied with provisions, and gold and silver, which are
obtained from the tribes of the interior. Asked from what tribe and how
they acquired their gold and silver, they answered that the Payzunos,
who lived three days' journey off, gave them these precious metals in
exchange for bows and arrows and slaves, which they took from other
tribes; the Payzunos obtained them from the Chaneses, Chimenos,
Carcaraes, Candirées, and other Indian nations who possess an abundance
of them. They were shown a brass candlestick very bright and shiny, to
see if the gold they had in their land was like that. They said that the
metal of the candlestick was hard and base, but their metal was soft and
without smell, and more yellow. Then they were shown a gold ring, and
asked if that were the metal of their country, and they said it was.
They were also shown a tin plate, very bright and shiny, and asked if
the silver in their country was of that kind. They answered that this
metal stank, and was base and soft; theirs was whiter, harder, and had
no bad smell. A silver cup was then put in their hands, and they were
greatly pleased with it, and said that of that metal they had quantities
in their land in the form of small vases and other things in use among
the Indians, such as plates, bracelets, crowns, small hatchets, and
other objects.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FIRST.
_How the governor sent for Gonzalo de Mendoza._
THE governor, in order to provide what was necessary for the exploration
of this country as it beseemed the service of His Majesty, sent, without
delay, for Gonzalo de Mendoza to recall him and his men from the land
of the Arianicosies. Before leaving their village, however, he was to
endeavour to get the Indians to return to their houses and pacify them.
Soon after the arrival of Francisco de Ribera and his six Spaniards at
the port of Los Reyes, all the people there began to suffer from fevers,
so that there were not sufficient men to mount guard in camp. Even the
Guaranís were sick of this malady, and several died.
Gonzalo de Mendoza wrote that all his people were also ill of the fever,
and that he was sending in the brigantines all the sick and infirm. He
had not been able to make peace with the Arianicosies, though he had
several times made friendly overtures and offered them presents. Yet
in spite of this they came every day and attacked him. The country, he
said, abounded in provisions, both in the fields and lakes. Besides the
provisions he had sent in the brigantines, a large quantity was left
for the natives. The sickness that had attacked all the people was
attributable to the pollution of the water, which had become brackish
as it rose.
About this time the Indians living in an island about one league from
port Los Reyes, who are called Socorinos and Xaqueses, seeing how sick
and weak the Christians were, began to make war upon them. They no
longer came to traffic and barter with the Christians as they had
hitherto done, nor informed them of the evil designs of the Guaxarapos;
they even joined these latter, and prepared for a campaign against the
Spaniards. The Indian Guaranís whom the Spaniards had brought in their
armada were in the habit of going out in their canoes, in company with
some Christians, to fish in the lagoon, a stone's-throw from the camp.
One morning five Christians, four of whom were boys, had gone in the
canoes with these Guaranís, when the Xaqueses, Socorinos, and many other
Indians of that island, came out and captured the five Christians,
killed the newly-converted among the Guaranís, and brought the rest
to their island, where they hacked the five Christians in pieces and
distributed them among the Guaxarapos, Guatos, and other natives of
the environs of port _Viejo_ (the ancient). Other tribes, who were
associated with them for the purpose of making war upon the Christians,
had their share of the flesh of these unfortunate people. Not content
with this, as the people were ill and weak, they came with great daring
to attack the settlement where the Christians were, and set fire to
it. These shouted, "To arms, to arms, the Indians are killing the
Christians." As the whole settlement was now under arms, they went out
to meet the Indians, who, nevertheless, succeeded in capturing more
Christians, and among them one called Pedro Mepen, and some others who
were fishing in the lagoon, and ate these as they had done the first
five.
The following morning at daybreak a large number of canoes were seen
filled by warriors, who were running away to the opposite side of the
lagoon; they uttered loud cries, pointed their bows and arrows, and
held them up to make us understand that they had made the assault. They
penetrated into the island situated in the lagoon of Los Reyes, and
killed this time fifty-eight Christians. The governor having witnessed
this disaster, told the natives of the port of Los Reyes to demand
from the Indians of the island the release of the Christians they had
captured. These people having gone and demanded their release, were told
that the Guaxarapos had taken the prisoners away. From that time they
continually came at night, made incursions on the lagoon to see if they
might capture any Christians or Indians fishing there, so as to prevent
their fishing; for they declared the land was theirs and that the
Christians had no right to fish there; that we must leave the country,
otherwise they would kill us. The governor sent to try and appease
them, and to tell them to keep the peace they had made, and restore the
Christian and Indian captives they had taken, promising in such case to
treat them as friends, but that if they refused, he would act against
them as enemies. He repeated this message several times, but they would
not submit, and did not cease hostilities, and doing us all the mischief
they could. Seeing these measures were of no avail, the governor
ordered that an inquiry should be held, and when this had been done in
accordance with the advice of the officers and clergy, these people were
proclaimed enemies, war was declared against them, and the country was
protected from the ravages daily committed.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-SECOND.
_How Hernando de Ribera returned from his exploration along the
river._
ON the 30th January 1543, Captain Hernando de Ribera returned with
the vessel and men entrusted to him for the exploration of the higher
reaches of the river. But when he returned he found the governor and all
his people sick with fever and shivering fits, so he could not make his
report.[357] By that time the water in the river had so swollen that all
the land was inundated, and it was impossible to renew the exploration.
The natives say that the floods continue for four months, and rise five
or six fathoms, and that they then enter their canoes with their houses
and provisions, as I have related above, and are not able to land.
The natives of this country kill and eat one another. When the waters
subside they set up their houses again on shore in the same places as
before. The land is about this time infected with malaria, arising from
the putrefaction of fish, which are left in large numbers on the dry
land, and with the high temperature then prevailing it is impossible to
endure the stench.
[357] This report will be found at the end of the Commentaries.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-THIRD.
_What befell the governor and his people in the port of Los Reyes._
THE governor remained three months in this port of Los Reyes with all
his people ill with fever, waiting till God should be pleased to
restore them to health, and the waters should subside to enable them to
undertake the exploration of the country. But every day the sickness
increased and the waters rose. We were, therefore, obliged to withdraw
from the port of Los Reyes in great trouble. Besides the illness by
which we were attacked, there were so many mosquitoes of various kinds
that we could neither sleep nor rest day and night; the sufferings we
endured from this plague were even worse than the fever. Because of
these inconveniences, and as the officers had requested him to abandon
the port and to return to the city of Ascension, where the people could
recover, the governor having referred to the clergy and officers,
decided on withdrawing. Yet he would not allow the Christians to take
with them about a hundred girls, whom the natives of Los Reyes, upon
the governor's arrival, had offered to the captains and officers of
distinction, so as to be on good terms with them, leaving them to do
what they pleased with the girls. The motive of this refusal was to
avoid the offence against God done in this way. He ordered, at the
moment of departure, the fathers of these girls to receive them back
into their houses till our return, being unwilling that their parents
should be dissatisfied and the country scandalised because of this. To
give more importance to this action of his, he published a rescript
of His Majesty, forbidding, under the severest penalty, anybody from
removing natives from their homes. The natives were well satisfied with
this measure, but the Spaniards were greatly discontented, some of them
felt ill-disposed towards him, and from that time he was detested by the
majority. This was the motive or pretext for their subsequent conduct,
as I shall relate further on. All the people, Christians and Indians,
having embarked, he came in twelve days to the port of Ascension, though
it had taken two months to ascend the same way. Though sick to death,
the people derived strength from their desire to return home. The perils
and difficulties of this voyage were certainly not light, for the men
were not strong enough to handle their arms to resist the enemy, or make
use of an oar to help to steer the vessels; and had it not been for the
culverins we carried, our trouble would have been greater. We drew the
canoes of the Indians into the midst of the brigantines to protect them
from the enemy's attacks till we came to their homes, and for better
security the governor distributed some Christians in the canoes.
We took every precaution, and kept a sharp look-out for the enemy, when,
as we were passing the lands of the Guaxarapos, these natives attacked
us suddenly with a number of canoes. They assailed some rafts that were
being taken in reserve, and wounded a Christian with a dart, which
pierced him in the breast, so that he fell dead on the spot. His name
was Miranda, and he came from Valladolid. They also wounded some of our
Indians, and would have caused us more losses had it not been for our
culverins. The weakness of the soldiers was the cause of it.
On the 8th April of the same year we arrived at the town of Ascension
with our troops, our Guaranís, and our vessels. The Governor and the
Christians that were with him were all sick and weak. On his arrival,
Captain Salazar told him that he had assembled over 20,000 Indians and
a large number of canoes to go out against the Agaces, for, since the
departure of the governor, they had not ceased making war upon the
Christians and the natives, plundering and slaying them, taking from
them wives and children, burning villages and committing every kind of
excess. When the governor arrived, the expedition to punish the Agaces
had not yet started. We found the caravel ordered by the governor nearly
finished. He had intended sending it, as soon as it was ready, to bear
information to His Majesty of all that had happened in his voyage of
discovery and all that had passed in the country. Orders were now given
to complete the caravel.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
_How the governor, having arrived with his people at the town of
Ascension, was made a prisoner._
FIFTEEN days after the arrival of the governor at Ascension, the
officers of His Majesty, who hated him because he refused to consent to
things done against the service of God and the king, seeing him arrive
with the other Christians in this extremity, conspired with their
friends on St. Mark's Day to take him prisoner that night. They had
already depopulated the best and principal port of the province, with
the intention of rebelling against the sovereign, as they have now done.
In order to carry out their plans in the most effective way, they told
a hundred men that they knew the governor was about to take from
them their property, their houses, and their Indian girls, and would
distribute these among the men who had returned from the exploring
expedition; that it was a great injustice and contrary to the service of
His Majesty. "This night", they added, "we will go and require him, in
the name of the king, not to take away your houses, nor your lands, nor
your Indian girls, and, as we fear the governor may have us arrested,
arm yourselves and bring your friends, for you will be doing a great
service to His Majesty in this way." It was arranged that at the Ave
Maria these men should come armed to two houses which would be assigned
to them, and should hold themselves in readiness there for further
orders. So the insurgents, ten or twelve in number, entered the
apartment where the governor was lying on his bed of sickness, with
cries of "Liberty, liberty, long live the king!" They were the
supervisor Alonso Cabrera, the accountant Philip de Caceres, Garcia
Vanegas, acting treasurer, a servant of the governor named Pedro
de Oñate (who was in the room with him, opened the door to the
conspirators, and was an active promoter of the insurrection), Don
Francisco de Mendoza, Jaime Rasquin (who held an arquebus and a poisoned
dart at his breast), Diego de Acosta, Portuguese interpreter, and
Solorzano, a native of Canaria. These men entered with arms in their
hands and seized the governor, dragged him out of the room in his
shirt, continuing to cry: "Liberty, liberty!" They called him a tyrant,
levelled their arquebuses at him, saying such words as these: "Now you
shall pay the penalty of your offences and the losses you have caused
us." When they had come out into the street they were joined by others
whom they had enlisted on their side, who, seeing they were carrying the
governor off a prisoner in that fashion, said to Pedro Dorantes and the
others: "Let the responsibility of this rest with the traitors who did
the deed; you brought us here on the pretext that our goods, houses, and
Indian girls would be taken from us, but your real object was to make
us parties to your treason against the king"; upon this they drew their
swords, and there was a serious scrimmage. As the insurgents were now
approaching the houses of the officers some took refuge in the house of
Garcia Vanegas, dragging the governor along with them. Others remained
at the door, saying to those who had taken the part of the governor:
"You are betraying us; don't say that you did not know what was going to
be done; help us to put him into prison. If you attempt to deliver him
we will cut you to pieces and chop off your heads. It is a matter of
life and death to you; aid us, therefore, to complete what we have
begun, and we will all share the goods, the Indian girls, and furniture
of the governor." The officers then entered the small room in which the
governor was confined, placed him in irons, and set a watch upon him.
Having done this they repaired to the house of Juan Pavon, alcalde
mayor, and to that of the alguazil, Francisco de Peralta. When they
had come to the alcalde mayor's, Martin de Ure, a Biscayan, as
leader, seized by force the staff of office. They did the same at the
alguazil's, and, having struck these functionaries several blows with
the fist and knocked them about, they called them traitors and took them
to the public prison, where they were put in the stocks by the head.
They set at liberty the prisoners, among whom was one sentenced to death
for having murdered a certain Morales, a gentleman of Seville. Having
done this, they took a drum and marched about the streets, exciting the
people to rebel, and uttering loud cries of "Liberty, liberty! Long live
the king!"
After they had made the circuit of the city in this way, the same
individuals went to the house of Pero Hernandez, secretary of the
province, who was ill at the time. They arrested him, as well as
Bartolomé Gonzales, took possession of his property and documents, and
carried him prisoner to the house of Domingo de Irala, where they placed
him in chains, and, after insulting him, left him in the hands of the
sentinels. Then they published the following proclamation: "The officers
of His Majesty prohibit all persons from appearing in the streets;
anyone going out of doors will be considered a traitor and condemned to
death." Having done this they again shouted, "Liberty, liberty!" While
posting this order, they pushed and hustled everyone they met in the
streets, forcing people to enter their houses.
They then went to the house of the governor, where he kept his property,
papers, and the letters he had received from the king appointing him
governor of the province, as well as the acts by which his authority
had been recognised. They forced open some chests, extracted all the
documents contained in them, and took possession of everything. They
also opened a chest, locked with three keys, containing the public
indictments against officers charged with crimes referred to the king
for final sentence. They took also his goods, stuffs, provisions, oil,
steel, and iron, besides a number of other things. Most of these things
disappeared, everything being looted. They denounced him as a tyrant,
and abused him in every way. The remainder of his property was bestowed
upon such as professed to be attached to him, who took them under
pretext of deposit; but these so-called friends of the deposed governor
really helped the insurgents. His property was said to be worth over
100,000 castellanos,[358] according to the value current then; he had
also ten brigantines.
[358] A gold coin formerly in use in Spain. During the reign of the
Catholic kings it was worth 490 maravedis of silver, equal to about
4_s._ 9_d._ The value of these coins afterwards fluctuated. This sum
is undoubtedly grossly exaggerated.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FIFTH.
_How the population assembled before the house of Domingo de Irala._
THE following day the officers published in the streets, by sound of
drum and trumpet, that all the people should assemble in front of the
house of Captain Domingo de Irala. Their friends and partisans having
gone there armed, a libel was read by the public crier in a loud voice.
It stated that the governor had ordered them all to be deprived of their
possessions and to be treated as slaves: and that they, in the general
interests of liberty, had laid hands on his person. When this libel had
been read they called out, "Sirs, cry, Liberty, liberty, long live the
king!" And this was accordingly done by their friends. After these
proceedings they inveighed against the governor, and many said, "Come
what may, let us kill this tyrant who wished to ruin and destroy us."