"Being forsaken by all the world, the Indians and rebel Christians fell upon me, and I was reduced to such distress, that, leaving all behind me to avoid death, I put to sea in a little caravel. But our Lord presently relieved me saying: "Thou man of little faith fear not I am with you." And so he dispersed my enemies, shewing how he could fulfil his promises. Unhappy sinner that I am, who placed all my hopes on this world[5]."

From the Conception, the admiral meant to set out on the third of February 1500 for St Domingo, to prepare for returning into Spain to give their Catholic majesties an account of the affairs of the colony. While these disorders were going forwards of which mention has been made, many of the rebels, by letters which they sent from Hispaniola, and by some of their adherents who returned into Spain, continually conveyed false information to their majesties and the council against the admiral and his brothers; alleging that they were cruel and tyrannical and unfit for the government of the colony, both because they were strangers and aliens, and because they had not formerly been in a condition to learn by experience how to govern and command over gentlemen. They affirmed, if their highnesses did not apply some remedy, those countries would be utterly ruined and destroyed; or that the admiral would revolt and join in league with some prince who would support him, for he pretended that the whole belonged to himself, as having been discovered by his industry and labour: That the better to compass his designs, the admiral concealed the wealth of the country, and would not permit that the Indians should serve the Christians, or that they should be converted to the holy faith; because by conciliating them he hoped to draw them to his side, that he might fortify himself against the authority of their highnesses. They proceeded in these and such like slanders, continually importuning their majesties and perpetually speaking ill of the admiral, and complaining that there were several years pay due to the men, which gave occasion to all that were about the court to rail against the admiral. At one time about fifty of those shameless wretches brought a load of grapes and sat down in the court of the castle and palace of the Alhambra at Granada, crying out that their majesties and the admiral caused them to live in misery by withholding their pay, and using many other scandalous expressions; and if the king went out they all flocked round him, calling pay! pay!

My brother and I were then at Granada as pages to the queen; and when we chanced to pass by these people they would cry out in a hideous manner, making the sign of the cross, "There go the sons of the admiral of the Morescoes; he that has found out false and deceitful countries to be the ruin and burial place of the Spanish gentry." Adding many more such insolencies, which made us very cautious of appearing before them. By continual complaints and constantly importuning the favourites at court, it was at length determined to send a judge to Hispaniola to inquire into all these affairs; who was authorized, if he found the admiral guilty of what had been laid to his charge, to send him home to Spain and to remain himself as governor of the colony. The person chosen for this purpose was Francis de Bovadilla, a poor knight of the order of Calatrava, who besides his full and ample commission was supplied with blank directed letters subscribed by their majesties, which he was empowered to direct to such persons as he might think fit in Hispaniola, commanding them to be aiding and assisting to him in the discharge of his commission.

Thus furnished with ample powers, Bovadilla arrived at St Domingo in the latter end of August 1500, at which time the admiral happened to be at the Conception settling the affairs of that province, in which his brother had been assaulted by the rebels, and where the Indians were more numerous and of quicker capacity and more enlarged understandings than in any other part of the island.

Finding no person at his arrival who could in any way keep him in awe, Bovadilla immediately took possession of the admirals palace, and appropriated every thing he found there to his own use as if it had fallen to him by inheritance. He gathered together all whom he could find who had been in rebellion, and many others who hated the admiral and his brothers, and immediately declared himself governor of the colony; and to secure the affections of the people, he proclaimed a general freedom for twenty years. He then summoned the admiral to appear before him without delay, as necessary for their majesties service; and to justify this measure he sent on the seventh of September the royal letter, of which the following is the substance, by F. John de la Sera, to the admiral.

"To D. Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean."

"We have ordered the commander Francis de Bovadilla, the bearer, to aquaint you with certain things from us; wherefore we command you to give him entire credit, and to obey him."

"Given at Madrid, the twenty-first of May 1500.

"I the King. I the Queen."

"By command of their majesties. Mich. Perez de Almazan."

On seeing the letter of their Catholic majesties, the admiral came immediately to St Domingo to Bovadilla, at the beginning of October 1500. And Bovadilla being eager to assume the government, without any delay or legal information, immediately sent the admiral and his brother James as prisoners in irons on board ship under a strong guard, forbidding all persons under severe penalties to hold any intercourse with them by word or letter. After this, by Abington law[6], he drew up examinations against them, admitting their enemies the rebels as witnesses in the process, and publickly favouring all who came forwards to speak evil of them. These gave in such villanous and incoherent depositions, that he must have been blind indeed who did not plainly perceive their falsehood and malice. For this reason, their Catholic majesties would not admit of the truth of the charges, and afterwards cleared the admiral, sore repenting that they had sent such a man as Bovadilla in that employment.

He ruined the island and squandered the royal revenues, that all men might be his friends; saying that their majesties required no more than the honour of the dominion, and that all the profits should belong to their subjects. Yet he neglected not his own share, but combining with all the richest and most powerful men of the colony, he gave them Indians to serve them on condition of having a share in all the acquisitions which were made by their means. He sold by auction all the possessions and rights which the admiral had acquired for the crown; saying that their majesties were not farmers or labourers, and only kept these for the benefit of their subjects; and while selling all things under these pretences, he took care on the other hand that every thing should be purchased by his own confederates at a third of the value. Besides all this, he made no other use of his judicial power than to enrich himself and to gain over the affections of the people; being still afraid that the lieutenant, who had not yet come from Xaragua, might put a stop to his proceedings, and might endeavour to set the admiral at liberty by force of arms. But in this the brothers conducted themselves with the utmost prudence and propriety; for the admiral sent to the lieutenant, desiring him to come peaceably to Bovadilla, that the island might not be thrown into confusion and civil war; as, when they arrived in Spain, they should the more easily obtain satisfaction for the wrongs that had been done them, and secure the punishment of Bovadilla for his senseless and injurious conduct.

Yet did not all this divert Bovadilla from putting the admiral and his brother in irons; and he allowed the baser people to rail against them in public, blowing horns in triumph about the harbour where they were shipped, besides placarding them in many scandalous libels pasted up at the corners of the streets. When informed that one James Ortir, who was governor of the hospital, had written a malicious libel against the admiral, which he read publickly in the market-place, so far from punishing his audacity, he seemed to be much gratified by it, which encouraged others to do the same thing. And perhaps from fear lest the admiral should swim on shore, he gave strict injunctions to Andrew Martin, the commander of the ship to guard the admiral with the utmost care, and to deliver him in irons to the bishop D. John de Fonseca, by whose advice and direction it was believed he had thus proceeded. Yet when at sea, the master being sensible of the unworthy proceedings of Bovadilla, would have taken off the irons from the admiral; but this he would not permit, saying, that since their majesties had commanded him to perform whatsoever Bovadilla might order in their names, and that he had been put in irons in virtue of their authority and commission, he would not be freed from them unless by the express command of their highnesses. He also declared his determination to keep these fetters as a memorial of the reward he had received for his many services. I afterwards saw these irons constantly in his chamber, and he gave orders that they should be buried along with his body.

Being arrived at Cadiz, the admiral wrote to their majesties on the 20th of November 1500, acquainting them of his arrival; and they, understanding the condition in which he was, gave immediate orders that he should be released, and sent him very gracious letters expressive of their sorrow for his sufferings and the unworthy behaviour of Bovadilla towards him. They likewise ordered him up to court, engaging that care should be taken about his affairs, and that he should be speedily dispatched with full restitution of his honour. Yet I cannot remove blame from their Catholic majesties for employing that base and ignorant person; for had he known the duty of his office, the admiral would have been glad of his coming, for he had desired in his letters to Spain that some impartial person might be sent out to take a true information of the perversity of the colonists, and to take cognizance of their crimes; he being unwilling to use that severity which another would have done, because the original of these tumults, and rebellions had been raised against the lieutenant his brother. But although it might be urged that their majesties ought not to have sent out Bovadilla with so much power and so many letters, without limiting his commission; yet it is not to be wondered at, as the complaints which had been sent against the admiral were numerous and heavy, though false and malicious.

As soon as their majesties learnt the arrival of the admiral at Cadiz and of his being in irons, they sent orders on the 12th of December to set him at liberty, and wrote for him to repair to Granada, where he was most favourably received with the most gracious discourse. They assured him that his imprisonment had not been by their desire or command; that they were much offended at it, and would take care that full satisfaction should be given to him, and those who were in fault severely punished. Having thus graciously received him, they gave orders that his business should be immediately gone into; and the result was, that a governor should be sent to Hispaniola, who was to restore all that had been taken from the admiral and his brother, and to reinstate them in their rights. And that the admiral should be allowed all the profits and emoluments belonging to him, according to the articles of agreement which had been originally granted; and that the rebels should be proceeded against and punished according to their offences. Nicholas de Obando, commandary of laws, was the person appointed to this high office. He was a wise and judicious man; but, as afterwards appeared, extremely partial, crafty in concealing his passions, giving credit to his own surmises and the false insinuations of malicious people. He therefore acted cruelly and revengefully in the conduct of his government, as particularly appears by the death of the 80 caciques of the island who have been before mentioned[7].

As their majesties were pleased to appoint Obando to the government of Hispaniola, so they thought it proper to send the admiral upon some voyage of farther discovery which might redound to his and their advantage, and might keep him employed till Obando could pacify and reduce the island to order and subjection; as they did not then incline to keep him long out of his rights without just cause, the informations transmitted by Bovadilla now plainly appearing to be full of malice and falsehood, and containing nothing which could justify the forfeiture of his rights. But the execution of this design being attended with delay, it being now the month of October 1500, and evil disposed men still endeavouring to insinuate that new informations might be expected on the subject, the admiral applied personally to their majesties, entreating them to defend him against his enemies, and afterwards repeated the same by letter. When the admiral was ready to proceed upon his voyage, they promised him their protection and favour, by letter to the following effect:

"Be assured that your imprisonment was very displeasing to us, of which you and all men must have been sensible, seeing that we applied the proper remedies as soon as we heard of the circumstance. You likewise know with how much honour and respect we have always commanded you to be treated, which we now direct shall be contined towards you, and that you receive all worthy and noble usage. We promise that the privileges and prerogatives by us granted you shall be preserved in the most ample manner, which you and your children shall enjoy without contradiction or disparagement, as is reasonably due. And, if requisite to ratify them of new, we will order it to be done, and will take care that your son be put into possession of the whole; for we desire to honour and favour you even in greater matters. And be assured that we shall take due care of your sons and brothers after your departure; for the employment shall be given to your son as has been said. We pray you therefore not to delay your departure."

"Given at Valentia de la Torre, 14th March 1502."

The occasion of this letter was, that the admiral had resolved to trouble himself no farther with the affairs of the Indies, but to transfer his employment upon my brother; for he said justly, that if the services he had already performed were not sufficient to have those villanous people punished who had rebelled against his lawful authority, all that he could do for the future would never obtain justice. He had already performed the grand object of his undertaking before he set out to discover the Indies; which was to shew that there were islands and a continent to the westwards, that the way was easy and navigable, the advantages great and manifest, and the people gentle and unwarlike. As he had verified all this personally, there only now remained for their highnesses to pursue what was begun, by sending people to discover the secrets of these countries; for now the way was opened up and made plain, and any one might follow out the course, as some had done already who improperly arrogated the title of discoverers; not considering that they had not discovered any new country, but that all which they had done or could do in future was merely to pursue and extend the first discovery, the admiral having already shewn them the route to the islands and to the province of Paria, which was the first discovered land of the new continent. Yet, having always a great desire to serve their majesties, more especially the queen, he consented to return to his ships and to undertake the proposed voyage to be now related, for he was convinced that great wealth would be discovered, as he formerly had written to their majesties in 1499. All of which has since been verified by the discovery of Mexico and Peru, though at that time, as generally happens to the conjectures of most men, nobody would give credit to his assertions.

Having been well dispatched by their majesties, the admiral set out from Granada for Seville in the year 1501; and so earnestly solicited the fitting out of his squadron, that in a short time he rigged and provisioned four vessels, the largest of 70 tons and the smallest 50, with a complement of 140 men and boys, of whom I was one.

[1] Certainly alluding to D. Juan de Fonseca, archdeacon of Castile, and bishop of Burgos, formerly mentioned as obstructing the equipment of the admirals ship, and afterwards as the principal mover of the injurious treatment experienced by the admiral.—E.

[2] This article is nowhere explained, but was said on a former occasion to be made of very low or impure gold.—E.

[3] This reported produce is prodigious, and must have only been temporary or accidental. Forty ounces of gold a-day, allowing but L.4 the ounce, as perhaps inferior to standard, amount to L.160. The piece of gold, mentioned in the text was worth about L.88. These mines, once so rich, have been long abandoned. The original natives of Hispaniola died out, and negroes have been found unequal to the hardships of mining. Hispaniola long remained a mere depot of adventurers, whence the great conquests of Mexico and Peru were supplied with men and arms.—E.

[4] The original, or rather the old translation, is most miserably defective and confused in its dates about this period, bandying 1499 and 1500 backwards and forwards most ridiculously. This error it has been anxiously endeavoured to correct in the present version.—E.

[5] This is a most imperfect account of an insurrection which appears to have broke out against the lieutenant, who seems to have been very unfit for his situation.—E.

[6] This obviously means trial after condemnation, a procedure which has been long proverbial in Scotland under the name of Jedwarth justice. Some similar expression relative to Spain must have been used in the original, which the translator chose to express by an English proverbial saying of the same import.—E.

[7] Upon a former occasion, the author had stated that there were four principal caciques in Hispaniola, each of whom commanded over seventy or eighty inferior chiefs, so that there may have been 300 caciques originally. The particulars of the death or massacre of the eighty caciques here mentioned are nowhere mentioned by our author; who, confining himself to the actions of his illustrious father, says very little more about the affairs of Hispaniola.—E.



SECTION XIII.

Account of the Fourth Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies.

We set sail from Cadiz on Monday the 9th of May 1502, and departed from St Catharines on the 11th of the same month for Arzilla, intending to relieve the Portuguese in that garrison who were reported to be in great distress; but when we came there the Moors had raised the siege. The admiral sent on shore his brother D. Bartholomew and me, along with the other captains of our ships to visit the governor, who had been wounded by the Moors in an assault. He returned thanks to the admiral for the visit and his offers of assistance, sending several gentlemen on board for this purpose, among whom were some relations of Donna Philippa Moniz, the admirals former Portuguese wife. We sailed from Arzilla on the same day, and arriving at Gran Canaria on the 20th of May, casting anchor among the little islands, and on the 24th went over to Maspalomas in the same island to take in wood and water for our voyage, and set out next night for the Indies. It pleased God to give us a fair wind, insomuch that on Wednesday the 15th of June, without handing our sails the whole way, we arrived at the island of Matinino. There, according to the custom of those who sail from Spain for the Indies, the admiral took in a fresh supply of wood and water, and ordered the men to wash their linens, staying till the 18th, when we stood to the westwards and came to Dominica ten leagues distant from Matinino[1]. So continuing our course among the Caribbee islands we came to Santa Cruz, and on the 24th of June we ran along the south side of the island of St John[2]; and thence proceeded for St Domingo, where the admiral proposed to have exchanged one of his ships for another. The vessel he wished to part with was a bad sailer, and besides could not carry sail without running its lee gunwale almost under water, and was a great hindrance to the voyage. His original design was to have gone directly to the coast of Paria, and to keep along the shore to the westwards till he should discover the straits, which he concluded must be somewhere about Veragua or Nombre de Dios. But on account of the fault of that ship he was forced to repair to St Domingo in hope of exchanging her for a better.

That the commandary Lores[3], who had been sent out by their majesties to call Bovadilla to account for his mal-administration, might not be surprised at our unexpected arrival, the admiral sent on the 29th of June, being then near the port, Peter de Terreros, captain of one of the ships, with a message to him signifying the necessity there was for exchanging one of the ships. For which reason, and because he apprehended the approach of a great storm, he requested permission to secure his squadron in the harbour; and he advised him not to allow the fleet then preparing to sail for Spain to quit the port for eight days to come, as it would otherwise be in great danger. But the governor would not permit the admiral to come into the harbour; neither did he delay the sailing of the fleet which was bound for Spain. That fleet consisted of 18 sail, and was to carry Bovadilla who had imprisoned the admiral and his brothers, and Francis Roldan with all those who had been in rebellion and done so much harm; all of whom it pleased God so to infatuate that they would not listen to the admirals good advice. I am satisfied that the hand of God was in this; for had they arrived in Spain they would never have been punished as their crimes deserved, as they enjoyed the protection of the bishop Fonseca. This impunity was prevented by their setting out from St Domingo for Spain, as no sooner were they come to the east point of Hispaniola than there arose a terrible storm; the admiral of the fleet went to the bottom, and in her perished Bovadilla with most of the rebels, and so great was the havock among the rest, that only three or four vessels escaped of the whole eighteen.

This event happened on Thursday the 30th of June; when the admiral, who had foreseen the storm and had been refused admittance into the port, drew up as close to the land as he could to shelter himself from its effects. The people on board his vessels were exceedingly dissatisfied at being denied that shelter which would have been given to strangers, much more to them who were of the same nation, and they feared they might be so served if any misfortune should afterwards befal them in the prosecution of their voyage. The admiral was greatly concerned on the same account, and was yet more vexed to experience such base ingratitude in a country which he had given to the honour and benefit of Spain, where he was thus refused shelter for his life. Yet by his prudence and judgment he secured his ships for that day. But next night the tempest increasing, and the night being extremely dark, three of the ships broke from their anchors and drifted from him. All were in imminent danger, and the people on board of each concluded that all the others were certainly lost. Those in the Santo suffered greatly by endeavouring to save their boat, which had been ashore with their captain Terreros, and now dragged astern where it overset, and they were obliged to cast it loose to save themselves. The caravel Bermuda was in infinite danger; for running out to sea it was almost covered and overwhelmed by the waves, by which it appeared what good reason the admiral had to endeavour to exchange that vessel, which all men concluded was saved, under God, by the wisdom and resolution of the admirals brother, than whom there was not at that time a more expert sailor. After all had suffered extremely, except the admiral who rode out the gale, it pleased God that they all met again on Sunday the 3d of July in the port of Azna on the south side of Hispaniola, where every one gave an account of his misfortunes. It appeared that Bartholomew Columbus had weathered this great storm by standing out to sea like an able sailor; while the admiral had avoided all danger by hugging close to the land like a wise astronomer, who knew whence the peril was to come.

His enemies might well blame him, by saying that he had raised this storm by magic art to be revenged on Bovadilla and the rest of his enemies who perished with him, since none of his own four ships were lost; whereas of the eighteen which had set out at the same time with Bovadilla, the Ajuga, or Needle, only held on its course for Spain, where it arrived in safety though the worst of the whole fleet, the other three that escaped having returned to St Domingo in a shattered and distressed condition. In the Ajuga there were 4000 pesos of gold belonging to the admiral, each peso being worth eight shillings.

The admiral gave his men a breathing time in the port of Azua, to recover from the fatigues which they had encountered in the storm; and as it is one of the usual diversions of seamen to fish when they have nothing else to do, I shall make mention of two sorts of fish in particular which I remember to have seen taken at that place, one of which was pleasant, and the other wonderful. The first was a fish called Saavina, as big as half an ordinary bull, which lay asleep on the surface of the water, and was struck by a harpoon from the boat of the ship Biscaina; being held fast by a rope so that it could not break loose, it drew the boat after it with the swiftness of an arrow in various directions, so that those who were in the ship, seeing the boat scud about at a strange rate without knowing the cause, could not imagine how it could do so without the help of oars. At length it sunk, and being drawn to the ships side was hoisted on deck by the tackle. The other fish is called Manati by the Indians, and there is nothing of the kind seen in Europe. It is about as large as an ordinary calf, nothing differing from it in the colour and taste of the flesh, except that it is perhaps better and fatter. Those who affirm that there are all sorts of creatures to be found in the sea, will have it that these fishes are real calves, since they have nothing within them resembling a fish, and feed only on the grass which they find along the banks[4].

Having refreshed his men and repaired his ships, the admiral went from Azua to the port of Brazil called Yaquimo by the Indians, to shun another storm of which he observed the approach. From thence he sailed again on the 14th of July, and was so becalmed that instead of holding on his course he was carried away by the current to certain small sandy islands near Jamaica; not finding any springs in these islands, the people had to dig pits or wells in the sand whence they procured water; on account of which circumstance the admiral named them Islas de los Poros, or the Well Islands. Then sailing southwards[5] for the continent, we came to certain islands, where we went on shore on the biggest only called Guanaia; whence those who make sea charts took occasion to call all those the islands of Guanaia, which are almost twelve leagues from that part of the continent now called the province of Honduras, but which the admiral then named Cape Casinas. These fabricators of charts often commit vast mistakes from ignorance; thus these same islands and that part of the continent nearest them are twice inserted in their charts, as if they were different countries; and though cape Garcias a Dios, and that they call Cape[6] ——. The occasion of this mistake was, that after the admiral had discovered these countries, one John Diaz de Solis, from whom the Rio de Plata was named Rio de Solis because he was there killed by the Indians, and one Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who commanded a ship in the first voyage when the admiral discovered the Indies, set out together on a voyage of discovery in the year 1508, designing to sail along that coast which the admiral discovered in his voyage from Veragua westwards; and following almost the same track which he had done, they put into the port of Cariari and passed by Cape Garcias a Dios as far as Cape Casinas, which they called Cape Honduras, and they named the before mentioned islands the Guanaias, giving the name of the biggest to them all. Thence they proceeded farther on without acknowledging that the admiral had been in those parts, that the discovery might be attributed to them, and that it might be believed they had found out extensive countries; although Peter de Ledesma, one of their pilots who had been with the admiral in his voyage to Veragua, told them that he knew the country, having been there with the admiral, and from whom I afterwards learnt these circumstances. But, independent of this authority, the nature of the charts plainly demonstrates that they have laid the same thing down twice, as the island is of the same shape and at the same distance; they having brought a true draught of the country, only saying that it lay beyond that which the admiral had before discovered. Hence the same country is twice delineated on the same chart, as time will make apparent when it shall please God that this coast shall be better known; for they will then find but one country of that sort. But to return to our voyage; the admiral ordered his brother Bartholomew to land with two boats on the island of Guanaia, where he found people like those of the other islands, except that their foreheads were not so high. They also saw abundance of pine trees, and found pieces of lapis calaminaris, such as is used for mixing with copper in the process for making brass; and which some of the seamen mistaking for gold concealed for a long time.

While the admirals brother was on shore, using his endeavours to learn the nature of the country, it so happened that a canoe eight feet wide and as long as a galley, made all of one piece, and shaped like those which were common among the islands, put in there. It was loaded with commodities brought from the westwards, and bound towards New Spain[7]. In the middle of this canoe there was an awning made of palm-tree leaves, not unlike those of the Venetian gondolas, which kept all underneath so close, that neither rain nor sea water could penetrate to wet the goods. Under this awning were the women and children, and all the commodities; and though there were twenty-five men in the canoe, they had not the courage to defend themselves against the people in our boats who pursued them. The canoe being thus taken without any opposition, was brought along side of the admiral, who blessed GOD for having given him samples of the commodities of that country, without exposing his men to any danger. He therefore ordered such things to be taken as he judged most sightly and valuable; such as quilts, cotton shirts without sleeves, curiously wrought and dyed of several colours; some small cloths for covering the nudities, large sheets, in which the women in the canoe wrapped themselves, as the Moorish women in Granada used to do, long wooden swords, having a channel on each side where the edge should be, in which many pieces of sharp-edged flints were fixed by means of thread and a tenacious bituminous matter; these swords could cut naked men as well as if they had been made of steel; hatchets for cutting wood made of good copper, and resembling the stone hatchets usual among the other islanders, also bells and plates of the same metal, and crucibles for melting it. For provisions, they had such roots and grains as they eat in Hispaniola, and a sort of liquor made of maize like English beer. They likewise had abundance of cacao nuts, which serve as money in New Spain, and on which they seemed to place great value; for when these were brought on board along with their other goods, I observed that when any of them fell, they all anxiously stooped to gather them up as if they had been of great importance.

These poor creatures seemed to be in a manner out of their wits, on being brought on board as prisoners among a people so strange and fierce as our men seemed to them; but so prevalent is avarice in man, that we ought not to wonder that it should so prevail over the apprehensions of these Indians, as to make them so anxious about their cacao-nut money, even in their present situation[8]. The modesty of their demeanour was admirable; for in getting them from the canoe into the ship, it happened that some of their clouts were removed, when they would clap their hands before them to supply the deficiency; and the women wrapped themselves up like the Moors of Granada, to avoid observation. The admiral restored their canoe, and gave them some things in exchange for those of which they had been deprived. And he only detained one old man named Giumbe, who seemed the chief, and the most intelligent person among them, that from him something might be learnt concerning the country, and that he might draw others of the natives to converse and traffic with the Christians. This he did very readily and faithfully all the while he sailed with us, where his language was understood; and as a reward for his service, when we came to where a different language was spoken, which was before we reached Cape Garcias a Dios, the admiral gave him some things, and sent him home quite satisfied.

Though the admiral had heard so much from those in the canoe concerning the great wealth, politeness, and ingenuity of the people westwards, towards what is now called New Spain; yet, considering that as these countries lay to leewards, he could sail thither whenever he might think fit from Cuba, he would not go that way at this time, but persisted in his design of endeavouring to discover a strait or passage across the continent, by which he might clear a way into what we now call the South Sea, in order to arrive at those countries which produce spice. He therefore determined to sail eastwards towards Veragua and Nombre de Dios, where he imagined that strait would be found, as in effect it was; yet was he deceived in this matter, as instead of an isthmus, he expected to discover a narrow gulf or inlet, communicating between the two seas. This mistake might proceed from the similarity of the two names; for when the natives said that the strait which he so anxiously desired to find was towards Veragua and Nombre de Dios, it might be understood either of land or water, and he understood it in the most usual sense, and that which he most earnestly desired[9]. And though that strait is actually land, yet it is the means of acquiring the dominion of both seas, and by which such enormous riches have been discovered and conveyed to Spain; for it was GODS will that this vast concern should be so found out, as from this canoe the admiral received the first information respecting New Spain.

There being nothing worthy of notice in the islands of Guanaia, he sailed thence to a point which he called Casinas, in order to find out the strait before mentioned. It received this name on account of its abounding in the trees which produce a species of fruit known by the name casinas to the natives of Hispaniola; which fruit is rough like a spongy bone, and good to eat, especially when boiled. As there was nothing worthy of notice in that part of the country, the admiral would not lose time in examining a large bay which is in that place, but held on his course eastwards, along that coast which reaches to Cape Garcias a Dios, which is all very low and open. The people nearest to Cape Casinas, or Honduras, wear those painted shirts or jackets before mentioned, and clouts before their nudities; and likewise use certain coats of mail made of cotton, strong enough to defend them against their native weapons, and even to ward off the stroke of some of ours.

The people farther to the eastwards about Cape Garcias a Dios are almost black, of a fierce aspect, go stark naked, are very savage, and according to Giumbe eat mans flesh and raw fish. They have their ears bored with holes, large enough to admit a hens egg, owing to which circumstance the admiral called this coast De las Orejas, or the Land of Ears[10]. On Sunday the 14th of August, Bartholomew Columbus went ashore in the morning, with the captains and many of the men to hear mass; and on the Wednesday following, when the boats went ashore to take formal possession of the country, above 100 of the natives ran down to the shore loaded with provisions; and as soon as the lieutenant landed, came before him, and suddenly drew back without speaking a word. He ordered them to be presented with horse-bells, beads, and other trinkets, and endeavoured to make inquiry concerning the country by means of Giumbe; but he having been only a short time with us, did not understand our language, and by reason of his distance from Hispaniola, could not comprehend those of our people who had learnt the language of that island; neither did he understand those Indians. But they, being much pleased with what had been given them, above 200 of them came next day to the shore, loaded with various sorts of provisions; such as poultry much better than ours, geese, roasted fish, red and white beans like kidney beans, and other things like the productions of Hispaniola. This country, though low, was verdant and very beautiful, producing abundance of pines and oaks, palm trees of seven different kinds, mirabolans, of the kind called hobi in Hispaniola, and almost all the kinds of provisions produced in that island were found here. There were likewise abundance of deer, leopards, and other quadrupeds, and all sorts of fish that are found either at the islands or in Spain.

The people of this country are much like those of the islands, but their foreheads are not so high, neither did they appear to have any religion. There are several languages or dialects among them, and for the most part they go naked, except the clout before mentioned, though some of them wore a kind of short jerkin without sleeves, reaching to the navel. Their arms and bodies have figures wrought upon them with fire, which gave them an odd appearance; some having lions or deer, and others castles, with towers or other strange figures painted on their bodies. Instead of caps, the better sort wore red and white cotton cloths on their heads, and some had locks of hair hanging from their foreheads. When they mean to be very fine upon a day of festival, they colour their faces, some black and some red, and others draw streaks of several colours; some paint their noses, others black their eyes, and thus adorning, themselves as they think to look beautiful, they look in truth like devils.

The admiral sailed along the coast de las Orejas, or the Mosquito shore, eastwards to Cape Garcias a Dios, or Thanks be to GOD, so called on account of the difficulty of getting there, having laboured seventy days to get only sixty leagues to the eastwards of Cape Casinas or Honduras. This was occasioned by opposing currents and contrary winds, so that we had continually to tack out to sea and stand in again, sometimes gaining, and sometimes losing ground, according as the wind happened to be scant or large when we put about. And had not the coast afforded such good anchoring we had been much longer upon it; but being free from shoals or rocks, and having always two fathoms of water at half a league from the shore, and two more at every league farther distant, we had always the convenience of anchoring every night when there was little wind. When on the 14th of September we reached the cape, and found the land turned off to the southwards, so that we could conveniently continue our voyage with those levanters or east winds that so continually prevailed, we all gave thanks to GOD for the happy change, for which reason the admiral gave it the name of Cape Garcias a Dios. A little beyond that cape we passed by some dangerous sands, that ran out to sea as far as the eye could reach.

It being requisite to take in wood and water, the boats were sent on the 16th of September to a river that seemed deep and to have a good entrance, but the coming out proved disastrous, for the wind freshening from the sea, and the waves running high against the current of the river, so distressed the boats, that one of them was lost with all the men in it; for which the admiral named it Rio de la Disgratia, or the River of Disaster. In this river, and about it, there grew canes as thick as a mans leg. Still running southwards, we came on Sunday the 25th of September to anchor near a small island called Quiriviri, and near a town on the continent named Cariari, where were the best people, country, and situation we had yet seen, as well because it was high and full of rivers, and thickly wooded with forests of palms, mirabolans, and other trees. For this reason, the admiral named this island Hucite. It is a small league from the town named Cariari by the Indians, which is situated near a large river, whither a great number of people resorted from the adjacent parts; some with bows and arrows, others armed with staves of palm tree, as black as coal and as hard as horn, pointed with fish bone, and others with clubs, and they came in a body as if they meant to defend their country. The men had their hair braided, and wound round their heads, and the women wore their hair short like our men. But perceiving that we had no hostile intentions, they were very desirous to barter their articles for ours; theirs were arms, cotton jerkins, and large pieces of cotton cloth like sheets, and guaninis which are made of pale gold, and worn about their necks like our relics. With these things they swam to our boats, for none of our people went on shore that day or the next. The admiral would not allow any of their things to be taken, lest we might be considered as covetous, but ordered some of our articles to be given to them. The less we appeared to value the exchange, the more eager were they to bring it about, and made many signs to that effect from the shore. At last, perceiving that none of our people would go on shore, they took all the things which had been given them, without reserving the smallest article, and tying them up in a bundle, left them on that part of the beach where our people first landed, and where our people found them on the Wednesday following when they went on shore.

Believing that the Christians did not confide in them, the Indians sent an ancient man of an awful presence, bearing a flag upon a staff, and accompanied by two girls of about eight and fourteen years of ages and putting these into the boat as if giving hostages, he made signs for our people to land. Upon their request, our people went ashore to take in water, the Indians taking great care to avoid doing any thing which might have alarmed the Christians; and when they saw our men about to return to the ships, the Indians made signs to take the girls along with them with their guaninis about their necks, and at the request of the old man, they complied and carried them on board. In this conduct these people shewed themselves of a more friendly disposition than any we had yet met with; and though the girls evinced uncommon undauntedness in trusting themselves unconcernedly among strangers, they always behaved themselves with great modesty and sweetness. The admiral treated them well, clothed and fed them, and sent them again on shore, where they were received by the old man and about fifty others, with great signs of satisfaction and content. On the boats going on shore again the same day, they found the same people with the girls, who insisted upon restoring all that had been given them by the admiral.

Next day, the admirals brother went on shore to endeavour to learn something of these people, when two of the chiefs came to the boat, and taking him by the arms made him sit down on the grass between them; and as, when he was about to ask them questions, he ordered his secretary to write down the information they might give, the sight of the pen, ink, and paper, threw them into such consternation that most of them ran away[11]. It was supposed they did this from dread of being bewitched; for to us they appeared to be sorcerers and superstitious people, as whenever they came near the Christians, they used to scatter some powder about them in the air, and to burn some of the same powder, endeavouring to make the smoke go towards the Christians; besides their refusing to keep any thing that belonged to us showed a degree of jealousy like the proverb, which says, "A knave thinks every man like himself[12]." Having remained here longer than was convenient, considering the haste we were in, and having repaired the ships, and provided all we wanted, the admiral sent his brother on shore with some men on the 2d of October, to view the town, and to endeavour to learn as much as possible of the manners of the people, and the nature of the country. The most remarkable thing they saw was a great wooden building covered with canes, in which were several tombs. In one of these there lay a dead body dried up and embalmed, in another two bodies wrapped up in cotton sheets and without any ill scent; and over each there was a board carved with the figures of beasts, and on one of them the effigies as was supposed of the person deposited underneath, adorned with guaninis, beads, and others of their most valued ornaments. These being the most civilized Indians yet met with, the admiral ordered some to be taken that he might learn the secrets of the country; seven men were accordingly seized, and of these two of the chiefest were selected, and the rest sent away with some gifts and courteous treatment, that the country might not be left in commotion; and these were told as well as we could express our meaning, that they were only to serve as guides upon that coast, and then to be set at liberty. But believing that they were taken out of covetousness, in order that they might ransom themselves with their valuable goods, great numbers of the natives came down next day to the shore, and sent four of their number on board to the admiral to treat for the ransom of their friends, offering such things as they possessed, and freely giving three hogs of the country, which, though small, are very ferocious. Observing, therefore, the uncommon policy of this nation, the admiral was the more anxious to be acquainted with them; and though he would not listen to their offers of ransoming their friends, he ordered some trifles to be given to the messengers that they might not go away dissatisfied, and that they should be paid for their hogs.

Among other creatures which that country produces, there is a kind of cats of a greyish colour, as large as a small greyhound, but with a much longer tail, which is so strong, that whatever they clasp with it is as if bound fast with a rope. These animals ran about the trees like squirrels, and when they leap, they not only hold fast with their claws, but with their tails also, by which they often hang to the boughs, either to rest themselves or to sport. It happened that one Ballaster brought one of these cats out of a wood, having knocked him from a tree, and not daring to meddle with it when down because of its fierceness, he cut off one of its fore paws and brought it on board in that mutilated condition. Even in that maimed state, it terrified a good dog we had on board, but put one of the Indian hogs into much greater fear. The hog used to run at every person, and would not allow the dog to remain on deck; but the moment it saw the cat it ran away with signs of the utmost terror. The admiral therefore gave orders that the hog and the cat should be placed close together; the cat immediately wound her tail around the snout of the hog, and with its remaining fore-leg fastened on the pole of the hog, which grunted the while most fearfully. From this we concluded that these cats hunt like the wolves or dogs of Spain.

On Wednesday the 5th of October, the admiral sailed from Cariari, and came to the bay of Caravaro, which is six leagues long and two broad; in this bay there are many small islands, and two or three channels to go out and in by. Within these channels the ships sailed as it had been in streets or lanes between the islands, the branches of the trees rubbing against the shrouds. As soon as we anchored in this bay, the boats went to one of the islands where there were twenty canoes on the shore, and a number of people all entirely naked; most of them had a plate of gold hanging from the neck, and some an ornament of gold resembling an eagle. These people were perfectly peaceable, and shewed no tokens of being afraid of the Christians. Assisted by the two Indians from Cariari, who acted as interpreters, our people bought one of the gold plates which weighed ten ducats for three horse-bells, and the Indians said that there was great plenty of that metal to be had farther up the country at no great distance.

Next day, being the 7th of October, our boats went ashore upon the continent, where they met ten canoes full of people; and as they refused to barter away their gold ornaments, two of their chiefs were taken prisoners, one of whom had a gold plate weighing fourteen ducats, and the other an eagle of gold which weighed twenty-two. Being examined by the admiral, with the assistance of our interpreters, they said that there was great plenty of gold up the country, at places which they named, and which might be reached in a day or two. Vast quantities of fish were taken in the bay, and there were abundance of these creatures on shore which were before seen at Cariari; also great abundance of food, as grain, roots, and fruit. The men were entirely naked, except a narrow cotton cloth before, and had their faces and body painted all over with various colours, as red, white, and black. From this bay of Caravaro, we went to another close by it called Aburena, which in some measure is like the other.

On the 17th of October we put to sea to continue our voyage; and came to Guaiga, a river twelve leagues from Aburena. When our boats were going on shore here by order of the admiral, they saw above 100 Indians on the strand, who assaulted them furiously, running into the water up to their middles, brandishing their spears, blowing horns, and beating a drum in a warlike manner; they likewise threw the water at the Christians, and chewing certain herbs, they squirted the juice towards them. Our men lay upon their oars and endeavoured to pacify them, which they at length accomplished, and they drew near to exchange their gold plates, some for two, and others for three horse bells, by which means we procured sixteen gold plates worth 150 ducats. Next day, being Friday the 19th of October, the boats went again towards the land, intending to barter; but before going on shore, they called to some Indians who were under certain bowers or huts, which they had made during the night to defend their country, fearing the Christians might land to injure them. Though our people called long and loud, none of the Indians would approach, nor would the Christians venture to land till they knew what were the intentions of the Indians; for it afterwards appeared that the Indians waited to fall upon our people as soon as they might land. But perceiving that they came not out of the boats, they blew their horns and beat their drum, and ran into the water as they had done the day before, till they came almost up to the boats, brandishing their javelins in a hostile manner. Offended at this proceeding, and that the Indians might not be so bold and despise them, the Christians at last wounded one of them in the arm with an arrow, and fired a cannon to intimidate them, on which they all scampered away to the land. After this four Spaniards landed and called the Indians to come back, which they now did very quietly, leaving their arms behind them; and they bartered three gold plates, saying they had no more with them, as they had not come prepared for trade but for war.

The only object of the admiral in this voyage being to discover the country, and to procure samples of its productions, he proceeded without farther delay to Catiba, and cast anchor in the mouth of a great river. The people of the country were seen to gather, calling one another together with horns and drums, and they afterwards sent two men in a canoe towards the ships; who, after some conversation with the Indians who had been taken at Cariari, came on board the admiral without any signs of apprehension, and by the advice of the Cariari Indians gave the admiral two gold plates which they wore about their necks, for which he gave them some baubles in return. When these went on shore, there came another with three men, wearing gold plates at their necks, who parted with them as the others had done. Amity being thus settled, our men went on shore, where they found numbers of people along with their king, who differed in nothing from the rest, except that he was covered with one large leaf of a tree to defend him from the rain which then fell in torrents. To give his subjects a good example, he bartered away his gold plate, and bade them exchange theirs with our men, so that they got nineteen in all of pure gold. This was the first place in the Indies where our people had seen any sign of building, as they here found a great mass of wall or masonry that seemed to be composed of stone and lime, and the admiral ordered a piece of it to be brought away as a memorial or specimen. From thence we sailed eastwards to Cobravo, the people of which place dwell near the rivers of that coast; and because none of the natives came down to the strand, and the wind blew fresh, he held on his course to five towns of great trade, among which was Veragua, where the Indians said the gold was gathered and the plates manufactured.

The next day he came to a town called Cubiga, where the Indians of Cariari said that the trading country ended; this began at Carabora and extended to Cubiga for 50 leagues along the coast. Without making any stay here, the admiral proceeded on till he put into Porto Bello, to which he gave that name because it is large, well peopled, and encompassed by a finely cultivated country. He entered this place on the 2d of November, passing between two small islands within which ships may lie close to the shore, and can turn it out if they have occasion. The country about that harbour and higher up is by no means rough, but cultivated and full of houses a stone throw or a bow-shot only from each other, and forms the finest landscape that can be imagined. We continued there seven days on account of rain and bad weather, and canoes came constantly to the ships from all the country round to trade with provisions and bottoms of fine spun cotton, which they gave in exchange for points and pins and other trifles.

On Wednesday the ninth of November we sailed from Porto Bello eight leagues to the eastwards, but were driven back four leagues next day by stress of weather, and put in among some islands near the continent where the town of Nombre de Dios now stands; and because all these small islands were full of grain, the admiral called this place Puerto de Bastimentos, or Port of Provisions. While here one of our boats pursued a canoe, and the Indians imagining our men would do them some harm, and perceiving the boat within less than a stones throw of them, they leapt into the sea to swim away, which they all effected; for though the boat rowed hard it could not overtake any of them, or if it did come up with one he would dive like a duck and come up again a bow-shot or two distant. This chase lasted above half a league, and it was very pleasant to see the boat labour in vain and come back empty handed.

We continued here till the 23d of November, refitting the ships and mending our casks, and sailed that day to a place called Guiga, there being another of the same name between Veragua and Cerago. The boats went ashore at this place, where they found above 300 persons ready to trade in provisions and some small gold ornaments which they wore at their ears and noses. On Saturday the 24th of November we put into a small port which was called Retrete, or the Retired Place, because it could not contain above five or six ships together; the mouth of it was not above 15 or 20 paces over, and on both sides rocks appeared above water as sharp as diamonds. The channel between was so deep that no bottom could be found, though if the ships inclined only a little way to either side the men could leap on shore. This sharpness of the rocks saved the ships in this narrow passage, and the danger we were now in was owing to the covetousness of the people who went in the boats to view it, as they were desirous of trafficking with the Indians, and believed that the ships might be in safety close to the shore. In this place we were detained nine days by bad weather. At first the Indians came very familiarly to trade in such articles as they had to dispose of; but our seamen used to steal privately on shore and commit a thousand insolencies like covetous dissolute fellows, insomuch that they provoked the Indians to break the peace, and several skirmishes happened between them and our people. The Indians at length took courage to advance to our ships which lay with their sides close to the shore, intending to do us some harm; but their designs turned out to their own detriment, although the admiral always endeavoured to gain them by patience and civility. But perceiving their insolence to increase, he caused some cannon to be discharged, thinking to frighten them; this they answered with loud shouts, thrashing the trees with their clubs and staves, and showed by threatening signs that they did not fear the noise. Therefore to abate their pride and to surprise them with respect for the Christians, the admiral ordered a shot to be fired at a company of them that stood upon a hillock near the shore; and the ball falling among them made them sensible that our thunder carried a bolt along with it, and in future they dared not to show themselves even behind the hills.

The people of this country were the handsomest we had yet seen among the Indians, being tall and thin, without large bellies, and with agreeable countenances. The country was all plain, bearing little grass and few trees. In the harbour there were crocodiles or alligators of a vast size, which go on shore to sleep, and they scatter a scent as if all the musk in the world were together: They are fierce and ravenous, so that if they find a man asleep they drag him to the water and devour him, but they are fearful and cowardly when attacked. These alligators are found in many other parts of the continent, and some affirm that they are the same with the crocodiles of the Nile.

Finding that the violent winds from the E. and N.E. did not cease, and that no trade could be had with those people, the admiral resolved to go back that he might make farther inquiry into the reports of the Indians concerning the mines of Veragua, and therefore returned on Monday the 5th of November to Porto Bello ten leagues westwards. Continuing his course next day, he was encountered by a west wind which was quite contrary to his new design, though favourable for that which he had been attempting for three months past, but expecting that this wind would not last long because the weather was unsettled, he bore up against the wind for some days; but when the weather would seem a little favourable for going to Veragua, another wind would start up and drive us back again to Porto Bello, and when almost in hopes of getting into port we were quite beat off again. Sometimes there were such incessant flashes of thunder and lightning that the men durst hardly open their eyes, the ships seemed just sinking, and the sky appeared as if it would come down upon us. At times the thunder was so continued, that it was conceived some ship was firing its guns for assistance. At other times there would fall such incessant and heavy torrents of rain for two or three days together as if an universal deluge were going to overwhelm the world. This almost unceasing war of the elements perplexed the men and reduced them almost to despair, so that they were continually wet and could not get half an hours rest at a time, always beating up to windward. In such terrible tempests they dreaded the fire in flashes of lightning, the air for its fury, the water for its mountainous waves, and the earth for hidden rocks and sands; where they expected safety in a near haven, often encountering danger, and therefore preferring to contend against all the other elements to avoid the land. In the midst of all these terrors there occurred another no less wonderful and dangerous, which was a water-spout rising from the sea on Thursday the 13th of December; which, if they had not dissolved by reciting the gospel of St John, had certainly sunk whatever it had fallen upon. This phenomenon draws the water up to the clouds like a pillar and thicker than a butt, twisting it about like a whirlwind.

That same night we lost sight of the ship called the Biscaina, but had the good fortune to see it again after three or four dreadful dark days. It had lost its boat and had been in great danger, being so near the land as to be forced to come to anchor, which it likewise lost by being obliged to cut the cable. It now appeared that the currents on this coast follow the prevailing wind, running westwards with the east wind, and eastwards with the west. The ships being now almost shattered to pieces by the tempest, and the men quite spent with incessant labour, a calm for a day or two gave them some relief, and brought such multitudes of sharks about the ships as were dreadful to behold, especially to such as were superstitious. Ravens are reported to smell out dead bodies from a great distance, and some think that sharks have the same perceptive faculty. They have two rows of sharp teeth in the nature of a saw, with which if they lay hold of a mans leg or arm they cut it off as with a razor. Multitudes of these sharks were caught by a hook and chain, but being able to destroy no more, they continued in vast numbers swimming about. They are so greedy that they not only bite at carrion, but may be taken by means of a red rag upon the hook. I have seen a tortoise taken out of the stomach of one of these sharks that lived for some time afterwards aboard the ship; and out of another was taken the head of one of its own kind, which we had cut off and thrown into the water as not fit to be eaten, and the shark had swallowed it, which to us seemed strange and unnatural that one creature should swallow the head of another as large as its own; this however is owing to the vast size of their mouth which reaches almost to the belly, and the head is shaped like an olive. Though some of the people considered these creatures as foreboding misfortune, and others thought them bad fish, yet we were all thankful for them on account of the want we were now in: We had been eight months at sea, so that all the flesh and fish we had brought from Spain was consumed, and owing to the heat and moisture of the atmosphere, the biscuit was become so full of maggots that many of the people waited till night before they could eat the pottage made of it, that they might not see the maggots; but others were so used to eat them that they were not curious to throw them away, lest they might lose their supper.

Upon Saturday the 17th of December we put into a large bay or port three leagues to the eastwards of Pennon called Huiva by the Indians, where we remained three days. We there saw the Indians dwelling upon the tops of trees, like birds, laying sticks across the boughs upon which they build a kind of huts. We conceived this might have been for fear of the griffins which are in that country, or to be out of reach of their enemies; for all along that coast the little tribes at every league distant are great enemies to each other and perpetually at war. We sailed from this port on the 20th with fair weather but not settled, for as soon as we were got put to sea the tempest rose again and drove us into another port, whence we departed the third day, the weather being somewhat mended, but like an enemy that lies in wait for a man, it rushed out again and drove us to Pennon, but when we hoped to get in there the wind came quite contrary and drove us again towards Veragua. Being at an anchor in the river the weather became again very stormy, so that we had reason to be thankful for having got into that port, where we had been before on the 12th of the same month. We continued here from the 26th of December to the 3d of January 1508; when, having repaired the ship Gallega and taken on board a good store of Indian wheat, water, and wood, we turned back to Veragua with bad weather and contrary winds, which changed crossly just as the admiral altered his course. This continual changing of the wind gave us so much trouble between Veragua and Porto Bello that the admiral named this Costo de Contrasses, or the Coast of Thwartings.

Upon Thursday, being the feast of the Epiphany, 6th January, we cast anchor near a river called Yebra by the Indians, but which the admiral named Belem or Bethlem, because we came to it on the festival of the three kings. He caused the mouth of that river and of another to the westwards to be sounded; in the latter, called Veragua by the Indians, the water was shoal, but in the river Belem there were four fathoms at high water. The boats went up this river to the town where we had been informed the gold mines of Veragua were situated. At first the Indians were so far from conversing that they assembled with their weapons to hinder the Christians from landing; and the next day on going up the river of Veragua, the Indians did the same, not only on shore, but stood upon their guard with their canoes in the water. But an Indian of that coast who understood them a little went on shore and persuaded them that we were good people, and desired nothing from them but what we would pay for; by this they were pacified and trucked twenty plates of gold, likewise some hollow pieces like the joints of reeds, and some unmelted grains. On purpose to enhance the value of their gold they said it was gathered a great way off among uncouth mountains, and that when they gathered it they did not eat, nor did they carry their women along with them, a story similar to which was told by the people of Hispaniola when it was first discovered.

On Monday the 9th of January the admirals ship and that called Biscaina went up the river, and the Indians came presently on board to barter away such things as they had, especially fish, which at certain times of the year come up these rivers from the sea in such quantities as would seem incredible to those who had not seen it. They likewise exchanged some gold for pins, and what they most valued they gave for beads, or hawks-bells. Next day the other two ships came in, having to wait for the flood, which does not rise above half a fathom in these parts. As Veragua was famed for mines and extraordinary wealth, the admirals brother went up the river the third day after our arrival to the town of Quibio, the king or cacique of this province; who, hearing of the lieutenants coming, came down the river in his canoes to meet him. Quibio behaved in a very friendly manner, and interchanged several articles with the lieutenant, and after a long discourse they parted in peace. Next day Quibio came on board to visit the admiral, and having discoursed together about an hour, his men trucked some gold for bells, and he returned to his own place.

While we lay here as we thought in perfect ease and security, the river of Belem suddenly swelled on the 24th of January so high, that before we could get a cable on shore the fury of the water came so impetuously on the admirals ship that it broke one of her anchors, and drove her with such force against the Galega as to bring the foremast by the board, and both ships were carried away foul of each other in the utmost danger of perishing. Some judged that this sudden and mighty flood had been occasioned by the heavy rains, which still continued incessantly; but in that case the river would have swelled gradually and not all of a sudden, which made us suppose that some extraordinary rain had fallen in the mountains about 20 leagues up the country, which the admiral called the mountains of St Christopher. The highest of that range was above the region of the air in which meteors are bred, as no cloud was ever seen to rise above, but all floated below its summit; this mountain of St Christopher looks like a hermitage[13], and lies in the midst of a range of woody mountains whence we believed that flood came which was so dangerous to our ships; for had they been carried out to sea they must have been shattered to pieces, as the wind was then extremely boisterous. This tempest lasted so long that we had time to refit and caulk the ships; and the waves broke so furiously on the mouth of the river, that the boats could not go out to discover along the coast, to learn where the mines lay, and to seek out for a proper place in which to build a town; for the admiral had resolved to leave his brother in this place with most of the men, that they might settle and subdue the country, while he should return into Spain to send out supplies of men and provisions. With this prospect, he sent his brother on Monday the 6th of February with 68 men by sea to the mouth of the Veragua river, a league to the westward of the Belem river, who went a league and a half up the river to the caciques town, where he staid a day inquiring the way to the mines. On Wednesday they travelled four leagues and half, and rested for the night on the side of a river which they had crossed 44 times in the course of that days march; next day they travelled a league and a half towards the mines, being directed in their journey by some Indian guides who were furnished by Quibio. In about two hours time they came thither, and every man gathered some gold from about the roots of the trees, which were there very thick and of prodigious height. This sample was much valued, because none of those who went upon this expedition had any tools for digging, or had ever been accustomed to gather gold; and as the design of this expedition was merely to get information of the situation of the mines, they returned very much satisfied that same day to Veragua, and the next day to the ships. It was afterwards learnt that these were not the mines of Veragua which lay much nearer, but belonged to the town of Urira the people of which being enemies to those of Veragua, Quibio had ordered the Christians to be conducted thither to do a displeasure to his foes, and that his own mines might remain untouched.

On Thursday the 14th of February, the lieutenant went into the country with 40 men, a boat following with 14 more. The next day they came to the river Urira seven leagues west from Belem. The cacique came a league out of this town to meet him with 20 men, and presented him with such things as they feed on, and some gold plates were exchanged here. This cacique and his chief men never ceased putting a dry herb into their mouths, which they chewed and sometimes they took a sort of powder which they carried along with that herb, which singular custom astonished our people very much[14]. Having rested here a while, the Christians and Indians went to the town, where they were met by great numbers of people, had a large house appointed for their habitation, and were supplied with plenty of provisions. Soon after came the cacique of Dururi, a neighbouring town, with a great many Indians, who brought some gold plates to exchange. All these Indians said that there were caciques farther up the country who had abundance of gold, and great numbers of men armed as ours were. Next day the lieutenant ordered part of his men to return to the ships, and with 30 whom he retained, beheld on his journey to Zobraba, where the fields for six leagues were all full of maize like corn fields. Thence he went to Cateba another town, and was well entertained at both places with abundance of provisions, and some gold plates were bartered. These are like, the pattern of a chalice, some bigger and some less, and weighed about twelve ducats more or less, and the Indians wear them hanging from their necks by a string as we do relics. Being now very far from the ships, without having found any port along the coast, or any river larger than that of Belem on which to settle his colony, the lieutenant came back on the 24th of February, bringing with him a considerable value in gold which he had acquired by barter during his journey.

Immediately on his return preparations were made for his stay, and eighty men were appointed to remain with him. These were divided into gangs of ten men each, and began to build houses on the bank of the Belem river on the right hand going up, about a cannon-shot from its mouth, and the infant colony was protected by surrounding it with a trench. The mouth of this river is marked by a small hill. The houses were all built of timber and covered with palm leaves, which grew abundantly along the banks of the river; and besides the ordinary houses for the colony, a large house was built to serve as a magazine and store-house, into which several pieces of cannon, powder, provisions, and other necessaries for the use and support of the planters were put. But the wine, biscuit, oil, vinegar, cheese, and a considerable supply of grain were left in the ship Gallega as the safest place; which was to be left with the lieutenant for the service of the colony, with all its cordage, nets, hooks and other tackle; for, as has been already said, there is vast abundance of fish in every river of that coast, several sorts at certain seasons running along the coast in shoals, on which the people of the country live more than upon flesh, for though there are some beasts of different sorts, there are by no means enough to maintain the inhabitants.

The customs of these Indians are for the most part much the same as those of Hispaniola and the neighbouring islands; but those people of Veragua and the country about it, when they talk to one another are constantly turning their backs and always chewing an herb, which we believed to be the reson that their teeth were rotten and decayed. Their food is mostly fish, which they take with nets, and with hooks made of tortoiseshell, which they cut with a thread as if they were sawing, in the same manner as is done in the islands. They have another way of catching some very small fishes, which are called Titi in Hispaniola. At certain times these are driven towards the shore by the rains, and are so persecuted by the larger fish that they are forced up to the surface in shoal water, where the Indians take as many of them as they have a mind by means of little matts or small meshed nets. They wrap these up singly in certain leaves, and having dried them in an oven they will keep a great while. They also catch pilchards in the same manner; for at certain times these fly with such violence from the pursuit of the large fish, that they will leap out of the water two or three paces on the dry land, so that they have nothing to do but take them as they do the Titi. These pilchards are taken after another manner: They raise a partition of palm-tree leaves two yards high in the middle of a canoe, fore and aft as the seamen call it, or from stem to stern; then plying about the river they make a great noise, beating the shores with their paddles, and then the pilchards, to fly from the other fish, leap into the canoe, where hitting against the partition they fall in, and by this means they often take vast numbers[15]. Several sorts of fish pass along the coast in vast shoals, whereof immense quantities are taken; and these will keep a long time after being roasted or dried in the way already mentioned.

These Indians have also abundance of maize, a species of grain which grows in an ear or hard head like millet, and from which they make a white and red wine, as beer is made in England, mixing it with their spice as it suits their palate, having a pleasant taste like sharp brisk wine. They also make another sort of wine from certain trees like palms which have prickly trunks like thorns: This wine is made from the pith of these palms, which resemble squeezed palmitoes, and from which they extract the juice and boil it up with water and spice. They make another wine from a fruit which grows likewise in Guadaloup, resembling a large pine-apple. This is planted in large fields, and the plant is a sprout growing from the top of the fruit, like that which grows from a cabbage or lettuce. One plant lasts in bearing for three or four years. They likewise make wines from other sorts of fruit; particularly from one that grows upon very high trees, which is as big as a large lemon, and has several stones like nuts, from two to nine in each, not round but long like chesnuts. The rind of this fruit is like a pomegranate, and when first taken from the tree it resembles it exactly, save only that it wants the prickly circle at the top. The taste of it is like a peach; and of them some are better than others, as is usual in other fruits. There are some of these in the islands, where they are named Mamei by the Indians.

All things being settled for the Christian colony and ten or twelve houses built and thatched, the admiral wished to have sailed for Spain; but he was now threatened by even a greater danger from want of water in the river, than that he had formerly experienced by the inundation. For the great rains in January being now over, the mouth of the river was so choked up with sand, that though there were ten feet of water on the bar when we came in, which was scant enough, there were now only two feet when we wished to have gone out. We were thus shut up without prospect of relief, as it was impossible to get over the sand; and even if we had possessed any engine calculated for this purpose, the sea was so boisterous that the smallest of the waves which broke upon the shore was enough to have beat the ships in pieces, more especially as ours were now all eaten through and through by the worms like a honeycomb. We had nothing left therefore, but to pray to God for rain, as we had before prayed for fair weather; as we knew that rain would swell the river and clear away the sand.

In the meantime it was discovered by means of our interpreter, an Indian whom we had taken not far off above three months before, and who willingly went along with us, that Quibio the cacique of Veragua, intended to set fire to the houses and destroy the Christians, as all the Indians were averse to the settlement of our people in their country. It was therefore thought proper, as a punishment to this cacique and a terror and example to the other Indians, to take him and all his chief men prisoners into Spain, that his town and tribe might remain subjected to the Christians. Accordingly, the lieutenant went with a party of seventy-six men towards Veragua, on the 30th of March, to execute this project. This town or village is not built close together, but all the houses are built at considerable distances as in Biscay. When Quibio understood that the lieutenant was come near, he sent word for him not to come up to his house; but the lieutenant, that he might not seem any way afraid of these people, went up notwithstanding this message, accompanied only by five men; ordering all the rest to halt at the foot of the hill on which the caciques house was situated, and desiring them to come after him, two and two together, at some distance from each other; and that when they should hear a musket fired, they should all run up, and beset the house that none of them might escape.

When the lieutenant came to the house, Quibio sent another message to desire that he might not come in, for though wounded by an arrow, he would come out to receive him, and he acted in this manner to prevent his women from being seen, these Indians being exceedingly jealous on that score. He came out accordingly and sat down at the door, requesting that the lieutenant alone might approach; who did so, ordering the rest to fall on whenever they saw him seize hold of the cacique by the arm. He asked Quibio some questions concerning his wound, and the affairs of the country, by means of the before-mentioned interpreter, who was exceedingly fearful, as he knew the intentions of the cacique to destroy the Christians, which he thought might easily be done by the great numbers of people in that province, as he had as yet no experience of the strength of our people or the power of their weapons. Pretending to look where the cacique had been wounded; the lieutenant took hold of his arm, and kept so firm a grasp, though Quibio was a strong man, that he held him fast till the other five Christians came up to his assistance, one of whom fired off his musket, upon which all the rest ran out from their ambush and surrounded the house, in which there were thirty people old and young; most of whom were taken, and none wounded, for on seeing their king a prisoner they made no resistance. Among the prisoners there were some wives and children of the cacique, and some inferior chiefs, who said they had a great treasure concealed in the adjoining wood, and offered to give the whole of it for the ransom of their cacique and themselves. But the lieutenant would not listen to their proposals, and ordered Quibio, with his wives and children, and the principal people who had been made prisoners, to be immediately carried on board, before the country took the alarm, and remained with most of his men to go after the kindred and subjects of the captured cacique, many of whom had fled. John Sanchez of Cadiz, one of our pilots, and a man of good reputation, was appointed to take charge of the prisoners, and more especially of Quibio, who was bound hand and foot, and on being charged to take particular care that he might not escape, he said he would give them leave to pull his beard off if he got away. Sanchez and his prisoners embarked with an escort in the boats to go down the river of Veragua to the ships; and when within half a league of its mouth, Quibio complained that his hands were bound too tight, on which Sanchez compassionately loosened him from the seat of the boat to which he was tied, and held the rope in his hand. A little after this, observing that he was not very narrowly watched, Quibio sprung into the water, and Sanchez let go the rope that he might not be dragged in after him. Night was coming on, and the people in the boat were in such confusion that they could not see or hear where he got on shore, for they heard no more of him than if a stone had fallen into the water and disappeared. That the rest of the prisoners might not likewise escape, they held on their way to the ships much ashamed of their carelessness.

Next day, perceiving that the country was very mountainous and woody, and that there were no regular towns, the houses being scattered about at irregular distances, and consequently that it would be very difficult to pursue the Indians from place to place, the lieutenant returned to the ships. He presented to the admiral the plunder of Quibios house, worth about 300 ducats in gold plates, little eagles, small quills which they string and wear about their arms and legs, and gold twists which they wear about their heads in the nature of a coronet. After deducting the fifth part for their Catholic majesties, he divided all the rest among the people who had been employed in the expedition, giving one of those crowns or coronets to the lieutenant in token of victory.

All things being provided for the maintenance of the colony, and the rules and regulations by which it was to be governed being settled, it pleased GOD to send so much rain that the river swelled and opened the mouth sufficiently to float the ships over the bar. Wherefore the admiral resolved to depart for Hispaniola without delay, that he might forward supplies for this place. Taking advantage of a calm that the sea might not beat upon the month of the river, we went out with three of the ships, the boats towing a-head. Yet though they were lightened as much as possible, every one of the keels rubbed on the sand which was fortunately loose and moving; and we then took in with all expedition every thing that was unloaded for making the ships draw less water. While we lay upon the open coast, about a league from the mouth of the river, it pleased GOD miraculously to induce the admiral to send his boat on shore for water, which proved the cause of preventing the loss of our people who had been left at Belem. For when Quibio saw that the ships had withdrawn, and could therefore give no aid to the people who were left, he assaulted the Christian colony at the very time when our boat went ashore. The approach of the Indians was not perceived, on account of the thickness of the wood, and when they came within ten paces of the houses they set up a great shout, and fell upon our people suddenly and violently, throwing their javelins at all whom they espied, and even at the houses, which being only covered with palm-tree leaves, were easily stuck through, and several of our men were wounded within them. In the first surprize, four or five of our people were wounded before they could put themselves into a posture of defence; but the lieutenant being a man of great resolution; went out against the Indians with a spear, with seven or eight followers, and attacked the Indians so violently, that he soon made them retire to the adjoining wood. Thence they returned skirmishing with our people, advancing to throw their javelins and then retiring, as the Spaniards do in the sport called juego de cannas; but after having experienced the sharp edges of our swords, and being furiously assailed by a dog belonging to the Christians, they at length fled, having killed one Christian, and wounded seven, among whom was the lieutenant, who was wounded in the breast.

From the foregoing danger two Christians took care to preserve themselves; which I shall relate, to show the comicalness of the one who was an Italian of Lombardy, and the gravity of the other who was a Spaniard. When the Lombard was running away to hide himself, James Mendez called him to turn back; let me alone you devil, said Sebastian, for I am going to secure my person. The Spaniard was Captain James Tristan, whom the admiral had sent in the boat, who never went out of it with his men though the affray was close beside the river; and being blamed for not assisting the Christians, he excused himself by saying that those on shore might run to the boat for shelter, and so all might perish, for if the boat were lost the admiral would be in danger at sea, and he would therefore do no more than he had been commanded, which was to take in water, and to see if those on shore needed any assistance. He resolved therefore to take in water immediately, that he might carry an account to the admiral of what had happened, and went up the river with that view, to where the salt water did not mix with the fresh, though some advised him not to go for fear of being attacked by the Indians in their canoes; but he answered that he feared no danger since he was sent for that purpose by the admiral. He accordingly went up the river which is very deep within the land, and so closely beset on both sides with thick trees, that there is scarcely any possibility to go on shore, except at some fishermens paths where they hide their canoes. When the Indians perceived that he had got about a league above the colony, they rushed from the thickets on both sides of the river in their canoes, and assaulted him boldly on all sides, making hideous shouts and blowing their horns. They had great odds against our people, being in great numbers, and their canoes very swift and manageable, especially the small ones belonging to the fishermen, which hold three or four men in each, one of whom paddles and can easily turn it about as he pleases, while the others threw their javelins at our boat. I call them javelins because of their bigness, though they have no iron heads, but are only pointed with fish bones. In our boat there were seven or eight men to row, and three or four more with the captain to fight; and as the rowers could not defend themselves from the javelins, they were forced to quit the oars to handle their targets. But the Indians poured upon them in such multitudes from all sides, advancing and retiring in good order as they thought fit, that they wounded most of the Christians, especially Captain Tristan who was hurt in many places; and though he stood unmoved, encouraging his men, his bravery availed him nothing, for he was beset on all sides and could not stir or make use of his musket, and at length he was pierced by a javelin in the eye and fell down dead. All the rest shared his fate except one man named John da Noia a native of Cadiz; he by good fortune fell into the water in the height of the combat, and gaining the shore by diving made his way through the thickest of the woods to the colony, where he brought the melancholy news of the destruction of all his companions.

This intelligence, joined to what had befallen themselves, so terrified our people, who were likewise afraid that the admiral, being at sea without a boat, might never reach a place from whence he could send them assistance, that they determined to abandon the colony, and would certainly have done so without orders, had not the mouth of the river been rendered impassable by bad weather and a heavy surf in which no boat could live, so that they could not even convey advice to the admiral of what had occurred. The admiral was in no little danger and perplexity, riding in an open road with no boat, and his complement much diminished. Those on shore were in great confusion and dismay, seeing those who had been killed in the boat, floating down the river, followed by the country crows, and this they looked upon as an evil omen, dreading that the same fate awaited themselves; and the more so as they perceived the Indians puffed up by their late success, and gave them not a minutes respite by reason of the ill chosen situation of the colony. There is no doubt that they would all have been destroyed if they had not removed to an open strand to the eastwards, where they constructed a defence of casks and other things, planting their cannon in convenient situations to defend themselves, the Indians not daring to come out of the wood because of the mischief that the bullets did among them.