After several ballotings without result, the colonists finally chose

a certain Juan Quevedo, a serious man of mature age, who was agent of

the royal treasury in Darien. They had full confidence that Quevedo

would conduct this business successfully, and they counted on his

return because he had brought his wife with him to the new world and

was leaving her in the colony as a pledge. As soon as Quevedo was

elected, several opinions concerning an associate for him were

expressed. Some people said it was risky to trust such an important

affair to one man; not that they mistrusted Quevedo, but human life is

uncertain, particularly if one considers that people accustomed to a

climate near the equator would be exposed on returning northwards to

frequent changes of climate and food. It was necessary, therefore, to

provide an associate for Quevedo, so that, if one died the other

might survive and if both escaped death, the King would place more

confidence in their dual report. Much time was spent in debating this

point, and finally they decided to choose Roderigo Colmenares, whose

name I have frequently mentioned. He was a man of large experience; in

his youth he had travelled by land and sea over all Europe, and he had

taken part in the Italian wars against the French. What decided the

colonists to choose Colmenares was the fact that, if he left, they

could count on his return, because he had purchased properties in

Darien and had spent large sums in planting. He hoped to sell his

crops as they stood, and to obtain the gold of his companions in

exchange. He therefore left the care of his estates to a citizen of

Madrid, a certain Alonzo Nuñez, who was his comrade. This man was a

judge, and had almost been chosen by the colonists as an envoy in

place of his friend Colmenares; and indeed he would have been elected

but that one of his companions explained that he had a wife at Madrid.

It was feared, therefore, that the tears of his wife might prevent

him from ever returning, so Colmenares, being free, was chosen as the

associate of Quevedo. There being no larger ship at their disposal,

both men sailed on a brigantine, the fourth day of the calends of

November in the year of grace 1512.

During their voyage they were buffeted by many tempests, and were

finally dashed upon the western coast of that large island which for a

long time was thought to be a continent, and which in my First Decade

I explained was called Cuba. They were reduced to the most extreme

want, for three months had elapsed since they left Darien. They were,

therefore, forced to land to seek some assistance from the islanders,

and by chance they approached on that side of the island where

Valdivia had also been driven ashore by tempests. Ah! unhappy

creatures! you colonists of Darien, who await the return of Valdivia

to assuage your sufferings. Hardly had he landed before he and his

companions were massacred by the Cubans, the caravel broken to pieces

and left upon the shore. Upon beholding some planks of that caravel

half buried in the sand, the envoys bewailed the death of Valdivia and

his companions. They found no bodies, for these had either been thrown

into the sea, or had served as food for the cannibals, for these

latter frequently made raids in Cuba in order to procure human flesh.

Two islanders who had been captured, related the death of Valdivia,

which had been brought about by the love of gold. These islanders

confessed that, having learned from the talk of one of Valdivia's

companions that he had gold, they had plotted to assassinate him

because they too loved gold necklaces.

Horrified by this catastrophe, and feeling themselves unable to avenge

their companions the Spaniards decided to fly from that barbarous land

and the monstrous cruelty of those savages. They therefore continued

their voyage, stunned by the massacre of their companions and

suffering severely from want. After leaving the southern coast of Cuba

behind them, a thousand untoward events still further delayed them.

They learned that Hojeda had also landed and that he had been driven

by storms upon these coasts, where he led a wretched existence. He

endured a thousand annoyances and a thousand different kinds of

sufferings. After having suffered the loss of his companions or

witnessed them gasping from hunger, he had been carried to Hispaniola

almost alone.

He arrived there hardly alive, and died from the effects of the wound

he had received from the natives of Uraba. Enciso, the judge elect,

had sailed along this same coast, but with better fortune, for he had

had favourable weather.

He himself told me these things at Court, and he added that the

natives of Cuba had received him kindly, especially the people of a

certain cacique called El Comendador [the Commander]. When this chief

was about to be baptised by some Christians who were passing through,

he asked them how the governor of the neighbouring island of

Hispaniola was called, and he was answered that he was called El

Comendador.[1] The governor of that island was at that period, an

illustrious knight of the Order of Calatrava, and the knights of that

Order take the title of Commander. The cacique promptly declared that

he wished to be called El Comendador; and he it was who had given

hospitality to Enciso, when he landed, and had supplied all his wants.

[Note 1: Don Nicholas de Ovando, Comendador de Lares, and later

Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava.]

According to Enciso, now is the time, Most Holy Father from whom we

receive our religion and our beliefs, to preach to the islanders. An

unknown sailor,[2] who was ill, had been left by some Spaniards who

were coasting the length of Cuba, with the cacique El Comendador, and

this sailor was very kindly received by the cacique and his people.

When he recovered his health, he frequently served the cacique as

lieutenant in his expeditions, for the islanders are often at war one

with another; and El Comendador was always victorious. The sailor

was an ignorant creature, but a man of good heart, who cultivated

a peculiar devotion for the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God. He even

carried about him, as constantly as his clothes, a picture of the

Blessed Virgin, very well painted on paper, and he declared to El

Comendador that it was because of it that he was always victorious.

He also persuaded the latter to abandon the zemes the people adored,

because he declared that these nocturnal goblins were the enemies of

souls, and he urged the cacique to choose for his patron the Virgin

Mother of God, if he desired all his undertakings, both in peace and

in war, to succeed. The Virgin Mother of God was never deaf to the

invocation of her holy name by a pure heart. The sailor obtained a

ready hearing from these naked islanders. Upon the request of the

cacique he gave him the image of the Virgin, and consecrated a church

and an altar to it. The zemes, whom their ancestors had worshipped

were abandoned. These zemes, Most Holy Father, are the idols made out

of cotton, of which I have spoken at length in the tenth book of my

First Decade. Following the instructions of the sailor, the cacique El

Comendador and all his people of both sexes went each day at sunset

to the chapel dedicated to the Virgin. Entering, they knelt, and

reverently bowing their heads and joining their hands they saluted the

image by repeated invocations, _Ave Maria, Ave Maria_; for there were

very few who had learnt the whole prayer.

[Note 2: Las Casas tells an identical story concerning Alonso

de Hojeda, who gave an image of the Blessed Virgin to a cacique of

Cueyba. During the campaign which ended in the conquest of Cuba, Las

Casas offered to trade a Flemish statue for the one Hojeda had left

there, but the cacique refused, and taking his image, he fled into

the woods, lest he should be forced to exchange. The two stories,

doubtless, refer to the same incident, though it seems strange that

Peter Martyr should not have identified Hojeda as the "unknown

sailor." See Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom, iv., cap. xix.:

_B. Las Casas, his Life, his Apostolate, and his Writings_, cap iv.]

When Enciso and his companions landed there, the Indians took them by

the hands and joyfully led them to the chapel, declaring that they

were going to show them something wonderful. They pointed to the holy

image surrounded, as though with a garland, by dishes full of food and

drink. They offered these presents to the image just as they formerly

did in their own religion to the zemes. They say that by such

offerings they provide for the image in case it should be hungry, for

they believe that it might suffer from hunger.

Listen now to a most curious story concerning the assistance they

believe they have received from that image of the Blessed Virgin, and

by my faith, Most Holy Father, one would willingly believe it to be

true. According to the report of our men, the effect of the fervent

piety which animates those simple souls for the Blessed Virgin Mother

of God is such, that they almost constrain her to come down from

heaven to help them whenever they weaken in a struggle. Has not God

left pity, love, and charity amongst men, by the practice of which

they may merit His grace and that of the heavenly host? The Virgin

could never abandon those who with pure heart invoke her aid. Now El

Comendador and all his chiefs declared to Enciso and his companions,

that when the sailor had carried the holy image with him into battle

in full view of both armies, the zemes of the enemy turned their heads

and trembled in the presence of the image of the Virgin; for it is the

custom for each army to carry its own protecting zemes into battle.

Not only had they beheld the holy image but also a woman, robed in

fair white draperies, who, in the heat of the battle, sustained

them against their enemies. The latter also declared that there had

appeared opposite to them a woman with menacing face, carrying a

sceptre, who encouraged the opposing army and that this apparition

made them tremble with fear.

El Comendador declared that after the sailor had been taken away by

some Christians who had landed at that place, he had faithfully obeyed

his instructions. He further related that a heated altercation had

broken out with his neighbours, as to which of the zemes was most

powerful. The controversy led to frequent conflicts, in which the

Blessed Virgin had never failed them, but had appeared in every

battle, grasping the victory with her small hands from the most

formidable of the hostile forces. The Spaniards asked what their war

cry was, and they replied that, in obedience to the instructions of

the sailor they only shouted, in the Spanish language, "St. Mary to

the rescue!" It was the only language the sailor spoke. In the midst

of these cruel wars they made the following agreement; instead of

putting a fixed number of champions into the field, as was often done

by the armies of other nations of antiquity, or instead of settling

their disputes by arbitration, two young men of each tribe should have

their hands tied behind their backs as tightly as he who bound them

chose. They would then be led to a lofty place, and the zemes of the

tribe whose champion most quickly undid his bonds should be acclaimed

as the most powerful. The agreement was made, and the young men

of both sides were thus bound. El Comendador's people tied their

adversary, while their enemies tied one of his men. Three different

times the trial was repeated, and each time after invoking their

zemes, the young men tried to free themselves from their bonds. El

Comendador's champions repeated the invocation, "St. Mary, help me,

St. Mary, help me!" and immediately the Virgin, robed in white,

appeared. She drove away the demon, and touching the bonds of the

Christian champion with the wand she carried, not only was he at once

freed, but the bonds were added to those of his opponent, so that the

enemy found the young Christian not only free, but their own champion

with double bonds. They were not content with this first defeat,

and attributed it to some human trickery which they did not believe

demonstrated the superiority of the divinity. They therefore asked

that four men of venerable age and tried morality should be chosen

from each tribe, and should stand on either side of each young man, in

order to verify whether or not there was any trickery. O what

purity of soul and blessed simplicity, worthy of the golden age!

El Comendador and his advisers yielded to this condition with a

confidence equal to that with which the sufferer from an effusion of

blood sought the remedy for his malady; or Peter, whose place, Most

Holy Father, you occupy, marched upon the waves when he beheld our

Lord. The conditions being accepted, the young men were bound and the

eight judges took their places. The signal was given, and each one

called upon his zemes, to come to his assistance. The two champions

beheld the zemes with a long tail and an enormous mouth furnished with

teeth and horns just like the images. This devil sought to untie the

young man who was acting as his champion, but at the first invocation

of the Comendador the Virgin appeared. The judges, with wide open eyes

and attentive minds, waited to see what would happen. She touched the

devil with the wand she was carrying and put him to flight, afterwards

causing the bonds of her champion to transfer themselves to the body

of his adversary. This miracle struck terror into the Comendador's

enemies, and they recognised that the zemes of the Virgin was more

powerful than their own.

The consequence of this event was, that when the news spread that

Christians had landed in Cuba, the Comendador's neighbours, who were

his bitter enemies, and had often made war upon him, sent to Enciso

asking for priests to baptise them. Enciso immediately despatched two

priests who were with him, and in one day one hundred and thirty men

of the Comendador's enemies were baptised and became his firm friends

and allies. We have in another place noted that chickens had greatly

increased in the country, owing to the care of our compatriots. Each

native who had received baptism presented the priest with a cock or

a hen, but not with a capon, because they have not yet learned to

castrate the chickens and make capons of them. They also brought

salted fish and cakes made of fresh flour. Six of the neophytes

accompanied the priests when they returned to the coasts, carrying

these presents, which procured the Spaniards a splendid Easter. They

had left Darien only two days before the Sunday of St. Lazarus, and

Easter overtook them when they were doubling the last promontory of

Cuba. In response to the petition of the Comendador they left with him

a Spaniard, who volunteered for the purpose of teaching the cacique's

subjects and their neighbours the Angelic Salutation, their idea being

that the more words of the prayer to the Virgin they knew, the better

disposed she would be to them.

Enciso agreed, after which he resumed his course to Hispaniola, which

was not far distant. From thence he betook himself to the King, who

was then in residence at Valladolid, where I talked intimately with

him. Enciso seriously influenced the King against the adventurer Vasco

Nuñez, and secured his condemnation. I have wished, Most Holy Father,

to furnish you these particulars concerning the religion of the

natives. They reach me not only from Enciso, but from a number of

other most trustworthy personages. I have done this, that Your

Beatitude might be convinced of the docility of this race, and the

ease with which they might be instructed in the ceremonies of our

religion. Their conversion is not to be accomplished from one day to

another, and it is only little by little that they will accept the

evangelical law, of which you are the dispenser. Thus shall you see

the number of the sheep composing your flock increased each day. But

let us return to the story of the envoys from Darien.

BOOK VII

The journey from Darien to Hispaniola may be made in eight days

or even less, if the wind is astern. Because of storms the envoys

occupied a hundred days in crossing. They stopped some days at

Hispaniola where they transacted their business with the Admiral and

the other officials, after which they embarked on the merchant vessels

which lay ready freighted and plied between Hispaniola and Spain. It

was not, however, till the calends of May of the year after their

departure from Darien, that they arrived at the capital. Quevedo and

Colmenares, the two envoys of the colonists of Darien, arrived there

on the fifteenth of May, of the year 1513. Coming as they did from

the Antipodes, from a country hitherto unknown and inhabited by naked

people, they were received with honour by Juan de Fonseca, to whom the

direction of colonial affairs had been entrusted. In recognition of

his fidelity to his sovereigns, other popes have successively bestowed

on him the bishoprics of Beca, afterwards Cordova, Palencia, and

Rosano; and Your Holiness has just now raised him to the bishopric

of Burgos. Being the first Almoner and Counsellor of the King's

household, Your Holiness has in addition appointed him commissary

general for the royal indulgences, and the crusade against the Moors.

Quevedo and Colmenares were presented by the Bishop of Burgos to the

Catholic King, and the news they brought pleased his Majesty and all

his courtiers, because of their extreme novelty. A look at these men

is enough to demonstrate the insalubrious climate and temperature of

Darien, for they are as yellow as though they suffered from liver

complaint, and are puffy, though they attribute their condition to the

privations they have endured. I heard about all they had done from the

captains Zamudio and Enciso; also through another bachelor of laws,

called Baëcia, who had scoured those countries; also from the ship's

captain Vincent Yañez [Pinzon], who was familiar with those coasts;

from Alonzo Nuñez and from a number of subalterns who had sailed along

those coasts, under the command of these captains. Not one of those

who came to Court failed to afford me the pleasure, whether verbally

or in writing, of reporting to me everything he had learned. True

it is that I have been neglectful of many of those reports, which

deserved to be kept, and have only preserved such as would, in my

opinion, please the lovers of history. Amidst such a mass of material

I am obliged necessarily to omit something in order that my narrative

may not be too diffuse.

Let us now relate the events provoked by the arrival of the envoys.

Before Quevedo and Colmenares arrived, the news had already been

spread of the dramatic end of the first leaders, Hojeda, Nicuesa, and

Juan de la Cosa, that illustrious navigator who had received a royal

commission as pilot. It was known that the few surviving colonists at

Darien were in a state of complete anarchy, taking no heed to convert

the simple tribes of that region to our religion and giving no

attention to acquiring information regarding those countries. It was

therefore decided to send out a representative who would deprive the

usurpers of the power they had seized without the King's license, and

correct the first disorders. This mission was entrusted to Pedro Arias

d'Avila, a citizen of Segovia, who was called in Spain by the nickname

of _El Galan_, because of his prowess in the jousts. No sooner was

this news published at the Court than the envoys from Darien attempted

to deprive Pedro Arias of the command. There were numerous and

pressing petitions to the King to accomplish this; but the first

Almoner, the Bishop of Burgos whose business it is to stop such

intrigues, promptly spoke to the King when informed of this one, in

the following terms:

"Pedro Arias, O Most Catholic King, is a brave man, who has often

risked his life for Your Majesty, and who we know by long experience

is well adapted to command troops. He signally distinguished himself

in the wars against the Moors, where he comported himself as became

a valiant soldier and a prudent officer. In my opinion, it would

be ungracious to withdraw his appointment in response to the

representations of envious persons. Let this good man, therefore,

depart under fortunate auspices; let this devoted pupil of Your

Majesty, who has lived from infancy in the palace, depart."

The King, acting on the advice of the Bishop of Burgos, confirmed the

appointment of Pedro Arias, and even increased the powers conferred

upon him. Twelve hundred soldiers were raised by the Bishop of Burgos,

at the royal expense, to form the troop of Pedro Arias who, with the

majority of them, left the Court at Valladolid about the calends of

October, in the year 1513, for Seville, a town celebrated for its

numerous population and its wool. It was at Seville that the royal

agents were to equip the remainder of his soldiers and deliver to him

the provisions and everything necessary for such a great enterprise.

For it is there that the King has established his office charged

exclusively with colonial affairs. All the merchants, coming and

going, appear there to render account of the cargoes they have brought

from the new countries, and of the gold they export. This office is

called India House.[1]

[Note 1: _Domum Indicæ Contractationis vocant. Casa de

Contractacion_, or Casa de Indias.]

Pedro Arias found two thousand young soldiers in excess of his

number awaiting him at Seville; he likewise found a goodly number of

avaricious old men, the majority of whom asked merely to be allowed to

follow him at their own cost, without receiving the royal pay. Rather

than overcrowd his ships and to spare his supplies, he refused to take

any of the latter. Care was taken that no foreigner should mingle with

the Spaniards, without the King's permission, and for this reason I am

extremely astonished that a certain Venetian, Aloisió Cadamosto, who

has written a history of the Portuguese, should write when mentioning

the actions of the Spaniards, "We have done; we have seen; we have

been"; when, as a matter of fact, he has neither done nor seen any

more than any other Venetian. Cadamosto borrowed and plagiarised

whatever he wrote, from the first three books of my first three

Decades, that is to say, those which I addressed to the Cardinals

Ascanio and Arcimboldo, who were living at the time when the events

I described were happening. He evidently thought that my works would

never be given to the public, and it may be that he came across

them in the possession of some Venetian ambassador; for the most

illustrious Senate of that Republic sent eminent men to the Court of

the Catholic Kings, to some of whom I willingly showed my writings. I

readily consented that copies should be taken. Be that as it may, this

excellent Aloisió Cadamosto has sought to claim for himself what was

the work of another. He has related the great deeds of the Portuguese,

but whether he witnessed them, as he pretends, or has merely profited

by the labour of another, I am unable to state. _Vivat et ipse marte

suo_.

Nobody, who had not been enrolled by the royal agents, as a soldier,

in the King's pay was allowed to go on board the vessels of Pedro

Arias. In addition to these regulars there were some others, including

one Francisco Cotta, a compatriot of mine, and thanks to a royal

order I obtained for him, he was allowed to go to the New World as

a volunteer with Pedro Arias. But for this he would not have been

permitted to depart. Now let the Venetian, Cadamosto, go on and write

that he has seen everything, while I, who for twenty-six years have

lived, not without credit, at the Court of the Catholic King, have

only been able by the greatest efforts to obtain authorisation for

one foreigner to sail. Some Genoese, but very few, and that at

the instance of the Admiral, son of the first discoverer of those

countries, succeeded in obtaining a like authorisation; but to no one

else was permission granted.

Pedro Arias sailed from Seville on the Guadalquivir to the sea, in the

first days of the year 1514.[2] His departure took place under evil

auspices, for such a furious storm broke over the fleet that two

vessels were shattered to pieces, and the others were obliged to

lighten themselves by throwing overboard some of their stores. The

crews which survived returned to the coast of Spain, where the King's

agents promptly came to their assistance and they were enabled again

to set forth. The pilot of the flagship appointed by the King was

Giovanni Vespucci, a Florentine, nephew of Amerigo Vespucci, who had

inherited his uncle's great ability in the art of navigation and

taking reckonings. We recently learned from Hispaniola that the

crossing had been favourable, and a merchant ship, returning from the

neighbouring islands, had encountered the fleet.

[Note 2: The expedition sailed on April 14, 1514.]

As Galeazzo Butrigario and Giovanni Accursi who, to please Your

Holiness, constantly urge me on, are sending a courier who will

deliver my ocean Nereids, however imperfect they may be, to Your

Beatitude, I shall save time by leaving out many particulars and shall

only mention what, in my opinion, is worthy to be recorded and which I

have not reported at the time it happened.

The wife of the captain Pedro Arias, by name Elizabeth Bobadilla, is

the grandniece on the father's side of the Marchioness Bobadilla de

Moia, who opened the gates of Segovia to the friends of Isabella when

the Portuguese were invading Castile, thus enabling them to hold out

and later to take the offensive against the Portuguese; and still

later to defeat them. King Henry, brother of Queen Isabella, had in

fact taken possession of the treasures of that town. During her entire

life, whether in time of war or in time of peace, the Marchioness de

Moia displayed virile resolution, and it was due to her counsels that

many great deeds were done in Castile. The wife of Pedro Arias, being

niece of this marchioness, and inspired by courage equal to that of

her aunt, spoke to her husband on his departure for those unknown

lands, where he would encounter real perils, both on sea and on land,

in the following terms:

"My dear husband, we have been united from our youth, as I think, for

the purpose of living together and never being separated. Wherever

destiny may lead you, be it on the tempestuous ocean or be it among

the hardships that await you on land, I should be your companion.

There is nothing I would more fear, nor any kind of death that might

threaten me, which would not be more supportable than for me to live

without you and separated by such an immense distance. I would rather

die and even be eaten by fish in the sea or devoured on land by

cannibals, than to consume myself in perpetual mourning and in

unceasing sorrow, awaiting--not my husband--but his letters. My

determination is not sudden nor unconsidered; nor is it a woman's

caprice that moves me to a well-weighed and merited decision. You must

choose between two alternatives. Either you will kill me or you will

grant my request. The children God has given us (there were eight of

them, four boys and four girls) will not stop me for one moment. We

will leave them their heritage and their marriage portions, sufficient

to enable them to live in conformity with their rank, and besides

these, I have no other preoccupation."

Upon hearing his wife speak such words from her virile heart, the

husband knew that nothing could shake her resolution, and therefore,

dared not refuse her request. She followed him as Ipsicratea, with

flowing hair, followed Mithridates, for she loved her living husband

as did the Carian Artemisia of Halicarnassia her dead Mausolus. We

have learned that this Elizabeth Bobadilla brought up, as the proverb

says, on soft feathers, has braved the dangers of the ocean with as

much courage as her husband or the sailors who pass their lives at

sea.

The following are some other particulars I have noted. In my First

Decade I spoke, and not without some praise, of Vincent Yañez Pinzon,

who had accompanied the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, the future

Admiral, on his first voyage. Later, he undertook, by himself and at

his own cost, another voyage, with but one ship for which he received

the royal license. During the year preceding the departure of Hojeda

and Nicuesa, Vincent Yañez undertook a third exploration, sailing from

Hispaniola. His course was from east to west, following the southern

shore of Cuba, which, owing to its length, many people at that time

thought a continent; and he sailed round it. Many other persons have

since reported that they have done the same.

Having demonstrated by this expedition that Cuba was indeed an island,

Vincent Yañez sailed farther, and discovered other lands west of Cuba,

but such as the Admiral had first touched. He kept to the left and,

following the continental coasts towards the east, he crossed the

gulfs of Veragua, Uraba, and Cachibacoa, touching finally with his

ship at the region which, in our First Decade, we have explained was

called Paria and Boca de la Sierpe. He sailed into an immense gulf

noted by Columbus as remarkable for its fresh waters, the abundance of

fish, and the many islands it contained. It is situated about thirty

miles east of Curiana. Midway in this course Cumana and Manacapana

are passed; and it is at these places, not at Curiana, where the most

pearls are found.

The kings of that country, who are called _chiaconus_ just as they are

called caciques in Hispaniola, sent messengers when they learned of

the Spaniards' arrival, to ascertain who the unknown men might be,

what they brought with them, and what they wanted. They launched

upon the sea their barques dug out of tree trunks which are the same

mentioned in our First Decade, and are called canoes in Hispaniola;

but here the natives called them _chicos_. What most astonished them

was to see the swelling sails of the ship, for they did not understand

the use of sails; and if they did they would only require small ones,

because of the narrowness of their barques. They approached the ship

in great numbers and even ventured to shoot some arrows at the men who

defended the ship's sides as though they were walls, hoping either to

wound or frighten them.

The Spaniards fired their cannon, and the natives, alarmed by the

detonation and by the slaughter that resulted from the well-aimed

shot, took to flight in various directions. Pursuing them with a

ship's boat, the Spaniards killed some and took many prisoners. The

noise of the cannon and the report of what had happened so alarmed the

caciques, who feared their villages would be robbed and their people

massacred if the Spaniards landed to take vengeance, that they sent

messengers to Vincent Yañez. As far as could be understood from their

signs and gestures they sought peace; but our compatriots report

that they did not understand a word of their language. The better to

demonstrate their desire for peace, the natives made them beautiful

presents, consisting of a quantity of gold, equal in weight to three

thousand of the kind of coins we have said are called castellanos, and

in vulgar language pesos; also a wooden tub full of precious incense,

weighing about twenty-six hundred pounds, at eight ounces to the

pound. This showed the country was rich in incense, for the natives of

Paria have no intercourse with those of Saba; and in fact they know

nothing of any place outside their own country. In addition to the

gold and the incense, they presented peacocks such as are not found

elsewhere, for they differ largely from ours in the variety of their

colours. The hens were alive, for they kept them to propagate the

species, but the cocks, which they brought in great numbers, were

dressed to be immediately eaten. They likewise offered cotton stuffs,

similar to tapestries, for household decoration, very tastefully made

in various colours. These stuffs were fringed with golden bells such

as are called in Italy _sonaglios_ and in Spain _cascabeles_. Of

talking parrots, they gave as many of different colours as were

wanted; these parrots are as common in Paria as pigeons or sparrows

are amongst us.

All the natives wear cotton clothing, the men being covered to the

knees, and the women to the calves of their legs. In time of war the

men wear a carefully quilted coat of cotton, doubled in the Turkish

style. I have used the word cotton for what I have otherwise called in

the vulgar Italian _bombasio_. I have also used other analogous terms

which certain Latinists, dwelling along the Adriatic or Ligurian

coasts, may attribute to my negligence or ignorance, when my writings

reach them,[3] as we have seen in the case of my First Decade which

was printed without my authorisation. I would have them know that I

am a Lombard, not a Latin; that I was born at Milan,[4] a long way

distant from Latium, and have lived my life still farther away, for I

reside in Spain. Let those purists of Venice or Genoa who accuse me of

improprieties of composition because I have written as one speaks

in Spain of brigantines and caravels, of admiral and adelantado,

understand, once for all, that I am not ignorant that he who holds

these offices is called by the Hellenists _Archithalassus_ and by the

Latinists sometimes _Navarchus_ and sometimes _Pontarchus_. Despite

all such similar comments, and provided I may nourish the hope of not

displeasing Your Holiness, I shall confine myself to narrating these

great events with simplicity. Leaving these things aside, let us now

return to the caciques of Paria.

[Note 3: Peter Martyr was not ignorant of the jibes his Latin

evoked amongst the purists in Rome. The cultivated tympanum of

Cardinal Bembo and other Ciceronians at the Pontifical Court received

painful shocks from certain corrupt expressions in his decades. His

repeated explanations of his deflections from classical nomenclature

are, however, reasonable.]

[Note 4: Meaning, of course, in the duchy, not the city. The

passage reads: _Neutro cruciare statuo ad summum; voloque sciant, me

insubrem esse non Latium; et longe a Latio natum, quia Mediolani; et

longissime vitam egisse, quia in Hispania_.]

Vincent Yañez discovered that the chieftains were elected for only one

year. Their followers obeyed them in making war or in signing peace.

Their villages are built around this immense gulf. Five of these

caciques offered gifts to the Spaniards, and I have wished to record

their names in memory of their hospitality: Chiaconus Chianaocho,

Chiaconus Fintiguanos, Chiaconus Chamailaba, Chiaconus Polomus,

Chiaconus Pot.

This gulf is called Bahia de la Natividad, because Columbus discovered

it on the Feast of Christmas; but he only sailed by, without

penetrating into the interior. The Spaniards simply call it Bahia.

Having established friendship with these chieftains, Vincent Yañez

continued his voyage[5] and found to the east countries which had been

abandoned because of frequent inundations, and a vast extent of marsh

lands. He persisted in his undertaking until he reached the extreme

point of the continent[6]; if indeed we may call points, those corners

or promontories which terminate a coast. This one seems to reach out

towards the Atlas, and therefore opposite that part of Africa called

by the Portuguese the Cape of Good Hope, a promontory in the ocean

formed by the prolongation of the Atlas Mountains. The Cape of Good

Hope, however, is situated within thirty-four degrees of the antarctic

pole, whereas this point in the New World lies within the seventh

degree. I think it must be part of that continent which cosmographers

have named the Great Atlantis, but without giving further details as

to its situation or character.

[Note 5: Comparing this account of Pinzon's voyage with that

of Vespucci, it is seen that Peter Martyr describes the itinerary

reversed, making Pinzon finish where Vespucci makes him begin.]

[Note 6: Cape Sant Augustin.]

And since we have now reached the shores of the first land encountered

beyond the Pillars of Hercules, perhaps it may not be out of place to

say something of the motives which might have provoked war between the

Catholic King, Ferdinand of Spain, and Emanuel of Portugal, had they

not been father-in-law and son-in-law. Note that I say _Portugal_ and

not _Lusitania_, contrary to the opinion of many persons who certainly

are not ignorant, but are not less certainly, sadly mistaken. For if

it be Lusitania which eminent geographers locate between the Douro and

the Guadiana, in what part of Lusitania does Portugal lie?

BOOK VIII

During the reign of King John of Portugal, uncle and predecessor of

King Emanuel, now happily reigning, a serious divergence existed

between the Portuguese and the Spaniards concerning their discoveries.

The King of Portugal claimed that he alone possessed navigation rights

on the ocean, because the Portuguese had been the first since ancient

times to put out on the great sea. The Castilians asserted that

everything existing on the earth since God created the world is the

common property of mankind, and that it is, therefore, permissible to

take possession of any country not already inhabited by Christians.

The discussion on this point was very involved, and it was finally

decided to leave it to the arbitration of the Sovereign Pontiff.

Castile was at that time governed by the great Queen Isabella, with

whom was associated her husband, for Castile was her marriage portion.

The Queen being cousin to King John of Portugal, an agreement

between them was speedily reached. By mutual consent of both parties

concerned, and by virtue of a bull, the Sovereign Pontiff, Alexander

VI., under whose pontificate this discussion took place, traced from

north to south a line lying one hundred leagues outside the parallel

of the Cape Verde Islands.[1] The extreme point of the continent lies

on this side of that line and is called Cape San Augustin, and by

the terms of the Bull the Castilians are forbidden to land on that

extremity of the continent.

[Note 1: The famous bull marking the respective spheres of

discovery and colonisation for Spain and Portugal was given on May

4, 1493. Its terms were revised by the two states whose claims were

finally embodied in the conventions of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494, and

Setubal, September 4, 1494.]

After collecting the gold given him by the natives of the fertile

province of Chamba, Vincent Yañez returned from Cape San Augustin and

directed his course towards a lofty mountain chain which he saw on the

southern horizon. He had taken some prisoners in the Gulf of Paria,

which, beyond contest, lies in the Spanish dominions. He conducted

them to Hispaniola, where he delivered them to the young Admiral to be

instructed in our language, and afterwards to serve as interpreters in

the exploration of unknown countries. Pinzon betook himself to court

and petitioned the King for authorisation to assume the title of

Governor of the island of San Juan, which is only twenty-five leagues

distant from Hispaniola. He based his claim upon the fact that he had

been the first to discover the existence of gold in that island, which

we have said in our First Decade was called by the Indians Borrichena.

The governor of Borrichena, a Portuguese named Christopher, son of

Count Camigua, was massacred by the cannibals of the neighbouring

islands, together with all the Christians except the bishop and his

servants; the latter only succeeded in escaping, at the cost of

abandoning the sacred vessels. In response to the King's solicitation,

your Apostolic Holiness had just divided this country into five new

bishoprics. The Franciscan friar, Garcias de Padilla, was made Bishop

of Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola; the doctor Pedro Suarez

Deza was appointed to Concepcion, and for the island of San Juan, the

licenciate Alonzo Mauso was named; both these latter being observants

of the congregation of St. Peter. The fourth bishop was the friar

Bernardo de Mesa, a noble Toledan, and an orator of the Dominican

Order, who was appointed for Cuba. The fifth received the holy oils

from Your Holiness for the colony of Darien; he is a Franciscan, a

brilliant orator, and is called Juan Cabedo.

An expedition will, for the following reason, shortly set out to

punish the Caribs. After the first massacre, they returned several

months later from the neighbouring island of Santa Cruz, murdered

and ate a cacique who was our ally, with all his family, afterwards

completely destroying his town. They alleged that this cacique had

violated the laws of hospitality in his relations with several Caribs,

who were boat-builders. These men had been left at San Juan to build

more canoes, since that island grows lofty trees, better adapted for

canoe building than are those of the island of Santa Cruz. The Caribs

being still on the island, the Spaniards who arrived from Hispaniola

encountered them by accident. When the interpreters had made known

this recent crime, the Spaniards wished to exact satisfaction, but the

cannibals, drawing their bows and aiming their sharpened arrows at

them, gave it to be understood with menacing glances that they had

better keep quiet unless they wished to provoke a disaster. Fearing

the poisoned arrows and being likewise unprepared for fighting, our

men made amicable signs. When they asked the Caribs why they had

destroyed the village and murdered the cacique and his family, the

latter replied that they had done so to avenge the murder of several

workmen. They had collected the bones of the victims with the

intention of carrying them to the widows and children of the workmen,

so that the latter might understand that the murder of their husbands

and fathers had not been left unavenged. They exhibited a pile of

bones to the Spaniards who, shocked by this crime but forced to

conceal their real sentiments, remained silent, not daring to reprove

the Caribs, Similar stories which I suppress rather than offend

the ears of Your Holiness by such abominable narratives, are daily

repeated.

But we have strayed, O Most Holy Father, rather far from the regions

of Veragua and Uraba, which are the chief themes of our discourse.

Shall we not first treat of the immensity and the depth of the rivers

of Uraba, and of the products of the countries washed by their waters?

Shall I say nothing about the extent of the continent from east to

west, or of its breadth from north to south, nor of anything that

is reported concerning those regions as yet unknown? Let us return,

therefore, Most Holy Father, to Uraba, and begin by stating the new

names which have been given to those provinces, since they have come

under the authority of Christians.

BOOK IX

The Spaniards decided to name Veragua, _Castilla del Oro_, and Uraba,

_Nueva Andalusia_. As Hispaniola had been chosen to be the capital of

all the colonies of the islands, so likewise were the vast regions of

Paria divided into two parts, Uraba and Veragua, where two colonies

were established to serve as refuges and places of rest and

reprovisionment for all those who traversed those countries.

Everything the Spaniards sowed or planted in Uraba grew marvellously

well. Is this not worthy, Most Holy Father, of the highest admiration?

Every kind of seed, graftings, sugar-canes, and slips of trees and

plants, without speaking of the chickens and quadrupeds I have

mentioned, were brought from Europe. O admirable fertility! The

cucumbers and other similar vegetables sown were ready for picking in

less than twenty days. Cabbages, beets, lettuces, salads, and other

garden stuff were ripe within ten days; pumpkins and melons were

picked twenty-eight days after the seeds were sown. The slips and

sprouts, and such of our trees as we plant out in nurseries or

trenches, as well as the graftings of trees similar to those in Spain,

bore fruit as quickly as in Hispaniola.

The inhabitants of Darien have different kinds of fruit trees, whose

varied taste and good quality answer to their needs. I would like to

describe the more remarkable ones.

The _guaiana_ produces a lemon-like fruit similar to those commonly

called limes. Their flavour is sharp, but they are pleasant to the

taste. Nut-bearing pines are common, as are likewise various sorts of

palms bearing dates larger than ours but too sour to be eaten. The

cabbage palm grows everywhere, spontaneously, and is used both for

food and making brooms. There is a tree called _guaranana_, larger

than orange trees, and bearing a fruit about the size of a lemon; and

there is another closely resembling the chestnut. The fruit of

the latter is larger than a fig, and is pleasant to the taste and

wholesome. The _mamei_ bears a fruit about the size of an orange which

is as succulent as the best melon. The _guaranala_ bears a smaller

fruit than the foregoing, but of an aromatic scent and exquisite

taste. The _hovos_ bears a fruit resembling in its form and flavour

our plum, though it is somewhat larger, and appears really to be the

mirobolan, which grows so abundantly in Hispaniola that the pigs are

fed on its fruit. When it is ripe it is in vain the swineherd seeks to

keep his pigs, for they evade him and rush to the forest where these

trees grow; and it is for this reason that wild swine are so numerous

in Hispaniola. It is also claimed that the pork of Hispaniola has a

superior taste and is more wholesome than ours; and, indeed, nobody is

ignorant of the fact that diversity of foodstuffs produces firmer and

more savoury meat.

The most invincible King Ferdinand relates that he has eaten another

fruit brought from those countries. It is like a pine-nut in form and

colour, covered with scales, and firmer than a melon. Its flavour

excels all other fruits.[1] This fruit, which the King prefers to all

others, does not grow upon a tree but upon a plant, similar to an

artichoke or an acanthus. I myself have not tasted it, for it was the

only one which had arrived unspoiled, the others having rotted during

the long voyage. Spaniards who have eaten them fresh plucked where

they grow, speak with the highest appreciation of their delicate

flavour. There are certain roots which the natives call potatoes and

which grow spontaneously.[2] The first time I saw them, I took them

for Milanese turnips or huge mushrooms. No matter how they are cooked,

whether roasted or boiled, they are equal to any delicacy and indeed

to any food. Their skin is tougher than mushrooms or turnips, and is

earth-coloured, while the inside is quite white. The natives sow and

cultivate them in gardens as they do the yucca, which I have mentioned

in my First Decade; and they also eat them raw. When raw they taste

like green chestnuts, but are a little sweeter.

[Note 1: The pineapple.]

[Note 2: This is the first mention in literature of the potato.]

Having discoursed of trees, vegetables, and fruits, let us now come to

living creatures. Besides the lions and tigers[3] and other animals

which we already know, or which have been described by illustrious

writers, the native forests of these countries harbour many monsters.

One animal in particular has Nature created in prodigious form. It is

as large as a bull, and has a trunk like an elephant; and yet it is

not an elephant. Its hide is like a bull's, and yet it is not a bull.

Its hoofs resemble those of a horse, but it is not a horse. It has

ears like an elephant's, though smaller and drooping, yet they are

larger than those of any other animal.[4] There is also an animal

which lives in the trees, feeds upon fruits, and carries its young in

a pouch in the belly; no writer as far as I know has seen it, but I

have already sufficiently described it in the Decade which has already

reached Your Holiness before your elevation, as it was then stolen

from me to be printed.

[Note 3: It is hardly necessary to say that there were no lions or

tigers in America. Jaguars, panthers, leopards, and ocelots were the

most formidable beasts of prey found in the virgin forests of the New

World.]

[Note 4: This puzzling animal was the tapir.]

It now remains for me to speak of the rivers of Uraba. The Darien,

which is almost too narrow for the native canoes, flows into the Gulf

of Uraba, and on its banks stands a village built by the Spaniards.

Vasco Nuñez explored the extremity of the gulf and discovered a river

one league broad and of the extraordinary depth of two hundred cubits,

which flows into the gulf by several mouths, just as the Danube flows

into the Black Sea, or the Nile waters the land of Egypt. It is

called, because of its size, Rio Grande. An immense number of huge

crocodiles live in the waters of this stream, which, as we know,

is the case with the Nile; particularly I, who have ascended and

descended that river on my embassy to the Sultan.[5]

[Note 5: See _De Legatione Babylonica_.]

I hardly know, after reading the writings of many men remarkable for

their knowledge and veracity, what to think of the Nile. It is claimed

that there are really two Niles, which take their rise either in the

Mountains of the Sun or of the Moon, or in the rugged Sierras of

Ethiopia. The waters of these streams, whatever be their source,

modify the nature of the land they traverse. One of the two flows to

the north and empties into the Egyptian Sea: the other empties into

the southern ocean. What conclusion shall we draw? We are not puzzled

by the Nile of Egypt, and the southern Nile has been discovered by the

Portuguese, who, in the course of their amazing expeditions, ventured

beyond the equinoctial line into the country of the negroes, and as

far as Melinde. They affirm that it rises in the Mountains of the

Moon, and that it is another Nile, since crocodiles are seen there,

and crocodiles only live in streams belonging to the basin of the

Nile. The Portuguese have named that river Senegal. It traverses the

country of the negroes, and the country on its northern banks is

admirable, while that on its southern banks is sandy and arid. From

time to time crocodiles are seen.

What shall we now say about this third, or in fact, this fourth Nile?

These animals, covered with scales as hard as the tortoise-shell the

Spaniards under Columbus found in that river, and which, as we have

said, caused them to name that stream Los Lagartos, are certainly

crocodiles. Shall we declare that these Niles rise in the Mountains of

the Moon? Certainly not, Most Holy Father. Other waters than those

of the Nile may produce crocodiles, and our recent explorers have

supplied proof of this fact, for the rivers do not flow from the

Mountains of the Moon, nor can they have the same source as the

Egyptian Nile, or the Nile of Negricia or of Melinde; for they flow

down from the mountains we have mentioned, rising between the north

and south sea, and which separate the two oceans by a very small

distance.

The swamps of Darien and the lands which are covered with water after

the inundations, are full of pheasants, peacocks of sober colours,

and many other birds different from ours. They are good to eat, and

delight the ear of the listener with various songs; but the Spaniards

are indifferent bird-hunters, and are neglectful in catching them.

Innumerable varieties of parrots, all belonging to the same species,

chatter in this forest; some of them are as large as capons, while

others are no bigger than a sparrow. I have already enlarged

sufficiently on the subject of parrots in my First Decade. When

Columbus first explored these immense countries he brought back a

large number of every kind, and everybody was able to inspect them.

Others are still daily brought here.

There is still, Most Holy Father, a subject which is quite worthy to

figure in history, but I would prefer to see it handled by a Cicero

or a Livy than by myself. It affords me such astonishment that I feel

more embarrassed in my description than a young chicken wrapped in

tow. We have said that, according to the Indians, the land separating

the north from the south sea can be traversed in six days. I am not a

little puzzled both by the number and size of the rivers described,

and by the small breadth of that stretch of land; nor do I understand

how such large rivers can possibly flow down from these mountains,

only three days' march from the sea, and empty into the north ocean.

I cannot understand it, for I presume that equally large rivers empty

into the south sea. Doubtless the rivers of Uraba are not so important

when compared with others, but the Spaniards declare that during the

lifetime of Columbus they discovered and have since sailed upon a

river the breadth of whose mouth, where it empties into the sea, is

not less than one hundred miles. This river is on the borders of

Paria, and descends with such force from the high mountains that it

overwhelms the sea even at high tide or when it is swept by violent

winds, driving back the waves before the fury and weight of its

current. The waters of the sea for a large area round about are no

longer salt but fresh, and pleasant to the taste. The Indians call

this river Maragnon.[6] Other tribes give it the names Mariatambal,

Camamoros, or Paricora. In addition to the rivers I have before

mentioned, the Darien, Rio Grande, Dobaiba, San Matteo, Veragua,

Boiogatti, Lagartos, and Gaira, there are also others which water the

country. I wonder, Most Holy Father, what must be the size of these

mountain caverns so near the seacoast, and, according to the Indians,

so narrow, and what sources they have to enable them to send forth

such torrents of water? Several explanations suggest themselves to my

mind.

[Note 6: Just which river is meant is not clear. The description

would seem to fit the Orinoco, but Maragnon is the native name for the

Amazon. This last name is given exclusively to the upper part of the

river in the Peruvian territory.]

The first is the size of the mountains. It is claimed that they are

very great and this was the opinion of Columbus, who discovered them.

He had also another theory, asserting that the terrestrial paradise

was situated on the top of the mountains visible from Paria and Boca

de la Sierpe. He ended by convincing himself that this was a fact.

If these mountains are so immense, they must contain extensive and

gigantic reservoirs.

If such be the case, how are these reservoirs supplied with water? Is

it true, as many people think, that all fresh waters flow from the

sea into the land, where they are forced by the terrible power of the

waves into subterranean passages of the earth, just as we see it pour

forth from those same channels to flow again into the ocean?

This may well be the explanation of the phenomenon, since, if the

reports of the natives be true, nowhere else will two seas, separated

by such a small extent of land, ever be found. On the one side a vast

ocean extends towards the setting sun; on the other lies an ocean

towards the rising sun; and the latter is just as large as the former,

for it is believed that it mingles with the Indian Ocean. If this

theory be true, the continent, bounded by such an extent of water,

must necessarily absorb immense quantities, and after taking it up,

must send it forth into the sea in the form of rivers. If we deny that

the continent absorbs the excess of water from the ocean, and admit

that all springs derive their supply from the rainfall which filters

drop by drop into mountain reservoirs, we do so, bowing rather to the

superior authority of those who hold this opinion, than because our

reason grasps this theory.

I share the view that the clouds are converted into water, which is

absorbed into the mountain caverns, for I have seen with my own eyes

in Spain, rain falling drop by drop incessantly into caverns from

whence brooks flowed down the mountainside, watering the olive

orchards, vineyards and gardens of all kinds. The most illustrious

Cardinal Ludovico of Aragon, who is so devotedly attached to you, and

two Italian bishops, one of Boviano, Silvio Pandono, and the other,

an Archbishop whose own name and that of his diocese I am unable to

recollect, will bear me witness. We were together at Granada when it

was captured from the Moors, and to divert ourselves we used to go to

some wooded hills, whence a murmuring rivulet flowed across the plain.

While our most illustrious Ludovico went bird-hunting with his bow

along its banks, the two bishops and I formed a plan to ascend the

hill to discover the source of the brook, for we were not very far

from the top of the mountain. Taking up our soutanes, therefore, and

following the river-bed, we found a cavern incessantly supplied by

dropping water. From this cavern, the water formed by these drops

trickled into an artificial reservoir in the rocks at the bottom where

the rivulet formed. Another such cave filled by the dew is in the

celebrated town of Valladolid, where we at present reside. It stands

in a vineyard not farther than a stadium from the walls of the town

and belongs to a lawyer, Villena, citizen of Valladolid, and very

learned in the science of law. Perhaps moisture changed into rain is

collected in little caves in the rocks and sometimes forms springs,

due to the infiltration of water in the hills; but I wonder how Nature

can produce such quantities of water from these meagre infiltrations!

In my opinion, two causes may be conceded: the first is the frequent

rains; the second, the length in this region of the winter and autumn

seasons. The countries in question are so near to the equinoctial line

that during the entire year there is no perceptible difference in

length between the days and nights; during the spring and autumn,

rains are more frequent than in a severe winter or torrid summer.

Another reason is: if the earth really is porous, and these pores emit

vapours which form clouds charged with water, it will necessarily

follow that this continent must have a greater rainfall than any other

country in the world, because it is narrow and shut in on each side by

two immense neighbouring oceans. However it may be, Most Holy Father,

I am quite obliged to believe the reports of the numerous persons who

have visited the country, and I must record these particulars even

though they appear for the most part contrary to truth. For this

reason I have desired to expose my arguments, fearing that learned

men, rejoicing to find occasion for attacking the writings of another,

may judge me so wanting in judgment as to believe all the tales people

tell me.

I have described the great estuary formed by the junction of this

immense volume of fresh water with the sea, and I believe this to be

the result of the union of a number of rivers coming together in the

form of a lake, rather than a river, as is claimed. I also think the

fresh water rushes down from very high mountains, and pours into the

salt waters beneath, with such violence that the sea-water cannot

penetrate unto the bay. Doubtless there will be found people who will

express astonishment at my imagination, and throw ridicule on me,

saying, "Why does he repeat this, as though it were a miracle? Has not

Italy the Po, which illustrious writers have named the king of rivers?

Are not other regions watered by great rivers, such as the Don, the

Ganges, the Danube, whose waters drive back those of the sea with such

force that fresh, potable water is still found forty miles from their

mouths?" I would answer their objections as follows: in the Alpine

chain rising behind the Po and separating Italy from France, Germany,

and Austria, water never fails. The long valley of the Po also

receives the waters of the Ticino and many other streams flowing

towards the Adriatic; and the same may be said of the other rivers

mentioned. But these rivers of the new continent, as the caciques

informed the Spaniards, flow through greater and shorter channels into

the ocean. Some people believe that the continent is very narrow in

this part, and that it spreads; out considerably in other places.

Another argument, which I hold to be a poor one, I must nevertheless

mention. This continent is narrow, but its length extends for an

immense distance from the east to the west. Just as is recounted of

the river Alpheus of Elide, which disappears in channels under the sea

to reappear in Sicily at the fountain of Arethusa, so there may exist

in the mountains of this continent a vast network of subterranean

passages in such wise that the waters produced by the rains we have

mentioned may be collected. Those who explain phenomena by common

sense, and those who enjoy criticism may choose the theory which best

pleases them. For the moment there is nothing more I can add on this

subject. When we shall learn more, we shall faithfully relate it. We

have already dwelt sufficiently upon the width of this continent, and

it is now time to consider its form and length.

BOOK X

This continent extends into the sea exactly like Italy, but is

dissimilar in that it is not the shape of a human leg. Moreover, why

shall we compare a pigmy with a giant? That part of the continent

beginning at this eastern point lying towards Atlas, which the

Spaniards have explored, is at least eight times larger than Italy;

and its western coast has not yet been discovered. Your Holiness may

wish to know upon what my estimate of _eight times_ is based. From the

outset when I resolved to obey your commands and to write a report

of these events, in Latin (though myself no Latin) I have adopted

precautions to avoid stating anything which was not fully

investigated.

I addressed myself to the Bishop of Burgos whom I have already

mentioned, and to whom all navigators report. Seated in his room, we

examined numerous reports of those expeditions, and we have likewise

studied the terrestrial globe on which the discoveries are indicated,

and also many parchments, called by the explorers navigators' charts.

One of these maps had been drawn by the Portuguese, and it is claimed

that Amerigo Vespucci of Florence assisted in its composition. He is

very skilled in this art, and has himself gone many degrees beyond the

equinoctial line, sailing in the Service and at the expense of the

Portuguese. According to this chart, we found the continent was larger

than the caciques of Uraba told our compatriots, when guiding them

over the mountains. Columbus, during his lifetime, began another map

while exploring these regions, and his brother, Bartholomew Columbus,

Adelantado of Hispaniola, who has also sailed along these coasts,

supported this opinion by his own judgment. From thenceforth,

every Spaniard who thought he understood the science of computing

measurements, has drawn his own map; the most valuable of these maps

are those made by the famous Juan de la Cosa, companion of Hojeda, who

was murdered, together with the ship's captain, Andre Moranes, by the

natives of Caramaira, near the port of Carthagena, as we have already

recounted. Both these men not only possessed great experience of these

regions, where they were as well acquainted with every bit of the

coast as with the rooms of their own houses, but they were likewise

reputed to be experts in naval cosmography. When all these maps were

spread out before us, and upon each a scale was marked in the Spanish

fashion, not in miles but in leagues, we set to work to measure the

coasts with a compass, in the following order:

From the cape or point[1] we have mentioned as being on this side of

the Portuguese line drawn one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde

Islands, in the countries thus far visited on both sides of that line,

we measured three hundred leagues to the mouth of the Maragnon River.

From the mouth of this river to Boca de la Sierpe the distance on some

maps is a little less than seven hundred leagues, for all these charts

do not agree, since the Spaniards sometimes reckoned by marine leagues

of four thousand paces, and sometimes by land leagues of three

thousand paces. From Boca de la Sierpe to Cape Cuchibacoa, near which

the coast line bends to the left, we measured about three thousand

leagues. From the promontory of Cuchibacoa to the region of Caramaira,

where the port of Carthagena is, the distance is about one hundred and

seventy leagues. From Caramaira to the island of La Fuerte it is fifty

leagues, after which, to the entrance of the Gulf of Uraba where the

village of Santa Maria Antigua actually stands, it is only thirty-five

leagues. Between Darien in Uraba, and Veragua where Nicuesa would have

settled, but that the gods decided otherwise, we measured the distance

to be one hundred and thirty leagues. From Veragua to the river named

by Columbus, San Matteo, on whose banks Nicuesa wasted so much time

and suffered such hardships after losing his caravel, the map showed

only one hundred and forty leagues, but many of the men who have

returned from there say the distance is really considerably greater.

Many rivers are indicated just there: for example, the Aburema, before

which lies the island called the Scudo di Cateba--whose cacique was

nicknamed Burnt Face: the Zobrabaö--the Urida, and the Doraba with

rich gold deposits. Many remarkable ports are also marked on that

coast; among them Cesabaron and Hiebra, as they are called by the

natives. Adding these figures together, Most Holy Father, you will

reach a total of fifteen hundred and twenty-five leagues or five

thousand seven hundred miles from the cape to the Gulf of San Matteo,

which is also called the Gulf of Perdidos.

[Note 1: The most eastern cape on the Brazil coast is Cape San

Rocco.]

But this is not all. A certain Asturian of Oviedo, Juan de Solis,[2]

but who declares that he was born at Nebrissa, the country of

illustrious savants, asserts that he sailed westward from San Matteo a

distance of many leagues. As the coast, bends towards the north, it

is consequently difficult to give exact figures, but three hundred

leagues may be approximately estimated. From the foregoing you may

perceive, Most Holy Father, the length of the continent over which

your authority is destined to extend. Some day we shall doubtless

clearly understand its width.

[Note 2: This pilot and cosmographer has already been mentioned.

In 1515 he was commissioned to explore the coast south of Brazil,

but, as has been related, he was unfortunately killed during that

expedition. To just what voyage Peter Martyr here refers is not quite

clear.]

Let us now discourse a little concerning the variety of polar degrees.

Although this continent extends from east to west, it is nevertheless

so crooked, with its point bending so much to the south, that it

loses sight of the polar star, and extends seven degrees beyond the

equinoctial line. This extremity of the continent is, as we have

already said, within the limits of Portuguese jurisdiction. In

returning from that extremity towards Paria, the north star again

becomes visible; the farther the country extends towards the west,

the nearer does it approach the pole. The Spaniards made different

calculations up to the time when they were established at Darien,

where they founded their principal colony; for they abandoned Veragua,

where the north star stood eight degrees above the horizon. Beyond

Veragua the coast bends in a northerly direction, to a point opposite

the Pillars of Hercules; that is, if we accept for our measures

certain lands discovered by the Spaniards more than three hundred and

twenty-five leagues from the northern coast of Hispaniola. Amongst

these countries is an island called by us Boinca, and by others

Aganeo; it is celebrated for a spring whose waters restore youth

to old men.[3] Let not Your Holiness believe this to be a hasty or

foolish opinion, for the story has been most seriously told to all the

court, and made such an impression that the entire populace, and even

people superior by birth and influence, accepted it as a proven fact.

If you ask me my opinion on this matter, I will answer that I do not

believe any such power exists in creative nature, for I think that God

reserves to himself this prerogative, as well as that of reading

the hearts of men, or of granting wealth to those who have nothing;

unless, that is to say, we are prepared to believe the Colchian fable

concerning the renewal of Æson and the researches of the sibyl of

Erythræa.

[Note 3: The reference is to the fabulous waters of eternal

youth in quest of which Juan Ponce de Leon set forth. The country is

Florida.]

We have now discoursed sufficiently of the length and the breadth of

this continent, of its rugged mountains and watercourses, as well of

its different regions.

It seems to me I should not omit mention of the misfortunes that have

overtaken some of our compatriots. When I was a child, my whole

being quivered and I was stirred with pity in thinking of Virgil's

Alchimenides who, abandoned by Ulysses in the land of the Cyclops,

sustained life during the period between the departure of Ulysses

and the arrival of Æneas, upon berries and seeds. The Spaniards of

Nicuesa's colony of Veragua would certainly have esteemed berries and

seeds delicious eating. Is it necessary to quote as an extraordinary

fact that an ass's head was bought for a high price? Why do many such

things, similar to those endured during a siege, matter? When Nicuesa

decided to abandon this sterile and desolate country of Veragua, he

landed at Porto Bello and on the coast which has since been named Cape

Marmor, hoping to there find a more fertile soil. But such a terrible

famine overtook his companions that they did not shrink from eating

the carcasses of mangy dogs they had brought with them for hunting and

as watch-dogs. These dogs were of great use to them in fighting with

the Indians. They even ate the dead bodies of massacred Indians, for

in that country there are no fruit-trees nor birds as in Darien, which

explains why it is destitute of inhabitants. Some of them combined to

buy an emaciated, starving dog, paying its owner a number of golden

pesos or castellanos. They skinned the dog and ate him, throwing his

mangy hide and head into the neighbouring bushes. On the following day

a Spanish foot-soldier finding the skin, which was already swarming

with worms and half putrid, carried it away with him. He cleaned off

the worms and, after cooking the skin in, a pot, he ate it. A number

of his companions came with their bowls to share the soup made from

that skin, each offering a castellano of gold for a spoonful of soup.

A Castilian who caught two toads cooked them, and a man who was ill

bought them for food, paying two shirts of linen and spun gold which

were worth quite six castellanos. One day the dead body of an Indian

who had been killed by the Spaniards was found on the plain, and

although it was already putrefying, they secretly cut it into bits

which they afterwards boiled or roasted, assuaging their hunger with

that meat as though it were peacock. During several days a Spaniard,

who had left camp at night and lost his way amongst the swamps, ate

such vegetation as is found in marshes. He finally succeeded in

rejoining his companions, crawling along the ground and half dead.

Such are the sufferings which these wretched colonists of Veragua

endured.

At the beginning there were over seven hundred, and when they joined

the colonists at Darien hardly more than forty remained. Few had

perished in fighting with the Indians; it was hunger that had

exhausted and killed them. With their blood they paved the way for

those who follow, and settle in those new countries. Compared with

these people, the Spaniards under Nicuesa's leadership would seem to

be bidden to nuptial festivities, for they set out by roads, which are

both new and secure, towards unexplored countries where they will find

inhabitants and harvests awaiting them. We are still ignorant where

the captain Pedro Arias, commanding the royal fleet,[4] has landed; if

I learn that it will afford Your Holiness pleasure, I shall faithfully

report the continuation of events.

[Note 4: This Decade was written towards the end of the year 1514,

but although Pedro Arias had landed on June 29th, no news of his

movements had yet reached Spain. The slowness and uncertainty of

communication must be constantly borne in mind by readers.]

From the Court of the Catholic King, the eve of the nones of December,

1514, Anno Domini.

The Third Decade

BOOK I

PETER MARTYR, OF MILAN, APOSTOLIC PRONOTARY AND ROYAL COUNSELLOR TO

THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF LEO X

I had closed the doors of the New World, Most Holy Father, for it

seemed to me I had wandered enough in those regions, when I received

fresh letters which constrained me to reopen those doors and resume my

pen. I have already related that after expelling the Captain Nicuesa

and the judge Enciso from the colony of Darien, Vasco Nuñez, with the

connivance of his companions, usurped the government. We have received

letters[1] both from him and from several of his companions,

written in military style, and informing us that he had crossed the

mountain-chain dividing our ocean from the hitherto unknown south sea.

No letter from Capri concerning Sejanus was ever written in

prouder language. I shall only report the events related in that

correspondence which are worthy of mention.

[Note 1: Two of Balboa's letters are published by Navarrete (tom,

iii.,) and may also be read in a French translation made by Gaffarel

and published in his work, _Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_.]

Not only is Vasco Nuñez reconciled to the Catholic King, who was

formerly vexed with him, but he now enjoys the highest favour. For the

King has loaded him and the majority of his men with privileges and

honours, and has rewarded their daring exploits.[2] May Your Holiness

lend an attentive ear to us and listen with serene brow and joyful

heart to our narration, for it is not a few hundreds or legions that

the Spanish nation has conquered and brought into subjection to your

sacred throne but, thanks to their various achievements and the

thousand dangers to which they expose themselves, myriads who have

been subdued.

[Note 2: Balboa had been named Adelantado of the South Sea, and of

the Panama and Coiba regions. Pedro Arias was also enjoined to counsel

with him concerning all measures of importance.]

Vasco Nuñez ill endured inaction, for his is an ardent nature,

impatient of repose, and perhaps he feared that another might rob him

of the honour of the discovery, for it is believed that he had learned

of the appointment given to Pedro Arias.[3] It may well be that to

these two motives was added fear, knowing the King was vexed with his

conduct in the past. At all events he formed the plan to undertake,

with a handful of men, the conquest of the country for whose

subjection the son of the cacique of Comogra declared not less than

a thousand soldiers to be necessary. He summoned around him some

veterans of Darien and the majority of those who had come from

Hispaniola in the hope of finding gold, thus forming a small troop

of a hundred and ninety men, with whom he set out on the calends of

September of the past year, 1513.

[Note 3: This was the case; his friend Zamudio had notified Balboa

of the appointment of Pedro Arias.]

Desiring to accomplish as much of the journey as possible by sea,

he embarked on a brigantine and ten native barques dug out of tree

trunks, and first landed in the country of his ally Careca, cacique

of Coiba. Leaving his ships, he implored the divine blessing upon his

undertaking and marched directly towards the mountains. He traversed

the country subject to the cacique Poncha, who fled, as he had done

on other occasions. Acting on the advice of the guides furnished by

Careca, Vasco sent messengers to Poncha, promising his friendship and

protection against his enemies, and other advantages. The cacique,

won by these promises and amiabilities and by those of the people of

Careca, joined the Spaniards, and with great alacrity concluded an

alliance with them. Vasco entreated him to have no further fears.

They shook hands and embraced and exchanged numerous presents, Poncha

giving about one hundred and ten pesos of gold valued at a castellano

each; this was not a large amount, but he had been robbed the

preceding year, as we have above related.

Not to be outdone, Vasco made him a present of some glass beads,

strung in the form of necklaces and bracelets; also some mirrors,

copper bells, and similar European trifles. The natives cherish these

things highly, for whatever comes from abroad is everywhere most

prized. Vasco pleased them still further by presenting them with some

iron hatchets for cutting down trees. There is no instrument the

natives appreciate so much, for they have no iron, nor any other

metals than gold; and they have great difficulty in cutting wood for

the construction of their houses or their canoes without iron. They do

all their carpenter work with tools of sharp stone, which they find in

the rivers.

Thenceforth Poncha became his ally, and Vasco Nuñez, having no further

fear of danger from behind, led his men towards the mountain. Poncha

had supplied him with guides and bearers who went on ahead and opened

the trail. They passed through inaccessible defiles inhabited by

ferocious beasts, and they climbed steep mountains.

Communication amongst the natives is infrequent, for naked men who

have no money have very few wants. Whatever trading they do is with

their neighbours, and they exchange gold for ornaments or useful

articles. It follows, therefore, as practically no communication

exists, there are no roads. Their scouts are familiar with hidden

trails, which they use to make ambuscades or night forays or to

massacre and enslave their neighbours. Thanks to Poncha's men and the

labours of the bearers, Vasco scaled rugged mountains, crossed several

large rivers, either by means of improvised bridges or by throwing

beams from one bank to another, and always succeeded in keeping his

men in health. Rather than become wearisome and incur the reproach of

prolixity, I make no mention of some of the trials and fatigues they

endured, but I judge that I should not omit to report what took place

between them and the caciques whom they encountered on their march.

Before reaching the summit of the mountain-chain, the Spaniards

traversed the province of Quarequa, of which the ruler, who bears the

same name, came to meet them; as is customary in that country, he was

armed with bows and arrows, and heavy, two-handed swords of wood.

They also carry sticks with burnt points, which they throw with great

skill. Quarequa's reception was haughty and hostile, his disposition

being to oppose the advance of such a numerous army. He asked where

the Spaniards were going and what they wanted, and in reply to the

interpreter's answer, he responded: "Let them retrace their steps,

if they do not wish to be killed to the last man." He stepped out in

front of his men, dressed, as were all his chiefs, while the rest of

his people were naked. He attacked the Spaniards who did not yield;

nor was the battle prolonged, for their musket-fire convinced the

natives that they commanded the thunder and lightning. Unable to face

the arrows of our archers, they turned and fled, and the Spaniards cut

off the arm of one, the leg or hip of another, and from some their

heads at one stroke, like butchers cutting up beef and mutton for

market. Six hundred, including the cacique, were thus slain like brute

beasts.

Vasco discovered that the village of Quarequa was stained by the

foulest vice. The king's brother and a number of other courtiers were

dressed as women, and according to the accounts of the neighbours

shared the same passion. Vasco ordered forty of them to be torn to

pieces by dogs. The Spaniards commonly used their dogs in fighting

against these naked people, and the dogs threw themselves upon them as

though they were wild boars or timid deer. The Spaniards found these

animals as ready to share their dangers as did the people of Colophon

or Castabara, who trained cohorts of dogs for war; for the dogs were

always in the lead and never shirked a fight.

When the natives learned how severely Vasco had treated those

shameless men, they pressed about him as though he were Hercules, and

spitting upon those whom they suspected to be guilty of this vice,

they begged him to exterminate them, for the contagion was confined to

the courtiers and had not yet spread to the people. Raising their eyes

and their hands to heaven, they gave it to be understood that God held

this sin in horror, punishing it by sending lightning and thunder, and

frequent inundations which destroyed the crops. It was like wise the

cause of famine and sickness.

The natives worship no other god than the sun, who is the master and

alone worthy of honour. Nevertheless, they accepted instruction and

they will rapidly adopt our religion when zealous teachers come to

instruct them. Their language contains nothing rough or difficult to

understand, and all the words of their vocabulary may be translated

and written in Latin letters, as we have already said was the case in

Hispaniola. They are a warlike race, and have always been troublesome

neighbours. The country is neither rich in gold mines, nor does it

possess a fertile soil, being mountainous and arid. Because of its

precipitous mountains the temperature is cold, and the chiefs wear

clothes, but the bulk of the people are content to live in a state of

nature. The Spaniards found negro slaves in this province.[4] They

only live in a region one day's march from Quarequa, and they are

fierce and cruel. It is thought that negro pirates of Ethiopia

established themselves after the wreck of their ships in these

mountains. The natives of Quarequa carry on incessant war with these

negroes. Massacre or slavery is the alternate fortune of the two

peoples.

[Note 4: This mysterious fact has been asserted by too many

authors to be refused credence. The author's explanation of the

existence of these Africans in America is possibly the correct one.]

Leaving some of his companions who had fallen ill from the incessant

fatigue and hardships to which they were not inured, at Quarequa,

Vasco, led by native guides, marched towards the summit of the

mountain-chain.[5]

[Note 5: On September 26, 1513; the men who accompanied him

numbered sixty-six.]

From the village of Poncha to the spot where the southern ocean

is visible is a six days' ordinary march, but he only covered the

distance in twenty-five days, after many adventures and great

privations. On the seventh day of the calends of October, a Quarequa

guide showed him a peak from the summit of which the southern ocean is

visible. Vasco looked longingly at it. He commanded a halt, and went

alone to scale the peak, being the first to reach its top. Kneeling

upon the ground, he raised his hands to heaven and saluted the south

sea; according to his account, he gave thanks to God and to all the

saints for having reserved this glory for him, an ordinary man, devoid

alike of experience and authority. Concluding his prayers in military

fashion, he waved his hand to some of his companions, and showed them

the object of their desires. Kneeling again, he prayed the Heavenly

Mediator, and especially the Virgin Mother of God, to favour his

expedition and to allow him to explore the region that stretched below

him. All his companions, shouting for joy, did likewise. Prouder than

Hannibal showing Italy and the Alps to his soldiers, Vasco Nuñez

promised great riches to his men. "Behold the much-desired ocean!

Behold! all ye men, who have shared such efforts, behold the country

of which the son of Comogre and other natives told us such wonders!"

As a symbol of possession he built a heap of stones in the form of an

altar, and that posterity might not accuse them of falsehood, they

inscribed the name of the King of Castile here and there on the tree

trunks on both slopes of that summit, erecting several heaps of

stones.[6]

[Note 6: In conformity with Spanish usage, a notary, Andrés

Valderrabano, drew up a statement witnessing the discovery, which was

signed, first by Balboa, next by the priest, Andres de Vera, and by

all the others, finishing with the notary himself.]

Finally the Spaniards arrived at the residence of a cacique called

Chiapes. This chief, fully armed and accompanied by a multitude of his

people, advanced menacingly, determined not only to block their way

but to prevent them crossing his frontier. Although the Christians

were few they closed up their ranks and marched towards the enemy,

discharging their guns and unleashing a pack of hounds against

Chiapes. The sound of the cannon reverberated amongst the mountains,

and the smoke from the powder seemed to dart forth flames; and when

the Indians smelt the sulphur which the wind blew towards them,

they fled in a panic, throwing themselves on the ground in terror,

convinced that lightning had struck them. While lying on the ground or

wildly scattering, the Spaniards approached them with closed ranks and

in good order. In the pursuit they killed some and took the greater

number prisoners. It was their original intention to treat those

Indians kindly and to explore their country in an amicable manner.

Vasco took possession of the house of Chiapes, and seized most of

those who had been captured while attempting to escape. He sent

several of them to invite their cacique to return; they were told to

promise him peace, friendship, and kind treatment, but if he did not

come, it would mean his ruin and the destruction of his people and

country.

In order to convince Chiapes of his sincerity, Vasco Nuñez sent with

his messengers some of the natives of Quarequa, who were serving him

as guides. These latter spoke to him in their own name and that of

their cacique, and Chiapes, allowing himself to be persuaded by their

arguments and the entreaties of his own subjects, confided in the

promise made to him. Leaving his hiding-place, he returned to the

Spaniards, where a friendly agreement was made, hand-clasps and mutual

vows exchanged, the alliance being confirmed by reciprocal presents.

Vasco received four hundred pesos of wrought gold from Chiapes. We

have remarked that a peso was equal to rather more than thirty ducats.

The cacique received a number of articles of European manufacture, and

the greatest mutual satisfaction prevailed. A halt of several days was

decided upon, to await the arrival of the Spaniards who had been left

behind.

Dismissing the people of Quarequa with some gifts, the Spaniards,

under the guidance of the people of Chiapes and accompanied by the

cacique himself, made the descent from the mountain-ridge to the

shores of the much-desired ocean in four days. Great was their joy;

and in the presence of the natives they took possession, in the name

of the King of Castile, of all that sea and the countries bordering on

it.

Vasco left some of his men with Chiapes, that he might be freer to

explore the country. He borrowed from the cacique nine of those

barques dug out of single tree trunks, which the natives call

_culches_; and accompanied by eighty of his own men and guided by

Chiapes, he sailed on a large river which led him to the territory of

another cacique called Coquera. This chief, like the others, wished at

first to resist and drive out the Spaniards. His attempt was vain,

and he was conquered and put to flight. Acting upon the counsel of

Chiapes, Coquera returned, for the envoys sent by the latter spoke to

him thus: "These strangers are invincible. If you treat them kindly,

they are amiable, but if you resist them, they turn hard and cruel.

If you become their friend, they promise assistance, protection, and

peace, as you may see from our own case and that of the neighbouring

caciques; but if you refuse their friendship, then prepare for ruin

and death."

Convinced by these representations, Coquera gave the Spaniards six

hundred and fifty pesos of wrought gold, receiving the usual presents

in exchange. It was the same treatment that had been extended to

Poncha.

After concluding peace with Coquera, Vasco returned to the country of

Chiapes. He reviewed his soldiers, took some rest, and then resolved

to visit a large gulf in the neighbourhood. According to the report

of the natives, the length of this gulf, from the place where it

penetrates into the country to its most distant shores, is sixty

miles. It is dotted with islands and reefs, and Vasco named it San

Miguel. Taking the nine barques he had borrowed from Chiapes, in which

he had already crossed the river, he embarked with eighty of his

companions, all at that time in good health. Chiapes did his best to

discourage this enterprise, counselling Vasco on no account to risk

himself in the gulf at that period of the year, as during three months

it is so tempestuous that navigation becomes impossible. He himself

had seen many culches swept away by the raging waves. Vasco Nuñez,

unwilling to incur delay, affirmed that God and all the heavenly host

favoured his enterprise, and that he was labouring for God, and to

propagate the Christian religion, and to discover treasures to

serve as the sinews of war against the enemies of the Faith. After

pronouncing a brilliant discourse, he persuaded his companions to

embark in the canoes of Chiapes. The latter, wishing to remove the

last doubt from the mind of Vasco Nuñez, declared he was ready to

accompany him anywhere, and that he would act as his guide, for he

would not permit the Spaniards to leave his territory under other

escort than his own.

Hardly had the Spaniards reached the open sea in their canoes than

they were overtaken by such a violent tempest that they knew not

whither to steer, nor where to find refuge. Trembling and frightened,

they looked at one another, while Chiapes and the Indians were even

more alarmed, for they knew the dangers of such navigation and had

often witnessed wrecks. They survived the peril and, after fastening

their canoes to rocks along the shore, they took refuge on a

neighbouring island. But during the night, the tide rose and covered

nearly the whole of it. At high tide the south sea rises to such an

extent that many immense rocks which rise above low water are then

covered by the waves. In the north sea, however, according to the

unanimous testimony of those who inhabit its banks, the tide recedes

hardly a cubit from the shore. The inhabitants of Hispaniola and the

neighbouring islands confirm this fact.

When the coast was left dry, the Spaniards returned to their culches,

but were dumfounded to find all of them damaged and filled with sand.

Though dug out of tree trunks some were broken and split open, the

cables that had held them having been snapped. To repair them they

used moss, bark, some very tough marine plants and grasses. Looking

like shipwrecked men and almost dead with hunger (for the storm had

swept away almost all their stores), they set out to return. The

natives say that at all times of the year the incoming and the

outgoing tides fill the islands of the gulf with a frightful roaring

sound; but that this principally happens during the three months

indicated by Chiapes, and which correspond to October, November, and

December. It was just within the month of October and, according to

the cacique, it was under that and the two following moons that the

tempest prevailed.

After devoting some days to rest, Vasco Nuñez crossed the territory

of another unimportant cacique and entered the country of a second,

called Tumaco, whose authority extended along the gulf coast. Tumaco,

following the example of his colleagues, took up arms; but his

resistance was equally vain. Conquered and put to flight, all of his

subjects who resisted were massacred. The others were spared, for the

Spaniards preferred to have peaceful and amicable relations with those

tribes.

Tumaco was wanted, and the envoys of Chiapes urged him to come back

without fear, but neither promises nor threats moved him. Having

inspired him with fears for his own life, extermination for his

family, and ruin for his town, if he held out, the cacique decided to

send his son to the Spaniards. After presenting this young man with

a robe and other similar gifts, Vasco sent him back, begging him to

inform his father of the resources and bravery of the strangers.

Tumaco was touched by the kindness shown to his son, and three days

later he appeared; he brought no present at first, but in obedience to

his orders, his attendants gave six hundred and fourteen pesos of gold

and two hundred and forty selected pearls and a quantity of smaller

ones. These pearls excited the unending admiration of the Spaniards,

though they are not of the finest quality, because the natives cook

the shells before extracting them, in order to do so more easily, and

that the flesh of the oyster may be more palatable. This viand is very

much esteemed and is reserved for the caciques, who prize it more

than they do the pearls themselves; at least this is the report of a

certain Biscayan, Arbolazzo, one of Vasco Nuñez's companions, who was

afterwards sent to our sovereign with pearl oysters. One must believe

eye-witnesses.[7]

[Note 7: Arbolazzo's mission was successful in completely

appeasing King Ferdinand's vexation and obtaining from him Balboa's

nomination as Adelantado, and other privileges and favours for the

participators in the discoveries.]

Observing that the Spaniards attached great value to pearls, Tumaco

ordered some of his men to prepare to dive for some. They obeyed, and

four days later came back bringing four pounds of pearls. This caused

the liveliest satisfaction, and everybody embraced with effusion.

Balboa was delighted with the presents he had received, and Tumaco was

satisfied to have cemented the alliance. The mouths of the Spaniards

fairly watered with satisfaction as they talked about this great

wealth.

The cacique Chiapes, who had accompanied them and was present during

these events, was also well satisfied, chiefly because it was under

his leadership the Spaniards had undertaken such a profitable

enterprise, and also because he had been enabled to show his more

powerful neighbour, who perhaps was not agreeable to him, what valiant

friends he possessed. He thought the Spanish alliance would be very

useful to him, for all these naked savages cherish an inveterate

hatred of each other and are consumed with ambition.

Vasco Nuñez flattered himself that he had learned many secrets

concerning the wealth of the country from Tumaco, but declared that he

would, for the moment, keep them exclusively to himself, for they were

the cacique's gift to him. According to the report of the Spaniards,

Tumaco and Chiapes said there was an island much larger than the

others in the gulf, governed by a single cacique. Whenever the sea was

calm, this cacique attacked their territories with an imposing fleet

of canoes, and carried off everything he found. This island is about

twenty miles distant from the shore, and from the hilltops of the

continent its coasts were visible. It is said that shells as big as

fans are found on its shores, from which pearls, sometimes the size of

a bean or an olive, are taken. Cleopatra would have been proud to own

such. Although this island is near to the shore, it extends beyond the

mouth of the gulf, out into the open sea. Vasco was glad to hear these

particulars, and perceived the profit he might derive. In order to

attach the two caciques more closely to his interest and to convert

them into allies, he denounced the chieftain of the island, with

direful threats. He pledged himself to land there and to conquer,

exterminate, and massacre the cacique. To give effect to his words,

he ordered the canoes to be prepared, but both Chiapes and Tumaco

amicably urged him to postpone this enterprise until the return of

fair weather, as no canoe could ride the sea at that season of the

year.

This was in November when storms and hurricanes prevail. The coasts

of the island are inhospitable, and among the channels separating

different islands is heard the horrible roaring of the waves battling

with one another. The rivers overflow their beds, and, rushing down

the mountain slopes, tear up the rocks and huge trees, and pour into

the sea with unparallelled uproar. Raging winds from the south and

southwest prevailing at that season, accompanied by perpetual thunder

and lightning, sweep over and destroy the houses. Whenever the weather

was clear, the nights were cold, but during the day the heat was

insufferable. Nor is this astonishing, for this region is near the

equator, and the pole star is no longer visible. In that country the

icy temperature during the night is due to the moon and other planets,

while the sun and its satellites cause the heat during the day.

Such were not the opinions of the ancients, who imagined that

the equinoctial circle was devoid of inhabitants because of the

perpendicular rays of the sun. Some few authors, whose theories the

Portuguese have shown by experience to be correct, dissented from this

view. Each year the Portuguese arrive at the antartic antipodes, and

carry on commerce with those people. I say the antipodes; yet I am not

ignorant that there are learned men, most illustrious for their genius

and their science, amongst whom there are some saints who deny the

existence of the antipodes. No one man can know everything. The

Portuguese have gone beyond the fifty-fifth degree of the other Pole,

where, in sailing about the point, they could see throughout the

heavenly vault certain nebulae, similar to the Milky Way, in which

rays of light shone. They say there is no notable fixed star near that

Pole, similar to the one in our hemisphere, vulgarly believed to be

the Pole, and which is called in Italy _tramontane_, in Spain the

North Star. From the world's axis in the centre of the sign of the

Scales, the sun, when it sets for us rises for them, and when it is

springtime there, it is autumn with us, and summer there when we have

winter. But enough of this digression, and let us resume our subject.

BOOK II

Influenced by the advice of the caciques Chiapes and Tumaco, Vasco

Nuñez decided to postpone his visit to the island until spring or

summer, at which time Chiapes offered to accompany him. Meanwhile he

understood the caciques had nets near the coasts where they fished for

pearl oysters. The caciques have skilful divers trained from infancy

to this profession, and who dive for these oysters as though in

fish-ponds, but they only do so when the sea is calm and the water

low, which renders diving easier. The larger the shells the more

deeply are they embedded. The oysters of ordinary size, like daughters

of the others, lie nearer the surface, while the little ones, like

grandchildren, are still nearer. It is necessary to dive three and

sometimes even four times a man's height to find the more deeply

embedded shells; but to get the daughters and grandchildren it is

not required to go deeper than the waist and sometimes even less. It

sometimes happens, after heavy storms when the sea calms down, that

a multitude of these shells, torn by the waves from their beds, are

deposited on the shore, but this sort only contains very small pearls.

The meat of these bivalves, like that of our oysters, is good to eat,

and it is even claimed their flavour is more delicate. I suspect that

hunger, which is the best sauce for every dish, has induced this

opinion among our compatriots.

Are pearls, as Aristotle states, the heart of the shells, or are they

rather, as Pliny says, the product of the intestines and really the

excrement of these animals? Do oysters pass their whole life attached

to the same rock, or do they move through the sea in numbers, under

the leadership of older ones? Does one shell produce one or many

pearls? Is there but one growth, or is such growth ever repeated? Must

one have a rake to detach them, or are they gathered without trouble?

Are pearls in a soft or hard state when they enter the shell? These

are problems which we have not yet solved, but I hope that I may some

day enlighten my doubts on this subject, for our compatriots possess

means for studying these questions. As soon as I am informed of the

landing of the captain, Pedro Arias, I shall write and ask him to make

a serious inquiry concerning these points, and to send me the precise

results he obtains. I know he will do this, for he is my friend. Is it

not really absurd to keep silence about a subject interesting to men

and women both in ancient times and in our own, and which inflames

everybody with such immoderate desires? Spain may henceforth satisfy

the desires of a Cleopatra or an Æsop for pearls. No one will

henceforth rage against or envy the riches of Stoïdes[1] or Ceylon, of

the Indian Ocean or the Red Sea. But let us come back to our subject.

[Note 1: Pliny mentions this island, off the coast of Macedonia,

as having pearl fisheries.]

Vasco determined to have that part of the sea where Chiapes obtained

his pearls explored by swimmers. Although the weather was bad and a

storm threatened, the cacique, to please him, ordered thirty of his

divers to repair to the oyster beds. Vasco set six of his companions

to watch the divers, but without leaving the shore or exposing

themselves to risk from the storm. The men set out together for

the shore, which was not more than ten miles from the residence of

Chiapes. Although the divers did not venture to the bottom of the

ocean, because of the danger from the storm, nevertheless they

succeeded in gathering, in a few days, six loads of pearls,[2]

including the shells gathered near the surface or strewn by the

violence of the storm on the sands. They fed greedily on the flesh of

these animals. The pearls found were not larger than a lentil or a

little pea, but they had a beautiful orient, for they had been

taken out while the animal was still alive. Not to be accused of

exaggeration concerning the size of these shells, the Spaniards sent

the King some remarkable specimens, from which the meat had been

removed, at the same time as the pearls. It does not seem possible

that shells of such size should be found anywhere. These shells and

the gold which has been found pretty much everywhere are proof that

Nature conceals vast treasures in this country, though thus far the

exploration covered, so to speak, the little finger of a pigmy, since

all that is known is the neighbourhood of Uraba. What it will be when

the whole hand of the giant is known and the Spaniards shall have

penetrated into all the profound and mysterious parts of the

continent, no man can say.

[Note 2: _Sex attulerunt sarcinas brevi dierum numero_. The word

_sarcinas_ as an expression of measure is vague.]

Happy and satisfied with these discoveries, Vasco decided to return by

another route to his companions at Darien, who were gold-mining about

ten miles from their village. He dismissed Chiapes, charging him to

come no farther and to take good care of himself. They embraced one

another, and it was with difficulty that the cacique restrained his

tears while they shook hands at parting. Vasco left his sick there

and, guided by the sailors of Chiapes, he set out with his able-bodied

men. The little company crossed a great river which was not fordable,

and entered the territory of a chief called Taocha who was very

pleased upon learning of their arrival, for he already knew the

customs of the Spaniards. He came out to meet them, receiving them

with honour, and making salutations as a proof of his affection. He

presented Vasco with twenty pounds (at eight ounces to the pound) of

artistically worked gold, and two hundred selected pearls; the latter

were not, however, very brilliant. They shook hands and Taocha,

accepting the gifts offered him, begged that the people of Chiapes

should be dismissed, as he himself wished to have the pleasure of

escorting his guests.

When the Spaniards left his village he not only furnished them guides,

but also slaves who were prisoners of war and who took the place of

beasts of burden in carrying on their shoulders provisions for the

march. They had to pass through lonely forests and over steep and

rocky mountains, where ferocious lions and tigers abounded. Taocha

placed his favourite son in command of the slaves, whom he loaded with

salt fish and bread made of yucca and maize; he commanded his son

never to leave the Spaniards and not to come back without permission

from Vasco. Led by this young man, they entered the territory of a

chief called Pacra, who was an atrocious tyrant. Whether frightened

because conscious of his crimes, or whether he felt himself powerless,

Pacra fled.

During this month of November the Spaniards suffered greatly from the

heat and from the torments of thirst, for very little water is found

in that mountainous region. They would all have perished, had not two

of them who went to search for water, carrying the pumpkins Taocha's

people brought with them, found a little spring which the natives had

pointed out, hidden in a remote corner of the forest. None of the

latter had ventured to stray from the main body, for they were afraid

of being attacked by wild beasts. They recounted that on these heights

and in the neighbourhood of this spring, ferocious beasts had carried

off people in the night, and even from their cabins. They were,

therefore, careful to put bolts and all kinds of bars on their doors.

It may perhaps not be out of place, before going farther, to relate a

particular instance. It is said that last year a tiger ravaged Darien,

doing as much damage as did formerly the raging boar of Calydon or

the fierce Nemæan lion. During six entire months, not a night passed

without a victim, whether a mare, a colt, a dog, or a pig being taken,

even in the street of the town. The flocks and the animals might

be sacrificed but it was not safe for people to quit their houses,

especially when it sought food for its whelps; for when they were

hungry the monster attacked people it found rather than animals.

Anxiety led to the invention of a means of avenging so much bloodshed.

The path it took when leaving its lair at night in search of prey, was

carefully studied. The natives cut the road, digging a ditch which

they covered over with boughs and earth. The tiger, which was a male,

was incautious, and, falling into the ditch, remained there, stuck

on the sharp points fixed in the bottom. Its roarings filled the

neighbourhood and the mountains echoed with piercing howls. They

killed the monster stuck on the points, by throwing great stones from

the banks of the ditch. With one blow of its paw it broke the javelins

thrown at it into a thousand fragments, and even when dead and no

longer breathing, it filled all who beheld him with terror. What would

have happened had it been free and unhurt! A civilian called Juan de

Ledesma, a friend of Vasco, and his companion in danger, says that he

ate the flesh of that tiger; he told me that it was not inferior to

beef. When one asks these people who have never seen tigers why they

affirm that this beast was a tiger, they reply that it was because it

was spotted, ferocious, sly, and offered other characteristics which

others have attributed to tigers. Nevertheless the majority of

Spaniards affirm that they have seen spotted leopards and panthers.