_The message sent to Quigaltam, and the answer brought back to the
Governor, and what occurred the while._
So soon as the Governor arrived in Guachoya, he ordered Juan de
Añasco, with as many people as could go in the canoes, to ascend the
river; for while they were coming from Anilco they saw some cabins
newly built on the opposite shore. The comptroller went, and brought
back the boats laden with maize, beans, dried plums (persimmons),
and the pulp of them made into many loaves. The same day an Indian
arrived from Guachoya, and said that the cacique would come on the
morrow. The next day, many canoes were seen ascending the river;
and the people in them remained for an hour on the opposite side of
the River Grande, in consultation, as to whether they should come
to us or not; but finally they concluded to come, and crossed the
river, among them being the cacique of Guachoya with many Indians,
bringing much fish, many dogs, skins, and blankets. So soon as they
had landed, they went to the lodging of the Governor in the town, and
having presented him with the offerings, the cacique thus spoke:
POTENT AND EXCELLENT MASTER:
I entreat you to forgive me the error I committed in going away
from this town, and not waiting to greet and to obey you; since
the occasion should have been for me, and is, one of pride; but
I dreaded what I should not have feared, and did consequently
what was out of reason; for error comes of haste, and I left
without proper thought. So soon as I had reflected, I resolved
not to follow the inclination of the foolish, which is to
persist in his course, but to take that of the discreet and the
wise: thus have I changed my purpose, coming to see in what it
is you will bid me serve you, within the farthermost limits of
my control.
The Governor received him with much pleasure, thanking him for the
proffers and gift. Being asked if he had any information of the sea,
he said, none, nor of any other inhabited country below on that
side of the river, except a town two leagues distant, belonging to
a chief subject to him; nor on the other shore, save three leagues
down, the province of Quigaltam, the lord of which was the greatest
of that country. The Governor, suspecting that the cacique spoke
untruthfully, to rid his towns of him, sent Juan de Añasco with
eight of cavalry down the river, to discover what population might
be there, and get what knowledge there was of the sea. He was gone
eight days, and stated, when he got back, that in all that time he
could not travel more than fourteen or fifteen leagues, on account
of the great bogs that came out of the river, the canebrakes and
thick scrubs there were along the margin, and that he had found no
inhabited spot.
The Governor sank into a deep despondency at sight of the
difficulties that presented themselves to his reaching the sea;
and, what was worse, from the way in which the men and horses were
diminishing in numbers, he could not sustain himself in the country
without succor. Of that reflection he pined: but, before he took
to his pallet, he sent a messenger to the cacique of Quigaltam, to
say that he was the child of the Sun, and whence he came all obeyed
him, rendering their tribute; that he besought him to value his
friendship, and to come where he was; that he would be rejoiced to
see him; and in token of love and his obedience, he must bring him
something from his country that was in most esteem there. By the same
Indian, the chief returned this answer:
As to what you say of your being the son of the Sun, if you will
cause him to dry up the great river, I will believe you: as to
the rest, it is not my custom to visit any one, but rather all,
of whom I have ever heard, have come to visit me, to serve and
obey me, and pay me tribute, either voluntarily or by force.
If you desire to see me, come where I am; if for peace, I will
receive you with special good-will; if for war, I will await you
in my town; but neither for you, nor for any man, will I set
back one foot.
When the messenger returned, the Governor was already low, being very
ill of fevers. He grieved that he was not in a state to cross the
river at once, and go in quest of the cacique, to see if he could
not abate that pride; though the stream was already flowing very
powerfully, was nearly half a league broad, sixteen fathoms in depth,
rushing by in furious torrent, and on either shore were many Indians;
nor was his power any longer so great that he might disregard
advantages, relying on his strength alone.
Every day the Indians of Guachoya brought fish, until they came to be
in such plenty that the town was covered with them.
The Governor having been told by the cacique, that on a certain
night, the chief of Quigaltam would come to give him battle, he
suspected it to be a fiction of his devising to get him out of his
country, and he ordered him to be put under guard, and from that
night forth the watch to be well kept. When asked why the chief did
not come, he said that he had, but that, finding the Governor in
readiness, he dared not adventure; and he greatly importuned him to
send the captains over the river, offering to supply many men to
go upon Quigaltam; to which the Governor said, that so soon as he
got well he would himself go to seek that cacique. Observing how
many Indians came every day to the town, and how populous was that
country, the Governor fearing that they would plot together, and
practise on him some perfidy, he permitted the gates in use, and
some gaps in the palisade that had not yet been closed up, to remain
open, that the Indians might not suppose he stood in fear, ordering
the cavalry to be distributed there; and the night long they made
the round, from each squadron going mounted men in couples to visit
the scouts, outside the town, at points in the roads, and to the
crossbowmen that guarded the canoes in the river.
That the Indians might stand in terror of them, the Governor
determined to send a captain to Nilco, which the people of Guachoya
had told him was inhabited, and, treating the inhabitants there
severely neither town would dare to attack him: so he commanded
Captain Nuño de Tobar to march thither with fifteen horsemen, and
Captain Juan de Guzman, with his company of foot, to ascend the river
by water in canoes. The cacique of Guachoya ordered canoes to be
brought, and many warriors to come, who went with the Christians. Two
leagues from Nilco, the cavalry, having first arrived, waited for the
foot, and thence together they crossed the river in the night. At
dawn, in sight of the town, they came upon a scout, who, directly as
he saw the Christians, set up loud yells, and fled to carry the news
to those in the place. Nuño de Tobar, and those with him, hastened on
so rapidly, that they were upon the inhabitants before they could all
get out of town. The ground was open field; the part of it covered by
the houses, which might be a quarter of a league in extent, contained
five or six thousand souls. Coming out of them, the Indians ran from
one to another habitation, numbers collecting in all parts, so that
there was not a man on horseback who did not find himself amidst
many; and when the captain ordered that the life of no male should be
spared, the surprise was such, that there was not a man among them
in readiness to draw a bow. The cries of the women and children were
such as to deafen those who pursued them. About one hundred men were
slain; many were allowed to get away badly wounded, that they might
strike terror into those who were absent.
Some persons were so cruel and butcher-like that they killed all
before them, young and old, not one having resisted little nor
much; while those who felt it their duty to be wherever there might
be resistance, and were esteemed brave, broke through the crowds
of Indians, bearing down many with their stirrups and the breasts
of their horses, giving some a thrust and letting them go, but
encountering a child or a woman would take and deliver it over to the
footmen. To the ferocious and bloodthirsty, God permitted that their
sin should rise up against them in the presence of all--when there
was occasion for fighting showing extreme cowardice, and in the end
paying for it with their lives.
Eighty women and children were captured at Nilco, and much clothing.
The Indians of Guachoya, before arriving at the town, had come to a
stop, and from without watched the success of the Christians over the
inhabitants; and when they saw that these were scattered, that the
cavalry were following and lancing them, they went to the houses for
plunder, filling the canoes with clothing; and lest the Christians
might take away what they got, they returned to Guachoya, where they
came greatly astonished at what they had seen done to the people of
Nilco, which they, in great fear, recounted circumstantially to their
cacique.