_Life at Darien._
Reinforcements from Spain.--Aid sent to Borrica.--Line of Defense
Chosen by the Natives.--Religion of the Buccaneers.--The Battle
and the Rout.--Strategy of racca.--Cruelty of Don Pedro.--The
Retreat.--Character of Uracca.--Embarrassment of Don
Pedro.--Warning of M. Codro.--Expedition of Pizarro.--Mission
of M. Codro.--Letter of De Soto to Isabella.
While governor Don Pedro was awaiting with intense anxiety the receipt
of intelligence from Borrica, a ship arrived from Spain bringing three
or four hundred adventurers, all of whom were eager for any military
expedition which would open to them an opportunity for plunder. One
hundred and fifty of these were regular soldiers, well taught in the
dreadful trade of war. Don Pedro took these fresh troops and one
hundred and fifty volunteers; and set out with the utmost expedition
for Borrica. His impetuous nature was inspired with zeal to retrieve
the disgrace which had befallen the Spanish arms. He took with him
several pieces of ordnance,--guns with which the Indians thus far had
no acquaintance.
Upon arriving at Borrica he very earnestly harangued his troops,
reminding them of the ancient renown of the Spanish soldiers, and
stimulating their cupidity by the assurance that the kingdom of
Veragua, over which Uracca reigned, was full of gold; and that all
that was now requisite for the conquest of the country and the
accumulation of princely wealth, was a display of the bravery ever
characteristic of Spanish troops.
There was a deep and rapid river, the Arva, rushing down from the
mountains, which it was necessary for the Spaniards to cross in their
renewed invasion of Veragua. On the northern banks of this stream
Uracca stationed his troops, selecting this spot with much skill as
his main line of defence. He however posted an advanced guard some
miles south of the stream in ground broken by hills, rocks and
ravines, through which the Spaniards would be compelled to pass, and
where their cavalry could be of very little avail.
By great effort Don Pedro had collected an army of about five hundred
men. Rapidly marching, he soon reached the spot of broken ground where
the native troops were stationed awaiting their approach.
It seems almost incomprehensible that this band of thieves and
murderers, who, without the slightest excuse or provocation, were
invading the territory of the peaceful natives, carrying to their
homes death and woe, that they might acquire fame for military
exploits and return laden with plunder, could have looked to God for
his blessing upon their infamous expedition. But so it was. And still
more strange to say, they did not apparently engage in these religious
services with any consciousness of hypocrisy. The thoughtful mind is
bewildered in contemplating such developments of the human heart.
Previous to the attack the whole army was drawn up for prayers, which
were solemnly offered by the ecclesiastics who always accompanied
these expeditions. Then every soldier attended the confessional and
received absolution. Thus he felt assured that, should he fall in the
battle, he would be immediately translated to the realms of the blest.
Thus inspired by military zeal and religious fanaticism, the Spaniards
rushed upon the natives in a very impetuous assault. We are happy to
record that the natives stood nobly on the defence. They met their
assailants with such a shower of arrows and javelins that the
Spaniards were first arrested in their march, then driven back, then
utterly routed and put to flight. In that broken ground where the
cavalry could not be brought into action, where every native warrior
stood behind a tree or a rock, and where the natives did not commence
the action till the Spaniards were within half bow shot of them,
arrows and javelins were even more potent weapons of war than the
clumsy muskets then in use.
Upon the open field the arrows of the natives were quite impotent. A
bullet could strike the heart at twice or three times the distance at
which an arrow could be thrown. The Spaniards, hotly pursued,
retreated from this broken ground several miles back into the open
plain. Many were slain. Here the rout was arrested by the cavalry and
the discharges from the field-pieces, which broke the Indian ranks.
The natives, however, boldly held their ground, and the Spaniards,
disheartened and mortified by their discomfiture, encamped upon the
plain. It was very evident that God had not listened to their prayers.
For several days they remained in a state of uncertainty. For five
hundred Spaniards to retreat before eight hundred natives, would
inflict a stigma upon their army which could never be effaced. They
dared not again attack the natives who were flushed with victory in
their stronghold. They were well aware that the band of warriors
before them was but the advanced guard of the great army of Uracca.
These eight hundred natives were led by one of Uracca's brothers. Even
should these Indians be attacked and repulsed, they had only to
retreat a few miles, cross the river Arva in their canoes, and on the
northern banks join the formidable army of twenty thousand men under
their redoubtable chief, who had already displayed military abilities
which compelled the Spaniards to regard him with dread.
Affairs were in this position when Uracca adopted a stratagem which
completely deceived the Spaniards and inflicted upon them very serious
loss. He caused several of his warriors to be taken captive. When
closely questioned by Don Pedro where gold was to be found, and
threatened with torture if they refused the information, they with
great apparent reluctance directed their captors to a spot, at the
distance of but a few leagues, where the precious metal could be
obtained in great abundance. These unlettered savages executed their
artifice with skill which would have done honor even to European
diplomatists.
Don Pedro immediately selected a company of forty of his most reliable
men and sent them to the designated spot. Here they were surrounded by
Indian warriors in ambush, and the whole party, with the exception of
three, put to death. The three who escaped succeeded in reaching the
Spanish camp with tidings of the disaster. Don Pedro in his rage
ordered his captives to be torn to pieces, by the bloodhounds. They
were thrown naked to the dogs. The Spaniards looked on complacently,
as the merciless beasts, with bloody fangs, tore them limb from limb,
devouring their quivering flesh. The natives bore this awful
punishment with fortitude and heroism, which elicited the admiration
of their foes. With their last breath they exulted that they were
permitted to die in defence of their country.
The expedition of Don Pedro had thus far proved an utter failure. He
had already lost one-fourth of his army through the prowess of the
natives. The prospect before him was dark in the extreme. His troops
were thoroughly discouraged, and the difficulties still to be
encountered seemed absolutely insurmountable. Humiliated as never
before, the proud Don Pedro was compelled to order a retreat. He
returned to Panama, where, as we have mentioned, he had removed his
seat of government from Darien. Panama was north of Darien, or rather
west, as the isthmus there runs east and west. Its seaport was on the
Pacific, not the Atlantic coast.
Uracca, having thus rescued his country from the invaders, did not
pursue the retreating Spaniards. He probably in this course acted
wisely. Could Don Pedro have drawn his enemies into the open field, he
could undoubtedly have cut down nearly their whole army with grape
shot, musketry, and charges by his strongly mounted steel-clad
cavaliers. A panic had however pervaded the Spanish camp. They were in
constant apprehension of pursuit. Even when they had reached Panama,
they were day after day in intense apprehension of the approach of
their outnumbering foes, by whose valor they had already been
discomfited, and so greatly disgraced.
"When the Spaniards looked out towards the mountains and the
plains," writes the Spanish historian Herrera, "the boughs of
trees and the very grass, which grew high in the savannas,
appeared to their excited imagination to be armed with
Indians. And when they turned their eyes towards the sea,
they fancied that it was covered with canoes of their
exasperated foemen."
Uracca must have been in all respects an extraordinary man. We have
the record of his deeds only from the pen of his enemies. And yet
according to their testimony, he, a pagan, manifested far more of the
spirit of Christ than did his Christian opponents. In the war which he
was then waging, there can be no question whatever that the wrong was
inexcusably and outrageously on the side of Don Pedro. We cannot learn
that Uracca engaged in any aggressive movements against the Spaniards
whatever. He remained content with expelling the merciless intruders
from his country. Even the fiendlike barbarism of the Spaniards could
not provoke him to retaliatory cruelty. The brutal soldiery of Spain
paid no respect whatever to the wives and daughters of the natives,
even to those of the highest chieftains.
On one occasion a Spanish lady, Donna Clara Albitez, fell into the
hands of Uracca. He treated her with as much delicacy and tenderness
as if she had been his own daughter or mother, and availed himself of
the first opportunity of restoring her to her friends.
Though De Soto was one of the bravest of his cavaliers, and was so
skilful as an officer that his services were almost indispensable to
Don Pedro, yet the governor was anxious to get rid of him. It is
probable that he felt somewhat condemned by the undeniable virtues of
De Soto; for the most of men can feel the power of high moral
principle as witnessed in others. De Soto, intensely proud, was not at
all disposed to play the sycophant before his patron. He had already
exasperated him by his refusal to execute orders which he deemed
dishonorable. And worst of all, by winning the love of Isabella, he
had thwarted one of the most ambitious of Don Pedro's plans; he having
contemplated her alliance with one of the most illustrious families of
the Spanish nobility.
Don Pedro did not dare to send De Soto to the scaffold or to order him
to be shot. He had already braved public opinion by the outrageous
execution of Vasco Nunez, without a shadow of law or justice, and had
drawn down upon himself an avalanche of condemnation from the highest
dignitaries of both church and state. He was trembling through fear
that the Spanish government might call him to account for this
tyrannic act. Thus situated, it was highly impolitic to send De Soto,
who was greatly revered and admired by the army, to the block. He
therefore still sought, though with somewhat waning zeal, to secure
the death of De Soto on the field of battle. De Soto could not fail to
perceive that Don Pedro was not his friend. Still, being a magnanimous
man himself, he could not suspect the governor of being guilty of such
treachery as to be plotting his death.
When the little army of Spaniards was beleaguered at Borrica, and De
Soto with his cavalry was scouring the adjacent country on foraging
expeditions, he chanced to rescue from captivity M. Codro, an Italian
philosopher, who had accompanied the Spaniards to Darien. In the
pursuit of science, he had joined the forty men who, under the command
of Herman Ponce, had been sent as a reinforcement to Borrica. While at
some distance from the camp on a botanical excursion, he was taken
captive by the natives, and would have been put to death but for the
timely rescue by De Soto.
M. Codro was an astrologer. In that superstitious age he was supposed
by others, and probably himself supposed, that by certain occult arts
he was able to predict future events. Six months after the return of
the Spaniards from their disastrous expedition against Uracca, this
singular man sought an interview with De Soto, and said to him:
"A good action deserves better reward than verbal acknowledgment.
While it was not in my power to make any suitable recompense to you
for saving my life, I did not attempt to offer you any. But the time
has now come when I can give you some substantial evidence of my
gratitude. I can now inform you that your life is now in no less
danger than mine was when you rescued me from the Indians."
De Soto replied: "My good friend, though I do not profess to be a
thorough believer in your prophetic art, I am no less thankful for
your kind intentions. And in this case, I am free to confess that your
information, from whatever source derived, is confirmed in a measure
by my own observations."
"Ferdinand De Soto," said the astrologer with great deliberation and
solemnity of manner, "I think I can read the page of _your_ destiny,
even without such light as the stars can shed upon it. Be assured that
the warning I give you does not come from an unearthly source. But if
any supernatural confirmation of my words were needed, even on that
score you might be satisfied. While comparing your horoscope with that
of my departed friend Vasco Nunez, I have observed some resemblances
in your lives and fortunes, which you, with all your incredulity, must
allow to be remarkable. Nunez and you were both born in the same town;
were both members of noble but impoverished families; both sought to
ally yourselves with the family of Don Pedro, and both thus incurred
his deadly resentment."
"These coincidences are certainly remarkable," replied De Soto; "but
what other similarities do you find in the destinies of Nunez and
myself?"
"You are a brave man," replied M. Codro, "and you are too skeptical to
be much disturbed by the prognostications of evil. I may therefore
venture to tell you that according to my calculations, you will be in
one important event of your life more happy than Vasco Nunez. It seems
to be indicated by the superior intelligences, that your death will
not be in the ordinary course of nature; but I find likewise that the
term of your life will be equal to that which Nunez attained. When I
consider your present circumstances, this appears to me to be the most
improbable part of the prediction."
Nunez was forty-two years old at the time of his death. This gave De
Soto the promise of nearly twenty years more of life. Reverently he
replied, "I am in the hands of God. I rely with humble confidence on
his protection."
"In that you do well," rejoined M. Codro. "Still it is your duty to
use such human means as may be required to defend yourself against
open violence or fraudful malice."
De Soto thanked the astrologer for the caution he had given him, and
as he reflected upon it, saw that it was indeed necessary to be
constantly on his guard. As time passed on Don Pedro became more
undisguised in his hostility to De Soto. Ferdinand and Isabella
exerted all their ingenuity to correspond with each other. Don Pedro
had been equally vigilant in his endeavors to intercept their letters;
and so effectual were the plans which he adopted, that for five years,
while the lovers remained perfectly faithful to each other, not a
token of remembrance passed between them.
These were weary years to De Soto. He was bitterly disappointed in all
his expectations. There was no glory to be obtained even in victory,
in riding rough-shod over the poor natives. And thus far, instead of
victory attending the Spanish arms, defeat and disgrace had been their
doom. Moreover, he was astonished and heartily ashamed when he saw the
measures which his countrymen had adopted to enrich themselves. They
were highway robbers of the most malignant type. They not only
slaughtered the victims whom they robbed, but fired their dwellings,
trampled down their harvests and massacred their wives and children.
The most extravagant tales had been circulated through Europe
respecting the wealth of the New World. It was said that masses of
pure gold could be gathered like pebble stones from the banks of the
rivers, and that gems of priceless value were to be found in the
ravines. De Soto had been now five years on the isthmus of Darien, and
had acquired neither fame nor fortune, and there was nothing in the
prospect of the future to excite enthusiasm or even hope.
There was quite a remarkable man, made so by subsequent events, under
the command of Don Pedro. His name was Francisco Pizarro. He was a man
of obscure birth and of very limited education, save only in the
material art of war. He could neither read nor write, and was thus
intellectually hardly the equal of some of the most intelligent of the
natives. We have briefly alluded to him as entrusted with the command
of one portion of the army in the inglorious expedition against
Uracca. De Soto had very little respect for the man, and was not at
all disposed as a subordinate officer to look to him for counsel. Don
Pedro, however, seems to have formed a high opinion of the military
abilities of Pizarro. For notwithstanding his ignominious defeat and
retreat from Veragua, he now appointed him as the leader of an
expedition, consisting of one hundred and thirty men, to explore the
western coast of the isthmus by cruising along the Pacific Ocean.
Pizarro set sail from Panama on the fourteenth of November, 1524, in
one small vessel. It was intended that another vessel should soon
follow to render such assistance as might be necessary. De Soto was
urged to become one of this party; but probably from dislike of
Pizarro, refused to place himself under his command.
The vessel, which was soon joined by its consort under Almagro,
coasted slowly along in a northerly direction, running in at every
bay, and landing whenever they approached a flourishing Indian
village, plundering the natives and maltreating them in every shameful
way. At length they aroused such a spirit of desperation on the part
of the natives, that they fell upon the buccaneers with resistless
ferocity. Two-thirds of the miscreants were slain. Pizarro barely
escaped with his life, having received severe wounds and being borne
to his ship in a state of insensibility.
While Pizarro was absent on this ill-fated expedition, a new trouble
befell Don Pedro. Las Casas, a devoted Christian missionary, whose
indignation was roused to the highest pitch by the atrocities
perpetrated upon the Indians, reported the inhuman conduct of Don
Pedro to the Spanish government. The King appointed Peter de Los Rios
to succeed him. The new governor was to proceed immediately to Panama
and bring the degraded official to trial, and, if found guilty, to
punishment. The governor of a Spanish colony in those days was
absolute. Don Pedro had cut off the head of his predecessor, though
that predecessor was one of the best of men. He now trembled in
apprehension of the loss of his own head. Conscious of his deserts, he
was terror-stricken.
About four or five hundred miles north of Panama there was the
magnificent province of Nicaragua. The isthmus is here about one
hundred and fifty miles in breadth, and the province being about two
hundred miles in a line from north to south, extended from the
Atlantic to the Pacific shores. Don Pedro was popular with his brutal
soldiery, since he allowed them unlimited license and plunder. He
resolved, surrounded by them, to take refuge in Nicaragua.
Nevertheless, to render himself as secure as possible, he decided to
send an agent to plead his cause at the Spanish court.
Among those rude, unprincipled adventurers, men of violence and blood,
it was very difficult to find a suitable person. At length he fixed
with much hesitation upon M. Codro, the astrologer. He was a
simple-minded, good man; learned, though very artless. M. Codro was
strongly attached to De Soto, the preserver of his life. As we have
seen, he was well aware of the peril to which his benefactor was
hourly exposed from the malignity of the governor. Gladly therefore he
accepted the mission, as he hoped it would afford him an opportunity
of conferring some favor upon his imperilled friend.
Don Pedro had adopted the most rigorous measures to prevent any
communication between the colony and Spain, which was not subjected to
his inspection. He was mainly influenced to this course that he might
prevent the interchange of any messages whatever between De Soto and
Isabella. The most severe penalties were denounced against all persons
who should convey any writing across the seas, excepting through the
regular mails. But the grateful M. Codro declared himself ready to run
all risks in carrying a letter from De Soto to Isabella. Though De
Soto at first hesitated to expose his friend to such hazard, his
intense desire to open some communication with Isabella, at length
induced him to accept the generous offer.
As we have mentioned, for five years not one word had passed between
the lovers. It is said that the following is a literal translation of
the letter which De Soto wrote. We cannot be certain of its
authenticity, but it bears internal evidence of genuineness, and a
manuscript copy is in the library of a Spanish gentleman who has spent
his life in collecting documents in reference to the past history of
his country:
"MOST DEARLY BELOVED ISABELLA:
"For the first time within five years, I write to you with
some assurance that you will receive my letter. Many times
have I written before; but how could I write freely when I
had reason to fear that other eyes might peruse those fond
expressions which your goodness and condescension alone
could pardon? But what reason have I to hope that you can
still look with favorable regard on my unworthiness? My
mature judgment teaches me that this dream of my youth,
which I have so long cherished, is not presumption merely,
but madness.
"When I consider your many perfections, and compare them
with my own little deserving, I feel that I ought to
despair, even if I could empty into your lap the treasure of
a thousand kingdoms. How then can I lift my eyes to you when
I have nothing to offer but the tribute of an affection
which time cannot change, and which must still live when my
last hope has departed.
"O Isabella! the expectation which brought me to this land
has not been fulfilled. I can gather no gold, except by such
means as my honor, my conscience and yourself must condemn.
Though your nobleness may pity one on whom fortune has
disdained to smile, I feel that your relations are justified
in claiming for you an alliance with exalted rank and
affluence; and I love you far too well to regard my own
happiness more than your welfare. If, therefore, in your
extreme youth you have made a promise which you now regret,
as far as it is in my power to absolve you from that
engagement, you are released. On my side, the obligation is
sacred and eternal. It is not likely that I shall ever
return to my country. While I am banished from your
presence, all countries are alike to me.
"The person who brings you this exposes himself to great
danger in his desire to serve me. I entreat you to use such
precautions as his safety may require. If your goodness
should vouchsafe any message to me, he will deliver it, and
you may have perfect confidence in his fidelity. Pardon my
boldness in supposing it possible that I still have a place
in your remembrance. Though you may now think of me with
indifference or dislike, do not censure me too severely for
calling myself unchangeably and devotedly, Yours, DE SOTO."