After the male tiger was killed, they followed its track through the

mountains, and discovered the cave where it lived with its family. The

female was absent; but two little ones, still unweaned, were lying

there, and these the Spaniards carried away; but changing their minds

afterwards and wishing to carry them to Spain when they were a little

larger, they put carefully riveted chains round their necks and took

them back to the cave, in order that their mother might nurse them.

Some days later they went back and found the chains still there, but

the cave was empty. It is thought the mother, in a fury, tore the

little ones to pieces, and took them away, in order that nobody should

have them; for they could not possibly have got loose from their

chains alive. The dead tiger's skin was stuffed with dried herbs and

straw, and sent to Hispaniola to be presented to the Admiral and other

officials, from whom the colonists of those two new countries obtain

laws and assistance.

This story was told me by those who had suffered from the ravages of

that tiger,[3] and had touched its skin; let us accept what they give

us.

[Note 3: As has been observed, there were no tigers in America.

The animal described may have been a jaguar.]

Let us now return to Pacra, from whom we have somewhat wandered. After

having entered the boios (that is to say, the house) abandoned by the

cacique, Vasco sought to induce him to return by means of envoys who

made known the conditions already proposed to other caciques; but for

a long time Pacra refused. Vasco then tried threats, and the cacique

finally decided to come in, accompanied by three others. Vasco writes

that he was deformed, and so dirty and hideous that nothing more

abominable could be imagined. Nature confined herself to giving him a

human form, but he is a brute beast, savage and monstrous. His morals

were on a par with his bearing and physiognomy. He had carried off

the daughters of four neighbouring caciques to satisfy his brutal

passions. The neighbouring chiefs, regarding Vasco as a supreme judge

or a Hercules, a redresser of injuries, complained of the debaucheries

and the crimes of Pacra, begging that he should be punished by death.

Vasco had this filthy beast and the other three caciques, who obeyed

him and shared his passions, torn to pieces by dogs of war, and the

fragments of their bodies were afterwards burnt. Astonishing things

are said about these dogs the Spaniards take into battle. These

animals throw themselves with fury on the armed natives pointed out to

them, as if they were timid deer or fierce boars; and it often happens

that there is no need of swords or javelins to rout the enemy. A

command is given to these dogs who form the vanguard, and the

natives at the mere sight of these formidable Molossians[4] and the

unaccustomed sound of their baying, break their ranks and flee as

though horrified and stupefied by some unheard-of prodigy. This does

not occur in fighting against the natives of Caramaira or the Caribs,

who are braver and understand more about war. They shoot their

poisoned arrows with the rapidity of lightning, and kill the dogs in

great numbers; but the natives of these mountains do not use arrows

in warfare; they only use machanes,[5] that is to say, large wooden

swords, and lances with burnt points.

[Note 4: _Torvo molossorum adspectu_. Referring to the dogs of

Epirus, called by the Romans, Molossi.]

[Note 5: The _maquahuitle of the Mexicans; a flat wooden club, in

which blades of _iztli_, or flint, were set on the opposite edges; it

was their most formidable weapon in hand-to-hand encounters.]

While Pacra was still alive they asked him where his people obtained

gold, but neither by persuasion nor threats nor tortures could they

drag this secret from him. When asked how he had procured what he had

possessed,--for he had offered a present of thirty pounds of gold out

of his treasury--he answered that those of his subjects who, either

in the time of his parents or in his own, had mined that gold in the

mountain were dead, and that since his youth he had not troubled

to look for gold. Nothing more could be obtained from him on this

subject.

The rigorous treatment of Pacra secured Vasco the friendship of the

neighbouring caciques, and when he sent for the sick, whom he had left

behind to join him, a cacique, called Bononiama, whose country the

route directly traversed, received them kindly and gave them twenty

pounds of wrought gold and an abundance of provisions. Nor would he

leave them until he had accompanied them from his residence to that of

Pacra, as though they had been confided to his fidelity. He spoke thus

to Vasco: "Here are your companions in arms, Most Illustrious Warrior;

just as they came to me, so do I bring them to you. It would have

pleased me had they been in better health, but you and your companions

are the servants of him who strikes the guilty with thunder and

lightning, and who of his bounty, thanks to the kindly climate, gives

us yucca and maize." While speaking these words he raised his eyes to

Heaven and gave it to be understood that he referred to the sun. "In

destroying our proud and violent enemies you have given peace to us

and to all our people. You overcome monsters. We believe that you and

your equally brave companions have been sent from Heaven, and under

the protection of your machanes we may henceforth live without fear.

Our gratitude to him who brings us these blessings and happiness

shall be eternal." Such, or something like this, was the speech of

Bononiama, as translated by the interpreters. Vasco thanked him for

having escorted our men and received them kindly, and sent him away

loaded with precious gifts.

Vasco writes that the cacique Bononiama has disclosed to him many

secrets concerning the wealth of the region, which he reserves for

later, as he does not wish to speak of them in his letter. What he

means by such exaggeration and reticence I do not understand. He seems

to promise a great deal, and I think his promises warrant hope of

great riches; moreover, the Spaniards have never entered a native

house without finding either cuirasses and breast ornaments of gold,

or necklaces and bracelets of the same metal. If anyone wishing to

collect iron should march with a troop of determined men through Italy

or Spain, what iron articles would they find in the houses? In one a

cooking stove, in another a boiler, elsewhere a tripod standing

before the fire, and spits for cooking. He would everywhere find iron

utensils, and could procure a large quantity of the metal. From which

he would conclude that iron abounded in the country. Now the natives

of the New World set no more value on gold than we do on iron ore. All

these particulars, Most Holy Father, have been furnished me either by

the letters of Vasco Nuñez and his companions in arms, or by verbal

report. Their search for gold mines has produced no serious result,

for out of ninety men he took with him to Darien, he has never had

more than seventy or at most eighty under his immediate orders; the

others having been left behind in the dwellings of the caciques.

Those who succumbed most easily to sickness were the men just arrived

from Hispaniola; they could not put up with such hardships, nor

content their stomachs, accustomed to better food, with the native

bread, wild herbs without salt, and river water that was not always

even wholesome. The veterans of Darien were more inured to all these

ills, and better able to resist extreme hunger. Thus Vasco gaily

boasts that he has kept a longer and more rigorous Lent than Your

Holiness, following the decrees of your predecessors, for it has

lasted uninterruptedly for four years; during which time he and his

men have lived upon the products of the earth, the fruits of trees,

and even of them there was not always enough. Rarely did they eat fish

and still more rarely meat, and their wretchedness reached such a

point that they were obliged to eat sick dogs, nauseous toads, and

other similar food, esteeming themselves fortunate when they found

even such. I have already described all these miseries. I call

"veterans of Darien" the first comers who established themselves in

this country under the leadership of Nicuesa and Hojeda, of whom there

remains but a small number. But let this now suffice, and let us bring

back Vasco and the veterans from their expedition across the great

mountain-chain.

BOOK III

During the thirty days he stopped in Pacra's village, Vasco strove to

conciliate the natives and to provide for the wants of his companions.

From there, guided by subjects of Taocha, he marched along the banks

of the Comogra River, which gives its name both to the country and to

the cacique. The mountains thereabouts are so steep and rocky, that

nothing suitable for human food grows, save a few wild plants and

roots and fruits of trees, fit to nourish animals. Two friendly and

allied caciques inhabit this unfortunate region. Vasco hastened to

leave behind a country so little favoured by man and by Nature, and,

pressed by hunger, he first dismissed the people of Taocha, and

took as guides the two impoverished caciques, one of whom was named

Cotochus and the other Ciuriza. He marched three days among wild

forests, over unsealed mountains and through swamps, where muddy

pitfalls gave way beneath the feet and swallowed the incautious

traveller. He passed by places which beneficent Nature might

have created for man's wants, but there were no roads made; for

communication amongst natives is rare, their only object being

to murder or to enslave one another in their warlike incursions.

Otherwise each tribe keeps within its own boundaries. Upon arriving at

the territory of a chief called Buchebuea, they found the place empty

and silent, as the chief and all his people had fled into the woods.

Vasco sent messengers to call him back, notifying them not to use

threats, but, on the contrary, to promise protection. Buchebuea

replied that he had not fled because he feared harsh treatment, but

rather because he was ashamed and sorry he could not receive our

compatriots with the honour they deserved, and was unable even to

furnish them provisions. As a token of submission and friendship he

willingly sent several golden vases, and asked pardon. It was thought

this unfortunate cacique wished it to be understood that he had

been robbed and cruelly treated by some neighbouring enemy, so the

Spaniards left his territory, with mouths gaping from hunger, and

thinner than when they entered it.

During the march, some naked people appeared on the flank of the

column. They made signs from a hilltop and Vasco ordered a halt to

wait for them. Interpreters who accompanied the Spaniards asked them

what they wanted, to which they replied "Our cacique, Chiorisos,

salutes you. He knows you are brave men who redress wrongs and punish

the wicked, and though he only knows you by reputation he respects and

honours you. Nothing would have pleased him better than to have you as

his guests at his residence. He would have been proud to receive such

guests, but since he has not yet had this good fortune and you have

passed him by, he sends you as a pledge of affection these small

pieces of gold." With courteous smiles they presented to Vasco thirty

_patenas_ of pure gold, saying they would give him still more if he

would come to visit them. The Spaniards give the name _patena_ to

those balls of metal worn on the neck, and also to the sacred utensil

with which the chalice is covered when carried to the altar. Whether

in this instance plates for the table or balls are meant, I am

absolutely ignorant; I suppose, however, that they are plates, since

they weighed fourteen pounds, at eight ounces to the pound.

These natives then explained that there was in the neighbourhood a

very rich cacique, who was their enemy, and who yearly attacked them.

If the Spaniards would make war upon him, his downfall would enrich

them and would deliver friendly natives from incessant anxiety.

Nothing would be easier, they said through their interpreters, than

for you to help us, and we will act as your guides. Vasco encouraged

their hopes and sent them away satisfied. In exchange for their

presents he gave them some iron hatchets, which they prize more

than heaps of gold. For as they have no money--that source of all

evils--they do not need gold. The owner of one single hatchet feels

himself richer than Crassus.[1] These natives believe that hatchets

may serve a thousand purposes of daily life, while gold is only sought

to satisfy vain desires, without which one would be better off.

Neither do they know our refinements of taste, which demand that

sideboards shall be loaded with a variety of gold and silver vases.

These natives have neither tables, tablecloths, or napkins; the

caciques may sometimes decorate their tables with little golden vases,

but their subjects use the right hand to eat a piece of maize bread

and the left to eat a piece of grilled fish or fruit, and thus satisfy

their hunger. Very rarely they eat sugar-cane. If they have to wipe

their hands after eating a certain dish, they use, instead of napkins,

the soles of their feet, or their hips, or sometimes their testicles.

The same fashion prevails in Hispaniola. It is true that they often

dive into the rivers, and thus wash the whole of their bodies.

[Note 1: Possibly a mis-copy of Croesus.]

Loaded with gold, but suffering intensely and so hungry they were

scarcely able to travel, the Spaniards continued their march and

reached the territory of a chief called Pochorroso, where during

thirty days they stuffed themselves with maize bread, which is similar

to Milanese bread. Pochorroso had fled, but, attracted by coaxing and

presents, he returned, and gifts were exchanged. Vasco gave Pochorroso

the usual acceptable articles, and the cacique gave Vasco fifteen

pounds of melted gold and some slaves. When they were about to depart,

it transpired that it would be necessary to cross the territory of

a chief called Tumanama, the same formerly described by the son of

Comogre as the most powerful and formidable of those chiefs. Most of

Comogre's servants had been this man's slaves captured in war. As is

the case everywhere, these people gauged the power of Tumanama by

their own standard, ignorant of the fact that these caciques, if

brought face to face with our soldiers commanded by a brave and

fortunate leader, were no more to be feared than gnats attacking

an elephant. When the Spaniards came to know Tumanama they quickly

discovered that he did not rule on both sides of the mountain, nor was

he as rich in gold as the young Comogre pretended. Nevertheless they

took the trouble to conquer him. Pochorroso, being the enemy of

Tumanama, readily offered Vasco his advice.

Leaving his sick in charge of the cacique, and summoning sixty

companions, all strong and brave men, Vasco explained his purpose to

them, saying: "The cacique Tumanama has often boasted that he was

the enemy of Vasco and his companions. We are obliged to cross his

country, and it is my opinion we should attack him while he is not on

his guard." Vasco's companions approved this plan, urging him to put

it into execution and offering to follow him. They decided to make

two marches without stopping, so as to prevent Tumanama from calling

together his warriors; and this plan was carried out as soon as

decided.

It was the first watch of the night when the Spaniards and the

warriors of Pochorroso invaded Tumanama's town, taking him completely

by surprise, for he expected nothing. There were with him two men, his

favourites, and eighty women, who had been carried off from different

caciques by violence and outrage. His subjects and allied caciques

were scattered in villages of the neighbourhood, for they dwell in

houses widely separated from one another, instead of near together.

This custom is due to the frequent whirlwinds to which they are

exposed by reason of sudden changes of temperature and the influence

of the stars which conflict when the days and nights are equal in

duration. We have already said that these people live near the

equator. Their houses are built of wood, roofed and surrounded with

straw, or stalks of maize or the tough grass indigenous to the

country. There was another house in Tumanama's village, and both were

two hundred and twenty paces long and fifty broad. These houses were

constructed to shelter the soldiers when Tumanama made war.

The cacique was taken prisoner and with him his entire Sardanapalian

court. As soon as he was found, the men of Pochorroso and the

neighbouring caciques overwhelmed him with insults, for Tumanama was

no less detested by the neighbouring caciques than that Pacra whom we

have mentioned in describing the expedition to the south sea. Vasco

concealed his real intentions towards the prisoner, but though he

adopted a menacing attitude, he really intended him no harm. "You

shall pay the penalty of your crimes, tyrant," said he; "you have

often boasted before your people that if the Christians came here you

would seize them by the hair and drown them in the neighbouring river.

But it is you, miserable creature, that shall be thrown into the river

and drowned." At the same time he ordered the prisoner to be seized,

but he had given his men to understand that he pardoned the cacique.

Tumanama threw himself at the feet of Vasco and begged pardon. He

swore that he had said nothing of the kind, and that if anybody had,

it must have been his caciques when they were drunk; for none of these

chiefs understand moderation, and he accused them of using insolent

language.

Their wines are not made from grapes, as I have already told Your

Holiness, when I began to cultivate this little field, but they are

intoxicating. Tumanama complained, weeping, that his neighbours had

invented these falsehoods to destroy him, for they were jealous of him

because he was more powerful than they. He promised in return for

his pardon a large quantity of gold, and clasping his hands upon his

breast, he said that he always both loved and feared the Spaniards,

because he had learned their machanes--that is to say, their

swords--were sharper than his and cut deeper wherever they struck.

Looking Vasco straight in the eyes, he said: "Who then, other than a

fool, would venture to raise his hand against the sword of a man like

you, who can split a man open from head to navel at one stroke, and

does not hesitate to do it? Let not yourself be persuaded, O bravest

of living men, that such speech against you has ever proceeded from my

mouth." These and many other words did he speak, feeling already the

rope of death around his neck. Vasco, affecting to be touched by these

prayers and tears, answered with calmness that he pardoned him and

gave him his liberty. Thirty pounds (at eight ounces to the pound) of

pure gold in the form of women's necklaces were at once brought from

the two houses, and three days later the caciques subject to Tumanama

sent sixty pounds more of gold, which was the amount of the fine

imposed for their temerity. When asked whence he procured this gold,

Tumanama replied that it came from very distant mines. He gave it

to be understood that it had been presented to his ancestors on the

Comogra River which flows into the south sea; but the people of

Pochorroso and his enemies said that he lied, and that his own

territory produced plenty of gold. Tumanama persisted, however, that

he knew of no gold mines in his domain. He added that it was true

enough that here and there some small grains of gold had been found,

but nobody had even troubled to pick them up, since to do so would

require tedious labour.

During this discussion Vasco was joined on the eighth day of the

calends of January and the last day of the year 1513, by the men he

had left behind with Pochorroso. The slaves whom the southern caciques

had lent them, carried their gold-mining tools.

The day of the Nativity of Our Lord was given to rest, but the

following day, the Feast of the Protomartyr St. Stephen, Vasco led

some miners to a hill near Tumanama's residence because he thought

from the colour of the earth that it contained gold. A hole a palm and

a half in size was made, and from the earth sifted a few grains of

gold, not larger than a lentil, were obtained.

Vasco had this fact recorded by a notary and witnesses, in order to

establish the authenticity of this discovery, as he called it, of a

_toman_ of gold. In the language of bankers, a _toman_ contains twelve

grains. Vasco consequently deduced, as the neighbouring caciques

alleged, that the country was rich, but he could never prevail upon

Tumanama to admit it. Some said that Tumanama was indifferent to such

unimportant fragments of gold, others claimed that he persisted in

denying the wealth of his country for fear the Spaniards, to satisfy

their desire for gold, might take possession of the whole of it. The

cacique saw only too well into the future; for the Spaniards have

decided, if the King consents, to establish new towns in his country

and that of Pochorroso; these towns will serve as refuges and

storehouses for travellers going to the South Sea, and moreover both

countries are favourable for growing all kinds of fruits and crops.

Vasco decided to leave this country, and to blaze for himself, a new

trail through a land of which the earth tints and the shells seemed

to him to indicate the presence of gold. He ordered a little digging

below the surface of the earth to be done, and found a peso, weighing

a little more than a grain. I have already said in my First Decade,

addressed to Your Holiness, that a peso was worth a castellano of

gold. Enchanted with this result, he overwhelmed Tumanama with

nattering promises to prevent the cacique from interfering with any of

the Spaniards' allies in that neighbourhood. He also besought him to

collect a quantity of gold. It is alleged that he had carried off all

the cacique's women, and had practically stripped him to check his

insolence. Tumanama also confided his son to Vasco in order that the

boy might learn our language in living with the Spaniards, and become

acquainted with our habits and be converted to our religion. It may

be that the boy's education may some day be of use to his father, and

secure him our favour.

The immense fatigues, the long watches, and the privations Vasco had

endured ended by provoking a violent fever, so that on leaving this

country he had to be carried on the shoulders of slaves. All the

others who were seriously ill, were likewise carried in hammocks,

that is to say, in cotton nets. Others, who still had some strength,

despite their weak legs, were supported under the armpits and carried

by the natives. They finally arrived in the country of our friend

Comogre, of whom I have lengthily spoken above. The old man was dead

and had been succeeded by that son whose wisdom we have praised. This

young man had been baptised, and was called Carlos. The palace of this

Comogre stands at the foot of a cultivated hill, rising in a fertile

plain that tends for a breadth of twelve leagues towards the south.

This plain is called by the natives _savana_. Beyond the limits of the

plain rise the very lofty mountains that serve as a divide between the

two oceans. Upon their slopes rises the Comogre River which, after

watering this plain, runs through a mountainous country, gathering to

itself tributaries from all the valleys and finally emptying into the

South Sea. It is distant about seventy leagues to the west of Darien.

Uttering cries of joy, Carlos hastened to meet the Spaniards,

refreshing them with food and agreeable drinks, and lavishing generous

hospitality upon them. Presents were exchanged, the cacique giving

Vasco twenty pounds of worked gold, at eight ounces to the pound,

and Vasco satisfying him with equally acceptable presents, such as

hatchets, and some carpenters' tools. He likewise gave Carlos a robe

and one of his own shirts, because of the extremity to which he was

reduced. These gifts elevated Carlos to the rank of a hero among

his neighbours. Vasco finally left Comogra and all its people after

admonishing them that, if they wished to live in peace, they must

never rebel against the rule of the Spanish King. He also urged them

to use their best endeavours to collect gold for the _Tiba_, that is

to say, the King. He added that in this way they would secure for

themselves and their descendants protection against the attacks of

their enemies, and would receive an abundance of our merchandise.

When everything had been satisfactorily arranged, Vasco continued his

march towards the country of Poncha, where he met four young men sent

from Darien to inform him that well-laden ships had just arrived from

Hispaniola; he had promised that, in returning from the South Sea, he

would march by some way through that country. Taking with him twenty

of his strongest companions he started by forced marches for Darien,

leaving behind the others who were to join him. Vasco has written that

he reached Darien the fourteenth day of the calends of February in the

year 1514, but his letter[2] is dated Darien, the fourth day of the

nones of March, as he was unable to send it sooner no ship being ready

to sail. He says that he has sent two ships to pick up the people he

left behind, and he boasts of having won a number of battles without

receiving a wound or losing one of his men in action.

[Note 2: Unfortunately neither this letter or any copy of it is

known to exist.]

There is hardly a page of this long letter which is not inscribed with

some act of thanksgiving for the great dangers and many hardships he

escaped. He never undertook anything or started on his march without

first invoking the heavenly powers, and principally the Virgin Mother

of God. Our Vasco Balboa is seen to have changed from a ferocious

Goliath into an Elias. He was an Antæus; he has been transformed into

Hercules the conqueror of monsters. From being foolhardy, he has

become obedient and entirely worthy of royal honours and favour. Such

are the events made known to us by letters from him and the colonists

of Darien, and by verbal reports of people who have returned from

those regions.

Perhaps you may desire, Most Holy Father, to know what my sentiments

are respecting these events. My opinion is a simple one. It is evident

from the military style in which Vasco and his men report their deeds

that their statements must be true. Spain need no longer plough up the

ground to the depth of the infernal regions or open great roads or

pierce mountains at the cost of labour and the risk of a thousand

dangers, in order to draw wealth from the earth. She will find riches

on the surface, in shallow diggings; she will find them in the

sun-dried banks of rivers; it will suffice to merely sift the earth.

Pearls will be gathered with little effort. Cosmographers unanimously

recognise that venerable antiquity received no such benefit from

nature, because never before did man, starting from the known world,

penetrate to those unknown regions. It is true the natives are

contented with a little or nothing, and are not hospitable; moreover,

we have more than sufficiently demonstrated that they receive

ungraciously strangers who come amongst them, and only consent to

negotiate with them, after they have been conquered. Most ferocious

are those new anthropophagi, who live on human flesh, Caribs or

cannibals as they are called. These cunning man-hunters think of

nothing else than this occupation, and all the time not given to

cultivating the fields they employ in wars and man-hunts. Licking

their lips in anticipation of their desired prey, these men lie in

wait for our compatriots, as the latter would for wild boar or deer

they sought to trap. If they feel themselves unequal to a battle, they

retreat and disappear with the speed of the wind. If an encounter

takes place on the water, men and women swim with as great a facility

as though they lived in that element and found their sustenance under

the waves.

It is not therefore astonishing that these immense tracts of country

should be abandoned and unknown, but the Christian religion, of which

you are the head, will embrace its vast extent. As I have said in

the beginning, Your Holiness will call to yourself these myriads of

people, as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings. Let us now

return to Veragua, the place discovered by Columbus, explored under

the auspices of Diego Nicuesa, and now abandoned; and may all the

other barbarous and savage provinces of this vast continent be brought

little by little into the pale of Christian civilisation and the

knowledge of the true religion.

BOOK IV

I had resolved, Most Holy Father, to stop here but I am consumed, as

it were, with an internal fire which constrains me to continue my

report. As I have already said, Veragua was discovered by Columbus.

I should feel that I had robbed him or committed an inexpiable crime

against him were I to pass over the ills he endured, the vexations and

dangers to which he was exposed during these voyages. It was in the

year of salvation 1502 on the sixth day of the ides of May that

Columbus sailed from Cadiz with a squadron of four vessels of from

fifty to sixty tons burthen, manned by one hundred and seventy men.[1]

Five days of favourable weather brought him to the Canaries; seventeen

days' sailing brought him to the island of Domingo, the home of the

Caribs, and from thence he reached Hispaniola in five days more, so

that the entire crossing from Spain to Hispaniola occupied twenty-six

days, thanks to favourable winds and currents, which set from the east

towards the west. According to the mariners' report the distance is

twelve hundred leagues.

[Note 1: This was the fourth voyage of Columbus.]

He stopped in Hispaniola for some time, either of his own accord or

with the Viceroy's[2] assent. Pushing straight to the west, he left

the islands of Cuba and Jamaica towards his right on the north, and

discovered to the south of Jamaica an island called by its inhabitants

Guanassa.[3] This island is incredibly fertile and luxuriant. While

coasting along its shores, the Admiral met two of those barques dug

out of tree trunks of which I have spoken. They were drawn by naked

slaves with ropes round their necks. The chieftain of the island, who,

together with his wife and children, were all naked, travelled in

these barques. When the Spaniards went on shore the slaves, in

obedience to their master's orders, made them understand by haughty

gestures that they would have to obey the chief, and when they

refused, menaces and threats were employed. Their simplicity is such

that they felt neither fear nor admiration on beholding our ships and

the number and strength of our men. They seemed to think the Spaniards

would feel the same respect towards their chief as they did. Our

people perceived that they had to do with merchants returning from

another country, for they hold markets. The merchandise consisted of

bells, razors, knives, and hatchets made of a yellow and translucent

stone; they are fastened in handles of hard and polished wood. There

were also household utensils for the kitchen, and pottery of artistic

shapes, some made of wood and some made of that same clear stone; and

chiefly draperies and different articles of spun cotton in brilliant

colours. The Spaniards captured the chief, his family and everything

he possessed; but the Admiral soon afterwards ordered him to be set at

liberty and the greater part of their property restored, hoping thus

to win their friendship.

[Note 2: This direct violation of his orders was due to his wish

to trade one of his vessels, which was a slow sailer, for a quicker

craft.]

[Note 3: Guanaya or Bouacia, lying off the coast of Honduras.]

Having procured some information concerning the country towards the

west, Columbus proceeded in that direction and, a little more than ten

miles farther, he discovered a vast country which the natives call

Quiriquetana, but which he called Ciamba. There he caused the Holy

Sacrifice to be celebrated upon the shore. The natives were numerous

and wore no clothing. Gentle and simple, they approached our people

fearlessly and admiringly, bringing them their own bread and fresh

water. After presenting their gifts they turned upon their heels

bowing their heads respectfully. In exchange for their presents, the

Admiral gave them some European gifts, such as strings of beads,

mirrors, needles, pins, and other objects unknown to them.

This vast region is divided into two parts, one called Taïa and the

other called Maïa.[4] The whole country is fertile, well shaded, and

enjoys delightful temperature. In fertility of soil it yields to

none, and the climate is temperate. It possesses both mountains and

extensive plains, and everywhere grass and trees grow. Spring and

autumn seem perpetual, for the trees keep their leaves during the

whole year, and bear fruit. Groves of oak and pine are numerous, and

there are seven varieties of palms of which some bear dates, while

others are without fruit. Vines loaded with ripe grapes grow

spontaneously amid the trees, but they are wild vines and there is

such an abundance of useful and appetising fruits that nobody bothers

to cultivate vineyards. The natives manufacture their _machanes_, that

is to say swords, and the darts they throw, out of a certain kind

of palm-wood. Much cotton is found in this country as well as

mirobolanes, of various kinds, such as doctors call _emblicos_[5] and

_chebules_; maize, yucca, ages, and potatoes, all grow in this country

as they do everywhere on the continent. The animals are lions, tigers,

stags, deer, and other similar beasts. The natives fatten those birds

we have mentioned, as resembling peahens in colour, size, and taste.

[Note 4: This is the first mention of the word _Maya_. The traders

whom Columbus met were doubtless Mayas, coming from some of the

great fairs or markets. For the second time, he brushed past the

civilisation of Yucatan and Mexico, leaving to later comers the glory

of their discovery.]

[Note 5: _Myrobolanos etiam diversarum specierum, emblicos puta et

chebulos medicorum appellatione_.]

The natives of both sexes are said to be tall and well proportioned.

They wear waist-cloths and bandolets of spun cotton in divers colours,

and they ornament themselves by staining their bodies with black and

red colours, extracted from the juice of certain fruits cultivated for

that purpose in their gardens, just as did the Agathyrsi. Some of them

stain the entire body, others only a part. Ordinarily they draw upon

their skin designs of flowers, roses, and intertwined nets, according

to each one's fancy. Their language bears no resemblance to that of

the neighbouring islanders. Torrential streams run in a westerly

direction. Columbus resolved to explore this country towards the

west, for he remembered Paria, Boca de la Sierpe, and other countries

already discovered to the east, believing they must be joined to the

land where he was; and in this he was not deceived.

On the thirteenth day of the calends of September the Admiral left

Quiriquetana. After sailing thirty leagues, he came to a river, in the

estuary of which he took fresh water. The coast was clear of rocks and

reefs, and everywhere there was good anchorage. He writes, however,

that the ocean current was so strong against him that in forty days'

sailing it was with the greatest difficulty he covered seventy

leagues, and then only by tacking. From time to time, when he sought

towards nightfall to forestall the danger of being wrecked in the

darkness on that unknown coast, and tried to draw near to land, he was

beaten back. He reports that within a distance of eight leagues he

discovered three rivers of clear water, upon whose banks grew canes as

thick round as a man's leg. The waters of these streams are full of

fish and immense turtles, and everywhere were to be seen multitudes of

crocodiles, drinking in the sun with huge yawning mouths. There were

plenty of other animals of which the Admiral does not give the names.

The aspect of this country presents great variety, being in some

places rocky and broken up into sharp promontories and jagged rocks,

while in others the fertility of the soil is unexcelled by that of

any known land. From one shore to another the names of the chiefs and

principal inhabitants differ; in one place they are called caciques,

as we have already said; in another _quebi_, farther on _tiba_. The

principal natives are sometimes called _sacchus_ and sometimes _jura_.

A man who has distinguished himself in conflict with an enemy and

whose face is scarred, is regarded as a hero and is called _cupra_,

The people are called _chyvis_, and a man is _home_. When they wish to

say, "That's for you, my man," the phrase is, "_Hoppa home_."

Another great river navigable for large ships was discovered, in the

mouth of which lie four small islands, thickly grown with flowers and

trees. Columbus called them Quatro Tempore. Thirteen leagues farther

on, always sailing eastwards against adverse currents, he discovered

twelve small islands; and as these produced a kind of fruit resembling

our limes, he called them Limonares. Twelve leagues farther, always

in the same direction, he discovered a large harbour extending three

leagues into the interior of the country, and into which flows an

important river. It was at this spot that Nicuesa was afterwards lost

when searching for Veragua, as we have already related; and for this

reason later explorers have named it Rio de los Perdidos. Continuing

his course against the ocean current, the Admiral discovered a number

of mountains, valleys, rivers, and harbours; the atmosphere was laden

with balmy odours.

Columbus writes that not one of his men fell ill till he reached a

place the natives call Quicuri,[6] which is a point or cape where the

port of Cariai lies. The Admiral called it Mirobolan because trees of

that name grew there spontaneously. At the port of Cariai about two

hundred natives appeared, each armed with three or four spears; but

mild-mannered and hospitable. As they did not know to what strange

race the Spaniards belonged, they prepared to receive them and asked

for a parley. Amicable signs were exchanged and they swam out to our

people, proposing to trade and enter into commercial relations. In

order to gain their confidence, the Admiral ordered some European

articles to be distributed gratuitously amongst them. These they

refused to accept, by signs, for nothing they said was intelligible.

They suspected the Spaniards of setting a trap for them in offering

these presents, and refused to accept their gifts. They left

everything that was given them on the shore.[7] Such are the courtesy

and generosity of these people of Cariai, that they would rather give

than receive.

[Note 6: Quiribiri. Columbus arrived there on September 25th.]

[Note 7: Suspicion and mistrust were mutual, for Columbus thought

the natives were practising magic when they cast perfumes before them,

as they cautiously advanced towards him; he afterwards described them

as powerful magicians.]

They sent two young girls, virgins of remarkable beauty, to our men,

and gave it to be understood that they might take them away. These

young girls, like all the other women, wore waist-cloths made of

bandelets of cotton, which is the costume of the women of Cariai. The

men on the contrary go naked. The women cut their hair, or let it grow

behind and shave the forehead; then they gather it up in bands of

white stuff and twist it round the head, just as do our girls. The

Admiral had them clothed and gave them presents, and a bonnet of red

wool stuff for their father; after which he sent them away. Later all

these things were found upon the shore, because he had refused their

presents. Two men, however, left voluntarily with Columbus, in order

to learn our language and to teach it to their own people.

The tides are not very perceptible on that coast. This was discovered

by observing the trees growing not far from the shore and on the river

banks. Everybody who has visited these regions agrees on this point.

The ebb and flow are scarcely perceptible, and only affect a part of

the shores of the continent, and likewise of all the islands. Columbus

relates that trees grow in the sea within sight of land, drooping

their branches towards the water once they have grown above the

surface. Sprouts, like graftings of vines, take root and planted in

the earth they, in their turn, become trees of the same evergreen

species. Pliny has spoken of such trees in the second book of his

natural history, but those he mentions grew in an arid soil and not in

the sea.

The same animals we have above described exist in Cariai. There is,

however, one of a totally different kind, which resembles a large

monkey, but is provided with a much larger and stronger tail. Hanging

by this tail, it swings to and fro three or four times, and then jumps

from tree to tree as though it were flying.[8] One of our archers shot

one with his arrow, and the wounded monkey dropped onto the ground

and fiercely attacked the man who had wounded it. The latter defended

himself with his sword and cut off the monkey's arm, and despite its

desperate efforts, captured it. When brought in contact with men, on

board the ship, it gradually became tame. While it was kept chained,

other hunters brought from the swamps a wild boar which they had

pursued through the forests, desiring to eat some fresh meat. The men

showed this enraged wild boar to the monkey, and both animals bristled

with fury. The monkey, beside itself with rage, sprang upon the boar,

winding its tail about him, and with the one arm its conqueror had

left him, seized the boar by the throat and strangled it. Such are the

ferocious animals and others similar, which inhabit this country.

The natives of Cariai preserve the bodies of their chiefs and their

relatives, drying them upon hurdles and then packing them in leaves;

but the common people bury their dead in the forest.

[Note 8: Possibly the _simia seniculus_.]

Leaving Cariai and sailing a distance of twenty leagues the Spaniards

discovered a gulf of such size that they thought that it must have a

circumference of twelve leagues. Four small fertile islands, separated

from one another by narrow straits, lie across the opening of this

gulf, making it a safe harbour.

We have elsewhere called the port, situated at the extreme point, by

its native name of Cerabaroa; but it is only the right coast upon

entering the gulf bears that name, the left coast being called

Aburema. Numerous and fertile islands dot the gulf, and the bottom

affords excellent anchorage. The clearness of the water makes it

easily discernible, and fish are very abundant. The country round

about is equal in fertility to the very best. The Spaniards captured

two natives who wore gold necklaces, which they called guanines. These

collars are delicately wrought in the form of eagles, lions, or other

similar animals, but it was observed that the metal was not very pure.

The two natives, brought from Cariai, explained that both the regions

of Cerabaroa and Aburema were rich in gold, and that all the gold

their countrymen required for ornaments was obtained from thence by

trading. They added that, in six villages of Cerabaroa, situated a

short distance in the interior of the country, gold was found; for

from the earliest times they had traded with those tribes. The names

of those five villages are Chirara, Puren, Chitaza, Jurech, and

Atamea.

All the men of the province of Cerabaroa go entirely naked, but they

paint their bodies in different ways, and they love to wear garlands

of flowers on their heads, and bands made from the claws of lions and

tigers. The women wear narrow waist-cloths of cotton.

Leaving this harbour and following along the same coast, a distance

of eighteen leagues, the Spaniards came upon a band of three hundred

naked men, upon the bank of the river they had just discovered. These

men uttered threatening shouts and, filling their mouths with water

and the herbs of the coast, spat at them. Throwing their javelins,

brandishing their lances and machanes, which we have already said were

wooden swords, they strove to repel our men from the coast. They were

painted in different fashions; some of them painted the whole body

except the face, others only a part. They gave it to be understood

that they wished neither peace nor trading relations with the

Spaniards. The Admiral ordered several cannon-shots to be fired, but

so as to kill nobody, for he always showed himself disposed to use

peaceable measures with these new people. Frightened by the noise, the

natives fell on the ground imploring peace, and in this wise trading

relations were established. In exchange for their gold and guanines

they received glass beads and other similar trifles. These natives

have drums and sea-shell trumpets, which they use to excite their

courage when going into battle.

The following rivers are found along this part of the coast: the

Acateba, the Quareba, the Zobroba, the Aiaguitin, the Wrida, the

Duribba, and the Veragua. Gold is found everywhere. Instead of cloaks,

the natives wear large leaves on their heads as a protection against

the heat or the rain.

The Admiral afterwards coasted along the shores of Ebetere and

Embigar. Two rivers, Zahoran and Cubigar, remarkable for their volume

and the quantity of fish they contain, water these coasts.

Beyond a distance of fifty leagues, gold is no longer found. Only

three leagues away stands a rock which, as we have already stated in

our description of Nicuesa's unfortunate voyage, the Spaniards called

Penon and which the natives call Vibba.

In the same neighbourhood and about two leagues distant is the bay

Columbus discovered and named Porto Bello. The country, which has

gold and is called by the natives Xaguaguara is very populous but the

inhabitants are naked. The cacique of Xaguaguara paints himself

black, and his subjects are painted red. The cacique and seven of his

principal followers wore leaves of gold in their noses, hanging down

to their lips, and in their opinion no more beautiful ornament exists.

The men cover their sexual organs with a sea-shell, and the women wear

a band of cotton stuff.

There is a fruit growing in their gardens which resembles a

pine-nut;[9]we have elsewhere said that it grows upon a plant,

resembling an artichoke, and that the fruit, which is not unworthy

of a king's table, is perishable; I have spoken elsewhere at length

concerning these. The natives call the plant bearing this fruit

_hibuero_. From time to time crocodiles are found which, when they

dive or scramble away, leave behind them an odour more delicate than

musk or castor. The natives who live along the banks of the Nile

relate the same fact concerning the female of the crocodile, whose

belly exhales the perfumes of Araby.

[Note 9: The pineapple.]

From this point the Admiral put his fleet about, and returned over

his course, for he could no longer battle against the contrary

currents.[10] Moreover, his ships were rotting from day to day, their

hulks being eaten into by the sharp points of worms engendered by the

sun from the waters of these regions situated near the equator. The

Venetians call these worms _bissa_, and quantities of them come into

life in both the ports of Alexandria, in Egypt. These worms, which are

a cubit long and sometimes more, and never thicker than your little

finger, undermine the solidity of ships which lie too long at anchor.

The Spanish sailors call this pest _broma_. It was therefore because

he feared the _bromas_ and was wearied out with struggling against the

currents that the Admiral allowed his ships to be carried by the ocean

towards the west. Two leagues distant from Veragua he sailed up the

river Hiebra, since it was navigable for the largest vessels. Though

it is less important, yet the Veragua gives its name to the country,

since the ruler of that region, which is watered by both rivers, has

his residence on the bank of the Veragua.

[Note 10: Columbus describes the storms which prevailed during

that entire month of December as the most formidable he had ever

experienced; on the thirteenth his vessels had the narrowest possible

escape from a waterspout.]

Let us now relate the good and ill fortune they there encountered.

Columbus established himself on the banks of the Hiebra, sending his

brother Bartholomew Columbus, Adelantado of Hispaniola, in command of

sixty-eight men in ships' boats to Veragua. The cacique of the country

came down the river with a fleet of canoes to meet the Adelantado.

This man was naked and unarmed, and was accompanied by a numerous

following. Hardly had a few words been exchanged when the followers of

the cacique, fearing that he might weary himself or forget his

royal dignity by standing while he talked, carried a stone from the

neighbouring bank, and after washing and polishing it with care,

respectfully tendered it to their chief to serve as a chair. When

seated, the cacique seemed to convey by signs to the Spaniards that he

permitted them to sail on the rivers of his territory.

The sixth of the ides of February the Adelantado marched along the

banks of the river Veragua, leaving his boats behind. He came to

the Duraba, a stream richer in gold than the Hiebra or the Veragua;

moreover, in all these regions gold is found amongst the roots of the

trees, along the banks and amongst the rocks and stones left by the

torrents. Wherever they dug a palm deep, gold was found mingled with

the earth turned out. This decided the attempt to found a colony, but

the natives opposed this project, for they foresaw their own prompt

destruction. They armed themselves, and, uttering horrible cries,

they attacked our men who were engaged in building cabins. This first

attack was, with difficulty, repelled. The natives threw darts from a

distance and then, gradually drawing nearer, they used their wooden

swords and machanes, in a furious assault. So greatly enraged were

they that, astonishing as it may seem, they were not frightened either

by bows, arquebuses, or the noise of the cannon fired from the ships.

Once they drew off, but soon returned to the charge in greater numbers

and more furiously than before. They preferred to die rather than see

their land occupied by the Spaniards whom they were perfectly willing

to receive as guests, but whom they rejected as inhabitants. The more

the Spaniards defended themselves, the more did the multitude of their

assailants increase, directing their attack sometimes on the front,

sometimes on the flank, without cessation both day and night.

Fortunately the fleet at anchorage assured the Spaniards a secure

retreat and, deciding to abandon the attempt to colonise there, they

returned on board.

Their return to Jamaica, which is the island lying south and near to

Cuba and Hispaniola was accomplished with great difficulty, for their

ships had been so eaten by bromas,--to use a Spanish word--that they

were like sieves and almost went to pieces during the voyage. The men

saved themselves by working incessantly, bailing out the water that

rushed in through great fissures in the ship's side and finally,

exhausted by fatigue, they succeeded in reaching Jamaica. Their ships

sank; and leaving them there stranded, they passed six months in

the power of the barbarians, a more wretched existence than that of

Alcimenides as described by Virgil. They were forced to live on what

the earth produced or what it pleased the natives to give them. The

mortal enmities existing amongst the savage caciques were of some

service to the Spaniards; for to secure their alliance the caciques

distributed bread to the starving whenever they were about to

undertake a campaign. O how sad and wretched it is, Most Holy Father,

to eat the bread of charity! Your Holiness may well understand,

especially when man is deprived of wine, meat, different kinds of

cheeses, and of everything to which from their infancy the stomachs of

Europeans are accustomed.

Under the stress of necessity the Admiral resolved to tempt fortune.

Desiring to know what destiny God reserved for him, he took counsel

with his intendant, Diego Mendez,[11] and two islanders of Jamaica who

were familiar with those waters. Mendez started in a canoe, although

the sea was already ruffled. From reef to reef and from rock to rock,

his narrow skiff tossed by the waves, Diego nevertheless succeeded in

reaching the extreme point of Hispaniola which is some forty leagues

distant from Jamaica. The two natives returned joyously, anticipating

the reward promised them by Columbus. Mendez made his way on foot to

Santo Domingo, the capital of the island, where he rented two boats

and set out to rejoin his commander. All the Spaniards returned

together to Hispaniola, but in a state of extreme weakness and

exhaustion from their privations. I do not know what has since

happened to them.[12] Let us now resume our narrative.

[Note 11: The events of this fourth voyage are related in

the interesting _Relacion hecha par Diego Mendez de algunos

aconticimientos del ultimo viaje del Almirante Don Christobal Colon_.

King Ferdinand afterwards granted Mendez a canoe in his armorial

bearings, in memory of the services he had rendered.]

[Note 12: Columbus reached Santo Domingo on August 18th, and there

rested until September 12th, when he embarked for Spain landing at San

Lucar on November 7.]

According to his letters and the reports of his companions, all the

regions explored by Columbus are well wooded at all seasons of the

year, shaded by leafy green trees. Moreover, what is more important,

they are healthy. Not a man of his crew was ever ill or exposed to the

rigours of cold nor the heats of summer throughout the whole extent of

fifty leagues between the great harbour of Cerabaro and the Hiebra and

Veragua rivers.

All the inhabitants of Cerabaro and the neighbourhood of Hiebra and

Veragua only seek gold at certain fixed periods. They are just as

competent as our miners who work the silver and iron mines. From long

experience, from the aspect of the torrent whose waters they divert,

from the colour of the earth and various other signs, they know where

the richest gold deposits are; they believe in a tradition of their

ancestors which teaches that there is a divinity in gold, and they

take care only to look for this metal after purifying themselves. They

abstain from carnal and other pleasures, also eating and drinking in

great moderation, during the time they seek gold. They think that men

live and die just like animals, and have, therefore, no religion.

Nevertheless they venerate the sun, and salute the sunrise with

respect.

Let us now speak of the mountains and the general aspect of the

continent.

Lofty mountains[13] which end in a ridge extending from east to west

are seen in the distance towards the south from all along the coast.

We believe this range separates the two seas of which we have already

spoken at length, and that it forms a barrier dividing their waters

just as Italy separates the Tyrrhenian from the Adriatic Sea. From

wherever they sail, between Cape San Augustins, belonging to the

Portuguese and facing the Atlas, as far as Uraba and the port of

Cerabaro and the other western lands recently discovered, the

navigators behold during their entire voyage, whether near at hand or

in the distance mountain ranges; sometimes their slopes are gentle,

sometimes lofty, rough, and rocky, or perhaps clothed with woods and

shrubbery. This is likewise the case in the Taurus, and on the slopes

of our Apennines, as well as on other similar ranges. As is the case

elsewhere, beautiful valleys separate the mountain peaks. The peaks of

the range marking the frontier of Veragua are believed to rise above

the clouds, for they are very rarely visible because of the almost

continuous density of mists and clouds.

[Note 13: The Cordilleras on the Isthmus of Panama.]

The Admiral, who first explored this region, believes these peaks

rise to a height of forty miles, and he says that at the base of the

mountains there is a road leading to the South Sea. He compares its

position with that of Venice in relation to Genoa, or Janua, as the

inhabitants who boast that Janus was their founder, call their city.

The Admiral believes that this continent extends to the west and that

the greater part of its lands lies in that direction. In like manner

we observe that the leg forming Italy branches out beyond the Alps

into the countries of the Gauls, the Germans, the Pannonians, and

ultimately those of the Sarmats and the Scythians extending to the

Riphe Mountains and the glacial sea, not to mention Thrace, all

Greece, and the countries ending towards the south at Cape Malea and

the Hellespont, and north at the Euxine and the Palus Maeotidus. The

Admiral believes that on the left and west, this continent joins on

to the India of the Ganges, and that towards the right it extends

northwards to the glacial sea and the north pole, lying beyond the

lands of the Hyperboreans; the two seas, that is to say the southern

and the northern ocean, would thus join one another at the angles of

this continent. I do not believe all its coasts are washed by the

ocean, as is our Europe which the Hellespont, the Tanais, the glacial

ocean, the Spanish sea and the Atlantic completely surround. In my

opinion the strong ocean currents running towards the west prevent

these two seas from being connected, and I suppose, as I have said

above, that it does join on to northern lands.

We have spoken enough about longitude, Most Holy Father; let us see

what are the theories concerning latitude.

We have already stated that the distance separating the South Sea from

the Atlantic Ocean is a very small one; for this fact was demonstrated

during the expedition of Vasco Nuñez and his companions. Just as our

Alps in Europe, narrow in some places and broaden out over a greater

extent in others, so by an analogous arrangement of nature this new

continent lengthens in some places, extending to a great distance, and

in others it narrows by gulfs which, from the opposite seas, encroach

on the land between them. For example: at both Uraba and Veragua the

distance between the two oceans is trifling, while in the region of

the Maragnon River, on the contrary, it is vastly extended. That

is, if the Maragnon is indeed a river and not a sea. I incline

nevertheless to the first hypothesis, because its waters are fresh.

The immense torrents necessary to feed such a stream could certainly

not exist in a small space. The same applies in the case of the river

Dobaiba,[14] which flows into the sea at the gulf of Uraba, by an

estuary three miles wide and forty-five ells deep; it must be supposed

that there is a large country amongst the mountains of Dobaiba from

which this river flows. It is claimed that it is formed by four

streams descending from these mountains, and the Spaniards have named

it San Juan. Where it falls into the gulf, it has seven mouths, like

the Nile. In this same Uraba region the continent diminishes in size

in an astonishing manner, and it is said that in places its width is

not more than fifteen leagues. The country is impassable because of

its swamps and quagmires which the Spaniards call _tremelaes_

or _trampales_, or by other names _cenegales_, _sumineros_, and

_zahoudaderos_.[15]

[Note 14: The Dobaiba may be either the Magdalena or the Atrato.]

[Note 15: All words meaning practically the same thing, viz., bog,

quagmire, swamp, quicksand, etc., some of them evidently obsolete, as

they are not found in modern Spanish dictionaries.]

Before going farther it may not be useless to explain the derivation

of the name of these mountains. According to native tradition there

formerly lived a woman of great intelligence and extraordinary

prudence, called Dobaiba. Even during her lifetime she was highly

respected, and after her death the natives of the country venerated

her; and it is her name the country bears. She it is who sends thunder

and lightning, who destroys the crops when she is vexed, for they

childishly believe, that Dobaiba becomes angry when they fail to offer

sacrifices in her honour. There are deceivers who, under the pretence

of religion, inculate this belief among the natives, hoping thereby to

increase the number of gifts offered by the latter to the goddess, and

thus augment their own profits. This is enough on this subject.

It is related that in the swamps of this narrow part of the continent

numerous crocodiles, dragons, bats, and gnats exist, all of the most

formidable description. In seeking to reach the southern sea, it is

necessary to go through the mountains, and to avoid the neighbourhood

of these swamps. Some people claim that a single valley separates in

two ranges the mountains facing the southern sea, and that in this

valley rises the river which the Spaniards have named Rio de los

Perdidos, in memory of the catastrophe of Nicuesa and his companions.

It is not far distant from Cerabaro; but as its waters are fresh, I

believe the people who sustain this theory are telling fables.

Let us close this chapter with one last topic. To the right and left

of Darien flow about a score of gold-producing rivers. We here repeat

what has been told to us, and about which everybody agrees. When asked

why they did not bring more considerable quantities of gold from that

country, the Spaniards answer that miners are required, and that the

explorers of the new countries are not men inured to fatigue. This

explains why much less gold is obtained than the wealth of the soil

affords. It would even seem that precious stones are found there.

Without repeating what I have said concerning Cariai and the

neighbourhood of Santa Marta, here is another proof. A certain Andreas

Morales, a pilot of these seas, who was a friend and companion of Juan

de la Cosa during his lifetime, possessed a diamond which a young

native of Paria in Cumana had discovered. It was of the greatest

rarity and is described as being as long as two middle finger joints.

It was as thick as the first thumb joint, was pointed at both ends,

and had eight well-cut facets. When struck upon an anvil, it wore the

files and hammers, itself remaining intact. This young man of Cumana

wore it hanging round his neck, and he sold it to Andreas Morales for

five green glass beads because their colour pleased him. The Spaniards

also found topazes on the beach, but as they only think of gold, they

turn their backs on these precious stones; for only gold attracts

them, only gold do they seek. Thus the majority of Spaniards despise

people who wear rings and precious stones, regarding it as almost a

contemptible thing to decorate one's self with precious stones. Our

people above all hold this opinion. Sometimes the nobles, for a

wedding ceremony or a royal festival, like to display jewels in their

golden necklaces, or to embroider their costumes with pearls mixed

with diamonds; but on all other occasions they abstain, for it is

considered effeminate to decorate one's self in this wise, just as it

would be to be perfumed with the odours of Araby. Any one they meet

smelling of musk or castor, they suspect of being given to guilty

passions.

Fruit plucked from a tree argues that the tree bears fruit; a fish

taken from a river warrants the affirmation that fish live in the

river. In like manner a bit of gold or a single precious stone

justifies the belief that the earth where they are found, produces

gold and precious stones.

This must certainly be admitted. We have already related what the

companions of Pedro Arias and some officials discovered at the port of

Santa Marta in the Cariai region when they penetrated there with the

whole fleet. Every day the harvest increases, and overtops that of the

last. The exploits of Saturn and Hercules and other heroes, glorified

by antiquity, are reduced to nothing. If the incessant efforts of the

Spaniards result in new discoveries, we shall give our attention to

them. May Your Holiness fare well, and let me know your opinion upon

these aggrandisements of your Apostolic Chair, and thus encourage me

in my future labours.

BOOK V

Every creature in this sublunary world, Most Holy Father, that gives

birth to something, either immediately afterwards closes the womb or

rests for a period. The new continent, however, is not governed by

this rule, for each day it creates without ceasing and brings forth

new products, which continue to furnish men gifted with power and

an enthusiasm for novelties, sufficient material to satisfy their

curiosity. Your Holiness may ask, "Why this preamble?" The reason is

that I had scarcely finished composing and dictating the story of the

adventures of Vasco Nuñez and his companions during their exploration

of the South Sea, and had hardly despatched that narration to Your

Holiness by Giovanni Ruffo di Forli, Archbishop of Cosenza and

Galeazzo Butrigario, Apostolic nuncios and stimulators of my somnolent

spirits, than new letters[1] arrived from Pedro Arias whose departure

last year as commander of a fleet bound for the new continent we have

already announced. The General duly arrived with his soldiers and his

ships. These letters are signed by Juan Cabedo whom Your Holiness,

upon the solicitation of the Catholic King, appointed Bishop of the

province of Darien, and his signature is accompanied by those of the

principal officials sent to administer the government, viz.: Alonzo

de Ponte, Diego Marques, and Juan de Tavira. May Your Holiness,

therefore, deign to accept the narrative of this voyage.

[Note 1: If still in existence these letters have yet to be

found.]

On the eve of the ides of April, 1514, Pedro Arias gave the signal to

start and sailed from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, a fortified

place at the mouth of the Boetis, called by the Spaniards the

Guadalquivir. From the mouth of the Boetis, to the seven Canary

Islands the distance is about four hundred miles. Some people think

these islands correspond to the Fortunate Isles, but others hold a

contrary opinion. These islands are named as follows: Lancelota and

Fortaventura are the first sighted, after which the Grand Canary,

followed by Teneriffe: Gomera lies a short distance to the north

of Teneriffe and the islands of Palma and Ferro seem to form a

rear-guard. After a voyage of eight days, Pedro Arias landed at

Gomera. His fleet consisted of seventeen vessels, carrying fifteen

hundred men, to which number he had been restricted; for he left

behind him more than two thousand discontented and disconsolate men,

who begged to be allowed to embark at their own expense; such was

their avidity for gold and such their desire to behold the new

continent.

Pedro Arias stopped sixteen days at Gomera, to take on a supply of

wood and water, and to repair his ships damaged by a storm, especially

the flag-ship, which had lost her rudder. The archipelago of the

Canaries is indeed a most convenient port for navigators. The

expedition left the Canaries the nones of May, and saw no land until

the third day of the nones of June, when the ships approached the

island of the man-eating cannibals which has been named Domingo. On

this island, which is about eight hundred leagues from Gomera, Pedro

Arias remained four days and replenished his supply of water and wood.

Not a man or a trace of a human being was discovered. Along the coast

were many crabs and huge lizards. The course afterwards passed by the

islands of Madanino and Guadeloupe and Maria Galante, of which I have

spoken at length in my First Decade. Pedro Arias also sailed over vast

stretches of water full of grass[2]; neither the Admiral, Columbus,

who first discovered these lands and crossed this sea of grass, nor

the Spaniards accompanying Pedro Arias are able to explain the cause

of this growth. Some people think the sea is muddy thereabouts and

the grasses, growing on the bottom, reach to the surface; similar

phenomena being observed in lakes and large rivers of running waters.

Others do not think that the grasses grow in that sea, but are torn up

by storms from the numerous reefs and afterwards float about; but it

is impossible to prove anything because it is not known yet whether

they fasten themselves to the prows of the ships they follow or

whether they float after being pulled up. I am inclined to believe

they grow in those waters, otherwise the ships would collect them

in their course,--just as brooms gather up all the rubbish in the

house,--which would thus delay their progress.

[Note 2: The _Mare Sargassum_ of the ancients: also called _Fucus

Natans_, and by the Spaniards _Mar de Sargasso_. A curious marine

meadow nearly seven times larger than France, in extent, lying between

19° and 34° north latitude. There is a lesser _Fucus_ bank between the

Bahamas and the Bermudas. Consult Aristotle, _Meteor_, ii., I, 14;

_De mirabilibus auscutationibus_, p. 100; Theophrastus, _Historia

Plantarum_, iv., 7; Arienus, _Ora Maritima_, v., 408; Humboldt,

_Cosmos_, tom. ii.; Gaffarel, _La Mer des Sargasses_; Leps, _Bulletin

de la Soc. Geog_., Sept., 1865.]

The fourth day of the ides of March snow-covered mountains were

observed. The sea runs strongly to the west and its current is as

rapid as a mountain torrent. Nevertheless the Spaniards did not lay

their course directly towards the west, but deviated slightly to the

south. I hope to be able to demonstrate this by one of the tables of

the new cosmography which it is my intention to write, if God gives me

life. The Gaira River, celebrated for the massacre of the Spaniards

during the voyage of Roderigo Colmenares, which I have elsewhere

related, rises in these mountains. Many other rivers water this coast.

The province of Caramaira has two celebrated harbours, the first being

Carthagena and the second Santa Marta, these being their Spanish

names. A small province of the latter is called by the natives

Saturma. The harbour of Santa Marta is very near the snow-covered

mountains; in fact it lies at their foot. The port of Carthagena is

fifty leagues from there, to the west. Wonderful things are written

about the port of Santa Marta, and all who come back tell such. Among

the latter is Vespucci,[3] nephew of Amerigo Vespucci of Florence who,

at his death, bequeathed his knowledge of navigation and cosmography

to his nephew. This young man has, in fact, been sent by the King

as pilot to the flagship and commissioned to take the astronomical

observations. The steering has been entrusted to the principal pilot,

Juan Serrano, a Castilian, who had often sailed in those parts. I have

often invited this young Vespucci to my table, not only because he

possesses real talent, but also because he has taken notes of all he

observed during his voyage.[4]

[Note 3: He was appointed cartographer of the _Casa de

Contractacion_ at Seville, in 1512. Henry Harrisse makes frequent

mention of the Vespucci in his work on the Cabots.]

[Note 4: One of many instances of Peter Martyr's hospitality to

men of parts and activity, from whose conversation and narrations he

set himself to glean the material for his writings. His information

was first-hand, and was frequently poured out to him over his

hospitable board, under which the home-coming adventurers were glad to

stretch their legs, while their genial host stimulated their memories

and loosed their tongues with the generous wines of his adopted

country.]

According to the letters of Pedro Arias, and to the narrations of

Vespucci, what happened is as follows: It is believed that the natives

belong to the same race as the Caribs or Cannibals, for they are just

as overbearing and cruel. They seek to repulse from their shores all

Spaniards who approach for they consider them as enemies and are

determined to prevent their landing, despite their attempts. These

naked barbarians are so determined and courageous, that they ventured

to attack the entire squadron and tried to drive it from their coasts.

They threw themselves into the sea, like madmen, showing not the

slightest fear of the number and size of our vessels. They attacked

the Spaniards with all sorts of darts; protected by the sides of the

ships and by their shields, the latter resisted, though two of them

were mortally wounded. It was then decided to fire cannon, and

frightened by the noise and the effect of the projectiles, the natives

fled, believing the Spaniards commanded the thunder; for they are

frequently exposed to storms owing to the character of their country

and the neighbourhood of lofty mountains. Although the enemy were

conquered and dispersed, the Spaniards hesitated whether to go on

shore or to remain on board their ships. A consultation was held in

which different opinions were expressed. Fear counselled them to stop

where they were, but human respect urged them to land. They feared the

poisoned arrows which the natives shot with such sure aim, but on the

other hand it seemed shameful, unworthy, and infamous to sail by with

such a large fleet and so many soldiers without landing. Human respect

carried the day, and after landing by means of light barques, they

pursued the scattered natives.

According to the report of Pedro Arias and the narrative of Vespucci,

the harbour is three leagues in circumference. It is a safe one, and

its waters are so clear that at a depth of twenty cubits, the stones

on its bottom may be counted. Streams empty into the harbour but they

are not navigable for large ships, only for native canoes. There is an

extraordinary abundance of both fresh- and salt-water fish, of great

variety and good flavour. Many native fishing boats were found in

this harbour, and also a quantity of nets ingeniously made from stout

grasses worn by friction and interwoven with spun cotton cords. The

natives of Caramaira, Cariai, and Saturma are all skilful fishermen,

and it is by selling their fish to the inland tribes that they procure

the products they need and desire.

When the barbarians withdrew from the coast, the Spaniards entered

their boios, that is to say their houses. The natives frequently

attacked our men with fury, seeking to kill them all with flights

of poisoned arrows. When they realised that their houses were to be

invaded and robbed, and particularly when they witnessed their women

and the majority of their children carried into captivity, their fury

increased. The furniture found in these houses was discovered to be

made of large reeds gathered along the shore, or of various grasses

resembling cords. Woven mats of various colours, and cotton hangings,

upon which lions, eagles, tigers, and other figures were executed with

great care and taste, were found. The doors of the houses and of the

rooms inside were hung with snail-shells strung upon fine cord, which

the wind easily shook, producing a noise of rattling shells which

delighted them.

From various sources astonishing tales of the natives have been told

me. Amongst others, Gonzales Fernando Oviedo,[5] who is a royal

official with the title of inspector, boasts that he has travelled

extensively in the interior of the country. He found a piece of

sapphire larger than a goose's egg, and upon the hills he explored

with about twenty men, he claims that he has seen a large quantity of

emerald matrix, chalcedon, jasper, and great lumps of mountain amber.

[Note 5: _Sommario dell'Indie Occidenti_, cap. lxxxii., in

Ramusio.]

Attached to the tapestries woven with gold which the Caribs left

behind them in their houses when they fled, were precious stones:

Oviedo and his companions affirm that they saw them. The country also

has forests of scarlet wood and rich gold deposits. Everywhere along

the coast and on the banks of the rivers exist marcasites[6] which

indicate the presence of gold. Oviedo further states that in a region

called Zenu, lying ninety miles east of Darien, a kind of business is

carried on for which there are found in the native houses huge jars

and baskets, cleverly made of reeds adapted to that purpose. These

receptacles are filled with dried and salted grasshoppers, crabs,

crayfish, and locusts, which destroy the harvests. When asked the

purpose of these provisions, the natives replied they were destined

to be sold to the people inland, and in exchange for these precious

insects and dried fish they procure the foreign products they require.

The natives live in scattered fashion, their houses not being built

together. This land, inhabited by the people of Caramaira, is an

Elysian country, well cultivated, fertile, exposed neither to the

rigours of winter nor the great heats of summer. Day and night are of

about equal length.

[Note 6: A variety of iron pyrites.]

After driving off the barbarians, the Spaniards entered a valley two

leagues in breadth and three long, which extended to the grassy and

wooded slopes of the mountains. Two other valleys, each watered by a

river, also open to the right and left at the foot of these mountains.

One is the Gaira, and the other has not yet received a name. There

are, in these valleys, cultivated gardens, and fields watered by

ingeniously planned ditches. Our Milanese and Tuscans cultivate and

water their fields in precisely the same manner.

The ordinary food of these natives is the same as the others--agoes,

yucca, maize, potatoes, fruits, and fish. They rarely eat human flesh,

for they do not often capture strangers. Sometimes they arm themselves

and go hunting in neighbouring regions, but they do not eat one

another. There is, however, one fact sad to hear. These filthy eaters

of men are reported to have killed myriads of their kind to satisfy

their passion. Our compatriots have discovered a thousand islands as

fair as Paradise, a thousand Elysian regions, which these brigands

have depopulated. Charming and blessed as they are, they are

nevertheless deserted. From this sole instance Your Holiness may judge

of the perversity of this brutal race. We have already said that

the island of San Juan lies near to Hispaniola and is called by the

natives Burichena. Now it is related that within our own time more

than five thousand islanders have been carried off from Burichena for

food, and were eaten by the inhabitants of these neighbouring islands

which are now called Santa Cruz, Hayhay, Guadaloupe, and Queraqueira.

But enough has been said about the appetites of these filthy

creatures.

Let us now speak a little of the roots destined to become the food

of Christians and take the place of wheaten bread, radishes, and our

other vegetables. We have already said several times that the yucca

was a root from which the natives make a bread they like both in

the islands and on the continent; but we have not yet spoken of its

culture, its growth, or of its several varieties. When planting yucca,

they dig a hole knee-deep in the ground, and pile the earth in heaps

nine feet square, in each one of which they plant a dozen yucca roots

about six feet long, in such wise that all the ends come together

in the centre of the mound. From their joining and even from their

extremities, young roots fine as a hair sprout and, increasing little

by little, attain, when they are full grown, the thickness and length

of a man's arm, and often of his leg. The mounds of earth are thus

converted little by little into a network of roots. According to

their description, the yucca requires at least half a year to reach

maturity, and the natives also say that if it is left longer in

the ground, for instance for two years, it improves and produces a

superior quality of bread. When cut, the women break and mash it on

stones prepared for the purpose, just as amongst us cheese is pressed;

or they pack it into a bag made of grass or reeds from the riverside,

afterwards placing a heavy stone on the bag and hanging it up for a

whole day to let the juice run off. This juice, as we have already

said in speaking of the islanders, is dangerous; but if cooked, it

becomes wholesome, as is the case with the whey of our milk. Let us

observe, however, that this juice is not fatal to the natives of the

continent.

There are several varieties of yucca, one of which being dearer and

more agreeable, is reserved for making the bread of the caciques.

Other varieties are set aside for the nobles, and certain others for

the common people. When the juice has all run off, the pulp is spread

out and cooked on slabs of earthenware made for the purpose, just

as our people do cheese. This sort of bread is the most used and is

called _cazabi_. It is said there are also several kinds of agoes

and potatoes, and the natives use these more as vegetables than for

breadmaking, just as we do radishes, turnips, mushrooms, and other

similar foods. Most of all do the natives like potatoes, which indeed

are preferable to mushrooms, because of their flavour and softness,

particularly when of a superior quality. We have now spoken enough

of roots, so let us come to another kind of bread. The natives have

another kind of grain similar to millet, save that the kernels are

larger. When there is a shortage of yucca, they grind it into flour by

mashing it between stones; the bread made from this is coarser. This

grain is sown three times a year, since the fertility of the soil

corresponds to the evenness of the seasons. I have already spoken of

this in preceding places. When the Spaniards first arrived, all these

roots and grains and maize, as well as various other kinds of fruit

trees were cultivated.

In Caramaira and Saturma there are such broad, straight roads that one

might think they had been drawn with a lead pencil. Among this people

are found cups with handles, jugs, jars, long platters, and plates

of earthenware, as well as amphoras of different colours for keeping

water fresh.

When ordered to tender obedience to the King of Castile and to embrace

our religion, or get out, the Indians replied with flights of poisoned

arrows. The Spaniards captured some of them, whom they immediately set

at liberty after giving them some clothing. Some others they took on

board the ships and displayed our grandeur before them, so that they

might tell their compatriots; after which they released them, hoping

thus to win their friendship. Gold has been proven to exist in all the

rivers. Here and there in the native houses fresh meat of deer and

wild boar was found; a food which they eat with great pleasure. These

natives also keep numbers of birds which they rear either for food or

for their pleasure. The climate is healthy; I may cite as a proof the

fact that the Spaniards slept at night on the river banks and in the

open air, without anybody suffering from headache or pains.

The Spaniards likewise found huge balls of spun cotton and bunches of

divers coloured feathers from which headdresses, similar to those of

our cuirassiers, or mantles of state are made. These are elegancies

among the natives. There was also a large number of bows and arrows.

Sometimes the bodies of their ancestors are burned and the bones

buried, and sometimes they are preserved entire in their _boios_, that

is to say houses, and treated with great respect; or again, they may

be ornamented with gold and precious stones. It was noted that the

breast ornaments, which they call _guanines_ were made of copper

rather than gold, and it was surmised that they dealt with tricky

strangers who sold them these guanines, palming off upon them vile

metal for gold. Neither did the Spaniards discover the trick till they

melted these supposed valuables.

Some architects who had wandered a short distance from the coast came

upon some fragments of white marble, and they think that strangers

must at some time have landed there and quarried this marble from the

mountains, leaving these fragments scattered about the plain. It was

at this place that the Spaniards learned that the river Maragnon

flows from the snow-covered mountains, its volume being increased by

numerous streams flowing into it. Its great size is due to the fact

that its course is long, and that it only reaches the sea after having

traversed well-watered regions.

The signal for departure was finally given. Nine hundred men who had

been landed, assembled shouting joyfully, marching in order, loaded

with plunder, and quite showy with crowns, mantles, feathers, and

native military ornaments. The anchor was hoisted on the sixteenth day

of the calends of July. The ships, damaged in frequent gales, had been

repaired, the flag-ship having especially suffered the loss of her

rudder, as we have already mentioned. The fleet put out to sea in the

direction of Carthagena, and in obedience to the King's instructions

ravaged some islands inhabited by ferocious cannibals which lay in the

course. The strong currents deceived Juan Serrano, chief pilot of the

flag-ship, and his colleagues, though they boasted that they were

well acquainted with the nature of these currents. In one night, and

contrary to the general expectation, they made forty leagues.

BOOK VI

The time has come, Most Holy Father, to philosophise a little, leaving

cosmography to seek the causes of Nature's secrets. The ocean currents

in those regions run towards the west, as torrents rushing down a

mountain side. Upon this point the testimony is unanimous. Thus I find

myself uncertain when asked where these waters go which flow in a

circular and continuous movement from east to west, never to return

to their starting-place; and how it happens that the west is not

consequently overwhelmed by these waters, nor the east emptied. If it

be true that these waters are drawn towards the centre of the earth,

as is the case with all heavy objects, and that this centre, as some

people affirm, is at the equinoctial line, what can be the central

reservoir capable of holding such a mass of waters? And what will be

the circumference filled with water, which will yet be discovered? The

explorers of these coasts offer no convincing explanation. There are

other authors who think that a large strait exists at the extremity

of the gulf formed by this vast continent and which, we have already

said, is eight times larger than the ocean. This strait may lie to the

west of Cuba, and would conduct these raging waters to the west, from

whence they would again return to our east. Some learned men think the

gulf formed by this vast continent is an enclosed sea, whose coasts

bend in a northerly direction behind Cuba, in such wise that the

continent would extend unbrokenly to the northern lands beneath the

polar circle bathed by the glacial sea. The waters, driven back by

the extent of land, are drawn into a circle, as may be seen in rivers

whose opposite banks provoke whirlpools; but this theory does not

accord with the facts. The explorers of the northern passages, who

always sailed westwards, affirm that the waters are always drawn

in that direction, not however with violence, but by a long and

uninterrupted movement.

Amongst the explorers of the glacial region a certain Sebastiano

Cabotto, of Venetian origin, but brought by his parents in his infancy

to England, is cited. It commonly happens that Venetians visit every

part of the universe, for purposes of commerce. Cabotto equipped two

vessels in England, at his own cost, and first sailed with three

hundred men towards the north, to such a distance that he found

numerous masses of floating ice in the middle of the month of July.

Daylight lasted nearly twenty-four hours, and as the ice had melted,

the land was free. According to his story he was obliged to tack and

take the direction of west-by-south. The coast bent to about the

degree of the strait of Gibraltar. Cabotto did not sail westward until

he had arrived abreast of Cuba, which lay on his left. In following

this coast-line which he called Bacallaos,[1] he says that he

recognised the same maritime currents flowing to the west that the

Castilians noted when they sailed in southern regions belonging to

them. It is not merely probable, therefore, but becomes even necessary

to conclude that between these two hitherto unknown continents there

extend large openings through which the water flows from east to west.

I think these waters flow all round the world in a circle, obediently

to the Divine Law, and that they are not spewed forth and afterwards

absorbed by some panting Demogorgon. This theory would, up to a

certain point, furnish an explanation of the ebb and flow.

[Note 1: The word _Bacallaos_ is thought to be of Basque origin.

This designation for codfish is extremely ancient, and the land thus

named appears on the earliest maps of America.]

Cabotto calls these lands Terra de Bacallaos, because the neighbouring

waters swarm with fish similar to tunnies, which the natives call by

this name. These fish are so numerous that sometimes they interfere

with the progress of ships. The natives of these regions wear furs,

and appear to be intelligent. Cabotto reports that there are many

bears in the country, which live on fish. These animals plunge into

the midst of thick schools of fish, and seizing one fast in their

claws they drag it ashore to be devoured. They are not dangerous to

men. He claims to have seen the natives in many places in possession

of copper. Cabotto frequents my house, and I have him sometimes at my

table.[2] He was called from England by our Catholic King after the

death of Henry, King of that country, and he lives at court with us.

He is waiting, from day to day, to be furnished with ships with which

he will be able to discover this mystery of nature. I think he will

leave on this expedition towards the month of March of next year,

1516. If God gives me life, Your Holiness shall hear from me what

happens to him. There are not wanting people in Spain who affirm that

Cabotto is not the first discoverer of Terra de Bacallaos; they only

concede him the merit of having pushed out a little farther to the

west.[3] But this is enough about the strait and Cabotto.

[Note 2: Again we see Peter Martyr's system of collecting

information illustrated. Cabot's discoveries on this voyage are

indicated on Juan de la Cosa's map, of 1500. Henry VII. gave little

support, and Cabot, therefore, withdrew from England. In 1516 he was

given an appointment by King Ferdinand, with 50,000 maravedis yearly

and an estate in Andalusia.]

[Note 3: The Bacallaos coast was discovered by the Scandinavians

in the tenth century, and was known to the Venetians in the

fourteenth. Basque, Breton, and Norman fishermen visited it in the

following century.]

Let us now return to the Spaniards. Pedro Arias and his men passed

the length of the harbour of Carthagena and the islands inhabited by

Caribs, named San Bernardo's Islands. They left the entire country of

Caramaira behind them, without approaching it. They were driven by a

tempest upon an island which we have already mentioned as Fuerte, and

which is about fifty leagues distant from the entrance of the gulf

of Uraba. In this island they found, standing in the houses of the

islanders, a number of baskets made out of marine plants and filled

with salt. This island is indeed celebrated for its salines and the

natives procure whatever they need by the sale of salt.

An enormous pelican, larger than a vulture and remarkable for the

dimensions of its throat, fell upon the flagship. It is the same bird,

which, according to the testimony of several writers, formerly lived

domesticated in the marshes of Ravenna. I do not know if this is still

the case. This pelican let itself be easily caught, after which they

took it from one vessel to another: it soon died. A flock of twenty

such birds were seen on the coast in the distance.

The flag-ship was larger than the other vessels, but as she had been

damaged and was no longer serviceable, she was left behind; she will

rejoin the fleet when the sea is calmer. The eleventh day of the

calends of July the fleet reached Darien, the flag-ship arriving four

days later, but without cargo. The colonists of Darien under the

leadership of Vasco Nuñez Balboa, of whom we have elsewhere written at

length, came down to meet the new arrivals singing the psalm _Te Deum

Laudamus_. Each of them offered voluntary hospitality in his house,

built after the plan of native cabins.

This country may very properly be called a province, because it

has been conquered and all of its chiefs dethroned. The Spaniards

refreshed themselves with native fruits and bread made either of

roots or of maize. The fleet brought other provisions, for example

salt-meats, salt-fish, and barrels of wheat flour.

Behold the royal fleet at anchor in these strange countries and behold

the Spaniards established, not only in the Tropic of Cancer,

but almost on the equator,--contrary to the opinion of many

scientists,--ready to settle and to found colonies.

The day after landing, four hundred and fifty colonists of Darien were

invited to a meeting. Both in public and in private, by groups or

singly, they were questioned concerning the report of Vasco, Admiral

of the South Sea, or, as this officer is termed in Spanish, the

Adelantado. The truth of all he had reported to the King concerning

this South Sea was admitted. According to the opinion of Vasco

himself, the first thing to be done was to build forts in the

territories of Comogre, Pochorrosa, and Tumanama, which would later

form centres of colonisation. A _hidalgo_ of Cordova, Captain Juan

Ayora, was chosen to carry out this plan, for which purpose he was

given four hundred men, four caravels, and a small boat. Ayora first

landed in the port of Comogra, described in letters that have been

received, as distant about twenty-five leagues from Darien. From that

point he despatched one hundred and fifty of his men by a more direct

road than the one indicated, in the direction of the South Sea. It was

said that the distance between the port of Comogra and the gulf of St.

Miguel was only twenty-six leagues. The other company of two hundred

and fifty men would remain at Comogra to render assistance to those

coming and going. The hundred and fifty men chosen to march to the

South Sea took with them interpreters, some of whom were Spaniards who

had learned the language spoken in the region of the South Sea, from

slaves captured by Vasco when he explored the country; while others

were slaves who already understood the Spanish tongue. The harbour of

Pochorrosa is seven leagues distant from that of Comogra. Ayora, the

lieutenant of Pedro Arias, was to leave fifty men and the small boat,

which would serve as a courier, at Pochorroso, so that these boats

might serve to carry news to the lieutenant and to the colonists of

Darien, just as relays are arranged on land. It was also intended to

form a station in the territory of Tumanama, of which the capital is

twenty leagues distant from that of Pochorrosa.

Out of the hundred and fifty men assigned to Ayora, fifty were chosen

among the older colonists of Darien, they being persons of large

experience who would take charge of the newcomers and serve them as

guides.

When these measures were adopted, it was determined to report to the

King, and at the same time to announce to him as a positive fact that

there existed in the neighbourhood a cacique called Dobaiba, whose

territory had rich gold deposits, which had till then been respected

because he was very powerful. His country extended along the great

river which we have elsewhere mentioned. According to common report,

all the countries under his authority were rich in gold. Fifty leagues

divided Darien from the residence of Dobaiba. The natives affirmed

that gold would be found immediately the frontier was crossed. We have

elsewhere related that only three leagues from Darien the Spaniards

already possessed quite important gold mines, which are being worked.

Moreover, in many places gold is found by breaking the soil, but it

is believed to be more abundant in the territories of Dobaiba. In

the First Decade I addressed to Your Holiness, I had mentioned this

Dobaiba, but the Spaniards were mistaken concerning him, for they

thought they had met fishermen of Dobaiba and believed that Dobaiba

was the swampy region where they had encountered these men. Pedro

Arias, therefore, decided to lead a selected troop into that country.

These men were to be chosen out of the entire company and should be in

the flower of their age, abundantly furnished with darts and arms of

every sort. They were to march against the cacique, and if he refused

their alliance, they were to attack and overthrow him. Moreover, the

Spaniards never weary of repeating, as a proof of the wealth they

dream of, that by just scratching the earth almost anywhere, grains of

gold are found. I only repeat here what they have written.

The colonists likewise counselled the King to establish a colony at

the port of Santa Marta in the district called by the natives Saturma.

This would serve as a place of refuge for people arriving from the

island of Domingo. From Domingo to this port of Saturma the journey

could be made in about four or five days, and from Santa Marta to

Darien in three days. This holds good for the voyage thither, but

the return is much more difficult because of the current we have

mentioned, and which is so strong that the return voyage seems like

climbing steep mountains. Ships returning from Cuba or Hispaniola to

Spain do not encounter the full force of this current; although they

have to struggle against a turbulent ocean, still the breadth of the

open sea is such that the waters have free course. Along the coasts

of Paria, on the contrary, the waters are cramped by the continental

littoral and the shores of the numerous islands. The same happens in

the strait of Sicily where a current exists which Your Holiness well

knows, formed by the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla, at a place, where

the Ionian, Libyan, and Tyrrhenian seas come together within a narrow

space.

In writing of the island of Guanassa and the provinces called Iaia,

Maia, and Cerabarono, Columbus, who first noted the fact, said that

while following these coasts and endeavouring to keep to the east,

his ships encountered such resistance that at times he could not take

soundings, the adverse current dragging the lead before it touched

bottom. Even with the wind on his stern, he could sometimes make no

more than one mile in a day. This it is that obliges sailors returning

to Spain to first make for the upper part of Hispaniola or Cuba, and

then strike out northwards on the high sea in order to profit by the

north winds, for they would make no headway sailing in a direct line.

But we have several times spoken sufficiently about ocean currents. It

is now the moment to report what is written concerning Darien and the

colony founded on its banks which the colonists have named Santa Maria

Antigua.

The site is badly chosen, unhealthy, and more pestiferous than

Sardinia. All the colonists look pale, like men sick of the jaundice.

It is not exclusively the climate of the country which is responsible,

for in many other places situated in the same latitude the climate is

wholesome and agreeable; clear springs of water break from the earth

and swift rivers flow between banks that are not swampy. The natives,

however, make a point of living amongst the hills, instead of in the

valleys. The colony founded on the shores of Darien is situated in a

deep valley, completely surrounded by lofty hills, in such wise that

the direct rays of the sun beat upon it at midday, while as the sun

goes down its rays are reflected from the mountains, in front, behind,

and all around, rendering the place insupportable. The rays of the sun

are most fierce when they are reflected, rather than direct, nor are

they themselves pernicious, as may be observed among the snows on high

mountains. Your Holiness is not ignorant of this. For this reason

the rays of the sun shining upon the mountains reach down, gradually

falling to their base, just as a large round stone thrown from their

summit would do. The valleys consequently receive, not only the direct

rays, but also those reflected from the hills and mountains. If,

therefore, the site of Darien is unhealthy, it is not the fault of

the country but of the site itself chosen by the colony. The

unwholesomeness of the place is further increased by the malodorous

swamp surrounding it. To say the frank truth, the town is nothing

but a swamp. When the slaves sprinkle the floor of the houses, toads

spring into existence from the drops of water that fall from their

hands, just as in other places I have seen drops of water changed into

fleas. Wherever a hole one palm deep is dug, water bursts forth; but

it is filthy and contaminated because of the river which flows

through a deep valley over a stagnant bed to the sea. The Spaniards,

therefore, considered changing the site. Necessity had first of all

obliged them to stop there, for the first arrivals were so reduced by

famine that they did not even think of moving it. Nevertheless they

are tormented in this unfortunate place by the rays of the sun; the

waters are impure and are pestiferous, the vapours malarious, and

consequently everybody is ill. There is not even the advantage of a

good harbour to offset these inconveniences, for the distance from the

village to the entrance of the gulf is three leagues, and the road

leading thither is difficult and even painful when it is a question of

bringing provisions from the sea.

But let us pass to other details. Hardly had the Spaniards landed when

divers adventures overtook them. An excellent doctor of Seville, whom

the authority of the bishop[4] and likewise his desire to obtain gold

prevented from peacefully ending his days in his native country, was

surprised by a thunderbolt when sleeping quietly with his wife. The

house with all its furniture was burnt and the bewildered doctor and

his wife barely escaped, almost naked and half roasted. Once when

a dog eight months old was wandering on the shore, a big crocodile

snapped him up, like a hawk seizing a chicken as its prey; he

swallowed this miserable dog under the very eyes of all the Spaniards,

while the unfortunate animal yelped to his master for help. During the

night the men were tortured by bats, which bit them; and if one of

these animals bit a man while he was asleep, he lost his blood, and

was in danger of losing his life. It is even claimed that some people

did die on account of these wounds. If these bats find a cock or a hen

at night in the open air, they strike them on their combs and kill

them. The country is infested by crocodiles, lions, and tigers, but

measures have already been taken to kill a large number of them. It is

reported that the skins of lions and tigers killed by the natives are

found in their cabins. Horses, pigs, and oxen grow rapidly, and become

larger than their sires. This development is due to the fertility of

the soil. The reports concerning the size of trees, different products

of the earth, vegetables, and plants we have acclimatised, the deer,

savage quadrupeds, and the different varieties of fish and birds, are

in accordance with my previous descriptions.

[Note 4: Referring doubtless to Juan de Fonseca bishop of Burgos.]

The cacique Careta, ruler of Coiba, was the Spaniards' guest for three

days. He admired the musical instruments, the trappings of the horses,

and all the things he had never known. He was dismissed with handsome

presents. Careta informed the Spaniards that there grew in his

province a tree, of which the wood was suitable for the construction

of ships, since it was never attacked by marine worms. It is known

that the ships suffered greatly from these pests in the ports of the

New World. This particular wood is so bitter that the worms do not

even attempt to gnaw into it. There is another tree peculiar to this

country whose leaves produce swellings if they touch the naked skin,

and unless sea-water or the saliva of a man who is fasting be not at

once applied, these blisters produce painful death. This tree also

grows in Hispaniola. It is claimed that to smell its wood is fatal,

and it cannot be transported anywhere without risk of death. When

the islanders of Hispaniola sought in vain to shake off the yoke of

servitude, either by open resistance or secret plots, they tried

to smother the Spaniards in their sleep by the smoke of this wood.

Astonished at seeing the wood scattered about them, the Spaniards

forced the wretched natives to confess their plot and punished the

authors of it. The natives likewise are acquainted with a plant whose

smell fortifies them, and serves as remedy against the odour of

this tree, making it possible for them to handle the wood. These

particulars are futile; and this enough on this subject.

The Spaniards hoped to find still greater riches in the islands of the

South Sea. When the courier who brought this news started, Pedro Arias

was preparing an expedition[5] to an island lying in the midst of the

gulf the Spaniards have named San Miguel, and which Vasco did not

touch, owing to a rough sea. I have already spoken at length of it in

describing the expedition of Vasco to the South Sea. We daily expect

to hear of fresh exploits excelling the former ones, for a number of

other provinces have been conquered, and we sincerely hope that they

will not prove useless nor devoid of claims to our admiration.

[Note 5: This expedition under the command of Gaspar Morales was

unsuccessful.]

Juan Diaz Solis de Nebrissa, whom we have already mentioned, has been

sent to double Cape San Augustin, which belongs to the Portuguese, and

lies seven degrees below the equinoctial line. He should go towards

the south, below Paria, Cumana, Coquibacoa, and the harbours of

Carthagena, and Santa Marta, in order that our knowledge of the

continent may be more precise and extensive. Another commander, Juan

Pons, has been sent with three ships to ravage the islands of the

Caribs and reduce to slavery these filthy islanders, who feed on

men. The other islands in the neighbourhood, which are inhabited by

mild-mannered people, will thus be delivered from this pest and may be

explored, and the character of their products discovered.