MOSQUITIA, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA
1701-1800.
THE SAMBOS OF MOSQUITIA—THEIR TERRITORY—A MOSQUITO CHIEFTAIN
CROWNED KING—TREATIES BETWEEN SPAIN AND ENGLAND—THE BRITISH
OCCUPY MOSQUITIA—GALVEZ CAPTURES AN ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
ON THE BLACK RIVER—AN ARMAMENT DESPATCHED FROM JAMAICA
TO MOSQUITIA—SURRENDER OF THE SPANIARDS—COLONISTS ORDERED
TO LEAVE THE COAST—THE GOVERNORS OF NICARAGUA—THE BRITISH
DEFEATED AT FORT SAN CÁRLOS—THEY CAPTURE FORT SAN JUAN—BUT ARE
COMPELLED TO RETREAT—CHURCH MATTERS—MISSIONARY EXPEDITIONS TO
TALAMANCA—AFFAIRS IN COSTA RICA.
[Sidenote: GENERAL DESCRIPTION.]
On the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Honduras there lived in the
seventeenth century a people known among themselves as Misskitos,
and called by the Spaniard Mosquitos, or more frequently sambos, the
offspring probably of cimarrones and native women. They were ruled by
an hereditary king, whose territory, when buccaneers first visited his
domain, was of very limited extent, though the Mosquito language, which
was identical with the one spoken by those of similar origin in the West
Indies, spread in after years from Cape Honduras to the Desaguadero,
and as far inland as Black River. They were a warlike race, and, as
we shall see, could hold their own against the Spaniards. Their chief
weapons were the bow and arrow, in the use of which it is said that
the women were as expert as the men. The bow was of ironwood, often six
feet in length, and strung with twisted bark. The arrow was of wood or
reed, hardened in the fire, and tipped with fish-bone, flint, or teeth,
poisoned in the juice of the manzanilla tree. They fought also with
lances of cane, nine feet in length, and with javelins, clubs, and heavy
sharp-pointed swords made of a poisonous wood. Their defensive armor was
of plated reeds covered with tiger-skins and bedecked with feathers.
Toward the close of the century the Mosquitos could put more than
forty thousand warriors into the field; they selected as leader on each
expedition the bravest and most experienced of their number.[XXXII‑1]
"The inner parts of the Mosqueto country are very barren," states an
Englishman who was in those parts near the close of the seventeenth
century and wrote his description about 1699, "but in the woods near the
river sides, and by the great lagunes, are many sorts of fruits, wild
beasts, and fowls, in plenty.... Plantains, and bananas, ... they have
plentifully, in small plantations, in obscure parts of the woods, near
the river sides.... Pine apples too ... they have enough of, and mammo,
which last is a very sweet fruit ... and grows on middling low trees
like apples. Saffadilla trees, which bear berries as big as sloes, of a
yellowish colour, which are very pleasant to the taste and wholesome,
of extraordinary virtue, ... are very frequent in their woods; as are
likewise a sort of a pleasing plum tree, which grows very large, and
is of a most delicious odour.... Great Indian wheat, or mais, they
plant a little of to make drink with; and likewise some cocoa trees,
... but their laziness will not permit them to plant much of the last,
because they can steal it ready gathered from the Spaniards, who have
large plantations thereof at Carpenters river, not many leagues from
them. Sugar-canes I have seen growing in old king Jeremy's plantation,
much larger than I ever saw in Jamaica, but the Indians not knowing
how to make sugar or rum, neglect them.... Pappaw trees which bear a
sweet fruit, almost like a musk-melon in shape and taste ... are very
plentiful. Cocoa-nut trees, cocoa-plums, and large grapes, growing on
great trees, with large stones in them ... grow up and down near the
water-sides. Monelo trees, whose fruit hangs down like french-beans,
and are a very rich perfume when dried, and the best for chocolate,
grow very plentiful on the banks of Black River, in this country. All
the flesh that these people eat ... they get by hunting.... They have
a small sort of fallow deer, like our English, with shorter horns,
which haunt the inner sides of the woods, close to the Savanna.... The
mountain cow, which the natives call Tilbu, is of the bigness of an
English calf of a year old, having a snout like an elephant and not
horned; they hide all day in muddy plashes, to escape the tigers, and
in the night swim across the river to get food.... Warree and pickaree
abound in great herds, and are two sorts of Indian wild hogs, having
both their navels on their backs.[XXXII‑2] ... Some parts of this
country are pretty well stocked with fowls.... A pretty large sort of
fowl haunt their plantain walks, which the natives call quawmoes and
the English corasaoes; they are a small sort of Indian turkey.... Wood
pigeons ... and a sort of fat doves creeping commonly on the ground,
are plentiful enough.... The woods are stocked with a variety of other
fowls, most curiously painted, which are good for food.... In the
fresh water rivers they have a sort of tortoise, called cushwaw, ...
and on the coast abundance of large sea-tortoises.... They have great
shoals of mullets, silver-fish, cat-fish, cavallies, sharks, nurses,
snappers, growpers, some seal, stingrays, whiprays, and sea-devils....
Their best fish is the manatee, or sea-cow ... they are sometimes
found straggling in the lagunes ... but are not suffered to increase,
thro' the greediness of the Indian, who spares no pains when he hath a
prospect of getting any."[XXXII‑3] Here, then, was a territory rich in
natural resources, which, though discovered by Columbus in 1502, was
left undisturbed by the Spaniards for some two centuries, the reason
being chiefly that no gold was discovered there. The western or North
American division of the coast of Central America, from Cape Gracias
á Dios to the gulf of Urabá, was granted as we have seen to Diego
de Nicuesa, whose disastrous expedition to Veragua has already been
presented.[XXXII‑4] In 1576 the coast of Mosquitia was conveyed by royal
cédula to the licentiate Diego García de Palacios, Captain Diego Lopez
being appointed by the licentiate governor and captain-general of the
province, and undertaking to attempt the conquest of the territory at
his own risk.[XXXII‑5] But it does not appear that the captain took
any action in the matter, and the natives, cimarrones and Mosquitos,
were left undisturbed until the arrival of the buccaneers, who found in
the intricate bays and winding rivers of Mosquitia, many places well
adapted for the concealment of their light swift-sailing craft. The
head-quarters of the freebooters were at Cape Gracias á Dios. Here they
met to divide their booty and decide upon new expeditions; and, whenever
opportunity offered, they darted thence like hawks upon the galleons
that were freighted with the riches of Peru.
[Sidenote: GREAT BRITAIN.]
English settlements with which it was pretended that the buccaneers had
no connection were established in this territory before 1670, and by the
treaty of Madrid, signed at that date, the rights of Great Britain were
recognized. The seventh article of this treaty stipulated that "the King
of Great Britain his heirs and successors shall hold, and possess for
ever, with full right of sovereign dominion, property and possession all
lands, countries, islands, colonies and dominions whatever, situated in
the West Indies, or in any part of America which the said King of Great
Britain and his subjects do at this present hold and possess." In the
same year an alliance, offensive and defensive, was made between Great
Britain and Mosquitia.[XXXII‑6]
In 1687 one of the Mosquito chieftains was sent to Jamaica in order to
place his native land under British protection. "But," says Sir Hans
Sloane, "he escaped from his keepers, pulled off the clothes his friends
had put on him, and climbed to the top of a tree." He was presently
induced by promise of kind treatment to descend, whereupon he received a
cocked hat and a piece of writing under the seal of the governor dubbing
him king of Mosquitia.
In truth the action of the British government at this time admits
of little excuse so far as it concerns the Spanish possessions in
the Indies. The governors of Jamaica connived at the raids of the
buccaneers, and as we have seen, Sir Henry Morgan, the titled buccaneer,
held high office in that island; although when he became rich by
swindling his fellow-cut-throats, he punished those who did not bribe
him with a share of their spoils. The governors were frequently changed
in order that Great Britain might remain on friendly terms with Spain,
but this measure did not prevent the outrages which have been described
in previous chapters.
After the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick in 1697 we hear no more
of piratical raids, and in that year the island of San Cristóbal was
restored to Spain. Treaties were signed between Great Britain and Spain
in 1713, 1715, and 1721, in the last of which it was stipulated that
commerce and navigation should be left free to the Spaniards in the West
Indies, and that the limits of New World possessions should remain as
they were in the days of Cárlos II. of Spain.
In 1720 a treaty was concluded between Sir Nicholas Lawes, then governor
of Jamaica, and Jeremy, then king of the sambos, whereby the latter
agreed to assist the English planters in capturing runaway slaves, the
Mosquitos being provided with boats, arms, and ammunition, and receiving
pay for their services.[XXXII‑7] But the natives thus armed and equipped
took advantage of their opportunity to make raids on the neighboring
Spanish settlements.
[Sidenote: AN ALCALDE MAYOR'S REPORT.]
The archives of Guatemala contain the report of an alcalde mayor of
Tegucigalpa, then resident in that province, and made by order of
the president in obedience to a royal cédula previously issued. "The
sambos," says the alcalde, "have plenty of vessels, provisions, arms,
and ammunition, for they are supplied by the English of Jamaica,
who egg them on to hostilities against the Spaniards. Their country
is also a place of refuge for the mulattoes, negroes, and other
evil-doers who flee from justice in the Spanish settlements, and
who give them information of the Spanish plans, as well as join them
in the execution of their own. They have had the effrontery to call
their chief 'Jeremías, Rey del Mosquito.' This man gives letters of
marque to his so-called vassals, who ravage the coast from Belize to
Portobello, keeping the subjects of Spain, who traffic in those seas,
in constant alarm—some of whom have lost their lives, others their
liberty, and others their property. These people inhabit the region
from the jurisdiction of Comayagua to that of Costa Rica, always near
the coast. Between them and the Spanish settlements is a cordillera,
for which reasons they make their incursions by ascending the rivers.
Their country has a width of some six leagues between the mountains
and the sea, the half nearest the sea being where they have their
cultivated lands and their cattle, the other portion being useless. They
live in rancherías, or in scattered houses—even in the rancherías the
houses never being one near the other—so that if one house be attacked,
the people of the others may have time for defence or flight. Their
principal settlement is about the centre of this coast line. It is in a
lagoon, and here dwell their so-called king and his principal men. The
settlement is surrounded by a wall, a moat, broad and deep, and covered
in such a way that the apparently solid earth gives way under the tread
of the unwary stranger seeking to enter the town. There are but two
entrances into the town, and these are known only to these people, to
Spaniards who have been prisoners, and to the refugees."[XXXII‑8]
In this report further depredations of the natives are mentioned;
and it is recommended that expeditions be sent against them by land
and sea to exterminate the guilty persons. In 1740, England and Spain
being then at war, the governor of Jamaica, in a letter to the duke of
Newcastle, states that there were then about a hundred English in the
territory and suggests that they might be used to incite the sambos
to a general uprising against the Spaniards. Colonel Robert Hodgson
was sent to that coast during the same year on a special mission, and
winning over the sambo king and the leading men obtained from them a
cession of their territory and hoisted the English flag on the shore
of Mosquitia; but the failure of Anson's and Vernon's expeditions,
which have already been described, and the refractory spirit of most
of the natives prevented any invasion of the Spanish provinces. In 1744
Hodgson was appointed superintendent of the Mosquito shore, subject to
the governor of Jamaica, and troops were forwarded, forts were erected
and mounted with ordnance, the British thus taking possession of the
country. The Spaniards never ceased their remonstrances against these
encroachments, and in 1750 threatened to expel the intruders by force.
Hodgson was then instructed to represent that his presence was merely
for the purpose of restraining the natives from committing depredations
on Spanish settlements. This explanation was accepted at the time,
through motives of policy, but still the depredations continued, and
the disputes arising in connection with England's policy in this matter
helped to bring about the rupture ended by the treaty of Paris in 1763,
wherein it was stipulated that Great Britain should destroy all forts
that she had caused to be erected in the Spanish provinces, including
the Mosquito Coast.
When England withdrew from the military occupation of Mosquitia most
of the settlers still remained; and believing that Great Britain
would ere long establish a provisional government on the coast, some
of them purchased lands from the natives suitable for the cultivation
of sugar-cane, cotton, and cacao. In 1771 eight persons joined in the
purchase of a large tract on the Polloy River, said to contain gold,
and extending thirty miles on either bank. Two years later a number of
miners were set to work, but through their misconduct, as it is alleged,
the venture met with poor success.
[Illustration: MOSQUITO COAST.]
A new system of administration for the British settlements in Mosquitia
was framed by Lord Dartmouth in 1775, and put in execution by Sir Basil
Keith, then governor of Jamaica.[XXXII‑9] Hodgson was ordered home,
and in 1776 Colonel Lawrie took his place. The new superintendent found
the natives and settlers greatly agitated on account of the seizure by
Spaniards of an English vessel on the Black River,[XXXII‑10] and the
attitude of the latter toward the sambos and their allies. The colonists
were in a dilemma, for the Spaniards hated them, and the English
government gave them little encouragement.[XXXII‑11]
In March 1782 Matías de Galvez, the captain-general of Guatemala, left
Trinidad with a flotilla well manned and equipped, for the avowed
purpose of chastising the men of Mosquitia, and driving the English
from the shore. Galvez had chosen his time well. After the disaster of
1780, which will be described later, the English had left Black River
in a defenceless condition, and in the April following a detachment
from Trujillo had scattered the few remaining colonists, pillaging
and destroying their settlements. Soon afterward Superintendent Lawrie
returned to Black River, with the remnant of the settlers, much reduced
and in precarious health. There were stationed at that point twenty-one
regular soldiers, according to the English official report, besides
settlers, negroes, and several hundred natives. They were ill prepared
for defence, being short of arms and provisions.
The Spanish forces advanced from the southward, with 1,350 foot and 100
horse, and from the westward, with 1,000 men. A line-of-battle ship and
a frigate came to anchor in the river and under a heavy fire landed 500
men. The day after these vessels arrived Captain Douglas, who commanded
the English militia, spiked his guns and while in retreat was captured
by the Spaniards. A council of war was held and it was resolved to
retire to Cape Gracias á Dios, which point the British and their allies
reached in safety, though suffering severely from sickness caused by
want of food and clothing.
Galvez soon afterward returned to Guatemala by way of Trujillo, leaving
garrisons at several points on the river. These soon found themselves
in a critical position on account of the numerous hostile parties
who roamed the neighboring woods to intercept provisions and cut off
foraging parties. By sea the winds and currents rendered supplies
difficult to obtain. Moreover, heavy rains had made the roads almost
impassable. At a council held July 10th it was resolved on abandonment
unless relief came by the last of the month. Before that time arrived,
however, a number of veterans, under one Terry, succeeded in reaching
the Black River. The garrison was further encouraged by the news that
an armed merchant vessel was lying at Trujillo awaiting orders from the
president to operate in their behalf.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ENGLISH NAVAL VICTORY.]
The decisive naval victory of the English over the French in April
enabled the governor and admiral at Jamaica to turn their attention
to the Mosquito shore. A small squadron, with a detachment of troops,
furnished with arms, stores, ammunition, provisions, and presents for
the natives, sailed from Port Royal, and the 17th of August arrived at
Cape Gracias á Dios, the purpose of the expedition being to assist the
settlers and natives in expelling the Spaniards from the neighborhood
of the Black River.[XXXII‑12] Here they found the superintendent at
the head of eight hundred settlers, Mosquitos and negroes, intending to
start in a few days for an attack on the Spaniards.
The armament sailed from the cape on the 26th of August, Colonel Despard
in command, and on the 28th landed at Plantain River, where it was
joined by a number of free men and negroes in that neighborhood, and
by Captain John Campbell, who, with about 150 volunteer negroes, had
attacked and carried Fort Dalling, which was defended by a like number
of Spaniards.
On the 29th the entire body, mustering about a thousand men, advanced
to the bluff at the mouth of the Black River, and the next day encamped
on the banks of the lagoon opposite the enemy. The Spanish commander
then opened conference with Colonel Despard, which resulted in a
capitulation, and his men, though numbering more than seven hundred
regular troops, surrendered as prisoners of war.
In 1783 a treaty was concluded between England and Spain, in which the
former agreed to abandon all settlements on the Spanish continent; but
England would not concede that the Mosquito Coast was included in this
definition.[XXXII‑13] Hence disputes arose; and three years later a
supplementary treaty was negotiated, on the first article of which it
was distinctly stipulated that "His Britannic Majesty's Subjects, and
the other Colonists who have hitherto enjoyed the Protection of England,
shall evacuate the Country of the Mosquitos, as well as the Continent
in general, and the Islands adjacent, without exception, situated beyond
the line hereinafter described, as what ought to be the Frontier of the
extent of territory granted by his Catholic Majesty to the English."
In article II. certain territory in Yucatan is ceded to the British,
of which mention will be made in its place.[XXXII‑14] Positive orders
were soon afterward sent to the settlers to depart from the coast.
Most of them obeyed,[XXXII‑15] though slowly and reluctantly, a few
only remaining at their own risk, and carrying on a trade with Jamaica,
principally in slaves.
After the treaty of 1786 the British government held no further
relations with the natives of the Mosquito Coast until Spain had lost
her possessions in Central America.[XXXII‑16] Meanwhile there were
several attempts by governors of the Spanish provinces to make permanent
establishments in Mosquitia, but without success. In 1796 the sambos
captured their last settlement on Black River, and drove the Spaniards
from their shore.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: GOVERNORS OF NICARAGUA.]
Of affairs in Nicaragua during the eighteenth century little need be
said. The administrations of Pablo de Loyala, the first governor of
whom we have any record[XXXII‑17] during this period, and of Miguel
de Camargo, were uneventful. To Camargo succeeded José Calvo de Lara,
and in 1721 appears the name of Sebastian de Aransivia y Sasi, who was
superseded in the following year by Antonio Poveda, the latter losing
his life during an insurrection of the Indians. In 1728 Tomás Duque de
Estrada was appointed to office, and in 1730 Bartolomé Gonzalez Fitoria.
In 1744 José A. Lacayo de Briones[XXXII‑18] was in power, and in 1757
Melchor Vidal de Lorca y Villena Vivas was acting governor.[XXXII‑19]
In an official report, dated 1759, appears the name of Colonel Pantaleon
Ibañez as ruler.
Among the governors of Nicaragua in this period was Alonso Fernandez de
Heredia, mariscal de campo of the royal army. As to the precise year
authorities differ. Juarros mentions 1760 as the date, while Pelaez
states that a report of the guardian of missionaries alludes to him
as acting in 1747.[XXXII‑20] Domingo Cabello was governor in 1766,
as appears from the audiencia's book of sentences of December in the
following year, and Manuel de Quiroga in 1780.
About this time was an eruption of the volcano Nindiri at no great
distance from El Infierno de Masaya. In 1775, when the outburst
occurred, a torrent of lava rolled into the lake of Masaya, destroying
the fish and heating the lands adjacent so that the cattle perished. A
brigadier of the royal army, named José Estacheria, was made governor
of Nicaragua in 1783, and ruled until 1789, when he departed for
Spain. He was afterward appointed governor of Pamplona, and eventually
president of Guatemala. The last governor to whom reference is made in
the eighteenth century was Juan de Ayza, probably he who defended San
Juan[XXXII‑21] during the attack of the British under Polson and Nelson,
which will be mentioned later.
* * * * *
The Desaguadero had in 1727 twelve military stations along its winding
course of nearly one hundred and twenty leagues. Among these was the
castle of San Juan and Fort San Cárlos, which had been captured and
restored. Fort San Juan was built at a bend of the river, and could
command it from above and below. The hill upon which it stood was steep
and rocky, and it could be approached only on one side by a narrow
tortuous path. Through this port flowed the commerce of Nicaragua with
Europe and the West Indies. It was made a port of entry by royal order
of the king in February 1796, and by a cédula of the month following
regulations were issued for furthering the settlement of the adjacent
country. In 1769 the English, with an armament of two thousand men
and fifty vessels, attempted the capture of Fort San Cárlos, which
they desired as a basis for future operations. Pedro de Herrera, the
governor of the post, lay in the throes of death, and surrender seemed
inevitable. But his daughter, a maiden of sixteen, at once issued orders
from her father's death-chamber for the defence, and then placed herself
at the head of the Spanish troops. Inspired by her fearless mien, the
garrison fought with a courage rarely seen among Spaniards of that day,
and repulsed the assailants with loss, the governor's daughter firing
with her own hand the two last cannon shot at the discomfited British.
A few years later the English government decided on an expedition
against Nicaragua, intending to strike a blow at the power of Spain in
the heart of her possessions, and control the communication between the
two oceans. The plan of operations was finally arranged at Jamaica in
January 1780. It was purposed to capture Fort San Juan, take possession
of the Desaguadero and Lake Nicaragua, occupy the cities of Granada
and Leon, and thus sunder the Spanish provinces of Central America.
Another object in view was the capture and retention of the route for
an interoceanic canal, a project then dear to the heart of the English
nation.
[Illustration: NELSON'S AND POLSON'S EXPEDITION, SAN JUAN.]
[Sidenote: NELSON IN NICARAGUA.]
The British force consisted of at least eighteen hundred men,[XXXII‑22]
including three regiments of the line and a party of marines, the latter
being under command of Horatio Nelson, then a post captain of about
twenty-three years, but one who had already given proof of the qualities
which afterward raised him to the foremost rank among naval commanders.
The English proceeded up the Desaguadero in boats, encountering many
difficulties. On a small island named San Bartolomé,[XXXII‑23] in a
portion of the stream where the current was swift and shoal, a small
garrison had been stationed and earthworks erected, mounted with a
few swivel-guns. On approaching this spot Nelson leaped from his boat,
followed by a few of his men, and though sinking ankle-deep in the mud
and exposed to a hot fire, captured, or, as he expresses it, 'boarded'
the island. Here the English remained for a brief rest, and the future
hero of Trafalgar narrowly escaped being bitten by a poisonous snake,
and afterward suffered severely from drinking the water of a spring into
which poisonous leaves had been thrown. The English were now joined by
'George King,' a Mosquito chieftain, and a large number of his subjects,
together with several English smugglers.[XXXII‑24] The Mosquitos proved
invaluable allies indeed, and but for their bravery and fidelity it is
probable the British would have perished to a man.
[Sidenote: ILL-SUCCESS OF THE ENGLISH.]
Two days after the capture of San Bartolomé the expedition arrived
before Fort San Juan. Nelson advised an immediate assault, believing
it could be carried, but his senior officer, Major John Polson,
decided otherwise. Next day the English secured a hill in rear of the
fort, threw up batteries, and began the siege. Nelson was now seized
with a violent attack of dysentery, and was compelled to return to
Jamaica,[XXXII‑25] where he arrived in such weak condition that he was
carried on shore, life being saved only through skilful nursing.
After a siege of ten days the fort was surrendered, the garrison being
allowed their liberty and permitted to march out with the honors of
war, and vessels being furnished to convey them to any port of Spanish
America that might be agreed upon. The situation of the English was
now very critical, and they found it impossible to proceed farther. The
rainy season had begun and brought with it malaria and deadly fevers.
Their force was soon decimated and their condition was distressing and
helpless in the extreme. There were not strong men enough left to build
a hospital. It became impossible even to bury the dead with decency,
and many were dropped in the river and devoured by carrion birds. Longer
stay became impossible, and a retreat was ordered of all the men engaged
in this expedition. Exclusive of the Mosquito contingent, only three
hundred and eighty survived; and of Nelson's crew of two hundred, only
ten lived to return.[XXXII‑26] Thus ended the first attempt of the
British to gain a foothold in Nicaragua, and to obtain possession of
the route for an interoceanic canal.[XXXII‑27]
* * * * *
During the eighteenth century fifteen prelates are recorded as having
occupied the bishopric of Nicaragua. Diego Morcillo was the first; he
took possession in 1704, and in 1709 was promoted to La Paz.[XXXII‑28]
Bishop Benito Garret took charge of the diocese in 1711. He became
involved in a turbulent controversy with the audiencia of Guatemala,
and was dismissed from office on the 4th of July 1716. On his way to
Spain he was ill at Pedro Ursula, and died the 7th of October. In 1718
Andrés Quiles Galindo, a graduate and afterward a professor in the
university of Mexico, was on the eve of departure for Europe, as _pro
ministro provincial_, when he received his nomination to the bishopric
of Nicaragua. He did not live to reach the diocese.[XXXII‑29] A native
of Leon de Nicaragua, José Giron de Alvarado, was consecrated bishop of
this see and assumed the administration of its duties in 1721, but died
within the same year, his successor being Dionisio de Villavicencio,
whose decease occurred in 1735. In the following year Domingo Antonio
de Zataram, precentor of Pueblo de los Angeles, was chosen bishop of
Nicaragua, and was consecrated in Guatemala the 5th of October 1738.
Isidro Marin Ballon y Figueroa, an honorary chaplain of the king and
rector of the college of the order of Alcántara at Salamanca, was
elected bishop in 1743 and died in 1749. In the year of his election was
finished the great cathedral of Leon, which had occupied thirty-seven
years in its construction, and cost five millions of pesos. On the
decease of Ballon, Pedro Agustin Morel de Santa Cruz, dean of Cuba,
was appointed. In 1751 and 1752, he made an inspection of his diocese,
giving seven months to an examination of every part of its wide domain,
preaching, confessing, and confirming wherever he went. He was soon
after promoted to the bishopric of Cuba.
José Antonio Flores de Rivera, a native of Durango, New Spain, venerable
in years and distinguished in scholarship, was elected to the episcopacy
of Nicaragua in 1753. He was consecrated with great pomp May 1, 1754,
in the city of Mexico, and entered on his duties in February 1755,
amidst the rejoicings of the people, for his reputation for kindliness
and charity had preceded him. But their joy was short-lived; he died
in July of the following year,[XXXII‑30] being succeeded by Mateo de
Navia y Bolanos, a native of Lima, and the latter by Juan de Vilches y
Cabrera, dean of the cathedral of Nicaragua, who was in charge of the
diocese until his death in 1774.
In 1775 Estéban Lorenzo de Tristan was appointed to the see, and
remained in that position until 1783. He labored zealously in his cause.
During his administration and a few years previously several attempts
were made to pacify the Guatusos, but without success.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PACIFICATION OF THE GUATUSOS.]
In 1750 Father Zepeda left Guatemala for the purpose of exploring this
region. He followed the entire chain of the mountains of Tilaran,
"the country of many watercourses," to say nothing of the many
volcanoes,[XXXII‑31] and braved all manner of hardships until he came
to the great plains beyond, where he spent several months, and reported
the existence of more than five hundred houses and gardens occupied by
the natives. In 1751 the guardian of the Franciscan convent at Esparza
communicated the information received from the padre to the government
of Costa Rica, and being instructed to follow up the discoveries,
accordingly set forth with several comrades, but the party lost its
way and came near being starved to death. In 1761 were captured in
the mountains several natives, whom the chroniclers describe as of a
mixed breed, and who, when taken to Esparza, revealed some knowledge of
Christian doctrines. The many conjectures to which the circumstances
gave rise were soon to be explained by the fact that a native of
Tenorio, who had qualified for orders, came under the displeasure of
the bishop and fled to the country of the Guatusos. There he lived and
died, not being permitted to return.
The cura of Esparza and the friar Zamacois then volunteered for the work
and took the captured natives as their guides, who led them into the
forests and there deserted them. Father Tomás Lopez in 1778 made another
attempt to penetrate the country. Setting out by water from the island
of Ometepec in Nicaragua, he proceeded to the Rio Frio, entered it, and
ascended the stream until he reached cultivated gardens and plantations.
But the moment his attendants caught a glimpse of a raft, evidently
manned by the Guatusos, they turned the boat and fled. In vain did Lopez
threaten and implore; he could not even prevail on them to allow him to
land alone.
In 1782 Lopez, accompanied by Friar Alvarado of Cartago, entered the
country by way of Tenorio; but after seventy-five days of wandering
found himself on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, a long way above the
mouth of the Frio. President Galvez, considering it necessary to make
a survey of this river and the adjacent country, sent Captain Brizzio
for that purpose in the same year. He ascended its banks until he saw a
number of fishing canoes and many large cultivated fields; but it does
not appear that he had any communication with the Guatusos themselves.
[Sidenote: ON THE RIO FRIO.]
Bishop Tristan, when informed of Brizzio's discovery, applied for
and was granted two vessels with which to follow up the latter's
exploration. On the 20th of February 1783 the prelate and his suite
entered the Frio. On the fourteenth day they discovered in a secluded
and shaded bower on the banks of the river, three fishermen "of good
size and white," who at the sight of them at once threw away nets,
provisions, and everything except their bows and arrows, and took to
flight. They were followed by Lopez with cries of peace and good-will
in the language of the island of Solentanami, but he was not heard, or
if so was disregarded.
The bishop, concluding that a town could not be far distant, and that a
few would be less likely to cause alarm than if the whole party came in
sight of it, sent a small boat forward containing fathers Lopez, Mejía,
Alvarado, and Corral. They soon beheld evidences of populous life, and
saw descending the river a raft on which was a solitary voyager with
plantains and provisions, a fire being lit on the raft. The Indian
landed in a grove of cacao trees, which seemed to extend as far as the
eye could reach. Lopez followed him, attended by a servant and three
natives of Solentanami to act as interpreters. No sooner had these
gone ashore than the voyager reappeared upon the bank of the river, and
raised loud and peculiar outcries, which soon brought to his aid numbers
of the natives, who, without parley, began to discharge arrows at the
padre and his companions. One of the interpreters was wounded, and,
overcome with fear, plunged into the river and swam down the stream. The
missionary lay down in the boat and made signals of peace, which were
unheeded. The padre then advised his attendants to leap overboard and
escape, which advice, nothing loath, they followed. Lopez then rose,
crucifix in hand, and presented himself defenceless and alone before
the crowd of assailants. The attack ceased, and in compliance with his
signs of entreaty a number entered his boat and escorted him to their
village. The companions of Lopez, who had fled for safety, observed
these proceedings from a distance, but as they were soon after pursued
by a party of the natives, they continued their flight.
The wounded interpreter had in the mean time reached the boats left
by Lopez a little lower on the river, and reported that the latter and
his companions had been attacked and killed by a multitude of natives;
whereupon the party hastened down the Frio to inform the bishop of the
catastrophe. They accomplished in three hours a distance which had taken
a day and a half when rowing against the stream, and the bishop and his
associates decided to return immediately to Granada. The morning after
their retreat, the attendants who had left Father Lopez and witnessed
his movements toward the village, having seized an abandoned canoe,
overtook the bishop, and somewhat calmed the excited party by their
disclosures. It was decided to continue the retreat, however, and Fort
San Cárlos was soon reached. The commandant immediately applied to the
governor of the province for aid to attempt the rescue of Lopez; but
it is not known whether the request was granted, or what became of the
padre. No further expeditions were attempted and the matter remained a
mystery. Who the Guatusos were, and how they lived; what their religion,
language, customs, and whence derived, none knew, and it seemed as
though none were destined to know. They appear to have sworn that no
one, not born of them and among them, should set foot within their
domain. Armed soldiers succeeded no better than peaceful missionaries,
and the see of Rome saw fit in after years to bar this inscrutable
region from the benefits of clergy.[XXXII‑32]
In 1784 Juan Felix de Villegas, inquisitor of Cartagena, was appointed
bishop of Nicaragua, but was promoted to the archbishopric of Guatemala
in 1794, when Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabañas y Crespo was appointed his
successor, but while preparing to set forth was elected to the see of
Guadalajara. The last bishop of the century in this diocese was José
Antonio de la Huerta Caso, who was consecrated by the archbishop in
Guatemala May 29, 1798.[XXXII‑33]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE TALAMANCANS.]
Resuming the narrative of the pacification of the Talamancans in
connection with the expeditions which resulted in the subjugation of
their territory, we find the Franciscans the leading spirits in all that
was undertaken, although to the college of Jesus in Guatemala it had
been first assigned. If the Talamancans had in 1502 a civilization of
their own, and in 1602 a civilization imported by the Spaniards, they
had by 1702 reverted to a barbarism which lacked the vitality of the
first and the grace of the second, without any compensating element.
The close of the seventeenth century witnessed the establishment of the
Franciscan missionary college at Guatemala, and thence in 1694, under
the direction of Lopez, had proceeded Francisco de San José and Pablo
de Rebullida to the territory of the Changuenes. Andrade and Benavides
returned to Guatemala from a brief visit of inspection in 1605, and
through the guardian of the college made the oft-repeated demand for
a military escort. On the 31st of March a council of war adopted the
system put in force half a century before in Vera Paz when dealing with
the Chols and Manches. Fifty soldiers, with Captain Noguera as governor,
accompanied the fathers to Talamanca.
Francisco Bruno Serrano de Reina, who was governor of Costa Rica in
1704, does not appear to have acted with much alacrity in the matter,
and the guardian Arrivillaga reported complainingly to the audiencia on
the 4th of April 1707.[XXXII‑34]
Many of the Talamancans were gathered into settlements;[XXXII‑35] but
none the less insecure was the position of the missionaries; their
danger so increased that Andrade started for Guatemala to beg more
adequate protection than the remnant of an escort left with them. It
was too late. While the question was being discussed in Guatemala the
Talamancans rose in revolt, burned their churches, tore down their
dwellings, and killed the friars and the soldiers, the latter but ten
in number. Rebullida's head they cut off on the 28th of September 1709.
On the 20th of May preceding this catastrophe a royal cédula ordered the
conquest of Talamanca, with a view to improve the communication between
Guatemala and Costa Rica with Veragua.[XXXII‑36] Lorenzo Antonio de
Granda y Balbin, the governor of Costa Rica, reported to the audiencia
the massacre in Talamanca, and in accordance with their orders took
summary vengeance on the natives. Balbin collected a large force, and
sent one detachment by the pueblo Tuiz, heading himself a force of two
hundred who made a detour by the province of Boruca. Both detachments
met at San José de Cabecar, in the heart of the enemy's country, where
they intrenched themselves. They killed many of the Talamancans and
captured others, bringing with them over five hundred prisoners of all
ages and both sexes.[XXXII‑37] The rebels were utterly routed, and their
cacique was tried, sentenced, and executed as an instigator of revolt.
In 1719, in a report on the condition of the country to the king of
Spain, Governor de la Haya[XXXII‑38] of Costa Rica says: "In reference
to the establishment and maintenance of missions which had been the
primary object in the conquest of Talamanca, nothing had been done since
the massacre of September 1709; no precautionary measures had been taken
in behalf of missionaries."
The Recollets did not believe this policy of indifference and neglect
to be according to the royal pleasure, and petitioned the king for
the establishment of a suitable garrison and the founding of a Spanish
settlement. By whatever motives impelled, several parties came from the
mountains of Talamanca at sundry times between 1713 and 1716, to request
the presence of missionaries from Cartago.
In response to the petition of the Recollets, the king, by cédula dated
September 1, 1713, directed the president to convene a junta of state
officials and persons familiar with Talamanca, to devise and adopt by
majority vote plans for the occupation of that territory. The junta,
which was not held until the 9th of September, 1716, consisted of the
president of Guatemala, the oidores, royal officials, two Recollets,
and a representative of the revenue of Cartago. The Recollets advocated
the planting of mission stations protected by a garrison. The rest
of the council favored the establishment of a military guard of fifty
soldiers, and the removal of fifty families from Cartago to Boruca; it
was a compromise measure, but it carried the votes.
The fathers were discouraged. The town chosen was without the missionary
field, and the force named inadequate to effect subjugation, and
needlessly strong for a simple escort. But the arrival of a new
president, Rivas, and the disastrous earthquake of 1717 in Guatemala,
crowded such matters from view.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: EARTHQUAKES.]
In a report dated the 14th of March 1723 Haya tells us how, from the
16th of February till the 14th March, there had been rumblings beneath
the city of Cartago, as if from the rushing of subterranean rivers,
while the volcano of Irazu kept open jaws, and belched forth billows
of smoke. The sulphurous exhalations well nigh stifled the people alike
on the slopes and in the valleys. Sheets of flame illumined the sky by
night, until miles of the horizon were brighter than in the glare of
day. Red-hot cinders and scoriæ multiplied in volume until the waters of
the neighboring stream, river, and lake were turned into seething mud;
the city was strewn with burning dust; and buildings were loosened from
the trembling earth.
Costa Rica, if we can believe Haya, was the poorest province in all
America. The only currency was cacao; silver was never seen, and the
name for aught its people knew might have been adopted in derision.
Officers were incapable and stupid; the people quarrelsome, chimerical,
and unruly. There was not in all the province a physician or apothecary;
nor even a barber. Of foreign trade there was practically none.
In Cartago the ayuntamiento had come to an end; at Esparza, the
only other city of the province, there had been none for thirty-nine
years past, for no one had money enough to send to Spain to have an
appointment confirmed.[XXXII‑39]
[Sidenote: PIRATES AND THE MILITARY.]
The decay of the settlements in Costa Rica might have been irremediable
but for the sharp pruning judiciously applied by Haya.[XXXII‑40] His
successor, Francisco de Valderrama, made a report to the captain-general
of Guatemala in 1732 containing a curious revelation of the condition of
affairs. The governor describes himself as fulfilling the functions of a
clerk rather than those of a governor, as there was not a single person
in the province capable of writing. Offices remained vacant, because
the poverty of the country did not allow of even its chief residents
appearing in the plaza in a coat. If the erection of Fort Matina, then
in progress, was to proceed, an artificer would have to be sent out,
as the only one familiar with such work was an old Indian whose proper
business it was to repair roofs, and he unfortunately had just died of
the small-pox.[XXXII‑41] Twice during the year 1740 the province was
harassed by pirates, who carried off, as was their custom, the crop of
cacao, and such slaves as they could lay hands upon.
The military force stationed in Costa Rica about the middle of the
eighteenth century was little short of one thousand men, and yet
the magistrates throughout the province were unable to enforce their
authority. The administration of justice had ceased. Judges did not dare
to impose, nor governors execute sentence upon criminals.[XXXII‑42]
Even the forms of restraint disappeared. Yet officials were numerous
enough. The governor appointed on the first day of the year 1740 five
lieutenant-generals, one each for Cartago, Esparza, and Matina, and two
for the valley country, invested with civil and criminal jurisdiction,
besides four alcaldes, an attorney-general, and an administrator.
After 1746 we have no reliable records as to the succession of governors
in Costa Rica until 1773. In the former year Francisco Fernandez de
la Pastora was in power;[XXXII‑43] in the latter Joaquin de Nava. To
him succeeded in 1779 José Perie, and then occur in the order of their
succession the names of Juan Fernandez Bobadilla in 1780, Juan Flores
in 1782, and José Terci in 1785.